Posted: Jan 13, 2013 5:57 pm
Spearthrower wrote:
i think the reconstructions are very reasonable though. Things like puns and rhymes provide some level of verification.
Yes. The reconstructions are probably about as good as they can get, and I hope they're close, as it's a joy to listen to how the language might have sounded nevertheless. Still, this leaves me wondering -- if I were to time-travel and show up in an Anglo-Saxon era village, would they understand me well enough if I tried to speak the few words I know? Or would they just think I had a very peculiar accent? Also, I think of the many who spoke this language, but never wrote in it. Literacy was not exactly widespread. Alas that so much is lost.