David Cowley

How We’d Talk if the English Had Won in 1066: New Edition 2020 David Cowley

What might English look like today, had there been no Norman Conquest?

From the easy, to the 'weird and wonderful', learn about this amazing topic - with lists, 'chit-chat', headlines, signs, and names of organisations. Learn the meanings of: Overseas Ambighthouse, Thane wrayed of craft-less wield, Middliand at frith talks ... and many more!

You'll also see that many words lost after 1066 can, in their updated forms, be straightforward and homely-sounding: A king with no afterfollower, He yearnfully watched, misthinking they were better off. Or who might be forebusied, and onbeloaded with work?

Written clearly, for non-specialists (but with the authentic Old English sources in a reference section for those who are!)

This 2020 edition has sundry updates and wends (changes), as well as key highlights from sister book (now out of print) Hastings 1066, Words We'd Wield if We'd Won.

'I think this is great fun ... equivalences are really clever and ingenious' Prof. David Crystal, Linguist, author of the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language

"Cowley's book is great fun, and a real treasure for authors and re-enactors seeking to write or speak in a form of English that is ... intelligible to modern readers" - Jack Hight, historical fiction author