Mercian (Anglo-Saxon)
Mercian was spoken in the
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Mercia. Together with
Northumbrian, it was one of the two
Anglian dialects. The other two dialects of
Old English were
Kentish and
West Saxon.
The dialect was spoken as far east as to border East Anglia and as far West as Wales. It was spoken as far North as
Staffordshire, bordering
Northumbria and
Strathclyde; and as far south as South
Oxfordshire/
Gloucestershire, where it bordered
Essex and
Wessex. The language has a
Anglo-Celtic structure, reflecting the meeting point between the two cultures. Language from the Northumbrian dialect, which has strong
Viking influence, also filtered in on a few occasions.
The letters b,d,g,l,m,n,p,q,s,t,v,w,z behave like Modern English.
*'c' is always pronounced hard, like 'cat,' never soft like 'cell.'
*'ċ' is pronounced like 'ch' in 'cheese.'
*'h' at the beginning of a word, hard as is 'hat'. Before 't' and at the end of a syllable, pronounced like 'ch' in 'loch' or the German 'ich', e.g. 'niht' (translates as 'niht')
*'ġġ', 'cg,' pronounced as 'dge' as in 'wedge.'
*'ζ' before a,o,u it has a guttural sound, like the French 'r,' before i,e,y it sounds like the Modern English 'y.'
*'r' always rolled in Scottish style ('rrr')
*'sċ,' 'sc,' both give the 'sh' as in 'shoe,'
*'f' pronounced 'v' as in 'very' (as in found in Modern Welsh).
*'æ' the 'a' as in 'man'
*'ā' as in 'aah'
*'a' shortened as in 'barn'
*'"' like the 'ay' in 'bay'
*'e' like the 'e' in 'bed'
*'ī' like the 'ee' in 'creek'
*'i' as in 'bin'
*'ō' as in the 'o' in the Scottish 'och'
*'o' as in 'cot'
*'ū' like 'oo' in 'moo'
*'u' like the 'ou' in 'Doug'
*'ȳ' like the 'u' in the French 'tu'
*'y' shortened version of the above.
Mercian also uses the
eth 'Ð,ð' and
thor 'Þ,þ' both give the English 'th' sound as in 'thin'
Mercian grammar is very dense and often complex.
Nouns
Nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and four cases:
nominative,
accusative,
dative and
genitive. These, in addition, all have
singular and
plural forms.
Mercian nouns can be strong or weak.
Examples
*Strong masculine noun
stān (stone)
**nominative (singular, plural): stān, stānes
**accusative: stān, stānes
**dative: stāne, stānen
**genitive: stānes, stāne
*Weak masculine noun
name (name)
**nominative: name, namen
**accusative: namen/name, namen
**dative: namen/name, namen
**genitive: namen/name. namene/namen
Pronouns
Personal pronouns (mine, his, yours, ours) come in all above cases and quantities, and come in three types: singular, dual ('you/we two'), plural.
Demonstrative pronouns vary in the same way describe below for the indefinite article, based on 'ðes' only for
this.
That and
Those are the same as the definite article.
Relative pronouns (who, which, that) are usually 'ðe' and 'ðet.'
Articles
The
definite article is equally complex, with all
genders changing in the singular in all cases, based on variations of 'ðe.' In the plural all genders take the same word. The
indefinite article was often omitted in Mercian.
Adjectives
Adjectives are always declined, even with some verbs (which means they double up as
adverbs sometimes), e.g. I am cold. Split into weak and strong
declensions (depending on the strength of the noun), the were once again split into all four cases, both singular and plural.
Comparative adjectives (e.g.
bigger) always add 're.' Example: Æðelen (noble), æðelenre (nobler).
Verbs
Verbs can be conjugated from the
infinitive into the
present tense, the
past singular, the
past plural and the
past participle. There exist strong and weak verbs in Mercian that too conjugate in their own ways. The future tense requires an
auxiliary verb, like
will (Mercian 'wyllen'). There are three moods:
indicative,
subjunctive and
imperative. Like most inflected languages, Mercian has irregular verbs (such as 'to be'
b"on and 'have'
habben).
Vocabulary
Mercian vocabulary is based on Anglo-Celtic influences, plus a few imports from
Northumbrian. For further information, see
References.
*Biddulph, Joseph.
The Mercian Language: Introduction to the English Midlands Dialect of Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Middle English. (2004, Wales (Cymru), Joseph Biddulph Publisher). ISBN 1897999399
