"Listeth lords": "Sir Thopas," 712 and 833.

Author / Editor
Burrow, J. A.

Title
"Listeth lords": "Sir Thopas," 712 and 833.

Published
Notes and Queries 213 (1968): 326-27.

Description
Dialectical analysis of "listeth" in Middle English indicates that in using the term to mean "listen" in Tho (particularly at 7.833) Chaucer alters his source and strikes for his London audience the "right jarring note" since that meaning was "no longer acceptable" in their dialect.

Chaucer Subjects
Tale of Sir Thopas
Language and Word Studies
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations