we now write sea, said, quoth, that, long.  A few have undergone contraction or alteration, as hlaford, now lord, cyning, now king, and steorbord, now starboard. Stow, a place, is now obsolete, except in local names; styccemaelum, stickmeal, has been Normanised into piecemeal.  In other cases new terminations have been substituted for old ones; huntath and fiscath are now replaced by hunting and fishing; while hunta has been superseded by hunter.  Only six words in the passage have died out wholly:  buan, to abide (bude); swithe, very; wician, to dwell; cirr, an occasion; fandian, to enquire (connected with find); and baecbord, port, which still survives in French from Norman sources. Daeg, day, and aenig, any, show how existing English has softened the final g into a y.  But the main difference which separates the modern passage from its ancient prototype is the consistent dropping of the grammatical inflexions in hlaforde, AElfrede, ealra, feawum, and fandian, where we now say, to his lord, of all, in few, and to enquire.

The next passage, from the old English epic of Beowulf, shows the language in another aspect.  Here, as in all poetry, archaic forms abound, and the syntax is intentionally involved.  It is written in the old alliterative rhythm, described in the next chapter:—­

Beowulf mathelode               bearn Ecgtheowes;
Hwaet! we the thas sae-lac        sunu Healfdenes
Leod Scyldinga                  lustum brohton,
Tires to tacne,                 the thu her to-locast. 
Ic thaet un-softe                ealdre gedigde
Wigge under waetere,             weore genethde
Earfothlice;                    aet rihte waes
Guth getwaefed                   nymthe mec god scylde.

* * * * *

Beowulf spake, the son of Ecgtheow: 
See!  We to thee this sea-gift, son of Healfdene,
Prince of the Scyldings, joyfully have brought,
For a token of glory, that thou here lookest on. 
That I unsoftly, gloriously accomplished,
In war under water:  the work I dared,
With much labour:  rightly was
The battle divided, but that a god shielded me.

Or, to translate more prosaically:—­

“Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow, addressed the meeting.  See, son of Healfdene, Prince of the Scyldings; we have joyfully brought thee this gift from the sea which thou beholdest, for a proof of our valour.  I obtained it with difficulty, gloriously, fighting beneath the waves:  I dared the task with great toil.  Evenly was the battle decreed, but that a god afforded me his protection.”