Bright's old English Grammar and Reader

  7.1.  Several common  OE  verbs sre so irregular ("anomalous") that they stand apart. These verbs are: 1.  bēon (wesan) , to be ; 2.  willan , to will, to wish; 3.  dōn , to do, to cause; 4.  gān , to go. 7.2.  The verb  to be  is a composite of parts supplied from three seperate stems:  bēon ,  is , and  wesan . _____Present _______________ Preterit (Past) INDICATIVE Sing. 1 ic eom bēo wæs 2 þū eart bist wǣre 3 hē hit hēo } is bið wæs Plur. 1 2 3 wē gē hīe } sind, sint, sindon bēoð wǣron SUBJUNCTIVE Sing. 1 - 3 _ _ sīe, sī, sēo bēo wǣre Plur. 1 - 3 _ _ sīen, sīn bēon wǣren IMPERATIVE Sing. 2 _ _ bēo, wes Plur. 2 _ _ bēoð, wesað INFINITIVE INFLECTED INFINITIVE 1 _ _ _ bēon, wesan tō bēonne PARTICIPLE _ _ _ bēonde, wesende 7.3.   OE  verbs lack an inflected Future tense; they use the Present tense forms to express future time as well as present. (This is still true of the  MnE  present tense....

  Breaking: Short Vowels 8.1. Rule:  In  PrehOE  the vowels  æ  (which had developed ˂  a  -̶ see  5.4  above),  e  and  i , when they occur before  r  + consonant,  l  + consonant, or  h , are "broken" into short diphthongs, becoming respectively  ea ,  eo ,  io . 1 Examples : æ  ˃  ea  ̶  *hærd  ˃  heard , hard;  *hælf  ˃  healf , half;  *fællen  ˃  feallan , to fall;  *æhta  ˃  eahta , eight. e  ˃  eo  ̶̶  *werðan  ˃  weorðan , become;  *herte  ˃  heorte , heart. Before  l  this breaking occurs only if the following consonant is  c  ([k]) or  h : * melcan  ˃  meolcan , to milk;  *selh  ˃  seolh , seal; but  helpan , to help,  swelgan , to swallow,  sweltan , to die, remain unbroken. Before  h ...

  Chapter 9 Demonstrative Pronouns 9.1.  The Demonstative Pronouns of  OE  are  sē ,  that , and its forms, and  þēs ,  this , and its forms. The first is by far the more important since it serves also as the Definite Article. In demonstrative use these pronouns are stressed, hence the two forms  þæt  and  þis  come down to  MnE  virtually unchanged (though other case forms are lost). In definite article use, however, being but weakly stressed,  sē  and its forms were worn down phonetically in  ME  to produce  MnE   the , now used without distinction of number, gender, or case. 9.2.  The  OE  paradigm formally distinguishes 2 numbers, 3 genders, and 5 cases: _____  Masc.  _____  Neut.  _____  Fem. S.N. sē ðæt sēo G. ðæs ðæs ðǣra D. ðǣm, ðām ðǣm, ðām ðǣra A. ðonne ðæt ðā I. ðȳ, ðē, ðon ðȳ, ðē, ðon ALL GENDERS P.N.A. ðā G. ðāra, ðǣra D.I. ðǣm, ðām 9.3...

  10.1.   In common with the   Gmc   languages generally,   OE   has a twofold classification of adjectives: the Strong or Indefinite declension (in this chapter), and the Weak or Definite declension (in   Chap 12 ). The Strong declension is used except when conditions calling for use of the Weak declension are present (see   12.1,   2 ). 10.2.  Adjectives (and nouns) are classified by their stem vowels. This system of classification rests on the forms they had during the  Gmc  stage, when they were composed of  base  +  stem  +  inflectional suffix : Those which had the same stem vowel are now classified together. Because it is convenient for comparative grammar this system is used even when (as frequently happens in  OE ) this distinctive stem has been lost through phonological change. Thus  Gmc  * stainaz , stone, composed of  stain  +  a  +  z  is classif...

39 Chapter 11 Phonological Changes (contin.) i-Umlaut 11.1. The most regular and widespread form of assimilation to occur in OE is that called i -umlaut 1 (or i -mutation). It affects most of the stressed radical or base vowels, and, as the name implies, the change is due to a high-front vowel or semivowel [i:, i, j] in the following syllable, which, by anticipation, draws the base vowel upward and/or forward toward the high-front position. (It occurred during PrehOE but after Breaking.) 11.2. Rule: A stressed base vowel is moved toward high-front position (palatalized) by , i , or j occurring in the following syllable. Thus: a (or o) before nasal ˃ e æ (˂PrehOE a) ˃ e ū ˃ ȳ u ˃ y ō ˃ ē o ˃ e ā (˂Gmc ai) ˃ ǣ ēa ēo īo } ˃ īe, later ī (in LWS often sp. ȳ ea eo io } ˃ ie, later i (in LWS often sp. y) Diagram 5 High-Front i, ī, or j Note 1 : The vowels ī , i , being already high-front, are not affected by i -umlaut. The change of e ˃ i had al...

42 Chapter 12 Weak Adjectives; Participles; Comparison Weak Declension of Adjectives 12.1. The "weak" adjectives are so called because they have fewer distinctive inflectional endings than the Strong adjectives. The strong and weak types fell together in ME ; in MnE , adjectives have lost all inflection except that for comparison. 12.2. The Weak declension is used in four situations especially: When the adjective is preceded by a demonstrative (sometimes a possessive) pronoun; In direct address; Often in poetry where prose would normally use the strong forms; In the comparative degree and often in the superlative. The Weak declension is also used for ordinal numbers except ǣrest , fyrmest , fyrst , first , which are declined both strong and weak; and ōðer , second which is declined strong only. 12.3. Masc. _____ Neut. _____ Fem. S.N. good gōda gōde gōde G. _ ~ an ~ an ~ an D.I. _ ~ an ~ an ~ an A. _ ~ an ~ e ~ an _ ALL GENDERS P.N.A. gōdan ...

46 Chapter 13 Nouns: the a-Declension 13.1. The a -declension (including also ja - and wa -stems) comprises masculine and neuter (no feminine) nouns with both monosyllabic and disyllabic bases. The greater number of masculine and neuter nouns in OE belong to this declension. 13.2. Masculine a -stems, monosyllabic: S.N.A. _ stone stān day dæg horse mearh bird fugol G. _ ~ es ~ es mēaras fugles D.I. _ ~ e ~ e ~ e ~ e P.N.A. _ ~ as dagas ~ as ~ as G. _ ~ a ~ a ~ a ~ a D.I. _ ~ um ~ um ~ um ~ um Note 1 : Of the examples above, stān represents the norm; dæg 1 illustrates the change of a ˃ æ (See 5.4. ); mearh illustrates the loss of h (See 16.4. ); the base of fugol is monosyllabic fugl -, and the o of the Nom. is epenthetic -- i.e., it comes in to facilitate pronunciation. 2 13.3. Masculine a-stems,disyllabic: S.N.A. _ property ēðel tub fǣtels heaven heofon G. _ ēðles ~ es ~ es D.I. _ ~ e ~ e...