Week 4

Question 1

How do weak and strong verbs differ?

Answer 1

Weak verbs form their past tense by adding a dental suffix, strong verbs by changing the vowel root.

Question 2

What is concord? And how does it work with respect to verbs and subjects?

Answer 2

Agreement in gender, case, number or person between different words that share a reference.

The subject must agree with its verb in person and number.

Question 3

What are impersonal verbs?

Answer 3

Verbs that lack a subject (dummy), e.g. “it” as a placeholder.

Question 4

How does concord work with respect to noun phrases?

Answer 4

A noun and its modifiers must agree in gender, case and number (p.111).

Question 5

Impersonal verb construction

Answer 5

E.g. mē and ġepūht are not in concord.

(Also me thynketh).

Question 6

When did King Alfred the Great rule over England? And name 2 extraordinary feats he accomplished.

Answer 6

Ruled 871-899 AD. Defence against Viking invasions, and educational reforms (promoted education and literacy in England, established schools and translations).

Question 7

What was Alfred’s motive for initiating a programme of culture regeneration?

Answer 7

The motive was the decline of education in Britain. Alfred wanted knowledge accessible by translating some important works into English.

Question 8

For Alfred, translation is not only a matter of word be worde. Why?

Answer 8

He emphasises the importance of “true meaning”, not just translating word for word.

Question 9

What does the forest symbolise for Alfred, and the branches?

Answer 9

Forest symbolises the knowledge and wisdom available to him, while the branches and trees represent all pieces of knowledge and texts from diverse sources to make translations and writings).

Question 10

Alfred the Great

Answer 10

First king of the Anglo-Saxons (born and died; 849-899).

Question 11

Why was King Alfred good?

Answer 11

1. Defeated the Vikings in 878 (Great Heathen Army > Battle of Edington.
2. Revives learning in Britain.

Question 12

When did Alfred become king?

Answer 12

871

Question 13

When and in which battle did Alfred beat the Vikings?

Answer 13

878, Battle of Edington

Question 14

What causes Alfred to become the King of England?

Answer 14

1. First king of only Wessex.
2. After Treaty of Wedmore (878) he becomes king of a larger part of England.

Question 15

What kind of books did Alfred translate?

Answer 15

Books on;
1. Leadership
2. Philosophy
3. Theology
4. History

First 50 Psalms.

Question 16

When did King Alfred die?

Answer 16

899

Question 17

Who were Alfred’s successors?

Answer 17

Edward, Aethelflead, Aethelstan.

Question 18

How did Alfred’s successors deal with his legacy?

Answer 18

They continued it, carried on his goals and promoted learning.

Question 19

Aethelstan

Answer 19

Defeated the Vikings in the North-East, making him the first true king of ALL of England.

Question 20

When did the Benedictine Reform happen?

Answer 20

c. 960-1020.

Question 21

Who were influenced by the Benedictine Reform?

Answer 21

1. Aelfric of Eynsham (955-1010)
2. Wulfstan II, bishop of York

Question 22

Viking influences on York

Answer 22

1. Captured by Great Heathen Army in 866.
2. Capital of the North.
3. Population become bigger.
4. Gets included in Viking trading network.
5. Flourishing international trading hub.

Question 23

Viking influence linguistically

Answer 23

Vikings brought language with them and gave many Scandinavian loan-words (ransack, slaughter, kill, sky, happy, window).

Question 24

The comparative method

Answer 24

That the Sanskit language, the ancestor for most, if not all, Indo-European languages, does no longer exist but is the common source.

Question 25

Alfred recalls England ær ðæm hit eall forhergod wære ond forbærned. Who was responsible for this?

Answer 25

Here Alfred recalls England before it was ravaged and burned. The Viking invaders were responsible.

Question 26

According to Longman, the Preface was probably not written by Alfred. How is this suggested by the text?

Answer 26

Text sometimes appears in third person, criticises him, “probably after his lifetime”.