Advanced Old English Language

Module code: EN3160

This module is intended to help you develop a detailed understanding of Old English grammar and advanced translation skills. It also provides training in Old English metre and dialectology, which helps us to understand how Old English texts can be used as evidence for the sounds of spoken Old English. The module aims to cover aspects of the historical development and dialectal distribution of Old English sounds and grammatical structures, as well as considering the range of evidence available for Old English language and the issues surrounding its application to historical reconstruction of earlier forms of the language.

Topics covered:

• Advanced Old English grammar
• Old English dialectology
• Old English verse forms
• Sound changes in Old English
• Texts including documentary prose such as charters and law-codes, medical texts and texts recorded in inscriptions rather than in manuscript form