You wrote:
“The languages varied a bit more between common and high.”
What? Common and high what? Only some countries had such dialects.
“In particular, what I’ve read of the German translations is that they were a courtly german, not shared by the common folks.”
Such as Luther’s. Luther wrote in a Saxon court dialect. That didn’t stop his from becoming the normative dialect.
“In England, the common tongue wasn’t all that common.”
Yeah, actually it was - among the commoners. They just differed from region to region. They still do.
“But I think my point, poorly expressed, is correct. The handful of copies made were not intended nor available to common people.”
Wycliffe’s was really created for Lollards and not the ‘common man’.
“When Wycliffe’s “Bible Men” traveled and read the portions of scripture they had, common folk listened and learned. To recite the Lord’s Prayer in common English was enough to prove heresy, since the only way a commoner could do it was thru Wycliffe.”
OH, PLEASE!!! You are way off. The common people in England were ALWAYS taught the Our Father in the vernacular. ALWAYS. We have plenty of copies of the Pater Noster in the vernacular from centuries before Wycliffe. The idea that Catholics wouldn’t know how to say the most common prayer in Christendom in their own language is just stupidly wrong.
I suggest you read The Lord’s prayer: a text in tradition by Kenneth W. Stevenson starting at page 141, “Vernacular Material”. As Stevenson says, the research material is “potentially vast”!
“OH, PLEASE!!! You are way off. The common people in England were ALWAYS taught the Our Father in the vernacular.”
Actually, I read a while back of a man condemned to death because his family could say the Lord’s Prayer in the common English. It is too late for me to try to find the reference tonight.
“Yeah, actually it was - among the commoners. They just differed from region to region. They still do.”
Incorrect. The differences were far greater, and could make it impossible at times for travelers to communicate. To some extent Wycliffe, but far more Tyndale, had to choose which words to use - and their words BECAME the common words in England.
“Luther wrote in a Saxon court dialect. That didn’t stop his from becoming the normative dialect.”
Luther worked very hard to get it into the language of the common folks, not of the court.