to let," and such like phrases are remnants of the same form. 24. An, one. The accented á of Old English represented in sound our modern o, as tà, toe; làr, lore. 25. Mighte, pres. subjunctive. 26. Rice, kingdom, Ger. reich. Bishopric in Modern, and kinrik in Middle English retain this word though only as a termination. 28. Næfde, ne hæfde. See note 1, Extract I. In this sentence there appears to be a shifting of the subject from one person to the other. 29. Wid.-See note to line 6. B.-MIDDLE ENGLISH; FIRST STAGE (1154-1250). 3. The Ely Song of King Canute. About 1170. (History, p. 15.) Though this, the earliest extant, version of this interesting fragment cannot be referred to an earlier date than 1170, it is generally believed to have existed in an Old English, perhaps even a contemporary, shape. Great local and historical interest is accordingly attached to it, as giving us an authentic glimpse into the condition of the Fen country more than 800 years ago. Merie sungen de muneches binnen Ely, Da Cnut ching reu der by; And here we þes muneches sæng. TRANSLATION. Sweetly sang the monks within Ely, The change the language underwent during the time that elapsed between the date of this and that of the last extract, is very manifest. On, third pers. plur. pret. of the verb, has become en; as, nom. plur. of the noun, es; að, imperat. plur., eth; and in many words the grammatical inflections have vanished altogether. NOTES. 1. Merie, adverb, of which part of speech e was an ordinary termination in Middle English. 2. Da, literally then; but the demonstrative pronoun and all its derivatives were used indiscriminately in a Demonstrative and Relative sense in both Old and Middle English. It occurs often in Chaucer. Reu, strong conjugation, where we use the weak, rowed. 3. Roweth. The plur. imperat. generally ended in eth in almost every stage of Middle English. Noer. This, the modern near, is in reality the comparative of neah; and consequently nearer is a double comparative-perhaps the only instance of such a thing in the language. In Rich. II., v. i., we have "Better far off than near, be ne'er the near," in which the second near is a comparative. 4. Here, pres. subj. denoted by terminal e, let us hear. 4. Layamon's Brut. 1200. Final part of Arthur's Dream. This extract also clearly illustrates the first stage in the movement of our language from Old to Modern English. Wes now takes the place of was; -i of -ig; en of an; the prefix ¿ of ge- &c.; prepositions are oftener used, and there is a general weakening of all kinds of terminations. Thurrh thatt witt hafenn takenn ba Unnderr kanunnkess had and lif, 15 Affterr thatt little witt tatt me Though that we two have taken both I have done so as thou bade And performed thee thine will (wish); After that little wit that me The doubling of the final consonant in the Ormulum indicates the short, so-called shut, sound of the vowel, as in but, bet; whilst the single consonant marks the full, or name, sound, and serves the same purpose as the addition of a mute e in modern times. Compare min, mine, lif, life, with takenn, thatt. NOTES. 4. Fulluhht, baptism. Old English possessed a large number of religious terms of pure native origin, which have now been almost entirely displaced by others of classical derivation. 7. Witt, we two. The dual number is found in Old English, but is represented solely by wit, we two, git, ye two, and their inflections. 8. Folghenn, the gerundial infinitive. state or condition; and it still exists in the terminations head, hood, as in "Godhead," "manhood." 12. Te, thee, dat. for thee. 14. Goddspelless, the word of God, fr. God, and O. E. spell, discourse; and this word spell still exists, in the sense of charm. 16. Drihhtin, Lord, fr. O. E. driht, excellent, noble. C.-MIDDLE ENGLISH; SECOND STAGE (1250-1350). 6. The Owl and the Nightingale. 