History of Old English

The Origins of the language of Beowulf

I. The base: Proto-Indo-European

proto- means first ; spoken from India to Europe7,000 years ago they traveled and spread outbecame Persian, Hindi, Armenian, Greek, Russian, Polish, French, English, Spanish, German, Norweigian, etc.Also was the language of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes

I. The base: Proto-Indo-European

Indo-European words for “father”Sanskrit - piterClassical Greek - paterLatin - paterGothic - fadarOld Irish - athirFrench - pereSpanish - padreItalian - padrePortuguese - paiEnglish - fatherGerman - vader

II. Britons (Celts) and the conquering Romans

Romans invaded Celts and then left to defend Rome - left trade and soldiering words like: mile, street, wall, wine, cheese, butter, dish, portCelts, without Roman protection, were easily conquered and driven to Wales -left very little language influence

III. Angles, Saxons, and Jutes come in and kick some Celtic booty (A.D. 449)

brought Germanic form of O.E,

basic words survived -heart, foot, head, day, year, earth, father, mother, son, daughter, name, east, full, hound, tooth, eat, weave, and sew

mainly oral language

III. Angles, Saxons, and Jutes come in and kick some Celtic booty (A.D. 449)

Old English WordDaege’s EageHlaf-DigeHalf-wardWitaWyrdWyrm

Meaning of Old English WordDay’s eyeLoaf kneaderLoaf gaurdianWise personFateDragon

Modern EnglishDaisyLady LordWit WeirdWorm

IV. St. Augustine and Christianity (597-1066)

Latin became language of the Church and learning-school, candle, altar, paper, circle, abbeychurch services, books, school classes in Latinto not know Latin = illiteratemore lasting impact than any other language

V. Vikings invade . . . and invade, and invade

brought Old Norse from Scandinavia

8th century

fierce fighters- ruthless

big language influence -get, give, hit, kick, law, sister, outlaw, knife, take, egg, sky, they, their, them

VI. Grammar changes

all nouns were one of 3 genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)4 verb forms instead of 2-Modern English= I ride, she rides, they ride, we ride-O.E.= ic ride, u ridest, he ride , and we ridonWord endings showed relationship, not word orderPronunciation changes (especially vowels)