Oe Vocabulary

(131-144)

Old english.Historical background

The history of the English language begins with the invasion of the British Isles by Germanic tribes in the 5^th c. of our era.The earliest inhabitants whose linguistic affiliation has been established are the Celts.The Celts came to Britain in three waves and immediately preceded the Teutons.The first millennium b c was the period of Celtic migrations and expansion.traces of their civilization are still found all over Europe.Celtic languages were spoken over extensive parts of Europe.In the first century b c Gaul was conquered by the Romans.Having occupied Gaul Julius Caesar made two raids on Britain in 55 and 55 b c.The British Isles had long been known to the romans as a source of valuable tin ore.Caesar attacked Britain for economic reasons-to obtain tin pearls and corn/and also for strategic reasons, since rebels and refugees from Gaul found support among their British kinsmen.It follows that the elements of roman culture and language which the new invaders learnt in Britain were mainly passed on to them at second hand by romanised celts.according to Bede the invaders came to Britain in a d 449 under the leadership of two Germanic kings, Hengist and Horsa;they had been invited by a british king, Vortigern as assistants and allies in a local war.the Germanic invasion was different from the roman military conquest,although it was by no means a peaceful affair.the migration of the Germanic tribes to the Britain was a decisive event in their linguistic history.the Germanic settlement of Britain can be regarded as the beginning of the independent history of the English language.the Germanic tribes who settled in Britain in the 5^th and 6^th c. spoke closely related tribal dialects belonging to the West Germanic subgroup.On the one hand the OE dialects acquired certain common features which distinguished them from continental Germanic tongues.In early OE from 5-7 c. the would be English consisted of a group of spoken tribal dialects having neither a written nor a dominant form.At the time of written OE the dialects had changed to regional.they possessed both an oral and a written form and were no longer equal.

Old engl writ records.

The earliest writtenrecords of English are inscriptions on hard material made in a special alphabet known as the runes.the runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet,not to be found in languages of other groups.the two best known runic inscription in England are the earliest extant OE written records.one of them is an inscription on a box called the “Franks casket”,the other is a short text on a stone cross in Dumfriesshire nearthe village of Ruthwell known as the “ruthwell cross”.both records are in the Northumbrian dialect.

The first words to be written down with the help of latin characters were personal names and place names inserted in Latin text.At first they were made in Latin letters with English nanes and place names ,later they were written in the local dialect.All documents were copied.OE poetry is restricted to 3 subject:heroic,religious,lyrical.The greatest poem of the time was BEOWULF(7c or 8c).It is originally composed in the Mercian or Northumbrian dialect,but has come to us in a 10 c.BEOWULF is built up of several songs arranged in 3 chapters.It is based on old legend about the tribal life of the ancient Teutons.In the 10 c. the pld heroic verses were declining(THE BATTLE OF BRUNAHBURH,THE BATTLE OF MALDON).Another group is elegiac(THE WANDERER, THE SEAFARER) and religious poems(GENESIS, ELENE, CHRIST, ANDREAS).Also very famous source of information are ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLES: brief annals of the year’s happenings made at monasteries.(далее см таблицу на стр 69)