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Chapter 5. Middle English
The Norman Conquest introduced a third language, French, to an already bilingual situation in England,
consisting of Old English and Latin. Writing about 230 years later, Robert of Gloucester discusses the
impact the Norman Conquest had on the English language.
Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle (Southern dialect, c. 1300)
þus lo þe englisse folc. vor noȝt to grounde com. thus lo the English folk. for nought to ground came ( were beaten )
vor a fals king þat nadde no riȝt. to þe kinedom. for a false king that not-had no right. to the kingdom.
& come to a nywe louerd. þat more in riȝt was. & came to a new lord. that more in right was.
ac hor noþer as me may ise. in pur riȝte was. but their neither ( neither of them ) as one may see. in pure right was.
& thus was in normannes hond. þat lond ibroȝt itwis... & thus was in norman’s hand that land brought indeed.
þus com lo engelond. in to normandies hond. thus came lo England into Normandy’s hand.
& þe normans ne couþe speke þo. bote hor owe speche. & the Normans not could speak then. but their own speech.
& speke french as hii dude at om. & hor children dude & spoke French as they did at home. & their children did
also teche. also teach.
so þat heiemen of þis lond. þat of hor blod come. so that nobles of this land. that come of their blood.
holdeþ alle þulk speche. þat hii of hom nome. hold all the same speech. that they from them took.
vor bote a man conne frenss. me telþ of him lute. for unless a man knows French. one counts of him little.
ac lowe men holdeþ to engliss. & to hor owe speche ȝute. but low men hold to English. & to their own speech still.
ich wene þer ne beþ in al þe world. contreyes none.
I think there not is in all the world. countries none.
þat ne holdeþ to hor owe speche. bote engelond one.
that not hold to their own speech. but England alone.
ac wel me wot uor to conne. boþe wel it is.
but well one knows for to understand. both well it is.
vor þe more þat a mon can. þe more wurþe he is.
for the more that a man knows. the more worthy he is.
þis noble duc william. him let crouny king.
this noble duke william. him(self) caused to crown king.
at londone amidwinter day. nobliche þoru alle þing.
at London on midwinter’s day. nobly through all things.
of þe ercebissop of euerwik. aldred was is name.
by the archbishop of York. Aldred was his name.
þer nas prince in al þe world. of so noble fame.
there not-was prince in all the world. of so noble fame.
A French-speaking continuum was created from England to Normandy and Maine by the death of William
the Conqueror. In 1154 the throne of England was inherited by Henry of Anjou, uniting England was half
of the region now part of France.
Middle English Phonology
Phonological change did not take place because of the Norman Conquest. It was already underway in late
OE and continued in ME. However, after the demise of the West Saxon standard, phonological changes
become easier to detect through spelling.
Vowels
OE ME
Old English
Middle English
1. /æ/ > /a/
þæt /æ/
that /a/ ‘that’
2. /æ:/ 1 > /ɛ:/
sǣ /æ:/
sę̄ 2 /ɛ:/ ‘sea’
3. /y/ > /i/
synn /y/
sin /i/ ‘sin’
4. /y:/ > /i:/
hȳdan /y:/
hīden /i:/ ‘hide’
5. /ɛə/ 3 > /a/
hearm /ə/
harm /a/ ‘harm’
6. /ɛə:/ > /e:/
strēam /ɛə:/
strę̄me /ɛ:/ ‘stream’
7. /eə/ > /ɛ/
heofon /eə/
heven /ɛ / ‘heaven’
8. /eə:/ > /e:/
bēon /eə/
bēn /e:/ ‘to be’
9. /a:/ > /ɔ:/
bān /a:/
bǭn /ɔ:/ ‘bone’
Sound change (9) occurred after 1250 and only in the south of England. If we know a text is southern we
can thus date it to before or after the mid thirteenth century by this criterion. We can also use this criterion
for texts which we know were written after 1250 to determine whether they are northern or southern.
Exercise
Transcribe phonetically the OE words below; then indicate the ‘stressed vowel change’ by writing the
number of the appropriate rule from the list of nine changes above. Transcribe phonetically the ME and
MnE forms. Remember that unstressed OE vowels were reduced to /ə/ in ME. For MnE do not mark vowel
length. The consonants for the most part remained unchanged.
1 This is the /æ:/ that resulted from i -mutation of /a:/ in OE.
2 In traditional notation a hook below a vowel indicates that the vowel is lax (open) and a dot indicates that the vowel
is tense (close).
3 The pronunciations /ɛə(:)/ and /ɛə(:)/ for OE a and o represent slightly simplified approximations of the actual
qualities of these vowels and do not give the best indication of why each vowel developed in the way it did. Most likely,
the first elements of each of these diphthongs was different, although spelt the same, and this explains why they
developed differently in early ME.
Old English
Stressed Vowel Middle English
Modern English
Change
hǣþen
__________ __________
heþen
__________
heathen __________
cræft
__________ __________
craft
__________
craft
__________
fȳr
__________ __________
fir
__________
fir
__________
healf
__________ __________
half
__________
half
__________
dēop
__________ __________
dep
__________
deep
__________
stān
__________ __________
ston
__________
stone
__________
stēap
__________ __________
stepe
__________
steep
__________
cyssan
__________ __________
kisse
__________
kisse
__________
seofon
__________ __________
seven
__________
seven
__________
glēo
__________ __________
gle
__________
glee
__________
dæl
__________ __________
del
__________
deal
__________
hāl
__________ __________
hol
__________
whole
__________
The above sound changes are changes of vowel quality. There were also changes of vowel quantity (length)
with far-reaching consequences.
1. Lengthening in late OE before the consonant clusters ld , mb , nd . OE ċild /tʃild/ > ME chīld /tʃi:ld/.
Lengthening did not occur before three consonants, e.g. children /tʃildrən/.
2. Shortening in early ME.
a. Before double consonants and consonant clusters, except those that caused lengthening; e.g. OE
cēpte /ke:ptə/ ‘he kept’ > ME kepte /kɛptə/.
b. In the first syllable of trisyllabic words. Thus OE hāli ȝ dæ ȝ /ha:lijdæj/ ‘holiday’ > ME halidai
/ha:lidɛi/.
3. Lengthening of a , e , and o in open syllables in disyllabic words. (Open syllables end in a vowel. In
disyllabic words a single consonant between the vowels goes with the second syllable and leaves the first
syllable open; two or more consonants make the syllable closed.) Thus OE nama /nama/ ‘name’ > ME
nāme /na:mə/.
The effect of lengthening can be seen in MnE words such as hate with a ‘silent - e ’, which in ME was
pronounced /ə/, in contrast with words without the historically open syllable, such as hat .
Exercise
In each pair of words below, the stressed vowel in one word changed in quantity between OE and ME, the
other did not. The phonetic transcription for the ME is provided. Give a phonetic transcription for the early
OE and the MnE words and indicate the change, if any, in the quantity of the vowel in ME by writing the
appropriate number from the description above in the blank. Since MnE vowel length is determined by the
following consonant you do not need to mark vowel length in the MnE column.
Early Old English
Middle English
Change in
Modern English
Quantity
1. a. þēoft
/ɵeə:ft/
þeft /ɵɛft/
2
theft
/ɵɛft/
b. þēof
/ɵeə:f/
þēf /ɵef/
-
thief
/ɵif/
2. a. nosu __________ nǭse /nɔ:zə/
_________
nose
__________
b. nosþirl __________ nǫsþirl /nɔsɵɪrl/
_________
nostril
__________
3. a. cēpte
__________ kepte /kɛptə/
_________
kept
__________
b. cēpan
__________ kēpen /ke:pən/
_________
keep
__________
4. a. behindan __________ behīnde /bəhi:ndə/
_________
behind
__________
b. hindrian __________ hindre /hindər/
_________
hinder
__________
5. a. lǣfde
__________ lafte /laftə/
_________
left
__________
b. lǣfan
__________ lę̄ven /lɛ:ven/
_________
leave
__________
6. a. blēdde
__________ bledde /blɛddə/
_________
bled
__________
b. blēdan
__________ blēde /ble:də/
_________
bleed
__________
7. a. late
__________ lāte /la:tə/
_________
late
__________
b. lætera
__________ latere /latərə/
_________
latter
__________
8. a. hund __________ hound/hu:nd/
_________
hound
__________
b. hundred __________ hundred /hundrəd/
_________
hundred
__________
Consonants
The following changes occurred between OE and ME.
Old English
Middle English
hlud /hlu:d/ ‘loud’
lud /lu:d/
hlǣne /hlæ:nə/ ‘lean’
leane /hlæ:nə/
hnecca /hnɛkka/ ‘neck’
necke /nɛkə/
hnutu /hnutu/ ‘nut’
nute /nutə/
hring /hring/ ‘ring’
ring /riŋg/
hrōf /hro:f/ ‘roof’
rof /ro:f/
swētan /swe:tan/ ‘sweet’ (weak)
swete /swe:tə/
rihtliċ /rixtlitʃ/ ‘rightly’
rightly /rixtli/
ānliċ /a:nlitʃ/ ‘only’
onli /ɔ:nli/
swuster /swustər/ ‘sister’
suster /sustər/
fæder /fædər/ ‘father’
vader /vadər/ (South of the Thames)
self /sɛlf/ ‘self’
zelf /zɛlf/ (South of the Thames)
Exercise
Give a phonetic transcription of the ME sounds in the examples below.
Old English
Middle English
/hl, hn, hr/
>
____________
/n/ after unstressed vowel
>
____________
/tʃ/ after unstressed vowel
>
____________
/w/ after consonant and before back vowel
>
____________
Initial /f, s/ (South of the Thames)
>
____________
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