Topics in Old English

Dialects Lucia Kornexl

CLASS READING 5
CHRISTINA KARAVIDA
1563201700069
 I. CLASSIFICATION

The Old English

dialects
Old English is usually classified into
four major dialects named after four
early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

1. Northumbrian
2. Mercian
3. Kentish
4. West Saxon
 1. Northumbrian
Location
North of the Humber

Materials
the runic inscriptions on the Ruthwell Cross
and on the Franks Casket (8th Century)
early Latin manuscripts of Bede’s Historia
Ecclesiastica
Cædmon's Hymn
place and personal names

Characteristics
unaffected by standardization
valuable insights into the leveling of
inflexional endings
 2. Mercian

Location
in the Midlands, stretching from the Humber to
the Thames

Materials
7th Century Épinal Glossary
9th Century Corpus Glossary
glosses to the Vespasian Psalter
sections of the Rushworth Gospels
Characteristics
“a prestige dialect” < influences on West
Saxon texts
 3. Kentish
Location
In the Southeast, covering Kent and Surrey

Materials
8th and 9th Century charters
three 10th Century witnesses
the Kentish Hymn, the Kentish Psalm, and the
interlinear glosses to the Kentish Proverbs.

Characteristics
mixture of West Saxon forms & Mercian influence

NOTE Kentish and Mercian dialects have proved

particularly difficult to define and are sparsely
attested
 4. West Saxon
Location
in the South and Southwest of England

Materials
i. Early West Saxon
manuscripts relevant to the literary activities of
King Alfred and his court (late 9th and early 10th
century)
ii. Late West Saxon
the works of Ælfric (late 10th Century)

Characteristics
widely used by scribes
the best documented dialect
the “Schriftsprache”, the predominant dialect of
Old English
 Anglian

Northumbrian and Mercian dialects,

are usually classed together as
‘Anglian’

“Anglian” and “Saxon” refer to the

largest tribal groups among the 5th
century Germanic invaders
II. DEBATE

The Origin of the Four Old English Dialects

2 Hypotheses
The Germanic invaders brought over their
different varieties from the Continent

Varieties as the byproduct of linguistic post-

invasion development
 Possible explanations and evidence
the “Straubing Heliand fragment” < lexical affiliations between
the Old Saxon language and the Anglian dialect of Old English

the chronological differences between the Saxon and Anglian

migration waves

the overall political, social and cultural circumstances also

influenced language
 III. Defining Dialects

place & time - specific linguistic

}
study of literary texts assigning phonetic study of the Anglo-Saxon
place-names values on spelling land charters on the basis evidence about the different
variants of the distinctive variables dialects
in the boundary clauses classification of the
Old English lexicon
 IV. Old-English Lexicon

Winchester Vocabulary
a first step towards a literary standard
Late 10th century reform documents
exhibit common linguistic patterns, the
most characteristic being the deliberate
choice of certain words instead of
synonyms commonly found in other
writers.

Example
Old English Vocabulary for
"pride"
Aglian “oferhygd”
West Saxon “ofermod”
The Winchester Benedictional 10th century,
Late West Saxon “modignes”
Anglo-Saxon manuscript
V. Old-English POETRY

The "Dialect” of Old

English Poetry
10th – 11th century
- Late West Saxon and Anglian
features

- Sisam (1953) argued in favor of

a“general poetic dialect” < under
question due to the complex
distribution of the dialectical
features in Old English verse and
prose.
Cædmon's Hymn
the oldest surviving poem
written in the Old English
(Northhumbrian Dialect)

Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica

is an important source of
information as it gives us an
insight into certain features
such as the leveling of the
inflectional endings, common
to all Late Old English
Varieties.
VI. LIMITATIONS
General Limitations
complex linguistic conditions
political and linguistic boundaries do not develop
concurrently
the relationship between tribal and speech communities
is hardly determinable
local peculiarities, scriptorial decisions, or individual
habits influence the coping process
dialect mixing < lack of internal consistency in Old
English texts from different areas.
REFERENCES Kornexl, Lucia (2008): Topics in Old English Dialects. In: Matto, Michael (2008): A
Companion toThe Historyof The English Language. Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 172-179