THE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 STANDARD ENGLISH SPEECH 
 
 IN OUTLINE 
 
 BY 
 
 J. M. HART 
 
 NEW YORK 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1907
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1907, 
 
 BY 
 HENKY HOLT AND COMPANY
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This little book is the outcome of lectures which 
 have been delivered for some years past to our 
 students of Middle English. In preparing the 
 manuscript for publication and in reading proof I 
 have got much help of every sort from Assistant 
 Professor C. S. Northup and Dr. B. S. Monroe. 
 As a whole, then, the book may be said to represent 
 Cornell aim and method. 
 
 The book presupposes : (1). Students who have 
 some knowledge of Old English, although this 
 knowledge need not be extensive nor profound. 
 Cook's First Book in Old English, or Bright' s 
 Anglo-Saxon Reader (the general features of the 
 grammar, with the reading of a few of the simpler 
 prose texts), will be quite enough. (2). A 
 thoroughly trained teacher, one conversant with 
 Old and Middle English prose and verse, and 
 equally conversant with grammatical and phonologi- 
 cal investigation. 
 
 Further, this book is not a history of the lan- 
 guage, not even in the barest outline, but merely an 
 
 iii 
 
 2207298
 
 iy PKEFACE. 
 
 attempt to show how the Englishman or American 
 of to-day has come by his pronunciation. Only 
 where there was need of explaining apparent incon- 
 sistencies of pronunciation have I touched upon 
 grammatical forms. And in handling the extremely 
 difficult problem of Palatalization, 19, 20, I 
 have felt constrained to go even beyond the limits 
 of Old English grammar and introduce theories 
 which belong in strictness to comparative grammar. 
 Here the teacher's guidance is indispensable. On 
 my part I have given, I trust, theory enough and 
 data enough for fairly logical deduction. 
 
 For the most profitable use of this book I would 
 recommend two other works. The one is Skeat's 
 Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English 
 Language (ed. of 1901), an inexpensive and most 
 convenient book for ready reference. It is not 
 wholly free from errors, the author does not always 
 exhibit the courage of his best knowledge. Never- 
 theless the book is a model of concise scholarship. 
 The other work is O. F. Emerson's Middle English 
 Reader, which offers the best collection of texts, 
 the fullest annotation, and the fullest glossary. Of 
 Professor Emerson's Grammatical Introduction my 
 praise must be slightly qualified. With the purely 
 grammatical part (declension, conjugation, &c. ) I
 
 PEEFACE. V 
 
 have no fault to find ; but the author's treatment 
 of the phonology is open to two criticisms. In the first 
 place he tries to explain many phenomena which 
 the beginner can afford to ignore ; in treating such 
 an amorphous speech as Middle English, certainly 
 amorphous until the coming of Chaucer, one should 
 concentrate one's energies upon the most general 
 phenomena and leave the rest to time. In the 
 second place, Professor Emerson starts with Middle 
 English sounds and harks back to Old English. 
 This, it seems to me, is both awkward and unnatural. 
 Surely no student in 1906 will begin his study of 
 the language with Middle English, a procedure 
 barely pardonable in the autodidacts of 1806. 
 
 Towards Kluge and other German scholars my 
 attitude has been in places decidedly conservative, 
 not to say rebellious. Although my obligations to 
 Kluge' s Geschichte der englischen Sprache are self- 
 confessed on almost every page of this book, I must 
 protest against his use of certain terms involving 
 serious misconceptions. I mean the terms Ruckkehr 
 and Ruckumlaut. They invite one to believe that 
 k once palatalized to ch "goes back" to k, that u 
 once umlauted to y "goes back" to u. Nothing 
 of the sort ever happened or ever could have 
 happened ! Next, in nearly all phonological dis-
 
 vi PKEFACE. 
 
 cussions there is too much Ormulum ; the work of 
 Brother Orm is viewed as if it were the norm 
 of twelfth-century speech. This is to overlook the 
 patent fact that it represented only one small dis- 
 trict. Lastly, I am more than puzzled by the air 
 of confidence with which the German school blocks 
 out mediaeval England in squares like a checker- 
 board and assigns each bit of writing, from Laya- 
 mon's Brut to the "Alliterative Poems," to its. 
 particular little square. I must confess to being 
 deplorably deficient in this sense of the fourth 
 dimension. 
 
 A word or two upon some peculiar signs and 
 abbreviations used in these pages. 
 
 * denotes an assumed form. Either a form which 
 may well have existed in the historical language, 
 but which has accidentally not been preserved ; 
 e. g., *drop, *dropp, 12. Or a purely conjectural 
 form which philological theory postulates for pre- 
 historic times in explanation of historical forms ; 
 e. g., *layion, *layip, &c., p. 73. 
 
 [] denotes phonetic spelling, the vowels having 
 the so- called Continental value. 
 
 i is both phonetic and grammatical ; it represents 
 a genuine semi- vowel which may function either as 
 a pure vowel i or as a pure consonant y.
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 6 represents the peculiar English diphthongal 
 sound in law, saw, call, taught. 
 
 9 is used, somewhat loosely, to indicate any indis- 
 tinct vowel sound outside of the regular scale : 
 o-e-i-o-w, o-^u. In a strictly phonetic treatise I 
 should have used more than one character ; for the 
 present book the 9 seemed enough. 
 
 6 represents a k in the first stage of palatalization ; 
 the complete palatalization of k is represented by 
 ch or [[]. The corresponding voiced palatal, the 
 j of joke, the g of giant, is here represented by 
 [dIJ] ; the usual sign might be confounded with an 
 O. E. d*. 
 
 G. T. (General Teutonic) is a safer abbreviation 
 than Germ. (Germanic), which might be mistaken 
 for German, the language of Germany proper. 
 General Teutonic is that purely hypothetical form 
 of speech which lies back of English, German, 
 Scandinavian, Gothic. 
 
 Sievers refers to An Old English Grammar, by 
 Eduard Sievers. Translated and Edited by Albert 
 8. Cook. Third edition. 
 
 J. M. HART. 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 
 
 November 20th, 1906.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. INTRODUCTION. English; Danish; French, . . 1 
 2. NOMENCLATURE. Old, Middle, Modern ; 
 Northern, Midland, 
 Southern ; Standard, . . 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 1. VOWEL-LENGTHENING. 
 
 3. BEFORE CONSONANT GROUPS: -Id, -nd, -mb, . . 6 
 4. IN OPEN STRESSED SYLLABLES, 11 
 
 2. VOWKL-SHOBTENING. 
 
 5. EARLY SHORTENING, 13 
 
 6. LATER SHORTENING, .... __^i^. . . 18 
 
 7. CERTAIN TERMINATIONS, 20 
 
 3. CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 
 
 8. LEVELLING, 22 
 
 9. THE VOWEL e, 25 
 
 10. THE VOWEL a, 28 
 
 ix
 
 x TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 11. OPEN-SYLLABLE LENGTHENING OF O. E. a, . 29 
 
 12. O. E. o (close) , 31 
 
 13. O. E. i, i; u, u, 33 
 
 4. DlPHTHONGIZATION. 
 
 14. DiPHTHONGING OF 1, U, 34 
 
 15. DlPHTHOBTGING BEFORE ff ; h ; W, . . . . 37 
 
 16. DIPHTHONGING BEFORE I and r, 44 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VOWEL CHANGES. 
 17. SURVEY OF 3-16 ; CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, . 46 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 1. Loss AND INTRUSION ; VOICING, Ac. 
 18. hi-, hr-, hw-; en-, gn-; -s; ch-j, &c., 49 
 
 2. PALATALIZATION. 
 
 19. PALATALIZATION OF Jc, 56 
 
 20. PALATALIZATION OF gr, 68
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 STANDARD ENGLISH SPEECH
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 1. Introduction. The history of the growth 
 of modern English pronunciation is complicated. 
 Certain features are puzzling ; some are obscure and 
 even in the best light of our present knowledge 
 appear arbitrary. The chief features, however, admit 
 of systematic explanation and can be mastered by all 
 who will take the pains. 
 
 By way of comparison, it may be said that the 
 development of modern English pronunciation is 
 more difficult to account for than the pronunciation 
 of any other modern Teutonic speech, e. g. , German, 
 Dutch, Danish, Swedish. This difficulty may be 
 explained in part as the result of foreign influences. 
 
 For a century and a half before the Norman inva- 
 sion, say from 880 to 1030, England was raided and 
 in many places even occupied by Scandinavian in- 
 vaders, usually called Danes, though probably the 
 Norwegians were more numerous than the Danes 
 proper. The distinction is of no value in this place, 
 for in the ninth and tenth centuries the difference 
 
 1
 
 2 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 between Danish and Norwegian speech must have 
 been almost imperceptible. At any rate, for a cen- 
 tury and a half certain parts of England, chiefly 
 along the east coast between the Wash and the Tyne 
 and running back at least half way to the west coast, 
 were officially designated the Danelagh, or land of 
 the Dane Law. 
 
 "With the conquest of the whole of England by 
 William of Normandy and his immediate successors, 
 English speech was again subjected to a foreign in- 
 fluence, namely, French. This French influence was 
 of much longer duration, was more extensive, inas- 
 much as it affected the whole island, and also more 
 intensive. French influence affected not merely Eng- 
 lish speech but English ways of living and thinking. 
 
 Still, after making ample allowance for Danish 
 and French influences, many if not most of the 
 changes in English speech since 950 can be regarded 
 only as the result of innate causes. Evidently the 
 language had certain tendencies of its own in certain 
 directions, quite irrespective of Danes and Normans. 
 
 On the other hand, it is interesting to note that 
 one feature of modern English pronunciation, the 
 diphthonging of [I] to [at], of [u] to [aw], is par- 
 alleled in Mod. High German. We pronounce in 
 English, just as in German, mine and house, mein
 
 NOMENCLATURE. 3 
 
 and halts. This diphthongization, however, though 
 parallel in the two languages, was wholly indepen- 
 dent. In Germany it began in the twelfth century 
 and was completed in the fifteenth. In England it 
 began in the fifteenth century but was chiefly an 
 affair of the sixteenth. In Scandinavian speech 
 there has been no diphthongization ; the old pronun- 
 ciation mm and hus still survives. 
 
 2. Nomenclature. In its chronology the .an- 
 guage is divided into three periods : Old (O. E. ), 
 Middle (M. E.), and Modern (Mn. E.), or as 
 some prefer New (N. E.). 
 
 By O. E. is meant the language from the earliest 
 recorded monuments (fragments and glosses, some of 
 the seventh century) down to the year 1100 or per- 
 haps somewhat later, say 1120. 
 
 By M. E. is meant the language between 1100 (or 
 1120) and 1500 (approximately). 
 
 By Mn. E., the language since 1500. 
 
 In its topographical distribution the language is 
 described as Southern, Midland, and Northern. 
 
 The Southern division comprises those forms spoken 
 south of the Thames and in a few counties to the 
 north and west of the Thames, namely, Gloucester- 
 shire and parts of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
 
 4 GENERAL EEMAEKS. 
 
 Midland English comprises those forms spoken 
 between the Thames and a line drawn somewhat 
 irregularly between the Wash and the Humber and 
 running N. "W. to the west coast above Liverpool. 
 
 Northern English comprises those forms spoken in 
 the Lowlands of Scotland, and in Northumberland, 
 Cumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire, Durham, 
 and the northern parts of Lincoln, Nottingham, and 
 Lancashire. 
 
 These two classifications, the chronological and 
 the topographical, overlap each other in every stage 
 of the language ; that is to say, O. E. had its North- 
 ern form (called Old Northumbrian), its Midland 
 (called Mercian), and its Southern (called West- 
 Saxon, of which Kentish was a variety). M. E. had 
 its Northern, Midland, and Southern forms. And 
 Mn. E. also exhibits the same general varieties. 
 
 Concerning Mn. E. , however, there is this addi- 
 tional phenomenon to be noted, namely, the existence 
 of the so-called standard or literary speech, which is 
 used in varying degrees of purity by the cultivated 
 classes throughout Great Britain and forms the basis 
 of American speech. 
 
 This standard or literary English was in its origin 
 Midland, One variety of Midland speech was trans- 
 ferred in the fourteenth century to the court and to
 
 NOMENCLATURE. 5 
 
 the administrative, legal, cultivated, and fashionable 
 circles of London. Here it was further developed 
 and permanently established in the fifteenth century. 
 From London as a centre this standard and conven- 
 tional speech has spread as above indicated. It is 
 not, however, the speech of the lower and uneducated 
 classes of the city of London ; their speech, called 
 Cockney English, is a variety of the Southern dialect.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 These are of three general kinds : 1. Vowel- 
 lengthening. 2. Vowel-shortening. 3. Change in 
 the quality of the sound. 
 
 1. VOWEL-LENGTHENING. 
 
 3. Before Consonant Groups. An originally 
 short vowel in a stressed syllable (stem syllable) was 
 lengthened before certain consonant groups. This 
 lengthening took place in late O. E. 
 
 1. A short vowel was lengthened before -Id. 
 
 Exceptions: u and its umlauted sound y (some- 
 times written i in O. E. and u, ui in M. E. ) were not 
 lengthened. Thus, O. E. byldan, M. E. bulden, 
 Mn. E. build, is still short. 
 
 Caution. The -Id must be a genuine old group ; 
 for instance, feld, feld (Mn. E. field, 9). The 
 vowel was not lengthened when the I and the d 
 were originally in separate syllables in O. E. and 
 subsequently brought together through syncope of an 
 intermediate vowel. 
 6
 
 VOWEI^LENGTHENLNG. 7 
 
 Thus, contrast O. E. cald, cdld (genuine old 
 group), M. E. CQld, Mn. E. cold ( 10) with late 
 O. E. called, calld, pret. of W. S. ceallian, from 
 Danish kalla (16. 1). 
 
 Further caution. It is all-important to determine 
 which dialect form of the vowel was lengthened. 
 Inasmuch as most of our O. E. texts are written in 
 the Southern (West-Saxon) dialect, the student must 
 reconstruct many words in their Midland-Mercian 
 form. This means that the peculiar West-Saxon 
 ' broken ' and umlauted vowels must be reconstructed 
 according to the Mercian type. 
 
 Illustrations of vowel- lengthening. These are given 
 both for vowels that do not need reconstructing and 
 for vowels that do. 
 
 Without reconstruction. 
 
 feld (e in all O. E. dial. ) feld, 9. 
 
 did (i in all O. E. dial.) did, 14, 19. 
 
 gold, 12. 
 
 With reconstruction. 
 
 eald, W. S. ; aid, Merc. ; aid, 10. 
 wieldan, W. S. ; weldan, Merc. ; weldan, 9. 
 (Mn. E. weld, ' to beat metal together, ' is 
 borrowed from Swedish).
 
 8 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 2. i, u, and y (i-umlaut of w) are lengthened 
 before -nd. Examples : 
 
 O. E. bindan blndan ; M. E. binden ; Mn. E. 
 bind, 14. hund hund ; M. E. hund ; Mn. E. 
 hound, 14. gecynd gecynd ; M. E. i-cunde ; 
 Mn. E. kind, 14. 
 
 In M. E. the O. E. u is usually written ou but has 
 the value of [u]. 
 
 3. i and a are lengthened before -mb. Examples : 
 climban cllmban ; M. E. cllmbe ; Mn. E. climb, 
 
 14, 18. 1. c. cam6 cam6 ; M. E. cgrafc ; Mn. E. 
 comb, 10, 18. 1. c. 
 
 In Mn. E. limb, which has a short i, the final b is 
 not found in O. E. ; it is an accretion in late M. E. ; 
 consequently there was no -m b to lengthen the i. 
 
 Exceptions to Vowel- Lengthening. 
 
 The principle of vowel-lengthening did not apply 
 in forms where the root was increased by a suffix, or 
 in forms where the consonant group was immediately 
 followed by r or I. Thus : 
 
 O. E. tyndre is Mn. E. tinder (short t). 
 O. E. elder (Mercian) is Mn. E. elder (short e). 
 O. E. cildru (pi. of did), Scotch childer, stand- 
 ard children.
 
 VOWEL-LENGTHENING. 9 
 
 Contrast under, wonder, hinder, with ivund 
 (wound}, be-hlnd. 
 
 The suffixes -en of the past participle and -an of 
 the infinitive, however, did not prevent lengthening. 
 Thus: 
 
 O. E. bindan blndan ; M. E. bmden ; Mn. E. 
 bind [ai]. 
 
 O. E. bunden bunden ; M. E. bounden ; Mn. E. 
 bound [au]. 
 
 For the infinitive in -icm (2nd class weak) see 
 56. 
 
