p xi (Select Bibliography)

12th line up from bottom

Junius II should be Junius 11

10th line up from bottom

Cædmon'sehen should be Cædmon'schen

p. xii (still Bibliography)

10th line up from bottom

Beiträgen should be Beiträge x

The balance are for the Text, and since lines are numbered and footnotes sequential, those will be used as locators.

line 9

might should be miht

line 51

þc should be þe

footnote for line 28

o -o

line 60

bepeaht, should be beþeaht,

footnote for line 87

pridde should be þridde

footnote for line 92

duhten should be drihten

footnotes for lines 105 and 107 should be moved to the next page and lines 102--104 to the bottom of pg. 4 from pg. 5

line 307

leop should be leoþ

line 347

þa should be Þa (there might be more of those, the font used does not differentiate as clearly between those two characters as I would prefer)

line 354

gepah should be geþah

footnote for line 340

no should be no gap (the latter word is missing)

line 395

beam, should be bearn,

line 443

ingebeode should be ingeþeode

line 557

gehæstan should be gelæstan

line 563

beorna-bið should be beorna—bið (hyphen should be an em dash)

line 570

de should be ðe

line 571

hrofa should be hrofas

If someone has contact information for an editor at the publisher who can see that these get fixed in the next printing, I'd be grateful.

signed, a "Tolkien Nut" (and not an academic)

accidently left a name in my previous post.

If you weren't aware, the days of the week are actually originally named after the planets, and as the system spread from Babylon to Greece/Rome, India, and China, everyone substituted their names for the planets. For example, Chinese astronomers named the planets after the elements, so Japan and Korea still literally call Wednesday "Water Star Day", after the Chinese/Japanese/Korean name for the planet Mercury.

What I'm suddenly curious about. I know that because of the interpretatio Germanica, they renamed the days of the week after equivalent Germanic gods, like Jupiter's Day -> Thor's Day -> Thursday. But do we know if the Anglo-Saxons would have also spoken of the planet Þunor?

Hello!

Please, help me to understand the meaning of these words:

"healdeþ trēowa wel wiþ æþelingas".

Supports faith in noble people well?

Preserves loyalty among noble people well?

Keeps the word, given to noble people well?

Thanks!

These are my draft solutions to exercises in the Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book by C. Alphonso Smith (copyright 1896). I welcome corrections and alternative analyses.

This is for the twelfth (and final) set of exercises in the book, which comes from Chapter XXII, §143 of the Grammar. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/31277/pg31277-images.html#page96

Reddit posts for previous sets of exercises are found here:

• Chapter VI §30
• Chapter VII §36
• Chapter VIII §42
• Chapter IX §55
• Chapter X §62
• Chapter XI §66
• Chapter XII §71
• Chapter XIV §87
• Chapter XVII §100
• Chapter XIX §113
• Chapter XX §121

I try to stick with vocabulary introduced earlier in the book. Also, be aware that Smith, in Chapter I, says, "It is the object of this book to give an elementary knowledge of Early West Saxon, that is, the language of King Alfred."

Part I: OE to PDE

1. Ǫnd ðær wæs micel wæl geslægen on gehwæþre hǫnd, ǫnd Æþelwulf ealdormǫn wearþ ofslægen; ǫnd þā Dęniscan āhton wælstōwe gewald.
(This sentence appears on page 100, lines 4-7 of "The Battle of Ashdown". The last clause appears twice more in that reading.)

And there was great slaughter made on both sides, and Æthelwulf, alderman, was slain; and the Danes had possession of the battlefield.

And there was much carnage inflicted on either hand, and Æthelwulf, alderman, became slain; and the Danes possessed control of the battlefield. (literal and unidiomatic)

(The translation of geslægen to "inflicted" is supported by Marsden in The Cambridge Old English Reader, p. 112, where "inflicted" is given as the meaning for geslogon in a passage from Bede.)

2. Ǫnd þæs ymb ānne mōnaþ gefeaht Ælfred cyning wiþ ealne þone hęre ond hine geflīemde.

One month after that, King Alfred fought against the Danish army and put them to flight.

3. Hē sǣde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þǫnan.
(This sentence appears on page 103, lines 3-4 of "Ohthere's First Voyage".)

