Caedmons Hymn

Cædmon’s Hymn: Line by Line North. WS

= Northumbrian (Northern) = West Saxon (Southern)

Line 1

North. Nu WS Nu TODAY Now

scylun sculon shall-you

hergan herigean hear

hefæn-ricæs heofon-rices of (the) heavenkingdom

ward weard guardian

Notes

 The initial consonant sound(s) would have been either the northern, conservative [sk] or the southern assimilated [ʃ].  The –un/-on marks that the subject, which is left unexpressed, is plural.

 The /i/ in the West Saxon form is original. The /g/ in the West Saxon would have been pronounced [j] uder Assimilation #2

 Compound of ‘heaven’ and ‘kingdom’ or ‘empire.’ The original word ric fell out of use in the later Middle Ages but is familiar from modern German Reich.  The /-es/ affix on the end is the direct ancestor of our possessive affix, which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /-Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Dave’s and Chris’s.

 The modern words guard, guardian, ward, warden along with beware and aware are all related via the PIE root *wer- meaning ‘watch’

 Our diphthong (two-vowel) sequence came about in the Great Vowel Shift, which didn’t start until the 14th century.  The original vowel can still be heard in conservative Scottish dialects

ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Page 1 of 5

Line 2

North. Metudes WS Meotodes TODAY Destiny’s

mæcti meahte might

end ond and

Notes

 Our conventional spelling with reflects the West Saxon pronunciation.  The vowel we now have is a more or less random development. As late as the 15th century, this word was pronounced [mIxt]

The differences in vowels here are mostly random

 This is a poetic circumlocution for ‘God’ and is related to our word mete, which means ‘measure’ or ‘allot’ as in ‘The thief’s sentence was meted out by a panel of judges.’  The /-es/ affix on the end is the direct ancestor of our possessive affix, which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /-Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Dave’s and Chris’s.

his his his

ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Page 2 of 5

Mod-gidanc Mod-geϸanc mind-thought  Old English mod became our word mood by semantic narrowing, a process whereby a word’s meaning becomes less general (a person’s whole consciousness), and more specific (a part of consciousness having to do with emotions). The original Old English word mynd, which meant only ‘memory,’ took over as the general term, but we still have the original meaning in our word remind.  The prefix gi- or ge- had a pretty obscure, ‘collectivizing’ or ‘completive’ meaning. By itself, ϸanc only means ‘thought.’ Giϸanc means ‘all thoughts’ or ‘the totality of thought.’ The prefix survives, via Assimilation #2, in a few words like elope, which means ‘to run (lope) away.’

Line 3

North. WS TODAY

werc weorc work

wuldur-fadur wuldor-fæder glory-father

swe swa as

he he he

wundra wundra of wonders

gihwaes gehwæs each

Notes

 Our letter is borrowed from the Greek alphabet. The Roman alphabet had only to indicate a voiceless velar stop.  The West Saxon form was probably affected by Assimilation #3

 We’ve lost the Old English word, which derived from the name of a pagan Germanic god *Wulϸoz, described in Norse documents just after the Christianization of Scandinavia as a mythical archer and stepson of the god Thor.

 The Old English form developed into so, which became a coordinating conjunction (like and, but, and or), not the subordinating conjunction we see here.

 Again, this is [he], like our word hay

 This is a plural form (the singular is wundur/wundor), and the –a ending communicates the same thing that our preposition of does now.

 This is a form of the same root we have in which, along with the collectivizing prefix we saw in geϸanc

Line 4

North. WS TODAY

eci ece eternal

dryctin, drihten lord

or or beginning

anstelidæ onstealde established

Notes

 The Latin eternal completely displaced this word.

 Another lost word; survives in Swedish/Danish/Norwegian and Icelandic drottning ‘queen’

 Another lost word; survives in the German prefix ur-. Example: alt = ‘old’ but uralt = ‘ancient.’ Germanisch = ‘Germanic’ but Urgermanisch = ‘ProtoGermanic’  There’s an understood ‘the’ in the meaning here, i.e. ‘established the beginning.’

