Edgewaters

What, like being an action movie star? He isn't too old for that?

vera

Of course, but he does it so well. And now he can also say "I'm too old for this s***", like his partner. It is expected.

Edgewaters

It took me a minute to catch the reference ... good one!

He'd never deliver the line as well as Glover, though.

vera

Probably. But you know, he's an actor, and he was a fine-figure of an action-hero, so people would forgive him that.

Did he do Braveheart well? Or the other bloody "historicals"? He'll probably manage this one a lot better, including the public that is willing to forgive.

throughthepastdarkly

The guy's got balls to venture into mostly uncharted waters and verisimilitude is important to him (excepting the likelihood that Jesus didn't die of bleeding and/or dehydration after the first several layers of skin were flayed as he gave us in Temptation) - what with the language and the actors. Historumers should be glad he's got the curiosity and the clout to give us a major motion picture window less conventional eras and places to portray.

Thanks for the post.

Richard Stanbery

I just hope that there is a lot of Old English spoken in the movie. Even historians such as us often disagree on the pronunciations of certain words, or the dialect as a whole, as there are no OE speakers around anymore.

There is Icelandic, but that is part of the problem here. Some scholars pose OE as having a sing-song Nordic twang to it, while other more of a Dutch, or Frisian accent. Oh, I suppose I shall have to show some links so that you can hear what Im talking about.

This is a very important thing to me, and I hope to go away from the movie with some resolution on this matter. Let me pull up some audio so you can hear what Im talking about. Hang on just a moment.

OE with Nordic accent...

Notice how she opened with the OE word "Quat!", which is like saying "quiet", or listen? It is how one might start a story of a skop gathering a crowd in a gathering place. It means something is about to be told.

OE without the Nordic accent...

Another without the Nordic "ing" twang...

And what we believe to be the West Sax, more flat accent, not of the Nordic/Icelandic twang...

And this one too...

And to compare with Old Norse, or proto Norse...


And so it will be interesting to see how Hollywood approaches this.
I rather expect they will take the short cut and just recruit some folks from Iceland who speak that toungue. That might be close...but not exactly right, as Icelandic would have the sing-song Nordic twang, wouldnt it?

This is what we think Old English might have actually sounded like, as this is modern Frisian talk...

Would this difference be a function of the dialect differences between Jutes, and Saxons in the early days of Englandas invasion?

vera

I think Mel Gibson is of scandinavic descent, so he may even have heard some authentic accent in the family.

Richard Stanbery

Well, being a native English speaker, he has a leg up on it anyway. Old English is slightly different to the ear, but the roots are still in what we speak everyday. Once one learns some vocabulary amd tunes thier ear to it, Old English does lend itself to modern English speakers, if English is the native toungue.

I imagine it would be a lot harder for someone who speaks English as a second language.

That is probably why English speakers seem to learn German easier than people who are native speakers of, say, Spanish, for example.

Some changes in the language are inexplicable, though. The term "ask" in modern English is totally different from the old Frag, Fragen, Frageth, Fragu, and etc. Some terms like that will just have to be learned, but it is easier in the whole for a native English speaker to learn OE than a non-native English speaker.

I wonder if there is anyone on the forum from Holland who can tell us the differences between Frisian and modern Dutch?

sturm

No, i think he is perfect.
Long beard suits him fine, and he have alcohol problems.. the perfect viking.

Isn't that the face of a scary viking ?

Richard Stanbery

I cant wait. I bet it will be great!
He looks like my daddy did!

Bearded, uncooth, half-civilized men of the world unite!

I rear back my head and yell...Aruuuuuuuuaaaaaagh!!! (spittel flying from mouth)

I feel mideval! It makes me want to wear one of those old helmets like they found at Sutton-Hoo. Kinda makes me feel like a man!

I bet the testastorone levels of this film will be elevated.