Old English

English

Proper noun

Old English

1. (linguistics, history) The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in most of Britain from about 400 to 1100.

   Synonym: Anglo-Saxon

   Coordinate terms: Classical English, Middle English, Modern English, New English

2. (nonstandard, colloquial, proscribed) Archaic English (Early Modern English) or Middle English speech or writing, or an imitation of this: "old" English.
   • 2008, Stephen J. Harris, Bryon Lee Grigsby, Misconceptions About the Middle Ages, page 177:

     Those who claim that they've been reading Shakespeare in Old English betray their ignorance: they haven't.

3. (typography, historical) The form of black letter used by 16th-century English printers.
4. (Ireland, history) A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.

Translations

ancestor language of modern English

• Albanian: Anglishte e vjetër
• Amharic: ጥንታዊ እንግሊዝኛ (ṭəntawi ʾəngəlizña)
• Arabic: إِنْجْلِيزِيَّة عَتِيقَة‎ f (ʾinglīziyya ʿatīqa)
• Armenian: հին անգլերեն (hin angleren), անգլոսաքսոներեն (anglosakʿsoneren)
• Asturian: anglosaxó m; inglés antiguu m
• Basque: antzinako ingelesa
• Belarusian: стараанглі́йская f (staraanhlíjskaja), стараанглі́йская мо́ва f (staraanhlíjskaja móva)
• Bengali: কদীম ইংরেজী (kôdīm iṅgrezī)
• Bulgarian: староанглийски език m (staroanglijski ezik)
• Catalan: anglès antic (ca) m

  Valencian: anglés antic (ca) m

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 古英語 (zh), 古英语 (zh) (gǔyīngyǔ)

• Czech: stará angličtina (cs) f
• Danish: angelsaksisk; oldengelsk
• Dutch: Angelsaksisch (nl) n; Oudengels (nl) n
• Esperanto: Anglosaksa lingvo
• Estonian: vanainglise keel
• Faroese: fornenskt (fo) n
• Finnish: muinaisenglanti (fi)
• French: anglo-saxon (fr) m; vieil anglais (fr) m
• Galician: inglés antigo (gl) m
• Georgian: ძველი ინგლისური (ʒveli inglisuri), ძველი ინგლისური ენა (ʒveli inglisuri ena), ანგლოსაქსური ენა (anglosaksuri ena)
• German: Angelsächsisch (de) n, angelsächsische Sprache f; Altenglisch (de) n, altenglische Sprache f
• Greek: αρχαία αγγλική γλώσσα (archaía anglikí glóssa)
• Hebrew: אנגלית עתיקה‎
• Hindi: पुरानी अंग्रेज़ी f (purānī aṅgrezī)
• Hungarian: óangol (nyelv)
• Icelandic: fornenska (is)
• Indonesian: bahasa Inggris Kuna
• Irish: Angla-Shacsainis f, Sean-Bhéarla m
• Italian: anglosassone (it) m; inglese antico m

• Japanese: 古英語 (ja) (こえいご, Koeigo)
• Khmer: ភាសាអង់គ្លេសបុរាណ (pʰiesaa ɑngkleih boraan), អង់គ្លេសបុរាណ (ɑngkleih boraan)
• Korean: 고영어(古英語) (Goyeong'eo), 고대영어(古代英語) (Godaeyeong'eo)
• Latin: lingua anglosaxonica f
• Limburgish: Aad-Ingelsj n
• Lithuanian: senoji anglų kalba
• Macedonian: староанглиски јазик m (staroangliski jazik), староанглиски m (staroangliski)
• Malay: bahasa Inggeris Kuno, Inggeris Kuno
• Maltese: anglo-sassonu m, Ingliż arkajk m
• Marathi: जुनी इंग्रजी f (junī iṅgrajī), जुनी इंग्लिश f (junī iṅgliś)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gammelengelsk (no) m, gammalengelsk m

  Nynorsk: gamalengelsk m, gammalengelsk m

• Occitan: anglosaxon (oc) m
• Old English: Englisċ (ang)
• Persian: انگلیسی قدیم‎ (engelisi qadim)
• Polish: staroangielski (pl) m
• Portuguese: anglo-saxão (pt) m, anglo-saxónico (Portugal), anglo-saxônico (Brazil); inglês antigo (pt) m
• Romanian: anglosaxonă f; engleză veche
• Russian: древнеангли́йский язы́к m (drevneanglíjskij jazýk), древнеангли́йский (ru) m (drevneanglíjskij)
• Scots: Auld Inglis
• Sicilian: anglusàssuni (scn)
• Slovene: stara angleščina f
• Spanish: anglosajón (es) m, idioma anglosajón m; inglés antiguo (es) m
• Swahili: Kiingereza cha Kale
• Swedish: fornengelska (sv) c
• Tagalog: lumang Ingles
• Thai: ภาษาอังกฤษโบราณ (paasăa anggrit bohraan)
• Turkish: Eski İngilizce (tr)
• Ukrainian: староанглі́йська f (staroanhlíjsʹka), староанглі́йська мо́ва f (staroanhlíjsʹka móva)

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Old English terms
• Germanic

Further reading

• Old English on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ISO 639-3 code ang (SIL)
• “Old English”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• 1884, W. V. Yates, The Civil Service English Grammar: Being Notes on the History and Grammar of the English Language. For the Use of Civil Service Candidates, the Higher Classes in Public Schools, and Students in Traning Colleges, 2nd ed., pages 4 and 7:
  • [...] Five great periods, distinguished as,—
    1. The Anglo-Saxon, from A.D. 449 to A.D. 1066.
    2. The Semi-Saxon, from A.D. 1066 to A.D. 1250.
    3. The Old English, from A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1400.
    4. The Middle English, from A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1550.
    5. The Modern English, from A.D. 1550 to the present time.
  • XI. Semi-Saxon.—The term Semi-Saxon is applied to the language while it was going through the transition state from the Anglo-Saxon of the time before the Conquest, to the Old English of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries. [...]
    XII. Transition of Anglo-Saxon into English.—During the Semi-Saxon period the language was gradually converted from Anglo-Saxon into English:–