Coursebook History ENG Lang, Shorter Appendices

The History of English
FIRST SEMESTER
INTRODUCTION Lesson
1
Orientation about course programme, discussion assessment methods
This course is organised in a cyclical way. Its basic theme, the history and origins of the English
language, is presented three times, each time going into more detail and at each consecutive cycle, more is
explained about interesting features and events that may increase your understanding of the way in which this
language developed.
Unit 1 will therefore only present major historical facts and events. But as we proceed during the
course, more attention will be given to (socio-)linguistic aspects and socio-economic implications of the major
role English as a language has started to play in our modern world.
UNIT 1 Lesson
2
Short History of Origins of English Language – Old English
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng
The Anglo-Saxon Settlement
It's never easy to pinpoint exactly when a specific language began, but in the
case of English we can at least say that there is little sense in speaking of the English
language as a separate entity before the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. The Celts
were already resident in Britain when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, but there are few
obvious traces of their language in English today. Some scholars have suggested that
the Celtic tongue might have had an underlying influence on the grammatical
development of English, particularly in some parts of the country, but this is highly
speculative. The number of loanwords known for certain to have entered Old English
from this source is very small. Those that survive in modern English include brock (badger), and coomb a type
of valley, alongside many place names.
Little is known of this period with any certainty, but we do know that Germanic invaders came and
settled in Britain from the north-western coastline of continental Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries. The
invaders all spoke a language that was Germanic (related to what emerged as Dutch, Frisian, German and the
Scandinavian languages, and to Gothic), but we'll probably never know how different their speech was from
that of their continental neighbours. However it is fairly certain that many of the settlers would have spoken in
exactly the same way as some of their north European neighbours, and that not all of the settlers would have
spoken in the same way.
The reason that we know so little about the linguistic situation in this period is because we do not
have much in the way of written records from any of the Germanic languages of north-western Europe until
several centuries later. When Old English writings begin to appear in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries
there is a good deal of regional variation, but not substantially more than that found in later periods. This was
the language that King Alfred the Great referred to as ‘English’ in the ninth century.
Erik Vermeulen Page 1

QUESTIONS:
A. About when can we say did the history of the language called “English” begin and where?
B. Why do we know so little about the early period of “Old English”?
C. When and who first mentioned this language in writing, referring to it as “English”?
UNIT 1 Lesson
3
Short History of Origins of English Language – Old English
Old English (450-1100 AD)
So, the history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who
invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the
North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a
Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into
what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called
Englisc - from which the words England and English are derived.
Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south

coasts in the 5th century.
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now
call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would
have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in
Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old
English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.
The Scandinavian Settlements

The next invaders were the Norsemen. From the middle of the ninth century
large numbers of Norse invaders settled in Britain, particularly in northern and
eastern areas, and in the eleventh century the whole of England had a Danish king,
Canute. The distinct North Germanic speech of the Norsemen had great influence on
English, most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this
source. These include some very basic words such as take and even grammatical
words such as they. The common Germanic base of the two languages meant that
there were still many similarities between Old English and the language of the
invaders. Some words, for example give, perhaps show a kind of hybridization with
some spellings going back to Old English and others being Norse in origin. However, the resemblances

between the two languages are so great that in many cases it is impossible to be sure of the exact ancestry of a
particular word or spelling. However, much of the influence of Norse, including the vast majority of the
loanwords, does not appear in written English until after the next great historical and cultural upheaval, the
Norman Conquest.
QUESTIONS:
A. Who were the first speakers of this language “Old English” and where did they come from?
B. What language(s) was this “Old English” probably quite similar to?
C. When these Germanic invaders arrived in Britain who were already living there?
D. Are there many traces of these older people’s language left in English today? (Explain.)
E. How does the English you are learning today compare to this much older form of English?
F. Are there any roots of this Old English left in present-day English? (Examples, please.)
G. There was a second wave of invaders. Who were they and where did they come from?
H. Explain why the language spoken by these new invaders was quite similar to the language spoken by
the first group of invaders?
I. Give examples of words in present day English that come from this second group.
UNIT 1 Lesson
4
Short History of Origins of English Language – Middle English and Modern English
Middle English (1100-1500)

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and
conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which
became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of
linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French.
In the 14th century English became dominant in
Britain again, but with many French words added. This
language is called Middle English. It was the language
of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would
still be difficult for native English speakers to
understand today.
1066 and after
The centuries after the Norman Conquest witnessed enormous changes in

the English language. In the course of what is called the Middle English period, the

fairly rich inflectional system of Old English broke down. It was replaced by what is broadly speaking, the
same system English has today, which unlike Old English makes very little use of distinctive word endings in
the grammar of the language. The vocabulary of English also changed enormously, with tremendous numbers
of borrowings from French and Latin, in addition to the Scandinavian loanwords already mentioned, which
were slowly starting to appear in the written language.
Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for foreign words and
phrases (although both Old English and modern German show plenty of loanwords), whereas Middle English
acquired the habit that modern English retains today of readily accommodating foreign words. Tri-lingualism
in English, French, and Latin was common in the worlds of business and the professions, with words crossing
over from one language to another with ease. You only have to flick through the etymologies of any English
dictionary to get an impression of the huge number of words entering English from French and Latin during
the later medieval period. This trend was set to continue into the early modern period with the explosion of
interest in the writings of the ancient world.
QUESTIONS:
A. Who was responsible for the third invasion that was to change this older form of English profoundly
and where did these people come from?
B. Explain about the language they spoke (similar to..?) and how did it divide the society in Britain?
C. When was the language that was spoken by the lower classes restored back to its original position of
the dominant language?
D. It developed into a variety that we now refer to as Middle English. Compare Old with Middle English
in terms of grammar and vocabulary. (You may compare Old English with German today to explain
in what way Old English was different from the variety that it developed into: Middle English.)
E. Who was a great poet/writer in those days?
F. Are any of the sentences in the passage from this poet comprehensible to you? Can you try to
“translate” some of it in present-day English?
UNIT 1 Lesson
5
Short History of Origins of English Language – Modern English & Varieties of English
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel
Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact
with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many
new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a
common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought
standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most
publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines,

written in Early Modern English by
Shakespeare.To be, or not to be, that is the
question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause – there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong
Late Modern English (1800-Present)
The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late
Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution
and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of
the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.
Standardization
The late medieval and early modern periods saw a fairly steady process of
standardization in English south of the Scottish border. The written and spoken
language of London continued to evolve and gradually began to have a greater
influence in the country at large. For most of the Middle English period a dialect was
simply what was spoken in a particular area, which would normally be more or less
represented in writing - although where and from whom the writer had learnt how to
write were also important.
It was only when the broadly London standard began to dominate, especially
through the new technology of printing, that the other regional varieties of the
language began to be seen as different in kind. As the London standard became used
more widely, especially in more formal contexts and particularly amongst the more elevated members of
society, the other regional varieties came to be stigmatized, as lacking social prestige and indicating a lack of
education.
In the same period a series of changes also occurred in English pronunciation (though not uniformly
in all dialects), which go under the collective name of the Great Vowel Shift. These were purely linguistic
‘sound changes’ which occur in every language in every period of history. The changes in pronunciation
weren’t the result of specific social or historical factors, but social and historical factors would have helped to
spread the results of the changes. As a result the so-called ‘pure’ vowel sounds which still characterize many
continental languages were lost to English. The phonetic pairings of most long and short vowel sounds were
also lost, which gave rise to many of the oddities of English pronunciation, and which now obscure the
relationships between many English words and their foreign counterparts.
QUESTIONS:
A. How and when did the pronunciation of Middle English change dramatically in a relatively short
period?
B. What historical events caused the adoption of many new words?

C. What caused the language to become rapidly standardised (in terms of spelling and other language
features)?
D. What dialect became the model for English throughout the country and why?
E. How did early modern English differ from later modern English? What factors caused these changes?
UNIT 1 Lesson
6
Short History of Origins of English Language – Colonisation and Globalisation
Colonization and Globalization

During the medieval and early modern periods the influence of English spread
throughout the British Isles, and from the early seventeenth century onwards its influence
began to be felt throughout the world. The complex processes of exploration, colonization
and overseas trade that characterized Britain’s external relations for several centuries led to
significant change in English. Words were absorbed from all over the world, often via the
languages of other trading and imperial nations such as Spain, Portugal and the
Netherlands. At the same time, new varieties of English emerged, each with their own
nuances of vocabulary and grammar and their own distinct pronunciations. More recently still, English has
become a lingua franca, a global language, regularly used and understood by many nations for whom English
is not their first language. The eventual effects on the English language of both of these developments can only
be guessed at today, but there can be little doubt that they will be as important as anything that has happened
Varieties of English
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct
American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In
some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some
expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in
the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loanas a verb instead of lend,
and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster
movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words
like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the
settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the
slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).
Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema,
television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of
English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English,
South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.
QUESTIONS:
A. When did English first become to be used far beyond its original regions (the British Isles) and started
to be spread by many users all over the world?
B. From what other languages did English absorb new vocabulary during the period of the colonisation
of America, and later Africa and parts of Asia?
C. What major effect did the colonisation of America have on the language?
D. Name a few other varieties of English that have become at least as important as British English today.

TEST 1 Lesson
7
UNIT 2 Lesson
8
More Detailed History of English – Introduction , The Celtic, Roman Presence
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
INTRODUCTION
The English language is the result of a complex history and
rooted in a very distant past.
There is evidence of human presence in the British Isles since before the
last ice age, when they had not yet separated from the continent and
oceans before forming the English Channel. This recent geological
phenomenon that separated the British Isles from the mainland, occurred
about 7,000 years, also isolated the people living there of the turbulent
motions and the obscurity that characterized the early Middle Ages in
Europe.
Archaeological sites show that the wetlands that the Romans
came to call the Britannia already housed a thriving culture 8,000 years ago, although little is
known about it.
THE CELTIC
The history of England begins with the Celts. Around 1000 BC, after many
migrations, several dialects of Indo-European languages become different language groups.
This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-
European family includes several major branches: Latin and the modern Romance languages
(French etc.); the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish etc.); the Indo-Iranian
languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech
etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; Greek; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.).
The Celts originated presumably from people who already lived in Europe during
the Bronze Age. For nearly eight centuries, from 700 BC to 100 AD, the Celtic people
inhabited the region now known as Spain, France, Germany and England. The Celtic
became the main language group in Europe, before eventually the Celts almost totally
assimilated into the Roman Empire.
Prior to the Germanic invasions, Britain was inhabited by various Celtic tribes who
were united by common speech, customs, and religion. The word “Britain” originated from
the name of one of the major Celtic tribes, the Britons. Each tribe was headed by a king and
was divided by class into Druids (priests), warrior nobles, and commoners. The lack of
political unity made them vulnerable to their enemies. During the first century, Britain was
conquered and subjugated by Rome.
ROMANS’ PRESENCE
In 55 BC and 54 occur the first Roman invasions of recognition, under the personal command of
Julius Caesar. In 44 AD, the time of Emperor Claudius, is the third invasion, whereupon the main British
island is attached to the Roman Empire to the limits with the Caledonia (now Scotland) and Latin begin to
exert influence on the Celtic-Breton culture. Three and a half centuries of presence of the Roman legions and
its merchants, brought profound influence in the economic, political and social life of the Celtic tribes that
inhabited Britain. Latin words naturally came to be used for many new concepts.
QUESTIONS:

A. How long ago there might have been people living in what we today call Britain?
B. Any idea what the huge rocks in a circle on the photo are called (They are not far from Oxford; little
is known about their purpose but they are assumed to have something to do with an ancient religion.)
C. Where did the Celts in Britain come from, presumably?
D. Although the Celtic language has little connection or similarity with Old English, if one goes back far
enough there is of course a connection. Explain.
E. In what way were these Celts an easy “prey” for invaders?
F. Who were these Celtic tribes subjugated by first?
G. What effects did the Roman presence have on the Celts?
UNIT 2 Lesson
9
More Detailed History of English – Early migrations and The Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxons
Due to the difficulties faced by the Empire in Rome, the Roman legions in 410 AD, withdrew from
Britannia, leaving its inhabitants at the mercy of Celtic enemies (Scots and Picts). Since Rome no longer had a
military force to defend the Celts, they resorted to the Germanic tribes (Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Frisians) in
449 AD for help. These, however, opportunistically became invasive, taking in the most fertile areas in the
southeast of Britain, destroying villages and massacring the local population. The Celts, Britons survivors took
refuge in the west. Evidence of violence and disregard for local culture of the invaders is the fact that almost
no traces remained of the Celtic language into English.
Migration of the Germanic speaking people

When Britain gained "independence" from Rome in the year 410 AD, the Roman legions withdrew
leaving the country vulnerable to invaders. Soon after the withdrawal of Roman troops, inhabitants from the
north began attacking the Britons. In response to these attacks, individual towns sought help from the
Foedarati, who were Roman mercenaries of German origin, for the defense of the northern parts of England.
As the legend has been told, a man named Hengest arrived on the shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors
in 450 AD. This event is known in Latin as the "adventus Saxonum," or the coming of the Saxons. At this
time, the Foedarati stopped defending Britain and began conquering the territories on the southern and eastern
shores of the country. These invaders drove the Britons to the north and west. The Saxons called the native
Britons, 'wealas', which meant foreigner or slave, and from this term came the modern word Welsh. Eight to
ten years later many British aristocrats (Celts) and city dwellers began migrating to Brittany, an event known
as the second migration.
Although there were many different Germanic tribes migrating to England, several stood out from
among the others, such as the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and Franks. The Angles migrated from Denmark
and the Saxons from northern Germany. There is some debate as to the exact origin of the Jutes, since
linguistic evidence suggests that they came
from the Jutland peninsula, while
archaeological evidence suggests an origin
from one of the northern Frankish realms near
the mouth of the Rhine river. The Frisians and
Franks migrated mainly from the low countries
(now, the Netherlands) and north-western
Germany.
During the sixth and seventh centuries

these Germanic invaders started to carve out
kingdoms, fighting both the native Britons and
each other for land. First called Saxons, the

