Welcome to The Dead Language Society: A guided tour through the history of English and related languages.

Together, we’ll understand the ancient and medieval worlds on their own terms.

I’m Colin Gorrie, a linguist and teacher whose mission is to bring linguistics out of the ivory tower. My specialities are historical linguistics, Old English, Latin, ancient language paedagogy, and constructed languages. I'm also an omnivorous and somewhat incorrigible learner of languages, currently focusing on… too many languages, among them Mandarin, Biblical Hebrew, and Ancient Greek.

I’ve been producing linguistics content for the public since the fall of 2020 in one form or another, whether by writing, creating videos, or teaching courses. Although platforms and formats may change, my mission has remained the same: to teach the public about the wonderful thing that is human language.

More recently, I’ve written a book Ōsweald Bera: An Introduction to Old English (released Nov. 2024), which introduces readers to the most common vocabulary and grammatical patterns of Old English through a fun and engaging story.