In this introductory episode, we look at the emergence of English as a global language and the evolution of the language from its Germanic origins.
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The History of English Podcast
The Spoken History of a Global Language
Very interesting and helpful
I’m studying for me final and this has been very helpful! Thanks you?
You are studying for “…me final?” In English the possessive pronoun for “I” is “my”.
I believe you wanted to say “…my final.”
Technically, “me” is a regional variant of “my.”
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/me#Etymology_2
Additionally, Middle English and early Modern English (think Shakespeare) usually pronounced “my” as “me” anyway.
But that’s sort of beside the point: I think Jenna is probably a non-native anglophone; was your understanding of her comment impeded by her non-standard construction? No, you knew what she meant.
I think Amadis’s actual point was that Jenna’s English still needs some work in spite of her studying. (Unless she was joking, as EnglishMajor suggests.)
And just because you know what someone means doesn’t mean you shouldn’t correct them when they make a mistake.
You’re messing with me head with them comments!
You and Amadis sound like great fun!
There are SO MANY reasons why you should not correct someone who speaks differently than you speak! Respect, courtesy, kindness, humility, wisdom, patience – to name a few. Each of us is speaking a form of English that is only temporarily “correct” and useful anyway. I speak just one language and I count myself lucky that it is English because that is the language that so many millions have courageously learned as a second or third or fourth language, making my life so much easier, albeit uninformed.
If that use of “me final” was an error and not done on purpose as a joke, etc, there is no harm in courteously correcting someone on their grammar. I sometimes correct my students who, for example, use “I” as the object of a preposition. “The award went to my friend and I.”
As a former tutor in English as a second language I can say part of my job was to gently correct grammatical errors such as Jenna’s above. And it is vital for the English student’s professional future.
I beg to differ. Unless someone is my teacher it is inappropriate for him to give me an English lesson. If he cannot understand me he may ask for clarification, which is an altogether different matter.
Bravo. Nothing irks me like superfluous pedantry, especially when its not strictly correct. “Own the language- dont be owned by it” is a good rule of thumb.
?
I know that in Newcastle, England, the word “my” IS pronounced “me” in a dialect called Geordie.
Amadis, I think Jenna’s post was meant to be funny. Note that she also ended a declarative statement with a question mark.
Great podcast and this conversation on “me final” I laughed and read it to my wife. The possibility of big fingers on a small screen with predictive text comes to mind. This is creating interesting variations of language often quite comical.
Finally someone figured it out
Agreed. We must consider too that there appears to be no way for a user to edit a submitted comment.
Chris
Yeah, regardless, the comment left by Amadis sounds pedantic at best; here, I’ll give it a shot. Amadis, you should have written:
You are studying for “…me final”? In English, the possessive pronoun for “I” is “my.”
I believe that you wanted to say, “…my final.”
You see, there are rules governing the use of quotation marks and commas.
You’re messing with me head with them comments!
We would say ‘they comments’ in the west country. In it?
Uh oh. Please no pronoun controversy here.
– In English, the possessive pronoun for “I” is “my.”
Actually, the possessive pronoun for “I” is “mine”. My, your, his, etc. are possessive determiners (perhaps more commonly called possessive adjectives).
This depends on where you learn to speak.
In many parts of England (e.I. Yorkshire) they still use “me”, whereas in common, “proper”, English “my” is considered correct.
Indeed, James. Review the comment thread for more context: I was not criticizing the use of “me” as the possessive, but rather Amadis’s apparent need to correct Jenna’s post. So, I returned the nitpicking to Amadis and “took a red pen” to their post. Ultimately, it was to show that we can understand one another despite perceived grammatical errors.
So Picky over a typo!
Not if you’re Irish, methinks!
He forgot to capitalise it! He meant ME as in Middle English!
Ever hear of a ‘typo’?
In Northern England and Scotland ME is often the possessive form, the same way that it is in Spanish. Before the Great Vowel Shift the word “my” would have been pronounced “mee.” The indirect object form of “me” would have been pronounced “may” like it is in Spanish…as if “Give it (to) me.” In Yorkshire and northwards many people don’t use the “to” in that phrase, nor do they use the definite article…give it me, you’ve got wrong end of stick.
If Jenna is from the UK, for example, her use of “me” is her language. It is a slang and relaxed saying, but it is acceptable. If she were writing an academic paper, using “me” in that sense would be incorrect. Her everyday language and academic or business language may be two different things. We all use some form of relaxed language separate from our professional language. People need to quit being so judgmental.
