Lokasenna's birthday

[tonywalt]

Happy Birthday!

[Helga]

nice interview, you know there is a board game here on the ice called Fimbulfambi

[LitNetIsGreat]

Good interview or should I say inquisition?

[Calidore]

Couple of questions:

*Which languages do you speak?*
English, Old English, Old Norse and Icelandic, with a smattering of French, Spanish, Danish, and Old High German.

Do Old Norse and Old German bear as little resemblance to their modern versions as Old English does to modern English?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

If this is as bouncy in Old Norse as "fimbulfambi", can you translate it?

[Lokasenna]

Thanks again everyone!

nice interview, you know there is a board game here on the ice called Fimbulfambi

Ooh, just looked it up - it's the same as the Anglo-American game Balderdash, which makes sense!

Good interview or should I say inquisition?

The interviews do seem to get longer every year! Not that Scher had to torture me or anything to get it filled in...

Do Old Norse and Old German bear as little resemblance to their modern versions as Old English does to modern English?

Old Norse is very similar to modern Icelandic - you can speak ON to an Icelander, and they would understand you perfectly (if perhaps think you a little odd) - but whilst you can see echoes of it in Norwegian, Swedish and (especially) Danish, the languages have changed significantly. That are actually several different dialectical variation of Old High German, and I would say they are about as similar to modern German as Old English is to modern English - though I must confess to being no great expert on the matter. It just happens that occasionally I have to sit down with some OHG poetry and a dictionary, and try my best!

If this is as bouncy in Old Norse as "fimbulfambi", can you translate it?

I haven't the faintest idea what 'woodchuck' would be in Old Norse - I know the words for 'raven' and 'sparrow', but that's about the limit of my ornithological knowledge. As for Icelandic tongue twisters, how about 'Hnoðri í norðri verður að veðri þótt síðar verði' or 'Það fer nú að verða verra ferðaveðrið'?