What's the Earliest English Word?

We're looking for the earliest surviving written English word--is it in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, on artifacts from the migration period, or in Latin?
For more on the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England, take a look at my collaboration with Jabzy for his 3-Minute History series: • Anglo-Saxon Invasion |...
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For further explorations of these subjects, check out Thorneloe University's courses in the Humanities, including "Greek and Latin Roots of English" and other Ancient Studies courses, online and on campus in Sudbury, Ontario. www.thorneloe.c...
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[@leahcimolrac1477]

Gægogæ is actually the Old English word for Google.

[@JakubS]

They must have been really into incest then

[@SvendleBerries]

@@JakubS Par for the course when it comes to the company then, eh?

[@patriciajrs46]

Funny.

[@Dan_Ben_Michael]

@Leahcim Olrac I bet you cheated and looked it up on Gægogæ Translate.

[@Jos1_1dgy]

@@bisqkuit gay go away

[@politicallyinaccuratetoast4757]

Teacher: the test isn't hard The test: þis syndon þa domas þe Æđelbirht cyning asette on Agustinus dæge

[@pompompurin2006]

Plot twist: the test is in math class

[@floightoficarusw4329]

🍑🍆🦍😩

[@alexlaxson3261]

@@pompompurin2006 lol fuck that

[@majingojira]

If only for ironic reasons, I love the idea that the earliest English word is "English".

[@Alliterative]

That's what makes that one so tempting, isn't it...

[@heta330]

Nope it was called Anglish back then

[@finnianquail8881]

@@heta330 It was called Englisc

[@ArloDraws]

@@finnianquail8881 Ænglisc

[@lizleapin1835]

I have to say I like this one too!

[@tomashize]

Oh that's His Holiness the Pope. He likes to hang out in the slave market and make puns.

[@eddiecaplan1908]

Pagan Pilgrim years ago, the vatican recieved many complaints harrassment of a pop group called ^BOYZ2MEN^, catholic priests thought it was a takeaway......🤣

[@patchesohoolihan666]

The puns of the pedo pope

[@stephenlitten1789]

@birdman33369 Rome in the 6th C was the equivalent of Wigan - going to the slave markets WAS the entertainment

[@douglasphillips5870]

He cornered the market on Angle puns.

[@thaincrediblemaier]

gaegogae ? As a german guy I was instantly thinking this could just mean "given as" because it reminds me of "gegeben" (if the stress is on the "go" sylable) "Given as a reward..." would make a lot of sense.

[@Alliterative]

Well, you may be right about the 'gae' syllable being a verbal prefix; the theory about it meaning 'howling she wolf' is based on the idea that 'gae' is a prefix, and 'gogae' means 'howler'. But the Old English version of 'give' had already changed the 'b' of the Germanic root to 'v/f', so that's unlikely to be what it is.

[@IcedFire89]

Has anybody considered gaegogae might just be a name or nickname? I do realize that there are specific perimeters to Old Norse names, and I don't know enough on the subject to know if that may have still held over into Old English, but runes didn't have an upper and lower case, never mind a rule to when each would be used (like for proper nouns in ME or nouns in Modern German).

[@timothyeachus7242]

That’s a cognate, it’s gebed in Anglo-Saxon (I think pronounced as yebed to a modern English speaker)

[@unstoppableboy9859]

That would be "Gaefogaen", hence dialectal "Yiven" (Give comes from Old Norse)

[@mcmasti]

I like "fisc". I guess "chips" had to wait for Columbus!

[@Alliterative]

Don't worry, the potato is coming soon...

[@MrGoocherson]

In Irish Fish is Iasc. Fisc, Iasc... 🤔

[@JazzPikmin]

@@MrGoochersonDarkHair the Irish borrowed a lot of words from Latin "piasc" is fish in Latin. the Irish dropped the "p" and the Angles softened it to an "f"

[@MrGoocherson]

@@JazzPikmin nice. The old Irish was pronounced "un" and a bird was pronounced "an". It's interesting how some words were completely replaced. Like a horse, modern: "cappal" was originally an "ech", so ot probably equates to "eqine", but in our old manuscripts it says that Gaelic, Latin and Greek had a common mother tounge. Im just happy i found this channel randomly.

