Topic 5: Old English Vocabulary

Section 1

1. Because many native Old English words refer to Indo-European languages and Germanic

languages.
2. lord – Old English hlāford, from hlāfweard ‘bread-keeper’, from a Germanic base 
lady - Old English hlǣfdīge (denoting a woman to whom homage or obedience is due, such as
the wife of a lord, also specifically the Virgin Mary), from hlāf ‘loaf’ + a Germanic base
meaning ‘knead’, related to dough; compare with lord. In Lady Day and other compounds where
it signifies possession, it represents the Old English genitive hlǣfdīgan ‘(Our) Lady's’.

3. Yorkshire - the name comes from "Eborakon", an old Brythonic name which probably derives
from "Efor" or "the place of the yew-trees."
Skewsby – Danish genitive skogs «wood» and by «settlement»
Kirkby Fell - a common name in the Midlands and North, ‘village with a church’.
Foggathorpe - E. R. Yorks. Fulcartorp 1086 (DB). ‘Outlying farmstead or hamlet of a man
called Folcward’. OGerman pers. name + OScand. Thorp
Fridaythorpe - 'the village belonging to Frigdæg'.
Coneysthorpe -N. Yorks. Coningestorp 1086 (DB). ‘The king’s farmstead or hamlet’. OScand.
konungr + thorp
Askrigg - N. Yorks. Ascric 1086 (DB). Probably ‘ash-tree ridge’. OScand. askr + OE *ric
Goodmanham - E. R. Yorks. Godmunddingaham 731, Gudmundham 1086 (DB). ‘Homestead of
the family or followers of a man called Gōdmund’. OE pers. name + - inga- + hām
Oswaldkirk - N. Yorks. Oswaldescherca 1086 (DB). ‘Church dedicated to St Ōswald’. OE pers.
name + cirice (replaced by OScand. kirkja).
Flaxby - N. Yorks. Flatesbi 1086 (DB). ‘Farmstead or village of a man called Flatr’. OScand.
pers. name + bý.
Lastingham - N. Yorks. Lestingeham 1086 (DB). ‘Homestead of the family or followers of a
man called *L sta’. OE pers. name + -inga - + hām
Wigginton - ‘farmstead of, or associated with, a man called Wicga’, OE pers. name (genitive -n
or + -ing-) + tūn

4. 1  Layer – Continental (before the migration to England, ca. 100 BC ca. AD 450

2 Layer – an early insular (with Latin influence via Celtic transmission, ca. 450 ca.600

3 Layer - Christian insular (after ca. 600/650)

The loans of the first two periods were introduced via oral communication, mostly pertain to
military, household, or trade milieus, and are phonologically closer to Vulgar Latin, while the
loans of the third period mostly came from written Classical Latin and supplied English with
many learned and ecclesiastical terms.
5) Why were there Latin words in the dialects of Angles, Saxons and Jutes before they
conquered Britain?

The OE vocabulary is predominantly Germanic. A few items e.g sceap, sheep, are confined to
west Germanic and not found on North Germanic. Some everyday words , however , were
borrowed into West Germanic (before the Anglo-Saxon migration ti Britain ) from Latin (or
from Greek though Latin) and are therefore common to west germanic languages.

The three Germanic tribes that settled in Britain the Angles , Saxon, and Jutes appear to have
spoken slightly divergent dialects from the beginning and their patterns of settlement and
influence are evident in the four main literary dialects

On the Germanic lexicon , several other languages made their mark , some more deeply than
others. One long-term influence comes from Latin which influenced many Germanic dialects
whith words like belt, cheese, and pole. Latin words have continued to be borrowed in every
century Some are discipline specific Starting in 597CEthe Catholic Church sent missionaries to
convert the Anglo-Saxon tribes and with the conversion came Latin terms for religious matters
such as: altar , mass, verse, and candle However Germanic paganism held sway on the influence
of some words the days of the week.

6. Alcester, Ancaster, Bicester, Brancaster, Exeter, Lancaster, Hincaster, Colchester, Chester-le-

Street, Chester, Fulchester, Doncaster, Hincaster, Lanchester, Rocester, Silchester, Acaster
Malbis, Chesterfield, Chesterton, Doncaster, Cirencester, Casterton, Ebchester

7) What is a loan translation?

Translation loans are word-for-word (or morpheme-for-morpheme ) translations of some foreign

words or expressions. In such cases the notion is borrowed from a foreign language but it is
expressed by native lexical units, «to take the bull by the horns» (Latin), «fair sex» ( French),
«living space» (German) etc. Some translation loans appeared in English from Latin already in
the Old English period, e.g. Sunday (solis dies) Mother tongue. There are translation loans from
the languages of Indians, such as: «pipe of peace», «pale-faced», from German «masterpiece»,
«homesickness», «superman».. wunderchild

Some examples:

 English commonplace
 English devil's advocate
 English Milky Way
 English in a nutshell
 English Monday calques Latin lūnae diēs day of the moon[
8) Compare the structure of the names of the days of the week in Old English and Latin. Is it just
a loan translation?

translation-loans are also found in the names of days of the week, and also some other terms
(Monan - daeg, Tiwes-daeg, Wodnes - daeg,Thu(n)res - daeg, Frige - daeg , Sāturnī diēs
(Saturn's day) ,and solis dies.

- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday )

Section 2

1) Find examples of semantic shift in OE.

Easter was the name of a pagan Goddess of spring, however, due to the Roman influence and
Christianization the meaning changed.

Old English fæger ‘fit, suitable’, Modern English fair came to mean ‘pleasant, enjoyable’ then

‘beautiful’ and ‘pleasant in conduct’, from which the second modern meaning ‘just, impartial’
derives. The first meaning continued to develop in the sense of ‘of light complexion’ and a third
one arose from ‘pleasant’ in a somewhat pejorative sense, meaning ‘average, mediocre’, e.g. He
only got a fair result in his exam.

Silly (Old English sēlig ‘happy, fortuitous') had by the 15th century the sense of ‘deserving of
pity’ and then developed to ‘ignorant, feeble-minded’ and later ‘foolish’.

Gentle was borrowed in Middle English in the sense of ‘born of a good-family, with a higher
social standing’. Later the sense ‘courteous’ and then ‘kind, mild in manners’ developed because
these qualities were regarded as qualities of the upper classes.

Nice (Latin nescius ‘not knowing') is recorded from the 13th century in the sense of ‘foolish’,
then it shifted to ‘coy, shy’ and by the 16th century had the meaning ‘fastidious, dainty, subtle’
from which by the 18th century the sense ‘agreeable, delightful’ developed.

Artificial originally meant ‘man-made, artful, skillfully constructed’, compare artifice ‘man-

made construction’. But by comparison with ‘natural’ the word came to acquire a negative
meaning because everything which is natural is regarded positively.

2) Read an excerpt from Beowulf and complete the following tasks

a) Write out every word

Fyrst forð gewat.
210
Flota wæs on yðum,
bat under beorge.
 
Beornas gearwe
on stefn stigon;
 
streamas wundon,
sund wið sande;
 
secgas bæron
on bearm nacan
 
beorhte frætwe,
215 guðsearo geatolic;
 guman ut scufon,
weras on wilsið,
 
wudu bundenne.
Gewat þa ofer
  wægholm,
winde gefysed,
flota famiheals
 
fugle gelicost,
oðþæt ymb antid
 
oþres dogores
wundenstefna
220
gewaden hæfde
þæt ða liðende
 
land gesawon,
brimclifu blican,
 
beorgas steape,
side sænæssas;
 
þa wæs sund liden,
eoletes æt ende.
 
þanon up hraðe
Setton sæmeþe
325
side scyldas,
rondas regnhearde,
 
wið þæs recedes weal,
bugon þa to bence.
 
Byrnan hringdon,
guðsearo gumena;
 
garas stodon,
sæmanna searo,
 
samod ætgædere,
æscholt ufan græg;
330
wæs se irenþreat
wæpnum gewurþad.
 
þa ðær wlonc hæleð
oretmecgas
 
æfter æþelum frægn:
"Hwanon ferigeað ge
 
fætte scyldas,
græge syrcan
 
ond grimhelmas,
heresceafta heap?
335
Ic eom Hroðgares
ar ond ombiht.
 
