< The Sources of Standard English
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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

English in its earliest shape.

A.D. page
The Aryan Clan on the Oxus 1
Their way of life 2
Words common to Sanscrit and English 3, 4
Aryan Suffixes kept by us 5
The origin of ward and like 6
Aryan Comparatives and Superlatives 7
The Aryan Verb - Strong Perfects 8
The Participle, Strong and Weak 9
Aryan Irregular Verbs 10
Our forms akin to Latin and Greek 11
Our forms akin to Lithuanian 12
The Three divisions of Teutons 13
Inflections of their Substantive and Verb 14
Teutonic Endings of Nouns 15
Weak Perfects - Inroads on the Celts 16
The Teutons attack the Latins 17
450. The Beowulf, an English Epic 18
The English seize Britain 19
600. They are Christianized 20
Old English Substantives 21
Old English Adjectives 22
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A.D. page
Old English Pronouns 23
Old English Verbs 24
Letters cast out or put in 25
Exchange of letters 26
Prepositions still used in the old way 27
The use of man - English Negation 28
The Verb - The Article 29
The Verb do prefixed to other Verbs 30
Adverbial Idioms 31
Corruption of words - Loss of Accents 32
Alliterative Poetry 33
It still keeps its hold on us 34

CHAPTER II.

the old english, 680-1120.

the middle english, 1120-1300.

Northumbrian English 35
680. Cadmon's Runes on the Ruthwell Cross 36
737. Another piece of Cadmon's 37
800. The Northern Psalter 38
Its peculiarities 39
876. The Norse Settlement in England 40
Its abiding influence 41
900. The Rushworth Gospels 42
Southern and Northern English contrasted 43
924. King Edward's Conquests 44
941. The Five Danish Burghs 45
954. Eadred becomes the One King of England 46
The Danish influence on New English 47
970. The Lindisfarne Gospels 48
Southern and Northern English contrasted 49
Norse corruptions 50
1066. The French Conquest 51
1090. The Legend of St. Edmund 52
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A.D. page
Corruptions in the Saxon Chronicle 53
Slow change from Old to New 54
Interest attached to Peterborough 55
1120. Its Forged Charters 56
The letters h and g replaced 57
The Dative replaces the Accusative 58
Break-up of Case-endings 59
New use of Prepositions 60
Clipping of Infinitives and Participles 61
The Northern, Midland, and Southern Shibboleths 62
New Teutonic words crop up 63
Scandinavian words come in 64
1120. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 65, 66
1120. Specimen of Southern Dialect 67
A later Version of Ælfric's Homilies 68
O and ch replace a and c 69
New Relatives - The letter ʓ 70
Lines on the Grave 71
1160. The Peterborough Chronicle 72
Southern corruptions appear 73
K, qu, and gh are found 74
1160. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 75, 76
1160. Specimen of Southern Dialect 77, 78
Early Rimes - The Sound au 79
V and w replace f and g 80
Sh replaces sc 81
Change in Nouns and Verbs 82
Change in Meaning of Words 83
1170. The Moral Ode - The Worcester Manuscript 84
Ou replaces o - The new besiden 85
The Hatton Gospels 86
1180. The Essex Homilies - The form ie 87
Clipping of Words - New phrases 88
The Masculine and Neuter Article confused 89
New Norse words 90
1200. King Alfred's Proverbs 91
Orrmin 92
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A.D. page
His Norse origin 93
His probable abode 94
His many corruptions 95
His new Pronouns 96
His Norse words, kept by us 97
His Prepositional compounds 98
He uses that for thilk 99
Theirs, what man, thyself 100
Forthwith, right, or, alone, same 101
He replaces œ by a 102
Change in the meaning of words 103
The Norse auxiliary mun 104
Strong Verbs corrupted into Weak 105
Hid, sicken, shown 106
Mid and niman die out 107
1200. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 108, 109
1205. Specimen of Western Dialect 110
Layamon's Brut 111
He is the last to use œ 112
The Corrupt Participle in ing 113
His Norse Words 114
The Legend of St. Margaret 115
The letters ea - The ending ful 116
1220. The Hali Meidenhad 117
The Ancren Riwle 118
The use of one for man 119
The New Relative 120
The Superlative replaced by most 121
New Norse words 122
New Low German words 123
Salopian works 124
1230. The Bestiary 125
Ou replaces u; one 126
The Genesis and Exodus 127
Drag, dray, draw - The i and oo 128
Clipping of words in East Anglia 129
Whilum, seldum, muste, these 130
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A.D. page
New Norse words 131
1230. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 132
1230. Specimen of Southern Dialect 134, 135
1240. The Lincolnshire Creed 136
Interchange of f and g 137
1240. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 138, 139
1240. Specimen of South Western Dialect 140
The Owl and the Nightingale 141
1250. Mercian Religious pieces 142
1250. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 143, 144
1250. Specimen of Northern Dialect 145
The Yorkshire Psalter 146
Gh replaces h 147
Brake, feet, gives 148
The New Relatives - Those 149
New Substantives 150
Through hap, gainsay 151
New Norse words 152
New Version of Layamon's Brut 153
The Jesus Manuscript 154
1270. Huntingdon (?) Poem 155
1270. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 156
1270. Specimen of Southern Dialect 157
The Proverbs of Hending 158
The Sir Tristrem 159
The new sense of bond 160
New Norse words 161
1280. The Harrowing of Hell 162
The curious dialogue 163
The Strong Perfect corrupted 164
The Havelok 165
Northern and Southern forms meet 166
You used for thou 167
The mangling of drake; lark 168
New Norse words 169
Loss of old Prepositions 170
1280. Specimen of East Midland Dialect 171, 172
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A.D. page
1280. Specimen of Southern Dialect 173
The King Horn. 174
1290. Kentish Sermons 175
1300. Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle 176
His Life of Becket 177
His Life of St. Brandan 178
The Romance of Alexander 179
The New English, where compounded 180
1300. Few new Teutonic idioms since this date 181

