Comments on: On bokes for to rede I me delyte ...

On bokes for to rede I me delyte ...

bcveen — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:30:27 -0800

TEAMS, The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages, in association with the University of Rochester, has long made available an impressive collection of medieval English texts in electronic format. More Middle English texts are available at the University of Michigan's Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, UVa's Middle English Collection, and Project Gutenberg's Middle English section.

By: fleacircus

fleacircus — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 04:25:55 -0800

Whan that a pug, with his hattes cuute...

By: Medieval Maven

Medieval Maven — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 04:35:04 -0800

Geek Heaven! Thanks!

By: Pericles

Pericles — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 04:37:58 -0800

Oh wow! No "Sir Orfeo", though ...

By: the sobsister

the sobsister — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:01:20 -0800

Nice collection. Thanks. (now if only something similar for Elizabethan drama were available...)

By: illovich

illovich — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:29:58 -0800

Don't forget Beowulf on Steorarume where, if you are in the know you can have a nice read through with the Beowulf Semi-Diplomatic Edition. (If you're a grade-a lame-o like myself who can barely comprehend something simple like Middle English, you'll have to read the Bilingual Edition.) Extra treat: check out the mp3s of Ben Slade reading Beowulf Old English. It's really cool. You can almost understand it when it's read, sort of. If you also speak german & finnish, maybe. And don't forget the wonders of Niw Englisc which I like to think of as Esperanto for the international aryan set.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:31:19 -0800

Excellent set of links. Thanks.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:38:38 -0800

... Tharfor, dame, gyf thee noght ill, Bot be blythe and byde here styll, For to my brether I will a space To ask thair counsail in this case; For omang many wytty men Som gud counsail may thai ken, And sykerer may it so be tane Than of a man bi him allane. Bot dame," he said, "I sall noght dwell." ...--The Gast of Gy wonderful!--thanks! : >

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:47:09 -0800

Illovich, Old English isn't related at all to Finnish. Old Norse helps, German is at least in the same family. And, yes, you can almost understand it. An awful lot of short, common words haven't changed all that much.

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:47:34 -0800

Excellent stuff! ๑۩۞۩๑

By: Creosote

Creosote — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:38:11 -0800

Well, if we're posting Anglo-Saxon links, one of the best is the Circolwyrde Wordhord, aka Old English Computer Glossary, created by Carl Berkhout at the U. of Arizona. A tad out of date but a lot of fun.

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:43:04 -0800

Particularly recommended: Ancrene Wisse

By: danb

danb — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:58:44 -0800

I'm in a Chaucer class right now, and was delighted to learn that without him we may not have the word "cunt" in our vocabulary today. Thanks, Geoff!

By: bcveen

bcveen — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:52:24 -0800

The history of "bad" words is an interesting one. A number of words that are considered rude today were once the value-neutral way of denoting their literal meaning. Medieval surgical manuals, for example, use words like cunt ("þe necke of þe bladdre is schort, & is maad fast to the cunte") or shit (If he may not schite oones a day, helpe him þerto ...), but eventually, as Latin-derived terms displaced the native terms as the standard for medicine and other educated uses, the "working-class" native words became pejorative.

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 18:04:14 -0800

Here's a bilingual edition of Middle English lyrics (Harley MS, etc.).

By: Zurishaddai

Zurishaddai — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 18:22:39 -0800

Oh, and I shd mention that site has MS images too (linked example: Sumer is icumen in, with music).