Old English words we should bring back

[@RobWords]

Know any more old words we should resurrect? Comment below. And🌏get NordVPN's 2Y plan + 4 months free here ➼ nordvpn.com/robwordsvpn It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌

[@cool_guy87]

Love this! Made a note so I can start using them soon!

[@jcortese3300]

Fullthungen == perfect as a calque, too -- "completely made." That's really cool! And I think it we have uhtceare, then we also need uhtdream as well -- that's the feeling of waking up on a Saturday morning when you can take your time and wake up slowly. 🙂

[@gary.h.turner]

I think we should start greeting each other again with the phrase "Blithe willspell!" (literally, "pleasant tidings!")

[@KGTiberius]

Bassackwards = Ass Backwards.

[@cysshorts1529]

You should definitely make a video titled "..so I made a conlang"

[@BFRandall]

"Selfdom" is one of my favorites. It's your self-kingdom. The essence of one's self. Individuality. Independence.

[@jakubsedlak2173]

Selfdom needs bringing back? I thought it was a commonly used word.

[@RockandrollNegro]

"Selfdom" never fell out of usage. Maybe out of extremely common usage, but it's still fairly well-used in fiction and legalese.

[@TastingHistory]

Ah! Thanks for the shoutout! I love your channel 🎉

[@RobWords]

My pleasure! Given the context, it would have been mad not to mention Max Miller's marvellous medieval mead making. Keep up the fantastic work.

[@CodyRockLee13]

​@@RobWordsAstounding alliterative abundance on display, well done.

[@domaniac9119]

@@RobWords Old English poetry at its best.

[@IxiaClover]

i was thinking most people on this channel probably already have at least come across your vids haha

[@MrsPapey]

As an archaeologist, I already use 'earthfast' on a regular basis - it is used for a post which has been dug into the ground so that it stands up without needing support. But I like the idea of it being used for people as well as posts!

[@GarfieldRex]

Old English and Latin just sound so gooooood, they deserve to be taught at schools.

[@Polska_Edits]

Both are useless langauges. The only reason Latin has any value because we gave it value. In some years, Latin will probbaly be useless too Of course, they are cool to preserve, but the average person would be better off not being taught not only a third langauge in school, but a largely useless one...

[@ennbee]

“Wondersmith” is like the public domain word for “Imagineer.” I love it!

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

I find it actually kind of disrespectful as great art never comes from a miracle, but from finely honed talent and endless hours of improving your skills... mastercrafter or something in that vein would be more acknowledging on "there never fell a master from the heavens" as we like to say in Germany ;)

[@welkyn5]

My fav too

[@thedogfather5445]

Earthfast is still in use. We use it in archaeology to describe a rock or boulder that is immovably set into the ground.

[@meadow-maker]

yeah, I thought so.

[@thorstenjaspert9394]

As German I derdrs erdfest. Fest in der Erde stehend ​@@Skeptimystic

[@dasgellendehorn1393]

I grew up in a very remote area in austria with an often outdated language. we used the word "aschling" for going backward. backward with the horses for instance. today we use "rückwärts" "backwards", but grandfather used "aschling", going backwards was "in aschling". he drove the car "in aschling"

[@chrisinnes2128]

Arselings is a word that I've heard used

[@RobWords]

Superb! That's it.

[@keyem4504]

I would have used "ärschlings". Not very common and sounds rude to me, but I guess Germans would understand what it means. The -lings suffix build adverbs and is still common like in "rücklings (from behind)", "bäuchlings (on your belly)"

[@chrisinnes2128]

No i have heard in used in English

[@Chris-mf1rm]

@@chrisinnes2128it was used by one of the Anglo-Saxon warriors in the TV series of the Last Kingdom. He used it to refer to a young prince. I assumed it was a play on Ætheling. Could be where you heard it.

[@halo7oo]

I think "wordhasty" & "wondersmith" are the best of the list, I could totally see using them without anyone asking questions.

[@mebamme]

My thoughts exactly! That and "earthfast".

[@hobi1kenobi112]

I read this somewhere else but a suitable OE word for a modern airport would be the far more charming 'flyhaven'.

[@RobWords]

Let's try it. Maybe see if we can slip a morrowsorrow past (I'm starting to think that word sounds more like a hangover).

[@RobWords]

@hobi1kenobi112 Sure would! Airport is Flughafen in German, which means "flight harbour", but haven and Hafen have the same root.

[@marryof995]

@@hobi1kenobi112 so basically the german word for airport, Flughafen.

[@athelonus]

As a Swedish speaker I find myself missing the word Overmorrow, meaning the day after tomorrow, as I use the Swedish equivalent a lot: övermorgon

[@OsZ_DJ]

Same in German with "Übermorgen" or likewise 2 days back "Vorgestern"

[@queenWillowwww3893]

There’s also ereyesterday; meaning the day before yesterday. This actually leads to two words that don’t technically exist, but are synonymous with ‘today’; overyesterday and eremorrow

[@thirzalebbink402]

W e have this in Dutch too, 'overmorgen' and 'eergisteren'

[@martijn3151]

@@thirzalebbink402 indeed "day after tomorrow" or "the day before yesterday" are just way too many words :)

[@TheZINGularity]

Finnish also has "Ylihuomenna" for Overmorrow & "Toissapäivänä" for the day before yesterday.

