Old English Sounds and Spellings

EN307

History of the English Language

Extra letters

• þ ‘thorn’, upper case Þtaken from runic alphabet

used for \θ\ and \ð\

often interchangeable with ð in manuscripts

þis ‘this’

þing ‘thing’

þurfan ‘to need’

• ð ‘eth’, upper case Ð

adapted from a Latin script, cross added

used for \θ\ and \ð\

often interchangeable with þ in manuscripts (sometimes, þ at beginning, ð in middle or at end of word)

drinceð ‘drinks’

lāð ‘hateful’

wið ‘with’

• æ ‘ash’, upper case Æ‘digraph’ (two letters)used for \æ\wæs ‘was’ǣniġ ‘any’ǣmettig ‘empty’

• ƿ ‘wynn’, upper case Ƿborrowed from runic alphabet

used for \w\w was an alternative (used in modern editions for convenience)ƿynn ‘joy’ƿæs ‘was’ƿeorc ‘work’

• Latin letters q, x, z known but used infrequently

axian, ascian ‘to ask’

• k used, but \k\ could always be represented by c

cyning, kyning ‘king’

• Early OE: y represented \y\, but came to be interchangeable with i, ie

hyran, hieran ‘to obey’

fylþ, filþ ‘filth’

• \ǰ\ spelled cgecg ‘edge’

wecg ‘wedge’

licgan ‘to lie’ (on the ground)

• \š\ spelled sc

fisc ‘fish’

scūfan ‘shove’

scieran ‘rend, tear’

• c could represent \k\ (before back vowels and consonants, or finally)

cald ‘cold’

cweðan ‘to say’

ac ‘but’

āc ‘oak’

• c could also represent \č\ before front vowels

ċild ‘child’

liċe ‘like, similar to’

• g stood for \g\

god ‘God’

gōd ‘good

gamol ‘old, ancient’

• g also stood for \γ\ (voiced velar fricative)

būgan ‘bend, bow’

magan ‘be able to, can’

• g also stood for \j\

ġiefan ‘give’

ġiedd ‘word, speech, riddle’

ġeorn ‘eager’

Consonants• No phonemic voiced fricatives (\v\,\z\,\ð\) -

allophones of voiceless fricatives (\f\,\s\,\θ\)• Fricatives voiced between voiced sounds (i.e.,

voiced consonants and all vowels)rīsan ‘to rise’ \rizan\græs ‘grass’ \græs\āð ‘oath’ \aθ\wrīðan ‘writhe’ \wriðan\cnīf ‘knife’ \cnif\cnīfas ‘knives’ \cnivas\

• hence MnE path/paths, life/lives

• \ŋ\ was just an allphone of \n\ appearing before \k\ or \g\

drincan ‘to drink’ \driŋkan\

singan ‘to sing’ \siŋgan\

• in MnE, a phoneme (sinner/singer distinct)

• \r\ an alveolar trill???

\h\• Wider distribution in OE than in MnE• Had several allophones not present in MnE• Initially before vowels or r,l,n,w: [h]

hand ‘hand’hlædel ‘ladle’hræfn ‘raven’hnappian ‘to take a nap’

• after front vowels, a palative fricative \ç\sihþ ‘sight’fæhð ‘feud’

• elsewhere, velar fricative \x\þurh ‘through’hēah ‘high’eahta ‘eight’

Phonemically long (‘doubled’) consonants

• Indicated by double letters

bed ‘prayer’

bedd ‘bed’

fȳlan ‘to befoul’fyllan ‘to fill’(cf. MnE bidden, red dog; homey, home-made)

Consonant Clusters• hl, hr, hn, hw• hw became wh

hwæt ‘what’ (pronounced or not?)• kn

cniht ‘knight’cnēo ‘knee’

• gngnǣt ‘gnat’gnornian ‘mourn, feel sorrow’

Vowels

• Long vs. short vowels: not like ‘rid/ride’)

\rId\ \raid\

• genuinely held for longer!

OE vowelsa as the first vowel in ‘aha’

ā as the second vowel in ‘aha’

æ as in ‘mat’

ǣ as in ‘has’ (though called ‘short’)e as in ‘bet’ē approx. as in ‘hate’, but a pure

vowel [cf. German See]i as in ‘tin’ī as in ‘seen’

OE Vowels (cont’d)

• o as in ‘cough’

• Ō approx. as in ‘so’, but a pure vowel [cf German so]

• u as in ‘pull’ [NOT ‘hut’]

• ū as in ‘cool’

• y as I, with lips in a whistling position [French tu]

• Ȳ as \ī\, with lips in a whistling position [French ruse]

OE diphthongs

• ea e + a

• ēa ē + a

• eo e + o

• ēo ē + o

• ie i + e

• īe ī + e