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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

PRACTICAL TASK 3

EARLY NEW ENGLISH SOUND AND SPELLING CHANGES

Exercise 5. Name and explain the changes in spelling and pronunciation:

1)OE. f r > ME. fir, fer, fuir > E. fire________________________

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2)OE. wræs > ME. gras > E. grass__________________________

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3)OE. sēcan > ME. seken > E. seek_________________________

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4)OE. hearm > ME. harm > E. harm________________________

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5)OE. cnēo > ME. knee > E. knee__________________________

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6)OE. hlūd > ME. loud > E. loud___________________________

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

7)OE. lufu > ME. love > E. love___________________________

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8)OE. macian > ME. maken > E. make______________________

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9)OE. cniht > ME. knight > E. knight_______________________

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10)OE. ūre > ME. oure > E. our_____________________________

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11)OE. pund > ME. pound > E. pound________________________

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12)OE. sceal > ME. shal > E. shall___________________________

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13)OE. tōþ > ME. tooth > E. tooth___________________________

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14)OE. tūn > ME. town > E. town___________________________

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15)OE. wew > ME. wei, wey > E. way_______________________

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Exercise 6. Explain the difference in spelling and pronunciation of the following words which had the same root in OE:

1)English good from OE. wōd >________________________________

English gospel from OE.wōdspele >____________________________

2)English dear from OE. dēor >________________________________

English darling from OE. dēorlinw >___________________________

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

PRACTICAL TASK 4

OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND TEXT

You might find it interesting to know that…

Old English is the name given to the Germanic language spoken in the southern part of the island of Britain before the Norman Conquest in 1066 c.e. (and for about 100 years after the Conquest). This language is the ancestor of the Modern English spoken today, although it is quite different in appearance and sound at first glance. Most of our records of the Old English language date from the period between about 875 c.e. and about 1100 c.e., and there is very little evidence indeed of the precise state of the language before the Christian missionary efforts at the end of the 6th century c.e., or about the stages by which Old English had become Middle English by about 1250 c.e.

Most Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were written on vellum (Old English fell) made of calf skin. This was stretched, scraped smooth, whitened with chalk, cut into sheets, ruled with a stylus, and folded into quires of eight leaves (four sheets), or sixteen pages. After the scribes had done their work, the quires were sewn together and bound.

While fewer than 5,000 Old English words exist unchanged and in common use, these constitute the basic building blocks of the language.

Starter Activity:

Task 1. It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Work in small groups and state which differences you can find in the versions of the Lord’s Prayer:

M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

Early Modern English (King

James Version, 1611)

Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our daily bread. And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters. And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.

Task 2. Compare the OE text with its translation. Pay attention to those letters of the alphabet which are not used in ModE. Look at the vocabulary of the original version of the text, and try to identify OE words that are still part of present-day English, though considerably changed in their spelling.

Notes: næfde = ne hæfde – negative of the verb habban.

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

Exercise 1. Study the words below and translate the given text in Old English into Modern English:

1.ac – E. ‘but’.

2.aþer… oððe… – E. ‘either… or…’.

3.be – E. ‘by’.

4.byne, bynum – adj. E. ‘cultivated’.

5.brad, bradre, bradost – adj. from “brad” (E. ‘broad, wide’).

6.būde – v., from ‘būan’, anomal. (E. ‘to live’).

7.cyninʒe – n., m., a – stem ‘cyninʒ’.

8.clūdiʒ – adj. rocky, hilly (from ‘clūd’, E. ‘rock, hill’).

9.cwæð – v. from ‘cweðan’, strong (E. ‘to say’).

10.ealra – from ‘eal’.

11.eardiað – v., from ‘eardian’ (E. ‘dwell, inhibit’).

12.emnlanʒe = efenlanʒe – prep. ‘along’.

13.erian – E. ‘to plough’.

14.ettan – E. ‘to graze’.

15.fiscaþe – v. from ‘fiscian’.

16.for – v., preterite sing. from ‘faran’(E. set for, travel, go).

17.hlāforde – n., m., a – stem ‘hlāford’ (E. ‘lord, master’).

18.huntoðe – v. from “huntian”.

19.hwene –adv ‘somewhat, a little’ (instr. of ‘hwon’).

20.lið, licʒað – from ‘licʒean’ (E. ‘to lie, to rest’).

21.middeweard – from ‘midd’ (E. ‘middle, placed between’).

