From The BBC;
Can Scottish Gaelic survive?
Great efforts have been made in recent decades to preserve the language and culture of Scottish Gaelic, against the fact that the number of native speakers has been in long-term decline.
New research from the University of Edinburgh suggests that before long there may only be two Gaelic dialects left. Andreas Wolff of BBC Alba reports from Ballachulish in Argyll, on the mainland, where a young musician is learning the local dialect that may be on the verge of extinction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The BBC;
Gaelic dialects 'dying out', Edinburgh academic warns
All local dialects of Gaelic will die out except two, according to research by a University of Edinburgh academic.
Dr Will Lamb suggests only the Gaelic of Lewis and South Uist will be strong enough to survive in the future.
He said one of the reasons was that these dialects were dominant in Gaelic medium education.
Dr Lamb said another form of the language - influenced by a mix of dialects and which he dubbed mid-Minch Gaelic - was also emerging.
According to his research, in Gaelic medium units throughout Scotland - including the islands - 21% of teachers use a non-dialectal Gaelic.
He found 25% of the teachers spoke the Lewis dialect and 17.5% spoke Gaelic from South Uist.
But only 9% of Scotland's Gaelic medium teachers spoke Skye Gaelic, 8% North Uist and 7% Barra.
Dr Lamb told BBC Alba: "Without a change of what is happening in these communities most of the surviving Gaelic dialects will be gone in a few generations.
"I think it is important to have this debate right now about how we keep the language strong in its native communities."
John MacFarlane, a member of Taynuilt Gaelic Choir in Argyll, believes he is the last person in his area to speak the local dialect.
He said: "I feel somewhat of a dinosaur actually.
"When I was young the place was full of Gaelic, but it has altered entirely in my lifetime.
"I don't think there is anybody who is learning my particular dialect."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learning support in Gaelic lacking, MSPs told
A mother of a boy who requires learning support has said that such help was severely lacking in Gaelic education.
Carole Henderson's son was diagnosed as having verbal dyspraxia when he was at nursery. He is now in Gaelic medium education at primary school.
Ms Henderson said in Lanarkshire, where they live, she had been unable to find educational specialists with Gaelic.
Speech therapists and psychologists were among the posts with no Gaelic speakers, she said.
The Scottish government said it was committed providing services that met people's needs, but added that it was for NHS boards and local authorities to decide how they funded specialist support.
Ms Henderson raised her concerns in a presentation to the Scottish Parliament's cross party group for Gaelic on Tuesday.
She has gathered details of her own experiences and those of other parents of children learning Gaelic who require specialist support.
Ms Henderson's evidence includes the results of a questionnaire answered by 21 schools providing Gaelic medium education, including schools in Argyll, the Highlands and Islands and in Glasgow.
Continue reading the main story
"We need teachers, support for learning teachers, classroom assistants, speech and language therapists, educational psychologists.”
Eighteen schools which answered a question on what language was used by their educational psychologists said it was English.
Seventeen replied to a question on what languages their learning support teachers had.
Five said English and Gaelic, one Gaelic and another used English but was also learning Gaelic. The others who answered the question said learning support teachers used English only.
Ms Henderson said authorities in Wales and Ireland offered dedicated support to children who need extra help at Welsh and Irish Gaelic language classes.
She said: "We need teachers, support for learning teachers, classroom assistants, speech and language therapists, educational psychologists.
"We need to promote these career options in order that the qualified people exist for the health boards and local authorities to employ."
A spokesman said the Scottish government was committed to maintaining high standards of care.
He added: "It is for each NHS board to decide how best to deliver those services to meet the needs of the population, including how best to use funding, taking account of national and local priorities.
"Some local authorities have commissioned work on Gaelic assessment materials and operate a staged intervention model and we hope that these areas of good practice could be rolled out as more people with Gaelic skills enter the field.
"The Scottish government continues to work with Bòrd na Gàidhlig on initiatives to increase the number who speak Gaelic in all vocations."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaelic media reports 'unfair' says Aberdeen professor
A language professor has said some sections of the Scottish media's coverage of Gaelic has gone beyond fair comment and good taste.
Prof Kenneth MacKinnon, of the University of Aberdeen, studied newspaper clippings for a year.
He said on occasions reporting on public spending on Gaelic degenerated into inaccuracy, prejudice and mockery.
Prof MacKinnon said organizations set up to promote the language should stand up for Gaelic speakers.
The honorary professor in language planning and development at Aberdeen's Celtic department has written papers on attitudes towards Gaelic.
Following his latest research of the Scottish media, he said: "They probably think they are quite at liberty to be let loose on Gaelic where they wouldn't be allowed to say the same thing about minority communities within our society."
He added: "It goes beyond fair comment and it very often goes beyond good taste as well."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Study reveals Gaelic student shortfall
Up to 860 people would have to become bilingual in Gaelic each year if the decline of the language was to be halted, according to a study.
A Royal Society journal published the research which found the language was in danger of becoming extinct.
However the authors said it could be saved by copying initiatives which had succeeded in revitalizing Welsh.
Census data used in the study showed there were 250,000 Gaelic speakers 100 years ago compared to about 65,000 now.
The study said the decline was caused by people switching to English to open up social and economic opportunities.
However it said this process had been less severe in Wales - especially over the last 40 years - due to a range of initiatives to boost the language there.
The study said similar action was needed in Scotland to make it more advantageous to be a Gaelic speaker.
The authors said their mathematical formulae showed that between 440 and 860 Gaelic learners needed to become fully bilingual each year to stem the language's decline, depending on how successful Gaelic-speaking parents were at passing on the language to their children.
Friday, 5 October 2012
The last native speaker of Comarty dialect dies
Last native speaker of Scots dialect dies
By Jamie Hamilton, for CNN
updated 6:59 PM EDT, Fri October 5, 2012
The dialect spoken in the in the northern Scotland fishing village of Cromarty appears to be the only Germaic descendant in which no "wh" pronunciation existed.
(CNN) -- Bobby Hogg, the last native speaker of a dialect originating from a remote fishing village in northern Scotland, has died -- and so has the dialect he spoke.
The death of the 92-year-old retired engineer means that the Scots dialect known as Cromarty fisherfolk is now consigned to a collection of brief, distorted audio clips.
It is the first unique dialect to be lost in Scotland, according to Robert Millar, a reader in linguistics at the School of Language and Literature at Aberdeen University.
