Нижегородский государственный лингвистический университет

CONTENTS
Preface 4

M I D D L E E N G L I S H 5

From the Peterborough Chronicle 5

From the Ancrene Riwle 7

From the Proclamation of Henry III 9

Fгоm Sir John Maundeville’s Prologue to an Account of His Travels 11

From G. Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” 13

E A R L Y M O D E R N E N G L I S H 16

From W. Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” 16

A P P E N D I С E S 23

Note on Middle English Personal and Place Names 23

Note on Versification 24

Russian Translations 26

Reading Notes on “Romeo and Juliet” 32

M I D D L E E N G L I S H G L O S S A R Y 34

Bibliographical Note on Some Works on the History of the English

Language 65

M I D D L E E N G L I S H
FROM “THE PETERBOROUGH CHRONICLE”

(East Midland, 12th century)

1137. þis gære for þe King Stephne ofer sæ to

Normandi and ther wes underfangen, forþi ðat hi wenden

ðat he sculde ben alsuic alse the eom wes, and for he

hadde get his tresor; ac he todeld it and scatered sotlice.

⁵Micel hadde Henri King gadered gold and sylver, and na

god dide me for his saule tharof.

þa þe King Stephne to Englalande com, þa macod he his

gadering æt Oxeneford and þar he nam þe biscop Roger of

Sereberi, and Alexander Biscop of Lincol and þe Canceler

¹⁰Roger, hise neves and dide ælle in prisun til hi iafen

up here castles. þa the suikes undergæton ðat he milde

man was and softe and god, and na justise ne dide, þa

diden hi alle wunder. Hi hadden him manred maked and

athes suoren, ac hi nan treuthe ne heolden; alle hi

¹⁵wæron forsworen and here treothes forloren, for ævric

rice man his castles makede and agænes him heolden,

and fylden þe land ful of castles. Hi suencten suyðe

þe wrecce men of þe land mid castelweorces. þa þe castles

waren maked, þa fylden hi mid deovles and yvle men. þa

²⁰namen hi þa men þe hi wenden ðat ani god hefden, bathe

be nihtes and be dæies, carlmen and wimmen, and diden

heоm in prisun efter gold and sylver, and pined heom

untellendlice pining. ...

I ne can I ne mai tellen alle þe wunder, ne alle þe

²⁵pines ðat hi diden wrecce men on þis land; and ðat

_{lastede þa XIX wintre wil Stephne was king, and ævre}

it was werse and werse.

N o t e s
1 ofer sæ - across the English Channel

6 me (
7 þа ... þa - when ... then

10 dide ælle in prisun - put (them) all in prison

12 na justice ne dide - did not inflict, or impose (any) punishment (on them) diden he alle wunder - they committed various terrible crimes

21 carlmen - men (a Scandinavian borrowing)

22 efter gold and sylver - in order to get gold and silver

22-23 pined heom ... pining - inflicted tortures on them

26 XIX - nintene

26 wile - while
Questions and Assignments

1. 
   What changes in spelling are to be observed in the words ‘ther, get, maked’? Find some more instances of similar innovations.
   
2. 
   What consonant changes remain unreflected in the spelling of ‘sculde, alsuic, micel, biscop’?
   
3. 
   Observe words where EME spelling failed to show the changes, which had taken place in the vowel system (cf. æt, fylden).
   
4. 
   Observe forms whose inflections show the general process of reduction.
   
5. 
   What OE types of noun declension are represented in the plural forms ‘dæies, wunder, men’?
   
6. 
   List the strong verbs used in the text and describe their forms.
   
7. 
   Observe the weak verbs used in this text and discuss their regular characteristics.
   
8. 
   List all the verbs used in the text as strong, weak, anomalous and preterite-present.
   
9. 
   Comment on the use of negatives in the text.
   
10. 
    Observe instances of complex sentences with correlative conjunctions and synthetic word order in the subclause as features surviving from OE syntax.
    
