Middle English

==Sample texts==
{{main|Middle English literature}}
Most of the following [[Modern English]] translations are poetic [[sense-for-sense translation]]s, not [[word-for-word translation]]s.

===Ormulum, 12th century===
{{further|Ormulum}}
This passage explains the background to the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]] <small>(3494–501)</small>:<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ormulum: with the notes and glossary of Dr R. M. White. ''Two vols''|url=https://archive.org/details/ormulum00holtgoog|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1878|editor-last=Holt|editor-first=Robert|location=Oxford}} Internet Archive: [[iarchive:ormulum00holtgoog|Volume 1]]; [[iarchive:ormulum01holtgoog|Volume 2]].</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|{{lang|enm|Forrþrihht anan se time comm{{pb}}þatt ure Drihhtin wollde{{pb}}ben borenn i þiss middellærd{{pb}}forr all mannkinne nede{{pb}}he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn{{pb}}all swillke summ he wollde{{pb}}and whær he wollde borenn ben{{pb}}he chæs all att hiss wille.}}
|Forthwith when the time came{{pb}}that our Lord wanted{{pb}}be born in this earth{{pb}}for all mankind sake,{{pb}}He chose kinsmen for Himself,{{pb}}all just as he wanted,{{pb}}and where He would be born{{pb}}He chose all at His will.
|}

===Epitaph of John the smyth, died 1371===
{{further|Brightwell Baldwin}}
An epitaph from a [[monumental brass]] in an Oxfordshire parish church:<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bertram |first=Jerome |year=2003 |title=Medieval Inscriptions in Oxfordshire |journal=Oxoniensia |volume=LXVVIII |page=30 |issn=0308-5562 |url= http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/2003/bertram.pdf }}</ref><ref name=Utechin>{{cite book |last=Utechin |first=Patricia |year=1990 |orig-year=1980 |title=Epitaphs from Oxfordshire |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=Robert Dugdale |isbn=978-0-946976-04-1 |pages=39 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!'''Original text'''
![[Word-for-word translation]] into [[Modern English]]
!'''Translation''' ''by Patricia Utechin''<ref name=Utechin/>
|-
|{{lang|enm|man com & se how schal alle dede li: wen þow comes bad & bare{{pb}}noth hab ven ve awaẏ fare: All ẏs wermēs þ<sup>t</sup> ve for care:—{{pb}}bot þ<sup>t</sup> ve do for godẏs luf ve haue nothyng yare:{{pb}}hundyr þis graue lẏs John þe smẏth god yif his soule heuen grit}}
| Man, come and see how shall all dead lie: when thou comes bad and bare{{pb}}naught have we away fare: all is worms that we for care:—{{pb}}but that we do for God's love, we have nothing ready:{{pb}}under this grave lies John the smith, God give his soul heaven great
| Man, come and see how all dead men shall lie: when that comes bad and bare,{{pb}}we have nothing when we away fare: all that we care for is worms:—{{pb}}except for that which we do for God's sake, we have nothing ready:{{pb}}under this grave lies John the smith, God give his soul heavenly peace
|}

===Wycliffe's Bible, 1384===
From the [[Wycliffe's Bible]], (1384):
{| class="wikitable"
|+[[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 8:1–3
!First version
!Second version
!Translation
|-
|{{lang|enm|<sup>1</sup>And it was don aftirward, and Jhesu made iorney by citees and castelis, prechinge and euangelysinge þe rewme of God, <sup>2</sup>and twelue wiþ him; and summe wymmen þat weren heelid of wickide spiritis and syknessis, Marie, þat is clepid Mawdeleyn, of whom seuene deuelis wenten <sup>3</sup> out, and Jone, þe wyf of Chuse, procuratour of Eroude, and Susanne, and manye oþere, whiche mynystriden to him of her riches.}}
|{{lang|enm|<sup>1</sup>And it was don aftirward, and Jhesus made iourney bi citees and castels, prechynge and euangelisynge þe rewme of <sup>2</sup>God, and twelue wiþ hym; and sum wymmen þat weren heelid of wickid spiritis and sijknessis, Marie, þat is clepid Maudeleyn, of whom seuene deuelis <sup>3</sup>wenten out, and Joone, þe wijf of Chuse, þe procuratoure of Eroude, and Susanne, and many oþir, þat mynystriden to hym of her ritchesse.}}
|<sup>1</sup>And it was done afterwards, that Jesus made a journey by cities and castles, preaching and evangelising the realm of <sup>2</sup>God: and with him (the) Twelve; and some women that were healed of wicked spirits and sicknesses; Mary who is called Magdalene, from whom <sup>3</sup>seven devils went out; and Joanna the wife of Chuza, the procurator of Herod; and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to Him out of her riches.
|}

