Chaucer's Double Consonants and the Final E.

Author / Editor
Malone, Kemp.

Title
Chaucer's Double Consonants and the Final E.

Published
Mediaeval Studies 18 (1956) 204-07.

Description
Describes grammatical and metrical conditions that restrict or encourage pronunciation of final -e at the end of lines in Chaucer's verse. Introduces double-consonant rhymes as a previously unnoticed factor in these concerns, explores their etymologies, and argues that occurrences of this condition indicate "that Chaucer habitually pronounced the final unstrest e at the end of a line."

Chaucer Subjects
Style and Versification
Language and Word Studies