Ne seah ic elþeodige
þus manige men
 
modiglicran.
Wen ic þæt ge for
  wlenco,
nalles for wræcsiðum,
 ac for higeþrymmum
 
Hroðgar sohton."

b) using a dictionary.glossary and the lecture material, analyse every word

fyrst – adjective, masculine, singular, strong declension, nominative
flota – noun, masculine, weak type of declension, singular, nominative
Stefn – noun, masculine, feminine, singular, nominative case
Bat – noun, masculine, nominative case, singular
Under – adverb
Beornas – noun, plural, masculine, strong a-stem, nominative
Streamas – noun, plural, feminine
Sund – noun, neuter, masculine, singular
Nacan – noun, masculine, weak declension, plural, nominative
Scufon – verb, strong class II, preterite plural scufon, past tense, plural
Weras – noun, masculine, nominative, plural
Wudu – noun, masculine
Ende – noun, masculine, strong type of declension, singular, accusative
Land – noun, feminine, singular
Side – noun, feminine, singular
On – adverb
Beorge – verb, strong class III, singular, imperative, present
Gearwe – noun (adverb), feminine,plural
Stigon – verb, strong class I, plural, preterite
Bearm –noun, masculine
Nacan – noun, weak declension, masculine, singular, accusative
Beorhte – adjective, neuter, nominative, singular, weak form
Geatolic – adjective, strong declension, singular, nominative, masculine
Ofer – noun, masculine, strong a-stem declension, singular, accusative
Fugle – noun, masculine, singular, dative, strong a-stem declension
Ymb – adverb
Dogores – noun, masculine, nominative, plural
Gewaden – noun, neuter, accusative
Blican – verb, string class I, infinitive
Steape – adjectivei
setton- (ge)settan – verb, class 1, weak, past indicative , plural
skildas-scild--strong masculine, plural nom or accus
rondas- rand, strong masculine, plural , accus
þæs, adverb. 1. Afterwards
regnhearde -acc pl masc
wið prep: with
reced -masc noun- recedes gen sing
weal -masc noun
gebugan -Class 2 str verb- bugon pl pret indic
benc -fem noun- bence -dat sing
byrne -fem noun- byrnan nom/acc pl
hringan- wk verb- hringdon pl pret indic
guðsearo- neut noun
guma -masc noun- gumena gen pl
gar -masc noun- garas nom/acc pl
sæmann- masc noun- sæmanna- gen pl
searo -neut noun
ætgædere-, adverb
æscholt -neut noun
ufon, ufan adv: down
græg- adj: græge- acc pl fem
irenþreat- masc noun
wǣpen, -strong neuter- wǣpnum-dativ , pl
(ge)weorðian,-class 2 weak verb-  ġewurþad-pst participle,sg
wlanc, wlonc- adj
hæleð -masc noun- nom/acc pl
oretmecg -masc noun- oretmæcgas nom/acc pl
æþelu, æðelo -fem noun- æþelum dat pl
hwanon, hwanan conj: whence
fætte acc pl masc
græge acc pl fem
syrce fem noun- syrcan -acc pl
grimhelm -masc noun- grimhelmas- acc pl
heresceaft masc noun- heresceafta- gen pl)
heap -masc noun
ombeht- masc noun
elþeodige acc pl masc adj
modiglicran compar acc pl masc adj
wlenco fem noun
nalles-adv: not (emphatic), not at all,
wræcsið masc noun- wræcsiðum dat pl
higeþrymm masc noun- higeþrymmum- dat pl

c) Translate the poem

Час летів, корабель в затоці
поблизу скель їх чекав на мілині;
вони вступили на борт, воїни, -
струменя припливу пісок лизали, -
і був навантажений упругоребрий
мечами, кольчугами; потім відчалив,

і в путь бажаний поніс дружину

морською дорогою кінь піногрудий
з попутним вітром, ковзаючи, як птах,
понад хвилями, - лише день і ніч
драконоголовий летів по сльотам,
коли на ранок земля відкрилася –
гористий берег, білі скелі,
широкий мис, осяяний сонцем, -

вони досягли краю моря.

військо блискуче йшло до палацу
Там, під стіною,стомлені морем,
вони склали щити широкі
в ряд на лави - гуркотом вдарили
їх нагрудники; там же склали списи з ясена
разом з мечами - тягар залізне,
озброєння морестранніков.
Тут страж-воротар,воїн гордий,
запитав прибульців?
Звідки з'явилися щити золочені,кольчуги залізні,
грізні шоломи, довгі списи?
Чимало у Хродгара
я, глашатай, зустрічав іноземців,
але настільки гідних не бачив! сподіваюся,
не заради притулку, як вигнанці,
i