Los paisajes africanos que descubrió Livingstone

Desierto de Kalahari

Inglaterra, año 1840. Un escocés de 27 años, serio, algo retraído y recién graduado como médico, es aceptado por la Sociedad Misionera de Londres para ocupar plaza en Kuruman, la más remota de las misiones británicas en Bechuanalandia, en el sur de África. Tal es la baza que juega el azar para catapultar al joven doctor hacia un destino que le está reservado: ser el más grande de los exploradores africanos de todos los tiempos. Su nombre: David Livingstone.

El 19 de marzo de 2013, al cumplirse el bicentenario del nacimiento del célebre galeno, misionero y explorador escocés, le rendimos homenaje desde aquí recordando diez de los hitos geográficos más destacados que jalonaron su larga y fructífera peripecia africana.

Kalahari. Livingstone llegó a Kuruman a mediados de 1841. La aldea, asiento de 350 nativos y de unos pocos misioneros con sus familias, se alzaba en la margen meridional del África central, vasto territorio virtualmente desconocido por los europeos, que se extendía miles de kilómetros, por el norte, hasta el Sáhara. Pero el joven médico no logró congeniar con Robert Moffat, su superior, escocés como él -y con cuya hija, Mary, acabaría, no obstante, casándose-. Decepcionado, escribió a su familiares: “Nunca construiré sobre los cimientos que haya puesto otra persona; predicaré el Evangelio sin basarme en los lineamientos de ningún otro hombre”.

A principios de 1843, Livingstone se estableció en Mabotsa, 320 kilómetros al noreste de Kuruman, al borde del desierto de Kalahari. Difícilmente hubiera imaginado una comarca más inhóspita para fundar una nueva misión: una llanura colonizada por zarzales y tan calurosa que “hasta las moscas buscan aquí la sombra”. Pero lo cierto es que se sentía feliz mientras se abría paso entre los espinosos matorrales a 38º de temperatura, escrutando rocas y termiteros. “Experimento un gran placer animal al viajar por un país salvaje e inexplorado”, anotó en su diario el 26 de marzo de 1866, al inicio de la que sería su última y prolongada odisea africana.

En el fondo, aunque nunca llegó a reconocerlo abiertamente, Livingstone era mucho más explorador que misionero. Y fue en el desierto de Kalahari –930.000 km² de yermas soledades repartidas hoy entre Botsuana, Namibia y Sudáfrica-, que él sería el primer hombre blanco en atravesar 27 años antes de la citada anotación, donde nació su vocación exploradora.

El río Zambeze

Livingstone y Mary Moffat contrajeron matrimonio en enero de 1845. Juntos emprendieron después la tarea de fundar nuevas misiones al norte de Mabotsa, las cuales, desde el punto de vista de las conversiones, acabaron en rotundos fracasos. Para entonces, el futuro vencedor del Kalahari había acumulado suficiente experiencia de las gentes africanas para convencerse de que nunca aceptarían una religión extranjera, a menos que se cortaran de raíz sus tradiciones y su tribalismo.

Pero ¿cómo conseguirlo? Pues ni más ni menos que con una saludable inyección de comercio inglés; sólo así –pensaba- podría alterarse de base la economía de subsistencia del continente negro, sostenida, en parte muy considerable, sobre la infame trata de esclavos. Previamente era necesario encontrar una ruta de penetración hacia el interior, una vía fluvial navegable desde el Índico o desde el Atlántico por donde el cristianismo, de la mano de las mercancías del imperio británico, pudiera fluir, arraigar y florecer.

En 1851, tras marchar 1.100 kilómetros por una región del Kalahari tan seca (la palabra Kgalagadi –Kalahari, en tswano- significa “gran sed”) que tuvo que beber el agua de los hoyos abiertos por los animales, llenos de excrementos, Livingstone alcanzó la vasta región pantanosa de la tribu makololo. Y el 3 de agosto, no muy lejos de la aldea de Linyanti –en la actual Reserva de Vida Salvaje de la zona norte del delta del Okavango, en Botsuana-, divisó por vez primera el Zambeze. Mientras contemplaba su corriente avanzando mansamente hacia el Este hasta perderse en la distante neblina, se puso a llorar de alegría. Intuía que por fin había descubierto la “ruta de Dios”, la vía fluvial, ancha y caudalosa, por la que los misioneros llevarían el Evangelio para redimir a los nativos de su oscuro paganismo.

Cataratas Victoria

Lamentablemente para él, su intuición le engañaba, aunque iba a tardar en comprobarlo. Para ser exactos dos años, tres meses y catorce días, el tiempo que invirtió en explorar el Zambeze en ambos sentidos, primero hacia occidente y luego al contrario, desde el día en que lo descubrió hasta el 17 de noviembre de 1855, cuando avistó el Mosi-oa-Tunya, el humo que truena, como denominaban los makololo a aquellas prodigiosas columnas de vapor que se elevaban sobre el río y a las que jamás se habían atrevido a acercarse.

