History of the English Language
Old English Text Analysis
(200 points total)
Directions: Read through the passage “The Coming of the English” by Bede (attached). Then analyze the language in
the passage, looking for the characteristics of Old English pointed out in your textbook(s) and in class. All problems are
based on the text attached at the end of this assignment.
Extra Credit. Discuss any other interesting observations that struck you while examining and analyzing this OE
passage. (Up to a possible 20 points for five insightful observations with examples drawn from the text to support your
points. MUST be typed and attached to the back of your assignment.)
Spelling and Pronunciation. For each of the following letters used in OE spelling, identify two alternative
pronunciations for each phonome listed below. Provide at least one word from the text which illustrates each
alternative pronunciation; be sure to include the PDE translation and the line number. (24 points)
Spelling
1. fl /D/
/T/
Sound
Example(s)
re#›re ‘fiercer’ (line 3)
5. g
flrim ‘three’ (11, 21), flæt ‘that’ (5)
2. s
6. h
3. f
7. n
4. c
Compounds. Identify at least five different OE compounds in the text. For each of the parts of the compound, give the
two OE parts, their Present Day English (PDE) meanings, and provide evidence to prove the meanings of the parts. For
example, for the compound west sæ found on line (40), the two parts are west and sæ, which mean (as in PDE) ‘west’ and
‘sea’. One can prove that west means ‘west’ in several ways. First, this word is very similar to its PDE counterpart, and
more conclusively, because this word occurs with the same meaning on line (25) in the compound Westseaxan meaning
‘West Saxons’. Similarly, the word sæ looks a lot like its PDE correlate, and it exists on line (5) as sælicum ‘sea’ (the
ending licum is probably a suffix) and also on line (40) in the compound eastsæ, which means ‘east sea’. Provide line
numbers throughout (to identify the compound and as proof); if you use another piece of evidence to find the meaning of
the compound (similarity with PDE, etc.) briefly explain. (15 points)
Compound Word
ex. west sæ (line 40)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Part 1
+ Part 2
west ‘west’ (line 25)
sæ ‘sea’ (line 5,40)
Old English 2
Case: Nouns. Find the forms of the words cyning ‘king’ and land ‘land’ in the passage for the line numbers given. For
each example, give its case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), number (singular, dual, plural) and briefly
explain how you figured out the case. Note: cyning is a masculine a-stem noun; land is a neuter a-stem noun. (24 points)
‘king’
OE word
Case
Number
Proof/Explanation
OE word
Case
Number
Proof/Explanation
(line 4)
(line 11)
(line 12)
‘land’
(line 16)
(line 24)
(line 26)
Pronouns. Using the OE passage, create the paradigm for the third person plural pronoun in OE. Be sure to identify all
the possible forms (i.e. there may be different spellings, so look for different combinations of vowels, long and short
vowels, etc.) and provide the line number(s) where you found the pronoun(s). (10 points)
Nominative
Pronoun Line #
Dative
Pronoun Line #
Accusative
Pronoun Line #
Genitive
Pronoun Line #
Adjectives. Examine the use of the given adjectives in the text and determine whether they are strong or weak. Write
the appropriate term (strong or weak) on the line provided. (10 points)
1.
Line 5: sælicum
6.
Line 18: unogrtdeiDendlic
2.
Line 6: yfell
7.
Line 33: myclum
3.
Line 11: foresprecenan
8.
Line 33: sylfan
4.
Line 11: myclum
9.
Line 35: sumre
5.
Line 12: ylcan
10.
Lines 41-2: cynelican
Old English 3
Affixes. Find at least one example of each of the following affixes in the text. As usual, provide the line number. (7pts)
1. a-
5. -nysse
2. un-
6. ge- (past participle)
3. with-
7. ge- (noun from verb)
4. -lice
Syntax: Word Order. Examine the following clauses, then complete the following steps. [Note: ignore the parts which
are not underlined.] (30 points)
1. fia
gesommnedon
hi
gemot
2. and
Seaxan
fla sige
geslogan (line 15)
3. fla
sendan
hi
ham
ærenddracan
4. And
hi
fla sona hider
sendon
maran sciphere strengran wighena
5. And
him
Bryttas
sealdan
6. Comon
hi
7. hit
wunige
8. Wæron
weste
(line 1)
(line 15)
(line 17)
(lines 18-19)
of flrim folcum
(line 21)
(lines 27-28)
›a ærest heora latteowas and heretogan twegan gebro›ra
(line 28)
a. Write an ‘S’ directly below the underlined subject.
b. Write an ‘V’ directly below the underlined verb.
c. Write an ‘O’ directly below the underlined object. (Note: in sentence (3) you’ll find two objects.)
d. What are the possible orderings of the subject (S), object (O) and the verb (V) in OE?
e. What is the ordering of the subject (S), object (O) and the verb (V) in PDE? (If you aren’t sure, translate a few
phrases into modern English sentences.)
Old English 4
Inflectional Morphology: Past Tense. (40 points)
(1) Verb identification. List all of the verbs that are in the simple past tense, omitting all complex verb phrases with
auxiliary verbs (could, had, was, were, would, etc.) and all forms of the verbs be and have. Categorize the verbs
according to whether they are strong, weak, or other. When you list each verb, be sure to cite its line number and give
its PDE counterpart. Be sure to list each new verb only once, but note the number of times a verb is repeated.
(2) Calculating the Results. Total the number of different verb types that occurred in the text, as well as the total
instances (tokens) that occurred. Using the total number of verb types, figure out the percentages of their usage in the
passage. Lastly, total the number of strong and weak verbs in the PDE columns and the percentage of each. Note that
you won’t be able to simply count the PDE verbs in the strong and weak charts--you’ll need to reconsider each PDE verb’s
status as strong and weak.
(3) Summary. Briefly summarize your results. Which type of verb was most prevalent? Was that what you expected?
Explain why or why not. Were there any verbs that were difficult to categorize? If so, how did you decide where to
categorize them?
(4) Comparison of OE and PDE. Compare the OE patterns with the PDE ones. Consider the findings from your first
assignment, as well as the patterns that you found here. What are the differences and similarities between OE and
PDE? Are they what you expect, given what you know about OE and PDE patterns?
[There’s space on the next page for your summary and comparison.]
Strong Verbs (suppletion)
Weak Verbs (dental suffix)
Other Verbs
OE (line)
OE (line)
OE (line)
PDE Verb
PDE Verb
1
1
1
5
5
5
10
10
10
PDE Verb
Total types of verbs
15
15
Total instances (tokens)
Comparing OE
TOTAL VERB TYPES:
Percent Weak Verbs:
20
20
Percent Strong Verbs:
Comparing PDE
TOTAL VERB TYPES:
Total PDE Weak Verbs
25
25
Total types of verbs
Total types of verbs
Total instances (tokens)
Total instances (tokens)
Total PDE Strong Verbs
Percent Weak Verbs:
Percent Strong Verbs:
Old English 5
[Past Tense Verb Summary]
________________________________________________________________________________________
[Past Tense Verb Comparison of OE and PDE]
Old English 6
Inflectional Morphology: Plural Nouns. (40 points)
(1) Noun identification. List all of the plural nouns in the passage, categorizing them according to their plural
marking (-s, -n, -a, -um, ø ‘no ending’, or something else). As with the past tense verbs problem, list the PDE
counterparts and keep track of the total types and instances for each type of plural.
(2) Calculating the Results. Calculate the totals and the percents of usage for both the OE and PDE nouns. (See the
verb problem for more specific directions.)
(3) Summary. Briefly summarize your results. Which type of noun was most prevalent? Was that what you expected?
Explain why or why not. Were there any nouns that were difficult to categorize? If so, how did you decide where to
categorize the noun?
(4) Comparison of OE and PDE. Compare the OE patterns with the PDE ones. Consider the findings from your first
assignment, as well as the patterns that you found here. What are the differences and similarities between OE and
PDE? Are they what you expect, given what you know about OE and PDE patterns?
[There’s space on the next page for your totals, summary and comparison.]
-s Plurals
OE (line)
-n Plurals
PDE Noun
OE (line)
-a Plurals
PDE Noun
OE (line)
PDE Noun
1
1
1
5
5
5
10
10
10
Total types of -s plurals
Total types of -n plurals
Total types of -a plurals
Total instances (tokens)
Total instances (tokens)
Total instances (tokens)
-um Plurals
-ø Plurals
Misc Other Plurals
OE (line)
PDE Noun
OE (line)
PDE Noun
OE (line)
PDE Noun
1
1
1
5
5
5
10
10
10
Total types of -um plurals
Total types of ø plurals
Total types of other plurals
Total instances (tokens)
Total instances (tokens)
Total instances (tokens)
Old English 7
Comparing Plurals: OE
TOTAL ALL PLURALS:
Percent -s plural
Comparing Plurals: PDE
Percent -n plural
TOTAL ALL PLURALS:
Percent -a plural
Total PDE -s Plurals
Percent -um plural
Total PDE other Plurals
Percent ø plural
Percent PDE -s Plural
Percent other plurals
Percent PDE Other Plural
[Plural Nouns Summary]
________________________________________________________________________________________
[Plural Nouns: Comparison of OE and PDE]