Old English, a bit of trivia

[bunyip]

Often seen is the use of the word 'Ye' in an attempt to convey something old but what is less known was that this is not Ye but The, in medieval England (probably not so merry) there was a letter that sat between looking like a Y and a T, imagine an upper case 'T' with a slight dihedral, when this was present it indicated the word was pronounced 'TH' and not 'Y' or 'T'.
Now obsolete like a lot of letters and words (although the USA continued with the season 'fall' after it was discarded in favour of autumn).
As I said, just a little trivia to occupy my otherwise boringly sad day at work.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Now obsolete like a lot of letters and words (although the USA continued with the season 'fall' after it was discarded in favour of autumn).
As I said, just a little trivia to occupy my otherwise boringly sad day at work.

A darn good thing that we have fall here. Imagine James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend"; "...Winter, Spring Summer or Autumn, all you have to do is call...." It just doesn't work.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

I love reading "olde English" It always makes me wonder how they *spoke* and how well today we could understand our own language as it was spoken 400 years ago. I found it very worthwhile to read enough Shakespeare to be able to follow it and catch the beauty; almost like a foreign language, but not quite.

Did anyone see the show where they searched for the lost Roanoke colony and Virginia Dare? They found some stones with writing--many fake and some apparently genuine. And there was your "ye". (Also many old Indian copper mines. Here in original Cherokee territory we have many ancient Indian "marker trees"; in fact there is one on my road. Virginia has a wealth of history, for sure.)

Yes, I also wonder how *merry* ye olde England was. Who knows? Maybe they were happier than we are; maybe not.

 

[bcp]

Old English, from about 1000 years ago.

Beowulf - Wikipedia

Bruce

 

[bunyip]

Yes, I also wonder how *merry* ye olde England was. Who knows? Maybe they were happier than we are; maybe not.

Public hangings, pillories, public whippings, an assortment of pox's guaranteed to kill you, excessive taxes, plagues, rats, persecution, how jolly:thumbsup:

 

[fishheadbob]

Old English, from about 1000 years ago.

Beowulf - Wikipedia

Bruce

Bad memories. I listened to that recording as a 33 1/3 taking a class in Olde English 50 years ago. Only thing I learned in that class was that English sure has evolved.

Ye Olde Computer Shoppe, anyone.

 

[DieselnHooters]

As a speaker of both english and french it amazes me how much of the words are the same or eerily similar in both languages although they come from different roots_ must be something in the order of 20 to 30%.
I read somewhere the Norman conquest of England in the XI century had a lot to do with this.

 

[tractorgp]

Often seen is the use of the word 'Ye' in an attempt to convey something old but what is less known was that this is not Ye but The, in medieval England (probably not so merry) there was a letter that sat between looking like a Y and a T, imagine an upper case 'T' with a slight dihedral, when this was present it indicated the word was pronounced 'TH' and not 'Y' or 'T'.
Now obsolete like a lot of letters and words (although the USA continued with the season 'fall' after it was discarded in favour of autumn).
As I said, just a little trivia to occupy my otherwise boringly sad day at work.

Ye is still used here in Newfoundland. It is generally used to mean all of you... for example in a small gathering one would say are ye going to the party next week. Have no idea how often it is used in the general population but within in my family group you will here ye used at least a few times in a typical family get together.

 

[bunyip]

I believe ye or yea is a word but there was a difference with the first letter, the town crier used 'hear ye as a collective address, as the old 'Y' no longer exists I cannot show the subtle difference.
Then there was 'thee' which is still in use but rarely heard.

 

[dmccarty]

Ye is still used here in Newfoundland. It is generally used to mean all of you... for example in a small gathering one would say are ye going to the party next week. Have no idea how often it is used in the general population but within in my family group you will here ye used at least a few times in a typical family get together.

That is danged interesting. I wonder if the Southern "ya'll" is derived from "ye"?

I thought the Southern idjot for idiot was, well, from the South. Then we watched a TV show from Ireland where they had a similar pronunciation for idiot. After spending a couple of vacations in Ireland, they seem to have several pronunciations for idiot. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

A very unique form of BBQ exists in North Carolina. It is pulled, smoked pork and cole slaw. You can have this on a plate, but often the pork is put on a bun along with the cole slaw. My first trip to the Old Nawth State I stopped in a BBQ place and the pulled pork sandwich sounded good so I ordered one. They lady asked me if I wanted the cole slaw on the side or on the sandwich. The place was on I95 so they had to serve quite a few non natives, so thus the question. The local BBQ places don't ask, they just put the slaw on the sandwich as God intended. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Anywho, I could tell from the way the lady asked, that the slaw should go on the sandwich so that is what I ordered. Twas very good and I was forever hooked! :licking::licking::licking:

Decades later I was in a small city/town in southern Ireland and they had pulled pork BBQ sandwiches! WTH? With slaw! :confused3::shocked: Last trip we were in a different town and went into a fast food type of place and they too had the pork BBQ sandwich or a plate! Just like in NC. :confused3: Twas pretty danged good too! So this has turned into a chicken and egg question. Which came first, pulled pork BBQ with slaw in NC and then wen to Ireland or did it start in Ireland but only went to NC? This is a very important question to which I know not the answer! :confused3::laughing::laughing::laughing:

We heard quite of few saying in Ireland that I thought were Southernisms. We would hear a phrase, just look at each other and say there is another one. Given the number of Irish that have emigrated to the US, it should not be surprising but it is/was. It is also interesting to realize that some of the saying are very old.

The old families on the Outer Banks of NC used too/maybe still do, speak Shakespearean English. This is dying out as people moved out to the Outer Banks and mix with the long time locals. Mass media is also washing away the old language on the Outer Banks but else where as well.

Later,
Dan