Livingstone, como cabía suponer, decidió ponerle a las cataratas el nombre de la Reina Victoria. “La caída de agua, blanca como la nieve”, escribiría posteriormente, “parecía estar formada por miríadas de cometas diminutos que se precipitaban en una dirección y cada uno de los cuales dejaba detrás de sí su núcleo de rayos de espuma […] Un panorama tan maravilloso debe haber sido contemplado por los ángeles en vuelo”. Sin embargo, la innegable emoción estética que late en su descripción no podía sino verse empañada por una alarma tejida con los mimbres del desencanto, toda vez que aquel abismo acuático de 90 metros de altura y 1.600 de anchura representaba un obstáculo insalvable para la navegación. ¿Acaso el principio del fin de la “ruta de Dios”?

Situadas en la frontera de Zambia y Zimbabue, las cataratas Victoria, incluidas por la Unesco en la lista del Patrimonio Mundial desde 1989, constituyen hoy una de las mayores atracciones turísticas del África austral. Entre septiembre y diciembre, cuando el caudal está en su nivel más bajo, los más osados nadan en la Piscina del Diablo, un remanso al borde mismo del desplome de las aguas, al que se accede a través de la isla Livingstone.

El lago Bangweolo

Durante los siete años finales de su vida Livingstone erró por el África profunda e ignota, obsesionado con la búsqueda del nacimiento del Nilo. A finales de marzo de 1866, como cónsul honorario de Su Majestad en África Interior, desembarcó en la aldea de Mikindani, junto al estuario del río Rovuma, que actualmente sirve de frontera natural entre Tanzania y Mozambique. Su propósito era remontarlo y hallar el lago Bangweolo, del que los traficantes árabes afirmaban que era el origen de una corriente que desaguaba en dirección norte. Tras ganar la orilla occidental del Nyasa, continuó hacia el noroeste, penetró en un territorio hasta entonces desconocido para los europeos y alcanzó su meta el 18 de julio de 1868. Que el Bangweolo resultara ser una ciénaga de aguas someras corrompidas e infestadas de sanguijuelas no le quebró el ánimo ni la décima parte que el permanente espectáculo de los horrores causados por los negreros a lo largo del camino. “La más extraña enfermedad que he presenciado en este país parece ser realmente la angustia, el dolor moral extremo, y ataca a hombres que eran libres y han sido capturados y reducidos a la esclavitud”, se lee en su libro El último diario. Situado en la cuenca del Alto Congo, en Zambia, el sistema del Bangweolo presenta una superficie acuática permanente de 3.000 km², la cual se expande a 15.000 en mayo, cuando las lluvias estacionales colman sus pantanos y llanuras aluviales de inundación. Con una profundidad media de sólo 4 metros, constituye uno de los mayores humedales del mundo, crucial para sostener la biodiversidad –especialmente la avifauna- y la economía de la zona norte del país. Samfya, en la costa suroccidental, es su mayor ciudad y su principal foco turístico.

El lago Tanganica

A Livingstone le quedaba poco más de un año de vida. Volvió al Lualaba para averiguar dónde desaguaba, pero sus fuerzas le abandonaban. A sus 60 años, enfermo y agotado, comprendió que no habría de ultimar aquella investigación. Murió la noche del 1 de mayo de 1873 en la orilla sur del lago Bangweolo –descubierto por él mismo en 1868-, sin saber que el Lualaba era el Alto Congo. Antes de transportar su cuerpo a Zanzíbar, Susi y Chuma, sus fieles sirvientes, extrajeron su corazón y lo enterraron al pie de un árbol en el lugar donde falleció.

El lago Tanganika, rodeado de montañas, ocupa un área de 32.900 km² sobre el gran valle del Rift, a caballo entre cuatro países:Tanzania (que acapara el 41% de su superficie), Zambia, la República Democrática del Congo y Burundi. Es el segundo más grande del mundo en volumen, también el segundo más profundo (tras el Baikal, en Siberia) e igualmente el segundo de África por su tamaño (sólo inferior al del Victoria).

Basic Types you may know

English Grammar Analysis: tree diagrams

The constituent that we will see most is the phrase. A phrase consists of a single main word, called the head of the phrase, and other words that modify or give grammatical information about the head. These other words in the phrase are called the phrase's attributes. Informally, we might say that the head word is the main idea of the phrase.

(2) Russia's proposal at the conference

The phrase in example (2) is talking about a kind of proposal. Russia's and at the conference tell us what specific proposal we're talking about. Proposal, therefore is the head word.[1]

The lexical category of the phrase's head gives its name to phrase. Thus a noun is the head of a noun phrase (abbreviated NP), a verb the head of a verb phrase (VP), and so forth. Since proposal is a noun, (2) is a noun phrase.

