Hwæt! English looked a lot different 1000 years ago. Although it sounds “old,” the history of our language has everything to do with how we use English today. Old English and Anglo-Saxon culture are the bases for Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and they are also often used in modern nationalist movements. Learn how to think about “origins” in accurate ways that honor the past without living in it. This course provides an introduction to Old English, the ancient ancestor of Modern English (as Latin is the ancient ancestor of Spanish and Italian, distinct from both). The focus of the course is on reading knowledge through grammar study and translation, and to a lesser extent on pronunciation. The course will provide basic parsing and translation skills and an introduction to the history, culture, and literature of early medieval Britain, as well as an introduction to the history of the English Language. Did you know that the word glamor comes from grammar? You will see why! Old English is a sequence, and Intermediate Old English I (Engl 4013) will be offered in the spring.