Clauses of Manner and Comparison

These are introduced by the conjunctions swa and ponne: wearde heoldon in pam fæstenne, swa pam folce ær ʒeomormodum ludip behead 'they kept watch in the fortress, as Judith had ordered the people, before sad'; nalæs hi hine Iæssan lacum teodan, peodʒestreonum, ponne pa dydon, pe hine set frumsceafte for ð onsendon  ænne ofer y ð e umbor-wesende 'they did not adorn him with lesser treasures, with folk-gifts, than those did who_at his birth sent him forth alone over the sea, being a baby'; næfre ic maran ʒeseah eorla ofer eor ð an, ponne is eower sum cecʒ on searwum 'never did I see a greater of earls on the earth, than is one of you, warrior in arms'.

We also find in OE texts some clauses of a generalizing character, introduced by generalizing pronouns or adverbs. Thus, the object clause in the following example has a generalizing character: … swa pætte, swa hwæt swa he of ʒodeundum stafum purh boceras ʒeleornode, pæt he æfter medmiclum fæce... in enʒliscʒereord wel ʒeworht forp brohte '... so that he, whatever he had learnt from divine books through books, in a_ short time... in English well told pronounced'; hy ʒedop pæt æʒper bip oferfroren, sam hit sy sumor sam winter 'they do it (so) that both are frozen, whether it be summer or winter'.

  Parenthetical Clauses

These are sometimes found in OE texts, e. g. pa wæs him eallum ʒeseʒen, swa-swa hit wæs, pæt him were from drihtne sylfum heofonlic ʒiofu forʒifen 'then it became clear to all of them, as it was, that a heavenly gift had been granted him from God himself.

 

  Combined Clauses                                                         

Of course different types of clauses can combine with one
another in various ways, and the number of such variations is prob-­
ably unlimited. Here we give a few examples illustrating these possi­ -
bilities: for ð y me ð ync ð betre, ʒif iow swæ ð ync ð, ð æt we eac sumæ bec, ð a ð e niedbe ð earfosta sien eallum monnum to wiotonne, ð æt we ð a on ð æt ʒe ð eode wenden, ð e we ealle ʒecnawan mæen (ond ʒedon swæ we swi ð e ea ð e maʒon mid ʒodes fultume, ʒif we ða stilnesse habba ð), ð ætte eal sio ʒioʒud, ðe nu is on Anʒelcynne, friora monna, ð dra ð e ða speda hæbben, ð æt hie ð æm befeolan mæʒen, sien to liornunʒe o ð fæste, ða hwile ð e hie to nanre o ð erre note ne mæsʒen, o ðð one first, ð e hie wel cunnen enʒlisc ʒewrit arædan 'therefore it seems better to me (if it seems so to you) that we should also translate some books, which it is most necessary for all men to know, that we should translate them into the language that we all can know (and do so we very easily can with God's help, if we have peace), that all the youth that is now in England, of free men, who have property, that they may apply to it, that they may be firm in learning, while they are not eligible to any other useful work, until the time when they can easily read an English writing'.

                                                                                                        

                                                     2.2.3. Mixed Sentences

A sentence may contain both co-ordination and subordina­tion, and this again in different combinations.

We will only consider here one example of a sentence of this mixed type: ond ic bebiode on ʒodes naman, ð æt nan mon ð one æstel from ð ære bec ne do ne ð a hoc from ð æm mynstre: uncu ð, hu lonʒe ð ær ð wæ ʒelærede biscepas sien, swaæ nu (ʒode ð onc!) wel hwær siendon, for ð y ic wolde, ð ætte hie ealneʒ æt ð ære stowe wære, biiton se biscep hie mid him habban wille o ðð e hio hwær to læne sle o ðð e hwa o ð re bl write 'and I order in God's name that nobody should take the bookmark away from the book nor the book from the monastery: it is unknown, how long there will be such learned bishops as now (thank God!) there are everywhere because I want them (the books) to be always on the spot, unless the bishop wants it to be with him or it may be somewhere lent, or somebody may make a copy of it'.

 

In the sphere of syntax there is a great difference between various documents of the OE period. Thus, while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has hardly any complex sentences, limiting itself to simple and compound ones, in other texts, such as, for example, king Alfred's preface to his translationof Cura Pastoralis, we find an elaborate system of complex sentences, with different types of subordinate

clauses and many subordinating conjunctions to introduce them. Thus, it would be completely mistaken to argue due to the almost complete absence of subordinate clauses in the Chronicle, that there were no complex sentences in OE. This absence is due not to the non-existence of subordination in OE but to a certain stylistic tradition preserved by the chroniclers. From this point of view it is most in­structive to compare passages from the Chronicle with those from king Alfred's preface.In the Chronicle we read: Anno 851. Her Ceorl aldormon ʒefeaht wip hæfiene men mid Defenascire æt Wicʒanbeorʒe