Other Examples:

(3a)	baked him a cake	Verb Phrase (VP)
(3b)	fond of pecans	Adjective Phrase (AP)
(3c)	very quickly	Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
(3d)	to the lighthouse	Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Apart from simply being a convenient way to name phrases, the relationship between the head word and the phrase type captures a significant fact of syntax: the category of the head word plays an important role in determining where in the sentence the phrase can go, as well as a variety of grammatical rules such as agreement between subject and verb.

(4) {The [contract] between the boards of the two companies} [was] nullified by regulators.

For example, in sentence (4), contract is the head word of the NP which is the subject. The whole subject, therefore is singular, and agrees with the verb was, despite the two plural nouns (boards and companies) which are closer to the verb in terms of linear order, but which are actually buried in prepositional phrases.[2]

This example also illustrates another important point: phrase structure is hierarchical. That is, phrases can nest within phrases to any level of complexity. Thus the subject of (4), "the agreement between the boards of the two companies," contains two prepositional phrases, each of which itself contains a noun phrase. We can show this relationship in a diagram:

Clauses

A clause is a constituent consisting of two parts: a subject and a predicate. The concepts of subject and predicate are probably already familiar to you from your earlier schooling. In terms of meaning, we can say that the subject is the part of the clause about which something is asserted, and the predicate makes that assertion. These definitions are vague, and eventually we will need to be more precise. We will describe a clause in terms of structure once we're better able to describe how that structure works.
(11) 
Subject and predicate are both grammatical functions. The predicate is realized by a verb phrase, and in the most common case, the subject is realized by a noun phrase. Notice that in the diagram above, we indicate both the grammatical form (the phrase type) and the function. The two are separated by a colon. Thus our notation follows the pattern form: function.[1]
One important point to note about subjects is that they frequently consist of more than one word.
(12) 
Many students are taught in grade school to identify the word senator alone as the subject. However, notice that senator is merely the head noun of the subject. The determiner the and the prepositional phrase from California are also part of the subject. In other words, subjects and predicates, along with other grammatical functions we will encounter later, are functions of phrases, not of individual words. As we noted above, however, those phrases may consist of only one word from time to time.

Different textbooks present different variations on the tree diagram, depending on the details of their analysis. The basic principles, however, remain constant, and if you understand them, you should be able to grasp the diagrams' essence no matter what the details. Tree diagrams are most often drawn above the item being diagrammed. A tree consists of nodes. A node has a label, for example NP for noun phrase, VP for verb phrase, and so on. The node at the very top of the tree, the one from which all the others ultimately derive, is called the root of the tree. The nodes are connected by lines, known asedges. The terminal nodes of our diagrams, the ones without any children, are known as the leaves of the tree. They will contain labels for the word categories (parts of speech) of each word. (The following examples contain details that we haven't introduced yet. Don't worry about these yet. It's only important here that you understand the general message that the diagram is meant to communicate.)Borrowing terminology from genealogical trees, the nodes below another node are sometimes called the children of that node. A node that has children is a parent node. Just as with people, parent nodes can themselves be children of other parents. If we need to talk about nodes that are children of children, we call them descendants. Unlike genealogical trees, however, it is important to note that while a node may have several children, it only has one parent. Also, each line should connect to one child node. Do not show two edges connecting to a single word.

Further, you should always space out your nodes so that edges do not cross one another. This practice is merely for visual clarity. In principle, there's no reason why the lines must never cross.

Sometimes, we will not want to analyze a sentence completely. Initially, we will lack the knowledge to analyze everything in a sentence. Later on, with more complex sentences, we may choose to ignore details that aren't relevant to our purpose. In these cases, we will indicate an unanalyzed constituent by using a triangle.

What we can do after being 4-years studying Old and Middle English...

Our selection includes lines 1-25, found on pp. 1-2 in: Friedrich Klaeber, ed. (1950), Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, 3rd edition, Boston: Heath. Our translation, as generally in our lessons, is prose rather than poetry, and tends to be literal.

HWÆT, WĒ GĀR-DEna         in gēardagum
þēodcyninga         þrym gefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas         ellen fremedon!

• hwæt -- interrogative pronoun; accusative singular neuter of <hwā, hwā, hwæt> who, what -- Lo
• wē -- 1st person pronoun; nominative plural of <ic> I -- we
• Gār-Dena -- proper noun, masculine plural; genitive of <gār-Dene> spear-Danes -- of Spear-Danes
• in -- preposition <in> in, into -- in
• gēardagum -- noun, masculine; dative plural of <gēar-dæg> lit. year-day -- days of yore
• þēodcyninga -- noun, masculine; genitive plural of <ðēod-cyning> lit. people-king -- of folk-kings'
• þrym -- noun, masculine; nominative singular of <þrymm> glory, renown -- prowness
• gefrūnon -- strong verb, class III; 1st person plural preterite of <gefrīnan, gefrān, gefrūnon, gefrūnen> learn, hear of -- have heard
• hū -- adverbial conjunction <hū> how -- how
• ðā -- definite article; nominative plural of <se, sēo, ðæt> the -- the
• æþelingas -- strong noun, masculine; nominative plural of <æðeling> nobleman, prince -- princes
• ellen -- noun, neuter; accusative singular of <ellen> valor, courage -- deed(s) of valor
• fremedon -- weak verb, class I; 3rd person plural preterite of <fremman, fremede, fremed> do, perform -- wrought

