Middle English

{{Short description|English as spoken from c. 1100 to 1500}}
{{Cleanup lang|article|date=September 2020}}<!-- {{lang|enm|...}} for Middle English -->
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Middle English
| nativename       =  Englisch<br>English<br>Inglis
| region           = [[England]] (except for west Cornwall), some localities in the eastern fringe of [[Wales]], [[Scotland|south east Scotland and Scottish burghs]], to some extent [[Ireland]]
| era              = developed into [[Early Modern English]], and [[Fingallian]] and [[Yola language|Yola]] in [[Ireland]] by the 15th century
| image            = Chaucer-canterburytales-miller.jpg
| imagescale       = 1.45
| imagecaption     = A page from [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4             = [[Ingvaeonic languages|North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5             = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam6             = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]]
| ancestor3        = [[Old English]]
| iso2             = enm
| iso3             = enm
| glotto           = midd1317
| glottorefname    = Middle English
| iso6             = meng
| notice           = IPA
|script=Latin
}}

'''Middle English''' (abbreviated to '''ME'''<ref>Simon Horobin, ''Introduction to Middle English'', Edinburgh 2016, s. 1.1.</ref>) is a form of the [[English language]] that was spoken after the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the [[Old English]] period. Scholarly opinion varies, but [[Oxford University Press]] specifies the period when Middle English was spoken as being from 1100 to 1500.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Horobin |first1=Simon |last2=Smith |first2=Jeremy |date=2002 |title=An Introduction to Middle English |publisher=Oup USA |isbn=978-0-19-521950-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDBF5TJZHzQC&dq=middle+english&pg=PP9 |access-date=2023-12-01}}</ref> This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the [[High Middle Ages|High]] to the [[Late Middle Ages]].

Middle English saw significant changes to its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and [[orthography]]. Writing conventions during the Middle English period varied widely. Examples of writing from this period that have survived show extensive regional variation. The more standardized Old English literary variety broke down and writing in English became fragmented and localized and was, for the most part, being improvised.<ref name=":0"/> By the end of the period (about 1470), and aided by the [[movable type|invention of the printing press]] by [[Johannes Gutenberg]] in 1439, a standard based on the London dialects (Chancery Standard) had become established. This largely formed the basis for Modern English spelling, although pronunciation has changed considerably since that time. Middle English was succeeded in England by [[Early Modern English]], which lasted until about 1650. [[Scots language|Scots]] developed concurrently from a variant of the [[Northumbrian dialect]] (prevalent in northern England and spoken in southeast [[Scotland]]).

During the Middle English period, many Old English grammatical features either became simplified or disappeared altogether. Noun, adjective, and verb [[inflection]]s were simplified by the reduction (and eventual elimination) of most [[grammatical case]] distinctions. Middle English also saw considerable adoption of [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] vocabulary, especially in the areas of politics, law, the arts, and religion, as well as poetic and emotive diction. Conventional English vocabulary remained primarily Germanic in its sources, with [[Old Norse]] influences becoming more apparent. Significant changes in pronunciation took place, particularly involving long vowels and diphthongs, which in the later Middle English period began to undergo the [[Great Vowel Shift]].

Little survives of early [[Middle English literature]], due in part to Norman domination and the prestige that came with writing in French rather than English. During the 14th century, a new style of literature emerged with the works of writers including [[John Wycliffe]] and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], whose ''[[The Canterbury Tales|Canterbury Tales]]'' remains the most studied and read work of the period.{{refn|The name "tales of Canterbury" appears within the surviving texts of Chaucer's work.<ref>{{cite journal|author= Carlson, David. |title= The Chronology of Lydgate's Chaucer References |journal= [[The Chaucer Review]] |volume=38 |issue=3 |year=2004 |pages=246–254 |doi=10.1353/cr.2004.0003 |citeseerx= 10.1.1.691.7778 |s2cid= 162332574 }}</ref>}}

==History==

===Transition from Old English===
[[File:Middle English Dialects.png|thumb|The dialects of Middle English {{circa|1300}}]]

The transition from Late [[Old English]] to Early Middle English occurred at some point during the 12th century.

The influence of [[Old Norse]] aided the development of English from a [[synthetic language]] with relatively free word order to a more [[analytic language]] with a stricter word order.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = A History of the English Language|last = Baugh|first = Albert|publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul|year = 1951|location = London|pages = 110–130 (Danelaw); 131–132 (Normans)}}</ref> Both Old English and Old Norse (as well as the descendants of the latter, [[Faroese language|Faroese]] and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]) were synthetic languages with complicated inflections. The eagerness of [[Vikings]] in the [[Danelaw]] to communicate with their Anglo-Saxon neighbours resulted in the erosion of inflection in both languages.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = Growth and Structure of the English Language|last = Jespersen|first = Otto|publisher = B. G. Teubner|year = 1919|location = Leipzig, Germany|pages = 58–82}}</ref> Old Norse may have had a more profound impact on Middle and Modern English development than any other language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys |title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780521401791 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys_012/page/n35 32] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = The Story of English|last = McCrum|first = Robert|publisher = Faber and Faber|year = 1987|location = London|pages = 70–71}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=BBC |date=27 December 2014 |title=[BBC World News] BBC Documentary English Birth of a Language – 35:00 to 37:20 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-OiNxknXdY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131210520/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-OiNxknXdY |archive-date=31 January 2016 |access-date=12 January 2016 |website=YouTube |publisher=BBC}}</ref> Simeon Potter says, "No less far-reaching was the influence of Scandinavian upon the inflexional endings of English in hastening that wearing away and leveling of grammatical forms which gradually spread from north to south."<ref>{{Cite book|title = Our Language|url = https://archive.org/details/ourlanguage00pott|url-access = registration|last = Potter|first = Simeon|publisher = Penguin|year = 1950|location = Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England|pages = [https://archive.org/details/ourlanguage00pott/page/33 33]}}</ref>

