Analysis of Ælfric's1 Language Joannes Richter In this sermon of Old English a number of words have been explained in relation to their possible German roots. Some of these words however may also be explained in relation to Dutch and French roots or even to alternative German or Latin roots. Some alternatives may also be referring to Brabantian – a lower Dutch dialect spoken in the Southern Dutch provinces and in Northern Belgium. With some linguistic help most of the words may be traced back to their roots in neighbouring languages.
Fig. 1: Ælfric's sermon, as copied from The Making of English, Henry Bradley (1948)
1 Ælfric, probably archbishop of York, died before AD 1025 – quoted in The Making of English, Henry Bradley (1948)
Ælfric's sermon Ælfric's sermon2
Translation quoted from The Making of English by Henry Bradley
Tha the ne gelyfath thurh agenne eyre hi scoriath, na thurh gewyrd ;
They who do not believe refuse through their own choice, not through fate,
for-than-the gewyrd nis nan thing buton leas wena :
because fate is nothing but a false notion ;
ne nan thing sothhce be gewyrde ne gewyrth,
nor does anything truly come to pass by fate,
ac ealle thing thurh Godes dom beoth geendebyrde, se the cwæth thurh his witegan,
but all things are ordered by the judgement of God, who said by his prophet,
'Ic afandige manna heortan, and heora lendena, ' I try the hearts of men, and their reins, and give and ælcum sylle æfter his færelde, and æfter his to every one according to his conduct, and agenre afundennysse.' according to his own device.' Ne talige nan man his yfelan dæda to Gode, ac Let no man impute his evil deeds to God, but let talige ærest to tham deofle, the mancyn beswac, him impute them first to the devil, who deceived and to Adames forgægednysse ; mankind, and to Adam's transgression ; ac theah swithost to him sylfum, thæt him yfel gelicath, and ne licath god.
but chiefly to himself, in that evil is pleasure to him and good pleases him not.
Explanations It may be useful to append a few remarks on some of the words occurring in the extract. The indent lines are Henry Bradley's remarks, to be followed by my own additional notes.
Tha Tha is the plural nominative of the demonstrative pronoun corresponding to our that ; the nominative singular is se (masc), seo (fem.), thæt (neut.). The word serves also as the definite article. An alternative reference “da” (translating to “that” in Brabantian Dialect) is closer to German word “Das”.
The The is an indeclinable relative, standing for 'who,' 'whom,' 'which.'
2 The full texts may be found in 114 EPIPHANIA DOMINI and 115. THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD. In "The homilies of the Anglo-Saxon church. The first part, containing the Sermones catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric"
Ge-lyf-ath In ge-lyf-ath the middle syllable is the same as the second syllable in 'believe'; the verb gelyf-an corresponds to the German g-laub-en. In Dutch ge-lyf-an corresponds to ge-lov-en, which has been derived from ge-loof (“be-lief”). The Dutch verb Loven itself may be translated as “to praise” (in German “loben”). And this indicates “to praise” as an important medieval expression of religious belief.
Ne Ne, not, is in Old English put before the verb. This word perfectly matches to French “ne” which will also be placed before the verb: “Je ne suis pas malade” (“I am not sick”).
Thurh With thurh, through, compare the German durch. In Dutch thurh relates to “door” (translated as through and by).
Agenne Agenne is accusative masculine singular of agen (own) ; compare the German and Dutch eigen.
Cyre Cyre, choice, is a masculine noun related to the verb ceosan (to choose) ; the corresponding German word is Kur. In Dutch the corresponding word is “keur” (test). The Dutch verb “keuren” translates to “to check”, “to test”.
Hi Hi, they, is the plural of he.
Scoriath Scoriath is the present tense plural of scorian, to refuse, a verb not preserved in modern English or German.
Na Na - here used for 'not,' is the modern provincial 'no' in 'that's no true.'
Ge-wyrd Ge-wyrd, fate, is the word which in later English became 'weird.'
For-than-the For-than-the, because, is literally * for-that-that.' The Dutch word “omdat” (“because”) relates to the construct “om-dat” containing “dat” (“that”). The German word “weil” translates to “because”. A related expression is the Dutch word “Daarom” translating to “Therefore”.
Nis Nis (=ne is) nan thing, 'is none thing'; in Old English two negatives did not 'make an affirmative,' but were combined for emphasis as in Greek. This twofold-negative construct may match to French “ne … pas” as in: “Je ne suis pas malade” (“I am not sick”).
Leas Leas, false, lying compare 'leasing,' falsehood, in the English Bible. This word seems to relate to Dutch “loos” (false). Example: Dutch “Loos alarm” = false alarm.
Wena Wena, opinion ; connected with wenan, to 'ween,' think. In fact the Dutch word “waan” and “waanzin” (irrational belief, madness) may have been a root for 'ween,' (to believe). In German we may find a similar word: “Wahn” and “Wahnsinn” (irrational belief, madness). Obviously “ween” must be considered as the illusionary version of thinking, which correctly may be translated to the “false notion”.
