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Old English: Grammar and Reader
This book makes learning Old English easy. It contains a simplified grammar, a minimum of phonology, well-chosen selections from Old English prose, and rich selections from Old English poetry. The texts are in regularized spelling, based on Early West Saxon, so that beginners will not have to wrestle with a shifting orthography. All texts come with facing-page literal translations.
The prose selections "The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan"; "The Story of King Cynewulf of Wessex"; "The Wars of King Alfred against the Vikings"; and King Alfred's Preface to Cura Pastoralis. The poetry Caedmon's "Hymn" from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Battle of Brunanburg; The Battle of Maldon; The Dream of Rood from the Vercelli Book; The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife's Lament, The Storm Riddles, The Panther, and The Whale from The Exeter Book.
The prose selections "The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan"; "The Story of King Cynewulf of Wessex"; "The Wars of King Alfred against the Vikings"; and King Alfred's Preface to Cura Pastoralis. The poetry Caedmon's "Hymn" from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Battle of Brunanburg; The Battle of Maldon; The Dream of Rood from the Vercelli Book; The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife's Lament, The Storm Riddles, The Panther, and The Whale from The Exeter Book.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 12, 2020
I borrowed this from the library, and I liked it so well that I bought my own copy. It’s definitely worth having on hand. It’s divided into two parts, a grammar and a reader.
Grammar: This section is straightforward and quite brief. As such, it does not weigh us down with all the complexities of the language. Many of the other books I’ve read have long grammar sections at the beginning, while the readings are brief and often relegated to the appendix. This approach is different, as it lays out only the basics that are needed for comprehension, and then it lets readers dive right in to the selections. As fond as I am of grammar, I must say that I found this approach refreshing. After all, language isn’t learnt in a vacuum; it’s an ongoing, practical experience. This was also the approach favored by Thomas Jefferson, an early champion of the Old English language in the United States. Jefferson believed that the best way for students to learn Old English was to give them reading material and let them have a go at it. I have read several books that teach Old English, but this one’s heavy focus on the texts themselves makes it, perhaps, the most interesting way to learn.
Reader: This is possibly the richest collection of Old English texts that I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. There is some history, lifted directly from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as the Preface written by King Alfred the Great to Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care. The poetry section begins with the oldest poem in the English language and continues to include such classics as “The Dream of the Rood,” “The Seafarer,” and “The Wanderer.” Poetry describing battles, religious poems, elegies, wisdom poems, riddles—this collection includes the major Old English genres in a single slender volume.
What makes this book different from the others: I have read several books on Old English, but I’ve never read one quite like this. For one thing, it is rare in a grammar book that the author’s personality shines through, but one’s does, and it’s charming. For example, in the preface, Diamond writes, “In order to keep this book simple, it has seemed best to dispense with notes, which students are unlikely to consult anyway.” And Diamond has done some things a bit different: “Because beginners in a language have enough trouble without being obliged to wrestle with a shifting and often irrational orthography, all Old English texts are presented here in regularized spelling.” I also greatly enjoyed the Modern English translations to all the Old English texts. Diamond says, “Because it is a waste of time for students to guess and to wonder if they have hit upon the correct translation, all Old English texts are here provided with literal facing-page translations.” I found this side-by-side translation immensely helpful. Confident that I knew the correct meaning, I was able to read it slowly and carefully, paying attention to the case and syntax. I think I learned more this way, knowing what it meant and trying to discern why, than I did from other Old English books, trying to figure out what. Finally, this book has provided more information about pronunciation than any other book I’ve read. Here, the book provides a different form for the letter G when it distinguishes between the different ways it’s pronounced in different words. Other books include diacritical marks for the letter G, so that by itself isn’t unusual. However, Diamond also distinguishes between the thorn and the eth, using the thorn only for voiced sounds and the eth only for the unvoiced. I’ve never seen this before—certainly the scribes of the Middle Ages used the two letters interchangeably—but as a modern reader, I greatly benefitted from the visual aid with regard to pronunciation.
All in all, an excellent aid that gives its readers the chance to learn the language by reading original writings in Old English, rather than by reading about Old English. Smart, practical, and endlessly engaging.
