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THESIS _,

This is to certifg that the
thesis entitled

The Language of the Towneley Plays: A Comparative
Analysis of the Identical York and Towneley Plays,
the Caesar égggstue, the Talents. and the Stanzas
of the Wakefield Master

presented by

 

‘ Martin Stevens

has been accepted towards fulfillment

L degree in M

i of the requirements for
w
\
\

gym I)! 4;"MS
‘ I Major professor
Dani/M6—

0-169

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE TOWNELEY PLAYS: A COM-
.RARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IDENTICAL YORK AND
TOWNELEY PLAYS, THE CAESAR AUGUSTUS, THE TAL-
ENTS AND THE STANZAS OF THE WAKEFIELD MASTER

by

Martin Stevens

at

A THESIS

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State University of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree or

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English
1956

 

VITA

Martin Stevens
candidate for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Final Examination: February 17, 1956, 3:00-5:00, Journalism
Building

Dissertation: The Language of the Towneley Plays: A Compar-
ative Analysis of the Identical York and Towne-
1ey Plays, the Caesar Augustus, the Talents
and the stanzas of the Wakefield Master

Outline of Studies:

Major Subject: Linguistics
Minor Subject: English Literature

Biographical Items:

Born, January 11, 1927, Hamburg, Germany

Undergraduate Studies, Bachelor of Arts, Western Reserve
University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1946-1949

Graduate Studies, Master of Arts in Speech, Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 19h9-1950;
Michigan State University, 1950-1956

Experience: Teaching Fellow in Speech, Western Reserve
University, Cleveland, Ohio, 19h9-1950; Instructor
in Communication Skills, Michigan State University,
l9SO-date

Member of Phi Society of Phi Beta Kappa, and of Phi
Kappa Phi

11

THE LANGUAGE OF THE TOWNELEY PLAYS: A COM-
PARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IDENTICAL YORK AND

TOWNELEY PLAYS, THE CAESAR AUGUSTUS, THE TAL-
ENTS; AND THE STANZAS OF THE WAKEFIELD MASTER

by

Martin Stevens

AN ABSTRACT

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State University of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

G

Department of English
1956

Approved._QQZ::Sj§SZLfJAflhns
rTf

‘I’Q¢'Ié

The Language of the Towneley Plays: A Gom-
parative Analysis of the Identical York and
Towneley Plays, the Caesar Augustus” the Tal-
ents and the Stanzas of the Wakefield Master

This dissertation attempts to analyze the language of the
Towneley cycle, in order to test the most important hypotheses
regarding: (1) its composition and growth, (2) its relation-
ship to the York cycle, and (3) its geographical location.

The Towneley cycle is a heterogeneous collection of medi-
eval craft plays, generally attributed to the city of Wakefield
in the West Riding of Yorkshire and dated approximately in the
first quarter of the fifteenth century. The single extant
manuscript of this collection of plays, now located in the
Huntington Library at San Marino, California, is assigned a
date of ca. lh60 by paleographers. It consists of a total of
thirty-two plays, of which all but the last are written in the
same hand. The individual plays differ widely in metrics,

some, including the famous Second Shepherds' play, containing

 

nine-line stanzas of the so-called Wakefield Master, who has
been lauded by many critics not only for the perfection of

his lines, but also for his racy humor, his superior dramatic
technique, and his biting social commentary. Moreover, a
number of the plays within the cycle differ by reason of their
origin. At least five of the plays were apparently borrowed
from the craft cycle of the neighboring city of York. These

plays, the Pharao, the Doctors', the Harrowing 2; Hell, the

 

Resurrection, and the Judgment, bear a word for word resem-

blance to large sections of their counterparts in the York

 

cycle, a collection of forty-eight plays, dated roughly in
the fourteenth century.

These differences among the various plays in Towneley
have raised certain questions concerning the composition and
growth of the cycle, which to date have not been answered with
certainty. Since the publication of the first text of the
Towneley plays in 1836, scholars have addressed themselves to
a variety of problems, among them: (1) Exactly what are the
sources of the several plays in the cycle? The York cycle
is most likely one of these sources, but When and how were
the York portions incorporated into the Towneley cycle? Was
there perhaps a parent cycle or a common original? Were there
other direct sources for the Towneley plays? (2) Are some
metrical patterns in the cycle, therefore some of the plays,
older than others? If so, what group of plays seems to be the
original one? Is it possible that plays were collected from
different sources at one time? (3) Is there any evidence of
editorial revision in Towneley? To what extent did the Wake-
field Master have a hand in the writing or revising of plays
that do not contain the nine-line stanza as the basic form?

Scholarly attention has also been directed toward the
establishment of the original home of these plays. ‘While manu-
script and external evidence have provided reasonably clear
proof that the cycle was performed at wakefield, Yorkshire,
there is nonetheless some conflicting evidence which would
assign the plays to Woodkirk, a village in the proximity of

Wakefield. Moreover a few scholars have suggested the identi-

fication of the Towneley cycle with the city of Beverly,
which is known to have presented a craft cycle, and others
have suggested a Lancashire origin on the strength of the manu-
script history. Though.most contemporary scholars have ac-
cepted the Wakefield theory, the question concerning the ori-
ginal home of the cycle has by no means been answered with
certainty.

In an effort to shed some new light upon these problems
of composition and origin, I determined to examine the language
of the Towneley plays. To provide a limitation for the study,
I chose to concentrate on the following plays, which, because
of metrics or origin, are representative of the several strata
in the Towneley cycle: (1) the five identical York and Towne-
ley plays, (2) the Caesar Augustus, (3) the Talents, and (h)
any three plays written entirely in the Master's stanza. The
identical York and Towneley plays I selected because they
provide a fine opportunity for testing the dialect differences
between the two cycles. The Caesar Augustus, written entirely
in‘gimg‘gggég, is a representative of the group which many
consider the earliest in the Towneley cycle. 0n the other
hand, the Talents, because of its heterogeneity in metrical
patterns, is normally considered a later addition, and its ori-
gin has been much in doubt. Finally, I selected a number of
the Master's plays in order to determine to what extent the
language in these plays is different from.all the other strata
in the cycle.

The linguistic study is based on the complete incidence

in the plays selected for analysis of some thirty-seven North-
ern and Northeast Midland dialect traits. The material in
this thesis has been arranged into various broad headings,
under each of which those criteria which are treated alike

in all plays, and those which Show differences have been
given a separate place. A complete list of incidence may be
found in the appendix, while the discussion in the body of

the thesis contains a quantitative analysis of forms occur-
ring in rime and within the line, an evaluation, and a state-
ment of the historical background of each linguistic trait.

Due to the many limitations of this type of investigation,
the conclusions of this study must be offered as tentative.
However, a few statements can be made with reasonable certain-
ty. In the first place, the language of the Towneley plays
is not only later but also less regional than that of the
York plays. Dialect changes in the identical plays seem to
indicate that the Towneley plays did not use as many Northern
traits as did the York plays. Secondly, the large number of
linguistic differences among the various plays in the Towneley
cycle indicates that the plays were not written by one man
nor derived from one source. The Talents alone among the plays
examined for this study can be considered on linguistic grounds
_te be a pure Northeast Midland document, though all of the
plays could well have been performed at Wakefield in spite of
the occasional appearance of traits typical of more Northerly
areas. Finally, the linguistic evidence does not Support the

notion that the Caesar Augustus is an earlier composition than

 

the other plays in the cycle. As a matter of fact, there is

at least a suggestion in the evidence that the Caesar Augustus

 

and the plays borrowed from York were incorporated into the
Towneley cycle at the same time and that they were edited by
the same man. Pending a study of other plays in Towneley,
these statements summarize the most important conclusions

to be obtained from the linguistic evidence on the proveni-

ence, growth and composition of the Towneley cycle.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Vit': . . . . O . C . . .- . C O . O . . . C O .
ProfaOOO e e e o e o e e e e v e o o e o e a 0

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A. The Structure of the Cycle . . . .

B. Textual Problems: Composition and Crowth of

the CYClOo o o o

c. Textual Problems: Original Home and La

of the T Cycle . . . . . r . . . . . .
D. RosaarCh MOthOdOlogy o o e e o o e e o

CHAPTER I THE MOORE, MEECH AND WHITEHALL CRITERIA
A. Differences. o o o o o o o v o e r

B. Similarities o e o a t o o t r

CHAPTER. II OTHER PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
A. DifoPOnCOSo & o o r e e e e e
B. Similarities e o o o o o O O O

ngu

..

O

CHAPTER.III OTHER MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

A. DiffOPQnCOSQ o e o e e w o o o
B. Similarities e e Q Q o o o c 0

CHAPTER IV VOCABULARY. . . . . . . . . . . .

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . .

Appendix: Table of Variants . . . . . . . .

Bibliography 0 o o o o o e o e e e o e e r e 0

iii

0

11

vii
xi

xxi

xxxiv
l

65
89

100
1le
126
160

181
219

o m w m U m & a

a
g ,.
H
O. .0

row. 3

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Towneley
York

Pharao play
Doctors' play

Harrowing 23 Hell play

 

Resurrection play

Judgment play
Caesar Aggustus play

 

Talents play

 

Moore, Meech, and Whitehall (see biblio-
graphy. p. 221+) .

rimes with

iv

”cu-F.’ .l-

PREFACE

Without the help and encouragement that I received
so generously from many people, this dissertation could
not have been written. I owe a great debt of gratitude
to Dr. Arnold Williams, who gave me freely many hours of
his time to direct this study. His wide knowledge, able
scholarship and Judicious advice served me as a constant
source of inspiration. For guidance on problems in lin-
guistics, I was fortunate to be able to turn to Dr. Rob-
ert Geist, by whose example I have gained an unfailing
respect for objectivity and exactitude in research.

My debts to other specialists in the field, to 11—
brarians, and to colleagues are many. I am especially
grateful to Dr. Hans Kurath, editor of the Middle Egg-
;ggh Dictionary, for allowing me the rare privilege of
perusing his extensive and valuable files. Mrs. Anne
Alubowicz and her reference staff at the Michigan State
University Library and Mrs. Meredith Baskett deserve my
heart—felt thanks for the assistance they gave me in ob-
taining bibliographical information and the necessary ref-
erence works. To my good friends, Sam Baskett, for his
h‘elpful editorial reading, and Charles Kegel, for his stoic
f0rbearance in enduring the many one-way conversations on
Middle English dialect criteria, I am deeply indebted.

Finally, what success I might have attained in completing

this study I accredit to my wife, who not only gave me her

a“

i |

ungrudging help in the painstaking jobs of proof-reading
and typing, but whose understanding and patience allowed

me to persevere in my work.

vi

INTRODUCTION

vii

I

The T cycle has long been recognized as one of the most
remarkable works produced in Medieval England. In part, this
recognition has undoubtedly been due to the Wakefield Master's
contributions to the cycle, constituting about a fourth of its
total and containing the most realistic and the most accom-
plished lines to be found in the medieval religious drama.

As a dramatist, this extraordinary playwright has been cred-
ited with constructing "the first actual comic plot in the
English drama."l As a social critic, he has been compared with
Langland for his biting attack on the malfeasances of his so-
ciety. As an artist, he has given to the drama a most compli-
cated and ingenious nine-line stanza, invested at once with
racy humor, academic discourse, realistic description, and
bitter invective.

But to praise the T cycle only in terms of the Master's
contributions to it is to give a myopic critical judgment.

For the cycle, seen as a whole, is the epitome of the medieval
religious drama as we know it. Nowhere else in the dramatic
literature of the period may we find the unity of design and
the technical skill discernible in these plays. Too often,
critics forget that realism and humor are not the exclusive
property of the nine-line stanzas, that in such plays as The
Killing 23.522i’ Th3 Annunciation or Th3 Talents, none of
which is written primarily in this stanza, we may find these

qualities almost as pervasive as in The Second She herds' Play.

5 A
John Edwin Wells, A Manuel of the Writin s 29 Middle English.
1050-1400 (New Hawven, 1913),. p. ’

 

viii

Overwhelmed by the ingenuity and raciness of the Master's
lines, these critics also forget that a dramatic work, parti-
cularly when it is a religious work, is not soley judged on

the basis of its comic effects. Consequently they overlook

the consistency of characterization in the T cycle as a whole.
When, for example, we discover that Pilate is uniformly charac-
terized as a sadistic villain, both in and out of the nine-
line stanzas in some six plays, a few of which are of various

origins,2

we are in a better position to prize the conscious
artistry in the design of the cycle. And when we consider
further that no other dramatic cycle of the period depicts
Pilate with such consistency,3 we may see the T plays as a
unique work of genius, one that can properly be said to con-
tain not only "the first actual comic plot," but also a rather
well developed tragic theme. For Pilate, as the central vil-
lain of the Passion group in Towneley, is as powerful an
antagonist, as treacherous a foe as Barabas or Iago. The medi-
eval craft plays, if evaluated properly, concern themselves
first of all with the struggle of good versus evil against the
grand-scale background of man's religious heritage. Second-
arily, they also exploit the comic and critize the age, thus
adding Without question to their dramatic impact. It is pre-
cisely from.this contrast between the serious and the light,

the contemporary and the legendary, the just and the unjust,

 

EIFor a full discussion, see Arnold Williams, The Characteri-

zation‘gf Pilate‘ig,the Towneley Plays (East LansIng, 1950).

3 Ibide, p0 7.

ix

that T derives its excellence.

Small wonder then that the T Plays have received more
scholarly attention than the other cycles of the medieval
period. Since the first printed text appeared in 1836,u over
a hundred critical studies, including six doctoral disserta-
tions, have been written on the T plays.S While these investi-
gations have attempted to untangle the network of vexing pro-
blems connected with the cycle and even solved some of them,
many questions must yet be answered if we are ever to see this
masterful collection of plays fully in its historical and in-
tellectual millieu. Though some of these problems may never
be solved because we lack the documentary evidence, such es-
sential matters as the origin of the cycle, its date of com-
position or compilation, the identity of its authors, its
manner of growth, its connection with the other cycles both
extant and lost, its place of presentation - all these and
yet more problems remain at least partial enigmas to this day
and deserve the fullest analysis with those tools and methods
that are at our disposal. Indeed, while studies of source
material and of stanzaic structure have often been undertaken
in the past to shed light on these problems, other methods of
investigation have thus far been left largely untried. Fore-
most among them is an examination of the language in the cycle.

It is the purpose of this study, therefore, to analyze the

 

4 The Townele Mysteries, eds. Joseph Hunter, Joseph Stevenson,
and ames Gordon, Surtees Society, I (London, 1836).

5 See Carl J. Stratman, Biblio ra h ‘2; Medieval Drama (Berke-
ley. 1951+). pp. 129-‘F-w13 . """"""

language of representative plays in the T collection in order
~to test the most important hypotheses that have thus far been
proposed particularly in relation to: (1) the composition

and growth of T, (2) the relationship of Y and T, and (3) the

geographical location of T.
The Structure 2; the Cycle

The T plays have come down to us in a single MS., now in
the possession of the Huntington Library at San Marino, Cali-
fornia. The volume is of folio size, containing thirty-two
plays, written in the same hand except for the last one, which
is a later addition.6 According to paleopraphic evidence, the
manuscript was written ca. 114.50.7 In general, scholars are
agreed that the MS. is a registrum, compiled by a corporation
which found it necessary to transcribe the plays belonging to
8

various guilds into one volume. This theory would account for

plays appearing out of sequence in the MS., as well as for the

 

6 Louis Wann, ”A New Examination of the Manuscript of the
Towneley Plays," PHLA, XLIII (March, 1928), 139.

7 Ibid., p. 1A6. Wann notes various peculiarities about the
MS., particularly: (1) Signatures L and S are in rubrics,
while all other signatures are black; (2) A11 Latin stage
directions are in black; (3) "Everyone of the plays which
deviates from the black sta e directions in Latin (the uni-
form.use) (8, 1h, 18, 20, 2g, 27) belongs to the York bor-
rowing stage." Wann speculates that these facts might sug-
gest either the work of more than one hand or "a possible
difference in the character of the original manuscripts
from which the one copy was made." Ibid., pp. 1&6-7.

8 w.w. Greg, "Bibliographical and Textual Problems of the E lish
Miracle Cycles,” The Libra , 3rd Series, V, (Jan., 1912?,
2k. Also see, EIKI-Chambers,‘2hg Medieval Stage, II (Ox-
ford, 1903), lhB.

xi

various lacunae, including twelve missing leaves between the
first and second plays, two at the end of the fourth, two at
the end of the seventeenth, and twelve at the end of the
twenty-ninth.9 or the thirty-two plays, two (Plays I and III)
are ascribed to Wakefield in rubrics after the title, and four
(Plays I, II, VIII and XXVII) are ascribed to craft guilds.lo
To date, two complete texts of the T plays have been
published. The first of these, brought out by the Surtees
Society in 1836, appeared with an introduction by Joseph Hunt-
er. In 1897, the Early English Text Society published in its
Extra Series (No. 71), the latest edition of the plays, under
the supervision of George England and Alfred W. Pollard. The
latter text is generally in use today, superseding the Surtees
edition, and its introduction is still considered a corner-
stone in the scholarship done on the cycle. However, various
criticisms have been made of the text. For example, Holt-»
hausen pointed out that too many words are followed by question
marks in the glossary, that there are no notes interpreting
difficult passages, and that the text itself is full of errors

and unintelligible passages.ll Recently Edward Murray Clark

9 The Towneley Mysteries, Surtees Society, p. 3.

The Townele Fla 3, eds. George England and Alfred W. Pollard,
IIEETS ES, $1 London, 1897), p. xiii.

11 "Studien zu den Towneley Plays," Englische Studien, LVIII
(l92h). 161. This article, along with one By Mendal G.
Frampton ("The Early English Text Society Edition of the
Towneley Plays," A lia Beiblatt, XLVIII, 1937, 330-33,
366-368; XLIX, 19 , -7TT'EEE3Epts to emend the text.

Of the tWo articles, Frampton's is to be valued much more
highly, since he collated the printed text with the MS.,
while Holthausen frequently made corrections on subjective
grounds.

xii

,5

 

12 how-

announced a new edition of the plays in preparation;
ever, he informs me that his work has been "indefinitely
postponed." Therefore, current scholarship, including this
study, is generally based on the Early English Text Society
Edition.

Differences in language, style and origin among the vari-
ous plays in the T cycle have long been noted. Joseph Hunter,
in the preface of the Surtees Society edition, was the first
to call attention to some of these discrepancies:

In the language as well as the style of these
Mysteries, a diversity may be perceived, aris-
ing in part, perhaps, from the greater elevation
of the characters or the subjects in one than

in another; and in part also, perhaps, from
their not having proceeded from one hand, and
from the collection having been made up partly
of compositions strictly original, and partly

of compgsitions obtained from similar collec-
1510118.

Ever since this statement was made, T scholars have tried
to account for the heterogeneity of the cycle. In order to
provide a proper understanding of their theories, I shall
attempt, in the following pages, to identify and discuss the
most obvious structural differences in the cycle.

Even a cursory glance at the text of the T plays will
reveal that the individual plays differ widely in the stanzaic
patterns that they employ. A stanza which occurs quite fre-

quently is the rime couee or tail-rime stanza, appearing as

 

Millett Henshaw, "A Survey of Studies in Medieval Drama,

1933-1950," Progress‘gf Medieval and Renaissance Studies
in the United States and Canada, BuIletin No. 21 (Iug.,

, e

13 The Towneley Mysteries, p. x.

xiii

 

the dominant form in no less than seven plays (VII, IX, X, XI,
XVII, XXIII, XXVIII). This stanza most often takes the form

aahb3aaub3, as in the Caesar Augustus, but some plays contain

 

the variations aau'b3ccub3 or aaahbaaaahbz, as the Salutation
and the Purification, respectively. The Burns stanza (aaau'b2
ahbz) occurs to a large extent in three plays (XIV, XXVI,
XXVII); two are written entirely in couplets (V, VI), two
partially in couplets (I, X), four principally in the so-called
Northern Septinar stanza (VIII, XVIII, XX, XXV), three prin-
cipally in eight-line stanzas riming alternately (IV, XIX,
XXX), one principally in an unusual thirteen line stanza (XV),
and four plays (II, XXII, XXIV, XXIX) in what Pollard calls
"mixed" or "confused" meters.lh The most important form, how-
ever, from an artistic and scholarly point of view is the
"Wakefield Master's" nine-line stanza, "composed of a four-
line frons (Bfifig), a bob of usually one foot, often anapes-
tic, (c), three three-foot lines (ddd) and another bob, gen-
erally of two feet (c)."15 These stanzas appear exclusively
in plays III, XII, XIII, XVI, XXI, in large parts of plays
XX, XXII and XXX, and sporadically in plays II, XXIII, XXIV,
XXVII and XXIX. Approximately one fourth of the entire cycle
is written in this form.

Because students of the T plays have often attributed to
the Master parts of the cycle that are not written in the char-

acteristic nine-line stanza, a word should be said about the

In The Towneley Plays, EETES ES 71, p. xxiii.
Williams, p. 5h.

w,”

 

method used in this study for determining the Master's canon.
Ever since Pollard identified as the Master's work such plays

as the Cain (II) and the Talents (XXIV), because they contain

 

some of the same boldness and humour that are found in the

Master's regular stanza,16 scholars have assumed that those

parts of the cycle which display unusual merit or craftsman-
ship or those parts of the cycle that are written in a simi-
lar stanza must also belong to the Master.17 I believe that
the Master's canon must be assigned on more objective grounds.

Either the Master wrote the well-known nine-line
stanza, with easily recognizable variations, or
he wrote a number of stanzaic forms. If the lat-
ter, then we had better abandon altogether the
task of fixing his canon on the basis of stanzaic
form, for qualities so incapable of objective
measurement as tone, style, raciness, vividness,
proverbiality cansnever provide adequate criteria
for attribution.

In this study, therefore, only the conventional nine-line
stanzas are assumed to belong to the Master.

Besides noting the heterogeneity of stanzaic patterns
throughout the T cycle, we must also differentiate the several

plays according to their sources. To be sure, the origins of

WW

Th3 Towneley Plays, EETS ES 71, p. xxii.

See, for example, Asmus Bunzen, Ein Beitra zur Kritik der
Wakefielder M sterien, Doctoral Dissertagion (Kiel, l§U§)
p. IS; Mendai G. Erampton, "The Date of the Flourishing
of the Wakefield Master," PMLA, L (Sept., 1935), 660, n.
156; and two book- -length studies: Millicent Carey, The
Wakefield Group_ in the Towneley Cycle (Gdttingen, 193
and Margaret Trusler, A Study of the Language of the Wake-

’

field Group_ in Towneley on the Basis o i nifI—ant Rime-
Words with Comparisons“ 0 Forms within the Line in Both
the Townele and the York Fla .8, Unpublished University

0 Chicago Dissertation, l9 (Hereafter referred to

as "Trusler").

13 Williams, p. 63.

 

 

XV

most plays are unknown; however, Lucy T. Smith's scholarly
edition of the Y cycle established that at least five plays
in T have identical counterparts in Y.19 This discovery has
had a far-reaching influence on subsequent scholarship, giv-
ing rise to all kinds of Speculation in order to establish
the total relationship between the cycles. Moreover, it in-
validated a number of earlier theories on the relationships
of plays within the T cycle.20
The five plays that are virtually identical in the Y and
T cycles are the Pharao (T VII, Y XI), the Doctors' (T XVIII,
Y XX), the Harrowing‘gf‘ggll (T XXV, Y XXXVII), the Resurrec-
tigg (T XXVI, Y XXXVIII), and the'gggt Judgment (T XXX, Y
XLXIII). Of these corresponding plays, the Y and T Pharao
plays and the Y and T Harrowingwgf‘ggll plays bear the closest
resemblance to each other. A closer examination of the texts
will reveal that the T Pharao adds two quatrains (II. 16-20
and 113-7), one section of six lines (11. 127-33), and a con-
cluding stanza of twelve lines to the Y text. The T Doctors'
play substitutes a forty-eight line beginning and a section
of thirty-five lines (11. luh~l79) in the middle. In the
Harrowing g; gall, 336 lines are identical, Y containing 72
lines and T 80 that find no parallel in the other text. The

T Resurrection contains 26h lines that do not appear in Y, a

 

I; Ybrk Plays (Oxford, 1885), p. xlvi.
20 For example, Joseph Hunter assumes that the T Pharao, one

of the plays borrowed from.Y, is "plainly by the same
hand” as the Caesar Afigustus, a play absent from the Y

. cycle, because In Bot plays.tyrants swear by ”mahowne."
See Th3 Towneley Mysteries, Surtees Society, p. x.

few of which, as a matter of fact, resemble a passage in the
Chester cycle (T 11. 226-231 : Chester 11. 154-69). The two
JUdgment plays contain only 189 identical lines, while T has
#37 independent lines, almost half of which appear in the
Master's stanza. The body of material collected for this study
has been taken only from the identical lines of the Y and T
plays, not the entire plays in which correspondences appear.
The most interesting correspondence from a bibliographi-
cal point of view is that between the Y and T Doctors' plays
because a large part of both plays ("The Disputation in the
Temple" scene) also appears in the Chester cycle and the

21 While

Weavers' Pageant of the Coventry Corpus Christi plays.
the precise bibliographical problems raised by these resem-
blances are beyond the scope of this study, the conclusions
of a comparative textual analysis undertaken by W.W. Greg have
some bearing on the relationship between Y and T, in general.
According to this study, (1) T is derived from Y, (2) Coventry
is most closely related to T, and (3) Chester borrowed from
Coventry.22 At least in this instance, the T plays appear on
textual grounds definitely to have borrowed from Y.

The relationship betWeen Y and T apparently is not con-
fined solely to the five identical plays. While no other

play contains an appreciable number of direct parallels, some

M
1 See The Chester Flags, EETS ES, No llS,(London, 1916), pp.
7'32 3

213-7 11. 21 and Two Coventr Cor us Christi Fla 8
ed. Hardin Craig, EETS EET'N37_B7_TX ’
68, 11. 885~11h5.
22 -
p. 103. See also, Hardin Craig's discu351on in Two Coventry

Co us Christi Plays, pp. xxviii-xxxiv, and Alex Hohl eld,
"2%e Altenglischen Kollektivmisterien," Anglia, XI (1880),
2

0- .

Lon on, 1§§TTT'Spo -

 

xvii

of the corresponding plays in the two cycles are similar in
phrasing and stanzaic structure. The Y and T Conspiracy plays
(Y XXVI, T XX), principally on the basis of a common Northern
Septinar stanza, along with the Y'Jbsephig Trouble'ggggt'yggy
and the T Annunciation (Y XIII, T X) are frequently mentioned
in this group.23 So are isolated passages from many other
plays, including‘ghg Offering 22 £2£.MEE$:.222 Flight i322
Egypt,‘2hg Scourgigg, The Crucifixion, and ghg‘ggggflg‘ggggg-
gigg. These parallels, however, are so much subject to vari-
ous interpretation that one cannot be sure to what extent Y
actually had an influence on T. One scholar, for example,
distinguished eight groups in the T cycle according to the
kind of relationship that the plays had with‘Y.2u Another
scholar, Davidson, found many similarities in the rime scheme
of the Northern Septinar stanzas in the T ConSpiragy and the
Northern Septinar plays in the Y cycle.25 Most far-reaching
of all studies concerning the relationship of Y and T, how-

ever, is Marie C. Lyle's The Original Identity 2; the Ybrk

 

23

See E.K. Chambers, En lish Literature at the Close 2; the
Middle Ages (Oxro‘E‘mI-d, 61““‘3‘6", p. . "" "'""'"' ""

Alex Hohlfeld classified the T cycle into the following
eight groups: (1) Identical plays in wording: (2) Simi-
lar plays established by identical passages: X, XIV, XV;
(3) Similar plays established without identical passages:
XVI, XX; (h) Linguistic borrowings and other generally
similar passages: XXII; (5) Generally similar passages:
XXIX; (6) Parallel passages without other agreement:
XXIII; (7) No direct signs of Y influence: I, II, III,
IV, VII, XI, XII, XIII, XVII, XIX, XXI, XXVII, XXVIII,
XXI, XXXII; (8) Not present in Y: V, VI, IX, XXIV. See
p. 3070

25 Charles Davidson, "Studies in the English Mystery Plays,"
Transactions of the Connecticut Academy 3; Arts and Sci-
ences, IX Zi852-9ES, p. 1 .

xviii

gag Towneley Cycles, which contains a copiously documented
comparison of the two cycles. According to Lyle, the plays
in Y and T may be classified as follows: (1) those which are
identical in the two cycles (five plays in T); (2) those which
contain a similarity in underlying structure, parallel phra-
seology and common rime words (thirteen complete plays in T);
(3) those which contain a similarity in underlying structure,
parallel phraseology but no common rime words (three complete
plays in T); (h) those which contain similarities in under-
lying structure but no parallel phraseology or common rimes
(four complete plays in T); (5) those which contain little
similarity in structural outline (one play in T); and (6)
those which occur in but one of the cycles (six plays in T).26
The preceding survey should indicate that there is rela-
tively little agreement among scholars on the Y and T rela-
tiOnship. Obviously the criteria selected to establish this
relationship vary, with some scholars accepting only the iden-
tical lines as proper evidence and others accepting similari-
ties in phrasing, metrics and subject matter as well. For
the purposes of this study, however, the latter criteria can-
not be considered as evidence of a direct relationship or in-
fluence. A good many of the parallels in subject matter or
handling in mystery plays are probably not the result of inter-
borrowing but the result of the same church tradition used

as background for the writing and compiling of the secular

W
Marie C. Lyle, The Ori inal Identity 33 the York and Towneley
Cycles, University 0 Minnesota Studies n Language and

erature, No. 6, (Minneapolis, 1919), p. 53.

xix

drama. Louis Wann, for example, would identify five basic
sources for the T plays: (1) liturgical plays (T I-VIII,
X-XVI, XX-XXIII, XXV-XXXII), (2) the liturgy itself (parts

of T I, III, VII, XI-XIV, XVII, XVIII, XXIII, XXV, XXVI), (3)
the Vulgate (considered most important) (all plays but VII,
XXV, XXX and XXXII and parts of plays II, III, IX, XII, XIII),
(ii) the Apocrypha (X, XXIII, XXV), and (5) religious litera-
ture, including the Cursor MEEQl’ the Pricke g; Conscience,

the Northern Passion, the Speculum Christiani and Middle

 

 

English prayers and lyrics.27 Since many of these sources
served the Y plays as well, it is extremely difficult to es-
timate what direct relationship there might have existed be-
tween the two cycles. Therefore, in determining the various
strata of the T cycle, one can assign only the five identical
plays to the group which definitely shows a connection with
Y. This limitation must be recognized as one of fundamental
importance to a linguistic analysis of the T plays, since it
establishes a norm (the characteristic language of the iden-
tical plays), by which the alleged Y influence on the other
plays can be measured.

In sum, then, only two important structural differences
within the T cycle have so far been determined by means of ob-
Jective criteria. In the first place, many of the plays and
even parts within the plays may be differentiated on the basis
of the stanzaic forms that they employ. Secondly, at least
z7—7Ehz-IEFIEgfiee of the French Farce on the Towneley Cycle of

Mystery Plays," Transactions 2; the Wisconsin Acade 2;
Sciences, Arts and Letters, XIX (Madison, 1918), 33;.

1h

one group of plays, the Pharao, the Doctors', the Harrowing
2£w§2lla the Resurrection and the Egg; Judgment differ from
all other plays in the cycle by bearing a line-by—line resem-
blance to the same plays in the Y cycle. At present, no more
can be said with certainty about the structural differences
within the T cycle. To be sure, I have already mentioned one
other criterion by which this diversity can be measured, a
linguistic examination. But to date no reliable study has
been undertaken to compare the language of the several plays

28

or groups of plays in the collection. Obviously the success
of a linguistic study to determine the structural likenesses
and differences of the cycle depends on an accurate classifi-
cation of its parts. Such criteria as raciness of language,
realism, resemblance of stanzaic forms, and similarity in
tone or content fail to provide that accuracy.

An examination of the various theories that scholars
have advanced on the composition and growth of the cycle is
now necessary. In other words, having isolated the various
structural differences among the T plays, I propose to examine

in the following pages the possible ways by which these plays
might have been collected.

Textual Problems: Composition and Growth.g£ the Cycle

Aware of the many structural differences among the plays
in T, scholars have long tried to explain how the cycle was

originally assembled and how, over the years, it evolved into

E8

 

See below, pp. Xliv-xlviii.

xxi

its finished form. Inevitably, studies dealing with the de-
velopment of the cycle have had to address themselves to a
varhfly of problems, among them: (1) Exactly what are the
sources of the several plays in the cycle? The Y cycle is
nest likely one of these sources, but when and how were the

Y portions incorporated into the T cycle? Was there perhaps

a parent cycle or a common original? Were there other direct
sources for the T plays? (2) What is the chronological se-
quence of the various strata in T? Which group is the origi;
nal one in the cycle? Is it possible that plays were collected
from different sources at one time? (3) Is there any evidence
of editorial revision in T? To what extent did the Wakefield
Master have a hand in the writing or revising of plays that

do not contain the nine-line stanza as the basic form? These
and many other questions scholars have attempted to answer

for over the past sixty years now.

With the discovery by Miss Smith that the Y and T cycles
contain a number of identical plays, scholars have concerned
themselves with the influence that one cycle might have had
on the other. The first to evolve a theory which would ex-
plain this relationship was Charles Davidson, who believed
that there was a parent cycle at York from Which.T borrowed
certain plays.29 He argues that the T cycle was compiled by
one man "of small poetical ability," who wrote in couplets and

occasionally in quatrains, and "who did not hesitate to appro-

 

xxii

priate good work wherever he found it, or to do violence to
rime or measure, if he considered the thought unclear or con-
trary to accepted tradition."30 In the_gonspiracy play alone,
Davidson finds not only the Northern Septinar stanza, which
he contends was a remnant of the parent cycle, but also five
other strata, one of them composed of the nine-line stanzas
subsequently attributed to the Wakefield Master.31 About the
latter, Davidson says: "I judge him a late contributor to a
cycle already long established. His plays seem to me a direct
contribution to the cycle, rather than plays elsewhere popular
which finally gained a position in the cycle..."32

Though some elements of Davidson's theory have received
wide recognition, few scholars have accepted the notion that
originally the T cycle was the work of a single compiler.
However, at least one scholar, Oscar Cargill, defends the
latter view because "the evidence of Davidson has never been
controverted."330argill submits that the notion of a single
compiler is at least as feasible as arguments in favor of divi-
ded authorship or natural growth, because "variety in stanzaic
structure might be explained by the supposition that the
dramatists worked from.a wide range of source material and did

not always bother to alter the forms found in the originals."3u

 

36-Ibid., p. 253.

31 Ibid., pp. 278-280.

32 Ibid., p. 279.

33 m 229. E22281 (New York, 1930): Po 129-
3“ Ibid., p. 110.

xxiii

The rest of Cargill's theory, however, is not in accord with
Davidson's. Cargill does not accept the notion of a parent
cycle; instead, he argues that the plays, as we have them to-
day, are the work of one man, perhaps a certain Gilbert
Pilkington, who used non-dramatic sources (particularly the

Northern Passion) and his own experience as a professional en-

35

 

tertainer to assemble the T cycle.

Another important theory on the evolution of the T plays
is that by Alex Hohlfeld. Basically, he asserts, there were
two stages in the development of the cycle. The first of
these represents the work of an author who borrowed some plays
directly from Y and composed others on the basis of his gen-
eral acquaintance with Y, even to the extent of echoing its
language. Moreover, there are some plays - those which do not
show Y influence - which he wrote independently, always ad-
hering closely to biblical sources. A later author (presuma-
bly the Wakefield Master) added the humorous plays to the
cycle.36

Hohlfeld's theory that the T plays were collected in
several stages has been accepted by many students of the cycle,
though the stages are variously identified. The most common
assumption is that there are three strata in T: the first

consists of plays written in couplets and rime couée consti-

 

tuting the remnants of an original didactic cycle much like

the Chester plays; the second is made up of the plays identi-

33 Ibid., p. 110.
pp. 256-258, 308 ff.

xxiv

cal to Y,37 and the third is the work of the Wakefield Master.
Alfred Pollard, in his introduction to the Early English Text
Society edition of the T plays, was the first to outline this
theory in some detail. He believes, on the basis of the simi-
larity in tone, language, and metrics, that the fragmentary
£3333 and‘ggggp plays (V and VI) and probably the Prophets'
(VII), the Caesar Aggustus (T IX), the Apnunciatigg (X) and
the Salutation (XI) are the work of the same writer.38 This
group constitutes the earliest stratum in the cycle. In the
second stage of development, not only the identical Y plays
but perhaps also those with similar stanzaic forms (IV, XIX,
XX and XXVII) were incorporated into the cycle. To a very
late date in the development of the cycle - the early years of
the fifteenth century - he assigns all the plays containing
the nine-line stanzas. A complicated mixture of meters, ac-
cording to Pollard, renders impossible the classification of
the Capture (T XXb), the Talents (T XXIV), the Ascension (T
XXIXb) and the Lazarus (T XXXI) in this scheme. Probably

they were much edited and revised.39

 

37 Only one scholar has proposed that Y borrowed these plays
from.T; see Joseph Hall's review of IuT. Smith's edition,

Englische Studien, IX (1886), pp. ##8-453.

pp. xxiv-xxv. To some extent Pollard's theory was influ-
enced by Bernard Ten-Brink's argument that the Issac and
Jacob plays in T stem from a hypothetical thirteenth-
century Jacob and Esau play and that these plays form the
earliest stage'IH the cycle. See History of Egglish‘gig-
er ture, II, rev. by A. Brandl and trans. B? H. M. Kennedy
(NEE—York, 1893-189 ), p. 2th. Pollard disagrees about
the relationship to the thirteenth century play, but he
does think that the Isaac and Jacob plays may be pre-
cyclic. See p. xxv.

39 Ibid., pp. xxv-xxvii.

38

XXV

Pollard's theory has found wide acceptance in scholarly
circles. Charles M. Gayley is substantially in accord with
Pollard's divisions of the cycle but adds that the Master's
contributions "were only slightly later than the second stage."
He believes that Pollard's earliest stratum can be dated around
13uo-50 and that the Master's portions fit "very well the de-
cade on either side of Wat Tyler's rebellion."1+0 John.W. Walk-
er, the foremost student of the history of Wakefield, accepts
Pollard's theory in general}+1 and so did Sir E. K. Chambers,
though he warns that "this classification is probably not ex-
haustivefld"2

Another interpretation of the growth of T is that by
Frank W. Cady. He assumes that the basis of the cycle is the
yiggflgggég group, which, he argues, is derived directly from
the church service. He goes on to explain that T was eventu-
ally subjected to three or four editings: the first added
the couplet portions, the second the nine-line stanzas, and
the third the Y plays and perhaps also the quatrain portions,
though the latter might constitute a fourth editing.L"3 This
theory has, in general, not been accepted, particularly be-
cause Cady assigns the Master's portions to an earlier period

than the Y borrowings. Grace Frank, Cady's chief critic,

 

EbPlays‘gg Our Forefathers (New York, 1907), p. 135.

l
Wakefield, Its History and Peo 1e, I, 2nd Ed. (Wakefield,
1939;: p0 1320

The Medieval Stage, II, hlh.

h3~ "The Passion Group in Towneley," MP,X (April, 1913), p. 599;
and gThe Wakefield Group in Towneley," JEPG, XI (1912),
p. 2 2.

xxvi

calls attention to the fact that the Master's stanzas are
found in the T Judgment, "where they are obviously additions
or insertions in an older play derived from Y."uh'As for the
separate couplet and quatrain editings, Frank argues that
cycles were not subjected to revision 33 toto. In so doing,
she evolves her own.theory to account for the heterogeneity
of the cycle:
I am inclined to believe that we have in T as in Y
a collection of plays each subjected, at least dur-
ing its formative period, to the vicissitudes of
life within its particular craft. Some of the
crafts were fortunate in being able to command the
services of a remarkable Wakefield playwright.
Others were content to borrow from York, perhaps
revising or rewriting later. Still others contin-
ued to use old plays pieced out by borrowings
from elsewhere or enlivened by a scene or two from
the hands of the Wakefield dramatist. The possi-
bilities are almost inexhaustible, and nearly every
play ngn thus considered presents a separate pro-
blem.

However, Cady's assumption that Y borrowings constituted
the last stage in the development of the T cycle finds an
even stronger refutation in Marie C. Lyle's study of the Y
and T relationship. Based on an exhaustive comparison of
style and language this study conclused that the two cycles
were originally the same, but that after separation, they were
subjected to independent revision.h6 According to Lyle, the
key to this relationship lies in what she identifies as a

"common Resurrection group" of plays. The T Resurrection,

#

E4 ”Revigégns in English Mystery Plays," M2, XV (Jan., 1918),
p. e

#5 Ibid., p. 572.
#6 p. 100.

xxvii

 

being one of the five plays identical in wording to Y, could
not have been borrowed at a late date, Lyle contends, because
the gesurrection play proper is the core of any religious
cycle. Hence this play, written in the Burns measure, must
be a part of the parent cycle. What's more, a complete Resur-
rection group can be reconstructed from other plays in the
Burns meter appearing in the two cycles. To support this as-
sumption, she cites phrases and rimes that these plays have
in common.u7 As for the other plays in the two cycles, she
claims that Y contains the original plays in some cases, T
in others, while a few plays were added to the two cycles
after the separation. Lyle uses many criteria by which to
determine the earlier play, but most frequently she does so
on the basis of expansion or contraction in subject matter and
stanzaic form.

There were, it would seem, two principles under-

lying the York revisions, those of expansion and

those of contraction. Expansion is seen in the

use of more complicated stanzaic forms whose rhyme

scheme demanded an expansion in phraseology, and

in the introduction of additional apocryphal mater-

ial; contraction is seen in the omission of certain

incidents not conformable tfiascriptural accounts

or to accepted authorities.

Unquestionably, Lyle's study has been an important addi-

tion to the scholarship of the Y and T cycles. It has also

become, over the years, the center of a relatively important

controversy. Shortly after its publication, it was attacked

 

H7;Ibid., pp. h7-SO.
8 Ibid., p. AS.

xxviii

by Grace Frank,“9 who recognizes the merits of Lyle's inves-
tigation but challenges on the grounds of insufficient evi-
dence the theory that the entire T cycle was borrowed from
Y.50 Other studies are specifically directed against Lyle's
date for the separation of the two cycles, which she claims
is before 1390.51 Eleanor Grace Clark, for example, points
out that the Harrowipg'pghggil play, which is identical in
the two cycles and which is based on the Gospel 2; Nicodemus,
has to be dated after lhOO because the Gospel is generally
dated about lhOO.52 Chambers likewise challenges Lyle's date,
claiming that the city of wakefield could not have supported
a cycle much before 11425.53

On the other hand, Lyle has also had support for her
theory. The most recent book to be published on the medieval
drama in England, that by Hardin Craig,5u accepts the original
theory to the extent of treating the two cycles together under
the chapter heading the "York-Wakefield Plays." However, Craig
adds little to Lyle's earlier arguments and he does not address

himself to the major objections that have been raised against

 

E5 "On the Relation between the York and Towneley Cycle,"
PMLA, XLIV (1929), 313-19. See also, Lyle's reply, "The
OrIginal Identity of the York and Towneley Cycles - a
Rejoinder," PMLA, XLIV (1929), 319-328.

g p. 319.
The Original Identity pf the York and Towneley Cycles, p.
I0 .

52 "The York Pla s and the GOSpel p£.Nicodemus," PMLA, XLIII
(March, 1928), 159. In a rness to Ler, however, one
should note that the date Miss Clark assigns to the Gos-
22$.23 Nicodemus is actually only the date of one of—Ifs
manuscr pts.

513+ English gteratwe 22 the Close 3;; the Middle A es, p. 36.

5

English Reli ious Drama 2; the Middle Ages UBxford, 1955),
pp. 9§-§3§

xxix

 

the theory.55

The most recent studies involving the composition and
growth of the T cycle have been based principally on external
evidence and on the dramatic structure of the plays. The for-
mer type of study is particularly well exemplified by the work
of Mendal G. Frampton, who concentrated especially on dating
the Master's contributions to the cycle.56 Finding evidence
that the Master‘s allusions to certain costumes in the Tuti-
villus portions of the Judgment play can be traced to the
reign of Henry VI (1422-1460), he concludes that the Master-
added his stanzas to the cycle in the second quarter of the
fifteenth century.57 Moreover, on the basis of various entries
in the Burgess Court records, Frampton deduces that Wakefield
was unable to support a religious cycle before lhOO because
the town.was not prosperous enough.58 He concludes

that by the time of Henry V, lhlB-thZ, there was
in Wakefield a well-developed cycle of plays; that,
probably late in his reign, the guilds or actors
or town authorities borrowed from.York the plays
of the passion group...; and, finally, that in the

reign of Hepsy VI, lh22-lh60, the Wakefield Master
appeared...

 

BEIBefore the label "York-Wakefield" can be accepted as fact,
it seems to me that Lyle's methods have to be corrobora-
ted by more adequate proof. Similarity of phrasing, com-
'mon rime words, and resemblance in subject matter among
various medieval texts do not necessarily prove a direct
relationship, as Craig himself recognizes when he says
that the material of the drama "was common property"
(Ibider p. 8).

56 "ng Date of the Flourishing of the 'Wakefield Master,‘ 631-
0.

57 Ibid., p. 6th.
8 Ibid.,pp. 65t-7.
59 Ibid., p. 660.

In a recent investigation by Arnold Williams,60 the vari-

ous strata of the T cycle are subjected to still another type
of examination— the extent to which one finds dramatic unity
in the cycle. Tracing the characterization of Pilate through
all the plays in which he has a direct or indirect part, the
study concludes that he is portrayed consistently as the antag-
onist of the passion group whether he appears in the Master's

nine-line stanza, in the borrowed Burns stanza of the Resur-

 

rection, in the unusual seven-line stanza of the Talents, in

 

the Northern Septinar of the Conspiracy or the thirteen-line
stanzas which open the Crucifixion.61 By itself the portrayal
of a thoroughly evil Pilate through various plays of different
origins would not be amazing if Pilate had normally been so
portrayed in the medieval drama; Williams, however, discovered
that the T characterization is unique in the drama.62 How then
to explain this unusual dramatic unity in what is obviously a
patchwork cycle? Williams hypothesizes:

About lh20 the city authorities of Wakefield, which
was rapidly becoming a commercial center of import-
ance, decided to inaugurate a cycle of plays. Every-
thing we know about the authorship of medieval drama
indicates that a cycle so initiated would be a
patchwork, based on some existing cycle or cycles

of plays, which would then be more or less edited
and interpolated to form a new cycle. Now the au-
thorities of Wakefield appoint some individual or
individuals to assemble the new cycle. This indi-
vidual, struck with the dramatic validity of one

or more plays containing a villainous Pilate, de-
cides that the character in the cycle which he is

56 The Characterization pg Pilate ép the Towneley Plays (East
"Eans ng, l9 . "‘”“ ‘"‘

61 Ibide, p. 570
2 Ibid., p. 15.

xxxi

 

 

putting together shall be that of a villain.63

So much for the various theories which attempt to explain
the evolution of the cycle. However, before I turn to a dis-
cussion of the original home of T and the linguistic studies
so far undertaken, I should like to examine the scholarship
on one particular play which is of key interest to this study—-
the Talents.

As I have already indicated,64 Pollard considered the
Talents one of a group of plays, which, because of mixed meters,
defied classification. Moreover, Lyle included it in her
sixth group of plays: those plays which occur in but one of
the Y or T cycles. In other words, on the basis of meter and
origin, the Talents fits none of the basic strata in T. ‘What
about its origin?

On subjective grounds the Talents has frequently been
assigned to the Wakefield Master. In spite of the fact that
the play contains only a few of the characteristic nine-line

66

stanzas, Pollard65 and Gayley -to cite but two scholars -
would consider, if not the entire play, at least a large share
of it the work of the Master. Actually, the Talents contains
three different stanzaic patterns - one of them unique in T.

Stanzas 56 to 59 are written in the Master's characteristic

meter, and stanzas l to 5 are usually ascribed to the Master

 

a Ibide, pp. 72-30
See above, p. xxv.

Z: The Towneley Plays, EETS ES 71, p. xxii.
p. 166.

xxxii

e.

even though the second half of the pedes lines is sometimes
expanded. Stanzas 10 to 20 are in‘pipp'pppég, iambic in move-
ment with occasional alliteration. The remaining stanzas, 6
to 9, 21 to 55 and 60 are written in a curious seven-line
stanza, anapestic in movement and containing structural alli-
teration and many feminine endings. According to Gayley the
latter group "fits readily to the adjacent stanzas of nine
lines; it conveys at various points material suggestive of
the nine-line versifier, and betrays his facile turn for comic
situation."67

Frampton, however, offers another interpretation.68 Con-
sidering the seven-line stanzas an intruder in the T cycle,
Frampton believes that this portion of the Talents represents
the basic play, probably from Y Which contained a Talents play
some time after 1&15 but before 1h22. The £$E2.222é3 and the
nine-line parts would then reflect two separate Wakefield
editings, though it is impossible to determine which came
first. At any rate, we can be sure that the Master was one of
the editors. The probable date for the acquistion of the
play in Wakefield, Frampton thinks, is 1&25.

Since no other scholarly studies of the Talents have thus
far been undertaken, Frampton's theory remains untested. Cer-

tainly the alleged connection with Y sounds plausible and so

 

Ibido ’ p0 1880

"The 'Processus Talentorum': Towneley XXIV," PMLA, LIX
(19M) 9 6145-51).

'67—
6

xxxiii

do the Wakefield revisions. For this reason, perhaps, Craig
assumes that the T Talents was originally in Y but subsequently
written out of the cycle.69 It is partly the purpose of this
study to test these assumptions in the light of linguistic

evidence.

Textual Problems: The Original Home and the Lapguage
21' the 2 Cycle
For over a century now, scholars have searched for clues
establishing the provenience of the T plays, with the result
that Wakefield is now generally accepted as its home. Since
71

such exhaustive studies as Peacock's7o or Wann's have surely
left little if any external or manuscript evidence uncovered,
the T plays may never be localized more precisely than they
are now. To date, however, no reliable dialect study has been
made of the plays to confirm or refute the established theory,
or perhaps even to add new information concerning their place
of origin. It is, therefore, my purpose to survey and evalu-
ate in some detail the conclusions of previous dialect studies
and to review the most reliable methodology for the determina-
tion of Middle English dialects in order to answer the follow-
ing questions: (1) To what extent will the language of the

various plays in T confirm or refute Wakefield as a possible

 

B5Ip. 217.

70 Matthew H. Peacock, "Towneley, Widkirk or Wakefield Plays?,"

Yorkshire Archaeolo ical Journal, XV (1898-9), 94-103,
and "The Wakeerld Mysteries. The Place of Representa-

tion," Apglia, XXIV (1901-k), 509-32.

71 Louis Wann, "A New Examination of the Manuscript of the
Towneley Plays," 137-52.

xxxiv

 

home of the cycle? and (2) Is there a difference in the dia-
lect usage among individual plays in T? As a point of de-
parture, I shall first particularize the extant geographic
evidence based on the manuscript, various records, and tra-
ditions.

On the grounds of some contradictory evidence, the T plays
have been assigned principally to one of two localities: the
Abbey of'Woodkirk (about four miles north of Wakefield) or the
city of Wakefield. While today few if any sOholars consider
Woodkirk a likely home, there is nonetheless a "genuine tradi-
tion” which speaks in favor of such a theory.72 In the notice
prepared for the sale of the Towneley library in 18lh, the
manuscript was ascribed to "the Abbey of Widkirk, near Wake-
field, in the County of York."73 The editor of the Surtees
Society edition points out that the community of Woodkirk
supported two annual fairs: one at the Feast of the Assump-
tion and the other at the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed
Mary, and that these fairs, "continued to attract a concourse
of people to the time of the Reformation."7u The manuscript
tradition, then, together with the tailor-made conditions for

,the presentation of plays, made Woodkirk, in the eyes of some

 

72 EggjggypplgyMysteries, Surtees Society, p. ix.

73 Ibid., p. viii. Actually, there is no such place as Widkirk
near Wakefield, nor is there an Abbey of Widkirk anywhere
in England. However, Skeat has pointed out that histori-
cally "Wid is an older and more correct spelling of wood."
Hence the-identification of Woodkirk; see ”The LocalIty
of the Towneley Plays," Athenaeum (Dec. 2, 1893), p. 779.

7’4. 29.9. W W: Surtees 300101535 13- x.

XXIV

pioneer scholars, a favorite candidate for the original home
of the T cycle.75

The ascription to Wakefield as home of the cycle depends
on the following manuscript evidence: (1) the mention of
Wakefield in rubrics as part of the title of Plays I and III;
(2) the allusions to "Horbery Shroges" and "corkyd thorne"
in the Second Shepherds' play, referring to well-known places
within easy reach of Wakefield, as well as the allusion to
"gudeboure at the quarell hede" in the ggép play, referring
to Goodyboure Lane in Wakefield.76 That the plays were pro-
duced in a larger town than Woodkirk is supported by the ref-
erence to four crafts in the cycle, and possibly by the men-

tion of town in the Talents:

I haue ron full fast in hy
Hedir to this towne (11. 75-6).

In addition, we know that some plays were actually presented
at Wakefield, though not necessarily the T plays, because the
Wakefield Burgess Courts' Records contain two entries, dated
1533 and 1556, which refer to "pagyaunts of Corpus Christi."77
Although the evidence, in general, favors Wakefield as

the original home of the cycle, such an ascription cannot be

 

75

. Adolf Ebert, for example, considering the reference to
Wakefield in the third play and surmising that the plays
were directed toward rural audiences, deduces that the
cycle was performed by Wakefield: guilds at one of the
annual fairs in Woodkirk. See, "Die Englischen Mysterien,
mit Besonderer Berficksichtigung der Towneley Sammlung,"
Jahrbuch‘fgp Romanische‘ppg,Englische Literatur, I (1859),

n.

Peackock, "Towneley, Widkirk or Wakefield Plays?," pp. 97-
101.

77 Walker, p. 150.

76

xxxvi

made with certainty so long as there are no records connecting
the T plays with that city. Furthermore, the very fact that
only two plays are definitely ascribed to Wakefield may sug-
gest that the others were not performed there. And finally,
"the evidence supplied by the four craft names is of a dif-
ferent character since these names were added by a later hand
and in black ink. They were not, therefore, associated with
the plays as originally compiled."78 For these reasons, some
scholars have been dissatisfied with the alleged association
of Wakefield and T to the extent that they have even postu-
lated the original home of the cycle outside the limits of
West Yorkshire, entirely. Wann, for example, mentions the
possibility of a Lancashire origin79 and at least one study
suggests the association of the T MS. with the lost Beverley
Cycle of East Yerkshire.80

To what extent can a dialect study solve the mystery
shrouding the original home of the T cycle? Unfortunately
such a project can add little fresh evidence since it is too
seriously hampered by our limited knowledge of Middle English

dialects and by the textual problems of the plays themselves

 

VEIWann, "A New Examination of the Manuscript of the Towneley
Plays, " Po 1520

79 Since the first Dean of the Abbey of Whalley, near Burnley
in Lancashire, was the founder of the Towneley family,
and since a Burnley is also noted in the T MS. inscrip-
tion "Thomas Hargraves of Burnley," Wann would not dis-

8 count it as a possible place of origin. Ibid., p. 151.

0

Albert Lyon Hoy, Ag Et olo ical Glossar ‘2; the East‘Ybrk-
shire Dialect, Unpu ished Mich gan State UnIversity
DIssertation (East Lansing, 1952), p. lxii.

xxxvii

 

to promise any more than the most general verification or
contradiction of currently held theories. We have, for ex-
ample, very few records of the language of modern Wakefield
and none at all for the Middle English period,81 so that
virtually no norm exists against which to test the language
of the T plays. At best, then, a reliable dialect study of
the cycle must focus on certain broad linguistic features of
the Northeast Midlands and not on the language of precise

localities such as Wakefield or even the West Riding. The

accuracy of such a study is even further limited by the emerg-

ing standardization of the language, which undoubtedly affected

some parts of the T plays as it did most literary documents

of the late Middle English period.82 Finally, a dialect study

1

fl
Studies describing the language of Wakefield are the fol-

lowing: William Scott Banks, List of Provincial Words
in Use at Wakefield (1865), which serves as the source
for-KIexander EIIIs' study in On Earl En lish Pronunci-

ation, V, EETS ES 56 (London, I88 pp. - ; J. Hanson

Green, "Yorkshire Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding

during the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Illustrated

from the Towneley Mysteries and Modern Dialect Litera-
ture," Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Societ , I
(Nov., 1 99 , . —OT—Eourse, a number of linguistic
studies focusing on the dialect of the West Riding in-
clude information that might pertain to Wakefield. How-
ever, local variations, particularly in the commercial
centers of the West Riding, are too numerous to validate
such studies as reference works. William H. Marshall,
for example, points out in the introduction to his glos-
sary of East Yorkshire that "the language even of Wake-
field and that of Leeds, though these two places are
situated within twenty miles of each other, are in many
particulars less analogous than those of Scotland and
the Vale of Pickering" ("Provincialisms of East York-
shire," Publications of the English Dialect Society, II,
Ser. B, Part I, 16).

Zachrisson points out that "London English became literary
English in the course of the lhth and 15th cents., and
has held this position ever since. Even at this early

82

xxxviii

 

of the T plays is complicated by the diversity of plays within
the cycle as well as by the fact that only one MS has come
down to us. However, in spite of all these limitations, the
need for a dialect study formulated on careful scientific
methodology has been felt by scholars for many years if only
to explore an area which to date has been left largely unex-
plored.83

Though only a few specialized linguistic studies of the
Y and T plays have thus far been undertaken, virtually every
scholar concerned with the plays, has, sometimes in spite of
these studies, ventured an opinion of the dialect in the cy-
cles. The language of the Y plays, of course, has always been
regarded as Northern, though many a student of the cycle has

81+

recognized the admixture of Midland elements in these plays.

 

(82 cont.) date some Englishmen living in the provinces may
have endeavoured not only to write but also to speak
London English." See "Northern English or London English
as the Standard Pronunciation," Apglia, XXXVIII, (191k),

#05‘320

83 Even prior to the publication of the EETS edition, Alex
Hohlfeld called for such a study: "In general, the four
collections‘zaov., Ches., T and;§7 display, to be sure,
the language which was spoken in their places of repre-
sentation: thus York and Towneley reflecp7 the more
northerly dialect and Coventry and ester the Midland
dialect. However, special investigations must in this
case establish more precise information." ("In allge-
meinen zeigen allerdings die vier Sammlungen die Sprache,
welche am Orte ihrer Auffflhrung gesprochen wurde: ‘York
und Towneley also mehr nBrdlichen Coventry und Chester
mittellfindischen Dialekt. Doch m ssen hier spezielle
Untersuchungen...das Genauere feststellen." See, p. 2H6).

8"The earliest description of the dialect in the Y cycle may
be found in Bright's Catalogue of the Ashburnham.MS.:
"The Rev. Mr. Garnett, of the British Museum...has care-
fully examined the volume [Enabling7 us to state that it
is written in the Northumbrian or more ancient dialect

xxxix

When the language of the two cycles has been compared, schol-
ars have generally agreed with Lucy T. Smith's judgment that
"the Towneley plays are...written in the same dialect" as Y.85
Margaret Trusler, who conducted the most comprehensive compar-
ative linguistic investigation of the two cycles to date, con-
cludes similarly that the language of Y and T is basically
Northern, but she specifies that Y "does not show the traces
of Northeast Midland that are characteristic of Towneley."86
Dialect changes, too, were noted by Davidson, in his more
specialized comparative analyses of individual plays, as, for
example, in the Harrowigg 2£.§2ll Play, where he finds many
substitutions by the T editor for Y dialect words.87

As a whole, at least the early students of the T plays

agree with Trusler's view that the language of the cycle, while

 

(8h.cont.) of the county." Lucy T. Smith modified this
statement by assigning what she considered Midland ele-
ments to a scribe who "has altered much both in the way
of grammar and orthography" (York Pla s, p. lxix). By
far the most detailed and accurate 3 u y of the plays
which I have been able to examine is that by Ida Baumann,
which summarizes the language not only of the Y cycle
but also of the York city records. She concludes that
the Y plays mirror to a large extent the no longer pure
Northern language of the documents, and therefore the
so-called Midland elements in the plays need not be as-
signed to a scribe (pig’s rache der Urkunden aus York-
shire im 15, Jahrhundert, HeIdelEEFg, I902, pT'E). Two
other IInguistic studies have been undertaken but un-
fortunately neither was available to me: Herrtrich,
Studien zu den York Plays, Unpublished Breslau Disser-
tatIon,‘I8857-an3 Kamann, Ueber Quellen Egg Sprache g3;
York Plays, Halle, 1887.

85 Yerk Plays, p. xlvi.

86 Margaret Trusler, "The Language of the Wakefield Play-
wright,"‘§§, XXXIII (193 ), 37-8.

7 e.g. helth for heele, darkness for mirke, shewid for mus-
tered, etc. See p. 7.

x1

 

characterized by some Midland traits, is essentially Northern.
Peacock, for example, as one of the early proponents of the
Wakefield-theory, finds that "the dialect used in these plays
is that of the North of England, called the Northumbrian or
Northern dialect, which was spoken in that part of the country
which lies to the north of the Humber, and to the east of the
Pennine Chain; there are, however, a few forms from the Mid-
land dialect interSpersed here and there.88 Needless to say,
since Wakefield is situated below the Humber, Peacock's de-
scription of the dialect is at odds with his thesis-a con-
tradiction which he fails to reconcile. Emerson,89 Kann90 and
M038691 likewise earmark the plays as Northern, though the
latter specifies a Yorkshire origin. At least one scholar,
Richard Jordan, considers the language of the T plays to rep-
resent a transition dialect of the Northwest Midlands found,
by Jordan's calculation, in Southwest Yorkshire.92 Most re-
cently, general Middle English dialect surveys, based on care-
fully isolated characteristics, have designated the T plays

as essentially East Midland, though the label, in this case,

covers so much area (from Hampole in Yorkshire to London) that

 

88 "Towneley, Widkirk or Wakefield?," p. 95.
89 Hgggggy‘gg'ppg En lish Language (New York, 189h), p. 53.

90 Doctrinal Ele y
ments ;p the Townele Pla s, Unpublished Yale
D sser atIon, (New Haven, I959), p. .

91,5 Handbook of Middle En lish, trans. James A. Walker (Balti-
more, I9527,-ET'KI2.

92 Richard Jordan, Handbuch der mittelen lischen Grammatik,
Part I (Heidelberg, I925), p. IE.

 

xli

 

it is relatively meaningless.93 The assignment of the plays
to the East Midland dialect area by the compendibus and yet
unfinished Middle English Qictionary is somewhat more defin-
itive, particularly since specific language tests would loca-
lize the cycle in the more limited area of the Northeast Mid-
1ands.9"

The careful procedure by the Middle English Dictionagy
staff notwithstanding, all statements heretofore cited con-
cerning the dialect of the T cycle are based on insufficient
evidence and sometimes quite decidedly on a scholar's predi-
lection or misinterpretation. I hasten to add, though, that
the Middle English Dictionary editors deserve only praise for
attempting, if an incomplete, at least a verifiable dialectal
analysis of the T text. This survey is without doubt a valu-
able touchstone for future investigations.

Generalizations on the dialect of the T plays are also

 

53 Alliterative Poetry 3p Middle En lish, Tpg Dialectal and
Metrical Survey, I, PuEIIcations of the UnIversIty‘EI_
Manchester, No. CCV (Manchester, 1930), pp. 12-13. The
dialect study in this volume, while based on positively
localized and dated Middle English literary texts and
historical documents, is not completely trustworthy be-
cause of Oakden's tendency to draw general conclusions
from inadequate samples. Cf. Oakden's statement that
the Y plays contain the present participial suffix -ande
to the exclusion of :ypg (see p. 3h), when, actually,

- forms of the present participle occur without ques-
t on at least fourteen times in the cycle, eight of them
in significant rimes (see below, p. 3 ).

9" "Plan and Bibliography," Middle En lish Dictionar , ed.
Hans Kurath, Part I (Ann Arbor, , p. I0. Dr. Kurath
pointed out to me that the T MS. was assigned to the
Northeast Midlands by the Dictionary staff on the basis
of linguistic spot checks beginning on pp. 63, 79, 109
and 173 of the EETS edition. The isoglosses of the MMW
study were used as the norm.

xlii

quite frequently based on lexical analyses. The earliest of
these appears in the first edition of the T cycle by the Sur-
tees Society, which lists a number of words and phrases that
can still be heard in the West Riding of Yorkshire.95 However,
the editors add cautiously that these locutions are by no
means peculiar to the district, that, in fact, "no words or
phrases can be declared to be peculiar to any circumscribed
tract."96 Nonetheless they specify that "the Yorkshire Glos-
sary would supply more illustrations or parallelisms than that
of any other county, not excepting even the Glossary of Lan-
cashire."97 Much less tenable are the conclusions of J. Han-
son Green's vocabulary study of the plays, since it is premised
on the assumption that Wakefield was the home of the cycle.
In comparing the language of the plays with that of modern
Wakefield, Green observes that a "great number of words...
have fallen out of use" and notes particularly that out of
hOO "remarkable" words selected from five plays, 230 have be-
come obsolete.98 However, as Wright's Dialect Dictionary will
bear witness, words like "blain," "sakles," "lig," "skelp,"
etc., which Green would identify as Wakefield localisms, are
by no means limited to Wakefield usage. Rolf Kaiser, who
compiled the most comprehensive Middle English.word geography,

similarly misconstrues the textual evidence, asserting freely

 

‘53

6 The Towneley Mysteries, Surtees Society, pp. xi-xii.
9 Loc. cit.
97

8 Loc. cit.
9 p. 58.

xliii

a Wakefield origin for the T plays.99

In all, vocabulary
studies have not contributed significantly to our knowledge
of the dialect in T mainly because no exact lines of demar-
cation can be drawn for the incidence even of some established
localisms. In general, however, the scholarly consensus iden-
tifies the vocabulary as essentially Yorkshire (though not
necessarily West Riding).

To date only one thorough linguistic study of parts of
the T plays, that by Margaret Trusler, has been undertaken

and successfully completed.100

Although this study purports

to concentrate on the language of the Wakefield Master, it
contains incidentally the most comprehensive linguistic data
yet amassed of the other T plays as well as extensive compari-
sons with the language of the Y cycle. The principal virtue
of this study, however, is its implicit recognition that a
successful linguistic investigation of the T cycle can only

be consummated When the language of various groups of plays,
linked by stanzaic structure-as those of the so-called Mas—

tern-or by common origin-as those borrowed from'Y-is ana-

101
lyzed separately. The virtuosity and erudition exhibited

 

6§> g3; Geo ra hie 32$ Mittelenglischen Wortschatzes, Palaestra
205, Untersuchungen und Texte der deutschen und englis-
chen Philologie (Leipzig, 1937). The basis for the selec-
tion of dialect words in this study was their incidence
in the Northern and Southern texts of the Cursor Mundi,
in other localized and dated texts and on notaEIons In
dialect dictionaries. On these grounds, Kaiser found the
T plays to contain many Northern words. See, pp. 132-6.

100 Another dissertation, The Language of the Townele Pla s
by Joseph A. Giddings, was begun at CorneII UniversIty

but never finished.

101 Unfortunately Trusler failed to limit her investigation
fully to the characteristic nine-line stanzas, occasion-

xliv

in the nine-line stanzas of the Master in contrast with the
less sophisticated, unvarnished, almost prosaic lines of such

plays as the Caesar Augustus is reason enough to dismiss at

 

once any reference to one language in the T cycle. However,
Trusler realized that more objective grounds are needed to
determine the Master's contributions to the cycle.

Dialectally, by Trusler's testimony, the work of the Mas-

ter is basically Northern and Northeast Midland. However, she
notes that he also employs Midland forms with perfect ease.
To substantiate these generalizations, she adds:

1. "A percentage of dual forms [dialect variant§7 is prob-
ably only apparent. Wherever differences of dialect
are such that a Northern form could easily be equated
by a Midland variant, the question of scribal altera—
tion enters in.

2. "The vocabulary contains a remarkable percentage of
Scandinavian forms, and Scandinavian influence was
heaviest in Northern and Northeast Midland.

3. "The French element in the vocabulary shows the North-
ern tendency to prefer Northern rather than Central

French variants of certain words.

(101 cont.) ally assigning to the Master passages which
contain "racy humor" and considering on such thin sub-
jective grounds the whole of Cain, stanzas l-h of the
Crucifixion and stanza 2 of the Scour in as his work;
see p. E. If first she had estaBIIsEed Io what extent
the language within the characteristic stanzas show
similarities or differences, the results might well
have supplied future studies with more objective cri-
teria whereby to separate the language of the Master
from the rest of the cycle.

 

h. "The majority of the colloquialisms upon which he
largely depends for his realistic and jocular effects
are primarily Northern in spirit and currency.

5. "His vocabulary probably contains a slight Low German

element."102

On the basis of these traits, Trusler considers the Wake-
field Master an "eclectic Northern writer...who is possessed

of a more than superficial command of certain Midland forms

and at least a passing knowledge of Southern ones,"103 the

latter comment no doubt referring to Mak's "sothren tothe"

in the Second Shepherds' Play. The apparent bi-dialectalism,

Trusler explains as the result of three forces operating upon

the Master: (1) as a reviser and rewriter he sometimes re-

tained readings in the work he was editing even if they did

not harmonize with his customary usage; (2) though accustomed

to Northern usage colloquially, he assimilated certain non-

Northern forms in his speech through his education; and (3)

he probably spoke a border dialect.10u

While these conclusions sound reasonable in terms of the
accumulated scholarship on the T cycle, some scientific inac-
curacies in the study challenge the bases upon which the con-
clusions were evolved. In the first place, Trusler presupposes

unjustifiably that the plays stem from.Wakefield.105 Consequent-

 

I02
103

10k
105

Ibid., p. 98.
Ibid., p. 18.
Ibid., p. 88.
Ibid., p. 5.

xlvi

1y, she assumes at the outset what the dialect study is largely
intended to prove or disprove. Moreover, this preconception
frequently causes her to misevaluate linguistic data. When,
for example, she discovers that the prevailing forms 0f.§22$l
and should, both within the line and in rime, are 32%;; and
pppig (and not forms in p-), she nonetheless argues that scat-
tered instances of 3211 remain to suggest it as the dramatist's
accustomed form which was altered by scribes.106 Similarly,

in spite of finding seven instances of‘p (<OE E) riming with
original 3 (<OE 5) before 3, twenty-five instances of g (<.OE
5) riming with itself before 3, but not a single example in
which OE‘E is positively retained before 1p (e.g. pap : Egyp),
she concludes "that the author probably used forms retaining
E, and that the large number of identical rimes before fip is
due to scribes.107 These examples may serve to illustrate how
the convenient whipping boy, the scribe, and the fixed idea of
a so-called Northern origin unfortunately impair Trusler's
‘gpggg operandi throughout the thesis. The most serious flaw
in the work, however, is the tenuous basis upon which such
labels as "Midland" or "Northern" are assigned. A fallacy of
long standing in dialect studies is this very "either-or"
equation: either a given regional language exhibits one hun-
dred percent deviation from the standard, or the regional lan-
guage in effect does not exist at all. When Trusler assumes,

therefore, that a scribe is responsible for aberrations from

 

T56 Ibid., p. 77.
107 Ibid., p. 50.

xlvii

 

pure Northern usage in the T plays, she denies basically the
heterogeneous nature of dialect speech and specifically the
possibility of divided usage in regional areas. The best
dialect studies emphatically challenge such premises.108
In virtually every reference book of Middle English, one
can find the usual lists of criteria which serve supposedly
to differentiate the dialects. Only a handful of investiga-
tions, however, are actually based on dated and localized re-

cords of the language.109 It is only studies such as these

which will provide the textual scholar with the necessary tools

 

IfiBfiIn fairness to Trusler, one should note that the MMW study,
considered the mast comprehensive and most accurate of
Middle English dialect investigations, was still in its
preparatory stages when she undertook her thesis.

109 The following studies, some dealing with specific dialect
characteristics, some with the entire complex of Middle
English dialects, contain the most accurate information
so far compiled by Medieval dialectologists: H.C. Wyld,
"OE i in the Dialects of the Midlands,‘ En lische Stu-
dien, XLVII (1913), 1-58, 145-66; Mary s—E‘j“. ea eant‘s'é‘fi,
"The Dialectal Distribution of Certain Phonological
Features in Middle English," En lish Studies, IV (1922),
93-109, 191-9, 223-33 (dealing WIEE the_fracture of 2i
befpre 1 plus ponsonant, i-mutation of 33, ME /y/ from
0E co, and OE‘y and‘y plus front consonants in ME);
Oakden's dialectal survey in‘giliterative Poetry‘;p
Middle English; and above all, Samuel Moore, Sanford B.
Meech, and Harold Whitehall (MMW), "Middle English.Dia-
lect Characteristics and Dialect Boundaries. Prelimi-
nary Report of an Investigation Based Exclusively on
Localized Texts and Documents," Essays gpg Studies 32
En lish.gpg Com arative LIterature, Univ. of MIcE. Pubs.
I—L-n Lang. and“LTE‘t.","X-"III 71"” Ar or, 1935), pp. 1-60.
The findings of the latter study have been reproduced in
the "Plan" of the Middle En lish.Qictionapy, and in Al-
bert H. Marckwardt's revision of Samuel Moore's Histori-
cal Outlines p£,English Sounds gpg Inflections (Inn Ir-
EEF, 195I), pp. 11 -1 . The most comprehensIve investi-
gation of modern English dialects is that by Alexander
Ellis, szEarl En lish Pronunciation, V; though cur-
rently Haro d Orton 0 Leeds finiversIty is directing an
up-to-date dialect survey of England.

xlviii

 

for dialectal analysis. The failure of previous linguistic
investigations of the T plays to apply such studies has there-
fore prompted me to attempt anew a descriptive dialect study,
based primarily on the MMW criteria.

My choice of the MMW study depended upon several impor-
tant qualifications. In the first place, it is to date the
most comprehensive investigation of Middle English dialects.
Its summaries are based on 309 localized documents, dated
from 1351 to after 111.50,110 and representing, by the count of
the Middle English Dictionary staff, some 208 different lo-

111

calities. Secondly, with one minor exception, Moore's iso-

phones have generally been accepted by the Middle English

 

Dictionary staff after careful evaluation.112 According to
the editors of the dictionary "the isoglosses established by
Samuel Moore..gZEhougp7 not numerous enough for a definitive
scheme of the dialect areas of England for the period lhOO-
1&50, ...can serve as a basis for the formulation of a con-
venient tentative scheme for general orientation..."113
In order to avoid the difficulties encountered by pre-
vious studies, I shall concentrate in this dialect investi-

gation of the T plays chiefly on those characteristics for

which isophones appear in the MMW study. In each case, the

‘15-“
1 P0 570

111 "Plan and Bibliography," Part I, p. ix.

112 Ibid., The one exception is in the northward shifting of
the SW boundary line, a change which has little bear-
ing on the language of the T plays.

113 Ibide, p. 8.-

xlix

isophones represent boundary lines marking the farthest ex-

11k

viding a practical, if limited geographic guide for dialect

tension of the non-standard characteristics, thus pro-
investigations. Obviously, the results of this study can
only in the most general way fix the provenience of the T
plays, but even this task, as the foregoing survey reveals,

has so far not been undertaken.

Research Methodology

 

When I began this study, I intended to analyze the lan-
guage of the entire T cycle with the exception of those parts
which are written in the nine-line stanzas. The language of
these stanzas, of course, had already been studied intensively
by Margaret Trusler, so that I had access to a summary of
usage in them. However, with my first perusal of the text,
in which I attempted to record only the broadest dialect
traits, I discovered that the original design of my study was
indeed Herculean. A further limitation was a practical neces-
sity.

At this point I had to decide whether to limit myself to
a study of a few linguistic criteria in many plays of the
cycle or to many characteristics in a few carefully selected
plays. I chose the latter alternative because it promised
more complete and, therefore, more trustworthy conclusions.
Consequently, I attempted to find various plays, which, be-
cause of origin or metrics were representative of the sever-

al strata in the T cycle. With this objective in mind, I

finally chose to analyze the language of the identical Y and
T plays, the T Caesar Augustus, the Talents, and, less thor—
oughly the stanzas of the Wakefield Master.

My reasons for selecting these plays and groups of plays
were many. The identical Y and T plays as a group, first of
all, had never been subjected to a comparative linguistic
analysis, in spite of the fact that they provide a fine oppor-
tunity for testing dialect differences between the Y and T
cycles. Moreover, whatever systematic changes appear in other-
wise identical lines of these plays could well determine some
original elements in the language of the T cycle and there-
fore serve as a norm against which to test the language of
the other plays in the collection. Finally, the five plays
which have identical counterparts in Y form an important stra-
tum of the T cycle -one which has attracted a great deal of
scholarly attention.

In selecting the other plays for this study, I attempted
to find samples of the various strata previously postulated
on metrical grounds. The Caesar Augustus, written entirely
in.p;gg‘ppp§g, should serve as an adequate representative of
what Pollard and others consider the early religio-didactic
stratum in the cycle mainly because in its consistency of
form it shows no signs of editorial revision. Furthermore,
since it is one of the few T plays which finds no parallel in
the Y cycle, it provides an excellent opportunity for a lin-
guistic comparison with the identical Y and T plays.

The Talents, of course, belongs to that group of plays

11

which contains a multiplicity of stanzaic forms and which
consequently has defied classification. I chose this play
because it is frequently attributed to the Wakefield Master
even though it contains only a limited number of nine-line
stanzas and because at other times it is ascribed to the Y
cycle, which according to extant records contained a Talents
play over the course of a few years in the fifteenth century.
Finally, I realized that no study of the T plays is com-
plete unless it includes the work of the Wakefield Master.
Because the Master has often been considered the author of all
the best parts of T, I hoped to isolate whatever linguistic
traits, if any at all, are peculiar to the nine-line stanzas
and thereby to determine whether the Master had any influence
on the composition of other metrical forms as well. Hence,
if I could find a characteristic usage of the Master's nine—
line stanza substituted for a Y usage in the borrowed T plays
but found nowhere else in the cycle, I could be reasonably
sure that the Master had some hand in the revision of these
plays. Similarly, if a particular trait appeared only in the
nine-line stanzas and the peculiar seven-line stanzas of the
Talents, I could assume that these parts were written by the
same hand. To a large extent, I relied on Trusler's study in
collecting the data of the Master's usage. However, because
her study is not confined to the nine-line stanza and because
my investigation included various criteria not considered by
her, I could not accept her data at face value. Therefore,

I checked and supplemented Trusler's data in almost every in-

111

 

stance by selecting any three plays written entirely in the
Master's nine-line stanza for my analysis.

In preparation for this study, I recorded on index cards
the total incidence of some fifty-five linguistic traits occur-
ring in the plays I have listed. This number, however, was
cut to thirty-seven, when I eliminated all characteristics
which did not fit one of the following categories: (1) the
eleven documented dialect criteria determined by MMW, (2) a
body of undocumented but nonetheless prominently mentioned
criteria of Northern or Northeast-Midland Middle English, and
(3) other important phonological, morphological or lexical
differences in the identical Y and T plays. Moreover, in the
preparatory stages of this project, I recorded all variants
in the identical Y and T plays, collected voacbulary items
WhiCh I checked for dialect usage and date in the OED and MED
whenever possible, and assembled a rime index from all the
plays included in the study. Much of this information, to-
gether with a preliminary study of word order in parts of the
various plays, has not been used in this thesis for lack of
significance or of objective criteria to enable proper and
valid classification. For example, Middle English word geo-
graphies have thus far not supplied sufficient information to
make possible a detailed dialect survey of a text on the basis
of any but the most common peculiarities in vocabulary. The
completion of the MED and the current survey by Harold Orton
should make such studies possible in the future.

The material in this thesis has been arranged into vari-

liii

   

ous broad headings,' r each of which those criteria which
are treated alike in. 11 plays, and those which show differ—
ences have been given a separate place. A complete list of
incidence may be found in the appendix, while the discussion
in the body of the thesis contains a quantitative analysis of
forms occurring in rime and within the line, an evaluation,
and a statement of the historical background of each linguis-
tic trait.

Finally a word should be said about the limitations of
this study. Needless to say, the linguist is handicapped
acutely by the many uncertainties which attend the study of
most medieval texts. He is particularly hampered when he has
to rely on one extant MS like that of the T plays, which might
have been corrupted not only by scribes but by actors as well.
In other words, he can never be entirely sure that he is at
any time describing the language of the original composers.

To solve this problem, linguists frequently accept rime forms
as more valid than forms within the line, reasoning that a
scribe would automatically substitute his own usage where the
accuracy of a rime was not at stake. However, rime words are
not always an accurate measure of usage because convenience
frequently demands unusual forms and occasionally archaisms
in rimes. Moreover, many rimes are, of course, impure, and
therefore unreliable in ascertaining original pronunciation.
For these reasons, and because I found that the T scribe must

115

have copied his sources with great fidelity, I consider the

TI; The T plays, apparently copied by one scribe from originals
in the hands of various guilds, contain many linguistic

liv

. xliii...“

data from within the lines and the rime-forms of equal im-
portance. That is not to say, however, that scribal corrup-
tions never occur in the T text. Indeed such fidelity to

the original source would be a rarity among medieval scribes.
Nor is there any way to determine to what extent changes of
the original might have been made by performers or editors.
These are problems which cannot be solved so long as we have
only one MS and no external records concerning the genesis

of the T cycle.

In addition, a dialect investigation of the T plays is
also limited by the absence of carefully documented studies
of Middle English dialect characteristics. Word geographies
are particularly Sparse and I have found no reliable descrip-
tive analysis of Middle English word order.

Because of these limitations, the conclusions of this
study must in general be accepted as conjectures, not as
proof. I propose, only to test the established hypotheses

on the basis of one criterion, the language of the plays.

(II5 cont.) differences which cannot be explained as scri-
bal. For example, the Wakefield Master uses - s as the
regular ending for plural imperatives, whereas all other
plays show a strong preference for :3. Since one scribe
is responsible for all these plays on paleographic
grounds, it would be difficult to explain why he used
one form in one stratum of the cycle and another one in
the remaining strata. Clearly this is evidence that
the T scribe followed his sources rather exactly. See
below, pp. 103-104.

1v

CHAPTER I

MOORE, MEECH AND WHITEHALL CRITERIA

i
l
‘ h

A. DIFFERENCES

Present Participle: Inflectional Ending

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The following table records the total incidence of the

present participial forms in the identical Y and T plays:

 

YORK TSWNELEX
Rime Line Rime Line
forms in -and 7 5 7 4
forms in fEEE - l - 2

 

Of the seven rimes involving the present participle in the
two cycles, five appear in corresponding passages. In the
majority of the rimes, the present participle is paired with
monosyllabic words ending in -gpg.l The form in -ypg occurs

only once in corresponding passages (TH 86 : YH 9h).

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

Though the evidence is less clear-cut in these plays,
forms in -and predominate much as they do in the identical Y

and T plays.

 

 

011m TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line
forms in -and 2 - - 2
forms in -ypg - - 1 1

 

The absence of -and rimes in the Talents is notable, but per-

 

haps not so important as the rims involving the suffix -ypg

 

H
e.g. durand, 'enduring,': stand (TP 353 : YP 3M3); lastand
han 8 : YH 66)e

 

(intendyng : pypg TAL M8 : 50)-—the only such rime occurrence

in all of the plays examined.

III. Interpretation of Data

The evidence from the identical Y and T plays and the

Caesar Augustus would seem to establish a strong preference

for the participle in 132g. In contrast, the one rime occur-
rence of -ypg in the Talents is striking-particu1arly since
-gpg rimes are totally lacking in this play. How then to
account for this apparent difference in data?

One possible explanation is that there was no difference
in usage at all, that the -gpg suffix was normally dominant

and that the absence of-yng rimes in all plays except the

Talents was accidental. The fact that the identical plays

contain at least one example of the -yng suffix within the line

while the Talents similarly includes one -and form would tend

 

to support this contention. Moreover, rime evidence from the
other Y and T plays reveals that forms in -ypg occurred quite
frequently. Contrary to the statement by Oakden that the Y
plays contain forms in 122p exclusively,2 there are no less
than fourteen rime instances of —ypg in forms which are unmis-
takably present participles. Of these, eight are significant
rimes such as louying : bringe (Y XLV 18:20) and six are less
trustWOrthy but nevertheless important rimes of words with
etymologically identical suffixes such as prevypg : accusypg :
mevyng (Y XXX k01:k02:ko3). In all, rime forms in 11.12 out-

 

2 P0 31)»

 

number those in 1ypg fifty to fourteen in the other forty-three
plays of the Y cycle and fourteen to six in the nonAWakefield
Master, noneYork T plays.

Viewed as a whole then, the two cycles yield essentially
homogeneous evidence of present participial forms, the majori-
ty containing the 7229 suffix. However, when this evidence is
segmented according to usage in various groups of plays, a new
pattern emerges. For example, these T plays written in coup-
lets and those written wholly or partly in the‘pgpg‘gppég
stanza—-considered as a body by Pollard as the earliest stratum
in T and perhaps part of an original didactic cycle3-contain
not a single rime occurrence of the participial suffix 1ypg.
The Caesar Augustus is of course a member of this group. On
the other hand, the familiar nine-line stanzas of the Wakefield
author-conceded by most scholars to be the latest contribu-
tion to the cycle-contain fourteen rime instances of egpg to
ten of fZEEa the majority of these forms riming with monosyl-
labic words." Only three plays not assigned to the Wakefield
author resort exclusively to 1125 participles in rime: the
Scourging, the Talents and the Eppgflg Ascension. All of these
plays, perhaps coincidentally, include nine-line stanzas associ—
ated with the Master and none even approximates homogeneity in
stanzaic patterns.

While these curious correspondences could, of course,

3 The Towneley Plays, p. xxv.

Trusler, A,Study of the Language 2; the Wakefield Group ip
Towneley, pp. 1284I29.

 

easily lead to oversimplified conclusions on the composition of
the T cycle, one cannot disregard their implications. It is
interesting, for example, that the 5229 form which slowly re-
ceded to the less accessible fringe areas during the Middle
English period should appear in the rimes of what are usually
designated early plays and that comparably the intrusive 1pg
form appears in those plays considered later and more sophis~
ticated. This pattern may reflect usage in such fringe areas
as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire, where one finds 132g
forms during the earlier stages of Middle English and the <25
suffix with continually increasing frequency toward the waning
of the period.5 However, this implicit relationship between
linguistic forms and stanzaic patterns cannot be seriously
accepted until other evidence is found to confirm it. It is a
fact, for example, that the present participle in both its forms
is not a frequent rime word and that, moreover, the evidence

in many of the aforementioned plays consists of no more than
one citation (cf. the incidence in the Talents).

The appearance of ggpg forms in the two cycles is a rela-
tively useful aid in establishing dialectal origin. Since the
MMW study marked the southern limits of the fflflg suffix on an
isophone traversing the lower portion of the West Riding, one
can conclude with reasonable assurance that T did not originate

south of that line. The evidence of the York plays serves to

 

r

An interesting example of this tendency can be found in the
Y records, which, according to Baumann, employ -and forms
exclusively through the first half of the fifteeEIE cen-
tury. See p. 102.

confirm the findings of the MMW study. Of course, the appear-
ance of participles in egg is not to be considered unusual nor
indicative of dialect usage. But the fact that they do appear
in at least portions of the T cycle may very well indicate
that its home could be located in an area not too far removed
from the isophone where divided usage would normally be ex-
pected.

The Wakefield area in particular is not recorded in the

MMW investigation, but the evidence at Dewsbury (six miles west
of Wakefield) is labelled as 'good.'6 Evidence from modern
Wakefield is not eSpecially helpful in establishing Middle Eng-
lish usage, the normal dialect form being 53p,7 which may or
may not be derived from the participle in jgpg.

The treatment of the present participle in the correspond-

ing Y and T plays and the T Caesar Augustus and Talents may
be summarized by the following statements:

1. Neither the corresponding Y and T plays nor the group
of plays identified by Pollard as the original stratum
in T (the Caesar Augustus among them) contain #128 in
rime. On the other hand, the plays containing the nine-
line stanza of the Wakefield Master and several other

plays of complex and diversified stanzaic pattern gener-

 

b
7

p. 18.

J. Hanson Green, "A Survey of the Yorkshire Dialect," Tpp
Northern Counties Ma azine, II (April, 1901), k9.~ Green
consIders tEe Iorm In -In a derivative of the Northern
Middle English participIS, the vowel having been formed
by the intrusion of the Midland form in the local dialects.
Unfortunately, he gives no proof to substantiate this
theory.

ally identified as later additions to the cycle
(the Talents among them) employ -ypg in rime.

2. Usage of the present participle in 732g probably
eliminates the area delineated by the almost cir-
cular MMW isophone8 (the Central Midlands extending
through the southern third of West Yorkshire) as the

home of the T cycle.

IV. Linguistic Background

While the Middle English dialects, particularly in the
early years, had four distinct forms of the present participle,
each of which was peculiar to one of four major dialect areas,
this study necessitates the investigation of only two forms:

the suffix -ipg prevailing in the Midlands and the South

(presumably derived from the Anglo-Saxon verbal suffix fippg or
-ing) and the predominantly Northern -gpg (derived from the
Anglo-Saxon present participial suffix -gpgg and likely influ-
enced by the Old Norse cognate ending -gpg$).9 The MMW study
indicates that between 1350 and lhOO the present participial
-ng form "had pushed back the original egg to the more inacces-

sible fringes of the country."10 Accordingly around the middle

See chart on p. 164.

In his new edition of the Pearl, E.V. Gordon argues that the
suffix -ande is not entirer Scandinavian in origin:
"This endIng is not infrequent in O. North.,especially in
the second class of weak verbs, while -onde is found spor-
adically in late W.S. In the S.E. (Essex), archaic O.E.
-indi would naturally develop to -ande in such texts as
SIr Orfeo. There was evidently a basIs in native usage which
WEE extended under Scandinavian influence. Note the regu-
lar use of -ande in the 'West Midland' Prose Psalter, which
otherwise shows very little SC. Ififluence. See Rearl (Ox-
ford. 1953). p- 99. n. l-

10 p. “.7.

 

 

of the fourteenth century the southern limits for eppgp were
in Lancashire and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.11
Oakden would extend these limits southward to the Salop-Wash
line though he warns that the boundary is very approximate.12
One should note that dialectal differences arose solely in the
forms of the present participle and not in the gerund, which
regularly maintained the O.E. fipg suffix in all dialects at all
times.

The jgpg ending is often adduced as a rather safe criterion
of the Northern or Northeast Midland dialects. However, such
a conclusion can only be drawn with reservations, particularly
for the late Middle English period. The form in 122g, in
spite of the otherwise illuminating evidence collected by MMW,
appeared regularly as far south as Norfolk and commonly in the
West Midland dialect from the fourteenth century on.13 Moreover,
forms in.epg were in the fourteenth century scarcely dialectal,
except that they were rarely found in the extreme Northern
dialects. MMW explain that the "7E9 form was strongly reces-
sive and it was easy for a provincial scribe to learn the
trick of writing 7225 (as in the verbal noun) instead of his

local -and or ~end."1h Furthermore, since -and appeared for a

 

II Ibid., p. 18.
12

p0 3’4»
13

Erik Holmqvist, 9p the History'pf the English Present Inflec-
h. pgppp, Particularl *EEqEEQ jg (HeIdelberg, 1955), p. E5.
1

p. 17. The influence of the gerund on the usage of participi-
él.f2£ must have been strong in all dialect areas as the
following quotation from the Y plays would indicate:

My blyssypg o ble sall be blendypg

 

time in the Southeast Midlands as well, probably on the di-
rect influence of Scandinavian, one can safely conclude that
it is not a feature exclusively indicative of Northern or
Northeast Midland usage.

Not much need be said about the development of the present
participle in the modern dialects, since the general charac-
teristic of the form in most dialectal speech is the reduction
of ES to /n/ and the substitution of /n/ for the original /n/.
Therefore, regardless of etymological background the modern
suffix has been levelled in the dialects and consequently the
tracing of derivations for such forms is at best extremely
difficult. Joseph Wright would derive modern forms in.epp from
ME 122g while he traces the suffix 12p to ME fiipg.15 Notwith-
standing the weighty evidence compiled in the Dialect Grammar,
I believe that the vowel of the suffix cannot be regarded as
a safe criterion by which Middle English dialect usage can be
determined, especially since the schwa vowel in a suffix is a

common English characteristic of weakening.
/5/ vs. /s/ in Unstressed Syllables (esp. in Shall, Shuld)

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The incidence of /s/ for /f/ in the identical plays is

 

(IE cont.) And heldand fro harme to be hydande (Y I, 5:6).

Quite likely the gerund blyssypg in the first line in-

fluenced the ending of the participle blend in even
though the Northern participial form appears Ewice in
the next line.

15 Wright, The Epglish Dialect Grammar, p. 297.

lO

limited to the word sall in both cycles and suldge in Y.

 

 

 

 

YORK» TENNEEEY
sall MS 2
sHaIl 97 137
shuld e 26 26
su d e 3 -

 

One should note that forms in f2 appear exclusively in the Y
and T Pharao plays.

Other forms which might show the dialect change use pp-
spellings in both cycles. In fact, the only other words which
might have had p-variants are worship, occurring twice in paral-
lel lines (TP 139 : YP 126; TR 75 : YR 50), and friendship,
also occurring twice in parallel lines (TP 38h : YP 373; TR 554 :
YR #29). Since these words are not used in rime, one cannot

16

be sure that they reflect native pronunciation.

 

16 There is one instance of T /f/ for Y /s/ which, on the sur-
face, might be classified as a dialect variation. In both
cycles immediately after the guem quaeritis portion of
the Resurrection play, Mary Magdalene charges the two
Marys to procIEIm Christ's ascension. In the Y play, she
sends them on their errand with these words:

Nowe verray god as he wele maye
He wisse you sisters wele in yours wage
and rewle 3ou right (11. 2 7-9).

In T, on the other hand, she says:

He wysh you sisters well in yours way
and rewle,you right (11. Alo-hll).

Now Miss Smith, in her marginal commentary, would render
the Y passage "God be with you" (York Pla s, p. M10), a
meaning which is undoubtedly intended In I. But is it in
Y? I think not, in spite of the modern Scottish prefer-
ence for wisse (Wright, The En lish Dialect Dictionar ,
s.v. "wisH"), a variant ET'WisH tEat dates bac 0 our-
teenth century Middle English(NED, s.v. "wish"). The
fact is that there are two other words spelled wisse or

 

11

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
The occurrence of /s/ for,/f/’in these plays is limited
to one instance of sall (TC 71). The following table records

the total incidence of shall, shuldge and their variants:

 

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS

sall l -
sEaIl 21 32
suld e — -
s u e 7 5

 

The incidence of /flf/'in other words may be exemplified

by the spelling of worshyp (TC 79, 197) and frenship (TAL 104).

III. Interpretation of Data

Nothwithstanding the preference for gp- forms in both

(15 cont.) wise, the one meaning "to make known" from OE
wisian (NED, s.v. "wisl"), and the other meaning "to guide,

to direct," cognate with Modern High German weisen (NED,
s.v. "wise"). I believe that the latter meaning was in-
tended in this passage of the Y play, because: (1) the
idea that God shall guide them in their task is implicit
in the passage; (2) wisse is a stressed word in stressed
position (especially so since it carries the ornamental
alliterative letter) and We recall that the dialect cor-
respondence S/ : /s/ did not affect stressed words. It
is for the latter reason, incidentally, that the form wiss,
meaning wish, is not likely a phonological variant, but
rather tEe result of confusion with the other two afore-
mentioned verbs; (3) there is at least one precedent for
the use of wisse in the sense of "guide" in a parallel Y
and T line of the Judgment Play:

 

be way till heuene he will you wisse (YJ, 174),
the way till heuen he shall you wys (TJ 78 .

The rime with pip establishes the fact that wisse had the
same short vowel as Wish. I am convinced for these rea-
sons that Y and T used entirely different words in this
passage and that T quite likely, in copying Y, inadver-
tently substituted the wrong verb.

12

cycles, the incidence of 32;; as a relatively strong minority
form in'Y contrasted with its virtual absence in T is an un-
equivocal point of difference. Moreover, while the T plays
resort exclusively to shuldge, Y contains the variant in‘p on
a few occasions. These differences in the usage of the two
cycles are emphasized by the fact that in corresponding pas-
sages T never substitutes g-variants for Y'ppgll or shuldge.

Statements to the contrary notwithstanding,l7 forms in :3
can occasionally be found throughout the T cycle. Ԥgll occurs
not only in the Pharao and Caesar Augustus but also three times
in the stanzas of the Wakefield Master (XXII, 216, 254 and XXIV,
31) and twice in the Ascension (XXIX, 54, 377). Furthermore,
the rime‘gygp : gyyg (XX, 370:371), if it is accurate, supplies
rather convincing proof that forms in‘p are not the result of
accident in T. Though I cannot agree with Trusler's conclusion
that three instances of 33;; in the Wakefield Master constitute
enough evidence of his accustomed usage,18 forms in‘p must to
some extent reflect native pronunciation in T.

Unfortunately neither rime nor alliterative pattern shed
any light on the phonetic value of orthographic pp in ppgll.
If pp had never been alliterated with‘p, alliterative tests
might have been useful in establishing pronunciation. Such,

however, was not the case in Middle English.l9 The thirteen

 

T7 The evidence of s : sh forms is inaccurately summarized by
Oakden, Who, in his detailed dialectal survey, found no
evidence of s-forms in T and a thoroughgoing consistency
in the usage of s for OE so in the Y cycle. See p. 29.

p. 77.
19 Oakden, p. 165.

18

 

13

alliterative Y plays, for example, contain lines in which pp
alliterates with itself as well as 5.20 The same pattern also

appears in the Y and T versions of the Pharao play, where a1-

 

literation is used for ornamental purposes. Though the evi-
dence from alliteration is generally of little use, one pecu-
liar change in T demonstrates rather effectively that pp in

shall was deliberately substituted for Y E. Curiously, the one

 

Y line which alliterates /s/ with /J'/ ("I gall pe gaffe fro
pynne and ppame," YP 176) is changed in T to alliterate on the
phoneme /5/ ("I _s_hall _s_l_1eld the from §__hame," TP 189).. The
levelling of the alliterative pattern in this line seems to
indicate that more than scribal preference is responsible for
the change from Y 33;; to T gpgll.

Though internal evidence is not conclusive, pp forms in
the two cycles could well reflect native pronunciation. Since
the MMW isophone identifies the southern limits for the occur-
rence of forms in p but not the northern limits of pp, the ap-
pearance of 223;; and shuldge in a Middle English text is by
no means indicative of dialect usage. That the Y area employed
predominantly forms in p is fairly well supported by the con-

sistent incidence of sall in the York Testamenta Eboracensia

 

56 Jesse Byers Reese, The York Plays and the Alliterative Tra-
dition, Un ublished University of North Carolina Disser-
tation (l9 6), p. 486 However, when Reese makes this
generalization, he fails to regard the possibility of scri-
bal interference which may have been responsible for such
alliterative patterns. We cannot assume that an pp spell-

of shall necessarily represents an original sound of
/‘F/ /since a Midland scribe could have substituted his na-
tive form for Northern sall within the line in the original
text. If such was the case, then lines which previously
alliterated in 3 only might now, on the surface, alliterate
p with pp.

 

 

11+

up to the year 1H79-21 Since the extant MS of the Y plays
dates back to approximately lh30 or lhho on paleographical

grounds,22

it is not at all surprising that g forms appear in

the text. The preference for gh forms in the plays should

not, however, on these grounds be explained as the result of

scribal intrusion, since it was quite possible that some

speakers in the York area used the two forms interchangeably.
In spite of the recurrent incidence of gh forms in T and

the conscious substitution of ghgll and shuldge for Y'gg;;

and gglgg, the rare occurrences of forms in g throughout the

T cycle cannot be dismissed lightly. Granted the two instances

of ggll in the T Pharao play occurring no more than six lines

apart might be explained as rare occasions when T copied the

MS verbatim from Y. However, the independent occurrence of g

forms in other plays is rather good evidence that the cycle

must have originated from an area north of the MMW isophone.

I have already pointed out that Midland forms could well have

appeared north of this line, though one would not expect to

find them as overwhelmingly in the majority as they appear in

the T cycle. I believe that this predominance of forms in gh

is an indication that the cycle was composed considerably later

than the Y plays, at a time when the literary standard had

settled in the fringe areas of the Northeast Midlands.

The treatment of /s/ and /jx/ in the two cycles leads me

to the following conclusions:

H
1 Baumann, p. 82.
22

York Plays, p. xxviii.

 

 

 

15

1. The appearance of Northern g is rather reliable evi-
dence that both cycles hailed from an area north of
the Moore, Meech and Whitehall isophone which extends
from southeast Lincolnshire to Lancaster.

2. All of the T plays show strong preference for forms
in gh, sharply in contrast with the Y plays, which,
in part, favor variants in‘g (notably the Pharao play).

. a. Sheer weight of numbers, consistency of T substi-
tutions in corresponding passages and conscious
shifting of alliterating letters establish gg forms
as a native element in the language of the T plays.

b. The rare appearance of g-variants in T suggests a

later date of composition for T than for Y.

IV. Linguistic Background

OE /I/, represented by the orthographic symbols 33,23 had
a twofold development in the late Old English period forming
one of the essential dialect variations between the North and
the Midlands. According to Jordan, it was in the tenth century

that OE /j/ in unstressed syllables and customarily unstressed

 

5

There seems to be some difference of opinion among histori-
cal linguists on the value of OE sc. Sievers, on the
grounds of diphthongization and orthographic signs, argues
that Germanic /sk/ had been palatalized in very early
Anglo-Saxon (Eduard Sievers, An elsfichsische Grammatik,
3rd ed., Halle, 1921, pp. 102-§;. On the other hand, Jor-
don and Jungandreas date the change from /sk/ to /f/ in
the late Old English period (Jordan, p. 16h; Wolfgang
Jungandreas, Geschichte der Deutschen und der En lischen
Sprache, III, GBttingen,‘l§h§, 132$, while-Efibrkfian says

this sound-change took place already in O.E. times, but
how early is not quite settled..." ("Scandinavian Loan-

Words in Middle English," Studien zur En lischen Philolo-
gie, ed. Lorenz Morsbach, Halle, 1900, p. 1195.

 

16

words became /s/ in the North while it remained in the Mid-
lands.zh The dialect change is particularly significant in

the verbal auxiliaries 222;; and shuldge and in such unstress-
ed syllables as -gg;p and 11g§ because of their frequent inci-
dence.

MMW, concentrating on the dialect usage of gggll, EEElQ :
gall, ggig, mark the southern limit for ggll, gglg on an iso-
phone extending from Bourne, in the extreme southeast section
of Lincolnshire, to Lancester.2S Loosely interpreted, this
boundary would place Wakefield, the town most frequently as-
sociated by scholars with the T cycle, within an area where

Northern sall would likely have been the majority form. Such

 

a conclusion, however, is unwarranted in view of the fact that
MMW are careful to label their line as the southern limit and
do not draw a comparable line for the nothern boundary of
ghgll. Since this study did not include localized documents

from Wakefield, one can only draw the conclusion that Northern

sall might have been used in and around Wakefield, but not to

the exclusion of Midland ghgll. While it is a fact that Methley,
located approximately five miles from Wakefield, showed "good
evidence" of Northern g3ll,26 one should note that the label
"good evidence" is used by MMW to represent the mean between

"strong evidence" on the one hand, and "poor evidence" on the

zHp .l6h. Also see Joseph Wright and Elizabeth Wright,

An
Elementar%m Middle English Grammar, 2nd ed. (London, 1‘28),
pp. 12 ‘2 o

p. 10.
2 loc. cit.

 

17

other. Furthermore, the distance of five miles is great
enough to allow for dialect differences between the two towns.
There is, then, no conclusive evidence to indicate that Wake-
field, though it was located in the ggll - EElQ belt, preferred
the Northern variants. Such is not the case for York, however,
where documents yielded strong evidence in favor of ggll and

auld.27
Present Plural: Inflectional Ending

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

Since proximity of subject pronouns had a direct influ-
ence on the present plural endings in Northern Middle English,
the following table, showing the total incidence of the various
inflectional endings in the identical plays, is arranged accord-

ing to the contexts in which the verb forms appear.

 

YOfiK TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line
I. When subject pronoun
immediately precedes
or follows the verb:

A. 49,) 16 53 16 57
B- -(2)§. - 3 - -
c. -(g)g - - - _

II. When subject is (l) a
pronoun removed from
the verb or (2) a noun
in any position:

A. -(g) 7 3 5 16
B. -(g)g 1 22 1 7
C. -(g)g - 1 - -

 

Of the data summarized in this chart, the relatively small in-

cidence of inflectional -(g)g in the T plays becomes immediate-

2: loc. cit.

 

l8

1y apparent. Though forms in ~(g) actually predominate in
both cycles, in Y they outnumber —g forms by a ratio of three
to one, while in T the ratio is increased to ten to one. More-
over, of the eight instances of present plural inflectional -g
in the T plays, at least seven appear identically in the Y
plays,28 there being not a single trustworthy independent -g
ending in the T plays.29

The three examples in Y of forms with 1g immediately pre-
ceded or followed by a subject pronoun (Egyg £22 YP 259, 3g
EEQEE YD 151, and fig knawes YD 90) represent the only prominent
aberration from the usual present plural inflectional pattern
in Northern Middle English. Significantly, T in each case sub-

stitutes a form which does fit the normal pattern.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

 

CRESKR KUGUSTUSI TALENTS

Rime Line Rime Line
I. When subject pronoun
immediately precedes
or follows the verb:

A. -(g) 2 - - 3

B. -(g)_S_ - — - ..

Co ‘(e)th "' -' - -

II. When subject is (l) a
pronoun removed from
the verb or (2) a noun
in any position:

A. -(e) - 1 2 -
B. -(§)g 1 1 - -
C. -(g)§_ - 1 - 1

 

28
of. h s TD 132 : YD 16o, folows TD 136 : YD 16h, hast 5
TH : YH 30?, rev 3 TR 152 : YR 135. behov s TR 5§E :
YB 03, wak ns TJ 25 : YJ 153, and knawes TH : YH 283
(r.w. sawes, drawes, 2nd sg., and lawes}.

 

29 The only instance of T -g in a word not corresponding to Y

I“

 

19

Though the evidence in these plays is scanty, the absence of
forms in 1g from the Talents is striking. Plurals in 13h,
occurring once within the line in each play, are the follow-
ing: (ghggg tythyngys)‘gggg (TC 168) and (maters...£gg§)
pertenyth (TAL 201).

III. Interpretation of Data

Even though in the identical plays both Y and T show a
preference for present plurals with zero inflection, the cycles
differ substantially, as already pointed out, in the propor-
tion of fig forms that are retained. This fact is emphasized
by a comparison of the total Y and T incidence of verbs with
1g endings when the subject is either a pronoun removed from
the verb or a noun. Under these conditions, Y retains gg_in
23 cases out of a possible 3h, while in the identical T plays
only 8 verbs out of 29 embody fig endings. Moreover, in at least
eleven of these instances, T substitutes -(g) for Y present
plurals in -(g)g (e.g. flag M m TP 35 :ggwggpgg wonnes

YP 31).30 When, in addition, one notes that there are no inde-

 

(29 cont.) occurs in the following line:

(and all...)
That makys my commyng knaw (TH 335).

In the Y play, the line reads: "That is my coming for to
knawe" (YH 315). Since the subject is removed from the
verb by two lines, both readings are extremely difficult,
perhaps to the extent that the Y author was himself con-
fused by providing a singular verb form for a plural con-
cept. As it stands, however, The T reading is even less
clear than that of Y. On these grounds, I believe both
lines to be corrupt.

0
3 For a complete list, see Appendix, p. 186.

 

2O

pendent instances of plural inflectional 1g in the T plays,
one can be quite certain that if 1g plurals were a native
element in the language of the T editor, they were not his
preferred usage.

To what extent 1g forms were consciously used by the T
editor is difficult to say. Rime evidence, limited to only one
occurrence of inflectional 5g in the identical plays of both
cycles is of little value in establishing native usage. Since
undoubtedly more opportunities present themselves for rime
words with zero inflection, such words in this case may not
always reflect the original pronunciation.31 For this reason
forms within the line may serve as a more accurate key to pro-
nunciation than rime incidence. The fact that within the line,
discounting a few exceptions, Y consistently follows the North-
ern rule is therefore quite significant. Similarly, we can
surmise that the regular independent occurrence of -(g) forms
in the identical T plays reflects the T editor's usual pronun-
ciation.

As already noted, on three occasions Y resorts to‘eg
endings in present plural verbs when the subject is a personal
pronoun immediately preceding or following the verb. (While
all three corresponding verbs in the T plays adopt -(g) end-

ings (in line with the normal pattern of the North), the most

 

31 In Chaucer, for example, the present plural ending 12 is
nearly universal in rime even though -en is the normal
form in Chaucerian prose (See H. C. nyd, A Short History
of En land, 3rd ed., New York, 1927, p. 257). Trusler
‘fgund the same principle to prevail in the plays of the
Wakefield Master, who resorts to :g endin s less frequent-
ly in rime than within the line; see p. 65

21

striking of these substitutions is contained in the passage
of the Doctors' play where the first of the three wisemen,
shocked by the youth's lack of deference, exclaims:

hark, yonder barn with his bowrdyngl
he wenys he kens more than 23 knawys (TD 63-h).

In Y, the corresponding lines read:

Nowe herken one barne with his brandyng
he wenes he gens more pan fig knawes (YD 89-90).

In this case, sense alone, it seems to me, would establish
the Y reading as the superior one. If Y was the original-
and there can be little doubt-the substitution in the T line
may have been prompted by the editor's unfamiliarity with the
Y construction, particularly since the T plays contain not a
single instance of plural 1g followed or preceded directly by
a subject pronoun. Consequently, he substituted a singular
pronoun, which would call for the 1g ending in the rime word

knawes.32

 

32 The T passage in question was discovered by Hohlfeld (pp.
260-3) to correspond almost exactly with Chester:

Harkes this Childe in his bourdingl
he wenes he kennes more then he knowes
(The Chester Plays, p. 213, ITT'EKI=ZT.

Curiously, a somewhat similar reading is also to be found
in the Weavers' Pageant of the True Coventry Plays:

All secrettis surely he thynkith fig knois
(Two Coventry Corpus Christi Plays, p. 51, l. 903).

The word bord n , too, paralleling Chester and T, but not
Y, appears in the Coventry passage (1. 892). On the basis
of such evidence as is contained in this correspondence,
we can be sure that the extant Coventry, Chester and T
Doctors' plays have a common base. For a full discussion
of this point, see Greg, pp. 280-319.

 

22

Even more pronounced than in the identical plays of Y
and T, is the difference in present plural forms of the T
Caesar Augustus and Talents. While in the Caesar Augustus
we find two examples of inflectional ~33 (_mp_r_1...blowys TC 9h;
Tythyggy ...amendys TC 1119), both of which conform to the North-
ern pattern, the Talents is the only play which I have examined
that contains not a single present plural in fig. The absence
of such forms, of course, doesn't by itself allow us to infer
that the Talents was composed at a later time than the Caesar
Aggustus nor does it substantiate a non-Northern origin for the
play, particularly since it contains only two opportunities for
the use of inflectional -g (1g...g_g, TAL 16o, 17h), both of
which occur in rime. However, when we compare this difference
between the Caesar Augustus and the Talents with other linguis-
tic differences (particularly the discordant usage of /a:/),
we have some reason to accept it as valid. This contrasting
evidence of present plural endings, therefore, when seen as
one of many linguistic elements in the two plays, helps to con-
firm the notion that the Caesar Augustus and the Talents repre—
sent different stages in the development of the cycle.

As a dialect characteristic, only the present plural end-
ing -(g)g of the Y and T plays is significant. According to
MMW, present plural 1g (occurring only when a subject pronoun
is not immediately before or after the verb) appears consistent-
ly north of a line drawn from Lincolnshire to N. Lancashire,

while below this line forms in :g were occasional minority forms

23

by analogical extension of the third person singular.33 Forms
in -(g), on the other hand, are for diverse reasons a standard
feature of Middle English: in the North they developed when
present plurals were immediately preceded or followed by
subject pronouns, in the Midlands when final inflectional 1g
was dropped.

As a criterion of dialect, therefore, the present plural
inflectional ending would confirm the origin of Y north of the
isophone. So far as the dialect of T is concerned, however,
little useful information can be gathered from the inflectional
endings of present plurals. Since fig does not appear as a
clear-cut majority form anyWhere in the cycle, T reflects con-
ditions both north and south of the isophone. To be sure,
Wakefield, which is located only some fifteen miles north of
the isophone, would remain a very good candidate for the origi-
nal home on the basis of this characteristic. But so would
many other localities in the Northeast Midlands.3u
To summarize:

1. Y contains a considerably larger proportion of present

 

g

p. 9.
34

I have deliberately omitted from this discussion the one Y
instance of fig (faren Y? 303) and the two examples in T
of :32 present plurals (doth TC 168, erten th TAL 201).
These forms are completely out of keeping w¥th the estab-
lished pattern in the two cycles. While both endings
could sporadically appear in Yorkshire (cf. Baumann's sur-
vey of the York Records, p. 101, and MMW, p. 38: n. 13),
the -th forms are quite likely the product of confusion
with'the third person singular. The contexts of the two
T instances would, in my estimation, invite such confusion.
("Thise tythyngys doth...," TC 168 and "maters that per-
tenyth...," TAL 201).

 

21+

plural 1g endings than T.

a. In the identical T plays, Northern 1g appears only
in direct borrowings from Y. The T editor, though
he resorts independently only to -(g) endings, was
apparently familiar with the Northern pattern.

2.The Caesar Augustus and the Talents use different forms

 

in the present plural:

a. The Caesar Augustus occasionally contains -g endings.

 

b. The Talents contains no examples of present plural
.3.

c. This difference helps to confirm the notion that the
two plays represent different stages in the develop-
ment of the cycle.

3. As a dialect determinant, the incidence of inflectional
:3:
a. confirms the origin of Y north of the MMW isophone;
b. provides relatively little information about the

origin of T.

IV. Linguistic Background35

The inflectional endings of the present plural have long
been recognized as a primary Middle English dialect criterion,
mainly because three major dialect areas developed significant
differences. Accordingly, Oakden, for example, lists -gg as

the form prevailing north of a line passing through Chester and

3; I have omitted from this discussion forms of the preterito-
present verbs as well as those of the verbs 22 be and £2
will. The development of the verb forms of 39 F5 in the
present plural is treated separately below, p. T30.

 

25

Mid-Lincolnshire, -gg as the majority form in the Midland
areas between the Thames and the Ribble-Aire valleys, and
figgg as the chief form found south of the Thames (though oc-
curring frequently in London and even as far north as Salop).36
The MMW study, in general confirms the dialect lines
drawn by Oakden. However, since precise information on the
provenience of inflectional :3 was not available, only two
isophones appear in this study: one defining the northern
limits of plural 12g, the other the southern limits of plural
-g. The first of these lines extends roughly from the mouth
of the Thames to the northwest section of Shropshire; the
second, as already noted, from Mid-Lincolnshire, through parts
of Nottinghamshire, West Yorkshire, and Lancashire, where it
terminates at the mouth of the River Lune.37
These isophones, though they reflect the most accurate
information that dialectologists have been able to gather, must
nonetheless not be interpreted to represent absolute lines of
demarcation. MMW are careful to point out that plurals were
occasionally formed by analogical extension of the third person
singular inflectional ending, so that the area between the two
isophones could have minority plural forms in ~gg or -g, de-
pending on what was the dominant singular ending.38 Moreover,

one should note that in the North, -g occurred only in those

36 Oakden, pp. 35-6.

7 See MMW, Map I.

3 Ibid., p. 9. For a description of the isophone for third
person present singular 1g, see below, p. 63.

26

present plurals which were not immediately preceded or fol-
lowed by a subject pronoun. When the subject pronoun was

removed from the verb or when the subject was a noun in any
position, the normal ending north of the isophone was -(g).

As previously mentioned, such an ending also occurred in the
London English of Chaucer, though in a different phonetic con-
text.39 For these reasons, neither the absence nor the occasional
appearance of fig endings was necessarily indicative of dialect
usage.

Unfortunately not many records are available to testify
to the early development of the Northern present plural in-
flectional system. In fact, what little information we do
have is derived from the only available dated and localized
text of Northern origin prior to the twelfth century, the
Lindisfgpng Gospel (c. 950). On the basis of this document,
we can infer that in the North as early as the middle of the
tenth century "there was no significant retention of inflec-
tional 73 in infinitives and present tense forms other than
gggg,‘pgpgg, and sindon.")+O A complete breakdown of the plural
endings in the gindisfarne Gosnel reveals, moreover, that
forms in 1g outnumbered by a considerable margin the alternate

ending 12g (which, of course, was the common Anglo-Saxon plural

 

35

For a full discussion, see Samuel Moore, "Loss of Final‘g
in Inflectional Syllables of Middle English," Language,
III (1927). 232-259.

0
David W. Reed, The History of Inflectional n in En lish
Verbs before 1 University 0 Cali orn a Pu licat ons
Ifilfinglish, VII Berkeley, 1950), 194.

27

ending."l By 13h0, the approximate date of the Cursor Mundi

 

 

(MS Cotton VeSpasian.A3), "n-less forms had been extended in
the indicative to all occurrences before or after a plural
subject pronoun.“+2 Hence, the pattern described by MMW was
fully in existence by cl3h0.

In the further development of the language, present
plurals have maintained 7g (unless directly preceded or fol-
lowed by a personal pronoun subject) to this day in the Scot-

tish, Northern and North-Midland dialects.u3
/5:/ VS. /a:/ for OE‘E

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The total incidence of /:>:/ or /a:/ derived from OE /a:/

in the identical Y and T plays is recorded in the following

 

table:
YORK TOWNELEY
I. In rime
words containing /a:/< OE‘E 20 18
words containing /:>:/« 0E 33 13 13
doubtful instances 70 68
II. Within the line
‘g-spellings 16 l(?)
gespellings 140 157

 

The doubtful instances, exemplified by such rimes as more and
sore (TH 218, 220 : YH 202, 20h), comprise all inter-riming

words derived from forms with OE.§° These rimes, of course,

 

HI

' Reed, p. 262.

43

For a table of incidence, see Holmqvist, pp. l3-lh.

Wright, Ag Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 176.

 

28

regardless of their spelling, have no value in establishing the
quality of the vowel. 0n the other hand, OE E clearly retains
its value in such rimes as 2232, £322, £232 and euermare (TP
194, 196, 198, 200 : YP 181, 183, 185, 187), in which the g of
$332 and £532 is derived from OE E while the g of £533 and £232
represents OE short 3, lengthened in open syllables during the
early Middle English period.4u As modern pronunciation will re-
veal, such rimes would have been inaccurate anywhere but in the
North, the only region where OE 5 did not undergo a qualitative
change. Other significant rimes in /a:/ involve such pairs as

hame (OE ham) and blame (or b1asmer)(TJ 519, 521 : YJ 360, 362),

 

and ears (OE sar)and are 'ere' (Sc. 23) (TD 108, 110 : YD 136,
138).
Unmistakable rimes in /3:/, appearing in the identical plays

of both cycles, may be exemplified by such pairs as $2 : inferno

 

(TH 391, 395 : YH 375, 379) and more : before (TP 279, 285 :
YP 266, 272). In these instances, OE é must have undergone the
raising and rounding typical of the Midlands since it is paired
with vowels derived from L /o:/ and OE short 3 in open sylla-
bles.

To some extent, surrounding sounds seem to influence the

development of OE g in both cycles. A breakdown of rime types
reveals that 0E a was always maintained before -g, -g and -g.
/b:/ appears consistently in final position while divided
usage can be expected before -3. In the latter category, the

words more and sore are rimed both with /a:/ and /b:/.

HE Mosse’, p. 17

 

29

Within the line, while Y occasionally resorts to :-
spellings, T consistently employs g. The one exception in T,

lath for Y late (TH 16L). : YH 162) may be regarded as a text-

 

ual error."5

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Apgustus and Talents

 

The figures in the following chart reveal rather clearly
that these two plays differed in their treatment of GE 5.
CAESAR AfififisTfi§"'TKEENT§"

 

I. In rime

words containing /a:/‘ GE /a:/ h -

words containing /a:/< OE /a:/ - 11

doubtful instances 14 A
II. Within the line

g-spellings - -

g-spellings 26 60

 

E; Since the northern version of the Gospel 2; Nicodemus con-
tains the word late in substantia 1y the same context as
the Y text, the T reading, lath, may with reasonable
certainty be regarded as a scrlbal error:

per-by he brought oute of cure bale
now, late, Lazar of Betannye (YH 161-2),

the lath lazare of betany (TH 16h),

ane lazar pat was ded now late (Gosp. pf N;g.,
Galba Mg, 1. A97; see 2p: Mlddle English 'Har-
rowing 33 Hell' gpg 'Gospel 2: N100demua,‘ W11-

am Henry Hulme, ed., EETS ES 155, London,
1907. p. 51+) .

The combination of "now late," signifying "now of late,”
linked with "Lazar" is obviously common to Y and the Gos-
pgl pg Nicodemus. Since there are many other correspEHH-
ences between these two texts (see W. A. Craigie, "The
Gospel of Nicodemus and the York Mystery Plays," gp Egg-
lish Miscellany, Presented pp 23. Furnivall pp Honour 2;
513 Sevent -F th Birthda , ed. W. P. Ker, et. al., 0x-
???d, 1901, pp. 52-51), one can assume that the corres-
pondence in question is not accidental.

 

30

The Caesar Augustus, although it contains no significant

 

rimes in /3:/, follows the same pattern as the identical Y
and T plays in its /a:/ rimes. Hence /a:/ appears twice be-
fore -3, once before 1p and 1g. In the Talents, on the other
hand, there are no conclusive rimes in /a:/. Moreover, /D:/
appears four times before fig, twice before -g and five times

in final position.

III. Interpretation of Data

The evidence from the identical Y and T plays indicates
little, if any, difference in usage of OE g in the two groups
of plays. Though self-rimes, in which vowel quality cannot
be ascertained, comprise the vast majority of rime evidence,
there are enough distinctive rimes in /a:/ and /D:/ to es-
tablish with reasonable certainty the existence of both pro-
nunciations. Quite apparently, the quality of the vowel is
determined to some extent by surrounding sounds. /a:/, for
example, never appears in final position,“6 in any of the
plays that I have examined."7

The few non-parallel rimes in the identical plays of the
tWO cycles do not point to significant differences in usage
nor do they evince proof that T rimes in /a:/ occur independ-

ently of Y. On three occasions, T substitutes ME /a:/-forms

i I discount the rime may 'make' : two (TR 436, 437) in con-
trast with Y two : too (YR 294,195) since both the T

and Y stanzas are imperfect; see Appendix, p. 188.

1+7

Trusler found the same condition to prevail in the stanzas
of the Wakefield Master, where she found a total of 21
distinctive rimes in final /b:/ to none in final /a:/
(pp. 511-: 71) o

 

31

(not derived from GE g) for corresponding Y words with North-
ern /a:/< OE é. Of these the most interesting change is Y
‘Egyg to T 53232 (YP 198 : TP 211) in rime with.gggg,‘gggg,
‘plggg. Though one cannot be sure, this change may have been
prompted by the T editor's unfamiliarity with fgy_. The T
substitution of fortayn for Y ppg (TR A22 : YR 278) in rime
with‘pgyp, slayne, pgpg may very well be accounted for in the
same way, especially since the word ppg, which one would ex-
pect to be a popular rime word, never appears in the T rimes
that I have examined. Insignificant as these changes may be,
one may note that T never substitutes an /a:/ rime for Y /5:/.
0n the contrary, when there is a change in rime words, the T
substitution is always in the direction of Midland usage. The
same may be said for spelling forms within the line, though
accurate keys to pronunciation they certainly are not.

Whereas rime evidence from the identical plays of the Y
and T cycles reveals a general similarity in the usage of GE
/a:/, the individual plays or groups of plays within T show
some striking differences. To be sure, the consistent reten-
tion of OE‘é to the exclusion of /D:/ in the T Caesar Augustus
may be conditioned by the scarcity of distinctive rimes.“8
Yet the mere fact that the play retains /a:/ in certain rimes
is valuable evidence in itself. In the first place, these rimes
elicit substantial proof that the retention of OE‘E was a

native element in at least one of the T plays. Moreover, since

 

E8 Unfortunately the Caesar Au ustus contains no conclusive rime
evidence of the deve1opment of OE‘E in final position,
the only phonetic context which consistently yields [5:/

in the other plays that I have examined.

32

the Caesar Augustus maintained /a:/ in exactly the same phonetic
surroundings (before 13, fig and fig) as the plays borrowed

from Y, we have some reason to assume community of authorship
and hence that OE'E in the latter plays is similarly a native
element and not just an echo of Y usage. In sharp contrast,
the rimes of the Talents at no time retain OE‘E. Furthermore,
in the Talents, /o:/ appears in those phonetic contexts which
in the Caesar Aggustus and the plays borrowed from Y consis-
tently yield /a:/. This difference is emphasized by the treat-
ment of the stressed vowel in the one significant rime form
common to the Caesar Augustus and the Talents: gggg (r.w.
21393 TC 114) andgpgg (r.w. 19g; TAL 106), respectively. The
form‘gpgg is cepecially significant since it appears as a rime
word only in the Talents and the stanzas of the Wakefield
Master.)+9 In fact, the treatment of OE‘g resembles much more
closely that of the Master than it does either the Caesar‘gpgpg-
flag or the plays borrowed from.Y.50 Though the similarities
between the Talents and the plays of the Master would by no
means establish community of authorship, the fact that the
Wakefield Master and the Talents, on the one hand, differ so
markedly in their treatment of OE‘E from the Caesar Augustus
and the plays borrowed from Y, on the other, dispels with some

assurance the assumption that one man could be responsible for

 

E9 Significant rime examples of the Master's usage of gose may
be found in g; Shepherds' 222, and A27.

50 In examining the rimes of three plays containing the Masper's
nine-line stanza (Noah,‘; She herds' and‘I; She herds' ,
I found 67 inter-rimfng words, 51 words riming 1n 7a:/ and
6 riming in /a:/. The following table, based on all the
plays I have examined, will summarize and contrast at a

glance the reliable rime evidence of OE‘E in its various
phonetic contexts:

33

all these plays.

As a dialect characteristic, the retention of OE g in
certain words of the T plays seems to contradict the accepted
theory, first proposed by Peacock,51 that Wakefield was the
original home of the T cycle. According to the MMW study, the
isophone for GE E corresponds closely in its eastern portion
with the political boundary between the East and West Ridings
of Yorkshire.52 Below this isophone, i.e. in all parts of the
West Riding including, of course, Wakefield, OE g according to
the evidence of the best Middle English records was not retained.

This difference of pronunciation is maintained even in modern

(5O cont.)

Identical Plays
Y T TC TAL Wfd. Master

6
(D
H
0
e
(D
I
IS

a: 6 - _

fix; I - E LL 13
before/;g/ 1 - 1 - _
/:>2/ - - - 2
before/;st _ _ - - l
/.; - - - - -

0‘
(D
H:
O
*3
(D
S0 I
e'd-

a: 11 10 2 - 2
:/ 5 4 - - 12
final
a: - - - -
a: 8 9 - 5 20
dissyllabic

a: _ _ _ .. ..

51 Peacock, "Towneley, Widkirk or Wakefield Plays?," 9A-lO3.
2
P- 33-

 

31+

Yorkshire, where, according to Stead, "the East Riding and

the North Riding rustic cannot round an 2:.thilé7 the West
Ridinger can."S3 Modern Wakefield, moreover, illustrates the
typical pattern of the West Riding, such words as pppg con-
taining a rounded vowel followed by a glide /oa/.5" Hence,

in view of the accumulated dialect data, even a limited reten-
tion of OE é’could not have been a native element in the language
of Wakefield. This is not to say, however, that Wakefield was
not the home of the cycle. Certainly, the possibility that
the composer of the T cycle had contact, either by heritage or
association, with the region north of the Humber cannot be
discounted. Nor is it impossible, as many scholars have al-
ready suggested, that a certain core or the whole of T might
have been borrowed from some dramatic or non-dramatic source
and later revised. Lyle's theory, for example, that "the York
and Towneley cycles were one and the same up to a certain per-
iod in the vernacular stage...and that this parent cycle...

55

underwent revisions at both places" might well account for
the residue of OE‘E rimes in T. But so might Williams' hypoth-
esis that T being essentially "a patchwork, put together rather
late, and not representing any long local tradition at Wake-

field" was in part borrowed from several lost cycles which

 

Richard Stead, "The Two Yorkshire Dialects," Transactions.g£
the Yorkshire Dialect Society, I (Dec., 190 , l .

51+

J. Hanson Green, "Yorkshire Dialect as Spoken in the West
Riding during the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Illus-
trated from the 'Towneley Mysteries' and Modern Dialect
Literature;"see also: Ellis, p. A01.

55 The Original Identity 2; the York and Towneley, p. 3.

35-

were played within a radius of fifty or sixty miles from.Wake-
field.56 I am not prepared to argue the validity of these
theories; however, on the basis of the linguistic evidence
here summarized, I conclude that the T plays as a whole (with
the possible exception of the Talents among the plays that I
have examined) are not a pure product of Wakefield. Nor was
the so-called Wakefield Master likely a native of Wakefield,
since he resorts, if only occasionally, to rimes retaining 0E
E‘57
The appearance of /3:/-rimes in the Y plays has relatively

little bearing on dialect though such rimes are valuable in
establishing roughly a terminus g 329 for the extant text.
The occurrence of /3:/-forms in East Yorkshire after the turn
of the fifteenth century was not unusual. The MMW isophone
indicates

that unrounded forms are not found to occur south

of this line, although rounded forms, spelled c

or pp might be found north of it. Such rounded

forms were, of course, a feature of the emerging

standard form of English and had spread from.Lon-

don and central England as a focal point gall be-
yond the southern limit of the 3 forms. 5

 

56 Williams, p. 72.

S7 Trusler argues that the large number of distinct /3:/-rimes
"points to a date not earlier than the first quarter of
the 15th century" for the Master's pla s because of the
"growin revalence of Midland 5 forms' in the York Records
after 1 2 . Though she, too, reaches the conclusion that
the Master was a Northern writer" (a label which she
doesn!t define geographically), her assumption that his use
of the rounded pronunciation was a non-Northern character-
istic is not consonant with information gathered by Middle
English dialectologists. If the Master used basically the
language of the West Riding, where the rounded vowel de-
veloped early In Middle English, Trusler's dating technique
would be completely invalid (see p. 5A).

58 Moore, gistorical Outlines 2; English Sounds and Inflections,
p. lle

 

36

According to Baumann, who found a total of 126 conclusive
instances of /a:/ to 7A of /p:/ in the entire cycle, the
rounded forms would find growing prevalence in the main city
of the North, which by commercial intercourse was naturally
more easily influenced by the emerging Standard than the rest
of the country.59 In her analysis of the York records, Baumann
discovered that OE‘g was consistently retained until ca. 1A25.
After 1A26, the rounded vowel appears occasionally, but not
until after ca. 1A50 does it become the majority form.60 On
the basis of this information, the extant text of the Y plays
would date to a period approximately between 1A26 and 1A50,
roughly the same period of composition as that established
for the manuscript by paleographers in the British Museum.61

To summarize:

l. Divided usage, with /a:/ the majority form in distinc-
tive rimes, prevails in the identical Y and T plays.
All changes in T, though none are significant, are in
the direction of Midland usage.

2. Retention of OR é’is a native element in the language
of the Caesar Augustus and probably in the plays bor-
rowed from Y as well.

3. The Caesar Augustus and the Talents contrast sharply
in the usage of OE g, the former retaining it con-

sistently in distinctive rimes, the latter always

 

35

Baumann, pp. 39-40.
60

Ibid., p. 38.
61 York Plays, p. xxviii.

 

37

rounding it.

a. Usage in the Wakefield Master's stanzas is similar
to that of the Talents.

b. On the basis of these differences, the Caesar égggg-
tus and the Talents were more than likely not writ—
ten by the same man.

A. Retention of OE g in the T cycle is not representative
of Wakefield usage.

5. On the basis of the divided usage in Y, one can roughly
date the extant text in the second quarter of the fif-

teenth century.

IV. Linguistic Background
62

The development of OE é formed perhaps the most dis-
tinctive dialect difference in Middle English and one which
even in modern times still survives. In the dialects south
of the Humber, OE'E had been rounded and raised to a mid-open
back vowel /b:/ by approximately the first quarter of the

63 Though the spellings in Middle English

thirteenth century.
documents do not clearly reflect the change until well after
the turn of the thirteenth century,6u evidence from OF loan-

words indicates that the change must have commenced as early

 

In all words except those which contained lengthened late
OE‘E before TEE: -n , -EQ, gig or those in which /a:/
coalesced into a M1 dle English diphthong with a follow-

6 ing 3!.
3 Wright, 59 Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 2h.

For spelling evidence in various Middle English texts, see
Wyld, ,1}, Short History 9; English, p. 106.

 

38

as the first half of the twelfth century.65 Since such Nor—
man-French loan-words as ggmg, 22mg and ggggg retained /a:/,
one can infer from the evidence of Modern English pronuncia-
tion that the /a:/ of OE §5§:.§2§2: etc., had already under-
gone some rounding at the time that the French words were
taken into the language. If the rounding of OE‘E had occurred
after these loan-words were adopted, Modern English would not
differentiate between the vowels of 23mg and h9g2.

According to Jordan, the raising and rounding began in
the southern regions, whence it spread northward to the Humber
River by the beginning of the thirteenth century.66 The dialect
areas north of the Humber retained /a:/ until roughly the

67

beginning of the fourteenth century, at which time, however,

at least such popular rime words as $232,.EQEE’ 222:.25222:.52:
222’.£2§2: etc., began to appear in literary texts.68 Luick
contends that the rounded pronunciation first reached areas
north of the Humber as literary borrowings,69 but Baumann
argues, I believe justifiably, that /3:/-forms appeared not
only in literary texts but also in daily usage in the larger

municipxlities of the North mainly as a result of direct con-

tact with the speech of the Midlands.70 However, no matter

 

6g Mossé, p. 22.
6 p. 68.
67

68 Karl Luick, Historische Grammatik der Englischen Sprache

(Leipzig, W, p. 6 .
9 1000 Cite

0
7 p. LL00

Baumann, p. 38; and see below, p. 39.

39

what the origin of the rounded vowel in the North, all studies
agree that in the late Middle English texts, the appearance

of /b:/-forms is by no means a reliable dialect criterion.

On the other hand, the retention of OE'g in fourteenth century
Middle English must always be regarded as a distinct mark of
Northern speech.

.The MMW study has designated precisely what geographic areas
are included in this Northern g-belt. On the basis of dated

and localized manuscripts, an isophone may be drawn from the
mouth of the River Lune in North Lancashire, through the

Ribble Valley on the Lancashirequrkshire border, along the
Rivers Wharfe, Ouse and Humber to the North Sea at Spurn Point,71
Since the MMW lines "represent always the farthest extension
of the regressive or non-standard characteristic,"72 the iso-
phone for /a:/ records only the southern margin for the reten-
tion of OE‘E and not the northern limits for the rounded de-
velopment /3:/. As pointed out earlier, this isophone "coin-
cides along its whole length with the modern dialect boundary

for the unrounded developments of OE g as recorded by Ellis."73

71 MMW, p. 53.

72 Moore, Historical Outlines 2f English Sounds and Inflections,
p. 113. """"""""'
73

MMW, p. 33.

 

40

B. SIMILARITIES

/e/, /e: / vs. P/i/, /i: /, /y/, /y: / for OE 6 after Initial
Pa latals and for OE ea, ea

I. Incidence

The identical Y and T plays as well as the Caesar Augustus

 

and Talents employ /e/ and /e:/ to the total exclusion of

/i/, /i:/, /y/ and /y:/ for (1) original umlauts of 33, §2 and
(2) for OE g preceded by g, g or £3. An example of the former
development is the vowel in the verb 2223, 'to hear.'74 After
initial palatals, one may find /e/ in such words as ghglg

(TP 189), shere (TAL 255, 276), (323)533 (TC 212, TAL 105, 1E1,
167, 272, 359), etc.

 

II. Interpretation of Data and Linguistic Background

Inasmuch as the isophone drawn for this sound correspond-
ence separates the Southwest area from the rest of England, the
uniform appearance of /e/ and /e:/ in the Y and T plays, which
are certainly not Southwest texts, is not at all surprising.
The MMW line extends roughly from Berkeley to Oxford, north of
which /i/, /i:/ and /y/, /y:/ were never found for the umlaut
of OE 33 and fig and for OE 3 after initial palatals, but south
of which these pronunciations occurred regularly.75 The latter
area, of course, corresponds rather exactly to the old West
Saxon region, where original 23, Ea subjected to umlaut yielded

:E s - YD 83; TD 60 : YD 85; TC 68,

as, for example, TD 58 .
112, 118,144, 145; etc.

75 pp. 16"170

 

‘ig,'ig, which in turn developed into late West Saxon /y/,
Spelled i,‘2 or‘gg in Middle English. Essentially the same
change took place in the development of early West Saxon 3
after initial palatals. The other dialect areas never develop-
ed the is, 23 stage; hence the uniform occurrence of Middle
English /e/, /e:/ in all non-West Saxon dialects.

To summarize:

The occurrence of /e/, /e:/ for the umlaut of OE 33, £3

and for OE'g after initial palatals in the plays examined

for this study has no special significance, since this

sound change was normal in all areas except the South-

west.
Initial /r/ vs. /v/ for 03.3

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The voicing of OE initial'f does not occur in the five
identical plays. Because of the frequent and uniform appear-
ance of the voiceless spirant in these plays, I list here
only a limited number of representative citations from each
of the plays:
[faggg TP 5 : YP5, TH 71 : YH 79, TR 521 : YR 38k;
folkge TP 155 : YP 142, TH 309 : YH 295;
‘32}; TD 183 : YD 195, TH 303 : YH 289, TR 138 : YR lll;
fere TD 136 : YD 184;

 

fode TH 1k : YH 10;

 

YH 150;

3.)
a
...n
|._a
0-3
.‘I‘.
H
N
K)

 

ferde TJ E60 . YJ 302.

 

h2

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
Initial OE'f remains unvoiced in these plays. The fol-
lowing words are typical examples: fowll TC 23, TAL 179,

fall TC 23, fairer TC 32, fele TC k2, full TC 106, TAL 75,
fare TAL 173, fang TAL 261.

III. Interpretation of Data

The consistent retention of OE initial 3 in all the
plays I have examined reflects wholly the findings of dialec-
tologists. Since the voicing of the OE initial voiceless
spirants is a clearcut Southern characteristic, one would
certainly not expect to find it in a document which is dis-
tinctly localized in York. Similarly, one would meet with
surprise such voicing in the T cycle, which on the basis of
other textual evidence is likely to hail from a region con-
siderably to the north of the Thames. However, as is true for
so many other dialect characteristics, the mere absence Of.l
does not necessarily establish a non-Southern origin, since
even genuinely localized documents of the South retain OE
initiallf.

The uniform maintenance of the voiceless spirant in the
five Y and T plays as well as the Caesar Auggstus and Talents
is not to be regarded as a peculiar correspondence in author-
ship but as a trend in the language of the late Middle English

period.

IV. Linguistic Background

In all likelihood not only OE initial 2 but all OE initial

 

L13

voiceless spirants (f, g, 2) were voiced in the Southern re-
gion of England in the early Middle English period. However,
Marckwardt points out that "the reluctance of many scribes to
use the letter g, and the impossibility of determining vocal
quality in the various spellings of the interdentals ft/ and
/3/ at this period, leave the alternation between E and 3 as

the only feasible criterion of this change."76

In fact, place-
name evidence as well as the survival of initial 3 in modern
dialect areas77 establish the existence of this dialect char-
acteristic with more reliability than it is possible to as-
certain any other.78

Though precise evidence is of course not available, one
can be relatively sure that this voicing took place early in
the Middle English period. Since in general only native words
show the change, it must have taken place before Anglo-Norman
gained its foothold in England.

The northern limits of initial 1 for OE 3, according to
MMW, extend from the northeastern tip of Kent to the south-

western corner of Shropshire.79 However, in spite of the clear-

cut evidence proving the existence of this dialect trait in

 

76 Moore, Historical Outlines 2f English Sounds and Inflec-

tions, p. TIE.
77

According to Wright, v for OE initial f is now obsolete in
Kent, Surrey and Sussex and obsolescent in S. Pembroke,
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, but still generally
used in E. Hereford, parts of Gloucester, W. Berkshire,
Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon see The English
Dialect Grammar (Oxford, 1906), p. 226.

78 mm, p. 15.
79 Ibid., Map I.

 

 

Eh

Middle English, MMW are careful to point out that "the bound-
ary...is less certainly established than most of ZFh§7 other
boundaries."80 Moreover, the voicing is not consistently
represented even in localized documents and literary texts,
partly because E-spellings were so obviously dialectal that
scribes, particularly after 1400, would tend to avoid them
completely. Hence, while the appearance oij for OE‘Q in
Middle English MSS almost certainly identifies them as South-
ern in origin, the retention of‘f is by no means an absolute

dialect criterion.
Rounding vs. Unrounding of OE i, i, fig, 2281

I. Treatment of OE i,'i

A. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

.1

Rime evidence in the identical plays reveals that OE‘y
was uniformly unrounded in both cycles. There is, in fact,
only one rime which does not fit the normal pattern in the
plays: firste YD 2E5 : fyggt TD 233 (OE Eyggt) in rims with
jgg§£,‘£g§§. Though orthographic differences occur within the
line, the spellings $2.2 and 3;, representing the rounded
vowel of the West and Southwest, never appear in these plays.
The following rime words may serve to illustrate the unrounded

pronunciation of OE‘i in the five identical plays:

 

80
81

Ibid., p. 16.

Because the MMW study considers the dialect boundary for
the retention of OEly and of /Be/'"substantially identi-
cal" (p. 12), the two sounds are here treated under one
heading.

45

gym 6 YP 195, YH 232: TP 208, TH 248 (in rime with
blyg, .EEE andd n72a

synne YH 1h : syn TH 18 (in rime with begyn);

hide YJ 154: )“ hide TJ 26 (in rime with syde, pride, and
““' abide

Within the line the corresponding plays frequently resort
to the y-spelling, though occasionally one also finds é-spellings
in both cycles and g-spellings in Y:

styrre YP 8 : £313 TP 8;

‘Elggg YP 22 gygg TP 26;

hille YH 88 . hill TH 80;

 

stered YB 95 : styrryd TR 120;
did YR 202, 207 : dyd TR 349, 354.

 

B. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
As in the identical Y and T plays, OE'i is uniform-
ly unrounded in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents. The fol-
lowing examples illustrate the typical usage in these plays:
£213 TC 116, 3133; TC 186, gyg TAL 154 (in rims with.gg), 32-
313.122 TAL 189 (in rime with 3111299).

C. Interpretation of Data
The unrounded quality of OE‘i (in words like 2111 and
[$13) is substantiated by such rimes as gyg YP 195 : TP 208 and
31g YP 199 : TP 212, where the vowel in the former derives
from.OE‘fi and in the latter from OE‘E. If these rimes are
accurate-and their frequency would make one suspect that they
are-the‘y in Exp must represent the unrounded vowel, since the

short $_of £13 has remained unrounded throughout the history of

116

the language.

Less accurate perhaps is the peculiar rime of fygst,
2233 and gest (YD 2h5 : TD 233), in which an original /y/ is
matched with original /e/. However, in spite of the basic
dissimilarity of words in this rime, the /e/ pronunciation of
OE i, usually associated with the Southeastern region of Eng-

land,82

was said by Serjeantson to have spread towards the North
during the Middle English period.83 Hence it is not impossible
that the /e/ form appeared occasionally even in native York-
shire speech during the late Middle English period. Even

though the meager evidence in the Y and T plays speaks against

a frequent occurrence of this pronunciation,81+ one must note
that the five identical plays differ from the Caesar Augustus
and the Talents of the T cycle, where E is never substituted

for OE §.

Within the line spelling variations most likely do not
reflect accurately the pronunciation of the vowel. The ortho-
graphic substitution of y for i was, in fact, a general Middle
English scribal trait to avoid confusion of symbols. Much more
important is the total absence of g, 2 and E; spellings from
all the plays that I have examined, since these spellings were
the determinants upon which MMW drew their isophone separating,

in general, the East and West-Midlands.85

8§———-_-'——_———
Ibid., p. 13.
83 p. 223.

As already noted, the g-spelling sometimes appears in Y with-
in the line (e.g. stered YB 95).

85 p. 120

 

47

Conclusive geographic identification of the Y and T
plays on the basis of this trait, even in terms of general
dialect regions, is unfortunately impossible. In the first
place, the MMW map shows a broken line representing the iso-
phone north of Croxall in Staffordshire; hence no precise
limitations for the rounding of OE /§/ have been charted in
the northern third of England. Secondly, the absence of the
rounded vowel does not necessarily identify a MS as East or
Northeast Midland, since the MMW isophone designates only the
easternmost boundary of the area where the rounded development
could occur.86 Finally, toward the late Middle English period,
at least by 1450, a tendency toward spontaneous unrounding of
OE /§/ was active everywhere.87 In view of all these facts,
one can say that the unrounded vowel in the Y and T plays may
reflect as much the general tendency of the language as it
could the conventional usage of the East Midlands.

To summarize:

1. All the plays show strong evidence of the unrounding

of OE i.
2. The absence of rounded vowels derived from OE‘E does not

necessarily establish non-West Midland origin.

D. Linguistic Background
As a dialect characteristic, the high front rounded
vowel served as one of the criteria in the late Old English

period to differentiate the West-Saxon from the other dialects.