Oft Scyld Scēfing         sceaþena þrēatum,
monegum mǣgþum         meodosetla oftēah,
egsode eorlas,         syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden;

• oft -- adverb <oft> often, frequently -- often
• Scyld Scēfing -- proper noun, masculine; nominative singular of <Scyld Scēfing> Scyld Scefing -- Scyld Scefing
• sceaþena -- weak noun, masculine; genitive plural of <sceaða> enemy, warrior -- of enemies
• þrēatum -- noun, masculine; dative plural of <ðrēat> band, troop -- (from) bands
• monegum -- adjective; dative plural feminine of <monig> many -- (from) many
• mǣgþum -- noun, feminine; dative plural of <mǣgþ> tribe, nation -- tribes
• meodosetla -- noun, neuter; genitive plural of <medu-setl> lit. mead-seat -- mead-benches
• oftēah -- strong verb, class II; 3rd person singular preterite of <oftēon, oftēah, oftugon, oftogen> deny, deprive -- wrested
• egsode -- weak verb, class II; 3rd person singular preterite of <egsian, egsode, egsod> terrify -- terrified
• eorlas -- noun, masculine; accusative plural of <eorl> earl, nobleman, warrior -- earls
• syððan -- adverb <syððan> afterwards -- since
• ǣrest -- adverb; superlative of <ǣr> ere, before, formerly -- first
• wearð -- strong verb, class III; 3rd person singular preterite of <weorðan, wearð, wurdon, worden> become, happen -- (he) was
• fēasceaft -- adjective; nominative singular masculine of <fēasceaft> poor, destitute -- abandoned # as a baby
• funden -- strong verb, class III; past participle of <findan, fond, fundon, funden> find -- found

        hē þæs frōfre gebād,
wēox under wolcnum         weorðmyndum þāh,
oð þæt him ǣghwylc         ymbsittendra
ofer hronrāde         hȳran scolde,
gomban gyldan;

• hē -- 3rd person pronoun; nominative singular masculine of <hē, hēo, hit> he, she, it -- he
• þæs -- demonstrative pronoun; genitive singular neuter of <sē, sēo, ðæt> that -- for that
• frōfre -- noun, feminine; accusative singular of <frōfor> relief, solace, consolation -- consolation
• gebād -- strong verb, class I; 3rd person singular preterite of <gebīdan, gebād, gebidon, gebiden> remain; await; experience; attain -- received
• wēox -- strong verb, class VII; 3rd person singular preterite of <weaxan, wēox, wēoxon, wēaxen> wax, grow -- (he) grew
• under -- preposition <under> under -- under
• wolcnum -- noun, masculine; dative plural of <wolcen> sky, heaven -- the heavens
• weorðmyndum -- noun, feminine; dative plural of <weorðmynd> glory, honor, reverence -- honors
• þāh -- strong verb, class I; 3rd person singular preterite of <ðēon, ðāh, ðigon, ðigen> thrive, prosper -- won
• oð þæt -- adverbial conjunction <oð þæt> until -- until
• him -- 3rd person pronoun; dative singular masculine of <hē, hēo, hit> he, she, it -- him
• ǣghwylc -- adjective; nominative singular masculine of <ǣghwilc> all, every -- all
• ymbsittendra -- strong verb, class V; present participle; genitive plural of <ymbsittan, ymbsæt, ymbsǣton, ymbseten> besiege, lit. sit round -- (of the) peoples
• ofer -- preposition <ofer> over, across -- across
• hronrāde -- noun, feminine; accusative singular of <hron-rād> sea, lit. whale-road -- the sea
• hȳran -- weak verb, class I; infinitive of <hīeran, hīerde, hīered> hear, obey; belong -- obey
• scolde -- modal (preterit-present) verb, class IV; 3rd person singular preterite indicative of <sculan, sceal, sculon, scolde> shall, ought to -- had to
• gomban -- weak noun, feminine; accusative singular of <gombe> tribute -- tribute # "weak feminine" is speculative
• gyldan -- strong verb, class III; infinitive of <gieldan, geald, guldon, golden> yield, pay -- pay

        þæt wæs gōd cyning!

