An
Introduction to Old English
Contents
To readers viii
1 Origins and source 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Indo-European and Germanic 2
1.3 The Anglo-Saxon settlement 3
1.4 The look of Old English 4
1.5 Vowels 5
1.6 People, places and texts 6
1.7 The sound system of Old
English 8
Exercises 12
2 The basic elements 13
2.1 Change and continuity 13
2.2 Nouns 14
2.3 Demonstratives 18
2.4 Pronouns 19
2.5 A simple sentence 22
Exercises 24
3 More nouns and adjectives 26
3.1 Irregular nouns 26
3.2 Minor declensions 29
3.3 Adjectives 32
3.4 The verb ‘to be’ 35
Exercise 37
4 Verb forms 39
4.1 Verb types 39
4.2 A weak verb 41
4.3 More weak verbs 42
4.4 Unmutated verbs 45
4.5 A phonological interlude 46
4.6 More weak verbs 48
4.7 ‘Anomalous’ verbs 49
4.8 More on i-mutation and
suppletion and adjectives 50
Exercise 51
5 Strong verbs 54
5.1 Present-day English 54
5.2 Ablaut 54
5.3 Strong verb classes 55
5.4 Variation in strong verbs 61
5.5 Modal verbs 64
Exercises 66
6 Noun phrases and verb phrases
68
6.1 The elements of syntax 68
6.2 The noun phrase 68
6.3 Concord 75
6.4 Tense in the verb phrase 77
6.5 Aspect 78
6.6 Voice 80
6.7 Mood 82
Exercise 85
7 Clauses 86
7.1 Word order 86
7.2 Verb-second order 87
7.3 Verb-final order 90
7.4 Noun phrase order 92
7.5 Negation 94
7.6 Relative and other clauses 95
7.7 Impersonal verbs 98
Exercise 100
8 Vocabulary 102
8.1 The sources of vocabulary 102
8.2 Core vocabulary 103
8.3 Affixation 105
8.4 Compounds 107
8.5 Latin loans 109
8.6 Other loan words 112
Exercise 113
vi AN INTRODUCTION TO MIDDLE
ENGLISH
9 Variety 115
9.1 Introduction 115
9.2 Chronology 116
9.3 Prose 117
9.4 Poetry 118
9.5 Dialect 123
Exercise 126
10 The future 128
10.1 Introduction 128
10.2 The past 129
10.3 Towards Middle English and
beyond 130
10.4 Envoi 135
Exercises 136
Old English – present-day English glossary 138
Glossary of linguistic terms 147
Recommended reading 154
References 158
Index 161
