Middle English dictionary, Issues 6-10Hans Kurath, Sherman McAllister Kuhn, Robert E. Lewis, Mary Jane Williams The goal of the Middle English Dictionary is to include all meanings, grammatical forms, and spellings of all the words identified by its extensive reading program. When completed, it will represent what has been called the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America and the most important single project in English historical lexicography being carried out anywhere today. After sixty-five years it will have produced about 15,000 pages. The Middle English Dictionary is a monumental scholarly endeavor that began more than fifty years ago and is expected to be completed in 2001. The task of the editors compiling the dictionary is to document the English language from just after the Norman Conquest up to the introduction of the printing press at the end of the 1400s. With that innovation the language became more or less standardized, but during the Middle Ages the language was evolving under the stress of events and social change, particularly as French culture was absorbed into the language. These were truly the formative years of the English language, and they present major challenges to lexicographers. Fascicles U.1, U.2, and U.3 are the most recent additions to this ongoing undertaking. Published volumes include all fascicles from A.1 through U.3, plus the Plan and Bibliography. |
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Common terms and phrases
1st quot Add:Seymour Ancr Ayenb Barth bope Brut Chaucer Chaucer Bo Chauliac Chauliac(1 Chron clene Crist Cursor dede eche error forto gerunds gode Gower gret grete hath haue herte heuene Higd hire holy honde Ibid kepe kyng Lanfranc lond lord loue Lydg Malory Wks maner Mannyng Medulla neuer noght noun NY:Wallner Othea p.ppl Palladius Pecock ping PParv Prob RParl schal sche schulde seid shal sone soule SSecr stonde sunne synne ther thou thyng Trev Trin-C tyme umbe underfon understonden Uroscopy vnbynde vnclene vnder vnderfonge vnderstonde vndir vndur vndyr vnkunnynge vnto Vsp.D.Hom Wars Alex WBible WBible(1 weren Whan wolde WPal Wycl þæt þai þam þan þat þat þe þei þer þet þing