Struggle between English and French

279. After.the Norman conquest of 1066 the situation in England, as far as-language is concerned, was as follows:

(1) The country is divided into two layers: the feudal upper
class, the government, the court speak Anglo-Norman, while the main
balk of the population — the peasantry and the townspeople — stick
to English.

(2) None of the territorial dialects enjoys any privilege as com
pared with the others.

(3) There is a considerable layer of bilingual population, speak
ing both languages.

Such a state of things was bound to result in conflicts, whose outcome depended on the relative power of the various social layers in medieval England. Struggle between the two languages for supremacy lasted all through three centuries; towards the end of this period a path for the formation of an English national language began to emerge. The situation was still more complicated by the fact that alongside the two languages a third language existed, namely Latin as an international language of the church and medieval church science (within the boundaries of Western Europe).

OE short у and long y appears in Chaucer as short i and long i respectively, as may be seen in such words as kin (OE cynn), fir (OEfgr),lltel (OElytel).

However, in a few words Chaucer's language has the Kentish for OE y: merie (OE myr^e), berien (OE byr^an). These Kentisr variants were adopted into Modern Standard English: merry ['men], bury ['ben] (the spelling in this case is South-Western). There are also words which in Chaucer appear in their Kentish variant, while Standard MnE has the East Midland variant: dreye (OE dryje), MnE dry, kessen (OE cyssan), MnE kiss, fest (OE fyst), MnE 'fist.

OE West Saxon ie, Mercian e, usually appears in Chaucer as e, in accordance with the Midland dialect, as in sheld, shelden (OE West Saxon scield, scieldan, Mercian sceld, sceldan). The OE verb West Saxon hleran, hyran 'hear', Mercian heran, always appears as heren in Chaucer. The OE verb West Saxon ^ieldan, Mercian ^eldan 'give', 'pay' is found in Chaucer both as yelden (Midland) and as yilden (Southern). Standard MnE has adopted the Midland variant.

OE a or ea before Id usually appears in Chaucer as о (accordin to the Midland variant), as in old, holden. Only rarely does Chaucer make use of the Southern variant with e, as in eld, helden.

OE еаз, eah usually appears in Chaucer as i, according to the East Midland dialect, as in ye 'eye' (OE ea^e), hye 'high' (OE heah). However, the Southern variants eye, heye also occur. Eventually the substantive meaning 'eye' developed in a peculiar way: its pronunciation came into Standard English from the Midland dialect: it was pronounced [i:], which later developed into [ai] in the vowel shift, (see § 506 ff.), and the spelling came from the Southern dialect, that is, eye. The word high, on the other hand, is Midland in origin as well in pronunciation as in spelling.

Grammatical Changes

MORPHOLOGY

The Substantive

346. As we saw (§ 141, 142), [in OE already the reduction of declension had begun: many i-stem and u-stem substantives were influenced by the a-stems and o-stems.}In addition, some vacillation was already observable within the a-declension and the o-declension. All this showed a reduction in the morphological system of the substantive.

t In the llth— 13th centuries these tendencies, aided by Scandinavian influence, developed more intensively.jWeakening of inflections is connected with levelling of unstressed endings; this process is accompanied by a series of analogical formations.

347. Reduction of the morphological system develops most quickly in the Northern dialect, which is followed by the Midland.

As we pointed out.fa considerable part of the vocabulary was common to OE and Scandinavian: the root of the words was identical, while the endings were different^ Under such circumstances the root was the element that would help mutual intercourse, while the endings would be an obstacle to it. It was therefore perfectly natural that both speaker and hearer would concentrate on the root and neglect the ending. This certainly promoted weakening and subsequent loss of endings. For example, the nominative singular of the word meaning 'son' was sunn in OE, and sunr in Scandinavian. The root sun-, common to both languages, would promote mutual understanding, while the endings -u and -r would hinder it. This would surely contribute to weakening of the ending -u and to its change into the neutral vowel [э]: sune. Similar processes took place in the sphere of conjugation.

