External
History
Old
English(dates for external history:
400 BC, 55 BC, 43 AD, 449 (450), 597, 664, 792 (793),878,
1016, 1066)
1. Who
were the Celts? What languages do these groups account for?What
remains of the Celtic languages?
2. When
did the Romans come to England? What was the nature of their stay?
3. What
is the story of the coming of the Germanic tribes? Where approximately
did they settle?
4. How
did Christianity come to England?One
source or two?
5. When
did the Vikings invade?Where did
most of the invasions occur?What
was King Alfred's role in this?What
is significant about 878?What is
meant by the Danelaw?Who was Cnut?
6. What
is meant by the OE Heptarchy and Brewalda?
7.Know
how to transcribe OE pronunciation (the simplified form that we used in
class) into IPA.(Be able to transcribe
ME and EModE as well.)
8.Be
able to discuss OE vocabulary, how if differs from ours, and the influence
of the Celts, Romans, and Vikings on OE.
9.Discuss
OE grammar, the inflections (noun cases), the pronouns, verbs, and syntax.
10.Be
sure to discuss the difference between syntax rules in an analytic (word
order based) language and a synthetic (inflection based) language.
1.
Who were the earliest inhabitants of England? What evidence remains of
these people?What do we know of
their languages?What is remaining?Why
is the Basque language often mentioned in this context?
2.
Who were the Celts?When did they
flourish in England?When did they
come?What are the two principle
groups of Celts?What languages do
these groups account for?What remains
of the Celtic languages?
3.
When did the Romans come to England?Who
were the leaders of the invasions? What was the nature of the influence?How
much did the Latin of the Romans influence the language of the island?When
did they leave and why?
4.
What is the story of the coming of the Germanic tribes?What
is the date normally given for the so-called Anglo-Saxon conquest?What
tribes did invade?Where approximately
did they settle?
5.
How did Christianity come to England?One
source or two?What roles did the
following people and places play: St. Patrick, St. Columba, St. Augustine,
Queen Bertha, Whitby, Iona, Bede?
6.
When did the Vikings invade?Where
did most of the invasions occur?What
was King Alfred's role in this?What
is significant about 878?What is
meant by the Danelaw?Who was Cnut
and what happened with him in 1014/1016 and what does it signify?
7.
What is meant by the OE Heptarchy and Brewalda?
Study
Guide for the Internal History of Old English
1.
What are the dates of Old English?
2.
How was the OE alphabet different from ours -- cite two examples?
2.
Be able to pronounce OE:
a.
vowels are basically IPA, except for long and short, and the diphthongs
b.
consonants: 1. pronounce every one; 2. fricatives are voiced if between
voiced phonemes; 3. velar stops (c,g) are palatalized before front vowels
(eg. cild=child)
3.
Understand the principles of OE grammar.
4.
What is meant by grammatical versus natural gender?What
does OE have?
5.
What is meant by synthetic versus analytic grammar?Which
one applies to OE?
6.
What are the four cases of OE declensions?
7.
What three cases do we still use in ModE?Which
one is missing?
8.
What is the basic function of each of the cases?
9.
How does one tell the case of a word in OE?
10.
Be able to translate a simple OE sentence using your books?
11.
What inflectional endings do we have from OE?
12.
Cite at least 6 pronouns from OE.
13.
What does strong and weak adjectives mean?What
characterizes the difference? What remains of this in ModE?
14.
What does strong and weak verbs mean?What
is the difference?What remains in
ModE?
15Characterize
the lexicon of OE?Germanic; affixes;
compounds.
16.
Discuss the extend of foreign influences on OE.
a.
Celtic: 1. lexicon 2. grammar
b.
Latin: 1. lexicon 3. grammar
I.
Periods of Latin influence: 1 zero period--pre 450 (50 words); 1st period,
Celtic transmission--450-597 (5 words); 2nd period--597-1100 (450 words).
c.
Scandinavian: 1. lexicon (900 words)
2.
grammar
I.
th- pronouns, both and same; some prepositions (till
and fro); the conjunction
though; the use of a- for infinitives
-ado, a-doing; some adverbs athwart, aloft;
"are" replacing OE syndon;-s
ending for s/v agreement (3rd pers, singular, present, indicative); inflectional
endings
17.
In general how can you tell how old a Latin borrowing is in English?And
how can you guess that a word might be of Norse origin?