用戶:Shom/古英語

  「盎格魯-撒克遜語言」重新導向至此。關於使用盎格魯-撒克遜語言，請見「盎格魯-撒克遜 (disambiguation)」。

  此頁面介紹的是盎格魯-撒克遜的古老語言。關於莎士比亞的語言，請見「近代英語」。關於喬叟的語言，請見「中古英語」。關於其他，請見「古英語 (消歧義)」。

古英語
Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc Old English,Anglo-Saxons
區域	英格蘭 (除了西南邊緣和西北邊緣), 東部和西部 蘇格蘭, 現代 威爾斯邊緣。
年代	主要在 13 世紀演變為 中古英語。
語系	印歐語系 日耳曼語族 西日耳曼語支 北海日耳曼語支 盎格魯-弗里西語族 Anglic 古英語
方言	肯特語 麥西亞語 諾森布里亞語 西撒克遜語
文字	盧恩字母, 後期使用Latin (古英語字母).
語言代碼
ISO 639-2	ang
ISO 639-3	ang

古英語 （Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc) 或 盎格魯-撒克遜語 是 英語 的一種早期形式，是在 5 世紀中葉至 12 世紀中葉盎格魯-撒克遜人 也是現在的英國和東部及南部蘇格蘭地區的人所使用的語言。 這種語言主要通過盎格魯-撒克遜人的文學延續生命。

這是一中和古弗里西語及古撒克遜語關係密切的西日耳曼語支語言。 古英語的語法在很多方面都類似於古典拉丁語。通常，包括其語法，古英語比現代英語更接近現代德語和冰島語。 這種語言是一種包括五個語法格（主格、 賓格、屬格、與格和 工具格）、3 個語法數（單數、 附屬和雙數）、和三個語法性（中性,、陰性、 和中性）的完全 屈折 的語言。 雙數只在第一和第二人稱及表明有兩個成員的組中出現。

名詞、代詞和有時的分詞在性數格上與先前的名詞一致，完成時動詞和其對象在人稱和數上一致。

名詞有極多的變格，這點和拉丁語、古希臘語 和梵語十分類似。 動詞有九個主要的變位形式 （七個強變化和弱變化）每一個變位形式擁有大量的次種類，以及一些小的詞形變化和一些不規則動詞。 和其他早期印歐語系語言的最大不同，拉丁語， 是動詞只有兩個時態的詞形變化 （對比六個「時態」和拉丁語真正的時態／體的），而且沒有被動語態 （雖然Gothic仍然存在被動語態）。

名詞的性是語法的,和現代英語中流行的 自然性 不同。而不同之處在於，一個名詞的語法性不需要和自然性相等，甚至是形容人的名詞。比如sēo sunne （太陽）是陰性的， se mōna （月亮）是陽性的，和 þat wīf 「女人／妻子」是中性的。 （和德語同源的 die Sonne,，der Mond，das Weib。）代詞的使用可以在自然性和語法性衝突時反應自然性和語法性。

從 9 世紀開始，古英語從古諾爾斯語受到很多影響,古諾爾斯語是北日耳曼語支 語言中的一隻。

歷史

更多資訊：英語史

早期 日耳曼語族方言在公元 1 年左右的分佈：

  北日耳曼語支

  北海日耳曼語支（英語或寫作Ingvaeonic

  衛塞河-多瑙河日耳曼語支英語或寫作Istvaeonic

  赫爾米諾人，英語或寫作 Irminonic

  東日耳曼語支

古英語不是一成不變的，其使用從 5 世紀盎格魯-撒克遜人在英國的定居到 11 世紀末期，有些時候在諾曼征服後。

古英語是從北海日耳曼語支在 5 世紀所產生 西日耳曼語支方言。

盎格魯-撒克遜的文學在 7 世紀的基督教化後開始發展。 最古老的古英語文學文本 卡德蒙的讚美詩,在 658 年到 680 年間組成。 在 5 世紀到 7 世紀存在有有限的runic inscriptions全集，但最古老的連貫盧恩字母文段 (尤其是弗朗西斯盒)是在 8 世紀左右產生的。

古英語的歷史可以分為：

• 原始古英語（ 450 年到 650 年）；在這段時期，古英語沒有任何文本（有限的不穩定證據）證明其存在基本依靠語言重建。這種語言，或這種陣營的語言，由盎格魯人，撒克遜人和朱特人所使用。最早記錄的古英語或盎格魯-撒克遜語，稱為原始古英語。
• 早期古英語（ 650 年到 900 年），擁有最古老的手抄本傳統的年代，這些手抄本的作者類似於 卡德蒙、比德,、奧甫武夫 和亞浩。
• 後期古英語（ 900 年到 1066年）古英語最後的階段，由諾曼征服開始，隨後即演變為中古英語。

古英語隨後跟隨的是中古英語階段（12 世紀到 15 世紀）、 近代英語階段（ 1480 年到 1650 年）、現代英語 （ 1650年至今）。

其他語言的影響

在中世紀前期的時間，古英語吸收了其接觸語言的一些方面，比如和維京人接觸時所遇到的古諾爾斯語的兩種方言，在維京人直到 9 世紀時在英國所控制的大片英國南部和北部等地，也是現代的丹麥區。

