Any Anglo-Saxon and Middle English language enthusiasts?

[The Black Serpent]

Hi all!

Anyone here dabbles in Anglo-Saxon and in Middle English? Maybe for the plaza, or in real life. Or maybe you're a scholar in these languages?

I've lately taken a liking to them both and would like to discuss and learn more about them. My aim is to be able to read and write Middle English flawlessly, prose and poetry. but there are many technicalities.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Fenrir: I know of the technicalities, as we got them in Old Dutch also. As example, flawlessly writing Middle Dutch is not possible in Holland, because writing rules we have these days, didn't exist back then. What was written is really 'written spoken language', just the local dialect as you say it. Around the age of sixteen I had lessons at school about texts from the Middle Ages and through the 1600's, 1700's and 1800's. And I found them a pain to read those, let alone to understand what the context was. Here is an example that I got great trouble with, Mariken van Nieumeghen. (Marieke van Nijmegen) Text was written in a Burgundian way of Middle Dutch, 1600.

Until the day I bumped in a small book about the dialect of my own town Dordrecht. And how we speak still today isn't that all different of roughly 400 years ago. We still divide, pull and twist our words in the spoken dialect version. And that's way off what is written in Standardised Dutch, and makes it for not local ears hard to grasp what we are saying. The Rotterdammers can really hear that I come from the island of Dordrecht, because of the dialect I speak and the accent.

I am sorry I can't really help you with your search for how to write Middle English proza or poetry, or even essays. I don't know if Britian really had language rules in the late Middle Ages. For myself I dabble around with these texts in an amateuristic way. As there was no Mainly Civilised Dutch, or standardised Dutch, I play with it as I see fit. That's what they did back then too. What I can say, literally read what is written and don't bother searching for a standard way of writing. That helps me a lot. But again, I am no scholar at all. I just read on feeling and puzzle out what the text tells me.

[Nessa Saelind]

@Draugän Nuruhuinë - when I was at uni I had a course about the history and development of English as a language. We've read a bit of Anglo-Saxon poetry and for Middle English, we read Chaucer and even needed to learn parts of The Canterbury Tales by heart. I'm not sure if I still have the papers from that course, however, I did find a ppt I had to do for the class about Middle English. What I liked most about Middle English was that you've read most of the words as they are spelt, as in Croatian, but sometimes it was difficult for the brain to transition from how you were taught to read English to how you were supposed to read a Middle English text.

[Silky Gooseness]

@Lord of the Rings does! In fact he knows my tutor in Medieval Studies from university. I did study Middle at university but did less in Old and even less in Norse but it was still very enjoyable.

@Nerwen Nuke-queen is also a fan. I think also @Almarëa Mordollwen?

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

@Nerwen Nuke-queen is also a fan. I think also @Almarëa Mordollwen?

Yes, the focus of my doctorate is Old Norse poetry, though I studied both Old English & Middle English as part of my MA. Certainly would not claim to be able to write in Middle English, though! Read, sure.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Nessa: My teachers at the time never told how to read such texts from the ancient times, even in Dutch. So concluding the results on Dutch literature weren't all that well in class. In English, German and French classes ancient literature wasn't subject at all, back end 80's and early 90's. Much later in life I rolled into 18th and 19th century English writers and got to know with them. These days I can quite appreciate their tales and stories.

[Nessa Saelind]

Aikári - I suppose that introducing students to such texts depends on the syllabus and the level of language learning. I think you learn most about the history and development of any language when you get to university level. However, I have to note that in Croatia we do learn a bit of old and archaic Croatian in secondary school through mandatory literature. And we do get a "crash course" at how things were pronounced and how language changed.

[Saranna]

I'm struggling to hold on to and if possible improve the AS and ME I studied at University 50 years ago. Before PowerPoint, @Nessa Saelind! It would be great if we could support each other in this thread.