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#middleenglish — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #middleenglish, aggregated by home.social.

  1. @ukdamo We in the US shall soon find out what it’s like to sit here with no pennys. #MiddleEnglish

  2. In one of the word games I played this morning I learned that the word "girl" stems originally from Old English "gyrele, gyrle" and from Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle, all of which meant a “young person of any gender”.

    #Genderless #MiddleEnglish #OldEnglish

  3. #TIL something about the word "parlous."

    I already knew "parlous" as a form of the word "perilous" associated with English spoken in the western and mid-western USA. Most likely, I got that from Western films or maybe cartoons of Yosemite Sam & Bugs Bunny. Who knows. The phrase that sticks in my head is: "I'm parlous thirsty, ma'am."

    But today, I learned that "parlous" was used in #MiddleEnglish, so possibly as far back as the 1100s! 😮 Def not the #OldWest!

    #etymology
    #language
    #linguistics

  4. Typed "I'm delighted" in a text to a friend -- and stopped short, looking at the word "delighted."

    I used "delighted" to mean that I am pleased, joyful, content, happy.

    But delighted. De-lighted.
    Wouldn't that mean "darkened"? Illumination removed?

    If "de-" indicates that "light" is removed, how does that jive with the emotions of pleased, happy, or content?

    Looked up the #etymology.

    And voilà.

    "light" <-- leoht (#MiddleEnglish) <-- lēoht (#OldEnglish) <-- *leuhtą (#ProtoGermanic)

    1/

  5. I fear I'd be pretty lost in the 1390s. I understand some, but nowhere near enough! Wonder what our descendants will sound like 630 years from now (if there are any). 🫠

    youtu.be/PqxbQy-kTHc

    #Linguistics #MiddleEnglish #SimonRoper #Language #xl8

  6. #wss366 #Scout 5/19 (#TimeManager Part 11)

    A “man” walked up to Poe on his hands. His feet straight up in the air and head protruding from his ass.

    “Ich seche faces as wex, wroght to be wondred at,” As the man spoke, a long forked tongue shot out of his mouth holding a contract.

    Poe stared at the contract the “person” thrust at him, saying, “I’m not signing my soul away!”

    Raven cackled, “He’s a talent SCOUT.”

    “For what? I can’t sing, dance, or act.”

    Raven spoke to the “man,” “He desireth to witen wherfore.”

    The man replied, “For Sire Alfrede’s Fyneste Fendes Melle. He sholde winne muchel worship.”

    Raven translated, “For Sir Alfred’s Ultimate Freak Show. He would be a great success.” Raven began cackling again. “Worship! That be rich.”

    “Me? Not the talking raven?” Poe was astonished.

    “Yes, you. The man who writes poems to dead women and talks to ravens at midnight.”

    Poe flicked Raven.

    “I’ll tell him,” Raven said indignantly.

    “Nay. His wille ne draweth thider.”

    “Meetes and herberwe yiven. Haluepeni the mone. Ne shalt do bettre þan þat,” the man replied.

    Raven translated, “Meals and lodging provided. Halfpenny a month. Won’t do better than that.”

    “He’s crazy. I’m not a freak and a halfpenny a month! He can stick it up his ass!” Poe was bristling.

    “His ass is in use, and I am not translating,” Raven said.

    Poe shook his head vigorously.

    The man shrugged and walked off, muttering, “Warlockes ben wondere wights. Were he min, ich wolde wasshen his muð mid sape.”

    “He says, ‘Warlocks are weird creatures, and he would wash your mouth out with soap if you were his kid.’”

    #MiddleEnglish
    #MicroFiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NotDrabble #TimeTravelAuthors #NMTTA

  7. #wss366 #Lick 5/16 #Easy 6/17 (#TimeManager Part 10)

    Poe awoke, clutching his head, thinking, “EASY on the cocktails next time.”

    Around a bonfire pranced lizards, toads, stags, and creatures more grotesque.

    “Where the hell!?”

    TM answered, “A smal wicche bad us hoom, 1150.”

    Poe’s bedraggled raven added, “Þis is BYFAR þe wierdeste þing þat ich evere seye.”

    “You’re not making a LICK of sense,” Poe said. “Translate!”

    Raven obliged. “A wee witch invited us home to 1150.” I said, “This is EASILY the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

    “A witches’ Sabbath!!!” Poe exclaimed.

    “Nay, a fest of disgisynges,” a goat-footed man explained.

    Raven translated, “Nay, a costume party.”

    #MiddleEnglish

    #MicroFiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #Drabble #TimeTravel #TimeTravelAuthors #NMTTA @QuasiTemporal

  8. 🤔 Oh joy, another thrilling adventure into the world of Middle English texts – because who doesn't want to read #Chaucer without footnotes? 📜 Apparently, the bold and daring mission to bring ye olde texts to the masses can only be sustained if everyone empties their wallets now that #NEH has bounced, because nothing says "medieval" quite like #crowdfunding. 🤑
    metseditions.org #MiddleEnglish #LiteraryAdventure #MedievalTexts #HackerNews #ngated

  9. Grandma used the word “whatsome” a lot. I've never heard anyone else say it. I often wonder where it came from.

    Curiously, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as an obsolete #MiddleEnglish word meaning “whatever” that hasn't been used in over 500 years.

