Re: [tied] Final t for th in Middle English

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:13:49 +1100, I wrote:

>Could I ask for help from the English experts on the list?
>
>I have been puzzled recently by some Middle English 3sg present forms
>ending in -it instead of the usual -eth or -es. Examples:
>
>(I syng of a mayden) ...that fallyt on the gras
>(I haue a gentil cook) ...crowyt me day
>(ibidem) ... he perchit hym
>(How! Hey! It is non les) Che takyt a staf and brekit myn hed
>
>Since it occurs alongside _doth_ in some of the above texts, it is
>perhaps excluded from monosyllables. It is of course clearly different
>from the -t of contracted 3sgs.
>
>I have done a little searching, particularly in the Cambridge History
>of the English Language, but can find nothing about this 3sg form.
>Clearly it was a minor player that has not survived, but what is its
>status? If dialect - which one? When was it in use?

Evidently a very hard question, or perhaps just a very boring one. Let
me just lift it to the top of the list one more time, and then I shall
stop bothering people with it!

Kim Bastin