The History of King Leir and his Daughters is found in two forms. Between these there is a difference either of dialect or of date, and possibly of both. Each, however, is Semi-Saxon. The extracts are made from Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, p. 143.
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Bladud hafde ene sune, Leir was ihaten; Efter his fader daie, He heold þis drihlice lond, Somed an his live, Sixti winter. He makade ane riche burh, Þurh radfulle his crafte, And he heo lette nemnen, Efter him seolvan; Kaer-Leir hehte þe burh. Leof heo wes þan kinge, Þa we, an ure leod-quide, Leir-chestre clepiad, Geare a þan holde dawon. |
Bladud hadde one sone, Leir was ihote, After his fader he held þis lond, In his owene hond, Ilaste his lif-dages, Sixti winter. He makede on riche borh, Þorh wisemenne reade, And hine lette nemni, After him seolve; Kair-Leir hehte þe borh. Leof he was þan kinge; Þe we, on ure speche, Leþ-chestre cleopieþ, In þan eolde daiye. |
The Grave, a poetical fragment, the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, a Homily for St. Edmund's Day (given in the Analecta), and above all the printed extracts of the poem of Layamon, are the more accessible specimens of the Semi-Saxon. The Ormulum, although in many points English rather than Saxon, retains the dual number of the Anglo-Saxon pronouns. However, lest too much stress be laid upon this circumstance, the epistolary character of the Ormulum must be borne in mind.
It is very evident that if, even in the present day, there were spoken in some remote district the language of Alfred and Ælfric, such a mode of speech would be called, not Modern English, but Anglo-Saxon. This teaches us that the stage of language is to be measured, not by its date, but by its structure. Hence, Saxon ends and Semi-Saxon begins, not at a given year, A.D., but at that time
(whenever it be) when certain grammatical inflections disappear, and certain characters of a more advanced stage are introduced.
Some amongst others, of the earlier changes of the standard Anglo-Saxon are,
1. The substitution of -an for -as, in the plural of substantives, munucan for munucas (monks); and, conversely, the substitution of -s for -n, as steorres for steorran (stars). The use of -s, as the sign of the plural, without respect to gender, or declension, may be one of those changes that the Norman Conquest forwarded; -s being the sign of the plural in Anglo-Norman.
2. The ejection or shortening of final vowels, þæt ylc for þæt ylce; sone for sunu; name for nama; dages for dagas.
3. The substitution of -n for -m in the dative case, hwilon for hwilum.
4. The ejection of the -n of the infinitive mood, cumme for cuman (to come), nemne for nemnen (to name).