Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy

1. Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy

2. So in the last chapter, we encountered strong nouns. They are called strong because they retain their stems in forming plurals. Learning the endings of the strong nouns means you have the majority of the work already done for you. Oh! And a tip: the article is going to be your friend for both strong and weak nouns. If you recognize the article but are not sure of the ending on the noun, the article always agrees in Gender, Number, and Case with the noun it goes with. So the article is very good to know.

3. Weak nouns are weak because they have a lot of the same endings. As you look at the chart on pg. 61 you will note a lot of –an endings. So, the reader therefore has to depend on the article and the context and word order in order to figure out what’s what grammatically. • In the weak nouns, masculine nominatives end in –a, feminines end in –e as do the neuters.

4. Weak Verbs • Weak verbs are distinguished from strong verbs because strong verbs in the past tense change their stem vowel whereas weak verbs add a “d” or “t” and then an ending to the stem. • In modern English this is the difference between verbs such as ring, rang, rung, and drive, drove, driven, come, came and similar verbs now called “irregular” by most modern English grammars, and verbs that add –ed to form the past tense, now called regular since this is now the norm in ModE.

5. There are three classes of Weak verbs. • There are three principle parts of weak verbs. • Principle parts of verbs should be memorized, it will come in handy. It will also help distinguish strong from weak verbs.

6. The principal parts of the verb are: the present infinitive (usu. Ending in –an), singular past, and past participle • In Class I weak verbs (remember we said above there are 3 classes), there are a few verbs that change their root vowel in the past. The reason for this though has to do with other kinds of sound changes: that is, the strong verb deliberately changes its root vowel to signify the past tense; the weak verbs that have a vowel change in the root result from the change of stress caused by the ending attached to the stem-that is the result of forming the past tense rather than the cause.

7. These special Class I verbs are few and are best just memorized in the principal parts. • Class I weak verbs are classified as such because they end in –an. • There are two subgroups. The first is verbs with short vowels in the stem and doubled consonants (fremman, settan, aswebban [perform, set, kill respectively]) or short stem vowel followed by an –r- and –i- (herian). • These are Ia and Ib

8. So a question that immediately jumps to your mind is: why do I need to know this crap? Seems a bit pedantic. Well, it is. But phonology…the study of sound changes…affects morphology and vice versa. That is, adding sounds to a word, changing the stress patterns etc, changes the endings, and the endings need to be known to tell what is going on with the grammar. • Ok, full disclosure: you don’t. When you read, the context will help out immensely. But this information is good to know for those times when you get stuck: then this is the fall back method of figuring out what is going on.

9. Now we mentioned class II weak verbs…. • Yep, sure did. Class II is generally those verbs that end in –ian. The exception is –RIAN…most verbs having a short vowel followed by an –ri- are Class Ib you undoubtedly recall. So most verbs ending in –RIAN are Class Ib Weak, but not all. All other verbs ending in –ian are Class II Weak.

10. Ok, so afore we get to the endings of those Weak Verbs…wait, you say, what about Weak III class…we’ll pick those up in another chapter. • So, before getting to the endings (or conjugations…nouns, pronouns, and adjectives decline (the cases ending paradigms), verbs conjugate), there are a few other verby sorts of things we need to get a handle on.

11. Every verb has Tense, Voice, Mood, Number, and Person • Huh, you say? • Tense, this verb form’s relationship to time (Past, Present, or Future) and its aspect • Voice, whether the subject is doing the acting or is being active upon. Active is where I am giving the lesson; Passive is where the lesson is being given by me.

12. Now we come to Mood….and we are not talking about whether the verb is happy being a verb, depressed because it would rather be a pronoun…ok, corny I know… • Mood expresses the verb form’s relationship to the real world. Back in the day of Proto-Indo-European, there were 5 moods all expressed by different endings on the verb. • First up is the Indicative. This is the real world. Any real world action takes the Indicative verb form.

13. Subjunctive-moves out of the real world to express things like possibilities, hopes, intentions, and so on. • Optative-out even further to wish things, prayers, potentials • Imperative-to give commands • Infinitive-not bound by any of this, infinite

14. By the time we are getting into the historically attested languages, like the cases, some of these are beginning to drop out. Optative becomes rarer, and doesn’t exist in Latin for example. • For Old English, it is even simpler. We have here the Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Imperative (rare), and the Infinitive. • The Old English subjunctive is usually used in conjunction with Indicative verbs.

15. So, for example, if I were to express a wish, “I wish that it would rain.” So “wish” would be indicative” “rain” would be in the subjunctive, expressing the wish. • This is true of most subjunctive usage, even those highly truncated poetic ones. Thus, verbs of wish, desire, command (which really is a more forceful wish), and impersonals (it is permitted to me that I should dance) all are followed by a subjunctive.

16. There are stand alone usages too: watch for “if” clauses (swelce, gif, etc), concessive clauses (though, although,) or with what is called the “jussive” subjunctive, “Let us pray”, “Let us give praise to God”. • Ok, so following is the paradigm from a different Old English book, just for variety

17.   Class 1 Class 2 • ‘injure’ ‘praise’ ‘heal’ ‘love’ • infinitivessceþþanherianhǣlanlufian tōsceþþannetōheriannetōhǣlannetōlufianne • present • indicative 1 sg. sceþþeheriehǣlelufie • 2 sceþestheresthǣlstlufast • 3 sceþeþhereþhǣlþlufað • pl.sceþþaþheriaþhǣlaþlufiað • past • indicative 1 sg. sceþedeheredehǣldelufode • 2 sceþedestheredesthǣldestlufodest • 3 sceþedeheredehǣldelufode • pl.sceþedonheredonhǣldonlufodon • present • subjunctivesg. sceþþeheriehǣlehēolufie • pl.sceþþenherienhǣlenlufien • past • subjunctivesg. sceþedeheredehǣldelufode • pl.sceþedenheredenhǣldenlufoden • imperative   sg. sceþeherehǣllufa • pl.sceþþaþheriaþhǣlaþlufiað • participlessceþendeheriendehǣlendelufiende • sceþedheredhǣledlufod

18. Some things to note: • 1. verbs whose roots end in a –d or –t act a bit differently. Adding another d or t to make the past tense ending means that the second d or t simply gets absorbed. So the past tense of sendan is senderather than the expected sendede. This is why in modern English the verb send in the past tense is sent not sended.

19. The second infinitive…the one with “to” preceding it. It acts a lot like a modern infinitive so will cause little confusion. In Old English it is usually treated as a noun (To doubt wisely is not to question as Donne has it). • Swain tip: as you memorize the vocabulary, memorize also the verb class • Swain Tip II write out the paradigms for each verb in the vocab list. This will again help you learn both the endings and the vocabulary.

20. And Now For something Completely Different • So last time we talked about the coming of the early Anglo-Saxon and all that jazz, early settlements, etc. • So as a reminder, we talked about the runic alphabet and the coming of Christianity which meant bringing the Latin alphabet and Latin literature into this Germanic culture. This didn’t happen until 597 CE. • If you’re interested here is Bede’s story: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.asp Augustine is sent in ch. Xxiii.

21. The following is a timeline of events for the early Anglo-Saxon period: • 300 BC Celts or “Brythons” live in Britain • 54-55 BC Julius Caesar invaded Britons • 43 AD Claudius conquered Britain • 50 Londinium (London) founded by Romans as supply port • 61 Boadicea leads eastern British tribe vs. Romans • 200s? St. Alban Martyred • 259 Gallic Empire • Post-274 Unnamed Governor revolts • 288 Carasusius revolts • 306 Constantine Declared Emperor by his troops • 313 Christianity proclaimed religion in Roman Empire • 353 Usurper Magnentius defeated • 383-8 Magnus Maximus gains the West from Britain • 406 Crossing the Rhine by the Vandals

22. 409 Roman legions evacuate Britain • 410 Sack of Rome • 431 Palladius in Ireland • 432 Patrick brings Christianity to Ireland • 446 Groans of the Britains • 449 Angles, Saxons, Jutes invade Britain • 537 Death of King Arthur, speculated • 577 Bath, Gloucester, and Cirencaster fall • 597 St. Augustine converts King Ethelbert, est. monastery • 670 Caedmon’s Hymn composed by the earliest English poet • 700 Beowulf composed orally • 730 Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People • 790 Vikings (Danes) invade England • 849 King Alfred the Great born • 878 Alfred defeats the Danes • 930 King Athelstan of Wessex unifies Britain • 975 Exeter Book, collection of English poetry, first copied • 991 Danes defeat Anglo-Saxons at Battle of Maldon • 1016 Second Danish invasion ends with crowning of Canute, King of England • 1066 Norman Conquest ends Anglo-Saxon era

23. The first Old English text that we know of to be written were the Laws of Aethelberht. Aethelberht was the king of Kent who allowed Augustine of Canterbury to preach in his realm and eventually converted himself. Along with having monks as advisors to the king, Aethelberht also received his own scribes and secretaries to take things like his laws down. • Sadly, the Laws only survive in a copy made 6 centuries later and updated with later spellings.

24. So, between the mid-400s and 597, several kingdoms were established in the island. If the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has it right, then there were many battles between and among these various states. By 597 there were 7 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Cornwall and Wales were in the hands of various Celtic leaders, as was Scotland to the north. • A map follows:

26. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Kent, Wessex, and Mercia. • Over there in East Anglia there was a kingdom that according to the historian Bede took the middle road: allowed Christianity in but also kept the old gods. This was a powerful kingdom in the early 7th century with ties to Scandinavia yet. One of the most important finds EVER was discovered there in the 1930s….turn to that power point next….