Bud went into the hospital Christmas Eve for
emergency hernia surgery. Though the surgery was successful, he had an
infection that had spread to his other organs & at 86, he no longer has the
strength to fight it. The hospital staff did all they could to get him
better, but his kidneys seem to be failing. He's starting on only
palliative care today. We just want him to be comfortable & out of
pain. We're still praying for him but it doesn't look like he'll be
coming home again. My posts will continue being published because they
are written & held for publishing. I currently have them done until
almost the end of January. I'll keep you advised as to his condition, but
I don't expect anything good.
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What
was the first English word? Because language disappears into the air as soon as
it is spoken, it can be hard to tell when any particular language began. But if
there are artifacts with writing left behind, we can get some idea of its
beginnings. The earliest English word we have a record of was discovered during
an archaeological dig near Norwich, England in the early 1930's. It was written
in an ancient runic script carved on the bone of a deer: "raihan."
But what does it mean?
A Linguistic Enigma
Another
reason it's hard to say when a language began is that languages generally don't
just materialize out of nowhere but evolve from other, already-existing
languages. When does Latin officially become French or Spanish or Italian? In
the case of English, the question is when does an ancestor Germanic language
become English? (Or for that matter, German, Dutch, or Norwegian?)
The
most sensible thing to ask when looking for the first English word, then, is
when did a Germanic language first come to the place where English would
eventually develop and flourish?
The
"raihan" bone was found in a cremation urn in a cemetery site in the
village of Caistor St. Edmund. Archaeologists now call it the Caistor astragalus
(astragalus is an anatomical term for ankle bone), and it's been dated to the
early 5th century. Importantly, this was just before a major linguistic turning
point in the history of English: the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain.
Before the Anglo-Saxon invasions of 449 A.D., the people there spoke some sort
of Celtic language mixed with Latin from the occupying Romans. The Anglo-Saxons
brought their Germanic languages, which just a few hundred years later would
become dominant across the area and take the form of Old English.
The
bone appears to pre-date the Anglo-Saxons, but is in some sort of Germanic
language. Who made this inscription? Members of a Germanic tribe that worked
for the Romans? Warriors for hire? It's still a mystery. But "raihan"
is our first physical document of the beginning of English.
What Does It Mean?
The
meaning of the word "raihan" is also a bit of a mystery. The
"n" at the end looks like a type of possessive ending that some
Germanic languages had then. It could mean "Raiha's," as in
"this belongs to Raiha." Or it could be related to the root
"rei," which could either mean to cut or to color. It could also
refer to the carver of the inscription, the one who polished and prepared the
bone.
However,
it's most likely that the meaning is the animal the ankle bone comes from. In
Old English, the word for roe-deer is "raha" or "raa."
"Raihan" is different, but not so different that it couldn't have
changed into "raha" over time.
What Was It For?
Another
clue to the meaning of the word is the purpose of the bone. The urn in which it
was found also contains a number of other smaller bones from sheep or goats.
Taken together, they form a set of pieces or counters for playing a game. The
use of small bones in games is an ancient and widespread practice. In fact, the
game Jacks was once known as "Knucklebones."
The roe-deer bone is larger, polished, and
etched with a word. Perhaps it was the prize piece in a game, similar to the
king in chess. Perhaps the person who fashioned the game pieces just wanted to
label the bone with the name of its source. Though we can't know exactly who
wrote the word and why, we do, thanks to the luck of preservation and
discovery, know the word.
(curiosity.com/Arika Okrent)
(curiosity.com/Arika Okrent)
20 historical words we should bring back:
----fishducky
