likeness of Modern Polish to that of 12th c.

[Christopher Hogan]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I received the following request from a friend.
Would anyone be willing to comment on the degree
to which Polish has changed since the 12th c.?

In message <01BE59BE.40C58F60 at Bluegrass3> "Marion K. Bryant"
<mbryant at tsla.lib.tn.us> writes:
>
>Recently I read a novel about a modern day Polish man who was
>transported to 12th century Poland.  According to the author, the
>language spoken by modern day Poles is basically the same as that
>spoken by Poles in the 12th century.   The modern day guy had
>no trouble understanding the locals or they him.  This situation
>was contrasted with English, which has changed dramatically over
>the same time period.
>
>   Does anyone know if this is true about the Polish language?  Is
>it true of other languages?  I read somewhere that in a northern
>country (Iceland?  Norway?  Finland?) the people could read the sagas
>written centuries ago without any trouble.  What about Italian or
French?
>Could a Frenchman of today understand the French spoken in the 12th
century?
>
>                                               Marion

--chris


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