The birth of Old English

430 AD Celtic Vortigern invited the

Jutes to southern areas.
The Angles followed

The Frisian also crossed

450 AD the North Sea.

The war-like Saxons came

470 AD to British mainland as well

Gradually, These tribes displaced the

over time Celts
Celtic Language

● Irish Gaelic

● Scottish Gaelic

● Manx
 Irish gaelic

Ogham alphabet

Gaelic script
Saolaítear na daoine uile saor agus comhionann
ina ndínit agus ina gcearta. Tá bua an réasúin agus
an choinsiasa acu agus dlíd iad féin d'iompar de
mheon bráithreachais i leith a chéile.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity

and rights. They are endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards one another in
a spirit of brotherhood.
The Anglo – Saxon language
These people spoke variations of West Germanic
language.
Similar to modern Frisian (Netherlands)

miel (meal), laam (lamb), goes (goose),

bûter (butter), tsiis (cheese), see (sea),
boat (boat), stoarm (storm), rein (rain)

*It was not an invasion

From German dialect to Englisc
• Because of their war-like nature, the Saxons
became dominant.
• The Anglo – Saxon nation became Anglaland
or Englaland (The land of the Angles).
• Later shortened to England, with the
emerging language of Englisc.
• Hard to tell when English became a language
of its own.
• Around 600 AD
 From runes to Latin

450 – 480 AD
Christianity
• 597 AD: St. Augustine from Rome came
to Anglo – Saxon and with him, brought
Christianity.
• And the more rounded Latin alphabet
Changes
• 6th century: All “sk” sound changed into
“sh”. This affected every words in the
language. (“skield” became “shield”)

• 7th century: Vowels became more front.

Mainly, the “i” sound was affected. Plurals
of some words changed as well:

Foot/feet; goose/geese; man/men;

blood/bleed
How to speak Old English
● short a is pronounced like the Modern English "o" sound in C is either “k” (cyrran) or “ch” (ceosan)
"contact":manegum
G is either “y” (gifu) or “g” (goda)
● long a is pronounced like the "a" sound in Modern English "father: þam
● æ is pronounced like the "a" sound in Modern English "cat" or H is a throat “ch” as in “loch” (dryhten)
"bat": fæder
● short e is pronounced like the "e" sound in Modern English "bet": betra Sk is “sh” (scip)
● long e is pronounced to rhyme with Modern English "way": we
● short i is pronounced like the "i" sound in Modern English "his": his
● long i is pronounced like Modern English "ee" in "feed": rices
● short o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "pond": ond
● long o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "go":gedon
● short u is pronounced like the "u" sound in Modern English
"bull": ungelæredum
● long u is pronounced like the "oo" sound in Modern English
"school":sculan
● short y is pronounced like the "i" sound in Modern English "will": wylle
● long y is pronounced like the "oo" sound in Modern English "school," but
with the lips slightly pursed: gecyþnisse
Beowulf Prologue
The Middle English
(1066-1500)
Anglo-Saxon English alphabet Middle French alphabet
 Changes in spelling
● y u:
eg: mycel (much)  mucel
fyr (fire)  fur
● Cw qu
eg: cween (queen) queen
cwarry (quarry)  quarry
● Ht ght
eg: miht (might)  might

● Hw wh
eg: hwelet (what) whelet
 Changes in spelling
● Change in place names
initial tht

eg: Thurbury Turbury; Thurville Turville.

initial s removed
eg: Snottingham Nottingham
● Erase letter thorn, eth, and wynn..
(Azhar, 2016)
Changes in sound
● Changes in vowels
long [i] [ai]
Eg: finer (fine) /finə/  /fainə/
long [u] [au]
Eg: espouse /spuze/  /spauze/
● Final syllables French loan words
Eg: begyner (begin); cammander (command)
● Silent h
Eg: heure (hour)
kumb (comb)
(Shafari, 2013)