Many changes take place in words. Thus, holh (cavus), hœlfter, morgen, nihtegale, now become holeuh, halter, moreʓeiing (morning), and niʓtingale. The word sprenge (trap) is now first found, coming from the verb spring. There are a few Scandinavian words, such as amiss, cukeweald (cuckold), cogge (of a wheel), falt (falter), and shrew; the last comes from skraa (sloping). There are many words cropping up, akin to the Dutch and German, like clack, clench, clute (gleba), cremp (contrahere), hacch (parere), luring (torvo vultu), mesh, isliked (whence our sleek), stump, twinge, wippen; the last in its intransitive sense.[1]
In page 27, we see the first use of a well-known adjective.
‘Mon deth mid strengthe and mid witte;
That other thing nis non his fitte.’
That is, ‘it is no match for man.’ This is akin to the Dutch vitten (convenire).
THE EAST MIDLAND DIALECT.
(About A.D. 1260.)
I now give the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and Belief, from a manuscript written in the middle of the Thirteenth Century, and printed in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, I. 22. This must have been used in the Northern part of Mercia, perhaps in Orrmin's shire, for the a is not yet replaced by o, as in East Anglia. We also find such Northern forms as til, until, fra, als, alwandand,
- ↑ As we say, ‘he whipped into his desk.’
