Part I. Lecture I. General characteristics of the Old English period

1. The history of English as a subject.

2. Britain under the Romans, Celtic tribes.

3. The Anglo-Saxon invasion.

4. Periods of the history of English.

5. The Heptarchy.

6. The Scandinavians in Britain.

7. Written evidences of the Old English period.

1. The language can be studied in various aspects: phonetics, grammar, word-stock, style as regards the synchronic approach. Diachronically every linguistic fact enters a never-ending chain of evolution of the language which is the subject of the course. The history of the English language shows the ties of English with a Germanic group as well as with languages of other groups. Knowledge of the history of English is bound to account for essential features and specific peculiarities of Modern English. Compare, for instance:

e.g. hlaford - the person, who keeps the bread (Old English)

- lord (Modern English)

e.g. hlafdiʒe - the person who cooks the bread (Old English)

- lady (Modern English)

2. Pre-historic population of Britain is practically unknown, ancient Britain is believed to have been inhabited by Iberian people in 25-20^th centuries BC.

Stonehenge is one of the very few remains of their culture. Iberians were replaced by the so- called Beaker-folk in 20-8^th centuries BC. Of more recent people Celtic tribes are known who settled in Britain in 6^th century BC. They were Britons and Gaels, the former - in England and later - in Scotland and Ireland. The most well-known towns were Camulodun (Olchester), Calleva (Calchester).

In 55-54^th BC Julius Cesar undertook an attempt to attack Britain but his expedition was not a success. In 43 AD Romans under Emperor Claudius conquered Celtic tribes in Britain. In 122 AD Emperor Hadrian built his famous wall as a protective measure against Scots. Romans were settling in Britain for good, bringing alone their culture, habits, customs, arts and skills, domestic articles – everything that is called “the way of life”. Celts became romanized: Roman towns, villas, paved roads, baths spread all over the country. Many Roman placenames have come to our time (Londinium).

The Roman rule continued in Britain up to the end of 5^th century, when the Roman Empire could no longer resist the surge of Germanic tribes. In 401 AD the last Roman legion left Britain to defend Rome. In 410 AD the Emperor refused to help Britain.

3. For some 40 years independent Celtic dukedoms and kingdoms existed on the territory of the former Roman colony in a state of constant feud. Celtic kings used to call on Germanic tribes as the allies against each other. According to the most famous Old English chronicler whose name was the Venerable Bede the first landing of Germanic tribes – the Jutes, led by Hengist and Horsa took place in 449 AD. Britains resisted bravely, one of their leaders was famous king Arthur. Bede wrote that the newcomers were of the 3 strongest races of Germany: the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes. The Jutes occupied respectively Kent and the Isle of White; the Saxons occupied Sussex, Wessex and Essex, the Angles occupied Mercia, Northumbria. From the beginning the language was Oldest Englisc. Celts were either destroyed or driven into the woods and mountain areas. Only Wales, Cornwall and Scotland remained Celtic. The invaders prevailed over the natives; Germanic dialects began to be spoken all over the Britain.

4. The history of the English language is divided into 3 periods:

1) Old English (6-11 cent.) – the time of the earliest manuscripts.

2) Middle English (11-15 cent.) – the years of Norman Conquest up to the years of the War of the Roses.

3) New-English period (15 cent. - …)

This is the division according to Henry Sweet (phonetic principle is laid in the basis of it):

1) the period of the full-endings;

2) the period of the leveled-endings;

3) the period of the lost endings.

5. Anglo-Saxon tribes in England formed 7 kingdoms:

1. Kent;

2. Essex;

3. Wessex;

4. Sussex;

5. Mercia;

6. Northumbria;

7. Anglia.

These states were constantly striving for leadership and during the Old English period one or another of the 7th gained the upper hand.

In 6-7^th centuries Christianity was adopted by Anglo-Saxons which led to introduction of Christian culture and learning monasteries and the Latin language. There spread to existence a net-work of monastery schools of which Canterbury and York schools were the most famous. King Alfred the Great of Wessex, a translator and a learned man himself, invited scholars to Winchester from Mercia and Wales and even from abroad to help him revive learning.

6. The earliest Old-English written records are pre-christian and date in 7th century. The period from 430-600 may be referred to as the pre-writing period. The earliest monument of the Old English are: the inscriptions on hard material in “runes”(the Runic Alphabet).

The word rune means “secret”. In England there were 40 runic inscriptions. The most famous are the “Ruthwell Cross”, “Franc’s Casket”. Old English manuscripts were written in Latin alphabet. First manuscripts were “Glosses to the Gospels” and other religious texts, various documents etc.

POEMS:

- Beowulf (of an unknown author);

- Julianna, Andreas, Elane attributed to Cynewulf;

- Seafarer, Wanderer, supposedly written in Northumbrian with West-Saxon and Anglian forms.

These records demonstrate clearly that over a thousand years ago writers of English developed a useful, all-purpose prose and poetry medium.

7. The light of learning was extinguished in Northumbria by the Scandinavian Vikings who sacked Lindisfarne in 793. All England North and East of Watling street leading from London to Chester fell into their hands and became the Danelaw, the territory under the rule of Danish kings. The early settlers were the Danes. Later they were joined by Norwegians from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Hebrides, who founded homes in Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire. The Viking Age (750-1050) witnessed an extraordinary expansion of Scandinavians along the sea-costs of Western Europe. The Vikings, both the Norwegians and the Danes, were akin in race and language to the Anglo-Saxons who had preceded them in crossing to Britain. The Scandinavians were in close communication with local population, later they intermixed and now only placenames remind us of their time.

E.g. There are four villages in Lincolnshire and three villages in north Reding bearing the name Normanby, that is Nor-man-by derived from “Northmanna byr” – “village of the Northmen or Norvegians”.

The influence of Scandinavians on the English language is to be discussed in detail later.

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