348.Un the Northern and Midland dialects difference of grammatical gender was already lost in the llth and 12th centuries. The distinction of strong and weak declensions was also lost. The typical OE weak declension ending -n disappeared, and so the weak declension lost its most characteristic feature.lThese changes began in the 12th century. Only two endings proved stable: the ending -es of the genitive singular masculine and neuter a-stems, and the ending -as of the nominative and accusative plural masculine a-stems. The genitive plural also took the ending -es. In the course of the 12th century the es-ending spread to all substantives, with a very few exceptions. Thus the substantive name 'name' got the forms: genitive singular names, nominative, genitive, and accusative plural names; the substantive tunge 'tongue' got the form tunges in the same cases. Only a few substantives, which had mutation in the nominative and accusative plural: men, fet, ges, and a few which had an unchanged form in the nominative and accusative plural, such as shep, der, were not affected by*this process.

349.Un the Southern dialects the process developed at a much slower rate. Distinctions of grammatical gender remained to some extent in force, though many specific features of gender were oblit-eratedUfor example, all weak substantives, of whatever gender, had an -e-ending in the nominative singular: name (m), tunge (f), eye (n). Case endings also underwent some change: the OE paradigm n.pl. stanas, gen. pi. stana, dat. pi. stanum, ace. pi. stanas yielded stynes, stQne, stQtien, stgnes. Thus the nominative and accusative plural coincided with the genitive singular, and the genitive plural with the dative singular. Then the dative plural ending -en was superseded by the nominative and accusative plural ending -es.

350. In considering these changes we must note an important innovation occurring in substantives in the ME period.

In OE the category of number was interwoven with the category of case. Thus, in masculine a-stems the ending -as expressed simultaneously.the category of case (nominative, accusative) and that of number (plural). The same applies to other case forms. There was no sign of the plural which might be found in every plural form. This was a feature typical of synthetic structure.

In ME there comes a radical change in this respect: the expression of number is separated from that of case. So there is a great fundamental difference between the OE ending -as and the ME ending -es: while the OE -as expressed number and case simultaneously, ME -es expresses number alone and is not connected with any notion of case. This is an important innovation in ME.

It remains a moot question whether influence of the French language or of French loan words played any part in this spread of the s-plural in English. It seems likely that French influence could have contributed to a process which had begun independently.

351.LOld French had inherited from Vulgar Latin a two-case system of substantives: there was the nominative and the objective case. ILatin and Old French forms of these cases were the following:

2nd Declension of Masculine Substantives

Latin Old French

Singular Plural Singular Plural

\ Nominative murus 'wall' mur! murs mur

Objective murum muros mur murs

1st Declension of Feminine Substantives

Nominative fllia 'daughter' flliae fille filles
Objective flliam fllias fille filles

Qn the course of several centuries this two-case system died out. The nominative form disappeared, and the objective becarrfe the only form of the substantive] In Central French this process was completed in the 14th century, ari"d in Anglo-Norman as early as the 12th century. It was a coincidence that plural inflection in Anglo-Norman happened to be -s, i.e. the same as the most usual plural inflection in native English substantives. This may have played some part in fostering the spread of the s-plural in ME. This part should, however, not be exaggerated: the process developed quickest of all in the North, where French influence was less strong.

352. In studying the declension of substantives in ME, we have to consider the Southern dialects, on the one hand, and the Midland and Northern, on the other.

In the Sputhern dialects, distinction between genders and between strong and weak declensions was to some extent preserved, but

A final solution of the whole problem (if at all possible) will obviously require detailed studies as well of English as of other related and unrelated languages, with the aim of ascertaining both that which different languages have in common and that which constitutes the individual peculiarity of each of them.

The Pronoun

PERSONAL AND POSSESSIVE

355. Personal pronouns have the following forms in ME:

1 person

3 person Fern.

Singular 2 person

Masc.

Obj.

Neut.

 

[, ich me	thou he the him	he, she hir, her
	Plural
	person 2 person	3 person
Norn. Obj.	we" ye us you	hi, they hem, them

iJThe following changes occurred here since the OE period: * (1) Dual number pronouns have disappeared.

(2) Genitive case forms no longer exist as such (there are pos
sessive pronouns, see below).

(3) The dative and accusative have been merged into one objec
tive case. In most pronouns the objective stems form the OE dative
(him, hir, hem)_L in one pronoun form the OE accusative (hit); the
forms me, the, us, you had been the same for dative and accusative
in OE.

(4) The 3rd person plural pronoun hi is gradually superseded by
the pronoun they (of Scandinavian origin). The objective case is
represented both by hem (of OE origin) and them (Scandinavian).

