Brent Ledger / en The English of a Millennium Ago: 茄子直播 compiles "Dictionary of Old English" /news/english-millennium-ago-u-t-compiles-dictionary-old-english <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The English of a Millennium Ago: 茄子直播 compiles "Dictionary of Old English"</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-06T14:33:31-05:00" title="Friday, January 6, 2017 - 14:33" class="datetime">Fri, 01/06/2017 - 14:33</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-youtube field--type-youtube field--label-hidden field__item"><figure class="youtube-container"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJztLQg07lY?wmode=opaque" width="450" height="315" id="youtube-field-player" class="youtube-field-player" title="Embedded video for The English of a Millennium Ago: 茄子直播 compiles &quot;Dictionary of Old English&quot;" aria-label="Embedded video for The English of a Millennium Ago: 茄子直播 compiles &amp;quot;Dictionary of Old English&amp;quot;: https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJztLQg07lY?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </figure> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/brent-ledger" hreflang="en">Brent Ledger</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Brent Ledger</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/old-english" hreflang="en">Old English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-medieval-studies" hreflang="en">Centre for Medieval Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/language" hreflang="en">Language</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Now at 鈥淗,鈥 the Centre for Medieval Studies' dictionary is close to defining every word from the language鈥檚 earliest days</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Just when you think you know your own language, along comes a <em>hellwyrgen</em>.</p> <p><strong>Rob Getz </strong>ran across the creature in a 12th-century manuscript, where it was pushing some thieves suffering torments in hell into a pit of boiling tar.</p> <p>As an interim co-editor of the <em>Dictionary of Old English</em>, a 茄子直播 project that aims to map all of the roughly 35,000 words from the earliest form of the language, Getz is no stranger to challenging words. But this one was a stretch.</p> <p>Not so much the first part which is obvious 鈥 hell. But the second part&nbsp;looked like it might be derived directly from the verb <em>wyrgan</em> or <em>wyrigan</em> meaning 鈥渢o curse, revile, condemn.鈥 It鈥檚 actually identical to the second part of a noun used to describe the mother of the monster Grendel in the Anglo-Saxon epic <em>Beowulf</em>.</p> <p>So&nbsp;in the end, a <em>hellwyrgen</em> turns out to be something like a monstrous female creature from hell, or hell-hag.</p> <h3><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/uoft-dictionary-of-old-english-1.3924775">Read about the dictionary at CBC News</a></h3> <p>Old English, which arose from the Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxon settlers who came to Britain from northern Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries, is the direct ancestor of our modern tongue.</p> <p>It has bequeathed us dozens of common words 鈥 from 鈥渉ound鈥 (<em>hund</em>) to 鈥渉ouse鈥 (<em>h奴s</em>). But the language has changed so much over the centuries that anyone reading an Old English text such as <em>Beowulf</em> would not recognize most of the words. Even the alphabet was different&nbsp;with fewer letters, a different letter for 鈥渨,鈥 the wonderful 鈥渆th鈥 (冒) and the runic 鈥渢horn鈥 (镁) standing in for 鈥渢h.鈥</p> <p>Scholars at the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science's Centre for Medieval Studies have been working on a comprehensive dictionary of the tongue since the 1970s, and&nbsp;with the release of 鈥渉鈥 this year, they have now published definitions for more than half the words.</p> <p>Computers have made things somewhat quicker, and a digitized corpus, consisting of at least one copy of every known text in Old English (from poems to royal records), means that they can now search more easily for words and citations. But scholars still have to organize the words and define their meaning.</p> <p>Here, there is no algorithm to aid them 鈥 just countless dictionaries, Latin sources and the lexicographer鈥檚 best intuition.