3.6.1

Old English

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The Celts

To track the way English changes, we’re going to look chronologically at what happened from 400 AD to modern day. Old English refers to the period from about 400 AD to 1100.

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British history

  • To track the way English changes, we’re going to look chronologically at what happened from 400 AD to modern day.
  • Pre-5th century, there were a tribe of people living in Britain called the Celts.
  • Around 455, there was an invasion of Britain.
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First invasion

  • Who invaded?
    • The Angles, The Saxons and The Jutes
  • When?
    • Around 455.
  • Who or what was impacted?
    • The Celts and their language (Celtic).
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The Celts

  • The Celts (and their language) were pushed to the very edges of the country (Scotland, Wales, Cornwall etc).
  • However, we can still see the influence they had in:
    • Place names (like Carlisle).
    • Dialectal words (like crag).
    • River names (like the Thames).
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Celtic morphemes

  • In addition, the ‘-ing’, ‘-ton’ and ‘-ham’ suffixes denote the Celtic morphemes for ‘the people of’, ‘enclosure or village’ and ‘farm’ respectively.

The Anglo-Saxons

The Angles and the Saxons (the Anglo-Saxons) became dominant in England, replacing Celtic with their own language (which came to be called ‘Old English’ or ‘Englisc’).

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The Anglo-Saxons

  • The Angles and the Saxons (the Anglo-Saxons) became dominant in England, replacing Celtic with their own language (which came to be called ‘Old English’ or ‘Englisc’).
  • Old English had a lexicon of around 25,000 words and was very much an aural language: the written work was meant to be read aloud.
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Divisions

  • The country then became divided into four main sections:
    • Mercian.
    • Northumbrian.
    • Kentish.
    • West Saxon.
  • All of which spoke varieties of Old English.
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Examples of Old English

  • The following are some examples of Old English you can use in your exam:
    • Nouns: Son, daughter, youth, field, friend, home and ground.
    • Verbs: Drink, come, go, sing, like and love.
    • Preposition: In, on, into, by and from.
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The Danish language

  • Following this, in the 9th century, the Danish language spread around the country leading to a simplified grammatical system in Old English.
  • Also around this time, borders came into place, preventing travel.
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Old Norse

  • However, trade was permitted.
  • This led to the borrowing and trading of words.
  • Some examples of words from Old Norse are:
    • Score, sky, skive, anger, ball, freckle, neck, root, skull and window.

Jump to other topics

1Language Levels

2Language, The Individual & Society

3Language Diversity & Change

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