A CONCISE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
5 Middle English
5.1 Historical background of Middle English
The development of the English language was strongly influenced by political changes
following the Norman Conquest. In 1066, the Norman army led by William the Con-
queror (Duke of Normandy) defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings and
killed the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold II. This event foreshadowed the end of the Old
English and the beginning of the Middle English period. The linguistic effects of the ar-
rival of the Normans became apparent with considerable delay, therefore the beginning
of the Middle English period has been set by scholars to the end of the 11th century or
even a later date. The traditional periodization distinguishes three subperiods of Middle
English: Early Middle English (1100–1250), Ordinary Middle English (1250–1400), and
Late Middle English (1400–1500). However, recent research suggests that Old English
was not only spoken but also written for almost one hundred years after the Norman
Conquest. Da Rold et al. (2010) suggest the following modification of the traditional
periodization:
Updated Old English (1066–1150)
Early Middle English (1150–1325)
Late Middle English (1325–1500)
When William the Conqueror became King William I of England, the Normans
(Norsemen who had previously conquered Northern France) seized political, econom-
ic, military, and religious power. They became the lords of the Anglo-Saxon population,
which, however, continued to speak English. The Normans spoke Norman French and
at the beginning of their rule, most of them did not learn English and could not com-
municate with the Anglo-Saxon population. Due to various social and political factors,
the situation changed gradually. At the beginning of the 13th century, the descendant of
William the Conqueror, King John, lost the province of Normandy and by the end of the
14th century, the Anglo-Normans lost all their properties in France. The loss of ties with
France resulted in the adoption of English as an official language by Anglo-Normans. The
influence of the French language on English became noticeable only at the end of the 13th
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5 Middle English
century. Most loanwords adopted by the middle of the 13th century are of Norman French
origin, while most words adopted later come from Central French (see Chapter 8).
In the Old English period, there was a rich tradition of literature written in English,
especially in the West-Saxon dialect. In the Early Middle English period, written English
became scarce. Most documents were written in Latin and French. Latin was the lan-
guage of religious and learned texts; French became the language of law, administration,
and literature. The authors of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough Chronicle),
who continued to write in English after the Norman Conquest, had to abandon their
work in 1154.
Due to the political changes after 1066, the West Saxon dialect lost its dominant posi-
tion and the literary tradition of the first standardized form of written English (Winches-
ter Standard) was interrupted. The political and cultural centre moved from Winchester
to London, where a new standard (Chancery Standard) started taking shape after 1400.
The London and the East Midland dialects became the basis for the development of
Standard English; important figures in this process were, among others, Geoffrey Chau-
cer, the author o The Canterbury Tales and William Caxton, the first English printer,
who published Chaucer’s works.
Midland dialects were a continuation of Mercian dialects, which developed in close
contact with Scandinavian dialects during the Old English period. Scandinavian influence
continued to play an important role also during the Middle English period. Most scholars
distinguish the following Middle English dialects: East Midland, West Midland, Southern,
Northern, and Kentish. Their geographical distribution is presented on the map below.
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Geographical distribution of Middle English dialects after Mossé (1945, 1949)
5.2 Middle English grammar
During the Middle English period, the English language underwent a number of phono-
logical, morphological, lexical, and syntactic changes. Due to the reduction of unstressed
syllables, the rich inflectional system of Old English was strongly simplified and word order
became less flexible. English gradually moved from a synthetic language to an analytical
language using prepositions and relatively fixed word order patterns to indicate the mean-
ing of the lost inflectional endings. Middle English is closer to Modern English than Old
English and resembles modern West Frisian, one of the closest relatives of English.
Subchapters 5.2.1–5.2.3 below outlining the Middle English inflectional system of
nouns, verbs and selected pronouns represent a modified version of passages selected
from Hladký’s Guide to Pre-Modern English (2003, pp. 176–181).
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5 Middle English
5.2.1 Middle English nouns
The complex system of Old English inflection of nouns was reduced during the Middle English
period to only two distinct ending patterns, the vocalic declension and the consonantal
N–declension. These two patterns represent a merger of a number of different nominal
paradigms. Since non-productive nouns adopted the endings of productive paradigms, the
number of different endings was reduced. Differences in inflection between nouns of different
gender disappeared. The category of gender underwent a radical transformation during the
Middle English period: grammatical gender was gradually replaced by natural gender. The
simplification of nominal inflection from Old English to Middle English is presented below.
