Old Engli.sh
The Portal to the Language of the Anglo-Saxons
About Old-Engli.sh
The website www.Old-Engli.sh is dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon language. It offers study tools, news on current linguistic research and resource development, a link directory, text editions, trivia articles and more.
About the Anglo-Saxon Language
Old English (OE) is the term used collectively for the earliest dialects of the English language, spoken by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in England from c. 400-1150. The first OE records date from c. 700 and all in all more than 1,000,000 word tokens in over 400 manuscripts have come down to us. OE prose boasts a wide variety of genres, ranging from legal and religious texts over historical, medical or scientific writing to fiction. The surviving OE poems, such as Beowulf or the Battle of Maldon, are among the finest examples of early Germanic legend and heroic poetry.
About Me
I'm a lecturer in English language and Linguistics at the University of Manchester. I'm maintaining this webpage on the side as a hobby. You can find out more about me by clicking on the My Research tab in the top menu.
Welcome to Old-Engli.sh!
| Man dēþ swā hē byþ þonne hē mōt swā hē wile. |
| 'Man does what he is when he may do as he pleases.' |
(Durham Proverb No. 14, 11th century) |
The latest Old-Engli.sh News |
December 2020 | |
 A page from the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary (CCCC 144) - the DOE is now hosting a free online edition of this document | |
The annual progress report of the Dictionary of Old English (DOE) for 2019 is out, and the developments at the project are as inspiring and innovative as ever. Work is progressing on the letter L and the DOE website now hosts a brand-new edition of the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary. | |
June 2018 | |
 A depiction of Hell from an Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Cotton Claudius B.IV | |
The Dictionary of Old English presents its report for 2017 - an exceptionally eventful year as the team welcomes their new Chief Editor, completes the letter I, and maximizes efforts with outreach and dissemination. | |
Old English Trivia of the Day |
Article for Saturday 16 January 2021 | |
 Where does the name 'Wales' come from? | |
The Old English vocabulary had a word for 'foreigner' which is the ancestor of the Modern names Wales and Welsh. | |
Study Anglo-Saxon! |
Old English Language | |
 An Old English dictionary that's easy to use and accurate | |
Old-Engli.sh offers its own dictionary page. This online Old to Modern English glossary is simple, comprehensive and ideally suited for the translation of original Old English texts. | |
Old English Documentaries |
Produced in 1992 | |
 Before Babel A BBC-Horizon documentary | |
A BBC documentary on language reconstruction, the discovery of the Indo-European language family (of which (Old) English is a member), the hypothesis of language superfamilies and the notion of a mother tongue of all human languages spoken today. | |
Today's Featured Link |
Old English Texts - Beowulf | |
BeowulfTranslations.net BeowulfTranslations.net is a comparative library presenting excerpts from over 100 English language translations of the epic poem Beowulf. It also contains a ton of information on the Beowulf manuscript, audio files, a huge bibliography and much more. http://www.paddletrips.net/beowulf/ |  |
Find here a collection of free,
downloadable Old English text editions and translations, including Apollonius
of Tyre. Ælfric's Catholic Homilies, Biblical Translations, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
many other texts.
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