"Usually minority dialects end up blending in with standard English to form a hybrid. However, this is a completely distinct dialect which has become extinct," he said.
Cromarty fisherfolk appears to be the only descendant from the Germanic linguistic world in which no "wh" pronunciation existed, Millar said.
"'What' would become 'at' and 'where' would just be 'ere'," he said.
It was also the Scots language's only dialect that dropped the "H" aspiration.
"The loss of Cromarty is symptomatic of a greater, general decline in the use of the Scots language," according to Director of Scottish Language Dictionaries Chris Robinson. "This should be a wake-up call to save other struggling dialects."
Ten miles down the coast from Cromarty is Avoch, another sleepy fishing village with the closest surviving dialect to Cromarty fisherfolk, one that may also be endangered, according to Robinson. "It looks more than likely that this will go the same way as the Cromarty dialect," he said.
The dialect of the peoples who originally resided on the shores of Cromarty -- which lies on the tip of Black Isle peninsula, a four-hour drive north of Edinburgh -- was directly linked to their traditional fishing methods.
However, during the industrialization of fishing in the 1950s, established working methods were lost and the connection between the way of life and the dialect eroded. In fewer than 30 years, much of the dialect became obsolete.
Millar argues that the decline in Scots language represents a wider global trend.
"Generally, in the literate world, local dialects are suffering. The highly mobile and technologically advanced areas of the world are worst affected," he said.
There are some 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world and it is estimated that they are disappearing at a rate of one every two weeks, according to Millar.
Some 96% of the world's population speak just 4% of the world's languages, he said. "Most languages are only spoken by a few hundred people," he added.
Why mourn the loss of a language? "At a banal level, it's a little bit of color in our lives is gone," he said. "Any time something dies, it's lost. Whether it be languages or species, we lose something. Everyone in the world loses something. Diversity surely is a good thing, and we've just lost a bit of it."
Greater communication and interdependence among communities is resulting in "dialect homogenization," Millar said.
And people tend to abandon their own languages for one of the larger languages for good reasons, according to Anthony Aristar, professor of linguistics at Eastern Michigan University and director of the school's Institute for Language Information and Technology.
"They want modern conveniences; they want their children to have decent jobs," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "All this requires being able to speak in the dominant language. So they see little use in preserving their languages."
But the loss of a language often results in the loss of the stories that were told in that language, and in the cultural knowledge they contained. "Even medical know-how," he said.
Robinson, of the Scottish Language Dictionaries, maintains that Scots minority dialects like Cromarty have faced other pressures.
"Educationally, English has been the language used in Scotland since the 18th century. Consequently, Scots speakers are not literate in their own language. Also, until recently, Scots has had a social stigma attached to it as a working-class or second-rate language."
Yet there are signs of improvement for the state of Scots minority dialects. More Scots books, especially children's books, are being published than ever before. In addition, since 2009, the Scottish government has provided funding for the Scottish Language Dictionaries, which has also given the language a status boost.
The support has been seen as a natural progression from the move by Westminster in 2002 to sign the European Union Charter of Minority and Regional Languages recognizing Scots, Gaelic and Welsh as languages separate from English.
Still, the rate of the worldwide loss of dialects and languages remains consistent.
Robinson said he would like to see more efforts taken to safeguard minority Scots dialects.
"Scots has an amazing literary history, yet it is completely ignored in our schools," he said. "The books must be made more widely available and read more in schools for the language to survive in the future."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The Daily Mail;
Final word from Cromarty: Scottish Black Isle dialect silenced forever as last native speaker dies aged 92
By Jane Borland
PUBLISHED: 20:17 GMT, 3 October 2012
It was a traditional dialect used for centuries by fisherfolk.
But yesterday it emerged that the language of Cromarty had finally died with the passing of its last speaker.
Bobby Hogg was the only person still fluent in the age-old tongue of the Black Isle and his death at the age of 92 means it will now exist only in audio recordings.
Mr Hogg, a retired engineer, said recently he could still close his eyes, see the boats heading out to sea and hear the unique speech pattern – never normally written down – that set his people apart.
His younger brother Gordon had been the other surviving speaker – but he died in April last year, aged 86.
Yesterday, Dr Robert McColl Millar, of Aberdeen University’s linguistic department, said Mr Hogg’s death was highly significant.
He added: ‘It is the first time that an actual Scots dialect has so dramatically died with the passing of the last native speaker.
‘This was always going to be the danger of the Black Isle, as there were so few speakers even when it was healthy, when the fishing was still good.
‘So Bobby Hogg’s passing is a very sad day. It was a very interesting dialect and was unlike any of the others.
‘There are one or two who still have some facility in the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect but most of the time they speak Highland English.
Bobby was the last fluent native speaker who spoke no other tongue from a child. He was what we term a “dense” speaker. So all we have now are the recordings.’
Mr Hogg, who died on Sunday, had worked across Britain, but kept coming back to Cromarty.
His wife Helen was a direct descendent of the community’s most celebrated son, 19th century polymath Hugh Miller.
But the Hoggs were from the fishing community. In 2007, the brothers were recorded by Am Baile, the project that has created a digital archive of the history and culture of the Highlands and Islands.
Mr Hogg said: ‘Our father was a fisherman and all his folk had been fishermen stretching way back. It was the same on our mother’s side too. When we were young, we talked differently in the fishertown to the rest of Cromarty.
‘It wasn’t written down. It was an oral culture. We had this sort of patois, which I think had both Doric and Gaelic in it.
'There were words, a lot to do with the fishing, which nobody else could understand. It is dying out. You hear a smattering in some things people from Cromarty say, but nobody speaks it fluently but for us.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Washington Post;
Posted at 09:48 AM ET, 10/05/2012
‘Cromarty fisherfolk’: Another rare language dies in Scotland
By Olga Khazan
The last native speaker of an obscure English dialect known as Cromarty fisherfolk died this week in a tiny fishing town on Scotland’s Black Isle, making his a recently disappeared rare world language.
“Bobby Hogg, who was 92 when he died, was the last person fluent in the dialect once common to the seaside town of Cromarty, 175 miles north of Edinburgh,” the AP reported.
While few people may mourn the demise of Cromarty specifically, it’s another example of the one language that dies every two weeks and a general trend toward linguistic standardization as the global population moves to cities. UNESCO expects half of the globe’s 6,000-plus languages to die off by the end of the century.
So what did Cromarty sound like?
The New Statesman has this excerpt:
"Am fair sconfished wi hayreen; gie’s fur brakwast lashins o am and heggs. (I’m so fed up with herring, give me plenty of ham and eggs for breakfast.)”
And the AP offers up even more:
“Holl tol / Very drunk
Foamin for want / Desperate for tea
At’s theer trouble? / What’s your trouble?
Theer nae tae big fi a sclaffert yet! / You’re not too big for a slap!”
You can listen to exerpts of interviews with Hogg and his (now-deceased) brother Gordon at the Scottish history site Am Baile, which has documented the dialect. In this excerpt, the Hoggs give a run-down of Cromarty fish names:
Bobby: When ye take the different names of fish, they're different in Cromarty to what they are everywhere else, like. Different names. So that's only the start, like. Same wi the line fishing an, ye know, all the things relative to it, right? These things have all disappeared now. Folk don't know what ye're talking about, even.
Gordon: No.
Interviewer: So what are some o the names?
Gordon: Well, a plashack - that's a big, a big flat fish. We call that a plashack.
Gordon: An we call others ones - there's one they call it - it's a biggar-man, an it's a, it's a flounder too. It's a flounder but it's -
Bobby: It's biggar-man - you'll find that in the Scottish Dictionary. It's a flounder, a black flounder, right? Say it's a biggar-man in Cromarty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The New Statesman;
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/10/death-cromarty-fisherfolk-dialect
The death of the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect
By Helen Lewis Published 04 October 2012 13:38
Listening to extinct languages and dialects is an eerie, but incredible, experience.
The last native speaker of the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect, Bobby Hogg, has died - and with him, a version of our language which had unique words, expressions and character.
You can listen to Hogg and his brother Gordon speaking here: the dialect has a lilting, sing-song quality. Linguists think it was influenced by Norse and Dutch, and survived because of the close-knit community and relative geographical isolation of Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands.
We're lucky that in 2009, a researcher called Janine Donald set out to preserve and record as much of the Cromarty dialect as she could. She wrote up her findings here, and it's quite hard to see what the roots of some of the words are that were in use. For example, where did "amitan", meaning "a fool" come from? (Also, can we revive "belligut" for "a greedy person"?)
"Am fair sconfished wi hayreen; gie’s fur brakwast lashins o am and heggs." (I’m so fed up with herring, give me plenty of ham and eggs for breakfast.)
Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of specialist vocabulary relating to fishing, which I imagine is now gone for good, like "o the teydin" meaning "seventh fishing line".
There's always something poignant about the death of a last speaker of a language, pidgin, creole or dialect. According to K. David Harrison's film for National Geographic, in 2010 there were around 7,000 languages in the world, but they were disappearing at the rate of one every two weeks. Dialects and other particular sub-forms of a language, therefore, are probably disappearing more regularly. For example, linguists think that only two forms of Gaelic will survive.
Thankfully, after years of neglect, there are now several organisations doing their best to capture these languages and dialects before an increasingly interconnected world means they are lost for ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Before he died Bobby Hogg and his brother helped compile a brief glossary of Comarty-Scots which I have a copy of. I will post some examples form it in the future.
http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_page.jsp?item_id=131892
By Jamie Hamilton, for CNN
updated 6:59 PM EDT, Fri October 5, 2012
The dialect spoken in the in the northern Scotland fishing village of Cromarty appears to be the only Germaic descendant in which no "wh" pronunciation existed.
(CNN) -- Bobby Hogg, the last native speaker of a dialect originating from a remote fishing village in northern Scotland, has died -- and so has the dialect he spoke.
The death of the 92-year-old retired engineer means that the Scots dialect known as Cromarty fisherfolk is now consigned to a collection of brief, distorted audio clips.
It is the first unique dialect to be lost in Scotland, according to Robert Millar, a reader in linguistics at the School of Language and Literature at Aberdeen University.
"Usually minority dialects end up blending in with standard English to form a hybrid. However, this is a completely distinct dialect which has become extinct," he said.
Cromarty fisherfolk appears to be the only descendant from the Germanic linguistic world in which no "wh" pronunciation existed, Millar said.
"'What' would become 'at' and 'where' would just be 'ere'," he said.
It was also the Scots language's only dialect that dropped the "H" aspiration.
"The loss of Cromarty is symptomatic of a greater, general decline in the use of the Scots language," according to Director of Scottish Language Dictionaries Chris Robinson. "This should be a wake-up call to save other struggling dialects."
Ten miles down the coast from Cromarty is Avoch, another sleepy fishing village with the closest surviving dialect to Cromarty fisherfolk, one that may also be endangered, according to Robinson. "It looks more than likely that this will go the same way as the Cromarty dialect," he said.
The dialect of the peoples who originally resided on the shores of Cromarty -- which lies on the tip of Black Isle peninsula, a four-hour drive north of Edinburgh -- was directly linked to their traditional fishing methods.
However, during the industrialization of fishing in the 1950s, established working methods were lost and the connection between the way of life and the dialect eroded. In fewer than 30 years, much of the dialect became obsolete.
Millar argues that the decline in Scots language represents a wider global trend.
"Generally, in the literate world, local dialects are suffering. The highly mobile and technologically advanced areas of the world are worst affected," he said.
There are some 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world and it is estimated that they are disappearing at a rate of one every two weeks, according to Millar.
Some 96% of the world's population speak just 4% of the world's languages, he said. "Most languages are only spoken by a few hundred people," he added.
Why mourn the loss of a language? "At a banal level, it's a little bit of color in our lives is gone," he said. "Any time something dies, it's lost. Whether it be languages or species, we lose something. Everyone in the world loses something. Diversity surely is a good thing, and we've just lost a bit of it."
Greater communication and interdependence among communities is resulting in "dialect homogenization," Millar said.
And people tend to abandon their own languages for one of the larger languages for good reasons, according to Anthony Aristar, professor of linguistics at Eastern Michigan University and director of the school's Institute for Language Information and Technology.
"They want modern conveniences; they want their children to have decent jobs," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "All this requires being able to speak in the dominant language. So they see little use in preserving their languages."
But the loss of a language often results in the loss of the stories that were told in that language, and in the cultural knowledge they contained. "Even medical know-how," he said.
Robinson, of the Scottish Language Dictionaries, maintains that Scots minority dialects like Cromarty have faced other pressures.
"Educationally, English has been the language used in Scotland since the 18th century. Consequently, Scots speakers are not literate in their own language. Also, until recently, Scots has had a social stigma attached to it as a working-class or second-rate language."
Yet there are signs of improvement for the state of Scots minority dialects. More Scots books, especially children's books, are being published than ever before. In addition, since 2009, the Scottish government has provided funding for the Scottish Language Dictionaries, which has also given the language a status boost.
The support has been seen as a natural progression from the move by Westminster in 2002 to sign the European Union Charter of Minority and Regional Languages recognizing Scots, Gaelic and Welsh as languages separate from English.
Still, the rate of the worldwide loss of dialects and languages remains consistent.
Robinson said he would like to see more efforts taken to safeguard minority Scots dialects.
"Scots has an amazing literary history, yet it is completely ignored in our schools," he said. "The books must be made more widely available and read more in schools for the language to survive in the future."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The Daily Mail;
Final word from Cromarty: Scottish Black Isle dialect silenced forever as last native speaker dies aged 92
By Jane Borland
PUBLISHED: 20:17 GMT, 3 October 2012
It was a traditional dialect used for centuries by fisherfolk.
But yesterday it emerged that the language of Cromarty had finally died with the passing of its last speaker.
Bobby Hogg was the only person still fluent in the age-old tongue of the Black Isle and his death at the age of 92 means it will now exist only in audio recordings.
Mr Hogg, a retired engineer, said recently he could still close his eyes, see the boats heading out to sea and hear the unique speech pattern – never normally written down – that set his people apart.
His younger brother Gordon had been the other surviving speaker – but he died in April last year, aged 86.
Yesterday, Dr Robert McColl Millar, of Aberdeen University’s linguistic department, said Mr Hogg’s death was highly significant.
He added: ‘It is the first time that an actual Scots dialect has so dramatically died with the passing of the last native speaker.
‘This was always going to be the danger of the Black Isle, as there were so few speakers even when it was healthy, when the fishing was still good.
‘So Bobby Hogg’s passing is a very sad day. It was a very interesting dialect and was unlike any of the others.
‘There are one or two who still have some facility in the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect but most of the time they speak Highland English.
Bobby was the last fluent native speaker who spoke no other tongue from a child. He was what we term a “dense” speaker. So all we have now are the recordings.’
Mr Hogg, who died on Sunday, had worked across Britain, but kept coming back to Cromarty.
His wife Helen was a direct descendent of the community’s most celebrated son, 19th century polymath Hugh Miller.
But the Hoggs were from the fishing community. In 2007, the brothers were recorded by Am Baile, the project that has created a digital archive of the history and culture of the Highlands and Islands.
Mr Hogg said: ‘Our father was a fisherman and all his folk had been fishermen stretching way back. It was the same on our mother’s side too. When we were young, we talked differently in the fishertown to the rest of Cromarty.
‘It wasn’t written down. It was an oral culture. We had this sort of patois, which I think had both Doric and Gaelic in it.
'There were words, a lot to do with the fishing, which nobody else could understand. It is dying out. You hear a smattering in some things people from Cromarty say, but nobody speaks it fluently but for us.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Washington Post;
Posted at 09:48 AM ET, 10/05/2012
‘Cromarty fisherfolk’: Another rare language dies in Scotland
By Olga Khazan
The last native speaker of an obscure English dialect known as Cromarty fisherfolk died this week in a tiny fishing town on Scotland’s Black Isle, making his a recently disappeared rare world language.
“Bobby Hogg, who was 92 when he died, was the last person fluent in the dialect once common to the seaside town of Cromarty, 175 miles north of Edinburgh,” the AP reported.
While few people may mourn the demise of Cromarty specifically, it’s another example of the one language that dies every two weeks and a general trend toward linguistic standardization as the global population moves to cities. UNESCO expects half of the globe’s 6,000-plus languages to die off by the end of the century.
So what did Cromarty sound like?
The New Statesman has this excerpt:
"Am fair sconfished wi hayreen; gie’s fur brakwast lashins o am and heggs. (I’m so fed up with herring, give me plenty of ham and eggs for breakfast.)”
And the AP offers up even more:
“Holl tol / Very drunk
Foamin for want / Desperate for tea
At’s theer trouble? / What’s your trouble?
Theer nae tae big fi a sclaffert yet! / You’re not too big for a slap!”
You can listen to exerpts of interviews with Hogg and his (now-deceased) brother Gordon at the Scottish history site Am Baile, which has documented the dialect. In this excerpt, the Hoggs give a run-down of Cromarty fish names:
Bobby: When ye take the different names of fish, they're different in Cromarty to what they are everywhere else, like. Different names. So that's only the start, like. Same wi the line fishing an, ye know, all the things relative to it, right? These things have all disappeared now. Folk don't know what ye're talking about, even.
Gordon: No.
Interviewer: So what are some o the names?
Gordon: Well, a plashack - that's a big, a big flat fish. We call that a plashack.
Gordon: An we call others ones - there's one they call it - it's a biggar-man, an it's a, it's a flounder too. It's a flounder but it's -
Bobby: It's biggar-man - you'll find that in the Scottish Dictionary. It's a flounder, a black flounder, right? Say it's a biggar-man in Cromarty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The New Statesman;
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/10/death-cromarty-fisherfolk-dialect
The death of the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect
By Helen Lewis Published 04 October 2012 13:38
Listening to extinct languages and dialects is an eerie, but incredible, experience.
The last native speaker of the Cromarty fisherfolk dialect, Bobby Hogg, has died - and with him, a version of our language which had unique words, expressions and character.
You can listen to Hogg and his brother Gordon speaking here: the dialect has a lilting, sing-song quality. Linguists think it was influenced by Norse and Dutch, and survived because of the close-knit community and relative geographical isolation of Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands.
We're lucky that in 2009, a researcher called Janine Donald set out to preserve and record as much of the Cromarty dialect as she could. She wrote up her findings here, and it's quite hard to see what the roots of some of the words are that were in use. For example, where did "amitan", meaning "a fool" come from? (Also, can we revive "belligut" for "a greedy person"?)
"Am fair sconfished wi hayreen; gie’s fur brakwast lashins o am and heggs." (I’m so fed up with herring, give me plenty of ham and eggs for breakfast.)
Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of specialist vocabulary relating to fishing, which I imagine is now gone for good, like "o the teydin" meaning "seventh fishing line".
There's always something poignant about the death of a last speaker of a language, pidgin, creole or dialect. According to K. David Harrison's film for National Geographic, in 2010 there were around 7,000 languages in the world, but they were disappearing at the rate of one every two weeks. Dialects and other particular sub-forms of a language, therefore, are probably disappearing more regularly. For example, linguists think that only two forms of Gaelic will survive.
Thankfully, after years of neglect, there are now several organisations doing their best to capture these languages and dialects before an increasingly interconnected world means they are lost for ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Before he died Bobby Hogg and his brother helped compile a brief glossary of Comarty-Scots which I have a copy of. I will post some examples form it in the future.
http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_page.jsp?item_id=131892
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Proper names in Yola
Yola was the language spoken in County Wexford as in Ireland until the late 19th Century by the descendents of 11th Century English settlers. Considered an off-shoot of Middle English with some Gaelic influences. I compiled this list from Poole's Yola Glossary, still the only scholarly work on the leid. Some of the translations are mine.
Male names;
Billy ~ Billeen
Cormac ~ Cournag
Dennis ~ Deenees
Diarmuid ~ Dearmed
Jack ~ Jackeen
James ~ Jaames
Joseph ~ Josef
Harry ~ Harrie
Hugh / Fitzhugh ~ Peeougheen
Kelly ~ Kealy / Kealeen
Larry ~ Learry
Martin ~ Marteen
Maurice ~ Mareesh
Meyler ~ Meyleare
Miles ~ Michare
Mogue ~ Moake
Patrick ~ Parick
Peter ~ Beedher / Peether
Phillip ~ Phielim
Robert / Robin ~ Robbeen
Sean ~ Shaneen
Simon ~ Zimon
Thaddeus ~ Thadee
Theodore ~ Theig
Thomas ~ Thommeen
Tom ~ Tam
Trevor ~ Treblere
Walter ~ Wathere
William ~ Wyllhaume
Female names;
Catherine/Kate ~ Caut
Ellen / Nelly ~ Neleen
Jane ~ Jennate
Joan ~ Jauaan
Margarete ~ Margeraate
Mary ~ Maree
Sally ~ Zailee
Male names;
Billy ~ Billeen
Cormac ~ Cournag
Dennis ~ Deenees
Diarmuid ~ Dearmed
Jack ~ Jackeen
James ~ Jaames
Joseph ~ Josef
Harry ~ Harrie
Hugh / Fitzhugh ~ Peeougheen
Kelly ~ Kealy / Kealeen
Larry ~ Learry
Martin ~ Marteen
Maurice ~ Mareesh
Meyler ~ Meyleare
Miles ~ Michare
Mogue ~ Moake
Patrick ~ Parick
Peter ~ Beedher / Peether
Phillip ~ Phielim
Robert / Robin ~ Robbeen
Sean ~ Shaneen
Simon ~ Zimon
Thaddeus ~ Thadee
Theodore ~ Theig
Thomas ~ Thommeen
Tom ~ Tam
Trevor ~ Treblere
Walter ~ Wathere
William ~ Wyllhaume
Female names;
Catherine/Kate ~ Caut
Ellen / Nelly ~ Neleen
Jane ~ Jennate
Joan ~ Jauaan
Margarete ~ Margeraate
Mary ~ Maree
Sally ~ Zailee
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Address to the Lord Liutenant of Ireland in Yola
Address to Lord Lieutenant in 1836
Congratulatory address in the dialect of Forth and Bargy, presented to Earl Musgrave, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on his visit to Wexford in 1836 taken from the Wexford Independent newspaper of 15 February 1860. The paper’s editor Mr Edmund Hore writes:
"The most remarkable fact, in reality, in connexion with the address is this. In all probability it was the first time regal or vice-regal ears were required to listen to word of such a dialect; an it is even still more probable that a like event will never happen again; for if the use of this old tongue dies out as fast for the next five-and-twenty years as it has for the same bygone period, it will be utterly extinct and forgotten before the present century shall have closed.
In order for a person not acquainted with the pronunciation of the dialect to form anything like an idea of it, it is first necessary to speak slowly, and remember that the letter a has invariably the same sound, like a in “father”. Double ee sounds like e in “me”, and most words of two syllables the long accent is placed on the last. To follow the English pronunciation completely deprives the dialect of its peculiarities."
To’s Excellencie Constantine Harrie Phipps, y’ Earle Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland. Ye soumissive Spakeen o’ouz Dwelleres o’ Baronie Forthe, Weisforthe.
MAI’T BE PLESANT TO TH’ECCELLENCIE, - Wee, Vassalès o’ ‘His Most Gracious majesty’, Wilyame ee Vourthe, an, az wee verilie chote, na coshe and loyale dwellerès na Baronie Forthe, crave na dicke luckie acte t’uck neicher th’ Eccellencie, an na plaine grabe o’ oure yola talke, wi vengem o’ core t’gie ours zense o’ y gradès whilke be ee-dighte wi yer name; and whilke we canna zei, albeit o’ ‘Governere’, ‘Statesman’, an alike. Yn ercha and aul o’ while yt beeth wi gleezom o’ core th’ oure eyen dwytheth apan ye Vigere o’dicke Zouvereine, Wilyame ee Vourthe, unnere fose fatherlie zwae oure diaez be ee-spant, az avare ye trad dicke londe yer name waz ee-kent var ee vriene o’ livertie, an He fo brake ye neckares o’ zlaves. Mang ourzels – var wee dwytheth an Irelonde az ure genreale haim – y’ast, bie ractzom o’honde, ee-delt t’ouz ye laas ee-mate var ercha vassale, ne’er dwythen na dicke waie nar dicka. Wee dwyth ye ane fose dais be gien var ee guidevare o’ye londe ye zwae, - t’avance pace an livertie, an, wi’oute vlynch, ee garde o’ generale reights an poplare vartue. Ye pace – yea, we mai zei, ye vast pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th’ast ee-cam, proo’th, y’at wee alane needeth ye giftes o’generale rights, az be displayth bie ee factes o’thie goveremente. Ye state na dicke daie o’ye londe, na whilke be nar fash nar moile, albeit ‘constitutional agitation’, ye wake o’hopes ee-blighte, stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom. Yer name var zetch avancet avare ye, e’en a dicke var hye, arent whilke ye brine o’zea an dye craggès o’noghanes cazed nae balke. Na oure gladès ana whilke we dellt wi’ mattoke, an zing t’oure caulès wi plou, wee hert ee zough o’ye colure o’ pace na name o’ Mulgrave. Wi Irishmen ower generale houpes be ee-boud – az Irishmen, an az dwellerès na cosh an loyale o’ Baronie Forthe, w’oul daie an ercha daie, our meines an oure gurles, praie var long an happie zins, shorne o’lournagh an ee-vilt wi benisons, an yersel and oure gude Zovereine, till ee zin o’oure daies be var aye be ee-go to’glade.
