Some
linguistic features of Old Dutch
- Part
1
We
have seen how the three opening words in the first half of the fragment
(Hebban olla vogala) are very similar to modern Dutch (Hebben alle vogels).
Let us now look at the second half of the probatio pennae (>link):
Old
Dutch
hinase
hic enda thu wat unbidan we nu
|
Modern Dutch
behalve
ik en jij, wat beiden we nu
|
In
the second half, there are some marked differences between the two
versions. Because writing was steeped in the Latinate culture of the
monasteries, texts in the native language were primarily written in
the Latin alphabet. Since there is no letter 'k' in classical Latin,
writers tended to use the 'c' instead; hence the spelling of the *personal
pronoun '(h)ic' for 'ik'.
There
are also more fundamental differences. For instance, the second personal
pronoun in this fragment is 'thu', a form which has become obsolete.
In Middle Dutch, this became 'du'. In the seventeenth century, 'du'
would eventually be dropped in favour of the modern form 'je/jij'.
Full
vowel endings:
The
fragment above tells us something very important about the development
of the Dutch language. It shows us that unstressed word endings have
become weaker over time. This is illustrated by two clear examples:
Old
Dutch
enda
(un)bidan
|
Modern
Dutch
en
beiden (archaic; = wachten)
|
In the second example, we see how the full vowel 'a' (bidan) has weakened
and become an 'e' (beiden). This weak 'e' sounds like the first syllable
in the English word 'ago' and is called schwa. In time, this
reduction could even lead to the complete disappearance of the unstressed
syllable. This is demonstrated by the first example in the list: 'enda'
became 'en'. Something similar happened in English. For instance,
Old English 'beom' and 'metan' became '(to) be' and '(to) meet' respectively.
Question
6:
Can
you find similar examples of full vowel endings in the first half
of the probatio pennae (Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan)?
Check
your answer (>link)
For
a picture of the probatio pennae, together with a linguistic analysis
and interpretation (in Dutch) click (@link) [Webpage in Dutch on the text fragment Hebban olla vogala at the site of the Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (Institute for Dutch Lexicology)].
Click
here (>link) to continue with your
study of Old Dutch.