Old English

How far back in time could you go and still understand English?

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• published: 12 Oct 2015
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If you had a time machine, how far back could you go and still understand English? AT what point in history would you not be able to understand the English language? If you went back in time to the 1800's and 1700's, you'd probably still be okay. This except is from the book 'Robinson Crusoe', in 1719: "I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on this dismal, unfortunate island, which I called “The Island of Despair” That's fairly easy to understand, but you might struggle with old slang words like 'batty fang' and 'kickerapoo'. batty fang - a beating kickerapoo - dead land pirates - highway robbers gutfoundered - very hungry whapper - a big lie Nitsqueeger - Hairdresser Xantippe - an ill tempered wife Abbess - a nun Thornback - a spinster Barber-monger - a vain man Bleater - someone who complains a lot Brabble - to quarrel loudly Crapulous - the feeling of being too full Hugger-mugger - secretly Lettice-cap - a medical device like a hair net Pigarlik - a bald head Petty fogger - a dodgy lawyer Mumpsimus - the act of sticking to old mistaken beliefs about language and customs simply out of habit And now, your 'birthday suit' actually is a suit that you wear on your birthday. The 1600s is the time of Shakespeare. "Thy natural magic and dire property, On wholesome life usurp immediately." Here, Lucianus talking about the natural magic of poison. and how using it to kill the king will usurp the throne. Trickier to follow, but not everyone spoke like that. You would hear lots of words you didn't understand though. The bigger problem for you now is the pronunciation. The sound of the vowels has changed, and the accent is becoming much harder to understand. For example, "tea" is pronounced "tay", and "gone" is pronounced "goan". In the 1500s people essentially speak like the Bible. "Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." KJV 2 Kings 1:4 There are also hundreds of words that don't mean a thing to you. Before about 1400 AD, you'd hear Middle English, and you would hardly understand anything, written or spoken. "Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;" The Canterbury Tales, 1389 If you went all the way back to one 1000 AD, you'd hear Old English: Lord's Prayer Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Good luck explaining that you need 'one point twenty-one Jigawatts' to get home! See more great vids like this on our channel! http://www.youtube.com/yestervid http://www.yestervid.com http://www.facebook.com/yestervid https://twitter.com/yestervid Credits: Audio Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Dafoe Read by Mark F. Smith, Librivox, 2010, PD-US Hamlet, William Shakespeare Read by Allex, Librivox, PD-US King James Bible, 2 Kings Chapter 1 Read by Joy Chan, Librivox, PD-US Canterbury Tales, lines 1-42 Geoffrey Chaucer Read by Youtube user: pronuntiatio CC-Attribution 3.0 Fæder Ūre - Lord's Prayer in Old English Read by Youtube user: Hrothgar Simonus CC-Attribution 3.0 With thanks to Reddit: veritate_valeo, mearcstapa, johnnynono Mental_floss & Erin McCarthy Buzzfeed & Luke Lewis Music Audioblocks Delorean Photo "TeamTimeCar.com-BTTF DeLorean Time Machine-OtoGodfrey.com-JMortonPhoto.com-07" by Terabass - Own work. CC BY-SA 4.0 Produced by Yestervid ©2015