Editing Anglo-Saxons (section)

=== Language ===
{{Main|Old English}}
[[File:Her swutelað seo gecwydrædnes ðe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|{{lang|ang|Her sƿutelað seo gecƿydrædnes ðe}} ('Here is manifested the Word to thee'). Unique [[Old English]] inscription over the arch of the south [[porticus]] in the 10th-century [[Breamore#St Mary's church|St Mary's parish church, Breamore]], Hampshire]]
Old English (''Ænglisċ, Anglisċ, Englisċ'') is the earliest form of the [[English language]]. It was brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers, and was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland until the mid-12th century, by which time it had evolved into [[Middle English]]. Old English was a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic language]], closely related to [[Old Frisian]] and [[Old Saxon]] (Old Low German). The language was fully [[inflection|inflected]], with five [[grammatical case]]s, three [[grammatical number]]s and three [[grammatical gender]]s. Over time, Old English developed into four major dialects: Northumbrian, spoken north of the Humber; Mercian, spoken in the Midlands; Kentish, spoken in Kent; and West Saxon, spoken across the south and southwest. All of these dialects have direct descendants in modern England. Standard English developed from the Mercian dialect, as it was predominant in London.<ref>Kemola, Juhani. 2000 "The Origins of the Northern Subject Rule – A Case of Early contact?"</ref>

It is generally held that Old English received little influence from the [[Common Brittonic]] and [[British Latin]] spoken in southern Britain prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, as it took in very few loan words from these languages. Though some scholars have claimed that Brittonic could have exerted [[Brittonicisms in English|an influence]] on English syntax and grammar,<ref>''The Celtic Roots of English'', ed. by Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola and Heli Pitkänen, Studies in Languages, 37 (Joensuu: University of Joensuu, Faculty of Humanities, 2002).</ref><ref>Hildegard L. C. Von Tristram (ed.), ''The Celtic Englishes'', Anglistische Forschungen 247, 286, 324, 3 vols (Heidelberg: Winter, 1997–2003).</ref><ref>Peter Schrijver, ''Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages'', Routledge Studies in Linguistics, 13 (New York: Routledge, 2014), pp. 12–93.</ref> these ideas have not become consensus views,<ref>{{citation|last=Minkova|first=Donka|title=Reviewed Work(s): ''A History of the English Language'' by Elly van Gelderen; ''A History of the English Language'' by Richard Hogg and David Denison; ''The Oxford History of English'' by Lynda Mugglestone|year=2009}}</ref> and have been criticized by other historical linguists.<ref>John Insley, "Britons and Anglo-Saxons," in ''Kulturelle Integration und Personnenamen in Mittelalter'', De Gruyter (2018)</ref><ref>Robert McColl Millar, "English in the 'transition period': the sources of contact-induced change," in ''Contact: The Interaction of Closely-Related Linguistic Varieties and the History of English'', Edinburgh University Press (2016)</ref> [[Richard Coates]] has concluded that the strongest candidates for substratal Brittonic features in English are grammatical elements occurring in regional dialects in the north and west of England, such as the [[Northern Subject Rule]].<ref>Richard Coates, ''Reviewed Work: English and Celtic in Contact'' (2010)</ref>

Old English was more clearly influenced by [[Old Norse]]. Scandinavian loan words in English include [[toponym|place names]], items of basic vocabulary such as ''sky'', ''leg'' and ''they'',<ref name="Shay2008">{{cite book|author =Scott Shay|title=The history of English: a linguistic introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vj0-f_U1SQC&pg=PA86|access-date=29 January 2012|date=30 January 2008|publisher=Wardja Press|isbn=978-0-615-16817-3|page=86}}</ref> and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the [[Danelaw]] (that is, the area of land under Viking control, including the East Midlands and Northumbria south of the [[River Tees|Tees]]). Old Norse was related to Old English, as both originated from [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]], and many linguists believe that the loss of inflectional endings in Old English was accelerated by contact with Norse.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barber|first=Charles|title=The English Language: A Historical Introduction|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-67001-2|page=137}}</ref><ref>Robert McColl Millar, "English in the 'transition period': the sources of contact-induced change," in ''Contact: The Interaction of Closely-Related Linguistic Varieties and the History of English'' (2016)</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Schendl|first=Herbert|title=Middle English: Language Contact|year=2012}}</ref>