Englisc

Overview

=Setting= Englisc is a language based on Old Englisc, carried forward to today. There is a bit of German in it, and some modern English, but it maintains its core language, unlike our language. This language is basically Old English as if it evolved like Modern German.

=Basic Grammar= Here is a basic grammar of Englisc:

Alphabet

 * Capital:  A, Æ, B, C, D, Ð, E, F, G, Ȝ, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Œ, P, Q, R, S, T, Þ, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
 * Lowercase: a, æ, b, c, d, ð, e, f, g, ȝ, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, œ, p, q, r, s, t, þ, u, v, w, x, y, z
 * Runic:    ᚪ,  ᚫ, ᛒ, ᚳ, ᛞ, ᚧ, ᛖ, ᚠ,  ᚸ, ᚷ, ᚻ, ᛁ,  ᛄ, ᛣ, ᛚ, ᛗ,  ᚾ, ᚩ, ᛟ, ᛈ, ᛢ, ᚱ,  ᛋ, ᛏ, ᚦ,  ᚢ, ᚡ, ᚹ, ᛉ, ᚣ, ᛎ; additionally: ᛥ (st), ᛝ (ng), ᛡ (ia, io), ᛠ (ea), ᛤ (kk)

The alphabet can also be written with runic characters, and when done in this form, can be written backwards, forwards, and vertically up or down, depending on the need of the writer. The Runic letters are arranged alphabetically in their own arrangement, different from Latin form. The Z rune is simply an upside-down T, V is simply a dotted-F rune. The rune ᛢ stands for QU and KW in any word.

Runic alphabetical order: f u þ a r c; ȝ w h n i j; eo p x s t b; e m l ng œ d; a æ y ea ia k; kk kw st ð v z;

Pronunciation
The letters b, d, g, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, w, x sound like modern English. The Z sounds like 'ts' as in cats in any unstressed syllable, and dz in a stressed syllable. The letter C is always like ch in church. The letter yogh Ȝ is a y-sound like yes in all positions. In foreign loanwords, the letter J indicates the same sound. The letters Þ and Ð sound like think and that, respectively. H at the beginning of a word is like hard; at the end of a word (after a/o/u) like Scottish loch and after front vowels (æ/e/i/œ/y) like German ich. The letter Q is always in the combination qu and is only used in foreign words; the native version is spelled as kw. The letter S is pronounced like sing in all cases except between vowels, when it sounds like zulu. The letter w is always like wire, except in the combination wl or wr when it can sound like victor.

A, Æ, B, C, D, Ð, E, F, G, Ȝ, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Œ, P, Q, R, S, T, Þ, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
 * A
 * Æ
 * E
 * I - bit/See
 * O - fon/Boot
 * Œ - ö
 * U - food/...
 * Y - ü
 * EI - buy
 * IE - fee
 * EA - may - this is simply a long æ. In words ending in 2 consonants, this digraph is used to indicate a long vowel.
 * IO - like yo

Nouns
Nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (single, plural), and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), which are marked with case endings and the use of a definite article.

Masculine
Masculine nouns are nouns which use the article þe and can also describe male beings (Doktor, Baker, Maker, etc.), or words ending in -had. The gender is arbitrary on things, so the gender does need to be memorized.


 * As an example, the word Stan, stone in the singular: Stan, Stanes, Stan, Stan; plural: Stane, Stane, Stanen, Stane

Neuter
Neuter nouns are nouns which use the article þat and can also describe things and children (Cild, Barn, etc.), or words ending in -in, -el, -incel. The gender is arbitrary on things, so the gender does need to be memorized.


 * As an example, the word Barn, child, baby in the singular: Barn, Barnes, Barn, Barn; plural: Barne, Barne, Barnen, Barne

Feminine
Feminine nouns are nouns which use the article þie and can also describe female beings (Doktorin, Bakestre, Makestre, etc.), or words ending in -ung. The gender is arbitrary on things, so the gender does need to be memorized.