拉丁語影響

更多資訊：lang、en和Latin influence in English

在拉丁語所支配歐洲大陸時有很多受教育的擁有讀寫能力的人群，拉丁語也是當時歐洲學術研究和外交的通用語。有時可能可以給出一些單獨的拉丁語詞彙在古英語所經歷的語言模式轉變時進入的大約時間。而拉丁語影響中，又有至少三個需要注意的時段。第一個時段在早期盎格魯人和撒克遜人為前往英國而離開歐洲大陸前發生。Template:When? 第二個在盎格魯-撒克遜人基督化而操拉丁語的教士開始遍佈英國的時候。Template:When? 查看Latin influence in English: Dark Ages 以獲取更多細節。

第三個也是最大的一個拉丁詞根詞彙進入時期在諾曼征服後發生， 大量 諾曼語 （古法語）開始影響古英語。 大部分奧依語 詞彙多來源於古法語而最終源頭是古典拉丁語，雖然諾爾斯語詞彙進入或被諾曼語重新引進也是一個值得注意的地方。諾曼征服基本宣告古英語時代的結束和中古英語時代的開始。

一個拉丁語的影響方式是很多描述活動的拉丁詞彙也能指進行活動的人，一個來自盎格魯-撒克遜語的俗語卻使用拉丁詞彙。 ，類似於 militia、assembly、movement和 service。

拉丁語更是通過使曾經使用盧恩字母的古英語 （Runes，也可寫作Anglo-Saxon futhorc或fuþorc）改為 拉丁字母,，這是一個在古英語的發展壓力中對語言本身的重要因素。古英語詞，無論如何，字母的和音節一致。通常，拉丁字母不能完全表示盎格魯-撒克遜語的語音。因此拼寫成為這種語言對讀音最好的一個大概印象。

現代英語的不發聲字母在古英語中是發聲的：比如 cniht c 和 h ，現代「Knight」的古英語形式，而現代不發聲字母全部發聲。另一個使用拉丁字母拼寫古英語的影響是讀音變得極端可變。一個詞的發音能反應書寫者區域的方言。 詞語必須忍受由書寫者選擇的獨特讀音， 有些人在書寫時就改變了讀音。因此我們可以舉個例子，「and」可以讀為 「and」 和 「ond」。

諾爾斯語影響

10世紀古諾爾斯語和其它相近語言的分佈：

   古西諾爾斯語

   古東諾爾斯語

   古哥特蘭語

   克里米亞哥特語

   其它日耳曼語族中和古諾爾斯語有互通性的語言

第二個古英語的主要舶來詞彙來源是在在 9 世紀到 10 世紀丹麥人入侵斯堪的那維亞時帶來的詞彙。有些情況，比如對一個地名， 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 蘇格蘭).

The Vikings spoke 古諾爾斯語, a language related to Old English in that both derived from the same ancestral Proto-Germanic language. It is very common for the intermixing of speakers of different dialects, such as those that occur during times of political unrest, to result in a 混合語, 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 south-west, the area farthest away from Viking influence. Regardless of the truth of this theory, the influence of Old Norse on the lexicon of the English language has been profound: responsible for such basic vocabulary items as sky, leg, the 代詞 they, the verb form are, and hundreds of other words.

Celtic influence

主條目：Brittonicisms in English

Traditionally, and following the 盎格魯-撒克遜人 preference prevalent in the 19th century, many maintain that the influence of Brythonic Celtic on English has been small, citing the small number of Celtic 外來語 taken into the language. The number of Celtic loanwords is of a lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. However, a more recent and still minority view is that distinctive Celtic traits can be discerned in syntax from the post-Old English period, such as the regular progressive construction and analytic word order in opposition to the Germanic languages.

Dialects

Old English should not be regarded as a single monolithic entity just as 現代英語 is also not monolithic. It emerged over time out of the many dialects and languages of the colonising tribes, and it was not until the later Anglo-Saxon period that they fused together into Old English. Even then, it continued to exhibit local language variation, remnants of which remain in Modern English dialects.

Thus it is misleading, for example, to consider Old English as having a single sound system. Rather, there were multiple Old English sound systems. Old English has variation along regional lines as well as variation across different times.

For example, the language attested in 威塞克斯王國 during the time of Æthelwold of Winchester, which is named Late West Saxon (or Æthelwoldian Saxon), is considerably different from the language attested in Wessex during the time of 阿爾弗雷德大王's court, which is named Early West Saxon (or Classical West Saxon or Alfredian Saxon). Furthermore, the difference between Early West Saxon and Late West Saxon is of such a nature that Late West Saxon is not directly descended from Early West Saxon (despite what the similarity in name implies).

The four main 方言 forms of Old English were Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish, and West Saxon. Each of those dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of 諾森布里亞 and most of 麥西亞王國 were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia that was successfully defended and all of Kent were then integrated into Wessex.

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, as evidenced both by the existence of Middle and later Modern English dialects.