[@dirtyyy7668]

@@JazzPikmin Iasc doesn't come from Latin but from Proto-Celtic *ɸēskos which itself comes from Proto-Indo-European root *pisḱ- which also gave rise to Latin piscis and English fish. Therefore iasc, fish and piscis are cousins

[@JamesCook-tj2fq]

The first English phrase was "Those damm Frenchmen"

[@PiousMoltar]

Nah. Probably something about the Scots or Welsh. Well, almost certainly the Welsh. Btw, "Welsh" just comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for "foreigner", which seems a bit rich considering they're the ones that came from northern Germany and Denmark (I say "they", but I'm from East Anglia, the old kingdom of the Angles, I'm probably one of them). They referred to all Britons as "Welsh". And they drove them west, until the only "Welsh" left were in Cumbria, Cornwall and Wales. Maybe even some Picts up in Scotland but that didn't last. Scotland became half Irish (leading to Scots Gaelic) and half Anglo-Saxon (leading to the Scots dialect / language). Maps of Britain for this period show what we know as Wales labelled "North Wales" and Cornwall as "South Wales".

[@PiousMoltar]

Oh and the Vikings complicated matters. Their Old Norse being quite closely related to Old English allowed for relatively easy communication and the adoption of many loan-words in the areas they ruled, which over time, included much of the coast of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and eventually the whole of the North and East of England, and some of the midlands too.

[@aidanthekid1720]

+PiousMoltar nerd

[@ronjayrose9706]

@@PiousMoltar don't forget the Bretons

[@enzogamerukbr]

Kæ̅ⱨusⱪ ag øđiƨk?

[@12tone]

I'm voting Anglii not because I necessarily think it's right, but because I think it's the cutest answer, and I love when things work out like that.

[@Alliterative]

+12tone That is the best reason to choose anything, as far as I'm concerned!

[@12tone]

Plus ,I'm a music theorist, so I get to make up whatever answers I want anyway.

[@Novusod]

I have a theory that Anglii, Angle, (Angle-Land), Ankle, angler are related to the Egyptian hieroglyph "Ankh" ☥ which is pronounced the same as in 'anchor.' Ankh originally was tied piece of rope with the "ank" ☥ sound referring to the bend of the rope. All written words lead to Rome but all sounds come from Egyptian the language of the gods. The Egyptian word for water is "Nu" pounced N-oo as in "new." When the Niel river floods the land is renewed (watered) One is born wet (Nu) -> nude

[@aloysiusdevadanderabercrombie8]

Woah, it's weird to see you here! I love your channel.

[@ravenalbj]

Novusod. You seem to relate the name Nile (niel) River with the word "Nu" meaning wet. The original name for Nile River was Egiptus. The name Nil or Niel came from a certain Egyptian king named Nilus who did a lot of work on the delta. Actually the very Egyptian word N-oo for water as in "new", may have come from the very word RE-NEW-ED. You know very well the name of god RE and the fact that the word "new" is NOVIS in Latin, but also NEU in German, NOU in Romanian etc. Therefore the English word NEW has company in just about all European languages and Old Egyptian as well. Egyptian language was one and the same with the language was spoken by the White Race before and after the Great Flood which took place 12000 years ago. No doubt NEW, NOVIS, NEU, NOU is an extremely old word and I am sure it evolved from the word LUNA (moon) which was originally called O-NA. The moon (LUNA) RE-NEWED itself every 28 days. It is called LUNA NOUA (new moon) In Romanian every time the moon appears again. Therefore the word RE-NEWED which is RE-INOIT in Romanian RE-NOVATIO in Latin is a very old word which RE-FRERED to LUNA (the moon) RE-newing itself. Believe me Romanian language didn't get the word REINOIT from the English RENEWED even tough they are pronounced the same.

[@zvidanyatvetski8081]

As a native swedish speaker, it is always astounding how much one can understand from old english! I could understand at least 50% of the words in the examples, I wonder if german/danish/dutch speakers experience the same? Great video, keep them coming! :D

[@Alliterative]

Thanks! Yes, it's kind of amazing how similar those Germanic languages are -- old and modern.

[@juliusuflacker4339]

As a German so could I. But it`s astonishing how much danish and dutch i`m actually able to understand due to there similarity to german. I wish you a good day my fellow Germanic brother. :)

[@Bjowolf2]

Ja, vi haver så [so] man{g}e simple _ord_ lige / S lik de Engelske, så alle Engelsk- tal(k)ende person-er kan se hvad deres mening er [air, = are ] efter just få [ fo, = few ] sekund-er. {V}or grammatik i(n) Skandinavien er nær den Engelske, så vi kan ofte tal(k)e Engelsk uden/ S utan (with-out; OE beutan !) at t(h)ænke, for vi haver på [po] (uPOn, on, (in) ) magisk vis allerede (!) det meste af {d}et i(n) {v}ore hoved-er / S huvud-er (heads; OE hufud!) fra dag [ day(gh) ! ] en, så vi føl-er (feel) os [us] hjemme [ yem-me] / S hemma ( at home ) 😉

[@barbaralatham5107]

Gustaf Skitidedu That's about as much as I can understand and I'm a native English speaker.

