old english

Question 1

celtic/latin

Answer 1

• English began with anglo-saxons which were a Germanic tribe
• the inhabitants of Britain were celts who spoke latin
• in the 6th century, England was called ‘Angli’ which was latin, the language of the church

Question 2

writing

Answer 2

• a few letters of old English were discontinued

- the writing system was phonological, every letter represented a phoneme

Question 3

first manuscript

Answer 3

• a book, document of written music by hand
• the first manuscript dated back to the 3rd century, which suggested the zero sybol had been used much earlier than thought

Question 4

English lit

Answer 4

• also known as Anglo-Saxon literature
• Beoworlf is the oldest Germanic epic, and the longest poem written in 700 AD
• the poem is alliterative, one feature was ‘kenning’ for example ‘swan road’ was used to descrive a sea

Question 5

dialects

Answer 5

• 4 main dialects
• Kentish- people who lived around Kent
• Mercian- people who lived between the Thames and the Humber
• Northumbrian- people who lived North of the Humber
• West saxon- people who lived south of the thames

Question 6

runes

Answer 6

• the runic alphabet was used to write the Germanic language before the latin alphabet was adopted
• several verisons have been made in Sweden and norway

Question 7

alphabet

Answer 7

• no standard orthography

- 24 letters, 20 had been taken from the latin alphabet