Old English is placed in the Low German group of languages, which f.i. comprises Dutch, Frisian and Low German (spoken as a dialect in Northern Germany and the North-Eastern part of the Netherland ) Low German and Dutch are still interchangeable. Anglo Saxon/Old English stems from the Northern Part of Germany close to Denmark, where "Low German" dialects were spoken. This is why Old English is very close to current Dutch, and even closer to Frisian. It is pretty close to German though, when it comes to grammatical inflections (use of different cases). But for me as a Dutch guy I can say I can understand most of Old English without practicing, a German would find this a little bit more difficult, but could also get the hang of it.
My mother and her brothers come from Emsland (village Werlte). I have almost no problem with these simple phrases -- very close to Plattdüsk, quite a bit like Dutch. It is strange to see it writton. "Dat iss yenuch" is identical; sooth remains as truth in English "soothsayer."
The grammer rules are somewhat simpler than modern English. Due to my proclivity for Germanic vocabulary I'm almost tempted to use "if thou wilt" and "forgive me" in place of "please" and "excuse me" XD. Thanks, Sir, this is excellent.
Hello Thomas, thank you for that interesting comment. There does seem to be a correspondence between British and Frisian DNA which, if true, would explain the similarity between Dutch and Old English.
I speak Dutch, German, Low Saxon and a bit Frisian. OE sounds, as many already have said, very common to me. So many similarities. OE is a fascinating language.
Thank you for that! I'm glad to hear that it "sounds" very familiar to you as a speaker of those languages because it suggests to me that I am on the right track with pronunciation. Thanks again!
@@oldenglishforeveryone-robe8279 Definitely Low Saxon. Because of the du/hus/min/wif/ald sounds and the like, where Dutch has the infamous dipthongs ui, ou and ij
Old English is much more like modern Dutch than modern English. Which always makes it interesting to have commentators discuss old English without referencing that fact, which puts it all a bit in a vacuum.
Quite a few are understandable today. I remember in school fifty eight years ago when I started secondary school a teacher pronounced 'what' as 'hwhat'. It's interesting to see The Lord's Prayer developing from Old English, Middle English to Modern English. Knowing what it is makes it understandable.
Anna: It is cold! (3:06) Jane: No... (0:37) It is warm! (3:14) (notices Elizabeth) Hello! (0:08) Anna: Hello! (0:08) Elizabeth: (looks at anna and jane) Good day! (0:17) Jane: What is your name? (2:24) My name is [Jane]. (2:17) Elizabeth: (looks at Jane) My name is [Elizabeth]. (2:17) Jane: Say again? (3:54) Elizabeth: E-li-za-beth. You? (3:44) (looking at Anna) Anna: My name is [Anna]. (2:17) Elizabeth: It is very beautiful. (4:07) Anna: Thank you. (1:06) Elizabeth: Yeah! (0:31) Anna: Be well!/Goodbye, Jane, Elizabeth! (2:36) Jane: Be well!/Goodbye! (2:36) Elizabeth: Be well!/Goodbye! (2:36)
just found out your channel this is pretty rock, I've been reading some Chaucer in middle English but I want to go further in the language and this will definitely help, thank you
maybe U know the Swedish history.i am from the territory which was called Kievan Rus, also long before maybe Vikings called it Gardarika, but its not clear where it was. So ---our official myth of starting out state is that Slavs thew away Vikings who controlled North Territories of Slavs and some Finnish like tribes and then, because of disorder, they invited Vikings again. and they came and they were maybe from the people called Rus or similar. the first was =Rurik (also Riurik; Old Church Slavonic Рюрикъ Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse Hrøríkʀ; c. 830 - 879), according to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, was a Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 gained control of Ladoga, and built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod. He is the founder of the Rurik Dynasty, which ruled the Kievan Rus' and its successor states, including the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia, until the 17th century.[1 now i put it again below because i found the text:
The only information about Rurik is contained in the 12th-century Primary Chronicle written by one Nestor, which states that Chuds, Eastern Slavs, Merias, Veses, and Krivichs "...drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves". Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite the Varangians, led by Rurik, to reestablish order. Rurik came in 860-862 along with his brothers Sineus and Truvor and a large retinue. According to the Primary Chronicle, Rurik was one of the Rus', a Varangian tribe likened by the chronicler to Danes, Swedes, Angles, and Gotlanders. Sineus established himself at Beloozero (now Belozersk), on the shores of lake Beloye, and Truvor at Izborsk (or at Pskov). Truvor and Sineus died shortly after the establishment of their territories, and Rurik consolidated these lands into his own territory. According to the entries in the Radzivil and Hypatian Chronicles[2] under the years 862-864, Rurik’s first residence was in Ladoga. He later moved his seat of power to Novgorod, a fort built not far from the source of the Volkhov River. The meaning of this place name in medieval Russian is 'new fortification', while the current meaning ('new city') developed later. Rurik remained in power until his death in 879. On his deathbed, Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor, for he was very young. His successors (the Rurik Dynasty) moved the capital to Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus', which persisted until the Mongol invasion in 1240. A number of extant princely families are patrilineally descended from Rurik, although the last Rurikid to rule Russia, Vasily IV, died in 1612. sorry that its so long
I'm curious that in several places you put a schwa after consonants (e.g., after the H in Hwæt and after the r at the end of several words). This is different from some of the videos I've found by other people and I wondered if you could say more about the basis for doing this. Thanks very much!