The first page of the 貝奧武夫 manuscript

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 more remote areas of the kingdom. As a result, documents were written in the West Saxon dialect. Not only this, but Alfred was passionate about the spread of the 地方話, and brought many scribes to his region from Mercia to record previously unwritten texts.

The Church was affected likewise, especially since Alfred initiated an ambitious programme to translate religious materials into English. 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 教宗額我略一世's treatise on administration, Pastoral Care.

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

Thomas Spencer Baynes claimed in 1856 that, owing to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in the Somerset dialect.

Even after the maximum Anglo-Saxon expansion, Old English was never spoken all over the Kingdom of England; not only was Medieval Cornish spoken all over Cornwall, it was also spoken in adjacent parts of Devon into the age of the Plantagenets, long after the Norman Conquest. Cumbric may have survived into the 12th century in parts of Cumbria and Welsh may have been spoken on the English side of the Anglo-Welsh border. In addition to the Celtic languages, Norse was spoken in some areas under Danish law.

Phonology

主條目：Old English phonology

The inventory of classical Old English (i.e. Late West Saxon) surface phones, as usually reconstructed, is as follows.

Consonant phonemes

	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m						n						(ŋ)
Stop	p	b					t	d					k	ɡ
Affricate									tʃ	(dʒ)
Fricative			f	(v)	θ	(ð)	s	(z)	ʃ		(ç)		(x)	(ɣ)	h
Approximant								r				j		w
Lateral								l

The sounds marked in parentheses in the chart above are 同位異音s:

• [dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated
• [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /ɡ/
• [v, ð, z] are allophones of /f, θ, s/ respectively, occurring between 元音s or 清濁音s
• [ç, x] are allophones of /h/ occurring in coda position after front and back vowels respectively
• [ɣ] is an allophone of /ɡ/ occurring after a vowel, and, at an earlier stage of the language, in the syllable onset.

Monophthongs	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i  y	u	iː  yː	uː
Mid	e  (ø)	o	eː  (øː)	oː
Open	æ	ɑ	æː	ɑː

The front mid rounded vowels /ø(ː)/ occur in some 方言s of Old English, but not in the best attested Late West Saxon dialect.

雙元音s	Short (monomoraic)	Long (bimoraic)
First element is close	iy	iːy
Both elements are mid	eo	eːo
Both elements are open	æɑ	æːɑ

Vowels were not the only letters and sounds different from Modern English. In Old English, c always sounded like the modern k, never that of s. G sounded like the y in yes when it was before or after a palatal vowel or any diphthong, but it sounded approximately like the g in go when it was before or after a guttural vowel or a mixed vowel.

Letters that are present in Modern English but are completely absent from Old English include j, q, v, and z. The letter k was used, but only rarely.

Sound changes

主條目：Old English phonology § Phonological processes

Grammar

主條目：Old English grammar

Morphology

Unlike Modern English, Old English is a 語言 rich with morphological diversity. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and (vestigially) instrumental. The only remnants of this system in Modern English are in a few pronouns (the meanings of I (nominative) my (genitive) and me (accusative/dative) in the first person provide an example) and in the possessive ending "-'s", which derives from the genitive ending "-es".

The verb identifies person, number, tense, and mood. Verbs have three moods (Indicative, Subjunctive, and Imperative). They have two numbers (Singular and Plural), three genders (Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter), and only two synthetic tenses (simple present and simple past). Old English grammar also does not contain a synthetic passive. However, Old English does occasionally use compound constructions to express other verbal aspects, the future and the passive voice; in these we see the beginnings of the compound tenses of Modern English.

Old English verbs are separated into two categories according to how they form tenses. Strong verbs change tense by altering the root vowel (like irregular verbs in Modern English) and weak verbs change tense by adding a suffix to the end of the verb (like the –ed or -s in regular verbs in Modern English). Throughout time, however, most of the strong verbs of Old English had either shifted into regular verbs in Modern English or disappeared from the English language altogether. According to linguist Edward Finegan, the number of strong verbs in English has dropped from 333, including "burn" and "help", to 68 irregular verbs today, though conversely, there are also a few weak verbs that have shifted into irregular form, such as "dive" and "wear", and there are also some verbs which have debatable regularity status, such as "sneaked" and "snuck" for "sneak". In comparison to Modern English, Old English had far more irregularity in verb conjugation.

Syntax

Old English syntax was similar in many ways to that of modern English. However, there were some important differences. Some were simply consequences of the greater level of nominal and verbal inflection – e.g., word order was generally freer. In addition:

• The default 語序 was 動詞第二順位 and more like modern German than modern English.
• There was no do-support in questions and negatives.
• Multiple negatives could stack up in a sentence, and intensified each other (雙重否定句), which is not always the case in modern English.
• Sentences with subordinate clauses of the type "when X, Y" (e.g. "When I got home, I ate dinner") did not use a wh-type conjunction, but rather used a th-type 連詞 (e.g. þā X, þā Y in place of "when X, Y"). The wh-type conjunctions were used only as 疑問代詞s and indefinite pronouns.
• Similarly, wh- forms were not used as 關係代名詞s (as in "the man who saw me" or "the car that I bought"). Instead, an indeclinable word þe was used, often in conjunction with the 冠詞 (which was declined for case, number and gender).

