PEC Diacronía

The text in question is set in the ninth century, the earliest period of English
history known as Old English (450-1150). Within this context (and closely related
to the text discussed above), it is important to mention that, although there was a
relatively early conversion to Christianity throughout the region, there is evidence
(consistent with the vernacular texts) of the practice of charms or spells by the
early inhabitants. These texts consisted of one or two paragraphs of invocations
intended to solve the problems of daily life (such as the cure of pain or other
normal ailments). Among the works in question are the "Merseburg Charms", or
in the well-known poem "Beowulf", which contains a number of references to
symbols and deities far removed from Christianity.

As we have seen throughout the course, in the early Old English works we
can find certain mystical and spiritual elements (as is the case of the charms or
spells mentioned above). Therefore, the work in question "Egyptian Days" (taken
from the text Lacnunga, which includes a set of medical and magical practices of
the ninth century), alludes to the "Dangerous Days" in the year, being a common
reference in texts with magical or medicinal allusions, which has been the subject
of study by various experts, as is the case of Pennick (2015).

a) The Noun

As far as the noun is concerned, we can see that during the period in question
(old English) neither the ablative, nor locative, nor instrumental subjects are seen,
as they have all merged with the dative. Therefore, we can find only four cases
with the following examples in the text: Nominative: “dauʒʒas” (Masculine plural
noun, equivalent to “days” in present-day English); Accusative: “ʒeþeode”
(Masculine singular nou, meaning “Language); Dative: “ʒeare” (masculine
singular noun, equivalent to “year”); “monþe” (masculine singular noun, meaning
“month”); Genitive: “mannes” (masculine or neuter noun, equivalent to “men”);
“neates” (masculine or neuter noun, meaning “animal or beast”); Borrows:
“aprelis” (borrowed from Latin, equivalent to “April”); Compounds noun- noun:
“monan dæʒ” (meaning “Monday”). Also, is important to mention that singular
noun “blod” (equivalent to “blood”), can be neuter. Is important to mention that in
early Middle English was only two methods to indicate the plural: a) strong
masculine declension, the -s or -es, and b) weak masculine declension, the -en.

b) The Adjective

When dealing with the adjective, during the course of the subject we have
been able to see that double declension of the adjective is a common feature in
Germanic languages, being able to identify: a) strong declension: used when
nouns are not accompanied by a definite article, possessive pronoun or
demonstrative, as is the case of nanre (“no one, no man” in present-day English);
or “hwilcne” (masculine singular, equivalent to “any”), ending in -ne, which
indicates a strong declension in the adjective; and b) weak declension: used in
those cases where the noun is preceded by a weak word, as in the case of
“æresta” (ordinal adjective equivalent to “first” in present-day English), or
“feorþan” (ordinal adjective meaning “fourth”), and “lænʒre” (comparative
adjective, equivalent to “larger”). It is important to mention that, in Middle English,
and as a consequence of the decay of the inflectional system, the weak
declension change as in the case of blinda>blinde and blindan>blinde, and also
for the strong declension, like in the singular glad, and plural glade. Even, at
present, we can observe an almost total absence of the adjective inflection in
modern English.

c) The Definite Article

As is also the case in German, Old English had a fully declined definite article,
a situation that can be found in the following examples from the text in question:
“se” (nominative, masculine, singular adjective, equivalent to “the”), and its
declinations “þæt” (nominative, neuter, singular adjective, meaning “that”), or þam
(dative, masculine, singular adjective, “the” in present-day English).

d) The Personal Pronoun

Regarding the personal pronoun, Old English, like other languages, has
specific forms for almost all persons, genders and cases. Also, in addition to the
ordinary numbers (singular and plural), it has a series of forms for two persons or
two elements (or things), which is defined as dual number. In the case of the text
"The Egyptian Days", we can find the following examples: “we” (nominative plural,
equivalent to “we”), “he” (nominative singular equivalent to he”). However, we
have not been able to identify an example of the dual number in the text.

e) The Verb

In Old English only two simple verb tenses can be found by inflection, as
is the case with the past tense (like “acænned”, past participle of the Class I
weak verb ācennan, equivalent to “to bring forth” or “to produce”), and the
present tense (drincð, 3rd singular present indicative of “drincan”, equivalent to
“to drink”). However, it is important to mention that it did not have inflectional
forms for the passive voice as was the case in Greek and Latin.

