Old English word of the day

The Old English Wordhord unlocks one medieval word a day, pairing each term with its definition, pronunciation and, often, a manuscript illustration. Creator (of should it be wordwyrm?) Dr. Hana Videen frames the project around the fabulous name: "word-hoard describes the collection of words and phrases that a poet may draw upon while crafting tales."

Videen posted her first word, wordhord, on Nov. 13, 2013, and has posted often since; Old English was England's vernacular from roughly 550 to 1150. The word wordhord survives only seven times in the literature, she writes, all in poetry, and usually appears beside the verb onleac, or "unlocked," in works including Beowulf and Widsith. The Wordhord also may be unlocked as an iOS app.

Recent entries include Sige-gefeoht, which means a victorious battle, Moððe, a moth, (which arrives with a spotted specimen from the 14th-century Cocharelli Codex) and Weorc-līc, "working" or "busy," as are we all.

Videen earned her Old English doctorate at King's College London and has two books out: The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English (2021, 2022) and The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary (2023, 2024).

I found the hord when double-checking an AI's dubious insistence that Heóf means "heaven", not "grief"—turns out it was mistaken (Heofon is the place to be, though not heofan) but even the experts seem unsure about the distinction between heaf and heof in the classification of negative feelings. If the Normans hadn't invaded, though, the pairing might now be a an appropriately depressing Anglish brand of sugar-free coffee creamer. Bosworth-Toller is the standard searchable Anglo-Saxon dictionary (heóf, heáf). If we may toy with undead tongues, the Endangered Languages Project serves those still barely flapping. The University of Kentucky's Electronic Beowulf lets anyone page through the fire-damaged original. If you haven't read it in modern English, go all the way, Bro!