We likewise find sore and sare[75] (O.E. sâre):—1196, sore : more; 166, sare : care; 1377, sore : thore.
The O.E. diphthongs ea and eo and the O.E. ŷ (mutated from êa or êo) appear as e in this poem:—1595, me : see, 632 : fee, 1339 : free, 405 : be; 1535, depe : slepe; 1011, 1523, dere : here; 963, yere : vere, 1257 : Olyvere; 996, nere : were; 596, 1528, nede : spede; 1702, eke : speke; 1726, leke : speke; 184, 215, 1208, shelde : felde; 2530, hevene : elevene, &c.
A brief summary of the grammatical inflexions employed in the poem will also give evidence of a great similarity with the forms used by other East-Midland writers, and will serve to show that the language of the Sowdan agrees closely with that of Chaucer.
In the declension of substantives the only remnant of case-formation by means of inflexions is the ending used to form the Genitive Singular and the Plural.
The genitive singular of nouns ends in es (sometimes written -is or ys) for all genders:—356, develes; 1209, stedes; 849, worldis; 1804, worldes; 3035, dammes; 1641, nedes; 1770, shippes; 1072, faderis.
Substantives ending in -s in the nominative case, remain unchanged in the genitive case:—1214, 1287, Ferumbras; 2006, Naymes; 3207, Charles; 1639, 1350, Floripas.—Florip, l. 614, is the genitive case of Floripe or Florip, l. 2027, 1571.
The nominative plural of all genders is formed by -es (-is, -ys) or -s:—919, knightes, 1947, 2276, knightis; 1384, horses, 1401, horsys; 429, 2054, gatis; 192, wordes; 837, swerdes; 174, hedes; 2289, ladies; 3271, soules; 26, bokes; 606, peres; 297, tours, &c. Examples of a plural case without s are seen in thinge, l. 2, 1709:—O.E. þing; honde, 987, O.E. handa, as well as hondes, 1412, 2568; frende, 3212, O.E. frŷnd, as well as frendes, 1011, O.E. frêondas. Other plurals which are equally easily explained by their O.E. forms are:—eyen, 825, O.E. êagan; shoone, 1381, O.E. scêon; fete, 1403, O.E. fêt, fote, 1427, O.E. fôtum, 2673, O.E. fôta. [‹xxxvii›]
To mark the difference between the definite and indefinite forms of adjectives is a difficult task; as the final -e had in most cases already become silent in the poet’s dialect, it seems probable that he no longer observed the distinction.
The pronouns are the same as in Chaucer and in other East-Midland poems:—I, me, thou, the; he, hym; sche, her and hir; it and hit (cf. note to l. 41); we, us; ye, you. The plural of the personal pronoun of the 3rd person is thai and he (cf. note to l. 2698) for the nominative case; hem, and in some doubtful passages (see note to l. 88) thaym for the accusative case.
As in Chaucer, the pronoun of the 2nd person is often joined to the verb:—hastow 1680, maistow 1826, shaltow 1669, woltow 1727, wiltow 1151, artow 1967, kanstow 2335, &c.