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MIDDLE ENGLISH
BLENDING TOGETHER PHASE
BIG SORT OUT PERIOD:
After ALL the turmoil of the Old English period, it was now time for the English
Language to settle itself down into a period of harmony. The date
1150 is often given as the start of Middle English when there was increasing harmony
between Anglo-Saxon and Norman French.
Also, more importantly, written English begins to take a more definite form in the Middle English
period.
DEBATE:
WHY DID
LATIN GET SUCH A FOOTHOLD
WITHIN ENGLISH?
How did the Latin-based language gain such a strong foothold in England?
The fact is that that invaders were not so numerous and the chances were that
the Normans would have adopted the native English language just as their
ancestors had done after the Vikings / Norsemen adopted French when Neustria
became Normandy from around 860.
THE ANSWER is that centuries of strong links between France and England (in war
and peace) followed the Conquest:
Kings of England were also often Dukes of Normandy.
The Plantagenet Kings also ruled vast French provinces – 1154 Henry II onwards.
1204 Normandy lost to France by the hapless King John (1199-1216). Although
links with France were weaker after this, the influence continued nevertheless.
Isolated from Europe, the Norman rulers gradually saw themselves not as
displaced Frenchman, but as Englishmen.
Intermarriage between Normans and English increased harmony.
Gradually, English came out on top in one area and another.
During the One Hundred Years War,
begun in 1337, England controlled much of France.
In 1362 the opening of Parliament was spoken in English for the first time.
It was not until
1399
that England had a ruler whose mother tongue was
English - HENRY IV (1366-1413) House
of Lancaster – he reigned 1399-1413.
But the courts remained Norman-Latin for much longer.
Old French literature was much admired and imitated in England and works
translated into Anglo-French. Norman French was the language of Polite Society
e.g., town crier’s "Oyez! is Old French for Hear!
Anglo-Norman aristocrats were ridiculed in Paris court circles when they used
harsh, clacking guttural words (e.g., the 'W' sound as in Quarter, not the more
French 'K' sound). So, rather than be mocked for an inferior dialect, they began
to take a greater pride in their English tongue. 1415 Henry V at AGINCOURT used the French threat to the English language as one of his rallying cries.
If you thought lots had happened to English during its first 700 years, dramatic
changes happened during the 350 years of Middle English. It expanded as a lively, living language in a
constant state of flux. It was an exciting linguistic period when new
words are generated out of the marriage between the Teutonic and Latin
tongues.
NOTE: Rather than INVADERS, INDIVIDUALS begin to have an impact upon how English
is shaped:
Geoffrey CHAUCER (1342-1400)
By the time of Geoffrey CHAUCER (1342-1400) the upper class is no longer
primarily French; nor the peasants solely Anglo-Saxon -
ALL are English.
Nevertheless, the French literary influence continued thanks to two outstanding
figures in the evolution of English.
Besides his famous Canterbury Tales (1387) that has 17,000 lines and was left unfinished, Chaucer translated many French poems into English. He wrote in London English. Sadly, not one of his manuscripts survives. Medieval scribes who copied his work also edited it.
William CAXTON (1422-1491)
Equally, William CAXTON (1422-1491) not only printed the first book in English
(1475 in Bruges), but many of his 80 publications were translations from French
literature. He blended together English / French / Latin words with an emphasis
upon the East Midlands dialect - not Caxton's native Kent dialect which he
described as 'rough'. He set the seeds for standard English. East Midlands
included London, Cambridge and (to some extent) Oxford - graduates tended to act
as linguistic missionaries for English.
When I visited Bruges in 2001, I found no monument or mention of him!
PIX: Caxton = must get one.
NOTE: The Coming of Age of English arrived just at the right time to take full
advantage of the
PRINTED WORD.
ASIDE: Caxton's East Midlands did not rule 100%. Its '-th' verb ending (loveth) was
initially replaced by Southern '-en' (loven) and this in turn was driven out by
the Northern '-s/es' (loves).
Today, we have only three of these antiquated Middle English plurals left: brethren, children, and
oxen. Also we get leftovers such as : man/men, woman/women, foot/feet, geese,
teeth, or write/wrote/written.
There are still 250 irregular verbs left in English. Thus our own confusion
with: dived/dove, sneaked/snuck, swelled/swollen.
PRINTING imposed a degree of uniformity on SPELLING and PRONUNCIATION.
DUTCH / FLEMISH printers tended to add a final “E” to some words to fill in a
line of print.
CAXTON himself inserted “H” into GHOST
LOUIS XIV
(1638-1715), during his long reign, French became a worldwide language during its
Golden Age
of influence in diplomatic, intellectual and literary circles.