 The lengthenings mentioned in 1. 2. 3 took place 
 in O. E. They were fully established by 1000 A. D. 
 Inasmuch as many O. E. texts are later than 1000, 
 the student of O. E. should accustom himself to 
 pronounce blndan, bunden, f eld, gecynde, did, etc., 
 except in very old texts such as the Pastoral Care, 
 Orosius, the Parker Chronicle. Certainly the length- 
 enings should be introduced in reading the texts 
 of Aelfric. 
 
 The lengthenings are general ; they became per- 
 manent in all M. E. and, with certain qualitative 
 changes to be discussed hereafter have passed into 
 standard Mn. E. 
 
 There were in O. E. and M. E. other lengthenings
 
 10 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 which did not become generalized and consequently 
 did not pass into standard Mn. E. Thus, from the 
 spelling in the Ormulum we know that Orm pro- 
 nounced : 
 
 hard (O. E. hord). 
 
 cerd (O. E. ard, eard, see 3). 
 
 swerd (0. E. sweord*). 
 
 forth (O. E. /or). 
 
 erfte (O. E. eort5e). 
 
 Orm's bcern denotes lengthening of O. E. barn, beam ; 
 his barrn must be the Danish barn, borrowed. 
 
 Orm's peculiar spelling enables us to determine 
 usually the vowel quantity in the words used by him. 
 For words not used by him, we have no such clue. 
 Further, it is by no means clear that other writers in 
 other dialects had the same lengthenings. This ques- 
 tion is for the special student of M. E. ; the student 
 who desires to know merely the history of standard 
 Mn. E. need concern himself merely with the general 
 lengthenings discussed in 1. 2. 3 of this section. It 
 is quite certain that the other lengthenings did not 
 exist in Chaucer's language. Only one or two traces 
 have survived in standard Mn. E. Thus, O. E. bard, 
 beard ; Mn. E. beard [I~] , 9. 
 
 Occasionally a dialect form in Mn. E. illustrates
 
 VOWEL-LENGTHENING. 11 
 
 the difference between dialect and standard in his- 
 torical evolution. Thus, O. E. wald ' forest ' was 
 wald in Mercian ; in Southern (Kentish) it was 
 weald. The form wald wald has given rise to wold, 
 see 10, a word still used in poetry. Whereas the 
 
 * 
 
 form weald became weld, see 9 ; this word sur- 
 vives in the ' "Weald ' [wild] of Kent. 
 
 4. Lengthening in Open Stressed Sylla- 
 bles. A short O.E. a, e, o in an open stressed 
 syllable was lengthened. 1 This lengthening took 
 place much later than the one discussed in 3. It 
 began in the 13th century and consequently is 
 characteristic of the M.E. period. For example : 
 
 O.E. 
 O.E. 
 O.E. 
 O.E. 
 
 macian 
 mete 'food' 
 stelan 
 hopian 
 
 M.E. 
 M.E. 
 M.E. 
 M.E. 
 
 maken 
 mgte 
 stolen 
 hqpen 
 
 Mn.E. 
 Mn.E. 
 Mn.E. 
 Mn.E. 
 
 make 
 meat 
 steal 
 hope 
 
 Even such O.E. monosyllables as he, me have 
 been lengthened to he, me, now spoken [/u, ml] , 9. 
 
 Orm's spelling (the Ormulum is of about the year 
 1200) indicates that he still pronounced the vowels 
 short. Thus he writes ( v for short, ' for long) : 
 
 1 An open syllable is one which ends in a vowel. Where a 
 single consonant occurs between two vowels, it goes with the 
 second vowel. Thus nia-cian } me-te.
 
 12 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 t&kenn ' to take ' ; h%te ' hatred ' ; but 
 tdkenn, O.E. tacen 'token' 
 
 Unfortunately Orm, though persistent in his use 
 of the double consonant to mark vowel-shortness, 
 is anything but persistent in his use of the signs 
 w and ' ; he uses them only occasionally. 
 
 For other texts the student' s chief reliance is upon 
 the rimes. Whenever in poetry we discover that the 
 rime-couplet is composed of syllables one of which 
 had in O. E. a long vowel and the other a short, we 
 are safe in inferring that the poem was composed 
 after lengthening had taken place, i. e., after 1250. 
 Thus, Qre (O.E. are 'mercy') rimes with -lore 
 (O. E. -lore ' lost ') ; see 10. 
 
 In general the question of open-syllable lengthen- 
 ing in M. E. presents more difficulties than the O. E. 
 lengthening before consonant groups. One striking 
 difficulty is to account for the subsequent change 
 which took place in the quality of the lengthened 
 vowel. See 11. 
 
 Not infrequently we find in M. E. a lengthening 
 due to the dropping of a single consonant followed 
 by vowel crasis ; and occasionally such a lengthening 
 survives in Mn. E. Thus, O. E. maced, M. E. 
 malced, maad, Mn. E. made ; O. E. taken, Mn. E. 
 la' en, pp.
 
 VOWEL-SHORTENING. 13 
 
 Lengthening in open syllables, as a process of the 
 late thirteenth century, necessarily affected Danish 
 loan-words ; for these were all introduced before 
 1200. Thus : Danish taka ; O. E. tacan ; M. E. 
 taken ; Mn. E. take. 
 
 Some exceptions are difficult to explain. Thus, 
 O. E. hZofon is still short in Mn. E. Perhaps this is 
 due to the heavy suffix -on. The O. E. deofol is 
 d&vil (short e) in Mn. E. Orm writes heojfness, 
 heffness (short e) but deofless, defless (long e"). See 
 7. M. E. roten, Mn. E. rotten (from Scand. 
 rotinri) has remained short ; whereas, O. E. brocen, 
 M. E. and Mn. E. broken, has been lengthened. 
 
 2. VOWEL-SHORTENING. 
 
 Under this heading are treated two processes sim- 
 ilar in method and result but distinct in time. The 
 second process is in the main probably a century or 
 two later than the first. 
 
 5. Early Shortening. This took place in the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries, i. e., in the border 
 period between O. E. and M. E. Since the Danish 
 loan-words were introduced mainly in the tenth and 
 eleventh centuries, they have been affected like the 
 native words.
 
 14 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 The process is best understood when the words 
 affected are arranged in the following groups. 
 
 a. Compound words. A long vowel is usually 
 shortened when in the composition two consonants 
 are brought together. For example : 
 
 O. E. wisdom Mn. E. wisdom. 
 
 Danish husbonde Mn. E. husband. 
 
 O. E. gosling Mn. E. gosling. 
 
 O. E. crlstendom Mn. E. [&mnefom.] 
 
 O. E. clcenllc Mn. E. cleanly. 
 
 O. E. Eddmund Mn. E. Edmund. 
 
 O. E. hldfmcesse Mn. E. Lammas. 
 
 O. E. Stratford Mn. E. Stratford. 
 
 The Ormulum is not always in accord with 
 standard speech. Thus, although Orm writes wiss- 
 dom (short i), laffdi^, 'lady' (short a, O. E. hlcef- 
 dtje), he retains long a in larspell. 
 
 b. Words ending in a suffix or other termination 
 prominent enough to bear a secondary stress in O. E. 
 
 It is necessary to bear in mind that such suffixes 
 and terminations not only shortened an originally 
 long vowel but kept an originally short vowel short 
 before the lengthening consonant groups mentioned 
 in 3. The remarks in 3, Exceptions, are pecu- 
 liarly applicable here. Thus the suffixes -an (infini-
 
 VOWEL-SHOBTENING. 15 
 
 tive), -en (past participle), did not prevent the 
 lengthening of a short vowel before a consonant 
 group ; still less did they shorten a long vowel. 
 But the heavy infinitive ending -ian (O. E. ) of the 
 second weak class did shorten a long vowel, as in 
 
 O. E. hdlgian Mn. E. to hallow, 
 
 contrasted with 
 
 O. E. halig Mn. E. holy. 
 
 As examples of suffixes and other terminations 
 shortening a long vowel or keeping a short vowel 
 short, may be noted : 
 
 O. E. cerende Mn. E. errand. 
 
 O. E. cild(e)ru Mn. E. childer, children. 
 
 (contrast O. E. did did, Mn. E. child). 
 
 Perhaps we should be safe in holding that all O. E. 
 words of three syllables, of which the first syllable 
 contained a long vowel, have shortened that vowel ; 
 as in O. E. fireotene, Mn. E. thirteen, metathesis for 
 threten. 
 
 c. Before certain consonant combinations. 
 
 1. Before ht, whether the hi was an original 
 group and formed an integral part of the root or 
 stem, or was formed from the juxtaposition of a 
 stem ending in a guttural followed by an inflectional 
 syllable beginning with a dental. Thus :
 
 16 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. leoht late O. E. and early M. E. Uht. 
 O.E. sohte " " " sohte. 
 
 O. E. brohte " " " brtfite. 
 
 O. E. tcehte, tahte, " " " tiehte, tahte. 
 
 See 15 B. 
 
 2. Before -ft. For example : 
 O. E. sofa M. E. s6jie. 
 and before ss from t5s and is from ds. Examples : 
 
 O. E. btiss M. E. btiss. 
 O. E. milts M. E. m/lltse. 
 
 Contrast 
 
 O. E. bllZe Mn. E. blithe [ai] ; 
 O. E. milde Mn. E. mild [ai] . 
 
 Also before other O. E. ss. Thus : 
 
 O. E. Icessa M. E. ttsse. 
 and before -$8. Thus : 
 
 O. E. stfftan, late O. E. seofiSan M. E. sffiS&n. 
 O. E. cy%% M. E. ktth. 
 
 O. E. rwaSSw M. E. ivrath. 
 
 3. In the preterite and pret. part, of weak verbs, 
 whenever syncope has taken place. Thus :
 
 VOWEL-SHOKTEMNG. 17 
 
 O. E. cepan, cepte, M. E. k&pte (keppte, Orm. ) 
 (note Scottish Jceepit, unsyncopated. ) 
 O. E. heran, herde, M. E. herde. 
 O. E. clcedde (Dan. kleifta), M. E. cl&dde. 
 
 (compare claftian, claSede, Mn. E. clothed, 
 unsyncopated). 
 
 The old reduplicating verbs : slcepan, ondrcedan, 
 wepan, swapan have, by the side of strong preterite 
 forms, also weak preterites ; these latter have been 
 shortened. Thus : 
 
 sUpte, -drcedd, w&pte, swZpte. 
 
 The operation or non-operation of syncope will 
 account for such parallel forms in M. E. as dealt 
 (short), dealed (long). 
 
 Syncope will also account for the present tense 
 drat (Chaucer), for O. E. drcsdeH*. 
 
 4. There are other shortenings, less uniform and 
 consequently less easy to classify ; they seem to belong 
 to this period ; at any rate, to the thirteenth century. 
 
 a. Before st : 
 
 O. E. breost Mn. E. breast, 
 
 (but O. E. preost Mn. E. priest). 
 O. E. fistor Mn. E. foster. 
 O. E. dust Mn. E. dust. 
 O. E. fyst Mn. E. fist.
 
 18 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 On the other hand, in many French words and 
 even in English words, a short a before st has been 
 lengthened into [g], like the change discussed in 
 11. For example, paste, taste, waste, haste 'hurry,' 
 pronounced & in Chaucer's day, are now pronounced 
 [/>|s<], &c. 
 
 b. Before se (sA) : 
 
 O. E. wyscan Mn. E. wish. 
 
 O. E. ficesc Mn. E. flesh (flash in Orm. ) 
 
 6. Later Shortening. Some shortenings are 
 to be set down as late M. E., possibly early Mn. E. 
 Some took place after the changes in vowel quality 
 mentioned in 9, 10, 12 ; others took place before. 
 
 If there are any general principles governing this 
 later shortening, they have not yet been discovered. 
 For the present these changes seem arbitrary and 
 inconsistent. For example : 
 
 O. E. Mn. E. 
 
 death death [] . 
 
 hce$ heath [I] . 
 
 dead dead [] . 
 
 lead (metal) lead \e\. 
 
 Icedan ' to conduct ' lead [I] . 
 
 deaf deaf [either 2 or t] .
 
 VOWEL-SHOETENING. 
 
 19 
 
 O. E. 
 
 Mn. E. 
 
 heafod 
 
 head []. 
 
 Gdf 
 
 leaf [TJ. 
 
 fiod 
 
 flood [si]. 
 
 god 
 
 good [ft] . 
 
 fod 
 
 food [u] . 
 
 ofter 
 
 other [a] . 
 
 boc 
 
 book [&] . 
 
 bosm 
 
 bosom [&, or u] 
 
 hceftSu 
 
 health [8]. 
 
 gendg 
 
 enough [9] . 
 
 ruh (ruhh Orm. ) 
 
 rough [a]. 
 
 stlf 
 
 stiff []. 
 
 flf, M. E. five 
 
 five [ai] . 
 
 duce 
 
 duck [9] . 
 
 seoc 
 
 sick [i]. 
 
 monafi 
 
 month [si] . 
 
 teon 
 
 ten []. 
 
 In late M. E., especially in certain texts of the 
 fourteenth century, there is a marked tendency to 
 shorten the vowel and gemmate the consonant in 
 comparative and superlative forms. For example, in 
 Piers Plowman, derrest (deor), herre (heah), gretter 
 (great), sonnest (sona). O. E. linen, M. E. linnen, 
 linen, has become Mn. E. linen.
 
 20 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 The change of [u] to [9] in such words as flood, 
 rough, duck, &c., is very late (eighteenth century). 
 See 15 B. 
 
 7. Certain Terminations. Certain suffixes 
 present many difficulties and require special treat- 
 ment. 
 
 a. -tig, Mn. E. -ty. This was originally an inde- 
 pendent word used to form compounds. In Gothic 
 tigus was used and declined as an ordinary noun, 
 meaning a 'decade,' a unit of ten. In English it 
 shortened a long stem vowel in accordance with 5 a. 
 
 O. E. twentig Mn. E. twenty. 
 
 Krltig thirty. 
 
 This numeral suffix is mentioned here merely to dis- 
 tinguish it more precisely from the following. 
 
 b. -ig, Mn. E. -y. This syllable, even in O. E., 
 stood for at least two different formations. 
 
 1. In the O. E. popig 'poppy,' Ifig 'ivy,' bodig 
 ' body,' hunig ' honey, ' it is a noun-suffix which has 
 not yet been explained. The word Ifig ' ivy ' is to 
 be put in a class by itself ; the usual etymology treats 
 it as lf-heg, the -heg being explained as the old form 
 of the Mn. E. ' hay. ' The etymology is anything 
 but satisfactory.
 
 VOWEL-SHOBTENING. 21 
 
 The other three words are equally puzzling. Popig 
 is supposed to be borrowed from the Latin papdver; 
 yet why papdver or evenpdpaver should become popig 
 no one seems to know. In hunig the suffix -ig appears 
 to come from an earlier -ang, -eng ; the stem hun- is 
 still unexplained. The word bodig has not yet been 
 explained in either of its syllables. 
 
 2. -ig as an adjective suffix is very frequent. It 
 stands for a G. T. -ag, which is found in Gothic. 
 Thus O. E. hdlig is Gothic hailag-s. 
 
 Usually the -ig adjective does not shorten the stem 
 vowel. Thus O. E. hdlig, Mn. E. holy. There is, 
 however, one exception at least ; O. E. cenig is Mn. E. 
 any []. Orm's anig is ambiguous. Perhaps the 
 shortening of cenig is due to the influence of many. 
 
 c. Some other suffixes need more investigation 
 than they have yet received. 
 
 1. The -en of the pret. part and the -ian of the 
 weak infinitive have been already mentioned, 5 b. 
 There is, however, another -en used as an adjective 
 termination, for example in O. E. hcefien. This -en 
 does not shorten the stem. 
 
 2. The suffixes -el, -ol, -et seem to have the capacity 
 of shortening a long vowel or keeping a short vowel 
 short, contrary to the principle discussed in 4. 
 For example :
 
 22 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. deofol Mn. E. devil (still long 
 
 in Orm). 
 O. E. hof Mn. E. hovel. 
 
 bremel *6romtf) bramble. 
 
 rynel runnel. 
 
 bueet bucket. 
 
 cemet emmet, ant. 
 
 3. For the effect of suffixes of comparison, see 6, 
 end. The M. E. and Mn. E. pronunciation of such 
 words as brcegen, flcegel, &c. , can be explained only in 
 connection with the general diphthongization before 
 the consonants g, h, w. See 15. 
 
