Old English and User talk:DoomsDay349: Difference between pages

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{{otheruses2|Old English}}

''Welcome to my talk page. Please sign and date your entries by inserting '''<nowiki>-- ~~</nowiki>~~''' at the end.<br>

{{language

[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit&section=new}} Start a new talk topic.]''

|name=Old English/Anglo-Saxon

</div>

|nativename=Englisc

|familycolor=Indo-European

|region=parts of what is now [[England]] and southern [[Scotland]]

|extinct=developed into [[Middle English]] by the [[13th century]]

|fam2=[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]

|fam3=[[West Germanic]]

|fam4=[[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]

|fam5=[[Anglic languages|Anglic]]

|iso2=ang|iso3=ang}}

'''Old English''' (also called '''Anglo-Saxon''') is an early form of the [[English language]] that was spoken in parts of what is now [[England]] and southern [[Scotland]] between the [[5th century|mid-fifth century]] and the [[12th century|mid-twelfth century]]. It is a [[West Germanic language]] and therefore is similar to [[Old Frisian]] and [[Old Saxon]]. It is also quite similar to [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] (and by extension, to modern [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]).

Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of some 700 years – from the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] migrations which created England in the fifth century to some time after the [[Norman Conquest|Norman invasion]] of [[1066]], after which the language underwent a major and dramatic transition. During this early period it assimilated some aspects of the languages that it came in contact with, such as the [[Celtic languages]] and the two dialects of Old Norse from the invading [[Viking|Norsemen]] who were occupying and controlling the [[Danelaw]] in northern and eastern England.

''I'm currently involved in a debate over Esperanza, have a lot of other issues and whatnot, so forgive me if I can't respond quickly. I've lost precious time just typing this message!''

The term ''Old English'' does not refer to older varieties of [[Modern English]] such as are found in [[Shakespeare]] or the [[King James Bible]], which are called [[Early Modern English]] by linguists. In some older works (such as the 1913 edition of [[Webster's Dictionary]]), ''Old English'' refers to [[Middle English]], or also more specifically Middle English as used from [[1150]] to [[1350]], with the older form of the language referred to exclusively as ''Anglo-Saxon.'' [http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=English]. [[Middle English]] developed from [[1150]] to [[1500]], and was the form of English which was used by [[Chaucer]].

hi patrick!!!! yey!!! um...ye olde patrick's shoppe...

<!--Template:Archivebox begins-->

haha, yey! we're still talking...ok, so there is this guy, patrick right and i love him much more then he knows...he's also pretty damn fine... :D

{| class="infobox" width="315px"

|-

! align="center" | [[Image:Vista-file-manager.png|50px|Archive]]<br />[[Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page|Archives]]

----

|-

|

# [[User talk:DoomsDay349/Archive 1|May 2006 – October 2006]]

# [[User talk:DoomsDay349/Archive 2|October 2006 - November 2006]]

|}<!--Template:Archivebox ends-->

==A series of questions==

==Germanic origins==

I edited 3 different articles. I haven't worked up the courage to write a whole article yet, but I think I will do so soon.[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 23:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry to all the people who need this article. I have to have a conversation with my girlfriend, cause we can't talk on the phone anymore. Too bad...

Dang. That was fast.[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 23:38, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

==Latin influence==

(:)how do i get that tan box with that start talk topic. also how do i title stuff.when you started asking me about m16s when you edited the M16 article. is this how you spell article P.S. look at my user page i made a funny. {{unsigned|GuyDoe}}

The influence of [[Latin]] on Old English should not be ignored. A large percentage of the educated and literate population ([[monks]], [[cleric]]s, etc.) were competent in Latin, which was then the prevalent ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Europe. It is sometimes possible to give approximate dates for the entry of individual Latin words into Old English based on which patterns of linguistic change they have undergone, though this is not always reliable. There were at least three notable periods of Latin influence. The first occurred before the ancestral [[Saxon people|Saxons]] left continental Europe for England. The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were [[christianization|converted to Christianity]] and Latin-speaking priests became widespread. However, the largest single transfer of Latin-based words occurred following the [[Norman conquest|Norman invasion]] of [[1066]], after which an enormous number of [[Norman language|Norman French]] words entered the language. Most of these [[Oïl languages|Oïl language]] words were themselves derived ultimately from classical Latin, although a notable stock of Norse words were introduced, or re-introduced in Norman form. The Norman Conquest approximately marks the end of Old English and the advent of [[Middle English]].