 * As an example, the word Run, secret in the singular: Run; plural: Rune, Rune, Rune, Rune.
 * Feminine nouns that end in an -e in the singular will have en plurals.

Pronouns
Pronouns operate like any other language, replacing the nouns already mentioned and indicating the speaker, and one to whom you speak.

First person
These are the pronouns including the speaker, that is, I, we two, and we. The following table indicates modern English forms of these pronouns:

And now in Niw Englisc:

Second Person
The second person is the person to whom you are speaking. It is thou (you), ye two, and ye.

Third Person
The third person is whomever you're talking about; it is the person 'over there.'

Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns indicate someone unknown or unnamed to the speaker or person spoken to. The prefix a- adds the meaning any, æȝ- means each
 * anyone, anything: ahwa, ahwat
 * each/everyone, each/everything (individually): æȝhwa, æȝhwat
 * each/every one, each/every thing (as a group, together): gehwa, gehwat
 * no one, nothing: nehwa, nehwat
 * someone, something: nathwa, nathwat

Indefinite Pronouns with Adjective Endings
These words function like pronouns, but have adjective endings
 * both, either, each: gehwæðer
 * each, every, any: gehwilc
 * someone, something: ahwæðer

Interrogative Pronouns
These pronouns are question words, asking information from someone

Definite Article
The definite article declines, or changes form, based on the gender of the noun it describes. The article can be masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural. It has cases to agree with the nouns it describes. This word translates the English 'the, that.'

Indefinite Article
This word translates the English 'a, an.' An adjective following this is in the weak form.

There is no plural form for 'a, an' but if it means 'single, only' then it can have a plural form, as in 'the only women here' (þie anen Weife hier). If you intend to mean 'one' instead of 'a, an' then you write a double-a, as in 'aan, aanes' et al.

This / These
This word translates the English 'this, these.' An adjective following this is in the weak form. In a stressed form, meaning 'this one here directly in front of me' or 'this one we have been discussing just now' you write 'þies, þiesses' et al.

Strong Endings
Adjectives add endings to tell their function in a sentence. When standing before a noun, they add strong endings.


 * Example: Stan (m), great Stan (big stone), ȝung Cild (young child), ȝunges Mæȝdens (of a young girl), aldem Mann (to an old person (male or female)), kalde Dage (cold days)

Weak Endings
Weak endings occur after an article having an ending is placed before a noun. This is before the words þe, þie, þat, mein, þein (et al), an, þis.


 * Example: þe Stan -> þe grœne Stan; þat Mæȝden -> þat ȝunge Mægden; þie Frowe -> mid þer wlitigen Frowe

Comparison
For all adjectives, comparison is made adding the suffixes -er and -est. For example:
 * gemæn, gemæner, gemænst- (common, commoner, commonest)
 * dier, dierer, dierst- (dear, dearer, dearest)

Some adjectives have irregular comparative forms, with umlaut. They are all single-syllable, and quite common:
 * ald, ælder, ældest (old)
 * brad, bræder, brædest (broad)
 * ferr, fierrer, fierrst (far)
 * great, grieter, grietst (great, big)
 * ȝung, ȝynger, ȝyngst (young)
 * heah, hieher, hiehst (high)
 * lang, længer, længst (long)
 * scort, scœrter, scœrtst (short)
 * strang, strænger, strængst (strongest)

And a small number of adjectives have a completely different comparative/superlative form than the positive:
 * god, better, betst (good, better, best)
 * lytel, læsse, læst (little, less, least)
 * micel, mære, mæst ((great, much), more, most)
 * yfel, wiers, wierst (evil, worse, worst)

