Translation Team: Please stop doing this...

[Conradus]

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales came much later after the language had altered due to the melding with the languages of other prominent tribes that had settled in Western Europe, primarily the Normans due to their conquest/occupation of England.
At this point the language had evolved into Middle English.

My favorite quip on the subject is that Middle English was the product of Norman soldiers trying pick up Saxon barmaids. A little Googling reveals that H. Beam Piper came up with that one.

[TouchandFeel]

My favorite quip on the subject is that Middle English was the product of Norman soldiers trying pick up Saxon barmaids. A little Googling reveals that H. Beam Piper came up with that one.

Ha, I'd believe it and while somewhat of a joke, there is probably a grain of truth to it as the commonfolk of the time, being of Anglo-Saxon origin probably assimilated aspects of the Norman conqueror's language into their vernacular through their day to day interaction with them. So drunken Normans hitting on Saxon barmaids influencing the evolution of the English language, totally plausible.