()That helped about the m16s i edited sume stuff and i went to the history icon and D-day349 came up twice just ubove my name. maybe it was refering to me talk page. but did you edit that page?[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 00:52, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

The language was further altered by the transition away from the [[runic alphabet]] (also known as ''[[Anglo-Saxon Futhorc|futhorc]]'') to the [[Latin alphabet]], which was also a significant factor in the developmental pressures brought to bear on the language. Old English words were spelt as they were pronounced; the [[silent letter]]s of Modern English therefore did not often exist in Old English. For example, the 'hard-c' sound in ''cniht'', the Old English equivalent of 'knight' was pronounced. Another side-effect of spelling words phonetically was that spelling was extremely variable – the spelling of a word would reflect differences in the phonetics of the writer's regional dialect and also idiosyncratic spelling choices which varied from author to author. Thus, for example, the word "and" could be spelt either ''and'' or ''ond''.

What is Esperanza I know you told me before but I fogot[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 01:14, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Therefore, Old English spelling can be regarded as even more jumbled than [[English orthography|modern English spelling]], although it can at least claim to reflect ''some'' existing pronunciation, while modern English in many cases cannot. Most students of Old English in the present day learn the language using normalised versions and are only introduced to variant spellings after they have mastered the basics of the language.

and I saw a bunch of barnstar awards wth? and esperanza what does it do like really do? you go around and edit peoples stuff. how do you know how do you know how many edits you have. what are sockpuppits. can i jion if i only have a 4 edits. does it count as an edit if the original user deletes it? {{unsigned|GuyDoe}}

==Viking influence==

does continuely editing my user page after i fudged it up count for esperanza[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 03:01, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[[Image:Old norse, ca 900.PNG|right|250px|thumb|This is the approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early [[10th century]]. The red area is the distribution of the dialect '''Old West Norse'''; the orange area is the spread of the dialect '''Old East Norse'''. The pink area is [[Old Gutnish]] and the green area is the extent of the other [[Germanic languages]] with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility]]

The second major source of loanwords to Old English were the Scandinavian words introduced during the [[Viking]] raids of the [[9th century|ninth]] and [[10th century|tenth]] [[century|centuries]]. In addition to a great many [[toponym|place names]], these consist mainly of items of basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the [[Danelaw]] (that is, the area of land under Viking control, which included extensive holdings all along the eastern coast of England and Scotland). The Vikings spoke [[Old Norse]], a language related to Old English in that they both derive from the same ancestral Germanic language. It is very common for the intermixing of speakers of different dialects, such as occurs during times of political unrest, to result in a [[mixed language]], and one theory holds that exactly such a mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in Old English. Apparent confirmation of this is the fact that simplification of the case endings occurred earliest in the North and latest in the Southwest, the area farthest away from Viking influence. Regardless of the truth of this theory, the influence of Old Norse on the English language has been profound: responsible for such basic vocabulary items as ''sky'' and the modern [[pronoun]] ''they''.

==Celtic influence==

The number of Celtic [[loanword]]s is of a remarkably lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. Only twelve loanwords have been identified as being entirely secure. Out of all the known and suspected Celtic loanwords, most are names of geographical features, and especially rivers.

==Dialects ECOTM ==

Hello Doomsday. It seems like we have only 15 members and that we still have a lot to do on the American Rev. article. Maybe, until we get more members (maybe put a notice about COTM on the Ezperanza talk page), we should give a little longer time to the article, like a month and a half. Also, since we selected the draft, I don't think I've seen any collaboration at all. There are users from COTM who are making edits, but nothing is being discussed. [[Wikipedia:Editor review/TeckWiz#second time|editor review me!]]-[[User:TeckWiz|'''T''']][[User:TeckWiz/Esperanza|<span style="color:green;">e</span>]][[User:TeckWiz|'''ckWiz''']]^{[[User_talk:TeckWiz|Talk]]}<small>[[Special:Contributions/TeckWiz|Contribs]]_{[http://tools.wikimedia.de/~interiot/cgi-bin/Tool1/wannabe_kate?username=TeckWiz&amp;site=en.wikipedia.org # of Edits]}</small> 12:24, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

To further complicate matters, Old English was rich in [[dialect]] forms. The four main dialect forms of Old English were [[Mercian (Anglo-Saxon)|Mercian]], [[Northumbrian (Anglo-Saxon)|Northumbrian]] (the latter two known collectively as [[Anglian dialects|Anglian]]), [[Kentish (Anglo-Saxon)|Kentish]], and [[Late West Saxon|West Saxon]]. Each of these dialects were associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of [[Northumbria]] and most of [[Mercia]] were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia and all of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]] that were both successfully defended, were then integrated into [[Wessex]].

