The Romaunce of the Sowdone of Babylone and of Ferumbras His Sone Who Conquerede Rome. Various
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composed in the East-Midland dialect.
O long, from O.E. â, in our poem has that broad sound which is peculiar to the East-Midland dialect. We find it rhyming with—
(1) original ô:—1025, wrothe : sothe; 801, goo : doo; 60, inowe : blowe; 325, so : ido, &c.
(2) unchangeable a:—257, Aufricanes : stoones; 506, gon : than; 2049, agoon : Lavan, &c.
As many East-Midland works74 the Sowdan has three forms for O.E. þâr:—thare, thore, there, all of which are established by the rhyme:—1805, thore : Egremoure (cf. 2895, Egremoure : tresoure, 1003, Agremore : more); 126, thore : lore; 430, thare : sware; ‹xxxvi› 2245, there : chere, 2404 : bere; 2604, there : were (w
We likewise find sore and sare75 (O.E. sâre):—1196, sore : more; 166, sare : care; 1377, sore : thore.
The O.E. diphthongs ea and eo and the O.E. ŷ (mutated from êa or êo) appear as e in this poem:—1595, me : see, 632 : fee, 1339 : free, 405 : be; 1535, depe : slepe; 1011, 1523, dere : here; 963, yere : vere, 1257 : Olyvere; 996, nere : were; 596, 1528, nede : spede; 1702, eke : speke; 1726, leke : speke; 184, 215, 1208, shelde : felde; 2530, hevene : elevene, &c.
A brief summary of the grammatical inflexions employed in the poem will also give evidence of a great similarity with the forms used by other East-Midland writers, and will serve to show that the language of the Sowdan agrees closely with that of Chaucer.
In the declension of substantives the only remnant of case-formation by means of inflexions is the ending used to form the Genitive Singular and the Plural.
The genitive singular of nouns ends in es (sometimes written -is or ys) for all genders:—356, develes; 1209, stedes; 849, worldis; 1804, worldes; 3035, dammes; 1641, nedes; 1770, shippes; 1072, faderis.
Substantives ending in -s in the nominative case, remain unchanged in the genitive case:—1214, 1287, Ferumbras; 2006, Naymes; 3207, Charles; 1639, 1350, Floripas.—Florip, l. 614, is the genitive case of Floripe or Florip, l. 2027, 1571.
The nominative plural of all genders is formed by -es (-is, -ys) or -s:—919, knightes, 1947, 2276, knightis; 1384, horses, 1401, horsys; 429, 2054, gatis; 192, wordes; 837, swerdes; 174, hedes; 2289, ladies; 3271, soules; 26, bokes; 606, peres; 297, tours, &c. Examples of a plural case without s are seen in thinge, l. 2, 1709:—O.E. þing; honde, 987, O.E. handa, as well as hondes, 1412, 2568; frende, 3212, O.E. frŷnd, as well as frendes, 1011, O.E. frêondas. Other plurals which are equally easily explained by their O.E. forms are:—eyen, 825, O.E. êagan; shoone, 1381, O.E. scêon; fete, 1403, O.E. fêt, fote, 1427, O.E. fôtum, 2673, O.E. fôta. ‹xxxvii›
To mark the difference between the definite and indefinite forms of adjectives is a difficult task; as the final -e had in most cases already become silent in the poet’s dialect, it seems probable that he no longer observed the distinction.
The pronouns are the same as in Chaucer and in other East-Midland poems:—I, me, thou, the; he, hym; sche, her and hir; it and hit (cf. note to l. 41); we, us; ye, you. The plural of the personal pronoun of the 3rd person is thai and he (cf. note to l. 2698) for the nominative case; hem, and in some doubtful passages (see note to l. 88) thaym for the accusative case.
As in Chaucer, the pronoun of the 2nd person is often joined to the verb:—hastow 1680, maistow 1826, shaltow 1669, woltow 1727, wiltow 1151, artow 1967, kanstow 2335, &c.
Possessive pronouns:—myn and thyn are used before vowels and before h; my, thy before consonants. Only once, l. 90, my is placed before a vowel. His, hire and here; our, your; here and (twice, 623, 1244) thair.
The demonstrative pronouns are this, these or thes; that.
The definite article the or þe, is used for all cases singular and plural. But we find besides, the following examples of inflexion:—tho, 2063, O.E. þâ, and the accusative sing. þon, 108. In l. 2052, tho means ‘them, those’ = Lat. eos. Tha, l. 2639, seems to be a mistake of the scribe, it is perhaps miswritten for þat (day), cf. l. 619.
Men, 115, 1351, and me, 287, are used as indefinite pronouns. Everyche, every, everychone occur frequently. Note also ichoon 2774, ilka 2016; thilke 2644, eche 1865.
That or þat, who, whome are used as relative pronouns. The interrogative pronouns are who and what.
Verbs. The plural imperative ends in -eth or -th, which, however, we find frequently omitted, as in l. 194, prove you, 2078 proveth; 2131 sende, 167 sendith; telle 1977, tellyth 1625, &c.
The -n of the infinitive mood is often dropped, as in Chaucer:—274, 1588, sene : bene; 1124, see : tre; 658 : cite; 600, be : cite; 1225 : contre; 1411, flee : cite; 3065, fleen : men; 1282, sloo : mo; 792, sloone : one, &c.
The final -(e)n of past participles of strong verbs is in most cases ‹xxxviii› dropped, as in Chaucer:—3176 forlorne: borne, 32 born, 3011 wonne, 21 wonnen, 2756 comen : nomen, 155 come, 2476 holpe, 1362 bygote, 1026 blowe, &c.
Weak verbs form their past participles in -ed, -d, -et, -t, much as in Chaucer:—lerned 3042, eyde 1648, toolde 670, bogt 111, delte 526, displaied 133.
The prefix i- or y- occurs sometimes, icome 784, come 155, istonge 533, itake 49, taken 1430, &c.
The present participles end in -inge and ande, as is often the case in East-Midland works:—2831 prikande : comande, 435 cryande, 924 makande, 3225 mornynge : kynge, 2399 slepynge : honde, where evidently slepande is the true reading.
As in Chaucer the 2nd person preterite of strong verbs is sometimes formed by -est or -ist, letist 2167; but we find also regular forms, as in slough 1259, where, however, the O.E. e (slôge) is already dropped.
The -en or -n of the preterite plural and of past participles is commonly dropped, ronnen 3007, ronne 2959, took 477, tokene 2621, slough 78, sloughen 401, ido 327: so, &c.
The -d in the past participles and in the preterite of weak verbs is sometimes omitted, as often happens in East-Midland works. Thus we find comforte 2242 and comforted 312, commaunde 57 and commaunded 228, graunte 607, liste 1132, list 1966, discumfite 1464, &c. On the same analogy we find light 1125, 1189, and lighted 3109, worth