The origins of English

Historia de la Lengua Inglesa

2016-2017
English throughout the world
The Indoeuropean language family
http://www.danshort.com/ie/
The Indo-European language family
http://www.krysstal.com/langfams_indoeuro.
html
https://tigerweb.towson.edu/duncan/ielangu
agetree.htm
https://he.palgrave.com/companion/Freeborn
-From-Old-English-To-Standard-English/study-
resources/Audio-downloads/#
The Indo-European language family
The Indo-European language family
 SEVEN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC

Accent is mainly on the root of the word,

usually the first syllable.
Development of a preterite tense (called
weak) with a dental suffix, -d or -t (e.g. fish,
fished, etc.)
Two types of verbs, weak and strong: strong
verbs (drive-drove-driven) and weak verbs
(love-loved)
 SEVEN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC

The Indo-European verbal system was

simplified:
1) Only active voice
2) Mood: indicative, subjunctive and
imperative.
3) Tense: past and non-past
4) Indo-European distinctions of aspect were
lost in Germanic.
 SEVEN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC

Germanic developed two adjectival

declensions:
- WEAK: Old English a geongan ceorlas (the
young fellows)

- STRONG: Old English geonge ceorlas (young

fellows)
 SEVEN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC

Some vocalic changes from IE to

Germanic:
- Indo-European /a:/ > Germanic /o:/
Latin mater - Old English modor

- Indo-European /o/ > Germanic /a/

- Latin octo - Old English eahta (< *ahta)
 SEVEN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC

Two consonant shifts occurred in Germanic:

1) First Sound Shift (Grimm's Law):

IE voiceless stops > Gmc voiceless fricatives

IE voiced stops > Gmc voiceless stops
IE voiced aspirates > Gmc voiced stops

2) The Second Sound Shift (High German Sound

Shift). Only affected Old High German.
Grimms Law
 Grimms Law

IE Gmc Latin English

/p/ /f/ L. pes foot

/t/ // S. tres three
/k/ /x/ L. cornu- horn
/b/ /p/ S. turba thorp
/d/ /t/ S. dos two
/g/ /k/ S. genuflexin knee
/bh/ /b/ S. fragmento break
/dh/ /d/ G. thugater <*dhug- daughter
/gh/ /g/ L. hostis guest
The origins of English
 The earliest history of Britain
1000 BC: Migrations of Celtic people to Britain

55-54 BC: Expeditions by Julius Caesar.

AD 43-47 AD: Invasion under Claudius. South and East of England

brought under Roman control.

AD 50: London (Londinium) is founded.

 The earliest history of Britain

AD 70-84: Wales, Northern

England, and Scotland
under Roman control

AD 100-200: Uprisings in
Scotland

AD 122: Hadrian's Wall

begun to be built

AD 410: Romans withdraw

 The coming of the Anglo-Saxons

AD 450 (449) Hengest

and Horsa, Germanic
chieftains, invited by
Vortigern, Celtic king,
arrive in Kent to help him
fight against the Picts
and the Scots.
AD 455: Hengest rebels
against Vortigern
Where did the Germanic invaders come from?
 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
477-527: The Saxons
occupied Sussex,
Wessex and Essex

550: The Angles

founded Anglian
kingdoms in Mercia,
Northumbria, and East
Anglia

Who were the Jutes?

Anglo-Saxon England (5th-11th centuries)
 Christianity in Britain
- The north of England was
already being Christianized
by Irish and Scottish monks
in the 6th and 7th
centuries AD

- Island of Iona: an
important centre of the
early Celtic church in the
north, associated with
Saint Columba (521-597)
The Christianization of Britain in the 6th c. (Pope Gregorys
Mission in England)

-595: an Italian monk,

Augustine, sent to England
by Pope Gregory to
christianise the Kingdom
of Kent. Bertha already
Christian

-604: Augustine made

Archbishop of Canterbury

- By the end of the 7th

century, most of England
had become Christian
 Sources of Anglo-Saxon History: Gildas (516-570)