German invaders were later referred to as Angles, and in the year 601 AD, the pope referred to Aethelbert of
Kent as Rex Anglorum ("king of the Angles"). As time passed, the differences between the Germanic tribal
cultures gradually unified until eventually they ceased referring to themselves by their individual origins and
became either Anglo-Saxon or
English.
England 650 -750:
As Old English began to evolve, four major

dialects emerged which were Kentish, spoken by
the Jutes, West Saxon, the Saxon dialect, and
Northumbrian and Mercian, subdivisions of the
dialect spoken by the Angles. By the 9th century,
partly through the influence of King Alfred, the
West Saxon dialect became prevalent in literature
which aided the dialect's dominance among
scholars.
Soon after the Germanic invasions, the inhabitants gave their

settlements new names. The most common Saxon place names are those
ending in -ton (fenced area), -wick (dwelling), -ham (home), -
worth(homestead), -den(pasture), -hurst(wooded hill), and -burn(stream).
Some settlement names began with more than one word which either
stated personal possession or described a physical description of the area
and would later evolve into one word. One example of this evolution
would be the word Chatham which was originally Ceatta's Ham (Ceatta's
home).
Source:http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm
German dialects are spoken by the Angles and Saxons who will lead the
English. The word England, for example, originated from Angle-
land (land of the Angles). From there, the history of the English language
is divided into three periods: Old English, Middle English and Modern
English . The second half of the fifth century when the Germanic invasions occurred, marking the beginning of
the period known as Old English .
OLD ENGLISH (500 - 1100 AD)
Old English, also sometimes also called Anglo-Saxon , compared to modern English, a language is
almost unrecognizable, both in pronunciation and vocabulary and grammar. For a native speaker of English
today, the 54 words of the Lord's Prayer in Old English , less than 15% are recognizable in writing, and
probably nothing would be recognized to be pronounced. The correlation between pronunciation and spelling,
however, was much closer than in modern English. On the grammatical level, the differences are also
substantial. In Old English, and decline nouns have gender (masculine, feminine and neuter), and the verbs are
conjugated:
Translation of Old English Text

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; Father our thou that art in heavens
Si þin nama gehalgod be thy name hallowed
to becume þin rice come thy kingdom
gewurþe ðin willa be-done thy will
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. on earth as in heavens
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg our daily bread give us today
and forgyf us ure gyltas and forgive us our sins
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum as we forgive those-who-have-sinned-against-us
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge and not lead thou us into temptation
ac alys us of yfele soþlice but deliver us from evil. truly
QUESTIONS:
A. How in about 410 AD did the Celts themselves cause their own doom: being dominated by Germanic
tribes?
B. How were the Germanic invaders that started terrorising the Celtic tribes linked to the Romans who
since 50 BC had dominated the west of Europe?
C. What main groups invaded Britain and from where?
D. Their languages where in fact as dialects from one and the same basic language. Explain.
E. Of the dialects that evolved in Britain itself, which became dominant and because of whom?
F. How is this still evident in the names of many places (towns) in present day Britain?
UNIT 2 Lesson
10
More Detailed History of English - Introduction of Christianity
The Old English language (also called Anglo-Saxon) dates back to 449 CE. The Celts had been
living in England when the Romans invaded. Although they invaded twice, they did not conquer the Celts
until 43 CE and Latin never overtook the Celtic language. The Romans finally left England in 410 CE as the
Roman Empire was collapsing, leaving the Celts defenseless. Then the Germanic tribes from the present-day
area of Denmark arrived. The four main tribes were the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. These tribes set
up seven kingdoms called the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy that included: Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Wessex,
Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia. Four dialects were spoken in these kingdoms: West Saxon, Kentish,
Mercian and Northumbrian. The Celts moved north to Scotland, west to Ireland and south to France, leaving
the main area of Britain.
In 432 AD St Patrick had begun his mission to bring Christianity to the Celtic population of
Ireland. In 597 AD the church sent missionaries led by St Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons to
Christianity. The process of Christianization occurred gradually and peacefully, marking the beginning of the
influence of Latin on the German language from the Anglo-Saxon origin of modern English. This influence
occurs in two forms: the introduction of new vocabulary related to religion and adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon
vocabulary to cover new areas of meaning. The need for reproduction of the biblical texts also represents the
beginning of English literature.
The introduction of Christianity also represented a rejection of elements of Celtic culture and the
same association of witchcraft that the Anglo-Saxons had inherited from the Celts. The observation today
of Halloween on the evening of October 31 is preserved example of Celtic culture in the view of Christianity.

At that time, Britain was divided into seven

kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon origin and Old
English, then spoken, actually was not a
single language but a variety of different
dialects. The dialects of Old English before
Christianity were a functional language to
describe facts and meet the needs of daily
communication. The vocabulary of the
Greco-Latin origin introduced by
Christianization expanded the Anglo-Saxon
language toward abstract concepts.
After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, problems arose with the Celtic Christians
(or the Britons). The Celtic church had ceased communication with the Roman church for almost two centuries
and did not practise the new theological ideas brought to the Anglo-Saxons by Augustine. In particular, they
used an older method of calculating the date on which Easter was to be held. Representatives from the two
churches met with Oswiu, the king of Northumbria, who was then asked to choose between the two missions.
Oswiu chose Rome. Although the Celtic church found favor with some of the later kings, the Roman church
was the more dominant of the two. The largest number of Latin words was introduced as a result of the spread
of Christianity, such as altar, mass, priest, psalm, temple, kitchen, palm, and pear.
In 731 CE, Bede wrote the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" in Latin. It detailed the
sophisticated society of the Germanic tribes. They had destroyed the Roman civilization in England and
built their own, while dominance shifted among the kingdoms beginning with Kent and Northumbria. They
aligned with the Celtic clergy and converted to Christianity. Laws and contracts were written down for
a sense of permanence and control. The Tribal Hidage, a list of subjects who owed tribute to the king, was
written during the Mercian period of power.
QUESTIONS:
A. When and by whom did the Celtic peoples start to be Christianised and where?
B. When did Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples begin and by whom was it introduced?
C. How were the Anglo-Saxons politically organised?
D. Did the Anglo-Saxons accept the Christian religion completely and rapidly or was the transition to
Christianity problematic with older cultural influences competing for dominance? Explain.
E. Can you give an example of a present-day tradition that dates back to the “heathen” past of the
peoples of Britain?
F. What language was used to write the “history” of the people in those days and what famous document
was written?
UNIT 2 Lesson
11
More Detailed History of English – The 8th century and the Scandinavian Invaders

By the late 8th century, the Vikings originating from the western coasts of Scandinavia initiated
attacks against England. These people were using violence and their attacks caused destruction in many parts
of Europe. The Vikings who settled in England were predominantly from the region now belonging to
Denmark and spoke Old Norse , the ancestor language of Danish. These more than 200 years of Scandinavian
presence in England had an influence on Old English. However, due to the similarity between the two
languages, it is difficult, now, to determine precisely the nature of this influence.
The first major raid by Vikings occurred in the year 793 at the Northumbrian monastery at
Lindisfarne. The Vikings would continue major raids along most of the southern and eastern coasts of England
for a decade. About 40 Scandinavian (Old Norse) words were introduced into Old English during this period.
Words acquired during this period pertained to the sea and the Scandinavian administrative system. Some
examples of these borrowings are law, take, cut, anger, wrong, freckle, both, ill, ugly, as well as, the verb form
'are' as in “you are”. They also introduced many new names as they founded new settlements with endings
such as -scale, -beck, -by, and -fell. One example of a settlement name would be Portinscale or 'Prostitute's
hut'.
English Surnames
Anglo-Saxons distinguished between two people with the same name by adding either the place they
came from or the job they did to their first name. Modern surnames such as Baxter, Baker, Weaver, Fisher,
Fowler, Hunter, and Farmer are Anglo-Saxon in origin. The Vikings had a different way of distinguishing
between people of the same name. They added the name of the person's father or mother to the child's name.
As an example, Harald, the son of Erik would be known as Harald Erik's son, or as we would say it today,
Harald Erikson. Often Viking families alternated the name of the eldest so that Arn Gunnarsson might be the
father and son of Gunnar Arnsson, and the grandfather and grandson of Arn Gunnarson.
Source:http://www.anglik.net/
anglosaxonmap.htm
The 9th century
Alfred the Great was the king of Wessex from 871-899 while Wessex was the dominant kingdom.
(see map p. 11) During his reign, he united the kingdoms together and commissioned the Anglo-Saxon
chronicles, a historical record of important events in England that continued 200 years after his death. Alfred
also settled a truce with the Vikings who repeatedly invaded the area. During this century, the Danes had
begun a series of major raids on the whole of England.
Alfred the Great eventually fought the Vikings to a standstill at Edington which produced the Treaty
of Wedmore in 878 CE. This led to an uneasy peace and the establishment of the Danelaw. The fighting
continued, and in 886 CE, Alfred captured London from the Danes. The name Engla lande ("the land of the
Angles") was used at the end of this century. The Treaty of Wedmore was signed in 878 CE and this
"Danelaw" gave the northeastern half of England to the Danes for settlement. However, because the languages
were so similar, the Danes quickly assimilated and intermarried into the English society.
Although the Danes brought their own writing system with them, called the Futhorc, it was not used in
England. It is commonly referred to as Runes. The Insular Hand was the name of the writing system used in
England, and it contained many symbols that are no longer found in Modern English: the aesc, thorn, edh,
yogh and wynn, as well the macron for distinguishing long vowels. Anglo-Saxon scribes used these 'extra'
(non-Latin) letters to help write down characteristic sounds of that very Germanic language, Old English.
Two of these continued till about 1500. These were the thorn, (þ) and the yogh (ʒ).
QUESTIONS:
A. The Vikings raided Britain in two major waves. Which two and with how many years between them?
B. What language are these Vikings said to have spoken and where were they from? What about written
forms?
C. What elements in present day English can still be traced back to these Scandinavian invasions?
D. Explain what “Danelaw” stands for.

E. How was a truce achieved between the second group, the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons? Who was the
architect of this truce and what were the political consequences for the Anglo-Saxons?
F. Into what did this Scandinavian presence eventually evolve?
UNIT 2 Lesson
12
More Detailed History of English – The Conquest of England by the Normans
Sources: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm
The Conquest of England by the Normans -THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS
King Edward of England (called "The Confessor" because of his construction of

Westminster Abbey) died on January 5, 1066, after a reign of 23 years. Leaving no heirs,
Edward's passing ignited a three-way rivalry for the crown that culminated in the Battle
of Hastings and the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon rule of England.
The leading pretender was Harold Godwinson, the second most powerful man in England
and an advisor to Edward. Harold and Edward became brothers-in-law when the king
married Harold's sister. Harold's powerful position, his relationship to Edward and his
esteem among his peers made him a logical successor to the
throne. His claim was strengthened when the dying Edward
supposedly uttered "Into Harold's hands I commit my Kingdom." With this kingly
endorsement, the Witan (the council of royal advisors) unanimously selected Harold as King. His coronation
took place the same day as Edward's burial. With the placing of the crown on his head, Harold's troubles
began.
Across the English Channel, William, Duke of Normandy, also laid claim to the English throne.
William justified his claim through his blood relationship with Edward (they were distant cousins) and by
stating that some years earlier, Edward had designated him as his successor.
William was the bastard son of the Duke of Normandy. His father died when he was young and he
grew up in a chaotic duchy until, in adulthood, he was able to bring the barons to heel. Through his aunt, he
was a cousin of King Edward the Confessor of England who, at one time, contemplated leaving William the
English Crown. Although he later seems to have changed his mind, as far as William was concerned, England
was his. When Edward died, he crossed the Channel and defeated the English in a miraculous battle near
Hastings.
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was a historic event of great importance in the history of England. It
represented not only a drastic reorganization policy, but also changed the course of English, marking the
beginning of a new era. The battle was fought between the Norman army, commanded by William, Duke of
Normandy (Northern France), and Anglo-Saxon army led by King Harold, on October 14, 1066.

