Old English "Thorn"

It was fun reading Melanie's translation of the line from Beowulf  in yesterday's post. It made me wish I had Old English symbols on my computer. For example, the "P" in Pa should not really be the capital P. It is known as the "thorn" and was borrowed from the runic alphabet because the Latin alphabet did not have a symbol for this Old English sound. We would translate it as "th" both voiced (as in "bother") and unvoiced (as in "thin").

At some point another letter was also invented for the "th" sound: the crossed small case "d." It's called "eth" in Old English. The thorn and eth were used as alternatives. During the Middle English period, the eth disappeared and the thorn continued into the sixteenth century.

Old English really looks like a "foreign" language. Here are a few more lines from Beowulf. This is a description of Grendel, the monster, coming to Hrothgar's hall.

"Com on wanre niht/Scrithan sceadugenga....Da com of more under misthleothum/Grendel gongan, Godes yrre baer." 

(He comes in the black night, gliding walker in darkness....Then comes off the moor under mist-hills/Grendel stalking, bearing angry gifts.)