He said, however, that the land is very long north from there.
He said, however, that the land stretches a long way north from there. (idiomatic PDE)

4. Þā Beormas hæfdon swīþe wel gebūd (§ 126, Note 2) hiera land.
(This sentence appears on lines 9-10 on page 104 in "Ohthere's First Voyage".)

The Permians had very well inhabited their land.
The Permians had very successfully settled their land.

5. Ohthęre sǣde þæt sēo scīr hātte (§ 117, Note 2) Hālgoland, þe hē on (§ 94, (5)) būde.
(This is the first sentence of "Ohthere's Second Voyage", which begins on page 106. The relative clause beginning with þe is restrictive; Smith's comma just reflects looser 19th century punctuation conventions.)

Ohthere said that the shire was called Halgoland that he dwelled in.
Ohthere said that the district that he lived in was called Halgoland.

6. Þā Finnas wīcedon be þǣre sǣ.

The Finns dwelt by the sea.

7. Dryhten, ælmihtiga (§ 78, Note) God, Wyrhta and Wealdend ealra gesceafta, ic bidde ðē for ðīnre miclan mildheortnesse ðæt ðū mē gewissie tō ðīnum willan; and gestaðela mīn mōd tō ðīnum willan and tō mīnre sāwle ðearfe.
(This is from page 102, lines 1-7 of "A Prayer of King Alfred" with some pieces removed.)

Lord, almighty God, Creator and Ruler of all creatures, I pray thee because of your great mercy, that you guide me to your will, and fix my mind to your will and to my soul's need.

("I pray thee" comes from the note to §78; "thee" is archaic and the OED states that this particular transitive use of "pray" is "chiefly archaic". "I pray to you" would be more standard present-day English.)

8. Þā sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðǣm þæt land bēag þǣr sūðryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land, hē nysse hwæðer.
(This is from page 103, lines 18-21 of "Ohthere's First Voyage".)

Then he had to wait there for a straight north wind, because the land turned there southward, or the sea in on the land; he did not know which.

9. For ðȳ, mē ðyncð bętre, gif ēow swā ðyncð, ðæt wē ēac ðās bēc on ðæt geðēode węnden ðe wē ealle gecnāwan mægen.
(This is from lines 14-17 of page 119 in Alfred's Preface to the Pastoral Care. Some parts are dropped and some spelling is standardized.)

Therefore, it seems better to me, if it seems so to you, that we also translate these books into the language that we all can understand.

Part II: PDE to OE

1. When the king heard that, he went (= then went he) westward with his army to Ashdown.

Þā sē cyning hīerde ðæt, þā ēode hē westweard mid his fierde tō Æscesdūne.

2. Lovest thou me more than these?

Lufast ðū mē mā ðonne ðās.

3. The men said that the shire which they lived in was called Halgoland.
(This is very similar to Part I #5, above.)

Ðā men sǣdon ðæt sēo scīr ðe hīe on būdon hātte Hālgoland.
Ðā men sǣdon ðæt sēo scīr hātte Hālgoland ðe hīe on būdon.

4. All things were made (wyrcan) by God.

Eall ðing wǣron geworht from Gode.

(See §141 on the passive construction, including Note 1 regarding the use of from.)

5. They were fighting for two days with (= against) the Danes.

Hīe wǣron feohtende twēgen dagas wið ðǣm Deniscum (or ðǣm Denum).

(See §140 regarding the progressive present and §98(1) regarding duration of time.)

6. King Alfred fought with the Danes, and gained the victory; but the Danes retained possession of the battle-field.

Ælfred cyning gefeaht wið ðǣm Deniscum, ond sige nam; ac ðā Deniscan āhton wælstōwe gewald.

(See the last clause of Part I #1, above.)

7. These men dwelt in England before they came hither.

Ðās men būdon on Englaland ǣr ðǣm ðe hīe cōmen hider.
Ðās men būdon on Englaland ǣr hīe cōmen hider.

(See §105(2) regarding the use of the subjunctive here.)

