1 · MODELLING ENGLISH - Assets - Cambridge …assets.cambridge.org/97805218/23487/excerpt/...An essential early step in the study of a language is to model it. A ‘model’, in this

An essential early step in the study of a language is tomodel it. A ‘model’, in this context, is not a three-dimensional miniature replica: this book does notdevote its space to techniques of moulding theEnglish language in Play-Doh®, Meccano®, or Lego®.To model the English language is, rather, to providean abstract representation of its central characteristics,so that it becomes easier to see how it is structuredand used.

Two models provide this first perspective. The first,shown below, breaks the structure of English downinto a series of components; and these will be used toorganize the exposition throughout Parts II to IV. Onthe facing page, there is a model of the uses of English;and this will be used as a perspective for Parts I and V.The omnicurious eye of the English linguist surveysthe whole scene, in ways which are examined in Part VI.

BUT IS IT ART?

Just occasionally, someonetries to visualize languagein a way which goesbeyond the purelydiagrammatic. This printwas made by art students aspart of their degree. Theywere asked to attendlectures from different

university courses, and thenpresent an abstract designwhich reflected theirperception of the topic. Asmay perhaps beimmediately obvious, thisdesign is the result of theirattending a lecture on thestructure of the Englishlanguage, given by thepresent author. The design’s

asymmetries well representthe irregularities anderratic research paths whichare so much a part ofEnglish language study.(Equally, of course, theycould represent thestructural disorganizationof the lecturer.)

1 · MODELLING ENGLISH

PhonologyThe pronunc-iation system of alanguage. Phonologicalstudy has two main aspects:the sound segments of thespoken language, whichtake the form of vowelsand consonants; and thevarious patterns of intona-tion, rhythm, and tone ofvoice, which add structureand meaning to stretches ofspeech. (See Part IV, §17.)

LexiconThe vocabulary of a lan-guage. Lexical study is awide-ranging domain,involving such diverse areasas the sense relationshipsbetween words, the use ofabbreviations, puns, andeuphemisms, and the com-pilation of dictionaries.(See Part II.)

GrammarThe system of rules governing the constructionof sentences. Grammaticalstudy is usually divided into two main aspects: syntax, dealing with thestructure and connection ofsentences; and morphology,dealing with the structureand formation of words.(See Part III.)

TextA coherent, self-contained unit of discourse. Texts, which may be spoken,

written, computer-mediated or signed, vary greatly in size, from such tinyunits as posters, captions, e-mails, and bus tickets, to such large units as

novels, sermons, Web pages and conversations. They provide the frameof reference within which grammatical, lexical, and other features of

English can be identified and interpreted.(See Part V, §19.)

SignA visual language used chiefly by people who are deaf. Thisbook refers only to those signing systems which have been

devised to represent aspects of English structure, such as itsspelling, grammar, or vocabulary. (See §23.)

GraphologyThe writing system of a language. Graphological (ororthographic) study has two main aspects: the visual

segments of the written language, which take the form ofvowels, consonants, punctuation marks, and certain

typographical features; and the various patterns of graphicdesign, such as spacing and layout, which add structure and

meaning to stretches of written text. (See Part IV, §18.)

TEXT

SIGN

GRAPHOLOGY

PH

ON

OLO

GY

LEXICO

N

GRAMMAR

S T RU

CT

UR

E

E V E N T

TR

AN

SM

IS

SI O

N

CO

RE

www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press978-0-521-82348-7 - The Cambridge Encyclopedia of: The English Language: Second EditionDavid CrystalExcerptMore information

http://www.cambridge.org/9780521823487

http://www.cambridge.org


1 · M O D E L L I N G E N G L I S H 3

WHY JANUS?

The Roman god, Janus,here seen on a Roman coinin his usual representationwith a double-faced head.A spirit associated withdoorways and archways, looking backwards as well

as forwards, he is alsooften regarded as the godof beginnings. The monthof January is named afterhim.

His location on thisopening spread has,however, a further signifi-cance. The two facets oflanguage study represented

on these pages – ofstructure and use – havetraditionally been studiedindependently of eachother (§14). A major themeof the present book isto assert their inter-dependence. What areEnglish structures for, if notto be used? And how can

we understand the usesof English, without investi-gating their structure?Structure and use are twosides of the same coin,Roman or otherwise, andthis principle is reflected inthe organization of thepresent book (see Preface).

WHY STUDY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?

Because it’s fascinatingIt is remarkable how often the language turnsup as a topic of interest in daily conversation –whether it is a question about accents anddialects, a comment about usage and standards,or simply curiosity about a word’s origins andhistory.

Because it’s importantThe dominant role of English as a worldlanguage forces it upon our attention in a waythat no language has ever done before. AsEnglish becomes the chief means ofcommunication between nations, it is crucial toensure that it is taught accurately andefficiently, and to study changes in its structureand use.

