Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/111

82 77, we get some idea of the degradation undergone by the word knave since the Twelfth century. Bicumelic now first appears for decorus, shortened by us into comely; bicuman is used for both decere and fieri (pages 45 and 47). Lot also gets a wholly new meaning; at page 31 we read of a ‘þridde lot’ (tertia pars). Geleafa now takes its modern form bileue, belief; just as gelitlian was to become to belittle. H’œs, geong, betst, sorh, deaw, þeau, gescy, légere, and Sunnandœg, now become heste, yung, best, sorewe, deu, þewe, sceos (shoes), lih&#x0293;are (liar), and Sunnedei (Sunday). The old hwilke had not yet come to stand for the Neuter Relative, for we find ‘&#x0293;eten þurh hwam’ (gates through which), page 153. We see a new use of hwat in the sentence (page 145), ‘we beoð in wawe, hwat for ure eldere werkes, hwat for ure a&#x0293;ene gultes.’ We still keep this idiom, but we should now employ with instead of for. At page 53, we see in two lines both the new alse feire alse and the old swa sone se. At page 33 we find a form, well known to English witnesses, ‘swa me helpe Drihten.’ Our forefathers used to express the Latin sinister by wynstre, something that was wanting in full strength. In these Homilies we find wynstre changed into luft (left), to which we still cling. There is a kindred word to this in Holland.

As to Verbs; the Participle iturned becomes iturnd at page 157, with the clipped pronunciation we still use, ex&shy;cept at church. We sometimes find the Midland beon instead of the Southern beoth. At page 21, we scolden is used for we sculen, and the corruption still holds its