1. Introduction to Old English
Old English (Englisc), also called Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language: a West Germanic language spoken in England from roughly the 5th to the mid-12th century. It is the language of the epic Beowulf and of King Alfred's translations.1
A speaker of Modern English cannot simply read it: Old English was a heavily inflected language with grammatical gender, four (sometimes five) noun cases, and strong and weak verbs — far closer in structure to modern German or Icelandic than to today's English. Confidence: High; Old English is very well documented.
2. Historical context
Old English grew from the dialects of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who settled Britain after Roman rule. Contact with Norse settlers added everyday vocabulary (they, sky, egg), and the Norman Conquest of 1066 poured in French, beginning the shift toward Middle English. The prestige literary standard was Late West Saxon.
3. Writing system
Old English was written in the Latin alphabet with several extra letters: þ (thorn) and ð (eth) for “th,” æ (ash) for a front “a,” and ƿ (wynn) for “w.” Modern editions usually replace wynn with “w.” Pronunciation is well reconstructed but, as with any dead language, conventional in detail.
4. A few words
A few high-confidence words (long vowels marked with a macron):
| Old English | Modern English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| wes hāl | be well / hail | source of “wassail” |
| cyning | king | cf. German König |
| hlāford | lord | “loaf-ward,” keeper of bread |
| wæter | water | |
| hūs | house | |
| ān, twā, þrēo | one, two, three |
Confidence: High for these forms (per Bosworth–Toller and standard primers).
5. Learning resources
A recommended starting stack:
- Peter S. Baker, Introduction to Old EnglishBeginner — companion site “Old English Aerobics,” free exercises
- Bosworth–Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary — the standard dictionary, free online
- Old English — overview — history, dialects and grammar
Where this guide is going
This orientation covers the essentials — what Old English is, its history, its script and a few words. A fuller A1–A2 course (the case system, strong/weak nouns and verbs, reading adapted Beowulf) is planned and marked incomplete for now.
6. Honest limitations
- Old English is a reading language: the goal is to read Beowulf and the Chronicle, not to converse.
- Pronunciation is reconstructed; details are conventional.
- This guide is an orientation stub; the full course is not yet built.