Old English

There is frequently confusion among the uninitated as to what Old English is. It is not the language of Shakespeare, nor even that of Chaucer, but is something that has been out of use for almost a millenium. A rough timeline would be: Old English 500 AD - 1100 AD (Beowulf) Middle English 1100 - 1500 (Chaucer) Renaissance English 1500 - 1650 (Shakespeare) Modern English 1650 - present Here is an example of it, a proclamation of King Cnut (Canute) of England written in 1020: "Cnut cyning gret his arcebiscopas and his leod-biscopas and Þurcyl eorl and ealle his eorlas and ealne his þeodscype, twelfhynde and twyhynde, gehadode and læwede, on Englalande freondlice. And ic cyðe eow, þæt ic wylle beon hold hlaford and unswicende to godes gerihtum and to rihtre woroldlage." This can be translated as: King Cnut greets his archbishops, his bishops Earl Thorkelland all his earls and his people, those having a 1200 shilling weregild, those having a 200 shilling weregild, those ordained to ... Read more

It makes for one hell of a furniture polish.

Yes, same here Neo, I found and still find it easy to read and learn since i spoke English as a native speaker too, Old English Vocabulary is short and easy, and the Old English alphabet is simple too, I've been reading Beowulf and i could understand some of the words :), and the sounds are very simple too.

Olde English is very easy for me since English was my birth language. It seems to be a more refined version of English, and the way bards used it made it so romantic. It's easy to tell where words came from. Thou art and You are can be twisted into those sounds over time like Amerigo and America...hmm, United States of Amerigo..lol