lauradi7dw

I realized yesterday that I'm at the point in my Old English studies resembling years of my Latin studies - with the dictionary and grammar book open beside me, I can sort of read (which is quite different from being able to just read, but knowing all the declensional endings is beyond me currently). What my brain needs now (besides that stuff) is appropriate vowel shifts,and I'll be all set. Really - if one saw this quotation, attributed to
Guthlac: "þone sealm sang: Exurgat deus et dissipentur, et reliqua. Sona swa he þæt fyrmeste fers sang þæs sealmes, þa gewiton hi swa swa smic fram his ansyne" it might look like somebody had been typing without paying much attention to the location of the home keys, but when one sees the
translation ([Guthlac] "sang the psalm: Exurgat Deus et dissipentur, et reliqua. As soon as he had sung the first verse of the psalm, they departed like smoke from his presence") it becomes clear that gewiton and ansyne are the only words that is really need glossing. What brought this to mind is this blog entry,
http://bwhawk.blogspot.com/2009/09/staffordshire-hoard-and-psalm-672.html
and why it is topical is that the Latin psalm excerpt is the one that's on the gold strip found in the Staffordshire Hoard (really large image follows)
http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/artefacts/gallery/?set=72157622378376316&img=3944380308