Scottish Text Society publications > New series > Kingis quair; together with A ballad of good counsel

XXX
INTRODUCTION.
many examples. Still we have newe, newly (8), longe, a
long while (164), faire, fairly (180). So also the adverbial
phrase at the last (98) is miswritten for at the laste, so com¬
monly written atte laste in MSS. of Chaucer.
{h) Chaucer makes the adverb twi-es (twice) a dissyl¬
lable; accordingly, the scansion shows that twise in st. 25
is a mistake for twies; see the footnote. Barbour has the
monosyllabic twiss.
(i) Chaucer makes the word ey-en (eyes) dissyllabic;
hence we find the same five times (8, 41, 55, 81, 104). But
in one instance our author is off his guard, using eyne
{ = eyn) in st. 35; probably because a vowel follows, and
Chaucer sometimes slurs over the syllable -en before a
vowel.
(k) Chaucer frequently has a syllabic e in the middle of
a word; an example occurs in ster-e-les (three syllables) in
st. 15. This is hardly Northern; but examples are rather
numerous. We have ryp-e-nesse (16), vnkynd-e-nes (87,
116), chap-el-let (97), benign-e-ly (104), pap-e-iay (no),
diuers-e-ly (135); so also we should read hert-e-full (180);
henn-es-furth (69, 144, 181). The last word is miswritten
in all three places. But occasionally the king forgets his
master’s rules, using hertly for hert-e-ly (144), chaplet for
chap-el-let (46).
(/) Chaucer uses -es, forming a distinct syllable, to denote
plurals. Here our author was quite at home, for the Nor¬
thern dialect used -is (forming a distinct syllable) for the
same purpose. Examples occur in sterres (1), werdes (9),
wawis {\6), flour is (21), &c.; it is needless to add more
examples. The same remark applies to the final -es (Nor¬
thern -is), used to mark the genitive case. Examples are
warldis (3), goddis (22), lyvis (28), &c.; more need not be