For other uses see Old English (disambiguation). Old English nglisc Anglisc Englisc Spoken in England (except the extreme southwest and northwest) parts of modern Scotland south-east of the Forth and the eastern fringes of modern Wales. Language extinction mostly developed into Middle English by the 13th century Language family Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Old English Writing system Runic later Latin alphabet (Old English variant). Language codes ISO 639-2 ang ISO 639-3 ang Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

This article is part of a series on: Old English Dialects Kentish Mercian Northumbrian West Saxon Use Orthography (Runic alphabet  Latin alphabet) Grammar Phonology Morphology (Declension  Pronouns  Prepositions) Literature Old English literature (Beowulf  Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  Cdmon's Hymn) History History of English Development of Old English (Influences: Germanic  Latin  Old Norse) Legacy Middle English Early Modern English Modern English See also: Changes to Old English vocabulary This box: view talk

Old English (nglisc Anglisc Englisc) or Anglo-Saxon1 is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon.

It is a West Germanic language and is closely related to Old Frisian. Old English was fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative accusative genitive dative and instrumental though the instrumental was very rare) which had dual forms for referring to groups of two objects (but only in the personal pronouns) in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It also assigned gender to all nouns including those that describe inanimate objects: for example so sunne (the Sun) was feminine while se mna (the Moon) was masculine (cf. modern German die Sonne and der Mond). From the 9th century Old English experienced heavy influence from Old Norse a member of the related North Germanic group of languages.

Contents 1 History 2 Influence of other languages 2.1 Latin influence 2.2 Norse influence 2.3 Celtic influence 3 Dialects 4 Phonology 5 Grammar 5.1 Morphology 5.2 Syntax 5.2.1 Word order 5.2.1.1 Questions 6 Orthography 6.1 Conventions of modern editions 7 Literature 8 Text samples 8.1 Beowulf 8.2 The Lord's Prayer 8.3 Charter of Cnut 9 See also 10 Notes 11 Bibliography 11.1 Sources 11.2 General 11.3 External history 11.4 Orthography/Palaeography 11.5 Phonology 11.6 Morphology 11.7 Syntax 11.8 Lexicons 12 External links History Further information: History of the English language

Old English was not static and its usage covered a period of approximately 700 years from the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century some time after the Norman invasion.

Old English is a West Germanic language developing out of common Ingvaeonic or "North-Sea Germanic" from the 5th century. Anglo-Saxon literacy develops after Christianisation in the late 7th century. The oldest surviving text of Old English literature is Cdmon's Hymn composed between 658 and 680. There is a limited corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries but the oldest coherent runic texts (notably Franks Casket) date to the 8th century.

The history of Old English can be subdivided in: Prehistoric Old English (c. 450 to 650); for this period Old English is mostly a reconstructed language as no literary witnesses survive (with the exception of limited epigraphic evidence). Early Old English (ca. 650 to 900) the period of the oldest manuscript traditions with authors such as Cdmon Bede Cynewulf and Aldhelm. Late Old English (c. 900 to 1066) the final stage of the language leading up to the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent transition to Early Middle English.

