English Past and English Present: The Phrase “Old English” in Middle English Texts

Examining English texts from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries that use the phrase “Old English” reveals the writers’ attitudes about older forms of the language. In most instances, they did not intend to identify or define “Old English” but instead, to note its close or distant relationship to the language as they used it themselves, including in contrast to French or Latin. When proverbs are described as “Old English” both age and vernacularity are meant to impress an English-speaking audience. Elsewhere, writers such as William Langland and William Caxton use “Old English” to indicate linguistic archaism, especially of lexicon.