Excerpt from Chaucer

There are one or two peculiarities of orthography and grammar which, by their frequent recurrence, have largely contributed to the popular belief that Chaucer is unintelligible to modern readers. The idea is a most mistaken one, and may be to some extent dispelled through the elucidation of a few of the most prevalent difficulties. The termination - eth signifies the imperative mood, and is rarely used by Chaucer in any other sense. The prefix y- denotes the past participle, which is also sometimes indicated by the prefix to-, implying thoroughness; as to-hewn, to-torn. The letter Y is constantly used for G, as in yeve for give, yate for gate, ayen for again. The word one is often represented by the single letter o; and heighte stands, of course, for called.

It is not pretended that the glossary includes every word that differs from the modern synonym, but only such as an educated reader might find difficulty in understanding.

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