PR 19^5 H37 ^^ ^ A^ CO m 1_ (J ^ = =^ 33 3 S O : :^ 4 ^ 6 m n 8 m 8 s ^— -E> 5 ^ —4 ^= ' 1 Chaucer's Pronuriciation ©. &thfe SpeHtngof the Ei;LESMERE M5, by D^ O*^' ^tem|/l tlie ftiniorProifessor of ^ EngHf h in ih^ Vi^iuerslty 6f Michff«"' Publfeh^ea by 1 M^feith &■ C '' atb^oJtti «ir.-i6t?»l in liosl^oii.Matisacliius.ett.'* & atf.s & 1 6 i?auisi*ck St C^uenj: (iarUen Lcm^on Arin Arb. CCCXCIli -■^*^--* " ^**C.* y? , . "^ fl g J i California gional cility THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FROM THE LIBRARY OF ELI SOBEL ^y /jtr \.^y^ y^^ CHAUCER'5 PRONUNCIATION AND THE SPELLING OF THE ELLESMERE MS BY GEORGE HEMPL PhD PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN gcfv oxtt of olbc felbta aa nxen «rutlj ©otneth ai tljia neiue corit front iteve to V(cve 3tni» oitt of ol&c boUca ttt o*'*^^ fcutli ffiontrtlj ol tljia jxcwe science iljat uxetx leve Parlcment of Fowles BOSTON D C HEATH & CO 1893 COPYRJGnT ANN AKBOK MICHIGAN 1>\< PREFACE. There are various ways of reading Chaucer. Not a few attempt to read the works of the Middle-English poet as though they were written in the speech of to-day, and suc- ceed in getting a disjointed jargon that is neither poetry nor prose. Others pronounce the vowels approximately as in German, and, slipping in or leaving out enough e's to give a passable rhythm, revel in the glamour of a bogus antiquity. Still others, and they mostly foreigners, strive, witli more or less success, to attain a scientific reproduction of the speech of the poet. It is my pleasant duty each year to introduce a hundred odd students to the study of Chaucer; and, mucli as I despise the naive and the capricious methods of reading the poet's works, I shrink from imposing a minute study of Middle-English phonology upon a class of undergraduate students, lest at the end of the brief time allotted the sub- ject they find they have the shell but not the kernel. Still, in these matters one is largely limited by the books in the market. The Prolog and The Knighfs Tale doubtless form the most acceptable pieces for undergraduate students, though the Talc does get rather long before it ends; and the Morris-Skeat edition, in spite of its weaknesses, is the best text with a glossary. But the student is there referred to Skeat's edition of another poem for a treatment of the sub- ject of pronunciation, and this is found to be based upon the idiosyncrasies of an inferior MS and to require the gentle correction of Prof. Skeat. I use the Morris-Skeat 3 4 CHAUCER'a PRONUNCIATION. book, but I have found that the introduction to the subject is made at a much more rapid pace and in a far more satis- factory manner by the aid of the marked texts in Sweet's Second Middle-English Primer. Sweet's excellent treatment of the pronunciation offers, however, unnecessary difficulties to non-philological students; while the choppy and inade- quate presentation of the subject in Skeat's echo* of Sweet's Primer is quite unsatisfactory. I have therefore tricil to meet the needs of my students in this little book, and shall use along with it Sweet's Primer, to be followed by the Morris-Skeat book. My aim at first was to print but half a dozen pages; as it is, I have not put in anything that I do not try to have my young people master. Others may find it advisable to omit or postpone some sections. Still others may deem it necessary to neglect some of the distinctions I have made: to sound ^ like e or even ay like ey, and to pronounce the words in § 33, 2, and perhaps even those containing eu and ii as in M^E. Surely the failure to prolong double consonants (§ 39) need not be considered a serious matter in the case of the ordinary student. But I should think it folly to ignore the difference between q and o, which has its counterpart in M°E. The section treating of the Relation of ME Vowels to M^^E Vowels is meant to be of practical use in acquiring the right pronunciation of the ME vowels, especially when the student uses an unmarked text. I have taken pains to cite instances of nearly every word mentioned, if possible, in the Prolog or The Knighfs Tale. The spelling is, with rare exceptions, that of the Ellesmere MS; the numbers refer to the lines in the Six-Text Edition, which for the Prolog accord with the numbering in Sweet and Skeat, and for The Knighfs Tale will be found in brack- ets in Skeat's edition. * School Edition of Chaucer's Prologue, Oxford, 1891. PREFACE. 