History of the English Language PDF

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Simon Sealey The established history of the English language is one of many influences, where numerous cultures have interweaved with the language itself. The invasion of the Germanic tribes known as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, sparked literary development and evolution in Britain. The invasion of said tribes forced the Celtic-speaking population already inhabiting the British Isles to be pushed north and west, resulting in their settlements in Wales, Scotland and Cornwall. [CITATION Oxf14 \l 2057 ] This invasion and the resulting language adaptations is presently referred to as Old English. However, the development of the English language took on another influence when Scandinavian Vikings invaded Britannia again between the 8th and 11th centuries – known as Old Norse. Their impact on the language remains to this day, with place names like Scunthorpe, where the ‘thorpe’ section meant settlement – a term introduced to the language by the Vikings. Following on from this, the Normans’ conquering of England in 1066 brought about another instance of language alteration – but only for the aristocracy. The common man in this period still spoke English, whereas those who were exhibitors of law and government would speak French. [ CITATION Alk16 \l 2057 ] In conjunction with the Vikings, the Norman impact on the language and the effects of interweaving French and Scandinavian influences on Old English forced an alteration where a transition occurred after 1150, into what is commonly known as Middle English. This language development period is reflected in the piece known as Beowulf, which is originally written around the 8th century, and while it has no directly known author, it is believed it was written by an Anglo-Saxon monk and poet referred to as the ‘Beowulf author.’

Beowulf is an epic tale of monsters and heroes set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a Geats tribe warrior who comes to the aid of King Hrothgar and his tribe of Page 1 of 8

Simon Sealey Danes. An attack from a monster known as Grendel calls for the aid of Beowulf, where violent encounters between them ensue and result in Beowulf tearing the arm from the shoulder of Grendel. Grendel escapes to his home in the marshlands and passes away from the wounds he suffers. Beowulf’s display of his prize in the form of the torn limb angers Grendel’s mother, who, in an act of revenge and under cover of night, murders the King’s most loyal warrior and flees to her lair. [ CITATION Jam18 \l 2057 ] This results in Beowulf’s required heroics once again and he engages in battle with Grendel’s mother, where he eventually slices off her head. He decapitates Grendel and returns to King Hrothgar, presenting the severed head to him. Following this, King Hrothgar bestows multiple gifts upon Beowulf and on his return to home is made King himself. This is proceeded with a battle fifty years later between Beowulf and a dragon, with whom he is outmatched. Receiving mortal wounds, Beowulf dies.

The narrative of the story is one of symbolic nature, and there is a considerable amount of both Pagan and Christian values and teachings implemented into the text whether implied or direct. The characters throughout the tale represent different Christian and Pagan figures where heroics and villainy are superseded by the deep-rooted values of both religious influences. Beowulf is considered the hero of the story, but his selfindulgence and the sins of his pride prevent him from being a true puritan of Christian value and therefore disqualifies him from heroics. It could be argued that Beowulf fits the criterion associated with an antihero – a hero in the general overarching nature of the basic story but in fact is an individual who is only pursuing his own desires and needs. The suggestion of his pride over the triumph of the monsters in the tale only accentuate this and are in direct Page 2 of 8

Simon Sealey conflict to the Christian sin of pride, where being reserved and humble is the standard accepted practice of those who associate themselves with the religion. Beowulf does not show evidence of his observation to the Christian values of morality and humility and is therefore perhaps better directed to the Pagan idea of heroics, where death in battle and the pursuit of the ideal warrior is perhaps more applicable. This is suggesting the Beowulf author’s implementation of both values reflects the interweaving of Christianity on a Pagan society and gives us an idea of the period in which Beowulf was written.[ CITATION Med12 \l 2057 ]

In contrary to the idea that Beowulf is a Pagan hero and conflicting with Christian values, it is arguable that Grendel and Grendel’s mother both represent Christian figures of sin with emphasis on evil, as teaching correct Christian morality is something that the author may wish to endeavour with the meaning of Beowulf. The terminology used to identify these characters is monster – a term that in the Christian viewpoint means a creature not of God’s creation. Whilst this conflicts Beowulf’s self-centred and perhaps nihilistic behaviour and representation, exorcising him from the association of Christian heroics, the period the piece was written in mirrors the interweaving of both Pagan and Christian values in the society of the time, as the implementation of the church and religious influence on the author is coherent and incidental with the period that the tale was supposedly written in. These characters Beowulf is fighting are clear representations of undesirable qualities in Christian religious belief, through their exhibition of revenge and their naiveties regarding their actions – for example, it could be suggested that Grendel is representative of the figure Cain in the Bible, for Cain’s sins of

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Simon Sealey jealousy and murder align with the sins of Grendel and the forms in which he presents himself. [ CITATION Pel72 \l 2057 ]

