Texts

The Lords Prayer in Old English (Episode 1)

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;
Si þin nama gehalgod
to becume þin rice
gewurþe ðin willa
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge
ac alys us of yfele soþlice

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Caedmon’s Hymn  (Northumbrian Version)

Nu scylun hergan         hefaenricaes uard,
metudæs maecti           end his modgidanc,
uerc uuldurfadur,        sue he uundra gihuaes,
eci dryctin,                     or astelidæ.
He aerist scop               aelda barnum
heben til hrofe,             haleg scepen;
tha middungeard         moncynnæs uard
eci dryctin,                    æfter tiadæ
firum foldu,                   frea allmectig.

Caedmon’s Hymn  (Modern English Translation)

Now we should praise Heaven’s guardian,
the creator’s might and his mind’s thought,
the work of the wonder-father, how each of the wonders,
the eternal Lord, established the beginning.
He shaped for the children of men,
heaven as a roof, the Holy Creator;
then Middle-Earth mankind’s Guardian,
the eternal Lord, afterwards made,
the earth for men, the Lord almighty!

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Ruthwell Cross Inscription  (Old English) [Excerpt]

…ic riicnæ Kyningc,
heafunæs Hlafard, hælda ic ni dorstæ.
Bismærædu ungket men ba ærgad;
ic [wæs] miþ blodæ [b]istemi[d],
bi[goten of þæs guman sidan]

Ruthwell Cross Inscription  (Modern English Translation)

I held high the powerful King,
heaven’s Lord. I dared not bend.
Men mocked us both together.
I was slick with blood
sprung from the Man’s side.

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Old English Riddles
Paull F. Baum’s Translations