[@alejandrovilla6565]

I think the word "overmorrow" would be a great addition as well!

[@doomsdayrabbit4398]

Ereyesterday and overmorrow need to be brought back.

[@alejandrovilla6565]

@@doomsdayrabbit4398 definitely, "bedwards" would also be a fun one (talks about when you are about to go sleep - I'm heading bedwards)

[@fily-jpg]

@@alejandrovilla6565 underrated

[@Ciurk]

@@alejandrovilla6565 sounds a lot like a certain minecraft minigame

[@Memories_in_Chains]

In Germany we say übermorgen which means day after tomorrow which basically is overmorrow

[@AriSolMorningstar]

I never realised how beautifully poetic Old English is, it's soooo cool

[@leowa399]

One of the reasons so many German poets became popular is the way you can put a lot of emotions into words through creating them yourself

[@Gertyutz]

Middle English is also beautiful. We read "The Canterbury Tales " in its original Middle English in college.

[@renerpho]

There is a bit of bias, because many of the words come from works of poetry, rather than transcripts of everyday conversations. But it definitely was a beautiful language, and many of the words in the video were probably "real".

[@RandomWandrer]

These words are almost Dutch. Closer to Dutch than English.

[@72Yonatan]

It has a rhythm that does seem to have been lost in the modern tongue.

OMG! A word to describe those placid beautiful dragons flying at dawn... as opposed to the pesky noisy ones who fly at dusk. Absolutely taking this one with me. So happy I can finally describe different flying dragons!

[@mineccraftn00b]

As a dane it is interesting to hear these old english words as many of them are closer to modern danish than modern english. It reaaly shows the common germanic origin of the languages.

[@meadow-maker]

yeah, we gained French but lost a lot in return. Shame we can't have both in the way we have both 'begin' and 'commence'.

[@martonnemeth7348]

So much more valuable lost words and concepts behind Old English that are still available in Scandinavian languages (and a bit also in German and Dutch), than the benefits with french words. Loosing of origins vs getting sophisticated aristocratic expressions, not a good result in my view..

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

Well it's not that surprising as the tribes that went over to conquer Britain were Angles and Saxons from modern Schleswig Holstein and Jutes from the area nother of that in "Jütland" the danish Main... 1500 years ago that was pretty much all one culture with danes and at least nothern german tribes in what's now germany... more southerly and along the rhine they had interacted far more with romans and kelts...

[@zeragito]

In Swedish, the literal translation of earthfast would be jordfäst, which has a very different meaning: it's an old fashioned way of saying buried. The closest equivalent (in meaning) to earthfast in Swedish would be jordnära (earthnear) which means down to earth.

[@OhadLutzky]

Wordhasty is absolutely gorgeous, works as a noun too! "We'd have gotten away with it, but for your wordhaste."

[@Fayanora]

Winegeomor is a great one. In our culture, we don't value friends as much as we should, or at least not in our vocabulary. I've long thought we need a word for grieving the loss of a friend, or for the loss of a friendship. I have mourned my best friend every day since she died in 2019.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

This is something I've felt too as someone who can speak Japanese. Japanese has a few more ways to express love, but ironically, Japanese people often verbalize this emotion a lot less. In English, it's very common to use "I love you" almost as a farewell to family members. In Japan, that would actually be kind of weird because people don't really use the equivalents for "love" or even "like" on their family like that. Anyway, I think more expressions for companionship (romantic or otherwise) would be great overall. It's a bit weird to me that we seem to lose these kinds of words as we progress in time. Idk if that's true.

[@AbWischBar]

In Danish, friend is still “ven” and “uvenner” are friends which temporarily have fallen out. For me as a German that was a nice new word, because it does not equal to enemy, which would be “fjend”. It just means the special bond isn’t there right now … or no more.

[@addebesi]

Arselong was definitely a word we used at school back in the 1970s (25 miles northwest-ish of London, Hertfordshire/Essex border). Usually referring to falling or making a fool of oneself: kind of the opposite of headfirst

[@Fetherko]

"Seat of the pants pilot" translated badly to the cosmonauts.

[@swedneck]

my favourite poo fighters song

[@matthewmencel5978]

in America, we have "backassward" and "ass-backwards" to kind that sort of thing. When people are doing something completely wrong...

[@DawnDavidson]

@@matthewmencel5978we always said “bassackwards” 😂

[@malteseowl]

@EllieDYorks We did indeed 🙂.

[@hermione3muller674]

German here, the German Traum for Old English dream still means both dream and joy.

