I am rather swamped with work at present, so blogging may be sporadic depending on how much I get done later today and tomorrow (and I have the washing up to do...). I went to work this morning, and I know it's close to Christmas and all, but I was rather put out in trying to explain to my Supervisor that I actually have a life outside work and that I have more important academic stuff to focus on - this was my response to her request that I stay for overtime today. Yesterday I spent all day in the Library doing translations. I managed to get some St Bede done, as well as a translation of St Matthew Chapter II (at one point I was so tired that I very nearly failed to notice a wonderful Ablative Absolute!), but I am still terribly behind.
Usually when things get on top of me, I try to forget about them. This happened yesterday in fact, at around 4:00pm. I was sitting at my desk with the Lewis & Short, my Grammar, and several texts, and I was trying to translate a rather hard passage from St Bede. Having gone over and over the same sentence endlessly, I began to ''doodle'' (usually depictions of the Crucifixion, which I am rather good at, or scenes from Tolkien). Getting bored with this, I got up and went down to the Stacks. I perused Classics and a few Periodicals (The Downside Review mostly) and then came to the Scripture section. I picked up an old Vulgate from 1868 and sat down to read it - to my pleasure I actually noticed two spelling errors! I put this back and then found something I never knew existed - the ideal Christmas present for J.R.R Tolkien in fact, had I known him - a book of the Four Gospels in Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, Middle English (Wycliffe) and Early Modern English (Tyndale) translation, arranged in parallel columns. It is a handsome book, and sitting down to peruse it, I came across something almost immediately that made me chuckle. The Anglo-Saxon translation of Matthew 5:14 reads: Ge synd middan-eardes leoht. ''Ye are the light of the worlde'' as rendered by Tyndale...another early reference to Middle-earth, this time it seems by Our Lord!
Tolkien's earliest academic publication was his Middle English Vocabulary, which was (at least supposed to be) published with Kenneth Sisam's Middle English Reader. I have a copy of this in my library, and the works by John Wycliffe (the Englishman best known as one of the Lollards) are the easiest to read. Middle English is not as remote or ''alien'' as Old English, and the language is very similar to Modern English in many words and devices. Old English is entirely foreign, and I only recognise a few words. Gothic is even more so! Last year, I ordered a Gothic Primer from Amazon - so convinced was I of Tolkien's arguments for its inherent beauty and genius! - but so far my attempts at learning the language have been in vain. That sort of thing requires tuition (I was rather disappointed, since Tolkien taught himself many tongues). But I don't suppose I'll ever master the language.
Anyway, I digress. I borrowed the book in the hopes of looking through it in more detail, but I haven't had the time since then. Maybe next week...anyway, I have work and chores to do now, o me miserum!
The above image is of the Gothic Alphabet - it's nicer than the Latin alphabet isn't it?
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