Ænglisc Ƿikipǣdia

[Bêthberry]

Yes, I'm sure that title has got everyone's attention! Even Tolkien might raise an eyebrow over it.

Apparently some wights are attempting to start an Old English Wikipedia. It is all in Old English, so it really is a bit of a specialty page. But obviously there are folks who don't think that learning Old English is all that weird.


Ænglisc Ƿikipǣdia

Formendacil you have more reason now.

[Formendacil]

So very, very tempting indeed.

Bookmarked for future trawling!

[Aiwendil]

Apparently some wights are attempting to start an Old English Wikipedia.

One such wight, at your service.

Actually, though I've long been registered there, I don't think I've contributed much, if anything. But I've found their Hu secge ic and Neologism proposals pages a useful starting point in coming up with my own glossary of Old English terms for modern concepts. (I once thought of translating my dissertation into Old English, but I was quite exhausted just getting through the title. But I have written a fragment of alliterative verse on the subject of the search for dark matter. What? Hey . . . where's everyone going?)

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

One such wight, at your service.

Actually, though I've long been registered there, I don't think I've contributed much, if anything. But I've found their Hu secge ic and Neologism proposals pages a useful starting point in coming up with my own glossary of Old English terms for modern concepts. (I once thought of translating my dissertation into Old English, but I was quite exhausted just getting through the title. But I have written a fragment of alliterative verse on the subject of the search for dark matter. What? Hey . . . where's everyone going?)

Quite amazing, Aiwendil! I used 'wight' as a general term and wasn't thinking specifically of any of us dead wights. Very cool.

How long is this fragment of alliterative verse on the search for a ring, um, erm, dark matter? Would you be willing to share it?

[Ardent]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

... Very cool.

How long is this fragment of alliterative verse on the search for a ring, um, erm, dark matter? Would you be willing to share it?

Ditto. I'm also curious. I presume you're refering to Cold Dark Matter, the stuff that's been invented to balance the mathematics?

[Aiwendil]

How long is this fragment of alliterative verse on the search for a ring, um, erm, dark matter?

Not long at all. Here it is (breaking off in the middle of a sentence):

Nu wé sculon sécan mid searwe and cræfte,
déop and díegol, þæt deorc andweorc,
þa gastlican grot þa þone gang rǽdaþ
héara fýra in feldum heofona,
ymbhweorfaþ and stíeraþ þa steorra-hwéol,
þa tungol-wolcen, téoþ and lædaþ.
Þás floccas úþmǽte fýrenra gimma
swa sandgrotu sind þurh sweglu ge-stréawode.
Wíd-brádran gíet, swa webbes þrædas,
þá sigel-hordas in swælendum hefeldum,
þurh rýmetu unrime rodores a-þeniaþ,
be ge-wealde ge-wefene þara wácra grota.
Timbren wé þoðor þrymmfæstes styles,

Literal translation: Now we must seek with art and skill, deep and hidden, the dark matter, the ghostly particles that govern the course of high fires in the fields of the heavens, [that] turn round and steer the star-wheels, [that] pull and lead the star-clouds. Those immense companies of fiery gems like sand-grains are strewn through the skies. Vaster still, like the strands of a web, the sun-hordes extend in burning threads through immeasurable spaces of the firmament, woven by the power of the weak [i.e. interacting via the 'weak force'] particles. Let us build a sphere of mighty steel,

It was going to go on to describe the detector for the experiment I work on and then imagine a particle of dark matter interacting within it. Maybe I'll write more - it is rather fun. I especially enjoyed coming up with those kennings for 'galaxy'.

I presume you're refering to Cold Dark Matter, the stuff that's been invented to balance the mathematics?

Yes. A brief explanation, because I can't help myself: when we look at the way galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate, and at the way galaxies are distributed throughout space, it looks as though there is a lot more mass in and around them than what you'd think if you just consider stars, planets, dust, and that sort of thing. So the hypothesis is that the universe is filled with some unknown kind of particle that hardly interacts at all with normal matter. The poem specifically has in mind something called a WIMP - Weakly Interacting Massive Particle - and a detector searching for such an entity.

[Saurondil]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

One such wight, at your service.

Actually, though I've long been registered there, I don't think I've contributed much, if anything. But I've found their Hu secge ic and Neologism proposals pages a useful starting point in coming up with my own glossary of Old English terms for modern concepts. (I once thought of translating my dissertation into Old English, but I was quite exhausted just getting through the title. But I have written a fragment of alliterative verse on the subject of the search for dark matter. What? Hey . . . where's everyone going?)

## If there is a more elegant way of referring to (what are called) charm, colour, & quarks, so much the better Is there an Old English term for "baryonic matter" ? Maybe a kenning would work.... "Atom" should be easy to Old Anglicise - but what of "physics" ? Honourable mention of Democritus, Epicurus & Lucretius would seem to be called for...

[Aiwendil]

Originally Posted by Saurondil

## If there is a more elegant way of referring to (what are called) charm, colour, & quarks, so much the better Is there an Old English term for "baryonic matter" ? Maybe a kenning would work.... "Atom" should be easy to Old Anglicise - but what of "physics" ? Honourable mention of Democritus, Epicurus & Lucretius would seem to be called for...

Okay, some samples from my glossary:

particle: grot
atom: mot (etymologically, this is just the modern English word 'mote')
quark: cwarc ('quark' is ultimately just a nonsense word made up by James Joyce, so I simply spelled it as the Anglo-Saxons would have)
physics: andweorc-cunnung (literally 'substance-science')
physicist: andweorc-wita (literally 'substance-scholar')
matter: andweorc
energy: weorc
charmed quark: galdorcwarc (literally 'sorcery-quark')
proton: formagrot ('first-particle', following the etymology of 'proton' in Greek)
neutron: unbehlæstgrot ('uncharged-particle')
electron: spearcagrot ('spark-particle')
baryon: þricwarc ('three-quark', as a baryon is composed of three quarks)

'Baryonic matter' would then be 'þricwarclic andweorc'.