Philo Old English
Abbreviations
OE – Old English
ME – Middle English
PDE – Present Day English
ModE – Modern English
Week 1: Introduction to Old English
- What is Old English?
o OE: Germanic language
▪ Contains lots of Germanic words like ‘riċe’ which is similar
to rijk/reich
o Speakers of OE: The Anglo-Saxons (450-1100)
▪ They saw themselves as warriors
- Why study OE?
o Helps us understand certain oddities found in PDE
▪ Foot ~ feet, goose ~ geese
▪ Strong ~ strength, old ~ elder, food ~ feed, brother ~ brethren
▪ Knee, knight, comb
, ▪ Walk ~ walked, sing ~ sang
▪ I walk ~ he walks, I can ~ he can
▪ ‘methinks’, ‘if I were you’, ‘rest in peace’
o Certain literature of that time is still often portrayed in media
▪ Beowulf
o Modern writers use OE for names or references
▪ Alfred Tennyson, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, J.K.
Rowling, G.R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien
o Gives us better insight….
Topics of Revision
- Migration history of Britian (from the beaker people to the Anglo-
Saxons); early medieval accounts of the Anglo-Saxon migration (Bede;
Gildas)
o Anglo-Saxons were the English-speaking inhabitants from the
middle of the 5th century until 1066
o Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical
History) is the most important source for the early history of
England. It states that the Anglo-Saxons arrived in 449, during the
reign of the Martian. Before the settlement of the Angles, Saxons
and Jutes, Britain was inhabited by the Scots and the Picts in the
North, and the Britons (under Roman rule) in the South. After the
, Romans left for Rome, the Britons were defenceless against the
Scots and the Picts, so they asked Germanic mercenaries (Angles,
Saxons and Jutes) for help. The Germanic mercenaries soon allied
with the Picts and conquered what is now known as England. They
decided to stay because the Britons were weak and the land was
fertile.
o The British population has kept pretty stable for thousands of years,
though the rulers often replaced. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
converted to Christianity in the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Most
of the authors of this time wrote in Latin but also created an
extensive body of vernacular literature. Most vernacular
manuscripts date from the late 9th, 10th and 11th century but they
already wrote in their own language starting from the early 7th
century.
o Inhabitants of Britain
▪ Cheddar man (c. 8000 BC)
• Oldest near-complete human
skeleton found in Great
Britian)
o FIRST migration/invasion: Bronze Age
farmers
▪ Beaker people (2500 BC)
▪ Monument: Stonehenge, Kit’s coty house
• They left dolmen (Hunnebedden) behind
o SECOND migration/invasion
▪ Celtic tribes (600-500 BC)
, ▪ Celtic tribes reach Ireland and Britian around 600-500 BC
▪ Spoke Celtic languages (a branch of Indo-European)
▪ Lots of places name origins (including the word ‘Britian’)
o Julius Caesar on the Britons:
▪ All the Britons paint themselves with woad [ie. A plant dye],
which produces a dark blue colour: by this means they
appear more frightening in battle. They have long hair and
shave their bodies, all except for the head and upper lip.
(Julius Caesar, Gallic Wars, V. 14)
o THIRD immigration/invasion
▪ Romans (43-410 AD)
▪ Attempts by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC – no success
▪ Claudius succeeds in 43 AD
▪ Britain is a Roman province in Southern Britian, 43-410 AD
▪ They made roads, stone structures, aqueducts and Hadrian’s
Wall
• Hadrian’s Wall 122AD and Antoine Wall 142 AD
▪ They brought Christianity to Britian
Abbreviations
OE – Old English
ME – Middle English
PDE – Present Day English
ModE – Modern English
Week 1: Introduction to Old English
- What is Old English?
o OE: Germanic language
▪ Contains lots of Germanic words like ‘riċe’ which is similar
to rijk/reich
o Speakers of OE: The Anglo-Saxons (450-1100)
▪ They saw themselves as warriors
- Why study OE?
o Helps us understand certain oddities found in PDE
▪ Foot ~ feet, goose ~ geese
▪ Strong ~ strength, old ~ elder, food ~ feed, brother ~ brethren
▪ Knee, knight, comb
, ▪ Walk ~ walked, sing ~ sang
▪ I walk ~ he walks, I can ~ he can
▪ ‘methinks’, ‘if I were you’, ‘rest in peace’
o Certain literature of that time is still often portrayed in media
▪ Beowulf
o Modern writers use OE for names or references
▪ Alfred Tennyson, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, J.K.
Rowling, G.R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien
o Gives us better insight….
Topics of Revision
- Migration history of Britian (from the beaker people to the Anglo-
Saxons); early medieval accounts of the Anglo-Saxon migration (Bede;
Gildas)
o Anglo-Saxons were the English-speaking inhabitants from the
middle of the 5th century until 1066
o Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical
History) is the most important source for the early history of
England. It states that the Anglo-Saxons arrived in 449, during the
reign of the Martian. Before the settlement of the Angles, Saxons
and Jutes, Britain was inhabited by the Scots and the Picts in the
North, and the Britons (under Roman rule) in the South. After the
, Romans left for Rome, the Britons were defenceless against the
Scots and the Picts, so they asked Germanic mercenaries (Angles,
Saxons and Jutes) for help. The Germanic mercenaries soon allied
with the Picts and conquered what is now known as England. They
decided to stay because the Britons were weak and the land was
fertile.
o The British population has kept pretty stable for thousands of years,
though the rulers often replaced. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
converted to Christianity in the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Most
of the authors of this time wrote in Latin but also created an
extensive body of vernacular literature. Most vernacular
manuscripts date from the late 9th, 10th and 11th century but they
already wrote in their own language starting from the early 7th
century.
o Inhabitants of Britain
▪ Cheddar man (c. 8000 BC)
• Oldest near-complete human
skeleton found in Great
Britian)
o FIRST migration/invasion: Bronze Age
farmers
▪ Beaker people (2500 BC)
▪ Monument: Stonehenge, Kit’s coty house
• They left dolmen (Hunnebedden) behind
o SECOND migration/invasion
▪ Celtic tribes (600-500 BC)
, ▪ Celtic tribes reach Ireland and Britian around 600-500 BC
▪ Spoke Celtic languages (a branch of Indo-European)
▪ Lots of places name origins (including the word ‘Britian’)
o Julius Caesar on the Britons:
▪ All the Britons paint themselves with woad [ie. A plant dye],
which produces a dark blue colour: by this means they
appear more frightening in battle. They have long hair and
shave their bodies, all except for the head and upper lip.
(Julius Caesar, Gallic Wars, V. 14)
o THIRD immigration/invasion
▪ Romans (43-410 AD)
▪ Attempts by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC – no success
▪ Claudius succeeds in 43 AD
▪ Britain is a Roman province in Southern Britian, 43-410 AD
▪ They made roads, stone structures, aqueducts and Hadrian’s
Wall
• Hadrian’s Wall 122AD and Antoine Wall 142 AD
▪ They brought Christianity to Britian