Viking influence on Old English is most apparent in the more indispensable elements of the language. [[Pronouns]], modals, comparatives, [[pronominal adverbs]] (like "hence" and "together"), conjunctions, and prepositions show the most marked Danish influence. The best evidence of Scandinavian influence appears in extensive word borrowings, yet no texts exist in either Scandinavia or Northern England from this period to give certain evidence of an influence on syntax. However, at least one scholarly study of this influence shows that Old English may have been replaced entirely by Norse, by virtue of the change from the Old English syntax to Norse syntax.<ref>Faarlund, Jan Terje, and Joseph E. Emonds. "English as North Germanic". Language Dynamics and Change 6.1 (2016): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1163/22105832-00601002 Web.</ref> The effect of Old Norse on Old English was substantive, pervasive, and of a democratic character.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> Like close cousins, Old Norse and Old English resembled each other, and with some words in common, they roughly understood each other;<ref name=":2" /> in time, the inflections melted away and the analytic pattern emerged.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lohmeier |first=Charlene |date=28 October 2012 |title=121028 Charlene Lohmeier "Evolution of the English Language" – 23:40 – 25:00; 30:20 – 30:45; 45:00 – 46:00 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adngAZ2iuRc |access-date=12 January 2016 |website=YouTube |publisher=Dutch Lichliter}}</ref> It is most "important to recognise that in many words the English and Scandinavian language differed chiefly in their inflectional elements. The body of the word was so nearly the same in the two languages that only the endings would put obstacles in the way of mutual understanding. In the mixed population that existed in the Danelaw, these endings must have led to much confusion, tending gradually to become obscured and finally lost." This blending of peoples and languages resulted in "simplifying English grammar".<ref name=":3" />

While the influence of Scandinavian languages was strongest in the dialects of the Danelaw region and Scotland, words in the spoken language emerged in the 10th and 11th centuries near the transition from Old to Middle English. Influence on the written language only appeared at the beginning of the 13th century, likely because of a scarcity of literary texts from an earlier date.<ref name=":3" />

The [[Norman Conquest]] of England in 1066 saw the replacement of the top levels of the English-speaking political and ecclesiastical hierarchies by [[Normans|Norman]] rulers who spoke a dialect of [[Old French]] known as [[Old Norman]], which developed in England into [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]]. The use of Norman as the preferred language of literature and polite discourse fundamentally altered the role of Old English in education and administration, even though many Normans of this period were illiterate and depended on the clergy for written communication and record-keeping. A significant number of words of [[Norman language|Norman]] origin began to appear in the English language alongside native English words of similar meaning, giving rise to such Modern English synonyms as ''[[pig]]''/''[[pork]]'', ''[[chicken]]''/''[[poultry]]'', ''[[calf (animal)|calf]]''/''[[veal]]'', ''[[cow]]''/''[[beef]]'', ''[[sheep]]''/''[[mutton]]'', ''wood''/''[[forest]]'', ''house''/''[[mansion]]'', ''worthy''/''valuable'', ''bold''/''courageous'', ''freedom''/''[[liberty]]'', ''sight''/''vision'', and ''eat''/''dine''.

The role of Anglo-Norman as the language of government and law can be seen in the abundance of Modern English words for the mechanisms of government that are derived from Anglo-Norman: ''[[court]]'', ''[[judge]]'', ''[[jury]]'', ''[[appeal]]'', ''[[parliament]]''. There are also many Norman-derived terms relating to the [[chivalric]] cultures that arose in the 12th century, an era of [[feudalism]], [[seigneurialism]], and [[crusading]].

Words were often taken from [[Latin]], usually through French transmission. This gave rise to various synonyms, including ''kingly'' (inherited from Old English), ''royal'' (from French, which inherited it from Vulgar Latin), and ''regal'' (from French, which borrowed it from classical Latin). Later French appropriations were derived from standard, rather than Norman, French. Examples of resultant cognate pairs include the words ''warden'' (from Norman) and ''guardian'' (from later French; both share a common ancestor loaned from Germanic).

The end of Anglo-Saxon rule did not result in immediate changes to the language. The general population would have spoken the same [[Old English dialects|dialects]] as they had before the Conquest. Once the writing of Old English came to an end, Middle English had no standard language, only dialects that derived from the dialects of the same regions in the Anglo-Saxon period.

===Early Middle English===
Early Middle English (1100–1300)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fuster-Márquez |first1=Miguel |last2=Calvo García de Leonardo |first2=Juan José |year=2011 |title=A Practical Introduction to the History of English |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQLBqKjxuvAC |location=[València] |publisher=Universitat de València |page=21 |isbn=9788437083216 |access-date=19 December 2017 }}</ref> has a largely Anglo-Saxon vocabulary (with [[Scandinavian influence in English|many Norse borrowings]] in the northern parts of the country) but a greatly simplified [[inflection]]al system. The grammatical relations that were expressed in Old English by the [[dative]] and [[instrumental case]]s were replaced in Early Middle English with [[preposition]]al constructions. The Old English [[genitive]] -{{lang|ang|es}} survives in the ''-'s'' of the modern [[English possessive]], but most of the other case endings disappeared in the Early Middle English period, including most of the [[Old English declension#Articles|roughly one dozen forms]] of the [[definite article]] ("the"). The [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual]] personal pronouns (denoting exactly two) also disappeared from English during this period.

