The parlament of foules, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed., with introduction, notes, and glossary, by T. R. Lounsbury.

4o

INVTRODUCTION.

Vom. they, they.
Gen. here, their.
Obj. hem, them.
In the case of the reflexive pronouns, self undergoes no
change in the plural; and therefore hem self(223, 234) represents
"themselves." The singular form, my seluyn, " myself," occurs
in line 297.
In Chaucer's time, besides the older forms, oure, youre, hire,
here, there were also equivalent absolute forms ending in s and
in n, as oure, vures, ouren. The first two occur frequently in
Chaucer. In this text we have oure, "ours," in line 545; youre,
" yours," in line 642; and hire, " hers," in line 588; but also
hires, "hers," in line 482.
ADJECTIVES.
The following general statements may be made in regard to
the adjective.
When the adjective is definite, that is, when it is preceded
by the definite article, or a demonstrative or possessive pronoun, it ends in e; the longe day (2I), this shorte lessoun
(609), that ilke day (433), his sharpe lok (331), myn olde bok
(IIo).
To this rule there are a number of exceptions. The most
important, as regards this poem, are, that adjectives ending in
ful do not take e; nor generally do adjectives of Romance
origin, nor those consisting of twNo or more syllables; as the
dredful joye (3), and his crewel yre (I I).
When the adjective is indefinite, it does not take a final e; as
sek man (I6I), of long seruyse (470).
Occasional exceptions will be found to this rule. Adjectives
which end in e do not, of course, come under it.
The plural of monosyllabic adjectives ends in e; as olde
fedys (22).
In this manuscript there seems to have been an intention on the part of the scribe
to denote the plural of his by hise, and the plural of myn by mynne; as hise ileis (Ixo),
hise arwis (212), mynne eyen (172). But it is not carried through with any consistency; as his federys (334), his fet (337).