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{P} And al on tho ilche worden is isend in-to {ae}vrihce othre shcire
over al th{ae}re kuneriche on Engleneloande, and ek in-tel Irelonde.
This document presents at first sight many unfamiliar forms, but
really differs from Modern English mainly in the spelling, which of
course represents the pronunciation of that period. The grammar is
perfectly intelligible, and this is the surest mark of similarity of
language; we may, however, note the use of _send_ as a contraction of
_sendeth_, and of _oni_ for "any man" in the singular, while _onie_,
being plural, represents "any men."
The other chief variations are in the vocabulary or word-list, due to
the fact that this Proclamation is older than the reigns of the first
three Edwards, which was the period when so many words of Anglo-Norman
origin entered our language, displacing many words of native origin
that thus became obsolete; though some were exchanged for other
_native_ words. We may notice, for example, _fultume_, "assistance";
_holde_, "faithful"; _il{ae}rde and ileawede_, "learned and unlearned";
_unnen_, "grant"; _r{ae}desmen_, "councillors"; _kuneriche_, "kingdom";
and so on.


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