Old English Word Forms Dr. Brian McFadden English 3372/5334 History of the English Language The Vikings ✔ First landings, 787; first major invasion, 793 at Lindisfarne – Raids continued for about 200 years or so – Harmed Latin culture; great decline of learning, at least according to Alfred the Great ✔ 878 - Treaty of “Wedmore” - Danes and English divide up the country – The Danelaw - http://www.viking.no/e/england/danelaw/ekart-danelaw.htm ✔ Alfred embarks on translation project of major Latin texts and commissions historical text that becomes basis of the A-S Chronicle Masculine noun articles/a-stem or “strong masculine”nouns ✔ Nominative Singular ✔ Se stan ✔ Genitive Singular ✔ þæs stanes ✔ Dative Singular ✔ þæm stane ✔ Accusative Singular ✔ þone stan ✔ Instrumental Singular ✔ þy stane ✔ ✔ ✔

Nom./Acc. Plural Genitive Plural Dat./Inst. Plural



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þa stanas þara stana þæm stanum

Nom./Acc. Plural Genitive Plural Dat./Inst. Plural

(the stones) (of the stones) (to/with the stones)

þæt ban þæs banes þæm bane þæt ban þy bane

gender simplifies into natural gender - male, female, or inanimate as the criteria (the bone - S) (of the bone) (to the bone) (the bone - DO) (with the bone)

þa ban þara bana þæm banum

(the bones) (of the bones) (to/with the bones)

Problem: how can you tell what case a word like rice (kingdom) is? (rice, rices, rice, rice, rice)

cases simplify



Neuter noun articles/a-stem or “strong neuter” nouns Nominative Singular Genitive Singular Dative Singular Accusative Singular Instrumental Singular

(the stone - S) (of the stone) (to the stone) (the stone - DO) (with the stone)

Articles and noun inflections/feminine o-declension (“strong feminine”) ✔ Nominative Singular ✔ Seo lar (the counsel-S) reduction to ✔ Genitive Singular ✔ ðære lare (of the counsel) two articles ✔ Dative Singular ✔ ðære lare (to the counsel) ✔ Accusative Singular ✔ ða lare (the counsel -DO) rather than ✔ Instrumental Singular ✔ No separate form - uses dative if one per case needed simplification ✔ Nom./Acc. Plural ✔ Genitive Plural ✔ ða lara/lare (the counsels) ✔ ðara lara/larena (of the counsels) ✔ ðaem larum (to/by the counsels ✔ Dat./Inst. Plural ✔ what problem can a translator face with a feminine noun? What does it imply for the synthetic/analytic split? n-stem (“weak”) noun declension Case/number Masculine Feminine Neuter Nom. Sg. se hunta seo eorðe þæt eage Gen. Sg. þæs huntan þære eorðan þæs eagan Dat. Sg. þæm huntan þære eorðan þæm eagan Acc. Sg. þone huntan þa eorðan þæt eage Adjectives simplify by losing case Ins. Sg. þy huntan þære eorðan þy eagan Nom./Acc. Pl. þa huntan þa eorðan þa eagan structure - only one form of PDE cases Gen. Pl. þara huntena þara eorðena þara eagena Dat./Ins. Pl. þæm huntum þæm eorðum þæm eagum “Strong” adjective endings - short vowel root Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Nom. sg. sum sumu sum Adjectives simplify by losing number and gender in Gen. sg. sumes sumre sumes PDE Dat. sg. sumum sumre sumum Acc. sg. sumne sume sum Ins. sg. sume sumre sume Nom./Acc. pl. sume suma/sume sumu Gen. pl. sumra sumra sumra Dat./Ins. pl. sumum sumum sumum “Strong” adjective declension - long vowel root Number/case masculine feminine neuter Nom. sg. gōd gōd gōd Gen. sg. gōdes gōdre gōdes Dat. sg. gōdum gōdre gōdum Acc. sg. gōdne gōde gōd Ins. sg. gōde gōdre gōde Nom./Acc. pl. gōde gōda, gōde gōd, gōde Gen. pl. gōdra gōdra gōdra

