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The Old English alphabet, like the Modern English alphabet, is based on the Roman letters, but the alphabet is slightly different than the one we use, as you will see if you glance at some of the readings for the course.. The Anglo-Saxons did not use the letters v and j (which were invented later), and q and z were used only very occasionally. They used the letter æ, which we do not use. They also introduced three letters not present in the Roman alphabet, called thorn, eth, and wynn. The last of these (wynn) is represented by a w in modern editions and in this course, so need not be learned at this point. Thorn, which is Þ as a capital and þ as a small letter, and eth, which is Ð and ð, were both developed by Anglo-Saxon scribes to represent a sound that was not present in Latin (and for that reason was not in the Roman alphabet), the sound that Modern English represents with the letters th.
To see how the letters of the Old English alphabet appear in a manuscript context, you might like to take a look at one of the most famous manuscripts of Anglo-Saxon England, the Nowell Codex, which contains the poem Beowulf and so is often called the "Beowulf Manuscript."
How Do We Know What Old English Pronunciation Was Like?
Well, actually, we may not have a very accurate idea of Old English pronunciation, compared to how accurately we can describe the pronunciation of languages that are spoken now. It would probably take even the best modern phonologist of Old English some time to learn to communicate fluently with a shipload of sword-waving Anglo-Saxons who arrived through a time-tunnel at a beach in the modern world, just as it takes someone who has learned to read French entirely through books some time to make herself understood in Paris or Montréal, no matter how much Balzac she has read. Nevertheless, we do know quite a bit about how Old English was pronounced, and since the likelihood of meeting time-travelling Anglo-Saxons is fairly remote, we can reach a standard of pronunciation that will satisfy most of the people we will need to use the language with.
The knowledge that we do have about Old English pronunciation comes from a number of different sources: the Anglo-Saxons' use of the Roman alphabet to represent sounds in their language that must in some cases have been quite different from the sounds of Latin; the forms that words from Latin and other languages take when they are adopted into Old English and the forms that Old English words take when they are represented by Latin-speaking or French-speaking scribes; evidence about English and its dialects from later periods; evidence from the cognate languages of other germanic peoples. By combining these various different kinds of evidence, we are able to get a very good rough idea of what the usual pronunciation of Old English was, and some idea of pronunciations in different dialects of the language.
In this course, pronunciation (to an adequate standard) of the late West Saxon dialect, which is the dialect in which most texts survive, will be taught. There are no tests on this in the course, but you will find that if you make an honest effort to acquire the proper pronunciation you will have an easier time reading and understanding the texts.
You may wish to listen to the sound clips first, then read the explanations, or you may wish to start with the explanations and proceed to the sound clips. It's a good idea to do both, in any case, since the ear can be deceptive if you don't have an idea of what you're hearing, and since explanations can not give a real idea of what sounds are like. When using the sound clips, listen to each several times, and try to produce pronunciations as much like what you are hearing as possible. Speak out loud if your situation permits this, since this improves auditory memory. The written forms of the words you will hear are provided to help you learn the connection between spelling and pronunciation, but beware of following the spelling of the written word rather than the oral pronunciation in the sound clip, which is often surprisingly different.
If you are unable to access the sound clips for technical or other reasons, you will have to make do with the explanations below. These should guide you to a pronunciation of Old English that will be acceptable in most situations where you are likely to pronounce it, but you should also either try to get hold of a tape-recording to imitate, or telephone me to have me polish your pronunciation over the phone.
Pronunciation of Consonant Sounds
1) (This is the easy part. Enjoy.)
The following consonants are pronounced in Old English in much the same way as they are in Modern English:
b, d, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, x
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken.
| Old English word | Modern English meaning |
| bed | bed |
| biddan | to ask |
| biscop | bishop |
| kyning or cyning | king |
| blód | blood |
| brémel | bramble |
| God | God |
| land | land |
| nim | take |
| ramm | ram |
| bude | lived |
| winter | winter |
| longe | long |
| be | by |
| nan | none, no |
| buton | except, unless, without |
| tíd | time |
| betwenan | between, in the mean time |
| in | in |
| on | on |
| up | up |
| bin | bin |
| axian | to ask |
| betweox | betwixt, between |
| swift | swift |
| gold | gold |
| grim | grim |
| song | song |
| corn | corn |
| under | under |
| lamb | lamb |
| wind | wind |
2) The consonants s, f, and þ, ð are pronounced as follows:
s is pronounced like Modern English s at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if it is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word.
s is pronounced like Modern English z if it comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word.
f is pronounced like Modern English f at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if it is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word.
f is pronounced like Modern English v if it comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word.
þ OR ð are pronounced like Modern English th in the word thin (i.e. the unvoiced sound) at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if one of them is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word. (These two letters are alternate writings of the same consonant sound.)
