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More Dialect Comparison Two Catechisms Middle English V More Dialect Comparison Two Catechisms Text 1 is from the York Lay Folk's Catcechism (1357), written by John de Thoresby (Archbishop of York). This is in northern dialect. Text 2 is written "a little later" by John Wyclif, who worked a long time in Oxford and Leicestershire. This is in West Midlands dialect. 2 Catechisms 1 - North 2 - Midlands This er the sex thinges that I have These be þe sexe thyngys þat y haue spoken of, spokyn of þat þe law of holy chirche lys most That the lawe of halikirk lies mast in yn That ye er al halden to knawe and to þat þey be holde to know and to kun, kunne; If ye sal knawe god almighten and yf þey shal knowe god almyȝty and cum un to his blisse: come to þe blysse of heuyn. And for to gif yhou better will for to And for to ȝeue ȝow þe better wyl kun tham, for to cunne ham. Our fadir the ercebisshop grauntes Our Fadyr þe archiepischop grauntys of his grace of hys grace Fourti daies of pardon til al that forty dayes of Pardoun. to alle þat kunnes tham, cunne hem Or dos their gode diligence for to and rehercys hem .... kun tham ..... 2 Catychisms 1 - Northern 2 - Midlands For if ye kunnandly knaw this ilk For yf ȝe cunnyngly knowe þese sex thinges sexe thyngys; Thurgh thaim sal ye kun knawe þorwȝ hem ȝe schull knowe god god almighten, almyȝty. Wham, als saint Iohn saies in his And as seynt Ion seyþ in hys gospel. godspel, Conandly for to knawe swilk als he Kunnyngly to know god almyȝty is, It is endles life and lastant bliss, ys endles lyf and lastynge blysse. To whilk blisse he bring us that He bryngge us þerto þat bowȝt us bought us. amen. with hys herte blod on þe cros Crist Iesu. Amen. "to be" in Old English As you may recall, OE "to be" was realized in both "eom" & "beo" Present ic eom ic beo þu eart þu bist he/heo/hit is he/heo/hit biþ we/ge/hi sind we/ge/hi beo we/ge/hi arun* Past ic wæs þu wære he/heo/hit wæs we/ge/hi wæron *Midlands and Northern "to be" in Middle English By Middle English, the waters had muddied .... Northern Midland Southern Present ik/ic am/be ich am/be ich am/be thou art/bes thou art/bist thou art/bist he/sche/hit es/bes he/sche/hit es/biþ he/sche/hit is/biþ we/ye/thei are/bes we/ye/thei are/ben we/ye/he are/ben Past ik/ic was/wes ich was/wes ich was/wes thou was/wes thou were thou were he/sche/hit was/wes he/sche/hit was/wes he/sche/hit is/biþ we/ye/thei war/bes we/ye/thei weren we/ye/he weren A few words about Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer - born in the 1340's, died in 1400 Esteemed writer and author in his own day Chaucer wrote primarily in the London ME dialect (i.e. a written language based upon educated speech in London). However, other dialects existed (both inside and outside of London) and Chaucer was not only aware of them, but often employed them in his characters. Hence, he does provide a socio-linguistic insight into the Middle Englishes of his time. Northern Dialect features In Chaucer's The Reeve's Tale, there are two young scholars (Aleyn and Iohn) who have come to a mill to greet the miller (Symkyn). They intend to supervise the grinding of their corn so as not be cheated. Chaucer makes their Northern origins clear by peppering their speech with features that educated London readers would recognize as typically northern: The Miller's Tale Aleyn spak first: Al hayl Symkyn in faith How fares thy faire doghter and thy wif? Aleyn welcome, quod Symkyn, by my lyf And Iohn also. How now what do ye here? By god, quod Iohn, Symond, nede has na peere. Hym bihoues serue hymself that has na swayn Or ellis he is a fool, as clerkes sayn. Oure maunciple, I hope he wol de deed, Swa werkes ay the wanges in his heed. And therefore is I come and eek Alayn To grynde oure corn and carie it heem agayn .... It sal be doon, quod Symbym, by my fay. What wol ye doon whil that it is in hande? .... By god, right by the hoper wol I stande, Quod Iohn, and se how the corn gas in. Yet saw I neuere by my fader kyn How that the hoper wagges til and fra .... Aleyn answerde: Iohn, witow swa? Thanne will I be byneth by my crown And se how that the mele falles down Into the trogh. That sal be my desport. For, Iohn, in faith I may been of youre sort, I is as ille a millere as ar ye. Commentary Verbs How fares thy faire doghter and thy wyf? Hym bihoues serue hymself Swa werkes ay the wanges How that the hoper wagges And se how that the mele falles down *The Northern present tense <-es> inflection contrasted with Chaucer’s London dialect - fareþ, bihoveþ, werkeþ, waggeþ and falleþ. *And therfore is I come / ar ye. As Chaucer doesn’t write I is elsewhere, we can infer that this is a dialectal form. Ar was a Northern form, but has survived as standard in MnE. It sal be doon / That sal be my desport Northern [s︎æl] for [ʃ︎æl] Commentary Vowel realisations: *has na peere / na swayn OE nan Swa werkes / wiltow swa? OE swa se how the corn gas in OE gaþ with Northern inflection til and fra ... ON fra (cp to and fro) and ON til for to OE long [a] has not rounded and shifted to [ɔ]: Other examples in the Reeve’s Tale: alswa (also), banes (bones), ra (roe), wha (who), bathe (both). *carie it heem agayn OE ham rounded to home in dialects of ME south of the Humber, and later, in Northern dialects fronted from [hɑ︎m] to [h︎︎æm] to [hε︎m]. Compare modern scots hame [he︎m]. Commentary Meaning *Oure maunciple, I hope he wol be deed The verb meaning expect, believe, with no implication of wishing or desiring. ï *I is as ille a millere as ar ye. ille from ON illr meaning bad, a meaning which survives in MnE in phrases like ill health, ill humour, ill temper, ill success; ill-advised, ill-bred etc. Ill meaning sick, indisposed is not normally used as a noun modifier, but predicatively - I am ill. The compound word il-hail meaning bad luck occurs later in the Tale. .
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