Middle English II

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Middle English II
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134. Assimilation

• compounds or derivatives from F words
• gentle (1225), gentlewoman (1230), gentleman
  (1275), gentleness (1300), gently (1330)
• faith (1250), faithless and faithful (1300),
  faithfully (1362), faithfulness (1388), faithly
  (1325)
• immediate addition of -ly commonly, courteously,
  eagerly, feebly, fiercely, justly, peacefully
• easy and natural fusion

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141. The Language Still English

• still English grammar and vocabulary
• several thousand French words
• abandonment of OE words and word formation
• ate, drunk, slept, worked, played, spoke, sang,
  walked, ran rode, swam...

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142. Latin Borrowings in Middle English

• Third Period
• 14th, 15th c. with prolific spoken or written
  Latin borrowings
• several hundred words in the English version of
  De Proprietatibus Rerum
• many of inkhorn terms
• adjacent, conspiracy, frustrate, individual,
  infinite, legal, necessary...

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144. Synonyms at Three Levels

• 17,8 c strong, simple, concrete, and direct
  component of Saxon, abstract, literary words from
  Latin and French
• deed (S)-exploit (L), spell-enchantment,
  take-apprehend, weariness-lassitude
• simple and vivid French cry, fool, horror, pity,
  river, ruin, stain, touch, fierce, rude...
• simple, polished, recondite words

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• popular English, literary French, learned Latin
• rise (E)-mount (F)-ascend (L), ask-question-interr
  ogate, goodness-virtue-probity, fast-firm-secure,
  holy-sacred-consecrated...
• difference between E and F is slight, but bookish
  L

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145. Words from the Low Countries

• Flemish (Flanders), Dutch (Holland), and Low
  German (northern Germany)
• close relation, similarity
• gradual infiltration
• from NQ (Flemish wife) to 18th c.

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• Flemish mercenaries, numerous weavers from the
  Low Countries
• lighter, freight, mart, guilder, gin, dollar,
  easel, etching, landscape
• some 2500 Low Dutch words

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147. The Middle English Dialects

• Northern, East Midland, West Midland, Southern,
  Kentish
• Humber, Thames
• pronunciation, vocabulary, inflection
• plural, present indicative -th (OE)
• -eth (Southern), (imperfect, subjunctive, or

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• preterite-present, and the verb to be) -en
  (Midland), -es (North), e.g. loves (N), loven
  (M), loveth (S)
• present participle (-ing) lovande (N), lovende
  (M), lovinde (S), late ME -ing (MS)

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148. The Rise of Standard English

• the end of 14th c. emergence of East Midland
  standard in both speech and writing
• 1. compromising middle position less
  conservative than S and less radical than N
• 2. largest, most populous, and valuable land
• 3. Oxford (less) and Cambridge (influential)
• Chaucer Southern characteristics

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149. The Importance of London English

• the importance of London as the political and
  commercial center
• French (Paris), Spanish (Castile)...
• local speech mingled with the London idiom
• importance of the eastern counties

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150. The Spread of the London Standard

• late 15th c. London standard at least in writing
  
• national documents of Chancery
• printing in 1476 important influence
• book publishing center
• Caxton's London English in translations
• 16th c. London English precept and practice

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