Gradually, the wealthy and the government [[Anglicisation|Anglicised]] again, although Norman (and subsequently [[Law French|French]]) remained the dominant language of literature and law until the 14th century, even after the loss of the majority of the continental possessions of the [[English monarchy]]. The loss of case endings was part of a general trend from inflections to fixed [[word order]] that also occurred in other Germanic languages (though more slowly and to a lesser extent), and therefore, it cannot be attributed simply to the influence of French-speaking sections of the population: English did, after all, remain the [[vernacular]]. It is also argued<ref>McWhorter, ''Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue,'' 2008, pp. 89–136.</ref> that Norse immigrants to England had a great impact on the loss of inflectional endings in Middle English. One argument is that, although Norse and English speakers were somewhat comprehensible to each other due to similar morphology, the Norse speakers' inability to reproduce the ending sounds of English words influenced Middle English's loss of inflectional endings.

Important texts for the reconstruction of the evolution of Middle English out of Old English are the ''[[Peterborough Chronicle]]'', which continued to be compiled up to 1154; the ''[[Ormulum]]'', a biblical commentary probably composed in [[Lincolnshire]] in the second half of the 12th century, incorporating a unique phonetic spelling system; and the {{lang|enm|[[Ancrene Wisse]]}} and the [[Katherine Group]], religious texts written for [[anchoress]]es, apparently in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] in the early 13th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burchfield |first=Robert W. |chapter=Ormulum |editor-first=Joseph R. |editor-last=Strayer |title=Dictionary of the Middle Ages |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1987 |volume=9 |page=280 |isbn=978-0-684-18275-9 }}, p. 280</ref> The language found in the last two works is sometimes called the [[AB language]].

More literary sources of the 12th and 13th centuries include ''[[Layamon's Brut]]'' and ''[[The Owl and the Nightingale]]''.

Some scholars<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hcmc.uvic.ca/makingEME/about.html|title=Making Early Middle English: About the Conference|website=hcmc.uvic.ca}}</ref> have defined "Early Middle English" as encompassing English texts up to 1350. This longer time frame would extend the corpus to include many Middle English Romances (especially those of the ''[[Auchinleck manuscript]]'' {{circa|1330}}).

===14th century===
From around the early [[14th century]], there was significant migration into [[London]], particularly from the counties of the [[East Midlands]], and a new [[prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige]] London dialect began to develop, based chiefly on the speech of the East Midlands but also influenced by that of other regions.<ref name="Wright">{{cite encyclopedia |author= Wright, L. |title=About the evolution of Standard English |encyclopedia= Studies in English Language and Literature |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2012 |page=99ff |isbn=978-1138006935}}</ref> The writing of this period, however, continues to reflect a variety of regional forms of English. The {{lang|enm|[[Ayenbite of Inwyt]]}}, a translation of a French confessional prose work, completed in 1340, is written in a [[Kentish dialect]]. The best known writer of Middle English, [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], wrote in the second half of the 14th century in the emerging London dialect, although he also portrays some of his characters as speaking in northern dialects, as in the "[[Reeve's Tale]]".

In the English-speaking areas of lowland [[Scotland]], an independent standard was developing, based on the [[Northumbrian dialect]]. This would develop into what came to be known as the [[Scots language]].

A large number of terms for abstract concepts were adopted directly from [[medieval Latin|scholastic philosophical Latin]] (rather than via French). Examples are "absolute", "act", "demonstration", and "probable".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Franklin |first1=James |author-link1=James Franklin (philosopher) |date=1983 |title=Mental furniture from the philosophers |url=http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/mental.pdf |journal=Et Cetera |volume=40 |issue= |pages=177–191 |doi= |access-date=29 June 2021}}</ref>

{{anchor|Chancery Standard}}

===Late Middle English===
The Chancery Standard of written English emerged {{circa|1430}} in official documents that, since the [[Norman Conquest]], had normally been written in French.<ref name="Wright"/> Like Chaucer's work, this new standard was based on the East Midlands-influenced speech of London. Clerks using this standard were usually familiar with [[French language|French]] and [[Latin]], influencing the forms they chose. The Chancery Standard, which was adopted slowly, was used in England by bureaucrats for most official purposes, excluding those of the Church and legalities, which used Latin and [[Law French]]  respectively.

The Chancery Standard's influence on later forms of written English is disputed, but it did undoubtedly provide the core around which [[Early Modern English]] formed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} Early Modern English emerged with the help of [[William Caxton]]'s printing press, developed during the 1470s. The press stabilized English through a push towards standardization, led by Chancery Standard enthusiast and writer [[Richard Pynson]].<ref name="ReferenceA">cf. 'Sawles Warde' (The protection ''of the soul'')</ref> Early Modern English began in the 1540s after the printing and wide distribution of the [[English Bible]] and [[Book of Common Prayer|Prayer Book]], which made the new standard of English publicly recognizable and lasted until about 1650.

==Phonology==
{{Main|Middle English phonology}}
The main changes between the [[Old English phonology|Old English sound system]] and [[Middle English phonology|that of Middle English]] include:
*Emergence of the voiced [[fricative]]s {{IPA|/v/}}, {{IPA|/ð/}}, {{IPA|/z/}} as separate [[phoneme]]s, rather than mere [[allophone]]s of the corresponding [[voiceless]] fricatives
*Reduction of the Old English [[diphthong]]s to monophthongs and the emergence of new diphthongs due to vowel breaking in certain positions, change of Old English post-vocalic {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/w/}} (sometimes resulting from the {{IPA|[ɣ]}} allophone of {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) to offglides, and borrowing from French
*Merging of Old English {{IPA|/æ/ and /ɑ/}} into a single vowel {{IPA|/a/}}
*Raising of the long vowel {{IPA|/æː/}} to {{IPA|/ɛː/}}
*Rounding of {{IPA|/ɑː/}} to {{IPA|/ɔː/}} in the southern dialects
*Unrounding of the front [[rounded vowel]]s in most dialects
*Lengthening of vowels in [[open syllable]]s (and in certain other positions). The resultant long vowels (and other preexisting long vowels) subsequently underwent changes of quality in the [[Great Vowel Shift]], which began during the later Middle English period.
*Loss of [[gemination]] (double consonants came to be pronounced as single ones)
*Loss of weak final vowels ([[schwa]], written {{angle bracket|e}}). By [[Chaucer]]'s time, this vowel was silent in normal speech, although it was normally pronounced in verse as the [[meter (verse)|meter]] required (much as occurs in modern [[French language|French]]). Also, nonfinal unstressed {{angle bracket|e}} was dropped when adjacent to only a single consonant on either side if there was another short {{angbr|e}} in an adjoining syllable. Thus, {{lang|ang|every}} began to be pronounced as {{lang|enm|evry}}, and {{lang|ang|palmeres}} as {{lang|enm|palmers}}.

