The Romaunce of the Sowdone of Babylone and of Ferumbras His Sone Who Conquerede Rome. Various
61, under 713; bute 247, but 8; cooste 202, coost 3062; crafte 424, craft 2335; ashamede 1295, ashamed 558, &c.
This is due either to carelessness on the part of the scribe, or perhaps to the fact that in the speech of the copyist the final e’s had already become altogether silent, so that finding many words ending in -e and not knowing its meaning, he considered it as a mere ‹xxxix› “ornament in writing” (Ellis, Pronunciation, i. 338), and sometimes added, sometimes omitted it.
With respect to the composer of the Sowdan himself, there may be some doubt left whether in his speech the final e had become altogether silent, or was still pronounced occasionally. From the following instances it may be concluded with certainty that the poet very frequently did not sound the final e:—757 boghtẹ : noght, 3154 hat : fat, 961 wrongẹ : distruccion, 556 onlacẹ : was; cf. also 1383, 1611, 2163; 2795 spékẹ we of Ríchard, 2999 fought, 2093, 859 bringẹ, 9, 2547 keptẹ, 834 wentẹ, 142 comẹ, 713 wodẹ.
In other cases there is no certainty whether the final e is quite silent or must be slightly pronounced or slurred over, so as to form trisyllabic measures. It must be noted, however, that in supposing trisyllable measures in all these doubtful cases, the number of this kind of measure will increase to a great amount in the Sowdan. Therefore I rather incline to think the final e silent also in the following instances:—2090 défendẹ this place, 1201 brékẹ both báke, 861 cómẹ from ál, 2119 askẹ consaile, 1597 wólẹ these traítours, 1783 whéns comẹ yé, 2317 pássẹ that brígge, 1100 rónnẹ bytwéne, 2997 fóught so lónge, 175 brokẹ nothinge, 1658 béddẹ with ríght, 713 grénẹ wodẹ síde, 571 hómẹ to Rómẹ that nýght, 1610 the fáls jailoúr feddẹ yoúr prisonére, 2152 fáls traitóurs of Fránce, 921 chárged the yónge with ál, 380 aboútẹ midnýghte, 726 sóne to hím, 160 únneth not óne [Chaucer still pronounces unnethë].
Nevertheless there seems to be some instances where the final e is to be sounded, as in ll. 298, 2790, 1332, 1619, 2740, 592, 2166, 2463, 1405, 2386, 895, 332, 91.
Final en also seems sometimes not to constitute a separate syllable:—1365 waít
In all these cases n had very probably already fallen off in the speech of the poet, as the following examples lead us to suppose:—178 wynne : him, 1582 dye : biwry, 2309 shewe : trewe, 2107 slépe to lónge, 861 cóme from ál, &c.
As regards the final es of nouns, the poet seems to have observed the same rules as those followed by Chaucer; viz. es is sounded when ‹xl› joined to monosyllabic stems; it does not increase the number of syllables (and therefore is often spelt-s instead of-es), when the stem has two or more syllables:—197, 277 goddës, 665 nailës, 445 tentës, 2068 tentïs, 174, 1799 hedës, 2032, 2868 swerdës, 2327 wallës, 1209 stedës, 1770 shippës, 2702 somers, 2687, 2591 felowes, 2660 felows, 2412 maydyns, 647, 1597 traytours, 2036 orders, 45 lovers, 2612, 3098 develes, 1072 faderis, 203, 862 sowdons, 881 sarsyns.
The final es of adverbs seems no longer to constitute a separate syllable:—2213 hónged’ els bý, 2786 éls had’ hé, 2109 éllis I may sínge, 1525 élles wol’ hé, 2061 théns, 1783 whens.
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