 

86 Ibid., p. 42.
87 Ibid., p. 41.

48

Not only did the late West-Saxon tend to preserve original
i in certain phonetic environments, but it also rounded
earlier 3 in some words (e.g. early W.S. libban.’late W.S.
lybban).

In the Middle English period, particularly between the
years 1350 and lhOO, the Southwestern and West-Midland regions
in general maintained the rounded pronunciation, while the
other major dialect regions did not. MMW delineated the
eastern and northern limits of the front rounded vowel on an
isophone extending from the southwestern tip of Sussex to the
coast of Lancashire.88

As a dialect criterion therefore, this trait is only use-
ful when positive evidence of rounding can be obtained (MMW
accept g, 2 and Hi spellings as evidence), since the unrounded
front vowel could be found anywhere in England. By 1450,
there existed an active "tendency toward spontaneous unrounding

"89

of the front round vowels...in all English dialects.

II. Treatment of OE E2, fig
A. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
OE E2 uniformly develops into the unrounded mid front
vowel /§/ in all of the identical plays. Since there are no
exoeptions to the rule, I list here representative instances
Sppearing in significant rimes:

fee YP 58 : fee TP 62 (in rime with 23);

Ibid., Map I.

89 Ibid., p. 41.

 

1+9

bene YD 131 : bene TD 103 (in rime with mene< OE ininan);

befell, pret. sg., YB 84 : befell, pret. sg., TR 109
(in rime with tell);

‘ggpg‘YJ 1&8 : £223 TJ 20 (in rime with wgpg,‘kgpg,‘§lgpg).

Within the line, OE 53 is represented variously by 3,‘gg,
21, y and‘g but never by 33, g, 93, g or 22, the significant
Spellings set forth in the MMW study. Representative forms
are the following:

herdes YP 58 : hygdis TP 62;

 

werke YP 103 : wark YP 107;

 

selfe YD 168, YR 152 : self TD 140, TR 179;

 

heuene YH 77 : heuen TH 69;

 

 

feendis YJ 157 : feyndys TJ 31.

B. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
With one exception, the treatment of OE E2 in these

plays is the same as that in the identical Y and T plays. The
normal development of the unrounded 3 is well represented in
such rime words as beyg TAL 339 (in rime with fifteen) and $213
(eosygggg) TAL 342 (in rime with forbedee<OE forbéodan). On
one occasion, however, the word $323 (‘OE‘1§QQ) (TAL 265) also
rimes withwmggg, perhaps designating an alternate rounded pro-
nunciation.

Within the line, OE £9 is generally spelled g (e.g. 331$
TC 3, erthly TC 18, dewyls TC 76, TAL 178, ggrg TAL 293, TAL
350). As in the identical plays, spellings representing a

rounded pronunciation, such as eo, g, 23, B or 33, do not appear.

50

C. Interpretation of Data

The treatment of OE:§9 is similar in the identical Y
and T plays, neither cycle containing evidence of the rounded
form /a/ in rime or within the line. The singular rime occur-
rence of lggg (TAL 265) and E282 nothwithstanding,90 evidence
from the Caesar Augustus and the Talents matches that of the
other plays.

As a dialect characteiistic, the occurrence of the unrounded
vowel has no more significance here than it does in the develop-
ment of OE 3'. While rounding of OE gig in the Middle English
period would almost certainly designate a Western or South-
western origin, the unrounded vowel, particularly after the
turn of the fifteenth century, was not limited to specific
dialect regions.

To summarize:

l. The identical Y and T plays as well as the Caesar
Augustus and Talents generally use /57 for OE‘EQ in
rims and within the line.

2. The absence of unrounded forms is not representative

of any one dialect region.

 

I§6gThough the accuracy of the rims should surely be challenged,
Pollard's declaration that "the rims needs 'mede'" (The
Townele Plays, p. 287, n. 1) requires support. If the
vows of lede was rounded, the word might form a better
rime with mode than it would with the unrounded mede. Such
a pronunciation is of course not impossible particularly
since the dialect of Lancashire, which contained the rounded
vowel (Serjeantson, p. 196), might have influenced the pro-
nunciation/é?.the surrounding regions at least to the ex-
tent that/ / for OE so would. not sound strange to the
natives of these areas. However, in view of the otherwise
uniform evidence of unrounding in the plays, I prefer, along
with Pollard, to consider the rims inexact, though I see
no need for the substitution of mede.

51

D. Linguistic Background
The OE diphthong 22 was reduced as early as the elev-
enth century to 95 in all dialect areas. Henceforth, the
vowel unrounded everywhere except in the South and West Mid-
lands. The resulting regional differences of pronunciation
were charted by MMW on essentially the same isophone as the

distinction between /y/ and /i/.

em, er vs. Them, Ther

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
Both the Y and T cycles regularly employ the pronominal
forms them and therge, with one exception to the exclusion of

hem and her.

 

YORK TdWNthY
them (theym, tham, thaym) 44 39
hem 1 -
therge (tharge, their) 21 19
her -‘ -

 

Rime usage of these pronouns is confined to one identical

occurrence (spyll them : kyll them, TP 73, 75 : YP 68, 71).

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

In these plays, forms in h- are lacking entirely.

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS

thaym (theym) 4 3
m - -
there 3 ‘

er - '

 

52

III. Interpretation of Data

The regular appearance of pronominal forms in.th- in all
the plays I have examined, though of relatively little value
as a criterion of authorship, has some significance as a dialect
criterion. The forms hgm and hgg, with the one noted exception
absent from both cycles, are found almost exclusively in the
areas south of a line drawn from Lincolnshire to Lancaster.
Their general absence from the two cycles indicates strongly
though not conclusively that both texts originated north of

the MMW isophone.

IV. Linguistic Background

The genitive and objective pronouns 3323(3 and thgm were
either borrowed directly from or developed under the influence
of the Old Norse plural pronouns EEEE’ 22133 and pgimggl Skeat,
among others, would identify the Old English demonstrative pro-
nouns gfiégg and.§§§m, genitive and dative plural respectively,
as collateral sources.92 However, such early Middle English

forms as 2333m and 223333, appearing consistently in the

Ormulum,93 provide a noteworthy link with the diphthong in the

Scandinavian forms and therefore suggest that Old Norse was
the direct source of English forms in th-.

The forms her and hem, preferred generally in the East

9 Moore, Historical Outlines 2; English Sounds and Inflections,

2 p. 95.

9 Skeat, An Et molovical Dictionary_ of the English Language
(Oxford, 1882),s s.v. they.

93 The Ormulum, 2 v., ed. Robert Holt (Oxford, 1878), passim.

 

53

Midlands and Specifically by Chaucer, are of course derived
from the Old English plural personal pronouns'hgggg and‘hggg.
The MMW isophone, extending from the southeastern tip of
Lincolnshire to Lancaster and paralleling roughly the lines for
ggllgghgll and 3/2 before nasals, determines the northern
limits of these native forms.9u Forms in th-, on the other hand,
were not peculiar to any one dialect area in spite of their con-
centration north of the isophone. Hence the mere appearance
0f.2223£§ and them is by no means indicative of dialect usage
in the Middle English period, these pronouns being so strongly
intrusive that after 1400 they occur even as majority forms
south of the isophone.95 Much more significant as a dialect
criterion is the absence of native forms, since the frequent
appearance of these pronouns in early Middle English texts
would almost certainly have localized such texts south of the

IVH‘J‘IW line 0

/a/ vs. /5/ for OE‘Q before m and n

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
OE g/g before nasals is universally maintained in the

identical Y and T plays.

 

 

YofiK TEWEEEEY
/ / / / Rime Line Rime Line
a or a: <OE3 20 37 20 39
/:>/ or /o:/< OE 3 — - .. -

 

The quality of the vowel is clearly established by such

 

9H MMW, Map I.
95 Ibid., p. 11.

 

51+

rimes 33.2322 (CE ggmg) :.2l222 (OF blasmer) (TP 183, 185 :

YP 170, 172) and Iordan (Lat. Iordanés; MED. L. jiurdanus) :
£139 (OE m) (TH 68, 72 : YH 76, 80). Other examples of OE
‘3 before nasals in the identical Y and T plays are the follow-
ing: pret. singulars of third class strong verbs (£23,.ESEEE:

blan, etc.), answere, schame and gammes.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
Incidence of OE'g before nasals is limited to three words
(man, can, gam), all appearing within the line in the Caesar

Augustus and Talents.

 

 

CAESAR KUGUSTUS TKEENTS
/ / / / / / Rime Line Rime Lige
a or a: eOE a - 7 -
/9/ or /a:/. OE /a/ .. - - _

 

III. Interpretation of Data

The treatment of OE‘R before nasals in the T plays serves
little use as a criterion either of dialect or of authorship.
The consistent appearance of forms in‘g plus nasal in a four-
teenth or fifteenth century text is a normal feature of the
emerging standard and not an individual peculiarity, even in
texts that can with certainty be localized in the West Midlands.96
As is true of all the other mnw dialect lines, the isophone
drawn for the rounded vowel plus nasal must be interpreted as

the furthest extension of the non-standard development. Hence,

 

96 By the same token, Emerson considers the West Midland sub-
stitution of /a/ for /a/ before nasals "not common enough
to be a distinguishing feature of the dialect." (Oliver
Farrar Emerson, g Middle English Reader, rev. ed., London,
192E, p. xxvi).

55

vvknile /3/-forms would not appear east or south of the iso-
;p110ne, /a/-forms could well occur in manuscripts which are
gnositively localized in the West Midlands.97 The absence of
/fi>/Lforms in the T plays therefore would not, by itself,
eILiminate the West Midlands as the home of the cycle, though
i;t would serve, along with other linguistic data, as a rather
sstrong indication that the plays were non-West Midland in

origimg8

11V. Linguistic Background99

The Middle English dialect variation of /a/ and /3/
Ibefore nasals developed to some extent out of the instability
(lf the sound in Old English. Already in Germanic, /a/ before
Ilasals was rounded to open /b/, a change which was only par-
isially reflected in the oldest Anglo-Saxon texts, since then
513 now the language contained only the symbols 3 and 2, neither
car which accurately transcribes the sound. Though g-spellings

ance nearly always found in the oldest documents, by the ninth

; : Oakden' 3 survey reveals that all the M58. of Piers Plowman
have forms in a or o and that the Chester Plays use a
practically throughout (p. 1h).

 

998

Though the West Midland area is not commonly accepted as
the home of the T cycle, at least one scholar suggests that
the plays m ght stem from Lancashire (see Wann, "A Newp

Egamination of the Llanuscript of the Towneley Plays, " p.
l 2)

This discussion excludes all those words containing /a/ plus
such homorganic consonant groups as -mb, -nd and 12g, which
caused the vowel to be lengthened in the late Old English
period (see discussion below, p. 65). However, length-
ened OE /a / in open syllables (e. g. M. E. name) must be con-
sidered as part of this dialect correspondence. In line
with the MMW study, I have disregarded the words thank
and man because of their irregular vowel development
(See—1W1},p. 10) o

56

century g-spellings became quite common.100

Henceforth, in
the late Old English period, the sound is again represented
by /a/ in all areas except parts of Mercia (the West Midlands)

101 This division of usage was perpetuated

where 2 was retained.
in the Middle English period, at which time the rounded de—
velopment constituted one of the more important dialect criteria
of West Midland speech.102 Even in modern dialects, if we ex-
clude the Word 'mon,' the rounded development is still essen-
tially West Midland, occurring to some extent in Lancashire,
Cheshire, N.W. Derby, N. Warwick, Worcester, but not in the
East Midland counties.103

The MMW isophone for the rounding of OE 3 before nasals,
designating the eastern and southern limits of its occurrence,
begins at Gloucester and extends northward in an arc, dissecting
Warwick, Derbyshire and Lancashire, to the mouth of the River

Lune, near Lancaster.lou
Present Indicative Third Person Singular: Inflectional Ending

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
Though the evidence from rimes is scanty, the identical

Y and T plays yield primarily -(g)s endings in the third per-

55 .
l Sievers, Angelsach31sche Grammatik, p. 30.
101

Wright, Ag Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 19.

102 Kurath, however, points out that the pres. pl. p/en line
"is obviously of greater importance than the mon7man
line...from a structural point of view." "Plan and Bib—
liography," Middle English Dictionary, Part I, p. 8.

103 Oakden, p. 15.

10“ MMW, Map I.

 

5?

son singular both within the line and in rime.

 

 

Yofi‘K T‘ 5"“va LEY"
Rime Line Rime Line
“We 9 i 12 6%
.. e _ ..
-(§)"" 1 3 - S

 

Such rimes as EEQEE : (he) hag (TH 168, 170 : YH 165, 167) and
(pg gag...) £8132 : gag (TP 207, 209 : YP 1911, 196) establish
clearly the 1g pronunciation of the inflectional ending. The
four Y instances of endings in egg, all occurring within the
line, are limited to the verb for; n hath and the impersonal con-
struction mg thinkep (YD 195). In T, the solitary instance of
LEE as an inflectional ending (EEXEE,QEXEQ’ TD 87), occurring
in a passage which finds no parallel in Y, is somewhat puzzling.
Perhaps the verb is intended to be a preterit.105 More than
likely, however, the -th ending in this case is a scribal sub-
stitution of the customary 73, particularly since in the pre-
vious lines, Dgyig is linkei with several present tense verbs,
including, by the way, the verb form Eflzfi (TD 86).106

The loss of inflectional endings in several third person

present singular forms of both cycles is found most frequently

 

155 A similar usag ;e of the inflectional -th in hangeth (TR 101)

is almost certainly a scribal variation 0 the preterit
ending 1g.

106 Since the passage in question finds no parallel in Y and

since the Chester cycle contains a Doctors' play similar
in parts to the T play, one might argue that sayth in this
instance could be a borrowing from the Chester play. How-
ever, in Spite of the use of sayth (see Thg Chester Plays,
p. 21M, 1. 259) and other verbs with -th endings in the
Chester play, W. W. Greg's careful textual study diaproves
any influence of Chester on T; in fact, he concludes that
"the portions of W [Towneley7 which are not parallel to Y
appear to have been written in complete independence"

:3. 305

 

58

in impersonal constructions (e.g. l駣3.E2' YD 282; £2.22125’
TD, 183).]‘07 The one Y rime instance of -(g) in inflectional
endings involves the following words: (poudre...) dryffe,
liffg, n., wyffg, thryve, inf. (YP 315, 313, 317, 319). The
parallel passage in the T plays contains dryfys, lyfyg, BEES:
thryve (TP 327, 325, 329, 331), a change which indicates that
the T editor was not accustomed to the Y reading.108
Some singular verbs in the identical plays have compound

subjects, as for example:

Thi fader and I betwix vs two,
Son, for thi luf has 1ykyd yll (TD 241-2; YD 253-4).

Such lack of concord, of course, is not at all unusual in

Middle English texts.109

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augugtgg and Talents
Third person singular endings in -(g)§ occur even more
consistently in these plays than they do in the identical Y

and T group.

‘“‘“ “ ‘ CAfisfifi'lfidfisifis‘""TKEEWTs
Rime Line Rime Line

 

 

-(g)§ 1 11 S 17
-(6)th .. l _ l
-(§Y" - - - l

 

107 For a fuller discussion, see below, p. 108.

108 Holthausen would extend the inflectional 1g to all the words
of this rime (See pp.lbl-l78) and Dustoor emends T to
agree with Y ("Textual Notes on the Towneley Old Testament
Plays," Englische Studien, 63, 1929, 220-228); however,
since both emendations are based on subjective interpre-
tation and not on textual analysis, I prefer the Pollard
reading, with the footnoted explanation "the singular

rimes with the plural now and then" (Towneley Plays, p.
7 ).

109 Mossé, pp. 110-11.

59

The inflectional ending -Eh occurs only in the verb form £232
(TC 58, TAL 151), which, however, is matched by the variant

ggg at least once in each play (TC 37, TAL 306). Incidence

of zero inflection in third person present verbs is limited

to the form mgggg, 'honors' (TAL 226), which, as a Scandina-
vian loan-word (cf. O.N. menska) might not have been fully
assimilated into the normal pattern at the time that the Talents
was composed.

Though the rime incidence in the Talents provides clear-

 

cut evidence that -g was the established inflectional ending
for verbs in the third person present singular, the one rime
sequence containing inflectional —g in the Caesar Augustus

is not trustworthy. Since the verb standys in this rime is
paired with the substantives landys, £329: and 232$ (TC 13, lu,
16, 17), one could assume that the inflectional -g was added
by the scribe. Perhaps, however, the rime sequence is inac-
curate, a possibility already mentioned in connection with a
similar rime in the Pharao play (TP 325, 327, 329, 331)..110
Possibly, too, the rimes standys, landys and 2229: E222 are

separate sequences.

III. Interpretation of Data
Rime evidence from the identical plays clearly establishes
inflectional -g as the native form, both in T and Y. One may

surmise on the basis of the one rime which does not correspond

ll Holthausen corrects this rime by adding inflectional -s

to band and hand (pp. 161—178). However, the manuscript
provides no Basis for this change.

 

60

in the identical plays (dryfys TP 327 : dryffe YP 315) that
the 1g ending in identical passages was not merely copied by
the editor of the identical T plays, that instead it was the
normal inflectional suffix as much in T as in Y. Baumann's
study of the language in the York Records, moreover, provides
additional evidence that third person singular inflectional
-g was a native element in the York area.111

Not only do Y and T substantially agree in the usage of
the inflectional ending of third perSOn present singular verbs
but also the various plays and groups of plays within the

line, the Caesar Augustus and Talents make exclusive use of

 

inflectional 1g. According to Trusler, the Wakefield Master,
too, consistently resorts to this ending, spelling it vari-
ously -y§, ~23 and -§(g).112 However, because the inflectional
ending for the third person present singular formed a broad
dialect characteristic in the Middle English period, this
similarity of usage in the various strata of the T cycle, far
from suggesting community of authorship, reflects simply the
general trend of the language. The same may also be said for
the incidence of 222E and £233 in the various plays, since
these words in particular "were definitely displaced by the
-5 forms in £5827 literary language much later than -§h forms

of other verbs."113

ill Baumann notes that 12h endings do not appear with any reg-
ularity in the records until after the middle of the
fifteenth century, a fact which might help to date the
Y plays ante 1450 (see p. 100).

p. 10.
113 Holmqvist, p. 188.

112

61

The appearance of third person present singular inflec-
tional -g as a majority form in the two cycles is a useful
criterion of dialect origin. Though the established -£h
ending of the Midlands was eventually dislodged by the so—
called "Northern -§," certainly before the middle of the fif-
teenth century, the two dialect areas still maintained the dis-
tinction.114 Since both Y and T are normally dated ante 1&50,
we must assume that inflectional -g in these texts is a dialect
trait and not a feature of the emerging standard. Hence,
while we cannot ascertain the exact dialectal provenience of
the plays on the basis of this characteristic, we can be rela-
tively sure that they originated somewhere north of a line
drawn from the southeastern corner of Lincolnshire to Chester—
the isophone drawn for the trait by MMW.115

To summarize:

1. Both Y and T contain inflectional -g in the third per-

son present singular as an indisputable majority
form.

2. On the basis of this dialect characteristic, both

texts reflect the language used north of a line drawn

from the southeast corner of Lincolnshire to Chester.
/
IV. Linguistic Background 110

IIK Ibid., p. 132.

115 Map I.

I
110 I have omitted the third person present singular forms of
preterito-present verbs as well as those of the verbs to
be and to will from this discussion. The development 3?
to £3 iH'tEe third person singular is treated separately
balow, see pp. 130-135.

62

As a dialect characteristic, third person present singu—
lar inflectional 53 can be traced back at least to the late
Old English period, when the Northumbrian contained both fig

117

and f2 endings. Holmqvist records the earliest occurrence

of inflectional ii in a rune-inscribed cross-shaft located at
Urswick, N. Lancashire and dated about 850-870.118 However,
since no reliable records of Northumbrian dialect between the
years 750 and 950 have reached us, Northern 1g cannot be traced
back prior to the second half of the tenth century.119 In the
subsequent development of the language, DE in the third person
present singular may be considered a distinctive element of
Northern Middle English speech.120
The origin of the -§ ending in the third person singular
remains somewhat of a puzzle. Various scholars regard final
-g the result of an organic change from 2; others consider it
the product of analogical extension from the second person
singular.121 Holmqvist, however, discards these theories on
the basis of his frequency study and concludes that "the 1g
ending is oldest in (i.e. was first introduced from the 2nd

sing. 33) the 2nd plur. From there, to all appearances, it

invaded the other persons of the plur. Then, gradually, it

 

117 Sievers, p. 190.
118 2.

p.
119 Loc. cit.
120

See, Emerson, 5 Middle English Reader, p. xvii; Max Kaluza,

Historische Grammatik der Englischen Sprache, II, 2nd

121 For a full review of these theories and their proponents,

see Holmqvist, pp. 2-3.

was extended from the plur. (and the 2nd sing.) to the 3rd
sing."122

By the latter half of the fourteenth century-approximate1y
the time covered by the MMW study— inflectional 1g in the
third person singular had already seeped sporadically into
Southeast Midland Speech. This fact, combined with the pref-
erence for the egg ending in written English, complicated
the determination of a boundary line for the characteristic.
The MMW isophone, therefore, may well represent "a temporary
resting place in the southward advance of the characteristic."123
By approximately the year 1100, then, the dialect boundary
below which third person present singular fig never occurred
as a majority form stretched from the southeast corner of
Lincolnshire, through parts of Leicester, Nottinghamshire,
Derbyshire, Staffordshire, to Chester.121+ According to the
Oakden study, no dividing line can be drawn for the character-
istic; however, he does conclude that 1g is not found south
of the Salop-Wash line - a boundary only slightly to the south
of the one drawn byMMW.125 Of course, forms in.gth may be
found well to the north of the isophone, since the line repre-

sents the farthest extension of the non-standard characteristic.

 

122 Ibid., p. 13.

123 p. AM. The assumption that the Received Standard eventu-
ally assimilated the Northern singular -s ending is
challenged by H.C. Wyld, who suggests that s-forms may
have developed on the model of is (A Histor of Modern
Colloquial English, Oxford, 1935: p. 335).

121+ MMW, Map I0
125 Oakden, p. 350

 

 

CHAPTER II

OTHER PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

61+

 

 

 

 

65

A. DIFFERENCES
/a/ vs. /a:/ for CE Q before 122 and 3g

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

The evidence from the identical Y and T plays reveals
a strong preference for 3 before both 52g and pg. In fact,
out of a total incidence of 82 words containing these combi-
nations in Y, only 3 contain 3. In T, g-forms outnumber
those in‘g by the almost equally large margin of 8A to 6. The

following table gives the precise details:

 

 

 

Y:O R' K W
Rime Line Rime Line
‘g before -nd 33 22 32 2h
‘2 before {fig 5 1 - -
‘5 before LEE 1 9 21
‘2 before 19g - 2 - 6

 

The most significant fact to be noted in this table is
undoubtedly the absence of rimes involving 2 before TEQ or
egg. 0n the other hand, rime words in‘g appear frequently,
both in self rimes of OElg/g (e.g.‘hgggg TP A : YP u, lEEQ TP
6 : YP 6, 22329 TP 8 : YP 8), and in sequences containing words
of different etymologies (e.g. McIcel. flag; TP 160 : YP
1A7; warandJ<OF warant TP 23h : YP 221). Moreover, such rimes
as m : M (TJ 4311 : YJ 277) with the present participles
command : lastand provide adequate proof that the vowel before
-§_g was short.

Within the line, the only example of‘g before -pg is the

Y occurrence of stonde (YH 193). T, on the other hand, uni-

 

66

l

formly uses 3 before flag. However, before 525: T substitutes

‘2 for Y‘g five times in identical lines.2

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
Except for two occurrences of long(g£ (TC 236, TAL 297),
the Caesar Augustus and the Talents uniformly employ 3 before

729 and fEE: both in rime and within the line.

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line

 

 

‘3 before nd 16 6 - 3
3 before id - - - -
_a_ before pg - 1 6 6
2 before pg '- l - - 1

 

III. Interpretation of Data

All of the plays that I have examined agree substantially
in their preference for §_before the consonant clusters 53g
and 125° Perhaps the most significant difference of usage to
be detected among these plays is the slightly more frequent
occurrence of 12E5 in the T cycle than in Y. This difference
gains somewhat in substance when we add to the five direct
substitutions of T -gpg for Y':§gg in the identical plays, the
occasional appearance of‘g before 535 in the stanzas of the
Master.3

Since the occurrence of 2 before the combinations 1§g and

125 is normally associated with Northern Middle English, the

 

1 The tabulations in the chart do not include the incidence of
the conjunction and, which occurs so frequently within the
lines of both cycles that little would be gained by a
statistical count.

2 For line references, see Appendix, pp. 194-195.
3 See Trusler, p. 71.

 

 

67

evidence in the Y and T plays may, to a limited extent, have'
dialectal significance. In East Midland texts of the four-
teenth century, for example, one finds principally 9 before
these combinations," and Chaucer employs 2_almost exclusive-
1y.5 However, one must also bear in mind that the absence
of‘g does not necessarily establish a text as Northern, since
-g§g is found, according to J. P. Oakden's survey, in some

6

texts which originated in the Midlands and the South. More-
over, by the late Middle English period, all the dialects had
adopted the Northern g before 72g,7 so that its appearance in
Y and T may be explained on the basis of date rather than
dialect. On the other hand, g_before -§g must be interpreted
as a dialect trait, since the standard language of the fif-
teenth century contained 122g on the model of East and West
Midland. Baumann's study of the York texts reveals that 132g
appeared uniformly before 1M50 but that "in the second half
of the fifteenth century countless Southern forms with g

gained entry into the documents and frequently appeared next

to‘g in the same document."8 If, therefore, 2 before —ng in

 

4

For a list of texts, see Oakden, p. 16.

An interesting example of the difference between Northern
and Midland usage may be found in Chaucer's "Reeve's Tale,"
in which the Northern students use ~and consistently (e.g.
ll. M035, MO36) while the Reeve, himEEIf, employs ~ond

(e.g. ll. u115, 4116). See The Text.g£ 'The CanterEur
Tales,‘ III, eds. John M. Manly and Edith Richert (Chicago,

6 p. 170
See discussion under "Linguistic Background."

8 "In der zweiten Hfilfte des 15. Jahrhunderts dringen zahlreiche
sfidliche Formen mit g in die Urkunden ein und erscheinen oft
neben_§ in derselben Urkunde." p. 16.

 

 

 

r as

T represents native usage, it may well reflect an influence
of.the standard absent from Y.

To summarize:

1. 2 before 13d and -gg occurs as a majority form in all

the plays examined for this study.

N
o

The only difference worthy of note is the relatively

\ more frequent occurrence of 122g in the T cycle than
in Y.

\ a. This fact may indicate that T was in closer contact

" with the emerging standard language than Y.

3. The occurrence of ~2pg as a majority form, and perhaps

also of -and, is characteristic of Northern usage.

IV. Linguistic Background

The Middle English development of OE g/g before the con-
sonant groups -2g and ~pg is directly dependent upon tWO major
factors: (1) the correspondence of 3 in West Saxon Old English
and 3 in the Anglian dialects,9 and (2) the lengthening of
vowels before homorganic consonant clusters in Old English.
The latter sound change took place in all the dialect areas
with the exception of Northumbria, where the consonant groups
722 and -pg generally did not induce lengthening of preceding

10 Hence, one could expect the following general

short vowels.
results in Middle English:
(1) In the West Midlands, the original 3 was maintained,

but lengthened on the influence of the following

; For a full discussion of this correspondence, see above, pp.
55-56.
\ 10 See Mossé, p. 16.

59

consonant group and then raised along with all other

long a sounds to‘g /o:/ (e.g. EQEQ’.§§EE)'
(3) In the North, original short 3 was retained (e.g.

22.29.: seas)
The only distinction in the early Middle English dialects,
therefore, was that between Northern short 3 and the § [3:/
which developed, though for different historical reasons, in
all the other dialects;1 According to Oakden, a dialect line
for g or‘g before -pg may be drawn from a point in Mid-Lanca-
shire to the southern tip of Lincolnshire, north of which no

12 No other precise dialect studies

7233 forms are to be found.
have been made of this characteristic, though most sources
label a before 722 and -pg as a Northern Middle English char-
acteristic.13

Towards the close of the Middle English period, this
dialect distinction gradually disappeared. The first develop-
ment leading to the reduction of forms occurred roughly at
the end of the fourteenth century, when 2 before 1E9 and fBE
was shortened in the Midlands.lu Thereafter, "the type 333g,
.lEEQ penetrated London English and the common Language...,"15
so that in the fifteenth century, the only remaining distinction

between Midland and Northern use of CE g/g before homorganic

consonant groups occurred before 52g, with the North preferring

 

11 Ibid., p. 20.
12 pp. 16-170

13 See, for example, Moore, Historical Outlines pf English
Sounds and Inflections, p. 12H.
1M Mossé, p. 16.

15 Ibid., p. 20.

 

 

7O

.2 and the Midlands 3.
Retention vs. Loss of Initial p-

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

Initial h- is occasionally dropped from words that con-
tained it historically, while at other times it is added to
words that never contained it. The occurrence of words ex-
emplifying these two developments in the identical Y and T
plays is limited to hi£_(2x in T), herand (1x in Y) and £3132
(1x in Y and T). Of these, the correspondence pig :‘;3 is
the most noteworthy. ‘IE is the normal form in the two cycles,
occurring in both stressed and unstressed positions. How-
ever, there are two instances of the emphatic form hip in
the T plays where Y has i3:

And honoryd as hyt awe (TP l2)/And honnoured ale 3;
awe (YP 12);

...full yll is h tt (TP 278)/...full ill is g;
(YP 26 .

The formghit does not occur in the five Y plays.

The appearance of non-historic‘h- in words of Anglo-Saxon
origin is limited to the word herand (OEirende). This form
occurs once in Y (D 233) where the parallel T line has 23329
(D 221).16

Initial h— in French loan-words of Latin ancestry occurs
once significantly in the word haygg. Although the spelling
is identical in the two cycles, changes in the alliterating

letter of the T line may indicate a difference of pronunciation

 

_I6 The T Offerin of the Ma 1 play, however, contains two
instances 0 "Scrand l. 349, 361) in non-alliterating lines.

71

in the two cycles:
T: I am hys hayre as age wyll has (P 7)
I am his heir as age has the will (right of in-
heritance).
Y: I am his hayre as elde will ease (P7)
I am his heir as age will require.
II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
The only significant form with initial‘hr in these two
plays is the pronoun hyt, occurring once in the Caesar Augus—
tus play (1. 83). In contrast, the leveled form $2 appears

thirty-eight times in the two plays.

III. Interpretation of Data

Available evidence indicates that the corresponding Y
and T plays differ in the usage of initial h-. Though the
citations from the plays are scanty, they suggest that T had
minority forms in initial h- for certain words in emphatic
positions while Y did not. The absence of the emphatic pro-
noun hip in Y and its appearance twice in T are perhaps the
best support for this generalization. Alliterative changes
moreover indicate that the Y omission and the T substitution
of initial h- are probably not orthographic features. Though
generally h- alliterated with vowels in the Middle English
period, Reese observes that the more frequent practice in Y
is to alliterate h— only with itself.17 Hence initial h- of
the word hgygg in the Y line "I am his hayre as elde will

asse" (P 7) is more than likely not sounded. In T, on the other

 

T7 p. 11M.

72

hand, the substitution of hag for gggg makes the pronunciation
of initial h- in.hgy£g much more probable, since two alliter-
ative sequences, one of vowels and the other of 3's, are there-
by established ("I am hys hayre as age wyll has," TP 7).

The singular Y occurrence of non-historic p- in herand
(YD 233) is probably a spelling feature. Since the line in
which it occurs does not contain alliteration, we cannot es-
tablish with any certainty that h- was scribal. However, the
non—historic nature of the initial h- coupled with its absence
in the corresponding T line and the Y tendency of dropping h-
where it is historical (see the rime Ell.2222£ : fallande,

Creation I, 94-95 and probably 23 hill, YH 88, contrasted with

 

g hill, TH 80) strongly suggest that it was orthographic. The
h- in herand may very well have shadowed the orthographic h-
of Romanic words, which must have caused considerable uncer-
tainty and confusion in Middle English. That this confusion
affected the word SEEEQ may very well be supported by the two
independent T occurrences of the word with initial h- in the
Offering 2; Egg M55; play (11. 3A9. 361).
The appearance of emphatic hi3 (TC 83) in the T Caesar

Augustus play provides a link with the usage in the five plays
borrowed from Y. So do the examples of hip (3222 265) and of

hunder for under (I; Shepherds' 2k) in the Wakefield Master.

IV. Linguistic Background
Before unaccented vowels historic initial h- in native
words often disappeared in Middle English. Hence, OE hit was

normally reduced to $3 at least by the end of the fourteenth

73

century,18 while the same tendency reduced hem.to‘gm in un-
stressed positions. Similarly orthographic g- was sometimes
inserted in unaccented forms.

According to some sources, the disappearance of the
aspirate as an ordinary etymological element is a dialect
feature or the Midland and the South.19 On the other hand,
Murray points out that in Scotland "the abuse of h, by drop-
ping it where it exists, and intercalating it where it has
no existence, is unknown..."20 However, even if these general
statements are entirely accurate, they tell us nothing about
usage in the Northern counties of England. In fact, the
North of England, much like the Midlands, most likely continued
to use the two forms side by side. ,EEE’ for example, can
still be heard in Northern English today.21 McKnight, as a
result of his careful study of initial 3- in Middle English,
concludes that h- had not entirely disappeared as an etymo-

logical element in any of the dialects.22
‘gh.vs.‘gg for OE h!

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The only spelling in the identical Y and T plays for CE

 

T8 Moss‘, p. 560
19 See especially NED, s.v. "h."

20 James A.H. Murray, The Dialect g; the Southern Counties 23
Scotland: Its Pronunciation, Grammar and Historical
Relations (fondon, 18735, p. 1 .

Wright, The English Dialect Grammar, p. 25h.

George H. McKnight, "Initial'g- in Middle English," Anglia,
XXI (1901), 310.

21
22

711

h!.is Eh. One finds abundant examples of initial‘gh in such
common words as 3521: 11322, 1139, M, M, m and M
throughout the plays.23 In fact, only once do 1h :‘33 variants
appear in parallel lines, and this instance involves not the
development of‘gg from OH h! but the substitution of 1h for
regular ME 32¢ 0E 31 (see E133 TD 199 : mg YD 211). However,
in this instance the spelling SEEK may have been influenced by
wheder, which occurs in the same line. At all other times, CE
2! is represented by the spelling‘gg or g! in the identical Y
and T plays.2u

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
These plays contain only Eh spellings for OE‘QE (see TC

III. Interpretation of Data

Though scribal alteration could be responsible for the'zh
spelling in the plays that I have examined, the fact that the
variant 33 never appears in any of them is reasonably good
evidence that 1h reflects the original pronunciation. The
one substitution of T.EE$E for Y 3315, however, indicates that
some confusion existed in spelling practice, at least among

the editors of the T plays. According to Oakden, this substi-

 

‘2§See, for example, TP 270 : YP 259; T? 30h : Y? 2913 TD

: YD 77; TD 111 : YD 139; TD lBi : YD 161; TD 180 :
122; TH 18 : YH 1h; TH 31 : YH 3- TH 70 : YH 78;

8 : YB 61; TR 25 : YR 228; TR 560 : YB #35; TJ
A20 : YJ 263; TJ h 7 : YJ 310.

See, for example, uell TP 65 : gwelle YP 61; gwake TJ
#30 : Quake YJ 2 .

53
YD
TR

211

75

tution is "liable to occur in those areas where O.E. Egavgg,
so that the two spellings became interchangeable."25 No doubt,
the whik in T is in this case an attempt by the editor to

 

provide eye alliteration with wheder, which, we recall, appears
both in Y and T. Certainly if he had been accustomed to the
33 variant, he would not have changed Y 3313 to 1313 but in-
stead substituted 3ueder for wheder. However, the one substi-
tution nothwithstanding, practice in Y and T may be considered
similar, with.!h as the normal form in the identical plays of
the two cycles, the Caesar Augustus and the Talents.

In contrast, the stanzas of the Master do contain two
rather clear-cut examples of 33 for £3 (guetstone, Buffeting
80 and 3:31, I; Shepherds' 11h). Moreover, spelling confusions
of :3 for 33 also appear occasionally as in the words 32$! for
33i3§ (She herds' I; ShB; Buffeting 265) and 33133 for reguite
( I; She herds' 29h). Margaret Trusler considers the latter
forms as evidence that the Master used 33 for 12,26 but I pre-
fer to regard them as minority forms, since the Master employs
39 as his customary spelling. However, no matter what the
interpretation, the fact that 33 forms appear at all in the
Master's line may be regarded as significant in contrast to
the absence of such forms from the other plays examined for
this study.

To summarize:

l. The identical plays of Y and T, the Caesar Augustus and

 

23 p- 29-
26 p. 80.

 

76

the Talents contain no examples of 33 for 33, where-
as the Master employs 33 as a minority form.
a. The Master's usage shows closer contact with North-
ern speech.
2. The substitution of 33 for 33, occurring sporadically
in the Master's stanzas and once in the T version of
the Doctors' play may be interpreted as a regional

characteristic.

IV. Linguistic Background

The appearance of the spelling 33 (pronounced /xw/) for
GE 3! is almost always identified as a characteristic element
of Northern Middle English which grew out of late Northumbrian
/xw/.27 However, while 33 is frequently found in Northern doc-
uments, it is by no means the only spelling to be found in
them. As a matter of fact, Richard Rolle and Laurence Minot
consistently employ 33,28 and Oakden lists numerous Northern
documents that employ both forms.29 Occasionally, 33 spellings
may also be found in North Midland texts.30 For this reason,
the appearance of 33 is to be regarded as a Northern dialect

characteristic only in the most general sense, though Oakden

See, for example, Jordan, p. 175, and Moore, Historical
Outlines..., p. 125.

McKnight, p. 305.
29 pa 28a

30 Jordan lists Gawain, Havelok, the Coventry Plays, and the
Paston Letters among the works in which we may encounter
33 or 33 spellings for 33. See p. 175.

28

 

77

would draw an "approximate line which divides the two devel-

opments" through the Ribble-Aire valleys.31

/tf/ vs. /k/

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

The five identical plays embrace only a small number of
prominent words, the spelling of which may be taken to indi-
cate the sound correspondence /k/ : /t{/. Their incidence is

recorded in the following table:

 

YORK TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line

/k/:
swilke
EIlES'
wh.uke
mekvll
IIET§§, i

11

1’.

L1
29

 

 

 

IIIHI
llll—‘l

OWIII

 

[a
w
Is
0
g
0
d
H
[H
w
m

 

/t$/:
8 ch
w ch
m c
ch

*4

I
-q H(DU)H

euer

L

 

In addition to these variants, both texts contain three words

with /k/: dyke, 'to ditch' (TP 7h : YP 79), kirke in rime

 

with 31333, 31333, 1333 (TR 112 : YR 137), and 31333 in rime
‘with drynke, thy3ke, 53333 (TJ h84 : YJ 327).

The chart brings to light a conspicuous preference in Y
for forms with /k/ and in T for forms with /tf/. One notices
inmmdiately that Y never uses 33333, 3133, 133 or the later
haiddle English 3333;. On the other hand, swilke and whilke

 

 

E?"“"""""
1 p. 28.

 

 

 

 

78

never appear in T. Furthermore-and the chart does not re-
veal this peculiarity-the occurrence of 3333, the only'Y form
with the spirant, is clustered in one p1ay-the Resurrection-
side by side with one instance of swilke. Ԥ1333 which appears
only once in T is also the only one of these words found in
rime.

Most noteworthy, however, is the fact that T never changes
a Y affricate to a plosive. In other words, when T does not
employ the identical form, it consistently substitutes /tf/
for /k/.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
These plays, much as those borrowed from Y, show a strong
preference for forms with /t$/, as the following table will

demonstrate:

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTfiS TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line

0 11 - 1 - 2
1;. ' 1 ' '
/t$/:

3 ch - 3 - 2
w ch 1 - -
m,cE - 1 - -
c5(33 5 - -
3 - -

 

IBesides these more common forms in the two plays, only the
*word breke 'britches' (TAL 119) contains the plosive in place

of the spirant .

ZIII. Interpretation of Data

In spite of the scarcity of rime evidence, the relatively

 

 

 

79

consistent T substitution of spirants for Y plosives within
the lines of the identical plays seems to reflect the native
usage of the T redactor(s). This is not to say, of course,
that /k/-forms appearing in the T plays were necessarily
scribal borrowings from Y or from other sources. In fact, the
forms mekzll and ilk alongside their variants mygh and 129
must have been in the active vocabulary of the T editor(s),

or so at least one would gather from their independent occur-
rence not just in the borrowed T plays (e.g. mekyll TR 338

and 1&5 TD 119) but also in the Caesar Augustus and the Talents.
Curiously, a modern study of West Riding speech makes parti-
cular reference to the recent obsolescence of precisely these
two forms.32 Together with the evidence from the plays, this
reference might well indicate that mekyll and ylk enjoyed
longer tenure in West Yorkshire speech than other variants

in-/k/, among them whilk and swilke, which, we recall, occur-

 

 

red without exception in Y but nowhere in the T plays exam-
ined for this study. Possibly when the T plays were written,
forms in -/k/ were already being replaced by variants that
contained an affricate. The absence of independent rimes in

T,33 however, makes impossible any definite conclusion that

 

 

 

the substitutions of sych for swilke or which for whilke were

 

32 Green, "Yorkshire Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding...,"
p. 58.

The lone rime occurrence of slike, though no doubt a genu-
ine record of York usage (see Baumann, p. 80), may very
well have been deliberately copied by the T editor, who
might have retained the form, in spite of his unfamili-
arity with it, only to preserve the rime.

33

80

not in fact the result of later scribal alterations.3u

‘While there are no other words in which T substitutes
the affricate for Y /k/, both Y and T employ the non-stand-
ard plosive in'bygkg,‘ky£kg and gyk_. In addition, the Ta;-
323; yields one occurrence of 23352 for 'britches.‘ Although
the three words appearing in the borrowed plays might well
have been copied from Y, the form kirk, at least, is perfectly
at home in areas far to the south of East‘Yorkshire.35 Indeed,
within a ten mile radius of Wakefield, one can find such vil-
lage names as Whitkirk, Kirkburton, Kirkby, Kirkless Hall,
Felkirk, Kirkheaton, Kirkthrope and, of course, WOodkirk.

Quite likely, then, non-standard /k/ was a native element in
at least some words appearing in the T plays, though, in gen-
eral, /t$/ must have occurred much more frequently in the
local dialect represented by T than that by Y.

Perhaps this difference between Y and T may be interpreted
as evidence that T is a later text which shows the rising in-
fluence of the literary standard on the language of the pro-
vinces. Since even in the City of York, by the middle of the
fifteenth century, forms in-/k/ were being replaced by variants
with /t$/,36 there is good reason to believe that the Northeast

 

'BE'On the surface, at least, the evidence from the plays that
I have examined conflicts with that which Trusler culled
from the plays of the Master, who employs ilk, whilk,
mekyll, swilke and slike in rime. See p. 757

'35 The NED, though classifying kirk as Northern English, indi-
cates that the word was "formerly used as far south as
Norfolk; and still [Extendg7 in dialect use to Northeast
Lincolnshire." s.v. "kirk."

36 Baumann, p. 80.

81

Midland area from which the T plays hail experienced the

.same change. Moreover, a later date for T is suggested by
‘the absence of standard 3333; from the Y plays and conversely
by its frequent usage as attributive adjective and substantive
in T.37

To summarize:

1. The absence of independent rime-evidence from the bor—
rowed plays notwithstanding, Y employed predominantly
forms in-/k/ while T apparently preferred their stand-
ard variants.

2. The T substitution of forms in-/tS/ suggests a later

date of composition than Y.

IV. Linguistic Background

The Middle English sound correspondence /k/ : /tS/ is
variously accounted for by historical linguists. Some maintain
that the original palatal plosive /k/ was maintained until the
early Middle English period in all the dialects except the
Southern, where fronting to /tS/ took place in Old English.
Others argue that /k/ had already changed to /t5/ before front
vowels in West Teutonic, and hence existed as a spirant in all
the Old English dialects.38 According to the latter theory,
.Ev—It;_;;;_;;_substantive is well exemplified in the following

lines from the T Judicium:

Comen is the day of Iugement
of sorrow may euery synful syng (11. 392-3).

In the6corresponding passage, Y uses "ilke a synfull"
(1. 23 ).

-38 Wright, Ag Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 123.

 

 

 

 

 

82

/k/-variants in Middle English are explained not as original
Northumbrian dialect forms but as the result of Scandinavian
influence.39 But no matter what the ultimate explanation,
Scandinavian in any event had a strong influence on the re-
tention of the plosive in Middle English.“0

Though the palatal plosive /k/ as a variant for the
spirant /tS/ cannot be regarded as a precise dialect feature,
it has traditionally been associated with Northern English
speech. In Chaucer's "Reeve's Tale," for example, the two
scholars who hail from Strother "fer in the north" consistently
employ the interrogative pronoun 32113 and the adjectives
'ggylk and glyk.hl And even in modern'Yorkshire, one may still
hear such pronunciations as EEK; for 2229 and 32;; forigggh.u2
However, Yorkshire is by no means the southern boundary for
the provenience of the plosive; quite to the contrary, for it
seems to have appeared in at least some words as far south as
Norfolk even in early Middle English.“3 No doubt the sound
first appeared wherever Scandinavian influence was strongest:
in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and
Norfolkhh and spread thence into neighboring provinces. Quite
obviously, therefore, if /k/ is to be regarded a dialectal

 

‘3§Aloc. cit.
‘uo Bjorkman, pp. l39-h0.

The Text 2; 'The Canterbury Tales,‘ III, bl. #078, hl30, and
E171.

2 Wright, The English Dialect Grammar, pp. 2&8, 2A9.
‘h3 NED, s.v. "kirk."

zu+.Albert C. Baugh, g History 9; the English Language, (New
York, 1935), p. 1 o

83

feature, it can be identified only vaguely as Northern and
Northeast Midland, the absence of a precise dialect study

rendering impossible any more narrow definition.
Retention vs. Loss of 152 /x/ before 73

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

The spelling 152 appears consistently in the following
words of the identical Y and T plays: gghg,‘gggh§, broght,
wroght, thoght, bgght, and 22522 (OE reccean). These words
occur 3h.times in parallel lines, either within the line or
in etymologically identical rimes. The only forms for which
variants appear in the identical plays are Y $3131 : T doghtzh'S

and Y noght : T not. The incidence of the latter forms is as

 

 

 

follows:
YORK; ITBWNEEEYI
Rime Line Rime Line
not - 2 - 38
noght 7 #8 6 8

 

Noght always rimes with words that contained /x/ in Old
English.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
In these plays, the <52 spelling is uniformly maintained
'before 13 in all words except nogh . As in the borrowed T

cplays, not is the overwhelmingly frequent form.within the line.

 

2'3

Because these variants occur only twice within the lines of
the identical plays, I omit further reference to them.

81L

 

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line

:3
0
d'

- 8 1 20
l - 2 1

:3
O
D"
d‘

 

III. Interpretation of Data

The substitution of T 323 for Y'ggggt, occurring some
36 times within the lines of the identical plays, may be con-
sidered as a relatively important linguistic difference be-
tween the two cycles. The consistent occurrence of agght in
Y, no doubt, can be explained as a regional preference, which,
according to Baumann's study of the York records, maintained
itself well into the sixteenth century.1+6 On the other hand,
the divided usage of 223 and ggght in the T cycle reveals a
closer contact with the emerging standard.)+7

The contrasting evidence of 22523 in rime and £22 within
the line of the borrowed T plays is open to different inter-
prnetations. Margaret Trusler, who found a somewhat similar
Sistuation in the stanzas of the Master, considers this divi-
Sixan as a sign that ggght is the preferred form and that 223
is scribal.2+8 However, there are some objections to this
tflleory. In the first place, Egght is almost always rimed with
etymologically similar words and therefore rime forms shed no more
light on its pronunciation than forms within the line. On

trflfi basis, it is therefore impossible to prove that in rime

L‘- p. 71.
\Q; See below, under "Linguistic Background." -
p. 75.

 

85

the spirant is maintained while within the line it is lost.
Secondly,‘gggg§ may very well appear exclusively in the rimes
of the identical plays because rimes in egggg'were customary
in.Middle English.249 In other words, if 22522 and‘ggg were in
divided usage at the time that the T plays were written, the
T editor might have rimed 22522 with such common words as
brought, thought, and ggggg simply for the sake of conveni-
ence. Finally, one cannot overlook the fact that ggght might
have been the normal rime word because the stressed position
in the line demanded a stronger form than‘ggt. I am not pre-
pared to dismiss entirely the alleged influence of the scribe
on the appearance of 322 within the line, but to assign every
instance of it to him simply by reason of the contrasting use
of ggggg in rime is, in my estimation, to oversimplify.
Within the T cycle, a few differences of usage are worthy
of note. Though, in general, Egggg occurs in rime and‘ggt
within the line in all the T plays that I have examined, 223
also appears as a rime word in the Talents and the Master's
stanzas. The example of 222 in the Talents (1. 301) is curi-
ously the only one in which.sgt rimes with.fi2gh§, perhaps
indicating that the author no longer pronounced the spirant
in such words as brought and bought. On the other hand, the
Master is careful never to mix the two syllables in rime.