Standard English Translation
To his Excellency, Constantine Henry Phipps, Earl Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General, and General Governor of Ireland. The humble Address of the Inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, Wexford.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY – We, the subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, William IV, and, as we verily believe, both faithful and loyal inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, beg leave at this favourable opportunity to approach your Excellency, and in the simple dress of our old dialect to pour forth from the strength (or fullness) of our hearts, our sense (or admiration) of the qualities which characterise your name, and for which we have no words but of ‘Governor’, ‘Statesman’, etc. In each and every condition it is with joy of heart that our eyes rest upon the representative of the Sovereign, William IV, under whose paternal rule our days are spent; for before your foot pressed the soil, your name was known to us as the friend of liberty, and he who broke the fetters of the slave. Unto ourselves – for we look on Ireland to be our common country – you have with impartial hand ministered the laws made for every subject, without regard to this party or that. We behold in you one whose days are devoted to the welfare of the land you govern, to promote peace and liberty – the uncompromising guardian of the common right and public virtue. The peace – yes, we may say the profound peace – which overspreads the land since your arrival, proves that we alone stood in need of the enjoyment of common privileges, as is demonstrated by the results of your government. The condition, this day, of the country, in which is neither tumult nor disorder, but that constitutional agitation, the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened. Your fame for such came before you even into this retired spot, to which neither the waters of the sea below nor the mountains above caused any impediment. In our valleys, where we were digging with the spade, or as we whistled to our horses in the plough, we heard the distant sound of the wings of the dove of peace, in the word Mulgrave. With Irishmen our common hopes are inseparably bound up – as Irishmen, and as inhabitants, faithful and loyal, of the Barony Forth, we will daily and every day, our wives and our children, implore long and happy days, free from melancholy and full of blessings, for yourself and our good Sovereign, until the sun of our lives be gone down the dark valley (of death).
This address in included as part of Jacob Poole's 1867 glossary of the Yola language which remains the only such book about Yola.
Congratulatory address in the dialect of Forth and Bargy, presented to Earl Musgrave, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on his visit to Wexford in 1836 taken from the Wexford Independent newspaper of 15 February 1860. The paper’s editor Mr Edmund Hore writes:
"The most remarkable fact, in reality, in connexion with the address is this. In all probability it was the first time regal or vice-regal ears were required to listen to word of such a dialect; an it is even still more probable that a like event will never happen again; for if the use of this old tongue dies out as fast for the next five-and-twenty years as it has for the same bygone period, it will be utterly extinct and forgotten before the present century shall have closed.
In order for a person not acquainted with the pronunciation of the dialect to form anything like an idea of it, it is first necessary to speak slowly, and remember that the letter a has invariably the same sound, like a in “father”. Double ee sounds like e in “me”, and most words of two syllables the long accent is placed on the last. To follow the English pronunciation completely deprives the dialect of its peculiarities."
To’s Excellencie Constantine Harrie Phipps, y’ Earle Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland. Ye soumissive Spakeen o’ouz Dwelleres o’ Baronie Forthe, Weisforthe.
MAI’T BE PLESANT TO TH’ECCELLENCIE, - Wee, Vassalès o’ ‘His Most Gracious majesty’, Wilyame ee Vourthe, an, az wee verilie chote, na coshe and loyale dwellerès na Baronie Forthe, crave na dicke luckie acte t’uck neicher th’ Eccellencie, an na plaine grabe o’ oure yola talke, wi vengem o’ core t’gie ours zense o’ y gradès whilke be ee-dighte wi yer name; and whilke we canna zei, albeit o’ ‘Governere’, ‘Statesman’, an alike. Yn ercha and aul o’ while yt beeth wi gleezom o’ core th’ oure eyen dwytheth apan ye Vigere o’dicke Zouvereine, Wilyame ee Vourthe, unnere fose fatherlie zwae oure diaez be ee-spant, az avare ye trad dicke londe yer name waz ee-kent var ee vriene o’ livertie, an He fo brake ye neckares o’ zlaves. Mang ourzels – var wee dwytheth an Irelonde az ure genreale haim – y’ast, bie ractzom o’honde, ee-delt t’ouz ye laas ee-mate var ercha vassale, ne’er dwythen na dicke waie nar dicka. Wee dwyth ye ane fose dais be gien var ee guidevare o’ye londe ye zwae, - t’avance pace an livertie, an, wi’oute vlynch, ee garde o’ generale reights an poplare vartue. Ye pace – yea, we mai zei, ye vast pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th’ast ee-cam, proo’th, y’at wee alane needeth ye giftes o’generale rights, az be displayth bie ee factes o’thie goveremente. Ye state na dicke daie o’ye londe, na whilke be nar fash nar moile, albeit ‘constitutional agitation’, ye wake o’hopes ee-blighte, stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom. Yer name var zetch avancet avare ye, e’en a dicke var hye, arent whilke ye brine o’zea an dye craggès o’noghanes cazed nae balke. Na oure gladès ana whilke we dellt wi’ mattoke, an zing t’oure caulès wi plou, wee hert ee zough o’ye colure o’ pace na name o’ Mulgrave. Wi Irishmen ower generale houpes be ee-boud – az Irishmen, an az dwellerès na cosh an loyale o’ Baronie Forthe, w’oul daie an ercha daie, our meines an oure gurles, praie var long an happie zins, shorne o’lournagh an ee-vilt wi benisons, an yersel and oure gude Zovereine, till ee zin o’oure daies be var aye be ee-go to’glade.
