Part 23

In the case of an followed by a consonant in a tone-syllable the variation to aun seems to be merely a question of spelling, and we have such rhymes as chaunce : remembrance, ii. 893 f., demande : comaunde, iv. 2794, supplanted: enchaunted, ii. 2491, covenant : supplaunt, ii. 2367. In the French terminations -ance, -ant, the simple form is decidedly preferred (but governaunce : porveaunce, Prol. 187 f., graunt : amblaunt, ii. 1505 f.), and so also in many other words, as change, strange, comande, demande, supplante (also comaunde, supplaunte). In other cases au is either the usual or the only form, as daunce, daunte, enchaunte, haunte, sclaundre.

With regard to the consonants, it should be observed that Gower consistently wrote sch for sh initially, so that we have regularly schal, schape, sche, schewe, schip, schrifte, and also lordschipe, worschipe, &c., in other places usually ssh, as bisshop (also bisschop), buissh, fissh, fleissh (also fleisch), freissh, reisshe, wisshe.

The almost regular use of h for gh in such words as hih, nyh, sih, kniht, liht, miht, niht, heihte, sleihte, &c. will be spoken of later.

Gower did not use ȝ for h or gh. Such forms as miȝte, riȝt, uȝte, wrouȝt, are practically unknown in the best MSS. (F has nouȝt once.) On the other hand initially in such words as ȝe, ȝer, ȝive (forȝive), ȝong, &c., ȝ is regularly used. Only late and inferior MSS. have y. In regard to this letter Gower’s usage is exactly the reverse of that which we find in the Ayenbite of Inwyt. We have þ for th regularly except in the case of a capital letter being required, as at the beginning of a line, or in connexion with some foreign words and names as thalemans, thevangile, rethorique, Athemas, Anthenor, Thebith. Cases of th for þ in ordinary English words are very rare in F (but i. 2890, v. 2319, vii. 4203).

In some words there is an interchange of c and s, as decerte, pourchace pourchase, service servise, rancoun, suffice suffise, sufficant, &c., and the French termination -esse is also spelt -esce, as largesse largesce, simplesce simplesse; so also encresce, redresce, &c. In such points the orthography of Romance words is usually in accordance with that which we find in the author’s French writings, in which also are found such etymological forms as deceipte, doubte.

Before quitting the general subject, we ought to note certain words of common occurrence which are spelt not quite in the usual way. The author regularly writes bot for but, be for by, when used as a preposition and unemphatic, ous for us (pers. pron.), noght for not (not being used for ne wot). Some forms of proper names, as Habraham, Irahel, are characteristic. In these points, as in many others, the writer evidently followed a definite system, and in spite of the variations recorded, the orthography of the Fairfax and Stafford MSS. certainly conveys to the reader the general impression of regularity and consistency.

PHONOLOGY. (1) O. E. SHORT VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS.

O. E. =a=, =æ=, =ea=. In the case of a (o) before a lengthening nasal combination, ld, nd, mb, ng, &c., we may note that though hond, honde, hondes are preferred, as by Chaucer, yet hand, handes pretty frequently occur, as i. 2, 1807, 2994, ii. 574, iii. 116, v. 1505, &c. (also handle, iii. 1956, v. 1949), and that without any necessity of rhyme. In fact hand seems to be rather preferred except in rhyme. Contrary to what is apparently Chaucer’s usage we find thonk, thonke as the regular forms in Gower, and only occasionally thank, as ii. 60, 2012. This may be due to the Kentish tendency to lengthen before nk, which perhaps was pronounced nearly as ng (see Morsbach, Mittelengl. Gramm., p. 128), and in this connexion we may note the fact that the Fairfax MS. twice has þong for þonk. On the other hand there is no definite trace of the principle which has been discovered in some of the Kentish texts of lengthening before these combinations when a vowel follows, while preserving a when the consonant group ends the word, honde, stonde, þonke, &c., but hand, stand, þank. Gower uses handes as well as hand, and interchanges hange and honge, sang and song, according to convenience.

Note that upon rhymes freely with on (= one), anon, gon, &c., but the supposed rhyme on (ăn) : mone, i. 2179, noted by Fahrenberg, is really one (ān) : mone. In some cases of original ǣ shortened to æ Gower prefers e to a, as eny, only occasionally any, eddre beside addre, but lesse, ledde only for the sake of rhyme.

ea before h becomes ī in sih (from seah, sæh, pret. of sēon), which in Gower is the usual form of the word, æg forms ai (ay), as in dai, lay, mai, fain, slain, and other ai forms, which are not interchangeable with ei (but said with variant seid by influence of seie).

O. E. =e=. When we are dealing with so careful a rhymer as Gower, we need hardly remark upon the absolute distinction made between ę̄ derived from O. E. ĕ and ẹ̄ of whatever origin. The case of skiereþ : hiereþ, cited by Fahrenberg as an instance of the opposite, cannot be regarded as a real exception, in view of the uncertain derivation of skiere. His other cases of supposed ę : ẹ are instances of the pret. pl. spieke (speke), from sprǣcon, as spieke : beseke, ii. 959, sieke : spieke, ii. 1455. One is doubtful, viz. seke : mispeke, ii. 2007, where mispeke may be pret. subjunctive; and besides these, undergete : flete, ii. 1133 f. is irregular.

