Re: English written in previous centuires

bert wrote:
On 29 Nov, 13:29, Masa <aut...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is an original writing of famous "Robinson Crusoe's" story.
------------------
I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family,
tho' not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who
settled first at Hull: He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and
leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had
married my Mother, Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family
at Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Keutznaer; but by the
usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call
our Selves, and writer Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd
me.
---------------------

I'm surprsed to see that those sentences above could be understood by
us, non-natives.

So, my question is how long years you could possibly go back in
being able to go through English writings or classic works with
no help by guidances, or not consulting dicitonaries, and when
you find yourself unable to read them as usual in tracing back
through times?

It's almost impossible to argue against the conclusion
that it was the King James Bible of about 1610 which
so remarkably stabilised the language, compared with
its rapid changes over previous centuries. We still
understand Shakespeare, from a decade or two earlier,
not because he was as widely read as the King James
Bible, but because he wrote in much the same English.

A German acquaintance tells me that exactly the same
applies there; it was the German of Luther's Bible
which became the standard and most widely understood
form of German.

Possibly even more so. Luther set out to write his bible in a language that would be easily understood by ordinary people


--

Rob Bannister
.

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