Not long ago I posted a short list of words from Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon) that were still hiding out in modern English. That was so much fun that I decided to keep going.
Interlude: About Old English and the stages of English
First, a short detour to visit the developmental stages of English. If you just want to see the hidden words, skip on down.
When I tell people that I’m studying Old English, they sometimes aren’t sure what Old English is, exactly. That’s fair; the history of the English language isn’t a thing that most people have much (any?) reason to learn about.
So. The English language developed over the course of about 1500 years and is traditionally divided into four periods:
- ~600 AD to ~1200: Old English (Beowulf). At this stage of its development, English had a lot of grammar (and vocabulary, natch) in common with modern-day German.
- ~1200 to ~1400: Middle English (Chaucer). After the Norman conquest in 1066, Latin-based vocabulary started pouring into English from French.
- ~1400 to ~1600: Early Modern English (Malory to Shakespeare)
- ~1600 to today: Modern English
This is simplified, all dates are very approximate, the divisions are somewhat arbitrary, the process was continuous, and it varied geographically. Nonetheless, English in the year 600 was distinctly different from English in the year 1200, etc. As one scholar says,
The changes that turned Old English into Middle English and Middle English into Modern English took place gradually, over the centuries, and there never was a time when people perceived their language as having broken radically with the language spoken a generation before. It is worth mentioning in this connection that the terms ‘Old English’, ‘Middle English’, and ‘Modern English’ are themselves modern: speakers of these languages all would have said, if asked, that the language they spoke was English. (Peter S. Baker, An Introduction to Old English)
It helps to see examples. On his site at California State University, Scott Kleinman has side-by-side listings of the Lord’s Prayer that provide a good illustration of how the language looked at these different stages.
Old English (c. 1000)
Fæder ure, þu þe eart on heofonum, si þin nama gehalgod; tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg, and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum; and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele soþlice.
Middle English (c. 1384)
Oure fadir þat art in heuenes, halwid be þi name; þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene. Yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred, and foryeue to us oure dettis, þat is oure synnys, as we foryeuen to oure dettouris, þat is to men þat han synned in us. And lede us not into temptacion, but delyuere us from euyl.
Early Modern English (Tyndale, 1534)
O oure father which arte in heven, halowed be thy name. Let thy kyngdome come, thy wyll be fulfilled as well in erth as it ys in heven. Geve vs this daye oure dayly breede, and forgeve vs oure treaspases, even as we forgeven oure trespacers, and leade vs not into temptacion: but delyver vs from evell.
Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611)
Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Giue us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evill.
Update: For a more contemporary side-by-side comparison, check out the video of the bardcore version of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” in what’s labeled as Early Middle English. (via Andrew McAuley)
Anyway, there’s a bit more detail in Tom Freeman’s blog post A ridiculously brief, outrageously selective and painfully simplified history of Standard English.
More hidden words
Ok, on to some more words that have left sometimes surprising traces in our version of English.
cweþan (“to say”)
And hē cwǣþ: “þis is ān folc, and ealle hīe sprecaþ āne sprǣce.”
(And he said, “This is one people, and they all speak one language.”)
Modern English remnants: bequeath. Also quoth, which we can probably credit Poe’s poem “The Raven” for keeping alive; it’s a word that’s otherwise obsolete. (The word quote does not come from this Old English word; instead, quote comes from Latin via French.)
spell (“story, news”)
Sæġe þinum leodum miccle laþre spell
(“Tell your people this very hateful news”)
Modern English remnant: gospel, a translation of Greek “good news.”
wiþ (“against”)
Þā ēodon hīe ūt tō þǣm monnum & him wiþ gefuhton
(“Then they went out to the men and fought against them [and them against fought]”)
Modern English remnant: withstand. We also still say that we fought “with” someone, which is ambiguous: it can mean “alongside” or “against,” and this is why.
nēat (“bull, cow, animal”)
Nān nēat nyste andan ne nǣnne eġe to oþrum
(“No animal knew enmity nor any fear of another”)
Modern English remnant: neat’s-foot oil
fon (“to catch, seize, take”), participle = fangen
Hēr bēoþ oft fangene sēolas and hranas and mereswīn.
“Here are often caught seals and whales and porpoises.”
Modern English remnant: fang (the tooth, from fengtoþ, “grasping-tooth”)
This aspect of Old English—seeing words that still have an echo today—is like looking at an old map and spying, through all the changes, traces of buildings and streets that are still here. It certainly has been one of the many things I’ve really enjoyed about this study.
Like this? Read all the Friday words.