Studying for Descriptions?
really wow
What do u mean? It’s trash and useless. If there are any students watching this, comment and never listen to this again. 🙂
I agree
The name really fits.
Who hurt you?
kinda boring ngl, from a students perspective.
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I have just discovered your podcast and I’m looking forward to hearing all of the episodes. Thanks for the comparison passages of old, middle, and modern English. We read Chaucer in translation at school, but the other group read it in the original. So unfair!
Just discovered your podcast due to its mention on Stuff You Missed In History’s episode on the vowel shift. Listened to one episode randomly and I was OH MY GOD I HAVE TO HEAR ALL OF THESE so listening from the beginning now and language-nerding out and boring all my friends and kids no doubt (but seriously how could anyone find the letter C boring now?) Thank you thank you and yes I will give you money!
Thanks! I’m glad you discovered the podcast and find it so enjoyable. You’ve got a long way to go to catch up. 🙂 Thanks again, and be sure to keep listening!
I’m coming from the same place as Rhiannon! I’m up to episode three, and my roommate thinks I’m a giant dork. I’m totally ok with that. I’m curious to know what you’re all about? What was the impetus for this podcast? Do you teach in real life somewhere?
Nadine, a few episodes in Kevin Stroud gives some info about his background, so stay tuned!
It’s interesting to hear how folks got here. I was sent here from a Reddit thread about four weeks ago, and since then I’ve binged my way to Episode 48.
As John noted, I address my background in the first Bonus Episode. I am not a teacher or a professional linguist/historian. I am actually an attorney, and my academic background is mostly in political science and law. However, the history of English had long been a passion of mine
I am literally so facinated by this podcast. I got lost somewhere around episode 52 and started over, it’s still so amazing. I came here to find this answer specifically because I was thinking “I want to have his same career” but now I see I need to first become a lawyer to support my endless need for knowledge of history. It’s so amazing you have created all of this and are a lawyer. I already thought you were the most interesting person in the world.
Hi Danielle,
Thanks of the comments. I’m glad you find the subject as fascinating as I do. As far as being ‘the most interesting person in the world,’ I guess I should start doing commercials for Dos Equis beer. 😉
I don’t always listen to podcasts, but when I do, I listen to The History of English Podcast.
🙂
I received your podcast link from one of my student in French… I loved it.
I wonder why you try to justify yourself. Your work is clear and nice to listen. So kind of you to answer to any comment! (I don’t expect you for one)
Please keep sending some more podcasts!
Hello Kevin, I am posting in Episode 1 because I think this concerns a pointer for newcomers to the podcasts.
I am now at 146 (I think) and it is time for me to enjoy the Bonus Episodes.
There does not seem to be a continuous sequence or a consistent identification, and I understand this; what do we know when we set off down a path thinking “Oh, about a hundred episodes”, and at 150 we are not finished and we have accumulated at least 1855 humans who hope that this sequence never ends?
001 Bonus Episode 1
002 History of Alphabet2
004 Let Me `Buoy’ Your Spirits
005 Odds n Ends
006 Beowulf Deconstructed
007 Stuffed Animals
064 The ‘Ay’ at the End
065 Name That Vowel1
066 Name That Vowel2
067 Stuck In The Middle
068 The Hidden Meaning of ‘America’
069 History Repeating Itself (Part 1)
Announcement 10 American Presidents
Chaucers Purse
Stay at Home Edition
Life of Guy
Regarding English
Is there a place on your web site (or on Patreon) where I can satisfy myself that I have licked the plate clean and garnered every drop of data that there is?
Thanks
Chris
The bonus episodes at Patreon are separate and distinct from those in the main feed on the main website. The bonus episodes on the main feed can be culled from this list: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/episodes/. There are currently 69 separate bonus episodes at Patreon (numbered 1-69). I hope that answers your question.
My wife is starting at the beginning again and her sister is just starting. So I have decided to begin again at episode 1. I have an American “pen pal” who says we are separated by our common language. In Australia we do NOT say “I could care less”. We say “I could NOT care less” — or more likely — “I couldn’t care less”
Yes, I’ve always found the American “I could care less” rather odd. If they COULD care less, then they are saying that they actually care. Are they just being lazy, or is there there some distorted logic behind that?
I live in northern NSW and often call myself Denis from Down Under. I first heard the term as as child in Brisbane Qld. A flotilla of seven US warships had visited Brisbane on a good will visit before the attack on Pearl Harbour and the subsequent invasion of Brisbane by the US Army in 1942. But the fact that we really do live “Down Under” was reinforced in the gift shop at Disneyland in 1992. I had picked up an earth globe to inspect it. I wanted to re-position it correctly, but I was disoriented so I replaced it on its tripod with Northern NSW uppermost. Some passerby soon put it back with the northern hemisphere uppermost. The experiment was repeated four times, always with the same result The polar axis is inclined by about c 23.5 deg but to what? Strangely enough we see the sky “overhead” but the sun moves through our northern sky.