Vocalic declension
Masculine Neuter Feminine
‘stone’ ‘word’ ‘tale’
OE ME OE ME OE ME
Singular
Nom. stān stǭn word word talu,-o tāle
Gen. stānes stǭnes wordes wordes tale tāle(s)
Dat. stāne stǭn(e) worde word(e) tale tāle
Acc. stān stǭn word word tale tāle
Plural
Nom. stānas stǭnes word wordes tala,-e tāles
Gen. stāna stǭnes worda wordes tala,-ena tāles
Dat. stānum stǭnes wordum wordes talum tāles
Acc. stānas stǭnes word wordes tala,-e tāles
N – declension
OE ME
‘name’
Singular
Nom. nama nāme
Gen. naman nāmes
Dat. naman nāme
Acc. naman nāme
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Plural
Nom. naman nāmen
Gen. namena nāmene
Dat. namum nāmen
Acc. naman nāmen
The -(e)s ending was gradually adopted as a general plural ending by the majority
of Middle English nouns. However, in the Southern and Kentish dialects the plural -en
remained much longer than in the Midland and Northern dialects. It was even extended
to nouns which were strong in Old English and to Anglo-Norman words (children – OE
ċildru; eyren ‘eggs’ – OE ǣġru; housen – OE husas; sunen ‘sons’ – OE suna; worden – OE
word). The -en plural was replaced by the -(e)s plural in the Northern and the North
Midland dialects.
Some Middle English nouns had no ending in the plural, e.g. folk, hors, pound, sheepe,
swyn, yeer. These were monosyllabic neutral nouns with a long vowel or with a short vowel
before a consonant cluster, which did had a zero plural ending already in Old English.
Another type of the zero plural is the umlaut plural in nouns originally belonging to the
athematic declension, e.g. foot – feet, man – men, goose – geese.
The change from synthesis to analysis is well demonstrated on the percentages of the
inflectional genitive and the periphrasis with of: at the end of the 10th century, the ratio
was 99 to 1 per cent, in the 12th century it was 93.7 to 6.3, and in the 14th century 15.6
to 84.4 per cent. In the final stage, however, the inflectional genitive recovered some of
its lost ground and acquired some new functions.
5.2.2 Middle English verbs
The conjugation of verbs underwent simplifying changes similar to those within the inflec-
tion of nouns. The simplification of the synthetic forms of verbs was accompanied by the
development of new analytical forms and new grammatical categories; the ultimate result of
these changes is the present system of tenses and aspects. The simplification of the synthetic
forms and the grammaticalization of new analytical forms was a long process, which ended
only in the Early Modern English period. One of the results of the simplification of verbal
endings was the loss of the distinction between the indicative and the subjunctive forms.
Although Middle English conjugation was simplified, verbal forms had numerous
variants in various Middle English dialects. For example, the plural ending of the present
tense was -eth (we telleth) in the Kentish, Southern and West Midland dialects, -en (than
longen folk to goon – Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury tales in East Midland dialects,
and -es in Northern dialects.
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5 Middle English
The present tense singular endings were -e in the first person (ich here – ‘I hear’), -(e)st
in the second person (thou speakest), and -eth/es in the third person (he cometh/comes;
spelled also as comeþ).
Dialectal differences existed also in the form of the present participle. The OE ending
-ende changed into -inde/-ende in the Southern and Midland dialects, and into -ande in
Northern and in North Midland dialects (very likely under the influence of the ON ending
-andi). In the 13th century, the ending was replaced by -ing(e) in the southern and central
parts of the country. Occasionally the two forms appeared side by side (ne goinde ne rīdinge).
The system of strong and weak verbs was completely rearranged and broken up in the
Middle English period. Old English possessed a total of about 300 strong verbs. About one
hundred of these verbs were lost in the transition period between Old English and Middle
English, and about eighty became weak and ‘regular’ (e.g. bow (II), help (III), climb (III),
and wash (VI)). The reverse process, a weak verb becoming strong and ‘irregular’, was
much less frequent (e.g. wear, hide, ring, or dig). Borrowed and newly-formed verbs were
weak (i.e. ‘regular’).
5.2.3 Middle English pronouns
Personal pronouns
1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
(Impersonal)
Nom. ich, i, ī þou, þu he schē, sche hit, it
ik (northern) ye (from the
14th century)
Pos. my, myne, myn þy, þyne, þyn his hire, hir his
Obl. mē, me þē, þe him hire, hir hit, it
Plural
Nom. wē, we ye thei, they
Pos. our, ours your, yours their, her
Obl. ūs, us you hem, them,
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In Chaucer’s time, gender was already a lexical category because the weakened and lev-
elled endings of nouns and adjectives ceased to indicate gender. Therefore he and sche re-
ferred to human beings and hit/it to inanimate objects and animals. The OE pronoun of the
3rd person plural hīē, hī, hēō was replaced by the Scandinavian loan they. For some time the
two forms occurred side by side: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke (Chau-
cer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales). Them/theim began to appear in the 15th century
and them was fully established in the 16th century. Modern English ’em is the weak form
of OE hem but now it is felt as a clipped form of them. The convergence of cases began in
Old English when the West Saxon datives of ic (me) and þu (þe) replaced the accusatives
(mec, þec). This convergence of cases within the system of pronouns continued in Middle
English. The original OE functions of the genitive forms of personal pronouns were taken
over by possessive pronouns and the analytical forms with of.
