Thæs19 náma wæs Orfeus. He hæfde20 án swithe21 ænlic29 22 His α very incomparable 20 wíf 23 wife. name was Orpheus. He had wæs háten Eurydice. Thá25 ongann 29 32 Then began he mihte31 hearpian he could harp She was monn" secgan" be thám hearpere, that people to-say regarding the harper, that thæt se wudu wagode for thám swege," and wilde deor" that the wood moved for the sound, thær woldon 35 to-irnan36 and standan 37 there would to-run and stand wæron, swá stille, theáh hí menn40 oththe so still, though them men or were, 39 and wild beasts swilce3s hí táme39 as-if they tame hundes42 with43 hounds against 41 19 Gen. of definite article, used as third personal pronour. 20 Habban, to have; he hæfth, he hath. 21 Swithe, swithor, swithost, much, more, most; adv. from swith, strong. 22 One-like, unique, singular. 23 Wif, wife, woman; neuter by termination. 24 See Note 18. 25 Then, when, as. 26 Inf. onginnan; pret. ongan; partic. ongunnen. The root is retained in our word begin (from beginnan). 27 Man or mon; the same as the French on; English, one (as, "one would think "); German, man. In Anglo-Saxon, man, or rather mann signifies also a man; gen. mannes; plur. nom. menn (regularly mannas); gen. manna; dat. mannum. 28 Infinitive: having in the pret. sing. sagde, sæde; pl. sædon. 29 Be, bt, preposition with dat.: signifying by, beside, of, for. 20 Irregular spelling; see another spelling of the word above. 31 Or meahte, might; from magan (whence may) to be able. 82 Pret. from wagian, to wag. 33 Hence Old English swough (Chaucer); Scottish, sough. 34 Hardly ever meaning deer, except in composition; German, thier "Rats and mice, and such small deer."-SHAKSPEARE. 35 Willan, wyllan, to will; ic wille, I will; thú wilt, thou wilt. Pret. Ic wold or wolde; thú woldest; he wold or wolde; we, ge, ht, woldon. 36 Example of a compound form, greatly more common in Anglo-Saxon than in modern English; from yrnan or irnan, otherwise rennan (German, rennen), to run. 37 Inf. standan; pres. ic stande, thú stenst or standest, he stent or stynt pret. ic stod, we stodon; partic. gestanden. 38 Adv. from swile or swyle (from swá, so; and ylc, same), such. » Pl. from tám, tame. 40 See Note 27. 41 Either, or; whence the English other and (by contraction) or. 42 Sing. nom. acc. hund; gen. hundes; dat. hunde; plur. nom. acc hundas; gen. hunda; dat. hundum. The -es in the plur. nom. and acc. (which confounds those cases with the sing. gen.) is an irregular form, which became more and more frequent as the language decayed, and was one of the steps towards the English. 43 Against or towards, retained in English, but with a meaning not usual in Auglo-Saxon: the Anglo-Saxon preposition signifying with is mid. 7. Thá thám hearpere thá thúhte, 55 thæt hine nánes56 When to-the harper then it-seemed, that him of-no thinges57 ne lyste58 on thisse9 worulde, thà thóhte0 he thing not it-listed in this world, then thought he that he wolde gangan, and biddan1 thæt hí him ageafon 62 that he would go, and beg that they to-him give eft63 his wíf. back his wife. thá lange and lange then long and long Thá he When he 44 Inf. gán or gangan; pres. ic gá or gange, he gæth; pret. ic eóde, we eódon; partic. gán, agan, agán, gangen (Scottish, gang, gae, gaen). 45 Repetition of negatives; very common in Anglo-Saxon. 46 Inf. onscunian, from scunian; whence the English shun. 47 See Note 28. 48 Gen. of hearpere, used above. 4o See Note 2. Here, as often in Anglo-Saxon and Old English, scealan is used, like the German sollen, to indicate a reported or indirect recital. 50 Verb neut. from the act. cwellan or acwellan, to kill (quell). 51 Scottish. 52 See Note 27. 53 Inf. lædan or gelædan; pret. ic lædde, gelædde; part. gelæded, gelæd, læded, læd. 54 Dat. of hell; from Hela, the goddess of death in the Norse mythology: 55 Inf. thincan; prot. thúhte; partic. gethuht; an impersonal verb, signifying, it seems (whence the English methinks). 