So, good afternoon to everyone. My name is Carlos Hernandez and I am one
of your tutors in the subject English Diachrony and Typology. And today we
are going to analyze text 4 of your course book by Professor Gordon. At the
end of the session I will try to answer all your doubts regarding this
text. And also you can post them in the virtual forum at any time if you do
not have enough time here. First of all, let us say just a few words about
the text we are going to analyze. It is a fragment from the West Saxon
Gospels, from Luke 19, 1 and 11, to be more precise. And it tells the story
of Jesus and the tax gatherer. It's written in the West Saxon dialect. The
writing of it is attributed to three scribes. This information comes from
two notes in one of the manuscripts. The first one is found at 6. The
second one is at the end of the St. John Gospel, where we find the name of
the writer. Although not with absolute certainty, we can date this text in
the first quarter of the 11th century. Anyhow, the interest of this text
relies on the fact that it's an independent English translation of the
Bible from the Latin Vulgate. This points to the idea that before the
normal conquest, solid efforts were made to have an old English version of
the Bible. In order for you to contextualize this text, I have selected
this mural from the 13th century, 1275 to be more precise, located in a
church in Denmark, into which we can see one of the scenes of the text. So
let's start analyzing the text live online, applying the methodology we
have already learned. But please note that being this text part of the
Gospels, it is divided into versicles instead of lines. I have emphasized
the verbs with red, some nominal elements with blue, and some adverbs and
function words with green. So in the first versicle, we find the word eode,
which we identify with the third person singular, a preterite indicative of
gan, to go. This is an anomalous verb, but as we observed, the presence of
the third person singular nominative pronoun he, following it, points to
the possible person and number of the verb. Being a nominative, we can take
it as the subject of the clause. So we have the subject he after the verb
eode, and we find the geographical noun jericho. But we need a preposition
governing that noun. Jeun, which means through, and which governs
accusative. We also have a fa, which is an adverb meaning then or at that
time. This adverb will appear on several occasions in this text. Most of
the time, it has a pragmatic function to attract the reader's attention.
Often, when translating it into present-day English, we can omit it. We
find subject verb inversion, eode he, in the first versicle, although
restricted to main clauses. The motivation of this inversion may be the
presence of the clause initial after fa. The inversion of phonetic lexical
verbs in Old English distinguishes it from present-day English. In
present-day English, as you already know, this phenomenon is restricted to
auxiliaries. Nevertheless, this type of inversion will not constitute a
problem for you since the subject stands close to the verb. So, we can
translate the first versicle as At that time, he, the Lord, the Savior, he
made his way through Jericho. In the second versicle, we find the third
person singular, which is a form identical to present-day English past form
of the verb to be. We also find infinitive modifier sum. Please note that
indefinite modifiers are rarely used in Old English because when they
appear, they give additional meaning to the noun they modify. So we can
translate the noun phrase suman as aman, emphasizing the sense of
indefiniteness. We also find the dative singular of noma, named, as you can
check in the grammar section of Bargain Gable, and the proper name saqueus.
Observe the use of a prepositional phrase to refer to a characteristic
quality, or naman, which means named saqueus. We have another example of a
main clause, which shows subject-verb inversion. And we find the adverb
dar, which means there, or in that place, so we can translate the first
part of the second versicle as There was a man named saqueus. Velich is a
nominative singular masculine of the adjective rich, prosperous, of the
strong declension. The demonstrative ser is a nominative singular masculine
as you can check in the grammar section of Bargain Gable. It can also
function as a relative pronoun. The case of the antecedent, man saqueus,
which is nominative, is identical to that of a relative set. We have here a
relative clause. In order to determine if a demonstrative functions as a
relative pronoun, certain circumstances must hold. There should be a clear
antecedent, which must be concluded on semantic grounds. Since no concord
holds in all cases. No other nouns in the clause shows agreement in case,
number and gender with that demonstrative. The word order may be a helpful
clue. Adjective clauses are subordinate, so the object-verb world order is
particularly frequent in related clauses. Now we can translate the second
part of the second versicle as Who was rich? Let's turn to versicle 3. We
find the third person singular, preterite indicative or subjunctive of the
anomalous verb villan to wish, to want, in this case a subjunctive and the
infinitive verb heseon, to see, which is a class 5 strong verb. This verb
has h in the infinitive sehon. This h produced the diphthongation in the
infinitive later causing the lengthening of the diphthong when it was lost.