Thank you for your question! The use of a schwa (ə) sound after consonants, such as in "Hwæt" and at the end of words, is a topic of some debate among scholars and enthusiasts of Old English. Here’s a bit more about why you might hear that in my videos: Phonological Background 1.) Hwæt (Hwǣt): - In Old English, "Hwæt" is often used as an exclamation to draw attention, roughly equivalent to "Listen!" or "Lo!" in modern English. The pronunciation of this word has been the subject of various interpretations. - Adding a schwa after the initial "H" (making it sound like "Həwæt") is an attempt to capture a pronunciation that reflects the oral tradition and the fluidity of spoken Old English, as it might have been articulated in a natural speech pattern. It’s meant to reflect the breathy onset of the word. 2.) Final Consonants: - Old English had a rich variety of endings that included unstressed vowels, often represented in writing by letters such as "e" or "a." In some dialects or pronunciations, these final unstressed vowels might have been pronounced lightly, resembling a schwa sound. - The pronunciation with a schwa after a final "r" or other consonants at the end of words can be seen as a way to soften the ending, aligning with how spoken language often works in practice, particularly in poetic or informal contexts. Different Interpretations - Regional Variations: Old English was not a monolithic language; it had several dialects, including West Saxon, Mercian, and Northumbrian. These dialects could have variations in pronunciation, and the use of a schwa might reflect one of these regional differences. - Modern Reconstructions: Different scholars and enthusiasts may rely on various sources and linguistic reconstructions, leading to variations in how Old English is pronounced today. Some may choose a more conservative, "purist" approach, while others might incorporate elements they believe better represent the spoken language’s fluidity. Personal Approach - My inclusion of the schwa aims to offer a rendition that captures the rhythmic and melodic qualities of Old English as a spoken language. It’s an interpretative choice that seeks to make the recitation more engaging and closer to what might have been heard in an Old English-speaking community. I hope this helps clarify why you might hear a schwa in my videos. It’s one of several valid approaches to pronouncing Old English, reflecting both historical scholarship and interpretive performance choices. Thank you for watching and for your insightful question!
@@oldenglishforeveryone-robe8279 Wow, thanks for being so generous with your time and giving such a thorough and thoughtful reply, this really helps set things in context. I'm still very new to OE and your perspective is extremely interesting and useful!
If you time travelled back to England circa 500AD you'd be better off speaking modern German or dutch if you know how than modern English. Everyone would just assume you were speaking some heavy regional dialect
Such phrasing is usual in many English accents and regional versions: 'If you'd like', 'If you would', 'If you will', 'If you wish', can all be heard most days.
Is this Old english from 1000 to 1500, or is it Old english from the Druids to the 900's. I ask because 'Ich bidde they' is please, but in your list it's different.
There is more than one way to say please, even today we say things like, if you don't mind, if you will and of course, please. The same as no doubt true back then. I should have included the phrase, Iċ bidde þē, because it is found in many books and so is more familiar to readers. As to the era it belongs I can't say but probably post conversion?
