What did it mean to "read" in Anglo-Saxon England?

Howe writes: "Quite simply, no Anglo-Saxon learned to read in order to read alone, late at night, in a quiet house and a calm world." (71)

Instead, as Howe shows by, among other things, tracing the etymology of to "read," reading in Anglo-Saxon England was a communal affair that involved not only "comprehension of a written text" (very few people were able to do that), but the oral performance of a written text to a community, an oral performance that was frequently based not on a direct deciphering of a text but on memorizing another's reading "aloud" of a written text.  As a result, "listening" and "memorizing" were important aspects of "reading."

I am intrigued by Howe's piece because it makes me realize something about my native language, German. He points to the etymological links of the English "read" to the German words "reden" and "raten."  "Reden" is the German word for speaking, or, more formally, holding forth on a topic, as in giving a speech or lecture (this perhaps more formal aspect differentiates it from "sprechen"--to speak).  "Read" is also related to "raten," the German word for puzzling something out, for deciphering.  A puzzle is "ein Raetsel" in German.  Both of these usages suggest an understanding of reading as rooted in speaking or giving councel and deciphering or figuring something out, and thus to an entirely more oral, and not exclusively textual, understanding of the cultural practice of reading.

I am intrigued by Howe's point that this earlier and more expansive or "oral" use of "read" survives in contemporary usages of to read as deciphering social or personal texts, as in "I could not read him" or "he was unable to read the social dynamics."  Also a "palm reader" does more than "comprehend" the lines on your palm.  It's neat to know the ancient roots of this word!  And see how these ancient meanings still, at times, assert themselves in contemporary contexts and practices.