Word-formation: Adjective endings
To make new adjectives, you can use a set of adjective suffixes to nouns, forming new words:
 * bære - bearing, having; ex: lihtbære light-bearing, hornbære having horns
 * en - made of X; ex: wuden wooden, fellen made of skins, gylden golden
 * ern - in the direction of; ex: norðern, suðern, western, eastern
 * fæst - fast, fixed, firm; ex: arfæst firm in honor, virtuous, ærendfæst fixed in an errand
 * fald - X-fold, X-times; ex: anfald one time; single, twifald two times, double
 * full - full
 * iȝ - having the quality of X (note: the ȝ turns to g before adjective endings)
 * iht - a more emphatic version of iȝ, noting a higher degree of the trait; ex: geþyldiȝ, geþyldiht patient
 * isc - having a trait like X; cildisc - childish
 * lic - X-like
 * læs - X-less; arlæs honorless
 * el - forms adjectives from verbs; spreken -> sprekel talkative, etten -> ettel voracious
 * sum - in an X manner
 * ward - notes position or direction
 * wende - forms adjectives from nouns and other adjectives

Verbs
Verbs are those words describing an action or a state of being. Verbs are either strong or weak, like nouns and adjectives. Strong verbs change their vowel to indicate tense, while weak verbs add a dental suffix (-de, -te) to indicate tense. All verbs conjugate for person, singular/plural, and tense (past/present).

Weak Verbs
A weak verb has the following endings in the present tense, using maken to make, do as an example:

So, the endings for weak and strong verbs are:
 * ic -e
 * þu -(e)st
 * he -(e)þ
 * wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje -eþ

Just add the endings to the stem (maken is the stem mak- and the infinitive ending -en)

If the verb ends in a d/t, or some consonant cluster that makes it difficult to hear the ending, you keep the e in the 2nd and 3rd person. The plural ending is the same for all persons.

Past tense of weak verbs
Weak verbs form the past tense with either -de or -te. If the word ends in a voiceless consonant, such as k, p, s/z, then it will add -te, otherwise, -de. If the verb ends in some kind of consonant cluster that makes the ending hard to hear, add e between the verb stem and the ending (gelanden -> gelandede).

The following illustrate the past tense endings:

Irregular Weak Verbs
There are some weak verbs which, like modern English and German, are irregular. They are equivalent to think, thought, thought.

Strong Verbs
Strong verbs are those verbs that change the vowel in the stem to indicate the tense, such as 'write, wrote, written' in modern English. It works essentially the same way in Niw Englisc, just that there are a few more strong verbs, and you can place them into 7 broad types to make it easier to predict their forms. Basically, a strong verb will look like this in the present:

And the past:

Like all verbs, the plural is the same ending for all three persons. The ic and he forms are the same, however, in the past tense.

Type 1 -ei/a/i
The first type of strong verb has a ei vowel in the stem. Verbs like wreiten, streifen, sleiden, and sweifen are all type 1 verbs, and are declined the same way:

Streifen - to strive

And the past:

And in the perfect tense with haben to have:
 * ic habe gestriffen, etc.

Please note here that there is a slight change in the stem, doubling the consonant. This is merely to indicate the vowel preceding is short, but it does make some consonants voiceless that would otherwise be voiced (f sound instead of v sound, þ instead of ð, etc.)

More type 1 verbs to practice:

Special note on þ/ð - the letter thorn (þ) is the voiceless version of eth (ð), and as such, will alternate with it in certain forms of a verb or other word, depending on how it's used in a sentence. Take here the example of leiðen - to go, sail, travel:

And the past:


 * Perfect:

Type 2 ie-o-o
Driegen - to endure

And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:

And in the perfect tense with haben to have:

Special Note: verbs whose stems end in yogh ȝ pronounce it like English yes in the present after e/i, but in the past tense, it sounds like 'ch' in the German 'ach' (IPA: x). This is a sound change based in historical linguistics, and needs to be memorized. When the vowel umlauts for the subjunctive, this sound further changes to the German 'ich' sound (IPA: ç).

