Lecture 1 Introduction

Best known Runic Inscriptions:

1. 
   Franks Casket – a box with 4 sides made of whale bone, each side contained a picture in the centre and runic inscriptions around the picture that told the story of the whale bone in alliterative verse.
   
2. 
   Ruthwell Cross – was found near the village of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, it is a 15 feet tall stone cross ornamented in all sides with runic inscriptions that are actually a passage from a religious poem “The Dream of the Rood”.
   

Old English Alphabet
The Old English Alphabet was borrowed from Latin, but there were also some letters that were borrowed from the Runic Alphabet:

• 
  ? (“thorn”) = [] and [ð]
  
• 
  ? (“wynn”) = [w]
  
• 
  ? (“mann”) = stood for OE word “man”
  
• 
  ? (“dæζ”) = stood for OE word “day”
  

Some new letters were introduced:

• 
  ζ = [g] and [j];
  
• 
  ð/þ/Đ/đ = [] and [ð];
  
• 
  æ = a ligature of [a] and [e];
  
• 
  œ = a ligature of [o] and [e].
  

Rules of Reading:
They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:

1. 
   f = [v] --- 1. between vowels;
   

s = [z] 2. between a vowel and a voiced consonant ( [r, m, n, l, d, etc.] ).
ð/þ = [ð]

2. 
   ζ – [j] – between and after front vowels ( [e, i, æ] );
   

– [g] – initially and between back vowels ( [a, o, u] ).

3. 
   cζ = [gg].
   
4. 
   c = [k].
   
5. 
   n = [ŋ] when fallowed by [k] or [g].
   

See also § 111-113 on p. 71-74 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).
Old English Manuscripts

Most of the Old English manuscripts were written in Latin characters. The Latin Alphabet was modified by the scribes to suit the English language (some letters were changed and some new letters were added (see examples above)). The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:

• 
  personal documents containing names and place names;
  
• 
  legal documents (charters);
  
• 
  glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts);
  
• 
  textual insertions (pieces of poetry).
  

See § 110, p. 69-70 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (a table “Principal Old English Written Records” (copies)).