Language
Wulfstan was a native speaker of Old English. He was also a competent Latinist. As York was at the centre of a region of England that had for some time been colonized by people of Scandinavian descent, it is possible that Wulfstan was familiar with, or perhaps even bilingual in, Old Norse. He may have helped incorporate Scandinavian vocabulary into Old English. Dorothy Whitelock remarks that "the influence of his sojourns in the north is seen in his terminology. While in general he writes a variety of late West Saxon literary language, he uses in some texts words of Scandinavian origin, especially in speaking of the various social classes." In some cases, Wulfstan is the only one known to have used a word in Old English, and in some cases such words are of Scandinavian origin. Some words of his that have been recognized as particularly Scandinavian are:
þræl "slave, servant" (cf. Old Norse þræll; cp. Old English þeowa) bonda "husband, householder" (cf. Old Norse bondi; cp. Old English ceorl) eorl "nobleman of high rank, (Danish) jarl" (cf. Old Norse jarl; cp. Old English ealdorman) fysan "to make someone ready, to put someone to flight" (cf. Old Norse fysa) genydmaga "close kinsfolk" (cf. Old Norse nauðleyti) laga "law" (cf. Old Norse lag; cp. Old English æw)
Some Old English words which appear only in works under his influence are:
werewulf "were-wolf" sibleger "incest" leohtgescot "light-scot" (a tithe to churches for candles) tofesian ægylde morðwyrhta
Read more about this topic: Wulfstan (died 1023)
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“When a language creates—as it does—a community within the present, it does so only by courtesy of a community between the present and the past.”
—Christopher Ricks (b. 1933)
“The “sayings” of a community, its proverbs, are its characteristic comment upon life; they imply its history, suggest its attitude toward the world and its way of accepting life. Such an idiom makes the finest language any writer can have; and he can never get it with a notebook. He himself must be able to think and feel in that speech—it is a gift from heart to heart.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“We find that the child who does not yet have language at his command, the child under two and a half, will be able to cooperate with our education if we go easy on the “blocking” techniques, the outright prohibitions, the “no’s” and go heavy on “substitution” techniques, that is, the redirection or certain impulses and the offering of substitute satisfactions.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)