• þæt -- demonstrative pronoun; nominative singular neuter of <sē, sēo, ðæt> that -- that
• wæs -- anomalous verb; 3rd person singular preterite indicative of <wesan> be, happen -- was
• gōd -- adjective; nominative singular masculine of <gōd> good, excellent -- (a) good
• cyning -- strong noun, masculine; nominative singular of <cyning> king -- king

Ðǣm eafera wæs         æfter cenned
geong in geardum,         þone God sende
folce tō frōfre;

• ðǣm -- demonstrative used as 3rd person pronoun; dative singular masculine of <sē, sēo, ðæt> he, she, it -- (to) him
• eafera -- weak noun, masculine; nominative singular of <eafora> son, heir -- a child
• wæs -- anomalous verb; 3rd person singular preterite indicative of <wesan> be, happen -- was
• æfter -- adverb <æfter> after(wards), then -- then
• cenned -- weak verb, class I; past participle of <cennan, cennede, cenned> beget, conceive, bring forth -- born
• geong -- adjective; nominative singular masculine of <geong> young -- a young (man)
• in -- preposition <in> in, into -- in
• geardum -- noun, masculine; dative plural of <geard> yard, enclosure; dwelling -- the court # singular in meaning
• þone -- demonstrative used as 3rd person pronoun; accusative singular masculine of <sē, sēo, ðæt> he, she, it -- him
• God -- proper noun, masculine; nominative singular of <God> God, Deity -- God
• sende -- weak verb, class I; 3rd person singular preterite of <sendan, sende, sened> send -- sent
• folce -- noun, neuter; dative singular of <folc> folk, people -- the people
• tō -- preposition <tō> (in)to -- to
• frōfre -- noun, feminine; dative singular of <frōfor> relief, solace, consolation -- for solace

        fyrenðearfe ongeat,
þē hīe ǣr drugon         aldorlēase
lange hwīle;

• fyrenðearfe -- noun, feminine; accusative singular of <fyren-ðearf> dire distress -- the dire distress
• ongeat -- strong verb, class V; 3rd person singular preterite of <ongietan, ongeat, ongēaton, ongieten> grasp, understand -- (he) perceived
• þē -- relative particle <þe> that, which, who -- which # Klaeber reconstructs "þē" where MS has only "þ"
• hīe -- 3rd person pronoun; nominative plural of <hē, hēo, hit> he, she, it -- they
• ǣr -- adverb <ǣr> ere, before, formerly -- before
• drugon -- strong verb, class II; 3rd person plural preterite of <drēogan, drēag, drugon, drogen> endure, suffer -- suffered
• aldorlēase -- noun, masculine <ealdor> elder, parent, prince + adjective; nominative plural masculine <lēas> without, bereft of -- lordless
• lange -- adjective; accusative singular feminine of <lang> long -- (for a) long
• hwīle -- noun, feminine; accusative singular of <hwīl> while, time -- time

        him þæs Līffrea͡,
wuldres Wealdend         woroldāre forgeaf, 

• him -- 3rd person pronoun; dative singular masculine of <hē, hēo, hit> he, she, it -- him
• þæs -- demonstrative pronoun; genitive singular neuter of <sē, sēo, ðæt> that -- for that
• Līffrea͡ -- proper noun, weak masculine; nominative singular of <Līf-frea͡> lit. Life-lord -- the Lord of Light
• wuldres -- noun, neuter; genitive singular of <wuldor> glory, praise -- of Glory
• wealdend -- noun, masculine; nominative singular of <wealdend> wielder, ruler, lord -- the Wielder
• woroldāre -- noun, feminine; accusative singular of <worold-ār> worldly honor -- world honor
• forgeaf -- strong verb, class V; 3rd person singular preterite of <forgifan, forgeaf, forgēafon, forgiefen> give, grant -- gave

Bēowulf wæs brēme         — blǣd wīde sprang —
Scyldes eafera         Scedelandum in. 

• Bēowulf -- proper noun, masculine; nominative singular of <Bēo-wulf> bear, lit. bee wolf -- Beowulf # Danish king, son of Scyld Scefing: not the hero of this poem
• wæs -- anomalous verb; 1st person singular preterite indicative of <wesan> be, happen -- was
• brēme -- adjective; nominative singular of <brēme> famous, renowned -- renowned
• blǣd -- noun, neuter; nominative singular of <blǣd> blade, leaf -- the fame
• wīde -- adverb <wīde> widely, far -- far
• sprang -- strong verb, class III; 3rd person singular preterite of <springan, sprang, sprungon, sprungen> spring, burst forth, spread -- spread
• Scyldes -- proper noun, masculine; genitive singular of <Scyld> Scyld -- (of) Scyld's
• eafera -- weak noun, masculine; nominative singular of <eafora> son, heir -- son # nominative (?) according to Klaeber
• Scedelandum -- proper noun, neuter; dative plural of <Scedeland> Danish land -- Danish lands
• in -- preposition <in> in, into -- in

Swā sceal geong guma         gōde gewyrcean,
fromum feohgiftum         on fæder bearme,
þæt hine on ylde         eft gewunigen
wilgesīþas,         þonne wīg cume,
lēode gelǣsten;