CHAPTER III.

the rise of the new english.

A.D. 1303.

Robert of Brunne in Lincolnshire 182
1303. His Work, The Handlyng Synne 183
His dialect, partly Southern 184
Partly Western, partly Northern 185
Went, second, right, full, down 186
Kind, mind, truth, buck 187
Adder, one after an Adjective 188
Wholly, lost, to be blamed 189
Sack, toy, cannot 190
New words - St. Audre 191
Yon, what time, the which 192
Somebody, once, inasmuch 193
Would God, Lord, side by side 194
He asks pardon for his diction 195
His tale of Bishop Robert 196
His account of Charity 197
Taken from St. Paul 198
His advice about Mass 199
His tale of the Norfolk Bondeman 200
His account of himself 201
Specimens of Dialects - North Lincolnshire 202
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A.D. page
Yorkshire - Durham 203
Lancashire 204
Salop - Herefordshire 205
Gloucestershire - Irish Pale 206
Somersetshire 207
Oxfordshire - Kent 208
Middlesex 209
Bedfordshire 210
Tables - Words akin to Dutch and German 211
Scandinavian words of the Fourteenth Century 212
Celtic words - Dutch words 213
Scandinavian words of the Fifteenth Century 214

CHAPTER IV.

the inroad of french words into england.

Harm done in the Thirteenth Century 215
1066. English Poetic words die out 216
French alone is in favour 217
1160. How French words first came in 218
Forty of them in use very early 219
Proper names spelt in French 220
1220. The Ancren Riwle abounds in French 221
The foreign sound oi 222
Words of Religion - The foreign j 223
Table of French words akin to English 224
English words drop in the Thirteenth Century 225
This fact explained 226
The Franciscans in England 227
1250. Their daily work 228
They bring in French words 229
The 'Luve Ron' of a friar 230
Poem by one of the Old School 231
1290. The Kentish Sermons 232
Treatise on Science 233
1300. Coarse English Words cast aside 234
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A.D. page
French used by Architects 235
French used by Ladies 236
Warlike Romances Englished 237
Our French words for soldiering 238
French employed by lawyers 239
The number of new French words 240
These take English endings 241
French words used by the lowest 242
1303. French brought in by Robert of Brunne 243
Jolly, party, divers, nice 244
Touch, trail, single, afraid 245
Certain, passing, bondage 246
English roots take French endings 247
The decay of Teutonic words arrested 248
Corruption of the Franciscan Order 249
1360. Robert's words need explanation 250
Gradual loss of Old English Words 251
Table of Words, Obsolete and Romance 252

CHAPTER V.

the new english.

a.d. 1303-1873.