The combination of the last three processes listed above led to the spelling conventions associated with [[silent e|silent {{vr|e}}]] and [[double letter|doubled consonants]] (see under [[#Orthography|Orthography]], below).

==Morphology==

=== Nouns ===
Middle English retains only two distinct noun-ending patterns from the more complex system of [[Old English grammar#Nouns|inflection in Old English]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Middle English nouns
! rowspan="2" |Nouns
! colspan="2" |[[Strong noun]]s
! colspan="2" |[[Weak noun]]s
|-
!Singular
!Plural
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Nominative
| rowspan="2" | -({{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}})
| rowspan="2" | -{{lang|enm|es|italic=unset}}
| -{{lang|enm|e}}
| rowspan="4" | -{{lang|enm|en|italic=unset}}
|-
!Accusative
| rowspan="3" | -{{lang|enm|en|italic=unset}}
|-
!Genitive
| -{{lang|enm|es|italic=unset}}<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}({{lang|enm|ne|italic=unset}})<ref>cf. 'Ancrene Wisse' (The ''Anchoresses''' Guide)</ref>
|-
!Dative
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}({{lang|enm|s|italic=unset}})
|}
Nouns of the weak declension are primarily inherited from Old English ''n''-stem nouns but also from ''ō''-stem, ''wō''-stem, and ''u''-stem nouns,{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} which did not inflect in the same way as ''n''-stem nouns in Old English, but joined the weak declension in Middle English. Nouns of the strong declension are inherited from the other Old English noun stem classes.

Some nouns of the strong type have an ''-e'' in the nominative/accusative singular, like the weak declension, but otherwise strong endings. Often, these are the same nouns that had an ''-e'' in the nominative/accusative singular of Old English (they, in turn, were inherited from [[Proto-Germanic]] ''ja''-stem and ''i''-stem nouns).

The distinct dative case was lost in early Middle English. The genitive survived, however, but by the end of the Middle English period, only the strong ''-'s'' ending (variously spelt) was in use.<ref>Fischer, O., van Kemenade, A., Koopman, W., van der Wurff, W., ''The Syntax of Early English'', CUP 2000, p. 72.</ref> Some formerly feminine nouns, as well as some weak nouns, continued to make their genitive forms with ''-e'' or no ending (e.g., {{lang|enm|fole hoves}}, horses' hooves), and nouns of relationship ending in ''-er'' frequently have no genitive ending (e.g., {{lang|enm|fader bone}}, "father's bane").<ref name="Burrow-2005-p23">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;23</ref>

The strong ''-(e)s'' plural form has survived into Modern English. The weak ''-(e)n'' form is now rare and used only in ''oxen'' and as part of a [[double plural]], in ''children'' and ''brethren''. Some dialects still have forms such as ''eyen'' (for ''eyes''), ''shoon'' (for ''shoes''), ''hosen'' (for ''hose(s)''), ''kine'' (for ''cows''), and ''been'' (for ''bees'').

[[Grammatical gender]] survived to a limited extent in early Middle English<ref name="Burrow-2005-p23"/> before being replaced by natural gender in the course of the Middle English period. Grammatical gender was indicated by agreement of articles and pronouns (e.g., {{lang|enm|þo ule}} "the feminine owl") or using the pronoun {{lang|enm|he}} to refer to masculine nouns such as {{lang|enm|helm}} ("helmet"), or phrases such as {{lang|enm|scaft stærcne}} (strong shaft), with the masculine accusative adjective ending ''-ne''.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p38">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;38</ref>

===Adjectives===
Single-syllable adjectives added ''-e'' when modifying a noun in the plural and when used after the definite article ({{lang|enm|þe}}), after a demonstrative ({{lang|enm|þis}}, {{lang|enm|þat}}), after a possessive pronoun (e.g., {{lang|enm|hir}}, {{lang|enm|our}}), or with a name or in a form of address. This derives from the Old English "weak" declension of adjectives.<ref name="Burrow-2005-pp27-28">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, pp.&nbsp;27–28</ref> This inflexion continued to be used in writing even after final -e had ceased to be pronounced.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p28">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;28</ref> In earlier texts, multisyllable adjectives also receive a final ''-e'' in these situations, but this occurs less regularly in later Middle English texts. Otherwise, adjectives have no ending and adjectives already ending in ''-e'' etymologically receive no ending as well.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p28"/>

Earlier texts sometimes inflect adjectives for case as well. ''[[Layamon's Brut]]'' inflects adjectives for the masculine accusative, genitive, and dative, the feminine dative, and the plural genitive.<ref name="Burrow-2005-pp28-29">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, pp.&nbsp;28–29</ref> ''The Owl and the Nightingale'' adds a final ''-e'' to all adjectives not in the nominative, here only inflecting adjectives in the weak declension (as described above).<ref name="Burrow-2005-p29">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;29</ref>

[[Comparative]]s and superlatives were usually formed by adding ''-er'' and ''-est''. Adjectives with long vowels sometimes shortened these vowels in the comparative and superlative (e.g., {{lang|enm|greet}}, great; {{lang|enm|gretter}}, greater).<ref name="Burrow-2005-p29"/> Adjectives ending in ''-ly'' or ''-lich'' formed comparatives either with ''-lier'', ''-liest'' or ''-loker'', ''-lokest''.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p29"/> A few adjectives also displayed [[Germanic umlaut]] in their comparatives and superlatives, such as {{lang|enm|long}}, {{lang|enm|lenger}}.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p29"/> Other irregular forms were mostly the same as in modern English.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p29"/>

===Pronouns===
Middle English [[personal pronoun]]s were mostly developed from [[Old English pronouns|those of Old English]], with the exception of the third person plural, a borrowing from [[Old Norse]] (the original Old English form clashed with the third person singular and was eventually dropped). Also, the nominative form of the feminine third person singular was replaced by a form of the [[demonstrative]] that developed into {{lang|enm|sche}} (modern ''she''), but the alternative {{lang|enm|heyr}} remained in some areas for a long time.