Given this strong influence of France, the pattern of fusion we saw earlier
continued with gusto:
MIDDLE ENGLISH
BLENDING TOGETHER
Further examples of MIXED linguistic EXPRESSIONS
blessing in disguise
(OE+OF) without fear or favour (OE+OF) slow and sure (OE/Gm+ME/OF=secure) touch and go
(ME/OF+OE/Gm) whole + sale and retail (OE/Gm+ON+ME/OF) at the receiving end
(ME/OF+OE/Gm) French/Latin-based
’REPETITIVE’ PHRASES assault and battery
(ME:OF+AF) cease and desist
(OF+OF) null and void
(F/Latin+OF) peace and quiet
(ME:AF/OF+AF) safe and sound
(ME:OF+AF) to all intents and purposes
(OF+OF) trials and tribulations (AF=try+OF)
Anglo-Saxon alliteration embedded within a
Latin-based English phrase
damsel in distress
(OF/Lt+OF/AF)
Mingled / Mixed Language
SLACK SYNTAX English Parts of Speech became highly inter-changeable whereby ADJECTIVES became
NOUNS and NOUNS worked as VERBS and so on.
LINGUISTIC LAZINESS
- Parts of speech / words inter-change.
As a result of our loss of INFLEXION (altered tone of voice), we
switch easily between parts of speech:
NOUNS become VERBS
For example, COMB is a noun/name of a thing - but it becomes a VERB (doing word) when
"I comb my hair". (German noun = kämm; verb = kämmen). Why have two words when one will do? Other examples: pen a letter beach a boat book a seat floor your opponent pocket a tip table a motion ditch a car
black those shoes Other dual words: ape, drink, fire, fund, worship...etc. NOUNS = ADJECTIVES
-
gold watch / stone wall / field sports / King Edward potatoes
ADJECTIVE = VERB
-
vacuum cleaner = vacuum floor
ADJECTIVE = NOUN
FLEXIBILITY OF LANGUAGE sets English apart from the rest such as word ordering e.g. freedom between active and passive senses: "I kicked the ball" or "The ball was kicked by me". This sort of construction is impossible in many other languages.
HAPPY-go-LUCKY.
Unwritten rules were broken by the almost unlimited use of new
LATIN-BASED
[via French]
PREFIXES and SUFFIXES
P R E F I X E S
a/ab/abs- (from)
abduct, abnormal, absent, ad-
(toward)
adapt, adjust, admit, advance, ambi-
(both)
ambidextrous, ambivalent, ambiguous, ante-
(before)
antedate, ante-room, antecedent, bene-
(good/well) beneficial, benevolent,
bi/bis-
(two/twice)
biped, bicycle, bisect, circum-
(around)
circumference, circumstance, circumvent, co/con-
(with)
congress, colloquy, correlate,
contra/counter- (against)
contradict, countermand, dis-
(away)
disappoint, dispose, distress, extra-
(beyond/outside) extraordinary, ET, extravagant, inter-
(between)
interchange, interfere,
Interpol, intro-
(into)
introduce, introspect, introvert, medi-
(middle)
mediate, medium, medieval, pre-
(before)
prefix, precede, predict, prevent, sub-
(beneath)
submarine, submerge, submit, subscribe, super-
(above/over)
superimpose, superficial, superman,
trans-
(across/over)
transfer, transmit, transport, tri-
(three)
triangle, triceps, tricolour, trinity, uni-
(one)
uniform, unilateral, universal, university, S U F F I X E S -able/ible (capable of)
portable, possible, -age
(action/number) breakage, bondage, postage, wreckage,
-al
(related to)
parental, functional,
-ance/ancy (action/
repentance, resemblance, tenancy,
-ence/ency
state)
diligence, emergency, -ate
(status/office)
associate, curate, doctorate, magistrate
-ee
(person/small)
employee, refugee, bootee,
-eer
(concerned with) auctioneer,
mountaineer,
-ent
(condition)
evident, president, student,
-ful
(full of/able to)
beautiful, masterful, forgetful, useful, -ice
(quality/state)
avarice, justice, service,
-ise
(quality/function) exercise, expertise, franchise,
-ly
(nature/manner) naturally, usually, quickly,
-ment
(state/result)
agreement, government, enjoyment,
-ory
(place)
dormitory, factory, refractory,
-ous
(abounding in)
envious, glorious, poisonous,
-tion
(state/result)
nation, situation, prohibition, election,
Note: In French, as well as other Latin languages, these words are all of the
feminine gender. (Spanish = -ción; Portuguese = -çáo; Italian = -zione), Given all these additional PREFIXES and SUFFIXES, this gave English
ALMOST ENDLESS PERMUTATIONS:
English words with FRENCH suffix:
RiddANCE
(ON+AF)
EatABLE
(Gm+AF) French word with ENGLISH suffix:
DukeDOM
(OF+OE)
ArtLESS
(OF+OE)
PeerLESS
(OF/AN+OE)
PayBACK
(OF/Latin=pax/peace+Gm) ENGLISH prefix with a French word:
BEcause
(Gm+OF)
BEsiege
(Gm+Romantic) FRENCH prefix with an English word:
DISlike
(OF+Gm)
DIStrust
(OF + ON)
REmind
(Latin + OE/Gm) Later words – maybe
CONTRAflow
(Latin+OE/Gm)
REcall
(Latin+ON)
BEdazzLE
(A/S+ON(daze)+A/S)
OfficialDOM
(Latin + OE)
FRENCH PLACE NAMES ANGLICIZED:
MARYLEBONE (London district) derived from Marie-lá-bonne = Mary the Good.