I actually discussed the phrase “I could care less” in Episode 55: To Be or Not To Be. There are some interesting theories about its origin and why it is so common in US speech despite its lack of inherent logic.
I noticed the wrongness of that phrase when I was about seven. I couldn’t understand why adults would say something that so obviously meant the exact opposite of what they were trying to convey. I was so relieved when I found out it’s one of those things we know are wrong but we say them anyway! Illogical behavior is so much more acceptable to me than illogical speech!!?
Hi Bob, Tom from the US here. The “I could care less”expression in the US has always bothered me too, but I think there is a certain (as you say) distorted logic behind it, with a basis in smart aleck cynicism. This has to do with what is left unsaid. “I could care less, (but I don’t)”, with an emphasis on the word “could” coupled with the unspoken “but I don’t”. See…it makes a bit more sense that way, but as you say has an element of laziness to it as well. ?
Tone and body language are more important than the words. 7% for words, 93% for tone and body language per Mehrabian.
I’m with you. I’ve heard it but it never made since. I had learned “I couldn’t care less.”
I contribute the alternative as intellectual laziness.
I submit that your assertion of “intellectual laziness” is shallow and pedantic.
I think that people just got confused about whether the phrase is “I couldn’t care less” or “I could…” So some people started saying “could,” and over time, that gained traction because it’s a bit easier to say.
As for where the confusion came from to begin with, ThomThom’s theory – that the actual meaning of the phrase was obscured by the double negative – makes sense to me. I remember learning it as a kid, and thinking that “I couldn’t care less” meant “I care enough not to want to care any less than I do.” 🙂
Yes, it seems that “I could care less” is primarily limited to American English.
And I hope you enjoy the podcast the second time around.
As an American, I’d say “I could care less” is more a sloppyism than anything… a contraction of the contraction “couldn’t”.
However, I’ve always thought that “I couldn’t care less,” which always means “I don’t care” was a confusingly ironic double negative idiom that hides its true meaning because when you cancel out the negatives, it becomes “I could care.” Maybe 325 million Americans are right! 🙂
I discuss the possible origins of this phrase in American English in “Episode 55: To Be or Not To Be.”
I have started the podcast again after a break. I had got up to episode 40. Having just listened to episode 1 again, I agree with Denis. In Australia we say “I couldn’t care less”.
I have really enjoyed the podcast. I particularly enjoy Kevin reading with Middle or Old English pronunciation. I’m starting from the beginning again so I can further grasp all the complexities before I go further into Middle English.
I’m enjoying the podcast–I just discovered it and have started at the beginning. How delightful to hear you recite excerpts from Chaucer.
The history of English helps me to envision the history of how peoples moved from the steppes into western Europe and Britain, really how that part of civilization began to grow. It’s really a window into the history of man in the world, and language is a basic reflection of daily life.
Anyway, thank you for this wonderful opportunity for continued learning.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series as well.
I am enjoying your podcasts about the English language, though as yet I have only listened to the first few. As a native English speaker who worked for the UN and has lived in various parts of the US ( New York, DC, Maryland and Tennessee) as well as London, Rome and Jerusalem, and visited approximately 90 countries in all parts of the world, I have come took appreciate not only the ubiquity of English, but the many forms it takes.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the entire series!
Thanks for your podcast. What interesting and useful series document for me as an English learner. I am wondering how I can purchase the transcripts from episode 26. Thank you, David!
At the present time, I only have transcripts for episodes 1-25. I also make transcripts available for recent episodes (from episode 89) at Patreon.com/historyofenglish. I hope to have more transcripts available very soon.
I have just discovered what a treasure we have in these various comments. If only we knew more about the back ground of the people making them. Is any progress being made on the voice samples you have been collecting Kevin? In Australia we have a tremendous advantage in that we are exposed to English Language films (and others) from a wide variety of countries and cultures. In fact we often turn on subtitles when listening to English being spoken.
Incidentally the time here is 0727 on 23 May 2017
I continue to collect the voice samples, and I will have an update in an upcoming episode. I intend to use them as we transition into Modern English, and also throughout the Modern English period to trace the development of modern English accents.
I discovered this gem of a podcast a few days ago, and so far I am loving it. I am looking forward to listen through it all!