Probably born in Sthrathclyde

of a noble British family

Educated in Wales, lived in

Ireland, built monasteries and
churches

Author of De Excidio Britanniae

one of the few near-
contempoary accounts of the
Anglo-Saxon invasion, but
frustratingly imprecise and
scarcely a history
 Gildas, De excidio et Conquestu Britanniae
(Of the Ruin and conquest of Britain)
Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Vortigern, the British
king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its
doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce
and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the
invasions of the northern nations... A multitude of whelps came forth in
three ships of warThey first landed on the eastern side of the island
apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against itThe
barbarians obtained an allowance of provisions, which, for some time
stopped their doggish mouths.
Yet they complained that their monthly supplies were not furnished in
sufficient abundance, and they industriously aggravated each occasion of
quarrel, saying that unless more liberality were shown them, they would break
the treaty and plunder the whole island. In a short time, they followed up
their threats with deeds.
 Sources of Anglo-Saxon History: Bede (673-735)

Anglo-Saxon monk, scholar and

teacher. Abbot of Jarrow.
Bede about himself:
- "Servant of Christ and Priest of
the Monastery of Saints Peter
and Paul which is at Wearmouth
and Jarrow."
- "It has always been my delight
to learn or to teach or to write."
Bedes Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (The
Ecclesiastical History of the English People)
-Written in Latin

- Later translated into

English by King Alfred
school (9th c.)

- Primary source for

understanding the
beginnings of the English
people and the coming of
Christianity
 The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
(Chapter XV)
IN the year of our Lord 449... Then the nation of the Angles, or Saxons,
being invited by the aforesaid king, arrived in Britain with three long
ships, and had a place assigned them to reside in by the same king, in the
eastern part of the island, that they might thus appear to be fighting for their
country, whilst their real intentions were to enslave it. ..Those who came over
were of the three most powerful nations of Germany Saxons, Angles, and
Jutes
From the Jutes are descended the people of Kent From the Saxons came
the East Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West Saxons. From the
Anglesare descended the East Angles, the Midland Angles, Mercians, all
the race of the Northumbrians. The two first commanders are said to have
been Hengist and HorsaThey were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father
was Vecta, son of Woden
Sources of Anglo-Saxon History: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Commissioned by King Alfred the
Great (late 9th century)

- Record of Anglo-Saxon history

and testament to English national
awareness, in English

-Copies of the ASC circulated to

institutions all over the country
-ASC: A number of individual texts
with a similar core, but
considerable local variations
 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
828 Her eft Wiglaf onfeng
Myrcna rice, 7 Aelwold bisceop
forferde. 7 y ilcan geare
ldde Ecgbriht cing fyrde on
Norwealas, and he hi ealle
ealle him to eamodre
hyrsumnesse gedyde.

A.D. 828. This year Wiglaf

recovered his Mercian kingdom,
and Bishop Ethelwald died. The
same year King Egbert led an
army against the people of
North-Wales, and compelled
them all to peaceful submission.
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=b0-N05K_MKY
Old English: 450-1150

Old English dialects:

- Northumbrian
- Mercian
- West Saxon
- Kentish
West Saxon: focused
variety
 Other languages in Anglo-Saxon England
The St Chad Gospels (http://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/Cathedral-
Treasures/st-chad-gospels.html)

- 8th - century Gospel Book housed in Lichfield

Cathedral.
-236 surviving folios, eight of which are illuminated.
-Written in Latin.
- It includes, as marginalia, some of the earliest known
examples of written Welsh.
Old English witnesses
About 30,000 lines of
Old English poetry
survive from 8th to
12th centuries
Poems mostly of
unknown authorship
and uncertain date
and provenance.
majority contained in
four books
Exeter Book
Note water damage,
knife cuts & stain from
the wet base of a
drinking vessel. 131
leaves, 8 lost
Largest collection of
Old English poetry in
existence, including
The Wanderer, The
Seafarer, The Ruin &
riddles
Exeter Cathedral
The codex was given
to the cathedral by the
first bishop, Leofric c.
1050
Vercelli Book
10th century
miscellany of
religious texts
including The
Dream of the Rood
discovered in 1822
in the in the library
of Vercelli (Italy)
Beowulf
Manuscript
-singed at the
edges. Saved from
the fire that
destroyed a
quarter of the
Cotton library
collection in
October 1731. This
is the only
manuscript of
Beowulf
Junius
Manuscript
Poems
Genesis
Exodus
Daniel
Christ and Satan
but as with almost all
OE poems these were
invented titles
-copious illustrations
(here Noahs Ark)
Northumbria
 Old Northumbrian Manuscripts: Poetry (Caedmons
Hymn)
Five versions. The
earliest is the Moore MS.
The Northumbrian poem was
added at the top of the last
page of the manuscript.

