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Middle English Vocabulary
Middle
English Word List for the West Midlands and Northumbria
The following
wordlist gives common Middle English vocabulary for the West
Midlands and Northumbria. It is especially suitable for reading
the Pearl Poet's major works such as Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight, Patience, Cleanness,
and Pearl. It is less useful for London dialects that
spoken by Chaucer. Since there is no standardized spelling
in the fourteenth century, be alert for words that look like
one thing but mean another. Also watch for metathesis (inverted
letters) such as spelling the word "Bird" as "Brid." A final
warning: quoting sources written in Middle English will annoy
your computer's spell-check. Allow extra time for proof-reading.
Click here to download a PDF
copy of this file.
- al, al be, al be that:
although, even if
- als, also: also, as
- -ande: as a suffix, this
indicates the present participle when attached to the
end of a verb. Thus, "walkande" is equivalent
to Mn. English "walking."
- anon: at once, immediately
- aventure: chance
- bet: better
- burg; berg: city; town;
cf. modern "Pittsburg" in America and "Hamburg" in Germany.
- but, but if: unless
- burn:
man; warrior
- can, kan, conne,
konne: to be able, to know, to know how; to learn,
to understand.
- con: did (indicator of
completed past tense action, comparable to the way "gone"
is used in some rural American dialects, i.e., "He
gone and done it! That boy gone got married!")
- certe, certes, sertes:
certainly
- chorl, churle: a
low-born or uncouth fellow; a man (cf. modern "churlish")
- clepe(n):
call, name, mention
- clerk,
clerke:
a cleric; a priest; a scholar; a literate man
- comlok, comlych,
comelok: comely; attractive
- conseil: council; to counsel
or advise; secret(s), confidence(s)
- corage: heart; spirit;
courage; desire
- curious: careful, diligent;
skillful; eager; skillfully made
- daunger:
lordship, power, control; ungraciousness, disdain
- degree:
rank, status, social condition
- del, deel:
bit, part
- deme, deeme:
judge, decide; suppose (Mn. E. "deem")
- dint, dynt:
an injury, a crushing blow, a strike in combat (cf. Mn.
E. "dent")
- dom judgment; decision. (cf. Mn.
English "doom")
- do, doon: to do, cause.
doon make: cause to be made
- drede: doubt "it is no
drede" (there is no doubt).
- eek, eke: also
- er, ere: before
- erd, eard, erde:
earth, ground, dirt (distantly related to both Mn. English
"earth" and "yard")
- eyen, eien, yen:
eyes (see also ye for the singular)
- falle: fall; befall, happen
- fare: fare, go; act, behave
- fayne: (as an adjective)
glad; (as an adverb) gladly, willingly, eagerly
- freke: a man; a warrior
folde: earth, hill (especially in sense of a green or
fertile area)
- for: because (of); for;
in order that
- for- (prefix) an intensifier
attached to verbs or adjectives, roughly equivalent ot
"very"
- fre, free: noble,
gracious, generous; free
- fro: from (as in "to and
fro")
- gentilesse: refined character,
high breeding, nobility, courtesy
- giserne: a battle-ax
- go, goon:
to walk, to go
- gome(n):
a game (not to be confused with gome/guma, below)
- gome/guma:
a man; a warrior (cf. Old English guma)
- gyse:
guise; manner, way, fashion, custom
- han:
have (contracted form of Old and Middle English haven)
- hap:
chance, luck; good fortune; occurrence (as in Mn. English
"happenstance")
- hatan:
called, named; ordered
- hathel: man; warrior
- hende: clever, noble, courteous
(Mn. English "handy")
- hente(n):
to seize, grasp
- highte:
is called, is named; was called, was named
- hoh:
third person singular feminine pronoun, Mn. English "she"
- i-
, y-: as prefix indicates the past participle
- ic, iche,
i: first person pronoun "I"
- ilke:
same; the same type
- intil:
unto; as far as
- kinde,
kynde: nature, race, stock, species, sort; natural
disposition
- koude:
knew; knew how to; could
- lat:
let
- lede, lude: man;
warrior
- leef, lief, leve:
dear, beloved; pleasant, agreeable
- lewed: ignorant, unlearned;
coarse, rude; wicked
- like(n),
lyke(n): to like, enjoy (often in impers. constructions;
e.g., me liketh: "it pleases me")
- list, lest: to please
(often occurs in impers. constructions; e.g., me
list: "it pleases me")
- lite, lyte: little
- lust: pleasure; desire
- lusty: energetic, happy
- maistry: domination, mastery
- micel, michel, mickel:
much, many
- mo: more moot,
- moote: may; must; ought
to
- [idiomatic
phrases] so moot I, also moot I,
ever moot I: "as I hope"
- also
so moote I thee: "as I hope to prosper
"
- most, moste: must;
most
- mowe: may (pres. plural
of mowen)
- namely: especially
- nas: was not (contraction
of ne was)
- nat: not
- ne: not, nor
- nere: were not (contraction
of ne were)
- nimian: to take, past tense
third person is "he nam"; past participle
is nomen.