[@mirceagogoncea]

Bjowolf2: This comment wins the internet.

[@glifosfato]

þis might be my favorite video of yours so far. Keep 'em coming!

[@Alliterative]

þanks! ;)

[@korakys]

The best one since _Rune_ is my assessment.

[@iFX5955]

ᚺᛗ ᚾᛖᚫᛏ

[@nozrep]

Steve Fairinton oh wow how were u able to get runes on a comment? very cool, although, i can't read them

[@JavainMuert]

Unicode

[@Cobradabest]

I'm voting for "this", because it's unchanged from it's modern equivalent, just spelt using Old English letters/sounds. The others are unrecognizable in comparison.

[@martinmortyry7444]

Cobradabest I dunno, fisc has a pretty similar pronunciation to fish, but the last sound is much more palatal. "This" hasn't changed at all, though.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Interestingly the modern german equivalent to "this", which closest form is "dies" is still quite similar. Same goes for fish btw, it's pronounced basically the same, only written slightly different: "Fisch"

[@rnhtube]

I'm going to go with þis or fisc, since they are still in use today. þis still sounds the same and you can almost say it is still spelled the same.

[@Alliterative]

Ah, that's pretty logical...

[@CraftQueenJr]

How do you get the extra letter?

[@cherryberry7024]

kaka is understood in most lanagues !to defacte faeces!.

[@chrismain7472]

I agree with Russell. The word "this" outlived the death of one of its letters. That's some staying power.

[@davidlewis1787]

Bis is still said in the Bristol area exactly as said here. Written this but often said bis

[@jamm6_514]

"holy father jokes are worse than dad jokes" but they are dad jokes

[@christopherlawley1842]

Holy dad jokes, dadman!

[@h_nt_r]

The connection between the words Anglo and angle just blew my mind haha, that is incredibly interesting that the geography of the Anglo-Saxons homeland is related the term angles and anglers and such.

[@Fhuj]

I'd go with fisc, only because it would be funny for the word "fish" to be that significant.

[@Milark]

I was shocked when I heard the angle part. “Angel” also means something along the lines of hook in Dutch. Interesting stuff

[@dg-hughes]

I'd say Anglii since people would refer to themselves, their language they spoke, their culture as what they are. And I like that knowing the exact tiny region and etymology of hook or Angeln it's so specific. It has a bit of wistfulness as if that's where you're grandparents or great-grandparents were born.

[@elainekruger-haye3463]

Most people referred to themselves as "people" - Manne, Tiutsche, aBantu in Africa, etc. Others were "not people" or "not one of us" . My tribe, the Wends, were never referred to as anything but other. I see in English they are also called Sorbs. Of course they mixed with all tribes, as everyone did. My grandmother still knew some remnants of the old tongue, but German was our language and then English in Africa

[@jadereynolds1204]

Im so happy that puns are baked into english from its inception lol

[@fkovacs1]

I would assume it would be identifiers, such as " I", "you", " we", "they", etc. Kind of hard to create a whole language if you don't have anything to identify immediate self and others with.

[@jurikurthambarskjelfir3533]

Ic, þū, ƿē, þair.

[@EyeDreamMellowDees]

more interesting: a. oldest surviving word still used b. oldest surviving word still commonly used

[@jenniferm8949]

I heard on an old BBC documentary that one of the oldest English words still surviving today is the word crag.

[@Novusod]

Metu from the 5th century medallion is the modern day "Mete" www.thefreedictionary.com/mete+out A word still in common use.

[@Tobberz]

Brilliant pronunciation overall, a nice surprise. But typically the letter y is held to be pronounced more like a ü in germanic languages.

[@FirefoxisredExplorerisblueGoog]

I'm sure breaking bread with Pope Gregory must've been a hoot.

[@Alliterative]

A laugh a minute. Really.

[@edoboss101]

I think that "cyulis" is the one since "dis", "fisc" and "raihan" are Germanic words that are still present and quite same-pronounced in languages such as German while "gaegogae" has no Modern English related word and may be more of a chant or onomathopeia rather than a real word itself

[@jonhanson8925]

I like your reasoning, but what Modern English word comes from "cyulis"?

