He's unable to understand texts written in his """""""language""""""" before 1500

Nû brinc mir her vil balde mîn ros, mîn îsengewant,
wan ich muoz einer vrouwen rûmen diu lant,
diu wil mich des betwingen, daz ich ir holt sî.
Si muoz der mîner minne iemer darbende sîn.

this is from the 12th century, if you can't read this you're a brainlet

Geht so. can read it but not 100%, maybe 75%

>he can't read and understand the old testament in the original language it was written in

youtube.com/watch?v=tCckcTHWqKw&t=183s

>the original language

The Tanakh/OT is written in Hebrew and Aramaic, not just Hebrew. The Hebrew parts show more and more Aramean influence over time.

Here is East Syriac/Aramaic/etc. as it was spoken in New Testament times and today. Unlike Hebrew, so far from being revived, "we" preserved it through sheer isolation.

This is a rough draft, but the meanings before and after are the identical translation.

Come in peace O priest who bears his Lord’s Mysteries
and with his right hand dispenses life to mankind.
Come in peace O priest who carries a pure censer,
and with its fragrance makes the world sweet and pleasant.

tabashlama khahna daṭ‛een razay mareh.
(Modern: kahna daṭa‛nee raza)
wawyameeneh khayé m-paleg lawnaynasha.
(Modern: wabyameeneh khayé m-pale labnaynasha.)
tabashlama khahna daṭ‛een pirma dakhya.
(Modern: kahna daṭa‛nee)
w-ma‛ṭar reekheh wambasem leh l‛alma meneh
(Modern: w-???; wambasem l‛alma)

Come in peace O priest whom the Holy Spirit nurtured
and who on his tongue bears the keys to the house of God.
Come in peace O priest who binds men in the depths below
and the Lord binds him in the heights. Halleluiah. (John 20:23)

tabashlama khahna d-rabyath rooḥa d-qudsha.
(Modern: kahna d-rabya min)
waw-leshaneh ṭ‛een laqleedé d-beyth alaha.
(Modern: wab-leshaneh ṭa‛nee laqdeelé)
tabashlama khahna dasar nasha b‛oomqa.
(Modern: kahna dayasar)
w-marya b-rawma hoo asar l-hoon halelooyah
(Modern: Awwa yasar l-ay)

Come in peace O priest who unbinds men on the earth
and «in the» heights the Lord unbinds them.

tabashlama khahna d-sharé nasha bar‛a.
(Modern: kahna)
w-marya b-rawma hoo sharé l-hoon
(Modern: Awwa m-sharé l-anee)

This is by Jacob of Serugh, born 451. This speech was transitioning from being considered everyday talk to a classical dialect already in his lifetime. So, I'm sorry, Hebrew speaker, but I think "we" have you beat, as well as many languages.

>he's unable to understand texts written in his """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""language"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" before 1000

Attached: 1555712457340.gif (380x496, 2.56M)

>tf
>tp

Attached: hrmph.jpg (466x411, 57K)

I’m reading annotated Canterbury Tales. At least in the written form, Chaucer’s Middle English is surprisingly understandable.

Það er ekki of seint fyrir þig

Þú getur enn orðið eins kúl og spurðu-mig-það-helsta-um-fornnorænu norski user

This. Especially Middle high German is pretty well understandable, but not all other variations.

I don't know what's surprising. Aramaic-speaking are undergoing exile and already as high a percentage of them live in North America as most Western European heritages.

From about 1940-2015, the Assyrian Church of the East was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, after the massacre of Assyrian Christians in 1933 after Iraq's independence and Britain's forced exile on the erstwhile militarily-autonomous Catholicosate of the Assyrian Church. Two virtual "popes" of the people speaking that language lived and died in the United States after centuries in the Middle East. A Catholic Patriarch, his equivalent, was also recently buried in the United States. If this has happened, my flag should not be surprising.

Even prior to this, American and British influence had been seeping into them for decades. 100 years before that, American missionaries were among them. In the 1870s the village of Hassana in SE Turkey was one of the first majority Protestant villages of the Middle East.

Middle Dutch is surprisingly easy to read but old Dutch is pure gibberish to me.

Bump

Middle PT is still game for me. Tried reading Pêro Vaz’s letter to the king and got about 75 percent of it.

>AZЪ [VЪ IME O]TCA I S(I)NA [I S](VE)TAGO DUHA AZЪ
>OPAT[Ъ] DRŽIHA PISAHЪ SE O LEDI[N]Ě JuŽE
>DA ZЪVЪNIM[I]RЪ KRALЪ HRЪVATЪSKЪÏ [VЪ]
>DNI SVOJĘ VЪ SVETUJu LUCIJu I S[VEDO]-
>MI ŽUPANЪ DESIMRA KRЪ[BA]VĚ MRA[TIN]Ъ VЪ L(I)-
>CĚ PR(I)BЪNEBŽA [S]Ъ POSL[Ъ] VIN[OD](O)LĚ [ĚK](O)VЪ V(Ъ) O-
>TOCĚ DA IŽE TO POREČE KLЪNI I BO(G) I BÏ(=12) AP(OSTO)LA I G(=4) E-
>VA(N)J(E)LISTI I S(VE)TAĚ LUCIĚ AM(E)NЪ DA IŽE SDĚ ŽIVE-
>TЪ MOLI ZA NE BOGA AZЪ OPATЪ D(O)BROVITЪ ZЪ-
>DAH CRĚKЪVЪ SIJu I SVOEJu BRATIJu SЪ DEV-
>ETIJu VЪ DNI KЪNEZA KOSЪMЪTA OBLAD-
>AJuĆAGO VЪSU KЪRAINU I BĚŠE VЪ TЪ DNI M-
>IKULA VЪ OTOČЪCI [SЪ S]VETUJu LUCIJu VЪ EDINO
Baška tablet, ~1100

>Dike ter hvaljen'ja presvetoj Juditi,
>smina nje stvore(n)'ja hoću govoriti;
>zato ću moliti, Bože, tvoju svitlost,
>ne hti(j) mi kratiti u tom punu milost.
>Ti s' on ki da kripost svakomu dilu nje
>i nje kipu lipost s počten'jem čistinje
>ti poni sad mene tako jur napravi,
>jazik da pomene ča misal pripravi.
>Udahni duh pravi u mni ljubav tvoja,
>da sobo(m) ne travi veće pamet moja,
>bludeći ozoja z družbo(m) starih poet,
>boge čtova koja, kimi svit biše spet
Marko Marulić, "Judith", 1501

The difficulty of such old language depends on your exposure to it, knowledge of its predecessors (Old Church Slavonic), potential related languages (other Slavic) that may aid in its understanding, and the text itself (prose is easier than poetry).

Spelling is always fucky, even English had changes until relatively recently (look up Shakespeare's books published in his own time, or Milton's "Paradise Loft" - all of which is already the 17th century).

actually very badass

But what if abo speak was never written down?