[This text is the “Notes” volume accompanying _Selections from Early
Middle English_, Project Gutenberg e-text 26413. There is no Index
or Glossary, so the notes to each selection can be treated as a
free-standing unit.
The text includes characters that require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding,
including:
Ȝ ȝ; ƿ ⁊ (yogh; wynn, Tironian ampersand and similar)
ꝥ (thorn þ with stroke, unicode A765)
ǣ ē ẹ etc. (vowels with less common diacritics)
ἅπ. λεγ. (Greek)
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Transliterations of Greek words and phrases (rare) are given at the end
of the sections in which they occur.
_Unusual Forms_ are represented with brackets:
[ ] half-width space, used between prefix and main verb
[g] Orm’s special “g”
[;] inverted semicolon
The first two are rare in this Notes volume; all three are common in the
primary text. All other brackets are in the original.
_Cross-References_ such as “see p. 123” or “see 12/34” (page/line) come
in several forms:
-- Page numbers up to 222 refer to the primary text. See table of
contents in the main volume for pagination; line numbers refer to
the text, not to the physical page.
-- The form “12/34 note”, and all higher page numbers (223 and up),
refer to the present volume. The first kind are linenotes; the
second refer to some earlier text’s notes, identified by physical
line number. These references have been individually identified.
_Typography:_ Partial-word italics representing editorial expansions are
shown in braces as “mi{n}e”. Other italics are shown conventionally with
_lines_. Other markings:
#boldface#
=letter-spaced= (never adjacent to = signs)
^superscript (always continues to end of word)
{1} {2} (subscript, only used with numerals 1 and 2)
_Errors and Inconsistencies:_ Formatting of less common characters such
as þ and ȝ has been silently corrected to agree with the rest of the
text. Inconsistent punctuation in subheaders (“#Accidence:#” and
similar) has been silently regularized. Other typographical errors are
listed at the end of each section. The word “invisible” means that there
is an appropriately sized gap, but the letter or punctuation mark itself
is absent. Note that text format (bold or italic) has semantic meaning
in this volume.
Editorial corrections listed in the Corrigenda have been made in the
text. The page as printed is retained for completeness. Some
inconsistencies that were left as printed are listed at the end of the
full e-text.
The work cited as “NED.” is now known as OED.]
SELECTIONS FROM
EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH
1130-1250
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
by
JOSEPH HALL
M.A., HON. D.LITT., Durham University