This h can be seen in the first preterite form. For instance, sehon, serh,
the first preterite form and sewen, the second preterite form and sewen,
the past preterite. The presence of w in the second preterite and the past
participle results from the original h which has undergone the development
known as Verne's law. We also find the interrogative pronoun which, what
and the nominative singular of Helen, saviour and the demonstrative serh.
So we can translate the first part of the third versicle as He wanted to
see what the Lord was like. Observe that in this construction the word
order is the same as in present day English so now let's turn to the verbs
of the next clause in the third versicle. We find mixte, which is the third
person singular of preterite present verb marem, to be able. In the nominal
group we find the dative singular feminine of menevil, proud and the
nominative singular masculine of the adjective little, short of a strong
declension and the dative plural masculine or notary of western stature in
this case is masculine. Having identified the verbal and nominal forms
let's focus on the prepositional phrase over menevil, because of the crowd
which has a clausal meaning. Preposition and object, the order we would
expect in present day English give us the clue to associate them as members
of the same phrase. Notice however that the separation of the preposition
from its object by the demonstrative verre, which means that, is an unusual
pattern in all English so we can identify the subject again, he which is a
third person singular nominative and this structure can be translated as he
could not because of the crowd. We can see the subject verb order is again
reversed after a clause initial output. Even if we did not have the here
the present of the negative output ne would have produced this reversal. In
present day English we also have subject verb inversion but as noted before
only auxiliaries are subject to this inversion. Madden was a lexical verb
in all English ne is the negative output and always preceded the infinitive
verb in all English. Now let's turn to the prepositional conjection
introducing an adverbial clause of reason. The prepositional phrase on
vestment in stature is similar to the one analyzed in versicle 2 on nomen.
So we must understand that for them verb introduces clausal structures. The
clause might be hypothetical or based on real evidence if it is
hypothetical the verb is subjunctive otherwise the verb is indicative. In
this clause the fact that sacheus is short corresponds to a real situation
which is consistent with the occurrence of the verb in indicative mood The
word order, subject verb, is not helpful in telling a subordinate clause
apart from the main clause since it can occur in both clause types. So we
have the adverbial clause because he was short or little in stature. In
versicle 4 we find the third person singular preterite indicative of class
3 strong verb to run and the third person singular preterite indicative of
class 1 strong verb to climb. If you want further information regarding the
Old English inflection you can download from the internet a magic sheet of
Old English inflections at the Faculty of Virginia website which I show you
here. So in this magic sheet you have well, a summary of the principal
declensions and the inflections of Old English. In the nominal group we
identify the cardinal an, one decline like a strong adjective but it means
alone it is usually declined weak, ana. We find the accusative singular
nota treu, which means tree and the adjunctive singular nota of sicomo
which means marlberry tree or sicomo fig in Spanish morera or higuera
Regarding function words we find the adverb before them which we can
translate as before or ahead so we can translate the first part of this
versicle as then he ran ahead and climbed up into a marlberry tree or a
sicomo fig In the second part of the versicle we identify the third person
singular preterite indicative subjunctive sorry of his hair to see and the
infinitive of class six strong verb to go, to pass We also find the adverb
from there which introduces the point where motion is started The
demonstrative conjunction that is abbreviated here for t This conjunction
is often used to introduce clauses of purpose as is the one we are
analyzing here In this subordinate clause we see the pronoun object hine
which means him between the subject and the verb This can be interpreted as
a case of subject-object verb word order or just as an invariant of the
subject-verb word order so we have so that he could see him This is the
translation Next, we have the prepositional conjunction fourth and third
introducing a clause Please notice that infinitives like paran do not have
a fixed position in the clause They often occur right or left of the finite
governing verb Very often, as is the case here they occur in clause final
position So now we will be able to translate this clause as for he knew he
would pass that way Let's continue with versicle five First of all let's
identify the verbal morphology We find the verb come which is the
