Seminar 3.

HEL
I. Theoretical questions:
1. OE Vocabulary layers.
The surviving vocabulary of Old English (OE) is relatively small. The Thesaurus of Old English (TOE), with
which you will be working, contains almost 34,000 different word forms, whereas a modern desk dictionary
might contain 80,000.
The OE vocabulary was almost purely Germanic; except for a small number of borrowings, it consisted of
native words inherited from PG or formed from native roots and affixes.
2. OE native words in the system of vocabulary
Native OE words can be subdivided into a number of etymological layers coming from different historical
periods.
The three main layers in the native OE words are: a) common IE words, 2) common Germanic words, 3)
specifically OE words.
Words belonging to the common IE layer constitute the oldest part of the OE vocabulary. They go back to the
days of the IE parent-language before the appearance of the Germanic group. This layer embraced the following
thematic groups:
1. The living world: Gods, people, animals;
2. Indo-European conceptions of wild animals and their names;
3. Animals of the Middle World;
4. Animals of the Upper World;
5. Animals of the Lower World;
6. Animals ritually close to man;
7. Animals ritually distant from humans;
8. Indo-European plant names;
9. Indo-European terms for heavenly bodies;
10. Geographical environment and climate;
11. Kinship terms;
12. Economic activity, material culture, crafts, transportation;
13. Social organization,
-This layer also includes personal and demonstrative pronouns and most numerals.
-verbs belonging to this layer denote the basic activities of man
-adj. indicate the most essential qualities.
Among these words we find names of:
 some natural phenomena: mere (sea) , mōna (moon), niht (night);
 plants: treōw (tree);
 animals: eolh (elk);
 agricultural terms: sāwan (sow);
 part of the human body: næȝl (nail), tunȝe (tongue), fōt (foot), hēorte (heart).
 terms of kinship: broðor, mōdor, sunu.
 verbs that denote the basic activities of a man: dōn, beōn, sittan, licȝan, beran.
 adj. indicate the most essential qualities: nīwe, lonȝ, ȝeonȝ.
 personal and demonstrative pronouns and most numerals: twā, þæt, mīn, ic.
Common Germanic Vocabulary
CG includes words which are shared by most Germanic languages, but do not occur outside the group. Being
specifically Germanic these words constitute an important distinctive feature of the Germanic languages at the
lexical level. This layer is smaller than Common IndoEuropean words. These words are connected with
nature, the sea and everyday life of Teutons (hand, sand, eorþe, sinȝan, findan, ȝerēne, macian, finger, cealf,
land, earm). Common Germanic words originated in the Proto Germanic language, when the Germanic tribes
lived close together.

Specifically Old English

Specifically OE words- words which do not occur in other Germanic or non-Germanic languages.
These words are few, e.g.: OE clipian ’call’, OE brid {NE bird) , wimman (woman)
hlāford originally made of hlāf (NE loaf) and weard ‘keeper’ (cf. Gt wards). This compound word was
simplified and was ultimately shortened to NE lord.
However, they are far more numerous if we include in this layer OE compounds and derived words formed
from Germanic roots. For instance, OE wifman or wimman (NE woman) consists of two roots which occurred
as separate words in other OG languages, but formed a compound only in OE (cf. OHG wib, О Icel vif, NE
wife; OE man, Gt mann(a), NE man).

Foreign elements in Old English Vocabulary:

Borrowed words constituted only a small portion of the OE vocabulary; there were about 600 borrowed words.
The borrowings reflect the contacts of English with other tongues due to political, economic, social and cultural
events in the early periods of British history. OE borrowings come from 3 sources: Celtic and Latin,
Scandinavian.
3. Celtic influence on OE vocabulary.
There are very few Celtic loan-words in the OE vocabulary, due to little intermixture between the Germanic
settlers and the Celtic tribes. Borrowings from Celtic are found mostly in place-names. The OE kingdoms
Kent, Deira and Bernicia derive their names from the names of Celtic tribes. The name of York and perhaps
London come from Celtic sources. Various Celtic designations of ‘river’ and ‘water’ were understood by the
Germanic invaders as proper names: Ouse, Avon, Evan go back to Celtic amhuin ‘river’, uisge ‘water’; Thames,
Stour, Dover, Exe, Esk, Usk, Wye also come from Celtic.
Many place-names are hybrids; the Celtic component is combined with a Latin or
Germanic component:
Celtic plus Latin Celtic plus Germanic
Man-chester York-shire
Win-chester Devon-shire
Lan-caster Canter-bury
Loan-words: binn (basket) , crib (crag), cumb (valley), torr (projecting rock), dun (dark-colored).
Devonshire contains in the firts element the tribal name Dumnonii;
Cornwall means the Cornubian Welsh;
The formal country Cumberland (now part of Cumbria) is the land of Cymry or Britons.

Within this small number it is possible to distinguish two groups:

(1) those that the AngloSaxons learned through everyday contact with the natives, and
(2) those that were introduced by the Irish missionaries in the north.