Because it’s funOne of the most popular leisure pursuits is toplay with the English language – with its words,sounds, spellings, and structures. Crosswords,Scrabble®, media word shows, and many otherquizzes and guessing games keep millionshappily occupied every day, teasing theirlinguistic brain centres and sending themrunning to their dictionaries.

Because it’s beautifulEach language has its unique beauty and power,as seen to best effect in the works of its greatorators and writers. We can see the 1,000-year-old history of English writing only through theglass of language, and anything we learn aboutEnglish as a language can serve to increase ourappreciation of its oratory and literature.

Because it’s usefulGetting the language right is a major issue inalmost every corner of society. No one wants tobe accused of ambiguity and obscurity, or findthemselves talking or writing at cross-purposes.The more we know about the language the morechance we shall have of success, whether we areadvertisers, politicians, priests, journalists,doctors, lawyers – or just ordinary people athome,trying to understand and be understood.

Because it’s thereEnglish, more than any other language, hasattracted the interest of professional linguists. Ithas been analysed in dozens of different ways,as part of the linguist’s aim of devising a theoryabout the nature of language in general. Thestudy of the English language, in this way,becomes a branch of linguistics – English linguistics.

Temporal variationTime affects a language, both in the long term and shortterm, giving rise to several highly distinctive processesand varieties.Long term: English has changed throughout the centuries,as can be seen from such clearly distinguishable linguistic

periods as Old English, Middle English, and ElizabethanEnglish. Language change is an inevitable and continu-

ing process, whose study is chiefly carried on byphilologists and historical linguists. (See Part I.)

Short term: English changes within the history ofa single person. This is most noticeable while

children are acquiring their mother tongue,but it is also seen when people learn a for-eign language, develop their style as adultspeakers or writers, and, sometimes, findthat their linguistic abilities are lost orseriously impaired through injury or dis-ease. Psycholinguists study languagelearning and loss, as do several other pro-fessionals, notably speech therapists andlanguage teachers. (See Part VI, §23.)

Regional variationGeography affects language, both within a

country and between countries, giving riseto regional accents and dialects, and to the

pidgins and creoles which emerged aroundthe world whenever English first came into con-

tact with other languages. Intranational regionalvarieties have been observed within English from

its earliest days, as seen in such labels as ‘Northern’,‘London’, and ‘Scottish’. International varieties are more

recent in origin, as seen in such labels as ‘American’,‘Australian’, and ‘Indian’. Regional language variation isstudied by sociolinguists, geographical linguists, dialectolo-gists, and others, the actual designation depending on thefocus and emphasis of the study. (See §7 and Part V, §20.)

Social variationSociety affects a language, in the sense that any important aspect of social structure and function is likely to have a distinctive linguistic counterpart. People belong to different social classes, perform different social roles, use different technologies, and carry on different occupations. Their use of language is affected by their sex, age, ethnic group, and educationalbackground. English is beingincreasingly affected by all thesefactors, because its developingrole as a world language is bring-ing it more and more into contactwith new cultures and socialsystems. (See Part V, §21.)

Personal variationPeople affect a language, in the sensethat an individual’s conscious or uncon-scious choices and preferences can result ina distinctive or even unique style. Such varia-tions in self-expression are most noticeable inthose areas of language use where great care isbeing taken, such as in literature and humour. But theuniqueness of individuals, arising out of differences in theirmemory, personality, intelligence, social background, andpersonal experience, makes distinctiveness of styleinevitable in everyone. (See Part V, §22.)

SOC

IAL

TEMPORAL VARIATION

RE

GIO

NA

L

PERSONAL VARIATION

VA

RIA

TIO

N

V

AR

IAT

ION

L

ONG TERM SHORT TERM

US E











The history of English is a fascinating field of study in its own right,but it also provides a valuable perspective for the contemporary studyof the language, and thus makes an appropriate opening section forthis book. The historical account promotes a sense of identity andcontinuity, and enables us to find coherence in many of the fluctua-tions and conflicts of present-day English language use. Above all, itsatisfies the deep-rooted sense of curiosity we have about our lin-guistic heritage. People like to be aware of their linguistic roots.

We begin as close to the beginning as we can get, using the sum-mary accounts of early chronicles to determine the language’s conti-nental origins (§2). The Anglo-Saxon corpus of poetry and prose,dating from around the 7th century, provides the first opportunity toexamine the linguistic evidence. §3 outlines the characteristics of OldEnglish texts, and gives a brief account of the sounds, spellings,grammar, and vocabulary which they display. A similar account isgiven of the Middle English period (§4), beginning with the effectson the language of the French invasion and concluding with a dis-cussion of the origins of Standard English. At all points, special atten-tion is paid to the historical and cultural setting to which texts relate,and to the character of the leading literary works, such as Beowulf andThe Canterbury Tales.

The Early Modern English period (§5) begins with the English ofCaxton and the Renaissance, continues with that of Shakespeare and

the King James Bible, and ends with the landmark publication ofJohnson’s Dictionary. A recurring theme is the extent and variety oflanguage change during this period. The next section, on ModernEnglish (§6), follows the course of further language change, exam-ines the nature of early grammars, traces the development of newvarieties and attitudes in America, and finds in literature, especiallyin the novel, an invaluable linguistic mirror. Several present-dayusage controversies turn out to have their origins during this period.By the end of §6, we are within living memory.

The final section (§7) looks at what has happened to the Englishlanguage in the 20th century, and in particular at its increasing pres-ence worldwide. The approach is again historical, tracing the wayEnglish has travelled to the United States, Canada, Africa, Australia,South and South-East Asia, and several other parts of the globe. Thesection reviews the concept of World English, examines the statis-tics of usage, and discusses the problems of intelligibility and iden-tity which arise when a language achieves such widespread use. Thenotion of Standard English, seen from both national and interna-tional perspectives, turns out to be of special importance. Part I thenconcludes with some thoughts about the future of the language, andabout the relationships which have grown up (sometimes amicable,sometimes antagonistic) between English and other languages.

PA RT I

The history of English

A map of Anglo-Saxon England taken from Edmund Gibson’s 1692 editionof the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Latin caption (top left) explains thatthe map shows the places mentioned in the Chronicle and in Old Englishliterature.

�






2 · THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH

‘To Aëtius, thrice consul, the groans of the Britons.’Thus, according to the Anglo-Saxon historian, theVenerable Bede, began the letter written to the Romanconsul by some of the Celtic people who had survivedthe ferocious invasions of the Scots and Picts in theearly decades of the 5th century. ‘The barbarians driveus to the sea. The sea drives us back towards the bar-barians. Between them we are exposed to two sorts ofdeath: we are either slain or drowned.’

The plea fell on deaf ears. Although the Romanshad sent assistance in the past, they were now fullyoccupied by their own wars with Bledla and Attila,kings of the Huns. The attacks from the north con-tinued, and the British were forced to look elsewherefor help. Bede gives a succinct and sober account ofwhat then took place.

They consulted what was to be done, and where they shouldseek assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequentincursions of the northern nations; and they all agreed with

their King Vortigern to call over to their aid, from partsbeyond the sea, the Saxon nation…

In the year of our Lord 449… the nation of the Angles,or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid king, arrived inBritain with three long ships, and had a place assigned themto reside in by the same king, in the eastern part of the island,that they might thus appear to be fighting for their country,whilst their real intentions were to enslave it. Accordinglythey engaged with the enemy, who were come from thenorth to give battle, and obtained the victory; which, beingknown at home in their own country, as also the fertility ofthe country, and the cowardice of the Britons, a more con-siderable fleet was quickly sent over, bringing a still greaternumber of men, which, being added to the former, made upan invincible army…

Bede describes the invaders as belonging to the threemost powerful nations of Germany – the Saxons, theAngles, and the Jutes. The first group to arrive camefrom Jutland, in the northern part of modern Den-mark, and were led, according to the chroniclers, by

The homelands of theGermanic invaders, accordingto Bede, and the direction oftheir invasions. Little isknown about the exact loca-tions of the tribes. The Jutesmay have had settlementsfurther south, and links withthe Frisians to the west. TheAngles may have lived fur-ther into Germany. The lin-guistic differences betweenthese groups, likewise, arematters for speculation. Thevarious dialects of OldEnglish (p. 28) plainly relateto the areas in which theinvaders settled, but thereare too few texts to makeserious comparison possible.

English is a member of thewestern branch of theGermanic family of lan-guages. It is closest in struc-ture to Frisian – thoughhardly anything is knownabout the ancient Frisiansand their role in the invasionsof Britain. Germanic is abranch of the Indo-Europeanlanguage family.