Grammar: This section is straightforward and quite brief. As such, it does not weigh us down with all the complexities of the language. Many of the other books I’ve read have long grammar sections at the beginning, while the readings are brief and often relegated to the appendix. This approach is different, as it lays out only the basics that are needed for comprehension, and then it lets readers dive right in to the selections. As fond as I am of grammar, I must say that I found this approach refreshing. After all, language isn’t learnt in a vacuum; it’s an ongoing, practical experience. This was also the approach favored by Thomas Jefferson, an early champion of the Old English language in the United States. Jefferson believed that the best way for students to learn Old English was to give them reading material and let them have a go at it. I have read several books that teach Old English, but this one’s heavy focus on the texts themselves makes it, perhaps, the most interesting way to learn.
Reader: This is possibly the richest collection of Old English texts that I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. There is some history, lifted directly from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as the Preface written by King Alfred the Great to Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care. The poetry section begins with the oldest poem in the English language and continues to include such classics as “The Dream of the Rood,” “The Seafarer,” and “The Wanderer.” Poetry describing battles, religious poems, elegies, wisdom poems, riddles—this collection includes the major Old English genres in a single slender volume.
What makes this book different from the others: I have read several books on Old English, but I’ve never read one quite like this. For one thing, it is rare in a grammar book that the author’s personality shines through, but one’s does, and it’s charming. For example, in the preface, Diamond writes, “In order to keep this book simple, it has seemed best to dispense with notes, which students are unlikely to consult anyway.” And Diamond has done some things a bit different: “Because beginners in a language have enough trouble without being obliged to wrestle with a shifting and often irrational orthography, all Old English texts are presented here in regularized spelling.” I also greatly enjoyed the Modern English translations to all the Old English texts. Diamond says, “Because it is a waste of time for students to guess and to wonder if they have hit upon the correct translation, all Old English texts are here provided with literal facing-page translations.” I found this side-by-side translation immensely helpful. Confident that I knew the correct meaning, I was able to read it slowly and carefully, paying attention to the case and syntax. I think I learned more this way, knowing what it meant and trying to discern why, than I did from other Old English books, trying to figure out what. Finally, this book has provided more information about pronunciation than any other book I’ve read. Here, the book provides a different form for the letter G when it distinguishes between the different ways it’s pronounced in different words. Other books include diacritical marks for the letter G, so that by itself isn’t unusual. However, Diamond also distinguishes between the thorn and the eth, using the thorn only for voiced sounds and the eth only for the unvoiced. I’ve never seen this before—certainly the scribes of the Middle Ages used the two letters interchangeably—but as a modern reader, I greatly benefitted from the visual aid with regard to pronunciation.
All in all, an excellent aid that gives its readers the chance to learn the language by reading original writings in Old English, rather than by reading about Old English. Smart, practical, and endlessly engaging.
March 5, 2022
This book packs an amazing amount into just over 300 pages. It starts with a quick review of pronunciation and spelling, then a fairly thorough grammar review, with paradigms for pronouns, adjectives, nouns and verbs, strong and weak, regular and irregular. The author even has time to give a 20-page exposition on metrics, then off to the readings, starting with prose and moving onto poetry. A lot of classic texts are here: Alfred's Preface to Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Battle of Maldon, The Dream of the Rood. The facing-page translations are excellent; where the Old English idiom varies from modern English, the author gives an intelligible idiomatic translation, but also includes the literal translation in parentheses, which is helpful for the learner. There is an easy-to-use and exhaustive glossary. The spelling is regularized (to "Early West Saxon" the author tells us.)
It would definitely be helpful if the reader has some familiarity with inflected languages.
It would definitely be helpful if the reader has some familiarity with inflected languages.
July 30, 2007
One of two critical books, Wordcraft is an essential dictionary/thesaurus for those studying or attempting to understand the linguistics of Old English.
"Wordcraft New English to Old English Dictionary and Thesaurus" by Stephen Pollington should be treated as a companion book needed for cross referencing terms and words.
"Wordcraft New English to Old English Dictionary and Thesaurus" by Stephen Pollington should be treated as a companion book needed for cross referencing terms and words.
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March 29, 2012This book seriously outclasses Mitchell by a million. If you DO want to learn Anglo-Saxon grammar, and DON'T want to have to speak phonologibberish and care about the preservation West/East/Semi-North Saxon variations of phonogrammatic spellings in order to do so, this book might be a far friendlier face for you.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews