A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580.

Between the English of the Norman Conquest and the English of Shakespeare lies a rich, strange, and shifting language, and this dictionary is the key that unlocks it. Compact yet authoritative, it gathers the vocabulary of centuries of medieval and early English writing.

What it's about

This is a reference work devoted to the words of Middle English, covering the language roughly from the mid twelfth century to the late sixteenth. It provides concise definitions and glosses for the vocabulary a reader encounters in the literature and documents of the period, the age of Chaucer, Langland, and the many anonymous poets and writers of medieval England. Compiled by scholars of the language, it serves as a practical companion for anyone reading original texts, explaining forms and meanings that have since fallen out of use or shifted beyond easy recognition.

Themes

As a dictionary its concern is language itself, the words, forms, and meanings of English during a formative and turbulent phase of its development. It bears witness to a period when English was reasserting itself after Norman French dominance, absorbing new influences and evolving toward its modern shape. In its glosses lie the traces of a whole culture's speech, thought, and daily life.

Why it still matters

Reading medieval and early English literature in the original is immensely rewarding but often bewildering without help, and a reliable Middle English dictionary makes that encounter possible. This concise reference remains a useful tool for students, scholars, and enthusiasts, opening the door to Chaucer and his contemporaries in their own words rather than through modernized paraphrase. It preserves and explains a crucial stage in the life of the English language.

Who it's for

Students of medieval literature and the history of English, readers tackling original Middle English texts, and language enthusiasts curious about how their tongue once sounded and meant. It is a working reference rather than a book to read straight through, indispensable to anyone who wants to meet early English writing on its own terms.