Middle English Spelling and Consonantal Changes

Posted on Feb 22, 2025 in History

Middle English Spelling: An Overview

Middle English (ME) spelling underwent significant changes due to the influence of Norman French. Unlike the stable and regular Old English (OE) spelling, ME spelling was highly variable, differing by location, individual, and time period. This resulted in numerous variants for the same word, such as lief, lieif, leif, lefe, leue, leeue for ‘leaf’.

The letters ash, eth, wynn, and yogh fell out of use in early ME. Thorn persisted longer, until the 15th century. The OE pronunciation of the initial consonant cluster cn- continued, leading to the new spelling kn (e.g., Cnawan à knawan à to know). Later in ME, the k- sound became silent but remained in the spelling (know, knee, knight), becoming a silent fossil.

Consonant Changes in Middle English

Some apparent innovations were actually older conventions, while others were genuine innovations. For example:

  1. OE Yogh -> ME y/gh: OE: purh, eME: purgh, lME: thrurgh, ModE: through.
  2. After the Norman Conquest, English ge and gi adopted the French pronunciation (e.g., age, gem).
  3. The consonant ‘v’ did not initially occur in English words; ‘f’ was used internally as ‘v’ (e.g., drifen = driven). Words beginning with ‘v’ are typically of Latin or French origin. Anglo-Norman scribes changed f to v, generally using ‘v’ initially and ‘u’ elsewhere (e.g., very, euer).
  4. The consonant ‘c’ changed to ‘ch’ (palatal sound): OE: cild, ME: child. If this sound followed a short vowel, it could be spelled ‘cch’ or ‘chch’ (e.g., cache, cacche, cachche = catch).
  5. Consonants ‘sc’ changed to ‘sh’ (palatal sound): OE: sceal, late OE: sceal, ME: shall.
  6. Consonants ‘hw’ progressively became ‘wh’: OE: hwæt, ME: wha.
  7. The consonant ‘c’ was used for the new sound /s/. Before the Normans, ‘c’ was [k]. In French, ‘c’ was [ts] then [s] (before e, i, y). In ME, ‘c’ was [k] (before a, o, u) (e.g., cat, come) and [s] (before e, i) (e.g., city, cent). ‘k’ started to be used before e & i (e.g., cynn à kin, kyn).
  8. Consonants ‘cw’ became ‘qu’ (French influence): OE: cwellen, swen, ME: quellen, queen, ModE: kill, queen.
  9. Consonants ‘cg’ became ‘gg’ (French influence) then ‘dg(e)’: OE: ecg ME: egge, ModE: edge.

Vowel Changes in Middle English

ME scribes used double letters to indicate vowel length, especially in the East Midland dialect (ee / oo). However, these sounds do not always correspond to modern pronunciations, making them ambiguous. For example, ME: EE could be represented as ea(16th), ee, ie, ei. OE:-, ME:oo, OE:r-d, ME:rood, ModE:rode.

Indicating Vowel Length

  1. Several devices were used to indicate vowel length:
    1. Consonant + unstressed e: ME: fode, fede, ModE: food, feed.
    2. Double consonants indicated vowel length and that the preceding vowel was short: dinner / diner.
    3. (Northern dialect) vowel + i à long sound: OE: rad, red, ME: raid, reid, ModE: reid.
  2. Short u became o if m, n, u (v, w) were contiguous: OE: sunu, sunne, ME: sone, sonne, ModE: son, sun.
  3. French ‘ou’ replaced OE long ã: OE: has(raya arriba de la a), ME: hous. If ‘ou’ was found before a vowel, ‘u’ could be confused with ‘v’. So, ‘u’ was doubled in this position: ‘uu’ and later à w: douer à douuer à dower / douer à Dover.
  4. ME scribes used ‘y’ for the semivowel [y] and as a variant of ‘i’. Late in ME, there was a tendency to write ‘y’ for long ‘i’ and ‘y’ also in final position.
  5. ME spelling was much more relaxed than today’s: speach, water, treese -> speech, watter, trees.

There were four major dialects: Northern, East Midland, West Midland, and Southern. The Southern dialect was generally more conservative, while the Northern dialect was more innovative. By the end of the 14th century, a written language emerged from the East Midland (London) dialect, forming the basis of Standard English:

  1. Less conservative than the South and less radical than the North.
  2. The largest, richest, and most populous area.
  3. Presence of universities (Oxford, Cambridge).

Chaucer’s influence is debated; his style differed from official documents, using the language of poetry, which was more conservative. Standard English was based on official records from London, a commercial center where businessmen spread the London accent. It started as a Southern dialect and ended as a Midland dialect, influenced by Chancery clerks. In 1476, the Printing Press was established by William Caxton in London. By the end of the 15th century, London was accepted as the ‘standard’ in writing.

Consonantal Changes in ME

Consonants have been relatively stable throughout history compared to vowels. ME consonants included: b, d, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, þ (ð), w, x [ks]: f: [f] / [v] ¥: [g] / [y] g: [h] / [¡]. The most important changes are:

  1. OE sequences hl, hn, and hr were simplified:
    • OE à ME ModE: hl l –
    • hn n: hleapan lepen leap hnutu nute nut
    • hr/r (hrador, rather)
    • hw/wh
  2. OE voiced fricative g after l, r à w: OE: Halgian, ME: halwen, ModE: hallow.