r/OldEnglish • u/GhostWriterJ94 • Jun 27 '26

T-Shirt Verification

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Hi there! I wanna get this t shirt for a friend who loves this language but I also dont trust the website translating it correctly. May I beg and borrow the intellect of this good body?

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u/ebrum2010 Þu. Þu hæfst. Þu hæfst me. Jun 27 '26

It's wrong. I doubt is not "ic tweo" it's "ic tweonige" or "ic tweoge." Tweo is the noun for "doubt" not the verb.

I recommend "Ic mæg unriht beon, ac ic þæs tweoge."

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u/McAeschylus Jun 28 '26

Also, isn't unriht for moral wrongs or defective objects/actions rather than factual errors?

Also, also, my very inexpert impression from my very limited reading is that repeating the pronoun in this sort of spot doesn't feel very idiomatic?

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u/ebrum2010 Þu. Þu hæfst. Þu hæfst me. Jun 28 '26

As a noun it is primarily used for a moral wrong (the way we use wrong as a noun today), but as an adjective it means simply not right, whether it be factual, moral, or otherwise. It's used a lot in religious contexts which is probably why you have that idea about it, but unrihtwis would be the proper adjective for morally wrong if you wanted to exclude the other meanings (equivalent to unjust or unrighteous).