The Canterbury Tales: The Reeve's Tale Language and Communication Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Line). We used the line numbering found on Librarius's online edition.
| Quote #1 And nameliche ther was a greet college |
The two clerks, John and Aleyn, study at Soler Hall, which later became King's Hall, at Cambridge. King's Hall was known for drawing more students from the north of England than any other school. This detail is important since Chaucer has Aleyn and John speak a northern dialect of English.
| Quote #2 John highte that oon, and Aleyn highte that oother; |
Here John and Aleyn's northern origins are confirmed. It makes sense that they will speak exactly the same dialect, moreover, because they come from exactly the same town.
| Quote #3 'Symond,' quod John, 'by God, nede has na peer. |
Here the northernism of John and Aleyn's dialect becomes clear. John replaces the o's in his words with a's, so that "no" becomes "na." He also uses the word "boes" for "must," which in London middle English would be rendered as "moste."