The former were transmitted orally and were of popular character; the latter were connected with religious
activities and were more or less learned.
As a result of their activity the words ancor (hermit), dry (magician), cine (a gathering of parchment leaves),
cross, clugge (bell), gabolrind (compass), mind (diadem), and perhaps stoer (history) and cursian (to curse),
came into at least partial use in Old English.
The popular words (12) Celtic loans most of these came from Brytonic (P) Celtic – the dialect group spoken by
the larger number of British inhabitantsinclude:
binn (basket, crib), bratt (cloak), and brocc (brock or badger); a group of words for geographical features that
had not played much part in the experience of the AngloSaxons in their continental home—crag, luh (lake),
cumb (valley), and torr3(outcropping or projecting rock, peak), the two latter chiefly as elements in place-
names; possibly the words dun (dark colored), and ass (ultimately from Latin asinus).
4. Latin influence on OE Vocabulary
Latin was not the language of a conquered people. It was the language of a highly regarded civilization, one from which
the Anglo-Saxons wanted to learn.

Latin words entered the English language at different stages of OE history. Chronologically they can be divided in several
layers:
 The earliest layer comprises words which the West Germanic tribes brought from the continent when
they came to settle in Britain. Contact with the Roman civilization began a long time before the
Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.
In general, if we are surprised at the number of words acquired from the Romans at so early a date by the Germanic tribes
that came to England, we can see nevertheless that the Foreign influences on old english words were such as they would
be likely to borrow and such as reflect in a very reasonable way the relations that existed between the two peoples.

I. The Period of Continental Borrowing (I-Vth century A.D.- zero period)

Appr. 50 words came into the language through Germanic contact with Rome before the invasion and
settlement of Britain.
At best, however, the Latin influence of the First Period remains much the slightest of all the influences that Old
English owed to contact with Roman civilization.
 War: camp (L. campus)- battle , pil (L. pilum), javelin, straet(L.strata)- road, mil (L. milia)-mile.
 Trade: ceap (L. caupo)-bargain, pund(L. pondo)-pound, win (L. vinum)-wine, mynet (L. moneta)- mint,
coin.
 Domestic life: cuppe (L. cuppa)-cup, disc(L. discus) dish, pyle(L. pulvinus)-pillow, cycene (L. coquina)-
kitchen, linen(L. linum)-linen, gimm(L. gemma)-gem.
 Foods: ciese (L. caseus)- cheese, butere (L. butyrum)-butter, pipor (L. piper)-pepper, senep (L. sinapi)-
mustard, cires (L. cerasus)- cherry, pise (L. pisum)-pea, minte (L. mentha)-mint.
 Other: mul –mule, pipe-pipe, cirice-church.

II. Period of Celtic Transmission

(Latin words held over from the Roman occupation of Britain which ended in 410 A.D.)
Almost nothing remains outside a few elements found in place names: ceaster-castra (walled encampment)
found in names such as Dorchester, Winchester, Manchester, Lancaster and wic (L. vicum) village ,
found in Greenwich , etc.

III. The Period of the Christianizing of Britain (7-10th c. A.D. )

The greatest influence of Latin upon Old English was occasioned by the conversion of Britain to Roman
Christianity beginning in 597.
There was in the kingdom of Kent, in which they landed, a small number of Christians.
By the time Augustine died seven years later, the kingdom of Kent had become wholly Christian.

But the great majority of words in Old English having to do with the church and its services, its physical
fabric and its ministers, when not of native origin were borrowed at this time.
1) words pertaining with religion.
2)words connected with learning.
Because most of these words have survived in only slightly altered form in Modern English, the examples
may be given in their modern form.The list includes:
Religion:abbot, alms, altar, angel, anthem, Arian, ark, candle, canon, chalice, cleric, cowl, deacon, disciple,
epistle, hymn, litany, manna, martyr, mass, minster, noon, nun, offer, organ, pall, palm, pope, priest,
provost, psalm, psalter, relic, rule, shrift, shrine, shrive,stole, subdeacon, synod, temple, and tunic.
Domestic life: cap, sock, silk, purple, chest, millet.
Plants: coriander, cucumber, fennel, gignger, periwinkle, pine, aloes, balsam, cedar, cypress, fig, savory,
plant.
 The Earlier Influence of Christianity on the Vocabulary
The words cited in these examples are mostly nouns, but Old English borrowed also a number of verbs and adjectives
such as āspendan (to spend; L. expendere), bemūtian (to exchange; L. mūtāre), dihtan (to compose; L. dictāre)
pīnian (to torture; L. poena), pinsian (to weigh; L. pēnsāre), pyngan (to prick; L. pungere), sealtian (to dance; L.
saltāre), temprian (to temper; L. temperāre), trifolian (to grind; L. trībulāre), tyrnan (to turn; L. tornāre), and crisp
(L. crispus, ‘curly’).
The influence of Latin upon the English language rose and fell with the fortunes of the church and the state of
learning so intimately connected with it.
As a result of the renewed literary activity just described, a new series of Latin importations took place.
These differed somewhat from the earlier Christian borrowings in being words of a less popular kind and expressing
more often ideas of a scientific and learned character.

Literary and learned words predominance:

Of the former kind are accent, brief (the verb), decline (as a term of grammar), history, paper, pumice,
quatern (a quire or gathering of leaves in a book), term(inus), title.
A great number of plant names are recorded in this period. Many of them are familiar only to readers of old
herbals. Some of the better known include celandine, centaury, coriander, cucumber, ginger, hellebore,
lovage, periwinkle, petersili (parsley), verbena.
The words that Old English borrowed in this period are only a partial indication of the extent to which the
introduction of Christianity affected the lives and thoughts of the English people. The English did not
always adopt a foreign word to express a new concept. The Anglo-Saxons, for example, did not borrow the
Latin word deus, because their own word God was a satisfactory equivalent.

When, for example, the Latin noun planta comes into English as the noun plant and later is made into a
verb by the addition of the infinitive ending -ian (plantian) and other inflectional elements, we may feel sure
that the word has been assimilated.

5. Scandinavian Influence on OE Vocabulary

 The Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings have quite similar cultures.
similar language= similar traditions= the integration of the Vikings with the Anglo-Saxons.
 Scandinavian vocabulary penetrated nearly every area of the English language.
 most words of Scandinavian origin in English are concrete everyday words.
 OE is largely known through the work of 10th and 11th century scribes, working in the South and West of
the country.
 These scribes would be unlikely to use loanwords that were in use in the Scandinavia settlement area.
 thus of the 900 attested North Germanic loans into English, only 150 appear in OE sources.
 Thre rest only manifest themsleves in the 12th and 13th centuries in Middle English texts even though they
must have been ground earlier.
 A little later we find a number of words relating to the law or characteristic of the social and administrative
system of the Danelaw. The word law itself is of Scandinavian origin, as is the word outlaw. The word māl
(action at law), hold (freeholder), wapentake (an administrative district), hūsting (assembly), and riding
(originally thriding, one of the former divisions of Yorkshire) owe their use to the Danes. In addition to
these, a number of genuine Old English words seem to be translations of Scandinavian terms: bōtlēas (what
cannot be compensated), hāmsōcn (attacking an enemy in his house), lahcēap (payment for reentry into lost
legal rights), landcēap (tax paid when land was bought) are examples of such translations.
6. Word structure in OE

Word Structure
The bulk of the OE vocabulary were native words. In the course of the OE period the vocabulary grew; it
was mainly replenished from native sources, by means of word-formation.
According to their morphological structure OE words (like modern words) fell into three main types:
a) simple words ("root-words") or words with a simple stem, containing a root-morpheme and no
derivational affixes, e.g. land, sinʒan, ʒōd (NE land, sing, good);
 b) derived words consisting of one root-morpheme and one or more affixes, e.g. be-ʒinnan, weorp-unʒ, un-
scyld-iʒ, ʒe-met-inʒ (NE begin,  'worthiness', 'innocent', meeting).
c) compound words, whose stems were made up of more than one root-morpheme, e.g. mann-cynn, norpe-
weard, fēower-tiene, weall-ʒeat, scir-ʒe-refa (NEmankind, northward, fourteen, wall gate, sheriff).
As stated above (§ 66), in Late PG the morphological structure of the word was simplified. By the age of
writing many derived words had lost their stem-forming suffixes and had turned into simple words. The loss
of stem-suffixes as means of word derivation stimulated the growth of other means of word-formation,
especially the growth of suffixation.
7. Derivation in OE: Sound interchange
Word-Derivation
 Derived words in OE were built with the help of affixes: prefixes and suffixes; in addition to these
principal means of derivation, words were distinguished with the help of sound interchanges and word stress,
Sound Interchanges
 Sound interchanges in the roots of related words were frequent, and nevertheless they were used merely as
an additional feature which helped to distinguish between words built from the same root. Sound
interchanges were never used alone; they were combined with suffixation as the main word-building means
and in many cases arose as a result of suffixation.
Genetically, sound interchanges went back to various sources and periods.
 The earliest source of root-vowel interchanges employed in OE word-building was ablaut or vowel
gradation, inherited from PG and IE.
Vowel gradation was used in OE as a distinctive feature between verbs and nouns and also between
verbs derived from a single root
. The gradation series were similar to those employed in the strong verbs:
ridan v  — rād n  [i:  ~ a:] (like Class 1 of strong verbs), NE ride, raid
sinʒan v — sonʒ n [i ~ a ] (like Class 3 of strong verbs), NE sing, song
sprecan v — sprǣce n  [e ~ æ:] (see Class 5 of strong verbs)
beran v  — bǣre n — the same; NE speak, speech, bear, bearer.
In the following pairs both words are verbs; the weak verbs given in the second column are derived from the
strong verbs with the vowel grade of the Past sg:
findan — Past sg fand — fandian, NE find, 'find out'
sittan — Past sg sæt — settan, NE sit, set
drincan — Past sg  dranc — drencan, NE drink, drench.
(The two latter verbs, settan and drencan were built with the help of the stem-suffix -i, therefore the vowels
of the Past tense stems were narrowed; (heir earlier forms were *sætjan, *drankjan — see weak verbs of
Class 1, § 205.)
 Many vowel interchanges arose due to palatal mutation; the element [i/j] in the derivational suffix caused
the mutation of the root-vowel; the same root without the suffix retained the original non-mulated vowel,
e.g.;
 a) nouns and verbs: dōm— dēman  from the earlier *dōmjan  (NE doom — deem); fōd — fēdan (NE food —
feed); bōt — bētan and also bettre ('remedy', 'improve', NE better);
b)adjectives and verbs; full — fyllan  (NE full — fill); hāl — hælan ('healthy' — heal), cf. Gt fulljan;
c) nouns and adjectives: long — lenʒpu  (NE long, length), stronʒ — strenʒpu (NE strong — strength); brād
— brǣdpu (NE broad — breadth); the nouns were originally derived with the help of the suffix -in, which
was later replaced by -pu.
 Vowel interchanges could also go back to Early OE breaking, or to several phonetic changes, including
breaking. Cf. beran — bearn (NE bear, 'child', dial, barn) — breaking has modified the vowel [æ] which
developed from the Germanic [a] by splitting; the original vowel interchange [e ~ a] is a case of ablaut.
 The use of consonant interchanges as a distinctive feature in word-building was far more restricted than the
use of vowels. Like most vowel interchanges consonant interchanges arose due to phonetic changes: Verner's
Law, rhotacism, hardening of [ð] and the Early OE splitting of velar consonants (see relevant paragraphs).
Cf. the following pairs:
risan — rǣran (NE rise, rear) — Verner's Law + rhotacism
dēap — dēad (NE death, dead) — Verner's Law + hardening
talu — tellan (NE tale, tell) — gemination of consonants
sprǣc [k'] — sprecan [k] (NE speech — speak) — splitting of velar consonants.

