On saying ‘yes’ in early Anglo-Saxon England

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 183-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Wallage ◽  
Wim van der Wurff
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Positive Response ◽  
English Word ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Response Item ◽  
Response System ◽  
Clausal Negation ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
Germanic Languages

AbstractIn this paper, we aim to reconstruct the form of affirmative replies in the English spoken in England in the period 500–800. Examination of the extant texts shows that the two forms of the Old English word for ‘yes’, i.e. gea and gyse, are distinguished functionally, in that the former is used to reply to positive utterances and the latter to negative utterances. It is not clear, however, where the word gyse comes from. It has no cognates in other Germanic languages and the two main existing proposals for its etymology are problematic in several respects, and also fail to explain its functional patterning in the texts. We suggest a new, more plausible, etymology for gyse and use it to reconstruct the positive response system of proto-Old English. Apart from solving the puzzle ofgyse's origins, our proposal has two wider implications. The first is methodological, in that we demonstrate the value in historical reconstructive work of paying close attention not only to grammatical, phonological and semantic factors but also to the pragmatics of the forms being postulated. Secondly, the attested Old English data show a correlation that has been observed more widely through cross-linguistic comparison, i.e. the existence of a designated response item to negative utterances coupled with the existence of ‘high’ clausal negation. Drawing on our reconstruction of the emergence of gyse in proto-Old English, we suggest that one possible source of cross-linguistic correlations of this kind is diachronic development, in this case grounded in properties of day-to-day interaction in discourse.

Development of the Progressiv form in Germanic

PMLA ◽  
1913 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-187
Author(s):  
George O. Curme
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Brief Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
English Verb

The expressivness of the progressiv form of the English verb has attracted the attention of many foren grammarians, who briefly but with painstaking care hav endevord to analyze its force. Also more ambitious attempts hav been made to penetrate into its history and meaning. Pessels in his doctor's dissertation The Present and Past Perifrastic Tenses in Anglo-Saxon (1896) has patiently recorded the exampls of the construction in a large number of Old English works. Alfred Åkerlund in his On the History of the Definit Tenses in English (1911) has treated both the older and the modern fases of the development with considerabl penetration. Also a number of other scholars hav delt with different fases of the study or hav investigated the development in particular periods or particular sections of the English speaking territory. Several foren scholars hav studied the progressiv form in other Germanic languages and dialects. A brief treatment of the Gothic progressiv in Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, vol. v, pp. 421-6, by Professor H. Gering is refreshingly suggestiv. In spite of this extensiv literature there remains much to be said, and this paper is offerd as a further contribution to the subject.

The æecerbot charm and its Christian user

1977 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas D. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Rich

The Old English æcerbot charm, whichs is preserved in London, British Library, Cotton Caligula A. vii, in a hand of the first half of the eleventh century, has always attracted a good deal of attention, since it is one of the few surviving texts which unquestionably reflect the influence of Anglo-Saxon paganism – pagan religion, not merely pagan magic, if one can make the distinction. Our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon paganism is so limited, particularly in comparison with the rich corpus of myth and heroic legend preserved in Old Norse-Icelandic, that inevitably scholars give close attention to any text which reveals something of it. So far as the æcerbot charm is concerned, this has meant a preoccupation with distinguishing between pagan elements and Christian accretions. For instance, in Stopford Brooke's translation of lines 30–42 quoted by Storms in his edition, ‘old’ pagan parts of the prayer are printed in italics and ‘new’ Christian ones in roman print. Storms doubts the possibility of drawing a hard and fast line in all cases, but his quite lengthy commentary on the charm as a whole shares the same fundamental concern.

Why English is not dead: A rejoinder to Emonds and Faarlund

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gjertrud Flermoen Stenbrenden
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old English ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Counter Argument

AbstractThis article argues against the claim by Emonds and Faarlund (2014,English: The language of the vikings. Palacký University: Olomouc) that English died out after the Norman Conquest, and was replaced by a North Germanic variety referred to as “Anglicised Norse”, which had been formed in the Danelaw area in a concerted effort by the Norse and Anglo-Saxon populations, presumably to overthrow the ruling French elite. Emonds and Faarlund base their claim on the existence of some 20–25 linguistic features which are said to have been absent from Old English, but which are present in Present-Day English and in Scandinavian languages. This article argues that genetic affiliation cannot be inferred from shared syntactic, morphological or lexical features, which may easily result from independent convergence in historically related languages. The main counter-argument, however, is chronological: the majority of the features adduced are indeed attested in Old English and often in other West Germanic languages also, and hence may not be attributed to Old Norse; nor can features which are not attested in English until late Middle English or early Modern English come from Old Norse. The continuity of English in the written record likewise renders the suggested scenario highly unlikely.

