Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/170

Rh

These lines are taken from a most charming Dorset&shy;shire poem, which seems to have been no translation from the French. It was published by the Percy So&shy;ciety, No. 39. Most of the forms found in the Ancren Riwle are here repeated. We see from the present work how warmly King Alfred's name had been taken to England's heart. The proverbs attributed to him come again and again, 340 years after his death. We find also other saws, such as

We often say ‘the other day,’ when referring to past time. At page 4 we read

At page 50 occurs

‘The taught (tensus) let out;’ this is formed from the old teohhian (trahere).

In line 507 we read:

We find in the poem the old agon as well as the Southern ago, the corrupt form of the Participle kept by us in long ago. In Southern works, one man is often found as o man, and this corruption lingered in Devon&shy;shire for 200 years longer.