Reading English from 1000 AD
"How far back in time can you understand English?", a post that tells a story starting with the English of 2000 AD and ending with the English of 1000 AD has gone viral, and gotten a lot of people interested in older forms of English.
A common sentiment expressed by readers is that the language starting from 1200 AD is a foreign and incomprehensible. I am not sure I would agree. While Old English absolutely requires some effort to learn, I think with a little analysis it is much closer to Modern English than we think - and certainly closer to that than it is to say, Modern German.
(Full disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in Old English, nor any kind of linguist. I was able to read fairly comfortably to 1000 AD and get the gist of it, though I did have to look up a few words to get the full meaning).
The original text
And þæt heo sægde wæs eall soþ. Ic ƿifode on hire, and heo ƿæs ful scyne ƿif, ƿis ond ƿælfæst. Ne gemette ic næfre ær sƿylce ƿifman. Heo ƿæs on gefeohte sƿa beald swa ænig mann, and þeah hƿæþere hire andƿlite wæs ƿynsum and fæger.
Ac ƿe naƿiht freo ne sindon, for þy þe ƿe næfre ne mihton fram Ƿulfesfleote geƿitan, nefne ƿe þone Hlaford finden and hine ofslean. Se Hlaford hæfþ þisne stede mid searocræftum gebunden, þæt nan man ne mæg hine forlætan. Ƿe sindon her sƿa fuglas on nette, swa fixas on ƿere.
And ƿe hine secaþ git, begen ætsomne, ƿer ond ƿif, þurh þa deorcan stræta þisses grimman stedes. Hƿæþere God us gefultumige!
More modern orthography
In our first pass, we will make the orthography more modern. In Old English letters like g and c represent two different sounds, so where appropriate I have replaced them with how Modern English renders them. The rules applied are as follows:
... continue reading