ond pær micel wæl ʒesloʒon ond siʒe namon. On py ilcan ʒeare AEpelstan cyninʒ ond Ealchere dux micelne here ofsloʒon æt Sondwic  on Kent, ond IX scipu ʒefenʒun ond pa opre ʒefliemdon, ond hæpne men ærest ofer winter sæton 'In this year Ceorl the alder­man fought with the heathen men in Devonshire at Wembury, and they killed many enemies and obtained victory. And in the same year King Ethelstan and alderman Ealchere killed many enemies at San­dwich in Kent, and captured nine ships, and put the other ones to flight, and heathen men for the first time spent the winter there'. At about the same time king Alfred wrote in his Preface to his trans­lation of Gregory I's Pastoral Care: AElfred cyninʒ hate ð ʒretan Wærfer ð biscep his wordum luflice ond freondlice ond ð e cy ð an hate, ð æt me com swi ð e oft on ʒemynd, hwylce wiotan iu wæron ʒiond Anʒelcynn æʒ ð er ʒe ʒodcundra hada ʒe woruldcundra, and hu ʒesæliʒlica tida ð a wæron ʒiond Anʒelcynn, ond hu ð a cyninʒas, ð e ð one onwald hæfdon ð æs folces, ʒode ond his ærendwrecum hiersumedon, and hie æʒ ð er ʒe hiora sibbe ʒe hiora siodo ʒe hiora onweald innanbordes ʒehioldon and eac ut hiora e ð el rymdon, ond hu him ð a speow æʒ ð er ʒe mid wiʒe ʒe mid wisdome; ond eac ð a ʒodcundan hadas, hu ʒiorne hie wæron æʒ ð er ʒe ymb lare ʒe ymb liornunʒa ʒe ymb ealle ð a ð iowotdomas, ð e hie ʒode scoldon, ond hu man utanbordes wisdom ond lare hieder on load sohte, ond hu we hie nu scoldon ute beʒietan, ʒif we hie habban sceoldon 'Alfred king sends his greetings to Warferth the bishop with his words in a friendly and loving way and I tell you that it very often came on my mind what scholars there were formerly in England, both of the religious and the lay orders, and what blessed times were then in England, and how the kings, who had power over the people, served God and his apostles, and they kept both their peace and their morals and their power inside the country, and enlarged their possessions, and how they succeeded then both in war and in culture, and also the religious or­ders, how eager they were both about teaching and about learning and about all the duties which they owed to God, and how people from abroad sought culture and learning here in this country, and how we now have to get them from outside if we are to have them'. This sentence contains a number of subordinate clauses of different degrees both subject, object, attributive and conditional ones.

Between this syntax and that of the Chronicle, as illustrated by the above example, there is of course a very great difference, which can only be interpreted as due to the stylistic peculiarities of the two texts, and this in its turn, depends on the subject matter and on the purpose of the texts.

 

                                         3. WORD-ORDER

In some sources, especially older ones, we can find information that Old English word-order is "free" compared to that of Modern English, and we may conclude that writers of Old English could mix up their words in any order at all. But though word-order was freer then than now, there are just a few common word-orders in Old English clauses. The main Old English word-orders are these:

Subject-Verb.

This, of course, is how most Modern English sentences are arranged.

Verb-Subject.

This word-order still occurs in Modern English sentences like "There are plenty of fish in the sea," and often in questions, such as "Are you sleeping?"

Subject... Verb.

The finite verb is delayed until the end of the clause.

Each of these can occur in several different environments, but each is also typical of particular kinds of clause.

Subject-Verb

This is the standard word-order of the Modern English clause, and it is very common in Old English. It is typical of independent clauses, though it also occurs frequently in subordinate clauses:

Ēac swylċe ðā nȳtenu of eallum cynne and eallum fugolcynne cōmon tō Noe, intō ðām arce, swā swā God bebēad ‘Also the beasts of each species and (of) each species of bird came to Noah, into the ark, as God commanded ’

The direct object, when it is a noun or noun phrase, will generally follow the verb:

God bletsode ðā Noe and his suna and cwæð him tō: "Weaxað and bēoð ġemenifylde and āfyllað ðā eorðan."

God then blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Increase and be multiplied and fill the earth."

Old English has a tendency to place pronoun objects - direct and indirect - early in the clause. A pronoun object will usually come between the subject and the verb:

And iċ hine ġesēo and bēo ġemyndiġ ðæs ēċean weddes ðe ġeset is betwux Gode and eallum libbendum flǣsce.

And I will see it and be mindful of the eternal covenant that is established between God and all living flesh.

If the clause has both a direct and an indirect object, and one of them is a pronoun, the pronoun will come first:

Hēr ġē magon ġehȳran þæt hē ġyfð ūs anweald, ġif wē on hine ġelȳfað, Godes bearn tō bēonne.

Here you may hear that he gives us the power, if we believe in him, to be God's children.

If the indirect object had been a noun and the direct object a pronoun, the direct object would have come first.

