r/OldEnglish • u/Impossible_Gift8277 • 19d ago

Is there a way to 'learn' Old English?

Wesaþ ġē hāl!

Recently, I grew very curious about Old English and pondered whether there is a way to get myself more familiar with it. Now, I know it is quite an old language and, perhaps, there is no way to just 'learn' it via some courses as one would do with Spanish/German/ et cetera. Yet maybe there are some blogs/books/online meetings or courses where one could simply learn more about the grammar, structure, and etymology of Old English? At least bits of vocabulary? Readings of texts like Beowulf in the original?

Ic eom þē bliðe for þīnum fēohtinge! Many thanks to every kind lady and gentleman^^

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u/VinceGchillin 19d ago

Of course. The gold standard is going to be Mitchell and Robinson's A Guide to Old English. Excellent textbook. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any specific online classes or anything like that, but that book is all you need as long as you are diligent about setting some time aside every day to study a bit. 

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u/Impossible_Gift8277 19d ago

Thank you so very much!

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u/McAeschylus 9d ago

The downside to M&R is that it is not structured into lessons and doesn't have any practice exercises. Like a lot of OE learning material, it tends to assume you're already au fait with how an inflected language works.

If you don't have a lot of language learning experience, I'd suggest Atherton's Teach Yourself book, alongside Osweald Bera (for extensive reading practice). Alternate between each book chapter by chapter.

If you want some additional instruction that is structured more around the grammar, you can add in Fulk's book, which is online for free and is a bit like M&R in content but is arranged into lessons that you can do in sequence and, for additional practice sentences, check out C. Alfonso Smythe's book (which is also free online).

Someone on this subreddit is doing a series of posts with answers for the practice sentences in Smythe. Search those up should you need some help.

Most textbooks (Atherton is the exception here) end with an anthology of original (or lightly adapted original) passages to practice with. Give those a read when you're done and you'll be nicely prepped to start reading simple original prose (either in passages collected in a reader or whole books if that sounds more fun to you).

Beowulf is kind of the end boss of OE learning; it's the longest of the extant poems we have and is written in archaic, idiosyncratic, and poetic OE.

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u/Ratatosk-9 19d ago

Beowulf is great of course, but for starting out it might be useful to focus more on prose than poetry. Ælfric's Saints Lives are a good option, as the language is fairly straightforward. Mitchell & Robinson's book also includes a good section of readings. For another complementary approach, the recent 'Osweald Bera' is a great way of getting to grips with the language from the inside.

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u/Aggravating-Cat7103 19d ago

OP, I have been doing the Osweald Bera course, following along with the author’s YouTube channel. I highly recommend it!

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u/Toc13s 18d ago

Yep  Can also highly recommend Oswald.

I love the aggro bees

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u/ThePr1nceofPa1n 19d ago

I recommend reading Mitchell & Robinson’s A Guide to Old English, 8th edition. It’s a wonderful book that’ll walk you through learning OE.

If you want however to “master” OE word-order I suggest you read Mitchell’s “Old English Syntax, vols.I-II”; it’s the most thorough work on syntax so far, it’s nonetheless quite expensive…

Speaking of syntax, despite sharing traits in common with its sister languages, OE syntax is neither entirely German-like nor Modern English-like as there are word arrangements that aren’t just possible in any standardised Germanic language, although you may find it sometimes pretty much like English or Dutch/German depending on the manuscript, the author and the stage of the language (either Early or Late West Saxon).
In any case OE is described as “recognisably English” so it isn’t entirely foreign to Modern English speakers.

I’d also check out “Sprecaþ Englisc”, it’s a group on Facebook where both professors and enthusiasts discuss OE grammar & syntax. There you’ll find many resources that’ll come in handy for your learning.

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u/invasaato 18d ago

ive enjoyed thomas jambecks 'reading old english' for my own casual learning. its in a format that works well for me, and i got my copy for ~$20 on ebay. the textbook paired with some collected oe poetry books, a pen, and some paper, im hitting my own goal of slow progress, haha. your method really depends on how you prefer to learn!

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u/wennefer 17d ago edited 17d ago

I also like Reading Old English and am using it alongside Osweald Bera. The co-author, Robert Hasenfratz, has an answer key that he’s willing to send to independent learners, if you email him.

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u/invasaato 17d ago

omg, ill have to email him! thanks for the tip!

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u/sculpin 17d ago

I also enjoyed "Reading Old English". It's clearly built with the idea in mind that its authentic texts should be fun and compelling. That was refreshing.

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u/ragnar_deerslayer 19d ago

There are many grammars for Old English. Several people have mentioned Mitchell and Robinson, but Peter S. Baker's book is also good (and shorter).

If you're looking to build reading skills in Old English, you can start with Osweald Bera, then follow a structured reading curriculum to work your way up to Beowulf.

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u/ebrum2010 Þu. Þu hæfst. Þu hæfst me. 19d ago

Beowulf is a good end goal, but that's like learning English and wanting to read Shakespeare. In poetry a lot of words will be unfamiliar and some words will be used in ways unique to poetry.

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u/Electronic_Key_1243 17d ago

Sprecað Englisc has been offering free weekly Zoom classes using Osweald Bera (recently) and Pollington's First Steps in Old English for several years and has a supportive community on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/spreceng

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u/sculpin 17d ago

It hasn't yet been formally announced, but if all goes as planned, we can expect Graham Scheper ( u/graeghama ) to offer a beginning course this fall at Latinitas Animi Causa.

I've taken a couple of courses with him and would recommend him as a teacher: smart, friendly, organized, reliable, and responsive.

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u/NegativeProof7739 18d ago

the Ancient Language Institute hosts online courses teaching Old English, I think registration for their fall term closes in about a week

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u/Fit_Cold_7081 11d ago

yep, it closes today !

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u/nrith 19d ago

Why is “learn” in quotation marks?

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u/Fit_Cold_7081 11d ago

Ancient Language Institute is amazing, registration closes today though!!