===Chaucer, 1390s===
The following is the very beginning of the [[General Prologue]] from ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]. The text was written in a dialect associated with London and spellings associated with the then-emergent Chancery Standard.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|+First 18 lines of the General Prologue
|-
! style="text-align:center" |Original in Middle English
! style="text-align:center" |[[Word-for-word translation]] into [[Modern English]]<ref>This Wikipedia translation closely mirrors the translation found here: {{cite book
|translator-first1=Vincent |translator-last1=Foster Hopper
|title=Canterbury Tales (selected)
|publisher=Barron's Educational Series
|year=1970
|edition=revised
|page=[https://archive.org/details/canterburytaless0000chau/page/2 2]
|url=https://archive.org/details/canterburytaless0000chau|url-access=registration
|quote=when april, with his.
|isbn=9780812000399
}}</ref>
! style="text-align:center" | Translation into Modern U.K. English prose<ref>{{cite book |author-link1=Henry Sweet |last1=Sweet |first1=Henry |title=First Middle English Primer (updated) |publisher=Evolution Publishing: [[Bristol, Pennsylvania]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-889758-70-1}}</ref>
<!--A text from 1391: [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s [http://art-bin.com/art/oastro.html Treatise on the Astrolabe].-->
|-
| {{lang|enm|Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote}}
| When [that] April with his showers sweet
| When April with its sweet showers
|-
| {{lang|enm|The droȝte of March hath perced to the roote}}
| The drought of March has pierced to the root
| has drenched March's drought to the roots,
|-
| {{lang|enm|And bathed every veyne in swich licour,}}
| And bathed every vein in such [[sap|liquor]],
| filling every capillary with nourishing sap
|-
| {{lang|enm|Of which vertu engendred is the flour;}}
| From which goodness is engendered the flower;
| prompting the flowers to grow,
|-
|{{lang|enm|Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth}}
|When [[Zephyrus]] even with his sweet breath
|and when Zephyrus with his sweet breath
|-
|{{lang|enm|Inspired hath in every holt and heeth}}
|Inspired has in every holt and heath
|has coaxed in every wood and dale, to sprout
|-
|{{lang|enm|The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne}}
|The tender crops; and the young sun
|the tender plants, as the springtime sun 
|-
|{{lang|enm|Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,}}
|Has in [[Aries (astrology)|the Ram]] his half-course run,
|passes halfway through the sign of [[Aries (astrology)|Aries]],
|-
|{{lang|enm|And smale foweles maken melodye,}}
|And small birds make melodies,
|and small birds that chirp melodies,
|-
|{{lang|enm|That slepen al the nyght with open ye}}
|That sleep all night with open eyes
|sleep all night with half-open eyes
|-
|{{lang|enm|(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);}}
|(So Nature prompts them in their courage);
|their spirits thus aroused by Nature; 
|-
|{{lang|enm|Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages}}
|Then folk long to go on pilgrimages.
|it is at these times that people desire to go on pilgrimages
|-
|{{lang|enm|And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes}}
|And pilgrims ([[Palmer (Pilgrim)|palmer]]s) [for] to seek new [[wikt:strand|strands]]
|and pilgrims ([[Palmer (pilgrim)|palmers]]) seek new shores
|-
|{{lang|enm|To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;}}
|To far-off shrines ([[Saint|hallows]]), respected (couth, known) in sundry lands;
|and distant shrines venerated in other places.
|-
|{{lang|enm|And specially from every shires ende}}
|And specially from every shire's end
|Particularly from every county
|-
|{{lang|enm|Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,}}
|Of England, to Canterbury they went,
|from England, they go to Canterbury,
|-
|{{lang|enm|The hooly blisful martir for to seke}}
|The [[Thomas Becket|holy blissful martyr]] [for] to seek,
|in order to visit the [[Thomas Becket|holy blessed martyr]],
|-
|{{lang|enm|That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.}}
|That has helped them, when [that] they were sick.
| who has helped them when they were sick.
|}

