Thyne Oldest Known Tech Manual

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Thyne Oldest Known Tech Manual

Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 28, 2004 @06:51AM from the better-than-many-current-ones dept.

johnshirley writes "How old is the oldest known technical manual? About 613 years, it seems. Written in 1391 by Geoffrey Chaucer for his ten year old son Lewis (Lowys), the manual explains in great detail but very rough spelling and grammar, the intricate workings of the Astrolabe--the predecessor to the sextant. Read Chaucer's 'A Treatise on the Astrolabe here."

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Even the oldest tech manual isn't readable.. by Earl+The+Squirrel · 2004-01-28 06:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Yet another technical manual I can't make much sense of....

8-)
1. Re:Even the oldest tech manual isn't readable.. by ackthpt · 2004-01-28 07:04 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yet another technical manual I can't make much sense of....
  It is unfinished, too. Missing is:
  47. Thy instaling of Linux
  Inserteth into slotte A thyne distributione dyske tytled thus 'Dyske 1', the first dyske of thyne counting. Thou shall notte place inne dyske 2, or dyske 3 excepting that thou hast alreadye placed in dyske 1, or dyske two before dyske 3. Thou shalt notte inserte dyske 8 as itte dys notte exyste...
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
2. Re:Even the oldest tech manual isn't readable.. by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · 2004-01-28 07:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  5 is right out
  
  --
  
  Technoli
3. Re:Even the oldest tech manual isn't readable.. by squidfood · 2004-01-28 10:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  astrolabe for dummies
  I hadde the beste teke supporte calle in the last of dayes. A ladde declared hes Astrolabie thus broken, and coudde notte tell of the altitude.
  "Didst thou putten thyn thombe in the ring" I didst ask.
  "I gaze upon no such ring" he replieth.
  "What of this thinge by thy right hond." I enquireith.
  "Ah! Doest thou mean the holder onto which I hath placed my cuppe of beer?"
Huh by LNO · 2004-01-28 06:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Somehow I suspect the 1-800 tech support line at the end of the manual isn't ringing any more. Lifetime support my ass...
OCR by iamthemoog · 2004-01-28 06:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Looks exactly like my experiences of using OCR software.

--
No Norm, those are your safety glasses; I'll wear my own thanks...
Karma Sutra by Mateito · 2004-01-28 06:53 · Score: 5, Funny

The Karma sutra was written by Vatsyayana sometime between the 1st and 6th century AD. If that's not a technical manual, I don't know what is. Oh wait.. this is Slashdot.

--
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
1. Re:Karma Sutra by H8X55 · 2004-01-28 07:13 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The text is the oldest known "technical manual" in the English language.
  
  From the bottom of the FA.
Rough spelling and grammar? by branewashd · 2004-01-28 06:54 · Score: 5, Informative

Unless I'm mistaken, the spelling and grammar is correct. The chronology here places this writing in Late Middle English, which had very different spelling and grammar rules than modern English.

--
Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around. - Stephen King
hehe by ArmenTanzarian · 2004-01-28 06:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Bye reeding thus lycense agerment, thee promeses...
1. Re:hehe by American+AC+in+Paris · 2004-01-28 07:07 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Shoulde ye, upon iynspection of thyne Astrelabie, obsyrve a displaye of vivyde blu that doth syrmounte all othre tynt, eyther thyne Astrelabie ist fully angled teuwards the Heavyns, or thyne Astrelabie hast crayshd moste uttyrly.
  
  --
  Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Spalling ande suche by American+AC+in+Paris · 2004-01-28 06:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Lyte Lowys my sone, I aperceyve wel by certeyne evydences thyn abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns; and as wel considre I thy besy praier in special to lerne the tretys of the Astrelabie...
Shame he's dead. He'd make a good Slashdot editor.
(yes, yes, I know, Olde Englishe ande alle thate...)

