Middle English

E2049

Middle English is the historical stage of the English language spoken and written roughly between the late 11th and late 15th centuries, exemplified by works like Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales."

All labels observed (17)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf West Germanic language variety
historical language stage
stage of the English language
developedFrom Old English
endTime late 15th century
follows Old English
hasDialect East Midlands Middle English
linked to: Middle English

Kentish Middle English
linked to: Middle English

Northern Middle English
linked to: Middle English

Southern Middle English
linked to: Middle English

West Midlands Middle English
linked to: Middle English
hasFeature development of periphrastic verb forms
emergence of do-support in some constructions
extensive borrowing of French vocabulary
gradual reduction of grammatical gender
great dialectal variation
increased use of fixed word order
loss of most Old English inflectional endings
use of thorn and yogh in early orthography
hasNotableAuthor Geoffrey Chaucer
John Gower
The Gawain Poet
Thomas Malory
William Langland
hasNotableWork Ancrene Wisse
Piers Plowman
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Canterbury Tales
linked to: Geoffrey Chaucer

The Owl and the Nightingale
influencedBy Anglo-Norman
Latin
Norman French
linked to: Normans

Old Norse
linked to: Norse
languageFamily Germanic languages
Indo-European languages
West Germanic languages
precedes Early Modern English
linked to: Early Modern period
spokenIn England
Ireland
parts of Scotland
parts of Wales
standardizationCenter London
linked to: London, England
standardizationInfluence Chancery English
linked to: Middle English
startTime late 11th century
underwent Great Vowel Shift (late phase)
usedFor administration
legal documents
literature
religious texts
writingSystem Latin alphabet

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (247)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

English hasAncestor Middle English
Middle English hasDialect Northern Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Middle English hasDialect East Midlands Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Middle English hasDialect West Midlands Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Middle English hasDialect Southern Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Middle English hasDialect Kentish Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Middle English standardizationInfluence Chancery English
linked to: Middle English
Old English developedInto Middle English
Anglo-Frisian dialects hasPart Middle English
Scots developedFrom Early Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Holmes derivedFrom Middle English
Anglo-Norman influenced Middle English
William Langland language Middle English
Thomas Malory languageOfWorkOrName Middle English
Merry Men languageOfOrigin Middle English
Piers Plowman language Middle English
Piers Plowman literaryPeriod Middle English literature
linked to: Middle English
John Gower languageOfWorkOrName Middle English
John Gower literaryMovement Middle English literature
linked to: Middle English
The Owl and the Nightingale literaryPeriod Middle English literature
linked to: Middle English
Early Modern English follows Middle English
Early Modern English hasAncestor Middle English
Sir etymologyOrigin Middle English
Northumbrian developedInto Northern Middle English
linked to: Middle English
Yola language derivedFrom Middle English
Fingallian influencedBy Middle English
Fingallian closelyRelatedTo Middle English
House of Plantagenet languageUsed Middle English
Thompson originPeriod Middle English period
linked to: Middle English
Gage hasEtymologicalRoot Middle English
Dean etymologyOrigin Middle English
Fay hasPossibleOrigin Middle English
House of Lancaster language Middle English
Merlin languageOfWorkOrName Middle English
Manners Makyth Man hasLanguage Middle English
Farmer etymologyRootLanguage Middle English
Almighty derivedFrom Middle English
Parker etymologyPeriod Middle English
Holme hasEtymologicalOrigin Middle English
Palmer derivesFrom Middle English
Ricardian poets language Middle English
John Lydgate languageOfWorkOrName Middle English
John Lydgate literaryPeriod Middle English literature
linked to: Middle English
The Book of the Duchess language Middle English
The Book of the Duchess literaryPeriod Middle English period
linked to: Middle English
Joan of the Tower languageSpokenWrittenOrSigned Middle English