Word-building in oe

Apart from borrowing words from other languages there were internal ways of enriching vocabulary – various word-building techniques.

These were:

1) morphological – creation of new words by ending new morphemes;

2) syntactic - building new words from syntactic groups;

3) semantic – developing new meanings of the existing words.

The first is called, as we know from the course of lexicology and grammar, affixation.

The latter comprises prefixes and affixes (infixes being non-peculiar for the English language).

Affixation

Noun-suffixes:

- ere – to form the masculine form of nouns denoting profession or the doer of the action (in Gothic – areis, Lat. – arius):

fiscere(fisherman), writere (writer), bocere (bookman), fulzere (fowler – bird-catcher), rypere (robber), zeoeahtere (councellor)

- ester- corresponding feminine suffix

baecestre (woman baker), spinnestre (spinner), witezestre (prophetess), myltestre (prostitute).

- end was used to form masculine nouns from verb stems:

freondriend), demend (judge), feond (hater), haelend (savior), freotend (sailor), ceasterbuend (citizen of a fortified town)

- inz – masculine; used to derive patronymics; may also form emotionally coloured diminutives:

cyninz (little king), Eanuwulfinz (son of Eanwulf), Waermundinz (son of Warmund), earminz (poor fellow);

- en formed feminine nouns from noun stems:

zyden (goddess), fyxen (male fox), maezden (maiden)

Verbs were formed by adding suffixes –an/ian, -ettan to nouns, adjectives adverb stems:

Zehiersum (obedient) zehiersumian (obey), lao (hate)- laoettan (to hate), hal (healthy) – halettan (to greet, to wish health), wyrse (worse) – wyrsian (worsen).

Prefixes

The most productive means of forming new words in OE. Their number exceeds that of modern times. Especially frequent they were with verbs:

zan – go

a-zan – go away

be-zan – go round

fore-zan – precede

ofer-zan – traverse

ze-zan – go, go away

settan – to place

a-settan – to place

be-settan – to appoint

for-settan – to obstruct

ze-settan – to populate

of-settan – to afflict

on-settan – to oppress

to settan – to dispose

wio-settan – to resist

Same suffixes can have different meaning with different verbs.

Composition

It is a syntactic word-building when w word arises from two (or more)stems. The number of compound words in OE is enormous. Some of them served as periphrastic nominations for common notions thus formed stylistic device in epic poems kennings.

The most common patters are:

N+N ac-treo (oak-tree), stan-brycz (stone-bridge), boc-craeft (literature), hwaelhunter (whale-hunter), cradocild (a child in cradle, infant), horshwael(walrus)

Adj+N cwicseolfor (quicksilver), Westsae (West sea), hraed-wyrde (hasty of speech)

NAdj/PII win-saed (drunk, satiates with wine), feorh-seoc (mortally wounded), ealdornz (age-long), sumor-lanz (summer-long).

There are compounds made from three or more stems:

Ryhtfaederencyn (ryht+faederen+cyn) direct paternal ancestry, ryhtoanwind (ryht+noroan+wind) good wind from the north. (cf. fordawind – in yachting).

Some notions, such as battle, warrior had a great number of interlocutions (иносказание, перифраз). For instance in “Beowulf” there are 37 synonyms of warrior: zarnd (spear-carrier), zar-wiza (spear-warrior), sweord-a (sword-hero), zuo-haf (battle-hawk), dom-zeorn (eager for fame).

Other notions that had synonymous kennings are:

Human body: ban-cofa (bone-chamber), ban-hus (house of bones), ban-loca (bone-enclosure);

Battle: waeapen-zewrixl (weapon-exchange), cumbol-zehnast (collision of banners);

Sea – sezl-rad (sail road), lazu-flod (water flood).

Semantic word-building