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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The difference in the treatment of final unstressed -e among the various ME. dialects has long since been noticed. In Nth., according to Morsbach (Mittelenglische Grammatik §§ 6–9), it became silent (“ist stumm”) about 1350; in Ml. it was in part sounded throughout the fourteenth century, though as Morsbach remarks, “in vielen fällen ist es schon verstummt;” in WSth. and MSth. it was in general retained throughout the century; while Kt. on the whole retains it intact quite up to the middle of the century.
For the suggestion which led me to write this paper, and for valuable assistance in its preparation, I am indebted to Professor O. F. Emerson, of Western Reserve University.
page 327 note 1 The general structure of the poem has already been described: see Trautmann, Angl. i 119; Kaluza, ESt. xvi 178; Gollancz, Pearl p. xxiii f.
page 327 note 2 In the use of signs I have in general followed Kittredge: -e (in italicized words -e) indicates a final e written but elided before a vowel or h. -ë (or -ë) indicates a final e pronounced before a vowel or h. Used over a vowel in the interior of a word the diæresis indicates that the vowel is pronounced. -[ë] indicates that the metre requires an e to be pronounced at the end of a word which is written without -e in the MS. -ė indicates a final -e written but not sounded before a consonant (not h). -ė- indicates syncopated e (and so of other vowels).
page 327 note 3 I have followed Morris in using the character for (a) z (sonant spirant), (b) h (guttural and palatal spirant), and (c) y (consonant).
page 329 note 1 None of the words cited occur at the end of the line; cp. Summary 14.
page 329 note 2 We might also read: myn herte a brunt, 174.
page 335 note 1 If we adopt Gollancz's reading, At date of the day, the -e will be removed; but cp. daye, 517, 541.