3.6.2
Old English 2
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The Vikings
In the 9th century the Danish language spread around England leading to a simplified grammatical system in Old English.

The Second Invasion
- Who invaded?
- The Vikings.
- When?
- Around the start of the 9th century (but recurring for around 200 years).
- Who had impacted?
- The original English people.

Old Norse
- The Vikings brought with them Old Norse, with words that seeped into English like:
- Score, sky, skive, anger, ball, freckle, neck, root, skull and window.

Old English
- 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.
- However, trade was permitted.

Borrowing words
- This led to the borrowing and trading of words between English, Danish and Old Norse.
- Right towards the end of the period of Old English, we get another invasion.
The Normans
When William the Conqueror invaded in 1066, he brought with him the French language, and thousands of words made it into our language.

The third invasion
- Who invaded?
- The Normans (and William the Conqueror).
- When?
- 1066.
- Who was impacted?
- The inhabitants of England.

Language
- When he invaded in 1066, William brought with him the French language.
- The Normans didn’t speak English and the English didn’t speak French.

Power imbalance
- The Normans controlled the English people in an asymmetrical power imbalance.
- The issue was, the Normans wanted to use the English as slaves, but struggled without means of communication.
- As a result, Norman words seeped into the English language.

Norman influence
- The Normans brought with them thousands of words which made it into our language.
- For example, we get a great influx of words from the semantic fields of law (e.g. arrest, judge, jury), social order (e.g. duke, baron, peasant) and food (more on this in Middle English).
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns1.2.3Collective Nouns1.2.4Adjectives1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs1.2.8Mood of Verbs1.2.9Adverbs1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns1.2.12Determiners1.2.13Conjunctions1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Jump to other topics
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns1.2.3Collective Nouns1.2.4Adjectives1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs1.2.8Mood of Verbs1.2.9Adverbs1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns1.2.12Determiners1.2.13Conjunctions1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Practice questions on Old English 2
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1Which of these words is NOT an example of Old Norse?Multiple choice
- 2The second invasion:True / false
- 3Who invaded Britain in 1066?Multiple choice
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