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Comment by rubzah | Hacker News Reader

This is the text in Old English for anyone looking: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47296/caedmons-hymn-5...

Actually, here is the full text with the modern English inserted:

  Nu scilun herga hefenricæs uard
  Now let us praise Heaven-Kingdom's guardian,

  metudæs mehti and his modgithanc
  the Maker's might and his mind's thoughts,

  uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuæs
  the work of the glory-father—of every wonder,

  eci dryctin or astelidæ.
  eternal Lord. He established a beginning.

  he ærist scop ældu barnum
  He first shaped for men's sons

  hefen to hrofæ halig sceppend
  Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator;

  tha middingard moncynnæs uard
  then middle-earth mankind's guardian,

  eci dryctin æfter tiadæ
  eternal Lord, afterwards prepared

  firum foldu frea allmehtig
  the earth for men, the Lord almighty.

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Public Domain audio:

https://librivox.org/caedmons-hymn/

The text is read in the Early West Saxon dialect. Same version found here (incl. OGG Vorbis format):

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/19677

  Nu scilun herga hefenricæs uard
  metudæs mehti and his modgithanc
  uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuæs
  eci dryctin or astelidæ.
  he ærist scop ældu barnum
  hefen to hrofæ halig sceppend
  tha middingard moncynnæs uard
  eci dryctin æfter tiadæ
  firum foldu frea allmehtig

"Caedmon's Hymn"

Knowing both Norwegian and Dutch, most words here is surprisingly similar to modern words:

hefenricæs = himmelrikes (no)

uerc = werk (nl)

eci = evig (no) / eeuwig (nl)

ærist = eerst (nl)

barnum = barn (no)

sceppend = schepper (nl)

EDIT: Hearing the poem read also gives dutch / germanic vibes: https://gutenberg.org/files/19677/ogg/19677.ogg

thanc = tanke (thought)

uuldurfadur = alfader (all-father)

uundra = under (wonder)

halig = hellig (holy)

It's a bit unconnected to all-father. My impression would be that uuldurfadur would be literally "world-father". But it actually means "glory-father"[1]. It's more commonly spelled wuldorfæder. (Also unrelated to the word "wundor" meaning wonder.)

[1]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wuldorf%C3%A6der

If it weren't for the Norman invasion, English would probably still have the same levels of semi-mutual-intelligibility as the other Scandinavian languages.

well, if the Normans had simply spoken Norse as one would expect Norsemen to do...

I recently tried some light research (ok, i ddg'ed) recently on this topic as it wasn't that long between the Viking invasions and settling down in claimed territory, "how continuing-to-be-Norse were the Normans?" I was looking at a similar idea to another comment/statement here from a Scandinavian, "would the Normans have maintained enough knowledge of Norse language to have seen connections to Anglo Saxon/Olde Ænglish? (ok, i just wanted to use a ligature)

I didn't find it easy to to find specifics in great detail, but interestingly in William the Conquerer's family tree, his great^n-grandparents and their cohort were frequently marrying French noble women for local connections and prestige, but also having children with their "soulmate" Norsewoman side piece, made more convenient because the Norse marriage practice was more akin to "common law marriage" anyway.

I'm not reading or judging anything into this (what noble of any culture wouldn't pursue extramarital relations, hell the peasants do it too) except from variety of partners they were clearly maintaining connections to their heritage at least as Italian- or Irish-Americans frequently do in the current day.

Oh, what? Is "eci" (eternal?) the origin of "Ecki Thump" - Yorkshire version of OMG?

And indeed the ancient and mysterious Lancashire martial art, of course.

https://www.goodiesruleok.com/articles.php?id=17

Which has nothing on the secret Welsh art of self-defense, Llap Goch.

https://www.llapgoch.org.uk/

Oh my god is that where Icky Thump comes from

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