• swā -- adverbial conjunction <swā> so, thus -- thus
• sceal -- modal (preterit-present) verb, class IV; 3rd person singular present indicative of <sculan, sceal, sculon, scolde> shall, ought to -- should
• geong -- adjective; nominative singular masculine of <geong> young -- (a) young
• guma -- noun, masculine; nominative singular of <guma> man, hero -- man
• gōde -- adjective; dative singular neuter of <gōd> good, excellent -- good # (i.e., a good outcome)
• gewyrcean -- weak verb, class I; infinitive of <gewyrcan, geworhte, geworht> perform, achieve, accomplish -- accomplish
• fromum -- adjective; dative plural feminine of <from> bold, brave, splendid -- (with) splendid
• feohgiftum -- noun, feminine; dative plural of <feoh-gift> money-, lit. cattle-gift -- money-gifts
• on -- preposition <on> on(to), upon -- (while) in
• fæder -- noun, masculine; genitive singular of <fæder> father -- (his) father's
• bearme -- noun, masculine; dative singular of <bearm> bosom, lap -- bosom
• þæt -- conjunction <þæt> so/in order that -- so that
• hine -- 3rd person pronoun; accusative singular masculine of <hē, hēo, hit> he, she, it -- him
• on -- preposition <on> on(to), upon -- ...
• ylde -- indeclinable noun, masculine plural; nominative of <ylde> men -- men
• eft -- adverb <eft> afterwards, thereupon -- afterwards
• gewunigen -- weak verb, class II; 3rd person plural present optative of <gewunian, gewunode, gewunod> remain with, stand by -- stand by
• wilgesīþas -- noun, masculine; nominative plural of <wilgesīð> dear companion -- dear companions
• þonne -- adverb <þonne> then, when -- when
• wīg -- noun, neuter; nominative singular of <wīg> war, strife -- war
• cume -- strong verb, class IV; 3rd person singular present optative of <cuman, cwōm, cwōmon, cumen> come -- comes
• lēode -- noun, masculine; accusative plural of <lēod> person, member of tribe -- the people # Klaeber, in error, reads 'np.' (nom.pl.)
• gelǣsten -- weak verb, class I; 3rd person plural present optative of <gelǣstan, gelǣste, gelǣset> serve, stand by -- to serve

        lofdǣdum sceal
in mǣgþa gehwǣre         man geþeo͡n.

• lofdǣdum -- strong noun, feminine; dative plural of <lof-dǣd> praiseworthy deed -- (by) praiseworthy deeds
• sceal -- modal (preterit-present) verb, class IV; 3rd person singular present indicative of <sculan, sceal, sculon, scolde> shall, ought to -- is sure to
• in -- preposition <in> in, into -- in
• mǣgþa -- noun, feminine; genitive plural of <mǣgþ> tribe, nation -- (of the) nations
• gehwǣre -- pronoun; dative singular feminine of <gehwā> each, everyone -- all
• man -- strong noun, masculine; nominative singular of <monn> man, person -- (a) man
• geþeo͡n -- strong verb, class I; infinitive <geþēon, geþāh, geþigon, geþigen> thrive, prosper -- prosper

Lesson Text

HWÆT, WĒ GĀR-DEna         in gēardagum
þēodcyninga         þrym gefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas         ellen fremedon!

Oft Scyld Scēfing         sceaþena þrēatum,
monegum mǣgþum         meodosetla oftēah,
egsode eorlas,         syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden;         hē þæs frōfre gebād,
wēox under wolcnum         weorðmyndum þāh,
oð þæt him ǣghwylc         ymbsittendra
ofer hronrāde         hȳran scolde,
gomban gyldan;         þæt wæs gōd cyning!

Ðǣm eafera wæs         æfter cenned
geong in geardum,         þone God sende
folce tō frōfre;         fyrenðearfe ongeat,
þē hīe ǣr drugon         aldorlēase
lange hwīle;         him þæs Līffrea͡,
wuldres Wealdend         woroldāre forgeaf, Bēowulf wæs brēme         — blǣd wīde sprang —
Scyldes eafera         Scedelandum in. Swā sceal geong guma         gōde gewyrcean,
fromum feohgiftum         on fæder bearme,
þæt hine on ylde         eft gewunigen
wilgesīþas,         þonne wīg cume,
lēode gelǣsten;         lofdǣdum sceal
in mǣgþa gehwǣre         man geþeo͡n.

Translation

Lo, we have heard of Spear-Danes in days of yore, of folk-kings' prowness, how the princes wrought deeds of valor.

Often Scyld Scefing wrested mead-benches from bands of enemies from many tribes -- terrified earls -- since first he was found abandoned. (He received consolation for that.) He grew under the heavens, thrived with honors until all peoples across the sea had to obey: pay him tribute. That was a good king!

Then a child was born to him, a young man in the court; God sent him to the people for solace. He perceived the dire distress which they suffered before, lordless for a long time. For that the Lord of Light, the Wielder of Glory, gave him worldly honor. Beowulf was renowned; the fame of Scyld's son spread far in Danish lands. Thus should a young man accomplish good with splendid money-gifts while in his father's bosom, so that afterwards men stand by him, dear companions to serve the people when war comes. In all nations, a man is sure to prosper by praiseworthy deeds.