[@edoboss101]

Jon Hanson You are right...I found no word in ME related to that, thus maybe "Englisc" might be the very first English word. However, I think that we should define better the line between "Germanic" and "Old English" to have a good answer, right?

[@Alliterative]

Interestingly, there is a modern (if old-fashioned) English word 'keel' -- not the one that refers to the ridge on the bottom of the boat, surprisingly (which is from an Old Norse word), but one that means, in fact, 'ship' or 'longboat', that is *cognate* with cyulis but doesn't come directly from it, instead having been re-borrowed (maybe around the 15th century) from Dutch. Though, in the meantime, the Dutch (and German) words 'kiel' have changed their meaning from 'boat' to 'keel', probably under the influence of Scandinavian and/or English languages. Which is rather remarkably complicated!

[@jaxvoice718]

Shipping may have been a crucial technology and activity for the early Germanic tribes, the Viking raids half a millennium later may just have been a continuation of perpetual sea-borne raiding and trading shaping England and Britain. Even the whole "Britain rules the waves" spiel may be seen as a further continuation, so I kind of like "ceol" for that reason (mind you, i could take a fisc too). I wonder if poetic expressions, kennings-like, could explain the tangled history of ceol. After all, from what I gather, the Anglo-Saxon dialects had the perfectly serviceable words "ship" and "boat" in their vocabulary back in those days too, so ceol might denote something special, like for instance "dreadnought" at a later age.

[@inregionecaecorum]

Oh really? ask Lady Gaga.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

Hi Alliterative. I'm a Danish subscriber to your blog. I've heard a somewhat different etymology for the peninsula of Angeln/Angel that seems to be prevalent among scholars here. Maybe It will interest you. It is assumed that it was originally a name for the inlet between Angeln/Angel and Schwansen/Svans which links the town of Schleswig/Slesvig (and earlier, Haithabu/Hedeby) with the Baltic. In historical times its name has been Schlei/Slien. It seems to be a common process in toponymy that names of inlets are transferred to the surrounding stretches of land (so there are precedents for it), and it is assumed that it is also the case here because the ang- root can also mean "crooked" or "narrow" (cf. German eng meaning "narrow") which fits well with the Schlei/Slien inlet. The reason why I write the place names in both German and Danish is that the area used to be Danish-speaking. The Jutes and the Angles merged with other tribes to form the Danes. Much later, in the early 19th century, the language shifted to German and after a couple of wars and a referendum the area is in Germany today. However, as a bit of a toponymist myself I prefer the original names where the etymology is clearer. It's not a case of irredentism in my case - in fact, part of my family belonged to the German minority just north of the present border. A great uncle of mine even emigrated from there to Canada so he avoided serving in the Danish military - which causes me to have relatives in Manitoba today. His brother was even a toponymist and wrote an interesting dissertation about the language shift.

[@Alliterative]

Thank you for this detailed explanation -- from my reading, most English scholars seem to prefer the fish-hook etymology, but I've certainly read the 'narrows' derivation, and it does seem plausible as well; I'm not really equipped to judge between the two, in the end, but I appreciate you laying out the details of the argument, to add to the discussion.

[@RobBCactive]

I didn't find this fish hook idea very attractive but perhaps I am over skeptical in thinking a lack of aerial photography and accurate maps makes the angeln link dubious. What coast doesn't have lots of bends? On the other hand a tribe-name could develop from a group of mobile coastal fishermen so perhaps word over-loading allows multiple meanings giving lasting appeal.

[@RobBCactive]

Did N. tribes push the language border south in a later age? Because it appears that middle English preferred words with. cognates in Old Norsk and the West Germanic coastal languages which like having the main verb last. Studying Norwegian it seems closer to English than High-German against identity tribe focussed explanation expectations.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I always picture the north sea cost like an arm: above Denmark would be the shoulder and the hand would sit at the channel. So the area would be basically inside the "angle" of the elbow.

[@will2Collett]

I've read BEOWULF in the original older English and i've looked around and I think the word that looks like "ph" tha has to be one of the older words. Beowulf, is a creepy read in any language. Isn't it interesting how Pennywise has a similar background to Grendel??? just some thoughts.

[@cottonmather5883]

In a twist of irony it seems to be Anglii. It's cool how ankle, angler and Angle are related, and perhaps Fisc may be right up there, both related to the sea.