1. Gōdne Dæg = good day. Gōdne Morgen - good morning. Gōdne æfen - good evening Gōdne Niht - good night Giese/Gēa = Yes Nā/Nese = No Gif thū wylt = please Forgief Mē = Excuse me 2. Ic Sārie = I am sorry Ic Ongiete - I understand Ic Nongiete - I don't understand Ic thancie thē - I thank you Hit is eall riht - It is all right Hit nis eall riht - it is not all right Hwæt = What Hwonne = When Ēac = Also 3. Hwyy = Why Hwā = Who Hwær = Where Cum thū hēr - come here Cum thū in - come in Hū Micel - how much Tō fela - too much Gecierran winstrum - turn left Gecierran swīthra - turn right 4. Ic hâtte = My name is Hū hātta thū - what is your name. Welcumen - welcome Hwæt is sēo tīd - what time is it. Wes thū hāl - be well (goodbye) Gōd - good Nū - now Sōna - soon Dær - there 5. Hē = He Hēo = she Wer - man/husband Wīf - woman/wife Hit is ceald - it is cold Hit is wearm - it is warm Dæt is genōg - that is enough Dæt nis genōg - that is not enough Sōth - true 6. Gā forth = Go Forward Gā bæc - go back Eft - again Hū gēth thū - how are you. Ic blīthe - I am happy. Eft saga - say again. Ic hæbbe - I have Ic næbbe - I don't have Hit is swīthe scīenu - it is very beautiful.
I use the list of characters at the following link by downloading it to an Excel file. Over at "Leornende Eald Englisc" Cefin has a video in which he mentions how to use your keyboard to obtain all the characters that you need. Hope that helps!
The adverb "ġīet" means yet and is spelt with a "t" on the end. The word "ær" means before, earlier, formerly or early and is usually in the form, ǣr. I rely upon on the Bosworth Toller dictionary for determining meaning and use. Hope that helps?
Yes, but perhaps not surprising, since Mercian was spoken in the area between the Thames and the Humber which obviously includes London, the heart of the country's economic activity. Perhaps that contributes to the dominance of the Mercian dialect in the Middle English period?
@@oldenglishforeveryone-robe8279 I recently stumbled into the OE contributions, which is very interesting to me. I am German and was attracted by the church chronicles of St. Boniface, who grew up at Credinton and Exeter. His wordly name ead Wynfreth of Wessex. He wanted to assist St Wilbord to christianize the Frisians. In the 8th century, this was a kind of Ascension Command, because the Frisians on the mainland were pagans and killed everybody, who only attempted to preach of alternative religions. So St. Boniface went to Rome to get the benediction of the Pope. He made him Bishop of Mainz in Frankish territories of the German territories . He founded many dioceses like München, Würzburg, Erfurt and Utrecht , now in the Netherlands. How could he convince people of the gospel, if he hadn't spoken a language/dialect, which was understood on the Germanic territories? Wynfreth even knew the old pagan rhytes and mythologies which he could answer with the Christian faith. He was burried at Fulda i Germany close to his religeous breakthrough. He is called Apostle of the Germans and the Netherlands. The monks were the people, who could read and write. So almost all written sources come from the monastries. They chose words, which could be understood widely among the tribes. My theory, why these old documents can be understood from various people still today. Best Greetings from Germany
effraction = to break in i was looking for information on the words effraction and the medical connection to vaccines and injections and came across this channel
That is an interesting way to find this channel. Now you have me wondering if I have recorded the word 'effraction' as a key search word? Anyway, enjoy the channel!
@@TensorCalculusRobertDavie here is a interesting video if you have not seen it yet Wagging The Dog Pt 1: The Story Behind The Story Of Covid19 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OzQ4uEwCYwA.html
Nama is in the nominative case but 'me' is in the accusative case. The problem here is who are you talking about?. The subject of the sentence is in the nominative case while the object is in the accusative case. In your sentence two different people are involved.
@@oldenglishforeveryone-robe8279 Ah! That makes sense, thanks! Learning this language has been a bit of a challenge, still learning the different masculine/feminine stuff too.
Hello 狼人ジャン and thank you for your question. The word “artist” is a noun while the word “fine” is an adjective. In Old English(OE) the word for artist is “cræfta” which is pronounced “c-raff-tuh” with the “r” being rolled or trilled. This is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case in OE and so the adjective that accompanies it must also be masculine, singular and in the nominative case. There are now two choices open to us, a strong or weak adjective. If an adjective is preceded by a definite article (the), a demonstrative pronoun (this, that), or a possessive (his, her, your etc.) then we choose a weak adjective. Otherwise, we choose a strong adjective. In this case there are aren't any of these words preceding our adjective so we choose the strong variety. So our choice is, “gōd” (pronounced goad). Fine artist - gōd cræfta The fine artist - sē gōda cræfta (pronounced say go-duh c-raff-tuh) Let’s do the same for a weak feminine noun in the nominative case such as “eorðe” (e-oh-rrrr-th-e) = earth. So we need a feminine singular adjective in the nominative case which just happens to be the word “gōd”. Again, the strong version of this adjective is used for the simple sentence, Good earth - gōd eorðe But when the weak adjective is required we use, “gōde” (go-deh) for a sentence like, The good earth - sēo gōde eorðe Hope that helps?
