21L.601J/24.916J Old English and Beowulf: Mock Exam Key

Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key Section 1: Paradigms (indicate lack of forms where appropriate, too) 68 points, <5 minutes 1. Third-person singular pronoun, he, she, it, they (5.3): Masc Neut Fem Plural Nominative hē hit hēo hīe Accusative hine hit hīe hīe Genitive his his hire hira Dative him him hire him 2. Demonstrative pronoun, the, that, those (5.4): Masc Neut Fem Plural Nominative se þæt sēo þā Accusative þone þæt þā þā Genitive þæs þæs þǣre þāra/þǣra Dative þām þām þǣre þām Instrumental þȳ/þon þȳ/þon n/a n/a 3. Verb personal endings (7.2): Singular Plural Present Indicative First person -e -aþ Second person -st -aþ Third person -þ -aþ Past Indicative (be sure to include weak and strong forms for the singular) Sing. Weak Sing. Strong Plural First person -e --on Second person -st -e -on Third Person -e -- -on All subjunctives All persons -e -e -en 1 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key 4. Strong noun endings (6.1): Masculine Neuter Feminine Singular Nominative: -- -- -u/-- Accusative: -- -- -e Genitive: -es -es -e Dative: -e -e -e Nomin/Accus: -as -u/-- -a Genitive: -a -a -a Dative: -um -um -um Plural Section 2: Vocabulary from Word Hoard, groups 1-50. 40 points, 10 minutes (N.B. This mock exam is from an earlier iteration of the class when I had a different way of grading multiple meanings of the same word. On the actual exam, ALL the DISTINCT meanings of a single word will be worth a single point, as they have been on the quizzes to this point.) 1. mæġen: strength, military forces (WH group 5) 2. gūþ: war, battle (39) 3. feorh: life, soul person (37) 4. sacan: to fight (44) 5. dōm: judgment, reputation, glory, choice (26) 6. eafora: son, heir; descendants (plural) (4) 7. ferhþ: spirit, heart, time (37) 8. willa: desire, delight (6) 9. wela: wealth (6) 10. wynn: joy, delight (10) 2 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key 11. wine: friend, friendly lord (10) 12. winnan: to contend, fight (10) 13. ġewinnan: to win, achieve (10) 14 & 15. lēod (two meanings; one masculine, one feminine): man (m.), people/nation (f.); cf. lēode (pl.), people 16 & 17. sīþ (two meanings: masculine noun and adverb): journey, venture, exploit or time, occasion or later 18. heolstor: hiding place, darkness (42) 19. gafol: tribute (43) 20. fūs (two meanings, both adjectives): eager, hastening, ready or brilliant (48) 21. fruma: beginning, chief (11) 22 & 23. byre (has two distinct meanings): son, boy OR opportunity (12) 24 & 25. ealdor (has two distinct meanings; bonus for remembering their genders!): chief, prince (m.) or life (n.) 26. sǣl: time, occasion, happy time (14) 27. sēl: better (14) 28. stellan: to place, establish (15) 29. ġestealla: companion (15) 30. wita: wise man (29) 31. (ġe)witan: to know (29; preterite-present) 3 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key 32. wisian: to guide, show the way (29) 33. ā: always (27) 34. drēogan: to perform, undergo, endure (19) 35. (ġe)weorðan: to become, happen, be (aux.) (23) 36. ġesīþ: companion, retainer (35) 37. cunnian: to test, find out by experience, try (33) 38. mǣġ: kinsman/kinswoman (34) 39. fela: much (of), full (28) 40. fultum: help, support (n.) (28) Section 3: Grammatical principles (36 points; ca. 10 minutes; bullet-point answers fine!) 1. Briefly explain the semantic difference between the two forms of the verb beon (2 pts). The “b”-forms of the verb (e.g., beo, bist, biþ) are used to express either futurity or a constant, “always true” state of affairs, like “the sun is a distant star”; the other, verb-initial forms (e.g., eom, eart, is) designate a current but changeable state of affairs, like “the sun is shining,” which might or might not be the case at any given time (Baker 67). 2. In what context would the –aþ verb ending be third-singular present instead of, as you would expect, third-singular plural? What would the third-plural present verb ending of such a verb be? (4 pts.) Class 2 weak verbs, like lufian, end in –aþ in the third-singular present; their third-plural present ending is –iaþ (Baker 70). 3. Briefly explain when you can expect to see the strong forms of adjective and when the weak (4 pts). 4 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key Adjectives take the weak form if they follow a demonstrative pronoun or possessive adjective [or genitive noun or noun phrase]; otherwise they take the strong form (Baker 89 vs. M&R ₴64). 