Compounding. Criteria of compounds.
A WORD made up of two or more other words:teapot, from tea and pot; blackbird, from black and bird. Compounding or composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. That is, in familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words are joined to make one longer word. The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meanings of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech—as in the case of the English word footpath, composed of the two nouns foot and path—or they may belong to different parts of speech, as in the case of the English word blackbird, composed of the adjective black and the noun bird. With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component stem.
The alphabets of the Germanic people.
The Runic alphabet
The oldest of these alphabets (for the Germanic tribes) is the runic alphabet. It was created in the II - III centuries AD and was applied till the Late Middle Ages. The runic alphabet is a common Germanic script, it was used by all Germanic tribes, East Germanic, North Germanic, as well as West Germanic tribes. The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in languages of other groups. Runic alphabet was used by various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. It was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianization by around AD 700 in central Europe and by around AD 1100 in Northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Northern Europe. Until the early 20th century runes were used in rural Sweden for decoration purposes. The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Runes (around 150 to 800 AD), also called Futhark; the Younger Runes (800–1100), which was further subdivided into Danish and Swedish-Norwegian; and the Anglo-Saxon Runes (400 to 1100 AD). The name of the alphabet futhark or fuÞark originated from the first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, K. Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.
The Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet was invented around the middle of the 4th century AD by Bishop Ulfilas (311-383 AD), the religious leader of the Visigoths, to provide his people with a written language and a means of reading his translation of the Bible. It is based on the Greek alphabet, with some extra letters from the Latin and Runic alphabets. The alphabet consisted of 27 letters. The Gothic alphabet is preserved in a single written record of the Gothic language, known as Codex Argenteus. The Codex Argenteus, "Silver Codex", is a 6th century manuscript, originally containing bishop Ulfilas's 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Of the original 336 folios, 188 have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four gospels. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters. The decoration is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists. In modern publications of the Gothic bible, mostly Latin transliteration is used.
The Latin Alphabet The Latin alphabet spread among Germanic tribes alongside their conversion into Christianity. The Roman Catholic church banned religious services in vernaculars, therefore in countries, where Christianity penetrated directly from Rome, religious services were conducted in the Latin language. At churches and monasteries special schools were founded were the language of instruction was the Latin language. The very first Germanic words written in the Latin script were place names and proper names. Later appeared glosses in manuscripts and with the spread of Christianity the Latin alphabet came to be used for writing in Germanic languages. The first written records in the Latin script appear from VII – IX centuries in the West Germanic languages, while the North Germanic language start using Latin for their writings from XII – XIII centuries as a result of later Christianization of Scandinavian countries. The Latin alphabet was created in the VIII – VII centuries BC on the basis of Western Greek and Etruscan alphabets.
Билет № 27
1. Old English written monuments.
Textological analysis shows that the epic poem of Beowulf probably existed in written form by the middle of the 7th century, so it belongs to the oldest records of the English literature. It is the longest surviving poem inOld English and one of the earliest European epics. We may say that Beowulf was composed somewhere in England between about 521 AD (the approximate date of the death of the historical model for the character Нуƺеlас) and 1026 AD. Beowulf is based on mythological stories, heroic songs and sagas of Scandinavian origin which tell about real historical events. On the whole, the creation of Beowulf dates back to pagan times and reflects folkways, customs and interests of the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon tribes of the 5th – 6th centuries. England is not mentioned in the poem. The abstracts where the Christian religion is mentioned may be written by the author himself or by a poet of later times.
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of early English history; the Franks Casket, an inscribed early whalebone artefact; and Cædmon's Hymn, a Christian religious poem. There are also a number of extant prose works, such as sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations, and translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers, legal documents, such as laws and wills, and practical works on grammar, medicine, and geography. Still, poetry is considered the heart of Old English literature. Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous, with a few exceptions, such as Bede and Cædmon.