adapted from a design by George Bain based on the Book of Kells home Programme Bookings Shop The Wuffings .
Wuffing Education
 

An Introduction to Old English Language and Literature

with Nicholas Groves, MA, Bmus, FBS, FSAScot

at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo
Saturday 12th March 2005

This day school is intended to give an introduction to Old English – sometimes called Anglo-Saxon – the language which was spoken by the Germanic invaders of the fifth century. It forms a basis of the language we speak today, and also has a rich surviving literature. We shall discover where the language comes from, how it works, and take the first steps in using it.

Provisional Programme
  10.00 Coffee on arrival  
  10.15-11.15 Old English – background, sources, etc. Pronunciation, vocabulary  
  11.15 Coffee  
  11.30-12.30 Language familiarization exercises I  
  12.30 Lunch break  
  14:00-15.00 Old English poetry – how does it work?  
  15:00 Tea break  
  15:15-16.15 Language familiarization exercises II  

 

 

Some suggestions for further reading
(useful but not essential)

Much of this list is out-of-print, but should be available through a library, or second-hand sources.

Old English Language books

Blakeley, L: Teach Yourself Old English; English Universities Press 1964

Mitchell, B and Robinson, FC: A Guide to Old English; Blackwell. 6 th ed

Quirk, R and Wrenn, CL: An Old English Grammar; Methuen 1957

Sweet, H: Anglo-Saxon Primer; OUP [many editions]

Sweet, H: Anglo-Saxon Reader; OUP [many editions and editors]

Dictionaries

Hall, JRC, and Meritt, HD: A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; CUP 1970; repub MART 1984.

Pollington, S: Wordcraft: a concise dictionary and thesaurus, modern English to Old English; Anglo-Saxon Books, 1993.

Sweet, H: The Student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon; OUP 1896 [many reprints]

History of the English Language .

Baugh, AC and Cable: A History of the English Language; RKP 2002 (5 th ed)

Brook, GL: A History of the English Language; Andre Deutsch, 1958

Burchfield, R: The English Language; OUP 1985

Potter, S Our Language; Penguin 1966 [good simple introduction]

Strang, B: A History of English; Methuen 1970 [rather more advanced]

Cognate Languages

Gordon, EV: An Introduction to Old Norse; OUP 1957 (2 nd ed)

Robinson, OW: Old English and its closest relatives; Routledge, 1992

Wright, J: Grammar of the Gothic Language; OUP 1917.

 

Bookings

Please phone or email to check the availability of places and then send the application form and a cheque for £35, payable to Wuffing Education to:

Wuffing Education,
4 Hilly Fields,
Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4DX
(tel : 01394 386498)

Email cliff AT wuffingeducation.co.uk
(replace 'AT' by '@' in order to send email - we used 'AT' to avoid spam robots automatically sending us emails)
Website www.wuffingeducation.co.uk

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