MEDIEVAL ENGLISH


The medieval words are composed of two different states of the
English language: Old English, the language that took shape among
the Gërmanic settlers of England and preserved its integrity
until the Norman Conquest radically altered English civilization; and Middle English, the earliest records of which date from the
early twelfth century and which gave way to Modern English shortly after the introduction of printing at the end of the fifteenth century.
Parts of Speech and Grammar of Middle English
 
Pronouns

Modern English.

I
You (singular)
Her
Its
You (plural)
Their
Them

Middle English
I, Ich
Thou(subjective); Thee (objective)
Hir(e), Her(e)
His
Ye(subjective); you(objective)
Hir
Hem

Possessive Adjectives

My , Thy

E. G. Is this thy castle?
 
Reflexive

Thyself E.G. Didst thou hurt thyself?
 
Present Indicative

I                     love, here, take, ginne
Thou               lovest, heerest, takest, ginnest
He, She, It       loveth, heereth, taketh, ginneth
We, They, Ye   love(n) (th), heere(n) (th)
                     take(n) (th), ginne(n) (th)

THOU: used as the subject of a sentence with special old forms of verbs, such as ART, CANST, etc; the person to whom one is speaking; You.

THEE: object form of THOU; you
         E.G. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

THY: possessive form of THOU: belonging to THEE; Your.

THINE: possessive form of THOU; Yours.

Before a vowel or H – THINE
E.G. ‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’ (Ben Jonson)

Words

Anon – at once
Ay – yes
E’er – ever
O’er – over
‘gainst – against
‘gins – begins
morrow – tomorrow
ne’er – never
pr’ythee – please (short for ‘I pray thee’)
quoth – said
sooth – truth
o’ – of
s’ – is or was
‘t – it
th’ – the
whiles – whilst
methinks – it seems to me
hence – from that place
thereafter – after that
thither – to that place
whither – to which place
whence – from which place
wherefore – for which reason
nonsuits – refect
moe – more
marry – By marry! Expressions
sans – without
awhile – at the sometime
fond – foolish
belike – perhaps
four – beauty/beautiful
that’s all one – it makes no difference
vestal – virgin
parlous – terrible/perilous