Old English

[Anonymous No.20225277]

Any tricks to understanding old english? I'm trying to read Faerie queene but I'm having a hard time figuring out what is being said

[Anonymous No.20225329]

>>20225277
That isn't Old English. This is Old English.

[Anonymous No.20225332]

>>20225277
That's not old english, but pedantry aside you should try sounding out words aloud. I fucking hate this poem and I don't respect it in any way, so I have zero issues saying just go online and find a modernized version of it. Otherwise, you'll have to read it aloud

[Anonymous No.20225346]

>>20225332
>>20225329
Older*
>>20225332
It seems interesting so far but I'm trying understand what's happening

[Anonymous No.20225393]

>>20225277
Just read it? Everything on that page is perfectly comprehensible. Like the other anon said, just sound words out as that was written before modern spelling conventions. But there's no magic bullet, just read it and understand it, you should at least be able to understand 95% of it without any difficulty whatsoever.

[Anonymous No.20225409]

>>20225346
No, Old English isn't just anything you think is old enough, faggot.

[Anonymous No.20225454]

>>20225329
It's not Old English but it is old English- English that is old.

[Anonymous No.20225466]

>>20225277
Try a good annotated edition? Or look up the words you don't know, or which are being used in ways that don't seem to make sense, in a good dictionary.

[Anonymous No.20225471]

>>20225277
All faggotry aside this is early modern English. It takes a bit more time to parse grammar, so rephrase sentences yourself to better get the gist before moving on (if it's constructed as object > verb > subject, try rewriting it with subject > verb > object. It will likely make more sense to you this way). If you can, look up any unusual words or usages in the Oxford English dictionary. It will have historical definitions and examples. No more to it than that, really. Just take your time if it's new to you.

[Anonymous No.20225949]

Spenser loved Chaucer so he tried to write like Chaucer. This is early modern English just made to look old. When you see a word you can it understand it should be read phonetically because that is what Spenser was going for. A very small amount of the text is in Middle English such as eke which translates to also. i's in the text should be translated to j's if an i does not make sense.

[Anonymous No.20226392]

>>20225277
Middle* English

[Anonymous No.20226409]

Ye Olde English

[Anonymous No.20227468]

>>20226392
It's not even middle English

It's early modern

[Anonymous No.20227763]

>>20225346
dont let the pseuds get to you

[Anonymous No.20227853]

>>20227468
Early premodern English is my wager

[Anonymous No.20227880]

>>20225277
That's not Old English

[Anonymous No.20228047]

>>20225277
Get the Norton Critical Edition, they gloss archaic words in the margin

But we others have said just read them out loud. Reading Chaucer I spent way too long trying to figure out what the fuck "queynte" was

[Anonymous No.20228350]

>>20228047
Queynte = can't?

[Anonymous No.20228368]

>>20228350
I assume it's "quaint."

[Anonymous No.20228398]

>>20228350
>>20228368
Let's see if you guys can figure it out :)

>As clerkes ben ful subtile and ful queynte,
>And prively he caughte hire by the queynte,
>And seyde, “Ywis, but if ich have my wille,
>For deerne love of thee, lemman, I spille.”

[Anonymous No.20228433]

>>20228398
As clerks were very subtle and quiet,
And privately he caught her my the mouth,
And said "Yes, but if I had my will,
For this damn love of you, blood, I spill."

[Anonymous No.20228450]

>>20228398
>Rhyming cunt with cunt
Truly a masterpiece

[Anonymous No.20228468]

>>20228433
>>20228398
Interesting how "lemman" became "blood"

[Anonymous No.20228522]

>>20228398
As clerks were full subtle and full quaint
and privately he caught her by the cunt
and said Yes but if I have my wife
for dear love of thee, lemon, I spill

[Anonymous No.20228678]

>>20228450
This is actually a really smart line because he's mocking rime riche, a formal french poetic technique of rhyming two identical words with two meanings. The inclusion of rime riche usually indicated a highbrow text that was meant for an educated courtly audience. Here he makes it about vaginas. Pretty funny if you ask me.

[Anonymous No.20228687]

>>20228047
Link? Amazon etc.

[Anonymous No.20228796]

>>20228687
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/edmund-spensers-poetry-authoritative-texts-criticism-norton-critical-editions_edmund-spenser/279307/item/71812

[Anonymous No.20228914]

>>20228678
that is hilarious, but also absolutely unfunny because it requires an explanation to understand the joke. the person that comes across that verse and reads it and is sufficiently educated to understand the humour of it is really the only man that can enjoy it, and I imagine there are not many of him (if any).