7. Principal Old English and Middle English written record.

The first Old English written records are considered to be the runic inscriptions. To make these inscriptions people used the Runes/the Runic Alphabet – the first original Germanic Alphabet.

Runes/Runic Alphabet:

• appeared in the 3^rd – 4^th c. A.D.;

• it was also called Futhark (after the first 6 letters of this alphabet);

• the word “rune” meant “secret, mystery” and was used to denote magic inscriptions

• each symbol indicated a separate sound (one symbol = one sound);

Records: description on a box – “Franks Casket; on a stone “Ruthwell Cross”.

Old English Alphabet

The Old English Alphabet was borrowed from Latin, but there were also some letters that were borrowed from the Runic Alphabet:

• (“thorn”) = [] and [ð]

• (“wynn”) = [w]

• (“mann”) = stood for OE word “man”

• (“dæз”) = stood for OE word “day”

Some new letters were introduced:

• з = [g] and [j];

• ð/þ/Đ/đ = [] and [ð];

• æ = a ligature of [a] and [e];

• œ = a ligature of [o] and [e].

Old English Manuscripts

The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:

• personal documents containing names and place names;

• legal documents (charters);

• glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts);

• textual insertions (pieces of poetry).

Old English Poetry

1.names of the poets are unknown (except Cǽdmon and Cynewulf)

2.mainly 3 topics:

-heroic epic (“Beowulf”)

-lyrical poems (“The Wanderer”)

-religious poems (“Dream of the Rood”)

3.number of syllables in a line is free; only the number of stressed syllables is fixed.

4.the lines are not rhymed

5.many synonyms: e.g. beorn, secз – “man”

6.each line divided in 2 halves, which started with the same sounds.

OE poetic words went out of use.

Beowulf.Heroic epic (7th).The oldest poem in Germanic literature. Built up of several songs arranged in 3 chapters. Based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient teutons language – Late West Saxon.

Geoffrey Chaucer and His Contribution

He was one of the most prominent authors of the Middle English Period. He is considered to be the founder of the literary language of that period.

Features of the Chaucer’s Language:

• Chaucer’s Language was the basis for the national literary language (15^th – 16^th).

• New spelling rules (digraphs) and new rules of reading (1 letter = several sounds) appeared as compared to the Old English.

• New grammatical forms appeared (Perfect forms, Passive forms, “to” Infinitive constructions, etc.).

• Chaucer tried to minimize the number of the French loans in the English Language.

• Chaucer introduced rhyme to the poetry.

8. Major spelling changes in me.

1. Runic letters – thorn Þ, đ → digraph ‘TH’.

2. the rune ‘wynne’ → ‘double u’ – w;

3. the ligatures œ, æ fell into disuse.

4. the use of g, c as [dg], [s] – before

front vowel;

[g], [k] – before back

vowel.

5. sh, ssh, sch → [∫];

6. hw → wh: Eg: hwæt – what - replacement.

7. long sound – double letters. Eg: book.

8. o → [o],

[u] + n, m, v. Eg: OE munuc –

ME – monk.

9. y → [i] – eg: nyne, very, my.

[j] – at the beginning: eg: yet.

10. th, s are voiced between vowels: eg:

worthy [wurđi];

are voiceless – initially, finally: less.