50 Gen. of nán. 57 Gen. of thing; an example of the origin of our English possessive in 's. 58 Inf. lystan; pret. lyste; to desire, be pleased with. Generally used impersonally, as here. English, list, lust. 59 Nom. masc. thes; fem. theós; neut. this, thys; plur. nom. in all genders, thás. Oblique cases very various. Inf. thencan (also bethencan, gethencan), to think; pret. thóhte; parac. gethoht. Compare Note 55. 1 Inf. biddan; pret. bad; partic. beden; to beg, to bid; hence English beadsman. 62 Or geafon; subj. pret. plur. from inf. gifan (or agifan); pret. ic geaf, gaf, gaf; we geafon; partic. gifen. Back, again, after. 64 Pret. from inf. clypian or cleopian; partic. geclypod; to call, to cry; whence Old English yclept, iclept, named. és Otherwise written cynig, cyneg, and cyng. agifan thám esne his wíf, forthám he give to-the fellow his wife, because he backward hí hæfth geearnod:70 and sæde: gif" he hine underbæc her hath earned: and said: if he besawe, that he sceolde forlætan" that wíf. Ac5 lufe mon looked, that he should lose mæg76 swithe uneathe" forbeódan". very difficultly forbid : Tha he forth may * * the woman. But love one Wei la wei! 79 Hwæt! Alas! What! on that leoht com, so thá When he forth into the light came, then 82 beseáh1 he hine underbæc, with thæs wifes: thá losede looked he backward, towards the woman: then was-lost heó him sona. Thas spell læraths gehwylcne man ... 84 she to-him straightway. This story teacheth 66 Inf. cwethan; pret. cwath; whence Old English quoth. Said to be used for giving an imperative power to the infinitive of the verb. An Adverb, meaning without or beyond, from the adverb ut, out. 68 A serf. See the manumission of Gurth in Ivanhoe. 69 For-that; an example of a common kind of Anglo-Saxon adverbs, of which we retain some; as, nohwar, tharon, thærin; while we have formed many others on the same principle. 70 Inf. earnian (or geearnian); part. geearnod. When ge- is a prefixed augment of derivative parts of the verb (as it still is usually in Ĝerman participles) it has often been retained by the Old English in the softened form of y- or i-. Originally the imperative of gifan, to give. 72 The preposition under, and bac, a back; behind backs. 73 Inf. beseón (from seón, to see); pret. ic beseáh, thu besawe, he besawe or beseáh; hine beseón, to look (literally, to be-see himself, as in the phrase "to bethink himself.") 74 Commonly, to permit, or forsake; from for (prep.) and lætan, to let. 75 Lost in this shape and meaning; but supposed really the same with ac, dc, or éc (also), which was originally the imperative écan, to eku or add. 76 See Note 31. 77 Adv. from uneath (literally, un-easy); from un primitive (German, ohne, without), and eath, easy. 78 From for (here negative, as the German ver-) and beódan, to bid or command; pret. beád, bude, bod; partic. boden. 79 Etymology and spelling doubtful; Old English, well-away! 80 Inf. cuman; pres. ic cume, he cymth; pret. com; partic. cumen. 81 See Note 73. 82 See Note 43. The Anglo 83 Losian, to lose; also, as here, to be lost, or to perish. 84 English, soon. The Anglo-Saxon, sunu, means son. Saxon, Sunne, sun: it is feminine because of Norse mythology: as mona moon, is, for the same reason, masculine. Used for this. See Note 59. 86 Inf. læran; substantive lære, lore (Scottish, lair, lear). 87 Accusative, in the indefinite form, of gehwyle, every, whatever, from hwyle, what, which. CHAPTER II. THE SEMI-SAXON PERIOD A. D. 1066-A, D. 1250. TRANSITION OF THE SAXON TONGUE INTO THE ENGLISH. 1. Character of the Language in this Stage-Duration of the Period.-2. The kinds of Corruptions-Illustrated by Examples.-3. Extract from the Saxon Chronicle Translated and Analyzed.-4. Layamon's Brut-Analysis of its Language-Comparison with Language of the Chronicle.-5. Extract from Layamon Translated and Analyzed. 