#Dialect#: Pure Kentish of Canterbury.
#Inflexions# are well preserved, and are similar to those found in
contemporary South-Western texts.
VERB: pres. ind. 3 sg. _multiplieþ_ 1; contracted _ret_ 3, 16.
1 pl. _habbeþ_ 2.
strong pp. _yyeue_ 25, _yhote_ 29.
PRONOUN 3 PERS.: the new forms _she_, _they_, _their_, _them_ are
not used.
3 sg. fem. nom. _hi_ 32, _hy_ 45;
poss. _hare_ 33, beside _hire_ 36;
pl. nom. _hi_ 58.
Note the objective form _his(e)_ = 'her' 32, 53 (twice);
and = 'them' 7, 8, 28.
NOUN: plurals in _-en_ occur: _uorbisnen_ 2, _ken_ 56. In
_diaknen_ 5, _-en_ represents the dat. pl. inflexion.
ADJECTIVE: _onen_ dat. sg. 4, _oþren_ dat. pl. 53, _þane_ acc. sg.
masc. 59, _þet (word)_ nom. sg. neut. 57, show survivals rare
even in the South at this date.
#Sounds#: Characteristic of the South-East is __ for OE.
(West-Saxon) _ȳ̆_: _kertel_ (OE. _cyrtel_) 39, _ken_ (OE. _cȳ_)
56.
Old diphthongs are preserved in _greate_ (OE. _grēat_) 9, _yeaf_ 22.
In _hyerof_ 1, _yhyerde_ 49, _hier_ 2, _þieues_ 18, _ye_, _ie_ represent
diphthongs developed in Kentish rather than simple close _ē_.
Initial _z_ = _s_ in _zome_ 'some' 2, _zede_ 'said' 12, _zuo_ 'so' 17;
and initial _u_ = _f_ in _uele_ 2, _uayre_ 2, _uram_ 4, _bevil_ 41,
evidence dialectical changes which occurred also in the South-West.
#Syntax#: The constructions are distorted by slavish following of the
French original; see note to ll. 48-60.
* * * * *
3. Saint Germain of Auxerre (MS. _Aucerne_) is famous for his missions
to Britain in the first half of the fifth century. This particular story
is found in the _Acta Sanctorum_ for July 31, p. 229.
16. St. John the Almoner (d. 616) was bishop of Alexandria. For the
story see _Acta Sanctorum_ for January 23, p. 115.
27-8. _and huanne he hit wiste þe ilke zelue þet his hedde onderuonge_:
an obscure sentence. Perhaps: 'and when he, the same who had received
them (i.e. John, who had received the five hundred pounds), knew it'
(sc. the truth).
38. This tale of Boniface, bishop of Ferentia in Etruria, is told in the
_Dialogues_ of Gregory the Great, Bk. i, chap. 9. Its first appearance
in English is in the translation of the _Dialogues_ made by Bishop
Wærferth for King Alfred (ed. Hans Hecht, Leipzig 1900, pp. 67 ff.).
48-60. The French original of the passage, taken from an elegant
fourteenth-century MS., Cotton Cleopatra A.V., fol. 144 a, will show how
slavishly Dan Michael followed his source:—
_Apres il fu un poure home, sicom on dit, qui auoit une vache; e oi dire
a son prestre en sarmon que Dieu disoit en leuangile que Dieu rendoit a
cent doubles quanque on donast por lui. Le prodomme du conseil sa femme
dona sa uache a son prestre, qui estoit riches. Le prestre la prist
uolentiers, e lenuoia pestre auoec les autres quil auoit. Kant uint au
soir, la uache au poure home sen uint a son hostel chies le poure homme,
com ele auoit acoustume, e amena auoeques soi toutes les uaches au
prestre, iukes a cent. Quant le bon home uit ce, si pensa que ce estoit
le mot de leuangile que li auoit rendu; e li furent aiugiees deuant son
euesque contre le prestre. Cest ensample moustre bien que misericorde
est bone marchande, car ele multiplie les biens temporels._
58-9. 'And they were adjudged to him before his bishop against the
priest', i.e. the bishop ruled that the poor man should have all the
cows.
The French _fabliau_ '_Brunain_' takes up the comic rather than the
moral aspect of the story. A peasant, hearing the priest say that gifts
to God are doubly repaid, thought it was a favourable opportunity to
give his cow Blérain—a poor milker—to the priest. The priest ties her
with his own cow Brunain. To the peasant's great joy, the unprofitable
Blérain returns home, leading with her the priest's good cow.