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/lit/ - Literature

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23225141 No.23225141 [Reply] [Original]

What are the best books to learn Old English?

>> No.23225184

>>23225141
I think the /lang/ thread on int has some intro books (idk about their quality). Peter Baker has a introduction book if you're looking to actually buy one.

>> No.23225191

Any grammar book will do, although the grammar is vague and vestigial in places. Learn your cases, learn when words are being omitted and what those words (probably) are. What you need is a good dictionary or wordhoard because you're going to be reading source texts immediately.

>> No.23225238

>>23225141
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Shake-speare/KJV Bible

/thread

>> No.23225409

>>23225238
>Canterbury Tales
Middle English
>Shake-speare/KJV Bible
Early Modern English

>> No.23225604
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23225604

This isn't Old English exactly, but here are some lists of words in Anglish:

https://anglish.fandom.com/wiki/English_Wordbook
https://anglisc.miraheze.org/wiki/Anglish_Wordbook

>> No.23225615

>>23225604
>le heckin decolonization is le based

>> No.23225639

>>23225238
only Beowulf is Old English

>> No.23226730

>>23225238
You don’t even know what Old English is

>> No.23227601

>>23225238
Why are zoomers so stupid and ignorant?

>> No.23227614

>>23225141
Learn Old English with Leofwin

>> No.23227617
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23227617

>>23225238

>> No.23227626

>>23225604
>Anglish

>revives
>approach
>recognize
>appreciates
>community
>language

3/10, you can do better

>> No.23227637

I'm trying to study Old Norse and fuck am I having a miserable time with it
I've looked into Old English textbooks as well and they all have barely any comprehensible input
My Old Norse textbook has started giving me excerpts from the sagas and yet the vocabulary sections are massive and I still haven't really inculcated the grammar/vocabulary into my mind because there's simply not enough to read

>> No.23227652

The Wycliffe Bible

>> No.23227673

>>23227652
>The Wycliffe Bible
Is Modern English, early modern english.

>> No.23227680 [DELETED] 

>>23225238
Lol, this is why the Bible tells people not to be wise in their own eyes.

>> No.23227683

>>23225141
I don't know about now, but a few years ago, Baliol college at Oxford used to use Mitchell & Robinson's, "A Guide to Old English," for the freshman courses. I learned this from their website and so that is the book which I have.

>> No.23227970

There are like 4
>Exeter Book
>Junius Manuscript
>Vercelli Book
>Beowulf manuscript.

>> No.23228065

>>23225141
The Cambridge Old English Reader by Richard Marsden has been indispensable to me. Was designed for students and it gives you rough translations of selected old english poems. Has a glossary at the back that I return to time and time again for any translation I'm doing.

Also reccomend this online glossary: https://www2.kenyon.edu/AngloSaxonRiddles/willedition/Glossary.htm

It's taken from a book called The Old English Riddles of the Exeter book by Craig Williamson, it's not as complete as marsden's glossary but is a breeze to search through for words in with a bit of ctrl+f magic.

It's also reccomendable to read out the old English aloud to help you learn better, you can find videos on youtube of pronounciations I'm pretty sure. Also because alot of this poetry would've likley been transferred via oral tradition before it was written down, and likley wasn't composed with silent reading in mind.

Pair your translations with modern english tranaslations to guide you. Tom Shippey and Craig Williamson have been what i returned to the most.

Old English poetry is more beautiful than many realize, the melancholic and mournful attitudes expressed in them in my opinion make them superior to most Latin poetry of the same period. The Seafarer is my favourite poem in this regard. The language itself is such a fascinating look at how English was formed through a fusing of the Latin world of nascent Christianity and Germanic world of heroic poetry.

Hope this helps anon.