2. The Word Formation in oe

1. Suffixation

• Substantive suffixes:

-ere (m)- fiscere, wrītere;

-estre (f)- spinnestre;

-end (m) - frēōnd;

-inʒ - cyninʒ (patronymics); adj+inʒ=noun lӯtlinʒ, earminʒ;

-linʒ (with emotional colouring) - dēōrlinʒ;

-en (m. stems > f nouns) – ʒyden (ʒod, fyxen (fox)

-nis/nes (abstr. nouns)ʒōdnis, ƀrenēs;

-unʒ (f verbal nouns) - leornunʒ, rǣdinʒ;

-dōm - wisdōm, frēōdōm;

-hād – cīldhād;

-lāc – wedlāc;

-scipe - frēōndscipe

Dōm - doom; hād - title; lāc - gift. These suffixes were originally nouns.

–ere, -inʒ, -linʒ, -nis/nes are productive.

• Adjective suffixes:

-iʒ (from nouns) - hāliʒ, mistiʒ, īsiʒ, bysiʒ;

-en (from nouns) - ʒylden;

-isc (nationality) - Enʒlisc, Welisc; is productive

-sum (from nouns, adjectives, verbs) - lanʒsum;

-full (from abstract nouns) synnfull, carful;

-lēās (from verbs and nouns) slǣplēās;

-līc – frēōndlīc.

• Adverbs:

-e – harde;

-lice – frēōndlice.

2. Prefixation

ā- (out of) – ārīsan; is productive

for- (destruction) – fordōn;

ʒe- (collectivity, perfection) - ʒemynd, ʒefēra;

mis- (bad quality) – misdǣd;

on- (change, separation) – onbindan;

un- (negative) – uncuƀ (unknown).

3. Composition

Compound nouns

• Noun + Noun - ʒoldsmiƀ;

• Adjective + Noun – cwicseolfor;

Compound adjectives

• Noun + Adjective – wīn-sǣd;

• Adjective + Adjective – wīd-cuƀ;

• Adjective + Noun – blīƀ-heort;

One of the best examples which are found in Modern English are the names of the days of the week: Monandæʒ, Tīwesdæʒ, Wednesdæʒ, ƀunresdæʒ, Fiʒesdæʒ, Sæternesdæʒ, Sunnandæʒ.

4. Semantic shift

Eg. Easter

3. Loan Words

Borrowings from Celtic and Old Norse occurred once the Anglo-Saxons had settled into their new English home – and at early and late stages in the period respectively – but the stages and sources of Latin borrowing were much more diverse. The Germanic ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons had encountered Latin on the Continent as it spread through the expanding Roman Empire, and would certainly have engaged with its speakers in trade and military action. They may have also found themselves living in or near Roman encampments. This contact led to the borrowing of words such as butter, cheese, -monger ‘trader’ (as in fishmonger), pepper, pound, street and mile. These would be preserved in OE and, of course, are still with us. Approximately 175 words were borrowed from Latin during this period of continental contact.

The contact between the Celts and Romans in England led to Latin borrowings into Celtic. In their early stages of contact with the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons incorporated some of these into their emerging English. Loans from Latin through Celtic include words such as candle, chester ‘city’ (as in Chester, Manchester), mynster ‘monastery’, peru ‘pear’ and port. After the Anglo-Saxons’ conversion to Christianity in the 7^th century, religious loans from Latin appeared: apostle, altar, mass, martyr, demon, temple. Some of these are ultimately Greek through Latin. Overall, approximately 500 words from Latin became part of the OE word stock. Yet, Latin loans would continue to enter English throughout the centuries.

Although 500 loanwords is a relatively small figure, it is astronomical compared with the number of Celtic borrowings. It has been estimated that perhaps no more than !!!!! 12 words from Celtic were incorporated into English during the OE period. These included words for geographical features such as torr ‘peak’, cumb ‘deep valley’, crag; animals such as brocc ‘badger’; and miscellaneous words such as bannuc ‘a bit’ and bratt ‘cloak’. However, many current place names and names of topographical features such as rivers and hills remain as evidence of England’s Celtic settlement. Kent, where the Jutes initially settled, is derived from Celtic, as is Devon, which preserves the name of the tribal Dumnoni. London is also Celtic, and Cumberland means ‘land of the Cymry’ (which is what the Welsh, or Cymraig, call Wales). Thames, Avon, Esk, Wye, Usk are all Celtic river names.

The low percentage and domains of borrowing are unsurprising when we consider

the socio-historical context of the contact between the early Celtic settlers and the Germanic invaders.

The Anglo-Saxons of the eighth and ninth centuries, however, had a very different relationship with the Vikings who invaded and later settled in Britain. Once the bloody hostilities had been put on hold, there seems to have been a period of relatively peaceful settlement in the Danelaw, where these Anglo-Saxon and Viking cousins lived side by side (see next lecture). It is likely that the two languages were also used simultaneously, given their high degree of mutual intelligibility, and as the two groups mixed through marriage, there may also have been extensive lexical mixing. In other words, some Old Norse items may have come to be used synonymously with OE cognates, and eventually either one or the other may have dropped out of use (as in the case of OE ey and ON egg, which co-existed until well into the fifteenth century); or semantic differentiation may have taken place (as in the case of cognate OE shirt and ON skirt, both of which originally meant ‘garment’).

The fact that these two related tongues co-existed closely is borne out by the type of ON words which became part of English. OE borrowed Norse third person plural th- forms, prepositions such as till and fro, and ‘everyday’ lexical items such as sister, fellow, hit, law, sky, take, skin, want, and scot ‘tax’ (as in scot free).

To sum up: