2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon

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OldEnglish/AngloSaxon(nglisc)
OldEnglishwastheWestGermaniclanguagespokenintheareanowknownasEnglandbetweenthe5thand
11thcenturies.SpeakersofOldEnglishcalledtheirlanguageEnglisc,themselvesAngle,Angelcynnor
AngelfolcandtheirhomeAngelcynnorEnglaland.

OldEnglishbegantoappearinwritingduringtheearly8thcentury.MosttextswerewritteninWestSaxon,one
ofthefourmaindialects.TheotherdialectswereMercian,NorthumbrianandKentish.

TheAngloSaxonsadoptedthestylesofscriptusedbyIrishmissionaries,suchasInsularhalfuncial,which
wasusedforbooksinLatin.AlessformalversionofminusculewasusedfortowritebothLatinandOld
English.Fromthe10thcenturyAngloSaxonscribesbegantouseCarolineMinusculeforLatinwhile
continuingtowriteOldEnglishinInsularminuscule.ThereafterOldEnglishscriptwasincreasinglyinfluenced
byCarolineMinusculeeventhoughitretainedanumberofdistinctiveInsularletterforms.

AngloSaxonrunes(futhorc/fuorc)
OldEnglish/AngloSaxonwasfirstwrittenwithaversionoftheRunicalphabetknownasAngloSaxonor
AngloFrisianrunes,orfuthorc/fuorc.ThisalphabetwasanextendedversionofElderFutharkwithbetween
26and33letters.AngloSaxonruneswereusedprobablyfromthe5thcenturyADuntilaboutthe10thcentury.
TheystartedtobereplacedbytheLatinalphabetfromthe7thcentury,andafterthe9thcenturytheruneswere
usedmainlyinmanuscriptsandweremainlyofinteresttoantiquarians.Theiruseceasednotlongafterthe
Normanconquest.

Runicinscriptionsaremostlyfoundonjewellery,weapons,stonesandotherobjects,andonlyabout200such
inscriptionshavesurvived.MosthavebeenfoundineasternandsouthernEngland.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 1/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon

OldEnglishalphabet

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 2/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon

Notes
Longvowelsweremarkedwithmacrons.ThesewerenotwrittenoriginallyusedinOldEnglishbutareamore
moderninventiontodistinguishbetweenlongandshortvowels.

Thealternateformsofgandw(yoghandwynn/wenrespectively)werebasedonthelettersusedatthetimeof
writingOldEnglish.TodaytheycanbesubstitutedforgandwinmodernwritingofOldEnglish.

Yoghoriginatedfromaninsularformofgandwynn/wencamefromarunicletterandwasusedtorepresentthe
nonLatinsoundof[w].ThelettersgandwwereintroducedlaterbyFrenchscribes.Yoghcametorepresent[
]or[x].

OldEnglishpronunciation

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 3/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon

Notes
c=[]usuallybeforeorafterafrontvowel,[k]elsewhere

/=[]initially,finally,ornexttovoicelessconsonants,[]elsewhere
f=[f]initially,finally,ornexttovoicelessconsonants,[v]elsewhere

g()=[]betweenvowelsandvoicedconsonants,[j]usuallybeforeorafterafrontvowel,[]aftern,[g]
elsewhere
h=[]afterfrontvowels,[x]afterbackvowels,[h]elsewhere
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 4/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon
n=[]beforeg()andk
s=[s]initially,finally,ornexttovoicelessconsonants,[z]elsewhere

Thelettersjandvwererarelyusedandwerenothingmorethanvarientsofiandurespectively.
Theletterkwasusedonlyeverrarelyandrepresented[k](never[])

SampletextinOldEnglish(ProloguefromBeowulf)

ModernEnglishversion
LO,praiseoftheprowessofpeoplekings
ofspeararmedDanes,indayslongsped,
wehaveheard,andwhathonortheathelingswon!
OftScyldtheScefingfromsquadronedfoes,
frommanyatribe,themeadbenchtore,
awingtheearls.Sinceersthelay
friendless,afoundling,faterepaidhim:
forhewaxedunderwelkin,inwealthhethrove,
tillbeforehimthefolk,bothfarandnear,
whohousebythewhalepath,heardhismandate,
gavehimgifts:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 5/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon
Arecordingofthistext:

Boulfes Foresaga / Beowulf's Prologue

SampletextinOldEnglish(Article1oftheUDHR)
Eallefrassindborenfroondgeefenlicaninrondriht.Hesindgifeegerdondingehygd,ondsculondn
onganorumbefeoreofbrorhde.

HeararecordingofthistextbyScottBrewer

0:00 /0:10

TranslationbyMatthewLeighEmbleton

ModernEnglishversion
Allhumanbeingsarebornfreeandequalindignityandrights.Theyareendowedwithreasonandconscience
andshouldacttowardsoneanotherinaspiritofbrotherhood.
(Article1oftheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights)

ConversationinOldEnglish

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm 6/8
2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon

Old English Conversation: On re meduhealle / In the Mead Hall

InformationaboutOldEnglish|OldEnglishphrases|TowerofBabelinOldEnglish|OldEnglishrelatedbooks
andlearningmaterials

InformationprovidedbyNiallKilloran

Links
InformationaboutOldEnglish
http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/resources/IOE/

OldEnglishlessons
http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learnoe/contents.htm
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9664A1E483AFCD12
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLnwScGuOxVlaN5aV9in9ag

OldEnglishphrases
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old_English/Phrases
http://speaksaxon.blogspot.co.uk
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Old_English_phrasebook#OldEnglish
https://babblelingua.com/usefulphrasesinoldenglish/

OldEnglishdictionaries
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/app/
http://oldenglishthesaurus.arts.gla.ac.uk/aboutoeonline.html

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2017611 OldEnglish/AngloSaxon
OldEnglishModernEnglishtranslator
http://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk

aEngliscanGesiasthesocietyforpeopleinterestedinallaspectsofAngloSaxonlanguageandculture:
http://thaengliscangesithas.org.uk/

BeowulfinHypertext
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/

ALPHABETUMaUnicodefontspecificallydesignedforancientscripts,includingclassical&medievalLatin,
ancientGreek,Etruscan,Oscan,Umbrian,Faliscan,Messapic,Picene,Iberian,Celtiberian,Gothic,Runic,Old
&MiddleEnglish,Hebrew,Sanskrit,OldNordic,Ogham,Kharosthi,Glagolitic,OldCyrillic,Phoenician,
Avestan,Ugaritic,LinearB,Anatolianscripts,Coptic,Cypriot,Brahmi,OldPersiancuneiform:
http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html

Germaniclanguages
Afrikaans,Alsatian,Bavarian,Cimbrian,Danish,Dutch,Elfdalian,English,Faroese,Flemish,German,Gothic,
Hunsrik,Icelandic,Limburgish,LowGerman/LowSaxon,Luxembourgish,Mcheno,Norn,NorthFrisian,
Norwegian,OldEnglish,OldNorse,PennsylvaniaGerman,Ripuarian,SaterlandFrisian,Scots,Shetland(ic),
Stellingwarfs,Swedish,SwissGerman,WestFrisian,Yiddish

OtherversionsoftheLatinalphabet
AncientLatin,Gaelicscript,Fraktur,OldEnglish,Stterlin

LanguageswrittenwiththeLatinalphabet

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