F R I SI A

N S

JUTES

S A X O N S

AN

GL

ES

RhineWeser

Elbe

Humber

N O R T H

S E AHadrian's W

all

Thames

IcelandicFaeroeseNorwegian

SwedishDanish

EastGothic

GermanYiddish

FlemishDutchAfrikaans

EnglishFrisian

North

West

GERMANIC

CelticItalic

Balto-SlavicAlbanian

GreekAnatolianArmenianTocharian

Indo-Iranian

N

0 10

0 40 miles20

20 km0 160 320 km

0 100 200 miles






two Jutish brothers, Hengist and Horsa. They landedat Ebbsfleet in the Isle of Thanet, and settled in theareas now known as Kent, the Isle of Wight, and partsof Hampshire. The Angles came from the south of theDanish peninsula, and entered Britain much later,along the eastern coast, settling in parts of Mercia,Northumbria (the land to the north of the Humber,where in 547 they established a kingdom), and whatis now East Anglia. The Saxons came from an area fur-ther south and west, along the coast of the North Sea,and from 477 settled in various parts of southern andsouth-eastern Britain. The chroniclers talk aboutgroups of East, West, and South Saxons – distinctionswhich are reflected in the later names of Essex, Wessex,and Sussex. The name Middlesex suggests that therewere Middle Saxons too. Bede’s account takes up thestory:

In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations came overthe island, and they began to increase so much that theybecame terrible to the natives themselves who had invitedthem. Then, having on a sudden entered into league with thePicts, whom they had by this time expelled by the force oftheir arms, they began to turn their weapons against theirconfederates.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (see p.15), compiled overa century later than Bede under Alfred the Great, givesa grim catalogue of disasters for the Britons.

457·In this year Hengest and Æsc fought against the Britonsat a place which is called Crecganford [Crayford, Kent] and

there slew four thousand men; and the Britons then forsookKent and fled to London in great terror.

465 · In this year Hengest and Æsc fought against the Welshnear Wippedesfleot and there slew twelve Welsh nobles; andone of the thanes, whose name was Wipped, was slain there.

473 · In this year Hengest and Aesc fought against the Welshand captured innumerable spoils, and the Welsh fled fromthe English as one flies from fire.

The fighting went on for several decades, but theimposition of Anglo-Saxon power was never in doubt.Over a period of about a hundred years, further bandsof immigrants continued to arrive, and Anglo-Saxonsettlements spread to all areas apart from the highlandsof the west and north. By the end of the 5th century,the foundation was established for the emergence ofthe English language.

THE NAME OF THE LANGUAGE

With scant respect for priorities, the Germanicinvaders called the native Celts wealas (‘foreigners’),from which the name Welsh is derived. The Celtscalled the invaders ‘Saxons’, regardless of their tribe,and this practice was followed by the early Latin writ-ers. By the end of the 6th century, however, the termAngli (‘Angles’) was in use – as early as 601, a king ofKent, Æthelbert, is called rex Anglorum (‘King of theAngles’) – and during the 7th century Angli or Anglia(for the country) became the usual Latin names. OldEnglish Engle derives from this usage, and the name ofthe language found in Old English texts is from theoutset referred to as Englisc (the sc spelling represent-ing the sound sh, /S/). References to the name of thecountry as Englaland (‘land of the Angles’), fromwhich came England, do not appear until c. 1000.

The remarkably preservedbody of a man, found in apeat bog in Denmark. Over500 such remains have beenfound throughout northernEurope, many in the areaformerly occupied by theGermanic tribes. The personhas been murdered, possiblyas a sacrificial victim to theEarth goddess. The Romanhistorian Tacitus wrote of thetribes in his Germania, and atone point mentions a groupof tribes including theEudoses and the Anglii:‘These tribes are protected byforests and rivers, nor is thereanything noteworthy aboutthem individually, exceptthat they worship in commonNerthus, or Mother Earth,and conceive her asintervening in human affairs,and riding in processionthrough the cities of men.’(Trans. M. Hutton, 1914.)

The Northumbrian monk,Bede, or Bæda, known as theVenerable Bede. Born atMonkton on Tyne in c. 673,he was taken at the age of 7to the new monastery atWearmouth, moving in 682to the sister monastery atJarrow, where he worked asa writer and teacher. He diedin 735, and was buried atJarrow. His masterpiece, theHistoria Ecclesiastica GentisAnglorum (‘Ecclesiastical His-tory of the English Nation’),was begun in his later years,and finished in 731. Its focusis the growth of Christianityin England, but its scope ismuch wider, and it is recog-nized as the most valuablesource we have for earlyEnglish history. Written inLatin, an Old English transla-tion was made in the reignof Alfred the Great.

2 · T H E O R I G I N S O F E N G L I S H 7

A page from one of the manuscripts of Bede’s EcclesiasticalHistory. The language is Latin.






THE EARLY PERIOD

Before the Anglo-Saxon invasions (§2), the language(or languages) spoken by the native inhabitants of theBritish Isles belonged to the Celtic family, introducedby a people who had come to the islands around themiddle of the first millennium BC. Many of these set-tlers were, in turn, eventually subjugated by theRomans, who arrived in 43 BC. But by 410 the Romanarmies had gone, withdrawn to help defend theirEmpire in Europe. After a millennium of settlementby speakers of Celtic, and half a millennium by speak-ers of Latin, what effect did this have on the languagespoken by the arriving Anglo-Saxons?

