Detective Paper One The selected passage certainly comes from the Old English period, due to the incredible amount of evidence supporting its date. Lexicon Lexicographical evidence is plentiful in this snippet. The word “hwæðer” appears in line 3 (G. 3), which the OED Online notes as being a form to first emerge in Old English, falling out of use in favor of “hwaþer” by the Late Old English and Early Middle English period (“whether,” form α). Knowing that this form was far less popular towards the end of the Old English period, one can safely predict that this passage came from Old English. The OED Online also places the word “mihton” (G. 6) as being exclusively used in the Old English period (“may,” form 4, c). Two forms of the word “fire” …show more content…
9). Inverting the subject in the verb after an adverb is a structure typical of Old English, but rare in Modern English. While Old English often used the SVO word order, there are several examples of the older SOV word order in this passage. The passage begins with “Almachius hire andwyrde,” or “Almachius her answered” (G. 1). As this is an older form even for Old English, it supports the idea that this passage is from Old English and not a more recent period. The double negative construction that appears in line 20 also supports this Old English date. The passage says “nan cwellere ne,” which emphasizes that no executioner should strike a criminal four times, instead of saying that “no executioner should not” as a direct translation might. In contrast, Modern English often views double negatives as creating a positive, not a more intense …show more content…
The form “stanas” has the nominative plural ending, while the form “stænene” takes the nominative, plural, masculine ending for an adjective (McGillivray). Both of these endings come from the Old English period specifically, being lost as time went on. Also present are the 3rd person feminine dative pronoun “hire” (G. 1) and the third person plural pronoun “hi” (G. 14), both pronouns specific to the Old English period. The prefix “ge-” appears in line 22 in the word “gelauffullan” (G. 22). Translated, this word means “with faith,” as English has since lost the prefix “ge-” meaning “with”. Another Old English form is the 3rd person ending on the weak verb “andwyrde” (G. 1). The “-de” suffix was specific to Old English, though Modern English maintains a similar structure in its equivalent “answered”. Orthography The ash symbol (æ) appears in words such as “wætere” and “lædan” (G. 10). This symbol fell out of use in Middle English, making this passage likely to come from Old English. Dozens of lines are also filled with the eth and thorn, which as we discussed in class fell out of favor in Middle