Standard English Translation
To his Excellency, Constantine Henry Phipps, Earl Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General, and General Governor of Ireland. The humble Address of the Inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, Wexford.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY – We, the subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, William IV, and, as we verily believe, both faithful and loyal inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, beg leave at this favourable opportunity to approach your Excellency, and in the simple dress of our old dialect to pour forth from the strength (or fullness) of our hearts, our sense (or admiration) of the qualities which characterise your name, and for which we have no words but of ‘Governor’, ‘Statesman’, etc. In each and every condition it is with joy of heart that our eyes rest upon the representative of the Sovereign, William IV, under whose paternal rule our days are spent; for before your foot pressed the soil, your name was known to us as the friend of liberty, and he who broke the fetters of the slave. Unto ourselves – for we look on Ireland to be our common country – you have with impartial hand ministered the laws made for every subject, without regard to this party or that. We behold in you one whose days are devoted to the welfare of the land you govern, to promote peace and liberty – the uncompromising guardian of the common right and public virtue. The peace – yes, we may say the profound peace – which overspreads the land since your arrival, proves that we alone stood in need of the enjoyment of common privileges, as is demonstrated by the results of your government. The condition, this day, of the country, in which is neither tumult nor disorder, but that constitutional agitation, the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened. Your fame for such came before you even into this retired spot, to which neither the waters of the sea below nor the mountains above caused any impediment. In our valleys, where we were digging with the spade, or as we whistled to our horses in the plough, we heard the distant sound of the wings of the dove of peace, in the word Mulgrave. With Irishmen our common hopes are inseparably bound up – as Irishmen, and as inhabitants, faithful and loyal, of the Barony Forth, we will daily and every day, our wives and our children, implore long and happy days, free from melancholy and full of blessings, for yourself and our good Sovereign, until the sun of our lives be gone down the dark valley (of death).
This address in included as part of Jacob Poole's 1867 glossary of the Yola language which remains the only such book about Yola.
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
How we would talk if the Saxons had won the Battle of Hastings in 1066
The Lords Prayer in Old English;
An account of the Battle of Brunanburgh in Old English (a battle between the Saxons and an alliance of Scots, Picts and Norsemen);
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
An ancient Brittonic curse and some Pictish
The language of the ancient Celtic Britons was oral and has left few written traces but after the Roman conquest a few examples exist; along with a few gravestones there are a few charms and pendents one of which is believed to have a curse;
a) Original version;
"Adixoui Deuina Deieda Andagin Uindiorix cuamenai"
b) Possible translation;
"The affixed - Deuina, Deieda, Andagin, (and) Uindiorix - I have bound"
An alternate translation being:
"May I, Windiorix for/at Cuamena defeat the worthless woman, oh divine Deieda"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Picts were the inhabitants of Scotland during the Roman conquest of Britain who withstood Roman domination. Very little is known about them although they are believed to have been Celts who spoke a separate language. Aside from a few place names the only one known surviving example of Pictish comes from a probable eighth or ninth century grave marker found in the Shetland Islands called The Lunnasting stone. There is not enough to enable a full translation but when translated into the Latin alphabet the original appears to say;
"ttocuhetts: ahehhttmnnn: hccvvevv: nehhton"
or "ettecuhetts: ahehhttannn: hccvvevv: nehhtons"
It has been suggested that the last words translate as "the vassal of Nehtonn" and the word "Ahehhttannn" is also a name.
All of which shows how fiendishly difficult it is to discipher a long dead language when faced with a serious lack of info to work with. It can not even be stated with certainty whether Pictish is even Celtic at all although the available evidence suggests a relationship with Welsh rather than Gaelic.
a) Original version;
"Adixoui Deuina Deieda Andagin Uindiorix cuamenai"
b) Possible translation;
"The affixed - Deuina, Deieda, Andagin, (and) Uindiorix - I have bound"
An alternate translation being:
"May I, Windiorix for/at Cuamena defeat the worthless woman, oh divine Deieda"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Picts were the inhabitants of Scotland during the Roman conquest of Britain who withstood Roman domination. Very little is known about them although they are believed to have been Celts who spoke a separate language. Aside from a few place names the only one known surviving example of Pictish comes from a probable eighth or ninth century grave marker found in the Shetland Islands called The Lunnasting stone. There is not enough to enable a full translation but when translated into the Latin alphabet the original appears to say;
"ttocuhetts: ahehhttmnnn: hccvvevv: nehhton"
or "ettecuhetts: ahehhttannn: hccvvevv: nehhtons"
It has been suggested that the last words translate as "the vassal of Nehtonn" and the word "Ahehhttannn" is also a name.
All of which shows how fiendishly difficult it is to discipher a long dead language when faced with a serious lack of info to work with. It can not even be stated with certainty whether Pictish is even Celtic at all although the available evidence suggests a relationship with Welsh rather than Gaelic.
Monday, 27 February 2012
The intro to "Piers Plowman"
Written by William Langland circa 1360 - 1387 "Piers Plowman" is one of the relatively small number of surviving works of literature written in Middle English and is second in importance only to "The Canterbury Tales". Below are some introductory passages along with translations;
1.a) "Memorandum quod Stacy de Rokayle pater willielmi de Langlond qui stacius fuit generosus & morabatur in Schiptoun vnder whicwode tenens domini le Spenser in comitatu Oxoniensi qui predictus willielmus fecit librum qui vocatur Perys ploughman."
b) (translation)
"It should be noted that Stacy de Rokayle was the father of William de Langlond; this Stacy was of noble birth and dwelt in Shipton-under-Wychwood, a tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire. The aforesaid William made the book which is called Piers Plowman."
2.a) "Whan this werke was wrouyt, ere Wille myte aspie
Deth delt him a dent and drof him to the erthe
And is closed vnder clom"
b) (translation"
"Once this work was made, before Will was aware
Death struck him a blow and knocked him to the ground
And now he is buried under the soil."
1.a) "Memorandum quod Stacy de Rokayle pater willielmi de Langlond qui stacius fuit generosus & morabatur in Schiptoun vnder whicwode tenens domini le Spenser in comitatu Oxoniensi qui predictus willielmus fecit librum qui vocatur Perys ploughman."
b) (translation)
"It should be noted that Stacy de Rokayle was the father of William de Langlond; this Stacy was of noble birth and dwelt in Shipton-under-Wychwood, a tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire. The aforesaid William made the book which is called Piers Plowman."
2.a) "Whan this werke was wrouyt, ere Wille myte aspie
Deth delt him a dent and drof him to the erthe
And is closed vnder clom"
b) (translation"
"Once this work was made, before Will was aware
Death struck him a blow and knocked him to the ground
And now he is buried under the soil."
