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Stop calling Shakespearean English “Old English!” It’s not.

Banner for page on the difference between Old English and Early Modern English.

It’s early Modern English. Like my mother, it annoys me when people add a “thee” or a “thou” and think they are speaking Old English. Nope. Not.

The Old English period (450-1100s) is followed by Middle English (1150–1500), Early Modern English (1500–1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650), and in Scotland Early Scots (before 1450), Middle Scots (c. 1450–1700) and Modern Scots (after 1700).

Now, of course, there is no specific year in which everyone got together and said, “Hey! It’s 1183, let’s stop sounding like Barbarians and switch to Middle English!”

There was evolution, overlap, and pockets of older speech remained in isolated areas. Some of those pockets died out, some caught up with the dominant language, and some evolved into their own separate languages.

We do have examples of text which have been carried across the years to us, and have preserved the changes. one familiar example is The Lord’s Prayer.

There are many versions of The Lord’s Prayer in each era, but these will give an idea of the changes the English language has seen in the past 2000 years.

The Lord’s Prayer in Old English
Fæder ure
þu þe eart on heofonum,
si þin nama gehalgod.
Tobecume þin rice.
Gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg.
And forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge,
ac alys us of yfele.  Soþlice. 

The Lord’s Prayer in Middle English
Oure fadir that art in heuenes,
halewid be thi name ;
thi kyngdoom come to ;
by thi wille don in erthe as in heuene :
Ʒyue to vs this dai oure breed ouer othir substaunce ;
and forƷyue to vs oure dettis,
as we forƷyuen to oure dettouris ;
and lede vs not in to temptacioun,
but delyuere vs fro yuel.
Amen

The Lord’s Prayer in Early Modern English (the version I grew up with)
Our father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive our trespassors.
Lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.

The Lord’s Prayer in Present-Day English
Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,
May your kingdom come,
May your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us our sustenance for today,
And forgive us our wrongs,
as we ourselves have forgiven our wrongdoers.
And do not lead us into doing wrong,
But deliver us from that which would lead us into wrong.

Now, if you, like me, want to give a FLAVOR of “Olden Tymes” to your speech, for cosplay, Renfaire, SCA, or what have you, then have fun with “speaking forsoothly!” Such speech be not of ein specific era, but rather an amalgamation drawn from thine own well of archaic speechcraft and presented from the mouth of thine character!

What does Old English sound like? Listen to this!

See the whole poem in Old English and Modern English by clicking this link.

This is what Old English writing looks like. This is a page from the Old English Hexateuch, depicting Miriam and the daughters of Zion playing harps to celebrate victory over Pharaoh (England, 11th century): Cotton MS Claudius B IV, f. 92v

Many Old English foods are still prepared today. If you enjoy meatballs or rissoles, you are carrying on the tradition. In a time when meat tended to be quite “toothy,” due to most of it being free range or game, mincing it up fine to cook made it more tender, juicy, and allowed an assortment of vegetables and various scrapings from previous meals to be incorporated. Here is a basic method for rissole.

Rissole

  • meat
  • parsley
  • onion
  • garlic
  • vegetables
  • eggs
  • milk
  • breadcrumbs
  • gravy

Mince everything fine and blend all except the gravy, one egg, milk, and breadcrumbs together well. Of course, if you have LOTS of breadcrumbs, you can use some to stretch the meat mix. Make balls of the mix and then flatten them a bit. Mix together one of the eggs with some milk. Soak the flattened meatballs in the mix, then remove and roll in the breadcrumbs. Fry in hot oil until browned. If you will serve them dry with the gravy over, then continue to cook through. If they will be simmered in the gravy, do so as soon as they are browned so that they finish cooking in the gravy, lest they overcook and toughen.

Be that as it may, here is a lovely page from the British Museum on how to create a medieval English feast.

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Visit to Hainan

I recently returned from Wenchang, Hainan. The trip was to attend the Galaxy Forum to discuss Lunar development and space exploration.

We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Wenchang, which is not where Google Maps says it is, but rather just seaward of Qinglan Harbor. I very much enjoyed watching the fishing board going in and out each morning, and seeing the fishing nets on their poles in the water. Swimming in the bay is not recommended as the current is deceptive – much faster than it appears from land. You can tell by the difference in the engine sound as the boats run out or in with the current.

Image from Google Maps

Only two months before we arrived, a devastating typhoon had hit the island. It was amazing how resilient and strong the people of Hainan are. With help from the central government the power and communications grids were up and stable within two weeks of the devastation. Our hotel had hosted many of the electrical and telecommunications engineers and other workers who had come to help rebuild.

By the time our conference arrived, the hotel was in full operation, giving us a warm and gracious welcome and providing all the support we needed.

Farms that had been flattened had cleared small plots and were growing vegetables, the shrimp farms were coming back into operation, and the famous Hainan chickens were in the buffet line.

Chickens in the buffet line at the Wyndham Grand Wenchang. Photo by DL Yuen

Hainan chickens are more flavorful than most of what we find in American supermarkets. They spend more time outside scratching and eating fresh greens and bugs, scratching and running, so the meat has more “tooth,” is more firm, without being dry. The breed of chicken is more lean and slower growing, which means they take longer to raise to market, but they are certainly worth the wait!

