History of English - Part 1

​HISTORY OF ENGLISH

Eald Englisc

Word Cloud

Where do you think English comes from?

Old English - Timeline

Unknown

"Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, hu ða æþelingas þrym gefrunon, ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Sce ng from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, sceaþena þreatum, 5 monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah egsode eorlas."

"LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won! Oft Scyld the Sce ng from squadroned foes, from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, awing the earls."

Fixed SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) structure.

Cases are mostly lost, except in pronouns (e.g., he/him/his).

Only a few strong verbs remain (sing-sang-sung), most verbs are regular (love-loved-loved).

Uses "the" for all nouns.

Reduction of unstressed vowels (name [neɪm]).

​Modern English

Word Order (Syntax): more flexible

Inflections & Case System: It had several grammatical cases and had plurals and different genders.

erb Conjugation & Strong vs. Weak Verbs: more varied conjugations with seven classes of Strong verbs and weak verbs.

Definite Articles: a definite article for each asculine, feminine, neuter.

Full pronunciation of all syllables (nama = "name" [ˈnaːma]).

Old English

Differences between:

​Choose the most poetic translation for each sentence.

Poll

Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geārdagum, þēodcyninga þrym gefrūnon.

• Listen! We have heard of the mighty Spear-Danes from long ago.

• Hey! Let me tell you about the great kings of the Danes in ancient times.

Poll

Þæt wæs gōd cyning

• That ruler was wise and strong.

• He was a great king.

Poll

Hē wæs þȳh-gesǣlig, ond sē þe him mid wæs.

• He was fortunate, and so were those who stood with him.

• Luck was on his side, as well as on his people's.

Poll

Nē hīe fæder cunnon.

• Their father's identity remained unknown to them.

• They did not know their father.

Poll

Him þā Scyld gewāt tō gescæphwile.

• Scyld departed from this world, fulfilling his destiny.

• Then Scyld passed away, as fate had planned.

Act the word

You have been given a word with a hidden meaning.

Act out and let your partners guess the meaning of the word in Modern English.

Homework

Transition from Old English to Middle English