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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Estuary
English
Language information: English is currently the most important language in the world. Its origin is
highly complex. It began as a mixture of Anglish, Old Saxon, Old Jutish, Old
Frisian and possibly other Old Germanic varieties imported from
the Continental Lowlands, as well as numerous Medieval Latin loans. The resulting
Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) language came to supplant most Celtic language
varieties of Britain. Viking and Norman invasions resulted in layers of Scandinavian
and Norman French influences. English morphology underwent radical simplification,
and this caused the syntax to lose much of its earlier flexibility.
Dialectical diversity is considerable, the most densely occurring diversity being
in the British Isles and Ireland, followed closely by the North American East
Coast, especially New England and Canada’s Maritime Provinces. Having changed
little since the fourteenth century, today’s English orthography is one of the
most historical systems and takes much time and effort to master.
Estuary English is the English
dialect of the Thames Estuary and Home Counties. This translation
is by a speaker from North East London, England.
Genealogy: Indo-European > Germanic > Western > Anglo-Scots > English
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