Category:Old English

Not to be confused with category: Wiki Old English

Category: Old English — this category here on WikiIndex is for wiki sites whose subject matter is, or discusses the Old English language.

See also category: Multilingual – for those wiki sites with a subject matter of more than one language.

For those wiki sites whose contents are written in their actual language (ie, not English), they should go into their relevant Wiki language sub-category instead. In this instance, wiki sites with contents written in Old English should be included in category: Wiki Old English instead. See also category: Wiki Multilingual, for those wiki sites written in more than one language.

Old English (Englisċ), also known as Anglo-Saxon language, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval period. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, for a time, English was replaced by Anglo-Norman (a relative of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English or Medieval era, since during this period, the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland.

Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes; traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain (Latin: Provincia Britannia): Common Brittonic, a then native Celtic language; and Latin, brought to Britain by Roman invasion. Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish, and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the literary standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle and Modern English would develop mainly from Mercian, and Scots from Northumbrian. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule and settlement beginning in the 9th century.

Old English is one of the West Germanic languages; and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is very different from Modern English and Modern Scots, and largely incomprehensible for Modern English or Modern Scots speakers without study. Within Old English grammar nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs, have many inflectional endings and forms, and word order is much freer. The oldest Old English inscriptions were written using a runic system, but from about the 8th century, this was replaced by a version of the Latin alphabet.