    “Whatsome” was Grandma's “whatchamacallit”. She could also say “and whatsome” in the sense of “and so on”.

    Incidentally, Oxford recognises “whatsomever” as a surviving #dialect word.

    #Linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #English #Etymology

  10. When my wife brings home slang from middle school and speaks to the kids, I realize my own dialect might as well be Chaucer's.

    > Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
    > þeod-cyninga þrym gefrunon,
    > hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon
    > Skibidi bop, þæt was þe vybe.

    #MiddleEnglish #GenAlpha

  11. #KJV

    Pros:
    - #PublicDomain (except in the UK)
    - Readable by anyone that could read #English in that time period rather than needing to know #Latin to read a #Bible and thus not having to rely on churches to know what it says (because they often exclude things that are unsavory or go against what they say, like helping and supporting anyone poor and/or oppressed; this continues on today)

    Cons:
    - King James
    - #MiddleEnglish
    - England
    - Not public domain in the #UK

    #religion

    1/2

  12. #KJV

    Pros:
    - #PublicDomain (except in the UK)
    - Readable by anyone that could read #English in that time period rather than needing to know #Latin to read a #Bible and thus not having to rely on churches to know what it says (because they often exclude things that are unsavory or go against what they say, like helping and supporting anyone poor and/or oppressed; this continues on today)

    Cons:
    - King James
    - #MiddleEnglish
    - England
    - Not public domain in the #UK

    #religion

    1/2

  13. #KJV

    Pros:
    - #PublicDomain (except in the UK)
    - Readable by anyone that could read #English in that time period rather than needing to know #Latin to read a #Bible and thus not having to rely on churches to know what it says (because they often exclude things that are unsavory or go against what they say, like helping and supporting anyone poor and/or oppressed; this continues on today)

    Cons:
    - King James
    - #MiddleEnglish
    - England
    - Not public domain in the #UK

    #religion

    1/2

  14. #KJV

    Pros:
    - #PublicDomain (except in the UK)
    - Readable by anyone that could read #English in that time period rather than needing to know #Latin to read a #Bible and thus not having to rely on churches to know what it says (because they often exclude things that are unsavory or go against what they say, like helping and supporting anyone poor and/or oppressed; this continues on today)

    Cons:
    - King James
    - #MiddleEnglish
    - England
    - Not public domain in the #UK

    #religion

    1/2

  15. Wednesday today.
    But everyone says Wensday.
    1. Who will dare start spelling it the modern phonetic way?
    2. When did people start saying Wensday instead of Wednesday?

    I see the Old English was Wōdnesdæg
    and Middle English was Wednesdei

    But when did people stop pronouncing the d in Wedn-?

    #linguistics #OldEnglish #MiddleEnglish #English #SilentLetters #Wednesday

  16. New episode of the #Register -Podcast @sfb1412 is online! About #Adjectives, #MiddleEnglish and register variation diachronically observed. With Artemis Alexiadou @zas_berlin und Tom McFadden

    registergeknister.buzzsprout.c

    @linguistics

  17. @greeneralia
    Welcum, Yole, in glod aray,
    In worchip of the holeday! #MiddleEnglish

  18. One of my favorite #English #wordFormation facts: "atone" is not a #borrowing from Latin or French, but a #MiddleEnglish conversion from "at one", according to the #OED helped by the prior existence of the verb "one" and the usage of "onement". "atone" then took the place of the verb "one".

  19. “For fro what partie of the erthe that man duelle, outher abouen or benethen, it semeth alweys to hem that duellen that thei gon more right than ony other folk” - Mandeville’s Travels, 14th century #MiddleEnglish

  20. Whatt icc wolde nū don ❔
    an forrþward wiþþ Godd 🙏
    þatt he wharrfde ure stedes ↔️

    icc wollde ernenn nū forrth 🏃 🛣️
    annd stiȝhenn þatt hill 🏃🏔️
    anbd stiȝhenn þatt hus þær 🏃🏠

    youtu.be/DHspDQZKvwg?si=alf9ys

    #KateBush #RunningUpThatHill #MiddleEnglish #BardCore

  21. A very special cover of one of my favorite songs (I still can't believe Stranger Things made it cool again and introduced it to the younglings among you)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHspDQZKvwg


    #Music #KateBush #MiddleEnglish

  22. The #etymology of #gossip:

    gossip (n.)

    Old English godsibb "sponsor, godparent," from God + sibb "relative" (see sibling). Extended in Middle English to "a familiar acquaintance, a friend, neighbor" (c. 1300), especially to woman friends invited to attend a birth, later to "anyone engaging in familiar or idle talk" (1560s). Sense extended 1811 to "trifling talk, groundless rumor." Similar formations in Old Norse guðsifja, Old Saxon guþziff.

    etymonline.com/word/gossip

    #godparent #godfather #godmother #sibling #OldEnglish #MiddleEnglish #linguistics #language