Difference Between Old and Middle English
Old
English is the earliest historical form of the English
language.
Middle
English developed out of Old English after the Norman
Conquest in 1066.
Period
Old
English was used from 400s to 1100s.
Middle
English was used from the 1100s to 1400s.
Syntax
Old
English did not have a fixed word order.
Middle
English began to have a fixed word order.
Grammar
– Inflections
Old
English nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs have many
inflectional forms and endings.
Middle
English simplified many inflectional forms of nouns,
adjectives and verbs.
Grammar
– Case
Old
English had dative and instrumental cases.
Middle
English moved to prepositional constructions.
Relation
to Modern English
Old
English is very different from Modern English. A modern
English speaker cannot understand it without study.
Middle
English is somewhat similar to Modern English than Old
English.