[@Channel-zb1fi]

I'm from Denmark. And I can understand 90% of the words. In Danish we have ven meaning friend, fjende meaning foe, skab meaning ship. We also use the word uven to describe a person who you have had a falling out with, llatter means laughter in Danish. Some of the other words are not ones we use in spoken Danish however they make total sense.

[@mastercko]

oh, huh, now that I think about it, I guess one could say "un-wine" has wriggled its way back into modern English by way of social media's "unfriend", I suppose. It's using the other root word for friend, since we don't use "wine" anymore and it is mostly used as a verb describing the action, not a noun describing the person, but hey, it's still kinda there.

[@peggyjones3282]

My husband is a soldier. He liked the word "warfaith." It's a different type of bond and trust when you've served together in combat.

[@renerpho]

Old English's ability to form compound words like this rivals German!

[@bartrolloos4204]

Being a Dutch hobby philologist, I find Old English remarkably easy to follow. Fun!

[@JeeWeeD]

Yes, I recognise so much of our language in these words!

[@rattlehead9127]

As an English speaker, that makes me a bit jealous. I'm happy you're able to appreciate it, but to a modern English speaker, Old English may as well be a completely different language.

[@Handwithaface]

@@rattlehead9127 It *is* a completely different language than modern English.

[@germantoenglish898]

Some idiot drove arselong into my car this morning.

[@Tyrannosaurus_Wrexx]

I’m going to start using that. lol

[@royalroyal2210]

Perhaps he/she is having some kind of a morrowsorrow?

[@germantoenglish898]

@@royalroyal2210 He should do that in bed. lol

[@mariascheu817]

🤣For your comment -😭For the fact

[@bignumbers]

Sounds like something my dad would say

[@smivan.]

I actually like "dawndread" more than "morrowsorrow". Good video! And also yes, Max Miller's videos are a delight, good shoutout.

[@5hiftyL1v3a]

Rural Australia - Arselong is already a word used sorta like you describe. Sorta similar to 'Head over Heals' or 'Arse over Tit' - so if you fell over coming home from the pub you might say 'I fell arselong into the ditch'. Has a degree of 'ungraceful and chaotic' too it. Also used is 'Arsebackwards' - 'wrong but particularly so' - if you were making something from a drawing and you got it upside down AND mirrored, or followed an upside down wiring diagram you would say that you got it 'arsebackwards'.

[@bentrig9128]

I absolutely love this. Theres a depth and sturdiness to these words that modern English often fails to capture. The merger with French added a unique dynamism and spontaneity to the language - but it was at a cost to these "earthfast" concepts which reach back to our cultural beginnings. I freaking love "earthfast" btw

[@hobi1kenobi112]

We sacrificed nature and life for courtly pomp. 😢

[@MarkDDG]

As a Dutch speaker, I often understand the words before they are explained. Many of these old English words are similar to old/middle Dutch or even modern Dutch words. It often fascinates me how similar English and Dutch are in certain aspects. Even with the Norman invasion of England and the way that the English language changed. The Dutch language was also influenced a lot by French, during this and later periods, often in the same way. There are also ways that Dutch was influenced by French but English wasn’t. Although Dutch and English are quite similar to each other nowadays, in the past they would’ve been even more similar, I suppose. 😊

[@neilog747]

I've read somewhere that English and Dutch were mutually understandable until about 700 years ago.🙂

[@thorstenjaspert9394]

Without the Normans English would be more similar to Dutch, Frisian Low Low German German .

[@capusvacans]

@@neilog747 A lot of it still is, often it's just about swapping or removing a vowel or a consonnant. Eg. the following dutch phrase should be pretty easy to understand for any english speaker with an IQ higher than that of a carrot: "Ik drink melk." And no, i'm not gonna write the translation, if you cannot figure it out, well, ...

[@glendodds3824]

@@capusvacans Hi. thanks for you comment. In addition to being closely related to Dutch, English is of course also closely related to Afrikaans. For example, 'I miss you' in Afrikaans is "Ek mis jou."

[@capusvacans]

@@glendodds3824 Yep, Afrikaans is derived directly from dutch. Apart from some words and grammar like the double negation Afrikaans is pretty much perfectly comprehensible for dutch speakers. I'm pretty sure it's going to be harder to understand for an english speaker. Eg. "Ek mis jou" in dutch is "Ik mis jou".

[@KingOfSciliy]

1. Wintrue (closer to the original and still conveys the right feeling with words that still hold similar meaning). "I like my friend, there is so much wintrue between us.") 2. Redword 3. Rouncrafty (Roun is an obscure but modern descendant of the word distinct from rune) 4. Wondersmith 5. Whaleway 6. Earthfast 7. Meaddream 8. Arselong 9. Utcare? (similar harken to "utmost") 10. Fullthrongen (maybe a bit too obtuse, but I feel it conveys the meaning still)

[@FenceThis]

but the ‘ut’ in utmost has got nothing to do with dawn, it’s derived from out, here as a superlative prefix; farthest, ultimate, highest degree of

[@mastercko]

I don't think we really have a word or usage of "win/wine" that means friend the same way anymore (outside of when it is used in names). The "win" of "to win" or the "win" of "winsome" (the only two I can think of) are from different roots ("to struggle/exert effort" and "joy", respectively).