The Old English period is followed by Middle English (12th to 15th century) Early Modern English (ca. 1480 to 1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650). Influence of other languages

In the course of the Early Middle Ages Old English assimilated some aspects of a few languages with which it came in contact such as the two dialects of Old Norse from the contact with the Norsemen or "Danes" who by the late 9th century controlled large tracts of land in northern and eastern England which came to be known as the Danelaw. Latin influence Further information: Latin influence in English A large percentage of the educated and literate population of the time were competent in Latin which was the scholarly and diplomatic lingua franca of Europe at the time. It is sometimes possible to give approximate dates for the entry of individual Latin words into Old English based on which patterns of linguistic change they have undergone. There were at least three notable periods of Latin influence. The first occurred before the ancestral Angles and Saxons left continental Europe for Britain. The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity and Latin-speaking priests became widespread. See Latin influence in English: Dark Ages for details. The third and largest single transfer of Latin-based words happened after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when an enormous number of Norman words began to influence the language. Most of these Ol language words were themselves derived from Old French and ultimately from classical Latin although a notable stock of Norse words were introduced or re-introduced in Norman form. The Norman Conquest approximately marks the end of Old English and the advent of Middle English. One of the ways the influence of Latin can be seen is that many Latin words for activities came to also be used to refer to the people engaged in those activities an idiom carried over from Anglo-Saxon but using Latin words.citation needed This can be seen in words like militia assembly movement and service. The language was further altered by the transition away from the runic alphabet (also known as futhorc or fuorc) to the Latin alphabet which was also a significant factor in the developmental pressures brought to bear on the language. Old English words were spelled more or less as they were pronounced. Often the Latin alphabet fell short of being able to adequately represent Anglo-Saxon phonetics. Spellings therefore can be thought of as best-attempt approximations of how the language actually sounded. The "silent" letters in many Modern English words were pronounced in Old English: for example the c and h in cniht the Old English ancestor of the modern knight were pronounced. Another side-effect of spelling Old English words phonetically using the Latin alphabet was that spelling was extremely variable. A word's spelling could also reflect differences in the phonetics of the writer's regional dialect. Words also endured idiosyncratic spelling choices of individual authors some of whom varied spellings between works. Thus for example the word and could be spelt either and or ond. Norse influence The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century:    Old West Norse dialect    Old East Norse dialect    Old Gutnish dialect    Crimean Gothic    Old English    Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility The second major source of loanwords to Old English were the Scandinavian words introduced during the Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries. In addition to a great many place names these consist mainly of items of basic vocabulary and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the Danelaw (that is the area of land under Viking control which included extensive holdings all along the eastern coast of England and Scotland). The Vikings spoke Old Norse a language related to Old English in that both derived from the same ancestral Proto-Germanic language. It is very common for the intermixing of speakers of different dialects such as those that occur during times of political unrest to result in a mixed language and one theory holds that exactly such a mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in Old English.2 Apparent confirmation of this is the fact that simplification of the case endings occurred earliest in the north and latest in the southwest the area farthest away from Viking influence. Regardless of the truth of this theory the influence of Old Norse on the English language has been profound: responsible for such basic vocabulary items as sky leg the pronoun they the verb form are and hundreds of other words. Celtic influence Main article: Brittonicisms in English Traditionally many maintain that the influence of Celtic on English has been small citing the small number of Celtic loanwords taken into the language. The number of Celtic loanwords is of a lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. However a minority view is that distinctive Celtic traits can be discerned in syntax from the post-Old English period.3 Why these traits appear to be restricted to syntax and do not include vocabulary is not clear. Dialects Old English should not be regarded as a single monolithic entity just as Modern English is also not monolithic. Within Old English there was language variation. Thus it is misleading for example to consider Old English as having a single sound system. Rather there were multiple Old English sound systems. Old English has variation along regional lines as well as