An Introduction to Old English
Revised Edition
- Author: Jonathan Evans
- Pages: 802
- Published: 2023
- ISBN: 9781603296533 (Paperback)
“This is the fullest account of the Old English language to be published as a textbook . . . it contains a wealth of philological and historical information that will keep students going far beyond the confines of a semester-long university course.”
—Speculum
This unique textbook teaches the Old English language, pairing grammatical instruction with Old English passages from historical and literary documents in chronological order and providing a summary of major events. Fifty lessons present translation passages from the Peterborough manuscript of the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,” Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Alfredian translation of the Universal History of Paulus Orosius, and other prose and poetic texts. Supplementary sections in each lesson provide additional lexical, historical, literary, and cultural information relevant to the translation passages, and the lessons are reinforced by brief exercises and advanced translation sentences. A section of twenty-six advanced readings features a generous assortment of poetry, including passages from Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Dream of the Rood, and The Wife’s Lament. The book concludes with a thorough grammatical appendix as well as glossaries of linguistic terms, proper names, and Old English words.
Preface (xv)
Acknowledgments (xvii)
Abbreviations (xxi)
How to Use This Book (xxv)
A Short Guide to Pronunciation (xxxi)
Introduction (1)
Lessons
Historical Overview: Prehistoric Britain to the Roman Occupation (23)
Lesson 1: Anomalous Verb Bē on/ Wesan ‘to Be’; Personal Pronouns (26)
Lesson 2: n-Stem Nouns; Demonstrative Pronoun Þēs (36)
Lesson 3: Definite Articles; Relative Particle; Passive Voice (43)
Lesson 4: a-Stem Nouns (51)
Lesson 5: ō-Stem Nouns (59)
Lesson 6: Class I Weak Verbs (65)
Lesson 7: u-Stem Nouns (72)
Historical Overview: The Fifth Century (77)
Lesson 8: Class II Weak Verbs (79)
Lesson 9: i-Stem Nouns; Class I Weak Verbs in -rian (85)
Lesson 10: Class III Weak Verbs (94)
Lesson 11: Class 1 Strong Verbs (103)
Historical Overview: The Sixth Century (111)
Lesson 12: Class 2 Strong Verbs (113)
Lesson 13: Class 3 Strong Verbs (121)
Historical Overview: The Seventh Century (130)
Lesson 14: Class 4 Strong Verbs (132)
Lesson 15: Class 5 Strong Verbs (141)
Lesson 16: Class 6 Strong Verbs (150)
Lesson 17: Class 7 Strong Verbs (158)
Lesson 18: Anomalous Verbs Dōn, Gān, Willan (167)
Historical Overview: The Eighth Century (175)
Lesson 19: Subjunctive Verb Forms (177)
Lesson 20: Preterite-Present Verbs (185)
Historical Overview: The Ninth Century (196)
Lesson 21: Interrogative Pronouns in hw- (198)
Lesson 22: Strong and Weak Adjectives (204)
Lesson 23: Neuter Nouns in * -es/* -os (213)
Lesson 24: Cardinal Numbers; Ordinal Numbers (219)
Lesson 25: Prefixes ġe-, for- (228)
Lesson 26: r-Stem Nouns (235)
Lesson 27: þ-Stem Nouns (240)
Lesson 28: Possessive Pronouns; Dual Pronouns (245)
Lesson 29: Weak-Verb Preterites without i-Mutation (252)
Lesson 30: Root Nouns (258)
Historical Overview: The Tenth Century (264)
Lesson 31: Conjunctions, Adverbs, and Prepositions (266)
Lesson 32: Poetic Meter and Alliteration (274)
Lesson 33: Poetic Diction (281)
Lesson 34: Kennings and Figurative Epithets (288)
Lesson 35: Agent Nouns of the nd-Stem Class (295)
Lesson 36: Possessive Pronouns (301)
Lesson 37: Nouns in -ing/ -ung (308)
Historical Overview: The Eleventh Century (312)
Lesson 38: Syncopation and Assimilation (313)
Lesson 39: Indefinite Pronouns (320)
Lesson 40: Vocabulary and Word-Formation (325)
Lesson 41: Word-Formation: Prefixes (330)
Lesson 42: Word-Formation: Suffixes (337)
Lesson 43: Word-Formation: Compounding (343)
Lesson 44: Word-Formation: Semantic Shift and Conversion (348)
Lesson 45: Word-Formation: Borrowing (355)
Historical Overview: Postconquest Annals and the Twelfth Century (361)
Lesson 46: Word Order and Simple Sentences (364)
Lesson 47: Phrases (373)
Lesson 48: Independent and Dependent Clauses; Interjections (379)
Lesson 49: Subordinate and Relative Clauses (390)
Lesson 50: Complex Sentences (397)
Advanced Readings
I. Bede: A Description of Britain (407)
II. Bede: The Migration of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (411)
III. Bede: The Conversion of Edwin (413)
IV. Bede: The Poet Cædmon (417)
V. The Peterborough Chronicle: Cynewulf and Cyneheard (420)
VI. The Treaty of Wedmore (422)
VII. The Peterborough Chronicle: Restoration of Peterborough Abbey (424)
VIII. The Parker Chronicle: Annal 1001 (427)
IX. The Peterborough Chronicle: Fire in Peterborough (428)
X. The Peterborough Chronicle: Mutilation of the Moneyers (429)
XI. The Peterborough Chronicle: Abbot Henry of Poitou and the Wild Hunt (430)
XII. The Alfredian Preface to the Cura pastoralis (432)
XIII. The Alfredian Preface to the Consolatione philosophiae: On the Tools of Statecraft (437)
XIV. The Alfredian Preface to Augustine’s Soliloquium: On the Tools of Learning (439)
XV. Ælfric’s Preface to the Grammar (440)
XVI. Maxims II (442)
XVII. From Beowulf: The Coast Guardian’s Challenge and Beowulf’s Reply (444)
XVIII. From Beowulf: The Finnsburg Digression: Massacre in Frisia (446)
XIX. From Beowulf: Wealhtheow’s Speeches (450)
XX. From Judith: The Decapitation of Holofernes (453)
XXI. The Wanderer (456)
XXII. The Wife’s Lament (461)
XXIII. The Battle of Brunanburh (464)
XXIV. The Battle of Maldon (467)
XXV. The Dream of the Rood (476)
XXVI. The Ruin (481)
Grammatical Appendix
A. Manuscripts, Orthography, and Spelling (487)
A.1 Old English Orthography (488)
A.2 The Old English Alphabet (491)
A.3 Spelling Equivalents for Old English Vowels (494)
B. Pronunciation (495)
B.1 Consonants (495)
B.2 Semivowels (496)
B.3 Vowels (496)
B.4 Diphthongs (498)
B.5 Accent (499)
C. Nouns (499)
C.1 a-Stem Nouns: Masculine and Neuter (501)
C.2 ō-Stem Nouns: Feminine (505)
C.3 i-Stem Nouns (507)
C.4 u-Stem Nouns (509)
C.5 r-Stem Nouns (510)
C.6 nd-Stem Nouns (512)
C.7 n-Stem Nouns: Weak Nouns (513)
C.8 * -es/* -os-Stem Nouns (514)
C.9 Root Nouns (515)
C.10 þ-Stem Nouns (516)
C.11 Feminine Abstract Nouns in *-īn (517)
C.12 Minor Noun Classes (518)
D. Pronouns (520)
D.1 Personal Pronouns (520)
D.2 Dual Pronouns (521)
D.3 Possessive Pronouns (521)
D.4 Interrogative Pronouns (523)
D.5 Indefinite Pronouns (524)
D.6 Demonstrative Pronouns and Definite Articles (524)
E. Adjectives (526)
E.1 Strong Adjective Declension (526)
E.2 Weak Adjective Declension (528)
E.3 Participial Adjectives (530)
E.4 Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Adjectives (531)
E.5 Adjectives in -liċ (532)
E.6 Adjectives in Other Suffixes (533)
F. Numbers (533)
F.1 Cardinal Numbers (533)
F.2 Ordinal Numbers (535)
G. Verbs (536)
G.1 Strong Verbs (539)
G.2 Weak Verbs (555)
G.3 Anomalous Verbs (562)
G.4 Preterite-Present Verbs (563)
G.5 Contract Verbs (565)
G.6 Verbs with Direct Objects in the Dative Case (568)
H. Adverbs (568)
H.1 Prepositional Adverbs (568)
H.2 Adjectival Adverbs (569)
H.3 Nominal Adverbs (569)
H.4 Adverbial Adverbs in -weard (570)
H.5 Comparative and Superlative Adverbs (570)
I. Prepositions (570)
J. Conjunctions (572)
K. Interjections (573)
L. Sound Changes (574)
L.1 Grimm’s Law (576)
L.2 Verner’s Law (577)
L.3 Gemination before -j- (578)
L.4 i-Umlaut (579)
L.5 Fronting of West Germanic * a (580)
L.6 Breaking (580)
L.7 Diphthongization following Initial Palatals (581)
L.8 Syncopation (581)
L.9 Assimilation of Consonants (582)
L.10 Back Mutation (582)
L.11 Anglian Smoothing (583)
M. Word-Formation (584)
M.1 Word-Forming Prefixes (585)
M.2 Word-Forming Suffixes (587)
M.3 Functional Shift and Semantic Shift (591)
M.4 Borrowing (593)
N. Syntax (595)
N.1 Parts of Speech (596)
N.2 Syntactic Functions (598)
N.3 Grammatical Concord (598)
N.4 Word Order within Clauses (599)
N.5 Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences, and Order of Clauses (599)
O. Old English Dialects (599)
O.1 West Saxon (600)
O.2 Northumbrian (600)
O.3 Mercian (601)
O.4 Kentish (602)
P. Roman Dating (603)
Definitions of Some Linguistic Terms (605)
Proper Names (611)
Glossary (647)
Works Cited and Consulted (755)
“This is a superb, innovative textbook that lays claim to an original approach and pedagogy as well as a comprehensiveness that other introductory readers and textbooks for Old English lack. Its coverage of the language for students of all levels is impressive.”
—Andrew Scheil, University of Minnesota
“[The book’s] historical organization, rooted in chronology and focused on texts from the same annal, gracefully addresses the need to offer literary and historical knowledge simultaneously alongside linguistic content: students learn to read Old English by reading Old English history direct from a primary source.”
—Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching
“[A]n effective, impeccably researched, and highly innovative pedagogical text.”
—The Medieval Review
