Overview

 This page facilitates study of Old & Middle English, that is, English as it was used for roughly one thousand years from the fifth through the fifteenth centuries.

Quick links

Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

ALI, OE course, here.

Gorrie, Pronouncing OE, here.

Gorrie, OE pronunciation guide, here.

Roper, Old English Pronunciation, here.

Gorrie, A graded reader, here.

Gorrie, Ōsweald Bera announcement, here.

Gorrie, Using Ōsweald Bera, here.

Koivista-Kokko, Old English On-Line, here.

Ða Engliscan Gesiðas, Leofwin, here.

Middle English

Resources

 Prof. Seth Lerer (American, 1955-), "The History of the English Language" (Great Courses, 2008), 36 thirty-minute lectures on 6 DVDs, available on-line from The Great Courses, or by disk loan from Ed Peters.

The Bayeux Tapestry, panel 58.

 Rarely can the transition from one language to another be tied to a specific historical event, but most agree that the move from Old English to Middle English is so correlated, specifically, to the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon army under Harold by the Franco-Normans under William at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Pater noster,

Ave Maria

Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

Fæder ure, here.

Fæder ūre, þū þe eart on hēofonum;

Sī þīn nama ġehālgod,

tō becume þīn rīċe,

ġeƿurþe þīn ƿilla,

on eorðan sƿā sƿā on hēofonum.

Ūrne ġedæġhƿāmlīċan hlāf sele ūs tōdæġ,

and forgif ūs ūre gyltas,

sƿā sƿā ƿē forgifaþ ūrum gyltendum,

and ne ġelǣd þū ūs on costnunge,

ac ālīes ūs of yfele, sōþlīċe.

Middle English

Oure fadir, That art in hevenes

Halwid be thi name

Thi kingdom come to

Be thi wille don

On erthe as in hevenes

Give to us this day oure bred ovir othir substaunce

And forgiv us oure dettis

As we forgiven oure dettours

And lede us not in to temptacioun

But delyevr us from yvel

Heil Marie, ful of wynne,

Þe holy gost is þe wiþ inne,

Blesced be þou ouer alle wymmen,

And þe fruit of þin wombe.

OE Literature

 Caedmon's Hymn (7th cent.), wiki.

 Nū scylun hergan • hefaenrīcaes Uard,
 metudæs maecti • end his mōdgidanc,
 uerc Uuldurfadur, • suē hē uundra gihuaes,
 ēci dryctin • ōr āstelidæ
 hē ǣrist scōp • aelda barnum
 heben til hrōfe, • hāleg scepen.
 Thā middungeard • moncynnæs Uard,
 eci Dryctin, • æfter tīadæ
 fīrum foldu, • Frēa allmectig.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, info here.

Sir Orfeo, info here.

Staging.