OFF: Anglo Saxon attitudes

[J Strobridge]

Carl E. Anderson writes:

> On tis 2 dec 1997 00.53 +0000 "J Strobridge" <eset08 at HOLYROOD.ED.AC.UK>
> wrote:
> > Apart from that Chaucer had a few profanities to offer in his
> > Canterbury Tales stories and I'm sure I remember Beowulf being a
> > tad rude to both the dragon, and Grendal not to mention Grendal's
> > Mum - poor lady.
>
>      All depends on whether one considers involuntary death and
> dismemberment impolite or not :)  At least 'Wulf didn't use any
> obscenities (alliterative or not!)  :) :) :)

I know I speak to an expert here and I definitely respect that(!) but
do we actually know what an Anglo Saxon obscenity was?   After all
words like "greedy" "proud" and "kin-slayer" may not mean much to us
today but back then the use or even the suggestion alone might have
been enough to get you killed on the spot!

jill

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J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk                         eset08 at holyrood.ed.ac.uk
                                                ELIJSA at srv0.arts.ed.ac.uk
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