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Resource to learn Old English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| semperamor Newbie United States Joined 5484 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Latin, French | Message 1 of 10 19 November 2009 at 2:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Bonjour,
I was wondering if anyone here can inform me of any good sources I can use to help teach myself some Old English? Merci beaucoup et salut. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Deshwi Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 5599 days ago 31 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Arabic (Written), Turkish, Hindi, Persian | Message 2 of 10 19 November 2009 at 5:21am | IP Logged | ||
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I was in a bookstore the other day, and noticed that there's actually a 'Teach Yourself Old English' course. I haven't had a look through it, but I imagine it has the same layout as the other courses...and it wasn't that expensive.
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| Anekantavada Newbie United States Joined 5733 days ago 11 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 3 of 10 19 November 2009 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just recently started self-studying Old English myself. There are a number of good resources available; I haven't used the Teach Yourself Old English, so I can't comment on it. The standard text is Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, available in numerous editions. The other two texts I have are Peter S. Baker, Introduction to Old English and Henry Sweet, Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer, ed. Norman Davis.
There are also a variety of Old English resources available on the Internet. The ones I have made the most use of are Ælfric's homilies, ed. Stuart D. Lee, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~stuart/kings/main.htm. (You might also search for Dr Lee's podcasts that are available for download on the web. He also coauthored a very good book on Tolkien and medieval literature entitled The Keys of Middle-earth, if you are interested.) Georgetown's Labyrinth Library, http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/li brary/oe/oe.html Michael Drout, King Alfred's Grammar, http://acunix.wheatonma.edu/mdrout/GrammarBook2007/title.htm l (This is also available for purchase as a book, if I'm not mistaken.) Michael Drout, Anglo-Saxon Aloud, http://fred.wheatonma.edu/wordpressmu/mdrout/ Dr Argüelles also makes mention of several other texts at the end of his video on Old English. Edited by Anekantavada on 19 November 2009 at 9:00pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NuclearGorilla Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6785 days ago 166 posts - 195 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Japanese, French | Message 4 of 10 20 November 2009 at 10:13am | IP Logged | ||
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There are a couple grammars (among other resources) on Google Books which are available in their entirety. (Just do a search for "Old English" limited to full view or public domain.)
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| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5702 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 10 20 November 2009 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Old English?? Seriously, I never thought of Old English as being a language that one would study...Is it very different from modern English spoken in countries like the US, UK and Australia?
What is so different about Old English that it would warrant a study from a native English speaker? Just curious... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 6 of 10 20 November 2009 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||
Are you serious? Here are the first few lines of Beowulf, probably the most famous Old English literary work: 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! Edited by Captain Haddock on 20 November 2009 at 3:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| yong321 Groupie United States yong321.freeshe Joined 5541 days ago 80 posts - 104 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 10 20 November 2009 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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> I never thought of Old English as being a language that one would study
It depends on how important Old English is to current life and culture. I bet the ratio of the people willing to learn Old English to all those knowing English is far less than the people willing to learn ancient Chinese to those knowing Chinese. If it's true, it's because the classical Chinese literature has a greater footprint in the modern Chinese language and greater influence in current daily life and culture. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 8 of 10 21 November 2009 at 5:30am | IP Logged | ||
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True. While Old English has a sizeable amount of literature and is very interesting in its own right, it lacks the
prestige and cultural influence of a classical language, a term which is usually reserved for Latin, Greek, Chinese, Arabic, and Sanskrit. (In India, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu are also considered classical languages.) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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