A QUEST TO UNDERSTAND THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

If you’ve ever had to use special keyboards to write in Old English, Old Norse, or Gothic, you understand that it isn’t very easy. I have been enjoying transcribing Old English texts from old books and have been very frustrated using the Icelandic keyboard.

So, I created a Visual Studio Code Extension called “Scribe” which you can find right here!

You can also see the codebase here on Github

Check it out! Its in “pre-release” so I’m still working out some issues. But as of writing this post here’s some features:

Language Features

⌨️ Autocomplete

Added basic functionality for autocomplete while typing. Popups include definition and documentation.

• Old English: 772 beginner words
• Old Norse: 36,847 words
• Gothic: 1 placeholder word

Languages

Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

Anglo-Saxon Letter Substitution Guide

To make it easy to type Old English (Anglo-Saxon) text using a modern keyboard, this project automatically converts certain letter sequences into their correct historical characters and diacritics.

How It Works

When you type the following combinations, they are automatically replaced with the correct Old English letters:

Input	Output	Description
th	þ	Thorn: Represents “th” as in thin
dh	ð	Eth: Represents “th” as in this
ae, æ	æ	Ash: Single-letter vowel
ae-, æ-	ǣ	Long Ash: “æ” with macron (long vowel)
oe, œ	œ	Oe Ligature: Used in some loanwords
c', cʼ	ċ	Dot C: Palatalized “c”
g', gʼ	ġ	Dot G: Palatalized “g”
ge-	ġe-	Palatal “ge-“: Used for palatalized “ge-“
wynn	ƿ	Wynn: Early “w” character
a-	ā	Long A: “a” with macron (long vowel)
e-	ē	Long E: “e” with macron
i-	ī	Long I: “i” with macron
o-	ō	Long O: “o” with macron
u-	ū	Long U: “u” with macron
y-	ȳ	Long Y: “y” with macron

Example Usage

Typing this:

Thaet c'ild bearn waes aefter wynnfullum daegum.

Becomes:

Þæt ċild bearn wæs æfter ƿynnfullum dægum.

Old Norse

Old Norse Letter Substitution Guide

This project allows you to type Old Norse using a modern keyboard. The following substitutions are performed automatically to produce the correct Old Norse characters and diacritics:

Input	Output	Description
th	þ	Thorn: “th” as in thin (voiceless)
dh	ð	Eth: “th” as in this (voiced)
a'	á	A with acute: long “a”
e'	é	E with acute: long “e”
i'	í	I with acute: long “i”
o'	ó	O with acute: long “o”
u'	ú	U with acute: long “u”
y'	ý	Y with acute: long “y”
ae	æ	Ash: front vowel “ae”
oe	œ	Oe ligature: front rounded vowel
o/	ø	O with stroke: front rounded vowel
o_	ǫ	O with ogonek: “open o” or rounded “a”
c'	ç	C with cedilla: rare, but occurs in loanwords
g'	ǥ	G with stroke: archaic/phonetic in some dialects
k'	ǩ	K with caron: used in some reconstructions
ae-	ǣ	Long Ash: “æ” with macron (long vowel)
oe-	œ̄	Long Oe: “œ” with macron (long vowel)
ss	ß	Eszett: “ss” ligature, mostly in loanwords

Example Usage

Typing this:

thae k'ona var a' mikill maðr ok o_ll e'ygð

Becomes:

þæ ǩona var á mikill maðr ok ǫll éygð

Gothic

Gothic Letter Substitution Guide

This project enables easy typing of the Gothic alphabet using a modern keyboard. The following substitutions are automatically performed:

Input	Output	Description
th	þ	Thorn: Represents the Gothic “þ” sound
hv	ƕ	Hwair: Represents the Gothic “ƕ” sound

Example Usage

Typing this:

Jah hvaiwa is thatei hvam thamma

Becomes:

Jah ƕaiwa is þatei ƕam þamma

Ancient Writing System Support

Runes

The following runic writing systems are fully supported:

• Elder Futhark (Proto Germanic)
• Younger Futhark (Old Norse)
• Medieval Futhark (Old Norse & Old Scandinavian languages)
• Futhorc (Old English aka. Anglo-Saxon, Old Frisian)

Gothic Script

• Wulifia’s Gothic writing system for the Gothic Bible.