[@arcanics1971]

Interestingly, in Lancashire the word "cuwel" or "cowell" survived into the 20th century and referred to a boat. Usually this would be a large boat but not a ship. I only know of it being used by a few old people of my grandfather's generation (born in the 1880s) in Lancaster, Lancashire. Whether or not it truly was a survivor from Anglo Saxon times or a more recently coined localised word I cannot say.

[@Alliterative]

That's very interesting, thanks! I don't know that word, so I'm not sure of its lineage, either.

[@gvuolde]

I would have to vote Anglii. Great video. Plus I always find it interesting to hear the Old and Middle English spoken and translated like you did.

[@Alliterative]

Thanks! I love getting the chance to read Old English.

[@marxnutz]

By your own admission, I think 'angle' is the frontrunner, and could also be called the oldest surviving English word.

[@Foggen]

I'm unmoved by the notion of the "first" word on the oldest inscription, because that is in no way suggestive of the earliest origin for the word. Anglii at least seems to have a shot, but frankly drawing hard lines between languages seems like an impossible task.

[@Alliterative]

Very true, any line between one language and the next, especially along a chronological development, is going to be arbitrary and unsatisfying. Posing the question is more interesting than answering it definitively.

[@rockydo2307]

1:10 This may seem a bit weird but Kent is actually an area where Jutes settled rather than Angles and Saxons but I know what you mean.

[@patrickjoseph6253]

+Alliterative The problem that you fail to acknowledge is that when the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians came to the British Isles, they were speaking West Germanic, so what does this mean? Surely whatever words survived from West Germanic into the modern English are the earliest English words?

[@for2zero773]

I used to speak old English like you but then I took an arrow to the knee.

[@unstoppableboy9859]

*butan thonne Ic tace an arrowe se kneeowe

[@theshamanite]

"This" or "fish" seems more likely to be the first words of English.

[@peterforden5917]

cyulis as it is I think related to the word KEEL still in use today but originally a type of ship.

[@aqdrobert]

This study of early English made me go gaga.

[@therealzilch]

I've heard that "land" is the earliest English word that's still spelled the same as in Modern English (at least in some manuscripts).

[@ginnyjollykidd]

I vote for Anglii. It is a description of the people and its the root for words that have to do with not only origins but culture as well (ankle bones game). And the Romans occupied the future British Isles for a long time and were very good at record keeping. They described the tribes around them. It might not be the best reasoning, but trying to find the first English word is like trying to figure out where Homo erectus gave way to Homo habilis and then Homo sapiens, then subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens. Do you start with genius Homo? Or do you make sure you get them all and say Australopithicine species were first?

[@jasoncollins5949]

þis (or this as it's now written) is actually a word we use today as opposed to a root word so that would get my vote if it really was copied from the original text. Failing that i would suppose it was fish/'fisc'.

[@Alliterative]

Sorry everyone, we got our wires crossed a bit and put this out before our collab with Jabzy was ready--so the link to the 3-minute history episode about the Anglo-Saxon Invasion will be going up soon.

[@Alliterative]

Ok, here it is: The Anglo-Saxon Invasion in (a little more than) 3 minutes! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXykpISOpbd7q80

[@syntaxerror8955]

Thanks for a nice video. As interesting as this is, to look for "the earliest English word" is silly beyond sense. Surely, you must know that as a linguist. Language development is always a gradual process. So "fisc" is Old English, huh? OK. It's spelled "fisk" in modern Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, and "fisch" in modern, standard (high) Geman. "Fisc" is simply Germanic, although maybe with this spelling, on that artifact, in that specific year or decade classified as Old English. The point is that there is no such thing as "the first English word" any more than there is a "first day" someone become "middle aged", although one can DEFINE a specific day in the calendar. Cheers.

[@mrcastillo4240]

Alliterative i will say the Earliest English word is the word "þis " from aethelbert's laws

[@ericmgarrison]

Gægogæ reminds me of the last three syllables in the Welsh towne of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, though I doubt it means “red cave” like in the city’s name...yet it gave me a flashback to it.

[@DubArchaeologist]

Yeah, i thought that as well.

[@tsuxi11]

Lady Gægogæ was in a bad romance.

[@grumpyoldfart4167]

I love this! I used to listen to John Ciardi on NPR, "Good words to You."

[@Alliterative]

Oh, I didn't know that one -- didn't air in Canada -- but I've just looked it up and it sounds great! And thanks!

[@leornendeealdenglisc]

Hard to vote really. I would say that Anglii might be a good guess, I always had thought of it as a Latin word.