The bloody battle ended only in the evening; King Harold and his
brothers were killed as were the majority of the Saxon aristocracy, and a
balance from 1500 to 2000 Norman warriors dead and as many or more,
on the English side. William's victory was complete. On Christmas day
1066, William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
William had won a victory in a few days a feat that the Romans,
Saxons and Danes had fought long and hard for to achieve. He had
conquered a country of one and half million inhabitants, and probably the
richest in Europe at the time. For this fact was known in history as William
the Conqueror.
The regime which had resulted from the conquest was characterized by centralization, power, and of
course the language of the conquerors: the French dialect called Norman French . L William himself did not
speak English and, upon his death in 1087, there was not a single region of England that was not controlled by
a Norman. He is best known for giving all the land in England away to his cronies and then the first census
ever undertaken in the country. It was called the Domesday Book. His successors, William II (1087-1100) and
Henry I (1100-1135), spent nearly half their reigns in France and probably had little knowledge of English.
During the 300 years that followed, mainly in the initial 150 years, the language used by the
aristocracy in England was French. Speaking French then became a condition for those of Anglo-Saxon origin
in search of social ascent through sympathy and favors from the ruling class.
QUESTIONS:
A. How long did it take William, Duke of Normandy, to conquer Britain and was did he get the
“nickname” the Conqueror”?
B. Some people say that his battle against the English was the outcome of an “error” made by the
English King himself. Explain.
C. When and where was the war fought and how bloody was it?
D. What language did William and his men speak?
E. What was the consequence of this for Anglo-Saxons who sought to rise in society?
F. What about his successors?
UNIT 2 Lesson
13
More Detailed History of English – Middle English
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-
enhis.html
MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100 - 1500)
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern
half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century.
It is a direct descendent of Old Gallo-Romance. Old Gallo-Romance is the ancestral language of all Gallo-
Romance languages, such as French. Old Gallo-Romance contained many features of Vulgar Latin.
The Norman dialect of Normandy was also spread to England and Ireland after the Normans, led by William
the Conqueror, had invaded England.
The most important element of the period that corresponds to the Middle English was undoubtedly a
strong presence and influence of Old French into English. This true transfusion of culture in French-Norman

Anglo-Saxon nation, which lasted three centuries, resulted in a considerable contribution of vocabulary. This
demonstrates that, however strong may be the influence of one language over another, this influence does not
usually go beyond a vocabulary enrichment, which hardly affects the pronunciation or grammatical structure
of the “affected” language.
The centuries passed and the disputes that kept occurring between the Normans of the British Isles
and the continent caused the emergence of a nationalist sentiment in England, and by the late 15th century, it
became evident that the English language had prevailed. Even as a written language, English had replaced
French and Latin as official language for documents. Also a national literature in Middle English began to
emerge.
Much new vocabulary had been incorporated with the introduction of new management, political and
social concepts, for which there were no equivalents in English. In some cases, however, there were words of
Germanic origin, which, either just disappeared or came to coexist with the equivalents of French origin, in
principle as synonymous, but over time, acquiring different connotations. Examples:
Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French
answer respond fair beautiful hide Conceal pig pork

begin commence feed nourish house mansion sheep mutton
bill beak folk people hunt chase shut close
chicken poultry freedom Liberty kin relations sight vision
clothe dress ghost phantom kingly royal wish desire
eats Arrive happiness felicity look search work labor
end finish help aid mistake error yearly Annual
Minor dialectal differences resulting from this symbiosis between different social groups and their
languages can be observed even today. In intellectual circles of the more privileged classes of English-
speaking countries still exists a tendency to greater use of words of Latin origin.
The Split Between the French-speaking Normans and Saxons-speaking peasant English still exists
today in a curious fashion. The Normans, the conquerors and the rulers, became The upper-class of England
and their speech metamorphosed into today's well-educated English - primarily composed of Latin-based
vocabulary. The most common everyday speech of modern speakers’ English, however, is still directly based
on the Anglo-Saxon.
Besides the influence of Old French on the (Old) English vocabulary, Middle English was also
characterized by gradual loss of inflections, by neutralization and loss of unstressed vowels in word endings
and the beginning of the Great Vowel Shift, which will be explained in the next lesson.
QUESTIONS:
A. What was the origin of the language the Normans introduced to Britain in the eleventh century?
B. How long did this period of influence roughly last?
C. In what way was English transformed during this period (in a linguistic sense)?
D. Why did English, in its transformed version (Middle English) regain its dominant position in the
fourteenth century?
E. How can the influence of the Norman dialect of old French still be noticed in present-day English?
UNIT 2 Lesson 14
More Detailed History of English – The Great Vowel Shift, Modern English
The Great Vowel Shift
A sharp change in the pronunciation of English vowels occurred mainly during the 15th and 16th
centuries. Almost all the vowel sounds, including diphthongs, consonants have changed and some have ceased

to be pronounced. In general, changes of vowels corresponded to a movement toward the end of the spectrum
of vowels, as shown in the chart below.
The system of vowel sounds of English before the 15th century was quite similar to that of other
western European languages, including Portuguese of today. Therefore, the current lack of correlation between
spelling and pronunciation of modern English, which is observed mainly in the vowels, is largely a result of
this change occurred in the 15th century.
MODERN ENGLISH (starting at 1500)
While Middle English was characterized by a marked diversity of dialects, Modern

English represented a period of standardization and unification of the language. The advent of printing in 1475
and the creation of a postal system in 1516 enabled the spread of the dialect of London - already the politically
dominant dialect - to develop socially and economically in the rest of England. The availability of printed
materials also gave impetus to education, bringing literacy to reach the middle class.
Reproduction and dissemination of a standardized spelling finally, however, coincided with the period
in which also the Great Vowel Shift took place. The changes in pronunciation since that period, were no longer
accompanied by spelling reforms, which reveals the conservative character of English culture. We have here
the origin of the current lack of correlation between pronunciation and spelling in modern English .
The standardization process of the English language began in the early 16th century
with the advent of lithography, and ended up settling in these ways throughout the 18th century
with the publication of dictionaries of Samuel Johnson (illustration) in 1755, Thomas Sheridan
in 1780 and John Walker in 1791. Since then, the spelling of English has changed in only minor
details, while the pronunciation has changed considerably. The result is that today we have a
spelling system based on language as it was spoken in the 18th century, being used to represent
the pronunciation of the language in the 20th century.

Similar to the first dictionaries that were used to standardize the spelling of the first papers
incorporating grammatical concepts of the Latin languages and bringing uniformity in grammar were
published describing the grammatical structure of English, which influenced the use of the language. During
the 16th and 17th centuries was the emergence and the final incorporation of the auxiliary verb “do” “does”
in interrogative sentences and don’t / doesn’t for negative form. From the 18th century, the use of a double
negation in the same sentence as, for example, She did not go neith was considered to be incorrect
QUESTIONS:
A. What is the “Great Vowel Shift” and when did it occur?
B. How can the occurrence of this phenomenon be linked to the fact that the spelling of English does not
neatly correspond with the pronunciation of the words.
C. How do Middle English and modern English compare with respect to dialects and forms of spelling?
D. What contributed to the standardisation of spelling and grammar?
E. What dialect became to be used as the model for standardisation and why?
F. How did Samuel Johnson contribute to the standardisation of English? Mention some other scholars.
G. Can you present some English words that when pronounced as if they were Portuguese words, for
example, in fact sound the way they were pronounced some 500 hundred years ago.
UNIT 2 Lesson
15
More Detailed History of English – Shakespeare, American English, English as a Language of the
World
SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), represented a strong influence on the
development of a literary language. His plays are characterized by a greater creative
use of vocabulary than existing in contemporary works, and the creation of new
words. Nouns turned into verbs and verbs into adjectives, and the free addition of
prefixes and suffixes and the use of figurative language are frequent in the works of
Shakespeare. (See APPENDIX 3.)
While that literature has developed, the 19th-century British colonialism,
brought the English language to remote areas of the world, providing contact with
different cultures and bringing enrichment to the new English vocabulary.
Since the early Christian era until the 19th century, six languages came to
be spoken in Britain: Celtic, Latin, Old English, Norman French, Middle and
Modern English. This diversity of influences explains the fact that the English
language is less systematic and less regular than, for example, Portuguese or Italian and even German. It could
also lead us to conclude that English today can be likened to a quilt made of scraps of fabric from various
source.
AMERICAN ENGLISH
The hope of achieving prosperity and aspirations for freedom of religion were the factors that led to
the colonization of North America. The arrival of the first English immigrants in 1620, marks the beginning of
the presence of English in the New World.
At the time of independence from the
United States in 1776, when the country's
population reached nearly 4 million, the American
Dialect already showed distinct characteristics in
relation to the dialects of the British Isles. The

contact with the reality of a new environment, with native and indigenous cultures with the Spanish regions
adjacent to the south, colonized by Spain, led a diverse vocabulary development of British English.
Today, however, the differences between the British and Americans dialects are largely in
pronunciation, small differences in vocabulary. Unlike what happened between Brazil and Portugal, the United
States and Britain have maintained strong cultural commercial and political ties. While the Portuguese over
four centuries has evolved into two dialects differ substantially in Portugal and Brazil, the differences between
dialects British and American are less significant.
ENGLISH AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD

Recent historical facts explain the current role of English as the language of the world.
Firstly, we have the great economic power of England in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, driven by
the Industrial Revolution and the consequent expansion of British colonialism. This true empire of economic
and political influence peaked in the first half of the 20th century, with a territorial expansion that reached 20%
of Earth's land. The British Empire came to be known as "the empire where the sun never sets" due to its wide
geographic spread, causing an equally wide spread of English.
Secondly, the political and military might of the U.S. after World War II and, as a consequence, the
remarkable economic and cultural influence of English worldwide eventually displace French as the
predominant language and solidify English as the diplomatic standard language for international
communication. Simultaneously, there is rapid development of air transport and telecommunication
technologies. In our present-day world concepts such as superhighway of information (e.g. Internet) and global
village have become central to describe a world in which a common language of communication is essential, at
this time in history, being English.
QUESTIONS:
A. In what way did the playwright Shakespeare contribute to the enrichment of the English
language?
B. Read Macbeth’s words in Appendix 3 after he hears about Lady Macbeth’s death and mention
some figures of speech you can find there.
C. How is it explained in this lesson that the syntax of English appears to be less systematic than
that of, for example, Portuguese or German?
D. When did English settlers start living in North America?
E. How long afterwards did American English start to show distinct linguistic features of its own
when compared to British English?
F. What is one of the reasons for American English to have lots of words that do not occur in British
English?
G. Explain why the differences between the varieties of English as spoken in America and in Britain
are less great that between the varieties of Portuguese as spoken in Portugal and Brazil?
H. Explain briefly and in your own words what caused English to become a world language.
Lesson
16
Preparation test 2
In which students work in groups to raise questions about the contents to be examined in test 2 (Unit 2)
TEST 2 Lesson
17

UNIT 3 Lesson
18
History of English with focus on Linguistic features –
Oldest origins and Old English
Source: http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm
English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family includes most of
the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes several major branches: Latin and
the modern Romance languages (French, Spanish, etc.); the Germanic languages (Dutch, German, Swedish
etc.); [English could be grouped either under Germanic or Romance languages as it is, in fact, a mixture, but as
its origin and basis is Germanic, the tendency is to categorise it as Germanic] the Indo-Iranian
languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.); the Baltic
languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek.
The existence of the original Indo-European language can be verified today in the modern languages
that have developed from it, even though no written record of Indo-European exists. The word for father, for
example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words
in different languages that share the same root.
Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the development of
English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the Romance (called like that because the
Romance languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome). English is a member of the Germanic
group of languages. It is believed that this group began as a common language in the Elbe river region ( being
one of the major waterways of central Europe, it runs from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North
Sea) about 3,000 years ago. By the second century BC, this Common Germanic language had split into three
distinct sub-groups:
 East Germanic was spoken by peoples who migrated back to southeastern Europe. No East Germanic
language is spoken today, and the only written East Germanic language that survives is Gothic.
 North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian,
and Icelandic (but not Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and Estonian and is not an Indo-
European language).
 West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.
Old English (500-1100 AD)

Old English is the product of a mixture of Germanic dialects that were introduced to Britain by West
Germanic invaders who began to settle on the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries CE. Although there
were many different Germanic tribes migrating to England, several stood out from among the others, such as
the Angles (whose name is the source of the words England < Englaland and English < Englisc), Saxons,
Jutes, Frisians, and Franks. The Angles migrated from Denmark and the Saxons from northern Germany.
There is some debate as to the exact origin of the Jutes, since linguistic evidence suggests that they came from
the Jutland peninsula (now Denmark), while archaeological evidence suggests an origin from one of the
northern Frankish realms near the mouth of the Rhine river (now Rotterdam of the Netherlands). The Frisians
and Franks migrated mainly from the low countries (now Netherlands) and north-western Germany.
During the sixth and seventh centuries these Germanic invaders started to carve out kingdoms,
fighting both the native Britons (Celtic tribes) and each other for land. First called Saxons, the German
invaders were later referred to as Angles, and in the year 601 CE the pope referred to Aethelbert of Kent
as Rex Anglorum ("king of the Angles"). As time passed, the differences between the Germanic tribal cultures
gradually unified until eventually they ceased referring to themselves by their individual origins and became
either Anglo-Saxon or English. (map of England 650-750) Four major dialects of Old English emerged,
Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and
Kentish in the Southeast.

