In other cases the context resolved the ambiguity:

he hadde a fyr-reed cherubynnes face (he had fire-red cherub's f

at the kynges court ( at the king's court)

His lordes sheep (his lord's sheep)

a wydwes sone (a widow's son)

waspes nest (wasps' nest)

dayes light (day's light)

sette fae foxes tayles alle on fire (and set the foxes' tails all on fii

at his beddes heed (at the head of his bed)

Lecture 10

Middle English Adjective

The paradigm of the adjective in Middle English is simplified drastically. The endings become scarce. The category of gender is lost, for the nouns no longer have it. The adjective no longer agrees with the noun in case, the only remaining endings being - the plural form having the ending -e and the remains of the weak declension, the weak form (the one preceded by an article) -e

young kniht /the younge kniht

younge knihtes/the younge knihtes

the younge girles of the diocise (weak, plural) (the young girls of the

diocese)

...the yonge sonne (weak singular) /Hath in the Ram his halfe cours

yronne (The young sun has run half of its way in the constellation of

Ram)

Two yonge knyghtes (strong plural) (two young knights)

Noght wiste he what this Latyn was to seye,

For he so yong and tendre was of age (strong singular) (He did not

know how to speak Latin, for he was of young and tender age)

A long surcote of pers upon he hade (strong singular) (He had on /

was dressed in/ a long perse surcoat)

The remenant of the tale is long ynough (strong singular) (the rest of

the tale is long enough)

full longe were his legges and full lene (strong plural) (his legs were

long and lean)

As smale children doon in hir childhede (as small children do in their

childhood)

smale fowles maken melodie (small birds sing /make melody)

a voice he had as smal as has a goot (he had as small voice like that of

a goat)

Hir mouth ful smaL and therto softe and reed (Her mouth was very small, and therefore soft and red)

But some of the adjectives had the very ending -e as a result of levelling of the vowels at the and, and so such adjectives as grene were already unchangeable; in the plural the strong and the weak forms also coincided.

The forms of the suffixes of the degrees of comparison were reduced to -er_y -est

greet - gretter - grettest

His voys was murier (his voice was merrier...) Hise nayles whiter than the lylye flour (His nails were whiter than th flower of a lily)

Lucifer, brightest of aungels alle (Lucifer, the brightest of all angels) Some adjectives retained a mutated vowel they had had in Old English-

old - elder - eldest

long - lenger - lengest

strong - stregner -strengest

The eldeste lady of hem alle spak (the lady, the oldest of them all, spoke).

Some preserve former suppletivity, and their degrees of comparison look like this:

good - bettre - best

evil (bad) - werse - werst

muchel - more - most, mest

litel - lasse - lest

She may have bettre fortune than yow semeth (She may have

better fortune that it seems to you)

I moot reherce

Hir tales alle, be they bettre or werse (I may recount all his

tales, be they better or worse)

Some adjectives, especially of foreign origin, are found in a form th came into wider usage only later, that is they may be associated with tf adverb moore/most

Crist, whan hym list, may sende me an heir

Moore agreable than this to my likynge (Christ, if his will, may

send me an heir more agreeable than this to my liking)

Moore delicaat, moore pompous of array,

Moore proud was nevere emperour than he... (There i

was an emperor more delicate, more pompous in clothing amore proud...).