You wait 1000 years for a Beowulf movie...

[Desdichado]

Somebody else forget to read the word "practically" in my sentence "[English] has practically no structural or grammatical borrowings from French."

Anyway, if you don't agree with me, take it up with the linguistics professors I've had (and read the books of) over the years. There is an "English as a Glorified Creole" theory out there, but it's got some serious problems to the point that it will probably never be taken seriously by linguistic scholars. (To quote the linked article, "Most linguists hold that most changes that happened to English would have happened anyway, even without Norman influence. The Scandinavian languages have undergone very similar changes without being conquered by the French.") Here's another quick note on the subject. Here's some quotes from there: "No, I doubt very much you will find a reputable linguist ... who believes this. The proposition ... shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of comparative-historical linguistics and what it means to be in a language family. We do not decide this by "majority of vocabulary". Moreover, in this particular case, the proposition you seek a reputable proponent of reflects a glaring ignorance of the particular facts about English sound ~ meaning correspondences and about English and comparative Germanic v comparative Romance grammar. ... I doubt you will find anybody who knows much about the subject who will regard it as anything other than goofey. [sic]"

"The only reputable linguist I have ever heard of who doubts the Germanic
status of English is Charles-James N. Bailey. Bailey has suggested that
English should now be considered a Romance language. I know of no other
linguist who considers this suggestion to be anything but absurd."

All from professional linguists with academic posts.

And anyway, I'm not trying to deny that there was a deep influence of Norman French on modern English, merely that to state that English is midway towards being an Italic language is false, and that claim can really only be made if you're looking only at the vocabulary. Even then, it'd be a hard sell.

 

[talinthas]

all that notwithstanding, you have to admit that Beowulf in old english is just poetic in the extreme. I just love the way OE sounds. it just has a rolling brashness about it that feels good in your mouth. I mean, HWAET! What a cool word!

Then again, i'm all for ressurecting OE words which just sound cooler, like forspildth for wasted and stuff.

And i'm sad that we got rid of the cool runic letters.
/is going to see Robert MacNeil do a book signing next week, bringing his copy of The Story of English and Do You Speak American with him.

 

[reanjr]

Fantastic. I've really been looking forward to Beowulf and Grendel, but I was really disappointed that it would not go through his later years. Maybe this newer production will cover this part of his life.

I doubt it will be as good overall, though. The low-budget one seems to really be trying to capture the story. I can't see the Beowulf story needing $70 million unless it was the absolutely most stunning dragon we have ever seen and thought possible. The story just doesn't have that much to it when you think about it.

 

[reanjr]

Still, my favourite is Seamus Heany's translation

Heany's was definitely superb.

 

[Zoatebix]

Yay Talinthas! Let's ressurect some good Middle English words while we're at it. I'm particularly fond of "queinte" as a euphamism for female genitals, which literally means "elegant (thing)."

We don't have any 'nice' words for queinte in modern English - we have medical terms like pudendum and vagina, and then we have slang words that are 'dirty,' rooted in shame, or insluting (like the modern descendant of queinte).

 

[Viking Bastard]

Yay Talinthas! Let's ressurect some good Middle English words while we're at it. I'm particularly fond of "queinte" as a euphamism for female genitals, which literally means "elegant (thing)."

Isn't that already in use? "Quaint"?

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, I'm not sure what that one means. The word I thought he was talking about does not have that Middle english root; the middle English word is e.

EDIT: Which is so similar to today's word that the profanity filter zaps it.

 

[shilsen]

Isn't that already in use? "Quaint"?

It is. It's just that the word has lost the original meaning. Good thing too, since telling someone that her shop is quaint would result in getting your face slapped

 

[Desdichado]

I've never heard of that usage of quaint. Here's the etymology I found:

Etymology: Middle English cointe, from Old French, from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognoscere to know