old english podcast 1

The host of Kareem Webbs, Jonah Adams, explores the history and evolution of the English language. Old English originated from Germanic dialects and was influenced by the Angles and Saxons tribes. Different regions had variations in vocabulary and pronunciation. Over time, Old English evolved into Modern English, with only 50% of Old English words still in use today. The language was influenced by Celtic, Latin, and Norse words. King Alfred's kingdom recorded Old English, but it declined after the Norman invasion in 1066. The transition to Modern English brought significant changes in grammar. Written artifacts like Beowulf provide insights into Old English. Studying Old English connects us to our cultural heritage. Welcome to Kareem Webbs, Broadcasting Studio Brilliance. Stay tuned as we entertain you with interesting stories about the history of England. I'm your host, Jonah Adams, and it is my privilege to explore the beginning of the English language with you today. Our spoken language, the ones that I'm sharing now, trace back many years, all the way to the 5th century in the British Isles. This period was known as a time of migration and political instability throughout Eurasia. Imagine stepping back in time and observing the evolution of Old English. Old English has been described as a Western-model language and developed from a combination of North Sea Germanic dialects such as the Utes, Angles, and Saxons. We can imagine that it evolved from multiple languages fusing and reflecting against one another. English as a language has a complex history. Old English was influenced by the German tribes that settled in Britain in the 5th century. Two of the tribes were known as the Angles and Saxons, who in Vikings started to be known as the Anglo-Saxons. The Angles were the Northern dialect, the Saxons the Southern. As these communities settled and established kingdoms across Britain, their language evolved further. There were four main dialects of Old English, Northumbrian in Northern England and Southeastern Scotland, Mercian in Central England, Kentish in Southeastern England, and West Saxon in Southern and Southwestern England. The different regions all had slight variations in vocabulary and pronunciation. Over the past 1500 years, Old English has experienced many changes and evolutions, influenced by historical events, migration, and politics, causing further development and changes to the language. This evolution created Modern English, the language that we are speaking here today. In consideration from Old English to Modern English, it has been identified that only 50% of Old English words are still in use today. The Oxford English Dictionary has detailed that some words of Old English origin are still in use and include felt and butter. My research further discovered that there were some words that should be returned to our current vocabulary, including fudgel, the act of pretending to work, really doing nothing at all. Old English adapted to meet the communicative needs of its speakers, evolving vocabulary for many ways of life, from the villages to the palaces. Written records from the late 7th century offer glimpses into the language's development, revealing its dynamic evolution to include Celtic, Latin, and Norse words. The Celtic language originated from Central Europe, Latin, the Roman Empire, and Norse, the language of the Vikings and Scandinavian countries. We could almost describe Old English as multicultural. The language itself was predominantly recorded as West Saxon, due to King Alfred's kingdom. Alfred the Great was the king of the West Saxons and considered the king of England. The constant division of England between warring parties resulted in evolving culture and language. King Alfred proposed that education be undertaken in English, not Latin, which further helped the establishment of Old English. The Old English period unfortunately met its demise with the Battle of Hastings of 1066, the Norman invasion, where the winning Normans required French to be the language spoken by the aristocracy. The changes from Old English to Modern English was marked by significant changes in grammar. One of those most noticeable differences was the simplification of nouns. In Old English, nouns had different forms depending on their role in a sentence, but in Modern English, we rely on word order and proposition to convey the same information. It's truly remarkable how they've pieced together the puzzle of Old English, despite its age. So let's find out how we've come to know so much about Old English, and how we were able to stumble through this journey together. First off, we owe much that we know to the written artefacts left behind by our ancestors. Beowulf, a poem, stands as a relic from the 5th to 11th centuries, showing us the language and culture of its time. Beowulf is described as one of the oldest surviving pieces of English literature, and that in Old English, Beowulf literally means, Beowulf, or Beehunter. A few words from Seamus Haynie's translation include, they said, that of all the kings upon the earth, he was the man most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people, and keenest to win fame. But it's not alone. There are other poems, manuscripts, and documents that have survived to this day, each offering a glimpse into the language of Old English and into our very own past. Some of these writings are in the Latin alphabet, and others in a runic script known as Forthog, used between the 5th to 8th centuries, but later replaced by the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish missionaries. In summary, the journey through Old English reveals a language of evolution and cultural transformation, from the migration of Germanic tribes to the emergence of written artifacts like Beowulf. We gain insights into the early forms of English, and can see that just as we live in Australia, a melting pot of multiculturalism, with immigration from countries around the world, so did Old English form, a language of transition through influence around the world, and invasion. Studying Old English connects us to our roots and cultural heritage, bridging past and present. Thank you for joining me, Jonah Adams, on this pilgrimage of Old English.