5 I have stuck closely to the matter of spelling and pronun- ciation; but, should my treatment of the subject prove to be of use to others, I hope to find time to prepare an Introduc- tion to the Study of Chaucer that will aim to meet the wants of American students. George Hempl. Ann Arbor, October 1, 1893. CONTENTS. §1. Terms, Abbreviations, Signs, &c. ^2. General Remarks on ME Spelling, &c. a) The Values of the Spelling ou ow. c) The Use of y and o for i and u. d) " " " y for initial i. e) " " " y and w for i and u. f) " " " V and u. g) " " " I, J, and i. h) The Differentiation of ^ Q and 5 0. i) The Pronunciation of g and j in French words. k) " " " ch. 1 ) Nasal vowels. § 3. The Pronunciation of the Vowels. §3. a, a; ai or ay; au or aw. §4. e, e, ei, ei or ey, *^i, ie, ye; ^; ^u, a. § 5. i or y, ! or y. §6. o, 0, ou, Ou or Ow, (^)u; Q; oi or oy. § 7. u or w, o; ou or ow = u. § 8. ii, u or ui =^- u. §9. Imperfect Rimes, &c. § TO. The Quantity of Vowels. I) Lengthening in Open Syllables. Note I. The High Vowels not Lengthened. 7 8 CHAUCER'S PRONUNCIATION. Note 2. a) Words with Open and Closed Syllables. b) Monosyllables of this kind. c) Words ending in 1, n, r, y. d) Similar Shortening of Long Vowels. 2) Shortening of Vowel before More Consonants. § II. The Relation of ME Vowels to MnE Vowels. §12. General Changes. § 13. Short Vowels. § 14. Long Vowels. § 15. Diphthongs. § 16. Specific Changes. !^ 17. Shortening in Closed Syllables. § 18. Slurred Forms and Full Forms. § 19. Effect of R on Preceding Vowels. §20. Effect of L and IV on Neighboring Vowels. § 21. Dialectic and other Variants. § 22. The Loss of Vowels. § 23. Loss of Weak e. i) When Adjoining Syllables Contain Weak e. 2) After an Unstressed Syllable. 3) In Words Having Little Stress. 4) Finally after Short High Vowels. 5) Finally in French Words in Stressed -ye, &c. 6) In the Ending -en. 7) Medially. 8) For Metrical Reasons. 9) Before a Word Beginning with a Vowel. § 24. Other Cases of Loss of Vowel. i) In the Words: the, ne, to, &c. 2) In the Words: is, it, &c. 3) Between Similar Consonants, «S:c. § 25. The Pronunciation of the Consonants. § 26. c. § 27. ch. CONTENTS. §28. g. § 29. gh. §30- J- § 31- h. §32, Consonantal i and u. § ;^;^. The Fricatives, f, s, th. i) In Ordinary Words. 2) In Words often Unstressed. Note I. The Rune ]>, and "ye" = the. Note 2. M°E -ther for ME -der, §34. sh. §35- r. §36. wh. §37- z- § 38. Silent Letters. § 39. Double Consonants. TEKMS, ABBKKVIATIONS, SIGNS, &c. §r. i) S. voiced, consonant is one made while the vocal chords are vibrating: /^ /, iv^g, &c. A voiceless consonant is one made while the glottis is wide open and the vocal chords silent: /, jrin so, t,f, &cc. A whispered consonant is one made while the vocal chords are contracted but not put into vibration, like M° E is, his, with, of, &c. at the end of a sentence, cf. %Ti2i., 2. If the tongue is pressed forward during the formation of a vowel, it is called a front vowel: e, i or y, ii; if drawn back, a back vowel: a, o, Q, u. A vowel is said to be low, mid, or high, according as the tongue is lowered a good deal, but moderately, or very little: i, ti, and u are high vowels; ^ and Q are low vowels; the rest are mid vowels. ^ and is a sign meaning "becomes" or "became." GENERAL REMARKS ON ME. SPELLING, &c. § 2. In considering the spelling and pronunciation of Middle English we must remember that the language con- tained French elements incorporated with the native English; that the English of that time was in some respects like Old English and in others