[Accidence:] In the strong declension sunu m. is levelled to sune s. n. 21; f. sæhte s. n. 184 has added e. Gen. s. -es, as kinges 29; no examples of fem. or neut. nouns. The dative is mostly without distinctive inflection, as land 1, king 2; eie 196, sune 184, rice 177, genge 119 do not differ in termination from the nom., but exceptionally kinge 28, tune 73; lande 10, 76, gære 13, quarterne 59, wiue 179 have e. The dat. fem. forms saule 40, ceste 60, strengthe 99, 145, rode 109, forewarde 157, and the accusatives milce 4, treuthe 47, blisse 175 probably correspond in this text to ME. nominatives with added e, as is the case with the acc. fare 72, helpe 169, sahte 182. Men 23 is probably dat. sing.: the gen. is mannes 65. Sylure 24 is probably for syluer, as at 53. The plural n. d. a. inflection is -es; sandes 34, tunes 70, 72; once s in martyrs 54. Neuters in es are gæildes 70, landes 92, weorkes 103, but wunder 46, 67 pl. a. retains the OE. plural. Fote 165 is prob. pl. d. (= fōtum); wintre 69, 89 is a pl. a. corresponding to OE. pl.winter; similarly threniht, pl. a. 16. Pining 54, 108 (pīnung f.) appears to be treated as a neut. pl., comp. pines 68: freond 151 is OE. pl. a. frēond. No example of pl. gen. occurs.
The weak declension of all genders has e in all cases of the singular; n. mone 16; d. messe 11, lammasse 13, smoke 56, pape 95, time 106, luue 109; a. throte 65, cyrce 79. But sunnen (dæi) 198 preserves an old genitive; cyricen 203, circewican 97, horderwycan 98 are datives. The plurals are mostly in -es. n. nadres 59, d. þumbes 56, a. neues 43; but halechen pl. n. 87, estren pl. d. 108 descend from OE. forms.
Most of the adjective inflections are lost, and there is little trace of the distinction between strong and weak. There is no instance of undoubted inflection of a strong adj. in the singular, but ful 56, an 60, scort 60, al 66, 88 are uninflected: micel is invariable. Strong pl. in e are sæhte 35, alle 45, 62, 67, 68, 72, 96, 129, yuele 51, scærpe 61, suilce 86, manie 102, gode 104, wunderlice, manifældlice 112: not inflected are al 15, cnotted 57, hethen 77, mani 103. I take untellendlice 54, alle, ilce 108 as pl. a. The weak declension is exemplified in the singular, lundenisce 27, 139, yfele 88, ilce 200; but ilc 18, &c. Wise 182 is plural; not inflected, æuez 117, &c. onne 63, s. a. f. corresponds to ǣnne, rather than āne.
The personal pronouns are i 67; he, him; hi pl. n. 37, her pl. g. (hiera) 154, heom, and once hi pl. a. 51; scæ 140 (first appearance), hire; it: relatives þe, ðat, used also in oblique cases, pl. g. 63, s. d. 116: article s. pl. þe, but pl. to 111, 117 (for þo).
Strong verbs have inf. in -en, but bæron 63, bigæton 170. The dat. inf. with to, but uninflected, occurs 63, 71, 124, 170, 186, 189; part. pr. are sittende 73, ridend 82; pr. pl. lien 97; pt. s. I a. iaf, lai, besæt, begæt, spac: I b. com, nam, bar, stæl, stal: I c. warth, uuard, ward, wærd, wart, fand, wan, belamp: III. fleh, forles: IV. for, toc, suor, forstod: V. underfeng, held, slep, læt, wæx, hatte; pt. pl. usually ends in -en, but on, an, æn also occur; I a. iafen, undergæton 44, drapen, eten: I b. comen, coman 82, namen, bæron, forbaren, stali (error for stalen) 147, bræcon 62: I c. wurþen, fuhten, fuhtten 181, sturuen: II. risen, uurythen, suyken: III. flugen, flugæn 82, 135, cusen: IV. tocan 32, sloghen: V. helden, heolden, hengen: iafen 44, bræcon 62 are possibly subjunctives; bare 24, helde 184 are pt. s. subj.: pp. I b. forholen: I c. begunnon: III. cosan, forloren: IV. suoren, forsworen: V. underfangen.
Weak verbs have inf. in en, but rixan 176, uuerrien 33, sæin 87, sei 24; dat. inf. with to, but uninflected, at 33, 98, 131; pr. s. maket 112, pt. s. in -de, -ede; but besætte 131, wrohte 91: beteht 117, goded 92, henged 55, 56, læd 135, macod 41, mint 98, scatered, to-deld 39 have lost final e; gæde 58 is pt. s. subj.; þole(n)den 1 pt. pl. 87; pt. pl. in -en, as sæden 17, &c.; once in on, brendon 72. bebiriend 22, bebyried 111 are for bebyrieden; comp. byrieden 110, the loss of en is due to the following word; part. pt. in -ed, but forcursæd 84, bepaht 4.
Noteworthy among the Anomala are myhtes 2 pt. s.; muhten pt. pl.; cunnen 1 pr. pl.; durste pt. s.; wæron, uuaren pt. pl.; uuare 16, ware 183, pt. s. subj.; hatte 113, gehaten 11, 202.
[Dialect:] This is, no doubt, substantially the North-East Midland of Peterborough, but with traces of Northern influence, such as the form saule 40, and the extensive representation by a of ǣ2 before r; of ā; and of a before lengthening groups. The last two perhaps need no such explanation in this early text; they are indeed usual in Orm fifty years later, but the inclination to o is marked in other East Midland texts. There is a considerable survival of traditional spelling, especially noticeable in the use of æ and in inflections of the verbs.
[Vocabulary:] French are acordede, canceler (pre-Conquest), castles, carited, cuntesse (first appearance), curt (f. a.), emperice (f. a.), justise, iudeus (f. a., OF. judeu, Reimpredigt 14/27), messe, miracles (f. a.), pais (f. a.), prisun, processiun, rentes (f. a.), sot(lice), Standard, tenserie, treson (f. a.), tresor (f. a.), tur, uuerre, uuerrien 33: Latin are crucet (hus) 60, priuilegies 96; anno 94 is an early use. Scandinavian are bathe 52, brendon 72 (OWScand. brenna), bryniges, carlmen (already in OE.), drapen, hærnes, sæht, sæhtlian, tæcen 139, þoh, til (in OE.), um (while).
[Introduction:] The Peterborough Chronicle continues the history for seventy-five years beyond any of the other redactions of the AS. Chronicle. The last section of it here printed differs in form and language from the rest. It is not in annal form; only six dates are given as headings and events are not recorded in their chronological order. Places like 6/29, 7/68, 8/88, 104 show that, at least from the first-mentioned passage, the whole was written down at the same time, and that not long after 1155 (comp. 11/210). Though there is considerable variation in spellings, there is no evidence of progressive change, or of the influence of earlier documents. These variations are distributed quite impartially over the whole piece, and witness to nothing but the strong effort of the scribe to express as accurately as possible the sounds he heard. For I think it was taken down at the dictation of an old monk, who had lived through the Anarchy, by a younger man acquainted with French scribal methods. His mistakes, such as false grouping of syllables 6/20, failure to grasp what was said 7/62, dropping and altering of end syllables under the influence of the following word, 6/22, 8/111, 8/112, 9/147, the omissions shown by the interlineations, are mistakes of dictation. And the brevity and absence of subordination in the sentences, the confusions in construction, as at 7/64-7, the frequent changing of the number of the verbs 7/48, 9; 7/56, 7; 7/60, 61, are hardly consistent with deliberate written composition.