 3. CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 
 
 It is impossible to discuss in this place all or even 
 most of the changes which have taken place in the 
 quality of the vowels. We must content ourselves 
 with looking at a few of the most significant. 
 
 8. Levelling. 1. The distinction between ce 
 and a in O. E. ceased to be maintained. In M. E. 
 we find in general only a, for instance O. E. woes, 
 M. E. was ; though occasionally we find ce, and in a 
 few instances the ce survives as e in M. E., for
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 23 
 
 instance creft, foet in Kentish. Thus O. E. dwges 
 (gen. sing. ) and dagos (nom. ace. pi. ) are in M. E. 
 dages for both ; yet in dialect forms the old value of 
 dagos survived in the now archaic daws ; compare 
 also dawn, O. E. dagenian, 15. The ordinary 
 plural days has evidently been modelled upon the 
 singular day. 
 
 This levelling of a, ce to a usually takes place 
 even where the ce is a shortening of O. E. OB ; though 
 not infrequently the ce is found as e in M. E. and 
 Mn. E. For example : 
 
 O. E. clcensian M. E. clcensien, clansian ; 
 
 Mn. E. cleanse. 
 O. E. fadde M. E. ledde, ladde ; 
 
 Mn. E. led. 
 
 2. O. E. eo for G. T. a also appears as a in M. E. 
 Here we must bear in mind the dialectic differences 
 in O. E. 
 
 In W. S. a was regularly ea before I -J- cons, and 
 r -j- cons. 
 
 In Northumbrian a remained a in both situations. 
 
 In Mercian a remained a before l-\- cons, but 
 became eo before r -\- cons. Consequently we find : 
 
 W. S. feallan North, fallan Merc, fallan 
 W. S. wearm North, warm Merc, wearm.
 
 24 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 Since standard Mn. E. is derived from Mercian, we 
 should expect to find Mercian wearm appearing as 
 wcerm, werm in M. E. In reality we find warm in 
 M. E. The explanation seems to be this. The 
 vowel sign ea in O. E. did not represent a sound 
 e -\- a, but a sound ce -J- a or perhaps CK> ; the stress 
 being on the ce. This ce became a like the ce in 1. 
 
 3. O. E. eo for e before h and before r -f- cons, is 
 levelled to e in M. E. For example : 
 
 O. E. feohtan M. E. fehten. 
 
 4. O. E. ea and ce (except when shortened to a, 
 see 1) become |. For example : 
 
 O. E. beam M. E. bgm. 
 tear tgre. 
 
 ~eac |&(e). 
 
 sprmce spgche. 
 
 deed d$de. 
 
 street strgte. 
 
 (Compare Eadmund, Edmund; Stratford, 5 a). 
 
 5. O. E. eo became e in M. E. For example : 
 
 O. E. frebsan M. E. fresen 
 leaf lef 
 
 debp dep
 
 ,EL QUALITY. 25 
 
 steopfader, Mn. E. step- 
 
 } vowel written e in 
 were carefully distin- 
 period and even well 
 >ne is the open or un- 
 ich meme ; in modern 
 n I . The other is the 
 snch bonte. Modern 
 it with the sign $ ; 
 necessary, 
 sounds is not only 
 .. illustrates an important point 
 .~iy of the language. Although M. E. did 
 ... , mark the distinction in writing, it kept the sounds 
 apart. Thus Chaucer seldom makes the sounds rime. 
 When, on the border line between M. E. and Mn. E. , 
 printing was introduced into England, the early 
 printers established the practice (though not a very 
 consistent one) of using ea for the open sound and 
 ee or ie for the close sound. Hence we get the 
 spellings teach, O. E. t&cean ; deep, O. E. deop ; 
 field, O. E. feld, see 3. 1. 
 
 O. E. e in a few words, such as the adverb her, was 
 an original close e.
 
 24 VOWEL CHANC 
 
 Since standard Mn. E. is derive* 
 should expect to find Mercian 
 wcerm, werm in M. E. In re? 
 M. E. The explanation set 
 vowel sign ea in O. E. did 
 e -f- > but a sound ce -f- a or 
 being on the ce. This ce beca 
 
 3. O. E. eo for e before h 
 levelled to e in M. E. For 
 
 O. E. feohtan M. " 
 
 4. O. E. ed and ce (e: 
 
 see 1) become g. For 
 
 O. E. beam M. E. bgm. 
 tear tgre. 
 
 eac p(e). 
 
 sprcece spgche. 
 
 dcsd dgde. 
 
 street strgte. 
 
 (Compare Eadmund, Edmund; Stratford, 5 a). 
 
 5. O. E. eo became e in M. E. For example : 
 
 O. E. frebsan M. E. fresen 
 leof lef 
 
 debp dep
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 25 
 
 (Note the shortening in steopfceder, Mn. E. step- 
 father, 5a). 
 
 9. The Vowel e. The vowel written e in 
 M. E. had two sounds, which were carefully distin- 
 guished throughout the M. E. period and even well 
 into the Mn. E. time. The one is the open or un- 
 rounded vowel, like the French meme ; in modern 
 grammatical books it is written f . The other is the 
 close or rounded e, like the French bonte. Modern 
 grammarians usually designate it with the sign ; 
 the subscript dot, however, is not necessary. 
 
 The distinction between the two sounds is not only 
 important in itself but illustrates an important point 
 in the history of the language. Although M. E. did 
 not mark the distinction in writing, it kept the sounds 
 apart. Thus Chaucer seldom makes the sounds rime. 
 When, on the border line between M. E. and Mn. E. , 
 printing was introduced into England, the early 
 printers established the practice (though not a very 
 consistent one) of using ea for the open sound and 
 ee or ie for the close sound. Hence we get the 
 spellings teach, O. E. tcecean ; deep, O. E. deop ; 
 field, O. E. feld f see 3. 1. 
 
 O. E. e in a few words, such as the adverb her, was 
 an original close e.
 
 26 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. e, the i-umlaut of 6, was close. 
 
 O. E. e produced by lengthening before -Id was 
 close. 
 
 O. E. ce was open in M. E. 
 
 O. E. 8 lengthened in open syllable, see 4, was 
 open | in M. E. 
 
 Old Mercian e, the i-umlaut of ea (the W. S. form 
 was ie), was close e in M. E. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 0. E. metan M. E. meten Mn. E. meet (verb). 
 
 mite m%te meat. 
 
 sttlan st$le deal. 
 
 her an (W. S. hieran) hear. 
 
 M. E. heren. 
 
 In the matter of chronology, M. E. e went over to 
 the [I] sound in late M. E. ; the change was com- 
 plete by the end of the fifteenth century, as in the 
 words deep, feel, and in the pronouns me, he, &c. ; 
 see 4. Whereas the M. E. f still remained open 
 and did not become e, [I] until near the end of the 
 seventeenth century. Shakespeare, in 1 Hen. IV, 
 ii, 4, 264, lets Falstaff say : "If reasons were as 
 plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a 
 reason upon compulsion." Falstaff pronounces
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 27 
 
 reason with an evident pun on raisin. The O. 
 French reson, borrowed in early M. E. , was already 
 somewhat rounded but not wholly ; since Shake- 
 speare's day it has been fully rounded into e [I]. 
 But the Fr. raisin is still pronounced r&sin. In the 
 days of Shakespeare the two words were still enough 
 alike to justify Falstaffs pun. 
 
 The open f survived, for the most part, in Dry- 
 den's day. In fact, something like it is found even 
 in Pope, in foreign words borrowed with the | sound. 
 Thus Pope, Rape of the Lock, m, 296, rimes tea 
 with obey. Obey, Fr. obeir, is still pronounced obei, 
 but t g has become [ti] . 
 
 Recognition of the fact that g remained open in the 
 seventeenth century will explain the most striking 
 peculiarity of the English pronunciation in Ireland. 
 The English language was firmly implanted in 
 Ireland by the great colonizing efforts of Queen 
 Elizabeth and Oliver Cromwell. Now the Eliza- 
 bethan and Cromwellian colonists still pronounced 
 tgch, spgch, clgn, and this was the pronunciation 
 which the Irish learned from them. Since that time 
 all Englishmen have changed to [tlch, splch, cliri], 
 and the educated Irish have partially learned to 
 make the change ; but the uneducated Irish still 
 cling to the older f .
 
 28 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 10. The Vowel a. An O. E. a, whether 
 originally long or the result of the lengthening of a 
 before Id (see 3. 1), became g in M. E. The 
 change took place in the first half of the thirteenth 
 century ; consequently it affected Danish and Latin 
 words borrowed in O. E. 
 
 O. E. aid, did Mn. E. old. 
 stdn stone, 
 
 papa pope, 
 
 frd (Danish) fro (adverb). 
 
 Orm wrote before the change ; consequently we 
 find in the Ormulum : an, stdn, got (one, stone, 
 goaf). But in the poem entitled On God Ureison 
 (thirteenth century) we find such rimes as : one, 
 trone (0. E. an, Fr. trone) verses 21-22 ; ore, 
 uerlore(n) (O. E. are, forloreri) verses 73-74. See 
 4.' 
 
 In some MSS. the vowel is written oa. Sometimes 
 we find two forms of the same word, the one original 
 O. E., the other Danish. Thus : 
 
 1 Our Mn. standard pronunciation of the numeral [wan] 
 was originally dialectic and is found in the dialectic pronun- 
 ciation of such words as oath, oak, oats; see Wright, Engl. 
 Dial. Grammar, 123. The earlier Q sound, however, sur- 
 vives partially rounded in only, atone.
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 29 
 
 O. E. Icen, M. E. Igne ; Dan. Ian, M. E. l$ne, 
 Mn. E. loan. In some instances the O. E. itself has 
 two different vowels. For example : 
 
 O. E. ddl, Mn. E. dole ; O. E. dcel, Mn. E. deal. 
 O. E. -had, Mn. E. -hood; O.E. -hed, Mn. E. -head. 
 (Compare knighthood and godhead. ) 
 
 The M. E. vowel developed from the O. E. a was 
 an open g. In the word O. E. brad, M. E. brqd, 
 Mn. E. broad, the sound has remained wide open to 
 the present day. In most words, however, it has 
 been rounded as we now hear it in road, boat. Thus 
 g (O. E. a) and g (O. E. o in open syllable, 4) 
 are now equivalent in sound, as in the rime pope, 
 hope. 1 
 
 When preceded by w the Q became fully rounded, 
 in most words, after Chaucer's time, and like the 
 original close o passed over into the [u] sound, as in 
 two, who, [tu, hu] ooze, O. E. ivase. But in so 
 (O. E. swd), woe (O. E. wa), the o sound remains. 
 
 11. Open-syllable Lengthening of O. E. a. 
 In 4 it was said that O. E. a in an open syllable 
 
 1 The peculiar New England pronunciation of such words 
 as coat, boat, may be a modified survival of the old open 
 sound, but shortened.
 
 30 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 was lengthened in M. E. This lengthened vowel 
 must have had a peculiar quality of sound, neither 
 the a nor the e nor the o. It has always been writ- 
 ten and printed a ; yet it must have had an e value. 
 This e, however, can not have resembled the e 
 in stelan, which has become [I] in Mn. E., whereas 
 O. E. faran, M. E. fare is pronounced [/if] in 
 Mn. E. The [g] sound is common in the sixteenth 
 century ; whether earlier, we do not know. At any 
 rate it must have differed from the e in tgche ; for 
 the latter has become [I] . 
 
 The lengthening of a to [g] is later than the change 
 of O. E. a to o. This is evidenced by the treatment 
 of French words borrowed at various times in the 
 M. E. period. In French words having the French 
 accent on the syllable containing the a, the a was 
 lengthened. Thus age, sage, grace became age, sage, 
 grace, Mn. E. [jj] . Some of these words must have 
 been introduced quite late, certainly after the O. E. a 
 had become M. E. [g] . In fact it is evident that the 
 conversion of a, a to [|] did not take place before the 
 fifteenth century. In Chaucer's language such words 
 as face, grace, age have the [a], not the [f] sound. 
 
 It is very important to note the part played by the 
 French accent. Why do we pronounce face [g] but 
 chapel ? The word face had the accent on the a in
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 31 
 
 French and also from the start in M. E. But chapel 
 was borrowed with the accent chapel and continued 
 for some time to be pronounced chapel in English. 
 By the time the accent became chapel the principle 
 or impulse of lengthening had ceased to operate. 
 This will account for the short a in cabin, cattle, 
 marry. 
 
 12. O. E. o (close). O. E. o remained 5 until 
 the fifteenth century, when it was still farther rounded 
 into an u sound. This it-sound (00) never was a 
 perfectly pure u ; for it has not been diphthonged 
 into au. See 14. 
 
 The tendency to change o into oo has affected even 
 French words ; for instance, faux pas, sometimes 
 pronounced foopah. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. dom 
 
 Mn. E. doom. 
 
 col 
 
 cool. 
 
 gos 
 
 goose. 
 
 id% 
 
 tooth. 
 
 mona moon. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, however, that in many 
 O. E. words the o was shortened in early M. E. 
 Where this shortening took place before ht there
 
 32 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 was a peculiar diphthonging of the oht. See 5 c, 
 15. 
 
 There are other shortenings less easy to account 
 for. Thus : 
 
 O. E. 6Ser, broftor, modor, all now with the [si] 
 sound. See 6. 
 
 In certain words the oo has been shortened in 
 Mn. E. to the u sound. For example, foot (versus 
 food), book, good. In bosom the vowel is either 
 short or long. 
 
 In glove, blood, flood, and some others, the vowel 
 has become [&] ; see 6. This [9] is found also in 
 some words which had an O. E. u, or an O. E. u, 
 in open syllable in M. E. For example : 
 
 O. E. abufan Mn. E. above, 
 
 dufe dove, 
 
 lufu love. 
 
 O. E. o when lengthened in open syllable became 
 Q. Examples : 
 
 O. E. Krotu M. E. Srgfe Mn. E. throat, 
 hopian hypien hope, 
 
 dropa drgpe. 
 
 Chaucer, Tr. and Or., I, 941, rimes drgpe with hype. 
 The modern drop can not be this word but must come 
 from O. E. *drop, or *dropp.
 
 CHANGES IN VOWEL QUALITY. 33 
 
 Thus O. E. o lengthened and O. E. a have come 
 together in vowel-quality. This is indicated by the 
 Mn. E. spelling : throat (O. E. ftrotu); road (O. E. 
 rod). 
 
 Did O. E. o before Id become o or g ? The usual 
 opinion is that it became g. Yet there are objections 
 to this view. The only word in question is gold 
 (gold in Mn. E. ). This pronunciation may be ex- 
 plained, however, by assuming that gold, an isolated 
 form, has been influenced by the very numerous 
 words in -old from O. E. -aid, such as cold, bold, 
 told, sold. Further, the word as a proper name is 
 written Gould, Goold. This oo sound presupposes 
 M. E. o. Finally, the pronunciation goold survived 
 in the speech of old-fashioned persons in the early 
 part of the nineteenth century. 
 
 13. O. E. t, /; u, u. These vowels remained 
 unchanged throughout the M. E. period. The 
 lengthening of i and u, y before nd is O. E. See 
 3.2. 
 
 The vowels i, u, y are not lengthened in open 
 syllables. 
 
 All through the M. E. period -and even in Mn. E. 
 there is a curious interchange of i and e. Thus we 
 find Mn. E. hinge, singe, springe, for M. E. henge,
 
 34 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 senge, sprenge, see 20, D. 2 ; also Mn. E. wing for 
 M. E. weng. But in drench, wrench, and other 
 words, the M. E. e remains. In the Ayenbite (four- 
 teenth century) the Mn. E. word sin is written zenne 
 (initial z for s is Southern dialect). 
 
 4. DlPHTHONGIZATION. 
 
 Under this heading are treated several groups of 
 phenomena differing widely in their chronology and 
 in their phonetic value. 
 
 14. Diphthonging of *, u. Every I, whether 
 long in O. E., or lengthened according to 3. 2, 
 or borrowed in M. E. from a foreign language, has 
 become [ai] in Mn. E. 
 
 O. E. y (i- umlaut of w) has also become [at]. 
 
 This diphthonging process began in the fifteenth 
 century, and continued through the sixteenth. 
 
 The change affected also the peculiar I developed 
 in late M. E. before h or g. See 15. 
 
 The modern pronunciation of the diphthong is 
 [ai] . But this is only the latest stage ; it must have 
 been preceded by such earlier stages as [ei] and 
 perhaps [oi].
 
