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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Un-āsecgendlīc.
A marvellous book for people who is studying (and obsessed) with Old English. I have read a lot of things I know and I have learnt lots and lots of new things!
The best thing about this book is that it is not a boring treatise or a mere listing of words, it is an easy-reading and amusing book where, besides explaining the etymology of different words, she also tells us curiosities about the lifes of scribes and peoples during the English Middle Ages.
I can certainly avow that this is one of my favourite books of this year.
A marvellous book for people who is studying (and obsessed) with Old English. I have read a lot of things I know and I have learnt lots and lots of new things!
The best thing about this book is that it is not a boring treatise or a mere listing of words, it is an easy-reading and amusing book where, besides explaining the etymology of different words, she also tells us curiosities about the lifes of scribes and peoples during the English Middle Ages.
I can certainly avow that this is one of my favourite books of this year.
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
I'm really interested in etymology and history, so the history of languages is very up my alley. I've been a big fan and loyal listener of Kevin Stroud's podcast The History of the English Language for years, so I figured I would love this book – and while I definitely liked it, I think maybe listening to umpteen hours of Stroud's podcast made this book feel a little scattered and shallow in comparison. To someone new to the history of how the English language developed, this would probably be a great introduction. But I was personally left wanting a bit more depth and context.
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
funny
informative
medium-paced
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
This is a genuinely entertaining book for anyone curious about the history of English words. It would be a good introduction to Old English for a student or anyone else beginning to learn the language. There is almost no grammar or technical linguistics here, but the cumulative effect of so many accounts of the meanings of Old English words and how they evolved into their modern counterparts forms an accessible pathway to understanding a lot of the vocabulary. But any reader interested in words will find this book entertaining and instructive. If nothing else, they will see words like "garlic" (gārlēac - "spear leek/onion") or "acorn" (æcern - "oak seed") differently after reading this book. And some of the words the language once had and are now gone are interesting as well. I think a gebēorscipe (a feast involving plenty of alcohol) with drēamcræft (joy craft/music) played on a gliwbēam (glee-beam/harp) sounds better than the modern equivalents.
Hana Videen started a daily blog about a decade ago in which she collected and discussed words from Old English, the form of the language that flourished from around 700 to 1200 A.D. Before long, she had a small collection of words (which a millennium ago would have been called a “wordhord”) that she’s annotated here and published as “The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English” (Princeton University Press, 2021).
“The Wordhord” is arranged topically by chapters that present Old English words that are related by subject. For example, Chapter 2 (“Eating and Drinking”) is full of words about food, potables, and entertainment while Chapter 7 (“Curing the Body and Mind”) looks at Old English words from medicine and anatomy. Along the way, Videen tells you how the words are used and the etymological journeys they took to get there. For example, the Old English word for “sea trip” was “gamen-waþ” (literally, “joyous path”), which alludes to the serenity of maritime travel (though traveling by sea 1,000 years ago was sure to be terrifying sometimes too). Similarly, the word ear-finger (meaning “little finger”) lets the user know which finger to use to pick your ear. For convenience, she provides a mini-wordhord at the end of each chapter which has the words she’s discussed for easy reference.
There are many ways you can present this kind of information, but Videen hews too closely to the short, scattershot presentations of related words for my taste. If you have a background in Old English or linguistics generally, you may be able to retain this information for more than a short period of time. If, on the other hand, you’re like me and have none of this background, most of the etymological information – which is admittedly fascinating – will just wash over you not long after you finish the last page. There are ways you can try to fix this, like reading it one chapter at a time or making extensive notes. Personally, neither would have helped me. So, while it was interesting, it was mostly full of information I’ve already forgotten, despite it having barely been a week since I finished it.
I don’t know how she could possibly make the content “stick” more for someone who only brings an amateurish curiosity to the table instead of any formal knowledge of Old English, but I wish her and her editor would have found it because this could have been a superb book for a much broader audience. The way it is now, it’ll probably just sit on the shelves of philologists and people who translate Old English as a reference book. She works in the occasional bit of social or cultural history along the way. It’s great for what it is, but it could have been so much more.
If you’re interested in books like this except on the topic of animals and nature, Videen came out with “The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary” earlier this year (2024), also from Princeton University Press. It appears to be written largely along the same lines by someone who is passionate about the subject and wants to share it with non-experts. I just wish I had the background to appreciate it instead of having it slip through my fingers so quickly.
“The Wordhord” is arranged topically by chapters that present Old English words that are related by subject. For example, Chapter 2 (“Eating and Drinking”) is full of words about food, potables, and entertainment while Chapter 7 (“Curing the Body and Mind”) looks at Old English words from medicine and anatomy. Along the way, Videen tells you how the words are used and the etymological journeys they took to get there. For example, the Old English word for “sea trip” was “gamen-waþ” (literally, “joyous path”), which alludes to the serenity of maritime travel (though traveling by sea 1,000 years ago was sure to be terrifying sometimes too). Similarly, the word ear-finger (meaning “little finger”) lets the user know which finger to use to pick your ear. For convenience, she provides a mini-wordhord at the end of each chapter which has the words she’s discussed for easy reference.
There are many ways you can present this kind of information, but Videen hews too closely to the short, scattershot presentations of related words for my taste. If you have a background in Old English or linguistics generally, you may be able to retain this information for more than a short period of time. If, on the other hand, you’re like me and have none of this background, most of the etymological information – which is admittedly fascinating – will just wash over you not long after you finish the last page. There are ways you can try to fix this, like reading it one chapter at a time or making extensive notes. Personally, neither would have helped me. So, while it was interesting, it was mostly full of information I’ve already forgotten, despite it having barely been a week since I finished it.
I don’t know how she could possibly make the content “stick” more for someone who only brings an amateurish curiosity to the table instead of any formal knowledge of Old English, but I wish her and her editor would have found it because this could have been a superb book for a much broader audience. The way it is now, it’ll probably just sit on the shelves of philologists and people who translate Old English as a reference book. She works in the occasional bit of social or cultural history along the way. It’s great for what it is, but it could have been so much more.
If you’re interested in books like this except on the topic of animals and nature, Videen came out with “The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary” earlier this year (2024), also from Princeton University Press. It appears to be written largely along the same lines by someone who is passionate about the subject and wants to share it with non-experts. I just wish I had the background to appreciate it instead of having it slip through my fingers so quickly.