| Middle English: |
Pronunciation: |
I here swear feeltee and
servyce
To the coroune of the middereaume |
Ee hair swair fail-tay
ahnd sair-vee-suh
Toh theh coh-rune ohff theh mid-deh-reh-ume |
To ever enriche the coroune
With my skilles and abilities |
Toh ai-ver en-reech-eh theh coh-rune
With mee skil-les ahnd a-bi-li-tee-es |
| To succouren thartes divers |
Toh suc-coo-ren thar-tes dee-vairs |
| To continue thinstruction of my dependents |
To con-ti-noo thin-struc-see-ohn ohff
mee day-pen-dahnts |
| To increse the glorie of the middereaume |
To in-crai-seh the glo-ree-eh ohff
theh mid-deh-reh-ume
|
And to bene worthye of the wrethe I weren
Thus swear ich,
(name) |
Ahnd to bain wer-thee-eh ohff theh reeth ee wai-ren
Thus swair ee(ch),
(name) |
Middle English Phonetics
Notes: by Maister
Emrys Eustace, hight Broom.
- "h" after a vowel indicates a short (classical)
vowel, so "ah" is pronounced like the vowel in "fawn" instead
of the vowel in "than".
- (ch) is the guttural sound in Scottish
loch.
This translation attempts to "move" the
oath of fealty of the Middle Kingdom Laurels into the vernacular of Chaucer's
late 14th-c London.
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