English differs from other Literatures 253
Each shire had its own speech 254
Norse influence in England 255
1303. The East Midland advances Southwards 256
Contrast between it and the London speech 257
Edward I. neglected English 258
The New Standard English spreads 259
1349. Edward III. favours it 260
New Forms of old words 261
Poem on the Carpenter's Tools 262
1356. Mandeville's writings 263
Nassington at Cambridge 264
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A.D. page
1380. Wickliffe's version of the Bible 265
Young one, wast, shipwreck, haply 266
His Latin idioms bad 267
Purvey and Hereford 268
New forms used at this time 269
1400. Creed and Prayers 270
1408. Forms of Matrimony 271
1450. Lollard Tract on Scriptural translation 272
The Speech of the Court 273
1390. Chaucer's new forms 274
Belike, bi and bi, scarcely, menes 275
1432. Letters written by knights - Warwick 276
Suffolk's letter to his son 277
1447. East Anglian Letters - Shillingford 278
1450. Pecock's Repressor 279
The Word unless - Good Prose 280
1460. Yorkshire letters of the time 281
1426. Audlay in Salop 282
1454. York's children at Ludlow 283
1471. Caxton prints the First English Book 284
He restores the hard g 285
1481. His Renard the Fox 286
1482. He alters Trevisa's words 287
1523. Lord Berners - Tyndale 288
1525. Corruptions in his Testament 289
Once, father, coulde, righteous 290
Abroad, waves, sad, roll 291
Tyndale's sound Teutonic style 292
1542. His version disliked by Gardiner 293
His wrangles with More 294
1528. His critical power - Roy's rimes 295
1536. Plumpton's letter home 296
English Poetry becomes more Teutonic 297
1524. Abbot Malvern's verses 298
Theology, the Classics, Travels 299
1560. Cranmer's Prayer Book 300
Latin and Teutonic in our Bible 301
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A.D. page
1583. Fulke's scorn of the Douay Bible 302
1611. Influence of our Version 303
Romanism adverse to our Literature 304
The Reformation unites England and Scotland 305
The Bible a bond for the Angel cyn 306
1550. Wilson's criticism - Shakespere 307
1590. Spenser - Our Golden Age 308
The form its - Loss of Old Forms 309
1640. Strafford's Thorough - Milton 310
His Lycidas - Bunyan 311
1650. The Change in English Prose 312
1750. Johnson's Corruptions 313
The Study of Sanscrit 314
1810. Scott, Byron, Coleridge 315
1820. Scott's Romances - The Ballad revived 316
1830. Cobbett - Monk's Life of Bentley 317
1870. Speeches of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright 318
1873. Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Morris 319
Table of Dates bearing on English Literature 320, 321

CHAPTER VI.

good and bad english in 1873.

Scholars and the Middle Class 322
The Latter love Foreign phrases 323
How a man writes to The Times 324
Latin is too often a pitfall 325
The Penny-a-liner of our day 326
Blunder of Irish Prelates 327
Correspondents of Journals 328
Editors should put down bad English 329
Americans misspell honour 330
Fine writing in America 331
To interview 332
English abuse of the letter h 333
Bad style of English preachers 334
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A.D. page
English not taught at schools 335
Good influence of the Classics 336
Punch a good English critic 337
We borrow from all sides 338
We send our own staple abroad 339
Bad English of a Queen's Speech 340
Watchwords of English History 341
Simplicity recommended by Mr. Freeman 342
We have improved on our fathers 343
Three ways of writing English 344
Teutonic, Romance, and Penny-a-lining 345
Parable of a maiden's dress 346
Sometimes neat, sometimes outrageous 347
Chaucer's advice to fine writers 348

CHAPTER VII.

twelve hundred years of english.

680. Lines on the Ruthwell Cross 349
737. Lines by Cadmon 350
800-900. Northumbrian Psalter - Rushworth Gospels 351
970. Lindisfarne Gospels 352
1090. St. Edmund's Legend 353, 354
1220. The Ancren Riwle 355, 356, 357
1356. Sir John Mandeville 358, 359
1450. Bishop Pecock 360
1550. Lever 361, 362
1668. Cowley 363, 364
1776. Gibbon 365, 366
1872. Morris 367, 368
Advice as to Studying English 369
Antiquam exquirite Matrem 370

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Erratum.

Page 262, lines 5, 6, 7, dele The form graciouser ending in ous.
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