Example: flieȝen to flee

Subjunctive II:

Type 3 - e/i-a-o
Example: helpen - to help

And the past:

Past subjunctive is a little irregular, taking the 'u' vowel: Perfect:

Type 4 - e-a-o
beran to bear

And the past:

Type 5 - e-a-e
kweðen - to say

And the past:

Type 7 -irregular

 * There are a few type 7 verbs with irregular past tenses, a remnant of the old reduplicated verbs that all Germanic languages had at one point.
 * beaten, beft, gebeaten
 * dræden, drerd, gedræden
 * haaten, heht/hett, gehaten
 * laaken, lelk, gelaaken
 * læten, lert, gelæten
 * ræden, rerd/redd, geræden
 * spaaten, speft, gespaaten

haaten - to command; to be called

 * to order, command: w.a. person commanded, infinitive of action; ic haate þic gaan - I command you to go
 * to be called, named: w.a.; ic hatte Alfred - I'm called Alfred

And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:


 * Perfect Tense:
 * Passive (to be called):

laaken - to play
And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:


 * Perfect Tense:

læten - to let, allow
And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:


 * Perfect Tense:

ræden - to read; to advise

 * to read: with a book title
 * to advise: with dative object of a person, organization

And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:


 * Perfect Tense:

spaaten - to spit
And the past:


 * Subjunctive II:


 * Perfect Tense:

Irregular Verbs
These verbs are very irregular and have such a high frequency, that it's better just to memorize them.

Gan - to go

 * Present: ic ga, þu gæst, he gæþ; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje gaþ
 * Past:   ic geng, þu gengst, he geng; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje gengen
 * Perfect: ic em gegan...

Haben - to have

 * Present: ic habe, þu hafst, he hafþ; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje habeþ
 * Past:   ic hafde, þu hafdest, he hafde; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje hafden
 * Perfect: ic habe gehafd...

Hycgen - to think
In this verb, meaning to think about something for a time, think over, the present is pronounced ich hü-jeh, thu hüchst, etc. It uses an ich-laut in the 2nd and 3rd persons. In the past tense, this g sounds like Scottish loch
 * Present: ic hycge, þu hyȝst, he hyȝþ; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje hycgeþ
 * Past:   ic hogde, þu hogdest, he hogde; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje hogden
 * Perfect: ic habe gehogd...

Libben - to live
This refers to the action of living. The verb to reside in a place is wunen.
 * Present: ic libbe, þu lifst, he lifþ; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje libbeþ
 * Past:   ic lifde, þu lifdest, he lifde; wiȝ/ȝiȝ/hje lifden
 * Perfect: ic habe gelifd...

Secgen - to say
This verb is most often used in indirect quotes, i.e., "He said that he was going home..." (He sæȝde þat he to Hus ginge.). For direct quotes, the verb kweðen to say is used, i.e., "You said, 'I bought a new computer.'" (Þu kwaþst, 'ic bohte anen niwen Computer.')

And the past:


 * Perfect: ic habe gesæȝd...

Wesen/Been - to be
Wesen/Been is the only verb with a distinct future tense, as all other verbs use werðen and the infinitive.


 * Perfect: ic em gewesen...


 * Future Perfect: ic bim gebeen...I will have been (in the future past now, but completed in the future at some point)
 * Future Perfect (referring to now): ic bim gewesen...I will have been in the past (now or before now)


 * Future Perfect 1/2:

Modal Verbs / Preterite-Present Verbs
Modal verbs in Niw Englisc work similarly to German. They have full conjugations, and some can act alone without another verb to complete their meanings.

Durren

 * to dare to, presume to
 * durren, dorste, gedorren

Subjunctive II

Kunnen

 * to know how to, can

Magen

 * to be able to, can (because something is possible, or you have permission or power to)
 * magan to - to be good for, be the cause of, serve a purpose, have an effect; þat mæȝ to Naht that's good for nothing
 * magan wiþ - to prevail against (a disease), to be good for (some disease); Tylenol mæȝ wiþ Hefdecce Tylenol is good for headache.
 * magan wiþ - to have influence with (accusative)