third-person singular preterite indicative of class IV sorry, strong verb
and we also find which is the third-person singular preterite indicative of
to see and the third-person singular indicative of class V a strong verb to
say We find in the nominal group the dative singular feminine of stole
place and Helen which is the dative sorry, which we have translated as the
Lord So now we can analyze the clause noticing that in Old English it's
frequent to find subject-verb order in main clauses as well as in
subordinate clauses Being the verb affinate verb the subject-verb word
order simplifies the identification of the subject of the verb he come
which means he came In this text even when the order is not the expected
subject-verb the subject usually stands close to the verb without the
presence of other intervening elements You will not find it hard to
establish the subject of clauses So we have Then he came to this place and
the Lord saw him and said Next, we find the imperative singular of clause
one with the verb which means to hurry up and the first person singular of
preterite subjunctive of the anomalous verb to wish or will and the
infinitive of clause two to stop, to dwell Regarding the nominal group we
find the dative singular nota of whose which means house and regarding
function words we can find the adverb today in present-day English so the
whole structure can be translated as Zacchaeus, hurry up to your place
because I will stop at your house today we find the third person singular
of preterite indicative of to hurry up and the third person singular of
omfon to welcome Regarding function words we find which is an adverb
meaning joyfully so this clause can be translated into present-day English
as Then he hurried up and welcomed him joyfully Regarding the seventh
vertical we find the third person plural preterite indicative of to see and
the third person plural preterite indicative of class two with verb to
murmur This ending is rare because the expected ending isn't on as you can
check in the Old English Grammar section of the drop-down table In cases
like this one it will be helpful to observe the seconds of verbs that come
immediately before and after the verb or verb phrase in order to identify
the tense and person of the verbal form We also find the third person
plural preterite indicative of class five sorry strong verb to say and in
the nominal group we can identify the nominative plural masculine they and
the nominative plural masculine of the adjective which means all The
personal pronoun and the adjective present the same order as in present-day
English So now we are able to translate the structure as When they saw that
they all murmured and said Next we find the verb This form can be
interpreted as a first or third person singular preterite indicative or as
any of the singular preterite subjunctive persons of class one with verb In
this case is subjunctive The presence in the same clause of the nominative
singular personal pronoun solved the question of the persons And the fact
that this verb occurs in a subordinate clause should lead us to interpret
it as a subjunctive meaning In the nominal group we find the dative
singular masculine of the adjective simple which means simple of the strong
declension So here we find a complement clause functioning as a direct
object of quitham We have the customary order for our subordinate clause
subject and then verb which means that the subject and the verb are not
side by side but separated sorry by one or more objects You should be
prepared to find the verb at the end of subordinate clauses which is a
normal position in Germanic languages So we can translate the clause into
present day English as that he went with simple men He in this case the
saviour the lord In verse 8 we identify the third person singular preterite
indicative of class 6 strong verb standen to stand and the third person
singular preterite indicative of class 5 strong verb quitham to say as you
already know In the nominal group we find the dative singular masculine of
driften lord So now you are able to translate the clause as then Zacchaeus
stood up and said to the lord In the second part of the versicle we find
the verb sile which can be interpreted as a first person singular present
indicative or as a first person singular present subtenctive of class 1
vicar selen to give in this case is indicative The present of help us to
find out the person of this verb When working on the translation of this
text we see that some future action is involved This words acquiring the
value of a promise tell us that the verb is indicative In the nominal group
we find the dative plural masculine feminine or noter of the adjective
darfa poor in this case is feminine and here it's used sustentably with the
meaning of the poor and its decline is strong We also find the accusative
singular feminine of health which means health and the genitive plural
feminine of acht possessions Regarding adverbs we find nu which means now
The possessive mine agrees with gender number case with helfer The
possessive is the genitive form of the first person or pronoun itch Notice
