DARK’ MATTERS IN FRAMING AXIOLOGICAL PATTERNS: FROM PIE TO OLD ENGLISH

Abstract

This article offers an axiological and etymological investigation of the conceptualization of “dark” in Old English literary monuments. This study argues that the concept serves as a fundamental, life-defining pillar of Old English worldview, rooted in Proto- Indo-European (PIE) etymons. The analysis is grounded in three primary PIE roots: *regwos- (darkness as a spatial location), *temh- (darkness as a state of stasis or petrification), and *dher- (darkness as qualitative impurity). These roots provide the semantic framework for the subsequent analysis of heroic, elegiac, and homiletic texts. In the heroic epic Beowulf, darkness is analyzed as a tangible, monstrous threat where, the “dark” frame is synonymous with active malice and social disintegration, embodied by the sceadugenga (shadow-stalker) who encroaches upon the sunlit hall. The study then examines the internalization of darkness in The Battle of Maldon and The Seafarer. In these works, the “dark” frame is manifested through hostile terrain and visual darkness where environmental suffering becomes a precursor to spiritual trial. The final stage of the study focuses on the homilies of Ælfric of Eynsham. The author reveals a radical reshaping of the axiological axis: from a horizontal heroic frontier to a strict Christian verticality. Ælfric’s texts display a lexical asymmetry – where “light” lexemes dominate while “dark” ones are fragmented into notions of paganism, sorcery, and the demonic – fully moralizing the qualitative “impurity” of the PIE root *dher-. The article concludes that in the homiletic tradition, darkness is no longer merely an environmental condition but an internal state of ontological degradation. The study proves that the “dark” frame, though lexically sporadic in some contexts, remains the silent axis upon which the transition from heroic to Christian morality was constructed