== More questions ==

After the process of unification of the diverse Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in [[878]] by [[Alfred the Great]], there is a marked decline in the importance of regional dialects. This is not because they stopped existing: regional dialects continued even after that time to this day, as evidenced both by the existence of middle and modern English dialects later on, and by common sense – people do not spontaneously develop new accents when there is a sudden change of political power.

How does one add pictures to an article?[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 23:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

However, the bulk of the surviving documents from the Anglo-Saxon period are written in the dialect of Wessex, Alfred's kingdom. It seems likely that with consolidation of power, it became necessary to standardise the language of government to reduce the difficulty of administering the remoter areas of the kingdom. As a result, paperwork was written in the West Saxon dialect. Not only this, but Alfred was passionate about the spread of the [[vernacular]], and brought many scribes to his region from Mercia in order that previously unwritten texts were recorded. The [[Catholicism|Church]] was likewise affected, especially since Alfred initiated an ambitious programme to translate religious materials into English. In order to retain his patronage and ensure the widest circulation of the translated materials, the monks and priests engaged in the programme worked in his dialect. Alfred himself seems to have translated books out of Latin and into English, notably [[Pope Gregory I]]'s treatise on administration, "[[Pastoral Care]]".

== D-day ==

Due at least partially to the centralisation of power and to the Viking invasions, there is little or no written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after Alfred's unification.

:I wrote a very large portion of the airsoft page. Please go look for mistakes. I put a blurb in its disscutions page. To get to the page type in airsoft my contrib should be the number six one at the bottom of the page it is titled Differant Airsoft Guns. Also how do you get pictures in articles.[[User:GuyDoe|GuyDoe]] 02:02, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

==Phonology==

{{main|Old English phonology}}

The inventory of Old English surface [[phone]]s, as usually reconstructed, is as follows.

{| class="wikitable"

! &nbsp;

![[bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]

![[labiodental consonant|Labiodental]]

![[dental consonant|Dental]]

![[alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]

![[postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]

![[palatal consonant|Palatal]]

![[velar consonant|Velar]]

![[glottal consonant|Glottal]]

|-

|'''[[stop consonant|Stop]]'''

| align=center | {{IPA|p&nbsp;&nbsp;b}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|t&nbsp;&nbsp;d}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|k&nbsp;&nbsp;g}}

| &nbsp;

|-

|'''[[affricate consonant|Affricate]]'''

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|tʃ&nbsp;&nbsp;(dʒ)}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|-

|'''[[nasal consonant|Nasal]]'''

| align=center | {{IPA|m}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|n}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|(ŋ)}}

| &nbsp;

|-

|'''[[fricative consonant|Fricative]]'''

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|f&nbsp;&nbsp;(v)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|θ&nbsp;&nbsp;(ð)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|s&nbsp;&nbsp;(z)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|ʃ}}

| align=center | {{IPA|(ç)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|(x)&nbsp;&nbsp;(ɣ)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|h}}

|-

|'''[[approximant consonant|Approximant]]'''

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|r}}

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|j}}

| align=center | {{IPA|w}}

| &nbsp;

|-

|'''[[lateral consonant|Lateral approximant]]'''

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| align=center | {{IPA|l}}

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

|}

== re: my talk page ==

The sounds marked in [[parenthesis|parentheses]] are [[allophone]]s:

*{{IPA|[dʒ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/j/}} occurring after {{IPA|/n/}} and when [[gemination|geminated]]

*{{IPA|[ŋ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/n/}} occurring before {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/g/}}

*{{IPA|[v, ð, z]}} are allophones of {{IPA|/f, θ, s/}} respectively, occurring between [[vowel]]s or [[voiced consonant]]s.