22.mīla – n. from ‘mīl’.

23.mōras, mōre – n. from ‘mōr’ (E. ‘moor, waste land’).

24.norþweardum – adj. n. of ‘norþward’ (E. ‘northern’).

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

25.oððe – conj., E. ‘or’.

26.oferferan – E. ‘to pass, cross, go over; go through; come across’.

27.s – n., fem., i – stem.

28.s de – v., from ‘secʒan’ [Dsedan].

29.sīe – Pres. Subj. of ‘bēon’.

30.symle = simbles – E. ‘ever, always’.

31.syþþan – E. ‘afterwards, since, after’.

32.smæl,smælre,smalost–adj.(E.‘small,little,notgreat;narrow,notbroad’).

33.stycce-m lum [Dsty`è] – E. ‘here and there’.

34.stōwum–from‘stōw’fem.(-e/-a)(E.‘aplace,spot,locality,site’).

35.sumera – n., m., u – stem, from ‘sumor’.

36.swā–adv.,rel.pron.‘so,as,while’;swā…swā…–conj.(E.‘so…as…’).

37.swīþe – E. ‘very’.

38.sumum – from ‘sum’.

39.þā – fem., of sē, sēo, þæt.

40.þēah – E. ‘though’, ‘although’.

41.þ re – fem., gen. or dat. sing. of ‘sē, sēo, þæt’.

42.þonan – E. ‘from there’.

43.wēste – E. ‘uninhabited.

44.wīciað – from ‘wīcian’ [Dwī`ias], verb weak (E. ‘to live’).

45.wintra – n., m., u – stem, from ‘winter’.

46.wucum – n. from ‘wucu’ (E. ‘week’).

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

THE VOYAGES OF OHTHERE

1.Ōhthēre s de his hlāforde, Ælfrēde cyninʒe, þæt hē ealra Norðmanna norþmest būde.

2.Hē cwæð þæt hē būde on þ m lande norþweardum wiþ þā Wests .

3.Hē sæde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lanʒ norþ þonan; ac hit is eal wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum stycce-m lum wīciað Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra and on sumera on fiscaþe be þ re s .

4.þa for hē norþryhte be þæm lande.

5.Hē sæde þæt Norðmanna land wære swīþe lanʒ and swīþe smæl.

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

6.Eal þæt his man aþer oððe ettan oððe erian mæʒ, þæt lið wið ða s ; and þæt is þēah on sumum stōwum swīþe clūdiʒ; and licʒað wilda mōras wið eastan and wið uppon emnlanʒe þ m bynum lande.

7.On þ m mōrum eardiað Finnas.

8.And þæt byne land is ēastweard bradost, and symle swā norðor swā smælre.

9.Eastweard hit mæʒ bion syxtiʒ mīla brad, oððe hwene bradre, and middeweard þritiʒ oððe bradre; and norðeweard hē cwæð, þær hit smalost wære, þæt hit mihte beon þreora mīla brad to þ m more; and se mōr syþþan, on sumum stowum, swā brad swā man mæʒ in twam wucum oferferan; and on sumum stowum swā brad swā man mæʒ on syx daʒum oferferan.

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

Exercise 2. Comment on the sound value of the OE fricatives þ, a, s, f in the initial, medial and final positions. Find examples in the text.

Exercise 3. What is the origin of the vowel [y] in the OE word

(OHG. kuninw)?

Exercise 4. Find all the verbs in the text and comment on their principal forms. Exercise 5. Comment on the morphological structure of the words:

hlāford, Norðmanna, norþweardum, Wests , ēastweard, middweard.

Exercise 6. Comment on the forms of the adjectives bradra(e), smælre, wildan, tamra, smalost. Define the function of these adjectives in the

sentences.

Exercise 7. Analyse all the numerals and nouns that denote animals.What kind of changes have they undergone?

Exercise 8. Which types of word connection are used in the text? How are the relations between the words of the sentence expressed? Comment on word order in the sentences of the text.

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M. Babenko. Lecture Notes and Practical Tasks in the History of English Language and its Varieties

PRACTICAL TASK 5

MIDDLE ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND TEXT

You might find it interesting to know that…

Only 2 per cent of the British population in the Middle English period spoke only one language – French, the rest spoke either English or both languages.

Starter Activity:

Listen to the text of Prologue from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and try to understand the gist of it. In small groups discuss what changes can be expected in the text below knowing that it belongs to the ME period:

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