8. Word composition in OE
Ways of Word-Formation
§ 249.In OE there existed a system of word-formation of a complexity similar to that of Mod E. One of the
most striking examples of the potentials of OE word-formation was the ability of a single root to appear in an
abundant store of simple, derived and compound words. For instance, OE mōd (NE mood)yielded about fifty
words: derived words, such as mōdiʒ, ʒemōded, ofermōd ('proud', 'disposed', 'arrogance'), compound
words mōd-caru, mōd-leof, mōd-ʒepōht, ʒlædmōdnis ('care', 'beloved', 'thought', 'kindness'). Scores of words
contained the roots of OE dæʒ, ʒōd, monn, weorp, lonʒ(NE day, good, man, worth, long). Many derivational
affixes appear to have been very productive as they occurred in numerous words: wip- a prefix in more than
fifty words, ofer- in over a hundred words.
It is not always possible for the present-day linguist to assess correctly the productivity of OE word-building
means. It is difficult to distinguish processes which were active from those that had ceased to be productive
but whose products were still in use. Due to the scarcity of written evidence sometimes we cannot say
whether the word was in common use or it was created by the author of a certain text for one occasion —
these kinds of words "said once" are termed "hapax legomena".
OE employed two ways of word-formation: derivation and word-composition.
Word-Composition
§ 269. Word composition was a hignly productive way of developing the vocabulary in OE. This method of
word-formation was common to all IE languages but in none of the groups has it become as widespread as in
Germanic. An abundance of compound words, from poetic metaphors to scientific terms, are found in OE
texts.
As in other OG languages, word composition in OE was more productive in nominal parts of speech than in
verbs.
 § 279. Compaunds in OG languages are usually divided into two types: morphological or primary
compounds and syntactic or secondary. Morphological compounds — which must have bean the earlier type
— were formed by combining two stems, with or without a linking element, e. g.: OE mid-niht and midd-e-
niht (NE midnight). Syntactic compounds were a later development; they reproduced the pattern of a
syntactic group, usually an attributive phrase consisting of a noun in the Gen. case and a head noun:
OE Sunnan-dæʒ — Sunnan — Gen. sg of sunne (Fem. n-stem); dæʒ — the head word, 'Sun's day'
(NE Sunday); Enʒlaland 'land of the Angles' (NE England) — Enʒla Gin. pl of Enʒle; Oxena-ford 'oxen's
ford' (NE Oxford). The distinction between the two types can help to determine the origin of the linking
element, which may be a remnant of the stem-suffix in a morphological compound or a grammatical
inflection — in a syntactical compound. In OE, however, syntactical compounds are rare and the linking
vowels in morphological compounds are either reduced and generalised under -e or lacking.
§ 271. Compound nouns contained various first components — stems of nouns, adjectives and verbs; their
second components were nouns.
'Originally -e was the. ending of the Instr. case of adjectives used in an ad.' verbial function. The loss of -
e has produced homonymous pairs in Mod E; hard adj — hard  adv; the suffixes -tic and -lice were reduced
to -ly,  which is now both an adverb and an adjective suffix, cf.: deadly adj and meekly adv.
The pattern "noun plus noun" was probably the most productive type of all: OE hēafod-mann 'leader' (lit,
"head-man"), mann-cynn (NE mankind), hēafod-weard 'leader' (weard 'guard'), stān-brycʒ  (NE stone
bridge), ʒimm-stān (NE gem,  lit. "gem stone"), bōc-cræft 'literature' (lit. "book craft"), lēop-cræft, sonʒ-
cræft 'poetry' (lit. "song craft, art of singing"), eorp-cræft 'geography' (OE eorpe, NE earth).
Among compound nouns there were some syntactical compounds: OE witena-ʒemōt 'assembly of Elders',
dæʒes-ēaʒe 'day's eye' (simplified to NE daisy; see also the names for the days of the week in § 245).
Compound nouns with adjective-stems as the first components were less productive, e.g. wid-sæ 'ocean' (lit.
"wide sea"), cwic-seolfor (NE quicksilver), ʒōd-dǣd (lit. "good deed"). Compound nouns with verb and
adverb-stems were rare; bæc-hūs 'baking house', inn-ʒanʒ 'entrance'.
§ 272. Compound adjectives were formed by joining a noun-stem to an adjective: dōm-ʒeorn (lit. 'eager for
glory'), mōd-ceariʒ 'sorrowful'. The following adjectives are compounded of two adjective stems: wid-
cūp 'widely known', fela-mōdiʒ 'very brave'.
The most peculiar pattern of compound adjectives was the so-called "bahuvrihi type" — adjective plus noun-
stem as the second component of an adjective. This type is exemplified by mild-heort 'merciful', stip-
mōd 'brave', an-ēaʒe 'one-eyed'; soon, however, the second component acquired an adjective suffix -
ede, thus combining two methods of word-formation: composition and suffixation; cf. ān-ēaʒe lit. "one eye"
and ān-hyrnede  'one-horned, with one horn'.
§ 273. The remarkable capacity of OE for derivation and word-composition is manifested in numerous
words formed with the help of several methods: un-wis-dōm 'folly' — un — negative prefix, wis — ad-
jective-stem (NE wise), dōm — noun-stem turning into a suffix; pēaw-fæst-nes 'discipline' — pēaw n
'custom', fæst adj 'firm' (NE fast), -nes — suffix.
§ 274. Table 3 gives a summary of the principal means of word-formation employed in OE and the main
spheres of their usage.
Table 3
Word-Formation in Old English

