First Germanic Alphabets.
Germans of pre-historic time developed their own alphabet known as “runic” that originally meant “secret”/”mystery” and the inscriptions in runes believed to be magic. It can be considered specifically Germanic alphabet as it is not known in other IE languages.
Very few people could read runic inscriptions; they were called druids and had some power over the rest of the tribesmen. The runes were used as letters, each symbol was indicating a separate sound, but could also represent a word beginning with that sound. Runic symbols were arranged in a fix order and had names, which means that it was a kind of alphabet. The Germans knew the art of runic writing long before they came to the Isles.
The letters were angular or straight lines, as a rule, because they were cut in hard material (wood, stone, bone). The shapes of some letters resemble Greek or Latin letters. The number of runes and even their name in different OG languages varied. Many runic inscriptions have been preserved on weapons, coins, amulets, tombstones, etc. The two best-known runic inscriptions found are those on the “Franks Casket” (a small box made of whale bone) and the “Ruthwell Cross” (a 25 ft tall stone inscribed and ornamented on all sides).
The alphabet used in the Germanic languages today originated from Latin. In fact, it was brought to Anglo-Saxons together with Bibles and new (Christian) religion by missioners from Rome as early as the 7th century.
Latin alphabet didn’t contain all the letters necessary for Germans to convey their sounds, that’s why they borrowed some letters from the runic alphabet, namely the letter Þ/đ called “thorn” and W (called “winn”). OE was based on a phonetic principle: every letter indicated a separate sound, though some OE letters could indicate two or more sounds. The letters of the new alphabet used by the Anglo-Saxons were pronounced and called on Latin manner.
Glossary
Futhark – the first runic alphabet, included 24 runes
Grimm Jacob – a famous German linguist of the 19th c., one of the founders of comparative linguistics.
Proto-Germanic (Common Germanic, Primitive Germanic, Primitive Teutonic) – the language, spoken by the ancient Germanic tribes at the time between the division of the Indo-European speech community and the split of different Germanic languages.
Runes– (original meaning – “secret, mystery”). RUNE is a letter or character of the earliest Teutonic alphabet. The general number of letters was different: 24 on the continent and from 28 to 33 runes in Britain. In some inscriptions they were arranged in a fixed order. After the first six letters this alphabet is called futhark. The alphabet was formed by modifying the letters of the Roman variety of alphabet or Greek alphabet so as to facilitate cutting them upon wood or stone; only some of the runes have analogous symbols in Latin.
The earliest runic alphabet dates from at least the 2nd or 3rd century BC. Makaev E A. indicates that all runic inscriptions may be divided into 3 periods. The first covers the years from 475 to 550, the second from 550 to 600, and the 3rd from 600 to 650 BC. But there is no doubt that the art of runic writing was known to the Germanic tribes long before they came to Britain. Runes were most extensively used (in various forms) by the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons.
Verner Carl – a Danish scholar of the 19th c.
Literature
A) Principal:
1. Історія англійської мови / Навчальний посібник для самостійної роботи студентів-філологів, що вивчають англійську мову як фах. – Полтава, 2002. – C. 10-17.
2. Rastorgueva T.A. A History of English. – M., 1983. – Chapter III (P.34-42), Chapter V (P. 55-58), Chapter VI-VII (P. 63-74).
B) Supplementary:
1. Залесская Л.Д., Матвеева Д.А. Пособие по истории английского языка для заочных отделений факультетов английского языка педагогических институтов. – М., 1984. – C. 8-12, 18-19.
2. Zaitseva S.D. Early Britain. – M., 1981. – Chapter I, II (P.14-44).