There is, however, also a well-marked distinction between new-lengthened ę̄ in words like trede, stede, bere, spere, &c., forȝete, gete, begete (inf. and partic.), mete (subst.), &c., and ę̄ from ǣ or ēa, the distinction being due presumably to imperfect lengthening. With the first class rank also words in which e is derived from O. E. y in open syllables, as lere (loss) from O. E. lyre, stere (stir) from styrian, dede (pret.) from dyde, and also e in answere.

Thus we find the following quite distinct sets of rhymes: bede, forbede (past participles), bede (subst.), dede (pret. = did), stede (stead), trede, forming one class and rhyming together, while they are kept entirely apart from threde, drede, dede (= dead), rede, pl. adj. (= red), which have ę̄ from ēa or ǣ. On the other hand, bede the pret. plur. of bidde (from bǣdon) rhymes with dede (dead), e.g. i. 2047.

So also answere, bere (subst.), bere (verb inf.), forbere, dere (destroy), lere (loss), stere (stir), bestere, swere (verb), tere (verb), were (wear), were (defend), form one class of rhyme-words as against ere, fere (fear), there, were (from wǣron), &c. But eere (verb) from erian rhymes with there, v. 819 f., and scheres with teres, v. 5691. The case of bere rhyming with were (from wǣron), i. 2795 f., vii. 1795 f., is not an exception to the rule, being the preterite plural, from bǣron.

Another group is chele, fele (many), hele (cover), stele, wele, as against hele (heal), dele, &c.: but we find hele (hǣlo) : hele (helan), iii. 2755 f.

Again we have ete, gete (inf. and partic.), begete, forȝete, mete (meat), sete (past partic.), kept apart from grete (great), bete (beaten), strete, tete, lete (lǣtan), swete (verb, = sweat), threte, whete, &c. It may be noted that beȝete (subst.) belongs to the class grete, bete, &c.

There is every reason to suppose that the same distinction would hold with other endings, in the case of which no sufficient rhyme-test is forthcoming, as breke, speke (inf.), wreke (inf. and past partic.), which have no other words with ę̄ with which they could be rhymed, eke, seke, meke, &c., all having ẹ̄.

On the whole we may say that this distinction is very carefully kept in Gower’s rhymes, and must certainly indicate a difference of pronunciation.

The adverb wel, also written wiel, has a double sound, as in Chaucer, either ę̄ or ẹ̄, rhyming with del (diel), stiel, whiel, &c., and also with naturel, Daniel, and the substantive wel for wele.

eg forms ei, which is often interchangeable with ai, as seie, leie, weie, aȝein.

O. E. =i=. There is nothing in Gower’s rhymes to lend support to the theory that i from O. E. ĭ in open syllables (i.e. before a single consonant followed by a vowel), as in the past participles write, drive, schrive, and the infinitives ȝive, wite, is of doubtful quantity. The past participle and plural preterite write have ĭ and rhyme with wite (know), while the infinitive wryte rhymes with wyte (blame), verb and substantive: the infinitives live, ȝive, forȝive and the participles drive, ȝive, schrive, &c. rhyme among themselves and not with schryve (inf.), alyve, fyve: the short vowel words wile (verb), skile, bile are separate from wyle (subst.), whyle, ile, &c. This would not be worth mentioning but for ten Brink’s argument (Chaucers Sprache, §§ 35, 325), based on the very smallest positive evidence.

hire (hir) is used regularly for the personal and possessive pronoun of the third person sing. fem. (= her), and never here, as is Chaucer’s usage in rhyme.

cherche is Gower’s regular form from cirice, but chirche is common in the orthography of the Praise of Peace, e.g. 197, 210, 225, &c., beside cherche, 232, 254.

O. E. =o=. wolde, scholde, golde, molde rhyme with tolde, holde, colde, &c., but in open syllables a distinction is observed (as in the case of e) between new-lengthened ǭ and ǭ from O. E. ā, so that tofore, before, therfore, score and the participles bore, forbore, lore, schore, swore are kept separate in rhyme from such words as hore, more, lore (subst.), ore, rore, sore, to which later group should be added More (Moor), and the Romance verb restore. This distinction seems to be recognized by Chaucer, cp. Troilus, v. 22-26, but with a good many exceptions, as Legend of Good Women, 452 f., 550 f., 1516 f., Cant. Tales, A 1541 f., 3237 f., &c., chiefly, but not exclusively, in the case of more. Gower is very much stricter and allows very few exceptions (overmore : tofore, i. 3361 f., nomore : therfore, vii. 3279* f., more : therfore, vii. 3869 f., more : fore, viii. 991 f.), which must be regarded as imperfect rhymes. Considering the frequency with which words of these two classes occur in rhyme, it is remarkable that the distinction should be so well kept.

We may note that bowe (subst.) from boga rhymes with words like knowe, in which ow is from āw.

O. E. =u=. In some words o and u interchange, as begonne begunne, conne cunne, coppe cuppe, dronkeschipe drunkeschipe, further forther, ronne (over)runne, sonne sunne, thurgh thorgh(soght), tonge tunge, tonne tunne, &c., but we have without variation, bole, hunger, note (nut), some, under, wonder, &c. The regular rhyme under : wonder is enough to show that the sound was the same.

love, above rhyme together and not with any other word. (For the rhyme at v. 7047 f., see under =ō=.)

sone (from sunu), wone (custom), astone, rhyme only with one another: in the rhyme wones : ones, which occurs iv. 2217 f., viii. 611 f., we have to do of course with a different word.