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EARLY  ENGLISH  PRONUNCIATION, 


WITH  ESPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 


SHAKSPERE  AND  CHAUCER, 


CONTAINING  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 
WRITING  WITH  SPEECH  IN  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  ANGLOSAXON 
PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY,  PRECEDED  BY  A  SYSTEMATIC 
NOTATION  OF  ALL  SPOKEN  SOUNDS  BY  MEANS  OF  THE  ORDINARY 
PRINTING  TYPES. 

INCLUDING 

A  EE-AEEANGEMENT  OF  PEOF.  F.  J.  CHILD'S  MEMOIES  ON  THE  LANGUAGE  OF 

CHAT7CEE  AND  GOWEE,  AND   EEPEINTS   OF  THE  EAEE    TEACTS  BY  SALESBUEY 

ON  ENGLISH,  1547,  AND  WELCH,  1567,  AND  BY  BAECLEY  ON  FEENCH,  1521. 


ALEXANDER  J.  ELLIS,  F.R.S., 

FELLOW   OF   THE   CAMBRIDGE   PHILOSOPHICAL   SOCIETY,   MEMBEB   OF   THE   LONDON   MATHEMATICAL 

SOCIETY,    MEMBEE   OF   THE    COUNCIL   OF   THE   PHILOLOGICAL   SOCIETY,    FOEMEELY 

SCHOLAB   OF   TRINITY   COLLEGE,   CAMBEIDGE,   B.A.   1837. 


PAET  I. 

ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  XIV  TH,  XVI TH,  XVII TH,  AND 
XVIII TH  CENTURIES. 


LONDON: 

PUBLISHED     FOR     THE     PHILOLOGICAL     SOCIETY     BY 

ASHER  &  CO.,  LONDON  &  BERLIN, 

AND   FOE,  THE   EARLY   ENGLISH   TEXT    SOCIETY,   AND   THE   CHAUCER   SOCIETY,    BY 

TRUBNER  &  CO.,  60,  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 
1869. 


A3 


SPEAXE  THE  SPEECH  I  PEAT  YOU,  AS  I  PRONOTJNC'D  IT  TO  YOU. 

Shakspere,  Tragedies,  p.  266,  fo.  1623. 


LEGENDI  SEMPER  OCCASIO  EST,  AVDIEKDI  NON  SEMPER.  PRAETEREA, 
MVLTO  MAGIS  (VT  VYLGO  DICITIJR)  VIVA  VOX  ATFICIT.  ]S"AM,  LICET 
ACRIORA  SLNT,  QVAE  LEGAS,  ALTIVS  TAMEN  IN  ANIMO  SEDElfT,  QVAE 
PRONVNTIATIO,  WLTVS,  HABITVS,  GESTVS  ETIAM  DICENTIS  ATFIGIT  I 
NISI  VERO  FALSVM  PVTAMVS  ILLVD  AESCHINTS,  QVI,  CVM  LEGISSET 
EHODHS  ORATIONEM  DEMOSTHEXIS,  ADMIRANTIEVS  CVNCTIS,  ADIECISSE 
PERTVR,  TI  AE,  El  ATTOT  TOT  0HPIOT  AKHKOEITE  ;  El  ERAT 
AESCHENES,  si  DEMOSTHENI  CREDIMVS,  AAMnpo*nNOTATO5 :  FATE- 

BATVR    TAMEN,    LONGE     MELIVS    EADEM    ILLA    PRONTNTIASSE    IPSVM    QVI 

PEPERERAT. 

C.  Plinii  Caecilii  Secundi  Epist.  ii.  3. 


YERVM  ORTHOGRAPHIA  QVOQVE  CONSVETVDINI  SERVTT,  IDEOQVE  SAEPE 
MVTATA  EST.     ^AM  ILLA  VETVSTISSIMA  TRANSEO  TEMPORA,  QVEBVS  ET 

PAVCIORES  LITERAE,  NEC  SIMILES  HIS  NOSTRIS  EARVM  FORMAE  FVERVNT, 
ET  VTS  QVOQVE  DIVERSA  ....  T*ORTASSE  SICVT  SCREBEBANT,  ETIAM 
ITA  LOQVEBANTVR  ....  EGO  (NISI  QVOD  CONSVETVDO  OBTINVERIT) 
SIC  SCRTBEKDVM  QVLDQVE  IVDICO,  QVOMODO  SONAT.  HlC  ENIM  EST  VSVS 
LITERARVM,  VT  CVSTODIANT  VOCES,  ET  VELVT  DEPOSITVM  REDDANT 
LEGENTLBVS  ;  ITAQVE  ED  EXPRIMERE  DEBENT,  QVOD  DICTVRI  SVMVS. 

M.  Fab.  Quinctiliani,  Inst.  Orator,  i.  7. 


NOTICE. 


THE  first  portion  of  the  Chaucer  Society's  publications 
being  ready  for  delivery  to  its  members,  it  has  been  thought 
advisable  to  issue  at  the  same  time  the  first  four  chapters 
of  the  present  work,  which  contain  an  investigation  of 
Chaucer's  pronunciation  and  Prof.  F.  J.  Child's  Memoir 
upon  his  language.  The  MS.  of  the  remainder  of  the  work, 
which  will  be  of  about  the  same  extent  as  the  present  part, 
is  so  far  advanced,  that  it  will  possibly  be  ready  for  issue 
before  the  close  of  the  present  year ;  but  as  the  revision  at 
press  and  the  construction  of  the  indices  will  be  very 
laborious,  it  may  have  to  be  delayed  beyond  that  time.  A 
brief  summary  of  the  contents  of  both  parts,  and  an  out- 
line index,  is  here  annexed.  Complete  Indices  will  be  added 
to  make  reference  to  the  great  variety  of  matters  treated 
upon,  ready  and  convenient,  as  the  work  is  intended  to 
give  in  a  small  space  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  in- 
formation upon  a  subject  hitherto  almost  untreated. 

This  treatise  also  replaces  the  paper  on  the  Pronunciation 
of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  etc.,  which  was  read  by  the 
Author  before  the  Philological  Society,  on  18  January  and 
1  February,  1867. 

A.  J.  E 

KENSINGTON, 

1  FEB.,  1869. 


COBKIGEKDA   IN   PART   I. 

Headers  observing  any  misprints  in  Part  L  are  respectfully 
requested,  to  communicate  with  the  author,  25,  Argyll  Road, 
Kensington,  W. 

p.  5.  under  Grrh,  read  A.  4 

p.  7;  1.  5,  for  A86A  read  VOBA. 

p.  53,  1.  6,  for  aukwk  read  aukwh. 

p.  57,  line  9  from  bottom,  for  oo'w  read  oo'w. 

p.  60,  1.  17,  for1  read2 

p.  70,  1.  18  for  ut  it  mz^  ut  in. 

p.  80,  1.  20,  for  inclined  suspect  read  inclined  to  suspect. 

p.  85,  1.  12,  for  that  lie  read  than  he. 

p.  89,  n.  1,  1.  2,  for  he  a  razrf  he  is  a. 

p.  106,  1.  18,  for  refuse  so  say  read  refuse  to  say. 

p.  113,  1.  21,  for  does  seem  read  does  not  seem. 


ADDENDA. 

p.  12.    After  the  paragraph  commencing  **  add : 

L  evanescent,  made  from  [,  before  a  single  letter  or  combination, 
denotes  that  it  is  scarcely  audible,  although  the  speaker  is 
conscious  of  placing  his  organs  in  the  proper  position  for 
speaking  it. 

L*1  evanescents,  made  from  [],  enclose  more  than  one  evanescent 
element,  or  entire  evanescent  words,  as  (|_'n  ii\  k^m  Lt' 
paahs,)  =  and  it  came  to  pass. 

p.  12.    After  the  paragraph  commencing add: 

( ' )  prominent,  the  acute  accent  may  be  placed  over  any  element  of 
a  diphthong  or  triphthong,  when  it  is  considered  desirable, 
to  shew  that  it  has  the  chief  stress  of  the  inter-gliding 
vowels,  but  not  necessarily  the  chief  stress  in  the  whole 
word,  as,  for  example,  to  distinguish  the  pairs  of  diphthongs 
(fu  iu,  ui  ui,  ea  ea). 

p.  273.  Add  to  note  2.  Compare  also  :  whitlow,  whitsour,  whitster, 
whitsul ;  Whitacre,  Whitbarrow,  Whitburn,  Whitchurch,  Whit- 
field,  Whitgift,  Whithorn,  "Whitland,  Whitley,  Whitmore,  Whit- 
ney, Whitstable,  etc,  etc. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I.     (Now  PUBLISHED). 

INTRODUCTION.  PALAEOTYPE,  OR  THE  SYSTEMATIC  NOTATION  OF  ALL 
SPOKEN  SOUNDS  BY  MEANS  OF  THE  ORDINARY  PRINTING  TYPES,  pp.  1-16. 

CHAPTER  I.     ON  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES,  pp.  17-30. 

CHAPTER  II.  AUTHORITIES  FOR  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING 
THE  SIXTEENTH,  SEVENTEENTH,  AND  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURIES,  pp.  31-48. 

CHAPTER  III.  ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY,  AND  ITS  GRADUAL  CHANGE  DURING  THE  SEVENTEENTH  AND 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURIES,  pp.  49-240. 

§  1.     Introduction,  pp.  49-50. 

§  2.     Combined  Speech  Sounds,  pp.  51-59. 

§  3.    The  Vowels,  pp.  59-184. 

§  4.     The  Consonants,  pp.  184-223. 

§  5.  Realisation  of  the  Pronunciation  of  English  in  the  xvith,  xvnth, 
and  xvni  th  centuries,  pp.  223-225. 

§  6.    The  Direction  of  Change,  pp.  225-240. 

CHAPTER  IV.  ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING  THE  FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY,  AS  DEDUCED  FROM  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  RHYMES 
IN  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER,  pp.  241-416. 

§  1.     Principles  of  the  Investigation,  pp.  241-257. 

§  2.     The  Vowels,  pp.  258-307. 

§  3.     The  Consonants,  pp.  308-317. 

§  4.     On  the  Pronunciation  of  E  Final  in  the  xiv  th  Century,  pp.  318-342. 

§  5.     Professor  F.  J.  Child's  Observations  on  the  Language  of  Chaucer 

and  Gower,  pp.  342-397. 

§  6.     Chaucer's  Pronunciation  and  Orthography,  pp.  397-404. 
§  7.    Pronunciation  during  the  Fifteenth  Century,  pp.  405  6. 
§  8.    Pronunciation  during  the  Earlier  Part  of  the  xiv  th  Century,  with 
Illustrations  from  Dan  Michel  of  Northgate,  and  Richard  Rolle 
de  Hampole,  pp.  406-416. 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAET  II.     (UNPUBLISHED.) 

CHAPTER  V.  ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING  THE  THIR- 
TEENTH AND  PREVIOUS  CENTURIES,  AND  OF  THE  TEUTONIC  AND  SCANDI- 
NAVIAN SOURCES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

§  I.     Bhymed  Poems  of  the  xrnth  Century  and  earlier. 

No.  1.     The  Cuckoo  Song  (with  the  Music),  circa  A.D.  1240. 
No.  2.     The  Prisoner's  Prayer  (with  the  Music),  circa  A.D. 

1270. 

No.  3.  Miscellanies  of  the  xm  th  Century,  from  the  Reliquiae 
Antiquae  and  Political  Songs,  with  an  Examination 
of  the  Norman  French  El,  AI. 

No.  4.     The  Story  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  circa  A.D.  1290. 
No.  5.     Havelok  the  Dane,  circa  A.D.  1290. 
No.  6.     King  Horn,  circa  A.D.  1290. 

No.  7.    Moral  Ode,  Pater  Noster  and  Orison,  xii  th  Century. 
§  2.     Unrhymed  Poems  of  the  xm  th  Century  and  Earlier. 

No.  1.     Orrmin's  Orrmulum,  end  of  xnth  Century. 
No.  3.     Layamon's  Brut,  beginning  of  xmth  Century. 
§  3.     Prose  "Writings  of  the  xm  th  Century  and  Earlier. 

No.  1.     Only  English  Proclamation  of  Henry  III,  18  Oct.  1258. 
No.  2.     The  Ancren  Riwle,  xm  th  Century. 
No.  3.     Old  English  Homilies,  xn  th  Century. 
§  4.     Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  Sources  of  the  English  Language. 
No.  1.    Anglosaxon. 
No.  2.     Icelandic  and  Old  Norse. 
No.  3.     Gothic. 

CHAPTER  VI.  ON  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF  ORTHOGRAPHY  WITH  PRONUN- 
CIATION FROM  THE  ANGLOSAXON  PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 

§  1.  The  Value  of  the  Letters. 

§  2.  The  Expression  of  the  Sounds. 

§  3.  Historical  Phonetic  Spelling. 

§  4.  Etymological  Spelling. 

§  5.  Standard  or  Typographical  Spelling. 

§  6.  Standard  Pronunciation. 

CHAPTER   VII.      ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    PRONUNCIATION    OF    ENGLISH 

DURING    THE    FOURTEENTH    CENTURY. 

§  1.     Chaucer  (Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales). 

§  2.     Gower  (Punishment  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  Message  from  Venus 

to  Chaucer.) 
§  3.    Wycliffe  (Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son.) 

CHAPTER  VIII.      ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    THE  PRONUNCIATION    OF    ENGLISH 

DURING    THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

§  1.     William  Salesbury's  Account  of  Welsh  Pronunciation,  1567. 

$  2.     William  Salesbury's  Account  of  English  Pronunciation,  1547. 

§  3.     John  Hart's  Phonetic  Writing,  1569,   and  the  Pronunciation  of 

French  in  the  xvith  Century,  including  Alexander  Barcley's 

French  Pronunciation,  1621. 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

"William  Bullokar's  Phonetic  Writing,  1580,  and  the  Pronuncia- 
tion of  Latin  in  the  xvi  th  Century, 

Alexander  Gill's  Phonetic  Writing,  1621,  with  an  Examination  of 
Spenser's  Rhymes. 

Charles  Butler's  Phonetic  Writing  and  List  of  Words  Like  and 
Unlike,  1633-4. 

Pronouncing  Vocabulary  of  the  xvith  Century,  collected  from 
Palsgrave  1530,  Salesbury,  1547,  Smith  1568,  Hart  1569,  Bul- 
lokar,  1580,  Gill,  1621,  and  Butler  1633. 

Conjectured  Pronunciation  of  Shakspere,  with  an  Examination  of 
his  Khymes  and  Puns. 

CHAPTER  IX.     ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING 
THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

§  1.     John  Wilkins' Phonetic  Writing,  1668. 

§  2.    Noteworthy  Pronunciations  of  the  xvn  th  Century, — 

No.  1.  Pronouncing  Vocabulary,  collected  from  Wallis  1653, 
Wilkins  1668,  Price  1668,  Cooper,  1685,  Miege 
1688,  and  Jones  1701. 

No.  2.  Price's  Difference  between  Words  of  Like  Sound,  1668. 
No.  3.  Cooper's  Words  of  Like  or  nearly  Like  Sound  but  Dif- 
ferent Spelling,  1685. 
No.  4.  Cooper's  Words  of  Like  or  nearly  Like  Spelling  but 

Different  Sound,  1685. 

§  3.     Conjectured  Pronunciation  of  Dryden,  with  an  examination  of  his 
Rhymes. 

CHAPTER  X.    ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING 

THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 
§  1.     James  Buchanan's  Phonetic  Writing,  1766. 
§  2.     Benjamin  Franklin's  Phonetic  Writing,  1768. 
§  3.    Noteworthy  Pronunciations  of  the  xvm  th  Century,  collected  from 

the  Expert  Orthographist  1704,  Dyce  1710,   Buchanan  1766, 

Franklin,  1768,  Sheridan  1780. 

CHAPTER  XI.    ILLUSTRATIONS   OF  ENGLISH  AND  LOWLAND  SCOTCH  PRO- 
NUNCIATION DURING  THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

§  1.    Varieties  of  English  Pronunciation  in  the  xixth  Century. 
§  2.     Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman's  Phonetic  Writing,  1860. 
§  3.     Mr.  A.  Melville  Bell's  Phonetic  Writing,  1867. 
§  4.     Dialectic  Varieties  of  Pronunciation,  English  and  Lowland  Scotch, 
in  the  xvi  th  and  xix  th  Centuries. 

CHAPTER  XII.    RESULTS  OF  THE  PRECEDING  INVESTIGATION. 
Index  of  Authors  cited. 
Phonetic  Index. 

Index  of  all  the  Words  of  which  the  Pronunciation  is  described,  indicated, 
or  conjectured. 


OUTLINE  INDEX  TO  THE  LETTEES  EXPLAINED  IN  PART  I. 

JVb^-The  figures  14.,  16.,  17.,  18.,  with  periods  after  them,  refer  to  the  centuries, 
the  other  figures  to  the  pages. 


^ 

El,  EY 

M 

E 

14.  259, 
16.     59, 

14.  263, 
16.   118, 

14.  315, 
16.  17.  18.  188. 

14.  316, 
16.  17.  18.  196. 

17.     65, 

17.   124, 

N 

18.     74. 

18.   129. 

14.  315, 

14.  317, 

AI,  AY 

14.  263, 
16.   118, 
17    124 

EO 
14.  260. 
ETJ,  EW 
14.  301, 

16.  17.  18.  188. 
NG 
14.  315, 
16.  17.  18.  188. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 
SH 
14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  214. 

18.   129'. 

16.   136,  137, 

0 

T 

ATI,  AW 

17.  139, 
18.  141. 

14.  266, 
16.     93, 

14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

14.  263, 
16.   136,  141, 
17.  147, 
18.   149. 

14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  219. 
G 

17.     99, 
18.  103. 
OA 
14.  266, 

TH 
14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  219. 

TT 

B 

14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

C 

14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203, 
214. 
CH 
14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 
GH 
14.  310, 
16.  17.  18.  209. 
GN 
14.  308. 
H 
14.  314, 
16.  17.  18.  220. 

I-V7- 

16.     93, 
17.     99, 
18.  103. 
OE 
14.  260. 
01,  OY 
14.  268, 
16.  130, 
17.   133, 
18.  135. 

14.  298, 
16.  160,  163. 
17.  171, 

18.   184. 

UI,  UY 

14.  269, 
16.  17.  18.  135. 

Y 
14.  317, 

D 
14.  308, 

,  Y 

14.  270, 
16    104 

00 
14.  266, 

16.  17.  18.  219. 

w. 

16.  17.  18.  203. 
E 

IT.  lie, 

18.  117. 

16.     93, 
17.     99, 

14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  184. 

14.  260,  318, 

IE 

18.  103. 

WH 

16.     77, 

14.  260, 

OTJ,  OW 

14.  317, 

17.     81, 

16.  104, 

14.  303, 

16.  17.  18.  184. 

18.     88. 

17.  116, 

16.  136,  149, 

X 

EA 

18.  117. 

17.  156, 

14.  317, 

14.  260, 

J 

18.  160. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

16.     77, 
17.     81, 

14.  314, 
16.  17.  18.  203 

P 

14.  316, 

Y  vowel,  see  I 

18.     88. 

K 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

Y  consonant. 

EE 

14.  315, 

PH 

14.  310,  317, 

14.  260, 

16.  17.  18.  203 

14.  316. 

16.  17.  18.  184. 

16.     77, 

L 

a 

Z 

17.     81, 

14.  315, 

14.  316, 

14.  310,  317, 

18.     88. 

16.  17.  18.  193 

16.  17.  18.  203 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

INTRODUCTION. 


PALAEOTYPE,  OR  THE  SYSTEMATIC  NOTATION  OF  ALL  SPOKEN 

SOUNDS  BY  MEANS  OF  THR  ORDINARY  PRINTING  TYPES. 

IN  order  to  write  intelligibly  on  speech  sounds,  some 
systematic  means  of  representing  them  must  be  adopted.  In 
order  to  understand  the  mode  in  which  speech  sounds  change, 
delicate  physiological  actions  of  the  vocal  organs  must  be 
indicated.  In  order  to  be  generally  intelligible,  the  letters  of 
the  Roman  Alphabet  in  their  original  Latin  senses,  as  nearly 
as  may  be,  should  form  the  nucleus  of  the  system  of  symbo- 
lisation.  In  order  to  be  convenient  to  the  Printer  and 
Writer,  the  old  types,  TraXauol  TVTTOI  (paleii*  tii'pi),  should 
be  used,  and  no  accented  letters,  few  turned,  and  still  fewer 
mutilated  letters  should  be  employed.  The  system  of  writing 
here  proposed  to  fulfil  these  conditions  will,  in  consequence 
of  the  last,  be  termed  Palaeotype  (psel'ioteip).  It  is  essen- 
tially a  makeshift  scheme,  adapted  solely  to  scientific,  not 
popular  use,  not  pretending  to  supersede  any  existing  system 
of  writing,  but  sufficing  to  explain  all  such  systems,  and  to 
indicate  the  pronunciation  of  any  language  with  great 
minuteness  and  much  typographical  convenience.1 

The  reader  will  have  no  occasion  to  study  the  whole  of  the 
following  list  before  beginning  to  read  the  book.  The  nature 
of  the  symbols  allows  by  far  the  greater  number  of  them  to 
be  arranged  alphabetically,  so  that  the  reader  can  imme- 
diately discover  the  meaning  of  any  symbol  or  usual  combi- 
nation, and  any  unusual  symbol  is  generally  explained  when 
it  first  occurs  in  the  following  pages.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  Roman  vowels  (a,  e,  i,  o,  u,)  are 
pronounced  as  in  Italian,  and  (y,  ce)  as  the  German  it,  6,  that 

1  A   full  account  of  the  principles  improvements.       As    now    presented, 

of  the  notation  is  given  in  the  Trans-  Palaeotype  is  believed  to  contain  cha- 

actions  of  the  Philological  Society  for  racters  for  all  the   sounds    considered 

1867,  Supplement,  Parti.     The  sub-  by  Eapp,  Lepsius,  Briicke,  Max  Miiller, 

sequent  appearance    of    Mr.  Melville  Haldeman,  Merkel,  and  Melville  Bell, 

Bell's    Visible  Speech,  and  the  elabo-  and  hence  to   be   the  most  complete 

ration   of  the  following    pages,  have  series  of  phonetic  symbols  which  has 

occasioned    a    few   modifications    and  been  published. 

1 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  italics  and  small  capitals  indicate  certain  modifications 
of  these  sounds,  that  (h,  j,  w)  are  always  diacritical,  having 
no  meaning  of  their  own  but  serving  to  modify  the  meaning 
of  the  preceding  letter,  and  "that  (H,  J,  w,  q,  e,  oi,  ou)  repre- 
sent the  sounds  in  (/*ay,  yea,  t*ay,  si*£,  bwt,  b^te,  'how). 
Long  vowels  are  indicated  by  reduplication,  as  (aa,  ee,  ii) ; 
repeated  vowels  are  separated  by  a  comma  as  (a,a,  e,e,  i,i) . 
The  other  common  symbols  are  well  known. 

The  explanation  is  given  by  keywords,  the  letters  ex- 
pressing the  sounds  in  question  being  italicised,  and  by  the 
symbols  (*  (••}  t-j-J^O")  which  shew  how  some  of  the 
letters  are  formed  from  others,  (*)  by  attempting  to  pronounce 
simultaneously  the  two  letters  between  which  it  is  placed, 
by  taking  the  contact  ( \)  nearer  the  mouth,  or  (1 )  nearer  the 
throat,  (f)  by  protruding,  or  (.).)  by  inverting  the  tongue, 
(+)  by  clicking,  (w)  by  '  rounding'  or  labial  modification, 
(O)  ^7  '  widening'  or  distending  the  pharynx  and  oral  pas- 
sages, (— )  by  removing  the  effect  of  the  diacritic  before  which 
it  is  placed,  and  which  is  inherent  in  the  preceding  letter,  as 
(-w)  with  opened  lips,  (-Q)  with  narrowed  pharynx,  etc.  For 
all  English  sounds,  numerous  other  examples  will  be  found 
in  Chapter  YI,  §  2.  On  p.  15,  there  is  furnished  a  com- 
plete comparison  of  Palaeotype  with  Yisible  Speech,  whence 
the  exact  value  of  the  former  can  be  determined  by  a  refer- 
ence to  Mr.  Melville  Bell's  work.  Diagrams  of  the  positions 
of  the  tongue  and  lips  during  the  pronunciation  of  the  vowels, 
are  given  on  p.  14. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  pages  many  explanations 
and  discussions  of  phonetic  subjects  become  necessary.  See 
the  nature  of  glides,  diphthongs,  and  combined  speech 
sounds  explained  in  Chapter  III,  §  2,  the  principal  vowels 
and  diphthongs  in  the  same  chapter,  §  3,  especially  under 
the  heading  U,  the  nature  of  palatisation  (j)  and  labialisation 
O)  in  the  same  chapter,  §  4,  under  P,  B  ;  T,  D ;  C,  K,  Q ; 
CII,  J,  and  GH,  and  the  nature  of  aspiration  under  H.  The 
Tables  in  Chapter  VI,  §§  1  and  2,  and  the  footnotes  to 
Chapter  VIII,  §  1,  may  also  be  consulted. 

Examples  of  the  use  of  Palaeotype  in  continuous  writing 
will  be  found  in  Chapter  V,  §§  1,  2,  3,  4 ;  Chapter  VII ; 
Chapter  VIII,  §§  3,  4,  5,  6,  8 ;  Chapter  IX,  §§  1,  3  ;  Chap- 
ter X,  §§  1,  2,  Chapter  XI,  §§  1,  2,  3.  In  this  Chapter  XI 
will  be  found  examples  of  modern  English  and  Scotch,  form- 
ing a  convenient  exercise  for  those  who  wish  to  study  the 
nature  of  this  system  of  writing,  and  allowing  of  a  direct 
comparison  with  Visible  Speech. 


KEY  TO  PALAEOTYPE LETTERS.  6 

The  mode  of  writing  the  "turned"  or  inverted  letters  is 
explained  in  each  particular  case.  Italic  letters  have  one 
horizontal  line  below  them,  as  i ;  small  capitals  have  either 
two  horizontal  lines,  or  one  short  oblique  line,  as  i,  below 
them,  tailed  letters  as  g,  j,  p,  q,  y,  when  they  have  to  be 
printed  as  small  capitals,  may  have  a  horizontal  stroke  above 
them,  like  I.  The  letter  H  may  be  also  written  with  its  stem 
crossed  like  t,  and/  with  two  cross  bars. 

For  the  purposes  of  alphabet  arrangement,  &,  03  are  con- 
sidered to  be  the  same  as  ae,  oe,  and  the   turned   letters 
e^HBXAOGo.i.i'i     modifications  of 
etfEeLnooarrr     respectively. 
Isolated  letters,  words,  and  phrases  in  palaeotype  occurring 
in  the  midst  of  ordinary  spelling  are  enclosed  in  a  paren- 
thesis (  )  to  prevent  confusion. 


KEY   TO  PALAEOTYPE. 

Abbreviations. — A.  arabic,  C.  Chinese,  E.  english,  F.  french, 

G.  german,  I.  italian,  P.  provincial,  S.  Sanscrit, 
occ.  occasional,  =  interchangeable  with. 

I.  LETTERS, 

A         a  =  (no),  I-  m«tto,  F.  chatte,  (mat'to,  shat) 

A        a  =  (<EO),  G.  mann,  F.  matelas,  (man,  matla) 

:A       A  =  (QEM>),  E.  want,  what,  awgust',  (wAnt,  whAt,  Agast*), 

see  (o) 

A,       a,  Gaelic  math,  good,  (ma() ;  nasal  twang 

Aa       aa  long  of  (a),  E.  father,  I.  mano,  (faadlri,  maa*no) 

Aa      aa  long  of  («),  G.  maAnen,  (maa'nen) 

.•AA     AA  long  of  (A),  E.  awn,  (AAH),  see  (oo) 

Aa<     aa,  long  of  (a.) 

Aah    aah  long  of  (ah) 

A. ah   aah  long  of  (ah) 

AaA    aaA  long  of  (aA),  see  (A) 

^E       OB  =  (so))  E.  man,  cat,  sad,  (ma3n,  keet,  saed) 

a3»3  long  of  (a3),  P.  E.  Bath,  (Ba333th) 

aeseh  long  of  (ash) 

a3h  =  (SBW)  =  (*ho)  labially  modified  (33)  or  widened  (dh) 

Ah      ah  =  (ao),  occ.  E.  ask,  staff,  grant  (ansk,  stahf,  grahnt) 

Ah      ah  =  (ohw),  Irish  sz'r,  Austrian  man  (sahr,  mahn) 

Ai  ^  ai  E.  aye,  G.  ham,  (ai/nain),  see  (ai) 

AA      aA  F.  an,  temps,  cent,  (aA,  taA,  BOA),  see  (A) 

Au      au  G.  haws,  (nans),  see  (au) 

Ay      ay  theoretical  G.  0wch  (ay/ch) 


INTRODUCTION, 


B 

b 

E.  iee,  (bii) 

B 

b 

sonant  of  (p),  which  see,  ?  =  (low) 

:B 

B 

=  (b-j),  lower  lip  against  teeth,  Briicke's  b2 

'B 

'b 

=  (b*p),  flat  Saxon  b,  Rapp's  TT 

Bh 

bh. 

G.  w  in  the  middle  and  south,  (v)  without  the  teeth 

jjj 

bj 

=  (b*j) 

Brh 

brh 

=  (bh^),  lip  trill,  G.  brr  for  stopping  horses,  Briicke's  K 

Bw 

bw> 

=(b*w),  F.  bois,  (hwa) 

C 

c 

=  (s\)?  nearly  (th),  Spanish  2,  and  c  before  e,  i,  Badajos, 

(Baadaaxooc*) 

C 

c 

==  (z\)  ?  nearly  (dh),  Spanish  d  (?),  ciud&d  (ciutfaar) 

D 

d 

E.  do,  (duu) 

D 

d 

=  (d*g),  usually  accepted  A.  (jO,  Lepsius's  A.  \s 

:D 

D 

=  (dj),  S.  "5 

.D 

.d 

=  (df),  tip  of  tongue  on  gums 

'D 

'd 

==  (d*t),  flat  Saxon  (d),  Eapp's  T 

Dh 

dh 

E.  ^ee,  Danish  ve<?,  (dhii,  vedh),  "Welsh  dd 

Dh 

dh 

(dh^gh),  Newman's  A.  ^o,  Lepsius's  A.  \y 

:Dhh 

Dhh 

Lepsius's  Dravidian  sound,  nearly  (Dzh) 

Dj 

di 

=  (d*j),  Hungarian  gy,  E.  verdure,  (vJ'dji) 

DM? 

dw 

==  (d*w),  F.  doit  (dm) 

Dzh 

dzh 

E.  judging,  (dzhadzh^'q) 

E 

e 

=  (eo),  E.  m^t,  G.  &tt,  F.  j^tte,  (met,  fet,  zhet),  see  (E) 

E 

e 

=  (e-o),  E.  aerial,  F.  ete  (eer'M,  ete),  I.  e  chiuso 

:E 

E 

=  l»-0)>  I*  e  aperto,  occ.  E.  m^t,  G.  fettt  (mEt,  fst) 

a 

a 

==  (ah~o)  turned  e,  written  9,  E.  bwt  (bat),  see  (a) 

& 

=  (ew)  =  (oe-o),  turned  e,  F.  qu^  je  m<?  repents  (to 

zh.9  TQ.9  r^paAt^) 

:a 

a 

=  (a-o)  turned  a,  occ.  E.  bwt  (bat) 

t) 

13 

=  («?Q)  =  (u-w)t  turned  a,    written  e  ,  E.  mention, 

real,  (men'shim,  rii'^l) 

Ee 

ee 

long  of  (e),  E.  mare,  Mary,  (meej,  MeeiTt) 

^« 

ee 

long  of  (e),  E.  ailing  (ee'liq),  see  (eei,  ee'j) 

:EE 

EE 

long  of  (E),  like  a  bleat 

a9 

aa 

long  of  a),  replaces  (j,  ai,  aDj)  in  South  E. 

99 

long  of  9) 

:g;a 

aa 

long  of  a) 

1313 

long  of  ^) 

g;ah 

aah 

long  of  (ah) 

^h 

99h 

long  of  (0h) 

Eei 

eei 

occ.  E.  they,  (dheei),  for  (dh00) 

.Z&'j 

ee'j 

occ.  E.  fate,  (f*?'jt),  for  (feet) 

EeA 

eeA 

long  of  (GA),  see  (A) 

a8A 

aaA 

long  of  (9A),  see  (A) 

ah 

ah 

=  (ah-w),  West  E.  sir,  first  (sahr,  fahrst) 

&h 

=  (EW),  occ.  F.  ed 

Ei 

ei 

Scotch  tmie  (teim),  Portuguese  ei 

KEY  TO  PALAEOTYPE — LETTERS.  5 

gi  ai  usual  E.  eye,  t/me,  (ai,  taim) 

EA  CA  F.  vw  (VCA),  see  (A) 

g;A  aA  F.  un  emprwwt,  (aAn-aApraA),  see  (A) 

Eu  eu  I.  JEuxoTpa,  (Euroo'pa),  Cockney  and  Yankee  town  (teun) 

g;u  au  usual  E.  hawse,  shout  (naus,  shaut) 

F  f  E.  /oe,  (foo),  gentle  hiss 

F  f  =  (f  (•),  upper  lip  against  lower  teeth 

.F  .f  violently  hissed  (f ) 

Fh  fh  =  (f*kh) 

J?w  fw  =  (f*wh),  the  back  of  the  tongue  in  the  (u)  position, 
F./ois,  (fwa) 

G  g  E.  go,  (goo) 

G  g  =  (gj)  =  (g*j),  occ.  E.  ^ward,  (^aid),  F.  ^weux, 

:G  G  sonant  of  (K) 

'G  <g  =  (g*k),  flat  (g),  Eapp's  * 

Gh  gh  G.  ta^e,  (taaglre),  Dutch  g,  S.  f 

Gh  gh  =  (gjh)  =  (gh*j),  G.  wieye,  (hhiigh'e) 

:Gh  Gh  buzz  of  (idi) 

.Gh  .gh  violently  buzzed  (gh) 

Gj  gj  =  (g\  which  see 

Gjh  gjh  =  (^h),  which  see 

Grh  grh  =  (gh,;),  A.  £,  heard  in  gargling 

Gw  gw  =  (g*w),    F.    goitre,  (gw?atr') 

:Qw  GW  =  (G*W) 

Ge^h  gwh  =  (gh*w),  G.  auye,  (a 


H        H       E.  he  (mi),  S.  H  W  ^,  (bn,  dn,  gn),  jerked  utterance 

H'        H*      jerked  whisper 

h  with  no  capital,  diacritic,  with  no  meaning  by  itself, 
but  modifying  the  meaning  of  the  preceding  letter  in 
any  manner  that  is  convenient,  see  (ah,  th,  sh,  'h),  &c. 

H       I        A.  c  (haa) 

'h       a  scarcely  audible  (a)  as  Cockney  park,  (paa'hk) 
hh     with  no  capital,  diacritic,  variety  of  (h),  see  (Ihh) 

Ht0      HM;     a  voiced  whistle 

Hwh    HM?h  an  ordinary  whistle,  distinct  from  (wh,  k^h) 


I  i  =  («-Q),  E.  event,  F.  fm«,  ft'che,  (ivent*,  fini,  fish) 

/  i  =  (i0),  E.  river,  fmn?/,  fish,  (r^'v'J,  fin'i,  fish) 

:I  i  =(iw),  occ.  G.  ii,  Swedish  y 

Ii  ii  long  of  (i),  E.  eve,  (iiv) 

/*  ii  long  of  fti,  E.  happy...  (naBp'iV),  in  singing 

:Ii  ii  long  of  (i) 

lu  iu  E.  futility,  (fmtil'iti) 

/u  eu  American  variety  of  (iu) 

luu  iuu  E.  fwtile,  (fiuirttl) 


INTRODUCTION. 


J 

J 
j 

E.  yet,  G./a,  (jet,  Jaa) 
with  no  capital,  diacritic,  palatal  modification  of 

pre- 

ceding  letter. 

'j 

faint  sound  of  (j,  i)  into  which  E.   (ee)  occasionally 

tapers,  see  (««'j) 

Jh 

Jh 

occ.  E.  Aue  (jhiuu),  occ.  G.  /a  (jh«0),  occ.  P.  oez7 

(wh) 

K 

k 

E.  foy,  can,  coal,  (kii,  kaen,  kool) 

K 

ft 

=  (kj)  =  (k*j),  occ.  E,  cart  (/cart),  P.  g'weue  (^cej 

i 

:K 

K 

=  (k1),  A.  J(xoaf) 

Kh 

kh 

G.  dacA,  Scotch  locA,  (dakh,  lokh) 

JTh 

£h 

=  (kjh)  =  (kh^jh),  G.  siecA,  (szii^h) 

:Kh 

Kh 

related  to  (K)  as  (kh)  to  (k) 

KH 

kn 

S,  ^,  upper  G.  #omm,  (ksom) 

.Kh 

.kh 

violently  hissed  (kh) 

kj 

kj 

=  (£),  which  see 

Kjh 

kjh 

=  (Kh),  which  see 

Krh 

krh 

=  (kh,;),  Swiss  cA,  A.    •  (krhaa) 

Kw> 

\w 

=  (k*w),  E,  queen,  P.  quoi,  (kwiin,  kwa),  Latin 

qu 

K«;h 

\w\  =  (kh*wh),  G.  aucA,  (aukwh),  Welsh  chw,  Scotch  quh 

:Kwh 

Kivh 

.  =  (Kh*wh) 

L 

I 

E.  low,  (loo) 

X 

I 

Polish  barred  I  • 

:L 

L 

=  (1|),  S.  95 

X 

I 

turned  T,  written  as  1  with  „  below,  lisped  (!) 

.L 

.1 

=.an 

Lh 

Ih 

whispered  (1),  breath  escaping  on  both  sides  the  tongue, 

E.  felt  =  (fellht)  at  full,  occ.  IVtabfe,  (tablh) 

Xh 

Ih 

whisper  of  (I) 

:Lh 

Lh 

according  to  Lepsius,  Dravidian  I  in  (TamiLh) 

Xn 

ih 

whisper  of  (x) 

Lhh 

Ihh 

=  (ISh),  breath  escaping  on  the  right  side  of  the  tongue 

only,  Welsh  U 

Id 

Ij 

=  (1%),  I.  ffli  (Iji) 

Ljh 

P 

whisper  of  (Ij) 

Lw 

Iw 

=  (l*w),  P.  loi  (l^a),  Anglosaxon  wl- 

Lw 

Iw 

—  (/*M>) 

Lwh 

\w\ 

=  (lh*wh) 

Zt0h 

Iwh 

=  (fti*wh) 

M 

m 

E.  me,  (mii) 

m 

no  capital,  diacritic,  =  (A),  which  see 

Mh 

mh 

voiceless  (m),  E.  tern^t  (temmht)  at  full 

MM 

m.w 

=  (m*w),  P.  moi,  (mwa) 

N 

n 

E.  wap  (ncep) 

N 

n 

=  (n*q),  see  (d) 

:K 

N 

=  (ni),  S  ^F 

KEY  TO  PALAEOTYPE LETTERS.  7 

A         =  no  capital,  written  77  not  joined  to  the  following 
letter,   diacritic,   French  nasality,    the  four  French 
•  nasals,  vin,  an,  on,  un,   are  written  for  convenience 

(VCA,    aA,    OA,    BA),   though   perhaps   more  properly 
(Aa3A,   a  A,   OA,   GA),  according  to  Mr.  Melville  Bell 
(vaeA,  ahA,  ohA,  OA) 
.N       .n       =  (nf),  see  (.d) 

Mi      nh      voiceless  (n),  E.  tent  =  (tennht)  at  full 
:Nli    Nh      according  to  Lepsius,  Dravidian  nasal  before  (»h) 
Nj       nj       =  (n*j),  F.  and  I.  gn,  Spanish  n,  Portuguese  nh 
Njh    njh    whispered  (nj) 
Nw     nw     =  (n*w),  F.  woix,  (nwa] 

0         o        =  (a«0)  =  (OQ),  I.  o  aperto,  F.  homme  (om) 
0        o        =  (»*)   =   (O-Q)   E.    omit,    American   stone,    whole, 
(omit*,  ston,  HO!) 

0  o         =  (aw}  =  AO),   turned  c,   written  o,  being  used  for 

small  capital  o  which  is  not  sufficiently  distinct  from 

the  small  o,  E.  on,  odd,  (on,  od) 
05        03       =  (ew)  =  (*o)»  F.   J0wne,   G.  bocke,  (zhoen,    bcek'0), 

Feline  writes  (zhm,  zhoecen),  for  F.  j^wne,  j<?#ne 
CE       ce       =  (U-M?),  Galic  laogh,  (fogh) 
:(E       CE       =  (a-0)=  (A.-W\  Rumanian  or  Wallachian  'a,   'e,   'i, 

gQ  oo  =  (oho),  written  ao,  E.  first,  (fsoist),  see  (i) 

(Ei  cei  =  occ.  F.  oil,  (031,  ceijh,  osilj)  or  (01),  occ.  Dutch  uy 

(Ece  cece  long  of  (ce),  F.  jetine,  (zhcecen) 

(Ece  cew  long  of  (ce} 

:(Eo3  OECE  long  of  (CE) 

g[)80  8080  long  of  (GO) 

CEy  cey  occ.  Dutch  uy 

Oh  oh  =  (ahw]  =  (ohj),  (o)  modified  by  raising  the  tongue 

Oh  oh  =  (*w),  (o)  modified  by  raising  the  tongue 

:0h  oh  =  (QMP)  =  (aho),  (o)  modified  by  raising  the  tongue 

01  oi  North  Gr.  neu,  (noi),  see  (ay,  oy) 
Oi  oi  P.  E.  boy,  (boi) 

:0i  oi  usual  E.  oyster,  (oist'i) 

OA  OA  F.  bow  (boA),  see  (A) 

Oo  oo  long  of  (o),  I.  uomo,  (uoo'mo),  P.  E.  home,  (noom) 

Oo  oo  long  of  (o),  E.  home,  (noom),  see  (00*10) 

:0o  oo  long  of  (o),  drawled  E.  odd,  God,  (ood,  Good),  different 

from  E.  aw?ed,  gawd  (AAd,  gAAd) 

Ooh  ooh  long  of  (oh) 

Ooh  ooh  long  of  (oh) 

:0ah  ooh  long  of  (oh) 

OOA  OOA  long  of  (OA),  see  (A) 

Oou  oou  occ.  E.  know?,  (noou) 

Oou  oou  more  usual  E.  know,  (noou) 

Oo'w  00'*0  occ.  E.  no,  (noo'w?),  for  (noo) 

Ou  ou  Dutch  ou,  P.  E.  out,  (out),  see  (au) 


INTRODUCTION. 


0u  on  P.  E.  house,  (HOUS) 

Oy  oy  occ.  upper  G.  euch,  (oy#h) 

P  p  E.  pea  (pii) 

p  p  _  (p*k)?  =  (pw>)?>   Lepsius's  Peruvian  or  (Khetslr 


:p  P       .  =  (pj),  lower  lip  against  teeth 

Ph  ph       whisper  of  (bh),  an  old  sound  of  (f>  ? 

PH  pn      S.  ^  Bavarian  j9/erd,  (pneerd),  Schmeller  Gr.  p.  137. 

Pj  PJ        =  (P*J) 

Prh  prh     =  (ph,;),  whisper  of  (brh),  which  see 

Pw  pw      =  (p*w),  E.  ^ois,  (pwa) 


Q         q         E.  siw^er,  linger,  siwker,  (s«qM,  liq'gi,  sVqk'j),  S  ^ 
Q         q         =  (qj)  =  (q*j),  distinct  from  (nj),  S.  *T 

:Q       a        =  (qD 

Qh       qh      =  voiceless  (q),  E.  sink  =  (s«qqhk)  at  full 

Qj        qj       =  (q)  which  see 

B,  r  E.  ray  (ice),  breath  passes  over  the  tip  of  the  tongue 
which  trembles  slightly,  Spanish  r  suave. 

R        r        uvula  trill,  E.  r  provenQal  or  grasseye,  Paris,  (Pari) 

:E       R         =  (4),  S.  T 

^£  j  turned  r,  written  as  r  with  "  above,  E.  vocal  r  when 
not  preceding  a  vowel,  ear,  air,  are,  oar,  poor,  (iii, 
eei,  aaj,  ooi,  pwwr),  hearing,  airing,  mooring,  (hiii-- 
r*q,  eeiTt'q,  mtwiTtq,)  pervert,  mwrmwr  =  (peivejt', 
mai'mai)  or(p^v^t*,  mi'mi),  or  (pjvit*,mj'nu),  see  (j) 

2f  ^  turned  r,  written  as  r  with  ^  above,  E.  palatal  vocal 
r  when  not  preceding  a  vowel,  ear,  air  =  (ii/,  ee^) 
more  accurately  than  (iii,  eej),  and  (serf,  surf)  may 
be  distinguished  as  (se^f,  saxf  )  or  (s^f,  sof  ),  this  dis- 
tinction is  frequently  neglected  in  speech. 

rj  i  turned  L,  written  as  r  with  ^  below,  glottal  low  Ger- 
man trill,  nearly  (g) 

.11        .r       =  (r^)  strongly  trilled  Italian,  Spanish,  Scotch  r 

B-h       rh      whisper  of  (r) 

JBh       rh      whisper  of  (r) 

:Rh      Eh    •  whisper  of  (K) 

:Ehh    Khh   Lepsius's  Dravidian  sound,  nearly  (uzh) 

'jh        ih      whisper  of  (i) 

Rj         rj       =  (r*j) 

Esh      rsh     Polish  pr^ez,  (prshez),  (r)  very  brief,  (sh)  distinct 

Kw       rw      ~=  (r*w),  F.  roi,  (r^a),  Anglosaxon,  and  early  E.  wr- 

QW       iw      =  (j*w),  occ.  E.  (QXW]  in  place  of  (auj)  =  our 

Rzh     rzh    Polish  rzaz,  (rzhaz),  (r)  brief 

S         s         E.  so,  (soo) 

S         s         =  (s*kh),  Lepsius's  and  usually  received  A.  fjo 

Sh       sh       =  E.  she,  E.  c?^ant,  G.  schem,  (shii,  shaA,  shain) 


KEY  TO  PALAEOTYPE  -  LETTERS. 


Sh 

sh 

=  (shj.),  S.  ^ 

Shj 

shj 

==  (sh*jh),    occ.    G.    stellen,    s^rechen,    (shjtel^n, 

shjpre/th'en) 

Sj 

SJ 

=  (s*jh),  Polish  s 

sw 

=  (s*"wh),  E.  soi  =  (swa)  or  (sua),  not  (swa) 

S^h 

swh 

=  (sh*wh),  E.  tf^oix  =  (shw#)  or  (shu#),  not  (swha) 

Sz 

sz 

=  G.  initial  «,  so,  (szoo)                                 * 

T 

t 

E.  tea,  (tii) 

T 

tf 

=  (t*k),  Newman's  and  usually  received  A.  ^ 

:T 

T 

-  (H),  s.  ? 

.T 

.t 

=  (tj-),  tip  of  tongue  on  gums 

Th 

th 

=  E.  thin,  (thin),  modern  Greek  Q 

Th 

fa 

=  (th*kh),  Newman's  A.  (jo 

:Thh 

Thh 

Lepsius's  Dravidian  sound,  nearly  (ish) 

Tj 

tj 

=  (t*j)  whisper  of  (dj),  occ.  E.  virtue,  (vj'tjiu) 

Tsh 

tsh 

E.  chest,  match,  casing,  (tshest,  maetsh,  ksetsh'tq) 

Tw 

tw 

=  (t*w),  E.  toi,  (twa) 

U 

u 

=  (cew\  E.  powle,  E.  Louisa,  (pul,  Lu,ii*za),  see  (w) 

U 

u 

=  (vw)  =  (UQ),   E.  pwll,  cook,  (pwl,  kwk),  generally 

confused  with  (u) 

:U 

u 

=  (YW),  Swedish  u  short 

Uh 

uh. 

=  (yw)  =  (UQ),  I.  o  chiuso,  (o)  verging  into  (w) 

Ui 

ui 

E.  oui  =  (ui),  E.  oui  =  (u,i) 

Uu 

uu 

long  of  (u),  E.  pool,  (puul) 

Uu 

ww 

long  of  (u) 

:Uu 

uu 

long  of  (u) 

Zfoh 

uuli 

long  of  (wh) 

Y 

v 

E.  veal,  (viil),  E.  v,  North  G.  w,  see  (bh) 

V 

V 

=  (vf),  buzz  of  (/),  which  see 

.Y 

.v 

buzz  of  (.f),  which  see 

Yh 

vh 

=  (v*gh),  buzz  of  (fh),  which  see 

Yw 

TO 

=  (v*w),  F.  #oix,  (vwa) 

W 

w 

E.  twitch,  (w«tsh) 

W 

w 

diacritic,  labial  modification  of  preceding  letter 

w 

UI 

turned  m,  written  w,  defective  lip  trill,  occ.  E.  vewv 

twnie,  (veuo  turuu) 
Wh     wh    whisper  of  (w),  E.  wTdch,  (wHtsh) 

X         x       Spanish   #,  j,    Quixote,    Mexico,    or   Qui/bte,    Me/ico, 

(Kiixoo'tee,  Mee'xiikoo) 
X        x      buzz  of  (x) 

Y         y       ==  (iw)  =  (10),  E.  hwtte,  G.  Iwcke,  (yt,  lyk'e) 

Y        y       =  (YO),  Welsh  u,  and  final  y,  pwmp,  ewyllys,  (pymp, 

ewalhh'ys),  E.  houses,  goodness,  (sauz'yz,  gwd'nys) 
:Y       Y       Polish,  Bohemian,  Hungarian  y,  Russian  (jerY) 


j[Q  INTRODUCTION. 


Yi  yi  F.  IM«,  ennw,  (lyi, 

Yy  yy  long  of  (y),  F.  flute,  G.  genmth,  (flyyt,  gamyyt-) 

Yy  yy  long  of  (y) 

:Yr  TY  long  of  (Y) 

Z         z     •  buzz  of  (s),  E.  seal,  miser,  (ziil,  morzi)  ^ 

^        s     *buzz  of  (*),  Newman's  and  usually  received  A.  ]b,  Lep- 

sius's  A.  (jo 

Zh      zh    buzz  of  sh,  E.  vision,  F.  #ens,  (vizlrim,  zhaA) 
Zh      sh       =  (z!4),  buzz  of  (sh) 
Zhj      zhj     ==  (zh*j),  buzz  of  (shj) 
Zj        zj       =  (z*j),buzzof(sj) 
Zs        zs      final  E.  s,   2,  when  fully  pronounced,  day*,  flies,  buss, 

(d00zs,  flaizs,  bazs) 
Zw      zw     =  (z*w),  see  (sw) 

=  (zh*w),  see  (swh} 


2.  SIGNS. 

(«)  turned  comma,  when  final,  simple  whisper,  as  E.  bi^,  (bet*) ; 
before  a  vowel,  diacritic,  attempt  to  whisper  the  vowel, 
as  ('a),  whispered  (a) ;  before  a  sonant,  diacritic,  semi- 
vocalise,  see  (*b,  (d,  (g) 

(')  apostrophe,  simple  voice,  F.  abb,  (abl'),  E.  little,  rhythm, 
open=(hV'l,  rtth-'m,  oo'p'n),  often  written  (1M,  rrth'm, 
oop-n),  S.  ^  ^  =  ('B,  '!) 

(")        double  apostrophe,  long  of  ('),  S.  ^  ^  =  ("E,  "1) 

(-)  hyphen,  read  words  or  letters  that  are  written  apart  as  if 
they  were  written  close,  opposed  to  (,),  letter  elided,  as 
F.  nous  avons  un  ami,  dit-il  a  1'homme,  (nuz-  avoAz-  OAn- 
ami,  dit-  il  a  1-  om) 

(-)  minus,  before  a  diacritic,  remove  its  effect  from  the  pre- 
ceding letter  in  which  it  is  inherent,  thus  (ce=u-w  means 
that  the  sound  of  <e  is  heard,  when  (u)  is  first  pronounced 
and  then  the  lips  opened 

(X)       turned  1,  A.  }  (;aaief),  Hebrew  K,  Greek  soft  breathing  (?) 

(,)  comma,  diaeresis,  begin  the  following  letter  as  if  it  had  no 
connection  with  the  preceding,  E.  minutiae  =  (mmimr- 
shi,i),  E.  unerring,  unowned  =(9n,er'«q,  an,oond') 

(,,)        double  comma,  commence  the  following  letter  so  gently  that 
its  commencement  is  difficult  to  determine,  spiritus  lenis  (?) 
period,  pronounce  the  following  letter  emphatically 
period  and  comma,  commence  the  following  letter  with  great 

abruptness,  strongly  marked  hiatus 
semicolon,     open    the    glottis    suddenly,     A.    *   (nanrza), 


KEY   TO   PALAEOTYPE SIGNS.  11 

(f)         turned  semicolon,  close  the  glottis  suddenly  as  in  stammer- 
•  ing,    or   suddenly   cease    any    sound,    as   when   startled, 

leaving  a  sound  half  uttered;  (si]  is  a  suddenly  checked 

emission  of  breath,  strongly  resembling  a  click  (J),  as  in 

Zulu  (ik.niwa),  Visible  Speech,  p.  126. 
g        turned  3,  A.  £  ,  bleat  baa  =  (baagaBg) 

* 
(")        turned  comma  and  apostrophe,  speak  the  following  word  in 

a  subdued  tone  or  voix  voilee. 
(,)         turned  apostrophe,  nasalize  the  preceding  letter,  but  not  as 

in  F.  nasalisation  (A) 
(j)         turned!,  attempt  to  pronounce  the  preceding  letter  with 

inspired  breath,  (f;,    phj),  calling  a  bird 
(J)        attempt  to  pronounce  the  preceding  letter  with  the  air  in 

the  mouth  without  inspiring  or  expiring,  click,  E.  tut  = 

(tj),  E.  cl'ck  (tjSt) 
9         turned  5,  Caffir  dental  click,  Appleyard's  c,  =  (tj),  or  (tfj), 

as  in  (iqgbha't«),  Visible  Speech,  p.  126. 
g         turned  2,   Caffir  cerebral  (Lepsius)  or  palatal  (Appleyard) 

click,  Appleyard's  q  =  (t|J),  as  in  (Egu^al^'n'),  Visible 

Speech,  p.  126, 
I         turned  7,  Caffir  (uni-)  lateral  click,  Appleyards  x,  =  (tjSJJ) 

with  prolonged  suction,  as  in  (gaq^an-ji),  Visible  Speech, 

p.  126. 

^         turned  4,  Hottentot  palatal  click,  Boyce's  qc,  =  (tj  J)  pro- 
bably, Lepsius's  Standard  Alphabet,  2nd  ed.,  p.  79. 
8         turned  8,  Waco  click  =  (xj),  Haldeman,  Analytic   Ortho- 
graphy, p.  120, 
0         turned  0,  distend  the   pharynx  and   cheeks,    '  widen'   the 

sound, 
j         made  from  f ,  take  the  preceding  letter  nearer  the  throat  and 

further  from  the  lips,  inner  position, 
(•         made  from  f,   take  the  preceding  letter  further  from  the 

throat  and  nearer  to  the  lips,  outer  position. 
\.        turned  f ,  invert  the  tongue  so  that  the  under  part  strikes 

the  palate,  when  pronouncing  the  preceding  letter,  see 

(D,  L,  N,  B,  sh,  T) 

protrude  the  tongue  when  pronouncing  the  preceding  letter. 
§         bi-lateral,   allow  the  breath  to  escape  on  both  sides  of  the 

tongue  or  mouth,   but  not  over  the  tip  of  the  tongue  or 

through  the  middle  of  the  mouth. 
S         made  from  §,  uni-lateral,  allow  the  breath  to  escape  on  one 

side  of  the  tongue  or  mouth  only. 

<J         turned  ?,  trill  any  free  ]?art  during  the  utterance  of  *the  pre- 
ceding consonant. 

link,  form  a  new  position  by  attempting  to  pronounce  the 
two  letters  between  which  it  is  placed,  at  the  same  instant, 
but  giving  prominence  to  the  first  letter  named,  see  (Ij) 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

**  governor,  placed  between  two  letters  at  the  beginning  of  a 
phrase,  shews  that  the  first  is  to  be  pronounced  like  the 
second  throughout,  indicating  a  defect  of  utterance,  as 
(l**lt),  (1)  pronounced  with  a  nasal  twang;  when  no 
letter  precedes,  it  indicates  that  the  effect  of  the  following 
letter  is  heard  in  all  letters,  (**.p)  close  lips,  (**tf)  Pro" 
truded  tongue,  (**,)  general  nasal  quality,  (**.')  strained 
voice,  etc.,  Visible  Speech,  p.  81. 

(•)  turned  period,  before  a  word,  speak  the  word  emphatically  as 
(•mi  cU'd  it,  mi  -d«d  it)  ;  after  a  letter,  (•)  shews  that  it 
occurs  in  an  accented  syllable,  as  (bir*q,  me0k'«q,  ripooz') 

(:)  colon,  before  a  capital  letter,  (in  which  case  it  is  written 
below  it,  as  o,)  shews  that  it  is  the  capital  of  a  small 
capital  letter,  see  (:E)  capital  of  (E)  ;  after  a  letter,  shews 
that  it  occurs  in  a  secondarily  accented  syllable,  as 


written  under  a  word  indicates  spaced  letters,  used 
to  give  prominence  to  a  word  in  palaeotype,  answering 
to  italics  in  ordinary  printing. 

Following  a  Word. 

low  level  tone,  C.  high  (pniq) 

high  level  tone,  C.  low  (pntq) 

rising  tone,  C.  high  (shaq) 

tone  rising  from  low  pitch,  C.  low  (shaq) 

rise  and  fall,  circumflex,  C.  (fu-kjen  shaq) 

falling  tone,  C.  high  (knceos,  kniu,  kni) 

falling  tone  to  low  pitch,  C.  low  (kncece) 

fall  and  rise,  inverted  circumflex 

stop  voice  in  high  pitch,  C.  high  (shuf,   zhif,  njipf) 

stop  voice  in  low  pitch,  C.  low  (shuf,  zhif,    njipf) 

Preceding  a  Word. 
speak  in  a  high  key 
speak  in  low  key 

PALAEOTYPE  AND  VISIBLE  SPEECH  COMPARED. 

The  diagrams  on  p.  14,  transferred  by  Mr.  Melville  Bell's  per- 
mission from  p.  8  of  his  English  Visible  Speech,  will  be  the  best 
guide  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  vowels.  Each  of  the  first  nine 
diagrams  represents  the  position  of  the  tongue  for  the  four  vowels 
written  below  it.  For  the  first  and  tftird  vowels  in  each  diagram,  the 
passages  behind  the  narrowest  part  of  the  channel  formed  by  the 
tongue  are  in  the  usual  condition,  but  for  the  second  and  fourth 
vowel  in  each  diagram,  they  are  distended,  making  the  vowels 
'  wide.'  For  the  first  and  second  vowel  in  each  diagram,  the  lips  are 
open.  For  the  third  and  fourth  vowel  in  each  diagram,  the  lips  are 
more  or  less  rounded,  —  namely,  for  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  as  in  No.  10,  for 


PALAEOTYPE   AND   VISIBLE   SPEECH   COMPARED.  13 

Nos.  4,  5,  6,  as  in  No.  11,  and  for  Nos.  7,  8,  9  as  in  No.  12.  As  the 
principal  interest  in  the  following  investigation  attaches  to  changes 
in  the  vowel  system,  a  careful  study  of  these  diagrams  will  be  of 
material  assistance.  If  any  reader  pronounce  the  key  words  with  a 
vowel  requiring  a  different  position  from  that  here  pointed  out,  his 
pronunciation  differs  from  the  author's,  and  the  value  of  the  symbol 
is  to  be  determined  from  the  diagram  in  preference  to  the  key  word. 

In  order  to  fix  the  value  of  the  palaeotypic  letters,  they  are  on 
p.  15  compared  with  those  of  Mr.  Melville  Bell's  Visible  Speech,  by 
means  of  his  "  Cosmopolitan  Telegraphic  Table,"  which  has  been 
here  reprinted  by  his  permission.  The  figures  indicate  the  columns 
and  the  letters  the  lines.  The  following  is  Mr.  Bell's  classification, 
which  will  be  frequently  alluded  to. 

Columns  1,  2,  3,  4  contain  consonants,  lines  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  f  are 
voiceless,  lines  g,  h,  i,  k,  I,  m,  are  voiced;  lines  a,  g  are  primary, 
lines  I,  h  are  mixed,  lines  c,  i  are  divided,  lines  d,  k,  are  mixed 
divided,  lines  e,  I  are  shut,  lines/,  m  are  nasal. 

Column  5  consists  of  glides,  which  are  represented  in  palaeotype 
on  a  different  principle,  see  below,  Chapter  III,  §  2.  The  letter 
(H),  5f,  is  considered  as  the  true  English  aspirate  in  palaeotype,  but 
Mr.  M.  Bell  considered  (H*),  or  90,  to  be  the  more  correct  form. 

Columns  6,  7,  8  are  vowels,  column  6  back  vowels,  column  7 
mixed  vowels,  column  8  front  vowels,  and  in  each  column  lines  a,  b, 
c,  are  primary,  lines  d,  e,  f  are  wide,  lines  g,  h,  i  are  round,  lines 
k,  I,  m  are  wide  round,  lines  a,  d,  a,  k  are  high,  lines  b,  e,  h,  I  are 
mid,  and  lines  c,  f,  i,  m  are  low  vowels. 

Columns  9,  10  contain  the  aspirates  and  modifiers. 

GLOSSOTYPE. 

An  investigation  of  historical  English  spelling  in  Chapter  YI,  §  3, 
suggested  the  possibility  of  enlarging  the  alphabet  required  for 
writing  the  theoretically  received  pronunciation  of  literary  English, 
so  as  to  meet  the  requirements  of  writers  of  our  provincial  dialects, 
who  endeavour  to  preserve  the  analogies  of  ordinary  spelling.  It 
was  found  necessary  to  deviate  from  these  slightly  for  the  repre- 
sentation of  our  complicated  diphthongal  system,  and  some  foreign 
sounds,  which  occur  provincially,  but  are  unrecognized  in  our  or- 
thography. The  use  of  the  short  mark  (w)  to  indicate  the  provin- 
cial shortening  of  vowels  generally  long  in  the  literary  dialect,  and 
of  the  long  mark  (")  for  the  lengthening  of  vowels  generally  short,  is 
hardly  a  deviation  from  ordinary  usage.  The  principles  of  this 
scheme  are  explained  in  Chapter  YI,  §  3,  where  the  exact  value  of 
the  letters  is  explained,  and  its  use  is  exemplified  in  Chapter  XI. 
But  for  convenience,  a  very  brief  key  is  given  on  p.  16.  The  name 
GLOSSOTYPE  refers  to  the  chief  use  for  which  it  was  intended — the 
writing  of  provincial  Glossaries.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  such 
a  scheme,  although  designedly  incomplete,  may  be  found  useful  to 
all  who  may  occasionally  wish  to  indicate  pronunciation  with  some 
degree  of  exactness,  but  do  not  care  to  enter  upon  general  phonetic 
investigations. 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


LINGUAL  POSITIONS  OF  THE  VOWELS. 


No.  1. 


u,  u. 


No.  4. 


a,  a,     o,  o. 


No.  7. 


CE,  at      A,  o. 


No.  2. 


u,«h. 


No.  5. 


^> 

,  ah,     t?h,  oh. 


No.  8. 


0=^ 

)' fo 

9h,  3D,      ah,  oh. 


No.  3. 


i,  «,     I,  y 


No.  6. 


e,  e,     9,  oe. 


No.  9. 


E,  se,     *h,  aeh. 


LABIAL  POSITIONS  OF  THE  VOWELS. 


No.  10. 


u,  u ;     u,  «/« ;    i,y. 


No.  11. 


,  o  :    ^h,  oh  ;    ^,  oe. 


No.  12. 


A,  o ;  ah,  oh ;   ^h,  seh. 


PALAEOTYPE    AND    VISIBLE    SPEECH    COMPARED. 


15 


MB.  MELVILLE  BELL'S  VISIBLE  SPEECH  LETTERS. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

0 

a 

C 

0 

O 

O 

1 

1 

I 

I 

O 

1 

a 

b 

c 

Q 

ej 

D 

J 

3 

1 

C 

0 

t 

b 

c 

G 

CO 

CD 

r) 

fi 

J 

I 

I 

X 

) 

c 

d 

£ 

& 

£S 

3 

Y 

1 

I 

I 

i 

{ 

d 

e 

a 

Q 

O 

D 

2 

3 

I 

c 

? 

. 

e 

f 

a 

Q 

O 

D 

> 

J 

I 

I 

<o 

< 

f 

9 

e 

O 

G) 

3 

f 

i 

I 

£ 

i 

>> 

V 

h 

G 

& 

W 

3 

? 

3- 

* 

{ 

0 

« 

k 

i 

8 

CO 

03 

3 

* 

J 

1 

t 

< 

C 

i 

k 

e 

SQ 

as 

3 

i 

1 

I 

f 

fr 

3 

k 

I 

a 

Q 

Q 

O 

* 

n 

1 

* 

A 

ji 

I 

m 

G 

CD 

(D 

B 

$ 

f 

I 

t 

V 

O 

m 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

0 

PALAEOTYPIG  EQUIVALENTS  OF  VISIBLE  SPEECH 
LETTERS. 


I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

y 

0 

a 

kh 

Jh 

rh 

ph 

' 

ce 

Y 

i 

H' 

• 

a 

b 

kw?h 

8 

sh 

wh 

r 

a 

0 

^ 

< 

ll(JUl) 

lin-. 

b 

G 

/h 

Uh 

Ih 

f 

i,J 

(E 

oh 

E 

j 

j 

c 

d 

Iwh 

th 

/h 

th 

a 

t? 

y 

I 

i 

•J 

d 

e 

k 

tj 

t 

P 

09 

a 

ah 

e 

A 

{ 

e 

f 

qh 

r]jh 

nh 

mh 

H 

a 

so 

ae 

i^6-h 

i 

f 

fj 

gh 

j 

r 

bh 

W 

u 

u 

i 

6 

Hi 

ff 

h 

gwh 

z 

zh 

w 

rw 

o 

o\\ 

3 

t' 

t 

h 

i 

/ 

y 

1 

V 

y 

A 

ah 

7h 

1 

i 

i 

k 

Iw 

dh 

dh 

vh 

*\w 

M 

//h 

y 

i- 

t 

k 

I 

g 

dj 

d 

b 

u,w 

O 

oh 

oe 

. 

§* 

I 

m 

q 

s 

n 

in 

'h 

0 

oh 

seh 

» 

• 

m 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

y 

0 

16 


INTRODUCTION. 


KEY  TO  GLOSSOTYPE. 

See  p.  13.  Isolated  letters  and  words  in  glossotype  should  be  inclosed  in  ( ). 
(E)  is  never  mute ;  all  vowels  and  combinations  having  ( " )  or  ( ~ )  over  them,  except 
(u),  are  the  short  or  long  sounds  of  the  vowels  and  combinations  without  these  marks, 
which  should  not  be  used  for  any  other  letters,  thus  :  (a)  is  the  long  sound  of  (a) ;  (£e) 
the  short  sound  of  (ee) ;  (u)  is  to  be  used  whenever  it  is  thought  that  the  proper  form 
(ou)  might  create  confusion. 

C.  Cockney,  J).  Dutch,  K  English,  F.  French,  G.  German,  /.  Italian,  P.  Provincial, 
S.  Scotch,  Sw.  Swedish,  W.  Welsh. 


VOWELS. 

DIPHTHONGS. 

CONSONANTS. 

a  gnat 

i  knit 

aiy  may 

aiw  C. 

b    hee 

n-g  ingrain 

a  P. 

IS. 

ay  S.C. 

aw  C. 

ch  chest 

nk  think 

aa  ask 

ih,ihP,GU 

aay  high 

aaw  how 

d   doe 

n-k  in-come 

aa  ask 

o  not 

aey  8. 

aew  C. 

dhthe 

p  pea 

ae  ware 

5P. 

ahy  6r.  <w 

ahw  G.  au 

f  fee 

r    ray 

ae  8.  e 

oa,  6a/.  6 

ahy  aye 

ahwP. 

£T     ffO 

'r   air 

ah  father 

oe,  6e  G.  6 

auy  P. 

auw  P. 

gh  D.  G. 

r  I.S.  r 

ZhF.G.S.  a 

oh  rose 

ey  S.  tide 

ew  /.  eu 

H   he 

rh  P.F.  r 

ai  wait 

ohS. 



eew  /.  iu 

(written  A) 

s   see 

ai  S.  ai 

ON  F.  on 

•••••• 

iw  mew 

j  JaV 

sh  she 

ZN  F.  an 

oo  pool 

oy  loy 

ow  P. 

k  coo 

t   tin 

ao  S. 

oo  S.  book 

6y  P. 

6w  P. 

kh  G.  C.  ch 

th  thin 

ao  $.  w<w 

ou,  u  could 

ohyP. 

ohw  know 

1    lo 

v  vale 

au  all 

ou  P. 

ooy/.^.P. 

'1  fttffo 

w  ww7,  or 

au  wwwtf 

u   ww£ 

uy  high 

uw  how 

Ih  JF.  11 

-w    (after 

e    net 

uP. 

uiy  P.  M° 

m  we 

vowels) 

e    A 

j 
euy  P.  0W£ 

euw  D. 

'm  rhythm 

wh  why 

ee  meet 

uh  worth 

n   wo 

y    yet,  or 

ee  S.J.F. 

uhP. 

In    all    these    diphthongs 
the  first  element  has  the 

'n  0j»0ft 

-y   (after 

ex  JP.  m 
eu  Jl  0w 

eu  ^  eu 

ui,  ui  F.  u 
UN  F.  un 

(')  murmur 

sound    assigned    in    the 
preceding  column,  which 
is  run  on  quickly,  with  a 
glide,  to  a  following  (ee) 
or  (oo)  written  (y)  or  (w). 
Diphthongs  are  also  formed 

N  F.  n 
(written  n) 

ng  thing 
Foreign  and  ( 

vowels) 
z   s00Z 
zh  vmon 
Mental  sounds 

P.     by    affixing    (')     as 

represented  by  Italics  and 

When  more  than  two  vowels 

(roh'd)  almost  (rohud)  = 

small   capitals,  by  special 

come  together  and  the  first 
two  form  one  of  the  pre- 

road, and  by  affixing  (ui), 
which    should    then    be 

convention. 
Accent  the  first  syllable,  un- 

ceding combinations,  read 
them  as  such,  as  (reeent'er 

written  (ui),  as  D.  (neuuis) 
=   huis,    theoretical   G. 

less  (')  or  (•)  is  written  after 
some    other  syllable,    as  : 

(  =ree-ent'er)  =re-enter. 

(frouind)  =  freund. 

august,  august',  august'. 

17 


CHAPTER  I. 
ON  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES. 

THOUGHT  may  be  conveyed  from  mind  to  mind  by  various 
systems  of  symbols,  each,  of  which  may  be  termed  language. 
A  real,  living,  growing  language,  however,  has  always  been 
a  collection  of  spoken  sounds,  and  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  they 
indicate  these  sounds  that  other  symbols  can  be  dignified 
with  the  name  of  language.  But  a  spoken  sound  once 
written  ceases  to  grow.  Even  when  an  orthography  is 
chosen  which  varies  with  the  sounds  from  day  to  day,  each 
written  word  is,  as  it  were,  but  an  instantaneous  photograph 
of  a  living  thing,  fixing  a  momentary  phase,  while  the  organ- 
ism proceeds  to  grow  and  change  till  all  resemblance  to  the 
old  form  may  in  course  of  time  be  obliterated.  The  systems 
of  writing  which  have  been  generally  adopted,  far  from 
acknowledging  this  fact,  force  us,  as  it  were,  to  recognize 
mature  or  ancient  men  from  the  portraits  of  youths  or 
children,  and  ignore  the  ever-active  irrepressible  vitality  of 
language.  We  speak  of  the  "  dead"  languages  of  Rome  and 
Athens,  unconscious  that  our  own  English  of  a  few  years 
back  has  become  as  dead  to  us,  who  can  neither  think  in  the 
idiom  nor  speak  with  the  sounds  of  our  forefathers. 

Spoken  language  is  born  of  any  two  or  more  associated 
human  beings.  It  grows,  matures,  assimilates,  changes,  incor- 
porates, excludes,  developes,  languishes,  decays,  dies  utterly, 
with  the  societies  to  which  it  owes  its  being.  It  is  difficult 
to  seize  its  chameleon  form  at  any  moment.  Each  speaker 
as  thought  inspires  him,  each  listener  as  the  thought  reaches 
him  with  the  sound,  creates  some  new  turn  of  expression, 
some  fresh  alliance  of  thought  with  sound,  some  useful  modi- 
fication of  former  custom,  some  instantaneous  innovation 
which  either  perishes  at  the  instant  of  birth,  or  becomes  part 
of  the  common  stock,  a  progenitor  of  future  language.  The 
different  sensations  of  each  speaker,  the  different  apprecia- 
tions of  each  hearer,  their  intellectual  growth,  their  environ- 
ment, their  aptitude  for  conveying  or  receiving  impressions, 
their  very  passions,  originate,  change,  and  create  language. 

2 


18  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES.  CHAP.  I. 

Without  entering  on  the  complex  investigation  of  the 
idiomatic  alterations  of  language,  a  slight  consideration  will 
shew  that  the  audible  forms  in  which  these  idioms  are  clothed 
will  also  undergo  great  and  important  changes.  The  habit 
of  producing  certain  series  of  spoken  sounds  is  acquired 
generally  by  a  laborious  and  painful  process,  beginning  with 
the  first  dawn  of  intelligence,  continued  through  long  stages 
of  imperfect  powers  of  appreciation  and  imitation,  and  be- 
coming at  last  so  fixed  that  the  speaker  in  most  cases  either 
does  not  hear  or  does  not  duly  weigh  any  but  great  devia- 
tions from  his  own  customary  mode  of  speech,  and  is  rendered 
incapable  of  any  but  a  rude  travesty  of  strange  sounds  into 
the  nearest  of  his  own  familiar  utterances. 