þ OR ð are pronounced like Modern English th in the word that (i.e. the voiced sound) if one of them comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word. (These two letters are alternate writings of the same consonant sound.)
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken (your browser must be configured for RealAudio).
| fandian | to test |
| þus | thus |
| þinne | your (thy, thine) |
| lufast | love (2nd person singular) |
| far | travel (imperative) |
| hraðe | quickly |
| geoffra | offer (imperative) |
| assum | asses, donkeys (dative) |
| þiddan | third |
| anbidiað | wait (imperative plural) |
| eft | again, back |
| siððan | afterwards |
| self | self (pronoun) |
| selfne | self (pronoun, accusative) |
| fyr | fire |
| sweord | sword |
| weofod | altar |
| of heofonum | from the heavens |
| ofslean | slay, kill |
| sandceosol | (grains of) sand |
| cræft | craft |
| léof | dear (sir) |
| hlaford | lord |
| fréo | free |
| gedéorf | work |
| drífe | drive |
| læswe | pasture |
| oþþe | or |
| ofer | over |
| æfen | evening |
| on huntoþe | hunting |
| ofsticode | stabbed |
3) The letter h is pronounced just like Modern English h if it occurs at the beginning of a word.
If it occurs after a vowel, it is pronounced as a kind of rough breathing, with the tongue tense and pressed towards, but not touching, the roof of the mouth. The actual sound depends on what kind of a vowel it comes after.
If it is after a vowel that is pronounced at the front of the mouth (for example, i or e), it is also pronounced at the front of the mouth, and sounds like the consonant you hear in the German word "ich." (If you don't know German, you can approximate this sound by pronouncing the sh sound of Modern English with your teeth farther apart, your lips laxer, and your tongue quite a bit tenser.)
If the h is after a vowel that is pronounced at the back of the mouth (for example, o or a), it is pronounced at the back of the mouth, and sounds like the Scots pronunciation of last consonant sound in the word loch. If you don't know what that means and Braveheart is out of the video store, you can get closest to this sound by hawking as if to spit. (Note that I say "as if": a little bit of vibration of spittle at the back of the palate helps with a feeling of authenticity here, whereas actual expectoration will not win you friends, even Anglo-Saxon ones.)
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken (your browser must be configured for RealAudio).
| hé | he |
| him | him |
| niht | night |
| hand | hand |
| þurh | through |
| Ohthere | Ohthere (a name) |
| norþryhte | northward |
| meahte | was able to |
| brohton | brought |
4) The letter c is pronounced with a k sound if it comes before a back vowel (like o or a) or another consonant. If it comes before a front vowel (like i or e), or at the end of a word following a front vowel, it is usually pronounced like Modern English ch.
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken (your browser must be configured for RealAudio).
| ic | I |
| clipode | called |
| cwæþ | said |
| cnapa | boy, servant |
| cild | child |
| arodlíce | suddenly |
| ástrece | stretch out |
| sandceosol | (grains of) sand |
| ciepemenn | merchants |
| ciele | chill |
| ceaster | town |
5) The letter g is pronounced with a "hard" g sound (i.e. the sound in the Modern English words give and grape) if it comes before a back vowel (like o or a) or another consonant. If it comes before a front vowel (like i or e), or at the end of a word following a front vowel, it is usually pronounced like Modern English y in yes or yellow.
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken (your browser must be configured for RealAudio).
| geoffra | offer (imperative) |
| dæge | day |
| gesawon | saw |
| gelogode | arranged |
| God | God |
| ege | awe, fear |
| gad | goad |
| geoguð | youth |
| gold | gold |
| græg | grey |
| geocian | to yoke |
6) In combinations of consonants, all of the consonants
are pronounced, so for example the word cniht starts with a k
sound, followed by an n sound. Two combinations of consonant
letters have special values:
When h occurs in combination with l,
r, n, as in hlæder,
hræw, or hnigan, it can be pronounced a a slight
breathing before the second consonant sound, or, for the linguistically
adept, as an unvoicing of the following consonant. The linguistically challenged
may prefer not to attempt either.
Sound Samples
Click on the highlighted Old English word to hear it spoken (your browser must be configured for RealAudio).
| cniht | boy, servant |
| gnornian | mourn |
| cnapa | boy, servant |
| betst | best |
| fisc | fish |
| sceolde | had to |
| fiscere | fisherman |
| scip | ship |
| ecg | edge |
| bricg | bridge |
| secg | man |
| secgan | to say |
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Contact: Murray McGillivray at mmcgilli@acs.ucalgary.ca or the Listserv at mailto:eg401-m@acs.ucalgary.ca