Appunti Lingua Inglese III B

The Battle of Aldon

Byrntnoth spoke, his shield holding, shook the slender ash (spear) with words spoke, angry and single-minded gave him answer “Hear you, sailor (Viking), what this folk says? They want to you as tribute spears to give Lingua18 Inglese III poisonous point, and old swords, then armor that for you is war is useless. Seamen’s messenger, bear word back again; tell your people a very loathsome tale: that here stands a good earl with his war-band, that will defend homeland this, Aethelred’s land, land of my prince, folk and fold. fall must the heathens at war too shameful me-thinks that you with our wealth to ship went, unfought against, now you thus from far hither to our earth (land) in have come Not shall you so softly riches gain: Us shall point and edge first reconcile, grim battle-play, before we tribute give.

We have a manuscript from the late X century/early XI century. It tells the story of English forces defeated by Viking invaders. It is the story of a defeat, but it

is narrated as quite heroic. - In our book, there is the Old English text, the gloss, and the exclamation. It is quite straight-forward to understand. - Suffix of the past sense: “od” in this variety of Old English. - Bord: asse di legno, we are talking about a table, the place in which we eat. In Old English times, the board is your shield. - Ash: kind of wood. - The “do” auxiliary is a much, much, later development. - Folc: people. “People” begins to be used after the Norman conquest (it is a borrowing from French). - Hī: they. We are talking about a variety of English that has not developed the form of “they” yet, and that indeed uses the “hī” form. - The Vikings want money and treasures. He is boldly addressing his children (young soldiers) (derives from Germanic varieties and became specialized). (What we can do) strength is getting less and yet we will be even more

determined(is becoming lesser), .- This is a pattern still used in present-day English: the fewer, the better; the more, the merrier; theless, the more. The used particle is not an article, but it goes back to Old English, and it refers to thecomparisons that you are making.

Here lies our older commander all struck by swords/all cut up. The good in(our chief),the dust Always may regret those that now think about leaving this battle. (from thoseI am old. From here Icircumstances) (if you think about leaving this battle, may you always regret it).

But it is my duty to stay with my lord. (etimology: loaf + weard, that is, guard and keeper guard: derived from French "garde" the differences between a "garden" and a "yard" areregarding the fact that the yard is a small uncultivated area enclosed by an house or a building, while a "garden" is not uncultivated).

(3.2)Linguistic influence of Old NorthEven in family names, there

Words for bodily features: freckles, leg, skin.

When the first printing press is established in London, in the Preface, there is the realization that there are many different varieties of English. There has to be the decision of what to print.

Story of two tradesmen that were ready to sail from London to the continent. They needed to get food. One of them was from the North, the other from the South. The one from the North went to look for some food and he asked for "eggs", and the woman he was talking to said that she did not speak French, since she did not understand. The one from the South said he wanted "eyren", and he got what he wanted.

Differences in the used plural form:

M.G. sterben

In English, we say "starve", but now this term is specialized, because it indicates a specific type of death.

"Starve" and "die" have required two different semantic values:

“die” is general, while “starve” is specialized.

Inflectional loss: we lose syllables.

There was language contact, and this had different outcomes in different contexts, we are not however interested if it was creolization or not.

Changes in English after the Norman conquest have to be considered much more important.

Ælfric has to be considered the first grammarian.  Riddle that seems rude, but that is much more innocent than it seems it refers to keys.

https://www.gersum.org/about/semantic_distribution_of_the_terms_in_the_database

Gersum project: how you can identify Old Norse loans

Middle English from the Norman conquest to the Tudor Age

In the early Middle Ages, Scandinavian influence on British life, language and culture was profound. The Vikings had a major and lasting impact, and their legacy still resonates strongly in modern constructions of British identity and heritage. Scandinavian settlement began in the late IX century.

The influence of French precedes the conquest itself. Where does the influence of Old French come from?

There were historical reasons because when Edward the I (also called the Confessor because he was extremely religious) died without descendants, there was a problem. When we think about an important turning point in England in general (but also in Scotland), to the turning point in the history of English, external events of this kind are typically connected with some dynastic issues. Edward had been raised in Normandy and spoke Old French himself. When he died, there was a problem regarding succession. There was a controversy in succession because Harold claimed that he was the right king. William the duke of Normandy, that will then become William the Conqueror, claimed that he was entitled to the throne because Edward had promised the throne to him.

When Harold was crowned, William waited for a good opportunity to invade England from Normandy. Harrold was defeated in the Battle of Hastings in

1066 because his army had also been fighting the Scandinavian invasion in the north, so by the time his army travelled back to the south, it was a bit late. William’s army had already landed in Pevencey, it was the beginning of the conquer of Southern England. By the time the Anglo-Saxon army got there, there were fewer people, that were tired. So the winning of Hastings was relatively easy.

The Norman invasion https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/

The full story of the Norman conquest is told in the Bayeux tapestry (arazzo di Bayeux). We are not sure who embroidered the story, maybe somebody at the court of William, because the story is told from the point of view of the winners, the Normans. It is a visual representation of the Norman conquest.

In the tapestry we see that there is Edward promising the throne to William. Harrold goes to Normandy to pledge alliance to William, so Harrold had agreed that’s why William said that he was supposed to king. There is also the

Representation of the court's dwarf, a sort of joker. Then we get to the coronation of Harold.

Then a comet appears in the sky (it is never a good omen; it could signal trouble). Then they begin to build ships, they prepare their coats of arms and shields.

Here William goes on a big ship. The ships still look Scandinavian because Normandy had been a Scandinavian colony itself. Normans came from the north. Then is the mention of Pevencey, a small village in Sussex that was near the sea. They arrived there, the horses get off the ship and the army moved toward Hastings to find food.

Here they cook meat and distributed it. There was entertainment and meals, and also a bishop blessing their food. They then begin to move to hestenga Caestra, they set fire to houses (it's an invasion) and then you get the preparation for battle. There is also the battle itself, horses falling over, arrows, until Harold is killed and the Anglo-Saxon army flees.

It is a visual representation of the Norman conquest.