Read the Anglo-Saxon text of “The Voyage of Ohthere”, use the modern English translation as a reference to help you

through the toughest passages.

ANGLO SAXON VERSION
Ohthere sæde his hlaforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt he
ealra Norðmonna norþmest bude. He cwæþ þæt he bude
on þæm lande norþweardum wiþ þa Westsæ. He sæde
þeah þæt þæt land sie swiþe lang norþ þonan; ac hit is eal
weste, buton on feawum stowum styccemælum wiciað
Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra, and on sumera on fiscaþe
be þære sæ. He sæde þæt he æt sumum cirre wolde
fandian hu longe þæt land norþryhte læge, oþþe hwæðer
ænig mon be norðan þæm westenne bude. Þa for he
norþryhte be þæm lande: let him ealne weg þæt weste
land on ðæt steorbord, ond þa widsæ on ðæt bæcbord
þrie dagas. Þa wæs he swa feor norþ swa þa hwælhuntan
firrest faraþ. Þa for he þa giet norþryhte swa feor swa he
meahte on þæm oþrum þrim dagum gesiglan. Þa beag
þæt land þær eastryhte, oþþe seo sæ in on ðæt lond, he
nysse hwæðer; buton he wisse ðæt he ðær bad westan
windes ond hwon norþan, ond siglde ða east be lande
swa swa he meahte on feower dagum gesiglan. Þa
sceolde he þær bidan ryht norþan windes, forþæm þæt
land beag þær suþryhte, oþþe seo sæ in on þæt land, he
nysse hwæþer. Þa siglde he þonan suþryhte be lande swa
swa he mehte on fif dagum gesiglan. Þa læg þær an micel
ea up in on þæt land. Þa cirdon hie up in on ða ea,
forþæm hie ne dorston forþ bi þære ea siglan for unfriþe;
forþæm ðæt land wæs eall gebun on oþre healfe þære
eas. Ne mette he ær nan gebun land siþþan he from his
agnum ham for; ac him wæs ealne weg weste land on
þæt steorbord, butan fiscerum and fugelerum ond
huntum, ond þæt wæron eall Finnas; ond him wæs a
widsæ on ðæt bæcbord. Þa Beormas hæfdon swiþe wel
gebun hira land: ac hie ne dorston þæron cuman. Ac þara
Terfinna land wæs eal weste, buton ðær huntan
gewicodon, oþþe fisceras, oþþe fugeleras.
MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he lived
northernmost of all the Northmen. He said that he lived
in the land northwards opposite the Western Sea. He said
though that the land is a very long way north; but is all
deserted, except for a few places here and there where
the Finns camp, hunting in winter and fishing in the sea
in summer. He said that he at times wanted to discover
how much further the land extended northwards, and
whether any man to the north of the wastelands lived. So
journeyed he northwards by the land letting the
wasteland to be on starboard, and the open sea on the
port side for three days. Then he was as far north as the
whalers furthest sail. Then he travelled still further
northwards, as far as he could in another three days
sailing. Then the land turned eastwards or the sea into the
land, he didn’t know which; but he knew that he waited
there for a westerly wind and a little from the north, and
then sailed due east along the coast for four days. Then
he had to wait for a wind directly from the north, because
the land turned southward there, or the sea into the land,
he did not know which. Then he sailed from there
southwards by the land as much as he could sail in five
days. There extended one great river up in on that land.
Then turned he up in on that river, because he didn’t dare
forth by that river sail because of hostility; because the
land was all inhabited on the other side of the river. He
hadn’t previously encountered any settled land since
leaving his own home; but all the way it was wasteland
to starboard, except for fishermen, fowlers and hunters,
and they were all Finns; and the open sea always to port.
The Biarmians had their land very well inhabited: but he
didn’t dare come therein. But yet the land of the Terfinns
was completely deserted, except for where the hunters,
fishermen and fowlers camped.