We  may  apparently  distinguish  three  laws  according  to 
which  the  sounds  of  a  language  change. 

First,  the  chronological  law.  Changes  in  spoken  sounds 
take  place  in  time,  not  by  insensible  degrees,  but  per 
saltum,  from  generation  to  generation. 
Second,  the  individual  law.  A  series  of  spoken  sounds 
acquired  during  childhood  and  youth  remains  fixed  in 
the  individual  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 
Third,  the  geographical  law.  A  series  of  spoken  sounds 
adopted  as  the  expression  of  thought  by  persons  living 
in  one  locality,  when  wholly  or  partly  adopted  by  an- 
other community,  are  also  changed,  not  by  insensible 
degrees,  but  per  saltum,  in  passing  from  individual  to 
individual. 

At  any  one  instant  of  time  there  are  generally  three  gene- 
rations living.  Each  middle  generation  has  commenced  at 
a  different  time,  and  has  modified  the  speech  of  its  preceding 
generation  in  a  somewhat  different  manner,  after  which  it 
retains  the  modified  form,  while  the  subsequent  generation 
proceeds  to  change  that  form  once  more.  Consequently 
there  will  not  be  any  approach  to  uniformity  of  speech 
sounds  in  any  one  place  at  any  one  time,  but  there  will  be  a 
kind  of  mean,  the  general  utterance  of  the  more  thoughtful 
or  more  respected  persons  of  mature  -age,  round  which  the 
other  sounds  seem  to  hover,  and  which,  like  the  averages  of 
the  mathematician,  not  agreeing  precisely  with  any,  may  for 
the  purposes  of  science  be  assumed  to  represent  all,  and  be 
called  the  language  of  the  district  at  the  epoch  assigned. 
Concrete  reality  is  always  too  complex  for  science  to  grasp, 
and  hence  she  has  to  content  herself  with  certain  abstractions, 
and  to  leave  practice  to  apply  the  necessary  corrections  in 
individual  cases.  Thus,  if  we  descended  into  every  minute 


CHAP.  I.  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES.  19 

shade  of  spoken  sound,  the  variety  would  be  so  interminable, 
each  individual  presenting  some  fresh  peculiarities,  that  all 
definite  character  would  be  lost.  In  actual  life  this  necessary 
abstraction  is  replaced  by  the  second  law  which  gives  fixed- 
ness of  utterance  to  the  individual,  regardless  of  surrounding 
change.  Indeed,  few  persons  of  mature  years,  even  in  the 
most  civilized  communities,  think  of  the  sounds  they  utter. 
They  speak  to  communicate  thought,  not  to  examine  the 
instrument  which  they  employ  for  that  purpose,  and  they 
would  be  constantly  checked,  and  irritated  by  thinking  of 
how  they  speak,  rather  than  of  what  they  speak. 

It  is  this  individual  fixity  of  habit,  and  powerlessness  of 
adaptation  that  operates  in  producing  the  per  sattum  geogra- 
phical changes,  in  which  must  be  included,  not  only  the 
changes  made  in  foreign  words,  but  also  those  resulting 
from  any  society  within  a  society, — schools,  colleges,  cliques, 
coteries,  professions,  trades,  emigrations, — in  short  any  means 
of  isolating  some  companies  of  speakers  from  others.  Slang 
is  only  a  form  of  dialect. 

One  marked  result  of  the  third  law  is  that  a  uniform 
system  of  spoken  sounds  cannot  extend  over  a  very  large 
district.  All  the  speakers  must  have  frequent  opportunities 
of  hearing  the  sounds  from  youth  up,  or  they  will  be  unable 
to  appreciate  and  imitate  them.  Education,  which  sends 
teachers  as  missionaries  into  remote  districts  to  convey  the 
required  sounds  more  or  less  correctly,  but,  more  safely  and 
certainly,  rapid  communication  of  individuals,  such  as  rail- 
roads now  effect,  does  much  to  produce  uniformity  of  speech. 
How  far,  however,  even  in  small,  educated  and  locomotive 
England  we  are  yet  removed  from  uniformity  of  speech,  may 
be  learned  by  a  very  slight  attention  to  the  sounds  heard  in 
different  districts,  each  of  which  has  its  own  characteristic 
burr  or  brogue,  less  marked  perhaps  than  it  was  in  Higden's 
and  Caxton's  time,  but  still  unmistakable.1 

The  results  of  emigration  and  immigration  are  curious  and 
important.  By  emigration  is  here  specially  meant  the  sepa- 
ration of  a  considerable  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  country 

1  Treuisa  in  his  translation  of  Hig-  to  relate    how  when   "  eertayn  mer- 

den's  Polychronicon,  1385,  says  "alle  chaimtes  ....  taryed  atte  forlond  .  .  . 

>e    langages   of    J-e    nor^humbm;   &  and  axed  for  mete,  and  specyally  .  .  . 

specialich  at  gorke  is  so  scharp  slittinge  axyd  after  eggys  .  .  .  the  goode  wyf 

&  frotyngc;  &  vnschape ;  )>at  we  souj^mi  answerde   that    she    coude  speke    no 

men  may  ]>at  langage  vnnej?e  vnder-  frenshe  ....  and    thenne  at  last  a 

stonde."      And  Caxton    (Prologue   to  nother  sayd  that  he  wolde  haue  eyren, 

Eneydos]  complains  that  "  comyn  En-  then  the  good  wyf  sayd  that  she  vnder- 

glysshe  that  is   spoken  in   one  shyre  stod  hym."     See  Chapter  XI  for  ex- 

varyeth  from  a  nother,"  and  goes  on  isting  varieties  of  pronunciation. 


20  PRONUNCIATION   AND   ITS   CHANGES.  CHAP.  I. 

from  the  main  mass,  without  incorporating  itself  with  another 
nation.  Thus  the  English  in  America  have  not  mixed  with 
the  natives,  and  the  Norse  in  Iceland  had  no  natives  to  mix 
with.  In  this  case  there  is  a  kind  of  arrest  of  development, 
the  language  of  the  emigrants  remains  for  a  long  time  in  the 
stage  at  which  it  was  when  emigration  took  place,  and  alters 
more  slowly  than  the  mother  tongue,  and  in  a  different 
direction.  Practically  the  speech  of  the  American  English 
is  archaic  with  respect  to  that  of  the  British  English,  and 
while  the  Icelandic  scarcely  differs  from  the  old  Norse,  the 
latter  has,  since  the  colonization  of  Iceland,  split  up  on  the 
mainland  into  two  distinct  literary  tongues,  the  Danish  and 
Swedish.  Nay,  even  the  Irish  English  exhibits  in  many 
points  the  peculiarities  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  xviith 
century. 

By  immigration,  on  the  other  hand,- is  meant  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  comparatively  small  body  into  a  large  mass  of 
people,  with  whom  they  mix  and  associate.  This  may  be 
commercially  (as  when  German  emigrants  settle  in  the 
United  States),  or  by  conquest  (as  when  the  Norsemen  settled 
first  in  the  north  of  France,  and  secondly  in  England,  or 
when  the  Goths  ruled  in  Italy).  In  these  cases  the  immigrant 
language  is  more  or  less  lost  and  absorbed,  especially  if  it  is 
not  so  developed  as  the  language  among  which  it  enters,  and 
into  which  it  introduces  comparatively  little  change.  The 
French  element  of  our  language,  for  example,  is  only  indi- 
rectly traceable  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  for  we  find  it  very 
slightly  marked,  even  in  the  xin  th  century.  The  Roman 
occupation  of  England  and  the  English  domination  in  India 
have  produced  very  little  effect  upon  either  the  immigrant 
or  receiving  language,  principally  from  the  want  of  associa- 
tion. The  languages  have  remained  practically  unmixed. 
The  Roman  language  in  France  and  Spain  de  facto  ousted 
the  Celtic  of  the  inhabitants,  and,  after  natural  changes, 
altered  by  the  absorption  of  the  Frankish  and  Moorish  im- 
migrations. 

The  alterations  thus  introduced  into  a  language  produce 
but  little  effect  on  the  idioms  (that  is,  the  expression  of  the 
relations  of  conceptions),  but  principally  affect  the  words 
employed.  Thus  English  has  remained  a  Low  German 
dialect  through  all  the  introductions  of  French,  Latin,  and 
Greek  elements,  and  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  remain 
Latin  notwithstanding  the  Frankish,  Moorish3  and  Gothic 
additions  which  they  have  received.  But  in  all  these 
languages  great  changes  have  fallen  upon  the  forms  of  the 


CHAP.  I.  PRONUNCIATION   AND   ITS   CHANGES.  21 

words  used.  We  are  apt  to  regard  (beslrop,  bish'of,  bis'po, 
ves'kovo,  0VEEk,  obhiis-po,  epiis'kop,  epis'kopus,  epis'kopos) 
as  entirely  different  words,  and  to  call  (breek  briik,  keez  kiiz, 
obloidzh*  obliidzh*)  etc.,  different  pronunciations  of  the  same 
words.  But  the  latter  are  really  only  less  marked  examples 
of  the  same  phenomenon  as  is  exhibited  in  the  former.  If 
the  latter  pairs  of  words  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  same,  the 
former  nine  must  also  be  classed  as  one.  In  the  latter  we 
have  chiefly  chronological,  in  the  former  we  have  chiefly 
geographical  changes.  In  both  cases  we  have  examples  of 
the  variation  of  one  sound  as  it  passes  through  various 
mouths — volitat  vivu'  per  ora  virum. 

Even  without  reference  to  written  forms,  the  conception 
of  altered  forms  of  one  original  sound  (that  is,  of  various 
pronunciations  of  the  same  word),  naturally  arises  in  men's 
minds,  but  when  languages  come  to  be  written  as  well  as 
spoken,  this  is  more  strongly  forced  upon  them — at  least  in 
those  cases  which  the  writing  notices.  Writing,  that  won- 
derful method  of  arresting  sound  which  has  made  human 
memory  independent  of  life,  and  has  thus  perpetuated  know- 
ledge, was  necessarily  at  first  confined  to  the  learned  alone, 
the  priest  and  the  philosopher.  These  fixed,  as  nearly  as 
they  could  appreciate,  or  their  method  of  symbolisation, 
which  was  necessarily  insufficient,  would  allow,  the  sounds 
of  their  own  language  as  they  heard  them  in  their  own  day. 
Their  successors  venerating  the  invention,  or  despairing  of 
introducing  improvements,  trod  servilely  in  their  steps  and 
mostly  used  the  old  symbols  while  the  sounds  changed 
around  them.  Within  the  limits  of  the  powers  of  the  old 
symbols  some  changes  were  made  from  time  to  time,  but- 
very  slowly.  Then  in  quite  recent  days,  the  innovation  of 
diacritical  signs  arose  as  in  French  and  German,,  whereby  a 
modern  modification  of  an  ancient  usage  was  more  or  less 
indicated.  Occasionally,  whole  groups  of  letters  formerly 
correctly  used  to  indicate  certain  sounds  came  to  be  con- 
sidered as  groups  indicating  new  sounds, — not  in  all  cases, 
but  in  many  perhaps,  where  the  sounds  had  changed  by  re- 
gular derivation.  Before  the  invention  of  printing,  writers, 
become  more  numerous,  had  become  also  less  controlled  by 
the  example  of  their  ancestors,  and  endeavoured  as  well  as 
they  could,  with  numerous  conventions,  inconsistencies,  im- 
perfections, and  shortcomings,  rendered  inevitable  by  the 
inadequacy  of  their  instrument,  to  express  on  paper  the 
sounds  they  heard.  When  we  are  fortunate  enough  to  find 
the  real  handywork  of  a  thoughtful  writer,  as  Orrmin,  we  see 


22  PRONUNCIATION    AND   ITS   CHANGES.  CHAP.  I. 

how  much  might  have  been  done  to  clear  our  mode  of  writing 
from  inconsistencies.  But  with  the  invention  of  printing, 
came  a  belief  in  the  necessity  of  a  fixed  orthography  to 
facilitate  the  work  of  the  "compositor  and  reader.  The  re- 
gulation of  spelling  was  taken  from  the  intellectual  and  given 
to  a  mechanical  class.  Uniformity  at  all  hazards  was  the 
aim.  And  uniformity  has  been  gained  to  a  great  extent  in 
late  years,  but  at  a  sacrifice  which  uniformity  is  far  from 
being  worth — loss  of  a  knowledge  of  how  our  ancestors  spoke, 
concealment  of  how  we  speak  at  present,  innumerable  diffi- 
culties to  both  reader  and  writer,  and  hence  great  impedi- 
ments to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  The  numerous 
societies  for  printing  old  English  books  which  are  now  at 
work,  and  especially  the  Early  English  Text  Society,  have, 
by  conscientiously  printing  manuscripts  literatim,  done  much 
to  restore  our  knowledge  of  ancient  sounds  as  well  as  ancient 
sense.  But  the  veil  of  our  modern  spelling  lies  over  our 
eyes,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  gain  the  key  to  the  mystery  which 
these  texts  are  calculated  to  display. 

"  Nobody,"  says  Archdeacon  C.  J.  Hare,1  "  who  has  a  due 
reverence  for  his  ancestors  or  even  for  his  own  spiritual 
being,  which  has  been  mainly  trained  and  fashioned  by  his 
native  language, — nobody  who  rightly  appreciates  what  a 
momentous  thing  it  is  to  keep  the  unity  of  a  people  entire 
and  unbroken,  to  preserve  and  foster  all  its  national  recol- 
lections, what  a  glorious  and  inestimable  blessing  it  is  to 
'  speak  the  tongue  that  Shakspere  spake/  will  ever  wish  to 
trim  that  tongue  according  to  any  arbitrary  theory."  But 
the  English  of  to-day  do  not  know  *  the  tongue  that  Shak- 
spere spake.'  They  may  be  familiar  with  the  words  of  his 
plays  according  to  their  own  fashion  of  speech,  but  they 
know  no  more  how  Shakspere  would  have  uttered  them  than 
they  know  how  to  write  a  play  in  his  idiom.  The  language 
of  Shakspere  has  departed  from  us,"  and  has  to  be  acquired 
as  a  new  tongue,  without  the  aid  of  a  living  teacher.  What 
this  means  can  only  be  justly  appreciated  by  observing  how 
foreigners,  after  most  laborious  study  of  our  own  modern 
language  from  books  and  grammars,  proceed  to  write  and 
speak  it.  You  will  read  and  hear  whole  sentences  in  which 
every  phrase  shall  be  in  accordance  with  grammar,  and  yet 
perhaps  not  a  single  sentence  so  composed  as  an  Englishman 
would  have  penned  it,  or  so  uttered  as  an  Englishman  would 
have  spoken  it.  A  language  can  only  be  learned  by  ear. 

But   how   did   our   glorious   old   writers   speak?      What 

1  On  English    Orthography,   Philological  Museum,  Vol.  1,  p.  645. 


CHAP.  I.  PRONUNCIATION   AND    ITS   CHANGES.  23 

sounds  did  Goldsmith,  Pope,  Dryden,  Milton,  Shakspere, 
Spenser,  Chaucer,  Langland,  call  the  English  language? 
Or  if  we  cannot  discover  their  own  individual  peculiarities, 
what  was  the  style  of  pronunciation  prevalent  at  and  about 
their  time  among  the  readers  of  their  works  ?  The  inquiry 
is  beset  with  difficulties.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
determine  the  pronunciation  of  our  contemporary  laureate, 
but  surely  with  our  heap  of  pronouncing  dictionaries,  it 
would  seem  easy  to  determine  that  of  his  readers.  Yet  this 
is  far  from  being  the  case.  It  is  difficult  even  for  a  person 
to  determine  with  accuracy  what  is  his  own  pronunciation. 
He  can  at  best  only  give  an  approximation  to  that  of  others. 

In  the  present  day  we  may,  however,  recognize  a  received 
pronunciation  all  over  the  country,  not  widely  differing  in 
any  particular  locality,  and  admitting  a  certain  degree  of 
variety.  It  may  be  especially  considered  as  the  educated 
pronunciation  of  the  metropolis,  of  the  court,  the  pulpit,  and 
the  bar.1  But  in  as  much  as  all  these  localities  and  pro- 
fessions are  recruited  from  the  provinces,  there  will  be  a 
varied  thread  of  provincial  utterance  running  through  the 
whole.  In  former  times  this  was  necessarily  more  marked, 
and  the  simultaneous  varieties  of  pronunciation  prevalent 
and  acknowledged  much  greater.  In  the  xni  th,  xiv  th, 
and  xv  th  centuries  it  is  almost  a  straining  of  the  meaning 
of  words  to  talk  of  a  general  English  pronunciation.2  There 
was  then  only  a  court  dialect  of  the  south,  and  the  various 
"  upland,"  northern,  eastern,  and  western  modes  of  speech. 
And  hence  we  can  only  seek  to  discover  the  court  dialect, 
and  then,  having  partly  ascertained  the  value  of  the  letters, 
endeavour  to  ascertain  the  pronunciations  meant  to  be  in- 
dicated by  such  writers  as  Dan  Michel  and  Orrmin.3 

But  how  are  we  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  court 
dialect  ?  Moliere  ridicules  the  notion  of  having  a  master  to 
teach  pronunciation,  and  -certainly  the  analysis  of  speech 
sounds,  was  at  no  time,  and  is  not  even  at  the  present  day, 
notwithstanding  the  appearance  of  so  many  treatises  in  quite 
recent  times,  down  to  that  of  Mr.  Melville  Bell,  1867,  a 
favorite  subject  of  investigation.  It  is  voted  tiresome  or 
unnecessary,  and  the  greater  number  of  even  those  who 

1  The  pronunciation  of  the  stage  is  rum  modum  loquendi  solum  sum  secu- 
inclined  to  be  archaic,   except  in  the  tus,    quern    solum    ab  infancia  didici, 
modernest  imitations  of  every  day  life.  et  solotenus  plenius  perfectiusque  cog- 

2  Thus  in   1440  the  author  of  the  novi." 

Promptorium  Parvulorum  says,  "  Comi-  3  The  subject   of   a   standard    pro- 

tatus  Northfolcie"  or,  according  to  nunciation  is  specially  considered  below, 
another  reading,  "  Orientalium  Anglo-  Chap.  VI,  §  6. 


PRONUNCIATION   AND   ITS   CHANGES.  CHAP    I. 

touch  upon  it  incidentally,  in  grammars  and  orthoepical 
treatises,  are  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  nature  and  mechan- 
ism of  speech,  and  the  inter-relations  of  the  sounds  which 
constitute  language.1  The  consequence  is  that  writers  being 
unaware  of  the  mechanism  by  which  the  results  are  produced, 
were  constrained  to  use  a  variety  of  metaphorical  expressions 
which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  comprehend,  and  which 
naturally  have  different  meanings  in  the  works  of  different 
authors.  Thus  sounds  are  termed  thick,  thin,  fat,  full, 
empty,  round,  flat,  hard,  soft,  rough,  smooth,  sharp,  clear, 
obscure,  coarse,  delicate,  broad,  fine,  attenuated,  mincing, 
finical,  affected,  open,  close,  and  so  on,  till  the  reader  is  in 
despair.  For  example,  in  English,  German,  Italian,  Spanish, 
' hard  c'  is  (k),  but  'soft  c'  is  (s)  in  English,  (ts)  in  Ger- 
man, (tsh)  in  Italian,  (c),  that  is,  nearly  (th),  in  Spanish.  The 
Germans  call  (g)  the  'soft'  of  (k),  and  (#h)  the  'soft'  of 
(g).  But  the  English  call  (g)  'hard  g/  and  (dzh)  'soft  g/ 
and  'soft  g'  is  (x),  or  nearly  (kh),  in  Spanish.  Most  writers 
term  (s,  th)  hard  sounds,  and  (z,  dh)  soft,  but  Dyche2  finds 
(s,  th)  soft,  and  (z,  dh)  hard.  One  writer  calls  o  obscure 
when  it  sounds  as  (o)  or  (uu),  no  matter  which,  but  y  final 
obscure  when  («'),  and  sharp  and  clear  when  (ai). 

Some  writers,  again,  content  themselves  with  using  key 
words.  This  is  indeed  the  easiest  method  for  the  writer,  and 
conveys  very  fair  notions  to  contemporary  readers.  It  has 
been  adopted  in  the  description  of  Palaeotype  to  avoid  prolix 
explanations.  But  the  publication  of  Mr.  Melville  Bell's 
Visible  Speech  has  enabled  me  by  referring  to  his  symbols  to 
fix  the  sounds  with  accuracy,  for  Visible  Speech  contains  an 
exact  account  of  the  disposition  of  the  organs  for  producing 
the  sounds,  and  hence  by  carefully  studying  that  work  at 
any  time — centuries  hence — the  exact  sound  could  probably 
be  recovered.  Not  so  with  key  words,  for  they  involve  the 

• 

1  The  beautiful  phonetic  short-hand  sounds,  hut  with  very  small  success, 
invented  by  Mr.  I.  Pitman,  under  the  .  even  among  those  who  were  most 
name  of  Phonography,  and  developed  earnest  in  the  use  of  phonetic  types 
by  the  assistance  of  many  co-workers,  as  an  educational  appliance.  The  sub- 
gave  rise  to  a  desire  to  print  phoneti-  ject  was  not  sufficiently  attractive.  At 
cally,  in  consequence  of  which  a  pho-  present  Mr.  Melville  Bell's  recent 
netic  English  alphabet  was  invented  treatise  on  Visible  Speech,  renders  a 
by  Mr.  I.  Pitman  and  myself,  which,  study  of  the  whole  subject  compara- 
with  various  subsequent  modifications,  tively  easy.  And  he  has  supplemented 
has  been  extensively  used  in  England  it  by  a  system  of  shorthand  writing 
and  America.  From  the  first  I  en-  which  will  be  applicable  with  almost 
deavoured  (in  my  treatises  on  the  equal  facility  to  all  languages  in  the 
Alphabet  of  Nature,  1845,  and  Essen-  world,  rendering  his  system  extremely 
tials  of  Phonetics,  1848,)  to  make  this  easy  to  write  even  at  full, 
alphabet  a  means  of  extending  a  know-  2  Guide  to  the  English  Tongue,  1710. 
ledge  of  the  inter-relations  of  speech 


CHAP.  I.  PRONUNCIATION    AND   ITS    CHANGES.  25 

very  riddle  which  we  have  to  solve.  Only  those  who,  like 
the  present  writer,  have  spent  hours  in  endeavouring  to  dis- 
cover what  was  meant  by  a  simple  reference  to  a  key  word 
given  three  hundred  years  ago,  can  fully  appreciate  the  ad- 
vantage of  an  exact  description  like  that  furnished  by  Visible 
Speech.1  There  is  some  relief  when  many  key- words  are 
given,  or  when  contemporary  languages  are  cited.  But 
here  the  imperfect  appreciation  of  the  citer  is  painfully  con- 
spicuous, and  allowances  have  always  to  be  made  on  that 
account.  Many  writers,  too,  content  themselves  with  re- 
ferences to  the  Latin,  Greek,  or  Hebrew  sounds,  apparently 
forgetting  that  the  older  pronunciation  of  these  languages  is  a 
matter  of  dispute,  and  that  the  modern  pronunciation  varies 
from  country  to  country  and  century  to  century.  Let  any 
one  begin  by  studying  Sir  T.  Smith,  Hart,  Bullokar,  Gill, 
and  Butler,  in  order  to  determine  the  pronunciation  of 
Shakspere  from  these  sources  alone, — or  even  with  the  as- 
sistance of  Palsgrave, — and  he  will  soon  either  find  himself 
in  the  same  slough  of  despond  in  which  I  struggled,  or  will 
get  out  of  his  difficulties  only  by  a  freer  use  of  hypothesis 
and  theory  than  I  considered  justifiable,  when  I  endeavoured 
to  discover,  not  to  invent, — to  establish  by  evidence,  not  to 
propound  theoretically, — the  English  pronunciation  of  the 
xvi  th  century. 

The  first  ray  of  light  came  to  me  from  a  corner  which  had 
hitherto  been  very  dark.  While  searching  for  information, 
some  book  or  other  led  me  to  consult  William  Salesbury's 
Welsh  and  English  Dictionary,  1547.  The  introduction 
contains  a  very  short  and  incomplete  introduction  to  English 
pronunciation,  written  in  quaint  old  Welsh.  My  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  language  was  sufficient  for  me  to  perceive 
the  value  of  this  essay,  which  mainly  consisted  in  the 
transcription  of  about  150  typical  English  words  into  Welsh 
letters.  Now  the  Welsh  alphabet  of  the  present  day  is  re- 
markably phonetic,  having  only  one  ambiguous  letter,  y, 
which  is  sometimes  (a) ,  or  (a),  and  at  others  (y) .  Did  Salesbury 
pronounce  these  letters  as  they  are  now  pronounced  in  North 

1  At  the  latter  end  of  his  treatise  of  the  speech  organs, — or  if  possible 

Mr.  Melville  Bell  has  given  in  to  the  also  from  the  living  voice  of  some  one 

practice  of   key  words,    and   assigned  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  system 

them  to  his  symbols.     Let  the  reader  — and  then  determine  Mr.  Bell's  own 

be  careful  not  to  take  the  value  of  the  pronunciation   of  the  key  word  from 

symbol  from  his  own  pronunciation  of  the  known  value  of  the  symbol.     This 

the  key  words,  or  from  any  other  per-  pronunciation  in  many  instances  differs 

son's.      Let   him  first  determine   the  from  that  which  I  am  accustomed  to 

value  of  the  symbol  from  the  exact  give  it,   especially  in  foreign  words, 

description  and  diagram  of  the  position  Both  of  us  may  be  wrong. 


26  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES.  CHAP.  I. 

Wales?  Most  fortunately  lie  lias  answered  the  question 
himself  in  a  tract  upon  Welsh  pronunciation  written  in 
English,  and  referring  to  many  other  languages  to  assist  the 
English  reader.  The  result  was  that  with  the  exception  of 
yt  the  sounds  had  remained  the  same  for  the  last  300  years. 
Here  then  we  have  a  solid  foundation  for  future  work, — the 
pronunciation  of  a  certain  number  of  words  in  the  xvi  th 
century  determined  with  considerable  certainty ;  and  from  this 
we  are  able  to  proceed  to  a  study  of  the  other  works  named, 
with  more  hope  of  a  satisfactory  result.  These  tracts  of 
Salesbury  are  so  rare,  and  one  of  them  so  little  intelligible 
to  the  mass  of  readers,  that  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Philo- 
logical Society,  they  will  be  transferred  to  the  pages  of  this 
essay, — the  English  treatise  almost  entire,  the  Welsh  treatise 
complete  with  a  translation.1 

The  pronunciation  of  English  during  the  xvi  th  century 
was  thus  rendered  tolerably  clear,  and  the  mode  in  which  it 
broke  into  that  of  the  xvnth  century  became  traceable. 
But  the  xvn  th  century  was,  like  the  xv  th,  one  of  civil  war, 
that  is  of  extraordinary  commingling  of  the  population,  and 
consequently  one  of  marked  linguistic  change.  Between  the 
xiv  th  and  xvith  centuries  our  language  was  almost  born 
anew.2  In  the  xvn  th  century  the  idiomatic  changes  are  by 
no  means  so  evident,  but  the  pronunciation  altered  distinctly 
in  some  remarkable  points.  These  facts  and  the  breaking 
up  of  the  xvn  th  into  the  xvm  th  century  pronunciation, 
which  when  established  scarcely  differed  from  the  present, 
are  well  brought  to  light  by  Wallis,  Wilkins,  Owen,  Price, 
Cooper,  Miege,  and  Jones,  followed  by  Buchanan,  Franklin, 
and  Sheridan.  It  became  therefore  possible  to  assign  with 
considerable  accuracy,  the  pronunciation  of  Spenser,  Shak- 
spere,  Milton,  Dryden,  and  Pope,  or  rather  of  their  con- 
temporaries. 

This  was  much,  but  it  was  not  enough.  No  treatise  on 
Early  English  pronunciation  could  be  satisfactory  which  did 
not  include  Chaucer.  But  here  all  authorities  failed.  Pals- 
grave is  the  earliest  author  from  whom  we  learn  distinctly 
how  any  English  sound  was  pronounced,  and  then  only 
through  the  analogy  of  the  French  and  Italian.  Two  princi- 
ples, however,  suggested  themselves  for  trial.  In  tracing 
the  alteration  of  vowel  sounds  from  the  xvi  th  through  the 
xvn  th  to  the  xvm  th  century  a  certain  definite  line  of 
change  came  to  light,  which  was  more  or  less  confirmed  by 
a  comparison  of  the  changes,  as  far  as  they  can  be  traced,  in 

1  See  Chapter  VIII,  §§  1  and  2.  «  gee  Chapter  IV  §  1. 


CHAP.  I.  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES.  27 

other  languages.  Hence  the  presumption  was  that  from  the 
xiv  th  to  the  xvi  th  centuries,  if  the  sounds  had  altered  at  all, 
they  would  have  altered  in  the  same  direction.  But  a  second 
principle  was  necessary  to  make  the  first  available.  This 
was  found  in  the  fact  that  since  writing  was  confined  to  a 
comparatively  small  number  of  per  sons,  the  majority  of  those 
who  heard  and  enjoyed  poetry  would  be  ignorant  of  the 
spelling  of  the  words.  Hence  the  rhymes  to  be  appreciated 
at  all  must  have  been  rhymes  to  the  ear,  and  not  the  modern 
monstrosity  of  rhymes  to  the  eye.  If  we  could  have  a  manu- 
script in  Chaucer's  own  handwriting,  we  should  therefore 
expect  to  find  all  the  rhymes  perfect.  Hence  we  might 
conclude  that  when  two  words  rhymed  together  in  one  of 
Chaucer's  couplets,  they  also  rhymed  together  in  his  pro- 
nunciation, and  if  they  would  not  have  rhymed  together  in 
the  xvi  th  century,  one  of  them  must  have  altered  in  the 
definite  line  of  change  already  discovered.  In  conformity 
with  these  principles  the  whole  of  the  rhymes  in  Chaucer's 
Canterbury  Tales  as  exhibited  in  the  best  available  manu- 
script, together  with  those  in  all  his  other  poems  as  edited 
by  Mr.  Morris,  and  those  in  Gower's  Confessio  Amantis, 
have  been  carefully  examined,  and  a  system  of  pronuncia- 
tion deduced  for  the  xiv  th  century.1 

Much  uncertainty  must  necessarily  prevail  concerning  the 
pronunciation  of  English  from  1400,  the  death  of  Chaucer,  to 
1530,  the  date  of  Palsgrave's  French  Grammar,  as  the 
changes  were  numerous  and  rapid,  both  in  language  and 
pronunciation.  Similarly  if  we  had  lost  the  xvn  th  century 
books  on  English  pronunciation,  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  restore  it,  from  a  knowledge  only  of  the  pronuncia- 
tions in  the  xvi  th  and  xvm  th  centuries.  But  standing  on 
the  secure  ground  of  the  xivth  century  we  can,  without 
much  doubt  penetrate  into  still  more  remote  regions,  espe- 
cially with  the  help  of  Orrmin's  orthography,  which  lands 
us  into  Anglosaxon. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  detailed  investigation,  it  may  be 
convenient  to  present  the  main  results  in  a  tabular  form. 
This  has  been  attempted  in  the  merest  outline,  on  the  two 
following  pages.  An  explanation  of  the  construction  of  the 
table  is  added  on  p.  30. 

1  For  a  detailed  account  of  this  investigation,  see  Chapter  IV. 


28 


PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES. 


CHAP.  I. 


Modern  Spelling 

Chaucer 

XIV 

Shaks; 
Spenser 

XVI 

jere                -p 
Milton 
Dryden 

XVII 

ope 
Goldsmith 

XVIII 

a  short 

a 

a 

ae 

88 

a  long 

aa 

aa 

eeae 

ee 

ai,  ay 

ai 

ai,  aai 

eeaei,  ee 

eei,  ee 

aw,  aw 

au 

au,  aau 

AA 

AA 

e  short 

e 

e 

e 

e 

e  long 

ee 

ee,  ii 

ee,  ii 

ii 

ea 

ee,  e 

ee,  e 

ee,  e 

ii,  e 

ee 

ee 

ii 

ii 

ii 

«',  ey 

ai 

ei,  eei,  ai 

eei,  ee 

eei,  ee,  ii 

eu,  ew 

eu,  yy 

yy,  eu 

iu,  eu 

iu 

gh 

kh 

kh,H< 

H<   - 

-    - 

i,  y  short 

i 

i 

I 

i 

i,  y  long 

ii 

ei,  ai 

ai 

81 

o  short 

0,  U 

0,  U 

A,  0,  8 

0,  8 

o  long 

00 

oo 

00 

00 

oa 

o«,  oy 

00 

ui 

00 

oi,  ui 

00,  AA 

00,    AA 

AI,  01  ;   UI,  91 

01 

00 

00 

uu,  u 

UU,  8 

UU,  8 

ow,  ow 
u  short 

uu,  oou 
u;  i,  e 

ou,  oou 
u  ;  i;  e 

8U,  OOU 

u,  8  ;  t,  e 

OU,  00 

u,  8  ;  «;  i 

wlong                    yy 

yy 

yy?iu 

iu 

CHAP.  I. 


PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES. 


29 


Modern  Spelling 

Chaucer 

XIV 

Shaks; 
Spenser 

XVI 

jere                -n 
Milton 
Dryden 

XVII 

ope 
Goldsmith 

XVIII 

hand 

Hand 

Hand 

naend 

Hsend 

tale 

taal'e 

taal 

taeael 

teel 

rain,  way] 

rain,  wai 

rain,  waai 

raesein,  wseaei 

reen,  weei 

saw,  awe 

sau,  au 

sau,  aau 

SAA,  AA 

SAA,  AA 

W 

eg 

eg 

eg 

eg 

these,  toe 

dheez,  wee 

dheez,  wii 

dheez,  wii 

dhiiz,  wii 

mean,  head 

meen,  need 

meen,  ned 

meen,  ned 

miin,  ned 

seen 

seen 

siin 

siin 

siin 

obey,      they, 
vein,  receive 

obai',     dhai, 
vain,  resaiv 

obei*      dheei, 
vain,  reseeiv 

obeei',  dheei, 
veen,  reseev 

obee%      dheei' 
veen,  risiiv 

few,  stew 

feu,  styy 

feu,  styy 

feu,  stiu 

fiu,  stiu 

night 

m&ht 

m£ht,  m'H't 

nin't,  nait 

nait 

bit 

bit 

bit 

brt 

bzt 

bite 

bu'te 

beit 

bait 

bait 

holly,  wonder 

HoH,  murder 

HoH,  wun-der 

Hol'/,w8n'der 

HoH,  wan-der 

hope 

Hoop 

Hoop 

Hoop 

Hoop 

soap,  broad 

soop,  brood 

soop,  brood 

soop,  brAAd 

soop,  brAAd 

joint,  boil 

dzhuint,  buil 

dzhoint,  buil 

dzhoint,  buil  ; 
dzhaint,  bail 

dzhoint,  boil 

fool,  blood 

fool,  blood 

fuul,  blud 

fuul,  blad 

fuul,  blad 

now,  know 

nuu,  knoou 

nou,  knoou 

nau,  noou 

nau,  noou 

pull,  but,  bttsy, 
bury 

pul,  but,  "biz'i 
bere 

pul,  but,  })iz'i, 
ber£ 

pul,  bat,  kiz'i, 
ber-t 

pul,   bat,  })iz-i, 
ber-» 

muse 

myyz-e 

myyz 

myyz,  miuz 

miuz 

30  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ITS  CHANGES.  CHAP.  I. 

Taking  the  principal  modern  combinations  of  vowels,  and  the 
one  consonant  combination,  gh,  for  which  the  pronunciation 
of  successive  centuries  have  mainly  differed,  I  have  arranged 
them  in  the  first  column  of  the  preceding  table.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  these  spellings  are  modern,  and  in  many 
cases  replace  at  present  other  spellings  which  were  current 
in  the  xivth  to  the  xvith  centuries.  In  the  four  next 
columns  I  give  in  palaeotype,  as  explained  in  the  introduc- 
tion, the  pronunciations  prevalent  during  the  xiv  th,  xvi  th, 
xvn  th,  and  xvm  th  centuries.  For  this  rough  and  general 
view  of  the  subject  there  is  no  perceptible  difference  between 
the  xvm  th  and  xix  th  centuries.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  the  pronunciation  here  indicated  prevailed  throughout 
the  centuries  to  which  they  are  attributed.  The  xivth 
century  pronunciation  refers  only  to  the  latter  half  of  that 
century.  The  xvith  century  is  represented  rather  in  its 
former  half  and  middle  than  in  the  latter  part  when  it  was 
verging  to  the  xvii  th  century  pronunciation.  The  xvn  th 
century  pronunciation  represents  the  fully  established  pro- 
nunciation of  the  time  in  the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the 
century.  And  the  xvm  th  century  pronunciations  is  that  of 
the  latter  part.  Hence  we  may  roughly  term  the  pronuncia- 
tions exhibited  those  of  Chaucer,  Spenser,  Dryden,  and  Gold- 
smith. Shakspere  and  Milton  are  transitional  between 
Spenser  and  Dryden,  while  Pope  lies  between  Dryden  and 
Goldsmith.  These  names  are  therefore  placed  at  the  top  of 
the  columns,  and  between  the  columns,  as  an  assistance  to 
the  reader.  As  single  letters  are  more  difficult  to  appreciate 
than  entire  words,  examples  of  each  mode  of  speech  are 
given.  The  same  combination  of  letters  was  not  always 
pronounced  in  the  same  way  in  all  positions,  even  in  the 
xiv  th  century ;  hence  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  give  two 
sounds  and  two  examples,  and  in  this  case  the  more  usual 
(not  the  older)  sound  is  put  first.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
xvi  th,  in  the  xvii  th  and  later  centuries,  anomalies  of  pro- 
nunciation became  more  common,  and  nothing  but  detailed 
lists  of  words,  such  as  will  be  furnished  hereafter,  will  serve 
to  explain  them.  The  reader  must  therefore  remember  that 
this  table  gives  merely  a  general  view  to  serve  as  a  guide  in 
studying  the  subsequent  details. 


31 


CHAPTEE  II. 

AUTHORITIES  FOR  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING 
THE  SIXTEENTH,  SEVENTEENTH,  AND  EIGHTEENTH  CEN- 
TURIES. 

§  1.  Sixteenth  Century. 

1530,  22  Henry  VIII.     Palsgrave,  John. 

Lesclarcissement  de  la  Langue  Francoyse  ;  compose  par 
*       maistre   Jehan  Palsgraue  Angloys   natyf  de   Londres, 

et  gradue  de  Paris,  London,  4to. 

19  folios  unmarked,  473  folios  numbered,  the  English  in  black 
letter,  the  Trench  in  Roman  characters.  The  book  is  written  in 
English  although  the  title  is  French.  It  was  reprinted  by  the 
French  Government,  and  edited  by  F.  Genin,  in  1852. 

Palsgrave  graduated  at  Cambridge  as  well  as  in  Paris,  and  was 
appointed  French  tutor  to  the  princess  Mary,  sister  of  Henry  VIII, 
when  a  marriage  was  negociated  between  her  and  Louis  XII  of 
France  in  1514.  He  was  made  a  royal  chaplain,  and  on  going  to 
live  at  Oxford  in  1531,  there  took  the  degrees  of  M.A.  and  B.D. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  died  in  1554.  He  must  consequently  have 
spoken  the  educated  southern  and  court  dialect  of  the  latter  part 
of  the  xv  th,  and  the  early  part  of  the  xvi  th  century. 

This  work  contains  a  very  elaborate  account  of  French  pronuncia- 
tion, frequently  elucidated  by  reference  to  contemporary  English 
and  Italian.     The  pronunciation  of  several  English  words  is  thus 
incidentally  established  with  more  or  less  certainty. 
To  the  French  reprint  is  added  a  reprint  of 

An  Introductorie  for  to  lerne  to  rede,  to  pronounce  and 
to  speke  French  trewly,  compyled  for  the  right  high, 
excellent  and  most  vertuous  lady  The  Lady  Mary  of 
Englande,  doughter  to  our  most  gracious  soverayn 
Lorde  Kyng  Henry  the  Eight. 

By  Giles  du  Guez  or  du  Wes,  with  no  author's  name,  except  as 
shewn  by  an  initial  acrostic,  and  no  date,  but  apparently  about 
1532.  The  rules  for  pronunciation  are  few  and  insufficient,  ex- 
tending over  three  quarto  pages. 

1545,  37  Henry  VIII.     Heigret,  Loys. 

Traite  touchant  le  commvn  vsage  de  Fescritvre  francoise, 
faict  par  Loys  Meigret,  Lyonnois :  auquel  est  debattu 


32  AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      CHAP.  II.  §  1. 

des  faultes,  &  abus  en  la  vsage,  &  ancienne  puissance 
des  letres.  Auecqpriuilege  de  la  court.  Paris,  12mo, 
in  Italics,  pp.  128  unnumbered. 

This  little  book  incidentally  enters  into  a  discussion  of  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  French  language,  and  thus  renders  Palsgrave's 
English  analogues  more  certain.  Where  Meigret  differs  from  Pals- 
grave, it  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  Palsgrave  is  in  fault  through 
want  of  appreciation  and  English  habits,  or  Meigret  from  being 
a  Lyonnese  instead  of  a  Parisian.  See  another  work  by  Meigret 
described  under  its  date  1550.  This  little  work  is  also  remarkable 
as  having  in  some  way  suggested  Hart's  English  work  on  Ortho- 
graphy, 1569,  subsequently  described.  Hart  says,  translating  his 
phonetic  spelling  into  modern  English  orthography:  "You  may 
see  by  this  little  treatise  I  have  been  a  traveller  beyond  the  seas, 
among  vulgar  tongues,  of  which  that  small  knowledge  I  have,  hath 
been  the  cause  of  this  mine  entreprize.  And  therewithal  the  sight 
of  a  treatise  set  forth  in  print  at  Paris,  Anno  1545,  by  a  worthy 
man,  well  learned  both  in  Greek  and  Latin,  named  Leuis  Meigret 
of  Lyon,  touching  the  abuse  of  the  writing  of  the  French  tongue, 
whose  reasons  and  arguments  I  do  here  before  partly  use,  as  he  did 
Quintilian's,  whom  it  appeared  he  had  well  studied.  And  I  have 
seen  divers  French  books  put  forth  in  print  in  that  his  manner  of 
Orthography,  of  some  well  liked  of,  and  received,  and  of  others  left 
and  repugned.  But  what  good  &  notable  thing  can  take  a  speedy 
root,  amongst  a  multitude,  except  the  princes  &  governors,  (by 
the  grace  which  God  may  give  them)  do  favour  &  somewhat 
countenance  it." 

1547,  38  Henry  VI  &  1  Edward  VI.     Salesbury,  W. 

A  Dictionary  in  Englyshe  &  Welshe London, 

4to,  black  letter. 

The  complete  title  is  given  below,  Chapter  VIII,  §  2,  which 
contains  a  transcript  of  the  preliminary  Welsh  essay  on  English  pro- 
nunciation, with  a  translation. 

From  Anthony  a  Wood's  Athenae  Oxonienses  by  Philip  Bliss, 
London,  1813,  vol.  i,  p.  358,  we  learn  that  Salesbury  was  born  of 
an  ancient  family  in  Denbighshire,  studied  at  Oxford,  and  was 
entered  at  Thavies  Inn,  Holborn,  London.  In  his  latter  days  he 
lived  with  Humph.  Toy,  a  bookseller  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  He 
translated  the  New  Testament  into  Welsh,  and  obtained  a  patent 
for  printing  it,  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  1567.  He  wrote  also  other 
works,  see  under  1567. 

As  a  Welshman,  Salesbury  was  of  course  liable  to  mispronounce 
English,  but  he  was  so  early  removed  to  England,  and  had  so  long 
an  opportunity  of  studying  the  Southern  English  pronunciation  to 
which  his  treatises  shew  that  he  was  fully  alive,  that  any  assertion 
of  his  must  carry  great  weight  with  it,  however  much  opposed  it 
might  be  to  theory.  His  pronunciation  is  evidently  more  modern 
than  Palsgrave's. 


CHAP.  II.  §  1.         AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.  33 

1550,  4  Edward  YI ;  4  Henri  II  of  France.  Meigret,  Loys. 
Le  trEtte  de  la  GframmEre  Fran9OEze  fEt  par  Louis 
MeigrEt,  LionoEs.  Paris,  4to  of  a  folio  shape, 

This  very  curious  French  Grammar,  (which  is  not  noticed  by  M. 
Genin  in'  his  introduction  to  Palsgrave,  although  it  was  so  nearly 
contemporary,)  is  entirely  printed  phonetically,  apparently  to  carry 
out  the  suggestions  of  Meigret' s  little  book  already  described,  better 
than  he  had  done  in  a  former  work,  which  he  alludes  to  thus  : 
"1'ecritture  qe  j'ey  obsErue  (combien  q'slle  ne  soEt  pas  du  tout 
selon  qe  reqeroEt  la  rigeur  de  la  pronongiagion)  En  la  translation  du 
Msnteur  de  Lugian,"  (fo.  103.)  His  alphabet  consists  of  the  letters 
"a,  E  ouuErt,  e  clos,  i  Latin,  o  ouuErt,  ou  clos,  u,  y  GTEC  de 
niEme  puissance  qe  1'i,  b  be,  p  pe,  f  ef,  ph  phi,  u  conso.,  c  ca 
Latin,  k  ca  GrEc  ou  kappa,  q  qu,  g  ga  ou  gamma,  ch  cha  aspire, 
d  de,  t  te,  th  the  aspire,  f,  g,  s,  es,  z  zsd,  gh  ghe,  1  E!,  L  EL  niolle, 
m  Em,  n  En,  N  En  molle,  r  Er,  i  ji  consonante,  x,  cs,  ks,  gs,  ix," 
(fo.  15J)  where  I  have  used  E  for  an  e  with  a  tail  like  g,  L  for  an 
1  with  a  short  mark  over  it  like  i,  and  N  for  an  n  with  the  second 
stroke  produced  and  terminating  in  a  backward  hook,  which  re- 
sembles the  letter  c,  and  with  a  short  mark  over  it  like  u.  The 
powers  of  these  letters,  taken  in  order,  appear  to  have  been,  (a,  E, 
e,  i,  o,  u,  y,  i;  b,  p,  f,  f,  v,  k,  k,  k,  g,  k,  d,  t,  t,  s,  z,  sh,  1,  Ij, 
m,  n,  nj,  r,  zh,  ks,  gz). 

La  Grammaire  Prang aise  et  les  Grammairiens  au  XYI6  siecle,  par 
Ch.-  L.  Livet,  Paris,  1859,  gives  an  abstract  of  all  Meigret's  works 
and  of  his  controversies  with  G.  des  Autels,  and  J.  Pelletier,  from 
which  it  appears  that  Meigret  lived  in  Paris,  and  had  been  an 
assiduous  frequenter  of  the  court  of  Frangois  I,  (p.  139).  The  dis- 
pute principally  affects  Meigret's  E,  e,  (pp.  127,  132,  140),  o,  ou, 
(p.  139),  ai,  (p.  130),  ao,  (p.  122),  eu,  (p.  130),  and  shews  the  transi- 
tional state  of  French  pronunciation  at  the  time.  M.  Livet's  book 
also  contains  notices  of  Jacques  Dubois  (Jacobi  Sylvii  Isagoge,  1531), 
J.  Pelletier  (Dialogs  de  I'orthografo  et  prononciacion  frangoes<9, 1555, 
a  year  after  Meigret  had  been  forced  by  his  publisher  to  use  the 
ordinary  orthography),  Pierre  Ramus  ou  de  la  Ramee  (Grammaire, 
1  ed.  1562,  2  ed.  1572,  last  1587,)  Jean  Gamier  (Institutio  gallicse 
lingua,  1558),  Jeaen  Pillot  (Gallics  linguaB  institutio,  1581),  Abel 
Mathieu  (Devis  de  la  langue  frangoyse,  1559),  Robert  Estienne 
(Dictionnaire  frang.-lat,  1539,  Traicte  de  la  Gram,  frang.  without 
date),  Henri  Estienne  (H.  Stephani  Hypomneses,  1582,  Traicte  de  la 
conformite,  Deux  Dialogues,  without  date,  1578?,  Precellence,  1579), 
Claude  de  Saint-Lien  (Claudii  a  Sancto  Yinculo  de  pronunciatione 
ling.  gall.  1580),  Theodore  de  Beze  (De  Francicae  linguae  recta  pro- 
nunciatione tractatus,  Theod.  Eeza  auct.  1584).  If  to  these  we  add 
Palsgrave  &  du  Guez,  neither  of  whom  are  abstracted  by  M.  Livet, 
we  can  trace  the  change  of  French  pronunciation  from  the  earlier  to 
the  later  part  of  the  xvrth  century,  till  it  subsided  into  a  form 
practically  the  same  as  the  present,  by  a  course  remarkably  similar 
to  that  pursued  by  the  contemporary  English  pronunciation. 

3 


34  AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.          CHAP.  II.  §  1. 

1555,  3  Mary.     Cheke,  Sir  John. 

Joannis  Cheki  Angli  de  prommciatione  Graecae  potissi- 
mum  linguae  disputationes  cum  Stephano  Yuintoniensi 
Episcopo.  Basle,  24mo. 

In  this  work  several  illustrations  of  Greek  sounds  are  drawn  from 
English  words  which  are  printed  phonetically  in  Greek  letters,  to 
give  a  conception  of  the  author's  theoretical  pronunciation  of  Greek. 
Adolph  Mekerch  of  Bruges,  in  H.  Stephanus's  collection  De  vera 
pronunciatione  Graecae  et  Latinae  Linguae,  1587,  adopts  in  many 
places  the  very  expressions  of  Cheke,  but  changes  his  illustrative 
words  from  English  to  Flemish,  which  he  again  prints  phonetically 
in  Greek  letters.  In  this  way  a  comparison  of  English  and  Flemish 
in  the  xvi  th  century  is  instituted.  Cheke  born  at  Cambridge  in 
1514,  moved  in  the  best  literary  society,  was  secretary  of  state 
1552,  and  died  1557. 

1567,  10  Elizabeth.     Salisbury,  W. 

A  playne  and  familiar  Introduction,  teaching  how  to 
pronounce  the  letters  in  the  Brytishe  tongue,  now  com- 
monly called  Welsh  ....      London,  4to,  English   in 
black  letter,  Welsh  in  Roman. 
All  the  portions  of  this  rare  book  which  are  useful  for  the  present 

investigation  are  reprinted,   with  illustrative  notes,  below,  Chap. 

VIII,  §  1.     See  1547,  supra  p.  32. 

1568,  11  Elizabeth.     Smith,  Sir  Thomas. 

De  recta  et  emendata  lingvse  anglicae  scriptione,  dia- 

logus,  Thoma  Smitho  Equestris  ordinis  Anglo  authore. 

Lutetiae.    Ex  officina  Koberti  Stephani  Typographi  E-egij . 

Paris,  folio,  44  folios.  Date  of  colophon,  13  Nov  1568. 
A  beautifully  printed  book  in  large  Roman  letters  with  tables  of 
illustrative  words  printed  according  to  a  phonetic  alphabet,  without 
the  ordinary  spelling,  Smith's  object  being  to  improve  the  ortho- 
graphy not  explain  the  pronunciation.  The  value  of  his  34  letters 
in  the  order  of  his  alphabetic  table  (fo.  41)  is  apparently  as  follows, 
(a,  aa,  b,  tsh,  d,  dh,  e,  ee,  ii,  f,  v,  g,  dzh,  H,  t,  ei,  k,  1,  m,  n,  o, 
oo,  p,  k,  r,  s,  z,  sh,  t,  th,  u,  uu,  yy,  ks.) 

Smith  uses  c  for  (tsh),  which  has  occasioned  many  misprints,  ^ 
for  (dh),  a  letter  like  the  Anglosaxon  e  with  a  diaeresis  for  (ii),  an 
inverted  A  or  J7  for  v,  the  Anglosaxon  5  for  (dzh),  a  reflected  z  for 
(sh),  6  for  (th),  t?  for  (yy).  The  long  vowels  he  has  represented 
by  a  diaeresis,  and  as  he  considers  (ei)  to  be  the  long  of  (*'),  he  prints  it  'i. 
Since  then  (ee)  is  e,  and  (ii)  is  a  character  almost  identical  in  appear- 
ance, misprints  occasionally  occur.  In  all  cases  of  phonetic  writing 
when  diacritic  accents  are  employed,  misfortunes  of  this  kind  are  fre- 
quent. Hence  the  importance  of  indicating  length  by  reduplication, 
as  in  palaeotype,  or  by  some  constant  additional  sign,  as  in  Vis.  Speech. 
Sir  Thomas  Smith  was  born  at  Saffron  Walden,  Essex  1515, 
was  fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge  1531,  public  orator 


CHAP.  II.  §  1.          AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.  35 

1536,  provost  of  Eton,  master  of  requests  to  Edward  YI,  secretary 
of  state  1548,  privy  councillor  and  assistant  secretary  of  state  1571, 
succeeded  Burleigh,  and  died  1577.  Hence  his  pronunciation  must 
be  accepted  as  the  most  literary  and  courtly  of  a  time  somewhat 
subsequent  to  Palsgrave's.  He  was  not  much  acquainted  with 
French,1  or  probably  with  any  other  living  language,  and  conse- 
quently without  the  assistance  of  Salesbury  great  doubts  would  be 
felt  as  to  many  of  his  pronunciations. 

1569,  12  Elizabeth.     Hart,  John. 

An  Orthographie,  conteyning  the  due  order  and  reason, 

howe  to  write  or  painte  thimage  of  mannes  voice,  most 

like  to  the  life  or  nature.     Composed  by  J.  H.  Chester, 

Heralt.     The  contents  whereof  are  next  Mowing.     Sat 

citosi  (sic)  sat  bene.     Anno.  1569.     London,  12mo. 

The  first  part  in  black  letter,  the  latter  part  in  italics  with  new 

letters  for  (sh,  dzh,  tsh,  dh,  th,  '!,)  and  a  dot  under  a  short  vowel 

sign  to  lengthen  it.     Eeprinted  in  lithography  by  I.  Pitman,  1850, 

the  first  part  in  the  phonography  or  phonetic  shorthand  of  that  date, 

the  latter  part  in  a  longhand  writing  imitating  the  italic  original. 

The  name  John  Hart  is  taken  from  the  British  Museum  catalogue. 
Dr.  Gill  calls  him  "e  fecialibus  vnus,  qui  eorum  more  ex  gradu 
officii  nomen  sibi  Chester  assumpsit."  He  is  cited  as  "  Master 
Chester"  by  Bullokar.  It  seems  probable  that  he  was  a  Welshman, 
as  he  writes  (uuld)  for  (would),  that  is,  he  did  not  pronounce  (wuu) 
as  distinct  from  (uu). 

This  is  a  most  disappointing  book.  The  writer  knew  several 
languages,  as  French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  there  is  little 
or  no  doubt  as  to  the  general  value  of  his  symbols,  but  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Gill,  "sermonem  nostrum  characteribus  suis  non  sequi  sed 
ducere  meditabatur."  He  has  in  fact  chosen  a  pronunciation  then 
coming  in,  heard  by  few,  and  distasteful  to  the  old  school.  See 
below,  Chapter  III,  §  3,  El,  AI,  and  Chapter  VIII,  §  3.  One  of 
the  causes  of  the  writing  and  publication  of  this  work,  was  Hart's 
acquaintance  with  Meigret's  book  of  1545,  see  above  p.  31. 

It  appears  that  this  book  of  Hart's  was  twenty  years  older  than 
its  real  date,  which  would  bring  it  up  to  1549,  for  he  says  (fo.  5J): 
"  The  liuing  doe  knowe  themselues  no  furthir  bounde  to  this  our 
instant  maner,  than  our  predecessors  were  to  the  Saxon  letters  and 
writing,  which  hath  bene  altered  as  the  speach  hath  chaunged,  much 

1  This  lie  informs  us  of  in  the  he-  heen  unintelligible  most  probably  to 
ginning  of  his  treatise  De  recta  et  emen-  Aristophanes,  as  it  certainly  would  be 
data,  linguce  Grceca  pronwnciatione  to  any  modern  Greek.  While  he  was 
Epistola,  1568,  in  which  also  several  in  Paris  he  met  with  a  modern  Greek, 
passages  occur  which  are  useful  in  the  who  was  "furious  at  the  notion  of  in- 
determination  of  English  pronunciation.  troducing  "  tarn  vastos  sonos  et  absonas 
The  two  treatises  are  bound  in  one  diphthongas  in  Grsecam  linguam,"  but 
volume  in  the  British  Museum  Library.  the  two  disputants  could  not  argue  the 
He  introduced  Erasmus's  system  of  point,  " quoniam  ego  Gallice  parum  ad- 
Greek  pronunciation,  which  is  similar  to  modum,  ille  non  ita  multo  plus,  Latine 
that  now  used  at  Eton,  and  would  have  nihil  callebat,"  fo.  5b. 


36  AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.          CHAP.  II.  §    1. 

differing  from  that  which  was  vsed  with  in  these  fine  hnndreth,  I 
maye  say  wi  thin  these  two  hnndreth  yeares  :  which  I  considered 
of  about  .xx.  yeares  passed,  and  thought  it  worth  my  labour,  if  I 
coulde  finde  the  meane  of  remedie,  of  our  present  abuse.  And  so 
framed  a  treatise  thereypon,  and  would  then  it  had  bene  published, 
but  I  am  the  gladder  it  hath  bene  stayed  vntill  this  time,  wherein 
so  well  a  learned  gentilman,  in  the  Greeke  &  Latine  tongues,  & 
trauailed  in  certain  vulgares  sir  Thomas  Smith  knight,  hath  written 
his  minde,  touching  this  matter,  in  hys  booke  of  late  set  forth  in  Latin, 
entituled,  De  recta  Sf  emendata  lingua  Anglicce  scriptione.  Where- 
of and  of  this  my  treatise  the  summe,  effect,  and  ende  is  one. 
Which  is,  to  vse  as  many  letters  in  our  writing,  as  we  doe  voyces 
or  breathes  in  our  speaking,  and  no  more  ;  and  neuer  to  abuse  one 
for  another,  and  to  write  as  we  speake  :  which  we  must  needes  doe 
if  we  will  euer  haue  our  writing  perfite." 

1570,  13  Elizabeth.     Levins,  Peter. 

Manipulus  Yocabulorum  :  a  Rhyming  Dictionary  of  the 
English  Language  by  Peter  Levins.     4to. 
This  book  has  been  reprinted  by  the  Early  English  Text  Society, 
under  the  able  editorship  of  Mr.  Henry  B.  Wheatley.     The  words 
are  arranged  according  to  their  orthographies,  so  that  very  little  assist- 
ance is  given  towards  determining  the  pronunciation.     The  place  of 
the  accent,  however,  is  generally  marked,  but  as  evident  errors  are 
committed,  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  it.     It  is  chiefly  valuable 
for  shewing  the  received  orthography  of  that  period,  and  as  such 
will  be  frequently  cited. 

1573,  16  Elizabeth.    Baret,  John.^ 

An  Alvearie  or  Triple  Dictionarie,  in  Englishe,  Latin 
and  French  :  very  profitable  for  all  such  as  be  desirous 

of  any  of  these  three  languages London,  fo. 

The  introductory  remarks  upon  each  letter  afford  some  slight 
assistance.  John  Baret,  was  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
and  graduated  in  1554.  His  pronunciation  belongs  therefore  to  the 
middle  of  the  xvith  century,  and  to  the  educated  class,  but  his 
county  is  not  known. 

1580,  23  Elizabeth.     Bullokar,  William. 

Bullokars  Booke  at  large  for  the  Amendment  of  Ortho- 
graphie  for  English  speech:  wherein,  a  most  perfect 
supplie  is  made,  for  the  wantes  and  double  sounde  of 
letters  in  the  olde  Orthographic,  with  Examples  for  the 
same,  with  the  easie  conference  and  vse  of  both  Ortho- 
graphies, to  saue  expences  in  Bookes  for  a  time,  vntill 
this  amendment  grow  to  a  generall  vse,  for  the  easie, 
speedie,  and  perfect  reading  and  writing  of  English, 
(the  speech  not  changed,  as  some  vntruly  and  maliciously, 


CHAP.  II.  $  1.         AUTHORITIES — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.  37 

or  at  the  least  ignorantlie  bio  we  abroade,)  by  the  which 
amendment  the  same  Authour  hath  also  framed  a  ruled 
Grammar,  to  be  imprinted  heereafter,  for  the  same 
speech,  to  no  small  commoditie  of  the  English  Nation, 
not  only  to  come  to  easie,  speedie,  and  perfect  vse  of 
our  owne  language,  but  also  to  their  easie,  speedie,  and 
readie  entrance  into  the  secretes  of  other  Languages,  and 
and  easie  and  speedie  pathway  to  all  Straungers,  to  vse 
our  Language,  heeretofore  very  hard  vnto  them,  to  no 
small  profite  and  credite  to  this  our  Nation,  and  stay 
there  vnto  in  the  weightiest  causes.  There  is  also  im- 
printed with  this  Orthographic  a  short  Pamphlet  for  all 
Learners,  and  a  Primer  agreeing  to  the  same,  and  as 
learners  shall  go  forward  therein,  other  necessarie  Bookes 
shall  spedily  be  prouided  with  the  same  Orthographic. 
Herevnto  are  also  ioyned  written  Copies  with  the  same 
Orthographic.  Giue  God  the  praise,  that  teacheth 
alwaies.  When  truth  trieth,  errour  flieth.  Scene  and 
•  allowed  according  to  order.  Imprinted  at  London  by 
Henrie  Denham  1580.  London  4to. 

In  black  letter,  the  new  characters  being  also  in  black  letter, 
with  divers  points,  hooks,  etc.,  placed  above  and  below.  His 
object  was  to  keep  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  existing  orthography, 
and  mark  the  pronunciation,  and  also  certain  grammatical  forms. 
The  union  of  these  two  objects  serves  greatly  to  complicate  his 
orthography,  which  perhaps  no  one  but  the  inventor  could  have 
used.  He  reckons  37  letters,  most  of  which  have  duplicate  forms 
"for  help  in  eqiu'oc'y."  These  37  letters  in  order  apparently  re- 
present the  sounds  (a,  b,  s,  k,  tsb,  d,  e,  ii,  f,  dzh,  g,  H,  »,  1,  '1,  m, 
'm,  n,  'n,  o,  uu,  p,  k«0,  r,  s,  sh,  t,  dh,  th,  yy,  u,  v,  w,  wh,  ks,  J,  z) 
Bullokar  admits  seven  diphthongs  (ai,  au,  eei,  eu,  oi,  oou,  uui) 
with  ui  "  seldom  in  use,"  and  rather  uncertain  in  his  text.  The 
reduplicated  forms  and  the  fineness  of  the  diacritical  strokes,  render 
his  book  troublesome  to  the  reader,  but  the  above  interpretation, 
founded  on  Salesbury's  information,  furnishes  a  tolerably  consistent 
account  of  English  pronunciation.  There  are  some  long  vowels  not 
included  in  the  scheme,  namely  (aa,  ee,  oo)  which  are  generally 
represented  by  accents,  as  a,  e,  i,  y,  6,  although  ae  is  commonly  em- 
ployed for  (ee).  In  the  case  of  long  i  and  ou,  he  seems  to  have  re- 
tained the  ancient  sounds  (ii,  uu,)  in  place  of  the  (ei,  ou)  given  by 
Salesbury  and  Smith,  see  Chapter  III,  §  3,  I,  but  he  unfortunately 
generally  neglects  to  write  the  accent  on  i. 

The  pronunciation  of  Bullokar  was  certainly  antiquated  in  some 
particulars,  agreeing  better  with  Palsgrave's  than  with  that  of  any 
intermediate  author,  and  preceding  in  a  direction  contrary  to  Hart's. 
Hence  Gill  looked  upon  him  with  favour,  and  says,  "  Bulokerus  vt 
paucula  mutavit,  sic  multa  fideliter  emendavit."  Altogether  the 


38  AUTHORITIES SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.          CHAP.  II.  §  1. 

book  is  very  valuable  for  determining  the  pronunciation  of  the  early 
part  of  the  xvith  century.     See  Chap.  YIII,  §  4. 

1611,  9  James  I.     Cotgrave,  Handle. 

A  Dictionarie   of  the   French   and  English   Tongues, 

London  imprinted  by  Adam  Islip.     Fo. 
There  is  a  short  account  of  French  pronunciation  which  inciden- 
tally gives  some  assistance  towards  the  determination  of  English 
sounds.     Although  this  book  appeared  in  the  xvnth  century,  its 
pronunciation  belongs  to  the  xvi  th. 

1611,  9  James  I.     Florio,  John. 

Queen  Anna's  New  "World  of  "Words,  or  Dictionarie 
of  the  Italian  and  English  tongues,  collected,  and  newly 
much  augmented  by  J.  F.,  Header  of  the  Italian  vnto 
the  Soueraigne  Maiestie  of  ANNA,  crowned  Queene  of 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  &c.,  and  one  of  the 
Gentlemen  of  hir  Hoyall  Priuie  Chamber.  Whereunto 
are  added  certaine  necessarie  rules  and  short  obserua- 
tions  for  the  Italian  tongue.  Fo. 

The  first  edition  appeared  in  1598,  and  of  course  had  no  reference 
to  James's  queen,  Anne  of  Denmark.  It  also  did  not  contain  any 
account  of  the  pronunciation.  This  second  edition,  in  treating  of 
the  Italian  pronunciation  of  e,  0,  discriminates  their  open  and 
close  sounds,  which  are  marked  throughout  the  book,  and  exempli- 
fies them,  together  with  some  of  the  consonants  by  a  reference  to 
English,  which,  allowing  for  Italian  errors,  is  useful. 

1619  first  ed.,  1621,  second  ed.,  17-19  James  I,Gill,  Alexander. 
Logonomia  Anglica.    Qua  gentis  sermo  facilius  addiscitur 
Conscripta  ab  Alexandro  Gil,  Paulinse  Scholae  magistro 
primario.     Secundo  edita,  pau!6  correctior,  sed  ad  vsum 
communem  accommodatior.     Small  4to. 
This  second  edition  differs  from  the  first  mainly  in  the  characters 
employed  ;  there  are,  however,  a  few  verbal  differences  in  the  text. 
The  pronunciation  exhibited,  with  perhaps  two  exceptions,  that  of 
long  i  and  of  au,  was  that  of  the  middle  of  the  xvith  century, 
although  the  book,  appears  in  the  xvn  th,  for  Dr.  Gill  evidently  re- 
sisted all  modern  mincing  and  effeminacy  of  speech,  as  the  new 
fashions  appeared  to  him.     He  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  1564,  the 
same   year   as   Shakspere,    became    a    student   of    Corpus   Christi 
College,  Cambridge,  and  graduated  in  1583,   and  was  made  head 
master  of  St.  Paul's  school  in  1608.     He  died   1635.     Milton  is 
said  to  have  been  one  of  his  pupils.     Dr.  Gill  had  several  fancies 
besides  old  pronunciations,  thinking  it  best  to  speak  "ut  docti  inter- 
dum" — anglice,    pedantically — rather  than  like   the    "  indoctus," 
although  if  the  latter  followed  his  ears  in  phonetic  spelling  the  doctor 
says :   "  susque  deque  habeo." 


CHAP.  II.  §  2.      AUTHORITIES — SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.  39 

Dr.  Gill's  alphabet  of  40  letters  will  be  rendered  in  order  by  the 
following  palaeotypic  symbols, — (a  aa  AA  b  tsh  d  dh  e  ee  f  v  g  dzh 
H  kh  e  ii  oi  k  kw  Imnqoooprsshtthyyuuuw  wh  ks  J  z). 

Dr.  Gill's  book  enters  at  great  length  on  the  subject  of  pronun- 
ciation, without,  however  sufficiently  describing  the  sounds,  and  is 
peculiarly  valuable  in  giving  numerous  passages  from  Spenser  and 
the  Psalms  written  phonetically.  See  below  Chapter  YIII,  §  5. 

1633,  9  Charles  I.     Butler,  Charles. 

The  English  Grammar,  or  the  Institution  of  Letters 
Syllables,  and  Words  in  the  English  tongue.  Where- 
unto  is  annexed  an  Index  of  Words  Like  and  Unlike. 
Oxford.  4to. 

Printed  phonetically  with  new  characters  for  (ii,  uu,  dh,  tsh,  kh, 
gh,  ph,  sh,  wh)  and  a  mark  of  prolongation.  There  is  great  dif- 
ficulty in  determining  the  value  of  his  vowel  system.  He  was  of 
Magdalen,  Oxford,  an  M.A.  and  a  country  clergyman.  His  pro- 
nunciation belongs  to  the  end  of  the  xvi  th  century,  as  he  clearly 
fights  against  many  of  the  new  pronunciations  which  were  starting 
up,  and  the  true  xvn  th  century  pronunciation  seems  not  to  have 
developed  itself  till  the  civil  war  had  fairly  begun.  Butler  pub- 
lished a  work  on  the  management  and  habits  of  bees,  The  Feminine 
Monarchy  or  History  of  the  £ees,  Oxford,  1634,  both  in  the  ordinary 
and  in  his  phonetic  character.  These  are  the  first  English  books 
entirely  printed  phonetically,  as  only  half  of  Hart's  was  so  presented. 
But  Meigret's  works  were  long  anterior  in  French.  See  below 
Chapter  YIII,  §  6. 


§  2.  Seventeenth  Century. 

1640,  16  Charles  I,  Jonson,  Ben. 

The  English  Grammar.     Made  by  Ben.  Johnson.     For 
the  benefit  of  all  Strangers,  out  of  his  observation  of 
the  English  Language  now  spoken,  and  in  use.     Fo. 
This  was  published  two  years  after  Jonson's  death,  and  the  text 
is  known  to  have  been  altered  from  his  MS.  in  some  parts.    Jonson's 
pronunciation  ought  to  have  belonged  to  the  xvi  th  century,  as  he 
was  born  1574,  only  ten  years  after  Shakspere,  but  he  seems  to 
have  inclined  towards  the  xvn  th  century  use. 

1646,  22  Charles  I.     Gataker,  Thomas. 

De  Diphthongis  Bivocalibus,  deqe  Literarum  qarundam 
sono   germane,   natura   genuina    figura    nova,    idonea, 
scriptura  veteri  veraqe.     London,  24mo. 
This  is  useful  for  a  few  diphthongs,  but  is  not  of  much  value 

generally. 


40 


AUTHORITIES — SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.        CHAP.  II.  §  2. 


1651,   3   Commonwealth.      Willis,  Thomas,   of  Thistle  wood, 

Middlesex. 

Yestibulum  Linguae  Latinae.   A  Dictionarie  for  children 
consisting  of  two  parts :  1.  English  words  of  one  syllable 
alphabetically  with  the  Latine  Words  annexed.   2.  Words 
of  more  syllables  derived  from  the  Latine  words  adjoined. 
This  first  part  consists  of  a  vocabulary  of  more  than  4000  mono- 
syllables, professedly  arranged  in  order  of  rhyme,  but  with  very 
few  exceptions  arranged  only  according  to  the  spelling.     In  some 
of  these  exceptions  we  find  real  rhymes  with  differing  spelling,  but 
on  the  other  hand  we  have  words  classed  together  which  do  not 
rhyme,  so  that  there  is  by  no  means  so  much  to  be  learned  from  it, 
as  was  to  be  hoped.     The  following  are  the  only  rhymes  which 
are  noticeable  throughout  the  whole  vocabulary.    The  initial  syllable 
in  italics  as  -affe  is  that  under  which  these  words  and  others  having 
the  same  termination  are  arranged.     It  is  to  be  understood  that 
only  such  words  in  each  list  are  given  in  this  extract  as  were  in 
some  respect  curious  or  irregular,  and  that  all  other  monosyllables 
having  the  prefixed  termination  are  to  be  supplied  by  the  reader. 


-affe,  laugh,  chafe,  safe,  Eaphe 

-aie,  =  -ay,  treie,  weigh,  whay 

-ain,  reign 

-air,  heir,  major 

-ait,  eight,  height,  sleight,  straight 

-arre,  =  -ar,  far,  tar,  warre 

-arfe,  dwarfe,  scarfs,  wharfe 

-arm,  swarm,  warm 

-am,  warn 

-arp,  warp 

-art,  heart,  thwart 

-ash,  quash,  wash 

-aste,  the  waste  meditullium 

-atte,  Wat,  what 

-atch,  watch 

draught,  naught 

fault,  vault 

-ea,  keie,  the,  yea 

-ead,  bead,  knead,  lead  plumbum 

-earn,  dream,  phleagm,  realm 

-ear,  blear,  pear 

-eas,  ceas,  greas,  leas,  peace 

-eef,  beef,  brief,  chief,  grief,  theef 

-eeld,  yeeld,  field,  shield 

-end,  friend 

-ere,  here,  there,  where 

-ew,  dew,  due,  few,  glue,  Jew,  lieu, 

rue,  sew  suere,  sue,  shew,  shrew, 

view,  yew 
.»  =  -ie  =  -y,  eie,  buy,  by,  high,  my, 

nigh,  vie,  skie,  why,  wry 
-He,  guile,  style 
-ill,  guilt 

-imme  =  -im,  hymne 
-ime,  climbe 
-ine,  signe 
-irre,  firre,  myrrhe,  sir 


-iv,  giv,  liv,  seiv 

-o  =  -owe  =  -oe,  bowe,  blowe,  crowe, 
glowe,  growe,  knowe,  lowe,  mowe, 
rowe,  slowe,  sowe,  snowe,  towe, 
throwe 

-oad,  broad,  goad,  load 

-oh,  chough,  cough,  dough,  though, 
trough,  rough,  through 

-owle  =  -oal  =  -ole,   bowle   crater, 
jowle,  powle  tondere,  prowl,  rowle 
rotula,  sole,  soul,  scrowle  schedula, 
toll,  towle  sonus,  trowle  advolvere 

-on  =  -onne,  John 

-one  =  -oan,  bone,  groan,  Joan 

-o,  =  -oe,  to,  toe,  doe  agere,  woe  pro- 
care 

-oom,  loom,  Eome,  toomb 

-oos,  goose  anser,  loos,  noos  nodus 

-oov,  moov,  move,  proov,  prove 

-ord,  cord,  foord,  horde,  sword 

-orce,  hors  equus 

-ose,  prose,  rose,  those,  whose 

-oath,  oath,  both,  frothe,  growth,  loath, 
mothe,  slothe 

-othe,  bothe,  cloathe 

-ov,  dov,  glov,  lov,  shov 

-ow,  bough,  bow,  brow,  cow,  how,  mow 
fcenile,  mow  struere,  now,  plough, 
prow,  sow,  thou,  trow,  vow 

-ous,  a  hous 

-ouse,  to  house 

-urn  =  -umme,  some,  summe,  thumb 

-urs,  burs  emporium,  curs,  nurs,  purs, 
to  purs  reponere 

-urst,  burst,  cnrst,  worst 

-use,  bruise. 


