Old English Translator

Old English is the earliest form of the English language, spoken in England between roughly 450 and 1100 AD. It came from the Germanic tribes who settled in Britain after the Romans left. Anglo-Saxon is another name for the same thing, both the people and the language they spoke.

It looks almost nothing like modern English. The grammar was more complex, the vocabulary was almost entirely Germanic, and it used letters that do not exist anymore, like thorn (þ) and eth (ð). Beowulf, one of the oldest surviving poems in the language, was written entirely in Old English. If you tried reading the original today without training, you would not recognize it as English at all.

My history teacher once projected a line from Beowulf on the board and asked us to guess what language it was. Half the class said German. Nobody said English. That was the moment it clicked for me how much the language has actually changed over a thousand years. Using this old English translator gives you that same feeling without needing a linguistics degree.

This tool is straightforward. Here is how to translate English to old English in four steps:

1. Type or paste your text into the left box.
2. Click the Translate button.
3. Your old English translation appears on the right within seconds.
4. Copy the result and use it wherever you need it.

No account, no download, nothing to install. Works on your phone just as well as desktop, and you can run it as many times as you want.

Here is what the old English text generator does to everyday modern sentences:

Notice the thorn character (þ) used in place of "th" and the old Germanic word order that appears throughout. These are real features of the Anglo-Saxon language, not just stylistic decoration. Your results may look slightly different each time depending on the input.

More situations than you might expect:

• Tattoos and artwork: Old English script is one of the most popular tattoo styles. Running your phrase through this archaic English translator first lets you see how the words actually look and feel before committing.
• Creative writing and worldbuilding: Fantasy writers use old English style for naming places, characters, and spells. It adds weight and authenticity without requiring years of linguistics study.
• History projects and education: If you are studying the Anglo-Saxon period or early medieval history, seeing modern sentences translated into the old English style helps build a feel for the language.
• Just to see what it looks like: Sometimes you just want to know what "I need coffee" looked like a thousand years ago. Completely valid reason.

If you want something more readable but still old-sounding, check out the Medieval English Translator or the old timey translator style of the Shakespearean Translator for a slightly less archaic feel.

Most old English translation tools online either produce results that are too modern-sounding or too random to be useful. This one is built specifically to reflect actual Anglo-Saxon vocabulary and structure, using archaic English patterns that match the period rather than just swapping a few words.

LexiTranslator is free, runs entirely in your browser, and works fast on any device. No account needed, no ads interrupting the experience, no paywall after a few uses.

Want to go deeper into the history? The Wikipedia article on Old English covers the full linguistic history of the Anglo-Saxon language, and the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries is useful for tracing how old English words evolved into the modern versions we use today.

The translator is right at the top. Paste anything in and see what it looked like a thousand years ago.