Now, you have probably been asked this before, but from a quick search I could not find the answer to which piece of music you used for the intro/outro of the show. I would like to know!
Thanks for the podcast!
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast. The theme music is a stock audio clip by Shawn Pigott called “Medieval Faire.” I acquired it through istockaudio (which has since merged with another company I believe). Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s available as a full audio piece.
Thanks a lot for replying!
Many thanks to you, Kevin Stroud. You do a wonderful podcast–very professional and so interesting. I will listen to all of these. Your podcast is accessible, interesting, and informative.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the entire series.
I’ve been really enjoying the brilliant podcast, and have now bought the alphabet book – thank you so much. Just one tiny point, Bethlehem isn’t “House of Bread”, it’s “House of Meat”.
Hi Owain. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast. I don’t speak Hebrew or Arabic, but according to my sources, the word “Bethlehem” means ‘house of meat’ in Arabic, and ‘house of bread’ in Hebrew. Does the translation depend on the language?
…Perhaps the best translation would be ‘house of food’ (restaurant? 😉 )
My previous comment was meant as a follow-up to another comment, but the posting failed, for some reason:
I know some Hebrew and confirm that לֶחֶם (‘lechem’) means ‘bread’; I don’t know Arabic, but Google Translate gives the word for ‘meat’ as لحم (‘lahm’). According to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/لحم#Etymology_1 both words have their origins in Proto-Afroasiatic *laḥam-, meaning simply ‘food’. It is easy to see how the meaning could have become differently specialised in different dialects (eventually to become distinct languages), according to the environment and lifestyle in which they developed. (I imagine that nomaic desert-dwellers, for example, would have had little opportunity to grow grain, so bread would not have been regarded as a staple).
In college, I minored in German and Anthropology (My major regretfully being Radio-TV production), and have since wondered what my life would be like if I had gone into historical linguistics/linguistic anthro instead. I can’t believe I’m just now finding this podcast. Having a blast following along with what I already know from the history (Great Vowel Shift? Oh yeah!).
Thank you for making this so accessible. I can’t wait to listen to all of them!
You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast!
I’ve also just discovered this wonderful podcast, thanks to some professor answering an on-line etymology question, and concluding with “I’m writing a book about this, but meanwhile check out an excellent podcast called “the History of the English language.” I’m hooked.
A question: (I’m only at episode 5 so you may answer this later) Why do all of these consonants gradually shift? People were able to pronounce them as they were. If it was something anatomical, wouldn’t the shifts be the same everywhere?
Hi David. It’s really a great question without a simple answer. Throughout the podcast series, I explore lots of sound shifts that impacted different stages of the language. Sound shifts evolve out of pronunciation differences. No language is pronounced exactly the same by all of its speakers. There are always variations – some subtle and some more obvious. Minor differences can evolve into larger sound changes over time. I am not a professional linguist, so I can’t really explain why specific changes develop within certain dialects, but randomness is certainly a factor. Some changes occur within certain linguistic environments. Others occur when one language encounters speakers of another languages There are lots of factors, and I try to address the causes when they are known and generally agreed upon. Otherwise, I tend to focus more on ‘what’ happened rather than the ‘why.’
English doesn’t ‘borrow’ from other languages.
English lurks in dark alleys, and mugs other languages going through their pockets for vocabulary and loose bits of grammar.
Thanks! Classic quote. 🙂
Just discovered this, via a recommendation from an early episode of the History of England podcast. Very excited to hear the rest! Also an attorney, but with a lifelong interest in history and language. Always happy to learn something new!
Thanks! You’ve got a LOT to listen to, but I hope you enjoy the series.
Dear Kevin,
Thank you very much. This podcast is so enjoyable. I recently gained the opprotunity to start college at the age of 40. Higher education was always a dream for me and your podcast keeps me motivated to always seek to understand more. Once again my sincerest of gratitude for brilliant work shared.
Thanks Irene! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast, and congratulations on starting college. It’s never too late to learn new things.
Very interesting. i can’t wait to listen to the other episodes. 🙂
Born and raised in Friesland this podcast is of special interest to me. And while going through some of the episodes for the third time, I may want to comment on some episodes for things that seem hardly to have changed in Frisian tongue from Old English.
So here is my first one: a fishing rod is in Frisian language called an “angel” which is one of the Germanic words for spear. Ger/Gar being an other one. Actually even in Dutch it is “hengel”. It looks to me that this has a relationship with “spear-danes” in the Beowulf. So could it be that they actually meant the Angles? I would not be surprised….
