Talk:Middle English

The Old English Latin alphabet consisted of 24 letters: 20 standard letters + 4 additional letters
I tweaked... The basic Old English Latin alphabet consisted of 24 letters: 20 standard letters plus four additional letters: ash ⟨æ⟩, eth ⟨ð⟩, thorn ⟨þ⟩ and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩. There was not yet a distinct j, v or w, and Old English scribes did not generally use k, q or z. 2603:3020:BE7:A000:5490:8C43:B4E5:7CA7 (talk) 15:05, 15 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Do you count the dotted-y (Ẏẏ) of the Old English rune poem (in bẏþ, etc.)? – •Raven .talk 06:38, 12 April 2023 (UTC)

You 119.156.119.252 (talk) 22:51, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

50,000
Yryfhrvgdvt high tg 203.144.93.85 (talk) 01:08, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Middle English didn't exist.
Middle English didn't exist. Anglo-Saxon did NOT evolve into Modern English. People erroneously refer to Anglo-Saxon as "Old English". Understanding the enormous differences between Anglo-Saxon and English, an artificial construct called "Middle English" was hypothesized in the 19th century, the "missing link". But, until the 1150s, Anglo-Saxons wrote in Anglo-Saxon, which didn't change much between Horsa and the time of King Stephen. And, spelling aside, English is not significantly different between the time of Chaucer and today. So, between mid-12th(last written Anglo-Saxon) and mid-14th(first written English) we have 200 years where the Norman Elite of England wrote in Latin or French. Somehow, unwritten, the Anglo-Saxon morphed into English, with no direct evidence for this. And, it did it to the point where the 14th century English bears no resemblance to the 12th century Anglo-Saxon. Even if this actually happened, then the "Middle English" of c 1200 would have to be enormously different to the "Middle English" of c 1300. 197.87.143.164 (talk) 13:59, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Strange that all WP:RS think differently! Johnbod (talk) 15:09, 13 July 2024 (UTC)