Moten

 * to be allowed to, have permission to, may

Subjunctive II

Scullen

 * to be obliged to, shall

Subjunctive II

Þurfen

 * to need to, must

Subjunctive II

Willen
Present
 * To want to, will

Subjunctive II

Agen

 * agen - to own, possess, have, obtain; to give, deliver, restore (w.d. recipient); on Hand ~ to deliver in hand; ~ ut to find out
 * agen, ag, ahte, geagen

Dugen

 * dugen - to avail, to be of use, able, fit, strong, vigorous, good, virtuous, honest, bountiful, kind, liberal
 * dugen, deag, dohte, gedogen

Munen

 * gemunen - to remember, bear in mind, consider; w.g. and w.a.
 * gemunen, gemaan, gemunde, gemunen

Benugen

 * benugen - to need, want, require, enjoy; w.g.
 * benugen, beneag, benohte, benogen

Genugen

 * genugen - to suffice, to be sufficient, not to be wanting
 * genugen, geneag, genohte, genogen

Witten

 * witten - to know
 * witten, waat, wiste, gewitten

Witten
Present

Subjunctive II

Numbers

 * 1-20: an, tweȝn, þrie, fier, feif, six, sefen, aht, neiȝn, tien, endlefen, twelf, þrietien, fiertien, feiftien, sixtien, sefentien, ahttien, neiȝntien, tweȝntiȝ
 * decades: tien, tweȝntiȝ, þrittiȝ, fiertiȝ, feiftiȝ, sixtiȝ, sefentiȝ, ahttiȝ, neiȝntiȝ, hund/hundred, endlefentiȝ, twelftiȝ
 * hundreds: hund/hundred, twahund, þriehund, fierhund, feifhund...
 * larger numbers: þusend, tienþusend, hundþusend, Million (10^6), Billion (10^9), Trillion (10^12), Quadrillion (10^15), Quintillion (10^18), et al.

Writing numbers: when writing numbers, like in German, they are written together, with the digits preceding the decades. When writing hundreds, you write hundred when it's an even hundred (100, 200,..., 900), but otherwise, the shortened form is used.
 * 31: anandþrittiȝ
 * 568: feifhundahtandsixtiȝ
 * 9327: neiȝnþusendþriehundsefenandtweȝntiȝ

Genitive

 * andlang - alongside
 * hweilen - during
 * inteiden - during (a variant from in Teiden - in times)
 * innerseids - inside of
 * oferseids - on top of
 * onstede - in place of, instead of
 * underseids - underneath, on the bottom of
 * utenseids - outside of
 * wiþ - opposite of

Dative

 * mid - with
 * onmang - among
 * oþ - until

Accusative

 * þurh - through
 * wiþ - against (ic fehte wiþ hin I fight with/against him)

Dative/Accusative

 * in
 * ofer
 * on

Syntax
=Dictionary=
 * Nouns
 * Verbs

=Example text= Fader user in Hefen, Gehaliȝd werðe þein Name, Þein Reic kume, Þein Wille gelimpe, on Erðe so eak on Hefen. Gif us todæȝ user dæȝlice Bread, And forgif usic useres Sculdes, So we forgifeþ usere Sculdiger And ne læd usic in Kostnung, Ak alies usic þes Yfelen. Forþem þein is þat Reic, and þie Maht, and þat Wuldor, æfre on æfre, Amen.


 * Folgeþ miȝ, and ic do ȝuic to Fisceren Menne - Jesus


 * Genesis 1


 * Genesis 1:23:      And þær was Æfen, and þær was Morgen-þe feifte Dæȝ
 * Genesis 1:23 (Run): ᚪᚾᛞ ᚦᚫᚱ ᚹᚪᛋ ᚫᚠᛖᚾ, ᚪᚾᛞ ᚦᚫᚱ ᚹᚪᛋ ᛗᚩᚱᚸᛖᚾ-ᚦᛖ ᚠᛖᛁᚠᛏᛖ ᛞᚫᚷ

=Uses= Englisc is usable in many fields, including science, education, diplomacy, and every day life. If you'd like to use the language and expand it, please help out and put up some texts in the language.