 DIPHTHONGIZATION. 35 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. mm Mn. E. mine, 
 findan, findan find, 
 
 fyr fire, 
 
 bryd bride. 
 
 Note also the very late diphthonging of either, 
 
 neither. These were in O. E. cegfter, *ncegfter; in 
 
 3 
 
 M. E. Cither, neither. See 15, ^ I n the eigh- 
 teenth century the pronunciation vacillated between 
 [g] and p]. The pronunciation [ai] crept in late 
 in the eighteenth century. 
 
 In like manner O. E. u has become [aw] ; the 
 intermediate stage was [era] . 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. hus Mn. E. house. 
 
 mu$ mouth, 
 
 bunden, bunden bound. 
 
 This change of u to [aw] is not parallel at every 
 point with the change of I to [ai]. It has not 
 affected foreign words, for example, Judas, sure or 
 even the English words youth, uncouth. In youth, 
 and in Judas, sure, and other words under French 
 influence, the vowel did not have the pure [u] 
 sound but was rather an [t'w]. The distinction is
 
 36 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 illustrated by the O. E. sur, which had a pure u and 
 which is now pronounced sour [aw] ; with it com- 
 pare the Fr. stir, which is the Mn. E. sure [ Jiwr] . 
 Note also the Mn. E. duke, tube, pronounced cor- 
 rectly with [iu] , not with [u] . 
 
 The very late M. E. oo from O. E. 5 did not have 
 the pure u sound either ; for it has not been changed 
 to [aw]. See 12. 
 
 The diphthonging of u to [aw] took place after 
 the fifteenth century. In fact, there is evidence that 
 the earlier u sound survived in the speech of old- 
 fashioned persons as late as the end of the seven- 
 teenth century. Thus, in Farquhar's Love and a 
 Bottle (1698), Act 2, Scene 2, Rigadoon says : 
 
 ' ' Zoons is only used by the disbanded officers and 
 bullies ; but zauns is the beaux' pronunciation." 
 
 In this connection it is worthy of note that the ordi- 
 nary pronunciation of wound 'injury,' is [u] ; we 
 pronounce [ait] only in poetry ; similarly wind, ' air, 
 breeze,' has \ai\ only in poetry ; in prose the pro- 
 nunciation is wind. 
 
 In sound 'noise,' from French son, we have the 
 [aw] ; also in the verb sound ' to test the depth, ' 
 French sonder. In these words, however, the [aw] 
 may be due to the analogy of sound l healthy, ' O. E.
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 37 
 
 sund, sund, and sound ' arm of the sea, ' O. E. sund, 
 sund. 
 
 15. Diphthonging before g ; h ; w. 
 
 A. Before g. 
 
 1. O. E. ce, M. E. a, before g produced [afj. 
 This, [at] probably survives in the London Cockney 
 pronunciation of day, daisy, may, &c. In Chaucer, 
 however, and in modern standard English since 
 Chaucer, the \ai\ has been levelled to \ei\ ; Chaucer 
 and all modern poets rime way (O. E. weg*) and 
 day (O. E. dceg~). 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. brcegen Mn. E. brain, 
 
 fagen fain, 
 
 flcegel flail, 
 
 wcegen wain. 
 
 (Mn. E. wagon is from the Dutch. ) 
 
 2. O. E. e before g produced [ei] . 
 
 Example : weg, Mn. E. way. 
 
 3. O. E. ce before g produced |i, which survived 
 quite late in Mn. E. , but in the eighteenth century 
 went over to [I] in such words as O. E. ce^er. 
 Dr. Johnson pronounced either \i\; but in his day
 
 38 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 the pronunciation had already become [t] and was 
 even becoming [a{] . See 14. 
 
 N. B. O. E. eceg is Mn. E. key 
 grceg gray 
 
 4. O. E. e (whether original or the Mercian 
 i-umlaut of ea) and ea before g produced ei, which 
 at the end of the M. E. and beginning of the Mn. E. 
 period went over to \i\ and was still later diph- 
 thonged to [at] . 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. cage M. E. ege (a) Mn. E. eye. 
 
 tegan (W. S. tiegan) M. E. tegen tie. 
 
 degan M. E. degen die. 
 
 deagian M. E. deyen dye. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the Scottish pronunciation of 
 eye ' oculus ' and die ' mori ' is still [i, dl~\ . 
 
 5. O. E. eo ; I, I ; y, y before g produced early 
 M. E. ei, late M. E. [I] , which has been diphthonged 
 to [at] in Mn. E. 
 
 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. lebgan ' mentiri ' Mn. E. lie. 
 
 dreogan ' to endure ' (Scotch) dree, 
 
 flebgan fly. 
 
 nigon nine, 
 
 ligeft lieth.
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 39 
 
 dryge dry. 
 
 tigofta tithe. 
 
 6. O. E. a before g produced the peculiar ou, aw 
 sound () ; see 20 B. For example : 
 
 O. E. lagu (Danish) Mn. E. law. 
 
 dragan draw, 
 
 sagu (a saying) saw. 
 
 O. E. a before g produced gw, o. 
 
 O. E. agan Mn. E. owe (verb). 
 
 O. E. o before g produced QW, o. 
 
 boga Mn. E. bow 'arcus.' 
 
 O. E. ug, ttg produced M. E. uw, Mn. E. [au] . 
 O. E. bugan Mn. E. (to) bow. 
 
 fugol Mn. E. fowl. 
 
 It is to be noted, however, that where in O. E. the g 
 was final, it became h. Consequently words ending 
 in g belong in subsection E. 
 
 B. Before h. 
 
 1. O. E. eh, eoh ; Mercian eh, ceh (W. S. eah), 
 became M. E. eig h eih, Mn. E. [I] . For example : 
 O. E. feoh Mn. E. fee. 
 
 O. E. seh (Mercian) Chaucer seigh. 
 
 Mn. E. dialect see (for saw~). See No. 5.
 
 40 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 2. O. E. eoh has become even [at] in Mn. E. 
 O. E. SeoA M. E. />e&, frh Mn. E. thigh. 
 
 3. O. E. ceh before t of the weak preterite and 
 preterite participle was shortened to ahte, elite : see 
 5. c. 1 ; 8. These became M. E. eighte, aughte. 
 In Chaucer the eighte forms are still found. In 
 Mn. E. we have only aught forms. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. rcshte (pret. of rojcetm) M. E. rehte, 
 rahte ; Chaucer reighte, raughte ; 
 
 Mn. E. raught [&] . 
 
 O. E. tcehte Mn. E. taught. 
 
 M. E. caeche (French cacher') Mn. E. caught. 
 
 The modern distraught is a corruption of the French 
 distrait, after the analogy of straught, old pret. of 
 stretch. 
 
 4. O. E. eah became M. E. eigh, later [I], still 
 later diphthonged to [at] . For example : 
 
 O. E. heah; in Chaucer heigh\ei\ ; Mn. E. 
 high. Chaucer also pronounces [i] , to rime 
 with Emilie. 
 
 5. O. E. ah (Mercian for W. S. eah~) became 
 augh [&] . For example : 
 
 O. E. sah (preterite) M. E. saugh Mn. E. saw.
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 41 
 
 See No. 1, remarks on eh. Chaucer has both saugh 
 and seigh. 
 
 O. E. dhte was shortened to ahte and also became 
 aughte. 
 
 O. E. ahte, ahte Mn. E. ought. 
 
 6. O. E. ah became M. E. Qugh Mn. E. owe. 
 O. E. dah Mn. E. dough. 
 
 7. O. E. o/ii, shortened to oht ( 5, c. 1), became 
 ou [&] ; O. E. sohte, sohte, Mn. E. sought. 
 
 8. O. E. oA. ; uh, uh ; iiht, uht. Theoretically all 
 these sounds must have been ugh or ugh in M. E. 
 But in point of fact they have been so strangely 
 developed in Mn. E. as to resist every attempt at 
 classification. Thus : 
 
 O. E. genog, genoh Mn. E. enough [9]. 
 toh tough [9]. 
 
 ruh rough [9]. 
 
 ]nruh, \>urh through [u]. 
 
 ploh plough [era]. 
 
 bog, boh bough [au]. 
 
 In such words as genog, toh, ruh we may assume 
 that the h sound went over to the / sound, and before 
 this / the vowel was shortened like the e in deaf; 
 see 6. The change of [u] to [a] is not peculiar 
 to this class of words ; it is a very late process
 
 42 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 (eighteenth century), occurring in but, us, punch, 
 flood, &c. See 6. 
 
 C. Before w. 
 
 1. O. E. aw before a vowel became the peculiar 
 Mn. E. ou, aw [] . 
 
 O. E. clawu Mn. E. claw. 
 
 2. O. E. aw before vowel became M. E. QU. 
 O. E. ow before vowel became M. E. ou. 
 In Mn. E. both sounds are o. 
 
 O. E. cnawan Mn. E. know, 
 
 growan grow. 
 
 3. O. E. eow, law, cew became M. E. g, ew [iu] . 
 O. E. eowu M. E. gwe Mn. E. ewe. 
 
 sceawian M. E. shgwen 
 
 Icewed Mn. E. leivd. 
 
 4. O. E. eow, lw, lw became M. E. eu, ew [iii\ . 
 O. E. cneow Mn. E. knew. 
 
 In Mn. E. the words in both No. 3 and No. 4 are 
 pronounced with an [iu] sound, or even with an 
 [iu]. There is no Mn. E. verb shew with [_iu]. 
 The verb show, even if written shew, is pronounced 
 sho. This o must go back to an O. E. sc(e)awian, 
 in which the O. E. stress [ea] has been shifted to 
 the Danish ed [ia] . See No. 2.
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 43 
 
 D. Two other phenomena, very curious, are best 
 treated in this connection. 
 
 1. Not infrequently we get in M. E. an ei diph- 
 thong in the preterite and pret. part, of verbs the 
 stem of which ends in a ch sound. Thus O. E. 
 cwencan, pret. cwencte, has in M. E. a pret. 
 queynte ; O. E. blencan has a M. E. pret. bleynte. 
 Thus far no explanation of the phenomenon has 
 been found. If we assume, for example, that blen- 
 can is from *blankion, the preterite should be either 
 *blanlde, *blanhte (syncope of the i, t) OT*blenchte 
 (c palatal according to 19). See Sievers, 407. 
 In other words, if j, i is syncopated, the stem vowel 
 should not be umlauted to e, ei; if i, i remains, the 
 c should be fully palatalized. 
 
 2. In some words the O. E. consonant / between 
 vowels, pronounced v in O. E., has gone over to a 
 w sound and produced diphthonging. 
 
 O. E. hafoc Mn. E. hawk, 
 
 ceafol jowl. 
 
 In this last word the initial ch has become j ; see 
 18. 4). 
 
 The diphthonging before g, h, and to is a difficult 
 problem in the history of English vowels. Many of 
 the features appear arbitrary. 
 
 Of Chaucer's pronunciation in particular it may
 
 44 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 be said that the h and gh are not yet silent letters. 
 The h closely resembled the German ch ; the gh 
 probably resembled the German g in sagen, as that 
 word is spoken in Midland Germany. 
 
 16. Diphthonging before I and r. 
 
 1. The vowel a before I final, or before II, I plus 
 consonant (except the Id discussed in 3), was diph- 
 thonged subsequent to the fourteenth century into an 
 ou, aw [] sound. Some of the changes took place 
 in the sixteenth century. Chaucer still has the 
 original pure a sound. For example : 
 
 alle Mn. E. all (). 
 falle fall, 
 
 talke talk, 
 
 balled ' thin -haired ' bald. 
 
 With the last word compare 
 
 O. E. bald, bald M. E. b$ld Mn. E. bold. 
 
 In such words as talk, chalk, &c., the I has become 
 silent In calf the I is silent but the a is not diph- 
 thonged. 
 
 A similar diphthonging has taken place in the 
 American pronunciation of certain words, for ex- 
 ample, swamp, wasp. 
 
 2. The vowel o before I plus consonant (except
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 45 
 
 O. E. Id ; see 3 and 12) became after Chau- 
 cer's time o. 
 
 folk Mn. E. folk, 
 
 bolt bolt. 
 
 Before k the I has become silent, like the I in chalk. 
 3. The vowel changes before r can scarcely be 
 reduced to a system. At this point the pronunciation 
 usual in America differs from that in England. The 
 difference shows itself in two directions. 
 
 a. In England the r when final or before a con- 
 sonant is not spoken as a consonant but is reduced to 
 a mere 'glide', with the value of 9. For ex- 
 ample, water pronounced [wQt 9] . 
 
 b. In England the e often, if not usually, becomes 
 a. For example, the word clerk may be pronounced 
 cladk. 
 
 Examples. 
 
 O. E. beorcan (of a dog) M. E. berke 
 
 Mn. E. bark, ba&k. 
 
 (The pronunciation has coincided with that of 
 M. E. barke of a tree, and of bark ' vessel,' from 
 the French barque. ) 
 
 O. E. steorra M. E. sterre star, 
 
 feor fer t ferre far. 
 
 clerk [cbrk, cloak.]
 
 46 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 birce birche [torch, bdch.~\ 
 
 brid brid, bird \b&rd, bdd.~\ 
 
 cursian curse [cars, cas.] 
 
 The vowel o before r final or r plus consonant has 
 become [&]. 
 
 O. E. for Mn. E. for 
 
 fort) forth 
 
 With these compare the following : 
 
 M. E. moral Mn. E. moral 
 O. E. sorg M. E. sorwe Mn. E. sorrow 
 sdrig M. E. syry Mn. E. sorry 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE CHANGES 
 
 IN 3-16. 
 17. 
 
 1. The earliest change was that in 3, namely, 
 the lengthening before certain consonants. This 
 took place before 1000 and is wholly O. E. 
 
 2. Next in time was the earlier shortening dis- 
 cussed in 5. Most of these shortenings took place 
 in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in the border 
 period between O. E. and M. E. At any rate, the 
 shortening of O. E. a, ce to a was earlier than the 
 change of a to q, or of ce to g. This accounts for 
 O. E. hdlig, M. E. hijlig, versus O. E. hdlgian, 
 M. E. h&lwe, Mn. E. hallow. See 8. 1.
 
 DIPHTHONGING. 47 
 
 3. Next was the change of a to Q. See 10. 
 This took place in the first half of the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 4. Next was the lengthening of a, e, o in open 
 syllables. See 4. The change was not earlier than 
 the second half of the thirteenth century. Certainly 
 the a could not have been lengthened before a became 
 Q ; since in that case we should have had an Mn. E. 
 verb */ore, instead of the peculiar fare [/fr] which 
 is discussed in 11 and which must be the lengthen- 
 ing of some peculiar a or ce. 
 
 5. Still later in the main, at least are the diph- 
 thongings discussed in 15. It is impossible to 
 determine accurately the sequence in which these 
 various diphthongings took place. Some of them are 
 very early ; notably the diphthonging of e and ce, 
 a before g. This is very early M. E. and even late 
 O. E. In general the diphthonging tendency was at 
 work all through the M. E. period. 
 
 6. The change of e (close) to []. This took place 
 in the fifteenth century. See 9. 
 
 7. The change of o (close) to oo [u] ; also in the 
 fifteenth century. See 12. 
 
 8. The diphthonging of I, y to [at]. In the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. See 14. 
 
 9. The diphthonging of u to [aw] . In the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries. See 14.
 
 48 
 
 VOWEL CHANGES. 
 
 10. The change of g (open) to [t] . In the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries. See 9. 
 
 11. The changes before I and r. See 16. These 
 can not be dated with accuracy ; certainly they were 
 later than Chaucer. Probably they were not simul- 
 taneous but scattered through the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries. Some were of the seventeenth. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF PRINCIPAL VOWEL 
 CHANGES. 
 
 9TH-10TH C. 
 
 11TH-12TH C. 
 
 13TH C. 
 
 1st half 2dhalf. 
 
 14TH C. 
 
 Early 
 Lengthening : 
 a, e, i -f- Id, 
 i, u, y + nd, 
 i, a + mb, 
 3. 
 
 Early 
 Shortening : 
 in compounds, 
 before suffixes, 
 before cons, 
 groups, 
 
 a 
 to 
 
 Q 
 10. 
 
 Length- 
 ening 
 of 
 a, e, o 
 in open 
 syll., 
 4. 
 
 Period 
 of 
 Chaucer, 
 Gower, 
 Church 
 Plays ; 
 no marked 
 
 
 5 - 
 
 
 
 changes. 
 
 15TH C. 
 