[@VerbaleMondo]

Hallo, I love your channel.

[@burbanpoison2494]

Also a proper noun. In that case, Gilgamesh is the oldest English word.

[@ElicBehexan]

I like "fisc" since it is recognizable still today. Granted they meant "whale" rather than "fish" but back in those days anything that swam full time in the ocean was probably considered a "fish" anyway.

[@nigeh5326]

I live in the Black Country area west of Birmingham in England. The broadest form of my local dialect as spoken in areas such as Tipton by older people still contains Germanic (Anglo Saxon) words from way back and some experts think it’s one of the oldest surviving dialects.

[@GoodWoIf]

I reckon it might be Cyule/ceolum. It was a word the people were evidently using as noticed by an outsider. Seems appropriate if Angl does pertain to fishing.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

The oldest English word must be in a language that is distinctly English and not some dialect of a more widely spoken tongue. The migration period inscriptions and others are just too early so I'll go with the Franks' casket. If we choose the front panel as our text then rather than the first word, fisc, I suggest we pick the answer because to devise a riddle one must start with the solution, so the earliest known word in English is hrones, whale's.

[@Alliterative]

That's pretty well argued... that question of when English coalesces into its own language is definitely part of the complexity of the issue, because the details of that invasion period are so hard to pin down.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Alliterative IIRC even as late as the eighth century Boniface and other English missionaries found other Germanic tongues sufficiently easy to speak that they could preach in them across Northern Europe.

[@Alliterative]

Yes, that's a good point. The question of what counts as dialect and what as language is always contentious; even today, Frisian speakers could probably manage a speech in English pretty easily, though we count it as a different language.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Hitler And Hot Pockets That depends on the skills of the blacksmith involved. What I'd really like is an authentic reproduction of early Anglo-Saxon sword blade, more practically I'd like an exotic steel puuko.

[@tommyvictorbuch6960]

As a Dane, I was a little surprised to see the letter "Æ" in this context. Much older than I expected it to be.

[@RobBCactive]

To type Old English an Icelandic keyboard hjelps 😉

[@SandmanStoriesPresents]

I think it is impossible to know, but fascinating to talk about

[@williamlucas4656]

Funny you mention Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, but not Frisians who speak the mostly closely related language to English today.

[@futurehuge]

This video was incredible! The ending where it all comes together was brilliant. I love etymology but this was next-level stuff

[@Alliterative]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@thecognacsipper]

man you're so good.. don't fall in youtube's fast-paced trap please...too good to rush

[@Alliterative]

Trust me, I'm already going as fast as I can! So not much risk of that. And thanks!

[@TheCamCam2265]

Great stuff, very relaxing.

[@Alliterative]

Thanks.

[@davidguy209]

fascinating. instant subscription. hello from Scarborough, England :-D

[@Alliterative]

Thanks! *waves*

[@silkwesir1444]

1:32 "so then, is the earliest word 'this'?" found this very interesting, though it's not really the point of the video, because it's about the first _English_ word. However, i do think there's reason to believe, that the first word _ever_ was something like "this" or rather "that" (those two words not being differentiated yet). heck, maybe that proto-word even included "there". ("Over there! That thing!")

[@ronjohnson4566]

first word, in english? "alliterative" definitely.

[@VCYT]

As an Englishman, i would say the 1st English word was probably either - 'beer' or 'woman'.

[@MessiahComing]

I think it's kind of difficult to say exactly when English formed as a language in its own right, because so many languages trace back to the same proto-languages. Many of them even loop back into itself. There are words that the Proto-Indo-Europeans used that are still used in the majority of modern Indian and European languages. Hell, we even worship the same gods, whether people accept that or not.

[@einarkristjansson6812]

They say that English is a west Germanic language. I am an Icelander and many English words to day resonate with my language, like ''hús'' meaning ''house'', ''berserk'' in Icelandic ''berserkur'' and so on. So we are related. I am told that two thirds of the vocabulary of English to day is old Anglo-Saxon. I had no difficulty learning English at school.

[@xdgamer2765]

fun fact: ice landic used the old english language text check google translate and set the right box of the translator and make it icelandic and then make the left box english, type in anything and you will find old english.

[@welshpete12]

Fascinating , thank you for posting . It would be nice if the oldest word in English , was English , but perhaps asking to much ? :-)

[@Alliterative]

It's very tempting, isn't it?!

