Parsing Exercise 1: A Commented Parsing

Text
Ond þa sona æfter þæm on þys geare, for se here of Wirheale in on Norð Wealas, forþæm hie þær sittan ne mihton. Þa hie eft ut of Norð Wealum wendon mid þære herehyðe þe hie ðær genumem hæfdon, þa foron hie ofer Norðhymbra lond ond East Engla, swa swa seo fyrd hie geræcan ne meahte.

Translation
Ond then soon after that in this year, the army (here) travelled from Wirral into North Wales (lit. the Northern Welsh), because they could not stay there. When they again went out of North Wales with the booty which they there had taken, then they travelled across the land of the Northumbrians and the East Angles, in such a way that the militia (fyrd) could not reach them.

Parsed Text with comments

Ond : conjunction

þa: adverb (there is a feminine or plural demonstrative pronoun with the same spelling, but you can tell that this isn’t one of those, if only by the translation.)

sona: adverb

æfter: preposition (there is an adverb æfter as well, but this must be the preposition because it goes with the following demonstrative in dative).

þæm: demonstrative, neuter dative singular (yes, there are identical forms for masculine singular dative and plural dative all genders, and I accepted those as well)

on: preposition

þys: demonstrative, neuter instrumental singular (this is from the “other” series of demonstratives; “dative” was also an acceptable answer, since the outline grammar on the course pages does not include the instrumental form)

geare: strong neuter singular noun, dative or instrumental singular (masculine or feminine were also accepted; there is no separate form for the instrumental for nouns, so dative was acceptable; has to be dative because it’s the object of the preposition “on”)

for: strong verb, 3rd person singular preterite (not the preposition spelled the same way, as the translation makes clear)

se: demonstrative, masculine nominative singular 

here: strong masculine noun, nominative singular (has to be masculine because of demonstrative; has to be strong because doesn’t have typical –a ending of weak masculine nouns in nominative singular)

of: preposition

Wirheale: probably dative masculine singular strong noun (place names are often dicey with regard to gender, but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle forms would work with masculine and a masculine nominative plural is attested elsewhere; the second element is probably –healh, which is masculine. You wouldn’t have any occasion to know any of that, but you should have known that as the object of a preposition it would likely be dative or accusative, and the –e ending works with dative in all three genders.) 

in on: preposition (OK to analyze as an adverb followed by a preposition)

Norð Wealas : strong noun, masculine accusative plural (has to be accusative rather than nominative because it’s the object of the preposition ; analysis as a noun preceded by an undeclined adjective was also fine, and I also accepted calling norð an adverb even though I don’t see how that works)

forþæm : conjunction

hie : personal pronoun, masculine plural 3rd person nominative (has to be nominative rather than accusative because it’s the subject of this clause)

þær: adverb

sittan : verb infinitive

ne : adverb or negative particle

mihton : verb, 3rd person plural preterite (or “past”)

Þa : correlative conjunction (with following þa), or take this one as a simple conjunction and the following one as an adverb

hie: personal pronoun, third person plural nominative (again, subject of clause)

eft: adverb

ut of: preposition (or adverb followed by preposition)

Norð Wealum: strong noun, masculine dative plural (same comments about the first element as above; we know this one is masculine because that one is)

wendon: verb, 3rd person plural preterite

mid: preposition

þære: demonstrative, feminine dative singular (must be dative rather than genitive, which would be the same form, because it’s the object of the preposition mid)

herehyðe: strong feminine noun, dative singular (demonstrative tells us it’s dative, that fact and the ending combined tell us it can’t be weak)

þe: relative pronoun or relative particle

hie: personal pronoun, third person plural nominative (again, subject of clause)

ðær: adverb

genumem: typo (sorry!) for genumen, past participle of verb, which is made clear in the translation

hæfdon: verb, 3rd person plural preterite

þa: second part of correlative conjunction, or take as an adverb

foron: verb, 3rd person plural preterite

hie: personal pronoun, third person plural nominative (again, subject of clause)  

ofer: preposition

Norðhymbra: noun, genitive plural (you couldn’t determine the gender from what you were given)

lond: noun, accusative singular masculine or neuter (in fact, neuter, but you couldn’t determine that without a dictionary

ond: conjunction

East Engla: noun, genitive plural (see notes on Norð Wealas above for East)

swa swa: conjunction

seo: demonstrative, feminine nominative singular

fyrd: strong noun, feminine nominative singular

hie: personal pronoun, third person plural accusative (this time, it’s the object, isn’t it.)   

geræcan: verb infinitive

ne : adverb or negative particle

meahte : verb, 3rd person singular preterite