 16TH C. 
 
 17TH C. 
 
 18TH C. 
 
 e to 1, 9, 
 
 i, y 
 
 M to [au] 
 
 Spread 
 
 o to , 12, 
 
 to 
 
 14. 
 
 of the 
 
 a to g in open 
 
 [at'], 
 
 gtop] 
 
 9 
 
 syllable, 
 11. 
 
 14. 
 
 9. 
 
 sound, 
 15 B 8, 
 
 
 
 
 6.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 In general the consonant system of O. E. remained 
 through M. E. and into Mn. E. That is to say, a 
 consonant has usually in Mn. E. the sound which it 
 had in 0. E. 
 
 There are, however, two groups of changes. In 
 the first group is placed the loss or on the other hand 
 the intrusion of a consonant. With this phenomenon 
 we may consider, for the sake of convenience, the 
 phenomenon of voicing a consonant originally un- 
 voiced, and some other changes. 
 
 The second group comprises the changes involved 
 in the palatalization of c [Jt] into ch [[] and g into 
 
 Loss AND INTRUSION ; VOICING, &c. 
 
 18. 
 
 1. a. The initial hi-, hr-, hn- of O. E. became in 
 M. E. 1-, r-, n-. This dropping of the h began about 
 1000 and was complete by the middle of the four- 
 tenth century. Thus we get : 
 
 49
 
 50 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. hldf Mn. E. loaf, 
 
 hleapan leap, 
 
 hrof roof, 
 
 hrcefn raven, 
 
 hnecca neck, 
 
 hnutu nut. 
 
 O. E. hw- is written wh- in M. E. and in Mn. E., 
 but the sound is still hw-, at least in America ; in 
 England the usual pronunciation is w-. Thus the 
 Englishman usually confounds 
 
 whales and Wales, 
 while wile, 
 
 which witch. 
 
 O. E. hwd, now written who, is pronounced [hu] . 
 See 10. 
 
 O. E. hdl is now written whole (the writing dates 
 from the sixteenth century) but the w is not sounded. 
 
 In the extreme Northern (Scottish) dialect hw- is 
 written qu-, quh- ; the pronunciation is [x^], the x 
 having the value of the German ch in auch. 
 
 b. O. E. en-, gn-. Both c and g are silent in 
 Mn. E. en-, however, was still pronounced di- 
 late in the seventeenth century ; gn- retained the 
 gr-sound during the sixteenth century, but lost it 
 early in the seventeenth.
 
 LOSS AND INTRUSION: VOICING. 51 
 
 c. In final -mb the b is silent ; e. g., climb, comb. 
 
 2. -s. Final s, in such words as is, his, as, was, 
 was still s in Chaucer's speech, although it had the 
 sound of [z] in the Southern dialect. The sound of 
 [z] became general in the fifteenth century, although 
 in the sixteenth the -s sound survived when followed 
 by a word beginning with s or sh. 
 
 In goose, mouse, us, hence, thence, the s sound 
 remains. 
 
 The -s in the plural of nouns and in the 3d sing. 
 of verbs remains s when preceded by an unvoiced 
 consonant, but has acquired the [z] sound when pre- 
 ceded by a vowel, by a consonant not spoken although 
 written, or by a voiced consonant. Compare : 
 
 days with lips 
 
 bows hats 
 
 bougJis backs 
 
 sighs sights 
 
 In French words intervocalic s has the sound of z. 
 For example, poison, cousin, reason. But where the 
 word is written -ce-, the s sound remains ; as in face, 
 grace. (For the g sound, see 11.) 
 
 In many word-couplets the difference between s 
 and \z\ marks the distinction between noun and 
 verb. Thus :
 
 52 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 Noun. Verb. 
 
 excuse excuse. 
 
 use use (but use 'to be in 
 
 habit of,' with s). 
 
 grease grease ; [s] is also heard. 
 
 house house. 
 
 glass glaze. 
 
 grass graze. 
 
 3. In certain circumstances the [s] sound has 
 become J. The phenomenon is chiefly noticeable in 
 Lathi-French words ending in -tion, -tient. As long 
 as these words were spoken with the French accent 
 on the -on, -ent, the t was pronounced s, as in Chau- 
 cer. For example : 
 
 patient pron. pa-si-ent. 
 salvation salva-si-oun. 
 
 When, however, at the end of or soon after the 
 Chaucerian period, the accent was wholly removed 
 from the termination, the [s\ went over to [J] : 
 
 pg\9nt salvffin (f, see 11). 
 
 Note further the change of the s-sound to [ J ] in 
 cherish, perish, nourish, &c. Chaucer still rimes 
 cherice, [s] , with vice. Also note the change of the 
 2-sound to [z h\ in leisure, pleasure, treasure, dzure, 
 &c., originally accented plezure, azure, &c.
 
 LOSS AND INTRUSION ; VOICING. 53 
 
 In question, combustion, &c., the st has become 
 
 M3- 
 
 4. The ch sound [<J], whether developed from k 
 in English words according to the palatalizing process 
 discussed in 19 or borrowed from the French, has 
 frequently gone over to thejf sound [df]. Thus : 
 
 M. E. cndwleche Mn. E. knowledge 
 
 pertriche (Fr.) partridge. 
 
 cabbache (Fr. dial.) cabbage. 
 
 Cartridge, from Fr. cartouche, is found only in Mn. E. 
 Sausage, from Fr. saucisse, is hard to explain. 
 
 It is to be noted that in these words the ch, j 
 sound is in a syllable which has ceased to be stressed. 
 There are some words, however, in which the ch of 
 a stressed syllable has become [dj]. Thus : 
 
 O. E. on cer M. E. on cher, char Mn. E. ajar. 
 
 On cer means 'on the turn.' It is to be noted that 
 we pronounce char woman, a woman hired not regu- 
 larly but for some special turn of work. 
 
 O. E. ceaft M. E. chavel, chaul Mn. E. jowl. 
 
 The etymology of jaw, chaw is obscure. 
 
 5. Intrusion of a consonant. Some of these 
 changes are M. E. ; others are Mn. E.
 
 54 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 a. A p is inserted between m and t. For example : 
 O. E. cemtig M. E. empti Mn. E. empty. 
 
 In this word the p is both sounded and written. In 
 many Mn. E. words the p is sounded but not written, 
 as in dream' t. It is interesting to note that the form 
 drempte occurs six times in the M. E. poem of Genesis 
 and Exodus (thirteenth century) ; also the form 
 dempt, p. p. of demen 'to judge' occurs once. The p 
 survives in the name Dempster, but not in the com- 
 mon noun deemster. In like manner the Fr. som- 
 metier has developed into Mn. E. sumpter. 
 
 In M. E. a p was inserted between m and n, as in 
 Chaucer's Sompnour (Fr. somenour), dampned (Fr. 
 damne), solempne (solenne), nempnen (O. E. nem- 
 Twm). These forms have not been retained in Mn. E. 
 
 b. A b sound has been developed between m and 
 r, as in Mn. E. slumber, O. E. slumerian (Germ. 
 schlummerri). In Mn. E. thumb, O. E. ftuma 
 (Germ, daumeri), the b has become silent inMn. E. ; 
 but is still spoken in thimble, O. E. ftymel. 
 
 c. A d sound has been developed between n and 
 r, as in Mn. E. thunder, O. E. ftunor (Germ. Don- 
 Tier). In kindred, O. E. cynrceden, M. E. cunrede, 
 the intrusive d is Mn. E. 
 
 d. An r has been developed in certain Fr. words,
 
 LOSS AND INTRUSION; VOICING. 55 
 
 for example : philosopher (Fr. philosophe), lavender 
 (plant-name); and an I in principle (Fr. principe). 
 
 O. E. has, late M. E. hqrs, is Mn. E. hoarse 
 (compare Germ. heis-er~). Also O. E. brydguma, 
 M. E. brldgume, is Mn. E. bridegroom. 
 
 In Mn. E. we find the following intrusive con- 
 sonants : 
 
 e. A t after s in such forms as 
 
 M. E. againes Mn. E. against. 
 
 in middes amidst, midst. 
 
 whiles whilst. 
 
 betwix betwixt. 
 
 O. E. hces behest. 
 
 In the vulgar onst, oneet the same tendency has not 
 been recognized in the standard speech. 
 O. E. anefen is Mn. E. anent. 
 
 f. A d after n. 
 
 M. E. boun (Icel. btiinri) Mn. E. bound 
 
 (ready to go ; see busk, 19 A). 
 Ignen (O. E. Icenan) lend, 
 
 rounen (O. E. runiari) round 
 
 (to whisper). 
 hlne (O. E. hina*) ? hind 
 
 (servant). 
 sounen (Fr. suner) sound.
 
 56 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 But in swoon, swoun (M. E. swoyneri) and drown 
 (M. E. drunen, droune') the d has not been accepted 
 in standard speech. 
 Also a d between n and /. 
 
 M. E. spinel Mn. E. spindle. 
 
 (O. E. dwlnari) ? Mn. E. dwindle. 
 
 PALATALIZATION. 
 
 This is undoubtedly the most puzzling feature in 
 the development of English speech. The study will 
 become somewhat easier : 
 
 1. If we distinguish carefully between Ic and g. 
 Both consonants have been palatalized, but in differ- 
 ent ways. 
 
 2. If we recognize the fact that palatalization was 
 essentially and originally a process of the Southern 
 dialect, that it extended to and affected the Midland 
 dialect but not universally, and that it never affected 
 the extreme Northern dialect. Inasmuch as standard 
 Mn. E. is a development of Midland, the k and g 
 are palatalized to the extent to which they were 
 palatalized in Midland. According as the Mid- 
 land dialect of M. E. was under the influence of the 
 Southern, we get palatalized forms ; according as it 
 leaned to the Northern dialect, we get k and g 
 unpalatalized.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 57 
 
 Palatalization of Jc. 
 19. 
 
 O. E. k was a genuine stop and not a spirant. It 
 acquired a strong palatalizing tendency, however, 
 very early ; in fact the language was beginning to 
 speak Jc even before it had left its home on the Conti- 
 nent, that is, before it was introduced into England. 
 
 A, sk. Initial sk- was turned into [s^] in early 
 O. E., and into the sh [ J] sound in late O. E. For 
 example : 
 
 O. E. scip Mn. E. ship. 
 
 sc(e)arait shame. 
 
 sc(e)al shall. 
 
 sc(e)arp sharp, 
 
 scene sheen. 
 
 sc(e)ort short, 
 
 scyttan shut, 
 
 scrincan shrink, 
 
 scrud shroud. 
 
 This conversion of initial sc~ to sh- is so regular that 
 when we find a Mn. E. word spoken with initial sk 
 we assume that it is a loan-word. Thus : sky, skin, 
 skirt, skulk, scum are borrowed from Danish. The 
 origin of skull is unknown, it is not found in O. E. 
 Scotch, Scottish are probably a survival of the Keltic
 
 58 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 or Kelto-Latin sk- initial ; skipper is Dutch ; skirmish 
 isthe French (e^scarmouche, scorn is the Fr. (e~)scarn ; 
 school is the Latin schtila with the medieval long 
 vowel (sclidla). 
 
 It is interesting to compare doublets. Thus : 
 
 ship (O. E. scip~) vs. skipper (Dutch). 
 shirt (0. E. scyrte) skirt (Dan. skyrta'). 
 
 Final -sk presents some difficulties. Usually it has 
 become -sh. Thus : 
 
 O. E. disc (Latin discus) M. E. dish, 
 fisc fish, 
 
 flcesc flesh, 
 
 fersc fresh. 
 
 But when -sk- was followed by a syllable containing 
 a guttural vowel, the syllabication was -s-k, unpa- 
 latalized. For example : 
 
 O. E. askian Mn. E. ask. 
 
 (Here the -ian is guttural, see B. ) 
 
 In some words the s and k were metathesized before 
 the palatalization became fixed ; in such words we 
 get x, ks. Thus : 
 
 ( asce ashe(s\ 
 
 O. E. < 
 
 (. acse oxen (dialect). 
 
 miscan, *micsan mix.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 59 
 
 0. E. wascan ' lavare ' should have yielded M. E. 
 *wasken, Mn. E. *wax. In fact we do find an O. E. 
 waxan ; but in M. E. and Mn. E. we find only sh 
 forms. 
 
 Bask and busk are Scandinavian words. Bask is 
 Icelandic baftask (bcffia #ik~) 'to bathe one's self.' 
 Buslc is Icelandic buask (bua die) 'to prepare one's 
 self, be ready.' Compare bound, Icelandic buinn 
 ( 18. 5. /). Husk is still unexplained ; probably 
 it is Low German hus(i}ke(n), 
 
 B. Palatalization before -i, -i. Here should be 
 borne carefully in mind : 
 
 1. That the i, i, if it appears at all in O. E., 
 appears as an -e ; only in the oldest texts do we find 
 an occasional -i. See Sievers, 44. 
 
 2. That -i merely palatalizes the c (&); whereas 
 j both palatalizes and geminates. The -i, however, 
 becomes -i after a long stem (that is, a stem contain- 
 ing an original long vowel or a short vowel before 
 two consonants ; see Sievers, 45. 8). For example, 
 *banki became benc 'bench' ; ftakyzn (short stem) 
 became fteccan (with gemination) ' to thatch ' ; but 
 *taikion, *takion (long stem) became tcecan 'to 
 teach. ' 
 
 The difference between i and i will explain the 
 numerous -c- and -cc- verbs of the first weak class.
 
 60 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 Examples of Palatalizing before i, $. 
 
 O. E. cycen (Latin coquina) Mn. E. kitchen, 
 
 cidan chide, 
 
 cinn chin, 
 
 bece (*bokion, long stem) beech, 
 
 drencan (*drankion, long stem) drench, 
 
 streccan (*strakion, short stem) stretch. 
 
 Caution. The student must be on his guard against 
 a misapprehension. There are in O. E. many infini- 
 tives (the 2d class weak) ending in -ian. This -ian, 
 however, is not a palatal i but is merely the reduced 
 form of an older and fuller -oian, a guttural, which 
 does not palatalize the k. For example : 
 
 0. E. locian M. E. lokien Mn. E. look. 
 
 ftoncian fianlcien thank, 
 
 lician liken like, 
 
 liccian licken lick. 
 
 Most of the Mn. E. verb-forms in -k or -ck come 
 from these O. E. -ian verbs. 
 
 C. Before other palatal vowels. 
 
 1. Before G. T. e, O. E. e or eo (broken). 
 
 O. E. ceorl Mn. E. churl. 
 
 2. Before G. T. eu, O. E. eo. 
 
 O. E. ceosan M. E. chesen.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 61 
 
 Also the t-umlaut of this diphthong, O. E. w, I, y. 
 O. E. els (select) M. E. chilse Mn. E. choice. 
 
 The Mn. E. was formerly pronounced [at], the 
 normal diphthonging of [i] ; the present cfiQis may 
 be due to the noun choice, Fr. choix. There 
 are similar double vernacular sounds in join, boil, 
 &c. [ai and yi] . 
 
 3. Before G. T. au, O. E. ea. 
 
 O. E. cedp M. E. cheap, chep Mn. E. cheap. 
 Also the z-umlaut of the diphthong, O. E. w, I, y, g. 
 O.E. cypan, cepan M.E. chgpen Mn.E. cheapen. 
 
 4. Before G. T. a, appearing in O. E. as ea, or i- 
 Umlauted to e, ie, y. 
 
 At this point, however, the standard speech presents 
 many inconsistencies. These may be explained by 
 assuming that the Midland speech, while in the main 
 under the influence of the Southern tendency to 
 palatalize, nevertheless in the districts towards the 
 
 North borrowed Northern forms. 
 
 
 
 O. E. tetil M. E. chetel (obsolete) and 
 
 perhaps proper name Chettle. 
 (kettle is probably a Northern form bor- 
 rowed from Danish. )
 
 62 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. cealc Mn. E. chalk, 
 
 cearu, earn care, 
 
 cearig chary, 
 
 ceaf chaff, 
 
 ceaf or chafer, 
 
 ciele, cele chill, 
 
 cealf, calf calf. 
 
 Especially interesting is the treatment of the O. E. 
 ceaster (Lat. castra). In the South and Midland 
 the pronunciation is Chester ; in the North and 
 in Scotland it is caster. Compare Dorchester with 
 Lancaster. The curious pronunciation -cester (-sester*) 
 seems to be a Norman blunder, giving to the c a 
 French value. 
 
