The Bitter Scroll

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in the Rhenish Franconian dialect of Old High German. It's called Franconian b/c it was the Germanic dialect spoken by the Franks along the Rhine (hence Rhenish), but since it demonstrates features of the High German Consonant Shift, it is classified linguistically as a dialect of Old High German. Here's the text:

Fater unsêr,
thu in himilom bist,
giuuîhit sî namo thîn,
quaeme rîhhi thîn,
uuerdhe uuilleo thîn,
sama sô in himile endi in erthu.
Broot unseraz emezzîgaz gib uns hiutu,
endi farlâz uns sculdhi unsero,
sama sô uuir farlâzzêm scolôm unserêm,
endi ni gileidi unsih in costunga,
auh arlôsi unsih fona ubile.

Want more? Check out the original AncientWorlds post on Old High German: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/777756

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in the Alemannic dialect of Old High German. Notice the shift of initial b-'s to p-'s, and g-'s to k-'s, as part of the High German Consonant Shift. Here's the text:

Fater unseer,
thu pist in himile,
uuihi namun dinan,
qhueme rihhi din,
uuerde uuillo din,
so in himile sosa in erdu.
prooth unseer emezzihic kip uns hiutu,
oblaz uns sculdi unseero,
so uuir oblazem uns sculdikem,
enti ni unsih firleiti in khorunka,
uzzer losi unsih fona ubile.

Want more? Check out the original AncientWorlds post on Old High German: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/777756

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in the Bavarian dialect of Old High German. Notice the shift of initial b-'s to p-'s, and g-'s to k-'s, as part of the High German Consonant Shift. Here's the text:

Fater unsêr, dû pist in himilum, kawuuîhit sî namo dîn,
piqhueme rîhhi dîn, uuesa dîn uuillo,
sama sô in himile est, sama in erdu.
pilipi unsraz emizzîgaz kip uns eogauuanna,
enti flâz uns unsro sculdi,
sama sô uuir flâzzamês unsrêm scolôm,
enti ni princ unsih in chorunka,
uzzan kaneri unsih fona allêm suntôn.

Want more? Check out the original AncientWorlds post on Old High German: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/777756

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in Icelandic:

Faðir vor; þú sem ert á himnum. Helgist þitt nafn. Til komi þitt ríki. Verði þinn vilji, svo á jörðu sem á himni. Gef oss í dag vort daglegt brauð. Og fyrirgef oss vorar skuldir; svo sem vér og fyrirgefum vorum skuldunautum. Eigi leið þú oss í freistni, heldur frelsa oss frá illu. Amen.

Want more? Check out the AncientWorlds post:
http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/778532

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in the West Saxon dialect of Old English:

Fæder úre, ðú ðe eart on heofonum,
Sí ðín nama gehálgod.
Tó becume ðín rice.
Gewurde ðín willa
On eorþan swá swá on heofonum.
Urne dægwhamlícan hlaf syle ús tódæg.
And forgyf ús úre gyltas,
Swá swá wé forgyfaþ úrum gyltendum.
And ne gelæd ðu ús on costnunge,
Ac álýs ús of yfele. Sóþlice.

Want more? Check out the AncientWorlds post: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/778020

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here's the Lord's Prayer in the ancient language of the Saxons, Old Saxon (Old Low German). I've done the same text in each of several old Germanic languages, so you can listen and compare.

In this version, notice the old Germanic poetic structure of alliterative half-lines. Here's the text:

Fadar ûsa firiho barno,
thu bist an them hôhon himila-rîkea
geuuîhid sî thîn namo uuordo gehuuilico
cuma thîn craftag rîki
uuerþa thîn uuilleo obar thesa uuerold alla
sô sama an erþo sô thar uppa ist
an them hôhon himilo rîkea.

gef ûs dago gehuuilikes râd, drohtin the gôdo,
thîna hêlaga helpa, endi alât ûs hebenes uuard
managoro mênsculdio al sô uue ôþrum mannum dôan
ne lât ûs farlêdean lêþa uuihti
sô forþ an iro uuilleon sô uui uuirþige sind
ac help ûs uuiþar allun ubilon dâdiun.

Want more? Check out the AncientWorlds post: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/777518

Repost from Ancient Worlds: The Gallery of Germanic Languages. Here is the Lord's Prayer in Gothic. Text as follows:

Atta unsar, þu in himinam,
weihnai namo þein,
qimai þiudinassus þeins,
wairþai wilja þeins,
swe in himina jah ana airþai.

Hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga,
jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima,
swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim,
jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin.

Want more? Check out the AncientWorld post: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/777516

This is the original Germanic tongue of the Franks, before they abandoned it for the Romance dialect that would become French. Here's Psalm 61 (60 in Douay-Rheims and King James bibles) read in Old Low Franconian, the Germanic language that is the ancestor of modern Dutch. While Dutch comes from the western dialect of Old Low Franconian, the dialect of this recording was spoken in the late first millennium in the area roughly around Limburg and Aachen, where Charlemagne had his capital.

Here's the text:

2. Gehôri, got, gebet mîn, thenke te gebede mînin.
3. Fan einde erthen te thi riep, so sorgoda herte mîn. An stêine irhôdus-tu mi;
4. Thû lêidos mi, uuanda gedân bist tohopa mîn, turn sterke fan antscêine fiundis.
5. Uuonon sal ic an selethon thînro an uueroldi, bescirmot an getheke fetharaco thînro.
6. Uuanda thu, got mîn, gehôrdos gebet mîn, gâui thu erui forhtindon namo thînin.
7. Dag ouir dag cuningis saltu gefuogan, jâr sîna untes an dag cunnis in cunnis.
8. Foluuonot an êuuon an geginuuirdi godis; ginâthi in uuârhêide sîna uua sal thia suocan?
9. Sô sal ic lof quethan namin thînin an uuerolt uueroldis, that ik geue gehêita mîna fan dage an dag.

Want more? Check out the original post on AncientWorlds: http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/778538

Part 1 of 2 episodes going through the Dream of the Rood in OE and translation. Some music by Scythian. (The picture is of the Ruthwell Cross, which has a line from the poem carved in runes on it.)
CORRECTION: Despite what I say during the program (twice!), Scythian's website is actually www.scythianmusic.com. Sorry, lads!

First in a series of podcasts about old Germanic languages and literature. Ever wondered what the language of the lost Gothic tribes sounded like? Today we start the series with a poem JRR Tolkien composed in Gothic.

First in a series of podcasts about old Germanic languages and literature. Ever wondered what the language of the lost Gothic tribes sounded like? Today we start the series with a poem JRR Tolkien composed in Gothic.