Thanks for the note. FYI, I discuss the relationship been Frisian and Old English in some detail in Episode 28. Be sure to check that out.
In both Norwegians, we have the word “angel”, which is a fishing hook. The verb “angle” means to put the hook on the line.
That too is really interesting from the perspective of possible changes in the meaning of things. But there might be more logic to it than thought of. Since “angle” seems to have been a special kind of spear with barbs where those barbs from an angle to the blade of the spearhead. Nasty to get that in your body as you can not easily withdraw it and throw it back as it is literary hooked in your flesh. In dutch and frisian the meaning of fishing hook is “haak” where a hook(corner) is “hoek” with exactly the same pronunciation. All related to the same shape and being cognates.
So once more, and even for reasons named by Marianne Hansen… Spear-danes might very well be the Angles.
Perhaps someone else addressed this, but: the term “angler” is a fancy way of saying “fisherman.” Now I know where it came from.
Thanks a lot, Kevin!
Your podcast sounds even more intriguing than detective tv series!
I’ve just finished the first episode and already look forward to hearing all the rest of them!
Hey, this is good work, I like it.
I know you said you weren’t an expert in Old English pronunciation, and that’s fine (it’s a specialty of mine).
I wanted to say that that the f in words like yfele and heofonum in OE were pronounced /v/ like Modern English “v.” In fact, “v” really was never used, so “f” was voiced between vowels, unless written “ff.” I mention it, because it shows how yfel even sounded closer to evil, and heofon like heaven.
This happened with other fricatives in Old English, specially þ/ð and s. “s” does this still in many cases.
Hi Patrick. At the time I recorded this introductory episode back in 2012, I didn’t focus as closely on the exact pronunciation of Old English. However, when preparing the episodes that dealt specifically with Old English (beginning around Episode 27), I tried to get the pronunciation as accurate as I could. So the F’s between vowels are pronounced as V’s in future episodes. In fact, I specifically discussed the pronunciation issue you mentioned in a later episode.
Fair enough, I specialize in Old English, although I generally don’t get super picky on it (I promise 🙂 ).
F is pronounced v in Welsh too.
Kevin,
My hobby is DNA research an in particular am running a project covering a new branch of DNA that we current call ‘South Baltic’. It is a brother branch separate from the R-U106 (often called the Germanic line) and R-P312 (mostly associated with Celtic peoples). We are R-S1194.
The emergence of the Steppe herders from the region above the Black sea opened a new understanding for us and we have been looking at the ways the Yamnya pastoralists would have reached the region where the Unetice Culture emerged (Bohemia or Czech Republic).
Your podcasts offer a fascinating way of looking at the movement of these people and them blending with others along their Journey into Western Europe.
The one aspect of this whole story exemplified in the split and apparent homelands of the Celts & Germanics is the issue of did this westward migration involve two groups of the same people – one moving up south of the Carpathians & along the Danube to perhaps found the R-P312 branch of R1b, and a separate group moving towards Bohemia through the Ukraine and or Russia then Poland and later on to the Scandinavian & Nth German regions.
The challenge I have been looking at is ‘was there a dual migration of Yamnaya/Kurgan people two groups going both Nth & Sth of the Carpathians’, or, was there only one migration nth of the Carpathians plus a later back migration down south of the Carpathians.
The reason the dual-migration path has challenges is that the immediate parent SNP for all the branches of R1b (particularly R-U106, R-P312 & R-S1194) is R-L11 and that SNP (even in ancient DNA burials now being analysed) can’t be found other that around Bohemia. It appears to have emerged either in Ukraine or Poland or Bohemia itself. Thus implying their could only be one migration route either via the nth or the sth route around the Carpathians.
Your podcasts make a very strong case for a dual migration path from the Steppes, with proto-Germanic evolving Nth of the Carpathians and proto-Celtic evolving via a Sth of the Carpathians migration.
However, this leads to the issue of the missing common R-L11 SNP from below the Carpathians. So was it possible that the Sth Carpathian route reflects a migration of the culture and language for the ‘Celtic’ branch of PIE, rather than the actual people. (i.e. did the language migrate itself, if it turns out that R-L11 people did not do that Sth migration ?
Again, your podcasts offer an intriguing explanation for how the Celtic and Germanic languages might have reached Hallstatt (Celtic) & Bohemia (both) differently, and, why the daughter languages are so different.
I recommend to all my project members to try to listen to as many of your podcasts as they are able. The work is excellent and commendable.