[@starlingsuckatshorts]

I literally just thought that it should be redword

[@matriz_83]

You know, as an Italian living in UK, I do immensely appreciate your passion and hard work you put into these videos. I find them fascinating and even though your whimsical "crusades" might come across as dystopical at times (i.e. wanting to reintroduce lost words or alphabets) I personally think it's important that people like you still exist in today's world, where we tend to simplify everything and lose the beautiful richness of language (and making us every day closer to that nightmare Orson Welles described so vividly in 1984). So, well done Rob and keep that going! ❤

[@barryberkmanblock]

I love morrowsorrow! But as soon as you called it "dawndread," I was like "oh I'm incorporating that into my speech immediately"

[@Cromeman82]

walrus, still means "horse whale" btw. In German, Walross, Ross is just a fancy name for horse...

[@brigidsingleton1596]

I've heard of 'hros' for horse - though I don't recall its origin. (?) 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿😏🇬🇧🙂❤️🖖

[@amandaburnham8626]

I'm not arguing here btw... but I only knew of pferd. I also only took a year of German am college, so I definitely don't know everything. I explain my knowledge as "if I'm dropped somewhere in Germany, I know enough to survive".

[@TheYuvimon]

​@@amandaburnham8626German here 👋 Pferd is the common word for horse, "Ross" is outdated if not exactly archaic; it is understood yet not used much. Ross has a certain prestige associated with it, like a Ross is going to be at least a decent horse.

[@amandaburnham8626]

@TheYuvimon that would make sense. We were studying modern German and not how the language evolved. The upper levels were apparently studying the way it changed over time based on the other class my professor said he was teaching. The only man I know who can pull off a bow tie better than Matt Smith lol

[@AJansenNL]

The Dutch still spell it 'walrus'.

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

2:23 German still has that: Feindschaft. Actually, I wonder, as I'm starting this video, how many of those words can be perfectly translated into modern German...? In German, these terms would be: Freundestreue, worthastig, raunkräftig, Wunderschmied, Walweg, erdfest, Mettraum, arschlängs, uchtekar, (the last one I can't find an equivalent to). Although some of the words are only regional now or part of compounds, like kar, which we still use in Karfreitag (Good Friday).

[@limelorax]

Germans not making highly specific words for 5 minutes challenge (impossible).

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

@@limelorax 😂😂😂

[@pjalne]

We still have unwine in Norway. Well, "uvenn". And it does mean unfriend (n). Like, "we had an argument and now we're unfriends."

[@red.aries1444]

The term "hydig" could be very well translated into "sinnig" and you have "wahnsinnig", "leichtsinnig", "tiefsinnig", "trübsinnig", "feindsinnig". Even the word "kleinsinnig" most Germans would understand, but for this we prefer "kleingeistig".

[@red.aries1444]

@@limelorax We might not drinking a lot of mead anymore, but after some beer or wine we still become "bier/wein-selig" and create new words. 🙂

[@human_brian]

Asslong is a slang word in certain midwestern US dialects already and means exactly what you described, going butt first. In usage: 'Bob fell asslong into the creek last night after having too many beers.'

[@dillonramos760]

I lived in the South for a long while and it was used there too! I was wondering why it felt so familiar!

[@garryferrington811]

In Michigan, we had "ass first."

[@dillonramos760]

@@garryferrington811 I definitely use this one, too!

[@beorlingo]

The Swedish word for backwards is baklänges. Bak is synonymous to butt.

[@danielemmons412]

was coming here to make the same comment, my mother would use asslong a lot. She was from the Midwest.

[@PetiP-bu2yx]

There is the german verb "raunen", meaning to whisper, to murmur. It is used in a context when secrets are being told in a low voice. Thank you Rob for your great work! It is always an enormous pleasure to listen to your explanations

[@maewest719]

19:38 "Jordfast" exist in norwegian today. "Jord" means "soil"/"land". Jord=eard "Fast" in this context means "stuck" (in other contexts it can also mean "firm) Fast=fæst. "Jordfast" in norwegian means "stuck in soil/land"

[@migrantfamily]

I’m Swedish and many of these still get plenty of use in their Swedish versions - connecting two words to make a new one comes very naturally in Swedish . Earthfast would be jordfast meaning someone who is rooted in their home soil, but jordfästa means fasten to the earth or bury.

[@RobWords]

Both are beautiful.

[@NavnUkjent]

@@RobWords We also have "jordfast" in Norwegian. In addition we have "veggfast" or "wallfast". It's often used to describe everything that is installed in a house or flat, so that it's hard to remove when moving out. If you are buying a flat or house, it will often include all "veggfaste" things.