Before referring to the glossary, how many words can you recognize in their Old English form? What words barely
changed since the Anglos-Saxon era? After comparing the forms in the glossary - what are the similarities/differences
and what do you think accounts for it?
secgan verb weak class 3 to say
hlaford noun masculine lord
cyning noun masculine king
eal adj. all
buan verb weak class 1 to dwell
cweþan verb strong class 5 to tell
land noun neuter land
wiþ prep. opposite
þeah adv. though
beon verb irregular to be
swiþe adv. very
lang adj. long
þonan adv. from that place
ac conj. but
weste adj. waste, deserted
buton adv. but for
feawa adj. few
stow noun feminine place ænig adj. any
styccemælum adv. here and there be prep. by
wician verb weak class 2 to camp westen noun masculine wasteland
huntoðe noun masculine hunting for verb strong class 6 to travel
winter noun masculine winter lætan verb strong class 7 to let
sumer noun masculine summer weg noun masculine way
fiscaþe noun masculine fishing steorbord noun neuter starboard
sæ noun masculine sea þrie num. three
sum pron. some dag noun masculine day
cierr noun masculine turn, swa … swa conj. as far … as
occasion feor adv. far
willan verb irregular to wish hwælhunta n. masculine
fandian verb weak class 2 to whalehunter
explore faran verb strong class 6 to travel
licgan verb strong class 5 to lie giet adv. yet
oþþe conj. or magan verb pret.-pres. to be able
hwæðer conj. whether oþer adj. other
siglan verb weak class 1 to sail ryht adj. straight, right metan verb weak class 1 to meet
bugan verb strong class 2 to bend forþæm conj. because, for that ær adv. before, earlier
witan verb pret.-pres. to know fif num. five nan = ne an, pron. none
(nysse = ne wisse) an num. one siþþan conj. since
hwæðer pron. which micel adj. big agen adj. own
bidan verb strong class 1 to wait ea noun feminine river ham noun masculine home
westan adj. western cirran verb weak class 1 to turn fiscere noun masculine fisherman
wind noun masculine wind durran verb pret.-pres. to dare fugelere noun masculine fowler
hwon adv. a little forþ adv. forth hunta noun masculine hunter
feower num. four unfriþe noun masculine absence habban verb weak class 3 to have
sculan verb pret.-pres. shall, ough of peace, hostility wel adv. well
to healf noun feminine half cuman verb strong class 4 to come

Text analysis. Study questions.

1. In the glossary the words are presented in the zero forms, find the inflected forms of these words in the text and try to
explain the inflection. Which of the inflections is missing in modern English? How are they compensated?
2. How many words descended from Old English? How many fell out of use? How many are recognizable in their Old
English version? Which words underwent the change in meaning? What could be behind this change in meaning?
3. Why is the story so repetitive? How is it different from the modern organization of information? Find the repetitions in
the text and edit them in a way that is acceptable in modern English.
4. Given the historical timeline, borrowings from which languages can you find in the text?
5. How many compounds can you find in the text? How common do you think this word-building device was in old
Germanic languages? Is it as productive in modern Germanic languages?
6. How different is word order in Anglo-Saxon and modern English? What do you think accounts for it?
7. Which linguistic process accommodated the following blends: nysse, nan?
8. How does grammatical gender correspond to the biological gender in Old English?
9. What is the origin of the ‘ea’ sound in the following words: ealra, healfe, norþweardum, meahte, healfe, ealne?
10. How can you explain the sound changes in the following examples: Þrim – three, triangle; cyninge – king, gene; fiscaþe
– fish, piscine; fugeleras – fowl, poultry?
11. What mood manifests in the following verbs and what accounts for its use: bude, sie, wolde, læge, meahte?
12. How did the strong and weak verbs evolve in terms of categories and inflections? Give several examples to illustrate
your point.
13. What is the function of the nouns in dative case? Comparing the Anglo-Saxon and modern texts, what replaced the case
forms in the present-day English?
14. Comment on the morphemic structure of the following words: hlaforde, cyninge, norþmest, styccemælum, huntoðe,
fiscaþe, norþryhte, steorbord, bæcbord, hwælhuntan, unfriþe, fiscerum, fugelerum, huntum, widsæ, norþweardum, unfriþe.
15. Comment on the syntactic structure of the following: Ne mette he ær nan gebun land.
16. What accounts for different plural inflections in the following words and how did the plural forming inflection develop
in the words that survived: Finnas, dagas, fisceras, fugeleras, huntan?
17. Many of the Germanic words did not survive the Norman Conquest, which modern words come from the Anglo-Saxon:
‘faran’ and ‘wician’?

