ois i | \ q SDT ) SE PN i, ee ; CL f \ B LUCE om | 1 s SS af IAD \ ® ~~ ao | beginners S : > ae “ i d | ng me = =a:= ae =} > | } i 5 "3 SOOLy a tf >. U[4 pS sf Rees — eiet i ae- BS: ye = x% PV : Sa 9 ese re ah Learn Old English with Leofwin Matt Love First Published 2013 by Anglo-Saxon Books Hereward, Black Bank Business Centre Little Downham, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB6 2UA England Printed and bound by Lightning Source Australia, England, USA Revised March 2014 © Matt Love All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the publishers. ISBN 9781898281672 To the memory of my Mum and Dad Thanks for everything Unregarded, unrenowned, men from whom my ways begin. Here I know you by your ground, but I know you not within — there is silence, there survives not a moment of your lives. Edward Blunden, Forefathers Contents Foreword Going Back in Time — New English to Old English A note on Old English Writing and Pronunciation How to Use this Book Meet Leofwin! Leornungdeel 1 — min cynn / my family Leofwin’s family Family questions More about Leofwin’s family Leofwin’s neighbours Wesan - ‘to be’ Hatan — ‘to be called’ Family phrases Yes and no Likes and dislikes Numbers 1-30 More family vocabulary Foxtail describes his family Mini-essay: Anglo-Saxon Families YA Leornungdeel 2 — min his / my house Leofwin’s house House vocabulary Gender — some grammar! Describing people Golde describes her family Describe your family Spreculmuth’s family Some more characters Meet Aelfgifu Béon — ‘to be’ Habban — ‘to have’ Colours Translation! Eth and thorn — two Old English letters Mini-essay: Farmsteads, villages and towns page 39 Leornungdeel 3 — iite / outside 39 1 Where Leofwin lives 40 2 ‘oneardian’ - to inhabit 40 3. Plurals - examples so far 42 4 Plurals — strong and weak nouns 43 5 Strong and weak nouns - test 44 6 Leofwin describes his village 46 7 Some verb patterns 47 8 Animals 48 9 Consolidating plurals - strong and weak nouns 48 10 Subjects and objects — more grammar! 49 11 Weak nouns 51 12. Word order 51 13 (aand b) Basic survival guide — some essential phrases 54 14. Mini-essay: Prittlewell in Anglo-Saxon times 55 Leornungdeel 4 — timan, weder / seasons, weather 55 1 The four seasons 56 2 Reading task (easy!), and discussion on verbs oy| 3. Fairly easy translation task 58 4 Foxtail describes the seasons — and offers a feast of verbs 60 5 Grammar task on verbs 61 6 Months of the year (harder than you’d think) 63 7 Birthdays 64 8 Numbers 31 — 100 65 9 Weather 66 10 Clufweart talks about the weather 67 11 Writing about the weather yourself 67 12 Revision of greetings 68 13. Days of the week 69 14. (a) Times of the day (b) Hours of the day 70 15 Mini-essay: dividing the year 7 Leomungdeel 5 - gesceaftlice woruld, gedaeghwamnlic lif / natural world, daily life a 1 Leofwin’s world a 2 Wordsnake 13 3 More on Leofwin’s world 74 4 ‘this’ — some grammar, and a test! ie) 5 Leofwin’s daily routine 7 6 Tasks on daily routine 78 7 More on daily routine 80 8 Consolidation of verb patterns 83 9 Mini-essay: the Round of the Year page 87 Leornungdeel 6 - mete, drenc and mé!l / food, drink and meals 1 Clufweart milks the cow 2 Food and drink vocabulary 3. Revision of plurals and checking of new vocabulary 4 (a) Foxtail talks about mealtimes (b) Mealtimes — true, false or unknown 5 ‘drincan’, to drink and ‘etan’, to eat 6 More on mealtimes 7 Leofwin asks you about your mealtimes 8 Talking animals: translation 9 ‘niman’ to take, and ‘giefan’ to give 10 More food and drink vocabulary 11 Revise likes and dislikes 12 Revision of negatives 13. Leofwin describes Easter 14. Three new verbs — cooking, catching, answering 15 Belonging — possessive adjectives 16 Ealhstan’s Easter Sermon 17 Mini-essay — food and drink / cooking and eating Vocabulary: New English (NE) to Old English(OE) Vocabulary: Old English (OE) to New English (NE) Transcripts and Answers Grammar Summary Foreword Nearly ten per cent of the people on our planet speak English either as their mother tongue, or as a first foreign language of choice. It’s a global language. But where did it come from? How long has it been around? How much has it changed over time? This book aims to give the reader who is not a language specialist a glimpse of the English language as it was spoken over a thousand years ago by a couple of million people on a green and pleasant island off the coast of mainland Europe. Old English, as it is called, or Anglo-Saxon, survives in a fairly substantial number of manuscripts, which include laws, charters, wills, histories, religious works, poetry, medical and scientific treatises and other material. If everything were collected together, it would take up the equivalent space of about forty or so