Though you will most frequently find a noun object after the verb and a pronoun before, there is no hard-and-fast rule for the placement of objects. Sometimes a pronoun object stands after the verb, and sometimes the object will come before the subject:

and iċ fordō hī mid ðǣre eorðan samod.

I will destroy them together with the earth.

Ðone cyning hī brōhton cucene tō Iosue.

They brought the king alive to Joshua.

Adverbial elements, including prepositional phrases and adverb clauses occur in various places in the sentence, e. g. God bletsode ðā Noe ‘God then blessed Noah’

Verb-Subject

This word-order is common in independent clauses introduced by the adverbs þā 'then', þonne 'then', þǣr 'there', þanon 'thence', þider 'thither', the negative adverb ne, and the conjunctions and/ond and ac 'but'.

Since Old English narrative often advances in a series of þā -clauses, we will find the Verb-Subject word-order quite frequent in narrative:

Ðā cwæð Drihten tō Caine: "Hwǣr is Abel ðīn brōðor?"

Ðā andswarode hē and cwæð: "Iċ nāt; seġst ðū, sceolde iċ mīnne brōðor healdan?"

Ðā cwæð Drihten tō Caine: "Hwæt dydest ðū? Þīnes brōðor blōd clypað tō mē of eorðan."

Then the Lord said to Cain: "Where is Abel, your brother?"

Then he answered and said: "I don't know: do you say I must look after my brother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain: "What have you done? Your brother's blood cries to me from the earth."

This word-order also occurs in independent clauses not introduced by an adverb or adverbial element:

Wǣron hī ēac swȳþe druncene, for ðām þǣr wæs brōht wīn sūðan.

[They were also very drunk, for wine had been brought from the south.]

When the clause contains a direct object, it will usually follow the subject, but it may also come first in the clause.

The Verb-Subject word-order is also characteristic of questions, whether or not introduced by an interrogative word:

Him cwæð Nicodemus tō: "Hū mæġ se ealda mann eft bēon ācenned? Mæġ hē, lā, inn faran tō his mōdor innoðe eft, and swā bēon ġeedcenned?"

Nicodemus said to him, "How can the old man be born again? May he, indeed, go into his mother's womb again, and thus be reborn?"

In Modern English this word-order is used mostly in questions, but in Old English it is also used in declarative sentences.

Eart þū se Bēowulf, se þe wið Brecan wunne [ Beowulf, l. 506. ]

The Verb-Subject word-order has suggested to most editors that the line is a question, to be translated "Are you the Beowulf who contended with Breca?" But it has been plausibly suggested that it is instead a statement, to be translated "You're that Beowulf, the one who contended with Breca!"

Commands also generally have the Verb-Subject word-order unless the subject is omitted, as happens more often than not when the command is positive:

Ne wyrċ ðū ðē āgrafene godas.

[Do not make graven gods for yourself.]

Ārwurða fæder and mōdor.

[ Honor (your) father and mother.]

Subject... Verb

The Subject... Verb word-order is commonly found in subordinate clauses and clauses introduced by and/ond or ac 'but', though it does sometimes occur in independent clauses. The subject comes at the beginning of the clause and the finite verb is delayed until the end (though it may be followed by an adverbial element such as a prepositional phrase).

Gode ofðūhte ðā ðæt hē mann ġeworhte ofer eorðan.

Then it was a matter of regret to God that he had made man upon the earth.

In the noun clause (ðæt... eorðan), the direct object of ġeworhte comes between the subject and the verb. Indirect objects complements, adverbial elements and various combinations of these are to be found in the same position:

Adverbial element:

Se Iouis wæs swā swīðe gāl þæt hē on hys swustor ġewīfode.

This Jove was so very lustful that he married his sister.

and þā bēċ ne magon bēon āwǣġede, þe þā ealdan hǣðenan be him āwriton þuss.

and the books that the old heathens wrote thus about them may not be nullified.

Complement:

Nū secgað þā Deniscan þæt se Iouis wǣre, þe hī Þōr hātað, Mercuries sunu.

Now the Danes say that this Jove, whom they call Thor, was Mercury's son.

 

Indirect object and object:

and Adam him eallum naman ġesceōp

and Adam made names for them all.

 

                                                

Conclusion

The syntactical structure of OE was determined by two major conditions: the nature of OE morphology and the relations between the spoken and the written forms of the language.

OE was largely a synthetic language; it possessed a system of grammatical forms which could indicate the connection between words; consequently, the functional load of syntactic ways of word connection was relatively small. It was primarily a spoken language, therefore the written forms of the language resembled oral speech – unless the texts were literal translations from Latin or poems with stereotyped constructions. There was no fixed word order, the order of the words in sentence being relatively free. Consequently, the syntax of the sentence was relatively simple; coordination of clauses prevailed over subordination; complicated syntactical constructions were rare.

                                                           Bibliograрhy

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