Proper noun

Singular Old English

Plural -

Old English

1. The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in Britain from about 400 AD to 1100 AD. The language is a more inflected language, maintaining strong and weak verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It has a clearly marked subjunctive mood, and has 5 cases of nouns and adjectives. In addition to singular and plural grammatical numbers, there was a dual number for two people. After ca. 884, many Old Norse words made their way into Old English, as Norse settlers in the Danelaw interacted with native Anglo-Saxons.
2. (dated) Middle English.

Synonyms

• Anglo-Saxon

Related terms

• English
• Middle English
• Modern English

Old English (Englisc, Anglisc, Ænglisc) or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon.

It is a West Germanic language and is closely related to Old Frisian. It also experienced heavy influence from Old Norse, a member of the related North Germanic group of languages.

Development

Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of approximately 700 years – from the Anglo-Saxon migrations that created England in the 5th century to some time after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when the language underwent a dramatic transition. During this early period it assimilated some aspects of the languages with which it came in contact, such as the Celtic languages and the two dialects of Old Norse from the invading Vikings, who occupied and controlled large tracts of land in northern and eastern England, which came to be known as the Danelaw.

• Bibliographies@ (9)
• Courses@ (9)
• Dictionaries@ (21)
• Grammars@ (7)

See also:

• Arts: Literature: World Literature: British: Anglo-Saxon (280)
• Science: Social Sciences: Linguistics: Historical Linguistics (28)

• The Prosody of Old and Middle English
  bartleby.com
  Explains the poetic principles and techniques that underlie all Old English poetry. Also covers the transition from Old English to Middle English poetic forms, foreign influences on Middle English poetry, and the alliterative revival of the 14th century.
• Changes in the Language to the Days of Chaucer
  bartleby.com
  Studies the development of Old English and Middle English. Covers grammar, pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and dialects.
• Old English Verb Conjugator
  verbix.com
  Online tool that accepts the infinitive form of an Old English verb as input and displays the complete conjugation of that verb as output. Also summarizes Old English verb groups and classes.