more like Modern English, while the French elements had come into the language from Old French and consequently were more like that than like Mod- ern French; and, furthermore, that in Middle-English times the Old-French system of spelling was in vogue in England. Old French was, of course, derived from Latin, but essential changes had taken place in the pronunciation, and students who have learned Latin according to the Roman method of pronunciation will have to be very careful not to introduce this into Middle English. On the other hand, those that are familiar with Modern French pronunciation must guard against using this in Middle English. {a) Thus the OE word nt was pronounced just the same in ME as in OE, but as the sound of long // (M^E "oo" in "spool") was represented by "ou" in French, the word was spelled "out" in ME, which spelling has been retained in MnE though the long u has become the diphthong au. While ow was often used for ou (§2 e), the sound was just the same. But there was a diphthong in native words which too was spelled ou or ow; this may be distinguished from the long vowel by the fact that while the vowel has now become au (thou, how), the diphthong ou or ow is still pronounced 13 14 CHAUCER'fi PRONUNCIATION. with an or Q sound (though 68, sowed 685, thoughte 385). Dr Sweet's text also helps the learner by leaving the long vowel ou unmarked (thou) and printing the diphthong with an o before gh (thogh) and with a diacritical mark over or under the o in other situations (gruwen, SQule). Note, (a) lid'on' jili, (I) the vowel w is almost uniformly written ou (ynouj;h SSS) i^:{7; and (2) n is written o (drofjjhte ■-') i?7andi^2c; but, (3) iJic fliphtlion;;- oh is writti'u not only ou (llioui^hto 385), liul fri't|urutly o (o^^'litc ()(!()), and this spoiling' is uniformly I'liiiiioyi'd by Swcd to avoid confusion witii(i) aliovc: >;('>o. (b) l>t'foi'(> n the u of ou =n is often omitted (st;si)n l!>, nacions 'til), or indicated only by a mark over the n (rcjsoil condicioO IT?). (/') The letter u (initially v, ^ 2 f) was, in accordance with French usage, often retained for short //, especially in closed syllables: ful 22, but 74, vnto 71, lusty (cf. however c- below); but it was also used for the sound of ''u" in French "just", "nature," cv:c., and is printed by Sweet (i (in imitation of Ger- man it) when short, u (ii would have been better) when long, and u when it had acquired the sound of eu, § 4 N^. ((•) As i (vvliich was generally not dotted) and u might easily cause confusion when written next other letters made of similar short straight lines (for ex., n, m, w, u = v), the French usage of writing o for u and y for i in such (and some other) situations was adopted (Sweet prints such an o with a curl above it, o, to suggest a u) : yunge sunne 7, worthy 43, loued 45, somtyme 65, bismotered 76, observe louyere 80 but lusty in the same line; also corai>-es ir, coppe 134, cosyn 1234, super 348; veyne 3, nyght to, nyne 24, wyde 28, tyme 35, but usually, "w*^" (=with) 31, "in" 6. Similarly, I is some- times used for i next nn: Inne 1618, w*^ Inne 'within' 1669. ((/) The letter y was also used for i initially (i) as a capi- tal in proper names: ypocras 431, ypres 448, ypolita 1685, and (2) in participles: yronne 8, ywroght 196, ybQre 378. (e) The letters y and w were often used for i and u, especially GENERAL REMARKS ON ME. SPELLING, &r. 15 finally and next other vowels: ^uery 3, melodye 9, day 19, felaweshipe 26, yow 38, vnknowe 126, trowe 155; also next n, m, w, u = V, &:c.: veyne 3, Lyeys 58, slayn 6^, knyght 43, wyped 133, ferthyng 134, pleyynge 1061, lyuen 335; and elsewhere: bawdryk 116, tretys 152. (/) The letter v was used initially for v and the vowel u: veyne 3, verray 338, venerie 166, Venus 1918, vertu 4, vil- eynye 70, victorie 872, vnder 106, vs 411, vnto 225, vpon 1036, &c.; while u was used medially for both sounds: ^uery 3, deuout 22, deuyse 34, haue 35, reuerence 305, lyuen 335, &c. Medial v is rare in the E Ms: aventure 25, ^verychQn 31, avaiice 246, epvyned 342, &c. Cf. note to A below. Q'') The letter I was used not only as a capital i: I 34, It 155, &c., (cf. also r end); but also for the con- sonant j, both small and capital: liilijln 34, luste 96, Jerusa- lem 463, langlere 560, lalous 1329, L"ipes 705, (S:c. J and i for j are rare in the E Ms: Juno 1329, iaped 1729. Note. — The fact that j occurred only initially and that initial v was in fact much more frequent!