[@Tony-Blake]

Anglii. Different topic --- gægogæ sounds like baby babble. If it means 'newborn', 'infant', or 'man's offspring', that would fit 'kinsmen reward', the images of suckling, and (given the mood of the times) weaponry.

[@witri9]

Amazing. By the time we get to the Canterbury tales, the language becomes so recognizable. Great video thanks. And I’ll pick Anglii

[@3seven5seven1nine9]

Indo European always blows my mind. I need more videos about itttt

[@Bjowolf2]

Try this little hilarious three part intro video on KZbin called "Verner's Law" - and learn a lot while giggling 😁 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5LPaomJhdCZa9U

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Much of the words are related to animals or food usually. That stuff stayed much the same over the last few thousand years.

[@gimli1908]

Your videos are so fun and interesting! I'm glad I found your channel and I can't wait for the next one! Oh, and I think "cyulis" is the first English word, see Edoboss101's explanation, it seems pretty credible

[@Alliterative]

Thank you! And noted. [compiling data]

[@1stAmbientGrl]

Such a cool channel! I'm going with Anglii.

[@Alliterative]

Thanks!

[@alfredlear4141]

Well after this video "subscribe" was the 1st word that came to mind. An excellent video, many thanks

[@Alliterative]

Thank you!

[@jamesmace2300]

I have always loved linguistics and history of cultures.

[@Inseut]

8:24 - 9:30 CRAZIEST INSIGHT I'VE EVER HAD WHILE BINGE-WATCHING LINGUISTICS VIDEOS ON KZbin. I'M AMAZED. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[@laquaylaquay]

Truly amazing! Just loving your vídeos, man!

[@Alliterative]

Thank you so much!

[@roberthofmann8403]

I'm sure you've heard this before but I love your pronunciation.

[@Alliterative]

Thanks-more often I hear about things I’ve mispronounced, actually!

[@TheTobyvancouver]

What a great video. Thank you.

[@casaroccafamilyking]

Absolutely delightful and well-presented!

[@Alliterative]

Thank you!

[@casaroccafamilyking]

@@Alliterative As an "old" student of Middle German, we delved into OE, but the text most often used to study was from the Old Testmanent, which I was surprised didn't even figure in your lists of the oldest evidence of OE.

[@Alliterative]

Ah-that’s because the translations of the Old Testament that we have are from the time of Ælfric, so quite late. They’re therefore out of the running for earliest texts. :)

[@casaroccafamilyking]

Alliterative Fascinating! Thanks for your work!

[@casaroccafamilyking]

@@Alliterative Fascinating! Back at uni, we studied the texts more for the evidence of sound-shifts in words i.e. sk=sh, g=y, etc. Love your field. Keep up the excellent work!

[@MISTERASMODEUS]

This is phenomenal. Thank you for making this

[@Alliterative]

Thank you!

[@petelucas51]

It has been said English goes back to the Roman period. Yes the Angles Saxons and Jutes came to England but there was a Celtic tribe in Southern England roughly what later became Wessex called the Belgae, possibly form the near continent which could mean they spoke a similar tongue to the later Angles Saxons and Jutes thus the tongues merged seamlessly. Place names ending in Ey is a Germanic suffix meaning Island/s |THet were islands but ceased to be so before the Anglo Saxon influx. English is much older than thought

[@iainb1577]

Gaegogae sounds like over time could have developed to geegaw which would fit, but I know no background to the word.

[@moritzm6470]

Runic writing sometimes drops nasals so could 'gaegogae' not simply stand for later 'gegonge'? That is a subjunctive present form of 'gegán' ~ 'gegangan', so it would mean "may (the) reward (or mead!) come upon the kinsman" or the like. That at least strikes me as more plausible than wolf howling or weird magic incantations...

[@jenniferrossiter7072]

You are awesome. This is god-tier nerd content.

[@Alliterative]

Why, thank you! 😊

[@colinp2238]

It's always possible that when they saw the ships coming they said "Not again!"

[@MacStoker]

or said SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!

[@troyreed5527]

Subscribed in the first 30 seconds. Love this channel.

[@Alliterative]

Thank you!

[@troyreed5527]

You can’t have 6 with 5 😊. Thank you it was exactly what I needed today.

[@Saw_Squatch]

Pis! That's the most British word I can think of out of the list

[@craigjovanovich6450]

This video was really interesting! Well done, sir!

[@Alliterative]

Thank you!

[@backwardsbandit8094]

3:26 threw me off for a second because fhats literally just a pond in someones backyard

[@nilsjohansson1860]

Wow! As a swede i recognize alot of words from old english. Very cool

[@smittoria]

Interesting fact, in Dutch the word 'angel' means the stinger of a wasp or similar insect

[@notemusic]

After hearing those war cry, I understand now why Roman thought all the hill tribe's language sounds like BarBarBarBar!!!!

[@nickc3657]

Anglii, for sure

[@sagesweeney246]

Ðis is a great video. I love your linguistic hißtorie videos.

[@Alliterative]

Ðanks! ;)

[@silentglacierfang]

@Caner Birgül No, Ðis is correct, because he was using the Old English letter for 'th' in this and decided to throw ß into it. And Allliterative did the same thing, so it wasn't German, but English with Old English letter, though he should have used 'Þ' instead.

[@silentglacierfang]

@Caner Birgül When I'm writing notes, I often throw in Þ and ð instead of because it is easier to write Þis instead of this. My favorite English word that uses thorn (Þ) is eiÞer because it doesn't look like a word to me. And sorry for not seeing that it was a joke. It does remind me of German.

[@asparadog]

Maybe gægoæ was someone's name? Like George... It is and maybe was normal to put names on things that are yours...

[@modigbeowulf5482]

Thanks for making. My son's first word was "shit'. My dad always said it and he picked it up. The word is common. In Old English, I don't know what it is but it would have been said a lot. Just an idea.

[@dlbstl]

Stephen Williams yeah my mom taught my son that word too, on purpose! I couldn't believe it.

[@trebcabb]

In OE it was "scitte" (the "sc"= "sh" in modern E.); but it meant "diarrhea", a meaning it still has where I live (and maybe elsewhere) if you put an "s" on the end of it.

[@autarchprinceps]

Wouldn't the first English word have to be one, that they didn't use in Germany before they came to Britain, so the first original British English word or at least the first word to diverge since ariving in Britain? I know that would be even harder to figure out, but otherwise you could just as well allow words from before their migration.

[@Alliterative]

Yes, this was an arbitrary definition of "first" -- so much is lost in the mists of time and irrecoverable.

[@thorr18BEM]

Wouldn't the first word used in Britain have to be the first British word, not the first English word? :) Also, the point of divergence between languages didn't have to happen exactly when they geographically relocated.

[@RobBCactive]

@@thorr18BEM In which case it would not be a Germanic language recent arrival but to be found in the pre-Roman Brythonic Celtic languages, given the original Britons were forced out during the last Ice Age peak without any language evidence left behind to study.

[@Schizopantheist]

I'm going to go for one not given: 'and' , surely an ancient word and still doing daily duty in an essentially unchanged role in the language at present. And, you're in good shape!

[@Alliterative]

Well, it goes back to the Proto-Germanic *unda, going back in fact to the PIE root "en" which meant and is the root of "in". And in Old English "and" originally meant "therefore, next"; I'm not sure when it took on its present meaning. It can be surprising how comparatively recent some seemingly very basic aspects of the language are!

[@Liutgard]

I loved this video! I took a year of OE with Jim Earl some errands twenty-odd years ago, and was pleased to see how much I remember! And I vote for 'cyulis'. I do have a question though- I'm currently working on the Carolingians, and I'm tearing my hair out, looking for sources to study Old Frankish. Do you have any adeas/suggestions?

[@pr9039]

It's tough, since Gaegogae would make sense, since the original words of the language would be long lost in meaning by now, so the one that is indecipherable would have the greatest chance of being the eldest. Then again, "Raihan," Germanic or not, would likely be the first regionally-accepted word to become common English language of the time. Tough!

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Remember Hengist and Horsa! Good on you for mentioning them mate!

[@binkbonkbones3402]

Perhaps the meed fact could be a remnant of paying people in their weekly beer and grain, and still reference both mead and reward/pay/compensation?

[@michaelstout8501]

Spit! Well, it's one of the older words of any language but I'm going for that one.

[@user-PoliceMisconduct]

How about PIE for "water"? Does that count as English? *wódr̥ (udéns) pl. *wédōr (udnés) "water"

[@matte6352]

Pyroclastic Flow also “water” in Dutch and “wasser” in German.

[@JoeBKN]

How could there be an English word before the English were named? Or should I say, Anglish? Or, those who played with ankles? So, with confidence, I suggest that earliest word to be, Anglo! :-)

[@RobBCactive]

How could you name a separate language if it did not already have its own words creating intelligibility issues? The sentiment puts the cart before the horse, you give names to things that are different. So the name of a language will be a late addition not an early one.