Language is always changing — words fall out of use, phrases fade, and new slang takes their place. But every now and then, it’s worth looking back at what we’ve lost. The Middle Ages gave us an extraordinary range of expressions: oaths that could shake heaven, blessings that upheld kings, and sayings so sharp they still ring true today. Some of these phrases have vanished entirely, while others quietly survive in our speech without us even noticing. Here are ten medieval phrases that we think deserve a comeback.
1. By my troth
In the Middle Ages, a person’s “troth” meant their truth, faith, or pledged word — the same root as betrothal. When someone said “By my troth,” they were swearing on their honour that what they said was true. The expression became common in late 14th-century Middle English, especially in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, where characters use it as a mild, everyday oath. It was less irreverent than swearing by God’s name, but still sincere — a verbal seal on one’s honesty.
A classic example comes from Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale, where the Merchant says, “By my trouthe, I shal nat lyen,” — “By my troth, I shall not lie.” The phrase quickly spread beyond literature into daily speech, and it remained fashionable for centuries, lingering into Shakespeare’s era before fading from use.
2. The world, the flesh, and the devil
This enduring phrase comes straight from the moral vocabulary of the Middle Ages. “The world, the flesh, and the devil” were known as the three great enemies of the Christian soul, representing external temptation, internal weakness, and spiritual evil. The triad has early Christian roots, but it became firmly established in medieval theology, sermons, and devotional manuals. It appears in Latin as mundus, caro et diabolus and in Old English homilies such as Ælfric of Eynsham’s Catholic Homilies (c. 990), where he exhorted believers to “winnan wiþ þam deofle, wiþ þam flæsce, and wiþ þam worlde” — “to strive against the devil, the flesh, and the world.”
Preachers across medieval Europe used this trio as a guide to the Christian life: “the world” symbolised vanity and greed, “the flesh” human desire, and “the devil” spiritual corruption. The phrase was still used in early modern England, including in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which still pleads, “From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord, deliver us.”
3. Memento mori
Memento Mori on a tombstone in Scotland – Photo by Daniel Naczk / Wikimedia Commons
The Latin phrase “Memento mori” means “Remember that you must die.” It first appeared in early Christian monastic writing but became a central moral theme of the Middle Ages, urging believers to live righteously in light of life’s brevity. By the twelfth century, it was common in sermons, manuscripts, and inscriptions. The expression likely originated in late antique monastic circles and spread widely through medieval preaching.
By the later Middle Ages, memento mori moved beyond monastic walls into popular devotion and art. The phrase endured long after the medieval period, echoed in Reformation epitaphs and Baroque still-life paintings featuring skulls, extinguished candles, and hourglasses. Few expressions capture the medieval sense of moral urgency quite like memento mori — the simple reminder that mortality is life’s most persuasive teacher.
4. He reached the utmost limit in knowledge
In medieval Arabic writing, to say that someone “بلغ الغاية في العلم” (balagha al-ghāyah fī al-ʿilm) — “he reached the utmost limit in knowledge” — was the highest praise one could give a scholar. The phrase appears throughout Arabic biographical dictionaries from the 10th to 14th centuries, used to describe jurists, philosophers, and scientists who achieved mastery in their fields.
In Islamic medieval thought, knowledge was a path toward divine truth, and to “reach the utmost limit” meant to approach that ideal. The phrase still exists in modern Arabic, but in the Middle Ages it carried a sacred weight: a scholar was not just clever or well-read, but one who had climbed to the furthest human reach of understanding.
5. Hold your peace
In medieval English, to “hold one’s peace” simply meant to stay silent or keep quiet. The expression comes from Old English and early Middle English usage, where “pes” (peace) could mean both outward harmony and inward stillness. The earliest recorded examples appear around c. 1300 in texts like the Cursor Mundi, a vast Middle English verse chronicle: “Hold thi pees, and herkne my sawes” — “Hold your peace, and listen to my words.” It was used in courtrooms, sermons, and everyday speech as a gentle but firm command to stop speaking, often when decorum demanded silence.