Transliteration Tags

These tags work similar to XML where anything inside of <Tag></Tag> gets transliterated into the desired writing sysytem. The following tags are available:

• <Futhorc>
• <YoungerFuthark>
• <ElderFuthark>
• <MedievalFuthark>
• <Gothic>

Opening to Bēowulf

<Futhorc>
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in ġēardagum,
þēodcyninga, þrym ġefrūnon,
hū þā æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum,
monegum mægþum, meodosetla oftēah,
egsode eorlas syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden; hē þæs frōfre ġebād,
wēox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þāh,
oþþæt him ǣghwylc þāra ymbsittendra
ofer hronrāde hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan; þæt wæs gōd cyning!
</Futhorc>

ALT+R →

ᚻᚹᚫᛏ! ᚹᛖ ᚷᚪᚱ-ᛞᛖᚾᚪ ᛁᚾ ᚷᛖᚪᚱᛞᚪᚷᚢᛗ,
ᚦᛇᛞᚳᚣᚾᛁᛝᚪ, ᚦᚱᚣᛗ ᚷᛖᚠᚱᚢᚾᚩᚾ,
ᚻᚢ ᚦᚪ ᚫᚦᛖᛚᛁᛝᚪᛋ ᛖᛚᛚᛖᚾ ᚠᚱᛖᛗᛖᛞᚩᚾ.
ᚩᚠᛏ ᛋᚳᚣᛚᛞ ᛋᚳᛖᚠᛁᛝ ᛋᚳᛖᚪᚦᛖᚾᚪ ᚦᚱᛖᚪᛏᚢᛗ,
ᛗᚩᚾᛖᚷᚢᛗ ᛗᚫᚷᚦᚢᛗ, ᛗᛇᛞᚩᛋᛖᛏᛚᚪ ᚩᚠᛏᛖᚪᚻ,
ᛖᚷᛋᚩᛞᛖ ᛇᚱᛚᚪᛋ ᛋᚣᚦᚦᚪᚾ ᚫᚱᛖᛋᛏ ᚹᛖᚪᚱᚦ
ᚠᛖᚪᛋᚳᛖᚪᚠᛏ ᚠᚢᚾᛞᛖᚾ; ᚻᛖ ᚦᚫᛋ ᚠᚱᚩᚠᚱᛖ ᚷᛖᛒᚪᛞ,
ᚹᛇᛉ ᚢᚾᛞᛖᚱ ᚹᚩᛚᚳᚾᚢᛗ, ᚹᛇᚱᚦᛗᚣᚾᛞᚢᛗ ᚦᚪᚻ,
ᚩᚦᚦᚫᛏ ᚻᛁᛗ ᚫᚷᚻᚹᚣᛚᚳ ᚦᚪᚱᚪ ᚣᛗᛒᛋᛁᛏᛏᛖᚾᛞᚱᚪ
ᚩᚠᛖᚱ ᚻᚱᚩᚾᚱᚪᛞᛖ ᚻᚣᚱᚪᚾ ᛋᚳᚩᛚᛞᛖ,
ᚷᚩᛗᛒᚪᚾ ᚷᚣᛚᛞᚪᚾ; ᚦᚫᛏ ᚹᚫᛋ ᚷᚩᛞ ᚳᚣᚾᛁᛝ!

The Lord’s Prayer in Gothic

<Gothic>
Atta unsar, þu in himinam,
weihnai namo þein.
qimai þiudinassus þeins.
wairþai wilja þeins,
swe in himina jah ana airþai.
hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.
jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima,
swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim.
jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin.
unte þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts jah wulþus in aiwins.
Amen.
</Gothic>

ALT+R →

𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂, 𐌸𐌿 𐌹𐌽 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌼,
𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹 𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽.
𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌹 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃.
𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃,
𐍃𐍅𐌴 𐌹𐌽 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹.
𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽 𐌲𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰.
𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌽𐍃 𐍃𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌼𐌰,
𐍃𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍅𐌴 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌼 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐌼 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌼 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌼.
𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌽𐌹 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌹𐌽 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌹,
𐌰𐌺 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌰𐍆 𐌸𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌽.
𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌴 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌹 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌿𐍃 𐌹𐌽 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍃.
𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌽.

ROADMAP

There’s many features I’d like to add. If you have any ideas feel free to hit me up in the comments or open an issue on Github for a feature you would like!