11. 
    List the Latin-French borrowings used in the text.
    

FROM “THE ANCRENE RIWLE”

(South-West, early 13th century)

Renunciation of the Goods of This World

Ze, mine leove sustren, bute Zef neod ow drive ant

ower meistre hit reade, ne schulen habbe na beast bute

cat ane. Ancre þe haveð ahte þuncheð bet husewif, ase

Marthe wes; ne lihtliche ne mei ha nawt beo Marie,

⁵Marthe suster, wið griðfullnesse of heorte. For þanne

mot ha þenchen of þe kues foddre, of heordemonne

hure, olhnin þe heiward, weryen hwen he punt hire,

ant Zelden, þah, þe hearmes. Ladlich þing is hit, wat

Crist, hwen mе makeð i tune man of ancre ahte. Nu þenne,

¹⁰Zef eani mot nedlunge habben hit, loki þet hit na mon ne

eili, ne hearmi, ne þet hire þoht ne beo nawiht þeron

i-festnet. Ancre ne ah to habben na þing þet utward

drahe hire heorte. Na chaffere ne drive Ze. Ancre þet

is chelpilt, þet is, buð for to sullen efter biZete,

¹⁵ha chepeð hire sawle þe chapmon of helle. þing þah

þet ha wurcheð, ha mei þurh hire meistres read, for

hire neode, sullen; hali men sumhwile liveden bi hare

honden.

Nawt, deore dehtren, ne wite Ze in ower hus of

²⁰oðer monne þinges, ne ahte, ne claðes, ne boistes,

ne chartres, scoren, ne cyrograffes, ne þe chirch vest-

menz, ne þe calices bute neode oðer strengðe hit ma-

kie, oðer muchel eie: Of swuch witunge is muchel uvel

i-lumpen oftesiðen.
N o t e s
3 þuncheð bet husewif - seems rather to be a housewife

7 weryen hwen he punt hire - curse when he shut them (the cows) in (i.e. holds the cattle up for damage)

9 hwen me makeð i tune man … - when people in the town complain …

10 loki þet ...- see to it that ...

14 for to sullen - in order to sell

19 nawt … ne wite Ze - keep back nothing

20 boistes - jewel caskets

22 bute … makie – except (if) need or strength forces to do it
Questions and Assignments

1. 
   Observe forms illustrative of the ME reduction of unstressed vowels.
   
2. 
   Point out words with the ME South-Western front rounded vowels /у/, /у:/, which correspond to the Northern and East Midland /i/, /i:/, and are rendered by ‘u’ in spelling (cf. sustren, hure).
   
3. 
   Examine and describe the morphological features of the plural forms ‘sustren’ and ‘dehtren’.
   
4. 
   Observe the plural forms of Latin-French nouns which are illustrative of the general tendency for unification in plural inflections.
   
5. 
   Examine and describe the Genitive forms of the nouns used in the text.
   
6. 
   Consider the evolution of the possessive pronouns from the pronoun Genitive forms in the following: ‘mines ... sustren, hire heorte : : ower meistre, ower hus’.
   
7. 
   List the strong verbs used in the text and describe their forms.
   
8. 
   List the weak verbs used in the text and describe their forms.
   
9. 
   List the preterite-present verbs used in the text and consider their later development.
   
10. 
    Observe the participles used in the text and consider their morphological features.
    
11. 
    Comment on the use of negatives in the text.
    

FROM “THE PROCLAMATION OF HENRY III “

(London Dialect, 1258)

