Mercian dialect facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Mercian was an old way of speaking Old English. It was a special dialect spoken in the kingdom of Mercia, which is now the central part of England, often called the Midlands.

Mercian was one of two main dialects of Old English spoken by the Anglian people. The other two main dialects were Kentish and West Saxon. Each of these dialects was linked to a different independent kingdom in England.

During the 800s, many parts of Mercia were taken over by the Vikings. Some areas of Mercia and all of Kent were protected. These areas later became part of the Kingdom of Wessex. Because of these changes, we don't have many written examples of Mercian after Alfred the Great united England. This means we know less about how it changed until the Middle English period.

History of Mercian
Mercian Alphabet and Sounds
Mercian Grammar
See also

History of Mercian

The Mercian dialect was spoken across a large area. In the east, it reached the border of East Anglia. In the west, it went as far as Offa's Dyke, which was a border near Wales. To the north, it reached Staffordshire, bordering Northumbria. To the south, it extended to parts of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, where it bordered the Kingdom of Wessex.

After the Danelaw was set up (an area where Vikings settled), some words from the Old Norse language also started to appear in Mercian.

One important collection of writings in Mercian is the Old English Martyrology. This book contains over 230 stories about saints. It was likely put together in Mercia around the late 800s. Also, some Mercian hymns, like the Benedictus and the Magnificat, are found in old Anglo-Saxon writings called the Vespasian Psalter.

After the Norman conquest of England, Mercian was still spoken by people. However, it was rarely used in written documents. Later, new forms of English, called Middle English dialects, began to appear. You can see these in works like the Ormulum and the writings of the Gawain poet. Over time, a dialect similar to Mercian became common in the London area. This is why words like are (from the Mercian word arun) became part of modern English.

Interestingly, the famous writer J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, used Mercian as an inspiration for his fictional language, Rohirric.

Mercian Alphabet and Sounds

Old English used an alphabet that looks similar to ours but had some different letters and sounds. Today, when scholars write Old English, they sometimes add small marks above letters. These marks help us understand how the words were pronounced. For example, a line above a vowel (like ā) shows that the vowel sound was long.

Here are some of the sounds in Mercian Old English:

a sounded like the 'o' in English cot
ā sounded like the 'a' in Norwegian ta
b sounded like the 'b' in English boy
c sounded like the 'k' in English cold
ċ sounded like the 'ch' in English cheese
d sounded like the 'd' in English dead
e sounded like the 'e' in Spanish me
ē sounded like the 'ee' in German See
f sounded like the 'f' in English fun. It could also sound like 'v' between voiced sounds, like the 'v' in English thrive.
g sounded like the 'g' in English go. It could also sound like the 'g' in Dutch getrouw.
ġ sounded like the 'y' in English yes
ġġ or ċġ sounded like the 'dg' in English wedge
h sounded like the 'h' in English hunt at the start of a word. It could also sound like the 'ch' in German Nacht or Sicht in other positions.
i sounded like the 'i' in Spanish mí
ī sounded like the 'ee' in English three
k sounded like the 'k' in English kind. This letter was not used very often.
l sounded like the 'l' in English light
m sounded like the 'm' in English mom
n sounded like the 'n' in English sin. It could also sound like 'ng' before 'c' or 'g', like the 'ng' in English think.
o sounded like the 'o' in Spanish yo
ō sounded like the 'o' in German froh
p sounded like the 'p' in English pip
r likely sounded like a "rolled" 'r', similar to how some people in Scottish English say 'r'.
s sounded like the 's' in English sit. It could also sound like 'z' when between voiced sounds, like the 's' in English wise.
sċ sounded like the 'sh' in English ship
t sounded like the 't' in English tart
u sounded like the 'u' in Spanish tú
ū sounded like the 'oo' in English through
x sounded like the 'ks' in English fox
y sounded like the 'i' in French tu', or the 'y' in Finnish mykkä. You make this sound by saying 'i' but rounding your lips.
ȳ sounded like the 'ee' in German früh', or the 'o' in Hungarian jövő (long version of 'y').
ƿ sounded like the 'w' in English win. This letter is often replaced by the modern 'w'.
ð sounded like the 'th' in English think or feather. This letter could be used interchangeably with þ.
þ sounded like the 'th' in English think or feather. This letter could be used interchangeably with ð.
æ sounded like the 'a' in English bat
ǣ sounded like the 'aa' in Finnish ääni
œ sounded like the 'eu' in French sœur, or the 'o' in Hungarian jövő.
œ̄ sounded like the 'o' in German schön, or the 'o' in Hungarian jövő (long version of 'œ').