CHAP.  II.  §  2.      AUTHORITIES SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.  41 

1653-1699,   1  Protectorate— 11  William  "and  Mary.    Wallis, 

John. 

Joannis  Wallisii  Grammatica  Lingvuae  Anglicanae 
Cvi  praefigitur  De  Loqvela;  sive  de  sonorum  omnivm 
loquelarivm  formatione :  Tractatvs  Grrammatico-Physi- 
cvs.  Editio  Sexta.  Accessit  Epistola  ad  Thomam 
Beverley ;  de  Mvtis  Svrdisqve  informandis.  Londird, 
excvdebat  Gvil.  Bowyer,  prostant  apvd  A.  Millar, 
1765.  First  edition  1653,  second  1664,  sixth  1699,  the 
Oxford  reprint  of  this  edition  1765.  The  latest  edition 
shews  no  variation  in  pronunciation  from  the  second. 

"Wallis  was  born  at  Ashford  in  Kent  1616,  and  died  in  1703. 
In  1649  he  was  appointed  Savilian  Professor  of  Geometry  at  Oxford. 
During  the  civil  war  he  made  himself  useful  to  the  parliamentary 
party  by  decyphering  letters  in  secret  characters.  His  chief  fame 
rests  on  his  mathematical  powers. 

The  introductory  treatise  on  sound  is  of  great  importance,  and 
establishes  with  much  certainty  the  meaning  of  every  symbol  used. 
He  did  not  attempt  an  alphabet,  and  consequently  did  not  write 
out  complete  passages  according  to  the  pronunciation,  which  is 
greatly  to  be  regretted.  This  work  is  the  chief  authority  for  the 
middle  of  the  xvn  th  century. 

1668,  9  Charles  II.      Wilkins,  John. 

An  Essay  towards  a  Real  Character,  And  a  Philosophical 
Language.  Folio. 

"Wilkins  was  born  in  Northamptonshire  1614,  and  was  therefore 
older  than  Wallis,  although  his  work  was  not  published  till  much 
later.  His  father  was  a  goldsmith  at  Oxford.  He  graduated  at 
Oxford  1631,  and  was  made  warden  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  in 
1648,  just  before  Wallis  came  to  Oxford.  The  two  must  have  been 
well  acquainted,  and  were  among  the  original  promoters  of  the 
Royal  Society.  In  1668  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Ripon.  He  died 
1672. 

In  this  curious  work,  there  is  a  very  good  English  treatise  on 
phonetics.  He  used  a  complete  phonetic  alphabet,  and  wrote  the 
Lords  prayer  and  Creed  in  his  character,  reproduced  in  palaeotype, 
below  Chapter  IX,  §  1. 

The  alphabetical  scheme  on  p.  358  of  his  work  when  translated 
into  palaeotype  will  read  thus — 

(k     g     qh      q     kh     gh  H      a 

t     d    nh     n     th     dh    Ih  1  rh  r  sh  zh  s  z     jh     i     e     a     A 
p     b     mh    m     f       v  wh   u    o    y) 

The  short  sound  of  (0)  is  not  recognized  in  English.  Long  vowels 
are  imperfectly  represented  by  accents.  Confusing,  as  so  many  have 
done,  (j  w)  with  (i  u)  he  writes  (i-i  i-u  u-u  u-i)  for  (ji  ju  wu  wi). 


42  AUTHORITIES — SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.      CHAP.  II.  §  2. 

1668,  9  Charles  II.     Price,  Owen. 

English.  Orthographic  or  The  Art  of  right  spelling,  read- 
ing, pronouncing,  and  writing  all  sorts  of  English  Words. . 
WHEREIN  Such,  as  one  can  possibly  mistake,  are  digested 
in  an  Alphabetical  Order,  under  their  several,  short,  yet 
plain  Rules.  ALSO  some  Rules  for  the  points,  and  pro- 
nunciation, and  the  using  of  the  great  letters.  TOGETHER 
WITH  The  difference  between  words  of  like  sound.  All 
which  are  so  suited  to  every  Capacitie,  that  he,  who 
studies  this  Art,  according  to  the  Directions  in  the 
Epistle,  may  be  speedily,  and  exactly  grounded  in  the 
whole  Language.  Oxford  4to.  The  author's  name  is 
given  on  the  authority  of  the  British  Museum  copy  in 
which  it  is  pencilled. 

As  interpreted  by  "Wallis  and  "Wilkins,  this  book  is  of  great  use 
in  discriminating  the  exact  sounds  of  the  different  vowel  digraphs 
in  the  xvn  th  century,  furnishing  almost  a  pronouncing  vocabulary 
of  the  period.  The  author  was  probably  a  Welshman. 

1669,  10  Charles  II.     Holder,  William,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 
Elements   of  Speech,   an   Essay  of   Inquiry   into   the 
natural  production  of  Letters  with  an  appendix  concern- 
ing persons  Deaf  and  Dumb.     8vo. 

Reprinted  by  Isaac  Pitman,  1865.  Not  a  very  important  treatise  for 
our  purpose,  but  useful  in  helping  to  fix  some  of  the  vowel  sounds. 

1677,  18  Charles  II.     Poole,  Josua. 

The  English  Parnassus :  Or  a  Help  to  English  Poesie. 
Containing  a  Collection  of  all  the  Rhythming  Mono- 
syllables, &c.  8vo. 

Not  much  confidence  can  be  placed  on  the  classifications  of  words, 
though  they  are  not  so  purely  orthographical  as  Willis's.  Thus 
base,  lays,  blaze,  case,  are  made  to  rhyme ;  calf,  half,  Ralph  are 
entered  both  under  #/<?.and  alfe;  Alice,  else,  ails,  balls,  which  cer- 
tainly never  rhymed,  are  placed  together ;  similarly  ant,  aunt,  pant, 
vaunt,  want ;  words  with  ee  and  simple  e  are  separated  from  words 
with  ea,  so  that  the  different  uses  of  ea  are  not  shown ;  and  so  on. 
The  list  seems  to  be  rather  one  of  allowable,  than  perfect  rhymes, 
and  consequently  is  of  little  service. 

1685,  1  James  II.     Cooper,  C.,  A.M. 

Grammatica  LinguaD  Anglicanse.  Peregrinis  earn  ad- 
discendi  cupidis  pernecessaria,  nee  non  Anglis  prsecipue 
scholis,  plurimum  profuturu.  COM  Prcefatione  &  Indice,  in 
quibus,  quid  in  hoc  libello  perficitur,  videatur.  London, 
16mo. 
The  first  94  pages,  out  of  the  200  which  this  book  contains,  are 

devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  sounds  of  speech,  and  peculiarities 


CHAP.  II.  §  2.      AUTHORITIES SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.  43 

of  orthography  and  pronunciation,  with  long  lists  of  words  contain- 
ing the  several  vowel  sounds,  which  render  it  of  great  use  for  the 
determination  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  xvn  th  century.  I  am  in- 
debted to  Mr.  J.  Payne,  of  the  Philological  Society,  for  my  acquaint- 
ance with  this  valuable  work. 

1688,  3  James  II.     Miege,  Guy,  gent. 

The  Great  French  Dictionary.      In  Two  parts.     The 
first   French   and   English;   the   second    English    and 
French ;  according  to  the  Ancient  and  Modern  Ortho- 
graphy.    Fo.     London. 
There   is  much  valuable  information  prefixed  to  each  English 

letter  and  digraph,  concerning  the  customary  pronunciation,  written 

in  French, 

1700,  12  William  and  Mary.     Lane,  A. 

A  Key  to  the  Art  of  Letters ;  or,  English,  a  Learned 
Language,  Full  of  Art,  Elegancy  and  Variety.  Being 
an  Essay  to  enable  both  Foreiners,  and  the  English 
Youth  of  either  Sex,  to  speak  and  write  the  English 
Tongue  well  and  learnedly,  according  to  the  exactest 
Rules  of  Grammer  ....  London,  24mo,  pp.  xxiv,  112. 
A  meagre  treatise  on  Grammar  by  way  of  question  and  answer, 
in  which  16  pages  are  devoted  to  spelling.  The  vowels  are  six, 
y  being  admitted  and  w  excluded,  although  it  is  said  that  "we 
usually  sound  w  like  the  vowel  u,  and  for  the  most  part  we 
write  it  instead  of  u,  in  the  middle  and  end  of  words,  as  in 
Vowel,  Law,  Sow,  etc.,"  and  "  when  y  begins  a  syllable,  we  sound 
it  as  in  the  word  yea,  and  then  it  is  a  real  Consonant;  every- 
where else  it  is  a  vowel,  and  is  sounded  like  i;  and  is  always 
written  at  the  end  of  words  instead  of  i,  as  in  my,  thy,  &c."  The 
liquids  are  three,  m  being  excluded  "because  a  Mute  before  it  can- 
not, without  force,  be  sounded  with  it  in  the  same  Syllable  with 
the  Vowel  after  it."  This  should  imply  that  n  can  be  so  sounded, 
and  hence  that  Ic,  g  were  pronounced  in  knot,  gnat.  The  change  of 
ti-  before  a  vowel  into  (sh)  is  not  recognized  ;  "  we  sound  ti  before 
a  Vowel,  like  si,  as  in  the  word  Relation"  The  following  assertion 
and  its  justification  are  curious :  "  E  Servile  is  of  great  use  in  the 
English  Tongue ;  for  by  its  help  we  can  borrow  the  most  significant 
and  useful  Words  from  other  Languages,  to  inrich  our  own  ;  and  so 
far  disguise  and  transform  them  into  good  English,  that  others  can- 
not lay  claim  to  them  as  theirs ;  as  for  Example,  these  Latin  words, 
Candela,  Vinea,  Linea,  Brutum,  Centrum,  are  made  good  English, 
by  the  help  of  e  Servile,  thus ;  a  Candle,  a  Vine,  a  Line,  a  Brute, 
a  Centre.  Q,.  What  need  is  there  to  disguise  words  "borrowed  from 
other  Languages  ?  A.  It  is  necessary  to  disguise  Words  borrowed 
from  other  Languages,  because  no  free  People  should  have  a  Foreign 
Face  on  their  current  Words,  more  than  on  their  current  coin,  both 
being  Badges  of  Conquest  or  Slavery"  The  following  is  a  curious 


44  AUTHORITIES — SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  II.  §  2. 

conceit:   "E  Subjunctive  is  written  at  the  end  of  a  word  after  a 

single   Consonant,  to  make  the  single  Vowel  before  it  long 

E  Subjunctive  is  really  sounded  with  the  single  Vowel  before  the 
Consonant,  and  so  makes  the  Subjunctive  or  latter  Vowel  of  a  Diph- 
thong ;  otherwise  it  could  not  make  the  Syllable  long,  as  in  the 
words,  Fire,  more,  pale,  read,  Fier,  moer,  pael"  This  leads  us  to 
suppose  that  he  said  (foier,  mooar,  peegl) ;  the  two  former  are  com- 
mon, the  last  is  adduced  by  Cooper  (p.  42). 

This  author  is  cited  by  the  Expert  Orthographist  (p.  46).  In 
the  title  he  is  called,  "  M.A.  late  Master  of  the  Free-School  of  Leo- 
minster  in  Herefordshire,  now  Teacher  of  a  private  School  at  Mile- 
end-green  near  Stepney"  There  is  a  certificate  at  the  back  of  the 
title  from  the  Masters  of  Merchant-Taylors,  Charterhouse,  Christ' s- 
Hospital,  and  Westminster,  in  favour  of  the  use  of  this  book  to  "  all 
who  desire  to  learn,  pronounce,  and  write  the  English  Tongue 
exactly."  It  is,  of  course,  dedicated  to  the  young  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, and  is  of  extremely  little  use  as  regards  pronunciation,  but 
belongs,  like  the  following,  to  the  xvnth  century,  whereas  the 
Expert  Orthographist  who  cites  it,  belongs  entirely  to  the  xvm  th 
century. 

1701,  13  William  and  Mary.     Jones,  John,  M.D. 

Practical  Phonography:  or,  the  JN"ew  Art  of  Rightly 
Speling  (sic)  and  Writing  Words  by  the  Sound  thereof. 
And  of  Rightly  Sounding  and  Reading  Words  by  the 
Sight  thereof.     Applied  to  The  English  Tongue.     De- 
sign'd  more  especially  for  the  Vse  and  Ease  of  the  Duke 
of  Glocester,  (sic).     But  that  we  are  lamentably  disap- 
pointed in  our  Joy  and  Hopes  in  him.     By  J.  Jones, 
M.D.     You  may  read  the  Preface,  where  you  have  an 
account  of  what  the  Book  performs ;  which  ('tis  hoped) 
will  not  only  answer  Men'  s  Wishes,  but  exceed  their 
Imaginations ;  that  there  could  be  such  mighty  Helps 
contrived  for  Reading,  Spelling,  and  Writing  English, 
rightly  and  neatly  ;  with  so  much  Ease.     London.    4to. 
The  above  title  is  transcribed  from  a  copy  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion.    The  Duke  of  "  Glocester"  referred  to,  died  29th  July,  1700, 
aged  11.     In  the  copy  in  the  British  Museum,  dated  1704,  of  which 
the  whole  text  is  identical  with  mine,  the  title  runs  thus — 

"The  New  Art  of  Spelling.  Design'd  chiefly  for  Persons  of 
Maturity,  teaching  them  how  to  spell  and  write  Words  by  the 
sound  thereof,  &  to  sound  &  read  words  by  the  sight  thereof, 
rightly  neatly  and  fashionably.  I.  It  will  instruct  any  person 
that  can  read  &  write  to  spell  &  write  most  languages  that  he 
can  speak  &  uses  to  read  in  a  few  hours  by  a  general  rule  con- 
tained in  two  or  three  lines,  &  the  use  of  a  spelling  alphabet, 
which  may  be  written  on  the  12th  part  of  a  sheet  of  paper  to 
carry  about  them.  II.  Short  &  easy  directions  whereby  any 


CHAP.  II.  §  2.      AUTHORITIES — SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 


45 


one  may  be  taught  to  spell  tolerably  well  in  a  few  days,  &  in 
half  a  year's  time  may  be  perfected  in  the  art  of  true  spelling. 
III.  A  child  or  any  person  who  can  read  or  write  may  by  the 
help  of  this  book  learn  to  spell  &  write  perfectly  in  a  small 
time.  IY.  Rules  for  foreigners  by  which  they  may  sweeten 
their  language,  &  directions  how  to  invent  a  universal  one. 
Applied  to  the  English  Tongue  by  J.  Jones,  M.D." 

Notwithstanding  the  prolixity  of  the  title  it  gives  but  a  very 
inadequate  conception  of  the  book,  which  is  a  sort  of  pronouncing 
dictionary  arranged  under  the  simple  sounds  and  their  various  re- 
presentations, in  the  form  of  a  dialogue.  Thus  he  asks  "  when  is 
the  sound  of  a  written  aa,  ah,  ac,  ad,  ada,  ac,  ae,  ag,  agh,  ah,  aha, 
ai,  aia,  aie,  aig,  aigh,  al,  alf,  ana,  ao,  ap,  ath,  au,  ave,  aw,  ay,  ayo, 
e,  ea,  ei,  ena,  exa,  ey,  ha,  i,  ia,  ina,  ioa,  o,  oa,  ua,  wa,  wha?" 
And  to  each  of  these  questions  he  gives  an  answer,  often  containing 
a  long  list  of  words,  from  which  may  be  inferred,  not  always  the 
pronunciation  generally  received  as  best,  but  certainly  the  different 
pronunciations  which  were  more  or  less  prevalent.  This  is  in  fact 
the  peculiar  value  of  the  book  to  those  who  seek  to  know  how 
people  actually  pronounced  at  the  time  when  Dryden  died  (1700) 
and  Pope  (b.  1688)  was  in  his  teens. 

His  single  rule  for  spelling  is  as  follows  : — AU  Words  which  can 
le  sounded  several  ways,  must  be  written  according  to  the  hardest, 
harshest,  longest,  and  most  unusual  Sound.  And  the  Spelling  Alpha- 
bet, spoken  of  on  his  second  title,  runs  thus  : — 


The  easier  and                The  harder 
pleasanter                   and  harsher 
Sounds  spoken            Sounds  written 

A  Spelling  ALPHABET. 

a 
b 
d 
e 

ee 

g 
m 
ng 

00 

sh 
t 

V 

u 
z 

somewhat  like  to 

6,  0     . 

P 
t,  th  . 
i,  o,  u 
e,  i,  o 
c,  ch 
n 
n 

0,    U. 

ch,  8 
th      . 

/,** 

a,  e,  i,  o 
^  s 

§ 

1 
1 

a 
b 
d 
e 
ee 

g,  ge 
m 
ng 

00 

sh 
t 

V 

u 
z 

as  in  Cupid,  Deputy  

as  in  Hatton,  Murther 

as  in  Girl,  Fagot,  injure  
as  in  he,  Shire,  Women    

as  in  Bench,  Issue  

as  in  Face,  Nephew  

as  in  Evan,  even,  Sir,  Son   ... 
as  in  Ease,  cause  

Then  upon  the  principle  of  the  grammarian 

Visum  est  Grammaticse  metricis  lenire  laborem  Prseceptis, 
he   proceeds   "for  Memory's  sake"   to  reduce  the  above  to  verse. 
Afterwards  come  long  explanations  of  the  use  of  this  alphabet  in 
teaching  spelling,  the  last  of  which  is,  as  he  says,  "more  a  Shift 
than  a  Rule,"  and  is  simply  this  : 

"When  you  are   (notwithstanding  all  that  is  directed)  in  Doubt 
of  spelling  a  Word  rightly,  the  last  Shift  will  be  to  change  the 


46  AUTHORITIES — EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.         CHAP.  II.  §  3. 

Word  or  Expression,  so  as  to  preserve  the  Sense  or  Meaning ;  as 
suppose  that  you  cannot,  or  are  in  Doubt  of  spelling  the  "Word 
Affection,  write  Kindness,  Love,  Favour,  &c.  instead  thereof;"  .... 

This  was  the  "  shift"  employed  in  speaking  by  the  deafmute  Dr. 
Kitto,  when  he  wished  to  use  words  that  he  knew  well  by  sight 
but  had  never  heard  during  his  youth  before  the  accident  which 
made  him  stone  deaf. — See  Kitto's  Lost  Senses. 

This  book  closes  the  xvn  th  century  and  trenches  on  the  xvm  th, 
because  the  Author  was  compelled  by  his  plan  to  introduce  all  the 
most  altered  forms  of  speech  as  well  as  the  least  unaltered. 

§  3.  Eighteenth  Century. 

1704,  3  Anne.     Anonymous. 

The  Expert  Orthographist :    Teaching  To  "Write  True 
English  Exactly,  By  Rule,  and  not  by  Rote.    According 
to  the  Doctrine  of  Sounds.     And  By  such  Plain  Ortho- 
graphical Tables,  As  Condescend  to  the  Meanest  Capa- 
city.    The  Like  not  Extant  before.     For  the  Use  of 
such  Writing  and  Charity  Schools  which  have  not  the 
Benefit  of  the  Latin  Tongue.     By  a  Schoolmaster,  of 
above  Thirty  Years  Standing,  in  London.     Persons  of 
Quality  may  be  attended  at  their  Habitations ;  Boarding 
Schools  may  be  taught  at  convenient  times.     London : 
Printed  for,  and  Sold  by  the  Author,  at  his  House  at 
the    Blue- Spikes  in    Spread- Eagle- Court  in  Grays- Inn- 
Lane.     Where  it  is  also  Carefully  Taught. 
This  little  book,   8vo,    112  pages,  for  a  knowledge  of  which  I 
have  been  indebted  to  Mr.  Payne  of  the  Philological  Society,  is  full 
of  tables,  but  does  not  enter  with  sufficient  minuteness  into  the 
"Doctrine  of  Sounds  "  (which  is  paraded  in  capital  letters  in  the 
title  page)  to  render  delicate  points  at  all  appreciable.     The  great 
peculiarity  of  the  work  is,  that  though  it  bears  date  1704  the  same 
year  as  that  on  Jones's  second  title  page,  it  belongs  exclusively  to 
the  xvm  th"  century,  and  differs  as  much  from  Jones,  as  Hart  from 
Smith  in  the  xvith  century.      Thus  Jones  only  allows  eighteen 
words  containing  ea  to  be  pronounced  with  (ii),  this  author  (whom 
I  shall  call  the  Orthographist)  gives  a  list  of  255  such  words,  and 
allows  only  four  words  in  ea,  to  have  the  sound  of  (ee),  viz.  bear  s. 
and  v.,  swear,  tear  v.,  wear.    Again,  Jones  distinctly  asserts  that  ei  is 
"  never"   pronounced  (ii),   the  Orthographist  gives  ten  words  in 
which  ei  is  so  spoken.     These  shew  totally  different  systems  of  pro- 
nunciation.    Dr.  Jones  was  a  physician,  and  hence  we  may  better 
trust  his  pronunciation  than  that  of  a  visiting  schoolmaster  living  in 
a  court  turning  out  of  Grays-Inn-Lane,  who,  attending  "  persons  of 
quality"  would  naturally  adopt  the  thinnest  pronunciation  for  fear 
of  being  thought  vulgar.      The  curious  thing,  however,  is,  that 
though  Dr.  Jones  endeavoured  to  collect,  and  did  actually  collect 


CHAP.  II.  §  3.      AUTHORITIES — EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.  47 

a  great  variety  of  even  ridiculous  pronunciations,  for  the  purpose  of 
assisting  pronouncers  of  all  kinds  to  spell,  lie  seems  to  be  entirely 
unconscious  of  these  sweeping  innovations,  which  are  valuable  as 
the  foreshadows  of  coming  events. 

1710,  9  Anne.     Anonymous. 

A  Short  &  easy  Way  for  the  Palatines  to  learn  Eng- 
lish. Oder  eine  kurze  Anleitung  zur  englisehen 
Sprache  zum  Nutz  der  armen  Pfalzer,  nebst  angehang- 
ten  Englisehen  und  Teutschen  ABC.  London,  8vo. 
pp.  64  and  18. 

A  little  tract  in  which  the  pronunciation  of  several  words  is  ap- 
proximatively  given  in  German  letters.  The  Upper  Palatinate  was 
wasted  by  Louvois,  general  of  Louis  XI Y.  in  1688,  and  5000  of  the 
distressed  people  for  whom  this  tract  was  intended  emigrated  to 
England  in  1709. 

1710,  9  Anne.     Dyche,  Thomas. 

Guide  to  the  English  Tongue,  London  12mo. 
The  pronunciation  of  nearly  200  words  is  imperfectly  indicated 
by  re-spelling  them.  E.  Coote's  English  Schoolmaster  1673,  which 
is  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  in  the  British  Museum,  and  is  often 
referred  to,  contains  no  information  on  pronunciation.  The  four- 
teenth edition  of  Dyche' s  Guide,  1729,  also  in  the  British  Museum, 
contains  a  few  alterations,  and  has  been  chiefly  followed. 

1713,  12  Anne.     Anonymous. 

A  Grammar  of  the  English  Tongue.  "With  the  Arts  of 
Logick,  Rhetorick,  Poetry,  &c.  Sixth  edition.  8vo. 
There  is  no  date  throughout  the  book,  but  as  it  is  dedicated  to 
the  Queen,  and  as  the  example  given  for  finding  "  the  Moon's  Age 
at  any  time,"  refers  to  1  Jan.  1713,  it  was  probably  published 
about  that  time.  The  first  part,  consisting  of  52  pages  is  devoted 
to  Spelling  and  Pronunciation.  The  latter  agrees  almost  exactly 
with  that  of  the  Expert  Orthographist  (1704),  but  in  the  notes  and 
especially  from  p.  43  to  52,  there  is  a  translation  of  many  of  Wallis's 
observations  on  phonetics  and  on  English  pronunciation,  generally 
without  acknowledgement,  and  evidently  in  happy  ignorance  of  the 
fact  that  they  belonged  to  a  different  stage  of  pronouncing  English, 
and  in  several  cases  directly  contradicted  the  rules  which  the  author 
himself  had  previously  given.  It  is  a  mere  compilation,  but  cor- 
roborates other  accounts  of  the  xvm  th  century  pronunciation. 

1766,  7  George  III.     Buchanan,  James. 

Essay  towards  establishing  a  standard  for  an  elegant 
and  uniform  pronunciation  of  the  English  Language, 
throughout  the  British  Dominions,  A  Work  entirely 
new ;  and  whereby  every  one  can  be  his  own  private 


48  AUTHORITIES — EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  II.  §  3. 

teacher.       Designed   for  the   Use   of  Schools,    and   of 

Foreigners  as  well  as   Natives,   especially  such  whose 

Professions  engage  them  to  speak  in  Public.     Extera 

quid  quaerat  sua  qui  Yernacula    nescit  ?     As    practised 

by  the  Most  Learned  &  Polite  Speakers.    London,  8vo. 

This  almost  amounts  to  a  pronouncing  dictionary,  and  like  it, 

aspires  rather  to  lead  than  follow  general  usage.     The  pronunciation 

it  exhibits  does  not  materially  differ  from  that  now  heard,  except 

in  admitting  many  usages  as  "  learned  and  polite,"  which  would 

probably  be  considered  much  the  contrary  by  modern  Orthoepists. 

The  xviii  th  century  pronunciation  is  fully  established  in  this  work. 

But  allowances  must  be  made  for  certain  Scotticisms,  which  will  be 

more  particularly  pointed  out  in  Chapter  X,  §  3. 

1768,  9  George  III.     Franklin,  Benjamin. 

A  Scheme  for  a  New  Alphabet  &  reformed  mode  of 
Spelling,  with  Remarks  &  Examples  concerning  the 
same,  and  an  Enquiry  into  its  Uses,  in  a  correspondence 
between  Miss  Stephenson  &  Dr.  Franklin  written  in  the 
Characters  of  the  Alphabet. 

From  the  Complete  Works  in  Philosophy,  Politics,  &  Morals  of 
the  late  Benjamin  Franklin;  now  first  collected  and  arranged,  with 
memoirs  of  his  early  life,  written  by  himself,  3  vols,  London  8vo. 
Johnson,  1806.  Yol.  ii.  p.  357. 

The  preceding  works  from  the  time  of  Wilkins,  exactly  100  years 
previously,  have  furnished  us  with  no  connected  specimen  of  English 
speech.  They  have  generally  contented  themselves  with  giving 
lists  of  words  illustrating  particular  usages.  By  this  means  the 
whole  pronunciation  of  a  word  had  to  be  collected  from  different 
lists,  and  some  parts  of  it  remained  doubtful.  This  is  not  the  case 
in  Buchanan's  book,  because  he  gives  the  pronunciation  of  every 
part  of  the  word.  But  even  then  the  isolated  words  do  not  seem  to 
convey  the  same  idea  as  connected  sentences.  The  paper  of  Dr. 
Franklin  therefore,  is  very  acceptable,  and  will  be  printed  at  length 
in  Chapter  X,  §  2.  Being  the  pronunciation  of  a  man  of  62,  who 
had  passed  his  life  among  colonial  English,  it  has  necessarily  rather 
an  old  appearance,  and,  notwithstanding  the  actual  date,  must  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  earlier  part  of  the  xvm  th  century. 

1780,  21  George  III.     Sheridan,  Thomas. 

A  General  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  One 
main  Object  of  which,  is,  to  establish  a  plain  and  per- 
manent Standard  of  Pronunciation.     To  which  is  pre- 
fixed a  Rhetorical  Grammar.     London,  4to. 
This  is  the  first  of  the  modern  army  of  pronouncing  dictionaries, 

and  indicates  a  pronunciation  which  only  differs  in  isolated  instances 

from  that  now  in  use.     It  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  pursue  the 

list  further. 


49 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY,  AND  ITS  GRADUAL  CHANGE  DURING  THE  SEVEN- 
TEENTH AND  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURIES. 

§  1.  Introduction. 

THE  authorities  enumerated  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
enable  us  to  form  a  tolerably  correct  conception  of  the  pro- 
nunciation of  English  during  the  xvi  th  century,  and  to  note 
the  principal  changes  which  it  underwent  in  the  xvn  th  and 
xvinth  centuries.  It  is  the  object  of  this  chapter  to  shew 
as  precisely  as  possible — although  of  course  far  from  as  pre- 
cisely as  desirable — what  the  pronunciation  indicated  for 
each  period  really  was.  The  results  which  have  been  given 
by  anticipation  at  the  end  of  Chapter  I,  are  arranged  alpha- 
betically. But  it  will  be  far  more  convenient  to  adopt  a 
different  order  in  the  present  chapter,  and  revert  to  the 
alphabetical  in  a  subsequent  recapitulation.  See  Chapter  VI. 

The  principal  authorities  described  in  the  last  chapter 
will  be  better  appreciated  by  arranging  them  chronologically 
in  connection  with  the  names  of  the  contemporary  sovereigns 
and  the  chief  contemporary  writers.  Any  statement  can 
thus  be  immediately  referred  to  its  proper  political  and 
literary  epoch. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  authorities  for  a  period 
are  necessarily  somewhat  more  recent  in  date  than  the  period 
itself,  for  the  account  which  an  elderly  man  gives  of  pro- 
nunciation refers  in  general  to  that  which  he  acquired  as  a 
youth.  It  is  in  most  instances  safe  to  assume  that  a  man's 
system  of  pronunciation  is  fixed  at  twenty  to  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  The  first  ten  years  of  his  life  are  spent  in 
acquiring  sounds  from  his  nurse,  his  mother,  and  his  family. 
In  the  next  ten,  he  is  jostled  with  his  schoolmates  or  work- 
mates, and  he  will  probably  adapt  his  mode  of  speech  to  his 
environment.  After  the  mental  faculties  have  matured,  the 
acquired  habits  have  become  settled,  and  the  environment 
fixed  at  twenty  to  twenty-five,  little  change  may  be  expected, 
except  under  rare  and  peculiar  circumstances.  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  each  of  the  authorities  on  the  next  page,  re- 
fers to  a  pronunciation  prevalent  twenty  or  thirty  years 
before  the  actual  date. 


50      PRONUNCIATION  IN  XVI -XVIII  TH  CENTURIES.      CHAP.  III.  §  1. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  AUTHORITIES. 


DATE 

OF 

WORK 

AUTHORITY. 

WRITERS. 

SOVEREIGNS. 

For  the  XWIth  Century. 

1530 

Palsgrave,  London 

Lord  Surrey,  1516-46 

1509  Hen.  YIII 

Tyndale's  Bible,  1535 

1545 

Meigret,  Lyons 

Sydney  1544-86 

1547 

Salesbury,  Wales 

Spenser  1553-98 

1547  Edw.  VI. 

1550 

Meigret,  Lyons 

1555 

Cheke,  Cambridge 

1558  Elizabeth 

1567 

Salesbury,  Wales 

Shakspere  1564-1616 

1568 

Smith,  Essex 

1569 

Hart 

1570 

Levins 

1573 

Baret 

Ben  Jonson  1574-1  638 

1580 

Bullokar 

Massinger  1584-1640 

Milton  1608-1674 

1603  James  I 

1611 

Cotgrave 

Authorized    Yersibn 

1611 

Florio,  Italy 

[1611 

1621 

Gill,  Lincolnshire 

Butler  1612-80 

1625  Charles  I 

1633 

Butler 

1640 

Jonson,  Westminster 

1646 

Gataker 

1651 

Willis,  Middlesex 

1653 

Wallis,  Kent 

1668 

Wilkins,  Oxford 

1668 

Price 

1669 

Holder 

1685 

Cooper 

1688 

Miege,  France 

1701 

Jones,  Wales 

For  the  XTIIth  Century. 


Dryden  1631-1700 


Pope  1688-1744 


1649  Common- 
[wealth 
1660  Charles  II 


1685  James  II 
1688  Wm.  Ill 
1702  Anne 


1704 
1710 

1766 
1768 
1780 


For  the  XVIII  th  Century. 


Expert  Orthographist 
Dyche 

Buchanan,  Scotland 
Franklin,  U.S. 
Sheridan,  Ireland 


S.  Johnson  1709-84 
Goldsmith  1728-74 


1714  George  I 
1727  George  II 
1760  George  III 


CHAP.  III.  §  2.  COMBINED   SPEECH   SOUNDS.  51 

§  2,  Combined  Speech  Sounds* 

It  is  a  favourite,  and  occasionally  convenient  theory,  to 
suppose  that  there  are  three  principal  vowels  (a,  i,  u),  as 
that  there  are  three  principal  colours,  or  rather  pigments, 
blue,  red,  and  yellow,  whence  the  rest  are  formed  by  mixture. 
Neither  theory  must  be  taken  literally,  or  be  supposed  to 
represent  a  fact  in  nature.  Both  partake  of  the  same  degree 
of  partial  truth  and  complete  error,  as  the  still  older  theory 
of  the  four  elements.  But  as  earth,  water,  air,  fire,  still  re- 
present solids,  liquids,  gases  and  chemical  action,  so  the  (a, 
i,  u)  represent  the  most  open  position  of  the  mouth  with 
respect  both  to  tongue  and  lips,  and  the  two  most  closed 
positions  with  respect  to  tongue  and  lips  respectively  through 
which  a  vowel  sound  can  be  produced.  A  vowel  sound  is 
properly  a  musical  tone  with  a  definite  quality  or  timbre,1 
and,  to  be  distinctly  heard  and  recognized,  the  position  of  the 
vocal  organs  must  be  kept  fixed  for  an  appreciable  duration 
of  time,  the  longest  time  being  really  a  small  fraction  of  a 
second.2  But  vocal  sounds  may  be  also  heard  through 
changing  positions.  These  are  the  " glides,"3  which  are 
naturally  generated  in  passing  from  any  position  of  the 
organs  of  speech  to  any  other,  while  the  vocal  ligaments  of 
the  glottis  continue  to  act.  The  best  mechanical  illustration 
of  this  effect  is  obtained  by  sliding  the  finger  down  a  violin 
string,  while  the  bow  is  kept  in  action.  This  glide  is  the 
essence  of  all  combination  of  vocal  elements ;  the  cement,  as 
it  were,  which  binds  them  into  masses.  In  diphthongs,  as 
(ai,  au),  the  action  is  most  clear,  and  Mr.  Melville  Bell  has 
introduced  a  series  of  glide  signs  for  exclusive  use  in  diph- 
thongs. But  the  same  action  is  audible  in  (pa,  ka),  the 
glide  commencing  with  the  loosening  of  the  contact,  and 
continuing  until  the  full  sound  of  (a)  is  produced.  It  is  this 
glide  which  alone  gives  sound  and  meaning  to  the  (p,  k). 
In  palaeotype  the  isolated  letters  all  mark  fixed  positions, 
whether  initial  or  final,  and  their  combination  indicates  the 
glide  occurring  between  them,  in  addition  to  their  own  value, 
unless  a  comma  (,)  be  interposed,  which  cuts  out  the  glide, 
and  thus  distinguishes  the  dissyllable  (u,i)  French  ou'i,  from 
the  monosyllable  (ui)  French  oui,  which  again  must  be  dis- 

1  This  is  Sir  Charles  Wheatstone's      deliberately  three  times,  and  rapidly, 
theory,   subsequently  verified  hy  Prof.       four  times  in  a  second. 

H.   Helmholtz,   Die  Lehre  von    den  3  This  phonetic  term  was  introduced 

Tonempfindungen,  2nded.  1865,  p.  163.  and    explained    hy  myself,    Universal 

2  The  word  eat,   although  contain-  Writing  and  Printing,  1856,  p.  6,  col. 
ing  a  long  vowel,  can  be  pronounced  2,sm&  English  Phonetics,  1854,  p.  8,  §61. 


52  COMBINED   SPEECH   SOUNDS.  CHAP.  III.  §  2. 

tinguished  carefully  from  the  monosyllable  (wii),  English  we, 
where  the  first  element  is  a  buzz  and  not  a  vowel.  This 
convention  in  notation  will  be  strictly  carried  out  and  should 
be  carefully  observed  by  the  reader.  As  a  necessary  conse- 
quence (aa,  nn,  ss)  represent  prolonged  (a,  n,  s),  but  (a,a, 
n,n,  s,s)  repeated  (a,  n,  s).  The  prolongation  of  consonantal 
sounds  may  appear  strange,  but  if  unowned  is  compared  with 
unknown,  or  missile  with  missent,  it  will  be  readily  perceived 
that  the  (n,  s)  in  the  second  of  each  pair  is  really  prolonged, 
thus  (an,0ond*  onnoon*,  rm'sil  rm'ssent'),  and  that  the  ortho- 
graphy (an,noon*,  m/s,sent')  would  not  quite  meet  the  latter 
case,  as  there  is  no  cessation  of  sounds,  no  ending  of  the  one 
(n,  s)  and  beginning  of  the  following.  Again,  in  comparing 
open  opening ;  stable  stabling,  schism  schismatic  (oop'nn  oop'm'q ; 
steeb'll  steeb'Kq,  siz'mm.  Si'zmaet'tk),  the  greater  length  of 
sound  of  (n,l,m)  in  the  first  three  words  over  that  which  it 
has  in  the  second  three,  will  be  apparent.  Generally,  how- 
ever, it  is  sufficient  to  mark  (oop-n,  steeb'l,  s?'z*m),  because 
the  effort  to  pronounce  (n,  1,  m)  independently  of  any  follow- 
ing vowel  will  necessarily  lengthen  the  sound.  But  that 
some  attention  to  this  difference  is  occasionally  necessary,  is 
shown  by  such  French  words  as  stable,  schisme,  which  French 
orthoepists  also  mark  (stabl,  shizm),  although  their  sound  is 
not  at  all  (stabll,  shizmm),  but  either  (stabl',  shizm')  with  the 
faintest  vowel  murmur  following,  thus  making  (1,  m)  initial 
and  consequently  shortening  the  sound,  or  (stablh,  shizmh) 
with  an  entire  remission  of  the  vocal  murmur.  In  palaeotype 
the  distinction  will  often  be  made  thus  :  English  (steeb'l, 
s/z'm),  French  (stabl',  shizm'),  so  that  ('1,  'm,  'n)  =  (ll,mm,nn). 

The  glide  which  connects  two  vocal  elements  has  a  ten- 
dency to  draw  those  elements  into  nearer  relation  than  they 
would  have  had  if  pronounced  apart ;  that  is,  as  in  the  course 
of  speech  it  is  necessary  to  pass  rapidly  from  one  position  of 
the  vocal  organs  to  the  other  without  intermitting  the  voice, 
the  two  positions  naturally  draw  nearer  to  each  other.  It 
has  long  been  observed  that  certain  vowels  affect  certain 
consonants.  Thus,  in  Polish,  it  is  laid  down  as  a  rule  in 
language,  that  "  hard  consonants  when  brought  by  inflection 
or  derivation  before  high  vowels  are  changed  into  softer  or 
weak  consonants."1 

The  other  Sclavonic  languages  have  similar  rules.  In  the 
Gaelic  language  there  is  also  a  division  of  vowels  into  broad 
a,  o,u,  and.  small  e,i — "kathan  agus  caol" — with  the  celebrated 
rule  which  so  singularly  influences  their  orthography,  "  broad 

1  J.  Biernacki.     Tkeoretisch-praktische   Grammatik  der  polnischen   Sprache, 


CHAP.  III.  §  2.  COMBINED   SPEECH   SOUNDS.  53 

to  broad  and  small  to  small, — leathan  ri  leathan,  an  'us  caol 
ri  caol."1  Of  course,  this  rule  only  indicates  a  change  of  the 
intermediate  consonant  in  actual  speech.  In  German  we 
find  ach,  loch  with  one  sound  of  ch  (kh),  ich,  dcht,  euch,  locker, 
tucker  with  another  (kh),  and  auch,  tuch  with  a  third  (ke#h), 
thus  (akh,  lokh ;  i&h,  e&ht,  oi&h,  ke/drer,  tyy/vlrer ;  aukwk, 
tuuk-zoh) ;  so  that  the  Gfermans  find  a  natural  character  in  this 
change.  But  no  such  change  occurs  in  Dutch,  or  in  Swiss 
patois,  which  do  not  possess  (£h).  Again,  a  modern  Greek 
informs  me  that  (kh)  is  always  replaced  by  (Ait)  in  his  lan- 
guage, whatever  be  the  adjacent  vowel.  This  seems  also  to 
have  been  the  case  in  old  Sanscrit,  where  (&h)  has  given  way 
to  (sh),  just  as  most  Englishmen  hear  a  Saxon  say  (fresh- 
im'shm'sht)  for  (ir  i&h  mi&h  ni&ht)  irr'  ich  mich  nicht,  (diush) 
for  (dur&h).  The  old  Germans  had  also  a  feeling  of  attrac- 
tion in  the  vowel  sounds  in  succeeding  syllables,  as  mhn 
zahne,  fusz  fusze,  bock  bocke,  mann  manner,  (tsaan  tsEE'n^,  fuus 
fyyse,  bok  boek'£,  man  mEn'er)  which  the  moderns  have  lost, 
and  which  is  simply  unintelligible  in  the  modern  English 
tooth  teeth,  foot  feet,  man  men,  (tuuth  tiith,  fut  fiit,  maen  men). 
The  initial  consonant  is  in  European  languages  mostly 
altered  to  suit  the  following  vowel.  "We  are  familiar  with 
the  change  of  sound  of  c  in  the  first  and  second  syllable  of 
cancel  =  (keen'sel),  and  are  accustomed  to  regard  it  as  a  me- 
chanical rule  of  pronunciation,  whereas  it  is  the  modern  pro- 
duct of  an  action  of  a  vowel  on  the  preceding  consonant. 
Sometimes  the  action  takes  place  by  an  apparent  desire  to 
avoid  this  attraction.  Most  persons  are  familiar  with  (&aaad, 
</aa.id)  for  card,  guard,  but  few  are  aware  that  it  was  through 
a  precisely  similar  change  that  Latin  cantus,  campus  fell 
through  (/cant,  #amp)  into  French  chant,  champ,  both  being 
now  (shaA).  In  Arabic,  however,  the  vowel  yields  to  the 
consonant,  and  it  is  chiefly  by  the  "  widening"  of  the  follow- 
ing vowel,  properly  due  to  extending  the  pharynx  for  the 

1837,  p.  8.     The  division  of  vowels  and  consonants  referred  to  is,  in  palaeotype 

deep  vowels     (a,     aA,     e,     o,     wh,  Y,     u) 

high  vowels     (e,     CA,     e,     e,     o,     i,     . .) 

hard  consonants       bdgnkhk^mnprs       tbhz) 

softer  ..     dz    dz     zh    sh    ts rz     sh    ts     ..     zh) 

weak  bj     dzj   zh    sj      sj     tsh  Ij     mj  nj   pj    ..      sj     tsj    bjh  zj) 

Such  a  combination  as  (ft)  is  impossible  to  a  Pole,  who  is  compelled  to  say 
either  (ftr)  or  (Iji). 

1  This  is  thus  explained  in  J.  Forbes' s  same  class,  i.e.  both  broad  or  both 
Double  Grammar  of  English  and  Gae-  small ;  as  cae'leag,  a  girl,  feorag,  a 
lie,  1843,  p.  28:  "In  words  of  more  squirrel.  It  would  be  false  orthogra- 
than  one  syllable,  the  last  vowel  of  phy  to  write  words  thus:  cat'lag, 
each  preceding  syllable,  and  the  first  feor-eag,  cm-lag,  Iwr-eag,  c*r-adh, 
of  each  succeeding  one  must  be  of  the  barreadh." 


54  COMBINED    SPEECH   SOUNDS.  CHAP.  III.  §  2. 

pronunciation  of  the  consonant,  that  an  Englishman  distin- 
guishes Arabic  t  ^jo  ^ja  3b,  whatever  sounds  Arabic  scholars 
may  finally  agree  that  the  latter  symbols  represent,  from 
(t  d  s  z).1  The  rounding  of  the  lips  has  often  a  similar  effect 
in  English,  as  in  war,  wan,  what,  wash,  squall,  =  (WAAJ,  WAII 
won,  whAt  whot,  wAsh  wosh,  skwAAl). 

A  final  consonant  may  yield  to  the  vowel,  or  force  the 
vowel  to  consort  with  it.  Both  cases  are  common,  the 
French  fait  as  derived  from  Latin  factum  shews  both  effects.2 
In  English,  and  also  in  French,  (1,  r,  r,  j)  have  had  very 
disturbing  effects  on  the  preceding  vowel.  But  the  greatest 
changes  ensue  when  two  vowels  come  together,  first  as  pure 
diphthongs,  and  afterwards  degenerating  into  a  single  derived 
vowel  sound.  It  is  precisely  because  (1,  j)  are  so  vowel-like 
in  sound  that  they  react  so  strongly  on  the  preceding  vowel. 

Glides  and  mutual  actions  do  not  occur  only  between  two 
vowels  or  vowel  and  consonant,  but  are  also  frequent  between 
two  consonants,  and  are,  especially  marked  where  one  is  a 
mute  (p  t  k),  or  sonant  (b  d  g),  and  the  other  continuous.  In 
German  the  sound  (ts)  initial  is  a  true  diphthong,  like  (tsh) 
initial  in  English.  Many  writers  have  considered  (tsh,  dzh) 
initial  to  be  simple  sounds  in  English,  while  (tsh,  dzh)  final 
as  in  watch,  grudge,  are  generally  recognized  to  be  com- 
pounds. This  is  explained  by  a  consideration  of  the  nature 
of  a  syllable. 

When  a  number  of  pure  vowels  come  together  with  glides 
between  them,  it  may  so  happen  that  there  is  a  gradual 
change  from  a  close  to  an  open,  an  open  to  a  close,  or  a 
close  to  an  open  and  thence  to  another  close  position,  as 
in  (ia,  ai,  iai),  or  (ua,  au,  uau),  or  (iau,  uai),  etc.  In  all 
these  cases  the  ear  recognizes  one  undivided  group  (o-uXXa/3^) 
or  syllable.  But  if  the  transition  be  from  open  to  close  and 
thence  to  open,  as  (aua,  aia),  the  ear  immediately  recognizes 
two  groups  or  syllables,  and  the  division  between  them  is 
felt  to  be  the  moment  of  the  smallest  opening  of  the  vocal 
organs,  thus  in  (aua)  the  syllable  does  not  divide  before  or 
after  (11),  but  during  the  pronunciation  of  the  pure  (u)  as 
held  fixed  without  any  precedent  or  subsequent  glide  from 
or  to  the  (a).  There  is  in  this  case  a  decided  interval  between 
the  two  glides.  In  attempting  to  make  the  separation  of  the 
groups  more  evident,  a  speaker  would  either  simply  prolong 
(u),  thus  (auua),  or  prolong  it  with  a  cessation  of  force  in 

1  See  (t  th  d  d h  s  z)  in  the  palaeo-      forms  seem  to  have  heen  (fakt,  fa&t, 
typic  alphabet.  fai&t,  fait,  feet).    The  form  (fai&t)  pro- 

2  Omitting    the    last    syllable,  the      bably  originated  the  old  spelling  faict. 


CHAP.  III.  §  2.  COMBINED   SPEECH   SOUNDS.  55 

the  middle,  which,  might  be  expressed  by  (au-ua),  or  would 
absolutely  pause  and  thus  repeat  the  (u),  as  au,ua).  In  this 
way  orthographers,  by  separating  the  glides,  arrive  at  the 
conception  of  doubling  the  letter  which  indicates  the  smallest 
opening.  This,  however,  becomes  more  strongly  marked 
when  the  division  of  the  two  glides  is  a  mere  buzz,  as  (ava), 
or  sonant  as  (aba),  or  mute  as  (apa),  for  in  these  cases  pro- 
longation being  either  difficult  or  impossible,  the  ortho- 
grapher,  trying  to  ascertain  the  letters,  says  (av,va,  ab,ba, 
ap,pa),  and  by  thus  separating  the  glides,  actually  alters  the 
whole  character  of  the  word.  In  the  English  and  other 
Teutonic  languages  real  cases  of  prolonged  medial  consonants, 
or  really  separated  glides,  are  rare,  not  occurring  except  in 
compound  words  or  connected  words,  compare  soappot,  boot- 
tree,  bookcase,  penknife,  till  late,  till  eight,  Miss  Smith,  yes  sir, 
etc.1  Hence  these  nations  readily  adopted  a  system  of 
doubled  consonants  for  those  cases  where  the  first  glide  was 
unmistakeable ;  that  is,  where  the  first  vowel  being  short 
and  accented,  it  was  difficult  to  leave  out  the  glide  and  pro- 
nounce it  independently  of  the  vowel ;  for  example  (a,ba)  is 
more  difficult  than  (ab,a)  .2  The  doubling  of  consonants  came 
finally  to  be  considered  the  mark  of  a  short  accented  vowel, 
and  is  so  consistently  applied  by  Rapp,3  who,  adopting  the 
usual  German  grammatical  term,  calls  this  effect  a  "  sharpen- 
ing" (scharfung*)  of  the  vowel.  But  Orrmin  had  used  the 
same  means  of  indicating  short  vowels  even  in  unaccented 
syllables,  in  the  first  attempt  at  a  regular  English  ortho- 
graphy, and  lays  the  greatest  stress  upon  this  mode  of  mark- 
ing short  vowels.4 

To  continue  the  theory  of  the  syllable.  The  separation 
can  be  made,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a  buzz,  whisper,  sonant,  or 
mute,  as  well  as  by  a  vowel,  and  several  of  these  being  inter- 
posed, the  syllable  divides  on  the  least  vocal  or  narrowest 
aperture.  Thus  in  watching  (wAtshiq),  the  syllable  divides 

1  Many  speakers   say    (pen-t'f )    for  vowel  as  could  be  used  at  the  begin- 
(peirnaif),  waiters  are  apt  to  fall  into  ning  of  a  word, — except  in  the  case  of 
(jes-i)  for  (jes-sj),   and    few  care  to  manifest  compounds — to  belong  to  the 
distinguish  Miss  Smith  from  Miss  Myth  syllable  containing  that   vowel,  thus 
(nu'ssimth*,    nu's,imtlr).      In    such    a  discipline  beging,  he  would  divide  dt,st,- 
common  name  no  mistake  is  likely,  but  plm  be,geq).     Such  divisions  are  mere 
would  Miss    Sterry  be   distinguished  matters  of  practice,  and  are  beside  the 
from  Miss  Terry,  or  Miss  Stent  from  scientific  investigation  of  the    natural 
Miss  Tent,  real  names  from  the  London  division  of  words  into  groups  of  sounds. 
Directory  ?  »  M.  Rapp.  Versuch  einer  Physiolo- 

2  Mr.  Melville  Bell  finds  the  division  gie  der  Sprache,  1836-1841. 

(a,ba)  quite  as  easy  as  (ab,a),  and  hence          *  See  the  passage  from  the  Orrmu- 
always  considers  so  much  of  the  con-      him  quoted  in  Chapter  V,  §  2. 
sonantal   group  which   precedes    any 


56  COMBINED   SPEECH   SOUNDS.  CHAP.  III.  §  2. 

between  the  glide  from  (A)  to  (t),  and  the  glide,  in  this  case 
non- vocal,  from  (t)  to  (sh).  The  orthographer  dividing  the 
syllables  then  says  (wAt,tsh/q),  and  hears  first  a  (t)  and  then 
his  presumed  simple  sound  (tsh) ;  whence  the  orthography 
tch,  which  never  occurs  initially.  Between  ch  in  chin,  and 
tch  in  watching,  there  is  this  difference,  that  in  (tsh?ji)  there 
is  only  the  glide  from  (t)  to  (sh),  but  in  (wAtslwq)  there  is 
also  the  glide  from  (A)  to  (t).  The  palaeotypic  orthography 
(wAtsh?'q)  implies  all  this,  for  to  remove  the  last  named  glide 
in  the  last  word  we  must  write  (wA,tsluq). 

In  (wAtsh)  we  have  the  same  effect  of  the  (t)  with  its 
double  glide,  but  as  the  second  glide  is  entirely  unvocal,  the 
ear  does  not  recognize  a  distinct  group,  and  hence  receives 
(wAtsh)  as  a  single  group  or  monosyllable.  Indeed  so  little 
is  a  final  whisper  accounted,  that  it  is  generally  introduced 
in  English  after  final  mutes,  to  give  them  the  double  glide 
and  make  them  more  audible ;  thus  Wat !  would  be  uttered 
(WAt* !)  not  (WAt')  as  we  should  be  almost  forced  to  write 
if  we  wished  to  imply  the  absence  of  the  (').  In  the  word 
act  (aekf)  we  have  first  a  mute  (k)  with  only  a  precedent 
glide,  so  that  the  (t)  would  be  inaudible  without  the  ('). 
But  to  say  (aek'f)  would  be  unpleasant  and  affectedly  pe- 
dantic. This  mode  of  overcoming  a  difficulty,  which  is  so 
common  and  natural  in  Teutonic  nations,  is  unknown  in  the 
Romanic  or  Semitic.  The  French  say  (akt'),  or  in  poetry 
(akte),  and  are  inclined  even  to  (akY).  The  Italians  assi- 
milate the  (k)  to  the  (t),  and  dividing  the  glides  say  (at,to). 
The  consequence  is  that  consonants  have  more  weight  in 
Romanic  than  in  Teutonic  tongues,  and  not  only  cannot  so 
many  be  pronounced  in  succession,  but  when  two  consonants 
that  cannot  be  pronounced  as  an  initial  combination  follow  a 
vowel,  they  necessarily  lengthen  the  syllable — not  the  vowel, 
as  grammarians  erroneously  assert. 

The  hisses  are  never  felt  to  produce  new  groups,  and  hence 
are  added  on  with  the  greatest  liberality  before  as  well  as 
after  close  positions.  Thus  wrists,  scrips,  (rests,  steps), 
and  in  Polish  szczkae  (shtshkatsj),  to  hiccough,  in  which  we 
have  a  frequent  combination  (shtsh)  containing  one  stop  (t), 
preceding  the  stop  (k)  with  the  same  ease  to  a  Pole,  as  the 
simple  (sh)  before  (t)  and  (p)  in  stehen,  sprechen,  (sht^,en, 
shpre^hvn)  presents  to  a  German  or  Englishman,  who  are 
unaware  of  the  difficulties  which  such  combinations  offer 
to  Frenchmen  and  Italians,  and  to  Arabs,  whose  easy  sounds 
are  in  turn  a  very  shibboleth  to  Europeans. 

The  division  of  syllables  to  the  eye  is  therefore  a  great 


CHAP.  III.  §  2.  COMBINED   SPEECH    SOUNDS.  57 

difficulty,  unless  some  mark  be  placed  over  or  under  the 
letter  of  division,  or  unless  this  mark,  placed  for  conveni- 
ence of  printing  before  or  after  the  letter  of  division,  is  to  be 
understood  as  merely  pointing  that  letter  out.  Thus  writing 
the  hyphen  as  usual  for  this  purpose,  (wA-tshe'q)  or  (wat-sluq) 
might  be  used,  but  the  latter  is  objectionable  as  it  divides 
a  very  close  glide.  In  palaeotype  it  is  not  necessary  to 
divide  syllables,  and  when  they  are  divided  in  speech,  the 
consonants  are  really  doubled,  as  already  mentioned,  thus 
(wAt,tshe'q).  When  the  accent  mark  is  written  in  palaeotype 
it  is  generally  placed  where  it  is  convenient  to  the  printer  or 
writer,  but  as  it  forms  a  break  to  the  eye  it  should  not  be 
interposed  between  close  glides,  so  that  either  (wA'tsh«'q)  or 
(wAtsh^'q)  is  preferable  to  (wAt'sluq). 

Unaccented  short  vowels  do  not  generally  glide  on  to  the 
following  consonant ;  but  this  follows  them  legato  (smoothly) 
and  not  staccato  (abruptly),  to  use  musical  terms.  Thus  in 
event,  society,  (i,vent*,  so,sar,e,t/)  we  have  in  English  no  glides 
— although  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  indicate  their  absence 
as  above.  On  the  other  hand,  the  absence  of  marked  accent 
in  French  makes  the  glide  distinct,  as  in  evenement,  societe 
(tfven'maA,  sosi,ete).  Grammarians,  as  usual,  do  not  recog- 
nize these  distinctions. 

A  short  accented  vowel  is  in  English  always  followed  by  a 
consonant  on  to  which  it  glides,  almost  before  it  begins  to  be 
heard ;  whereas  a  long  accented  vowel  can  be  distinctly 
heard  before  the  glide  to  the  consonant.  Consequently  the 
glide  with  us  affects  the  short  more  than  the  long  vowel. 
One  result  of  this  is  that  English  long  and  short  accented 
vowels  do  not  form  precise  pairs.  Thus  peat  pit,  gate  get, 
father  gather,  sought  sot,  pool  putt  =  (piit  pit,  geet  get,  faadh'J 
gaedh'j,  sAAt  sot,  puul  ptd).  The  distinction  is  here  made 
clear  to  the  eye.  The  vowel  (oo)  does  not  occur  as  a  short 
vowel  in  closed  syllables  in  recognised  English,  but  hole  whole 
are  not  unfrequently  distinguished  as  (nool,  H01).  The  long 
vowels  (ee,  oo)  are  also  very  frequently  pronounced  (eei,  oou) 
or  (ee'j,  oo'w)  with  a  faintly  indicated  (i,  u),  following  them 
with  the  utmost  rapidity  just  as  the  sound  is  expiring.  It 
is  only  before  the  letter  r  (j)  that  this  effect  is  generally 
avoided,  and  then  the  vowel  sounds  are  changed,  thus  more, 
Mary,  door,  glory  are  properly  (mee-i,  Mee-rr^,  dooJ,  glooi'ra), 
although  (m00'j,  ~M.ee'' ri,  doo'j,  gloo'9Ti)  and  even  (Mee'ri, 
gloo'ri)  are  sometimes  heard.  This  diversity  of  long  and  short 
vowels,  similar  to  that  which  probably  prevailed  in  Greece 
when  the  distinctions  77  e,  o>  o  were  introduced,  while  no  written 


58  COMBINED  SPEECH   SOUNDS.  CHAP.  III.  §  2. 

difference  was  made  between  a  i  v  long  and  short,  serves 
to  mark  the  difference  between  syllables  with  long  and  short 
vowels  very  clearly.  If  a  foreigner  neglects  the  distinction  we, 
in  the  ignorance  of  our  ears,  often  accuse  him  of  lengthening 
the  vowel,  thus  we  write  his  pity  (pit'i)  as  peetee,  confounding 
it  with  (pii'tii),  and  we  make  a  Scotchman  speak  of  his  meenis- 
terr  and  his  book  (mirm'ste.r,  buuk)  when  he  only  says 
(min'iste.r,  buk)  in  place  of  our  (numsti,  bwk).  Most  of  the 
old  English  writers  thought  that  the  vowel  sounds  in  bite  bit 
formed  a  pair,  and  we  shall  find  Sir  T.  Smith  completely 
puzzled  with  the  English  ee  (ii)  of  which  he  knew  no  short 
sound.  In  languages  like  the  Italian,  where  the  short  and 
long  vowels  exist  in  perfect  pairs  (ii  i,  ee  e,  EE  E,  aa  a,  oo  o, 
uiih  uln.,  uu  u)  the  distinction  of  long  and  short  vowel  is  not 
much  perceived,  except  before  separated  glides  or  doubled 
consonants,  as  they  are  termed,  and  consequently  no  necessity 
for  indicating  them  orthographically  has  been  felt.  In 
Italian  also,  final  short  accented  vowels  occur  unprotected  by 
a  following  consonant,  as  cittd  amo  do  (tshit,ta'  amo*  tsho') 
which  however  take  a  doubled  consonant  when  followed  by 
an  enclitic  syllable  as  amovvi  (amov,vi). 

These  different  usages  are  important  to  be  allowed  for, 
when  we  derive  the  pronunciation  of  any  language  through 
the  observations  of  one  who  is  not  a  native.  He  necessarily 
hears  the  sounds  incorrectly  and  imitates  them  at  first,  if  not 
always,  with  more  or  less  reference  to  those  with  which  he 
is  familiar.  Those  Englishmen  who  hear  a  Scot  or  German 
say  (man,  man),  hear  the  words  as  either  (meen)  or  (mon), 
sounds  which  being  unfamiliar  to  the  Scot  and  German  are 
liable  to  sound  in  their  ears  as  (mEn,  mon).1  It  is  this  dif- 
ficulty in  appreciating  foreign  sounds  which  renders  the  use 
of  any  universal  system  of  writing  so  difficult.  Yet  indistinct 
and  imperfect  as  a  foreigner's  accounts  must  necessarily  be, 
it  is  almost  entirely  by  their  means  that  we  are  able  to 
arrive  at  a  conception  of  the  old  sounds  of  our  language.  It 

1  An  amusing  instance  of  the  diffi-  intended  to  mean  (bakhshiish-),  itself 

culty  of   hearing    foreign    sounds    is  an  error  for  (bakrhshiish').   This  letter 

quoted  in  Max  Muller's  Lectures  on  (krh)     **•   is    almost    invariably  con- 

the  Science  of  Language,  2nd  series,  founded     with    (k)    by    Englishmen. 

1864,  p.  169,  from  Marsh's  Lectures,  Similarly,  if   an  Englishman  asks  a 

and  taken  by  him  from  "  Constantino-  Saxon  to  repeat  after  him  /  had  a  hat 

pie  and  its  Environs,  by  an  American  on  my  head,  instead  of  (ai  need  a  na3t 

long  resident"  New  York,  1835,  ii.  151.  on  mai  ned)  he  will  probably  obtain  (ai 

The  writer  is  certain  that  he  spells  at  HEt  a  HEt  on  mai  HEt),  where  the  three 

least  one  word  correctly,   for   it  had  English  unusual  sounds  (need  nset  Hed) 

been  so  impressed  on  his  mind;  this  are  reduced  to  the  one  common  Ger- 

word    is    bactshtasch  !    letters  which  man  (HEt)  —hdtt\ 
ought  to  mean  (bsektshtsesh),  but  were 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  59 

is  the  foreigner  who  generally  wants  to  have  the  sounds 
explained,  and  we  find  the  writers  of  pronouncing  diction- 
aries of  English  to  be  mainly  Welsh,  Scotch,  Irish,  American, 
French,  and  German.  Those  early  English  writers  who 
gave  an  account  of  our  pronunciation  had  not  studied  the 
nature  of  spoken  sounds  sufficiently  to  refer  them  to  any  fixed 
positional  scale,  such  as  we  now  possess  in  Visible  Speech. 
Hence  they  illustrated  them  as  they  best  could  by  reference 
to  other  tongues ;  frequently  indeed  by  Latin  and  Hebrew, 
which  being  very  differently  pronounced  in  different  countries 
gave  but  an  indifferent  clue.  It  is  only  by  making  allow- 
ances for  old  habits,  that  we  can  hope  to  arrive  at  an  ap- 
proximate conception  of  the  sounds  they  had  in  their  mind.1 
It  is  not  therefore  to  be  expected  that  we  can  assign  the 
older  pronunciation  of  our  language  with  anything  like  the 
minute  accuracy  with  which  the  modern  pronunciation  of 
English  can  be  indicated  by  means  of  Palaeotype  and  Visible 
Speech.  We  can,  however,  approximate  to  the  sounds  so 
nearly  that  one  who  thus  pronounced  them  would  appear  to 
utter  familiar  words  in  perhaps  rather  a  singular  manner,  but 
not  so  strangely  by  far  as  a  foreigner's  attempts  at  modern 
English,  or  as  the  modern  English  would  have  sounded  in 
the  ears  of  our  ancestors.2 


§  3.  The  Vowels. 
A  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY,     • 

1530.  PALSGKRAYE  says:  "The  soundyng  of  a,  whiche  is  most 
generally  vsed  through  out  the  frenche  tonge,  is  suche  as  we  vse 
with  vs,  where  the  best  englysshe  is  spoken,  whiche  is  lyke  as  the 
Italians  sounde  a,  or  they  with  vs,  that  pronounce  the  latine  tonge 
aryght." 

The  Italians  at  present  always  say  (a),  and  never  (a).  The 
French  at  present  generally  say  (a)  but  sometimes  (a) .  The 
reference  to  Latin,  as  pronounced  "aryght"  ought  to  imply 
the  existence  of  another  English  pronunciation  in  common 
use,  which  was  not  (a).  This  wrong  pronunciation  we  have 
no  means  of  eliciting.  Then  again  the  English  pronuncia- 
tion referred  to  is  a  theoretical  standard,  "where  the  best 

1  The  key- words  in  Visible  Speech,  who  saw  them  would  have  read  (wan 
p.  94,  are  pronounced  differently  by  Mr.  tatsh  av  n^-tsha),  sounds  which  would 
MelviUe  Bell  and  myself,  (p.  25, 'n.  1.)  have  probably  been   unintelligible  to 

2  While  writing  this    I    saw    the  their  author  (Shakspere,  T.  &  C.  iii,  3, 
words    "One  touch  of  nature,"   pla-  175),  who  would  have  certainly  under- 
carded  on  the  streets  of  London,    as  stood  (oon  tutsh  ov  naa-tyyr),  strange 
the  name  of  a  drama.     Most  of  those  as  this  may  now  seem  to  our  ears. 


60  A  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

englysshe  is  spoken,"  implying  that  there  was  another  pro- 
nunciation which  Palsgrave  did  not  approve  of.  The  only  clear 
result  we  obtain  is  negative, — the  long  sound  was  certainly 
not  that  now  in  use  in  England,  "  where  the  best  englysshe 
is  spoken,"  that  is  not  (ee,  ee,  eei).  But  could  we  trust  Pals- 

frave  to  have  heard  the  difference  between  (&,  a,  a),  or  if  he 
ad  heard  it,  to  have  thought  it  worth  noting  ?  In  the  next 
century  at  least  Wallis  heard  the  French  a  as  (A),  and  we 
know  that  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the 
French  emigres  heard  the  English  a  in  all  as  their  a,  and 
gave  that  as  the  French  sound  in  their  Grammars.  Walker 
gives  (iiklAA*)  as  the  pronunciation  of  eclat,  though  Smart 
writes  (eeklaa,'),  the  Frenchmen  Feline1  and  Tarver  giving 
(ekla). 

The  sound  (a)  is  more  marked  and  was  probably  more 
ancient  than  the  finer  sound  (a),  for  which  the  tongue  has  to 
be  raised  from  a  "  low  back"  to  a  "  mid  back"  position.1  It 
is  very  possible  that  the  French  may  have  used  (a)  and  have 
subsequently  refined  it  into  (a).  It  is  very  probable  that 
the  Anglosaxons  used  (0),  as  the  present  Germanic  nations, 
and  the  Scotch,  have  still  a  great  tendency  so  to  do.  Perhaps 
one  of  the  sounds  (a,  all,  A)  was  the  faulty  pronunciation  of 
the  Latin  a,  to  which  Palsgrave  objected.  Either  («)  or  (A) 
is  still  used  in  Scotch  Latin.  It  is  not  likely  that  at  so  early 
a  period  the  very  thin  (ae), — a  sound  which  Englishmen  from 
historical  tradition  connect  with  (a),  but  which  foreigners 
consulting  their  -ears,  refer  to  (e,  E) — was  recognized  as  the 
use  of  those  who  spoke  English  best.  It  seems  safest  to  con- 
clude that  Palsgrave,  living  in  the  latter  part  of  the  xv  th 
and  early  part  of  the  xvith  century,  recognized  (aa)  long 
and  (a)  short  as  the  best  pronunciation  of  English  a,  and 
that  he  would  at  any  rate  have  accepted  that  pronunciation. 
This  view  is  confirmed  by  Gilles  du  Guez's  account  of  French 
pronunciation,  probably  printed  in  1532,  and  reprinted  at 
the  end  of  the  French  reprint  of  Palsgrave.  He  says :  "Ye 

1  "Walker's  Pronouncing  Dictionary,  ciples  of  the    French    pronunciation, 

and    Smart's   Walker  Remodelled,  are  developed  in  a  short  treatise  by  J.  C. 

well  known.     Adrien  Feline,  Diction-  Tarver,  French  Master,  Eton,  London, 

naire   de    la  ^  pronunciation    de     la  (Longman)  1847,  C.  G.  Joberfs  Collo- 

langue  Fra^aise,  indiquee  au  moyen  quial    French,    London,    (Whittaker) 

de  caracteres  phonetiques  precede  d'un  1854,  and  Theriats  Le  Phonographe 

me  moire  sur  la  reforme  de  1'  alphabet.  ou  la  Prononciation  Fran9aise  rendue 

Paris,  1851.    This  and  Tardy's  Expla-  facile  a  tous  les  etrangers,  Paris,  (chez 

natory  pronouncing  dictionary  of  the  les  auteurs,  rue  de  1' Quest,  11,)  1857, 

French  language  in  French  and  Eng-  are  the  best  guides  to  modern  French 

lish,  wherein  the  exact  sound  and  ar-  pronunciation  that  I  have  seen, 
ticulation  of    every  syllable  are  dis-          2  These  technical  terms  are  explained 

tinctly  marked,  according  to  the  prin-  in  the  introduction  p.  13. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  XVI TH   CENTURY.  61 

shal  pronounce  your  a  as  wyde  open  mouthed  as  ye  can," 
which  ought  to  make  French  «  =  («);"  your  e,  as  ye  do  in 
latyn,  almost  as  brode  as  ye  pronounce  your  a  in  englysshe." 
This  makes  French  e  =  (E),  and  proves  that  English  a  was 
not  (ae),  because  Gilles  du  Guez,  as  a  Frenchman,  would  not 
have  distinguished  (E,  se).  Neither  du  Guez  nor  Palsgrave 
separate  the  close  from  the  open  French  e  (e,  E)  which 
Meigret  has  found  necessary  to  distinguish  by  two  signs. 
Gilles  du  Guez  was  French  master  to  Henry  VIII.  and  his 
daughter,  afterwards  Mary  I. 

1567.  SALESBURY  says  of  the  "Welsh  sound  of  a  that  "  it 
hath  the  true  pronunciation  of  a  in  Latin/'  meaning  of  course 
his  pronunciation  of  that  letter,  and  that  it  is  never  sounded 
"  so  fully  in  the  mouth  as  the  Germaynes  sound  it  in  this 
word  wagen"  He  also  distinguishes  it  clearly  from  (a)  with 
a  following  (u)  or  (i).  This  distinction,  hereafter  considered, 
leads  me  to  suppose  that  his  Welsh  a  was  neither  (a)  nor 
(se),  and  consequently  that  it  was  then  true  (a).  The  con- 
clusion is  not  very  safe,  because  certainly,  in  the  next  century, 
Wallis  makes  the  Welch  a  very  "  thin,"  that  is  closer  than 
(a),  and  probably  (ae),  a  sound  said  to  be  often  heard  in 
Wales  to  this  day.1 

1547.  Salesbury  heard  no  difference  between  the  English 
and  Welsh  a,  whether  long  or  short.  He  says  : — 

"  A  in  English  is  of  the  same  sound  as  a  in  Welsh,  as  is  evident 
in  these  words  of  English  ALE,  aal,  cervisia,  PALE,  paal,  SALE,  sal." 

It  is  not  usual  in  Welsh  orthography  to  distinguish  the 
long  and  short  vowels,  although  Grammarians  say  that 
the  former  have  an  acute  accent  mark.  In  his  account 
of  English  pronunciation,  Salesbury  does  not  always  dis- 
criminate the  long  vowel,  though,  as  here,  he  occasionally 
doubles  the  vowel  sign  to  represent  length,  and  doubles 
the  consonant  sign  to  imply  the  brevity  of  the  preceding 
vowel.  We  must  not  suppose,  however,  that  where  he  has 
neglected  to  double  either,  the  sound  was  necessarily 
either  long  or  short.  No  doubt  sale  was  (saal),  if  ale,  pale 
were  (aal,  paal).  Again  he  writes  name  and  sparw  for 
narrowe,  sparrowe,  although  no  doubt  the  consonant  was  not 

1  During  a  short  residence  in  An-  monly  heard  in  Monmouthshire,  just 
glesea  about  ten  years  ago,  I  did  not  bordering  on  those  "Western  English 
recognize  (se)  as  in  general  use  in  counties  where  (se)  prevails.  A  gentle- 
Welsh,  although  I  was  familiar  with  man  from  Cardigan  when  asked  to 
the  sound,  both  long  and  short,  from  name  the  first  letter  in  the  Welsh  al- 
having  resided  two  years  in  Bath,  phabet,  naturally  called  it  (aese),  though 
where  (3333)  is  the  regular  sound  of  a  three  other  Welsh  gentlemen  present 
long,  as  (Baeseth,  ksesBid).  I  have  at  the  same  time  said  (aa). 
since  been  informed  that  it  is  com- 


A  —  XVI  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  6  3. 


realty  doubled  in  either  and  the  vowel  was  short  in  both. 
Numerous  examples  of  such  carelessness  occur  in  the  short 
list  of  words  with  which  Salesbury  has  favoured  us.1 

SALESBUKY'S  EXAMPLES  OF  A. 


OLD  SPELLING. 

MEANING. 

WELSH  LETTERS. 

