אנגלית עתיקה

Old English (Englisċ, "the English language") was the West Germanic language spoken in England from the Anglo-Saxon migration (5th century CE) until c. 1100, after which French and Norse influences from the Norman Conquest (1066) catalyzed its evolution into Middle English (enm). The principal Anglo-Saxon literary corpus includes Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Exeter Book, the Vercelli Book, and Bede's Ecclesiastical History (Latin original with Old English Wessex translation by Alfred the Great's circle 9th-10th c.). Old English shows classic Germanic features: strong/weak verb classes, four cases (nominative/accusative/genitive/dative), grammatical gender (masculine/feminine/neuter). Modern study primarily centered on the West Saxon literary standard (Wessex dialect; cf. Mitchell & Robinson 1992).