iV«*; 4: .A r:w ;ila^^«;cr^ ^■^- >-'^yi ^^■' f- iff-* . «w ^c [; V -T', ^-; :i*<:^*H^ T^- fe^'. :•%># Oi: 4? - — n REESE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. --^^^^ /.vv« To 1i &: ^ ,^ ,2 a ^' CO .tn tl g 43 "^ 41 4i .-2 S ^ :sq B^ ^ -H lO CO CO CO CO fi 1 ;^; , — '. p S '6 nj o \< S » c^ CO t-l (D +3 t4J :^ C! be .^ g -s a, ^"1 Pis "iS ^ °V ~ ^ i*^ a * "^ 6D 5 e ni 1 £ ^ J =^ :3^f=» "iqcb ^f=^ § lO CD t^ OJ 1^4 ■d IS ? H a> o ■?l a 'a .5^ t3 'a o '^ IM CO -^ (M Csl c^ ■ li O .'«'^ P) 1 «^. ^1 -i^-S 14^ %^ a^ ^f^ 05 o ,_■ ^ (M C^l G HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. to designate the German d. Long vowels are doubled, and diphtliongs indicated by combining their elements.^ a as in f«tlier Nos. 11, 12, (3) on Bell's Scale. ro.au ,, 18 ,, tell ; „ 9,(17) „ Scotch tale, French 6 „ 8 ,, hut, bird, German gahe „ 2, (3), 5, 6, (10), 14, 15. hit,'beat ,, 7,16. not „ 21, (29), 30 on Bell's Scale. Scotch note, Genn. sohn „ 20 „ Gmw. sclwu ,, (26), 27, 35, 36 „ w/flf „ 19,28. ai an Germ.uhel „ 25, (26), 34 my. Germ. mem. house. Germ, haus. tale. boy. I have not made any use of Mr. Ellis's "palgeotype," as, in spite of its typographical convenience, its extreme complexity and arbitrariness make it, as I can testify from personal ex- perience, quite unfitted for popular exposition. The apparent easiness of palaeotype as compared with the Visible Speech letters of Mr. Bell is purely delusive : it is certain that those who find Visible Speech too difficult will be quite unable really to master palaeotype. It must also be borne in mind that no system of notation will enable the student to dis- pense with a thorough study of the sounds themselves : there is no royal road to phonetics. General Laws of Sound Change. They may be investigated both deductively, that is, by examining known changes in languages, and a priori, by considering the relations of sounds among themselves. I propose to combine these methods as much as possible. Although in giving examples of the various changes I have been careful to select cases which may be considered as per- fectly well established, I must in many cases ask the reader to suspend his judgment till they have been fully discussed, which, of course, cannot be done till we come to the details. The general laws I am about to state may, for the present, 1 Numbers witbin parentheses indicate the less distinctive vowels, which admit of being brought under different heads : 26, for instance, may be regarded either as a very open y or a close oe. BY IlENKY SWEET, ESQ. 7 bo regarded simply as convenient heads for classing the various changes under. All the changes may bo brought under three grand divi- sions, 1) organic, 2) imitative, and 3) inorganic. Organic changes are those which are the direct result of certain tendencies of the organs of speech : all the changes com- monly regarded as weakenings fall under this head. Imita- tive changes are the result of an unsuccessful attempt at imitation. Inorganic changes, lastly, are caused by purely external causes, and have nothing to do either with organic weakening or with unsuccessful imitation. The great defect of most attempts to explain sound-changes is that they select some one of these causes, and attempt to explain everything by it, ignoring the two others. It would, for instance, be entirely misleading to explain the change of the O.E. hcer (pret. of heran) into the N.E. bore as an organic sound-change, the truth being that the form bore is the result of confusion with the participle borne. Such a case as this is self-evident, but I hope to show hereafter that the very re- markable and apparently inexplicable changes which our languaore underwent durin"^ the transition from the Old to the Middle period, can be easily explained as inorganic de- velopments. AYe may now turn to the two first classes of changes, organic and imitative. From the fact that all sounds are originally acquired by imitation of the mother and nurse we are apt to assume that all sound-change is due to imitation, but a little consideration will show that this is not the case. How, for instance, can such a change as that of a stopped to an open consonant, or of //, uu, into ai, an, be explained by imitation? The fact that the vast majority of those who speak even the most difficult languages do make the finest distinctions perfectly well, proves clearly that the correct imitation of sounds is no insurmountable difficulty even to people of very ordinary capacity. The real explanation of such changes as those cited above is that the sounds were acquired properly by imitation, and then modified by the speaker himself, either from carelessness or indolence. 5 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. Further confirmation is afibrded by tlie fact, whicli any one may observe for himself, that most people have double pronunciations, one being that which they learned by imita- tion, the other an unconscious modification. If asked to pro- nounce the sound distinctly, they will give the former sound, and will probably disown the other as a vulgarism, although they employ it themselves invariably in rapid conversation. When the habits are fixed, the difficulty of correct imitation largely increases. To the infant one sound is generally not more difficult than another, but to the adult a strange sound is generally an impossibility, or, at any rate, a very serious difficulty. He therefore naturally identifies it with the nearest equivalent in his own language, or else analyses it, and gives the two elements successively instead of simulta- neously. We may, therefore, expect a much wider range of the imitative principle in words derived from other languages. I propose, accordingly, to class all the doubtful changes under the head of organic, treating as imitative changes only those which do not allow of any other explanation, but admitting that some of the changes considered as inorganic may under special circumstances be explained as imitative. Organic sound-changes fall naturally into two main divi- sions, simple and complex. Simple changes are those which afiect a single sound without any reference to its surroundings, while complex changes imply two sounds in juxtaposition, which mod^'fy one another in various ways. It is generally assumed by philologists that all organic sound-changes may be explained by the principle of economy of exertion, and there can be no doubt that many of the changes must be explained in this way and in no other, as, for instance, the numerous cases of assimilation, where, instead of passing completely from one sound to another, the speaker chooses an intermediate one. Other changes, however, not only do not require this hypothesis of muscular economy, but even run quite counter to it, as when an open consonant is con- verted into a stop, a by no means uncommon .phenomenon in the Teutonic languages. It is of the greatest importance that these exceptions to the general rule should not be suppressed. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 9 I shall, therefore, while giving precedence to those changes which seem to be in harmony with the general principle of economy of force, take care to state fully the exceptions. I begin with the simple changes, arranging them in classes, according to the different vocal organs concerned in their formation. A. Simple Changes. I. Weakening. 1) Glottal: voice to whisper and brea'h. In the formation of voice the glottis is momentarily closed, in that of whisper its edges are only approximated, and in breath the glottis is quite open. It is evident, therefore, that voice per se de- mands the most and breath the least muscular exertion, and that the natural tendency would be to substitute whisper and breath for voice whenever possible. The great preservative of consonantal vocality is the principle of assimilation, to which we shall return presently. When a voice consonant is flanlvcd by vowels, as in aba, aga, etc., it is much easier to let the voice run on uninterruptedly than to cut it off at the consonant and then resume it. But at the end of a word this assimilative influence is not felt, and accordingly we find that in nearly all the Teutonic languages except English, many of the final voice consonants become either voiceless or whis- pered. 2) Pharyngal: narrow to wide. In the formation of narrow vowels the pharynx is compressed, while in that of wide vowels it is relaxed. The natural tendency would therefore be from narrow to wide. It is, however, a curious fact that in the Teutonic languages short and long vowels follow diametrically opposed laws of change as regards these pharyngal modifications, long vowels tending to narrowing, ehort to widening. Full details will be given hereafter ; I merely call attention to these Teutonic changes as a clear instance of inapplicability of the principle of economy of force.^ 3) Changes of position. The most general feature of ^ Mr. H. Nicol, however, suggests that the narrowing of long vowels may be caused by the effort required to sustain a uniform sound-=-hcnce long vowels are cither narrowed or diphthongized. 10 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. changes of position is tlie tendency to modify the back arti- culations, whether vowels or consonants, by shifting forwards to the front, point or lip positions. This is clearly a case of economy of exertion, as the back formations require a move- ment of the whole body of the tongue, the front and point of only a portion of it. Of the two last the front, on the same principle, evidently require more exertion than the point sounds. The lip consonants (the labial vowels must be reserved), lastly, involve the minimum of exertion. I will now give a few examples of these various changes. a) back to front : Sanskrit ch (front-stop) from /.-, as in vach^mh ; English 7ncen,fehr, from the Old E. maun, faran. b) back to point : E. melt from O.E. gemaca. c) back to lip : seems doubtful, as the cases usually cited, such as Greek 2^ente^Mnkan, seem to be the result of the assimilative influence of the ^t'-sound preserved in the Latin quinque. d) front to point : the development of tsh from k through an intermediate front position, as in the E. church from cyrice ; the change of Sanskrit g, as in gru, which was originally the voiceless consonant corresponding to the English consonant y, to the present sound of sh. e) front and point to lip ? ^ f) back and front to mixed (applies only to vowels). All unaccented vowels in most of the Teutonic languages have been levelled under one sound — the mid-mixed- narrow, as in the German cmb, geehdn, from the older andi, rjiban. There are many exceptions to these general tendencies. Thus, of the two rs, the back and the point, the former seems to require less exertion than the latter, and hence is often substituted for it in the careless pronunciation of advanced communities, especially in large cities. Other cases, however, really seem to run counter to the prin- ciple of economy of force. Such are the change of th into 1 The not mifrcqucnt change of th into / is no doubt puiclj imitative {fruu for \'ruu). BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 11 hh (= German ch) in the Scotch (Lothian dialect) khrii for thrii. The changes of height in the vowels cannot be brought under any general laws. In the Teutonic languages, at least, short and long vowels follow quite opposite courses, long vowels tending to high, short to low positions. 4) Relaxation : a) stopped consonants to unstopped : Latin lingua from (lingua; German malcJton =^^. meil', wasor ■=^ wddtor ; Modern Greek dhedhoka from dMoohn. b) unstopped to diphthongal vowel : Middle English dai, lau, from older dagh, laghu; English hiid from hiir. c) untrilling : a common phenomenon in most of the Teutonic languages, especially English, in which the trilled r is quite lost. There are some unmistakable exceptions to these tenden- cies. All the Teutonic languages except English seem to find the th and dh difficult, and convert them into the corre- sponding stopped t and d. In Swedish the gh of the oldest documents has, in like manner, become g. There seem to be cases of vowels developing into consonants, which will be treated of hereafter. Lastly, we may notice the not unfrequent development of trilled out of untrilled conson- ants, as in Dutch, where g first became opened into gh, which in many Dutch dialects has become a regular guttural r. 5) Rounding (vowel-labialization). We must distinguish between the rounded back and the rounded front vowels, for their tendencies are directly opposed to one another : back vowels tend to rounding, front to unrounding. In the case of back vowels, rounding may be regarded as an attempt to diminish the expenditure of muscular energy, by keeping the mouth half-closed, whence the change of aa into do, which, as we shall see, is almost universal in the Teutonic languages. But with the more easily-formed front vowels this economy of exertion is superfluous : we find, accordingly, that front vowels are seldom rounded, but that rounded front vowels are often unrounded, y and ce becoming i and e — a frequent change in the Teutonic languages. 12 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. II. Loss. 1) of vowels. The loss of unaccented final vowels is a frequent phenomenon in all languages. The dropping of final e is a characteristic feature of the Modern period of English. 2) of consonants. Here we may distinguish several classes of changes. A single consonant may fall off either before a vowel or a consonant, and it may be initial, medial, or final. The Teutonic languages are, as a general rule, remarkable for the extreme tenacity with which they retain their consonants, especially when final. B. Complex Changes III. Influence. 1) One-sided Influence. Influence of one sound on another may be either partial (modification) or complete (assimilation) . We must further distinguish the influence of vowel on vowel, vowel on consonant, consonant on consonant, and consonant on vowel. The modification of one vowel by another, commonly called umlaut, is a very important feature of Teutonic sound-change. The following are the most important Teutonic umlauts, which I have formulated as equations. a. ..i=e : O.JE. en.de=^Gotkic andi ; 0. Icelandic weeri= waari. a...u=6: 0. Icelandic m6nnum=mannum, s66r=:saaru (2)1. of saar). i . . .a=e : O.-E". stelan= (to^/«'c stilan. u. . .a= 6 : O.E. 6h=^ Gothic ufta. u. . .i=y : O.H. fyllan=fullian, myys=muusi. 6...i=oD: jEJ. grceoDne=gr66ni. There are also umlauts of diphthongs, such as ei/ in the Old Icelandic iei/sa=h(usian. The change of ai into ei in Old Icelandic {veit^=vait), and the further change of ei into ei in Modern Icelandic, are examples of what might be called diphthongic umlaut. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 13 It is clear that in all these umlauts the new vowel is exactly intermediate between the original vowel of the root and the modifying one of the termination : if the new vowel became identical with its modifier, the result would be not an imilaut but a complete assimilation. In the Old Icelandic skopii^ H =slxapa^ii the first vowel is modified, the second as- similated by the final n. Yowcl influence on consonants is not very common, but the difierent forms of German ch, after back, front, and rounded vowels, as in ach, ich, audi, are instances of it. Consonant influence on consonants is very strongly develop- ed in some languas'es : what is called sandhi in Sanskrit and mutation in the Celtic languages falls partly under this head. The Teutonic languages, on the other hand, are remarkable for the independence of their consonants, and the freedom with which they are combined without modifying one another. Consonant influence on vowels, lastly, is perhaps the ob- scurest of all phonetic problems : the explanation of its varied phenomena seems to require a far greater knowledge of the synthesis of speech-sounds than is at present attained by phonologists. These influences are strongly developed both in Old and Modern English, and will be treated of in their place. The converse of the processes just considered is dissimila- tion, by which two identical sounds are made unlike, or two similar sounds are made to diverge. The development of the Teutonic preterite wisia out of ivitta is an example of consonantal, the diphthongization of ii into ei in Early IVIodern English of vowel dissimilation, while the further change of ei into di and ai is a case of divergence of similar sounds. The whole phenomena of dissimilation is anomalous, and it is doubtful whether many of the instances ought not to be ascribed to purely external causes, as, for instance, the desire of greater clearness. 2) Mutual Influence. Mutual influence, in which both the sounds are modified by one another, may be either partial or complete. I do not know of any auxe matance of partial convergence. 14 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. The commonest type of complete convergence Is such a change as that of cm into dd, in which two distinct sounds are simplified into one sound different from and yet similar to both of them. This simplification of diphthongs is, as we shall see, a very frequent phenomenon in the history of English sounds. Of consonantal simplification we have an example in the English wh in what, which was first khicat, then li-wat, and lastly ^vkat, the initial h being incorporated into the w, which consequently lost its vocality. The converse phenomenon of divergence is exemplified in the resolution of simple long vowels into diphthongs. "We have seen that do is often the result of the simplification of au, but in Icelandic the process has been reversed — the Old Icelandic dd (as in ddd"^ from dacr6) has become au. In the same way the Middle English yy has in the present English been resolved into iu. Whether short vowels are ever re- solved is very doubtful. lY. Transposition. Transposition may be of consonants, as in the familiar wx for as1i, or else of vowels in different syllables, as in the Greek meinb for menio. This latter case must be carefully distin- guished from umlaut. There seem also to be cases of trans- position in different words, or in whole classes of words, such as the confusion between 'air=hair and hair=air, which seems to be often made in the London dialect. The results obtained may be conveniently summed up thus: A. Simple Changes. I. Weakening. 1) Glottal : voice to whisper and breath. 2) Pharyngal: narrow to wide. 3) Position : a) back to front. b) back to point, c) back to lip ? d) front to point. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 15 e) frout and point to lip ? f ) back and front to mixed (vowels only). g) vowel-height? 4) Belaxatlon : a) stop to unstopped ; b) unstopped to vowel; c) untrilling. 5; Vowel- rounding: rounding of back; unrounding of front. II. Loss. 1) Of vowels : unaccented final e> 2) Consonants : before vowel, before another consonant ; initial, medial, final. B. Complex Changes III. Influence. 1) One-sided, a) convergent : partial (modification), complete (assimilation) ; vowel on vowel (umlaut), vowel on consonant, consonant on consonant (sandhi), consonant on vowel. b) divergent (dissimilation) : of vowels, of consonants. 2) Mutual, a) convergent : partial (diphthongic umlaut), complete (diphthongic simplification) ; consonantal, b) divergent : resolution of long vowels, of short (?). IV. TKANsrosmoN, 1) Of consonants. 2) Of vowels (in different syllablesX 3) In difierent words. Imitative Sound-Changes. The general principle on which imitative changes depend is simply this — that the same effect, or nearly the same, may be produced on the ear by very difierent means. Thus, starting from the mid-front-narrow vowel e, we can lowec 16 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. its natural pitch either by slightly raising the back of the tongue, and thus producing the corresponding mixed a instead of the front vowel, or else by rounding into the mid-front-round oe, the result being that ce and d are so alike in sound that they are constantly confused in many languages. This similarity of sound between the mixed and round vowels was first pointed out by Mr. Bell (Visible Speech, p. 87). There is the same similarity between the low- narrow and the mid-wide vowels, and also between the high-wide and the mid-narrow. Thus the English e in men is indifferently pronounced, either as the mid-front-wide or the low-frout- narrow, and the d in hot as the high-back-wide or the mid- back-narrow. Whenever, then, we find a sound changing directly into another which, although very similar in acoustic efiect, is formed in quite a different manner, we maj?- be sure that the change is an imitative, not an organic one. Thus, when we find ce and a constantly interchanging uithout any interme- diate stages, it would be unreasonable to assume, as we should have to do on the assumption of organic change, three such stages as ce, e, d, whereas the imitative hypothesis makes the direct change of os into d perfectly intelligible. Inorganic Changes. Inorganic sound- changes, which result from purely ex- ternal causes, are of a very varied character, and are con- sequently difficult to classify. One of the most prominent of these external influences is the striving after logical clearness, which comes more and more into play as the sounds of the language become less distinct. Clearness may again be attained in many ways — by discarding one of two words which have run together in form, though distinct in meaning, or by taking advantage of any tendency to change which may keep the two words distinct (scheide- formen). The phenomenon of levelling, by which advanced languages get rid of superfluous distiactions, is a very im- BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 17 portant inorganic change, and is strongly developed in Transition English. A familiar aspect of inorganic sound- change is the alteration of foreign words so as to give them a homely appearance, as in sjjnrroic-grass for asparagus. General Law of Change. The investigation of the various laws of sound-change — important as it is — must not be allovred to divert our atten- tion from the general principle on which they all depend,, namely that of incessant change — alternations of develop-j ment and decay. To say that language changes looks very* like a truism, but if so, it is a truism whose consequences are very generally ignored by theorizers on pronunciation. The most important lesson that it teaches us is to regard all cases of stand-still, whether of phonetic or of general linguistic development, as abnormal and exceptional. These cases of arrested development are really much rarer than is com- monly supposed, and many of them are quite delusive — the result of the retention of the written representation of an older language, from which the real living language has di- verged widely. English and Icelandic are striking examples. The written English language is for all practical purpose an accurate representation of the spoken language of the six- teenth century, which, as far as the sounds themselves are concerned, is as different from the present English as Latin is from Italian. The apparent stability of our language during the last few centuries is purely delusive. The case of English and Icelandic also shows how it is possible for a language to retain its grammatical structure unimpaired, and at the same time to undergo the most sweep- ing changes in its phonetic system. How much more then are we bound to expect a change of pronunciation where the whole grammatical structure of a language has been sub- verted ! It is not only in its unceasing alternations of develop- ment and decay that language shows its analogy with the other manifestations of organic life, but also in another very 2 18 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. important feature, namely in that of increasing complexity of phonetic structure. The greater number of sounds in a late as opposed to an early language is at once evident on comparing two languages belonging to the same stock, but in different stages of development, such as English with German, French with Italian or Spanish. It can further be shown that even in German, in its sounds one of the most archaic of the living Teutonic languages, many of the simple vowels are of comparatively late origin. The sounds of eai4y languages, besides being few in num- ber, are more sharply marked off, more distinct than those of their descendants. Compare the multitude of indistinct vowel sounds in such a language as English with the clear simplicity of the Gothic and Sanskrit triad a, i, ii — the three most distinct sounds that could possibly be produced. From these three vowels the complex systems of the modern lan- guages have been developed by the various changes already treated of. There can be little doubt that the simplicity of earlier phonetic systems was partly due to want of acoustic discrimi- nation, and that primitive Man contented himself with three vowels, simply because he would have been unable to dis- tinguish between a larger number of sounds. The really marvellous fineness of ear displayed by those who speak such languages as English, Danish, or French, must be the result of the accumulated experience of innumerable generations. From this we can easily deduce another law, namely that the changes in early languages are not gradual, but per saltum. A clear appreciation of this principle is of consider- able importance, as many philologists have assumed that in such changes as that of a back into a front consonant (Sans- krit k into ch) the tongue was shifted forwards by impercep- tible gradations. Such assumptions are quite unnecessary, besides being devoid of proof. To people accustomed pre- viously only to the broad distinction between back and point consonant, the further distinction of front must at first have appeared almost indistinguishable from its two extremes. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 19 Under such circumstances it is not easy to see how they could have distinguished intermediate modifications of the original sound. General Alphabetics. Although it would be possible to carry on the present investigation on a purely comparative basis — confining our attention exclusively to the living languages — such a process would prove tedious and difficult, if pursued without any help from the historical method, many of whose deductions are perfectly well established : to ignore these would be perverse pedantry. But the historical method must be based on a study of the graphic forms in which the older languages are preserved, and especially of their relation to the sounds they represent. It is quite useless to attempt to draw deductions from the spelling of a language till we know on what principles that spelling was formed. We have only to look at living languages to see how greatly the value of the spelling of each language varies. In English and French the spelling is almost worthless as a guide to the actual lan- guage ; in German and Spanish the correspondence between sound and symbol is infinitely closer, and in some languages, such as Finnish and Hungarian, it is almost perfect — as far as the radical defects of the Homan alphabet allow. With these facts before us, it is clearly unreasonable to assume, as many philologists have done, that the same diver- gence between orthography and pronunciation which charac- terizes Modern English prevailed also in the earlier periods, and consequently that no reliable deductions can be drawn from the graphic forms. I feel confident that every one who has patience enough to follow me to the end of the present discussion will be convinced of the very opposite. Putting aside the actual evidence altogether, it is quite clear that the wretched attempts at writing the sounds of our dialects made by educated men of the present day cannot be taken as standards from which to infer a similar result a thousand years ago. An educated man in the nineteenth century is one who 20 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. has been taught to associate groups of type-marks with certain ideas : his conception of language is visual, not oral. The same system is applied to other languages as well as English, so that we have the curious phenomenon of people studying French and German for twenty years, and yet being unable to understand a single sentence of the spoken languages ; also of Latin verses made and measured by eye, like a piece of carpentry, by men who would be unable to comprehend the metre of a single line of their own composi- tions, if read out in the manner of the ancients. The study of Egyptian hieroglyphics aflfords almost as good a phonetic training as this. _ Before the invention of printing the case was very differ- ent. The Roman alphabet was a purely phonetic instrument, the value of each symbol being learned by ear, and conse- quently the sounds of the scribe being also written by ear. The scarcity of books, the want of communication between literary men, and the number of literary dialects — all these causes made the adoption of a rigid, unchanging orthography a simple impossibility. It must not, of course, be imagined that there were no orthographical traditions, but it may be safely said that their influence was next to none at all. The only result of greater literary cultivation in early times was to introduce a certain roughness and carelessness in distin- guishing shades of sound : we shall see hereafter that sounds which were kept distinct in the thirteenth-century spelling were confused in the time of Chaucer, although it is quite certain that they were still distinguished in speech. But such defects, although inconvenient to the investigator, do not lead him utterly astray, like the retention of a letter long after the corresponding sound has changed or been lost, which is so often the case in orthographies fixed on a traditional basis. Early scribes not only had the advantage of a rational phonetic tradition — not a tradition of a fixed spelling for each word, but of a small number of letters associated each with one soimd ; — but, what is equally important, the mere practical application of this alphabet forced them to observe BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 21 and analyse the sounds they wrote down : in short they were trained to habits of phonetic observation. Yet another advantage was possessed by the earliest scribes — that of a comparatively limited number of sounds to deal with. For the proofs of this position I must refer to the remarks I have made in the discussion of the Laws of Sound Change, and to the details of the investigation itself. The Roman alphabet consisted of six simple vowel signs, a e i o u y : on these six letters the vowel notation of all the Teutonic languages was based. If, therefore, we can deter- mine the sounds attached to these letters by the Romans during the first few centuries of Christianity, we can also determine, within certain limits, the sounds of the unlettered tribes who adopted the Roman alphabet to write their own languages. Nor need our determination be absolutely accu- rate. It is certain that minute shades of difference between a Latin and, for example, an Old English sound would not have deterred the first writers of English from adopting the letter answering to the Latin sound : all that was wanted was a distinctive symbol. Now there can be no doubt as to the general values of the six Roman vowel-signs. The sounds of the first five are still preserved in nearly all the Modern Latin languages, and that of the y, although lost in Italian and the other cognate languages, can be determined with certainty from the descriptions of the Latin grammarians, and from its being the regular transcription of the Greek ujjsilon. The values of the Roman vowel-letters may, then, be represented approximately thus : a=Italian a; English father. e „ e „ bed, hear. i „ i „ b/t, heat. „ „ odd, bore. n „ u „ iii)!, fool. y=French u; Danish y. We see that even in English the traditional values of the Roman letters have been very accurately preserved in many 22 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS, cases, and it need hardly be said that the majority of the living Teutonic languages have preserved them almost as faithfully as Italian and Spanish. We thus find that the Romance and Teutonic traditions are in complete harmony after a lapse of more than ten centuries. The greatest number of exceptions to the general agreement occur in the two most advanced languages of each group — English and French ; but it can be shown that these divergences are of very late origin, and that in the sixteenth century the original tradition was still maintained. We may now pass from the consideration of the single letters to that of their combinations or digraphs. The first use of digraphs, namely to express diphthongs, is self-evident, but they have a distinct and equally important function in symbolizing simple sounds which have no proper sign in the original Roman alphabet. The plan adopted was to take the symbols of two different sounds which both resembled the one in question, and write them one after the other, implying, however, that they were to be pronounced not successively but simultaneously — that an intermediate sound was to be formed. Thus, supposing there had been no y in the Roman alphabet, the sound might still have been easily represented by writing u and i (or e) together, implying an intermediate sound, which is no other than that of y. As we see, the framers of the Old English alphabet, living at a time when the Roman y still had its original sound, had no need of this expedient ; but in Germany, where the sound of y did not develope till a comparatively late period — during the twelfth century — the only course open was to resort to a digraph, so that the sound which in Danish is still expressed by the Old Roman y, is in Modern German written ue. This ue affords at the same time an excellent example of the way in which diacritical modifications are developed out of digraphs. The first step is to write one of the two letters above or under the other : accordingly we find the German %ie in later times written h. Afterwards the e was further abbreviated into two dots, giving the familiar u. In some cases the diacritic becomes incorporated into the letter, and BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 25 there results what is practically an entirely new letter. Although most diacritics can be explained in tliis way, as corruptions of originally independent letters, there arc still a few cases of arbitrary modification, of which the Old English 'S from d is an example. Cases of the arbitrary use of consonants as digraphic modifiers also occur. Thus h has come to be a perfectly unmeaning sign, implying any imag- inable modification of the consonant it is associated with. Compare g and gh in Italian, / and Ih in Portuguese, etc. The doubling of consonants to express new sounds is equally arbitrary, as in the "Welsh _y^ as distinguished from/, and the Middle English ss=zsh. In all the cases hitherto considered the digraph is formed consciously and with design, but it often happens that a diphthong becomes simplified, and the original digraph is still retained for the sake of distinctness. Thus, if the diph- thong iu passes into the simple sound of i///, it is clearly the simplest and most practical course to retain the iu, as being a perfectly legitimate representation of a sound which, al- though simple, lies between i and u. All diacritical letters, whatever their origin, are distin- gmshed in one very important respect from the older digraphs — they are perfectly unambiguous, while it is often difficult to determine whether a given digraph is meant to represent a diphthong or a simple sound. There is, however, one in- variable criterion, although, imfortunately, it cannot always be applied, which is the reversibility of the elements of the di- graph. Thus, the sound written oe in Old English, as in hoec (later bee'), might, on the evidence of this spelling alone, be taken equally well for a diphthongic combination of o and f , or for a sound intermediate to these two vowels j but when we find hoec and heoc alternating, as they do, on the same page, we see that the e was a mere modifier, whose position before or after the vowel to be modified was quite immaterial : the sound must therefore have been simple— a conclusion which is fully confirmed by other evidence. The Roman alphabet has been further enriched by the differentiation of various forms of the same letter, of which 24 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. the present distinctions between u and v, i and/, are instances. In these cases varieties of form which were originally purely ornamental and arbitrary have been ingeniously utilized to express distinctions in sounds. Quantity and Quality in the Teutonic Languages. The distinguishing feature of the early Teutonic languages is the important part played in them by quantity. This subject has been very fully investigated by Grimm and his school in Germany, and it may be regarded as proved beyond a doubt that in the Teutonic languages quantity was origin- ally quite independent of stress or quality, and that many words were distinguished solely by their quantity. Even 80 late as the thirteenth century we find the German poetry regulated partly by quantitative laws. Not only are short and long vowels never rhymed together, but there is also a fine distinction made between dissyllables with short and long penultimates ; words like bite (modern hitte) being treated as metrically equivalent to a monosyllable, while rite (now reite) is regarded as a true dissyllable. Many metres which employ monosyllabic rhyme- words indiiferently with words like hite do not show a single instance of a dissyllable like rite at the end of the line. Similar instances may be adduced from the Icelandic rimur of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All this is fully confirmed by the direct evidence of many German MSS. of the eleventh century, which employ the circumflex regularly to denote a long vowel. It is further generally admitted that in the Kving Teu- tonic languages these distinctions hava mostly vanished, short vowels before single consonants having been generally lengthened, and that quantitative distinctions have been re- placed by qualitative ones. The general laws, however, on which these changes depend, have not hitherto been investi- gated, and I propose hereafter to treat of them in some detail : at present we must content ourselves with an exami- nation of the more general features of the change. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 25 In the substitution of qualitative for quantitative distinc- tions we can easily observe throe stages, 1) the purely quan- titative, 2) the transitional, in which, while the distinctions of quantity are still preserved, short and long vowels begin to diverge qualitatively also, and 3) the qualitative, in which long and short vowels are confounded, so that the original quanti- tative distinctions are represented, if at all, by quality only. That the oldest English still retained the original quanti- tative sj'stem is in itself highly probable from the analogy of the other cognate languages, and also admits of decisive proof. If we take two vowels, one originally long, the other originally short, which are both long and yet qualitatively distinct in the living language, and show that they were qualitatively identical at an earlier period, we are forced to assume a purely quantitative distinction, for the later diver- gence of quality could not have developed out of nothing. Let us take the words stoun and bein, written in Old English stan and bmia. It is quite certain that the a of stan was originally long, for it is nothing but a simplification of an older ai, still preserved in the Grerman shtain, while there is equally decisive proof of the shortness of the a of hana. Now, if there had been any difference in the quality of the two vowels, they would certainly not have been written with the same letter. The back vowel a can only be modified in two directions — in that of e or of o, that is, by fronting or rounding, and, as we shall see hereafter, such changes were regularly indicated by a change of spelling, even when the departure from the original sound was very minute. We are, therefore, led to the conclusion that the present purely quali- tative distinction between doun and heln was in the Old English period purel}'- quantitative — staan and bana. Similar evidence is afforded by the other vowels. As we have little direct evidence of the quantity of indi- vidual Old English words, recourse must be had to the com- parison of the old cognates, for the details of which I must refer to the works of Grimm and his successors in Germany. Much may also be learned from the qualitative distinctions of the modern languages. 26 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. OLD ENGLISH PERIOD. We may now proceed to a detailed examination of the vowel-sounds of our language in its oldest stage. The results of this investigation — which is an indispensable preliminary to the study of the later changes— cannot be properly appreciated till the evidence is fully set forth ; at present I only wish to remind the reader that a rigorously mathematical method is quite impracticable in such an investigation, which can only be carried out by a process of cumulative reasoning, based on a number of independent probabilities. Nothing can be more irrational than to ignore an obvious deduction merely because it is a deduction, or to discard one that, although not absolutely certain, is extremely probable, in favour of another that is only barely possible. The principle I have adopted in cases of uncertainty is to adopt the oldest sound that can be ascertained. It happens in many cases that although we can say with certainty that a sound underwent a certain change, we cannot point out the exact period in which the new sound arose. It must be borne in mind that the written language, even in the most illiterate and therefore untraditional times, is alwaj^s some- what behind the living speech, and further that a new pro- nunciation may exist side by side with the old for a long time. In such cases it is necessary to have some definite criterion of selection, and that of always taking the oldest sound seems the most reasonable. Short Vowels. A (^, 0). The short a of the cognate languages is in Old English preserved only in certain cases : 1) before a single consonant followed by a, o, or ti, which have, however, in the earliest extant period of the language been in some cases weakened into e : hara, hagol, cam, care ; 2) before nasals : hana, lamb, lang. In other cases a is replaced by ^ ; dceg, wppel, crmftig. Alternations of a and (b according to these rules often occur BY TIENRY SAVF.ET, ESQ. 27 ill various inflcxior.s of the same word : dcvg, d(vgcs, dagas, dagum. a before nasals is liable to interchange with o : bona, lomh, long. This o is so frequent in the earlier period as in many words almost to supersede the a, but afterwards the a gets the upper hand, the o being preserved in only a few very frequent words, such as \onne, on, of, which last is an exceptional case of o developing before f, also occurring in the proper name Ojfa (= original Aba). So far goes the evidence of the graphic forms, as it may be found in any comparative grammar, and before bringing in the living languages it will be as well to consider what de- ductions may be drawn from them. In the first place it is clear that the development of the re is not due to any assimi- lation, but is a purely negative phenomenon, that is to say, that wherever a was not supported by a back vowel in the next sj'Uable, it was weakened into (e without any regard to the following consonant. The change cannot therefore, as German philologists have already remarked, be compared to the regular vowel-mutation or umlaut. As to the pronunciation of this ce, the spelling clearly points to a sound intermediate between a and e, while the joining together of the two letters and the frequent degrada- tion of the a into a mere diacritic, which is sometimes entirely omitted, show that it was a simple sound, not a diphthong : further than this we cannot advance till we have determined more accurately the sounds of a and a. It is also clear that the o of long^lang must have been distinct from the regular a in gold, etc., for otherwise they would have run together and been confused. This conclusion is further confirmed by direct graphic evidence. In the riddles of that well-known collection of Old English poetry, the Exeter Book, the solution is sometimes given in Hunic letters written backwards, and in one of them occurs the word COFOAH which, read backwards, gives haofoc=.liafoc (hawk). Here we have an a labialized before/, as in ofz=.nfy written ao, with the evident intention of indicating a sound intermediate between a and o, just as cb points to a sound intermediate between a and 2 = Gothic hiljpan, and 2) the e'-mutation of a, as in ew^e= Gothic and Old High German andi. The two sounds are now confounded in the Teutonic languages, but there is clear evidence that they were formerly distinct, for in the Middle High German poetry the two fs are never rhymed together, and the Ice- lander )?6roddr, in his treatise on orthography, carefully dis- tinguishes the two, stating that the e from a had a sound which was a mixture of a and e, implying, of course, that the other e was nearer to the % from which it arose. It has been generally assumed by comparative philologists that there was no distinction between the two /, with which the Greek !(■ is invari- ably transcribed. It is a remarkable fact that while the original sound of the E-oman y has been quite lost in the Romance languages, it is still preserved in Danish and Swedish. As we know that the Scandinavian nations learned the use of the Roman alphabet from England, this Scandina- vian tradition not only confirms the generally-received pro- nunciation of the Roman y, but also afibrds independent proof of the sound of the letter in Old English. In its oi-igin 1/ is the ^-mutation of u ; its sound is there- fore, as the Icelander J:?6roddr says, "blended together of i and u," and poroddr actually considers y to be a combina- tion of these two letters. The sound which fulfils these conditions is clearly that which is still preserved in South Germany, Sweden, and, in many words, in Danish — the high-front-narrow-round. This, then, we may safely assume to have been the Old English sound also. Long Yowiels. AA. Long a in Old English corresponds to an ai of the older cognates, Gothic and Old High German, of which it is a simplified form. As the aa has been rounded at a later period, and is represented in the present language by the diphthong ou, some theorists, who seem incapable of realizing the possibility of sounds changing during the lapse of ten centuries, have assumed that it was labial in the Old English period as well. The answer to this is, that if the sound had been at all labial, it would have been written, at least occa- sionally, or oa, as was actually done at a later period, and as the Old English scribes themselves did in the case of short a before nasals : when we find the tenth century scribes writing invariably stem, and those of the twelfth century 32 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. writing as invariably stoon or ston, it seems simplest to infer that the former meant to indicate a and the latter some variety of o, -TVi /Tj . There are two long cbb in Old English. The commonest is that which corresponds to original ai, as in S(^, cf«^= Gothic saiw, dail. The relation of this ^ to the a treated of above is not quite clear. In some words, such as c/<§we=01d Ger- man kleini, the (e may be explained as an umlaut of a, original claini first becoming cidni and then cla^ni. But such words as &^ and d&l do not admit this explanation. It seems there- fore simplest to assume that a; and a are both independent modifications of ai, the former being formed by convergence, the latter by loss of the i. The second ce is that which corresponds to original a, Gothic e, as in f/(^rf= Gothic ded^ Old German tat. It is, however, quite clear (as will be shown hereafter) from the Modern English forms that this ^ did not exist in the dialect from which literary English has arisen, but was represented by e, as in Gothic, which is the case even in the West-Saxon in some words, such as ?^ew = 01d German ican, Gothic weUy and the proper name JElfred^=iO\^ German Alprdt. The only question about the sound of ^ is whether it was narrow or wide. The analogy of short m would rather point to its being wide, that of the pronunciation of Modern German, in which the e^-umlaut of a (keezB-=^kaasi) is always narrow, rather to narrowness. In fact the long sound of the (e in mcen is quite unknown in the Modern Teutonic lan- guages. It must also be borne in mind that ^ is probably a much older formation than the short ce, and may very well have been developed at a time when all the vowels were still narrow. If so, long ce must have been the low-front-narrow. EE. Long e corresponds first to original a, although, as already stated, this e often becomes ce in the West-Saxon dialect. In jnany words it is a simplification of the diphthongs ed and eo, BY HtNUY SWEET, ESQ. 33 as in ned, ec=nedd, edc (both of which forms arc also common), ffeng=geo)ig. The third and most common e is the /-umlaut of 0, written oe in the oldest documents, as in grene (groe)ie)=z original groni. The pronunciation of all these es was prob- ably the same, as they are not distinguished from one another in writing, and cannot well have been any other than the mid- f ront-n arrow. II, UU, Correspond to original ii and im, which are still preserved in the Scandinavian languages, the Old English win and hus being now pronounced in Icelandic and Danish viin, huus. There can be no doubt that the Old English sounds were the same as those still preserved in these languages — the high- front-narrow and the high-back-narrow-round. 00 Corresponds to original o, as in god, modor. The sound was no doubt the same as that still preserved in Danish and Swedish, namely the mid-back-narrow-round, but without the abnormal rounding of the 66 of these languages.^ YY Is the umlaut of u, as in mijs = musi, plural of miis. In some words, such asfi/r (Old German vimcar), it is a simplifi- cation of iu by diphthongal convergence. Its pronunciation cannot well have been anything else than the high-front- narrow-round. Diphthongs. EA. "Whenever original a comes before consonant-combina- tions beginning with /, r, or h, it is not changed into (e, but becomes ea, as in eall, wecirm, iceax. There can be no doubt that this ea was a true diphthong : its elements are never reversed (p. 23), nor is it confounded with ae or (b. The only question is whether the stress was • See my paper on Danish Pronunciation (Trans. Fliil. Soc. 1S73-4, p. 101). 3 34 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. on the first or the second element. There is evidence which seems to point to the conclusion that the stress fell on the a. In Middle English ea is generally lost, but in the archaic fourteenth century Kentish of the Ayenbite, the old diph- thong is still preserved in such words as eald, healdcn. But this ea is very often represented by rja, sometimes by yea, so that the Old English eald appears as eald^ yald and yeald. Here we have the glide-vowel represented by the Middle English consonant y, showing clearly that the stress was on the a. As to the origin of the ca, the theory first propounded by Rapp (Physiologic der Sprache, ii, 145) seems the most probable, namely that a first became cb before all consonants (except nasals), so that aid became reW, and that this (e was then diphthongized into ea or rather cea. EO. Similarly, when e comes before r, I and /^-combinations, it is diphthongized into eo, as in eor'^e, meolc, feoh. In the Kentish and ISTorthumbrian documents this eo is generally represented by ea, eor'^e being written ear^e. In the word eart (from erf) eo never occurs in any of the dialects — the normal eort being unknown even in West-Saxon. When we consider that e in Icelandic also is changed into ia {ea in the oldest MSS.), as in hiarta^OlU E. heorte, there seems to be every probability that ea was the older sound, which ia eart was preserved in all the dialects, on account of its excessive fre- quency. As CO is never (except in eart^ confused with ea=^a in the standard West-Saxon, we must suppose that the series of changes, e, ea, eo, was already completed when ear=^a began to develope itself. The rounding of ea into eo is a very curious phenomenon. The frequent rounding of vowels be- fore /, of which the Modern English fiolt from salt is an in- stance, would lead us to suppose that the change first began before /, and then extended to the other words. The analogy of Modern Icelandic, in which the first element of the ia has developed into a consonant, and of the Middle Kentish y in yald, make it very probable that the stress was on the second element. BY IIKNRY SWEET, ESQ. 35 EAA. Besides the ea from a, there is another ca, wliich answers to original au, as in (//•ga/w= Gothic draum. As this ea is distinct in origin and in subsequent development from the other ca, it must have been distinct in sound. The only conceivable distinctions are stress and quantity, that is, the ca=^ai( may have been distinguished either by having tlie stress on the first element, or else by its accented vowel being long. The former supposition is made untenable by both the Middle Kentish //a, as in d//a];>, and the Norse spelling Iatvar^r(=zJui- rar'Sr) for Eadtceard: these examples show that ea=.au had the stress on the same vowel as ea-=^a. We are driven, therefore, to the hypothesis that ca^^au had its second element long — drcaam. This view is confirmed by the Modern English form of the preterite ceds (Gothic kaus) which is c/iooz — an anomaly which is quite inexplicable, except on the assump- tion of an original long aa. The development of the word is clearly cc-aas, ce-oos, chads, cJwoz. This seems to be what Hask meant by his accentuating cci, which Grimm also adopted, although Grimm does not seem to have attached any idea of lengthening to the accent. The development of eaa out of an is one of the most diffi- cult questions in Teutonic philology. All the explanations hitherto given are utterly unsatisfactory, and I will not waste time in criticising them, but rather state what I consider to be the only tenable theory, which, as far as I know, has never been made public, although I was glad to learn from Professor Kern, of Leiden, that it had suggested itself to him also. The explanation we propose is simply this, au first became aa, as in Frisian. This aa followed the short a and became w(e. The (cce was then resolved into eaa or waa. We must suppose that these changes took place before ai became aa : otherwise there would have been a confusion between aa=au and aa = ai. There are, of course, certain difficulties still remaining. The development of a diphthong with one of its elements long is anomalous, and we would expect the diphthonglzation of the hypothetical 36 