Guide to Old English

Fred C. Robinson is  Douglas Tracy Smith Professor Emeritus at Yale University. He is a Fellow and past President of the Medieval Academy of America, and has received many honors. He has written extensively on Beowulf, Old English, and English and American literature and language of all periods.  Bruce Mitchell is late Fellow Emeritus of St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford.

• Foreword to the Eighth Edition vi Map of Anglo-Saxon England viiAbbreviations and Symbols xvHow to Use this Guide 1PART ONE.1 Preliminary Remarks on the Language (§§1–4) 112 Orthography and Pronunciation (§§5–9) 13i Orthography (§5) 13ii Stress (§6) 13iii Vowels (§7) 14iv Diphthongs (§8) 14v Consonants (§9) 153 Inflexions (§§10–135) 17Introduction (§§10–14) 17i Pronouns (§§15–21) 18ii Nouns and Sound-Changes Relevant to Them (§§22–62) 20Weak Nouns (§§22–25) 20Some Technical Terms (§§26–32) 20Strong Nouns like stan (masc.) and scip (neut.) (§§33–44) 22Masculine and Neuter Nouns in -e (§§45–46) 26Strong Feminine Nouns (§§47–51) 27i-Mutation (§§52–57) 28Nouns Affected by i-Mutation (§§58–60) 29u-Nouns (§§61–62) 30iii Adjectives (§§63–76) 31Introduction (§§63–64) 31Weak Declension (§65) 31Strong Declension (§§66–67) 31Stem Changes in Adjectives (§§68–73) 32Comparison of Adjectives (§§74–76) 33iv Observations on Noun, Adjective, and PronounDeclensions (§§77–81) 34v Numerals (§§82–86) 34vi Strong Verbs and Sound-Changes Relevant toThem (§§87–114) 35Introduction (§§87–89) 35Principal Parts of the Strong Verbs (§§90–95) 36Breaking (§§96–99) 38Influence of Initial i, sc, h (§100) 39Influence of Nasals (§101) 40Summary of the Strong Verbs of Class III (§102) 40The Effects of Sound-Changes on Other Strong Verbs (§103) 40Strong Verbs of Class VII (§104) 41Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law (§§105–109) 41Conjugation of the Strong Verb (§§110–114) 43vii Weak Verbs and Sound-Changes Relevant toThem (§§115–126) 46Introduction (§115) 46Class 1 (§§116–123) 46Class 2 (§§124–125) 49Class 3 (§126) 50viii Anomalous Verbs (§§127–130) 51Bbon (§127) 51Ddn and gan (§128) 51Willan (§129) 52Preterite-Present Verbs (§130) 52ix Is a Verb Strong or Weak? To which Class does it Belong? (§§131–134) 53x Adverbs (§135) 54Formation (§135) 54Comparison (§135) 544 Word Formation (§§136–138) 55Introduction (§136) 55i Compounding (§137) 56ii The Addition of Affixes (§138) 57Prefixes (§138) 58Suffixes (§138) 595 Syntax (§§139–214) 61Introduction (§§139–142) 61i Word-Order (§§143–147) 63ii Sentence Structure (§§148–153) 66Recapitulation and Anticipation (§148) 66The Splitting of Heavy Groups (§149) 67Correlation (§§150–153) 68iii Noun Clauses (§§154–161) 70Introduction (§154) 70Dependent Statements and Desires (§§155–156) 70Dependent Questions (§§157–160) 72The Accusative and Infinitive (§161) 75iv Adjective Clauses (§§162–165) 75Definite Adjective Clauses (§§162–163) 75Indefinite Adjective Clauses (§164) 79Mood (§165) 80v Adverb Clauses (§§166–181) 81Introduction (§§166–167) 81Non-Prepositional Conjunctions (§168) 83Prepositional Conjunctions (§§169–171) 83An Exercise in Analysis (§172) 86Clauses of Place (§173) 87Clauses of Time (§174) 88Clauses of Purpose and Result (§175) 89Causal Clauses (§176) 89Clauses of Comparison (§177) 89Clauses of Concession (§178) 90Clauses of Condition (§179) 91Adverb Clauses Expressing Other Relationships (§180) 92Other Ways of Expressing Adverbial Relationships (§181) 93vi Parataxis (§§182–186) 93Introduction (§§182–183) 93List of Conjunctions and Adverbs CommonlyUsed (§184) 94Parataxis without Conjunctions (§185) 96Some Special Idioms (§186) 96vii Concord (§187) 971. Nouns, Pronouns and their Modifiers (§187) 972. Pronouns and their Antecedents (§187) 973. Subject and Verb (§187) 98viii The Uses of the