The Auld Inglis leid is a wast Germanic leid that wis spak in Breetain atween aboot 425 an 1125. Hit is an early furm o Inglis an Scots, an is sib wi Auld Frisie an Auld Saxon. Wast Saxon wis the heidmaist mak o Auld Inglis in the auncient corpus, includin the epic poem Beowulf, as the Wast Saxons wis the strangest kinrick o thon time, whiles the Northumbrian dialect o Auld Inglis eventually becam the Scots leid.

Auld Inglis
Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc
First page o the Auld Inglis poem Beowulf
RegionIngland (except the extreme
soothwest an northwest), soothren
an eastren Scotland, an
the eastren fringes o
modren Wales.
Eramaistly developed intae
Middle Inglis bi the 13t century
Dialects
Runic, later Laitin (Auld Inglis alphabet).
Leid codes
ISO 639-2ang
ISO 639-3ang

Auld Inglis hud a grammatic seestem nae affa faur awa fae Laitin. In maist wuys, hit wis mair alike ti modren German ur Icelandic than tae modren Inglis. Hit wis guy inflectit, wi fyve grammatic cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, an eenstrumental), three grammatic nummers (single, plural, an dual) an three grammatic genders (masculine, feminine, an neuter) an aw. The dual wis uised fir the first an seicont persons anly, an referrit ti groups o twa.

O aw the descendants o Auld Inglis, Scots an Northumbrian Inglis are the maist true tae the oreeginal furm.

Auld Inglis Scots
Eald Englisc Auld Inglis
hit hit
ēacod eikit
sibb sib
mǣst maist
ġefunden fund
þōht thocht
ōhsta oxter

Auld Inglis didna staun still, bit raitherly its usage streeched oor a period o 700 year, fi the Wast Germanic migration ti Great Britain in the 5t century, richt up ti the hyne o the 11t century. The name o 'Auld Inglis' wis cairried on ti the time o the Norman invasion, whan the eenfluence o the French leid chynged its grammar sae it wis mair lik ti modren Inglis. Meanwhiles the Northernmaist toons whaur Auld Inglis wis spak wis ower the modren mairch o England intae Soothren Scotland aroond Midlothian. It wis fae this steid that, ower tyme, the leid split apairt frae its Soothren neebour an stairtit forming feetures o the ilk o Scots.

See forby eedit


  1. a b c d Campbell, Alistair (1959). Old English Grammar (in Inglis). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-19-811943-7.
  2. a b c d Scragg, D. G. (1974). A History of English Spelling (in Inglis). Manchester University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-7190-0553-4.