For Pastoral Care and Political Gain: Ælfric of Eynsham's Preaching on Marital Celibacy

Traditio ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 39-78
Author(s):  
Robert K. Upchurch
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Old English ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
English Word ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Virgin Birth ◽  
Good Works ◽  
The Devil

Writing early in the last decade of the tenth century, the Anglo-Saxon monk Ælfric begins his Second Series ofCatholic Homilieswith a sermon for Christmas Day. The second of five Old English sermons he wrote for the Nativity, it combines dense doctrinal matters with concrete advice about how Christians should commemorate the birth of Christ. After discussing Christ's Incarnation and Virgin Birth, and the Old Testament prophecies anticipating his appearance, Ælfric concludes the sermon with a series of instructions directing believers how to conduct themselves at Christmas. Of particular interest is his singling out ofclænnyss, an Old English word for “chastity” or “purity,” as the virtue to be most highly prized among the laity:We sceolon eac cristes acennednysse. and his gebyrdtide mid gastlicere blisse wurðian. and us sylfe mid godum weorcum geglengan. and us mid godes lofsangum gebysgian. and ða oing onscunian. ðe crist forbytt. pæt sind leahtras. and deofles weorc. and ða ðing lufian ðe god bebead. pæt is eadmodnys. and mildheortnys. rihtwisnys. and soðfæstnys. ælmesdreda. and gemetfræstnys. gepyld and cleennyss; pas ðing lufað god and huru ða clænnysse ðe he sylf ðurh hine. and ðurh pæt clæne mreden his modor astealde; Swa eac ealle his geferan ðe him filigdon ealle hí weeron on clænnysse wuniende. and se mæsta dæl prera manna pe gode geðeoð purh clsennysse hi geðeoð. (CHII.1.277–87)[We ought also to honor the birth and nativity of Christ with spiritual joy, and adorn ourselves with good works, and occupy ourselves with songs of praise to God, and shun those things which Christ forbids, which are sins and works of the devil, and love those things which God commanded, that is humility and mercy, justice and truth, almsgiving and self-control, patience and chastity. These things God loves, and especially chastity, which he established through himself and the chaste virgin, his mother. So also all of his companions who followed him were living in chastity, and the greatest portion of those men who achieve favor with God achieve it through chastity.]

Æthelwold's translation of theRegula Sancti Benedictiand its Latin exemplar

1974 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 125-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mechthild Gretsch
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
English Word ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Benedictine Reform ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

St Benedict wrote his Rule for monastic communities in the first half of the sixth century. It must have reached England in the course of the seventh century and was translated into Old English prose by Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, in about 970 at the request of King Edgar and Qeen Ælfthryth. Æhelwold was one of the leaders of the tenth-century Benedictine reform in England and his translation of the Rule is among his major contributions to the reform movement. Moreover the Old English Rule holds a key position in the history of the development of Old English language and literature. Manuscripts of the text must have been numerous from the tenth century to the twelfth century and even the thirteenth. Scholars like William of Malmesbury, Lawrence Nowell, John Jocelyn and Francis Junius took an interest in the Old English Rule, but, except for a chapter printed from BM Cotton Faustina A.x by Thomas Wright in 1842, the text was not easily accessible until Arnold Schröer published his edition in 1885, followed in 1888 by his introduction discussing date and authorship, the relationship between the manuscripts and some linguistic points. Comparatively little work seems to have been done on the Old English Rule since then except for Rohr's Bonn Dissertation of 1912 and Professor Gneuss's supplement to the 1964 reprint of Schröer's edition. Rohr, in an investigation of the phonology and the inflexional morphology of the manuscripts of the Old English Rule, was able to show that the language of all of them is basically late West Saxon, while Gneuss gave a survey of what is known about the Old English Rule and the Latin Rule in Anglo-Saxon England; he also pointed out the difficulties involved in an attempt to identify or reconstruct the Latin exemplar which Æthelwold used. In this article I shall consider four topics which seem to me essential for our understanding of the Old English Rule: the question of Æthelwold's exemplar; the relationship between the manuscripts of the Old English Rule; Æthelwold's aims and techniques in his translation; and the vocabulary of the Old English Rule, with special reference to recent research in Old English word geography.

scholarly journals SYNTAX STUDIES IN HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS: WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN AS INDO-GERMANIC LANGUAGES

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Ana Purwitasari
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
English Word ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Sentence Patterns ◽  
Germanic Languages