</p> <p>Some words appear only once in the corpus, while others, such as the Old English for 鈥渉and,鈥 鈥渉ead鈥 and 鈥渉eart鈥 are both common and complicated. The 39-page entry for <em>heorte</em> (鈥渉eart鈥) contains more than a dozen major meanings, including the seat of love, of courage and even of the intellectual faculties.</p> <p>The section on the letter 鈥渉鈥 was particularly difficult, and not just because it begins with more words than any other except 鈥渟鈥 and 鈥渇.鈥 It contains key verbs and pronouns, as well as the interrogatives 鈥 who, what, when, where and why 鈥 all of which began with <em>hw</em> in Old English. The interrogatives 鈥渁re fairly uncomplicated in terms of their meaning,鈥 says <strong>Stephen Pelle</strong>, an interim co-editor of the dictionary&nbsp;鈥 but they 鈥渃an be very complicated grammatically.鈥</p> <p>Old English portrays another world, a world where rain might be described as 鈥渉eaven鈥檚 showers鈥 (<em>heofonscur</em>), but the language is also a window into the philosophical, moral, legal and linguistic roots of our own.</p> <p>If we鈥檙e to understand those roots, we need to know the language the people spoke, says Getz. To that end, the lexicographers are trying to be as comprehensive as possible, picking up words earlier dictionary makers missed.</p> <p>鈥淚f we鈥檙e doing our job right,鈥 says Pelle, 鈥渨e should be able to catch just about every word that survives in an old English text.鈥</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3060 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Hwaet_480.jpg" style="width: 480px; height: 299px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Illustration: Charles&amp;Thorn</em></p> <h3><strong>Ten Interesting Words from Old English</strong></h3> <p><em><strong>Hring</strong></em> 鈥 ring. A lot of words that today start with consonants like "r," "l" and "n"&nbsp;began in Old English with <em>h</em>. Thus <em>hleahtor</em> (鈥渓aughter鈥), <em>hnutu</em> (鈥渘ut鈥) and <em>hnappian</em> (鈥渢o nap鈥). (The <em>h</em>&nbsp;was pronounced, at least in the early Old English period&nbsp;so <em>hleahtor</em> would sound similar to the modern word laughter&nbsp;with a huff of breath at the beginning.)</p> <p><em><strong>H膿, h膿o, hit </strong></em>鈥 the ancestors of our 鈥渉e,鈥 鈥渟he鈥 and 鈥渋t.鈥 They occur about 200,000 times in the old English corpus.</p> <p><em><strong>H奴s</strong></em> 鈥 鈥渉ouse,鈥 鈥渂uilding鈥 and, in some contexts, 鈥渂rothel.鈥 The Anglo-Saxons loved compound words and<em> h奴s </em>figures in more than 100 of them, including <em>ealu-h奴s</em> (鈥渁le house鈥), <em>gyst-h奴s </em>(鈥済uest house鈥) and <em>pleg-h奴s</em> (鈥渢heatre鈥 or 鈥減layhouse鈥).</p> <p><strong><em>Heolo镁-helm</em></strong> 鈥 a helmet that makes the wearer invisible. A demon wearing one of these figures in a medieval retelling of Genesis. He sneaks into Paradise and tries to trick Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.</p> <p><em><strong>Hunig-sm忙c</strong></em> 鈥 It sounds like a breakfast cereal, and it certainly has a sweet side. It comes from the Old English for 鈥渉oney鈥 and 鈥渟mack,鈥 or 鈥渢aste鈥 so it means 鈥渢aste or flavour of honey.鈥</p> <p><em><strong>H忙rfest-handfull</strong></em> 鈥 鈥渉arvest handful鈥 or&nbsp;the grain given a labourer as his due during harvest.</p> <p><em><strong>H牵med</strong></em> 鈥 marriage&nbsp;but also cohabitation, adultery and even 鈥渢he intercourse of animals.鈥</p> <p><em><strong>Hw忙t</strong></em> 鈥 The most famous hard-to-define word in old English, <em>hw忙t </em>opens the great Anglo-Saxon epic <em>Beowulf</em>. As a pronoun, it鈥檚 well understood. As a particle or interjection, as in Beowulf, not so much. Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet who translated the poem to acclaim in 2000, rendered it simply as 鈥渟o.鈥 Others have gone for 鈥渓o,鈥 鈥渉ark鈥 and 鈥渂ehold.鈥 The <em>Dictionary of Old English</em>鈥檚 answer is: It depends. It might mean: 鈥渘ow,鈥 鈥渟o,鈥 鈥渓isten,鈥 鈥渨hy,鈥 鈥渘ow look,鈥 鈥渋ndeed,鈥 etc..., but it&nbsp;depends&nbsp;on the context. The complete definition covers 26 pages.</p> <p><em>This story is republished from 茄子直播 Magazine</em></p> <h3><a href="http://magazine.utoronto.ca/leading-edge/the-english-of-a-millennium-ago-dictionary-of-old-english-rob-getz-stephen-pelle-brent-ledger/">See more stories at 茄子直播 Magazine</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 06 Jan 2017 19:33:31 +0000 ullahnor 103021 at