On 2-11-2015 10:44, Stephen wrote:
> On 11/2/2015 8:25 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> Strange about that 404. I believe that you can switch dates on the
>> Wayback Machine banner and so find the missing chapters. I just did it
>> now. Anyway, I downloaded the pages to be certain to have local access.
>>
>
> I tried a date close to the posted one but one of the missing chapters
> was still not there. Lost interest, I am afraid.
>
>
>> Middle English is already easier to read without help indeed.
>
> Indeed it is. I did have a year of Chaucer when I was at school and that
> helps.

Yes, good! Instead of Chaucer I had the French troubadours and 
trouvères. Marvellous language which has inspired me for many years.

>
>> I have
>> always liked the challenge to try to read old texts, especially in a
>> historical settings which attracts me in the first place like the Early
>> Medieval period. And I am a bit envious of people like Tolkien who could
>> write and speak Old English as if it was his native tongue:
>>
>
> Well I am not an academic and think those things should be left to them
> and their ilk. ;-)

Oh, we can do our own little bit ;-) It is useless, but I would love to 
speak Old English, just for the fun of it.

>
>> "On ǽrdagum wæs wuniende be norþdǽlum middangeardes sum cyning, þe ángan
>> dohtor hæfde. On his húse wæs éac án cniht óþrum ungelíc."
>>
>
> Not from the excerpt you posted but I could pick out more phrases from
> the whole story. I don't know if being dyslectic helps or hinders. I
> would certainly need a dictionary to go further.

Absolutely.

>
>> I hope the special characters will be readable. This the beginning of
>> Sellic Spell, a proto-Beowulf tale imagined by Tolkien and written in
>> O.E. by him. Can you understand what is written? Note that 'h' is
>> gutural aspiration as in German 'ach', and 'y' is 'ü', and some words
>> become clear :-)
>
> Yes the characters are readable. It reminds me of an old friend who
> could recite Chaucer in a broad Scottish accent. It was much more
> understandable when spoken. At least to me.

Yes, I think that is the point: we may sometimes be more able to 
recognise the old language when spoken aloud as it has survived longer 
it seems in today's dialects or regional languages.

>
> Talking about old and ancient things and remembering the image you
> posted a few years back. Have you read this article?
>
>   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-32532893
>

I had not read it, thanks. Always an interesting topic to me.

-- 
Thomas

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