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CHAPTER XIX THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES A. English From the little example of Anglo-Saxon given below one can form some notion of the general appearance of English as it was written from the times of Alfred to those of Henry II. The characters ]> and ft both stand for ///. The former is equivalent to th in " thin " and is used at the beginning of a word ; the latter corresponds to the vocalized th in "father" and occurs in the middle of a word. The sign j means "and." A little study and comparison with the translation will show that almost all the words used correspond to those with which we are familiar in our own modern speech. Here on Jnssum geare Willelm cyng geaf Rodberde eorle 172. Ex- thone eorldom on NorShymbraland. Da comon }>a landes ^J, * menn togeanes him. -j hine ofslogon. ~ ix. hund manna mid him. And Eadgar aefteling com |>a mid eallum Nor- Shymbram to Eoferwic ~] fa fortmen wiS hine griSedon. -3 se cyng Willelm com suSan mid eallan his fyrde. 3 fa burh forhergode -j fela hund manna ofsloh. 3 se aeSeling for eft to Scotlande. In this year [1068] King William gave to Earl Robert the Translation, earldom of Northumberland. Then came the men of the country against him (Robert), and slew him, and nine hun- dred men with him. And Edgar aetheling came then with Saxon. (From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.)