NationStates Jolt Archive

Anyone want to talk in old english? I am talking about stuff like beowoulf all that. I'd have no clue about half the crap going on, but it'd be intresting none the less

"Old English" is my favorite cologne.

"Old English" is my favorite cologne.


.... There is a cologne know as Old English? I have only heard of Old Spice.

Take thee to thy grave and lay thee down. Be gone, young scoundrel, young fool. Thou art not yet scholarly enough for such bombast, such rhetoric!

.... There is a cologne know as Old English? I have only heard of Old Spice.


I manufacture it myself. It's equal parts Old Spice, English Leather and British Sterling. I seal it in a large bottle with a bar of Irish Spring.

God wolde þa fandian Abrahames gehiersumnesse, and clipode his naman, and cwæð him þus to: 'Nim þinne ancennedan sunu Isaac, þe þu lufast, and far to þam lande Visionis hraðe, and geoffra hine þær uppan anre dune.' Abraham þa aras on þære ilcan nihte, and ferde mid twam cnapum to þam fierlenan lande, and Isaac samod, on assum ridende. Þa on þam þriddan dæge, þa hie þa dune gesawon þær þær hie to scoldon to ofsleanne Isaac, þa cwæð Abraham to þam twam cnapum þus: 'Anbidiað eow her mid þam assum sume hwile. Ic and þæt cild gað unc to gebiddenne, and we siððan cumað sona eft to eow.' Abraham þa het Isaac beran þone wudu to þære stowe, and he self bær his sweord and fyr. Isaac þa ascode Abraham his fæder: 'Fæder min, ic ascie hwær seo offrung sie; her is wudu and fyr.' Him andwyrde se fæder, 'God foresceawað, mine sunu, him self þa offrunge.' Hie comon þa to þære stowe þe him gesweotolode God, and he þær weofod arærde on þa ealdan wisan, and þone wudu gelogode swa swa he hit wolde habban to his suna bærnette siððan he ofslægen wurde. He geband þa his sunu, and his sweord ateah, þæt he hine geoffrode on þa ealdan wisan. Mid þam þe he wolde þæt weorc beginnan, þa clipode Godes engel arodlice of heofonum, 'Abraham!' He andwyrde sona. Se engel him cwæð þa to: 'Ne acwele þu þæt cild, ne þine hand ne astrece ofer his sweoran! Nu ic oncneow soðlice þæt þu swiðe ondrætst God, nu þu þinne ancennedan sunu ofslean woldest for him.'



Þa beseah Abraham sona underbæc and geseah þær anne ramm betweox þam bremelum be þam hornum gehæft, and he ahefde þone ramm to þære offrunge and hine þær ofsnað Gode to lace for his sunu Isaac. He het þa þa stowe Dominus videt, þæt is 'God gesiehð', and giet is gesægd swa, In monte Dominus videbit, þæt is 'God gesiehð on dune.' Eft clipode se engel Abraham and cwæð, 'Ic swerie þurh me selfne, sægde se Ælmihtiga, nu þu noldest arian þinum ancennedan suna, ac þe wæs min ege mare þonne his lif, ic þe nu bletsie and þinne ofspring gemanigfealde swa swa steorran on heofonum and swa swa sandceosol on sæ. Þin ofspring sceal agan hira feonda gatu, and on þinum sæde beoð ealle þeoda gebletsode for þam þe þu gehiersumodest minre hæse þus.'



Abraham þa gecierde sona to his cnapum and ferdon him ham swa mid heofonlicre bletsunge.

Holy crap that looks impossible to understand! I am listening to it..sounds funky

I thought this thread was about skank beer.

I have to learn Elizabethen (SP?) english for my English class.

I am talking about stuff like what chaucer wrote and all that.

Didn't Chaucer write in Middle English? Old English was Beowulf and such...

And no, I don't want to talk in it. I'm not even sure how the people who had it as their native tounge managed to talk it. And this is coming from someone who has studied Latin for 4 years...

I have to learn Elizabethen (SP?) english for my English class.

Elizabethan English isn't too hard, I think. Then again, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to English.

Didn't Chaucer write in Middle English? Old English was Beowulf and such...

And no, I don't want to talk in it. I'm not even sure how the people who had it as their native tounge managed to talk it. And this is coming from someone who has studied Latin for 4 years...



Elizabethan English isn't too hard, I think. Then again, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to English.

Did he? :O if so, then i must look like a dumbass right now(whats new?)

"Old English" is my favorite cologne.

No! No! The cologne is English Leather. It is the best men's cologne ever made on the face of the earth. :)

Did he? :O if so, then i must look like a dumbass right now(whats new?)

It's ok. I think most of the world consists of dumbasses- but hey, most people (even most English-speaking people, I daresay) wouldn't even know who Chaucer was, or that English used to be very different.

It's ok. I think most of the world consists of dumbasses- but hey, most people (even most English-speaking people, I daresay) wouldn't even know who Chaucer was, or that English used to be very different.


