Comments on: Old English & Shakespeare

By: Gospel Hmar

Gospel Hmar — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 09:50:35 +0000

It’s helpful.

By: Yeet

Yeet — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 17:12:51 +0000

Don’t get it

By: Parafoxical

Parafoxical — Tue, 14 May 2019 02:05:26 +0000

This letter, þ, is called a thorn, and was used in the Old English alphabet. It’s pronounced ‘th’. This is why we say ‘Ye Olde Town’; the ‘y’ eventually replaced the ‘þ’.
This article is very enlightening:
https://www.dictionary.com/e/letters-alphabet/

By: Nicole Roth

Nicole Roth — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 15:22:23 +0000

I am always fascinated how languages relate to one another and how they have developed into something completely different over time and still are doing to this day. Being a native German speaker I have little problem reading either the Old English as well as the Middle English texts because they’re still so close to early forms of German. And though I have to read either language carefully it is still intelligible enough to tackle it without much difficulty, except perhaps for the odd word. On top of that, as some commentators pointed out, that it’s also close to Icelandic again shows, how closely connected all these languages are and I agree it’s not a stretch to conclude that it’s all down to people migrating, conquering or simply adapting to the changes taking place hundreds of years ago. What a fascinating legacy to such a turbulent time in history.

By: Big D

Big D — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:08:55 +0000

In reply to Kalista. Do you have a better source. HUH HHUH

By: Kalista

Kalista — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 20:54:30 +0000

Felt like this website gave okay info. Not the greatest. : l

By: Crossleydd42

Crossleydd42 — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 20:57:21 +0000

In reply to Jökullsmum. Could the similarity be, in part, to the Viking raids which bedevilled England from 703 to around 1066? Many settled in England and would have influenced the indigenous language.

By: ab123

ab123 — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:33:23 +0000

Most words are cognates -just to point out the obvious.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 02:49:06 +0000

This was really helpful because I’ve been wanting to know more about Shakespeare since I am reading “Midsummer Night’s Dream” in my PreAP Language Art class (and I can actually understand what it says), and I’ve been trying to speak in the same way. :)

By: Jökullsmum

Jökullsmum — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 14:33:46 +0000

Cant believe how many words are similar to icelandic in the old english text (because old english and old norse are close in many ways and icelandic has hardly changed). Its strange to believe that this language im trying so hard to learn now is so similar to what they used to speak in my own country. Thanks for the post. very informative.