As with nouns, there was some inflectional simplification (the distinct Old English [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]] forms were lost), but pronouns, unlike nouns, retained distinct nominative and accusative forms. Third person pronouns also retained a distinction between accusative and dative forms, but that was gradually lost: The masculine {{lang|nme|hine}} was replaced by {{lang|enm|him}} south of the [[River Thames]] by the early 14th century, and the neuter dative {{lang|enm|him}} was ousted by ''it'' in most dialects by the 15th.<ref>Fulk, R.D., ''An Introduction to Middle English'', Broadview Press, 2012, p. 65.</ref>

The following table shows some of the various Middle English pronouns. Many other variations are noted in Middle English sources because of differences in spellings and pronunciations at different times and in different dialects.<ref>See {{cite book |last=Stratmann |first=Francis Henry |year=1891 |title=A Middle-English dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/middleenglishdic00stra |place=London |publisher = Oxford University Press |ol=7114246M }} and {{cite book |last1=Mayhew |first1=AL |last2=Skeat |first2=Walter W |year=1888 |title=A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 |place=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10625/10625-h/main.html}}</ref>

{{Middle English personal pronouns (table)}}

===Verbs===
As a general rule, the indicative first person singular of verbs in the present tense ended in ''-e'' (e.g., {{lang|enm|ich here}}, "I hear"), the second person singular in ''-(e)st'' (e.g., {{lang|enm|þou spekest}}, "thou speakest"), and the third person singular in ''-eþ'' (e.g., {{lang|enm|he comeþ}}, "he cometh/he comes"). (''[[Thorn (letter)|þ]]'' (the letter "thorn") is pronounced like the unvoiced ''th'' in "think", but under certain circumstances, it may be like the voiced ''th'' in "that"). The following table illustrates a typical conjugation pattern:<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Principles of English Composition.|year = 1831|url = https://archive.org/details/principlesengli01bootgoog|last = Booth|first = David|publisher = Cochrane and Pickersgill}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = Introduction to Middle English|date = 9 September 2016|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sjVYDwAAQBAJ|last = Horobin|first = Simon|publisher = Edinburgh University Press |isbn = 9781474408462}}</ref><!-- NOTE: It's unclear which of the following entries in this table require a language tag.-->
{| class="wikitable"
|+Middle English verb inflection
! rowspan="3" |Verbs inflection
! rowspan="3" |Infinitive
! colspan="5" |Present
! colspan="5" |Past
|-
! rowspan="2" |Participle
! colspan="3" |Singular
! rowspan="2" |Plural
! rowspan="2" |Participle
! colspan="3" |Singular
! rowspan="2" |Plural
|-
!1st person
!2nd person
!3rd person
!1st person
!2nd person
!3rd person
|-
! colspan="12" |Regular verbs
|-
!Strong
| rowspan="2" | -en
| rowspan="2" |  -ende, -ynge
| rowspan="2" | -e
| rowspan="2" | -est
| rowspan="2" | -eþ (-es)
| rowspan="2" | -en (-es, -eþ)
|i- -en
| –
| -e (-est)
| –
| -en
|-
!Weak
| -ed
| -ede
| -edest
| -ede
| -eden
|-
! colspan="12" |Irregular verbs
|-
! rowspan="2" |Been "be"
| rowspan="2" |been
| rowspan="2" |beende, beynge
|am
|art
|is
|aren
| rowspan="2" |ibeen
| rowspan="2" |was
|wast
| rowspan="2" |was
| rowspan="2" |weren
|-
|be
|bist
|biþ
|beth, been
|were
|-
!Cunnen "can"
|cunnen
|cunnende, cunnynge
|can
|canst
|can
|cunnen
|cunned, coud
|coude, couthe
|coudest, couthest
|coude, couthe
|couden, couthen
|-
!Don "do"
|don
|doende, doynge
|do
|dost
|doþ
|doþ, don
|idon
|didde
|didst
|didde
|didden
|-
!Douen "be good for"
|douen
|douende, douynge
|deigh
|deight
|deigh
|douen
|idought
|dought
|doughtest
|dought
|doughten
|-
!Durren "dare"
|durren
|durrende, durrynge
|dar
|darst
|dar
|durren
|durst, dirst
|durst
|durstest
|durst
|dursten
|-
!Gon "go"
|gon
|goende, goynge
|go
|gost
|goþ
|goþ, gon
|igon(gen)
|wend, yede, yode
|wendest, yedest, yodest
|wende, yede, yode
|wenden, yeden, yoden
|-
!Haven "have"
|haven
|havende, havynge
|have
|hast
|haþ
|haven
|ihad
|hadde
|haddest
|hadde
|hadden
|-
!Moten "must"
| –
| –
|mot
|must
|mot
|moten
| –
|muste
|mustest
|muste
|musten
|-
!Mowen "may"
|mowen
|mowende, mowynge
|may
|myghst
|may
|mowen
|imought
|mighte
|mightest
|mighte
|mighten
|-
!Owen "owe, ought"
|owen
|owende, owynge
|owe
|owest
|owe
|owen
|iowen
|owed
|ought
|owed
|ought
|-
!Schulen "should"
| –
| –
|schal
|schalt
|schal
|schulen
| –
|scholde
|scholdest
|scholde
|scholde
|-
!Þurven/Þaren "need"
| –
| –
|þarf
|þarst
|þarf
|þurven, þaren
| –
|þurft
|þurst
|þurft
|þurften
|-
!Willen "want"
|willen
|willende, willynge
|will
|wilt
|will
|wollen
|  –
|wolde
|woldest
|wolde
|wolden
|-
!Witen "know"
|witen
|witende, witynge
|woot
|woost
|woot
|witen
|iwiten
|wiste
|wistest
|wiste
|wisten
|}
Plural forms vary strongly by dialect, with Southern dialects preserving the Old English ''-eþ'', Midland dialects showing ''-en'' from about 1200, and Northern forms using ''-es'' in the third person singular as well as the plural.<ref name="cambridge">{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/211/1905.html|title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature| first1 =AW | last1 = Ward | first2 = AR | last2 = Waller| date= 1907–21| access-date= Oct 4, 2011 | publisher = Bartleby}}</ref>

The past tense of weak verbs was formed by adding an ''-ed(e)'', ''-d(e)'', or ''-t(e)'' ending. The past-tense forms, without their personal endings, also served as past participles with past-participle prefixes derived from Old English: ''i-'', ''y-'', and sometimes ''bi-''.

[[Germanic strong verb|Strong verbs]], by contrast, formed their past tense by changing their stem vowel (e.g., {{lang|enm|binden}} became {{lang|enm|bound}}, a process called [[apophony]]), as in Modern English.

==Orthography==

With the discontinuation of the [[Late West Saxon]] standard used for the [[Old English orthography|writing of Old English]] in the period prior to the Norman Conquest, Middle English came to be written in a wide variety of scribal forms, reflecting different regional dialects and orthographic conventions. Later in the Middle English period, however, and particularly with the development of the [[#Chancery Standard|Chancery Standard]] in the 15th century, orthography became relatively standardised in a form based on the East Midlands-influenced speech of London. Spelling at the time was mostly quite [[regular spelling|regular]]. (There was a fairly consistent correspondence between letters and sounds.) The irregularity of [[English orthography|present-day English orthography]] is largely due to [[Phonological history of English|pronunciation changes]] that have taken place over the [[Early Modern English]] and [[Modern English]] eras.

Middle English generally did not have [[silent letter]]s. For example, ''knight'' was pronounced {{IPA|enm|ˈkniçt|}} (with both the {{vr|k}} and the {{vr|gh}} pronounced, the latter sounding as the {{angle bracket|ch}} in German {{lang|de|Knecht}}). The major exception was the [[silent e|silent {{angbr|e}}]] – originally pronounced but lost in normal speech by Chaucer's time. This letter, however, came to indicate a lengthened – and later also modified – pronunciation of a preceding vowel. For example, in ''name'', originally pronounced as two syllables, the /a/ in the first syllable (originally an open syllable) lengthened, the final weak vowel was later dropped, and the remaining long vowel was modified in the [[Great Vowel Shift]] (for these sound changes, see [[#Phonology|Phonology]], above). The final {{angbr|e}}, now silent, thus became the indicator of the longer and changed pronunciation of {{angbr|a}}. In fact, vowels could have this lengthened and modified pronunciation in various positions, particularly before a single consonant letter and another vowel or before certain pairs of consonants.

A related convention involved the doubling of consonant letters to show that the preceding vowel was not to be lengthened. In some cases, the double consonant represented a sound that was (or had previously been) [[gemination|geminated]] (i.e., had genuinely been "doubled" and would thus have regularly blocked the lengthening of the preceding vowel). In other cases, by analogy, the consonant was written double merely to indicate the lack of lengthening.

===Alphabet===
The basic [[Old English Latin alphabet]] consisted of 20 standard letters plus four additional letters: [[ash (letter)|ash]] {{angbr|æ}}, [[eth]] {{angbr|ð}}, [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] {{angbr|þ}}, and [[wynn]] {{angbr|ƿ}}. There was not yet a distinct ''j'', ''v'', or ''w'', and Old English scribes did not generally use ''k'', ''q'', or ''z''.

Ash was no longer required in Middle English, as the Old English vowel {{IPA|/æ/}} that it represented had [[#Phonology|merged into /a/]]. The symbol nonetheless came to be used as a [[typographic ligature|ligature]] for the digraph {{angle bracket|ae}} in many words of Greek or Latin origin, as did {{angbr|œ}} for {{angbr|oe}}.

Eth and thorn both represented {{IPA|/θ/}} or its [[allophone]] {{IPAslink|ð}} in Old English. Eth fell out of use during the 13th century and was replaced by thorn. Thorn mostly fell out of use during the 14th century and was replaced by [[th (digraph)|{{vr|th}}]]. Anachronistic usage of the scribal abbreviation [[File:EME ye.svg|10px]] ({{lang|enm|þe}}, "the") has led to the modern mispronunciation of ''thorn'' as {{angle bracket|[[y]]}} in this context; see ''[[ye olde]]''.<ref>''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary'', [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ye%5B2%5D ye<nowiki>[2]</nowiki>] retrieved February 1, 2009</ref>

Wynn, which represented the phoneme {{IPA|/w/}}, was replaced by {{angle bracket|[[w]]}} during the 13th century. Due to its similarity to the letter {{angle bracket|p}}, it is mostly represented by {{angle bracket|w}} in modern editions of Old and Middle English texts even when the manuscript has wynn.