1. We are next to watch the Anglo-Saxon language at the earliest stages in that series of mutations, by which it passed into the Modern English. When these began, it is not possible to say with precision. It cannot have been much later than the Norman Conquest: it may have been a century earlier, and probably was so. Our manuscripts show some tokens of them; and, as there is reason to believe, they appeared soonest in the Northern Dialect. At present it may suffice for us to know, that the changes assumed, in succession, two very distinct types, marking two eras quite dissimilar. First came a period throughout which the old language was palpably suffering disorganization and decay, without exhibiting any symptoms which the most intelligent observer could, at the time, have interpreted as presaging a return to completeness and consistency. This was a Transition-era, a period of confusion, alike perplexing to those who then used the tongue, and to those who now endeavour to trace its vicissitudes. The state of chaos came to an end about the middle of the thirteenth century, a little earlier, or a little later. One of our best antiquaries sets down ts close as occurring about the year 1230.* These approximate dates give it a duration of nearly two centuries from the Conquest. It is to this stage of the language that our philologers now assign the name of Semi-Saxon. With it, in the meantime, our business lies. We shall afterwards study the second era, that period of Re-construction, during the whole of which the language may correctly be described as English. * Sir Frederick Madden; in his Edition of Layamon's Brut, 1847. 2. Let a classical scholar imagine a case like this. In the Dark Ages of Italy, when the Latin was spoken barbarously, and the new language had not yet come into being, an ill-educated Roman monk endeavors to chronicle the calamities of the Eternal City, duly remembering those of his own convent. The etymology and syntax of a complex language, whose rules he had never studied, will fare badly in his hands. The forms of the Latin verb, for instance, will be prodigiously simplified, the personal pronouns being carefully prefixed to prevent mistakes: and, this precaution having been taken, "nos scripsi" will seem quite as good as "nos scripsimus." The troublesome government of the prepositions, too, will be escaped from, as soon as it has become the fashion to give nouns no case but one; and "sub mons may, perhaps, be forced to do duty both for "sub monte" and "sub montem." The genders of substantives, again, will often be used wrongly, in a language which determines these chiefly by the endings of the words. The vocabulary itself, although it will hold out longer than the grammar, cannot answer all the demands which an ill-instructed writer has to make on it. Our Roman annalist may, when he is lamenting the mischiefs wrought by Totila the Goth, recollect, for some idea he has, no fit word but one which had been let fall by the barbarian troops in their occupation of the city, and had taken root on the banks of the Tiber. Now, although this was not in all points what happened in Italy, it was, substantially, the earliest part of the process by which the Anglo-Saxon tongue passed, through a state of ruin, into the regular English. The later parts of the Saxon Chronicle were composed exactly in the circumstances of the imaginary case; and some of the results are close parallels to those which are there figured. The language written is nothing else than ungrammatical Anglo-Saxon, inflection and syntax being alike frequently incorrect; and the leading solecisms are plainly such as must have been current in the time of the writers, being the rudiments of forms which soon became characteristic features in the infant English. The introduction of new words from Norman roots is rare; but some of the instances are curious. We cannot suppose the poor monk of Peterborough, writing in the twelfth century, to have forgotten his native word for " peace." But, in registering the death of Henry the First, he disdained to bestow, on the quiet which that able king enforced throughout England, the sacred name which suggested the idea of freedom.* * Peace in Anglo-Saxon is frith (Germ. friede); Free is fred or frió. |