ROTTEN ROW (Hyde Park) was La Route due Roi = The King's Way. HYBRID NOUNS armchair, commonwealth, gentleman, grandfather, timetable, timepiece, COMPOUND CRAZY absent-minded, poverty-stricken COMPOUNDS - English is reckless in forming its compound words: I N - C O M - P R E - H E N - S - I B - I L - I T Y (Etym.: comprehender = to grasp)
Anything goes with anything in English. Unlimited freedom to intermix words from
different roots.
e.g. TRUSTEESHIP: trust – ee
- ship TRUST = ON / EE = AN / SHIP = AS Other languages are not allowed this degree of recklessness.
REVERSE COMPOUNDS TOO - to obtain different meanings which other languages cannot achieve: basketwork / workbasket bookcase / casebook houseboat / boathouse outlook / lookout table wine / wine table standby / by-stander spidercrab / crabspider hangover / overhang without / outwit
ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS
are much more free-ranging than in other European languages:
FRENCH dé
= of, from, out
"
à = at, to, till
GERMAN
'von' ? =
fails to distinguish between 'of' or 'from'
auf =
on, in, upon, at, toward, for, to, upward (Bill Bryson p6)
Neither FRENCH or GERMAN has Double Prepositions such as
'into' and 'out of'
These little preposition words (mainly absorbed from Scandinavian?)
serve a powerful purpose in everyday expression of thought and meaning.
Alongside the on-going new French words, the English loyally clung to its old
A/S and ON roots:
The TRIUMPH of ANGLO-SAXON
STATISTICS:
BB50+ After the long onslaught by the Vikings (850) and Normans (1066)
Anglo-Saxon had taken a mighty battering.
Barnett (1964) guessed that about 85% of the 30,000
A/S words died out.
Therefore, only about 4,500 Old English words
are still in the OED (=1% of the total in current usage).
BUT these few words are precious, basic ones:
child, drink, eat, house, love, man, sleep, woman, etc.
AND extremely useful / essential words:
and, at, but, for, in, on, to,
Around 50% of the words used in a sample of modern writing will be of A/S
origin.
Indeed, all of the 100 common words in English are A/S.
So there is an almost instinctive urge to use the older A/S expressions.
"Most of us prefer
a HEARTY WELCOME to a CORDIAL RECEPTION" (Potter).
ASIDE: WEST, Michael (1953) A General Service List of English Words
examined 5 million words for their frequency of use in print and speech.
His top ten are:
AND
= 106,064 OF
= 100,511 IN
= 48,337 STILL
= 26,862 FOR
= 25,951 AS
= 23,646 WITH
= 23,232 NOT
= 21,587 AT
= 20,264
A
=
8,972
THE
= not listed ?
OTHER LISTING: WALLECHINSKY, David, WALLACE, Irving & WALLACE, Amy. 1977. Book.
The Book of Lists. NEW YORK. William Morrow.
Their top 12 used words:
CONCLUSION:
During Caxton's life-time, English moved from Middle to Modern English. Although
Caxton's spellings are slightly different, the vocabulary has changed little
(e.g. "sittyng, lytle booke in frenshe, latyn, etc").
Therefore, in trying to fit together three linguistic hybrids (AS,
ON and AN) in an Heath Robinson manner, we are bound to have some rough edges
left sticking out. Added to that, English was then stuck together by a foreign Roman alphabet and
subjected to the alien rules of Latin grammar.
LANGUAGE is not like STONEHENGE - Thank Goodness!
ENGLISH IDIOMS: Paired Phrases
SMITH, L.P. (1923) 'English Idioms' in S.P.E. Tract No.12, Oxford: Clarendon
Press BJL(5) PE5 S6(12)
Simply copied down for future reference and etymological sorting - I need to do
further research on this topic....
MIXED BAG
down and out
far and away
fits and starts
free and easy
hammer and tongs
hard and fast
hue and cry
odds and ends
over and above
tooth and nail
ways and means
well and good
ALLITERATION
bag and baggage
chop and change
humming and hawing
part and parcel
safe and sound
sixes and sevens
slow and sure
====
dead as a dodo/doornail
dull as dishwater
fit as a fiddle
good as gold
pleased as Punch
right as rain
thick as thieves
the more the merrier
RHYME
fair and square
high and dry
out and about
wear and tear? |
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