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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Chaucer died (25/10/1400)
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2024 23:02:06 +1300
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer

(French chaucier, once thought to mean 'shoemaker', but now known to 
mean a maker of hose or leggings) (Wiki)
But Geoffrey's immediate ancestors were vintners and merchants in Ipswich.


"The Reeve's Tale" is (saith Crystal) the first time regional dialect 
features are used for literary effect, and without any suggestion that 
they were inferior to the courtly speech of London.

Two young Cambridge students of Northern origin get revenge on a miller 
(Southern) who has been defrauding their college of corn.

The students have "na" where the miller (and the reeve telling the 
story) have "no".
Likewise Northern -s vs. Southern -th in 3rd person singular present 
(has/hath). Northern "ga", "fra"; Southern "go", "fro".