Under Norman influence, the continental [[Carolingian minuscule]] replaced the [[insular script]] that had been used for Old English. However, because of the significant difference in appearance between the old [[insular G|insular ''g'']] and the [[Carolingian G|Carolingian ''g'']] (modern ''g''), the former continued in use as a separate letter, known as [[yogh]], written {{angbr|ȝ}}. This was adopted for use to represent a variety of sounds: {{IPA|[ɣ], [j], [dʒ], [x], [ç]}}, while the Carolingian ''g'' was normally used for [g]. Instances of yogh were eventually replaced by {{angbr|j}} or {{angbr|y}} and by {{angbr|gh}} in words like ''night'' and ''laugh''. In [[Middle Scots]], yogh became indistinguishable from cursive ''z'', and printers tended to use {{angle bracket|z}} when ''yogh'' was not available in their fonts; this led to new spellings (often giving rise to new pronunciations), as in [[Mackenzie (surname)|''McKenzie'']], where the {{angbr|z}} replaced a yogh, which had the pronunciation {{IPA|/j/}}.

Under continental influence, the letters {{vr|k}}, {{vr|q}}, and {{vr|z}}, which had not normally been used by Old English scribes, came to be commonly used in the writing of Middle English. Also, the newer Latin letter {{vr|w}} was introduced (replacing wynn). The distinct letter forms [[v|{{vr|v}}]] and [[u|{{vr|u}}]] came into use but were still used interchangeably; the same applies to [[j|{{vr|j}}]] and [[i|{{vr|i}}]].<ref name="Salmon">Salmon, V., (in) Lass, R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'', Vol. III, CUP 2000, p. 39.</ref> (For example, spellings such as {{lang|enm|wijf}} and {{lang|enm|paradijs}} for "wife" and "paradise" can be found in Middle English.)

The consonantal {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} was sometimes used to transliterate the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] letter [[yodh]], representing the [[palatal approximant]] sound {{IPA|/j/}} (and transliterated in [[Greek language|Greek]] by [[iota]] and in Latin by {{vr|i}}); words like ''Jerusalem'', ''Joseph'', etc. would have originally followed the Latin pronunciation beginning with {{IPA|/j/}}, that is, the sound of {{vr|y}} in ''yes''. In some words, however, notably from [[Old French]], {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} was used for the [[affricate consonant]] {{IPA|/dʒ/}}, as in {{lang|fro|joie}} (modern "joy"), used in [[Wycliffe's Bible]].<ref name="j-oed">"J", ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989)</ref><ref>"J" and "jay", ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993)</ref> This was similar to the [[gemination|geminate sound]] {{IPA|[ddʒ]}}, which had been represented as {{vr|cg}} in Old English. By the time of Modern English, the sound came to be written as {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} at the start of words (like "joy"), and usually as {{vr|dg}} elsewhere (as in "bridge"). It could also be written, mainly in French loanwords, as {{vr|g}}, with the adoption of the [[hard and soft G|soft G]] convention (''age'', ''page'', etc.)

===Other symbols===
Many [[scribal abbreviation]]s were also used. It was common for the [[Lollardy|Lollards]] to abbreviate the name of [[Jesus]] (as in Latin manuscripts) to ''[[Christogram|ihc]]''. The letters {{vr|n}} and {{vr|m}} were often omitted and indicated by a [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] above an adjacent letter, so for example, ''in'' could be written as ''ī''. A thorn with a superscript {{vr|t}} or {{vr|e}} could be used for ''that'' and ''the''; the thorn here resembled a {{vr|Y}}, giving rise to the ''ye'' of "[[Ye Olde]]". Various forms of the [[ampersand]] replaced the word ''and''.

Numbers were still always written using [[Roman numerals]], except for some rare occurrences of [[Arabic numerals]] during the 15th century.