Cases (§§188–192) 98Nominative (§188) 98Accusative (§189) 99Genitive (§190) 99Dative (§191) 99Instrumental (§192) 100ix Articles, Pronouns, and Numerals (§§193–194) 100Articles and Pronouns (§193) 100Numerals (§194) 101x Verbs (§§195–212) 101The Uses of the Present and Preterite Tenses (§§195–198) 101The Resolved Tenses (§§199–204) 103Introduction (§199) 103The Verb 'to have' as an Auxiliary (§200) 103The Verb 'to be' as an Auxiliary of Tense (§201) 104The Passive (§§202–203) 104Other Uses of the Present and Past Participles (§204) 105The Uses of the Infinitives (§205) 105The 'Modal' Auxiliaries (§§206–211) 106Introduction (§206) 106Magan (§207) 107*Mdtan (§208) 107Cunnan (§209) 108*Sculan (§210) 108Willan (§211) 108Impersonal Verbs (§212) 109xi Prepositions (§§213–214) 109List of Prepositions (§214) 1106 An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Studies (§§215–251) 111i Some Significant Dates (§§215–216) 111ii History (§§217–218) 111iii Archaeology (§§219–230) 117Introduction (§219) 117List of Abbreviated Titles (§220) 118Weapons and Warfare (§221) 120Life and Dress (§222) 120Architecture and Buildings (§§223–224) 121Sculpture and Carving (§225) 122Jewellery and Metalwork (§226) 123Embroidery (§227) 123Coins (§228) 124Manuscripts and Runic Inscriptions (§229) 124The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial (§230) 124iv Language (§§231–235) 125Changes in English (§231) 125The Danish Invasions (§232) 126The Norman Conquest (§233) 127Vocabulary (§234) 127Some Questions (§235) 128v Literature (§§236–251) 128Introduction (§§236–246) 128Poetry (§§247–249) 134Prose (§§250–251) 1357 Select Bibliography (§§252–269) 137General (§252) 137Chapter 1 Preliminary Remarks on the Language (§253) 137Chapter 2 Orthography and Pronunciation (§254) 138Chapter 3 Inflexions (§254) 138Chapter 4 Word Formation (§255) 138Chapter 5 Syntax (§256) 138Chapter 6 Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Studies (§§257–269) 139History (§257) 139Archaeology (§258) 139Language (§§259–261) 140History of English Prose (§259) 140Vocabulary (§§260–261) 140Word Formation 140Changes of Meaning (§260) 140Borrowings (§261) 140Literature (§§262–269) 141Topics Raised in §§236–246 (§262) 141General Criticism (§263) 141Poetry Texts (§264) 141Appreciation of the Poetry (§265) 143The Use of Oral Formulae (§266) 143Metre (§267) 143Prose Texts (§268) 144Sources (§269) 144Appendix A Strong Verbs 146Appendix B Some Effects of i-Mutation 154Appendix C Metre 156Appendix D List of Linguistic Terms Used in this Book 163Appendix E The Moods of Old English 174Appendix F Grimm's and Verner’s Laws 175PART TWO: PROSE AND VERSE TEXTS.1 Practice Sentences 1792 Two Old Testament Pieces 181The Fall of Man 182Abraham and Isaac 1863 A Colloquy on the Occupations 1904 Two Characteristic Prose Works by Ælfric 198Preface to Genesis 198St. Edmund, King and Martyr 2035 Alfred the Great’s Preface to his Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care 2126 Cynewulf and Cyneheard 2167 Selections from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 2208 Bede's Account of the Conversion of King Edwin 2249 Bede's Account of the Poet Cædmon 22810 The Goths and Boethius: Prose and Verse from the Introduction to King Alfred's Boethius Translation 23411 (a)–(p) Riddles 23912 The Battle of Maldon 24913 The Ruin 26114 The Dream of the Rood 26415 The Wife’s Lament 27216 The Wanderer 27617 The Seafarer 28418 Four excerpts from Beowulf 291Prologue 294(a) Beowulf’s Fight with Grendel 296(b) Beowulf Consoles Hrothgar for Æschere's Death 303(c) The Lament of the Last Survivor 306(d) Beowulf’s Funeral 30719 Wulf and Eadwacer 30920 Judith 31221 Cotton Gnomes or Maxims 32522 Sermo Lupi ad Anglos 329Glossary 337Indexes to Part One 418Index of Subjects 418Index of Words 422