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Modern relatives of Old/Middle English | ||
Tags: English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5051 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 1 of 8 24 June 2011 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Which modern language is the closest to Middle English? What about Old English?
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| etracher Triglot Groupie Italy Joined 5334 days ago 92 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: Modern Hebrew, Russian, Latvian | Message 2 of 8 24 June 2011 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I believe that Modern English is most closely related to Middle and Old English.
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| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 5115 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 3 of 8 24 June 2011 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, besides Modern English being the obvious answer, Scots branched off from Middle English, and Old Frisian and Old English were pretty closely related.
You can see the relationships in the pretty table here: Germanic Languages - Wikipedia 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 4 of 8 24 June 2011 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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And Dutch isn't all that distant either. But still, Modern English is probably closest. It hurts my head, but I can figure out Chaucer with a great deal of effort. Beowulf is beyond me--but I'd imagine it's equally beyond Frisians and Scots.
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| unityandoutside Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6014 days ago 94 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin, Mandarin | Message 5 of 8 24 June 2011 at 8:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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You might be interested in checking out the Yola language. It's not living anymore but
died relatively recently (in the middle 19th century). It was an isolated southern Irish dialect that split off from English in about 1169 and had evolved separately ever since. Here's a sample from the wiki article about the language, circa 1836: MAI’T BE PLESANT TO TH’ECCELLENCIE, - Wee, Vassalès o’ ‘His Most Gracious majesty’, Wilyame ee Vourthe, an, az wee verilie chote, na coshe and loyale dwellerès na Baronie Forthe, crave na dicke luckie acte t’uck neicher th’ Eccellencie, an na plaine grabe o’ oure yola talke, wi vengem o’ core t’gie ours zense o’ y gradès whilke be ee-dighte wi yer name; and whilke we canna zei, albeit o’ ‘Governere’, ‘Statesman’, an alike which means: MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY – We, the subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, William IV, and, as we verily believe, both faithful and loyal inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, beg leave at this favourable opportunity to approach your Excellency, and in the simple dress of our old dialect to pour forth from the strength (or fullness) of our hearts, our sense (or admiration) of the qualities which characterise your name, and for which we have no words but of ‘Governor’, ‘Statesman’, etc. Pretty interesting stuff, I think. edit: corrected the error pointed out below Edited by unityandoutside on 24 June 2011 at 9:26pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 6 of 8 24 June 2011 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | ||
It was spoken in the South-East of Ireland, in Wexford. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5599 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 7 of 8 24 June 2011 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, structurally (cases, conjuntives, convoluted grammar) maybe Icelandic. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4805 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 8 of 8 03 October 2011 at 10:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Modern day languages similar to old/middle English would be Frisian.
There are several forms of Frisian, but the one spoken in Friesland (netherlands) is the most well known. I have heard several people speaking in old/middle English for fun. Surprisingly it has quite a bit of similarities with Dutch and German regarding pronounciation. Some phrases sounded almost Dutch! (Albeit with some accent) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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