6. Owen, to owe (debeo) :-pres. oweth; past oghte, oughte, aughte; pl. oghten, oughten, oughte. 7. Shal, schal, shall:-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd shal; 2nd shalt; pl. shullen, shuln, shul; past shulde, sholde. (Also schal, &c.) 8. Thar, need :-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd thar; past thurte; subjunctive 3rd ther. 9. Witen, to know:-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd woot, wat, wot; 2nd wost; pl. witen, wite, woote; past wiste. 10. Wil, will:-pres. indic. sing., Ist wil, wol=wille, wolle; 2nd wilt, wolt; 3rd wile, wole, wol; pl. woln, wille, willen ; past wolde. NEGATIVE VERBS. Nam, nis,=am not, is not; nas, nere,=was not, were not; nath=hath_not; nadde, nad,=had not; nille, nil=will not; nolde=would not; nat, not, noot: knows not; nost=knowest not; niste, nisten,=knew not. = ADVERBS. 1. Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -e to the positive degree; as brighte, brightly; deepe, deeply; lowe, lowly. 2. Some few adverbs have e before ly, as boldely, needely, softely, semely, trewely. 3. Adverbs in -en and -e:—abouen, aboue; abouten, aboute; biforn, bifore; siththen, siththe (since); withouten, withoute. Many have dropped the form in -n; as asondre, behynde, bynethe, bytwene, biyonde; henne (hence), thenne (thence). 4. Adverbs in -e:—ofte, selde (seldom), sone, soone (soon), twie (twice), thrie (thrice). 5. Adverbs in -es:-needes (A. S. néade), needs; ones (A. S. ane), once; twies (A.S. twiwa), twice; thries (A. S. thríwa), thrice. (a) -es for -e, -an or -a:—unnethes (A. S. unéathe), scarcely; whiles (A. S. hwile), whilst; bysides (A. S. besidan) ; togideres (A. S. to-gædere). (b) es fore or -en-hennes (A. S. heonan); thennes (A.S. thanon); whennes (A.S. hwanon); hence, thence, whence. (c) -es = -st: - ·agaynes, ayens (A. S. ongéan), against; amonges (A. S. gemang), amongst; amyddes (A. S. on middan, ámiddan), amidst. 6. Of-newe, newly (cp. of yore, of late), recently; as-now, at present; on slepe, asleep (cp. on honting, a hunting, &c.). 7. Negative Adverbs. Two or more negatives (more common than one in Chaucer) do not make an affirmative. 'He nevere yet no vileinye ne sayde, In al his lyf, unto no maner wight.' (Prol. ll. 70, 71.) But (only) takes a negative before it; as, 'I nam but deed.' (Knightes Tale, 1. 416.) 8. As, used before in, to, for, by, of,=considering, with respect to, so far as concerns. See Prol. 1. 87. As is used before the imperative mood in supplicatory phrases. See Knightes. Tale, ll. 1444, 1459. 9. Ther, tho, occasionally signify where, when. PREPOSITIONS. Occasionally til=to, unto=until, up=upon, up-on=on. CONJUNCTIONS. Ne... ne neither... nor; other=or; other... other = either ...or; what... and both... and c. METRE AND VERSIFICATION. 1. Except the Tale of Melibeus and the Persones Tale, the Canterbury Tales are written in rhyming verse; but this system of versification did not come into general use in England until after the Norman Conquest. The poetry of the AngloSaxons, like that of the Scandinavian and old Germanic races, c For a more detailed account of Chaucer's grammar, see Professor Child's Essay on Chaucer, from which I have derived much assistance. was rhythmical and alliterative. Their poems are written in couplets, in such a manner that in each couplet there are three (or two) emphatic syllables, two (or one) in the first line and one in the second, commencing with the same letter; and this letter is also the initial of the chief emphatic syllable in the second line. 'Gelic was he tham leohtum steorrum, lof sceolde he drihtnes wyrcean, dyran sceolde he his dreamas on heofonum, thas leanes the he him on tham leohte gescerede, with thone hehstan heofnes wealdend, the siteth on tham halgan stoled.' (Cadmon, ed. Thorpe, p. 17, 11. 7–16.) Langland's Vision of Piers Ploughman, partly written in 1362, presents all the peculiarities of this form of verse :— 'I was weori of wandringe, And wente me to reste Undur a brod banke Bi a bourne syde; And as I lay and leonede And lokede on the watres, I slumberde in a slepyng, Hit sownede so murie.' (11. 