The phrase survived throughout the later Middle Ages and beyond, appearing in the Wycliffe Bible (1382) — “And Jhesus helde his pees” — and can still be heard in traditional wedding ceremonies (“Speak now or forever hold your peace”). In its medieval context, however, it wasn’t ceremonial but practical — a reminder of using restraint, whether it be in monastic life or in the royal courts.
6. There he lies now
An image in one of the manuscripts of Njals Saga
Few phrases convey the grim stoicism in the Norse world like “Þar liggr hann nú” — “There he lies now.” This simple line appears repeatedly in Icelandic sagas, where it often follows a death in battle or a violent encounter. Instead of elaborate mourning, the narrator closes the episode with this blunt statement of fact.
Its power lies in understatement. When an outlaw falls or a rival is slain, the saga doesn’t dwell on emotion; it simply observes, “Þar liggr hann nú.” It’s the literary equivalent of a shrug — a way of letting events speak for themselves. The phrase embodies the stoic fatalism of Norse culture, where courage and inevitability walk hand in hand.
7. At six and seven
To be “at six and seven” meant to be in confusion, disorder, or at odds — a phrase that can be traced directly to the fourteenth century. The earliest recorded use appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, where Pandarus advises Troilus to “set the world on six and seven,” meaning to risk everything or throw caution aside. Scholars believe the saying originally came from the dice game hazard, in which betting on six or seven was especially perilous — so to be “at six and seven” implied taking reckless chances. From there, it evolved into describing general confusion or disarray, a sense that’s remained remarkably consistent through the centuries.
This phrase has just made a kind of comeback. Dictionary.com has recently selected “six–seven” as its 2025 Word of the Year, after the term went viral on social media. According to the website, this phrase is interpreted to mean “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that,” in a kind of a way to describe uncertainty. More than 600 years after Chaucer’s usage, people are still using “six and seven” to describe being all mixed up — proof that some medieval expressions never really lose their relevance.
8. Fetch a compass
When medieval writers spoke of someone “fetching a compass,” they didn’t mean using a navigation tool — they meant taking the long way around. The word compass originally meant a circuit or encircling path, from the Latin compassus (“measure, circle”). We see again Chaucer using it in Troilus and Criseyde: “And gan to goon a compas al the yer,” describing a character pacing restlessly, literally going around in a circle. The phrase carried the sense of moving indirectly or circuitously, whether in travel or in speech.
By the fifteenth century, “to fetch a compass” had also come to mean to go about something in a roundabout way, both physically and metaphorically, the ancestor of our modern phrase “to go around the houses.” It’s rare today, but in Chaucer’s time, it was a vivid way of describing someone who wandered in loops — a perfect medieval image for the art of delay.
9. May his days endure
The blessing “دامت أيّامه” (dāmat ayyāmuhu) — “May his days endure” — was a standard honorific phrase in medieval Arabic correspondence, especially in chancery and courtly letters. It appears frequently in administrative writings such as in Mamluk Egypt, where they might write, “To our lord the Sultan — may his days endure.” The phrase expressed a wish for the ruler’s continued reign and wellbeing, serving both as etiquette and political affirmation.
You can find similar forms of this expression in other Arabic documents, including “أطال الله بقاءه” (“May God prolong his life”) and “دامت نعمته” (“May his favour endure”). Today it survives only in highly formal Arabic or historical imitation, but in the medieval world, it was a daily marker of respect — a small sentence that upheld the hierarchy of the state with every letter sent.
10. By God’s Bones!
If you wanted to swear in medieval England, you might use “By God’s bones!”, or replace bones with nails, blood, eyes, or another part of the body. As Melissa Mohr explains in her book on swearing, “these expressions had the form of an oath but the force and register of an expletive.”
For someone in late medieval England, using this kind of phrase was their version of vulgar talk, with it being particularly offensive as it evoked God. This made such oaths powerful, even dangerous — breaking them risked not just earthly punishment but spiritual disgrace. You can learn more in our piece on medieval swear words.
