Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
General
Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500
(3) =Of N.= The inflections are generally better preserved than in A.
Strong masculine and neuter nouns have -e in the dat. sing., deie 94,
weie 100 &c.; exceptions are cloð, drunch 187: mele 158, þinge 90 are
_pl. d._, blodbendes 64, _pl. a._ Of the strong feminines _n. s._ are
neode 20, seihtnesse 139; _s. d._ ȝemeleaste 175, halue 174, hwule 198;
_s. a._ hwule 21, 71, leasunge 117, ?mone 8; _pl. d._ soulen 157; _pl.
a._ eihte 3: weak is ancren _n. pl._ 171. In the minor declensions
ueonde 139 is _s. d._, monne 9, 109, 124, _pl. d._ The adjectives godere
182, heie 168 are _s. d. f._, sorie 91, _pl. n._, worldliche 90, _pl.
d._ #ān# is on, o 138, _g._ ones 193, _d._ one 94, 208, on 29, _a._ one
22; #nān#, non 27, no 23, _g._ none[s] weis 3, _a. m._ nenne 20, 23,
108, no 27, _a. f._ none 11, 101, _a. neut._ no 11; _pl. d._ none 9,
109, 124: #āgen# is represented by owune _s. d._ 67, 190. The _n. s. f._
of the pronoun of the third person is heo: possessive mine 73 is _a. s.
f._: #ēower# is our 91, ower 175, #heora#, hore 105. Inflections of the
article are _s. n._ þe _m._, þe _f._, þet _neut._ 140, _d._ þer _f._
130, 170, _a._ þene _m._ 6 (4), þeo _f._ 21, 71; _pl. a._ þeo 88. The
compound demonstrative has _s. d. f._ þisse 195, 208, _s. a. f._ þeos
209. The relative is þet; swuche 18, 92, 125 is _s. d._, sume 140,
_s. a. f._, 90, _pl. d._; ueole _pl. a._ 33; eueriche 195, _s. d. m._;
#ǣnig# is eni 8, 93.
Infinitives end in -en, those of the second weak conjugation mostly in
-ien, but loken 124; forms in -in, -i are absent. An inflected
infinitive is forto donne 199, in other cases the simple form is
preceded by uorto, uorte, for to, except to schruden 67. Inflected forms
with -i are not found in any part of the verb. The contract verb #sēon#
gives isihð _pr. s._ 23, 71, 140: contracted forms of the _pr. s._ occur
about as frequently as in A: the _pr. pl._ ends in -eð, drieð 205,
sunegeð 174, but iseoð 23; the _pr. subj._ ends in -e, -en, eilie 9,
gledie 204, hermie 9, milce 157, sigge 130, siggen 152, but iseo 119.
Past of Strong Verbs: I a. iseie _subj. s._ 3. 116: II. wrot _s._ 3.
209. Participles present: I c. singinde 100: II. bitinde 183: III.
lutende 131; past: I a. iseien 53: I b. ikumen 19: II, III. bitowen 198.
Past of Weak Verbs: heuede 1 _pt. s._ 197. Inflected past participles
are isette _a. s. f._ 164, iwrouhte _pl._ 25. Minor Groups: wot _pr. s._
198, wat 7, wute ȝe _imp. pl._ 138 (Anglian); ouh _pr. s._ 10, 80, owen
_pr. pl._ 167, ouhte _pt. s._ 163; deih _pr. s._ 56; schullen 2 _pr.
pl._ 29, schulen 87, 175; muwe _pr. s. subj._ 163, muwen 2 _pr. pl.
subj._ 37, 67, muhte _pt. s._ 116; beon _inf._ 4, _pr. pl. subj._ 24, to
beon _dat. inf._ 179, was _pt. s._ 3; uorto don _dat. inf._ 199, don 2
_pr. pl. subj._ 62; uorto gon _dat. inf._ 34, geð _pr. s._ 100, go _pr.
s. subj._ 100 (4).
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