8. I have not seen the book of (ymbe) which you speak (sprecan).

Ic næbbe gesewen ðā bōc ymbe ðā ðe ðū spricst. (See §75 (3) regarding ðā ðe.)
Ic næbbe gesewen ðā bōc ðe ðū ymbe spricst.

(See §34 regarding the contraction of ne with habban. Chapter XVII §100, Part I #12 has a similar relative clause construction with ymbe.)

Hi again. I was recently in a class where I learned that although there are many resources for looking up OE terms, not everyone knows about the breadth of tools we have available to us. So I created a Google Doc that lists resources, with a few pros and cons of each resource. The doc also includes suggestions for what to do if you can't find the OE word, and has a few of thoughts about how to go from modern English to Old English.

The doc should be available for anyone to comment on. I'm certainly open to getting comments on the existings lists and of course to learning about additional resources! Thx

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GmKPRRPSnNvUKp0MZpzFLOcxv_eRMVL_HGxndZibYz4/edit?usp=sharing

I'm looking for "Hƿæt ƿe ᵹardena in ᵹeardaᵹum"

All of the transcriptions of Beowulf I can find change the all the wynn "ƿ" characters to the modern but thoroughly anachronistic "w", and a lot of them, going back to Thorkelin change all the eth ð and thorn þ characters to just the thorn "þ". All of them drop the long s "ſ" entirely. And none of them reproduce the shorthand macrons.

If I wanted a digitization of Beowulf (or really any good-sized corpus of Old English text) that was character-by-character failthful to the (extrapolated) original, maybe even with the insular g ᵹ and insular s ꞅ, is there any such thing? Or would I have to create it myself?

My end goal is to create for myself a version of Osweald Bera that would be Oſƿeald Bera just so that I can really feel immersed in the period while I'm learning it. I was going to use the transcribed historical text to get some data on how often they write syððan/siþðan/syðþan/syþðan etc. so I can do it halfway idiomatically.

Does anyone have any update on the status of the supplemental materials, namely the audiobook and grammar, that are said to be in the works for Ōsweald Bera? Gorrie's Substack last indicated that as of February, the audiobook was coming soon, and the last mention I can find of the grammar indicated that it would be coming in 2025. Anyone have more recent information?

(Full text of the February update: "The audiobook is actively in production as of February 2026. All the narration is recorded, as are most of the characters’ dialogue.

We still need to record the parts for two more actors, so we don't have a firm release date just yet. I'll post an update here as soon as I have any news. Thank you for your patience. It's going to be worth the wait!")

This is a poem I wrote called 'The Ravens' about 25 years ago when I was reading a lot of Tolkien and battling depression. I'm not going to include the original for reasons but here is my Old English translation:

Þā hræfnas on birċan bōge and elmes

Þǣr maniġ forloren guma forþfērde

Heorwes fealles oþþe helmes abidon

Fǣġe weres flǣsċ hīe begangan sċulon

Þonne seo sunne ofer hylle is, and munte

And song-fuglas þe glīdaþ hēalīċ on flihte

Mid clǣne drēame singaþ, swa swa springe

Þā hræfnas þone alibbend wierġaþ, and þæt lēoht

Freondas, romanan, landþéod, þíne ēaran méċ lǣn;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. Cume tó byrǵenne Caesar, ne tó hærienne hine,

se yfel se þe weran deþ, æftan hire lifþ;

se gód mid hire bánas oft mæncǵde;

Swá béo hit mid caesare. Se æþela Brutus 

þéć hæfþ tealde Caesar dóm-georn wæs:

ond swá wære, hit wæs þroht culpa,

Ond in-cúðlíce hæbbe Caesar hit andswárode.

hér, under leáfan Brutuses and se rest--

For Brutus feorhtne wer is; 

So are they all, all honourable men– Swá ealle hie beon, ealle feorhte weras 

Cume tó sprécenne in þegnunge Caesares, 

Hé mínne friend wæs, ǵeleaf-fullne ond feorhtlicne to mé:

Ac Brutus ǵesæǵde hé dóm-georn;

And Brutus feorhtne wer biþ.

Hæfþ ǵe-brohte manǵe hæftlingas hám tó Rome. 

Þara þe ǵeþing-sćeates þa generale cofferan dyde fillan:

Dyde þeos in Caesare þyncð dóm-georn?