No longer any strong or weak adjectives in Dat./Ins. pl. gōdum gōdum gōdum PDE “Weak” declension of adjectives Number/Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Nom. sg. gōda gōde gōde Gen. sg. gōdan gōdan gōdan Dat. sg. gōdan gōdan gōdan Acc. sg. gōdan gōdan gōde Ins. sg. gōdan gōdan gōdan Nom./Acc. pl. gōdan gōdan gōdan Gen. pl. gōdena, gōdra gōdena, gōdra gōdena, gōdra Dat./Ins. pl. gōdum gōdum gōdum Why all these adjective forms? ✔ Agreement - adjectives must agree with nouns modified in gender, number, and case (sometimes called concord) ✔ Strong - can take the place of an article •He cwealde þone mann. = “He killed the man.” •He cwealde godne mann. = “He killed a good man.” ✔

Weak - used with 1) an article or demonstrative, 2) a possessive, 3) a comparative or superlative, 4) direct address, or 5) in poetry to make the meter work. 1) He cwealde þisne godan mann. = “He killed this good man.” 2) He wearp þæs cyninges heardan gar. = “He threw the king’s hard spear.” 3) Seo wrat betstan spell in Engla lond. = “She wrote the best poem in England.” 4) Leofan menn, gecnawað hwæt soð is. = “Dear people, know what the truth is.”

Interrogative pronouns Case Singular Dual Plural 1Nominative ic wit we 1Genitive min uncer ure Cases simplify to subject, object, possessive 1Dative me unc us in PDE 1Accusative me/mec unc/uncit us/usic 2Nominative ðu git ge 2Genitive ðin incer eower 2Dative ðe inc eow 2Accusative ðe/ðec inc/incit eow/eowic Demonstrative pronouns Case/number Masculine Feminine Neuter nom. sg. ðes ðeos ðis Only four forms survive - this, that, these, those gen. sg. ðisses ðisse ðisses dat. sg. ðissum ðisse ðissum acc. sg. ðisne ðas ðis ins. sg. ðys ðisse ðys

nom./acc. pl. ðas ðas ðas gen. pl. ðissa ðissa ðissa dat./ins. pl. ðissum ðissum ðissum Verb forms - Strong and Weak ✔ Seven strong classes ✔ Four principal parts •infinitive •1st/3rd sg. preterite •preterite plural •past participle ✔ Formed from an ablaut series (series of changing vowels) ✔ Three weak classes ✔ Three principal parts •infinitive •preterite singular •past participle ✔ Formed by adding endings to roots Strong Verbs ✔ Example: scinan, class 1, “to shine” ✔ scinan - infinitive - “to shine” ✔ scan - 1 and 3 pers. preterite sg. - “I/he/she/it shined” 2 pers. pret. sg. - scine - see next ✔ scinon - second sg. preterite stem; all pl. “we/you/they shined” ✔ (ge)scinen - past participle - “the shined shoe” perfective prefix ge- often used to indicate a past tense First principal part – the infinitive and present stem ✔ Base - “to X” (scinan - “to shine”) ✔ Remove -an for present stem (scin-) ✔ Present indicative – present stem + endings: ic scine, “I shine” þu scinest, “you (sg.) shine” he/heo/hit scineþ, “he, she, it shines” we/ge/hie scinaþ, “we, you (pl.), they shine” ✔ Present subjunctive: All sg. scine, all pl. scinen (stem + -e, -en) – indirect discourse, expressions of will or wishes, situations contrary to fact, subordinate clauses ✔ Present participle: scinende, “a shining star” (adj) ✔ Gerund: to scinenne, “I have the shoe for shining.” (noun) ✔ Imperative singular: scin (stem); plural scinaþ (stem + aþ)

Second and third principal parts: The preterites (simple past tense) ✔ scinan, scan, scinon, scinen ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

1st and 3rd pret. ind. sg. ic/he/heo/hit scan - “I/he/she/it shined” - no modification of second principal part 2nd pret. ind. sg. - þu scine - plural stem + e - “you shined” all pret. ind. plurals: we/ge/ hie scinon - “we/you/they shined” pret. subj. sg: scine; pret. subj. pl. scinen (drop -on; add -e, -en)