Language is always changing — words fall out of use, phrases fade, and new slang takes their place. But every now and then, it’s worth looking back at what we’ve lost. The Middle Ages gave us an extraordinary range of expressions: oaths that could shake heaven, blessings that upheld kings, and sayings so sharp they still ring true today. Some of these phrases have vanished entirely, while others quietly survive in our speech without us even noticing. Here are ten medieval phrases that we think deserve a comeback.
1. By my troth
In the Middle Ages, a person’s “troth” meant their truth, faith, or pledged word — the same root as betrothal. When someone said “By my troth,” they were swearing on their honour that what they said was true. The expression became common in late 14th-century Middle English, especially in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, where characters use it as a mild, everyday oath. It was less irreverent than swearing by God’s name, but still sincere — a verbal seal on one’s honesty.
A classic example comes from Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale, where the Merchant says, “By my trouthe, I shal nat lyen,” — “By my troth, I shall not lie.” The phrase quickly spread beyond literature into daily speech, and it remained fashionable for centuries, lingering into Shakespeare’s era before fading from use.
2. The world, the flesh, and the devil
This enduring phrase comes straight from the moral vocabulary of the Middle Ages. “The world, the flesh, and the devil” were known as the three great enemies of the Christian soul, representing external temptation, internal weakness, and spiritual evil. The triad has early Christian roots, but it became firmly established in medieval theology, sermons, and devotional manuals. It appears in Latin as mundus, caro et diabolus and in Old English homilies such as Ælfric of Eynsham’s Catholic Homilies (c. 990), where he exhorted believers to “winnan wiþ þam deofle, wiþ þam flæsce, and wiþ þam worlde” — “to strive against the devil, the flesh, and the world.”
Preachers across medieval Europe used this trio as a guide to the Christian life: “the world” symbolised vanity and greed, “the flesh” human desire, and “the devil” spiritual corruption. The phrase was still used in early modern England, including in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which still pleads, “From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord, deliver us.”
3. Memento mori
The Latin phrase “Memento mori” means “Remember that you must die.” It first appeared in early Christian monastic writing but became a central moral theme of the Middle Ages, urging believers to live righteously in light of life’s brevity. By the twelfth century, it was common in sermons, manuscripts, and inscriptions. The expression likely originated in late antique monastic circles and spread widely through medieval preaching.
By the later Middle Ages, memento mori moved beyond monastic walls into popular devotion and art. The phrase endured long after the medieval period, echoed in Reformation epitaphs and Baroque still-life paintings featuring skulls, extinguished candles, and hourglasses. Few expressions capture the medieval sense of moral urgency quite like memento mori — the simple reminder that mortality is life’s most persuasive teacher.
4. He reached the utmost limit in knowledge
In medieval Arabic writing, to say that someone “بلغ الغاية في العلم” (balagha al-ghāyah fī al-ʿilm) — “he reached the utmost limit in knowledge” — was the highest praise one could give a scholar. The phrase appears throughout Arabic biographical dictionaries from the 10th to 14th centuries, used to describe jurists, philosophers, and scientists who achieved mastery in their fields.
In Islamic medieval thought, knowledge was a path toward divine truth, and to “reach the utmost limit” meant to approach that ideal. The phrase still exists in modern Arabic, but in the Middle Ages it carried a sacred weight: a scholar was not just clever or well-read, but one who had climbed to the furthest human reach of understanding.
5. Hold your peace
In medieval English, to “hold one’s peace” simply meant to stay silent or keep quiet. The expression comes from Old English and early Middle English usage, where “pes” (peace) could mean both outward harmony and inward stillness. The earliest recorded examples appear around c. 1300 in texts like the Cursor Mundi, a vast Middle English verse chronicle: “Hold thi pees, and herkne my sawes” — “Hold your peace, and listen to my words.” It was used in courtrooms, sermons, and everyday speech as a gentle but firm command to stop speaking, often when decorum demanded silence.