[@beorlingo]

Arselong - baklänges

[@meadow-maker]

we have grounded already which means the same as your second spelling, in a way.

[@Redhotsmasher]

@@Joakim7471 "unwine" is "ovän".

[@naomilangevin3944]

I love that people are always people. Having friends, feeling deep emotions, naming foods after how obviously they look like body parts. Just like modern people.

[@rcrawford42]

The origin of "avocado" is hilarious.

[@gracewenzel]

Thank you for this Rob! While watching, I tried guessing what the Old English words meant before you gave us the meaning- I was right more often than I’d expected to be! It’s so cool hearing Old English words casually spoken. They’re different yet very familiar.

[@RobWords]

YES! Strange, yet familiar. That's precisely it.

[@burg0110]

@@RobWords Is there an old English word for 'Strange yet familiar' us modern upstarts can flog?

[@ZestonN]

​​@@burg0110There's gotta be! Closest I can think, right now, is Surreal. But, that's probably not accurate.

[@DataLal]

​@@ZestonNAlas, "surreal" is absolutely from Latin, not Old English.

[@alexmckee4683]

Halfheimlich or halfcanny would be my suggestion, half familiar or half-known, strange yet familiar.

[@roterfrosch5808]

Feond = Feind Treow= Treue gebyldig=geduldig craeftig = kräftig Sehr verständlich.😊

[@icecreamtruckog3667]

In Icelandic a poem is Ljóð. Run is rúnir or rún and is someone that knows well how to write and read runes (and people that could read and write runes were believed to be magical). Weg in German means road and also vegur Icelandic has the same meaning. Sorrow is Sorg in Icelandic. In Icelandic the word Þungur means heavy so the word Fullþungen would be more like as heavy as it can possibly get. And what is currently spoken is Iceland and Faroe Islands is the closest you can get to what people spoke in north Europe 1000 to 1500 years ago.

[@ciankeith3999]

In modern Gaeilge (Irish), the word for 'secret' is still 'rún' (pronounced like rune). I suspect it's also from the Vikings, but it's very cool to see the links between Old English, Norse and Gaelic languages that still somewhat exist!

[@talideon]

It's likely cognate, but not an Old Norse borrowing. It's recorded too early, IIRC, to be a borrowing. Mind you, Irish borrowed plenty of words from ON, but that was during the Middle Irish period mostly.

[@MaxHohenstaufen]

celtic languages have different roots of german ones.

[@agnidas5816]

Irish probably adopted the name of runes to mean unknown since they could not read the runes. It's a descriptor from interacting - not borrowing an existing meaning but making up a new one

[@christianwithers7335]

No. The Celts and the Scandis only went their separate says 5000 years ago, so there are plenty of cognate words, Dad and Taid for example, numbers etc.

[@christianwithers7335]

No Max

[@ages6592]

The last word still exists in Swedish, it’s ”Fullgången”, generally used only for babies/pregnancies which go to term. But it’s closely related to “Fulländad” which means absolutely perfect 🤩

[@77slevins_video_channel]

Feondscipe is still in our current Dutch as vijandschap.

[@danielimmortuos666]

Fiendship is such a cool word, I wish English still had that

[@eivindkaisen6838]

In Norwegian too: Fiendskap

[@brixidarc5427]

In German: Feindschaft

[@phygs]

@@danielimmortuos666 we do have "enmity"

[@シロダサンダー]

@@danielimmortuos666 No reason not to bring it back :)

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

Your video is very beautiful, in the pre-Norman period going back in time, in the high archaic Middle Ages until the Central Middle Ages, many Germanic languages were practiced in a pure way in the British Isles after the Germanic invasion, such as Saxon, Jute and Anglo, with the Saxon is a German regiolect, Jute and Anglo are Danish regiolects. Before them, the Frisians were already on the island and were also able to understand all 3 groups and among them the Saxons, especially because Saxony and Frisia are sister and neighboring regions.

[@lordpetrolhead477]

I’ll have rewatch this again overmorrow

[@Fortepiano666]

So cool that Max Miller mentioned you, and you mentioned Max!! I’m a big fan of you both .

[@gregwochlik9233]

Nice video. I am a "closet conlanger" (amateur constructed (fictional) language creator). This video feels like a conlang: different "logic" to our standard english. -- Which is nice. I am in the "bring back thor, eth, ash, ethyl" team (þ, ð, æ, œ). I use and abuse them in my conlang!

[@leslieaustin151]

Aresling.. my Mum used to talk about “asscumfust” (arse come first) to mean “backwards” or misunderstood. “They’ve got it all asscumfust”. Sounds somewhat similar… maybe it’s a bit of Worcestershire dialect. I enjoyed the video Rob, thank you for continually reminding us of that which we’ve lost. Les

[@pietmanz]

As a Dutchman, I especially like your videos on Old English, as there are so many words I recognise - not only the ones you highlighted as being similar to Dutch. Trouw (faithful), vast (fixed), gang (hallway/tunnel) to name a few... Thank you for your many interesting videos! ❤

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

As a Dutch/English bilingual I was pleasantly semi-surprised by the amount of words or parts of words I could recognize.

