How far back in time could I go and still be understood

[John_Mace]

@Lemur866

You mean, you step out of the time machine and start a monologue, and the people have to try to understand you? And you’re not allowed to modify your idiolect to match the local people? And you’re obliged to use all sorts of modern neologisms, and you’re trying to explain Instagram and IP numbers?

That’s an important point I like to bring up in these sorts of threads. There is a LOT that two people can do to help or hinder mutual intelligibility.

[AK84]

@John_Mace

That’s an important point I like to bring up in these sorts of threads. There is a LOT that two people can do to help or hinder mutual intelligibility.

Yes. But pronunciation and meanings and usage of words can change dramatically over the years.

To take a couple of famous examples.

Duke of Wellington on Waterloo

. It has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.

Or Charles II on St Paul’s Cathedral.

very artificial

What they meant is left as an exersize to the reader. No they don’t mean what they do today.

[Monty]

@dunkleosteus

I should note the pronunciation changes-

the letter “h” was pronounced as we do today at the beginning of words but as the “ch” in the scottish “loch” anywhere else in the word. The letter “g” sometimes sounded as the modern one, but more often as a softer “y” consonant sound. The digraphs “th”, “sh”, “ch” didn’t exist, and instead were replaced with letters like þ (thorn) or eth (although I can’t remember the ALT code for eth), “sc” made the modern “sh” sound, and “ce” made the modern “ch” sound. I could try to write the above old english in a way that you might be able to pronounce it better as a modern English reader:

Fah-der Oo-reh,
Thoo thay art on Heh-ove-oh-num,
Sih theen na-ma yeh-hahl-god
Toh-beh-coo-muh theen reech-(e)
yeh-werth-uh theen weel-luh on Eh-orth-an swah swah on Heh-ove-oh-num.
Oo-reh yeh-dahych-wahm-lee-can hlahv sool-leh oos toh-dahy
Ond for-yoof oos oo-reh yool-tas swah swah way for-yoof-ath oo-rum yool-ten-dum
Ond ney yeh-leh-ad thoo oos on cost-nun(g/y)-eh, ak a-loose oos ov oo-vel.
Soh-thleech-eh
Now that I think about it, the “y” vowel might be more similar to the “eu” used in some french words, like “jeune”.

Here is someone reading the Lord’s Prayer in Old English; the text is also in Old English with notations made on screen during the reading.

[Leo_Bloom]

@dunkleosteus

Really depends. …
I’m not going to look up the actual text, I’ll try to copy it from memory, so there might be a few errors, but I’ll try my best to show you what the Lord’s Prayer looked like in Old English:…

Great post, above and beyond.

“Rice” is fascinating.

So is “sell”–>“give.”

[DrDeth]

@Hari_Seldon

All I know is that there are British dialects I cannot understand at all. Maybe a couple weeks of immersion would solve that problem, but going back 400 years to the late Shakespeare years would almost certainly make me incomprehensible to them and vice versa.

Yeah, pretty much, and traveling a hundred miles would bring in a new dialect. But you’d figure it out pretty quick, and anyone but peasants would understand you just have a off dialect.

[John_Mace]

@Monty

Here is someone reading the Lord’s Prayer in Old English; the text is also in Old English with notations made on screen during the reading.

The Lord’s Prayer is not the best example since it exists today with many archaic phrases in it.

[Lucas_Jackson]

@Lemur866

You mean, you step out of the time machine and start a monologue, and the people have to try to understand you? And you’re not allowed to modify your idiolect to match the local people?

In case my OP wasn’t clear, to re-phrase, let’s suppose my goal was to “step out of the time machine” and start a conversation and be understood. To that end, I can study any current spoken language to help me along. Having made the effort, how far back could I go in time and have a reasonable expectation of being understood?

[John_Mace]

@White SIFL

In case my OP wasn’t clear, to re-phrase, let’s suppose my goal was to “step out of the time machine” and start a conversation and be understood. To that end, I can study any current spoken language to help me along. Having made the effort, how far back could I go in time and have a reasonable expectation of being understood?

I would study Dutch and Icelandic and Italian.

Dutch: The closest extant relative of Old English (other than English).
Icelandic: The closest extant relative of Old Norse (a major influence on English after the Viking invasions).
Italian: The closest extant relative to Latin. The Learned classes would know Latin.

[Monty]

@John_Mace

The Lord’s Prayer is not the best example since it exists today with many archaic phrases in it.

Depends on which translation you’re using:

Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor your name.
Come and set up your kingdom,
so that everyone on earth will obey you,
as you are obeyed in heaven.
Give us our food for today.
Forgive us for doing wrong,
as we forgive others.
Keep us from being tempted
and protect us from evil.

My personal favorite translation is this (you’ll have to scroll down):

‘God, you our Fadda.
You stay inside da sky.
We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay,
An dat you stay good an spesho,
An we like dem give you plenny respeck.
We like you come King fo everybody now.
We like everybody make jalike you like,
Ova hea inside da world,
Jalike da angel guys up inside da sky make jalike you like.
Give us da food we need fo every day.
Hemo our shame, an let us go
Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you,
Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready,
An we no stay huhu wit dem
Fo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us.
No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff,
But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us.
[Cuz you our King,
You get da real power,
An you stay awesome foeva.
Dass it!]’

[Lucas_Jackson]

@John_Mace

I would study Dutch and Icelandic and Italian.

Dutch: The closest extant relative of Old English (other than English).
Icelandic: The closest extant relative of Old Norse (a major influence on English after the Viking invasions).
Italian: The closest extant relative to Latin. The Learned classes would know Latin.

Thanks, that’s more of what I was looking for. Apologies if my OP was unclear.