Old English Vs German

Universidad Nacional Chorotega`s Head Office Campus Liberia Diacrony of a Second Language Professor: Msc. David Villalobos Betancourt Student: Randall Alvarado Navarro Navarro

Old English vs German Old English: it is an early form of the

English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century.

German: it is a West Germanic language,

thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch.

Source: Wikipedia.org



There are some words that are pretty similar between both languages: Old English

German

Contemporary English

Hie

Sie

they

Sæton

saßen

They sat

In the example one, we can see a notable similitude between the words, the only thing that changes is the H (old English) and the S (German). In the example two, the verb in past SAT before the pronoun THEY, have something particular, in both languages are joined in order to make one word.

Old English

German

Contemporary English

Wind

Wind

Wind

Winter

Winter

Winter

In these examples, we can see that either in Old English nor in German, the words are totally written in the same way. There are no differences in spelling but a little in pronunciation. They have some variation in the last sound of the words.

Old English

German

Contemporary English

Macian

 machen

Make

Min nama is Michael

mein Name ist

My name is …

Old English

German

Contemporary English

biddan

bitten

Ask

Baþian

Baden

Bathe

leger

Lager

Bed

bedd

Bett

Bed

All

these examples look almost alike between them, but we can see that in the words are changes of letter from Old English to German.

The

changes occurs in either in the middle or at the end of the word.

In the example 1, we can see that in the

words are some changes of position in the letters. also, there are some additions of letter, e.g. “e” and “n”. Example 2: in these words, we notice that the only difference between them is the addition of the letter “h” in German. Example 3: we can see a written accent in Old English. In German it doesn’t exist. In addition, there is an addition of the letter “n” at the end of the word in German. Old English

German

Contemporary English

1. Lichama

Leichnam

Body

2. Flasce

Flasche

Bottle

3. Mán

Mann

Man

Old English

German

Contemporary English

1. Hūs

Haus

House

2. Hund

Hund

dog

3. Undersingan

lauter singen

to sing

 Example 1: it can be seen that there is an addition of the letter “a”

in German. Also, there is the deletion of the diaeresis of on over the letter “u” in Old English.  Example 2: there is no difference at all. In both languages, the

words are totally alike.  Example 3: even in these words are not too many similitudes, we

can say that they are alike in the way they are order. If we see carefully, both words, the verb us at the end and the infinitive is before it and it is join to the verb.

Old English

German

Si þin nama gehalgod.

geheiligt werde Dein Name.

In this part of The Lord Prayer, we can see some similitude as well many differences between the two languages. first of all, the word NAMA and NAME to refer to NAME (contemporary English), the only difference between them is the changing of the final letters. In the first is ending with “a” and the second is ending with “e”. But, the rest of the words are totally different. Moreover, the structure of the sentences is different. It is seen that in German, the word NAME goes at the end of the sentence. On the other hand, NAMA goes almost in the middle. So, we can see that the word order is pretty much different.

source: wikipedia.org

These questions are nice examples of some similitudes that Old English and German could have. They are pretty much alike in the way they are ordered, having the pronoun at the end of the question (example 1).  Also, the similitude between some words: þu- du, bidde- bitte. 

Old English

1. Hū hātest þu? / Hwæt is þīn nama? 2. Hwǣr is se feltūn, bidde?

German

Contemporary English

Wie heißt du?

What is your name? 

Wo ist die Toilette, bitte?

Where is the toilet, please?