*{{IPA|[ç, x]}} are allophones of {{IPA|/h/}} occurring in [[syllable coda|coda]] position after front and back vowels respectively

*{{IPA|[ɣ]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/g/}} occurring after a vowel

What's wrong with the TOC???--'''''[[User:Ed|<font color="green" face="comic sans ms">E</font><font color="blue" face="comic sans ms">d</font>]]''''' ^{[[User talk:Ed|<font color="maroon" face="comic sans ms">¿Cómo estás?</font>]]} 03:08, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

{|class="wikitable"

! rowspan=2 | [[Monophthong]]s

! colspan=2 | [[Vowel length|Short]]

! colspan=2 | Long

|-

! [[Front vowel|Front]]

! [[Back vowel|Back]]

! Front

! Back

|-

| '''[[Close vowel|Close]]'''

| align=center | {{IPA|i&nbsp;&nbsp;y}}

| align=center | {{IPA|u}}

| align=center | {{IPA|iː&nbsp;&nbsp;yː}}

| align=center | {{IPA|uː}}

|-

| '''[[Mid vowel|Mid]]'''

| align=center | {{IPA|e&nbsp;&nbsp;(ø)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|o}}

| align=center | {{IPA|eː&nbsp;&nbsp;(øː)}}

| align=center | {{IPA|oː}}

|-

| '''[[Open vowel|Open]]'''

| align=center | {{IPA|æ}}

| align=center | {{IPA|ɑ}}

| align=center | {{IPA|æː}}

| align=center | {{IPA|ɑː}}

|}

The [[front vowel|front]] [[mid vowel|mid]] [[rounded vowel]]s {{IPA|/ø(ː)/}} occur in some [[dialect]]s of Old English, but not in the best attested [[Late West Saxon]] dialect.

{|class="wikitable"

! [[Diphthong]]s

! Short ([[mora (linguistics)|monomoraic]])

! Long (bimoraic)

|-

| '''First element is close'''

| align=center | {{IPA|iy}}{{ref|iy}}

| align=center | {{IPA|iːy}}

|-

| '''Both elements are mid'''

| align=center | {{IPA|eo}}

| align=center | {{IPA|eːo}}

|-

| '''Both elements are open'''

| align=center | {{IPA|æɑ}}

| align=center | {{IPA|æːɑ}}

|}

<small> 2. {{note|iy}} It is uncertain whether the diphthongs spelt ''ie''/''īe'' were pronounced {{IPA|[i(ː)y]}} or {{IPA|[i(ː)e]}}. The fact that this diphthong was merged with {{IPA|/y(ː)/}} in many dialects suggests the former.

==Standardised orthography==

Old English was at first written in [[runic alphabet|runes]] (''[[Anglo-Saxon Futhorc|futhorc]]''), but shifted to the [[Latin alphabet]] with some additions: the letter [[yogh]], adopted from [[Irish language|Irish]]; the letter [[eth (letter)|eth]] and the runic letters [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] and [[wynn]]. Also used was a symbol for the [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]] 'and', a character similar to the number seven ('7'), and a symbol for the [[relative pronoun]] 'þæt', a thorn with a crossbar through the ascender ('[[Image:OE_thaet.png| ]]'). Also used occasionally were [[macron]]s over vowels, abbreviations for following 'm's or 'n's. All of the sound descriptions below are given using [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] symbols.

===The alphabet===

*'''a''': {{IPA|/ɑ/}} (spelling variations like ''land''/''lond'' "land" suggest it may have had a rounded [[allophone]] {{IPA|[ɒ]}} before {{IPA|[n]}} in some cases)

*'''ā''': {{IPA|/ɑː/}}

*'''æ''': {{IPA|/æ/}}

*'''{{Unicode|ǣ}}''': {{IPA|/æː/}}

*'''b''': {{IPA|/b/}}

*'''c''' (except in the [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] ''sc'' and ''cg''): either {{IPA|/tʃ/}} or {{IPA|/k/}}. The {{IPA|/tʃ/}} pronunciation is sometimes written with a [[diacritic]] by modern editors: most commonly ''ċ'', sometimes ''č'' or ''ç''. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always {{IPA|/k/}}; word-finally after ''i'' it is always {{IPA|/tʃ/}}. Otherwise a knowledge of the [[historical linguistics]] of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See [[Old English phonology#The distribution of velars and palatals]] for details.)

