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      Book

      An Introduction to Middle English
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      Book

      An Introduction to Middle English

      DOI link for An Introduction to Middle English

      An Introduction to Middle English book

      An Introduction to Middle English

      DOI link for An Introduction to Middle English

      An Introduction to Middle English book

      ByE.E. Wardale
      Edition 1st Edition
      First Published 1937
      eBook Published 8 April 2016
      Pub. Location London
      Imprint Routledge
      DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315620541
      Pages 150
      eBook ISBN 9781315620541
      Subjects Language & Literature
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      Wardale, E.E. (1937). An Introduction to Middle English (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315620541

      ABSTRACT

      First published in 1937, this book supplies a history of the living growth of the English language from Old English to the medieval period. It offers an in-depth study of the growth of vocabulary through literature and social interaction, bringing out the fact that it is chiefly words that foreign influence has affected — leaving sentence structure almost unaltered. Isolative and combinative changes in phonology, the accidence of nouns and plurals, pronouns and adverbs, and verbs are also examined in detail, along with a general overview of the features Middle English and a brief outline of each dialect’s most striking characteristics.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      chapter |13 pages

      AN INTRODUCTION TO MIDDLE ENGLISH

      chapter |3 pages

      ch was taken from the French to express the (tj)

      chapter |1 pages

      VOCABULARY

      chapter |3 pages

      lagu for law, for peace, dreng for warrior, words for law and

      chapter |3 pages

      sveinn; O.E. sweoster, sister, as M.E. sister from O.N. systir; or O.E. radan, to advise, as M.E. rathen, rothen, raba. In other words it was the O.N. consonant 5iefan and

      chapter |1 pages

      ado. With every dialect represented in

      chapter |11 pages

      to die is not recorded before the

      chapter |3 pages

      veal, beef, and pork on

      chapter |10 pages

      to bindanne, for binding, had lost

      chapter 1|5 pages

      ) O.E. a was rounded to a long, open 6 sound,

      chapter |4 pages

      3as, days, b<>3a, bow, gave M.E. dawes,

      chapter 1|2 pages

      ) It had early become a back stop before back

      chapter 8|2 pages

      disappearing early,

      chapter |7 pages

      3el&mp, happened, §ntas, giants, as well as bmdan,

      chapter |10 pages

      sc and -st requires special explanation. Shorten­

      chapter |4 pages

      es is the almost

      chapter |1 pages

      § 105. In O.E. the comparative and superlative of adjectives had been formed by the suffixes -ra or -era; -ost, -ast or -ust, with or without change of vowel (umlaut). § 106. In M.E. these suffixes became regularly -re or -ere, later-er and -est. Thus in O.E. glaedra, gladder ; gladost, gave M.E. gladdre, -er, gladdest; and O.E. griettra (greater) M.E. grletest, gave, grettre, -er, grettest, with shortening of the stem vowel. A few adjectives continued to show change of vowel in M.E., as in:— lang, long ; lengre, -er ; lengest; old, eldre, -er; eldest, strang, string ; strengre -er ; strengest. O.E. 3eon3 (young), 3ien3ra, 3ien3est gave either:— (1) 3ung, 3ungre, 3ungest, with the unmutated vowel carried into all forms, or (2) 3ing, 3ingre, 3ingest, with the mutated vowel of the comparative and superlative carried into the positive. From O.E. forma, first, a new comparative former was made in M.E. § 107. In O.E. four adjectives good, bad, great, and little formed their comparatives and superlatives from independent stems. These continued into M.E. We find :— god; bettre -er; best, evil, badde : werse, wurse (beside badder); werst.

      chapter |1 pages

      muchel, mikel; mare, mijre ; mast, litel, lite; lease, lasse; lQste -mest, as innemest, were influenced mgst and adopted it, giving M.E.

      mQst.

      chapter |1 pages

      O.E. eahta, later ehta or sehta, gave regularly M.E. eijte or augte, according to dialect. § 55 (1). foure from O.E. feower eo to eo. § 57.

      chapter |16 pages

      PRONOUNS AND ADVERBS A.

      chapter 1|1 pages

      3. singe. singe.

      chapter |2 pages

      est, which lasted on in most parts, but Old

      chapter |9 pages

      3ebunden gave in M.E. bounden in the North and

      chapter 8|17 pages

      ) mot, 1

      ; most; mot. Pret. mdste, muste, mosten. () §3, 63, owe, I ; owest; owe, 03c ; plur. 03en, owen. Infin. owen. Pret. a3te, au3te, ouhte. a3en, gwen.
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