Old English Grammar

Campbell's Grammar traces the historical development of the Old English language from Indo-European roots to the language preserved in the Anglo Saxon glosses and prose works such as the Chronicle and Alfredian works. Rather than taking an A-Z approach, Campbell traces the historical development of the language by illustrating important sound shifts like i-mutation and their effects on the language. Campbell also covers loan words from Latin and Celtic; on the literary side, he explores writing and punctuation.

Readers wishing more focus on poetic texts should also consult Quirk and Wrenn's Old English Grammar, but readers are often better coming to grips with the poetic texts and their difficult syntax after getting a better understanding of the prose texts (learn to walk before you try to run).

First edition 1959; 2nd ed. originally published 1962, and reprinted as late as 1983. This copy converted from a DJVu image file and OCRed.