medium-sized books. The material dates from the 8" to the 11" century, during which time the language was evolving constantly; it continues to do so today. There are, of course, gaps, regional variations, and since what survives is necessarily rather ‘bookish’, there are some aspects of the everyday language which can only be inferred. Nevertheless, it is this everyday language of Anglo-Saxon England that I’ve tried to present in this book. Old English tends rather to be the playground of paleo-linguists and philologists, who are interested primarily in how language changes over time and in the relationship of languages to each other. Although there’s a fairly wide range of books on Old English, many can appear rather intimidating and inaccessible to anyone who’s not already heavily involved in this kind of study. ‘Leofwin’ presents Old English, as far as possible, as if it were a living language, and I hope it will fill the need for a lively, entertaining and attractive introduction for anyone interested in the roots of our quirky and marvellous tongue. My thanks are due to David Cowley, who checked the draft text, and to Steve Pollington, who put me up to the whole project. Also to Linden Currie, and my other friends in ‘The English Companions’, who’ve given me every encouragement. To Maria Legg, who provided all the female voices in the audio passages, and to the wonderful people of ‘Centingas’, who share my passion for Anglo-Saxon Living History. To my son Thomas, for all his help with computer issues, and finally to Tony Linsell of Anglo-Saxon books, for whose patience, support, guidance and gentle criticism I’m very grateful. Whatever errors still lurk within these pages are, of course, my own responsibility. MWL, Leigh-on-Sea, September 2012 Going Back in time - New English to Old English Language never stops changing! New words are being born all the time, while others fade away. The way we pronounce words changes slowly over time as well, while more slowly still we alter the rules of our grammar. How hard will it be to learn the English spoken here more than a thousand years ago? 1800 If you could travel back in time 200 years, you’d be able to understand the English spoken here in England without any difficulty, although a few of the sounds and words might be just a little unfamiliar at first. Because of Britain’s Empire, English is already a global language, spoken in North America, the Caribbean, India, Australia, parts of Africa and elsewhere. 1600 Another 200 years back: this is the language of Shakespeare. It’s recognizably English, but with many unfamiliar words and expressions. Printing has helped to ‘standardize’ the language, and lots of Greek and Latin words are being brought in which we take for granted in the 21° century. However, many words and some of the grammar seem strange. The language of this period is called ‘Early Modern English’. 1400 Now we’re back to medieval times. Printing hasn’t been invented yet, so all writing is done by hand. The thousands of French words which flooded into English after the Norman Conquest of 1066 are still settling in to the language. The language sounds very different, and without studying it, you’d find many words unrecognizable. The language of these times is called ‘Middle English’. 1200 There are two different languages being spoken in England. Norman-French is the language spoken by the king, the court, and the upper classes, because of the Norman Conquest. English is spoken by the English people, with just a few words beginning to be adopted from French. These are the last generations to speak alate form of ‘Old English’. For 21“ century English-speakers, it’s virtually a foreign language. 1000 Another 200 years back in time: the Battle of Hastings hasn’t yet been fought. Old English is spoken across the length and breadth of England. Because of the efforts of King Alfred the Great, many literary and religious texts have been translated into English, and it has become a language capable of expressing sophisticated thought. Trade and cultural links across the North Sea, and the settlement of Vikings in the east and north is playing a part in simplifying Old English. This book is set in this period, in the late 900s. 800 As we go ever further back in time, it starts to grow difficult to find surviving documents in Old English. There are several different English-speaking kingdoms across the land, often at war with each other. 600 The English at this time are still fighting with the people who were here before they arrived — the Britons. They’ve been coming from across the North Sea for a hundred and fifty years or so: in particular from the areas known today as Angeln, Saxony, Jutland and Frisia. These times have 8