John the Smyth
Middle English Reading 1
Chapter 9 · John the Smyth
📜 John the Smyth
Every text so far was a book. This one was cut into metal. It is a four-line epitaph from a monumental brass in an Oxfordshire parish church, for a man called John the smyth ("smith"), who died in 1371. It was written by someone who spelled by ear, and it is the strangest-looking text in the course. It is also one of the best checked, because the Middle English article prints a word-for-word rendering and a translation by Patricia Utechin.
The text
| Line | Middle English | Word for word (the article's) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | man com & se how schal alle dede li: wen þow comes bad & bare | man, come and see how shall all dead lie: when thou comes bad and bare |
| 2 | noth hab ven ve awaẏ fare: All ẏs wermēs þt ve for care:— | naught have when we away fare: all is worms that we for care:— |
| 3 | bot þt ve do for godẏs luf ve haue nothyng yare: | but that we do for God's love, we have nothing ready: |
| 4 | hundyr þis graue lẏs John þe smẏth god yif his soule heuen grit | under this grave lies John the smith, God give his soul heaven grith |
Patricia Utechin's translation, as printed: "Man, come and see how all dead men shall lie: when that comes bad and bare, / we have nothing when we away fare: all that we care for is worms:— / except for that which we do for God's sake, we have nothing ready: / under this grave lies John the smith, God give his soul heavenly peace".
Source: Wikipedia, Middle English, Sample texts, Epitaph of John the smyth: the four lines, the word-for-word rendering and the translation, as the page tool gave them. The marks over letters (ẏ, ē) are as the tool printed them; I cannot check them against the brass. My notes are mine and unverified.
Walking through it
- Imperatives. com and se ("come and see") have no ending. Middle English Grammar 1's Verbs source did not cover the imperative, so I describe them and give no rule.
- The word schal. The same form as Chapter 7's 1st and 3rd singular of shall, here with a plural-looking subject, alle dede ("all dead"). Chapter 7 gave the plural as schulen, so schal with a plural subject is not what that table shows. The sources do not explain it.
- The final -e on alle dede. Both words end in -e in a plural phrase, which fits Chapter 4's rule for plurals, if dede is read as an adjective used for "the dead".
- The pronoun and the verb ending. þow is a variant of the þou / þu forms in Chapter 5. comes ends in -es, not the 2nd singular -(e)st of Chapter 6. Chapter 6 gave -es as a variant of the 3rd singular, which suits the translation's "that comes" better than "thou comes", but that is my reading.
- Plural verbs without endings. hab ("have"), fare, care, do and haue all follow ve ("we"). None ends in -eþ, -en or -es, the dialect plurals of Chapter 6. The source gives no dialect, so I cannot say why.
- Genitive. godẏs ("God's") ends in -ẏs, a spelling of the genitive -es of Chapter 2, which that chapter said is "spelled variously". wermēs ("worms") has the plural -es with a mark over the e.
- The 3rd singular. ẏs ("is") matches Chapter 7. lẏs ("lies") ends in -s, which Chapter 6 gave as a variant of -eþ.
- A wish. god yif his soule heuen grit is "God give his soul heaven grith", a wish. yif has no ending. Chapter 6's source did not cover the subjunctive, so I note the form without a label.
- Pronouns and little words. ve ("we", with a v), his, þis (Chapter 3), þe (Chapter 3). þt is a short spelling of þat, my reading from "that" in the rendering.
The spelling
- v for w. The rendering shows ven is "when" and ve is "we", yet line 1 spells "when" wen. The article's orthography section lists u and v as interchangeable and says nothing on v for w, so I only record that both spellings occur.
- f in luf. It is "love", written with f where we write v. The rendering shows it; I know no source for the reason.
- ẏ. A y with a dot appears where we would write i or y: ẏs, lẏs, smẏth, awaẏ. The article says y was often preferred to i beside letters with downstrokes. It does not comment on the dot.
- yif and yare. The y here begins the words "give" and "ready". The article's text does not say whether it stands for the yogh of Chapter 1 of Middle English Grammar 1.
New words
| Middle English | Meaning | Modern English relative |
|---|---|---|
| dede | dead (those) | dead |
| bad & bare | bad and bare | bad, bare |
| wermēs | worms | worms |
| fare | go, travel | fare (as in farewell) |
| care | care, be concerned | care |
| yare | ready | yare (rare, my guess) |
| hundyr | under | under |
| graue | grave | grave |
| yif | give (a wish) | give |
| grit | grith, sanctuary or peace | (none I know) |
Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. What kind of object is the text on, and in which county?
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A monumental brass in a parish church, in Oxfordshire.
2. When did John the smyth die?
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1371.
3. Translate man com & se.
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"Man, come and see."
4. Where do the rendering and the translation disagree in line 1?
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The rendering has "when thou comes", the translation "when that comes", and the translation adds "men" after "all dead".
5. What do ven and ve mean?
Show answer
"When" and "we".
6. Translate bot þt ve do for godẏs luf.
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"But that we do for God's love."
7. What does the -ẏs in godẏs represent?
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The genitive -es (Chapter 2).
8. Which plural verbs in the epitaph lack a Chapter 6 dialect ending?
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hab, fare, care, do, haue (all with ve).
9. What does god yif his soule heuen grit express?
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A wish: "God give his soul heaven grith (peace)."
10. What does the article say about the dialect of the epitaph?
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Nothing: it names no dialect.