3.9. Middle English Vocabulary Changes

In ME the vocabulary underwent great changes.

Borrowings played a much greater role in ME than in OE. They came mostly from two sources: Scandinavian and French.

In ME many OE affixes were still productive.They could be added freely to stems of French origin. In fact, they were added to French words almost immediately after the words had been introduced. Suffixes such as -ful, -less, -ness were early used with French words so we find faithful, faithless, clearness recorded by 1300.

3.9.1. Native Derivational Affixes

Suffixes Out of native noun-forming suffixes the most productive was -er (< OE -ere), which could derive agent-nouns from both native and borrowed verb stems, e.g.

hunter, gardener, pardoner (a seller of indulgences), traveler (< OFr travallier), carpenter (< OFr carpantier).

The verbal suffix -ing / -yng (< OE -ung) was also widely spread: ME metyng (NE meeting), ME praying (NE praying), ME prechyng (NE preaching), techynge (teaching).

The native suffix -man was used oftener in ME than in OE, e.g.

ME gentil-man (NE gentleman), ME shipman (sailor), craftsman.

The adjective-forming suffix -y (< OE -iʒ) retained its productivity in ME:

angry < Sc anger, happy < hap (luck) < OSc happ, hearty < heart (OE heorte).

The suffixes -ful and -less yielded many new words in ME: doubtful-doubtless < ME doubt, fearful-fearless < fear (< OE fær), useful-useless < use (< OFr us).

One of the most widely spread verb suffixes in ME was –en: happen, loosen, blacken.

Prefixes Among the native productive verb prefixes mis-, un-, be- took the leading place: mistake, misunderstand, unbind, behave, belong, betray.

3.9.2. French Derivational Affixes

Suffixes Unlike native affixes (whose birth can be observed historically), French affixes came into English ready made. A considerable number of French derivational affixes (both suffixes and prefixes) entered the English language with derivatives.Quite often a family of words was borrowed, and it was easy to single out affixes, e.g. govern – govern-ment, agree – dis-agree – agree-ment. However, it was only through their frequent usage in many words that the meaning of those affixes became clear to English speakers and made it possible to derive new words from native English stems, i.e. after the complete assimilation. It explains why derivatives of the type «hindrance» crop up about 1375 at the earliest. The early assimilation of -able is exceptional. Some French affixes, such -ance,-al (the type of arrival) have never become productive with native words.

(1) The adjective-forming suffix –able / -ible, which meant «capable of undergoing the action denoted by the verb stem», first entered the English language in such words as remarkable, passable, amiable. Later it was added to native stems, e.g. readable, eatable, understandable.

(2) The noun-forming suffix -esse (> NE -ess) denoting female beings first came into the English language with such words as dutchesse, empresse, princesse. Eventually it ousted the OE suffix -in with the same meaning and was added to native stems. Cf. OE ʒyden – ME godesse (NE goddess), shepherdesse (NE shepherdess).

(3) The noun-forming suffix -et with diminutive meaning penetrated into English with nouns coronet (a small crown), cabinet. In some words the final consonant of the stem was -l as in islet, circlet; it is from words of this type that the prefix -let was formed, e.g. ringlet, booklet.

(4) The French noun-forming suffix -ee, which denoted «a person taking a passive part in some action or agreement», came into English with such words as lessee, employee. Eventually the suffix was added to a stem of Scandinavian origin: trustee. Later it turned out to be one of the most productive suffixes.

(5) The noun-forming suffix -ment denoting processes and states, which entered the English language with such nouns as government, treatment, agreement, came to be added to native verb stems: fulfillment, bewilderment.

(6) The noun-forming suffix –ance / -ence, which denoted states, qualities, attitudes and behaviour, penetrated into English with such words as ignorance, arrogance, innocence, excellence, entrance. It gave a derivative from a native English stem: hindrance.

(7) The noun-forming suffix -al < OFr -aille, which was used to derive abstract nouns from verb stems, came into English with such nouns as funeral, refusal, arrival, proposal. The only native derivative is burial.

(8) The noun-forming suffix -age became familiar to English speakers from such words as courage, carriage, marriage. With the suffix -age new words were derived from the stems of Scandinavian origin: luggage, leakage.

(9) The suffix -ard (of German origin) penetrated into English with the French words coward, bastard. It yielded the nouns drunkard, dullard, wizard (from the stem of the adjective wīs).

Prefixes

(1) The prefix dis- / des- with a negative meaning came into English with the French verbs disagree, disdain, disappoint. Eventually it derived verbs from native stems: disown, disburden and from the stem of a Scandinavian origin distrust.

(2) The French prefix en- (< L in-) became familiar to English speakers from such words as encage, encircle, encompass. It was joined on to native stems to derive the verbs endear, embed (enb>emb).

(3) The French prefix re- (< L re-) denoting repetition of an action or process, which came with such words as remember < OFr remembrer, repose < Fr reposer, repentaunt, repentant < OFr repentant, resemble < OFr resembler was joined on to native stems: return, reread, rewrite, remake.

Zero Derivation One of the most important ME innovations was the development of a new type of derivation. Owing to the leveling of endings and the loss of –n in unstressed syllables OE noun «ende» and the verb «endian» fell together as ME «ende», OE «luf» and «lufian» fell together as ME love. Such cases of homonymy served as models for the creation of new nouns from verbs (smile - verb > smile - noun) and vice versa (chance – noun > chance- verb).

This new means of word derivation came to be known as «zero derivation» or «conversion».

The term conversion belongs to H.Sweet, the term zero derivation belongs to H.Marchand.

Composition Many new words in ME were built by combining two stems, e.g.

penknife, bonfire, grandfather, afternoon, breakfast, somebody, everything, meanwhile, anywhere, tomorrow.