Reading Middle English – some points to help you get started
“... ther is so gret diversite
In Englissh and in writyng of oure tonge ...”
(Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, V.1793 – 1794)
Middle English is a catch-all term to describe the many varieties of English which were spoken between the Norman Conquest (1066) and the early sixteenth century. We will be reading Middle English literature written in several dialects in our translation classes: the North-West Midlands dialect of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; the South-West Midlands dialect of Piers Plowman; and the London English of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. These are all poems from the second half of the fourteenth century.
For our first translation class you should all prepare lines 1 to 150 of Book III of Troilus and Criseyde. This poem is one of the texts you will eventually be asked to translate from in your Part I Paper I exam.
Please make your translation from the edition in the Riverside Chaucer as the text is sometimes different in other versions. This edition also has a full glossary at the back of the book, which you will find you need to consult frequently, whenever you come across a word you don’t recognise. Don’t worry if it seems to take a long time at first, and you feel like you’re looking up every other word: it will gradually get easier! You will find it very useful to make a list of unfamiliar words which you can then learn off by heart. It may sound mechanical, but it will make reading and translating much less mechanical and a lot more fun. For words that seem particularly important, or when you are unsure of the meaning, you might want to look at the glossary in the Book of Middle English (edited by J.A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre), or to look at the Middle English Dictionary (in the English Faculty Library, or online – go to the University Library website, look under the Electronic Resources for English, and select the Middle English Compendium).
However, Middle English is quite close to Modern English and before looking up a word in the glossary, it is always worth seeing whether you know it already. Try imagining the word as being spelt with different vowels, as these are quite interchangeable in Middle English: “wol”, for example, means will, and “werste” means worst. There are several other letters that are frequently interchangeable: u/v; i/j; i/y; y/g. And as for the letters that are completely unfamiliar, the letter þ (thorn) is the same sound as “th”, whilst 3 (yogh) is equivalent to either “y”, “gh” or “g” (or occasionally “z”).
Here are some other basic points to bear in mind when reading Middle English:
§ Many verbs use a reflexive pronoun, which refers back to the subject of the verb, eg. “dressed hym upward”: lifted himself up (Tr. III, 71); “ruthes hym”: rouses himself (Gaw. 1558).
§ Double negatives emphasize the point, rather than cancelling one another out as they do in Modern English, eg. “N’y nyl forbere”: Nor will I desist from (Tr. III, 173); “Ne non euel on nawther halve”: Nor any wrong on either side (Gaw. 1552)
§ Contractions – pronouns and negatives can become part of a verb, eg. “ravestow” [=ravest thou]: are you raving? (PP. XVIII, 187); “I not” [=ne woot]: I do not know (Tr. III, 121); “he nolde” [=ne wolde]: he would not (Gaw. 1661).
To get you started on your lists of vocabulary, here are a few extremely common words which might throw you:
Pronouns
ich I
he he
ho, heo she
hem them (themselves); occasionally him
hym him, them (himself, themselves)
hit it
me can mean it, him, her (self)
hir, her her, their
Conjunctions
ac but
al although, even if
and and / if
as so / as if, if / for example / since
but but / unless, except
eke also
for because / in spite of
so how much / as /since
ther there / where / while / so that
though if / though
what what / that / why
The passages which are currently set for translation in the exam are Troilus and Criseyde, Book 3, ll. 1 – 1414; Piers Plowman, B-Text, Passus 18; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ll. 1535 – 1997. In our translation classes we will be looking at selections from each of these three texts. The English Faculty also offers lectures taking you through issues in translating the whole of these passages which you should attend. In the Paper 1 exam you will be required to translate about 15 lines from each poem. There are past papers in the English Faculty Library and probably in your college library as well.
I will be teaching these translation classes primarily to help you with practical reading and translating of these texts. However, if any of you are interested in learning about the rules of Middle English grammar and syntax in a more formal way, there is a good introduction in Chapters 4 and 5 of J.A.Burrow and Thorlac Turville Petre, A Book of Middle English. Also, their introductions to extracts from the Gawain-poet, Piers Plowman and Chaucer provide a useful guide to each author’s idiosyncracies. There are copies of the Book of Middle English in the English Faculty Library. There is also a guide to Chaucer’s grammar and syntax on pages xxv – xxxviii of the Riverside Chaucer. However, I should emphasize that most English students, myself included, learn to read Middle English simply by practice: reading and learning vocabulary.
Learning to read Middle English will allow you to read some wonderful works of literature in the language in which they were written, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do. Good luck with the translation, and do bring any questions it raises to the translation class. I look forward to seeing you all after the vacation.
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