64
Old English Hwæt
Jucker ( 1997 : 96– 97) notes a similar use of the combination of adverb wel
with interjection la ( wel la/ wella ) in Old English, often at the beginning of a
speech and with a vocative, as an attention- getting device. This usage did not
survive beyond the OE period.
2.6 Later History of Exclamatory What
Although exclamatory what is common in Middle English (Mustanoja
1960 : 621; Taavitsainen 1995b : 200, 1997 : 598– 599; Sauer 2008 : 399), there
appear to be only remnant ‘you know’ uses. Of the instances of exclamatory
what in Chaucer (see Oizumi 1991– 1992), only the following are possibly
interpretable as ‘you know’:
(19) a. He seyde, “Syn I shal bigynne the game,/ What , welcome be the cut, a
Goddes name!” (1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT A.Kn. 853– 54)
‘He [the Knight] said, “Since I shall begin the game, what, welcome be the
cut, by God’s name” ’
b. “ What, Frankeleyn! Pardee, sire, wel thou woost/ That ech of yow moot
tellen atte leste/ A tale or two, or breken his biheste.” (1387– 1400 Chaucer,
CT F.Fkl. 696– 98)
‘What, Franklin! Certainly, sir, you know well that each of you must tell at
least a tale or two, or break his promise’
c. Ther gan oure Hooste for to jape and pleye,/ And seyde, “Sires, what! Dun
is in the myre!” (1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT H.Mcp. 4– 5)
‘There began our Host to joke and play and said, “Sirs, what! The dun-
colored horse is in the mire [= things are at a standstill]” ’
d. “ What , many a man hath love ful deere ybought/ Twenty wynter that his
lady wiste,/ That nevere yet his lady mouth he kiste.” (1387– 86 Chaucer, TC
I 810– 12)
‘What, many a man has bought love very dearly that knew his lady twenty
winters but never yet his lady’s mouth kissed’
e. “And thenk right thus: ‘Criseyde is now agon./ But what , she shal come
hastiliche ayeyn!’ ” (1387– 1400 Chaucer, TC IV 1317– 18)
‘And think thus in this way: “Criseyde is now gone but, what, she shall come
soon again” ’
In (19a), the Knight has just won the cut to begin the tales, and he accepts this
as given.^29 In (19b), the Host reminds the Franklin of his duty to tell a tale; the
use of witen might be evidence of the recessive nature of this form in Middle
English. In (19c), the Host points out the fact that must be obvious to all the
pilgrims, namely, that the storytelling has reached a standstill. Pandarus points
out to Troilus in (19d) the truism that men who have loved women but not
29 According to the OED (s.v. what , def. B 1) and Mustanoja ( 1960 : 631), what has an attention-
calling role in this case.