Grammar

1. The Alphabet and Sound System

As noted in the Series Introduction, spelling in Old English (OE) was never fully standardized, but instead the "continental" sounds of the Latin alphabet determined how words were spelled -- and this varied from one dialect and time to another. Several letters were added to the Latin alphabet for sounds that were not covered by it, but one of them (wynn) is generally replaced by Latin 'w' to avoid confusing it with the look-alike thorn; further, modern editors have typically added long marks (macrons) over vowels to distinguish their pronunciation from short vowels.

Regarding pronunciation, there are no "silent" letters in Old English.

Consonant		Pronunciation		Comment/Environment
b		like b in 'boy'
c		like c in 'cold'		before a consonant, or with guttural vowels;
		like ch in 'chin'		when word-final after i, otherwise depending on etymology.
d		like d in 'did'
f		like f in 'fin'		initially, finally, in ff/fs/ft, and in strictly medial positions except...
		like v in 'have'		between vowels/voiced consonants (e.g., ǣfre, ofer, sealfian).
g		like g in Ger. 'sagen'		with guttural vowels;
		like y in 'you'		with palatal vowels.
h		like ch in Ger. 'ach'		with guttural vowels;
		like ch in Ger. 'ich'		with palatal vowels.
k		like k in 'kite'		rarely used; see c
l		like l in 'land'
m		like m in 'man'
n		like n in 'night'
p		like p in 'pin'
q		like q in 'queen'		rarely used; see c
r		like trilled r in Sp. 'rueda'		[or perhaps merely flapped?]
s		like s in 'rising'		single letter between vowels;
		like s in 'sing'		otherwise.
t		like t in 'toy'
ð		like th in 'that'		rarely distinguished in writing from þ
þ		like th in 'thorn'		rarely distinguished in writing from ð
v		like v in 'viper'		rarely used; see f
w		like w in 'work'
x		like x in 'box'
z		like z in 'zephyr'		rarely used (usually ts)

Some pairs of consonants (digraphs) have special pronunciation:

Digraph		Pronunciation
cg		like j in 'just'
gg		like g in 'go'
ng		like ng in 'finger'
qu		like qu in 'quick' (but rarely used)
sc		like sh in 'ship' (but originally like sk)
ðð		like th in 'thorn' (never voiced)

The vowels have continental values:

Vowel		Pronunciation
a		like a in 'father'
ā		like aa in 'baah'
æ		like a in 'bat'
ǣ		like uy in 'buy'
e		like e in 'bet'
ē		like a in 'hate'
i		like i in 'bit'
ī		like ee in 'beet'
o		like o in 'pot'
ō		like oa in 'boat'
u		like u in 'put'
ū		like oo in 'boot'
y		early, like ü in Ger. 'füllen'; later, the y and i sounds merged
ȳ		early, like ü in Ger. 'fühlen'; later, the ȳ and ī sounds merged

Diphthongs are generally pronounced as the first vowel followed quickly by the second; for long diphthongs, lengthen the first vowel sound only.

2. Verb Inflection

Verbs are classed in two conjugations, weak and strong, in accordance with their means of producing the preterite (i.e. past) tense. This is produced by addition of a suffix -de (or -te) in weak verbs, e.g. hīere, hīerde 'hear, heard', or by internal vowel change called ablaut in strong verbs, e.g. binde, band 'bind, bound'. There are three classes of weak verbs, and seven classes of strong verbs; in addition there are six classes of preterite-present verbs, based on strong verb classes 1-6 in the present tense but incorporating weak verb suffixes in the preterite. These verb classes will be detailed in this and successive lessons.

As in modern English, there is only an active inflection; passives are formed with the auxiliaries bēon 'be', wesan 'be', and also with weorðan 'become' plus the infinitive. There are two tenses:present and preterite; three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative, each with two numbers: singular and plural; the plural in each mood has one form throughout, except in the preterite subjunctive which may have two. There are also three "nominal" forms: the gerund, present participle, and past participle.

N.B. A fourth mood, the optative, is occasionally noted in our glosses and other reference works; it is quite similar to the subjunctive mood, and indicates a wish or hope. But as the optative was in the process of being lost from Germanic languages in general, and is seldom if ever categorically distinguished from subjunctive in OE -- older texts often use the term "optative" exclusively, while newer texts often use the term "subjunctive" exclusively -- it will be ignored as such in our verb conjugations and discussion.

The present indicative and subjunctive as well as the present participle are given here for the strong verb bindan 'bind, fetter', and the weak verb hīeran 'hear, obey' from our text.

Present		Strong		Weak
Infinitive		bindan 'bind'		hīeran 'hear'
Indicative
1 Sg.		binde		hīere
2 Sg.		bindest/bintst		hīerst
3 Sg.		bindeð/bint		hīerð
Pl.		bindað		hīerað
Subjunctive
Sg.		binde		hīere
Pl.		binden		hīeren
Participle		bindende		hīerende

3. The Preterite System of Verbs

Verbs have preterite (past tense) forms in the indicative and the subjunctive. As is clear from the examples below (again using bindan 'bind, fetter' and hīeran 'hear, obey'), the number ofpotential forms has been greatly reduced, especially in the subjunctive.