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. (ece to take place, like that of short (e, only before certain consonants. It is, however, quite possible that the diph- thongization of long cece was much earlier than that of short cp, and that the two phenomena are therefore independent. If so, (see may at first have developed into simple ea and the lengthening of the a may have been a secondary process. EOO Answers to original iu, as in (/eoj9= Gothic diup. There can be no doubt that this eo=^m was distinct from the eo^e, and every analogy would lead us to suppose that the difference ■was one of quantity. Positive confirmation is afforded by the English chuuz, which points as clearly to an Old English ccoomn as chooz does to a ceaas. The Icelandic ioo, as in Jiioosa (Modern kjonsa), shows the same anomalous lengthen- ing of the second element. There is some uncertainty about the first elements of these diphthongs. Some clue is however afforded by the inter- change of e with i in eo and eoo, which never happens with ea and eaa : we often find such forms as ior^e for eor^e, but never hianl for heard. The inference clearly is that in eo and eoo the initial vowel was closer and higher than in ea, eaa^ probably through the assimilative influence of the second element. The diphthongs are then strictly eo, eoo, ea, eaa (or possibly cea, ceaa). For the sake of comparison, I append a table giving Mr. Ellis's results (Early English Pronunciation, p. 534) together 1 LETTERS. ELLIS. SWEET. LETTERS. ELLIS. SWEET. a a, a tc i a fB i E e u I aa £E ee ii 00 uu II Ea (ica ?) CO %dd coo 8306 6 i _ ee 1 ii 00 e e u 6 y e e u, u ? , U uu w. ii y ea eo en eo ea, ea eo, eo ea, ea eo, eo V, i i IIY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 37 with my own, both in palnootype. It will be observed that Mr. Ellis (like all his predecessors) confounds the two short ^s and OS, which I have carefully distinguished. He is also not clear as to the distinction between ca^ eo, and ed, cu. Otherwise our results approximate very closely. MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD. Orthography. Some important revolutions in orthography took place during the transition from the Old to the Middle period — most of them the result of French influence. There are many instances of French influence on the con- sonant notation : in the vowels two cases require special notice, these are the use of u for the Old English y, and of OH for the Old English uu. The explanation of the former change must be sought in the fact that y in the Middle period lost its original value, and became confused with i, while in the beginning of words it assumed its present con- " sonantal value. The result was that the old sound of y was left without a symbol, and the want was supplied, imperfectly enough, by adopting the French representation of the sound, which was h. But u was further employed, also hi imitation of French usage, to represent the voiced sound of the Old E. /, so that «, which still retained its original pronunciation in many cases, stood for three distinct sounds. In course of time the short y-sound disappeared more and more, and at the same time a large number of long ijs were introduced in words taken from the French, which were all written with u [nature, etc.). To remedy the consequent confusion between ti^=i/f/ and u=uu {/lus, etc.), the French on was introduced as the representation of the latter sound, so that natyi/re and hum were distinguished in writing as nature and hous. For the details of the change of u into ou I must refer to Mr. Ellis'3 Early English Pronunciation, where the subject is treated at great length. These changes are important, as showing that the Middle 38 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS English scribes were not at all biassed by traditions of the earlier orthography, and therefore that their testimony can be unhesitatingly accepted, as far as it goes. We may now turn to the actual sound-changes, beginning with the most important and characteristic of thera all, which I will call Vowel-levelling. In the Transition period (Semi-Saxon) we are confronted by the curious and apparently inexplicable phenomenon of a language ignoring, as it were, the changes of an earlier period, and returning to the original sounds. Such is at least the case with the Old English modifications of a and e: where Old English has m, ea or eo, Middle English has the unmodified a and e. Compare glced, heard, seofon, with the Middle English glad, hard, seven. Such a change as that of gked into glad is doubly anom- alous, both as being a return to a pronunciation older than that of the oldest extant documents before the Conquest, and also as a change from a weak front to a strong back vowel. It is, in short, inexplicable, if considered as an ordinary organic sound-change. The explanation must be sought among the inorganic sound-changes, due to some purely external cause. One of the most unmistakable of these inorganic sound- changes is one which may be called levelling. The whole history of English inflection is mainly one of levelling. Thus, in Old English we find the plural formed in a great variety of ways, sometimes in as, sometimes in an, sometimes with difierent vowels, and sometimes without any change at all. In Modern English we have only the first, which, originally restricted to a limited number of masculine sub- stantives, is now extended to all substantives without distinc- tion. It would evidently be absurd to attempt to explain these changes as organic, to adduce, for instance, the change of the Old English plural heortan into the Modern harts as a case of n becoming s. They are clearl}- due to external causes, and are simply the result of that tendency to get rid DY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 39 of useless complexity which characterizes the more advanced stages of language : Instead of indicating plurality by a variety of terminations, some of which wore of a very vague and indistinct character, the later language selected that termination which seemed the most distinctive, and discarded the rest. "We can now understand how men who were engaged every day of their lives in this levelling process, whose language was being broken up and reconstructed with unexampled rapidity — we can understand how those who spoke the Transition Eng- lish of the twelfth century came unconsciously to regard the alternation of (e and a in such words as dceg, dagas, as an un- necessary piece of discrimination, comparable to that involved in the use of a large number of plural terminations. And so the indistinct (v — so liable to be confounded with e — was discarded, and the clear sounding a was made the sole repre- sentative of the older a and ce. When this process of levelling had once begun, it is easy to see how ea and co also came to be regarded as superfluous modifications of a and e, and were therefore in like manner discarded. As we shall see hereafter, caa and eoo (=:original au and iu) were simplified into ee and ee respectively ; it is, therefore, probable that ea and eo themselves were first sim- plified into e and e. It is further probable that the first sound of the e-=ea was identical with that of the Old English a.\ heard would, therefore, become hcerd^ whose ce would natur- ally follow the other ^s, and become a, giving the Middle English hard. The three spellings heard, hcerd, and hard are to be found constantly interchanging in Lajamon and other writers of the period. Whatever may be the explanation of the fact, there can be no doubt that the Old English cp, ea, eo, were lost in the Middle period, and that the mysterious connection between the Old English (e and the Modern sound in such a word as in(Bn (written man) imagined by some philologists, must be given up : the two aps are quite independent developments, even when they occur in the same words, as in ^wt, so'f, seed, (epjycl. Mr. Ellis has shown that up to the seventeenth 40 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. century these words were pronounced ^af, sat, sad, apl, even in the court dialect, and the sound ce is unknown up to the present day in most of our dialects. Before investigating the sound-changes of the Middle period in detail, it will be necessary to state the general laws which govern the remarkable qualitative divergence of long and short vowels in the later Teutonic languages. If it can once be shown that all the Teutonic languages follow the same general laws, it is but reasonable to suppose that the same laws will be found valid in the case of Middle English also. "We shall have still less hesitation in applying these laws to the elucidation of the Middle English sound-changes, when we consider that the English of the thirteenth century was really as much in advance of its contemporaries as Modern English is of its, and that Middle English is practically on a level with Dutch and the other living: Teutonic lano'uao'es. German, indeed, is in many respects much more archaic than Middle English, and may be said to stand to it in almost the same relation as Old English does. I propose, therefore, to give an impartial classification of the principal changes that have taken place in the living Teutonic languages, beginning with the long vowels. A. long Vowels. 1) Back to round (p. 11). Long a, whatever its origin, has in all the Teutonic languages except German and Dutch been rounded. Even German and Dutch show the same change in many of their dialects, which give long a the soimd of the low-back-narrow-round (English /a//) . This is also the Swedish and Danish sound, the only difierence being that the Scandinavian vowel is pronounced with greater lip narrowing, so that its sound approximates to that of the regular close 6 (the "mid" vowel). 2) Front-round to unrounded (page 11). Exemplified in the familiar German change of ce and // into e and /, as in s/ieen and kiin for shceoen and kyyn. In Modern Ice- landic a'ce became first unrounded, and the resulting ee ran BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 41 IT. TEUTONIC LONG VOWELS.* AA II 00 UU AI AU lU 1 Gothic 1 ded 2 Weill 3 god 4 5 hus 6 7 stain 8 drawn 9 diup 2 Old High German tat torn ffUOt gruoni hus husir stain stein traum frouin tiuf 3 Modern High German taat wain guut gryj-n haus hayzer shtain traum tiif 4 Old Saxon dad win god groni A MS — sten dram diop Dutch daat wein ghut ghrun hccys zyyr — steen di-66m dip 6 Old Icelandic da^ win gi^ gr&n hits kyr stein draum diup sion 7 Modem Icelandic dautS viin goii'S grain huus kiir stein drceim djuup sj oim 8 Swedish dood viin good groeoen hwifs- lyyta steen droem dJMe

(ech {]>(ec), hcec (hcec), seed (seed), lot (hlot), god (god), tcoz (icws). Examples of lengthening are geiv (geaf), ceim (cam), eit (cet) , gdit (geat), youc (geoc). The lengthened vowels in the adjectives ieim and Jdit may perhaps have arisen from the definite forms tama, lata. Dissyllables ending in a vowel, or the infinitival an, are almost alwaj's lengthened : nama, scamu, flotian, brecan, be- come neim, sheim, Jlout, breic. But there are exceptions : dropa becomes drop, and ha/an {=:habban) becomes /ucr, con- trasting with the regular bflieiv (from behabhan). But besides these isolated irregularities, there is a whole class of dissyllables which resists the lengthening tendency, namely those which end in a liquid or nasal. Examples are 48 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. hcemdr (from harnor), hetdr (beter), smell (saclol), dvan (ofen), hotdm (botom). There are, however, several exceptions. In the first place, all the past participles in o (except trocln) lengthen their vowel : froiizdn, chouzdn, clouvdn^ etc. There are also others, such as iivdn (efen),6uvdr (ofer) , eicdr (cecer), etc. In applying these deductions to Middle English we are confronted by a formidable difficulty. The Midland writer Orm, as is well known, indicates short vowel quantity by doubling the following consonant. If, then, we find Orm in the thirteenth century writing always ivitenn, sune, not u-ittenn, sunne, how can we escape the conclusion that he said iciiten, sunne ? If we accept the long vowels for the thir- teenth century, we are forced to assume that the original short vowels were first lengthened and then shortened again before the diphthongization of ii and uii into ei and ou ; for, otherwise, we should have had icait and saun in Modern English. Rather than accept this very improbable hypo- thesis, it seems safer to reserve any decided conclusion fill the difficult question of quantity in the Ormulum has been more fully investigated. The Modern forms of many words point clearly to their originally long vowels having been shortened in the Middle period. Besides the frequent shortening before two con- sonants, which will be considered hereafter, there are some cases before single consonants. Long ii is, as might be expected, often shortened, as in stif, dich, and in other words where it stands for various other O.E. long vowels, such as S27Y=0.E. ges^lig and ehil=.cele. Examples of other vowels are ^i (Procl. of H. III.), moare =:maare (Procl. and A. Riwle), ]>oa=])aa (A. Riwle). The clear inference is that the oo from aa was pronounced with a sound intermediate to oo and aa, and consequently that original oo still retained its Old English sound. The 00 of /tool, arising from original short 6, is in the present pronunciation represented by the same vowel as the CO from aa : it is therefore highly probable that it had in Middle English the same sound as the oo from aa, namely the more open one. 4 50 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. We may now examine the question from the comparative point of view, and see whether the results harmonize. The first two oos need not detain us long. We have seen that original do is, as a general rule, either retained without change, or else moved up into the ^-position. It is quite certain that this change had not taken place in the Middle period : 66 must, therefore, have been kept unchanged. Again, whenever aa has changed, it has been by rounding. It has been already proved that the Old English aa cannot well have been any other sound than the low- wide, and this, when rounded, naturally gives the low-back- wide-round. The of hoi was almost certainly the mid-narrow sound (p. 30). The tendencies of short vowels are, as we have seen, towards lowering and widening. These modifications, applied to our vowel, give the low-back- wide-round. This vowel was then lengthened, and became identical with the dd of too from taa, which, as we have seen, was no other than the low-back- wide-round. But all long vowels are liable to be narrowed (p. 30), and we find, as a matter of fact, that the do from aa is narrow in all the living Teutonic languages which possess it. It is, therefore, not only possible, but extremely probable that the 66 soon became narrow in Middle English also : f66 and h66l would therefore have the sound of the Modern English words which are written taw and haul. _i^ We may now turn to the ees. In the present English all the ees are levelled under n, but Mr. Ellis's researches have proved that in the sixteenth century a distinction parallel to that of the two oos was still kept up, some of the Middle English ees being pronounced ce, some ii, those words which are now written with ea (such as sea) having the ce-sound, while ee (as in see) had the n-sound. The analogy of the oos leads us to suppose that the sixteenth century ees correspond to Middle English e^s, and the iis to ees. I will now give an example of the difierent ees, with the original Old English forms, together with those of the sixteenth century and the Middle English forms indicated by them, adding the present English spelling, which is, of course, nothing but a dead i r.Y HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 51 tradition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pro- nunciation. \J TENTH CENT. TOURTEEXTH CENT. SIXTEENTH CENT.' NINETEENTH CENT. dajd .. d rerun jrrene.. ioop . mete .. stelan.. seS deed dreem green deep.... fm&te ) (meet ) (stelan \ steel see diid diceni griiii diip meet steel sii (sea) diid [died) driini [dream) griiii [green) diip [deep) miit [meat) stiil [steal) Reserving for the present the apparently anomalous ee of deed, the other changes, after what has heen said on the oos, call for only a few remarks. Old English t? and e remain unchanged in the Middle period. Of the two diphthongs ed, when simplified, natur- ally takes the low position of its principal element (the a), and CO, as naturally, takes the mid position of its o. e, following the usual tendencies of short vowels, is lowered, and the two short es, are consequently levelled under the common form e, which is afterwards lengthened. All the vowels either remain or become narrow. An important class of apparent exceptions is exemplified in deed, whose ce is represented in Middle English not by ee, as would be expected, but by ee. An examination of these anomalous en, berj^en bury (beri) bcbjrgan burien, birien, berien busy (bizi) tysig busi, bisi, besi church (ch93ch)...cyrice (early O.E. cirice)...churche, chirche, cherche much (mach) mycel (early O.E. micel),..niuche(l), michel, mechel, moche shut (shat) scyttan schutten, schitten, schetten There are besides two interesting words in which the y- sound is expressed by the digraph ui, which are : build (bild) O.E. byldan M.E. build, buld, bild, held guilt (gilt) gylt , gult, gilt, gelt The correspondence between the Old, Modern, and Middle forms, the latter (which are taken from Stratmann's Diction- ary), with their constant alternation between u and i, requires little comment. It is quite clear that the ambiguous ti and i were considered unsatisfactory representations of the y- sound, and recourse was therefore had to the digraph ici, which, as we see, was employed both in the Middle and Modern periods. The forms in e point to a previous lower- ing of the y to one of the ce-positions. The o of moche seems to show that there was a spoken, and not merely written form muche in the Middle period, with an anomalous change of y into u. These words evidently caused considerable embarrassment to the phonetic writers of the Early Modern period, for they had no proper sign for short y, and were compelled to identify it with the long French yy in myyz (written muse), or else, if they wished to preserve its quantity, to confound it with short i. I will now give the sixteenth century pro- 60 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. nunciations of these words, as deduced by Mr. Ellis. I have not made any alteration in his spelling, except in the case of Salesbury's u, which I have written y, as there seems to me to be no doubt that this was the sound intended by him. I have not thought it necessary to add the authorities, except in the case of Salesbury. burden : u. bury : y (Sa.). busy : y (Sa.). church : y (Sa.), yy, i, u. much : i, u ? y ? shut : i. build : yy, ii, i, ei (=Middle E. ii). guilt : i. The long yij in cJiyyrch is probably a mere inaccuracy of Smith's, for Salesbury writes distinctly tsurts, not tsuivHs, as he would have done had the vowel been long. The yy of hyyid may, on the other hand, be correct, for y may very well have been lengthened before Id, as i is {iDnld=^0.'Fj. uilde). The UB in tbese words (except perhaps in much) I am in- clined to regard as mere pedantry — the attempt to conform the pronunciation to the spelling, of which we have numerous instances in that very pedantic age. Of this artificial u for y the foreign word just is a striking example. This word was certainly never pronounced with u in the Middle period, and even at the present day the legitimate descendant of the old jyst is still to be heard from all uneducated and many educated speakers in the form of jist. Yet we find the arti- ficial ^-pronunciation already insisted on in the sixteenth century. ii, uu. Although long ii and uu were still preserved at the beginning of the Early Modern period, they soon began to be diphthongized. Salesbury writes ei and ow, as in toein {—lo'iin), ddow {—^uu), probably meaning e'l, 6u. There seem also to be indications of a broader pronunciation, 9i, 9u, which, as we shall see, became general in the following period. It is, then, clear that ii and tm were first modified by partial lowering, i-i, u-u, becoming e-t, 6-ti, and that the 1 I?Y HENKY SAVEET, ESQ. Gl resulting diphthongs were then exaggerated by divergence — a not unfrcquent phenomenon. ee, ee, do, 66. The history of these vowels in Modern English affords a striking example of the Teutonic tendency to narrow long vowels, each of them being raised a step, so that ee and 66 become ii and uu, as in f/w/=: Middle E. deed and simn=sd6?i, while cc and 60 become ee, 66, as in dr4em=- Middle E. drhlnn and b66n = hdd7i (O.E. ban). In one word, the Middle E. do has been preserved up to the present day, and, we may therefore assume, in the Early Modern period also, namely, in the adj. iroo(^= O.E. hrdd. ai, au, eu, 66u, 66u. The Middle English diphthongs are generally preserved, although there are traces of the simpli- fication of ai and au, which was fully carried out in the following period, cu was also simplified into yy in some words, such as tryy, nyy, while in others, such as hen, shcu, it was preserved. 66u did not, as might be expected, become uu, but its first element was kept unchanged, so that hI66u (=0.E. hlowan) has remained unchanged up to the present day. dou seems to have changed regularly into 66u, cndou (=:0.E. cndwan) becoming cn66u : the two oous, were there- fore levelled. Quantity. Middle English ek seems to have been shortened very early m the Modern period in some words which still preserve in writing the ea= Middle E, ee. Such words are def, insted, hed, red (partic), led (subst.), ded, bred, and several others. Nearly all the cases, it will be observed, occur before d. We shall find the same tendency to shorten before a stopped con- sonant in the Late Modern period as well. Consonant Influence. The most important case is the development of u before I in the combinations al and 661 (= Middle E. do), al, talk, 66hl, becoming aid, taulk, 66uld. The form aul is the origin of our present 661, t66k. 62 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS. The only traces of r- influence, so marked in the present period, are shown in the occasional conversion of e into a, as in hart, smart, for the older liert, smert. TRANSITIO:^ PERIOD. We now come to the most important and difficult period of Modern English, in which the vowels of the language may be said to have broken away entirely from the Middle Eng- lish traditions, and entered on a new life of their own. It is therefore fortunate that the phonetic authorities of this period are of a far higher stamp than those of the preceding one : many of their observations are extremely acute, and are evidently the result of careful study of the actions of the vocal organs. Short Vowels. e, i, 0, remain unchanged, as in the previous period. It w interesting to observe that we now, for the first time, find the qualitative distinction between short and long i and ti recognized by one of Mr. Ellis's authorities. The following is Cooper's list of exact pairs of long and short vowel-sounds (E. E. P. p. 83). 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 can ken will folly full up meet foot cast cane weal fall foale — need fool which Mr. Ellis interprets thus (denoting the wide vowel by italics) : C8cn ken wil foli iul op mit fut caecest keen weel fool fool — niid fuul It is clear that, as Mr. Ellis remarks. Cooper was dissatisfied with the usual pairing of i, ii, and ic, uu {fil, fiil), and there- fore tried to find the true short-narrow i and u in miit and fuut, where the ii and uu were probably shortened before the voiceless t, as is still the case. Again, he lengthened the short wide i and u, and finding that the resulting long vowel was nearly identical with the mid -narrow ee and 66, naturally identified them as the true longs and shorts. It DV HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 63 must be observed that the it of fuiit has not only been short- ened to fut in the present English, but has also had time to follow the usual tendencies of short vowels, and become wide. The shortening is, therefore, in all probability, of some antiquity. If, then, we suppose that the long uu of fiiut had been shortened to u in Cooper's time, and had not yet been widened, we see that the pairing oi fut and fuul may very well have been perfectly accurate, both as regards quality and quantity. In the ^ah's/oZ/i/y/all, Mr. Ellis makes the short o oi folly to correspond exactly with the long bb, and assumes it to be narrow. This, I think, is unnecessary. It is clear that Cooper's analysis is not absolutely accurate ; it is only a con- siderable step in advance. He may very well have considered the distinction between bb and 66 quite minute enough, and may therefore have disregarded the further refinement of distinguishinor narrow and wide b. a. The present ^-sound is clearly recognized by the seventeenth-century phoneticians. "Wallis describes a (both long and short) as a palatal, as opposed to a guttural vowel — as being formed by compressing the air between the middle of the tongue and the palate with a wide opening. And the Frenchman Miege identifies the English short ce with the French e ouvcrt^ which would certainly be the nearest equivalent. 11. The change of the old u into d was fully established in the Transition period, and it is clear from the descriptions given of the sound that it closely resembled the present one : AVallis calls it an obscure sound, and compares it with the French eit in senitcur, while Miege compares it with the French o — a common error of foreigners at the present day, and both Wallis and Wilkins identify it with one of the pro- nunciations of "Welsh y, which is generally identified with our a. Before going any further, it wiU be necessary to consider the present pronunciation, or rather pronunciations, of the 3 more closely. There are two distinct sounds of the d — the high-back- wide and the mid-back- narrow, which, although G4 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. formed so differently, are so similar in sound that even a practised ear finds it often difiicult to distinguish, them. Besides these two, a third sound may be heard in many English and Scotch dialects, which is the low-back-narrow. Different as these three vowels are, they all agree in being unrounded back vowels, and it is clear from the seventeenth century statements that the main distinction between u and d was then, as it is now, that u was rounded, d not. Now it is quite certain that u itself was, in the seventeenth century, the high-back- wide-round (which it still is in those words, such as unilf, in which the ti has been exceptionally retained) ; unrounded, this vowel would naturally become the high- back-wide — the very sound still in common use. The prob- ability that this was also the seventeenth-century sound is raised almost to a certainty by the statement of Wallis, that the sound is formed with the greatest of the three degrees of closeness of the lingual passage (between tongue and palate) recognized by him. Wilkins's statement that the sound is "framed by a free emission of the breath from the throat," and, again, that it is formed " without any particular motion of the tongue or lips," may be considered as evidence that some such sound as the present mid-back-narrow was also given to the 9, but it is quite as probable that the whole description is inaccurate. The general conclusion I arrive at is, that u was first un- rounded, and that the resulting high-back-wide was in some pronunciations imitated by the mid-back-narrow, which in some dialects was, in accordance with the tendencies of short vowels, brought down to the low position. Long Vowels. eV, 66. The close ee and 00= Middle English eh and 60, are distinctly recognized. Wallis states that " e profertur sono acuto claroque ut Gallorum e masculinum," and Cooper, as we have seen (p. 522), pairs full and foal as long and short, which he could not have done if the oa of foal still had the broad 00-sound. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 65 fi, 6u. The diphtlionglzation of Middle English ii and uu is carried a step further than in the previous period ; all the authorities agree in either identifying, or, at least, comparing the first element of the two diphthongs with the 3 of bot. wiin and ^iiu appear, therefore, in the Transition period as icdin and ^du — very nearly their present form. aiy au. An important change of this period, although partially developed, as Mr. Ellis has shown, much earlier, is the simplification of the old diphthongs ai and au into ee~ and oo-YOwels. Those writers of the Early period who acknowledge the simple sounds do not give any clue to their precise nature, but the seventeenth century accounts point clearly to ee and do, which latter is the sound still preserved in such words as lod, /iddk=:Iau, hank, although ee, as in dee=dai, has been moved up to ee, probably because the Early Modern ee has become ii in the present English. The above changes were either already in operation in the Early Modern period, or were at least prepared by previous changes : the next two are peculiar to the Middle period. aa. Long, like short, aa was changed to the front vowel (P, naam becoming nwcBm. The (Ece, being a long vowel, was soon narrowed into ee, as is shown by Cooper's pairing ken (=A-ew) and cane (=kee?i) as long and short. ?/y. Long i/i/, both in English words such as mjf/, and French such as ti///?i, was diphthongized into iu, nyy and tyun becoming niu and tiun. The older yij was, however, still preserved by some speakers, and we have the curious spectacle of the two contemporaries "Wallis and Wilkins ignoring each other's pronunciations, AYilkins asserting that the sound of yy is " of laborious and difiicult pronun- ciation," especially "to the English," while Wallis considered this very yy-soimd to be the only Enghsh pronunciation of long w. It was probably the influence of this new lu that changed the older en into iu, heu, etc., becoming hiu, whence by con- sonantization of the first element of the diphthong the present hyiiu. 66 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. IV. niSTOEICAL VIEW OF ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES. Old English. Middle English. Modern English. 1 mann sx't ( = sat) heard (=hard) nama man ma?n sajt haad neim end help seven miit stiil sii diid di-iim griin sii wit hil wain fair 6ft on houl t66 tuu sen haus del sei 166 sat hard naam 5 ende ( = andi) ^__^^elpan (=hilpan) . seofon -jneta (=niati) „.'— stelan (=stilan) '^ 10 sie (=saiw) dn:>d(=dad) di-eani ( = draum) -grene end help seven meet steel see deed dreem green 15 witan hyll win fyr 6ft ( = nfta) 20 6n ( — an) wit hil wiin fiir 6ft 6n hoi ta to sunn 25 hus hool t66 too Sim huus dai sei, sai dieg secgan lagru. lau LATE MODERN PERIOD. The further changes of the eighteenth century are com- paratively slight. The short vowels remain unchanged. The only long vowels which undergo any modification are the ees. In the first place the ees of the preceding period are raised to ii, dreem becoming driim, the result being that the Middle English ee and ee are both confused under ii. The word (7ree7=M.E. greet (O.E. great) is an example of excep- tional retention of the older ee. ^e from aa and ai is raised to the mid-position of ee, left BY HENRY SAVEET, ESQ. 67 vacant by the change of ee into ii, nehn from naam and se^ from sai becoming 7i^em and -st't'. od and 66 are, on the other liuud, retained unaltered. Wo see, therefore, that the fully-established pronunciation of the eighteenth century differed but slightly from that now in use. Quantity. The Early Modern iiu from 66 is often shortened before stops, almost always before /.•, frequently before other stops, and occasionally before other consonants. Examples are : luk (=Middle E. ^66k), tu/c ((66k), huk {b66k), stud (st66cl), ffud {g66d),fut {foot), huf (Ji66f), huzdm {hoozom). Other cases of shortening are doubtful, as they probably took place in the Earl}' period: even the changes just con- sidered may have been, at least partially, developed in the Transition period. The lengthening of vowels before certain consonants will be considered in the next section. Consonant Influenci? Some important modifications are produced in this period by consonant influence, which has, in some cases, also had a conservative efiect in preserving older sounds, which would otherwise have undergone various modifications. The most marked infiuence is that exercised by the r. So strong is it, indeed, that in the present English hardly any vowel has the same sound before r as before other consonants. One important result of this is that the r itself becomes a superfluous addition, which is not required for distinguishing one word from another, and is therefore weakened into a mere vocal murmur, or else dropped altogether, although always retained before a vowel. The following table will give a general view of these modifications. The first column gives the Middle English vowels, the second gives what would be their regular repre- sentatives in Late Modem English, the third gives the forms 68 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. they actually assume, and tlie last column gives examples with the Middle E. forms in parentheses : ar ir fer aar gar liaaad (hard) ]i99d (>ii-d) SW99V (swerv) t99f (turf) nooaji (nor)i) feer ffaar) feer (fair) diiar, ^eer (deer, ^eer) iiar, beer (eer, beer) muuar, floor (moor, floor) moor (moor) faiar (fiii") sauar (suiir) ir Sr er ggr ur 9V or eer eer iir iir uur 66r gar or 66r eer aar air eer eer 66r 66r iir eer iiar (eei) iiar (eer) uuar, 66r 66r „ air aiar auar uur aur The sympathy between r and the broad (low or back) vowels, which is also shown in the older change of sfer, etc , into star, is evident enough here also. In such words as /eer the seventeenth-century sound of long aa has been preserved almost unchanged, while in flddt^ the r has not only prevented the regular change into uu, but has even lowered the vowel from the 66- to the oo-position. In many cases it is doubtful whether the influence of the r has been simply conservative, or whether the change — say of hard into /icerd — actually took place, and that the influence of the r afterwards changed the w into a. The change of a into (B certainly seems to have been fully carried out in the Transition period before r as well as the other consonants, if we may trust the phonetic authorities ; but it is quite possible that the older as may have remained throughout as vulgar- isms, and soon have regained their lost ground. The levelling of ir, er, and ur, which are kept quite dis- tinct by the phoneticians of the Transition period, is a very curious phenomenon, as it has resulted in an entirely new vowel, which only occurs in these combinations. This vowel is the low-mixed-narrow. It is evidently closely allied to the regular short , graas, aask, laa/, craaft. The refined Transition pronunciation pcB^, msk, is, however, still to be heard. Before leaving this subject of consonant influence, it is necessary to observe that the rules just stated do not always apply to dissyllables, but only to monosj'Uables. Thus we find sceJou,f(vIou, not su/ou, fdioii, ticeroit not narou, and ^re^c?;* contrasting with/aa^^;- and raa^dr. The influence of initial lo is also very characteristic of Late Modern English, It not only preserves the old ic, as in wul, wulf, but also regularly rounds short a into d, what, swan, becoming ichot, swon; also in dissyllables, such as swolou, tcolou. The Transition forms ivdl, wolf, whcet, were probably artificial refinements, which were never accepted by the mass of the people.^ {See also p. 151.) LATEST MODERN PERIOD. "We are now, at last, able to study the sounds of our lan- guage, not through the hazy medium of vague descriptions and comparisons, but by direct observation ; we can throw away theory, and trust to facts. If our analysis of speecb- ' Mr. H. Nicol has just called my attention to the fact (which I had over- looked) that the change does not take place when the a is followed by a back consonant : wceg, wcex, etc. 76 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS. sounds were perfectly accurate and exhaustive, and if our ears were trained to recognize with certainty every appreci- able shade of pronunciation, the task would be easy enough. As it is, its dijfficulties are very great, and the observations I am about to make cannot therefore make any pretensions either to complete fullness or perfect accuracy. They are mere first attempts, and will require much revision. DiPHTHONGIZATION. The most prominent feature of our present English is its tendency to diphthongization. The diphthongic character of our ee and do has been dis- tinctly recognized by our leading phoneticians, especially Smart and Bell. Mr. Bell analyses the two diphthongs as di, on, but I find, as regards my own pronunciation, that the second elements are not fully developed i and u. In pronouncing ou the tongue remains throughout in the mid-position, and the second element only difiers from the first in being formed with greater closure of the lips, so that it is an intermediate sound between oo and zai. In ei the tongue seems to be raised to a position half way between e and i in forming the second element, not to the full high position of i. This indistinctness of the second elements of our ei and 6u explains the difficulty many have in recognizing their diph- thongic character. Mr. Ellis, in particular, insists strongly on the monophthongic character of his own ees and cos. I hear his ee and oo as distinct diphthongs, not only in his English pronunciation, but also in his pronunciation of French, German, and Latin. The observation of existing pronunciations has further revealed a very curious and hitherto unsuspected fact, namely that our ii and uic are no longer pure monophthongs in the mouths of the vast majority of speakers, whether educated or uneducated. They are consonantal diphthongs, ii termi- nating in the consonant y, kh in ic=i//, uw. The distinction BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 71 between bit and hiit (written beat) depends not on the short vowel being wide and the long narrow, but on the former being a monophthong, the latter a diphthong. The narrow- ness of ii (or rather ii/) is therefore unessential, and we find, accordingly, that the first element of both ii/ and uw is generally made wide. These curious developments are probably the result of sympathetic imitation of el and otc; and the tongue being already in the highest vowel position the only means of further contraction of the lingual passage left was the formation of consonants. The onl)' long vowels left are aa and dd. Are these genuine monophthongs? I believe not, although their diph- thongic character is certainl}' not nearly so strongly marked as in the case of the vowels already considered. Neverthe- less, these two vowels always seem to end in a slight vocal murmur, which might be expressed thus — aa^, doo. I find that aa and do, if prolonged ever so much, still have an abrupt unfinished character if this vocal murmur is omitted. The difference between loo (written kvc) and looi) {lore) is that in the former word the final d is strictly diphthongic and half evanescent, while the a of the second word is so clearly pro- nounced as almost to amount to a separate syllable. The distinction between the words written father and farther is purely imaginary. In popular speech these diphthongs undergo many modifi- cations. The first elements of ei and 6u often follow the general tendencies of short vowels, and are lowered to the low-front-narrow and low-back-wide-round positions respec- tively, giving ei and ou. This peculiar exaggeration of the two diphthongs, which is not uncommon even among the educated, is popularly supposed to be a substitution of ai for €i, and those who employ it are reproached with saying *' high " instead of " hay." I find, however, that those who say hti for Itei never confuse it with Jtai, which many of them pronounce very broadly, giving the a the low-back sound of the Scotch man. The 6 of 6u is often, especially in affected pronunciation, moved forward to the mid-mixed-round position, and from 73 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. there, by lowering and further shifting forwards, to the low- front-narrow-round position, so that nou becomes nceu. In like manner, the %(, of uw^=^im is often weakened into the high-mixed-round (wide), which is nearly the German u. So that tuu becomes almost Ujw or tuw. The two diphthongs corresponding to Middle E. ii and im show strongly divergent tendencies in the present pronimcia- tion. The first element of our ai is, I believe, the high- back- wide (which is also the commonest sound of the d in hdf), that of au the low-mixed-wide. In vulgar speech the distinction is still more marked, the a of ai being gradually lowered to the full low position, whilst the a of cm is moved forward to the low-front-wide position, giving the familiar ceu8 for haus. These exaggerations may be partly attributable to the desire to prevent confusion with the hi and 6u arising from ei and 66. The investigation of these peculiarities is not only of high scientific interest, but is also of great practical importance. We see that the imagined uniformity of " correct " pronun- ciation is entirely delusive — an error which only requires a little cultivation of the observing faculties to be completely dissipated. It is also certain that the wretched way in which English people speak foreign languages — often in such a style as to be quite unintelligible to the natives — is mainly due to their persistently ignoring the phonetic peculiarities of their own language. When we once know that our supposed long vowels are all diphthongs, we are forced to acknowledge that the genuine iYs and iiu^ of foreign languages are really strange sounds, which require to be learnt with an efibrt, in the same way as we acquire French u or German ch. A case once came under my notice, in which the French word written ete was confidently given forth as eHei, on the strength of the grammar's assertion that the French e aigu had the sound of the English ay in hay. The result was, of course, to produce a word utterly unintelligible to a French- man. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ, 73 Short Vowels. The short vowels do not seem to have changed much in the last few generations. The most noticeable fact is the loss of cc among the vulgar. It is modified by raising the tongue into the mid-front-wide, resulting in the familiar ceb for c(Bb. This anomalous raising of a short vowel is gradually- spreading among the upper classes, and is already quite fixed in many colloquial phrases, such as nou thenc yuiv, in which thcenc is hardly ever pronoxmced with (e, as it should be theo- retically. To keep the old original e distinct from this new sound, the original e generally has the broad sound of the low-front-narrow — a pronunciation which is very marked among the lower orders in London. In the pronunciation of those who retain ing Icelandic . •• >ing Swedish . .. ting Danish .... .. ting Dutch .... .. ding German . . ding The main difficulty here is to determine the laws which govern the distribution of the breath ]> and /, and the voice ^ and V. The following table gives a general view of the relations of the living languages. ^aet bra'?)ar ouj? J)aa^ . . . brou^ir ei^S det broodor eed de broo^or ee^ dat brudar eed das bruudor aid (for ait) The German ait, which is still written eid, really stands for aid, as final stops are always voiceless or whispered in Grer- man. The same is the case in Dutch, but original voiced stops preserve their vocality, if followed by a word beginning with a vowel. The inferences suggested by this table are clear enough. The English final ]> for ^ is evidently an exceptional change, which does not appear in any of the other languages. So also is the Icelandic ]> in paa^. The majority, then, of the living Teutonic languages agree in showing ^ me- dially and finally and ]> initially, except in a small group x BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 77 of words in very common use, such as the, then, thus, thaUy thou. The question now arises, what is the relation of the Dutch and German d in ding to the Scandinavian and English ting, \ing ? If the initial breath forms are the original ones, the voiced '^at, etc., must be later modifications ; if the ^ of 'Sat is the older, the t and ]> of ting and \ing must be the later developments — in short, there must have been a period in which ]> did not exist at all. If we go back to the Oldest English, we find no trace of any distinction between J? and ^. Many of the oldest MSS. write the ^ in all cases — "^ing, ^cet, hrd^or, a^, while others write \> with equal exclusiveness. When we consider that ^ is simply the usual d modified by a diacritic, and that the ]> itself is, in all probability (as, I believe, was first suggested by Mr. Vigfiisson), a D with the stem lengthened both ways, we are led to the unavoidable conclusion that the voice sound was the only one that existed in the Early Old English period. The fact that some of the very oldest remains of our language use the digraph th cannot outweigh the over- whelming evidence the other way. It was very natural to adopt the digraph th, which already existed in Latin as the representative of the sound th, as an approximate symbol of the voiced dh, but it is clear that it was considered an inaccu- rate representation of a voiced consonant, and was therefore abandoned in favour of ]> or ^, which were at first employed indiscriminately. Afterwards, when the breath sound developed itself, the two letters were utilized to express the difierence, and ]>, whose origin was of course forgotten, came to be regarded as the exclusive representative of the breath sound. According- ly the later MSS. of the tenth and eleventh centuries always use both \> and ^ together, often rather loosely, but always with the evident intention of writing ]> initially, ^ medially and finally. None of them seem to make any distinction between ]>ing and ^cef, etc. It is, however, clear that these words must have had the same voice pronunciation as they have now. 78 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. We may therefore assume three stages in the history of the English z'/i-sounds : Early Old English . . . ^ing ^aet bro^or a^ Late Old English . . . }mg ^ast bro^or a^ Modern English ])ing ^aet bra^ar 6u]> The mj'stery of the pronunciation of the, thou, is now solved : these words are archaisms, preserved unchanged by the frequency of their occurrence. These results apply equally to the /. There can be no doubt that the / in Early Old English was vocal like the "Welsh f, as is shown by the Old Grerman spelling uolc, etc. (still preserved^ though the sound has been devocalized, in Modern German), and the Dutch pronunciation. In the Transition period the voiced / was represented by the French u, as in Old German, and it is clear from such spellings as vox for fox, uader for fader, that the initial vocality of the Old English / (and consequently of the ^ also) was still preserved, as it still is, in many of the Southern dialects. Even in the present literary English we find initial vocality still preserved in the words vein (from fana), vcet and vixen. As, however, these words are not of very frequent occurrence, it is not improbable that they were taken directly from one of the dialects. There are a few cases of the retention of final vocality also, both of / and ^, in the present English. The words are ov, ticelv, and tci'^, all three evidently preserved, like "^cet, etc., by their excessive frequency. The pronunciations of and wi\>, given by some of the Early Modern authorities, are made doubtful by their recognition of ov and ici^ as popidar or vulgar pronunciations : they may therefore be purely artificial. The vocal pronunciation of initial s, which is common in our dialects, and is shown for the fourteenth century by the Kentish zay, zal, etc., cannot be original. The sound of z is unknown in Scandinavia, and even in Germany the " soft " s is clearly the result of Low German influence, and it is un- known in the South German dialects. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ, 79 It seems, therefore, that the vocalization of initial (and also medial) s in English is merely a case of levelling, caused by the analogy of the vocal ^ and v. G. The use of g for the ^/-consonant (/) of the other lan- guages is one of the knotty points of Old English phonetics. It is commonly assumed that the y of (/er (=:Gfothic jer), ge {=jus), and the ge of geoc {=ju/i), gecl {=Jd), are merely orthographical expedients for indicating this y-consonant. But there seems no reason why the i of the other national orthographies should not have been adopted in England also. As a matter of fact, it is used in foreign names, as in Iu])ijtfe (in the Chronicle), Iiih'ana, etc. And not only do such words as geoc alliterate with undoubted hard <7S in the poetry, but we even find such pairs as Juliana, god, showing clearly that even in foreign words y-consonant was liable to be changed into a sound which, if not identical with the g of god, was at least very like it. The ge of geoc makes it very probable that the g=i/-con- sonant was a palatal sound — in short, a palatal stop formed in the place of y ( = Sanskrit ^). The conversion of an open into a stopped consonant is, of course, anomalous, but pre- cisely the same change has taken place in the Eomance languages. The spelling eg for gg, as in Ucgan, ecg, is curious. We can hardly suppose that the combination is to be understood literally as c followed by g. Such a change would, at least, be entirely without precedent, and it seems most probable that the combination was meant to indicate a whispered instead of a voiced gg. The peculiarity, whatever it was, does not seem to have been carried into the Middle period, whose scribes always write gg. Final g after long vowels or consonants often becomes h in Old English, which, to judge from the spelling hogh^=^hoh=^hdg, was originally vocal {=gk), although it was soon devocalized. In the Transition period all medial and final gs became open (g/i), as in German, Danish, and Icelandic. This g/i after- 80 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS. wards became palatalized after front, and labialized after back vowels {gho), and in many cases the palatal and labial gh became still furtber weakened into i and u, forming the second elements of dipbtbongs. After a consonant the labial gh was confused with w (from wbicb it differs only in being slightly more guttural), foJgian becoming folicen. When the to came at the end of a word, it was weakened into u, folw becoming folu, . and malw (O.E. mealwe) becoming malu. The present 6u in folon, for which there is sixteenth century authority, as well as for folu, is anomalous. It is possible that the 6u pronunciation may be artificial — the result of the spelling /o//oz^. Even initial g is often weakened before front vowels, so often, indeed, that the Old English form of the g (3) came to be used exclusively to represent this weak sound, while the French form (nearly our present g) was reserved for the original stopped g. The first change was, no doubt into gh, gifan becoming gJiiven, as in the Dutch gheevdn, which soon became palatalized, till at last it became simple y-consonant, as is clearly proved by such spellings as /fl5/=0.E. geaf (Peterborough Chronicle), yelt^=^gylt (Ayenbite), etc. The g or ge, which represents original y-consonant in Old English, always undergoes this weakening, geoc, ge, becoming ydoc, ye6. Even when initial ge is merely the result of the diphthongization of a into ea, it is often weakened into ya, as in yard:=^geard-=gard. The result of all these changes was, that by the beginning of the sixteenth century gh was entirely lost, being either weaken- ed into a vowel (^ or u), or converted into the corresponding breath sound lih, but only finally, as in doouh (O.E. dag), enuuh {genog). In most cases final gh (when not vowelized) was dropped entirely, as infoou {Jag), Joou {ldg),fu {feoh)} In the present English kh — whether answering to O.E. g or h — has been entirely lost. It appears from Mr. Ellis's investigations that the full kh first became weakened to a ^ The u in doouh, fooufh), etc., was probably a mere secondary formation, generated by the ghw, the stages being oogh, ooghw, ooughw, and then oouh or simply oou. BY HENRY S\VEET, ESQ. 81 mere aspiration, whicli was soon dropped. In such words as niht the i was lengthened, 7iilit becoming niit, whence our present nait. Final hh preceded b}^ a rounded vowel as in lauh, enuuk, was itself naturally rounded into lihw, like the kh in the German auch ; hence the present laqf, enof — laukh^ lahhw, lawh, Jaf. For fuller details the reader must be re- ferred to Mr. Ellis's great work. CH, J The change of c into ch before and after front vowels, as in chiild, tkech, from cild, tcecan^ offers considerable difficulties, on account of the many intermediate stages there must have been between the back stop c and the present ^sA-sound. There can be no doubt that the first change was to move c to the front-stop position, but, although the further change to the point formation is simple enough, it is not easy to explain the intrusion of the ^h : we would expect ciihi to change simply into fii7d, just as geniaca becomes maat. I believe that the change from the intermediate front-stop to tsh is a purely imitative one. If the front-stop is pronounced forcibly — even with a degree of force stopping far short of actual aspiration — the escape of breath after the contact is removed naturally generates a slight hiss of yh (as in Ime)^ which is very like sA i^a sound — hence the substitution of the easier hh. The same remarks apply also to the dzh-^o\\xA in icej, ej, rij, etc., from ivecg, ecg, hrycg. It is instructive to observe the analogous changes in the Scandinavian languages. In Icelandic li and g before front vowels are shifted forward a little, without, however, losing their back character, almost as in the old-fashioned London pronunciation of kaind, skai, etc. In Swedish k before front vowels has a sound which is generally identified with the English c/i. If, however, my limited observations are correct, the real sound is the front stop followed by the correspond- ing open breath (yh). The sound is certainly not the English c/i, which the Swedes consider an unfamiliar sound. In 6 82 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. Norwegian the stopped element is dropped entirely, and nothing remains but a forward yhy so that lienna is pro- nounced yhemia. Both in Norwegian and Swedish g before front vowels has the simple sound of the consonant y. SH. . The change of Old English sc into sh is not exactly parallel with that of c into ch, as it takes place after back as well as front vowels — not only in such words as s/e/}j (^=scip), but also in s/iun (dscimian), etc. It is therefore possible that se may have passed through the stage of sk/i, as in Dutch, a change which seems to be the result of the influence of the s, the kk instead of k being, like s, a sibilant unstopped con- sonant. The Old English spellings 8ceacan, sceoc, etc., for scacan, scoc, however, seem to point rather to a palatalization of the c at an early period. Whatever the development may have been, it is certain that the sound soon became simple, for we find it often written ss in the Early Middle period. In Swedish the sound of sh is fully developed, but only before front vowels. In Norwegian sk before front vowels changes its k into yh (voiceless y-consonant), which, as we have already seen, is the regular change, giving the combina- tion s-yh, which is generally confounded with simple sh by foreigners. These facts tend strongly to confirm the view that the change of sk into sh in English also is due to pala- talization of the k, although we cannot determine with certainty what the intermediate stages were, WORD LISTS. The following lists are intended to include the majority of the words of Teutonic — that is to say English or Scandinavian — origin still in common use, with the corresponding Old and Middle forms. The first column gives the Old English forms ; the second the Middle English (but without the final e, p. 56) as deduced from the Old English forms and the present tra- ditional spelling, which is given in the third column ; the BY IIEMIY SWEET, ESQ. 83 fourth, lastlj'', gives tlie present sounds. I liave, of course, carefully compared the valuable pronouncing vocabulary of Early Modern English given by Mr. Ellis in his Third Part, especially in all cases of irregular change or anomalous spell- ing. These exceptions will be considered hereafter. The words are arranged primarily according to their vowels in the following order : — a (od, ea, ei), ii, i, I, y, y, e (eo), e, e, »=ee, U3 = ee, ea, eo, u, u, o, 5. Then according to the consonant that follows the vowel in this order : h, r, 1, ^, 8, w, f, ng, n, ra, g, c, d, t, b, p ; and lastly according to the initial consonant in the same order. The principle I have followed is to begin with the vowels, as being the most independent elements of speech, and to put the stops at the extreme end as being most opposed to the vowels. The semivowels or open consonants naturally come after the vowels, and the nasals next to the stops. As regards posi- tion, back consonants come first, then front, then point, and then lip. Yoice consonants, of course, come before breath. It will easily be seen that the same general principles have been followed in the arrangement of the vowels. The order of position is back, mixed, front ; high comes before mid, and mid before low, and round last of all. To facilitate reference, I have often given the same word under as many different heads as possible, especially in cases of irregular development. Old English forms which do not actually occur, but are postulated by later ones, are marked with an asterisk. The Middle English forms in parentheses are those which, although not deducible from the spelling, are supported by other evidence. Norse words are denoted by N., and the conventional Icelandic spellings are occasionally added in parentheses. Many of the inorganic preterites (such as bore=^b(er) have been included in the present lists ; they are all marked with a dagger. 