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Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

to let," and such like phrases are remnants of the same form.

24. Án, 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;

Roweth, cnihtes, noer de land,

And here we þes muneches sæng.

TRANSLATION.

Sweetly sang the monks within Ely,
When Cnut King rowed thereby ;
Row, (my) knights, nearer the land,
And let us hear these monks' song.

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.
(History, p. 15.)

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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 i of ge- &c.; prepositions are oftener used, and there is a general weakening of all kinds of terminations.

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Thurrh thatt witt hafenn takenn ba
An reghellboc to folghenn,

Unnderr kanunnkess had and lif,
10 Swa summ Sannt Awwstin sette;
Icc hafe don swa summ thu badd
Annd forthedd te thin wille;
Icc hafe wennd inntill Ennglissh
Goddspelless hallghe lare,

15 Affterr thatt little witt tatt me
Min Drihhtin hafethth lenedd.

Though that we two have taken both
One rule-book to follow,

[life, Under canonic's (canon's) rank and So as St. Austin set (or ruled);

I have done so as thou bade

And performed thee thine will (wish);
I have wended (turned) into English
Gospel's holy lore,

After that little wit that me
My Lord hath lent.

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.
9. Had. In Old English, had meant

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.

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Me is the wors þat ich be so;
I-wis for pine wole lete

Wel oft ich mine song for-lete :
Min horte at-flip, and falt mi tonge

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;
Indeed for thy foul voice

Full oft I my song leave off;

My heart fluttereth, and faltereth my
tongue,

When thou art to me close-pressed.
Me listeth rather to spit (be sick) than
Of thy foul chattering."

[sing

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.

1. Niztingale means, literally, a nightly-singer, fr. galen, to sing, no unusual word in Old English; cf. Gk. ἀηδών, fr. ἀείδω, I sing.

Wol,

Hi, fem. demon. fr. O. E. heo. 3. Wel, an intensive adverb. according to Mr. Morris, is from O. E. wòl, plague.

3. pare, gen. sing. fem. of Demonstrative be, 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.

(From Guest's Hist. of English Rhythms,
vol. ii. pp. 142-145.)

1 Hwan he was hosled and shriven,
His quiste maked, and for him given,
His knictes dede he alle site,

For thorw them he wolde wite,

5 Hwo micte yeme hise children yunge, Till that he couthen speken wit tunge,

Speken, and gangen, on horse riden,

(History, p. 18.)

TRANSLATION.

When he was housled and shriven,
His bequests made, and for him given,
His knights he made all sit,
For from them would he know,
Who should keep his children young,
Till they knew how to speak with
tongue,

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 hened, and laden ut here,
(In his hand a spere stark)
And king ben maked of Denmark.

Knights and servants by their side.
They spoke thereof-and chosen soon
Was a rich man, that, under moon,
Was the truest that they knew-
Godard, the king's own friend;
And said they, he might best them
keep

If their charge he undertook,
Till his son might bear

Helm on head, and lead out host,
(In his hand a sturdy spear)

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. geman.

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).

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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:

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