Derivation Word Composition

Prefixation Suffixation
Verbs (Nouns, Adjectives) Nouns, Adjectives Nouns, Adjectives
for-ʒietan (un-riht n, a) ʒōd-nis (NE goodness) hām-cyme, cild-ʒeonʒ
(NE forget, 'wrong' (lit. "not right")) ʒrǣd-iʒ (NE greedy) (NE home-coming, young as a child)
  wis-dōm, frēond-lēas
  (NE wisdom, friendliness)
  (suffixation ← composition)

9. Affixation in OE / Prefixes and suffixes

Prefixation
§ 257. Prefixation was a productive way of building new words in OE. Genetically, some OE prefixes go
back to IE prototypes, e.g. OE a negative prefix (the element -n- is found in negative prefixes in many IE
languages, cf. Fr ne, R не, ни). Many more prefixes sprang in PG and OE from prepositions and adverbs,
e.g. mis-, be-, ofer-. Some of these prepositions and adverbs continued to be used as independent words as
well.
§ 258. Prefixes were widely used with verbs but were far less productive with other parts of speech. We can
cite long lists of verbs derived from a single root with the help of different prefixes:
ʒān — 'go' faran — 'travel'
ā-ʒān — 'go away' ā-faran — 'travel'
be-ʒān — 'go round' tō-faran — 'disperse'
fore-ʒān — 'precede' — 'traverse' for-faran — 'intercept' —'die'
ofer-ʒān forp-faran
ʒe-ʒān — 'go', 'go away' ʒe-faran — 'attack', etc.
The most frequent, and probably the most productive, OE prefixes were: ā-, be-, for-, fore-, ʒe-, ofer-,
un-.  Of these only un- was common with nouns and adjectives, the rest were mainly verb prefixes.
§ 259. The prefix modified the lexical meaning of the word, usually without changing its reference to a part
of speech: ʒe-boren — unʒeboren (adjectivised participle; NE born — unborn); sip— for-sip n 'journey',
'death'; dǣd — un-dǣd n NE deed  'crime'; iepelice — un-iepelice adv 'easily', with difficulty', spēdiʒ —
unspēdiʒ adj 'rich', 'poor'.
Some prefixes, both verbal and nominal, gave a more special sense to the word and changed its meaning
very considerably: e.g. ʒytan — on-ʒytan (NE get), 'perceive', weorðan — for-weorðan v, forwyrð n 'be-
come', 'perish', 'destruction', būʒan — bebūʒan (NE bow), 'surround'. A distinct semantic group was
constituted by negative prefixes un-, mis-, wan-, or-  (the two latter were nominal prefixes only), e.g.: hāl —
unhāi or wan-hāl 'healthy', 'unhealthy', wisdom — unwisdōm (NE wisdom), 'folly'; lician —
mislician  (NE like), 'displease', limpan or ʒelimpan
— mislimpan 'happen' — 'go wrong', sorʒ n — orsorʒ adj (NE sorrow), 'unconcerned, careless'.
Some prefixes had a very weak or general meaning bordering on grammatical, e.g.: ʒe-, the commonest verb
prefix, conveyed the meaning of result or completion and was therefore often used as a marker of the Past
Participle — sittan — ʒe-sett, stelan — ʒestolen (NE sit, steal). (For the use of ʒe- with Participle II and as a
marker of aspect see § 193 and § 197). ʒe- and ā- changed the aspective meaning of the verb and turned it
from durative into perfective or terminative without affecting its lexical meaning as in feran — ʒeferan 'go
—reach', drincan — ʒedrincan  'drink — drink off', winnan — ʒewinnan 'fight — win', sendan
— āsendan 'send — send off'. With some verbs the meaning of the prefix was so weak and vague that there
was practically no difference between the verb with the prefix and without it, e.g.: ābidan —
bidan 'await', swerian — āswerian 'swear'. With other verbs the same prefix could bring about a shift of
meaning, e.g.: sittan — ʒe-sittan 'sit — occupy' (see more examples in § 193).
Suffixation
§ 260. Suffixation was by far the most productive means of word derivation in OE. Suffixes not only
modified the lexical meaning of the word but could refer it to another part of speech. Suffixes were mostly
applied in forming nouns and adjectives, seldom — in forming verbs.
Etymologically OE suffixes can be traced to several sources: old stem-suffixes, which had lost their