He emp1oys not four times in rime with words that never con-

 

H§In the identical Y and T plays, for example, -oght is a
rime syllable nine times while <22 or -ott never occurs.

 

86

tained the spirant.SO

In contrast, 22523 appears eleven times
in self rimes.51

One other peculiarity should be mentioned in passing.
The shift from the velar spirant to a labial, still to be
found frequently in some dialects including that of York-
shire,52 is exemplified by at least one rime (33335 : slaugh-

ter : laghter : hereafter, TAL 395-8) of the Master's. The

 

absence of this development in the other plays that I have
examined, together with another example of the labial after
a front vowel in the rimes of the Master (1yft : 21523 : ghygg
1; She herds' 283-S), may indicate that the Master was either
in closer contact with regional speech or lived at a later
date than the editors of the other plays.
To summarize:
1. The borrowed T plays consistently change Y 22523 to
323 within the line, though in rime 22523 is standard
in both cycles.
a. Conceivably, in the T cycle, 22822 and 323 were in
divided usage.
b. The almost uniform appearance of EBEEE in Y may be
interpreted as a regional feature.
2. Within T, usage is generally alike, except that:

a. The Talents and the Master employ not in rime.

M

O 1; She herds' 449 (r.w. blott, forbott, s ott); 11 She -
herds' §19 (r.w. fott, stott); Herod 9 r.w. pott ;

5 FETTFting A30 (r.w. troEt, nott).

1 For a list of these rimes, see Trusler, p. 58.

2 For ilégstrations, see Wright's The English Dialect figggmgg,
p. 2 .

 

 

 

87

b. The Master's stanzas contain rimes in ~23 which are
absent elseWhere in T.
c. The Master's stanzas contain two rime examples of

/x/"/f/ before 12 which occur nowhere else in T.

IV. Linguistic Background

The modern English dialects, with the exception of the
Scottish, no longer sound /x/ before :3. However, in most
parts of the country, the spirant was pronounced as recently
as the nineteenth century.53 Sheard's study of modern Upper
Calderdale speech in the West Riding of Yorkshire documents
this fact with the following evidence: (1) As late as 1836
the Halifaxwggigg Journal used such revealing spellings as
saghim ('saw him') and saghit ('saw it'); and (2) the ninth
rule in‘Watsonflg History gag Antiquities 22.322 Parish.g£fl§g1—
iggg‘ig'Yorkshire discloses that words like 23522 and nought
"are pronounced by fetching the sound out of the throat, as
if they were writtenpmgg‘g,_1}_c.>_gg_’l;."SLL

In the East Midlands, however, /x/ disappeared much
earlier. Significant spelling forms give a rather clear in-
dication that the spirant was being omitted as early as lhOO
and that it had disappeared entirely by the time of Wyatt and

Surrey.55 Evidence from grammarians supplies a somewhat later

 

33 Luick, p. 1048.

"Some Recent Research in West Riding Dialects," Transac-
tions 2;; the Yorkshire Dialect Society, VII (1Wf3u.

Henry C. Wyld, "Contributions to the History of the Guttural
Sounds in English," Transactions of the Philolo ical So-
%lg£% (1899-1902), p. 15§. He lists such spellings as

rou e naut, dowter, all occurring in documents dated be-
ore 0 .

55

88

date— roughly the end of the sixteenth century58— but this

date may not be reliable since one would expect the author-
itarian to recommend a language rather out of date. Jordan
speculates that the velar spirant had dropped from pronunci-
ation as early as the fifteenth century, though positive evi—
dence, by his own admission, is wanting.59 But no matter when
the spirant was generally dropped in the East Midland dialect,
this development must have been relatively early in unaccented
occurrences of 22823 (£23),60 as the modern spelling contrasts
of brought and 323 will bear out.

Quite apparently linguistic studies fail to agree even
roughly upon a terminal date for the pronunciation of /x/ in
the East Midland dialect. If we regard the spelling evidnece
cited by Wyld as an accurate reflection of pronunciation, we
must conclude that in the first half of the fifteenth century
(approximately the date of the T plays), the Midland dialects
used forms with and without the spirant interchangeably. As
a dialect criterion, however, we should treat the retention or

loss of /x/ before -3 with utmost care.

38 Wilhelm Horn, Beitra e zur Geschichte der Englischen
Gutturallaute (Berlin, 1901), pp. 80-81.

59 p- 2M3.
Wright, Ag Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 79.

 

 

 

89

B. SIMILARITIES

/d/ vs. /b/

The sound correspondence /d/ : /p/ is best analyzed in
terms of the particular phonetic environments in which one or
the other of these consonants could be employed in Middle
English. I have therefore classified the data from the Y and
T plays under the following headings: l. /d/ or /p/ before
<22: derived from OE /d/; 2. /d/ or /p/ before ESE! derived
from OE /b/; 3. /d/ or /p/ in final position.

1. [£1 23 [pl before :33, derived 222$.QEYZQZ: Words
belonging to this group which occur in the identical Y and T

plays, the Caesar Augustus, the Talents and the stanzas of

 

the Master are fader (OE fider), moder (OE mader), togeder

 

(OE tg-gggere) and heder (OE hider). There are no examples
of the change /d/)A/p/ in any of the plays examined for this
StUdyc

Even though such words as father to this day contain /d/

 

in some of the Northern dialects, including the East and West
Ridings,61 its occurrence in the plays should not necessarily
be attributed to regional preference. Most scholars agree
that the change of OE /d/ to ME /p/ occurred late in the Mid-
dle English period. Morsbach, for example, in his study of
London records and documents dated between 138h and 1u30 found

that intervocalic /d/ is retained in them without exception.62

5: Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, s.v. "father."

2
Ueber den Urs run der Neuenglischen Schriftsprache (Heil-
ronn, 1888), p. 153.

 

90

On the basis of similar evidence, Skeat,63 Jungandreas,6u Jes-
65 66

person, and Brunner agree that all the dialects maintained
/d/ in such words as 32923 until after at least 1&00. Accord-
ingly, intervocalic /d/ in words of the father-mother group
must not be interpreted as a regional characteristic at the
time that the Y and T plays were written.67
2. [g[ 33 [21 before :23, derived 332$ QE sz. Usage of

/d/ and /p/ in words belonging to this group is divided in the
identical Y and T plays and the stanzas of the Master. The

Caesar Augustus and the Talents do not contain any examples.

 

Yo'fiK TO‘VTINELEY
/d/ 2 k
/b/ 11 10

 

In the identical Y and T plays, the words brother (0E

braper), either (OEégper), neither (OE nawper gg- wiper),
other, another (OE 62er) and whether (hwaper) are included

 

 

 

in this group. Though there are no significant variations in
the identical Y and T plays,68 one might note that the forms

anoder : another in Y and mawder : nowther, broder : brether

 

~
"English Words Ending in -ther," g Student'g Pastime (Oxford,
(965)1130330
p. 129.

A Modern En lish Grammar on Historical Princi les, I

THZIHEl erg,1928)_——‘ 210.
Die Englische Sprache, I (Halle, 1950), 31k.

Margaret Trusler without justification in the standard ref-
erences identifies the forms fader and moder in the Wake-
field Master's stanzas as "Northern." See p. 7

broderhede TJ 407 : brotherhede YJ 250; nawder TH 301, TR
1;; : nowthere YH 287, YR 125; anothere TH 79 : anodir
YH 87.

68

91

in T are in divided usage.
The Wakefield Master likewise employs both forms in g
and p (e.g. gigs; : 2325, brother : broder, brether : breder).
Hence, there are no important differences in usage of /d/ and
/b/ among the various plays examined for this characteristic,
all plays preferring forms in p but occasionally employing g.
The substitution of /d/ for OE /p/ in such words as broder
from the beginning has been associated with the North and
Northeast Midlands and has since held on as a distinguishing
characteristic of the Northern and Scottish dialects.69

3. (a; o_i~ (pg 39 final position. The change from OE /p/
to Middle and Modern Northern English /d/ in final position is

 

not a regular one. Individual words, not groups with homo-
geneous phonetic characteristics, are involved in this change.
The only word which undergoes the change from final /p/ to /d/
in the plays examined for this study is gggg for Egggh. In
the identical Y and T plays, the word gggg occurs three times
in rime. Within the line, however, T substitutes £322 twice
for Y gggg, while on one occasion both cycles employ gggg.

The Caesar Augustus contains one example of dede in rime, and

 

the Wakefield Master uses both dede and deth in rime, though
only deth within the line.70 On the whole, therefore, Y and T
differ in that Y never employs the form deth. More signifi-

cant, however, is the fact that the regional variant dede occurs

W”
9 NED, s.v. "brother."
70

See Trusler, p. 78.

92

in both cycles.71
The NED labels dede as characteristic of the Northern

72

and Scottish dialects, and in modern North and East York-

shire, dede is still in frequent use.73
Retention vs. Loss of /c/ and /x/ (‘OE.E)

Final velar spirants after back vowels are generally re-
tained in the plays examined for this study. Such words as
enoghe (TR 252),s h(TR #55), (TR 250), out- -droghe
(TR 251), and thrugh (TP 29 : YP 25) in the identical Y and
T plays yield at least spelling evidence that the final con-
sonant was sounded. In the Master's stanzas, likewise, one
finds principally the 132 spelling in words that contained
/x/ in Old English.7h However, on occasion, doublets with-
out the final spirant appear in the various plays.75 Moreover,
there are a few examples in Which final /x/ develops into /f/,76

a pronunciation which is still to be heard in parts of York-

 

7T;I have not included the variants erd : erth in this analysis
because all the plays that I have ”exaEIHEd employ erth
exclusively. However, the rims ferd, 'fear' : erd In the
Prophet's play (190 : 191) is evidence that both-forms
were used in the T cycle.

72 s.v. "death."

73 W n 1!
right, The English Dialect Dictionary, s.v. dead, n.;
and Hoy, s. v. dead. "

74 See sa gh$ lagh, II She herds' 606: 610; enogh Mg

210g Mg Noah :53#: 535, etc.

75 See, for example, slo (OE slSh) TH 328h and YR 337h (r.w. goo,
soo, woo). T22 r fie eno , 3with-d nro hwith knoh 'know'
(P11 rims' 3 3 7, cates than the rest
of T, final /x/ was occasionallyn dropped.

76 See thof YR 3##, T Abraham 125, 252; T ConSpiracy #55.

93
shire today.77

After front vowels, the final velar spirant is occasion-
ally dropped in all the plays examined for this study. The
words‘gggh (TH 2ko : YH 22#) and neghboure (TD 139 : YD 167)
always maintain the final consonant; however,‘gy3, 'high,'
appears more often without the final consonant (e.g. YR 133;
‘Nggh #69; TAL 79) than with it (e.g. TAL so). On the whole,
there are no important differences of usage regarding final
/x/, /c/ to be noted among the various plays examined for
this study.

In general, the spirant derived from OE final IE remained
longer in the Northern dialects than it did elsewhere; in fact,
Modern Scottish still sounds it,78 and its general disappear-
ance from Northern dialect speech occurred only within the
last hundred years.79 However, in the Middle English period it
was in use at least until the fifteenth century in all the
dialects,80 so that its appearance in the plays is not neces-

sarily a regional feature.

11.1: Trix vs- Mme. ..iTh n..<_e.

All the plays examined for this study contain the attri-
butive pronouns gy and thy alongside the older forms gy§(3,
thyg(gt(¢OE min, pig). The loss of final 1g is apparently

 

77 wright, Th3 English Dialect Grammar, p. 255.
78 Luick, p. 10#6.

79 Murray, p. 87.

80 See Jordan, p. 250; and Luick, p. 1050.

 

91+

determined by the initial sound of the word that follows it;
hence, gy and thy are normally employed when the following
word begins with a consonant, and myn(3 and thyg(g are used

generally when the following word begins with a vowel.

 

Yofiil TOWNELEY
gy, thy before consonants 107 10#
gy, thy before vowels - -
gyg(g, thyn(g before cons. 3 2
gyg(g, thyg(g before vowels 2 3
CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
91’ th before consonants 26 19
Ey, EH before vowels - -
myn(3, thyn(g before cons. - 1
myn(g, thyg(g before vowels l 1

 

That phonetic environment caused the loss of /n/ in.gyg(g
and Ehyg(g is rather well substantiated by the fact that gy
and Ehy never appear before vowels in any of the plays examined
for this study.81 Moreover, with one exception (gyg gyg TAL
15#), gyg(g and EQXE(£ appear only before one consonant, f2!
which, as already determined, had an unstable value in the
plays.82 One may therefore generalize that in all the plays,
.EI and gay preceded words with initial consonants, and gyg(3
and thyg(3 words with initial vowels.

The differentiation of the forms gy, Ehy and EIE(23

thyn(g on the basis of phonetic context is apparently a general

Bi .
Myn(g and thyn appear before vowels in the folloWing in-
stances: th n elders TP 121 : YP 112; myne intent TP
165 : YP 152; myne eeyn TH 59; myn awne TC 102; th
awne TAL 3#5. In the Master's stanzas, likewise on y
m no and th e appear before vowels. See Noah 7 ' I Shep-
er ' 21, @12, 325, 388; 1; She herds' #5, 58, ##I.

See above, p.71.

 

82

* firfir—__—__T:_i
l

9S

characteristic of Middle English.83 However, this distinction,
according to Jordan, disappeared entirely from the language
during the fifteenth century.Bu Usage in Y and T, therefore,
is relatively conservative.
Retention vs. Loss of VOwel in the Inflectional Syllables
13g and :35

In all the plays examined for this study there is evi-
dence that the vowel represented by f2 was dropped quite reg-
ularly in the endings ~3g and 13g. This is not to say, how-
ever, that /0/ was never sounded in these inflectional end-
ings.

There are no rime examples showing clear-cut retention
of the inflectional syllables 123 and ~3§ in the identical Y
and T plays, the Caesar Augustus, the Talents or the stanzas
of the Master.85 On the other hand, all of the plays contain

at least some rime examples in which the inflectional vowel

is obviously dropped:
‘1ygg, vb. TP 3#2 : YP 229 (r.w. dyspyse,lgy§3,pgyy§g);
begyl'd TP 63 : YP S9 (r.w. m);
722133 TAL 193 (r.w. ggygg);
231g, 'called,’ TC 31 (r.w. beheld);
m, g; She herds' 332 (r.w. gm, 321913, beszde);
ggyg TAL ll (r.w.‘plggg, s ace, ggggg).

 

‘BiKaluza, l6#.
8’4. p. 15).}.

Occasionally such rimes may be found in the rest of T. See,

for example b1 3, Iwys, h 11:1 is Scour in 3#2, 3#3,
3##, 3#5. In h s case, inflectignal 1y§ in hyllys is
rimed with root syllables in - s.

96

The plays also contain a great many rime sequences in
which all words contain the same inflectional ending (e.g.
.pgygg TH 3#3 : YH 325, r.w. ggggg, 1gggg, betraide). Such
rimes, of course, do not reveal whether the inflectional syl-
lable was pronounced.

Though the rime evidence from the plays examined for this
study is generally quite uniform, the Wakefield Master does
use one technique which I have not found employed in the other
plays. At least three times the nine-line stanzas contain
what on the surface would appear to be disyllabic rimes in-
volving words that end in egg or 113:

langyd, hangyd, I; Shepherds' #2, ## (r.w. forgang 13);
hedis, stedis, TAL 33, 3# (r.w. swerde 33);

 

 

 

hanged, J 3#6 (r.w. Eggg 13, 1ggg 13).
Rimes such as these may indicate that the inflectional vowel
was occasionally retained by the Master. However, Margaret
Trusler prefers to explain them as elisions, mainly because
there are eight intended elisions in the Master's rimes (e.g.

blist, trist, wist, Noah Elk, 515, 516, r.w. ist 'is it.').86

 

Though this explanation is plausible, I believe that one can-

not ipso facto dismiss the possibility that the Master occa-

 

sionally pronounced the inflectional ending as a distinct syl-
lable.
The loss of the inflectional vowel in Middle English may

either be a sign of late composition (ca. fifteenth century)

p- #2.

97

87

or of a general Northern origin. In the North, apparently,
the loss of inflectional 3 occurred somewhat earlier than in
the other dialects.88 For this reason, Trusler's conclusion
that loss of the inflectional vowel in the Master points to
a date "not earlier than the first quarter of the 15th cent-
ury,"89 is rather unreliable. The same phenomenon may be
found in the Y plays, and yet we have evidence that the Y
cycle, much in its present form, existed considerably earlier
than 1#25. One can only conclude that the occasional loss
of the inflectional vowel in the T plays could as easily re-
flect a fifteenth century date of composition as a generally

Northern origin.
Retention vs. Loss of 1gh /c/ before g3

The velar spirant /9/ before 13 is uniformly retained in
all the plays examined for this study. In the identical Y
and T plays alone, I found 10# and 113 examples of 752 spell-
ings, respectively. Only one variant reading appears in these
plays: T wright (H 2#6) : Y 33133, 'wright,' (H 230); and
there are no examples in any of the plays of egg; : TEE rimes.

Although the retention of /9/ before 12 is a feature of
the modern Northern dialects,90 during the Middle English per-

iod one can find the velar spirant after front vowels and be-

 

‘87;Jordan, p. 2#5.
88 Luick, p. 5#6.
89 P0 (+3-

90 Ellis, 639.

98

fore :3 in virtually all dialect areas. Around the begin-
ning of the fifteenth century, however, the spirant disappear-
ed with increasing frequency in the non—Northern dialects,91
although in some East and West Midland texts it had begun to
disappear as early as the beginning of the fourteenth cen-
tury.92 On the whole, therefore, the retention of the sound

in the Y and T cycles, while a possible reflection of Northern
dialect, could as well be explained as a general character-

istic of Middle English.

51 Jespersen, I, 23#.

92 Horn, p. 81.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER III

OTHER MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

99

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100

VA. DIFFERENCES

Imperative Plural: Inflectional Ending

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
Although the identical plays of Y and T do not contain
plural imperatives in rime, evidence from within the line

reveals a rather marked contrast of forms in the two cycles.

 

YORK TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line

_ 2.8

_e_) 11
ale - 21+ - L1

AA

 

The figures in this chart alone establish an unequivocal
preference in Y for forms in -(e)s and in T for -(g). This
difference is emphasized even more by the fact that only once

does T substitute inflectional -(e)s for Y -(3) (haues TR 1#6 :

 

hggg YR 118) and that the three other instances of -(gl§ in T
are paralleled in the corresponding lines of the Y cycle. In
other words, out of a total of 32 imperative plurals in the
borrowed T plays, there is only one independent instance of the

-(e)s suffix.l i

 

l I have not included in this summary the T substitution of
abydys for Y stands in the following corresponding lines:

So say I yit and_g§ydys thereby (TR 102);
3itt saie I soo, and stands perby (YR 77).

Though the interpretation of abydys as an imperative plural
is possible if the T line is read as a compound sentence,
the context in T as well as the corresponding line in Y
suggest strongly that abydys is the second member of a com-
pound verb in the first person singular of the present.

The -(gl§ inflectional ending for the first person singular
was not unusual in Northern Middle English so long as he

 

 

101.

Though, on the surface, the -(g) suffix in Y might be
accepted as an alternate form, indiscriminately substituted
for regular -(gl§, actually the two endings are used quite
independently according to the context in which they appear.
Lucy T. Smith notes in her grammatical introduction that "the
imperative, 2 pers. p1. ends in lg, yg, 35, 3, when the pronoun
is absent."2 This statement, covers quite adequately the usage
in the Y plays that I have examined, though it is in need of
some amplification. In the first place, -(gl§ is not categor-
ically the ending of the plural imperative when the re-enforcing
subject pronoun is absent; there are at least seven examples of
-(§) endings under such circumstances in the five Y plays.3
Secondly, the subject pronoun need not be absent for the -(gl§
ending to occur, but it can never immediately precede or follow
the imperative. In general, then, the pattern for imperative
plural endings in the Y plays is essentially the same as that
for the inflectional endings of the present plural.u T again
presents a striking contrast, perhaps best illustrated by the
following corresponding lines in the two cycles:

Therfor com on with me
haue done and drede you noght (TP 380-1);

parfore comes furthe with me
Haues dofiaj'and drede yow noght (YP 369-70).

(1 cont.) subject was not a personal pronoun which immed-
iately preceded or followed the verb (see Moore, Histor-
ical Outlines of Egglish Sounds and InflectionL p. I25).

p. lxxii.
YP 2, 18, 20, #01; YH 180; YR 2#0, #27.
4 See p. 17. One should note, however, that -(g) endings occur-

ed much less frequently in the present plural when the sub-
ject pronoun did not immediately precede or follow the verb.

is

 

102

Clearly, in Y, the position of ya! (though here a reflexive)
influences the dropping of inflectional -g in ggggg. T, on the
other hand, appears to have levelled the plural inflectional
ending of the imperative in all contexts. Significantly, Y
follows the customary pattern in 27 cases out of a total of

31).;5 T only in 8 out of 32.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

Though the Caesar Augustus contains not a single example

 

of the imperative plural, the incidence in the Talents is
sufficiently large to enable a comparison with the identical

Y and T plays.

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS

Rime Line Rime L ne

-(2) - - - l3
-(e)s - - - 1

 

None of the thirteen forms in h(g) is preceded or followed

directly by subject pronouns.

III. Interpretation of Data

Evidence from within the lines, as already pointed out,
clearly indicates that the identical plays of the two cycles
employ different forms in the imperative plural. The incidence
in the Talents, moreover, re-enforces the contrast between Y

and T, since the prevailing form in this play, much as in the

y..............
The Y reading beeths (P 197) for T brethere (P 210) is
not included n is tabulation, since it obviously re-
presents a manuscript error (see Davidson, p. 273). As
it appears, of course, the form beeths contains two in-
flectional endings.

 

 

borrowed plays, drops the inflectional -3. However, in view
of the absence of rime evidence, one must question to what
extent the T forms reflect native usage and not scribal prac-
tice. Fortunately, when the evidence from the borrowed T
plays and the Talents is compared with that from the nine-line
stanzas of the Wakefield Master, scribal influence can be dis-
missed with relative certainty.

According to Margaret Trusler's analysis, the Wakefield
Master shows a decided preference for forms in - 5.6 While this
ending is almost uniform in rime,7it is also the majority form
within the line.8 Usage in the other T plays, where -(3) forms
predominate, is therefore as much in contrast with that of the
Master as it is with Y. That scribal practice was not respon—
sible for this difference of usage within the T cycle seems to
be established by the fact that one scribe transcribed the
entire MS.9 Certainly we cannot explain the substitution of
(p) in the borrowed T plays as scribal when in fact we know the

same scribe to record -(e)s as a majority form in other plays.

p. 65.

Cf. herys, I Shepherds' 282 (r.w. frerys); wakys, II She herds'

(r.w. gwakys, ak s, blakys); drynks, II ShepherEE' O7
(r.w. orthyngys); heris, Buffetin 66_(r.w. erys, yeris,
ler s); sloes him, BufTetin 195 (r.w. oppose him, lose
him(; logys, Judgment 1E1 (r.w. crokys, bokys).

Cf. drawes, 11 She herds' 290; s ek 3, II She herds' #8#;
car 8, Herod 3; goys, Herod 19K' sgkys, Herod 20#;
Base, Herod 511; base, Talents 376.

 

Wann, "A New Examination of the Manuscript of the Towneley
Plays," p. 1#1.

 

 

 

 

10#

Consequently, forms within the line must, as a whole, repre-
sent native usage. In this instance, at least, the much
abuSed scribe of the T plays copied the language of his sources,
we must assume, quite accurately.

Though the Wakefield Master obviously employed the inflec-
tional ending -(313 for plural imperatives, Trusler's conclusion

that -(3) forms within the line are scribal10

is open to question.
Certainly both forms existed in Northern English, as the pattern
in Y will bear witness. It is true that the Master does not
employ the same pattern, since he rarely precedes or follows

an imperative with a subject pronoun and, consequently, plural
imperatives with or without endings appear in identical con-
texts in his stanzas. But if the Master's plays were written
later than those of Y— and all the evidence supports this in-
ference—-more than likely he no longer differentiated the two
forms of the plural imperative, with indiscriminate divided
usage the result. On these grounds, too, one may explain the
existence of both forms in the other T plays. To argue cate-
gorically, however, that the heavy predominance of the -(g)
suffix in these plays reflects a later stage in the language
than the usage of the plural imperative in the Master's stanzas
is, in my estimation, to overstate the evidence. True the
dropping of inflectional endings in the borrowed T plays and the
Talents can be regarded as a late Middle English feature. But
the Master's practice does not éppg £3322 represent an earlier

stage in the language; instead it may well reveal closer con-

1“..."—
l p- 650

 

 

 

 

105

tact with regional speech.

In addition to the accumulated evidence of plural imper-
atives in the T cycle, an interesting contrast in usage among
the various plays is provided by forms of the verb pg 23.
G8sta Forsster's comprehensive study of the verb pp pp in
Middle English, based on localized texts, concludes that the
normal Northern ending for the plural imperative was in -p
and that in true Northern documents the distinction between
singular and plural forms of pg p3 was maintained throughout

the period.11

Of the plays that I have examined, only Y con-
sistently resorts to 2315, which in the identical T plays is
always changed to p; (or. TP 371 : Y? 360; TP 378 : Y? 367).
The Wakefield Master, on the other hand, employs both forms:

bese in rime (e.g. Herod 511) and within the line (e.g. TAL

 

376); 95 only within the line (e.g. 1; She herds' 92, 667;
Buffeting 22). From this data, therefore, we can draw the
same conclusion as from the accumulated evidence: (1) Y fol-
lows Northern practice rather consistently; (2) The identical
T plays show a strong leaning toward the literary standard;
(3) The Wakefield Master's divided usage reflects conditions
of late Northern Middle English.

Finally, a word should be said about the single occurrence
of inflectional -(p)§ (22315: TAL #12) in the Talents. Curi-

ously, this form appears in a stanza which has been singled

l
The Verb '23 B3' 13 Middle English, Lund Studies in English,
XV (Copenhagen, 19KB), p. .

 

 

106

out by Millicent Carey as belonging to the Master's canon.12

Since the only other occurrence in all of the Talents appears

 

in a true nine-line stanza (TAL 376), this example may lend
support to Carey's theory. However, there is always the pos-
sibility that the author of the Talents used the suffix -(pl§
on occasion and, therefore, its occurrence in the last stanza
of the play cannot be taken as incontrovertible proof that the
Master either wrote the stanza or revised it.

To summarize:

1. The identical Y and T plays show a genuine difference

of usage in the plural imperative:

a. Y employs forms in -(213 when they are not preceded
or followed by subject pronouns, while T almost
uniformly substitutes -(p) in parallel lines.

b. The five T plays may, on this basis, be regarded as
later compositions, revealing a much stronger con-
tact with the literary standard than Y.

2. The stanzas of the Wakefield Master differ from both

Y and the remaining T plays investigated, in that they

contain ~(glp as the majority suffix, though -(3)

endings are secondary forms appearing in identical
contexts.

a. On the basis of this characteristic, the stanzas of

the Master reflect a stronger contact with regional

TE“""""‘—_

Miss Carey cites the following reasons for this assignment:
"The central rhymes are lacking, and l. #07 has a faulty
rhyme, but otherwise it has the conventional 9-line form.
And the spirit of the stanza is quite in keeping with the
earlier Wakefield Speeches of Pilate." p. 239.

 

 

 

107

speech than the other T plays.

IV. Linguistic Background

In Old English, the plural imperative for both strong and
weak verbs ended in -gp. Though in Middle English, the inflec-
tional vowel was weakened in line with the customary shift of
stress, this ending was maintained in the Midland and Southern
dialects, as illustrated by Chaucer's frequent use of -ppp.l3
Northern Middle English, on the other hand, developed the
suffix -(pl§ for the plural imperativelu except when a subject
pronoun immediately preceded or followed the verb, in which
case the imperative plural had no ending.15 As a dialect char-
acteristic, however, the ending of the plural imperative has
not, with the exception of its occurrence in the verb pp 22,16
been subjected to a careful analysis of localized texts. None-
theless, the Similarity of usage between the plural imperative
and the present plural indicative17 provides some reason for
the supposition that isophone B of the MMW study may also serve
as a dividing line for the plural imperative. Yet, until this
supposition is tested by a separate dialect study of the Middle
English inflectional endings for the plural imperative, one can

refer to -(e)s as Northern only in a general undefined sense.

 

13

The Poetical Works of Chaucer, ed. Fred N. Robinson (Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1933), p. xxx. See also, Bernhard Ten Brink,
Chaucers Sprachp und Verskunst, 3rd ed. (Leipzig, 1920),

p. Ill.
1" Mosse, p. 76; Max Kaluza, p. 190; etc.
1 Mosse, p. 79-

Forsster, passim.

17

See discussion above, p. 17.

 

 

108

Personal vs. Impersonal Constructions

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

While impersonal verbs appear in the identical plays of
both cycles, the Y plays employ such forms much more frequently
than does T. In fact, out of a total of 26 impersonal construc—
tions in the five Y plays, the corresponding lines in T sub-
stitute personal forms no less than 17 times. In most of these
instances, T simply replaces an objective pronoun with a subject
pronoun and thereby achieves Modern English word order as in
the following corresponding lines:

pis ryott radly sall pam rewe (YP 390),
That ryett radly Shal thay rew (TP #01).

Occasionally, however, when the pronoun follows the verb in
Y, T will not only change the form but it will also Shift its
position:

And if it like pg (YD 279),
And if thou lyke (TD 267).

 

The tendency in T toward subject-verb (or verb-subject) con-
structions in place of the earlier object—verb forms is further
illustrated by the fact that the borrowed T plays contain not

a single independent example of the latter type.18 Of course,
impersonal constructions were not entirely foreign to T, since

we may find eight instances in which they remain unchanged in

I deliberately discount here the T reading thurt ppp (TH
256) paralleled by Y neyd thowe (YH 2#2) since the latter
was superimposed by an ElizaBethan hand. The original
Y text therefore may well have had an impersonal verb in
this line. See Appendix, p. 204.

109

the borrowed plays.19

Though the incidence in Y is rather large (26 times),
actually only twelve distinctive verbs appear in these plays:
1ypp, p333, p33 (behoves), 223’ $3529 ppypg, £222, pleasse,

long, awe (aught), nede, and thar (thurte). In T, on the other

 

 

hand, only seven of these impersonal verbs appear since 1ypp,
£233, £23! and 1152 are always personal and the verb ppp is
never used.

All but one of the 26 instances in the parallel lines of
Y and T occur within the line. The one rime example contains
the impersonal construction.ppypg pg (TP 352 : YP 3#2), with

pg the actual rime word (r.w. pg, tre, pp).

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and the Talents

 

The tendency toward the use of personal verbs exhibited
in the borrowed T plays is similarly evident in the Caesar
Augustus and the Talents. In all, these two plays contain only
four impersonal constructions, one in the Caesar Augustus (pppgp

the, 125) and three in the Talents (pg thoght, 128, 132 and pp

 

pays, 3#6). None of these forms appears in rime.

III. Interpretation of Data

The rather frequent change from an impersonal construction
in Y to a personal one in the identical lines of T, together
with the absence of independent occurrences of impersonal verbs

in the borrowed T plays, may indicate that T is a later composi-

1; Of these eight examples, however, three involve the verb-
pronoun combination th nk pp or meth nk (TP 352 : YP 3#2;
TD 102 : YD 130; TD : YD l9 , wh ch, of course, in
its latter form is used archaically even today.

 

tion than Y. It is, of course, well known that the old

English impersonal verb-object combinations gave way increas-
ingly to the modern subject-verb pattern sometime during the
course of the Middle English period.20 In a specialized study
of this shifting, van der Gaaf discovered that all former im-
personal verbs "began to be used 'personally' in the first

half of the 1#th century" though the old construction was appar-
ently used beside the new until about 1500.21 The heavy predom-
inance of personal verbs in T would therefore suggest a date of
origin rather well towards the end of the Middle English period,
at a time when the new word order had taken over substantially.
Y, on the other hand, seems to reflect the earliest stages of
this shifting.

A full discussion of this change in Middle English is, of
course, impossible without reference to the development of
individual verbs, particularly since some impersonal verbs con-
tinued on into early Modern and present-day English (cf. behoove,
Epipk, etc.). For this reason, I shall focus upon the develop-
ment of one very prominent verb in the two cycles: the verb
1322, which is shifted from impersonal to personal usage in the
identical T plays no less than seven times. Moreover, with very

few exceptions list appears as a personal verb throughout the

See, for example, the discussion by George 0. Curme, Syptax
(Boston, 1931), pp. 8-9.
21

 

W. van der Gaaf, The Transition from the Im ersonal to the
Personal Construction in MIdd dle En lish, AnglistIschem

Forschungen, No. IE (H—TdelEerg, l9 , p. 2.

111

T cycle.22 By itself, these data may not appear to be very
significant. However, when regarded in the light of van der
Gaaf's investigation, they may help to substantiate a fifteenth
century date for the T cycle. Apparently, list as a personal
verb became extremely frequent in the first half of the fif-
teenth century as seen particularly in the Works of Lydgate.23
On the other hand, Hoccleve adheres scrupulously to the older
construction, never employing list as a personal verb. Accord-
ing to van der Gaaf, he probably

considered 1 lyst to be fit only for people that

'1oven of propre kinde newfangelnesse', but out of

place in his poetry, which, as no reader can fail

to observe, is couched in a language generally

refined and often even tinged with mannerism and

pedantry. Lydgate, on the other hand, Krote as

he spoke and as he heard others speak.
But the absence of I list from Y can't be accounted for in the
same manner, since as a dramatic work often designed especially
for crowd appeal, its style would not be as conservative as
Hoccleve's. Rather the absence of the personal form is readily
explained as the result of an earlier date of composition, at
a time when pg list was still fully accepted colloguially.
This, of course, is not the situation in T, which may therefore

quite likely reflect the Shift of preference in colloquial

English. This phenomenon was at least well on its way by the

The Cain Play, for example, contains one instance of me list
On the other hand, I found in three plays of. the
Wakefield Master-Noah and the two She herds' Plays-—four
examples of list as a creonal verB (I 856 herds' 20#, #21,
#28; II She He rds 323 , but no exampIes 0? its use as an
1 verB.

impersona The Caesar Augustus and the Talents
contain no instances of this ver .

23 See the list of citations in van der Gaaf's study, pp. 72—73.

24 Ibid., p. 73.

112

half of the fifteenth century, during which period,

ing to van der Gaaf, "almost every production..., if

3 used in it at all, affords instances of the new con-
ion."25 While dating on the basis of one characteristic
best extremely tenuous, the appearance of I list in the
cal plays of T helps to substantiate a fifteenth cen-
ate for the adoption of these plays.

have already suggested that within the T cycle, few if
fferences in the usage of personal and impersonal verbs

be noted. The incidence from the Caesar Augustus and

 

Lents, it is true, offers little concrete evidence, but
f one considers that only four examples of impersonal
appear in a total of some 600 lines, one may assume that
anal verbs were no longer in frequent usage. The same
sion may in general apply to the nine—line stanzas of the
51d Master. In the three plays which I examined for in-
a of personal verbs (Egah and the two She herds' Plays),
:ed 25 examples, 1? of which, however, combine the pro-
i with a form of the verb 32335.26 In contrast, the fre-
of impersonals in the Y plays is striking.

) summarize:

The relatively small incidence of impersonal verbs in

 

Cite

eight clear- cut cases of impersonal verbs in these plays
'e the following: h vs (Noah 312 , must vs (I She herds'
0, Noah 334), well s“ vs T'N'o'ah 459),“ the FaraII‘T'NLoah'"

8 me (I She-herds' I55), it draes (I She he rds'
7) and v_s_ Tarth II Shepherds-'- 311')” I —h_a-—2_-ver not-in-
uded the —frequent construction wo is me in this survey
cause, much as me think, this expression prevails even

Modern English.

113

all of the T plays as well as the frequent shifting
of Y impersonal constructions to personal forms in
the identical lines of T supports the contention that

T is a later composition than Y.

inguistic background

1d English, as is true of most Germanic languages, was

n impersonal verbs. In fact, van der Gaaf estimates
total of some ho such verbs existed in the earliest

s of our language, although during the course of the Old
h period a few had already become obsolete.27 However,
til the Middle English period was there a widespread con-
n of the older impersonals. This change, which usually
ed the shifting of a post-verbal pronoun to a pre-verbal
tive pronoun, was largely induced by the simplification
inflectional system and the gradual development of

s-verb word order in Middle English.

 

[:3‘“‘#

.., p. 3. For a list of Old English impersonal verbs
:ich.survived in Middle English, see pp. h-lZ.

114
B. SIMILARITIES

Ltive: Inflectional Ending

“inal -(glg is invariably dropped in the infinitives of
1e plays examined for this study. Moreover, according
Isler's investigation, the uninflected form is also em-
1 regularly by the Wakefield Master.28
The absence of inflectional -g was a Northern and North—
Tidland trait throughout the Middle English period.29 In

1st Midlands, on the other hand, —g endings appear at

occasionally as late as the fifteenth century.30

>articiples of Strong Verbs: Inflectional Ending

Iith the exception of one variant reading in the identical
T plays (32mg YJ 232 : commyn TJ 389), past participles
'ong verbs regularly end in -(312 in all the plays examined

[is study.31 Similarly, The Wakefield Master employs in-

 

leer found only two examples of inflectional ~3; see, p.

)3.
’d, pp. 277'2780

infinitives may be found abundantly in Chaucer; see Ten
arink, Chaucers S rache Egg Verskunst, p. 111. Further
:vidence may 5e found in Reed's study, which list the dis-
;ribution of forms in various fourteenth and fifteenth
entury texts and reveals that not any of them contain less
han eleven per cent infinitives with final -n; see pp.

>03- 305-

:, for example, knawne TP 11 : YP 11 (r. w. awne); halden
'P 204 : YP 191; lorn TP 266 : YP 253 (r.w. morne, skorn,
.orn); grofen TP jazz: YP 314; gyffen TD 7i;?'Tfi 153‘"'
hosen TR 191 : YR 1 ; rysen TR 3 2 : YR 2 ; s ok n

'J 35 : YJ 166; and in the Caesar AZ ustus and Talents:
lone TC 62; sworne TC 83; fonden TC l7§3 comen TAL 77;
:la ayn TAL 208 1r. w. certayn).

 

 

 

 

115

ional -n consistently, both within the line and in rime.32
time, do any of the plays use the prefix i-or y-.

The generally consistent retention of inflectional 72 is

her safe criterion of Northern usage,33 as illustrated

9 many past participles with 1E in the York records,3}+

ursor Mundi and the Gospel 2: Nicodemus.35

Chaucer, on
ther hand, reflects the customary Midland practice by drop-
Lnflectional 52 in the past participles of strong verbs

36

)riginal short stems. The prefix i- or y-, frequently
1y Chaucer, disappeared early from Northern and Midland
1 but was retained to a larger extent and for a longer

L in the South.37
Person Present Singular Verbs: Inflectional Ending

3 the following charts reveal, inflectional 1g was the
cut majority ending for second person present singular

in all the plays examined for this study.

 

3163?, p. 66.

3rding to David Reed, "there was no significant loss of
in the strong past participle at any time in Northern
Ld and Middle English." See, p. 195.

1ann, pp. 103-105.

1 found that inflectional -n in past participles of
;rong verbs was retained 105% in the Cursor Mundi and
'.9% in the Gospel 23 Nicodemus; see p. 183.

Brink, Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst, p. 115. In con-

'ast, Tolkien found the -TETn consistently in the lines

' the two scholars in the 1"fi'é'eve's Tale." See "Chaucer
a lifilologist: The Reeve's Tale," Transactions 2; the

.ilxalogical Society, (193E5, p. 28.
p11 and Elizabeth Wright, p. 177.

116

 

Yofik TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line
3 21 k 27
- 6 - 1

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
1 3 1 5

 

Dhe appearance of the alternate 1st ending, particularly
a Y plays, is not so important as one would at first glance
re, since five of the six occurrences are confined to the
1323.38 Besides these examples, one can find one instance
'ms in 753 occurring independently in the identical Y and

's (callest pou YD 139; herst thou TP 225). However,

 

 

variants nothwithstanding, there can be no doubt that -g

.e customary ending in the identical Y and T plays as well
Caesar Augustus and Talents. The Wakefield Master, too,

tently employs forms in ~g, both in rime and within the

9

n general, scholars consider the -(gl§ ending for the
person present singular as characteristic of Northern
in Middle EnglishJ‘O However, only Oakden has thus far

ted to draw an isogloss of its particular dialectal occur—

It becomes impossible to draw a dividing line between
the tWo forms, but it is possible to say that '-es'

in) 99, YD 169, YH 69, YH 223 and YH 327. T invariably
[bstitutes has for these examples.

:ler, p. &+

Ihnerson, A Middle English Reader, p. cii, and Mosse, p, 76.

 

 

 

 

117

is not found south of the Sglgp-flggh line (Myrg,

Wtfi$dffifigfiybzhiipigtzdlilgzi'zhfg; Efiitsi‘iiiim
one must not attach too much significance to Oakden's
llization, since apparently his survey in this case, as
1e others, is based on inaccurate information. He is in

for example, when he claims that the £223 and Towneley
have only -gg in the second person present singularfl”2 a
1ent which is refuted even by the limited incidence col-

l for this study.
; Verbs: Vowel Gradation in the Preterit

‘he plays examined for this study contain only a limited
nce of strong verbs in the preterit. Though out of the
original classes, only Class II is not at all represented
preterit, examples from most other classes are so few
0 dependable conclusion can be drawn on the ablaut system
two cycles.Ll'3 What evidence there is, however, indicates
11 plays levelled the radical vowel on the model of the
ar and, therefore, that the plays, in general, conform to
ary Northern usage.
n the identical Y and T plays, only the following two
appear which had distinctive forms in the preterit singu-
i plural of Old English: 3253 (OE pret. sg. EEE’ pl.

used as a singular three times within parallel lines and

 

35.
. cit.

a complete listing of forms occurring in the plays, see
1e Appendix, p. 205.

 

 

 

118

>lural once,uu and 333$ (OE pret. sg. 323$, p1. fundon)
only in rime, twice as a singular and twice as a plural.u5

us these two verbs, the Y plays also contain the form

'ithin the line in the singular and plural of the preterit

.and YJ 353), while T consistently employs gggh. In this

we, Y apparently follows Midland custom by levelling the

»n the model of the plural (OE sg. 333g, p1. ggwgg).46

»rm £333, incidentally, occurs both as a singular and a
also in the Y records.LI'7

'sage in the rest of T is essentially the same as in the

cal Y and T plays. While neither the Caesar Augustus nor

 

lents contains any significant examples of strong verbs
0th in the singular and the plural of the preterit,L|-8 the

eld Master, according to Trusler, consistently employs

49

ar and plural forms levelled under the preterit singular.
he extension of the preterit singular vowel to the plural
aut verbs, found to be the characteristic pattern in the

T plays, is generally considered a Northern dialect

TR 451 : YR 308; TR 474 : YR 331; TR 518 : YR 381;
1. TR 122: YR 87.

TP 164 : YP 151 (r.e. vnderstand, want, hand); TP 336 :

P 223 (r.w. land, wand, warand); p1. TP 384 : Y? 373 (r.w.
and, wand, stand); TH 52 : YH 62 (r.w. hand, lastande,
ande).

Mosse, p. 81.
mann, p. 104.

verb form loche appears as a singular and a plural pre-
erit in the Talents (ll. 86, 89); however, even in Old
nglish the radicai vowel of this verb uas the same in all
ersons of the preterit (OE sg. hlah, p1. hlagon).

6S.

 

 

 

 

 

119

hso h100ntrast, the Midlands maintain the distinction
singflar and plural forms, as exemplified by Chaucer,

1mploys two forms where the distinction is historical.51

(Person Singular Pronoun
The emphatic form ig or ich does not appear in any of the
examined for this study. Not only the identical Y and

ya, but also the Caesar Augustus, the Talents and the

 

of the Master uniformly employ I both in stressed and

essed positions.52

Even though Mosse, among other scholars, claims that "32,

the stressed form of the North,"53 no specific investi-

1 of the dialectal provenience of the first person pronom-

'orms has thus far been undertaken. Hence we cannot be

to what extent the absence of 32 from the Y and T plays

bearing on dialect usage. However, the loss of the stress-

m may, in a general way, help to date the language of the
Chaucer, for example, uses igh, commonly identified as

uthern variant, as well as 1.54 0n the other hand, Mande-

 

, for example, the study by James F. Rettger, The
avelo ment 23 Ablaut lg Ehg Strong Verbs 23 tthEast
id and Dialects 2_ Middle English, Language Disserta-
Lons, The Linguistic Society of America, No. 18 (1934),

. 94.
Brink, Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst, pp. 87—89.

 

 

 

rime examples of i, see: TP 312 : Y? 300 (r.w. sodanly);
t 541) : YR 415 (r.w. curtessie : Y tresorie, forthy,

. ht ); TC 61 (r.w. hastely, why, clarify); TAL 73 (r.w.
.ntry, hy); etc.

44

Thaetical Works 93 Chaucer, p. xxix.

 

 

 

119

.50 h1contrast, the Midlands maintain the distinction
singular and plural forms, as exemplified by Chaucer,

nploys tWO forms where the distinction is historical.51

Person Singular Pronoun
Mm emphatic form ig or ich does not appear in any of the
examined for this study. Not only the identical Y and

m, but also the Caesar Augustus, the Talents and the

 

 

of the Master uniformly employ l both in stressed and
rssed positions.52
tven though Mosse, among other scholars, claims that "33,
the stressed form of the North,"53 no specific investi-
of the dialectal provenience of the first person pronom-
orms has thus far been undertaken. Hence we cannot be
0 what extent the absence of $3 from the Y and T plays
bearing on dialect usage. However, the loss of the stress-
n may, in a general way, help to date the language of the
Chaucer, for example, uses 12h, commonly identified as

1thern variant, as well as 1.54 On the other hand, Mande-

 

for example, the study by James F. Rettger, The

,velopment pf Ablaut lg the Strong Verbs pf the East
,d and Dialects 2f Middle English, Language Disserta-

.ons, The Linguistic Society of America, No. 18 (1934),
94. ‘

Brink, Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst, pp. 87-89.

 

 

rime examples of 2, see: TP 312 : YP 300 (r.w. sodanly);
541) : YR 415 (r.w. curtessie : Y tresorie, forthv,

ghty); TC 61 (r.w. hastely, why, clerify); TAL 73 (r.w.
ntry, by); etc.

4.

.Poetical Works pf Chaucer, p. xxix.

 

 

120

SS Gower,56 and Wyclif57 consistently have I. Accord-
»Mossé, "Little by little this unstressed form became
neral usage in the common language of the 14th century,"58
'the beginning of the next century the vowel had become
ened in stressed positions}:9
ve Singular of Nouns: Inflectional Ending

he attributive genitive in the five identical Y and T

may end in ~(e)s or -(g), as the following chart will

 

to.

7 YOITK TOWNELEY
10 8
9 'll

 

ncidence of the genitive in these plays is limited to

on within the line. What few changes occur in otherwise
cal lines fail to contribute significant information,

P sometimes substitutes inflectional —(g) for Y -(213
orophete £2111 TH 287 : prophettis YH 273), and at other
4% for Y -(3) (Goddys _s_o_n TH 255 : 925; 22% YH 241).
anally, genitives with zero inflection may be interpreted
pounds (e.g. montayn gigg TP 98, and 22332 biggg TJ 416 :

), much as in Modern English. One may also find a number

ieville's Travels, ed. P. Hamelius, EETS 08, No. 153
london, 1919), passim.

1 Gower, En lish Works, ed. 6.0. Macaulay, EETS ES, No.
L (London, 1900), p. cxiii.

1 Wyclif, Select English Works, ed. Thomas Arnold (Oxford,
369), passim.

I5.
cit.