Henri, þurZ Godes fultume King on EnZleneloande,

Lhoaverd on Yrloande, Duk оn Normandi, on Aquitaine,

and Eorl on Anjow, send i-gretinge to all hise holde,

i-lærde and i-leawede on Huntendoneschire. þæt witen

⁵Ze wel alle þæt we willen and unnen þæt þæt ure

rædesmen, alle oþer þe moare dæl of heom þæt bеоþ

i-chosen þurZ us and þurZ þæt loandes folk on ure

kuneriche, habbeþ i-don and schullen don in þe worþ-

nesse of Gode and on ure treowþe, for þe freme of þe

¹⁰loande, þurZ þe besiZte of þan toforen i-seide redes-

men, beo stedefæst and i-lestinde in alle þinge abuten

ænde. And we hoaten alle ure treowe, in pe treowþe

þæt heo us oZen, þæt heo stedefæstliche healden

and swerien to healden and to werien þo i-setnesses

¹⁵þæt beon i-makede and beon to makien þurZ þan toforen

i-seide rædesmen oþer þurZ þe moare dæl of heom,

alswo alse it is biforen i-seid; and þæt æhc oþer

helpe þæt for to done bi þаn ilche oþe aZenes alle

men, riZt for to done and to foangen, and noan ne

²⁰nime of loande ne of eZte, wherþurZ þis besiZte muZe

beon i-let oþer i-wersed on onie wise. And Zif oni oþer

onie cummen her onZenes, we willen and hoaten þæt

alle ure treowe heom healden deadliche i-foan, and for

þæt we willen þæt þis beo stedefæst and lestinde, we

²⁵senden Zew þis writ open i-seined wiþ ure seel, to halden

amanges Zew ine hord.

Witnesse usselven æt Lundene, þane aZtetenþe day on þe monþe of Octobre in þe two and fowertiZþe Zeare of ure cruninge.

N о t e s
1 on = of

3 send - contracted for ‘sendeþ’

4-5 þæt witen Ze wel alle þæt – this let all of you know that

17 alswo alse - just as

18 for to done - in order to

25 writ open – ‘letters patent’, a document setting up certain legal powers

25-26 to halden ... ine hord - to keep ... as treasure

Questions and Assignments

1. 
   List the innovations in МE spelling due to the changes in the sound system; also consider the features surviving from the OE alphabet.
   
2. 
   Observe instances illusrative of the general process of reduction in unstressed vowels.
   
3. 
   Examine and describe the Genitive forms of the nouns.
   
4. 
   Observe the Present Plural Indicative forms and consider the new inflection gaining ground as compared with the OE -aþ inflection.
   
5. 
   List the Participle II forms used in the text and describe their morphological characteristics.
   
6. 
   Observe instances of the to-infinitive in the text and consider their morphological change.
   
7. 
   Observe instances illustrative of the S - P word order gaining ground as compared with the OE word order.
   

FROM SIR JOHH MAUNDERVILLE’S PROLOGUE

TO АN АССОUNТ OF HIS TRAVELS
(14-th century)

I, John Maundervylle, knyght, allebeit I be not worthi, þat was born in England, in the town of Seynt Albones, and passed the see in the geer of oure Lord Jhesus Crist Mill. CCC and XIIj, in the day of Seynt Michelle; and hiderto have ben longe tyme over the see, and have seyn and gone þorghe manye dyverse londes and many provinces and kyngdomes and iles ... and þorghout many othere iles, that ben abouten Inde, where dwellen many dyverse folk, and of dyverse maneres and lawes, and of dyverse schappes of men … And I schalle telle the weye, þat þei schulle holden thider. For I have oftentymes passed and ryden þat way, with gode companye of many lordes: God be thonked. And ge schulle undirstonde, þat I have put this boke out of Latyn into Frensche and translated it agen out of Frensche into Englyssche, þat every man of my nac/i/on may understonde it.

N o t e s
Mill. CCC. and XXIj. - thousand three hundred (thirtene hundred) and two and twenty

the day of Seynt Michelle - Michaelmas Day, or Michaelmas, a church festival, celebrated on the 29th of September.

Questions and Assignments

1. 
   Dwell on the changes in sound and spelling from OE to ME as revealed in this text.
   
2. 
   List the noun plural forms in the text and consider the effect of the tendency for unification in the sphere of nouns.
   