 D. After certain vowels. 
 
 1. After O. E. a?. 
 
 This phenomenon is greatly in need of further 
 investigation. The Mn. E. back is O. E. bcec, M. E. 
 bac, bach, and b<xch. The pronunciation batch is 
 found in such names as Cumberbatch. 
 
 2. -ic in monosyllables has become -ich [-i[] . 
 
 O. E. pic Mn. E. pitch, 
 
 die ditch. 
 
 (Mn. E. dike is probably a Dutch word. ) 
 
 The O. E. pronoun ic became ich [t[] in Southern
 
 PALATALIZATION. 63 
 
 English ; this form is frequently used in the rustic 
 speech of comic characters in the Elizabethan plays, 
 especially in the formula : ich ill, ich ' II, for ' I 
 will.' In normal M. E. and standard Mn. E. the 
 pronoun is regularly I [a{] . 
 
 The terminations -lie, -lice (adj. and adv. ) appear as 
 -lich, -lichein some M. E. texts, but in most as -li ; 
 Chaucer has both lich and like. Mn. E. has 
 regularly -ly ; although there are numerous -like 
 compounds formed by analogy in the modern lan- 
 guage. For example, homely and homelike. 
 
 The -lie has undergone great change in the follow- 
 ing words : 
 
 O. E. *hmilik, hwilc Mn. E. which. 
 *swalik, swilc such. 
 
 *a-%e-lic, celc each. 
 
 i 
 
 Intervocalic k preceded by i is sometimes palatal- 
 ized, sometimes not. The palatalization usually de- 
 pends upon the following vowel being a palatal. 
 
 O. E. sicol sickle, 
 
 cwicu quick, 
 
 cwice quitch-grass. 
 
 An O. E. cc is palatal if the gemination is due to 
 an i [&j] ; if the gemination is the result of some 
 other consonantal change, the cc is kk. Thus :
 
 64 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. weccan (^wakion) M. E. wecchen (to arouse 
 some one ; compare Germ, weekend. 
 
 Whereas in the following : 
 
 O. E. hnecca Mn. E. neck, 
 
 sticca stick, 
 
 pluccian pluck. 
 
 the cc [= kk] is probably from Ten : at all events it 
 is not from lei. 
 
 Non- Palatalization of k. 
 
 The k is not palatalized in the following cases : 
 
 E. When it is in combination with another conso- 
 nant, as, cl, en, cr, cw. 
 
 O. E. clcene Mn. E. clean, 
 
 clif cliff, 
 
 cniht knight, 
 
 cribb crib, 
 
 curie quick, quitch. 
 
 (SeeD.) 
 
 F. Before guttural vowels and their umlauts. 
 1. 5, u. 
 
 O. E. col cool, 
 
 cocc cock, 
 
 cu cow. 
 
 cuman come.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 65 
 
 2. e (oe), the t-umlaut of o. 
 
 O. E. *koni cene keen. 
 
 *kopian cepan keep. 
 
 Note the difference between this last and the palatal 
 |, (i-umlaut of ea), as in *keapion, cepen, M. E. 
 chepe ; see C. 3. 
 
 3. ^ (later writing i~), the i-umlaut of it. 
 
 
 
 O. E. %ecynd Mn. E. kind, 
 
 cyftfi kith, 
 
 cyn kin. 
 
 Lat. coquina 0. E. cycen kitchen; see B. 
 
 4. e, the i-umlaut of a, o before nasal. 
 Lat. cantium O. E. cenf Mn. E. Kent. 
 
 5. a, (G. T. ai) and its t-umlaut. 
 
 O. E. *kaiyi cceg Mn. E. key. 
 
 Note the difference between this and the palatal 
 before the open | or e in 0. 3, 4. For example : 
 Lat. cdseum, O. E. *c<Bsi *ceasi ciese, M. E. cese, 
 Mn. E. cheese ; see Sievers, 75. 2. 
 
 6. a which does not become ce in O. E. For 
 example : 
 
 O. E. cald, cald, 3. 1. Mn. E. cold, 
 callian (Danish kalla) call.
 
 66 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 G. The oldest writing in England, the Runic, 
 used different signs for palatal and non-palatal k. 
 Thus h = k non-palatal ; $ = k palatal. Unfortu- 
 nately the old Runic inscriptions are so few that they 
 yield only a very scanty vocabulary. 
 
 Some of the older manuscripts used occasionally k 
 before e, i, y to mark the non-palatal. Much more 
 frequently an e or i was inserted between a palatal c 
 and an a, o, u. For example: Sewc(e)cm, sec(e)cm, 
 drencium (d. pi. ofdrenc). 
 
 This tendency to distinguish the c became stronger 
 and stronger in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 
 by writing c ( k non -palatal) only before a, o, u ; 
 Ic before e, i, y ; and cli to mark the palatal. After 
 1200 (e. g. in the Ormulum) the use of ch for the 
 palatal became practically universal. 
 
 H. The k did not immediately become the ch [t J] 
 sound. At first it was pronounced [ky] ; then [ty] ; 
 last of all [tj] . For O. E. the pronunciation proba- 
 bly never got beyond the 2d stage [ty] ; but in the 
 Ormulum and in M. E. generally the sound is that 
 oftheMn. E. ch [fj]. 
 
 The tendency to pronounce ty as p|] is inherent 
 in English and manifests itself in what are called 
 modern vulgarisms. For instance, Tuesday pro- 
 nounced Chiusday. In such words as feature the
 
 PALATALIZATION. 67 
 
 [if] is common in American English ; the N. E. D. , 
 however, gives the pronunciation ty. Parallel with 
 the tendency to turn ty into [if] is the tendency to 
 turn dy into [dj], as in the stage vulgarism juke 
 for duke. 
 
 The change of s to [J] and z to zh, discussed in 
 18. 3, may also be treated as a case of palataliza- 
 tion. In all the words there mentioned the French 
 vowel i after the consonant became y in consequence 
 of the fixing of the strong English accent on the 
 preceding syllable. 
 
 Levelling. 
 
 I. The O. E. paradigm, especially of the verb, pre- 
 sented many striking contrasts now obliterated by 
 levelling. For example : 
 
 ceosan[ty] ceos[ty] etmw[k] coren[k]. 
 
 In infinitive and pret. sing, we have the palatalized 
 [ky, ty~\, but in the pret. pi. and participle we have 
 the original k. Further, the s has become r in pret. 
 pi. and pret. part. M. E. h.d an infinitive chesen, 
 which goes back to ceosan. The Mn. E. infin. choose 
 seems to go back to ceosan accented ceosan ; this 
 accenting of the diphthong [eo] is Danish rather
 
 68 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 than English. The Mn. E. verb has introduced 
 throughout the [[] ; also the s for r. 
 
 Just the opposite has happened in the verb : 
 
 ceorfan cearf curfon corfen 
 
 M. E. and Mn. E. have only the k sound. Besides, 
 the verb has become weak in Mn. E. carve, carved ; 
 carf and corven, however, are found in Chaucer. 
 Whereas O. E. ceowan ceaw cuwon cowen has intro- 
 duced the [<J] throughout and is conjugated weak. 
 In general, wherever in Mn. E. we find palatal 
 forms where we might expect guttural, and vice versa, 
 we may assume either a levelling in the paradigm, or 
 a Midland mixture of Southern and extreme Northern 
 forms, as in be-seech seek, or a borrowing, as in kit 
 (Low German), Hit (Scandinavian). 
 
 Palatalization of g. 
 
 20. 
 
 A. With two exceptions, for which see D, there 
 was not in O. E. a voiced stop g corresponding to the 
 unvoiced stop k. The O. E. 5 seldom had the value 
 of the g in Mn. E. good, gate, gum. The single 5 
 designated a voiced spirant, that is, a sound like the 
 Mn. German cli but voiced. And, like the German 
 eh, it had two qualities, a guttural and a palatal.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 69 
 
 The 5 was guttural when in combination with another 
 consonant, as in ^Iced, %rafan, ^na^an ; or before a 
 guttural vowel, d, o, u, y (t-umlaut of u), e 
 (i-umlaut of o), as in gdi, %os, jwma, -&es. It was 
 palatal before a palatal vowel, as I, e, y (=torte). 
 It was also palatal when it stood at the end of a 
 word immediately after a palatal vowel, as in O. E. 
 he& ' hay, ' bodi^ ' body ' ; see 7. Intervocalic 3 
 following a palatal and preceding a guttural vowel 
 was guttural in the early stage of the language, as 
 in bea^um, d. pi. of hta^ ; the syllabication being 
 apparently bea-^um. In later O. E., however, the 
 5 in such circumstances became palatal. 
 
 The Greek y has been used by some philologists 
 to mark the guttural spirant ; the 3 being retained 
 for the palatal. 
 
 Concerning the pronunciation of 3 palatal and 
 guttural, it may be said that : 
 
 1. The palatal 5 was not unlike the Mn. E. y in 
 such words as yea, only thickened and buzzed ; 
 it must have resembled the g in the Berlin pronun- 
 ciation of geben, gabe, Gott. 
 
 2. The guttural y must have been an extremely 
 rasping sound spoken deep in the throat, with the 
 vocal chords very tense. The modern Anglo-Ameri- 
 can throat is wholly unable to make the sound ; it
 
 70 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 may still be heard, however, in certain North Ger- 
 man dialects and in Keltic speech. 
 
 The two sounds are found side by side in the same 
 paradigm. For example : 
 
 &eotan ^eat yuton yoten ' to pour, giessen. ' 
 
 (Compare the paradigm of ceosan, 19. I.) 
 Where the palatal j has remained in M. E. it is 
 written with a y. 
 
 O. E. gear, %er Mn. E. year. 
 Zernan, pieman yearn. 
 
 &ellan, -giellan yell. 
 
 %eldan, $ieldan yield. 
 
 IfiZ ivy. 
 
 For exceptions see F. 
 
 B. The y never became a stop (like the modern 
 g in good} in the O. E. period ; the change took 
 place in early M. E. The first text to mark unmis- 
 takably the difference between the guttural spirant 
 and the guttural stop is the Ormulum (1200). Orm 
 used the sign tj for the stop, %h for the guttural 
 spirant [y] , and 5 for the palatal spirant. 
 
 In the course of the twelfth century y became the 
 stop [</] when in combination with other consonants 
 
 V W V %< 
 
 or at the beginning of a word before a, 5, u, y
 
 PALATALIZATION. 71 
 
 (i-umlaut of u), e (t-umlaut of o). For example : 
 glad, %od God, jos goose, %es geese. 
 
 At the end of a word, especially after r, the gut- 
 tural spirant tended to become the unvoiced guttural 
 spirant h (= German ch in ach, buch~). This 
 tendency manifests itself in such O. E. forms as 
 bo^h, slo^h, kna^k, burh^. 
 
 The intervocalic y became in M. E. a w sound. 
 This w sound exerted a peculiar diphthonging effect 
 on the preceding vowel; see 15. A. For exam- 
 ple: boya, 'bow'; c?cej, 'day', but dayas, 'daws;' 
 dayenian, ' dawn. ' The conversion of y to w became 
 so normal that the original signs for the sounds were 
 sometimes confused in writing. For example, in the 
 fourteenth-century poem called Patience, verse 67, 
 soghe is written for the imperative of sow ' dissemi- 
 nate,' O. E. sdwan. 
 
 C. In 19. B, it was said that k was palatalized 
 
 v 
 
 to k, c and eventually to ch [f] before j and i. In 
 treating y we must discriminate between i and i. 
 The i alone has the property of fully palatalizing 
 and geminating the y to cj. The i merely turned the 
 guttural spirant into a palatal spirant (partial pala- 
 talization). For example, compare :
 
 72 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 O. E. *bruyia, bryc% Mn. E. bridge. 
 *waywn, toecj wedge. 
 
 with *ruyis, ry&e rye (grain). 
 
 *luyis, ly&e lie 'falsehood.' 
 
 This general distinction between i and i is not 
 difficult to apprehend ; but it is very difficult to 
 apply, for the reason that in order to know whether 
 the 5 was followed by an i or a i we must reconstruct 
 the O. E. paradigm according to the most general 
 principles of G. T. philology. Such reconstruction 
 is occasionally needed in the declension of nouns and 
 adjectives, but not often ; the chief field for recon- 
 struction is the verb. 
 
 The determining principles of G. T. philology in 
 this matter are : 
 
 1. After a long stem (see 19. B. 2) the i 
 becomes i under all circumstances; see Sievers, 
 45. 8. For example, *beayion, bie&an, be%an, 'to 
 bend.' 
 
 2. After a short stem the i : 
 
 a. Remains before a termination beginning with 
 a guttural vowel (d, o, w). 
 
 b. Becomes i before a termination beginning with 
 a consonant (usually rf). 
 
 c. Disappears before, or rather is absorbed in, a 
 termination beginning with the palatal vowel i.
 
 PALATALIZATION. 73 
 
 These several features are best illustrated by the 
 reconstructed paradigm of a verb of the first weak 
 class, lee&ean ( to lay. ' 
 
 Infin. *layion lec%(e^a,n (full pal.) 
 
 Ind. pres. s. */ayjo, *layiu lec&e (full pal. ) 
 
 *layiis, *layis le%is (part, pal.) 
 
 *aywt5, *layifi legift (part. pal. ) 
 
 pi. *layion$, *layia$ feej(e)at> (full pal. ) 
 
 Ind. pret. *layida, *layida le^i~)de (part, pal.) 
 
 Compare also, for the noun-formation : 
 
 O. E. *Jiayis, he%e, Mn. E. hay, 
 
 O. E. *hayia, hedge, Mn. E. hedge. 
 
 The O.E. paradigm of /ec;$(e)<m, like the paradigm 
 of ceosan and ceorfan in 19. I, contained dual con- 
 sonants : the eg, an incipient j [d\~\ sound, and the 
 half -palatalized 5, which in later English became a 
 [?/] sound. This dualism, like that in 19. I, has 
 been removed by levelling. The forms with 5 en- 
 croached upon and supplanted the cj [dj] forms. 
 The levelling began in the Midland dialect of Early 
 M. E. and has passed into standard Mn. E. It 
 should be noted, however, that the Southern dialect 
 of M. E. retained the dualism of cj, 5 quite late. 
 Thus the Kentish dialect continued to say : infin.
 
 74 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 leggen [df], ich legge, he letif) ; we legge ; pret. he 
 le%de, leide. The paradigm of see&ean 'to say' offers 
 the same variety. Note the many ligg- forms [eZJ] 
 (O.E. lic(e)an 'to lie') in Chaucer ; alsoseggen we 
 ' we say,' Tr. and Cr., iv, 194. The Mn. E. spell- 
 ing to lay, I lay ; to say, I say ; laid, said is due to 
 the tendency to prefer the writing ai, ay to ei, ey. 
 
 D. In A it was said that there were two excep- 
 tions to the rule that O. E. had no genuine stop g 
 sound. 
 
 1). The first exception consists of a small group 
 of words, mostly nouns, usually written with 55 but 
 sometimes with 05 or jc, in which the pronunciation 
 was that of the Mn. E. g in good. These words are 
 do&a 'dog,' fro&a 'frog,' clu&e 'bell, clock,' su^a, 
 a bird-name, (hey-sugge in Chaucer is a sparrow), 
 eamme&a 'earwig,' flo-g&ettan 'to fluctuate ' and one 
 or two more ; see Sievers, 216. 2. In these 
 words the gemination is due not to a following i, but 
 to a following n. See the remarks on kk, 19, D. 2. 
 
 2). In the O. E. combination ng the g was a 
 genuine stop ; see Sievers, 215. The O. E. 
 pronunciation was probably [rj#] as in finger, not the 
 Mn. E. simple [rj] , as in singer. Thus the O. E. infini- 
 tives were pronounced siq-gan, mrj-jraw, &c., and 
 the stop g, unlike the spirant y, 5, was fully palatal-
 
 PALATALIZATION. 75 
 
 ized by i no less than by i. For example, the deriva- 
 tive verbs, first weak class, *sat)-glon, ^crat)-gion gave 
 rise to M. E. senge, crenge [<7=df] . For the Mn. E. 
 i in place of e in singe, cringe, see 13. 
 
 E. In A it was said that the O. E. 5 before a 
 palatal vowel (e, i) was half palatalized and became 
 in Mn. E. a y, as in %er, year. 
 
 There is a group of exceptions, namely, a few very 
 common words which have in Mn. E. g instead of y. 
 They are: get (O. E. jefcm), give (O. E. ge/an), gift 
 (O.E. -gift}, again (O. E. on^e^n), guest (O. E. %est ; 
 the spelling with ue is in imitation of French). 
 