PALAEOTYPE. 

ale 

cervisia 

aal 

aal 

pale 

paal 

paal 

sale 

sal 

saal 

babe 

infans 

baab 

baab 

face 

facies 

ffas 

faas 

gracyouse 

comis 

grasiws 

graa*si,us 

able 

abl 

aa-b'l 

sable 

sabl 

saa'b'l 

bake 

coquere  panem 

baak 

baak 

galaunt 

galawnt 

gal  'aunt 

plage 

pestis 

plaag 

plaag 

have 

accipere 

haf 

Haav 

lady 

domina 

ladi 

laa'di 

papyr 

papyr 

paa'p/r 

mase 

stupor 

maas 

maaz 

shappe 

forma 

ssiapp 

shaap 

ape 

simia 

ap 

aap 

narrowe 

angustus 

narrw 

naru 

sparrowe 

passer 

sparw 

sparu 

laddre 

scala 

lad-dr 

lad'er 

bladd' 

vesica 

blad-der 

blad'er 

nagge 

mannus 

nag 

nag 

pappe 

mamma  vel 

papp 

pap 

infantium  cibus 

quarter 

quarta  pars 

kwarter 

kwarter 

hand 

una  manus 

hande 

Hand 

handes 

duae  v.plures 

hands 

nandz 

manus 

Thomas 

tomas 

tonras 

flaxe 

linum 

macs 

naks 

axe 

securis 

ags 

aks 

man 

man 

man 

that 

ddat 

dhat 

kappe 

pila 

cap 

kap 

Agnus 

angnus 

aq'nus 

1  A  complete  alphabetical  list  of  all 
these  words  will  be  found  in  Chapter 


VIII,  §  2,  at  the  close  of  the  trans- 
lation of  his  tract. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  XVI TH   CENTURY.  63 

The  preceding  are  all  Salesbury's  words  containing  a,  in 
his  English  spelling,  Welsh  transcription,  and  my  palaeo- 
typic  translation  of  the  last.  The  meaning  is  given  in 
Latin  where  he  has  given  it  in  Welsh,  but  not  otherwise. 
The  long  a,  so  far  as  I  can  conjecture  from  other  sources, 
is  placed  first.  Words  with  the  combinations  al,  an,  ash, 
etc.,  which  will  be  considered  hereafter,  are  omitted. 
This  long  list  of  words  in  which  the  long  and  the  short 
sound  of  a  is  represented  by  the  same  letter,  occasionally 
doubled  for  the  long  sound,  is  conclusive  in  shewing  that 
long  a  and  short  a  were  to  Salesbury's  ears,  sounds  differing 
only  in  duration.  And  as  there  could  be  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  short  a  was  then,  as  it  still  is  generally  in  the  provinces, 
and  is  admitted  to  be  by  some  of  our  orthoepists  in  a  great 
number  of  words,1  the  true  Italian  (a),  so  we  are  led  to  con- 
conclude  that  the  long  a  was  also  the  true  Italian  (aa),  to 
Salesbury. 

1568.  SIE  T.  SMITH  says:   "A  igitur  Latinum  Angli  habent  tarn 
breue  quam  lowgum,"  and  after  giving  some  examples,  adds:   "  et 
alia  sexcenta,  vbi  nullius  literarum  sonus  auditur  in  lingua  nostrati 
nisi  a  vocalis  Romanae  longae  breuisque." 

This  ought  to  be  decisive,  but  unfortunately  we  shall  find 
that  Smith  considered  the  Latin  i  long  to  be  the  English  i 
long,  that  is  (ei)  according  to  Salesbury,  and  hence  he  might 
have  considered  the  Latin  a  long  to  be  (ee)  as  in  England  to 
this  day.  Hence  it  is  only  by  comparison  with  Salesbury 
and  others  that  we  can  interpret  his  examples  thus  : — • 

11 A  Ireuis  (man)  homo,  (far)  longe,  (nat)  petaso  aut  galems,  (mar) 
corrampere,  (pas)  superare,  (bar)  vectis,  (bak)  dorsum. 

"A  long  a  (maan)  juba  equi,  (faarwel)  vale  bene,  (naat)  odisse, 
(maar)  equa,  (paas)  passus,  (baar)  nudus,  (baak)  in  furno  eoquere." 

The  words  (man,  baak)  being  given  in  Salesbury  interpret 
all  the  rest.  Smith  does  not  give  the  ordinary  spelling,  but 
always  adds  the  Latin  signification. 

1569.  HAET,  in  describing  the  "due  and  auncient  soundes"  of  the 
five  vowels,  says  of  A,  "  the  first,  with  wyde  opening  the  mouth, 
as  when  a  man  yauneth,"  and  he  identifies  it  with  the  German, 
Italian,  French,  Spanish,  and  Welsh  a. 

This  identification  has  the  misfortune  of  being  too  wide 
and  again  leaving  us  in  doubt  as  to  (a,  a,  se).  But  (aa,  a) 
seems  the  most  probable.  Still  Gill's  censure  of  Hart,  which 
we  shall  find  justified  for  ai,  would  make  us  doubtful  of  a, 
were  not  Hart  confirmed  by  Palsgrave  and  Salesbury. 

1  Those  of  which  staff,  bath,  bask,  demand,  are  types.  Other  orthoepists,  how- 
ever, prefer  (ah)  in  these  words. 


64  A  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

1580.  BULLOKAB  says,  "that  there  be  eight  vowels  of  differing 
sounds  in  Inglish  speech :  may  appeere  by  these  wordes  following, 
wherein  are  eight  notes  in  voice  differing  one  from  another  as  diners 
notes  in  musicke." 

The  words  are  given  in  his  phonetic  orthography  and  are 
arranged  in  this  order,  "  to  lack,  to  leak,  a  leek,  to  lick,  a 
lock,  to  look,  luck,  Luke,"  which,  for  reasons  which  will 
appear  hereafter,  I  believe  are  meant  for  (tu  lak,  tu  leek, 
a  liik,  tu  Kk,  a  lok,  tu  luuk,  kk,  Lyyk).  The  long  a,  the 
short  e,  and  the  long  i,  all  of  which  Bullokar  uses,  are  not 
noted  in  this  list.  Bullokar's  sign  for  (ii)  is  a  modification 
of  (e),  and  hence  there  is  no  security  that  he*  should  have 
considered  (aa)  to  be  the  long  of  (a),  although  he  so  notes 
it.  Perhaps  his  observation  that  a  b  dfk  are  the  only  "  per- 
fectly perfect"  letters,  that  is,  used  according  to  their  alpha- 
betic names  on  all  occasions,  is  meant  to  imply  that  long  a 
is  the  sound  of  short  a  produced. 

1621.  Gill  says,  "In  e  et  0,  duplicatis,  sonns  a  proprio  aliquantu- 
Inm  distat ;  vt  in  GUIN  laqueus,1  et  GREENE  viridis,  sonus  vnus  est, 
sed  in  voce  priori  correptns,  in  altera  longus.  Sic  in  BTJCKE  hie  dama, 
et  BOOKE  liber :  neque  in  his  vlla  soni  differentia  est,  prater  illam 
quae  in  quantitate  percipitur." 

As  then  he  has  a  proper  feeling  for  vowel  pairs,  we  may 
feel  sure  that,  when  he  says — 

"A,  est  tennis,  ant  lata :  tennis,  ant  brevis  est  vt  in  (taloou) 
TALLOWE  sebnm,  ant  deducta,  nt  in  (taal)  TALE  fabnla  ant  com- 
pntns  :  lata,  vt  in  (tAAl)  TALLE  procerus — " 

the  two  first  sounds  really  only  differ  in  length,  but  the  last 
differs  in  quality.  "We  cannot,  however,  feel  sure  that  the 
two  first  sounds  were  (a,  aa)  as  written  above.  In  fact,  the 
sounds  (ae,  aase)  must  have  begun  to  be  prevalent  at  the  time 
Gill  wrote,  and  it  is  only  because  he  decidedly  opposed  in- 
novations that  I  consider  he  really  pronounced  (a,  aa)  as  was 
probably  customary  in  the  days  of  his  youth.8 

1633.  BUTLER  (translating  his  phonetic  spelling)  says  :  "  A  is  in 
English,  as  in  all  other  languages,  the  first  vowel,  and  the  first 
letter  of  the  Alphabet ;  the  which,  like  i  and  w,  hath  two  sounds, 
one  when  it  is  short,  an  other  when  long,  as  in  man  and  mane,  hat 
and  hate." 

1  In  Levins,  1670,  we  have  "Grinne,      Pet.  Why  there's  a  wench:  Come  on, 
pedica,"  on  which  Mr.  Wheatley  cites  and  kisse  mee  Kate. 

Cotgrave,  "  Lags,  a  snare,  ginn  or  Luc.  "Well  go  thy  waies  olde  Lad  for 
grinn."  thou  shalt  ha't. 

2  Shakspere's  rhyme  at  the  close  of  indicates     the     pronunciation    (kaat, 
Taming  the  Shrew,  according   to   the  naa-t). 

folio  1623,— 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  65 

I  cannot  find  any  confirmation  of  this  even  in  later  writers, 
until  the  time  of  Cooper,  1685,  who  admits  a  double  use  of  a 
long,  pairing  can  cast,  ken  cane,  as  will  be  presently  con- 
sidered. What  Butler's  pair  was,  whether  (aeae,  a)  or  (aa,  ae) 
I  cannot  guess.  But  as  his  book  was  published  about  the 
time  when  a  began  to  change  from  (a)  to  (ge),  he  probably 
did  not  adopt  either  of  the  true  pairs  (aa,  a)  or  (aeae,  ae). 

The  effect  of  the  L,  N",  Nge,  Sh  upon  a  preceding  A, 
changing  it  to  (au,  ai)  or  (AA,  ee)  will  be  most  conveniently 
considered  under  Au,  Ai  and  the  above  consonants.  Omit- 
ting these  from  consideration,  the  best  conclusion  I  have 
been  able  to  draw  from  a  consideration  of  the  preceding 
authorities  after  repeated  examination  of  all  their  passages 
bearing  even  remotely  on  the  subject,  is  that — 

A  long  and  A  short  during  the  xvi  th  century  had  in 
general  the  sounds  of  (aa,  a) ;  but  (aa,  a)  may  have  been 
frequent  at  the  beginning  and  (aah,  ah)  towards  the 
close  of  that  period. 

A  —  xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

1640.  BEN  JONSON  says:  "A,  with  us,  in  most  words  is  pro- 
nounced lesse,  then  the  French  d,  as  in,  art.  act.  apple,  ancient.  But, 
when  it  comes  before  L  in  the  end  of  a  syllable,  it  obtaineth  the  full 
French  sound,  and  is  utter 'd  with  the  mouth,  and  throat  wide 
open'd,  the  tongue  bent  backe  from  the  teeth,  as  in  al.  smal.  gal. 
fal.  tal.  cal." 

The  description  of  French  d  would  answer  for  either  (a) 
or  (A).  Although  the  sound  had  perhaps  not  broadened  more 
than  to  («)  during  Jonson's  lifetime,  it  would  not  be  safe  to 
assume  any  other  sound  than  (A)  for  Ben  Jonson's  concep- 
tion of  the  French  sound,  which  must  have  been  opener  than 
the  English.  The  precise  value  of  the  latter,  however,  is  not 
fixed;  but  as  Jonson  was  born  in  1574,  his  pronunciation  was 
probably  that  of  the  close  of  the  xvi  th  century,  and  he  there- 
fore perhaps  retained  (aa,  a). 

1653-1699.  WALLIS  is  the  great  authority  for  the  fully 
developed  pronunciation  of  the  xvn  th  century.  He  recog- 
nizes nine  vowels,  being,  according  to  my  interpretation, 
three  guttural  (A,  03,  a),  three  palatal  (ae,  e,  i),  and  three 
labial  (o,  u,  y),  so  that  the  sounds  of  (a,  a)  are  both  lost.  The 
sound  (A)  occurs  only  in  the  combinations  al,  au,  aw,  under 
which  it  will  be  considered.  Of  the  palatal  vowels  he  says  : 

"  Yocales  Palatinae  in  Palato  formantur,  aere  scilicet  inter  palati 
et  linguae  medium  moderate  compresso :  Durn  nempe  concavum 


66  A  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

palati,  elevato  linguae  medio,  minus  redditur,  quam  in  gutturalibus 
proferendis.  Suntque  in  triplici  gradu,  prout  concavum  magis 
minusve  contrahitur.  Quae  quidem  diversitas  duobus  modis  fieri 
potest ;  vel  fauces  contrahendo,  manente  lingua  in  eodem  situ ;  vel 
faucibus  in  eodem  situ  manentibus,  linguae  medium  altius  et  ad 
interiores  palati  partes  elevando  :  utrovis  enim  modo  fiat,  vel  etiam 
si  utroque,  perinde  est. 

"  Majori  apertura  formatur  Anglorum  a,  hoe  est  a  exile.  Q-uale 
auditur  in  vocibus,  bat,  vespertilio  ;  bate,  discordia  ;  pal,  palla  Epis- 
copalis;  pale,  pallidus;  Sam  (Samuelis  contractio) ;  same,  idem 
lam b,  agnus  ;  lame,  claudus ;  dam,  mater  (brutorum) ;  dame,  domina ; 
bar,  vectis ;  bare,  nudus ;  ban,  exsecror ;  bane,  pernicies ;  etc. 
Differt  hie  sonus  a  Germanorum  d  pingui  seu  aperto  ;  eo  quod 
Angli  linguae  medium  elevent,  adeoque1  aerem  in  Palato  compri- 
mant;  Germani  vero  linguae  medium  deprimant,  adeoque  aerem 
comprimant  in  gutture.  Galli  fere  sonum  ilium  proferunt  ubi  e 
praecedit  literam  m  vel  n,  in  eadem  syllaba  ut  entendement,  etc. 
Cambro-Britanni,  hoc  sono  solent  suum  a  pronunciare."  Here  the 
paragraph  ends  in  the  editions  of  1653,  1664,  1674,  which  are  all 
I  have  been  able  to  find  that  were  published  during  Wallis's  life 
time  ;  but  the  Oxford  reprint  of  1765  adds  the  words  :  "  Italique 
suum."  Again  he  says  in  another  place  "A  plerumque  pronuncia- 
tur  sono  magis  exili  quam  apud  alias  plerasque  gentes  :  eodem  fere 
modo  quo  Gallorum  e  sequente  n  in  voce  entendement,  sed  paulo 
acutius  et  clarius ;  seu  ut  a  Italorum.  ]STon  autem  ut  Germanorum 
d  pingue ;  quern  sonum  nos  plerumque  exprimere  solemus  per  au 
vel  aw,  si  producatur ;  aut  per  d  breve  si  corripiatur." 

Now  if  we  omit  the  reference  to  the  Italian,  and  confine 
ourselves  to  the  description,  it  certainly  ought  to  give  (ae) 
rather  than  (a).  The  tongue  is,  of  course,  more  raised  for  (a) 
than  for  (a)  or  (A).  The  two  latter  are  low  vowels,  the  for- 
mer is  a  mid  vowel,  but  all  are  back  vowels,  that  is,  the 
nearest  approach  of  the  tongue  and  palate  is  made  with  the 
back  not  the  middle  of  the  tongue,  as  Wallis  strictly  points 
out.  The  three  vowels  made  with  the  middle  of  the  tongue, 
disregarding  the  effect  of  widening,  are  (ae,  e,  i),  or,  taking 
the  widening  into  effect,  the  three  normal  (E,  e,  i)  and  the 
three  wide  (33,  e,  i).  Of  these  (33)  has  the  greater  opening, 
"majori  apertura  formatur."  With  this  view  agrees  the 
pairs  of  words  he  gives,  which  must  have  been  either  (aa,  a) 
or  (9933,  83).  That  a  change  was  taking  place  we  have  seen 
by  the  citation  from  Butler,  (p.  64)  and  it  will  appear  by 
Miege,  (p.  71)  that  the  sounds  (3333,  33)  were  fully  established 
in  1688,  before  the  death  of  Wallis,  and  this  view  agrees  with 
all  the  following  accounts.  At  the  present  day  the  sounds  (a, 
aa)  are  almost  unknown  in  the  pronunciation  of  many  per- 

1  The  Oxford  reprint  erroneously  inserts  in. 


CHAP.  III.  §3.  A  XVII TH   CENTURY.  67 

sons,1  and  except  in  a  few  classes  of  words  they  are  unknown 
among  those  who  pride  themselves  on  exact  speaking.  Hence 
we  need  not  feel  surprised  that  the  fashion  of  (a,  aa)  had  en- 
tirely gone  out  in  Wallis's  time,  and  had  been  supplanted 
by  (ae,  sese.)  Nor  is  there  any  other  period  to  which  the 
change,  which  certainly  occurred,  can  be  distinctly  traced. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  Somersetshire  where  the 
sound  of  (seae)  is  very  common,  replacing  all  sounds  of  (aa) 
in  use  in  the  east  of  England,  as  (Bseseth,  baeses'ket,  seaesk, 
kaeae-id,  naeaejd)  =  Bath,  basket,  ask,  card,  hard,  the  sound  of 
(AA)  or  (oj)  degenerates  into  (aa)  or  (aaj),  as  (laa,  draa, 
kaaid)  =  law,  draw,  cord.2  But  in  Wallis's  time  the  true 
sound  of  (AA)  and  not  (aa)  is  guaranteed  by  his  vowel  pairs, 
"  fall  folly,  call  collar,  cause  cost,  aw'd  odd,  saw'd  sod." 

The  reference  to  the  French  entendement  is  of  very  little 
assistance.  We  know  how  the  present  English  stumble  over 
the  French  nasals.  We  may  hear  now  (ontondmon,  oqtoqd- 
moq,  seqtseqdmaeq),  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  determine  what 
is  the  oral  basis  of  the  orinasal  vowel,  so  strangely  is  it  modi- 
fied by  the  nasal  vibration.  Most  French  writers  refer  the 
sound  to  (a),  thus  (aA),  but  English  people  refer  it  to  (o), 
thus  (OA),  very  few  keeping  it  distinct  from  on  (OA,  OA  ?)  As 
frequent  allusions  will  be  made  to  the  four  French  nasals  in 
vin,  an,  on,  un,  which  are  palaeotypically  represented  by  (eA, 
aA,  OA,  9A),  it  may  here  be  stated  that  Dr.  Rapp  writes  (EA,. 
aA,  OA,  03A  aA),  M.  Feline  seems  to  mean  (EA,  aA,  OA,  aA), 
Mr.  Melville  Bell  uses  (SBA,  ohA,  ohA,  SA),  M.  Favarger,  a 
Swiss  gentleman,  who  has  carefully  studied  the  relation  of 
French  and  English  sounds,  gives  as  the  normal  sounds  (EA, 
aA,  OA,  ah  A).  The  differences  are  here  more  apparent  than 
real,  and  probably  all  sets  may  be  heard  coexisting  in  France 
at  the  present  day. 

The  reference  to  Welsh  indicates  certainly  a  very  thin 
palatal  (a)  which  must  have  closely  approached  to  the  (SB), 
if  not  exactly  reached  it,  (p.  61  n.).  The  final  reference  to 
the  Italian  may  have  arisen  from  Wallis's  mispronouncing  the 
Italian  long  a,  making  it  as  thin  as  the  English  long  a. 

1  Walker,  1732-1807,  says  that  "the  mar,  &c.,  and  in  the  word  father"— 

second  sound  of  a  ...  answers  nearly  to  Principles,  77. 

the  Italian  a  in  Toscano,  Romana  &c.,  2  The  fact  was  first  forced  on  ray  at- 

or  to  the  final  a,  in  the   naturalized  tention  by  being  asked  in  Bath  for  a 

Greek  words  papa  and  mamma ;  and  in  piece  of  card  as  I  imagined,  when  a 

baa  ;  the  word  adopted  in  almost  all  piece  of  cord  was  really  wanted.    Other 

languages  to  express  the  cry  of  sheep.  old  pronunciations  in  use  at  Bath,  are 

We  seldom  find  the  long  sound  of  this  (fair)  fair,  (keez)  keys,  (beek-n)  beacon, 

letter  in  our  language,  except  in  mono-  but  (haeaek'n)  bacon;  while  (AA)  almost 

syllables  ending  with  r,   as  far,   tar,  reappears  in  (noou)  know. 


68  A  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

In  Ireland,  where  we  shall  see  that  the  English  pronuncia- 
tion consorts  in  many  other  respects  also  with  that  of  the 
xviith  century,  the  name  sound  of  the  first  letter  of  the 
alphabet  is  (aeae),  as  was  spontaneously  pointed  out  to  me 
by  an  Irish  clergyman,  the  five  vowels  a  e  i  o  u  being  called 
(aeae,  ee,  ei,  oo,  Juu),  instead  of  (ee,  ii,  si,  oo,  juu).  A  Danish 
lady  informed  me  that  the  sound  of  (seae)  in  lieu  of  (aa)  was 
fashionable  in  Copenhagen.  That  the  transition  is  easy  and 
is  not  much  perceived  by  the  generality  of  speakers  is  evident 
from  the  present  scarcely  noticed  co-existence  of  both  sounds.1 
But  the  transition  from  the  xvi  th  century  (aa)  to  the  XVITI  th 
and  xix  th  century  (ee,  ee)  is  scarcely  intelligible  without 
the  intermediate  (seae). 

1668.  WiLKors,  after  describing  the  vowel  (AA)  as  formed  with 
the  tongue  in  "  a  more  concave  posture  and  removed  further  from  the 
palate,",  says  that  "the  Yowel  a  is  framed  by  an  emission  of  the 
Breath,  betwixt  the  tongue  and  the  concave  of  the  palate ;  the  upper 
superficies  of  the  tongue  being  rendered  less  concave,  and  at  a  less 
distance  from  the  palate,"  and  he  does  not  allow  of  any  convexity 
of  the  tongue  till  he  reaches  (ee). 

Now  it  is  only  for  some  very  unusual  mixed  vowels  that 
there  is  any  approach  to  a  concavity  of  the  tongue,  with 
respect  to  the  palate,  so  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  theoretical 
error.  His  description  must  be  considered  to  leave  the 
question  of  (ae,  a)  in  doubt.  Although  it  will  be  seen  that 
Wilkins  and  Wallis  occasionally  disagree,  I  am  inclined  to 
interpret  Wilkins  in  this  case  by  Wallis,  and  to  consider  that 
Wilkins's  examples  batt  bate,  val-ley  vale,  fatt  fate,  mat  mate, 
pal  pale,  Rad-nor  T-rade,  implied  the  pairs  (baet  baeaet,  vael'i, 
vaeael,  faet  faeaet,  maet  maeaet,  pael  paeael,  Raednur  traeaed) . 

1669.  HOLDER  writing  at  the  same  time  says  "  "We  may  imagine 
the  vowel  a  to  be  made  by  the  freest  and  openest  passage  of  the 
throat  through  the  mouth  and  so  to  have  a  kind  of  natural  articula- 
tion without  art,  only  by  opening  the  mouth  ;  a  to  be  a  little  strait- 
ened by  the  boss  of  the  tongue  near  the  throat,  and  therefore  if  you 
try  to  pass  from  a  to  a  you  will  find  you  thrust  the  end  of  your 
tongue  something  forward  to  raise  the  boss  of  the  tongue  towards  the 
palate  to  straiten  the  passage."     "In  a  the  mouth  is  more  open, 
in  a.  e.  i.  the  straitenings  of  the  concavity  of  the  mouth  between 
the  tongue  and  palate  are  gradual,  both  forward  &  nearer  the  roof." 

By  actual  trial,  I  find  that  this  would  serve  just  as  well 
to  distinguish  (a,  ae),  (AA,  aa),  or  (AA,  aeae).  It  is  therefore 
not  decisive.  The  illustrative  words  for  a  are  fall  folly,  for 
a  axe  fate  fat. 

1  The  words  class,  staff,  demand,  are      even  (ah,  oh)  are  in  occasional  use  by 
pronounced  with   (aa,  a,  ah,  aah,  ae,       others, 
sese),  by  different  careful  speakers,  and 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  69 

1685.  COOPER  seems  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a  change 
which  was  not  complete  till  the  next  century,  and  does  not 
appear  to  be  noticed  by  Miege  or  even  Jones,  for  he  gives 
two  sounds  to  a  long,  generally  (aeae)  as  I  conjecture,  and 
occasionally  (ee).  In  this  respect  Cooper  bears  a  resemblance 
to  Hart,  who  anticipated  the  general  pronunciation  of  ai  as 
(ee)  by  a  century.  Cooper  says : 

"A  f ormatur  a  medio  linguae  ad  concavum  palati  paululum  elevato. 
In  his  can  possum,  pass  ly  praetereo,  a  corriptur;  in  cast  jaceo,1  past 
pro  passed  prasteritus,  producitur.  Frequentissimus  auditur  hie 
sonus  apud  Anglos,  qui  semper  hoc  modo  pronunciant  a  latinum ;  ut 
in  amabam.  Sic  etiam  apud  Cambrolritannos ;  quandoqwtf  apud 
G olios ;  ut  in  animal,  demande,  raro  autem  aut  nunquam  apud 
Germanos.  Hunc  sonum  correptum  &  productum  semper  scribimus 
per  a  ;  at  huic  character!  praaterea  adhibentur  sonus  unus  &  alter  : 
prior,  qui  pro  vocali  ejus  longa  habetur  ut  in  cane,  definitur  sect, 
sequenti ;  posterior  ut  in  was  sect,  septima  sub  o  gutturalem." 

He  here  implies  that  cane  although  considered  the  long 
of  can  is  not  so.  He  also  for  the  first  time  makes  was  = 
(WAZ),  whereas  Wilkins  wrote  aaz  =  (ueez)  meaning  (wsez). 
These  are  both  anticipations.  He  implies  that  though  short 
(ae)  was  common,  long  (aese)  was  uncommon,  and  identifies 
the  sound  with  that  of  the  Welsh  a,  which  he  must  have  taken 
as  (3383).  He  allows  that  it  "  sometimes"  is  in  use  in  French, 
in  which  language  it  is  to  be  supposed  he  called  a  generally 
(AA).  The  two  examples  animal,  demande  are  insufficient  to 
give  assistance.  He  says  that  it  never  occurs  among  the 
Germans.  The  present  German  sound  in  great  part  of  Ger- 
many is  (aa,  a),  and  in  Austria  it  becomes  (aah,  a)  or  perhaps 
(A A,  A).  But  throughout  North  Germany  the  sounds  (aa,  a) 
are  constantly  heard  from  the  more  educated  and  refined 
speakers,  and  though  Schmeller  distinguishes  the  Italian  from 
the  common  German  a,  neither  Rapp  nor  Lepsius  notice  the 
difference.2  Yet  in  the  xvn  th  century  the  general  impression 
seems  to  have  been  that  the  French  and  Germans  said  (A A). 
Was  this  really  the  case  ?  I  think  not.3  I  would  rather  trace 

1  Misprint  for  jacio?  by  the  researches  of  Seyffarth,  Liscov, 

2  Schmeller,  Die  Mundarten  Bayerns,  etc.,  that  long  a  in   Greek  had  the 
Miinchen  1821,  Nos.  62.    66.     Rapp,  sound  of  Italian  a  in  amare,  that  is, 
Physiologic  der  Sprache,  passim.   Lep-  (aa).    And  then  he  immediately  said, 
sius,  Standard  Alphabet,  London  and  "the  long  a  should  always  be  pro- 
Berlin,  1863,  especially  p.  50,  where  nounced  like  the  English  aw  or  au,  as 
the  English  sounds  are  taken  into  con-  in  cawl,   maul,   etc.,"   that   is,    (AA). 
sideration.  (Proceedings  of  the  Eoyal  Institution, 

3  Mr.  Blackie,  the  Professor  of  Greek  vol.  v.  p.  149.)     Here  then  we  have  a 
in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  when  recent  example  of  a  lecturer  upon  pro- 
lecturing  on  the  pronunciation  of  Greek  nunciation,  confusing  the  two  sounds(aa, 
before  the  Eoyal  Institution,  3rd  May,  AA).  We  must  not  expect  our  ancestors 
1867,  said  that  it  had  been  established  to  have  been  much  more  particular. 


70  A  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

it  to  the  loss  of  the  pure  (aa,  a)  in  refined  English,  and  its 
separation  into  (AA)  on  the  one  hand,  and  (3333,  33)  on  the 
other.  To  those  accustomed  to  say  (sea),  AA)  the  intermediates 
(aa,  aa)  would  both  be  referred  to  (AA)  rather  than  (3333). 

The  opinion  that  a  long  had  become  (3333)  seems  to  derive 
additional  force  from  the  fact,  first  mentioned  by  Cooper, 
that  a  long  had  in  many  words  become  (ee).  He  says — 

"E  formatur  a  lingua  magis  elevata  et  expansa  quam  in  a 
proprius  ad  extremitatem,  unde  concavum  palati  minus  redditur  & 
sonus  magis  acutus ;  ut  in  ken  video.  Sic  apud  Germanos  menschen 
homines.  Apud  Gallos  raro  at  in  exces,  proteste,  session,  &  Benjamin 
obsolete.  Hunc  sonum  correptum  Angli  semper  exprimunt  per  e 
brevem;  &  e  brevem  nunquam  aliter  pronunciant  nisi  ante  r,  ubi 
propter  tremulam  ipsius  motionem,  &  vocalis  subtilitatem  subita  cor- 
reptione  comitatam,  vix  aliter  efferri  potest  quam  ur ;  ideo  per  in 
pertain  pertineo,  &  pur  in  purpose  propositum  ejusdem  sunt  valoris. 
Yera  hujusce  soni  productio  scribitur  per  a,  atque  a  longum  falso 
denominatur ;  ut  it  cane  canna,  wane  deflecto ;  &  ante  ge  ut  age 
aetas;  in  caBteris  autem  vocabulis,  (nifallor)  omnibus  ubi  e  quiescens 
ad  finem  syllabaB  post  a,  adjicitur ;  u  gutturalis  . . .  inseritur  post  a  ; 
ut  in  name  nomen,  quasi  scriberetur  na-um  dissyllabum,"  He  pro- 
ceeds to  say  that  this  sound  is  usually  written  ai  or  ay,  sometimes 
ey  and  rarely  ea. 

Here  we  have  two  curious  facts,  first  the  clear  recognition 
of  an  (EE)  sound  of  long  a,  and  secondly  the  insertion  of  (a) 
after  (EE)  in  all  but  a  certain  class  of  words.  Thus  cane, 
name  •=.  (kEEn,  nEEom).  The  peculiarity  here  is,  that  so  far 
from  inserting  (e)  in  modern  times,  the  tendency  is  to  palat- 
ize  the  sound  still  more  by  inserting  (i)  thus  (neeim). 
Cooper  returns  to  this  point  again,  saying — 

"  Post  a  in  omnibus,  nisi  in  cane  canna,  wane  denecto,  stranger 
advena,  strange  alienus,  manger  praBsepe,  mangy  scabiosus,  &  ante 
ge  ;  ut  age  aetas;  inseritur  u  gutturalis,  quaB  nihil  aliud  est  quam 
continuatio  nudi  murmuris  postquam  a  formatur,  nam  propter  exili- 
tatem,  ni  accuratius  attenditur  ;  ad  proximam  consonantem,  sine 
interveniente  u  non-facil£  transibit  lingua.  Differentia  auribus,  qua? 
sonos  distinguere  possunt,  manifesto  apparebit  in  exemplis  sequenti 
ordine  dispositis. 

a  brevis.  a  longa.  .  a  exilis. 

B&r  vectis  Bwge  navicula  Bare  nudus 

ll&b  effutio  ll&st  flatus  llazon  divulgo 

cap  pileum  c&rking  anxietas  cape  capa 

car  carrus  carp  carpo  care  cura 

cat  catus  cast  jactus  case  theca 

dash  allido  ^ar^jaculum  date  dactylus..; 

flash  fulguro  flasket  corbis  genus  flake  flocculus 

gash  caesura  gasp  oscito  gate  janua 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  XVII TH   CENTURY.  71 

a  brevis  a  longa  a  exilis 

grand  grandis  grant  concedo  grange  villa 

land  terra  lanch  solvo  lane  viculus 

mash  farrago  mask  larva  mason  lapidarius 

pat  aptus  path  semita  pate  caput 

tar  pix  fluida  tart  scriblita  tares  lolia 

Si  quid  amplius  ad  hanc  veritatem  confirmandam  velles,  accipe 
exempla  sequentia;  in  quibus  ai  leniter  pronunciata  sonum  habet 
a  pura3 ;  ut  in  cane,  a  verb  post  se  admittit  u  gutturalem  ut, 
Bain  balneum  Hail  grando  Maid  virgo 

lane  venenum  hale  traho  made  factus 

main  magnus  lay'n  jacui  pain  dolor 

mane  juba  lane  viculus  pane  quadra 

plain  manifestus        spaid  castratus  tail  cauda 

plane  lasvigo  spade  ligo  tale  fabala." 

Here  I  interpret  a  brevis  =  ( se),  a  longa  =  (sese),  a  exilis 
=  (EE),  thus  (bser,  bseserdzh,  bEEr),  and  in  the  last  list  I  read 
(bEEn  bEEan,  mEEn  mEEan,  plEEn  plEE0n)  or  (bEEn  bEEJn),etc. 

1688.  MIEGE  says  :  Dans  la  langue  Anglaise  cette  voyelle  A 
s'appelle  et  se  prononce  ai.  Lors  qu'elle  est  jointe  avec  d'autres 
Lettres,  elle  retient  ce  m£me  Son  dans  la  plupart  des  Mots  ;  mais  il 
se  prononce  tantot  long,  tantot  bref.  L'0  se  prononce  en  ai  long 
generalement  lorsqu'il  est  suivi  immediatement  d'une  consonne,  et 
d'une  e  final.  Exemple  fare,  tare,  care,  grace,  fable,  qui  se  pronon- 

cent  ainsi,  faire,  taire,  caire,  graice,  faible D'ailleurs,  a  se 

pronounce  en  ai  bref  ou  en  e  ouvert,  lorsqu'il  se  trouve  entre  deux 
Consonnes,  au  milieu  des  Monosyllabes ;  comme  hat,  cap,  mad.  Mais 
il  approche  du  Son  de  notre  a,  a  la  fin  des  Noms  en  al,  ar,  &  ard 
qui  ont  plus  d'une  syllabe.  Exemple  general,  special,  animal, 
Grammar,  altar,  singular,  particular ;  mustard,  custard,  bastard, 
vizard,  &  autres  semblables.  Excepte  regard,  qui  se  prononce  re- 

gaird ;  award  &  reward  ou  il  sonne  comme  en  Prangais Dans 

le  mot  de  Jane  Va  se  prononce  on  e  masculin,  Dgene" 

To  understand  this  we  must  remember  that  English  hat, 
cap,  mad  were  never,  and  are  not  now,  called  (HEt,  ksp,  mEd) 
but  that  Frenchmen,  and  even  Germans,  do  not  distinguish 
them  from  these  sounds.  Indeed  the  true  sounds  (naet,  kaep, 
msed)  only  differ  from  the  former  by  the  widening  of  the 
pharyngal  aperture.  My  own  pronunciation  of  (se)  has  been 
constantly  misunderstood,  and  considered  as  (e)  or  (E).  As 
to  the  long  sound  (sese)  it  is  now  so  little  known  in  the  East 
of  England  and  on  the  continent,  that  it  would  be  invariably 
taken  for  (EE)  or  (ee).  When  then  Miege  distinguishes 
Jane  =  Dgene  (Dzheen)  from  grace  =  graice  (grees,  grEEs), 
we  may  feel  pretty  sure  that,  since  in  modern  English  (grEEs) 
is  as  difficult  to  English  organs  as  (grasses)  would  be  to 


72  A  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

French  organs,  the  words  containing  a  to  which  he  assigns  ai 
long  and  short,  were  really  pronounced  with  (3333,  33). 

As  to  those  words  in  which  he  considered  the  a  to  be  pro- 
nounced as  in  French,  we  know  they  had  the  sound  (AA)  and 
not  (aa)  and  we  also  know  that  at  present  most  Frenchmen 
pronounce  our  (AA)  as  (aa)  or  (aa),  neglecting  the  labial 
effect.  The  exception  regard,  was  probably  (re^aeaerd*),  with 
the  palatal  (<jr)  which  is  still  so  prevalent  in  this  word,  and 
which,  may  have  caused  the  pure  sound  of  (3333)  to  be  pre- 
served. Whether  the  sound  of  (aa)  occurred  in  mustard, 
custard,  etc.,  we  cannot  tell.  At  any  rate,  this  notice  is 
not  sufficient  to  establish  the  fact. 

1701.  JONES'S  book  is  so  curiously  arranged  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  determine  the  sound  of  a  long  from  ifc  except  by  in- 
ference. It  is  certain  that  at  this  time  ai  was  sounded  (ee) 
or  (ee),  probably  the  former.  When  Jones  therefore  gives 
a  list  of  words  in  which  ai  has  the  sound  of  a,  but  may  be 
sounded  as  ai,  he  certainly  distinguishes  the  two  sounds. 
That  is  although  in  some  words  ai  was  by  some  people 
sounded  as  a,  this  was  not  universal  or  considered  best,  even 
in  those  words.  They  are  Abigail,  aid,  bargain,  captain, 
certain,  chair,  complaisant,  fair,  glair,  hair,  laid,  maid,  pain, 
pair,  plaister,  stairs,  etc.,  (32  examples  are  given)  of  which 
plaister  is  now  generally  pronounced  (plaas'ti).  Then  he 
adds  this  note : 

"  The  capacity  of  being  sounded  ai  distinguishes  them  from  such 
as  are  written  with  an  a  ;  because  these  cannot  be  sounded  ai,  as  are, 
chare,  fare,  glare,  hare,  lade,  made,  pane,  pare,  stares,  etc." 

Again,  the  question,  "  when  is  the  sound  of  ai  written  a  ?" 
is  not  asked,  and  the  answer  to  the  question,  "  when  is  the 
sound  of  e  written  a  ?"  is  only  answered  by  the  cases  of  un- 
accented -ar  as  altar,  beggar,  emissary,  bastard,  etc.  As  then 
Jones  could  not  have  said  (ee)  or  (aa),  I  conclude  that  he  said 
(aaae),  and  this  agrees  with  the  fact  that  Jones  only  recog- 
nizes two  sounds  of  a  as  in  an,  as,  at,  and  as  in  all,  ball,  so 
that  his  sound  of  a  long,  when  evidently  not  (AA),  should  be 
the  long  sound  of  his  a  in  at  which  was  certainly  (93). 
From  all  these  considerations  I  conclude  that 

a  short  was  (33)  very  early  in  the  xvn  th  century,  and 
that  it  has  retained  that  sound  to  this  day,  except  in  the 
provinces,  and  also  that  a  long  was  generally  (3303)  from 
at  least  the  middle  of  the  xvn  th  century  to  its  close, 
although  about  the  close  it  began  to  degenerate  into  (ee) 
in  many  words.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  sound 
of  (aa)  may  have  remained  unrecognized  before  r  when 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  XVII TH   CENTURY.  73 

not  followed  by  a  vowel,  and  even  in  several  of  those 
words,  as  bath,  ask,  grant,  etc.,  because  it  may  still  be  so 
heard  in  the  xix  th  century. 

Rhymes  at  the  latter  end  of  the  xvi  th  and  during  the 
xvn  th  centuries  are  not  of  much  use  in  determining  sound, 
unless  they  are  frequent  usual  normal  rhymes.  Thus  from 
Shakspere's  rhymes  in — 

Venus  and  Adonis  v.  47,  broken  open,  134  voice  juice,  419  young 
strong,  592  neck  back,  773  nurse  worse;  and  in  Lucrece  v.  13 
beauties  duties,  62  fight  white,  72  field  killed,  78  tongue  wrong, 
113  hither  weather,  303  ward  regard  heard,  408  blue  knew,  554 
dally  folly,  Sonnet  20  created  defeated;  Lover's  Complaint  302 
matter  water ;  Passionate  Pilgrim  308  talk  halt, 

nothing  could  be  inferred.  But  when  on  looking  through 
the  whole  of  his  poems  (exclusive  of  his  plays)  I  find  only 
the  following  examples  of  long  a  rhyming  to  ai,  Venus  v.  271 
mane  again,  529  gait  late,  Lucrece  v.  6,  waist  chaste,  Sonnet 
128  state  gait,  of  which  gait  and  waist  are  only  modern  forms 
for  gate  waste,1  so  that  there  is  only  one  real  example  left 
(mane  again),  we  may  safely  conclude  that  Shakspere  pro- 
nounced the  sounds  differently,  that  is,  as  I  believe  (aa,  ai). 
When  in  the  xvnth  century,  a  long  and  ai  altered,  as  I 
think,  to  (aose,  aei)  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century  ai 
became  (eei)  or  (ee),  we  may  well  expect  to  find  these  rhymes 
more  abundant.  In  Milton's  rhymed  poems  I  find  only — 

Lycidas  care  hair,  raise  blaze  praize,  E  Allegro  maid  shade,  fail 
ale,  cares  airs,  II  penseroso  cares  airs,  state  gait,  fail  pale,  Arcades 
blaze,  praise,  Sonnets  8  spare  air  bare,  15  praise  amaze  raise  displays, 
19  state  wait,  20  air  .spare,  Nativity,  near  the  end,  pale  jail,  Fair 
Infant  air  care,  Solemn  Music  made  sway'd,  Anno  JEtatis  xix  (1627) 
aid  made,  Psalm  2  made  sway'd,  4  spare  prayer,  80  declare  prayer, 
laid  made,  83  said  invade,  strays  blaze,  88  prayer  are. 

These  cannot  be  considered  numerous  in  such  a  large  col- 
lection of  verses.  But  Milton's  contemporary  Waller  has, 
in  some  130  pages  of  his  works  which  I  have  examined,  21 

1  In  Merry  Wives,  act  i.,  sc.  3,  1.  41  dyl,"  and  Palsgrave  "wast  a  myddle;" 

(Globe  edn.)  according  to  the  old  quarto  the  word  is  not  in  Levins  in  this  sense, 

of  1619,  supposed  to  be  the  first  sketch,  In  the  same  4to.  of  1630,  act  1,  sc.  4, 

we  have  the  following  orthography  of  1.  31  (Globe  edn.)  and  act  3,  sc.  3, 1.  68, 

waist :  "Fal.  Well  my  honest  lads,  He  we  have  first  "  I  should  remember  him, 

tell  you  what  I  am  about.     Pis.  Two  do's  hee  not  hold  vp  his  head  (as  it 

yards  and  more.     Fal.  No  gibes  now  were?)  and  strut  in  his  gate?"  and 

Pistoll ;  indeed  I  am  two  yards  in  the  secondly  "  the  firme  fixture  of  thy  foote, 

waste,  but  now  I  am  about  no  waste :  would  give  an  excellent  motion  to  thy 

briefly,  I  am  about  thrift  you  rogues  gate  in  a  semicircled  farthingale."  I  do 

you."     In  the  quarto  of  1630  the  two  not  find  the  word   in  this    sense  in 

words  are  wast,  waste.     The  Promp-  Promptorium,  Palsgrave,  or  Levins, 
torium  has  "waste  of  a  mannyg  myd- 


74  A  —  XVIII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

cases  of  a  similar  kind.  Dryden  has  27  instances  in  his 
Fable  of  Palamon  and  Arcite  alone,  which  belonged  to  the 
close  of  the  xvn  th  century. 

Now  (aeae)  and  (ee)  are  not  very  unlike,  and  before  (j)  it 
is  difficult  to  distinguish  them,  as  care,  air  (kaeaei,  eei), 
especially  if  the  (ee)  be  deepened  into  (EE)  as  is  sometimes 
done.1  Hence  we  must  not  be  surprised  that  poets  to  whom, 
as  Byron  confesses 

"  sometimes 
Monarchs  are  less  imperious  than  rhymes," 

should  take  the  liberty  of  considering  these  sounds  as 
identical.  If  they  had  been  (sese,  eecei)  they  would  have 
passed  for  rhymes,  just  as  few  of  those  who  now  insert 
an  (i)  after  (ee)  as  in  (weeit,  streeit)  wait,  straight,  are  even 
aware  of  the  fact,  much  less  would  feel  that  the  rhyme 
were  injured,  if  others  said  (steet,  greet}  or  even  (steet,  greet) 
for  state,  great.  The  German  habit  of  rhyming  (oe,  e)  and 
(y,  i)  although  justified  by  the  pronunciation  of  the  unlettered, 
is  yet  admitted  by  the  best  poets.  In  this  case  the  vowels 
differ  by  the  important  distinction  of  labialisation,  whereas 
(EE,  seae)  as  they  may  have  been  sounded,  differ  only  by  the 
effect  of  widening,  which  is  constantly  disregarded. 

A  —  xvni  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  talks  of  the  "  short 
and  long  sound  common  to  all  the  vowels  in  rat  &  rate." 
This  ought  to  mean  that  these  words  were  (raet,  rseaet),  but 
with  a  person  so  destitute  of  real  phonetic  feeling,  (rset,  reet) 
might  have  been  thought  to  have  a  "  common  sound."  His 
expression  also  might  not  have  meant  that  the  long  sound 
and  the  short  sound  were  the  same.  The  following  passage 
is  noteworthy. 

"  Take  special  notice  that  the  Dipthong  ai  and  the  Yowel  a  are 
very  apt  to  be  mistaken,"  i.e.,  confused  one  for  the  other,  "  the 
Londoners,  affecting  (as  they  think)  a  finer  pronunciation,  would 
quite  lose  the  sound  of  the  proper  diphthong  ai,  as  too  broad  and 
clownish  for  their  fine  smooth  Tongues ;  but  the  honest  Countryman, 
not  to  say  our  Universities  will  (by  no  means)  part  with  authentick 
Custom,  time  out  of  mind,  according  to  its  natural  sound  ;  however, 
to  reconcile  this  difference,  you  must  be  sure  to  keep  close  to  the 

1  The  story  that    King  James  I.,  ye  sail  hae,"  and  united  the  hishoprics, 

wishing  to   bestow    the   bishopric    of  although  it  labours  under  the  historical 

either  Bath  or  Wells  on  a  west  country  difficulty  of  uniting  the  sees  500  years 

divine,  asked  him  which  he  would  have,  after  their  union,  serves  to  shew  the 

and  on  being  told  Batb  (Bseseth),  re-  near  coincidence  of  the  sounds, 
plied  "  Baith  (beeth)  say  ye,  then  baith 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  A  XVIII TH   CENTURY.  75 

orthography,  which  that  you  may  the  better  do ;  always  remember 
that  the  single  a  must  end  no  English  word ;  but  if  they  will  speak 
fine,  yet  be  sure  that  you  write  true,  by  adding  y,  not  da  but  day. 
Observe  that  tho'  many  times  this  Diphthong  ai  is  parted  in  proper 
names,  as  Ja-ir,  La-ish,  Sepharva-im  &c.  yet  i  is  usually  swallowed 
up,  in  the  sound  of  the  forgoing  a,  especially  when  the  word  ends 
in  ah  as  £enai-ah,  Serai-ah  &c.  the  i  is  not  sounded." 

This  feeble  attempt  to  keep  long  a  and  ai  apart  seems  to 
be  dictated  by  theoretical  grounds.  He  had  previously  said 
there  were  15  sounds :  "  five  short  and  five  long  sounds  be- 
longing to  the  vowels,  besides  five  such  proper  diphthongs  as 
make  five  other  distinct  sounds,  differing  from  the  foregoing 
ten  sounds."  And  lie  assigns  as  his  first  reason  for  admitting 
none  other  but  ai,  au,  oi,  oo,  and  ou  to  be  proper  diphthongs, 
that  "none  but  these  five  have  such  a  plain  distinct  sound, 
different  from  the  five  vowels."  Hence  it  was  important 
for  him  to  distinguish  long  a  and  ai,  though  in  pronunciation, 
the  utmost  difference  which  I  can  suppose  him,  with  bis 
palatal  tendencies,  to  have  made,  is  to  have  called  long  a  (ee) 
and  ai  (eei).  The  first  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  his 
identifying  his  long  a  with  the  vowel  in  there,  were,  where, 
which  was  certainly  (ee). 

1710.  DYCHE  distinctly  says  ai,  ay  =  a  in  care,  and  as 
Cooper  in  1685  had  given  the  pairs  sell  sail,  sent  saint,  tell 
tail,  tent  taint,  there  ought  to  be  no  doubt  that  at  tbis  time 
the  change  of  the  sound  of  long  a  from  (aa)  to  (ee)  was  fully 
established,  notwithstanding  that  Jones  only  nine  years  be- 
fore would  not  allow  that  long  a  was  pronounced  as  ai.  At 
the  same  date  as  Dyche,  the  anonymous  instructor  of  the 
Palatines  writes  the  words  I  make,  I  have,  care  in  German 
letters  ei  mdhk,  ei  hdhf,  kdhr  which  should  mean  (ei  mEEk, 
ei  HEEf,  kEEr),  but  would  have  been  written  even  if  the  real 
sound  had  been  (seae).  Here  have  is  made  to  have  long  a, 
as  it  used  to  have ;  it  is  now  (naev)  and  the  pronunciation, 
(neev),  indicated  by  the  German  letters  is  very  doubtful. 

1766.  BUCHANAN  always  uses  ai  to  represent  the  long 
sound  of  a. 

1768.  FRANKLIN  simply  gives  men,  lend,  name,  lane  as 
examples  of  the  same  sound,  and  this  is  nearly  the  modern 
practise. 

This  change  of  (a)  into  (e)  has  also  occurred  in  French. 
Chevallet1  says  :  "  Le  changement  de  a  en  e  est  frequent  dans 
le  langage  du  peuple  de  Paris  :  .  .  .  .  des  le  commencement 

1  Origine  et  formation  de  la  langue  Franchise.  Paris,  1853-7,  vol.  i.,  part 
3,  p.  59. 


76  A  XVIII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

du  xve  siecle  Geoffroi  Tory  observe  chez  les  dames  de  Paris 
la  tendance  que  je  viens  de  signaler.  .  .  .  'Les  dames  de 
Paris  au  lieu  de  a  prononcent  e  bien  souvent,  quant  elles 
disent :  '  Mon  mery  est  a  la  porte  de  Peris  ou  il  se  faict 
peier'  .  .  .  telle  maniere  de  parler  vient  d'accoustement  de 
jeunesse ;'  Gfeoffroi  Tory,  Champfleury,  fo.  xxxiii,  Y1."  The 
same  writer  quotes  (vol.  i,  part  2,  p.  55)  from  various  imitators 
of  popular  pronunciation,  eriere,  tramontane,  terrir,  douainier, 
errh.es,  ouete,  plaine,  clerinette,  epaigneul,  for  arriere,  tramon- 
tane, tarir,  douanier,  arrhes,  ouate,  plane,  clarinette,  epagneul. 

1780.  SHERIDAN  seems  altogether  to  ignore  the  sound  of 
(aa)  in  English,  allowing  only  (sese)  to  the  English  a  in  far, 
bar,  psalm,  balm.  Being  an  Irishman  who  had  devoted  his 
attention  for  years  to  English  pronunciation,  while  his  fre- 
quent residences  in  Ireland  kept  his  ear  alive  to  the  Irish 
pronunciations  of  English  then  current  in  educated  society, 
his  remarks  upon  Irish  pronunciation  are  of  considerable 
importance.  They  serve  to  shew  generally  that  the  Irish 
peculiarities  arose  partly  from  the  persistence  of  xvn  th  cen- 
tury pronunciations,  and  partly  from  an  endeavour  to  correct 
that  pronunciation  by  the  then  current  English  usage,  which, 
learned  rather  by  rule  than  custom,  was  carried  to  an  excess. 
There  will  be  frequent  occasion  to  notice  this  as  we  proceed. 
"With  respect  to  a,  long  a  is  frequently  (aeae)  in  Irish  where 
it  is  (ee)  in  English,  and  sometimes  (sese)  in  Irish  against 
(se)  in  English.  He  instances  patron,  matron,  rather, 
which  in  England  were  (pee'tron,  mee'tron,  raedh'j)  and  in 
Ireland  (paet'ron,  mset'ren,  rseaedhu).  These  were  evidently 
the  older,  xvn  th  century  sounds,  which  have  again  become 
current  in  England,  where  even  the  older  (raa'dhj)  is  com- 
mon. The  pronunciation  (rsedh'j),  may  be  heard  from 
Americans,  among  whom  there  is  also  a  great  tendency  to- 
wards the  pronunciation  of  the  earlier  settlers,  1628.  Thus 
the  true  sound  (naert)  may  be  heard  in  America,  which  is 
very  rare  in  England. 

As  a  general  rule  the  words  in  -aim,  which  Sheridan  pro- 
nounced (-aeaem),  were  according  to  him,  called  (-AAm)  in 
Ireland,  as  (bAAm,  sAAm,  kwAAm,  kAAm,  kAAf)  for  balm, 
psalm,  qualm,  calm,  calf,  and  this  was  a  distinct  xvii  th  cen- 
tury sound.  In  the  following  words,  which  he  cites,  there 
is  sometimes  an  "  overcorrection"  of  the  kind  above  alluded 
to  :  gape,  gather,  catch,  quash,  clamour,  wrath,  wroth,  farewell, 
squadron,  were  then  pronounced  in  England  (gaesep,  gsedlrar, 
kaetsh,  kwsesh,  klaenrer,  rAAth,  rAth,  fserwel,  skwAd'ren) 
and  in  Ireland  (geep,  gedh'ar,  kEtsh,  kwAsh,  klaeae'iner, 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.          E,  EE,  EA  XVI TH    CENTURY.  77 

raeseth,  rseth,  feerwel,  skwaese'dran).  The  received  usage  of 
the  xix  th  century  varies  between  the  two,  and  may  be  taken 
as  (geep,  ggedh'J,  ksetsh,  kwAsh,  klaenrj,  raath,  rAAth,  fee.r- 
wel*,  ske^Ad'ron.) 

The  recognized  pronunciation  in  the  xvm  th  century  seems 
then  to  have  been,  short  a  =  (se)  in  all  cases,  long  a 
generally  =  (ee),  the  exact  quality  (ee,  ee,  EE)  being 
doubtful,  and  in  those  cases  in  which  (aa)  is  now  fre- 
quently heard,  as  in  dart,  father,  etc.,  long  a  was  =  (aeae), 
as  it  always  was  in  the  xvn  th  century. 


E,  EE,  EA  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

1530.  PALSGRAVE  says:  "E  in  the  frenche  tong  hath  thre 
dyverse  sowndes,  for  somtyme  they  sownde  hym  lyke  as  we  do  in 
our  tonge  in  these  words,  a  beere,  a  leest  a  peere,  a  leene  and  suche 
lyke  ....  The  sowndyng  of  e,  whiche  is  most  generally  kepte  with 
them,  is  suche  as  we  gyve  to  e  in  our  tong  in  these  wordes  aboue 
rehersed,  that  is  to  say,  lyke  as  the  Italianes  sounde  e,  or  they  with 
vs  that  pronounce  the  latine  tonge  aright :  so  that  e  in  frenche  hath 
neuer  suche  a  sownde  as  we  vse  to  gyue  hym  in  these  wordes,  a  lee 
suche  as  niaketh  honny,  a  leere  to  lay  a  deed  corps  on,  a  peere  a 
make  or  felowe,  and  as  we  sounde  dyuers  of  our  pronownes  endynge 
in  e,  as  we,  me,  the,  he,  she,  and  suche  lyke,  for  suche  a  kynde  of 
soundynge  both  in  frenche  and  latine,  is  allmoste  the  ryght  pronun- 
ciation of  i,  as  shall  here  after  appere." 

Here  are  laid  down  two  sounds  of  English  e  long,  as  (ee) 
in  bear,  beast,  pear,  bean,  and  as  (ii)  in  bee,  bier,  peer  ;  we,  me, 
thee,  lie,  she,  but  the  spelling  of  the  two  sets  of  words  is  not 
distinguished.  "We  shall  see  that  in  the  xiv  th  century  all 
these  words  were  pronounced  with  (ee)  and  that  they  were 
spelled  indifferently  with  e  or  ee,  sometimes  with  ie,  and  rarely, 
if  ever,  with  ea.  In  Palsgrave's  text  ea  is  very  rare,  but  in 
his  vocabularies  he  uses  it  freely.  The  following  words  taken 
from  his  vocabulary  of  substantives  will  illustrate  his  con- 
fused use  of  e,  ee,  ea.  To  shew  a  further  advanced  state  of 
spelling  I  add  Levins's  orthography  1570  of  the  same  words 
preceded  by  two  dots,  after  Palsgrave's  explanations. 

"  Bee  a  flye  ..  bee,  leche  tree  ..  bech,  leed  of  stone  or  wode  ..  bead, 
leane  come  ..  beane,  befe  meate  ..  beefe,  leaky n  fev  au  guet ..  beacon, 
leame  of  an  house  ..  beame,  leare  a  he  beest..  beare,  leere  for  deed 
men  ..  beare,  leest..  beast,  leatyng  ..  beate,  dede  acte  ..  deede,  deed 
body.,  dead,  deane  of  a  church,  defnesse  lacke  of  heryng ..  deafe, 
demyng  judgying..  deeme,  derenesse  chierte  ..  deare,  derlyng  a  man 
mignon ..  darling,  ewe  of  a  man  or  beeste ..  eare,  ease  rest.,  ease, 
caster  a  hye  feest ..  easter  feast,  feanyng  faincte  ..  fain,  feate  of  arms 


78  E,  EE,  EA  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

..  feate,  fedyng  place  ..  feede,  felyng  ..  feele,  fearyng ..  fear,  fesant 
coke  faisant  ..  fesant,  feest  ..  feast,  f ether  plume  ..  fether,  gere  cloth- 
ing., geare,  geet  a  blake  stone,  heed  pate  or  nob  ..head,  hepe  of 
money ..  heape,  heale  of  body..heale,  heele  of  the  fote  ..  heele, 
helthe ..  healthy,  heape  a  great  quantite  ..  heape,  heer  of  the  heed 
cheuevl ..  heyry,  herce,  a  deed  body  ..  herse,  heerryng  a  fysshe  ..  her- 
ring, hearyng  the  place  whereby  we  here  ovye ..  heare,  hert  of  any 
beest  cveur  ..  heartie,  her  the  of  a  chymney  ..  herth,  Ae^e  ..  heate, 
hevyn  ciel ..  heaven,  ielousy ..  jelouse,  kepyng  obseruation  ..  keepe, 
leche  a  surgion..  leche,  leed  a  metall ..  leade,  lees  pasture,  leafe  of  a 
tree  ..  leafe,  lefenesse  cherete  ..  liefer,  leage  two  mile  ..  league,  leaning 
&>..leane,  leke  an  herbe  ..  leeke,  lenenesse  maigrete ..  leane,  lepe  or 
start  m^..leape,  leaue  lycence  ..  leave,  leven  for  bredde  ..  leven, 
leaner  to  lyfte  with  ..lever,  meale  of  meate  ..  meale,  meane  of  a 
songe  moyen '..  meane,  measure  of  two  gallons  ..  measure,  mede  drinke, 
mede  rewarde  ..  meede,  medowe  felde  ..  medowe,  mekenesse  humilite  .. 
meeke,  nede  besoing ..  neede,  nedyll  to  sowe  with..needil,  neare  of 
a  beest  roignon,  nesyng  with  the  nose  esternuement ..  sneeze,  neates 
ledder  cordovayn,  peace.. peace,  pece  or  parte  of  a  thyng..pece, 
peache  a  frute  . .  peache,  pecocke  a  byrde,  peake  of  a  ladyes  mournyng 
heede  ..  peake,  peele  of  belles,  pele  for  an  ovyn ..  peale,  peerle  a  stone 
..  pearle,  pese  frute  poys  ..  pease,  pescodde,  quene  lady ..  queene,  queane 
garse..  queane,  realme  roiaulme,  rede  to  playe  or  pype  with.,  rede, 
reed  herryng..redde,  reed  Ireest  a  byrde  ..  brest,  reednesse  rovgevr, 
redy  money  . .  reddy,  rele  for  yarne . .  reele,  reherser . .  reherse,  release 
forgyvenesse,  reame  of  paper  ..  reame,  rere  banket  ralias,  rerewarde  of 
men  arriere  garde.,  rerewarde,  resonalleness ..  reasonable,  reason.. 
reason,  season  tyme ..  season,  see  water  mer ..  sea,  secole  charbon  de 
terre,  sede  of  herbes ..  seede,  sege  before  a  castell..  sege,  sekenesse 
maladie  ..  sicknesse,  seeke,  sekyng  or  serchyng ..  seeke,  seale  a  fysshe .. 
scale,  seame  of  sowyng  ..  seame,  seme  for  to  frye  with  seyn  de  povrceau 
[saindoux],  semelynesse  ..  semely,  see  Ireame  a  fysshe,  sertche  enquyre 
..  searche,  seate  a  place  ..  seate,  teching  lerning ..  teache,  tediousnesse .. 
tedious,  teele  a  byrde  plignon..  teale,  tele  a  byrde  plinget ..  teale, 
teme  of  a  plough  or  oxen..teame,  teere  of  wepyng..  teare,  tete, 
pappe  or  dugge,  a  womans  brest ..  teate,  tethe  dens  ..  teethe,  veele 
flesshe  ..  veale,  wede  clothyng  ..  weede,  wehe  for  candels  ..  weak, 
weykenesse  flebesse  ..  wayk,  weke  a  senyght  ..  weeke,  welthe  ..  welth, 
wepyng  pleur . .  weepe,  were  to  take  fysshe,  werynesse  or  grefe . . 
wearie,  wesant  the  pype  ..  weysand,  wesyll  a  beest ..  wesyll,  wevyng 
frame  ..  weave,  whele  of  a  carte  ..  wheele,  whete  corne ..  wheate,  yere 
xii  monethes  ..yeare,  yest  or  barme  for  ale,  zele  love  or  frenshyp.. 
zeele,  Zealande  a  countrey. 

This  long  list  will  shew  that  in  Palsgrave's  time  no  definite 
rule  had  been  laid  down  for  the  spelling  of  these  words,  and  hence 
the  reader  could  not  discriminate  the  sounds.  It  was  not  till 
after  the  middle  of  the  xvi  th  century  that  anything  like  a  rule 
appeared,  and  then  ee  was  used  for  (ii),  and  ea  for  (ee).  But 
Levins  shews  that  the  rule  was  by  no  means  consistently 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  E,  EE,  EA  XVI TH    CENTURY.  79 

applied  so  early  as  1570.  And  even  at  a  later  period  ea  was 
often  used  for  (e)  the  short  vowel,  and  simple  e  often  repre- 
sented (ee)  and  sometimes  perhaps,  but  not  often,  (ii).  We 
often  find  hee,  mee  written  like  thee  to  giv£  the  full  sound  of 
(ii)  and  prevent  the  pronunciation  (ee),  which  was  given  to 
the.  The  introduction  of  the  difference  ee,  ea  was  therefore 
a  phonetic  device,  intended  to  assist  the  reader.  Great  diffi- 
culty again  arose  as  many  words  in  ea  came  to  be  pronounced 
(ii)  without  any  change  being  made  in  the  spelling,  and  we 
find  orthoepists  obliged  to  give  long  lists  of  words  with  ea  as 
(ee),  as  (e)  and  as  (ii).  If  it  had  only  been  recognized  that 
ea  was  a  modern  innovation,  introduced  with  a  phonetic 
purpose,1  writers  and  printers  might  not  have  hesitated  to 
replace  ea  by  e,  ee  in  the  two  last  cases.  It  is  now  perhaps 
too  late  to  write  feest,  beest,  reep,  beem,  etc.,  but  there  is  no 
reason  but  habit  against  this  spelling,  and  abundance  of 
historical  authority  in  its  favour. 

Palsgrave  in  saying  that  e  was  sounded  as  in  Italian,  takes 
no  notice  either  in  French  or  Italian  of  the  double  sound 
(e,  E)  into  which  (e)  splits,  although  Meigret,  1550,  finds  it 
necessary  to  use  two  distinct  vowel  signs  for  the  two  sounds. 
In  modern  English  we  distinguish  ail,  air,  =  (eel,  eej),  but 
in  some  parts  in  the  north  of  England  I  find  this  distinction 
unknown,  and  (ee)  alone  pronounced.  Hence  I  suspect  that 
the  older  English  sounds  were  (ee,  e).  The  short  sound  (e) 
has  remained,  apparently  unchanged,  from  the  earliest  Eng- 
lish times  to  the  present  day. 

1547.  SALESBURY  gives  the  two  sounds  (ee,  ii)  and  also 
notices  the  mute  or  unpronounced  e.  He  scarcely  ever  uses 
ee  or  ea.  As  examples  of  (ee,  e)  he  gives  in  his  Welsh  pro- 
nunciation A  WERE,  WREKE,  BREKE,  WRESTE  =  a  weir,  wreak, 
break,  wrest,  and  calls  attention  to  the  difference  of  meaning 
in  BERE,  PERE,  HELE,  MELE  according  as  they  are  pronounced 
with  (ii)  =  bier,  peer,  he.pl,  meel  (to  meddle  ?),  or  with  (ee) 
in  bear,  pear,  heal,  meal.  Omitting  mute  e  and  ea,  the  fol- 
lowing are  all  the  words  containing  e,  of  which  he  gives 
the  sounds ;  the  old  spelling  is  in  small  capitals,  and  the 
Welsh  transcription  in  italics  : — 

BEEDE  bred  (bred)  panis,  LADDEE  lad-dr  (lad'er),  EUEEMOEE  efer- 
mwor  (evermoor)  in  aetenmm,  THONDEE  ihwndr  (thund'er),  WOKDEE 
wndr  (und'er  =  wund'er),  CHESE  tsis  (tshiiz)  caseus,  FEEKDES  frinds 

1  This  was  so  little  suspected  that  ciato,"  and  when  he  says  it  was  then 

we  find  Wallis  imagining  that  ea  was  "nunc  dierum"  pronounced  (ee)  he  adds 

properly  pronounced  as   (eea)  or  (ee')  "  sono  ipsius  a  penitus  suppresso,"  as  if 

"per  e  masculinum,  adjuncto  etiam  si  it  ever  had  been  sounded  since  the  xinth 

libet  exilis  d  sono  raptissimo  pronun-  century,  except  in  provincial  dialects. 


80  E,  EE,  EA  XVI TH   CENTURY.          CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

(friindz)  amici,  TEEES  triys  (triHz)  arlores,  STJFFEE  sivffffre  (suf'er) 
sinere,  GELDISTG  gelding  (geldiq),  GYLBEET  Gilbert  (Gil'bert),  GYNGEB 
tsintsir  (dzhnrdzher)  zinziber,  BEGGYNGE  legging  (beg'«q),  EGGE  eg 
(eg)  ovum,  JESTJ  tsiesuw  (Dzhee*zyy),  QUEISTE  Icwin  (kwiin)  regina, 
EENT  rent  (rent),  TEESTJEE  tresuwr  (trez'jyr)  thesaurus,  YELUET  velfet 
(vel'vet)  holosericum,  VEETTJE  vertuw  (ver'tyy),  THE  dde  (the),  to- 
gether with  the  Latin  EGO  egu  (eg*u),  DEI  deei  (dee'i). 

Of  these  the  words  chese,  frendes,  quene  have  the  sound  of 
(ii).  It  should  be  observed  that  Bullokar  also  gives  (friindz), 
and  so  does  Wallis,  and  so  late  as  1701  Jones  admits  this 
sound,  thus  making  the  new  spelling  ie  indicate  (ii)  in 
"  Algier,  bier,  canonier,  friend,  fusilier,  grenadier,  Tangier," 
and  harmonizing /newe?,  fiend,  both  formerly  (freend,  feend), 
but  then  (friind,  fiind),  and  now  (frend,  fiind). 

As  respects  ea  Salesbury  agrees  with  others  in  giving  SEA 
see  (see)  mare,  YEA  ie  (Jee),  SEASON  seesyn  (seez'in)  tempestas 
vel  occasio,  but  he  is  peculiar  in  EASE  ies  (jeez)  otium,  LEAUE 
lief  (beev)  licentia,  since  Hart  gives  easy  (ee'zi),  and  Gill 
writes  leave  (leev).  I  can  find  no  authority  for  the  insertion 
of  i  =  (j),  and  am  inclined  suspect  a  misprint,  because  the 
four  words  EASE,  LEAUE,  SEA,  YEA  are  given  together  and 
transcribed  ies,  lief,  see,  ie,  so  that  the  last  ie  may  have 
occasioned  the  two  former,  and  he  introduces  them  by 
saying :  "  In  certain  words  they  place  A  sometimes,  as  we 
should  consider  it,  rather  carelessly  according  to  our  custom, 
out  of  its  own  power  and  rather  metamorphosed  into  the 
vowel  e,"  this  should  merely  imply  that  ea  was  written  for 
ee,  meaning  prolonged  e  (ee),  and  not  that  in  two  of  the 
words  e  was  also  altered  into  the  Welsh  i,  meaning  English  y. 
If  then  we  read  ees,  leef  for  ies,  lief,  in  Salesbury's  Welch 
transcription,  we  shall  reconcile  it  with  his  observation  and 
with  the  usages  of  other  orthoepists. 

1568.  SMITH,  agreeing  generally  with  Salesbury,  calling 
the  English  e  "  e  Latina,"  pronounces  yet,  yes  (sit,  jis),  but 
gives  also  the  pronunciation  (jet,  Jes),  though  by  introducing 
it  with  an  "  alii  vocant,"  he  clearly  prefers  the  former. 

1569.  HART  says,  describing  this  vowel :  "  The  seconde 
with  somewhat  more  closing  the  mouth,"  than  for  a,  "thrust- 
ing softlye  the  inner  part  of  the  tongue  to  the  inner  and 
vpper  great  teeth,   (or  gummes  for  want  of  teeth)  and  is 
marked   e."      He   writes   (dheez)    for  these,    and    (mii'terz, 
Hier)  for  metres,  here.     In  1580,  JBullokar  writes  both  (neer) 
and  (mir)  for  here,1  and  has  also  (suTdum)  for  seldom. 

1  Henry  IV.,  part  1,  act  i.,  sc.  2,  1.      apparant  thatthou  art  heir  e  apparant," 
65,  Quarto  1613) :  "were  it  not  heere      ought  to  have  been  pronounced  (wer  it 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.         E,    EE,    EA  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  81 

1621.  Gill  says,  "E,  breuis  est  hac  forma  (e),  vt  in  (net)  rete  : 
et  longa  sic,  (ee),  vt  in  (neet)  KEATE.  i.  nitidus  adiectiuum :  Sub- 
stantiimm  NEATE  significat  omne  genus  bouum." 

The  pronunciation  in  the  xvi  th  century  is  therefore  toler- 
ably certain.  All  words  now  spelled  with  ee  had  (ii), 
a  few  final  e  as  he,  me,  she,  ice,  had  also  (ii),  almost  every 
word  now  written  with  ea,  or  words  written  with  ea  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  century  had  (ee)  though  some  had  (e). 
All  simple  e  long  were  (ee).  Exceptions  were  here 
(mir)  occasionally,  hear,  year  (mir,  riir)  in  Bullokar, 
appear  is  marked  (apiir*)  in  Butler  1633,  who  also  dis- 
tinguishes (teer)  lacerare,  (tiir)  lacryma,  and  wishes 
dear,  weary,  hear  to  be  called  (deer,  wee'r^,  Heer)  instead 
of  (diir,  wirra,  mir)  which  he  therefore  implies  to  have 
been  the  more  usual  pronunciation. 

E,  EE,  EA. — xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

It  would  be  waste  of  time  to  establish  that  through  the 
xvn  th  century  and  down  to  our  own  times  short  e  has 
remained  (e)  and  ee  has  been  (ii).  The  difficulty  only  turns 
upon  the  pronunciation  of  long  e  and  of  ea. 

1653.  WALLIS  says  :  "  e  profertur  sono  acuto  claroque  ut  Gral- 
lorum  e,  masculinum,"  except  before  r  as  will  be  hereafter  con- 
sidered;  "  ea  effertur  nunc  dierum  ut  e  longum  :  sono  ipsius  a 
penitus  suppresso,  et  sono  liters  e  producto.  Nempe  illud  solum 
praestat  a  ut  syllaba  reputetur  longa.  Ita  met  obviam  factus,  meat 
victus,  set  sisto,  sedere  facio,  seat  sella,  etc.,  non  sono  differunt  nisi 
quod  vocalis  illic  correpta,  hie  producta  intelligatur." 

He  however  gives  the  exceptions  near,  dear,  hear  =  (niir, 
diir,  mir).  Wilkins  has  (ii'vil)  for  evil,1  but  he  writes  Jesus 
as  (Dzhee'sas),  where  the  first  (s)  is  probably  a  mere  over- 
sight for  (z). 

1668.  PEICE  says :  "  E  soundes  like,  ee,  (ii,  i)  in  be,  even,  evening, 
England,  English,  he,  here,  me,  she,  we,  ye,"  probably  the  complete 
list  at  that  time.  He  also  says  :  "  ea  soundes  e,  d-r-a-w-n  out  long 
as  lead,  weak."  And  then  subjoins  the  following  list : — 

Appeal,  appease.   Bean,  bear,  beast,  beat,  beneath,  breach,  break, 

not  neer  aparent,  dhat  dhou  art  Hair  in  alluding  to  raisins,  pronounced  in 

aparent),  but  for  the  sake  of  the  joke  the  usual    but    unrecognized  manner 

we  may  suppose  Falstaff  to  have  pro-  (reez-nz),  a  pronunciation  given  by  Price 

nounced  in  Hart's  way,  and  called  heir  1668  as  the  correct  sound,  and,  as  we 

(neer),   a  pronunciation  certainly  well  see  by  Hart,  well  known  at  the  time, 
known  in  Shakspere's  time,  although  *  The  ags.  forms  yfel,    eofel,  point 

censured  by  Gill  so  late  as  1621.  Again,  to  the  sounds  (yyvel,  ee'-vel),  at  a  very 

in  the  same  play,  act  ii.,  sc.  4,  1.  264  :  early  period,  and  consequently  to  acon- 

"  If  reasons  were  as  plenty  as  blacke-  current    (ii-vl,    ee-vl)    in   old  English, 

berries,"  was  (if  reez-nz  wer  az  plen'tz  The  contracted  form  ill  shews  that  the 

az  blak-berez),  and  the  joke  consisted  (ii)  sound  had  the  preference. 

6 


82  E,    EE,    EA  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.          CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

to  break.  Cease,  cheat,  clean,  cleave,  compleat,  conceal,  congeal. 
Deal,  decrease,  defeat,  displease,  dream.  Eager,  ean,  ear,  earn, 
easie,  Easter,  endeavour,  estreat,  eat,  eaves.  Feature,  forswear. 
Glean.  Heal,  heap.  Jealousie.  Meal,  mean.  Reach,  reveal.  To 
sheath,  speak,  spear,  spread,  squeak,  seam,  seamstress,  streak, 
surcease,  swear.  Teach,  teazils,  treatise.  'Weave,  weaver.  Zeal." 
Of  these  the  following  are  still  either  (ee,  ee)  or  (e),  bear,  Ireak, 
earn,  endeavour,  forswear,  Jealousie,  spread,  swear,  while  the  rest  have 
become  (ii).  "JEa  sounds  short  (e)  in  head,  dead,  ready.  Bed- 
stead, beard.  Earl.  Feather.  Heaven.  Measure.  Pearl,  pleasure. 
Search,  stead,  sweat.  Thread,  threaten,  treasurie,  treasure.  "Wealth, 
weary,  weather,"  of  which  only  beard,  weary  have  now  changed. 

