Scribd
Upload
184 views1 page

Foxas Habbað Holu and Heofonan Fuglas Nest

Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, was the earliest form of the English language spoken in Britain between the 5th-11th centuries. It developed from West Germanic dialects brought over by Anglo-Saxon tribes like the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who settled in Britain following the collapse of the Roman economy. Over time, Old English replaced the Celtic and Latin languages that had previously been spoken. By the 7th century, Old English became the dominant language in Britain. It was later divided into regional dialects and underwent significant changes to evolve into Modern English.

Uploaded by

Oscar I. Valenzuela
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
184 views1 page

Foxas Habbað Holu and Heofonan Fuglas Nest

Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, was the earliest form of the English language spoken in Britain between the 5th-11th centuries. It developed from West Germanic dialects brought over by Anglo-Saxon tribes like the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who settled in Britain following the collapse of the Roman economy. Over time, Old English replaced the Celtic and Latin languages that had previously been spoken. By the 7th century, Old English became the dominant language in Britain. It was later divided into regional dialects and underwent significant changes to evolve into Modern English.

Uploaded by

Oscar I. Valenzuela
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

3/5/2021 English language - Wikipedia

The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c. year 550–1066). Old English
developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, often grouped as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea
Germanic, and originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by
Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.[26][27] From the 5th
century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as the Roman economy and administration collapsed. By the
7th century, the Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain, replacing the
languages of Roman Britain (43–409): Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, and Latin, brought to
Britain by the Roman
occupation.[28][29][30] England and English (originally Ænglaland and Ænglisc) are named after the
Angles.[31]

Old English was divided into four dialects: the Anglian dialects (Mercian and Northumbrian) and the
Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon.[32] Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the 9th
century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex, the West Saxon dialect became the standard
written variety.[33] The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English
poem, Cædmon's Hymn, is written in Northumbrian.[34] Modern English developed mainly from
Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the
early period of Old English were written using a runic script.[35] By the 6th century, a Latin
alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms. It included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩
and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩.[35][36]

Old English is essentially a distinct language from Modern English and is virtually impossible for 21st-
century unstudied English-speakers to understand. Its grammar was similar to that of
modern German, and its closest relative is Old Frisian. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had
many more inflectional endings and forms, and word order was much freer than in Modern English.
Modern English has case forms in pronouns (he, him, his) and has a few verb inflections
(speak, speaks, speaking, spoke, spoken), but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and
verbs had more person and number endings.[37][38][39]

The translation of Matthew 8:20 from 1000 shows examples of case endings
(nominative plural, accusativeplural, genitive singular) and a verb ending (present plural):

Foxas habbað holu and heofonan fuglas nest


Fox-as habb-að hol-u and heofon-an fugl-as nest-∅
fox- . have- . hole- . and heaven- . bird- . nest- .
"Foxes have holes and the birds of heaven nests"[40]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language 1/1

You might also like