searching oe dictionaries – general tips:. try looking up the words with/out the most frequent...

Searching OE dictionaries – general tips:


• try looking up the words with/out the most frequent prefixes: ge- / be-



• ð (eth) and þ (thorn) are interchangeable in OE, but some authors prefer to systematize their use




• similarly Ȝ (yogh) may be interchangeable with g and some authors choose to replace it with g completely





• vowels may be “less important” when looking up words, especially because of no single standard in OE – if you can’t find a word, you may try varying the vowels

(this does not mean that the vowels are unimportant in other aspects!)







• watch out for compounds (there is a great deal of them in OE), if you can identify the parts of a compound, try looking them up separately







• watch out for compounds (there is a great deal of them in OE), if you can identify the parts of a compound, try looking them up separately

• pay attention to possible paradigm membership to deduce the lema (basic dictionary form) – see UVA’s Magic Sheet of OE Inflections

A simple fact about English historical dictionaries & handbooks:

Invariably, their target language is ModE

To find an etymon of a specific period,

you have to find the ModE etymon first.

A simple fact about English historical dictionaries & handbooks:

Invariably, their target language is ModE

To find an etymon of a specific period,

you have to find the ModE etymon first

For example: if you want to know a ME or IE etymon of OE lēas, you have to first find the ModE etymon in BT or Hall, which is loose and

then you can use an etymological dictionary to find the respective ME or IE etymon.

ModE is thus a natural reference point for our study of earlier stages of English.

Where does the irregular plural in MOUSE / MICE come from?


1. What is the OE etymon of mouse / mice?


1. What is the OE etymon of mouse / mice?• consult: etymological dictionary (OED, CDOEE)

“Mouse” - The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Ed. T. F. Hoad



• OE: mūs / mȳs



• OE: mūs / mȳs2. How did these irregular forms come to OE?




• consult OE grammar (Wright) using index (mūs) or contents (phonological change prior to OE)

Wright, Joseph, Wright, Elizabeth Mary (1925): Old English Grammar




• consult OE grammar (Wright) using index (mūs) or contents (phonological change prior to OE)1. preOE forms were regular: mūs / mūsiz & the change ū > ȳ

has been triggered by an “i-umlaut” (see Vachek, Lass or CHEL for more info.)






• How did the OE forms develop into ModE?






• How did the OE forms develop into ModE?• consult: etymological dictionary (OED - spellings) and look for ME

form

The Oxford English Dictionary OnLine






• How did the OE forms develop into ModE?• consult: etymological dictionary (OED, CDOEE) and look for ME

form• mūs (mous) / mīs (ou is a “French” spelling of ū in ME)








• in ME a major split between spoken & written language:








1. in ME a major split between spoken & written language:2. for development in spoken l. consult: ME grammar or handbook

(Vachek, Lass, CHEL, etc.) and look for vowel shift ū > au & ī > ai (pronunciation!)

Vachek, Josef (1991): Standard English in Historical Perspective.








• in ME a major split between spoken & written language:• for development in spoken l. consult: ME grammar or handbook

(Vachek, Lass, CHEL, etc.) and look for vowel shift ū > au & ī > ai (pronunciation!)1. Great Vowel Shift produces exactly these changes (again

wealth of additional info can be obtained in CHEL or Lass)









(Vachek, Lass, CHEL, etc.) and look for vowel shift ū > au & ī > ai (pronunciation!)• Great Vowel Shift produces exactly these changes (again

wealth of additional info can be obtained in CHEL or Lass)• for development in writing, consider what the final –e does

synchronically










wealth of additional info can be obtained in CHEL or Lass)1. for development in writing, consider what the final –e does

synchronically• open syllables, the final –e in fact indicates the change in

pronunciation










wealth of additional info can be obtained in CHEL or Lass)1. for development in writing, consider what the final –e does

synchronically• open syllables, the final –e in fact indicates the change in

pronunciation• s > c is an artificial change of small consequence signaling an

irregular plural

Using this approach, you can not only explore earlier forms of words or regular & irregular changes these forms went through, but also:


• find out whether a word is a borrowing and when the borrowing happen

• follow the regular changes and when a change does not seem to have affected the word without any obvious reason, the chance is that it is a borrowing

• e.g. if ModE mint (OE mynet) is originally from L. monēta through primOE munit, the i-umlaut must have happened and the word had to have been adopted by that time (ca 7th century AD)





• trace the etymons in other languages• using etymological dictionaries of English & other languages, or dictionaries of a common stage of language (IE roots)





• trace the etymons in other languages• using etymological dictionaries of English & other languages, or dictionaries of a common stage of language (IE roots)

• follow semantic change and the social change possibly with it

• e.g. OE biddan (to ask) adopted for L. precāre by early English Christians only to be replaced by Normans Christians with preecher and thus returned to its semantic origin in ModE bid

searching oe dictionaries – general tips:. try looking up the words with/out the most frequent...

Documents

etymon of oe

oe dictionaries general

use slide

frequent prefixes

mode etymon

single standard

simple fact

target language