Possessive pronouns
The ME system of possessive pronouns was very similar to the modern English system:
my/myn(e); þy/thy/þyn(e)/thyn(e); your/your; his, her, his; our/ours; your/yours; her(e)/
their(e). A new possessive pronoun its was first recorded in 1598 but was still rare in
Shakespeare’s time. The form her(e) and their(e) co-existed till the 15th century. The
former comes from the OE pronominal forms hira, hiora, heora, while the form their(e)
is (like they and them) a Scandinavian loan.
Demonstrative pronouns and articles
In Middle English, demonstrative pronouns ceased to express gender and to distinguish
cases. A new pattern based on the OE neuter forms þæt and þis developed. The plural
form those is a descendant of the OE þās (plural of þēs, þēōs, þis) and these developed
from the OE singular forms þis/þes to which the plural -e was added. In this way a pro-
noun of weaker deixis þæt (a specifying pronoun) changed its function to stronger deix-
is, while þis developed in the opposite direction, from stronger to weaker deixis, or from
a real deictic pronoun to a specifying pronoun. The late OE masculine form þe devel-
oped into the definite article; the indefinite article developed from the OE numeral ān.
The pronoun sum, whose meaning was similar to that of ān in Old English, lost its article
function during the Middle English period.
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5 Middle English
Relative pronouns
The OE relative particle þe disappeared completely by 1250 and the OE demonstrative
þæt began to be used in its place. Other relative pronouns developed from the OE inter-
rogatives whā and whilċ.
Reflexive pronouns
In Old English, self was used mainly to emphasize personal pronouns. In the Middle
English period, self became to be regarded as a noun and had to be preceded by
a possessive pronoun, especially in 1st and 2nd person. Its main function was emphasis
up to the end of the 15th century, while the reflexive function was still performed by the
personal pronouns, e.g. I shal strengþen me þērto.
Indefinite pronouns
The most important change within the indefinite pronouns during the ME period was
the disappearance of the pronoun man.
5.3 Middle English texts
Below is a sample of an Early Middle English text from about 1200, which still preserves
features of Old English. The spelling indicates pronunciation: short vowels are followed
by double consonant letters. The text is supplemented by a Modern English translation
illustrating the syntactic structure of the original text. The Early Middle English text is
followed by a sample of a Late Middle English text.
Ormulum – Dedication
(Original text with a Modern English translation by Chamonikolasová)
Nu, broþerr Wallterr, broþerr min,
Now, Brother Walter, brother mine,
Affter þe flæshess kinde;
My flesh and blood;
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Annd broþerr min i Crisstenndom
And brother mine in Christendom
þurrh fulluhht and þurrh trowwþe
Through baptism and through faith
Annd broþerr min i Godess hus,
And brother mine in God’s house,
ʒet o þe þridde wise,
Yet in the third way,
þurrh þatt witt hafenn takenn ba
Through that we have both taken
An reʒhellboc to follʒhenn,
To obey one book of canons,
Unnderr kanunnkess had annd lif,
Under canon conditions and life,
Swa summ Sannt Awwsten sette;
Just as St Augustine established it;
Icc hafe don swa summ þu badd
I have done just as you bade (demanded)
Annd forþedd te þin wille,
And acted according to your will,
Icc haf wennd inntill Ennglissh
I have translated into English
Goddspelless hallʒe lare,
The Gospel’s holy lore,
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5 Middle English
Affterr þatt little witt þatt me
With the small wit that to me
Min Drihhtin hafeþþ lenedd.
my Lord has lent.
Source:
Ormulum. Bodleian Library MS, Junius 1.
Below is the text of the initial part of the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Middle English text is supplemented by a Modern English trans-
lation, a phonetic transcription, and a translation into Czech. The Canterbury Tales were
first published in 1476 by William Caxton.
Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales
General Prologue
(Original text with a Modern English translation after Hieatt et al. 1976)
1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
When April with his sweet showers
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
and bathed every vein in such moisture
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
as has power to bring forth the flower;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
when, also, Zephyrus with his sweet breath
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
has breathed spirit [(7) into the tender new shoots]
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7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
[(6) in every wood and meadow], and the young sun
8 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
has run half his course in the sign of the Ram,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
and small birds sing melodies
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
and sleep with their eyes open all the night
11 (So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
(so Nature pricks them in their hearts):
12 Thanne longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
then people long to go on pilgrimages,
13 And palmeres for to seeken straunge strondes,
and palmers long to seek strange shores
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
and far-off shrines known in various lands,
15 And specially from every shires ende
and, especially, from the ends of every shire
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
in England they come to Canterbury,
17 The holy blisful martir for to seeke,
to seek the holy, blissful martyr
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
who helped them when they were sick.
Source:
Hieatt, A. Kent and Hieatt, Constance (eds.) (1976). Chaucer. Canterbury Tales / Tales of Caunterbury. Bantam Books.
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5 Middle English
General Prologue
(Phonetic transcription by Rolf Berndt)
1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
"wan Dat "a:pril wiD (h)is "Su:r@s "sọ:t@
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
D@ "druxt ǫv "martS haT "pę:rs@d "to: D@ "rọ:t@
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
and "ba:Ded "ęvri "vain in "switS li"ku:r
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
ǫv "witS ver"tiu en"dZendr@d "iz D@ "flu:r
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
wan "zefi"rus ẹ:k "wiD (h)is "swẹ:te "brę:T
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
in"spi:r@d "haD in "ęvri "hǫlt and "hę:T
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
De "tendr@ "krǫpp@z "and D@ "juNg@ "sunn@
8 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
haD "in D@ "ram (h)iz "halv@ "ku:rs i"runn@
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
and "sma:l@ "fu:l@z "ma:k@n "melǫ"di:@
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
Dat "slẹ:p@n "al D@ "niCt wiD "ǫ:p@n "i:@
11 (So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
sǫ: "pri:k@D "(h)em na"tiur in "hir ku"ra:dZ@z
12 Thanne longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
Dan "lǫNg@n "fǫlk to "gǫ:n on "pilgri"ma:dZ@z
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13 And palmeres for to seeken straunge strondes,
and "palm@rz "for t@ "sẹ:k@n "straundZ@ "strǫnd@z
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
to "fern@ "halw@s "ku:T in "sundri "lǫnd@z
15 And specially from every shires ende
and "spesial"li from "ęvri "Si:r@z "end@
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
ǫv "eNg@"lǫnd to "kAunt@r"bri Dai "wend@
17 The holy blisful martir for to seeke,
D@ "hǫ":li "blisful "martir "fǫr to "sẹ:k@
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
Dat "(h)em haD "hǫlp@n "wan Dat "Dai wę:r "sẹ:k@
Sources:
Berndt, Rolf (1960). Einführung in das Studium des Mittleenglischen. Halle (Saale).
Hieatt, A. Kent and Hieatt, Constance (eds.) (1976). Chaucer. Canterbury Tales / Tales of Caunterbury. Bantam Books.
Kökeritz, Helge (1963). A Guide to Chaucer’s Pronunciation. Stockholm.
General Prologue
(Czech translation by František Vrba)
1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
Když duben vniká v šumných přeprškách
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
až do kořání pod březnový prach
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
a vlahou lázní v každém vláknu vznítí
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
plodivou sílu, z které pučí kvítí,
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5 Middle English
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
a když i Zefyr [(6) v lesíku a v stráni]
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
[(5) líbezným dechem] k růstu popohání
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
výhonky něžné a když jaré slunce
8 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
na dráze Skopcem dorazilo k půlce,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
když drobné ptáčky [(11) příroda tak vzbouří],
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
že ani v spánku oka nezamhouří
11 (So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
[(9) a na své šalmaje si vyhrávají],
12 Thanne longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
zatouží lidé po dalekém kraji
13 And palmeres for to seeken straunge strondes,
a dálném břehu; každý světa kout
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
má svého, svatého a má svou pout.
15 And specially from every shires ende
A [(16) v Anglii se táhnou] všemi směry
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
[(15) z každého hrabství] k městu Canterbury,
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17 The holy blisful martir for to seeke,
za mučedníkem blahoslaveným,
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
jenž v nemoci a strázni pomoh jim.
Sources:
Hieatt, A. Kent and Hieatt, Constance (eds.) (1976). Chaucer. Canterbury Tales / Tales of Caunterbury. Bantam Books.
Chaucer, Geoffrey (1970). Canterburské povídky, translation by František Vrba. Praha: Odeon.
The first page of the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (Hengwrt manuscript)
Source: Opening folio of the Hengwrt manuscript. Wikimedia Commons [online] 15. 2. 2007. [accessed 2014-07-11].
Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HengwrtChaucerOpening.jpg
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5 Middle English
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