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Historia de La Lengua Inglesa II (4º GEI) : Academic Year 2020/2021

The document is a practice test for a class on the history of the English language. It contains a passage from Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" in Middle English. There are then 3 exercises analyzing vocabulary and language elements in the passage. The exercises examine French-derived terms related to ranks/titles or the military, adjectives, and pairs of Old English and loanword terms. Students must complete the exercises in a Word document and upload it by the specified deadline.

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Laura Valero Lopez
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48 views2 pages

Historia de La Lengua Inglesa II (4º GEI) : Academic Year 2020/2021

The document is a practice test for a class on the history of the English language. It contains a passage from Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" in Middle English. There are then 3 exercises analyzing vocabulary and language elements in the passage. The exercises examine French-derived terms related to ranks/titles or the military, adjectives, and pairs of Old English and loanword terms. Students must complete the exercises in a Word document and upload it by the specified deadline.

Uploaded by

Laura Valero Lopez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Historia de la lengua inglesa II (4º GEI)

Academic year 2020/2021

FIRST PRACTICE TEST

Remember: your answers to these exercises must be typed in a Word file,


converted to a PDF file and uploaded to Tareas – First practice test (individual) by
October 24th (before 23:55).
Remember also that this is a strictly individual task.

MAXIMUM mark allotted: 0,5

Read the following text and complete the exercises below. Whenever detailed
explanations are required, remember to use full sentences and correct English. Be
also precise in the use of terminology.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales – “The Knight’s Tale”


Heere bigynneth the knyghtes tale
Whilom as olde stories tellen vs
860 Ther was a duc þat highte Theseus
Of Atthenes he was lord and gouernour
And in his tyme swich a Conquerour
That gretter was ther noon vnder the sonne
fful many a riche contree hadde he wonne
865 What with his wisdom and his chiualrie
he conquered al the regne of ffemenye
That whilom was ycleped Scithia
And wedded the queen ypolita
And broghte hire hoom with hym in his contree
870 With muchel glorie and greet solempnytee
And eek hir faire suster Emelye
And thus with victorie and with melodye
Lete I this noble duc to Atthenes ryde
And al his hoost in Armes hym bisyde

p. 1
Departamento de Filología Inglesa
Campus Universitario de La Merced. 30001 Murcia
T. 868 883 191 – F. 868 883 185 – www.um.es/dp-filologia-inglesa
Exercise 1 (0,18)
Examine the text and find the following:
- 6 nouns of French origin related only to the domain of ranks and titles or the
military. How does this semantic domain relate to the relation between
English and French at the time? 2 of these 6 must be easily labelled ‘early
borrowings’; justify why you think they are ‘early borrowings’.
- 1 adjective of French origin.

Exercise 2 (0,11)
Look up the verb forms “highte” (l. 860) and “ycleped” (l. 867) [generally meaning
‘to give sb/sth a name”] in the Middle English Dictionary and in the Online Etymology
Dictionary and indicate their origin. Then, using your knowledge of loanwords in
Middle English and the information found, explain the relation that these two verbs
have with the verb call. Consider for the purpose the origin of call and its meaning.
[MAXIMUM: 6 lines]

Exercise 3 (0,21)
Match the following words to build pairs with an element of OE origin and a
loanword used in Middle English (French, Latin, Old Norse). Using the Middle English
Dictionary and the Online Etymology Dictionary, establish the provenance of each
element in the pairs and then explain briefly the possible differences/links between
the elements that make up each pair (specialisation, register, etc.) [MAXIMUM: 3
lines per pair]
Answer Lessen
Arm Liberty
Bark Reply
Diminish Rind
Freedom Rise
Heaven Sky
Increase Weapon

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