Philology 2 Final Exam
Translation
Þā = then / when / her
Þær = there
cwæð = said
mid = with
ac = but
swā = so
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Grammar
OE is an Indo-European, West Germanic, Low German language.
Grimm’s Law / First Germanic Sound Shift: unvoiced stops ([p t k]) became unvoiced
spirants ([f x θ]). Voiced stops ([b d g]) became unvoiced stops ([p t k]). Voiced aspirated
stops ([bh dh gh]) became voiced stops ([b d g]) or spirants ([ꞵ ɣ ð]). The words were also
stressed differently: stress shifted to the first syllable. Also, the inflections changed: 4 instead
of 8 cases & 2 tenses.
I-mutation = a sound change where a back or low vowel is raised and/or fronted because of
an /i/ or /j/ in the next syllanle.
Palatalization = a sound change that results in a palatalized articulation of a consonant or,
in certain cases, a front vowel. /k g/ changed into /ç j/.
Fronting = back vowels are moved to front positions.
Evidence of how OE sounded: Latin pronunciation (since the Anglo-Saxons adapted the
Latin alphabet to write their own language), comparisons with Germanic languages and later
stages of English, and the accentuation/quantity of syllables in poetry.
All vowels came in short and long versions. Long vowels are marked with macrons ē. Short
vowel: 1 consonant behind the vowel. Long vowel: 2 consonants behind the vowel.
Cases:
Nominative: subject (onderwerp) / complement (to be) / direct address.
Accusative: direct object (lijdend voorwerp) / after certain prepositions / time.
Genitive: possessive (bezittelijk voornaamwoord) / partitive (best of all) / descriptive (of) /
after certain prepositions.
Dative: indirect object (meewerkend voorwerp) / direct object / possession / comparison
(to) / interest / after certain prepositions.
(Instrument: dative that expresses unlikeness).
Nouns:
Nouns had the genders masculine, neuter, and feminine. Strong nouns and weak nouns
have different endings. Athematic nouns often have i-mutation of the root vowel instead of
an ending (ex: tooth – teeth).
Adjectives:
Weak: if it follows a demonstrative pronoun, possessive adjective, or genitive noun phrase.
Strong: all other cases.
Comparative adjective: made by adding -r- between the root syllable and the inflectional
ending, which is always weak.
Superlative adjective: made by adding -ost, which may be followed by either a weak or
strong inflection. Some adjectives have i-mutation in the comparative and superlative, and
1
, then the superlative element is -est.
Possessive adjectives: mine, yours, hers, etc.
Verbs:
Weak verbs make the past tense by adding a dental suffix (-d, -t). Strong verbs change the
root vowel. Most verbs are negated by placing the adverb ne ‘not’ in front of them.
Sometimes this is contracted with verbs, like nis ‘is not’, naes ‘was not’.
Anomalous verb: irregular, like beon to be, gan to go, don to do, willan to want, cunnan to
know.
Impersonal verbs: lack a subject, or only have hit ‘it’ as a placeholder subject.
Preterite-present verbs: the present tense is an old strong past tense form tat has come to
be used as present.
Weak class 1: usually have no vowel between the stem and ending & product of i-mutation
Weak class 2: not product of i-mutation
Weak class 3: habban have, libban live, secgan say, hycgan think.
Strong classes: which principle part is involved (past / present / past participle / infinitive) &
which person is involved? (past 1st or 3rd sing -> past 1. Past 2nd sing or any plural -> past 2).
- Class 2 has one consonant, class 3 has two consonants.
- Class 4 has final consonant /m l n r/.
Irregular verbs:
- beon: beo, bist, biþ, beoþ – wesan: eom, eart, is, sind – past: wæs, wære, wæron
- dōn: dō, dōn, dēst, dēþ, dōþ – past: dyde, dydest, dydon
- gan: ga, gæst, gæþ, gaþ – past: eode, eodest, eodon
Adverbs:
May be made from an adjective by adding -e, which often results in the -lice ending. They
usually add -or to make the comparative and -ost for the superlative.
Pronouns:
Dual pronouns: like ‘we two’.
Demonstrative pronouns: þes, þis, þeos (this) & se, þæt, seo (that).
Relative pronouns: þe, se þe, no þe (who, whom, which).
Word order: 1. Subject-verb: common. 2. Verb-subject: in independent clauses introduced
by certain adverbs and some conjunctions. 3. Subject...verb: in subordinate clauses and
clauses introduced by and/ond or ac.
Concord: agreement in gender, case, number or person between different words that share
a reference (ex: Paul and he).
Correlation: a construction in which an adverb at the beginning of an independent clause
(‘when… then’) recapitulates / anticipates an adverb clause. When 2 clauses are correlated,
the subordinate clause will have the subject before the verb, while the independent clause
will have the verb before the subject.
Moods: indicative: fact. Subjunctive: uncertainty, desires. Imperative: command.