Celtic borrowingsThere is, surprisingly, very little Celtic influence – orperhaps it is not so surprising, given the savage way inwhich the Celtic communities were destroyed orpushed back into the areas we now know as Cornwall,Wales, Cumbria, and the Scottish borders. ManyCelts (or Romano-Celts) doubtless remained in theeast and south, perhaps as slaves, perhaps intermarry-ing, but their identity would after a few generationshave been lost within Anglo-Saxon society. Whateverwe might expect from such a period of cultural con-tact, the Celtic language of Roman Britain influencedOld English hardly at all.

Only a handful of Celtic words were borrowed at thetime, and a few have survived into modern English,sometimes in regional dialect use: crag, cumb ‘deepvalley’, binn ‘bin’, carr ‘rock’, dunn ‘grey, dun’, brock‘badger’, and torr ‘peak’. Others include bannoc ‘piece’,rice ‘rule’, gafeluc ‘small spear’, bratt ‘cloak’, luh ‘lake’,dry ‘sorcerer’, and clucge ‘bell’. A few Celtic words ofthis period ultimately come from Latin, brought in bythe Irish missionaries: these include assen ‘ass’, ancor‘hermit’, stær ‘history’, and possibly cross. But therecannot be more than two dozen loan words in all. Andthere are even very few Celtic-based place names(p. 141) in what is now southern and eastern England.They include such river names as Thames, Avon ‘river’,Don, Exe, Usk, and Wye. Town names include Dover‘water’, Eccles ‘church’, Bray ‘hill’, London (a tribalname), Kent (meaning unknown), and the use of caer‘fortified place’ (as in Carlisle) and pen ‘head, top, hill’(as in Pendle).

Latin loansLatin has been a major influence on English through-out its history (pp. 24, 48, 60, §9), and there is evidence

3 · OLD ENGLISH

ANGLO-SAXON OR OLD ENGLISH?The name Anglo-Saxon cameto refer in the 16th century toall aspects of the early period– people, culture, and lang-uage. It is still the usual wayof talking about the peopleand the cultural history; butsince the 19th century, whenthe history of languagescame to be studied in detail,Old English has been the pre-ferred name for the lang-uage. This name emphasizesthe continuing developmentof English, from Anglo-Saxontimes through ‘MiddleEnglish’ to the present day,and it is the usage of the pre-sent book (abbreviated OE).Some authors, nonetheless,still use the term Anglo-Saxon for the language, thechoice of this name reflectingtheir view that the nature ofthe language in this earlyperiod is very different fromwhat is later to be foundunder the heading of English.

A reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon huts at West Stow,Suffolk. Each hut is some15–20 feet (5–6 m) in length.

of its role from the earliest moments of contact. TheRoman army and merchants gave new names to manylocal objects and experiences, and introduced severalfresh concepts. About half of the new words were to dowith plants, animals, food and drink, and householditems: Old English pise ‘pea’, plante ‘plant’, win ‘wine’,cyse ‘cheese’, catte ‘cat’, cetel ‘kettle’, disc ‘dish’, candel‘candle’. Other important clusters of words related toclothing (belt ‘belt’, cemes ‘shirt’, sutere ‘shoemaker’),buildings and settlements (tigle ‘tile’, weall ‘wall’,ceaster ‘city’, stræt ‘road’), military and legal institutions(wic ‘camp’, diht ‘saying’, scrifan ‘decree’), commerce(mangian ‘trade’, ceapian ‘buy’, pund ‘pound’), and reli-gion (mæsse ‘Mass’, munuc ‘monk’, mynster ‘minster’).

Whether the Latin words were already used by theAnglo-Saxon tribes on the continent of Europe, orwere introduced from within Britain, is not alwaysclear (though a detailed analysis of the sound changesthey display can help, p. 19), but the total number ofLatin words present in English at the very beginning ofthe Anglo-Saxon period is not large – less than 200.Although Vulgar Latin (the variety of spoken Latinused throughout the Empire) must have continued inuse – at least, as an official language – for some yearsafter the Roman army left, for some reason it did nottake root in Britain as it had so readily done in Conti-nental Europe. Some commentators see in this the firstsign of an Anglo-Saxon monolingual mentality.






RUNES

Old English was first writtenin the runic alphabet. Thisalphabet was used in north-ern Europe – in Scandinavia,present-day Germany, andthe British Isles – and it hasbeen preserved in about4,000 inscriptions and a fewmanuscripts. It dates fromaround the 3rd century AD.No one knows exactly wherethe alphabet came from, butit seems to be a develop-ment of one of the alpha-bets of southern Europe,probably the Roman, whichrunes resemble closely.

