The Wordhord - Outside of a Dog

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published April 12, 2022 by Princeton University Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-691-23274-4
OCLC Number:: 1281241023

An entertaining and illuminating collection of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English—and what they reveal about the lives of the earliest English speakers

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer’s Middle English, Old English—the language of Beowulf—defies comprehension by untrained modern readers. Used throughout much of Britain more than a thousand years ago, it is rich with words that haven’t changed (like word), others that are unrecognizable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise), and some that are mystifying even in translation (gafol-fisc, or tax-fish). In this delightful book, Hana Videen gathers a glorious trove of these gems and uses them to illuminate the lives of the earliest English speakers. We discover a world where choking on a bit of bread might prove your guilt, where fiend-ship was as likely as …

An entertaining and illuminating collection of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English—and what they reveal about the lives of the earliest English speakers

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer’s Middle English, Old English—the language of Beowulf—defies comprehension by untrained modern readers. Used throughout much of Britain more than a thousand years ago, it is rich with words that haven’t changed (like word), others that are unrecognizable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise), and some that are mystifying even in translation (gafol-fisc, or tax-fish). In this delightful book, Hana Videen gathers a glorious trove of these gems and uses them to illuminate the lives of the earliest English speakers. We discover a world where choking on a bit of bread might prove your guilt, where fiend-ship was as likely as friendship, and where you might grow up to be a laughter-smith.

The Wordhord takes readers on a journey through Old English words and customs related to practical daily activities (eating, drinking, learning, working); relationships and entertainment; health and the body, mind, and soul; the natural world (animals, plants, and weather); locations and travel (the source of some of the most evocative words in Old English); mortality, religion, and fate; and the imagination and storytelling. Each chapter ends with its own “wordhord”—a list of its Old English terms, with definitions and pronunciations.

Entertaining and enlightening, The Wordhord reveals the magical roots of the language you’re reading right now: you’ll never look at—or speak—English in the same way again.

4 editions

Annie the Book reviewed The Wordhord by Hana Videen

The Wordhord, by Hana Videen

3 stars

Linguists can tell you that only a fraction of a language makes it into print (despite the best efforts of the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary). Most language is spoken and uncaptured—at least until social media and texting came along. When we write things down, we punctuate and fix misspellings and often use a more formal register than what we use to talk to each other. When we speak, we contract words to talk even faster, add tone to express sympathy and sarcasm, use shorthand references that we don’t explain, and on and on. Written language lags behind the lively spoken version (to the annoyance of folks at the OED, I’m sure). All of this introduction is to impress the staggeringly difficult task Hana Videen set for herself in The Wordhord: to unlock the mysteries of Old English...

Read the rest of my review at A …

Linguists can tell you that only a fraction of a language makes it into print (despite the best efforts of the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary). Most language is spoken and uncaptured—at least until social media and texting came along. When we write things down, we punctuate and fix misspellings and often use a more formal register than what we use to talk to each other. When we speak, we contract words to talk even faster, add tone to express sympathy and sarcasm, use shorthand references that we don’t explain, and on and on. Written language lags behind the lively spoken version (to the annoyance of folks at the OED, I’m sure). All of this introduction is to impress the staggeringly difficult task Hana Videen set for herself in The Wordhord: to unlock the mysteries of Old English...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.