Any Old English fans about?

[Ballsballsballs]

I'm studying OE at university and have absolutely fallen in love with it. Does anyone else here study OE?

I used to - I miss Aelfric and Alfred and all those guys. It does have a particular beauty to it, doesn't it?

Which texts are you studying for your course?

I did one supervision's worth and a question in my finals but did quite a bit more Old High German. I went to the first lecture on that and knew I was in trouble when he said something like "oh yes and these type VII irregular verbs are cognate with reduplicating verbs in Gothic". Yes well I speak Gothic fluently, of course.

All I remember of OE now is Sweet's primer.

It's a very long time, but u loved Anglo-Saxon, taught myself Icelandic as a result ( not hard, but have of course forgotten). Loved some if the ME too, Gawain esp.

What are you studying?

No. I did an Old language (Old Norse/Old Icelandic) which I loved. Very similar to modern Icelandic (vowel pronunciation is different though amongst other changes) so it meant I'm fairly good at understanding it now. I love the insight into the past.

I did Old and Middle English and Old Norse many many years ago and loved it. Hope you get to read The Seafarer and Dream of the Rood. The riddles are great too.

I'm studying English with Creative Writing. OE is one of 4 courses I'm taking this year (second year).

We've read the Seafarer, the Wanderer, Sermo Lupi and Genesis B. We're currently reading Dream of the Rood. My latest essay was about the Battle of Maldon: Byrhtnoth's speech is amazing.

I knew I'd like OE but completely fell in love with it when I read Wulf and Eadwacer. 'Wulf, min Wulf'

We had a lecture recently about the Vikings and now I want to learn Old Norse and Icelandic... It's made me want to do an MA in Medieval Studies.

I have a graduate degree in mediev languages and LOVED it. I especially loved the Viking poetry though. So achingly romantic (and bloodthirsty).

I'm not much of a fan of Olde English

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.candcgroupplc.com/__data/assets/image/0011/1523/oeslide0.jpg&imgrefurl=www.candcgroupplc.com/brands/ciders/olde-english&h=240&w=520&sz=26&tbnid=-4Fk4iJ4g6U_vM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=195&zoom=1&usg=__kzPoDKCyo2Lq82W2_SllThmO9SI=&docid=IR_7iKEeOlJA2M&sa=X&ei=tvkCU4yPLuLX7AaV7YHoBQ&ved=0CD8Q9QEwAg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Olde English

I love Old English too - I try to include examples of it on my blog when I can. I even managed to squeeze a bit of Old Norse in too, once.

I do like The Wanderer, have you looked at that, OP?

We looked at Wanderer a few weeks ago, I had to translate a particularly gnomic passage about ruined giant's buildings. It really evokes loneliness and the loss of the mead-hall.

I find myself grousing at the TV when presenters talk about the 'Dark Ages'. It makes it sound as if our ancestors were cave people, but the ideas expressed in their literature (and jewellry, weaponry etc) reveals a very sophisticated peole.

I loved The Wanderer , yes those giants' ruins, The Seafarer, the Dream, Edmund ( was it) being stuck with arrows like a hedgehog ( swa swa brylce, iirc), and yes, that speech.

Imagery fantastic. Bede, with our lives being like a sparrow's flight in s great hall out of the storm.

The most wonderful cross with I think the Dream is in a tiny village in Scotland, just over the border from Carlisle. Worth a trek.

Hwaet! We Gardena in Geardegum...

Lovely, lovely. My German and Latin weren't good enough to really get to grips with Old English (or Old Norse), but other old / middle languages were a key part of both my degrees. Happy days. Shame I don't get to use it much these days (I used to be able to swear in 13 languages, not really a key skill in the office).

We've been doing Iudith this week, comparing the poem to Aelfric's homily. She's my new hero :)

Me! I did Old and Middle English at uni. Loved it. Had to translate the Dream of the Rood, The Wanderer, Beowulf...

Fascinating and complicated culture! Loved it.

Cocktail I'm also doing Middle English. OE is my absolute love, but ME is a pretty close second.

I came >< this close to changing my degree so I could write an OE dissertation. Instead I'm going to do an MA

I looked at OE for my dissertation...Can't remember anything about it now though!

I love all old languages, would love to have studied old and middle English at university but went for French and Russian instead (studied medieval French though, loved that too!)...I did study them (and runes) informally at home, why oh why did the thorn and the eth disappear?