3. 
   Examine and describe the changes in the sphere of pronouns, personal and demonstrative.
   
4. 
   Observe the adjectival inflections to illustrate the loss of the distinction between strong and week forms of adjectives.
   
5. 
   List the combinations ‘have + Participle II’ to illustrate the rise of the perfect forms.
   
6. 
   Observe the form ‘schalle telle’ and dwell on the development of the tense system of the English verb.
   
7. 
   Consider the increased use of prepositions in the text due to the decay of the inflectional system of nouns (esp. the use of the prep. ‘of’ in the N of N pattern).
   
8. 
   Examine and describe the changes in the sentence structure as revealed in the word order and the means of connecting clauses into a complex sentence.
   

FROM THE PROLOGUE TO

G. СHAUСER’S

“CANTERBURY TALES”
(London dialect, 14th century)

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

[xwan 'Tat ap'rillq 'wiT his 'SHrqs 'so:tq]

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

[Tq 'druxt of 'martS haT 'persqd 'to: Tq 'ro:tq]

And bathed every veyne in swich licour.

[and 'bRDqd 'evri 'vein in 'switS li'kHr]

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

[of 'xwiC ver'tjH en'dZendrqd 'is Tq 'flHr]

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth 5

[xwan 'zefi'rus F:k 'wiT his 'swe:tq 'brF:T]

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

[in'spired 'haT in 'evri 'hLlt and 'hF:T]

The tendre croppes and the yonge sonne

[Tq 'tendrq 'krOppqs 'and Tq 'jungq 'sunnq]

Hath in the Ram his halve cours y-runne,

[haT 'in Tq 'ram his 'halvq 'kurs i-'runnq]

And smale foweles maken melodye,

[and 'smalq 'fHlqs 'mRkqn 'melo'diq]

That slepen al the nyght with open ye – 10

[Tat 'slepqn 'al Tq 'nix’t wiT 'Lpqn 'Jq]

So priketh hem nature in here corages –

[sL 'prikqT 'hqm na'tjHr in 'her ku'radZqs]

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,

[Tan 'lOngqn 'folk to: 'go:n on 'pilgri'madZqs]
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,

To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes;

And specially, from every shires ende 15

Of Englelond to Caunterbury they wende,

The hooly, blisful martir for to seke,

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke;

Bifil that in that seson on a day

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, 20

Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage

To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,

At nyght were come into that hostelrye

Wel nуnе аnd twenty in a compaignye

Of sondry folk by aventure y-falle 25

In fellaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,

That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.

The chaumbres and the stables weren wyde,

And wel we weren esed atte beste.

And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste, 30

So hadde I spoken with hem everichon,

That I was of her felaweshipe anon,

And made forward erly for to ryse,

To take oure wey ther, as I yow devyse.
N o t e s
1 Whan that - when

7-8 ... the yonge sonne … y-ronne - The young sun (i.e. the sun at the beginning of its annual journey) has completed the second half of its course in the sign of Ram (Ru Овен), the zodiacal sign entered by the sun on 21st March and left on 11th April. We know from the “Tales” that the first or the second day of the pilgrimage was 18th April.

13 palmeres - pilgrims who travelled to the Holy Land (i.e. Palestine) and brought back a palm-leaf as a token of their pilgrimage.

14 To ferne halwes, cowthe in sondry londes - To distant shrines, known in different lands.

17 The hooly blisful martir - i.e. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered by order of King Henry II in 1170 and canonized as a martyr in 1173.

24 wel - at least

25 by aventure y-falle - by chance met together

29 And wel we weren esed atte (= at the) beste. - And we were excellently entertained.

30 was to reste - was gone to rest

34 ther as I yow devyse - to where I tell you of

Questions and Assignments

1. 
   Observe words which show changes in the ME spelling.
   
2. 
   Find examples to illustrate the following changes in the sound system from OE to ME:
   

1. 
   the formation of new vowel phonemes /æ/>/a/; /æ:/> /F:/; /a:/>/L/;
   
2. 
   the lengthening of vowels;
   
3. 
   the development of OE diphthongs into ME monophthongs /ea:/>/F:/; /ea/>/a/;
   
4. 
   the rise of new consonant phonemes.
   

3. 
   Observe words whose OE long vowels remain unchanged.
   
4. 
   List the noun plural forms used in the text and consider the effect of the tendency for unification in the sphere of nouns.
   
5. 
   Consider the pronominal forms ‘hem’ and ‘hire’ and dwell on their histories.
   
6. 
   Where is the distinction between the weak and the strong forms of adjectives to be observed in the text? (See the adjectival inflections in lines 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14.)
   
7. 
   List the weak verbs used in the text and consider the effect of the tendency for unification in the sphere of verbs.
   
8. 
   Consider the verbal combinations ‘hath perced, ... and bathed’ (lines 2-3), ‘inspired hath’ (line 6), ‘hath ... y-ronne’ (line 8) and dwell on their further development.
   
9. 
   Consider the infinitives ‘to goon’ and ‘to seken’ (lines 12-13) and comment on the rise of the infinitive marker ‘to’. Consider the ME phrases ‘for to seken’ and ‘for to ryse’ (lines 13, 33).
   
10. 
    Observe the verbal inflections in ‘maken, slepen, longen’ (lines 9, 10, 12) and ‘hath, priketh’ (lines 8, 11) and dwell on their histories.
    
11. 
    Examine and describe the changes in the sentence structure as revealed in the word order and the means of connecting clauses into a complex sentence (also consider traces of the OE peculiarities in the complex sentence).
    
12. 
    List Latin-French borrowings in the text and consider their assimiliation on English soil (phonemic, graphic and grammatical).
    

E A R L Y M O D E R N E N G L I S H
FROM W. SHAKESPEARE’S

“ROMEO AND JULIET”

From ACT II, SCENE II

The Same. C a p u l e t ’ s Orchard.

Enter R o m e o.

R o m. He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

[hi 'dZests qt 'skarz Dqt 'nevqr 'felt q 'wHnd]

(J u l i e t appears above at a window.)

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

[but 'sOft hwat 'lqit TrH 'jOnder 'windL 'brF:ks]
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!

[it 'iz Dq 'e:st qnd 'dZHljqt 'iz6Dq 'sun]

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, 4

[q'rqiz fF:r 'sun qnd 'kil Dq 'enviqs 'mHn]

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

[hu: 'iz aul'redIy 'sIk qnd 'pF:l wiD8'grJf]

that thou her maid art far more fair than she:

[Dqt 'Dqu hqr 'mF:d art 'far mO:r 'fF:r Dqn 'SJ]/

Be not her maid, since she is envious;

[bi: 'nOt hqr 'mF:d sins 'Si iz 'enviqs]

Her vestal livery is but sick and green, 8

[her 'vestl 'livqrIy 'iz but 'sik qnd 'grJn]

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

[qnd 'nun but 'fu:lz du 'wF:r it 'ka:st it1'of]

It is my lady; O! it is my love:

[it 'iz mqi 'lF:di 'o: it 'iz mqi 'luv]

O! that she knew she were.

[o: 'Dqt Si: 'kniu Si: 'wqr]

She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?

[Si: 'spF:ks jet 'Si: sF:z 'nuTiN 'hwat qv 'Dxt]/

Her eye discourses; I will answer it. 13

I am too bold, tis not to mе she speaks:

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes 16

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven 20

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See! how she leans her cheek upon her hand:

O! that I were a glove upon that hand, 24

That I might touch that cheek.

J u l. Ay me!