Doug Marker
Project Admin – R-S1194 (Sth Baltic DNA)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/southbalticdna/
Hi Doug. Thanks for the comments. This is all very fascinating. With respect to the theories I presented in the podcast, I tried to make it clear that they were just theories based on the evidence known at the time, but ultimately no one knows for sure how the migrations occurred. In fact, most of the sources I used were written before the most recent DNA research which has shed additional light on the issue. I think the DNA research will modify some of the traditional theories about the migrations and give us a much better picture over the next few years. Keep me updated as new information becomes available.
Kevin, thanks for a great podcast. It’s especially appreciated how deeply you go into historical events, population movements, and other factors that affect the development of language from the beginnings of Proto-Indo-European on. I’m at #28 right now. Having listened to Mike Duncan’s History of Rome, followed by part of David Crowther’s History of England, your podcast fits right in, illuminating a lot of the events they describe even further.
Thanks. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast, and I hope you continue to listen!
Wow! Just discovered this podcast thanks to an OP on a Facebook group I belong to. Really interesting. I look forward to listening to more of these podcasts.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Just recently found The History of Ancient Greece Podcast. This was on the recommended page and appears to be perfect for me. I am so happy to have very, very many episodes to go. Thank you
Thanks. I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast, and I hope you continue to listen.
Found this podcast from a recommendation on the Extra Hot Great podcast. Now all my nerd dreams have come true.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the podcast.
I also found out about this podcast from Extra Hot Great. I’m excited about this one.
I’m lovin your podcast!
Thanks!
i is loving ur excellent podcast keep up the excellent work u excellent man i am truly impressed with ur excellence in the english language i personally is from russia so very appreciate ur hard work in teaching me the english. thankyouy for everything kevin love from vladimir xxxx
Awesome work man. Thanks for so much passion and erudition.
Cheers from Mexico,
Sergio.
In England we do say “I couldn’t care less” and I’ve never understood why Americans use the slightly different phrasing so I’m excited to hear about this! As well as learning lots of other cool stuff as well of course!
Thanks! I specifically discuss the phrase “I could care less” in ‘Episode 55: To Be or Not To Be.’ So check that out for more info.
Just letting you know that you’re still attracting new listeners. I can’t recall exactly where I saw the recommendation for your podcast, but I’ve had the first few episodes downloaded in my podcast player for a couple months, just waiting for an “opening”.
That happened this past weekend, when I finally caught up on all of the other shows I’ve been binging my way through. I’ve made my way through the first six episodes, and I’m afraid I may have a lot of catching up to do on my other listening, because I have a feeling I may need to set them all aside until I’ve caught up with this one 🙂
I am particularly enjoying the emphasis on Indo-European and other “pre-English” languages; its a topic that I wasn’t aware I cared anything about, but now I can’t seem to get enough of it.
Thanks! I’m glad you discovered the podcast. You’ve got a long way to go to catch up, but there’s no hurry. I still have quite a way to go before I get to the 21st century.
I discovered this podcast last week, and have been beside myself with delight ever since. Seven glorious years of binge-listening ahead.
Glad you discovered it! I hope you stick with the series.
Today, I found you through my Facebook friend’s post. Her comment was: “Mind blown.” I replied, “Whoda thunk Shakespeare wrote in modern English? Lol. Wink. wink.”
Also, I find it grating when I hear the rest of my family say, “I could care less.” But, there’s more of them than me, and so the language morphs in their direction. Shakespeare wouldn’t recognize “lol”.
Thank you for clearly covering and uniting two of my favorite topics: history and language. I’m delighted that I can listen to your excellent podcast. Best wishes to you.
Thanks! I hope you continue to listen and enjoy the podcast.
Starting over again. I can’t get enough. Many many thanks. You’re podcast has reinvigorated my interest in language so much that after 40 years I’ve returned to college and I’m taking Spanish, French and German, and delighting in all the connections I’m finding, like with joy, jouer and jugete. Please continue.
Thanks! That’s great to hear. I’ll definitely continue. I still have a long way to go.
Hello!
I am from Ukraine. I’ve learned English and some basic German at school and I’m really into learning foreign languages and acknowledging different cultures. I use this podcast to boost my listening skill. I’ve just listened the first episode and in my opinion it is amazing, though it is sometimes challenging for me to understand every single word. So I’m very grateful for it.
Glad you’re enjoying it!
I just discovered this excellent podcast, and I’m looking forward to hearing every episode! Well structured, well presented, excellent illustrations.
If you’re just starting, you’ve got a long way to go, but I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks! I’m glad you discovered the podcast, and I hope you continue to enjoy it.
