Ƿes hál, hú gǽþ?
Hello and welcome to the Old English Thread! Come, get a jug (yes a jug you lightweight) of mead and join us on the hall-benches. There's always room for one more in the Lord's hall! Here is a place to discuss Old English as a language, discuss cultural aspects of Pre-Norman England and if you dare, speak the language itself. I myself can help answer questions or at least direct you to sources of information more knowledgeable than I, and I'm sure we shall attract some more Anglo-Saxonists who will be happy to help too.
Old English was a language spoken throughout much of what we would call England today and indeed parts of southern Scotland too during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It belongs to the West German language family and is most similar to Frisian but are still quite removed. Sadly, following the Norman Invasion Old English declined and became Middle English following a significant injection of Norman French. Old English was originally expressed visually by an English runic script but came to use the latin script in the advent of Christianity -though there was still much overlap for example on the Franks Casket.
Below is The Lord's Prayer in Old English:
Fæder úre þú þe eart on heofonum,
Sí þín nama ġehálgod.
Tó becume þín riċe,
Ġeƿurþe ðín ƿilla,
On eorðan sƿá sƿá on heofonum.
Urne ġedæghƿámlícan hláf syle ús tódæg,
And forġyf ús úre ġyltas,
Sƿá sƿá ƿé forġyfað úrum ġyltendum.
And ne ġelǽd þú ús on costnunġe,
Ac álýs ús of yfele sóþlíċe.
Amen
As you can see I use the acute accent rather than the macron to express stressed vowels and use the 'Wynn' symbol for 'w'.
I shall put here some useful resources for interested people:
A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Clarke Hall
Wordcraft, S.Pollington
First Steps in Old English, S.Pollington
The Anglo-Saxon World Anthology, Crossley-Holland
Bosworth-Toller Digital Dictionary -very comprehensive but a mild knowledge of Latin is helpful to extract maximum utility
And for some literature:
Beowulf -obviously???
Deor
Widsith
The Wanderer
the Seafarer
The Exeter Riddles
Battle of Brunanburh
Battle of Maldon
The Ruin
Caedmon's Hymn
Please be a civilised human being and hopefully there can be a vibrant Old English community here on NSG.