Adventures in English

Marie T. HuhtalaSSU/OLLI

Timeline

• Old English: 450 – 1066, ~ 600 years• Middle English: 1066 – 1400, ~ 340

years• Early Modern English: 1400 – 1700,

~ 300 years

Early Modern English

The Great Vowel ShiftThe Printing PressThe English Renaissance

Long and Short Vowels

English Vowels

Diphthongs in English

Old English Vowels

Short Vowels: e and i pronounced much like in Modern English: bit, bet

Long Vowels: actually held longerLong a: like the second vowel in aha,

fatherLong e: like an extended version of the

vowel in game

Old English Vowels

Long i as in machine

Long o as in boat

Long u as in fool

Long æ like the a in man

Long y was a high rounded frontvowel, like the sound of French “tu”

Long Vowel Spelling in ME

Long vowels marked with double letter:boc → booc → book, se → see

Final “e” no longer pronounced but retained to indicate long vowel:

nose, name

Why Did the Vowels Shift?

• Nobody knows for certain.• Foreign loan words?• Regional dialects may have played a role.• Population shifts, especially after the Black

Death, may have affected pronunciation.

Examples

• Moon (pronounced moan) moved up• Life (pronounced leef) moved up and into the

center

The Great Vowel Shift

Front Vowels:“a” moved to “ae” : BATH“ae” moved to “e”: WRESTLE“e” moved to “i” : FIELD“i” moved to “ai” : LIFE

Back Vowels: “short o” moved to “o”: HOLY“o” moved to “u” : BOOT“u” moved to ”au” : HOUSE

ME to Modern Pronunciation (spelling stayed the same)

“bote” → “boot”“moan” → “moon”“maat” → “mate”“shape” → “sheep”“floor” → “flour”“oot” → “out”

“sheer” → “shire“meen” → “mine”“may” → “me”“hoos” → “house”“naam” → “name”“leef” → “life”

The Printing Press

• Johannes Gutenberg, circa 1450

• William Caxton, 1476

• Preserved Middle English spellings even as pronunciation changed

William Caxton

• “The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye,” 1473

• “The Canterbury Tales,” 1476

• “Metamorphosis”• ”Aesop’s Fables”• “Tales of King Arthur”

The Myrrour of the World, 1481

Book of Common Prayer

The English Renaissance

• Edmund Spenser• William Shakespeare• Christopher Marlowe• John Donne• John Milton• Francis Bacon• Ben Jonson

The Elizabethan Era, 1559-1603

Words Borrowed from Latin

species, militia, radius, specimen, squalor, apparatus, focus, tedium, lens, antenna, horrid, illicit, pungent, frugal, dislocate, explain, excavate, adapt, gradual, habitual

Words Borrowed from Latin

absurdity, area, complex, concept, invention, temperature, capsule, insane, ultimate, agile, fictitious, physician, orbit, manuscript, premium, expensive, notorious

Words Borrowed from Greek

criterion, paralysis, nausea, pathetic, anonymous, enthusiasm, technique, system, anatomy, skeleton, atmosphere, catastrophe

Words Borrowed from Greek

parasite, manuscript, lexicon, comedy, tragedy, anthology, biography, mythology, sarcasm, paradox, chaos, crisis, climax

“Inkhorn” Words

revolutingderuncinateabsterpifycohibit

“Inkhorn” Words

dismiss, disagree, celebrate, encyclopedia, industrial, necessitate, exaggerate, dexterity, capacity, ingenious

commit, transmit (but not demit)

Pretentious 17th c. Spellings

dette (L. debitum) → debtdote (L. dubitare) → doubtiland (Fr. isle ) → islandpeupel (L. populus) → peopleperfit (L. perfectus) → perfectverdit (L. verdictum) → verdictfaute (L. fallita) → faultassaute (L. adsaltis) → assault

Alternative Spellings, 17th c.

• 30 ways to spell “church”• 22 ways to spell “people”• 60 ways to spell “she”• 43 ways to spell “receive”• Almost 500 variations of “through”

Alternative Spellings, 17th c.

“people”• peple, pepule, pepulle,

pepil, pepylle, peeple, people, poepull, puple, puple, pupile, pupill, pupyll, pupul, peuple, pople, pepul, pepille, pepyll, peopel, poeple, poepul, ETC

“receive”• rasawe, rassaif, rassave,

recave, receave, receawe, receiuf, receve, receyf, receive, reciffe, recive, recyve, resaf, resaif, resaiff, resaive, resave, resayfe, resayff, resevemreycive, ETC

“Ye” and the Missing Thorn

“Ye” and the Missing Thorn

Originally, the English word "the" was spelled "þe."

The symbol þ represents the old letter thorn.

Over time, the writing of þ changed, so that it looked more and more like another letter, wynn (ƿ), and eventually became indistinct from the letter y.

That led some printers to use “ye” for “the.”

Not the same as “ye,” for “you.”

Standardization by 1650

• “u” gradually became a vowel, and “v” became a consonant.

• Modern punctuation arose.• Capital letters started sentences and marked

proper nouns (as well as “important” nouns).

