Old dialects (LOTR)

Question

Hello everyone.I wish to further explore the type of english and dialect used in LOTR and in the fantasy genre such as Warcraft. I know Tolkien had his own particular way of writing but i've seen similarsentence structures in medieval literature as well. Is at all possible to talk about a certain period  where this  type of english was used? I am refering to sentences such as: "The hour of wrath is drawing near..." and "It has come to pass that..."I am fully aware that the english language  has been subject to many influences and that the structure of a phrase could come from a variety of other languages. English is my 2nd. language and I do not know an awful lot about the history of the english language. I am intrigued by the way LOTR and other books in this genre is written. It's uncommon and can be very poetic. I would really appreciate it if someone could direct me to any relevant literature. Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

For a good history of the language: The Story of English

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140154051/sr=8-1/qid=1154017618/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5846311-4332140?ie=UTF8

Thethenothere123 · Answer

Here's a very short summary of the significant events that affected the development of the English language (note that I use "England" to refer to the British Isles in general, unless I specify otherwise):

Original inhabitants of the British Isles spoke Celtic dialects
Rome invades England in the 1st century A.D. and controls the country, Latin is the language of government
Roman army leaves in the 5th century as the empire is collapsing
Anglo-Saxon (people from the modern northwest of Germany and "Lowland Countries" along the North Sea that spoke Teutonic/Germanic languages) invasion occurs following the departure of Rome in 5th century, they dominate the country, displacing the Celtic speakers to modern day Wales, Cornwall, and Scotland
Anglo Saxons control most of England until the Viking (people from the modern day Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Norway that spoke other Teutonic languages) invasions of the 9th century, Vikings establish many permanent settlements particularly in northern England, control of the majority of the country swings back and forth several times between Saxon and Viking forces until the early 11th century
country essentially collapses into small fiefdoms in early 11th century
William of Normandy invades England in 1066, over time establishes control over the entire country, Norman-French (a Romance language) becomes the language of the upper class for the next 300 years and also becomes the language of the government, the Norman spoken in England came to be called Anglo-Norman
in this period, other words came into England that were directly from French that were not Norman specifically

over time, the use of Anglo-Norman as a separate language disappeared, but much of its vocabulary had spread into use by all levels of society and consequently counteracted many of the Germanic/Teutonic elements of English

I hope that's given some insight into why English is such a convoluted language. On a semi-related note, in case you weren't aware, the initial "E" in continental Germanic languages (at least I think all of them) is pronounced like the English alphabet letter "A," like the sound in "may," "bay," "day," so England would have originally been pronounced like "Angle Land" (Land of the Angles) which is the origin of the name.

JohnElbek · Answer

Thank you. Both replies were very informative.
I will delve further into the history of the English language by reading the book you recommended, Alienvoord.
Can you recommend any literature I should look into which is written in a style and dialect similar to the works of Tolkien?

Thethenothere123 · Answer

I'm not sure how similar the writing style is, but many people consider The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan to be similar, as well as the books in the Forgotten Realms setting by R.A. Salvatore. I haven't read either of them myself, so that's the most information I can give you, I'm afraid.

JohnElbek · Answer

The information you have provided is sufficient. I will be looking into both authors immediately.

Thank you for your reply.

Old dialects (LOTR)

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