The Beowulf author utilises many techniques associated with the period of Old English, with a style quite unlike any other piece of English in history. As the original tale was a piece of oral folklore, there was a need for a simpler method of remembering the story and its contents as well as allowing there to be an upheld rhythm to the tale. Due to this, the entire story is consistently formed of alliterative lines, where each line is divided into two halves – split either through punctuation or a natural, un-highlighted pause. Each half of every line contains two stressed syllables, where the division of the line generally follows proceeding these syllables. For example, in the line “wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf;” there is a natural break without need for a comma regardless of its application here, solely due to the stressed syllables contained within the line. [ CITATION Hal16 \l 2057 ] Alongside this, Beowulf uses litotes, a technique which is a form of ironic understatement with negative undertone. An example from Myerov’s [CITATION Myend \n \l 2057 ] translation of Beowulf shows the use of litotes – “…angry and resolute--the sword wasn't useless to the warrior.” All techniques stated were also used in conjunction with kennings, which Álvarez [CITATION Álv15 \n \l 2057 ] notes are used to “give shape to the whole poem.” Kennings are an Old English poetic technique replacing nouns with other words to create a metaphor, e.g. replacing the word ship with sea-conqueror. Beowulf is rich with kennings and their usage is particularly distinguished within dramatic sections of the tale to provide atmospheric depth. The reference of Grendel to a “shepherd of evil”, for example, is a kenning that attempts to create theatrical flair and accentuate the negative connotations of the character. In conjunction with Page 4 of 8

Simon Sealey kennings and all other techniques, the Beowulf author uses inflections – word endings that serve as grammatical functions such as definition of tense. While Beowulf lacks the more modern structure of subject-verb-object word order that Middle English and beyond contains, this could be argued as due to the combination of Old Norse and Old English language it uses due to the period in which it was written.

The transition from Old English to Middle English invited the development of the English language, as it was already established, into a more universally linguistic format. The sophistication of grammar combined with a loss of inflections called for the requirement of a regimented word order that made sense. The differences between dialect within Britain were also apparent in Old English writing, something which the transition to Middle English left behind with favour shown towards a standardised form of spelling. Events such as the 100 Years War which resulted in the loss of French influence from the general accommodated language of the English and the Black Plague also had their effects on Old English during the period. Alongside these, the demand that the language of the law be English and not French following the Norman invasion and conquest resulted in the loss of French influence as well, as French was no longer the language of the aristocratic society and in fact, with English as the language of the law, developed the previously established language further due to its implementation into higher classes of societal influence.

The piece ‘Piers Plowman’ by author William Langland is reflective of the language spoken in the Middle English period. It was written circa 1370, often

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Simon Sealey regarded as a piece in errand of an attack on religious values. In this, there is similarity to Beowulf, due to the direct implications of both pieces towards the ideology of religion and the exhibition of the religious values held within their texts. The inference that Piers Plowman is a piece of religious propaganda is reflected perhaps by the environmental structure Langland implemented in the tale, due to his usage of dreams. The dream environment would allow Langland to bypass censorship and promote a more creative and symbolic form of writing, therefore allowing him to pursue any such desire for the meaning behind the story as he wished. The poem consists of visions that are separated by stages known as passus, Latin for step. In each of these visions, there are satirical corollaries of secular and religious figures corrupted by Christian sin, such as greed. As Pigg [CITATION Pig99 \n \l 2057 ] suggests, the Christian implications are deeply rooted throughout each passus in the text, and many of the visions are reflective of the religious guilt that Langland has undertaken in his pursuit of absolute religious scrutiny.

The similarities in poetic technique between Beowulf and Piers Plowman lie mainly in their usage of stressed syllables and alliterative words. Piers Plowman contains alliterative words, and, while Beowulf instead uses entire lines and verses of alliteration, there is direct similarity in the reasoning for their usage – the ability to recall the texts is of importance and therefore alliteration assists this in both pieces. However, in Piers Plowman, the utilisation of inflections is few and far between, if at all, which in contrast to Beowulf which uses inflections often, shows the development of the language in the period between the creation of the two pieces. Word order and structure are imperative in Piers Plowman, as is a replication of the period it was written in itself – whereas, Beowulf does not need this due to the usage of inflections. Page 6 of 8

Simon Sealey An isolating factor to Piers Plowman in its comparison to Beowulf is the use of French words because of the Norman influence on the language used. As well as their similarities in poetic devices, the pieces both share religious undertones, but their contrast is embedded in the differences of opinion towards religion, with Beowulf attempting to embed core Christian values and Piers Plowman objecting to the ideology of religion altogether and lampooning it. The development of the language and the discrepancies between both pieces is reflective of the progression of historic English into a uniform language. Word count: 1914 References: Alkazwini, A. A., 2016. The Linguistic Influence of the Norman Conquest (11th Century) on the English Language. International Journal of Linguistics, 8(3), pp. 141-151. Álvarez, L. B., 2015. “The Study of Kennings in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf”, A Coruña: Universidade da Coruña. Grout, J., 2018. Synopsis of Beowulf. [Online] Available at: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglosaxon/beowulf/reading.html [Accessed 24 11 2018]. Hall, A. & McDonald, S., 2016. A beginner’s guide (hopefully) to Old English metre. [Online] Available at: https://www.alarichall.org.uk/teaching/alliteration/OE/oe_metre_guide.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2018]. Medlin, J. M., 2012. The Interwoven Traditions of Beowulf: Interweaving the Pagan Past, Christian Present, and Local Aesthetic in Beowulf, Athens: University of Georgia Press.

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Simon Sealey Myerov, J., nd. Beowulf: Lines 1399 to 1799. [Online] Available at: http://www.as.wvu.edu/english/oeoe/english311/1799.html [Accessed 25 11 2018]. Oxford Royale Academy, 2014. A Brief History of the English Language. [Online] Available at: https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/history-english-language.html [Accessed 22 11 2018]. Peltola, N., 1972. Grendel's Descent from Cain Reconsidered. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 73(1), pp. 284-291. Pigg, D. F., 1999. Apocalypse Then: The Ideology of Literary Form in "Piers Plowman". Religion and Literature, 31(1), pp. 103-116.

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