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The Finger Bone of St Cyneburg

1::13

1::13

Sep 16, 2019

pyomatic
Pyomatic

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Ydych chi'n deall fi? -- 'Do you understand me?' in Welsh

Language and linguistics ramble! I mentioned some of this in an earlier comment but I thought I'd write it up here! So this part of the comic all takes place in Bewcastle, up in Cumbria, one of the most NW points of Anglian settlement/dominion. The monastery is populated (mostly) by those speaking Old English, more precisely Old Northumbrian, a distinct dialect to the south of England. Because writing a whole comic in Old English would be.... niche.... I'm using English -- but I didn't want to lose the flavour of the different dialects! And it so happens that Old Northumbrian over time became the basis of the Lowlands Scots dialect/language (this video is a great recap and also a wonderful eg of a strong Scots accent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYwcjJ7Eaps&ab_channel=LinguisticsandEnglishLanguageattheUniversityofEdinburgh)! So if you've noticed that the characters are using 'ken', 'dinnae' etc, its because I'm trying to write the characters with Scots accents to reflect the different dialects.

Ok, but Welsh? So I mentioned that Bewcastle was one of the most NW of the AS settlements (if it even was a settlement-- I'll write up more on the setting at one point). But that doesn't mean the NW wasn't populated, but rather it was held by the native British -- the descendants of the Romano-British with Brythonic and Celtic ancestors. And the native British didn't speak the Germanic-derived English, but rather a Brythonic language which is the ancestor of Welsh! In fact Cumbria had its own dialect, Cumbric, although it is now extinct, and we don't really know many of its words. But it's safe to say that in this neck of the woods, there would be quite a lot of people speaking Cumbric, and I imagine that even the AS would know some basic phrases to communicate with local farmers and small petty kings. We even have the lyrics of a 7th c Welsh lullaby (Pais Dinogad) that is from this area!!

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akitku
akitku

Top comment

lol always awkward when someone asks something like that...

4

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The Finger Bone of St Cyneburg
The Finger Bone of St Cyneburg

21.8k views624 subscribers

8th Century England. A young monk-in-training, Oswulf, sets out to cure a ‘curse’ that brings a world of folklore and magic into his own. Joined by a couple accidental companions including a nun sworn to heal her sick partner, and a strange girl who appears to know more than she lets on, a seemingly simple task turns into a journey through fact and fiction, where history is torn apart and woven anew.

(This comic contains explicit language, some religious themes and violence)
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