Shakespeare’s Signatures

Willm Shakp

William Shaksper

Wm Shakspe

William Shakspere

Willm Shakspere

By me William Shakspeare

Caxton’s Punctuation Marks

• For marking word groups: /• For distinct pauses: :• For the end of sentences OR brief pauses: .

• The third temptation that the Devil makes to them that die. is by Impatience: that is against charity/ For by charity be holden to love God above all things.

New Punctuation

?Note of Interrogation

!Note of Admiration

The Bibles

John Wycliffe, 1320-1384

• Oxford scholar and dissident priest

• First English Bible• Prefigured the

Reformation• Followers were

called Lollards

Wycliffe’s Bible, 1382

• “an eye for an eye”• “woe is me”• “burnt-offering”• Leviathan• “Hail [Mary], full of

grace, Blessed be thou among women”

Tyndale’s New Testament, 1526

• My brother’s keeper• Seek and ye shall find• The salt of the earth• The powers that be• Let there be light• A moment in time• The signs of the times

King James I (VI)

The King James Bible

• Published 1611• 54 scholars, 7 years• Old Testament: 39 books • Apocrypha: 14 books• New Testament: 27 books

The Book of Genesis

1. In the beginning God created the Heauen, and the Earth.2. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darkenesse was vpon the face of the deepe: and the Spirit of God mooued vpon the face of the waters.3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The Book of Genesis

4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God diuided the light from the darkenesse.5. And God called the light, Day, and the darkenesse he called Night: and the euening and the morning were the first day.6. And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters: and let it diuide the waters from the waters.

The Book of Genesis

7. And God made the firmament; and diuidedthe waters, which were vnder the firmament, from the waters, which were aboue the firmament: and it was so.8. And God called the firmament, Heauen: and the euening and the morning were the second day.

King James Bible:Deliberately Archaic Words

• thou, ye• dost• gat• thine• thou hast• spake• shineth• kine• brethren

• you• does• got• your, yours• you have• spoke• shines• cattle• brothers

The Beatitudes

Wycliffe (1382):Blessid ben pesible men, for thei schulen be clepid Goddis children.

Tyndale (1526):Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shalbecalled the chyldren of God.

King James (1611):Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall bee called the children of God.

Sir Francis Drake

Defeat of the Spanish Armada

American Colonies

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Words

• “It out-Herods Herod”• “Uncle me no uncle”• 21,000 – 34,000 word

vocabulary• More than twice the

vocabulary of an educated person today

Have You Ever Said These?

• As luck would have it• Discretion is the better

part of valor• Give the devil his due• ‘Tis neither here nor

there• The first thing we do,

let’s kill all the lawyers

• Too much of a good thing

• We have seen better days

• I have not slept a wink• A dish fit for the gods• Some achieve

greatness, some have it thrust upon them

A Few Shakespearean Expressions

Break the iceDead as a doornailFor goodness’ sakeHeart of goldKill with kindnessLove is blindOne fell swoopPomp and circumstance

Brave new worldEaten me out of house

and home‘Tis high timeLaughing stockMilk of human kindnessSound and furyWhat’s done is done

And a Few More

Vanish into thin airIn my mind’s eyeSea changeFast and looseForegone conclusionWith bated breathThe truth will outCold comfort

It’s Greek to meTower of strengthMake a virtue of necessityBrevity is the soul of witMore in sorrow than in

angerFool’s paradiseFlesh and blood

Words from Shakespeare

BarefacedBaselessDauntlessEventfulMoney’s worthMoonbeamShooting starTime-honored

ObscenePremeditatedCourtshipLeap-frogCriticalMajesticFragrantGloomy

More Words

• Eyeballs• Bump• Lustre• Assassination• Hot-blooded• Aggravate• Accommodation• Hint

• Gnarled• Castigate• Laughable• Frugal• Homicide• Hurry• Excellent• Summit

Coinages that Died

• Affin’d (united by affinity)• Attask’d (taken to task)• Fracted (broken)• Indigest (unformed, shapeless)• Palmy (victorious)• Relume (to light again)• Rubious (ruby red), Smilets (half smiles)

And Two that Came Back

• Articulate

You, Titus Lartius,Must to Corioli back: send us to RomeThe best, with whom we may articulate,For their own good and ours. -- Coriolanus

These things, indeed, you have articulated,Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in

churches. --Henry IV, Part I

To Friend Someone

When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended,

That for the fault's love is th’offender friended. --

Measure for Measure

Not friended by his wish, to your high personHis will is most malignant. -- Henry VIII

To orderly solicits, and be friendedWith aptness of the season. -- Cymbeline

Original Pronunciation (OP)

• Movement began in 2004• David Crystal and the Globe Theater, Romeo

and Juliet• Rhymes and puns suddenly work• Closer to “speaking trippingly upon the

tongue” (Hamlet)• Offers fresh possibilities of characterization

Rhymes

Sonnet 25:Then happy I, that love and am beloved,Where I may not remove nor be removed.

Sonnet 116:If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Puns

Romeo and Juliet, Prologue:From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.

As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 3:Touchstone: “I am here with thee and thy goats, as the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.”

Puns

Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, Scene 2:Thersite: “But yet you look not well upon him;for, whomsoever you take him to be, he is Ajax.”

(“a jakes” = “outhouse”)