The History of EnglishThe History of English: A Linguistic Introduction is for anyone interested in the history of the English language. While leading the reader through the pre-history of English, through Germanic times, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English, the book also introduces the reader to concepts in theoretical and historical linguistics. It includes authentic texts from each period of the language, from Beowulf to the King James Bible. This book is a great introduction to the field of linguistics for anyone interested in language! |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 87
Page 1
... word or two in the lines above , but it is otherwise incom- prehensible to a speaker of Modern English . Most people go through school and life without ever learning about the history of our language . Many never even consider the ...
... word or two in the lines above , but it is otherwise incom- prehensible to a speaker of Modern English . Most people go through school and life without ever learning about the history of our language . Many never even consider the ...
Page 2
... word for word) of these lines reads: What. We of the Spear-Danes in old days of the people-kings, glory heard, how the princes brave deeds did. A less literal translation goes something like this: Listen! We have heard of the glory of ...
... word for word) of these lines reads: What. We of the Spear-Danes in old days of the people-kings, glory heard, how the princes brave deeds did. A less literal translation goes something like this: Listen! We have heard of the glory of ...
Page 4
... words ( often related to technology or popular culture today ) are created all the time ( we call the creation of a new word “ coining ” , and the new word itself is called a “ neologism ” ) . Some people you know may differentiate ...
... words ( often related to technology or popular culture today ) are created all the time ( we call the creation of a new word “ coining ” , and the new word itself is called a “ neologism ” ) . Some people you know may differentiate ...
Page 5
... words and grammar . In the table below , perhaps you can see some of the same similarities Jones saw over 200 years ago . Sanskrit Greek Latin Gothic English pita pater pater fadar father ( fathar ) padam poda pedem fotu foot bhratar ...
... words and grammar . In the table below , perhaps you can see some of the same similarities Jones saw over 200 years ago . Sanskrit Greek Latin Gothic English pita pater pater fadar father ( fathar ) padam poda pedem fotu foot bhratar ...
Page 6
... words in the columns on the right descended from . You can see the similarities in each of the daughter language columns to the original Indo - European word . The asterisk , “ * ” , before a word means that we have no actual examples of ...
... words in the columns on the right descended from . You can see the similarities in each of the daughter language columns to the original Indo - European word . The asterisk , “ * ” , before a word means that we have no actual examples of ...
Contents
7 | |
13 | |
28 | |
34 | |
The Subdivisions of Germanic | 47 |
The Germanic Daughter Languages | 48 |
Old Norse | 56 |
Old Saxon | 68 |
Sample Texts | 108 |
Literature | 114 |
Sample Texts | 133 |
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH | 139 |
Sample Texts | 158 |
THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH | 177 |
Sample Texts | 195 |
INDEX | 213 |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective alphabet became best known called century chapter declension definite article dialects diphthongs Dutch Early Modern English England eventually example forms French Future English gender Germanic daughter languages Germanic languages gōdan gōde Gothic grammatical Greek Grimm's Law guage hæv Indo-European infinitive inflectional endings king Latin letter linguist lish long vowels masculine meaning Middle English Middle English period Modern German Modern Pronunciation modern-day nominative noun Old English Old Frisian Old High German Old Low Franconian Old Norse Old Saxon original Past Participle past tense periphrastic person plural person singular personal pronouns phonetic present participle Present Preterite pronounced reconstructed rhotacism Sample Texts schwa sentence shows simply sing sound change Spanish speakers of English spoken subjunctive syllable thematic third person thou tion versus voiced voiceless Vowel Shift vowel sounds weak verbs West Germanic West Germanic language word written
Popular passages
Page 163 - OF MAN'S first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Page 160 - Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.
Page 5 - The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists...
Page 3 - Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Page 162 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light ; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good : and God divided the light from the darkness.
Page 160 - O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him, When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air.
Page 162 - And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Page 163 - And chiefly Thou. O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread. Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the highth of this great argument, I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
Page 162 - And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.