Old English bēon 'to be, become' represents another anomalous verb inherited from Proto-Germanic; this verb
survives in modern English in the forms be, been, being. As with wesan (see lesson 1), not all potential variants
are found in surviving texts.
There are neither preterite forms nor participles. There is a so-called "inflected infinitive" form, tō bēonne '(in
order) to be', which introduces a purpose.
17 The Anomalous Verb eom/is
The third Old English 'to be' verb has no [surviving] infinitive form; some authorities identify it by its 1st person
singular form eom 'am', others by its 3rd singular form is 'is'. There are even fewer basic forms than with the
other 'to be' verbs:
The suffix -on of sindon is sometimes present, sometimes absent, in the texts; an alternate spelling of the sind
variant is sint. Variations in the subjunctive forms include sīe for both the 2nd/3rd singular, and the e in the
plural may be present or absent.
Negative contractions include nēom, neart, and nis (see lesson texts 8 and 9).
18 Strong Verbs in Class IV
Strong Class IV verbs exhibit the four-vowel ablaut pattern -e-, -æ-, -ǣ-, -o- (or -u-) -- where the ablaut vowel is
followed by -l-, -r-, or -m- -- in theory. In practice, some verbs in this class exhibit the effects of sound changes
like those that affected Strong III verbs (recall its 4 subclasses). Again we will provide 4 example conjugations.

Our text in this lesson contains the verb beran 'bear, carry' -- the theoretical standard-bearer for this verb class,
although it does exhibit an unusual vowel change in the present indicative 2nd/3rd person singular. The text in
lesson 1 contains cuman 'come', which is truly exceptional; we arbitrarily select scieran 'shear' and, looking
ahead to genumen (past participle of geniman) in lesson 10, niman 'take', which are rather less exceptional than
cuman, to fill out the conjugation table.
Another modern English verb descended from an OE Strong IV verb found in our lesson texts is break, although
in OE brecan, the liquid -r- precedes the ablaut vowel -- yet another exception to the "rules."
19 Preterite-Present Verbs in Class IV
Preterite-Present verbs were introduced and described in lesson 3, §15. Our text in this lesson (as well as lessons
1 & 2) contains the preterite-present verb sculan 'shall, ought to', which evolved into modern English shall and
should; the text in lesson 3 contains onmunan 'esteem, remember, think worthy', formed from the prefix on- plus
the verb munan 'remember'. We conjugate these two to illustrate the preterite-present verbs in Class IV.
The text in lesson 2 contains the verb sprecan 'speak, say'; the texts in lessons 1 & 3 contain ongietan 'grasp,
understand', formed from the prefix on- plus the verb gietan 'get'; our text in this lesson contains the verbs licgan
'lie, extend, be situated' and sēon 'see, look'. We conjugate these four to illustrate the strong verbs in Class V; as
usual, the 4th column exhibits the greatest variability.
\N.B. Not by any means are all of the many spelling variations, found in OE texts, listed above -- nor are they in
general, in our conjugation tables.
A sampling of modern English verbs descended from other OE Strong V verbs found in our lesson texts
includes bid, forgive, give, quoth ("the Raven..."), and wreak.