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.
Historical origins
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 an 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.
Alphabet
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'
- 'ē' 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 thorn 'Þ,þ' both give the English 'th' sound as in 'thin'
Grammar
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
Possessive pronouns (I/me, you,he,she, we, you (pl.) and they) come in all the above cases and come in three numbers: 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), these 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' bēon and 'have' habben).
Vocabulary
Mercian vocabulary is based on Anglo-Celtic influences, plus a few imports from Northumbrian. For further information, see References.
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 1-897999-39-9
See also
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