Mercian Grammar

Mercian grammar was similar to other old West Germanic dialects. Words would change their endings depending on how they were used in a sentence.

Nouns in Mercian

Nouns are words for people, places, or things (like "stone" or "name"). In Mercian, nouns had three genders:

Masculine (like "he")
Feminine (like "she")
Neuter (like "it")

Nouns also changed their endings based on their "case." Cases show the job of the noun in a sentence. There were four cases:

Nominative: for the subject of a sentence (who or what is doing the action).
Accusative: for the direct object (who or what receives the action).
Dative: for the indirect object (to whom or for whom something is done).
Genitive: shows possession (whose something is).

Each noun also had a singular form (for one) and a plural form (for more than one). Nouns were also grouped into "strong" or "weak" types, which affected how their endings changed.

Pronouns in Mercian

Personal pronouns (like "I," "you," "he," "she," "we," "they") also changed their endings for all the cases mentioned above. They also had three numbers:

Singular (for one person)
Dual (for two people, like "you two" or "we two")
Plural (for more than two people)

Demonstrative pronouns (like "this," "that," "these," "those") also changed their forms. "This" changed based on its gender and case. "That" and "those" were similar to the definite article.

Relative pronouns (like "who," "which," "that") were usually ðe and ðet.

Articles in Mercian

The definite article (like "the" in English) was quite complex. It changed its form depending on the gender and case of the noun it went with in the singular. In the plural, all genders used the same word for "the."

The indefinite article (like "a" or "an" in English) was often left out in Mercian.

Adjectives in Mercian

Adjectives (words that describe nouns, like "big" or "noble") always changed their endings in Mercian. They could even act like adverbs sometimes. Adjectives also had "weak" and "strong" forms, depending on the noun they described. These forms then changed for all four cases and for both singular and plural.

When comparing things, Comparative adjectives (like "bigger" or "nobler") always added re to the end. For example, Æðelen (noble) became æðelenre (nobler).

Verbs in Mercian

Verbs (action words like "run" or "have") changed their forms in Mercian. They could be changed from their basic form (the infinitive) into:

The present tense (what is happening now)
The past singular (what happened once)
The past plural (what happened many times)
The past participle (used with "have" or "be," like "has run" or "is done")

Mercian had "strong" and "weak" verbs, and they changed their forms in different ways. To talk about the future, Mercian used an auxiliary verb (a helping verb), like wyllen (which means "will").

There were also three "moods" for verbs:

Indicative: for facts or statements.
Subjunctive: for wishes, possibilities, or things that aren't certain.
Imperative: for commands or instructions.

Like many languages, Mercian had a few irregular verbs, meaning they didn't follow the usual rules. Examples include bēon (to be) and habben (to have).

Mercian Vocabulary

Most Mercian words came from Proto-Germanic, which is the ancient language that English and German grew from. Mercian also borrowed words from Latin. These Latin words often came from the Early Church, as Latin was used in religious texts.

Later, Mercian also borrowed words from Old Norse. These words came from the Vikings who invaded and settled in the Midlands and north of England.

There were some small differences in words between Mercian and the West Saxon dialect. For example, West Saxon often ended words with -c, while Mercian used -h.

West Saxon: Ic (I)
Mercian: Ih (I)