John  Kemble  used  to  be  laughed  at  for  speaking  of  his 
bird,  meaning  beard-,  we  have  here  old  authority  for  the 
sound.1  Price  makes  ea  sound  as  a  and  there  is  consider- 
able probability  that  he  meant  (ae)  and  neither  (a)  nor  (aa), 
in  heard,  heart,  hearken,  searge.  Jones  said  both  hard  and  herd 
for  heard  (p.  86)  ;  serge,  is  borne  out  by  the  modern  (klaajk, 
saa.rdzh'ent)  for  clerk,  sergeant.  The  only  words  in  which 
Price  admits  ea  to  sound  as  ee  (ii)  are  dear,  appear ;  blear-eyed, 
chear,  clear,  hear,  near,  read,  year,  which  short  list  also  em- 
braces all  Wallis's  exceptions. 

1685.  COOPER  has  not  named  any  instances  in  which  e 
long  is  (ii),  but  he  enters  fully  into  ea. 

First  ea  =  (e)  in  already,  behead,  bread,  breadth,  breakfast, 
breath,  cleanse,  deadly,  dearth,  death,  dread,  earth,  endeavour, 
feather,  head-y,  health,  heaven,  heavy,  leather,  leaven,  leaver  \\QVQIC] 
leaver et  [leveret],  pageant,  reachles  [reckless],  ready,  realm, 
spread,  stealth,  threaten,  treachery,  tread,  ivealth.  Here  en- 
deavour has  (e)  instead  of  (ee)  as  in  Price ;  breakfast  is 
shortened  as  at  present,  and  lever  has  now  become  (ii). 

Second  ea  =  (ee),  of  which  more  presently.  This  is  a 
long  list  beginning  with  appeal,  appease,  beacon,  etc.  Most 
of  the  words  now  have  (ii),  except  break,  forswear,  great, 
sweat,  wear.  The  words  ean  =  yean,  enitor,  earn  =  eaves, 
subgrunda,  learn  lampas,  lease  formula  locationis,  deserve  note. 

Third  ea  =  (EE),  of  which  more  presently.  With,  the 
single  exception  of  scream  clamo,  all  the  words  have  the  com- 
bination ear,  as  bear,  beard,  earl,  early,  earn,  earnest,  learn, 
rehearse,  scarce  cribrum,  search,  shear,  potsheard,  swear,  tear, 
wear. 

1  Sheridan,  1780,  giving   a  list   of  Irishmen,  who,  wishing  to  imitate  the 

Irishisms,  notes  (biird)  as  the  Irish  and  English  (ii)  pronunciation  of  ««,  carried 

(bErd)  as  the  English  pronunciation  of  it  too  far,  as  Sheridan  points  out  in 

beard.     Most  probably  (biird)  was  at  some  other  cases,  (p.  92). 
that  time  one  of  the  mistakes  made  by 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.          E,    EE,    EA  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  83 

Fourth,  ea  =  a,  which,  we  have  identified  with  (33),  (p.  71), 
in  hearties,  hearten,  hearth. 

Fifth  ea  =  (ii)  in  arrear,  besmear,.  blear-ey*d,  dear,  ear-ivig, 
fear,  gear,  hear,  near,  sear,  shears,  spear,  tear  lacryma,  weary, 
whereas  Price  speaks  weary:  with  (e).  Here  arrear ',  ear-wig, 
fear,  gear,  sear>  s/iears,  spear,  tear  s.,  weary,  are  in  addition  to 
Price's  list,  which  also  contains  words  not  here  found.  It  is 
clear  that  the  (ii)  sound  was  beginning  to  assert  its  claims 
to  the  domain  which  it  has  since  almost  entirely  conquered, 
and  from  which  the  orthography  ea  was  intended  to  drive  it, 
so  powerless  is  the  artificial  barrier  of  spelling,  to  arrest  the 
natural  flow  of  speech. 

Cooper's  vowel  system  is  peculiar,  and  is  clearly  founded 
upon  a  careful  analysis  of  his  own  pronunciation.  His  list 
of  exact  pairs  of  long  and  short  vowel  sounds  is  as  follows  : 

12  345678 

can      ken        will       folly       full       up       meet       foot 
cast      cane       weal     fall        foale     —       need       fool. 

Now  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  series  of  short 
vowels  in  the  upper  line  was  meant  for  (33,  e,  i,  A,  u,  8, 
i,  u),  although  (E,  a),  may  have  been  used  for  (e,  a).  Hence 
the  long  vowels  should  be  (3333,  ee,  ii,  AA,  uu,  — ,  ii,  uu).  The 
second  may  of  course  have  been  (EE),  and  the  third  may 
have  been  (ee}  rather  than  (ii).  The  two  sounds  are  closely 
enough  allied  for  even  a  careful  analyzer  to  confuse.  In 
order  to  bring  a  Frenchman  to  the  sound  of  (i)  it  is  necessary 
to  exaggerate  the  sound  into  (e).  Persons  endeavouring  to 
prolong  (i)  are  very  apt  to  fall  into  (ee).  Other  orthoepists 
seem  to  have  confused  Cooper's  second  long  vowel  with  (3333) 
when  it  was  spelt  a  as  in  cane,  and  with  (ee)  in  other  cases. 
It  is  to  be  remarked  also  that  Cooper  finds  his  second  long 
vowel  expressed  by  ea  almost  only  before  r.  This  rather 
points  to  (seas,  EE,  ee)  as  his  first  three  vowels,  which  others 
reduced  to  two  (3333,  ee).  There  is  no  evidence,  beyond 
Cooper,  for  (ii)  occurring  long,  or  (e)  short,  in  English.  The 
inference  is  that  Cooper  had  either  a  peculiar  pronunciation, 
or  that  vowel  sounds  appeared  to  him  exact  pairs,  which  do 
not  so  appear  to  us.  He  seems  not  to  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  pair  (ii,  i),  which  is  even  now  commonly  adopted, 
and  hence  he  tried  to  find  (ii,  i)  in  the  English  (need,  meet), 
although  he  owns  that  in  this  case  "  minima  datur  differentia 
inter  correptionem  et  productionem,"  and  indeed  the  differ- 
ence is  rather  due  to  the  consonants  than  to  the  vowels,  the 
sonant  (d)  having  a  sound  of  its  own  in  addition  to  the  glide 
from  (ii).  Again  he  strove  to  find  a  proper  long  vowel  to 


84  E,    EE,    EA  —  XVII TH  CENTURY.         CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

(•*'),  and,  observing  a  difference  then  between  weal  and  wear, 
corresponding  to  the  modern  difference  between  ail  and  air 
(eel,  ee-i),  he  assumed  that  the  finer  sound  was  the  real  long 
of  (t),  and  thus  paired  (ee,  f).  Acting  upon  this  conclusion 
I  shall  transcribe  Cooper's  vowels  accordingly.  He  seems, 
precisely  in  the  same  way,  to  have  heard  the  difference  (uu,  u) 
and  refusing  to  consider  them  as  pairs,  endeavoured  to  hear 
(u)  in  foot  as  distinct  from  fool  and  foil,  and  then,  not  find- 
ing the  real  long  sound  of  his  (u),  took  (oo)  in  foal  as  its 
nearest  representative.  This  would  reduce  his  vowel  scale  to 
the  following,  which  I  shall  adopt  in  future  citations. 

12345678 
ksen  ken  wil  fAb"  ful  op  mit  fut 
kaesest  kEEn  weel  £AA!  fool  —  niid  fuul 

The  distinction  between  the  words  in  ea  which  Cooper  pro- 
nounces (ee),  and  those  in  ea  which  he  pronounces  (EE), 
may  have  been  a  step  in  the  direction  of  change  from  (ee)  to 
(ii)  which  may  have  been  commencing  at  his  time  in  the  long 
list  of  words  to  which  he  assigns  (ee),  although  it  was  not 
accomplished  till  much  later. 

HOLDER,  1669,  does  not  make  these  distinctions,  contenting 
himself  with  fate  fat,  seal  sell,  eel  ill  (faeaet  fset,  seel  sel,  iil  ^1), 
but  admits  that  some  vowel  may  lie  between  (ae)  and  (ee). 
In  comparing  Cooper  with  his  contemporaries  we  must  then 
consider  his  (ee,  EE)  as  represented  by  their  single  (ee). 

1688.  MIEGE  after  laying  down  the  rule  that  e  long  is  (ee), 
the  French  e  aigu,  and  e  short  is  (e),  the  French  e  ouvert, 
excepts  the  following  which  have  the  sound  of  (ii,  i),  be,  he, 
she,  me,  we,  "qui  s'ecrivaient  autrefois  avec  deux  e"  yes,  besom, 
evil ;  eve,  even,  evening,  here  ;  the  termination  -eous  •  employ- 
ment, enquiry,  "  qui  s'ecrivent  indifferemment  avec  un  e  ou 
avec  un  i,"  ten,  linnen,  penny,  hence,  then,  thence,  when,  whence, 
which  he  transcribes  in  French  letters  "  tinn  lininn,  peny, 
hinnce,  denn,  dence,  hoinn,  hoinnce,"  so  that  he  gives  e  and 
not  i  in  three  of  the  words  (by  mistake?).  This  last  list  is 
peculiar  to  this  author. 

Miege  gives  long  e  masculin,  (ee),  as  the  general  pronuncia- 
tion of  ea,  but  says  that  the  a  counts  for  nothing  in  the  fol- 
lowing words,  for  which  ea  therefore  =  (e),  beard,  bread, 
breakfast,  breath  s.,  dealt,  dearth,  death,  Earl,  early,  to  earn, 
earnest,  earth,  feather,  head,  health,  heard,  hearken,  hearth, 
heaven,  heavy,  leap,  learn,  leather,  leaven,  leaver,  meadow, 
pageant,  peasant,  pillow-bear,  potsheard,  read  "  le  Preterit  et 
Participe,"m?dy,  realm,  to  rehearce,  scarce,  search,  stead,  stealth, 
threaten,  treachery,  tread,  ivealth,  weather ;  of  which  beard, 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.         E,  EE,  EA  —  XVII  TH    CENTURY,  85 

leap,  lever,  pillow-beer,  have  now  (ii).  It  is  observable  that 
he  gives  hearken  to  (e),  and  also  that  the  vowel  in  breakfast 
was  shortened  at  so  early  a  period. 

Miege  makes  ea  =  (ii)  in  these  words  only,  besmear,  blear- 
eyed,  clear,  dear,  gear,  hear,  near,  shears,  spear,  in  which  we 
miss  some  of  Price's  words,  though  the  list  is  increased  by 
besmear,  gear,  shears,  spear. 

"  Bear  un  ours  et  pear  une  poire,  se  prononce  bair,  pair" 
There  is  a  modern  American  pronunciation,  probably  (bseaei), 
but  generally  heard  by  Englishmen  as  (baai),  which  may 
date  from  this  time,  for  as  Miege  evidently  means  bear  to 
have  a  broader  sound  that  he  heard  in  other  words,  the  real 
sound  may  have  been  (beeaer).  See  Cooper's  third  list  as 
noted  above,  (p.  82), 

1701.  JONES  says  that  the  sound  of  e  (ee)  is  written  ea 
"  in  all  words  or  syllables,  that  are,  or  may  be  sounded  long/' 
except  a  certain  number  of  words  where  it  is  written  e  only, 
and  it  is  perhaps  worth  giving  these  lists  as  shewing  many 
words  in  e,  e-e,  now  mostly  pronounced  with  (ii),  which  had 
all  (ee)  so  lately  as  the  end  of  the  xvn  th  century,  because 
the  fact  is  little  known,  and  its  announcement  is  generally 
received  with  incredulity.  Those  marked  (*)  have  still  (ee) 
or  (e). 

1)  eke,  *e're  (ever),  *e're  (before),  mere,  rere,  the,  *there,  these, 
*were,  *where ;  glebe,  Medes,  mete,  nepe,  scene,  scheme,  sphere, 
Swede,  Thebe,  Theme. 

2)  adhere,  antheme,  austere,  blaspheme,  *cherub,  cohere,  com- 
plete, concede,  ^credit,   discrete,  *felo,   female,  *ferule,   frequent, 
Hebrew,  impede,  negro,  ^nephew,  obscene,  ^pedant,  pedee,  poeme, 
serous,  sincere,  supreme,  systeme,  *tenet,  terrene,  *~treble,  *venew; 
— ^crevice,  crewel,  menow,  *nether,  *plevin,  ^whether. 

3)  "all  Scripture  names  and  proper  names  from  other  languages, 
as  Belus,  Jehu,  Jesus,  &c." 

4)  "all  that  begin  with  the  sound  of  ce,  de,  e,  per,  pre,  re,  se." 

"With  these  we  must  contrast  the  words  in  which  e  had  the 
sounds  (ii,  i) ; 

1)  the  termination  -eous. 

2)  initial  be-  as  become,  bedew,  before,  &c. 

3)  the  six  words,  be,  he,  me,  she,  we,  ye. 

4)  the  ten  words,  chesel  [chisel],  crete,  England,  English,  here, 
mere,  metre,  Peter,  saltpetre,  Twede. 

5)  the  six  words,  Evan,  Eve,  Eveling,  even,  evening,  evil.      To 
which  in  another  place  he  adds  devil.1 

In  the  following  list  e  is  said  to  be  sounded  as  a,  which 

1  Jones  says  that  devil  is  "  sounded  de'il,  are  curious  in  connection  with  the 
dill  sometimes."  This,  and  the  Scotch  derivation  of  ill  from  evil. 


86  E,   EE,   EA,  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.        CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

was  most  probably  short  (ae)  :  Berks,  clerk,  eleven,  Herbert, 
merchant,  mercy,  Owen,  phrentick,  verdict,  yellow,  etc. ;  of  which 
phrentick  has  asserted  itself  in  the  orthography  frantic ;  mercy, 
yellow,  and  sometimes  verdict  are  known  as  vulgarisms ;  eleven, 
Herbert  are  now  unknown,  merchant  is  known  as  an  archaism, 
and  Berks,  clerk  are  very  common.  This  list  seems  to  shew 
that  Miege's  service,  bear,  pear  in  which  he  makes  e  =  ai 
French,  had  the  same  sound,  especially  as  (sawve's)  is  a 
well-known  vulgarism  at  the  present  day. 

The  only  words  in  which  Jones  allows  ea  to  be  like  a  (ae) 
are  heard,  heart  "to  distinguish  them  from  hard  (not  soft), 
Hart  (or  Stag),"  but  he  also  gives  heard  the  sound  of  (nerd). 

Jones  makes  ea  short  =  (e),  in  beard,  bread,  breadth,  breast, 
breath,  cleanse,  dead,  dealt,  dear,  dearth,  death,  dread,  earl, 
earn,  earth,  head,  heard,  hearth,  lead,  leap,  meant,  meash,  pearce, 
pearl,  reach,  read,  reath,  realm,  searce,  search,  searge,  sheard, 
shread,  slead,  spread,  stead,  stealth,  sweat,  thread,  threat,  tread, 
wealth,  yearn ; — bedstead,  bestead,  heaven,  heavy,  leacher,  leather, 
leaven,  measure,  peasant,  pheasant,  pleasant,  steady,  treasure, 
weapon,  weasand,  tveather  ;  most  of  which  have  preserved  their 
sounds,  though  some  have  changed  their  spelling. 

The  only  words  in  which  Jones  allows  ea  to  have  the 
sound  (ii)  are  chear,  clear,  dear,  ear,  gear,  hear,  mear,  near, 
year; — appear,  beadle,  beaw  (biu)  now  (boo),  instead,  stead, 
steam,  team,  yea,  yeast. 

Collecting  together  all  the  words  spelled  with  ea  and  pro- 
nounced with  (ii)  as  given  in  the  preceding  lists,  we  find  them 
limited  to  the  following — all  others  in  ea  having  (ee)  or  (e). 

appear  dear  mear1  steam 

arrear  ear  near  team 

beadle  earwig  read  a  tear 

besmear  fear  sear1  weary 

blear-eyed  gear  shears  yea3 

chear1  hear  spear  year 

clear  instead2  stead2  yeast8 

Those  marked  (*)  are  now  spelled  cheer,  mere,  sere',  those 
marked  (2)  had  often  the  sound  (e)  at  that  time,  and  perhaps 
more  regularly ;  (3)  the  word  yea  is  not  marked  (jii)  except 
by  Jones. 

This  list  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  judging  of  rhymes  in 
the  xvn  th  century.  In  Croker's  Johnson,  ed.  1848,  p.  57, 
it  is  said  respecting  Howe's  couplet 

As  if  misfortune  made  the  throne  her  seat, 
And  none  could  be  unhappy  but  the  great, 
which  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  Plan  of  a  Dictionary  in  1747  had 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.       E,    EE,    EA  XVII TH   CENTURY.  87 

adduced  to  shew  that  great  had  sometimes  the  sound  (griit), 
that  Lord  Chesterfield  remarked  it  was  "  Undoubtedly  a  bad 
rhyme,  tho'  found  in  a  great  poet," — an  observation  which 
shewed  first  that  Lord  Chesterfield  did  not  know  the  pro- 
nunciation of  English  when  Eowe  was  young,  and  secondly 
that  he  was  so  little  aware  of  the  habits  of  great  poets  (at 
least  if  he  reckoned  Shakspere  and  Dryden  among  them)  that 
he  looked  to  their  greatness  as  a  guarantee  for  the  perfection 
of  their  rhymes.  Now  Eowe  lived  from  1673  to  1718.  "We 
may  therefore  expect  to  gather  his  pronunciation  from  Cooper, 
Miege,  and  Jones.  The  first  gives  (seet,  greet),  the  rules  of 
the  others  would  imply  (seet,  greet).  The  rhyme  was  there- 
fore perfect.  While  Pope's  couplet,  adduced  by  Johnson  to 
shew  the  other  sound  of  great, 

Tor  Swift  and  him  despis'd  the  farce  of  state 
The  sober  follies  of  the  wise  and  great, 

would  have  been  to  Howe  a  somewhat  imperfect  rhyme  (aeae, 
ee),  and  one  which  I  have  but  rarely  found  when  examining 
the  rhymes  of  this  period. 

As  the  point  has  been  so  much  disputed,  the  orthoepical 
accounts  have  been  given  at  great  length,  and  it  will  be  in- 
teresting to  add  the  result  of  an  examination  of  Dryden's 
rhymes  in  his  Absalom  and  Achitophel,  Annus  Mirabilis, 
Palamon  and  Arcite,  Wife  of  Bath,  Grood  Parson,  Theodore 
and  Honoria,  Religio  Laici,  Flower  and  Leaf,  Cymon  and 
Iphigenia,  with  respect  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  long  e 
and  ea.  Rejecting  those  in  which  both  spelling  and  sound 
were,  as  far  as  is  known,  identical  in  the  rhyming  termina- 
tions, the  following  are  the  results. 

1)  Regular  rhymes,  (ee,  ee) ;    ease  with   these  seize,  sea  with 
survey  prey  weigh  key  lay  way  sway,  wear  despair,  reveal  frail, 
leave  with  deceive  receive,  mean  obscene,   congeal  hail,  remain' d 
glean' d,  there  hair,  please  these,  theme  dream,  bear  heir ; 

2)  Nearly  regular  rhymes,  a  long  with  its  corresponding  short 
vowel  (ee,  e) ;  feast  with  breast  guest  address' d  rest,  set  toith  great 
retreat,  increase  less,  heat  with  sweat  threat,  beat  threat,  conceal 
with  tel  dispel,  appeal  rebel  v.,  zeal  dwell,  please  with  grievances 
images,  yet  great,  extreme  stem,  supreme  them ; 

3)  Regular  rhymes  (ii,  ii),   cheer  with   clear  year,  years   ears, 
appear  with  year  ear  tear  s.  steer  gear  cheer  clear,  near  with  clear 
ear,  dear  here,  clear  ear,  career  spear,  fear  with  leer  cheer  near  steer 
tear  s.  ear ; 

4)  Possibly  regular  rhymes  owing  to  variety  of  pronunciation, 
(ii,  ii) ;  rear  with  fear  appear,  to  bear  with  hear  year  tear  s.  hear 
appear  spear,  but  also  bear  with  heir  hair  fair  were,  and  were  with 
career  spear  appear  ;  where  with  clear  near,  there  with  spear  appear 


E,    EE,    EA  —  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.         CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

disappear  clear  fear ;  for  we  still  hear  were,  where,  there  pronounced 
(wiLi  will  dhm)  as  vulgarisms  ; 

5)  Eare  irregular  rhymes  (ee,  ii)  now  become  regular  as  (ii,  ii) ; 
heap  sweep,  retreat  feet,  deal  wheel,  disease  degrees  (?),  severe  bier, 
plead  freed,  repeat  sweet,  unclean  seen ; 

6)  Faulty  rhymes,  (e,  ii)  petitioners  years,  pensioners  fears,  steed 
with  fled  head,  feet  sweat,  field  beheld,  kneel' d  compell'd,  unseen 
men,  reed  head, — (e,  i)  contest  resist,  sense  prince,  but  civil  devil, 
does  not  belong  to  this  place,  for  the  rhyme  was  perfect  (»,  *") ; — 
(ee,  seae)  wear  care,  tears  v.  spares. 

These  rhymes,  notwithstanding  an  occasional  laxity  which 
Dry  den  seems  to  have  preferred  as  a  relief,1  serve  to  shew  the 
general  correctness  of  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  orthoepists 
on  this  point. 

E,  EE,  EA  —  xvni  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  dashes  at  once  into 
the  full  sounds  of  the  xvni  th  century.  "  Tho'  ee  be 
reckoned  among  the  Dipthongs,"  says  he,  "  yet  what  differ- 
ence is  there  in  the  sound  of  meet  to  come  together,  and  mete 
to  measure,  in  proceed  and  intercede  ? "  Hence  making  the 
exceptions  that  there,  were,  where,  "  though  they  have  e  at 
the  end,  yet  it  serveth  only  to  lengthen  the  foregoing  e  into 
a  long,"  that  is  (ee),  he  gives  the  following  17  monosyllables 
and  26  polysyllables  as  having  the  sound  (ii),  which  may 
be  contrasted  with  Jones's  lists,  (p.  85  :  Bede,  Crete,  ere 
even  now  (ee-i),  glebe,  glede  a  kite,  here,  Mede,  mere,  mete, 
Pede,  rere  now  rear,  scene,  scheme,  sphere,  these,  Vere  ;  adhere, 
apozeme,  austere,  blaspheme,  cohere,  complete,  concede,  concrete, 
convene,  extreme  which  Jones  spelled  extream,  greve  "or  Lord," 
impede,  intercede,  interfere,  intervene,  Nicene,  obscene,  portgreve, 
precede,  recede,  replete,  revere,  severe,  sincere,  supercede,  supreme. 

Jones  gives  only  18  words  out  of  the  28,  (p.  86),  in  which 
lie  and  preceding  orthoepists  allow  ea  to  have  the  sound  of  (ii), 

1  Besides  the  faulty  rhymes  named  resemblance  between  the  vowels;  thus 
in  the  text  the  following  have  been  Dryden  could  not  have  rhymed  son 
noted  :  (aese,  AA)  prepare  war,  —  (e,  with  seen  pain  cane,  or  beat  with  coat, 
sese)  possess,  place, — (a,  u)  blood  with  etc.  Some  even  of  the  above  may  be  re- 
good  wood,  —  (u,  A)  took,  flock,  —  ferred  to  peculiar  or  archaic  pronuncia- 
(«,  oo)  shook  with  broke  spoke,  poor  tions,  so  that  Dryden' s  rhymes  are  not, 
with  more  swore  ; — (a,  A)  strung  wrong,  properly  speaking,  the  monsters  of  mo- 
return  scorn,  turn  born, — (A,  00}  lost  dern  times,  known  as  rhymes  to  the  eye, 
with  boast  coast ;  god  abode ; — (a,  au)  as  move  love  grove,  has  was  gas,  seat 
won  mith  town  crown,  son  with  crown,  great,  pour  flour,  changed  hanged, 
— (uu,  au)  swoon  with  drown'd  sound.  That  keep  the  word  of  promise  to  our  eye 
We  also  twice  find  (con,  Am)  none  And  break  it  to  our  ear. 
Absalom.  Notwithstanding  the  di-  See  a  further  examination  of  Dryden' s 
versity  there  is  always  some  point  of  rhymes  in  Chap.  IX,  §  3. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.        E,    EE,    EA  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  89 

59'  others  having  short  (e)  and  all  the  rest  having  long  (ee) 
for  ea.  The  orthographist  only  admits  4  words  in  which  ea 
is  sounded  like  a  long,  that  is  (ee) ;  viz.  bear  s.  and  v.,  swear, 
tearv.,  icear ;  3  words  in  which  ea  "is  sounded  like  a  short," 
that  is  (se),  viz.  hearken,  heart  and  its  derivatives,  hearth; 
but  gives  95  examples  of  ea  sounded  as  (e)  short  including 
beard ;  and  then  no  less  than  255  in  which  "  ea  is  sounded 
ee  or  e  long  "  that  is  (ii).  This  last  list  of  ea  =  (ii),  includes 
the  words  break,  deaf,  deafen,  great,  indeavour, — but  endeavour 
is  in  the  list  of  ea  =  (e), — leassee,  pear,  shear,  yea,  yearn,  in 
all  of  which,  except  shear  which  is  often  (shii-i),  and  yearn 
which  is  (jJn),  the  old  long  (ee)  is  still  preserved;  and 
though  (briik,  griit)  may  still  be  heard  from  a  very  few,  I 
have  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  hear  (diif,  indirv-i,  liisii*, 
piij,  jii,  jiun).  "We  can  imagine  a  Gill  of  the  period  ex- 
claiming again :  "Non  nostras  hie  voces  habes,  sed  Mopsarum 
fictitias!"  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  this  represented 
the  generally- received  pronunciation  of  the  time. 

1710.  DYCHE,  so  far  as  I  can  understand  his  notation, 
agrees  with  Jones,  but  between  him  and  Buchanan  1766, 
were  fifty  years,  which  seem  to  have  had  a  great  effect  on  our 
pronunciation,  in  settling  long  a  to  (ee}  and  long  e  and  ea  to 
(ii).  They  were  years  in  which  there  was  a  remarkable  ten- 
dency to  thinness  and  meagreness  of  sound  owing  to  a  pre- 
dilection for  the  higher  lingual  or  palatal  vowels.  The 
change  from  (ee)  to  (ii)  was  attempted  to  be  carried  much 
further  than  actually  succeeded.  Thus  chair,1  steak,  break, 
great  were  (tshiij,  stiik,  briik,  griit),  oblige  was  (obliidzh')2 
and  (k,  g)  before  (aa),  where  the  sound  of  (aa)  really  re- 
mained, were  palatalised  into  (k,  g)  as  in  (£aaid,  ^aaid).  All 
these  sounds  might  have  been  heard  from  elderly  speakers 
some  thirty  years  ago,  and  those  which  have  remained  to 
the  present  day,  are  accounted  old  pronunciations.  In  the 
xvn  th  century  however,  they  were  modernizms  which  did 
not  set  through,  and  our  present  pronunciations  (tsheer, 
steek,  breek,  greet,  oblaidzlr)  were  older,  although  iiot  all 
of  them  the  oldest  forms.  In  the  provinces  (tshii-i)  is  still 
frequent,  and  (0bliidzh*)  is  nearly  universal  in  Scotland. 

1710.  The  anonymous  instructor  of  the  Palatines,  writes 
me,  he,  ice,  she,  be  in  German  letters  mi,  hi,  wi,  schi,  bi  as  par- 
ticular exceptions,  and  gives  as  examples  of  ea  sounding 

i  "Why  is  a  stout  man  always  happy?  (tsheer,  tshiir)  the  latter  being  one  of 

Because  he  a  cheerful  (chair  full)."  This  the  words  which  had  then  changed  its 

is  a  conundrum  of  that  period,  and  could  sound,    notwithstanding-   the    spelling 

not  have  belonged  to  any  other,  for  in  chear,  since  altered  to  cheer. 

the  XYH  th  century,  chair,  chear  were  2  So  pronounced  by  Dyche. 


90  E,  EE,  EA  -  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.          CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

sometimes  almost  (Usweilen  fast)  as  German  i  (ii),  the  words 
heap,  heat,  cheap,  clean,  clear. 

1766-8.  Buchanan  and  Franklin  may  be  said  to  have 
completely  adopted  the  present  usage  respecting  e  long 
and  ea.  The  following  are  all  the  words  in  Franklin's 
examples,  with  his  transcriptions,  translated  into  palaeotype, 
and  following  all  his  inaccuracies  : 

Long  e,  serene  siriin,  editions  iidishans,  religion  rilidshan,  idea  oidia  ; 
—  ea  long,  pleased  pliiz'd,  stream  striim,  clear  kliir,  meaning  miiniq, 
easiest  iiziiest,  least  liist,  increasing  inkriisiq,  speaker  spikor,  readers 
riders,  to  read  riid,  dear  diir  ;  —  greater  greetar  greter  ;  —  ea  short, 
heaven  nev'n,  already  alreadi  Alreadi,  /  have  read  red,  unlearned 
onlarn'd. 

An  Irish  gentleman,  born  in  1755,  told  me  he  remembered 
the  change.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  change  is  not  yet 
made  among  the  less  educated  class  in  Ireland,  and  was 
probably  universal  in  Ireland  when  this  gentleman  was  a 
youth.  He  came  to  England  as  a  young  man,  and  observed 
the  custom  growing.  He  distinctly  remembered  a  youth  who 
asked  for  (piiz)  peas,  being  told  to  say  (peez)  "  like  a  man." 
The  thinner  voice  of  woman  has  perhaps  occasioned  all  thin- 
ness of  utterance  to  be  called  effeminate.  Thus  Meigret  says  : 

"  Je  vou'  LESS'  a  pEnser  qElle  grag'  aora  1'e  clos  En  SE'  vocables 
mES,  tEs,  SES,  si  nou'  1'y  pronowgons,  come  nou'  fezons  En  pere  mere  : 
E  come  font  je  ne  sey  qels  effeminez  nmrons  [N  =  (nj)]  auEq  vn 
prasqe  clos  resErremEnt  de  bonghe  :  Cretans  a  mon  auis  qe  la  TOES 
virille  de  Thome  ne  soEt  point  tant  harmonieuze,  ny  aggreaM'  ao' 
dames  q'une  laghe,  foEbl'  E  femenine.  Or  quant  a  moE  ie  ne 
poursuy  pas  icy  gete  dolxett'  [L  =  Ij]  E  effeminee  fagon  de  parler  : 
car  je  la  LESS'  aoz  amoureuz  poursuyuant  tant  seulement  gete 
jenerall'  E  comune  fagon,  qi  sEnt  son  home,  E  qi  Et  regu'  Entre  IE' 
mieus  appriz." 

Just  in  the  same  way  Smith  exclaims  against  the  "  mulier- 
culse  delicatiores  et  nonnulli  qui  volunt  isto  modo  videri  loqui 
urbanius"  who  use  (ei)  for  (ai).  And  Dr.  Gill  works  him- 
self up  into  absolute  rudeness,  in  the  following  noteworthy 
passage.  After  observing  that  the  eastern  English  are  fond 
of  thinning  their  words,  saying  (fir,  kiver,  deans)  for  (feier, 
kuver,  dans),  fire,  cover,  dance,  he  goes  on  to  say  : 

"  lo")(yoTr]Ta  1    autem  illam  magnopere   affectant 


1  Printed  Itrxvtriiv  by  an  error,  but  means  "with  a  sweeping  train,"  as  a 
corrected  in  the  errata.    All  palatalis-  parody  of  the  Homeric  lA/ceo-iVeTrAos, 
ation  or    diminution    of   the    lingual  "if  it  be  not  rather  lewd,  lecherous." 
aperture  in  vowels  produces  this  effect  The  allusion  is  evidently  to  irvyf),  and 
of  meagreness,  thinness  of  sound.  the  word  might  be  translated  "  wrig- 

2  This  is  an  unusual  word  found  in  gling,"  as  a  mark  of  affectation. 
Hes.   Op.    371,    which    Liddell    says 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.         E,  EE,  EA  XVIII TH   CENTURY.  91 

nostras  Mopsse  l  quse  quidem  ita  omnia  attenuant,  vt  a  et  o,  non 
aliter  perhorrescere  videantur  quam  Appius  Claudius  z.  sic  enim 
nostrse  non  emunt  (lAAn)  lawn*,  et  (kaambrik)  cambric,  sindonis 
species ;  sed  (leen)  et  (keembrik) ;  nee  edunt  (kaapn)  capon  caponem, 
sed  (keepn)  et  fere  (kiipn) ;  nee  unquam  (butsherz  meet)  BUTCHERS 
MEAT  carnem  a  lanijs,  sed  (butsherz  miit).  Et  quum  sunt  omnes 
(dzhmtHmm)  non  (dzhentlw/men3)  gentlewomen,  i.e.  matronse  no- 
biles,  nee  maids  ancillas  vocant  (maidz)  sed  (meedz).  Quod  autem 
dixi  de  a,  recanto ;  nam  si  quando  6  gravistrepum  audiretur,  locum 
concedunt  ipsi  a,  sic  enim  aliquoties  ad  me  pippiunt 4  (ai  pre  ja  gii 
jar  skalerz  liiv  ta  plee)  pro  (ai  prai  jou 5  gev  JUUT  skolars  leev  tu 
plai),  /  pray  you  give  your  scholars  leave  to  play.  Quseso  concede 
tuis  discipulis  veniam  ludendi." 

We  cannot  but  regret  that  Dr.  Gill  had  not  greatly  ex- 
tended his  list.  (Leen)  does  not  seem  to  have  survived,  but 
(keenvbn'k)  is  now  the  recognized  pronunciation,  though  I 
have  heard  (kaanrte'k).  So  with  (k^'p'n).  This  anticipa- 
tion of  the  change  from  (aa)  to  (ee),  which  was  not  fully  ac- 
complished till  nearly  a  century  after  Gill's  time,  is  remark- 
able. It  must,  however,  be  considered  as  a  xvii  th  and  not  a 
xvi  th  century  sound.  (B/tsher,  meeds,  plee)  will  be  con- 
sidered hereafter.  Here  we  are  principally  interested  in  the 
anticipations  (miit,  liiv)  for,  (meet,  leev),  meat,  leave,  which 
are  not  named  as  exceptions  by  any  professedly  xvii  th  cen- 
tury writers,  and  (meet,  leev)  being  then  the  rule,  would 
have  sounded  most  probably  as  affected  to  Price,  Cooper,  and 
Jones  as  they  did  to  Gill. 

Generally  with  regard  to  the  change  of  (ee)  into  (ii)  it  is 
observable  that  in  Modern  Greek  (as  has  been  probably  the 
custom  for  nearly  2000  years),  rj  is  pronounced  (ii),  while 
there  seems  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  originally  (ee)  or 
perhaps  (ee),  although,  at  least  in  one  word,  it  was  confounded 
with  (ii)  at  an  early  period.6  Also  in  the  passage  from  Latin 
to  the  modern  Romance  language,  (ee)  fell  not  unfrequently 

1  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any      present  day,  ignorant  as  we  are  of  the 
authority  for  this  piece  of  Latin.     The      effect    that    our  pronunciation  would 
English  is  mopseys,  sluts,  which  may      have  produced  on  our  ancestors. 

he  related  to  mop,  mope.  6  Probably  an  inaccuracy  for  (ju). 

2  The    pronunciation    is    an    exact  6  The  old  quotation  6  8'  i}\i6ios  &oirep 
palsetotypic  reproduction  of  Grill's,  and  Trp6fiaTov  ffi   £TJ  \&yuv  )8aSt^et,  does 
the  ordinary  spelling  in  italics  is  my  not  absolutely  establish   (ee)  or  even 
addition  throughout.  (EE)  as  the  sound.     The  latter  is  far 

3  Both  words  require  to  be  written  more  bleating,  and  Schmeller  calls  it 
with  ('!),  or  else  to  have  (,)  inserted  that  vowel  which  any  lamb  can  teach 
after  (1),  as  (dzhmtl,zmen,  dzhentl,wi-  us,   "iiber  den  uns  jedes  Lammchen 
men,)  to  avoid  a  pronunciation  in  three  belehren  kann."    The  well-known  pas- 
syllables,  sage  in  Plato,  Crat.  c.   15,  ofoj/,  ol  ^v 

•4  This  pipping,  chirping  effect  is  apxo-i6raroi  t/tepoj/  r^v  fj/j-epav  e/cctAovp, 
precisely  that  now  produced  upon  our  only  shews  that  some  old  people  pro- 
ears  by  the  flunkey  (Dzhiimz)  of  the  nouncedthatparticularwordinthatway. 


92  E,  EE,  EA  -  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.         CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

into  (ii),1  and  as  the  Latin  me,  te,  se  became  the  Italian  mi, 
ti,  si,  so  the  English  pronouns  he,  she,  me,  we,  thee,  as  some  of 
the  commonest  words,  were  the  first  which  fell  into  (mi,  shii, 
mii,  dhii),  having  remained  as  (nee,  shee,  mee,  dhee)  to  the 
close  of  the  xiv  th  century. 

1710.  SHERIDAN'S  usage  agrees  with  the  modern,  but  his 
observations  on  educated  Irish  usage  are  important.  He 
says  that  ee-,  ie  were  pronounced  as  (ii)  both  in  England  and  in 
Ireland,  but  that  ea,  ei,  e  when  sounded  with  (ii)  in  England 
"  almost  universally  "  received  the  sound  of  (ee)  in  Ireland, 
as  (tee,  see,  pleez)  tea,  sea,  please.  But  he  adds  that  "  gentle- 
men of  Ireland,  after  sometime  of  residence  in  London,  are 
apt  to  fall  into  the  general  rule,  and  pronounce  these  words" 
great,  a  pear,  a  bear,  to  bear,  forbear,  swear,  to  tear,  wear, 
which  were  exceptionally  pronounced  with  (ee)  in  England, 
"  as  if  spelled  greet,  beer,  sweer,"  that  is,  as  (griit,  piir,  biir, 
swiir,  tiir,  wiir).  Omitting  these  mistakes,  which  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  true  Irish  habits  of  the  time,  we  see  that  the 
latter  really  belonged  to  the  xvn  th  century.  Again  Sheridan 
says  :  "  the  final  mute  e  makes  the  preceding  e  in  the  same 
syllable,  when  accented,  have  the  sound  of  (ii)  as  in  the  words 
supreme,  sincere,  replete.  This  rule  is  almost  universally 
broken  through  by  the  Irish,  who  pronounce  such  words  as 
if  written  saprame,  sinsare,  replate"  that  is  with  (ee)  as  in  the 
xvn  th  century.  In  Sheridan's  list  of  miscellaneous  words 
with  Irish  pronunciations,  we  find  several  examples  of  forcing 
a  rule  too  far,  as  above  stated  (see  also  p.  76).  The  complete 
list  is  as  follows,  to  which  I  have  annexed  my  own  pro- 
nunciation in  the  present  century  :  — 

Written.  Irish.  English  1780.  English,  1868. 

cheerful  tshiirful  tshErful  tshiirfwl 

fearful  fiir-ful  forM  fih-fwl 

beard  biird  bsrd  biud 

leisure  Lczlrar  lirzhar  lezh/i 

search  seertsh  SErtsh  sitsh 

tenure  tEirjar  tirruar  ten'iui 

tenable  tEn'rebl  tirnaebl  t 


1  Diez,  Gram,  der  rom.   Sprachen,  cire  (cera),  marquis  (marchensis),  merci 

2nd  ed.,  vol.  i.,  p.  139,  gives  as  ex-  (mercedem),    pris    (prensus),    poussin, 

amples,   Italian   Corniglia   (Cornelia,)  raisin,   tapis    (tapetum),    venin  ;     old 

Messina    (Messene),    sarracino    (sara-  French,  pai's  (pagense,  now  pays),  seine 

cenus)  —  to  which  the   initial  di-,  ri-  (sagena),  seri  (serenus).    He  also  re- 

and  several  others  may  he  added.  —  Span.  marks  on  the  same  tendency  in  the  old 

consigo    (secum),   venino    (venenum)  ;  high  German  fira  (feriae),  pina  (Ital. 

port,  siso  (sensus  sesus).  —  Prov.  herbitz  pena),  spisa  (spesa),  which  have  under- 

(vervecem),  pouzf  (pullicemis),   razim  gone  another  change  in  modern  times, 

(racemus),   sarraci.  —  French,    hrehis,  becoming  Feier,  feme,  Speise. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  O,    OO,    OA  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY. 


93 


Written. 
wherefore 


Irish. 
whiirfoor 


English,  1780. 
whErfoor 


therefore 

dhiirfoor 

breadth 

brEth 

endeavour 

endii'var 

mischievous 

imstshirvas 

reach 

retsh 

zealous 

zirlas 

zealot 

zii'lAt 

brEdth 
endEvar 
ims'tshivos 
riitsh 

ZEl'8S 


English,  1868. 
wheej'fooi 
dheei'fooi 
bredth 
endevr 
nus'tshrvBS 
riitsh. 
zel'BS 
zel'i3t 


0,    00,    OA  XVI  TH   CENTURY. 

1530.  PALSGRAVE  says:  "0  in  the  frenche  tong  hath  two  diuers 
maners  of  soundynges,  the  souwdyng  of  0,  whiche  is  most  generall 
with  them,  is  lyke  as  we  sounde  0  in  these  words  in  our  tonge  a 
boore,  a  soore,  a  coore,  and  snche  lyke,  that  is  to  say,  like  as  the 
Italians  sounde  0,  or  they  with  vs  that  souwde  the  latin  tong  aright." 

1567.  SALESBUET  says  :  "  0  in  Welsh  is  sounded  according  to  the 
right  sounding  of  it  in  Latin :  eyther  else  as  the  sound  of  0  is  in 
these  Englyshe  wordes :  a  Doe,  a  Roe,  a  Toe :  and  0  never  soundeth 
in  Welsh  as  it  doth  in  these  wordes  of  Englysh  :  to,  do,  two."  And 
again,  1547,  speaking  of  English,  he  says  :  "0  takes  the  sound  of 
[Welsh]  0  (o)  in  some  words,  and  in  others  the  sound  of  w  (uu) ; 
thus  TO,  to,  (too),  digitus  pedis ;  so,  so,  (soo),  sic ;  TWO,  tw,  (tuu) 
duo  ;  TO,  tw  (tu)  ad  ;  SCHOLE,  scwl,  (skuul)  schola  ....  But  two  oo 
together  are  sounded  like  w  in  Welsh,  as  GOOD  gwd  (guud)  bonus ; 
POOKE  pwr  (puur)  pauper." 

1568. — SIB  T.  SMITH  simply  says:  "0  Latina,"  giving  as  ex- 
amples the  following  words,  which  he  only  writes  phonetically,  but 
are  here  given  in  ordinary  spelling — 

Short — smock,  horse,     hop,     sop,     not,    rob,     bot,    pop. 
Long  —  smoke,  hoarse,  hope,  soap,  note,  robe,  boat,  pope. 
Smith  makes  00  in  loot,  look,  mood,  fool,  pool,  too  the  same  as  the 
Latin  u  long,  meaning  (uu).     See  under  TJ. 

1569.  HAUT  says  :  "The  fourth  [vowel],  by  taking  awaye  of  all 
the  tongue,  cleane  from  the  teeth  or  gummes,  as  is  sayde  for  the  a, 
and  turning  the  lippes  rounde  as  a  ring,  and  thrusting  forth  of  a 
sounding  breath,  which  roundnesse  to  signifie  the  shape  of  the 
letter,  was  made  (of  the  first  inuentor)  in  like  sort,  thus  0."  And 
his  English  examples  are  no,  not,  so. 

1580.  BTJLLOKAB,  says:  "Ohath  three  soundes,  and  all  of  them 
vowels;  the  one  sound  agreeing  to  his  olde  and  continued  name, 
another  sound,  betweene  the  accustomed  name  of,  0,  and  the  old 
name  of,  v,  and  the  same  sound  long,  for  which  they  write  00, *  (as  I 
do  also,  but  giuing  it  a  proper  name,  according  to  the  sound  thereof), 
the  thirde  sounde  is  as,  v,  flat  and  short,  that  is  to  say,  as  this 
sillable  ou,  short  sounded  :  for  which  some  of  the  better  learned  did 
many  times  use,  00.  &,  v,  according  to  their  sounds,  but  most  times 

1  The  two  o's  are  united  in  one  type  as  the  o  and  e  are  in  the  type  oe, 


94  O,    00,    OA  —  XVI TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

with  superfluous  letters."     He  illustrates  the  three  sounds  by  the 
words. 

1)  sonne  films,  vpon,  losome  (first  vowel),  come,  close. 

2)  sonne  sol,  out,  losome  (second  vowel),  come. 

3)  loked,  toke,  boke,  sone. 

1611.  FLORIO  says,  speaking  of  the  Italian  (tih,  o) :  "  So  likewise 
to  the  close  0,  I  have  throughout  my  book  given  this  oualle  forme 
0.  and  to  the  open  this  round  form  0.  The  first  close  or  oualle  is 
euer  pronounced  as  the  English  single  Y.  in  these  wordes,  Bun,  Dug, 
Flud,  Gud,  Rud,  Stud,  Tun,  &c.,  whereas  the  other  round  or  open 
is  euer  pronounced  as  our  0.  in  these  words  Bone,  Dog,  Flow,  God, 
Rod,  Stone,  Tone  &c.  as  for  example  in  these  Italian  wordes,  lo 
hondro  il  mio  Dio  con  dgni  diuotidne,  where  euer,  0.  is  close  and 
oualle.  And  in  these,  lui  mi  vuole  torre  la  mia  tdrre ;  or  else,  lui 
mi  ha  rdsa  la  mia  rosa ;  where  Torre  with  an  open  or  round  0.  is 
a  verbe  and  signifieth  to  take,  and  tdrre  with  a  close  or  oualle  0. 
is  a  noune  substantiue,  and  signifieth  a  tower ;  and  Rosa  with  an 
oualle  and  close  0.  is  a  participle  of  the  verb  Rodere,  and  signifieth 
Gnawne  or  Mbled,  and  Rosa  with  a  round  or  open  0.  is  a  noune 
substantiue,  and  signifieth  the  floure  that  we  call  a  Rose." 

1621.  GILL  gives  as  key  words  for  his  long  and  short  o,  "coale,  to 
coll,"  and  calls  them  o>,  o. 

In  endeavouring  to  discover  what  are  the  sounds  intended, 
it  is  necessary  first  to  examine  what  sounds  of  o  exist.  They 
are  all  round  vowels,  that  is,  the  action  of  the  lips  with  a 
tolerably  round  opening  is  necessary.  The  tongue  must  also 
not  be  much  raised,  or  the  sound  falls  into  (u,  u)  or  at  least 
(«h)  the  Italian  o  chimo.  At  the  same  time  the  tongue  must 
not  be  too  much  depressed,  or  the  sounds  become  (A,  o),  the  last 
of  which  is  the  modern  English  o  in  odd,  which  Mr.  M.  Bell 
considers  to  be  a  wide  form  of  (A),  and  which  is  generally, 
though  inaccurately,  confounded  with  (A),  just  as  (t)  is 
usually  confounded  with  (i).  Hence  we  obtain  two  forms,  by 
raising  the  back  of.  the  tongue  to  a  mid  position,  and  round- 
ing the  lips  in  a  medium  manner,  namely  (o,  o),  the  latter 
being  the  wide  of  the  former.  In  present  English  (o)  only 
occurs  as  a  long  vowel,  and  in  the  south  it  usually  has  a 
faint  sound  of  (u)  after  it,  thus  (Hooum,  Hoo'wm)  home,  but 
this  is  unhistorical,  except  where  a  w  is  written ;  thus  we 
may  distinguish  no,  knoiv  as  (noo,  noou).  The  other  sound 
(oo)  is  often  heard  long  in  provincial  English  as  (noom)  home. 
Unaccustomed  ears  then  confound  it  with  (AA)  or  (oo).  The 
long  sound  (oo)  is  also  sometimes  heard  from  those  London 
speakers  who  wish  to  prolong  the  sound  of  o  in  dog,  cross, 
off,  office,  without  degenerating  into  (dAAg,  krAAs,  AAf,  AAf'/s), 
or  being  even  so  broad  as  (doog,  kroos,  oof,  oof'/s).  It  is  also 
the  sound  now  most  esteemed  in  oar,  glory,  story,  memorial, 


CHAP.  III.  §  3-  O,    OO,    OA  XVI TH   CENTURY.  95 

once  called,  and  still  so  called  by  elderly  people,  (oo'x,  gloo'jL'rt, 
st00'.m,  mem00'.rrM),  but  now  professedly  called  (OQJ,  glooj'r?, 
stooJTi,  memooJ'rM),  the  action  of  the  glide  from  (00)  to 
(j)  having  resulted  in  widening  the  vowel.1  Mr.  M.  Bell 
recognizes  two  other  sounds  (oh,  oh)  related  to  (0,  o)  by  being 
mixed  instead  of  back  vowels.  The  former  he  hears  in  the 
French  homme,  where  I  hear  (o),  and  the  latter  in  the 
American  stone,  where  I  hear  (0).  The  sounds  are  unusual 
to  English  ears,  and  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  distinguish 
(0,  0h)  or  (o,  oh)  for  any  purpose  in  this  treatise.  Generally 
(ston)  is  heard  as  (stan),  which  is  the  modern  English  form 
in  such  phrases  as  to  weigh  tivelve  stone  (tu  weei  twelv  sten). 
The  sound  (H01)  for  (H001)  whole,  is  by  no  means  uncommon, 
although  most  persons  hear  it  as  (nel),  and  it  is  imitated  by 
writing  "  the  hull  of  a  thing." 

Now  long  0  being  (00)  and  short  o  in  closed  syllables  being 
(o),  as  note,  not  (noot,  not),  English  writers  have  got  so  much 
into  the  habit  of  considering  these  two  sounds  as  a  pair,  that 
when  they  speak  of  long  and  short  o  we  naturally  expect 
these  sounds  and  not  (00,  0).  This  creates  the  difficulty. 
The  ear  and  judgment  are  confused.  Sir  T.  Smith  may 
have  pronounced  his  key  words  (smok  smook,  nors  H00rs, 
Hop,  H00p),  and  yet  have  considered  them  as  pairs,  for  he 
actually  has  so  considered  the  more  distant  sounds  (beit,  "bit). 
As  the  Welsh  at  the  present  day,  so  far  as  I  have  observed, 
say  (oo,  o)  and  do  not  use  either  (0)  or  (o),  they  probably  so 
pronounced  in  Salesbury's  time.  But  Salesbury  would  in 
that  case  have  heard  (00,  o)  as  (oo,  o),  so  that  his  identifi- 
cation of  the  English  with  the  Welsh  0,  although  probably 
correct,  would  not  suffice  to  decide  so  delicate  a  point.  Quite 
recently  I  have  heard  Welsh  gentlemen  who  seemed  to  me 
to  say  (poob)  and  not  (p00b)  declare  that  the  vowel  sounded 
to  them  the  same  as  that  in  my  pronunciation  of  robe  (r00b). 
Hart's  description,  giving  the  lingual  positions  for  a  (a)  and 
the  rounding  of  the  lips  should  produce  (o)  exactly.  And  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  the  normal  English  sound  up  to 
the  end  of  the  xvith  century  was  (oo,  o),  both  long  and 
short.  This  would  make  sense  of  Hart's  examples  no,  not,  so 
as  (noo,  not,  soo),  and  would  make  Smith's  and  Gill's  long 
and  short  0,  perfect  pairs,  thus  :  Gill  coll,  coal,  (kol,  kool) ; 
Smith  smock,  smoke,  (smok,  smook). 

1  Of  course  this  sound  degenerates  anxious  to  correct  this,  say  (glotyr*), 

into  (oo)  or  (AA),  so  that  (glAA-n)  or  without   any  ( j),  the  effect  of  which 

even  (dlAAn)  may  often  be  heard   in  was  decidedly  unpleasant. 
London.  I  have  heard  clergymen,  who, 


96  O,    OO,    OA  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

My  own  impression,  after  considerable  thought  on  the  sub- 
ject, though  it  would  be  difficult  to  enumerate  all  the  reasons 
which  have  led  me  to  this  conclusion,  is,  that  (oo,  o)  must  be 
considered  as  the  normal  sound,  intermediate  to  (a)  and  (u)  ; 
and  that  (o,  u}  are  felt  as  approximations  towards  (u),  and 
(o,  A)  as  approximations  towards  (a).  To  me  the  Italian 
sounds  o  chiiiso  and  o  aperto,  close  and  open  o,  are  respectively 
(wh,  o),  the  former  coming  from  Latin  u,  the  latter  from  Latin 
o.  The  regular  short  German  and  French  o  I  also  consider  to 
be  (o).  To  shew  however  the  ease  with  which  sounds  so 
near  may  be  confused,  I  may  mention  that  Mr.  Melville  Bell 
in  taking  down  sounds  from  my  dictation,  heard  my  (o,  on) 
as  (oh,  wn).1 

I  shall  assume  as  at  least  most  likely  that  (oo,  o)  was  the 
original  sound  of  long  and  short  o  previous  to  the  xvith 
century,  but  that  (oo)  inclining  often  towards  (u)  had 
become  (uu)  in  many  words  in  the  xvith  century,  other 
words  retaining  the  pure  (oo).2  It  was,  I  believe,  to 
separate  these  two  effects  that  a  diversity  of  spelling 
was  introduced.  The  o  which  became  (uu)  was  written 
oo,  and  the  o  which  remained  unchanged  became  oa.  The 
change  was  precisely  similar  to  the  introduction  of  the  two 
spellings  ee,  ea  at  the  same  period,  and  the  device  was 
the  same,  viz.,  the  more  guttural  sounds  of  each,  that  is,  the 
sounds  more  nearly  approaching  to  a,  were  represented  by 
adding  on  a  as  ea,  oa,  and  the  other  sounds  further  from  a, 
were  represented  by  simple  duplication  as  ee,  oo.  "When  o 
had  changed  to  (u)  the  spelling  u  gradually  prevailed,  but 
sometimes  simple  o  and  sometimes  oo  was  employed.  The 
older  spelling  ou  also  occasionally  remained.  We  have  seen 
that  the  orthography  ee,  ea  was  not  fixed  in  Palsgrave's  time. 
Similarly  we  find  him  writing  in  the  passage  first  quoted 
under  this  letter,  (p.  93),  boore,  soore,  coore  for  boar,  sore,  core. 
Reverting  to  Palsgrave's  vocabulary  of  nouns,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing spellings,  to  which  I  add  Levins's,  as  under  EA  (p.  77) : 

"Boke..  booke,  lolce  othe ..  othe,  loiter  am,  lockette  for  a  well., 
bucket,  lokyll ..  buckle,  locler  for  defence  ..  bockler,  lone  a  request .. 

1  See  Visible  Speech,  Plate  viii.  con-  and  that  given  by  Mr.  M.  Bell,  must 
taining  the  speech  of  Portia  on  Mercy,  generally  be  attributed  to  further  in- 
written  in  Visible  Speech  letters  from  vestigation  on  my  part, 
my  dictation,  where  (noht,  droh'peth)  2  In  the  examination  of  Chaucer's 
are  written  for  what  I  intended  to  pro-  pronunciation  I  shall  endeavour  to 
nounce  as  (not,  drop-eth.)  This  speech  shew  that  in  his  time  the  sound  of  o 
will  be  found  as  an  example  in  Chap.  had  not  split  into  two,  although  I  think 
VIII,  §  8,  Ex.  1.  The  differences  be-  that  o  was  written  not  unfrequently  for 
tween  the  pronunciation  there  exhibited  an  original  (u). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  O,  00,  OA  -  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  97 

boone,  lour  age  herbe,  boore  beest  ..  bore,  boorde  for  buylding  ..  boord, 
borde  cloth  nappe  ..  borde,  boarder  that  gothe  to  borde  ..  border, 
boster  uantevr,  botte  to  rowe  in  bateav  ..  bote,  boty  that  man  of  warre 
take  ..  booty,  botlar  ..  butler,  bottras  ..  buttresse,  bottrye  ..  butterie, 
boote  of  lether  ..  boote,  boothe  ..  boothe,  bully  on  in  a  woman's  girdle, 
bouke  of  clothes,  0M0  a  garment.,  cloke,  coke  that  selleth  meate.. 


cooke,  cole,  of  fyre  ..  cole,  coupe  [coop],  core  of  frute  ..  core,  corse  a 
deed  body  ..  corse,  courser  of  horses  ..  course,  cosyn  kynsman  .. 
cousin,  cosies  charge  ..  coste,  cost  of  a  countre  ..  coaste,  cote  a  byrde  .. 
coote,  cote  for  a  ladde  ..  cote,  cover  ..  cover,  couple  ..  couple,  course  .. 
course,1  ffoo  a  beest  ..  doe,  dokelyng  ..  duckling,2  dole  ..  doole,  dome 
jugement..  doome,  dong  hyll..  dungil,  dore  a  gate  ..  door,  doublet, 
dove  ..  doove,  doute  ..  doubte,  fole  ..  foole,  foole  a  colte  ..  Me,  foome 
..  fome,  /0o  ..  foe,  forowe  ..  furrowe,  fote  ..  foote,  foulde  for  shepe  .. 
fould,  foule..  foule,  good.,  good,  #0&fo  a  metall  ..  golden,  goulfe  of 
corne,  so  moche  as  may  lye  bytwene  two  postes,  otherwyse  a  baye  .  . 
gulfe,  gode  for  a  carter  ..  gode,  goore  of  a  smock  ..  gore,  gose  a  foule 
..  goose,  goseberry  ..  gooseberrie,  goost  ..  ghoste,  yo^  a  beest..  gote, 
gottesmylk,  grome  ..  groome,  grote  money  ..  grote,  hode  ..  hoode,  hoke  .. 
hooke,  hole.,  hole,  holy.,  holy,  hony..  honye,  honny  combe,  honny- 
suckell  ..  honysuckle,  hore  ..  whore,  hope  ..  hope,  hote  house  ..  hote, 
horse  a  beest  ..  horse,  hoorsnesse  of  the  throte  ..  horse,  host  of  men  .. 
hoste,  hose  for  ones  legges  ..  hose,  houpe  [hoop],  ionkette  ..junkets, 
iouse  ..  juce,  lode  ..  lode  [load],  lofe  of  bredde  ..  lofe,  loke  ..  looke, 
lope  [loop],  lome  [loam],  losyng  perdition  ..  lose,  love.,  loved,  mole 
moule  a  beest  ..  moule,  moleyne  an  herbe,  molet  a  fysshe  ..  mullet, 
moone  a  planet  ..  moone,  moneth  ..  month,  mode  in  a  verbe  ..  moode, 
more  a  fen  ..  moore,  mote  a  dytche  ..  mote,  mote  in  the  sonne  ..  mote, 
moton  [mutton],  moultytude  ..  multitude,  moulde  a  form  ..  mould, 
mournyng  ..  mourne,  noone  mydday  .  .  noone,  ncnne  a  relygious  wo- 
man ..  nunne,  norisshyng  ..  nourish,  nose  [in  the  body  of  his  work 
constantly  written  noose~\  ..  nose,  ore  of  a  bote  ..  ore,3  ote  corne  ..  otes, 
othe  sweryng..  othe,  oulde  mayde  ..  ould,  plome  a  frute  ..  ploume, 
podyng  ..  pudding,  poddell  a  slough  ..  puddel,  poke  or  bagge  ..  poke, 
pocke  or  blayne  ..  pocke,  pole  a  staffe  ..  pole,  pompe  [pump],  ponde  .. 
ponde,  pore  ..  pore,  poore  [poor],  profe  ..  proofe,  prose,  rho  bucke  a 
beest  ..  roe  buck,  robe  ..  robe,  roche  a  fysshe  ..  rochet,  rode  a  crosse  .. 
roode,  rofe..ioofe,  roke  ..  rooke,  rope  ..  rope,  rose.,  rose,  rote  of  a 
tree  ..  roote,  sloo  worme  ..  sloe,  smoke  ..  smooke,  sokelyng  ..  souke, 
sole  a  fysshe  ..  sole,  sole  of  a  fote  ..  sole,  sole  of  a  shoo  ..  sole,  somme 
[sum],  sonne  ..  sonne,4  sope  to  wasshe  with  ..  sope,  soper  ..  supper,  sore 
a  wound  ..  sore,  sote  of  a  chymney  ..  sooty,  sothenesse  [soothness], 
sodayne  [sudden]  ..  sodayne,  soule  [soul]  ..  soule,  souldier  ..  soldiourie, 
souter  sauetier,  soveraynte  of  a  kynge  ..  soveraygne,  spoke  of  a 
wheel  ..  spoke,  stoble  ..  stubbil,  stone  ..  stone,  store  ..  store,  tode  [toad] 
..  tode,  too  of  ones  fote  ..  toe,  toost  of  breed  ..  toste,  tothe  dent  .. 

1  The  adjective  coarse  is  also  spelled  3  Levins  uses    oore   for  a  metallic 
course  both  by  Palsgrave  and  Levins.  ore. 

2  The  verb  to  duck  is  spelled  douJc  4  Both   Palsgrave  and    Levins  use 
both  by  Palsgrave  and  Levins.  sonne  for  both  son  and  sun. 

7 


98 


O,  OO,  OA  XVI  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


toothe,  vout  under  the  ground  ..  valte,  wode  [woad]  ..  woodwasse, 
wodwosse,  wood  or  tre  that  is  fallen  ..  wood,  wodde  to  burne  ..  wood, 
woodnesse  rage  ..  woode,  wolfe  ..  wolfish,  woman  ..  woman,  wombe, 
wonders  ..  wonder,  wo  sorowe  ..  woe." 

It  is  evident  that  long  o  and  oo  were  not  yet  separated  by 
Palsgrave  to  whom  also  the  device  of  oa  or  oe  final,  (see  doo, 
foo,  wo)  had  not  yet  occurred,  and  although  oo  was  freely 
used  by  Levins,  oa  was  almost  unknown  to  him. 

A  comparison  of  Bullokar's  notation  of  the  three  classes  of 
words  he  cites,  leads  me  to  the  conclusion  that  their  sounds 
were,  in  palaeotype — 

1)  son,  upon,  boz'um,  koorn,  kloos. 

2)  sun,  ut,  boz'um,  kum. 

3)  luuked,  tuuk,  buuk,  suun. 

The  pronunciation  (son)  is  however  peculiar.  Smith  gives 
(sun).  Where  direct  authority  cannot  be  obtained  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  distinguish  which  of  these  sounds  should  be 
given  to  o  in  any  words  of  the  xvi  th  century.  Generally  we 
may  conclude  that  the  o,  oa, — not  the  ow, — which  is  now  (oo) 
or  (oou)  was  then  (oo),  being  the  old  sound  but  very  slightly 
altered ;  what  is  now  (uu)  it  is  not  so  safe  to  conclude  was  then 
(uu)  unless  in  the  course  of  the  century  we  find  the  spelling 
oo  adopted.  What  is  now  (o)  was  pretty  certainly  (o)  at  that 
time,  being  almost  the  old  sound  preserved.  But  it  is  not 
quite  so  certain  that  what  is  now  (a)  was  formerly  (u),  for 
some  of  these  may  have  been  (o),  or  both  sounds  may  have 
prevailed,  thus  Bullokar  and  Smith  differ  respecting  son,  and 
none,  one  were  (noon,  oon).  It  is  also  very  probable  that 
many  o  represented  (u)  even  as  early  as  Chaucer's  time.  The 
following  cases  of  o,  oo,  oa  =  (u)  or  (uu)  are  taken  from  the 
authorities  for  this  century. 


above 

cook 

afford 

cool 

among 

coot 

blood 

cover 

board 

do 

bombast 

done 

book 

food 

boot 

foot 

brood 

forth 

broom 

good 

come 

goose 

hood       ooze 

some        two         wood 

hoof        other 

soon          whom     woof 

hoop       pool 
loof         poor 
look        prove 
loose       rook 

soothe       whoop    wool 
stood         whore     "Worcester 
stool         wolf       word 
sword       womb     work 

loving     room 
mood      root 
mother   shoe 

thorough  woman  worm 
to              won        worship 
ton            wonder  worst 

mouth    shovel 

too            wont       worth 

move       smother 

took          woo         wost 

conjurer   government 

To  these  Shakspere  authorises  the  addition  of  Rome.1 

1  Julius  Caesar  act  i.  sc.  2,  v.  156  : — 

Now  is  it  Rome  indeed,  and  Roome  enough 
"When  there  is  in  it  but  one  onely  man. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  O,  OO,  OA  XVII TH   CENTURY.  9# 

The  following  are  all  the  words  containing  o  which  Sales- 
bury  adduces,  leaving  ou,  ow,  oi,  ol  to  be  considered  hereafter. 

GOD  God  (God) ;  CONDICYON  condisywn  (kondis'mn) ;  ETJERMORE 
efermwor  (evermoor) ;  *  THONDRE  thwndr  (thmrder),  WONDRE  wnder 
(wmrder);2  HOPE  hoop  (noop);  ORANGES  oreintsys  (oreindzlws),  POLE 
ffwl  (fuul).;  HOLT  holi  (noo'li,  HoH),3  HONEST  onest  (on'est);  HONOURS 
onor  (on'or) ;  EXHIBITION  ecsibisiwn  (eksibis'i,un) ;  PROHIBITION  pro- 
ibisiwn  (proo,ibis'i,un) ;  JOHN  tsion,  sion  (Dzhon) ;  BOKE  bwk  (bunk) ; 
TO,  to  (too)  meaning  a  toe  ;  so  so  (soo) ;  TWO  tw  (tuu),  TO  to  (tu)  the 
preposition ;  SCHOLE  scwl  (skuul) ;  GOOD,  gwd  (guud) ;  POORE  pwr 
(puur) ;  ROS  ros  (rooz)  a  rose,  SEASON  seesyn  (seez'm);4  TOP  top  (top) ; 
THOMAS  tomas  (Tonras) ;  THRONE  trwn  (truun) ;  OXE  ocs  (oks). 

Florio  (p.  94,)  evidently  heard  bone,  dog  as  (boon,  dog), 
and,  if  (boon)  had  been  said,  he  would  have  most  probably 
heard  that  sound  as  (bwwhn),  just  as  at  present  Englishmen 
confuse  the  Italian  (uuln.,  o),  o  chiuso  long  and  o  aperto  short, 
with  their  own  (po,  o).  Hence  his  remarks  give  a  presump- 
tion in  favour  of  (oo,  o). 

0,  00,  OA  —  xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WALLIS  says  of  the  guttural  vowels  "dtis  aperta:  Si 
apertura  majori  seu  pleno  rictu  spiritus  exeat,  formatur  Germanorum 
d  vel  d5  apertum.  Keque  Germani  solum  sed  et  Galli,  aliique  non 
pauci,  eodem  sono  suum  a  plerumque  proferunt.  Angli  sonum 
ilium  eorreptum  per  6  breue ;  productum  vero  plerumque  per  au 
vel  aw,  rarius  per  d  exprimunt.  Nam  in  fdtt,  folly ;  Mil,  haul, 
holly ;  call,  collar;  lawes,  losse ;  cause,  cost;  aw  d,  odd;  sawd,  sod; 
aliisque  similibus  ;  idem  prorsus  Yocalium  sonus  auditur  in  primis 
syllabis,  nisi  quod  illic  producatur  his  corripiatur.  Atque  hinc  est 
quod  Hebrasi  suum  camets  longum,  et  camets  breve  seu  camets  chatuph, 
(hoc  est,  nostrum  d  apertum  et  6  breve,)  eodem  charactere  scribunt, 

JS"am  eorum  7^  et  7  J  non  aliter  diiferunt  quam  nostrum  edll  et  colL 

"  6  rotundum.  Majori  labiorum  apertura  formatur  6  rotundum  * 
quo  sono  plerique  proferunt  Gra3corum  co.  Hoc  sono  Galli  plerum- 
que proferunt  suum  au.  Angli  ita  fere  semper  proferunt  o  pro- 
ductum vel  etiam  oa  (ipso  a  nimirum  nunc  dierum  quasi  evanescente ; 
de  quo  idem  hie  judicium  ferendum  est  ac  supra  de  00 6) :  Ut,  one, 

1  The  inserted  w  is  perplexing,   it      words  were  meant.  This  shews  that  the 
should  give  the    sound    (muor),   and      quality  of  the  long  and  short  o  was  the 
Price  uses  wo  to  indicate  (uu).     But       same  to  him. 

Smith  pronounces  (moor).  4  The  origin  of  this  y  is  not  appa- 

2  The  initial  (w)  has  been  supplied,       rent.     The  real  sound  of  the    word 
because  its  omission  has  been  regarded       seems  to  have  been  (seez*n). 

as  a  Welsh  habit,  and  Salesbury's  mode  5  The  Oxford  reprint  has  o  in  each 

of  writing  did  not  give  him  the  means  case,  which  is  erroneous. 

of  representing  (wu).  6  We  have  seen  that  the  a  was  never 

3  Salesbury    does    not    distinguish  pronounced  in  either  case  ;  that  it  was 
holly,  holy  either  in  sound  or  spelling,  a  mere  orthographical  device. 

but  his  interpretation  shews  that  both 


100  O,  OO,  OA  —  XVII TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

unus ;  none,  nullus ;  whole,  totus ;  hole  foramen ;  coal,  carbo ;  boat, 
cymba  ;  oat,  avena  ;  those,  illi ;  chose,  eligi ;  etc.  At  ubi  o  breve  est, 
ut  plurimum  per  d  apertum  (de  quo  supra)  rarius  per  6  rotundum 
pronunciatur. 

"  Oo  sonatur  ut  Germanorum  u  pingue,  seu  Gallorum  ou.  Ut  in 
vocibus  good  bonus,  stood  stabam,  root  radix,  foot  pes,  loose  laxus, 
loose  laxo,  amitto. 

"  Nonnunquam  o  &  ou  negligentius  pronunciantes  eodem  sono" 
6  ii  obscuro  =  (a),  "efferunt,  ut  in  cdme,  venio;  sdme,  aliquis;  ddne, 
actum ;  cdmpany,  consortium ;  country,  rus ;  couple,  par ;  cdvet, 
concupiscp ;  Idve,  amo ;  aliisque  aliquot ;  quae  alio  tamen  sono  rectius 
proferri  debent." 

These  extracts  seem  to  make  long  o  a  true  labial  (oo),1 
short  o  a  true  gutturo-labial  (A) — for  which  however  the  softer 
(o)  may  have  been  really  sounded,  and  occasionally  (9),  a 
new  sound,  which  will  be  considered  under  TJ, — and  long  or 
short  oo  the  true  (uu,  u),  which  however  may  have  been 
(uu,  u}.  Hence  long  and  short  o  had  ceased  to  be  a  pair 
(oo,  o),  and  had  become  the  different  vowels  (oo,  o)  or  (oo,  A). 
This  fully  agrees  with  Wilkins,  1668,  who  gives  the  follow- 
ing pairs,  leaving  (oo)  without  a  mate, 

a  (  short  "hot-torn  fol-/y  fot  mot       Pol      rod 

(  long  bought  fall  fought  Paule  E-awd 

\  short 

(  long  bote  foale  vote  mote      pole     rode 

(short  full  fat  pul 

( long  boote  foole  foote  moote    poole    roode 

but  lie  also  gives  amongst  as  containing  (aa). 

1668.  PRICE  distinguishes  three  sounds  of  o,  long  as  in  no, 
"fo,"  more,  most  =  (oo)  according  to  Wallis  ;  short  as  in  lot, 
not,  for  =  (o)  ;  "  obscure  like  short  u  (0)  as  in  son,  tongue, 
London,  above,  *  approve,  *behoveth,  brother,  come,  companie, 
conie,  conduit,  dosen,  dost,  doth,  love,  mother,  *move,  plover, 
pomel,  *prove,  *  remove,  shovel,  some,  venom,  *  whom,"  all  of  which 
with  the  exception  of  those  marked  *  retain  the  sound  of  (a).8 

Price  also  says :  "  o  after  w,  soundes  like  short  u,  (a)  as 
world,  *sword,  *  woman,  won,  except,  o,  soundes,  ee,  in  women, 
and  o  long  in  wo,  ivore,  woke,"  (sw8Jd,  wanr^n)  are  uncom- 
mon. Then  follows  a  long  list  of  final  om,  on  sounded  as 
as  (am,  9n),  including  some  words  in  which  the  sound  is 
now  ('n). 

1  The  French  distinguish  two  sounds  of  Cambridge,  that  he  used  to  say  : 
of  o,  the  close  au  and  the  open  o,  which  "  If  a  man  say  I  lie,  I  say  (prav)  it ; 
to  my  ears  sound  as  (o,  o).  if  he    (prav)    it,    then   I   lie;    if   he 

2  As  regards  prove,  it  is  an  ancient  don't  (prav)  it,  then  he  lies,  and  there's 
university  story  of  the  late  Prof.  Vince,  an  end  on't." 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  O,  OO,  OA  —  XVII TH    CENTURY.  101 

"  0,  soundes  like  (woo)1  oo  in  *Rome,  do,  shoe,  cuckoe,  *go, 
*hord,  mushrom,  undo,  who,  *  whore."  (Ruum)  we  have  seen 
was  heard  in  Shakspere's  time,  and  may  still  occasionally  be 
heard ;  (gnu)  is  mentioned  by  Wallis  in  terms  of  disapproval ; 
(Huurd)  may  be  classed  with  (afuurd)  afford ;  and  mushroom 
has  changed  its  spelling. 

Price  makes  oa  the  long  o,  (oo),  and  oo  generally  "  like 
woo"  (uu),  but  "like  u"  (a)  in  good,  wool,  hood,  wood,  stood. 

