Early Britain, Grant Allen [top 5 ebook reader .TXT] 📗

_Gen._ gumena.
_Dat._ guman. _Dat._ guman.
_Acc._ guman. _Acc._ guman.

Adjectives are declined throughout, as in Latin, through all the cases (including an instrumental), numbers, and genders. The demonstrative pronoun or definite article _se_ (the) may stand as an example.

SING.

Masc. Fem. Neut.
_Nom._ se, seo, thæt.
_Gen._ thæs, thære, thæs.
_Dat._ tham, thære, tham.
_Acc._ thone, tha, thæt.
_Inst._ thy, thære, thy.

PLUR.

Masc. Fem. Neut.
_Nom._ tha.
_Gen._ thara.
_Dat._ tham.
_Acc._ tha.
_Inst._ --

Verbs are conjugated about as fully as in Latin. There are two principal forms: strong verbs, which form their preterite by vowel modification, as _binde_, pret. _band_; and weak verbs, which form it by the addition of _ode_ or _de_ to the root, as _lufige_, pret. _lufode_; _hire_, pret. _hirde_. The present and preterite of the first form are as follows:–

IND. SUBJ.

_Pres. sing._ 1. binde. binde.
2. bindest. binde.
3. bindeth. binde.

_plur._ 1, 2, 3. bindath. binden.

_Pret. sing._ 1. band. bunde.
2. bunde. bunde.
3. band. bunde.

_plur._ 1, 2, 3. bundon. bunden.

Both the grammatical forms and still more the orthography vary much from time to time, from place to place, and even from writer to writer. The forms used in this work are for the most part those employed by West Saxons in the age of Ælfred.

A few examples of the language as written at three periods will enable the reader to form some idea of its relation to the existing type. The first passage cited is from King Ælfred's translation of Orosius; but it consists of the opening lines of a paragraph inserted by the king himself from his own materials, and so affords an excellent illustration of his style in original English prose. The reader is recommended to compare it word for word with the parallel slightly modernised version, bearing in mind the inflexional terminations.


Ohthere sæde his hlaforde,
| Othhere said [to] his lord, Ælfrede cyninge, thæt he
| Ælfred king, that he of all ealra Northmonna northmest
| Northmen northmost abode. bude. He cwæth thæt he
| He quoth that he abode bude on thæm lande northweardum
| on the land northward against with tha West-sæ.
| the West Sea. He said, He sæde theah thæt thæt land
| though, that that land was sie swithe lang north thonan;
| [or extended] much north ac hit is eall weste, buton on
| thence; eke it is all waste, feawum stowum styccemælum
| but [except that] on few stows wiciath Finnas, on huntothe
| [in a few places] piecemeal on wintra, and on sumera on
| dwelleth Finns, on hunting on fiscathe be thære sæ. He
| winter, and on summer on sæde thæt he æt sumum cirre
| fishing by the sea. He said wolde fandian hu longe thæt
| that he at some time [on one land northryhte læge, oththe
| occasion] would seek how long hwæther ænig monn be northan
| that land lay northright [due thæm westenne bude. Tha
| north], or whether any man by for he northryhte be thæm
| north of the waste abode. lande: let him ealne weg
| Then fore [fared] he northright, thæt weste land on thæt steorbord,
| by the land: left all the and tha wid-sæ on thæt
| way that waste land on the bæcbord thrie dagas. Tha
| starboard of him, and the wide wæs he swa feor north swa tha
| sea on the backboard [port, hwæl-huntan firrest farath.
| French _babord_] three days.
| Then was he so far north as
| the whale-hunters furthest
| fareth.

In this passage it is easy to see that the variations which make it into modern English are for the most part of a very simple kind. Some of the words are absolutely identical, as _his_, _on_, _he_, _and_, _land_, or _north_. Others, though differences of spelling mask the likeness, are practically the same, as _sæ_, _sæde_, _cwæth_, _thæt_, _lang_, for which we now write _sea_, _said_, _quoth_, _that_, _long_. A few have undergone contraction or alteration, as _hlaford_, now _lord_, _cyning_, now _king_, and _steorbord_, now _starboard_. _Stow_, a place, is now obsolete, except in local names; _styccemælum_, stickmeal, has been Normanised into _piecemeal_. In other cases new terminations have been substituted for old ones; _huntath_ and _fiscath_ are now replaced by _hunting_ and _fishing_; while _hunta_ has been superseded by _hunter_. Only six words in the passage have died out wholly: _buan_, to abide (_bude_); _swithe_, very; _wician_, to dwell; _cirr_, an occasion; _fandian_, to enquire (connected with _find_); and _bæcbord_, port, which still survives in French from Norman sources. _Dæg_, day, and _ænig_, any, show how existing English has softened the final _g_ into a _y_. But the main difference which separates the modern passage from its ancient prototype is the consistent dropping of the grammatical inflexions in _hlaforde_, _Ælfrede_, _ealra_, _feawum_, and _fandian_, where we now say, _to his lord_, _of all_, _in few_, and _to enquire_.

The next passage, from the old English epic of _Beowulf_, shows the language in another aspect. Here, as in all poetry, archaic forms abound, and the syntax is intentionally involved. It is written in the old alliterative rhythm, described in the next chapter:–


Beowulf mathelode bearn Ecgtheowes;
Hwæt! we the thas sæ-lac sunu Healfdenes
Leod Scyldinga lustum brohton,
Tires to tacne, the thu her to-locast.
Ic thæt un-softe ealdre gedigde
Wigge under wætere, weore genethde
Earfothlice; æt rihte wæs
Guth getwæfed nymthe mec god scylde.

* * * * *

Beowulf spake, the son of Ecgtheow:
See! We to thee this sea-gift, son of Healfdene,
Prince of the Scyldings, joyfully have brought,