Old Frisian

The Old Frisian Summer School (OFSS) is a biennial event. Since the start in 2019 it has been an increasingly fruitful collaboration of Groningen Univsersity and Oxford University.The 4^th edition will take place in Groningen, from 7-11 July 2025. In a five-day programme, OFSS attendants will learn about Old Frisian language, text corpus, culture and history in the context of Old Germanic languages. Linguistic comparisons will be drawn between Old Frisian and the other Old (West) Germanic languages. Medieval History of the Frisians, Old Frisian law and literature and Old Frisian manuscripts will be discussed by expert lecturers. Library visits will focus on the Old Frisian manuscripts. The attendants will also get acquainted with the unique Frisian landscape, with its medieval and modern seadikes, the famous Frisian ‘terps’ (dwelling mounds) and the ever-changing muddy flats of the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage site. And of course: the notorious night-life of Groningen!

Old Frisian increasingly gets international attention because of its close connection to Old English: Old Frisian is its ‘first cousin’. Knowledge of Old Frisian deepens insights into the Old English language and, more broadly, into the development of West Germanic. Also, Old Frisian is reknowned for its unique archaic legal content: nowhere has Old Germanic law been preserved better.

The OFSS will be of interest to BA and MA students as well as PhD’s in the field of Old Germanic languages. The participants will learn to read and interpret Old Frisian texts and get a good grasp of its grammatical structures. 

The OFSS is organised by the University of Groningen in partnership with Oxford University. To accommodate attendants from all over the globe, it is set-up as a hybrid event.