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Two riddles in Anglo-Saxon from The Exeter Book
Riddle 25;
Old English
Ic eom wunderlicu wiht wifum on hyhte neahbuendum nyt; nægum sceþþe burgsittendra nymthe bonan anum. Staþol min is steapheah stonde ic on bedde neoðan ruh nathwær. Neþeð hwilum ful cyrtenu ceorles dohtor modwlonc meowle þæt heo on mec gripe ræseð mec on reodne reafath min heafod fegeð mec on fæsten. Feleþ sona mines gemotes seo þe mec nearwað wif wundenlocc. Wæt bið þæt eage.
Modern English
I am a wondrous creature for women in expectation, a service for neighbors. I harm none of the citizens except my slayer alone. My stem is erect, I stand up in bed, hairy somewhere down below. A very comely peasant's daughter, dares sometimes, proud maiden, that she grips at me, attacks me in my redness, plunders my head, confines me in a stronghold, feels my encounter directly, woman with braided hair. Wet be that eye.
Answer: Onion
Riddle 26
Old English
Mec feonda sum feore besnyþede, woruldstrenga binom, wætte siþþan, dyfde on wætre, dyde eft þonan, sette on sunnan þær ic swiþe beleas herum þam þe ic hæfde. Heard mec siþþan snað seaxses ecg, sindrum begrunden; fingras feoldan, ond mec fugles wyn geond speddropum spyrede geneahhe, ofer brunne brerd, beamtelge swealg, streames dæle, stop eft on mec, siþade sweartlast. Mec siþþan wrah hæleð hleobordum, hyde beþenede, gierede mec mid golde; forþon me gliwedon wrætlic weorc smiþa, wire bifongen. Nu þa gereno ond se reada telg ond þa wuldorgesteald wide mære dryhtfolca helm—nales dol wite. Fif min bearn wera brucan willað, hy beoð þy gesundran ond þy sigefæstran, heortum þy hwætran ond þy hygebliþran, ferþe þy frodran, habbaþ freonda þy ma, swæsra ond gesibbra, soþra ond godra, tilra ond getreowra, þa hyra tyr ond ead estum ycað ond hy arstafum lissum bilecgað ond hi lufan fæþmum fæste clyppað. Frige hwæt ic hatte, niþum to nytte. Nama min is mære, hæleþum gifre ond halig sylf.
Modern English translation;
Some fiend robbed me from life, deprived me of wordly strengths, wetted next, dipped in water, took out again, set in the sun, deprived violently of the hair that I had after, the hard knife's edge cut me, ground from impurities, fingers folded and a bird's delight spread useful drops over me, swallowed tree-ink over the ruddy rim, portion of liquid, stepped on me again, traveled with black track. After, a man clad me with protective boards, covered with hide, adorned me with gold. Forthwith adorned me in ornamental works of smiths, encased with wire Now the trappings and the red dye and the wondrous setting widely make known the helm of the lord's folk, never again guard fools. If children of men want to use me they will be by that the safer and the more sure of victory the bolder in heart and the happier in mind, in spirit the wiser. They will have friends the more dearer and closer, righteous and more virtuous, more good and more loyal, those whose glory and happiness will gladly increase, and them with benefits and kindnesses, and they of love will clasp tightly with embraces. Ask what I am called as a service to people. My name is famous, bountiful to men and my self holy.
Answer: Bible
Old English
Ic eom wunderlicu wiht wifum on hyhte neahbuendum nyt; nægum sceþþe burgsittendra nymthe bonan anum. Staþol min is steapheah stonde ic on bedde neoðan ruh nathwær. Neþeð hwilum ful cyrtenu ceorles dohtor modwlonc meowle þæt heo on mec gripe ræseð mec on reodne reafath min heafod fegeð mec on fæsten. Feleþ sona mines gemotes seo þe mec nearwað wif wundenlocc. Wæt bið þæt eage.
Modern English
I am a wondrous creature for women in expectation, a service for neighbors. I harm none of the citizens except my slayer alone. My stem is erect, I stand up in bed, hairy somewhere down below. A very comely peasant's daughter, dares sometimes, proud maiden, that she grips at me, attacks me in my redness, plunders my head, confines me in a stronghold, feels my encounter directly, woman with braided hair. Wet be that eye.
Answer: Onion
Riddle 26
Old English
Mec feonda sum feore besnyþede, woruldstrenga binom, wætte siþþan, dyfde on wætre, dyde eft þonan, sette on sunnan þær ic swiþe beleas herum þam þe ic hæfde. Heard mec siþþan snað seaxses ecg, sindrum begrunden; fingras feoldan, ond mec fugles wyn geond speddropum spyrede geneahhe, ofer brunne brerd, beamtelge swealg, streames dæle, stop eft on mec, siþade sweartlast. Mec siþþan wrah hæleð hleobordum, hyde beþenede, gierede mec mid golde; forþon me gliwedon wrætlic weorc smiþa, wire bifongen. Nu þa gereno ond se reada telg ond þa wuldorgesteald wide mære dryhtfolca helm—nales dol wite. Fif min bearn wera brucan willað, hy beoð þy gesundran ond þy sigefæstran, heortum þy hwætran ond þy hygebliþran, ferþe þy frodran, habbaþ freonda þy ma, swæsra ond gesibbra, soþra ond godra, tilra ond getreowra, þa hyra tyr ond ead estum ycað ond hy arstafum lissum bilecgað ond hi lufan fæþmum fæste clyppað. Frige hwæt ic hatte, niþum to nytte. Nama min is mære, hæleþum gifre ond halig sylf.
Modern English translation;
Some fiend robbed me from life, deprived me of wordly strengths, wetted next, dipped in water, took out again, set in the sun, deprived violently of the hair that I had after, the hard knife's edge cut me, ground from impurities, fingers folded and a bird's delight spread useful drops over me, swallowed tree-ink over the ruddy rim, portion of liquid, stepped on me again, traveled with black track. After, a man clad me with protective boards, covered with hide, adorned me with gold. Forthwith adorned me in ornamental works of smiths, encased with wire Now the trappings and the red dye and the wondrous setting widely make known the helm of the lord's folk, never again guard fools. If children of men want to use me they will be by that the safer and the more sure of victory the bolder in heart and the happier in mind, in spirit the wiser. They will have friends the more dearer and closer, righteous and more virtuous, more good and more loyal, those whose glory and happiness will gladly increase, and them with benefits and kindnesses, and they of love will clasp tightly with embraces. Ask what I am called as a service to people. My name is famous, bountiful to men and my self holy.
Answer: Bible
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