Something many a squire found himself babbling uncontrollably as he faced a heavy cavalry charge:

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.´

This is Matthew 6:9-13, of course, taken from a vernacular translation found in Bath that was written sometime in the early eleventh century, at the near end of the Old English period. By this time, large proportions of the Scriptures had already been directly translated, or at least well-paraphrased, in no small part thanks to both the encouragement and outright successes of Alfred the Great. These piecemeal works were preserved in the long, enyclopedic manuscript Paris Psalter.

It would be another two and a half centuries after the Lord's Prayer appeared in English, before John Wyclif would first compile a complete edition of the Bible in the somewhat more familiar Middle-English, in an era after the Anglo-French brought by the Norman Conquest and the various tribal dialects of Germanic Britain had meshed together and mutated into something entirely quite different and infinitely more recognizable to modern speakers.

Here follows a more-or-less word-for-word translation, based on my knowledge of Anglo-Saxon with the aid of a few lexica for reference. As in most Germanic languages, you can see that word placement itself counts for little in comparison to inflection.

Father ours, thou that art in heaven
be thy name hallowed
to receive thy kingdom
(let) be done thy will
on earth as is in heaven
our daily bread give us today
and forgive us our sins
as we forgive our sinners (who have sinned against us)
and not lead thou us into temptation
but relieve us of evil. Amen.

This text is a particularly good example to show how close the old english language is to old norse - and via old norse to modern scandinavian, in this case Norwegian.


Old english                             Old Norse                                       Modern Norwegian
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum        Faþer vár es ert himnom                         Fader vår, du som er i himmelen
Si þin nama gehalgod                    verði nafn þitt hæilagt                         la ditt navn holdes hellig
to becume þin rice                      Til kome ríke þitt                              la ditt rike komme
gewurþe ðin willa                       Værði vili þin                                  la din vilje skje 
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.          sva iarðu sem í himnum                          på jorden som i himmelen
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg  Gef oss ok hværn dag brauð vort dagligt         Gi oss i dag vårt daglige brød
and forgyf us ure gyltas                Ok fyr gefþu oss synþ órar                      Forlat oss vår skyld
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum      sem vér vyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert  som vi og forlater våre skyldnere
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge         Leiðd oss eigi i freistni                       Led oss ikke inn i fristelse
ac alys us of yfele.                    heldr leys þv oss fra illo                      Men frels oss fra det onde

In particular, the Father - Fæder - Faþer - Fader and Name - nama - nafn - navn mutations are worth noting. Another point of interest is that most speakers of modern norwegian will be able to understand at least the main points of an old norse text. In the past, Norse was taught in scandinavian schools as part of the language, and similarities with old english were often drawn.

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