Congratulations! No doubt the best podcast I’ve seen until now. I was looking for podcasts in order to practice my very deficient skill in understanding English, and I became so fascinated for the stories that often I forget my first goal and, even thou I don’t understand the whole stuff, the podcast is now not a linguistic exercise but a great and amazing (and huge, fortunately) tale for me.
Thank you very much for your erudition, but also for your clear voice and the quality of the recording.
And sorry for my awful expression in English!
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast series, and I hope you stick with it until the end.
Hi Kevin, love your podcast. I was wondering if you had posted the great vowel shift yet. I am very excited to hear it. Also, are you going to continue making more podcasts. I would be disappointed to see you stop now when there’s still so much to learn. I’d like to join Patreon if you are going to keep producing your informative and interesting podcasts.
Hi Deborah. Yes, I release a new episode each month – usually about the third week of the month. The story is told chronologically, and I am currently at the end of the 1300s, so I haven’t gotten to the Great Vowel Shift yet. I have discussed some earlier vowel shifts in Middle English, but the Great Vowel Shift will be covered during the 1400s. That means that I will be addressing it in the upcoming year.
Hello Kevin.
Thanks for this awesome work. Since I love languages and history, this is a very interesting podcast for me.
I’d like to thank you for these amazing and informative podcasts.
Stumbled across your site a couple of weeks ago, and now I’m setting aside half an hour every day to listen.
There should be more than enough to get me through the lockdown!
Thanks! Glad you discovered it, and I hope you make it all the way through to the current episodes.
I found your Awesome Podcast just today accidentally – through the link from Spotify.
I listened to the story about Black Death and the social changes that were the result of it. I hardly couldn’t associate it Coronavirus! I wonder if we are just before similar changes?
I am Polish and till now was fascinated by the origin of words in my native language and Indoeuropean roots. Words in Polish like: imie (name), matka (mother), brat (brother), siostra (sister), zupa (soup), dwa (two) are nearly similar as in Sanskrit. And the most fun for me is when the workers use Sanskrit words very often not even knowing they are from Sanskrit: word jebac (to fuck) is so similar to jebhatti 🙂 and kurwa is from kehros (loved).
Now I’ve found a new area of fantastic knowledge as I love to learn English language and to discover its nature.
Thanks a lot for your work.
p.s.
One of the Polish writers (Stanislaw Lem) said once: I didn’t know there are so many dummies in the world until I started to use the Internet”.
You are an example that it could be completely opposite!
best regards Tomasz
Hi Tomasz. Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad that I’m an exception to that general rule. 🙂
I have just found this podcast. And I have only just listened to the Introductory episode, but it sounded like exactly what I have been looking. And it’s great. And it makes me happy that I can finally cover those blind spots in my understanding of English language evolution. I just wanted to say thank you A LOT. Your podcast is the best!
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it.
This podcast is amazing! I feel like I’m auditing a university class. Thank you!
Wow thanks so much, referred from History of the World Podcast with Chris. Just listened to episode one and I can recognize the immensity of this project, truly amazing that this exists, 100x Thankyou.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Only just found your podcasts via an article in this weeks Spectator magazine. Very interesting. I am looking forward to more on the change from middle to modern English. Chaucer was 1343-1400 and wrote in Middle English, William Tyndall 1494-1536, wrote an English bible that provided great chunks of the King James Version in modern English with an interesting connection that Chaucer’s wife Philippa was the sister of Katherine the third wife of John of Gaunt whose descendant Margaret Beaufort was the mother of Henry VII, the first Tudor. A lot changed in just 150 years.
Thanks! I think you’ll find that almost all of that is included in the podcast – including the lineage of John of Gaunt and the fact that he was Chaucer’s brother-in-law.
Hie,
Amm Toe Knee on Wirrel. Amm 65 und a riter.
I hold A- Level English Literature Grade A* (1974) & attended Southampton Univ 1977-80. My forthcoming novella “Robin Chadwick” will be available later this year 2021. I have a lively sense of humour. Tony K Blades.
GWIKU ….. I wish to create a neologism…GWIKU… it means “Global Warming Is Killing Us”………….. Please spread it around!! Take care folks. Tony K Blades.
A friend mentioned that he was listening to this podcast and was enjoying it, so I just checked it out.
Stroud uses the words “English” and “language” very frequently, but pronounces them in a way I’ve never heard before. Every time it interrupts my train of thought. Does anyone else hear it?
I say and hear “English” as if it was pronounced “ing glish”, but Stroud pronounces it as “ing lish”.
Likewise, “language” is normally something like “lang gwidge” but Stroud pronounces it as “lang widge”.
