Old English

English

Proper noun

Old English

1. (linguistics, historical) The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in most of Britain from about 400 to 1100.

   Synonym: Anglo-Saxon

   Coordinate terms: Classical English, Middle English, Modern English, New English

2. (nonstandard, colloquial, proscribed) Archaic English (Early Modern English) or Middle English speech or writing, or an imitation of this: "old" English.
   • 2008, Stephen J. Harris, Bryon Lee Grigsby, Misconceptions About the Middle Ages, page 177:

     Those who claim that they've been reading Shakespeare in Old English betray their ignorance: they haven't.

3. (typography, historical) The form of black letter used by 16th-century English printers.
4. (Ireland, historical) A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.

Translations

ancestor language of modern English

• Albanian: Anglishte e vjetër
• Amharic: ጥንታዊ እንግሊዝኛ (ṭəntawi ʾəngəlizña)
• Arabic: إِنْجْلِيزِيَّة عَتِيقَة‎ f (ʾinglīziyya ʿatīqa)
• Armenian: հին անգլերեն (hin angleren), անգլոսաքսոներեն (anglosakʿsoneren)
• Asturian: anglosaxó m; inglés antiguu m
• Basque: antzinako ingelesa
• Belarusian: стараанглі́йская f (staraanhlíjskaja), стараанглі́йская мо́ва f (staraanhlíjskaja móva)
• Bulgarian: староанглийски език m (staroanglijski ezik)
• Catalan: anglès antic (ca) m

  Valencian: anglés antic (ca) m

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 古英語 (zh), 古英语 (zh) (gǔyīngyǔ)

• Czech: stará angličtina (cs) f
• Danish: angelsaksisk; oldengelsk
• Dutch: Angelsaksisch (nl) n; Oudengels (nl) n
• Esperanto: Anglosaksa lingvo
• Estonian: vanainglise keel
• Faroese: fornenskt (fo) n
• Finnish: muinaisenglanti (fi)
• French: anglo-saxon (fr) m; vieil anglais (fr) m
• Galician: inglés antigo (gl) m
• Georgian: ძველი ინგლისური (ʒveli inglisuri), ძველი ინგლისური ენა (ʒveli inglisuri ena), ანგლოსაქსური ენა (anglosaksuri ena)
• German: Angelsächsisch (de) n, angelsächsische Sprache f; Altenglisch (de) n, altenglische Sprache f
• Greek: αρχαία αγγλική γλώσσα (archaía anglikí glóssa)
• Hebrew: אנגלית עתיקה‎
• Hindi: पुरानी अंग्रेज़ी f (purānī aṅgrezī)
• Hungarian: óangol (nyelv)
• Icelandic: fornenska (is)
• Indonesian: bahasa Inggris Kuna
• Irish: Angla-Shacsainis f, Sean-Bhéarla m
• Italian: anglosassone (it) m; inglese antico m

• Japanese: 古英語 (ja) (こえいご, Koeigo)
• Khmer: ភាសាអង់គ្លេសបុរាណ (pʰiesaa ɑngkleih boraan), អង់គ្លេសបុរាណ (ɑngkleih boraan)
• Korean: 고영어(古英語) (Goyeong'eo), 고대영어(古代英語) (Godaeyeong'eo)
• Latin: lingua anglosaxonica f
• Limburgish: Aad-Ingelsj n
• Lithuanian: senoji anglų kalba
• Macedonian: староанглиски јазик m (staroangliski jazik), староанглиски m (staroangliski)
• Malay: bahasa Inggeris Kuno, Inggeris Kuno
• Maltese: anglo-sassonu m, Ingliż arkajk m
• Marathi: जुनी इंग्रजी f (junī iṅgrajī), जुनी इंग्लिश f (junī iṅgliś)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gammelengelsk (no) m, gammalengelsk m

  Nynorsk: gamalengelsk m, gammalengelsk m

• Occitan: anglosaxon (oc) m
• Persian: انگلیسی قدیم‎ (engelisi qadim)
• Polish: staroangielski (pl) m
• Portuguese: anglo-saxão (pt) m, anglo-saxónico (Portugal), anglo-saxônico (Brazil); inglês antigo (pt) m
• Romanian: anglosaxonă f; engleză veche
• Russian: древнеангли́йский язы́к m (drevneanglíjskij jazýk), древнеангли́йский (ru) m (drevneanglíjskij)
• Scots: Auld Inglis
• Slovene: stara angleščina f
• Spanish: anglosajón (es) m, idioma anglosajón m; inglés antiguo (es) m
• Swahili: Kiingereza cha Kale
• Swedish: fornengelska (sv) c
• Tagalog: lumang Ingles
• Thai: ภาษาอังกฤษโบราณ (paasăa anggrit bohraan)
• Turkish: Eski İngilizce (tr)
• Ukrainian: староанглі́йська f (staroanhlíjsʹka), староанглі́йська мо́ва f (staroanhlíjsʹka móva)

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Old English terms
• Germanic

Further reading

• Old English on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ISO 639-3 code ang (SIL)
• “Old English”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.