4. What two words can you expect to see serving as a relative pronoun? What is the key difference between them? (4 points) The two possible words are þe and a form of se/seo/þæt. The former is indeclinable, while the latter agrees in case and number with the role that it serves in the following clause (Baker 47-48). 5. List at least three situations in which you would expect to find the subjunctive form of a given verb (3 pts; extra credit for providing more than 3). 1. Contrary-to-fact clauses (e.g., “if I were rich,” implying that I’m not) 2. In clauses following verbs of commanding and desiring (e.g., “I insisted that he go home”) 3. To express doubt or ignorance (e.g., “he wondered if she were wise”) or in reported action of which the speaker has no direct knowledge (where it may alternate with the indicative) 4. In concessive clauses (those that begin with words like although, despite, even if) 5. Hortatory subjunctive (e.g., let them eat cake; may he be damned) (Baker 85-88) 6. What is unusual about the 2nd- and 3rd-person singular forms of Old English strong verbs? Is the distinctiveness of these forms related to the vowel gradations that govern the strong verb classes? (2 pts) They display i-mutation, but this vowel shift is not related to the vowel gradations that define other strong verb forms (Baker 75). 7. What are three possibilities about a given word that should occur to you upon seeing the –um ending? (3 pts) 1. Dative singular strong adjective 2. Dative plural adjective 3. Dative plural noun 8. What are three possibilities about a given word that should occur to you upon seeing the –an ending? (3 pts) 1. Infinitive 2. One of many weak noun forms 3. One of many weak adjective forms 5 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key 9. What are two possibilities about a given word that should occur to you upon seeing the –ra ending? (2 pts) 1. Genitive plural of many nouns, adjectives, and pronouns 2. Comparative adjective (e.g., heardra) 10. Many Old English prepositions can take both the dative and the accusative. What is the semantic suggestion of using one as opposed to the other? (2 pts) The dative implies rest or stability; the accusative implies motion or purpose. 11. What is a preterite-present verb? List at least four common ones (5 pts). Preterite-present verbs use what look like strong-verb preterite forms to express present-tense meaning. Common such verbs include cunnan, magan, motan, sculan, þurfan, and witan (Baker 80-81). 12. What are two frequent complications with how compound subjects are handled in Old English? (2 pts) 1. The two (or more) parts of the compound noun may be separated from one another (see examples on Baker 108-09). 2. When this happens, the verb typically agrees with the first part of the subject (Baker 108). Section 4: Sight Translation (50 points; ca. 25-30 minutes) 1. Þā bær1 se gōda mann hringas2 in þæs dryhtnes healle. Then the good man bore rings into the lord’s hall. 1 2 From beran Hring, strong masc. noun: ring and/or suit of (ring-mail) armor 6 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key 2. Þā wigan sceoldon gān to þām ealdre and him hira helmas ġiefan. The(n) warriors had to go to the lord and give him their helmets. 3. Þā ēodon maniġe eorlas hira steallan to ġesēċanne.* Then many nobles went to seek their companion(s). 4. Eall manna cynn sceal þone ēċan dryhten lufian. The entire race of men/humanity must love the eternal lord [i.e., God]. 5. Þæs cyninges magas hēaldaþ þā lēode. Kinsmen [or sons] of the king protect/rule the people [or nation]. Less plausible but theoretically possible: The people [plural] protect/rule the kinsmen [or sons] of the king. * Extra credit (1 pt): what is the grammatical term for to ġesēċcanne in sentence 3? Inflected infinitive 7 Old English and Beowulf Mock Exam Key Section 5: Assisted Translation (50 points; 25-30 minutes) I will give you a passage of Old English, taken in this case from Baker (so make sure you bring that text to the exam!), and you will have the final 25-30 minutes of the exam to complete as much of this passage as you can. I will specify a minimum amount to complete, which will be about eight or nine lines of prose. Any additional work you do will count as extra credit, but your focus should be more on accuracy in the required portion of the text than on rushing through to translate as much as possible. This portion of the exam will be open-book (including the Magic Sheet, if you wish to bring it), which means that you will have to turn in Sections 1-4 before beginning Section 5. 8