1685.  COOPER  pairs  the  vowels  fall  folly,  and  foal  full. 
By  the  latter  pair  he  could  not  have  meant  (fuul  ful),  or 
(fwwhl  £tM).  His  (ful,  M,  fuhl,  fol)  whichever  way  he 
pronounced  it,  contained  the  nearest  vowel  sound  to  (fool) 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  (p.  84).  He  says  : — 

"  0  formatur  a  labiis  paululum  contractis,  dum  spiritus  orliculatm 
emittur :  ut  in  hope  spes ;  productum  semper,  (nisi  in  paucis  qua3 
per  oo  (uu)  sonantur ;  et  ante  I  per  ou  (wu,  ou)  labiales :  ut  in  told 
audax)  hoc  modo  pronunciant  Angli,  quern  aliquando  scribunt  per 
oa ;  ut  coach  currus ;  correptus  raro  auditur,  nisi  in  paucis,  quse  a 
consonante  labiali  incipiunt ;  ut  post  w  in  wolf  lupus,  wonder  mirnm ; 
&  in  syllaba  wor  ;  plura  non  memini :  in  quibusdam  u  hoc  modo 
pronunciatur,  ubi  praecedens  vocalis  est  labialis ;  ut  pull,  vello,  full 
plenus  ;  non  quia  debet,  sed  quoniam  aliter  facilius  efferri  nequit : 
Et  oo  in  good  bonus,  hood  cucullus,  ivood  lignum ;  /  stoocl  steti ; 
Galli  per  o  ut  globe  globus,  proteste  protestor ;  in  copy  exemplar 
compitur.  Germani  per  o,  ut  ostern  pentecoste ;  quern  in  principio 
dictionum  fere  producant :  in  wort  verbum ;  Gott  Deus  compitur." 

Whence  it  appears  that  Cooper  did  not  distinguish  (u) 
from  (o)  or  even  (o).  In  fact  he  hardly  knew  the  true  short 
(u)  for  after  describing  oo  he  says  "inter  sonum  correptum 
&  productum  minima  datur  differentia,"  and  he  pairs  foot 
short,  fool  long,  where  the  difference  of  length  is  solely  due 
to  the  following  consonant.  As  I  have  found  it  necessary  to 
suppose  that  Cooper  paired  (ee,  i),  see  p.  83,  so  here  I  pre- 
sume he  paired  (oo,  u),  sounds  which  have  nearly  the  same 
degree  of  diversity.  This  occasions  a  slight  difficulty  in  his 
diphthong  ou,  which  will  have  to  be  afterwards  considered. 

Cooper  gives  the  following  list  of  words  in  o,  oa  which 
have  the  sound  of  (uu),  those  marked  *  being  unusual : 
^aboard,  *afford,  *behoves,  *boar,2  *born  carried,  *force,  ^forces, 
move,  *sword,  *sworn,  tomb,  two,  who,  whom,  whore,  whosoever, 
womb,  *worn.  The  words  *board,  *forth,  prove,  stoup  he  says 
are  also  written  boord,  foorth,  proov,  stoop.  In  the  following 
words  he  hears  his  short  o  =(u)  ;  blood-i-ly,  good-ly-ness,  flood, 

1  Price's  own  notation,  not  palaeo-          2  This  is  boar,  the  animal,  not  boar 
type.     As   a  "Welshman  he  evidently       =boor  as  given  afterwards  by  Jones, 
called  woo  (uu),  the  same  as  oo. 


102  O,  OO,  OA  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

hood,  brotherhood,  sisterhood,  neighbourhood,  falsehood,  soot, 
stood,  wood,  wool.  The  exceptions  damosel,  women  (daenrzel, 
wenren)  are  noted.  After  giving  examples  of  oa  as  (oo), 
which,  are  often  written  with  o-e,  he  says,  as  cloak,  cloke,  he 
admits  the  sound  of  (AA),  as  now  usual,  in  abroad,  broad,  groat. 

1686.  MIEGE  agrees  in  the  main  with  the  former,  but  he 
hears  long  o  as  French  o  (oo),  and  the  short  o  when  it  was 
(e)  as  the  French  short  o  also,  that  is  either  (o)  or  (o)  while 
he  says :  "il  y  a  bien  des  mots  ou  1'  o  a  un  son  mele  de  celui 
de  P  a,  et  ou  sans  scrupule  on  le  peut  sonner  comme  un  a," 
that  is,  he  confused  (a,  o)  or  (a,  A).  Interpreting  his  signs 
by  former  explanations  we  find  the  following  novelties.  O  is 
short  =  (a)  in  compounds  of  most,  as  hithermost.  Borne  = 
(boorn),  born  =  (bAArn) ;  form  a  bench  =  (foorm),  form  a 
shape  =  (fAArm)  ;  holy  =  (fLoo'li),  holy  day  =  (HAK  dee). 
Yolk,  maggot,  anchor,  women  =  (jelk,  meeg'et,  aen'ker,  wmren). 
Home  =  (Ruum).  On  =  ('n)  in  capon,  mutton,  lesson,  reckon, 
reason,  season,  apron,  citron,  saffron,  iron,  fashion,  cushion, 
puncheon. 

1701.  JONES  confirms  the  others.  The  following  is  his  list 
of  long  o  sounded  as  (uu)  afford,  bomb,  comb,  Ford,  ford,  gam- 
boya,  gold,  Monday,  More,  Rome,  tomb,  womb^  in  which  most 
are  unusual,  and  gold,  Monday  are  noteworthy.  The  oa  as 
(uu)  are  " aboard,  boar  a  clown,"  now  written  boor,  "board." 
The  words  doe,  does,  doest,  doeth,  shoe,  woe,  he  likewise  hears 
pronounced  with  (uu),  although  he  also  gives  (doz)  for  does. 
He  admits  the  sound  of  (o)  for  o  in  "the  beginning"  of 
colonel,  colour,  etc.,  comfort,  company,  etc.,  coney,  conjure,  etc., 
money,  monkey,  etc.,  mongcorn,  monger,  etc. ;  blomary,  bombast, 
borrage,  bosom,  botargo,  brocado,  chocolate,  cognisance,  colander, 
coral,  coroner,  cozen,  Devon,  dozen,  forsooth,  gormandize,  gromel, 
London,  onion,  poltroon,  pomado,  poniard,  porcelane,  potato, 
recognisance,  sojourn,  Somerset,  stomach,  tobaco ;  in  final  -come, 
-dom,  -some,  -son  ;  in  the  last  syllables  of  chibol,  gambol, 
symbol.  Even  the  unusual  cases  will  be  recognized  as  still 
occasionally  heard,  but  they  evidently  bear  the  same  relation 
to  the  present  pronunciation  with  (o),  as  (griit,  briik,  tshiu) 
do  to  (greet,  brcek,  tshee-i).  Both  resulted  from  overdriving 
a  new  attenuative  habit. 

In  the  xvii  th  century  then  the  change  from  (oo,  o)  into 
(oo,  A)  or  (oo,  o)  was  complete ;  a  few  more  of  the  (oo)  had 
advanced  into  (uu),  more  indeed  than  those  which  maintained 
their  position,  and  those  formerly  heard  as  (u)  or  (u)  had 
become  (9),  a  change  to  be  considered  under  U. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  O,  OO,  OA  — XVIII TH   CENTURY.  103 


O,  00,  OA  —  xviii  TH  CENTURY. 

During  the  xviii  th  century  the  change  in  the  use  of  these 
letters  as  just  described,  was  so  slight  that  it  will  be  quite 
unnecessary  to  enter  into  many  particulars.  It  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  note  some  examples,  chiefly  of  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule  that  o  long  and  oa  =  (00),  o  short  =  (o)  or  (A), 
and  oo  long  and  short  =  (uu,  u),  or  of  exceptions  to  the  pre- 
ceding exceptions  to  this  rule. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  gives  oo  in  flood,  blood 
the  sound  of  (a),  and  in  door,  floor,  moor,  poor  the  sound  of 
(oo).  He  also  makes  o  =  (uu)  in  "wolf,  wolves,  Rome,  comb, 
tomb,  divorce,  force,  forge,  form  to  sit  on,  born  endured,  sup- 
ported, forth  abroad,  port  and  its  compounds  com,  de,  in,  sup, 
trans-port,  sport,  shorn  and  torn,  engross,  Ghost,  most,  post, 
rost,  and  o  between  w  and  r  for  the  most  part  is  sounded  oo 
(uu)  as  word,  work,  world,  worm,  worry,  worship,  worse-st, 
worsted,  worst,  and  worth  ;  and  in  approve,  behove,  move,  prove, 
remove,  reprove ;  but  like  short  u  (a)  in  dove,  glove,  love,  cover, 
covet,  groveling"  He  admits  oa  to  be  a  mtode  of  lengthening 
o,  but  says  "oa  in  abroad,  broad,  and  groat,  have  a  peculiar 
broad  sound"  without  saying  that  it  is  the  same  as  au  (AA), 
and  "oa  sounds  ai  in  goal  pronounced  jail,  (dzheel)." 

1766.  BUCHANAN  writes  London  Lon*an,  won  won,  lot  lot ; 
dost  dast,  work  work,  worship  wardship,  woman  wanrm,  women 
w«n*m,  wonder  wan'd^r,  mouth  mauth,  money  man'i,  son  san ; 
twopence  tap*ms,  poltroon  poltruun,  forth  fourth ;  globe  gloob, 
robe  r0ob,  whole  wh00/;  who  HUU,  do  duu,  tomb  tuum,  gold 
guuld,  Rome  Ruum ;  move  muuv,  one  wsen,  once  waens,  only 
on'le,  come  kam;  soap  s00p,  broad  br<%>d,  oats  oots',  loath 
lAAth,  groat,  grseset. 

1768.  FRANKLIN  has  of  AV,  bosom  baz*am,  compared 
kampeerd',  other  adh'ar,  government  gavarnment,  London 
Lan'dan ;  only  oon'li,  spoke  spook,  wrote  wot,  some  sam,  one 
wan,  once  wans,  to  too,  in  which  will  be  found  some  uses 
different  from  Buchanan's. 

1780.  SHERIDAN  notes  the  Irishisms :  (duur)  door,  (fluur) 
floor,  (kuurs)  both  coarse  and  course,  (strav)  strove,  (drav) 
drove,  (rod)  rode,  (str00d)  strode,  (sh00n)  shone,  (fat)  foot, 
which  he  says  were  pronounced  in  England  (door,  fLoor, 
k00rs,  str00v,  droov,  rood,  strAd,  shAn,  fwt).  Most  of  these 
Irishisms  are  clearly,  all  of  them  are  probably,  as  usual, 
remnants  of  the  xvnth  century. 


104 


Y,  I,  IE  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  6  3. 


Y,  I,  IE  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

When  y,  i  were  consonants,  they  were  employed  like  the 
modern  y,  j  =  (j,  dzh),  and  were  never  interchanged  in  the 
old  writers,  although  the  sound  of  (j)  was  not  usually  con- 
sidered a  consonant,  as  will  be  noted  under  y,  w.  When  y,  i 
were  vowels  they  were  used  indiscriminately,  except  perhaps 
that  /  was  always1  used  as  the  personal  pronoun,  and  was 
not  employed  at  the  end  of  any  other  word.  For  the  present 
section  they  must  be  considered  as  identical. 

TABLE  SHEWING  THE  INTEODTJCTIO^  or  IE  FOB,  E,  EE. 


Price. 
1668. 

Minshew. 
1617. 

Levins. 
1570. 

Palsgrave. 
1530. 

Promptorium, 
1440. 

believe 

beleeve 

beleeve 

beleve 

beleueness 

besiege 

besiege 

bier 

beere  (biere) 

beare 

beere 

beere 

brief 

briefe  (breefe) 

breefe 

brefe 

cavalier 

cashier 

casheere 

chief 

cheife  (chiefe) 

cheefe,  chief 

chefe,  chief 

cheuetun 

[field] 

field  (feeld) 

feeld,  field 

felde 

feelde 

[fiend] 

feend 

fende 

[fierce] 

fierce 

fierse 

fyers 

fersse 

friend 

frend  (friend) 

frende 

frende 

freende 

frontier 

frontier 

[grieve] 
kerchief 

greeue  (grieve) 
kerchiefe 

greeve 
kercher 

greue 
kerchefe 

kyrlhefe 

Qief] 
liege 

liege 

liefer 

lefe 
lege 

lefe 
lyche 

niece 

neece 

neece 

neyce 

piece 

peece  (piece) 

peece 

pece 

pece 

pierce 
[priest] 
[shield] 

pearce  (pierce) 
prieste 
sheeld 

perse 
preestly 

perce 
preest 

peercy>* 
preest 
scheeld 

siege 

siege 

sege 

sege 

cege 

sierse 

cearse 

sieve 

sine  (sieue) 

seefe 

cyve 

thief 

theef 

theefe 

thefe 

theef 

view 

view 

vewe 

yield 

yeeld 

yeeld 

yelde 

yeldow 

IE  was  often  used  at  the  end  of  words  where  we  now  use 
y.  IE  in  the  middle  of  words  was  employed  in  the  xiv  th 
century  indiscriminately  with  e  or  ee,  but  not  very  frequently. 
In  the  xv  th  and  xvi  th  centuries  it  had  fallen  out  of  use, 
though  we  find  it  fully  established  with  the  modern  sound 
of  (ii)  in  the  xvn  th  century,  in  which  is  included  also  the 
word  friend  as  already  noted  (p.  80).  The  preceding  table 
containing  all  Price's  list  and  a  few  other  words  in  brackets, 

1  In  MSS.  y  was  not  ^infrequently  used  even  for  the  personal  pronoun  in  the 
xv  th  century  and  earlier. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH    CENTURY.  105 

will  shew  the  corresponding  spellings  in  the  Promptoriuni 
1440,  Palsgrave  1530,  and  Levins  1570,  and  Minshew  1617; 
the  spellings  in  parenthesis  in  Minshew's  column,  are  spellings 
which  he  recognizes  and  gives  in  cross  references,  but  the 
other  spellings  are  those  under  which  he  explains  the  words. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Minshew's  book  shews  the  exact  period  of 
the  transition,  when  generally  both  spellings  were  sufficiently 
known  to  require  notice,  but  one  was  decidedly  preferred  by 
the  author,  and  that  one  was  only  occasionally  ie.  The  French 
niece,  piece,  fier,  siege  and  occasionally  chief  may  have  in- 
fluenced some  words,  but  others,  as  believe,  bier,  friend,  field, 
lief,  thief,  yield,  seem  to  have  no  reason,  either  in  sound  or 
etymology,  for  this  curious  change  of  custom  in  spelling. 
For  our  present  purpose,  then,  we  may  dismiss  ie,  consider- 
ing it,  in  the  middle  of  words,  as  a  fanciful  variation  of  ee 
and  having  precisely  the  same  value  (ii)  towards  the  close 
of  the  xvi  th  century,  and,  at  the  end  of  words  as  an  archa- 
ism for  y,  having  the  same  sound  (i).1 

There  seems  to  have  been  only  one  sound  of  short  i  and, 
with  rare  exceptions,  such  as  machine,  only  one  sound  of  long 
i,  during  the  xvi  th  and  subsequent  centuries.  At  the  pre- 
sent day,  English  short  i  or  (i)  is  the  wide  sound  of  the 
Italian  or  European  short  i  or  (i).  The  fine  sharp  clear  (i)  is 
very  difficult  for  an  Englishman  to  pronounce,  and  although 
the  Scotch  can  and  do  pronounce  it,2  they  not  unfrequently 
replace  it  with  (e)  or  (e),  not  (E).  In  this  respect  they  re- 
semble the  Italians  who  have  so  frequently  replaced  Latin  i 
by  their  e  chiuso  or  (e).  The  Dutch  may  be  said  not  to 
know  (i),  as  they  regularly  replace  it  by  (e).  The  English 
sound  ($*)  lies  between  (i)  and  (e).  The  position  of  the  tongue 
is  the  same  as  for  (i),  but  the  whole  of  the  pharynx  and 
back  parts  of  the  mouth  are  enlarged,  making  the  sound 
deeper  and  obscurer.  According  to  Mr.  M.  Bell  there 
is  the  same  distinction  between  (e)  and  (e),  the  latter 
being  the  wide  form  of  the  former,  and  he  hears  (e) 

1  The  word  pierce  seems  to  have  re-  2  Mr.  Melville  Bell  says  in  a  private 

tained  the  spelling  perse^nd  the  cor-  letter,  that  the  sound  of  the  short  "  (i) 

responding   pronunciation    to   a  later  for  Hs  very  common,  as  in  give  =  (gi), 

time.     We  still  write  Percy,  and  Peirce  gied,   gien,    gie's    [derivatives],  whig, 

is  called  (Peis)  or  (Pjs)  in  America.  wig,  hig   [to  build],  huild,  -er,  built 

In  Love's  Labour  Lost,  Act  iv.  sc.  2,  [often    b^lt]     king-dom,    wick,    gig, 

1.  85,  1623,  Comedies  p.  132,  we  find  gingham,  widow,  Britain,  finish,  whin, 

"Master  Person,  quasi  Person  ?    And  etc."     In  such  words  the  Englishman 

if  one  should  be  perst,  Which  is  the  hears  the  long  (ii).     This  is  a  point 

one  ?"  which  indicates  the  prommcia-  which  will  have  to  be  considered  here- 

tion  (Mas'ter  Pers'on,  kwaa'si  "  Pers-  after.     See  especially  the  examples  of 

-oon"  ?  And  «f  "  oon  "  shuuld  be  Scotch  pronunciation  in  Chap.  XI.  §  4. 
"  perst,"  whttsh  *z  dhe  "oon"  ?). 


106  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

in  the  French  et,  and  English  day,  (dei,  deei),  and  (e) 
in  the  Scotch  ill,  English  ailment  (el  eeil'ment)  and  English 
air  (ee.i),  and  also  in  my  own  pronunciation  of  the  English 
ell,  whereas  he  supposes  the  true  sounds  of  English  men, 
man  to  be  (mEn,  msen)  and  to  differ  precisely  as  (i,  i). 
My  own  pronunciation  of  man  he  finds  frequently  the 
same  as  his  pronunciation  of  men,  so  that  to  him  I  pro- 
nounce men,  man  as  (men,  mEn).  To  me  (E)  is  a  much 
deeper  sound  than  (e,  e)  and  is  heard  in  the  French  meme, 
German  sprdche  (mEEm',  shprEE^h^).  This  discussion  will 
serve  to  shew  the  nature  of  the  difference  (i,  i},  and  the 
ease  with  which  they  may  be  confounded.  Almost  every 
Englishman  pronounces  French  il  as  English  ill  (il),  and 
almost  every  Frenchman  pronounces  English  ill  as  French  il 
(il),  French  lie,  English  eel  being  identically  (iil).  Now 
the  true  long  sound  of  (i)  is  not  an  acknowledged  sound 
in  our  language,  although  in  frequent  use  among  such 
singers  as  refuse  so  say  happ00,  steal,  eel,  when  they  have 
to  lengthen  happy,  still,  ell.1  They  say  (jsssp'iii,  steel,  iil) 
although  some  may  prefer  (ste'lll,  elll)  which  has  a  bad  effect. 
"Where  the  long  sound  of  (i)  might  be  expected,  we  get  the 
long  e,  to  be  presently  noticed.  Hence  most  of  those  who 
examined  sounds,  as  Wallis,  naturally  paired  (ii),  whose 
short  sound  was  absent,  and  (i)  which  was  without  a  long 
sound,  and  probably  did  not  hear  the  difference,2  though  Sir 
Thomas  Smith  could  find  no  short  sound  for  (ii)  in  the  Eng- 
lish language.3  What  we  have  to  conclude  from  this  is, 
that  because  ee  long  and  i  short  are  represented  generally  by 
the  same  character,  with  or  without  a  mark  of  prolongation, 
by  orthoepists,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  they  had  the  same 
sound.  My  own  belief  is  that  short  i  was  (i)  from  the 

1  This  was  remarked  by"  Dr.  Young,  assertion  that  (»')  was  an  independent 
Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy.  4to.  vowel  sound,  and  resolutely  paired  (ii,/). 
vol.  ii,  p.  277  :  "  When  lip  is  length-  This  is  by  no  means  the  only  point  in 
ened  in  singing  it  does  not    become  phonetics  concerning    which    the   ex- 
leap."     Observe  the  singing  of  "s^t'll  perience  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
so  gently  o'er  me  stealing,"  which  be-  has  enlightened  him.    He  would,  how- 
comes   (stiil   so  dzheent'h'r   ooar    mii  ever,   particularly  notice    the   stopped 
stiiTtYq.)    Dryden's  line,  from  his  Veni  vowels,  which  on  p.  63  of  that  work, 
Creator •,  "  And  make  us  temples  worthy  he  found  himself  unable    to   separate 
thee,"   is  well  adapted  to   render  the  from  their  consonants,  as  in  (pzt,  pet, 
difference  of  the  vowels  in  (-dht  dhii)  pset,  pot,  pat,  pwt),  but  which  he  has 
sensible.  been  in   the   habit   of  separating  for 

2  The  present  writer  should  be  the  many  years. 

last  to  throw  stones  at  those  who  do          3  See  p.  112.     Cooper,  as  we  have 

not  hear  the  difference  between  (i,  f)  seen  (p.  83),  forms  an  exception ;  he 

for  in  his  Alphabet  of  Mature,  1845,  appears  to  pair  (ee,  i},  and  certainly 

p.  65,  the  first  work  on  phonetics  which  does  not  pair  (ii,  t). 
he  published,  he  objected  to  Knowles's 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  107 

earliest  times  to  the  present  day.  Against  this  supposition 
must  be  placed  the  facts  that,  as  already  pointed  out,  short  (i) 
is  not  at  all  unfrequent  in  Scotland,  and  was  apparently 
recognized  in  English  in  1701  by  Jones,  a  Welshman,  and 
1766  by  Buchanan,  a  Scotchman,  and  also  that  in  Ireland 
final  -y,  which  is  in  England  (-i),  is  invariably  (-i).  The 
Irish  English  generally  representing  a  xvn  th  century  Eng- 
lish pronunciation,  there  is  a  possibility  of  (i)  having  been 
somewhat  common  in  England  during  the  end  of  the  xvn  th 
and  beginning  of  the  xvm  th  centuries,  a  period  of  English 
pronunciation  remarkable  for  a  tendency  to  thinness  of 
sound.  The  true  long  vowel  (ii)  will  come  under  consideration 
again  in  the  next  Chapter  under  I,  Y,  when  the  importance 
of  the  preceding  discussion  will  more  clearly  appear. 

As  to  long  i  in  English  at  present,  it  is  without  doubt,  a 
diphthong,  and  has  been  generally  recognized  as  such  from 
early  times.  But  orthoepists  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  nature 
of  its  first  element,  and  this  becomes  an  important  con- 
sideration. The  Italians  and  French  only  approach  the 
sound  of  our  long  i  very  loosely,  in  the  Italian  words  cUmio, 
laido,  zaino,  and  the  French  pai'en,  faience.  These  may  be 
more  properly  written  (daarno,  laai'do,  tsaai'no ;  paiieA, 
faiiaAs),  so  that  in  the  Italian  the  first  element,  in  the 
French  the  second  element  is  lengthened.  In  Germany  the 
sound  written  ei,  ey,  ai,  ay  is  intended  to  be  (ai),  although 
these  diphthongs  are  very  variously  pronounced.  Eapp 
gives  the  literary  high  varieties  (ai,  ai,  ei,  ei)  and  Schmeller 
notices  the  Bavarian  dialectic  varieties  (a,  ai,  ai,  E,  Ei,  ei,  ii).1 
The  different  Scotch  sounds  of  long  i  will  be  fully  considered 
in  Chapter  IY.  §  2,  under  I.  In  England  we  have  only  one 
recognized  pronunciation  of  i  long,  but  we  have  also  two 
recognized  sounds  which  may  be  heard  in  /samh,  or  in  the 
usual  English  pronunciation  of  %e^p  XaV>  an(^  ^ne  distinction 
is,  or  used  to  be,  strongly  insisted  on  at  Eton.  The  second 
of  these  sounds,  the  English  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  cu, 
is  (ai).  What  is  the  first  ?  Knowles,3  following  Sheridan, 
says  it  is  (A),  the  only  difference  between  i  long  and  oy  con- 
sisting in  the  brevity  with  which  the  first  element  is  dwelt 
upon  in  the  first  sound.  This  is  an  Irishism  no  doubt, 
although  he  is  closely  followed  by  Haldeman,3  who  makes 

1  Rapp,    Physiologic    der    Sprache,  and  the  various  properties  of  all  its' 
vol.  iv.  pp.  85  et  sqq.   Schmetter,  Mun-  simple  and  compound  sounds,  as  com- 
darten  Bayerns,  p.  56.  bined  into  syllables  and  words.     Lon- 

2  James  Knowles,  Pronouncing  and  don,  1847,  8vo. 

Explanatory  Dictionary  of  tbe  English  3  Analytic  Orthography,  §  106,  400. 

Language,   founded  on  a  correct  de-       and  examples  §  602,  610. 
velopement  of  the  nature,  the  number, 


108  Y,  I,  IE  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

the  first  element  (a),  and  identifies  English  long  i  with  the 
Grerman  ei,  of  which  Schmeller  makes  the  first  element  (a). 
Mr.  Melville  Bell  identifies  the  first  element  of  his  pro- 
nunciation of  English  long  i  with  (a).  The  first  element  of 
my  pronunciation  of  the  German  ai  he  considers  to  be  (ah), 
a  sound  that  I  can  only  with  difficulty  distinguish  from  (a), 
as  T  am  apt  to  labialise  (a]  in  speaking.  But  in  unaccented 
syllables  he  makes  the  first  element  of  his  pronunciation  of 
long  i  to  be  (ah).  This  was  the  element  he  recognized  in 
my  own  pronunciation  of  this  diphthong  in  all  cases.  Many 
Londoners  certainly  use  (ae)  as  the  first  element.  Again, 
Wilkins  and  Franklin  call  the  first  element  (a).  And  Smart 
making  the  first  element  ur  without  sounding  the  r  must 
mean  (GO).  The  second  element  is  of  course  the  glide,  and 
the  last  element  (or  second  as  it  is  usually  called)  is  the 
vowel  (i)  or  (i),  very  often  the  latter  I  believe  in  English. 
Mr.  Bell  only  recognizes  the  glide,  5c  (see  p.  15),  that  is,  the 
glide  to  the  (j)  position.  According  to  the  mode  of  writing 
diphthongs  which  I  adopt  I  must  give  (i)  or  (i)  as  the  final 
element,  leaving  the  glide  to  be  denoted  by  juxtaposition. 
Hence  we  have  the  following 

Analyses  of  English  long  I- — 

Sheridan  and  Knowles  (AI) 

Haldeman  («i) 

Walker  and  Melville  Bell     (ai)     accented 

Melville  Bell  (ahi)  unaccented. 

Londoners  (aei) 

Scotch  (ei,  ei,  EI,  ai,  «i,  ohi) 

"Wilkins  and  Franklin  (ei) 

Wallis  and  Smart  (aoi) 

Now  this  being  the  sound  of  the  personal  pronoun,  is 
heard  every  day  and  constantly ;  but  after  competent  orthoe- 
pists  have  carefully  examined  it,  they  are  unable  to  agree  as 
to  its  analysis.  One  reason  is  of  course  a  real  difference  of 
pronunciation,  but  another  appears  to  be  that  the  first  ele- 
ment is  pronounced  with  extreme  brevity,  so  that  in  British 
speech  it  is  not  sufficiently  heard  as  distinct  from  the  follow- 
ing glide.  In  endeavouring  therefore  to  fix  it,  different 
observers  either  begin  far  back  in  the  scale  of  distinct  vowels, 
or  catch  the  sound  closer  and  closer  to  (i).  Thus  it  may  be 
that  the  whole  series  of  sounds  (o-oh^a-ahaeei)  may  be  heard  in. 
this  diphthong,  all  gliding  into  each  other  with  immense 
rapidity.  Again  the  first  element  being  so  indistinct,  others, 
as  Wilkins  and  Franklin,  or  Wallis  and  Smart,  take  refuge  in 
one  of  the  colourless  sounds  as  (a,  ao). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH   CENTURY.  109 

Now  I  hear  the  vowel  (a)  very  clearly  in  (ai)  as  in  the 
Etonian  pronunciation  of  %alp ;  but  I  cannot  hear  it  in  the 
Etonian  pronunciation  of  %et/>,  nor  I  do  hear  an  (e)  there. 
I  therefore  prefer  to  represent  the  English  i  long,  the  Etonian 
pronunciation  of  Greek  et  by  (ai),  and  the  English  aye,  yes, 
the  Etonian  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  ai  by  (ai).  The  pre- 
ceding discussion  will  apply,  as  to  the  first  element,  to  the 
present  pronunciation  of  ow  in  now,  how,  cow. 

We  are  now  better  prepared  to  understand  what  our 
authorities  say  on  the  subject.  The  first  one  is  sufficiently 
perplexing. 

1530.  Palsgrave  says :  "/  in  the  frenche  tong  hath  .ii.  dyuerse 
maners  -of  souwdynges,  the  souwdyng  of  «,  whiche  is  most  generally 
vsed  in  the  frewche  tong,  is  like  as  the  Italians  sounde  i,  and  suche 
with  vs  as  sounde  the  latin  tong  aright,  whiche  is  almost  as  we 
souwde  e  in  these  words  a  bee  a  flie,  a  beere  for  a  deed  corps,  a  peere 
a  felowe,  a  fee  a  rewarde,  a  little  more  soundynge  towards  i,  as  we 
sound  i  with  vs." 

Now  du  Guez  says :  "Ye  shal  pronounce  .  .  .  your  i,  as 
sharpe  as  can  be,"  by  which  I  understand,  with  the  smallest 
lingual  and  pharyngal  aperture,  or  as  clearly  (i)  as  possible. 
"When  Palsgrave  says  :  " almost  as  we  souwde  e"  etc.,  the 
almost  is  merely  one  of  those  safeguards  which  orthoepists 
love  to  insert,  and  can  scarcely  avoid  inserting,  when  they 
give  the  equivalent  for  a  foreign  sound  which  they  seem  to 
hear  in  their  own  tongue,  but  doubt  the  correctness  of  their 
hearing.  But  what  does  he  mean  by  "  a  little  more  sound- 
ynge towards  i,  as  we  sound  i  with  vs  "  ?  A  vowel  cannot 
sound  a  little  more  towards  a  diphthong,  and  yet  long  i  was 
certainly  most  generally  recognized  to  be  a  diphthong  in  the 
xvi  th  century,  although  it  is  probable  that  Palsgrave  may 
have  had  an  older  pronunciation,  rather  of  the  xv  th  than  of 
the  xvi  th  century.  Could  he  mean  that  the  sound  seemed 
between  (i)  and  (i)  ?  It  would  be  difficult  to  insert  one. 
Could  he  mean  that  as  he  pronounced  those  English  words 
the  sound  had  a  tinge  of  (e)  in  it  as  it  were  (ii),  and  that  the 
French  pronounced  a  clearer  (i)  ?  The  matter  becomes  still 
more  enigmatical  as  he  goes  on  to  say  : 

"If  i  be  the  first  letter  in  a  frenche  worde  or  the  laste,  he  shall 
in  those  two  places  he  sounded  lyke  as  we  do  this  letter  y,  in  these 
words  with  vs,  by  and  by,  a  spye,  a  flye,  awry,  and  suche  other :  in 
whiche  places  in  those  frenche  bokes,  as  be  diligently  imprinted, 
they  vse  to  writte  this  letter  y  :  "but  whether  the  frenche  worde  be 
written  with  i  or  y,  in  these  two  places  he  shal  be  sounded,  as  I  have 
shewed  here  in  this  rule,  as  in  ymaget  conuerty,  ydole,  estourdy,  in 
whiche  the  y  hath  suche  sounde,  as  we  wolde  give  him  in  our  tong." 


110  Y,  I,  IE  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

This  sound,  whatever  it  was,  must  be  distinct  from  the 
other  sound  of  i.  JN"ow  as  Palsgrave  noways  describes  the 
sound,  or  hints  at  its  being  a  diphthong,  we  can  do  nothing 
but  refer  to  Meigret  1550,  who  writes  :  "  je  vi,  oi,  aosi,  j'ey 
bati,  je  bati  ou  batis "  with  precisely  the  same  sign  as  he 
uses  in  "  Louis  MeigrEt,  LionoEs."  Perhaps  Palsgrave 
would  rejoin  :  "  true,  but  he  was  a  Lyonnais ;  I  give  the 
Parisian  pronunciation."  In  the  mean  time  we  are  not 
assisted  towards  Palsgrave's  own  pronunciation  of  the  English 
"by  and  by,  a  spye,  a  flye,  awry."1  What  follows  is  as 
perplexing  : — 

"For  as  moche  as  v  and  i  come  often  together  in  the  frenche 
tonge,  where  as  the  v  hath  with  them  his  distinct  sounde,  and  the  t 
is  sounded  shortly  &  confusely,  whiche  is  the  proprete  of  a  diph- 
thonge.  I  reken  vi  also  among  the  diphthonges  in  the  frenche 
tong,  whiche  whan  they  come  together,  shall  haue  suche  a  souwde  in 
frenche  wordes,  as  we  gyue  hym  in  these  wordes  in  our  tong, 
a  swyne,  I  dwyne,  I  twyne,  so  that  these  wordes  agvyser,  agvylllon, 
condvyre,  dedvyre,  aviourdhvy,  meshvy,  and  all  suche  shall  sounde 
theyr  v  and  *  shortly  together,  as  we  do  in  our  tong  in  the  words  I 
have  gyven  example  of,  and  nat  eche  of  them  distinctly  by  himself, 
as  we  of  our  tong  be  inclined  to  sound  them,  whiche  wolde  rather 
say  (mourdhvy,  dedvyt,  saufcondvyt,  gyuynge  both  to  v  and  i  theyr 
distinct  sounde,  than  to  souwde  them  as  the  frenche  men  do  in  dede, 
which  say  aviourdhvy,  dedvyt,  saufcondvyt,  soundyng  them  both 
shortly  together,  and  so  of  all  suche  other." 

It  is  a  well-known  modern  English  error  to  say  (Iwii)  for 
(lyi)  lui.  Palsgrave,  whose  ears  cannot  have  been  very  acute, 
here  seems  to  authorize  a  similar  use.  At  the  same  time  the 
conversion  of  (y)  into  a  consonant  as  (w),  is  directly  opposed 
to  the  previous  direction  to  give  (y)  its  "distinct  sound,"  and 
pronounce  (i)  "confusely."  But  can  Palsgrave  have  also 
meant  that  the  second  element  in  ui  in  the  French  words 
cited  was  the  same  as  in  swyne,  dwyne,  twyne  ?  The  y  in  the 
French  words  is  not  even  final  or  initial.  It  could  have  had 
no  sound  but  (ii)  even  according  to  Palsgrave.  Did  Pals- 
grave say  (swiin,  dwiin,  twiin)  or  (swim,  dwwn,  twim)  ?  It 
is  the  only  legitimate  inference,  and  there  is  no  slight  proba- 
bility of  its  being  correct.  We  shall  see  that  Palsgrave  pro- 
nounced ou  as  (uu),  which  was  a  xiv  th  century  pronunciation 
continued  archaically  into  the  xvi  th  century,  and  although 

1  It  deserves  however  to  be  recorded  James  the  First's  time  has  :  "0  Lord 

that  Gill  writes  (eiremai),  not  (en-eim),  our  God   arise,   Scatter  his  enemies," 

and  has  at  least  once  (ainradzhes],  al-  giving  (en-emaiz),  if  the  rhyme  is  to  be 

though  on  another  occasion  he  writes  preserved,  though  in  modern  practice 

(e'nraadzh)  so  that  the  former  may  be  we  sacrifice  the  rhyme  and  often  sing 

a  misprint.     The  God  save  the  king  of  (en'inmz). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  Ill 

the  recognized  pronunciation  at  that  time  was  (ou),  yet  the 
example  of  Bullokar  (pp.  94,  98,)  shews  that  there  were  still 
many  whp  preferred  the  (uu)  sound.  In  the  same  way 
perhaps  both  Palsgrave  and  Bullokar  preserved  the  (O) 
sound  of  long  i,  usual  in  the  xivth  century,  notwithstand- 
ing the  general  adoption  of  (ei).  The  new  (ai,  ou)  and  the 
old  (ii,  uu)  stand  precisely  on  the  same  ground,  and  therefore 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Palsgrave  and  Bullokar  said  (ii), 
as  distinct  from  (ii).  Further  reference  to  this  curious  re- 
tention of  an  old  sound  will  have  to  be  made  in  the  next 
chapter  under  I. 

1547.  SALESBURY  does  not  leave  us  in  much  doubt,  for  he 
writes  (ei)  for  long  it  thus  : 

I  ei  (ei),  VOTE  vein  (vein),  WYNE  wein  (wein) ;  DYCHES  deitsys 
(deitsh'tz) ;  THYTSTE  ddein  (dhein) ;  SIGKES  seins  (seinz) ;  Latin  DICO 
deicu  (dei'ku),  TIBI  teibei  (terbei),  DEI  Deei  (Dee'i),  QUI  quei  (kwei). 

At  the  same  time  he  reprobates  this  pronunciation  of 
Latin,  and  says  : 

"I  in  Welsh  hath  the  mere  pronunciation  of  i  in  Latine,  as 
learned  men  in  our  time  vse  to  souwde  it,  and  not  as  they  .  .  .  with 
their  lotacisme  corrupting  the  pronunciation  make  a  diphthong  of 
it,  saying  veidei,  teibei,  for  vidi,  tibi"  "I  in  their  language  is 
equivalent  to  the  following  two  letters  in  ours  ei,  but  they  are  com- 
pressed so  as  to  be  pronounced  in  one  sound  or  a  diphthong,  as  in 
that  word  of  theirs  I,  ei,  (ei)  ego."  "  Y  often  has  the  sound  of 
the  diphthong  ei  as  THYNE,  ddein  (dhein),  tuus  ;  &  its  own  sound  as 
in  the  word  THYISTNE,  thynn,  (thm),  gracilis." 

That  Salesbury's  ei  was  different  from  his  ai,  and  that  he 
meant  to  indicate  a  different  sound  in  such  English  words 
that  have  long  i,  from  that  in  other  words  having  ai  in  his 
transcription,  is  I  think  evident,  because  he  never  confounds 
the  two  sounds,  and  because  in  modern  Welsh  the  sound  ei 
sounds  to  me  as  (oi),  and  ai  as  (ai).  I  think,  however,  that 
his  letters  ei  justify  me  in  considering,  or  rather  leave  me  no 
option  but  to  consider  that  the  English  diphthong  sounded 
(ei)  to  Salesbury. 

As  to  the  short  i,  he  identifies  it  with  Welsh  y,  considering 
the  latter  the  especial  sound.  He  also  says  that  Welsh  u 
"soundeth  as  the  vulgar  English  people  sound  it  in  these 
wordes  of  English,  trust,  bury,  busy,  Huberden"  I  think 
that  he  cannot  point  to  any  other  sound  but  (i),  supposing  the 
true  Welsh  to  be  (y),  a  sound  which  Mr.  Melville  Bell  hears 
in  the  unaccented  syllables  :  the  houses,  (dhy  nauz'yz)  as  he 
would  write  the  sounds.  The  difference  between  (i,  y)  is 
very  slight  indeed.  In  practice  Salesbury  is  not  very  precise, 


112  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  Ill,  §  3. 

as  may  be  seen  by  the  following  list  of  words  in  which  short 
i  occurs,  but  his  theory  leads  me  to  adopt  (i)  as  the  true 
sound  of  English  short  i  in  his  time.1 

GOD  BE  WYTH  YOU  6fod  liwio  (God  birwi,o),  GEACYOTJSE  grasiws 
(graa*si,us),  CONDICYON  condisywn  (kondis'^un),  TWYNCLE  twinkl 
(twiq'k'l),  WEYNCLE  wrinkl  (wriq'k'l),  KYNGES  kings  (kiqz),  GELDING 
gelding  (geld'iq) ;  GYLBEET,  Gilbert  (Gil'bert),  GYNGEE  tsintsir 
(dzhnrdzhir),  BEGGYNGE,  legging  (beg'iq);  HOLI,  holy  (noo'l*,  noH); 
EXHIBITION  ecsilisiwn  (eksibis'i,un) ;  PEOHTBITION,  proibisiwn  (proo,- 
ibis'iun) ;  LYLY  lili  (lil'i),  LADY  ladi  (laa'di) ;  PAPYE^^yr  (paa'p/r), 
BYGHT  rieht  (rikht)  ;  THYSTLE,  thystl  (thts't'l)  ;  THIS  ddys  (dlus), 
BTJSY  lusi  (b&z'i) ;  WYNNE  wynn  (wm) ;  THYNNE  thynn  (thm) ; 
KNYZT  knicJit  (knikht). 

1568.  SIE  T.  SMITH  says:  "I  Latina,  quae  per  se  prolata,  apud 
nos  tantum  valet  quantum  Latine,  ego,  aut  oculus,  aut  etiam" 
by  which  I  understand  that  the  three  words  /,  eye,  aye 
had  the  same  sound,  precisely  as  we  are  told  by  Shakspere, 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  iii,  Sc.  2,  v.  45,  (I  quote  from 
Steevens'  reprint  of  the  quarto  of  1609,  which  agrees  in  this 
passage  with  the  folio  of  1623 ;  the  lines  do  not  occur  in  the 
quarto  of  1597)  : 

Hath  Romeo  slaine  himselfe  ?  say  thou  but  I 
And  that  bare  vowell  I  shall  poyson  more 
Then  the  death-darting  eye  of  cockatrice, 
I  am  not  I,  if  there  be  such  an  I. 

Here  aye  is  spelled  /,  and  thoroughly  identified  with  it,  as 
"  that  bare  vowell  I,"  and  with  the  suggested  "  eye  of 
cockatrice "  in  the  next  line.  Although  Smith  identifies 
these  three  words,  Jie  spells  them  difierently,  introducing  I  as 
the  sign  for  long  i,  and  pairing  it  with  short  i.  He  thus 
deprives  the  Latin  language  of  the  sound  of  (ii),  for  he  pro- 
nounced Latin  e  as  (ee).  Hence  when  he  comes  to  the  sound 
of  (ii)  in  English,  he  exclaims  in  perplexity : 

"  Q,uid  autem  net  ubi  sonus  invenitur  quern  neque  Graeci,  neque 
Latini  habuerunt,  pra3sertim  cum  omnes  eorum  liters  in  similibus 
eoram  sonis  fuerunt  absumpta3  ?  Ecce  autem  sonum  Anglorum  et 
Scotorum  alium  diversumque  ab  omnibus  his,2  qui  nee  e  (ee)  nee 
I  (ei)  reddit  auribus,  sed  quoddam  medium,  et  tamen  simplex  est, 
literaque  debet  dici  :  est  autem  semper  fere  longa." 

His  examples  are  me,  see,  meet,  deep,  steep,  feel,  feet,  sheep, 
queen,  mean?  seek,  she,  week,  leek,  beef,  neese,  bee  apes, 

1  So  far  as  I  could  hear,  the  "Welsh  2  That  is,  not  one  of  the  sounds 

dim  was  pronounced  hy  several  "Welsh  which  he  had  already  considered,  and 

gentlemen    precisely  as    the  English  which  were  apparently  (aa  a,  ee  e,  ei  i, 

dim,  that  is  (dim),  and  they  all  objected  oo  o,  uu  u,  yy). 

to  the  pronunciation  (dim).  3  "Intelligere."     Qu.  mien,  yultus  ? 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH  CENTURY.  113 

whence,  through  Salesbury  and  Palsgrave,  we  know  that  the 
sound  was  (ii).  Smith  therefore  recognized  no  short  (i)  in 
English.  The  sound  of  his  i  short  must  therefore  have  been 
different  from  (i),  that  is,  as  I  believe  (i),  agreeing  with 
Salesbury. 

Smith  recognizes  the  two  diphthongs  (ei,  ai)  but  finds 
scarcely  any  difference  between  them,  although  he  says  that 
"mulierculae"  pronounce  (ei)  for  (ai).  This  will  be  con- 
sidered under  (ai),  p.  122.  In  no  case  in  which  the  or- 
thography uses  long  i  does  Smith  write  ei,  so  that  but  for 
his  rather  veiled  identification  of  I  with  eye,  we  should  have 
had  no  clue  to  the  sound  intended. 

1569.  HART  says  :  "  Out  of  all  doubt,  no  nation  of  the  foresaide 
but  we  and  the  Scottish,  doe  at  any  time  sound  i,  in  the  aforesayde 
sound  of  ei :  wherefore  that  English  Greek  reader  which  shall  giue 
the  same  sound  to  i  which  he  doth  to  ei,  doth  further  this  errour 
much  amongst  vs." 

He  also  writes  (reid  bei)  for  ride  by.  But  he  makes  ee  in 
Greeks  the  long  sound  of  i  in  in,  that  is  (ii),  and  is  thus  not 
so  accurate  as  Smith,  who  distinguishes  the  sound  as  (ii). 

1580.  BULLOKAR  calls  long  i  a  vowel,  and  does  seem  to  know 
that  it  has  a  different  sound  from  short  i.  He  says :  "I, 
hath  two  soundes,  the  one  agreeing  to  his  olde  &  continued 
name,  and  is  then  a  vowell,  the  other  sounde  agreeing  to  the 
olde  name  of  g,  and  of  my  g*  (dzh),  and  is  then  a  consonant." 
He  gives  as  examples :  "  I  IT  in  my  sisterz  kitchen  with  a 
pillo'w  besyd  her  peticot,  and  thy  whyt  pilion,"  where  the 
accent  denotes  length,  and  o'w  means  (u).  "What  "the  old 
and  continued  name"  is,  he  does  not  write.  He  has  no  other 
distinction  between  long  and  short  i  but  this  accent,  and 
never  even  hints  at  the  possibility  of  their  having  two  sounds. 
He  uses  the  accent  to  indicate  the  long  a,  e,  y,  o  only,  and 
has  a  new  sign  e*  for  (ii),  on  which  he  says,  and  it  is  the  only 
clue  I  can  find : 

"e  hath  two  soundes,  and  vowels  both,  the  one  flat,  agreeing  to 
his  old  and  continued  name :  and  the  other  sounde  more  sharpe  and 
betwene  the  old  sound  of  the  old  name  of  :  e :  and  the  name  of  :  i : 
for  such  difference  the  best  writers  did  use  :ea:  for  :e:  flat  and  long: 
&  ea,  ee,  ie,  eo  for  :  e :  sharpe." 

This  "flat  e"  was  undoubtedly  (ee),  and  the  "sharpe  e" 
was  (ii).  The  "old  name  of  e"  is  therefore  (ee),  and  the 
"  sharp"  sound  of  e,  or  (ii)  is  said  to  lie  between  (ee)  and 
the  name  of  i,  that  is,  its  long  sound,  whatever  that  may  be. 
Now  we  have  seen  that  Smith  says  that  (ii)  is  "quoddam 
medium,"  between  (ee)  and  (ei),  so  that  we  need  not  expect 

8 


114  Y,  I,  IE  XVI TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

more  precision  in  Bullokar,  and  although  it  is  really  non- 
sense to  say  that  (ii)  lies  between  (ee)  and  (ei),  since  (ei)  is 
compounded  of  (ee)  and  (ii),  yet  as  Smith  actually  said  so, 
Bullokar  may  have  meant  the  same.  But  Bullokar  con- 
stantly neglects  to  write  the  acute  accent,  his  sign  of  pro- 
longation, over  i.  Thus  he  has  cqntryz,  cgntriz  in  successive 
lines.  Again  he  always  writes  wrytn  =  written  with  a  long 
y,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  believe  that  even  a  pedantic 
theorist  ever  said  (rweit'n).  Gill  writes  (wn't'n).  If  how- 
ever we  suppose  that  Bullokar,  as  well  as  Palsgrave,  pro- 
nounced long  i  as  (ii)  and  short  i  as  (i),  all  difficulty  arising 
from  this  source  would  disappear.  And  although  the  state- 
ment that  (ii)  lies  between  (ee)  and  (ii)  is  not  so  correct  as 
that  (ii)  lies  between  (ee)  and  (ii),  yet  it  is  not  at  all  ex- 
travagant for  a  phonetist  of  that  time.  If,  as  will  appear  in 
the  next  chapter,  (ii,  uu)  were  probably  the  xivth  century 
pronunciations  of  long  i  and  ou,  then  the  retention  of  (ii)  by 
Bullokar  and  Palsgrave  will  be  precisely  parallel  to  their 
undoubted  retention  of  (uu),  and  would  have  precisely  the 
same  archaic  effect  in  the  midst  of  the  general  (ei,  ou)  as 
(0bliidzh%  griit,  briik)  have  at  the  present  day  amidst  the 
usual  (tfblaidzh*,  greet,  br^k).  The  whole  subject  will  be 
properly  discussed  in  the  next  chapter,  and  in  the  mean 
time  the  only  legitimate  inference  from  Bullokar 's  notation 
and  practice  seems  to  be  that  he  pronounced  long  i  as  (ii). 

1621.  GILL  uses  also  a  simple  sign  for  long  i,  namely/. 
He 


"  Differentia  significationis  (quoad  fieri  potest,  &  sonus  permittit) 
orthografia  discernitur.  Sic  J.  ego.  ei  oculus,  ei  ita." — "  Nee  0, 
saepius  prseponitur  i,  dicimus  enim  Tiei  (neei),  adhortantes  aut 
laudantes,  &  ei  (ei)  EYE  oculus,  ei  (eei)  etiam,  ita :  vbi  tamen 
sonus  vocalis,  exigmim  distat  ab  illo  qui  auditur  in  ¥>jn  tuus,  & 
mjn  meus." — "Commuhis  dialectus  aliquando  est  ambiguus.  Audies 
enim  %ai  aut  ¥>ei  (dhai,  dhei)  THEY,  illi." — "/,  est  tenuis,  aut 
crassa :  tenuis  est  breuis,  aut  longa :  breuis  sic  notatur  »',  vt  in  sin 
SINNE  peccatum  :  longa  sic  'i.  vt  in  s'in  SEENE  visus,  a,  um :  crassa 
autem  fere  est  diphthongus  ei ;  sed  quia  sono  exilior  paulo  quam  si 
diffunderemur  in  e,  retinebimus  antiquum  ilium  et  masculinum 
sonum  ....  eumque  signatrimus  hoc  cnaractere  j.  vt  in  sjn  SIGNE 
signum.  Omnium  differentia  est  in  win  wiNira;  vinco,  w'in  WEENE 
opinor,  wjn  WYKE  vinum." 

The  meaning  of  these  passages  is  not  very  clear,  and  they 
have  occasioned  me  considerable  difficulty,  as  I  felt  it  important 
to  determine  the  precise  signification  of  Gill's  symbols.  It 
is  clear  that  his  j  was  little,  if  at  all,  different  from  (ei),  and 
that  this  difference  consisted  mainly  in  dwelling  more  upon 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  Y,  I,  IE  —  XVI  TH  CENTURY.  115 

the  (e)  sound  in  the  diphthong  which  he  writes  (ei)  than  in 
that  which  he  writes  j ;  this  is  the  only  sense  I  can  attach  to 
the  expression  that  the  sound  of  j  "fere  est  diphthongus  ei, 
sed  sono  exilior  quam  si  diff under  etnur  in  e"  as  it  were, 
than  if  we  were  diffuse  over  the  e.  The  distinction  is  then 
precisely  similar  to  that  which  Sheridan  and  Knowles  make 
between  modern  /,  oy,  where  they  suppose  the  first  element 
in  each  case  to  be  (A),  but  to  be  instantly  lost  in  /,  and  retained 
long  enough  to  be  distinctly  heard  in  oy,  (p.  107).  We  seem 
to  have  only  to  change  (A)  into  (e)  to  obtain  Gill's  distinction 
between  /,  eye.  Gill  frequently  interchanges  (ai,  aai)  and 
does  not  seem  to  be  very  particular  about  the  distinction 
between  (ei,  eei),  but  he  appears  to  have  always  attached 
great  importance  to  the  first  element  in  (ei)  and  (ai).  He 
says  of  diphthongs  generally  : 

"Nee  tamen  in  omnium  diphthongorum  elatione,  utrique  vocali 
sonus  integer  ubique  constabit.  Etenim  vocalis  praecedens  ssepe- 
numero  acutius  sonare  videtur,  &  clarius ;  in  at  et  ei,  ita  aures 
implere,  ut  .i.  subiungi  aequius  esset,  quam  ad  latus  adhaerere," 

alluding  evidently  to  the  Greek  forms  a,  y.  The  conclusion 
would  appear  to  be  that  Gill's  j,  ei,  ai  were  more  properly 
('ei,  e'i,  a'i)  where  the  apostrophe  indicates  for  the  moment 
the  extremely  unaccented  or  unimportant  character  of  the 
element  to  which  it  is  prefixed.  For  this  we  might  write 
(ei,  eei,  aai)  if  Gill  did  not  occasionally  distinguish  between 
(ei,  ai)  and  (eei,  aai).  We  must  not  forget  however  that 
Gill  blames  Hart  for  writing  ei  in  place  of  /,  where  Gill 
prints  /  meaning,  probably,  j.  In  this  case  his  j  would 
appear  to  be  considerably  different  from  his  (ei). 

Another  hypothesis  is  possible.  We  shall  see  that  at  the 
time  of  Wallis,  1653,  (ai)  was  a  common  form  of  long  L  It 
is  possible  that  this  was  one  of  the  xvnth  century  pro- 
nunciations which  Gill  adopted,  and  hence  his  j,  ei,  ai  may 
mean  (oi,  ei,  ai),  and  as  this  is  the  most  convenient  dis- 
tinction which  I  can  draw  between  the  sounds,  and  also 
agrees  in  making  j  but  slightly  different,  and  yet  decidedly 
different,  from  (ei),  I  shall  adopt  it  in  transcribing  Gill. 

But  for  the  xvi  th  century  generally,  the  positive  assertion 
of  Salesbury  that  long  i  was  (ei),  and  the  identification  of  the 
sounds  of  /,  eye,  aye  by  Smith,  leave  me  no  choice  but  to 
use  (ei)  for  long  i.  Shakspere  was  born  the  same  year  as 
Gill,  yet  as  he  did  not  live  so  long  into  the  xvn  th  century, 
he  may  have  used  the  same  pronunciation  as  Smith  and 
Salesbury.  Certainly  his  /,  eye,  aye  must  have  had  the 
same  sound  (p.  112).  But  perhaps  long  i  was  also  often 


116  Y,  I,  IE  —  XVII TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

called  (ai)  as  it  still  is,  and  as  it  probably  was  in  the  xiv  th 
century. 

If  the  hypothesis  here  adopted  for  the  pronunciations  of 
long  i  by  Palsgrave  and  Bullokar;  Salesbury,  Smith  and 
Hart ;  and  Gill,  namely  (ii,  ei,  ei)  be  correct,  we  have  the 
phenomenon  of  the  coexistence  of  two  extreme  sounds  (ii,  ei) 
with  their  link  (ei),  during  the  greater  part  of  the  xvith 
century,  bringing  the  pronunciation  of  the  xiv  th  and  xvn  th 
centuries  almost  together  upon  one  point.  A  curious  ex- 
ample of  the  present  coexistence  of  similar  sounds  in  the. 
various  Scotch  dialects  will  be  given  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  short  sound  of  i,  I  take  to  be  (i}  and  not  (i),  notwith- 
standing that  Gill  and  subsequent  writers  consider  (ii)  to 
have  been  its  long  sound.  This  conclusion  rests  principally 
on  the  authority  of  Smith  and  Salesbury. 

Y,  I,  IE  —  xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

Price's  list  of  words  in  ie  =  (ii)  has  already  been  given, 
(p.  104,)  and  no  further  notice  of  this  combination  in  the 
xvn  th  century  is  required. 

1640.  BEN  JONSON,  like  Bullokar,  entirely  ignores  the 
diphthongal  character  of  long  i.  His  description  answers 
to  (i)  or  (i),  but  certainly  not  to  the  diphthongs  (ei,  ei),  one 
of  which  he  most  probably  uttered  for  his  i.  He  says  : 

"I,  is  of  a  narrower  sound  then  e,  and  uttered  with  lesse  open- 
ing of  the  mouth;  the  tongue  brought  backe  to  the  palate,  and 
striking  the  teeth  next  the  cheeke-teeth.  It  is  a  Letter  of  a  double 
power.  As  a  Vowell  in  the  former,  or  single  Syllabes,  it  hath 
sometimes  the  sharpe  accent ;  as  in  binding,  minding,  pining, 
whining,  wiving,  thriving,  mine,  thine.  Or,  all  words  of  one  Syllabe 
qualified  by  e.  But,  the  flat  in  more,  as  in  these,  MIL  litter,  giddy. 

little,  incident,  and  the  like In  Syllabes,  and  words  compos'd 

of  the  same  Elements,  it  varieth  the  sound,  now  sharpe,  now  flat ; 
as  in  give,  give,  alive,  live,  drive,  driven,  title,  title.  But  these,  use 
of  speaking,  and  acquaintance  in  reading,  will  teach,  rather  then 
rule." 

1653.  WALLIS  says:  "I  vocalis  quoties  brevis  est  sonatur  ple- 
rumqne  (nt  apud  Gallos  aliosque)  exili  sono.  Tit  in  lit  morsus, 
will  volo,  stilt  semper,  win  lucro,  pin  acicula,  sin  peccatum,  fill 
impleo.  At  quoties  longa  est  plerumqne  profertur  nt  GraBcorum  et. 
Ut  lite  mordeo,  wile  stratagema,  stile  stilus,  wine  vinum,  pine  tabe 
consumer,  etc.,  eodem  fere  modo  quo  Galloram  ai  in  vocibns  main 
manus,  pain  panis,  etc.  nempe  sonum  habet  compositum  ex  Gallo- 
rum  &  foeminino  et  i  vel  y." 

This  should  be  (ei),  or  (oei),  or  (ooi),  the  difference  being 
slight,  and  all  so  like  (ei)  that  we  may  take  that  as  the  sound, 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  y,  I,  IE  —  XVII TH    CENTURY.  117 

especially  as  "Wilkins  adopts  this  form.  Wallis  also  admits 
this  sound  in  the  first  element  of  boil,  toil,  oil,  bowl  globus, 
owl,  which  he  pronounces  (bail,  tail,  ail,  haul,  aul).  In 
another  place  he  says  that  long  I  is  "  idem  omnino  sonus  cum 
Grsecorum  «." 

1668.  WILKINS  gives  distinctly  "  (ai)  our  English  i  in 
bite,"  the  first  element  being  identified  with  u  in  "  but,  full, 
futt,  mutt-ow,  pull,  rudd-er,5  which  is  meant  for  (a),  as  it  is 
stated  to  be  wholly  guttural,  and  to  be  represented  by  y  in 
"Welsh. 

1668.  PRICE  merely  talks  of  long  and  short  i. 

1669.  HOLDER  says:    "  Our  vulgar  *  as  in  stile,  seems   to   be 
such  a  diphthong  (or  rather  syllable  or  part  of  a  syllable)  composed 
of  a,  i  or  e,  i  (ai,  ei),  and  not  a  simple  original  vowel." 

1685.  COOPER  says:  "Uin  Cut  et  i  (ai),  dipthongum  facillime 
constituunt,  quam  i  longam  vocamus ;  ut  wine,  vinum,  hoc  modo 
pronunciatur  ante  nd  finales  ;  ut  blind  eaecus,  wind  ventus  :  at 
pin'd  pro  pinned  acicula  subnexus ;  a  verbo  to  pin ;  brevis  est ; 
pined  marcidus ;  a  to  pine  marceo ;  dipthongus  est.  Scribitur  per 
ui  in  leguile  fallo ;  disguise  dissimulo  ;  guide  dux ;  guidon  Impera- 
toris  baculus :  per  oi  in  in-join  in-jungo,  joint  junctura ;  jointure 
dos,  broil  torreo,  ointment  unguentum." 

1688.  MIEGE  says  :  "  L'autre  t  a  un  Son  particulier,  et  qu'on  ne 
saurait  mieux  vous  representer  par  la  plume  que  par  ces  deux 
Voyelles  a'i  ;  comme  dans  les  mots  /,  pride,  crime.  II  est  vrai  que 
ce  Son  paroit  d'  abord  un  peu  rude  et  grossier ;  mais  les  Anglois 
lui  donnent  un  certain  Adoucissement,  dont  les  Etrangers  se  rendent 
bien  tot  capable.  Get  Addoucissement  consiste,  en  partie,  a  ne 
faire  qu'un  Son  d'  a'i,  en  sorte  que  ces  deux  Yoyelles  ne  sont  pas 
tout-a-fait  distinctement  prononcees,"  This  expression  seems  to 
point  to  that  extreme  brevity  of  the  first  element  which  still  pre- 
vails, and  makes  the  analysis  of  this  English  sound  so  difficult. 
It  must  be  also  remembered  that  there  is  nothing  approaching  the 
compactness  of  English  diphthongs  in  Prench,  where  a  looseness 
prevails  similar  to  that  in  our  oy. 

1701.  JONES  says  in  one  place  that  the  sound  of  short  u 
(a)  is  written  o  before  i  in  boil,  coil,  coin,  foil,  moil,  &c.,  and 
in  another  place  that  the  sound  of  i  is  written  oi  in  those 
words.  It  follows  that  he  analyzed  long  i  into  (ai). 

It  appears  therefore  that  the  long  i  of  the  xvn  th  century 
was  the  same  as  at  present,  and  hence  it  must  have  been  so 
during  the  xvmth  century,  and  indeed  Franklin,  1768, 
writes  (ai),  and  Sheridan,  1780  analyzes  long  i  into  (Ai)  with 
very  short  (A),  (p.  107,)  and  Walker  into  (sei)  or  (ai). 


118  EI,  AI  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


El,  AI  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

1530.  PAXSGRAVE  says:  "  Ei  vniversally  through  out  all  the 
frenche  tong  shalbe  sounded  like  as  he  is  with  YS  in  these  wordes, 
obey,  a  sley,  a  grey,  that  is  to  say,  the  e  shall  have  his  distinct 
sounde,  and  the  i  to  be  souwded  shortly  and  confusely,  as  conseil, 
uermeil,  and  so  of  all  suche  other." 

"  Ai  in  the  frenche  tong  is  sounded  lyke  as  we  souwde  ay  in 
these  wordes  in  our  tong  rayne,  payne,  fayne,  disdayne,  that  is  to 
say,  a,  distinctly  and  the  *  shortly  &  confusely." 

The  forms  ey,  ay,  are  mere  varieties  of  ei,  ai,  and  need 
not  be  separately  considered.  Palsgrave's  words  ought  to 
imply  that  the  English  and  French  ei,  ai,  were  pronounced 
(ei,  ai)  or  else  (eei,  aai).  This  is  very  different  from  the 
present  pronunciation  in  English,  where  they  are  generally 
(ii,  ee),  or  in  French,  where  they  are  generally  (ee,  ee) ; 
hence  some  confirmation  is  required. 

MEIGEET  says :  "  Considerons  si  ai,  se  treuue  tousiours  raysoun- 
ablement  escrit,  de  sorte  que  les  deux  voyelles  soient  en  la  pronon- 
ciation  comme  nous  les  voyows  en  aymawt,  aydawt,  hair.  II  n  'y  a 
point  de  doubte  qu'en  mais,  maistre,  aise,  vous  ny  trouuerez  aucunes 
nouuelles  de  la  diphthongue  ay,  mais  tant  seulement  d'vng  e  qui 
i'appelle  e  ouvert,  comwe  ia  i'ay  diet.  Parquoy  telle  maniere  d'es- 
criture  est  vicieuse  en  ceux  la,  et  en  tous  autres  semblables,  es  quelz 
la  prononciation  est  autre  que  d'  ai  :  comme  vous  pourrez  cognoistre 
si  vous  les  paragonez  a  aydant,  aymant,  es  quelz  elle  est  veritable- 
ment  prononcee,  le  treuue  d'auantage  que  nous  faisons  bien 
souuent  vsurper  a  la  diphthongue  ai  la  puissance  de  ei,  comme  en 
ces  vocables  sainct,  main,  maintenir  :  es  quelz  sans  point  de  doubte 
nous  prononQons  la  diphthongue  ei  tout  ainsi  qu'en  ceint,  ceinture, 
peindre,  peinture,  meine,  emmeine.  De  sorte  que  si  tu  te  ioues  de 
vouloir  prononcer  ai  en  ceux  la,  tu  seras  trouue  lourd,  et  de  mau- 
uaise  grace,  et  auecq  aussi  bonne  rayson  q'est  le  menu  peuple  de 
Paris  quant  il  prononce  '  main,  pain '  par  ai." 

Again  in  his  phonetic  grammar,  he  says — 

"En  comEngawt  donq  a  gslles  qi  ont  a  en  tiite,  nous  En  auons  vn 
En  ai  ou  ay  (car  je  ne  IES  point  de  differEnq',  Entre  1'  i  E  y  GrEc) 
comme  payant  gajant  [gayant?]  ayarct  ....  Or  comEnc/  En  notre 
lange  la  diphthonge,  Ei,  par  E  ouvErt,  sucgeder  a  ^Elle  d'  ai  En 
aocuns  vocables:  tEllement  qe  nou'  n'oyons  plus  dire  aymer,  si 
souuent  q'  Eymer.  Ao  regard  d'  ame,  E  amez  dowt  no'  liettres  de 
comissions  sont  pleines,  1'  uzaje  de  1'  eloqEnge  Fraw^oEze  IES  a  ja  de 
si  long  tEMS  cassez,  qe  ie  ne  pEnse  pas  q'il  se  puiss'  aoiourdhuy 
trouuer  home  qi  IES  aye  vu  jamEs  En  aothorite,  pour  Etre  commune- 
mEnt  pronon^ez  d'un  bon  courtizant." 

These  extracts  establish  a  French  diphthong  (ei,  Ei),  it  is 
impossible  to  say  which ;  and  also  a  French  diphthong  (ai) 
or  (aai),  entirely  different  from  the  former,  but  gliding  into 


CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


El,  AI  XVI  TH    CENTURY. 


119 


it,  so  that  the  pronunciation  was  then  beginning  to  change, 
and  that  in  several  words  as  mais,  maistre  the  diphthong  (ai) 
had  become  the  simple  vowel  (EE).1 

1547.  SALESBURY  in  no  place  gives  an  English  word  which 
he  spells  with  ei,  ey,  but  as  he  explains  the  word  VAYNE 
by  the  Welsh  gwythen  ne  wacy  i.e.  vena  vel  vamis,  it  must  be 
held  to  include  both  the  words  vein  and  vain.  He  pronounces 
them  both  vain  =  (vain),  and  hence  makes  no  difference 
between  ei  and  ai.  But  he  distinguishes  both  from  long  i, 
as  he  had  immediately  before  written  VYNE,  vein  (vein)  vitis. 
The  following  are  all  Salesbury's  words  containing  ai  with 
their  pronunciation ;  he  has  no  special  observations  on  the 
combination.  QUAYLE  has  no  pronunciation  assigned ;  NAYLE 
nayl  (nail)  unguis  vel  clavus,  NAYLES  nayls  (natlz)  ;  RAYLE 
aryl  (rail)  cancellus,  RAYLES  ray  Is  (ra&lz),  VAYNE  vain  (vain) 

1  The  work  of  M.  Livet,  described  the  mute  e.    Meigret  only  admits  his 

on  p.  33,    enables  us  to  confirm  this  E,  e  =  (E,   e  P)   long  and  short,   and 

view  by  the  very  objection  which  G.  identifies  what  G.  des  Autels,  Pelletier, 

des  Autels   opposed  to    it.        "Aussi  Eamus,  and  others,  according  to  Livet's 

triomphes-tu  de  dire,"  said  he  to  language,  call  the  '  mute  e,'  with  his 
Meigret,  according  to  p.  129  of  M. 


p 

Livet's  book,  "  que  les  diphthongues 
gardent  toujours  en  une  syllabe  le  pro- 
pre  et  entier  son  de  deux  voyelles  con- 
jointes;  et  sont  encore  plus  gaillards 
tes  exemples  de  payant  et  royal ...  Je 
te  dy  done  qu'il  n'y  ha  point  de  diph- 
thongue  en  ces  mots  ay  ant,  pay  ant, 
royal  et  loyal,  mais  seulement  une  con- 
traction, qui  encore  ne  se  fait  la  ou  tu 
prends  la  diphthongue,  mais  en  la 
syllabe  suivante,  car  en  ayant,  a  est 
une  syllabe  et  yant  une  autre  par  con- 
traction de  deux."  On  which  M. 
Livet  remarks:  "Ce  passage  montre 
assez  la  pronunciation  de  ayant,  pay  ant, 
qui  s'est  conserve  dans  le  centre  de  la 
France  et  en  Anjou.  En  Picardie,  on 
dit  gay  ok  pour  geqle  (dierese  de  geole), 
et  le  colosse  d' osier  qu'on  promene 
dans  les  rues  de  Douai  sous  le  nom  de 
Gay  an,  a  1'  epoque  de  la  Ducasse,  n'est 
autre  que  le  (leant,  pris  absolument. 
Cf.  Escalier.  Eemarques  sur  le  patois, 
1  vol.  in-80,  1856,  p.  22."  And  Pierre 
Eamus  (Livet  p.  205)  gives  for  ai  the 
examples,  (in  his  orthography,  using 
E,  e  for  his  broad  and  mute  e  respec- 
tively) '  paiant  gaiant,  aidant,'  and  for 
ei,  'fEindre,  pEindre,  crEindr*,  pEine, 
fontEin0,'  where  the  two  last  words 
have  no  suspicion  of  a  nasal  vowel. 
On  payer  in  the  xvth  century,  see 
supra,  p.  76.  There  is  a  fight  between 
Meigret  and  his  opponents  respecting 


'short  e'  (e).  Livet  (p.  133)  con- 
cludes :  "  d'une  part  que  les  differents 
sons  de  Ye  etaient  alors  ce  qu'ils  sont 
maintenant,  et  d'  autre  part  qu'on  ne 
s'entendait  pas  sur  la  maniere  de  les 
noter  ou  de  les  nommer."  But  my 
German  experience  leads  me  to  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  In  the  words :  eine 
gute  Gabe,  the  final  e  is  pronounced  in 
the  greater  part  of  Germany  very  ob- 
scurely and  more  like  (e),  as  most 
Englishmen  pronounce  their  final  a  in 
China,  idea,  and  some  their  final  -er  in 
gaiter  (which  word  they  then  speak 
like  a  common  mid-German  mispro- 
nunciation of  Goethe],  than  like  (e). 
Yet  theoretically  (*)  is  held  to  be  the 
sound  uttered,  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
Austrian  dominions  I  have  heard  this 
distinct  short  final  (e],  which  of  course 
had  an  unpleasant  effect  on  my  un- 
accustomed ears.  Now  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  Meigret  may  have,  as  an 
older  and  provincial  man,  retained  the 
clear  (e),  that  his  younger  opponents 
may  have  used  the  obscurer  (e),  which 
in  course  of  time  sank  to  the  present  (9) 
or  entirely  disappeared.  This  theory 
at  least  accounts  for  the  conflict  of 
opinion,  the  decided  retention  of  the 
final  e  in  the  phonetic  writing  of  Pelle- 
tier and  Eamus  as  well  as  of  Meigret, 
and  hence  its  continued  use  in  the 
poetry  of  the  xvn  th  century  which  set 
the  rule  for  French  versification. 


120 


ET,  AI  XVI  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


vena  vel  vanus.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  he  pronounces 
ORANGES  oreintsys  (oreindzh/z),  and  that  he  says  that  before 
ge,  sh,  tcli  the  sound  of  "  a  is  thought  to  decline  toward  the 
sound  of  the  diphthong  ait  and  the  wordes"  damage,  heritage, 
language,  ashe,  lashe,  watch  are  "  to  be  read  in  thys  wyse, 
domaige,  heritaige,  languaige,1  aishe,  waitche."  We  have  very 
little  trace  of  this  custom  left.  The  unaccented  syllables  are 
apt  to  be  pronounced  with  (i)  or  perhaps  (y),  as  (ormdzhtz) 
daenr/dzh,  ner^¥dzh,  laeq'gw^dzh,)  but  ash,  watch  have  be- 
come (sesh,  wAtsh),  instead  of  (eesh,  weetsh)  as  might  have 
been  expected.  Salesbury  therefore  only  recognizes  the 
diphthong  (ai)  and  does  not  acknowledge  a  diphthong  (ei) 
as  distinct  from  the  representations  of  long  i.  Yet  long 
if  ei,  ai  have  in  subsequent  times  traversed  with  different 
velocities  three  distinct  paths  ending  in  (ai,  ii,  ee)  respectively. 
1568.  SIE  T.  SMITH  says  :  "Inter  Ai  &  Ei  diphthongos  minima 
differentia  est,  prsesertim  apud  nostrates,  apud  nos  tamen  audiuntur 
hi  soni.  (Fein)  fingere,  (deinti)  delicatus,  (peint)  pingere,  (feint) 
languidus.  Sed  non  haec  tantnm  verba  per  ei  pronuntiantnr,  sed 
cetera  omnia  per  ai  scripta  mulierculae  quaedam  delicatiores,  et  non- 
nulli  qui  volunt  isto  modo  videri  loqui  vrbanius  per  ei  (ei,  eei)  sonant, 


1  Compare  Palsgrave  :  "  Also  all 
wordes  in  the  frenche  tong  whiche  in 
writtyng  ende  in  age  shall  in  redyng 
and  spekyng  sounde  an  i  between  a  and 
g,  as  though  that  a  were  this  diphthong 
ai :  as  for  lavgdge,  heretdge,  sage,  dam- 
mage,  bocqudge,  apprentissdge,  they 
sounde  languaige,  Jieritaige,  saige,  dam- 
maige,  bocquaige,  apprentissaige,  and  so 
of  all  suche  lyke  excepte  rage.  And 
note  that  many  tymes  I  fynde  suche 
nownes  whiche  have  the  i  in  writting 
betwene  the  a  and  g,  but,  whether  he  be 
written  or  nat,  in  redyng  or  spekyng  he 
shalbe  sounded,  accordyng  as  1  have 
here  shewed  by  example."  M.  Ed.  Le 
Hericher  (Histoire  et  Glossaire  du 
Normand,  de  1' Anglais,  et  de  la  langue 
Franfaise,  d'  apres  la  methode  histo- 
rique  naturelle  et  etymologique,  1862, 
vol.  i.  p.  24)  entirely  misunderstands 
this  passage,  when  he  says :  "  C'etait 
une  regie  du  franqais,  formulee  d'  ail- 
leurs  par  Palsgrave  dans  ses  Eclair- 
cissemens  de  la  langue  franqaise,  que  la 
premiere  lettre  de  1'  Alphabet  se  pro- 
non^ait  A  et  Ai."  That  M.  Le  Heri- 
cher means  that  Palsgrave  asserted 
French  A  to  be  (a)  or  (E),  and  that 
generally,  instead  of  generally  (a),  but 
(ai)  in  a  very  limited  class  of  words, 
appears  by  his  next  remark :  "  Ce  der- 


nier son  prevaut  en  anglais :  il  etait 
aussi  predominant  en  normand."  The 
very  few  examples  which  he  cites  for 
such  an  extraordinary  assertion  as  the 
last,  are  far  from  establishing  the  fact. 
They  are  an  assertion  by  Thierry  that 
Granvilk  was  pronounced  Grainville 
by  the  Normans  :  that  in  a  MS.  of  the 
xiv  th  century  at  Avranches  faire  des- 
clare  rhyme,  whereas  they  may  be  only 
an  assonance  as  in  modern  Spanish : 
that  in  the  xv  th  century  a  Caen  farce 
has  consecutive  lines  ending  in  Image 
griefve  glaive,  and  that  aige,  usaige,  etc. 
were  finally  written  and  printed,  so 
that  a  sea  song  of  01.  Basselin  has  a 
set  of  rhymes  in  -aige,  the  termination 
pointed  out  by  Palsgrave.  "  C'est 
cette  prononciation  de  1'  A  qui  fait  une 
des  principales  differences  entre  la 
langue  des  troubadours  et  celle  des 
trouveres."  This  assertion  must  be 
received  with  due  caution.  Mr.  "W. 
Babington  has  kindly  made  inquiries 
for  me  of  inhabitants  of  various  depart- 
ments in  Normandy,  and  none  were 
acquainted  with  an  existing  pronuncia- 
tion of  a  as  ai  in  any  part  of  the  country. 
Hence  it  must  be  very  limited  in  ex- 
tent, and  probably  comparable  to  the 
cases  mentioned  above  p.  76. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  El,  AI  XVI TH   CENTURY.  121 

vt  haec  ipsa  quae  nos  per  ei  (ei)  scribimus,  alij  sonant  et  pronuwtiant 
per  ai,  tarn  d$i,d<f)opoi,  sumus  in  his  duntaxat  duabus  diphthongis 
Angli." 