Gah, I need to unhear this because I really want to follow the story he is telling without being distracted every single time he uses one of those words. 🙂 All the same, I greatly appreciate the time and effort he has spent creating this series.
Jim, I didn’t hear the same syllables that you hear, and didn’t really notice the pronunciation at all. After reading your comment, I played the beginning, and what I hear is that his “g” is not as hard as most people’s pronunciation. At any rate I didn’t find it distracting, as you did.
My husband pronounces “g” at the end of a word like “long” with a very hard “g”. After 31 years of marriage, I still hear it every time 🙂
I heard that too! He doesn’t say a g in those words, just an “ng,” while you and I say an “ng” followed by a g
I don’t mind it though
I’d say that “norm, normal, normally” highly depends on who, when, where, to whom, with whom…. and there are 379 million native speakers of English around the world. I just meant to give some perspective…
I just discovered this podcast this morning and am looking forward to listening to all the episodes. Many years ago I read a book called “The Story of English”, and I have been fascinated by the subject ever since.
I particularly liked hearing phrases read in the different versions of English. It made me think about various “time travel” books, and I realized that with an ear for language, you might be able to get along in Middle English, but Old English would be another story!
I loved that book, too! It’s a companion to a documentary, which you should definitely watch if you haven’t seem it already.
The documentary is what got me interested in the book. One thing the book doesn’t have is the ability to hear all the different accents and ways of speaking 🙂
Just started listening, episode 1. Raised many more questions for me than answers, which is always a good thing. First up – how does anyone know how old or middle english words were pronounced? obviously there were no recordings. And, given the significant regional variations in pronunciation across the UK, the middle english pronunciation seems to align with some of those – far north and scottish coming immediately to mind, so this must complicate the idea of any linear change from middle to modern. I hope there are some answers to this between here and ep.146.
Steve, be patient and all your questions will be answered, some in great detail. Although the first episodes are very good, this podcast gets better and better. Enjoy!
In which episode does Kevin mention the origin of Wessex and Essex
Hi Ellen. I think you’re looking for Episode 32.
I just discovered this podcast yesterday and am completely hooked! I teach third grade and was searching for ‘challenge words’ for my students based on the sounds ‘ a for o’ as in ‘want’ for our spelling lesson. On the particular website which listed words with this sound, your podcast was mentioned. Such a wealth of knowledge and I can’t wait to share some of my findings with my students. Believe it or not, 8 year olds find the links and history behind the English language interesting. During a spelling lesson, I’ll mention the origin of a prefix, link to the world map, then a ton of questions are thrown at me along with personal connections where they have heard a similar word. After learning Indonesian, Farsi and a small amount of Arabic, I noticed similar words between these languages myself. I’m so glad that there is an entire podcast to catch up on that is all about the origins of English. It’s going to fight for time with the Rex Factor podcast though – which I HIGHLY recommend. Although the links between the two podcasts are already evident from episode 1 so it’s wonderful to see how. All comes together. Thanks for sharing and I will definitely be donating.
There aren’t enough hours in the day. I never wanted to live forever but I could listen to this forever. My Latin teacher told me about it and I said I’ve been a fan for about 6 years. Thank you Kevin Stroud. Not that you need any advice from me, but please ignore the critics. They know not what they do.
Thanks to both of you! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast as much as I enjoy producing it.
Reading the Middle English reminds me a little bit of reading my 2nd and 3rd graders work when they’re encouraged to sound out how to spell the words 😂
I love the podcast so much, I’ve gone back to the beginning
I hope you enjoy it just as much the second time around.
Hello from Spain!
I’ve just discovered the podcast today and I think I’ll love it, because I love History and I’m trying to improve my English as well.
Wow. What an awesome podcast! Was brought to it through the History of England podcast, after having just completed the History of Roam podcast. I also loved the books by Bill Bryson and Melvyn Bragg, that really wetted my appetite, but I was always wanting more.
This podcast has answered a lot of my questions, like “why is that word spelt like that!” or “Ok, how did a given word get from Greek, to Latin, to French, to English? Related, would love to know how to track down recordings of what the older languages could have sounded like. Ancient Greek vs Modern Greek? Classical vs modern Latin? What about Anglo-norman French? Keep up the great work, I’m almost caught up! About to start episode 159.
Oh. I guess this won’t be popular, then. I was thinking to abolish the letter C. No use for it. Except if you go to church on Sundays, so we would have to have a T with a cedilla, I suppose, for the cha-cha-cha etc. Sorry, a sedilla. Exept doesn’t need anything else. Think about it.