Thatβs the joy of language and language evolution imo. Anyone ever heard of the great vowel shift haha
Yes. The stuff of dinner table conversation in the family. My mum did her masters degree on Old English and Old Norse. Dad spoke fluent cockney, english and lowland scots depending on context. Tell me about it.
Between 1400 and 1700, English went through a major vowel shift that changed the way words were pronounced. The pronunciation of Middle English long vowels changed into how we pronounce them today/has affected English worldwide, and well as consotant changes (silent letters come from this, knife used have the k pronounced, and this can actually still be heard in German as well. Kneipe (German for pub/bar), for eg, is pronounced with the k).
Example, in Middle English the word βhouseβ was pronounced hu:s βhoosβ. With the Great Vowel Shift it changed to haΚs βhowseβ.
I love Middle English. It can look like gibberish at first, but pretend to be drunk & Scottish 98% of it works. The other words are probably Danish.
