>Yes, good example. And we know most of their names,
>and stories. We don't know the rituals used to contact
>them (well, there are a few Odinists about, but I
>doubt if they know what the original rituals were,
>either). And if someone walked up to me and started
>reciting one of those myths in the original, I
>wouldn't even know the language, much less be able to
>join in.
You and I wouldn't but an Icelander would. Modern Icelandic is, I understand, very close the Ancient Norse. Of course we know the names and myths because they were written down towards the end of the Viking period. I can't imagine any writings surviving the darkness and an oral culture like the Orlanthi wouldn't have written them down anyway.
>There's a thought - how much had language changed in
>that period?
Probably a lot less than English has. Words for useless concepts like god and worship will have become obsolete but the day to day language will just have shifted pronunciation.
>So that's probably the absolute maximum knowledge
>left, at a guess. We didn't get hit by any major
>cataclysm in that period. We still had time for
>stories.
There's always time for stories. They are something to fill the time when you can't do anything useful and need a distraction from your problems.
>I suspect those who practise pagan religions today
>will probably claim they can connect to their gods,
>too. And they may even be right, who knows?
Not exactly, but that topic is far to esoteric and off-topic for this list.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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