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limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 1 of 9 09 December 2012 at 11:19pm | IP Logged |
Or maybe vice-versa, using other Germanic languages to learn Old English. There are masses of parallels, words which no longer exist in modern English, or whose meaning has changed significantly.
Here are some OE words compared with German and Norwegian. These are just off the top of my head - there are many more. Can you come up with more examples?
fretan "devour" - fressen "eat" (used mainly of animals)
weaxan "grow" (preserved in "wax and wane") - wachsen "grow", vokse "grow"
cwelan "die" - quälen "torment"
ârian "honour" - ehren "honour", ære "honour"
bêodan "offer" - bieten "offer"
brûcan "enjoy; use" - brauchen "need; use", bruke "use"
gêotan "pour" - gießen "pour"
wunian "dwell" - wohnen "live, reside"
scêawian "inspect" - schauen "look"
spyrian "ask" - spørre "ask"
mære "renowned" - Märchen "fairy tale, story"
earm "poor" - arm "poor"
wênan "hope" - vona "hope, expect"
rîce "kingdom" - Reich "empire", rike "kingdom, empire"
bearn "child" - barn "child"
here "army" - Heer "army", hær "army"
sidu "custom" - Sitte "custom, practice"
weald "forest" - Wald "forest"
stîgan "climb" - steigen "climb", stige "climb, rise"
wrecan "avenge" - rächen "avenge"
dêor "animal" - Tier "animal", dyr "animal"
lêod "folk, people" - Leute "people"
helið "hero" - Held "hero", helt "hero"
lîk(hamo) "body" - Leiche, Leichnam "corpse", lik "corpse"
ward "protector" - Wärter "guard"
cweþan "say" (archaic "quoth") - kvede "chant, sing"
frignan "ask" - fragen "ask"
steorfan "die" (modern "starve") - sterben "die"
friþ "peace" - Friede "peace", fred "peace"
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 2 of 9 10 December 2012 at 12:16am | IP Logged |
2 more:
hýd "skin" (modern "hide") - Haut "skin"
æðele "noble" - edel "noble, precious"
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 3 of 9 10 December 2012 at 5:51am | IP Logged |
Some more:
hærfest "autumn" - Herbst "autumn", høst "autumn"
hêah-môd "proud, haughty" - Hochmut "pride, arrogance"
ofermôd "pride, arrogance" - Übermut "arrogance", overmot "arrogance"
heahtîd "festival, solemnity" - Hochzeit "wedding"
hleow "shelter, protection" - ly "cover, shelter"
burh "fortress, castle" - Burg "castle"
geac "cuckoo" - Gauch "cuckoo"
cempa "warrior, soldier" - Kämpfer "warrior"
camp "war, battle" - Kampf "battle, fight"
fugel "bird" (modern "fowl") - Vogel "bird", fugl "bird"
sige "victory" - Sieg "victory", seier "victory"
mere "sea; lake" (modern "mere") - Meer "sea"
hengest "horse, steed" - Hengst "stallion"
þweán "wash" - två "wash"
Edited by limey75 on 10 December 2012 at 5:52am
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 4 of 9 10 December 2012 at 5:51am | IP Logged |
And 2 from Dutch:
gebûr "farmer, dweller" - boer "farmer" (Bauer "farmer, peasant")
bifian "tremble" - beven "tremble"
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 5 of 9 10 December 2012 at 6:04am | IP Logged |
hægtesse "witch" - Hexe "witch", hekse "witch"
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 6 of 9 10 December 2012 at 6:46am | IP Logged |
spic "bacon, lard" - Speck "bacon"
leac "leek; onion" - løk "onion"
swamm "fungus, mushroom" - svamp "mushroom" (Swedish)
leax "salmon" - Lachs "salmon", lax "salmon"
grafan "dig" - graben "dig", grave "dig"
flôd "running water, river" - Fluß "river", flod "river" (arch.)
dæl "valley" (modern "dale") - Tal "valley"
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English
| Message 7 of 9 10 December 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged |
greotan "weep" - gråte "cry, weep"
Not long ago I watched a Scottish film. One of the characters told another to "stop all that greeting" (i.e. crying).
So greotan survives in Scots English :)
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6445 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 8 of 9 11 December 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
You'll find a fair few old Germanic words in Scots; child is 'bairn', for instance. This list of Scots, Old Scots, and English words may interest you.
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