The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary

(Hardback, Main)

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'A dream! I learnt something new and fascinating on every page' - Lucy Mangan

'If you love words, the weird and the wild, I guarantee you'll crouch over this book like a dragon over gold' - Meg Clothier

Many of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from the creatures in our fields to those in our fantasies, have remained the same since medieval times - but the words we use, and the ways we describe them, have often changed beyond recognition...

Old English was spoken over a thousand years ago, when every animal was a deor. In this glittering Old English bestiary we find deors big and small, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the good, the bad and the downright baffling. From walker-weavers (spiders) and grey-cloaked ones (eagles) to moon-heads and teeth-tyrants (historians still don't know!), we discover a world both familiar and strange: where ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, where dog-headed men were as real as elephants and where whales were as sneaky as wolves.

From the author of The Wordhord comes another delightful dive into the realm of Old English - words and creatures that will change the way you see the world.

Reviews

Praise for The Wordhord:
'A marvelous book' - Neil Gaiman

'Wonderful' - Tom Holland

'A lovely, lovely read' - Lucy Mangan

'Splendid' - David Crystal

'Eminently giftable' - James Marriott

Author Bio

Hana Videen has been hoarding Old English words since 2013, when she began tweeting one a day. Now over 28,000 people follow for these daily gems from her wordhord. Following her Old English doctorate at King's College London, she is now a writer and blogger in Canada, translating curiosities of history into engaging narratives. Find her on Twitter at @OEWordhord