variation across different times. For example the language attested in Wessex during the time of thelwold of Winchester which is named Late West Saxon (or thelwoldian Saxon) is considerably different from the language attested in Wessex during the time of Alfred the Great's court which is named Early West Saxon (or Classical West Saxon or Alfredian Saxon). Furthermore the difference between Early West Saxon and Late West Saxon is of such a nature that Late West Saxon is not directly descended from Early West Saxon (despite what the similarity in name implies). The four main dialectal forms of Old English were Mercian Northumbrian Kentish and West Saxon.4 Each of those dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these all of Northumbria and most of Mercia were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia and all of Kent that were successfully defended were then integrated into Wessex. After the process of unification of the diverse Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 878 by Alfred the Great there is a marked decline in the importance of regional dialects. This is not because they stopped existing; regional dialects continued even after that time to this day as evidenced both by the existence of Middle and Modern English dialects later on and by common sensepeople do not spontaneously adopt another dialect when there is a sudden change of political power. The first page of the Beowulf manuscript However the bulk of the surviving documents from the Anglo-Saxon period are written in the dialect of Wessex Alfred's kingdom. It seems likely that with consolidation of power it became necessary to standardize the language of government to reduce the difficulty of administering the more remote areas of the kingdom. As a result documents were written in the West Saxon dialect. Not only this but Alfred was passionate about the spread of the vernacular and brought many scribes to his region from Mercia to record previously unwritten texts.5 The Church was affected likewise especially since Alfred initiated an ambitious programme to translate religious materials into English. To retain his patronage and ensure the widest circulation of the translated materials the monks and priests engaged in the programme worked in his dialect. Alfred himself seems to have translated books out of Latin and into English notably Pope Gregory I's treatise on administration Pastoral Care. Because of the centralization of power and the Viking invasions there is little or no written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after Alfred's unification. Phonology Main article: Old English phonology The inventory of classical Old English (i.e. Late West Saxon) surface phones as usually reconstructed is as follows.   Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Stop p  b     t  d     k     Affricate         t  (d)       Nasal m     n     ()   Fricative   f  (v)   () s  (z) () (x)  () h Approximant       r   j w   Lateral approximant       l         The sounds marked in parentheses in the chart above are allophones: d is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and // v z are allophones of /f s/ respectively occurring between vowels or voiced consonants x are allophones of /h/ occurring in coda position after front and back vowels respectively is an allophone of // occurring after a vowel and at an earlier stage of the language in the syllable onset. Monophthongs Short Long Front Back Front Back Close i  y u i  y u Mid e  () o e  () o Open The front mid rounded vowels /()/ occur in some dialects of Old English but not in the best attested Late West Saxon dialect. Diphthongs Short (monomoraic) Long (bimoraic) First element is close iy6 iy Both elements are mid eo eo Both elements are open Grammar Morphology Main article: Old English morphology Unlike modern English Old English is a language rich with morphological diversity. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative accusative genitive dative and (vestigially) instrumental remnants of which survive only in a few pronouns in modern English. Syntax Word order While Old English has a surface appearance of being of subject-verb-object (SVO) structure it is perhaps more accurate to describe it as having underlying SOV with V-to-T verb raising. Main clauses frequently exhibit the verb-second (V2) structure that is found in Modern German and Modern Dutch (with SOV surfacing in subordinate clauses). Positing V-to-T raising accounts for the ability of Old English to invert lexical verbs with their subjects to form questions. Modern English has lost V-to-T raising and requires DO-support or another auxiliary to perform this function (with "to be" being a notable exception and "to have" being a receding exception). The word order of Old English however was not as crucial as it is to Modern English due to its heavily inflected nature. Questions Because of its similarity with Old Norse it is believed that most of the time the word order of Old English changed when asking a question from SVO to VSO; i.e. swapping the verb and the subject. While many purport that Old English had free word order this is not quite true and there were conventions for the positioning of subject object and verb in the clause. "I am..." becomes "Am I..." "Ic eom..." becomes "Eom ic..." Orthography Main articles: Anglo-Saxon runes and Old English Latin alphabet The runic alphabet used to write Old English before the introduction of the Latin alphabet. Old English was first written in runes (futhorc) but shifted to a (minuscule) half-uncial