the language is highly inflected not only verbs but also nouns, adjectives and pronouns are inflected.The main grammatical differences between Old English and Middle then Modern English are: The video here is a reading of the opening of Beowulf in the original Anglo Saxon. The language is still very different from modern English due to words we no longer use and a very different grammar. So although the alphabet is recognizable, along with some words: Until to him each of the bordering tribes He waxed under the clouds, throve in honours, Often Scyld, Scef’s son, from enemy hostsĪnd terrorised the fearsome Heruli after first he wasįound helpless and destitute, he then knew recompense for that: How those nobles performed courageous deeds. Of those clan-kings heard of their glory. Listen! We of the Spear-Danes in the days of yore, Here is an example of Old English from the opening of Beowulf alongside a modern translation. However, some letters of that alphabet have been lost. So by this time Old English was written using an alphabet which is mostly recognizable to today’s reader. It is arguably the greatest piece of vernacular English and certainly one of the earliest. Often this was done in Latin (the language of the church) but also, significantly, a great deal was done in Anglo-Saxon but in the Roman alphabet.įollowing from this, a number of non-Church texts were written or translated and thus we have such Old English masterpieces as Beowulf – an epic poem of over 3000 lines telling the story of the eponymous hero Beowulf who kills the monster Grendel, becomes King, slays a dragon, is fatally wounded, and dies. Towards the end of the 6th Century the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity and when this happened the Church arrived and began to write things down on parchment. Very few examples survive (only about 200 inscriptions) and they consist mainly of scratched marks on wood, bone or stone.īut then came one of the most important events in the history of English. Old English was firstly written using Runes. The language they used came from back home and it took over completely from Celtic and Latin in much the same way that English settlers several hundred years later settled in North America and Australia bringing their own language with them and just taking a few words from the indigenous peoples and languages. The Angles came from Englaland and spoke Englisc. These raiders and then occupiers were known as Anglo-Saxons. The raiding parties became more frequent and as they pushed further inland and then began to settle in the country, they pushed the Celtic speakers into the wilds of what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It was at this point that the Romans left (to defend other parts of the Roman Empire) and the country was essentially undefended. Who Spoke Old English?Īt the beginning of the 5th Century, in what is now England, the local people were speaking Celtic while the government and officialdom spoke Latin, the language of the occupying Roman force.īritain, however, was coming under increasing attack from raiding parties out of Northern Europe. Although a modern English speaker would likely have great difficulty in understanding written or spoken Old English, about half the words we use today are derived from Old English. Old English is essentially the first recorded version of English and it is the forebear of the language we speak today. Old English was the language spoken in what is now England from around the 5th – 11th centuries and is the origin of modern English.īack then it was called Englisc and the people who spoke were the Anglo-Saxons Old English is also known as Anglo-Saxon.
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