Middle Scots

Middle Scots
Name	Middle Scots
Era	Developed from early 15th century, largely supplanted by Modern English by mid-18th century
Familycolor	Indo-European
Fam2	Germanic
Fam3	West Germanic
Fam4	North Sea Germanic
Fam5	Anglo-Frisian
Fam6	Anglic
Ancestor	Old English
Ancestor2	Early Scots
Glotto	none
Isoexception	historical
Lingua	52-ABA-aa (Scots)

Middle Scots was the Germanic language spoken in the Kingdom of Scotland from approximately the mid-15th century to the mid-18th century. It developed from Early Scots and flourished as the national language of government, law, and literature, particularly during the reign of the House of Stewart. The period saw the production of major literary works by figures like William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, establishing a distinct literary tradition before the language began a gradual decline following the Union of the Crowns.

History and development

Middle Scots emerged from Early Scots following major historical events that reshaped the Kingdom of Scotland. The death of James I and the subsequent instability gave way to a cultural flourishing under James III and James IV, with the latter's court at Holyrood Palace becoming a center for the language. The establishment of the first printing press in Scotland by Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar in Edinburgh around 1508 standardized the written form. Key political events, including the Rough Wooing and the Scottish Reformation, influenced its development, while the Union of the Crowns in 1603 marked the beginning of a shift in linguistic prestige towards Southern English.

Phonology

The phonological system of Middle Scots was distinct from that of contemporary Middle English. Notable features included the retention of the voiceless velar fricative in words like *nicht* (night), and the development of the vowel in the GOAT lexical set, which often diverged from southern patterns. The language exhibited characteristic consonant cluster simplifications and a range of dialectal variations, such as those between the Insular Scots of Orkney and Shetland and the Central Scots of Lothian. Influences from Old Norse, due to the Norse settlement of the British Isles, and from French following the Auld Alliance, also left marks on its sound inventory.

Grammar

Grammatically, Middle Scots shared many features with early Modern English but maintained several archaic or distinct traits. The noun system largely lost its grammatical case distinctions, though pronouns retained a subject-object distinction, as seen in *I* and *me*. Verb conjugation often featured the *-is* ending for the third person singular present tense, and the use of the present participle in *-and* was common. The syntax allowed for flexible word order, particularly in poetic works, and employed double modal constructions in some dialects. These structures are documented in legal records from the Court of Session and literary texts from the period.

Vocabulary

The lexicon of Middle Scots was rich and diverse, drawing from multiple source languages. A substantial layer of vocabulary came from Old English and Old Norse, the latter due to Scandinavian influence in regions like the Kingdom of the Isles. The Auld Alliance with France introduced a significant number of Law French and Middle French terms, especially in domains like law, architecture, and warfare, evident in words like *ashet* (platter). The language also incorporated loanwords from Middle Dutch through trade with the Low Countries, and from Latin via the church and academia. This created a lexicon distinct from that of Southern England.

Literature and texts

The Middle Scots period is considered a golden age for literature in the Kingdom of Scotland. Major works include *The Kingis Quair*, often attributed to James I, and the prolific output of the Scottish Chaucerians, such as Robert Henryson's *Morall Fabillis*, William Dunbar's *The Thrissil and the Rois*, and Gavin Douglas's translation of the *Aeneid*. The genre of flyting, a contest of poetic insults, was perfected by Dunbar and Walter Kennedy. Important non-literary texts include the legal compilation *Regiam Majestatem*, the philosophical works of John Mair, and the historical *Scotichronicon* by Walter Bower.

Decline and legacy

The decline of Middle Scots as a prestige language began in earnest after the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when the royal court moved to London. The subsequent political union, the Acts of Union 1707, further entrenched the administrative dominance of Modern English. The language was increasingly marginalized in formal contexts, a process described as language shift, though it continued robustly as Scots in vernacular use. Its legacy is profound, providing the foundational grammar and vocabulary for modern Ulster Scots dialects and influencing the literary Scots language revival led by figures like Robert Burns and, later, Hugh MacDiarmid. Key texts preserving its form are found in collections like the Bannatyne Manuscript.

Category:Germanic languages Category:History of Scotland Category:Medieval languages Category:Scots language