Oxford, United Kingdom

Old Frisian

The Old Frisian Summer School is a bi-annual event, the 3rd edition of which take place in Oxford this July. In a five-day programme, students will learn about Old Frisian language, text corpus, culture and history in the context of Old Germanic languages. Linguistic comparisons will be drawn between Old Frisian and the other (West) Germanic languages. Settlement history of Frisians in Britain, Old Frisian Law and Literature and Old Frisian manuscripts will be discussed in lectures. Library visits will focus on the Old Frisian manuscripts in Oxford, including in the Taylor Library as well as the world-famous Bodleian Libraries. On Wednesday evening, there is a conference dinner.The OFSS will close with a social programme in Oxford on Saturday.

Old Frisian deserves international attention because of its close connection to Old English. Knowledge of Old Frisian deepens insights into the Old English language and, more broadly, into the development of West Germanic. It has been handed down in a relatively small but coherent corpus of, mostly, late-medieval law texts and a number of sagas (1100-1550 AD) – a well-hidden gem!

The Old Frisian Summer School will be of interest to BA and MA students as well as PhD’s in the field of Old Germanic languages. The participants will learn to read and interpret Old Frisian texts and get a good grasp of its grammatical structures.

The Old Frisian Summer School is organised by University of Groningen in partnership with Oxford University and in co-operation with the Frisian Academy, Tresoar (the main Frisian archival and library institution). For more information, please contact us at oldfrisian@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk.

Course leader

Anne Popkema (Faculty of Arts, UG)
Johanneke Sytsema (Linguistics Dpt, University of Oxford)

Target group

The summer school is aimed at students, PhD candidates and early career researchers with an interest in (Old) Germanic languages who want to familiarise themselves with Old Frisian.

Fee info

GBP 350: Full fee includes:

Tuition and workshops
Study materials
Coffee/tea
Daily 3-course lunch
Saturday social activities
Library visits
Conference dinner
GBP 150: Hybrid fee; will include access to all streamed lectures and electronic access to the grammar and dictionary during the week.