Saxon Language
The language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons is also referred to as being Old English.
This language was primarily spoken under Alfred the Great. However, the people
continued to use this language long after his reign had ended. In fact, the
dominance of Old English continued until the successful conquest of the Normans
in 1066. After this, the Anglo-Norman language would slowly replace Old English
as the dominant language in the region. The Anglo-Norman language would come
to be known as Middle English. This process took place from 1150 to 1500. It
is important to note that Old English has much stronger connections with Germanic
languages than Middle English.
Old English has an tendency to use more latin expressions, and it uses a verbal
structure that makes it quite distinct from Middle English. Much of this language
was completely displaced by the 14th century. The only language in Existence
today that is similar to Old English is Frisian. Frisian is a rare language
that is only spoken by about 300,000 people living in Germany and the Netherlands.
The Runic alphabet predates the existence of Old English, and it was used to
make inscriptions. In addition to England, the Old English language was commonly
spoken in Scotland as well. In addition to Frisian, Icelandic is a modern language
that is similar to Old English.
The language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons was not a static one. It was dominant
for about 700 years. The Normans made a large number of changes to it. When
Old English was first developed, it was mixed with both the Celtic languages
and the Norse languages that were spoken by the Vikings. Since the Vikings controlled
the northern regions of England during this time, their language played an important
role in the development of Old English. However, it is hard to write about the
language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons without mentioning its Germanic influences.
The Germanic languages were the most powerful force behind the development of
Old English. The grammar and sentence structure is this language is directly
derived from the Germanic languages.
Old English uses five grammar cases. A gender would be given to nouns, and
this was even used when talking about inanimate objects. For example, the Anglo-Saxon
language considered the Sun to be connected to women, while the moon was connected
to men. Because there were a sizeable number of monks living in this region,
Latin also played an important role in the development of Old English.
Original Authors:
Stephen Palmer
Edit Update Authors: None
Updated On: 03/10/2006
