中古英语（英语：Middle English）是指英格兰王国在中世纪中后期——即从公元1066年诺曼征服英格兰开始到1489年都铎王朝建立结束期间的金雀花王朝时期——所通用的英语变种。这个时期的英语和中世纪早期盎格鲁-撒克逊时期的古英语相比，在读音、拼写、词汇和语法方面都产生了较大的变化，一大部分古英语词汇被淘汰，转而吸收了罗曼语系中法语（诺曼语）和拉丁语的很多词汇和短语。
 | 此条目需要补充更多来源。 (2022年11月25日) |
语法
中古英语的语法在形态变化方面发生了简化。名词逐渐失去了古英语复杂的数和格的变化，简化成了单数和复数两种形式，复数以词尾-s表示。形容词则简化成了没有任何变化的词类。
词在句子中的关系不再通过性、数、格的变化来表示，而是由词在句子中的位置来表示。
发音
相对于语法上的诸多改变，中古英文在发音上，比起古英文却没有太大的变化，仍旧是近似德语的发音方式。
词汇
中古英语吸收了大量法语的词汇，数目有几千之多。此外，中古英语还吸收了拉丁语、佛兰芒语、荷兰语、低地德语的一些词汇。同时，大量古英语的词汇由于不再使用而被淘汰。
中古英语文选
下文载自《坎特伯雷故事集》（The Canterbury Tales），乔叟著，14世纪
| 中古英语原文 | 现代英语直译[1] |
|---|---|
| Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote | When [that] April with his showers sweet |
| The droȝte of March hath perced to the roote | The drought of March has pierced to the root |
| And bathed every veyne in swich licour, | And bathed every vein in such liquor, |
| Of which vertu engendred is the flour; | Of which virtue engendered is the flower; |
| Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth | When Zephyrus eeked with his sweet breath |
| Inspired hath in every holt and heeth | Inspired has in every holt and heath, |
| The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne | The tender crops; and the young sun |
| Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, | Has in the Ram his half-course run, |
| And smale foweles maken melodye, | And small fowls make melody, |
| That slepen al the nyght with open ye | That sleep all the night with open eye |
| (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); | (So pricks them Nature in their courages); |
| Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages | Then folk long to go on pilgrimages |
| And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes | And palmers [for] to seek strange strands |
| To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; | To far-off hallows, couth in sundry lands; |
| And specially from every shires ende | And, especially, from every shire's end |
| Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, | Of England, to Canterbury they went, |
| The hooly blisful martir for to seke | The holy blissful martyr [for] to seek, |
| That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke. | That them has helped, when [that] they were sick. |
参看
参考资料
外部链接
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
