Photonic

[British]

I have been wondering for a while about old English language and the sound of. And being an uneducated peasant, I haven't the know how on where to begin looking for my answers.
So, could anyone on here recommend to me any web links or books that might be of use in satisfying my curiosity?

Ta.

[Stuart Quayle]

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer might be a good start?

[Medicus Matt]

British,

By 'Old English' do you mean the language that we now call 'Old English' (ie 'Anglo-Saxon) or later, 'Middle English' (which is what Chaucer wrote in)?

[gregory23b]

Or early modern English of the mid to late 15th century?

I suggest for late medieval, as Matt did by grabbing some Chaucer, followed by the Pastons, Stonors and the Celys, all three families have surviving letters and the first two predate the 15thc, showing how language changed quite quickly over a hundred years or so. It depends on which part of the middle Ages you are needing. A good library will have all three (five in reality as there are three Paston Letters and papers)

Pastons online, most of them are here

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/moden ... sLett.html

book form

Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century: Part I: Pt. 1 (Early English Text Society Supplementary Series), ISBN-10: 0198124155
ISBN-13: 978-0198124153

Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century: Part 2: Pt. 2 (Early English Text Society Supplementary Series), ISBN-10: 0197224229
ISBN-13: 978-0197224229

Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century: Part III: Pt. 3, ISBN-10: 0197224237
ISBN-13: 978-0197224236 (Early English Text Society Supplementary Series) (not got this one, it is on my xmas pressy list)

Kingsford's Stonor Letters and Papers 12901483 (Camden Classic Reprints), ISBN-10: 0521555868, ISBN-13: 978-0521555869

The Cely Letters 1472-1488 (Early English Text Society Original Series), ISBN-10: 0197222757, ISBN-13: 978-0197222751

All of the above have photos of some of the letters, the Pastons have a large selection, all referenced to their appropriate collection.

[British]

Thank you all for your replies. Gregory, that's quite some list! Thank you.
Frankly I'd love to have the time from work to really study it all. But I think the origin of the words we have been using for the last five hundred years or so really captures my imagination. Also, to hear Saxon and Viking words up against our own modern equivalent is fascinating stuff. When you hear these things used in historic documentaries and they leave it at one or two words, I get quite annoyed. I could easily divert my attention to sticking with that for a while.

[gregory23b]

I read a lot of books on the toilet, on the train or when I can, I am not time rich.

I can also recommend David Crystal's. Stories of English, a great resume on how we speak (or not) standard english, that might be mre up your street as it has a great section on Norman English and the various myths around it.

[Fox]

I read a lot of books .... on the train .... I am not time rich.

Not if you travel by train, you won't be.