Reading Middle English
English 346 home page As we read the Canterbury Tales, we are going to spend some time working on reading Middle English aloud. Below are some very basic tools for pronouncing the language. Note that all of this is quite simplified: there are exceptions to most of the rules noted below. For more precise instructions, exercises, and samples, visit some of the links below.
I have concentrated on the vowels because they seem to cause the most trouble. I have used modern word equivalents for the sounds (rather than phonetic symbols). These rules are drawn from Helge Kökeritz, A Guide to Chaucer’s Pronunciation.
Short Vowels
a - as in German Mann or French patte
e - as in bed
i, y - as in sit
o - as in dog
u - as in put
When is a vowel short? Single vowels before single or double consonants usually are short if the same word has a short vowel today. Exceptions are words like bread, breath, dead, heaven, where the vowel is like French père; and gone and hot, where the vowel is like law.
Long Vowels
a, aa - as in German Vater or French art
e, ee, ie - as in German sehen, French été: use this sound when the modern word has a sound like he, see
e, ee - as in there: use this sound when the modern word has -ea, as in speak, dream, and also head, bread
i, y - as in see
o, oo - as in German Sohn, French chose: use this sound when the modern word is like food, good, blood, other
o, oo - as in law: use this sound when the modern word is like most, stone, throat
u - as in French tu
When is a vowel long? Single vowels and digraphs (a combination of two letters to represent one sound, as in sea or see) are long if the modern word has a long vowel or a diphthong. Words spelled with -oo today are always long, even if we now pronounce them with short vowels. There are exceptions to these notes about long vowels: these include the fact that a and o are usually short when followed by f, s, th, and r.
Diphthongs
ai, ay, ei, ey - aim for something between the sounds in lake and like
au, aw - a bit like the sound in house
eu, ew - rather like few; while there is another, somewhat different sound also corresponding to this spelling, this sound should get you started
ou, ow, ough - as in moon: use this sound when the modern word is like house, course, or through
ou, ow, ough - rather like know: use this sound when the modern word has a similar sound, or, before -ght, a sound as in law
Faking It
While I encourage you to use the other resources listed here to learn to pronounce Middle English more precisely, what I’m most interested in is that you should get some sense of how a poem like the Alliterative Morte Arthure works through its sounds. As with other languages, you need to have the nerve to make mistakes in order to progress to oral reading. Many people find they can at least start the process by using vowel-sound equivalents from various European languages: you’ll notice that French and German are both used in the simplified outline on this page. Marry those sounds to some kind of regional British accent, and you’re on your way...
Other Resources
Follow these links for a more precise account of Middle English pronunciation:
Teach yourself to read Chaucer is a series of online lessons from the Harvard Chaucer page, with sound files
Chaucer’s Pronunciation, Grammar, and Vocabulary, also from the Harvard Chaucer page, outlines the sounds of Chaucer’s language
The Chaucer Metapage Audio Files lets you hear a variety of experts reading aloud from Chaucer
Common (and commonly misread) Middle English words
Your text is quite fully glossed ; this list is simply a list of words which recur frequently in the Canterbury Tales or in Middle English more generally. In the interests of keeping the list short, I have limited it to words which are often repeated, and/ or to those which are often misread by modern English speakers.
If you find words you do not understand that are not listed below, and that do not appear in the apparatus of your texts, have a look at the Middle English Dictionary. It can be difficult to figure this resource out at first. Use the Lookups function, and be sure to select Headwords and forms in the pull-down menu on the left. Make lavish use of truncation, since spelling can be quite variable.
and al although als anon at once arwe as as, as if, like atte aventure chance axe ay always bachelor been are bet beth are blyve brenne burn breste, brast but unless can, kan cas happening, chance carp certes certainly cheere chees(en) choose clep(en) clerk scholar corage coy quiet defend deme judge, suppose devyse drede fear ech eek, eke also eft elles, ellis else enow er, or before, formerly erst everich every fay, fey fere, feere companion fele flour(e) flower folde forthy therefore fro gan, gon began gyse han have hastow hem them hende here her hie hight named, called hir(e) hope think ich ilke same iwis, ywis keep, kepe care for, guard konne kynde nature lese leve dear liggen list to wish; it pleases lite lust pleasure, desire make maugre in spite of meet mette dreamed mo moot may, must nam namo no more nas nat not ne nere was not nis nolde would not nonys, nones noon none, no noot nyce foolish nys o, oo, on, oon one ought or can be or, but can also mean before pardee parfit perfect passing quit(e) to avenge; to acquit oneself quod rathe early, soon rede routhe pity scathe seistow you say sely sentence opinion, subject matter, saying siker sith(en) since, then sola(a)s somdeel somewhat speed, spede stente, stynte stop sterte steven voice swich swithe fast, quick, very syn than(ne) then, than thilke tho those, then trow tweye two unnethe unhappy unlucky, unfortunate verray war (be) aware of wele wend go wene, ween whilom once (upon a time) wight wist(e) know wit wood crazy, mad wot, woot wroth angry yaf yeve(n) give ynow English 346 home page