Presents

Old English
Part 15

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 Dialogue 1
Æþelwulf and Leofwynn habbaþ myċel tōdæġ
beċēapod, ac nū sceal Æþelwulf nīwe flaxan ċēapian.
Hē aswǣmeþ þā ċēapsetl. Se findeþ ċēapsetl þæt
flaxan and bollan beċēapeþ.
Aethelwulf and Leofwynn have sold a lot today, but
now Aethelwulf must buy a new flask. He wanders the
booths. He finds a booth that sells flasks and pots.
Ċēapman: Þē licaþ þes bolla oþþe þes crocca?
Merchant: Do you like this bowl or this pot?
Æþelwulf: Nese, iċ wile flaxan þæt iċ mæġ beran on
mīne gyrdele.
Aethelwulf: No, I want a flask that I can wear on my
belt (girdle).
Ċēapman: Iċ hæbbe flaxan, and iċ hæbbe ġemæce
drenchornas.
Merchant: I have flasks, and I have matching drinking
horns.
Æþelwulf: Hwilce fæbra hæfst þū?
Aethelwulf: What colours do you have?
Ċēapman: Iċ hæbbe grēne, grǣg, blēo, rēod, geolo, and
hringfāh. Eac hæbbe iċ sum mid græftġeworce.
Merchant: I have green, gray, blue, red, yellow, and
multicoloured (spotted). I also have some with
engraved images.
Æþelwulf: Æw, mid græftġeworce! Hwæt græftġeworc
hæfst þū?
Aethelwulf: Oh, with engraved images! What engraved
images do you have?
Ċēapman: *tǣċeþ rēodne drenchorn* Hēr ys draca.
*tǣċeþ blēone drenchorn* Hēr ys bera. *tǣċeþ
grǣgne drenchorn* Hēr ys wulf.
Merchant: *shows a red drinking-horn* Here is a
dragon. *Shows a blue drinking-horn* Here is a bear.
*Shows a grey drinking-horn* Here is a wolf.
Æþelwulf: Mē licaþ se beran. Hwæt ys se ċēap for þā
flaxan and þone drenchorn?
Aethelwulf: I like the bear. What is the price for the
bottle and the drinking-horn?
Ċēapman: Fēower scillingas for bǣm.
Merchant: Four shillings for both.
Æþelwulf: Wit syndon sammǣla.
Aethelwulf: We are in accordance.
Æþelwulf geldeþ þone Ċēapman and nimþ þā ċēpinga.
Aethelwulf pays the Merchant and takes the products.
In this dialogue we see Aethelwulf buying a drinking
horn and a flask. At first he only wants the flask, then
he finds himself wanting a matching drinking horn with
an engraved image. This lesson presents new
vocabulary as well as introducing some of the core
colours.

Dialogue 2
Æþelwulf eftcymþ tō ċēapsetle his and Leofwynne mid
nīwe drenchorne and flaxan his. Hē tǣċeþ hīe tō
Leofwynne.
Aethelwulf returns to his and Leofwynn’s booth with his
new drinking-horn and bottle. He shows them to
Leofwynn.
Leofwynn: Hwǣr funde þū þās?
Leofwynn: Where did you find those?
Æþelwulf: Iċ fand hīe æt þæt ċēapsetl be þǣm ealdan
Rōmāniscan plæċe.
Aethelwulf: I found them at the booth by the old
Roman place (plaza).
Leofwynn: Mē þynceþ þæt þās nǣron gōde ċēapinga,
Æþelwulf…
Leofwynn: I think that those are not a good purchase,
Aethelwulf….
Þonne hieraþ hīe þone wōm hornes. Feðemen iernaþ
be him tō þǣm burhweallum. Leofwynn ascaþ ān
hiera.
Then they hear the sound of a horn. Soldiers (footmen)
run by them to the city’s walls. Leofwynn asks one of
them.
Leofwynn: Hwæt ġelimþ?
Leofwynn: What’s happening?
Feðeman: þā Wicingas cumaþ!
Solider: The Vikings are coming!

This lesson shows some of the first examples of Strong

verbs in the past tense, specifically the verb Findan.
More details as to how Strong verbs work will be seen
in the next lesson, but this is a taste.
This concludes Part 15. New parts are made available
on patreon.com/stevevagabond weekly, so check back
often.

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