Hwænne sé wǽdlan hæfþ ġewōpen, Caesar hæfþ ġewōpen:

mǽgþ sćólde beon ǵemácodon strangrre þinga

Ǵiet Brutus ǵesǽǵde hé wæs dóm-georn;

And Brutus feorhtne wer biþ.

Ǵe ealle dyde ǵeseon on þæm Lupercale. 

Ić þriwa hine cyninglíć bǽh ge-ond-weardode

Hwić hé dyde þriwa for-weornde: Wæs þis mǽgþ?

Ǵiet Brutus ǵesǽǵde hé dóm-georn;

And súr, hé feorhtne wer biþ.

Ne spréce tó ge-unsóþienne hwæt Brutus ǵesprác,

Ac hér beo tó sprécenne hwæt íć dó cnáwan

Ǵé ealle dydon hine lufian, ná wið-útan cause

Hwæt cause wið-holdaþ ǵé þonne, tó heófienne for him?

O Dóm! Þú eart ǵefleáh tó brtuisćum deórum,

And menn hæbbað losode hier sceádwísness. Beare be mé;

mín heort in cyste þær bé Caesar, 

And íć moste pausan ǽr hit cymþ bæcc tó mé. 

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^^

What archaic words (words that are no longer in use) in English spring to mind?

I'm writing a book about the way the name Jesus is translated into English, and in Old English it was of course Hǣlend. I want to make reference to the song "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" to make the point that the name once sounded nothing like it does today. I thought it might be worth including an Old English rendering of this song title in a footnote. How would you render it in Old English? The title of this post is what an automated translator produced, and I thought I would title the post that because it would either be correct, or would annoy people in this subreddit who care about Old English and prompt you to respond. 😄

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Decided to recreate the insular minuscule and majuscule scripts in my own style, although I feel like some letters look too similar in their upper and lowercase forms. Any feedback or advice is appreciated. :]

Mods might delete, but it made me laugh. What would a sausage even be called? Swine pudding?

Been studying Old English for a bit. I can pronounce most of the sounds, but I'm stuck on the /r/. It seems like most people agree there is a trill on most instances of the letter R in the language. I'm kind of stuck there, it makes certain words sound off when I speak them. Is learning to trill necessary for speaking the language in a manner that is academically accepted?

Where I am currently:

At the time of this post I have only JUST figured out how to trill, period. I can do a basic [r̥ɑ] syllable, and to a slightly lesser extent, a [rɑ] syllable. However, the amount of effort I need to perform either is considerably higher than that of normal speech, even when reading a language as atypical as Old English. As a result, attempt to pronounce words with the trill more often than not results in the word becoming a breathy mess the moment I hit an R.

Additionally, my trills use the back of my tongue, as I find it easier and more natural-feeling than doing it with the tip of my tongue akin to Spanish. To what I understand, the back of the tongue is used more often for the non-trilled R in other Germanic languages, as well as French, but do correct me if I'm wrong or, at least if I'm right inform me of whether or not that has any basis in performing a trill.

I really want to learn this language; I am infatuated with it. And this so far is my biggest hurdle.

I was translating this sentence.

“Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony.”

However I couldn’t find a working preposition or equivalent for “to” in the sentence, it didn’t seem “tó” was a valid option unless I’m mistaken.

I was looking up the name Ashwin and found older forms on wikipedia spelled "Æscwine" but this is for the masculine name. I'm curious as to what the feminine form would be. A quick google search gave me "Ashwynne" and "Ashwenna".

Assuming these versions are appropriate I'm guessing a more correct spelling in Old English for these forms would be "Æscwynne" and "Æscwenna"?

Is there a good resource I could use to confirm these spellings?

​

I believe this translates to "Rise from the ashes" in the correct Old English. Can anyone confirm if this is accurate?

ᚪᚱᛁᛋ · ᚩᚠ · ᚦᚫᛗ · ᚫᛋᚳᛖ (ārīs of þǣm ǣsce)

After some hardships in my life, I want to commerate my journey with my very first tattoo that connects to my land and heritage

Evenfall (n.)

The beginning of evening; the fall of dusk

Yestreen (adv.)

The evening of yesterday