The phrase survived throughout the later Middle Ages and beyond, appearing in the Wycliffe Bible (1382) — “And Jhesus helde his pees” — and can still be heard in traditional wedding ceremonies (“Speak now or forever hold your peace”). In its medieval context, however, it wasn’t ceremonial but practical — a reminder of using restraint, whether it be in monastic life or in the royal courts.
6. There he lies now
Few phrases convey the grim stoicism in the Norse world like “Þar liggr hann nú” — “There he lies now.” This simple line appears repeatedly in Icelandic sagas, where it often follows a death in battle or a violent encounter. Instead of elaborate mourning, the narrator closes the episode with this blunt statement of fact.
Its power lies in understatement. When an outlaw falls or a rival is slain, the saga doesn’t dwell on emotion; it simply observes, “Þar liggr hann nú.” It’s the literary equivalent of a shrug — a way of letting events speak for themselves. The phrase embodies the stoic fatalism of Norse culture, where courage and inevitability walk hand in hand.
7. At six and seven
To be “at six and seven” meant to be in confusion, disorder, or at odds — a phrase that can be traced directly to the fourteenth century. The earliest recorded use appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, where Pandarus advises Troilus to “set the world on six and seven,” meaning to risk everything or throw caution aside. Scholars believe the saying originally came from the dice game hazard, in which betting on six or seven was especially perilous — so to be “at six and seven” implied taking reckless chances. From there, it evolved into describing general confusion or disarray, a sense that’s remained remarkably consistent through the centuries.
This phrase has just made a kind of comeback. Dictionary.com has recently selected “six–seven” as its 2025 Word of the Year, after the term went viral on social media. According to the website, this phrase is interpreted to mean “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that,” in a kind of a way to describe uncertainty. More than 600 years after Chaucer’s usage, people are still using “six and seven” to describe being all mixed up — proof that some medieval expressions never really lose their relevance.
8. Fetch a compass
When medieval writers spoke of someone “fetching a compass,” they didn’t mean using a navigation tool — they meant taking the long way around. The word compass originally meant a circuit or encircling path, from the Latin compassus (“measure, circle”). We see again Chaucer using it in Troilus and Criseyde: “And gan to goon a compas al the yer,” describing a character pacing restlessly, literally going around in a circle. The phrase carried the sense of moving indirectly or circuitously, whether in travel or in speech.
By the fifteenth century, “to fetch a compass” had also come to mean to go about something in a roundabout way, both physically and metaphorically, the ancestor of our modern phrase “to go around the houses.” It’s rare today, but in Chaucer’s time, it was a vivid way of describing someone who wandered in loops — a perfect medieval image for the art of delay.
9. May his days endure
The blessing “دامت أيّامه” (dāmat ayyāmuhu) — “May his days endure” — was a standard honorific phrase in medieval Arabic correspondence, especially in chancery and courtly letters. It appears frequently in administrative writings such as in Mamluk Egypt, where they might write, “To our lord the Sultan — may his days endure.” The phrase expressed a wish for the ruler’s continued reign and wellbeing, serving both as etiquette and political affirmation.
You can find similar forms of this expression in other Arabic documents, including “أطال الله بقاءه” (“May God prolong his life”) and “دامت نعمته” (“May his favour endure”). Today it survives only in highly formal Arabic or historical imitation, but in the medieval world, it was a daily marker of respect — a small sentence that upheld the hierarchy of the state with every letter sent.
10. By God’s Bones!
If you wanted to swear in medieval England, you might use “By God’s bones!”, or replace bones with nails, blood, eyes, or another part of the body. As Melissa Mohr explains in her book on swearing, “these expressions had the form of an oath but the force and register of an expletive.”
For someone in late medieval England, using this kind of phrase was their version of vulgar talk, with it being particularly offensive as it evoked God. This made such oaths powerful, even dangerous — breaking them risked not just earthly punishment but spiritual disgrace. You can learn more in our piece on medieval swear words.
While this phrases have largely been forgotten, many others from the medieval period are still used very much today. Click here to read about 20 Phrases that Originated in the Middle Ages.
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