Old English Reader

The texts in this reader include prose, metrical prose, and poetry, and represent a variety of genres (saints’ lives and metrical charms as well as heroic verse). Frequently taught canonical texts are balanced with interesting, lesser-known works. The glossary is at the back of the book, and the companion website includes texts with clickable glossing, as well as additional texts for study.

This groundbreaking reader of Old English prose and verse has been extensively revised for the second edition.

The texts in this reader include prose, metrical prose, and poetry, and represent a variety of genres (saints’ lives and metrical charms as well as heroic verse). Frequently taught canonical texts are balanced with interesting, lesser-known works. The glossary is at the back of the book, and the companion website includes texts with clickable glossing, as well as additional texts for study.

"With an expanded glossary and new readings"--P. [1] of cover.

This book is a major reader of Old English, the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest. Designed both for beginning and for more advanced students, it broke new ground in two ways, first in its range of texts, and second in the degree of annotation it offers. The fifty-six prose and verse texts include the established favourites such as The Battle of Maldon and King Alfred's Preface to his Pastoral Care, but also others which have not before been readily available, such as a complete Easter homily, Aelfric's life of Saint Aethelthryth and all forty-six Durham proverbs. Headnotes establish the literary and historical contexts for the works that are represented, and reflect the rich cultural variety of Anglo-Saxon England. Modern English word glosses and explanatory notes are provided on the same page as the text. Other features include a reference grammar and a comprehensive glossary.

This book is designed to ease the beginner into competent reading of Old English texts. It presents the essential points of Old English grammar and also includes a selection of short, relatively simple original language texts, glossed and annotated. Numerous practice exercises are also included throughout. A companion website includes additional interactive exercises, a fuller grammar, and further original language texts.

An entertaining and illuminating collection of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English—and what they reveal about the lives of the earliest English speakers 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.

Featuring numerous updates and additional anthology selections, the 3rd edition of Introduction to Old English confirms its reputation as a leading text designed to help students engage with Old English literature for the first time. A new edition of one of the most popular introductions to Old English Assumes no expertise in other languages or in traditional grammar Includes basic grammar reviews at the beginning of each major chapter and a “minitext” feature to aid students in practicing reading Old English Features updates and several new anthology readings, including King Alfred’s Preface to Gregory’s Pastoral Care