Quote of the Day

[telerib]

"Yn to what maner of competicioun are fayre maydes ylured by Anglo-Saxon fraternitee brotheres? A hwaet t-shirte conteste!"

- Geoffrey Chaucer makes a joke on his blog

See, the Old English poem Beowulf opens with the word, "Hwaet!", which probably means "Listen!" and... okay, so it's probably only funny to me.

Comments

[children-of-lir.livejournal.com]

No, no, no, it's genuinely funny. :::snerk:::

And as for hwæt, it's just OE for "what". In the Beowulf context, though, you are correct: it's done to command the listener's attention.

That blog just keeps getting better. :)