 

 

121

enithms with zero inflections when the noun adjuncts are 4
arrmmes (e.g. IettXr,§2222:.13222.222)! However, such
nmes do not necessarily illustrate the loss of inflectional
1gs,sflnce many Middle English authors may well have follow-
:w practice of the vulgate which regularly has zero-grade
:ctions.for all Hebrew names (of. "duo filli Iacob," Gen.
25).
In the Caesar Augustus and the Talents, the uniform ending
he genitive is -(gl_. However, because these plays provide
four examples, a significant comparison of usage among the
idual plays in T is rendered impossible. Quite likely,
lected genitives are absent from these two plays princi-
because of the restricted opportunities for their occur-
But, while little information is to be gleaned from the
ance in the Caesar Augustus and the Talents, the Wakefield
°'s usage can provide a somewhat more detailed comparison.
.ected genitives occur a total of 14 times in the nine-
;tanzas in contrast with 12 occurrences of -(gl§ forms.
even though uninflected forms are employed more frequently
Master‘s stanzas than they are in the plays borrowed
, in both groups of the cycle usage regarding the genitive
s is essentially divided.
he Inninflected genitive found in at least some of the
aruxlyzed for this study is generally regarded as a North-

lhortheast Midland dialect trait.60 In the other dialect

 

I_

ght, The English Dialect Grammar, p. 265.

 

 

122

ns the —(gl§ ending was extended from the original

line and neuter g-stem nouns to all classes in all three
rs.61 Apparently this dialect distinction has come down
e modern period, since at least in the West Riding dia-

62

the genitive without ending may be heard even today.

Ls of Nouns: Inflections
Dhe vast majority of plural nouns in all the plays examined
11s study end in -§, ~23 or -y§, as one would expect of

Lvely late Middle English texts.

r

 

yofik’ TOWNELEY
No. % No. %
1rals 208 87 185 85
: plurals 6 3 6 3
Lrals 7 3 8 3.5
Lrals - - l .
: plurals l 1 - -
ected plurals 14 6 17 8

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS

urals 18 28
plurals - 1

 

n the identical Y and T plays, as the above chart indi-
nouns which do not form their plurals by adding -§
tute thirteen and fifteen per cent of the forms, respec-
. The following nouns occur in the various subclasses:
1. Umlaut plurals: ESE! wgmgg, Eggtg, brethergen,
and, adapted from Old Norse, 23292' The latter form,

however, is in divided usage with handys and

36, p. 48.

’green, "Yorkshire Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding,..,"
3 e

 

 

 

123

, £231.63

2. Plurals in -g: The form 331g occurs once in T.6u

3. Plurals in 13: Only the plural chylder belongs in
this category.

4. Double plurals: Only one noun in Y, bretheren (YH
37), contains two plural inflectional signals. The
noun myggg (YP 273), though bearing a resemblance
to gig: and actually glossed as "lice" by Lucy T.
Smith, does not belong in this category.65

5. Uninflected plurals: Nouns in this class include
former neuter monosyllables (e.g. gggpg, £333), nouns
of measurement (e.g. wygter), names of animals (e.g.

hors, ox, asse), some mass and abstract nouns (e.g.

d3 TH 67 : YH 75 (r.w. kende, discende, amende); handys
R 416 : YR 274; hand TR_552 : Yfi'427'(r.WT'iand, couand,
nderstand).

Y passage contains selfe for T eeyn, a correspondence
nich curiously may aiso 5e found in two manuscripts of
22 Northern Passion:

pat sall pou with bi eghen se (Camb. Gg. 5, 1. 1126);

pat saltou sone pi seluen se (Haleian, l. 1126);
(See The Northern Passion, ed. Frances A. Foster,
EETS OS, No. 145, London, 1913, p. 115).

>wever, since this line is not the original of the one in
and T, the correspondence selfe and eeyn cannot be ex-
Lained adequately as a borrowing from the two manuscripts
7 The Northern Passion. If other evidence should indicate
lat T copied parts of the Cambridge MS. while Y employed
1e Harleian, the correspondences here noted could be
.gnificant clues to the development of the two cycles.

11d Whitehall discovered that myses in Y was actually
lapted from Early Modern Dutch mes1e or meusie, meaning
L gnat" or "a midge." See "The Etymology of Middle
[glish 'Myse'," P , xv111 (July, 1939), 314-316.

121+

mesell, £3333, venyance), and some collective nouns
(e.g.‘£21§).
n the Caesar Augustus and Talents, the 13 plural is even
ominant than in the identical Y and T plays. In fact,
ne noun in the Talents, 23353 'breeches' (119),66 does
rm the plural by adding 13. However, the absence of sub-
s is not of special significance, since virtually all
forms in these plays normally contained inflectional 1g
dle English. The only exception is the occurrence of

n the Talentg (254), a form that I have not found else-

 

in T.

he customary plural ending in the stanzas of the Master

0 1g. In addition, the Master employs such umlaut plurals
t, map, gaggg, 32333 and 2222,67 most of which are to be
in the identical Y and T plays as well. The only apparent
ence in usage between the Master's stanzas and the bor-

T plays is the appearance in the former of ghgyp (I; §h_p-
62; Judgment 238) to the exclusion of shoyes, which

3 once in the Pharao play (TP 114).

he incidence in all the plays examined for this study is
representative of the general Middle English plural in-
onal system. Plurals in ii, of course, predominate, since
he late Old English period on, most nouns of the language

to be attracted to the g—declension, which historically

 

nom. sg. broc, p1. brEc.
forms hand and handys are apparently in divided usage,

oth appearing three times in rime (Noah 34, 211, 255);
I Shepherds' 11; Buffeting 264; Scourging 164).

r.|

125

tained inflectional -_€-1__s in the nominative and accusative

68

ral .

Of the minor declensions in Middle English, only the class

nouns ending in -_n, is of relative importance. Evidence

>m Southern and Kentish texts indicates that in these regions
my nouns that did not form their plurals in :13 in Old English
int over to the £1: class in Middle English (e.g. sustren, dawen,
5539.2, honden, etc.).69 In the Midlands and the North, on the
ther hand, the use of -g plurals was very restricted, though
Lndividual words such as gm had remained standard there as
well as in the South.70 Since -3 plurals are held to a minimum
in the Y and T plays, one can generalize that the plural in)-
flectional system of these plays is typical of non-Southern

Middle English. Local documents, moreover, indicate that usage

in Y and T coincides generally with that of York and Wakefield,
respectively.71

For examples of the various declensions in Old and Middle

English, see Moore, Historical Outlines ‘o_f’ English Sounds

and Inflections, pp. 84-8.

69 H. c. Wyld, A Short History 2; English, pp. 242-3.
Oakden, p. 30.

See Baumann, pp. 94-6; and Green, "Yorkshire Dialect as
Spoken in the West Riding...," p. 6

 

CHAPTER IV

VOCABULARY

126

 

 

 

 

l2?

ls : s

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
The form als, occurring frequently in the five Y plays,
is consistently changed to fig in the identical T plays. The

incidence of both forms is limited to occurrence within the

 

line.

YORK TdWNh-hh‘y
33 (as...g§) 29 63
als als...als, als...§§) 35 l(?)

 

Though.gl§ and fig are about evenly distributed in the Y
plays, in correlative constructions, at least the antecedent
form is uniformly gig (e.g. YP 296, YD 93, YD 133, YJ 315).

In the borrowed T plays, glgg appears once (YJ 411) where the
corresponding Y line contains 32 (YJ 254). However, the con-
text in Which this form occurs is such that glgg could be ren-
dered either in its former sense (OE Ell'fiflg: MnE 3g) or in
its modern sense as a conjunctive adverb:

Mi body was skowrgid withoutten skill,
Also ther full throly was I thrett.

Since the corresponding passage in Y contains as theffe (YJ
254) in place of glgg thgg, the change in T may have been
prompted by a misinterpretation of theffe in the original MS,
conceivably the result of a poorly formed f in the word. If
this is the proper explanation, the T redactor might have pre-
ferred a stronger connective than 23 to introduce the second

clause.

 

 

 

128

Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
In these plays, much as in the borrowed T plays, 23

ears to the total exclusion of als. The Caesar Augustus

 

bains five examples of g; the Talents ten.

.. Interpretation of Data

The T substitution of _a_s_ for the frequent instances of Y
E in identical lines may be regarded as a genuine difference
1 the language of the two cycles. Though rime evidence is
acking, the consistency of this substitution alone should
Lemonstrate that the form _a__l_§_ was not in the active vocabulary
3f the T redactor.

Nor does 31s. as a variant of 3 occur elsewhere in the T
plays that I have examined. I have already noted that neither
the Caesar Augustus nor the Talents contain any examples of the
form. The Wakefield Master, too, employs 2.3.. consistently,
though the form 31‘s. appears twice (M 126, 127) with the mean-

1

ing of modern English also. The latter form, incidentally,

does not occur in the identical Y and T plays, were 3119 is
never weakened (e.g. TD 184 : YD 196; TH 112 : YH 118, r.w. go).

The appearance of 1% in the Y plays can be traced both
to dialectal influence and to an earlier date of composition

than that of T.2

 

1 In spite of the overwhelming majority of as, Margaret Trusler

considers inconclusive the evidence of 313 : as in the
Master's plays. Her doubt of the Master—7'5 cu's't'omary form is
apparently engendered by the two instances of als noted a-
bove, which by her own testimony are weakened farms of also,
and by one rime example of als in the Mactatio Abel (295),
which does not contain any Effie-line stanzas. See p. 81.

23ee discussion below under "Linguistic Background."

 

129

To summarize:

1. 513 is a dialectal by-form in Y, which, because of
date and/or difference in dialect usage, is consis-
tently replaced by 23 in the identical lines of T.

2. §l§_as a variant of‘gg occurs nowhere in the other T
plays examined for this study.

a. The wakefield Master occasionally employs glg as a
weakened form of alga, a usage which is not found

in the other T plays.

IV. Linguistic Background

The Middle English variants gig and 33 may be traced to a
common original in Old English Ellfélé: which, according to the
NED, went through the following stages of weakening: giggg,
22.32, gigs, 313 and is; in the North, and M, w, 3139,
.2l22’4223 and 33 Aiz/ in the other dialect areas.3 Primarily,
therefore, the distinction in Middle English is one which de-
pends upon date, though, of course, the two forms were used
simultaneously for a time. In the North, however, the form gig
remained longer than in other dialect regions, so that the dis-
tinction may also be explained on the grounds of dialect prefer-
ence.h Similarly, the Modern English adverb glgg was reduced to
EEEE in various parts of the North, a form which we recall is to
be found in the stanzas of the Wakefield Master.

Actually the change from Old English all-swa to Modern

3 30". "as."

u The NED labels als "Chiefly Northern," s.v. "als."

 

 

130

English gg involves not only a phonetic weakening but to some
extent a semantic shifting as well. Originally, gflé ('so')

had the meaning of Modern English gg, and it was only with the
intensification of a prefixed 3;; that the modern form came
into being. According to the NED, by the thirteenth century
the shift from.ggg to glggg was fully established.5 The further
reduction from.glg to gg first appeared in the second element,
or the relative particle, in correlative constructions, which
apparently received less stress than the antecedent particle
(e.g. "gig brihht 31E gold" "gig bricht gg gold"). Since the
Y plays employ gg not only as the second element in correlatives
but independently as well, one may assume that glg was well on

its way toward being replaced by gg. ~
Third Person Present Singular and Plural of 22 fig

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

The identical Y and T plays regularly contain the forms
2g and g; for the third person present singular and plural of
to pg. However, occasional examples of gg and g3 may also be

found in the Y plays, as the following chart will indicate.

 

YORK TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line

_i__s_ 2(?) 89 2(?) 83
as - 2 - -
‘E?(e - 28 - 35
er - - -

 

Since the two examples of 3g in rime occur in the rims sequences

1

s.v. "as."

 

 

 

 

 

 

131

6

with 1125 and -ggg, perhaps their value is actually /hs/.
But because these rimes may have been inaccurate, one must be
careful not to rely too much upon them in determining the
pronunciation of _i-g.7
One may note that the common Midland forms Egg and gap

never occur in the identical Y and T plays.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

Excluding the one example of lg in rime with -ness (TC 25),
these plays, much as the borrowed T plays, universally employ

is and a1:-

 

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line

is l(?) 7 - 35
22 ‘ ‘ ‘ '
g3 — l l 12
22 ‘ ' ' '

 

III. Interpretation of Data
The substitution of 33 in T for g3 in the identical lines
of Y is undoubtedly the most significant difference to be noted

in the usage of third person present singular and plural forms

5 .
TJ 350 : YJ 505 (r.w. herberles, kyndlnesse, wikkidnesse);

TJ 400 : YJ 243 (r.w. catyfnes, bitternes, les .

7 These rimes present certain difficulties, which, without
further evidence, unfortunately cannot be worked out. There
is, of course, the possibility that the authors of the plays
pronounced final -es as firs/ in the semi-stressed suffix
~ness. In unstresEEd syllables, at least, /r/ replaced [5/
frequently in the North (see Jordan, p. 126), and isolated
examples of -;yg and -%yg may be found in various fifteenth
and sixteenth century ocuments (see Wyld, g Histor gf
Modern Colloquial English, pp. 272-73). However, 3 nos gg
was for a time a variant of lg in the North, the rims examples
of the identical plays could quite conceivably represent
the pronunciation /Es/.

 

 

 

 

 

132

of the verb 32 pg in the two cycles. More than likely, the
occasional incidence of g; in Y can be explained as a regional
usage, which because of date or geographical location was un-
familiar to the T redactor(s). Generally, gg may be considered
a Northern form,8 in use, at least as a minority form, in the
county of York during the Middle English period.9 fig was like-

k,10 and therefore its appearance within

wise employed at Yor
the line of the Y plays contrasted with the absence of at least
the spelling gg from the identical plays of T may also be re-
garded as a regional difference. However, because of its very
limited incidence in the Y plays, the correspondence gg : gg
cannot be considered significant by itself.

Usage within the T cycle is, in general, quite uniform.
The plural g3 is employed to the exclusion of all variants not
only in the borrowed T plays, the Caesar Augustus and the
Talents, but in the Master's stanzas as well.11 ;5 similarly
appears as the only form for the third person present singular
indicative, if one discounts the occasional instances when ig
rimes with the suffix ~pggg. In fact, the only noteworthy dif—
ference of usage within the T plays is in the Master‘s predom-

inant use of gg : -yg rimes,12 a type which is absent from all

8 See below under "Linguistic Background."

9 Baumann, p. 107.

10 loc. cit.

11 See, for example, Noah 181, 344, 451; ; Shepherds'l; ;;
Shepherds' l, 11, 35, 369, etc. In rime, g3 occurs in
l Shepherds' 208 and I; Shepherds' 701.

12 See Noah l (r.w. blis, r sh, wish); 1 Shenherds' 262 (r.w.

alyce, bl 3, £13), 543 r.w. Igys)? Herod 300 (r.w. Igys,
this, Egg).

 

 

 

the other plays that I have examined. Opportunities for such
rimes certainly present themselves in the other T plays, which
furnish three rime sequences on the syllable eygl3to four on
the syllable jg§.lu

The absence of such plural forms as be, 922, Egg, and 23g

from all the plays examined for this study confirms only in
the most general sense of the terms a Northern or Northeast
Midland origin. Moreover, the appearance of 333 and 33 in these
plays may also be traced to the Northern dialect area.15

To summarize:

1. All the plays examined for this study employ i3 and 23
as majority forms.

2. The five Y plays differ from all the other plays by
employing 23 as an occasional variant of 33. Similarly,
the spelling 23 occurs only in Y.

3. The Wakefield Master's plays differ from all other
plays in their preference for i3 : - s rimes as opposed
to the rime i3 : figs, which is the only type found in
the identical Y and T plays and the Caesar Augustus.

h. The absence of such forms as be , Egg, and gap and the
almost universal occurrence of apocopated 33 suggest a

Northern or Northeast Midland origin for the T plays.

13 TR 421 : YR 279; TJ 7h : YJ 17o; TAL 24h.

TJ 39h : YJ 23?; TJ 505 : YJ 350; TC 25; TAL 210. These
references, incidentally, include those rimes which con-
tain is.

15

See below under "Linguistic Background."

 

 

 

 

 

 

131,

IV. Linguistic Background

A. Third person present indicative singular

The form lfi was normally employed in all Middle English
dialects, except the Northern, where gg appeared as a frequently
used variant. The latter form occurred especially in Northern
Yorkshire, but also north of that district and on at least one
occasion as far south as Lincolnshire, where Mannyng employed
it.16 This form, according to Joseph Wright, is ultimately
derived from the Old Norse.17

Of the bhgg-stem, only the Middle English forms 2222 in
the South and 223 in the North survived in the third person

18

present singular. However, as is true of the is :‘33 corres-
pondence, these forms cannot be precisely labeled, since an
isophone for them has as yet not been drawn.

B. Third person present indicative plural

For the third person plural of ig‘bg, there is a rather
more distinct distribution of forms in the major Middle English
dialect areas than for the third person singular. According
to Oakden, one can generally assign 223 to the North, gggg and
‘bgg to the Midlands and bgih to the South.19 ForsstrSm's more
specific investigation supports this generalization. Accord-
ingly, 2333, Egg or bu , derived from West Saxon 2293, are the

normal forms of the South and Southwest Midlands. In the East

 

16
17

Forsster, p. 217.
fig Elementary Middle English Grammar, p. 203.

Forsster, p. 218.
19 p. 360

 

 

 

 

 

 

135

Midlands, the typical form is beg, with final 12 intact until
the fifteenth century. The Southeast Midlands employed 222,

and toward the beginning of the fifteenth century gggig («0. Merc.
23333) occurred as a minority form in the Central and Southeast
Midland areas.2O $3212, of course, appeared primarily in the
Northeast Midlands (the old Mercian area) where it served as

the majority form. In fact, it was not until c. 1h50 that 33313
had spread appreciably into the Midlands. Finally, in the

North and the Northeast Midlands, the Scandinavian form 3; was
preferred, though gag also occurred frequently. One might note
here, that the T plays are one of four Northern and Northeast
Midland texts found by Forsster in which 332 is employed ex-

clusively.21

Bus : Must

 

I. Incidence

The verb form.b3§, a contraction of behoves used imperson-
ally, appears four times in the Y plays, but not in the iden-
tical lines of T, which insert either magi ngiig (TP 354 : YP
364; TD 232 : YD 24k) or £2211 (TP 387 : YP 376; TH 25 : YH
338) in its place. At the same time, however, the full form,
behovys, occurs at least once in the identical lines (TR 53h :
YR h03) and Y frequently employs mggi with an impersonal meaning
as a variant of bag (e.g. YR 321; YJ 155).

Neither the Caesar Augustus nor the Talents contain examples

 

20 According to Ten Brink, the forms in Chaucer are been, bee
and seldom arn; see Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst, p. llS.

For a full discussion of the distribution of forms in the
third person plural, see Forsster, pp. 218-220.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of bus.

II. Interpretation of Data and Linguistic Background
The occasional appearance of impersonal bus in Y contrasted
with its absence from the identical lines of T as well as the

22 may be regarded as a dialect difference in

remaining T plays
the two cycles. Although no precise dialect boundaries have
been drawn for the occurrence of Egg in Middle English, the
NED assigns a label of "Northern"to this form and records evi-
dence of its use with a subject still in Modern Scottish.23
Moreover, the files of Middle English Dictionggy record its in-
cidence in such Northern and Northeast Midland works as the
iiig g3 SE. ingg, the Alphabet igigg and the Northern Passion.

The frequent substitution of £333 used impersonally for
223 in the Y plays may indicate that the latter form was al-
ready on its way toward extinction in the York dialect.

To summarize:

Y varies from T in its occasional use of Egg as an imper-

sonal verb and thereby shows closer contact with Northern

regional speech.
Fro : From

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
While fro is the only form which appears both in rime and

within the line in the five Y plays, the identical plays of T

22 I have found no examples of bus anywhere in T. Trusler,
likewise, omits reference to the form in her descriptive
analysis of the Master's language.

23

s.v. "bus, 'bus."

 

 

137

contain an equal distribution of the forms fro and from

within the line, and fro exclusively in rime.

yoaf' ffifififififii
Rime Line Rime Line

 

 

fro, fra 7 22 7 10
from ~ - - 9

 

The division of usage in T is undoubtedly the result of
an assimilative pattern, still prevalent in modern West Riding
speech,2u which provides for the use of £22m before vowels and
‘339 before consonants. Though this pattern had as yet not
solidified in.T (£32m appears almost as often before consonants
as does £33), the fact that the T editor changed Y'igg before
vowels in every instance to £39m is sufficient evidence that
assimilation was responsible at least in part for the difference

of forms.25

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
From occurs to the exclusion of fro in these plays. How-
ever, the incidence of from is limited to just two examples in

each play, all occurring before consonants.

III. Interpretation of Data

The nine substitutions of T £32m.for Y £33 in otherwise
identical lines may be regarded as evidence of a significant
linguistic difference between the two cycles. Apparently,

from was not employed in the Y area, whereas the T redactor

 

24
25

See below under "Interpretation of Data."

For examples of Y fro : T from before vowels, see TP 416 :

YP hos; TR 442 ?‘Yh 327.

 

 

 

138

used it frequently, though not to the exclusion.of £33. Since,
however, the form £39 was only retained in the borrowed plays
when it preceded consonants, we can be sure that to some
extent the modern West Riding usage which demands "£33 before
consonants, iggm_before vowels"26 was responsible for the
divided usage in the T plays. In modern East Riding speech,
on the other hand, the form is still customarily igg, though
an unhistoric X is frequently added to it (and to all other
prepositions which end in a vowel) when following words begin-
ning with a vowel.27 The exclusive occurrence of 332/333 in the
Y plays, therefore, is consonant with East Yorkshire practice,
and the difference of usage between the two cycles, as a whole,
may lend support to the theory that the T plays originated in
the West Riding.28

Within the T cycle, usage, in general, conforms to the
pattern of the borrowed T plays. ‘Eggm occurs as the majority
form in all the plays that I have examined, and Egg never
appears before vowels. The Wakefield Master, for example, em-
ploys only'iggm before vowels29 and £39 as a minority form be-
fore consonants.30 In rime, all the plays use £39 exclusively,

but, since there is considerably more opportunity for rimes in

 

26 J. Hanson Green, "A Survey of the Yorkshire Dialect," p. 185.
27 Hoy, s.v. "fra, prep."
28

However, one must not assume that the assimilative pattern
occurred exclusively in the West Riding; Chaucer, for ex-
ample, used it. See, Ten Brink, Chaucers Sprache und Egg-
skunst, p. 67.

29 See Noah, lh6, 205; .E Shepherds' 51, 351.

30 See Noah, 301; i Shepherds', th; ii Shepherds', 265, 526,
536’ 639, 742, etc.

139

3 than in 93531 rime evidence in this case may not be a
reliable test of native preference. For this reason, and
because of the assimilation within the line, I regard as in-
accurate Trusler's conclusion, based primarily on rime usage,
that the Master's preferred form was £32.32

To summarize:

l. The frequent incidence of T £32m for Y 339 in identical
lines may be regarded as a significant linguistic dif-
ference between the two cycles.

a. T approximates the assimilative pattern of £32 be-
fore consonants and £32m before vowels of modern
West Riding speech.

b. Y reflects East Riding speech by employing £32 ex-
clusively.

2. Within T there are no significant differences of usage.
a. All plays examined for this study employ £39m as

a majority form within the line and £32 as the ex-
clusive rime form.

b. Fro appears only before consonants.

IV. Linguistic Background

The doublets £39 and 33953 may be traced to Icel. 333’ and
O.E. fggm, respectively. According to BjBrkman, the local
distribution of £39 in Middle English is the same as that of

most Scandinavian loan-words,33 and Morsbach specifies that the

7*—
3 p. 81.

33 p. 101.

 

 

 

 

 

lko

form was foreign to the South, occurring in the London doc-
uments, for example, only because of the influence of the
Northern dialects.3u However, since £32 was an intrusive fea-
ture in Middle English, one cannot accept it as a criterion of
the so-called Northern dialect.

In Standard Modern English, £32 survives only adverbially
in the expression "to and fro," but as a preposition it occurs

frequently from Derby and Lincolnshire to the North.35
Gar : Cause

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays
Though both Y and T employ gar in identical lines, usage

of the form in T is much more restricted than in Y. In

addition to the three examples of gar in identical lines,36

there are five instances of gar in Y which are either omitted

37

or changed to cause or makg in the identical T plays.

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
The Caesar Augustus contains two examples of gar within

the line (gar serche, 184, and gar cry 18?), but it also em-

3
p. 42.

35 Wright, The Epglish Dialect Dictionary, s.v. "fro.
3

3

fl

See TD 240 : YD 252; TH 20 : YH 20; TH 352 : YH 334.

See YP 127, 308; YH 14k, 164, 199. or these instances, the
correspondence of Y ar H 164 : T cause H 167 is particu-
larly noteworthy because the identical line in the Gospel
of Nicodemus contains g2; (Galba MS. 1. 1336) and there-
fsre agrees with the Y reading. See ihg Middle English

Harrowin 2; Hell and Gos e1 23 Nicodemus, ed. W am H.
Hfilme, EETS ES No. 150 ZLondon, l§07), p. 107.

1m

ploys cause (1. 86) in the sense of gar on one occasion. In

contrast, the Talents contains neither form.

III. Interpretation of Data

The incidence of gar throughout the T cycle38

added to the
examples already cited from the borrowed plays and the Caesar
Augustus provides proof that the form was used, at least occa-
sionally, in the area where the T plays were produced. However,
the frequent substitutions and omissions in identical lines of
Y and T indicate that ggg was a minority form in the T cycle.
Since the form is basically Northern even today,39 one may re-
gard the incidence in the identical plays as evidence that T,
in this case, does not reflect as much contact with regional
speech as does Y.

The absence of gap from the Talents may not necessarily

be significant inasmuch as the form occurs seldom throughout

the cycle, the opportunities for its use being few.

IV. Linguistic Background
The form gag, used most frequently with a following in-
finitive in the sense 'to cause one to do something, or some-
thing to be done,‘ is considered in general a Northern Middle
English dialect word, adapted from Old West Scandinavian rva
or O.N. gégg.uo According to Tolkien, it belonged especially

to the vocabulary of Yorkshire, Northumbria and Scotland,

 

38 Seg, for example, Cain uh, ii Shepherds' 610, and Crucifixion
59-

39 Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, s.v. "gar.
0
4 See Bj8rkman, pp. 151-52.

"

 

 

 

 

 

 

flIIIII7_________________________________________________________________________f’
142

though it occurred also at times in Nottingham and Lincoln-
shire.41 At the present time, according to Hoy, it is em-

ployed quite regularly in the East Riding of Yorkshire."2
Forms of 22 £3

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

As is true of most Middle English texts, the verb 22 gg
was represented by various forms in the identical Y and T
plays. g2, EEXBd and ggpg are used as infinitives and in the
present tense; 3233,12gg and yggg appear in the past tense,
and gggg and wgpi are the common forms for the past participle.
While examples of all these forms can be found in the identical
plays of Y and T, the frequency with which they are employed
varies substantially in the two cycles. The following chart

will facilitate a specific comparison of usage between Y and T.

 

YORK TOWNELEY
Rime Line Rime Line

Inf. & Pres. Tense
52 8 Z 10 16
weypd 6 5
gang 5 3 3 -
Pret. Tense
went 2 1 2 l

ede 2 l 3 -
yode l — l 1
Past Participle

gone 1 3 2 5
went h 3 h -

 

 

The most noticeable detail in the above columns is no

doubt the shift in T toward g2 as the majority form in the

p. 43.

s.v. 'gar.'

,

.p

i

 

 

 

 

 

 

lIIIIIII___________———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————*I
1113

present tense. To a large extent, this development is the
result of the three direct substitutions of T g3 for Y gggg
within the line"Jr3 and of the two occasions when T removes ggpg
from rime.4u Another interesting change is that of Y wgpi as

a participle to T gone within the line.45

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

The number of forms for 32 gg is considerably smaller in
these plays than in the identical Y and T plays. In the pre-
sent tense gg is strongly in the majority both in the Caesar
Augustus and the Talents, while the incidence in the preterit

is limited to one example of yode (TC 146). There are no ex-

amples of past participles.

 

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS

Rime Line Rime Line
Inf. & Pres. Tense
53 2 3 1+ A
we nd 1 1 - l
agane - l - -
Pret. Tense
yode l - - -

 

III. Interpretation of Data
While the Modern English form g2 has majority status in

the language of all the plays that I have examined,ubsome

K3 See TD 216 : YD 228; TD 233 : YD 245; TH 127 : YH 144.
See TH 325 : YH 303; TR 78 : YR 56. In the latter instance,
T substitutes an entirely different rime syllable (T gyde,
syde, wyde, tyde : Y gang, emang, wrang, hange).
45 See TP 391 : YP 380; TP 398 : YP 387.
In addition to the evidence already cited, one may note that

the Wakefield Master employs the form.g2 eleven times in
rims and thirty times within the line n the Noah, i

Shepherds' and Buffettng plays.

 

 

i
i.
U
U
i I
I
I
l
[*l
E

 

144

rather important distinctions arise among the several plays
in their employment of variants for 53. The following pecu-
liarities are, in my estimation, the most noteworthy:
l. Egpg, occurring quite frequently in Y, is retained only
occasionally as a rime form in the identical lines of the bor-
rowed T plays. The three changes from Y gggg to T 52 within
the lines of the identical plays may be of special significance,
since they could well indicate that the T redactor, when not
hampered by the difficult task of changing entire rime sequences,
regularly resorts to gg, apparently his accustomed form. Per—
haps, also,his preference for g2 is manifested by the afore-
mentioned changes of two rimes involving the verb 5225 in the
Y cycle.
The rest of T, too, contains only a limited incidence of
ggpg. Within the line, I found it employed only once in the
entire cycle (Buffeting 450). In rime, on the other hand, it
occurs a total of twenty times, excluding the incidence in
the borrowed plays.47 When one considers that -gpg was a re-
latively popular rime syllable, one can perhaps explain the ‘
otherwise enigmatic contrast between forms occurring in rime 1
and within the line. 1
However, in spite of the less frequent incidence of gggg
in T than in Y, one must not overlook the fact that both cycles
use it as a minority form. Since ggpg is identified basically

as a Northern dialect word,48 both texts reveal contact with

E; For a complete list, see Rolf Kaiser, p. 133.

48 NED, s.v. "gang, v.1."

 

145

Northern speech, though T not so prominently as Y.
2. Way d is a minority form of some standing in the

identical Y and T plays. In the Caesar Augustus and the Talents,

 

 

however, it occurs rarely, while the plays of the Master that

I have examined (Nggh, i She herds', and Buffeting) never em-
ploy it. Quite clearly, therefore, the usage of the identical
Y and T plays in this case differs from that of the other plays
in T.

3. W223 as a preterit form occurs with relative frequency
in the identical Y and T plays, although Eggs/19313 appear some-
what more often. Curiously, however, the other T plays that
I have examined contain not a single example of ESEE’ either as
a preterit or as a past participle."9

Used as a past participle, 3223 occurs as the majority
form in the five Y plays. The identical lines of T, on the
other hand, retain $222 as a participle only in rime, while
within the line T customarily substitutes g22_. The fact that
the participle 3223 appears only in rime may be explained in
the same manner as the retention of ggpg in rime: substitutions
in rime involve more difficulties than changes within the line.
Comparison with the rest of T is unfortunately not possible,
since past participles of g2 are not employed in the other plays
that I have examined.

To summarize:

1. The identical Y and T plays differ from the Caesar

E9—_-""

In the Master's stanzas yode is the regular rime form (see,
for example, ii She herds' 183, 503, 506; Buffeting 312;
Jud ment 551), while yede occasionally appears within the
line le.g. ii She herds' 367).

 

1116

Augustus, the Talents and the Master's plays in their
relatively frequent usage of 32129 as a present tense
form and EEEE as an alternate preterit form.

2. The five Y plays differ from all the T plays that I
have examined by employing ggpg, within the line, as
an alternate present tense form and 3223, within the
line, as a participle.

a. In rims, gggg is occasionally employed throughout
the T cycle, though its appearance in rime position
may well be explained on the basis of convenience.

b. Both cycles show contact with a generally Northern

dialect by using gang as a variant of g3.

IV. Linguistic Background;

-The various forms of 32 gg employed by the Y and T plays

can be traced principally to four stems in Old English:

1. ME g2“OE gig, an anomalous verb.

2. ME giggi<OE ggngan, a reduplicating verb.

3. ME wgygg“OE wendan, a first class weak verb, originally
meaning £2 Eggp and eventually giving rise to the pre-
terit wggi.

A. ME yggg, nggg‘OE §ggg, the suppletive preterit form
of the verb 552'

Already in Old English, a certain amount of confusion

existed between the verbs gép and ggngan, since both could
use the preterit £283, in spite of the fact that ggngan had
its own preterit form.g§22g.50 The conjugation of g2 was further

50 See James W. Bright, An lo-Saxon Reader, rev. by James R.
E75, p. i

Hulbert (New York, 19 xv1.

1A7

complicated around the beginning of the 13th century by the
addition of 3325(3 as a preterite form.51 Moreover from Old
English times on, the infinitive wendan assumed more and more
the general meaning of g2, so that by the Middle English per-
iod, gg(g, ESEQ(£E and ggpg(gp became virtual synonyms. Even-
tually, of course, both gggg(gg and 2229(22 were replaced by
gg, though gggg for a long time remained the standard infini-
tive and present tense form in the North.52

Similarly, standardization of went in the preterit was
achieved after the turn of the sixteenth century when the
older suppletives 1292 and yggg generally disappeared.53

According to Mossé: went first appeared in the North and grad-

ually moved through the Midlands to the South.5)+

mums:
I. Incidence in the corresponding Y and T Plays

Usage of the plural near-demonstrative is strikingly dis-
similar in the Y and T Plays. The following table records the

incidence of thise and ther in the corresponding plays:

 

YOR'K“ TOWNE" LEY
thise (thyse, hes, pis) h 12
ther (per, par) 11 -

 

The forms thise and ther are used only as demonstrative adjec-

tives and never appear in rime.

El NED, s.v. "wend, v."
52 NED, s.v. "gang, v.1"
5'3 NED, s.v. "80."

5“- p. 860

 

1h8

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

The T Caesar Augustus and Talents plays corroborate the

 

 

evidence from the five borrowed plays in T. Nowhere does the
form ther appear. In contrast, thise occurs three times within

the line in the Caesar Augustus and five times within the line

 

in the Talents.
III. Interpretation of data
Even though the forms Epigg and £233 fail to appear in

rime in the corresponding Y and T plays, the consistent usage
of thigg in the T MS would indicate that ihgg was not in the
active vocabulary of the T author(s). This inference is sup-
ported particularly by the uniform practice in T of substitut-
SS

ing ihigg for £223 in otherwise identical lines. Moreover,
3233 does not appear in the other plays of the T cycle. Pre-
vious studies have already noted the disparate usage of ihigg
and Egg; in the two cycles.56

While the form 3323 does not appear in T, the Wakefield

Master occasionally makes use of tho57

- a form which does not

occur in the five borrowed plays or the Caesar Augustus and

 

Talents. However, he uses tho only in rime, whereas th se,

W

See for example:

There sawes, als haue I cele (YD 261)
Thise sawes, as haue I ceyll (TD 2&9).

56 See Kaiser, p. 135 (though one might note the inaccuracy of

Kaiser's word count in Y, where he found only eight in-
stances of ther when the five plays here examined alone
yield eleven citations); and Trusler, p. 21.

57 Ibid., p. 69.

 

149

8

.22222 and‘ipggg appear regularly within the line.5 Because
the T plays that I have examined exclude Epigg from rims,

no proof exists that the Wakefield usage differed from that

of the other groups in the cycle.

The variant £223 appearing predominantly in the Y group
is undoubtedly a dialectal by-form, used frequently in York-
shire. Modern records indicate that igig is still employed
in parts of Yorkshire.59 More than likely, at the time the Y
plays were composed, both forms were in the vocabulary of some
speakers, while others, regardless of precise geographic loca-
tion, used one or the other form exclusively.60 Quite probably
usage of EQEEE or Egg; in the North was a matter of personal
taste.

One may conclude that the T usage of Epigg to the exclusion
of 3223 is not nearly so significant as the disparity in the
usage of Y and T. The regular change from Y.2§2£ to T.£El§2
is no doubt deliberate, occasioned by the T editor's unfamili-
arity with the form.

IV. Linguistic background

The NED identifies iii; as a Scottish and Northern form
and provides the following background information: "the intro-
duction of the word app. coincided with the change of Eéé in

the north from being plural of this to being synonymous with

 

g8 Ibid., p. 69.
S9

6 Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, s.v. "thir."
O

In Minot's poems, for example, both forms occur. (See The
Poems g; Laurence Minot, ed. Joseph Hall, p. xvi).

150

‘pé, pl. of Ehg:...The earliest evidence is that of Cursor
.EEEQE and the northern works of 1300-1350, in which‘hgg and
‘pg appear as plural of Epgi, and igig in various spellings
is the established plural of ihigfél The origin of the word
is likely Scandinavian (cf. ON‘pgig,‘2£gg 'those'). However,
some have suggested the combination of pg with g§£ (i.e. "the
here" or "those here") as the etymology of‘gggg.62 Nonetheless,
conclusive evidence on the origin of the form is not available.
Even in the earliest records, ihig seems to be a dialec-
tal variant. Oakden, for example, in his examination of lo-
calized texts found the form.i§i£ only in the Bruce, Rolls
and the York Plays. He considers it Scottish and Northern,
while Epigg he labels non-dialectal.63 Wright adds that the
spellings pig; pigg are special Midland forms which "remained
in these dialects until about 1500, by which time they had
been supplanted by‘pégg..."6h According to this criterion, T
would have to be dated at least in the late fourteenth century,
since both spellings appear in the cycle. At best, however,
this is a very unreliable criterion because only orthography
is taken into account.
I have already mentioned the modern occurrence 0f.22$£ in
Yorkshire as a dialectal by-form. 0n the basis of the available

evidence, therefore, one can freely assume that thir, even in

 

bi NED, 80V.- "thirfle
62

Loc. cit.
63 Oakden, 30.
Wright, ApiElementary Middle English Grammar, p. 171.

151

the Middle English period, was a dialect form generally re-
stricted to the Northern region, where, however, thise was

used concurrently.

Unztill : UnZto

I. Incidence in the Identical Y and T Plays

The Modern.English preposition £2 and the conjunction
iii; are at times interchanged in the identical Y and T plays.
Incidence of these forms and their compounds is shown in the

following table:

 

 

 

Yfifiif ‘TEWNEEEY”“
Rime Line Rime Line
Preposition 5 h
un(till 13 12
‘§§?E3" 1 - 10 2 12
Con unction
un(till - 6 - 2
arias - 2 - 6

 

The most noticeable difference of usage between Y and T
revealed in this chart is the preference in T for the conjunc-
tion.2gl§g in place of Y unZtill. This substitution takes place
a total of five times in identical lines,65 although on one

occasion T substitutes the simple conjunction till for'Y‘gg

 

5?

A typical example of this substitution is contained in the
following lines:

My lord, this care wyll euer encrese,
£2 moyses haue his folk to leyd (TP 3M1-2);

My lord, his care will euere encrese
Tille Moyses have leve pan to lede (YP 327-8).

For the remaining instances, see TP 391 : YP 380; TP
411 : YP too; TD 196 : YD 208; TD 20h : YD 216.

 

152

(TR 286 : YR 428). Once the identical lines both contain iii;
(TH 2h : YH 24) and once 23 (TR 182 : YP 155). The absence of
rime forms is probably best explained by the fact that iiii and’
32 as conjunctions always introduce subordinate clauses and
therefore must occur in the beginning or middle of lines.

7 As prepositions, iiii and 32 are almost evenly distributed
in the identical lines of the two cycles. Discounting for the
moment the heavy preference for iiii in rime, one would assume
that a somewhat indiscriminate divided usage, suggestive of a
border dialect, accounted for this distribution. However, a
closer examination of the context in which these forms appear
demonstrates that they do not fall accidentally once here and
once there, that to the contrary a very definite assimilative
pattern (still to be observed in modern Yorkshire speechéé)
determined the choice of iiii or 32. For example, in neither
cycle is the preposition iiii followed by a word which begins
with a consonant except h-. Altogether, there are ten in-
stances in each cycle where iiii precedes a word beginning
with a vowel or h-, while nine times 32 precedes a word begin-
ning with a consonant. The only exception to the rule is the
occurrence of 22 before a vowel, appearing three times in
each cycle.67 Curiously, this combinative pattern does not pre-

vail when 22 and till are used as conjunctions.

See below under "Interpretation of Data."

However, the three instances of T to plus vowel are substi-
tuted for Y till (TD 26h : YD 275? TH 175 : YH 172, and
TH 386 : YH 370) while the opposite change is made for T
in the three instances of 32 plus vowel in Y (TD 129 :

YD 157; TR 107 : YR 82, and TR 5h3 : YR ulat

153

II. Incidence in the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
The incidence in these plays stands in marked contrast to
that of the identical Y and T plays.

CAESAR AUGUSTUS TALENTS
Rime Line Rime Line

 

 

 

Preposition
33.14) till 1 - 2 l
sass - 19 3 26

 

 

Aside from.the total absence of the conjunctions 22 and
till, these plays differ most noticeably from the identical Y
and T plays in their almost universal preference for the prepo-

sition 23. For this reason, no combinative pattern exists.

III. Interpretation of data

The previous discussion has made clear that propositional
usage of iiii and 33 is essentially alike in the identical Y
and T plays, but that conjunctive usage differs with T prefer-
ring 23 and Y, iiii. The reason for the distinction can only
be conjectured, though possibly dialect preference may have
determined the forms in the two cycles. The conjunction Egiii
needs hardly to be identified as an original Northern form
which gradually supplanted 2222 in the other dialect areas.68
While no precise information on the provenience of the two forms
has thus far been accumulated, the situation in the identical
Y and T plays may well reflect this dialect distinction, with
T, as usual, showing an affinity toward the emerging standard
and Y representing regional speech. However, the fact that the

two cycles treat prepositional £2 and till alike argues against

 

68 NED, s.v. "until."

154

this explanation. Perhaps, therefore, the distinction may be
the result of an individual or local preference. Similarly
nebulous is the cause of the assimilative pattern involving
prepositional usage of £2 and iiii. Perhaps, too, this trait
may be explained as a dialect feature, particularly since both
the East and West Ridings of Modern Yorkshire still maintain

the distinction of till (or tiv) before vowels and 22 before

 

Consonants.69 But one must bear in mind that in Middle English
the same combinative pattern extended far outside the limits of
Yorkshire. Chaucer, for example, used it.70

The incidence of prepositional iiii and 22 in the Caesar
Augustus, the Talents and the Wakefield Master's stanzas is
clearly at variance with that in the identical Y and T plays.

I have already noted that the Caesar Augustus and the Talents

 

use the preposition_£9 almost exclusively. The Master's stanzas
which I have examined employ £2 uniformly within the line but
till as a majority form in rime.71 Needless to say, the assimi-

lative pattern of the identical Y and T plays does not prevail

fl
'9 J. Hanson Green, "A Survey of the Yorkshire Dialect," 185.
7° e.g. til occident (1. 297) and to folk, 32 my (11.313 and 322)

of "The Man of Law's Tale" in The Text 2; the Canterbury
Tales, III.
71

This summary statement is based on the usage of till and 32
in the Noah, Second She herds' and Buffetin plays, all of
which contain exclusiveEy the Master‘s nine-line stanzas.
In all, I found 95 examples of the preposition 33 within
the line, and 5 examples of till as opposed to one of 32
in rime. In view of this data, Margaret Trusler's state-
ment that usage of till and to within the line is evenly
divided is untrustworthy as is her statement that in rime
to outnumbers till. To form the latter conclusion, she in-
Eluded examples of to as a sign of the infinitive (e.g.
Noah 236) and of ModErn English too (e.g. She herds' ii 237)
neither of which are involved in-this correspondence.

 

 

 

 

 

155

in any of these plays. In the prepositional usage of the forms
‘22 and iiii, therefore, one may find a genuine difference with-
in the T cycle. The argument that a scribe is responsible for
the many examples of 23 in the Master's stanzas and the Caesar
Augustus and Talents appears to be invalid on the grounds that
the same scribe did not substitute 23 for iii; in the identical
T plays. More than likely, in this case the editor of the
borrowed T plays was influenced quite strongly by the language
of his source.

This was not the case, however, in the conjunctional usage
of 22131;; and‘gg)£g. In this instance, the plays within the
T cycle show more similarity to one another than the identical
Y and T plays do. The Wakefield Master prefers gg)§g, employ-
ing it no less than 7 times opposed to h instances of iiii.72
In the identical plays, we recall T similarly prefers 32 over
iii; by a margin of 6 to 2, while Y employs 33 twice and‘giii
6 times.

Finally, a word should be said about the preference for
prepositional iii; in the rimes of all the plays except the
Talents. At first glance, this peculiarity might be interpre-
ted as a sign that iiii is the preferred form.in both cycles.
More likely, however, rime position determined the choice of
form, inasmuch as iiii was apparently for a time the stressed

form of the preposition.73 Certainly the proper explanation is

 

vngor examples of to see Noah 381, M98, II Shepherds' 279,

280,333, A68; Mfetin 192. Till occurs n‘ii Sh -
herds' 279: 463 3}_E75:-E7§0 -—.B’

73 Walter W. Skeat, AnE ological Dictionary_ of the English
Language, 8. v. tit

156

not that till was a handier rims-word than.tg, since the
identical Y and T plays contain only twelve rimes on the
syllable fill while there are sixteen instances of rimes in-
volving ~3.

To summarize:

1. The identical Y and T plays differ from all the other
plays that I have examined in their relatively even
distribution of the prepositions 32 and till within
the line.

a. The choice of form apparently depends upon phonetic
context, with 22 preceding consonants and till pre-
ceding vowels.

b. This assimilative pattern could be interpreted as a
Yorkshire peculiarity, since the modern dialects of
the East and West Ridings choose 22 and till on the
same basis.

2. A11 plays, except the Talents, agree in their preference

 

for the preposition till in rime.
3. The Y plays differ from all the T plays by employing
the conjunction un)till as a majority form, whereas

the preferred form in T is uniformly 2§)£g.

IV. Linguistic Background

The prepositional use of til; in the sense of 32 can
be traced largely to the influence of Scandinavian, but
there is no positive proof that the preposition was ulti-

mately of Scandinavian origin. The fact is that till occurs

157

long before the Middle English period, a notable example appear-
ing in Caedmon's Hymn presumably written during the first half
of the eighth century.72+ It is on the basis of this example
that O.F. Emerson argues an English origin for the word.75 How-
ever, Emerson fails to consider the fact that Caedmon's Hymn
was written in the Northumbrian dialect,76 which even in the
Old English period might have been in contact with Scandinavian.
Because of this possibility, we cannot with any certainty as-
cribe the original form of ME.£$$$ to one or the other language.
As BJBrkman points out, "It is often very difficult to decide
what is to be called a loan-word and what is only a native word
influenced by Scandinavian."77

Regardless of its origin, till did not come into prominent
usage until the Middle English period, and it is undoubtedly
for this reason that Skeat, for example, lists it as a Middle
English form.78 That Egg; was the preferred form in the North
can be demonstrated by its consistent appearance in such works

79

as Barbour's Bruce and the poems of Laurence Minot.80 Never-

 

7E The Oldest English Texts, ed. Henry Sweet, EETS OS 83 (Oxford,

’13- e
75 History.g£ the Langugge, p, 155.
7 .222 gigggt En lish Texts, p. 1&8.

77 pe 13 ne 2e

78 Walter W. Skeat, An Et olo ical Dictionary 3; the English
Language, s.v. "till.“

79 John Barbour, The Bruce,‘g§ the Book of the Most Excellent

and Noble Prince Robert 92 Broyes, King of Scots, ed.
Walter W. Skeat, Scottish Text Society, 31-33 (Edinburgh,

189A), passim.
80 p. xviii et passim.

158

theless the dialect boundaries of 32;; cannot be accurately
drawn, since we may find the word with some frequency in Mid-
land works as well.81

ME EEEEl’ used either as a conjunction or a preposition,
is derived from O.N. or O. Fries. Egg (meaning‘gp'tg, 33 £33

82 Originally, the compounded form

33) prefixed to ME,E$$£°
served as a preposition,83 much as MnE 2323 still does. But
gradually 222$; emerged as a conjunction in the Northern dialects
and as such it gained ascendancy and became accepted usage in
the Received Standard. It should be noted, however, that in
the Middle English period, a variant combining the prefix 229
and OE 22 (2329) developed as a doublet of the preposition and
conjunction gatil. .2222 is not found in Anglo-Saxon but has a
history at least as old as, if not older than, gg£$;.8u

On the basis of the evidence presented by Middle English
texts and the omission of classification in dialect studies such
as those by J. P. Oakden and MMW, one must conclude that at
least after the beginning of the fourteenth century, and perhaps
earlier, the doublets till :|§g andlggtil :‘3229 were used side
by side. It is true that the evidence for till is stronger in
the North than it is in the Midlands, but we must remember that

‘33 is not used in the Yorkshire dialects before words beginning

 

‘BT The Ormulum, Havelock and The Canterbur Tales contain fre—
BJBrEfian,

quent examples according to
82 NED, s.v. "until."
83 loc. cit.

