Text one: excerpt from the Anglo-Saxon Bible

II.

Ealle gesceafta, heofonas and englas, sunnan and mnan, steorran and eoran, nytenu and
fugelas, s and ealle fiscas, God gescop and geworhte on six dagum;

All creatures, (the) heavens and angles, (the) sun and moon, (the) sky and earth, (the) animals
and birds, sea and all fishes, God created and made in six days;


Ealle long l
gesceafta sc before e is [S]; g in initial position is [j]
heofonas f in voiced environment is [v]
and [a
n
]
fugelas fu[]elas
gesceop [j]esceop
geworhte [j]eworhte, etc.
dagum da[]um

Subject: God NP, noun, n.sg.masc., a-Declension

Predicator: gesceop and geworhte VP, cojoined 2 HW
gesceop V, 3.p.sg., preterite, ind., StrongVerb (has no dental suffix) class VII
geworhte V, 3.p.sg., preterite, ind., WeakVerb class 1 (has dental suffix -te)

DirectObject: set of cojoined NPs, which opens the sentence. (acc. usually denotes the DO)

NP: ealle (PreM) gesceafta (H)
ealle adj.pl.; -e is the adj.pl. ending (c.f. sg. eall)
gesceafta N.pl., acc., fem.; the ending here does not show the number, but because
OE still had the agreement system within NP (gender & number agreement), we can
see it is pl. from the adjective. (cf. n.sg. gesceaft); to resolve the eafta ending, we
look for the verbs, who took the a ending in pl., and this is the u-Declension in
feminine

NP: heofonas and englas
heofonas acc.pl.masc.; the as ending is restricted to masc. nouns of the a-
Declension in pl. (cf. sg. heofon)
englas the same as above (sg. engel)

NP: eoran and steorran, sunnan and monan
sunnan acc.sg.fem.; only the n-Declension had the ending an; the number is
deducted from the fact there is only one sun; in n-Declensions, the sg. and pl. endings
coalesced for nom. and acc. (cf. sg. sunne if personified, it is of female gender)
monan (masc.), eoran (fem.), steorran (masc.pl.) the same as above

NP: nytenu acc. (=ivina, uporabne ivali)

NP: fiscas masc.

Why are there so many different case endings? Because the nouns belong to different
declensions, a- and n- being the most common.

Adv: on six dagum
dagum dat.pl. (because of the preposition on)

Text two: Lords prayer in Old English (West Saxon Gospels, cca. 1000 AD)

Fder ure u e eart on heofonum; Si in nama gehalgod to becume in rice. Gewure in
willa on eoran swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedghwamlican hlaf syle us to dg and forgyf
us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfa urum gyltendum; and ne geld u us on costnung ac alys
us of yfele solice.


Fder ure u e eart on heofonum;

Father our thou that art in heavens

Fder - Headword; ure - Determiner
fder - noun; N.sg.masc (N because it is a non-marked form; sg. because it is logical
to assume there is only one God; masc. gender cannot be determined from the form
only, there are semantical grounds for it.)
ure - poss. pronoun;
fder ure (H - D) is an uncommon construction, elevated style; an apostrophe

u - 2
nd
p.sg. (the same number as fder; this u is actually superfluous)
e - pers. pronoun; relative particle introducing a relative clause
u e eart on heofonum - NP (u - antecedant/H; e eart on heofonum -
PostM; u e eart on heofonum)
eart - verb; 2
nd
p.sg. (agreement with u, the S of this P; although the common ending
for 2
nd
p.sg. was -(e)st), VP, present indicative (pragmatic deduction); the
construction to be was still irregular, anomalous in that time. Thats why the -(e)st
ending is missing
on heofonum - PrepP; preposition dictates the case (dative -> location (v hii),
accusative -> direction (v hio))
heofonum - noun; dat.pl. (-um ending)

in ME, the particle e is gone; the demonstrative at is used to introduce the relative
clause. Gender distinction is gone from demonstratives. OE at is neuter and would
never be used with God.
oure fadir - reverts back to the normal word order
on > in - basically means the same
heuenes - f changes to u, which is a graphic variation of v; in OE, f and v
were only allophones; in ME, they are two distinct phonemes. -um > -es (OE
nom.pl. = heofonas) in ME, prepositions no longer governed cases, so the
nom. form was used
NE: which - no inanimate marking in AD 1611
heaven - sg. form from a different origin; the official translation of 1611 was
done from Hebrew, not from Wycliffes version

