Mercian (Old English)

Mercian was spoken in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Together with Northumbrian, it was one of the two Anglian dialects. The other two dialects of Old English were Kentish and West Saxon.

Historical origins

The dialect was spoken as far east as to border East Anglia and as far west as Wales. It was spoken as far north as Staffordshire, bordering Northumbria and Strathclyde; and as far south as South Oxfordshire/ Gloucestershire, where it bordered Essex and Wessex. Language from the Northumbrian dialect, which has strong Viking influence, also filtered in on a few occasions.

Alphabet

The letters "b", "d", "g", "l", "m", "n", "p", "q", "s", "t", "v", "w", and "z" behave like Modern English.
*"c" is always pronounced hard, like "cat", never soft like "cell".
*"ċ" is pronounced like "ch" in "cheese".
*"h" at the beginning of a word, hard as is "hat". Before "t" and at the end of a syllable, pronounced like "ch" in "loch" or the German "ich", e.g. "niht" (translates as "niht")
*"ġġ" and "cg" are pronounced as "dge" as in "wedge".
*"ᵹ" before "a", "o", and "u", it has a guttural sound, like the French "r", before "i", "e", and "y" it sounds like the Modern English "y".
*"r" always rolled in Scottish style ("rrr")
*"sċ" and "sc" both give the 'sh' as in "shoe",
*"f" pronounced "v" as in "very" (as in found in Modern Welsh).
*"æ" the "a" as in "man"
*"ā" as in "aah"
*"a" shortened as in "barn"
*"ē" like the "ay" in "bay"
*"e" like the "e" in "bed"
*"ī" like the "ee" in "creek"
*"i" as in "bin"
*"ō" as in the "o" in the Scottish "och"
*"o" as in "cot"
*"ū" like "oo" in "moo"
*"u" like the "ou" in "Doug"
*"ȳ" like the "u" in the French "tu"
*"y" shortened version of the above.

Mercian also uses the "eth" ("Ð" and "ð") and "thorn" ("Þ" and "þ") both give the English 'th' sound as in 'thin'

Grammar

Mercian grammar is very dense and often complex.

Nouns

Nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. These, in addition, all have singular and plural forms.

Mercian nouns can be strong or weak.

Examples

*Strong masculine noun "stān" (stone)
**nominative (singular, plural): stān, stānes
**accusative: stān, stānes
**dative: stāne, stānen
**genitive: stānes, stāne

*Weak masculine noun "name" (name)
**nominative: name, namen
**accusative: namen/name, namen
**dative: namen/name, namen
**genitive: namen/name. namene/namen

Pronouns

Possessive pronouns (I/me, you,he,she, we, you (pl.) and they) come in all the above cases and come in three numbers: singular, dual ('you/we two'), plural.

Demonstrative pronouns vary in the same way described below for the indefinite article, based on 'ðes' only for "this". "That" and "Those" are the same as the definite article.

Relative pronouns (who, which, that) are usually 'ðe' and 'ðet.'

Articles

The definite article is equally complex, with all genders changing in the singular in all cases, based on variations of 'ðe.' In the plural all genders take the same word. The indefinite article was often omitted in Mercian.

Adjectives

Adjectives are always declined, even with some verbs (which means they double up as adverbs sometimes), e.g. I am cold. Split into weak and strong declensions (depending on the strength of the noun), these were once again split into all four cases, both singular and plural.

Comparative adjectives (e.g. "bigger") always add 're.' Example: Æðelen (noble), æðelenre (nobler).

Verbs

Verbs can be conjugated from the infinitive into the present tense, the past singular, the past plural and the past participle. There exist strong and weak verbs in Mercian that too conjugate in their own ways. The future tense requires an auxiliary verb, like "will" (Mercian 'wyllen'). There are three moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. Like most inflected languages, Mercian has irregular verbs (such as 'to be' "bēon" and 'have' "habben").

Vocabulary

Mercian vocabulary is based on Anglo-Celtic influencesFact|date=April 2008, plus a few imports from Northumbrian. For further information, see "References".

References

*Biddulph, Joseph. "The Mercian Language: Introduction to the English Midlands Dialect of Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Middle English". (2004, Wales (Cymru), Joseph Biddulph Publisher). ISBN 1-897999-39-9

ee also

*AB language