8h'Skeat, An Etymological‘Qictionary‘gf the English.Language,

s.v.'"3nto.

159

with a consonant and that until, the conjunction which stems
from the North, is now the accepted from in the Received

Standard.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

160

 

 

 

 

161

I. Summary of the Data

A. Characteristics that all plays have in common

1.
2.

16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

21.
22.

Exclusive use of /e/, /e:/ for the umlaut of OE 35,
‘Eg, and for GE e after initial palatals

Use of initial'7f to the exclusion of /v/
Majority use of i/, /i:/ for OE‘I,‘§

Majority use of e/, /e:/ for OE gg,Ԥg

Exclusive use of them, ther(g

Exclusive use of 7a? before‘m.or‘g for OE

Majority use of inflectional fig’in the third person
present singular of verbs

Exclusive use of /a before -nd for OE a/o
Occasional use of k instead-3f /t$ /

Exclusive use of d (<OE d) before -er

Divided use of /p/, /d/ (40E ) before—133
Majority use of final /x/, /9 ( OE h)

Occasional loss of the vowel in the'Inflectionsl
suffixes egg, -es

Exclusive retention of /9/ before 13

Exclusive loss of inflectional 13 in the infinitive
Exclusive retention of inflectional :2 in past
participles of strong verbs

Majority use of inflectional 13 in the second person
present singular of verbs

Regular extension of the preterit singular vowel to
the plural in ablaut verbs

Exclusive use of the first person nominative pronoun
I in stressed and unstressed position

‘Divided use of 13 and -(3)§ endings in the genitive
singular of nouns

Majority use of plural 13 in nouns

Majority use of i3 and 33 (total absence of be , 23g,
arn

B. Characteristics peculiar to individual plays and groups
of plays

1.

Distinctive elements of the five Y plays

a. Frequent use of sall for shall; occasional use
of suld for shui'a‘" ..........

b. Regu ar use of inflectional -(g)§ in the present
plural of verbs when the subject is a personal
pronoun removed from the verb, or a noun in any
position

c. Occasional use of /a:/ within the line

d. Absence of initial h- for emphasis

e. Majority use of k/-instead of /tS/

f. Retention of /x in no ht

g. Exclusive use of dede or deth

h. Regular use of inflectional -{313 in the imper-
ative plural when the subject pronoun does not
follow or precede directly

2.

7.

162

i. Frequent use of impersonal verbs (esp. list)

J. Use of als for as

k. Occasiona use 3? er for 33

1. Occasional use of Egg

m. Exclusive use of fro

n. Occasional use witEIn the line of a in the
present and went as a past particip e

0. Use of ther for thise

p. Majority use of Egitill as a conjunction

Distinctive elements of the identical T plays
none

Distinctive elements of the T Caesar A ustus
a. Exclusive use of /a:/ for OEIg In sggnificant
rimes

Distinctive elements of the Talents

a. Exclusive use of present participial suffix 713g
in rime

b. Exclusive use of shall and shuld

c. Absence of present plurals in -s

d. Exclusive use of /5:/ for OE‘E'in distinctive

rimes
e. Majority use of the preposition £3 for till in
rime ""

f. Absence of gar

Distinctive elements of the Master's stanzas

a. Divided use of the present participial suffixes
-and and :13g in rime

b. Majarity use of /3:/ for OE‘g in significant
rimes

c. Occasional use of u for 1h

d. Occasional disylla c rimes involving 129, 125

e. Occasional use of not in rime with -ot

f. Indiscriminate use‘ET TEE and 13 in'tfie impera-
tive plural

g. Occasional use of als for also

h. Regular rime of ingTth 113

1. Absence of weygd

j. Occasional use of £22 for thise in rime

 

Characteristics found only in the identical Y and

T plays

a. Majority use of /a:/ for OE g in significant
rimes

b. Occasional use of /e/, /e:/ for OE y,‘2

c. Use of Went as a preterit form of g2

d. Divided use of 22 and till according to phonetic
context

Characteristics found only in the identical Y and
T plays and the Caesar Augustus

 

163

a. Exclusive use of the present participialsuffix
-and in rime
b. Exglusive use of /a:/ for OE‘g before :9
c. Use of no ht to the exclusion of £23 in rime
d. Regular r%me of £3 with 1g§
8. Characteristics found only in the identical T plays
and the Talents
a. Majority use of :3 in the imperative plural
9. Characteristics found only in the identical T plays
and the Wakefield Master's stanzas
a. Occasional use of‘wh spellings for‘gg
10. No common distinctive characteristics in:
a. The Caesar Au stus and the Talents
b. The Caesar Kggustus and the Master's stanzas
c. The Talents and the Master's stanzas
d. The identical Y plays and the Caesar Augustus

e. The identical Y plays and the Talents
f. The identical Y plays and the Master's stanzas

II. The Geographical Dialect of the Plays

Since a thorough dialect analysis of undated and unloca-
lized Middle English texts is rendered impossible by the
absence of a sufficient number of documented criteria, the
following conclusions on the dialect usage and the proveni-
ence of the individual plays depend almost entirely on the
eleven isophones drawn by MMW. Such a limitation is neces-
sary if the conclusions of this study are to be reliable. How-
ever, in order to supply the fullest justification for these
conclusions, I shall also summarize the evidence of those
characteristics which are generally accepted as regionalisms
though they have not been sufficiently documented. The fol-
lowing survey, therefore, is comprised of the total dialect
evidence in the individual plays, but the interpretation of

the data is based largely on the MMW criteria.

 

ENGLAND AND
VV/\L_EIS

SCALE OF MILES

IO 20 30 40 50

 

 

 

Fig. I. M.E. Dialect Characteristics
(adapted from MMW, Map I).
See discussion below, pp. 165-166.

1611

A.

D.

G.

H.

165

Line K:1 Marginal limits for the present participle

in 12g.. At least the identical Y and T plays and the
Caesar Augustus, but possibly also the plays of the
Master and the Talents, reflect conditions in the mar-
ginal regions set off by the semi-circular isophone.
In the north, the isophone traverses the southern third
of West Yorkshire.

Line J: Northern limit for West Saxon umlauts of OE
35, fig, and diphthongization of 3 by initial palatals.
All plays reflect conditions north of the isophone.
Line I: Northern limit for initial 1 (for OE 3). All
plays reflect conditions north of the isophone.

Line H: Northern limit for 133g in the pres. pl. All
plays reflect conditions north of the isophone, but
see below, Line B.

Line G: Southern limit for -(3)§ in the third person
pres. sg. All plays reflect conditions north of the
isophone.

Line F: Eastern and northern limits for OE x, j, 32,
E2 retained as front round vowels. All plays reflect
conditions east and north of the isophone.

Line E: Northern limit of ham, ham and hgm (for 'them').
All plays reflect conditions north of the isophone.
Line D: Eastern limit for 2 retained before‘g or g.
All plays reflect conditions east of the isophone.

Line C: Southern limit for sal. Particularly the Y

W
1 See Fig. I for the areas marked off by the various isophones.

J.

K.

L.

166

plays, and to a much lesser extent the borrowed T
plays, the Caesar Augustus and the plays of the Master
reflect conditions north of the isophone. The Talents,
while containing no instances of gall, may reflect
conditions both north and south of the isophone.

Line B: Southern limit for -(gig in the pres. ind.

p1. Y quite clearly reflects conditions north of the
isophone, while the borrowed T plays, the Caesar Augus-
tus and the Wakefield Master, showing a preference for
levelled endings, may reflect conditions either north
or south of the line. The Talents, on the other hand,
may have originated south of the line, since it con-
tains no examples of inflectional -(g)g. Both cycles,
however, reflect conditions north of Line H.

Line A: Southern limit for OE‘E retained. The identi-
cal Y and T plays, the Caesar Augustus and the Master's
nine-line stanzas reflect conditions north of the line,
while the Talents reflects conditions south of the
line.

Undocumented Dialect Criteria

1. Northern or Northeast Midland Characteristics in
all plays:

a. Use of /a , /a:/ before -nd and -n , respectively

b. Occasionaé use of /k/ for'7tf/ ‘-3

c. Retention of /x/, /9/ in final position

d. Use of my, th before consonants and myan, thyan
before vowe s

e. Occasional loss of the vowel in the inflectional
suffixes -ed, 123

f. Use of /c/-before -t

g. Loss of inflectionaI -n in the infinitive

h. Retention of inflectional fig in past participle

167

of strong verbs (Absence of the i-, y- prefix
from the past participle)

1. Use of inflectional -(e)s in. the second person
present singular of verbs

J. Extension of the preterit singular vowel to the
plural in ablaut verbs
k. Majority use of plural -s in nouns; rare occur-

rence of -n plurals
1. Use of ar to the exclusion of be ben, arn
m. Exclusive use of fro in Y and t use flof-f_om
before vowels andfiEEg before consonants in T
n. Occasional use of gang

2. Northern or Northeast Midland characteristics in the

Y plays

a. Retention of /x/ in no ht

b. Regular use of inflect§onal -(e)s in the impera-
tive plural when the subject pronoun doesn't fol-
low or precede directly

c. Exclusive use of als for as

d. Use of es and er T6; is and are, respectively

e. Occasional use of bus.

f. Use of ther for these

3. Northern or Northeast Midland characteristics in
the identical Y and T plays
a. Use of un)to before consonants, un)till before
vowels“

h. Northern or Northeast Midland characteristics in the
stanzas of the Master
a. Occasional use of 33 for HQ

5. Northern or Northeast Midland characteristics com-

mon to groups of plays

a. Use of dede,for deth in all plays but the Talents

b. Use of uninflected genitives in the identical Y
and T plays and the stanzas of the Master

0. Use r in all plays but the Talents)

d. Occasiofiaf use of /d/ (: OE b) before -er (no ex-
amples from the Caesar Augustus or the Talents

 

 

A summary statement on dialect usage in these plays must
quite clearly be formulated on the basis of the characteris-
tics which appear in the plays, and not on those which are
absent. In other words, since the dialect boundaries do not
delineate the farthest extension of standard characteristics,

one could not, for example, argue a non-southern origin for a

............

168

document simply because it lacked pres. pl. forms in 33h or
initial 3 for 3. Many localized southern texts, in fact, re-
tain OE initial g to the exclusion of 1. On the other hand,
the appearance of initial 3 in a Middle English text, even as
a minority form, would almost certainly localize it south of
isophone H.

The most significant isophones for a dialect survey of
the Y and T plays, therefore are lines A, B, C, G, and K, each
of them marking off non-standard characteristics that appear
in one or more of the plays. Of these, only line G (pres. 3rd
sg. 125) is a clearly determined boundary for all the plays
that I have examined, since each of them contains ~33 as the
overwhelming majority suffix in pres. third person sing. verbs.
The T plays, therefore, almost certainly originated north of
a line extending from the southeast corner of Lincolnshire to
Chester. Line A (retention of OE E), the northernmost iso-
phone, is at least on the surface the southern limit for all

the plays except the Talents, since OE E is occasionally re-

 

tained in the identical Y and T plays, the Ceasar Augustus and
the Master's stanzas. Because the eastern portion of line A
coincides with the Humber River, a pure West Riding origin for
at least some of the T plays seems unlikely. The three remain-
ing isophones for regressive characteristics appearing in the
plays, line C (g2; for shall), line B (pres. plur. -es) and
line K (pres. participial find), all traverse the area between
isophones G and A, and therefore can add little information

to the geographical placement of the plays, though they help

169

to confirm a Northern or Northeast Midland home.

Individually, only the Y plays reflect conditions north
and east of all the MMW isophones. It is, of course, not sur-
prising that the regressive characteristics limited by lines
A, B, C, G and K should appear in a manuscript which is genu-
inely localized in East Yorkshire. The identical T plays and
the Caesar Augustus, though they contain no clear-cut evidence
for present plural inflectional -33 (Line B), may also be
placed north and east of all the MMW isophones. The situation
in the Talents, however, provides a startling contrast. Not
a single regressive characteristic north of line G can be found
in this play (i.e. the play contains no examples of gal, pres.
pl. -£§: OE é retained, or rime examples of participial -gg).

These data suggest strongly that the Talents is a pure North-

 

east Midland document, reflecting, in general, the language

of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire or Southwest
Yorkshire. The stanzas of the Master, on the other hand,
though lacking examples of present participial -gg (line K),
in general reveal the same dialect traits as the Caesar £2533-
tug and the plays borrowed from Y.

Dialect criteria other than those determined by MMW lend
support to these conclusions. Generally speaking, therefore,
all the dialect criteria indicate that both Y and T originated
in the Northern or Northeast Midland areas. Indeed not a
single regionalism peculiar to the other large dialect belts
occurs in either cycle with any regularity. The Y plays con-

tain more native Northern elements than any play within T,

170

although, except for one minor exception (the use of 33 for
‘gh in the Master's stanzas), all regionalisms found in the T
plays also occur in Y. In other words, whenever there are
differences in the dialect usage of the two cycles, Y is more
distinctly Northern than T. Of the individual plays in T, it
is again the Talents which contains the least number of North-
ern or Northeast Midland characteristics.

If the MMW isophones are accurate representations of Mid-
dle English dialects-and certainly they are the most reliable
criteria yet devised- the following conclusions on the origin
and dialect usage of the T cycle are warranted by the evidence
collected for this study:

(1) Wakefield could have been the home of the cycle, even
though remnants of Northern language appear in some plays.
Quite certainly, however, the plays that contain independent
examples of OE‘E were either originally borrowed from an area
north of the Humber or composed by a man who had linguistic
contact with that area. The former theory would at least in
part support Lyle's vieWpoint "that the York and Towneley
cycles were one and the same up to a certain period in the ver-
nacular stage,"2 or any scholarly statement that the T cycle
was compounded of plays borrowed from the vicinity. On the
other hand, the latter theory supports, for example, Trusler's
View that the Wakefield Master was an"eclectic Northern writer."3

(2) The Talents alone among the plays that I have examined

 

‘

2 The Original Identity 9; the York and Towneley Cycles, p. 3.
p. 180

w

171

could be a pure product of Wakefield. At any rate, it re-
flects without much question the language of the areas des-
ignated by MMW as Northeast Midland and Central East Midland.
(3) The linguistic differences between the Caesar Agggg-
£23 and the Talents are sufficient reason to guard against dia-

lect labels covering the entire cycle.

III. Composition and Growth of the T Cycle

The linguistic differences and similarities of the vari-
ous plays, besides serving as a means to determine the general
provenience of T, also shed some light on a few of the many ‘
problems connected with the composition and growth of the
cycle. The findings of this study are particularly useful in
testing previous hypotheses on the relationship between Y and
T, the relationship of the individual plays and groups of plays
and the approximate dates of composition for the various plays.
However, I should reiterate that the uncertainties attending
this study are such that the majority of its findings cannot
be accepted as incontrovertible proof.

A glance at the summary of the data will reveal that the
plays examined for this study contain many more similarities
than differences in language. On the surface, this fact may
suggest that all the plays were derived from the same source.
However, upon closer examination, one can attach only very
little significance to these similarities. Not a single one
of the twenty-two characteristics common to all plays can be
considered a peculiar usage by reason of dialect, date or in-
dividual preference. In fact, since virtually all of these

characteristics are distinctive elements of Northern or North-

172

east Midland speech, one would expect to find them not only
in‘Y and T, but in any document which originated in the north-
eastern part of England. Other traits, such as the consis-
tent appearance of the personal pronoun l, are features of
late Middle English which one would likewise expect to find
in a large number of texts. On the whole, therefore, the lin-
guistic similarities in these plays can tell us little about
the composition or the relationship of the two cycles.

On the other hand, some rather significant conclusions
are warranted by the differences outlined in the summary. Out
of the total number of thirty-seven characteristics subjected
to analysis, there are at least sixteen distinctive elements
in the Y plays, six in the Talents, and ten in the Master's
stanzas. The identical T plays, alone among those plays ex-
amined for this study, contain no distinctive linguistic fea-
tures, and the Caesar Augustus contains only one. Furthermore,
only the identical Y and T plays and the Caesar Aggustus have
a substantial number of characteristics in common that are
not found in the other plays of the T cycle. Significantly,
the Y plays have no characteristics in common with the Caesar
Augustus, the Talents, or the Master's stanzas which are not
also found in other plays. Likewise, the Talents and the
Caesar Augustus, the Talents and the Master's stanzas, and the
Caesar Augustus and the Master's stanzas contain no common
distinctive elements.

These findings lend support to the theory that the T

cycle is the product if not of different composers at least of

173

a number of different sources. Moreover, they show conclu-
sively that the Y and T cycles, in their present form, bear
less linguistic resemblance to each other than is often sup-
posed. Finally, they permit a number of generalizations con-
cerning the genesis and relationships of the individual plays
and groups of plays within T.

In the first place, only the identical T plays and the
Caesar Augustus are sufficiently alike to have been edited by
the same man. The language of these plays is virtually the
same, except that the Caesar Augustus contains one distinc-
tive element (the universal retention of CE g in rime), and
the borrowed T plays contain four characteristics which are
not found anywhere else except in Y (one of which, inciden-
tally, is the majority use of /a:/ for OE g in rimes.)u In
all other respects, these plays differ in the same manner
from the rest of T and the five Y plays. Conceivably, there-

fore, the Caesar Augustus, by reason of its dialect peculi-

 

arities, was borrowed from a cycle north of the Humber, though
not likely from Y, which according to Burton's lists never
contained a Caesar Augustus play. More likely it was adopted
by the T cycle at the same time as the five Y plays, inasmuch
as the date of its language is about the same as that of the
borrowed T plays and considerably later than that of Y.5 If
this theory is correct, the traditional stratification of the

T cycle must be revised considerably. Pollard, Hohlfeld,

E See above, p. 162.

See especially the data on impersonal verbs,pp.;108-ll3.

 

 

17A

Gayley and Cady, we recall, regard the Caesar Augustus, along
with all the other parts of the cycle written in‘gigg‘gggég,
the original layer to which the other plays of the cycle, in-
cluding those that were borrowed from Y, were added at a later
time. All of these scholars would assign a date prior to

the turn of the fifteenth century to this stratum of the cycle.
However, the linguistic evidence collected for this study
suggests a later date for the T Caesar Augustus than for the

Y plays which almost certainly date back to the fourteenth
century. It is true that the original of the Caesar Augustus
may be older than the Y plays, but the linguistic evidence of
the plays borrowed from Y and the Caesar Augustus as we have
them in the T MS. does not lend support to Pollard's strati-
fication. It does, in general, support the dating by Chambers,
Frampton and Williams, all of whom place the T plays in the
early part of the fifteenth century.

Another conclusion warranted by the findings of this study
concerns the relationship of the Talents to the other plays
and groups of plays in the T cycle. Evidently, the Talents
play in the T cycle is not, as Frampton contends, an edited
version of the lost Y play. I have already pointed out that
the dialect of the Talents differs from that of all other
plays examined for this study, since not a single one of the
recessive characteristics delineated by the three northernmost
isophones of the MMW study appears in this play. On these
grounds, I have labelled the Talents, unlike any other play,

purely Northeast Midland in its broad dialect features. If

 

175

it had been borrowed from the Y cycle between the years lulS
and 1&22, as Frampton suggests, why would it not, along with
the five T plays which were definitely taken from Y, contain
some examples of characteristics which appear north of these
isophones? Certainly, the explanation is not that the Talents
was a much later addition to the T cycle, since its language
is alike in virtually all elements except the MMW criteria
with that of the identical T plays. Nor is it likely that the
absence of the recessive characteristics can be blamed entirely
on an editor's predilection, since these recessive character-
istics appear neither within the line nor in rime. The prin-
ciple of editing, at least in the identical T plays, is to
substitute a Midland usage for a Northern one except in those

6

situations where the rims would suffer corruption. Quite
likely, the editor of the Talents would have employed the same
principle in his work. The most satisfactory explanation for
the distinctive dialect features of the Talents, therefore, is
that the play was not borrowed from Y, that instead, it may
well have been taken from one of the cycles in Lincolnshire,
perhaps even one in Norfolk. It is, of course, also possible
that the play was native to Wakefield or any other town in the
Northeast Midlands which might have been the home of the T
cycle. One possible clue to the geographic location of its

source is the reference by the third torturer to the town of

 

6 See, for example, the treatment of OE'E in the identical T
plays, pp. 27-29-

 

176

Lynn,7 which we must assume was close enough to the city in
which the play was performed to serve as a local allusion
that most people would understand. Since Norwich is located
less than forty miles from Lynn, it might have been the ori-
ginal home of the Talents. Norwich, of course, had a cycle,
though only one play, the Creation, is extant. However, if
the Talents came from Norwich, we would have to explain why
it contains dialect characteristics which were not native to
Norfolk in general. Conceivably these dialect features were
substituted as a result of the transfer to a more northerly
location, but the entire hypothesis is in need of fuller veri-
fication than I am prepared to provide for it in this study.
At any rate, whatever the ultimate source of the Talents
might have been, we can be reasonably sure that the Y cycle
was not its source, and, moreover, that its language as much
as its stanzaic structure is unique in T.

The findings of this study have a bearing on still another
portion of the T cycle-that ascribed on stanzaic grounds to
the Wakefield Master. The Master's language contains no less
than ten distinctive elements; however, by themselves these
characteristics are probably insufficient to serve as criteria
by which the Master's contributions to the cycle can be identi-
fied, because many of them occur rather infrequently. That
the Master is not the author of the entire Talents play is

attested much more conclusively by the distinctive elements in

 

7 I am the most shrew in all myn kyn,
That is from this towne vnto lyn (TAL 154-S).

177

the Talents, which are important, than the distinctive fea-
tures in the language of the Master, which are rather unim-
portant. I therefore offer as tentative the conclusion that
the nine-line stanzas are linguistically different from all
other strata of the T cycle. Though I have no evidence to
support my conviction, I believe that the major difference

of the Master's language from that of the other plays in the
cycle may be in his vocabulary. I have deliberately not under-
taken a vocabulary study because I could find no objective
criteria on the basis of which I could draw adequate conclu-
sions. But in my many perusals of the Master's lines, the
relative versatility and scope of the vocabulary never ceased
to amaze me. Perhaps, future studies can determine objectively
just what peculiarities of vocabulary are to be found in the
nine-line stanzas, but for the moment one must rely on the

too inclusive study by Trusler (which is based on material
taken partly from nine-line stanzas and partly from plays in
other stanzaic forms) and subjective considerations to deter-
mine what these peculiarities are.

Probably, the Master did serve as an editor of some plays
in the cycle which are not written in the nine-line stanza,
though this assumption also needs further verification. The
fact that the characteristic stanzas appear in one of the plays
definitely borrowed from Y (the Judgment) may be considered
evidence of the Master's function as editor. So would a number
of examples in the identical T plays which differ from Y but

which are found elsewhere only in the nine-line stanzas of T

178

8

cycle.
Finally, a word should be said about the relationship of
the Y and T cycles. Since the only play of those examined for
this study which could not have originated in York is the
Talents, I cannot positively prove or disprove Lyle's theory
of an original identity. The Talents, after all, was classi-
fied by Lyle in the sixth group of plays, or those which occur
in but one of the cycles. She allows, therefore, for a later
borrowing of this play, perhaps from a source other than Y.
Moreover, she explains that the differences in the two cycles
were caused by editorial revisions after the separation, which
occurred in approximately 1390. Possibly this theory is cor-
rect. But if it is, how would one account for the obvious dif-
ferences in the date of the language of'Y and T? We know from
Burton's lists that the Y cycle was definitely revised in the
fifteenth century. According to Lyle, such revisions also
took place in T. Why is it then, that the language of the T
cycle is so much more modern than that of Y? Surely, we would
have linguistic evidence of the revision as much in‘Y as in T
if Lyle's theory is sound. For this reason, I consider the
original identity theory less tenable than some of the other
theories which have been evolved on the composition of the T

cycle.

 

8 See, for example, the use of arra in the T Pharao play
(1. 377) and in the II Shepherds' play (1. 55H}.' Another
interesting correspondence is contained in the following
lines:

I shall sheld the from shame (TP 189), and
to sheld vs fro shame (Noah 301).

179

In the final analysis, a few general observations can
be made about the T plays as a result of this study. The
language is quite certainly that of the fifteenth century

Northeast Midlands, with all plays, except the Talents, show-

 

ing some traces of the dialect used north of the Humber. The
Y plays, in contrast, contain a great many more so-called
Northern elements and their language is generally earlier than
that of T. Moreover, the language in T supports the notion
that the cycle is a patchWork, probably composed of various
sources, perhaps of different editors. However, the language
in all the T plays examined for this study is of approximately
the same date. These statements, I feel confident, can be
accepted as fact.

In addition, certain conjectures seem reasonable in the
light of the data collected for this study. The T cycle was
probably assembled at Wakefield in the early years of the
fifteenth century. The individual plays were borrowings from
religious cycles performed in near-by communities, including
York. Of the plays examined for this study, the Caesar Aggg_-
Egg, one of the so-called early plays, was probably edited by
the man who also revised the five plays taken directly from
Y. A different man edited the Talents, which, however, was
not taken from a cycle north of the Humber. Finally, the Wake-
field Master almost certainly edited some of the plays which
do not contain nine-line stanzas but his influence on the parts

of the Talents written in rime couée and the peculiar seven-

 

line stanzas is negligible. Pending other studies, including

180

more comprehensive linguistic investigations, these conjec-
tures appear to me the mast acceptable explanations of the

provenience, composition, and growth of the T cycle.

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX

TABLE OF VARIANTS

181

182

Present Participle: Inflectional Ending

I.

II.

/f/

I.

In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. T -and : Y -and

TP 105 : YP 101; TP 353 : YP 3%3 (r. w. stand);

 

 

TD 244.: YD 256; TD 252 . YD 2 4 (r. w. vnderstonde);
TH 47 : YH 53 (r. w. vnderstand, T hand : Y land);
TH 58 : r. w. lande); TH 85 m7}; TR 481 :

YR 318; TJ 6438, 438W : YJ 279: 281 (r. w. hande,
stand).

B. T -yng : Y -and

TR 382 . YR 235.
C. T 132g : Y 112g
TH 88 : YH 94.
D. Variant Readings and Outs
Y leuand YH 55 (r.w. vnderstande, lande);
T commands TP 49 (r.w. vnderstand, Eggg).
In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

M

A. "and

TC 188 (r. w. understand, land, hand), TC 228 (r.w.

stand, land, hand), TT 54. TT 228.
B. “Eng
TAL 48 (r.w. hyng), TT 146.

vs. /s/ in Unstressed Syllables (esp. in Shall, Shuld)
In the Identical Y and T Plays

A. T shall : Y sall

 

TP 64 : YP 60; TP 65 : YP 61 TP 66 : YP 62;
TP 73 : YP 69; TP 76 : YP 72 TP 78 :‘YP 74;
TP 81 : YP 77; TP 84 : YP 80, TP 87 : YP 83;
TP 1%1 : YP 128; TP 151 : YP 138; TP 161 : YP 148;
TP 1 5 : YP 152; TP 167 : YP 154; TP 172 : YP 159,
TP 175 : YP 162; TP 177 : YP 16 ; TP 180 : YP 167;
TP 189 : YP 176; TP 193 : YP 18o; TP 214 : YP 210,
TP 225 : YP 212; TP 227 : YP 214; TP 260 : YP 2 7,
TP 261 : YP 248; TP 263 : YP 250; TP 293 : YP 2 o,

 

 

 

 

Present Participle: Inflectional Ending

I.

II.

/5‘/

I.

In the Identical Y and T Plays

A. T -and : Y -and

 

182

 

TP 105 : YP 101; TP 353 : YP 313 (r. W. stand);

TD 244 : YD 258; TD 252 : YD 284 (r. w. vnderstonde);
TH 47 : (r. W. vnderstand, T hand : Y land);

TH 58 : YH 88 r. w. lande); TH 85 : E733 TR 481 :
YR 318; TJ 436, 438“ : YJ 279, 281 (r. w. hande,
stand).

T-1118=Y-aas
TR 382 . YR 235.

T 1E28 = Y #128
TH 86 : YH 94.

D. Variant Readings and Outs

Y leuand YH 55 (r.w. vnderstande, land

 

T commande TP 49 (r.w. vnderstand, han

 

In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

A. -and

TC 188 (r.w. understand, land, hand),
stand, land, EEKETI‘TT 54, TT 2287‘

B- #128
TAL 48 (r.w. hygg), TT 146.

vs. /s/ in Unstressed Syllables (esp. in
In the Identical Y and T Plays

A. T shall : Y sall

 

TP 64 : YP 60; TP 65 : YP 61, TP 66
TP 73 : YP 69; TP 76 - YP 72, TP 78
TP 81 : YP 77; TP 84 : YP 80; TP 87
TP 141 : YP 128; TP 151 : YP 138; TP
TP 1 5 : YP 152; TP 167 : YP 154, TP
TP 175 : YP 162; TP 177 : YP 16 ; TP
TP 189 : YP 176,- TP 193 : YP 18o, TP
TP 225 : YP 212; TP 227 : YP 214, TP
TP 261 : YP 248; TP 263 ; YP 25o, TP

8);

d).

TC 226 (r.w.

Shall, Shuld)

YP 62;
YP 74;
YP 83;
161
172
180

214

260
293

O. O. O.

YP 159;
167;
YP 210;
YP 2%72

M
"U

 

 

B.

C.

D.

T sall : Y sall

TP 366 : YP 355;

TP 372 : YP 361.

183

TP 2 9 : YP 285; .TP 320 : YP 308; TP 43 : YP 333;
TP 3 9 : YP 358; TP 388 : YP 377; TP 01 : YP 390;
TP 402 : YP 391; TP 403 : YP 392; TP 410 : YP 399.
T shuld : Y suld

TP 70 : YP 66; TP 123 : YP 114; TP 244 : YP 231.

T shall : Y shall
-TD 68 : YD 95; TD 80 : YD 108; TD 98 : YD 126;

TD 109 : YD 137; TD 127 : YD 155; TD 144 : YD 172;
TD 225 : YD 237; TD 251 : YD 263; TD 259 : YD 271;
TD 263 : YD 275; TH 32 : YH 44; TH 88 : YH 96;

TH 100 : YH 106; TH 102 : YH 108; TH 103 : YH 10 ;
TH 154 : YH 151; TH 180 : YH 157; TH 188 : YH 18 ;
TH 192 : YH 192; TH 205 : YH 1933 TH 228 : YH 212;
TH 252 : YH 236; TH 269 : YH 255; TH 279 : YH 265;
TH 286 : YH 272; TH 29o : YH 276; TH 297 : YH 283;
TH 303 : YH 289; TH 306 : YH 292; TH 307 : YH 293;
TH 308 : YH 294; TH 310 : YH 296; TH 312 : YH 298;
TH 313 : YH 299; TH 325 : YH 303; TH 3&9 : YH 319;
TH 342 : YH 323; TH 346 : YH 328; TH 3 8 : YH 330;
TH 350 : YH 332; TH 351 : YH 333; TH 353 : YH 335;
TH 354 : YH 336; TH 358 : YH 342; TH 393 : YH 377;
TR 88 : YR 3; TR 126 : YR 101; TR 133 : YR 107-
TR 149 : YR 122; TR 186 : YR 159; TR 187 : YR 160;
TR 1 : YR 161; TR 201 : YR 174; TR 203 : YR 176;
TR 20 : YR 177, TR 20 : YR 182; TR 212 : YR 185;
TR 35 : YR 209, TR 36' : YR 221; TR 396 : YR 2 9;
TR 406 : YR 265, TR 412 : YR 270; TR 428 : YR 2 8;
TR 8 : YR 305; TR 485 : YR 42; TR 486 : YR 43;
TR 4 8 : YR 45; TR 532 : YR 01; TR 533 : YR. 02°
TR 544 : YR Q19; TR 555 : YR 430; TR 561 : YR 436,
TJ'34.: YJ'1 2; TJ 74 : YJ 170; TJ 88 :‘YJ 184;

TJ 437 : YJ 280; TJ 456 : YJ 299, TJ 466 : YJ 309,
TJ 478 : YJ 321; TJ 479 : YJ 322; TJ 488 : YJ 331,
TJ 503 : YJ 348; TJ 525 : YJ 366; TJ 526 : YJ 367,
TJ 530 : YJ 371.

T shuld : Y shuld

TP 69 : YP 65; TP 94 : YP 90; TP 125 : YP 116;

TP 129 : YP 120; TP 248 : YP 23S; TP 249 : YP 236;
TP 257 : YP 2433 TD 70 : YD 98; TD 89 : YD 117;

TD 121 : YD 149; TD 131 : YD 159; TD 137 : YD 165,
TD 245 : YD 257; TH 48 : YH 54; TH 167 ; YH 164;
TH 1 9 : YH 189; TH 217 : YH 201; TH 243 - YH 227,
TR 94 : YR 69; TR 105 : YR 80; TR 164 : YR 137;

TR 340 : YR 193; TR 341 : YR 194; TR 433 : YR 291.

II.

F.

184

Variant Readings and Outs

10 Y S__a__ll
YP 24. TP 28; YP 45 : TP 49; YR 68 : TP 72;
YP 172 : TP 185; YP 238 : TP 251; YP 279 : TP 292;
YP 378 : TP 389.

2. Y shall
YD 84 : TD 58,- E199 : TD 187; YH 13 : TH 17;
YH 19 : TH 19 YH 22 : TH 22; YH 239 : TH 254;
YH 304: TH 326; YJ 284 : TJ 441, YJ 368 : TJ 527.

3. T shall
TR 317 : YR 305; TD 271 : YD 283; TH 265 : YH 251;
TH 283 : YH 269; TH 284: YH 270; TH 288 : YH 274;
TH 29 : YH 280; TR 302 : YH 26 8, TH 30 : YH 290;
TH 3 : YH 306; TH 383 : 7; TH 38 : YH 372;
TJ 77 : YJ 173; TJ 78 : YJ $4 TJ 387 : YJ 230;
TJ 476 : YJ 319.

4. Y shuld
YR 241 : TR 254; YH 240 : TH 254.

the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

sall

TC 71.

shall

TC 5,8,44,60,62, 72,11 , 126, 155, 159, 165, 166,
167, 179, 197, 201,215, 21 , 227, 229; TAL 50, 102,
115, 123, 152. 174: 181, 194, 195, 198 200, 213, 235,
248. 257, 284. 295, 297, 299, 300, 307, 308, 311, 313,
318, 319, 320, 340, 353, 354, 361, 363-

shuld

Tg 70, 77, 78, 81, 84, 173, 189; TAL 130, 205, 216, 246,
2 7,

Present Plural : Inflectional Ending

I.

In the Identical Y and T Plays

A.

Rime occurrence

1. —{§) immddiately before or after a subject pronoun

a.

T -(2) : Y -(2) in parallel constructions

we su ose TP 38 : YP 34 (r.w. to lose); we dr
T? 3U§B?'YR 289, thay f1 TP 306':'Y?’293’Tr7fi¥
to or and T l , pres. p ., Y dr ); the ode
TP : YP 3 (r.w. wode); we are TD 50 :
YD 215 (r.w. mare); 23 sa TR_I84 : YR 157 (r.w.
urva , I ma , swal); w§-%ave TR 463 : YR 320
ir.w. we nd TR

save ; we 555-: YR 435 (r.w.
kende, in?., EEnde, 5rd sg. subj., and T we
lende, Y sende, pres. pl.); 1g stand TJ 446 :
YJ 283 (r.w. hande, commands, pres. p., last-
and); xg Eli TJ 528 : YJ 359 (r.w. g3, 93, £2,
1 o o

 

 

 

Non-parallel rimes and/or constructions

we desire YP l6 : I desire TP 20 (r.w. em ire
Efrzt‘i‘Fe); the1-lEEEE—YP 35 : last, 3587"
TP 39 rég.(faste); we warand YP 54 : warand,
inf. TP r.w. thousand); thay lexnd T? 140 :
lende, inf. YP 127 (r.w. m nde, n., he de, adf.,
wexnde, inf.); Ea; ede TP 2 : Y omits (r.w.
drede, n., le d, inr¥77' 33 drowne TR 414 : ;
drowne YP 4 3 r.w. bowne, downe, mahowne);
pg; call YB 99 : it calls TP 124 (r.w. small
all, shall); we lende TR 558 : 12 sende YR 33
r.w. kende, ifi?., mende, 3rd subj. sg. .

 

 

 

 

 

2. -(g) with a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or a subject noun

a.

T -(g) : Y -(3) in parallel constructions

the ...sesse TP 50 : YP 46, they...incresse

TP 2 : YP 48; menZe remeve TP 290 : EE"‘
meve YP 277 (r.w. reve, i5?.); lurdans that
...dwell TH 96 : YH 162 (r.w. hell, tell, In?.,

emell 5 o
Non-parallel rimes and/or constructions

fig...fxnde YP 82 : I...f nde TP 86 (r.w. bxnde,
inf.); hgi...dwell YP 1 : tha dwell TR 199
(r.w. tell, in?., emell Israeli), we...warand
YP 221 : I warand TP 234 r.w. lande, wande,
fande). -

 

-(g)g with a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or a subject noun

8..

Y -(g)§ : T -(g)§ in parallel constructions

clerkxs...knawes TH 297 : YH 283 (r.w. sawes,

 

 

.-
~-
.1
n. ,.
. . .
. . ..
.-
u
.
x .
.- .
.» u
. .
.w
.u . r .-
_v
.
, . 7..
. .-
. - n .-
u
v
.- .
.. - - .
4 ,,
u
‘-
.
- . ...

 

186

drawes, 2nd sg., laWeS.

B. Within the line1

1. T -(g) : Y -(g)§
a. Immediately before or after a subject pronoun

£31 12 TP 270 crys 122 YP 259; ye nede TD 123 :

32 nedis YD 151.

b. With a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or a subject noun

hyrdis that ke e TP 62 : her es Eat kepes YP 58;
ebrewes ESE TP 174 : Jewes Eat wonnes YP 161;
mystis byte TP 287 : mysis bytis YP 274; folk
have TP 313 : men has YP 301; e...hafe TD 114 :
e...has YD 142; 13 fownd TD 1 : 3g...fandis
YD 152?- theym that 11: TH 62 : folkes BEE li??is
YH 70; they.muster TH 98 : 22;...musteres YH
104; 211 that"iiét TH 341 : all 933 likis YH
321; thaym that won TH 395 : Eame pat wonnes
YH 379.

Jues that won TP 35 : Jewes Eat wonnes YP 31;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c. Non-parallel constructions

 

thay make TP 307 : lo is...makis YP 294° bestis
...1X'TFime) TP 308‘?EEEEstls lyes YR 295; “THEE“

fall TP 310 : oxe, horse and asse...fallis YP
298; thay have TR 353 : Jewes...has YR 206.

 

2. T -(g) : Y -(g)g

Jues...fayre TP 315 : Jewes...faren YP 303.

 

II. In the T Caesar Augustus and Talents
A. -(3) immediately before or after a subject pronoun

thay br TC 15 (r.w. th ); thay sa TC 71 (r.w.
perma ay, day, ma 'man' ; we have TAL 29, 235;
assent we TAL 2 .

B. -(3) with a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or a subject noun

men know TC 91; wg...g_ TAL 160 (r.w. two); we...

0
go TAL 174 (r.w. unto, two).

 

C. -(g)§ with a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or a subject noun

L The citations in this group are limited to those variants in
the two cycles which differ in inflectional endings. The
large incidence makes this limitation necessary. i

187

men.L.blowys TC 94 (r. w. lawes); tythyngys...amendys
TC 1 9

D. -(e)th with a subject pronoun removed from the verb
or- a subject noun

tythyngys doth TC 168; meters that pertenxth TAL 201.

/3/ vs. /a:/ for OE‘E
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays

A. Rime occurrence

1. /a:/< OE /a:/ r.w. /a:/¢ OE /a/, /2/, OR /a/ in

open syllables; SC. /a:/.
lare TP 194: YP)181, euermareéTP 200 : YP 187

r. w. fare,8 care) one T : YP 385, euer-
ichon TP 398 fiP 38 r. w. ta6 n, sla n); sare
TD 108 : @136, lare TD 1124 YD r. w. Tare,

are 'ere'); mare TD _192 : YD 204 (r. w. Spare)
mare TD 201 : YD “213 (r. w. fare); ilkane TR 7 :
YR 304 (r. w. tane); ilkon TR 332a : YR 311 (r.w.
AbironZ); (euer)mare TJ 477 : YJ 320 r.w. care,
thare, are 'ere'); hame TJ 519 : YJ 3 0 (r.w.
name, blame, same).

2. /3:/< 0E /a:/ r.W. /o:/<IL. /o:/; OE /O/ in open
syllables.

‘31)gg TP 128 : YP 119 (r. w. Pharao, T do, fro);
wore TP 281 : YP 268, sore TP 283 : YP-270, more
TP 285: YP 272 (r. w. before); (euer)more TB

2 : YH 228 (r. w. T her Lor, Y be-Tore); so TH
39:YH373.g<_3,TH39‘3': m3777'ijH39fiYH
379 (r.w. inferno); mo TR 370 : YR 223, also TR
371 : YR 22E:“B‘TH 372 : YR 225 (r.w. £377.-

3. Inter-riming words with /3:/ or /a:/<-OE /a:/

We, so, 0, fro TP 313, 315, 317, 319: YP 301,
333,:30, 307?“ alone, moneuTD 2&8, 240 : ED 250,
2 2 two, fro, so, wo TD 1 2 3, 2 p, 2 7 :
253‘”255T'257, 259? also, go TH 112,114:
YH 118,120; more, sore TH ~218— 2&0 : YH 202,
20 so, mo, ?ro, 52 222,224, 226,228 : YH
20 208, ‘210,“2i2; also, r6 TH 299, 301 : YH
285, 287; there : euermore‘TR 101,103 : YR 76,

u-‘__.

A-L—A

2 Glossed in the EETS edition as Abiram, p. 413; cf. Nu.
16.1, DT. 11.6, Ps. 106.17. “"“'

188

so, fro mo TR 172,173, 174,1 YR
145, ‘46, §47, 149; fro, g_ TR 205, 2077 : YR 178,
180; ilk on, slone, none, mone TR 352,353, 35,
356 : E205, 205, 207, 209; none, stone TR 7,
i : YR 220, 222; so, fro, two, go TR 400, 01,

O2 404: YR 253, 254,” p , 257; alon, slone
M4, 453 : YR 308,310 a1s67'fio,‘??5‘TR
466,467, 68,470 : YR 323, 532%? 25, 327; ilkon,

slone TR 9, 471 : YR 326 ° 32 cones, bones

TR 481, 43: YR 338,340; euerilkon, stone, none,
alone TR 514, 515, 516, 51 8?'YR 377, 37 78, 379 381;
thore, more TR 523, 525: 386,388; tWO, so, g_,
fro TJ 73, 75, 77, 79: YJ 169, 171, 173‘“175T‘

 

4. Non-parallel rimes

a. Significant rime variants in otherwise identical
passages:

grace TP 211 : fays 'foes' YP 198 (r.w. mase,
case, place); care TD 254 : sore YD 266 Zr.w.
ware, fare, mare); fortayn TR 422 : one YR 278
Zr.w. tain, slayne, nane before TH 19: euer-
more YH 15 (r r.w. restore), .# may 'make' TR 43 7:
Egg 'to' YR 295 (r. w. two)

 

b. Rime variants with similar derivations in other-
wise identical passages:

stone TR 180 : anone YR 153 (r. w. ilkon, alon,
one); also TR 480 : sloo YR 337 Ir. w. g_, so,
wo).

Addition or omission of rime words in otherwise
identical passages:

0

do and fro TP 130,132, added to the rime g2:
Pharao TP w"126, 128 : YP 117, 119; wo : mto
TP 415, 418 : waa YP 405, within the line; goo,

 

3

The Y rime, composed of four lines, occurs in the pedes of a
conventional l2-1ine stanza. In T, the corresponding
stanza has only eight lines and cuts two lines from the rime
sequence. It is therefore quite likely that language had

7 The stanza in which this rime occurs is imperfect in both

cycles. Lucy T. Smith notes this fact about the Y stanza
of five lines surrounded by Burns stanzas, York Plays,

p. 412. The T stanza lacks the conventional Burns rime
sequence and is subject to various interpretations as it
stands; see M. G. Frampton, "The Early English Text Society
Edition of the Towneley Plays," 3-7.

 

 

189

and sloom @173, 175, added to he rime two :
00, TD ““141 1113 : 11) 169, 171.

B. Within the line

1. th : T g

draffe : droffe, hale : hole (OE hal),hm1holx
(35, raffe : roffe II Icel. rife), strake : smote,
swa : so, “tadxs : tod 8, taken : tokzg (2), waa :
33, wate : wote (3 .

2. Y‘g : T‘g

clothles (2x), dole, fo, 0 (hx),L u, ost (2x),
hol 22x), holl Z OE hal), homell, mo (2x , more

llx), most 2x no x), nok x), none—T53),
nothing, only,ug£h3§, rose VE—1%Kx),so 11x),
jifigggfégééggonigst7i§§g%%té2?d;ygggxg,_ Owho (2x),

3. Y‘E : T outs
m.
h. Y.§ : T outs

fo,.gg, Ogo ne, more, no (2x), none, rooris, rose vb.

2x),s x),m sore, who (2x), wofull 12x).
5. T.§ : Y variant reading
lath (?)6

 

6. Tl§ : Y outs

do 11, more (3x), ones oone oonl rose vb.,
22x}, g3 25x), sore, wax tokén) (2x , wote.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A. Rime occurrence

1. /a:/<OE /a:/ r.w. /a:/< OE /a/, OF /a/ in open

syllables; OF /e:/.

lare TC 0 (r. w. care, m sfare, care); a ane (OE
gan n5 TO A (r. w. s u??rane§; sare TC 100 r.w. Kare,

 

g‘The Y rime begins the passage on the Ten Commandments which
6 is not paralleled in T.

The corresponding word in Y is late, see p. 29, n. 45.

B.

190

fare, care); gase, 2nd sg. subj., TC 114 (r.w.
Elace).

2. /O:/< OE /a:/ r.w. /o:/< OE /o/ in open syllables;
OE /eo:/

two TAL 100, go TAL 101 (r.w. thereto); close TAL
T53, gose,‘3rd sg. pres., TAL 155 {r.w. losei;

ones TAL 146, stones TAL 147 (r.w. wones}; two
TIE-172, 32 TAL I7H (r.w. unto); nomo TAL 252-(r.w.
21.2.); 2.12.92 TAL 323, 22229. TAE 325 Ir-W- ms)-

3. Inter-riming words with /D:/ or /a:/< 0E /a:/

alon, ston TC 3,6- bone, none TC 33, 36; so, 52,
two, slo TC 85, 8o, 83, 89; ichon, nOne, alone,
E15n6“TE 211, 212, 214, 215; ‘W?6Eh,"1oth Tb"232,
23E?" two, 53 TAL 156, 160; 633357 oHEE‘TAL 312,
31 .

Within the line

1.‘3-Spellings

bon 8 (2x); clothes,- 0 (7x); hole (3x); holl
7'3??? —-—-—-—5— ---- —H

10th; more, nomore (7x) most, almost x);

3
33 (5x); none Z9x); noth n (2?); zone I3xg;
i x ; 3 one; w ogso

ones (2x); rofe; 133, also 15
x ; whom; ‘32; wo e 15x).

 

 

 

Hem, Her vs. Them, Ther

I. In the Identical Y and T Plays

A.

B.

T them : Y 2am

TP 28 : YP 24; TP 64 : YP 61; TP 73 : YP 69 (identical
rime); TP 75 : YP 71 (identical rime); TP 78 : YP 74;
TP 85 : YP 81; TP 88 : YP 84; TP 124 : YP 115;

TP 180 : YP 167; TP 128 : YP 185; TP 261 : YP 248;
TP 317 : YP 305; TP 3 4 : YP 353; TP 366 : YP 355;
TP 367 : YP 356; TP 403 : YP 392; TD 219 : YD 231;
TD 221 : YD 233; TD 251 : YD 203; TH 98 : YH 104;
TH 102 : YH 108; TH 110 : YH 116; TH 234 : YH 218;
TH 235 : YH 219; TH 24o : YH 224; TH 273 : YH 259;
TH 289 : YH 275; TH 339 : YH 312; TH 350 : YH 332;
TH 352 : YH 334; TH 382 : YH 36 ; TH 395 : YH 379;
TR 399 : YH 252; TR 539 : YR 414; TJ 27 : YJ 155;
TJ 519 : YJ 360.