productivity, but could still be distinguished in some words as dead or non-productive suffixes;
derivational suffixes proper inherited from PIE and PG; new suffixes which developed from root-
morphemes in Late PG and OE in the course of morphological simplification of the word.
§ 261. The old stem-suffixes cannot be regarded as means of derivation in OE. They must have been
productive at earlier stages of history, probably in PG, and had left their traces in the morphological classes
of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Their application in word derivation can be best shown in reconstructed, pre-
written forms of weak verbs. Weak verbs of Class I were originally derived from nominal or verbal roots
with the help of the stem-forming suffix -i/l-, e.g. *tæl-i-an, *mōt-i-an, OE tellan, mētan — from the roots
of OE talu, ʒe-mot[25]; verbs of Class II were formed with the help of the most productive stem-suffix -ō-,
or -ōj-, e.g.: *hop-ō-jan, *luf-ō-jan, OE hopian, lufian from corresponding nouns hapa, lufu (NE tell, meet,
hope, love).
The productivity of -ōj-in verb derivation is confirmed by the fact that Class II was the most numerous of all
classes; verbs of this class continued to be formed in Early OE (see § 207).
Most stem-suffixes had been lost by the age of writing; the surviving suffixes were dead or non-productive,
e.g. -t  in OE meaht (NE might), see also § 263, 264.
§ 262. Suffixes are usually classified according to the part of speech which they can form. In OE there were
two large groups of suffixes: suffixes of nouns and suffixes of adjectives. Noun suffixes are divided into
suffixes of "agent nouns" ("nomina agentis") and those of abstract nouns.
§ 263. Among the suffixes of "agent nouns" there were some dead, unproductive suffixes: -a, as in the
Masc. a-stem hunta  (NE hunter), -end, originally the suffix of the Present Participle, e.g. OE frēond, fiend,
hǣlend (NE friend, fiend, 'saviour'). -end  in word-building was later replaced by -ere, a suffix of IE descent,
whose productivity grew after the adoption of numerous Latin words with the same suffix, e.g. scōlere,
sutere (NE scholar, 'shoemaker')[26]. OE agent nouns in -ere were derived from nouns and verbs: bōcere,
fiscere, leornere, bæcere, etc. (NE 'scribe', fisher, learner, baker).
The nouns in -ere were Masc.; the corresponding suffix of Fem. nouns -estre was less common: bæcestre,
spinnestre ('female baker', 'female spinner'). The suffix -inʒ was used to build patronymics and to show the
descent of a person, e.g.: Æpelwulfinʒ  'son of Æpelwulf, Centinʒ 'a man coming from Kent', cyninʒ 'head of
clan or tribe" — OE cynn 'clan'.
§ 264. Among suffixes of abstract nouns there were some survivals of old stem-suffixes and numerous later
formations: the stem-suffix -t  in meaht, siht or sihp  (NE might, sight)was dead; -p reinforced by the addition
of a vowel, was more alive: alongside -pu  the element -p- appears in -op, -ap,-up, e.g. piefp (NE theft),
huntop, fiscap, ʒeoʒup ('hunting', 'fishing', 'youth'). Some nouns in -pu had a mutated root-vowel, probably a
trace of the earlier suffix -in, which caused the palatal mutation and was displaced by -p; cf., e.g. brād adj
— brǣdu, brǣdpu (NE broad, breadth); lanʒ — lenʒpu  (NE long — length); stronʒ — strenʒpu (NE strong,
strength). Another productive suffix which formed abstract nouns from adjective stems was -nes/-nis:
beorhtnes (NE brightness), blindnis  (NE blindness), unrihtwisnes 'injustice', druncennis (from Part.
II druncen).
Another productive suffix, -ung/-ing, was used to build abstract nouns from verbs (especially weak verbs),
e.g. bodian — bodung ('preach, preaching'), earnian — earnung (NE earn, earning), witnian —
wilnung ('desire' v, n).
§ 265. A most important feature of OE suffixation is the growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes. The