- niste: knew not (contraction
of ne wiste)
- nolde: would not (contraction
of ne wolde) not,
- noot: knows not (contraction
of ne woot)
- nis, nys, nis,
nice, nyce: ignorant, foolish, weak; wanton;
precise, scrupulous
- nys, nis: is not
(contraction of ne is)
- nyste: knew not, did not
know (contraction of ne wiste)
- paraventure:
perhaps
- povre:
poor (like French pauvre)
- quit, quite:
(infinitive) to reciprocate, repay; (past part.) repaid
- quod: said
- rede, reede:
advice, counsel; to advise, to counsel (Cf. Old English
raed)
- renk:
man; warrior
- sale:
hall; feasting place
- segg, segge: man;
warrior
- sen, syn: since
- seker, siker: true,
certain, noble, sure (distantly related to Mn. English
"secure" and "sacred.")
- sely: blessed, innocent;
good; kind; happy; poor; wretched; hapless (Cf. Mn. Irish
seelie, Mn. English silly)
- sentence: opinion, sentiments;
moral meaning, significance
- siker: certain, sure, true
- sikerly: certainly, surely,
truly
- sit: sits (contraction
of sitteth)
- sith, sithen: since
(not to be confused with Darth Vader's domain)
- solas: comfort, solace;
amusement, entertainment; pleasure
- solempne: formal; solemn,
serious; ceremonious; festive; merry
- sore, soore: bitterly,
sorely
- sooth, sothe: truth
(Mn. English "Soothsayer")
- soothfastnesse: truth;
truthfulness
- stint, stente, stynthe:
cease, stop; restrain
- sterte: jump, leap, spring,
move suddenly (like Mn. English "start," and "startle.")
- swir, swire, swyr,
swyre: neck
- swythe: very, so, suddenly
(intensifying adverb)
- sythes: since, after
- thee, theen: to
prosper (infinitive)
- ther, there: there;
where
- thilke: the same (contraction
of "the ilke")
- tho: then trowe(n): to
believe
- tulk: a man, a warrior
- umbe-, umbre-: a
prefix meaning "around." (cf. Old English ymbesittendra
in Beowulf.)
- unnethe: scarcely, hardly;
with difficulty
- war: aware; wary; prudent
- wedes: clothes, garments,
apparel, (cf. modern "weeds" as slang term for fine clothes
in the 1930s).
- wende(n): to go, pass,
walk (infinitive).
- wende:
thought, supposed (past tense Old English wenan, cf. Mn.
English "ween")
- whilom: once, once upon
a time; formerly
- wight, wyghe: a
man; a creature
- wiste: knew
- wol: will
- wood: crazy, mad, insane
- woot: knows (from "wit")
- wyse: wise; way, manner
- y-
/ i-: as a verb prefix, it indicates the past participle.
- yaf: gave
- ye, ey, yghe:
eye
- yep: new; keen; fresh;
brave, ready (primarily Northumbrian)
- yif: if; give
- ywis: certainly, surely
*The choice of words for this list originates
in materials provided to me by Professors Martha Bayless and
James Boren at the University of Oregon English Department,
and by Professor Shearle Furnish of West Texas A& M University.
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