Sothlice Sothlice, ' soothly,' truly ; compare ' forsooth,' ' in good sooth.' The Dutch word “sussen” (“to calm”) relates to “soothe” .
Gewyrth Gewyrth, 3rd person sing, of ge-weorthan to take place, akin to the German werden and Dutch worden (to become). In fact the idea of German “werden” and Dutch “worden” is the idea of developing: “to grow toward something”.
Ac Ac, but ; not found in modern English or German. To me this word seems to be Latin: ac = atque = ad que, to be translated to “and even”, which as a contrast may be understood as “but”.
Ealle thing Ealle thing, all things ; the word thing had the nom. plural like the singular. The plural may indicate a relation to the “Thing”-assembly. Thing (Old Norse, Old English and Icelandic: þing; Dutch ding; other modern Scandinavian languages: ting) was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead.
Cwaeth Cwaeth, the same word as 'quoth.'
Witega Witega, prophet; the word existed also in old German, and was corrupted into Weissager (as if it meant 'wise-sayer'). In Dutch the words “weten” (to know) and “geweten” (conscience) relate to Old-English “witega”. A prophet may have been considered as a wise man, who knows.
Ic In Old-English the personal pronoun of the first person “I” is still being written as in Dutch “ Ic” (and German “Ich”). It will be transformed to the letter “Y” in the The Wycliffe Bible which have been published 1382 and 13953 . In later eras the pronoun has been written as a modern “I”. In a poem Mirèio (published 1859) Frederi Mistral applies the pronoun “iéu” (French “je”) as the Provençal version of the Ego-pronoun. Of course as a root the pronoun “iéu”may directly be related to God “Diéu” 4.
Afandige Afandige, from afandian, to try.
Manna Manna is the genitive plural of mann. Mann (German) obviously has been derived from Mannus, the first androgynous creature, who according to Tacitus (Germania) had been created by the German creator God Tuisco. In English language the word “man” still relates to the first creature, which may have been androgynous. In Dutch “man” is translated as “mens” (man as a human being), in German as “Mensch”. The relation to the pronouns may be identified in Tajik, Persian, Hindi/Urdu and Kurdish in which the Ego-pronoun is “man”, equivalent to German “Mann” and relating to Mannus5. 3 Various theories to the ancient religious symbolism in the pronouns have been documented in Etymology for the Pronoun 'I' , The Hieroglyphs in the Ego-Pronoun , The Sky-God Dyaeus and The Hermetic Codex , The Prime Words in Adam's Language and The PIE Concept - Decoding the Proto Indo European Language
4 Details: The Book Genesis Inside of a Single Word 5 Details: Decoding the Ego-Pronoun („I“) ,
Heortan Heortan is related to Dutch “hart” and German “Herz”.
Heora Heora, genitive plural of he.
ÆIcum ÆIcum, dative masc. sing, of ælc, now 'each.' In Dutch the word “elk” translates to English: each, every. It may be found as a root in Elckerlyc. Elckerlijc (also known as Elckerlyc) is a Dutch morality play which was written somewhere around the year 1470 and was originally printed in 1495. It was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the English play Everyman, as well as many other translations for other countries. The authorship of Elckerlijc is attributed to Peter van Diest, a medieval writer from the Low Countries.
Sylle Sylle, give, is the modern 'sell'; the word has changed its meaning.
Færelde Færelde, dative of færeld, behaviour ; connected with the verb * to fare. In Dutch the verb “varen” (to navigate) and in German “fahren” (to travel) may be related to this word.
A-funden-nyss A-funden-nyss (dative -ttysse), is from afunden = German. Erfunden, invented, with the ending -nyss, now -ness ;
Agen-re In this expression the word belongs to a female substantive, so that 'agen-re' (own) corresponds to the German 'eigen-er.'
Talige Talige, from talian, to impute, count ; compare 'tale.' This word obviously relates to Dutch “tellen” (to count). In German language the word is translated to “zählen” (to count). Related words are also “vertellen” (Dutch: to tell”) and “erzählen” (German: to tell).
Ærest Ærest, first - relating to German “erst”, Dutch “eerst”. The Dutch word “Eerst” may be related to Dutch “eer” (translated: “before”) and eerder (translated: earlier).
Mancyn Mancyn, mankind ; the last part of the compound is our 'kin' .
Be-swac Be-swac, past tense of be-swican, to deceive.
Theah Theah is related to the modern English ' though' and the German doch.
Swithost Swithost, superlative of swithe, strongly, very.
To him sylfum To him sylfum (to himself): note the ending -m of the dative singular.
Ge-licath Ge-licath, licath, are identical with the modern verb 'to like,' the former having the prefix ge-, frequently occurring in Old English and German verbs.