Si in nama gehalgod
be thy name hallowed


to becume in rice

come thy kingdom

gewure in willa

be-done thy will

on eoran swa swa on heofonum.

on earth as in heavens

urne gedghwamlican hlaf syle us todg

our daily bread give us today

and forgyf us ure gyltas

and forgive us our sins

swa swa we forgyfa urum gyltendum

as we forgive those-who-have-sinned-against-us

and ne geld u us on costnunge

and not lead thou us into temptation

ac alys us of yfele solice

but deliver us from evil. truly
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales
General Prologue (ll.1-18)

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote the drought of March hath perced to the roote
Aprille - S
with his shoures soote - AdjManner; with his showers sweet
hath perced - P; pierced
hath - verb; 3
rd
p.sg. pres indicative (infinitive: habban) > NE PresPerf has
(in ME it was still used as an alternative to PaS; the periphrastic form
auxilliary (hath) + verb (perced) was just a variation)
to the roote - Adj; to the root

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
and bathed every vein in such juice

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
relative clause, licour is the antecedent

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
temporal clause; Zephirus eek with his swete breeth is S, Inspired hath is P, hath in
every holt and heeth is DO
when Zephirus (a Greek god) also with his sweet breath inspired in every holt (gozd)
and heath (vresie)

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
the tender shoots (poganjki) and the young sun
the yonge sonne = S

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
hath yronne = P; PaPart; yronne (inf. rinnan, p.p. gerunnen)
has in the sign of the Ram (Aries - oven) half its course run

And smale foules maken melodye,
and small birds are making melodies (prepevajo)
smale - pl.
maken - pl. present indicative

That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
that sleep all night with open eyes

So priketh hem Nature in here courages-
so pricks them nature in their hearts
hem - obj. case; 3
rd
p.pl.
here - gen.pl. form

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
thanne - then
folk - S; AS origin; pl. (because of the P-S agreement)
the NE version has the P and S switched (...then people long to go...) , which
happened under French influence
longen - verb; pl. pres.ind. (-en is the only surviving pl. suffix in ME, whereas OE
still had three) - zahrepenijo
to goon - to go (infinitive)
pilgrimages - French accent setting

And palmers for to seken straunge strondes
palmers - S; A returning pilgrim was called a palmer, as they would wear two
crossed palm leaves to show they had made the pilgrimage. -en.wikipedia.org
for to seken - the verb is doubly marked. to is specialized for infinitival use, as a
marker of direction...?????????
strange stroundes - tuje obale

To ferne halwes, couthe in sundry londes;
ferne - far away
halwes - destinations of pilgrims where the relics of saints were kept (c.f. halga,
hallow)
couthe - PaPart - known (inf. cunnan)
sundry - different; c.f. asunder
londes - lands

And specially, from every shires ende
from every shires ende - z vseh koncev/grofij

Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
wende - pres.ind. pl.; go (NOT went) - OE wendan - go, set off, WV class 1.
The preterite form has t instead of d in place of the dental suffix.

