Old English Discussion

[KingHarvest]

Miscommunication, . I’d like to deffinetly learn old english then, but I’m already supposed to be learning Icelandic, Finnish, Inuktitut. However to seam hold for today so I can try in the interim. , I just want to sound really arcane and stuff why else would one want to speak old English.

Forget Old English, have you mastered Modern English yet?

[JackFrost]

For once in a while I really love that sarcasm of yours.

[loqu]

please stop, I'm laughing out loud here

[sa wulfs]

I just want to sound really arcane and stuff why else would one want to speak old English.

Wifmenn lyst his. Hit bið swilce man mærne wægen hæbbe.

[johnH]

I just want to sound really arcane and stuff why else would one want to speak old English.

Wifmenn lyst his. Hit bið swilce man mærne wægen hæbbe.

[Women lust after his [x], it ? borders, ones plough must have it’s limits.]|·—·)›,
Forgive for I most certainly hath mistaken.

Forget Old English, have you mastered Modern English yet?

›Gna'Kxniærþtklemnkă, vøltburkjét Englika. ‹*,

*[translation from proto-primordial-Gibberish⁊: I will take thou thine Modern English, and from whence it’s evil came, destroy eth.]
⁊‹(·—·)› don't bother deciphering it it’s just Gibberish.

[Dunbots]

hath = has

I has != I have

And please don't destroy "ð", I need it for Faroese.


I'd guess "wifmenn lyst his" means "women love this", but I haven't studied any Old English.

[KingHarvest]

The wind bloweth where it list.

[sa wulfs]

Basically I said the ladies dig Old English and that it's like having an awesome car.

[johnH]

I enjoyeth thine sporadic occourance of perfumulous intelect.

[Dunbots]

I enjoyeth thine

That in Modern English means:

I enjoys yours...

You sir are an idiot.

[loqu]

yeah, I was going to say that as well. That isn't Early Modern English, let alone Old English. That's just pedantry.

[Dunbots]

yeah, I was going to say that as well. That isn't Early Modern English, let alone Old English. That's just pedantry.

Yeah. I doubt he even knows what the difference is, he seems to know nothing about languages, and not going to attempt to change that.

What's the word for that? "Willfully ignorant"?

[johnH]

Anyway… I know that wasn't middle English actually if I’m not mistaken old English is considered a different language while middle English is considered a to be closer to a dialect of modern English that when spoken correctly is for people who aren't use to it relatively difficult to understand.
Actually I’m pretty sure I know something about language. Actually enjoyeth, the ~eth would be omitted in translation. if I’m not mistaken that’s some like the definite article applied to a verb. , which I admit I don't yet understand. In old Norse that was used. The English they used in the bible supposedly meant to sound arcane if not outright Snobbish at the time. Which is curious* considering that the English in that version of the bible was actually translated to make it more accessible to the people at the time.
I’m not certainly not willfully ignorant, and I was well aware that I didn't sound very good when saying that.

*what is just as curious is that you guys keep saying I should learn modern English. I actually speak it just at the very least quite fluently. Actually speaking even modern English in the style I meant to imitate would be pretty difficult. In part because much of the grammar and vocabulary is simple omitted misused or left out semi-willfully by habit and imitation.

Actually on that topic, continue speaking old english, didn't mean to distract you. carry on.

[Dunbots]

Old English is not considered a different language, just an older version of English.

And you are mistaken. The "-(e)th" on verbs means that it's the 3rd person singular present indicative. For comparison, "th/you hast" isn't just a fancy way of saying "you have", the "-st" means that it's the 2nd person singular present indicative.

So you're wrong on both of those.

[KingHarvest]

"You hast" isn't grammatical, and, when they were being more finicky, "you have" wasn't grammatical either (though maybe you were just being critical of him, I can't tell).

The English they used in the bible supposedly meant to sound arcane if not outright Snobbish at the time.

The KJV wasn't that archaicizing, cf. contemporary prose writers like Francis Bacon. Edmund Spencer's English, the other great archaicist of the period, was far more Middle English-like than the KJV. Really, the KJV is a masterwork of clarity and precision of language and not arcane at all.

[johnH]

' Screw murphies law I always find the one artikle I can't depend on damn my sources where wrong. Screw that GRRR, firstly, sorry about that. whats the indicative form?

Actually scrap that whole source now that we’re on it. well that makes a-lot more sense.
And what?—, It never actually occurred to me that hast even was just a fancy form of saying something .

[KingHarvest]

Indicative form of what?

[johnH]

hast,
>>,

second person	~st,
third person	~eth,

· and the other endings I’m unaware of just to repeat I really never had the impression that ~st was being fancy.

[Dunbots]

You know, indicative, as opposed to subjunctive, conditional, imperative, all those fun moods.

JohnH, take a look at this table.

[Gormur]

It was "ealdfæder", "ealdmodor". "Eald-ealdfæder" is also attested for "great-grandfather". I haven't found the "ealde-" or "ieldra-" forms in the Bosworth-Toller, and if by Wiki you actually mean Wikipedia I wouldn't rule out an ad hoc translation by some random guy.

"Great" wasn't quite a common word as it is now, but had the hypothetical "oldfather", "oldmother" forms fallen out of use, it's possible that "greatfather" and "greatmother" would have been used at a later time.

That's interesting

In Norwegian we have:

bestefar - grandfather
bestemor - grandmother

oldefar - great-grandfather
oldemor - great-grandmother