script of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries7 from around the 9th century. This was replaced by insular script a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the end of the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule (also known as Caroline) replaced the insular. The letter t (called eth or edh in modern English) was an alteration of Latin d and the runic letters thorn and wynn are borrowings from futhorc. Also used was a symbol for the conjunction and a character similar to the number seven ( called a Tironian note) and a symbol for the relative pronoun t a thorn with a crossbar through the ascender (). Macrons over vowels were rarely used to indicate long vowels. Also used occasionally were abbreviations for following ms or ns. All of the sound descriptions below are given using IPA symbols. Conventions of modern editions A number of changes are traditionally made in published modern editions of the original Old English manuscripts. Some of these conventions include the introduction of punctuation and the substitutions of symbols. The symbols e f g r s are used in modern editions although their shapes in the insular script are considerably different. The long s is substituted by its modern counterpart s. Insular is usually substituted with its modern counterpart g (which is ultimately a Carolingian symbol). Additionally modern editions often distinguish between a velar and palatal c and g with diacritic dots above the putative palatals: . The wynn symbol is usually substituted with w. Macrons are usually found in modern editions to indicate putative long vowels while they are usually lacking in the originals. In older printed editions of Old English works an acute accent mark was used to maintain cohesion between Old English and Old Norse printing. The alphabetical symbols found in Old English writings and their substitute symbols found in modern editions are listed below: Symbol Description and notes a Short //. Spelling variations like land lond "land" suggest it may have had a rounded allophone before n in some cases) Long //. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short a in modern editions. Short //. Before 800 the digraph ae is often found instead of . During the 8th century began to be used more frequently was standard after 800. In 9th century Kentish manuscripts a form of that was missing the upper hook of the a part was used. Kentish may be either // or /e/ although this is difficult to determine. Long //. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short in modern editions. b Represented /b/. Also represented v in early texts before 800. For example the word "sheaves" is spelled scabas in an early text but later (and more commonly) as scafas. c Except in the digraphs sc cg either /t/ or /k/. The /t/ pronunciation is sometimes written with a diacritic by modern editors: most commonly sometimes or . Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always /k/; word-finally after i it is always /t/. Otherwise a knowledge of the historical linguistics of the word is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See The distribution of velars and palatals in Old English for details.) cg dd (the surface pronunciation of geminate /jj/); occasionally also for // d Represented /d/. In the earliest texts it also represented // but was soon replaced by and . For example the word meaning "thought" (lit. mood-i-think with -i- as in "handiwork") was written mdgidanc in a Northumbrian text dated 737 but later as mdgeanc in a 10th century West Saxon text. Represented // and its allophone . Called t in Old English (now called eth in Modern English) is found in alternation with thorn (both representing the same sound) although it is more common in texts dating before Alfred. Together with it replaced earlier d and th. First attested (in definitely dated materials) in the 7th century. After the beginning of Alfred's time was used more frequently for medial and final positions while became increasingly used in initial positions although both still varied. Some modern editions attempt to regularise the variation between and by using only .8 e Short /e/. Either Kentish // or /e/ although this is difficult to determine. A modern editorial substitution for a form of missing the upper hook of the a found in 9th century texts. Long /e/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short e in modern editions. ea Short //; after sometimes // or //. a Long //. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short ea in modern editions. After sometimes //. eo Short /eo/; after sometimes /o/ o Long /eo/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short eo in modern editions. f /f/ and its allophone v g // and its allophone ; /j/ and its allophone d (when after n). In Old English manuscripts this letter usually took its insular form . The /j/ and d pronunciations are sometimes written by modern editors. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always (word-initially) or (after a vowel). Word-finally after i it is always /j/. Otherwise a knowledge of the historical linguistics of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See The distribution of velars and palatals in Old English for details.) h /h/ and its allophones x. In the combinations hl hr hn hw the second consonant was certainly voiceless. i Short /i/. Long /i/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short i in modern editions. ie Short /iy/; after sometimes /e/. e Long /iy/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short ie in modern editions. After sometimes /e/. k /k/ (rarely used) l /l/; probably velarised (as in Modern English) when in coda position. m /m/ n /n/ and its allophone o Short /o/. Long /o/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short o in modern editions. oe Short // (in dialects with this sound). e Long // (in dialects with this sound). Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short oe in modern editions. p /p/ qu A rare spelling of /kw/ which was usually written as c ( cw in modern editions).9 r /r/; the exact nature of /r/ is not known. It may have been an alveolar approximant as in most modern accents an alveolar flap or an alveolar trill r. s /s/ and its allophone z. sc // or occasionally /sk/. t /t/ th Represented // in the earliest texts but was soon replaced by and . For example the word meaning "thought" was written mdgithanc in a 6th century Northumbrian text but later as mdgeanc in a 10th century West Saxon text. An alternate symbol called thorn used instead of . Represents // and its allophone . Together with it replaced the earlier d and th. First attested (in definitely dated materials) in the 8th century. Less common than before Alfred's time from then onward was used increasingly more frequently than at the beginning of words while its occurrence at the end and in the middle of words was rare. Some modern editions attempt to regularise the variation between and by using only . u /u/ and /w/ in early texts of continental scribes. The /w/ u was eventually replaced by outside of the north of the island. uu /w/ in early texts of continental scribes. Outside of the north it was generally replaced by . Long /u/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short u in modern editions. w /w/. A modern substitution for . Runic wynn. Represents /w/ replaced in modern print by w to prevent confusion with p. x /ks/ (but according to some authors xs s) y Short /y/. Long /y/. Rarely found in manuscripts but usually distinguished from short y in modern editions. z /ts/. A rare spelling for ts. Example: /betst/ "best" is rarely spelled bezt for more common betst. Doubled consonants are geminated; the geminate fricatives / ff and ss cannot be voiced. Literature Main article: Anglo-Saxon literature Old English literature though more abundant than literature of the continent before AD 1000 is nonetheless scant. In his supplementary article to the 1935 posthumous edition of Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader Dr. James Hulbert writes: In such historical conditions an incalculable amount of the writings of the Anglo-Saxon period perished. What they contained how important they were for an understanding of literature before the Conquest we have no means of knowing: the scant catalogs of monastic libraries do not help us and there are no references in extant works to other compositions....How incomplete our materials are can be illustrated by the well-known fact that with few and relatively unimportant exceptions all extant Anglo-Saxon poetry is preserved in four manuscripts. Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are Beowulf an epic poem; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle a record of early English history; the Franks Casket an early whalebone artifact; and Caedmon's Hymn a Christian religious poem. There are also a number of extant prose works such as sermons and saints' lives biblical translations and translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers legal documents such as laws and wills and practical works on grammar medicine and geography. Still poetry is considered the heart of Old English literature. Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous with a few exceptions such as Bede and Caedmon. Text samples Beowulf The first example is taken from the opening lines of the epic poem Beowulf. This passage describes how Hrothgar's legendary ancestor Scyld was found as a baby washed up on the shore and adopted by a noble family. The translation is quite literal and represents the original poetic word order. As such it is not typical of Old English prose. The modern cognates of original words have been used whenever practical to give a close approximation of the feel of the original poem. The words in brackets are implied in the Old English by noun case and the bold words in parentheses are explanations of words that have slightly different meanings in a modern context. Notice how what is used by the poet where a word like lo or behold would be expected. This usage is similar to what-ho! both an expression of surprise and a call to attention. Line Original Translation 1 Hwt! w Gr-Dena in er-dagum What! We of Gare-Danes (lit. Spear-Danes) in yore-days 2 od-cyninga rym efrnon of thede(nation/people)-kings did thrum (glory) frayne (learn about by asking) 3 h elingas ellen fremedon. how those athelings (noblemen) did ellen (fortitude/courage/zeal) freme (promote). 4 Oft Scyld Scfing sceaena ratum Oft did Scyld Scefing of scather threats (troops) 5 monegum mum meodosetla oftah of many maegths (clans; cf. Irish cognate Mac-) of mead-settlements atee (deprive) 6 egsode eorlas. Syan rest wear and ugg (induce loathing in terrify; related to "ugly") earls. Sith (since as of when) erst (first) he worthed (became) 7 fasceaft funden h s frfre ebd in fewship (destitute) found he of this frover (comfort) aboded 8 wox under wolcnum weormyndum h and waxed under welkin (firmament/clouds) and amid worthmint (honour/worship) threed (thrived/prospered) 9 ot him hwylc ra ymbsittendra oth that (until that) him each of those umsitters (those "sitting" or dwelling roundabout) 10 ofer hronrde hran scolde over whale-road (kenning for "sea") hear should 11 gomban gyldan. t ws gd cyning! and yeme (heed/obedience; related to "gormless") yield. That was a good king! A semi-fluent translation in Modern English would be: Lo! We have heard of majesty of the Spear-Danes of those nation-kings in the days of yore and how those noblemen promoted zeal. Scyld Scefing took away mead-benches from bands of enemies from many tribes; he terrified earls. Since he was first found destitute (he gained consolation for that) he grew under the heavens prospered in honours until each of those who lived around him over the sea had to obey him give him tribute. That was a good king! The Lord's Prayer This text of the Lord's Prayer is presented in the standardised West Saxon literary dialect. Line Original Translation 1 Fder re e eart on heofonum Father of ours thou who art in heaven 2 S n nama ehlgod. Be thy name hallowed. 3 Tbecume n re Come thy riche (kingdom) 4 ewure n willa on eoran sw sw on heofonum. Worth (manifest) thy will on earth as also in heaven. 5 rne edhwmlcan hlf syle s t d Our daily loaf do sell (give) to us today  6 and forgyf s re gyltas sw sw w forgyfa rum gyltendum. And forgive us of our guilts as also we forgive our guilty10 7 And ne eld s on costnunge ac ls s of yfele. And do not lead thou us into temptation but alese (release/deliver) us of (from) evil. 8 Sle. Soothly. Charter of Cnut This is a proclamation from King Cnut the Great to his earl Thorkell the Tall and the English people written in AD 1020. Unlike the previous two examples this text is prose rather than poetry. For ease of reading the passage has been divided into sentences while the pilcrows represent the original division. Original Translation Cnut cyning gret his arcebiscopas and his leod-biscopas and urcyl eorl and ealle his eorlas and ealne his eodscype twelfhynde and twyhynde gehadode and lwede on Englalande freondlice. Cnut king greets his archbishops and his lede'(people's)'-bishops and Thorkell earl and all his earls and all his peopleship greater (having a 1200 shilling weregild) and lesser (200 shilling weregild) hooded(ordained to priesthood) and lewd(lay) in England friendly. And ic cye eow t ic wylle beon hold hlaford and unswicende to godes gerihtum and to rihtre woroldlage. And I kithe(make known/couth to) you that I will be a hold(civilised) lord and unswiking(uncheating) to God's rights(laws) and to the rights(laws) worldly. Ic nam me to gemynde a gewritu and a word e se arcebiscop Lyfing me fram am papan brohte of Rome t ic scolde ghwr godes lof upp arran and unriht alecgan and full fri wyrcean be re mihte e me god syllan wolde. I nam(took) me to mind the writs and the word that the Archbishop Lyfing me from the Pope brought of Rome that I should ayewhere(everywhere) God's love(praise) uprear(promote) and unright(outlaw) lies and full frith(peace) work(bring about) by the might that me God would(wished) to sell'(give). Nu ne wandode ic na minum sceattum a hwile e eow unfri on handa stod: nu ic mid godes fultume t totwmde mid minum scattum. Now ne went(withdrew/changed) I not my shot(financial contribution cf. Norse cognate in scot-free) the while that you stood(endured) unfrith(turmoil) on-hand: now I mid(with) God's support that unfrith totwemed(separated/dispelled) mid(with) my shot(financial contribution). a cydde man me t us mara hearm to fundode onne us wel licode: and a for ic me sylf mid am mannum e me mid foron into Denmearcon e eow mst hearm of com: and t hbbe mid godes fultume forene forfangen t eow nfre heonon for anon nan unfri to ne cym a hwile e ge me rihtlice healda and min lif by. Tho(then) a man kithed(made known/couth to) me that us more harm had found(come upon) than us well liked(equalled): and tho(then) fore(travelled) I meself mid(with) those men that mid(with) me fore(travelled) into Denmark that to you most harm came of(from): and thatharm have I mid(with) God's support afore(previously) forefangen(forestalled) that to you never henceforth thence none unfrith(breach of peace) ne come the while that ye me rightly hold(behold as king) and my life beeth. See also Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law Anglo-Saxon literature Beowulf Dictionary of Old English Exeter Book Go (verb) History of the English language History of the Scots language I-mutation List of generic forms in British place names List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents Old English declension Old English pronouns Notes The term Anglo-Saxon came to refer to all things of the early English period by the 16th century including language culture and people. While this is still the preferred term for the latter two aspects the language starting from the 19th century began to be called Old English. This is because the language itself began to be studied in detail and scholars recognised the continued development of the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period to Middle English and through to the present day. However many authors still use the term Anglo-Saxon to refer to the language. Crystal David (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521530334.  Barber Charles (2009). The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 137. ISBN 978-0-521-67001-2.  Rotary-munich.de Campbell Alistair (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-19-811943-7.  Moore Samuel and Knott Thomas A. The Elements of Old English. 1919. Ed. James R. Hulbert. 