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Q&A
Is there a convention about the use of Old English in Hymns? Is it wrong to modernise the words?
Although most hymns were written in earlier centuries, I notice that modern-day collections of them tend to keep the use of old English in them. For example: Use of Begger instead of the more mo...
#4: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2020-04-13T03:38:37Z (over 4 years ago)
Although most hymns were written in earlier centuries, I notice that modern-day collections of them tend to keep the use of old English in them.For example:- Use of `Begger` instead of the more modern `Beggar`- `Bethlem` instead of `Bethlehem`- `Blessèd Savior` instead of `Blessed Savior`- `o'er` instead of `over`- `alleluya` instead of `hallelujah`- They also tend to be written in British English instead of American English.Why do modern collection still keep the old-style language?Would it be wrong or inappropriate to update them? By updating, I don’t mean radical changes, but just running them through a spell checker for modern spellings (e.g. changing `Beggar` to `Beggar`) and also using American English.
- Although most hymns were written in earlier centuries, I notice that modern-day collections of them tend to keep the use of old English in them.
- For example:
- - Use of `Begger` instead of the more modern `Beggar`
- - `Bethlem` instead of `Bethlehem`
- - `Blessèd Savior` instead of `Blessed Savior`
- - `o'er` instead of `over`
- - `alleluya` instead of `hallelujah`
- - They also tend to be written in British English instead of American English.
- Why do modern collection still keep the old-style language?
- Would it be wrong or inappropriate to update them? By updating, I don’t mean radical changes, but just running them through a spell checker for modern spellings (e.g. changing `Beggar` to `Beggar`) and also using American English.
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T12:58:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48074 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
fluffykittycute
·
2019-12-08T12:58:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Although most hymns were written in earlier centuries, I notice that modern-day collections of them tend to keep the use of old English in them. For example: - Use of `Begger` instead of the more modern `Beggar` - `Bethlem` instead of `Bethlehem` - `Blessèd Savior` instead of `Blessed Savior` - `o'er` instead of `over` - `alleluya` instead of `hallelujah` - They also tend to be written in British English instead of American English. Why do modern collection still keep the old-style language? Would it be wrong or inappropriate to update them? By updating, I don’t mean radical changes, but just running them through a spell checker for modern spellings (e.g. changing `Beggar` to `Beggar`) and also using American English.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-09-19T18:35:40Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: -1