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

Oh my goodness, the Max Miller recommendation made me jump because both Rob Words and Tasting History are two of my favorite channels. I never expected one to be in the other.

[@zsoltontube]

A crossover episode would be cool.

[@SassyyjuicyMaria]

@@zsoltontube Yes please

[@HLR4th]

It is great when our novel interests intersect!

[@i.b.640]

Yes! PLEASE!

[@DawnDavidson]

*raising my hand* for a Max Miller/Rob Words crossover! Medieval cooking words, perhaps?

[@davidjames6879]

I find it interesting, at least in my mind, old English seems quite removed from the English we use today, yet Rob always finds logical and interesting connections that help see how it has transformed and sometimes morphed into recognizable words and letters today.

[@tommunyon2874]

My 7th grade English teacher (back during the Kennedy administration) would quote to us in Old & Middle English. He never gave us a word-for-word translation, however. He gave a general gist of the subject matter. I like the analysis of the individual words given here.

[@bonnarlunda]

Morrowsorrow was the one I liked best. About sorrow (or sorg). In Swedish there is a word that might be thought of as "aboutsorrow" (omsorg) which means to care or take care of (mostly) people in some kind of need around you.

[@tomsimpson357]

I didn’t know hard and fast meant fixed… Im even learning about modern English right now, this is great.

[@colinjackson3662]

Great stuff Rob! I Too am a Brit living in Germany and am going to have alot of fun slipping some of these words into conversations and seeing what my friends do when they later try and find a translation 😂

[@simonkoster]

On Fullthungen: in Dutch we speak of a "Voldongen feit" refering to a fact that is established beyond doubt.

[@glvarner]

Nord VPN has never had a classier advertisement. Well done.

[@delikatessbruhe9843]

You just made me go back to watch an ad and I'm not even mad.

[@AlmightyRawks]

I've been enjoying your channel for years! For me it's weird that German comparisons are chosen when oftentimes Dutch would be so much closer. In this video 'geduldig' is both Dutch and German, interestingly enough! But I recognized a great deal of the Old English in existing Dutch. Endlessly fascinating!

[@RobWords]

Ah, sorry about that. It's just because I live in Germany and know German better. I'll try to get more Dutch references in.

[@hammermorify]

I could add: why do you refer to words as german and not old norse?

[@JacobODell_]

The editor deserves a raise, the little details in this video is amazing, they're a true wondersmith

[@arkemiffo]

Fun fact. The word "Fastland" is still a Swedish word, regularly used. It doesn't mean fortified area though, but larger landmass. If you're on an island you could go to the "fastland", which would be the actual land. I also believe that Faest- is related to our "Fäste" which means firmament, or nest. It's most likely also related to "Fästning", which is a fortified building, like a caste.

[@08ruben69]

Same use of the word in Norway

[@walkir2662]

Yep, German uses Festland for the main land when islanders talk about it.

[@RealConstructor]

In Dutch the word is Vasteland, with the same meaning as in Swedish.

[@londongael414]

I suspect "mainland" has a similar deep meaning. If you think of "maintain" as something you tenir/hold firmly in your main/hand, and the importance of land tenure (there we go again) in history, you can see it. As someone from a small island, I like the idea that "mainland" might not mean "most important land", but simply the land which was easier to hang on to.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

In English, the word 'fastness' has an archaic alternate definition with the same meaning as 'Fästning'. It usually carries the connotation of being not just fortified but also geographically elevated, as in a fort guarding a mountain pass, or at the top of an easily-defensible steep-sided hill.

[@ramon_rcg]

As someone who likes to read Tolkien books, in which there are dozens and dozens of Old English (and Gothic) names, I'd love a video on Old English pronunciation. Have hou ever thought about making one? There seens to be too many different opinions on OE pronunciation on the internet and I wish there's was a more trustworthy video on the matter.

[@nHans]

Listening to the dozens of different ways Modern English is pronounced-I mean, there are so many regional accents just within England-I would assume there was no one standard dialect of Old English either. In fact, despite the Medieval period having less people overall, I'd conclude that there were _more_ varieties of dialects and accents. Communities were more insular, most people were illiterate, and they traveled and mixed far less than in later times. The truth is-absent any actual audio recordings from a thousand years ago-nobody knows for sure how people spoke in those days. Every expert's opinion is, at best, an educated guess-with a large margin of error.

[@kfrommirrorland]

Try Simon Roper. He has a lot on Old English.

[@RobWords]

I struggle with the pronunciation myself. I got one or two of these wrong (e.g. I said HAT-HYORT for hātheort when it should have had a long A). But I'm working on it! Once I get it nailed, I'll do a video.