10th ed. Ann Arbor Michigan: George Wahr Publishing Co. 1958. It is uncertain whether the diphthongs spelt ie/e were pronounced i()y or i()e. The fact that this diphthong was merged with /y()/ in many dialects suggests the former. Crystal David (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press. p. 203. ISBN 0521264383.  See also Pronunciation of English th. The spelling qu is much more common in later Middle English. Lit. a participle: "guilting" or "a person who is sinning"; cf. Latin cognate -ant/-ent. Bibliography Sources Whitelock Dorothy (ed.) (1955) English Historical Documents; vol. I: c. 5001042. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode General Baker Peter S. (2003). Introduction to Old English. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23454-3.  Baugh Albert C; & Cable Thomas. (1993). A History of the English Language (4th ed.). London: Routledge. Earle John (2005). A Book for the Beginner in Anglo-Saxon. Bristol PA: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-69-8.  (Reissue of one of 4 eds. 18771902) Hogg Richard M. (ed.). (1992). The Cambridge History of the English Language: (Vol 1): the Beginnings to 1066. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hogg Richard; & Denison David (eds.) (2006) A History of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jespersen Otto (19091949) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. 7 vols. Heidelberg: C. Winter & Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard Lass Roger (1987) The Shape of English: structure and history. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Lass Roger (1994). Old English: A historical linguistic companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43087-9.  Millward Celia (1996). A Biography of the English Language. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 0-15-501645-8.  Mitchell Bruce and Robinson Fred C. (2001). A Guide to Old English (6th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-22636-2.  Quirk Randolph; & Wrenn C. L. (1957). An Old English Grammar (2nd ed.) London: Methuen. Strang Barbara M. H. (1970) A History of English. London: Methuen. External history Robinson Orrin W. (1992). Old English and Its Closest Relatives. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2221-8.  Bremmer Jr Rolf H. (2009). An Introduction to Old Frisian. History Grammar Reader Glossary. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Stenton F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Orthography/Palaeography Bourcier Georges. (1978). L'orthographie de l'anglais: Histoire et situation actuelle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. Campbell A. (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Elliott Ralph W. V. (1959). Runes: An introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Keller Wolfgang. (1906). Angelschsische Paleographie I: Einleitung. Berlin: Mayer & Mller. Ker N. R. (1957). A Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ker N. R. (1957: 1990). A Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon; with supplement prepared by Neil Ker originally published in Anglo-Saxon England; 5 1957. Oxford: Clarendon Press ISBN 0198112513 Page R. I. (1973). An Introduction to English Runes. London: Methuen. Scragg Donald G. (1974). A History of English Spelling. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Phonology Anderson John M; & Jones Charles. (1977). Phonological structure and the history of English. North-Holland linguistics series (No. 33). Amsterdam: North-Holland. Brunner Karl. (1965). Altenglische Grammatik (nach der angelschsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers neubearbeitet) (3rd ed.). Tbingen: Max Niemeyer. Campbell A. (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Cercignani Fausto (1983). "The Development of */k/ and */sk/ in Old English". Journal of English and Germanic Philology 82 (3): 313-323. Girvan Ritchie. (1931). Angelsaksisch Handboek; E. L. Deuschle (transl.). (Oudgermaansche Handboeken; No. 4). Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink. Halle Morris; & Keyser Samuel J. (1971). English Stress: its form its growth and its role in verse. New York: Harper & Row. Hockett Charles F. (1959). "The stressed syllabics of Old English". Language 35 (4): 575597. doi:10.2307/410597. http://jstor.org/stable/410597.  Hogg Richard M. (1992). A Grammar of Old English I: Phonology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Kuhn Sherman M. (1961). "On the Syllabic Phonemes of Old English". Language 37 (4): 522538. doi:10.2307/411354. http://jstor.org/stable/411354.  Kuhn Sherman M. (1970). "On the consonantal phonemes of Old English". In: J. L. Rosier (ed.) Philological Essays: studies in Old and Middle English language and literature in honour of Herbert Dean Merritt (pp. 1649). The Hague: Mouton. Lass Roger; & Anderson John M. (1975). Old English Phonology. (Cambridge studies in linguistics; No. 14). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Luick Karl. (19141940). Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache. Stuttgart: Bernhard Tauchnitz. Maling J. (1971). "Sentence stress in Old English". Linguistic Inquiry 2 (3): 379400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4177642.  McCully C. B.; Hogg Richard M. (1990). "An account of Old English stress". Journal of Linguistics 26: 315339. doi:10.1017/S0022226700014699.  