Hey, just seen this post and am always happy to see more OE enthusiasts!
Just wanted to drop in a quick message to you, as I read in your discussion above about OE survival, because there actually are quite a few texts featuring survival of OE (I'm reading them and writing about them currently) but I do understand what you mean when you say that. Latin is a language used frequently in stationary texts, i.e religious texts, some which might actually not change for considerable periods of time (if ever) and so it remains constant. OE adapted (eventually) into what we speak today and so, yeah, it doesn't have the solidity of Latin, but that ends up being a kind of metamorphosis if you will of language and therefore survival.
There are some (though unfortunately too few) original examples, examples including the Finnsburg Fragment, Widsith, Beowulf (I don't mean in translation), which I am reading from original transcriptions resulting from aural transmissive and receptive traditions developing into secondary oral traditions (telling stories by mouth and ear developing into writing them down). OE originates from a predominantly pre-literatre time, unless you are the Venerable Bede, which is of course why there is so little evidence of it.
It's possible to learn it, according to my tutor (who speaks Icelandic, Latin, German, French Old English and of course Mordern English all fluently), in six months with an accurate level of fluency. I've been reading OE for about two and a half months now and the progress is truely amazing, it's very fulfilling to be using the books less and less when working :-)
Also, a quick (heh, I said quick the first time XD) note on origins of OE and Ð/ð (eth), Þ/þ (thorn) and Æ/æ (ash). They are different, not really by way of pronounciation, but by purpose/usage. Ð/ð is the softer sounding 'th' sound you might use for something like 'the' or 'these', whereas Þ/þ is the harder 'th' pronounced further forward in the mouth with the teeth in words like 'thought' or 'think'. It's almost like the distinction between 'ch' and 'sh' in ME when they are placed in a word and sound the same but with a small difference in strength, idicated by the spelling.
OE comes from, as you rightly said in your post, the Germanic languages owing to the Great Migrations from 3/400 - 6/700AD. This is also why the Icelandic language, mostly Old Norse but even today is in a more modern Nordic translation is so similar, in fact the modern Icelandic alphabet is the closest in use to OE, almost identical (though bit stress on almost) to how the OE was between 300-700AD. OE began as a mixture of Germanic languages including Gothic (now extinct), Swedish, Nordic, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese the list goes on, so while Latin is very important, it isn't the only 'true basis' as it were. Also, don't forget that OE is the language of the Anglo-Saxon who chased the remainng Romans out of 'Britain' (it wasn't really 'Britain' at this point). This is of course were the Celtic, Old Welsh, Roman and other pre-Germanic/Saxon variants roll into the equation, again as you said.
This probably has very little to do with the spells of Merlin fandom, which was the original points of your post, though I do GRIN every time Merlin incants something I recognise, but it's nice to see some enthusiasm and I hope you don't mind me commenting, I think your post is brilliant!
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Just wanted to drop in a quick message to you, as I read in your discussion above about OE survival, because there actually are quite a few texts featuring survival of OE (I'm reading them and writing about them currently) but I do understand what you mean when you say that. Latin is a language used frequently in stationary texts, i.e religious texts, some which might actually not change for considerable periods of time (if ever) and so it remains constant. OE adapted (eventually) into what we speak today and so, yeah, it doesn't have the solidity of Latin, but that ends up being a kind of metamorphosis if you will of language and therefore survival.
There are some (though unfortunately too few) original examples, examples including the Finnsburg Fragment, Widsith, Beowulf (I don't mean in translation), which I am reading from original transcriptions resulting from aural transmissive and receptive traditions developing into secondary oral traditions (telling stories by mouth and ear developing into writing them down). OE originates from a predominantly pre-literatre time, unless you are the Venerable Bede, which is of course why there is so little evidence of it.
It's possible to learn it, according to my tutor (who speaks Icelandic, Latin, German, French Old English and of course Mordern English all fluently), in six months with an accurate level of fluency. I've been reading OE for about two and a half months now and the progress is truely amazing, it's very fulfilling to be using the books less and less when working :-)
Also, a quick (heh, I said quick the first time XD) note on origins of OE and Ð/ð (eth), Þ/þ (thorn) and Æ/æ (ash). They are different, not really by way of pronounciation, but by purpose/usage. Ð/ð is the softer sounding 'th' sound you might use for something like 'the' or 'these', whereas Þ/þ is the harder 'th' pronounced further forward in the mouth with the teeth in words like 'thought' or 'think'. It's almost like the distinction between 'ch' and 'sh' in ME when they are placed in a word and sound the same but with a small difference in strength, idicated by the spelling.
OE comes from, as you rightly said in your post, the Germanic languages owing to the Great Migrations from 3/400 - 6/700AD. This is also why the Icelandic language, mostly Old Norse but even today is in a more modern Nordic translation is so similar, in fact the modern Icelandic alphabet is the closest in use to OE, almost identical (though bit stress on almost) to how the OE was between 300-700AD. OE began as a mixture of Germanic languages including Gothic (now extinct), Swedish, Nordic, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese the list goes on, so while Latin is very important, it isn't the only 'true basis' as it were. Also, don't forget that OE is the language of the Anglo-Saxon who chased the remainng Romans out of 'Britain' (it wasn't really 'Britain' at this point). This is of course were the Celtic, Old Welsh, Roman and other pre-Germanic/Saxon variants roll into the equation, again as you said.
This probably has very little to do with the spells of Merlin fandom, which was the original points of your post, though I do GRIN every time Merlin incants something I recognise, but it's nice to see some enthusiasm and I hope you don't mind me commenting, I think your post is brilliant!
p.s sorry for geeking out all over your journal