A Handbook of Middle English

By Fernand Mossé

Book Overview

Professor Fernand Moss of the Coll ge de France is at home in all the Germanic languages and literatures, but for many years he has paid particular attention to English. Since he is a medievalist he has interested himself first and foremost in the earlier periods, and since he is a teacher as well as investigator he has been long concerned to smooth the path of students taking their first steps into a field far from our day and time. A few years ago, this concern of his ripened into a work that won general recognition as soon as it came out: his Manuel de l'Anglais du Moyen Age des Origines an XIVe Si cle. In the Manuel the author's mastery of the material and talent for clear and orderly presentation are happily combined. In this work we have by far the best introduction to medieval English now available.--from the Foreword

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801867614
• ISBN13: 9780801867613
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 519 Pages
• Weight: 1.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

That Crazy Middle English

. . . a detailed examination of Middle English in as compact a size as possible. It is a detailed grammar, with pronunciation notes, word forms, sentence structure tendencies/rules and it is also an anthology of well-chosen texts from different dialects and times: We telles, we telleth, or we tellen? It depends on which part of England you are (were) in. The preface is amusing when it suggests that alteration of the spelling "disturbs us deeplee nd wee reegahrd such chanjz as chanjz in the language," i.e. relax your head about spelling: the texts will be easier to read. The first printing was in 1952, so it's elderly, but it makes little difference to its high quality. It is NOT a workbook with exercises and answers. Heavy going, I suppose, if you're not already interested in the subject but fascinating if you're already into the evolution of language, and English in particular. Highly recommended.