(5) Initial h- of the neuter pronoun hit is often lost; this is
probably due to its usually unstressed position. ' •

(6) The origin of the feminine pronoun she is not quite clear. It
may have developed from the OE feminine demonstrative pronoun
seo."

Occasionally the pronoun ye is used in addressing one person. This use is frequent in Chaucer's works.

356. Possessive pronouns have the following forms:

Singular Plural

1 person. 2 person. 3 person. 1 person. 2 person. 3 person.

Masc. Fern. Neut.

min, ml thin, thl his hir, her, his our your hire, their

The forms mln, Шп-аге used if the following word begins with a vowel or with h-, e.g. туп elbowe, туп herte 'my heart', thyn ooth 'thy oath', thyn Ire 'thy anger', and before a pause: hoolly to be thyn 'to be wholly thine'. They are also used as predicatives, no matter what the initial sound of the following word is: туп be the travail, and thyn be the glorie 'mine be the labour, and yours be the glory'.

The forms my, thy are found before a word with an initial consonant (except h-): my blisse, thy vengeaunce, thy child. Thus, the use of min, thin or my, thy is determined partly by phonetic, partly by grammatical factors.

From OE phrases like sume of urum, same of eowrum ME possessive forms in -n have developed: ouren, youren; these are still found in Modern non-standard speech: ourn, yourn, also hisn, hern, theirn.

Alongside of these, forms in -s have been derived on the analogy of the genitive of nouns in such phrases as the body is the husbon-des 'the body is her^ husband's'; in the 14th century expressions of this type are used: pis lond salle be youres 'this land shall be yours'.

In Chaucer's works the phrase "of + possessive pronoun" is used in a partitive meaning, with the indefinite article or 'the pronouns any, every, preceding the substantive, e.g. an hors of his, an old felow of youres, eny neghebour of myne, every knight of his.

DEMONSTRATIVE

Г"

357. The OE forms of the demonstrative pronoun (or definite article) se, seo were changed into fie, peo on the analogy of the forms derived from the root "p""- In Early ME forms like fie, peo, pat functioned both as demonstrative pronoun and as article. Since the 14th century, however, the form pat was only preserved as a demonstrative pronoun form.

Simultaneously, the declension system of the pronoun was undergoing changes. The form pps (from OE pas, nominative and accusative plural of the OE demonstrative pronoun pes) became the plural of pat.

EARLY ME DECLENSION

The pronoun fe 'that' Singular

Plural

Neuter

Masculine Feminine

эе ?^eie je

>at, 1	jet
>es,	)e
ten,	>an,
>at, '	tet,

зео)er >er >eo

эео, эег,?en, ieo,

Nom.

Gen.

Dat.

Ace.

The Adjective

362. The declension of adjectives, underwent substantial changes-
in ME. Declension of adjectives had always been determined by
agreement with substantives in number, gender and case. In Ger
manic languages the use of strong and weak adjective declension
depended on whether the adjective was preceded by the definite
article or a similar word, or not (see § 53 ff.). The disappearance of
grammatical gender in ME substantives and the reduction of case
endings led to a considerable change in adjective declension, too.}
Besides, the characteristic weak-declension ending -en was dropped.
So the only case ending in adjectives came to be -e, and the highly
developed OE paradigm was reduced to the following system:

Strong Weak

Singular
Nom., gen., dat., ace. god gode

Plural
Nom., gen., dat., ace. gode g5de

In the Northern dialects, declension of adjectives was completely lost: the only surviving case ending -e was dropped, and the-adjectives became invariable. In the other dialects adjectives in -e became invariable, such as newe, trewe.

363. Degrees of comparison are formed in ME by means of the
suffixes -(e)r, -est (OE -r-, -ost-, -st-), e.g.:

183.

Rise of the Article System

367.Lln ME an indefinite article arose. As in many other languages, it had its origin in the numeral an 'one'3First signs of such development were already seen in OE (compare § 168). Then long a in unstressed position was shortened^ and there appeared an unstressed variant an. When the long a changed into long open <f (compare § 322) the numeral became pn; the divergence in sound between the stressed and the unstressed form furthered the separation of the article from the numeral.

¹ OE teopa > ME tithe > MnE tithe [tai6].

When on or an was followed by a word beginning with a con-" sonant, the -n was dropped, and there arose the variants 6, a. With the numeral, this alternation was later abandoned, and the form pn came to be used in all environments. With the indefinite article, the alternation of an and a depending on the initial sound of the following word has been preserved until to-day.

