4 ms·
I was going to comment that they're about a thousand years too late with this, but then read the article and saw that that was precisely the point. It's a love
by girzel 10y ago
I was going to comment that they're about a thousand years too late with this, but then read the article and saw that that was precisely the point.
It's a lovely thought that, in this modern day, we might once again unlock our wordhoards!
I once read a poem by Seamus Heaney (who also re-translated Beowulf) in which the language of the poem itself recapitulated the development of English over the centuries. It was really quite beautiful, though a bare five minutes of Googling has not turned up the name.
edit: I think it's the Bone Dream sequence, from the collection North.
- mc32 10y agoYeah, I like his translation. I think in the intro he speaks about discovering that the word 'þolian' in Beowulf was used pretty commonly by someone in his family, in its modern incarnation, thole, and was fascinated by that coincidence. [and the kicker, IIRC, was the speaker thought it more indigenous (to Ireland) than the "regular" English words.]