"  Est  diphthongus  omnis  sonus  e  duabus  vocalibus  conflatus  ut : 
AI,  (pai)  solvere,  (dai)  dies,  (wai)  via,  (mai)  possum,  (lai)  ponere, 
(sai)  dicere,  (esai)  tentare,  (tail)  cauda,  (fail)  deficere,  (faain)  libens 
ac  volens,  (pain)  poena,  (disdain)  dedignor,  (claim)  vendico,  (plai) 
ludere,  (arai)  vestire  seu  ornare.  In  his  est  utraque  litera  brevis  l 
apud  vrbanius  pronunciantes.  Bustici  utranque  aut  extremam2 
saltern  literam  longam  sonantes,  pinguem  quendam  odiosum,  et  nimis 
adipatum  sonum  reddimt.  (Paai)  solvere,  (daai)  dies,  (waai)  via, 
(maai)  possum,  (laai)  ponere.  Sicut  qui  valde  delicate  voces  has 
pronuntiant,  mulierculae  praesertim,  explicant  plane  Romanam  diph- 
thongum  ae.  AE  diphthongus  Latina.  Pae  solvere,  dae  dies,  wae 
via,  mae  possum,  lae  ponere"  =  (pee,  dee,  wee,  mee,  lee)  I  suppose, 
since  the  Latin  ae  had  long  been  pronounced  (ee),  as  we  know, 
among  other  reasons  from  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  written  e 
in  works  before  this  time.  "  Scoti  et  Transtrentani  quidam  Angli 
voces  has  per  impropriam  diphthongum  Graecam  a  proferunt  ut  nee 
i  nee  e  nisi  obscurissime3  audiatur.  A  diphthongus  improprie  Gra3ca 
(paa,4  daa,  waa,  maa,  laa)." 

Again,  in  his  De  recta  et  emendata  Iingva3  Graecae  pronuntiatione 
....  ad  Yintoniensem  Episcopum  Epistola,  Paris,  1568:  "Diph- 
thongi  quo  modo  sona^tur  dicere  in  prowptu  est :  Nam  si  duas 
vocales  recte  prius  extuleris,  &  easdem  coniunxeris,  diphthongum 
habes,  hoc  est  sonum  quendam  duplicem  ex  duobus  commixtis  inter 
se  factum.  Vt  si  nesciam  mulsum  quid  sit,  &  audiam  ex  aqua  & 
melle  factum  esse,  potero  fortassis  commiscewdo  tale  quid  efficere, 
mel  vt  sentiatur  &  aqua  ne  dispareat.  Aut  si  talem  colorem  habu- 
isse  veteres,  qualew  viridem  appellant,  &  hunc  ex  flauo  luteove  & 
ceruleo  fuisse  cowfectum,  potero  credo  commiscendo  videre,  cuius- 
modi  sit  illud  quod  imitari  cupiam,  vt  nee  alterum  ab  altero  colorem 
prorsus  extinctum  &  obliteratum  relinquam,  &  tamen  vtrunque 
pariter  in  tertio  conspici  ac  relucere  faciam.  Sed,  diphthongi  quo 
modo  sonari  debent,  quivis  etiam  ex  triuio  puer  qui  literas  didicerit 
explicabit.  Heus  tu  die  sodes,  a  &  i  quid  faciunt  ?  dicet  cert^  at, 
ai.  Si  p  praaponas,  facit  pai,  Tral,  solue.  sin  m,  mai,  pal,  Ma'ius 
mensis :  sin  w,  wai,  oval,  via ;  neque  nunc  pa  i  dicit,  nee  ma 
i,  sed  pai  &  mai,  vt  constituere  diphthongos  non  dissoluere  videatur. 
Idem  dicendum  puto  &  de  ei,  quod  nos  exprimimus  cum  hinnire, 
hoc  est  ney  dicimus :  &  foeminae  quaedam  delicatiores  cuncta  fere 
qua3  per  ay  dicuntur  per  ei  exprimunt :  vt  wey,  dey,  pei,  vt  eadem 
Eurosaxones  populares  mei  rusticiores,  nimis  pingui  et  adipato 
sono,  way,  day,  pay  :  vt  etiam  tinnitus  illud  i  reddat  in  fine.  Scoti 
&  Borei  quidem  Angli  per  a,  vix  vt  illud  i  audiatur,  pa,  da,  wa,  aut 

1  In  one  case  (faain)  lie  has  marked  examples  he  shews  that  the  sound  was 
the  vowel  as  long  ;  perhaps  a  misprint.  not  heard  at  all.     The  present  sound 

2  Meaning  the  first  element  ?  is  (aa'),  see  chapter  XI. 

3  An  orthoepical  safeguard.    In  Ms  4  Pay\$>  now  called  (paa)  in  Norfolk. 


122 


EI,  AI  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  &  3. 


potius  per  ae  proferunt.  Illud  obseruandum  ne  nimis  videamur 
obese  loqui  propter  exilissimse  literae  prope  latissimas  ex  breuibus 
nimium  tinnientis  sonum,  cum  ai  &  oi  dictionem  finiant,  breuiter  & 
correpte  proferendas  esse  :  quod  Grseci  Grammatici  notarunt,  ne 
alioqui  crassum  ilium  &  adipatum  sonum  rusticorum  nostratium 
imitemur,  qui  cum  a  gay,  loy,  ore  pleno  literis  diductis  in  immen- 
sum  dicuwt,  nimis  profecto  invrbane  loqui  ab  elegantionibus  iu- 
dicemur." 

It  would  seem  that  Smith's  (ei)  were  precisely  the  same  as 
his  long  I,  and  that  as  a  general  rule,  /,  eye,  aye  were  pro- 
nounced alike.  Yet  the  two  sounds  (ei,  ai)  were  recognized 
also  as  different,  and  (ei)  was  considered  to  be  a  dainty 
effeminate  pronunciation  of  (ai),  which  when  urged  to  excess, 
through  (eei),  merged  into  (ee),  but  of  this  mincing  sound  he 
decidedly  disapproved.  This  change  makes  it  probable  that 
eye  and  therefore  long  i  was  rather  pronounced  (ei)  than  (ai), 
because  although  (ei)  could  easily  become  (eei)  and  thence 
(ee),  the  course  from  (ai)  to  (ee)  does  not  seem  so  straight. 
The  sound  of  (ai)  has  not  yet  disappeared  in  our  provinces. 
I  have  frequently  heard  (dai,  wai)  or  even  (daai,  waai)  used 
by  rustics.  Smith  seems  decidedly  to  disapprove  of  this 
lengthening  of  the  first  vowel,  which  however  is  not  un- 
common in  Grill. 

1569.  HART  in  the  very  next  year  after  Smith  had  repro- 
bated the  use  of  (ee)  for  (ai),  published  his  treatise,  in  which 
he  invariably  uses  (ee),  and  does  not  even  give  (ai)  in  his 
enumeration  of  diphthongs.  In  his  French  Lord's  Prayer 
he  transcribes  faite  as  (feetan),  which  agrees  with  Meigret's 
(fEEte).  It  was  Hart's  English  use  of  (ee)  for  (ai)  that 
especially  excited  the  ire  of  Dr.  Gill. 

"Ille,"  says  Dr.  Gill  speaking  of  Hart,  "prseterquam  quod 
nonnullas  literas  ad  vsum  pernecessarias  omisit,  sermonem  nostrum 
characteribus  suis  non  sequi,  sed  ducere  meditabatur.  Multa 
omitto.  Neque  enim  bene  facta  maligne  Detrectare,  meum  est: 
tamen  haec  paucula  adnoto,  ne  me  homini  probo  falsum  crimew 
aflmxisse  putes.  Emendate  nostro  charactere  vtrumque  leges,  quia 
de  sono  tantum  certamen  est.1  Sic  igitur  ille,  folio  66,  b. 


Pre 

ue 
se 
dhe 
bue 
me  / 


pro 


prai 

wai 

sai 

dhei 

buoi 

mai 


sed 

ei 

ov 

aunsuer 

riiding 


pro 


said 

iu        \ 

JUU 

ai 

iuz2 

JJZ 

of 

uii       >  pro 

wi 

answer 

uidh    I 

with 

reeding 

knoon/ 

knooun 

Non  nostras  hie  voces  habes,  sed  Mopsarum  fictitias." 


1  For  the  same  reason,  and  also  for 
greater  ease  to  the  reader,  Gill's  sym- 
bols are  here  replaced  by  palaeotype. 


2  Gill  has  here  mistaken  Hart's  sign 
which  was  meant  for  (yyz),  as  will  be 
shewn  under  U  below. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  El,  AI  XVI TH   CENTURY.  123 

The  withering  character  of  this  denunciation  will  be  well 
understood  by  referring  to  the  passage  quoted  above,  p.  91, 
where  he  reproaches  the  "  Mopseys"  with  saying  (meedz, 
plee)  for  (maidz,  plai),  although  Gill  himself  writes  (reseev, 
deseev)  in  place  of  (reseiv,  deseiv),  receive,  deceive,  which  is 
a  change  in  the  same  direction.  After  this  expression  of 
opinion  by  Dr.  Gill  it  is  impossible  to  accept  Hart's  pro- 
nunciation as  that  generally  used  in  his  time,  though  it  is 
evidence  of  an  existing  pronunciation,  then  only  patronized 
by  a  few,  but  becoming  ultimately  dominant. 

1580.  BULLOKAB,  says:  "that  there  be  seuen  diphthongs  of 
seuerall  notes  in  voice,  and  differing  from  the  notes  of  euery  of  the 
eight  vowels  aforesaide,1  may  appeere  by  the  wordes  following — 

a  hay  or  net :   in  Latine,  Flag  a,  Italian,   Rete  da  pig'iar  animali 

saluatichi,  French,  Boureettes  a  chasser. 
hey  :  in  Latine,  fcenum,  Italian,  Fieno,  French,  Du  foin. 
a  boy  :  in  Latine,  Puer,  Italian,  Garzone,  French,  Garson. 
a  icDy2  that  is  fastened  to  an  anker  with  a  rope  to  weigh  the  anker  : 

in  Italian,  Amoinare. 

a  ha,u,z  in  the  eie :  in  Latine,  Vnguis,  French,  Paille* 
ttft)  he,u  smaller:    in  Latine,   Concidere,  Italian,    Tagliare  minuta- 

mente,  French,  Hacker  menu. 
a  low  :  in  Latine,  Arcus,  Italian,  Arco  da  saetture,  French,  Arc" 

These  diphthongs  I  read  (ai,  ei,  oi,  uui,  au,  eu,  oou)  of 
which  the  two  last  will  be  elsewhere  considered,  and  (uui) 
is  only  a  variety  of  (oi).  Bullokar  consistently  uses  (ei, 
ai)  for  ei,  ai,  thus  (dhei  konseiv)  would  be  quite  distinct 
from  (dhai  konsaiv)  which  the  modern  English  ear  hears 
as  (dhoi  konsaiv).4 

1621.  GILL  distinguishes  (ei,  eei,  ai,  aai),  but  he  is  not 
very  certain  in  the  use  of  (ai,  aai).  I  find  the  following 
words  in  Gill's  phonetic  transcriptions. 

ei  (ei)  eye,  (eiz)  eyes,  (eidher)  either,  (valleiz)5  valleys, — (reseev) 
receive,  (deseev,  deeseev)  deceive.  —  (dheei)  they,  (dheeir) 
their,  (reeineth)  reigneth. 

1  See  p.  64.  derstood.     Few  English  observe  the 

2  The  o>  is  in  Bullokar  a  new  letter  peculiar  Scotch  (ei)  for  (ai).    They  at 
made  by  the  union  of  the  two  00.  most  take  it  for  a  Scotch  way  of  saying 

3  The  comma  before  u  and  inverted  (ai),   but  recognize    the  latter    diph- 
apostrophe  before  t  are  printed  under  thong. 

the  letters  in  Bullokar,   to  indicate,  5  It  is  not    to  be    supposed    that 

first  that  u  has  the  sound  (u)  or  (u),  (vaHeiz)  was  meant,  and  not  (val'eiz), 

and  secondly  that  (t&>  is  the  preposition.  but  in  transcribing,  I  have  thought  it 

4  Palmeiro,  Square  at  Brighton  is  al-  best  to  give  Gill's  own  forms,  however 
ways    called    (Paelmau-ra),   and    thus  careless  and  irregular  they  may  be  at 
confused  with  Palmyra,   the  original  times.       Corrections  must  be  always 
Portuguese  (Palmei'ra)  not  being  un-  theoretical. 


124  EI,  AI  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

ai  (wai,  waai)  way,  (mai,  maai)  may,  (sai,  saai)  say,  (praiz,  praaiz) 
praise,  (alai)  allay,  (wait)  wait,  (slain)  slain,  (sudain)  sodain 
old  form  of  sudden ;  (daai)  day,  (klaai)  clay,  (retaain)  retain. 

1623.  BUTLER  says  (using  the  common  orthography)  : 

"  The  right  sound  of  ai,  au,  ei,  eu,  oi,  ou  ;  is  the  mixed  sound  of 
the  two  vowels,  whereof  they  are  made  :  as  (bait,  yaut,  nei,  neu, 
koi,  kou)  :  no  otherwise  than  it  is  in  the  Greek." 

This  might  lead  to  (ai,  AA,  ei,  eu,  oi,  ou),  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  exactly  how  Butler  pronounced  Greek  av,  et. 
Sir  T.  Smith's  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  diphthongs  ai,  ei, 
oi,  avt  ev,  7}v,  ov,  cov,  vt  seems  to  have  been  decidedly  (ai,  ei, 
oi,  au,  eu,  eeu,  ou,  oou,  wi  wei). 

"  But  ai  in  imitation  of  the  French,  is  sometime  corruptly  sounded 
like  e :  as  in  may,  nay,  play,  pray,  say,  stay,  fray,  slay :  specially 
in  words  originally  French,  as  in  pay,  laili,  travail :  though  plaid 
have  lost  his  natural  orthography,  and  we  write  as  we  speak  plead 
(pleed)." 

This  implies  that  though  some  speakers  insisted  on  pre- 
serving (ai)  in  these  words,  (ee)  was  the  most  general  pro- 
nunciation,— which  may  seem  a  curious  interpretation  of 
"  sometimes  corruptly,"  but  allowance  must  be  made  for  the 
mode  in  which  orthoepists  speak  of  common  pronunciations 
which  differ  from  their  own,  or  from  what  they  recommend, 
— by  no  means  always  the  same  thing. 

EI,  AI  —  xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WALLIS  tells  us  that  ei,  ey,  were  (ei)  or  even  simply 
(ee)  without  the  (i),  but  adds  "  Nonnulli  tamen  plenius 
efferunt,  acsi  per  ai  scripta  essent."  The  diphthong  ai  he 
upholds  still  as  a  diphthong,  "  Ai  vel  ay  sonum  exprimunt 
compositum  ex  d  Anglico  (hoc  est,  exili)  correpto,  et  y.  Ut 
in  voce  day  dies,  praise  laus,"  which,  if  our  interpretation 
of  Wallis's  d  be  correct  is  (dsei,  prseiz)  very  slightly  different 
from  (dsesei,  praeaeiz)  and  readily  passing  into  (deei,  preeiz) 
which  is  almost  the  sound  of  the  present  day.  But  the  real 
transition  was  into  (EE,  ee),  as  we  shall  learn  from  Cooper. 

1668.  WILKINS  writes,  (daei)  day,  (dseile)  daily,  (agaeinst) 
against,  (saeints)  saints,  preserving  the  diphthong  like  Wallis, 
but  has  (kAnseevd)  conceived,  dropping  the  (i)  entirely.  . 

1668.  PRICE  in  the  same  year  apparently  agrees  with  the 
other  two.  He  divides  diphthongs,  or,  as  he  spells  the  word, 
"  dip  thongs,"  into  two  classes,  proper  and  improper  : 

"  That  is  a  proper  dipthong  wherein  both  vowels  keep  their 
sound.  There  are  twelve  proper  dipthongs,  ay  ey  oy,  ai  ei,  oi, 
aw  ew  ow,  au  eu  ou}" 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.         El,  AI  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  125 

which  practically  reduce  to  six,  ai  ei  oi,  au  eu  ou,  and  as  we 
know  that  in  oi  both  vowels  kept  their  sounds,  we  should 
conclude  that  the  vowels  in  the  other  two  diphthongs  did 
so  too. 

"  That  is  an  improper  dipthong  that  loseth  the  sound  of  one 
vowel.  There  are  eight  improper  dipthongs,  ea  ee  ie  eo,  ea  oo  ui, 
ou  obscure  as  in  cousin" 

Then,  after  giving  a  list  of  words  in  ai,  comes  the  question, 
"Doth  a-i  always  keep  its  sound?"  the  hyphen  seeming  to 
imply  separation.  The  answer  is 

"  Ai  soundes  like  e  in  bargain,  chaplain,  against,  chamberlain, 
curtain,  plaited,  raisin,  travail,  ivainscot" 

This  is  therefore  an  exceptional  list  of  words  in  which  ai 
=  (ee),  and  hence  implies  that  generally,  and  in  all  other 
words  ai  =  (aei),  with  the  (ae)  of  the  period.  Again  he  says  : 

' '  Ey  sounds  like,  ay,  in  they,  obey,  convey,  conveyance,  obeysance, 
prey  (or  spoil),  survey,  surveyor,  whey,  but  ey  soundes  i  (ai)  in  eye, 
eyes,"  and  "  Ei  soundes  like  ay  in  heir,  feign,  weight,  neighbour, 
deign,  eight,  for  ein,  inveigh,  to  neigh,  sir  eight,  streighten,  veins" 

Now  when  it  is  remembered  that  these  lists  of  words  are 
opposed  to  those  in  which  ey,  ei  have  the  sounds  of  (ee,  e,  i) 
it  is  evident  that  the  general  sound  of  ai  was  still  (aei), 
although  it  had  become  (ee)  in  a  few  words  cited,  and  that 
ey  in  the  above  lists  was  (aei). 

"  Ey  soundes  like  ee  (i)  in  valley,  Turkey,  barley,  monkey,  parsley, 
talley,  tansey"  "  Ey  sounds  e  (e)  in  countrey,  atturney,  abbey,  alley, 
Anglesey,  causey,  chimney,  cockney,  comfrey,  Hackney,  journey,  a 
Grey,  key,  kidney,  lamprey,  money,  pulley" 

It  is  doubtful  for  how  long  the  short  (e)  in  these  words 
kept  its  place,  and  whether  the  final  unaccented  (e)  and  (i)  in 
these  two  lists  were  ever  kept  very  clearly  separated.  The 
long  key  =  (kee)  remained  for  sometime,  and  should  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  the  next  list. 

"Ei  soundes  e  long  (ee)  in  receive,  carreir,  conceit,  deceit,  deceive, 
enter feir,  either,  heifer,  leisure,  neighbour,  purveigh,  receipt,  seize." 

Many  of  these  words  are  now  spelt  differently.  Usage 
differs  in  leisure  (lezh'J,  lirzhi)  and  in  either  (irdh-i,  ai'dhi). 

1685.  COOPER  begins  to  recognizes  ai  as  (ee)  though  he  is 
not  quite  consistent  with  himself.  After  describing  (E)  he 
says : 

"Yera  hujusce  soni  productio  scribitur  per  a,  atque  a  longum 
false  denominatur,  ut  in  cane  canna  ....  hie  sonus,  quando  pure 
sonatur,"  that  is  when  it  is  not  (EES),  "scribitur  per  ai  vel  ay, 
ut  pain  dolor,  day  dies ;  quae  hoc  modo  in  omnibus  fere  dictionibus 
plerumqwe  pronunciantur :  per  ey  in  convey  deporto,  obey  obedio, 


126  EI,  AI  —  XVII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

purvey  rebus  necessariis  provideo,  survey  lustro,  they  illi,  trey  trulla, 
whey  serum  lactis :  quandoqwe  raro  autem  per  ea  ;  ut  pearl  margarita. 

Corripitur  in  Producitur  in 

sell  yendo  sail  navigo 

sent  missus  saint  sanctus 

tell  nuncio  tail  cauda 

tent  tentorium  taint  inficio." 

This  makes  ai  (EE)  except  in  a  few  words.  But  afterwards 
lie  says : 

"Ai  lenius  prolata  sonatur  ut  a  in  cane  ;  fortius,  plenum  assumit 
sonum  dipthongi  ai  •  ut  brain  cerebrum,  frail  fragilis ;  ay  finalis 
ut  a,  sic  day  dies  ;  ai  ante  r  scribitur  pro  a  in  affairs  res,  air-y 
aereus,  dairy  lactarium,  debonair  candidus,  despair  despero,  fair 
pulcher,  fairy  lamia,  hair  crinis,  pair  par,  repair  reparo,  stairs 

scala;  castera  cum  are;  ut  are  sunt,1  dare  audeo Ai  in 

bargain  pactum,  captain  dux,  certain  certus,  chaplain  capellanus, 
curtain  velum,  forrain  extraneus,  fountain  fons,  mountain  mons, 
villain  furcifer,  &  prior  ai  in  maintain  sonatur  ut  a  correptum 
sive  e  breve."  Again  lie  says  :  "  Sonus  a  in  I  can  possum  ;  I  cast 
jacio ;  conjunctus  cum  t  sonum  liters  ee  exprimente ;  constituit 
dipthongum  in  bait  esca  ;  caitiff  homo  improbus  ;  ay  pro  /  vel  yea 
imo  •  &  eight  quam  vulgariter  pronunciamus  ait.  Plures  haud  scio." 
This  must  be  (sei) ;  he  seems  to  have  thought  of  brain  and  frail 
afterwards.  Then  he  adds  :  "  E  in  ken,  vel  a  in  Cane  i  praBpositus 
diphthongum  (EL) priori  (aei)  subtiliorem  constituit;  v& praise  laus:  in 
paucis  scribimus  ei  vel  ey  finalem  ;  ut  height  altitude ;  weight  pondus, 
&  convey  deporto,  aliaque  qua3  supra  sub  e  ostendimus ;  quibus 
exceptis  cetera  scribuntur  cum  ai  vel  ay  ut  hainous  detestabilis, 
plerunqw<9  autem  in  colloquio  familiari,  negligenter  loquentes  pro- 
nunciant  ai  prout  a  simplicem  (EE)  in  Cane" 

Hence  we  may  collect,  that  in  the  very  few  words  bait, 
caitiff,  ay,  eight,  brain,  frail,  Cooper  still  admitted  the  diph- 
thong (sei),  and  that  he  also  endeavoured  to  establish  a 
diphthong  (Ei)  or  (EEI),  but  that  he  was  obliged  to  own  that 
the  generality  of  words  written  ai  or  ei  were  then  (EE) 
or  (ee). 

1688.  MIEGE,  writing  nearly  at  the  same  time  as  Cooper, 
heard  long  a  as  French  (ai),  supra  p.  71,  and  of  Ai  he  says 

"  cette  diphthongue  a  le  meme  son  en  Anglois  qu'en  ces  Mots 
Francois,  faire,  taire,  &c.  Exemple,  fair,  despair,  hair,  repair, 
airy,  dairy.  J'en  excepte,  1.  Les  Mots  finissans  en  ain,  ou  Vai  se 
prononce  a  la  Franchise,  comme  en  ces  Mots,  villain,  certain,  &c. 
2.  Raisins,  qu'il  faut  prononcer  Rezins" 

Although  his  French  ai  seemed  in  the  first  place  to 
imply  English  (seae),  it  can  be  hardly  other  than  (EE)  in  the 

1  This  is  peculiar,  but  still  heard,  in  the  form  (eei). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.         El,  AI  —  XVII  TH    CENTURY.  127 

present.  Frenchmen  do  not  generally  distinguish  these  two 
related  sounds,  as  they  are  unacquainted  with  English  (aeae). 
Similarly  Englishmen  hear  French  (EE)  as  their  own  (ee). 
The  meaning  of  the  first  exception  is  not  very  clear,  because 
the  French  pronunciation  of  French  final  -ain  is  uncertain. 
Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  Englishmen  never  pro- 
nounced their  final  -ain  as  (-eA).  Did  the  French  say  (-ein)? 
Miege  says  that  n  final  is  pronounced,  "  d'une  maniere  plus 
forte  en  Anglois  qu'en  Fra^ois,"  and  this  is  his  only  allusion 
to  what  is  now  the  French  nasal.  Was  the  English  (vel"en, 
sJ'frBn),  or  (vil'j/n,  sJ'tyn),  as  at  present  ?  We  cannot  learn 
from  this  passage,  but  it  is  probable  that  (veTen,  serten) 
represent  the  sounds  with  sufficient  exactness.  The  e  mascu- 
line in  r  fains,  evidently  implies  (reez'inz)  or  (reez'inz).  The 
distinction  here  made  between  (EE)  and  (ee)  or  (ee),  though 
real  enough  in  French,  is  probably  due  only  to  insufficient 
observation  or  appreciation  of  the  English  sounds,  and  cannot 
be  insisted  on. 

"EL  Cette  Diphtongue  se  prononce  en  Anglois  comme  en 
franQois.  Exemple  vein  une  veine,  weight,  un  poids  "  (vein,  weit ; 
veein,  weeit)  ?  "  Excepte  1.  ces  Mots  ou  elle  soune  comme  un  e 
masculin,  ou  e.  Savoir  to  conceive,  deceive,  perceive,  receive,  seize, 
inveigh,  leisure,  &  leurs  Derivatifs"  (konseev,  des^ev)  &c.  ?  "2. 
Ceux-ci,  ou  la  Diphtongue  prend  le  Son  d'un  e  feminin.  Savoir 
forfeit,  foreign,  surfeit,  heifer,  either,  neither,"  (forfat,  foran,  sarfat, 
naf'ar,  odlrar,  nadir  ar)  ?  "3.  Ce  Mot  height,  qui  se  prononce 
hait,"  (Halt).  This  should  be  (HAit)  according  to  Miege' s  custom 
of  confusing  (A)  with  Erench  a,  and  according  to  other  authorities 
it  should  be  (nseit).  "We  have  still  a  double  pronunciation  (neet, 
nait). 

1701.  JONES  seems  not  to  have  made  up  his  mind  entirely 
that  ai  was  to  be  pronounced  as  (ee).  Thus  he  says  that  the 
sound  of  ai  (whatever  it  may  be)  is  written  ei  in  12  words, 
blein,  conceit,  deceit,  distrein,  heifer,  heinous,  heir,  reins,  their, 
veil,  vein,  weif',  and  eign  in  5  words,  darreign,  deign,  feign, 
reign,  sovereign  ("or  soveraign");  and  eigh  in  12  words,  con- 
veigh,  eight,  freight,  heigh  !  height,  inveigh,  neigh,  neighbour, 
purveigh,  straight,  surveigh,  iveigh,  and  their  derivatives,  as 
eighteen,  weight,  etc.,  and  eip  "in  receipt  sounded  resait,"  and 
es  "  in  demesn  sounded  demain"  and  ey  in  12  monosyllables 
brey,  Grey,  grey,  hey  !  key,  prey,  Sey,  sey,  they,  trey,  Wey 
(a  River),  whey,  and  their  derivatives  as  breying,  Weymouth, 
etc.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  he  never  asks  when  is  the 
sound  of  ai  written  e,  that  is  (ee)  ? 

He  next  says  the  sound  of  e  is  written  ai,  "  when  it  may 
be  sounded  ai,"  which  should  imply  that  the  sound  of  e  was 


128  EI,  AI   —  XVII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

different  from  that  of  ai,  "as  in  abigail,  a/raid,  again, 
against,  bargain,  capstain,  captain,  certain,  chamberlain,  chap- 
lain, complaisant,  curtain,  debonair,  hainous,  mountain,  mur- 
rain, Prestain,  raisin,  said,  Suis  (?),  suddain,  vervain,  villain" 
adding,  "  see  a — ai."  He  also  says  the  sound  of  e  may  be 
written  ay  "  when  it  may  be  sounded  ay  in  the  end  of  words 
or  before  a  vowel ;  as  decay,  decaying,  etc."  These  expres- 
sions ought  to  imply  that  Jones  distinguished  the  sounds  of 
ai,  e,  but  whether  as  (ei,  ee)  or  (aei,  ee)  cannot  be  collected. 

But  the  above  conclusion  is  not  certain,  for  he  says  that 
the  sound  of  e  is  written  eig  "  in  these  six,  darreign,  deign, 
feign,  reign,  Seignior  (sounded  senior},  sovereign"  five  of 
which  darreign,  deign,  feign,  reign,  and  sovereign  are  the  five 
in  which  the  sound  of  ai  is  said  to  be  spelled  eign.  This 
would  shew  that  these  words  were  pronounced  both  ways,  in 
accordance  with  Jones's  custom  of  giving  both  ways  of 
pronouncing.  In  reply  to  the  question,  when  is  the  sound  of 
e  written  eigh  ?  he  says,  "  see  ai — eigh  ;  where  you  have  all 
such,"  so  that  these  words  had  also  both  pronunciations. 

Jones  says  the  sound  of  e  (e)  is  written  ei  in  30  words  atheist,1 
atheism,1  conceit)  conceive,  counterfeit,  deceit,  deceive,  deity,1 
disseise,  disseisin,  either,  forfeit,  heifer,  heinous,  heir,  inveigle, 
leisure,  Marseilles,  *neigh,  ^neighbour,  neither,  perceive,  re- 
ceive, receipt,  seise,  seisin,  seive,  surfeit,  teirce,  their.     Those 
marked  with  *  are  in  a  previous  list  giving  the  sound  of  ai, 
shewing  again  that  the  sounds  of  ai,  e,  if  different,  were  at 
least  frequently  confused.     He  also  says  that  Leicester  was 
pronounced  Lester,  and  gives  a  list  of  32  proper  names  as 
Anglesey,  Awbrey,  etc.,  in  which  ey  final  had  the  sound  of 
e  (e),  and  of  39  other  words  with  ey  final  having  the  same 
sound  (e),  some  of  which  are  words  in  which  eigh  was  said  to 
have  the  sound  of  ai,  and  others  are  words  to  which  Price 
gave  the  sound  of  (i) ;  they  are  abbey,  alley,  atturney,  barley, 
orey,  causey,  chimney,  cockney,  coney,  convey,  cumfrey,  grey, 
hackney,  hey-dey !  honey,  journey,  invey,  key,  kidney,  lackey, 
lamprey,  medley,  money,  monkey,  obey,  parley,  parsley,  prey, 
v&uHey,  purvey,  sey,  survey,  talley,  tansey,  they,  trey,  turkey, 
of  e^V)  whey.     In  answer  to  the  question  when  is  the  sound 
adds,  *-(ii)  written  ei?     He  replies,  sternly,  "Never."     And 
as  in  JieIS°^G  *nen  ^na^  ^  *8  ^  no^  e*>  wnicn  often  sounds  ee; 
ey  were   ahv8^^  etc."     "We  may  therefore  conclude  that  ei, 

generally  (gei)'ajs   (e.e)   and  nev?r  (") ;    altnougn   &i>  bemg 

or  (ei)  was  sometimes  (ee). 
1  These  must  be  meu. 

erroneous  pronunciations.  "^  to  include       "  This  diphthong  ei  is  parted  in  atheist, 
Price  says :       atheism,  de'itie,  polytheism. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  El,  AI  —  XVIII TH   CENTURY.  129 


El,  AI  —  xvni  TH  CENTURY. 

Eit  ai  seem  to  have  remained  at  (ee)  during  most  of  the 
xvni  th  century ;  at  least  ai  was  fixed  in  that  sound  and  has 
come  down  to  us  with  the  slight  alteration  into  (ee),  although, 
in  the  south  of  England,  (eei)  is  more  commonly  heard. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  says  that  "  ai,  ei,  ay, 
ey  are  much  the  same  sound,  in  many  words,  as  pail,  pay, 
eight,  they,"  but  gives  a  list  of  11  words  in  which  "  the  sound 
of  e  is  lengthened  by  ei,"  that  is,  in  which  ei  is  pronounced 
(ii)  contrary  to  the  express  "never"  of  Dr.  Jones;  they  are 
conceit  s.  and  v.,  conceive,  deceit,  deceive,  either,  inveigle,  re- 
ceipt, receive,  weild  now  meld.  It  is  curious  that  while  he 
gives  (ii)  to  conceit  spelled  thus,  he  admits  (ee),  or  rather, 
"  the  sound  of  ai,"  as  the  sound  of  ei  in  "  con,  de,  re,  ceipt 
or  ceive,  heir,  leisure,  neither,1  rein,  reign,  their,  vein,  height^ 
inveigh,  neighbour,  weight"  He  did  not  really  distinguish  ai 
from  a  long  (ee)  as  may  be  seen  under  A,  p.  74. 

1766.  BUCHANAN  writes  (faein)  feign,  (oobee*)  obey,  (slee)  sleigh, 
(gree)  grey,  (leez'jar)  leisure,  (nee'bar)  neighbour,  (mvee*)  inveigh, 
(parvee*)  purvey; — (persiiv)  perceive,  (diish'v)  deceive,  (siiz)  seize, 
(mvii'g'l)  inveigle;  (setarnz)  attorney,  (kan'tn)  countrey,  (aeH) 
alley,  (kAA's*)  causey  causeway,  (taen'sz)  tansey,  (fo.rfit)  forfeit. 

Also  (reen)  rain,  (pee)  pay,  (aegeenst*)  against,  (ree'szn)  raisin, 
(ween-skot)  wainscot,  (baeaergzn)  bargain,  (tshseaDnrbzrhn)  chamber- 
lain, (kartm)  curtain,  (trsev*!)  travail. 

Except  then  in  very  few  words  the  usages  are  those  of  the 
present  day. 

1768.  FRANKLIN  has:  (steens)  stains,  (reens)  rains,  (feer)  fair, 
(asarteen)  ascertain,  (ateen)  attain,  (ansarteen)  -uncertain. 

Also  (dher,  dheer,  dhaer),  their,  (dhee)  they ;  (aidher)  either, 
and  (fArenarz)  foreigners. 

1780.  Sheridan  in  his  remarks  on  the  Irish  pronunciation  (diseet', 
riseev)  deceit,  receive,  which  belongs  to  the  xvnth  century,  notes 
that  "the  Irish  in  attempting  to  pronounce  like  the  English,"  and 
to  convert  their  ei,  ey  into  (ii),  often  overstrained  the  rule,  and  said 
(prii,  kAnvir)  prey,  convey ;  this  was  simply  an  error  of  the  same 
kind  as  that  noticed  above,  p.  92. 

Hence  in  the  xvith  century  we  may  assume  ei,  ai,  to  be 
(ei  eei,  ai  aai) ;  in  the  xvn  th  (ei  eei  ee,  sei  ee)  and  in 
the  xvin th  (ee  ii  ai,  ee).  But  in  the  xvnth  century 
both  ei,  ai  were  apt  to  be  confused  with  one  another 
and  with  long  e  under  the  common  sound  of  (ee).  Also 

1  Yet  he  writes  (iidh-er).     This  re-       son,  do  you  say  (niidh'er)  or  (naidlrer)?" 
minds  us  of  the  question  and  answer       "  (Needlrer),  sir." 
(vraisemblable  if  not  vrai),  "  Dr.  John- 


130  OI  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

even  in  the  xvi  th  century  a  large  section  of  people 
pronounced  (ai)  as  (ee),  but  this,  though  adopted  by 
Hart,  was  thought  effeminate  by  Sir  T.  Smith  and  Dr. 
Grill.  It  however  allowed  Shakspere  to  pun  on  reasons 
and  raisins  and  on  here,  heir  (supra  p.  80  note). 

01  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

1530.  PALSGKAVE  says :  "Oi  in  the  frenche  tonge  hath  .ii.  diuerse 
soundes,  for  sometyme  it  is  sounded  lyke  as  we  souwde  oy  in  these 
words,  a  loye,  a  froyse,  coye,  and  suche  lyke,  and  somtyme  they 
sound  the  *  of  oy  almost  like  an  a." 

1545.  MEIGKET  says:  "En  moins,  royal,  loyal,  nous  oyons  eui- 
demment  en  la  prolation  la  diphthongue  commencer  par  o  &  finfr 
par  i.  Au  contraire  en  moy,  toy,  soy,  nous  oyons  la  fin  de  la 
diphthongue,  non  seulement  en  e,  mais  encore,  en  e  ouuert,  qui  est 
moien  entre  a  &  e  clos,  &  par  consequence  bien  estrange  de  la  pro- 
nonciation  de  1'i,  ou  y  grec.  Nous  escrirons  doncq'  loe,  roe*  et 
loyal,  royal."  And  1550,  in  his  Grammar  he  says  that  "  ao  regard 
de  I'o  ouuErt  il  ne  fet  point  de  diphthonge  preQedant  1'a,  pas  qe 
j'aye  decouuErt ;  ne  parelLement  augq  1'e  clos:  mE's  ioint  a  !'E 
ouuert  il  Est  fort  frequEnt  En  la  pronongiaQion  FrangoEze,  qoE  qe  la 
plume  n?En  neyt  janiEs  fet  conte,  vzant  qelqefoEs  (come  j'ey  ja  dit) 
de  la  diphthonge,  oy,  es  aocuns  dES  vocables :  come,  moy,  toy,  soy, 
loy,  foy :  pour  moE,  toE,  SOE,  IOE,  foE,  qelqefoEs  aosi  pour  fEr'  Encor 
pis,  il'  luy  ont  ajoute'  vne  s, ;  come,  cognoistre  pour  conoEtre.  E 
non  contans  de  e,ete  lourderie,  qazi  come  tumbans  de  fieur'  En  ghao' 
mal,  il'  nous  ont  introduit  oient  pour  OE',  E'  tierses  pErsones  plurieres 
du  preterit  impErfEt :  ecriuans  estoyewt,  disoient,  venoyent,  pour 
etoE't,  dizoE't,  venoE't." 

It  was  this  broad  (E)  which  Palsgrave  apparently  con- 
founded with  (a),  and  indeed  we  are  told  that  in  Parisian  pro- 
nunciation it  was  already  sometimes  (a).1  Even  now  the  oi  is 

1  Meigret's  analysis  of  the  French  mant  le  son  o,  prononcent  seulement 

diphthong  ai  =  (OE)   is   confirmed  by  ai :  ainsi  les  Normands  ecrivent  et  pro- 

Pelletier,  who  writes  (Livet,  p.  174)  noncent  fai,   pour  foi,   et  le    peuple 

*  Franc,  OES,     disoEt,     connoEtra,'    hut  parisien  dit  par  let,   allet,   venet   pour 

1  point,    voyEk.'       Kamus    (ib.    206)  parloit,  alloit,  venoit ;  les  imitateurs  de 

writes   'moE,  IOE'  for  moi,  loi.     Beza  de    1'    italien    prononcent    de    meme 

(ib.  522)  is  fuller  and  says  :    "  cette  Angles,  Frances,  Ecosses  pour  Anglois, 

dipthongue  fait  entendre  a  la  fois,  mais  Francois,    Ecossois. — Une    faute   tres- 

rapidement,  le  son  de  I'o  et  de  T  «,  grande  des  Parisiens  c'est  de  prononcer 

quand  elle  est  suivie  tie  n,  comme  loin,  voirre  (ou  verre),  foirre  PALE  A,  trots, 

besoin,  tesmoin,  mots  que  quelquesuns  comme  voarre,  f oar  re,  troas  ou  meme 

terminent,  a  tort,  par  un  g.  — Non  suivie  tras."     This  last  passage  may  be  com- 

de  n,  la  diphthongue  oi  prend  une  pro-  pared  with  Gill's  denunciation  of  the 

nonciation  voisine  de  celle  do  la  trip-  Mopseys,  p.    90.      The   two    passages 

thongue  oai  ou  de  la  diphthongue  ai  shew  how  careful  we  should  be  not  to 

ou  e  ouvert ;  il  a  le  son  oai  dans  loi,  stigmatize   a  pronunciation  as  faulty, 

moi,  foi  qu'on  trouve  souvent  ecrit,  a  when  it  differs  from  what  we  hold  best, 

tort,  avec  un  y :  quelques-uns,  suppri-  as  the  faults  of  one  century  become  the 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OI  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  131 

acknowledged  to  be  (OE)  or  (UE)  by  eminent  French  orthoepists, 
though  it  is  generally  admitted  to  be  (ua,  MO).  After  a  con- 
sonant the  real  effect  of  oi,  at  present,  is  generally  to  labialise 
that  consonant  and  subjoin  (a,  a),  as  roi,  loi  (TW&,  lw&),  where 
the  ordinary  Englishman  is  apt  to  hear  (rwAA,  IWAA),  and  in 
the  cry  vive  le  roi,  he  often  falls  into  (viiv  le  TAA).  I  have 
elsewhere  given  my  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  original 
diphthong  from  which  the  modern  English  (oi)  descended, 
was  (ui).1  In  the  French  language,  the  intention  of  insert- 
ing o  before  a  Latin  e,  as  in  roi,  loi  from  rex,  lex  seems  to 
have  been  to  indicate  a  thickening  or  labialisation  of  the  pre- 
ceding consonant,  as  opposed  to  the  thinning  or  palatisation, 
which  would  have  been  naturally  occasioned  by  the  following 
palatal  vowel.  Its  use  was  much  the  same  as  the  inserted 
u  after  g  in  French  and  Spanish  before  i,  to  prevent  the 
palatisation  of  (g)  into  (zh)  or  (x),  but  whereas  in  the  latter 
case,  as  in  the  use  of  gh  under  similar  circumstances  in  Italian, 
the  (g)  was  generally,  not  always,  kept  pure,  in  the  former 
case  the  labial  effect  became  finally  constant. 

In  Palsgrave's  time  the  English  oi  must  probably  be  as- 
sumed as  (oi)  or  (oe),  the  latter  being  a  diphthong  still  found 
in  Welsh  oedd  (oedh).  The  stress  was,  as  usual,  on  the  first 
element,  and  the  apparent  stress  on  the  second  element  in 
modern  French  is  due  to  the  real  absorption  of  the  first 
element  by  the  labialized  consonant. 

1547.  SALESBTJRY  recognizes  the  diphthong  oy  solely  by 
transcribing  IOYNT  into  tsioynt,  meaning  (dzhoint). 

1568.  Sin  T.  SMITH  says :  "  01 per  o  Ireuem  (o)  &  i  (i).  Diph- 
thongus  Ot,  vt  Gallis  frequentissima,  ita  nobis  est  rarissima :  habemus 
tamen  &  hanc  sonum  (Coit)  iacere  discum,  (boi)  puer,  (toi)  ludi- 
crum,  (toil,  turmoil)  laborare,  (foil)  bractea,  (soil)  solum,  (koil) 
verberare,  (broil)  assare  in  craticula,  &  (point)  qiise  vox  mucronem, 
et  indice  mowstrare,  et  ligulam  nobis  notat,  &  (koi)  quibus  ineptum 
et  a  familiaritate  aliemim  signincavimus.  In  his,  propter  breuitatem 

received  usages    of   another.      Beza's  Spanish,  ue  were  mutations  of  the  Latin 

reprobation  of  the  Parisian  oa  for  oai,  o,  p.  138,  note.      It  is  worth  noticing 

that  is,  oi,  explains  the  last  words  of  in  reference  to  Meigret's  ou,  considered 

Palsgrave,  hut  his  supposition  that  the  as  o  clos,  that  Beza  proceeds  to  say : 

Norman  fay  resulted,   like  the  usual  "  cette  diphthongue  ou  a  un  son  propre 

French  ai  in  the  words  cited,  from  the  qui  tient  de  Yo  et  de  l'«.     II  faut  se 

rejection  of  the  prefixed  o,   does  not  garder  de  prononcer  comme  a  Lyon  ou 

seem  historically  correct,  as  this  ortho-  pour  o   (comme    nous    pour    nos),   et 

graph y,  or  fey,  is  very  old  in  Norman  comme  dans  le  Dauphin  e  et  la  Savoie 

French.    We  shall  have  to  consider  o  pour  ou :  tels  cop  pour  coup,  o'i  pour 

this  point  in  Chap.  V,  §  1,  No.  3,  where  oui  etc." 

the  Norman  ei  and  French  ot='(ei,  ue)  l  Transactions  of   the   Philological 

will  he  considered  as  mutations  of  the  Society,  1867,  Part  I,   On  the  Diph- 

Latin  e,  precisely  as  the  French  eu  and  thong  OY,  p.  59,  hottom. 


132  01  —  XVI  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

soni,  et  quia  breuis  o  non  multum  ab  u  differt,  et  propterea  fuit  a 
Grascis  dicta  o  fjuicpbv.  Poterit1  fortasse  a  quibusdam  iudicari  haec 
melius  posse  per  vi  describi.  Yidemus  et  veteres  voltis  &  vostris  per 
o  scripsisse,  quae  posteriores  per  vultis  &  vestris  scripserunt.  Certe 
sani  saepissime  variant.  At  aequum  est  scripturam  sonos  sequi  vt 
picturam  corpus,  testentiirque  scripturae  sonum  aetatis,  vt  aulaea 
formas  vestium.  &>  Diphthongus  improprib  Greeca  Apud  nos  in- 
cognita est.  Scoti  tamen  qua3  nos  per  oi  scribimus  per  &>  pronun- 
ciant,  vix  vt  i  audiatur." 

And  in  his  Greek  pronunciation  he  says :  "  ot.  Referimus  nos 
cum  puerum  a  ~boy  dicimus,  &  cum  ludicrum  a  toy,  &  delicatiorem 
hominem  vocant  Borei  nostrates  nyse  &  coy,  frequentatur  haec  diph- 
thongus  a  Gallis  plurimum,  quorum  lingua  cum  elegantiarum 
studiosis  apud  nostros  vsqueadeo  placeat,  miror  ab  his  qui  hunc 
sonum  tarn  contewptim  aspernantur  non  invrbanissimam  iudicari. 
Hi  cum  volunt  me,  te,  taciturn,  fidem  dicere  moy,  toy,  coy,  foy  dicunt : 
cumque  Normani  Scythica  Danorum  gene  partem  occuparint  Gallic, 
&  quod  in  Graecia  Turci,  iam  in  Gallia  feceruwt,  vt  linguam  Galli- 
cam  vna  discerewt,  &  peruerse  commutarent  nunquam  tamen  poterawt 
effugere  Normani,  quin  si  nunc  quisquaw  eorum  rusticior  pro  moy, 
toy,  coy,  foy,  quod  non  raro  euenit,  my,  ty,  ky,  fy,  dicat,  irri- 
deatur  a  caeteris  Gallis,  &  non  vrbane  ac  civillter,  sed  inscite  ac 
rustice  loqui  existimetur.1' 

"We  have  therefore  evidence  that  Sir  T.  Smith  heard  little 
if  any  difference  between  (oi,  ui),  as  he  doubted  which  would 
be  the  best  orthography.  In  the  next  chapter  further  reasons 
will  be  given  for  supposing  (ui)  to  have  been  the  older  form. 

1569.  HART'S  views  of  diphthongs  are  rather  peculiar, 
owing  to  his  considering  (j,  w)  as  the  pure  vowels  (i,  u) 
forming  a  diphthong  with  the  following  vowel,  so  that  to 
understand  his  account  of  oi  it  will  be  convenient  to  cite  his 
description  of  diphthongs  at  length.  He  says  : 

"  Kow  will  I  shew  you  examples  of  the  Diphthongs  made  of  two 
short  vowels,  and  of  others  of  one  short  and  of  another  long.  And 
then  of  triphthongs.  With  short  vowels,  as  thus,  (ui  nil  reid  bei 
ionder  uel*,  nueer  dhe  uat  uas  uelneer  taakn  bei  dhe  iuq  sound) 
which  is  written  for  [we  wyll  ride  by  yonder  well  where  the  Wat 
was  wel  neare  taken  by  the  yong  hound]  which  doe  come  very 
often  in  our  speach.  Of  diphthongs  whereof  one  vowell  is  short, 
and  the  other  long  as  (iuu  ueer  uaakiq  in  dhe  fouurth  touur,  hueer 
az  dhe  buee  did  pouur  uaater  upon*  dhe  mieet  nouur)  which  I 
write  for  [you  were  waking  in  the  fowerth  tower,  when  as  the 
boye  did  poure  water  vppon  the  wheate  flower]  which  also  doe 
come  verie  often.  And  for  triphthongs  as  (bi  ueiz  ov  dhe  mieiz 
buei)  for,  [be  wise  of  the  hoyes  bowy].  And  (nark  dhe  kat  duuth 
mieu  Hueilz  iuu  milk  dhe  ieu)  for  [hark  the  Cat  doth  mewe,  whiles 

1  Evidently  there  is  a  inispunctuation  here,  it  should  be  "  o  niitpbv,  poterit." 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OI  XVII TH   CENTURY.  133 

you  milke  the  yowej.  And  a  Basin  and  (eaur),  for,  [eawer],  and 
certaine  others  as  will  be  scene  hereafter.  And  for  three  vowels 
comming  togither,  and  making  two  sillables  as  in  example  (dhe 
vyy,er  seeth  syy,er  it  is  pyy,er)  for  [the  vewer  sayth  sure  it  is 
pure]"  where,  as  will  be  explained  hereafter,  Hart  writes  (iu)  for 
(yy),  "  and  as  in  these  wordes  (dhis  bei,er  iz  Hei,er  ov  pou,er  dhen 
dhe  dei,er  bei  mz  fei,er).  For  [this  bier  is  higher  of  power,  than 
the  dier  by  his  fire]." 

He  seems  therefore  to  write  (buee,  nueiz,  buei)  for  boy, 
hoy's,  buoy,  though  the  precise  value  of  the  two  last  words 
is  not  very  clear,  and  may  be  (wheiz  b^ei).  Nautical  men 
constantly  call  buoy  (buui),  and  (bui,  b0i)  are  not  uncommon 
provincial  forms  of  boy.  Compare  the  Bavarian  dialectic 
(bua)  for  (bmrbe)  bube,  which  leads  to  the  notion  that  boy  is 
a  form  of  booby,  a  word  of  very  doubtful  origin.  Although 
Hart  thus  confirms  Smith's  (ui)  in  one  word,  he  differs  from 
him  in  writing  (vois'es). 

1580.  BULLOKAR,  as  we  have  seen,  distinguishes  boy,  buoy 
as  (boi,  buui),  and  he  gives  no  examples  of  oy  as  (ui,  uui). 

1621.  GILL  has  the  varieties  (oi,  ui,  uui),  as  in  the  words :  soil 
(soil,  suuil),  boil  (boil,  buuil),  spoil  (spoil,  spuuil),  toil  (toil, 
tnuil),  joint  (dzhuuint),  disappoint  (disappuuint),  buoy  (buui), 
rejoice  (redznois),  voice  (vois),  oil  (oil).  In  these  the  double 
tendency  is  clear,  and  as  the  (ui)  sounds  must  have  been  the 
more  ancient,  they  were  no  doubt  in  existence,  though  dis- 
regarded, when  older  orthoepists  wrote.  Thus  Salesbury's 
(dzhoint)  is  really  more  modern  than  Grill's  (dzhuuint). 

1633.  Butler  says  "  01  in  loy  we  sound  [as  the  French  do] 
(woe),  for  whereas  they  write  bois,  soit,  droict  they  say  (bwoes, 
swoet,  drwoet)."1 

01  —  xvii  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WALLIS  says :  "  In  oi  .  .  .  vel  oy  .  .  .  praeponitur  aliquando 
6  apertum  (ut  in  Anglorum  b6y  puer,  toys  nugae  ....),  aliquando 
6  obscurum,  (ut  in  Anglorum  Idil  coqueo,  tdil  labor,  dil  oleum  .  .  .), 
quanquam  non  negem  etiam  horum  nonnulla  a  quibusdam  per  o 
apertum  pronunciari." 

That  is  he  said  (bAi,  tAi,  bail,  tail,  oil)  but  admitted  the 
pronunciation  (bAil,  tAil,  Ail).  It  will  be  seen  that  Wallis  is 
the  first  writer  who  acknowledges  the  vowel  (9)  and  the 

1  The  (w)  in  the  two  words  is  merely  that  the  sounds  were  (AHewee-),  the 

a  sound  developed  by  Butler  himself.  syllables  being  lengthened  out,  yet  I 

Thus,  when  I  was  nearing  Alloa  in  the  could  not  divest  myself  of  the  feeling, 

steamer,   the  name  of  the  place  was  that  (AHoo-wee-)  was  really  said,  so 

called  out  in  a  slow  measured  tone  by  strongly  was  the  sound  of  (w)  developed 

the  boatman,   and  although  I  knew  in  the  glide  from  oo  to  (ee). 


134  OT  —  XVII TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

diphthong  (ai).  It  is  quite  in  conformity  with  this  that  he 
changes  Gill's  (buuil,  tuuil)  into  (bail,  tail),  and  his  further 
pronunciation  (ail)  should  imply  that  (uuil)  as  well  as  (oil) 
was  prevalent  in  Grill's  time. 

1668.  WILKINS  writes  (bA/)  for  boy. 

1668.  PRICE  says : 

"  Oi  never  ends  a  word,  but,  oy,  as  boy,  cloy."  "  Oy  sounds 
broader  than,  oi,  as  moyst?  joiner,  joint,  boisterous,  cloy,  cloysters, 
embroyder,  emroides  [hemorrhoids],  employ,  exploit,  foyl,  moyst, 
noise,  noysom,  oyl,  ointment,  poise,  quoif  [coif],  void." 
It  is  possible  that  Price's  broader  oy  may  be  (Ai)  and  the 
other  (ai),  which  would  give  (dzhaint,  barstaras,  eksplait', 
naiz,  aint'ment,  paiz,  kaif,  vaid,)  of  which  some  are  confirmed 
by  subsequent  writers. 

1685.  COOPER  generally  gives  oi  as  (AI),  "  o  in  loss,  lost, 
i  praepositus  ...  semper  Greece,  ut  TroXXol,"  but  he  admits  (id) 
in  boil,  moil,  point,  poison,  only,  to  which  he  says  "  oy  in 
Gallico  buoy  supporto,  quod  nos  scriberemus  bwoy"  is  equiva- 
lent, it  is  therefore  to  be  presumed  that  he  said  (bwid).  The 
most  curious  point  is  his  remark  that  "  boy  puer  dissyllabum 
est,  scilicet  (b«Ai),M  which  is  not  confirmed  by  others.  He 
likewise  admits  oi  to  be  (ai)  in  in-join,  joint,  Jointure,  broil, 
ointment,  see  supra  p.  117,  and  also,  "  ut  i  diphthongus,"  in 
anoint,  moil,  toil,  point* 

1701.  JOKES  says  that  the  sound  of  ooi  was  always  written  oi, 
"in  the  middle  of  words  or  before  a  consonant,  as  boil,  coil,  join, 
&c.,"  which  were  therefore  occasionally  called  (buuil,  kuuil, 
dzhuuin),  as  in  times  past,  and  that  the  sound  of  t  (ai)  is  written 
oi,  "  when  it  may  be  sounded  oi  or  ooi  (oi,  uui)  in  the  beginning  or 
middle  of  words ;  as  in  boil,  broil,  coil,  foil,  foist,  froise,  groin,  hoise, 
join,  loin,  moil,  oilet,  poise,  poison,  soil,  spoil,  tortois,  which  some 
sound  as  with  an  f,"  i.e.  as  (bail,  brail,  kail,  fail)  etc. ;  and  that 
(ai)  is  written  oy  "  when  it  may  be  sounded  oy  in  the  end  of  words, 
or  before  a  vowel ;  Chandois,  decoy,  &c. — loyal,  royal,  voyage ;  some- 
times abusively  sounded  as  with  an  «,"  Le,  (Shsen'dais,  dekar, 
lai'ael,  rarsel,  vai^dgh),1 

1688.  MIEGE  says  nothing  of  the  pronunciation  of  the 
English  oi,  but  for  the  French  oi  he  lays  down  rules  some- 
what different  from  those  now  followed,  saying : 

"  The  diphthong  oi  is  pronounced  oai  (OE)  as  foi,  loi,  foire,  toile. 
Except  in  some  Cases,  wherein  'tis  pronounced  ai  (E).  And  1.  In 
such  Tenses  of  Yerbs  as  these ;  viz.  J'aimois,  tu  aimois,  il  aimoit, 
J'aimerois,  tu  aimerois,  il  aimeroit.  2.  In  those  Yerbs  whose  In- 
finitive ends  in  oitre ;  as  conoitre,  paroitre.  To  which  add  the  Yerb 

1  Compare  the  sailor's  spelling  wig      is    t,  g  =  (ai,  dzh),  according   to   the 
for  (waidzh),  i.e.  voyage,  where  ig,  that      alphabetic  names  of  the  letters. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OI  XVIII  THCENTURY.  UI  135 

croire,  and  this  tense  of  the  Yerb  Eire,  Je  sois,  tu  sois,  il  soit.  3.  In 
these  National  Names,  Anglois,  Francois,  Ecossois,  Irlandois,  Hol- 
landois,  Milanois,  Polonois ;  with  all  their  feminities  in  oise,  as 
Angloise,  Franqoise,  &c.  4.  In  these  Words,  droit,  (Adj.)  endroit, 
etroit,  etroitement,  foible,  froid,  and  the  Derivations  of  the  two  last. 
But  before  n,  the  i  keeps  its  proper  Sound ;  as  foin,  loin,  joindre, 
point.  Oignon  is  pronounced,  and  begins  to  be  spelt  ognon.  Oie  is 
a  Triphthong,  and  is  pronounced  ai  in  such  Tenses  of  Verbs  as 
these  are,  Us  aimoient,  Us  aimeroient,  Us  soient,  where  the  n  is  left 
unpronounced.  But  it  is  no  Triphthong,  where  it  ends  a  "Word, 
the  last  e  making  a  distinct  Syllable  of  it  self,  though  almost  mute. 
As  in  these  "Words  foie,  joie,  anchoie,  where  oi  is  pronounced  oai ; 
monoie,  yvroie,  where  it  is  sounded  ai." 

01  —  xvin  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  admits  (oi,  AI)  in  choice, 
exploit,  froise,  noise,  poise,  quoif,  quoit,  rejoice,  voice,  void,  but 
says  that  "  in  the  middle  of  most  other  words  oi  sounds  i  long 
(ai),  as  anoint,  boil,  broil,  coin,  loin,  moil,  toil,  poison,  point."  Of 
these  (bail,  lain,  paiz*n,  paint)  are  still  well-known  vulgarisms. 
1796.  BUCHANAN  admits  (Ai,  oi)  only,  to  the  exclusion  of 
(ui,  ai). 

1768.  FRANKLIN  writes  (distrAaid)  destroyed,  but  unfor- 
tunately gives  no  other  word  in  oi. 

We  may  conclude  then  that  in  the  xvi  th  century  (oi,  ui, 
uui)  all  prevailed,  (oi)  being  most  in  favour ;  in  the 
xvn  th  century,  most  words  had  (oi,  AI)  and  a  few  words 
(ui,  ai) ;  in  the  beginning  of  the  xvin  th  century  (oi, 
Ai,  ai)  were  acknowledged,  but  at  tbe  latter  end  of  that 
century  only  (oi,  Ai)  were  admitted  by  orthoepists. 

TJI  —  xvi,  xvn,  xviii  TH  CENTURIES. 
The  combination  ui  belongs  to  the  xvn  th  and  later  cen- 
turies, except  perhaps  in  one  or  two  words,  in  which  French 
spelling  had  an  influence,  as  the  following  comparison  of  the 
orthography  of  the  Promptorium  1440,  Palsgrave  1530, 
Levins  1570,  and  Price  1668  will  shew. 

Price.  Levins.  Palsgrave.  Promptorinm. 

I.  build  beald  beldyng  beeldynge 

circuit  circuite 


conduit  condit 


conayte 


conduyte 
conduycte 
guild  ( gyylde 

guilt  giltie  gylte 


136  UT.  EU,  AU,  OU.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

Price.  Levins.  Palsgrave.  Promptoriutn. 

II.  buy        bye        bye          byyn 
guide       gyde      ( gyde         gyde 

I guyde 

guile  gyle  gyle  gyle 

guise  gyse  ( gyse  gyse 

I  guyse 

III.  bruise  ( broose  brosyn 

( brosyng 

fruit  frute  frute  frute 

juice  juce  juse  jiuce 

( iowce 

suit  sute  sute 

Hence  we  must  consider  the  combination  as  an  inorganic  *  or 
u  and  it  must  follow  the  laws  of  those  letters.  In  the  above 
table  the  first  group  had  short  i,1  the  second  long  it  and  the 
third  the  u  or  oo  of  the  period. 


EU,  AU,  OU. 

The  forms  ew,  aw,  ow  are  identical  in  signification  with  euy 
au  ou,  and  need  not  be  separately  considered. 

The  modern  sounds  of  eu  are  (iu)  or  (ju,  «mu),  and  occa- 
sionally (oo),  of  au  (AA),  and  of  ou  (ou)  or  (e),  occasionally 
(0ou,  uu).  But  the  diphthongal  sound  (ou)  runs  through  all 
the  varieties  (ou,  au,  au,  ahu,  aeu,  eu,  eu),  and  Franklin  gives 
(AU),  while  even  (ou)  may  be  occasionally  heard,  and,  owing 
to  the  orthography,  this  analysis  is  very  commonly  accepted. 
The  Germans  hear  the  diphthong  always  as  their  au  =  (au). 
The  pronunciation  (eu),  a  diphthong  acknowledged  in  the 
Italian  Europa  =  (euroo'pa),  is  heard  in  America  for  ou  as 
(deun  teun)  for  down  town,  and  is  said  to  be  a  common  cock- 
neyism,  although  the  cockney  sound  is,  as  Mr.  M.  Bell  says, 
more  probably  (seu)  as  (daeun  taeun).2  Many  words  now 
spelled  with  u  were  written  with  ew  in  the  xvi  th  century. 
As  these,  and  some  others  still  spelled  with  ew,  were  pro- 


1  Dr.  Gill  stumbles  over  build,  giving  hear  (Brae^und')  or  (erEE(und-),  the  first 
the  three  sounds  (baild,  hild,  byyld).  element  being  lengthened  and  some- 
The  more  ancient  sound  must  have  what  nasalized.   TheEev.  Mr.  D'Orsey 
been  (beeld)  or  (beild)  whence  (b&'ld)  informed  me  that  he  found  the  use  of 
descends  easily.       Mr.   Melville   Bell  (eu)   for    (au)    very    common    among 
says  that    built  is    often  pronouaced  Londoners,  even  of  education,  whose 
(b?lt)  in  Scotland,  a  variety  of  (bylt).  pronunciation  he  had  to  correct.     In 

2  In  Mrs.  Barney  Williams'  s  Yankee  Norfolk  ou    is    regularly  pronounced 
song  "  Bobbing  around,"  which  was  so  (EU,  aeu), 

popular  a  few  years  ago,  I  seemed  to 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  EU  XVI TH   CENTURY.  137 

nounced  with  the  long  u  of  that  time,1  which  requires  special 
consideration,  it  will  be  most  convenient  to  postpone  their 
consideration  till  afterwards.  The  sounds  attributed  to  au, 
ou  in  the  xvith  century  were  also  frequently  attached  to 
simple  a,  o  before  I  or  //,  and  these  will  be  considered  under  L. 

EU  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

1530.  Palsgrave  says :  "J&v  in  the  frenche  tong  hath  two  dyuerse 
soundynges,  for  sometyme  they  sound  hym  lyke  as  we  do  in  our 
tonge,  in  these  wordes  a  dewe,  a  shrewe,  a  fewe,"  this  is  the  sound 
which  will  be  considered  here,  "and  somtyme  like  as  we  do  in 
these  wordes,  trewe,  glewe,  rewe,  a  mewe"  which  will  be  considered 
under  U.  "The  soundyng  of  ev,  whiche  is  most  general  in  the 
frenche  tong,  is  suche  as  I  haue  shewed  by  example  in  these 
wordes,  a  dewe,  a  shrewe,  a  fewe,  that  is  to  saye,  lyke  as  the 
Italians  sound  ev,  or  they  with  vs,  that  pronounce  the  latine  tonge 
aryght,  as  evrevx,  irevx,  tiev,  diev" 

The  reference  to  Italian  completely  establishes  the  sound, 
which  is  as  singular  and  curious  in  French  as  in  English. 
According  to  Meigret,  however,  the  sound  was  (ey),  for  he  says : 

"  Cst  e  clos  fet  Encores  vn'  aotre  diphthong'  auEc  u,  come  En  eur, 
pen,  veu,  eureus.  FinablemEnt  il  fot  vne  triphthowge  se  joxawt  a 
c.Elle  de  ao ;  come  En  veao,  beao,  moreao.  Dont  Jem'  emErvElLe  de 
9eus  qui  premiers  ont  termine  gete  triphthong'  En  u  :  vu  qe  la  pro- 
nonQiagion  ne  tient  rien  de  1'une  memes  de  1'  ou  clos  qi  a  qelq' 
affinite  auEq  1'u."3 

1  "We    find  in  Levins   1570,    dewe  is    indistinct,   at    least    as   cited,   but 
debitum,    dewe,    glewe,    rewe,    spewe,  Eamus  (ib.  p.  189)  says  :  "  La  sixiesme 
blewe,    trewe,   issew,   reskew,  reuenew,  voyelle  cest  ung  son  que  nous  escripvons 
valew    [but  vertue  although   inserted  par  deux  voyelles,  E  et  u,  comme  en  ces 
under  "E  ante  "W,"]  endew,  continew,  motspeur,  meur,  seur,"  and  he  proposes 
pursew,   sleuce,   trewce,    hewge,   rewle,  a  simple  sign  for  it.     Beza  (ib.  521)  as 
trewth   [but  vntruth  although  under  analysed  by  Livet  says :  "  Dans  cette 
the  heading  ewth~\.   Words  still  written  diphthongue  EU  ou  n'entend  ni  Ye  ni 
with  ew,  and  pronounced  then  as  long  Vu,  mais  un  son  qui  tient  de  Tun  et  de 
u  according  to  Sir  T.  Smith  1568,  are  1'autre  :  beuf,  neuf,  pen  PAUCTJM,  seur 
mew,  slew,  new,  brew,  blew.  SOROR,  veu  YOTUM,  et  un  grand  nombre 

2  See  the  long  extract  from  Meigret  d'  autres  que  les  Picards  prononcent 
concerning  ao,  aou,  on  p.  141-2  below.  sou  vent  M  simple,  disant  Diu,  ju  pour 
G.    des    Autels    objects    strongly    to  Dieu,  j'eu.     Les  Franc,ais  imitent  quel- 
Meigret's  analysis  (<?y)  of  the  French  quefois  les  Picards,  en  ce  qu'  ils  pro- 
eu.  Speaking  of  Meigret' s  assertion  that  noncent  par  u  simple  les  mots  seur 
both  sounds  were  heard  in  a  diphthong,  SECTJRUS  et  ses  derives  ....  meur  MATU- 
he  asks  (Livet,  p.  130) :  "  Je  luy  de-  RUS  ...  et  en  general  tous  les  noms  en 
mande  si  la  diphthongue  franchise  eu  cure  long  [now  -ure]  derives  des  verbes 
en  ces  mots  jeu  et  feu  garde  le  son  .... ;  il  en  est  de  meme  dans  les  parti  - 
entier  de  Vu  ?"     "  II  ne  faut  done  pas  cipes  passe's  passifs,  masculins  ou  femi- 
que    les    voyelles   gardent    aux  diph-  nins,  termines  en  eu,  eue  [now  -u,  -ue] 
thongues  leur  son  propre   et    entier,  comme  beu,  beue  .... ;  c'est  a  tort  qu' 
mais  bien  qu'elles  servent  toutes  deux,  a  Chartres  et  a  Orleans  on  prononce, 
eoit  en  leur  son  propre  on  en  un  autre  avec  une  dierese,  eu,  et,  d'autre  part, 
voisin,  a  faute  de  lettres  plus  idoines  qu'  on  fait  rimer,  heureidur,  engraveure 
(convenables)."    Pelletier  (ib.  p.  138)  et  figure,  heure  et  nature,  faute  qu'on 


138  EU  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

But  Englishmen  heard  this  (ey)  as  (eu),  as  appears  from 
Hart,  who  in  his  French  Lord's  Prayer,  gives  (sieuz,  seuz) 
for  deux,  ceux.  As  to  the  combination  eau,  which  Meigret 
says  was  (eao),  we  have  the  word  beauty -,  written  bewte, 
beawtye  in  the  Promptorium,  beautie  in  Palsgrave,  and  bewtye 
in  Levins.  Hart  gives  (beau'ttft),  Gill  pronounces  (beu'ti) 
and  Butler  (beau't?)  which  may  mean  (beaa'ti),  though 
some  doubt  attaches  to  the  last  pronunciation.1 

1547.  SALESBURY  does  not  notice  the  combination  eu,  and 
gives  no  English  word  in  which  it  occurs. 

1568.  SMITH  says  :  "  Et  Eu  diphthongum  Grsecam  habent  Angti, 
sed  rarius,  quae  tamen  apud  Gallos  est  frequens :  (feu)  pauci,  (den) 
ros,  (meu)  vox  catorum,  (sheu)  monstrare,  (streu)  spargere."     And 
in  his  Greek  pronunciation  he  adds,  "  eu,  vt  eu,  efrye,  euge.     Angli 
pauci  few,  <f>ev,  ros.  dew,  SeO.    TJV  sonamus  apertius,  vt  ILlud  GralLi- 
cum  beau,  quod  multi  Angli  leu :  sonum  etiam  feh'um  quidam  mew, 
alii  meau,  quasi  fjiev,  fAfjv  exprimunt." 

Observe  that  mew  for  hawks  had  the  sound  of  long  u. 

1569.  HART,  as  shewn  by  the  citation  on  p.  132,  distin- 
guishes mew  (mieu),  ewe  (jeu),  you  (juu). 

1580.  BULLOKAR  recognized  the  diphthong  (eu)  distinctly 
by  writing  the  word  hew  thus :  he,u,  the  comma,  which  he 
wrote  under  the  u,  meaning  that  it  had  the  sound  of  (u). 
In  his  list  of  synonymous  signs  he  gives  e,v  e,u  ew  (where 
the  comma  should  be  subscribed  to  the  v,  u)  as  identical,  and 
I  find  the  word  Hewed  meaning  (sheu'ed). 

retrouve   en  Guyenne."      These  last  (ib.  p.  138) :  "  Bien  de  plus  vague,  de 

examples  point  to  a  remnant  of  an  (ej)  plus  indetermine,  que  la  prononciation 

diphthong,  which  is  a  real  natural  diph-  de,  u,  eu,  o,  ou  au  moyen  age  et  encore 

thong,  and  was  distinctly  pronounced  au  xve  siecle.     Nous  ne  pouvons  mieux 

to  me  every  morning  at  Norwich  by  a  faire,  au  lieu  de  donner  d'  innombrables 

vender  of  fish  monotoning  under  iny  exemples  de  cette  confusion,   que  de 

windows,     (nej    bloo'tizs    ui)  =  new  renvoyer    au    Traits    de    Versification 

bloaters  here !    The  real  mutations  of  franqoise  de  M.  Quicherat  pp.  354-359. 

the  Latin  0,  besides  its  natural  change  Cf.   Observations  etc.  de  Menage,  t.  i, 

into  (uu),  were  however  two,  closely  re-  p.  291,  324,  481.    Glossaire  picard  par 

lated,  first  (oe)  falling  into  (ue),  and  1'abbe  Corblet,  p.  131.     Sur  la  confu- 

secondly  (eo)  falling  into  (eu).      The  sion  de  eu  et  ou  en  particulier,  Cf. 

form  (ue)  appears  in  very  early  Fiench,  Quicherat,  ouv.  cit.p.  364-365." 

where  it  was  probably  soon    discon-  1  Eamus  (Livet  p.  207)  makes  the 

turned,  since  (ue)  was  also  used  as  a  combination  eau  a  diphthong,  the  first 

mutation  of  Latin  e,  but  it  remains  the  element    being    his    mute  e  and  the 

regular  Spanish  mutation.    The  second  second  his  simple  vowel  au.     The  dif- 

fonn   (eo,   eu)  gradually  prevailed  in  ference  of  Meigret' s  sound  and  his  may 

French,  and  became  replaced  by  (ce)  have  been  very  slight  (eao,  •BOO),  but 

apparently  just  about  the  time  that  the  latter  prevailed.     Beza  (ib.  p.  523) 

Meigret  wrote,  so  that  he  retained  an  analyses  in  the  same  way  as  Eamus. 

old  (eu)  or  (<?y)  pronunciation  (it  is  not  These  analyses  at  least  shew  the  ex- 

quite  clear  which)  and  his  more  youth-  istence  of  an  old  e  sound  at  the  com- 

ful  opponents  ignored  the  old  sound  mencement,  and  hence  account  for  the 

altogether.     The  subject  requires  much  English  translation  of  the  combination 

careful  investigation.    Livet  observes  into  the  familiar  diphthong  (eu). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  EU  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  139 

1621.  GILL,  in  his  anxiety  to  give  prominence  to  the  first 
element,  lengthens  it,  thus :  "  E.  saepius  praecedit  u,  vt,  in 
(eeu)  EAWE  ovicula,  (feeu)  FEWE  pauci,  (seeu'er)  SEWER 
dapifer." 