*'''cg''': {{IPA|[ddʒ]}} (the surface pronunciation of [[geminate]] {{IPA|/jj/}}); occasionally also for {{IPA|/gg/}}

*'''d''': {{IPA|/d/}}

*'''ð/þ''': {{IPA|/θ/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[ð]}}. Both symbols were used more or less interchangeably (to the extent that there was a rule, it was to avoid using [[eth (letter)|ð]] word-initially, but this was by no means universally followed). Many modern editions preserve the use of these two symbols as found in the original manuscripts, but some attempt to regularise them in some fashion, for example using only the [[thorn (letter)|þ]]. See also [[Pronunciation of English th]].

*'''e''': {{IPA|/e/}}

*'''ē''': {{IPA|/eː/}}

*'''ea''': {{IPA|/æɑ/}}; after ''ċ'' and ''ġ'', sometimes {{IPA|/æ/}} or {{IPA|/ɑ/}}

*'''ēa''': {{IPA|/æːɑ/}}; after ''ċ'' and ''ġ'', sometimes {{IPA|/æː/}}

*'''eo''': {{IPA|/eo/}}; after ''ċ'' and ''ġ'', sometimes {{IPA|/o/}}

*'''ēo''': {{IPA|/eːo/}}

*'''f''': {{IPA|/f/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[v]}}

*'''g''': {{IPA|/g/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[ɣ]}}; {{IPA|/j/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[dʒ]}} (when after ''n''). The {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|[dʒ]}} pronunciations are sometimes written ''ġ'' or ''{{Unicode|ȝ}}'' by modern editors. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always {{IPA|[g]}} (word-initially) or {{IPA|[ɣ]}} (after a vowel). Word-finally after ''i'' it is always {{IPA|/j/}}. Otherwise a knowledge of the [[historical linguistics]] of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See [[Old English phonology#The distribution of velars and palatals]] for details.)

*'''h''': {{IPA|/h/}} and its allophones {{IPA|[ç, x]}}. In the combinations ''hl'', ''hr'', ''hn'' and ''hw'', the second consonant was certainly voiceless.

*'''i''': {{IPA|/i/}}

*'''ī''': {{IPA|/iː/}}

*'''ie''': {{IPA|/iy/}}; after ''ċ'' and ''ġ'', sometimes {{IPA|/e/}}

*'''īe''': {{IPA|/iːy/}}; after ''ċ'' and ''ġ'', sometimes {{IPA|/eː/}}

*'''k''': {{IPA|/k/}} (rarely used)

*'''l''': {{IPA|/l/}}; probably velarised (as in Modern English) when in coda position.

*'''m''': {{IPA|/m/}}

*'''n''': {{IPA|/n/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[ŋ]}}

*'''o''': {{IPA|/o/}}

*'''ō''': {{IPA|/oː/}}

*'''oe''': {{IPA|/ø/}} (in dialects with this sound)

*'''ōe''': {{IPA|/øː/}} (in dialects with this sound)

*'''p''': {{IPA|/p/}}

*'''q''': {{IPA|/k/}} – Used before ''u'' representing the consonant {{IPA|/w/}}, but rarely used, being rather a feature of [[Middle English]]. Old English preferred ''{{Unicode|cƿ}}'' or in modern print ''cw''.

*'''r''': {{IPA|/r/}}; the exact nature of ''r'' is not known. It may have been an [[alveolar approximant]] {{IPA|[ɹ]}}, as in most Modern English accents, an [[alveolar flap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}}, or an [[alveolar trill]] {{IPA|[r]}}.

*'''s''': {{IPA|/s/}} and its allophone {{IPA|[z]}}

*'''sc''': {{IPA|/ʃ/}} or occasionally {{IPA|/sk/}}

*'''t''': {{IPA|/t/}}

*'''u''': {{IPA|/u/}}

*'''ū''': {{IPA|/uː/}}

*'''{{IPA|ƿ}}''' ''([[wynn]])'': {{IPA|/w/}}, replaced in modern print by '''w''' to prevent confusion with ''p''.

*'''x''': {{IPA|/ks/}} (but according to some authors, {{IPA|[xs ~ çs]}})

*'''y''': {{IPA|/y/}}

*'''{{Unicode|ȳ}}''': {{IPA|/yː/}}

*'''z''': {{IPA|/ts/}}. Rarely used as ''ts'' was usually used instead, for example ''bezt'' vs ''betst'' "best", pronounced {{IPA|/betst/}}.

