Book of Middle English

J.A. Burrow is Emeritus Professor at Bristol University. His many publications include Medieval Writers and their Work (1982) and Gestures and Looks in Medieval Narrative (2002). Thorlac Turville-Petre is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Nottingham. His previous publications include England the Nation (1996) and The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, Vol. 2: Trinity College, Cambridge, MS B.15.19 (CD-ROM, 2000).

"Classroom experience with this authoritative and accessible introduction to Middle English confirms that this is now our best available vademecum to the subject. The appearance of a third edition of Burrow and Turville-Petre's Book of Middle English is good news to teachers and students of Middle English." Fred Robinson, Yale University"Currently the most lucid and illuminating introduction to the language of Middle English, with an excellent selection of literary texts chosen and annotated to suggest the interest, sophistication, and variety of Middle English writing from the Peterborough Chronicle through the works of Chaucer and his contemporaries." Andrew Galloway, Cornell University

• List of Illustrations ixPreface to the Third Edition xiAbbreviations xiiPart one1 Introducing Middle English 31.1 The Period 31.1.1 From Old to Middle English 31.1.2 From Middle to Modern English 41.2 Varieties of Middle English 51.2.1 Regional Dialects 51.2.2 Early and Late Middle English 81.2.3 Spelling 82 Pronouncing Middle English 92.1 Introduction 92.2 Vowels 102.2.1 The Long Vowels 102.2.2 The Short Vowels 112.2.3 Unstressed Final -e 112.2.4 The Diphthongs 122.3 Consonants 122.4 Stress 133 Vocabulary 143.1 Introduction 143.2 Scandinavian 143.3 English, French and Latin 153.4 Latin Loan-Words 173.5 French Loan-Words 184 Inflexions 194.1 Introduction 194.1.1 The Inflexional System 194.1.2 Loss of Inflexional Endings 194.2 Nouns 204.2.1 Introduction 204.2.2 Noun Inflexions: Early Southern Texts 214.2.3 Developments in Noun Inflexions 224.2.4 Genitive Singular Without Ending 234.2.5 Unchanged Plurals 234.2.6 Mutated Plurals 234.3 Pronouns and Articles 244.3.1 Forms of the Personal Pronouns 244.3.2 First and Second Person Pronouns 244.3.3 Third Person Pronouns: Masculine and Neuter Singular 254.3.4 Third Person Pronouns: Feminine Singular 254.3.5 Third Person Pronouns: Plural 264.3.6 The Definite Article 264.3.7 Demonstratives 274.3.8 The Indefinite Article 274.4 Adjectives and Adverbs 274.4.1 Definite and Indefinite Inflexions 274.4.2 Inflexions for Case 284.4.3 Comparison of Adjectives 294.4.4 Comparison of Adverbs 294.5 Verbs 304.5.1 Introduction 304.5.2 Present Tense 304.5.3 Past Tense and Past Participle 324.5.4 Past of Weak Verbs 324.5.5 The Verbs ‘Have’ and ‘Say’ 334.5.6 Past of Strong Verbs 344.5.7 Irregular Verbs 354.5.8 The Verb ‘To Be’ 365 Syntax 385.1 Gender 385.2 Number 385.3 Use of Cases 395.3.1 Nominative and Accusative 395.3.2 Genitive 395.3.3 Dative 405.4 Pronouns and Articles 415.4.1 Jou and 4e 415.4.2 Non-expression of Personal Pronouns 415.4.3 Man 425.4.4 Self 425.4.5 Reflexive Pronouns 425.4.6 Relative Pronouns 435.4.7 The Articles 445.5 Adjectives and Adverbs 445.5.1 Position 445.5.2 Comparatives and Superlatives 445.5.3 Adjectives as Nouns 455.6 Verbs 455.6.1 Use of Present Tense 455.6.2 Use of Past Tense 455.6.3 Auxiliaries of the Past 465.6.4 Auxiliaries of the Future: shall and will 465.6.5 The Infinitive 475.6.6 The Subjunctive 485.6.7 The Imperative 505.6.8 Impersonal Verbs 505.6.9 Verbs of Motion 515.6.10 The Passive 515.7 Negation 525.8 Questions 525.9 Word-Order 535.9.1 Inversion 535.9.2 The Object 545.9.3 Prepositions 545.9.4 Relative Clauses 545.9.5 Adverbial Phrases 545.9.6 Verb in Final Position 555.10 Recapitulation and Anticipation 556 Metre 566.1 Introduction 566.2 Rhymed Verse 566.3 Alliterative Verse 596.4 La3amon’s Brut 617 From Manuscript to Printed Text 628 Select Bibliography 658.1 Bibliographies and Indexes 658.2 Language Studies 658.3 General Studies of the Literature 678.4 Studies of Particular Genres 698.5 Historical and Social Studies 70Part two: prose and verse textsNote on Treatment of Texts 741 The Peterborough Chronicle 1137 752 The Owl and the Nightingale 813 La3amon: Brut 964 Ancrene Wisse 1065 Sir Orfeo 1126 The Cloud of Unknowing 1327 William Langland: Piers Plowman 1418 Patience 1629 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 18210 Pearl 20211 St Erkenwald 22112 John Trevisa: Dialogue between a Lord and a Clerk 23513 John Gower: Confessio Amantis 24314 Lyrics 25515 The York Play of the Crucifixion 27216 Geoffrey Chaucer: The Parliament of Fowls 28317 Geoffrey Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde 30918 Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales 32718a The Reeve’s Tale 32818b The Prioress’s Tale 346Textual Notes 356Glossary 363