Tenses: past & present. Future is referred to with auxiliary verbs, reference to time, context.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History
The most important source for the early history of England is Historia Exxlesiastica Gentis
2
Translation
Þā = then / when / her
Þær = there
cwæð = said
mid = with
ac = but
swā = so
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grammar
OE is an Indo-European, West Germanic, Low German language.
Grimm’s Law / First Germanic Sound Shift: unvoiced stops ([p t k]) became unvoiced
spirants ([f x θ]). Voiced stops ([b d g]) became unvoiced stops ([p t k]). Voiced aspirated
stops ([bh dh gh]) became voiced stops ([b d g]) or spirants ([ꞵ ɣ ð]). The words were also
stressed differently: stress shifted to the first syllable. Also, the inflections changed: 4 instead
of 8 cases & 2 tenses.
I-mutation = a sound change where a back or low vowel is raised and/or fronted because of
an /i/ or /j/ in the next syllanle.
Palatalization = a sound change that results in a palatalized articulation of a consonant or,
in certain cases, a front vowel. /k g/ changed into /ç j/.
Fronting = back vowels are moved to front positions.
Evidence of how OE sounded: Latin pronunciation (since the Anglo-Saxons adapted the
Latin alphabet to write their own language), comparisons with Germanic languages and later
stages of English, and the accentuation/quantity of syllables in poetry.
All vowels came in short and long versions. Long vowels are marked with macrons ē. Short
vowel: 1 consonant behind the vowel. Long vowel: 2 consonants behind the vowel.
Cases:
Nominative: subject (onderwerp) / complement (to be) / direct address.
Accusative: direct object (lijdend voorwerp) / after certain prepositions / time.
Genitive: possessive (bezittelijk voornaamwoord) / partitive (best of all) / descriptive (of) /
after certain prepositions.
Dative: indirect object (meewerkend voorwerp) / direct object / possession / comparison
(to) / interest / after certain prepositions.
(Instrument: dative that expresses unlikeness).
Nouns:
Nouns had the genders masculine, neuter, and feminine. Strong nouns and weak nouns
have different endings. Athematic nouns often have i-mutation of the root vowel instead of
an ending (ex: tooth – teeth).
Adjectives:
Weak: if it follows a demonstrative pronoun, possessive adjective, or genitive noun phrase.
Strong: all other cases.
Comparative adjective: made by adding -r- between the root syllable and the inflectional
ending, which is always weak.
Superlative adjective: made by adding -ost, which may be followed by either a weak or
strong inflection. Some adjectives have i-mutation in the comparative and superlative, and
1
, then the superlative element is -est.
Possessive adjectives: mine, yours, hers, etc.
Verbs:
Weak verbs make the past tense by adding a dental suffix (-d, -t). Strong verbs change the
root vowel. Most verbs are negated by placing the adverb ne ‘not’ in front of them.
Sometimes this is contracted with verbs, like nis ‘is not’, naes ‘was not’.
Anomalous verb: irregular, like beon to be, gan to go, don to do, willan to want, cunnan to
know.
Impersonal verbs: lack a subject, or only have hit ‘it’ as a placeholder subject.
Preterite-present verbs: the present tense is an old strong past tense form tat has come to
be used as present.
Weak class 1: usually have no vowel between the stem and ending & product of i-mutation
Weak class 2: not product of i-mutation
Weak class 3: habban have, libban live, secgan say, hycgan think.
Strong classes: which principle part is involved (past / present / past participle / infinitive) &
which person is involved? (past 1st or 3rd sing -> past 1. Past 2nd sing or any plural -> past 2).
- Class 2 has one consonant, class 3 has two consonants.
- Class 4 has final consonant /m l n r/.
Irregular verbs:
- beon: beo, bist, biþ, beoþ – wesan: eom, eart, is, sind – past: wæs, wære, wæron
- dōn: dō, dōn, dēst, dēþ, dōþ – past: dyde, dydest, dydon
- gan: ga, gæst, gæþ, gaþ – past: eode, eodest, eodon
Adverbs:
May be made from an adjective by adding -e, which often results in the -lice ending. They
usually add -or to make the comparative and -ost for the superlative.
Pronouns:
Dual pronouns: like ‘we two’.
Demonstrative pronouns: þes, þis, þeos (this) & se, þæt, seo (that).
Relative pronouns: þe, se þe, no þe (who, whom, which).
Word order: 1. Subject-verb: common. 2. Verb-subject: in independent clauses introduced
by certain adverbs and some conjunctions. 3. Subject...verb: in subordinate clauses and
clauses introduced by and/ond or ac.
Concord: agreement in gender, case, number or person between different words that share
a reference (ex: Paul and he).
Correlation: a construction in which an adverb at the beginning of an independent clause
(‘when… then’) recapitulates / anticipates an adverb clause. When 2 clauses are correlated,
the subordinate clause will have the subject before the verb, while the independent clause
will have the verb before the subject.
Moods: indicative: fact. Subjunctive: uncertainty, desires. Imperative: command.
Tenses: past & present. Future is referred to with auxiliary verbs, reference to time, context.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History
The most important source for the early history of England is Historia Exxlesiastica Gentis
2
