...so clearly it's time to get some ink put under my skin before I'm that 39-year-old going under the needle for the first time.
I'm looking for a talented tattooist who could squeeze me in on short notice, since I'll be that 39-year-old in slightly over a month. It's a pretty simple tattoo that I want: the middle english character named Thorn. Thorn is pronounced 'th': the th in 'with' rather than the aspirated th in 'these'- the aspirated th sound is called eth in Icelandic, which is one of the few places it still persists. It's the last letter to fall out of the English language.
There are a few ways to write, it, though!
In Old and Middle English, it's written (in lower case)
ð
In Early Modern English, something that looks rather like a y:
And in another Old English rendition, something that looks a lot like the modern Icelandic, but with a cross:
The third also has a secondary meaning: it was used as a short-hand notation for 'that', back when people still spoke Middle English.
I'mleaning towards pretty much decided on the third option.
Anyways, anybody know a tattooist who's pretty good with getting a walk-in out the door within a week? I'm honestly planning about that size, too- don't need a HUGE letter somewhere on me.
I'm looking for a talented tattooist who could squeeze me in on short notice, since I'll be that 39-year-old in slightly over a month. It's a pretty simple tattoo that I want: the middle english character named Thorn. Thorn is pronounced 'th': the th in 'with' rather than the aspirated th in 'these'- the aspirated th sound is called eth in Icelandic, which is one of the few places it still persists. It's the last letter to fall out of the English language.
There are a few ways to write, it, though!
In Old and Middle English, it's written (in lower case)
ð
In Early Modern English, something that looks rather like a y:
And in another Old English rendition, something that looks a lot like the modern Icelandic, but with a cross:
The third also has a secondary meaning: it was used as a short-hand notation for 'that', back when people still spoke Middle English.
I'm
Anyways, anybody know a tattooist who's pretty good with getting a walk-in out the door within a week? I'm honestly planning about that size, too- don't need a HUGE letter somewhere on me.
Ahem. Moving on! I would also opt with the third one, although the first is far more recognizable.
In transliteration of Welsh, by the by, we get something horrible: we get thorn in the crossed-uncial-d form being rendered as two d's- which gives us Gwynedd, pronounced 'gwi-neth'.
Stupid monks.
*honours student snaps*
*slaps Gildas silly, for example*
ALSO OH MY GOD YOU'RE ON THE EMAIL BUT NOT ON IM HOW DO I COPE WITH THE DISPARITY.
Mind, when you returneth to the land of messaging, let me tell you about my supervisor's crazy.
You just want to be sorted at the end of the alphabet! :)
In Old English, ð (referred to as ðæt by the Anglo-Saxons) was used
interchangeably with þ (thorn) [*] to represent either voiced or voiceless
dental fricatives. The letter ð was used throughout the Anglo-Saxon era, but
gradually fell out of use in Middle English, disappearing altogether by
about 1300;[citation needed] þ survived longer, ultimately being replaced by
the modern digraph th by about 1500.
I like the look of the lower-case eth, though I realize it's technically not really thorn. I'm more inclined towards the third of the three options anyways: it's also a word!
However,
-- Lorrie
(And that verse may, in fact, have secretly had something to do with my choice, here!)
EDIT to add:
And humorously enough, the Thorn verse as rendered in anglo-saxon on the first page I found via google?
Ðorn byþ ðearle scearp; ðegna gehwylcum
anfeng ys yfyl, ungemetum reþe
manna gehwelcum, ðe him mid resteð.
I'll be fecked if I can hear an aspirant or non-aspirant to any of the above bolded.
Edited at 2009-08-21 07:55 pm (UTC)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tuesday-tattoo-san-francisco
The eth is written as capital Ð or lowercase ð — the last being one of the things you've described as a thorn. And that is the form that you describe, in a comment to , as being responsible for the Welsh double-d-as-voiced-labiodental-fricative.
Hope that helps a bit! (Sorry I can't be of any help with the tattoo-artist part. I'm still entirely un-inked, myself.)
Edited at 2009-08-21 03:34 pm (UTC)
In Old English, ð (referred to as ðæt by the Anglo-Saxons) was used interchangeably with þ (thorn) [*] to represent either voiced or voiceless dental fricatives. The letter ð was used throughout the Anglo-Saxon era, but gradually fell out of use in Middle English, disappearing altogether by about 1300;[citation needed] þ survived longer, ultimately being replaced by the modern digraph th by about 1500.
Yeah, this does need a citation, but it holds with my recollection of college language courses on middle English (no, I don't have those textbooks anymore!).