7-10, A-text.) In the North and West of England alliteration was employed as late as the end of the fifteenth century, but it appears to have gone out of use in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country, which early in the thirteenth century adopted the classical and Romance forms of versification. d Like was he (Satan) to the light stars; The laud (praise) of the Ruler ought he to have wrought, Dear should he hold his delights (joys) in heaven, And thank should he his Director (Lord) For the loan (gift) he had bestowed on him in that light (heaven), But he did wend (turn) it for himself to a worse purpose, Against the highest Ruler of heaven Who sitteth on the holy stool (seat). 2. The greater part of the Canterbury Tales is written in heroic couplets, or lines containing five accents. In this metre we have ten syllables; but we often find eleven, and occasionally nine. Of these variations the former is obtained by the addition of an unaccented syllable at the end of a line o. 'Him wolde | he snib | ben sharp | ly for the nones. 'Th' answere of this | I le të to divynis, So in lines 1 and 2 of the Prologue : Whan that | April | lë with | his shou | res sootë The droght' of Marche | hath per | ced to | the rootë.' In the second variation, the first foot consists of a single accented syllable. See Prol. 170, 247, 294, 371, 391; Kn. Ta. 156, 324, 368, 652, 677, 1072, 1073, 1171, 1172, 1269, 1631, 1653, 1855, 1979, 1996, 2094. E.g.:— 'Now | it shyneth, now it reyneth fastë.' (Knightes Tale, 1. 677.) 3. Chaucer frequently contracts two syllables into one; as nam, nis, nath, nadde=ne am, ne is, ne hath, ne hadde, am not, is not, hath not, had not; thasse, theffect, tabide=the ass, the effect, to abide, &c. In Troilus and Criseyde we find ny=ne I, not I, nor I; mathinketh=me athinketh, it seems to me. But this contraction is not always so expressed in writing, though observed in reading : 'And certes lord | to aby | den your presence.' (Knightes Tale, 1. 69.) 'By eterne word | to dy | en in | prisoun.' (Ib. 1. 251.) 4. The syllables -en, -er, -eth, -el, -ow (-we, -ewe), are often said to be contracted, but properly speaking they are slurred over and nearly, but not quite, absorbed by the syllable preceding: • For fuller information the reader is referred to Prof. Child's exhaustive Essay on Chaucer, and to the Introd. to Chaucer's Prioresses Tale, &c., ed. Skeat; also to Mr. A. J. Ellis' valuable work on Early English Pronunciation, with special reference to Chaucer and Shakespeare (Chaucer Soc.). For the pronunciation, see Introd. to Man of Lawes Tale. "Weren of his bit | tre sal | të te res wetë. (Knightes Tale, 1. 422; see 1. 2034.) And though that I no wepne | have in this place.' <Thou shol | dest nevere | out of this gro | ve pace.' With these compare the following: (Ib. 1. 733.) (Ib. 1. 744.) And forth we riden | a li | tel more | than pas.' (Prol. 1. 825.) And wonderly delivere, and greet | of strengthe.' (Ib. 1. 84.) As a | ny ra | venes fether | it shoon | for-blak.' (Kn. Ta. l. 1286.) 'I noot whether she | be wom | man or | goddesse.' "And thinketh | heer cometh | my mor | tel e | nemy.' 'She ga❘ dereth flou | res pár | ty whyte | and rede.' "Thus hath this widwe | hir li | tel sone | y-taught.' (Ib. 1. 243.) (Ib. 1. 785.) (Ib. 1. 195.) (Prioresses Tale; Group B, 1. 1699.) "A man | to light | a candel | at his | lanterne.' (Cant. Tales, 1. 5916, Wright's edition.) 5. Many words of French origin ending in -ance (-aunce, -ence), -oun, -ie (-ye), -er (-ere), -age, -une, -ure, are often accented on the final syllable (not counting the final -e), but at other times the accent is thrown further back, as in modern English: e. g. batáille and bátaille; fortúne and fortune, &c. So also many nouns of A. S. origin, in -ing (-inge, -ynge§), as húnting and hunting. (See Knightes Tale, ll. 821, 1450.) 6. Many nouns (of French origin) ending in -le, -re, were written, and probably pronounced, as in modern French; e. g. table, temple, miracle, obstacle, propre=tabl, templ, miracl, &c. 7. Final -es is a distinct syllable in (a) The genitive case singular of nouns; as 'sowës eres (c) Adverbs; as nonës, ellës, twyës. The spelling wher in the text represents whether; see footnote 3, p. 39. 8 The forms of the present participle in M. E. ended in -inde (-ende, -ande), and many verbal nouns ended in -ung. These endings were gradually changed into the affix -ing, which represented both. |