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eigenspacetoday at 11:58 AM5 repliesview on HN

I found this article quite interesting, and couldn't help but feel there's something that's emotionally lost when we got rid of the dual-forms. The example from Wulf and Eadwacer where "uncer giedd" was translated to "the song of the two of us".

Somehow that just doesn't land the same.


Replies

heresie-dabordtoday at 12:28 PM

> Somehow that just doesn't land the same.

I fear that a modern colloquial rendering would disappoint yet further:

    our besties tune
show 1 reply
iterateoftentoday at 2:54 PM

We still have in English: us-two and you-two and we-two.

Same number of syllables.

Maybe “Song of just us two”

Like it’s common to hear “You two better stay out of trouble”

Or “it was us two in the apartment alone…”

Or “them two are pretty good together ”

zukzuktoday at 12:46 PM

If you found this interesting, you might want to check out The History of the English Language podcast.

I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying it. And I can’t believe I have 195 episodes left.

dghftoday at 3:02 PM

The Wannadies had to go with "You & Me Song" https://youtu.be/t_e_45Szprk?si=4JVZHZzguqm3SFHN

LAC-Techtoday at 1:08 PM

If you are interested in Wulf and Eadwacer it is beautifully sung here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-QagSE7sFY