Read the following lines from the Prologue and try to translate it into Modern English.

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote The droughte of Marche hath perced to the roote And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the younge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smalle fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open ye, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages): Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ……………………………………………

shoures – showers droughte – drought perce – pierce rote – root swich – such licour – liquor vertu –virtue engendred– engendered flour–flower eek–also swete –sweet breeth – breath holt– forest heeth – heath (wasteland) hath y-ronne–has run fowles – fowls (birds) hem–their than–then

9. Compare the Russian translation with the original. Find similarities and differences.

Когда Апрель обильными дождями

Разрыхлил землю, взрытую ростками.

И, мартовскую жажду утоляя,

От корня до зеленого стебля

Набухли жилки той весенней силой,

Что в каждой роще почки распустила,

А солнце юное в своем пути

Весь Овна знак успело обойти,

И, не на миг в ночи не засыпая,

Без умолку звенели птичьи стаи,

Так сердце им встревожил зов весны,

Тогда со всех сторон родной страны

Паломников бессчетных вереницы

Мощам заморским снова поклониться

Стремились истово……

Read the lines once again and try to analyze them according to the following example.

PHONETICAL AND ORTHOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF A MIDDLE ENGLISH TEXT

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droughte of Marche hath perced to the roote

Words as used in the text	OLD ENGLISH	MIDDLE ENGLISH	NEW ENGLISH
whan	Sound changes	hwænne [ hw]-----     [æ]-----     [e]-----	whan [ hw]-----     [a]----- quantative change   reduction	when [w] loss of the initial[h] in the cluster[h+ consonant] [e]-----dialectical variant
Spelling changes	hw-----   æ-----	wh ---replacement   a---reflection of the sound change	e---dialectical variant
that	Sound changes	þæt   [Þ]-----     [æ]-----	that   [Þ]-----     [a]----- quantative change	that   [ð] voicing in unstressed functional words [æ]----- quantative change
Spelling changes	Þ -----   æ-----	th ---replacement   a---reflection of the sound change
with	Sound changes	wiÞ [θ]-----	with [θ]-----	with [ð] voicing in unstressed functional words
Spelling changes	Þ -----	th ---replacement
shour	Sound changes	scur   [sk]-----     [u:]-----	shour/showr   [S]-palatalization     [u:]-----	shower     [au] Great Vowel Shift+[r] = [auə] vocalization of [r]
Spelling changes	sc -----   [u]-----	sh ---replacement   [ou/ow]---French influence
droughte	Sound changes	druʒoð [ u:]-----     [γ]-----     [θ]-----	drought(e) [ u:]-----     [x]---devoicing     [t]---positional change after [x]	drought [au]---Great Vowel Shift   loss
Spelling changes	u -----   ʒ----- ð----	ou --- French influence gh- replacement t—reflection of the sound change
March	Sound changes		March [ar]-----	March [ a:]---vocalisation of [r] and lengthening of [ a]
Spelling changes
roote	Sound changes		roote [o:]-----     [ə]	root [u:]---Great Vowel Shift   reduction
Spelling changes

Comment on the examples of the orthographic changes in the ME spelling of consonants and vowels.

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