As Old English began to evolve, four major

dialects emerged which were Kentish, spoken by the
Jutes in the Southeast, West Saxon, the Saxon dialect
spoken in the south and west, Northumbrian in the north
of England and Mercian in the midlands, the latter two
dialects being subdivisions of the dialect spoken by the
Angles. By the 9th century, partly through the influence
of King Alfred, the West Saxon dialect became
prevalent in literature which aided the dialect's
dominance among scholars.
After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, problems arose with the Celtic Christians
(or the Britons). The Celtic church had ceased communication with Roman church for almost two centuries
and did not practice the new theological ideas brought to the Anglo-Saxons by Augustine. In particular, they
used an older method of calculating the date on which Easter was to be held. The Germanic invaders pushed
the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and
Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in the Gaelic languages of
Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is, in linguistic terms, now a dead language. (The
last native Cornish speaker died in 1777).
The Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, was the earliest form of English. It is difficult to
give exact dates for the rise and development of any language, because changes in languages do not occur
suddenly. However, Old English was in use from about 600 AD to about 1100, shortly after which occurred
the most important event in the development and history of the English language, the Norman Conquest.
Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf,
The greatest Old English poem is Beowulf, which belongs The first page of the Beowulf manuscript :
to the seventh century. It is a story of about 3,000 lines, and it is
the first English epic (a story in poetry of the adventures of a
brave man or men). The name of its author is unknown.
Beowulf is not based upon events in England, but about
Hrothgar, King of the Danes, and about a brave young man,
Beowulf, from southern Sweden, who goes to help him. Hrothgar
is in trouble. His great hall, called Heorot, is visited by night by a
terrible creature named Grendel, which lives in a lake and comes
to kill and eat Hrothgar's men. One night Beowulf waits in secret
for Grendel, attacks it, and in a fierce fight pulls its arm off! It
manages to reach the lake again, but dies there. Then its mother
comes to the hall in search of revenge, and the attacks begin
again. Beowulf follows her to the bottom of the lake and after a
struggle kills her there. Later, as an aged warrior-king, Beowulf
has to defend his country against a fire-breathing dragon,
guarding a huge treasure. He kills the creature but is badly
wounded in the fight, and dies. The poem ends with a sorrowful
description of Beowulf's funeral fire. Here are a few lines of it:
"... alegdon tha tomiddes maerne theoden
laeleth hiofende hlaford leofne
ongunnon tha on beorge bael-fyra maest
wigend weccan wudu-rec astah
sweart ofer swiothole swogende leg
wope bewunden"
Or a modern English translation might go something like this ...
" The sorrowing soldiers then laid the glorious prince, their
dear lord, in the middle. Then on the hill the war-men began
to light the greatest of funeral fires. The wood-smoke rose
black above the flames, the noisy fire, mixed with sorrowful

cries"
As you can see Old English is almost impossible to read
now except by those who have made a special study of it!
QUESTIONS:
A. From which language have most languages in Europe originated?
B. How can that be easily demonstrated?
C. Indicate to what branches of this primal language the following languages belong: Swedish, Sanskrit,
Italian, Frisian, Czech, Lithuanian, Welsh and Flemish.
D. What were the origins of the several tribes that came to Britain? Mention names and areas of origin.
E. What are the roots of English, i.e. what two branches of proto-Germanic or languages of the Indo
European family is English a product of?
F. Which of the two branches is the most dominant part of the ‘ancestry’ of present-day English?
Explain.
G. Explain what happened to the peoples living there before the arrivals of these tribes from the
continent and what has happened to their languages?
H. Explain in what way the poem Beowulf shows how the Anglo-Saxon origin is really continental, i.e.
from northern Europe.
UNIT 3 Lesson
19
History of English with focus on Linguistic features
Some Linguistic features of Old English
The dialects spoken by the invading Germanic tribes formed what is called Old English or Anglo-
Saxon. "Anglo-Saxon" is also the term applied to the English-speaking inhabitants of Britain up to the time of
the Norman Conquest (1066), when the Anglo-Saxon line of English kings came to an end.
Old English shared its Germanic heritage in vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar with its
sister languages in continental Europe (notably Frisian which still exists and the ancestor languages of modern
German and Dutch referred to as West Germanic languages). Some features were specific to the West
Germanic language family while some other features were inherited from the older Proto-Germanic or Indo-
European languages.
Old English was fully inflected with five grammatical cases like German today: the nominative,
accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental. It had dual plural forms for referring to groups of two objects, in
addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It assigned gender to all nouns, including those that describe
inanimate objects: for example, sēo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, while se mōna (the Moon) was masculine
(cf. modern German die Sonnevs. der Mond)
Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender

Masculine Neuter Feminine
Case engel 'angel' scip 'ship' sorg 'sorrow'
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative Engel englas Scip scipu sorg Sorga
Accusative Engel englas Scip scipu sorge sorga/sorge
Genitive Engles engla scipes scipa sorge Sorga
Dative Engle englum Scipe scipum sorge Sorgum
The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something, for example lifde
sweorde, "he lived by the sword", where sweorde is the instrumental form of sweord. During the Old English
period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and

strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.

Old English was spelled essentially as it was pronounced. Words were spelt as they were
pronounced (“phonetic” spelling). The "silent" letters in many Modern English words, such as the "k" in
"knight", were pronounced in Old English (OE cniht). Spelling was extremely variable; writers could
practically invent their own spelling and there was no national or regional standard, only conventions that a
writer could adhere to if he so wished. The spelling of a word would usually reflect differences in the
phonetics of the writer's regional dialect. For example, the word "and" could be spelt either and or ond. Most
present day students of Old English learn the language using normalised versions (no variant spellings).
Below is an excerpt of The Nativity according to Luke in Old English. If you look at it carefully, you
can see the similarities with the German or a Scandinavian language and we can see why English is called a
sister language of German. Also, there was a time back in the Old English period when the Scandinavian
languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic) and English were mutually understandable. English is
certainly the one that has broken further away from the other four (Scandinavians can still pretty much
understand each other's dialects), but the strong influence of Latin (mostly through the church and scholars)
and the Norman invasion of England brought about significant changes in the language, as did a host of
smaller influences.
The Nativity has been chosen because the gospels are available in all three "languages".
THE BIBLE NATIVITY STORY

KJV Bible--Luke 2:1-38, Matthew 2:1-23
Old English
Present day English
Soþlice on þam dagum wæs geworden gebod fram þam And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a
casereAugusto, þæt eall ymbehwyrft wære tomearcod. decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should
Þeos tomearcodneswæs æryst geworden fram þam be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when
deman Syrige Cirino. And ealle hig eodon,and syndrige Cyrenius was governor in Syria.) And all went to be
ferdon on hyra ceastre. Ða ferde Iosep fram Galilea of taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also
þæreceastre Nazareth on Iudeisce ceastre Dauides, seo went up from Galilee, out of Nazareth, into Judaea,
is genemned Bethleem, for þam þe he wæs of Dauides unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem;
huse and hirede; þæt he ferde mid Marianþe him (because he was of the house and lineage of David.)
beweddod wæs, and wæs geeacnod. To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great
Soþlice wæs geworden þa hi þar wæron, hire with child.
dagas wæron gefyllede þæt heo cende. And heo cende And so it was, that while they were there, the
hyre frumcennedan sunu, and hine mid cildclaþum days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
bewand, and hine on binne alede, for þam þe hig And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped
næfdon rum on cumena huse. him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger,
And hyrdas wæron on þam ylcan rice waciende, and because there was no room for them in the inn.
nihtwæccan healdende ofer heora heorda. Þa stod And there were in the same country shepherds
Drihtnes engel wiþ hig, and Godes beorhtnes him ymbe abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
scean; and hi him mycelum ege adredon. And se engel night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
him to cwæð, Nelle ge eow adrædan; soþlice nu ic eow and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and
bodie mycelne gefean, se bið eallum folce; for þam to they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
dæg eow ys Hælend acenned, se is Drihten Crist, on Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great
Dauides ceastre. joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord.
QUESTIONS:
A. What linguistic features did Anglo-Saxon or Old English have in common with the West Germanic
languages spoken at the time?
B. In what ways was old English spelled differently from the way present day English is spelled?
C. Was there an Old English standard spelling? Explain.

D. What impression does Old English make on you comparing it to present day English (See the Bible
“Nativity Story” by Lucas).
UNIT 3 Lesson
20
History of English with focus on Linguistic features
Main Influences on Old English
Sources:
http://www.1066andallthat.com/beowulf.asp
http://www.krysstal.com/english.html
The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only
about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this is deceptive; Old
English is much more important than these statistics would indicate. About half of the most commonly used
words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from
Old English roots.
Old English is remarkable in the number and type of language-contact situations which the Anglo-
Saxons experienced within their own borders. In the six centuries between 500 and 1100, the people had to
deal routinely with speakers of no fewer than four language families, including:
a) Celtic (chiefly Old Welsh)
b) Italic (Vulgar Latin, Classical Latin)
c) Other branches of Germanic (Old Norse, Old Saxon, Frisian)
d) Romance (Old French, Norman French) < after 1066
No subsequent period in British history introduced such a diverse set of linguistic influences within
the British Isles
The Germanic tribes were exposed to Latin before they invaded England, so the languages they spoke
did have some Latin influence. After the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity, Latin had more influence, as
evidenced in words pertaining to the church. Celtic, on the other hand, did not have a large impact on
English, as only a few place names are of Celtic origin, but Danish (Old Scandinavian) did
contribute many vocabulary words.
Latin Influence on Old English language
Latin was the lingua franca of Europe at the time. A large percentage of the educated and
literate population (monks, clerics, etc.) were competent in Latin. There were at least three notable periods of
Latin influence:
- The first occurred before the ancestral Saxons left continental Europe for England.
- The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the late sixth and seventh
centuries, and Latin-speaking priests became widespread
- The third occurred following the Norman invasion of 1066, after which an enormous number
of Norman words entered the language (most of them were themselves derived from classical Latin).
Old English word Modern English gloss Latin origin
Alter altar Altar
biblioþece library bibliotheca
cancer crab cancer
creda creed, belief credo
cucumer cucumber cucumer
culpe guilt, fault culpa
deacon deacon diaconus
fenester window fenestra
fers verse versus
grammatic grammar grammatica

mamma breast mamma

notere notary notarius
offrian sacrifice offere
orgel organ organum
papa pope papa
philosoph philosopher philosophus
predician preach praedicare
regol religious rule regula
sabbat Sabbath sabbatum
scol School scola
Influence of North Germanic or Old Norse
During the 7th and 8th Centuries, Northumbria's culture and language dominated Britain (see bottom
page 20). The Viking invasions of the 9th Century brought this domination to an end (along with the
destruction of Mercia). Only Wessex remained as an independent kingdom.
Norse invasions and settlement, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into
the language, particularly in the north of England.
Old Norse was a North Germanic language, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-
east and the east coast down to London. Old Norse was related to Old English: both derived from the same
ancestral Proto-Germanic language. It spread during the Viking invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries.
The everyday flavour of the Scandinavian loans can be seen in these examples, all of which survived
into modern Standard English: anger, awkward, bond, cake, crooked, dirt, dregs, egg, fog, freckle, get, kid, leg,
lurk, meek, muggy, neck, seem, sister, skill, skirt, smile, Thursday, window, take, get. Its influence was
reflected in place names, items of basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative
aspects of the Dane law.
Old Norse is also credited with the introduction of a new set of third-person plural pronouns, they, them,
and their. These replaced the earlier Old English inflected forms: hi or hie (in the nominative and accusative
cases, 'they / them'), hira or heora (in the genitive case, 'their, of them'), and him or heom (in the dative case,
'to them, for them').
A mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in Old English. Many
pairs of English and Norse words coexisted giving us two words with the same or slightly differing meanings.
Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from
the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt.
More examples follow:
Norse English
anger wrath
any no
fro from
raise rear
iIl sick
bask bathe
skill craft
skin hide
dike ditch
scatter shatter
skip shift
By the 10th Century, the West Saxon dialect became the official language of Britain. Written Old
English is mainly known from this period. It was written in an alphabet called Runic, derived from the

Scandinavian languages. The Runic alphabets were a set of related alphabets using letters (known as runes),
used to write Germanic languages before and shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia and the British
Isles. Old English shifted to the Latin alphabet after the Anglo-Saxons' conversion to Christianity.
The Latin Alphabet was brought over from Ireland by Christian missionaries. This has remained the writing
system of English.
Concluding, the vocabulary of Old English consisted of an Anglo Saxon base with borrowed words
from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and Norse) and Latin. Besides the words you find in the table
above, many more words were added from Latin such as: street, kitchen, kettle, cup, cheese, wine, angel,
bishop, martyr and candle.
The Vikings added many Norse words. Besides the ones already mentioned above, there were many
more words such as: sky, egg, cake, leg, window (wind eye), husband, fellow, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take,
raise, call, die, etc. A limited number of Celtic words also survived mainly in place and river names (Devon,
Dover, Kent, Trent, Severn, Avon, Thames).
QUESTIONS:
A. Why does it depend on what register of present English you analyse to decide how much of Old
English can still be found in present day English?
B. So if only part of present English derives from Old English what does the rest of present day English
derive from? (Mention other sources of influence on the formation on present day English.) What
were the main influences on Old English in the period from 500 to 1100?
C. What were the three notable periods of Latin influence?
D. Mention five words in present day English that clearly have a Latin origin (also present the Latin
equivalents).
E. How did the political situation of Britain change dramatically after the invasions of the Norseman or
Vikings beginning around 850?
F. Was the language of the Vikings very different from Old English? Explain.
G. What can still be found in present day English that was introduced from Old Norse? Give examples.
H. From when do we have written records of the language used in Britain in those days produced in that
particular language itself? Which specific dialect?
I. What two alphabets were used and which one eventually became the dominant one?
J. Is there anything that has survived from the earlier Celtic languages?
UNIT 3 Lesson
21
History of English with focus on Linguistic features – The Norman Conquest and Middle
Ages - Focus: Vocabulary
Sources: http://www.1066andallthat.com/beowulf.asp
http://www.krysstal.com/english.html
http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm
The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)
William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-
Saxons in 1066 AD. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. The
Normans were also of Germanic stock ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") and Anglo-Norman was a French
dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.
Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language,
mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the

seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way), but now
there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.
The Normans, their vassals and the representatives of the government, i.e. the nobility, (some of them
may have not been Normans and may have switched from Old English to the language of their overlords)
continued speaking their Norman dialect of old French while the rest of the population, the commoners,
communicated in the vernacular Old English dialects. This bilingual situation lasted for about 200 years.
In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France. This began a process
where the Norman nobles of England became increasingly estranged from their French cousins. England
became the chief concern of the nobility, rather than their estates in France, and consequently the nobility
adopted a modified English as their native tongue. About 150 years later, the Black Death (1349-50) killed
about one third of the English population. And as a result of this, the labouring and merchant classes grew in
economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-
Norman.
This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English. The most famous example of
Middle English is Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. (See Appendix 2) By 1362, the linguistic division
between the nobility and the commoners was largely over. In that year, the Statute of Pleading was adopted,
which made English the language of the courts and it began to be used in Parliament.
Many legal terms, such as indict, jury, and verdict, though, have Anglo-Norman roots
because the Normans had for centuries run the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the
aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic
roots, can be seen in many instances.
The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef,
commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who
tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. The class division that existed in those days has given rise to
peculiar semantic divisions in the vocabulary that still exists today. Because the English underclass cooked for
the Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer)
while the words for the meats derived from them are “French” (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).
Sometimes ‘French’ words replaced Old English words; crime replaced firen and uncle replaced earn.
Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French gentle and the
Germanic man formed gentleman. Finally, two different words with roughly the same meaning may have
survived into modern English. Thus we have the Germanic doom and the French judgement or wish and desire.
There are many other pairs from each origin (the Anglo-Norman/French and Old English origins,
respectively) as can be seen from the following examples:
“French” (origin) English
Close shut
Reply answer
Odour smell
Annual yearly
Demand ask
Chamber room
Desire wish
Power might
Ire wrath / anger
It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text (here: The Lord’s Prayer) to see the
differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c. 1000) sample:
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum
si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.
Rendered in Middle English (Wyclif, 1384), the same text is recognizable to the modern eye:
Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;
þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene.

yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.

And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han
synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.
Finally, in Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611) the same text is completely intelligible:
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen.
Giue us this day our daily bread.
And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.
Unlike Old English, Middle English can be read, albeit with difficulty, by modern English-speaking people.
The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English.
QUESTIONS:
A. What did Anglo-Norman, the dialect of Old French introduced by the Normans led by William the
conqueror, have in common with the language spoken in Britain before the conquest, (that is, a late
form of Old English)? Think of their origins.
B. How did the country become linguistically divided and when and because of what political,
economical and social factors did this division return to a “normalized” situation i.e. a monolingual
society?
C. What major influences did this language, introduced by the Normans under William the conqueror,
have on the language used before their conquest, Old English? (Refer to changes in the vocabulary
and the semantic areas that were most affected with a lasting influence until present day English).
D. What did the mixture of languages and cultures eventually result into, i.e. what did Old English
develop into? Mention a great poet of these times?
E. Focus on the last line of the prayer “Our father” and find a word that has a Latin root which
substituted an older (Germanic – Old English) word; this word has persisted until now and exists in
present day English.
F. What can you conclude, in general, about Middle English when comparing it to Old and Modern
English (see the three versions of “The Lord’s Prayer”)?
UNIT 3 Lesson
22
History of English with focus on Linguistic features –
Grammar, Spelling and Pronunciation of Middle English
Source:
http://www.ielanguages.com/enghist.html
SPELLING CHANGES
Compared to spelling conventions as were used in the days of Old English, the writing system
changed dramatically in Middle English. However, the striking change in the written language of England
during the twelfth century was, to a considerable extent, a matter of mere spelling, not of pronunciation. ME
Looks very different from OE, but this doesn’t always reflect sound changes.

Old English > OE toþ, toð /toθ/

Middle English > ME tooth to(o)th(e) /toθ/
Present day English > PDE tooth /tuwθ/
One of the reasons was that soon after the Norman conquest children ceased to be regularly taught to read
and write English, and were taught to read and write French instead. When, therefore, the mass of the new
generations tried to write English, after English had returned to its original position of the national language,
they had no orthographical traditions to guide them, and had to spell the words phonetically according to
French rules. They used ch instead of the oldc, when it was pronounced as in cirice church. The sound of the
Old English sc in sceamu shame, which did not exist at that time in French, was rendered by ss, ssh,
sch, or sh. The French qu took the place of cp. A list of some of the marked changes is:
a. þ and ð were replaced by th (and sometimes y, as in ye meaning the)
b. c before i or e became ch (e.g. OE cild -> ME child )
c. sc became sh ( OE scip -> ME sc-, sch-, sh-, s-, ss- ... for PDE “ship”)
d. hw became wh (“hw” stood for the Romance/Latin <qu> in ‘quos’ = who )
e. cw became qu (eg. cween became queen)
f. the new symbols v and u were added; v was used word initially, and u was used everywhere else (e.g.
abouen, heuens, ouer, yuel but visitist, virgyn ; (but confusingly the same letter was used vndirkast,
vndir for a vowel if followed by a consonant)
g. k was used much more often (cyning became king)
These are just examples, there were many more changes. Concluding, the causes for the changes in spelling
were:
a. the collapse of the West Saxon standard spelling form used in Old English
b. influence of Old French (or Anglo-Norman) conventions
c. the development of local traditions (e.g. the Ancrene Riwle MSS 1)
For instance, during the Middle English period, there could be a number of different spellings for the same
word, for example, the spellings of ‘might’ was spelt as: maht mahte mihte mihhte mist mithe mouthe myhte
micht.
An even stronger example is the spelling of the word “new” in Old and Middle English:
OE nú -> ME nu, nv; new, newe; no, noou, noue; noug, nough, nou,nouwe, nov, nowgh, nuge, nw, nyw,
1
Ancren Riwle (äng'krĕn rē'ūlə) or Ancrene Wisse (äng'krĕnə wĭs'ə) [Mid. Eng.,=anchoresses' rule],
English tract written c.1200 by an anonymous English churchman for the instruction of three young ladies about
to become religious recluses. The work, important as a sample of early Middle English prose, is a charming
mixture of realism and humor, didacticism and tenderness. It is also important for its depiction of the manners
and customs of the time. French and Latin versions of the work are also extant.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/ancrene-wisse#ixzz1Go6wLv1u
GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX CHANGES
Because of the stress shift to the beginning of the word, Middle English lost the case suffixes or
inflections at the ends of nouns. Phonological erosion also occurred because of this, and some consonants
dropped off while some vowels became əand dropped off too.
The generalized plural marker became -s, but it still competed with -n. The Germanic form of
plurals that were still common in Old English (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually displaced by the
French method of making plurals: adding an s (house, houses; shoe, shoes). Only a few words have retained
their Germanic plurals: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.

Verb infinitives dropped the -an ending, and used "to" before the verb to signify the infinitival form.
The third person singular and plural was marked with -(e)th; but the singular also competed with -(e)s from the
Northern dialect. More strong (irregular) verbs became weak (regular) as well.
Adjectives lost agreement with the noun, but the weak ending -e still remained. The comparative
form became -er and the superlative became -est. Vowels tended to be long in the adjective form, but short in
the comparative form (late - latter). The demonstratives these and those were added during this period. And the
adverb ending -lič became -ly; however, some "flat" adverbs did not add the -ly: fast, late, hard.
The dual number disappeared in the pronouns, and the dative and accusative became the object forms
of the pronouns. The third person plural pronouns replaced the old pronouns with th- words (they, them, their)
borrowed from Scandinavian. She started being used for the feminine singular subject pronoun and you (plural
form) was used in the singular as a status marker for the formal.
Syntax was stricter and more prepositions were used. New compound tenses were used, such as the
perfect tenses, and there was more use of the progressive and passive voice. The use of double negation also
increased as did impersonal constructions. The use of the verbs will and shall for the future tense were first
used too. Formerly, will meant want (In German “I want” is “Ich will”,) and shall meant “obliged to”.
PRONUNCIATION CHANGES
Some Pronunciation changes were:
 Loss of initial h in a cluster (hleapan - to leap; hnutu - hut)

 [w] lost between consonant and back vowel (w is silent in two, sword, answer)
 [v] lost in middle of words (heofod - head; hæfde - had)
 Loss of final -n in possessive pronouns (min fæder - mi fæder) and the addition of -n to some words
beginning with a vowel (a napron - an apron, a nuncle - an uncle)
QUESTIONS:
A. Did the changes in spelling in Middle English as compared to the spelling in Old English reflect
marked pronunciation changes? Explain.
B. Explain why there were so many changes and also varieties of spelling.
C. Give examples of grammar and pronunciation changes.
D. How did the syntax change?
UNIT 3 Lesson
23
Old, Middle and Present Day English Compared
See below a comparison between The Nativity Story by Lucas from the Bible in Middle English as
compared to present day English:
Old English Translation by John Wycliffe, c. Present- day English

8th century 1380-83
Soþlice on þam dagum wæs And it was don in tho daies, a And it came to pass in those days,
geworden gebod fram þam casere maundement wente out fro the that there went out a decree from
Augusto, þæt eall ymbehwyrft wære emperour August, thatal the world Caesar Augustus, that all the world
tomearcod. (Þeos tomearcodneswæs schulde be discryued. (This firste should be taxed. (And this taxing

æryst geworden fram þam deman discryuyng was maad of Cyryn, was first made when Cyrenius was
Syrige Cirino.) And ealle hig iustice of Sirie.) And alle men governor in Syria.) And all went to
eodon,and syndrige ferdon on hyra wenten to make professioun, ech in be taxed, every one into his own
ceastre. Ða ferde Iosep fram Galilea to his owne citee. And Joseph went city. And Joseph also went up from
of þæreceastre Nazareth on Iudeisce vp fro Galilee, fro the citee Nazareth, Galilee, out of Nazareth, into
ceastre Dauides, seo is genemned in to Judee, in to a citee of Dauid, Judaea, unto the city of David,
Bethleem, for þam þe he wæs of that is clepid Bethleem, for that he which is called Bethlehem; (because
Dauides huse and hirede; þæt he was of the hous and of the meyne of he was of the house and lineage of
ferde mid Marianþe him beweddod Dauid, that he schulde knouleche David.) To be taxed with Mary his
wæs, and wæs geeacnod. with Marie, his wijf, that was weddid espoused wife, being great with
Soþlice wæs geworden þa hi þar to hym, and was greet with child. child.
wæron, hire dagas wæron gefyllede And it was don, while thei And so it was, that while they
þæt heo cende. And heo cende hyre weren there, the daies were fulfillid, were there, the days were
frumcennedan sunu, and hine mid that sche schulde bere child. And accomplished that she should be
cildclaþum bewand, and hine on sche bare hir first borun sone, and delivered. And she brought forth
binne alede, for þam þe hig næfdon wlappide hym in clothis, and leide her firstborn son, and wrapped him
rum on cumena huse. hym in a cratche, for ther was no in swaddling cloths, and laid him in
place to hym in no chaumbir. a manger, because there was no
room for them in the inn.
And hyrdas wæron on þam And there were in the same
ylcan rice waciende, and nihtwæccan And scheepherdis weren in the country shepherds abiding in the
healdende ofer heora heorda. Þa stod same cuntre, wakynge and kepynge field, keeping watch over their flock
Drihtnes engel wiþ hig, and Godes the watchis of the nygt on her flok. by night. And, lo, the angel of the
beorhtnes him ymbe scean; and hi And lo! the aungel of the Lord stood Lord came upon them, and the
him mycelum ege adredon. And se bisidis hem, and the cleernesse of glory of the Lord shone round about
engel him to cwæð, Nelle ge eow God schinede aboute hem; and thei them; and they were sore afraid.
adrædan; soþlice nu ic eow bodie dredden with greet drede. And the And the angel said unto them, Fear
mycelne gefean, se bið eallum folce; aungel seide to hem, Nyle ye drede; not; for, behold, I bring you good
for þam to dæg eow ys Hælend for lo! Y preche to you a greet ioye, tidings of great joy, which shall be
acenned, se is Drihten Crist, on that schal be to al puple. For a to all people. For unto you is born
Dauides ceastre. sauyoure is borun to dai to you, that this day in the city of David a
is Crist the Lord. Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
TASK:
As you may have noticed, to make a comparison easier, names have been underlined. Find 20 words that you
think are interesting examples of how the language changed in the period of roughly 1200 years and present
them as groups of three (one in Old English, one in Middle English and one in Present day English), e.g.
“engel” / “aungel” / ‘angel’.
UNIT 3 Lesson
24
History of English with focus on Linguistic features – Early Modern English (1500 –
1800): Pronunciation and Grammar
A major factor that influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English was
the Great Vowel Shift. The Great Vowel Shift (1400-1600) changed the pronunciation of all the vowels. The
tongue was placed higher in the mouth, and all the verbs moved up. Vowels that were already high ([i] and [u])
added the dipthongs [aj] and [aw] to the vowels of English.

