who knows something about the situation of written english during 11th-13th centuries?
467302
Is this a big essay? if it is, Talk to your professor to try to extend deadline...at least for you. as for the essay, try asking your library, ask them for any sources that will help you in that area, and also your history professor as well your English professor.
855650
I have one you can have its on the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Its seven pages and it was for a upper level Medeval history class i got a B on it so of u want it let me know!
231861
A period in European history that started in about 500 A.D. and lasted until 1400 A.D.\n\nFor the some good information about this period, see:\n\nMedieval History\nhttp://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Medieval.html\n\nTIMEREF.COM\nhttp://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/\n\nMidieval English Towns\nhttp://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/towns.html\n\nMedieval Sourcebook\nhttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
322259
It is usually English and History.
316898
As others have noted, the letters WERE pronounced when the spellings originated.  And had the printing press come a century later, such things might be spelled the way we now pronounce them.\n\nThere is, however, some value in all this.  It is possible to see how words are related (to see something of their history) both within English and between English and the languages it grew out of.  Thus the spelling of word may show us connections with Germanic, French and Latin words\n\nI remember that it made it a lot easier to learn German, since I could recognize some of these words as related.  (Modern German, which DOES pronounce such sounds, has "Knecht" for "knight", "Nacht" for "night", etc.) I think it also helped with things like SATs.  Similarly, when I had to pick up a reading knowledge of French, I recognized a lot of related words (though I can't pronounce French worth a lick!)  I would think this is some help to Europeans learning English as well.\n\n------------\n\nSome more thoughts on the unstated (implied?) question -- why don't we fix it?!\n\nIncidentally, one of the things that has KEPT English from thorough spelling reforms is the fact that its vocabulary has been so freely borrowed from so many sources for centuries that there would be A LOT to try change and relearn.  (German and many other European languages did see such reforms in the past couple of centuires, but they had a lot less changing to do!)   And with the wide variety of regional pronunciations among just NATIVE English speakers, which ones would be adopt for the "standard"?  And if there were multiple versions what kind of mess would that make?! (The differences that now exist between British and American spelling are quite minor, hardly a barrier to reading each others' writing.)\n \nThink too what this change would do for reading anything in slightly older English!   We wouldn't be able to read documents and letters of the last several centuries without 'translating' them!
88294
Latin - who knows . . . is the answer searchable?\n\nI cheated . . . looked it up . . . \n\nOld English (449 - 1066 CE)\n\nThe Old English language (also called Anglo-Saxon) dates back to 449 CE. The Celts had been living in England when the Romans invaded. Although they invaded twice, they did not conquer the Celts until 43 CE and Latin never overtook the Celtic language. The Romans finally left England in 410 CE as the Roman Empire was collapsing, leaving the Celts defenseless. Then the Germanic tribes from the present-day area of Denmark arrived. The four main tribes were the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. These tribes set up seven kingdoms called the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy that included: Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia. Four dialects were spoken in these kingdoms: West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian. The Celts moved north to Scotland, west to Ireland and south to France, leaving the main area of Britain.
688649
Well one was written in english, the other in latin. That's kind of a difference.
6848
English originated from the Old Saxon language and related dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany. The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries. The second wave was of the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke a variety of French.
1000616
The English...back in the day
956290
Do a 'net search on Middle English. You'll find LOADS of examples and information about the language.
798522
hello Penny. try these links, they should help.\n\nWEBSITES ON THE MIDDLE AGES/MEDIEVAL LIFE\n\nhttp://www.cumbavac.org/Middle_Ages.htm\n\nhttp://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/ma/mahome.htm\n\nhttp://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/contents.html\n\nA P European History Topics and Web Links Page.\n\nhttp://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/EHAPTOpics_WebLinksPage.htm\n\nClick on the blue star ( ) to get the detailed assignment sheet and a list of topics to be covered for each unit of study.  Click on the gold star ( ) to go to a page filled with extensive web links to sites and many primary source documents for that unit of study.\n\nhttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/\n\nGood luck.\n\nKevin, Liverpool, England.
109850
It has to do with the the older versions of English. For example, back in the 16- and 1700 (possibly into the 1800s as well) the English "S" looked like an "F".
904089
Writer: Paul\n\nPlace Written: Rome\n\nWriting Completed: c. 61 C.E.
992489
If you wish to write in what is called an "archaic," or out-of-date, style, then you must understand the language as it was used at the time.  It helps a great deal, by the way, to develop a solid grasp of good usage and form in modern English, as well.  There is a linear relationship between the two.  Sometimes, this means checking on things that look a little odd after you write them, or when you read them.\n\nThus - your "PS" to the original post mentions "suspension periods" - as a former newspaper editor, professional writer and language geek, I have encounted most descriptions of punctuation marks but never this one.  But I went to the Oxford English dictionary and found it to be correct.  So thank you and congratulations.\n\nTo achieve your primary goal, begin by collecting writing from the same period.  Make a list of words, phrases, and structures.  There are typically two main variations in use in "contemporary" writing - formal usage which looks amazingly unlike the way we speak and write at this time, and "slang," or idiomatic usage that is the era's version of teen-speak.\n\nInasmuchas you mentioned "the 'Witch Craze'," I believe you are speaking of the early and mid-1600's in the British isles and her colonies.  Be aware that forms of English used in Scotland, Wales and Ireland in those years were very, very different indeed - and those are the places where you are more likely to encounter witch-burnings outside of France and New England.\n\nThere are several guides to language as used in that period.  The principal writing convention of the mid-17th century was a style known as "thorne," in which certain words were abbreviated.  I have labored many a miserable hour over pages of handwritten text in "thorne" and you should look it up.  If you become skilled at the glorious style of penmanship used in that time, and at the use of "thorne," it can become a secret language you and your friends can use amongst yourselves.\n\nMost of the principal writers of the time were the members of the brand-new Royal Society, inflamed and inflammatory partisans of Protestant and Catholic churches, and playwrights.  English opera was born at the end of this period under the pen of Henry Purcell.  You might look for a collection of the letters of young Isaac Newton, Richard Hooke, John Boyle, and others in the RS.  Alternatively read the letters, speeches and statements of Oliver Cromwell or his enemies, particularly Stafford.  Of course, the ULTIMATE writer in English of this time, to me anyhow, is John Donne.\n\nNow, are you ready?\n\nThere's a cheat for this process.  Haunt a used bookstore and obtain the three-volume "Baroque Cycle" series by Neal Stephenson - "Quicksilver," "The Confusion," and "The System of the World."  This stuff is EXACTLY what you want.  Stephenson writes in pseudo-archaic; that is, he is doing the kind of writing you wish to do.  And he tells wonderful tales about real people as well as fairy-tale critters.  Oh, by the way, at the end of it all you have acquired a most valuable and unique education in the basics of 17th and early 18th-century Western European history.
827300
There's one of the British Isles about 1300 (not a 14th century map, but of the 14th century) linked below.\n\nThe second link is an Ecclesiastical map of the British Isles in the Middle Ages, keeping in mind that the church was just as important as the government in those days.\n\nPerry-Castañeda Library Map Collection of the University of Texas is the best place to look for online maps in general.
1153096
Well English...Started from Anglo-Saxon.Some words are borrowd or adopted. Some were created by accident.
482528
This site is very good because it not only gives written and oral examples of proper English, but also because it deals with current events:\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/