that it can also be declined as a strong adjective The preferred situation
is for the possessive to precede the head noun but in this case it follows
that The word achta possessions is a partitive genitive Thus it specifies
the entity referred to by helfer meaning my health So we can translate the
clause as Now I will give half of my property to the poor In the next part
of the vertical we find the verb veria fordo which can be analyzed as a
first person singular pretorite indicative or as a first person singular
pretorite subtentive of class one weak verb veriafian to do the fraud in
this case a subtentive This action expressed in the conditional clause is
not presented as certain but we should expect as I said before the
subtentive mood We also find the first person singular pretorite subtentive
of class one strong verb agifan to restore and in the nominal group we find
the accusative singular masculine of the indefinite pronoun enich anyone
And we can find perver veldum which is formed by the numeral perver which
means for and the termination of the numeral veld which indicates the
amount specified by the numeral Thus by this ending we can tell this noun
is a dative plural The gender can be determined by the entity to be
qualified in this case enichni a masculine pronoun We also find the
preposition ve which means by or according to In this case of condition
observe the presence of subject object word order in both enichni beriafode
defrauded anyone and perver veldum a gife gif four times Gif is the most
frequent conjection for introducing conditions in Old English We find
preterite septentic in both clauses This type of clauses present imaginary
or hypothetical situations not side by side but separated by one or more
objects Remember that we should be prepared to find the verb at the end of
subordinate clauses in Germanic languages So now we are able to translate
the construction as and if I defrauded anyone I will give them back four
times as much In verse 9 we find the form Gif which we have already
analyzed and the form Es and Erorden which is a past participle of class 3
strong veldum to come Regarding the nominal group we find the dative
singular of feminine noun Gigreiden household and Heil which is an
diminutive singular of the masculine noun Abraham and Bern an diminutive
singular of the neuter noun son So now we are able to translate the
construction into two clauses Then the Lord said to him Today salvation has
come to this house because he is a son of Abraham The second clause
constitutes an independent statement functioning as the direct object of
quid said And please note the embedded clause introduced by the conjunction
for them which is an adverbial clause of cause because he is a son of
Abraham To conclude in the last versicle we identified the third person
singular preterite indicative of class four strong verb human to come as we
already have analyzed and the infinitive of class one weak verb to search
and the infinitive of the anomalous verb done which means to do We also
find the verb for word which is the third person singular preterite
indicative of class three strong verb for where then to be lost and the
infinitive singular of the masculine noun man which means man and the
nominative singular of the masculine nouns noun soon which means some and
also the nominative singular masculine adjective how which means safe
decline strong The presence of two infinitives expresses purpose to search
and done to do The matrix birth is come which means came quality or that is
a demonstrative functioning as a related pronoun Thus not only introduces
an adjective clause but also has a function at clause level Here it's also
the subject of the adjective clause So we can translate this construction
as The son of man came to search and save those who were lost Following
this methodology we are able to translate a whole Old English text into
present day English and even hopefully an original manuscript This is an
enumerated manuscript from the British Library that is it has decoration
elements in it and it's from the 11th century 1025 to be more precise from
the Gospel of Mark written in Old English A manuscript that Sir Robert
Cotton left to the nation in the 18th century I will now try to answer all
your questions regarding this text and if we do not have enough time here
please post them in the virtual forum If you want further references on
this text you can read Madeleine Grumberg's 1967 book The West Saxon
Gospels Regarding Old English Drama I recommend Mitchell and Robinson 1992
and Cassidy and Ringler 1971 and of course the material of Professor
Wardham which is in the virtual learning environment of If you want to I
will post a link to the magic sheet of Old English inflections of the
Faculty of Virginia website in the virtual forum And if you want further
information regarding the Cotton manuscripts I will also post a link to the
British Library in the virtual forum I will also post this powerpoint
presentation in it So if you don't have any doubts regarding this text I
will now stop the recording Thank you so much and thank you very much for
your attention