 The usual explanation is to say that the g is due 
 to Danish influence, the original G. T. 5, whether 
 guttural or palatal, becoming stop-^ in all Scandina- 
 vian speech. To this view it may be objected that 
 the words in question are among the commonest in 
 our language, and there seems to be no very cogent 
 reason why Englishmen in the M. E. period should 
 have changed the pronunciation of such every-day 
 words. Further, the spelling in the Ormulum fails 
 to bear out the Danish theory. The Ormulum being 
 that early M. E. document which shows the most 
 extensive Danish influence, so extensive in fact as 
 to call for special investigation, we should expect to 
 find these words written regularly with a g (Orm's
 
 76 CONSONANT CHANGES. 
 
 3 1 ). Yet this is precisely what we do not find. Orm 
 uses much more frequently in these words 5 than g ; 
 sometimes he vacillates between the two signs. In 
 one word only do we find g (g) exclusively. This is 
 the word gesst. As examples of vacillation we may 
 note giferr, giferr (O. E. %ifre 'greedy), geggii and 
 onn-%cen. Further we find regularly %ifenn, %ife 
 ('gift'), %etenn. We find even "goten, p. p. of^eotan 
 ' to pour, ' although this should have been goten ; 
 see A. 2. 
 
 Especially significant are the two words %ate and 
 gate in the Ormulum. The former is the O. E. 
 &eatu 'gate, opening,' and is a genuine English semi- 
 palatal ; the other is an equally genuine Danish 
 word and borrowed with an unmistakable Danish 
 meaning, Icelandic gata, our Mn. E. gait. Both 
 words have now g. 
 
 The evidence, then, goes to show that Orm, whose 
 language is so highly colored with Danicisms, does 
 not systematically turn initial English 5 into Danish g. 
 
 F. Concerning the stages of development in the 
 cj, (full palatalization of jj as treated in C), it is safe 
 to say that it was parallel with the change of Tc ; 
 see 19. H. That is, cj represents first a [gy] 
 sound, then a [dy\ sound, and last a j [df] . In the 
 O. E. period the sound did not get beyond the [dy]
 
 PALATALIZATION. 77 
 
 stage. The [c?J] is early M. E. ; in the Ormulum 
 the pronunciation is already [dj] . This is shown by 
 Onn's use of the peculiar letter g in such words as 
 legmen (O. E. lec&an), biggen (O. E. byc^an 'buy') 
 and in the French or Latin-French words gyw 
 (engin, 'device, machine'), Egippte, ma<gy (French 
 mage, Latin magi"). This letter g, if not actually 
 invented by Orm, was clearly used by him to mark 
 the [d[] sound, whether of French or of English 
 origin.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 [The references are to pages ; g, 7, 5, g , o, are entered as 
 one letter ; CB is entered as a + e ; J>, $, as t + A. ] 
 
 above, abufan 32 
 accent, see stress 
 ach (German) 71 
 ocse 58 
 (Kff&er 35, 37 
 ci/c63 
 ^lf ric 9 
 cemc22 
 cemtig 54 
 
 ordlO 
 
 oerende 15 
 
 again 75 
 
 againes, against 55 
 
 dgan 39 
 
 age 30 
 
 ah, ahte 41 
 
 ajar 53 
 
 aid 7, 28 
 
 all, alle 44 
 
 American 29, 44, 45, 50, 67 
 
 amidst 55 
 
 a?i 28 
 
 -an (infin. ) 9 
 
 anefen, anent 55 
 
 anig 21 
 
 ant 22 
 
 any 21 
 
 ardlO 
 are 12, 28 
 as 51 
 
 osce, ashes 58 
 ask, askian 58 
 atone 28 
 oxen 58 
 Ayenbite 34 
 azure 52 
 
 bac, bach, back 62 
 
 backs 51 
 
 bcec, beech 62 
 
 bald, 'bold' 44 
 
 bald, balled ( ' thin haired ' ) 
 
 44 
 
 *banki 59 
 bard ' beard ' 10 
 bark (of tree), bark (ship), 
 
 bark (of dog) 45 
 bask 59 
 batch 62 
 boSask 59 
 *beayion 72 
 beagiim 69 
 beam 24 
 beard 10 
 bece, beech <)0 
 
 79
 
 80 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 be%an 72 
 behest 55 
 
 benc, bench 59 
 
 beorcan, berke 45 
 
 Berlin 69 
 
 beseech 68 
 
 betwix, betwixt 55 
 
 blegan 72 
 
 biqven 77 
 
 blndan 8, 9 
 
 birce, birch 46 
 
 bird 46 
 
 *blankion 43 
 
 blencan, blenchte, bleynte 43 
 
 bliss, UiKe 16 
 
 blood 32 
 
 boat 29 note 
 
 boc 19 
 
 bodis, body 20, 21, 69 
 
 bog 41 
 
 boya 39, 71 
 
 bo^h, boh 71, 41 
 
 boil 61 
 
 *bokwn 60 
 
 bold 44 
 
 bolt 45 
 
 bonte 25 
 
 book 19, 32 
 
 bosm, bosom 19, 32 
 
 bough, boughs 41 , 51 
 
 bdun 55 
 
 bound (p. p. of 'bind') 9, 35 
 
 bound ( ' ready to go ' ) 55, 59 
 
 bow (to incline) 39 
 
 bow, bows ( ' arms ' ) 39, 51 
 
 brad 29 
 
 braegen, brain 22, 37 
 
 bramble 22 
 
 breast 17 
 
 bremel 22 
 
 brebst 17 
 
 brid 46 
 
 bride 35 
 
 bridegroom 55 
 
 bridge 72 
 
 bridgume 55 
 
 broad 29 
 
 brocen 13 
 
 brohle 16 
 broken 13 
 broKor 32 
 *bruyia, brycg 72 
 bryd 3~5 
 brydguma 55 
 buasfc 59 
 biicet, bucket 22 
 buch (German) 71 
 bu^an 39 
 build 6 
 buinn 55, 59 
 biilden 6 
 bunden 9, 35 
 fturAg 71 
 busk 59 
 but 42 
 byc%an 77 
 byldan 6 
 
 cabbache, cabbage 53 
 cabin 31
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 81 
 
 cacche, cacher 40 
 cos 38, 65 
 
 cald 7, 65 
 
 calf 44, 62 
 
 called, callian 65 
 
 cdmb 8 
 
 Cantium 65 
 
 care 62 
 
 cartouche, cartridge 53 
 
 earn 62 
 
 carve 68 
 
 caseum 65 
 
 -caster, castra 62 
 
 cattle 31 
 
 caught 40 
 
 cea/62 
 
 ceaft, ceafol 43, 53 
 
 ceafor 62 
 
 cealc 62 
 
 ceaZ/62 
 
 ceallian 7 
 
 ceap 61 
 
 cear/68 
 
 cearig, cearu 62 
 
 ceos 67 
 
 *ceasi 65 
 
 ceaster 62 
 
 ceaw 68 
 
 cele 62 
 
 cene 65 
 
 ceorfan 68 
 ccor/ 60 
 ceosan 60, 67 
 ceowan 68 
 
 cepaw 61, 65 
 
 cepan (keep), cepte 17, 65 
 
 cese 65 
 
 -cester 62 
 
 l-etU 61 
 
 chafer 62 
 
 chaff 62 
 
 chalk 44, 62 
 
 chapel 30-31 
 
 char woman 53 
 
 chary 62 
 
 Chaucer 10, 17, 18, 25, 29, 
 30, 32, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43- 
 44, 48, 51, 52, 54, 63, 68, 
 74 
 
 chaul, chavel 53 
 
 chaw 53 
 
 cheap, cheapen 61 
 
 cheese 65 
 
 chep 61 
 
 chepe, chepen 61, 65 
 
 cherice, cherish 52 
 
 chesen 60, 67 
 
 Chester 62 
 
 eheiel, Chettle 61 
 
 chew 68 
 
 chide 60 
 
 child 7, 15 
 
 childer, children 8, 15 
 
 chill 62 
 
 chin 60 
 
 choice, choix 61 
 
 choose 67 
 
 Christendom 14 
 
 Chronicle, Parker 9 
 
 Church Plays 48
 
 82 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 churl 60 
 
 cool 31, 64 
 
 chiise 61 
 
 coquina 60, 65 
 
 cldan 60 
 
 coren 67 
 
 ciele 62 
 
 corf en 68 
 
 ciese 65 
 
 cousin 51 
 
 clld, cildru 7, 8, 9, 15 
 
 cow 64 
 
 cinn 60 
 
 cowen 68 
 
 els 61 
 
 *crangion 75 
 
 cl&dde 17 
 
 crasis 12 
 
 cZceree 64 
 
 cre/ 23 
 
 cl&nMc 14 
 
 crenge 75 
 
 clamsian, clansian 23 
 
 cri6664 
 
 cZdiSian 17 
 
 *cnn-jran 74 
 
 claw, cZaww 42 
 
 crlstendom 14 
 
 clean, den 27, 64 
 
 Cromwell 27 
 
 cleanly 14 
 
 cw64 
 
 cleanse 23 
 
 cuman 64 
 
 clerk 45 
 
 Cumberbatch 62 
 
 clif, clifl 64 
 
 ciinrede 54 
 
 cllmban 8, 51 
 
 curfon 68 
 
 clothed 17 
 
 curon 67 
 
 C(1i^^6 /~T 
 
 cursian, curse 46 
 
 - yf O 
 
 cuwan. 68 
 
 cnawleche 53 
 
 cweruxm, cwencte 43 
 
 cneow 42 
 
 cwice, CWICM 63, 64 
 
 cmfa 64 
 
 cycen 60, 65 
 
 coat 29 note 
 
 cyn 65 
 
 cocc, cock 64 
 
 cynrceden 54 
 
 Cockney 5, 37 
 
 *cypan 61 
 
 col 31, 64 
 
 cy^S 16, 65 
 
 cold 7, 65 
 comb 8, 51 
 combustion 53 
 come 64 
 
 compound words 14 
 consonant groups 6 
 
 deed 24 
 
 ctej, da^es 23, 37, 71 
 
 dagos 23, 71 
 dagenian 23, 71
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 83 
 
 darjes 23 
 ddh41 
 daisy 37 
 
 damne, dampned 54 
 
 Danelagh 2 
 
 Danish (includes Icelandic, 
 Norwegian, Scandinavian) 
 1, 2, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17, 28, 
 29, 39, 42, 55, 56-57, 59, 
 61, 67, 68, 75-76 
 
 daumen (Germ.) 54 
 
 dawn 23 
 
 daws 23 
 
 day, days 37, 51 
 
 dead, dead 18 
 
 dedf, deaf 18, 41 
 
 deagian 38 
 
 deal 29 
 
 dealed, dealt 17 
 
 deaft, death 18 
 
 dedeZI 
 
 deemster 54 
 
 deep 25, 26 
 
 degan 38 
 
 deman 54 
 
 Dempster 54 
 
 dempt 54 
 
 deofol 13, 22 
 
 deap 24, 25 
 
 deor, derrest 19 
 
 devil 13, 22 
 
 deyen 38 
 
 die 62 
 
 die ( ( mori')38 
 
 dike 62 
 
 disc, dish 58 
 
 distraught 40 
 
 ditch 62 
 
 dossa 74 
 
 dole 29 
 
 domSl 
 
 dormer (German) 54 
 
 doom 31 
 
 Dorchester 62 
 
 dough 41 
 
 dove 32 
 
 drcedd, drcedeft 17 
 
 dragan 39 
 
 *drankion 60 
 
 drat 17 
 
 draw 39 
 
 dream' t 54 
 
 dree 38 
 
 drempte 54 
 
 drencan, drench 34, 60 
 
 dreneium 66 
 
 drebgan 38 
 
 drop, *dropp 32 
 
 dropa, drope 32 
 
 droune, drown 56 
 
 drunen 56 
 
 dry 39 
 
 Dryden 27 
 
 dryge 39 
 
 duce, duck 19 
 
 dufe 32 
 
 duke 36, 67 
 
 dust, dust 17 
 
 Dutch 1, 37, 58, 62 
 
 dye 38
 
 84 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 eoc24 
 
 Farquhar 36 
 
 each63 
 
 faux pas 31 
 
 Eddmund 14, 24 
 
 feallan 23 
 
 edge 38 
 
 feature 66-67 
 
 edd 7 
 
 fee 39 
 
 eard 10 
 
 feel 26 
 
 earoicgo 74 
 
 fehten 24 
 
 Edmund 14, 24 
 
 feld 6, 7, 9, 25 
 
 e#e38 
 
 feohm 
 
 Egippte 77 
 
 feohtan 24 
 
 either 35, 37, 38 
 
 feor 45 
 
 ejie 24 
 
 /er, /erre 45 
 
 -eZ21 
 
 fersc 58 
 
 elder 8 
 
 field' 6, 7, 25 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen 27 
 
 /|f 19 
 
 emmet 22 
 
 Jindan 35 
 
 empti, empty 54 
 
 finger 74 
 
 -en (p. p.) 9, 21 
 
 fire 35 
 
 -en (adj. ) 21 
 
 ytsc, fish 58 
 
 English, divisions of 3 
 
 fist 17 
 
 enough 19, 41 
 
 five 19 
 
 eorSe 10 
 
 /cejci 25, 37 
 
 eowu 42 
 
 flcesc, flash 18, 58 
 
 errand 15 
 
 flail 37 
 
 er-SelO 
 
 flebgan 38 
 
 escarmouche, escarn 58 
 
 flesh 18, 58 
 
 -e21 
 
 flod 19, 32 
 
 eu>e, ewe 42 
 
 flo^ettan 74 
 
 excuse 52 
 
 flood 19, 32 
 
 eye 38 
 
 fly 38 
 
 
 fod 19, 32 
 
 face 30, 51 
 
 folk 45 
 
 ftegen, fain 37 
 
 food 19, 32 
 
 faUcm, fall 23, 44 
 
 foot 32 
 
 far 45 
 
 for 46 
 
 faran, fare (vb.) 30, 47 
 
 Jorloren 28
 
 References are to pages,] INDEX. 
 