Moulton W. G. (1972). "The Proto-Germanic non-syllabics (consonants)". In: F. van Coetsem & H. L. Kurfner (Eds.) Toward a Grammar of Proto-Germanic (pp. 141173). Tbingen: Max Niemeyer. Sievers Eduard (1893). Altgermanische Metrik. Halle: Max Niemeyer. Wagner Karl Heinz (1969). Generative Grammatical Studies in the Old English language. Heidelberg: Julius Groos. Morphology Brunner Karl. (1965). Altenglische Grammatik (nach der angelschsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers neubearbeitet) (3rd ed.). Tbingen: Max Niemeyer. Campbell A. (1959). Old English grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Wagner Karl Heinz. (1969). Generative grammatical studies in the Old English language. Heidelberg: Julius Groos. Syntax Brunner Karl. (1962). Die englische Sprache: ihre geschichtliche Entwicklung (Vol. II). Tbingen: Max Niemeyer. Kemenade Ans van. (1982). Syntactic Case and Morphological Case in the History of English. Dordrecht: Foris. MacLaughlin John C. (1983). Old English Syntax: a handbook. Tbingen: Max Niemeyer. Mitchell Bruce. (1985). Old English Syntax (Vols. 12). Oxford: Clarendon Press (no more published) Vol.1: Concord the parts of speech and the sentence Vol.2: Subordination independent elements and element order Mitchell Bruce. (1990) A Critical Bibliography of Old English Syntax to the end of 1984 including addenda and corrigenda to "Old English Syntax" . Oxford: Blackwell Timofeeva Olga. (2010) Non-finite Constructions in Old English with Special Reference to Syntactic Borrowing from Latin PhD dissertation Mmoires de la Socit Nophilologique de Helsinki vol. LXXX Helsinki: Socit Nophilologique. Traugott Elizabeth Closs. (1972). A History of English Syntax: a transformational approach to the history of English sentence structure. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston. Visser F. Th. (19631973). An Historical Syntax of the English Language (Vols. 13). Leiden: E. J. Brill. Lexicons Bosworth-Toller Bosworth J; & Toller T. Northcote. (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Based on Bosworth's 1838 dictionary his papers & additions by Toller) Toller T. Northcote. (1921). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Campbell A. (1972). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Enlarged addenda and corrigenda. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Clark Hall-Merritt Clark Hall J. R; & Merritt H. D. (1969). A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Toronto Cameron Angus et al. (ed.) (1983) Dictionary of Old English. Toronto: Published for the Dictionary of Old English Project Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies 1983/1994. (Issued on microfiche and subsequently as a CD-ROM and on the World Wide Web.) External links Old English edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia For a list of words relating to Old English see the Old English language category of words in Wiktionary the free dictionary Wikisource has original text related to this article: Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader/An Outline of Anglo-Saxon Grammar Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Old English Old English/Modern English Translator The Electronic Introduction to Old English Learn Old English with Leofwin Old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet Bosworth and Toller An Anglo-Saxon dictionary Downloadable Bosworth and Toller An Anglo-Saxon dictionary Application Old English Made Easy Old English - Modern English dictionary Old English Glossary Shakespeare's English vs Old English Downloadable Old English keyboard for Windows and Mac Another downloadable keyboard for Windows computers Guide to using Old English computer characters (Unicode HTML entities etc.) The Germanic Lexicon Project An overview of the grammar of Old English The Lord's Prayer in Old English from the 11th century v d eHistory of the English language Proto-English  Old English  Anglo-Norman language  Middle English  Early Modern English  Modern English  Phonological history Vowels Great Vowel Shift  short A  low back vowels  high back vowels  high front vowels  diphthongs  changes before historic l  changes before historic r Consonants rhoticity  flapping  l-vocalization  consonant clusters  wh  fricatives and affricates  th  th-alveolarization  th-fronting  (eth)  (thorn)  th-debuccalization  th-stopping v d eGermanic languages  Germanic philology Language subgroups North  East  West North  East  Elbe  Weser-Rhine  North Sea Reconstructed Proto-Germanic  Proto-Germanic grammar Historical languages North Proto-Norse  Old Norse  Old Swedish  Old Gutnish  Norn  Greenlandic Norse  Old Norwegian East Gothic  Crimean Gothic  Vandalic  Burgundian West Old Saxon  Middle Low German  Old High German  Middle High German  Old Frankish  Old Dutch  Middle Dutch  Old Frisian  Middle Frisian  Old English  Middle English  Early Scots  Middle Scots  Lombardic  Yola Modern languages Afrikaans  Alemannic  Danish  Dutch  English  Faroese  German  Gutnish  Icelandic  Limburgish  Low German  Luxembourgish  North Frisian  Norwegian  Saterland Frisian  Scots  Swedish  West Frisian  Yiddish Diachronic features Grimm's law  Verner's law  Holtzmann's law  Sievers' law  Germanic substrate hypothesis  West Germanic gemination  High German consonant shift  Germanic a-mutation  Germanic umlaut  Germanic spirant law  Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law  Great vowel shift Synchronic features Germanic verb  Germanic strong verb  Germanic weak verb  Preterite-present verb  Grammatischer Wechsel  Indo-European ablaut Language histories English (phonology)  Scots (phonology)  German  Dutch  Danish  Icelandic  Swedish