But mice and rats, and such small deer,
Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
For as long as I can recall, these lines, spoken by Edgar in the fourth scene of the third act of The Tragedy of King Lear have perplexed me. That he has gone mad and been reduced to hunting frogs, newts, and rodents, and scavenging “ditch dogs” for food is clear enough, but the “small deer” made no sense, at least as far as I could understand, that is. Yes, I read the glosses that generally simply stated “animal,” but it still seemed like an odd choice of word to use. However when one learns that the Early Modern English word “deer” derives from the earlier Old English word “dēor,” meaning “animal,” Edgar’s lament makes much more sense; “rats and mice, and such small animals.” Shakespeare’s choice of the word wasn’t random; the older form of the word was simply more clearly intelligible in the slightly altered for of the word still in use when the play was written.
As Dr. Hana Videen taught so many of us – including myself – the influence of Old English upon the English language we speak and write today is far more vast, as well as far more interesting, than we previously thought. With her superb mix of erudition and wit, her first book The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English captured both the minds and hearts of those who read it. It is one of those books that not only merit a notebook being kept close at hand while reading but also the conveying of a warning to those around whom one may be reading it that audible exclamations of delighted surprise and unexpected understanding (i.e., “Wow!” and “I always wondered about that!”) are to be expected.
Now, following upon the resounding success of that first book in 2022, we enthusiastically welcome the publication of her second on the endurance of Old English: The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary. Deriving its title from the aforementioned Old English word for animal, “dēor,”combined with the “hord” of the first book’s title – a word that can be translated by our Modern English word “hoard” but, as Dr. Videen so eloquently explains in both books, that can be put to a vast number of uses when in combination with other words – this new book presents its readers with both a history of bestiaries and of the many interesting, useful, and sometimes mysterious words used to describe the animals recorded therein.
I shall have much more upon which to expound on these two absolutely captivating books in the weeks to come. Suffice it to state for now that even though it is only February, The Deorhord may very well be my favourite book of 2024 as its predecessor The Wordhord was in 2022.
