(no subject)

[rivendellrose]

So, because we're insane, maymargaret and I have set ourselves the goal of studying Old English together. On our own. The old fashioned way, meaning we get a bunch of books together, hopefully find a dictionary that one or the other of us can buy, and start working it through. We've got a bunch of texts from the library so far, and I mean to go hunting for books at Magus and such this weekend. Yes, this is probably the most spectacularly impractical choice I could possibly have made for a language (and I do mean to keep up on my French, and hopefully pick up some Norwegian, as well), but... damn it, I love this language. And if I really mean to go into archaeology or ancient-world anthro, it's not like having a grounding in Old English could possibly hurt me. It makes me happy, in any case, just to dabble in it. We've also started a tiny little folklore discussion group with nekokoban.

Why yes, we are the geekiest set of geeks you ever could hope to meet. You should have heard Kendra and I going nuts over the translated Old English riddles in one of her books. We were very proud of ourselves for figuring most of them out.

The song of the day is apparently "Mad About You," by Sting. I made the mistake of putting it on last night while trying to write, and it not only attached itself to the writing, but possibly to the character. Straaaange combinations.

Wow... I don't think I've ever linked to the Sports section of a paper before. I'm vastly amused that one of the defenders for DC United is from Renton, and went to the UW. That's kind of awesome. And yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing this game. :D

Comments

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Folklore Discussion Group? EEEEEEEE.

(Also, who is maymargaret? I have met her?)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, now we totally need to set up a formal day for this so that you can join us!

(Kendra? You might have met her in Dragon's Pen, or maybe more recently... Red hair, lots of freckles, graduated with linguistics at the same time I did? She lived with us for a while last summer, and she's back at the house now after a year in France.)

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes. I know Kendra. I just didn't know the LJ name. :D

Coolness.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I thought you did, but I wasn't sure.

If you want to try to get in on the folklore thing, we're researching variants of Red Riding Hood this week. I have no idea when we'll actually get together to discuss, but I'm sure we can figure something out. Or, hell, maybe we'll go really high-tech and I can create a community for us, so we can discuss and post at will. XD

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Ah, you don't have to bend the whole thing around for me. It's convenient for y'all since you live together :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Sure, but it'd be fun to have you in on it! And if we actually schedule, it'll be more likely to happen as opposed to just being something that we talk about and never do anything with.

Besides, it's a good excuse to see you occasionally!

[iamlovely.livejournal.com]

So you and your friend are definitely the coolest people in the world. I love Old English! It's the main reason I go to plays at The Old Globe all the time (Well that, and I love Shakespeare.)

Jeg snakker litt norsk! I've been studying on my own, audio tapes and calling my relatives in Norway and asking them not to speak in English for the duration of the call (or laugh at how horrible I am compared to them)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hee! I love Shakespeare, too, but Old English is actually a bit more obscure than that. A sample from Wikipedia (because my spelling is still shady even on the bits I've memorized):

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Si þin nama gehalgod.
To becume þin rice,
gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg,
and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele. soþlice.

That's the Lord's prayer, in a standardized dialect. *g*

Ah! I speak no Norwegian at all, and a very small amount of bad Icelandic. That's wonderful that you're conversational! If I ever get to the point of having some small amount of knowledge, I'll have to bug you to be my Norwegian email-buddy. XD

[boro-babe.livejournal.com]

I learnt OE as part of my degree in English Language and Linguistics so if you need any advice feel free to ask! I was gonna give you advice on the time period but you seem to have that figured out! In case you haven't, liguists take OE to begin around 450AD and finish just after the battle of hastings, Middle English is Chaucer's English and Early Modern English is Shakespeare's English. You're also right in thinking there are many dialects, which came from the 7 named Kingdoms but the most stardard dialect East Mercian, however most the texts you'll find will be written in Wessex dialect. If you're struggling to find texts I would look at AELFRIC'S COLLOQUY, the Laws of Ine, the Parker Chronicle and there's also a copy of the parable of the prodigal son in OE.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Laughs* Yeah, I have a few linguistic anthro and history of English classes under my belt (ought to be a requirement for English majors, but it's not at my university...), and a good amount of study in Medieval history. I've got the time period thing down. ;)

I might ask you for text recs at some point in the near future, but for the moment we've got a handful of "Introduction to Old English" type texts to start with, plus a collection of poetry and riddles to play with. It's good to know we're not alone!

[ursula]

I'd be into learning a bit of Old English, if this is a semi-public project (I have two other dead languages already, whee!)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'll have to check with maymargaret and see how we're going to organize this. It'd be good for us to try to get organized and have an actual schedule... and we won't do that if it's just the two of us. Maybe we could do a weekly coffee shop type thing so we can meet and go over stuff.

(I'm going to be so out of my depth, between the two of you, just to warn!)

[ursula]

That would be pretty sweet.

Do you guys have a grammar? (Wondering if I should ask around the heraldry lists for recommendations.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Not in so many words. We have a handful of "introduction to" books, one of which includes a grammar, I believe... but it's the one that's fairly old and didn't strike me as terribly well written. And they're all library books, so we're going to be doing a bit of shopping now that we've had a look at them.

If you wanted to ask around, see what books people thought were the best resources, that'd be awesome.

[ursula]

OK, I'll ask Saint Gabriel.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thank you!

[ursula]

Talan recommends this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0875805604/104-9830066-2788747?redirect=true&v=glance&n=283155

(cheap and a classic), and says he has heard good stuff about this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0631226362/104-9830066-2788747?redirect=true&v=glance&n=283155

(I'd expect a book he recommended to be fascinating but possibly rather dense.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Ooo. That first one looks like something to definitely keep an eye out for. The latter... I'd have to look at in a bookstore, but it does look intriguing, doesn't it? Spendy one, too, though. Maybe I can turn it up used, eventually...

Thanks so much for checking!

[ursula]

The UW has four different editions of the pricey one, so we should be able to check it out first-hand.

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

How cool! Good luck with your project! Once you get it figured out, you should totally do a post in Old English, just to break out brains. ;)

I've never been great with languages, but I am very interested in learning Norwegian and Welsh (that's where the two sides of my family are from). Let me know how you find Norwegian, if you get into it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Stupid LJ ate my initial comment to you. :P

I will! Assuming I ever get good enough to do that, at least...

I'm not great at them, either (especially compared to the friends I'll be studying with!) but a lot of grad programs require reading proficiency in at least 2 languages, and a lot of the archy programs require one dead/archaic language. Latin might be easier, but Old English is closer to my heart, and to the area I want to study. Besides, then I have both the basis of modern English, and French, the language that most closely influenced English into what it is today. Kind of apropos, for an English major.

I will definitely let you know... although I wonder if I'm not putting too many projects on my plate. Norwegian might be easier, since I have friends who speak it...

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

It sounds like such a cool project. I wish you very much luck!