}' a consonant tiian a vowel (see the exami>]os above) led to their complete diU'er- entiation ("v" and "j"" consonants, "u" and "i"" xowels); this ditl'erentiation is also made by Sweet in his Second 3IiddIf-Eu(/Ui5 27. (J was as in tJicrc: breijth 5, wfjren ^sed 29. * Really?, ie, or ye were the long, close e-vowel, while ei, Pi, ^i wore diphthongs ending in i. In M^ E all are pronounced as a diph- thong ( most distinctly so in southern England, about Philadelphia, &c.) or all are pronounced a purec-vowel (so in Scotland and the larger part of the U. S., at least whrii not over-long, §14 Note 1); and it is hardly practicable to make general students distinguish th(>, vowel from the diphthong in reading ME. 2 17 i8 CHAUCER'S PRONUNCIATION. Note 3. — This sound occurs only before r in M" E and will require attention in other positions in ME. It is practically the sound of "e" in met prolonged. Cf. §2/i. The poet sometimes rimes it with C, cf. §9. ei, ey, &:c., Note 2 . 6u or ^u = <" -|- u, now common for a -\- u as a. dialectic pronunciation of "ow" in co7ei &c.: rSule 173, f6we 639, sh^we C 55. Note 4. — Care must be taken not to substitute iu or u for this sound, as in MnE. It is most readily acquired by put- ting one's self in the mood of mocking one who uses the dialectic pronunciation mentioned above; the standard au in cow is not the sound. Note 5. — The same sound is to be given to u (also written eu, and printed u by Sweet, §3 6) in an open syllable in French words: vertu 4, vertiious 251, letuaries 42(), Ih^su (589. §5. i or y was as in //;/: Aprille with hise i. I or y was as in machitie: inspired 6, I 20, ray 21. Note. — Skeat generally prints y for the long vowel and i for the short, except in diphthongs. For ie, »fcc., cf. § 4, Note 2, For unstressed i or y before a vowel cf . § 37. §6. o was as in the New England dialectic pronunciation of boat, road, sione, &c., or like 5 in German, French, &c. , not like M°E "short o": of 2, holt 6, croppes 7. For o(gh) cf. 5; for 6 cf, § 7. was as in « (e: man 43, bigan 44. e remains e: yet 70; wente 78. / " / : in 19, riden 48. u> v: Caunterbilry 27, silbtilly 610, // usually > v. Vnder 105, loued 45, ffustian 75; but often remains u between a labial consonant and 1: ful 22 w5lf 513. > .7 or c^: on 21, of 54, for 13, God 533. Long- Vowels. § 14. a > (• or ei (spelled "a"): bathed 3, pale 205. ^&^> ? or />■ (spelled "e", "ee", or "ea"): m6 tjch 39, sl6ues 93. 1 > ai (spelled "i" or "y"): riden 45, thy 1283. u (printed n by Sweet when not written ui or uy) > iu or iuw : lilce 350, suyte 2873. 25 26 CHAUCER'S PRONUNCIATION. u (spelled ou or ow) > au: out 45, oure 62, gowne 93, how 284. o (§ 2h end) > ir. bootes 203, to dO 942. <2 (§ 2/i end) > ^ or ou: open 10, SQ 1 1 , shQQn 198, Note 1 — In other words, there is little change in the short vowels, while all the long vowels have changed and tend to become diphthongs, especially in England, the long vowels (particularly I and u, not so generally G and o) still being common in Scotland and the United States. Cf. p. 17 ft. nt., p. 18 ft. nt. Note 2. — Observe particularly that ME > MnE n (though still spelled "o" or "00"), and ME Q > M^E o (spelled "oa" or "o-e"). The word q or Qn 'one' and all its derivatives have the vowel q, though their MnE equivalents show various irregularities: q 304, qqh 317, nQQn 210, anqn 32, allQne 1633, QQnly 1373. Diphthong's. §15 e or ei: mayde 69, gay 74, grSye 152, deyntee 168, seint 173. ^/remains oi: point 114, oystre 182. au > iu or iuw: newe, i76,rSule 173, Mfi- we 349, vertiious 515, stilttire 83, Jtllian 340. ou > or ou: though 68, bQwe 108, grOwe 156. Note. — Observe that ai and ei, though now pronounced alike, were distinguished in ME; in fact, we now sometimes write "ai" or "ay" for "ei": feith 62, seint 173, streit 174. Observe also that ME au was a phonetic spelling, as in Latin and German, and had not yet gotten the vowel sound it has in MnE. For e, 6, iu, or ei, ok, iuw, see §14 Note 1. SPECIFIC CHANGES. § 16. There are many less general changes, that is, such as efifect only a number of the words containing a certain vowel; but it would be out of place here to point out more than three or four of the most important. RELATION OF ME. VOWELS TO MnE. VOWELS. 27 § 17. Vowels in closed* syllables (and, by analogy, in re- lated open ones), are sometimes shortened, particularly be- fore dentals, that is, consonants made with the tip of the tongue (d, t, th, n): br^^d d^^d 147, st^de 231, r^^de 90, hood 103, wood good 183, blood 635; br^^th 5, d^^th but h^^th 605, seith 178, seyde 219, dooth 171; hQQte 97, leet 128; MOnthe 92, wjnd 170, after /- in fr^^nd 299 but not f^^nd; heeld 176; book 185, look 289, took 303. Observe the shortening of before -ther: another 66, brother 529; and of Q before -ng: Ignge 93, strqng 239. § 18. Lack of stress gives rise to slurred forms by the side of the full ones: my 21 now strong mai and weak mi or ma; sometimes one (often the weak) form prevails: been 85, strong bin in England, weak bm in America: sayde 70, generally weak sed; you 34, the strong ju > jau in early M°E as thou > than §14, but weak you C 108 (=: 7'?/;) supplanted strong y««, and when it was stressed it got a long vowel ju (now often iii), that is, the very pronunciation the ME strong form had; in koude 94 the weak u has prevailed; observe weak have with ce, but stressed behave with ?; any and many now have e but stressed mafiifold has the regular ce. Note. — If a syllable that was or might be stressed in ME is now unstressed, its vowel is not what would be expected by g§ 18-15, but usually the obscure vowel a: licour 3, men- cioun 893, frSdOm 4G, SquICr 97, licenciJlt 220, visage 109. § 19. The sound r has always much affected preceding vowels; the chief cases are: — {a) Before r and another consonant, e > a, later a (cf. b below): sterue 1144, darknesse 1451, hertely 762, ferther 36, ferthyng 255, sterres 268, yerde smerte 268, Derteraouthe 389, werre 47, see 2 and {e). *Cf. ft. nt. p. 23. 28 RELATION OF ME. VOWELS TO M»E. VOWELS. Note. — In most classical words the e was retained or re- stored, and later (according to b below) changed to §: seriied 187. certeyn 37o, mercy, 950, seruants 101. Hut even in these cases the rule (e > a) prevailed among the uneducated; and in a few usage varies, so Sergeant 309, Clerk 285, &.C., while we distinguish between "jjarson" (i)erson478) and 'Mjer- son" (persQne 521). {/>). Before r (but see note above)^ — a > a: Arm 393, barre 1075, and those in (a). ai, ci (and sometimes ^) > ^: faire 94, prey6res 231, th^r 34, (jr 255. e, i, u, il > (^)> li"e 3. I'ead iQlifin 340. p. 17, §4, line 2, read 'slepen 10'. N-, line 3, read § 23, not § iS. line 5, read %i2, not § 27. p. 18, § 5, line 2, read inspired. Note, last line, read § 32, not § 27. p. 19, § 7, last line, read Qu, not gr. §8, line 4, read lulian. p. 20, line 2, read § 2 //, not 2J1. last word should be 'do', not 'do', p. 21, § 9, 2, line 2, read 'them', not 'it'. p. 25, line before last, read //, not //. p. 26, Note I, line 3, read 'the long vowels "/ and ii (not so generally ~e and o) still.' § 15, line 5, cross out 'and iV . line 6, cross out 'statue 83, Jrdian 340. p. 30, 5 end, read § 32, not § 27. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which It was borrowed. -I I. ,ll.^„^.^l^flfl^.,«.G!O.ALUBRARyFACIL,TV A A 000 346 885 ' * , V ^^^^^^^^^^■mnMHHK*^' 4 • L 006 617 503 5 T t • 1 • > \ - \ '^ 1 ' . 1 • # > ,1 K # ■# r » ,\ ► V ! 1 University 1 Southe 1 Libra] -% " I - 1