The common runic alpha-bet found throughout thearea consisted of 24 letters.It can be written horizon-tally in either direction. Eachletter had a name, and thealphabet as a whole wascalled by the name of its firstsix letters, the futhorc (inthe same way as the wordalphabet comes from Greekalpha � beta). The versionfound in Britain used extraletters to cope with therange of sounds found inOld English; inits most devel-oped form, in9th-centuryNorthumbria, it

consisted of 31 symbols. The inscriptions in Old

English are found onweapons, jewellery, monu-ments, and other artefacts,and date largely from the5th or 6th centuries AD, theearliest (at Caistor-by-Nor-wich) possibly being late4th century. They often saysimply who made or ownedthe object. Most of thelarge rune stones say littlemore than ‘X raised thisstone in memory of Y’, andoften the message isunclear.

The meaning of runeWhat rune (OE run) meansis debatable. There is along-standing traditionwhich attributes to it suchsenses as ‘whisper’, ‘mys-tery’, and ‘secret’, suggest-ing that the symbols wereoriginally used for magicalor mystical rituals. Suchassociations were certainlypresent in the way thepagan Vikings (and possiblythe Continental Germans)used the corresponding

word, but there is no evi-dence that they were pre-sent in Old English. Currentresearch suggests that theword run had been thor-oughly assimilated intoAnglo-Saxon Christianity,and meant simply ‘sharingof knowledge or thoughts’.Any extension to the worldof magic and superstition isnot part of the native tradi-tion. Modern English rune isnot even a survival of theOld English word, but alater borrowing from Norsevia Latin.

For the modern, magicalsense of rune we are there-fore indebted to the Scandi-navian and not the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It is thissense which surfaced in the19th century in a variety ofesoteric publications, andwhich developed in thepopular and fantastic imag-ination of the 20th, perhapsmost famously in the writ-ing of Tolkien (p.185).(After C. E. Fell, 1991.)

THE OLDENGLISH RUNICALPHABETThis list gives thenames of the symbolsin Old English, andtheir meanings (wherethese are known). Itdoes not give themany variant shapeswhich can be found inthe different inscrip-tions. The symbols con-sist mainly of intersect-ing straight lines, show-ing their purpose forengraving on stone,wood, metal, or bone.Manuscript uses of runesdo exist in a few earlypoems (notably in fourpassages where the nameof Cynewulf is repre-sented), and in the solu-tions to some of the riddlesin the Exeter Book (p. 12),and are in evidence untilthe 11th century, especiallyin the north, but there arevery few of them.

EARLY INSCRIPTIONSThere are less than 30 clearrunic inscriptions in OldEnglish, some containingonly a single name. The twomost famous examples bothdate from the 8th century,and represent the Northum-brian dialect (p. 28). Both inscriptions make someuse of the Roman alphabetas well.

• The Ruthwell Cross, nearDumfries, Scotland, is 16 feet(5 m) high. Its faces containpanels depicting events inthe life of Christ and theearly Church, as well as carv-ings of birds and beasts, andlines of runes around theedges are similar to part ofthe Old English poem ‘TheDream of the Rood’ (rood =‘cross’) in the Vercelli Book.A glossed extract is shownbelow (there are no spacesbetween the words in theoriginal inscription; alsosome scholars transcribe‘blood’ as blodi).

• The Franks Casket is a richly carved whalebone box,illustrating mythological and religious scenes, not all ofwhich can be interpreted. The picture shows the panelwith the Adoration of the Magi alongside the Germaniclegend of Wayland (Weland) the Smith. The inscriptionsare partly in Old English, and partly in Latin.

The box first came to light in the 19th century,owned by a farmer from Auzon, France. It isnamed after Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks,through whom it came to be deposited in theBritish Museum. One side was missing, but it latercame into the possession of the BargelloMuseum, Florence, and a cast was made of it, sothat the box in the British Museum now appearscomplete.

3 · O L D E N G L I S H 9






PA RT I · T H E H I S T O RY O F E N G L I S H10

THE OLD ENGLISH CORPUS

There is a ‘dark age’ between the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons and the first Old English manuscripts. A fewscattered inscriptions in the language date from the 5thand 6th centuries, written in the runic alphabet whichthe invaders brought with them (p. 9), but these givevery little information about what the language waslike. The literary age began only after the arrival of theRoman missionaries, led by Augustine, who came toKent in AD 597. The rapid growth of monastic centresled to large numbers of Latin manuscripts being pro-duced, especially of the Bible and other religious texts.

Because of this increasingly literary climate, OldEnglish manuscripts also began to be written – muchearlier, indeed, than the earliest vernacular texts fromother north European countries. The first texts, datingfrom around 700, are glossaries of Latin words trans-lated into Old English, and a few early inscriptionsand poems. But very little material remains from thisperiod. Doubtless many manuscripts were burned

during the 8th-century Viking invasions (p. 25). Thechief literary work of the period, the heroic poemBeowulf, survives in a single copy, made around 1,000– possibly some 250 years after it was composed(though the question of its composition date is highlycontroversial). There are a number of short poems,again almost entirely preserved in late manuscripts,over half of them concerned with Christian subjects –legends of the saints, extracts from the Bible, and devo-tional pieces. Several others reflect the Germanic tra-dition, dealing with such topics as war, travelling,patriotism, and celebration. Most extant Old Englishtexts were written in the period following the reign ofKing Alfred (849–99), who arranged for many Latinworks to be translated – including Bede’s EcclesiasticalHistory (p. 7). But the total corpus is extremely small.The number of words in the corpus of Old Englishcompiled at the University of Toronto, which containsall the texts (but not all the alternative manuscripts ofa text), is only 3.5 million – the equivalent of about 30medium-sized modern novels. Only c. 5 per cent ofthis total (c. 30,000 lines) is poetry.

THE AUGUSTINIANMISSIONIt would be a considerableoverstatement to suggest (asone sometimes reads) that StAugustine brought Christian-ity to Britain. This religion hadalready arrived through theRoman invasion, and in the 4thcentury had actually beengiven official status in theRoman Empire. It was a Briton,St Patrick, who converted Ire-land in the early 5th century;and a goodly number of earlyWelsh saints’ names areremembered in place namesbeginning with Llan (‘church[of]’). The story of St Alban(said to have been martyred in305 near the city of Verulam,modern St Albans) isrecounted in detail by Bede.

Augustine’s task was morespecific: to convert the Anglo-Saxons. He had been prior ofthe monastery of St Andrew inRome, before being chosen byPope Gregory for the mission.He and his companions arrivedin the Isle of Thanet, to be metby Æthelberht, king of Kent,and they must have beenheartily relieved to find thathis wife was already a (Celtic)Christian. They were givenleave to live and preach in Can-terbury, and within a year theking himself was converted.Three bishoprics were estab-lished by the end of thedecade, with Augustine asarchbishop at Canterbury,Justus as bishop at Rochester,and Mellitus at London, asbishop of the EastSaxons.

It took some timefor this early successto become consoli-dated. FollowingAugustine’s death(604/5) there wasmuch tension over reli-gious practicesbetween the RomanChristians and theirCeltic counterparts,who had lived in isola-tion from Rome for solong. Matters came to ahead in the conflict overthe date of Easter,resolved (in favour ofRome) at the Synod ofWhitby in 664.

Part of the difficulty indeveloping the faith musthave been linguistic:according to Bede, it wasnearly 50 years beforeAnglo-Saxon was beingused as a missionarytongue. King Egbert of

THE GREGORIAN PUNIn Bede there is an account of St Gregory’s first meeting with the inhabitants of England.Gregory, evidently a punster of some ability, himself asked to be sent to Britain as a mis-sionary, but the pope of the time refused – presumably because of Gregory’s social posi-tion, the son of a senator and former prefect of the city. When Gregory became popehimself (590), he sent Augustine to do the job for him. Bede tells the story at the end of hisaccount of Gregory’s life (Book 2, Ch. 1).

Nor is the account of St Gregory, which has been handed down to us by the tradition of ourancestors, to be passed by in silence, in relation to his motives for taking such interest in thesalvation of our nation [Britain]. It is reported that, some merchants, having just arrived at

Rome on a certain day, exposed many things for sale inthe market-place, and an abundance of people resortedthither to buy: Gregory himself went with the rest, and,among other things, some boys were set to sale, theirbodies white, their countenances beautiful, and theirhair very fine. Having viewed them, he asked, as is said,from what country or nation they were brought? andwas told, from the island of Britain, whose inhabitantswere of such personal appearance. He again inquiredwhether those islanders were Christians, or stillinvolved in the errors of paganism? and was informedthat they were pagans. Then, fetching a deep sighfrom the bottom of his heart, ‘Alas! what pity,’ saidhe, ‘that the author of darkness is possessed of menof such fair countenances; and that being remark-able for such graceful aspects, their minds should bevoid of inward grace.’ He therefore again asked,what was the name of that nation? and wasanswered, that they were called Angles. ‘Right,’ saidhe, ‘for they have an Angelic face, and it becomessuch to be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven. Whatis the name,’ proceeded he, ‘of the province fromwhich they are brought?’ It was replied, that thenatives of that province were called Deiri. ‘Trulythey are De ira,’ said he, ‘withdrawn from wrath,and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the kingof that province called?’ They told him his namewas Ælla; and he, alluding to the name, said,‘Hallelujah, the praise of God the Creator must besung in those parts.’ (Trans. J. Stevens, 1723.)

