Introduction to Old English / Peter S. Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, Peter S. (Peter Stuart), 1952-

Contributor:

Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Old English, ca. 450-1100.

English language.

English language--Old English.

English language--Old English, ca. 450-1100--Grammar.

English language--Old English--Grammar.

Physical Description:

xvi, 398 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Chichester, West Sussex ; Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Summary:

Introduction to Old English is a leading text designed to help students engage with Old English literature for the first time. The new third edition builds on the success of previous editions and includes numerous chapter updates, as well as expanded coverage of Old English manuscripts, runes, and other inscriptions.

The book's rich pedagogy includes basic grammar reviews at the beginning of each major chapter, covering the basics of Old English. Other features include "minitexts" for practice in reading the language, and a detailed introduction to meter and poetic style to ease the transition from prose to poetry. Additions to the anthology for this new edition include King Alfred's Preface to Pope Gregory the First's sixth-century Pastoral Care, selections from the Old English Riddles, and the epic fragments The Battle of Finnesburh and Waldere.

The third edition of Introduction to Old English confirms its reputation as an essential text for all students encountering the language for the first time. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Anglo-Saxons and Their Language 1

1.1 Who were they? 1

1.2 Where did their language come from? 3

1.3 What was Old English like? 4

1.3.1 The Indo-European languages 5

1.3.2 The Germanic languages 6

1.3.3 West Germanic and Low German 7

1.3.4 Old and Modern English 9

1.4 Old English dialects 10

2 Pronunciation 11

2.1 Quick start 11

2.1.1 Vowels and diphthongs 12

2.1.2 Consonants 14

2.1.3 Sermonette 16

2.2 More about vowels 16

2.2.1 Short a, ' and ea 16

2.2.2 I-mutation 17

2.2.3 Silent e; o for u 18

2.3 More about c and g 18

2.4 Syllable length 20

2.5 Accentuation 20

2.6 On-line pronunciation practice 21

2.7 Summary 21

3 Basic Grammar: A Review 22

3.1 Parts of speech 22

3.1.1 Nouns 23

3.1.2 Pronouns 23

3.1.3 Verbs 24

3.1.4 Adjectives 26

3.2.5 Adverbs 27

3.1.5 Prepositions 27

3.1.6 Conjunctions 27

3.1.7 Interjections 28

3.2 Phrases 28

3.3 Clauses 29

3.4 Elements of the sentence or clause 30

3.4.1 Subject 30

3.4.2 Verb 31

3.4.3 Object 32

3.4.4 Complement 33

3.4.5 Predicate 33

4 Case 34

4.1 What is case? 34

4.2 Uses of the cases 35

4.2.1 Nominative 35

4.2.2 Accusative 36

4.2.3 Genitive 37

4.2.4 Dative 38

4.2.5 Instrumental 39

5 Pronouns 41

5.1 Quick start 41

5.1.1 Personal pronouns 41

5.1.2 Possessive adjectives 41

5.1.3 Demonstrative pronouns 43

5.2 More about personal and demonstrative pronouns 44

5.2.1 The dual number 44

5.2.2 Common spelling variants 45

5.3 Interrogative pronouns 45

5.4 Indefinite pronouns 46

5.5 Relative pronouns 47

5.6 Reflexive pronouns 48

5.7 Reciprocal pronouns 48

6 Nouns 50

6.1 Quick start 50

6.1.1 Strong nouns 51

6.1.2 Weak nouns 53

6.1.3 Athematic nouns 55

6.1.4 The noun phrase 56

6.2 More about strong nouns 57

6.2.1 Two-syllable nouns 57

6.2.2 Nouns with changes in the stem syllable 58

6.2.3 Nouns with -w- or -g- before the ending 59

6.3 Minor declensions 60

6.3.1 u-stem nouns 60

6.3.2 Nouns of relationship 61

6.3.3 Nouns with -r- plurals 62

6.3.4 Nouns with -p- endings 62

7 Verbs 64

7.1 Quick start 64

7.1.1 Strong and weak verbs 64

7.1.2 Beon 'to be' 67

7.1.3 Preterite-present verbs 68

7.2 More about endings 68

7.2.1 Assimilation 68

7.2.2 Plurals ending in -e 69

7.2.3 Subjunctive plural endings 69

7.3 More about weak verbs 69

7.3.1 Classes 1 and 2 70

7.3.2 Class 1 weak verbs that change their vowels 71

7.3.3 Contracted verbs 72

7.3.4 Class 3 weak verbs 72

7.4 More about strong verbs 73

7.4.1 The strong verb classes 73

7.4.2 Verbs affected by grammatical alternation 76

7.4.3 Contracted verbs 77

7.4.4 Tips on strong verbs 78

7.5 Verbs with weak presents and strong pasts 79

7.6 More about preterite-present verbs 80

7.7 Don, gan, willan 81

7.8 Negation 82

7.9 The verbals 83

7.9.1 Infinitives 83

7.9.2 Participles 84

7.10 The subjunctive 85

8 Adjectives 89

8.1 Quick start 89

8.2 Strong adjectives 91

8.3 Weak adjectives 92

8.4 Comparison of adjectives 93

8.5 The adjective in the noun phrase 94

9 Numerals 96

9.1 Quick start 96

9.2 Cardinal numbers 97

9.3 Ordinal numbers 98

10 Adverbs, Conjunctions and Prepositions 99

10.1 Quick start 99

10.2 Adverbs 99

10.2.1 Comparison of adverbs 101

10.3 Conjunctions 101

10.4 Correlation 102

10.5 Prepositions 104

11 Concord 106

11.1 Quick start 106

11.2 Subject and verb 107

11.2.1 Impersonal verbs 109

11.3 Pronoun and antecedent 110

11.4 Noun and modifiers 111

11.5 Bad grammar? 112

12 Word-order 115

12.1 Quick start 115

12.2 Subject-Verb 115

12.3 Verb-Subject 117

12.4 Subject...Verb 118

12.5 Correlation 119

12.6 Anticipation 121

12.7 Periphrastic verbs 121

13 Metre 123

13.1 Alliteration 124

13.2 Rhythm 126

13.2.1 Lifts, half-lifts and drops 126

13.2.2 Rhythmic types 128

13.2.3 Hypermetric verses 131

14 Poetic Style 133

14.1 Vocabulary 134

14.2 Variation 137

14.3 Formulas 140

14.3.1 Phrases 140

14.3.2 Themes 142

14.3.3 Originality and quality 143

15 The Grammar of Poetry 146

15.1 Inflections 146

15.1.1 Pronouns 146

15.1.2 Verbs 146

15.1.3 Adjectives 147

15.2 Syntax 147

15.2.1 Omission of subjects and objects 147

15.2.2 Omission of prepositions 149

15.2.3 Adjectives used as nouns 150

15.2.4 Word-order 150

15.2.5 Independent and subordinate clauses 152

16 Old English in its Material Context 156

16.1 Manuscripts 156

16.1.1 Construction of the manuscript 156

16.1.2 The Old English alphabet 157

16.1.3 Abbreviations 159

16.1.4 Punctuation and capitalization 159

16.1.5 Word- and line-division 162

16.1.6 Errors and corrections 163

16.2 Runes 163

16.3 Other inscriptions 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Constance L. Rosenthal Book Fund.

ISBN:

047065984X

9780470659847

OCLC:

748674649

Publisher Number:

99948326668