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Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Pervert! by JudgeDredd · 2004-01-28 06:56 · Score: 5, Funny

the intricate workings of the Astrolube--the predecessor to the sextant

He wrote a sex manual for his 10 year old kid?
This guy is a pervert!
spelling? by rifter · 2004-01-28 06:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Written in 1391 by Geoffrey Chauncer for his ten year old son Lewis (Lowys), the manual explains in great detail but very rough spelling and grammar,

Actually, the spelling in the manual is correct for the period, unlike slashdot articles, where one cannot even expect proper nouns like Chaucer to be spelt correctly. :P
Inspiration for spammers... by JohnGrahamCumming · 2004-01-28 06:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Although the spelling and grammar are rather old fashioned, no doubt spammers will take inspiration from the text for the latest attempts to get around filters.

I can see it coming to an inbox near you soon:

"Is thyne mans penys lyttel? Than thou hast by myne oyntments"

John.
KAMA Sutra by Speare · 2004-01-28 06:58 · Score: 5, Funny

The Karma sutra was written by Vatsyayana sometime between the 1st and 6th century AD. If that's not a technical manual, I don't know what is. Oh wait.. this is Slashdot.
That's Kama Sutra, you dork. You've misunderstood the meaning of the word 'karma'. Oh wait... this is Slashdot.

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[ .sig file not found ]
Even in the 14th Century.... by LittleGuy · 2004-01-28 06:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Support could be summed up by a four-letter acronym:

RYFP - Reade Ye Focking Parchment!

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Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
1. Re:Even in the 14th Century.... by Antibozo · 2004-01-28 07:26 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  That should be "RTFP". The letter you've written as "Y" is a thorn (þ or &254; in iso-8859-1) and stands for "th". That letter is not present in Modern English, so it should be written out as "th". Unfortunately, slashdot won't pass through these character entities for rendering, so you'll have to imagine what it looks like, but its vague similarity to "Y", especially in older writing, along with the custom of substituting "Y" for thorn in early press printing (no thorns in the type collection), has perpetuated this confusion. The word you intended to use, "þe", is "the", and is pronounced that way. "Ye" is the plural of "you", not a definite article.
Re:Stupid by DeepStream · 2004-01-28 07:00 · Score: 5, Informative

Actually, it's Middle English. Old English is the language spoken prior to the Norman conquest, and thus prior to incorporation of many French words to the language. Middle English occupies an interesting position in the evolution of the language, before the Germanic and French rooted words were merged into a consistent pronunciation scheme (refered to as The Great Vowel Shift).
Chauncer?! by wadam · 2004-01-28 07:05 · Score: 5, Informative

Chauncer? CHAUNCER?! Does the author of this story mean Geoffrey Chaucer? I don't know a Geoffrey Chauncer, but in the same period, Chaucer did write a treatise on the Astrolabe for his son.

And beyond the poor editing, how is this news? The treatise is included in all of the most widely used compilations of his complete works. See The Riverside Chaucer if you don't want to take my word for it.

Finally, not to be redundant, but while this is arguably the oldest tech manual in english, it is certainly not the oldest technical manual period. For something older, just for example, see Vitruvius' book on architecture. There's an older tech manual for you.

Gosh. You people really need a humanities / social sciences editor here.
Historical Geek by Tablizer · 2004-01-28 07:06 · Score: 5, Funny

He must be a true geek: He would rather write an intricate manual rather than just show his son face-to-face how to use the damned thing. I can relate :-)

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Table-ized A.I.
Re:I can't figure out... by mishac · 2004-01-28 07:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

There was no standardized spelling in Middle English. Different spellings of the same word in the same text are actually very common in writings of this era. Part of it has to do with spacing - a word would be spelled differently so that it would fit into a line better. Pronunciation and vocabulary were not fully standardized in this era either, causing a lot of problems.
Re:I can't figure out... by mcmonkey · 2004-01-28 07:26 · Score: 5, Funny

That's just how it was then: spell however you want, so long as you're understood and you didn't look like an idiot.
Ah yes...the time when /. editors reigned supreme.
Slashdot, 1392 by paiute · 2004-01-28 07:28 · Score: 5, Funny

Father! (Score:IV, Runelike)

by Lowysbot (0000087)
on Wednesday January 28, 1392

Overthwart this forseide longe lyne ther crossith him another lyne of the same lengthe from eest to west? WTF?

Siggurus infantium!

re: Father! (Score:II, Plagued)

by ACerteyneMortale (0000004)
on Wednesday January 28, 1392

RTAM!
(Rede thy accursd manuale!

Mie tayle is too loge for God's sig.

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