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Test 1. First-term questions

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1. What two meanings do all words have?
2. What kind of literature appeared first?
3. What did epic, dramatic and lyrical poetry turn into nowadays?
4. How far do the earliest texts in Germanic languages date back?
5. How many groups of languages are there in the Indo-European linguistic family?
6. How do we call the common reconstructed European language?
7. In what area did it originate?
8. What major subgroups form the Indo-European family?
9. What historical factor caused the dialectical division into different languages?
10. What subgroups form the Germanic group of languages? (detailed description)
11. What Germanic tribe left the earliest written records?
12. Who wrote the Gothic translation of the Bible? When? (detailed description)
13. How is the runic alphabet usually called?
14. What is the etymology of the word ‘rune’?
15. What alphabet was common in Europe in the time of the first manuscripts?
16. What three runic alphabets do you know?
17. What is the meaning of the rune ‘þ’?
18. How was this rune‘þ’replaced in the written English?
19. When did Old North split into separate dialects and why?
20. What time do the Old North written records date back?
21. Into what territories did the Old North spread?
22. Why does the study of Old Icelandic literature give us the idea of Old North language?
23. What are the most important Old Icelandic written records?
24. How can you comment this quotation from Icelandic saga: “A tale is but half told, when only one person tells it.”?
25. What is the most representative stylistic device in Icelandic poetry?
26. How does it work? Give examples.
27. What are the common features of the Old Germanic poetic traditions?
28. What changes took place in all Germanic languages comparing with other Indo-European languages?
29. What caused these changes?
30. How can you analyse the linguistic changes., comparing the words: Lat.piscis, Gt. fisks, NE fish?
31. Into what parts is English language historicaly divided?
32. How are these parts called from the linguistic point of view?
33. Who were the first important inhabitants of the British Isles?
34. When did Romans invade Britain?
35. What did they leave after the departure?
36. How does the word street happen to come into English language?
37. What tribes give the birth to English language?
38. When did they come to Britain?
39. Who was the first English historian?
40. How did invaders call themselves? What does it mean?
41. What 7 kingdoms did they form?
42. What were the first English written records?
43. How did the first Old English manuscripts appear?

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