Kent in 664 had to make a spe-cial plea to ensure that anAnglo-Saxon speaking bishopwas appointed, ‘so that with aprelate of his own nation andlanguage, the king and his sub-jects might be more perfectlyinstructed in the words andmysteries of the faith’. This wasthe first expression of an issuewhich would be raised againseveral hundred years later inEnglish language history(p. 61).






3 · O L D E N G L I S H 11

THE SCOP’S TALE

This opening page of the Beowulf text is takenfrom the text now lodged in the British Library,London (manuscript reference, Cotton Vitellius A.xv). The manuscript is a copy made in c.1000, but itwas damaged by a fire at the Cottonian Library in1731, hence the odd shape to the page. The nameof the poet, or scop, whose version is found here isnot known, nor is it clear when the work was firstcomposed: one scholarly tradition assigns it to the8th century; another to a somewhat later date.

This is the first great narrative poem in English.It is a heroic tale about a 6th-century Scandinavianhero, Beowulf, who comes to the aid of the Danishking Hrothgar. Hrothgar’s retinue is under dailyattack from a monstrous troll, Grendel, at the hallof Heorot (‘Hart’) in Denmark (located possibly onthe site of modern Leire, near Copenhagen).Beowulf travels from Geatland, in southern

Sweden, and after a great fight kills the monster,and in a second fight the monster’s vengefulmother. Beowulf returns home, recounts his story,and is later made king of the Geats, ruling for 50years. There, as an old man, he kills a dragon in afight that leads to his own death.

This plot summary does no justice to the depthof meaning and stylistic impact of the work. Apartfrom its lauding of courage, heroic defiance, loy-alty to one’s lord, and other Germanic values,Beowulf introduces elements of a thoroughlyChristian perspective, and there are many dra-matic undercurrents and ironies. The monster is aclassical figure in Germanic tradition, but it is alsosaid to be a descendant of Cain, and a product ofhell and the devil. The contrast between earthlysuccess and mortality is a recurrent theme. WhileBeowulf is being feted in Hrothgar’s court, thepoet alludes to disastrous events which will oneday affect the Geats, providing a note of doom

that counterpoints the triumphal events of thenarrative. The poem is full of dramatic contrasts ofthis kind.

Whether the poem is a product of oral improvi-sation or is a more consciously contrived literarywork has been a bone of scholarly contention.Many of its striking features, in particular its allit-erative rhythmical formulae (p. 23), are those wewould associate with oral composition, for theywould be a valuable aid to memorization; on theother hand, modern scholars have drawn atten-tion to the patterned complexity of its narrativestructure, its metrical control, and its lexical rich-ness, suggesting a literary process of composition(p. 23). The critic W. P. Ker expressed one view, inThe Dark Ages (1904), that Beowulf is a ‘book to beread’ – but if so it is one which makes maximumuse of a style which must originally have evolvedfor use in oral poetry. (For an account of somemodern investigative techniques, see p. 447.)

HWÆT WE GARDE-What! We Spear-Danes’

na. in gear-dagum. teod-cyningain yore-days, tribe-kings’

trym ge-frunon huda ætelingas ellenglory heard, how the leaders courage

fremedon. Oft scyld scefing sceatenaaccomplished. Often Scyld, Scef’s son, from enemies’

treatum monegum mægtum meodo-setlabands, from many tribes mead-benches

of-teah egsode eorl syddan ærest weardseized, terrorised earl[s], since first he was

fea-sceaft funden he tæs frofre gebaddestitute found; he its relief knew,

weox under wolcnum weord-myndum tah.grew under skies, in honours throve,

od tæt him æghwylc tara ymb-sittendrauntil to him each of the neighbours

ofer hron-rade hyran scolde gombanover whale-road submit must, tribute

gyldan tæt wæs god cyning. dæm eafera wæsyield; that was good king! To him heir was

æfter cenned geong in geardum tone godafter born young in dwellings, him God

sende folce to frofre fyren–dearfe on-sent to folk for solace; intense misery

geat q hie ær drugon aldor-[le]ase. langesaw when they before felt leaderless a long

hwile him tæs lif-frea wuldres wealdendwhile; to them for it Life-Lord, glory’s Ruler

worold-are for-geaf. beowulf wæs bremeworld honour gave, Beow was famed,

blæd wide sprang scyldes eafera scede-renown widely sprang of Scyld’s heir Danish

landum in. Swa sceal [geong g]uma godelands in. So shall young man by good [deeds]

ge-wyrcean fromum feoh-giftum. on fæderensure, by fine fee-gifts in father’s …

(After J. Zupitza,

1882. Trans. J. Porter, 1991.)






Documents

1 · MODELLING ENGLISH - Assets - Cambridge …assets.cambridge.org/97805218/23487/excerpt/...An essential early step in the study of a language is to model it. A ‘model’, in this