![]() ![]() But, like, is there a bigger takeaway that you hope people will take out of this? And of course, you see how language changes. ![]() It's actually, like, a nice thing to call someone, is saying that they're snotor, but snot itself does not sound nice, so, yeah (laughter). I find it really funny that a word that we don't have anymore is snotor (ph), which actually means wise. Is one of them because I guess that's just universal. RASCOE: Some of the words that we use today are actually the exact same as Old English. Because - I don't know - I wake up at 3 in the morning and worry about things, and it's the perfect word to describe it. I think that's something you can really relate to today even, even though there's not a word for it. And I think it's beautiful that it's connected to a particular time of day. Uht-cearu actually appears in a poem, and it's called "The Wife's Lament." And it's about this woman who is - has for some reason been separated from her loved ones. Who was having this pre-dawn anxiety back in medieval times? Well, everyone who speaks Old English right now is yelling at the radio. And one that spoke to us, because we do get up really, really early to think about the news and report it to everyone else, is a word that basically translates to pre-dawn anxiety. And just like all language, there's a level of specificity with some of these that can be really beautiful. RASCOE: Often I find I don't have a very large wordhord, and that's part of the issue that. And I really like that idea, that you would keep these all in your head and take them out when you want to share them with others. It was a poet's stockpile, mental stockpile, of words and phrases that they could draw upon when they were performing poetry. VIDEEN: Well, wordhord itself is a favorite word, and it sounds a bit like it's a dictionary or a thesaurus, but it wasn't a physical book. It's called "The Wordhord." So give me an example of a favorite word that you have. And most of the texts that we have are from around the 10th century or later, and they include all kinds of different things, from poetry to homilies or sermons to prose texts and medical texts - all kinds of things. Old English is the vernacular language that was used in England - what is now England - between around 550 to 1150. RASCOE: So can you give us some context? What's the span of time covered by Old English, and what kind of texts use it? And we reached out to her to learn a little bit more about this language. She fell under the language's spell studying "Beowulf" as an undergrad, then got her PhD in medieval English lit. ![]() Hana Videen is the Old English Wordhord (ph). And what about saying things are changing for the better? Just say wirp (ph). I mean, you know, look, these allergies have been killing me. You know those word of the day apps to expand your vocabulary? Well, our next guest has an app highlighting words with a twist - like wrath-mod (ph), as in super angry, or lencten-adl (ph), as in spring disease. ![]()
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