Johannes Romberch's Congestorium Artificiose Memorie

[bjoern.gumboldt]

@GibtsDochGarNicht

AngloSaxon/Old English scholars (not that I would class myself as one by any means) have a pet hate namely comments such as “So Old English is like what Shakespeare spoke then?” .

100% with you as far as that…

memorising a poetic play

Not to be nitpicking or anything, but… Shakespeare is considered Early Modern English, which is the transition from Middle English (late 15th century) to Modern English (mid-to-late 17th century). Beowulf on the other hand is Old English, which is the earliest historical form of English (early Middle Ages until the Norman conquest of England in 1066). This is what Old English looks like (opening lines from Beowulf): Hwæt we gardena ingear dagum, þeod cyninga þrym ge frunon huða æþelingas el…

@GibtsDochGarNicht

the original Old English is unreadable being an entire different language, basically an extinct low German dialect that you cannot read without learning OE.)

…and in 1066 the Bastard became the Conqueror and cows started calling themselves beef, because it became the vogue thing to do.

@GibtsDochGarNicht

Shakespeare spoke ‘Early Modern English’ ie you can pick up an original copy of one of his plays and read it… with a dictionary to hand. You wouldn’t be able to read Gawain And The Green Knight in the original Middle English and Beowulf in the original Old English

Which brings me full circle to my original point…

@bjoern.gumboldt

people who’ve learned Latin will know Classical Latin and not this gibberish.