The spelling in the extract is not standardised and therefore alternates between words throughout the extract an example of this is the use of the word dide (line 10) and the word diden (line 17), both of these word mean did', according to the translation, and therefore prove that spelling is not standardised within the extract
All of these factors give the extract a presentation that suggests it to be completely unlike modern English. However, when looked closely, and once the older letterforms have been incorporated into the equation, the extract looks simply like a badly spelled modern extract. .
The extract, pre-dating AD1154, bares many of the trademark practices of ME at that stage. It contains many words that look familiar but are not spelled the same as modern equivalents. The semantics of these words can be obtained using any dictionary once they have been translated to their modern equivalents. Many words are difficult to decipher because of their very different nature to their modern equivalent. It is also difficult to decipher many of the words as they are borrowed from different languages. The etymology of the words is also an important part of analysing the linguistics of the extract. Gre (line 1) (Oxford English Dictionary or OED) means year in the modern equivalent and is derived originally from and Anglian dialect of OE. Many of the words that are used in ME are derived originally from words that were used in OE and remain the same or similar when the language evolved into ME. S (line 1) meaning sea also derives from OE originally. Sylver .
(line 17) (OED) meaning silver also derives originally from OE. This shows that the extract conforms to the idea that many ME words were originally derived from OE. Many words, however, that are used in the extract were created solely for use in the ME language and were created at its time. ME contains many words that were invented to describe new things that the English language had not previously had any word for.