Orthography

主條目：Anglo-Saxon runes和Old English Latin alphabet

The 盧恩字母 used to write Old English before the introduction of the Latin alphabet.

Old English was first written in runes (futhorc) but shifted to a (minuscule) 安色爾體 script of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries from around the 9th century. This was replaced by insular script, a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the end of the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule (also known as Caroline) replaced the insular.

The letter ðæt ⟨ð⟩ (called eth or edh in modern English) was an alteration of Latin ⟨d⟩, and the runic letters thorn ⟨þ⟩ and Ƿ ⟨ƿ⟩ are borrowings from futhorc. Also used was a symbol for the conjunction and, a character similar to the number seven (⟨⁊⟩, called a Tironian note), and a symbol for the 關係代名詞 þæt, a thorn with a crossbar through the ascender (⟨ꝥ⟩). 長音符號s ⟨¯⟩ over vowels were rarely used to indicate long vowels. Also used occasionally were abbreviations for a following m or n. All of the sound descriptions below are given using IPA symbols.

Conventions of modern editions

A number of changes are traditionally made in published modern editions of the original Old English manuscripts. Some of these conventions include the introduction of punctuation and the substitutions of symbols. The symbols ⟨e⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨s⟩ are used in modern editions, although their shapes in the insular script are considerably different. The 長s ⟨ſ⟩ is substituted by its modern counterpart ⟨s⟩. Insular ⟨ᵹ⟩ is usually substituted with its modern counterpart ⟨g⟩ (which is ultimately a Carolingian symbol).

Additionally, modern editions often distinguish between a velar and palatal ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ with diacritic dots above the putative palatals: ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩. The wynn symbol ⟨ƿ⟩ is usually replaced with ⟨w⟩. Macrons are usually found in modern editions to indicate putative long vowels, while they are usually lacking in the originals. In older printed editions of Old English works, an 尖音符 mark was used to maintain cohesion between Old English and Old Norse printing.

The alphabetical symbols found in Old English writings and their substitute symbols found in modern editions are listed below:

Symbol	Description and notes
a	Short /ɑ/. Spelling variations like ⟨land⟩ ~ ⟨lond⟩ "land" suggest it may have had a rounded 同位異音 [ɒ] before [n] in some cases
ā	Long /ɑː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨a⟩ in modern editions.
æ	Short /æ/. Before 800 the digraph ⟨ae⟩ is often found instead of ⟨æ⟩. During the 8th century ⟨æ⟩ began to be used more frequently. It was standard after 800. In 9th-century Kentish manuscripts, a form of ⟨æ⟩ that was missing the upper hook of the ⟨a⟩ part was used. Kentish ⟨æ⟩ may be either /æ/ or /e/ although this is difficult to determine.
ǣ	Long /æː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨æ⟩ in modern editions.
b	Represented /b/. Also represented [v] in early texts before 800. For example, the word "sheaves" is spelled ⟨scēabas⟩ in an early text but later (and more commonly) as ⟨scēafas⟩.
c	Except in the digraphs ⟨sc⟩, ⟨cg⟩, either /tʃ/ or /k/. The /tʃ/ pronunciation is sometimes written with a 附加符號 by modern editors: most commonly ⟨ċ⟩, sometimes ⟨č⟩ or ⟨ç⟩. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always /k/; word-finally after ⟨i⟩ it is always /tʃ/. Otherwise, a knowledge of the 歷史語言學 of the word is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See The distribution of velars and palatals in Old English for details.)
cg	[ddʒ] (the surface pronunciation of 長輔音 /jj/); occasionally also for /ɡɡ/
d	Represented /d/. In the earliest texts, it also represented /θ/ but was soon replaced by ⟨ð⟩ and ⟨þ⟩. For example, the word meaning "thought" (lit. mood-i-think, with -i- as in "handiwork") was written ⟨mōdgidanc⟩ in a Northumbrian text dated 737, but later as ⟨mōdgeþanc⟩ in a 10th-century West Saxon text.
ð	Represented /θ/ and its allophone [ð]. Called ðæt in Old English (now called eth in Modern English), ⟨ð⟩ is found in alternation with thorn ⟨þ⟩ (both representing the same sound) although it is more common in texts dating before Alfred. Together with ⟨þ⟩ it replaced earlier ⟨d⟩ and ⟨th⟩. First attested (in definitely dated materials) in the 7th century. After the beginning of Alfred's time, ⟨ð⟩ was used more frequently for medial and final positions while ⟨þ⟩ became increasingly used in initial positions, although both still varied. Some modern editions attempt to regularise the variation between ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨ð⟩ by using only ⟨þ⟩.
e	Short /e/.
ę	Either Kentish /æ/ or /e/ although this is difficult to determine. A modern editorial substitution for a form of ⟨æ⟩ missing the upper hook of the ⟨a⟩ found in 9th-century texts. (See also: e caudata)
ē	Long /eː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨e⟩ in modern editions.
ea	Short /æɑ/; after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩, sometimes /æ/ or /ɑ/.
ēa	Long /æːɑ/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨ea⟩ in modern editions. After ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩, sometimes /æː/.
eo	Short /eo/; after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩, sometimes /o/
ēo	Long /eːo/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨eo⟩ in modern editions.
f	/f/ and its allophone [v]
g	/ɡ/ and its allophone [ɣ]; /j/ and its allophone [dʒ] (when after ⟨n⟩). In Old English manuscripts, this letter usually took its insular form ⟨ᵹ⟩. The /j/ and [dʒ] pronunciations are sometimes written ⟨ġ⟩ by modern editors. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always [ɡ] (word-initially) or [ɣ] (after a vowel). Word-finally after ⟨i⟩ it is always /j/. Otherwise a knowledge of the 歷史語言學 of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See The distribution of velars and palatals in Old English for details.)
h	/h/ and its allophones [ç, x]. In the combinations ⟨hl⟩, ⟨hr⟩, ⟨hn⟩, ⟨hw⟩, the second consonant was certainly voiceless.
i	Short /i/.
ī	Long /iː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨i⟩ in modern editions.
ie	Short /iy/; after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩, sometimes /e/.
īe	Long /iːy/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨ie⟩ in modern editions. After ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩, sometimes /eː/.
k	/k/ (rarely used)
l	/l/; probably velarised (as in Modern English) when in coda position.
m	/m/
n	/n/ and its allophone [ŋ]
o	Short /o/.
ō	Long /oː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨o⟩ in modern editions.
oe	Short /ø/ (in dialects with this sound).
ōe	Long /øː/ (in dialects with this sound). Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨oe⟩ in modern editions.
p	/p/
qu	A rare spelling of /kw/, which was usually written as ⟨cƿ⟩ (= ⟨cw⟩ in modern editions).
r	/r/; the exact nature of /r/ is not known. It may have been an 齒齦近音 [ɹ] as in most modern accents, an 齒齦閃音 [ɾ], or an 齒齦顫音 [r].
s	/s/ and its allophone [z].
sc	/ʃ/ or occasionally /sk/.
t	/t/
th	Represented /θ/ in the earliest texts but was soon replaced by ⟨ð⟩ and ⟨þ⟩. For example, the word meaning "thought" was written ⟨mōdgithanc⟩ in an 8th-century Northumbrian text, but later as ⟨mōdgeþanc⟩ in a 10th-century West Saxon text.
þ	An alternative symbol called thorn used instead of ⟨ð⟩. Represents /θ/ and its allophone [ð]. Together with ⟨ð⟩ it replaced the earlier ⟨d⟩ and ⟨th⟩. First attested (in definitely dated materials) in the 8th century. Less common than ⟨ð⟩ before Alfred's time, from then onward ⟨þ⟩ was used increasingly more frequently than ⟨ð⟩ at the beginning of words while its occurrence at the end and in the middle of words was rare. Some modern editions attempt to regularise the variation between ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨ð⟩ by using only ⟨þ⟩.
u	/u/ and /w/ in early texts of continental scribes. The /w/ ⟨u⟩ was eventually replaced by ⟨ƿ⟩ outside of the north of the island.
uu	/w/ in early texts of continental scribes. Outside of the north, it was generally replaced by ⟨ƿ⟩.
ū	Long /uː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨u⟩ in modern editions.
w	/w/. A modern substitution for ⟨ƿ⟩.
ƿ	Runic Ƿ. Represents /w/, replaced in modern print by ⟨w⟩ to prevent confusion with ⟨p⟩.
x	/ks/ (but according to some authors, [xs ~ çs])
y	Short /y/.
ȳ	Long /yː/. Rarely found in manuscripts, but usually distinguished from short ⟨y⟩ in modern editions.
z	/ts/. A rare spelling for ⟨ts⟩. Example: /betst/ "best" is rarely spelled ⟨bezt⟩ for more common ⟨betst⟩.

Doubled consonants are geminated; the geminate fricatives ⟨ðð⟩/⟨þþ⟩, ⟨ff⟩ and ⟨ss⟩ cannot be voiced.

Literature

主條目：Old English literature

Old English literature, though more abundant than literature of the continent before AD 1000 is nonetheless scant. In his supplementary article to the 1935 posthumous edition of Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader, Dr. James Hulbert writes:

In such historical conditions, an incalculable amount of the writings of the Anglo-Saxon period perished. What they contained, how important they were for an understanding of literature before the Conquest, we have no means of knowing: the scant catalogues of monastic libraries do not help us, and there are no references in extant works to other compositions....How incomplete our materials are can be illustrated by the well-known fact that, with few and relatively unimportant exceptions, all extant Anglo-Saxon poetry is preserved in four manuscripts.

Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are 貝奧武夫, an 史詩; the 盎格魯-撒克遜編年史, a record of early English history; the Franks Casket, an early whalebone artefact; and Caedmon's Hymn, a Christian religious poem. There are also a number of extant prose works, such as sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations, and translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers, legal documents, such as laws and wills, and practical works on grammar, medicine, and geography. Still, poetry is considered the heart of Old English literature. Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous, with a few exceptions, such as 比德 and Caedmon.

Text samples

Beowulf

The first example is taken from the opening lines of the epic poem 貝奧武夫. This passage describes how Hrothgar's legendary ancestor Scyld was found as a baby, washed ashore, and adopted by a noble family. The translation is literal and represents the original poetic word order. As such, it is not typical of Old English prose. The modern cognates of original words have been used whenever practical to give a close approximation of the feel of the original poem.

The words in brackets are implied in the Old English by noun case and the bold words in brackets are explanations of words that have slightly different meanings in a modern context. Notice how what is used by the poet where a word like lo or behold would be expected. This usage is similar to what-ho!, both an expression of surprise and a call to attention.

Line	Original	Translation
[1]	Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena in ġeār-dagum,	What! We of Gare-Danes (lit. Spear-Danes) in yore-days,
[2]	þēod-cyninga, þrym ġefrūnon,	of thede(nation/people)-kings, did thrum (glory) frayne (learn about by asking),
[3]	hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.	how those athelings (noblemen) did ellen (fortitude/courage/zeal) freme (promote).
[4]	Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum,	Oft did Scyld Scefing of scather threats (troops),
[5]	monegum mǣġþum, meodosetla oftēah,	of many maegths (clans; cf. Irish cognate Mac-), of mead-settees atee (deprive),
[6]	egsode eorlas. Syððan ǣrest wearð	[and] ugg (induce loathing in, terrify; related to "ugly") earls. Sith (since, as of when) erst (first) [he] worthed (became)
[7]	fēasceaft funden, hē þæs frōfre ġebād,	[in] fewship (destitute) found, he of this frover (comfort) abode,
[8]	wēox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þāh,	[and] waxed under welkin (firmament/clouds), [and amid] worthmint (honour/worship) threed (throve/prospered)
[9]	oðþæt him ǣġhwylc þāra ymbsittendra	oth that (until that) him each of those umsitters (those "sitting" or dwelling roundabout)
[10]	ofer hronrāde hȳran scolde,	over whale-road (kenning for "sea") hear should,
[11]	gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs gōd cyning!	[and] yeme (heed/obedience; related to "gormless") yield. That was [a] good king!

A semi-fluent translation in Modern English would be:

Lo! We have heard of majesty of the Spear-Danes, of those nation-kings in the days of yore, and how those noblemen promoted zeal. Scyld Scefing took away mead-benches from bands of enemies, from many tribes; he terrified earls. Since he was first found destitute (he gained consolation for that) he grew under the heavens, prospered in honours, until each of those who lived around him over the sea had to obey him, give him tribute. That was a good king!

The Lord's Prayer

This text of the 主禱文 is presented in the standardised West Saxon literary dialect, with added macrons for vowel length, markings for probable palatalized consonants, modern punctuation, and the replacement of the letter Ƿ with w.

Line	Original	Translation
[1]	Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum,	Father of ours, thou who art in heavens,
[2]	Sī þīn nama ġehālgod.	Be thy name hallowed.
[3]	Tōbecume þīn rīċe,	Come thy riche (kingdom),
[4]	ġewurþe þīn willa, on eorðan swā swā on heofonum.	Worth (manifest) thy will, on earth as also in heaven.
[5]	Ūre ġedæġhwāmlīcan hlāf syle ūs tō dæġ,	Our daily loaf do sell (give) to us today,
[6]	and forġyf ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġyfað ūrum gyltendum.	And forgive us our guilts as also we forgive our guilters
[7]	And ne ġelǣd þū ūs on costnunge, ac ālȳs ūs of yfele.	And do not lead thou us into temptation, but alese (release/deliver) us of (from) evil.
[8]	Sōþlīċe.	Soothly.

Charter of Cnut

This is a proclamation from King 克努特大帝 to his earl Thorkell the Tall and the English people written in AD 1020. Unlike the previous two examples, this text is prose rather than poetry. For ease of reading, the passage has been divided into sentences while the 段落符號s represent the original division.