===Gower, 1390===
The following is the beginning of the Prologue from ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' by [[John Gower]].

{| class="wikitable"
!Original in Middle English
!Near word-for-word translation into Modern English:
!Translation into Modern English: (by Richard Brodie)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richardbrodie.com/Prologue.html|work=John Gower's 'Confessio Amantis' Modern English Version|last=Brodie|first=Richard|year=2005|title=Prologue|access-date=March 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329074902/http://www.richardbrodie.com/Prologue.html |archive-date= Mar 29, 2013 }}</ref>
|-
|
:
:Of hem that written ous tofore
:The bokes duelle, and we therfore
:Ben tawht of that was write tho:
:Forthi good is that we also
:In oure tyme among ous hiere
:Do wryte of newe som matiere,
:Essampled of these olde wyse
:So that it myhte in such a wyse,
:Whan we ben dede and elleswhere,
:Beleve to the worldes eere
:In tyme comende after this.
:Bot for men sein, and soth it is,
:That who that al of wisdom writ
:It dulleth ofte a mannes wit
:To him that schal it aldai rede,
:For thilke cause, if that ye rede,
:I wolde go the middel weie
:And wryte a bok betwen the tweie,
:Somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore,
:That of the lasse or of the more
:Som man mai lyke of that I wryte:
|
:
:Of them that wrote us before
:The books dwell, and we therefore
:Been taught of that was written then:
:For it is good that we also
:In our time among us here
:Do write some new matter,
:Exampled by these old ways
:So that it might in such a way,
:When we be dead and elsewhere,
:Be left to the world's ear
:In time coming after this.
:But for men say, and so it is,
:That who that all of wisdom writes
:It dulls often a man's wit
:To him that shall it every day read,
:For that like cause, if that you read,
:I would go the middle way
:And write a book between the two,
:Somewhat of lust, somewhat of lore,
:That of the less or of the more
:Some man may like of that I write:
|
:
:Of those who wrote before our lives
:Their precious legacy survives;
:From what was written then, we learn,
:And so it's well that we in turn,
:In our allotted time on earth
:Do write anew some things of worth,
:Like those we from these sages cite,
:So that such in like manner might,
:When we have left this mortal sphere,
:Remain for all the world to hear
:In ages following our own.
:But it is so that men are prone
:To say that when one only reads
:Of wisdom all day long, one breeds
:A paucity of wit, and so
:If you agree I'll choose to go
:Along a kind of middle ground
:Sometimes I'll write of things profound,
:And sometimes for amusement's sake
:A lighter path of pleasure take
:So all can something pleasing find.
|}

'''Translation in Modern English: (by J. Dow)'''

{{blockquote|Of those who wrote before we were born, books survive,
So we are taught what was written by them when they were alive.
So it's good that we, in our times here on earth, write of new matters –
Following the example of our forefathers –
So that, in such a way, we may leave our knowledge to the world after we are dead and gone.
But it's said, and it is true, that if one only reads of wisdom all day long
It often dulls one's brains. So, if it's alright with you,
I'll take the middle route and write a book between the two –
Somewhat of amusement, and somewhat of fact.
In that way, somebody might, more or less, like that.}}