About me!
‘Forþon cnyssað nu heortan geþohtas þæt Ic hean streamas, sealtyþa gelac sylf cunnige; monað modes lust mæla gehwylce ferð to feran, þæt Ic feor heonan elþeodigra eard gesece’.
I am Niek Oosterlee (Nicolaas Adrianus Marinus: N.A.M.), and I am a master student at Leiden University who is going to be a philologist when older. It is the study of historical languages, and how their linguistic development stages came into being. I always had a strong yearning to learn more about cultures and their histories, but it was not until I read the works of J.R.R. Tolkien that I became a massive geek of their historical languages as well. As my hero, Tolkien, I am also a writer of fictional books. Yet, unlike him, I tend to have a slight fascination for writing Gothic novels and novellas. During my study years at Leiden University, I had the pleasure of obtaining acquaintance with Dr Porck, Dr Fletcher and Prof Dr Bremmer. All three have inspired me to pursue a career in philology even more. Their minds and individual passions for the field are highly affective for anyone interested in philology or historical linguistics!
When writing for my blog, I desire to engage more thoroughly in certain texts and to allow my interpretations to flow out of my mind. The Medieval Skald is an individual project of mine for the same reason that inspires me to be a philologist: to give the people from the past a voice in the present day. Naturally, my modern understanding will always cloud my readings of medieval texts. We are all products of our time. Yet, as German historian and philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey once proposed with his concept of ‘verstehen’, I attempt to remain as close to the historical thought as possible. By doing so, there is a slight hope in me to forge a stabilising bridge between the gaps of time. All in all, The Medieval Skald provides a platform for me to experiment and conduct philological research on.
What languages do I study? My interests primarily lie in the ‘Germanic’ language branch of the larger Indo-European language family. Yet, this does not have to mean that I am limited to them. For instance, Latin, Greek and Old Irish also intrigue me deeply and dearly. What do I mean by ‘Germanic’ then? Do you not mean ‘German’? The latter is a yes and no, but what I define under ‘Germanic’ was first brought up by nineteenth-century German philologists such as Jacob Grimm—yes, from the famous fairytales, one and the same. Although Grimm and his synchronic peers first coined ‘Germanic’ to the public, the Dutchman Franciscus Junius the Younger (1591–1677) was a bit earlier in his observations. Namely, he perceived a connection and familiarity between the different northern European languages, which we now know and understand to be as the ‘Germanic’ language branch. Junius was also the first ‘Germanic’ philologist to employ comparative analysis between the medieval ‘Germanic’ languages by making glosses, etymologies and dictionaries. The Junius MS resting at the Oxford Bodleian Library is still one of his everlasting legacies to philology and linguistics. Returning to my preferable languages of study, they involve Old—Middle English, Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German and Gothic.
N.A.M. Oosterlee 