Original	Translation
¶ Cnut cyning gret his arcebiscopas and his leod-biscopas and Þurcyl eorl and ealle his eorlas and ealne his þeodscype, twelfhynde and twyhynde, gehadode and læwede, on Englalande freondlice.	¶ Cnut, king, greets his archbishops and his lede'(people's)'-bishops and Thorkell, earl, and all his earls and all his peopleship, greater (having a 1200 先令 weregild) and lesser (200 shilling weregild), hooded(ordained to priesthood) and lewd(lay), in England friendly.
And ic cyðe eow, þæt ic wylle beon hold hlaford and unswicende to godes gerihtum and to rihtre woroldlage.	And I kithe(make known/couth to) you, that I will be [a] hold(civilised) lord and unswiking(uncheating) to God's rights(laws) and to [the] rights(laws) worldly.
¶ Ic nam me to gemynde þa gewritu and þa word, þe se arcebiscop Lyfing me fram þam papan brohte of Rome, þæt ic scolde æghwær godes lof upp aræran and unriht alecgan and full frið wyrcean be ðære mihte, þe me god syllan wolde.	¶ I nam(took) me to mind the writs and the word that the Archbishop Lyfing me from the Pope brought of Rome, that I should ayewhere(everywhere) God's love(praise) uprear(promote), and unright(outlaw) lies, and full frith(peace) work(bring about) by the might that me God would(wished) [to] sell'(give).
¶ Nu ne wandode ic na minum sceattum, þa hwile þe eow unfrið on handa stod: nu ic mid godes fultume þæt totwæmde mid minum scattum.	¶ Now, ne went(withdrew/changed) I not my shot(financial contribution, cf. Norse cognate in scot-free) the while that you stood(endured) unfrith(turmoil) on-hand: now I, mid(with) God's support, that [unfrith] totwemed(separated/dispelled) mid(with) my shot(financial contribution).
Þa cydde man me, þæt us mara hearm to fundode, þonne us wel licode: and þa for ic me sylf mid þam mannum þe me mid foron into Denmearcon, þe eow mæst hearm of com: and þæt hæbbe mid godes fultume forene forfangen, þæt eow næfre heonon forð þanon nan unfrið to ne cymð, þa hwile þe ge me rihtlice healdað and min lif byð.	Tho(then) [a] man kithed(made known/couth to) me that us more harm had found(come upon) than us well liked(equalled): and tho(then) fore(travelled) I, meself, mid(with) those men that mid(with) me fore(travelled), into Denmark that [to] you most harm came of(from): and that[harm] have [I], mid(with) God's support, afore(previously) forefangen(forestalled) that to you never henceforth thence none unfrith(breach of peace) ne come the while that ye me rightly hold(behold as king) and my life beeth.

See also

• Exeter Book
• Go (verb)
• History of the Scots language
• I-mutation
• 北海日耳曼語鼻音消失法則 Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law
• List of generic forms in place names in the United Kingdom and Ireland
• List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English

Bibliography

Sources

• Whitelock, Dorothy (ed.) (1955) English Historical Documents; vol. I: c. 500–1042. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode

General

• Baker, Peter S. Introduction to Old English. Blackwell Publishing. 2003. ISBN 0-631-23454-3. 
• Baugh, Albert C; & Cable, Thomas. (1993). A History of the English Language (4th ed.). London: Routledge.
• Earle, John. A Book for the Beginner in Anglo-Saxon. Bristol, PA: Evolution Publishing. 2005. ISBN 1-889758-69-8.  (Reissue of one of 4 eds. 1877–1902)
• Euler, Wolfram (2013). Das Westgermanische <West Germanic - from its Emergence in the 3rd up until its Dissolution in the 7th Century CE - Analyses and Reconstruction>. 244 p., in German with English summary, London/Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-9812110-7-8.
• Hogg, Richard M. (ed.). (1992). The Cambridge History of the English Language: (Vol 1): the Beginnings to 1066. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hogg, Richard; & Denison, David (eds.) (2006) A History of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jespersen, Otto (1909–1949) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. 7 vols. Heidelberg: C. Winter & Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard
• Lass, Roger (1987) The Shape of English: structure and history. London: J. M. Dent & Sons
• Lass, Roger. Old English: A historical linguistic companion. 劍橋: 劍橋大學出版社. 1994. ISBN 0-521-43087-9. 
• Millward, Celia. A Biography of the English Language. Harcourt Brace. 1996. ISBN 0-15-501645-8. 
• Mitchell, Bruce, and Robinson, Fred C. A Guide to Old English 6th. 牛津: Blackwell. 2001. ISBN 0-631-22636-2. 
• Quirk, Randolph; & Wrenn, C. L. (1957). An Old English Grammar (2nd ed.) London: Methuen.
• Strang, Barbara M. H. (1970) A History of English. London: Methuen.

External history

• Robinson, Orrin W. Old English and Its Closest Relatives. 史丹福大學出版社. 1992. ISBN 0-8047-2221-8. 
• Bremmer Jr, Rolf H. (2009). An Introduction to Old Frisian. History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
• Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Orthography/Palaeography

• Bourcier, Georges. (1978). L'orthographie de l'anglais: Histoire et situation actuelle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
• Campbell, A. (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Elliott, Ralph W. V. (1959). Runes: An introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Keller, Wolfgang. (1906). Angelsächsische Paleographie, I: Einleitung. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
• Ker, N. R. (1957). A Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Ker, N. R. (1957: 1990). A Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon; with supplement prepared by Neil Ker originally published in Anglo-Saxon England; 5, 1957. Oxford: Clarendon Press ISBN 0-19-811251-3
• Page, R. I. (1973). An Introduction to English Runes. London: Methuen.
• Scragg, Donald G. (1974). A History of English Spelling. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Phonology

