An Introduction to Old English Edinburgh University Press

§6. But good general textbooks include Bauer (1988) and, above all, the quite
difficult but essential and sophisticated Matthews (1991) are recommended for
anyone who wishes to pursue the subject further. The present work is based on
my own study (Hogg 1992), mentioned in §3.
5 Syntax
As I have said, most of the handbooks cited in §2 have very little on Old English
syntax and only Quirk and Wrenn (1957) can be safely recommended for the
beginner. At the next stage perhaps the most useful material is to be found in the
general histories of English cited in §1. For anyone who needs a beginner’s guide
to present-day English syntax, a helpful source is the companion volume Miller
(2002).
For more advanced work on Old English syntax, Denison (1993) offers an
excellent overview and discussion of both current and earlier work. This work
also brings a fresh perspective not only to Old English but also to the later
syntactic history of the language. It is very densely written work, and you should
probably skip areas in which you are not directly interested. Beyond that stage
you will need to look at the important and useful essay by Traugott (1992) in
the Cambridge History. The most authoritative work on Old English syntax is
undoubtedly the two-volume work by Mitchell (1985), but even for the most
advanced reader this is by no means an easy work. If you use it at all, then use it
as a reference work, to be consulted only for essential matters of detail. A further
advanced work which deals all of the history of English syntax, not merely Old
English, is the standard work of Visser (1963–73), which is essential for the most
advanced students.
6 Vocabulary
As with phonology and syntax, there is a companion volume in this series on
English morphology, namely Carstairs-McCarthy (2002). This has a good, if
necessarily brief, overview of the relevant issues. To some extent its approach is
slightly different from that pursued, but the comparison should be interesting.
The Old English handbooks rarely have much to offer on either loan words
or derivational morphology, but for the latter Quirk and Wrenn (1957) remains
essential. One recent work of very great importance here is Stockwell and
Minkova (2001). Beyond that, the standard text for loan words throughout the
history of English remains Serjeantson (1935), despite its age. It is not too
difficult to read, especially in conjunction with the standard histories of the
language. A more detailed account of both vocabulary and word formation is
to be found in the more technical essay by Kastovsky in the Cambridge History
(Kastovsky 1992).
In terms of dictionaries, the most accessible Old English dictionary is Clark
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Hall and Merritt (1969). The major Old English dictionary, namely Bosworth
and Toller (1898) and Toller (1921), cannot be used except with extreme care,
for reasons Toller clearly explains in his introductory remarks. The major new
Dictionary of Old English is being compiled at Toronto, parts of it are now avail-
able. Another dictionary which is, of course, essential is The Oxford English
Dictionary, the second edition of which is available on CD-ROM as well as in
traditional book form.
7 Poetry
If you can find a copy, by far the easiest place to start any investigation of
Old English metrical structure, is with the description of Old English verse
by Tolkien in Clark Hall, Wrenn and Tolkien (1950), but it is probably only
to be found in libraries or second-hand bookshops. Tolkien imaginatively and
brilliantly shows how such a verse might operate in present-day English.
The foundations of Old English metre were laid by Eduard Sievers (1893).
An updated version of Sievers’ work was published by Bliss (1958). Old English
metre remains a controversial area, and therefore anyone interested in the
subject should also examine Cable (1974).
8 Variation
There is at present no satisfactory account of Old English dialect variation other
than that found in the standard handbooks and the older works upon which
they are largely based. The only full-length modern, sociolinguistically based,
approach is that found in Toon (1983), but that work must be used with care.
9 Linguistic change
A good introductory text for anyone with little or no knowledge of the
subject is the very readable Aitchison (2001). There are so many introductions
to historical linguistics that the choice may be a matter of taste. However a well-
established work which has particular interests in Indo-European and Germanic
is Lehmann (1992). Two other good works are Campbell (1998) and McMahon
(1994). Many of the standard histories mentioned above also have good accounts
of the pre-history of English. For a much more advanced, and individual,
account of the issues, Lass (1997) is very stimulating and again has a great deal
about Germanic. But if any of you wish to pursue in a little more detail the
comparisons between Old English and its closest relatives, then the place to start
is undoubtedly Robinson (1992).
RECOMMENDED READING
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References
Aitchison, Jean (1991), Language Change: progress or decay? (2nd edn), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Barber, Charles L. (1993), The English Language: a historical introduction, Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bauer, Laurie (1988), Introducing Linguistic Morphology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable (2002), A History of the English Language
(5th edn), London: Routledge.
Bliss, Alan J. (1958), The Metre of Beowulf, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Brunner, Karl (1965), Altenglische Grammatik (3rd edn), Tübingen: Max
Niemeyer.
Cable, Thomas (1974), The Meter and Melody of Beowulf, Urbana, IL: University
of Illinois.
Campbell, Alistair (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Campbell, Lyle (1998), Historical Linguistics: an introduction, Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (2002), An Introduction to English Morphology,
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Clark Hall, John R. and Herbert D. Merrit (1969), A Concise Anglo-Saxon