On derivational suffixes in three Late Middle English romances: Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton, and Sultan of Babylon

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of derivational suffixes in three Late Middle English romances. Since a number of new, foreign suffixes appeared in Middle English, more specifically of French origin, it is of interest to the author of the study to what extent these were adopted in medieval romances. One might expect that the number of French suffixes might be significantly higher than that of other texts given that romances were as a genre based on a French model. The paper investigates whether this was the case in the texts of Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton, and Sowdon of Babylon, which represent the East Midland dialect in Late Middle English.