Sprecað Englisc

#OESOTD
Adam lived here in exile nine hundred and thirty years, and his bones are buried not far east of the city that is named Cebron, and for him the head is turned south and the feet north ...
[2/2]

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Adam lifde hér on wræcsíðe nigon hund ġéara ond ðrítiġ ġéara, ond his bán syndon bebyrġed noht feorr be éastan ðǽre byriġ ðe is nemned Cebron, ond him is ðæt héafod súð ġewend ond þá fét norð – OE Martyrology

[1/2]

Magan as an independent verb: "to avail, to be strong, to have the power." A couple possible translations open up here: “if he himself cannot amount to anything” or more literally, “if he himself cannot [avoid becoming] nothing”.
[2/2]

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Biþ men ful lýtle ðý bet, ðéah ðe hé gódne fæder hæbbe, gif hé self tó náuhte ne mæġ. – OE Boethius
It is/will be very little the better for a person, though he have a good father, if he can't make something of himself (on his own).
[1/2]

If a sword-furbisher receive a weapon for refurbishing, or a smith a man's implement, they are both to give [it] back sound as either of them previously received it.
[2/2]

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Ġif sweordhwíta wǽpn tó feormunge onfó, oððe smið monnes andweorc, híe hit ġesund béġen áġifen swá hit hwæðer hiora ǽr onfénge – Laws of Ælfred
[1/2]
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Wēnst ðū ðæt ðū ðæt hweorfende hwēol ðonne hit on ryne wyrþ mǣġe onċyrran?
Do you imagine that you can shift the spinning wheel (of fate/chance) when it is in motion? -- Boethius
#OldEnglisc #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Hwí ne synt wé múþfréo? Hú ne móton wé sprecan ðæt wé willaþ? – OE Psalms
Why aren't we at liberty to speak (lit., mouth-free)? How (why) aren't we allowed to say what we want?
#OldEnglish #Englisc

Interesting that the bare root *does* appear fairly often in Mid E, as here in the Ancrene Riwle: Ne mei nawt muche speche, ne ginne hit neauer se wel, beo wiðute sunne. This suggests we may simply not have citations to show for its existence in OE.

'Then as dawn brightened and the day broke, Grendel's powers of destruction were plain' – Heaney
'It was in the darkness, the cold before dawn, that Grendel's war-strength was made plain to men' – Chickering
[5 of 5]

'A dark cry woke before dawn, a wail of Danes long after dinner, Grendel's bloodbath their breakfast greeting' – Williamson
'When daylight dawned on the spoils of slaughter, the strength of the fiend was readily seen' – Sullivan and Murphy
[4 of 5]

'Then in the dawn, with the break of day, Grendel's war-strength was made known to men' –McNamara
'At dawn and daybreak, Grendel's battle-strength was clear' – Pearson
'Thereafter at dawn with the first light of day was Grendel's strength in battle made plain to men' – Tolkien
[3 of 5]

Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the choices the translators below have made. What gets left out? What gets amplified? How do we make music in ModE lines out of a somewhat different music in OE verse?
'Then at daybreak, Grendel's skill in battle became obvious to all' – Shippey
[2 of 5]

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Ðá wæs on úhtan mid ǽr-dæġe
Grendles gúð-cræft gumum un-dyrne – Beowulf 126-127
Lit., Then was just-before-daybreak, with early-day
Grendel's war-craft (skill, strength) to-men/warriors un-secret.
#OldEnglish
+
[1 of 5]

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Ġewyrċe him ġemilscode drincan, ꝥ is miċel dǣl bewylledes wæteres on huniġes gōdum dǣle—Leechdoms.
Make for him a honey-sweetened drink, that is a great deal of boiled water in a good deal of honey.
Both great deal and good deal survive in ModE as idioms.
#OldEnglish

25 May 2025 Relaunch of Beowulf in One Year/Béowulf on Ánum Ġéare
We'll recite & discuss the opening 60 lines of the poem & strategize some of the approaches we can take. Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/beowu...
For Zoom link: sprecathenglisc@gmail.com
#OldEnglish #Beowulf

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Hē ne flāt, ne ne hrȳmde, ne nān mann his stemne on strǣtum ne ġehȳrde– Ælfric Homilies.
He did not contend, nor shout, nor did any person hear his voice in the streets.
#OldEnglish #Englisc

se undern, which BT Dictionary glosses as 'The third hour of the day, nine in the morning; in later English it is used of the sixth hour, a use it seems to have in undern-rest'

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Steorran hīe ætīewdon fulnēah healfe tīd ofer undern.
Stars showed themselves very nearly half an hour after nine [a.m. ] -- Chronicle 540, BT Dictionary translation
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Ðā ġenam hē his bogan and hine ġebende and ðā mid ġeǣttredum strǣle ongan scēotan—Homilies.
Then he took his bow and bent it and then with a poisoned arrow began to shoot.
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Ǣlċum nihtum hæfð wel-ġeġearwod scop ōðre tale for ġebēorscipum. -- BT Dictionary
On every night the well-prepared scop has another story for the feasts.
#OldEnglish #Englisc

Tafl games - Wikipedia

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Hy twegen sceolon tæfle ymbsittan þenden him hyra torn toglide forgietan þara geocran gesceafta. -- OE Maxims
Two should sit at a game board together until [lit. while] their troubles slip away, forgetting sad events.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_ga...

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Þú eart fulnéah forþóht. Ac ic nolde ꝥ þú þé forþóhte ... for ðǽm sé ðe hine forþencð, sé bið ormód. Thou art well-nigh desperate. But I would not that thou shouldst despair ... for he that is without hope is without heart. -- OE Boethius (BT Dict. translation)

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Þā of wealle ġeseah weard Scyldinga,
se ðe holmclifu healdan scolde,
beran ofer bolcan beorhte randas… – Beow. 229-231
Shippey trans.:
The Scylding warden, whose job it was
to guard the sea-cliffs, saw from his rampart
men bearing bright shields … across the gangplank.

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
On emnihtes dæġ, ðæt is ðonne se dæġ and séo niht ġelíċe lange béoþ – Bede, De Natura Rerum.
On the day of the equinox (emnight's day), that is when the day and night are equally long.
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Þā cwæþ Iācōb heora fæder: Bearnlēasne ġē habbaþ mē ġedōnne. Næbbe iċ Iōsēp & Simeon is on bendum; nū ġē nimaþ Beniamin æt mē–Genesis
Then said Jacob their father: Childless you have made me. I don't have Joseph & Simeon is in chains; now you're taking Benjamin from me

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
And hiera se æþeling ġehwelcum feoh and feorh ġebēad and hiera nǣniġ hit ġeþicgean nolde.
The atheling offered every one of them money and life and none of them would accept it. Chronicle 755
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Man déð swá hé byð þonne hé mót swá hé wile – Durham Proverbs
People do as they are when they can do what they want.
Lit., A person does as he is/will be when he may [do] as he wishes.
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Witodlíċe ne mágon lǽċeas [MS. B. lǽċas] náht myċel hǽlan bútan ðisse wyrte. – Leechdoms
Certainly, doctors cannot heal much without this plant.
Náht/náwiht/náuht (not a whit, naught) ná + wiht not a wight
#OldEnglish #Englisc

OE Sentence of the Day #OESOTD
Þá wæs swýðe myċel ġenip ġeworden in þám wolcnum, and unmǽte rénas ríndon. – OE Dialogues of Gregory
Then a very great cloud appeared in the heavens, and an immense deluge rained down.
An excellent passage to discuss word choice in translation.
#OldEnglish #Englisc