James Modernization Guide
Here's my guide & notes as to what I modernized, which may be useful if you want to actually read some of the original works (or are reading comparable 17th English documents). James' writing style is quite unlike many authors of the time though, and some works bleed into middle scots and I've also included bits of that as well. Even when he was King of England much of his middle scots remained in later publications.
- Anything ending in 'eth' to 's'
- ay / aye = ?
- shall = will
- ye = you (since 'you' isn't actually a proper replacement to ye, some compromises have to be made contextually in rare circumstances, but oh well. We don't use 'ye' anymore so it's not fitting for modernization)
- unto = to (sometimes, as certain situations call for 'unto' and not 'to')
- hath = has
- thorow = through
- burthens = burdens
- murther = murder
- traist = trust
- rent = wrent
- vanting = vaunting
- sodaine / sodain = sudden
- corbies = ravens
- satyricke / satyrick = satiric
- wrayle / rayle / raile = rail (in this sense it's referring to the secondary usage, as in 'to rail against someone' and not literal railings or bars)
- Ireland-men = Irish
- adioyning: adjoining
- barbars = barbarians
- subalterin = subaltern
- meet = proper (while I like the archaic form myself, hardly anyone uses 'meet' to mean proper/just anymore so it's best just to flip it to something equivalent)
- unmeet = unsuitable
- reft, reave = raid, raided, stealing
- way-taking / waytaking = removal or stealing
- hoords / hoordes = hords
- rehabled = rehabilitated
- hag-buts / hagbuts = firearms
- betwixt = between
- sponke = ?
- bruit = noisy?
- gar / garre = ?
- physicke / physick / physic (doctors of physic) = physician
- whiles = ???
- undanted = undaunted
- paction = agreement
- therefro = ???
- kythe / kithe = become
- wreake = wreak (as in to wreak havoc)
- assoone / assoon = as soon
- jove = jupiter (using jupiter because it's what more people know)
- oftner = more often
- sliddriest = slickest
- courteours = courtiers
- unspeered = ???
- middesses = extremes (usually a comparison of two things)
- ingyne = ingenuity
- rash-headie / heady-rash = rash headed
- anent = conerning
- aage = ??? (maybe 'age'?)
- ditted = closed (as in closing your mouth)
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