Middle english text

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his halve cours y-ronne.

And smale foweles maken melodye,

That slepen al the nyght with open ye…

Glossary

al – pron. ALL (OE eal)

and – conj. AND (OE and)

Aprille – noun April (from OFr. avril)

bathen – w. v. 2 bathe (OE baðian)

ben – anom. v., auxil. v. BE (OE bēon)

breeth – noun breath (OE bræð)

cours – noun course (from OFr cours)

crop – noun crop (OE crop)

droughte – noun drought (OE drūhoð)

eek – adv. also (OE ēac)

engendren – w. v. 2, engender (from OFr. engendrer)

every – pron. every (OE æfre)

flour – noun flower (from OFr. flour)

fowel – noun bird (OE fu_hol)

haven – w. v. 3, auxil. v. have (OE habban)

halve – adj. halF (OE healf)

heeth – noun heAth (OE hæð)

his – poss. pron. its (OE his)

holt – noun holt (OE holt)

in – prep. IN (OE in)

inspiren – w. v. 2, inspire (from OFr. inspirer)

licour – noun liquid (from OFr. licur)

maken – w. v. 2 make (OE macian)

melodye – noun melody (from OFr. melodie)

nyght – noun night (OE niht)

of – prep. OF (OE of)

open – adj. open (OE open)

percen – w.v. 2 pierce (from OFr. percier)

Ram – noun Oven, a Zodiac sign (from OFr. Ram)

roote – noun root (from Osc. rot)

shour – noun shower (OE scūr)

slepen – st.v. 7 sleep (OE slæpan)

smale – adj. small (OE smæl)

sonne – noun sun (OE sunne)

soote – adj. sweet (OE swōte)

swete – adj. sweet (OE swōte)

swich – pron. such (OE swilc)

tendre – adj. tender (from OFr. tendre)

that – conj. that (OE þæt)

the – definite article THE (OE sē)

to – prep. TO (OE tō)

vertu – noun virtue (from OFr. vertu)

veyne – noun vein (from OF veine)

whan that– conj. when (OE hwænne)

which – pron. which (OE hwilc)

with – prep. WITH (OE wiþ)

ye – noun eye (OE ēa_he)

yong – adj. young (OE _heon_h)

y-ronne – part. II (of str. v. 3 rynnan) run (OE rinnan)

Zephirus – noun Zephyr, western wind (from OFr. Zephirus)

OFr. – Old French

3. Study the reading rules (see the supplement) and transcribe the following me lines:

And bathed every veyne in swich licour, // Of which vertu engendred is the flour; // Inspired hath in every holt and heath // The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne // Hath in the Ram his halve cours y-ronne…

4. Study the model of grammar and vocabulary analysis of a Middle English text and continue it following the model given bellow:

Words as used in the text	Morphological analysis	Etymological analysis
whan that	conjunction	native
Aprille	proper noun, Com. sg.	borrowed from Old French
with	preposition	native
his	possessive pronoun, 3rd pers., neut., sg.	native
shoures	noun, Com., pl.	native
soote	adjective, pl., weak decl.	native
the	definite article	native
droughte	noun, Com., sg.	native
of	preposition	native
March	proper noun, Com. sg.	borrowed from Old French
hath perced	weak verb, Pres. Perf. Ind., 3rd pers., sg. of percen	borrowed from Old French
to	preposition	native
roote	noun, Com. sg.	borrowed from Old Scandinavian