This research aims to describe the development of syntax in English and German diachronically and involves a broader inquiry into English and German as sister languages rooted from Germanic language. In this research, the author gathered data from manuscripts written in both the English and German languages produced at particular times. This research used descriptive-qualitative method. The results showed that: 1) Diachronically, English and German have gone through four periods in their syntax patterns development; 2) Old English and Old High German sentence patterns are apparently the same, adopting SVO-structure; 3) The existence of conjunction separates the verb and object in German, but it does not change anything in the English word-order, from Middle English to Modern English; 3) Early Modern English verbs should be put in the second position. However, Early New High German verb is placed in agreement with the conjunction since conjunction influences the position of the verb and object.Keywords: Syntax; Germanic languages; historical linguistics; Indo-Germanic languagesPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan perkembangan sintaksis dalam bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Jerman secara diakronik dan merupakan penelitian yang diperluas terkait bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Jerman sebagai rumpunbahasa yang berasal dari bahasa Jermanik. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis mengumpulkan data dari manuskrip yang ditulis dalam keduabahasa tersebut, bahasa Inggris danJerman,pada waktu tertentu. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: 1) Secara diakronik, bahasaInggris dan Jerman telah melalui empat periode dalam pengembangan pola sintaksisnya; 2) Pola kalimat bahasaInggris lama dan Jerman lama tampaknya sama, yaitu memilikistruktur SVO; 3) Adanya konjungsi yang memisahkan kata kerja dan benda dalam bahasa Jerman, tidak mengubah apapun dalam ketentuankata perintah padabahasa InggrisdaribahasaInggrisAbad Pertengahan ke bahasa Inggris Modern; 3) Kata kerja bahasa Inggris di awalmasabahasaInggrisModern harus diletakkan di posisi kedua. Namundemikian, kata kerja bahasaJermanditempatkan bersama konjungsi sejakkonjungsimempengaruhi posisi kata kerja dan objek.Kata kunci: Sintaksis; bahasa Jerman; linguistik historis; bahasa Indo-JermanKata kunci: Sintaksis; bahasa Jerman; linguistik historis; bahasa Indo-Jerman

scholarly journals An Old English Love Poem, a Beowulf Summary and a Recommendation Letter from Eduard Sievers: G. J. P. J. Bolland (1854–1922) as an Aspiring Old Germanicist

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 262-291
Author(s):  
Thijs Porck
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Old English ◽  
Academic Life ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Love Poem ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
First Time ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThis article calls attention to documents relating to the early academic life of G. J. P. J. Bolland (1854–1922). During the late 1870s and early 1880s, Bolland was enthralled by the study of Old Germanic languages and Old English in particular. His endeavours soon caught the eye of Pieter Jacob Cosijn (1840–1899), Professor of Germanic Philology and Anglo-Saxon at Leiden University, who helped the Groningen-born student to further his studies. During his stays in London and Jena, Bolland communicated with prominent scholars, including Henry Sweet, Richard Morris and Eduard Sievers. Bolland’s annotated books, hand-written notes and scholarly correspondence provide a unique insight into academic life and student-professor relationships during the late nineteenth century. In addition, Bolland produced an Old English love poem and aBeowulfsummary that are published here for the first time.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Jones
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Studies ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Scholarly Contribution ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
The Relationship

This introductory chapter contextualizes the philological study of language during the nineteenth century as a branch of the evolutionary sciences. It sketches in outline the two phases of poetic Anglo-Saxonism for which the rest of the book will subsequently argue in more detail. Moreover, the relationship between Anglo-Saxonism and nineteenth-century medievalism more generally is articulated, and historical analogies are drawn between nineteenth-century Anglo-Saxonism and more recent political events in the Anglophone world. Finally, the scholarly contribution of Fossil Poetry itself is contextualized within English Studies; it is argued that ‘reception’ is one of the primary objects of Anglo-Saxon or Old English studies, and not merely a secondary object of that field’s study.

Anglo-Saxon Glosses and Grammars

2020 ◽  
pp. 942-956
Author(s):  
Patrizia Lendinara
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Anglo Saxon

This chapter surveys Old English glosses of Latin works in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and discusses the format of glosses, the types of texts that were glossed, hermeneutic texts, merographs, dry-point glosses, glossae collectae, class glossaries, and alphabetical glossaries. The author also treats the production and study of grammar in Anglo-Saxon England, touching on the works of Bede, Tatwine, Boniface, Alcuin, Priscian, and Aelfric.

scholarly journals The northern world of the Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 275-305
Author(s):  
Helen Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractThe Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi, sometimes known as the Cotton map or Cottoniana, is found on folio 56v of London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. v, which dates from the first half of the eleventh century. This unique survivor from the period presents a detailed image of the inhabited world, centred on the Mediterranean. The map’s distinctive cartography, with its emphasis on islands, seas and urban spaces, reflects an Insular, West Saxon geographic imagination. As Evelyn Edson has observed, the mappa mundi appears to be copy of an earlier, larger map. This article argues that the mappa mundi’s focus on urban space, translatio imperii and Scandinavia is reminiscent of the Old English Orosius, and that it originates from a similar milieu. The mappa mundi’s northern perspective, together with its obvious dependence on and emulation of Carolingian cartography, suggest that its lost exemplar originated in the assertive England of the earlier tenth century.

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