• Anderson, John M; & Jones, Charles. (1977). Phonological structure and the history of English. North-Holland linguistics series (No. 33). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
• Brunner, Karl. (1965). Altenglische Grammatik (nach der angelsächsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers neubearbeitet) (3rd ed.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
• Campbell, A. (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Cercignani, Fausto (1983). "The Development of */k/ and */sk/ in Old English". Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 82 (3): 313–323.
• Girvan, Ritchie. (1931). Angelsaksisch Handboek; E. L. Deuschle (transl.). (Oudgermaansche Handboeken; No. 4). Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink.
• Halle, Morris; & Keyser, Samuel J. (1971). English Stress: its form, its growth, and its role in verse. New York: Harper & Row.
• Hockett, Charles F. The stressed syllabics of Old English. Language. 1959, 35 (4): 575–597. JSTOR 410597. doi:10.2307/410597. 
• Hogg, Richard M. (1992). A Grammar of Old English, I: Phonology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Kuhn, Sherman M. On the Syllabic Phonemes of Old English. Language. 1961, 37 (4): 522–538. JSTOR 411354. doi:10.2307/411354. 
• Kuhn, Sherman M. (1970). "On the consonantal phonemes of Old English". In: J. L. Rosier (ed.) Philological Essays: studies in Old and Middle English language and literature in honour of Herbert Dean Merritt (pp. 16–49). The Hague: Mouton.
• Lass, Roger; & Anderson, John M. (1975). Old English Phonology. (Cambridge studies in linguistics; No. 14). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Luick, Karl. (1914–1940). Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache. Stuttgart: Bernhard Tauchnitz.
• Maling, J. Sentence stress in Old English. Linguistic Inquiry. 1971, 2 (3): 379–400. JSTOR 4177642. 
• McCully, C. B.; Hogg, Richard M. An account of Old English stress. Journal of Linguistics. 1990, 26 (2): 315–339. doi:10.1017/S0022226700014699. 
• Moulton, W. G. (1972). "The Proto-Germanic non-syllabics (consonants)". In: F. van Coetsem & H. L. Kufner (Eds.), Toward a Grammar of Proto-Germanic (pp. 141–173). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
• Sievers, Eduard (1893). Altgermanische Metrik. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
• Wagner, Karl Heinz (1969). Generative Grammatical Studies in the Old English language. Heidelberg: Julius Groos.

Morphology

• Brunner, Karl. (1965). Altenglische Grammatik (nach der angelsächsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers neubearbeitet) (3rd ed.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
• Campbell, A. (1959). Old English grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Wagner, Karl Heinz. (1969). Generative grammatical studies in the Old English language. Heidelberg: Julius Groos.

Syntax

• Brunner, Karl. (1962). Die englische Sprache: ihre geschichtliche Entwicklung (Vol. II). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
• Kemenade, Ans van. (1982). Syntactic Case and Morphological Case in the History of English. Dordrecht: Foris.
• MacLaughlin, John C. (1983). Old English Syntax: a handbook. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
• Mitchell, Bruce. (1985). Old English Syntax (Vols. 1–2). Oxford: Clarendon Press (no more published)
  • Vol.1: Concord, the parts of speech and the sentence
  • Vol.2: Subordination, independent elements, and element order
• Mitchell, Bruce. (1990) A Critical Bibliography of Old English Syntax to the end of 1984, including addenda and corrigenda to "Old English Syntax" . Oxford: Blackwell
• Timofeeva, Olga. (2010) Non-finite Constructions in Old English, with Special Reference to Syntactic Borrowing from Latin, PhD dissertation, Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki, vol. LXXX, Helsinki: Société Néophilologique.
• Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. (1972). A History of English Syntax: a transformational approach to the history of English sentence structure. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
• Visser, F. Th. (1963–1973). An Historical Syntax of the English Language (Vols. 1–3). Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Lexicons

Bosworth-Toller

• Bosworth, J; & Toller, T. Northcote. (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Based on Bosworth's 1838 dictionary, his papers & additions by Toller)
• Toller, T. Northcote. (1921). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Campbell, A. (1972). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Enlarged addenda and corrigenda. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Clark Hall-Merritt

• Clark Hall, J. R; & Merritt, H. D. (1969). A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Toronto

• Cameron, Angus, et al. (ed.) (1983) Dictionary of Old English. Toronto: Published for the Dictionary of Old English Project, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1983/1994. (Issued on microfiche and subsequently as a CD-ROM and on the World Wide Web.)

External links

• Old English Wikipedia
• Old English/Modern English Translator
• The Electronic Introduction to Old English
• Learn Old English with Leofwin
• Old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet
• Bosworth and Toller, An Anglo-Saxon dictionary
• Downloadable Bosworth and Toller, An Anglo-Saxon dictionary Application
• Old English Made Easy
• Old English – Modern English dictionary
• Old English Glossary
• Old English Letters
• Shakespeare's English vs Old English
• Downloadable Old English keyboard for Windows and Mac
• Another downloadable keyboard for Windows computers
• Guide to using Old English computer characters (Unicode, HTML entities, etc.)
• The Germanic Lexicon Project
• An overview of the grammar of Old English
• The Lord's Prayer in Old English from the 11th century (video link)

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