1403, O.E. fêt, fote, 1427, O.E. fôtum, 2673, O.E. fôta. ‹xxxvii›
To mark the difference between the definite and indefinite forms of adjectives is a difficult task; as the final -e had in most cases already become silent in the poet’s dialect, it seems probable that he no longer observed the distinction.
The pronouns are the same as in Chaucer and in other East-Midland poems:—I, me, thou, the; he, hym; sche, her and hir; it and hit (cf. note to l. 41); we, us; ye, you. The plural of the personal pronoun of the 3rd person is thai and he (cf. note to l. 2698) for the nominative case; hem, and in some doubtful passages (see note to l. 88) thaym for the accusative case.
As in Chaucer, the pronoun of the 2nd person is often joined to the verb:—hastow 1680, maistow 1826, shaltow 1669, woltow 1727, wiltow 1151, artow 1967, kanstow 2335, &c.
Possessive pronouns:—myn and thyn are used before vowels and before h; my, thy before consonants. Only once, l. 90, my is placed before a vowel. His, hire and here; our, your; here and (twice, 623, 1244) thair.
The demonstrative pronouns are this, these or thes; that.
The definite article the or þe, is used for all cases singular and plural. But we find besides, the following examples of inflexion:—tho, 2063, O.E. þâ, and the accusative sing. þon, 108. In l. 2052, tho means ‘them, those’ = Lat. eos. Tha, l. 2639, seems to be a mistake of the scribe, it is perhaps miswritten for þat (day), cf. l. 619.
Men, 115, 1351, and me, 287, are used as indefinite pronouns. Everyche, every, everychone occur frequently. Note also ichoon 2774, ilka 2016; thilke 2644, eche 1865.
That or þat, who, whome are used as relative pronouns. The interrogative pronouns are who and what.
Verbs. The plural imperative ends in -eth or -th, which, however, we find frequently omitted, as in l. 194, prove you, 2078 proveth; 2131 sende, 167 sendith; telle 1977, tellyth 1625, &c.
The -n of the infinitive mood is often dropped, as in Chaucer:—274, 1588, sene : bene; 1124, see : tre; 658 : cite; 600, be : cite; 1225 : contre; 1411, flee : cite; 3065, fleen : men; 1282, sloo : mo; 792, sloone : one, &c.
The final -(e)n of past participles of strong verbs is in most cases ‹xxxviii› dropped, as in Chaucer:—3176 forlorne: borne, 32 born, 3011 wonne, 21 wonnen, 2756 comen : nomen, 155 come, 2476 holpe, 1362 bygote, 1026 blowe, &c.
Weak verbs form their past participles in -ed, -d, -et, -t, much as in Chaucer:—lerned 3042, eyde 1648, toolde 670, bogt 111, delte 526, displaied 133.
The prefix i- or y- occurs sometimes, icome 784, come 155, istonge 533, itake 49, taken 1430, &c.
The present participles end in -inge and ande, as is often the case in East-Midland works:—2831 prikande : comande, 435 cryande, 924 makande, 3225 mornynge : kynge, 2399 slepynge : honde, where evidently slepande is the true reading.
As in Chaucer the 2nd person preterite of strong verbs is sometimes formed by -est or -ist, letist 2167; but we find also regular forms, as in slough 1259, where, however, the O.E. e (slôge) is already dropped.
The -en or -n of the preterite plural and of past participles is commonly dropped, ronnen 3007, ronne 2959, took 477, tokene 2621, slough 78, sloughen 401, ido 327: so, &c.
The -d in the past participles and in the preterite of weak verbs is sometimes omitted, as often happens in East-Midland works. Thus we find comforte 2242 and comforted 312, commaunde 57 and commaunded 228, graunte 607, liste 1132, list 1966, discumfite 1464, &c. On the same analogy we find light 1125, 1189, and lighted 3109, worth 1203, and worthed 1163.
As regards the final -e’s, it may be remarked that the scribe has added many final -e’s, where the rules would not lead us to suspect them, and has often given a final -e to words which in other passages of the poem, although similarly used, have no e:—note 245, 274, not 255, 313; howe 19, how 275; undere 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
