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I've been studying the Caterbury Tales lately and was just wondering why so many words we use now like run, fallen, drawn etc. have a 'y' in front of them in Middle English; is it to do with tense? How would it have been pronounced? Examples: carried = ybore drawn = ydrawe fallen = yfalle led = ylad run = yronne P.S: Ooh, it's nice to be back - thanks, Jackie, for reminding me that AWAD still exists as I was wondering who to ask.  (oh yeah, and my website's finally up - okay, not the originally intended topic, but. See my profile)
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And by the way, what's ywimpled?
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The y- prefix is from the earlier Old English ge- prefix, which like its cognate in German, is one of the signs of the past participle in Old and Middle English.
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A wimple is a nun's hood which covers the nun's head and hair. It's sort of like a Christian burqa, but different from a snood. So, ywimpled would mean wearing a wimple or being a nun.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wimple, Burqa, and Snood. Hat Makers...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Wimple, Burqa, and Snood. Hat Makers...
Shouldn't that be Mad Hatters, as opposed to Made Hatters in New Jersey.
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So would it have been pronounced as 'ge'? e.g: gewimpled
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Even when in Old English, when it was spelled ge- it was (probably) pronounced [ye].
Is there a Vox Inglisc, Nuncle?
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear BA: my guess is that it would not be a hard "g".
Remember Our "wagon" was once "wain".
and
stile
PRONUNCIATION: stl
NOUN: 1. A set or series of steps for crossing a fence or wall. 2. A turnstile.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Old English stigel. See steigh- in Appendix I.
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Carpal Tunnel
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there are modern days scarves/shawls that are knit (or fashioned) in long(18 to 24 inches/a half meter or so) wide tubes, the scarf can be pulled down onto the shoulders and worn as a shawl(caplet) almost, or pulled up over the head, so the opening of the tube frames the face.(and the rest of the tube rest on the top of the shoulders)
these are still called wimples. (you can google wimple and find several patterns for knitting one)
i would define a wimples as a chin straps that extend up to the top of the head and become part of a head dress/hat/veil. they have extra fabric that drapes over the neck as well as the chin, almost like a bib.
in chaucer time, a common head dress was shaped like a crescent moon, (which sat on top of the head) and it included a wimple..
most nuns today still wear veils, very few still wear wimples.
a snood is something like a shower cap in shape, (a large circle gathered at the edges. it was used to cover/gather up the hair) snoods are often netted, or made of a fairly open/lacy like material, and worn at the back of the head, holding long hair in an ornamental net. (you might not see a snood if you only saw someone from the front.)
in NY, orthodox jewish women sometimes use closely knit or crocheted snoods to cover their hair in public (combined with a hat to cover the top of their head)
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