1. Anglo Saxon Language Change

2. Invasions Roman Empire falls – British provinces cut loose
Celtic tribes begin to invade along with Anglo-Saxon tribes
Celtic languages develop but do not prevail with the presence of Anglo-Saxon culture

3. Runes Before the introduction of Christianity
Symbols for writing messages
Means “secret” or “mystery”
Believed if you used runes in the right order they have magical powers
Some runes meant:
Wealth/cattle, water, giant, corn, journey, illness, gift, joy, hail, need, ice , harvest, fate, elk, sun, birch, horse, man, lake, inheritance

5. Old English Musical language
Very different from the English we speak today
Scholars and specialists are the only people who can read it today
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6. How it Became Transcribed
Around 600 AD Christian missionaries arrive
Begin first bits of literacy
No standard system of spelling, write the way things sounded
Adopted Latin alphabet to fit Old English sounds in that part of the country
Developed Old English dialects
Northumbrian – North
Mercian- the midlands
West-Saxon – South & West ( most documents written in this dialect because they were politically prestigious in Wessex)
Kentish – South East

7. Similarities Simple every-day words: Family Words: An – One
Faeder – Father
Twa – two
Modor – mother
Threo – three
Dohtor- Daughter
Feower – four
Aeppel – apple
Hund- hound

8. Similarities (contin.)
Parts of the body:
Vowel Changes/ Tenses:
Heorte- heart
Sing/Sang/Sung = singan/ sang/ sungen
Fot – foot

9. Fun Fact!
The Anglo-Saxons were a pagan race and traces still remain in the names of four days of the week:
Tuesday - Tiw
Wednesday –Woden
Thursday –Thor
Friday – Frig (Thor’s Wife)

10. Scops Singers who used the language to sing/tell stories
Sometimes made things up as they went along
Accompanied their tales with harps

11. Word Play Anglo-Saxon people loved word games
Famous riddle book is called The Exeter Book
Two kinds
Writing from the object’s perspective
Describing the object