This was a change in pronunciation that began around 1400. While modern English speakers can read
Chaucer with some difficulty, Chaucer's pronunciation would have been completely unintelligible to the
modern ear. Shakespeare, on the other hand, would be accented, but understandable. Vowel sounds began to
be made further to the front of the mouth and the letter "e" at the end of words became silent.
Chaucer's Lyf (pronounced "leef") became the modern life. In Middle English name was pronounced "nam-
a," five was pronounced "feef," and down was pronounced "doon." In linguistic terms, the shift was rather
sudden, the major changes occurring within a century. The shift is still not over, however, vowel sounds are
still shortening although the change has become considerably more gradual.
Other pronunciation changes were that several consonants were no longer pronounced, but the spelling
system was in place before the consonant loss, so they are still written in English today. The consonants lost
include:
a. Voiceless velar fricative lost in night; pronounced as f in laugh
b. [b] in final -mb cluster (dumb, comb)
c. [l] between a or o and consonant (half, walk, talk, folk)
d. [r] sometimes before s (Worcestershire)
e. initial clusters beginning with k and g (knee, knight, gnat)
f. [g] in -ing endings (more commonly pronounced [ɪn])
g. Finally, assibilation occurred when the alveolars [s], [d], [t], and [z] preceded the palatal glide [j],
producing the palatal consonants: [š], [ǰ], [č], [ž]
There were also some noticeable grammar changes: Adjectives lost all endings except for in the
comparative and superlative forms. The neuter pronoun it was first used as well as who as a relative pronoun.
More strong verbs became weak and the third person singular form became -(e)s instead of -(e)th. There was a
more limited use of the progressive and auxiliary verbs than there is now, however. Negatives followed the
verb and multiple negatives were still used.
QUESTIONS:
A. If we compare Shakespeare’s English with that of the poet Chaucer, what major conclusions can
be drawn about its comprehensibility for a present day speaker of English?
B. What phenomenon is, basically, the cause for the great difference in comprehensibility between
the two varieties of English for the present day listener (if we could actually hear and compare
present day English with the older two forms)?
C. In what other ways did Early Modern English pronunciation distinguish itself from Middle
English pronunciation?
D. Mention a few interesting grammatical changes that occurred from Middle English to early
Modern English.

UNIT 3 Lesson
25
History of English with focus on Linguistic features - Linguistic features of Early Modern
English: Vocabulary and Standardisation
Source:
http://www.ielanguages.com/enghist.html
Modern English began around the 16th Century and, like all languages, is still changing. This wave
of innovation in English came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many
classical Latin and Greek words into the Language. Because of the Renaissance of Classical learning, many
words have entered the language either directly or indirectly. New words were created at an increasing rate.
Another changing factor was the increased contact that the British had from the 16 th Century onwards
with many peoples from around the world. Borrowed words include names of animals (giraffe, tiger, zebra),
clothing (pyjama, turban, shawl), food (spinach, chocolate, orange), scientific and mathematical terms
(algebra, geography, species), drinks (tea, coffee, cider), religious terms (Jesus, Islam, nirvana), sports
(checkmate, golf, billiards), vehicles (chariot, car, coach), music and art (piano, theatre, easel), weapons
(pistol, trigger, rifle), political and military terms (commando, admiral, parliament), and astronomical names
(Sa turn, Leo, Uranus).
Languages that have contributed words to English include Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic,
Hindi (from India), Italian, Malay, Dutch, Farsi (from Iran and Afghanistan), Nahuatl (the Aztec language),
Sanskrit (from ancient India), Portuguese, Spanish, Tupi (from South America) and Ewe (from Africa).
The list of borrowed words is enormous. The vocabulary of English is the largest of any language.
Even with all these borrowings the heart of the language remains the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. Only about
5000 or so words from this period have remained unchanged but they include the basic building blocks of the
language: household words, parts of the body, common animals, natural elements, most pronouns,
prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. Grafted onto this basic stock was a wealth of contributions to
produce, what many people believe, is the richest of the world's languages.
These borrowings were deliberate and many bemoaned the adoption of these "inkhorn" terms, but
many survive to this day. Shakespeare coined over 1600 words. This process has grown exponentially in the
modern era. Many students having difficulty understanding Shakespeare would be surprised to learn that he
wrote in modern English. But, as can be seen in the earlier example of the Lord's Prayer (p.28), Elizabethan
English has much more in common with our language today than it does with the language of Chaucer. Many
familiar words and phrases were coined or first recorded by Shakespeare, some 2,000 words and countless
idioms are his. Newcomers to Shakespeare are often shocked at the number of clichés contained in his plays,
until they realize that he coined them and they became clichés afterwards. "One fell swoop," "vanish into thin
air," and "flesh and blood" are all Shakespeare's. Words he bequeathed to the language include "critical,"
"leapfrog," "majestic," "dwindle," and "pedant." For more on Shakespeare, see Appendix 3.
Standardisation and Early Grammarians (18th Century)

A major factor in the development of Modern English was the advent of the printing press. William
Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476. Books became cheaper and as a result, literacy became
more common. Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as opposed to
Latin, became more common. The printing press brought standardization to English. The dialect of London,
where most publishing houses were located, became the standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the
first English dictionary was published in 1604.
A proposal for an Academy of the English Language was first brought forth by Jonathan Swift in
1712, but the Parliament voted against it. Nevertheless, several grammarians wrote dictionaries and grammar
books in a prescriptive manner - telling people what to do or not to do with the language. Samuel Johnson's A
Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755 and Robert Lowth's Introduction to English
Grammar appeared in 1762. Early grammarians felt that language should be logical, therefore, the double
negative was considered incorrect (two negatives equal one positive) and should not be used. They also didn't

like shortened or redundant words, borrowing words from other languages (except Latin and Greek), split
infinitives, or prepositions at the end of the sentence.
In England, (as opposed the Scotland, Wales and Ireland) several changes to English had occurred
since 1700. These include a loss of the post-vocalic r (so that the r is only pronounced before a vowel and not
after); an increase in the use of the progressive tenses; and a rise in class consciousness about speech
(Received Pronunciation.)
QUESTIONS:
A. What factors caused a flux of new words into early modern English?
B. Name sources of borrowed words. Try to match some examples with some languages of origin.
C. How is Shakespeare not only remembered as a great playwright but also because of his great
contribution to the language?
D. What other change took place in the language over the length of what period?
E. How did the discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation increase; give a few examples.
F. What factors contributed to the standardisation of English? Give a few examples of forms that
were no longer accepted in Standard English.
G. How did speech in the south become distinguishable from the other areas of the country as linked
to a growth in class consciousness?
UNIT 3 Lesson 26
History of English with focus on Linguistic features - Late-Modern English (1800-
Present)
The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation,
grammar, and spelling are largely the same, but Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are
the result of two historical factors. The first is the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological
society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed. Since 1900, a very
large amount of vocabulary words has been added to English in a relatively short period. The majority of these
words are related to science and technology, and use Greek and Latin roots. The second was the British
Empire. At its height, Britain ruled one quarter of the earth's surface, and English adopted many foreign words
and made them its own.
The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations
and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear,
and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots. Such
neologisms were not exclusively created from classical roots though, English roots were used for such terms
as horsepower, airplane, and typewriter. This burst of neologisms continues today, perhaps most visible in the
field of electronics and computers. Byte, cyber-, bios, hard-drive, and microchip are good examples.
Also, the rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served not only to introduce
English to the world, but to introduce words into English. Hindi, and the other languages of the Indian
subcontinent, provided many words, such as pundit, shampoo, pajamas, and juggernaut. Virtually every
language on Earth has contributed to the development of English, from Finnish (sauna) and Japanese (tycoon)
to the vast contributions of French and Latin.
The British Empire was a maritime empire, and the influence of nautical terms on the English
language has been great. Phrases like three sheets to the wind have their origins onboard ships.
A more scientifically minded attitude took hold by the 19th century when the Oxford English
Dictionary was proposed in 1859. It was to be a factual account of every word in the English language since
1000 including its main form, pronunciation, spelling variations, part of speech, etymology, meanings in
chronological order and illustrative quotations. The project was begun in 1879 under its first editor, James AH
Murray. The first edition was published in 1928, with supplements in 1933 and 1972-6. The second edition
was published in 1989 and it recognized American and Australian English, as the International Phonetic
Alphabet for pronunciation.

Finally, the military influence on the language during the latter half of twentieth century was
significant. Before the Great War, military service for English-speaking persons was rare; both Britain and the
United States maintained small, volunteer militaries. Military slang existed, but with the exception of nautical
terms, rarely influenced standard English. During the mid-20th century, however, a large number of British
and American men served in the military. And consequently military slang entered the language like never
before. Blockbuster, nose dive, camouflage, radar, roadblock, spearhead, and landing strip are all military
terms that made their way into standard English.
QUESTIONS:
A. What was the principal distinction between early and late Modern English and what factors
caused this distinction?
B. How were new words created?
C. How was the introduction of many new words in English formally acknowledged?
D. What influence did the world wars have on English? Give examples please.
UNIT 3 Lesson
27
History of English with focus on Linguistic features - American English and other varieties
Of great historical significance, beginning around 1600 CE, was the English colonization of North
America and the subsequent creation of American English. Immigrants from Southeastern England began
arriving on the North American continent in the early 1600's. By the mid-1800's, 3.5 million immigrants left
the British Isles for the United States. The American English language is characterized by archaisms (words
that changed meaning in Britain, but remained in the colonies). Some pronunciations and usages "froze" when
they reached the American shore. In certain respects, some varieties of American English are closer to the
English of Shakespeare than modern Standard English ('English English' or as it is often incorrectly termed
'British English') is. Some "Americanisms" are actually originally English English expressions that were
preserved in the colonies while lost at home (e.g., fall as a synonym for autumn, trash for rubbish, and loan as
a verb instead of lend).
There were also many innovations in vocabulary (borrowing from the French and Spanish who were
also settling in North America). Noah Webster was the most vocal about the need for an American national
identity with regards to the American English language. He wrote an American spelling book, The Blueback
Speller, in 1788 and changed several spellings from British English (colour became color, theatre became
theater, etc.) In 1828, he published his famous American Dictionary of the English Language.
Dialects in the United States resulted from different waves of immigration of English speakers,
contact with other languages, and the slave trade, which had a profound impact on African American English.
A dialectal study was done in 1920 and the findings are published in the Linguistics Atlas of the U.S. and
Canada.
The American dialect also served as the route of introduction for many native American words into
the English language. Most often, these were place names like Mississippi, Roanoke, and Iowa. Indian-
sounding names like Idaho were sometimes created that had no native-American roots. But, names for other
things besides places were also common. Raccoon, tomato, canoe, barbecue, savanna, and hickory have native
American roots, although in many cases the original Indian words were mangled almost beyond recognition.
Spanish has also been great influence on American English. Mustang, canyon, ranch,
stampede, and vigilante are all examples of Spanish words that made their way into English through the
settlement of the American West.
A lesser number of words have entered American English from French and West African languages.
QUESTIONS:
A. How did American English develop into a distinctly different variety of English compared to
British English and in what ways did it actually become different?

B. Mention a number of sources of new English words in the American variety of English with a
few examples for each.
UNIT 3 Lesson
28
History of English with focus on Linguistic features - American English and other
varieties Source: http://www.ielanguages.com/enghist.html
English around the World

Dialects or “varieties” of English have developed in many of the former colonies of the British
Empire. There are distinct forms of the English language spoken in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,
India and many other parts of the world.
Although the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have English as an
official language, the United States does not have an official language. This is how it's possible to become a
US citizen without speaking English. Canada also has French as an official language, though it is mostly
spoken in the province of Quebec. Because many of the English speakers who originally inhabited Canada
came from the US, there is little difference in the American and Canadian dialects of English. Similarly,
Australian and New Zealand English have few differences, except Australia was originally settled as a penal
colony and New Zealand was not. New Zealanders were more attached to the Received Pronunciation of the
upper class in England, so their dialect is considered closer to British English.
British colonialism has spread English all over the world, and it still holds prestige in South Africa,
India, and Singapore, among other nations. In South Africa, English became an official language, along with
Afrikaans and 9 African languages, in the 1996 constitution. However, only 3% of the country's 30 million
people are native English speakers. Twenty percent are descendants of Dutch farmers who speak Afrikaans,
and the rest are native Africans. Although the British won the Boer Wars of 1899-1901 against the Afrikaans
farmers (the Boers), Britain still promised the Boers self-government under the Union of South Africa. By
1948, these Afrikaners won state elections and remained in power through the 1990's. Apartheid (which
segregated the Afrikaners and Africans) officially ended under Nelson Mandela's reign, and although
Afrikaans was the language used more often, the Africans wanted English as the official language. Hence the
compromise of 11 official languages.
India became independent from Britain in 1947, and the English language was supposed to be phased
out by 1965. However, today English and Hindi are the official languages. Indian English is characterized by
treating mass nouns as count nouns, frequent use of the "isn't it?" tag, use of more compounds, and a different
use of prepositions. In Singapore, Chinese, Malay and Indian languages have an impact on the form of English
spoken. Everyone is taught English in the school system, but there are a few differences from British English
as well. Mass nouns are treated as count nouns, "use to" means usually, and no articles are used before
occupations.
Creoles of English can be found on the coast of West Africa, China, and on islands of the Pacific and
Caribbean (especially the West Indies.) Originally, these creoles were pidgins so that English-speaking traders
could conduct business. Over time, they became the native languages of the children and evolved into creoles
QUESTIONS:
A. In what way is it possible for foreign immigrants to be accepted as a USA citizen without
knowing English?
B. Why is the New Zealand variety consistently closer to British RP than the Australian variety?
C. What is the language situation in South Africa and how important is English there?
D. What role does English play in India?

