Comments | linguaphiles: Comparing Linguistic Drift

ulvesang in linguaphiles

Comparing Linguistic Drift

Feb 02, 2006 15:48

Do Icelandic speakers (please be dwelling here somewhere!) find reading Old English comprehensible (not counting any possible previous studies in Old English/Icelandic)? Is it easy? Hard?

As opposed to Old English, how many words in modern English does the said Icelander notice are similar/identical to their cognates in Icelandic?

Takk!

icelandic

Comments 18

Not a very good answer but ... maruyake February 2 2006, 17:24:58 UTC

Well ... it depends, really. Some texts I can understand without problem, others I have to try very hard to, others I can't understand at all. It depends on the words used, I suppose.

How many words? Uh, quite a few? Yeah. Maybe I'm biased because I think about etymology all the time.

(Also, a highschool-graduate Icelander will have 'studied' considerable Old Icelandic in the form of ancient poetry & such.)

Re: Not a very good answer but ... alcarilinque February 2 2006, 17:41:13 UTC

Heh, I was just thinking that any icelander one might find here who would have read old english will probably be somewhat biased. ;)

Re: Not a very good answer but ... vandoom February 2 2006, 19:46:05 UTC

V, you read too much. I've always said it.

Also, i've been re-reading Grettis saga, and I swear, old icelantic kicks our modern icelantic's butt. People back theyre, they just "grr'd" at eachother. "eg heitr Gunnarr..grrr!"

Im totally off topic..

Re: Not a very good answer but ... holyschist February 3 2006, 02:13:51 UTC

Some texts I can understand without problem, others I have to try very hard to, others I can't understand at all.

Which is pretty much how I felt, as a modern English speaker, before I had studied any OE (and I hadn't studied much). And modern English is much further from OE than modern Icelandic is from Old Norse, FWTW.

Thread 5

jananaphone February 2 2006, 19:49:35 UTC

I don't want to ask a stupid question, but I might as well ask this, since I don't know...
Do English and Icelandic come fromt he same language/group of languages? I know nothing about Icelandic but if you are wondering whether Icelandic speakers can understand Old English, well... anyway, just curious. :)

maozed February 2 2006, 20:00:12 UTC

Icelandic is Germanic, like English.

xglassbutterfly February 2 2006, 20:39:52 UTC

really? i swear, you learn something new every day. =D

exentric February 2 2006, 20:58:49 UTC

Well. Don't make them seem so close. Icelandic is N. Teutonic (more related to the Scandinavian languages) and descended from Old Norse whereas English is W. Teutonic.

Thread 5

waldgaengerin February 2 2006, 23:09:23 UTC

Not sure if it is ok to post about another community here; It's not mine btw, but I thought you'd like to know -if you already don't-.

http://community.livejournal.com/old_english

Feel free to delete or whatever.

catrin_santiago February 2 2006, 23:31:20 UTC

Cheers for that :D I was learning OE before I started this CELTA course and entered the land of sleep deprivation and no free time - I can't wait to start learning it again when I have the time.

This is a really interesting thread. I am absolutely fascinated by Old Icelandic and Old Norse - if I had the time I'd study them :D I would love to be able to read the sagas and eddas in the original lingo.

zarxos February 2 2006, 23:58:36 UTC

Nice icon. :-P

tisoi February 3 2006, 01:24:27 UTC

What are all the flags in that icon? I don't, for example, recognize that green and purple one.

zarxos February 3 2006, 03:38:55 UTC

I was wondering that too, actually.

ulvesang February 3 2006, 12:15:37 UTC

I made a few up to fill out the icon... :S ...and now that I've found some more (Orkney & Shetland), I can't even convince myself which ones are the fake ones... because they could be lurking somewhere...

Thread 5

quatre_vingts February 3 2006, 02:34:07 UTC

There was a Norwegian exchange student at my high school one year. When I mentioned to her that I'd love to learn Icelandic, she told me it was "just like Old Norwegian" and then said a few sentences in it.