What Old English reveals about the culture
For this week鈥檚 column, I interviewed Hana Videen about her book 鈥淭he Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English.鈥� It鈥檚 a wonderful, very funny look at what the vocabulary of Old English reveals about the culture of the people who spoke it more than a 1,000 years ago.
Dr. Videen told me that she became interested in this era in college, when she was choosing a language to study and was surprised to see Old English listed alongside the 鈥渇oreign languages鈥� offered. As her book vividly demonstrates, Old English is a foreign language ... until it鈥檚 not. Approximately 75% of Old English words have disappeared from the language we speak today, and of the 25% that remain, many have changed beyond recognition.聽
A few, however, seem to offer a direct line to the past. God, word, hand, corn (meaning 鈥済rain鈥�), and finger are the same. Old English even had the middle-finger and the hring-finger, though the pinkie was the 别谩谤-蹿颈苍驳别谤 or 别谩谤-肠濒墙nsend (鈥渆ar-cleaner鈥�), evidently because that鈥檚 what one used it for. These 鈥渨ords that have endured reveal what has remained significant over time,鈥� she explains.
Most Old English words are firmly in the foreign language category and reveal a culture that has changed drastically. Gafol-fisc (鈥渢ax fish鈥�) and hunig-gafol (鈥渉oney-tax鈥�) are gone because we now pay rent and taxes with money, not in bushels of fish or jugs of honey. Sele-dre谩m (鈥渉all-joy鈥�) is a word for the mirth and fellowship of the great halls where much of life 鈥� eating, sleeping, and entertaining 鈥� took place in early medieval England. While modern English has many terms for happiness, joy, and comfort, sele-dre谩m fell by the wayside as the great hall lost its central cultural role.
Because so few Old English texts have survived 鈥� the equivalent of about 鈥�30 medium-sized novels,鈥� Dr. Videen says 鈥� the complete meanings of unusual words are sometimes lost to us. For example, neorxnawang appears in translations of the Book of Genesis, where it clearly refers to the Garden of Eden, but there is no consensus about what it means. It might be the 鈥淕arden of the Norns,鈥� who were Norse goddesses of fate. It might derive from ne wyrcan (鈥渘o work鈥� in Old English), or be a compound word neor (鈥渘ear鈥�) + na (鈥渘ot鈥�) + wang (鈥済arden, field鈥�), best translated as 鈥済arden-not near鈥� or 鈥渘ear-not-garden.鈥� Genesis reads quite differently if Adam and Eve are in a faraway garden, a nearby wilderness, a place of no work, or a pagan paradise overseen by other gods!聽
If you want to learn why 鈥渁dorned mouse鈥� was the Old English word for 鈥渂at,鈥� and why 鈥渆very protagonist needs a 飞颈镁别谤-飞别苍驳别濒,鈥� read this book!聽