Preterite		Strong		Weak
Indicative
1 Sg.		band 'bound'		hīerde 'heard'
2 Sg.		bunde		hīerdest
3 Sg.		band		hīerde
Pl.		bunden		hīerdon
Subjunctive
Sg.		bunde		hīerde
Pl.		bunden		hīerden
Participle		bunden		hīered

4. The Anomalous Verb wesan

So-called anomalous verbs have forms that are not always morphologically predictable (e.g., by adding inflectional suffixes), but are instead "suppletive," and hence must be learned ('supplied') by rote. They are, accordingly, neither weak nor strong. Modern English was, were provides a contemporary example of suppletion, which is commonly observed among Indo-European languages for the most basic verbs, pronouns, and a few other parts of speech.

Old English inherited from Proto-Germanic, its ancestral tongue, three different anomalous verbs for 'to be', none of them exhibiting [in surviving texts] a complete repertoire of forms. OE wesan(the infinitive) survives as a verb only in the two modern English forms was, were, although a relic is also observed in the word wassail, originally a salutation meaning 'be healthy'.

wesan 'be'		Preterite Indicative		Preterite Subjunctive		Imperative
1 Sg.		wæs 'was'		wǣre
2 Sg.		wǣre 'were'		wǣre		wes
3 Sg.		wæs		wǣre
Pl.		wǣron		wǣren		wesað

There are no present forms other than the participle wesende 'being'. As is often true in OE, forms of wesan were subject to alternative spelling, which includes in lesson 3 the 3rd person plural preterite indicative forms wǣran and wǣrun 'were'.

As in modern English, forms of the auxiliary wesan are used with the past participle to produce passives. An example in our lesson text is wæs cenned 'was born' (Beowulf 12), where the past participle lacks the prefix ge-; examples in the lesson 3 text are wæs geseted 'was appointed' and wæs gedēmed 'was deemed'. N.B. Passives can also be made with the auxiliary weorðan'become', cf. the use in German of werden for the passive, as in Beowulf 6-7 wearð ... funden 'was found'.

The auxiliary wesan is also used as in modern English with the present participle to indicate ongoing action, as in wæs gongende 'was going' and sprecende wæs 'was speaking' (lesson 2).

5. Weak Verbs in Class I

As noted earlier, the weak preterite forms are produced by addition of the suffix -de (or -te) -- akin to modern English 'lived' formed from the infinitive 'live'. Here we begin to lay out full verb conjugations starting with Class I of the weak verbs. We use the same verb hīeran 'hear' that was introduced above, and other verbs with minor conjugational differences:

• mētan 'meet' (see text in lesson 3) because, in a devoiced context, t appears in place of d in the preterite suffix;
• werian 'wear' (also in lesson 3) because, for some verbs, the stem includes a residual -i- in certain forms;
• fremman 'perform' (this lesson) because, in certain forms like the infinitive, the final stem consonant is geminated.

Barring certain verbs that are exceptional owing to their derivational history, the same stem (e.g., hīer-) is employed in every form of a weak verb, though possibly with residual -i- or gemination. The suffixes are all standard for their person, number, tense, mood, etc., with possible devoicing.

Class I		Normal		Devoiced		Residual -i-		Geminated
Infinitive		hīeran 'hear'		mētan 'meet'		werian 'wear'		fremman 'perform'
Inflected Infin.		hīeranne		mētanne		werianne		fremmanne
Imperative Sg.		hīere		mēte		were		freme
Imperative Pl.		hīerað		mētað		weriað		fremmað
Pres. Participle		hīerende		mētende		weriende		fremmende
Past Participle		hīered		mēted		wered		fremed
Gerund		hīerenne		mētenne		werenne		fremmenne

Present Indicative		Normal		Devoiced		Residual -i-		Geminated
1 Sg.		hīere		mēte		werie		fremme
2 Sg.		hīerst		mētst		werest		fremest
3 Sg.		hīerð		mētð		wereð		fremeð
Plural		hīerað		mētað		weriað		fremmað

Present Subjunctive		Normal		Devoiced		Residual -i-		Geminated
Singular		hīere		mēte		werie		fremme
Plural		hīeren		mēten		werien		fremmen

Preterite Indicative		Normal		Devoiced		Residual		Geminated
1 Sg.		hīerde		mētte		werede		fremede
2 Sg.		hīerdest		mēttest		weredest		fremedest
3 Sg.		hīerde		mētte		werede		fremede
Plural		hīerdon		mētton		weredon		fremedon

Preterite Subjunctive		Normal		Devoiced		Residual		Geminated
Singular		hīerde		mētte		werede		fremede
Plural		hīerden		mētten		wereden		fremeden