T theng : Y'pgg
TP 62 : YP 58; TP 82 : YP 78; TP 125 : YP 116;

191

TP 129 : YP 120; TP 177 : YP 164; TP 198 : YP 185;
TP 199 : YP 186,- TP 31 : YP 302; TD 87 : YD 115;
TD 272 : YD 284; TH 23 : YH 220; TH 274 : YH 260;
TH 331 : YH 310; TH 114 : YH 89; TH 127 : YH 102;
TR 534 : YH 403; TJ 473 : YJ 316; TJ 518 : YJ 359.
C. T them : Y'ng
TH 329 : YH 307.
D. Variant readings and outs
Y‘Rgg: YP 26, 67 : TP 30,71; Y am : T those,
YJ 8 : TT31§953 Y air : T thy, YP 248: TP 261;
T them : Y out, TP 2 TH 338; Y‘Egm : T out, YP 30,
1227‘I34, 328,351,390; Y'ggg : T out, YP 118, 272;

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

thaym TC 58, S9, 219, 225;
thare TC 119, 214, 216.

TAL 108, 152, 343.

/a/ vs. /3/ for OE'R before m and g

 

I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Rime occurrence
T /a/ : Y /a/
began TP 89 : YP 85 man TP 91 : YP 87, wan TP 95 :
YP 91 (r. w. than); name TP 183 : YP 170, same TP
187 : YP 174, shame TP 189 : YP 176 (r. w. blame);
name TP 250 : YP 237 r. W. same TP 252 : YP 239;
can “TH 68: W74, man TH 72 : YH 80 (r. w. Iordan,
than); name TH 190M:m190 r.w. same TH 19
YH 192; wan TH 116 : YH 91, blan,Ԥ?3t. p1., TH
117 : YB 92, man TR 118 : YB 93 Zr.w. than); name
H493 : YH 356"r. w. schame TH 495 : YH'352; 'Hame
TH 517 : YH 358, hame‘TH‘5I9 : YH 36o, same TH"“
523 : YH 364( (r. HT‘BTame). '”'“‘
B. Within the line7
1. T /a/ : Y /a/
(Eg)man TP 1 :‘YP 1, TP 19 : YP 15, TP 69 : YP 65,
TP 207 : YP 194; TP 311 : YP 299, etc.; answere
7‘ _..

the large incidence.

This list is limited to representative citations because of

192

TD 100 : YD 128; Egg TD 116 : YD 144, TD 142 :

YD 170, etc.; shamyd TD 227 : YD 239; ESE: pret.
‘of Winnen, TH 13 : YH 9, TH 174 : YH 171; gammes
TH 26'?”YH 2o; began TR 119 : YB 94.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

A. /a/ within the line

man TC 2, 43, 47, 91, 190, 218, 223, TAL 254; 232
THE 279; Egg TAL 132, 158, 305.

Present Third Singular: Inflectional Ending
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Rime occurrence
1. T -(g)g : Y -(g)§

hyh that hag TP 3 : YP 3 (r.w. as, 3rd sg. subj.,
EEE’ T a e...hgg : Y asse, inf. ; him that...mase
TP 135 : ase YP 122 (r. . REE: inf., aIas, T asse,
inf. : Y was); 22 hag...mase TP 207 : F 194 {r.w.

case, graEE: lace); 22 hgh...hh§ TP 311 : YP 299
(r.w. asse, n.); hg sa 3 TD 18 : YD 19S (r.w.
laweCs, wayes, Erayse ; hg hag TH 170 : YH 167 (r.w.
Iudas); hg redys TR 150 : YR 123, BE nedys (r.w.
dredis, 2nd sg., dedys); lorde...that...hg§ TJ 504 :
YJ 349 (r.w. Egg, alas, 233, inf.).

 

 

2. T -(g)§ : Y -(3)
Eowdeg’d§%fys ngéégg: :ryff; ii£gé§ (r.w. HIEE:
3. T -(g)§ : Y variant reading
hg Egyg TP 368 (r.w. 33 233) : Y hag £2133 (line).
B. Within the line8
1. T -(g)§ : Y -(g), —(g)hh
barns hag TD 103 : 22322 haue YD 131; si ht...hg§

TD 254 : sight...hath YD 266; hg...has TH o :
God...hath YH 56; mercy...makes TH 37H : mercy...

‘8“""T"'T"’ . . .
The Citations in this group are 11m1ted to those variants
in the two cycles which differ in inflectional endings.
The large incidence makes this limitation necessary.

 

 

II.

 

193

makes TH 37h : mercy...hath YH 356.

T -(2) : Y -(gl§, -(2)3h

he lege TD 181 :‘hg alle is YD 193; me think TD
'183 : me thinketh.YD 19 ; manner...that make TP
3# : manner...that mustirs YP

In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A.

B.

Rime occurrence

1.

-(2)g

all...that...stand 3 TC 13 (r. w. landzs, band, hand);
who so...ma s TAL 51 r. w. he ra s TAL 62, that...

takzs TAL he gose TAL I66 r. w. close 'clothes',
to lose); it fallzs TAL 273 (r. w. thou callxs).

Within the line

1.

2.

- (2)3

euer bowxs TC 17, all bow s TC 20, whoso...
TC hgg, oone th no dogs TC ,‘gg man hat

sa 3
11¥xs TCA 47,” sorow takzs TC 100, Mahowne...tHat

weldxs TC 123 ret 3 TC 129 lord ra 3 TC “133,
ch man...that dwelI 8 TC 192, he“ has TAL 5, he...

at” nagoxs TAL 55, Ee commas TALll 15, gig...that

stand 3 TAL 116, he getEEE‘TKL 167, he lzgxs—TKE

178, mztxgg. ..that mexxs TAL 187, cowrs...that lOEElS

TAL 225, harnes...that appentys TAL 2E§,i tTallzs

TAL 253, falles all the first TAL 300, he sekls TAL
302, he“ d6§mTAL 300, who...has TAL 311,"fa1113...the

fxrst TAL 334, Elaxng...2azs TAL 3#6.
49.15.11
who go doth, TC 58, any that doth TAL 151.

 

no ending

he mensk TAL 226.

 

/a/ vs. /o:/ for OE‘g before and and 535

I.

In the Identical Y and T Plays

A.

Rime occurrence

1.

T /a/ : Y /a/

hande TP 4 : YP A, land TP 6 : YP 6, stand TP 8 :

2.

 

193

makes TH 37h : mercy...hath YH 356.

T -(g) : Y -(gl§. -(g)2h

he lege TD 181 : he alle is YD 193; ‘gg think TD

‘TBB :‘gg thinketthD l9 ; manner...that make TP

3h : manner...that mustirs YP 30.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A. Rime occurrence

1.

-(2)§

all...that...stand s TC 13 (r. w. landzs, band, hand);
who soTTTfia .E‘T33261 r. w. he ra s TAL 6E'“Ehat...
takzs TAL he gose TAL T56 Ir. w. close 'clothes',
‘to lose); it fallls TAL 273 (r. w. thou callzs).

B. Within the line

1. ~{glg

2.

euery th bowxs TC 17, all bow 5 TC 20, whoso...
sa s TC I , oone thing4 do“ 8 TC, no man that

l g 8 TC 47,“ sorow takzs TC 100, Mahowne...that

weldxs TC 123, he gretzs TC 129, lord re 3 TC “133,
ch man...that dwell 8 TC 192, he has TAL 5, he...

atfl nagoxs TAL 55, Ee commes TKEITC'Ihzg...that

standxs TAL 116, he getEEE‘TKL8167, he lzgzs TAL

17 , mztxgg. ..that mevxs TAL 1 7, cowrs...that lo

TAL 225, harnes...that appentys TAL ZKE, it ?allls

TAL 253, falles all the first TAL 300, he sekxs TAL
302, he dos TAL 300, who...has TAL 311,"Tallxs...ggg

first“ TAL 334, Elaxng...2a1s TAL 3A6.
~(2lgh

 

who go doth, TC 58, any that doth TAL 151.
no ending

he mensk TAL 226.

 

/a/ vs. /a:/ for OE‘Q before 12g and 535

I. In the Identical Y and T Plays

A. Rime occurrence

1.

T /a/ : Y /a/

hande TP 4 : YP a, land TP 6 : YP 6, stand TP 8 :

194 ‘

YP 8 (r.w. commaunde, n.); land TP 56 : YP 52,
vnderstand TP 54 : fande, pret. pl. of finden, YP 5O
TFTWT‘WEFEnd, inf., thousand); land TP’23U‘? YP 217,
fand, pret. pl. of finden, TP 235 : Y? 223 (r.w. wand,
WEFEnd); vnderstand‘TT'TSB : YP 145, hand TP 162'?
YP 149, fand, pret. sg. of finden, TP 154.: YP 151
(r.w. wand}; land TP 276 : Y? 253 (r.w. ordand, pp.);
amang TR 291 : Y? 278 r.w. gang TP 293 : YR-2EU, lang
TP 295 : lande YP 282, wran TP 297 : YP 284; hand
TP 347 : YT‘337, 1and TP 3 9 : Y? 339, Stand TP 351 :
YP 3 1 (r.w. durand}; lano TP 360 : YP 349, wran
TP 3 2 : YP 3517'gang TT'364 : YP 353, fa TP 3 :
YP 355; fand, pret. p1. of finden, TP 3 : YP 373,
hand TP 385 : YP 375, stand TP 390 : YP 379 (r.w.
wand); wrang TD 189 : YD 201 r.w. gang TD 191 : YD
203; vnderstonde TD 250 : YD 262 (r.w. folowand);
vnderstand TH 45 : YH 49: hand TH 51 : lande YH 55
r.w. walkand, T commande, pres. p. : Y leuand);
fande,‘§?§%fi"p1. BT'T1ndEn, TH 54 : YH 627‘Eafid TH
: YH 64, lande TH 50 : YH 68 (r.w. 1astand5°

emang TH 276 : YH 262 r.w. wrang TH 278 : YH 264;
emang TH 323 : YH 301 r.w. wran TH 327 : YH 305, hang
TH 329 : YH 307, lang TH 32 : gang YH 303; wran
TR 84 : YB 59 r.w. eman TR 81 : YR 55 (gang YR 5E,
1an YR 57); land TR 0 : YR 425, hande TR 552 : YR
427, vnderstande TR 554 : YR 429 (r.w. couand, 'cov-
enantTTE“REnd'TJ 434 : YJ 277, stand TE'EED': YJ 283
(r.w. commands, pres. p., lastand .

 

 

 

Outs

hand r.w. land TR 80, 82; emang r.w. fan , han
(wen ande) TR 140, 141, 142; stande, Sande, ?ande,
pret. p1. of finden, YR 371, 372, 373 {r.w. leuand).

B. Within the line

1. T g : Y a

hand TP 166 : YP 153, TD 52 : YD 76, TH 343 : YH
325: TR 416 : YR 274, TJ 18, 37, 77, 80, 404 : YJ
146, 165, 173, 176, 24?; stand TP 184 : YP 171,
TJ 73 : YJ 168; vnderstand TP 190 : YP 177; land
TP 266, 306, 377 : YF“253:‘293, 362, TD 212 : YD
224, TH 334 : YH 314; fand, pret. p1. of finden,
TD 106 : YD 134; band E‘Tfi 190, 205 : YH T967'ig6;
wran TH 279 : YH 255—1-hang(g£h) TR 101 : YR 76,
TJ 12 : YJ 255.

 

T g : Y a

song TP 141 : sang YP 128; wrong TP 150 : wran
YP 137; long TP 176, 357 : lange YP 163, 3 .

 

V O
O
o r I c
d o r c t . .
I
o
o o
. o .
c
. u
x a
u
a n
u
a 1
a
~
~ . 1 5 ~ .
. n I
4
p .
o
._ a a ‘ A ¢
n
n u a
n a
a a
r
o
a
s
o
n
. .
n
o .

 

195

3. T g : Y 2
long TJ 397 : YJ 240.
4. Y 2 z T a

amonge YD 222, YR 316 : aman 3 TD 210, TR 459;
stonde YH 193 : stand TH 255.

5. Variant readings and outs

han ed TP 15, TH 216; standis TP 116, TR 159, TR
; eman TR 157; gang YD 228, 245, YH 244; stande
g3 77, 39 ; longer TD 276, TH 60 : longer YD 287;'YH'

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents
A. Rime occurrence

1. /a/

standzs : landxs : band : hand TC l3, 14, 16, 17;
land : hand TC 105, 108; land : hand TC 21, 24;
sand : land TC 141, 144; vnderstand : land : hand
TC 163, 154, 168 (r.w. lzfandS; stand : land :
hand TC 223, 224, 227 (r.w. weldand’; wran : fang

TAL 259 : 261; eman : wran TAL 304, 30 ; eman :
wrang TAL 341 : 343Tg _———E ____5

 

 

B. Within the line

1. g

 

brand TC 5, 26; land( 8) TC 38 52 70 184; aman
TE‘53, TAL 316; han Ea) TAL 71, 81, 136, 150,—284§
stand(1§) TAL 109T’T% ; hand TAL 321.

2. o

long(g£) TC 236, TAL 297.

/t$/ vs. /k/
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Rime occurrence
1. T /k/ : Y /k/
glxgg TP 169 : YP 156 (r.w. 1333); gxngg TJ 484 :

 

YJ 327 (r. w. dr ke, thinke, sznke e); kzrke TR
137 : YR 112 r. w. wxrke, mirke, ere).

B. Within the line

1. T /t;/ : Y /k/

N
o

3.

a.

T 3122 = Y 21132

TP 145 : YP 132; TP 151 : YP 141; TP 272 : YP 260.
T £222 : Y swilke

TP 72 : YP 68; TP 78 : YP 74; TP 327 : YP 315;

TP 38 : YP 373; TD 106: m13 ; TH llo : YH 116;
TR 13 : YR 113; TJ 423 : YJ 26 .

T whigh : Y whilke

TD 111 : YD 139; TD 142 : YD 170; TH 18 : YH 14.

T nigh : Y mekill

TP 312 : YP 300.

T ch, euery : Y ilk(g, (ilkane, ilkone, ilka,
etc.

TP 338 : YP 326; TD 197 : YD 209; TH 131 : H130;
TR 74 : YR 49; TR 210 : YR 183; TR 450 : YR 425;
TJ 393 : YJ 236; TR 342 : YR 195.

T/tS/:Y/t;/

8..

T sich : Y sich

TR 92 : YR 67; TR 104: YR 79; TR 125: YR 100
TR 150 : YR 123; TR 427 : YR 285; TR 502 : YR 359;
TR 522 : YR 385.

T /k/ : Y /k/

8..

T mekill : Y mekill

TP 313 : YP 301; TR 497 : YR 354.

T 1.112(2. 1115.2 = Yilya, 1.1.132

TD 85 : YD 113; TD 139 : YD 167; TD 215 : YD 227;

TH 287 : YH 273; TH 332 : YH 311; TR 113 : YR 88,

TR 134 : YR 109; TR 178 : YR 151; TR 185 : YR 158;
TR 3 : YR 197; TR 352 : YR 205; TR 447 : YR 304;
TR 4 9 : YR 326; TR 488 : YR 345; TR 514 : YR 377;

,II_

197

TJ 28 : YJ 156; TJ 386 : YJ 229; TJ 400 : YJ 243;
TJ 422 : YJ 265. '

c. dike, inf. TP 79 : YP 74.
4. Variant readings and outs
a. Y /k/

swilke YP 76, YD 252, YH 38; whilke YP 23, YJ
2K63' mekill YP 97; ilk(g YD 218; YH 253.

b. T /k/
mekill TR 338; g_g(g TD 119, TR 414.
c. T /t$ /
gygh, TP 268, 354.
II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents
A. Within the line
1. /k/

mek 11 TC 149, TAL 153, 240; ylk 3 TC 120; breke,
EETETKL 119.

2. /t$/
sych TC 35, 80, 173, TAL 224, 358; m ch TC 37;
which TC 71; zch(gg T0 111, 190, 211, 18, 221.
Retention vs. Loss of -gh /x/ before 129
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Rime Occurrence
l. T noght : Y noght, n33;
TP 143 : Y? 130 (r.w. brought); TP 381 : YP 371
(r.w. brou ht); TD 68 : YD 96 (r.w. wro ht); TD
20 : YD 2§1 (r.w. ought, sought, brou htS; TR
38 : YR 239 (r.w. thoght, goght, Eroghts; TR 501 :

9 Because words which are traced to Old English forms with
velar spirants before -t occur so frequently in the plays
that I have examined, the above tabulations are confined
to those examples for which variants appear.

198

YR 358 (r.w. wroght).
2. Y noght : T out
YJ 303 (r.w. wroght, brought, sought).
B. Within the line
1. T not : Y noght, £233

TP 64 : YP 60; TP 72 : YP 68; TP 110 : YP 105;

TP 125 : YP 116; TP 148 : YP 135; TP 152 : YP 139;
T? 157 : YP li ; TP 158 : YP 14S; TP 175 : YP 162;
TP 261 : YP 24 ; TP 315 : YP 303; TP 410 : YP 3993

TD 54 : YD 78; TD 92 : YD 120; TD 200 : YD 212;

TD 219 : YD 231; TD 232 : YD 244; TH 95 : YH 101;
TH 103 : YH 109; TH 155 : YH 152; TH l 6: YR 153;
TR 333 : YH 313; TH 338 : YH 318; TH 3 8 : YH 330;
TR 105 : YR 80; TR 135 : YR 110; TR 14 : YR 117;
TR 370 : YR 223; TR 376 : YR 229; TR 388 : YR 241;
TR 468 : YR 325; TJ 22 : YJ 150; TJ 74 : YJ 170-
TJ 405 : YJ 248; TJ 416 : YJ 259; TJ 519 : YJ 360.

2. T doghty : Y ggflgy
TR 190 : YR 164; TR 542 . YR 417.

3. T noght : Y noght, 393;

TH 180 : YH 177; TH 237
TR 502 : YR 359; TJ 491

YH 221; TR 97 : YR 72;
YJ 3343 TJ 518 : YJ 359.

4. T not : Y not

TR 187 : YR 160; TJ 417 . YJ 260.
5. Y EBEEE : T variant reading or outs
YH 251; YH 265; YH 303; YH 318; YH 376; YR 219.
6. T 323E} : Y outs
TP 336; TJ 530.
II. In the Caesar éEEEEEEE and Talents
A. Rime occurrence

1. noght

 

TC 7 (r.w. boght, ocht, roght); TAL 239 (r.w.
wroght); TAL 348 r.w. boght).

 

2.

 

not

TAL 301 (r.w. broght, boght).

B. Within the line

1.

2.

22522

TAL 249.

323

TC 48 32, 85, 223, 230, 231, 233, 236; TAL 49, 60,

65, 167, 195, 202, 209, 225, 232 247, 248, 249, 250,
271, 272 (2x), 285, 317, 320, 346.

/d/ vs. /1>/

I. 'Fader' -group

A. In the Identical Y and T Plays

B.

l.

2.

In

1.

T g : Y Q

fader TP 5 : YP 5; TP 44 : YP 40; TP 67 : YP 63;
Tf‘237 : YP 223; TD 149 : YD 174; TD 241 : YD 252;
TD 247 : YD 259; TH 71 : YH 79; TH 242 : YH 226;
TH 245 : YH 229; TH 251 : YH 235; TR 521 : YR 384;
TJ 3 0 : YJ 233; moder TD 149 : YD 174; TD 255 :
YD 2 7; TH 247 : YH 231; TH 264 : YH 250; to eder
TD 229 : YD 241 TJ 73 : YJ 169; heder TD 58': YD

84; TD 211 : YD 223.
T g : Y variant reading

Egdgg TP 54; togeder TH 254.

Y Q : T variant reading

ggggg YJ 171, 178.

the Caesar Augustus and Talents
d

hedir TAL 76, 98, 148, 303; togedir 111, 152.

II. 'Broder'-group

A. In the Identical Y and T Plays

1.

T E : Y 2

III.

B.

31>
e

B.

 

brether(en TH 25 : YH 37; other(e TP 147 : YP 133;
TTVEBE'a‘YP 269; TD 52 : y"76? TD 55 : YD 79,
TD 123 : YD 151; TJ 24 : J152; nowther(e TD 95:

YD 123; TD 228 : YD 240 Ya thir TF'39U'?Y P3379.
2. T d : Y E

broder-hede TJ 407: brotherhede YJ 250- nawder
TH 301, TR 153 : nowt ere , YR 126.

30T22Yd
anothere TH 79 : anodir YH 87.

 

4. T g : Y'g
wheder TD 199 : YD 211.
5. Y 2 : T variant reading
othir YP 73.

 

In the Caesar Aggggtgg and Talents
No examples.
: h in final position
In the identical Y and T Plays
1. T d : Y d
dede, n. TR 115. YR 90 (r.w. stede); TR 384. YR
' TR 460 : YR 317 (r.w. e firede, nede);
TR 454 (r.w. E222, steed, he%3—_Tw on y e
2. T g : Y'g
gggg TH 33?. TR 401 : gggg, n. YH 317, YR 254.
3. T p : Y 2
335g(;1 TH 137 : YH 134; TH 379 : YH 363.
In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

 

1. g

2. p

dede, n. TC 185 (r.w. stede).
erthlx TC 18.
l

201

Retention vs. Loss of Vowel in the Inflectional Syllables

I.

II.

as and :22

Rimes involving the suffix -(3)g

A. In the Identical Y and T Plays

B.

1.

2

In
1.

2

Rimes

A.

In
1.

Significant rimes (those which show loss of the
inflectional vowel)

1d TP 63 : YP 59 (r.w. ch 1d) kend TP 271 :

YP 250 (r.w. 1e nd amende,Y Y51ende,T end), or-
dand TP 274:'YP'261‘T$TE£ 1anfiT“‘Eendo_ TH 46?

r.w. lende, sende, Y ende); kend TH 65: YH 73
(r.w. hende, discende, amende); asas te TH 180 :
abasshed YH 177 (r.w. traste); bast TR 131 : YR 106

r.w. trast); abast TR 517 : abasshed YR 380 (r.w.
trast); s arde TR4ESS: E43 5 (r.w. rewarde);

 

 

 

 

 

kende TR 2 (r.w. mende T 1en e, weygd,
Y sende); In Y only: kendeY W64 (r.w. lende,
sende, fende); e

dm one (r r.w. m de) u lisshid
(r.w. Chris em18§ (r.w. r 3e,

tzd .

Doubtful rimes (those in which the inflectional
vowel may have been dropped or retained)

Burvayde, saide TH 61 : YH 69, TH 63 : YH 71; saide
layde TH 73, 7; : YH 81,83; sa de, bra de,0f1a d,
ra d TH 221, 223, 225, 227 M25
EEԤ3, saide, 31aide, betraide TR 343, 345, 347: 349
31; e, sayde TR 391, 393 :
1'88.

YH 5,'32Z'3
YR 244, 24 nak d, sla o d TJ 499, 501,
503 : YJ 342, 34B'TEEH EEEEE‘YJM 3%

the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

 

Significant rimes (those which show less of the
inflectional vowel)

cald, 'called' TC 31 (r.w. behald).

 

Doubtful rimes (those in which the inflectional
vowel may have been dropped or retained)

falzd TAL 322 : alyd TAL 324.
involving the suffix -(g)g
the Identical Y and T Plays

Significant rimes (those which show loss of the
inflectional vowel)

 

 

-
I
u
.
1 D
f _ I O
I b
_ D f
. u
0 a
. - n o
. .
. v R
‘ ‘ ~
\- I
. « ~ . o
q
. . .
u
I
a
I O t u l
\ |
.
i
‘ o
‘ I
.
I - I I
l.‘
' o

202

fra es, da es, laxse TP #2, 4h, 48 : YP 38, no
{r.w. ra so); so, 2nd pers. pros. sg. TP kg)
Y? 229 Ir. w. so w so, so) lawes, sazs,
waxes TD 181, dEB3,o I8 migi, 195,W (r.w.

ra so); bozs, rores, Iozso TH 93, 9h, 97 : YH 97,
, 1 3 (r.w. noise);

In T only:

sazs TP 368 (r.w.‘tg‘ggg).

2. Doubtful rimos (those in which the inflectional
vowels may have boon dropped or retained)

£1315 dr f 8 TP 325 32 : YP 31,15 rawos
sawes: Efiaw s, lawes,TD 0,62, g6.: Y5‘35-’88,
95, 92; Iawos, Hrawos, sawes, knawes TH 291, 293,

295, 297 : YHZ 77 279 m5 aredxs dods

red 3, nod 8 TR 71118, 1&.,150, 152 : YR 1E1, , 123,
125; oones, bones TBA 1, #83 : YR 338, 3&0:

In‘Y only:

rowos, saweo YD lhl, 1&3.
B. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

1. Significant rimos (those which show loss of the
inflectional vowel)

boxes TAL 193 (r.W. noise);

2. Doubtful rimos (those in which the inflectional
vowel may have boon dropped or retained)

standzs, land 3 TC 13, 1%; blow s, lawes TC 9h, 95;

makxs, ra s TAL 1, fl; wonos, ones,

stones TAL I£§:-%E5, 1&7; fall a, callEs,T TEE-273,
bon s, ones TAL 312, 31E; ones, ones, wones

TAL 32, S, 327; towres TAL hlU {r.w. sonzours,
zouros).

Imperative Plural : Inflectional Ending
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Within the line
1. T -(3) : Y -(o)s

YP 3; TP 85 : YP 81; TP 371 : YP 360;
P 367; TP 380 : YP 369; TP 381 : YP 37o;

5.

T omIts.

TP 405 : YP 394; TD 257 : YD 6269; TD 276: YD 288,
TH 25 : YH 37; TR 122 : YR 16 7 (2x); TR 197:

170; TR 179 : YR 20 TR 207 :‘YR 180; TR $5

YR gig; TJ 73 : YJ 169; TJ 386 :‘YJ 229, Jn&06:
Y: .

T ~(3) : Y -(g)
TP 2 : YP 2; TP 22 :

TP 381 Y? 370; T

18; TP 24: ‘YP 20;
P :
TH 183 YH 180; TR 38 :

H401; TH 181 : YR 178;
M240 TR 552 : YR 427.
T -(313 : Y -(3)

TR 544.: YR #19; TJ 436 : YJ 281; TJ 524 : YJ 365.
T -(g)g : Y -(3)

TR 102 : YR 77; TR 146 : YR 118.

Variant readings and outs

Beeths YP 197 : Brethere TP 210; Beholdes YH 195;

II. in the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A. Within the line
10 -(3)

TAL 47. 48. 56, 60, 109. 113, 182, 238 (2x), 249.
267, 292, 316.

2. -(glg

TAL 412.

Personal vs. Impersonal Constructions

I o In thO

Identical Y and T Plays

A. T personal : Y impersonal

1 st (e.g. T I list : Y'me list) TP 119

TD
awe

‘Bfi'E 2
231; TJ 27 : YJ 155; rew TP 401:YP 390; 1 ke TD
13;

267
YJ

: YP 110;
70 : YP 239; TD S7:m81; TD 94 : YD 122;
270 : YD 282; TH 60 : YH 68; TH 291 : YH 277;
, a ht TP 165 : YP 178; TR 9 YR 71; must,
T 7:YP 376, TD 232:YD TR464":YR
: YD 279; nede TR'T7U :

thurte J 73 :
316.

204

B. T impersonal : Y impersonal

th nk TP 352 : YP 342; TD 102 : YD 13o; TD 183 :
YD S; nedys TD 61 : YD 87; paies, leasses TH 74 :

YH 82; m 3 TH 24? : YH 231; ongis T : YR 218;
aght TJ Egg : YJ 273. ‘

C. T impersonal : Y omits
‘thggt TH 256 :‘ggyg.§hg!g‘YH 242.10
D. Y impersonal : T outs
‘thggg‘YR 259.
II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A. Impersonal Constructions

sEede the TC 125; ‘mg thoght TAL 132, 128; 'mg pays

Second Person Present Singular Verbs: Inflectional Ending
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Rime occurrence
1. T “(212 : Y -(g)g
[tagg‘lzgg,TP 242 : YP 229 (r.w. d 8 se, inf., £133,
‘ggygg, inf.); ‘thgg.gggg§ TH 94 : YH 9 (r.w. in T

only boys); thou...drawes TH 293 : YH 279 (r.w.
lawes, sawes, n., knawes, pres. pl.); thou the

dredzs (r.w. dedys, redys, 3rd sg., vs. nedys}.
B. Within the line
1. T -(3)s : Y -(3)s

TP 181 : YP 168; TP 231 :‘YP 218; TP 304 : YP 291;
TP 399 : YP 388; TD 71 : YD 99; TD 239 : YD 251;
TD 24o : YD 252; TH 95 : YH 101; TH 138 : YH 135;
TH 232 : YH 216; TH 257 : YH ; TH 268 : YH 254;
TH 27o ; YH 256; TH 278 : YH 2 ; TH 23 : YH 301;
TH 325 : YH 303; TH 347 : YH 329; TR 36 : YR 294.

 

‘TD According to Lucy T. Smith, neyd thowe was added by an Eliza-
bethan hand (Thg‘York Pla s, p. 585,. The earlier Y line
contained the words—Egg e, which might easily have been
mistaken for thurt 4E3 in the original text.

 

II.

In
A.

B.

Ablaut

I.

In
A.

B.

205

2. T -(113 : Y -st(g

TD 1 29; TD 111 : YD 139; TD 141 ; YD 16 ;
9; TH 345 : YH 327; TH 239 ; YH 223.

: YD
TR 1 : YB
30 T '..s_t. Y

TP 225.

4.‘Y fig : T variant reading or outs
YH 60; YR 262; YH 351.

5. T -(113 : Y variant reading or outs
TH 176; TR 235.

the Caesar Augustus and Talents

Rime occurrence

Thou gase TC 114 (r.w. place); thou callys TAL 275

1r.W. allys).

Within the line
TC 109, 200, 208; TAL 185, 210, 211, 221, 351.

waels in the Preterit Sg. and P1.

the Identical Y and T Plays

Class I

1. In rime
abode, sg. TJ 513 (r.w. avoyde).

2. Within the line
rofe, sg. TR 136 : raffe, sg. YR Ill; rose, sg.
TR‘ESl : YR 308, TR'ESE: TR 474 : YR 331. TR 518 :
YR 381, p1. TR 122 : YR 7, YR 103, YR 152; smote,
p1. TJ 42o : strake YJ 2 3; drofe, p1. TJ 495‘?“
drafe, p1. YJ 338.

Class III

1. In rime

began, s . TP 89 : YP 8S (r.w. man, than, wan); wan,
sg. TP 9 : YP 91 (r.w. began, man, than); Elan, sg.

 

C.

D.

E.

F.

2.

206

TR 11? YB 92 (r.w. wan, man, than); fand, sg.
TP 161)..Y 'YP 151 (r.w.m vnderstand, wand, hand), TP
336 : P223 (r.w. land, wand, warand); pI.'YP 50
(r.w. land e, warande, thowsande), T? 38h: YP 373
(r.w. hand, wand, stand), TH 52 : YH 62 (r.w. hand,

 

 

lastande, lan e .

Within the line
wan, sg. TH 13 : YH 9; began sg. TR 119 : YB 94.

Class IV

1.

Within the line

3511 p1. TR 470 : YR 327, T? 56, TP 45 : come, p1.
YP 41

Class V

1.

EL

In rime

Lak, sg. TP 120 : YP 112 (r.w. 133, 23229.: 93153).
Within the line

.229: sg. TP 247 YP 234; ‘g__, sg. TH 166 : YH 163

£252: sg. TR 99 ; 2212. ssoYR 71+. 225;}. sg. TR £155 5;
sawe, pl. YJ 353.

Class VI

1.

2.

In rime

foore, sg. TJ 493 : YJ 336 (r.w. poore, doore, for-
swore); fowre, pl. TP 305: furs, p1. Y? 292 (r.w.
dore, blure .

Within the line

toke pl. TR 470 : YR 327; forsoke, p1. TJ 502 :
'YJ 3 7.

Class VII

1.

In rime

befell, sg. TR 109 : YR 84 (r.w. _t____611); knew sg.
TH 38?: m371 (r.w. trew), pl. TR 108: YR 83
(r.w. rew, new, trew); sIepe, p1. YJ 152 (r.w.

wepe,'33§e,.fizpe).

2. Within the line

wex sg. TR 135'
pIo’TR 509. ,

II. In the Talentsll

A. Class I

Iggglg, sg. TAL 83;
B. Class IV
gag, sg. TAL 120.
C. Class V
‘Qgg, sg. TAL 192;

D. Class VI

loghe, sg. TAL 86, p1. TAL 89;

Genitive Singular of Nouns:

I. In the Identical Y and T

A. T -(g) : Y -(3)
‘YP no;

YP 95;
YJ 259.

TP 45
TD 92

*3
a,
O.

B.

*3
a
A
la
V
.0

Y -(313

*3
In
“J
(13
‘1
o

. YH 273.
-(g)
YP 354;

Y

C. T -(313 : Y

TH 255

D. T -(315 : -(glg
YP 262;

YR 7S;
YJ 317.

TD 271
TJ 21 :

*3
w
*4
CD
C)
oo oo 00

E. T -Qg{§ : Y out

TP 272.

 

it The Caesar Augustus contains
the preterit. Examples in
lflirlfi’e

knew p1. TR 114 : YR 89;

rofe, sg. TAL 87;

H

207

lett,

spuxd, sg. TAL 82.

spake, sg. TAL 286.

toke, sg. TAL 260.

Inflectional Ending

Plays

YH 2R1; TJ 88 : YJ 18a.

TH 260 : YH 246;
TJ 87 : YJ 183;

YD 283;
YJ lh9;

no examples of strong verbs in
the Talents all occur within the

n n .
s o
. a
a
V - 1 . . '
I
. g . V _
a
e e .
I
a u .

 

208

-(3)3 : T out
YP 39.

II. Incidence in the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

 

A. -(g)§

Tc 188, 162; TAL 65, 331.

Plural of Nouns : Inflections12
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Umlaut plurals
1. In rime
men TP 59 : YP SS (r.w. ken, ten, Gersen), TD 129:
YD “159 (r.w. kene, then, ten); hende TH 67 : YH 75
(r.w. kend, discende, amende).
2. Within the line
men YP 301, YP 310 TR 5h6.m421; women TR 382 :
YR -235; feeteTR816 : YR 27h; bretHEFTE‘TH 25.
YH 37, TP 216; myses YP 273.
B. -£ plurals

1. Within the line

YP 18h;

ch 1d r, -er, -re TP 36 : YP 32, TP 12g :
: YJ 309,

TP 1 : YP 208, TD 86 : YD 11 , TJ 4
TJ 52h : YJ 365, TH 363, YP 11 YJ 277.
C. -n plurals
1. Within the line
3313 TH 59.
D. Double plurals
1. Within the line

bretheren YH 37.

 

12 This table of incidence does not include noun plurals in
-s, which occur so frequently to render impractical and
superfluous a complete record of forms.

 

209

E. Plurals without inflectional signals
1. In rime

she e TP 99 : YP 9S (r.w. kepe); yere TH 27 : YH
39 ir.w. here, sere, nere); TH 372 : YH 35h Er.w

manere, fere, derei; freynd TR u86 : YR 3h5 r.w.
heynd, weynd, ende); tythyggis YP 203 (r.w. ginal.

Within the line

“J
o

wynter TP 58; folk TP 8H : YP 80, TP 396 : YP 385,
TP 313; venyan3;_TP 172 : YP 159; water YP 261;
hors TP 309 : YP 297, YP 389 (?); ggg'Tfi 309 : YP
29?; asse TP 309 : YP 297; mesell TP 329; dede
TH 2H; Hart. TJ H70.

 

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

A. Umlaut plurals
1. Within the line
breke TAL 119.

Alexia
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. T 33 (33...gg) : Y'glg (als...gg, gig...gl§)
TP 12 : YP 12; TP 17 : YP 13; TP 20 : YP 16;

TP 5H : YP 50; TP 121 : YP 112- TP 139 : YP 126;
TP 176 : YP 163; TP 181 : YP 108; TP 205 : YP 192;

TD 7 : YD 93; TD 81 : YD 109; TD 105 : YD 133;
TD 128 : YD 156; TD 191 : YD 203; TD 213 : YD 225;
TD 226 : YD 238; TD 231 : YD 2&3; TD 236 : YD 248;
TD 2H9 : YD 261; TH 65 : YH 73; TH 66 : YH 7 ;

TH 70 : YH 78; TH 72 : YH 80; TH 330 : YH 30 ;
6 : YH 360; TH 38 YH 373; TR 166 : YR 139;
TJ 72 : YJ 315; TJ 51 YJ 357.

u
o
o
O

B. T 23 (ag...gg) : Y 33(33...gg)

110; TP 312 : YP 300; TP 320 : YP 308;
380; TD 96 : YD 12H; TD 100 : YD 12 ;
- YD 256; TH 81 :

F3
313
no
‘13 (T‘KN
\II
II Ol 00 00 on 00 .0

Y?

YP

YD :

YH 221, TH 25 : YH 244; TH 3H2 :
TH 3 9 YR 351, TR 150 : YR 123, TR 192 : YR 165,
TR 3 3 YR 2%6, TR i h : 24 ~ 06 : 26 -
TR Hos YR 2 , TR 73 (2x) : YR 33o 2x); TR 89 :
YR 3H6; TR 521 : YR 386; TR 55 : YR 32; TJ o :
YJ 176; TJ usa : YJ 3 .

210

C. T fig (gs...g§) : Y outs

TP 115, TP 389, TH 52, TH 270, TH 295, TH 297, TR #04,
TR 557.

D. T glgg : Y g3

TJ 411 : YJ 254
E. Y gig (glg...gl§) : T outs

YP 151, YP 296, YH 306, YH 311, YH 369, YH 145.
F. Y 33 : T outs

YP 148, YJ 256.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

A. 33 (3g...g§)
TC 21, 125, 133, 182, 208; TAL 53, S9, 63, 64, 83, 92,
118, 1H4, 177, 273.
Third Person Present Singular and Plural of To 8913
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. $3 : E3
1. In rime
a. T 33 : Y 3
TJ 350 : YJ SOS (r.w. herberles, dinesse, wikkid-
nesse); TJ H00 : YJ éfig—TFTWT-cagygngg, Bitterngg,
2. Within the line
a. T 23 : Y 23
TR 350 : YR 203.
b. Y SE : T variant reading

YP 386.

1 Since is and ar are overwhelming majority forms both in Y

and T, I hats listed here only a sampling of their in-
cidence.

211

COT£:Y$§

TP 101 : YP 97; TP 326 : YP 31H; TD 82 : yd 108;
TD 215 : YD 227; TH 31 : YH #3; TH 207 : YH 195;
TR 98 : YB 73; TR 46H : YR 321; TJ 392 :‘YJ 235;

TJ #39 : YJ 282; etc.

B. Are : ET;

1. Within the line

a. T933 : Y e

TP 36 : YP 32; TP H2 :‘YP 38; TP 396 : YP 385;
TP 398 : YP 387; TP 406 :‘YP 397.

b. YYgg : T variant reading
YP 388.
c. T‘gg : Y'gg(g

TP H8 : YP 4h; TP 59 : YP 55; TD 91 : YD 119;

TD 179 : YD 1 1; TH 10 : YH 110; TH 338 : YH 318;
TR 120 : YR 1 3; TR A9 : YR 353; TJ 395 :‘YJ 238;
TJ 4 9 : YJ 332; etc.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A.

12

1.

2.

2.

In rime

TC 25 (r.w. hathenes, lag, redres).

Within the line

To 13, 27, 33, 36 71;. 82. 238; TAL 1119, 155. 163,
176, 187, 203, 20h, 219, 232, 250, 259, 263, 26H,

OtCe

In rime
TAL 316 (r.w. war, nar).
Within the line

TC 46; TAL 119, 157, 162, 189 (2x), 233 (2x), 283,
315. 317. 323, 341.

a
|
l
.
i
O
l‘
e
O

 

Fro : From
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. In rime

1. T fro : Y fro

TP 319 : YP 307 (r.w. go, so, gg)‘ TD 243: YD 256

(r.w. two, g3, wo); TH 18 : YH 1 ; TR 174 :
(r.w. 33, o, HST; TR 205 : YR 178 (r.w. 53);

YR 147;
T

401 : YR 2 (37w. 39, two, o); TR 470 : YR 327
(r.w. 52, also, mg); T3‘79 é‘YJ 175 (r.w. Egg, g3,

52>-
B. Within the line

1. T fro : Y fro, fra

TH 88 : YH 96; TH 162 E YH 159; TH 243 : YH 227;

TH 280 : YH 266; TH 28 : YH 271; TH 399 :
TR 339 : YR 192; TR 495 : YR 352; TR 509 :

2. T from : Y fro, fra
TP 220 : YP 207; TP 383 : YP 372; P 41

T
TH 69 : YH 77; TH 273 : YH 259; TR 442
TJ 483 : YJ 326; TJ 495 : YJ 338; TJ 52

O
I

00- 0‘

3. Y'fgg : T outs
YP 364, 368; YH 295, 378.
II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents
A. Within the line
1.229

TC 42, 206; TAL 78, 155.

Forms of 22 fig
I. In the Identical Y and T Plays
A. Infinitive and Present Tense
1. In rime
a. T 5335 : Y 5225
TP 364 : YP 353 (r.w. 1325, 33325, 2535);

YH 06;
YR €66.

YP #05;

YB 299'

YJ 369.

T?

 

293 : YP 280 (r. w. em mang); TD 191
wrang).
b. T weygd : Y wende

TH 56 : YH 153 (r.w.
(r.w. ende);

she
TR 379: m232 (r.w.f

 

213

YD 203 (r.w.

TH 312 : YH o298

TR 560 435 (r.w. kende, mende,
TJ 83 : YJ 172 (r.w. enae, discenae,“ amende);
TJ 525 : YJ‘ 3 6 (rm ."1""" de, en___a_§, f—jeygde .

c. T952 : Yggg(e

TP 317 :
120 (r.w. also);
we); TR 2

r.w. £12, g___lso, to);
fro, two);~ TR ‘73 :
TJ ”77 : YJ 173

d. Y’ggng :

TH 393 :
R180 (r.w. fro);
TR 404" :
YR 335

T variant reading

wrang,

YH 303 (r.w. emang hangs);

.ssaas,.;223,.zasasio
e. T‘gg : Y outs

TH 9 (r.w.‘gg); TH 199 (r.w.lgg).
2. Within the line
Y'BEES
YD 226;

a. T953 :
TD 216 :

b. T weynd :

TP 395 :
TR 398 :

TD 233 YD 245;

Y wende

TR 359 : YR 212;

YP 384;
YR 251.

c. T 53 : Y wende

TP 362 : YP 351.

d. T‘gg : Yggg

TP 108 : Y? 10%,-
TD 214: YD 22
TH 35? : YH 341.

e. T weynd : Y outs
TJ 79.

TP 292 .
TD 229

9:5

YP 305 (r.w. wo, so, fro);
YH‘377 (r.w. so,
TR 372 :
YR 257 (r.w.!
(r.w. so, also,
r.w. so, two, fro).

TH 114: YH
inferno,

3;

lélo

YR 56 (r.w.

TH 127 : YH 144.

TR 374 : YR 227;

TP 3 : YP 33 3
TH 1 9 : YH 15 ;

 

f. Y Egggg
YD 185.
g. T 53 :
TP 133;
h. Y'gg : T
YP 121;
B. Preterit tense
1. In rime
a. T 1222 :
TP 346 :

b. T lede :

TR 61 -
5111A:

c. T went :

TP 222 :

YD 75 (r.w. ant,

do T gods 3

TR 455 (r.w. dede, steed, hede).

I\)
o

a. T 1333 :
TJ #99 =
b. T 3333 :
TR 504.
0. Y 3322 :

YR 245.

YR 368 (r. w. dre e

T outs

Y outs

TP 191; TH 120;
outs

YP 123.

Y 3oode
YP 336 (r.w. wode).

Y lede

TR 545;

214

TR 560.

R318 (r.w. dede, drede, nLde); TR

Y went

YP 209 (r. w. tent, sent, ant);
sent, 5e nt).

 

 

Y outs

Within the line

Y 3222
YJ 342.

Y variant reading

T variant reading

C. Past Participle

1. In rime

a. T went :

Y went

 

TD 51 :

TD 105
ment);

TR

388 :
b. T gone

TP 396

c. T gone

215

YD 133 (r.w. sent, Eresent, commaund-
TH 179 : YH 17 r.w. assent, tent, ment);

Y gene

2 : YR 299 (r.w. lentt, tent, shent}; TJ
YJ 231 (r.w. tente, sente, Iugemente).

YP 385 (r.w. ichon, tain, slain).

Y out

TH 19h (r.w. none).

2. Within the line

a. T ggxg, gone : Y gone

TD 215

b. T gone
TP 391

c. T gone
TR 82;

YD 227;

Y wente

YP 380;
Y outs

TR 392.

d. Y gone : T outs

YR 361.

e. Y Wente

YR 306.

: T outs

TR A38 : YR 296.

TP 398 : YP 387.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

 

A. Infinitive and Present Tense

1. In rime

a. weznd

TC 235 (r.w. lexnd, hexnd, exnd).
b. 59 (gose, gase)

TC 86 (r.w. 32, two,
TC 11h (r.w. BldEET; T
gose, 2nd sg. pres. TAL
TAL 160 (r.w. 3E2); TA

2. Within the line

); ase, 2nd sg. pres.
L 10 r.w. Egg, therto);
106 (r.w. close, ose ;
L 17h (r.w. unto, 2325.

slo
A

B.

 

Be

C.

II. In
A.

 

216

a. wemd
TC 208; TAL 166.

b-.25222
TC 84.
0.52
TC 66, 99, 136; TAL 161, 181, 335, 336.
Preterit Tense
1. In rime

a. lode
TC 146 (r.w. goode, bloode, mode).

2.12.132

the corresponding Y and T Plays
TLaLawYm

TP 297 : YP 284; TP 396 : YP

38
TD 131 .YD 159; TD 133 . YD 16
(MS has thre); TD 249 : YD 261;

Tm=m

TP 260 : YP 247; TH 24 : YH 24; TJ 408 : YJ 251.

Variant readings and outs

these TP 84, TR 352 : e YP 80, YR 205; ere YP 182;

‘EHEE'TP 399 : 233 YP 3 ; this, sg. TP 3 : ggggg
06; ‘ghgg, sg. TR 46 :‘EEE‘YR 38.

the Caesar Augustus and Talents

{EQEEQE9 (£2122)

TC 149, 168, 200; TAL 105, 145, 215, 325, 327.

Eytill : yg)§_o_

I. In
A.

the Identical Y and T Plays

Prepositional usage

 

 

1.

2.

3.

5.

217

T t 11, till (thert ll, vntzll) : Y'till (per till,
vn-t 1e}

a. In rime

TP 157 : YP 144 (r.w. «111); TD 118 : YD 146
(r.w.w w§ 11,Lst 11, ffu1?¥if); TD 246 : YD 2 8
(row. :1; TR 5’47 3 YR LL22

(r.w." 1)L e

b. Within the line
TD 70 : YD 98; TD 239 :
TR 183 : YR 156; TR 209:
TJ 78 : YJ 174; TJ 83 :

T Ln(_t_9_ : YLn(till

YD 251 TR 176 : YR 149;
182; TR 488 : YR 345;
YJ 179.

a. In rime
TR 180 : YR 167 (r.w. Willa, Y only).
b. Within the line

TD 26 : YD 276; TH 175 : YH 172; TH 386 : YH 37o;
TJ 48 : YJ J331.

T 32(33 :‘Y.zg(to
a. In rime
TR 37h : YR 227 (r.w.'ggg, oo,Ԥlgg).
b. Within the line
TR 91 : YR 87; TP 121 : YR 112; TR 181 : YR 168;
TD 23o : YD 2 2; TR 197 : YR 170; TR 553 : YR 428;
TJ 524 :‘YJ 3 S
T Email: main = Y 215.122
a. Within the line
TD 129 : YD 157; TR 107 : YR 82; TR 543 : YR 418;
Outs
a. In rims
2252 (r.w. 39) TP 418.
b. Within the line

till YR 274; till TR 402, TR 573.

218

B. Conjunctive usage (all incidence within the line)
1. T‘gill : Y 2&1;
TH 24 : YB 24.
2. T‘gg : ng;;1(g

TP 340 : YP 328; TP 391 : YP 380; TP 411 : YP 4003
TD 196 : YD 208; TD 204 : YD 216.

3. T‘tg : YflEBQEQ

4. T till : Ygg
TR 428 : YR 286.

II. In the Caesar Augustus and Talents

A. Prepositional Usage

a. In rims

Tc 222 (r.w. 32x11); TAL 26o (r.w. stxll);
TAL 347 (r.w. wzil, 111).

b. Within the line
TAL.49.

2. fig,‘gg£g, thereto
a. In rime

TAL 103 (r.w. two o)’ TAL 17o (r.w. two o);
TAL 182 (r.w. ___30 5: 5... ’ , S—

b. Within the line

To 15. 17. 20. 24. 65 92. 99. 13o, 134. 154.
156, 160, 167, 171, 185, 190, 191, 223, 239-
TAL-48, 56, 58, g, 8%, 86 88, 97, 110, 13 ,
43, 155, 161, 1 , 1 5, 168, 225, 229, 265,

1
2 u. 277. 298 (2x). 313. 321, 328.

 

BI BLI OGRA PHY

219

 

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