===Letter-to-sound correspondences===
Although Middle English spelling was never fully standardised, the following table shows the pronunciations most usually represented by particular letters and [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s towards the end of the Middle English period, using the notation given in the article on [[Middle English phonology]].<ref>For certain details, see "Chancery Standard spelling" in Upward, C., Davidson, G., ''The History of English Spelling'', Wiley 2011.</ref> As explained above, single vowel letters had alternative pronunciations depending on whether they were in a position where their sounds had been subject to lengthening. Long vowel pronunciations were in flux due to the beginnings of the [[Great Vowel Shift]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Symbol !! Description and notes
|-
! a
| {{IPAslink|a}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/a{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|æ}}ː]}} by about 1500. Sometimes {{IPA|/au/}} before {{vr|l}} or nasals (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]).
|-
! ai, ay
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}}{{IPA link|i}}/}} (alternatively denoted by {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}i/}}; see [[Vein–vain merger|''vein–vain'' merger]]).
|-
! au, aw
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}}{{IPA link|u}}/}}
|-
! b
| {{IPAslink|b}}, but in later Middle English became silent in words ending ''-mb'' (while some words that never had a {{IPA|/b/}} sound came to be spelt ''-mb'' by analogy; see [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#mb|reduction of /mb/]]).
|-
! c
| {{IPAslink|k}}, but {{IPAslink|s}} (earlier {{IPAslink|ts}}) before {{vr|e}}, {{vr|i}}, {{vr|y}} (see [[C]] and [[hard and soft C]] for details).
|-
! ch
| {{IPAslink|tʃ}}
|-
! ck
| {{IPAslink|k}}, replaced earlier {{vr|kk}} as the doubled form of {{vr|k}} (for the phenomenon of doubling, see above).
|-
! d
| {{IPAslink|d}}
|-
! e
| {{IPAslink|e}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/e{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}ː/}} (see '''ee'''). For silent {{vr|e}}, see above.
|-
! ea
| Rare, for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (see '''ee''').
|-
! ee
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|e}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|i}}ː]}} by about 1500; or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}ː/}}, becoming {{IPA|[eː]}} by about 1500. In [[Early Modern English#Orthography|Early Modern English]] the latter vowel came to be commonly written {{vr|ea}}. The two vowels [[meet-meat merger|later merged]].
|-
! ei, ey
| Sometimes the same as {{vr|ai}}; sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|e}}ː/}} (see also [[fleece merger|''fleece'' merger]]).
|-
! ew
| Either {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|u}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|i}}u/}} (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]; these later merged).
|-
! f
| {{IPAslink|f}}
|-
! g
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, or {{IPAslink|dʒ}} before {{vr|e}}, {{vr|i}}, {{vr|y}} (see [[g|{{vr|g}}]] for details). The {{vr|g}} in initial ''gn-'' was still pronounced.
|-
! gh
| {{IPAblink|ç}} or {{IPAblink|x}}, post-vowel allophones of {{IPAslink|h}} (this was formerly one of the uses of [[yogh]]). The {{vr|gh}} is often retained in Chancery spellings even though the sound was starting to be lost.
|-
! h
| {{IPAslink|h}} (except for the allophones for which {{vr|gh}} was used). Also used in several digraphs ({{vr|ch}}, {{vr|th}}, etc.). In some French loanwords, such as ''horrible'', the {{vr|h}} was silent.
|-
! i, j
| As a vowel, {{IPAslink|i}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/i{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, which had started to be diphthongised by about 1500. As a consonant, {{IPAslink|dʒ}} ((corresponding to modern {{vr|j}}); see above).
|-
! {{Not a typo|ie}}
| Used sometimes for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (see '''ee''').
|-
! k
| {{IPAslink|k}}, used particularly in positions where {{vr|c}} would be softened. Also used in {{vr|kn}} at the start of words; here both consonants were still pronounced.
|-
! l
| {{IPAslink|l}}
|-
! m
| {{IPAslink|m}}
|-
! n
| {{IPAslink|n}}, including its allophone {{IPAblink|ŋ}} (before {{IPAslink|k}}, {{IPAslink|ɡ}}).
|-
! o
| {{IPAslink|o}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/ɔ{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|o}}ː/}} (see '''oo'''). Sometimes {{IPAslink|u}}, as in ''sone'' (modern ''son''); the {{vr|o}} spelling was often used rather than {{vr|u}} when adjacent to ''i, m, n, v, w'' for legibility, i.e. to avoid a succession of vertical strokes.<ref>Algeo, J., Butcher, C., ''The Origins and Development of the English Language'', Cengage Learning 2013, p. 128.</ref>
|-
! oa
| Rare, for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (became commonly used in Early Modern English).
|-
! oi, oy
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}{{IPA link|i}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|u}}i/}} (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]; these later merged).
|-
! oo
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|o}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|u}}ː]}} by about 1500; or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}ː/}}.
|-
! ou, ow
| Either {{IPA|/{{IPA link|u}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, which had started to be diphthongised by about 1500, or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}u/}}.
|-
! p
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! qu
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|k}}{{IPA link|w}}/}}
|-
! r
| {{IPAslink|r}}
|-
! s
| {{IPAslink|s}}, sometimes {{IPAslink|z}} (formerly {{IPA|[z]}} was an allophone of {{IPA|/s/}}). Also appeared as '''ſ''' ([[long s]]). 
|-
! sch, sh
| {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|-
! t
| {{IPAslink|t}}
|-
! th
| {{IPAslink|θ}} or {{IPAslink|ð}} (which had previously been allophones of a single phoneme), replacing earlier [[eth]] and [[thorn (letter)|thorn]], although thorn was still sometimes used.
|-
! u, v
| Used interchangeably. As a consonant, {{IPAslink|v}}. As a vowel, {{IPAslink|u}}, or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|i}}u/}} in "lengthened" positions (although it had generally not gone through the same lengthening process as other vowels – see [[Phonological history of English close back vowels#ju|Development of /juː/]]).
|-
! w
| {{IPAslink|w}} (replaced Old English [[wynn]]).
|-
! wh
| {{IPAslink|hw}} (see [[English wh|English {{vr|wh}}]]).
|-
! x
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|k}}{{IPA link|s}}/}}
|-
! y
| As a consonant, {{IPAslink|j}} (earlier this was one of the uses of yogh). Sometimes also {{IPAslink|ɡ}}. As a vowel, the same as {{vr|i}}, where {{vr|y}} is often preferred beside letters with downstrokes.
|-
! z
| {{IPAslink|z}} (in Scotland sometimes used as a substitute for yogh; see above).
|}

==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.}}

==See also==
*''[[Medulla Grammatice]]'' (collection of glossaries)
*[[Middle English creole hypothesis]]
*[[Middle English Dictionary]]
*[[Middle English literature]]
*[[A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Brunner, Karl (1962) ''Abriss der mittelenglischen Grammatik''; 5. Auflage. Tübingen: M. Niemeyer (1st ed. Halle (Saale): M. Niemeyer, 1938)
*Brunner, Karl (1963) ''An Outline of Middle English Grammar''; translated by Grahame Johnston. Oxford: Blackwell
*{{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=J. A. |last2=Turville-Petre |first2=Thorlac |title=A Book of Middle English |edition=3 |publisher=Blackwell |year=2005}}
*[[Tauno Frans Mustanoja|Mustanoja, Tauno]] (1960) "A Middle English Syntax. 1. Parts of Speech". Helsinki : Société néophilologique.

==External links==
{{Wikisourcecat|Middle English works}}
*[http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/concise/concise.html A. L. Mayhew and Walter William Skeat. ''A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120222235404/http://victorcauchi.fortunecity.com/EuCmp/o/oldeng.htm Middle English Glossary] (archived 22 February 2012)
*{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/amiddleenglishr01emergoog|title=A Middle English Reader|editor=[[Oliver Farrar Emerson]] |publisher=Macmillan|year=1915|via=[[Internet Archive]]}} With grammatical introduction, notes, and glossary.
*[https://incubator.miraheze.org/wiki/Wp/enm/Mayne_Page Middle English encyclopedia] on Miraheze

{{History of English}}
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