second components of compound words turned into suffixes and the words were accordingly transformed
from compound to derived. To this group belong OE -dōm, -had, -lāc, -scipe, -rǣden. As compared with the
same morphemes used as roots, the suffixes had a different — usually a more general — meaning. Thus,
OE dōm as a noun meant 'judgement, choice', 'honour', while as a second affixal component it lost this
lexical meaning to a varying extent, e.g.: frēodōm 'free choice', 'freedom' (NE freedom), wisdōm  'wise
judgement' (NE wisdom), cristendōm 'Christianity', lǣcedōm 'medicine'. Likewise OE hād 'title' yielded
words like cildhād (NE childhood);  the noun lāc 'gift' became a suffix in OE wedlāc (NE 'wedlock').
As long as the morpheme was used as the root of an independent word, the ties between the root and the new
affix were still felt, and the transition into a suffix was not complete as was the case with -dōm, -had and -
lāc. If the word went out of use, the new affix was no longer associated with a root-morpheme and became
an ordinary suffix. Thus -scipe occurred only as a component part of abstract nouns — frēond-
scipe (NE friendship), ʒebēorscipe 'feast', hǣpenscipe 'heathenism'. The growth of new suffixes from root-
morphemes made up for the decline of the old system of stem-suffixes.
§ 266. In the derivation of adjectives we find suffixes proper such as -iʒ, -isc, -ede, -sum, -en (from the
earlier -in)and a group of morphemes of intermediate nature — between root and affix — like the noun
suffixes described above. The suffixes with the element -i-, that is -isc, -iʒ and -en (-in)were often, though
not always, accompanied by mutation. Adjectives were usually derived from nouns, rarely from verb stems
or other adjectives. The most productive suffixes were -iʒ, and -isc: mōdiʒ 'proud' (from mōd, NE mood),
hāliʒ  (NE holy), bysiʒ (NE busy); mennisc 'human' (from man with the root-vowet [a]). Enʒlisc,
Denisc (NE English, Danish). Examples with other suffixes are: lanʒsum 'lasting' (from lans, NE long);
hōcede  'curved, hooked' (from hōc, NE hook)(for the use of -ede with compound adjectives see § 272).
§ 267. The productive adjective suffix -tic originated from the noun tic 'body', but had evidently lost all
semantic ties with the latter. It could derive adjectives from nouns and other
adjectives: sceandlic  'disgraceful' (from sceand 'disgrace'), woruldlic 'worldly' (from woruld, NE world),
scearplic  'sharp' (from the adjective scearp), dēadlic (NE deadly), frēondlic (NE friendly), etc.
By adding another suffix -e  the adjective was turned into an adverb: frēondlic — frēotidlice 'friendly, in a
friendly manner', wundorlic 'wonderful' — wundorlice 'wondrously'; also: heard adj — hearde adv
(NE hard), lanʒ adj — lanʒe  adv (NE long). The use of -e after -lic was very common; thus -lice became a
frequent component of adverbs and began to be applied as a suffix of adverbs, even if they were not derived
from adjectives in -lic, e.g.: rot 'glad' adj — rotlice adv 'cheerfully', innweard 'deep' adj
— innweardlice adv 'deeply' (NE inward)1
The ties of the other new adjective suffixes with corresponding roots are more transparent: OE full was an
adjective which yielded derived adjectives (or compounds) being attached to other stems, mostly those of
abstract nouns: weorðfull 'illustrious' (lit. "full of worth"), carfull (NE careful), synnfutl (NE sinful).  The
adjective leas 'deprived, bereft of employed as a suffix retained its meaning: sāwollēas 'lifeless, deprived of
soul', hlāfordlēas 'without a lord', slǣplēas (NE sleepless).
§ 268. Verb suffixes were few and non-productive. They can be illustrated by -s in clǣnsian, a verb derived
from the adjective clǣne (NE clean)and -lǣc in nēalǣcan 'come near, approach' and ǣfenlǣcan, an
impersonal verb meaning 'the approach of evening' (R вечереть).
 II. Make Analysis of the text.