Yeah..my math teacher actually recited some today, which is what got me thinking about it. (he got a degree from havard...smart smart man) but anywho, yeah i think most people's idea of older english is thee, thy ,thou or The Olde Shoppe.

I have heard it said that English is the Final Language.That there is no more new languages to develop.Is there nothing new linguistic on the horizon?

Aldrum neþdon? Ne inc ænig mon, ne leof ne lað, belean mihte, sorhfullne sið, þa git on sund reon.

Like that?

I have heard it said that English is the Final Language.That there is no more new languages to develop.Is there nothing new linguistic on the horizon?

Klingon and Elvish?

I have heard it said that English is the Final Language.That there is no more new languages to develop.Is there nothing new linguistic on the horizon?

They probably said the same thing about Latin a few thousand years ago.

I have heard it said that English is the Final Language.That there is no more new languages to develop.Is there nothing new linguistic on the horizon?

Yes, just like Earth is the center of the Universe and the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Many illogical theories have developed, supported only by the fact that humans like to feel as though they are somehow important.

Aldrum neþdon? Ne inc ænig mon, ne leof ne lað, belean mihte, sorhfullne sið, þa git on sund reon.

Like that?


what did you say?

what did you say?

"To risk your lives? No living man, or lief or loath, from your labor dire could you dissuade, from swimming the main."

I think.

"Old English" is my favorite cologne.

isnt old english furniture polish?

Woe, dual number, we barely knew you.

hwanan fōre git, hwanan fōre git...

Aldrum neþdon? Ne inc ænig mon, ne leof ne lað, belean mihte, sorhfullne sið, þa git on sund reon.

Like that?

Nú ferð þú með staðlausa stafi, þruglar bull með þvaðurblaðri....

Didn't Chaucer write in Middle English? Old English was Beowulf and such...

And no, I don't want to talk in it. I'm not even sure how the people who had it as their native tounge managed to talk it. And this is coming from someone who has studied Latin for 4 years...



Elizabethan English isn't too hard, I think. Then again, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to English.
yeah, chaucer was middle. Pretty easy to read without a translation. Maybe I should post me reading some of it...its fun! haha god I'm a loser


elizabethan is easy...like...really easy.
then again, I'm in brit lit 1 and shakespeare 2 right now...

Nú ferð þú með staðlausa stafi, þruglar bull með þvaðurblaðri....
Icelandic?

Icelandic?
...or very old english, pretty much the same...

...or very old english, pretty much the same...
...only not. :p

Did he? :O if so, then i must look like a dumbass right now(whats new?)

:D And here I was all ready and set to pounce on somebody. At least somebody (Terrorist Cakes) made a fool of theirself for the English cranks to giggle and point at.

I have heard it said that English is the Final Language.That there is no more new languages to develop.Is there nothing new linguistic on the horizon?

This is just silly.

Anyone want to talk in old english? I am talking about stuff like beowoulf all that. I'd have no clue about half the crap going on, but it'd be intresting none the less

Ða wæs on burgum Beowulf Scyldinga, leof leodcyning longe þrage folcum gefræge --- fæder ellor hwearf, aldor of earde--- , oþ þæt him eft onwoc heah Healfdene; heold þenden lifde gamol ond guðreouw glæde Scyldingas.

Take thee to thy grave and lay thee down. Be gone, young scoundrel, young fool. Thou art not yet scholarly enough for such bombast, such rhetoric!

He/she said OLD english.... not modern english (which includes Elizabethian).

Didn't Chaucer write in Middle English? Old English was Beowulf and such...

Correct... Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in Middle English...

Just to give you a feel for the difference as regards Beowulf...

Here are the opening lines of the prologue to Beowulf in the original:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning!

And here's Seamus Heaney's modern translation of the same:

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.

There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,
a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.
This terror of the hall-troops had come far.
A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on
as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king!

The sentence that sounds most similar between the two is the last, where - if you take out Heaney's rhythmic 'one' - the similarity should be clear (no, the 'þ' isn't a 'p', it's a 'th')


One thing to remember is that Old English was heavily dialectical - the version spoken in Northumbria differed from that spoken in Wessex.

And as a former resident of Reykjavik, let me point out to the person who claimed that Old English and Icelandic are 'more or less' the same thing... well, not really. They're closely related languages, yes, with many important similarities, but they're not necessarily mutually intelligible.

Ooh, Old English is some deep shit. Must have been too English to be Germanic/Scandinavian, but too Germanic/Scandinavian to be English.

I thought that my Old English was better than this. I'm having real trouble reading any of this, but I guess that I'm also out of practice. It is the 'official' language of my nation, but I only use it for flavor.

Ooh, Old English is some deep shit. Must have been too English to be Germanic/Scandinavian, but too Germanic/Scandinavian to be English.


It was more or less mutually intelligible with old Norse.