R o m. She speaks:

O! speak again, bright angel; for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o’er mу head,

As is a winged messenger of heaven 28

Unto the white -upturned wond’ ring eyes

Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,

And sails upon the bosom of the air. 32

J u l. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father, and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. 36
From ACT III, SСENE V

Enter L a d y C a p u l e t .

L a d y C a p. Why, how now, Juliet!

J u l. Madam, I am not well. 69

L a d y C a p. Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?

What! Wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?

And if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live: 72

Therefore, have done: some grief shows much of love:

But much of grief shows still some want of wit.

J u l. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.

L a d y C a p. So shall you feel the loss, but not the 76

friend

Which you weep for.

J u l. Feeling so the loss,

I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.

L a d y C a p. Well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for

his death,

As that the villain lives which slaughter’d him.

J u l. What villain, madam?

L a d y C a p. That same villain, Romeo.

J u l. /Aside./ Villain and he be many miles

asunder. 82

God pardon him! I do, with all ay heart;

And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.

L a d y C a p. That is because the traitor murderer

lives. 85

J u l. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands.

Would none but I might venge my cousin’s death!

L a d y C a p. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou

not: 88

Then weep no more, I’ll send to one in Mantua,

Where that same banish’d runagate doth live,

Shall give him such an unaccustom’d dram

That he shall soon keep Tybalt company: 92

And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.

J u l. Indeed, I never shall be satisfied

With Romeo, till I behold him – dead –

Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex’d: 96

Madam, if you could find out but a man

To bear a poison, I would temper it.

That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,

Soon sleep in quiet. O! how my heart abhors

To hear him nam’d, and cannot come to him,

To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt

Upon his body that hath slaughter’d him.

L a d y C a p. Find thou the means, and I’ll find such

a man. 104

But now I’ll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.

J u l. And joy comes well in such a needy time:

What are they, I beseech your ladyship?

L a d y C a p. Well, well, thou hast a careful father,

child; 108

One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,

Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy

That thou expect’st not, nor I look’d not for.

J u l. Madam, in happy time, what day is that?

L a d y C a p. Marry, my child, early next Thursday

morn 113

That gallant, young, and noble gentleman,

The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s church,

Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride. 116

J u l. Now, by Saint Peter’s church, and Peter too,

He shall not make me there a joyful bride.

I wonder at this haste; that I must wed

Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.

I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, 121

I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,

It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,

Rather than Paris. These are news indeed! 124

L a d y C a p. Here comes your father; tell him so

yourself,

And see how he will take it at your hands.

N o t e s
71 wilt - archaic form of ‘will’ (the 2nd person singular) used with the personal pronoun ‘thou’ as subject (cf. you will :: thou wilt).

72 couldst - another archaic form in the 2nd person singular. Verb forms ending in -st were very common in Shakespeare’s time, as the extract under analysis shows.

73 have done - employed here as an imperative form and means ‘Stop it!’, i.e. ‘Stop crying!’.

76 which - in Shakespeare’s works ‘which’ often appears interchangeably with ‘who’ and ‘that’. It is hardly possible to lay down any rule for the use of the three relative pronouns in EMnE literature. (Fог а similar use of ‘which’, see line 79 ‘which slaughtered him’).

79 weep’st, slaughter’d - syncopation in the verb forms in -(e)st and -ed. Its use enabled the author to preserve the established metrical pattern of the verse.

82 be – form often used in EMnE as plural present tense alongside of ‘are’.

84 doth - in Shakespeare’s time such auxiliaries and semiauxiliaries as ‘do, have’ and a number of other verbs retained the archaic endings of the 3rd person singular, which had already been supplanted by -s in the majority of verbs (cf. ‘lives, shows, abhors, etc.’ in the extract under consideration).