1270. The poem of "The Owl and the Nightingale" is generally ascribed to Nicholas de Guildford, who lived in the latter half of the thirteenth century. Me is the wors þat ich be so; Wel oft ich mine song for-lete : 10 ponne þu art to me i-prunge. Me luste bet speten, pane singe Of pine fule zozelinge." Me is the worse that I thee see; Full oft I my song leave off; My heart fluttereth, and faltereth my When thou art to me close-pressed. A new character, 3, makes its appearance in Middle English. It generally corresponds to y at the beginning, and gh at the end of a syllable, or before a t. The initial z, found in the works of Mandeville, the "King's Quair," and the early Scotch ballads, is in reality this letter. NOTES. a 1. Niztingale means, literally, nightly-singer, fr. galen, to sing, no unusual word in Old English; cf. Gk. ἀηδών, fr. ἀείδω, I sing. Hi, fem. demon. fr. O. E. heo. 3. Wel, an intensive adverb. Wol, according to Mr. Morris, is from O. E. wòl, plague. 3. pare, gen. sing. fem. of Demonstrative þe, hule being feminine. The distinction of gender had not yet become extinct. 4. Me, men, man, is the indefinite pronoun the modern one, which is the French on (om, homme). 5. Unwizt, not a man, fr. wizt, a man. Ho, she. See Note 3. 6. Me, dat. of first pers. pron. "Methinks" (it seems to me), "woe is me," still preserve this meaning. 7. I-wis, certainly, is an adverb, Ger. gewiss. Lete,-Mr. Coleridge takes this word to mean countenance, fr. O. E. wlite. 10. ponne, then, when. See note to line 2 of extract 3. 11. Luste, it pleases; an impersonal verb, as in "the wind bloweth where it (dat.) listeth." Speten... singe. En and e are alike terminations of the infinitive in Middle English. 12. zozelinge, chattering, gabbling. 7. Havelok the Dane. (History, p. 18.) (From Guest's Hist. of English Rhythms, 1 Hwan he was hosled and shriven, Speken, and gangen, on horse riden, TRANSLATION. When he was housled and shriven, To speak, and walk, and ride on horse, Knictes and sweynes bi here siden. He spoken there offe-and chosen sone 10 A riche man was, that, under mone, Was the trewest than he wendeGodard, the kinges oune frende; And seyden, he moucthe hem best loke Yif that he hem undertoke, 15 Till hise sone mouthe bere Helm on heued, and laden ut here, Knights and servants by their side. If their charge he undertook, Helm on head, and lead out host, And king of Denmark should be made. NOTES. 1. Hosled, had received the housel or sacrament. Unhouseled occurs in Hamlet. The word is said to come from hostiola, diminutive of hostia, host or sacrifice. 2. Quiste, bequests, fr. cwathan, root of quoth. 3. Dede he... site, caused he to sit. Sete is an infin. without the final n. Do had the sense of cause in Middle English, as in Chaucer, "do come is cause to come, "do me sle," cause me to slay. 4. Wolde wite," wished to know. Wolde has not yet sunk into a mere auxiliary. So in the Athanasian creed "whosoever will be saved" means "wishes to be saved." 5. Yeme, to take care of, from O. E. géman. 6. He, they; a weakened form of hi. 7, 8. Speken... gangen.. riden, are all infinitives depending on couthen, which is the pret. subj. of kennen, to know. 8. Here, their, is the Middle English form of the O. E. heora, of them. 16. Heued, head, O. E. heafod, Ger. haupt. Ut, out. "Utter darkness" in Milton is "outer darkness;" and we still speak of the "utter Bar." Here. This is the regular Old English word for a marauding force, such as the earlier Danish invaders mainly consisted of. It is still found in Hereford, harbour, (herebergh, army-cover), harry, harass, harrow (to conquer). 8. Robert of Gloucester. (History, p. 17.) This passage possesses a great historical value, as furnishing direct evidence of the condition into which the native language fell after the Conquest. 1 Thuse come lo! Engelond into Normannes honde, And the Normans ne couthe speke tho bote her owe speche, And speke French as dude atom, and here chyldren dude al so teche; TRANSLATION. Thus came lo! England into Normans'-hand. And the Normans not could speak then but their own speech, And spake French as (they) did at home, and their children did all so teach : |