 85 
 
 fofS 10, 46 
 
 German 1, 2, 44, 50, 54, 55, 
 
 fostor, foster 17 
 
 59, 64, 68, 70, 71 
 
 fowl 39 
 
 gernan 70 
 
 /ra28 
 
 ges 69, 71 
 
 French 2, 18, 27, 30, 31, 35, 
 
 ges< 75 
 
 36, 40, 45, 51, 52-55, 58, 
 
 gefem 75, 76 
 
 61, 62, 75 
 
 gieZdan 70 
 
 freosan, fresen 24 
 
 gidlan 70 
 
 fresh 58 
 
 giernara 70 
 
 fro 28 
 
 gt/e, gifenra 76 
 
 /roggo 74 
 
 gS/re 76 
 
 -ftl 6 
 
 S^ ^^ 
 
 fugol 39 
 
 give 75 
 
 /yr35 
 
 gted, glad 69, 71 
 
 fyst 17 
 
 glass, glaze 52 
 
 
 glove 32 
 
 y, & 3> & 9 69, 70, 76, 77 
 
 gnagan 69 
 
 gabe (German) 69 
 
 goat 28 
 
 gait, gata 76 
 
 god, God 71 
 
 got 28, 69 
 
 god 19 
 
 gate 68, 76 
 
 godhead 29 
 
 gear 70, 75 
 
 gold 7, 33 
 
 gea<70 
 
 good 19, 32, 68 
 
 geatu76 
 
 goold, Goold 33 
 
 geben (German) 69 
 
 goose, gos 31, 51, 69, 70, 71 
 
 geciynd 8, 9, 65 
 
 gosling 14 
 
 geese 71 
 
 yoten 70, 76 
 
 g/an 75 
 
 Gothic 20, 21 
 
 jeggn 76 
 
 Gott (German) 69 
 
 geWara 70 
 
 Gould 33 
 
 ge&m 70 
 
 Gower 48 
 
 Genesis-Exodus 54 
 
 grace 30, 51 
 
 genog 19, 41 
 
 gra/an 69 
 
 geoton 70 
 
 grass, graze 52 
 
 ger 70, 75 
 
 grease 52
 
 86 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 great, gretter 19 
 
 growan 42 
 
 G. T. 72 (and Preface) 
 
 guest 75 
 
 gum 68 
 
 guma 69 
 
 yutm 70 
 
 -had 29 
 MVSu 19 
 hces 55 
 
 hafoc 43 
 
 *hayis 73 
 hailags 21 
 
 hdl%ian 15, 46 
 Mil's 15, 21, 46 
 hallow, AaJwe 46 
 has 55 
 haste 18 
 hats 51 
 hawk 43 
 
 hay ('hedge') 73 
 Al(pron.) 11, 26 
 head 19 
 -head 29 
 heafod 19 
 hedh 19, 40 
 health 19 
 hear 26 
 heath 18 
 heaven 13 
 
 hec%e 73 
 
 -hed 29 
 
 hedge 73 
 
 Ae 5 ('hay')69 
 
 he&C hedge') 73 
 
 height 
 
 heiser (Germ.) 55 
 
 hence 51 
 
 henge 33 
 
 heqfon 13 
 
 her (adv.) 25 
 
 Aeran, herde 17, 26 
 
 herre 19 
 
 hey-sugge 74 
 
 faeran 26 
 
 high 40 
 
 hina, hlne, hind ('servant') 
 
 55 
 
 hinder 9 
 hinge 33 
 his (pron. ) 51 
 
 hlaf, hlafmcesse, hlcefdi$e 14, 50 
 hleapan 50 
 hndgh 71 
 hnecca 50, 64 
 hnutu 50 
 hoarse 55 
 Ao/22 
 
 Aoii s , holy 15, 21, 46 
 homely, homelike 63 
 honey, 20, 21 
 -hood 29 
 
 hopian, hope 11, 29, 32 
 hord 10 
 hors 55 
 hound 8
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 87 
 
 house 35, 52 
 
 keep, keepit 17, 65 
 
 hovel 22 
 
 Keltic 57-58, 70 
 
 hrcefn 50 
 
 Kent 65 
 
 hrof 50 
 
 Kentish 4, 11, 23, 73 
 
 -ht 15, 31-32 
 
 kepteVJ 
 
 hund 8 
 
 kettle 61 
 
 Auru'g 20, 21 
 
 key 38, 65 
 
 hus 35- 
 
 kilt 68 
 
 hiisbonde, husband 14 
 
 kin 65 
 
 husk 59 
 
 kind 8, 65 
 
 hwa 50 
 
 kindred 54 
 
 MS 01 
 
 kit68 
 
 
 kitchen 60, 65 
 
 I (pron. ) 63 
 
 kith 16, 65 
 
 -tan (infin.) 9, 15, 60 
 
 kleffia 17 
 
 ic, tcft(pron.) 62-63 
 
 knew 42 
 
 Icelandic (see Danish) 
 
 knight 64 
 
 ich'UGZ 
 
 knighthood 29 
 
 i-dinde 8 
 
 know 42 
 
 ife 20, 70 
 
 knowledge 53 
 
 -tg 20, 21 
 
 *koni 65 
 
 in mtddes 55 
 
 *kopian 65 
 
 Irish 27 
 
 
 is 51 
 
 laddeZZ 
 
 ivy 20, 70 
 
 lady 14 
 
 
 Icedan, Icedde 18, 23 
 
 jaw 53 
 
 Ken, Zoinan 29, 55 
 
 Johnson, Saml. 37 
 
 Kessa 16 
 
 join 61 
 
 Eewed42 
 
 jowl 43, 53 
 
 lqffdi% 14 
 
 Judas 35 
 
 *layida t layis, &c., 73 
 
 *kaiyi 65 
 
 laid 74 
 
 kalla 7, 65 
 
 Lammas 14 
 
 *keapion 65 
 
 Ian 29 
 
 keen 65 
 
 Lancaster 62
 
 88 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 IdrspeH 14 
 
 lavender 55 
 
 law 39 
 
 ky 74 
 
 lead (vb.) 18 
 
 lead, lead (metal) 18 
 
 leaf, leaf 19 
 
 leap 50 
 
 lec%an, kcge, &c., 73, 77 
 
 led, kddc 23 
 
 leggen, Zeggen 74, 77 
 legis, le^tiS 73 
 
 leisure 52 
 
 Zei-574 
 
 lend 55 
 
 l$ne, tgnen 29, 55 
 
 Kof 24 
 
 leogan 38 
 
 koht 16 
 
 Zesse 16 
 
 lewd 42 
 
 -li, -Re 63 
 
 liccian 60 
 
 lic^ean 74 
 
 fictan 60 
 
 lichen, lick 60 
 
 lie (vb. mentiri) 38 
 
 lie (noun 'falsehood') 72 
 
 Ks<?S, lieth 38 
 
 ligg- 74 
 
 Kfa 16 
 
 fiA, -like 60, 63 
 
 limb 8 
 
 Knew, linen 19 
 
 lips 51 
 
 Literary English 4-5 
 
 loaf 50 
 
 loan 29 
 
 facian, look 60 
 
 London 5, 37 
 
 tore ('lost') 12, (see also for- 
 
 loren, verlore) 
 love, lufu 32 
 *luyis 72 
 -Iy63 
 
 mood, maced, modem 11, 12 
 made 12 
 mage, mayy 77 
 maken, maked 11, 12 
 
 marry 31 
 
 may 37 
 
 M. E. 3, 4 
 
 me (pron. ) 11, 26 
 
 meat 11, 26 
 
 meet (vb. ) 26 
 
 meme 25 
 
 Mercian 4, 7, 8, 11, 23, 26, 
 
 38, 39, 40 
 metan 26 
 mite 11, 26 
 micsan 58 
 
 Middle English 3, 4 
 Midland English 3, 4, 56, 62, 
 
 68, 73 
 midst 55
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 89 
 
 iriilde, milts 16 
 
 min, mine 35 
 
 miscan, mix 58 
 
 Mn. E. 3, 4 
 
 mona, nwnafS, month, moon 
 
 19, 31 
 moral 46 
 modor 32 
 mouse 51 
 mu~S, mouth 35 
 
 *nceg$er 35 
 
 neck 50, 64 
 
 ng 74 
 
 neither 35 
 
 ncmnan, nempnen 54 
 
 New English 3 
 
 nigon, nine 38 
 
 Northern English 3, 4, 50, 
 
 56, 62, 68 
 
 Northumbrian 4, 23 
 Norwegian, see Danish 
 nourish 52 
 nut 50 
 
 oak, oath, oats 28 note 
 
 obey 27 
 
 O. E. 3, 4 
 
 old 7, 28 
 
 Old English 3 
 
 on cer 53 
 
 On God Ureison 28 
 
 oncet 55 
 
 ondr&dan 17 
 
 one 28 
 
 ongegn 75, 76 
 
 only 28 
 
 onn%cen, 76 
 
 onst 55 
 
 ooze 29 
 
 Open Stress-Syllable 11, 29- 
 
 31 
 
 ore ('mercy') 12, 28 
 Ormulum 10, 11-12, 13, 14, 
 
 18, 19, 21, 22, 28, 66, 70, 
 
 75-77 
 Orosius 9 
 -ot 21 
 
 offer, other 19, 32 
 ough, ought 41 
 owe 39, 41 
 
 papa 28 
 papaver 21 
 Parker Chronicle 9 
 partridge 53 
 paste 18 
 Pastoral Care 9 
 Patience 71 
 patient 52 
 perish 52 
 pertriche 53 
 philosopher 55 
 pic 62 
 
 Piers Plowman 19 
 pitch 62 
 pleasure 52 
 ploh, plough 41 
 pluccian, pluck 64 
 poison 51 
 Pope 27 
 pope 28, 29
 
 90 
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 papi-S, poppy 20, 21 
 
 said 47 
 
 prebst, priest 17 
 
 salvation 52 
 
 principle 55 
 
 *saj^-yion 75 
 
 punch 41 
 
 sang 46 
 
 
 saucisse, sausage 53 
 
 qu-, quh- (Scotch) 50 
 
 saugh 40 
 
 question 53 
 
 saw ('saying') 39 
 
 queynte 43 
 
 saw (pret.) 40 
 
 quick, quitch- 63, 64 
 
 sdwcm 71 
 
 
 say 74 
 
 rod 33 
 
 c 18, 52, 57 
 
 rcecean, rcehte, rahte 40 
 
 Scandinavian, see Danish 
 
 raisin 26, 27 
 
 seaman 42 
 
 raughte 40 
 
 ceaZ57 
 
 raven 50 
 
 sceamu 57 
 
 reason 26, 27, 51 
 
 scearp 57 
 
 rehte, reighte 40 
 
 sceaviian 42 
 
 reson 27 
 
 scene 57 
 
 road 29, 33 
 
 sceort 57 
 
 roof 50 
 
 schlummern (German) 54 
 
 roten, rotten 13 
 
 $chola, school 58 
 
 rough 19, 41 
 
 scip 57 
 
 rounen, round (vb. 'whisper' ) 
 
 scorn 58 
 
 55 
 
 Scotch 8, 17, 38, 50, 57, 62 
 
 ruh, ruhh 19, 41 
 
 scrincan 57 
 
 runian 55 
 
 scrud 57 
 
 runnel 22 
 
 scyttan 57 
 
 *ruyis 72 
 
 secgean 74 
 
 Kunic 66 
 
 see (pret. 'saw') 39 
 
 ry%e, rye 72 
 
 seek 68 
 
 rynd 22 
 
 seggen 74 
 
 
 seh, seigh ('saw') 39 
 
 sage 30 
 
 senge 34, 75 
 
 sac/en (German) 44 
 
 sebc 19 
 
 sagu 39 
 
 seoVSan 16 
 
 sah (pret. ' saw ' ) 40 
 
 -sester 62
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 91 
 
 sh 18, 52, 57 
 
 Shakespeare 26, 27 
 
 shall 57 
 
 shame 57 
 
 sharp 57 
 
 sheen 57 
 
 sh$wen, shew 42 
 
 ship 57, 58 
 
 short 57 
 
 show 42 
 
 shrink 57 
 
 shroud 57 
 
 shut 57 
 
 sick 19 
 
 sicol, sickle 63 
 
 Sievers 43, 59, 65, 72, 74 
 
 sighs 51 
 
 sights 51 
 
 sin 34 
 
 sin-gan 74 
 
 singe 33, 75 
 
 singer 74 
 
 skin 57 
 
 skipper 58 
 
 skirmish 58 
 
 skirt 57, 58 
 
 skull 57 
 
 sky 57 
 
 skyrta 58 
 
 slcepan, slepte 17 
 
 slo^h 71 
 
 slumerian, slumber 54 
 
 so 29 
 
 s5/fe 16 
 
 soghe, 71 
 
 sdhtc 16, 41 
 
 solempne, solennc 54 
 
 somenour, sompnourZA 
 
 sommetier 54 
 
 son (Fr. 'noise') 36 
 
 sona, sonnest 19 
 
 w, sorwe, sorrow 46 
 
 |S0ry, sorry 46 
 
 Bought 41 
 
 sound (adj. 'healthy'; n. 
 
 'arm of sea' ; n. and vb. 
 
 'noise' ; vb. 'to test depth' ) 
 
 36-37, 55 
 sounen 55 
 sour 36 
 Southern English 3, 34, 51, 
 
 56, 62, 63, 68, 73 
 sow (vb. ) 71 
 speche 24, 27 
 spr&ie 24 
 sprenge 34 
 -ss!6 
 -st!7 
 <an28 
 standard English 4-5, 8, 10, 
 
 28, 37, 55, 56, 63, 73 
 star 45 
 
 stdan, steal 11, 26, 30 
 steopfceder, stepfather 25 
 steorra, sterre 45 
 sticca, stick 64 
 sfif, stiff 19 
 stone 28 
 street 24 
 
 Stratford, Stratford 14, 24 
 *ttrakwn6Q 
 straught 40 
 streccan, stretch 40, 60
 
 INDEX. [References are to pages. 
 
 stress, accent 6, 11, 29-31, 
 
 terminations 20 
 
 42, 52-53, 67 
 
 Teutonic 1 (and Preface) 
 
 strgte 24 
 
 ftakion 59 
 
 such 63 
 
 ftankien, thank 60 
 
 suffixes 14-15 
 
 thatch 59 
 
 swgso, 74 
 
 "Seccan 59 
 
 sumpter 54 
 
 A*s 40 
 
 sund 36 
 
 thence 51 
 
 suner (Fr. vb. ) 55 
 
 ftcncan 66 
 
 sur, ' sour ' 36 
 
 6&A 40 
 
 t&r, 'sure' 35, 36 
 
 ^e<23 
 
 swd 29 
 
 /IA, thigh 40 
 
 swamp 44 
 
 thimble 54 
 
 awdpan 17 
 
 thirteen 15 
 
 Swedish 1, 7 
 
 thirty 20 
 
 sweord, swerd 10 
 
 London 60 
 
 swepte 17 
 
 fireotene 15 
 
 sw/c 63 
 
 "Snfo'j; 20 
 
 swognen, swoon 56 
 
 Sroto, throat 32, 33 
 
 syncope 16-17, 43 
 
 fruh, through 41 
 
 tacan (vb. 'take') 13 
 tdcen (n. ' token ' ) 12 
 tcBcan, tcehte, tdhte, taught 16, 
 
 25, 30, 40, 59 
 taken, ta'en 12 
 *tdkion 59 
 talk 44 
 taste 18 
 taught 40 
 tea 27 
 
 teach 25, 27, 30, 59 
 tear 24 
 
 Surna, thumb 54 
 ftunor, thunder 54 
 />urh 41 
 Kymel 54 
 fiejan, tie 38 
 -iig 20 
 tigofta 39 
 
 tinder 8 
 tithe 39 
 
 fegan 38 
 {eon, ten 19 
 tere2A 
 
 token 12 
 <6, tooth 31 
 tough 41 
 treasure 52 
 trone (Fr.) 28
 
 References are to pages.] INDEX. 
 
 93 
 
 tube 36 
 
 weld(yb.) 7 
 
 Tuesday 66 
 
 weldan 7 
 
 twentis, twenty 20 
 
 weng 34 
 
 two 29 
 
 wepan, wepte 17 
 
 -ty20 
 
 West Saxon 4, 7, 23, 26, 38, 
 
 tyndre 8 
 
 40 
 
 
 whales 50 
 
 uncouth 35 
 
 which 50, 63 
 
 under 9 
 
 while 50 
 
 us (pron.) 41, 51 
 
 whiles, whilst 55 
 
 use 52 
 
 who 29, 50 
 
 
 whole 50 
 
 verlore 28 
 
 wieldan, wield 7 
 
 
 wile 50 
 
 tea 29 
 
 wind (n. 'air') 36 
 
 wjcejen 37 
 
 wing 34 
 
 wees 22, 51 
 
 wisdom 14 
 
 *wayion 72 
 
 wish 18 
 
 wagon, wain 37 
 
 witch 50 
 
 wold 11 
 
 woe 29 
 
 Wales 50 
 
 wold 11 
 
 warm 23, 24 
 
 wonder 9 
 
 was 22, 51 
 
 wound (n. 'hurt') 36 
 
 wascan 59 
 
 vn-ctitfSu, wrath 16 
 
 wdse 29 
 
 wrench 34 
 
 wash 59 
 *wasken 59 
 
 wyscan 18 
 
 wasp 44 
 
 -y 20, 21 
 
 waste 18 
 
 yea 69 
 
 water 45 
 
 year 70 
 
 waxan (vb. ' wash ' ) 59 
 
 yearn 70 
 
 way 37 
 
 yell 70 
 
 Weald 11 
 
 yield 70 
 
 wearm23, 24 
 
 youth 35 
 
 weecan, wecchen, wecken (Ger- 
 
 
 man) 64 
 
 zauns 36 
 
 wecg, wedge 72 
 
 zenne 34 
 
 u)5 37 
 
 zoons 36
 
 Alden's Specimens of English Verse 
 
 By RAYMOND M. ALDEN, Assistant Professor in Leland 
 Stanford University, xiv + 459 pp. i6mo. (English 
 Readings. ) $1.25. 
 
 This book is well adapted to the needs of the be- 
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 and an unprejudiced statement of critical theories and opinions con- 
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 Katherine Lee Bates, Wellesley College .-It is" the best presenta- 
 tion, for students, of the subject yet known to me. 
 
 W. S. CtUTell, Professor in Washington and Lee University : 
 It seems to me to be the sanest and most practical book on the subject. 
 
 Lewis: The Principles of English Verse 
 
 By CHARLTON M. LEWIS, Professor in Yale University. 
 143 pp. i2mo. $1.25 net. 
 
 A discussion of the chief types of English verse 
 and the general principles underlying verse-structure. 
 The book is designed for students and general read- 
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 metres are very complicated in detail, but their 
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 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
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 " SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000054188 8