The hooly blisful martyr for to seke
hooly - holy
blisful martyr - Thomas Beckett
for to seke - for marks purpose, direction
seke - see

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.
That hem hath holpen - rel. clause
that - who
hem - them (hem = OE pers. pron. form; them = Scand. pers. pron. form)
hath holpen - has helped; PresPers (As far as the form is concerned)
whan that they were seeke - another rel. clause
seeke - sick, pl. ending -e

Bifil that in that sesoun on a day,
bifil - it happened, no obvious S (it requires one today); pret.tense of befall(en) -
StrV, that is why preterite tense does not have a dental suffix
sesoun - part of the year

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,
Southwerk - place near London
Tabard - name of the pub...
lay - weak or strong, no dental suffix

Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage
to wenden - to set off, to go (infinitive)

To Caunterbury, with foul devout courage,
foul devout courage - very devout heart
foul - in NE it isnt foul, but full. Great Vowel Shift, remember? No? Thought so :)

At night were come into that hostelrye
were - to be, PaTense
come - PaPart
were come - formally PaPerf (had come), but rules for periphrastic forms were not
yet established in Chaucers times; in ME it was used as an equivalent to Preterite
tense, a variation (but it is not passive voice); but even if we take that into account, it
translates as at night, they (to) be come into the pub - in Chaucers times, auxilliary
to be was usually used with intransitive verbs, whereas have was used with
transitive verbs.
hostelrye - otarija

Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye Of sundry folk...
wel - filler word, kar devetindvajset ljudi...
nyne and twenty - twenty-nine
sundry folk - different people



Mark 6

Old English

22:
And a a re Herodiadiscan dohtor inn-eode and tumbode: hit licode Herode and eallum
m e him mid ston. Se cyninZ cwa a to m mZdene: Bidde me swa hwt swa u
wille, and ic e selle.

24:
a heo ut-eode, heo cw to hire meder: Hws bidde ic? a cw heo: Iohannes heafod
s fulluhteres.

25:
Sona a heo... to m cyninZe eode... and cw: Ic wille t u me hrdlice on anum disce
selle Iohannes heafod.


Middle English (Wycliffe, cca. 1375 AD, translation from Latin, not OE)

22:
And whanne the douZter of thilke Erodias hadde entride yn, and lepte, and pleside to Eroude,
and also to men restynge, the kyng seide to the wenche: Axe thou of me what thou wolt, and
I schal Zyue to thee.

24:
The whiche, whanne sche gadde gon out, seide to hir modir: What schal I axe? And sche
seid The heed of John Baptist.

25:
And whanne sche hadde entrid anon with haste to the kyng, sche axide, seynige: I wole that
anoon thou Zyue to me in a dische the heed of John Baptist.

Modern English (Authorised Version of the Bible, 1611, translation from Hebrew)

22:
And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and
them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel: Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I
will give it thee.

24:
And she went forth and said unto her mother: What shall I ask? And she said: The head
of John the Baptist.

25:
And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying,:I will that thou
give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.

Verse 22:

And a a Herodiadiscan dohtor inn-eode and tumbod hit licode Herode and eallum m e
him mid ston. Se cyninZ cw a to m mZden Bidde me swa hwt swa u wille, and
ic e selle.

a, a - and were used for the same phoneme, but their pronunciation differed with
regards to the position and voicedness (or the lack thereof) of the environment. Both words
had many functions and meanings (then, when, that, those...). In this text, a means then, and
a means when.
re - there; AdvPlace; existential there

OE Herodiadiscan - (wife) of Herodiad - genitive form; -an ending (proper names were
declined as weak declensions of nouns - n-declension
ME of Erodias - NE of Herodias; in ME and NE, the long and complex OE genitive form is
replaced by the more transparent of-phrase. In ME, the h sound is not pronounced in such
positions, so it is also dropped in spelling.

OE dohtor - N.sg.; S of the sentence; minor declension
ME douZter - ; Z used to represent all 3 allophones of g, but here it is used instead of h.
Why? Because Wycliffe uses the letter g for the sound y, so Z is free to take some other
function. Eventually, the diagraph <gh> replaced it.