The famous Hainan Chicken Rice is a classic Hainanese dish. Probably the easiest way to learn how to prepare it properly is with this video from Woks of Life.

We took a tour out to see the launch facility. Yes, Hainan is home to top-notch rochet launch sites! While out, we had afternoon tea. We were told the dishes were classic Hainan tea fare, but that we were getting a full day selection all in one sitting! Many of the goodies are usually served at breakfast, though they all certainly can be enjoyed throughout the day.

Afternoon tea in Hainan. No, you wouldn’t normally eat all of this at one sitting, but they wanted to show us favorite Hainanese goodies. Photo by DL Yuen

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Butter Chicken

by D. Leilehua Yuen

Apparently, there is a Great Butter Chicken Controversy complete with lawsuits and everything!

The grandsons of the two men who founded Moti Mahal, possibly the first restaurant where Indian butter chicken was served, are in a battle over which grandpa created the popular dish. The suit has been filed with a 2,752-page-long document. Story and recipe at this NPR page.

Geraldine’s Murgh Makhanii (Butter Chicken)

Ingredients

  • 1 stewing hen
  • 2 medium-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 bulb garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • Fresh ginger, about thumb sized, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 stick cinnamon, about 3 inches, broken into smaller pieces
  • Seeds from 6 green cardamom pods
  • 8 whole cloves
  • 1/2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves, about as long as your finger, crumbled
  • Dried kashmiri (or other favorite) peppers, crumbled, to taste (if you are not used to spicy food, start with one)
  • 6 tablespoons sunflower or other vegetable oil
  • 16 ounces (2 cups) tomato sauce
  • 1 stick salted butter

Preparation

Remove then skin from the chicken, cut the bird into pieces, and bone it. (Save the bones for broth.) You can place the skin in a pan on the lowest possible setting and render it to add the oil to the dish. (The crispy skin is delicious lightly sprinkled with a little garlic salt!) Cut the meat into approximately 2″ cubes Pat dry and put aside.

In your blender, combine the onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, bay, kashmiri peppers, and a tablespoon of water. Blend, adding water a little at a time, until the mix forms a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet, like a chicken frier. When very hot, add the chicken pieces and brown them quickly. You’ll want to add a few pieces at a time, brown, remove, and repeat to get them done properly. Add too many at a time and the steam will prevent proper browning.

When all the chicken is browned, turn heat to medium and add the spices paste. Cook the paste rather as you would a roux for about 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot well to keep it from burning. Add the rendered chicken fat and half of the stick of butter. When it is well blended, add the tomato sauce, and water to just a touch thinner than desired consistency. Bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn the heat very low and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir often.

Add the chicken pieces and their juices to the sauce, bring it back to a boil, cover and simmer over very low heat for 30 minutes or so, until the chicken is tender but not falling apart. Stir gently every so often to prevent burning.

Cut thin pats off the remaining butter – as many as people who will be dining.

To serve, scoop hot jasmine rice into soup plates. Top the rice with the a pat of butter each. Scoop the butter chicken over the rice.

Cardamom powder and pods
Image – Wikipedia

I learned a rather different version of butter chicken when I was traveling in Indonesia in the 1980s. My partner of the time, Rodrick, and I were somewhere in the hills and valleys above Ubud. I was hungry, and he was wanting to do rather more extreme hiking than I enjoyed, so I availed myself of a likely looking restaurant which had a chalkboard sign advertising butter chicken. I was settled into a comfy chair at a small table and ordered. About two hours later my chicken arrived with an apology. The boy who kills the chickens had gone home and they had to go fetch him before they could cook my lunch. It was a lovely setting, the chicken was delicious (and good exercise for my jaws!), and my correspondence was all caught up.

Here is the recipe, as best as I have been able to re-create it:

Leilehua’s Indonesian Village Restaurant Butter Chicken

  • 1 Stewing hen
  • chili pepper
  • salt
  • 1 pound salted butter

Skin the hen and render the skin in a deep skillet or chicken frier. It needs to have a heavy lit. You can put the butter in to melt along with it.

Cut the hen into frying pieces. Grind the chili pepper and salt together into a coarse blend. Roll the chicken parts in it.

Bring the temperature of the butter up and add the chicken. Be careful of splatters! When the chicken is golden and stops foaming, reduce heat as low as possible and add the heavy lid. Keep a good eye on it so the butter does not foam and boil over! Cook until tender.

Serve on rice. They did not present any side dishes. I didn’t know at the time that I was supposed to order them. And the chicken normally would have been served to four people or so. With the side dishes.

Keep the butter in the fridge to use in other dishes.

While we did not go to see a gamelon concert (we were traveling on a very minimal budget), we did have the privilege of listening to them in the evenings. I enjoyed very much listening to the sound as it drifted to us though the trees.

Looking for Christmas gifts? Books are always a great choice!

Frontier Sourdough by Geraldine Duncann