X-Nico

13 unusual facts about Middle English


Alice Shields

Her 2008 opera Criseyde is based on Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, and is sung in Middle English.

Charles Fritz Juengling

Other courses of study have included Old, Middle, and Early Modern English, Old and Middle High German, Old Norse (Old Icelandic), Gothic, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, history of the English, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, Latin and Greek philology, Latin paleography, and Middle English paleography.

Giggs Hill Green

In Middle English, 'gigge' means a whirling thing, so perhaps a maypole was implied.

Great Wold Valley

Howe, in this case a topographic name from Middle English, originated with the Old Norse word haugr meaning a small hill or a man-made mound or barrow.

Manx language

However, Manx itself, as well as the languages from which it is derived, borrowed words from other languages as well, especially Latin, Old Norse, French (particularly Anglo-Norman), and English (both Middle English and Modern English).

Sheltron

Matters are confused by the fact that the term in Middle English could clearly refer to a body of soldiers without reference to formation, including cavalry and archers.

Soldier

The word soldier entered modern English in the 14th century from the equivalent Middle English word soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling.

Stephen Shepherd

Stephen H. A. Shepherd is a professor and authority on Middle English studies, particularly the work of William Langland.

T. L. Burton

He is the editor of the two volume Sidrak and Bokkus, which once was one of the most popular books in Middle English.

Tadpole

The name "tadpole" is from Middle English taddepol, made up of the elements tadde, "toad", and pol, "head" (modern English "poll").

The Allegory of Love

The book is ornamented with quotations from poems in many languages, including Classical and Medieval Latin, Middle English, and Old French.

The Nook, Isle of Man

The Nook (Middle English: a corner or recess) is situated on the primary A18 Mountain Road in the parish of Onchan in the Isle of Man between the 37th Milestone road-side marker on the Snaefell Mountain Course and the TT Grandstand on the primary A2 Glencrutchery Road in the town of Douglas.

Tolkien's legendarium

The Middle English South English Legendary is an example of this form of the noun.


A29 road

From Capel to Hardham, south of Pulborough, the road with notable deviations follows the path of one of the multiple Roman roads with the name Stane Street, the Middle English and Old English for Stone Street due to the remaining building materials.

Bricriu

(Two motifs in this story, the champion's portion and the beheading challenge, are mentioned by the Greek writer Posidonius as practices of the ancient Celts. The beheading challenge is also central to the Middle English Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.)

Brutus of Troy

Early translations and adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, were named after Brutus, and the word "Brut" came to mean a chronicle of British history.

Dromon

Middle English dromond and Old French dromont are derived from the dromon, and described any particularly large medieval ship.

Howe, Norfolk

Howe, from the Old Norse word haugr, is a Middle English topographic name for someone who lived by a small hill or a man-made mound or barrow.

Jennet

The American Heritage Dictionarys etymology is similar, citing the Middle English genet, from Old French; from the Catalan ginet, of Arabic and, ultimately, of Berber origin.

Lais of Marie de France

Two of Marie's lais – "Lanval," a very popular work that was adapted several times over the years (including the Middle English Sir Launfal), and "Chevrefoil" ("The Honeysuckle"), a short composition about Tristan and Iseult – mention King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

Raisin

The word raisin dates back to Middle English and is a loanword from Old French; in French, raisin means "grape", while a dried grape is referred to as a raisin sec, or "dry grape".

Robert Mannyng

Handlyng Synne (1303) is a twelve thousand line devotional or penitential piece, written in Middle English rhymed couplets, deriving many of its exempla from the Anglo-Norman Manuel des Peches of William of Waddington.

Tatian

After the Codex Fuldensis, it would appear that members of the Western family lead an underground existence, popping into view over the centuries in an Old High German translation (c. 830), a Dutch (c. 1280), a Venetian manuscript of the 13th century, and a Middle English manuscript from 1400 that was once owned by Samuel Pepys.

The Floure and the Leafe

Longleat 258, a manuscript of Middle English poems held at Longleat House in Wiltshire, mentions in its contents list a poem whose title is given in the Latinised form "De folio et flore" (Of the Leaf and the Flower).

Washington Old Hall

Although he used the Norman French spelling (based on a Middle English rendition of the original), the estate is of Anglo-Saxon (specifically Anglic) origin, originally being "Hwæssaingatūn", meaning "estates of the descendents of Hwæssa" (Hwæssa being rendered Wassa in Modern English).

Yorkshire Wolds

A large round barrow called Willy Howe (Howe, a topographic name from Middle English, originated with the Old Norse word haugr meaning a small hill or a man-made mound or barrow.