84 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. MIDDLE. hleahhan geseah eahta hleahtor sleaht feaht t^hte lauh sau eiht (ai) lauhter slauhter fauht tauht laugh saw eight 4 laughter slaughter fought taught laaf BOO eit laafter si bo tor foot toot aron hara scearu starian sparian waer faran nearu (nearw-) caru dear taer bser {adj.) basr {pret.) ar haar shaar staar spaar waar faar naru caar daar f tbor baar baar fbbor 8 are hare share stare 12 spare ware (wary J fare narrow 16 care dare tore hare 20 hare hore aar h^ar shear stear spear wear fear nserou cear dear tbar b^ar bear boar ears ars arse aas ar(e)we aru arrow serou spearwa sparu 24 sparrow spcerou gearwa geer gear giar hserfest harvest harvest haavest (ge)earnian eern earn aan wearnian warn 28 warn wban fearn fern fern faan gearn yam yarn yaan earm arm arm aam hearm harm 32 harm haam wearm warm warm woam sweartn swarm swarm swbam earc arc arh aac serce- arch- 36 archihishop) aach- a(oE( ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 85 a, ae, ea, u {continued). OVO. MIDDLE. MODERN. luwerce larc larlc laoe stcarc stare stark staac spcarca spare spark spaac mearc marc 40 mark maac bare, N. (biirkr) bare hark baac pearruc pare park paoc heard hard hard haad weard ward 44 ward woad geard yard yard yaad beard beerd heard bidd («Q) eart art art aat sweart swart 48 swarthy swba]7i cract cart cart caat teart tart tart taat hearpe harp harp hasp scearp sharp 52 sharp shaap alor {under Id) ealu aal ale 6il eall al all 661 heaU hal hall hool ealu (sealw-) salu 56 sallow sselou smajl smal small sm66I sceal shal shall shael scealu scaal, shaal scale, shale sceil, shell steall stal 60 stall 8t661 wcall wal wall w661 hwsel whaal whale wheil falu (fealw-) falu fallow faelou feallan M 64 fall fool nibtegale nihtingaal nightingale naitinggeil gealle gal gall gool ealu (cealw-) ealu callow caelou ceallian {^. ?) cal 68 call cool d£El daal dale deil talu taal tale teil bealu baal hale beil swealwe swalu 72 swallow swolou wealwian walu wallow wolou mealwe malu malloio ma^lou h ; r, hr, 1, hi ; «, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 86 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS, a, SB, ea, 6 {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. jelf elf elf elf healf half 76 half haaf sealfian salv salve saelv cealf calf calf caaf selmesse alms alms aamz healm halm 80 halm hoom sealm salm psalm saam halgian halu hallow haelou gealga galuz gallows gffilouz tselg talu 84 tallow tffilou stealcian stale stalk stooc wealcan ■wale walk wboc bealca bale halk bbbc bealcettan belch 88 helch belch alor alder alder b61d9r eald oold old ould ealdormann alderman alderman boldaman healdan hbbld 92 hold hould Bealde soold -^ sold sould fealdan fobld fold f6uld ceald cobld cold could tealde tbbld 96 told tould beald bbold lold bould healt halt halt holt sealt salt salt solt mealt malt 100 malt molt h^(f)^ ha> hath ha?]? hra^or ra%er rather raa^ar hwae^er whe^er whether whe^ar baj^ ba]7 104 lath baa]? banian baa^ bathe bei% psB^ pa> path paa]? fse^m fa^om fathom fce^am ea(l)swa az 108 as sez assa as ass aas *h£e(f)s haz haa hoez a(3e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, c, vb, ea, eo, u, o HY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 87 SI, SB, ea, O {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. laensa les less les ¥y laes ^e lest 112 lest lest wtes waz was woz noes nes neaa nes graes gras grass graas gloes glas 116 glass glaas brffis bras brass braas sesc ash ash a)sh ascian asc ask aasc ascan ashez 120 ashes seshez rase N. rash rash rsesh wascan wash wash wosh flasce flasc flask flaasc ba^a sic N. base 124 bask baasc la(to)st last last laast laest {superl.) le^st least liist l^stan last last laast fajst fast 128 fast faast mJBst mast mast maast ga^st gest guest gest casta N. cast cast caast castel castl 132 castle caasl blSst blast blast blaast £esp aspen aspen ffispen awel aul awl bol clawu clau 136 claw cloo hafa {imper.) hav have haev bohafa behaav behave beheiv hajfen haavcn haven heivon hafoc hauc 140 hawk hooc stasf staf staff staaf stafas staavz staves steivz scafan shaav shave sheiv nafu naav 144 nave neiv geaf gaav gave geiv groef grafan graav grave greiv ceaf chaf chaff chaaf ceafor chaafer 148 {cock)chafer cheifar h; r, hr, 1, hi; "6, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 88 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. a, ae, ea, O {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. crafian craav crave creiv claefer cloover clover clouvar hsef^ {under ^) hrajfn raaven raven reivon 1 i-M- \ {under d) hla3idige ^ ^ seffcer after 152 after aaftar Bceaft shaft shaft shaaft craeft craft craft craaft angel {hook) angl to angle sengl hangan hang 156 hang hceng hrang rang rang rseng lang long long long 7i'ang ]>rong throng >rong 'wang >ong 160 thong >ong sang {pret.) sang sang saeng sang {subst.) song song song Strang strong strong strong sprang sprang 164 sprang sprseng wrang {pret.) wrang wrang rseng wrang {adj.) wrong wrong rong fang fang 167 fang fseng mangere ? monger (u) monger mangar on gemang ? among (")■ among among gang gang gang gseng tange tongs tongs tongz tanga N bang 172 hang baeng ancleow and anUe send ranc ranc rank rsenc hlanc lane lanli laenc jjuncian J'anc 176 thank Jjcenc sane sane sank saenc scranc shranc shrank shrseuc stanc stanc stank stoenc dranc dranc 180 drank drtenc Snig aani (a) any eni hanep hemp hemp hemp a(se ca ei), i, e(eo), e, C-, aj, eft, &>, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 8a a, ae, ea, o {continued). OLD. MIDDLE, MODERN-. rann ran ran rsen raunsaca N. ransac 184 ransack ra)nsa)c laue laan lane loin ^unne | ^an ^en than then ^en swan swan 188 sivan swon gespann span span spsen wann {pret.) f wun won wan wann {adj.) wan wan won wanian waan 192 wane wein liwanne when when when fana vaan vane vein mann man 7nan maen mane maan 196 7nane mein mauig maani (a) many meni begann began began bega^u ganot ganet ganet geenet cann can 200 can caen crana craan crane crein bana baan lane bein gebann ban Ian bsen panne pan 204 pan paen an(d)s-warian answer answer aansar anfilt anvil anvil senvil and and and send hand hand 208 hand hsend land land land laend sand sand sand ssend standan stand stand staend strand strand 212 strand straend wand N. (vondr) wand wand wond wand {pret.) fwuund wound waund wandrian wander wander wonder caudel candl 216 candle caendl band {pret.) fbuund hound baund band {subst.) band bond band bond baend bond brand brand 220 brand braend wanfa, N. want want wont plantian plant plant plaaut h; r, hv, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 90 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. a, 88, ea, O {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. ic earn £emette hamor am emet hamer 224 am emmet, ant hammer sem emet, aant hsemar ramm lama {ad).) ram laam ram lame raem leim same saam 228 same seim swamm scamu fram swam shaam from swam shame from swsem sheim from nama naam 232 name neim gamen crammian gaam cram game cram geim crsem cwam damm tama {adj.) caam dam taam 236 came dam tame ceim daem teim lamb wamb camb lamb woomb coomb 240 lamb tcomh comb laem wuum coum damp {subst.) N. damp damp (adj.) daemp haga laeg lagu hau lai lau 244 haw lay law hoo lei 166 sage ) sagu j slagan sau slai saw slay s66 slei ■wagian fleagan wag flai 248 wag flay waeg flei mseg maga mai mau may maw mei moo gnagan dseg *dagenian dragaa j gnau dai daun drag drau 252 gnaw day dawn drag draw noo dei doon drsBg droo f8eg(e)r fair 256 fair fear liseg(e)l snaeg(e)l n8eg(e)l taeg(e)l hail snail nail tail 260 liail snail nail tail heil sneil neQ teil a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ie, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 91 B, 88, ea, O {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. reg^er ei^cr either ii^ar ai^o sloeg(e)ii elain slain slein faeg(e)u fain fain fein ma^g(e)n main 264 7nain mein ongfeg(e)n again again i 8g6in ( agen br8eg(e)n brain brain brein saegde said said sed mjBgd maid 268 maid meid ascer aacr acre eicar aecern aacorn acorn eicban race raac rake reic J>aBC ]7ach 272 thatch J7gech rannsaca N. ransac ransack raensasc sacu saac sake seic snaca snaac stiake sneic scacaa shaac 276 shake sbeic stacu staac stake steic sproec 1 spaac spake speic f spooc spoke spouc wacan waac 280 v)ake weic wrcec wrec icrecls rec nacod naaced naked neiced macian maac make meic caca N. caac 284 cake ceic cwacian cwaac civake cweic taca N. taac take teic bsec bac hack baec bacan baac 288 lake beic brsec | braac brake breic fbrooc broke brouc blaec blac black blajc eax ax 292 axe sex axan ) / i v axianj(""^^^««) weax 1 weaxan ) wax wax wacx fleax flax flax flaex h ; r, hr, 1, hi ; ^, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 92 HISTORY OF EMGLISH SOUNDS. a, se, ea, o {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. sedese adis addice, adze sedz h»(f)de had 296 had hsed hladan laad lood lade load leid loud hlaeder lader ladder laedar hl£e(f)dige laadi 300 lady leidi ssed sad sad ssed sadol sadl saddle ssedl sceadu shadu shadoic, shade shaedou, sheid wadaa waad 304 wade weid feeder fa^er father fau^ar gema(c)od maad made meid gegadorian ga^er gather gae^ar togsedere toge^er 308 together tuge^ar glsed glad glad gloed cradol craadl cradle creidl *gecl^^ed clad clad deed trted ftrod 312 trod ftrod nasdre ader adder aedar bla3d blaad blade bleid blaedre blader bladder blaedar aet (prep.) at 316 at aet set (fret.) aat ate eit, et hatian haat hate heit haett hat hat haet Iset (lata) laat 320 late leit ]73et ^at that ^aet saet sat sat saet Effiterdseg saturdai Saturday saetadi waiter water 324 water wobtar hwaet what what whot spffitte (pret.) spat spat spaet imt vat vat vaet fffitt (adj.) fat 328 fat ffet flat N. flat flat fleet geat (suhst.) gaat gate geit begeat (pret.) got got got gnaett gnat 332 gnat naet catt cat cat caet crabba crab crab craeb a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), h, e, ie, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 93 a, 8B, ea, 6 {continued). MIDDLE. MODERN. npa happ N". scapan aeppel aap hapi shaap apl ape S36 happy shape apple eip haepi sheip sepl step hna^ppian sap nap sap 340 nap sjcp neep gegpian cnapa papol(stan} gaap cnaav pebl gape knave j)ebble geip neiv pebl ei (ey). {All Norse.) >ei(r) N. nei ai ^ai (ei) nai 344 aye they nay ai, ei ^ei nei Jjeirra N. ^eir their ^eor hen hail 348 hail ! heil reisa raiz raise reiz hrein N. swein rain((leer) swain rein{deer) swain rein(di8r) swein steic weic steec ■weec 352 steak weak steic wiic beita bait bait beit deyja dii dai a. ra la sla swa wa hwa rbo 356 ro& loo lof slob sloe BOO so woo 360 ivoe hwoo who rou lou, loo slou sou wou huu h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 94 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. a {continued). OlD. MIDDLE. MODERN, fraK froo {to and) fro frou na nob no nou (ic) ga da gob dob 364 go doe gou dou ta tbb toe tou twa tw66 two tuu ahte bbuht 368 ought bbt (n)aht 1 (ii)auht not {n)auffht not (n)bbt not hal i fhbol [hwbbl haal 372 whole hale houl heil halgian (under mal mbbl mole moul gedal dbbl dole doul ar bbr oar bar tar hbbr 376 hoar hbar raiian rbbr roar rbar lar Ibbr lore Ibar sar sbbr sore sbar mare mbbr 380 more mbar gare gbbr gore gbar geara bar ybbr boor yare boar ybar bbar hla(f)ord lord 384 lord Ibod a^ bb]? oath 6u)> wra^ ( \ wra]? wrbbj? wrath ivroth raab rb(o)> la^ian Ibb^ 388 loathe lou^ na(n)]7iDg cla^ no)>ing clo]? nothing cloth nojiing clb(b)> cla^ian clbb^ clothe clou^ ba^ir, N. bob]? 392 both YtbvJp has hbbrs hoarse hbbgs aras arbbz arose orouz J:»a8 ^bbz those ^ouz *liwa3 wlibbz 396 whose huuz a(a! ea ei), i, e(co), e, e, te, ea, co, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 95 A {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODEKN. ascian {under a) *inast gast mbbst gbbst most ghost moust goust lawerce jawan ;rawan (under a) 7au Tobu 400 thaip throw Bawan 600U sow sou snaw snoou snow snou mawan moou 404 mow mou crawan cnawaa blawau croou CTibbu blbbu crow know Mow crou nou blou sawl sbbul 408 soul soul aw^er (=ahwoe^er) or oar gesaw(e)n sbbun sown soun ge])raw(e)n l^rboun thrown ]?r6un gecnaw(e)n cnbbun 412 known noun hlaf Ibbf loaf louf hlaford {under ^) draf dibbv drove drouv ' an bbn, an, a one, an, a won, on, a anlice bbnli 416 only ounli lanN. Ibbn loan loun nan noon none nan scan sbbbn shotie shon stan stbbn 420 stone stoun ? manian mbbu moan moun gegan (part.) gbbn gone gon granian grbbn groan groun ban boon 424 hone boun ham hbbm home houm lam Ibbtn loam loum hwam whoom whom huum fam fbbm 428 foam foum clam clami clammy claemi h; r, hr, 1, hi; «, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 96 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. a (continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. agan bou owe 6u lag Ibbu low lou 0g fob 432 foe foil dag dbbuh dough dou ag(e)n bbun own oiin ac bbc oak 6uc (■wed)lac (wed)loc 436 (wed)Iock (wed)loc stracian strobe stroke strouc spaca spbbc spoke spouc tacen tbbecn token toucan -had -hood 440 (man)hood -hud rad rbbd rode, road roud lad Ibbd(stbbn) load{stone) 16ud(st6un) wad wood woad woud gad gbbd 444 goad goud tade tbbd toad toud abad abbbd abode eboud brad brbbd Iroad bibbd ?adl ate bbts 448 oats outs hat hot hot hot swat {under sd ■ = ee) wat wot wot wot wrat wrbbt wrote rout gat gobt 452 goat gout bat bbbt boat bout rap rbbp rope roup sape Bobp soap soup swapan (under £6 :=ee) grnpian grbbp 456 grope gi-oup papa pbbp fope poup riht gellhtan riht liht right (a)light rait lait a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, oo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEKT, ESQ. 97 i {continued). OLD, MIDDLE. MODERN. gesih'S wiht 1 siht wiht "whit 460 sight tvight tvhit sait wait whit niht niht night nait miht miht 464 might mait cniht cniht knight nait briht briht bright brait pliht pliht plight plait hire hir (e) 468 her haar scire shiir shire shiiar, shaior stigrap cirice {under j) stirup stirrup stirap mirh^ mir]? mirth moa]? wirsa (tinder y) hirde *J'irda( = ]7ridda) *bird(=bridd) herd })ird bird 472 {shep)herd third bird (8hep)ad Jjaad baad iUK U ill il scilling scaN. shiling scil 476 shilling skill shiling scil stills Btil still stil spillau ■wiUa spil wil 480 spill will spil wil ■wilig wilu XVilloW wilou gillan tn N, {prep.) ) tilian ) yel til yell till yel til bill bil 484 bill bil film(en) film film film seoloc silo silk silc swilc {under c) hwilc {under c) meolc mile milk mile Bcild shiild 488 shield shiild wilde wiild wild waild milde miild mild maild h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 7 9d HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. gild gildan cild cildru hilt i {continued). MIDDLE. gild gtiild yiild 492 'yield chiild child children children hilt hilt gild yuld clrajld children hilt smi^ smij? 496 smith smijj wi^ ■wi^ with wi^ fi^ele fidl fiddle fidl ni^er ne^er nether ne^9i pi^a pi> 500 pith pi> is iz is iz his hiz his hiz fis ^is this 'Sis *))ise 'Seez 504 these ^iiz mis- mis- mis{talie) mis- missan mis miss mis gise yis (e) yes yes bliss bJis 508 bliss blis fisc fish fish fish disc dish dish dish biscop bishop bishop bishap •wisdom wizdom 512 wisdom wizdam list list list list J)istel >istl thistle >isl mist mist mist mist gist ye^st 516 yeast yiist mistelta mistltoo mistletoe misltou Crist Criist Christ Craist cristenian cristen christen crisn gist yeest 520 yeast yiist gistrandaeg yisterdai (e) yesterday yestadi hwistlian whistl whistle • 'whisl wllsp {adj.) lisp to lisp lisp hwisprian whisper 524 ivhisper whisper Biwian niwe seu aeu sexo new sou nyuu a(a) ea ei), i, 6(eo), e, e, se, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 99 i {contiuKcd). OVD. MIDDLE. MODERN. cliwe cleu clew cluu tiwes dseg tcuzdai 528 Tuesday tyuuzdi ifig iivi ivy aivi lifian liv Kve liv lifer liver liver livor sifo siv 532 sieve siv stif stif stiff stif wifol ■wiivil weevil wiival ?if if if if gilan giv 536 give giv clif clif cliff clif drifen driven driven drivon siftan sift sift sift swift swift 540 swift swift scrift shrift shrift shrift fiftig fifti fifty fifti gift gift gift gift hring ring 544 ring ring -ling -ling {dar)ling -ling J>ing >ing thing ymg siugan sing sing sing swingan swing 548 su-ing swing stingan sting sting sting springan spring spring spring wtengl!^. (v«ngr) wing wing wing finger finger 552 finger fingor cringan crinj cringe crinj clingan cling cling cling bringan bring I ring bring sincan sine 550 sink sine slincan slinc slink slinc scrincan shrine shritik shrine stincan stinc stink stine wincian wine 560 ivink wine drincan drinc drink drinc twinclian twincl twinkle twincl in(n) in m{n) in rinnan run 564 run ron lin linen linen linen h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 100 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. i {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. ecin(ban) shin 8?tin shin scinn N. scin skin scin spinnaa spin 568 spin spin gewinnan windwian win winu win winnoio win winou finn fin fin fin beginnan begin 572 begin begin cinne chin chin chin tinn tin tin tin getwinnan binn twinz bin 576 twins bin twinz bin hinde hiind hind haind hindema hindermbost hindermost hindermoust rind riind rind raind lind linden 580 linden linden sinder sinder cinder sindar spindel wind spindl wind spindle wind spindl wind windan wiind 584 wind waind windauga N. windu window windou windwian (under findan fiind find faind grindan bindan griind biind 588 grind bind graind baind blind bliind blind blaind stintan stint stint stint winter winter winter winter flint flint 592 flint flint mints mint mint mint him him him him rima rim rim rim lira limb 596 limb lim swimman swim sioim swim wifman wuman woman wuman wlfmen wumen (i) ivomen wimen griram dimm grim dim 600 grim dim grim dim climban cliimb climb claim timber timber timber timber a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ae, ea, eo, u, o BY HENUY SWEET, ESQ. 101 i {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MOOEliy. icgland iiland 604 island ailand higian hii hie hai licgan lii lie lai frigedteg friidai Friday fraidi nigon niin 608 nine nain tigel tiil tile tail twig twig twig twig ic icb, ii I ai -lie -li 612 {Ulce)ly -Ii liccian lie lick lie )?icce J^ic thick ]?ic stician stic stick stic gestricen stricen 616 stricken strican 6wi(l)c such such 63ch wicu wiic week wiic wicce wich ivitch wich liwi(l)c which 620 tvhich which ficol ficl fickle ficl flicce flich flitch flich micel much much mach gicel (iis)icl 624 {ic)icle (ais)icl cwic cwic quick cwic bicce bich hitch bich pic pich pitch pich prician pric 628 prick pric six six six six betwix betwixt betwixt betwixt hider hi^er hither hi^ar rideu riden 632 ridden ridn hlid lid lid lid J^idei ^i^er thither ^i^8r jjridda {under r) widuwe widu toidoio widou hwider whiter 636 xvhither whi^ar biden bideu hidden bidn bridd {under t) *wid^ wid]j width width tomiddea midst midst midst hit it 640 it it hitta N. hit hit hit h; r, hr, 1, hi; «, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p> 102 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS sittan sliten slltan smiten gewitt witan writen git_ begitan edwitan bite biter 1 [cont tnuedj. MIDDLE. MODERN. eit iH sit sHt slit slit smiten 644 smitten smitn wit wit wit writon Pt(e) get twit bit biter 648 written yet get^ twit bit litter ritn yet get twit bit bitor ribb sibb cribb rib (go)sip crib 652 rih {gos)sip crib rib (gp)sip crib lippa lip lij) lip slip an slip 656 slip slip scip ship ship ship -scipe -ship {wor)ship -ship gripe grip gnp grip clippa N. clip 660 clip clip bi bii h bai gelihtan(wn(feri) irland iirland Ireland aiabnd Iren uron iron aion sclr (shiir) 664 sheer shiar wlr wiir wire waiar smila N. smiil smile small wile wiil idle wail hwil whiU. 668 while whail fll fiil file fail mil miil mile mail li^e lii^ lithe lai^ Btri^ striif 672 strife straif a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, je, ca, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 103 1 {cont 'nued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODEllN. wrl^an wrii¥ writhe ral^ bll=6e 1111=8 blithe blal^ is lis ice ais ansa arnz 676 arise araiz WIS WllZ ivise waiz wisdom wizdom icisdom wizdom stiweard steuard steivard styuuad splwan speu 680 spew spyuu lif liif life lalf jjrifan ]>vnv thrive )'raiv scrifan shrilv shrive shraiv stif stif 684 stiff stif Wlf wilf ivife waif fif filv five falv cnlf cniif knife naif drlfan di'iiv 688 drive draiv wifman {under im) flftis fifti fiM fifti iTn (tinder i) J^In ^lln thine ^ain SWIQ swiin swine swain sclnan shlln 692 shine shain serin shrlln shrine shrain win wiin wi7ie warn min mil(n) mine, my mal(n) twin twlln 696 twitie twain plnan piin pine pain rim riim rhyme raim hrim mm rime raim lim 111m 700 lime laim slim slllm slime slalm w!(f)man {under im) tima tlim time talm stige stli stye stai stigel stiil 704 stile stall stigrap stirup stirrup stlrop hj r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 104 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUJJDS. i {continued). OLD. MIDDLie. MODERN. migan mii mie mii rice rich rich rich gelic liic 708 like laic -lie {under i) Bican siih sigh sai snlcaa sneek sneah sniic strican striic strike straic die diic 712 dyke daic dich ditch dich idel iidi idle aidl ridan riid ride raid side slid 716 side said slidan sliid slide slaid wTd wild wide ■waid glldan gliid glide glaid cidaa child 720 chide chaid tid tiid tide taid bidan biid hide baid bridels briidl Iridle braidl slltan {under i) emitan smiit 724 smite smait edwltan {under i) writan wriit write rait hwit whiit white whait bltan biit lite bait ripe riip 728 ripe raip ripan r^^p reap riip sllpan slip slip slip gripau griip gripe graip .V- flyht byht fliht 732 biht flight bight flait bait styrian cyrice stir church (i, y) stir church staar chaach a(a; ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u_, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 105 y {contitmed). OLD UIDOLE. MODEllN. byrig -byri 73G {Canter)bury -bori wyrhta wrilit Wright rait J^yrlian [under \] byr^en burden burden baadn wyrsa fyrs wurs furz worse 740 furze W383 fsaz Jjyrstan fyrsta J'irst tiist thirst first Jjoast foast ■wyrm wurm worm waom bebyrgan byri 744 bury beri wyrcan my re wurc mirci work mirJcy W88C maaci wyrd (subs.) gebyrd •wiird bii-> wierd (adj.) 748 birth wiod had]) scyrta N. wyrt ■ skirt shirt wurt skirt shirt ivort skaot shaat W08t ?yfel(5e^ill) hyll byrlian syll mylen fyllan bylgja N. il hil >ril sil mil fil bHu 752 ill hill thrill sill 756 mill Jill billow il hU J7ril sil mil fil bilou fyl'S fil> filth fil> gyldan byldan gild byld (i) 760 gild build gild bild gyit gilt guilt gilt cy^^ ci]? kith {and kin) ci)> h; r, hr, I, hi; ¥, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 106 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. y {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MCDJttN. cyssan bysig cis byzi 764 kiss bust/ cis bizi wyscan wish wish wish lystan lyst clyster treysta N". list fist cluster tryst (u) ? eevel list{Iess) 768 Jist cluster trust list fist clastar trast yfel evil iivl lyftan lift 772 lift Hft cyng cing king cing ynce |?yncan inch fine inch think inch Jjino ]7ynne synn cynn cjnmg{underng] dyne ]iin sin cin din 776 tUn sin kin din jjin sin cin din mynster minster 780 minster minstar gemynd gecynde tynder byndel miind ciind tinder bundl mind hind tinder 784 bundle maind caind tindar bandl mynet dynt mint dint mint dint mint dint trymman trim trim trim cymlic cumli 788 Cornell/ csmli hiycg lyge flycge {adj.) mycg rij lii flejd mij ridge lie fledged 792 mij lai flejd mij a(8B ea ei), i, t'(eo), e, e, «, ea, eo, u, o. BY IlliNHY SWKE'l', KSQ. 107 y {cont inufd). OLll. MIDDLE. MOUIIRN. drygo bycgan brycg diii i>yy brij dry buy hridye drai bai brij ?lycci N. luc 796 luck lac mycel cycen cycene crycc much (i) chicen cichen cruch 800 much chicken kitchen crutch mach chicen cichen crach fyxen vixen vixen vixan gehj'ded dyde hid did 804 hid did hid did lytel scytel scyttan epyttan flytja N. cnvttau litl shutl shut (i) spit flit cnit 808 little shuttle shut spit flit knit litl shotl shat spit flit nit pytt pit pit pit clyppan dyppan clip dip 812 clip dip clip dip scy N. hwy cy skii whii cii sky why 816 kye ekai •whai cai ahyrian fyr hiir fiir hire fire haiar faior gefj'lan fyl^ {under y) fiil {de)file fan hy^ hii« 820 hithe hai^ h; r, hr, 1, LI; «, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, h, p. loa HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. y {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODEKN. cy^^ {under y) Ivs liis lice lais mys mils mice mais fyst {under y) wyscan {under y) hyd hiid hide baid hydan hiid 824 hide haid bryd briid bride braid pryte priid pride praid 6, eo. \>e{=Be) ^e the ^e, ^3 ?bleoli(= blue) leoht liM 828 light lait feohtan fiht fight fait smerian smeer smear smiar sceran sheer shear shiar steorra star 832 star star epere speer spear spiar feorr far far far merg {adj.) meri merry meri teran teer 836 tear tear teru tar tar tar beran bera 1 beer hear bear beorht {see briht) merh^ mirj? mifth ma?]