Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book

Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book - with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary

The history of the English language falls naturally into three periods; but these periods blend into one another so gradually that too much significance must not be attached to the exact dates which scholars, chiefly for convenience of treatment, have assigned as their limits. Our language, it is true, has undergone many and great changes; but its continuity has never been broken, and its individuality has never been lost. The first of these periods is that of Old English, or Anglo-Saxon,1 commonly known as the period of full 2 inflections. E.g. stn-as, stones; car-u, care; will-a, will; bind-an, to bind; help-a (=ath), they help. It extends from the arrival of the English in Great Britain to about one hundred years after the Norman Conquest,from A.D. 449 to 1150; but there are no literary remains of the earlier centuries of this period. There were four2 distinct dialects spoken at this time. These were the Northumbrian, spoken north of the river Humber; the Mercian, spoken in the midland region between the Humber and the Thames; the West Saxon, spoken south and west of the Thames; and the Kentish, spoken in the neighborhood of Canterbury. Of these dialects, Modern English is most nearly akin to the Mercian; but the best known of them is the West Saxon. It was in the West Saxon dialect that King Alfred (849-901) wrote and spoke. His writings belong to the period of Early West Saxon as distinguished from the period of Late West Saxon, the latter being best represented in the writings of Abbot lfric (955?-1025?). ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 31277
Author: Smith, C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso)
Release Date: Feb 15, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English