LANGUAGE AND CHANGE - THE LORD'S PRAYER (MIDDLE ENGLISH):

The quote from the Lord's Prayer I have chosen to analyse is 'right so haue merci upon us'. This quote doesn't have a direct translation in the current version of the prayer but is based on the topic of asking for forgiveness. This quote, along with the majority of the prayer' is intelligible to us now - with a few slightly misdirecting words. When taking an initial glance at the quote the two main parts that stand out as not having an active place in our daily vocabulary are the words 'haue' and 'merci' and to understand this some historical context is required. Middle English is the result of French and Old English growing together. In 1066, the Normans brought over their French language but some Latinate phrases still stood - creating a combined vocabulary that is Middle English. This could be used to explain why the French word for thank you ('merci') features within the Lord's Prayer as a replacement for the word mercy which we would perceive as better fitting. Old English was heavily influenced by French and so it's possible that, due to the initial language barrier, the English heard the phonetic similarity between the word mercy and merci and so it was borrowed and used in written language by the Norman scribes who controlled most spelling rules. Another potential reason for this semantic shift is that the words thank you and mercy could be viewed as featuring in the same semantic field. Mercy can be defined as 'compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone' whereas the definition for thanks is 'an expression of gratitude'. It can be argued that these words share similarity due to their link to appreciation, whether it's being asked for or received. This could also be an explanation as to why the word mercy is now a well known feature of English vernacular as after it was introduced by the Normans the word underwent anglicisation to make it appear more English and to cut any French connotation. 

The other irregularity in the quote is the word 'haue'. From the Middle English era all the way up to Early Modern English, u and v were used interchangeably. In the more recent times (after the invention of Caxton's printing press in 1476) which convention was used simply depended on which printer was used. As mentioned, this featured in the English language for many years and today there are many words we use with ancient etymology. Another example of this from the quote is the word 'upon'. The word doesn't appear to be low frequency or archaic however it dates back to Old Norse origin. In 787AD the Vikings had invaded and brought with them many language conventions - many of which have stayed relevant. The word 'upon' is said to be derived from the Old Norse 'upp à' and it eventually - like the word 'merci' - was anglicised to fit in.