by. Ander-Saxon and New Old English

Sally eskrë »

> This is a question I raise almost every time
> I teach Old English.  What words would you
> bring back and what would they have evolved
> into?
I also have pondered this. In my researches for Jameld, I sometimes came
across OE words, now obsolete, which had Old Frisian/Old Saxon/Old High
German cognates, but which had apparently died out in all the languages.
Needless to say, I endeavoured to resurrect such gems within Jameld.

But this reminds me of one of my favourite Norwegian words, «døgn», which
means "a 24-hour day" or "day and night" (as contrasted with «dag», "day").
It's highly useful in such expressions as «hele døgn» (i.e. "all day and all
night"). I used to wonder what it would have come out as in English if we'd
borrowed it from Old Norse - "dyne", I reckoned would be cool. But someone
said that we have the word as "dawn", which seems a shame. :)

James

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james@zolid.com  James Campbell  Zeugma--Our Life Is Design  www.zolid.com

When I arrive in Memphis, I'll put a sign out on the door:
"It's OK to disturb me, that's what I came here for."
                               Chuck Cuminale (Colorblind James) 1952-2001
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