Old English also had subjunctive moods, as we find in the case of

“ʒewaniʒe” (3rd singular present subjunctive of “ġewanian” equivalent to “to
diminish”), as well as indicative, such as “syndon” (3rd plural present indicative
of bēon “to be”), and imperative. In this order of things, and as can be seen in
the examples chosen, the verbs also had the usual persons and numbers.

Another important aspect was the division of verbs into two broad
categories, a) weak verbs, as in the case of “secʒan” (uninflected infinitive of
Class III weak verbs, meaning “to say” in present-day English), or “ʒehyrdan”
(Plural preterit indicative person Class I weak verb “ġehīeran”, meaning “to hear”),
and b) strong verbs, as in the case of “ne becymð” (3rd singular present
indicative of “becuman” Class 4 strong verb, meaning “to become”). Which are
now known as irregular and regular verbs. However, in the Middle English, we
can appreciate thar new verbs were conjugated as weak, an also when the strong
verbs passed over to the weak declension, the past participle was kept in the
standard form (which did not happen with the past tense) and became adverbs
as in the case of swollen and sodden.

f) Old English Syntax

Old English is characterized by a style which has a number of embedded

clauses. Therefore, one of the major problems that arises during the analysis of
Old English is to stipulate whether the sentences are independent or subordinate
clauses. This is because the words that carry out the subordination have a higher
level of ambiguity.

As a consequence, as far as the text "The Egyptian Days" is concerned,

we are dealing with a work written in prose, therefore, we must stick to the word-
order rules, although we can also find several main and subordinate clauses, as
is the case of: "Đry daʒʒas syndon on ʒeare þe we eʒiptiaci hatað" (meaning
“Three days there are in year that we call Egyptian” in present-day English),
where a simple SV pattern and then an adverbial extension can be seen. In
addition, we have a relative clause which can be identified by the pronoun "þe".
At the same time, the adjective and subordinate clauses have an indicative verb,
which in this case is the verb "hatað". If we apply the word order rule, the sentence
shows an OV with a pattern usual in relative clauses.

It is important to consider that the genitive relative is not indispensable,

however, it is a way of referring to an element that has been mentioned
previously. Thus, some experts call them "recapitulatory pronouns" (Rauer, 2013,
p. 8). As a consequence, this device was quite common in Old English, while at
the same time serving as a guide for the writer to exercise some control over the
sentences.

In a similar framework, we can see that both the verbs 'declare' and 'say'
usually have an internal argument carried out by a complement clause. In this
way, the clauses in question are easily recognizable, thanks to the inclusion of
the subordinating conjunction "þæt". Moreover, it can be seen that this clause
has an SV order, which is reproduced in the main clauses as well as in the
subordinate clauses.

With regard to the verbal mode of the complement clauses, this could be
subjunctive or indicative, which will be defined by the evidence of the content of
the clause. In the case in question, as we are dealing with a prediction (since, as
we have said, the text alludes to certain magical or mystical elements which are
related to certain days of the Egyptian calendar), when we identify the indicative
in the sentence "he is lif ʒeændað" ("he shall end his life" in present-day English),
the last term "ʒeændað" is the one which makes the clause much stronger.

Undoubtedly, working with this type of texts allows us to learn about

aspects (linguistic, semantic, grammatical or even pragmatic) that help us to
understand the long journey that languages have gone through up to the present
day, and the necessary changes that have taken place in them. Moreover,
through these studies we can understand how social, political and historical
moments have a clear impact on literature. As we have been able to verify thanks
to the development of this analysis, the text under study provides clear evidence
of the relationship between mysticism and other almost “magical” elements in
man's conception of himself and his organism, attributing “special” or “divine”
properties to such everyday elements as the days of the month.

Referencias

Pennick, N. (2015). Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition: Customs, Rites, and
Ceremonies. Nueva York, Simon and Schuster.

Rauer, C. (2013). The Old English Martyrology: Edition, Translation and

Commentary. Cambridge, DS Brewer.