King Alfred’s Preface to Gregory’s Pastoral Care

Ælfred kyning hāteð grētan Wǣrferð biscep his wordum luflīċe ond frēondlīċe. Ond ðē cȳðan
hāte ðæt mē cōm swīðe oft on ġemynd hwelċe wiotan iū wǣron ġiond Angelcynn ǣġðer ġe
godcundra hāda ġe woruldcundra, ond hū ġesǣliġlica tīda ðā wǣron ġiond Angelcynn...
King Alfred greets bishop Wærferth with his words lovingly and with friendship; and I let
it be known to thee that it has very often come into my mind, what wise men there
formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders; and how happy
times there were then throughout England
Ælfred- masculine proper noun, nominative singular
kyning-strong masc. noun, nominative sing- king
hāteð- (gehatan) , str.v. , class7 , 3rd person sing. –command, bid, call , name, be called,
vow.
grētan-(gegretan) , w.v. class1 , infinitive – to greet , approach
Wǣrferð-masculine , proper noun , acc. sing
biscep-strong masc. noun , acc. sing - bishop
his- (he), pronoun A. personal –he, it, B.reflexive –himself (3rd person , masc. G. sing)
wordum-n.strong, neuter, Dative pl. -words
luflīċe-(luflic)adv. -lovingly
ond-conjuction -and
frēondlīċe-adv.-in a friendly manner
Ond- conj-and
ðē- (þū, ȝē) prn. personal –you , yourself, 2nd person, Dative, sing.
cȳðan- (gecyðan) , weak verb , class1 , infinitive-make known , show , practice , perform.
hāte-(gehatan) , strong verb class 7 , 1st pers. sing ,command, bid, call , name, be called.
ðæt-conj.-that .
mē-(ic , we) prn. personal , 1st person, sing.-I , myslef
cōm-(cuman) s.v.cl 4, past 3rd pers. sing-came
swīðe-adv. –very much , very, greatly , strongly, severly.
oft-adv.-often
on-prep. (with D. or Acc) – into
ġemynd-n. strong, fem. ,Acc. sg-memory, thought, mind.
hwelċe- prn. interrogative, masc., Nominative, pl. -what
wiotan-(wita) n.weak.masc., N.pl-wise man, counselor , (Roman Senator)
iū-(geo) adv. long ago
wǣron-(beon) irr. v. be , past pl-were
ġiond(geond)- prep. (with acc. or dat.)-throughout
Angelcynn-n.proper noun , acc , sing.-the English, England
ǣġðer ġe- conj. both/both ..and
godcundra –(gocund) strong adj. divine , G.pl
hāda-(had) n.str.m., G.pl-person , order
ġe-conj. –and, both
woruldcundra-(woruldcund) –strong. adj, G.pl-secular
ond-conj.-and
hū-adv.-how
ġesǣliġlica-(ġesǣliġlic) str. adj, fem,N.pl-happy
tīda-(tid) –n.str.fem. , N.pl.-times
ðā-adv-then
wǣron-(beon) irr. v., past, pl-were
ġiond(geond) prep.(with acc/dat.)-throughout
Angelcynn-n.neuter ,proper noun, Acc.sing-the English, England
http://www.oldenglishaerobics.net/alfred_preface.php
(26)Forðy me ðyncð betre, gif iow swæ ðyncð, ðæt we eac sumæ bec, ða ðe niedbeðearfosta sien eallum
monnum to wiotonne, ðæt we ða on ðæt geðiode wenden ðe we ealle gecnawan mægen, & ge don swæ we
swiðe eaðe magon mid Godes fultume, gif we ða stilnesse habbað, ðætte eall sio gioguð ðe nu is on Angelcynne
friora monna, ðara ðe ða speda hæbben ðæt hie ðæm befeolan mægen, sien to liornunga oðfæste, ða hwile ðe
hie to nanre oðerre note ne mægen, oð ðone first ðe hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit arædan: lære mon siððan
furður on Lædengeðiode ða ðe mon furðor læran wille & to hieran hade don wille.
For ðy-adv, therefore
me- pers. pronoun –I , myself
ðyncð-(ðyncan)- w.v.class 1, 3rd pers.sing. -seems
betre(god)-adj. neuter, N.sing. , comparative-better
gif-conj-if
iow-(ðu, ge) pronoun pers 2nd pers., D.pl-you,yourself
swæ -(swa) ,adv. –so , thus , in such a way
ðyncð--(ðyncan)- w.v.class 1, 3rd pers.sing. -seems
ðæt-conj. -that
we- pers. pronoun,1st person, N –I , myself
eac-adv-also
sumæ-(sum)-indefinite prn. Acc, fem,pl-some, a certain , one
bec-(boc)-n.fem.athematc-Acc.pl-books
ða ðe- (se ðe)relative prn. ,N,pl –which
niedbeðearfosta-(niedbeðearf) –adj., weak fem.N. pl, superaltive-most necessary
sien—(beon) irr.v.subjunctive pl.-are
eallum-(eall) adj, D.,pl-all,each.
monnum- (man)-n.masculine , athematic,D.pl-man, person.
to wiotonne(gewitan)-preterite present verb,inflected infinitive –know, understand
ðæt-conj , that
we
ða
on
ðæt
geðiode
wenden
ðe
we
ealle
gecnawan
mægen
, & ge don swæ we swiðe eaðe magon mid Godes fultume, gif we ða stilnesse habbað, ðætte eall sio gioguð ðe
nu is on Angelcynne friora monna, ðara ðe ða speda hæbben ðæt hie ðæm befeolan mægen, sien to liornunga
oðfæste, ða hwile ðe hie to nanre oðerre note ne mægen, oð ðone first ðe hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit arædan:
lære mon siððan furður on Lædengeðiode ða ðe mon furðor læran wille & to hieran hade don wille.