The Deorhord

An Old English Bestiary

By: Hana Videen

Narrated by: Isabel Adomakoh Young

From the author of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English, which Neil Gaiman called “a delightful book," an audiobook narrated by Isabel Adomakoh Young that takes you on an entertaining tour of Old English words for animals

Many of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from pets and farm animals to the wild creatures of field and forest, have remained the same since medieval times. But the words used to name and describe them have often changed beyond recognition, starting with the Old English word for “animal” itself, deor (pronounced DAY-or). In The Deorhord, Hana Videen presents a glittering Old English bestiary of animals real and imaginary, big and small, ordinary and extraordinary—the good, the bad, and the downright baffling.

From gange-wæfran or walker-weavers (spiders) and hasu-padan or grey-cloaked ones (eagles) to heafdu swelce mona or moon-heads (historians still don’t know!), The Deorhord introduces a world both familiar and strange: where ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, where dog-headed men were as real as elephants, and where whales were as sneaky as wolves. The curious stories behind these words provide vivid insights into the language, literature, and lives of those who spoke Old English—the language of Beowulf—more than a thousand years ago.

A delightful journey through the weird and wonderful world of Old English, The Deorhord is a magical menagerie of new creatures and new words for the modern englisc listener to discover.

©2023 Hana Videen (P)2023 Profile Books

Critic reviews

“If you love words, the weird and the wild, I guarantee you’ll crouch over this book like a dragon over gold.”—Meg Clothier, author of The Book of Eve

“A dream! I learnt something new and fascinating on every page.”—Lucy Mangan, author of Are We Having Fun Yet?

It was ok

Wordhord was a better book, this one was so tedious. I also didn’t like this narrator at all, so that probably didn’t help. I really think both books should come with a PDF of the illustrations and wordhord lists that are at the end of each chapter in the physical copy.