Deck 1: The Origins of English Before 450

Question 1

What kind of life styles did the various Germanic peoples have? What did they have in common that made them Germanic?

Answer 1

The Germanic peoples farmed and kept domestic animals. They were polygamous, and they held slaves. They lived in small settlements (villages), and engaged in warfare, which was the source of prestige and booty. Some engaged in trade, especially with the Roman Empire. In most of the preceding points they differed little from other Northern European peoples. What distinguished them as a group was their language, Proto-Germanic and its daughter languages (Norse [eventually Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese]); the East Germanic languages and peoples (Goths, Vandals, Visigoths), and the West Germanic languages and peoples (especially the Ingvæonic (see glossary) peoples).

Question 2

Name the areas of activity in which the Germanic peoples and the Romans were in contact. Which of these areas were the most important?

Answer 2

Warfare, trade, religion, life styles. Most important and influential was the effect of trade.

Question 3

The text mentions three types of motivation for the Germanic migrations. Which was probably the most common, the next most, and which least?

Answer 3

Most common: overpopulation and lack of sufficient resources (push-factor); second most: better economic opportunities­ elsewhere (pull-factor); least: military pressure from outside (push-factor).

Question 4

What concrete (physical) evidence do we have from the earliest period of Germanic settlement in Britain?

Question 5

Cognates are words in two different languages that ultimately have the same historical source. For example, both French père and Spanish padre have their origins in the Latin word pater. English father and German Vater are, together with père, padre, and pater cognates derived from Proto-Indo-European *p^həˈtēr. Now using the consonant shifts described in Grimm's Law find the English cognates of the following Latin words.
(Note that you can use the etymological information in any good desk dictionary about the English word you choose as a cognate to ­confirm - or not - your conclusions.)

Question 6

Today /h/ occurs in English chiefly in initial position in a word and always in a pre-vocalic position, head /hed/ or happen /hæpǝn/. In compounds whose second element begins with /h/ it is usually (but not always) retained, prehensile always with /h/, but prehistoric and forehead with or without it. Explain how emphatic vs. non-emphatic speech style may have affected the retention or loss of initial /h/;
furthermore,­ why /h/ can be retained before the consonant /w/?

Question 7

What kind of language contact might have motivated the development of the system of the definite article in the Germanic and Romance languages? What common type of word did the definite article develop out of in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian?

Question 8

There are numerous similarities between English and German and between English and French. Which of the two pairs are members of the same language family within the Indo-European family? What are the criteria for a language family?

Question 9

Taking a deeper look at the relationship between IE and Proto-Germanic is a rewarding project. This will lead you into the on-going debate over external vs. internal forces in language change. More recently­
(as seen also in this book) the emphasis has shifted toward the external influences of language contact. This does not, however, diminish the importance of internal forces such as the attempt to formulate (more or less) universal principles in language change.
You might look at Schrijver (2012: V. Beginnings) for intriguing, detective-like work leading to his conclusions about how Proto-Germanic in the contact space between pre-Germanic speakers and Finnic emerged. For the other side of the coin see Labov (1991), which emphasizes the internal dynamics of sound shifts. Note: Labov discusses present-day English, but invokes universal principles.

Question 10

In contrast to the previous topic, which emphasizes sound changes, here it is suggested that you look at the question about where Indo-European emerged, a question that will lead you into the area of
vocabulary­. At the end of §1.3.1 it was mentioned that Proto-Germanic differs from IE in using words that do not have cognates in IE. The converse of this is the fact that the IE languages share very, very many words. Insofar as these words referred to the world around them, we can try to see just what part of the Euro-Asian continent the speakers of Proto-Indo-European might have lived in. See what the language detectives suggest. You might look at Anthony and Ringe 2015 for positions on this.