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

by C. Alphonso Smith

sē wīsdōm, wisdom.

sē wulf, wolf.

[30.]

Exercises.

I. 1. Ðāra wulfa mūðas. 2. Ðæs fisceres fingras. 3. Ðāra Wēala cyninge. 4. Ðǣm ęnglum ǫnd ðǣm hierdum. 5. Ðāra daga ęnde. 6. Ðǣm bōcerum ǫnd ðǣm sęcgum ðæs cyninges. 7. Ðǣm sēole ǫnd ðǣm fuglum. 8. Ðā stānas ǫnd ðā gāras. 9. Hwala ǫnd mēara. 10. Ðāra ęngla wīsdōm. 11. Ðæs cyninges bōceres frēodōm. 12. Ðāra hierda fuglum. 13. Ðȳ stāne. 14. Ðǣm wealle.

II. 1. For the horses and the seals. 2. For the Welshmen’s freedom. 3. Of the king’s birds. 4. By the wisdom of men and angels. 5. With the spear and the stone. 6. The herdsman’s seal and the warriors’ spears. 7. To the king of heaven. 8. By means of the scribe’s wisdom. 9. The whale’s mouth and the foreigner’s spear. 10. For the bird belonging to (= of) the king’s scribe. 11. Of that finger.

[1.] Adjectives usually retain æ in closed syllables, changing it to a in open syllables: hwæt (active), glæd (glad), wær (wary) have G. hwates, glades, wares; D. hwatum, gladum, warum; but A. hwætne, glædne, wærne. Nouns, however, change to a only in open syllables followed by a guttural vowel, a or u. The æ in the open syllables of the singular is doubtless due to the analogy of the N.A. singular, both being closed syllables.

[2.] Cf. Mn.E. drizz’ling, rememb’ring, abysmal (abysm = abiz^um), sick’ning, in which the principle of syncopation is precisely the same.

[3.] This may mean four things: (1) The, (2) That (demonstrative), (3) He, she, it, (4) Who, which, that (relative pronoun). Mn.E. demonstrative that is, of course, the survival of O.E. neuter ðæt in its demonstrative sense. Professor Victor Henry (Comparative Grammar of English and German, § 160, 3) sees a survival of dative plural demonstrative ðǣm in such an expression as in them days. It seems more probable, however, that them so used has followed the lead of this and these, that and those, in their double function of pronoun and adjective. There was doubtless some such evolution as, I saw them. Them what? Them boys.

An unquestioned survival of the dative singular feminine of the article is seen in the -ter of Atterbury (= æt ðǣre byrig, at the town); and ðǣm survives in the -ten of Attenborough, the word borough having become an uninflected neuter. Skeat, Principles, First Series, § 185.