Old-English language, writing and literature
English is a language that changed dramatically a number of times in the course of its history, due to various conquests by other peoples. We know very little about the earliest people that inhabited the British Isles because they did not leave any writing. Most of us have heard of the Celts and perhaps even of Druids. However, theirs was not a culture that passed on its literature and language in writing, their culture was passed on orally.
The first writing, therefore, was in Latin and the language people spoke was affected by the Latin language as well. This is not surprising, since the Romans stayed in Britain for more than 400 years. The language and culture that was not affected by the Romans were of course the languages and cultures of the people the Romans could not conquer, like the Celts, the Picts and the Scots. As a result, their language is very different from English today. After the Romans left, the Germanic people eventually took over and in their turn influenced the English language. As a matter of fact, it is only now that we start speaking of the English language. The language became what is called a Germanic language and Old English shares some resemblance to Dutch and German. Later the country was invaded once more and the language changed again to become first Middle English, and later Modern English. But we will continue this story in the next literature course. For now, take a look at an example of Old-English writing, the text of Beowolf, the Old-English alphabet and the Runic alphabet. |
Old-English text:
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