It is closer to the Northern Germanic languages than what modern German is.. You can clearly see that the geographic origin must be close somewhere close to Denmark and the Low countries... Borderline Old North/West Germanic.
It is the "core grammar of English" argument versus the "vocabulary of English" argument. Most of the core grammar.. Word order.. and such is actually more Norse.. Whereas a lot of the larger vocabulary contains a lot more Old West Germanic But English itself is more like a creolisation of Olde Danish and Aenglisc.. People are choosing to ignore that the Danes dominated England for a very long time.. And that it had a large impact on the language.
wē sindon/bēoþ frēondas. Now, wē is in the nominative case and plural and so our choice for the word friends must also be in the same case and number which means the only choices we have are, frīend, frēondas and frȳnd. The possible choices for the word "are" include; sind, sindon, synd, siendon, sint, bēoð, synt, syndon, bēo, syndan and syn. These are all in the present tense and plural. Hope that helps?
Not really. The r’s are rolled/trilled in old English, so the r should be lengthened (ge-cier-ran), but there should not be a stop between the two r’s.
@@oldenglishforeveryone-robe8279 "Dank för dad" = thank for that.This is not very different.At School we had English and French,but English was always easier for us because of our dialect in Lower SAXONY =Low German.
I think it's funny that g is written like in standard German and Dutch but pronounced as in the eastern dialects like Plautdietsch, East Prussian or Berlin dialects.
There are many words in English including town and village names that are not European French or other countries. As there official translation is of Indian Hindu Gujarati Meaning. For example the word pari is not French for Paris but means Angel in Indian Hindu Gujarati Khumbar Language with a particular use to live society. Every country was kept independent with Indian Hindu Khumbar Gujarati words. So independent history of the land can be traced. For example many old cathedrals where made built and lived in my my own ancestors and started the first wave of modern colonialism 2nd century onwards. Therefore the current french in French cathedrals are not linked to the original builders or Indian Hindu Khumbar Gujarati people or the original history linked to them. Since the formation of Morden India all of the cathedral dwellers moved back to India the same is the case with all castles forts etc of ancient value. 🤴🏽🕉🔺➕
Most of this is pretty much old norse. A swede of today would probably understand more than half of this right away. Atleast those born 1970 of before, when there was a school worth the namn.
Thank you for your comment as I had no idea how close the two languages are. I have often wondered how connected they are to each other because the boat burial at Sutton Hoo and the artifacts it contains are very similar to ship burials in Sweden.
You are quite right to pick me up on my lack of rolling or trilling the letter 'r', but if you listen to my more recent videos you will see that I have corrected this problem. I will need to redo this video at some stage in the future. The description accompanying this channel points out that I follow Stephen Pollington on pronunciation and he makes it clear that the 'r's' should be trilled.
Old English for everyone - Robert Davie I wasn't criticising you for the lack of trill- I was kinda talking about an actual burred r, like in Devonshire or America. That sound didn't just pop up from nowhere. I even recall there being several early writings that comment on the burr. (Course, I may be wrong.)
Old English for everyone - Robert Davie I believe so. I'm wondering this, since a lot of non-Recieved English accents, such as Irish or Devonshire or American, etc, are all rhotic (meaning they use the retroflex, burred r's), and people have been commenting on the burr for a long time. Shouldn't that have come from Old English?
If only there were a way of unravelling it all because it is a bit of a puzzle. But then, all of the regional accents of the UK are distinct and have their own histories, the course of which could only be fully determined if we could go back in time! While linguists use deductive reasoning to work backwards that method depends upon a lot of guesswork. Can we really know all the influences that have acted upon a language throughout its history?
Hello Betty, Try the link below as it contains an Excel file with the alphabet you seek. Let me know if it works. drive.google.com/open?id=1O5wARO3cgNQZcYIdJeF_eJEvRxnXqnRR
As someone whose first language is English and also knows a decent bit of German, this is absolutely fascinating, as not only can you see the connection between these old english phrases and their modern counterparts, but also where a few of these old English words bear a marked resemblance to modern German words.
Hello Kirby. Thank you for your comment which only serves to affirm the Germanic nature of Old English and how it is closer to modern German than we might realize. Some commenters on this channel have pointed out similarities to Dutch, Friesian and Swedish. Could you list a couple of the modern German words that you find similar (I don't speak German)?