TNow that the word the has its counterpart in the word a(n) there is ground enough to say that English has an article system represented by two items: the definite and the indefinite. -

Tin OE, as we have seen (§ 152), an article appeared when the meaning of the demonstrative pronoun was weakened. In this way a new grammatical category within the system of substantives came into being: the category of determination, represented by the opposition: article/absence of article. "1

In ME we see a further development in this field: a second article appears here from the OE numeral an. This development must be interpreted as a split in the category of determination, its marked member now splits into two varieties: the definite represented by the article the (from OE se, with substitution of initial s- by th- influenced by other case forms, which were derived from the root £-in OE already). Thus, the whole system of determination may be represented in the following way: 1st opposition: no article (unmarked) vs. article (marked); 2nd opposition: within the second item of the 1st opposition: definite article the vs. indefinite article a(n). The difference between OE and ME in this respect can well be illustrated by comparing the OE examples given above (§ 152) with the following example from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with the same substantive man:

He was an esy man to yive penaunce 'He was an easy man to absolve sins'.

Here the indefinite article a was used in a context in which in OE there had been no article at all.

The conclusion that the article a(n) has become a part of the system having the same position as the article the, is confirmed by the fact such sentences as *he was esy man have become impossible by Chaucer's time.

Cases and Prepositional Phrases

368. In ME we must distinguish between the case system of substantives (common and genitive) and that of personal pronouns (nominative and objective). We shall first consider the substantive system, and then that of personal pronouns.

The common case of substantives inherited functions of three OE cases: nominative, accusative, and (partly) dative. From the nominative it inherited the functions of subject and predicative, as in the

conjugation

383.LConjugation underwent considerable changes in the ME period.

As a result of levelling of unstressed vowels (compare § 331) the difference between the endings -an, -on, -en was lost, which had played a prominent part in OE.

The final -n, which characterized many verb forms, was lost. It proved stable only in some second participles, where it has been preserved down to the MnE period.

Furthermore, differences between the 2nd and 3rd persons singular present indicative and the other present tense forms, due to mutation, disappear in ME. j

384. ME dialects differed in the verb endings.

In the plural present indicative only Southern dialects preserved the ending -eth (from OE -aj). In the Midland dialects this ending was superseded, by the -en-ending on the analogy of other plural forms (present subjunctive, past indicative and subjunctive, where the endings -on and -en coincided in a generalized -en); the influence of the present plural of preterite-present verbs with its -en-ending (compare § 387) may have played an important part in this change.

In Northern dialects the plural present indicative had the ending -es. The 2nd and 3rd persons singular also had an -es- ending in the North.

Differences between dialects also appear in the first participle. In Northern dialects the OE ending -ende was superseded by -ande, a Scandinavian form. In Midland dialects the ending -ende was preserved till the 14th century, when it was superseded by -inge, coming from the verbal substantive (compare § 393). In Southern dialects the -e- vowel was narrowed to -i- before the cluster "nasal + + consonant". In the 14th century the ending -inde was superseded by -inge, just as in Midland dialects.

Dialect differences are also found in the second partieiple. Nothern dialects preserved the -n-ending and lost the y-prefix (from OE ge-), whereas the Southern dialects preserved the -n-ending and dropped the y-prefix.

385. The following tables show the verb forms of the Midland
dialects of the 14th century. Peculiarities of other dialects are added
in parentheses.

Conjugation of the Strong Verb binden

Present Past

Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Indicative Subjunctive

Sing. 1 bmde. j b§nd |

2 bmdest } bmde bind bounde } bounde

3 blndeth, bint j bgnd
(North, blndes)

7* 195

The Verb

373. All types of verbs existing in OE — strong, weak, preterite-
present, and irregular were preserved in ME. In each of these types
we find changes due to phonetic phenomena of the ME period, and
changes due to analogy. Besides, some verbs change from the strong
conjugation to the weak, and some others from the weak to the
strong.

STRONG VERBS

374. u he changes which occurred since the OE period are these.
Both the infinitive ending -an and the past plural ending -on were
weakened to -en (-n).lln class IV and class V verbs the past sin
gular form began to penetrate into the past plural, thus preparing
the reduction of four main parts of a strong verb to three, which is
characteristic of the MnE period. On the other hand, in class II
and class III verbs the vowel of the second participle began to
spread to the past plural.

Grammatical alternation of consonants has been completely abandoned.