? eor^e eer|> 840 earth qq\ heor^ heer]? hearth baa)? weor^ wur^ worth waa]? feor^ling farming farthing faa^ing *dei^ d€erjj 844 dearth daa]? a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, a, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 109 6, eo {^continued). oib. MIDDLE. MODERN. eorl ceorl ei'rl churl earl churl oal chaal cerse {under s) Jjerscan fersc {under sc) j^rash thrash ]7raesh berstan burst 848 burst baast ceorfan sweorfan steorfan carv swerv starv carve swerve starve caav swaav staav eornan eornost leornian run eernest leern 852 run earnest learn ran aanest loan speornan gernan beornan spurn yeern burn 856 spiirn yearn hirn spaan yaan baan beorma barm harm baam dweorg beorg 1 dwarf ? (iis)berg baru 860 dicarf {ice)lerg harrow dwoaf (ais)baag bserou weorc deorc beorce beorcan bercnian | wuro dare birch bare hare heercen 864 work dark birch bark hark hearken W89C daac baach baac haac haacen sweord swurd 868 sword sobad beort heorte hart heert hart heart hart hart swellan sraella N". stelan spellian wel wela fell swel emel steel spel wel weM fel 872 876 swell smell steal spell well iveal fell swel smel still spel wel wiil fel h; r, hr, 1, hi; =S, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 110 HISTORY OF E>:GLISH SOUNDS- ^, eo {continued). OLD. MIDDLE* MODERN. felagi N. melu felu mm fellow Meul felou miil geolo cwelan yelu cwail 880 ^jeUow quail yelon cweil belle bel bell bel seclh seel seal siil self self 884 self self seolfor silver stiver silvar delfan delv delve delv twelf twely twelve twelv elm elm 888 elm elm helm helm helm helm swelgan swalu swallow swolou belgan belu bellow belou seoloc silc 892 silk silc weoloc whelc ivhelk whelc meolc mile milk mile geolca yolc yolk youe heold (pret.) held 896 held held seldon seldom seldom seldara feld fiild field fiild smeltan smelt smelt smelt gefeled meltan felt melt 900 felt melt felt melt helpan gelpan help yelp help yelp help yelp le^er lee^er 904 leather le^9r we^er "we^er wether we^cr beneo^an beneej? beneath benii]j brewer bre^ren brethren bre^ren cerse ores 908 cress cres bletsian bles bless bles wesle weezal weasel wiizl besma bezom besom bezam a(£e ca ei), i, e(eo), c, e, le, ca, co, u, o. BY HENRY SWF.ET, ESQ. Ill ^, eo {contimied). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. >rescan brsc J^resh. fresh 912 threah fresh ]7ra?sh tiesh sweostor sister sister sistar nest nest nest nest cest chest 916 chest chest efen eeven even iivn heofon heeven heaven hevn seofan seven seven sevn wefan weev 920 iveave wiiv fefer feever fever fiivar >ef=S >eft theft >eft heng hung hung hung ten ten 924 ten ten begeondan beyond leyond beyond eom {nee earn) bremel brambl Iramhle braembl weg be(de)giau plega wai beg plai 928 way leg play wei beg plei leg(e)r lair lair li^ar Beg(e)l sail sail sell reg(e)n rain 932 rain rein geleg(e)n lain lain lein J7eg(e)u tweg(e)a J7aan twain thane twain )7ein twein breg(e)n ? blc-gen brain biain 936 brain {chiU)llain breia blcin bregdan braid braid breid Bprecan wrecan speec wre^c 940 speak wreak spiic rec brecan breec break breic h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, 8, w, hw, f; ng, n, ra; g, c, d, t, b, p. 112 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. e, eo {contimted). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. next next next next becnian becon beckon becan weder weeper 944 weather we^or feded fed fed fed medu meed mead miid cnedan eneed knead niid tredan treed 948 tread tred gebed beed head biid breded bred bred bred bleded bled bled bled etan eet 952 eat lit let (pret.) let let let fetor feter fetter fetar setlian setl settle setl nebb nib 956 nib nib sc^pbirde shepherd shepherd shepad *dep^ depj" depth dep]7 pepor peper pepper pepar sljepte slept 960 slept slept erian eer ear lar swerian swefer swear swear we nan weer wear wear mere {sm.) meer 964 mere miar mere («/.) maar mare mear merran here berige mar bar- beri 968 mar bar -ley berry mar baali beri ^r(e)st mersc erst marsh erst marsh aast maash a(a3 ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ, 113 e {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. her we haru harrow hserou bern(=bere-a3rn) barn 972 ham baan smercian smirc smirk Sm93C gerd yard yard yaad gerdels girdl girdle g99dl bcgerded girt 976 girt gaat e(nd)lufon eleven eleven eleven hell hel hell hel sellan sd sell sel gesielig sili 980 silh/ sili scell shel shell shel well wel icell wel lellan fel fell fel cwellan cwel cil 984 quell kill cwel cil dweija N. dwel dwell dwel tellan tel tell tel aies els 988 else els welsc welsh Welsh welsh scelfe shelf shelf shelf 61n el ell el telg tain 992 talloio taslou belg 1 beluz hellows belouz beli belly beli eldest eldest eldest eldest geweldan ■wiild 996 wield wiild gelda N. geld geid geld belt belt lelt belt hwelp whelp ivhelp whelp fiiesc flesh 1000 flesh flesh h ; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, ra ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 114 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. e {continued). OLD. MIDDLE MODEKTf. behSs behest behest behest wrSstau wrest wrest rest gest gest guest gest be(t)st best 1004 best best wesp wasp wasp wosp jefre ever ever evar efese eevz eaves iivz (ic) hefe beev 1008 heave hiiv hefig heevi heavxj hevi ^ft eft eft(soons) eft bereafod bereft bereft bereft gelsefed left 1012 left left ^iem ^em them ^em stemn stem stem stem england england England in gland englisc english 1016 English inglish seugan sinj singe sinj *leng^ lengj? length leng> streng^o Btreng)^ strength streng]? blence line 1020 link line ]?encan (sf,' )-yncan) stenc stench stench stench wencle wench wench wench frencisc french French french cwencan c wench 1024 quench cwench drencan drench drench drench bene bench bench bench hfenne hen hen hen l^nan lend 1028 lend lend weniaii ween wean wiin weim wen wen wen fenn fen fen fen nienn men 10.32 men men ceanan cen ken cen dena den aen aen a(fe ea ei), i, c(eo), e, e, ^, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 115 e {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. BIODEHN. pening peni penny peni clSnsian ?cleDz 1036 cleanse clenz ende end end end gehende handi ]handy ba3ndi hrendan rend rend rend sendan send 1040 send send speudaQ spend spend spend wendaa wend 10 end wend bendan bend bend bend blendan blend 1044 blend bleni hrended rent rent rent len(c)teu lent lent lent sended sent sent sent spend ed spent 1048 spent spent wended went tcent • went bended bent bent bent Eemyrie emberz embers embaaz temese (temz) 1052 Thames temz emtig empti empty em(p)ti ege au awe bo ecg ej edge ej eggN. eg 1056 ^99 eg_ hege hej hedge hej lecgan lai lay 16i legg N. leg leg leg eecgan sal 1060 say sei secg sej sedge sej wecg wej wedge wej eglan ail ail eil ece aach 1064 ache eic recenian recon reckon recan hlece {adf.) leec leak liic Btreccan strech stretch strech wrecca wrech 1068 wretch rech feccan fech fetch fech hn^cca nee neck nee h; r, hr, 1, hi; %, s, ^, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 116 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. ^ {continued). OLD. MIDDLE • MODERN ah redd an rid rid rid gel^ded led 1072 led led stede steed stead sted "wedd wed to teed wed bedd '] bed led bed lettan l«tan let 1076 let let settan geseted set set set wffit {adj.) wet wet wet hwettan whet whet whet nett net 1080 net net netele netl nettle netl mete meet meat miit cetel cetl kettle cetl betera beter 1084 letter betar ebbian eb ebb eb Avebb web web web nebb nib nib nib steppan step 1088 step step e. he h66 le hii fe ^ee th ^ii we w6e we wu me mee 1092 me mu ge yee ye yii i5h ^ hiih high hai neh niih nigh nai her beer 1096 here hiar geheran ? beer ( 36) hear 'hier werig ? weeri (ee) weary wiaa Lercnian heercen hearlcen haacan a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 117 e {continued). OtD. MIDDLE. MODERN. geherde heerd 1100 heard haad hel heel heel hiil stel steel steel Btiil felan feel feel fill cele cbil 1104 chill chil ? cnela N". cneel kneel niil sme^e {under te^ brewer {under 5) e) tee]7 teeth tii> gel e fan beleev believe beliiv slefe sleev 1108 sleeve sliiv defan diiv dive daiv fef^ (under e) heng (pret.) {under e) scene sheen sheen shiin wenan ween 1112 ween wiin grene cene green ceen green keen griin ciin cwen cween queen cwiin ten ten 1116 ten ten ]7reotene ben {under o) Jirteen thirteen Jjaatiin geseman seem seem siim deman deem deem diim teman teem 1120 teem tiim bremel {under 6) ege (=ea) 'Tieg sloeg TT. ei, ii hai slii eye hay sly ai hei slai tegan tii 1124 tie tai ecan eee eke lie rec (=ea) reec reek riic hrec ( = ea) ric rick ric recan rec 1128 reck rec iGc ( = ea) leec leek liic h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f j ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, jk 118 HISTORY 0¥ ENGLISH SOUNDS. e {continued). OJJO. MIDDLE • MODERN. secan seec seek siic cec (=ea) cheec cheek chiic bece beech 1132 leech biich brec breech breech briicb next {imder e) becnian(MW(?ere) hedan heed heed hiid redan reed (ee) read riid steda steed 1136 steed stiid sped speed speed spiid fedan , feed feed fiid f eded {under e) ned need need niid med meed 1140 meed miid gl5d gleed gleed gliid ere da creed creed criid bredan breed breed briid bledan bleed 1144 bleed bliid let (under e) Bwete sweet stceet swiit Bcet ( = ea) sheet sheet shiit fet feet feet fiit gemetan meet 1148 meet miit gretan greet greet griit betel beetl beetle biitl bletsian {under e) step ( = ea) steep steep stiip stepel steepl 1152 steeple stiipl •wepan weep weep wiip cepan ceep keep Clip crepel cripl cripple cripl depan(seedyppan) dip 1156 dip dip *dep^ {under e) a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, », ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ, 119 a; = (66). oT.n. MIDDLE MODERN. hSr ?hair hair hear ]>seT '•6eer there ^ear wasron weer were wear hwSr wheer 1160 ivhere wbear fter feer fear fiar bjer ?beer bier bior £1 ? gesSlig 661 sill meel eel 1164 silly meal iil sill mill brS^ *br^^an bree]? bree^ hreath breathe bre)? brii^ cSse ch66z 1168 cheese chiiz ^fen eeven even iivn Eeraette {under a) ■wseg hw^g hnSgan grSg cffige *WEeg^ waav weih wbei neih grai, grei cei wave iveigh 1172 whey neigh gray, grey key weiht 1176 iveight weiv wei ■whei D6i grei cii weit iSce le6ch. leech liich sprgec speech speech spiich I'reed wSd Jjreed w66dz thread 1180 tveeds J? red wiidz ssed se6d seed siid grSdig dSd greedi de6d greedy deed griidi diid ondrgedan dreed 1184 dread dred nSdl needl needle niidl Iffitan {under e) strSt Wffit {under e) street street striit h; r, hr, 1, hi; >S, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 120 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. ai(=ee) (continued). blgetan bleet 1188 Meat bliit swsepan scSp w^pen Bl«pte {under e) sleep sleep sliip sweep siveep swiip sheep sheep shiip weepon 1192 weapon wepan aB(=a^). Bse se^ Sll tShte {under a) Sr eer ere ee^r raeran reer rear riar ffirest {under e) hSlan >r£el N. dSl Jral deel 1196 heal thrall deal hiil Jjiobl diil hSl^ ?heel> health hel> jelc {under c) hse^en hee^en 1200 heathen hii^9n scse^ ?br£e^ Pbrce^an slaee]? wi'ee]? br^e]7 bree^ 1204 sheath loreath hreath breathe shiij? rii]? bre}? brii^ behges {under e) tJesan teez tease tiiz flicsc {under e) a(£E ca ei), i, c(eo), e, e, ae, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 121 ae( = ee) {continued). MIDDLE. ISstan {under a) wr^stan(ww(/er e) lie wed leud lewd lyuud iSfan leev leave liiv hlSfdige {under Sfre {under e) a) , gelSfed {under e) Snig {under a) lienan {under e) hi Sue leea 1208 lean liin clsene cleen clean cliin mSnan meen mean mim gemSne meen mean mim aemyrie {under e) faem {under e) clslg clai 1212 clay clei S(l)c eech each iich rgecan reech reach riich t£ecan teecb teach tiich bl£ee(=a) bleec 1216 lleah bliic blsecan bleech bleach bliich rSdan reed read riid l^dan leed lead liid gelseded {under e) *brSd^ br^ed]? 1220 breadth bred]; hseto 6£eti N. sweet spStte {under a) hwsete vfset {tender e) fsett {under a) heet seet sweet heat seat sweat wheet 1224 wheat hiit siit Bwet whiit h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 122 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. ea. OLD. MIBDLI MODERN. flea flee flea flii gea yee yea yei cea ? cbuuh chough chaf jteah ^bbuh. 1228 though 'Sou eare eer ear iar forsearian seer sear siar near neer near niar gear yeer 1232 year yiar tear teer tear tiar dea^ dee]? death de> ceas cbobz chose ebouz east eest 1236 east iist eastre eester easier iistar heawan heu hew hyuu hreaw rau raw rbb J^eaw Jieu 1240 thew >yuu sleaw slbou slow slou seeawian shbbu (e\] t) show {shew) shou screawa shreu shrew shruu streaw strau 1244 straw strbb streawian streu strew struu feawa feu few fyuu deaw deu dew dyuu breaw {see bru) heafod {under d) bereafian bereev 1248 lereate beriiv leaf l^^f leaf liif sceaf sheef sheaf shiif deaf deef deaf def bean been 1252 lean biin seam seem seam, siim steam steem steam stiim stream streem stream striim gleam gleem 1256 gleam gliim dream dreem dream driim a(Ee ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, &, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 123 ea {continued). team beam teem beem team learn heap hleapan steap {under e) ceap {suhs.) ceapman beep bleep heap leap cbeep {adj.) cheap chapman 1276 chaptfian tiim biim eage {under e) fleag fleu 1260 few fluu hreac {under e) leac {under e) ceac {tender e) beacen beecon heacon biican hea(fo)d heed head bed read reed red red lead leed 1264 lead led sceadan shed shed shed screadian shred shred shred nead {under e) dead deed dead ded bread breed 1268 bread bred sceat {under e) sceat (pret.) fshot shot shot neat neet neat niit great beatan greet beet 1272 great heat greit biit creap {pret.) f crept crept hiip liip chiip chaepman crept eo. >reo Jree three Jrii seon {vo.) see see 811 seS shee 1280 she shii feo(h) fee fee fii h; r, hr, 1, hi; >6, s, w, h\r, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p. 124 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. OLD, freo fleo gleo beo {vb.) beo {sicbs.) eo {continued). MIDDLE. fr66 fl66 gle6 bee bee free flee 1284 glee eow {pron.) eow eowe hreowan seSwian hleow feower yuu yeu eu reu seu lee four you yew 1308 ewe rue (few) sew lee 1312 four frii flii glii bii bii ;eoh ireSh. >iih ruuh 1288 thigh rough raf leoht {under e) bleor leer leer liar deor deer deer diar deore deer (ee) dear diar deorling dreSrig be5r darling dreeri beer 1292 darling dreary leer daaling driari biar feor^a four]? fourth fba]? hweol wheel 1296 loheel whiil ?ge5l ce5l ? ceel yule keel yuul ciil heold {under e) seo^an see^ seethe sii^ geo(g)u^i yuu]7 1300 youth yuu]7 forleosan (166z) lose luuz freosan freez freeze fiiiz fleose flees fleece fliis ce5san cbooz 1304 choose cbuuz breost breest Ireast brest yuu yuu yuu ruu sou lii foar a(8e ea ei), i, e(co), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 125 eo {continued). MIDDLE. feowertig greow {pref.) ceSwan creSw (pref.) cneow {pret.) cneow {siihs.) treow treowe breowan bleow {pret.) hreow^ treow^ forti greu cheu creu cneu cnee tree treu breu bleu ryy> tryy> 1316 forty grew chew creio hiew Jcnee tree 1320 true {trew) hreio blew ruth 1324 truth foati gruu chuu cruu nyuu nii trii truu bruu bluu ruu|? truu]? leof ]7eof cleofan deofol (leef) Ofef) cleev devil 1328 lief thief cleave devil liif >iif cliiv devl geong yung young yang betweonau '^^chLon{partic.) feond freSnd between been (feend) (freend) 1332 hetween been fend friend betwiin biin fiind frend miuc N. meec meek miic leogan flc5ga geogu^ lii flii yuu> 1336 lie fly youth lai flai yuuj? hreod weod neod beodan reed weed need bid 1340 reed weed need bid riid wild niid bid sceotan flcot beot (part. J shoot fleet beet 1344 shoot fleet beat shuut fliit biit heop (rose J hip hip hip h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, fj ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 126 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. eo {continued). OlD. MIDDLE, MODERN. hleop {pret.) sweop {pret.) weop {pret.) flept lept fswept swept fwept 1348 wept lept swept wept creopan deop creep creep deep deep criip diip u duru (duur) door door furh I furh )7ruuh J>oruh furu 1352 through thoroxigh furrow n-uu ^ara ferou crulla N". curl curl caal wur^ fur^or wur]? farmer 1356 ivorth further W99]7 );unresdseg curs )?ursdai curs Thursday curse faazdi caas turf turf 1360 turf t99f murnian muurn mourn moan wurm wurm worm W99m burg 'rboru borough b9ra wurcan wuro 1364 work W9ac swurd swurd aword soad wuU full crulla {under r) bulluoa ? wuul (u' fuU buloc 1368 wool fun hullocli wul ful bulao a(8D ea ei), i, 6(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 127 U {continued). OLD, MIDDLI '• MODERN. wulf wulf wolf wulf sculdor shuulder shoulder shouldgr us us us as liusbonda huzband 1372 husband hazband tusc tusc tush tasc biia sic N. busc hush base rust rust rust rast lust lust 1376 lust last gust N. gust gust gast dust dust dust dast lufu luv love lav endlufon eleven 1380 eleven elevan scufau shuv shove shav dufe duv dove dav bnbufan abuv above obav hunger hunger 1384 hunger hangar sun gen sung sung sang wrungen wrung wrung rang clungen clung clung clang tunge tung 1388 tongue • tang munuc munc monk mane druncen drunc drunh dranc hunig huni honey hani )7unor jjunder 1392 thunder Jjandar sunu sun son san sunne sun sun san scunian shun shun shan spunnen spun 1396 spun span gewunnen wun won wan Dunne nun nun nan m\imic{underTic) cunnan cuning cunning caning dunn dun 1400 dun dan tunne tun tun ton under under under andar b; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 128 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. 11 [continued'). OlD. MIDDLE MODERN. bund huund 'hound haund hundred hundred 1404 'hundred handred sund (mis.) | gesund (adj.) ) suund sound saund sundor sunder sunder sandar wund wuund tvomid wuund gewunden wuund 1408 tvoutid waund wundor wunder tvonder . wandar fun den fuund found faund grund gruund gromid graund grunden gruund 1412 ground graund bunden buund hotmd baund pund puund pound paund huntian hunt hunt hant stunt {adj.') stunt 1416 to stunt stant ?munt muunt mount maunt jjuma Jjumb thumh ]7am sum sum some sam sumor sumer 1420 summer samar swummen swum swum swam slumeriau slumber shimler slambar gum a gruum groom gru(u)m cuman cum 1424 come cam crume crumb crumb cram dumb dumb dumb dam sugu fU"Ol ugh suu fuul iighj 1428 sow fowl agli sau faul cnucian cnucel bucca pluccian cnoc cnucl buc pluc 1432 knock knuckle luck pluck noc nacl bac plac wudu ? wuud (u) wood wud hnutu gutt nut gut 1436 nut gut nat get a(ce ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 129 U {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. baton butere ? putta N. but buter put hit butter put bat batar put upp hup supan cuppa up hip sup cup 1440 up hip sup cup ap hip sap cap u. hu 'Su nu cu bru huu ^uu nuu cuu bruu 1444 how thou now cow 1448 hrow hau ^au nau cau brau ure uur our auar sur suur sour sauar scur shuuer shower shauar bur buuer 1452 hoiver bauar gebur (buur) boor buar (neah)gebur (neih)buur {neigh)lour (nei)bar ule uul owl aul ful fuul 1456 foul faul su^ suu]? south sauj? mu^ muuf' mouth mauj? uncu^ uncunj? uncouth ancuu]? cu^e cuu(l)d 1460 could cud bu>5N. (buu» booth buu]? us (under u) bus huus house haus lus luus louse laus ]?usend fuuzend 1464 thousand J'auzand inus muus mouse maus scufan {under u) dufe {tmder u) h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 9 130 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. u (contintied). OLD. onh\iidn{under u) scuman (under u) dun duun doion daun tun tuun town taun brun bruun 1468 brown braun ]7uma {tinder u) rum (ruum) room ruum rug ruuh rough raf bugan buu low bau sucan {under u) brucan (bruuc) 1472 hrooh bruc uder {under u) hlud luud loud laud ecrud sbruud shroud sbraud crud cruud crowd craud clud cliiud 1476 cloud claud ut nut out aut uteiiice {under u) lutan clut luut cluut lout (subst.) clout laut claut butan {under u) prut pruud 1480 proud praud supan {under u) cohh(ett)an sohte wrohte dohtor bohte brobte couL eough soubt soughi ■wrouht wrought dauhter 1484 daughter bbuht bought broubt brought cof soot root doctor boot brout a(£e ea ei), i, e(eo), ^, 5, &, ea, eo, u, o. BY IlKNRY SWEET, ESQ. 131 ci > {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. for beforan borian for befoor boor 1488 for before bore fqor, befoor boor woruld wurld world wogld nor^ mor^or for> nor]? murder 1492 forth north murder {th) f6a> nojj? maadar hors forst (under st) dorste borsten hors durst burst 1496 horse durst burst boos daast boast horn forlor(e)n ))orn horn forlorn jjorn horn forlorn thorn hoau foaloon Jjoou Bwor(e)n 8Cor(e)n sworn shorn 1500 sworn shorn swoan shban mor(ge)ning morning morn in ff mbouiug corn tor(e)n bor(e)n corn torn born 1504 corn torn born{e) cban loan boan storm forma storm former storm former stbam fbamar sorg soru 1508 sorrow sorou morgen borgian moru boru morrow borrow morou boron store store stork stbac hord word ford bord hoord word ford boord 1512 hoard word ford board hbad waad fbad bbad scort port short port 1516 short port shbat pbat hoi holh hbol holu hole holloio houl holou h; r, hr, 1, hi; =S, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 132 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. i ► (continued). DID. MIDDLI MODERN. holegn holi 1520 holhj holi >ol fbbl thole{pin) \b\i\ swollen Bwolen swollen Bwouln scolu shbbl shoal shoul stolen stbolen 1524 stolen stoulu fola fool foal foul col ebbl coal coul en oil cnol hioll noul dol dul 1528 dull dal toll tol toll toul bolla boul howl boul bolster bolster holster boulstor folgian folu 1532 folloio folou wolcen folc welcin folc welkin folk welcin fouc scolde molde wolde gold ? shuuld mould ? wuuld gold 1536 sJiould mould xvould gold shud mould wud gould bolt bolt holt boult fro^a N. mo^^e bro^ fro> mo]? bro}? 1540 froth moth hroth fro(o)> mb(b)j7 brbbj? hose ♦gefrosen hbbz frbozen 1544 hose frozen houz frouzn nosu *gecosen nooz chbbzen nose chosen nouz chouzn cross N. blosma cross blosom 1548 cross blossom cros blosam gosling gosling gosling gozling frost frost frost frost u [ ofen ov of ? bbven 1552 of off oven ov of 8vn a(8e ca ei), i, c(co), e, e, sb, ea, co, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 133 o (continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. offrian ofer offer ofar ofer bover over ouvar scofel ?8hbbvel 1556 shovel sbavl clofen clbbven cloven clouvn oft oft oft oft loft If. loft loft loft softe soft 1560 soft soft long long long long >rbng 7rong throng >rong J7w6ng >ong thong >ong song f subs. J song 1564 song song strong strong strong strong wrong wrong wrong rong mongere monger (u) monger man gar bngembng among (u)1568 among emang tbnge tongz tongs tongz on bond on bond on bond on bond frbm from 1572 from from womb (woomb) womb wuum comb cbbmb comb coum frocga trog boga frog trouh bou 1576 frog trough bow frog trbf bou jaog(e)n floun flown fluun locc loo loch loc socc soc 1580 socle soc smocc smoc smock smoc emoca Bmooc smolce smoue stocc stoc stock stoc *gesprocen flocc spoocen floe 1584 spohen flock spoucan floe geoc ybbc yoke youc h; r, br, 1, blj ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 134 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. O (continued). OLD. MIDDLE MODERN-. cocc coc cock coc coccel cocl 1588 cockle cocl crocc croc croch{ery) croc(ari) cnocian en 00 knock noc brocen broocen broken brbucan oxa ox 1592 ox ox fox fox fox fox rod rod rod rod Boden Boden sodden sodn gescod shod 1596 shod shod fodor foder fodder fodar god god god god coJd cod cod cod troden troden 1600 trodden trodn bodian bbod bode bond bodig bodi body bodi rotian rot rot rot hlot lot 1604 lot lot jiTOtU )7r6bt throat )jr6ut (ge)scot shot shot shot Scotland Scotland Scotland Scotland flotian flbbt 1608 float flout mot moot mote mout cot cot cot cot cnotta cnot knot not botm botom 1612 bottom botam loppestre lobster lobster lobstar open bopcn open oupon hoppian hop hop hop hopa hoop 1616 hope houp sop sop sop sop atoppian stop stop stop (attor)coppa cob(\veb) cob(web) cob(web) cropp crop 1620 crop crop dropa drop drop drop topp top top top a^a) ca ei), i, e(eo), e, e, tc, ea, co, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. SCO do to (shoo) (doo) too shoe 1624 do too, to hof (pret.) hof fmhs.J behofian grof fsuhs.J glof (hoov) boof (behoov) groov (gloov) hove hoof hehove 1652 groove glove shuu duu tuu toh ? sohte, etc. tnuh {under o) tough taf hor (w)ho6r whore boor swor flor swoor floor 1628 swore floor swoor floor mor moor moor muar stol col t5l stool cool tool 1632 stool cool tool stuul cuul tuul o^er *smo^e *(he) do« tolS brS^or (oo^er) so 6 b smoo^ doo]? toof (brooder] 1636 other sooth smooth doth tooth brother o^ar sun]? smuu^ d9]7 tuuj? bra^ar gos goos 1640 goose guus gosling {under 0) bosm blosma [under 0) (boozam) bosom buzam hrost mSste roost must roost must must mast rowan hl5wan flowan rou 16u flou 1644 row low flow rou 16u flou growan blowan grou blou 1648 grow bloio grou blou bouv huuf behuuv (6u) gruuv glav h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 136 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. softe {under o) O {continued). Bona spon N. ? non m5na mona^ monandaeg gedon boQ N. soon spoon spoon 1656 noon moon moo7i (mooneji) moneth, month (moondai) Monday (doon) 1660 done boon loon suun spuun nuun muun man]? mandi dan buun goma glom dom brom bloma gum gloom doom broom bloom gum gloom 1664 doom broom bloom g9m gluum duum bruum bluum slog_ wogiau genog drog bog plog N". sleu woo enuuh dreu buuh pluuh slew 1668 woo enough drew bough 1672 plough sluu wuu enaf druu bau plan hoc hroc locian scoc woe COG cr5c N. toe boc broc hooc rooc 166c sb66c (aw66c) c66c cr66c t66c b66c br66c 1676 hooh rook look shook awoke cook crook 1680 took book brook hue rue luc shuc 9w6uc cue crue tue buc bruc hod rod I gescod {under 6) stod foda fodor {under o) flod mod h66d r66d rod st66d f66d flood mood hood 1684 rood rod stood food 1688 flood mood hud ruud rod stud fuud flad muud a(8e ea ei), i, e(co), e, e, te, oil, eo, u, o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 137 o {continued). OLD. MIDDLE. MODERN. modor god blod brod (mooter) mother good good blood 1692 Mood brood brood gud blod bruud wodnesdseg wednesdai Wednesday we(d)nzdi rot N. fot bot root root . foot 1696 foot boot hoot ruut fut buut hwopan whoop whoop huup Addenda. mearg maru marrow maerou cealc chalc 1700 chalk cbbbc haesel haazel hazel heizl sceanc shanc shank shsenc waeg(e)n | wagon wain 1704 waggon wain waegon wein dragen draun drawn droon ?gagn gain gain gein S8DCC sac sack ssec sleac slac 1708 slack slsec "waecce wach watch woch gemaca maat mate meit eaxl axl axle 86 xl later later 1712 latter laetor gabb N. gab gab gseb taper taaper taper teipor ar {metal) bor ore bor halig daeg ? hbolidaj 1716 holiday bolidi raw rbbu row rou *cnawl£ecaii cnbbulej knowledge{abst.) nolej on an anon anon anon h; r, hr, 1, hi; ¥, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p. 138 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. ■wrist hiw skipta N. wringan slipor Addenda {continued). MIDDLE, MODERN. wrist 1720 wrist heu hue (hew) shift shift rist hyuu shift wring wring sliperi 1724 slippery ring ^ sliperi hwinan whiin whine whain cyrnel sypan cernel sip kernel sip caanal sip fe^er feeder 1728 feather fe^ar becwe^an becwee^ bequeathe becwii^ west west west west weocce WIC wick wic rSdels ridl 1732 riddle ridl gemeted met met met sterna stern stern staan rest rest rest rast wrencan wrench 1736 wrench rench wrEenna wren wren ren tw^ntig twenti tiventi twenti heli^o steran cwen heiht steer cween height 1740 sUer quean ' halt stiar cwiin ?leas j^reatian 166s >r^^t loose threat luus >rct preost seoc (preest) sic 1744 priest sick priist sic Johte colt fostor Jjouht colt foster thought colt 1748 foster Yoot coult fostar hrof fus husj^ing N". suncen skfun roof roof ^us hustingz sunc scum thus hustings 1752 sunk skum ruuf ^as hastingz sane scam a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, vs, ea, eo, u, o. ' Seems to come from cu>ene with a short vowel = Gothic kwino. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 139 ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE LISTS.* A {artic.) 415 (a)bode 446 (a)bove 1383 ache 1064 acorn 270 acre 269 adder 313 addice 295 adze 295 after 152 (a)gain 265 ail 1063 alder 89 alderman 91 ale S3 (a)light 459 all 54 alms 79 am 223 (a)mong 169 an {ai'tic.) 415 and 207 angle {vb.) 155 ankle 173 anon (1719) answer 205 ant 224 anvil 206 any 181 ape 335 apple 338 arch- 36 are 8 (a)rise 676 ark 35 arm 31 (a) rose 394 arrow 23 arse 22 art {vb.) 47 as 108 ash {tree) ri8 ashes 120 ask 119 aspen 134 ass 109 at 316 ate 317 aught 369 awe 1054 awl 135 (a)woke 1677 axe 292 axle (1711) aye 344 Back 287 bait 354 bake 288 bale 71 balk 87 ban 203 band 2i8 bane 202 bang 172 bare {adj.) 19 bare {pret!) 20 bark {subs.) 41 bark (vb.) 865 barley 967 barm 858 barn 972 barrow 861 bask 124 bath 104 bathe 105 be 1285 beacon 1261 bead 949 beam 1259 bean 1252 bear 838 beard 46 beat {in/.) 1272 beat {p-a.) 1344 beckon 943 bed 1075 bee 1286 beech 1132 been 1331 beer 1294 beetle 11 50 (be)fore 1488 beg 928 (be)gan 198 {be)gin 572 (be) have 138 (be)hest looi (be)hove 1651 belch 88 (be)lieve 1 107 bell 882 bellow {z'b.) 891 bellows 993 belly 994 belt 998 bench 1026 bend 1043 (be)neath 906 bent 1050 (be}queathe (1729) (be) reave 1248 (be)reft loii berry 968 besom 911 best 1004 better 1084 (be)tween 1330 (be)twixt 630 (be)yond 925 bid I 34 I bidden 937 bide 722 bier 1162 bight 733 bill 484 billow 758 bin 576 bind 588 birch 864 bird 474 birth 748 bishop 511 bit 650 bitch 626 bite 727 bitter 651 black 291 bladder 315 blade 314 (cliill)blain 937 blast 133 bleach 12 17 bleak 1216 bleat 1 188 bled 951 bleed 1144 blend 1044 bless 909 blew 1322 blind 589 bliss 508 * blithe 674 blood 1692 bloom 1666 blossom 1548 blow {wind) 407 blow {Jlozver) 1648 boar 383 board 15 15 boat 453 bode 1601 body 1602 bold 97 bolster 1531 bolt 1539 bond 2rg bone 424 book 1681 boon 1 66 1 boor 1453 boot 1697 booth I 46 I bore {pret.) 21 bore 1489 bom(e) 1505 borough 1363 borrow 15 10 bosom 1641 both 392 bottom 1612 bough 167 I bought 1485 bound {pret.) 217 bound [par tic. ) 1 4 1 3 bow {vb.) 147 1 bow {subs.) 1577 bower 1452 bowl 1530 braid 938 brain 266, 936 brake 289 bramble 926 brand 220 brass II7 bread 1268 breadth 1220 break 941 breast 1305 breath 1166 breathe 1167 bred {pariic.) 950 breech 11 33 breed 1143 brethren 907 brew 1 32 1 bride 825 bridge 795 bridle 723 bright 466 bring 555 broad 447 broke 290 broken 1591 brood 1693 brook {vb.) 1472 brook {subs.) 1682 broom 1665 broth 1542 brother 1639 brought i486 Numbers in parentheses refer to words in the Addenda. 140 brow 1448 brown 1468 buck 1432 build 761 bullock 1368 bundle 784 burden 738 bum 857 burst {injin.) 848 h\ixsi{partic.) 1496 bury 744 -bury 736 busk 1374 busy 765 but 1437 butter 1438 buy 794 by 661 Cake 284 calf 78 call 68 callow 67 came 235 can 200 candle 216 care 16 cart 49 carve 849 cast 131 castle 132 cat 333 chafer 148 chaff 147 chalk (1700) chapman 1276 cheap 1275 cheek 1131 cheese 1168 chest 916 chew 1 31 5 chicken 799 chide 720 child 493 children 494 chill 1 104 (chill)blain 937 chin 573 choose 1304 chose 1235 chosen 1546 chough 1227 Christ 518 christen 519 church 735 churl 846 cinder 581 clad 311 clammy 429 claw 136 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS. clay 1212 clean 1209 cleanse 1036 cleave 1327 clew 527 cliff 537 climb 602 cHng 554 clip ictit) 660 clip [embrace) S12 cloth 390 clothe 391 cloud 1476 clout 1479 cloven 1557 clover 150 clung 1387 cluster 769 coal 1526 cob (web) 1619 cock 1587 (cock)chafer 148 cockle 1588 cod 1599 cold 95 colt (1747) comb 240 come 1424 comely 788 cook 1678 cool 1632 com 1503 cot 1610 cough I 48 I could 1460 cow 1447 crab 334 cradle 310 craft 154 cram 234 crane 20 1 crave 149 creed, 1 142 creep 1349 crept 1277 cress 908 crew 1316 crib 654 cringe 553 cripple 1 1 55 crock (ery) 1589 crook 1679 crop 1620 cross 1547 crow 405 crowd 1475 crumb 1425 crutch 801 cunning 1399 cup 1443 curl 1355 curse 1359 Dale 69 dam 236 damp 241 dare 17 dark 863 darling 1292 daughter 1484 dawn 253 day 252 dead 1267 deaf 1 25 1 deal 1 1 98 dear 1291 dearth 844 death 1234 deed 11 83 deem 11 19 deep 1350 deer 1290 (de)file 819 delve 886 den 1034 depth 958 devil 1328 dew 1247 did 804 die 355 dim 601 din 779 dint 786 dip 813, dish 510 ditch 713 dive 1 109 do 1624 doe 365 dole 374 done 1660 doom 1664 door 1351 doth 1637 dough 433 dove 1382 down 1466 drag 254 drank 180 draw 255 drawn (1705) dread I 184 dream 1257 dreary 1293 drench 1025 drew 1670 drink 561 drive 688 driven 538 droji 1 62 1 1156 drought drove 414 drunk 1390 dry 793 dull 1528 dumb 1426 dun 1400 durst 1495 dust 1378 dwarf 859 dwell 986 dyke 712 Each 1213 ear (vb.) 961 ear {subs.) 1229 earl 845 earn 27 earnest 853 earth 840 east 1236 Easter 1237 eat 952 eaves 1007 ebb 1085 edge 1055 eel 1 163 eft(soons) loio egg 1056 eight 3 either 261 eke 1 125 eldest 995 eleven 977, 1380 elf 75 ell 991 elm 888 else 988 embers 105 1 emmet 224 empty 1053 end 1037 England 1015 English 10 1 6 enough 1669 ere 1 194 erst 969 even {adj.) 917 even(ing) 1169 ever 1006 evil 771 ewe 1308 eye 1121 Fain 263 fair 256 fall 64 fallow 63 fang 167 I BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 141 far 834 fare 14 farthing 843 fast 128 fat 328 father 305 fathom 107 fear 1161 feather {1728) fed 945 fee 1 28 1 feed 1 1 38 feel 1 103 feet 1 147 fell {vb.) 983 M\(=sk!!i) 877 fellow 878 felt {partic.) 900 fen 1 03 1 fern 29 fetch 1069 fetter 954 fever 921 few 1246 fickle 621 fiddle 498 field 898 fiend 1332 fifty 542 fight 829 file 669 fill 757 film 485 filth 759 fin 571 find 586 finger 552 fire 818 first 742 fish 509 fist 768 five 686 flask 123 flat 329 flax 294 flay 248 flea 1225 fledged 791 flee 1283 fleece 1303 fleet 1343 flesh 1000 flew 1260 flight 732 flint 592 flit 809 flitch 622 float 1608 flock 1585 flood 1688 floor 1629 flow 1646 flown 1578 fly 1336 foal 1525 foam 428 fodder 1597 foe 432 fold 94 folk 1534 follow 1532 food 1687 foot 1696 for 1487 ford 1 5 14 (for)lom 1498 former 1507 forth 1 49 1 forty 1 313 foster (1748) foul 1456 found 1410 fought 6 four 1312 fourth 1295 fowl 1429 fox 1593 free 1282 freeze 1302 French 1023 fresh 913 Friday 607 friend 1333 fro 362 frog 1575 from 231 frost 1550 froth 1540 frozen 1544 full 1367 furrow 1354 further 1357 furze 740 Gab (1 7 1 3) gain (1706) gall 66 gallows 83 game 233 gang 170 gannet 199 gape 341 gate 330 gather 307 gave 145 gear 25 geld 997 get 648 ghost 398 gift 543 gild 760 girdle 975 girt 976 give 536 glad 309 glass 116 gleam 1256 glee 1284 gleed 1 141 glide 719 gloom 1663 glove 1653 gnat 332 gnaw 251 go 364 goad 444 goat 452 god 1598 gold 1538 gone 422 good I 69 I goose 1640 gore 381 gosling 1549 (gos)sip 653 got 331 grass 115 grave 146 gray 1274 great 1 271 greedy 1182 green 11 13 greet 1149 grew 1 3 14 grey 1 174 grim 600 grind 587 grip 659 gripe 731 groan 423 groom 1423 groove 1652 grope 456 ground [subs.) 141T ground (parti.) 1412 grow 1647 guest 130, 1003 guild 491 guilt 762 gum 1662 gust 1377 gut 1436 Had 296 hail {subs.) 257 hail {interj.) 348 hair 1157 hale 372 half 76 hall 55 hallow 82 halm 80 halt 98 hammer 225 hand 208 handy 1038 hang 156 happy 336 hard 43 hare 9 hark 862 harm 32 harp 51 harrow 971 hart 869 harvest 26 has no hat 319 hate 318 hath loi have 137 haven 139 haw 242 hawk 140 hay 1 1 22 hazel (1701) he 1089 head 1262 heal 1 1 96 health 1199 heap 1273 hear 1097 heard iioo hearken 867, 1099 heart 870 hearth 841 heat 1221 heathen 1200 heave 1008 heaven 918 heavy 1009 hedge 1057 heed 11 34 heel iioi height (1739) held S96 hell 978 helm 889 help 902 hemp 182 hen 1027 her 468 (shep)herd 957 here 1096 hew 1238 hid 803 hide [subs.) 823 hide {vb.) 824 hie 605 high 1094 , 112 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. hill 753 hilt 495 him 594 hind 577 hindermost 578 hip (rose) 1345 hip (coxa) 1 44 1 hire 817 his 502 hit 641 hithe 820 hither 631 hoar 376 hoard 15 12 hoarse 393 hold 92 hole 1518 holiday (1716) hollow 1519 holly 1520 home 425 honey 1391 -hood 440 hood 1683 hoof 1650 hook 1673 hop 1615 hope 1616 horn 1497 horse 1494 hose 1543 hot 449 hound 1403 . house 1462 hove 1649 how 1444 hue (1721) hundred 1404 hung 923 hunger 1384 hunt 1415 husband 1372 hustings (1751) I 611 ice 675 (ice)berg 860 icicle 624 idle 714 if 535 ill 475, 752 in 563 inch 774 inn 563 Ireland 662 iron 663 is 501 island 604 it 640 ivy 529 Keel 1298 keen 11 14 keep 1 1 54 ken 1033 kernel (1726) kettle 1083 key 1 1 75 kill 985 kin 778 kind 782 king 773 kiss 764 kitchen 800 kith 763 knave 342 knead 947 knee 1318 kneel 1105 knew 1317 knife 687 knight 465 knit 810 knock 1430, 1590 knoll 1527 knot 161 1 know 406 knowledge (17 18) known 412 knuckle 1433 kye 816 Ladder 299 lade 297 lady 300 lain 933 lair 930 lamb 238 lame 227 land 209 lane 185 lank 175 lark 37 last {ad/.' last (vd.j 127 late 320 latter (1712) laugh I laughter 4 law 244 lay (preL) 243 lay (/«/) 1058 lead (vd.) 12 19 lead (sill's.) 1264 leaf 1249 leak 1066 lean 1208 leap 1274 learn 854 least 126 125 leather 904 leave 1207 led 1072 lee 1311 leech 1177 leek 1 129 leer 1289 left 1012 leg 1059 lend 1028 length 10 1 8 Lent 1046 lept 1346 less III lest 112 let {J>ret) 953 let 1076 lewd 1206 lice [plur.) 82 1 lick 613 lid 633 lie {jacere) 606 lie {subs.) 790 lie {inentiri) 1335 hef 1325 life 681 lift 772 light 828 like 708 limb 596 lime 700 linden 580 linen 565 -ling 545 link 1020 lip 655 lisp 523 list 513 list(less) 767 lithe 671 little 805 live 530 liver 531 lo ! 357 load 298 load (stone) 442 loaf 413 loam 426 loan 417 loathe 388 lobster 1613 lock 1579 loft 1559 long 158 look 1675 lore 378 lord 384 lose 1 301 loose (1742) lot 1604 loud 1473 louse 1463 lout 1478 love 1379 low {adj.) 431 low \vb.) 1645 luck 796 lust 1376 -ly 612 Made 306 maid 268 main 264 make 283 mallow 74 malt 100 man 195 mane 196 many 197 mar 966 mare 965 mark 40 marrow (1699) marsh 970 mast 129 mate (1710) maw 250 may 249 me 1092 mead 946 meal {corn) 879 meal {food) 1165 mean {vb.) i2lo mean (adj.) 121 1 meat 1082 meed 1140 meek 1334 meet 1148 melt 901 men (//.) 1032 mere 964 merry 835 met (1733) mice (//.) 822 midge 792 midst 639 mie 706 might 464 mild 490 mile 670 milk 487, 894 mill 756 mind 781 mine 695 minster 780 mint (plant) 593 mint {tiioneta) 785 mirky 746 mirth 471, 839 BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 143 mis- S05 miss 506 mist 515 mistletoe 517 moan 421 mole 373 Monday 1659 monger 168 monk 13S9 month 1658 mood 16S9 moon 1657 moor 1630 more 3S0 morning 1502 morrow 1509 most 397 mote 1609 moth 1 541 mother 1690 mould 1536 mount 14 1 7 mourn 1361 mouse 1465 mouth 1458 mow 404 much 623, 798 murder 1493 must 1643 my 695 Nail 259 naked 282 name 232 nap 340 narrow 15 naught 369 nave 144 nay 346 near 1231 neat 1270 neck 1070 need 1139, 1340 needle 1185 neigh 11 73 (neigh)bour 1454 ness 114 nest 915 net 1080 nether 499 nettle 1081 new 526 next 942 nib 956, 1087 nigh 1095 night 463 nightingale 65 nine 608 no 363 none 418 noon 1656 north 1492 nose 1545 not 370 nothing 389 now 1446 nun 1398 nut 1435 Oak 435 oar 375 oats 448 oath 385 ofi55i off 1552 offer 1554 oft 1558 old 90 on 1570 one 415 only 416 open 1614 or 409 ore (1715) other 1634 ought 368 our 1449 out 1477 oven 1553 over 1555 owe 430 owl 1455 own 434 ox 1592 Pan 204 park 42 path 106 pebble 343 penny 1035 pepper 959 pine 697 pit 811 pitch 627 pith 500 plant 222 play 929 plight 467 plough 1672 pluck 1433 pope 457 port 1517 pound 1414 prick 628 pride 826 priest (1744) proud 1480 psalm 8i put 1439 Quail 881 quake 285 quean (1741) queen 11 15 quell 984 quench 1024 quick 625 Rain 932 raise 349 rake 271 ram 226 ran 183 rang 157 rank 174 ransack 184, 273 rash 121 rather 102 raven 151 raw 1239 reach 12 14 read 1135, 1218 reap 729 rear 1195 reck H28 reckon 1065 red 1263 reed 1338 reek 1126 rein(deer) 350 rend 1039 rent 1045 rest (1735) rhyme 698 rib 652 rich 707 rick 1 127 rid 107 1 ridden 632 riddle (1732) ride 715 ridge 789 right 458 rim 595 rime 699 rind 579 ring 544 ripe 728 rise 676 road 441 roar 377 rod 1594 rode 441 roe 356 rood 1684 roof (1749) rook 1674 room 1469 roost 1642 root 1695 rope 454 rot 1603 rough 1288, 1470 row {vb.) 1644 row {sitbs.) (17 1 7) rue 1309 run 564, 852 rust 1375 ruth 1323 Sack (1707) sad 301 saddle 302 said 267 sail 931 sake 274 sallow 56 salt 99 salve 77 same 228 sand 210 sang 161 sank 177 sap 339 sat 322 Saturday 323 saw {pret.) 2 saw {subs.) 245 say 1060 scale 59 Scotland 1607 sea 1 193 seal 883 seam 1253 sear 1230 seat 1222 sedge 1 06 1 see 1279 seed 1 181 seek 1 130 seem 11 18 seethe 1299 seldom 897 self 884 sell 979 send 1040 sent 1047 set 1077 settle 955 seven 919 sew 525, 1310 shade 303 shadow, 303 shaft 153 shake 276 shale 59 shall 58 144 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. shame 230 shank (1702) shape 337 share 10 sharp 52 shave 143 she 1280 sheaf 1250 shear 831 sheath 1201 shed 1265 sheen 11 11 sheep 1 191 sheer 664 sheet 1146 shelf 990 shell 981 shepherd 472, 957 shield 488 shift (1722) shilling 476 shin 566 shine 692 ship 657 -ship 658 shire 469 shirt 750 shoal 1523 shod 1596 shoe 1623 shone 419 shook 1676 shoot 1342 shorn 1501 short 15 16 shot {prct.) 1269 shot {stcbs^ 1606 should 1535 shoulder 1370 shove 1 38 1 shovel 1556 show 1242 shower 145 1 shrank 178 shred 1266 shrew 1243 shrift 541 shrine 693 shrink 55S shrive 683 shroud 1474 shun 1395 shut 807 shuttle 806 sick (1745) side 716 sieve 532 sift 539 sigh 709 sight 460 silk 486, 892 sill 755 silly 9S0, 1 164 silver 885 sin 777 sing 547 singe 1017 sink 556 sip (1727) sister 914 sit 642 six 629 s!:ill 477 skin 567 skirt 749 skum (1753) sky 814 slack (1708) slain 262 slaughter 5 slay 246 sleep 1 1 89 sleeve 1108 slept 960 slew 1667 slide 717 slime 701 slink 557 slip 656 slippery (1724) slit 643 sloe 358 slow 1 241 slumber 1422 sly TI23 small 57 smear 830 smell 872 smelt 899 smile 666 smirk 973 smite 724 smith 496 smitten 644 smock 1581 smoke 1582 smooth 1636 snail 258 snake 275 sneak 710 snow 403 so 359 soap 455 sock 1580 sodden 1595 soft 1560 sold 93 some 1419 son 1393 song 162 soon 1654 sooth 1635 sop 1617 sore 379 sorrow 1 508 sought 1482 soul 408 sound [adj.) 1405 sour 1450 south 1457 sow i^b.) 402 sow [iubs.) 1428 sown 410 spake 2 78 span 189 spare 12 spark 39 sparrow 24 spat 326 speak 939 spear 833 speech 11 78 speed I I 37 spell 874 spend I 04 I spent 1048 spew 680 spill 479 spin 568 spindle 582 spit 808 spoke {pret.) 279 spoke (subs.) 438 spoken 1584 spoon 1655 sprang I 64 spring 550 spun 1396 spurn 855 staff 141 stake 277 stalk 85 stall 60 stand 211 stank 179 star 832 stare 11 stark 38 starve 851 staves 142 stead 1073 steak 352 steal 873 steam 1254 steed 1 1 36 steel 1 102 steep 1 151 steeple 1152 steer (1740) stem 10 1 4 stench 1021 step 1014 step 1088 stern (1734) steward 679 stick 615 stiff 533 stile 704 still 478 sting 549 stink 559 stint 590 stir 734 stirrup 470, 705 stock 1583 stolen 1524 stone 420 stood 1686 stool 1631 stop 1618 stork 151 1 storm 1506 strand 212 straw 1244 stream 1255 street 1186 strength 1019 stretch 1067 strew 1245 stricken 616 strife 672 strike 71 1 stroke 437 strong 163 stunt 14 1 6 stye 703 such 617 suck 1471 summer 1 420 sun 1394 sunder 1406 sung 1385 sunk (1752) sup 1442 swain 351 swallow {subs.) 72 swallow (vb.) 890 swam 229 swan 188 swarm 34 swarthy 48 swear 962 sweat 1223 sweep 1 190 sweet 1 145 swell 871 swept 1347 swerve 850 swift 54<3 swim 597 BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 145 swine 691 swing 548 swollen 1522 sword 868, 1365 swore 1628 sworn 1500 swum 142 1 Tail 260 take 286 tale 70 tallow 84, 992 tame 237 taper (1714) tar 837 tart 50 taught 7 teach 1215 team 1258 tear (suds.) 1233 tear {vd.) 836 tease 1205 teem 1120 -teen 11 17 teeth 1 106 tell 987 ten 924, 1 1 16 Thames 1052 than 186 thane 934 thank 176 that 321 thatch 272 thaw 400 the 827 thee 1090 theft 922 their 347 them 1013 then 187 there 1 1 58 these 504 thew 1240 they 345 thick 614 thief 1326 thigh 1287 thin 776 thine 690 thing 546 think 775 third 473 thirst 741 this 503 thistle 514 thither 634 thole(pin) 152 1 thong 160 thorn 1499 thorough 1353 those 395 thou 1445 though 1228 thought (1746) thousand 1464 thrall 1 197 thread 1 179 threat (1743) three 1278 thresh 912 thrill 754 thrive 682 throat 1605 throng 159 through 1352 throw 401 thrown 41 1 thumb 141S thunder 1392 Thursday 1358 thus (1750) tide 721 tie 1 124 tile 609 till 4S3 timber 603 time 702 tin 574 tinder 783 to 1625 toad 445 toe 366 (to)gether 308 token 439 told 96 toll 1529 tongs 171 tongue 1388 too 1625 took 1680 tool 1633 tooth 1638 top 1622 tore 1 8 torn 1504 tough 1626 town 1467 tread 948 tree 1319 trim 787 trod 312 trodden 1600 trough 1576 true 1320 trust 770 truth 1324 Tuesday 528 tun 1401 turf 1360 tusk 1373 twain 935 twelve 8S7 twenty (1738) twig 610 twine 696 twinkle 562 twins 575 twit 649 two 367 Udder 1473 ugly 1427 (un) couth 1459 under 1402 up 1440 us 1371 utter(ly) 1478 Vane 194 vat 327 vixen 802 Wade 304 wag 247 waggon (1703) wain (1704) wake 280 walk 86 wall 61 wallow 73 wan 191 wand 213 wander 215 wane 192 want 221 ward 44 ware 13 warm 33 warn 28 was 113 wash 122 wasp 1005 watch (1709) water 324 wave 1 1 70 wax 293 way 927 we 1 09 1 weak 353 weal 876 wean 1029 weapon 1192 wear 963 weary 1098 weasel 910 weather 944 weave 920 web 1086 wed 1074 wedge 1062 (wed)lock 436 Wednesday 1 694 weed 1339 weeds 11 80 week 618 ween 11 12 weep 1 1 53 weevil 534 weigh 1 171 weight 1 176 welkin 1533 well {adv.) 875 well {subs.) 982 Welsh 9S9 wen 1030 wench 1022 wend 1042 went 1049 wept 1348 were 1159 west (1730) wet 107S wether 905 whale 62 what 325 wheat 1224 wheel 1296 whelk 893 whelp 999 when 193 where 1160 whet 1079 whether 103 whey 1 172 which 620 while 668 whine (1725) whisper 524 whistle 522 whit 462 white 726 whither 636 who 361 whole 371 whom 427 whoop 1698 whore 1627 whose 396 why 815 wick (1 731) wide 718 widow 635 width 638 wield 996 wierd 747 wife 685 wight 461 wild 4S9 wile 667 will 480 10 146 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. willow 481 win 569 wind {suds.) 583 wind (z'i ) 584 window 585 wine 694 wing 551 winlc 560 winnow 570 winter 591 wire 665 wisdom 512 wise 677 wish 766 wit 645 witcli 619 with 497 woad 443 woe 360 wolf 1369 woman 598 womb 239 women 599 won {j>ret.) 190 won {partic.') 1397 wonder 1409 woo 1668 wood 1434 wool 1366 word 1 5 13 work 745, 862, 1364 world 1490 worm 743, 1362 worse 739 wort 751 worth 842, 1356 wot 450 would 1537 wound {pi'ct.) 214 wound(/rtr//(:.) 1408 wound {subs.) 1407 wrang 165 wrath 386 wreak 940 wreath 1202 wreck 281 wren (1737) wrench (1736) wrest 1002 wretch 1068 Wright 737 wrmg (1723) wrist (1720) write 725 writhe 673 written 646 wrong 166 wrote 451 wroth 387 wrought 1483 wrung 1386 Yard {court) 45 yard {jneasuj-e) 974 yarn 30 ye 1093 yea 1226 year 1232 yearn 856 yeast 516 yell 482 yellow S80 yelp 903 yes 507 yester(day) 521 yet 647 yew 1307 yield 492 yoke 1586 yolk 895 yore 382 you 1306 young 1329 youth 1300, 1337 yule 1297 SUPPLEMENTARY LISTS OF IREEGULAEITIES. Middle Period. In the following words ce and ea have become e instead of the regular a: geer (gear), eern (earn), fern, heercl (heard) ; elf, helch\ tvhe^er, toge^er ; les, nes, lest, leest (least), gest (guest); 'Sen, ivhen ; emet, hemp ; urec, pehl. It is clear from these exceptional forms that the Old English (e was quite lost after the Transition period ; as we s6e, it was either changed into a, or else mispronounced as e, just as it would be in the mouth of a foreigner. The lengthening before r in geer, eern and heerd has many parallels, and in the case of heerd is confirmed by the Modern hiwd. The present form osn, however, points rather to em, with a short vowel. The lengthening in leest, although anomalous, is supported by yeest from yest=^gist, by the re- tention of 00 = a in mdost, etc., and perhaps by criist (see note on 518, below). a for in non-preterites (p. 54) : angl, hang, fang, gang, bang. 6 for a : on, bond, from, womb, comb. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 147 ei preserved : ei (eye), ^ei (they), ivhei, grei, cei (key) ; tceih (y>'eig^), neih, nei/i{buur), eiht (eight), heiht; ^eir; ei^er ; rein{deer). The Modern forms point mostly to ai. ai {eye) however comes not from ai-=ei, but from ii. cii (key) is altogether anomalous; so also are the two pronunciations ii^er and ai'^sr (either), while the obsolete el^9r is regular. i (//) has become e, 1) regularly after y-consonant: >/el ; 1/es, yeest, yesterdai; yet. 2) in other words : her, herd (shep- (herd) ; ne^er ; ^ees (these); eevil; Jlej'd (hedged). In S)ieec and reep (sneak, reap) a highly anomalous change of ii into ee seems to have taken place. e, eo become i: liht,fiht; mir]> (but meri), birch; chil, silver, silc, milc,fiild; sister; ric, wic; cripl, 7?/^ (= berry), dip(?). e becomes /: smirc, gird[l) ; sili, cil, iciild ; line; rid; nib. € becomes a, 1) before r : star, far, tar, darling (from deorling), farming, carv, starv, barm, dwarf, baru, dare, hare, hart. 2) in : swalu, brambl. € becomes a, 1) before r: mar, maar, harlel, marsh, ham, ham, yard. 2) in : talu (?) ; wasp ; handi (?), aach. e, €0 become «: clturl, hurst, run, spurn, burn; hung. e, eo become ii : ii (from edge). Hi (from leogan), slii, flii, tii ; hiih, ]>iih, niih ; diiv (?). e becomes ee before r : heer, weeri, heercn, heerd. In the case of the first two words there is sixteenth century authority for the ee-sound also. ^ = ee becomes ee, 1) before r in all words except the doubtful beer. 2) in : meel; breefS ; eeven (evening) ; ])reed, dreed; Meet; weqion. Three of these, however, are made doubtful by the Modern \ired, dred, icepon, which point rather to a shortening of the long vowel at an early period. eo becomes ee : deer, dreeri; breest, cleev (cleave). There is Early Modern authority for deer as well as deer, breest, again, is uncertain on account of the Modern brest. €0 becomes 66 : I66z, ehooz ; shoot. Compare ehooz from ceas (p. 35), and ^douh Irom ]>eah (note to 1228, below). 148 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUKDS. eo becomes ^<(^<) : ijuu; runh ; yiiu]) ; yting} becomes u : murder, durst, hurst (partic.) ; dul; anmng, miinger. o becomes n{n) : ijuu (you); tiinh (tough); yi(u]>', yung. The following remarks on the diphthongs are intended to supplement those on pp. 52, 53, above. Diphthongs are formed not only by g (gh), but also by medial and final h {^=kh), but only with back vowels, the new element being always u (never i), which I have already ex- plained (note p. 80) as a mere secondary formation, due to the labialization of the following h=zlih : the h is conse- quently not absorbed, as is the case with g. The following are examples of genuine /? -diphthongs, in which h is original, not a later modification of g (p. 79) : 1) from ah : Jauh, lauhter, slaiihter, fauht, tauht. And perhaps sau from seah, although the omission of the h makes it more probable that it arises from some confusion with the plural sdicon, 2) from ah : oouht (ought). not points to ndduht:=^ndht ; nauht, however, to a shortened naht. 3) from oh : soiiht, houht, bouhf. For dauhter see note to 1484. In the following words g has been anomalously preserved, instead of being diphthongized : wag, icagon (but also train), drag (but also drau), twig. A few general remarks on Middle (or rather Early Modern) English orthography remain to be made. It is, as we have seen, mainly traditional, but with certain purely phonetic modifications. The first divergence of sound and symbol was the retention of ee and oo to denote the new sounds a and uu, while original ii and uu themselves changed in the direction of ai and au. The introduction of ea and oa to denote the true ee and oo sound was, on the other hand, a strictly phonetic innovation. ee and oo were partly phonetic, partly historical signs — ' I hare repeated most of these words again under o. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 149 they denoted the sounds ii and wm, and implied at the same time an earlier ee and 66. But in a few cases it is interesting to observe that they were employed purely phonetically, against tradition. An example is aflforded by the word written room, the Old English rum. In the fourteenth century this word was spelt with the French on=:uu ; but in the Early Modern period the regular rowm, corresponding with doioi, etc., was abandoned, probably because it would, like down, have suggested the regular diphthong 6h or 9h, into which the other old mis changed, and the word was written phonetically room, without at all implying a Middle English r66m. Other examples are door and groom, in which oo may perhaps represent short ii, which it almost certainly does in icool and xcood. The use of single o to denote short n is a well- known feature of Middle English. It occurs chiefly in com- bination with w, u( = v), n, and m, and has been explained (first, I believe, by Dr. J. A. H. Murray) as a purely graphic substitute for u in combination with letters of similar forma- tion, to avoid confusion. But such a spelling as wod would have suggested an d-sound, as in god. To avoid all possibility of this pronunciation, the o was therefore doubled. This spelling is only inaccurate as regards the quantity ; it is, therefore, difficult to see why it was not adopted in the words written lore, come, etc., which ought by their spelling to in- dicate the pronunciations I66i\ c66m, corresponding to Middle English loov, cdom ! Similar fluctuation between the phonetic and historical principle is shown in many words written with the digraph ie. ie is in itself nothing but a substitute for ii, which from purely graphic reasons was never doubled, as being liable to confusion with u. The sound of ii was, of course, in most cases expressed by ee. There were, however, a few words which preserved their Middle English n- sound throughout the Early Modern period (and up to the present day) as well. Such a word as fiild, for instance, if written in the fourteenth century spelling fild, would have been read, on the analogy of loild, child, etc., as feild, or foild, while to have written feeld would have been a violation of the etymological prin- 150 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. ciple. Both history and sound were saved by the adoption of ie. The following list of ?V- words will show that, although ie was sometimes used finally to denote the diphthongized sound, it invariably denoted the simple ii medially : hie, lie, die, tie; wierd; yield, shield, icield, field ; priest; believe, sieve; lief, thief; fiend, friend. In sieve we have an instance of ie used to denote a short vowel (compare wool, etc.) ; possibly the ie was employed simply to prevent the combination sine, which would have been graphically ambiguous. J. ~- MoDERN Period. The general rule which governs the retention and modifi- cation of a before sibilants seems to be that it is retained before breath consonants, but changed to ce before voice con- sonants. Thus we find (ez, hcez, hcev contrasting with a{a)s, gras, asc, last, staf, after. The change to ce takes place, how- ever, before sh, although voiceless : cesh, rcesh. Also in cespen.