Old English for everyone - Robert Davie, Certainly. Morgen, whilst pronounced slightly differently in German, has the same meaning of morning, and I can't help but suppose that Ic is directly descendent from the German Ich, which again has a slightly different pronunciation, but has the same meaning. In actually hasn't changed at all between the languages as far as I know, as it is the same both in meaning, spelling, and pronunciation between old and modern English and modern German. Hatte, in German, is a conjugated form of habe, which means to have, and seems to have a similar usage based on the examples in this video, leading me to believe that one would use their name as if it were a possession as opposed to a title, although that's just my personal conjecture. Welcumen corresponds with the German equivalent, wilkommen, and wearm and warm correspond with the German warm (again, different pronunciation in German, despite the identical spelling). My personal favorite is how close genog is to the German genug, even in how the final g in both words are pronounced rather similarly, although it's a much softer sound in modern German. There are others that bear faint resemblances to the German equivalents, but the resemblances are distant at best, and could simply be my brain trying to connect the dots, so I don't think it prudent to delve into those. Hope this helps!
@@kirbynix9189 your predictions are quite wrong. 1)Ic and Ich and I in fact are descendents of proto-germanic pronoun Ek, but in some dialects which formed later the Old High German and there was an event known as High German consonant shift and "Ik" became "Ich", But in early old english period it was "Ic" (but with K sound) also, but then it palatalized into Ic(Ich) like in (Each). In low german dialects that Shift did not happened, and those still have "Ik" like in Dutch or Low German, "Reich" is still "Rike or Krijke" you can compare with English "Rich". 2)The "Hatte" is actually first sing. form of Haten verb which means "Named" "To be called", the phrase Ic hatte... - "My name..." or "I named..." or in German is "Ich heise..." as i wrote before, because of the High German shift, there was a consonant changing in German, and that's why "water>wasser" "that>das" "nut-nuss" "white-weis". There was another verb for Have - Habban or Hafian, and it's forms for I, Thou, (He, She, It)We, You, They is hæbbe, hæfst, hæfþ, habbaþ.
I always wonder how OE sounds until i finally found people uploading actual lessons for OE. It should be taught as part of English or as a separate subject in schools. At least in England 👏
As native swedish speaker, I see this words are so close to the modern swedish. Gōdne morgen - god morgon Hū micel - hur mycket Ic hatte_ - jag heter _ Hū hatte pū? - vad heter du? Welcumen - välkommen Tid - tid Nū - nu Ga - Gå I didn’t have those letters on keyboard so hope you understand what i mean 😁
A lot of the mystigue about Old or even Middle English is the strange way English professors say perfectly ordinary words, Hweat is what, say how it how you like in your ordinary accent.
Managed to understand some of those before checking the translation!Also it really puzzles and intrigues me how could they possibly discover and find out how certain letters were pronounced a thousand years ago,especially if the acutal sound doesnt really match the letter(ike the G in "Morgen")?
Hello Rob. It just shows the close links between these languages. I often wonder how close Old English is to these two languages as well as German of course.
It very similar to Dutch, frisian, low german and danish (because Denmark and North Germany are the land of angles, jutes and saxon peoples who settled in Britannia)
I have B2 German degree and it is so easy to understand, mutually intelligible. It is so difficult to catch or capture words from old high German even if middle high German.
I think i've heard that William the conqueror did this on purpose since he found the old English "hw" too awkward and unpleasant to hear so just made it "wh" instead.
was þu pronounced "soo"? its ancestor was the proto-indo-european "*tuh2" and the descendant is of course "thou"; both have a dental stop sound, not a sibilant.
þu is pronounced "thoo" and not "soo". I cannot comment on the rest of your question because I am not a linguist and have no knowledge of proto-indo-european.
This is very interesting. I wonder why some germanic languages such as German have still more than one grammatical gender, whereas English has only one nowadays, but old English did have genders and different articles. English changed a lot but German didn't
Possibly because English picked up a lot of loanwords, and cases make it difficult to jam other languages stolen words into your pockets. But take the case off, and voilá, it fits. :) (Yes that was an example)
It is to all intents and purposes. You could go to north friesland a speak old english and the majority of what you said would be understood. You can see the connection straight away in the numbers.
Hello Ottavva, I have added a link below that will give you access to an Excel file that contains the alphabet you need. Let me know if it works. drive.google.com/open?id=1O5wARO3cgNQZcYIdJeF_eJEvRxnXqnRR
Yes, I learned some small pieces when I was studying South Africa and its history. I always wanted to learn the entirety of the language, however it has thus so far eluded my often hectic schedule.
