Features of Middle English

(Vocabulary)
Altynai Toktomatova
• In the development of the English language the Middle English
is the stage during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly
during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late
15th century. Middle English developed out of Late Old English
in Norman England (1066-1154). The Middle English period
ended at about 1470, when the Chancery Standard, a form of
London-based English, began to become widespread, a
process aided by the introduction of the printing press to
England by William Caxton in the late 1470s. At the beginning
of the period English is a language that must be learned like a
foreign tongue; at the end it is Modern English.
 Borrowing from early Scandinavian

• When most borrowings occurred is a matter of some uncertainty;

Old English texts up to about the year 1100 are estimated to
contain only about 100 Scandinavian loanwords, many of them in
isolated examples. Most of these words come from semantic areas
in which there was significant cultural influence from the
Scandinavians, such as seafaring, warfare, social ranks, law, or
coins and measures. Many, many more Scandinavian borrowings
are first recorded in Middle English texts, but it is very possible
(and indeed likely) that most of these first entered some varieties
of English in the Old English period. One major indicator of this is
that very early Middle English texts from areas of high
Scandinavian settlement are full of Scandinavian borrowings.
• The long poem titled Ormulum contains well over a
hundred words of either certain or likely Scandinavian
origin, including some which are of common occurrence
in modern English such as to anger, to bait, bloom, boon,
booth, bull, to die, to flit, ill, law, low, meek, to raise, root
, to scare, skill, skin, to take, though, to thrive, wand, to
want, wing, wrong. Perhaps most interestingly of all, it
contains some of the earliest evidence for one of the
most important Scandinavian borrowings, the pronoun 
they and the related object form them and
possessive their.
• Something else illustrated by they, them, and their is the long
process of internal spread, from variety to variety, shown by
many words of Scandinavian origin after they entered English.
Orm uses they invariably, but them and their vary in his text
with the native forms hem and her. In later northern or
eastern texts them and their quite quickly become the normal
forms, but this takes much longer in other varieties: the most
important early Chaucer manuscripts, from London in the late
fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries, have typically they for
the subject form but still hem and her for the object and
possessive forms.
 Borrowing from Latin and/or French

• If we look at the vocabulary of Middle English as a

whole, the evidence of dictionaries suggests that
the number of words borrowed from French and/or
Latin outstrips the number of words surviving from
Old English by quite a margin. However, words
surviving from Old English (as well as a few of the
Scandinavian borrowings, especially they) continue
to top the high frequency lists (as indeed mostly
remains the case even in modern-day English).
• The formulation ‘French and/or Latin’ is an important one in this period.
Often we can tell that a word has come from French rather than Latin
very clearly because of differences of word form: for instance, English 
peace is clearly a borrowing from Anglo-Norman and Old French pais,
not from Latin pac-, pāx. Some other pretty clear examples are marble, 
mercy, prison, palfrey, to pay, poor, and rule. It is often much more
difficult to be certain that a Middle English word has come solely from
Latin and not partly also from French; this is because, in addition to the
words it inherited from Latin (which typically showed centuries of
change in word form), French also borrowed extensively from Latin
(often re-borrowing words which already existed in a distinct form).
Some typical examples are animal, imagination, to inform, patient, 
perfection, profession, religion, remedy.
• By 1500, over 40 per cent of all of the words that
English has borrowed from French had made a first
appearance in the language, including a very high
proportion of those French words which have come
to play a central part in the vocabulary of modern
English. By contrast, the greatest peak of borrowing
from Latin was still to come, in the early modern
period; by 1500, under 20 per cent of the Latin
borrowings found in modern English had yet
entered the language.
• The greatest peak of first examples of French
borrowings in English comes in the late
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. This
probably largely corresponds to the realities of
linguistic change, since we know that this is
the period in which English was taking on
many technical functions from Latin and,
especially, French, at least so far as written
records were concerned. 
• Government and Administrative: govern, government, administer, crown, state, empire, royal,
majesty, treaty, statute, parliament, tax, rebel, traitor, treason, exile, chancellor, treasurer,
major, noble, peer, prince, princess, duke, squire, page (but not king, queen, lord, lady, earl),
peasant, slave, servant, vassal.
• Ecclesiastical: religion, theology, sermon, confession, clergy, clergy, cardinal, friar, crucifix,
miter, censer lectern, abbey, convent, creator, savior, virgin, faith, heresy, schism, solemn,
divine, devout, preach, pray, adore, confess.
• Law: justice, equity, plaintiff, judge, advacate, attorney, petition, inquest, felon, evidence, sue,
accuse arrest, blame, libel, slander, felony, adultery, property, estate, heir, executor.
• Military--Army and Navy: (Much of the fighting during this time was done in France. Many
now-obsolete words for pieces of armor, etc., were borrowed at this time.) army, navy, peace,
enemy, arms, battle, spy, combat, siege, defence, ambush, soldier, guard, mail, buckler,
banner, lance, besiege, defend, array.
• Clothing: habit, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, coat, collar, petticoat, train, lace,
embroidery, pleat, buckle, button, tassel, plume, satin, taffeta, fur, sable, blue, brown,
vermilion, russet, tawny, jewel, ornament, broach, ivory, turquoise, topaz, garnet, ruby, pearl,
diamond.
• Food: feast, repast, collation, mess, appetite, tart, sole, perch, sturgeon, sardine,
venison, beef, veal, mutton, port, bacon, toast, cream, sugar, salad, raisin, jelly,
spice, clove, thyme.
• Social: curtain, couch, lamp, wardrobe, screen, closet, leisure, dance, carol, lute,
melody.
• Hunting: rein, curry, trot, stable, harness, mastiff, spaniel, stallion, pheasant,
quail, heron, joust, tournament, pavilion.
• Art, Learning, Medicine: painting, sculpture, music, beauty, color, image,
cathedral, palace, mansion, chamber, ceiling, porch, column, poet, prose,
romance, paper, pen, volume, chapter, study, logic, geometry, grammar, noun,
gender, physician, malady, pain, gout, plague, pulse, remedy, poison.
• Common words and expressions include nouns--age, air, city, cheer, honor,
joy; adjectives--chaste, courageous, coy, cruel, poor, nice, pure; verbs--advance,
advise, carry, cry, desire; phrases--draw near, make believe, hand to hand, by
heart, without fail (These are loan-translations).