The Lord's Prayer
Old English Reading 1
Chapter 2 · The Lord's Prayer
🙏 The Lord's Prayer
You probably know this text in outline, so the vocabulary is easy to decode and you can concentrate on the grammar. It is also a good first text because it uses verbs in a way Modern English mostly does not: wishes and commands.
The text
1. Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum,
Father ours thou which art in heavens
"Our Father, who art in heaven,"
2. Sīe þīn nama ġehālgod.
Be thine name hallowed
"Hallowed be thy name."
3. Tōbecume þīn rīċe,
to-be-come thine kingdom
"Thy kingdom come,"
4. Ġeweorðe þīn willa, on eorðan swā swā on heofonum.
let-there-be thine will, on earth so so in heavens
"Thy will be done on earth as in heaven."
5. Ūrne dæġhwamlīċan hlāf sele ūs tōdæġ,
our daily loaf sell us today
"Give us this day our daily bread,"
6. And forġief ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġiefaþ ūrum gyltendum.
and forgive us our guilts, so so we forgive our guilters
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
7. And ne ġelǣd þū ūs on costnunge, ac ālīes ūs of yfele.
and not lead thou us in testing, but release us from evil
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
8. Sōðlīċe.
truly
"Amen."
Source: Wikipedia, Old English, section "The Lord's Prayer" (Early West Saxon). Text and word-for-word glosses as given there, licensed CC BY-SA. A few glosses are shortened or modernised by me (marked in the notes below). The smooth translations are the article's.
Line by line: applying the routine
Line 1: Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum
- Verb: eart, "art", the second person singular of wesan (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 9: eom, eart, is, sind). It stands inside a relative clause, so it comes late in the clause.
- Subject: þū "thou" (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 7). Fæder is the person addressed, "Father".
- Small words: þe is the invariable relative word, "who, which" (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 10).
- Case: heofonum ends in -um, the dative plural ending (hundum in Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 3). Old English has the plural "heavens" where we say "heaven".
Line 2: Sīe þīn nama ġehālgod
- Sīe is the present subjunctive of wesan (sīe / sīen, Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 9). The subjunctive here expresses a wish: "let it be".
- þīn nama is the subject, "thy name", nominative. ġehālgod has the ġe- prefix of a past participle ((ġe)stolen in Chapter 9). Together: "be hallowed".
- The verb comes first, which is how a wish or command is often built. This is a pattern I noticed in this prayer; I did not read a rule for it.
Line 3: Tōbecume þīn rīċe
- Tōbecume is a subjunctive in -e, again a wish. The article glosses it as "to be come [is]", so the verb is built from tō- + becuman (my reading; the article gives only the gloss).
- þīn rīċe, "thy kingdom", is the subject. The verb is again first.
Line 4: Ġeweorðe þīn willa, on eorðan swā swā on heofonum
- Ġeweorðe, "let there be / let it become", is another subjunctive wish. The subject is þīn willa, "thy will".
- Watch out: willa is a noun, "will". It is not the verb willan "to want" from Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 9, though the two are related.
- swā swā is "just as", literally "so so". eorðan and heofonum are both datives after on: "on earth, in heaven".
Line 5: Ūrne dæġhwamlīċan hlāf sele ūs tōdæġ
- Verb: sele is an imperative singular, "give". The article glosses it "sell", which is the Modern English descendant; sellan meant "to give, hand over" (my own knowledge, so check a dictionary).
- hlāf "loaf, bread" is the object, accusative singular masculine. Ūrne and dæġhwamlīċan agree with it, and both end in the accusative masculine singular marks (-ne and -an). Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 6 says the weak adjective follows words like "the", "this" and possessives, which fits -an here.
- ūs is dative, "to us". tōdæġ is "today".
Line 6: And forġief ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġiefaþ ūrum gyltendum
- Two verbs, two clauses. forġief is an imperative singular, "forgive". forġiefaþ is the plural present, "we forgive", with the plural ending -aþ (Chapter 8). It comes at the end of its clause, as expected in a subordinate clause.
- gyltas is an accusative plural: the -as ending of the largest noun class (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 2).
- ūrum gyltendum is dative plural, -um on both words. gyltendum ends in -ende + -um, a present participle used as a noun: "those who owe a debt". That is my reading of the form; the article simply glosses it "guilters".
Line 7: And ne ġelǣd þū ūs on costnunge, ac ālīes ūs of yfele
- ne ġelǣd: ne before the verb, as in Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 10. ġelǣd is an imperative; þū follows it as a spelled-out subject.
- ālīes is another imperative, "release, deliver". ac means "but".
- on costnunge and of yfele are both datives after prepositions: "into testing" and "from evil". on with the dative can mean "in", and the article's gloss uses "in" here. That is a Modern English difference worth noting: the Old English says "lead us not in testing".
Line 8: Sōðlīċe
- An adverb, "truly" (the article's gloss is "Soothly", an old English word for "truly"). It stands for "Amen".
New words
| Old English | Meaning | Modern English relative |
|---|---|---|
| fæder | father | father |
| heofon | heaven | heaven |
| nama | name | name |
| rīċe | kingdom, realm | (cf. German Reich) |
| willa | will | will |
| eorðe | earth | earth |
| hlāf | loaf, bread | loaf |
| gylt | guilt, debt | guilt |
| costnung | testing, temptation | — |
| yfel | evil | evil |
The glosses of rīċe, gylt and costnung are taken from the article's gloss and the sentences; the German link for rīċe is mine and unverified.
📋 Quick Reference
| Feature | Where in the prayer |
|---|---|
| Subjunctive wish | Sīe, Tōbecume, Ġeweorðe |
| Imperative | sele, forġief, ġelǣd, ālīes |
| Negative imperative | ne ġelǣd þū |
| Dative plural -um | heofonum, ūrum gyltendum |
| Accusative plural -as | gyltas |
| Relative þe | þū þe eart |
| Past participle ġe- | ġehālgod |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. Which verb is eart, and which person?
Show answer
The second person singular of wesan, "thou art" (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 9).
2. What is the job of þe in line 1?
Show answer
The invariable relative word, "who/which".
3. Why does heofonum end in -um?
Show answer
It is dative plural, after on.
4. What mood are Sīe and Tōbecume, and what do they express?
Show answer
Subjunctive; a wish ("let it be", "may it come").
5. What does the ġe- on ġehālgod mark?
Show answer
A past participle: "hallowed".
6. Is willa in line 4 the verb "to want"?
Show answer
No, it is the noun "will", the subject of the line.
7. What case is hlāf in line 5, and why?
Show answer
Accusative singular: it is what is being given (the object).
8. Find the plural present verb in line 6 and say what the ending shows.
Show answer
forġiefaþ, "we forgive": the plural ending -aþ.
9. Where is the negative in line 7, and what is the Modern English difference?
Show answer
ne stands before the verb ġelǣd. English needs "do not" (do-support); Old English does not.
10. Wikisource spells line 4's verb gewurþe. Is it a different word from ġeweorðe?
Show answer
Almost certainly the same word, in a different spelling (the two sources give the same meaning); note that this comparison rests only on how the two texts line up, since I read no dictionary entry for it.