A Book of Middle English. J. A. Burrow
The construction becomes common for a time in Early Modern English.
Two or more genitive nouns may be in parallel: He wes Uðeres þas aðelen kinges, ‘It had been the noble king Uther’s’, 3/18. If the noun that governs the genitive expression is also present, the genitive group often splits around it, and only the first element is inflected, as in this example where love governs both lordes and Sir Orfeo, but the name is not inflected: mi lordes love Sir Orfeo, ‘my lord Sir Orfeo’s love’, 5/518. With the same word‐order is for the Lordes love of hevene, ‘for the love of the Lord of heaven’, 7b/16.
The genitive is used with superlative adjectives: læðest alre þinge, ‘most hateful of all things’, 3/33 (OE genitive pl. þinga); aðelest kinge, ‘noblest of kings’, 3/53. Later of becomes standard: þe fairest of every kinne, 14a/7.
Adverbial uses of the genitive are most common in expressions of time: þu fliʒst niʒtes (genitive sg.), ‘you fly at night’, 2/238 (compare flo bi niʒte, 2/390). In be nihtes and be dæies, 1/17–18, the writer reinforces the adverbial genitive with a preposition. Other adverbial uses are hire þonkes, ‘willingly’, 2/70, wintres and sumeres, ‘in the winter and in the summer’, i.e. ‘all the time’, 3/170, nanes weis, ‘in no way, not at all’, 4/16.
After numbers the ‘partitive genitive’ is found, especially in early texts: fif and twenti þusend / Wihtere monnen, ‘25,000 (of ) bold men’, 3/124–5. By contrast, the genitive is often not used with nouns such as score, maner, kin: such manere argement, ‘such kind of argument’, 12/88, alle kyn craftes, ‘all kinds of trades’, 7b/58.
In early texts the genitive is occasionally used after some adjectives, such as ful, ‘full’, and unilic: ælchen oðere unilic, ‘unlike all others’, 3/19.
5.3.3 Dative
The most common use of the dative case is with prepositions such as to, mid and bi. Compare þi song (nominative) with bi mine songe (dative), 2/220 and 46. After the dative singular ‐e ending was lost from nouns (see 4.2.3), the dative became indistinguishable from other cases without inflexion.
The dative was used for the indirect object: hi hadden him manred maked, ‘they had done him homage’, 1/11. Without a distinct form for the dative, however, the indirect object had to be distinguished from the direct object by word‐order or the use of to, as it is in Modern English: seist me boþe tone and schame, ‘say to me both insult and shame’, 2/50; ʒeve hem benes, ‘give them beans’, 7b/177.
Some adjectives, such as loþ and lef, have a dative object: loþ smale foʒle, ‘hateful to small birds’, 2/277; lof him were niʒtingale, ‘nightingales were dear to him’, 2/203.
The Old English use of a dative pronoun to indicate possession is still found, particularly in early texts: him bræcon alle þe limes, ‘all his limbs broke’, 1/28; freshe hym þe face, ‘his face unblemished’, 11/89.
The adverbial dative of the type ludere stæfne, ‘with a loud voice’, 3/30, is rare even in early texts, and is superseded entirely by prepositional phrases; so mid fulle dreme and lude stefne, 2/314.
A pleonastic dative pronoun me, the ‘ethic dative’, is a characteristic feature of the Gawain poems: he swenges me þys swete schip, ‘it turns this fine ship’, 8/108; also made me þane unto þis tree, ‘fastened then to this tree’, 15/42. This kind of dative expresses the speaker’s interest in the fact stated.
For other uses of the dative with verbs, see 5.4.5 (reflexive pronouns), 5.6.8 (impersonal verbs) and 5.6.9 (verbs of motion).
5.4 Pronouns and Articles
5.4.1 Þou and ʒe
The use of ʒe as a polite form of address to one person is found from the late thirteenth century, and is modelled on French practice. Usage varies from text to text, and even within a text, but the distinction is broadly that þou is used between equals and to inferiors, whereas ʒe is used in representations of polite speech in address to a superior. In the selection from Gawain the usage is quite consistent: Arthur uses þou both to Gawain and to the Green Knight, but yow to Guenevere (9/470); Gawain uses þou to the Green Knight but ʒe to the King (9/343–61); the Green Knight, as a hostile challenger, always uses þou, even to the King – his ʒe in l. 265 is addressed to the court in general. In Trevisa’s Dialogue (text 12) the Clerk addresses the Lord as ʒe and the Lord replies with þou, while in Sir Orfeo þou is general, but the polite ʒe is used at a moment of solemn formality (5/582). In addressing God or the Virgin Mary, however, the singular form is customarily used, as by Chaucer’s Prioress (18b/1).
5.4.2 Non‐expression of Personal Pronouns
Quite regularly a personal pronoun, either subject or object, is not expressed in Middle English. As indeed in Modern English, the subject pronoun does not need to be expressed in a series of co‐ordinate clauses: þe niʒtingale hi iseʒ/And hi bihold and overseʒ, ‘the nightingale saw her, and beheld and watched her’, 2/29–30. There are other situations, however, where the subject pronoun would normally be expressed in Modern English but does not need to be in Middle English. A sentence may begin: Kimeð …, ‘(He) comes …’, 4/59, where the subject is understood from the previous sentence. The subject of the subordinate clause may be understood from the main clause, as in he watz sokored … þaʒ were wanlez of wele, ‘he was protected … though (he) was without hope of well‐being’, 8/262. When the subordinate clause precedes, the subject of the following main clause may be understood from it: Hwen ha ihereð þet god, skleatteð þe earen adun, ‘When they hear anything good, (they) flap their ears down’, 4/18–19. In other cases the unexpressed subject is clear from verb‐endings and other grammatical features, as in Or beggest thy bylyve, ‘Or (you) beg for your food’, 7a/29; and diden an scærp iren abuton þa mannes throte, ‘and (they/ people) put a sharp iron band round the man’s throat’, 1/30–1. The grammatical subject ‘it’ may be unexpressed: þagh had bene my fader bone, I bede hym no wranges, ‘though (it) had been my father’s murderer, I gave him no wrong decisions’, 11/243. Non‐expression of subject ‘it’ is especially common in impersonal expressions; see 5.6.8.
Similarly the object pronoun may be understood from the context. A straightforward example is lacche water / And cast upon þi faire cors, ‘fetch some water and cast (it) on your fair body’, 11/316–17. So also: þa þe castles waren maked, þa fylden hi mid deovles, ‘When the castles were made, they filled (them) with devils’ (hi is subject), 1/15–16.
5.4.3 Man
The indefinite pronoun man causes difficulties on several counts. Firstly it varies in form: man, mon, men, and often the unstressed form me, which in context can sometimes be mistaken for the first person pronoun. Secondly there is no exact equivalent for man in Modern English, for we select from a range of indefinite pronouns to suit the occasion – one, anyone, they, people, we, you – or a passive construction is used instead. All these possibilities must be considered when translating Middle English man; e.g.: me ne chide wit þe gidie, ‘one should not quarrel with fools’ (a proverbial expression), 2/291; riʒt so me grulde schille harpe, ‘just as if a shrill harp were being twanged’, or ‘someone were twanging …’, 2/142; ne isæh nævere na man selere cniht, ‘a better knight was never seen’, 3/28; me hi halt, ‘she is held’, or ‘people think her’, 2/32.
5.4.4