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."

AI illustration

How this image was made

AI-generated illustration of Middle English

This AI-generated illustration was produced by black-forest-labs/FLUX.2-dev (1024x1024) from a prompt written by openai/gpt-oss-120b from the entity's label + description.

Prompt

Generate an image of Middle English (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 (407)

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
Old French → influenced → 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