Hebban olla vogala

The fragment was discovered in 1932 on the back of the end-leaf of a manuscript that once belonged to the cathedral priory of Rochester, Kent, now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 340.

[2][3] It was long considered to represent a West Flemish variant of Old Low Franconian,[4] although more recent research shows that it also displays significant influence from Old English.

[5] A word-for-word translation into Latin was written directly above it: (H)abent omnes uolucres nidos inceptos nisi ego et tu quid expectamus nu(nc).

(Modern Dutch: Zijn alle vogels nesten begonnen, behalve ik en jij – waarop wachten we nu?)

[7] According to his interpretation, *agunnan, hinase and (as he read it) anda are Ingvaeonic forms whose presence might be expected in any of the coastal dialects of Old Frisian, Old Saxon or Old Frankish.

Schönfeld identified nestas as the plural of a masculine nest that is attested in Middle Dutch and is still present in West Flemish, and he noted that vogala has an epenthetic vocal of a type also found in certain Old Ghentish words, whereas Old English has fuglas.