88 fear thou not – before the MnE period verbal categories were manifested by inflections and there was no need for such an auxiliary as ‘do’. Although in EMnE this auxiliary had already come into use, the older usage without ‘do’ lingered on.
90 doth live – in contradistinction to present-day English, non-negative analytical verbal forms with the auxiliary ‘do’ in a declarative sentence are not necessarily emphatic in EMnE texts.

103 Upon his body that ... – in Shakespearian verses possessive pronouns are often used as the antecedents of relative pronouns, (i.e. ‘Upon his body that hath slaughtered him’ mау be paraphrased as ‘Upon the body of him who (that) hath slaughtered him’.)

124 These are the news indeed! – note the plural forms of the subject and link verb. In the English of today the noun ‘news’ is used only in singular constructions.
Questions and Assignments

1. 
   Discuss the use of personal pronouns of the 2nd person (singular and plural) in the text.
   
2. 
   Pick out a few adjectives from the text and state what ending, which had been used in Middle English, was lost in Early Modern English.
   
3. 
   Account for the use of the –s form alongside that in –eth in the extract under analysis. Discuss the origin of the ending of the 3rd person singular present indicative.
   
4. 
   Comment upon the syntax of the phrase ‘... these my hands’ (line 86).
   
5. 
   Analyse the right hand combinability of the verb ‘would’ in the sentence ‘Would none but I ...’(line 87). What verb would be used in this construction in present-day English?
   
6. 
   Find instances of double negation in the text and comment upon them.
   

A P P E N D I C E S

NОТE ОN MIDDLE ENGLISH

PERSONAL AND PLACE NАMES

Anjow – Anjou South-East Frаnсе. Анжу.

Aquitaine – South-West France. Аквитания.

Caunterbury - Canterbury, a town in the county of Kent, south-east of London, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Кентербери.

Henri – Henry I, King of England (1100-1135). Генрих I.

Henry III – King of England (1216-1272). Генрих III.

Huntendoneschire – Huntingdonshire, a county in East England. Хантингдоншир.

Lincol – Lincoln, a county in South-East England. Линкольн.

Marthe and Marie – Martha and Mary, sisters, of the Bible. In Christian allegory, Martha often symbolizes the active life (the way of Martha), and her sister Marу the contemplative life (the way of Mary). Марфа и Мария.

Normandi – Normandy, North-West France. Нормандия.

Oxeneford – Oxford, a county in Central England. Оксфорд.

Sereberi – Surrey, a county in South England. Сэрри.

Seynt Albones – St. Albans, a town in South-East England. Сент-Олбанс.

Southwerk – Southwork, an outlying part of London on the Southern side of the river Thames. Сазерк.

Stephne – Stephen of Blois, the last Anglo-Norman King of England (1135-1154), who was, through his mother, a grandson of William the Conqueror. Стефан Блуасский.

The Tabard - the name of the inn (from the sign of a tabard, a short, sleeveless coat worn in olden times by a knight over his armour). Табард.

Zephirus - Zephyr, the west wind known as the messenger of spring. Зефир.
NОТЕ ОN VERSIFIСАТION

“CANTERBURY TALES”

A great many of Chaucer’s lines can be read as a verse composed of iambic foot-units, each foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, with the final –e normally pronounced within the line, but silent before an initial vowel or a weak ‘h’, and reduced at the end of such words as ‘your, hir, which, wer’.

At night wer¢ com¢ into that hostelrye

- - - - -

Wel nуn¢ and twenty in a соmрanуе

- - - - -

Of sondry folk by aventur y-falle 25 - - - - -

In fellaweship¢, and pilgrim¢s wer¢ they alle.

- - - - -

But Chaucer’s verse is not always metrically regular. He is changing the regular iambic-decasyllabic pattern, as the rhythms of natural speech dictate. For example, in line 46 the iambic is replaced by a trochaic movement:

A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man,

- - - - -

That fro the tyme that he first began

- - - - -

To riden out, he loved chivalrie, 45

- - - - -

Trouth¢ and honour, fredom and curteisie.

- - - - -