Not “old English” but “Middle English”. It’s pretty common for people to mix up the difference between old, middle, and modern English. Simple rule of thumb: OLD ENGLISH - example Beowulf (not understandable to modern listeners, sounds very Germanic) MIDDLE ENGLISH - examples Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the song Sumer is a Comin in (kinda understandable but not really) EARLY MODERN ENGLISH - examples Shakespeare and the King James Bible (is understandable to modern listeners but sounds old fashioned)
Old English is very similar to Old Norse, which was spoken in the Scandinavian countries and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, I think they could probably understand each other...
HAPPY NEW YEAR A buddy mentioned “Sumer is I cumin” in the Spelling Bee game of the NYT. He said he would be singing it because that’s exactly how he was feeling. Your “translation” helped me immeasurably to understand just how he was feeling. Thank you so much.
I don't know a thing about livestock digestion but I would assume that after a long winter of eating dried hay and scraps, the billy goat's intestines might react to suddenly having plenty of fresh green things to eat rather . . . noticeably
There is a genuine mediaeval round about a contest between a lady and her maid to see which of them was better at blowing out a candle by farting at it. So yes, farting is a thing. The maid blew it out. The lady blew it in and out and in and out again. Whatever that means!
This is is my translation of the ancient classic... Sumer is icumen in anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1260 AD loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Summer is a-comin’! Sing loud, cuckoo! The seed grows, The meadow blows, The woods spring up anew. Sing, cuckoo! The ewe bleats for her lamb; The cows contentedly moo; The bullock roots, The billy-goat poots ... Sing merrily, cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo, You sing so well, cuckoo! Never stop, until you're through! Sing now cuckoo! Sing, cuckoo! Sing, cuckoo! Sing now cuckoo! Published by Rural Wonca, The Museum of Camp and The HyperTexts
I was going to say this too. It’s pretty common for people to mix up the difference between old, middle, and modern English. Simple rule of thumb: OLD ENGLISH - example Beowulf (not understandable to modern listeners, sounds very Germanic) MIDDLE ENGLISH - examples Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the song Sumer is a Comin in (kinda understandable but not really) EARLY MODERN ENGLISH - examples Shakespeare and the King James Bible (is understandable to modern listeners but sounds old fashioned)
Sumer is icumen in, an update a modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch (this update of an ancient classic is dedicated to everyone who suffers with hay fever and other allergies) Sumer is icumen in Lhude sing achu! Groweth sed And bloweth hed And buyeth med? Cuccu! Originally published by Lighten Up Online (as Kim Cherub)
That translation seems more intuitive to us modern English speakers, but the past-tense translation is more accurate to the middle English. "Cumen" is actually the past participle of "come" in Middle English, rather than being equivalent to "coming," and the "i" prefix is used together with past participle conjugations. The "is" here is being used in a different sense to how we'd normally use "is" today, more like "has". So rather than translating "Sumer is icumen in" as "Summer is a-coming in," it's more like "Summer has a-come in".
Ic sprece eald Englisc, and wene þæt þu middel Englisc sprece. Ac þes sang is giet swete. Seriously though, it's not so different in Old English. Here's my translation into West Saxon Old English, which is the ancestor of the original's Middle English dialect: Sumor is gecumen inn, Hlude sing geac, Grewð sæd and blæwþ mæd And springð se wudu agen Sing geac Eowu blæt æfter lambe Hlewþ æfter cealfe cu Bulluc styrteþ (bucca fiert?) Myrge sing geac Geac geac Wel singst þu geac Ne swic þu næfre nu Sing geac, sing geac nu Sing geac, sing geac nu The main difference is that "cuccu" apparently replaced OE "geac" in the Middle English Wessex dialect, and "blæt" was more common in West Saxon than "blæteþ".
Interesting. I've small M.Scots, and less ME, but the Scots word 'gowk' is still in use, although it nowadays tends to mean 'idiot', rather than 'cuckoo' ("you fiel gowk" is a fond way of saying "don't be so silly"). I assume the word is cognate with geac? Interesting, not least, because it doesn't seem to be imitative (though it may be derived from Old Norse, and has probably lost a terminal r, so mayhap it once was imitative) and cuckoo seems like a much more obvious name for the bird. A 'gowk-storm' is Scots term meaning 'a storm in a teacup'.
west Saxon dialect of old English is not the ‘original’ ancestor to Middle English… that would actually be more likely a mix of south east Mercian dialect with a bit of Kentish dialect. Remember, the English Midlands are the largest part of England and although Middlesex or rather Westminster and London, are now considered to be southern, they were for the longest time part of Mercia as the Thames was Mercia’s southern frontier and in the Middle Ages an East Midland dialect seem to have predominated that area and evidence of dialect features emanating outward from their is far to overwhelming to be ignored.
@@foundationofBritain With respect, it looks like @nicholassinnett2958 was actually referring to the West Saxon dialect of Old English as being the predecessor of the particular dialect of Middle English used in the song, not to Middle English as a whole. Everything you related about Old Mercian/Kentish giving rise to what became Middle English, and the impact of that on the dialects of MIddle English > English spoken after that, are pretty interesting.
Not “old English” but “Middle English”. It’s pretty common for people to mix up the difference between old, middle, and modern English.
Simple rule of thumb:
OLD ENGLISH - example Beowulf (not understandable to modern listeners, sounds very Germanic)
MIDDLE ENGLISH - examples Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the song Sumer is a Comin in (kinda understandable but not really)
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH - examples Shakespeare and the King James Bible (is understandable to modern listeners but sounds old fashioned)
Old English is very similar to Old Norse, which was spoken in the Scandinavian countries and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, I think they could probably understand each other...