The OE prefix зе- was reduced to y-. This prefix is mostly found in the second participle in the Southern dialects. Some examples of the second participle having the prefix are met with in Chaucer's works. In most dialects, however, the prefix has disappeared by the 14th century.

375. Classes of strong verbs in ME:

Infinitive Past Singular Past Plural Second Participle

Class I

•writen 'write' wr§t writen writen

rlden 'ride' rgd riden riden

Class II
chesen 'choose' chgs chosen chgsen

WEAK VERBS

378.\Jhe three OE classes of weak verbs had a different development in different ME dialects.

In the Midland and Northern dialects class I weak verbs which had an -i- in the infinitive (styrian) and class II weak verbs (lufian, macian) lost the -i-, arid the forms stiren, Idveti, maken resulted.

In the Southern dialects the infinitive ending -ian > -ien often appears as -i, e.g. loui.

Class II verbs had the o-vowel in their past tense and second participle was weakened to -e-[6]: lovede, mdkede, loved, maked and thus lost their characteristic feature.3

In class III verbs the infinitives seggen, libben, habben are gradually superseded by seien, liven, haven, which have been derived on the analogy of the past tense and also of the 2nd and 3rd persons singular present indicative.

379. In the 14th century, in some weak verbs with a stem ending in -1, -n, -f, -v the past suffix -d changed into -t; verbs with a stem in -rd, -nd, -Id formed their past in -rte, -nte, -Ite, and their second participle in -rl, -nt_v -It Thus, for example, the OE class II verbs leornian — leornode — leornod 'learn', bereafian — bereafode — be-

(the passage gives a general characteristic of the prioress^). In the following example the context points to a different meaning: and after soper pleyen he bigan, and spak of mirthe amonges others thinges, whan that he hadde maa.d our rekeninges; and seyde thus... 'and after supper he began to play, and spoke of mirth, among other things, and said thus...' It is obvious that an action occurring once is meant here.

Compare also the following sentences. Metellius, the foule cherl, the swyn, that with a staf birafte his wyf hir lyf, for she drank wyn, though I hadde been his wyf, he sholde nat han daunted me for drinke 'Metellius, the foul fellow, the swine, who with a tick killed his wife because she drank wine, if I I had been his wife, he would not have deterred me from drinking'; and ther-upon the wyn was fet anon; we dronken, and to reste wente echon 'and thereupon wine was brought at once; we drank, and each went to rest'. In each sentence the context shows whether the action was completed or not.

The same is found in the following sentences. In kinges habit wente hir sones two, as heires of hir 'fadres regnes alle, and Her-manne, and Thymalao hir names were 'in royal habit her two sons went, as heirs of their father's whole kingdom, and Herman and Thymalao were their names'; for he was late y-come from his viage, and wente for to doon his pilgrymage 'for he had lately come from his expedition, and went to do his pilgrimage'. Compare also: of studie took he most cure and most hede 'of study he took most care and most heed'; and whan this worthy duk hath thus y-don, he took his host, and hoom he rood anon 'and when this worthy duke had done this, he took his army, and home he rode at once*.

The Perfect

SQl.^Perfect forms, which arose in OE, are widely used in ME. In Chaucer's works there are many sentences with the Present Perfect and the Past Perfect. I

The meaning of'these forms seems to be antecedence. We may therefore suppose that they express a verbal category which Prof. A. I. Smirnitsky, dealing with MnE, proposed to call "category of temporal relation". '

Let us consider some characteristic examples of the perfect forms in Chaucer. Lordinges, right thus, as ye have understonde, bar I stifly mine aide housbondes on honde 'gentlemen, just thus, as you have understood, I staunchly made my old husbands believe'; but,al thing, which that shyneth as the gold, it nis nat hold, as -that I have herd it told 'but not everything that shines like gold is gold, as I have heard it told', / hadde unnethe that word y-said right thus as I have told hit yow, that sodeynly... 'hardly had I pronounced this word,

¹ See А. И. Смирницкий, Морфология английского языка. М., 1959, стр. 274.

just as I have told it you, when suddenly...'; / shal doon diligence that Palamon, that is thyn owne knight, shal have his lady, as thou has him hight 'I shall do my best in order that Palamon, who is your own knight, shall have his lady, as you have promised him'; the топе, whan it was night, ful brighte shoon, and Absolon his giterne hat y-take, for paramours, he thoghte for to wake, and forth he gooth, jolif and amorous, till he cam to the carpenteres hous 'the moon when night came, shone very bright, and Absolon has taken his guitar, for love, and though he would wake and forth he goes, gay and amorous, until he came to the carpenter's house, a little after the-cocks had crowed'.... The holy blissful martir for to seke that hem hath holpen whan that they were seke '... to visit the holy blessed martyr who has helped them when they were ill'.

