13th Century Middle English - engliſch

Standard 13th Century Middle English vocabulary, numerals and quotations for comparison with other languages


Middle English of the 13th Century was English part way between Old English of Anglo-Saxon times and the Modern English of recent centuries. It used the spelling conventions of Old English and of Old French.

The well known people in England spoke French and wrote Latin, while the uneducated silent majority spoke English. There was some literature in English at the time, but the authors were usually anonymous or little-known today. If the legendary Robin Hood actually existed, he would have spoken 13th Century Middle English.


1. broþer    brother        1. ȝe    yes          
2. ſiſter    sister        2. nay    no          
3. ſone    son        3.             
4. dohter    daughter        4.             
5. fader    father                    
6. moder    mother        1. ſoneday    Sunday          
          2. monenday    Monday          
1. lenten    spring        3. tyweſdaiȝ    Tuesday          
2. ſumer    summer        4. wedneſdei    Wednesday        1. ich am    I am
3. herueſt    autumn        5. þorſdai    Thursday        2. þu ert    you are (sing.)
4. winter    winter        6. fryday    Friday          
          7. ſaturday    Saturday        3. he iſ    he is
1. horſ    horse                  heo iſ    she is
2. hound    dog        1. tun    town        hit iſ    it is
3. cat    cat        2. wike    village        1. we beoþ    we are
4. cou    cow        3. ſtrete    street        2. ȝe beoþ    you are (plur.)
5. bule    bull        4.             
6. ſwin    pig        5. brige    bridge        3. heo beoþ    they are
7. ſhep    sheep        6. houſ    house          
8. wolf    wolf        7. orcharde    garden          
9. mouſ    mouse        8. chirche    church          
10. fowel    bird        9. ſcole    school        1. on, on, on    one (msc., fem., ntr.)
11. goſ    goose        10.           2. tweien, two, two    two (m., f., n.)
12. fiſſe    fish                  3. þreo, þreo, þreo    three (m., f., n.)
                    4. fowr    four
1. lof    bread        1. blac    black        5. fif    five
2. appel    apple        2. hwit    white        6. ſix    six
3. nute    nut        3. bleu    blue        7. ſeuene    seven
4. ſalt    salt        4. grene    green        8. eihte    eight
5. pepir    pepper        5. ȝeolu    yellow        9. niȝene    nine
6. hony    honey        6. read    red        10. ten    ten
7. milc    milk                  11. enlouene    eleven
8. buttere    butter        1. to ſen    to see        12. twelue    twelve
9. cheſe    cheese        2. to heræn    to hear        13. þretene    thirteen
10. water    water        3. to eten    to eat        20. twenti    twenty
11. win    wine        4. to drinken    to drink        30. þritti    thirty
12. beor    beer        5.           100. an hundred    a hundred
                      
1. mount    mountain        1. name    name        1. hond    hand
2. ſe    sea        2. to writen    to write        2. fot    foot
3. lac    lake        3. bok    book        3. heorte    heart
4. flod    river        4. to ſpeken    to speak        4. blod    blood
5. old    old        5. day    day        5. heaued    head
6. nywe    new        6. niȝt    night        6. eȝe    eye
7. ſchip    ship        7. wike    week        7. ere    ear
8.           8. moneð    month        8. toþ    tooth
9.           9. ȝer    year        9. hær    hair
10. hauen    harbour        10. and    and        10. to ſlepen    to sleep
                      
1. Ieneuer    January        7. Iul    July        1. ſunne    sun
2. feuerer    February        8.    August        2. mone    moon
3. marz    March        9. ſeptembre    September        3. ſteorre    star
4. Aueril    April        10. octobre    October        4. wind    wind
5. May    May        11. nouembre    November        5. rein    rain
6. Iun    June        12. Decembre    December        6. ſnowe    snow
                    7. yſe    ice
1. cold    cold        1. hot    hot        8. fir    fire
2. litel    small        2. michel    large        9. ſton    stone
3. þinne    thin        3. þikke    thick        10. ſiluer    silver
4. sur    sour        4. ſwete    sweet          
                      
1. mouþ    mouth        1. to ȝyue    to give        1. deaf    deaf
2. tunge    tongue        2. to bigge    to buy        2. deap    deep
3. word    word        3. to ſitten    to sit        3. fulle    full
4. ſpeche    language        4. to reden    to read        4. ȝung    young
5. flur    flower        5. market    market        5. gode    good
6. ſope    soap        6. dure    door        6. king    king



Some Approximate Pronunciations
13C Middle English as in was pronounced as in UK English
h- hond; hony h- hand; honey
ſ-; -ſ- ſpeken; cheſe s; z speak; cheese
-u- twelue -v- twelve
-u- buttere; ſunne -u- full; push
v- vs u full; push
i- Ieneuer; Iul j- January; July
th; þ ð thre; þre; moneð th thin or then randomly
broþer; brother brother or broth
ȝ- ȝer; ȝung y- year; young
-ȝ- niȝt -ch- Scots loch
-ȝ tyweſdaiȝ -y Tuesday
-ou-; -u- hound; tun oo cool


My other websites:
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My wife's websites:
Meaning of Life
Bits


I wanted to share with you why I think Christianity is such a great religion. A person who lives to 70 has a life of 613,200 hours. Christianity promises that the next life will be in ideal surroundings with friendly, happy people. There will be perfect health and no crime. Of course you’re free to reject it.

Isn’t it worth, though, spending at least part of one of your 613,200 hours just checking it out. Then if you reject it, at least you’ll have made an informed decision. Is it just possible that your world view could be wrong and Christianity might actually be true? Where would that leave you if you choose to turn down the offer of eternal life?


These are some of my wife's thoughts and ideas:


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