OE inn-eode
inn - prefix, AdvPlace; by ME, most are gone, because they carry no significant
meaning
eode - Pret form of gan. The word had many stems.
ME hadde entride yn
PaPerf form (stylistic, not required)
entride - from French; adopted the weak declension (no dental suffix)
enter is used with have, not to be
NE came in - Predicator of the sentence

OE tumbode - weak verb, class II; tumbian = dance; (NE tumble)
ME lepte - leap, jump around, comes from French
NE danced

OE hit licode Herode
hit - it, the dancer, the situation (not expressed in ME/NE, because the translation is
different)
licode - to please; weak verb, class II; inf. lician (NE like, SL ugajati), dative -
licode whom? licode Herode (so Herode is dative case)
ME pleside to Eroude - PrepPhrase used instead of case endings

eallum m - all these
eallum = all + dative ending (-um)
m = to those (demonstrative pronoun), dat.pl. of a; NE them (pers. pronoun,
borrowed from Scan. eim, aim.)

e him mid ston
him mid - with him (postposition of prepositions, hehe, was quite common in OE)
OE ston - sat; Pret pl. (because of the ending)
ME restynge (participial ending > resting)
NE sit, sat

Se cyninZ cw a to m mZdene

OE se - demonstrative that, masc. form. In OE, articles were optional; in ME and
NE, that changes to the
OE cyninZ - alternative spelling to cyng
ME kyng - because of French orthography (c>k)

OE cw - 3
rd
. p. sg. pret. of cwean, a class V strong verb, meaning to say. Not
preserved in NE, except in bequeath (to leave sbd sth when you die)
ME quath (French orthography)
NE quoth (Quoth the raven, Nevermore. -E.A. Poe - The Raven)

OE to m mZdene - m mZdene is a NP in dative case, to is a preposition.
m is the dative form of the definite article. mZdene means a young woman,
maiden, and is neuter gender.
ME wenche - child (from OE wencel - child). In NE, wench means prostitute.
NE damsel - young unmarried woman, of French/Latin origin (Old French
damoisele - c.f. Modern French madamoiselle - my damsel)

Bidde me swa hwt swa u wille, and ic e selle.

OE Bidde - imperative of biddan, a SV class V, meaning pay, ask; ME axe, NE
ask (Ace Ventura (1990s) still uses axe, though - Excuse me, can I axe you a
question? Hilarious.).
ME axe < OE acsian (WV class 2) - metathesis happened from OE to ME - c and s
sounds changed places and NE ask was born. C.f. OE brid > NE bird, SL bela >
ebela.

OE swa hwt - whatsoever (swa = NE so, hwt = NE what)

OE u - pers. pron. 2
nd
p. sg. > NE thou

OE wille - subjunctive form; subj. was used more extensively in OE
ME wolt - full lexical verb, meaning want; indicative; ending should be -st, but it is
only -t (ending of preteritum present?)
NE wilt

OE willan is an anomalous verb: 1
st
p.sg.pres: wille; 2
nd
p. wilt, 3
rd
p. wille. But there
was a great deal of variation, because w influenced the succeding syllable and
produced alternative forms: OE wolle (>>>NE wont) , wulle.

OE ic - S, 1
st
p.sg. pronoun I

OE e - pers. pron. 2
nd
p.sg., dative case, IO
ME thee - with the preposition to - double marking of the dative case
NE thee

OE selle - no specific future tense marker, but it refers to the future; in OE, it meant
give, in NE it means sell. Sellan was a WV class 1 - despite its NE paradigm
(irregular verb sell-sold-sold) would suggest it was a strong verb. Preterite forms of
this verb (sealde, salde) produced the NE irregular form sold.

ME schal Zyue to thee
schal - modal and temporal (future); there were sch and sc spellings, but sch
eventually prevailed
Zyue was a SV class V. Zy is always pronounced [j]; give comes from
Scandinavian, not AS.

NE I will give it thee

Verse 24:

a heo ut-eode, heo cw to hire meder: Hws bidde ic? a cw he Iohannes heafod
s fulluhteres.

a heo ut-eode, heo cw to hire meder:

OE a - conjunction when; whanne

OE heo - S, pers. pron. 3
rd
p.sg. nom. fem.
ME he - OE he, she, they coalesced into he in ME, that is why alternate wordings
were also used - e.g. ME sche from OE seo (Midland) for fem. demonstrative
pronoun.

OE heo cw - she said, she quoth
NE said < ME seide, said < OE sedgian

OE meder - moir was the most common OE form for mother. meder is a minor
declension, used occasionaly (dat. acc. sg., nom. pl.); it was declined after the
mutated plural paradigm.

Hws bidde ic

Hws - what, gen. form (c.f. SL esa naj ga prosim?)
bidde - subj. mood

OE a cw heo
ME sche seide

Iohannes heafod s fulluhteres.

heafod - head

fulluhteres - the one that performs the baptism, the baptist; OE fulluht, fulwiht).
fulluhteres was the genitive form. The word baptism comes from Greek baptain - to
dip (into water)

Verse 25:

Sona a heo... to m cyninZe eode... and cw: Ic wille t u me hrdlice on anum disce
selle Iohannes heafod.

Sona a heo

sona - soon; adv. OE sona > ME son(e > NE [su:n] soon

to m cyninZe eode - to the king went

m - dat. form; demonstrative, used as the def. article

ME sche hadde entrid anon

hadde - had
anon - soon

Ic wille t u me hrdlice on anum disce

OE Ic wille > ME I wole > NE I will > I want

OE hrdlice - soon, at once
ME anoon
NE by and by

OE anum disce - on one disc, on a disc. OE disc < Lat. discus plate
NE charger - type of plate
III. Matthew 7. 24-27

lc ara e as min word gehier and a wyrc, bi gelic m wisan were, se his hus ofer
stan getimbrode. a com r regen and micel flod, and r bleowan windas, and ahruron on
t hus, and hit na ne feoll: solice hit ws ofer stan getimbrod.

Vsak od njih, ki te moje beseda slii in se po njih ravna (po njih ivi), je podoben tistemu
modremu mou, ki svojo hio na kamen postavi.

lc - each (N)
ara - those (gen.), indefinite pronoun (PostM to lc)
e as min word gehier and a wyrc - rel. clause postmodifying lc ara (S)
e - rel. particle (its only function is to introduce rel. clauses), who
as min word - DO (NP)
as - these (the only indicator of plurality in this sentence; OE allowed for
more than one determiner - e.g. as min - these my)
min - my (same form for sg. and pl.)
word - words - neut.pl.acc. (a-Declension, zero pl. marker)
gehier and a wyrc - P
gehier - hears; 3
rd
p.sg. pres. indicative, WV class 1 (inf. hieran; - was the
regular ending for 3
rd
p.sg.)
and - and
a - those
wyrc - work; 3
rd
p.sg.; act words out, perform; WV class 1 (wyrchan)

bi gelic m wisan were - main clause
bi - to be, is, P, 3
rd
p.sg. pres. ind.; a completely anomalous verb
gelic - SC; like, similar (c.f. German gleich)
m wisan were - NP
m - demonstrative that, dat. form of s
wisan - PreM to were; adj. wise, dat.; why wisan (strong declension) and
not just wis (weak declension)? because wisan here takes the role of an
adjective, and requires the form wisan (strong declension, indefinite
reference). OE adjectives had 2 forms: definite (weak endings) and indefinite
(strong endings).
were - man (c.f. werewolf = wolf-man), dat.sg. of wer

e his hus ofer stan getimbrode - PostM to were
e - who
his - this
hus - house
ofer - on
stan - stone
getimbrode - built; WV class 2 - timbrian

a - then
com - came; SV, no dental suffix, 3
rd
p.sg.preterite
r - there
regen - rain
and - and
micel flod - big flood
r - existential there
bleowan - blew; SV, no dental suffix (inf. blawan); pret.pl.
windas - wind; masc.
thruron on - storm upon (zgrmeti, zruiti se nad); pl., WV class 2
t hus - that house; acc. case
hit - it (house)
na ne feoll - did not fall (literally didnt not fall; double negation was quite common in OE)
feoll - SV, pret. tense.

solice - so- = root, meaning truth; -lic- = adj. suffix, like; -e = adv. ending, ly
hit - it
ws - was
ofer - upon
stan - stone
getimbrod - built.