Well, welcome to another English Language 2 Asignment!!! now we`re gonna learn what is middle english!
Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the variety forms of English spoken between the 1066 and about 1470, it was developed thanks to a variety of factors along history, such as the introduction of the printing press in England in 1970, the Northumbrian dialect mostly spoken in south scotland and obviously northern England.
Now i have to match the following Old English words with their Anglo-Roman equivalent.
A. Pig
B. Cow
C. Wood
D. Sheep
E. House
F. Worthy
G. Bold
B. Cow
C. Wood
D. Sheep
E. House
F. Worthy
G. Bold
I'm not pretty sure on how I can do this...´
Now we contrast nouns, verbs, and pronouns of Middle English with the English spoken today.
When we talk about nouns we can find a difference in the ending of plural nouns, actually we usually use the "s" at the end of a noun to explain that we're talking about a plural noun, in middle english there's an "n" at the end of the plural noun, there are still some nouns that end with an "n" in our actual english such as "Children" or "Brethen". Note that the "s" sound in our English is a strong sound, but inmiddle english, the "n" sound is a weak one.
when we talk about verbs there is a rule of thumb, the first person singular of the present tense verbs ends in "e" (ich here-"i hear"). the second person ends in "e" + "t" (thou speakest) and in the third person ends with "th" (he cometh - he comes).
And about pronouns:
Actual English form Middle English form
I mi
you thy
he his
she hir
it his
we us
they them
you ye
Now we only have to know how to pronunciate middle english... it's something like this:
All letters are pronounced in middle english, unlike the actual english wich have silent letters for pronunciation shifts. in a strange way the middle english had a more "lytheral pronunciation", however as times goes by languages changes, so the weak "e" that we talked about in the verbs section became silent when the next word started in a vowel.
What is the Chancery Standard, and how did it come into effect?
the Chancery Standard was a form of middle english, usually used in oficial purposes by authorities and bureaucracy at the late 14th century, many linguistics think of it as one of the most influential factors in the development of modern english. the Chancery Standard came into effect because people along England spoke and wrote in a variety of different dialects, and there was an urge to get a "standard dialect" which could comunicate the authorities with regular people.
The Cantenbury tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geofrey Chaucer in the 14th century, which are written in middle english (which is our concern).
the stories speak about a group of medieval pilgrims in a journey to pay respects to St. thomas Becket at the Cantenbury cathedral.
the group has very different members, like a monk, a knight, a sailor, a pardoner, a miller and a carpenter among others. when the group stopped at night, they agreed to tell stories along the way of the pilgrimage, the one who tells the best story at the return of the journey would get his way paid by the rest of the pilgrims.
it is believed that these stories were inspired on an Italian book called The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.
I can't give an apropiate opinion on why this book is important, because I haven't read a complete version (note: the stories were never finished, because Chaucer died writting it and leaving it uncomplete), but I think that the real importance here, is in the way that Chaucer puts social affairs away, making a party composed by religious members, soldiers, adventurers, and poor people (almost like a party of dungeons & dragons XD), at the time that this book was written it would be a shock to read about such a group, so the importance of this book is that Chaucer could look further in time and see that there were no difference between men.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is:
a. A collection of German folk tales, similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales.
b. A collection of Japanese ghost stories, similar to Kwaidan.
c. A detailed explanation of the proper etiquette & behaviour for all knights in Medieval Europe.
D. A medieval romance poem, with Arthurian themes.
e. None of the above.
f. All of the above.
you gotta be kidding!
This is a wonderful Arthurian story about Sir Gawain, one of the loyal, mighty, imponent, honorable, and brave knights of the round table. in the story, Sir Gawain acceptes the challenge of a knight who was completly green(this colour was commonly asociated in this stories with the Devil) The Green knight offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day. Sir Gawain accepted and in one mighty strike he beheaded the green knight. only to see the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind him to meet at the appointed time.
There are a few similarities with the Irish tale of Cuchulain, such as the dark fate both must face, and some beheading game in the Irish tale, as I think these are two "epic" must -read stories.
The pentagle on Gawain's shield represents his perfection and power over evil (some christian cultures see the pentagle as "the five direction that God can go" representing his power to get to a fifth direction wich is not North nor South neither East or West) also some poeple says that represents the power upon evils, such as the pentagle that King Solomon had in his ring to control evil creatures from "the Evil underground".
The poet highlights number symbolism to add symmetry and meaning to the poem. For example,Gawain is tempted by her on three separate days,but the most important number is the number "5" because of the pentagle wich representsthe five moral virtues of the knight, and the author makes a lot of references such as Gawain's virtues, for he is "faithful five ways and five times each", all five of his senses are without fault; his five fingers never fail him, and he always remembers the five wounds of Christ, as well as the five joys of the Virgin Mary.
Also there is another symbolism in the wound on Gawain's neck. it was believed that a scar was an exterior sign of an interior sin, also it was suposed that the neck was related to the will, wich conects the reasoning part (head) with the brave part (heart), so Gawain's sin was to try to separate courage from reason (when he tried to dodge death in a reasonable but uncourageous way).
This story was adapted to film in movies such as as the sword of the valiant, starring Sean Connery as the Green knight.
Some people reffer to this story as a "medieval epic soup opera",by looking at the internal moral problems of Sir Gawain, the temptations he suffer, and some feminist and homosexual interpretations... i'm afraid to say that there might be some relation though it's very hard to find a soup opera that has any similaritie with this Arthurian story, maybe "Lola" would work... it's about a guy that is the "perfect macho", a mix between Johnny Bravo, and Don Juan Tenorio, he doesn't recognize the importance of monogamy and a shaman (or somethingmore like an evil witch) turns him into a girl so he can learn a lesson, along his way to get back his body he is tempted to stay as a woman forever, and also have a relation with another man, but his moral ethics cannot allow he to stop his work at a desing company, so he disguise as a relative and continues to work there, even with the posibility of being discovered as a kind of transexual. Leaving the gender changes behind there are some similarities... i think...
The sounds marked in 