Cædmon’s Hymn: Line by Line North. WS
= Northumbrian (Northern) = West Saxon (Southern)
Line 1
North. Nu WS Nu TODAY Now
scylun sculon shall-you
Notes
Our diphthong (two-vowel) sequence came about in the Great Vowel Shift, which didn’t start until the 14th century. The original vowel can still be heard in conservative Scottish dialects
The initial consonant sound(s) would have been either the northern, conservative [sk] or the southern assimilated [ʃ]. The –un/-on marks that the subject, which is left unexpressed, is plural.
hergan herigean hear
The /i/ in the West Saxon form is original. The /g/ in the West Saxon would have been pronounced [j] uder Assimilation #2
hefæn-ricæs heofon-rices of (the) heavenkingdom
Compound of ‘heaven’ and ‘kingdom’ or ‘empire.’ The original word ric fell out of use in the later Middle Ages but is familiar from modern German Reich. The /-es/ affix on the end is the direct ancestor of our possessive affix, which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /- Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Pete’s, Dave’s and Chris’s. Chris’s.
ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Hymn | Page 1 of 5
ward weard guardian
The modern words guard , guardian, guardian , ward , warden along with beware and aware are all related via the PIE root *wer- meaning ‘watch’
Line 2
North. Metudes WS Meotodes TODAY Destiny’s
mæcti meahte might
Notes
This is a poetic circumlocution for ‘God’ and is related to our word mete, which means ‘measure’ or ‘allot’ as in ‘The thief’s sentence was meted out by a panel of judges.’ The /-es/ affix on the end is the direct ancestor of our possessive affix, which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /-Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Pete’s , Dave’s and Chris’s. Chris’s.
Our conventional spelling with reflects the West Saxon pronunciation. The vowel we now have is a more or less random development. As late as the 15th century, this word was pronounced [mIxt]
end ond and
his his his
The differences in vowels here are mostly random
ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Hymn | Page 2 of 5
Mod-gidanc Mod-geϸanc mind-thought
Old English mod became mod became our word mood by mood by semantic narrowing, a process whereby a word’s meaning becomes less general (a person’s whole consciousness), and more specific (a part of consciousness having to do with emotions). The original Old English word mynd , which meant only ‘memory,’ took over as the general term, but we still have the original meaning in our word remind . The prefix gi- or ge- had a pretty obscure, ‘collectivizing’ or ‘completive’ meaning. By itself, ϸ anc only ϸ anc anc only means ‘thought.’ Gi ‘thought.’ Gi ϸ anc means ‘all thoughts’ or ‘the totality of thought.’ The prefix survives, via Assimilation #2, in a few words like elope, elope, which means ‘to run (lope) away.’
Line 3
North. WS TODAY
werc weorc work
Notes
wuldur-fadur wuldor-fæder glory-father
Our letter is borrowed from the Greek alphabet. The Roman alphabet had only to indicate a voiceless velar stop. The West Saxon form was probably affected by Assimilation #3
We’ve lost the Old English word, which derived from the name of a pagan Germanic ϸ o o , god *Wul ϸ z described in Norse documents just after the Christianization of Scandinavia as a mythical archer and stepson of the god Thor.
swe swa as
he he he
The Old English form developed into so, so, which became a coordinating conjunction (like and, but, and or), not the subordinating conjunction we see here.
Again, this is [he], like our word hay
wundra wundra of wonders
This is a plural form (the singular is wundur /wundor /wundor ), ), and the –a ending communicates the same thing that our preposition of does of does now.
gihwaes gehwæs each
This is a form of the same root we have in which, which, along with the collectivizing prefix we saw in geϸ a n anc c
Line 4
North. WS TODAY
eci ece eternal
Notes
The Latin eternal completely displaced this word.
dryctin, drihten lord
Another lost word; survives in Swedish/Danish/Norwegian and Icelandic drottning ‘queen’
or or beginning
Another lost word; survives in the German prefix ur-. Example: alt = alt = ‘old’ but uralt = uralt = ‘ancient.’ Germanisch = ‘Germanic’ but Urgermanisch = ‘ProtoGermanic’ There’s an understood ‘the’ in the meaning here, i.e. ‘established the beginning.’
ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Hymn | Page 3 of 5
anstelidæ onstealde established
The first syllable is a prefix directly related to our word on. on. The rest, stelidæ/stealde meaning ‘placed’ is another lost word displaced by the Latin loan we use today; survivies in German stellen and Swedish/Danish/ Norwegian stella. stella .
Line 5
North. WS TODAY
He He He
Notes
Again, this is [he], like our word hay
ærist ærest first
scop sceop created
This survives in a single word, erstwhile, erstwhile , with while in its original meaning ‘a span of time,’ i.e. ‘[in] the first span of time.’
Another lost word dispalced by Latin; survives in German and Yiddish schaffen. schaffen . May or may not be related to modern shop, shop, i.e. ‘a place where things are created or sold,’ which originally meant ‘hut, shed.’
ælda eorðan of men/of earth
The two versions use completely different words here but both bear suffixes that mark the same ‘of’ relationship that our preposition does
barnum bearnum for (the) children
This word co-existed alongside cild (from cild (from Proto-Germanic *kil ϸ ϸ ‘womb’) into the Middle ages, when cild won cild won out, except for Scotland, where bairn persists.
Line 6
North. WS TODAY
heben heofen heaven
Notes
Obscure origin; from ProtoGermanic *himin-. *himin- . The /b,f,v/ sound derives from /m/ by a process called ‘dissimilation.’
til to To
The Northumbrian form is a Scandinavian loan, which has coexisted alongside the southern to for centuries.
hrofe hrofe (a) roof
This shows one of the many word-initial consonant clusters English used to allow. The others are in words like hlude ‘loud’ hreow ‘loud’ hreow ‘raw’ hnacod ‘raw’ hnacod ‘naked’ ‘naked’ fnesan ‘sneeze’ Other clusters survived long enough into the later Middle Ages to be preserved in our spelling: gnat, gnaw .
haleg halig holy
Holy is Holy is part of a cluster of words whose central meaning is ‘whole.’ Heal ‘whole.’ Heal , health (the state of being whole) healthy , hale (as in hale and hardy ), ), hail (as hail (as in ‘Hail Mary’), even hallibut . Via Assimilation #3, the Old English adjectiveforminc suffix –ig becomes our –y; compare with German heilig
ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Hymn | Page 4 of 5
scepen scyppend creator
Same story as scop/sceop in the previous line
Line 7
North. WS TODAY
ϸa ϸa
then
Notes
middun-geard middan-geard middle-region
mon-cynnæs mon-cynnes mankind's
Old English geard is geard is our yard by way of Assimilation #2 and semantic narrowing, from region to enclosed space to a particular kind of enclosed space. The other modern yard , i.e. the measurement, derives from a different root.
Both modern kind meaning ‘variety of’ and kin derive from Old English cynn, cynn, which appears with the same possessive affix that led to our own which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /- Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Pete’s, Dave’s and Chris’s. Chris’s .
ward weard guardian
The modern words guard, guardian, ward, warden along with beware and aware are all related via the PIE root *wer- meaning ‘watch’
Line 8
North. WS TODAY
eci ece Eternal
Notes
The Latin eternal completely displaced this word.
dryctin drihten lord
æfter æfter after
Another lost word; survives in Swedish/Danish/ Norwegian and Icelandic drottning ‘queen’
tiadæ teode created
This is an adverb, not a preposition
Another word lost to a Latin loan. The base form is teo-, teo-, so we see the same pasttense affix –d- that we still have
Line 9
North. WS TODAY
firum firum (for) men
Notes
foldu foldan (the) earth
Both these words were already old and obscure poetic in the Old English period and only appear in poetry
Frea Frea lord
Actually derives from Freya, a pagan goddess. The Germanic Venus, goddess of war and virtue; her name survives in Friday .
allmectig ælmihtig almighty
Via Assimilation #3, the Old English adjective-forminc suffix –ig becomes our –y ; compare with German heilig
ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Hymn | Page 5 of 5
