— 4—

of latin words mostly used in conversation, and the corresponding Anglo-Saxon expressions; an interlinear translation in Anglo-Saxon of a colloquium in Latin forms the second part of this Glossarium.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle embraces the whole period from the Roman invasion— under Julius Caesar— in Britanny up to the beginning of the reign of Henry II(1154).

Wulfstan, archbishop of York(† 1023) closes the pure Anglo-Saxon period; he wrote „Exhortations“ addressed to the people. The monks were the chief cultivators of the Anglo- Saxon language; they wrote their sermons and the annals of their cloisters in this tongue, trauslated some parts of the holy scripture into it, and composed treaties on astronomy, medicine, geography, etc. in this original English language. The most attracting and important work ofthe Semi-Saxon period is„Layamon's Brut or Chronicle of Britain,“ written in verses, which is a translation of the Brut d'Angleterre by Wace living in the middle of the twelfth century. Layamon who calls himself a preost at Ernley upon Severn and availed himself of the History of the Britons by Geoffroy of Monmouth(† 1154), must have lived towards the end of the twelfth or at the commencement of the thirteenth century.— About fffty years afterwards followed the most valuable collection of Homilies by Orm or Ormin, called Ormulum from its author.

It is upon these literary documents that thorough investigations have been made con- cerning the pronunciation and accentuation of the Anglo-Saxon vowels. The latter are a great deal like those of the present German language.

§. 2. Anglo-Saxon Vowels.

1. 4 in Anglo-Saxon was both a short and a long vowel(a, aa); it was usually short in a closed syllable, and considered as long in an open accented syllable, e. g. hamm (ham, Schinken); appel, äpl(apple, Apfel); habban(have, haben); walden(walten), also wealdan, for a varies very much with ea(ea being equal to English s), when preceding l, r and h; now and then, we meet with a, ae, e varying with ea: at and aet, even et. In many words ea appears as ä: mearrh(marrow, Mark), feallan(fall, fallen), vearm(warm, warm); or as à: earm(arm, Arm), stearvian(starve, vor Hunger ſterben), beard(beard, Bart).

& certain proof that a in Anglo-Saxon was a pure A sound is its appearing on side of ae, o and ea.

A frequently changes in inflexions and derivations into ae and vice versa: grafan (to grave, graben), thou(du) graefst(thou gravest, du grabeſt); baed(bath, Bad), badu (baths, Bäder).

Kis changed into aé: häl(hale, or whole, Hehl), gehäelan(to heal, hehlen); aëé is also changed into à: thaére, thare.

Ea is sometimes replaced by e: fela, feala(viele), cester und ceaster(castra, Lager); eã is also replaced by é: téh, téah(ziehen). Also ae changes with â and e: laegon, lâgon, legon, saégon, sâwon, ségon; and ae is frequently used instead of ea or e; Aedwini for Eadwini and Edwine, Idlaé for Idleâ..

Ea varies with e and even y: neah(nigh, nahe), nehst and nyhst(nighest, next, am nächſten).