^ In the same way a followed by n and a voice consonant becomes ce, as in mid, hoiud, cenvil; but if the consonant which comes after the n is voiceless, there is no change, as in ansar, plant, ant. These laws do not apply to a when followed by the other nasals, in which cases it is always changed: scene, drcenc; dmmp. ii has been preserved in the following words : mii : shiidr, wiidd ; shiild, tciild,fiild, yiild ; tviivol, iviic. Of these words the first only has i in O.E. ; all the others are Middle E. lengthenings of i, corresponding sometimes to original i, sometimes to e or e. It is worthy of note that all of them are written with ie, except shiijr, wiivol, and wiiTi, which are written shire, weevil, week. The last two spellings with e, which go back as far as the fourteenth century, seem to indicate some confusion with ee, although we would rather expect the broad ee, as in sneec for sniic. It is, however, ^ Note, however, that aspen is a dissyllable, with a liquid in the second syllable : but wc have after, not ccfter. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 151 possible that these eea may be simply Early Modem phonetic spellings, like room=riium. ee has become ei (instead of n) : ?/di (yea) ; breic ; greit} u has been preserved, 1) after w : wiiman, wul, wulf, wuuncl, wild (not in ivondjr). 2) in other cases : fid, bul{dc) ; grum. uu has been preserved (sometimes with shortening) : buur (boor) ; dnciiii]) ; cud (could) ; ruiim (room) ; bnic (brook). 66 has been preserved : /i6iiv ; dwouc. 66 has become d : 9^er, md^er, dd]>, brd^dr ; gldv ; mon]), mdndi, dan; fldd, bhd. For dvn and shdvl see notes to 1553 and 1556. The series of changes is clearly 66, uu, u, d ; the second and third belonging to the Early Modern, the last to the Transition period. The anomalous spelling other, etc., in- stead of ootlier, was probably meant to indicate the shortness of the 11^^66. To infer from it a Middle E. bSt^er would be as unreasonable as in the case of love, come, etc., where the w was certainly never lengthened or lowered to 6b, Under the head of consonant influence the loss of the initial element of the diphthong iim or yiiu ought to have been noticed in its place. It takes place after r and /, but not after stops, nasa,ls, and sibilants : run, gruu, cruu ; fluu, cluu; also in. chuu {lyuKd is an exce'ption), yim; hyim; ]>f/iiu; fyuu; nyuu ; dyuu; stymi ; spyuu. The development of the diphthong 6u out of ol in the combination olc ought also to have been noticed ; it occurs in two words : y6uc (yolk), f6uc (folk). Also the change of a into o before It, in holt, solt, molt. NOTES TO THE WORD LISTS. No. 3. eiht. A solitary exception to the general change of aht into auht. There is Early Mod. evidence for aiht as well as eiht. ' For the presen-ation of ee before r in beer, etc., see p. 68. 152 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. 6. fauht. Salesbury writes faiiht, and the spelling fought seems merely due to confusion with the partic. fouhten from O.E. gefohien. 15. nam, etc. These words are not derived direct from the nom. nearu, but from the oblique cases, neance becoming nearic, whence nai'U, by weakening of the final u\ cam, on the other hand, which has care in the oblique cases, naturally lengthens its vowel — caar. 25. geer from gearwa is only an apparent exception to the rule just stated, the long vowel being probably due to the t\ The loss of the iv is, however, anomalous. 68. sIicbI, for shdol. An isolated exception to the develop- ment of au before /. 68. ceaJIian. This word occurs in the poem of Byrhtno^; it may therefore possibly be English, although Norse in- fluence in so late a work is quite possible. 71. haal. Exceptionally taken from the nom. healu, not from the oblique healw- (see note to 15, above). 81. inahn. The^ is, of course, purely pedantic; the word may, however, be French. 84. t(slg. The vowel is doubtful, and I have given the word again under e (992). 89, 91. alder, alderman. The exceptional retention of the a may be due to the liquid in the second syllable : compare the short i in icunder, etc., as contrasted with uuund (p. 47). 132. castel. This word, although of French origin, was in familiar use in English many years before the Conquest. 140. hauc, from Jtavoc through havec, hau-{e)c. The con- verse change has taken place in icaav (1170) ; the series was probably ti'(^g, icaaio, ivaav. 150. cloover. The only parallel is lood from liladan (298). 168, 169. monger, among. The «-sound, for which there is Early Middle authority, as well as for o, is anomalous. 181. eni. The Early form (or one of them) was ani with short a (as Gill expressly states) ; the present form eni may therefore be explained as an irregidar variation of the normal leni. 182. hemp seems to point to an O.E. hwnejy (cp. 187). BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 153 187, 193. then, when. These clearly arise from the Late O.E. ^cenne and whvnne with abnormal modification of a before nasals (p. 26). 229. su'cem for sworn, m seems to bar the retention of a for (B in the same way in the word dcemp (p. 150). 246, 248. slai, fai, instead of slau, flau. The subs, siege may have helped the former irregularity. 253. daun. dag{e)nian ought to give dain, but the analogy of the regular Middle E. dawes from dagas helped. 270. acorn. The o is probably inorganic, the result of association with corn. 298. lood. cp. cloover (150). 303. shaad for sceadiv-. cp. baal, 71. 324. water. The Modern icooter, with its long vowel, is anomalous. 331. got, inorganic, from the analogy of the partic. *begoten. 343. ^jc5/, from pcepol or 2)cebol (?). 344. ai. The modern form is a solitary case of retention of the diphthong. 350. rein. The older spelling raindeer should have been given. 352. The Middle steec and its change into the Modern steic are both anomalous. 353. tceak may possibly come from the O.E. wdc, through icac. 355. dii, from dey{ja) ; cp. ii for ei from edge (1121). 357. Id. If the Modern loo (written laic) really corre- sponds to the O.E. Id, we have a second instance (besides brood) of the retention of do. treysta (770) should have been referred to here. 372. haaL A solitary and dubious instance of the reten- tion of O.E. d. 389. nothing. The Modern d is probably due to the analogy of icdn (415) and non. 396. lohbbz, read whooz. The Modern uu is better evidence than the spelling tvhose. 400. \au, points seemingly to an O.E. ]>dican. 415. icdu. The most probable explanation is that iva is 154 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. simply tlie Early Modern 66 with its labial and guttural elements pronounced successively instead of simultaneously (p. 14). 418. ndn. Not a case of 6b becoming 9 through uu and u, but simply due to the analogy of inn, 429. dami. The O.E. a in this word must have been shortened at a very early period, else we should have had clomi. 440. -]i66d, A solitary instance of 66 becoming 66 in Middle English (except after ic). 447. hr66d. Retention of Middle EngKsh 66 from a. 491. gild. Exceptional retention of short i. cp. gild (from gyldaii) and hyld (760, 761). 518. criist. The cli is, of course, no evidence; but the word may be French. Compare, however, leht (126) and yeest (520), with the same lengthening before st. 528. teuzdai. The spelling ue indicates the later simplifi- cation yy. 534. u'iivil. It is uncertain whether the spelling ee indi- cates a Middle English weevil or is purely phonetic. 604. island. The s is purely etymological and erroneous. 707. rich. May be French. 760, 761. gild, hyld. Exceptional retention of the short vowels. There is, however, Early Middle authority for byyld as well. 796. luck. The word lukka in Icelandic is said to be of late introduction, otherwise it would fit in very well. I have formed lycci from the Danish lykke. 847. \ircesh may be a modification of ]>resh^ as eni seems to be of ^ni (181). 860. iceberg. Probably foreign (Dutch?). 868. swurd; or from u (1365). 870. heert and hart are both independent modifications of hert. 881. avail. Compare hair (1157) from h<^r. The history of these two spellings requires investigation : it is possible that the ai is merely a comparatively late representation of the sound ee, introduced after the simplification of the diph- thong ai (p. 65). BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 155 934:. ]>aan for jpain. Here, again, the spelling may be late. The Modern ])ein would correspond to either \>aan or ])ain. 956. nehb. The vowel is more probabl}' e (1087). 1005. wasp points rather to uresp than tcesp ; both forms may, however, have existed. 1017. u-(^ng (551) should come in here. 1036. cloiz. The spelling ea certainly points to clemz, but the Modern form is against it, and it is possible that the ea may be a purely etymological reminiscence. 1038. handi may be merely a late derivative of hand. 1052. temz. The spelling is evidently a pedantic adapta- tion of the Latin T{h)amesis^ 1054. an. This form (instead of at) is very anomalous. The most probable explanation is that ege was made into cege by the same confusion between the two vowels as in wesp (1005), and that o'ge then became age, which was irregularly diphthongized into au{e). 1057. /lej points rather to hecg than hege, which would give hai. 1058, 1060. lai, sai. These forms (instead of lej, sej) point rather to some such inflection as the imperative lege, sege. 1064. aach. Another case of confusion between e and ce — ecc, (Bce, ace, aach. 1105. cnela. The Icelandic expression is hnefalla, but Imcele is found in Danish. 1135. read. I have given the word again under ee (1218), as it is quite uncertain whether it had e or ^ in O.E. : the assumed derivation from rodjan favours the former, the MSS. usage the latter. 1157. hair. cp. cicail (881). 1171. iceih, etc. Anomalous retention of gh in the form of h. 1228. ^bbuh. The stages were probably '^caah, >6aah, ^odh, ^douh. 1239. rau. Apparently from an intermediate hrcdw ; cp. >«M (400). 156 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. 1241, 1242. sloou, shddu. The same dropping of the first element of O.E. eaa, as in the previous word. All these forms are important, as showing that the second element of the diphthong had the accent and was long. 1244. straic. cp. 1239. 1276. chapman. Points to a shortened ea, which naturally passed into a. 1292. darling. From shortened eo — deor-, dcor-, der-, dar-ling. 1295. four]). Probably formed directly from the Middle English four itself. 1306. yuu. Here the first element of the diphthong is consonantized, and the final w thrown ofi", as in trdd, cnee, etc. 1333. friend. The Modern frend points to a Tory early shortened form, which probably co-existed with the older friend. 1353, 1363. thorough, borough. The Modern d points to \iiruh and huruh, and it is possible that the o is a mere graphic substitute for u. 1370. shoulder for shaulder. The most probable explana- tion is that shuulder became shoulder in the Early Modern period, and the 6u became 66u before Id, and so was con- founded with the 66u in foou, etc. 1380. eleven. Agrees rather with the other form endleofon. 1460. cuuld. The I is, of course, due to the analogy of wuuld and shuuld. 1470. ruuh may possibly come from hreoh (1288). 1484. dauhter. The anomalous au may be due to Norse influence, as Danish has dattcr (Icelandic dottir) : I do not know, however, that the Danish form is of any antiquity. 1519. holu. The final h of holh seems to have been first vocalized (and labialized), and then merged into w, which, as in naru, etc., was weakened into «. 1521. sicouln, etc. The development of owin the combina- tions ol, old, is Early Modern, and should have been mentioned (p. 61). The phoneticians make the o long, writing tooul {=ioll), etc. Its preservation in the present English is, therefoi'fi, quite regular, as in fou from Middle E. foou, etc. BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 157 1530. houl. Here, again, the sixteenth century authori- ties write hooul. The spelling hoivl is, of course, phonetic and unhistorical. 1533. tcelcin. cp. wednesdai (1694). 1540. fro]>, etc. The quantity of o before ^, s, and / is verj^ uncertain in the present English, but the longs seem to be getting the upper hand. 1553. oven. The Modern ovn points rather to ooven than the regular ooven. 1556. shovel. The Modern shdvl, again, points to an earlier shuvl, which may be a shortening of shuuvel-=^sh66vel, as was suggested in the case of oven. Or the form shiivel may be due to the analogy of the verb shiw^scufan. 1667, 1670. sleu^ dreu. The most probable explanation is that sloo^ first became sloou, and then this was confused with the numerous preterites in eooiv {grcbw, cneow, etc.), and followed the same change into eu. 1694. tvednesda//. cp. welcin (1533). ON THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH. One of the most troublesome questions of English philo- logy is that of the designation of its various stages. I have throughout this paper adopted the threefold division of Old, Middle, and Modern : it will, therefore, be necessary to say a few words in its justification. The first question is, shall we retain the name "Anglo- Saxon " for the earliest period of our language, or discard it entirely? The great majority of English scholars are de- cidedly hostile to the word. They argue that it is a barbarous half-Latin compound, which, although justifiable as applied to a political confederation of Angles and Saxons, is entirely misleading when applied to the language spoken by these tribes, implying, as it does, that the English language before the Conquest was an actual mixture of the Anglian and Saxon dialects. The reverse was of course the case, and we consequently have to distinguish between the Anglian dialect 158 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. of Anglo-Saxon and the Saxon dialect of Anglo-Saxon.^ The most serious objection, however, to the word Anglo- Saxon is that it conceals the unbroken development of our language, and thrusts the oldest period of our language out- side the pale of our sympathies. Hence, to a great extent, the slowness with which the study of our language makes its way among the great mass of educated people in England — if people can be called educated who are ignorant of the history of their own language. These arguments have lately been vigorously attacked by a leading English philologist — Professor March. In his able essay ^ he brings out the distinctive features of the two ex- treme periods very forcibly, and has so far done good service. At the same time, he has greatly exaggerated the difference between the two periods. Thus, in phonology, he says that Anglo-Saxon had sounds now lost in English, such as French u, German ch, and initial wl, wr, and that i and u have be- come diphthongs. Now any one who has read this paper with any attention will see that this part of the argument is worth very little, for all these soimds were preserved un- changed in the sixteenth century, which belongs unmistakably to the Modern period. The well-known statement that Johnson's Dictionary con- tains 29,000 Romance words out of 43,500 is a great ex- aggeration. A large proportion of these 29,000 are words which are never used in ordinary speech or writing, very many of them are quite unknown to the majority of educated people, and not a few of them never existed in the language at all. When we speak of the proportion of Romance elements in English, we mean the English of every-day life, not of dictionaries and technical works,^ and of the two ex- ^ If any period of our language is to be called " Anglo-Saxon," let it be the present one — as far, at least, as the literary language is concerned, which is really a mixture of Saxon and Anglian forms. * Is there an Anglo-Saxun Language? Transactions of the American Philo- logical Association, 1872. ^ On such one-sided grounds as these it would be easy to prove that Modem German is quite as mixed as English is. Observe the proportion of foreign and native words in the following passages, taken at random from a work published this year: " Wieniawski, dcr Paganinispielcr par excellence, zeigt sich da, wo cr mit BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 159 tremes, the estimate of Turner is certainly fairer than that of Thomrnerel. The real distinction between the two stages lies, of course, in the comparatively uninflectional character of the present language and its analytical reconstruction. But the old inflec- tions are not all lost ; we still have our genitive, our plurals in s and en, and in our verbs the Teutonic strong preterite is still common. And it must be borne in mind that even the Oldest English inflections are beginning to break up. There is no s or r in the nominative singular, consequently no distinction between nominative and accusative in many words, no distinction whatever of gender in the plural of adjectives, or of person in the plural of verbs. The imper- fect case terminations are already eked out by prepositions — he cicai^ to me is much more like English than Latin or even German. And if we take the intermediate stages into consideration, we find it simply impossible to draw a definite line. Professor March acknowledges this, but takes refuge in a distinction between colloquial and literary speech, which last, he says, has much more definite periods. Professor March surely forgets that for scientific purposes artificial literary speech is worth nothing compared with that of every-day life, with its unconscious, unsophisticated development. It is, besides, very questionable whether there ever was an artificial literary prose language in England in early times. While difiering from Professor March on these points, I fully agree with him in protesting against the loose way in which " Old English " is made to designate any period from Alfred to Chaucer. It is quite clear that the inflectional stage of our language must have a distinctive name, and therefore that Old English must be reserved for it alone. Schwierigkeiten und Effecten d la Paganini spielt, in seinem eigentlichen Elemente; seine Compositional sind dalier fiir exclusive Virtuosen nicht ohne Iiiteresse. Die- selben woUen mit vollkommenster technischer Freiheit, ubermiithiger Laune und Feuer gespielt sein, vor alien die Variationen Opus 11 — echte musikalische Mix- pickles." " Ein effect^oWes Virtuosen^inck in Paganini'scher Manier." " Das kurze Thema ist mit poetischer Simplicitdt zu spielen." Compare these specimens -vvith the Lord's Prayer, or a page of Swift or Defoe. 160 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. The difficiilty is with the later stages. The period I call Middle English is now often called " Early English," while those who retain " Anglo-Saxon " call the intermediate periods "Semi-Saxon" or " Old English," while others make various arbitrary distinctions between " Early," " Old," and "Middle" English. It does not seem to be generally ac- knowledged that each of these terms really implies a definite correlative, that if we call one period " Early," we are bound to have a " Late " one, and that " Middle " implies a beginn- ing and an end — to talk therefore of one period as "Early," as opposed to a " Middle " one, is entirely arbitrary. Such divisions err also in being too minute. When we consider how one period merges into another, and how the language changed with much greater rapidity in the North than in the South, we see that it is necessary to start with a few broad divisions, not with impracticably minute ones. I propose, therefore, to start with the three main divisions of Old, Middle, and Modern, based mainly on the inflectional characteristics of each stage. Old English is the period of full inflections [nama, gifan, cant), Middle English of levelled inflections (naame, given, caare), and Modern English of lost inflections (nacan, gir, caar). We have besides two periods of transition, one in which nama and name exist side by side, and another in which final e is beginning to drop. The latter is of very little importance, the former, commonly called Semi- Saxon (a legitimate abbreviation of Semi-Anglo-Saxon), is characterized by many far-reaching changes. I propose, therefore to call the first the Transition period par excellence, distinguishing the two, when necessary, as first and second Transition, the more important one being generally called simply Transition or Transition-English. Whenever minute divisions are wanted. Early and Late can be used — Early Old, Late Middle, Early Modern, etc. Still minuter distinctions can be made by employing Earlier, Earliest, etc., till we fall back on the century or decade. These divisions could also be applied to the difierent dialect- names. Thus Old Anglian would be equivalent to " Anglian BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 161 dialect of Old English," Modern Saxon would designate the Dorsetshire dialect, etc. As regards the Northern dialects of the Middle period, they ought strictly to be classed as Modern, as they soon lost the final e entirely. But as they have all the other characteris- tics of the Middle period, it seems most convenient to take the dominant speech of Chaucer and Gower as our criterion. CONCLUDING REMARKS. First of all I have a few words to say on the relation of the present essay to Mr. Ellis's great work. As regards my obligations to Mr. Ellis, I can only say, once for all, that without his investigations this essay would never have been written. It is essentially based on his re- sults, of which, in some places, it is little more than a summary ; while I have throughout drawn largely on the enormous mass of material stored up in the " Early English Pronunciation." In going over the same ground as Mr. Ellis, it is but natural that I should occasionally arrive at conclusions different from his, as, for instance, in the important question of the two ees and oos, in Middle English, and in that of the preservation of short y in the Early Modern period. But I have not been satisfied with merely summarizing and criticizing Mr. Ellis's views, but have also endeavoured to carry his method a step further, by combining his results with the deductions of the historical school inaugurated by Rask, and perfected by Grimm and his followers in Germany. Mr. Ellis's great achievement was to determine generally the phonetic values of the Roman alphabet in England at the difierent periods, and to establish the all-important principle that the Middle Age scribes wrote not by eye, but by ear, and consequently that their varying orthographic usage is a genuine criterion of their pronunciation. It has, therefore, been possible for me in the present essay to turn my atten- tion more exclusively to the sounds themselves, and the wider 11 162 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS. generalizations obtainable from an examination of the various changes, whicli generalizations can again be applied to the elucidation and confirmation of tbe individual changes them- selves. Many of the general principles stated at the be- ginning of the essay are, I believe, new and original ; such, for instance, as the threefold divisions of sound-changes into organic, inorganic, and imitative, the sketch of the relations between sound and symbol (general alphabetics) , the deter- mination of the laws which govern the changes of short and long vowels in the Teutonic languages, etc. I have also added to our stock of phonetic material, both by the observations on the pronunciation of Modern English Ln and the living Teutonic languages, and also by the full lists of Old English words with their Middle and Modern equiva- lents, which afford a sound basis both for testing the views I have developed, and for carrying out further investigation. It need hardl}' be said that the present essay is but a meagre sketch of what would be a really adequate history of English soimds. An investigation of every dialect and period, even if only on the meagre and imperfect scale here attempted, would fill many volumes. And yet till this is done, we cannot say that the foundations of a scientific English phonology are even laid. And it is only on such investigations that a satisfactory investigation of inflection and syntax can be based. It was, therefore, absolutely necessary for me to limit my programme as much as possible. Hence the omission of any reference to our dialects, and the comparative neglect of the Middle period. Most of my results are obtained from a direct comparison with Old and Modern English : they are, therefore, to a certain extent, only tentative. In one point they are specially defective, namely as regards the deductions drawn from our present traditional orthography. Although this orthography is, on the whole, a very faithful representa- tion of the pronunciation of the time when it settled into its present fixity, yet there are many of its details which urgently require a more minute examination. In short, we want a thorough investigation of the orthography of the sixteenth BY HENEY SWEET, ESQ. 163 and seventeentTi centuries, based on an examination not only of printed works, but also of manuscripts of all kinds. Such an investigation would not fail to yield valuable results. Of the very considerable labour entailed in the present work, a large portion was expended on the lists. These I at first Intended merely to consist of a certain number of examples of each change, but it proved so difficult to draw any definite line of exclusion that I determined to make them as full as possible, excluding only obsolete and doubtful words. There are a large number of words which, although of undoubted Teutonic origin, cannot be assigned to any Old English parent. Again, many Old English words given in the dictionaries without any reference, merely on the authority of Lye and Somner, are of very dubious existence. Many of them I believes to be gueses, formed by analogy from purely Modern words, while others are clearly taken from Transition texts. These I have often omitted, especially when they did not seem to ofier any new points of interest. I am fully conscious of the inconsistencies and errors I have fallen into in preparing these lists, but I believe they are in- evitable in a first attempt of this kind. It would have been easy to give my work a false appearance of fullness and finish, by suppressing the lists altogether; but I preferred to give them out, imperfect as they are, and rely on the indul- gence of those who are alone competent to judge my work — those, namely, who have been engaged in similar initiatory investigations. [*»* Note also the tendency to lower mm before r, as sliown in the almost universal yoo('') for t/iiur (possessive of i/uu). In the vulgar prommciation this is carried out in all words, so that the combination uur is entii'ely lost. Thus we have pods for puur, sh663 for shuur, etc.] PaXXTFO) UY STEPHKN AVSTIN ANP tONS, -n-BUn'OilD. /-' <^^ 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: Tel. No. 642-3405 Renewals may be made 4 days priod to date due. EC'DLP NOVlQ70 - 9AM4g' >«J 3AN B 1971 w-n- REC'DLD JAN 14 r: -SPMSS JAN e 1 976 \m- Of - > « « >v* I H^ — ^ REG. CIR. DEC 15 15 '^AY 2 61976 l»EC. CtR. APR 2 q 18 VfP: ?.l i^O R^OE f'-^'-; n o,,m.m ^'6Q V^CUL/Cl'IOlM OEPT KCi7i99B LD21A-60m-8,*70 (N8837sl0)476 — A-32 General Library University of California Berkeley ..y.,,jjj. BERKELEY LIBRARIES cosaoasa?? w • •_. Ci. m '••.*• Ti^i^^*>iv:-::. vm- ^ i*-" '*,j/ ■ ■^ ,.^ii^^ f^' t'fr^'.tMTf^ t>. I/*?*'? '^^