What are a few medieval words?

Answer 1

The term "medieval" covers such a long period of history that language (like almost every aspect of life) evolved and changed considerably. An English peasant from a small village in 1050 would not be able to understand a peasant from that same village in 1450 - English changed so much.

In 1050, the English word for a human being was gást; by 1450 it was man or leod; the early word for a storm was ýst, later it was rak or tempest.

There was no word for "castle" in 1050, because such things did not exist; by 1100 the word castell was used. Later it was spelled castel.

Old English had no word for "sugar", a substance which was introduced as a result of the Crusades and called sugre in Middle English.

In 1050 a book was a boc, in 1450 it was a bok or book.

In 1050 a horse was hengest or hengst , in 1450 it was a hors.

Spelling also changed and simplified over time: the Old English word for "ship" was spelled scip [pronounced "ship"], in Middle English it was written ship.