Dated to the 8th c.

Used as an anchor text

to date the remaining
witnesses of Early
Northumbrian.
The Moore MS of Caedmons Hymn. Cambridge University Library Kk, 5,16
Who was Caedmon?
First English poet whose name is
known
A herdsman attached to the double
monastery of Streonshalch (Whitby)
during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657
680)
According to Bede, he learned to
compose poetry in the course of a
dream.
He later became a monk and an
accomplished religious poet.
Caedmons home (Whitby)
Caedmons Hymn edited
nu scylun hergan hefaen ricaes uard
metuds maecti end his modgidanc
uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes
eci dryctin or astelid
he aerist scop aelda barnum
heben til hrofe haleg scepen,
tha middungeard moncynns uard
eci dryctin fte tiad
firum foldu frea allmectig

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nae
l/noa/audio.htm (slightly different version)
 Caedmons Hymn (translation)
Now we must praise heaven-kingdoms Guardian,
the Measurers might and his minds intent,
the work of the Glory-Father, as He, Lord eternal,
appointed the beginning of each wonder.
He first shaped, for the children of men,
heaven as a roof, the Holy Creator,
then the earth, the Protector of Mankind:
the Everlasting Lord thereafter made
the earth for men, Lord Almighty.
Old Northumbrian texts: The Lindisfarne
Glospels (7th c.)
The Old Northumbrian Gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels (10th c.)
- The most substantial of the Old
Northumbrian witnesses
- Written in Latin and decorated at the end of
the 7th century.
- The Latin text of the Gospels is translated
word for word in an Old English gloss, the
earliest surviving example of the Gospel in
English.
- The gloss was added in the 10th century
by Aldred, Provost of Chester-le-Street.
-http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/lindisfarne
/accessible/introduction.html
 The Old Northumbrian Gloss to the
Lindisfarne Gospels

3. Fol.140r b12 <ic witto> L. sciam (Lk. 1.18) I will

know
Skeat (1874: 17) <witto>
Old Northumbrian inscriptions with the runic alphabet

- Old English was sometimes

written with the Runic alphabet,
brought to Britain by the
Anglo-Saxons.
-Runes were designed to be cut
into wood (no horizontal lines,
no curves).
-Runes were also carved on
stone, bone or metal.
Old Northumbrian inscriptions with the runic alphabet

- Only about 100

runic inscriptions
have survived in
Britain.
-Most of them are
found in the North
of the Island
-The majority are
Christian
 The Ruthwell Cross Inscription
- Located in Ruthwell, (Dunfries, Scotland),
then part of the kingdom of Northumbria.
- 5.5 metres high.
- Dated to 8th/9th c.
- Contains fragments of the Old English poem
The Dream of the Rood written inscribed in the
runic alphabet.
- Smashed in 1664, and the pieces left in the
churchyard until they were restored in 1818.
- In 1887 it was moved into the Ruthwell
church.
 THE INSCRIPTION ON THE RUTHWELL CROSS

[+] kris[t] ws on rodi hwer er fus[] fearran kw[o]mu

[]il
til anum ic t al bi[h] ((eald)) sar((r.)) ic w[]s mi[] s[or]gu[m]
gidr[f.]d h[n]ag [.]

Translation:
Christ was on the cross. Yet to this solitary one there came men
from afar, eager and noble. I beheld it all. I was bitterly distressed
with griefs bowed down
 The runic inscription on the Franks Casket
- Made of whalebone
- Now exhibited in the British
Museum (London), named
after its donor.
-Dated to the 1st half of the 7th
century somewhere in the
North of England, most likely
in Northumbria
- Contains images from
Germanic and Christian
sources, a living testimony of
the transition period from
Germanic paganism to
Christianity.
 Franks Casket (Left)

romwalusandreumwalustwgen||gibror||
afddhiwylifinromcstri:||olunneg
Romwalus and Reumwalus, twgen gibror,
afdd hi wylif in Romcstri, ol unneg.
Translation:
Romulus and Remus, two brothers. A wolf fed them in the city of
Rome, far from their native land
 Runica Manuscripta

The runic alphabet was soon replaced by the Latin alphabet, but it survived as
runica manuscripta until about the 11th century

The Husband Message

50 ehre i tsomne ... eador
..., ond .. e benemnan
t h wre ond winetrowe
be him lifendum lstan wolde
e it on rdagum oft esprconn

Translation

I conjoin S (sun) together with R (road) and EA (earth) and W(joy) and M(man) to
declare an oath that he would fulfil, by his living self, the covenant of friendship
which in former days you two often voiced
The Fall of Old Northumbria: The Viking raids (8th c.)
The Fall of Old Northumbria: The destruction of
Lindisfarne.
793. In this year fierce,
foreboding omens came
over the land of
Northumbria. There were
excessive whirlwinds,
lightning storms, and fiery
dragons were seen flying in
the sky. These signs were
followed by great famine,
and on January 8th the
ravaging of heathen men
destroyed God's church at
Lindisfarne.
(Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
793)
Scandinavian invasions of Britain

A.D. 839. This year there was great

slaughter in London, Canterbury, and
Rochester.

A.D. 840. This year King Ethelwulf fought at

Charmouth with thirty-five ship's-crews,
and the Danes remained masters of the
place.
 Scandinavian invasions of Britain
A.D. 851. This year Alderman Ceorl, with the
men of Devonshire, fought the heathen army
at Wemburg, and after making great slaughter
obtained the victory. The same year King
Athelstan and Alderman Elchere fought in
their ships, and slew a large army at Sandwich
in Kent, taking nine ships and dispersing the
rest. The heathens now for the first time
remained over winter in the Isle of Thanet.
 Scandinavian invasions of Britain
The same year came three hundred and fifty ships into the
mouth of the Thames; the crew of which went upon land, and
stormed Canterbury and London; putting to flight Bertulf,
king of the Mercians, with his army; and then marched
southward over the Thames into Surrey. Here Ethelwulf and
his son Ethelbald, at the head of the West-Saxon army, fought
with them at Ockley, and made the greatest slaughter of the
heathen army that we have ever heard reported to this
present day. There also they obtained the victory.
 Scandinavian invasions of Britain
A.D. 878. This year about mid-winter, after twelfth-night, the
Danish army stole out to Chippenham, and rode over the land
of the West-Saxons; where they settled, and drove many of
the people over sea; and of the rest the greatest part they
rode down, and subdued to their will; -- ALL BUT ALFRED THE
KING. He, with a little band, uneasily sought the woods and
fastnesses of the moors. And in the winter of this same year
the brother of Ingwar and Healfden landed in Wessex, in
Devonshire, with three and twenty ships, and there was he
slain, and eight hundred men with him, and forty of his army
 Scandinavian invasions of Britain
[.] In the Easter of this year King Alfred with his little force raised a work
at Athelney; from which he assailed the army, assisted by that part of
Somersetshire which proceeded to Heddington; and there fought with all
the army, and put them to flight was nighest to it [. ] and within one
night after he Then the army gave him hostages with many oaths, that
they would go out of his kingdom. They told him also, that their king
would receive baptism. And they acted accordingly; for in the course of
three weeks after, King Guthrum, attended by some thirty of the worthiest
men that were in the army, came to him at Aller, which is near Athelney,
and there the king became his sponsor in baptism; and his crisom-leasing
was at Wedmor.
 Scandinavian invasions of England
Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, was the only
Anglo-Saxon leader who successfully resisted the
Viking expansion. In 878 he won the battle of
Edington a against the Vikings.
England was divided into two administrative areas:
Viking rule was recognised in the east and north of
England and that part was called the Danelaw, i.e.
the land where the Danes imposed their law; the rest
of England was ruled by Anglo-Saxon kings.
 Scandinavian invasions of England
1016: Viking leader Knut (Canute)
Chosen king of all England.
Ruler of England, Norway and Denmark.
When he died in 1035 his sons were unable to hold
the empire.
Had he not died at the age of 42, the Scandinavian
supremacy would probably resulted in Norse
becoming the dominant language in Western
Europe. (Hughes 2000:100)
Scandinavian invasions of England
 Scandinavian influence on English
Only a few dozen loanwords are identifiable
from Old Norse in Old English, whereas many
thousands were being used in the Middle
English period

Q: Why are there so few in OE given that the

Scandinavian settlement occurred in the OE
period?