Forskargruppe i mellomalderfilologi: Dagmar Haumann, IF

No free seating: Old English adnominal adjectives

Prof. Dagmar Haumann, IF

Traditional wisdom has it that the positioning of adnominal adjectives in Old English is rather flexible in the sense that they may precede (1), follow (2) or flank (3) the noun they modify:

(1)                        

Forhwon ne  recst þu   us  [þone hwitan half]                     

why        not give   you us that  white     loaf

'why do you not give us the white loaf (of bread)' (Bede 2, 5.112.9)

(2)                         

þa    gemette he [gebeoras       bliðe] at þam huse

then met        he  companions  merry  at the  house

'then he met his merry companions at the house' (ÆLS (Oswald), 225)

(3)                         

Ða  easternan tungelwitegan gesawon [niwne steorran  beorhtne]

the eastern     astrologers     saw           new     star        bright    

'the oriental astrologers saw a new bright star' (ÆCHom I, 7 (234.71))

In my paper, I will show that the positioning of adnominal adjectives is not random but follows from systematic interpretive contrasts between pre- and postnominal adjectives, which are largely independent of adjectival inflection. The placement of adnominal adjectives in Old English is investigated in relation to recent comparative and theoretical studies on word order and word order variation.