HAPPY NEW YEAR
A buddy mentioned “Sumer is I cumin” in the
Spelling Bee game of the NYT. He said he would be singing it because that’s exactly how he was feeling. Your “translation” helped me immeasurably to understand just how he was feeling. Thank you so much.
I don't know a thing about livestock digestion but I would assume that after a long winter of eating dried hay and scraps, the billy goat's intestines might react to suddenly having plenty of fresh green things to eat rather . . . noticeably
There is a genuine mediaeval round about a contest between a lady and her maid to see which of them was better at blowing out a candle by farting at it. So yes, farting is a thing.
The maid blew it out. The lady blew it in and out and in and out again. Whatever that means!
That song is My Lady and her Mayd by William Ellis, and it's 1652, so well past the medieval period. ruclips.net/video/po9WpDJXKbM/видео.html
Maybe like it wavered but didn't go completely out lol?
This is is my translation of the ancient classic...
Sumer is icumen in
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1260 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Summer is a-comin’!
Sing loud, cuckoo!
The seed grows,
The meadow blows,
The woods spring up anew.
Sing, cuckoo!
The ewe bleats for her lamb;
The cows contentedly moo;
The bullock roots,
The billy-goat poots ...
Sing merrily, cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing so well, cuckoo!
Never stop, until you're through!
Sing now cuckoo! Sing, cuckoo!
Sing, cuckoo! Sing now cuckoo!
Published by Rural Wonca, The Museum of Camp and The HyperTexts
Is that Old English? I would have thought it was Middle English. Not certain.
Yes, it's Middle English, though early Middle English.
Yup, Middle English, the language of Chaucer, not Old English, that of Beowulf.
I was going to say this too. It’s pretty common for people to mix up the difference between old, middle, and modern English.
Simple rule of thumb:
OLD ENGLISH - example Beowulf (not understandable to modern listeners, sounds very Germanic)
MIDDLE ENGLISH - examples Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the song Sumer is a Comin in (kinda understandable but not really)
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH - examples Shakespeare and the King James Bible (is understandable to modern listeners but sounds old fashioned)
Great video
Sumer is icumen in, an update
a modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
(this update of an ancient classic is dedicated to everyone who suffers with hay fever and other allergies)
Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing achu!
Groweth sed
And bloweth hed
And buyeth med?
Cuccu!
Originally published by Lighten Up Online (as Kim Cherub)
skip to 6:10
Wouldn't the title better translate to: summer is a-comming in, I believe the (more) modern prefix 'a' is actually derived from the prefix 'i'.
That translation seems more intuitive to us modern English speakers, but the past-tense translation is more accurate to the middle English. "Cumen" is actually the past participle of "come" in Middle English, rather than being equivalent to "coming," and the "i" prefix is used together with past participle conjugations. The "is" here is being used in a different sense to how we'd normally use "is" today, more like "has". So rather than translating "Sumer is icumen in" as "Summer is a-coming in," it's more like "Summer has a-come in".
Ic sprece eald Englisc, and wene þæt þu middel Englisc sprece. Ac þes sang is giet swete.
Seriously though, it's not so different in Old English. Here's my translation into West Saxon Old English, which is the ancestor of the original's Middle English dialect:
Sumor is gecumen inn,
Hlude sing geac,
Grewð sæd and blæwþ mæd
And springð se wudu agen
Sing geac
Eowu blæt æfter lambe
Hlewþ æfter cealfe cu
Bulluc styrteþ (bucca fiert?)
Myrge sing geac
Geac geac
Wel singst þu geac
Ne swic þu næfre nu
Sing geac, sing geac nu
Sing geac, sing geac nu
The main difference is that "cuccu" apparently replaced OE "geac" in the Middle English Wessex dialect, and "blæt" was more common in West Saxon than "blæteþ".
Interesting. I've small M.Scots, and less ME, but the Scots word 'gowk' is still in use, although it nowadays tends to mean 'idiot', rather than 'cuckoo' ("you fiel gowk" is a fond way of saying "don't be so silly"). I assume the word is cognate with geac? Interesting, not least, because it doesn't seem to be imitative (though it may be derived from Old Norse, and has probably lost a terminal r, so mayhap it once was imitative) and cuckoo seems like a much more obvious name for the bird. A 'gowk-storm' is Scots term meaning 'a storm in a teacup'.
west Saxon dialect of old English is not the ‘original’ ancestor to Middle English… that would actually be more likely a mix of south east Mercian dialect with a bit of Kentish dialect.
Remember, the English Midlands are the largest part of England and although Middlesex or rather Westminster and London, are now considered to be southern, they were for the longest time part of Mercia as the Thames was Mercia’s southern frontier and in the Middle Ages an East Midland dialect seem to have predominated that area and evidence of dialect features emanating outward from their is far to overwhelming to be ignored.
@@foundationofBritain With respect, it looks like @nicholassinnett2958 was actually referring to the West Saxon dialect of Old English as being the predecessor of the particular dialect of Middle English used in the song, not to Middle English as a whole. Everything you related about Old Mercian/Kentish giving rise to what became Middle English, and the impact of that on the dialects of MIddle English > English spoken after that, are pretty interesting.
I can’t go back much farther than this. I can struggle through the Anglo Saxon Chronicles but I lose it with Beowulf.😊
"I'm gonna get medieval on yo ass!"
..sooo... you're... going to write literature about me ripping farts?
Þu aer bist soðlice in þine cwaethe
People still talk like this in Norfolk. UK
Middle English, not Old English.