Doubled consonants are [[gemination|geminated]]; the geminate fricatives ''ðð''/''þþ'', ''ff'' and ''ss'' cannot be voiced.

==Syntax==

As a West Germanic language, Old English syntax has a great deal of common ground with Dutch and German. Old English is not dependent upon S (subject), V (verb), O (object) or "[[Subject Verb Object|SVO]]" word order in the way that Modern English is. The syntax of an Old English sentence can be in any of these shapes: SVO order, [[Verb Subject Object|VSO]] order, and [[Object Verb Subject|OVS]] order. The only constant rule, as in [[German_language|German]] and [[Dutch_language|Dutch]], is that [[V2_word_order|the verb must come as the second concept]]. That is, in the sentence 'in the town, we ate some food', it could appear as 'in the town, ate we some food', or 'in the town, ate some food we'. This variable word order is especially common in poetry. Prose, while still displaying variable word order, is much more likely to use SVO ordering. Similarly, word order became less flexible as time went on: the older a text is, the less likely it is to have a fixed word order.

To further complicate the matter, prepositions may appear after their object, though they are not postpositions, as they may occur in front of the noun too, and usually do, for example:

God cwæð him þus tō

(''lit.'') God said him thus '''to'''

''that is'' God said thus to him

==Morphology==

{{main|Old English morphology}}

Unlike modern English, Old English is a [[language]] rich with [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] diversity and is spelled essentially as it is pronounced. It maintains several distinct cases: the [[nominative case|nominative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive case|genitive]], [[dative case|dative]] and (vestigially) [[instrumental case|instrumental]], remnants of which survive only in a few pronouns in modern English.

== Sample text ==

This text is from the epic poem [[Beowulf]].

{| cellspacing="10" style="white-space: nowrap;"

| ''Line'' || ''Original'' || ''Translation''

|-

| [332] || oretmecgas æfter æþelum frægn:

| …asked the warriors of their lineage:

|-

| [333] || "Hwanon ferigeað gē fǣtte scyldas,

| "Whence do you carry ornate shields,

|-

| [334] || grǣge syrcan ond grīmhelmas,

| Grey mail-shirts and masked helms,

|-

| [335] || heresceafta hēap? Ic eom Hrōðgāres

| A multitude of spears? I am [[Hrothgar]]'s

|-

| [336] || ār ond ombiht. Ne seah ic elþēodige

| herald and officer. I have never seen, of foreigners,

|-

| [337] || þus manige men mōdiglīcran,

| So many men, of braver bearing,

|-

| [338] || Wēn ic þæt gē for wlenco, nalles for wrǣcsīðum,

| I know that out of daring, by no means in exile,

|-

| [339] || ac for higeþrymmum Hrōðgār sōhton."

| But for greatness of heart, you have sought Hrothgar."

|-

| [340] || Him þā ellenrōf andswarode,

| To him, thus, bravely, it was answered,

|-

| [341] || wlanc Wedera lēod, word æfter spræc,

| By the proud Geatish chief, who these words thereafter spoke,

|-

| [342] || heard under helme: "Wē synt Higelāces

| Hard under helm: "We are [[Hygelac]]'s

|-

| [343] || bēodgenēatas; Bēowulf is mīn nama.

| Table-companions. [[Beowulf]] is my name.

|-

| [344] || Wille ic āsecgan sunu Healfdenes,

| I wish to declare to the son of [[Healfdene]]

|-

| [345] || mǣrum þēodne, mīn ǣrende,

| To the renowned prince, my mission,

|-

| [346] || aldre þīnum, gif hē ūs geunnan wile

| To your lord, if he will grant us

|-

| [347] || þæt wē hine swā gōdne grētan mōton."

| that we might be allowed to address him, he who is so good."