 The first syllable is a prefix directly related to our word on.  The rest, stelidæ/stealde meaning ‘placed’ is another lost word displaced by the Latin loan we use today; survivies in German stellen and Swedish/Danish/ Norwegian stella.

ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Page 3 of 5

Line 5

North. WS TODAY

He He He

ærist ærest first

scop sceop created

ælda eorðan of men/of earth

barnum bearnum for (the) children

Notes

 Again, this is [he], like our word hay

 This survives in a single word, erstwhile, with while in its original meaning ‘a span of time,’ i.e. ‘[in] the first span of time.’

 Another lost word dispalced by Latin; survives in German and Yiddish schaffen.  May or may not be related to modern shop, i.e. ‘a place where things are created or sold,’ which originally meant ‘hut, shed.’

 The two versions use completely different words here but both bear suffixes that mark the same ‘of’ relationship that our preposition does

 This word co-existed alongside cild (from Proto-Germanic *kilϸ‘womb’) into the Middle ages, when cild won out, except for Scotland, where bairn persists.

Line 6

North. WS TODAY

heben heofen heaven

til to To

hrofe hrofe (a) roof

haleg halig holy

scepen scyppend creator

Notes

 Obscure origin; from ProtoGermanic *himin-. The /b,f,v/ sound derives from /m/ by a process called ‘dissimilation.’

 The Northumbrian form is a Scandinavian loan, which has coexisted alongside the southern to for centuries.

 This shows one of the many word-initial consonant clusters English used to allow. The others are in words like hlude ‘loud’ hreow ‘raw’ hnacod ‘naked’  fnesan ‘sneeze’ Other clusters survived long enough into the later Middle Ages to be preserved in our spelling: gnat, gnaw.

 Holy is part of a cluster of words whose central meaning is ‘whole.’ Heal, health (the state of being whole) healthy, hale (as in hale and hardy), hail (as in ‘Hail Mary’), even hallibut.  Via Assimilation #3, the Old English adjectiveforminc suffix –ig becomes our –y; compare with German heilig

 Same story as scop/sceop in the previous line

ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Page 4 of 5

Line 7

North. WS TODAY

ϸa ϸa then

Notes

middun-geard middan-geard middle-region

mon-cynnæs mon-cynnes mankind's

ward weard guardian

 Old English geard is our yard by way of Assimilation #2 and semantic narrowing, from region to enclosed space to a particular kind of enclosed space. The other modern yard, i.e. the measurement, derives from a different root.

 Both modern kind meaning ‘variety of’ and kin derive from Old English cynn, which appears with the same possessive affix that led to our own which surfaces as /-s/ /-z/ and /-Iz/ in forms like Pete’s, Dave’s and Chris’s.

 The modern words guard, guardian, ward, warden along with beware and aware are all related via the PIE root *wer- meaning ‘watch’

Line 8

North. WS TODAY

eci ece Eternal

dryctin drihten lord

æfter æfter after

tiadæ teode created

Notes

 The Latin eternal completely displaced this word.

 Another lost word; survives in Swedish/Danish/ Norwegian and Icelandic drottning ‘queen’

 This is an adverb, not a preposition

 Another word lost to a Latin loan. The base form is teo-, so we see the same pasttense affix –d- that we still have

North. WS TODAY

firum firum (for) men

foldu foldan (the) earth

Notes

 Both these words were already old and obscure poetic in the Old English period and only appear in poetry

Line 9

Frea Frea lord

allmectig ælmihtig

 Actually derives from Freya, a pagan goddess. The Germanic Venus, goddess of war and virtue; her name survives in Friday.

 Via Assimilation #3, the Old English adjective-forminc suffix –ig becomes our –y; compare with German heilig

almighty

ENG4820 | History of the English Language | Week 6 | Cædmon’s Hymn | Page 5 of 5