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>The English I am using to write this comment would be incomprehensible to my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents. Not necessarily. For example, t
by zipwitch 10y ago
>The English I am using to write this comment would be incomprehensible to my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
Not necessarily. For example, take this: "Harold is swift. His hand is strong and his word grim. Late in life he went to his wife in Rome."
That's grammatically complete and fully intelligible Old English. It would be perfectly readable to anyone from 1200+ years ago who had mastered the modern alphabet and spelling conventions.
- mcguire 10y agoBut only if written; it's more unfamiliar pronounced: http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Guide.Readings/wave/pra01.wav http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Guide.Readings/wave/p... By the way, that's a made-up example from an Old English textbook. How about: Lord's Prayer I (Exeter Book,10th c.) [....]g fæder, þu þe on heofonum eardast, geweorðad wuldres dreame. Sy þinum weorcum halgad noma niþþa bearnum; þu eart nergend wera. Cyme þin rice wide, ond þin rædfæst willa aræred under rodores hrofe, eac þon on rumre foldan. Syle us to dæge domfæstne blæd, hlaf userne, helpend wera, 8 þone singalan, soðfæst meotod. Ne læt usic costunga cnyssan to swiðe, ac þu us freodom gief, folca waldend, from yfla gewham, a to widan feore. (The Exeter Book, ed. Krapp and Dobbie 1936) http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/history/paternoster.html http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/history/paternoster....