Cover not available
Article published In:
NOWELE
Vol. 76:1 (2023) ► pp.1–22

The inflection of Latin masculine proper names in The Old English Martyrology

ORCID logo | Universidad de Sevilla,
This paper focuses on the inflectional morphology of Latin masculine proper names in Old English. Most common Latin loans are perfectly integrated into the Old English system. Latin proper names, however, like late scholarly loans, show both Latin and Old English inflectional endings in an apparently chaotic distribution. By analysing a selection of 833 tokens from The Old English Martyrology, this paper shows that despite variation, a clear pattern resulting from a combination of the Latin and Old English systems can be detected. While the inflectional endings of one language dominate in some cases, e.g. Latin in the nominative and Old English in the dative, other inflections, e.g. the genitive thematic vowel + ‑s, result from a combination of both languages based on phonetic or spelling similarities. The result is a mixed paradigm predominantly modelled after Old English a-stem nouns.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Latin loanwords in Old English and their inflections
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1 The Old English Martyrology
    • 3.2Corpus design and analysis of the data
  • 4.Results of the analysis
    • 4.1Nominative
    • 4.2Accusative
    • 4.3Dative
    • 4.4Genitive
  • 5.Conclusions and further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.00072.rui
References (28)
References
Baker, P. S. 1998. The inflection of Latin nouns in Old English texts. In P. S. Baker & N. Howe (eds.), Words and works: Studies in medieval English language and literature in honour of Fred C. Robinson, 187–206. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brunner, K. 1965. Altenglische Grammatik nach der angelsächsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers (3rd edition). Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A. 1959. Old English grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cole, M. & S. Laker. 2022. The contact history of English. In M. Aronoff (ed.), Oxford research encyclopedia of linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colman, F. 2014. The grammar of names in Anglo-Saxon England: The linguistics and culture of the Old English onomasticon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
diPaolo, H. et al. (eds.). 2018. Dictionary of Old English in electronic form, A-I. Toronto: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Durkin, P. 2014. Borrowed words: A history of loanwords in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Funke, O. 1914. Die gelehrten lateinischen Lehn- und Fremdwörter in der altenglischen Literatur von der Mitte des X. Jahrhunderts bis um das Jahr 1066. Halle: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Gneuss, H. 1993. Anglicae linguae interpretatio: Language contact, lexical borrowing and glossing in Anglo-Saxon England. Proceedings of the British Academy 821. 107–148.Google Scholar
1996. Latin loans in Old English: A note on their inflexional morphology. In H. Gneuss, Language and history in Early England, section VI, 1–12. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Herzfeld, G. (ed.). 1900. An Old English martyrology. London: Early English Text Society.Google Scholar
Hogg, R. M. 1992. Phonology and morphology. In R. M. Hogg (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. I: The beginnings to 1066, 67–167. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kastovsky, D. 1992. Semantics and vocabulary. In R. M. Hogg (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. I: The beginnings to 1066, 290–408. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006. Vocabulary. In R. M. Hogg & David Denison (eds.), A history of the English language, 199–270. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Körber, E. 1982. Die Übernahme der lateinischen Substantiva in das altenglische Deklinationssystem unter Berücksichtigung des Genus. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Munich.
Kotzor, G. (ed.). 1981. Das altenglische Martyrologium (21 vols.). Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Munich.Google Scholar
Library of Latin Texts Online. 2022. Brepolis Publishing.Google Scholar
Martín Arista, J. (ed.), S. Domínguez Barragán, L. García Fernández, E. Ruiz Narbona, R. Torre Alonso & R. Vea Escarza (comp.). 2021. ParCorOEv2. An open Access annotated parallel corpus Old English-English. Nerthus Project. Universidad de La Rioja.Google Scholar
Okasha, E. 2011. Women’s names in Old English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pogatscher, A. 1888. Zur Lautlehre der griechischen, lateinischen und romanischen Lehnwörter in Altenglischen. Strassburg: Trübner. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rauer, C. 2003. The sources of the Old English Martyrology. Anglo-Saxon England 321. 89–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed.). 2013. The Old English martyrology: Edition, translation and commentary. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Ruiz Narbona, E. Forthc. The inflection of feminine Latin proper names in the Old English martyrology.
Sievers, E. 1884. Miscellen zur angelsächsischen Grammatik. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 91. 197–300. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Strang, B. M. H. 1970. A history of English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Welna, J. 1978. Complex gender in Old English loanwords. Acta Philologica 71. 143–164.Google Scholar
1980. On gender change in linguistic borrowing (Old English). In J. Fisiak (ed.), Historical morphology, 399–420. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wollmann, A. 1990. Untersuchungen zu den frühen Lehnwörter im Altenglischen: Phonologie und Datierung. Munich: Fink.Google Scholar