> I thought I'd post a bit of Old English as a comparison in case anybody is still interested.

Oh, I'm always still interested in languages. Yay!


> I wasn't really accurate in saying it's unintelligible to a speaker of modern English - many of the words *are* the same, or recognisable as ancestors of our own vocab, as you can see below. Hearing it spoken helps. However. Make up your own mind.
>
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre,
> Mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað.
> Her lið ure ealdor eall forheawen,
> God on greote. A mæg gnornian
> Se ðe nu fram þis wigplegan wendan þenceð.
> Ic eom frod feores; fram ic ne wille,
> Ac ic me be healfe minum hlaforde,
> Be swa leofan men, licgan þence."
>
> This is Byrthwold's speech from "The Battle of Maldon", which took place in the year 991.

Heh. I find it amazing that a mere three hundred years after Beowulf, Old English became the Middle English of Chaucer... and Middle English has remained recognizable even today. In other words the year 1066 must have really done a number on the original teutonic structure.

Whenever I look at Old English, I keep trying to read it as something else ('þence'=think in French, 'ic be' like 'ich bin' in German) and it doesn't help that OE spelling was randomly inconsistent or nonexistent! How about this particular verse, which I know must be interesting because I copied it into a notebook a while ago?

bitre breostceare / / / / / / gebiden hæbbe,
gecunnad in ceole / / / / / cearselda fela,
atol yþa gewealc, / / / / / / þær mec oft bigeat
nearo nihtwaco / / / / / / / / æt nacan stefnan
þonne he be clifum cnossað. / / / / / Calde geþrungen
wæron mine fet, / / / / / / / forste gebunden
caldum clommum. / / / / / Þær þa ceare seofedun
hat ymb heortan, / / / / / / hungor innan slat
merewerges mod.


Wolf "So what's the word for 'spirit' in OE, and is the same word used for 'courage' and/or 'psyche'?" spirit