this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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How far back in time can you understand English? (www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Chromebby@lemmy.world to c/neat@lemmy.world
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Very entertaining. I’m totally lost around 1400. I don’t even recognize 1200 as English lol.

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[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I was doing pretty well (albeit really slow and deliberate) through 1300, 1200 I was able to make out a few lines, but the rest is gibberish to me.

Edit: I had another wack at it and was able to pick out a little bit of 1100, still no luck on 1000

[–] cenzorrll@piefed.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Same here, 1300 was a slog, but I got through it. 1200 was like trying to read German, I got a few phrases here and there but that's it.

[–] LordMayor@piefed.social 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

That’s exactly what’s happening. If you read the author’s explanation, around 1250 is when English starts picking the up the Latin and French loan words that modern English speakers are used to.

English is a Germanic language. So, without the loan words, it is very much more like German.