The Writings of the Venerable Bede is available now! Read selections from his History, educational treatises, biblical commentaries, homilies, poems, letters, and even a few riddles, all in facing-page translation. Link below ⬇️⬇️

The metrical structure of the poem Beowulf, which at times can seem almost infinitely complicated, has given scholars immense headaches over the past 150 years, leading to extremely creative solutions. Here is an excerpt from a new one, from Minkova and Hayes. Clear as day?

He fits in well here!

One of my favorite instances of cross-lingual reinterpretation is the Old English treatment of the Numidian king Jugurtha. In the Orosius translation, we see the name spelled as “Ġeōweorða,” which would mean ‘long ago + honored’ in Old English.

Before the fight at Finnsburg, King Hnæf tells his soldiers: “Wesaþ on mōde” (‘have courage,’ or more literally: ‘be in your head’). The ‘mōd’ (MnE ‘mood’) was the mind, or the internal life, and having a strong mōd was one of the most important traits a warrior could have.

The Old English way to describe the four elements was ‘þa feower gesceafta’ (the four conditions / creations), being of course: wæter, eorðe, fȳr, and lyft (air). ‘Ġeāra ġēo, þā fēower þēoda wunodon on sibbe and ġeþwǣrnesse. Þā, eal hwurfon þonne sēo Fȳrþēod swōge on.’

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