Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Ðā hē þā sē cyning þās word gehīerde, þā hēt hē hīe bīdan on þæm ēalande þe hīe ūp cōmon; and him þider hiera þearfe forgēaf, oð þæt hē gesāwe hwæt hē him dōn wolde. Swelce ēac ǽr þǽm becōm hlīsa tō him þǽre crīstenan ǽfæstnesse, forþon hē crīsten wīf hæfde, him gegiefen of Francena cyningcynne, Beorhte wæs hāten. Þæt wīf hē onfēng fram hiere ieldrum þǽre ārǽdnesse þæt hēo his lēafnesse hæfde þæt hēo þone þēaw þæs crīstenan gelēafan and hiere ǽfæstnesse ungewemmedne healdan mōste mid þy biscope, þone þe hīe hiere tō fultume þæs gelēafan sealdon, þæs nama wæs Lēodheard.

When the king heard these words, then bade he them to bide on the island that they had come upon; and them thither their need provided, until that he saw what he would do with them. Likewise ere that had come to him the fame of the Christian religion, since he had a Christian wife, given him from the royal family of the Franks, (who) was named Bertha. That wife he received from her parents (elders) on the condition that she should have his permission that she the practice of the Christian faith and her religion unimpaired might hold with the bishop whom they to her for the help of the (her) faith had given, whose name was Leodheard.

Task:Study the following passage from the book “Words in time” by Geoffrey Hughes (Oxford, 1989):

“Of the original word-hoard which has survived – about one-third of the vocabulary, it is estimated by Herbert Koziol (1937, p.8) – many central terms have been supplanted or changed out of recognition. …the updating of the forms and meanings of major terms from Anglo-Saxon poetry produces some strange results: by such means it might be said that

Beowulf took lust (A-S lust, ‘pleasure, joy’) in dreary (A-S drēorig, ‘bloodstained’) battle, was moody (A-S mōdig, ‘brave, spirited’), rode a mare (A-S mearh, ‘a steed’), yelped (A-S gielpan, ‘to boast or challenge’), fazed his enemies (A-S fesian, ‘to put to flight’), fought a worm (A-S wyrm, ‘a dragon’) and then cringed (A-S cringan, ‘to die, fall in battle’).

 

The once-proud words of his poet now present a sorry figure”.

 

1) using any authoritative monolingual dictionary, explain the meanings of the underlined modern English words;

2) compare them with the Old English meanings of the same words;

3) what kind of change have these words undergone in the course of their history?

 

To find out the meanings of the Old English words, use An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by J. Bosworth and M.A. Toller (London, 1973).

 

MAP SUPPLEMENTS

 

THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS

 

 

 

OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS

 

 

MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTS

 

 

 

THE VIKING INVASIONS

 

 

 

SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENTS IN BRITAIN

 

 

NORMAN CONQUEST of 1066

 

 

СПИСОК РЕКОМЕНДУЕМОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ:

Основная литература:

1. Арсеньева М.Г., Балашова С.П., Берков В.П., Соловьева Л.Н. Введение в германскую филологию. – М., 2000

3. Берков В.П. Современные германские языки. – М., 2001

4. Baugh A.C., Cable Th. A History of the English Language. – London, 1997

5. Shaposhnikova I.V. A History of the English Language. The Early Period (Linguo-ethnic Approach) – Irkutsk, 1997

6. Rastorguyeva T.A. A History of English. – M.: Vyssaja Škola, 1983

7. Ilyish B.A. History of the English Language. – L.: “Prosvescheniye”, 1973.

8. The Issues in English Philology. – Irkutsk, 1998.

Дополнительная литература:

1. Берков В.П. Введение в германистику. – М., 2006

2. Хлебникова И.Б. Введение в германскую филологию и историю английского языка. – М., 2001

3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка: Учеб. пособие для студентов пед. ин-тов. – М.: Просвещение, 1985.

4. Бруннер К. История английского языка. – М.: Изд-во иностранной лит-ры, 1955.

5. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П., Беляева Т.М. История английского языка. Учебник. Хрестоматия. Словарь. – СПб.: Лань, 1998.

6. Смирницкий А.И. История английского языка. – М., 1965.

7. Шапошникова И.В. История английского языка. – Новосибирск: НГУ, 2009

7. Ярцева В.Н. Развитие национального литературного английского языка. – М.: Наука, 1969.

8. Гумилёв Л.Н. Этногенез и биосфера Земли / Сост. и общ. ред. А.И. Курчи. – М.: Институт ДИ – ДИК, 1997.

9. Bryson B. The Mother tongue: English and how it got that way. – New York: William Morrow & Co Inc., 1990.

10. Emerson O.F. The History of the English Language. – New York: The MacMillan CO., 1915.

11. Hudson R.A. Sociolinguistics. – Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996.

12. Jesperson O. Growth and Structure of the English Language. – London, 1924.

13. Morgan Kenneth O. The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. – Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984.

14. Quirk R., Wrenn C.L. An Old English Grammar. – London: Methuen & Co Ltd, 1957.

15. Skeat W.W. Principles of English Etymology. – Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.

16. Sweet H. A New English Grammar. Logical and Historical. – London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1958.

17. Wyld H.C. A Short History of English. – London, 1929.

Справочная литература

Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. – Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995.