Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The English language from about 1100 to 1500.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun The ancestor language of
Modern English , spoken in England and parts of Scotland (where it becameLowland Scots ) from about 1100 AD to 1500 AD. It developed fromAnglo-Saxon , also calledOld English , with heavy influence from French and Latin after the Norman invasion.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun English from about 1100 to 1450
Etymologies
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Examples
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Here are some events that changed the language in its phases as Middle English (from 1066 to 1500) and Early Modern English (1500 to 1800):
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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As it happens, English-speakers did employ the word guerre toward the end of the Middle English period, and they kept it in circulation for roughly ten generations.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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Written in a discursive Middle English, it has inspired several rewrites in modern times, including T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" (1958), the first part of which became the 1963 Disney movie "The Sword in the Stone," and John Steinbeck's "Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights" (1976).
Arthurian Glories Renewed Tom Shippey 2011
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It's arguably the first work of English Literature -- though, as it's written in Middle English, you probably won't be able to read it here's a sample:
John Lundberg: Want To Read The Original 'Beowulf' Manuscript? There's An App For That John Lundberg 2011
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My friend was an English major back in the day, and the ceremony was filled with extended readings — some in Middle English — from First Samuel and First Corinthians, Plato, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and William Meredith, as well as traditional and popular music from when the two of them were young.
A wedding like any other Salisbury Tom Moriarty 2011
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The Normans' attempt to foist their language on their subjects would eventually result in the mongrelism of Middle English which explains modern English's glut of synonyms.
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It's arguably the first work of English Literature -- though, as it's written in Middle English, you probably won't be able to read it here's a sample:
John Lundberg: Want To Read The Original 'Beowulf' Manuscript? There's An App For That John Lundberg 2011
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It's arguably the first work of English Literature -- though, as it's written in Middle English, you probably won't be able to read it here's a sample:
John Lundberg: Want To Read The Original 'Beowulf' Manuscript? There's An App For That John Lundberg 2011
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Mr. Dean, who as a young father regaled his daughters with passages from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" in Middle English and fed the girls plump blueberries from the back yard, died of a brain aneurysm Dec. 2 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County.
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It's arguably the first work of English Literature -- though, as it's written in Middle English, you probably won't be able to read it here's a sample:
John Lundberg: Want To Read The Original 'Beowulf' Manuscript? There's An App For That John Lundberg 2011
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