[@ramon_rcg]

@@RobWords Thank you very much, I really appreciate it! I know there were more than just one OE "accent" (not sure that's the right word for it), like the W/G for Old French, but I guess there were also a lot of "universal rules" when it comes to OE pronunciation.

[@garryferrington811]

According to that somewhat unreliable source, wikipedia, the American south had 150 distinct dialects. These must have come from the British isles, so Britain must have had a lot of them. Today there are five. By the way, "y'all" didn't show up until the very late nineteenth century. Apparently some evangelical pastor was being cute, and it caught on.

[@bliblablu]

Great video. My personal favourites among Old English words are 'elfscyne', meaning 'elf-beautiful' (elfschön in German) and 'gebeorscipe', meaning 'beer-party' in English, although I find it funnier when 'etymologically' translated into German, which would give 'Gebierschaft'.

[@EleanoRa99]

I love that there were so many words to describe types of friendships and agree we should bring them back!

[@Basilisks666]

Not a native speaker but I like germanic languages so it's very fun to always watch your enthusiastical videos❤

[@genegreigh8913]

The countervailing criteria of wordcraft are clarity, brevity, and poetry. While "miracle-worker" contemporaneously enjoys precedence over "wondersmith," three syllables are usually preferable to five. On the other hand, for a poet, depending on the meter one means to meet... in re "any more old words": I've aggressively used both ravel and anon for decades now.

[@jaapverhoeven422]

'full-thungen': see also modern Dutch 'voldongen' which means exactly that

[@LuckeGabriel]

This channel has become one of those where you go back and watch every video and then never miss any new uploads. Love it!

[@migueldominguez2590]

As a non-native speaker and perpetual learner of this beautiful language, I can only say that I love you and thank you for so much knowledge put through your effort at our fingertips. Blessings!!!

[@stefanm67]

Honestly Rob, I would give you half a dozen thumbs up per video if it were possible to do so. You really do deserve the number of views you get. Thank you so much for making your videos. I love them ❤

[@Elesario]

One of my favourite quotes, "A good friend will help you move, but a true friend will help you move a body."

[@wordytoed9887]

Thank you, sir Rob! Your vigor for etymology and linguistics inspires me continue my interests in the endless interests of language.

[@FriedeSeiMitDir]

"Arschling" is still used in some parts of Bavaria, same meaning as earsling.

[@DieterHenkel]

In Austria, too. "Arschlings"

[@michaelprohr]

Wow, seeing dream as joy in Old English makes a lot of sense into how it could have made it's way into many of the modern uses. A person can sleep and have a dream, but if someone were to ask, "do you have any dreams?" Usually that means do you have anything you aspire to or hopes you have to make yourself feel happy or content with life.

[@juliebrady8583]

You've lifted my spirits. Started listening to this whilst crying but almost smiled at the whale jokes. Thanks.

[@ChelleC33]

The word ‘arselong’ is used here (Adelaide, Australia)

[@DawnDavidson]

Arselong does sound like an Aussie word! Maybe why it sounded perfectly natural to my inner “ear.” I have Aussie friends who might plausible have used it!

[@Piime667]

15:00 In Dutch we have 'aarzeling' meaning 'hesitation'. If you are without 'aarzeling' you are determined/without doubt and moving forwards (instead of going backwards). Same etymology as 'aersling'.

[@RusNad]

Both come from arse but the ling parts are not the same origin

[@meadow-maker]

oh, an arseling sounds very different to an English ear. I like it! 🤣That's on my list of new words for certain! We already say 'arsing', 'stop arsing around and get on with your work!' 'You're always arsing around, you!'

[@meadow-maker]

@@RusNad '-ling' in English is supposed to be diminutive but, to my ear it's always a person or thing, like 'Earthling'.

[@RusNad]

@@meadow-maker In this case I think Rob is right that it actually corresponds to the modern suffix -long instead of -ling, being the opposite of headlong. The Dutch suffix -ling modifies the verb into a noun. So aarzelen as a verb is literally arsing, and the corresponding noun aarzeling would be something like an arsening. But today it just means a doubt or hesitation and no one would ever suspect it to be vulgar in any way.

[@mesechabe]

And in American English probably you also have it in British English. There is the lovely “ass-backwards.”

[@TheSteveBoyd]

"Arselong" and "wondersmith" are two that I can see myself incorporating into my daily speech and/or writing.

[@RealConstructor]

In Dutch we have a nickname for a dentist called smoelensmid. Smoel is slang for mouth and smid is smith.

[@ShaggyTea]

People actually still use the word 'arselong' in some parts of the North of England! (perhaps other places too but I wouldn't know). Its used to just mean "going backwards" or "being hit in the back" but its also used to refer to when someone goes into a situation ill prepared or stupidly (not looking where you're going), as oppose to 'headlong's implication of hastiness.

[@Boater_Jessie]

Old English sounds beautiful! I'm reading Philippa Gregory's Normal Women and have just learned that the Anglo Saxon word for wives was 'peace-weavers' which is lovely I think.

