History of the Englsih Language

Mr. Alan Bautista, PhD

OLD ENGLISH
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By Zilla Rozzi Javier

INTRODUCTION
The term "Old English" refers to the earliest recorded stage of the English language, up to
around 1150AD (when the Middle English period is widely assumed to have begun). It refers to
the language as it was used from the arrival of Germanic invaders and settlers in
Britain—following the collapse of Roman Britain in the early fifth century—to the Norman
Conquest of 1066, and beyond into the first century of Norman rule in England. Thus, it is first
and principally the language of the Anglo-Saxons, as historians refer to them.

Old English grammar differs from later periods in the history of English primarily through a
greater use of a larger set of inflections in verbs, nouns, adjectives, and pronouns, as well as
(related to this) through a somewhat less fixed word order; it also maintains grammatical
gender in nouns and adjectives.

An example: The following couple of lines from Ælfric’s De temporibus anni:

‘Ðunor cymð of hætan & of wætan. Seo lyft tyhð þone wætan to hire neoðan & ða hætan ufan.’
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may be translated word-for-word as:

Thunder comes from heat and from moisture. The air draws the moisture to it from below and
the heat from above.

Compared to later periods in English history, Old English has a vocabulary that is significantly
more uniform. Many Latin borrowings originate from the time of the conversion to Christianity
and thereafter, while others date from before the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain (i.e., they were
borrowed on the continent). The majority of words from French and Latin came into use in
Middle English and later, while words from Latin and other languages only make up a small
portion of Old English's vocabulary. (Old English also has a large number of loan translations
and semantic loans from Latin, demonstrating Latin's influence on the language of religion and
learning.)

In most of the surviving writings from this transitional time (which are not many), these
changes in syntax and vocabulary start to become apparent around the usual dividing date
between Old English and Middle English of roughly 1150. There are fewer different inflections
and a greater functional emphasis on word order in what is commonly referred to as
"transitional English." At the same time, there is an increase in the number of French and early
Scandinavian borrowings, particularly in northern and eastern texts. These were all very gradual
processes that did not occur everywhere at the same speed. Any date used for division is
therefore completely arbitrary and can only approximate these developments.

Old English: New Influences

J. R. R. Tolkien, as one of the first literary academics to write seriously about Beowulf's monsters
in his landmark work "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," recognized well the effects of
Anglo-Saxon literature on the modern imagination. Many Anglo-Saxon ideas and motifs exist in
his Lord of the Rings trilogy, and many character and location names in his novels' mythological
realm are drawn from Old English. The root word searu-, which means "treachery" or "cunning,"
appears in the name Saruman - whom devoted Tolkien fans will recognize as a major antagonist
in the fantasy novels; and the Old English word for earth, middan-geard, becomes Middle-earth,
the aptly-named fantasy world of the novels.

The apparent impact of Anglo-Saxon literature on J is less obvious but no less fascinating. The
Harry Potter series by K. Rowling. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry's ferocious battle
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with the Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament is reminiscent of another
powerful encounter between a man and a dragon as told in Beowulf.

Rowling's use of words like "deathday," an annual celebration of a ghost's death rather than
birth, which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is derived from the Old English word
deothdeage, is undoubtedly one literary influence among many from Anglo-Saxon literature.
Similarly, "grindylow"—the name of an undersea animal that harms Harry during the Triwizard
Tournament—could be taken from Grendel, a villain from Beowulf whose home is likewise
underwater.

There are countless other literary works that could be analyzed for their Anglo-Saxon
inspiration, demonstrating that critical study of the language continues to be both interesting
and relevant.

Conclusion

Old English, the ancestor of the language we use today, was essentially the earliest form of
English to be recorded. About half of the terms we use today are derived from Old English,
despite the fact that a modern English speaker would likely have tremendous difficulty
comprehending written or spoken Old English. It was such an experience to learn about the
language most Filipinos are so adept to.

References:

Richard Hogg, An Introduction to Old English (2002)

Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English (7th edn., 2006)

Roger Lass, Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion (1994)

Richard Hogg ed., The Cambridge History of the English Language vol. i: The Beginnings to
1066 (1992)

Philip Durkin, The Oxford Guide to Etymology (2009)