Compare also the following sentence: and whan this worthy duk hath thus y-don, he took his host, and hoom he rood anon 'and when this worthy duke has done so, he took his army, and home he rode at once'.

The past perfect is^ found in sentences as the following: ful thred-bare was his overest courtepy, for he had geten him yet no benefice 'quite threadbare was his jacket, for he had not yet got a benefice', and whan that he had herd Arcites tale, as he were wood, with face deed and pale, he sterte him up 'and when he had heard Arcite's tale, as if he were mad, with a deadly pale face, he jumped up'; but so-vereynly dame Pertelote shrighte, ful louder than dide Hasdrubales wyf, whan that hir housbond hadde lost his lyf, and that the Romans hadde brent Carthage 'but mainly dame Pertelote (a hen) shrieked, much louder than did Hasdrubal's wife, when her husband had lost his life and the Romans had burnt Carthage'.

Perfect forms of intransitive verbs were often derived by means of the verb be(n) (cf. § 203), e.g. the domes alle, that from the tyme of King William were falle 'all the sentences that had been pro-, nounced since the time of king William'.

a-hunting, the preposition on being weakened and turned into a prefix, and then, the prefix being dropped and the verbal substantive becoming a participle, is huntinge.

CThis development was obviously connected with the disappearance of the OE participle in -ende and its substitution by a new participle in -inge, which could have arisen in such phrases. ^A

We may also suppose that ME continuous forms resulted from merger of OE -ende-phrases and OE -ins-phrases.

Perfect continuous forms are quite rare in ME. Here is an example: we han ben waytinge a/ this fourtenight 'we have been waiting all this fortnight'.

Future Tense

394. „A special future form, which started in OE, becomes in ME a regular part of the tense system; Chaucer uses this future form in many cases. The auxiliaries shal and wil are usually deprived of their-original modal meanings: ther-as the knightes weren in prisoun, of whiche I tolde you, and fellen shal 'where the knights were in prison, of which I told you and shall tell'; but I was hurt right now thrugh-out my ye in-to туп herte, that wol my bane be 'but I was hurt through my eye into my heart, this will be the death of me'.

Occasionally, however, the future meaning may be accompanied by some modal tinge, as in: the cherl shal have his thral; this I awar'de 'the man shall have his servant; I promise this'; ther shal no deth me from my lady twinne 'no death shall separate me from my lady'.

In the following examples the verb wil implies willingness to perform the action: and I wol love hire maiigree al they might 'and I will love her in spite of all your might'; What? trowe ye, the whyles I may preche, and winne gold and silver for I teche, that I wol live in povert wilfully? 'What? do you think that while I may preach and earn gold and silver, I shall willingly live in poverty?'

 

The Continuous

Г

392iln ME appeared first instances of a continuous aspect, consisting of the verb be(n) and the first participle. They were very rare. Thus, in Chaucer's works only six examples of such forms have been foundnHere is one of them: singynge he was, or floytinge, al the day 'he was singing, or playing the flute, all day long'."

393. The origin of these formations has not yet been quite cleared up. There are two possible sources: (1) OE phrases consisting of the verb beon and a first participle in -ende, (2) OE phrases consisting of the verb beon, the preposition on and a verbal substantive in -in5, like he is on huntings 'he is in hunting', 'he is hunting'.

As to the second variant, the development could have been the following: the original phrase is on hunting could have become is

Moods

Use of the Subjunctive

395. The Subjunctive mood 'preserved in ME many features it had in OE. It was often used in temporal and concessional clauses: and slepen wollen til the sonne shyne 'and will sleep till the sun shines'; though it happen me rehercen eft 'though I should have to repeat it again'; er it were day, as was hir wane to do, she was arisen 'before it was dawn, as it was her habit of doing, she had arisen'.

In conditional clauses the present subjunctive is used to denote a possible action: but if thou wene I be thus syk for drede, it is not so 'but if you think 1 am ill for fear, it is not so',