Saxon-speak

[~Vulpine~]

Can anyone give me an example of the style of speech the Saxons used? For example, Victorians used the same language as those in Shakesperean times, but arranged words differently... are Saxon times too far back for anyone to tell? My mum reccomended the Canterbury Tales as an example. Any help would be soooo appreciated! Thanks!

xXx

[kempie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_langu age

[jno]

no, the Canterbury Tales are in Middle English, which you can just about understand. But the Anglo-Saxons (before the Norman conquest in 1066) spoke Old English, which is pretty much incomprehensible to modern ears (though a lot of the words are still around, spelt and pronounced differently). Try this from Beowulf

http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/mai n.html

[~Vulpine~]

Thank you!

[JockSporran]

In literature, the best known examples of Old English or Anglo-Saxon English are the epic poem Beowulf and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.

The nearest modern language to Anglo-Saxon is Danish.

Exrtact from the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, describing the ruins of the city of Bath:

Wraelic is paes wealstan; wyrde gebraecon, burgstede burston.

Translation: 'Wondrous is its wallstone; fates have broken, have shattered the city'.

[Lil O'lady]

Don't forget also the 'Battle of Maldon', I think oldest literary writing in Saxon english and describing a fight between English warriors and Viking pirates.