The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English

by Hana Videen Narrated by Sara Powell

Overview

This audiobook narrated by Sara Powell takes listeners on an entertaining and illuminating tour of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer's Middle English, Old English-the language of Beowulf-defies comprehension by untrained modern readers. Used throughout much of Britain more than a thousand years ago, it is rich with words that haven't changed (like word), others that are unrecognizable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise), and some that are mystifying even in translation (gafol-fisc, or tax-fish). In this delightful book, Hana Videen gathers a glorious trove of these gems and uses them to illuminate the lives of the earliest English speakers. We discover a world where choking on a bit of bread might prove your guilt, where fiend-ship was as likely as friendship, and where you might grow up to be a laughter-smith.

The Wordhord takes readers on a journey through Old English words and customs related to practical daily activities (eating, drinking, learning, working); relationships and entertainment; health and the body, mind, and soul; the natural world (animals, plants, and weather); locations and travel (the source of some of the most evocative words in Old English); mortality, religion, and fate; and the imagination and storytelling. Each chapter ends with its own “wordhord”-a list of its Old English terms, with definitions and pronunciations.

Entertaining and enlightening, The Wordhord reveals the magical roots of the language you're reading right now: you'll never look at-or speak-English in the same way again.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

Library Journal

04/01/2022

Ye Olde Englishe this is not: Videen, who has been sharing actual Anglo-Saxon words via Twitter (@OEWordhord) for almost 10 years, devotes her first chapter of this collection of Old English to distinguishing the real from the signboard version. She also offers a concise history of the origins of today's English, from the Romans' departure to the first Plantagenet, ca. 450–1150 CE. Subsequent chapters explore the lives of the earliest English speakers, creators of Beowulf: their diet, leisure, education, work, beliefs, social relations, and more. This early medieval world contains etymological glimpses of later periods. At the end of each chapter, Videen lists the words encountered, their meaning, and (probable) pronunciation. Despite the esoteric content, the prose is engaging, conversational, humorous, and full of surprising revelations: Who would have guessed that the word "lady" derives from "bread-maker"? The source list will inspire further research. VERDICT A specialized but delightful book that is essential for undergraduate students of linguistics, literature, and history and will appeal to anyone with a yen for history or language.—Patricia Lothrop

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175492324
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos