Appendix H — Grammar
Nouns
Singular—Possessive Case.—1. The inflected genitive or possessive is formed by adding ys or is; MS. E, on the whole, shows a preference for the former. Sometimes the final consonant is doubled. Cf. a manis hand (VII. 580), to mannys fude (X. 189).
2. Nouns denoting relationship are uninflected, as in Anglo-Saxon: Mordreyt his sistir son (I. 557). Till his brothiris pes (XI. 652) is an exception found in both MSS. For And sperit of his brotheris fair (XVI. 21) in C, E has brodyr.
Note.—Wode-syde (E woddis sid, IX. 139), sonne-rising, hous end (VII. 163), all common combinations. Editors, however, usually read the termination of the last as housis, though it seems to fall under the same category.
Plural.—1. The plural also is in ys or is, more seldom es, representing A.S. as. It “formed a distinct syllable in monosyllables and words accented on the final syllable.”183 The latter part of the statement is not, however, uniformly true. Cf. battalis (XI. 122), bischoppes and prelatis (XX. 294), etc., which are dissyllables.
2. Simple s occurs only after r and y (i)—galays, werriours, etc.—but spurys, baneris, towris also occur. Feys (I. 58) and fays (I. 223) are to be read as two syllables.
3. Final f (ff) is generally changed to v, as theif, thevis; but wif preserves the f throughout, as wifis, wiffys, etc. (E, however, in XII. 246, has wyvis); and lif has lyvis (XI. 590), or livis and lyffis (X. 106), or liffis (IV. 137).
4. Words ending in er, ir, yr, yn, ill for the most part reject the final vowel before the ending of the plural: dochtrys, lettres or lettrys, wapnys, etc. Where the vowel is retained, it is silent, as in schulderis (IX. 356), letteris (XVII. 31, 39), etc.
Note.—Burges in XVI. 80, XVII. 236, is clearly unaltered in the plural, and this would seem to apply also to marras (VIII. 35), hous (VIII. 514, etc.), and mos (VIII. 173), which are usually read as three and two syllables respectively. Cf. on Singular (2).
5. Of strong plurals, besides men and its compounds, ky and brethir by change of vowel (Umlaut), we have eyn(e) (A.S. eagan), with singular e or ey (VI. 523), oxin or oxyne (X. 381, 388), schoyne (II. 510). These (with hosen and fan (faes)) are the only plurals in n preserved in Northern English.
6. Some old neuters (A.S.) take no inflection in the plural: deir, hors, etc.; hous has hous and housis (X. 60, etc.), but cf. on (4) (note); thing has thing (XI. 27, etc.) and thingis. Cf. also gudis and gude (XVII. 517, 521). One form is in er or ir, childer (XII. 246) or childir (XVII. 515), A.S. cildru.
7. Nouns indicating time, space, quantity, weight, and number are unchanged in the plural: fifty yheir (in I. 522 occurs ten yheris, quite an exceptional case), tuelf moneth, six and fourty wyntir (A.S. plural also winter), twa myle, tuenty thousand pund, etc. For paris in C (XIII. 463), E reads payr. In XII. 234 C has thre gret avantage, where E gives avantagis, but reads vasselagis (!) to rhyme.
8. Only men suffers inflection in the plural possessive: the Inglis menis fewte (VIII. 19), of othir mennis landis (XI. 148). In till Scottis men possessioune (XVII. 202) we may have, as Henschel suggests,184 a piece of “scribal carelessness;” but Hampole undoubtedly uses this as a valid form:
“Sal dede men banes be set togyder
Thurgh messes, and rightwis men prayers.”
Proper Nouns
In general, these follow the common nouns in their forms, but note:
1. Two names ending in s have no inflection for the genitive: King Adrastus men (II. 529), Thomas prophecy (II. 86). This occurs also in Chaucer.
2. Douglas has both flectionless and inflected forms: the Douglas men (X. 398), the Lord Douglassis men (XX. 481).
3. Possessive or genitive formed by his: Hannyball his mekill mycht (III. 232). Cf. also VI. 435, 446. Originally, as here, confined to proper names. A special example is in the reading of C (XVII. 940): Berwyk his toune; E Berwykis.
Adjectives
1. There is no distinction in the Bruce between strong and weak adjectives, the latter in Chaucer being indicated by a final e, and used after the definite article, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, etc., nor is the plural similarly distinguished from the singular. In all these cases the Scots adjective is invariable; the final e, which often occurs, is of no grammatical significance. There is no difference between the gud Erll (X. 686) and the gude Erll (XX. 603), while the plural is gud werriours (XX. 416).
2. The only example of inflection is the form aller, genitive plural (er = -ra, A.S. eal-ra). It occurs once: throuch thar aller hale assent (I. 137).
3. The comparative and superlative are formed by adding ar or er (seldom ir) and est or ast. In words of two and more syllables mar (mair) and mast (maist) also occur. The same rule applies to adverbs. The final consonant of a monosyllable may be doubled: thikkest (VIII. 81), but also thikast (XVII. 156).
4. Change of vowel (Umlaut) appears in two cases—sterkar (E starkar) (XV. 491) and eldest (I. 51, IV. 71). Ill or evill is the Northern form for bad, compared with wer or war, werst (III. 192). Mor, for mar, occurs twice to rhyme with befor (X. 199, XII. 299). Er gives erar.
5. After the comparative comes usually than, which is always used by Rolle, but there are four examples of na—wes starkar fer na he (VI. 538), also III. 229, II. 519, X. 637.
Numerals
1. Ane before a consonant sometimes becomes a: in a nycht and a day (III. 429). The tane and the ta are compounds of this numeral, with the old neuter thaet (thet) of the definite article, really thet-ane, thet-a. The former is a substantive, the latter an adjective: the tane suld be kyng (VI. 186), the ta part (III. 239). Similarly the tothir = thet othir (I. 7, etc.), which is throughout used for the ordinal “the second,” as formast is sometimes used for “the first”: Fule-hardyment the formast is, And the tothir is cowardis (VI. 337, 338).
2. Note thresum, fiffsum, sex sum, where “sum denotes conjunction” (Jamieson’s Dictionary), three, etc., together; half deill (A.S. dæl, a part); twa part = two parts; yneuch, singular (usually adverb), used for quantity, and ynew (enew), plural, for number. Cf. XX. 337, and I. 558.
N.B.—For demonstrative, etc., adjectives, see also Pronouns, Demonstrative, etc. Note sam(m)yn (same) as adjective and adverb (V. 72, XII. 49, etc.). Distinguish ilk(e) = same (A.S. ylc) from the distributive ilk (A.S. æle) = each. Others are sik (syk), swilc, etc.
Pronouns
Personal.—1. In MS. E besides I is found the strong form Ik or Ic (A.S. Ic). The latter is entirely wanting in C, which has everywhere I.
2. The third person feminine is scho (A.S. sēo), once spelled sche (XIII. 635), a Southern effect, where, however, E has scho.
3. Note the gen. sing. mas. and gen. plur. in magre his, in spite of him, and magre thairis, in spite of them.
Possessive.—1. The genitive cases of the personal pronouns are most often adjectives. Before words beginning with a vowel they are mine, thine; before words beginning with a consonant they become my, thi; words beginning with h may have either form.
2. The forms used absolutely are myn, his, ours, yhouris, thaires: That suld be myn (V. 223), etc.
Reflexive.—1. The personal pronouns serve as reflexives: I will me spied (XI. 638); And went hyr hame (V. 177).
2. There is also the form in self, more seldom selvyn, selvin. When the subject is a personal pronoun this may drop out: that himself suld wele Kepe the entre (XI. 445).
3. Self is both singular and plural: That thai mycht help thameself (X. 619).
Demonstrative.—1. The Northern plural of this is thir, which supplanted thas as thise did in the Midland. Its origin is obscure.185
2. The plural of that is tha(i). Distinguish from thai (they), 3rd pers. plur.
3. Yhon(e), more often an adjective, has also a substantive use in three cases only (IV. 502, 506; XIV. 280).
Relative and Interrogative.—1. The relative pronoun is that or at, never quha. At is a purely Northern form. Quhais and quham occur occasionally as oblique cases. In quhom, as in words like so, mor, etc., there is evidence of Southern influence. Quha is used as an interrogative. The simple quhilk occurs but once (XVIII. 225, see note), where E has a different reading; otherwise it is in the form the quilk that.
2. The relative in the oblique cases is often omitted: the small folk thai had thar (IX. 261). This is a marked feature of the Wallace.
Indefinite.—1. None for nane occurs only once (IX. 485); and so, too, ilkone for ilkane, rhyming with a proper name (XI. 303). Nane is used both as substantive and as adjective. As adjective it comes before a word beginning with a vowel. Before consonants and h, na or no is used. In two cases no precedes a vowel: XIII. 145; XVI. 249.
2. Othir, often = “each other,” as Thai dang on othir (X. 680).
3. The plural of man has a pronominal use = one, German “man”: as men in the Bibill seys (I. 466); men mycht se (X. 678), etc.
Verbs
1. Note the periphrastic form with gan in E (can in a few cases), can always in C: all the land gan occupy (I. 184); all can thai cry (XII. 200). The past tense of can is couth: thar vittale all fast couth fale (VIII. 460): whence, by analogy, the false form begouth for past of gan, itself the past of ginnen, to begin.
2. Weak verbs form their past tense and past participle in it or yt, the latter being more common in E. In certain cases the vowel drops out, as in dwelt. After r, l (ll), n, the ending is often in d, as herd, ansuerd, etc.
Note.—Felt for the ordinary feld occurs once, in III. 119. Cald, too, for callit, is forced to a rhyme (XIII. 61). The proper past of send is send.
3. The present tense indicative is, I spek, thou spekis, he spekis, we spek, etc. But when the personal pronoun is separated from the verb, or when the subject is a noun or relative pronoun or other form, the ending is in is or ys throughout. Cf. yhow that takis (XVI. 592); yhe that this redis (VI. 269); all men fleis the did (IX. 90), etc.
4. The imperative plural is in is (ys): departis us (VI. 543). It is more rare without the ending (XI 309; XII. 227, etc). This, however, is the rule when the imperative is followed by its pronoun: luk yhe (XII. 217).
5. The present participle ends in and. Doubling of the consonant may occur after a short vowel—e.g., wonnand (X. 160).
6. The verbal noun (so-called) ends in yng or ing. In many examples the g is dropped, as the tendency was and is in Scots, and we have a form in yn(e). Cf. fechting (XII. 119) and fechtyn (III. 241). And these may rhyme, which shows that in sound the difference was not apparent (cf. IX. 120). Sometimes the particular form depends on the MS.—e.g., VI. 520, C supposing: E supposyn. The same thing is found in proper names with a similar termination.
7. The past participle of strong verbs has ending yn or in, seldom en. Clymen in X. 648, where the correct form, clummyn, is given in 606, is either really a surviving or intruded infinitive, or has been assimilated to it.
N.B.—VII. 524, C cum: E cummyn; X. 506, C won: E wonnyn.
8. The infinitive has dropped all trace of an ending. The e which sometimes appears is silent. It is formed by prefixing to or till, in certain cases with for in addition. For one case we have a reduced infinitive with at: a-do (X. 348).
Adverbs
1. him allane is a strengthened form of him ane (VI. 272, 320), and is the more frequent of the two; equivalent to German “allein” and analogous in construction to the pronoun with self. In Early Scots alane is attached to the dative, in later and modern Scots to the possessive, his ane, etc.: the fuller form, from a confusion with lone, is now his lane, etc.
2. The surviving phrase, the morn (XIV. 478) occurs once for the older to-morn. Mr. Gregory Smith says that the former “begins to appear in M. Sc.” (Middle Scots, 1450-1600),186 and MS. E indeed reads to-morn in the passage above.
3. Note the compounds with gat (a way), thusgat, swagat, etc.: in XIX. 253; C swagatis; E swagat: also howgatis, etc., preserving Genitive ending.
4. The forms on liff (XVIII. 154), on slepe (VII. 192), on stray (XIII. 195), etc., are peculiarly Northern forms for “alive,” “asleep,” etc. Cf. also on fer, on flot.
Prepositions
1. Till = to, the former being a Northern fashion. C frequently extends to on-to, on-till, as in VI. 622, XVII. 29, etc.
2. Note the verbal preposition that I of tell, etc.
3. Be and by are common to both MSS., C more frequently the latter, probably a Southern influence. Strictly in Scots be alone denotes agency; by usually = beyond, as in by ordinar, etc.
Conjunctions
1. The verb suppos is several times used as a conjunction.
2. the-quhethir = thohquhether = thohquether, “nevertheless,” unknown to the Southern dialects.187