[@hobi1kenobi112]

Oh that's lovely. The Peace Weavers could be a film title. ❤

[@meatmoneymilkmonogamyequal5583]

I feel like we've lost a lot of interesting words from Old English. Your video really makes this clear!

[@TheFirstGhirn]

Wondersmith; fits what you do on KZbin quite well.

[@BatAskal]

Thank you for sharing this with us. It's sad that we lost these hearty and rich expressions. Borrowing so many foreign terms made English 'cold' and inhuman-like that we are literally 'loss at words' to describe experiences we all humans share. Reminds me of a New Yorker comedian George Carlin's take on the power of language of how terms evolved over time to become more cold and authoritative from the word 'shell-shocked' back in 1900's to 'Post traumatic stress disorder' in our present time.

[@qirex3093]

Love how you’ve included extra words throughout the advert section🥰

[@eaanaoea]

What an absolute relieve this video. I thought I was crazy thinking about words, creating words, onomatopoeicaly, to describe qualities, effects, etc... Very exhausting. The whole "me dictation" process. I tried reading the dictionary... Helped momentarily but stressed me also. I needed to know the formula to make words that explained themselves. Auto-something words, can't remember. Haven't slept yet...

[@sarameitner6770]

Thanks for this, Rob. Speaking both English and German, it's easy to see where the words came from -when you look at how they have developed into modern use in German and Scandinavian languages.

[@kitcutting]

Your explanation of “runecrafty” really hearkens back to the old days of RuneScape Classic for me. There was a quest in the game called “Rune Mysteries,” whose name could possibly allude to some of the connections you were making. Great video as always, and thanks for the memories, Rob.

[@torstenmiertsch4267]

A very nice Old English word is acweorna, which was used for the squirrel, especially the red squirrel. The word acweorna directly corresponds to the German word for squirrel, which is “Eichhörnchen” or “Eichhorn”.

[@springhuhn2674]

In Southern Germany and Austria, it is "Eichkätzchen" or "Oachkatzerl", which is "Oak Kitten".

[@RealConstructor]

In Dutch it is eekhoorn

[@FenceThis]

Egern in danish

[@nadirhikmetkuleli]

If it survived, it could be aquern in modern English.

10:20 this might not be a word they used frequently, but rather a kenning (an artistic expression used in Norse poetry) - like “raven-feeder” for a warrior, or “sea-steed” for a ship

[@atkelar]

I wonder if "earthfast" would be smilar to the German "bodenständig"... that is still common around here.

[@ingramdw1]

Fun fact: we have a whaleway station in New Zealand - it's an old railway building in Kaikoura that has been renovated into the offices of a whale-watching company.

[@wes7600]

Love arselong. I know it’s very popular to say “ass backwards” in reference to something that is broken or convoluted, or my personal favorite, the spoonerized “back asswards.” Though “arselong” captures that sense of misplaced confidence in progressing forwards that “back asswards” does not.

[@Shadowkiller00]

I was going to say the phrase "ass backwards" means that it was basically by accident. If someone fell "ass backwards" into their wealth, they definitely didn't do it on purpose. It was more like they tripped and ended up there by pure luck. I hadn't really thought about it in the context of "convoluted" or "broken", but I feel that "convoluted" might be a good addition to help fill out my personal definition of "ass backwards". As in that it isn't enough for it to just be accidental, but it also must be kind of crazy how it all happened as well.

[@toddhensley880]

I prefer “bass ackwards”.

[@insomnius74]

Love your channel! In southern german and austrian dialects some of the descendants of these words are still in use today. This is why I'd like to add the meaning of "in the wrong order" or "having the wrong priorities" for earsling (in southern german dialects "arschlaengs") Also the word eardfaest ("bodenstaendig") describes people of "good judgement" or "not living in an ivory tower of the mind" , therefore "having a good and unshakeable sense of reality" ...like a rock on the ground.

[@HeloiseAnderson]

Forswunk is a fantastic word that should be reintroduced - it means to be knackered through work. Highly relatable.

[@rayafoxr3]

The word ‘wondersmith’ is amazing. Love it

[@michaellumovich8325]

Always interesting, informative and entertaining, rare enough youtube. Also sincere, honest and genuine, even more uncommon. Truly enjoy, thanks.

[@SilverBrumby165]

I watched this straight after a Tasting History (Max Miller) video.Two of my favourite channels. This was great - I particularly I loved earthfast and runecrafty.

[@auldfouter8661]

Such a good video. When cattle were still stalled in byres in Scotland , the raised walkway ( between the two grips or dung channels on either side ) was called the gang. When I looked it up before it was said to be also used in Scottish deep mining terminology. So earsgang is not such a stretch.

[@jamiesteiner4454]

Thank you so much for these videos. My family is bilingual, and I am often asked to explain the many oddities and inconsistencies of English. In the most entertaining but detailed fashion, RobWords has gifted me so many of the answers. I feel like an armchair etymologist, and I like it. Bravo!