|-

| [348] || Wulfgār maþelode (þæt wæs Wendla lēod;

| Wulfgar Spoke – that was a Vendel chief;

|-

| [349] || his mōdsefa manegum gecȳðed,

| His character was to many known

|-

| [350] || wīg ond wīsdōm): "Ic þæs wine Deniga,

| His war-prowess and wisdom – "I, of him, friend of Danes,

|-

| [351] || frēan Scildinga, frīnan wille,

| the [[Scylding]]s' lord, will ask,

|-

| [352] || bēaga bryttan, swā þū bēna eart,

| Of the ring bestower, as you request,

|-

| [353] || þēoden mǣrne, ymb þīnne sīð,

| Of that renowned prince, concerning your venture,

|-

| [354] || ond þē þā ondsware ǣdre gecȳðan

| And will swiftly provide you the answer

|-

| [355] || ðe mē se gōda āgifan þenceð."

| That the great one sees fit to give me."

|}

==See alsoRe:loss ==

Hank you for the kind message, DoomsDay! I appreciate it. I'm doing okay, as I know (like WizardryDragon said) that she's out of her pain now. She was sick for a while, I am glad she is at rest.

*[[Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law]]

*[[Anglo-Saxon literature]]

*[[Beowulf]]

*[[Declension in English]]

*[[Exeter Book]]

*[[Go (verb)]]

*[[History of the English language]]

*[[History of the Scots language]]

*[[I-mutation]]

*[[List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents]]

I hope you're doing okay... I know the EA stuff was stressing you out (as it was us all) but I wanted to commend you for standing up for what you believe in. I most definitely admire your strength! :-)

== External links ==

{{interwiki|code=ang}}

*[http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/research/rawl/IOE/index.html The Electronic Introduction to Old English]

*[http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/OEsteps/ First steps in Old English - a course for absolute beginners]

*[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm Old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet]

*[http://home.comcast.net/~modean52/oeme_dictionaries.htm Old English - Modern English dictionary]

*[http://lonestar.texas.net/~jebbo/learn-as/origins.htm The Origins of Old English]

*[http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/oegermanic.html Guide to using Old English computer characters] (Unicode, HTML entities, etc.)

*[http://www.doe.utoronto.ca Dictionary of Old English Project at the University of Toronto]

*[http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/language_resources.html The Germanic Lexicon Project]

*[http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/oe-texts.html Text Collections - Texts and Translations]

*[http://wandership.ca/collect/links/oe.php Links relating to Old English, including learning resources]

— [[User:E@L/Esperanza|<font color=#336600 face=papyrus>E</font>]][[User:E@L|<font color=darkred face=papyrus>ditor <font color=black>at</font> <font color=darkgoldenrod>L</font>arge</font>]][[User talk:E@L|<sup><font color=darkgoldenrod face=papyrus>(<font color=black>speak</font>)</font>]] 03:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

== References ==

== Here you go!! ==

*{{Book reference | Author=Campbell, A. | Title=Old English Grammar | Publisher=[[Oxford]]: [[Oxford University Press]] | Year=1959 | ID=ISBN 0-19-811943-7}}

*{{Book reference | Author=Lass, Roger | Title=Old English: A historical linguistic companion | Publisher=[[Cambridge]]: [[Cambridge University Press]] | Year=1994 | ID=ISBN 0-521-43087-9}}

*{{Book reference | Author=Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred C. Robinson | Title=A Guide to Old English | Publisher=6th edition. Oxford: Blackwell | Year=2001 | ID=ISBN 0-63-122636-2}}

*{{Book reference | Author=Robinson, Orrin W. | Title=Old English and Its Closest Relatives | Publisher=Stanford Univ Pr | Year=1992 | ID=ISBN 8-8047-2221-8}}

Hi DoomsDay, I wanna give you this barnstar as a thanks for helping me so many times! You've earned it! Here!

[[Category:Old English language| ]]

[[Category:Medieval languages|English, Old]]

[[Image:Bstares3a2.png|left|frame|A barnstar for outstanding Esperanzians!]]

[[ang:Englisc sprǣc]]

[[bg:Староанглийски език]]

[[ca:Anglès antic]]

[[de:Altenglische Sprache]]

[[es:Idioma anglosajón]]

[[eo:Anglosaksa lingvo]]

[[fr:Anglo-saxon]]

[[is:Fornenska]]

[[nl:Oud-Engels]]

[[ja:古英語]]

[[no:Gammelengelsk]]

[[pl:Język staroangielski]]

[[pt:inglês antigo]]

[[ru:Староанглийский язык]]

[[sco:Auld Inglis leid]]

[[sl:Stara angleščina]]

[[simple:Old English language]]

[[sv:Fornengelska]]

[[zh:古英语]]