Old English facts Flashcards
What happened in 449 AD ?
Early Old English period
- The invasion of the Anglo-Saxons began.
What happened at around 700 AD ?
England was fully occupied by the Anglo-Saxons and Germanic language was the dominant one.
What are the casing features of Old English?
Nominative - Ic (singular) we (plural)
Accusative - me (singular) ūs (plural)
What happened to language when the invasion of the anglo-saxons happened?
The Germanic language of the incomers became the dominant one.
What are the features of written Old English ?
- Signs called ‘runes’
- Have similarities with Greek and Italic alphabet
Why was the rise of Christianisation important?
Christian missionaries tried to apply 23 Latin letters to Old English.
The Latin alphabet became the basis of English alphabet.
What new Latin letters did Christian missionaries add to the Old English sound system?
(toilet sign) - ETH
(ae) - ASH
What is ‘the insular hand’ ?
A new writing system based on the Irish version of the roman alphabet.
What are the differences between Old English and Late Modern English ?
Long vowels have since undergone modification:
stān - stone
bān - bone
According to Baugh and Cable, what percentage of Old English is no longer used today?
85%
Who suggests that 85% of Old English isn’t used today?
Baugh and Cable
What language is the vocabulary of Old English?
give examples
Germanic:
- Mann (man)
- Wif (wife)
- Cild (child)
What was significant about Old English pre-fixes and suffixes?
The act of compounding:
- saegrund (seaground)
What language did inflectional features of Old English mimic ?
(give examples)
Latin:
Murus - nominative - wall
Murus - genitive - of the wall
Old English literature of this time and traditions:
- Beowulf
- Christianity (around half of Anglo-Saxon poetry)
- Pagan