E. Where do we find creoles of English?
FINAL PAPER Lessons 29/ 30

Write a paper using the tables below or any of the material that you find in the appendices that
follow.
English - A Historical Summary


APPENDIX 1
Beowulf
The greatest Old English poem is Beowulf, which belongs to the seventh century. It is a story of about 3,000
lines, and it is the first English epic (a story in poetry of the adventures of a brave man or men). The name of
its author is unknown.
Beowulf is not based upon events in England, but about Hrothgar, King of the Danes, and about a brave young
man, Beowulf, from southern Sweden, who goes to help him. Hrothgar is in trouble. His great hall, called
Heorot, is visited by night by a terrible creature named Grendel, which lives in a lake and comes to kill and eat
Hrothgar's men. One night Beowulf waits in secret for Grendel, attacks it, and in a fierce fght pulls its arm off!
It manages to reach the lake again, but dies there. Then its mother comes to the hall in search of revenge, and
the attacks begin again. Beowulf follows her to the bottom of the lake and after a struggle kills her there. Later,
as an aged warrior-king, Beowulf has to defend his country against a fire-breathing dragon, guarding a huge
treasure. He kills the creature but is badly wounded in the fight, and dies. The poem ends with a sorrowful
description of Beowulf's funeral fire. Here are a few lines of it:
"... alegdon tha tomiddes maerne theoden
laeleth hiofende hlaford leofne
ongunnon tha on beorge bael-fyra maest
wigend weccan wudu-rec astah
sweart ofer swiothole swogende leg
wope bewunden"
Or a modern English translation might go something like this ... " The sorrowing soldiers then laid the
glorious prince, their dear lord, in the middle. Then on the hill the war-men began to light the greatest
of funeral fires. The wood-smoke rose black above the flames, the noisy fire, mixed with sorrowful
cries"
As you can see Old English is almost impossible to read now except by those who have made a special study
of it! There are many other Old English poems. Among them are the bible-based works Genesis A and Genesis
B, Exodus, Daniel, Christ and Satan, The Dream of the Rood (the rood is Christ's cross) and The Fates of the
Apostles. Sadly, we now know little or nothing of the identity of the poets. Beowulf lines 1 to 11,
approximately AD 900
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geārdagum,
þēodcyninga, þrym gefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum,
monegum mǣgþum, meodosetla oftēah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden, hē þæs frōfre gebād,

wēox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þāh,

oðþæt him ǣghwylc þāra ymbsittendra
ofer hronrāde hȳran scolde,
gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs gōd cyning!
Which, as translated by Francis Gummere, reads:
Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings

of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
Other poems in Old English include The Battle of Maldon, which describes a battle thought against the Dane in
991. Here is another excerpt together with our translation:
"hige sceal the heardra heorte the cenre
mod sceal the mare the ure maegen lytlath
her lith ure ealdoe eall forheawen
god on greote a maeg gnornian
se the nu fram this wigplegan wendan thenceth"
The mind must be the firmer, the heart must be braver, the courage must be the greater, as our strength
grows less. Here lies our lord all cut to pieces, the good man on the ground. If anyone thinks now to turn
away from this war-play, may he be unhappy for ever after"
Apart from poetry we also have surviving examples of song lyrics and prose (the ordinary written language).
Notable examples of lyrics include The Husband's Message, Deor's Complaint, The Wanderer and The Wife's
Complaint. And as for prose we have Laws written at the beginning of the seventh century; the works
of AELFRIC: Homilies (990) and Lives of Saints (995); and the splendid The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is an early history of England. It was written in several parts, with different
chronicles coming from different cities, and therefore had several different writers. It is believed that KING
ALFRED (849-901) had a great influence on this work. He probably brought the different writings into some
kind of order. He also translated a number of books written in Latin, including BEDE's Ecclesiastical
History, into Old English, so that his people could read them.

APPENDIX 2
Chaucer and 'Middle English'
Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340-1400)
The English which was used from about 1100 to about 1500 is called Middle English, and most critics would
rate Geoffrey Chaucer the greatest poet of the time. Indeed, he is often referred to as the father of English
poetry, although, there were many poets before him - Caedmon, Cynewulf, Aelfric, and numerous
unidentified poets.
Chaucer was a well-educated man who read Latin, and studied French and Italian poetry; but he was not
interested only in books. To earn a living he worked as translator, courtier, diplomat and forester. He travelled
widely and made good use of his eyes; and the people whom he describes are just like real people! His poems
clearly show his fondest for women ...
Middle English is much easier for the modern reader to understand than the earlier Old English. Here are the
opening lines of The Canterbury Tales written in about 1387:
From The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, 14th century:

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open yë
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
Glossary:
 soote: sweet
 swich licour: such liquid
 Zephirus: the west wind (Zephyrus)
 eek: also (Dutch ook; German auch)
 holt: wood (German Holz)
 the Ram: Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac
 yronne: run (German gerannt)
 priketh hem Nature: Nature pricks them
 hir corages: their hearts
The Canterbury Tales total more than 17.000 lines, and is in the form of a 'link and frame' story - in imitation
of Boccaccio's Decamrone. In Chaucer's work a party of pilgrims agree to tell stories to pass the time on their
journey from London to Canterbury. There are more than twenty of these stories, mostly in verse, and in the
stories we get to know about the pilgrims themselves. The majority of them, like the merchant, the lawyer, the
cook, the sailor, the ploughman, and the miller are ordinary people and each of them can be recognised as a
real person with his or her own character. One of my favourite characters, for example, is the Wife of Bath. By
the time she has finished telling the story we know her as a woman of very strong opinions who believes
firmly in marriage - she has had five husbands, one after the other! It is equally clear that she believes firmly in
the need to manage husbands strictly. In her story one of King Arthur's knights must correctly answer within
one year the question 'What do women love most?' in order to save his life. An ugly old witch knows the
answer ('To rule')and agrees to tell him if he marries her. He finally agrees, and at the marriage she becomes
young and beautiful again. Of Chaucer's other poems, the most important are probably Troylus and
Cryseyde (1375) and The Legend of Good Women (1385).
A selection of excerpts Chaucer's work - in the original Old English!:
The Wife of Bath's Tale

'... He seeketh every house and every place
where as he hopeth for to finde grace,
To lerne what thing women loven most.
But he ne coud arriven in no cost
Where as he mighte find in this mattere
Two creatures according with each other
Some saiden women loven best richesse;
Some said honour, some saide jolinesse,
Some rich array, some saiden lust abedde,
And ofte time to be widow and wedde,
Some saide that our hearte is most esed
Whan that we been y-flattered and y-plesed ...'
The Miller's Tale
'... fair was this yonge wyf, and ther-with-al
As any weasele hir body gent and small.
A girdle she werede barred all of silk
An apron eek as whyt as morne milk
Up-on hir loins full of many a gore,
Whyt was hir smok and brouded al bifore ...
Her filet brood of silk, and set ful hye:
And certainly she hadde a lecherous ye
She was ful more blisful on to see
than is the new pear tree
There nis no man so wys, that could imagine,

So gay a darling, or swich a wenche ...'
Triolus and Criseyde
'... For thy tak herte, and thenk, right as a knight,
Thourgh love is broken alday every lawe,
Display now sumwhat thy curage and thy might,
Have mercy on thy-self, for any awe.
Let not this wrecched wo thine herte gnaw,
But manly set the worlde on six and sevene;
And, if thou dye a martir, go to hevene.'
Other important works of the Middle English period include:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by an unknown author. This is, by any standards, one of the greatest early
narrative poems in any European language. The story is of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. It
tells of the adventures of Sir Gawain (one of King Arthur's knights) in a struggle against an enemy with
magical powers as well as great strength and cunning. The same unknown author is also thought to have
written Pearl and Patience two fine poems of the same period. Check back soon for a full-page on the works
of this anonymous poet!
The Vision of Piers the Ploughman by William Langland (c.1330-1400). This poem written by a poor man
describes the sorrows of the poor, and sadly tells, as in a dream, how most people prefer the false treasures of
this world to the true treasures of heaven.
Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory (died 1471). Eight seperate tales of King Arthur joined together to
form one long story. The tales concern the search for the Holy Grail (the cup supposedly used by Christ at the
last supper), King Arthur's battles against his enemies, and similar subjects.
A good deal of Middle English prose is religious. Examples of which include: The Form of Perfect Living by
Richard Rolle, and John Wycliffe's translations of the Bible.
APPENDIX 3
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Apart from the information recorded in the Stratford-Upon-Avon parish registers about William Shakespeare's
birth as the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, his marriage to Ann Hathaway in 1582, the birth
of their three children, and his death, most of what we know about his life is merely the guesswork of
historians and biographers. However, Shakespeare probably did not have an academic education. He may have
learned his craft in the theatre. From 1585 he seems to have been in London in several capacities connected
with the theatre. In 1594 he joined a company of actors, and later became part owner of the Globe Theatre.
But, most of this is uncertain. The only real evidence we have are his works and the references to them and
their author, which we find in the work of contemporary and later writers.
Some rather splendid Shakespeare lines:
"To be, or not to be, that is the question"
"To me, fair friend, you never can be old. For as you were when first your eye I eyed, such seems your beauty
still"
"The devil can cite scripture for his purpose"
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?"
"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come"
"Through tatterd clothes, small vices do appear. Robes and gowns hide all"
"All the world's a stage"
"Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is
not your voice broken, your mind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted
with antiquity"
"If music be the food of love, play on"
"Journeys end in lovers meeting"
"All that glisters is not gold"

"Your old virginity is like one of our French withered pears: it looks ill, it eats dryly"
"He that is well paid is well satisfied"
Oh, what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes"
"Such as we are made of, such we be"
"The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes"
"Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed"
"Reason and love keep little company together now-a-days"
"Friendship is constant in all other things, save in the office and affairs of love"
"Nothing can come of nothing:"
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it"
"My only love sprung from my only hate"
"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together"
"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind"
"In delay there lies no plenty"
"He is not great who is not greatly good"
"Time is the justice that examines all offenders"
"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better"
"By medicine life can be prolonged, yet death will seize the Doctor too"
"Some cupid kills with arrows, some with traps"
"We may know what we are, but know not what we may be"
"The course of true love never did run smooth"
"So wise so young, they say do never live long"
"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?"
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"

The Works of Shakespeare in Chronological Order
Poetry:
Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece
A Lover's Complaint
The Phoenix and the Turtle
Plays:
HenryVI, RichardIII, Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour Lost, The Gentlemen of Verona
The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Richard II, King John, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing,
Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Trylus and Cressida, Hamlet
Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, All's Well That Ends Well, Othello, King Lear
Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Pericles, Cymbeline
The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Henry VIII
Short summaries of, and lines from, some of our favourite works:
Romeo and Juliet (1594-95)
The first of Shakespeare's great tragedies. The plot of this story: pure and tragic love, is known throughout the
world. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet are in many ways necessary: their families are enemies, and death
appears to be the only way out of their hopeless situation. The tragedy is deeply sad and moving.
THE NURSE REMEMBERS JULIET'S AGE
NURSE: Even or odd, of all the days of the year,

Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;
That shall she, marry; I remember it well.
'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years;
And she was weaned, i never shall forget it,
Of all the days of the year, upon that day ...
The Merchant of Venice (1594-97)
In this play Antonio, a merchant, borrows money from the jew, Shylock, to help his friend Bassanio, who
wants to marry therich and beautiful Portia. Shylock hates Antonio and only agrees to lend the money on
condition that, if it is not repaid at the right time, Antonio shall pay a pound of flesh. When Antonio's ships are
wrecked, and to everyone's surprise he cannot pay the money, Shylock demands his pound of flesh. the case is
taken to court, and Antonio has no hope. then suddenly Portia, dressed as a lawyer, appears in court. At first
she tries to persuade Shylock to have mercy, but she does not succeed, even with the famous speech about
mercy:
It (mercy) droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
Then Portia herself becomes hard: Shylock may have his flesh - but not one drop of blood; there is nothing
about blood in the agreement. As Shylock cannot take the flesh without spilling some blood, Antonio is saved.
Macbeth (1605-06)
In Macbeth the hero, Macbeth, is told my three old witches that he will receive high honours and then become
king. The high honours come, and he decides to help fate to make him king. King Duncan stays with him at his
castle, and he and his wife, Lady Macbeth, murder the king; but Duncan's sons escape. One of the sons,
Malcolm, brings an army against Macbeth, who is killed. Lady Macbeth is already dead. here are some words
of Macbeth when he hears of her death:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Twelfth Night (1600)
This play has been called the perfection of english comedy. The whole play is alive with humour and action.
The Duke of Orsino believes that he is in love with the Lady Olivia, but he is more in love with love. "If music
be the food of love," he says at the beginning of the play, "play on." Like several other of his plays there are
twins, and they cause great confusion when the girl dresses like her brother. Two other characters, Sir Toby
Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek provide much amusement with their foolish plans and their drinking. The
play contains a number of songs. Here is one:
O, mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'T is not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Hamlet
Some of Shakespeare's most famous lines are from this play:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
Othello
I had rather be a toad
O curse of marriage!
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses.
Early Modern English
From Paradise Lost by John Milton, 1667:
Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth

Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle Flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, whyle it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
Modern English
Taken from Oliver Twist, 1838, by Charles Dickens:
The evening arrived: the boys took their places; the master in his cook's uniform stationed himself at the
copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out, and a long grace was
said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared, the boys whispered each other and winked at Oliver,
while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with
misery. He rose from the table, and advancing, basin and spoon in hand, to the master, said, somewhat alarmed
at his own temerity—
"Please, sir, I want some more."
The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small
rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder,
and the boys with fear.
"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice.
"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more."
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms, and shrieked aloud for the
beadle.
APPENDIX 4
Chronology of Events in the History of English: 600 AD – 1100 The Pre-English Period
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/chron.htmlpre-600 A.D.
THE PRE-ENGLISH PERIOD

ca. 3000 B.C.
(or 6000 B.C?)

Proto-Indo-European spoken in Baltic area.

(or Anatolia?)
ca. 1000 B.C.
After many migrations, the various branches of Indo-European have become distinct. Celtic becomes most
widespread branch of I.E. in Europe; Celtic peoples inhabit what is now Spain, France, Germany, Austria,
eastern Europe, and the British Isles.
55 B.C. Beginning of Roman raids on British Isles. - First Roman incursions of recognition, under
the command of Julius Caesar.
43 A.D. Roman occupation of Britain. Roman colony of "Britannia" established. Eventually, many Celtic
Britons become Romanized. (Others continually rebel). The Romans founded Londinium on the banks of the
Thames.
200 B.C.-200 A.D.
Germanic peoples move down from Scandinavia and spread over Central Europe in successive waves.
Supplant Celts. Come into contact (at times antagonistic, at times commercial) with northward-expanding
empire of Romans.
Early 5th
century.
Roman Empire collapses. Romans pull out of Britain and other colonies, attempting to shore up defense on the
home front; but it's useless. Rome sacked by Goths.
Germanic tribes on the continent continue migrations west and south; consolidate into ever larger units. Those
taking over in Rome call themselves "Roman emperors" even though the imperial administration had relocated
to Byzantium in the 300s. The new Germanic rulers adopted the Christianity of the late Roman state, and
began what later evolved into the not-very-Roman "Holy Roman Empire".
ca. 410 A.D.
First Germanic tribes arrive in England.
410-600
Settlement of most of Britain by Germanic peoples (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, some Frisians) speaking West
Germanic dialects descended from Proto-Germanic. These dialects are distantly related to Latin, but also have
a sprinkling of Latin borrowings due to earlier cultural contact with the Romans on the continent.
432 AD - St. Patrick begins his mission to Christianize Ireland.
465 AD - Alleged date of birth of the legendary King Arthur.
Celtic peoples, most of whom are Christianized, are pushed increasingly (despite occasional violent uprisings)
into the marginal areas of Britain: Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Anglo-Saxons, originally sea-farers, settle down as
farmers, exploiting rich English farmland.
By 600 A.D., the Germanic speech of England comprises dialects of a language distinct from the continental
Germanic languages.
Chronology of Events in the History of English: 600 AD – 1100 The Old English Period
ca. 600-1100
THE OLD ENGLISH, OR ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
600-800
Rise of three great kingdoms politically unifying large areas: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex. Supremacy passes
from one kingdom to another in that order.
ca. 600
Christianity introduced among Anglo-Saxons by St. Augustine, missionary from Rome. Irish missionaries also
spread Celtic form of Christianity to mainland Britain.

787 - 1000 AD - Attacks Scandinavians (Vikings) .

793
First serious Viking incursions. Lindisfarne monastery sacked.
800
Charlemagne, king of the Franks, crowned Holy Roman Emperor; height of Frankish power in Europe.
Wessex kings aspire to similar glory; want to unite all England, and if possible the rest of mainland Britain,
under one crown (theirs).
840s-870s
Viking incursions grow worse and worse. Large organized groups set up permanent encampments on English
soil. Slay kings of Northumbria and East Anglia, subjugate king of Mercia. Storm York (Anglo-Saxon
Eoforwic) and set up a Viking kingdom (Jorvik). Wessex stands alone as the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom in
Britain.
871
Vikings move against Wessex. In six pitched battles, the English hold their own, but fail to repel attackers
decisively. In the last battle, the English king is mortally wounded. His young brother, Alfred, who had
distinguished himself during the battles, is crowned king.
871-876
Alfred builds a navy. The kings of Denmark and Norway have come to view England as ripe for the plucking
and begin to prepare an attack.
876
Three Danish kings attack Wessex. Alfred prevails, only to be attacked again a few months later. His cause
looks hopeless.
878
Decisive battle at Edington; Alfred and a large contingent of desperate Anglo-Saxons make a last stand (they
know what awaits them if they fail). Alfred leads the Anglo-Saxons to decisive victory; blockades a large
Viking camp nearby, starving them into submission; and exacts homage from the kings of Denmark and an
oath that the Danes will leave Wessex forever.
Under Alfred's terms of victory, England is partitioned into a part governed by the Anglo-Saxons (under the
house of Wessex) and a part governed by the Scandinavians (some of whom become underlords of Alfred),
divided by Watling Street. 15 years of peace follow; Alfred reigns over peaceful and prosperous kingdom.
First called "Alfred the Great".
925
Athelstan crowned king. Height of Anglo-Saxon power. Athelstan reconquers York from the Vikings, and
even conquers Scotland and Wales, heretofore ruled by Celts. Continues Alfred's mission of making
improvements in government, education, defense, and other social institutions.
10th century
Danes and English continue to mix peacefully, and ultimately become indistinguishable. Many Scandinavian
loanwords enter the language; English even borrows pronouns like they, them, their.
978
Aethelred "the Unready" becomes king at 11 years of age.
991
Aethelred has proved to be a weak king, who does not repel minor Viking attacks. Vikings experiment with a
major incursion at Maldon in Essex. After losing battle, Aethelred bribes them to depart with 10,000 pounds of
silver. Mistake. Sveinn, king of Denmark, takes note.
994-1014
After 20 years of continuous battles and bribings, and incompetent and cowardly military leadership and
governance, the English capitulate to king Sveinn of Denmark (later also of Norway). Sveinn sets up a Norse
court at the new capital of Viking England, Jorvik (a city which survives as York, capital of the English county
of Yorkshire). Aethelred flees to Normandy, across the channel.
1014
Sveinn's young son Cnut (or Canute) crowned king of England. Cnut decides to follow in Alfred's footsteps,
aiming for a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. Encourages Anglo-Saxon culture and literature. Even marries
Aethelred's widow Emma, brought over from Normandy.
1050s

After Cnut's death his sons bicker over the kingdom. When they die without issue, the kingdom passes back to
the house of Wessex. The new king is Edward, son of Aethelred and Emma, who had been raised in exile in
Normandy. Edward is a pious, monkish man called "The Confessor".
Edward has strong partiality for his birthplace, Normandy, a duchy populated by the descendents of
Romanized Vikings. Especially fond of young Duke William of Normandy. Edward is dominated by his
Anglo-Saxon earls, especially powerful earl Godwin. Godwin's son, Harold Godwinson, becomes de facto
ruler as Edward takes less and less interest in governing.
1066
January. Edward dies childless, apparently recommending Harold Godwinson as successor. Harold duly
chosen by Wessex earls, as nearest of kin to the crown is only an infant. Mercian and Northumbrian earls are
hesitant to go along with choice of Harold.
William of Normandy claims that Harold once promised to support HIM as successor to Edward. Harold
denies it. William prepares to mount an invasion. Ready by summer, but the winds are unfavorable for sailing.
September. Harald Hardradi of Norway decides this is a good time to attack England. Harold Godwinson
rushes north and crushes Hardradi's army at Stamford Bridge.
The winds change, and William puts to sea. Harold rushes back down to the south coast to try to repel
William's attack. Mercians and Northumbrians are supposed to march down to help him, but never do. They
don't realize what's in store for them.
October. Harold is defeated and killed at the battle of Hastings.
December. William of Normandy crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas
Chronology of Events in the History of English: 600 AD – 1100 The Middle English Period
ca. 1100-1500
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
1066-1075
William crushes uprisings of Anglo-Saxon earls and peasants with a brutal hand; in Mercia and
Northumberland, uses (literal) scorched earth policy, decimating population and laying waste the countryside.
Anglo-Saxon earls and freemen deprived of property; many enslaved. William distributes property and titles to
Normans (and some English) who supported him. Many of the English hereditary titles of nobility date from
this period.
English becomes the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves). Norman French becomes the
language of the court and propertied classes. The legal system is redrawn along Norman lines and conducted in
French. Churches, monasteries gradually filled with French-speaking functionaries, who use French for record-
keeping. After a while, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is no longer kept up. Authors write literature in French, not
English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language.
Bilingualism gradually becomes more common, especially among those who deal with both upper and lower
classes. Growth of London as a commercial center draws many from the countryside who can fill this socially
intermediate role.
1204
William Caxton brings a printing press to England from Germany. Publishes the first printed book in England.
Beginning of the long process of standardization of spelling.
The English kings lose the duchy of Normandy to French kings. England is now the only home of the Norman
English.
1205
First book in English appears since the conquest.
1258

First royal proclamation issued in English since the conquest.

ca. 1300
Increasing feeling on the part of even noblemen that they are English, not French. Nobility begin to educate
their children in English. French is taught to children as a foreign language rather than used as a medium of
instruction. Robert of Gloucester makes reference to English as a language still spoken in Britain only by " low
people . "
1337
Start of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
1362
English becomes official language of the law courts. More and more authors are writing in English. English is
used for the first time at the opening of the English Parliament.
ca. 1380
Chaucer writes the Canterbury tales in Middle English. the language shows French influence in thousands of
French borrowings. The London dialect, for the first time, begins to be recognized as the "Standard", or variety
of English taken as the norm, for all England. Other dialects are relegated to a less prestigious position, even
those that earlier served as standards (e.g. the Wessex dialect of southwest England).
1474
Chronology of Events in the History of English: 1500 The Modern English Period
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/chron.html
1500-1650
Early Modern English develops. The Great Vowel Shift gradually takes place. There is a large influx of Latin
and Greek borrowings and neologisms.
 1516 - Henry VIII created the first postal system in England.
 1558 - Start of the reign of Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry VIII) and the Elizabethan era, a period
characterized by a substantial increase in English vocabulary and the monumental literary works of
Spenser, Shakespeare and Jonson.
 1564 - Birth of William Shakespeare.
 1603 - Death of Elizabeth I and the end of the Elizabethan period.
1611
King James Bible published, which has influenced English writing down to the present day.
1616
Shakespeare dies. Recognized even then as a genius of the English language. Wove native and borrowed
words together in amazing and pleasing combinations.
 1620 - Pilgrims arrive in North America and established the Plymouth Colony.
1700s
Classical period of English literature. The fashion for borrowing Latin and Greek words, and coining new
words with Latin and Greek morphemes, rages unabated. Elaborate syntax matches elaborate vocabulary (e.g.
writings of Samuel Johnson).
The rise of English purists, e.g. Jonathan Swift, who decried the 'degeneration' of English and sought to 'purify'
it and fix it forever in unchanging form.
17th-19th centuries

British imperialism. Borrowings from languages around the world.

- Industrial Revolution, which leveraged the economic power of England, allowing the expansion of British
colonialism and therefore the English language in the 19th century
 1776 - Declaration of Independence of the United States.
 1890 - 1920 - The rise of the British Empire.
Development of American English. By 19th century, a standard variety of American English develops, based
on the dialect of the Mid-Atlantic states.
Establishment of English in Australia, South Africa, and India, among other British colonial outposts.
19th century
Recognition (and acceptance) by linguistic scholars of the ever-changing nature of language. Discovery of the
Indo-European language family. Late in century: Recognition that all languages are fundamentally the same in
nature; no "primitive" or "advanced" languages.
19th-20th centuries
Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. Development of technical vocabularies. Within a few centuries, English
has gone from an island tongue to a world language, following the fortunes of those who speak it.
20th century
Communications revolution. Spread of a few languages at the expense of many. Languages of the world begin
to die out on a large scale as mastery of certain world languages becomes necessary for survival. Classification
and description of non-Indo-European languages by linguists continues, in many cases in a race against the
clock.
1945-?
American political, economic, military supremacy. Borrowing patterns continue. English has greater impact
than ever on other languages, even those with more native speakers. Becomes most widely studied second
language, and a scientific lingua franca.
By the 1990s, preferences begin to shift in many places from British to American English as the selected
standard for second language acquisition. The twin influences of British and American broadcasting media
make the language accessible to more and more people. Hollywood and the pop music industry help make
English an irresistible medium for the transmission of popular culture. Even long-established European
cultures begin to feel linguistically and culturally threatened, as English comes into use in more and more
spheres and large numbers of English borrowings enter their languages.
New waves of immigrants to the U.S. Linguistic diversity increases where the newcomers settle, but
immigrants repeat the pattern of earlier settlers and lose their language within a generation or two. The culture
at large remains resolutely monolingual (despite the fears of cultural purists). But as ever, the language
continues to absorb loanwords, continually enriched by the many tongues of the newcomers to these shores.

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The History of English

Orientation about course programme, discussion assessment methods

The Anglo-Saxon Settlement

Erik Vermeulen Page 1

Old English (450-1100 AD)

Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south

The Scandinavian Settlements

Erik Vermeulen Page 2

Middle English (1100-1500)

1066 and after

The centuries after the Norman Conquest witnessed enormous changes in

Erik Vermeulen Page 3

Erik Vermeulen Page 4

Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines,

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

Erik Vermeulen Page 5

Colonization and Globalization

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Erik Vermeulen Page 7

Migration of the Germanic speaking people

During the sixth and seventh centuries

Erik Vermeulen Page 8

As Old English began to evolve, four major

Soon after the Germanic invasions, the inhabitants gave their

OLD ENGLISH (500 - 1100 AD)

Translation of Old English Text

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At that time, Britain was divided into seven

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The Conquest of England by the Normans -THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS

King Edward of England (called "The Confessor" because of his construction of

Erik Vermeulen Page 13

MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100 - 1500)

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Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French Anglo-Saxon French

answer respond fair beautiful hide Conceal pig pork

The Great Vowel Shift

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MODERN ENGLISH (starting at 1500)

While Middle English was characterized by a marked diversity of dialects, Modern

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ENGLISH AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD

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Old English (500-1100 AD)

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As Old English began to evolve, four major

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Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender

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strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.

THE BIBLE NATIVITY STORY

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mamma breast mamma

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The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)