Fourth Principal Part - Past Participle ✔ scinan, scan, scinon, scinen ✔ as an adjective - scoh scinen, “a shined shoe” – sometimes declined; if so, like a strong adjective ✔ to form a passive: se scoh wæs gescinen, “the shoe was shined” – perfective prefix ge- often added to the PP Strong verb classes (simple) ✔ Class 1 - scinan, scan, scinon, scinen - to shine – (i, a, i, i) - cf. shine, shone ✔ Class 2 - cleofan, cleaf, clufon, clofen- to cleave – (eo, ea,u,o) - sometimes infinitive will have a -u– cf. cleave, clove, cloven ✔ Class 4 - stelan, stæl, stælon, stolen - to steal – (e, æ, æ, o) - cf. steal, stole, stolen ✔ Class 5 - sprecan, spræc, spræcon, sprecen - to speak – (e, æ, æ, e) - cf. speak, spoke, spoken ✔ Class 6 - scacan, scoc, scocon, scacen - to shake – (a, o, o, a) - cf. shake, shook, shaken Strong verb classes (complex) ✔ Class 3 - originally e, a, u, u - hit hard by sound changes ✔ a) affected by e to i change in infinitive – singan, sang, sungon, sungen (sing, sang, sung in PDE) ✔ b) inf. - no cause of -e- breaking; 2nd - a>æ>breaks to ea; 4th pp - u loosens to o before liquids – helpan, healp, hulpon, holpen ✔ c) in infinitive, e breaks to eo; the rest as class 3b – weorðan, wearð, wurdon, worden – note the change from ð to d; result of Verner’s Law Strong verb classes (complex) ✔ Class 7 - infinitive and past participle will match and will be either a, æ, e, ea, or o (short or long) ✔ preterites will have either e or eo and will both match ✔ slæpan, slep, slepon, slæpen (to sleep) – cf. sleep, slept, slept

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feallan, feoll, feollon, feallen (to fall) – cf. fall, fell, fallen

Weak Verbs ✔ 3 classes: ✔ Ia: fremman, fremede, fremed (to do) ✔ Ib: bærnan, bærnde, bærned (to burn) ✔ II: locian, locode, locod (to look) ✔ III: habban, hæfde, hæfd (to have) - the consonants change, usually from Verner’s Law and gemination, and the vowels change as a result of sound changes besides ablaut ✔ Principal parts: infinitive, preterite 1&3 sg., past participle ✔ preterites will end in d, de, t, te Weak infinitive/present stem ✔ Same endings as strong verbs ✔ Class I – fremme 1st pres. ind. sg, but fremest, fremeþ in 2nd and 3rd; no cause of gemination in some singulars – plurals and subjunctives - geminates are kept (fremmað, fremme, fremmen) • *framjo, *framist, *framiþ, *framjanþ ✔ Class II – the -i- disappears in 2nd and 3rd pres. ind. (nerie, nerest, nereð), but remains in plurals (neriað) Weak preterites/past participles ✔ all forms from the stem of the second principal part (fremman, fremede, fremed) – pret. ind. sg. - ic/he/heo/hit fremede; þu fremedest – pret. ind. pl. - we/ge/hie fremedon – pret subj. sg. - fremede; pl. fremeden ✔ Weak preterites are much simpler to form than those of strong verbs ✔ past participles behave the same way, but end with –t or -d, not –en (gefremed; declined as strong) Where do weak verbs come from? ✔ Other parts of speech + -jan, verb-forming suffix ✔ Modified parts of other verbs ✔ ✔

dom>*domjan>deman, “to judge” sæt (from sittan) >*sætjan>settan, “to set”

Why do we need to know this? ✔ We have been taught that there are regular and irregular verbs - regular verbs add -d or -ed in the past, and irregular verbs change their root vowel. ✔ Not so in OE! They are mostly regular if you know the rules. – “irregular” verbs OFTEN came from strong verbs – “regular” verbs OFTEN came from weak verbs

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– only a very few truly irregular verbs (“to be”) Beware - some have switched forms! – hladan, hlod, hlodon, hladen – to load (laden) – meltan, mealt, multon, molten – to melt (molten) – Stician, sticode, sticod (to stick, stab) – stick, stuck, stuck

Main things to take away from verbs ✔ Regular verbs often come from weak ✔ Irregular verbs often come from strong ✔ Only two tenses – present and preterite (past) – No true passive or future forms – Our subjunctives are often isomorphic with indicative – Future, progressive, perfect, pluperfect tenses with use of auxiliaries haven’t developed yet Plenty of ways verbs get more complex in PDE: - greater use of modals and auxiliary verbs to form perfect, pluperfect, conditionals, etc. -modals change meanings from their OE origins -Passive voice, progressive tenses develop over time -Future tenses developed with auxiliary verbs -patterns that determined strong or weak forms were lost, become harder to classify