Dead Language Society
Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Story of English
Literature & Lore
Etymology
Sound & Spelling
Poetry & Style
Before English
Book Club
Archive
About
Latest
Top
Discussions
Medieval beach reads
How to read Middle English and Scots texts in the original
Aug 5
•
Colin Gorrie
185
22
13
July 2026
Does your name belong in the Odyssey?
The ancient formula still alive in “Richard” and “Audrey”
Jul 29
•
Colin Gorrie
110
12
8
I’m writing a book!
The story of English before it was English
Jul 22
•
Colin Gorrie
286
62
20
The fatal letter
The near-death and resurrection of “h”
Jul 15
•
Colin Gorrie
96
14
4
“Weird” is a weird word
From Beowulf to Shakespeare to you
Jul 8
•
Colin Gorrie
365
29
45
The long shadow of the Celtic languages
Everything we can learn from the word ‘rich’
Jul 1
•
Colin Gorrie
104
5
7
June 2026
Why the word “mead” shows up in Chinese
Honey words turn out to be rather sticky
Jun 24
•
Colin Gorrie
174
26
17
Why we love 19th-century writing
And why we don’t write like that anymore
Jun 17
•
Colin Gorrie
127
12
15
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 4. 1998–2530
The games come to an end
Jun 16
•
Colin Gorrie
25
7
1:05:12
When will Modern English end?
Or is it already over?
Jun 10
•
Colin Gorrie
230
48
24
There’s no such thing as g-droppin’
That apostrophe is a lie
Jun 3
•
Colin Gorrie
91
20
4
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 3. 1126–1997
Three hunts outdoors, three hunts indoors
Jun 2
•
Colin Gorrie
12
9
1:00:41
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts
