An introduction to the study of the Anglo-Saxon language, comprising an elementary grammar, selections for reading, with explanatory notes and a vocabulary

Stephen Haskins Carpenter

Sujets

• English language
• Old English

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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AN
INTRODUCTION
-
TO THE STUDY OF THE
ANGLO-SAXON LANGUAGE,
COMPKTSTNO
AN ELEMENTARYGRAMMAR, SELECTIONS FOR WITHREADING,
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND AVOCABULARY.
BT
STEPHEN H. CARPENTER,
and Literature in. the WisconsinProfessorofLogic English Universityof
andAuthor the XlVth ?>of "English of Century
U.S.A.:BOSTON,
PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY.
1889.35
J. tered to the act of In the IKizaccording Congress, yew
BY STEPHEN H. CARPENTER,
In the office of the Librarian of atCongress, Washington
ATWOOD & CTJLVKB,
BTERKOTYPKK8,
KADI WIB.SON,PREFACE.
to serve as an introductionTins book has been prepared
it makes no claim toofto the Anglo-Saxon;study
to in anbut aims elementaryoriginality, only present
ofform the well-understood principles Anglo-Saxon
rather to the forIt is waygrammar. designed prepare
on the like those of Dr.more advanced works subject,
than to or come into withMarch, competitionsupersede
its wonderful ofthem. From its continuitygreat age,
and the afforded for illus-development, opportunity
tration kindred the offers adialects, Anglo-Saxonby
field to the student oftempting Comparative Philology,
which will toil that beand one any mayamply repay
bestowed but in order that the student
it; mayupon
a certain amount ofcultivate this field,advantageously
it is theis whichpreparation indispensable; preparation
aim of this book to afford.
been selected so as toThe extracts for havereading
ideasincrease in withdifficulty. Beginninggradually
the student to those which arewhich are familiar, passes
to selections whichless and thenreadily apprehended,
more laboron his is,Anglo-Saxon poetryrequire part.
endeavored to leadas a and I haverule, quite difficult,iv PREFACE.
to these difficulties both theup gradually, by giving
and the version of Boethius's thusprose poetic Metres,
the student with the form without theacquainting poetic
difficult labor of unfamiliartranslating wholly passages.
In these selections I have been somewhat re-making
stricted the ofcharacter tne but Iby elementary book,
have endeavored to admit devoid of interest.nothing
that this work be of service in facili-Hoping may
the of and increase ourtating study Anglo-Saxon, may
estimate of ofthe value the inheritance which we have
in our the author leaves his work withmother-tongue,
the with "And nu bit andpublic, King Alfred,saying
zelcnehalsatS b6c randan he him neJ>ara J>e J>&s lyste, }>33t
vvite he hit rihtlfcor he mihte forgif ongite J?onne ; ]?am
selc mon sceal be his masSe and be his aamet-\>e andgites
tan he and d6n hesprecan past sprecft fast
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,
MARCH, 1875.OF CONTENTS.TABLE
GRAMMATICAL INTRODUCTION 1
SELECTIONS FOB READING
49SERMON ON THE MOUNT
REIGN ALFRED 56. OP KING
OF THE . . 67CHARACTER WILLIAM CONQUEROR
NARRATIVES OF OHTHERE AND WULFSTAN . . 72
CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS 78
87 OF THE NORTH ANGLES ....
THE CAEDMON . . . .99ACCOUNT OF POET
ON THE BEGINNING OF CREATION .... 105
113ASSUMPTION OF ST. JOHN
. 130FROM ALFRED'S METRES OF BOETHIUS
134DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE
137THE CREATION
REBELLION AND PUNISHMENT ... 140SATAN'S
145THE FLOOD
151THE ESCAPE OF THE ISRAELITES . ...
163EXPLANATORY NOTES
173VOCABULARYINTRODUCTION.GRAMMATICAL
LETTERS.SOUNDS OF THE
1. The has letters,alphabet twenty-fourAnglo-Saxon
as follows: K, L, M, N, O,A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,
theandS, T, U,W, X,Y, D, , p, J>, representingP, R,
of as heard in thin.two sounds th, thine,
2. An accent is found in A.-S. mss., generally placed
to indicateover the but toolong vowels, capriciously
a vowel.\aw it is used in this work to denote
; longany
The sounded thus :VOWELS were3 probably
a as in what.
se as in fat.
to as in& like aw in straw, long 0,passing nearly
note.
& like a in
fate.
au like ow in now.
e as in met.
in mete Gothic6 as cw6n,(as queen, kwino).
e before a vowel not aforming diphthong (break-
like consonantalying) (j).
eo like German ce.
e6 like ee in seen to
(se6n see),
ea as in swear.
ea like d e*.preceded by
{ as in dim.2 GRAMMATICAL INTRODUCTION.
i as in dime as in machine^ heora,(sometimes (so
hiora).
i before a vowel like test forconsonantal^ (j) (so
east).
iw like civ in new.
o as in whole.
6 like oo infoot.
as inu full.
inu as fool,
and like French with i.u,y y coalescing finally i,
NOTE 1 . The vowels are u a to a*simple a, i, ; strengthens
ibreaks to and weakens to to i.6, ea, se, o, e;(a),
d. breaks to weakens to u to eo ea
(a;), eo, e; strengthens (u),
u. Ea andweakens to o. is i-umlaut of eo seldom coa-(e), y
lesce into perfect diphthongs.
"
2. Radical short a can stand a con-NOTE beforeonly single
sonant and when this or these letters arest, sc, consonant, again
followed in the inflection in in ad-a, o, u, o, e,by nouns, a, u,
in verbs in other se is used instead ofjectives, a, o, u, ia, ;" cases,
before a to as andbefore Ia; m, n, may change 0, man, mon; r,
followed another a to ea.by consonant, may change
The Consonants have their4. generally sounds,present
but the are to be noted : c is al-following peculiarities
sounded like cw like ft like th in thine,ways k; quj
and like th inas but these characters are usedthin^J?
ofat words isquite interchangeably: g beginning gen-
but is sometimes soft as in theerally hard, ge,pronouns
at the end like German soft almost intogit, g, passing
as h at of abeginning words,y, daeg, day; strong aspi-
a like German hat sometimesrate, end, ch;guttural,
forstands final as hw like wh.burh,g^ gen. burge;