1633.  BUTLER  distinctly  recognizes  (eu)  in  dew,  ewe,  few, 
hew,  shew,  rew,  sew,  strew,  shew,  shrew,  pewter,  see  under  U. 

It  will  be  seen  in  the  next  chapter  that  Chaucer  distin- 
guished the  two  sounds  of  eu  by  an  etymological  rule,  the 
sound  (eu)  being  reserved  for  those  which  were  not  of  French 
origin.  This  distinction  was  lost  during  the  xv  th  century, 
so  that  in  the  xvi  th  no  general  rule  can  be  given,  but  each 
word  must  rest  on  its  own  independent  authority.  For  lists 
of  such  words  see  Chapter  IV,  §  2,  under  EU. 

EU  —  xvn  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WAJLLIS,  says :  "  Eu,  ew,  eau  sonantur  per  <*  clarum  et  w, 
(eu).  Tit  in  neuter  neutralis,  few  pauci,  beauty  pulchritude.  Q,ui- 
dam  tamen  paulo  acutius  efferunt  acsi  scriberenter,  niewter,  fiew, 
biewty,  vel  niwter,  fiw,  biwty  ;  prsesertim  in  vocibus  new  novus,  knew 
sciebam,  snew  ningebat.  At  prior  pronunciatio  rectior  est." 

That  is  Wallis  had  heard  some  persons  say  (nieu'ter,  fieu, 
bieu't^)  although  many,  perhaps  most,  at  that  time  said  dis- 
tinctly (niu'ter,  fiu,  biirti)  and  he  found  this  pronunciation 
particularly  prevalent  in  new,  which  in  the  next  century 
Franklin  called  (nuu)  and  which  is  still  frequently  so  called.1 
The  sound  (eu)  was  undoubtedly  beginning  to  be  unfrequent. 
The  sound  (iu)  however  cropped  up  chiefly  in  those  words 
previously  pronounced  as  long  u. 

1668.  WILKINS  acknowledges  (eu)  in  hew,  and  PRICE  in 
the  same  year  allows  (eu),  that  is,  says  "  ew  keeps  its  sound" 
in  breivess,  few,  lewd,  ewe,  feud,  neuter,  pleurisie,  but  gives 
(iu),  that  is,  says  "  ew  hath  now  obtained  the  sound  of  iw"  in 
blew,  breiv,  chew,  crew,  drew,  embrew,  eschew,  hew,  gewgaws, 
knew,  setver,2  slew,  stew,  steivard,  vinew,3  monsieur,  adieu,  lieu. 

1685.  COOPER  hears  only  (m),  the  same  sound  as  long  u. 
The  diphthong  is  in  America  more  frequently  (m)  than  (iu), 
and  even  (eu)  remains  there  in  some  parts. 

1701.  JONES  seems  still  to  have  a  lingering  feeling  of  the 
difference  between  (eu)  and  (iu).  He  asks  when  may  the 
sound  of  eu  be  written  eu  ?  and  answers  :  "In  the  beginning 

1  In  1849  the  present  writer  pub-  news  vender,  "we  always  call  it  (nuuz)." 
lished  a  newspaper  called  the  Phonetic  2  Probably  in  the  sense  of  a  waiter 

News,  printed  phonetically,  and  there-  at  table, 
fore  bearing  the  title  (Fonet*e'k  Niuz).  3  Probably,  venue. 

"  Why  do  you  write  (niuz)  ?"  asked  a 


140  EU  —  XVII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

of  all  words,  except  ew,  ewer,  Ewin"  and  "in  all  foreign  words 
from  the  Latine,  Greek  &c  as  adieu,  beuf,  cavallieur,  Deucalion, 
Deuteronomy,  feumet,  geuls,  grandeur,  lieu,  Meuse,  Monsieur, 
neuter,  pardieu,  pleurisy,  purlieu,  Reuben,  rheubarb,  rheum, 
Theudas,  Zeurin  fyc  except  mew."  And  lie  allows  the  same 
sound  to  be  written  ew  "in  all  English  words  as  crewet,  dew, 
pewter  &c."  But  he  never  asks,  when  may  the  sound  of  eu 
be  written  u  ?  On  the  other  hand  he  does  ask  when  may 
the  sound  of  u  be  written  eu  or  ew  ?  And  he  answers,  the 
first  "  when  it  may  be  sounded  eu  in  foraign  words,  as  neuter 
&c,"  referring  to  the  list  just  given,  and  thus  clearly  dis- 
tinguishing the  two  sounds  (eu)  and  (iu) ;  and  the  second 
"  when  it  may  be  sounded  ew  in  English  words,  that  are 
purely1  such,  as  in  askew,  crewel,  dewberries,  eschew,  ewer,  gew- 
gaws, Hewet,  jewel,  nephew,  pewet,  sinew,  vinew,  and  in  blew, 
chew,  clew,  crew,  Crew,  drew,  few,  flew,  Grew,  grew,  Jew,  knew, 
mew,  new,  screw,  shew,  skew,  slew,  spew,  stew,  steivs,  strew,  threw" 
Jones  says  that  the  sound  of  o  and  ou,  evidently  meaning 
(oo,  oou),  is  written  ew  when  it  may  be  sounded  ew  as  in  chew, 
eschew,  shew,  shrew,  shrewd,  Shrewsbury,  pronounced  "  cho, 
shrode,  Shrosbury  &c."  (Shoo,  Shr06>z'ber«)  are  the  only 
sounds  here  remaining.  But  that  (shroo)  must  have  been 
known  in  Shakspere's  time  appears  from  the  last  couplet  of 
Taming  of  the  Shrew,  fo.  1623,  the  preceding  14  lines  being 
in  rhyming  couplets : 

Horten.  Now  goe  thy  wayes,  thou  hast  tam'd  a  curst  Shrow. 

Luc.        Tis  a  wonder,  by  your  leaue,  she  wil  be  tam'd  so. 

Ewe  has  still  a  provincial  pronunciation  (soo,  JAA). 

Eau  as  is  seen  by  the  quotation  from  Wallis,  follows  the 
fortune  of  eu.  Wallis  has  (beu't^)  admitting  that  some  say 
(bieu'te).  Miege  has  (biu'te).  Jones  says  that  beau  is 
"  sounded  beu  in  the  beginning  of  all  words,"  referring  to 
e-ea,  which  shews  that  he  considers  ea  in  eau  to  be  the  digraph 
ea,  that  is,  a  mere  representative  of  (ee),  and  satisfactorily 
determines  his  pronunciation.  Even  the  word  "  Beaw  a 
name"  he  writes  beu.  But  he  never  allows  the  sound  to  be 
long  u,  that  is,  (iu).  On  the  other  hand  he  also  says  the 
sound  of  long  o  is  written  eau  "  in  the  sound  of  beau  in  the 
beginning  of  all  words,"  which  should  imply  that  (boo*U')  was 
heard  as  well  as  (beu't^).  He  also  says  that  Bourdeaux  is 
"  sounded  Boordo"  (Buurdoo). 

The  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  some  speakers  still  said 
(eu)  and  Jon^s  recognized  it  as  an  admissible  and  theo- 

1  The  following  list  -Would  imply  that  Dr.  Jones  did  not  know  much  of 
etymology. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.      EU  — XVIII  TH.        AU XVI  TH   CENTURY.        141 

retically  the  best  sound,  but  that  he  frequently  heard 
and  admitted  without  any  word  of  blame,  the  newer 
sound  of  (iu). 

EU  —  xvin  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPEET  ORTHOGRAPHIST  says:  "it  must  be  a  very 
critical  ear,  that  can  distinguish  the  sound  of  eu  in  eucharist  from  the 
long  u  in  unity,  and  the  eu  in  rheubarh  from  the  long  u  in  rumour, 
without  an  apparent  and  too  affected  constraint,  contrary  to  the 
usual  pronunciation  observed  by  the  generality,  which  (in  this  case) 
would  sound  very  pedantick." 

Here,  the  confusion  of  thought  and  consequent  nebulosity 
of  expression,  which  makes  it  difficult  for  an  ear  to  dis- 
tinguish sounds  without  a  constraint  which  would  sound 
pedantick,  and  which  is  contrary  to  the  general  pronunciation, 
is  a  good  example  of  the  darkness  in  which  we  have  to  grope 
for  our  results.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  writer  did  not 
distinguish  eu  as  (eu)  from  u  as  (iu),  and  found  the  utterance 
of  those  who  still  attempted  to  do  so,  affected  and  constrained. 
But  did  he  pronounce  all  his  32  words  having  ew  final,  with 
(iu),  including  "  seiv  or  did  sow  with  a  needle,  sewer  a  drain, 
shew  or  did  show"  ?  This  is  more  than  doubtful,  and  the 
distinctions  here  made  between  present  sotv,  shoiv,  past  sew, 
sheiv,  are  entirely  without  corroboration. 

1766.  BUCHANAN  generally  makes  eu,  ew  =  long  u  or  (iu), 
but  writes  sewer  (shoor),  shew  (shoo)  sew  (soo).  His  ewet 
monsieur,  lieutenant  are  (iu,  monsiur,  liutenint),  chew  (tshuu), 
beauty  (biu't^),  beau,  beaux  (boo,  booz). 

1768.  FRANKLIN  writes  (nuu)  for  new. 

The  usages  of  the  xvin  th  century  did  not  therefore  sensi- 
bly differ  from  those  of  the  xix  th.  But  to  shew  how  (eu) 
still  lingers,  it  is  enough  to  cite  the  pronunciation  (sh^u), 
clearly  a  variety  of  (sheu),  heard  from  a  highly  educated 
speaker,  during  the  preparation  of  these  pages. 

AU  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY. 

1530.  PALSGEAVE  says:  "Av  in  the  frenche  tonge  shalbe  sounded 
lyke  as  we  sounded  lyke  as  we  sounde  hym  in  these  wordes  in  our 
tonge,  a  dawe,  a  mawe,  an  hawe.  Except  where  a  frenche  worde 
begynneth  with  this  diphthong  av,  as  in  these  wordes,  avlcun, 
dvltre,  av,  avssi,  avx,  and  auctevr,  and  all  suche  lyke  :  in  whiche 
they  sounde  the  a,  almost  lyke  an  o,  and  as  for  in  a'vner,  a  and  v  be 
distinct  syllables,  as  shal  appere  by  his  writtyng  in  the  frewche 
vocabular." 

Now  Meigret  says:   "vn'  aotr'  En  ao,  come  aotant,  aos,  loyaos : 


142  AU  — XVI  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

pour  laqElle  1'ecritture  Prang OEZ'  abuze  de  la  diphthowge  au,  qe  la 
pronongiagion  ne  conost  point.  Car  com'  aotrefoEs  je  YOUS  ey  dit, 
la  diphthong'  Et  de  tElle  nature  q'slle  requiert  la  prolagion  En  vne 
mE'me  syllabe  dE5  deu'  voyElles  qi  la  compozet :  come  nou'  le 
fE'zons  communemEnt :  E  einsi  obsErve  1'Ecritture,  EU  moindre, 
peindre  :  E'  qels  nou'  pronongons  IE'  diphthonges  oi,  E  ei,  En  vne 
mE'me  syllabe.  E  pourtawt  sont  abuzes  tous  geus  qi  se  persuadet  qe 
deu'  voyEllEs  conioinctes  EnsEmble,  caozet  vn  tiers  son,  qi  ne  tient 
ne  de  1'une,  ne  de  1'aotre  :  come  qant  vous  ecriuez  mais,  pour  mE's, 
il  dizet  qe  a,  E,  i,  conjoins  EnsEmble,  forjet  la  prolagion  de  E, 
ouvErt:  suyuawt  leur  rEgle  donq  ie  direy  qe  ayant,  aora  En  sa 
pronongiagion  Eant ;  payant,  paye,  pEant,  pEe,  je  direy  le  sewblable 
de  toutes  aotres  diphthowges  qe  vou'  pronowgez  com'  Elles  sont 
ecrittes,  q'slles  doEuet  fE'r'  vn  son  tiers,  aotre  qe  geluy  dEJ  deu' 
voyelles  cowiointes  EnsEmble  :  E  qe  conseqEmmEnt  vous  ecriuez  mal 
moifts,  eureus,  eaje  (on  dit  bien  aosi  aje,  E  Et  la  diphthonge  ea, 
bien  rar'  En  FrangoEs)  vu  qe  vou'  pronongez  IE  mE'mes  voyElles  qi 
sont  ecrittes,  E  q'slles  ne  forjet  point  la  vn  tiers  son.  Yoyez  dowqes 
q'slle  opiniatrete  d'abus  caoz'  vn  Eireur  inuetere :  tant  Et  diffi'giT  a 
1'home  la  reconoEssange  d'une  faote  pour  vne  par  trop  grand'  estim' 
E  prezompsion  de  sa  suffizange  cowioint'  a  vne  meconoEssange  de  1'im- 
bEgilite,  E  imperfecgiow  de  notr'  EntEndemEnt:  Ao  regard  d'aou 
par  ou  clos  je  ne  1'ey  point  decouuErt,  q'ao  mot  aout,  qe  vous 
ecriuez  Aoust,  etant  s,  supErnue." 

This  long  quotation  will  serve  to  shew  that  Meigret's 
diphthongs  must  be  accepted  as  such,  with  the  exception 
of  ou,  of  which  he  says  "  aotrement  ne  1'oze  je  noter,"  and 
which  was  the  vowel  (u)  simply.  Hence  as  Meigret  only 
heard  (au)  in  the  one  word  aout,  now  (mi),  and  heard  (ao)  in 
all  other  words,  either  the  English  must  have  been  (ao),  or, 
if  it  were  (au),  Palsgrave  misheard  the  unfamiliar  (ao)  as  the 
familiar  (au).  The  latter  is  d  priori  more  probable  and  agrees 
with  all  the  other  indications  we  possess.1 

1  G.  des  Autels  was  very  vehement  p.  133).    It  is  evident  then  that  Mei- 

against  Meigret  for  using  the  diph-  gret  used  and  was  familiar  with  (a"o). 

thong  (ao).     "Je  luy  demande,"  says  Livet  (ib.  p.    122)    remarks:    "il  est 

he  according  to  p.  130  of  Livet,  "ou  certain  qu'en  Anjou  Ton  prononce  de 

est  le  son,  non  entier,  mais  demy  ou  la  chaox,  j'ai  chaod,  chevaox,  en  appuy- 

encore  moins,  de  I' a  en  la  diphthongue  ant  sur  Ya  et  glissant  legerement  sur 

de   sa  nouvelle   forge  ao  ?"      To  the  I'o  qui  ne  s'entend  guere  plus  qu'un  e 

hJirst  objection  he  had  raised  Meigret  muet;"  but  this  must  be  a  recent  de- 

biefl^  replied :  "si  vous  n'avez  le  cerveau  yelopment,  the  unstable  (ao)  becoming 

verez'l  trouble  d'opionastrete,  vous  trou-  in  this  case  (ao),  while  in  the  classical 

ao    ie^riiu'en  introduisant  la  diphthongue  French  it  must  have  passed  through  an 

la'prononci.^8  qu'accorder  1'ecriture  a  (ao)  form.     That  the  a  was  originally 

the  above  qu%^onj"  (ib-  P-  122),  and  to  pronounced  there  can  of  course  be  ety- 

plus  opiniatre  i§^on  ne  answered :  "  le  mologically  no  doubt,  and  the  change 

saurait  nier  qu'il  n""4aud  du  monde  ne  of  (ao)  to  (oo)  is  precisely  similar  to 

aosi  (aussi)  un  a  puis  ufiYe  (entende)  en  the  change  of  (au)  into  (AA),  which  will 

conjoint  en  une  meme  s}  °  3™  M  est  be  seen  to  have  taken  place  in  English. 

vllabe,     (ib.  In  Welsh  we  find  Salesbury  s  aw  be- 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  AU  XVI TH   CENTURY.  143 

Palsgrave,  speaking  of  French  pronunciation,  says  : 

"If  m  or  n  folowe  next  after  a,  in  a  frenche  worde,  all  in  one 
syllable,  than  a  shall  be  sounded  lyke  this  diphthong  av,  and  some- 
thyng  in  the  noose,  as  these  wordes  timbre,  chdmbre,  mander,  amdnt, 
tant,  quant,  parldnt,  regardant,  shall  in  redynge  and  spekynge  be 
sownded  aumber,  chaumbre,  maunder,  amaunt,  taunt,  quaunt,  parlaunt, 
r  eg  ar  daunt,  soundyng  the  a  like  au,  and  somethynge  in  the  noose." 

Of  this  there  is  no  trace  in  Meigret,  but  the  observation  is 
important  as  explaining  the  English  pronunciation  of  words 
from  the  French,  and  the  nasalisation  of  aim  is  remarkable 
when  compared  with  Jacob  Grimm's  observation  that  modern 
English  au,  which  =  (AA),  is  pronounced  "  as  a  lengthened  a, 
something  in  the  nose"  (wie  gedehntes  a,  ein  wenig  genaselt).1 

1547.  SALESBURY  has  no  special  article  on  au,  but  he  says : 

uw  English  &  w  Welsh  do  not  differ  in  sound,  as  WAWE,  waw 

unda, Also  w  is  mute  at  the  end  of  words  in  English,  as  in 

the  following  AWE pronounced  thus  a  (aa)  terror."  Also  he 

says  that  "sometimes  a  has  the  sound  of  the  diphthong  aw  (au) 
especially  when  it  precedes  I  or  II,  as  may  be  more  clearly  seen  in 
these  words  BALDE,  bawld  (bauld)  calvus,  BALL,  bawl  (baul)  pila, 
WALL,  wawl  (waul)  murus."  An'd  he  writes  UGALATJKT,  galawnt 
(galaunt)." 

The  word  (aa)  for  (aau)  awe  is  here  singular,  especially  as 
it  is  adduced  as  an  instance  of  the  omitted  (u).  Smith  pro- 
nounces this  word  (au)  and  Gill  (AAU).  Salesbury  is  also  incon- 
sistent with  himself,  for  in  his  Welsh  pronunciation  he  says  : 

"  All  thoughe  the  Germaynes  vse  vv  yet  in  some  wordes  sounde 
they  it  (to  my  hearing)  as  the  forther  u  were  a  vowel,  and  the 
latter  o  (sic)  consonant,  where  we  Britons  sounde  both  uu  wholy 
together  as  one  vowell,  wythout  anye  seuerall  distinction,  but 
beynge  alwayes  eyther  the  forther  or  the  latter  parte  of  a  dyph- 
thonge  in  Englyshe  on  thys  wyse :  wytli  aw,  and  in  Welshe  as  thus 
wyth  awen" 

coming  modern  o.     In  Italian  o  aperto  au  ne  differe  pas  sensiblement  de  la 

has  succeeded  frequently  to  Latin  au,  voyelle  o,"   to  which  he  adds:  "les 

and  so  on.    The  question  of  importance  Normands  la  prononcent  en  faisant  en- 

here  however  is,  when  did  the  change  tendre  distinctement  a,  o :  disant  a-o-tant 

take  place  ?    The  testimony  of  Pals-  pour  autant :  peut-etre  est-ce  la  vraie 

grave  to  (au)  and  Meigret  to  (ao),  and  et  ancienne    prononciation  comme  la 

the  objections  of  des  Autels  and  Pelle-  vraie  orthographe  de  cette  dipthongue" 

tier — who  says  to  Meigret  (ih.  p.  138)  — seem  to  shew  that  the  change  took 

"  il  t'  cut  autant  valu  mettre  un  o  place  in  the  first  half  of  the  xvi  th 

simple" — and  the  assertion  of  Eamus  century;  that  is,  that  about  this  time 

(ib.  p.  186)  that  it  is  "  le  son  que  nous  the  simple  vowel  (oo)  prevailed  over 

escripvons  par  deux  voyelles  A  et  u,  the  diphthong  (ao)   or  (au),  although 

comme  en  ces  mots :  aultres,  aultel,  ou  the  latter  did  not  absolutely  die  out. 
nous  prononcons  toutesfois  une  voyelle          l  Deutsche  Grammatik,  vol.   1,  3rd 

indivisible,"  together  with  the  dictum  ed.,  1840,  p.  394. 
of  Beza  (ib.  p.  520)  "la  diphthongue 


144  AU  XVITH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

It  would  seem  impossible  after  tlie  preceding  remark  to 
suppose  that  w  were  mute  in  aw.  Indeed  wyth  aw  seems  to 
be  rather  a  Welsh  phonetic  transcription  than  the  usual 
orthography,  in  which,  as  in  the  other  passage  quoted  above, 
we  should  expect  awe. 

1568.  SMITH  simply  gives  "  ATI  sen  av.  (Dau)  monedula,  (clau) 
ungriis  auium,  (rau)   crudus,  (naunt)  nihil,  (taunt)  doctus,  (laau) 
lex,   (mau)    stomachus,   (sau)   serra,    (au)   terror,   (launter)   risus, 
(faunt)1  pugnavit,  (strau)  stramen."     But  in  his  Greek  pronuncia- 
tion he  adds:   " av.  ev.  rjv.     Eandem  rationem  sequiwtur,  quam  in 
reliquis.     Nam  si  fuisset  apud  veteres  tanta  soni  commutatio,  pro- 
fecto    Grammaticorum   diligentia  non  hoc   tarn   insigne   discrimen 
prseteritum  reliquisset.     Itaque  sic  avBda)  loquimur,  vt  audio  nos- 
trates  vngue^,  claw,  &  scabere  claw.'1'1     So  that  his  au  was  cer- 
tainly (au). 

1569.  HAUT  says  :   "  The  Dutch"  that  is  the  Germans,  "  doe  vse 
also  au,  ei,  &  ie,  rightly  as  I  do  hereafter." 

Now  the  German  sounds  are,  and  probably  were,  (au,  ai, 
Jee)  or  (ii),  but  Hart  clearly  did  not  refer  to  this  last  sound. 
"When  then  Hart  writes  (autours,  auluaiz,  aulso,  tshaundzh, 
bikaus,  radikaul)  for  authors*  always,  also,  change,  because, 
radical,  he  meant  (au)  to  be  sounded  as  in  German. 

1580.  BULLOKAR  distinctly  writes  ha,u,  meaning  (nau), 
and  uses  (kaul,  kau's/)  for  caul,  causey  =  causeway.  His 
notation  a-V  am  ah  he  explains  as  =  (aul,  aum,  aun).^  ^This 
agrees  with  the  rest. 

Up  to  this  time  therefore,  when  Shakspere  was  16,  the 
pronunciation  of  au  seems  to  have  been  indisputably  (au) 
the  same  as  the  modern  German  au.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  Shakspere  in  his  youthful  days  must  have  said 
(au),  but  during  his  lifetime  the  general  pronunciation  seems 
to  have  changed.  Between  Bullokar's  and  Gill's  books,  41 
years  elapsed,  and  although  Gill  had  an  old  pronunciation, 
yet  he  seems  to  have  followed  the  times  somewhat  in  this 
combination.  In  determining  the  pronunciation  of  Shak- 
spere, we  must  remember  that  he  and  Dr.  Gill  were  born  in 
the  same  year,  1564,  and  that  Shakspere  died,  1616,  eight 
years  after  Gill  had  been  made  master  of  St.  Paul's  school, 
and  five  years  before  the  publication  of  Gill's  book.  Hence 
Gill's  pronunciation  is  the  best  authority  which  we  have  for 
Shakspere's,  and  certainty  gives  us  the  pronunciation  of 
Shakspere's  time.  It  is  therefore  singularly  vexatious  that 
we  cannot  make  out  a  very  clear  account  either  of  long  i, 
(p.  114,)  or  of  this  diphthong  au,  from  Gill. 

1  In  the  original  (fount),  which  is  clearly  a  misprint.  Possibly  (laau)  for 
(lau)  was  also  a  misprint. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  AU  XVI TH   CENTURY.  145 

1621.  GILL  says:  "  A,  est  tenuis,  aut  lata;  tenuis,  aut  breyis  est, 
vt  in  (taloou)  TALLOWE  sebum ;  aut  deducta,  ut  in  (taal)  TALE  fabula 
aut  computus :  lata,  vt  in  tdl  TALLE  procerus.  Hunc  sonuni  Uermani 
exprimunt  per  aa.  vt  in  metal  conuiuium,  Tiaar  coma :  nos  vnico 
charactere,  circumnexo  d,  contenti  erimus." 

This  ought  to  imply  that  a  in  tall  was  a  simple  vowel  and 
not  a  diphthong,1  and  'that  it  was  (aa,  adh)  or  (AA).  The 
Germans  perhaps  really  said  (aa)  or  at  most  (aah),  but  (AA) 
was  the  sound  which  appears  certainly  to  have  been  heard 
by  the  English  in  the  xvn  th  century.  But  Gill,  who  is  so 
particular  in  his  phonetics,  absolutely  confuses  the  diph- 
thong (au)  with  his  a,  in  the  following  curious  paragraph, 
where  I  leave  his  symbols  untranslated. 

"  A  praeponitur  <?,  ut  in  aerj  AEKIE  aereus.  o  nunquam;  sa3pius  t, 
et  u,  vt,  in  aid  auxilium  ;  bait  esca ;  laun  sindonis  species  ;  &  a  paun 
pignus  :  vbi  aduerte  au  nihil  differre  ab  d.  Eodem  enim  sono  pro- 
ferimus  a  bdl,  BALL  pila ;  et  tu  bdl,  BATTLE,  vociferari :  at  ubi  vere 
diphthongus  est,  a,  deducitur  in  d,  vt  au  AWE  imperium ;  auger 
terebra." 

Here  he  admits  that  au  in  his  own  phonetic  writing  is 
sometimes  the  sound  which  he  represents  as  a  simple  vowel, 
his  "  broad  d"  and  sometimes  "  truly  a  diphthong,"  but  then 
becomes  au  or  d  +  u.  I  feel  therefore  bound  to  take  his 
au  as  =  his  d  or  (AA),  and  his  au  as  =  (AAU).  In  this  point 
then  Gill  must  have  given  in  to  the  xvn  th  century  pronun- 
ciation. The  pronunciation  (AAU)  is  not  recognised  by 
others.  In  Gill's  first  edition,  1619,  he  uses  au  instead  of  d, 
for  (AA)  and  in  the  case  of  "the  true  diphthong"  to  make 
the  u  apparent,  he  considers  the  u  and  not  the  a  to  be 
lengthened.  The  meaning  is  evidently  the  same. 

1633.  BUTLER  is  still  less  explicit,  for  after  saying  that 
"the  right  sound  is  a  mixed  sound  of  two  vowels  whereof 
they  (diphthongs)  are  made,"  and  referring  to  the  Greek, 
he  merely  tells  us  that  "  au  in  Paul's  and  his  compounds, 
Pauls- cross,  Pauls-eyre-yard,2  the  Londoners  pronounce  after 
the  French  manner,  as  ow." 

We  are  therefore  driven  to  Ben  Jonson's  grammar  1640, 
which  was  not  published  till  two  years  after  his  death,  and 
which  has  probably  been  tampered  with.  Jonson  was  born 
in  1574,  ten  years  after  Gill  and  Shakspere,  and  his  pro- 

1  But  that  it  does  not  necessarily  do  with  his  admitting  it  afterwards  to  be 

so,   appears  from   his   calling  long  e,  "fere  diphthongus  aw,"  and,  as  it  will 

which  was  "fere  diphthongus  ei"   the  be  seen,   he    almost  uses  these    yery 

"thick  t,"  or  "*  crassa."     So  that  his  words. 

assertion  that  a  in  tall  is  "  a  lata"  or  2   The   Greek   e  here    represents   a 

"broad  #"  would  not  be  inconsistent  crossed  c,  much  resembling  it  in  form. 

10 


146  AU  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

nunciation  at  best  belongs  to  the  very  edge  of  the  xvith 
century.     He  says, 

when  a  "  comes  before  I.  in  the  end  of  a  Syllabe,  it  obtaineth  the 
full  French  sound,  and  is  utter' d  with  the  mouth  and  throat  wide 
open'd,  the  tongue  bent  backe  from  the  teeth,  as  in  al.  smal.  gal. 
fal.  tal.  cal.  So  in  Syllabes,  where  a  Consonant  followeth  the  I,  as 
in.  salt.  malt,  balme.  calme." 

Bullokar  writes  (baTm  kaTm  =  baul'm  kaul'm)  for  balm, 
calm.     Salesbury  gives  calme,  call  in  his  Welsh  pronuncia- 
tion, as  words  in  which  "  a  is  thought  to  decline  toward  the 
sound  of  the  diphthong  au,  and  the  wordes  to  be  read  in 
thys  wyse  caul,  caulme."     Gill  gives  balm  as  (bAAm)  accord- 
ing to  our  present  interpretation  of  his  d  =  au.     Ben  Jon- 
son's  explanation  of  his  a  before  I  will  really  apply  better 
to  (aa)  than   to  (AA),  because  he  omits  all  mention  of  labial 
action,  but  I  suspect  that  (AA)  was  fully  developed  in  England 
at  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  and  that  he  intended  to  indicate 
its  sound,  but  had  not  noticed  its  labial  character.     It  is 
worthy   of   remark  however  that  Jonson's   account   of  this 
sound  is  almost  translated  from  the  description   of  Latin  A 
in  Terentianus  Maurus  whom  he  cites  in  a  note  : 
A,  prima  locum  littera  sic  ab  ore  sumit, 
Immunia,  rictu  patulo,  tenere  labra ; 
Linguamqwe  necesse  est  ita  pandulam  reduci, 
Ut  nisus  in  illam  valeat  subire  vocis, 
Nee  partibus  ullis  aliquos  ferire  denies. 

and  this  renders  his  description  altogether  suspicious,  as  if 
it  were  the  result  of  learning,  not  of  observation. 

The  result  is  that  in  the  earlier  part  and  middle  of  the 
xvi  th  century  and  at  least  to  1580  the  sound  of  au  was 
(au)  or  (aau)  ;  that  at  the  close  it  may  have  passed 
into  (aa)  ready  to  fall  positively  into  (AA)  in  the  next 
century.  The  modern  contest  between  (aa)  and  (AA) 
in  such  words  as  gaunt ,  haunt ,  jaunt  =  (gaant,  naant, 
dzhaant)  or  (gAAnt,  HAAnt,  dzhAAnt),  while  aunt  has 
remained  (aant), — seems  to  point  to  a  time  of  (aa)  or 
(aa}  before  (AA)  was  evolved.  In  giving  the  pronun- 
ciation of  Shakspere,  however,  having  regard  to  the 
archaic  habits  of  the  stage,  I  think  it  will  be  more  cor- 
rect to  write  the  full  diphthong  (au),  see  Chapter  VIII. 
§  8.  The  change  of  (a)  by  the  action  of  (u)  would 
naturally  be  to  the  round  form  (o),  for  which  in  French, 
the  narrower  form  (o)  has  prevailed.  But  if  the  (a)  fell 
first  into  (a),  the  (u)  would  labialize  it  into  (o),  for 
which  the  narrower  form  (A)  is  frequently  substituted. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  AU  XVII TH    CENTURY.  147 

The  distinction  between  primary,  or  narrow,  and  wide 
forms,  is  seldom  upheld  in  its  purity,  and  the  sound 
varies  frequently,  unnoticed,  from  narrow  to  wide  in 
different  individuals,  who  believe  themselves  to  be 
speaking  alike. 

AU  —  xvii  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WALLIS  says:  " Au  vel  aw,  recte  pronunciatum,  sonum 
exhiberet  compositum  ex  Anglorum  d  brevi  et  w,  (seu).  Sed  a 
plerisque  nunc  diernm  effertur  simpliciter  ut  Germanorum  d  pingue 
(AA)  ;  sono  nempe  literae  d  dilatato,  et  sono  litterae  w  prorsus  sup- 
presso.  Eodem  nempe  sono  efferunt  all  omnes,  awl  subula;  cdll 
voco,  caulr  cawl,  omentum,  vel  etiam  tiara  muliebris." 

This  is  just  the  conclusion  that  Dr.  Gill  had  arrived  at, 
but  he  does  not  acknowledge  the  pair,  fall  folly,  of  "Wallis  = 

(fAAl   fAli). 

1668.  WILKINS  entirely  agrees  with  Wallis.     PRICE  only 

says  that  "  aw  soundes  broader  then  au  as  dawb,  haunt/'  the 

meaning  of  which  is  not  clear. 

1685.  COOPER,  as  usual,  is  rather  peculiar.     He  says  : 
"A  in  can,  cast,  cum  u  coalescens  (sen)  .  .  .  nunquam  occurrit  in 

nostra  lingua.    Lance  hasta,  lancet  scalprum  chirurgicum,  a  lanceola ; 

lanch  navem  solvere  a  G.  lancer,  Jaculari,    Ganch  in  sudes  acutas 

Eraecipitem  dare,  hant  a  G.  kanter  frequento;  hanch  a  G.  hanche 
3mur;  Gant,  macer  quasi  want  ab  A.S.  wana  carens,  gantlet  chi- 
rotheca  ferrea,  landress  a  lavando,  nullo  modo  scribi  debent  cum  u ; 
contra  enim  suadent  sonus  et  derivatio  j1  falso  itaqw0  seribuntur 
launce  &c.  Q,tia3dam  vocabula  a  latinis  praecipue  derivata  scribimus 
per  au  pronunciamus  prout  au  vel  a  (AA)  audacious  audax  ;  maunder 

murmurare ;  a  G.  maudire  maledicere 0  in  loss,  lost  con- 

junctus  cum  u  semper  scribimus  per  au  (AU),  ut  audible  audibilis, 
audience  audientia ;  audit-or-y  auditorium,  augment  augeo,  augury 
augurium,  august  augustus,  auricular  auricularis,  austerity  austeritas, 
authenticity  authenticus,  authority  authoritas,  cautious  cautus,  fraudu- 
lent dolosus,  laudable  laudabilis,  laurel  laurus,  plausible  plausibilis, 
negligenter  loquentes  pronunciant  prout  ot  (AA)  ;  in  caeteris  vocibus 
au  &  aw  semper  prout  a  (AA)  pronunciamus." 

This  fancy  for  pronouncing  au  as  (AU)  or  (ou)  in  certain 
words,  seems  peculiar  to  Cooper  ;  it  may,  however,  have 
represented  one  of  the  transitional  stages  (au,  au,  AU,  AA)  or 
(au,  au,  a',  aa,  AA).  We  can  readily  conceive  that  the  sound 
had  passed  through  all  these  stages ;  the  (aa)  often  heard  at 

1  As  to  sound,  many  even  now  say  (m,  n)  when  they  represented  what  are 

(lAAntsh     lAAnsh,     HAAnt,      HAAntsh  now  the  French  nasals,  was  a  regular 

HAAnsh,  gAAnt-let,  lAAn-dres).     As  to  indication  of  their  origin,  see  supra  p. 

derivation,  the  insertion  of  (u)  before  143,  and  M,  N  below. 


148  ATI  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

present  in  haunt,  gaunt,  jaunt,  favours  the  notion  that  (ad) 
once  existed.  Cooper's  "  negligenter  loquentes"  refers  of 
course  to  the  general  pronunciation,  which  was  opposed  to 
his  ideas  of  correctness.  Whenever  an  orthoepist  talks  of  a 
"  careless"  pronunciation,  he  means  that  which  is  most  pre- 
valent, and  which  is  therefore  most  valuable  to  the  student 
of  changes,  while  his  "  careful"  pronunciation  is  that  of 
Dr.  Gill's  "  docti  interdum,"  seldom  or  never  heard  when 
speakers  are  thinking  of  the  meaning,  rather  than  the  sound, 
of  what  they  say. 

1686.  MIEGE  says:  "La  diphthonge  au  en  Anglois  se  prononce 
comme  notre  a  en  Francois,  Exemple,  Cause,  Author.  II  en  faut 
excepter  Aunoient,  &  ses  Derivatifs,  ou  la  Diphthongue  se  prononce 
comme  Va  simple  en  Anglais.  De  meme  en  est  il  des  mots  finissans 
en  aunt,  comme  aunt,  to  daunt,  qu'il  faut  prononcer  aint,  ton  daint. 
To  laugh,  se  prononce  laiff.  Paid  suit  la  Regie,  hormis  quand  on 
parle  de  1'  Eglise  Cathedrale  de  S.  Paul  a  Londres.  Alors  on 
1'  appelle  P6ls  ....  La  Dipththongue  aw  sonne  comme  un  a  long 
en  Frangois.  Exemple,  Law,  flaw  qu'il  faut  prononce  la,  na. 
Mais  il  se  prononce  bref,  dans  awry." 

The  difficulty  experienced  by  the  French  in  distinguishing 
(se)  from  (E),  and  (a)  or  (a)  from  (A)  has  been  noticed  on 
pp.  71-2.  The  preceding  indications  lead  me  to  suppose  that 
Miege  meant  to  express  the  sounds,  (kAAz,  AA'thar,  aen'shent 
aeaen'shent,  aeaent,  daeaent,  laeaef,  PAA!  Pooulz,  IAA  SAA).  The 
sound  of  ancient  is  doubtful.  The  use  of  (3933)  in  aunt,  daunt 
is  rather  a  thin  pronunciation  at  the  present  day,  which 
some  ladies  even  still  further  thin  to  (sent,  daent).  The 
sound  (Pooulz)  is  not  now  heard,  but  as  Chaucer  writes 
Powles,  and  as  Butler  gives  the  pronunciation  (Pooulz)  "  in 
the  French  manner,"  we  see  that  this  pronunciation  was 
very  old,  and  was  probably  confined  to  this  single  word. 

1701.  JONES  simply  identifies  a,  au,  aw  in  all,  Paul,  awl. 
But  he  gives  the  following  list  of 

words  in  au,  "  which  many  sound  as  with  an  o.  Auburn,  auction, 
audacious,  audible,  audience,  audit,  auditor,  auf  awf,  augment, 
augre,  August,  aumber,  aumelet,  aunt,  auspicious,  austere,  authen- 
tick,  author,  Autumn,  auxiliary,  because,  cautious,  centaury,  daunt, 
Dauphin,  debauch,  fault,  flaunt,  fraud,  herauld,  Henault,  jaundice, 
laudable,  maudlin,  maugre,  nauseous,  Pauls,  plausible,  restauration, 
sausage,  ribauldry,  vault." 

He  does  not  say  whether  the  o  is  long  (oo)  or  short  (o).  In 
sausage  we  now  use  (A),  and  frequently  in  because  (bikAz*, 
bikoz'),  but  auf  awf  is  now  written  oaf  (oof).  Dauphin  is 
frequently  pronounced  as  French  (Doofe\).  The  cases  in 
which  Jones  finds  al  written  for  au  will  be  considered  under 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.      AU XVIII  TH      OU XVI  TH   CENTURY.  149 

L  ;  and  those  in  which  au  is  written  as  a  written  before  M. 

N,  R  will  be  considered  under  those  letters. 

In  the  xvn  th  century,  then,  au  was  almost  universally 
pronounced  (A A),  but  there  were  a  few  exceptions,  so 
that  on  the  whole  the  rules  resembled  those  now  in  use, 

AU  —  xviii  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  take  the  sound  of  au 
for  granted,  and  must  have  pronounced  (AA).  The  following 
with  the  sound  of  (AA)  are  noteworthy,  sausage,  taunt,  vaunt, 
launcet,  launch. 

1766.  BUCHANAN  has  (AA)  in  daw,  maw,  awe,  vault,  daunt, 
fault,  taunt,  but  has  (sese)  in  aunt,  laugh,  where  Sheridan 
has  (ae). 

1768.  FRANKLIN  has  (!AZ)  meaning  probably  (!AAZ)  laws. 

The  usages  with  regard  to  au  seem  to  have  been  nearly 
the  same  in  the  xvm  th  century  as  in  the  xix  th  century,  but 
the  orthoepists  of  the  xvmth  ignore  the  sound  (aa)  alto- 
gether, and  consequently  do  not  notice  the  sounds  (aant, 
laaf),  which  are  now  extremely  prevalent,  and  probably  were 
frequently  heard  during  the  preceding  century.  Our  pre- 
sent orthoepists  reject  the  sounds  also. 

OU  —  xvi  TH  CENTURY. 

1530.  PALSGRAVE  says  :  "  Ov  in  the  frenche  tong  shalbe  sounded 
lyke  as  the  Italians  sounde  this  vowel  v,  or  they  with  vs  that 
sounde  the  latine  tong  aright,  that  is  to  say,  almost  as  we  sounde 
hym  in  these  wordes,  a  eowe,  a  mowe,  a  sowe,  as  ovltre,  sovda'yn, 
ovbk'er,  and  so  ofsuche  other." 

The  ou  in  French  is  called  "  ou  clos"  and  sometimes  "  o 
clos"  by  Meigret,  which  would  lead  to  suppose  it  rather  (uti) 
than  (u),  see  p,  131,  note.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
Italian  u,  which  was  certainly  (uu).  But  it  seems  from 
other  writers  that  this  pronunciation  of  (kuu,  muu,  suu), 
although  still  heard  in  the  North  of  England,  was  going  out. 
Palsgrave's  pronunciation  is  probably  of  the  xvth  century 
in  this  point.  We  shall  see  that  these  words  wei-e  so  pro- 
nounced in  the  xiv  th  century,  and  it  will  hence  be  most  con- 
venient to  defer  the  consideration  of  the  change  of  (uu)  into 
(ou)  to  the  next  chapter.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  ou 
was  universally  pronounced  as  (uu),  even  by  Palsgrave  and 
older  writers.  In  many  words,  ow  derived  from  ags.  aw,  was 
called  (oou) .  Palsgrave  says  in  another  place  : 

"  If  m  or  n  folio  we  next  after  o  in  a  frenche  worde  both  in  one 
syllable,  than  shall  the  o  be  sounded  almost  lyke  this  diphthonge 


150  OU  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

ov,  and  somethyng  in  the  noose  :  as  these  wordes  mon,  ton,  son, 
ren6m,  shalbe  sownded  movn,  tovn,  sown,  renovm  and  so  of  all  suche 
other,  and  in  like  wyse  shall  o  be  sownded  though  the  next  syllable 
folowynge  begynne  with  an  other  m  or  n,  as  in  these  wordes  hdme, 
sdmme,  bonne,  tone-rre,  whiche  they  souwde  houme,  fioune,  soumme, 
tounner,  and  so  of  suche  other." 

Meigret  knows  nothing  of  this,  but  the  effect  on  English 
ears  is  important  in  the  transference  of  French  words  to 
English,  where  on,  when,  at  present,  nasal,  became  oun, 
meaning  (uun),  which  afterwards,  as  we  shall  see,  fell  into 
(oun).  Thus  Hart  in  giving  the  pronunciation  of  the 
French  Lord's  prayer,  writes  (tun,  num,  volunte*,  kunran, 
dmre,  pardmran,  pardun'unz,  unt),  for,  ton,  nom,  volonte, 
comme,  donnez,  pardonne,  pardonnons,  ont. 

1547.  SALESBURY  gives  no  special  article  on  ou,  but  he  has 
the  following  words,  involving  this  combination,  which  may 
be  classified  as  follows, 
(oo)  BOWE,  lo  (boo)  arcus;    CEOWE  kro  (kroo)  cornix;    TEOWE  tro 

(troo)  opinor. 
(o)  HOITOUEE  onor  (on'or)  honos ;  —  probably  a  mistake  for  onwr 

(on'ur), 
(uu)  WOWE,  w  (uu)  petere  ut  procus ; — a  "Welshism  for  (wuu)  now 

written  woo. 
(u)  NAEEOWE,   narrw  (naru)  angustus;    SPAEOWE,   sparw  (sparu) 

passer ;  GEACYOUSE,  grasiws  (graa'si,us)  comis  ;  EMPEEOTJEE,  em- 

perwr  (enrperur)  imperator ;  DOUBLE,  dwbyl  (dub  •«'!),  see  also 

under  (on). 
(ou)  LOW  low  (Ion)  nragire ;   NOWE  now  (nou)  nunc ;  THOU  ddow 

(dhou) ;  DOUBLE  u  dowlyl  uw  (dou'bfll  yy),  see  also  under  (u). 
It  is  evident  that  "  the  (uuz)  have  it,"  but  the  (ouz)  are 
in  force.     Those  words  marked  (oo)  by  Salesbury  were  pro- 
bably (oou),  as  at  present,  but  the  (u)  was  possibly  faint  and 
disregarded. 

1555.  CHEKE  says:,  "foule,  boule,  houle  (f)ov\  /3ov\  6v\  ful  bul 
hul  latinuw  u  est.  naw  lumew  nuntij  acute  argute  Xtipev  vovvru 
a/cUrc  apyovre  sic  Gra?ce  transferuntur." 

Sinco  Mekerch  in  taking  the  passage  transfers  it  thus 
"moule  concha,  douken  pa^ni,  /*«X,  S«/e  mul  duk  u  Lati- 
num  est,"  and  we  know  that  in  the  old  Dutch  words1  cited 
ou  was  (ou)  or  (ou),  we  see  at  once  that  these  scholars  were 
led  away  by  ^Lheir  interpretation  of  the  Greek  ov  as  =  (ou), 
to  imagine  that  the  Latin  u  had  the  same  sound,  instead  of, 
conversely,  from  the  known  (uu)  sound  of  Latin  u  conclud- 
ing the  (uu)  sound  of  Greek  ov.  In  Cheke's  time  then  the 
English  "foule,  boule,  houle"  were  (foul,  boul,  noul). 

1  The  modern  forms  are  mouu\  moud,  molle,  (mou,  rnoud,  mol*e),  and  doek  (dunk). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OU  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  151 

1568.  SIR  T.  SMITH  fully  endorses  Cheke's  inference  that 
the  Latin  long  u  was  pronounced  as  he  pronounced  Greek 
ov,  that  is,  (ou) ,  saying  : 

"  OT  diphthongus  Grceca,  (ou)  et  cov,  (oou).  Ex  (o)  breui  &  (u), 
diphthongum  habebant  Latini,  quae  si  non  eadem,  vicinissima  cert& 
est  ov  Graecae  diphthongo,  &  proximo  accedit  ad  sonum  u  Latinae. 
Ita  quae  Latine  per  u  longum  scribebant,  Graeci  exprimebawt  per  ov. 
quae  per  u  breuem,  per  v,  quasi  sonos  vicinissimos.  At  ex  (oo) 
longa  &  (u)  diphthongus  apud  nos  frequews  est,  apud  Graecos  rara, 
nisi  apud  lonas :  apud  Latinos  haud  scio  an  fait  vnquam  in  vsu. 

(ou),  (bou)  flectere,  (boul)  sphaera,  (kould)  poteram,  (mou)  meta 

foeni,  (sou)  sus  faemina. 
cov.  (boou)  arcus,   (booul)  sinum  aut  scaphium,  (koould)  fngidus, 

(moou)  metere,  aut  irridere  os  distorquewdo,  (soou)  seminare, 

aut  suere."1 

And  again  in  his  Greek  pronunciation,  he  adds  :   "  ov  ab  omnibus 
recte  sonatur,  &  u  facit  Latinum  quando  producitur,  vt  aduertit 
Terentianus :   differt  cov  granditate  vocis,  vt  etiam  rjv  ab  ev  dis- 
tinguimus. 
ou.  boiv,  /3ov,  nectere.     a  hay  mow,  fj^ov,  foeni  congeries,  a  gowne, 

<yovv,  toga.     , 
cov.  a  bow,  /3cov,  arcus.     to  mow,  fjucov,  metere,  vel  os  torquere.  gow, 

ycov,  abeamus. 
v.     v  breue  Latinuw.      a  lull  taurus.     w  longum  vel  ov,  a  bowl, 

/3oOX,  globus.     cov,  a  loivle  ftcov\,  Sinum  ligneum,  vas  in  quo 

lac  seruatur,  vel  vnde  ruri  bibitur. 

Here  Smith  agrees  with  Salesbury  in  the  close  diphthong 
(ou),  but  distinguishes  an  (oou)  where  Salesbury  only  heard 
(oo)  as  in  bo  we,  arcus.  In  the  same  way  at  the  present  day, 
very  few  of  those  who  say  (boou)  acknowledge  the  final  (u), 
because  most  of  them  insert  it  in  no,  go,  etc.,  saying  (noou, 
goou)  for  (noo,  goo),  and  hence  consider  that  they  pronounce 
simple  (00)  in  both  cases.  Yery  few  would  say  (ei  noon  n00 
boou  soo  loou)  for  I  know  no  bow  so  low,  or  would  distinguish 
no  beau  as  (noo  boo)  from  know  botv  (noou  boou).  Smith  at 
the  same  time  absolutely  disagrees  with  Palsgrave  in  mow, 
sow,  saying  (mou,  sou)  where  the  latter  says  (muu,  suu).  It 
is  singular  that  this  difference,  to  which  we  shall  have  to 
allude  again  presently,  turns  upon  precisely  the  error  con- 

1  At  present  it  is  usual  to  distinguish  clothys  or  o}?er  sedys '  in  Promptorium, 

sow  seminare,  setv  suere,  which  would  4 1  sowe  with  a  nedell '  in  Palsgrave, 

lead  to  saying  (soou,   seu).     "We  find  while  Levins  gives  both  sewe  and  sowe 

for  sow  seminare   '  sowyw  corne,  or  any  for  suere,  and  does  not  appear  to  give 

o)>er   sedys'  in  the    Promptorium,   '  I  the  English  for  seminare  at  all.     Pro- 

sowe  corne,   or   any  other  seedes'  in  bably  Levins' s  sowe  should  have  heen 

Palsgrave  ;   and  for  sew  suere,   '  sowe  explained  ^eminare. 


152  OU  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

cerning  Greek  ov.  Although,  there  were  then  living  persons 
who  pronounced  (uu)  for  ou,  yet  Cheke  and  Smith  both  refer 
their  sound  (ou)  to  the  Greek  ov,  and  then  infer  the  mon- 
strous conclusion  that  the  Latins  pronounced  their  long  u  in 
the  same  way. 

1569.  HART,  in  the  passage  already  quoted,  p.  132,  writes 
foiverth,  (fouurth)  tower  (touuY),poure  ($Q\mic) ,  floiver  (flouur), 
marking  the  second  element  of  the  diphthong  as  long. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  in  prolonging  a  diphthong  the  second 
element  must  be  lengthened,  because  the  first  and  the  glide 
must  pass  in  the  usual  time  in  order  to  preserve  the  character 
of  the  diphthong.  As  however  the  lengthening  of  the 
second  element  is  accidental,  it  is  not  usually  marked  in 
palaeotype.  In  the  course  of  his  work,  however,  Hart  does 
not  mark  the  second  element  as  long ;  for  example  I  find, 
(nou,  sound).  Hart  also  leaves  out  the  (u)  occasionally  as 
(vo,elz,  knoon,  thoii't,  knoledzh,)  for  vowels,  known,  thought, 
knowledge.  Hart  also  writes  (dub'l)  for  double,  thus  agreeing 
with  one  of  Salesbury's  notations  for  this  word. 

1580.  BULLOKAR  in  writing  of  the  sounds  of  o  (supra 
p.  93)  says  that  the  third  sound  is  "  as,  v,  flat  and  short,  that 
is  to  say,  as  this  sillable  ou,  short  sounded."  Again,  under 
u  he  talks  of  one  of  the  vowel  sounds  of  u  being  "of  flat 
sound,  agreeing  to  the  olde  and  continued  sound  of  the  diph- 
thong :  ou  :  but  always  of  short  sounde."  This  he  distin- 
guishes by  writing  a  hook,  like  a  comma  below,  which  will 
be  here,  for  convenience,  printed  as  a  comma  before.  He 
then  identifies  in  his  notation  o,v  o,u  ,ow  ,oow  ,v  ,u  ,o  ,00, 
where  the  two  o's  are  united  into  one  sign  like  Greek  co, 
observing  "  that  no  diphthong  is  of  so  short  sounde  as  any 
short  vowell,  and  that  as  well  short  vowels,  as  diphthongs 
ending  a  sillable,  are  of  meane  time,  that  is,  betweene  short 
and  long,  their  time  before  shewed  notwithstanding."  The 
following  are  some  of  the  words  in  the  ordinary  spelling  in 
which  he  uses  these  notations  sum,  sound,  doubt,  other,  fully, 
some,  suck,  without,  precious,  youth,  good,  much,  under,  colour, 
unwilling,  comfort,  double,  wivels,  come,  but,  word,  our.  With 
the  exception  of  sound,  doubt,  without,  vowels,  our,  which 
have  now  (au)  and  youth  which  has  (uu),  all  the  above  words 
have  now  (a),  and  it  will  be  shewn  under  U  that  we  may  infer 
an  elder  (u)  or  (u)  from  a  modern  (o).  There  is  therefore 
no  doubt  that  Bullokar  pronounced  ou  as  (u)  at  times ;  at 
other  times  I  think  it  must  have  been  (uu),  for  he  would  not 
have  used  the  phrase  "  ou  short  sounded"  unless  there  had 
been  an  "ou  long  sounded."  Thus  it  is  probable  that  the  word 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OU  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  153 

vowels  was  called  by  him  (vuu'elz)  rather  than  (virelz).  We 
have  here  then  a  direct  confirmation  of  Palsgrave  and  con- 
tradiction to  Smith.  Thus  bow  flectere  ==  (bou)  in  Smith, 
and  (buu)  in  Bullokar,  both  giving  bow  arcus  as  (boou). 
We  are  reminded  here  of  the  distinction  between  the  Eng- 
lish (bau)  and  the  Scotch  (buu).  Again  bowl  sinum  is  (booul) 
in  Salisbury,  Smith,  Bullokar ;  but  bowl  sphaera,  is  (boul)  in 
Smith  and  (buul)  in  Bullokar.  The  celebrated  bowling 
greens  at  Nottingham  are  commonly  called  (beu'Kq)  or 
(bou'b'q  griinz)  to  this  day.  Walker  says  on  the  word  bowl 
sphaera,  which  he  calls  (bool)  meaning  (b<90ul) : 

"Many  respectable  speakers  pronounce  this  word  so  as  to  rhyme 
with  howl  (saul)  the  noise  made  by  a  dog.  Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Elphin- 
stone  and  Mr.  Perry  declare  for  it;  but  Mr.  Sheridan,  Mr.  Scott, 
Dr.  Kenrick  and  Mr.  Smith,  pronounce  it  as  the  vessel  to  hold 
liquor,  rhyming  with  hole  (bool,  booul).  I  remember  having  been 
corrected  by  Mr.  Garrick  for  pronouncing  it  like  howlj  and  am 
upon  the  whole  of  opinion,  that  pronouncing  it  as  I  have  marked 
it,  (bool),  is  the  preferable  mode,  though  the  least  analogical." 

Walker  derived  his  knowledge  entirely  from  observing 
the  spelling  and  custom  of  his  time.  Hence  his  argument  is 
perfectly  groundless.  Bowl,  the  cup,  is  connected  with  boll, 
bole,  and  the  sound  of  (oo)  is  to  be  expected,  the  additional 
(u)  arising  merely  from  the  following  /,  as  will  be  shewn 
under  L.  But  boivl,  the  ball,  was  the  French  boule,  correctly 
written  boul  or  bowl  in  older  English,  not  only  as  we  see 
from  Bullokar,  who  calls  this  sound  of  ou  its  "  old  and  con- 
tinued sound,"  but  as  will  appear  from  the  study  of  Chaucer's 
orthography.  The  change  of  (uu)  into  (ou)  in  English, 
which  occurred  partly  perhaps  in  the  xvth  century,  but 
which  we  see  by  Palsgrave  and  Bullokar,  was  not  fully  com- 
pleted in  the  xvith,  and  which  the  words  through,  youth, 
you,  a  wound  some  say  (a  waund),  could,  would,  should,  flowk 
(a  flounder),  soup,  group,  rouge,  route,  occasionally  called 
(raut)  like  rout,  Cowper,  only  called  (kau'per)  by  those  who 
do  not  know  the  family,  Brougham,  (Bruum)  as  spoken 
by  Lord  Brougham,  though  the  carriage  is  often  called 
(Bro0'8m),  will  convince  us  that  the  change  is  not  yet  com- 
plete. The  nature  and  laws  of  this  change  will  best  be 
considered  hereafter.1 

1  Walker  continues  as  follows,  and  ties  of  observing.     "  But  as  the  vessel 

it  is  worth  while,  perhaps,  in  a  note,  bowl  has  indisputably  this  sound  it  is 

to  draw  attention  to  the  extreme  con-  rendering  the  language  still  more  irre- 

fusion   of    ideas   concerning  language  gular  to  give  the  ball  bowl  a  different 

that  possessed  this  respectable  ortho-  one."     That  is,  because  in  early  times 

epist,  because  it  is  still  widely  preva-  of  our  orthography,  when  the  writer 

lent,  as  I  have  had  frequent  opportuni-  did  not  know  exactly  how  to  represent 


154 


OTJ  —  XVI  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


1621.  GILL  agrees  with  Smith,  and  writes :  (bound)  bound, 
(sound)  sound,  (blooun)  blown,  (throoun)  thrown,  (bou) 
bough,  (boou)  arcus,  (boul)  bowl  a  ball,  (booul)  bowl  a  cup. 

every  baby  should  learn  to  read  before 
it  speaks.  This  would  almost  beat 
those  celebrated  Irish  infants  of  whom 
a  native  preacher  is  said,  by  Sir  Jonah 
Barrington  in  his  Memoirs,  to  have 
declared,  inveighing  against  the  pre- 
cocious wickedness  of  his  times,  that, 
'  little  children  who  could  neither  walk 
nor  talk,  ran  about  the  streets  blas- 
pheming.' "Walker  continues :  "It 
may  be  urged  that  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages  had  these  ambiguities  in 
words"  written  symbols,  "  which  were 
only  distinguished  by  their  quantity  or 
accent."  That  is,  words  differing  in 
the  accent  given  to  the  syllables,  or  in 
the  length  of  vowel  sounds  were  written 
alike — a  defect  in  orthography,  but 
certainly  not  in  the  language  which 
distinguished  the  sounds.  "But  it  is 
highly  probable  that  the  Greek  lan- 
guage had  a  written  accent  to  distin- 
guish such  words  as  were  pronounced 
differently  to  signify  different  things," 
as  the  Greek  accents  were  an  invention 
of  later  grammarians  chiefly  to  assist 
foreigners,  it  would  have  been  more 
satisfactory  if  "Walker  had  mentioned 
the  grounds  of  this  '  high  probability,' 
"  and  this  is  equivalent  to  a  different 
spelling,"  of  course,  when  the  accent 
points  to  a  difference  of  sound,  and  is 
not  merely,  as  old  Bullokar  often  used 
it,  and  as  we  find  in  French  a,  a,  '  for 
the  sake  of  equivocy,'  just  as  we  may 
imagine  "Walker  would  have  looked  on 
the  diverse  spellings  rite,  write,  right, 
wright,  or  air,  heir,  eyre,  ere,  e'er. 
Walker  continues,  "and  though  the 
Latin  word  lego  signified  either  to  read 
or  to  send,  according  to  the  quantity 
with  which  the  first  syllable  was  pro- 
nounced," that  is,  the  word  (leg-oo) 
meant  /  gather  or  read,  and  the  word 
(leeg-oo)  meant  I  send,  and  the  two 
words  were  in  this  particular  inflection 
written  alike,  "  it  was  certainly  an  im- 
perfection in  that  language,"  read,  or- 
thography, "which  ought  not  to  be 
imitated.  Ideas  and  combinations  of 
ideas  will  always  be  more  numerous 
than  words  ;  and  therefore  the  same 
word  will  often  stand  for  very  different 
ideas;"  and  Walker  has  in  this  note 
strangely  illustrated  the  danger  of  such 
results  in  bad  writers  and  loose  thinkers, 


the  sound  of  (uu),  but  wandered  be- 
tween o  and  ou,  ow,  which  last  hap- 
pened to  be  also  appropriated  to  sounds 
which  were  distinctly  (oou), — and  be- 
cause people  following  the  tendencies 
of  sound,  quite  independently  of  spell- 
ing, altered  the  sound  of  (uu)  in  many 
wordes  to  (ou,  au),  so  as  still  to  keep 
up  a  distinction  in  speech  between 
words  previously  distinguished  though 
in  a  different  way, — all  these  tendencies 
are  to  be  given  up  for  the  sake  of  a 
casual  similarity  of  spelling ;  and  it  is 
to  be  deemed  less  irregular,  because  the 
spelling  is  alike,  to  change  the  sound 
of  one  of  the  words,  than  to  give  a  dif- 
ferent sound  to  two  words  spelled  alike, 
or  to  change  the  spelling  of  one  of 
them.  Of  course,  then,  know  now  should 
be  pronounced  alike,  as  also  the  latter 
parts  of  shoe,  hoe,  changed  hanged.  The 
irregularity  was  not  in  the  sound  but 
in  the  clumsy  orthography.  "Walker 
proceeds  thus,  "  The  inconvenience  of 
this  irregularity  is  often  perceived  in  the 
word  bow"  the  irregularity  was  spelling 
two  words,  i.e.  two  collections  of  sound 
in  the  same  way ;  "Walker  assumes  it 
to  be,  pronouncing  one  word,  i.e.  one 
collection  of  letters,  in  two  ways. 
The  confusion  of  writing  and  sound 
could  not  be  more  complete.  "To 
have  the  same  word"  i.e.  sound,  "sig- 
nify different  things,  is  the  fate  of  all 
languages;  but  pronouncing  the  same 
word"  i.e.  written  symbol,  "differently 
to  signify  different  things,  is  multiply- 
ing difficulties  without  necessity"  to 
the  reader,  not  the  listener,  and  the 
remedy  is  with  the  writer,  not  the 
speaker,  "  for  though  it  may  be  alleged 
that  a  different  pronunciation  of  the 
same  word "  i.e.  written  symbol,  "  to 
signify  a  different  thing,  is  in  some 
measure  remedying  the  poverty  and 
ambiguity  of  language"  i.e.  written 
symbols,  "it  may  be  answered,  that  it 
is  in  reality  increasing  the  ambiguity" 
of  orthography,  not  of  language,  "  by 
setting  the  eye  and  ear  at  variance, 
and  obliging  the  reader  to  understand 
the  context  before  he  can  pronounce 
the  word."  A  good  argument  against 
unphonetic  spelling.  But  to  conclude 
that  pronunciation  must  follow  the  un- 
phonetic spelling,  is  to  determine  that 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OU  XVI TH   CENTURY.  155 

He  has  however  some  remnants  of  the  (mi,  u)  sounds,  as 
(kuurts)  courts,  (kuuld)  could,  where  Smith  has  (kould),  and 
admits  (wound)  as  a  Northern  pronunciation  of  wound. 

1653.  BUTLER  says  (translating  his  symbols,) :  "oil  in  the  substan- 
tive termination  our,  as  honour,  labour,  succour,  and  in  the  adjective 
termination  ous,  as  glorious,  gracious,  prosperous  is  sound  as  oo  or  u 
short"  that  is  (u)  or  («).  "This  being  general,  maybe  suffered 
as  an  Idiom :  but  in  other  syllables  of  some  few  words,  whereof 
there  is  no  certain  rule  to  be  given,  it  is  not  so  excusable  :  as  when 
we  write  bloud,  floud,  courage,  scourge,  flourish,  nourish,  young,  youth, 
ivoulf,  double,  trouble,  &c.,  for  blood,  flood,  coorage,  scurge,  floorish, 
nurrish,  yung,  yuth,  wulf,  dubble,  trubble,  &c.,"  meaning  (blwd,  nwd, 
kwr'adzh,  skwrdzh,  flwr^'sh,  nwr-«'sh,  jwq,  jwth?,  wwlf,  dwbi,  trwb'l), 
"  for  the  same  writing  hath  another  sound  in  loud,  proud,  cour,1  scour, 
mound,  mouth,  coul,  scoul,  doubt,  trout,  and  the  same  sound  hath  an- 
other writing  in  good,  stood,  bud,  mud,  lurge*  purge,  furrow ,  murrain, 
lung,  gulf,  bubble,  stubble,  &c.,"  which  had  (w).  "Neither  is  there 
any  more  reason  why  in  would,  could,  should,  roum,  wouf?  wound,  ou 
should  be  written  for  oo  long;  than  that  for  cool,  pool,  fool,  tool, 
school,  stool,  hoof,  loom,  moon,  doom;  we  should  write  coul,  poul, 
foul,  toul,  skoul,  stoul,  houf,  bourn,  moun,  douni.  The  cause  of  this 
cacography  which  causeth  such  difficulty  is  a  causeless  affectation 
of  the  French  dialect ;  who  for  the  sound  of  oo  (which  in  their 
language  is  frequent)  do  sometimes  write  o  and  oftentimes  ou ;  as 
they  write  i,  ai,  oi,  and  sound  (ii,  e,  woee),4  or  as  they  write  en,  an, 
aw,  and  sound  an,  aun,  ow  for  entend,  command,  costeau,  saying 
antand,  coomaund,  coteow.  But  that  they  speak  otherwise  than  they 

by  confusing  a  spoken  and  a  written  necked,  pedantic,  unphilosophical,  mi- 
word,  language  and  orthography  ;  ' '  but  serably-  informed,  and  therefore  su- 
altering  the  sound  of  a  word,  without  premely  certain,  self-confident,  and 
altering  the  spelling,  is  forming  an  self-conceited  orthographers  who  make 
unwritten  language."  The  orthoepist  default,  when  they  will  not  alter  the 
the  orthographer,  the  word-pedlar,  is  spelling  after  the  sound  has  changed, 
here  shewn  to  the  life.  It  is  a  horror  and  maintain  that  though  their  rules 
to  him,  a  monstrosity,  this  formation  must  be  right,  it  is  only  the  exceptions 
of  an  "unwritten  language."  As  if  which  prove  them, — forgetting  that  as 
all  languages  were  not  formed  un-  some  foreigner  pithily  said,  "English 
written,  were  not  to  the  great  majority  orthographical  rules  are  all  exceptions." 
of  present  speakers,  unwritten.  As  if  x  Meaning  cower,  written  cowryn  in 
all  those  who  made  languages,  who  the  Promptorium,  cowre  in  Palsgrave, 
altered  their  sounds,  who  brought  them  and  coure  in  Levins, 
to  their  present  speech-form,  knew  or  2  Query,  borage,  as  written  in  the 
cared  about  writing  ;  as  if  even  the  Promptorium,  the  bourage  of  Palsgrave 
majority  of  those  who  speak,  pause  to  and  burrage  of  Levins,  exhibiting  the 
consider  in  the  rapidity  of  discourse,  three  common  spellings  for  the  same 
how  the  printers  of  the  day  choose  to  sound. 

print,  and  the  writing-masters  choose  3    Room,  woof  "  of  woven,  as  warp 

to  order  their  pupils  to  write !     No,  it  because  warped  or  wrapped  round  the 

is  not  the  language,  or  the  speakers  beam"  adds  Butler, 

that  are  in  fault  in  obeying  and  carry-  4  Butler  belongs  to  the  latter  part  of 

ing  out  the  organic  laws  of  speech  and  the  xvi  th  or  to  the  xvn  th  century,  in 

word  formation.      It  is  those  word-  his   French,  when  the  change  of  the 

pedlars,  those  letter-drivers,  those  stiff-  French  ai  from  (ai)  to  (E)  was  complete. 


156  OU  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

write,  is  no  reason  why  we  should  write  otherwise  than  we  speak ; 
considering  what  an  ease  and  certainty  it  would  be  both  to  readers 
and  writers,  that  every  letter  were  content  with  its  own  sound,  and 
none  did  intrude  upon  the  right  of  another.  The  termination  our 
accented,  is  sounded  in  two  syllables  :  as  in  devour,  deflour  ;  and  in 
all  monosyllables,  as  our,  hour,  bour,  flour,  tour,  sour,  lour,  scour, 
pour  Yerb  fundo  :  the  Noun  is,  for  difference,  written  in  two 
syllables  pouer  potestar,  and  so  are  all  the  substantives  in  the 
plural  number ;  as  flouers,  toners,  Shouers :  and  sometime  in  the 
singular  not  only  in  verse  :  but  in  prose  also." 


OU  —  xvii  TH  CENTURY. 

1653.  WALLIS  says :  "  Ou  et  ow  duplicem  sonum  obtinent ; 
alterum  clariorem,  alterum  obscuriorem.  In  quibusdam  vocabulis 
effertur  sono  clariori  per  o  apertum,1  et  w,  Ut  in  soul  anima,  sould 
vendebam,  venditurn,  sn6w  nix,  kn6w  scio,  sdw  sero,  suo,  6we  debeo, 
bowl  poculum,  etc.,  quo  etiam  sono  et  6  simplex  nonnunquam 
effertur  nempe  ante  Id  ut  in  g6ld  aurum,  scdld  rixor,  hold  teneo, 
cold  frigidus,  did  senex,  antiquus,  etc.,  et  ante  II  in  p6ll  caput, 
r6ll  volvo,  toll  v-ectigal,  etc.  Sed  et  hsec  omnia  ab  aliis  efferuntur 
simpliciter  per  6  rotundum  acsi  scripta  essent  sole,  s6ld,  sn6  &c.  In 
aliis  vocabulis  obscuriori  sono  efferuntur ;  sono  nempe  composite  ex 
6  vel  u  obscuris  (a),  et  w  (au).  Ut  in  hduse  domus,  mouse  mus, 
lowse  pediculus,  Idul  globulus,  our  noster,  out  ex,  owl  bubo,  town 
oppidum,  foul  immundus,  fowl  volucris,  bdw  necto,  bdugh  ramus, 
sdw  sus,  etc.  At  would  vellem,  should  deberem,  could  possem,  course 
cursus,  court  aula,  curia,  et  pauca  forsan  alia,  quamvis  (ut  proxime 
prsBcedentia)  per  6u  pronunciari  debeant,  vulgo  tamen  negfigentius 
efferri  solent  per  oo  (uu)." 

"Wallis  seems  to  say  that  (soul,  s#uld,  snmi)  as  well  as  (sool, 
soold,  STLOO)  were  heard,  and  that  (g0uld,  sk<?uld,  b0uld,  ktfuld, 
0uld)  were  used,  although  he  did  not  approve  of  them.  This 
effect  of  L  will  be  considered  hereafter.  The  sound  (naus, 
ineus)  &c.  is  the  same  as  the  modern  English,  and  must  be 
distinguished  from  the  former.  Wallis's  dictum  concerning 
would,  etc.,  is  only  borne  out  by  Smith's  very  peculiar 
(kould)  could,  supra  p.  151.  We  have  seen  that  Gill  said 
(kuurt) ;  (kuurs)  is  still  common  in  the  North.  Wallis 
wishes  that  the  two  sounds  were  distinguished  in  writing, 

1  This    must    mean   "o  apertum"  I  suspect  that  this  is  a  theoretical  pro- 

that  is  (A),  giving  the  diphthong  (AU);  nunciation,  arising  from  Wallis' s  con- 

although  it  is  certainly  v?ry  singular,  sidering  the  vowel  o  short  in  the  diph- 

as  the  words  given  were  pronounced  thong  and  his  having  no  notation  for 

with  (oou)  in  the  xvi  th  century,  and  (o)    The  u  apertum  he  usually  marks  u, 

he   makes  some    of   them  have    (oo).  hut  here  he  has  employed  o,  apparently 

This  (AU)  is  the  diphthong  recognized  to  connect  the  sound  with  his  6  =  (oo), 

in  a  few  words  by  Cooper,  supra  p.  1 47.  so  that  he  may  really  mean  (ou). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OU  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  157 

using  6u  6w  or  6u  6w  or  simply  ow  for  (ou,  od]  and  6u  dw  or 
simply  ou  for  (au).  Yet  how  many  would  feel  their  eyes 
offended  by  seeing  know,  nou,  hou,  loiv,  sou,  sow,  row,  rou, 
notwithstanding  the  infinitesimal  nature  of  the  change. 

1668.  WILKINS  speaks  of  (ou)  only  as  the  sound  of  oiv  in 
"  owr,  owle."  It  is  curious  that,  though  (aeu)  is  the  common 
Norfolkism  now,  Wilkins  says  that  (ae)  before  (u)  "  will  not 
coalesce  into  a  plain  sound."  Writers  on  phonetics  are  too 
apt  to  measure  the  pronouncing  powers  of  others  by  their 
own,  although  the  extreme  difficulty  with  which  unfamiliar 
combinations  of  familiar  elements  become  current  to  their 
organs,  and  the  mistakes  they  make  in  hearing  and  imitating 
unfamiliar  sounds  and  slight  variations  of  familiar  sounds, 
should  teach  them  to  be  less  confident. 

1668.  Price  makes  several  categories  of  ou,  ow. 

1)  ow,  ou  sound  "  like  0,"  that  is,  either  (00)  or  (o)  in  bestow, 
know,   a  bow,  flow,  low,  window,  throw,   grow,   glow;    succour, 
brought,  endeavour,  although,  armour,  behaviour,  clamour,  colour, 
embassadour,  emperour,  errour,  gourd,  harbour,  mannour,  nought, 
odour,  ought,  rigour,  solicitour,  soul,  though,  thought,  wrought ;  in 
some  of  which  we  have  now  (a,  AA). 

2)  Ow,  ou  keep  their  "  full  sound"  (an)  in  how,  to  bow,  froward, 
allow,  cow,  coward,  now,  toward,  devout,  flout,  fourth,  our  Saviour, 
stout.      Although  (tan 'id)  may  be  occasionally  heard,   it  is  un- 
frequent ;  (frau'jd)  I  do  not  remember  to  have  heard ;  (faujth)  is 
also  strange,  and  (saD8e*vi,auj)  the  strangest  of  all. 

3)  Ou  sounds  "like  short  u"  that  is  (a),  in  cousin,   double, 
courage,   adjourn,   blond,   couple,   courtesey,   discourage,    doubled, 
encourage,  floud,  flourish,  journey,  journal,  nourish,  ongly,  sconrge, 
touchstone,  touchy,  young.     All  these  pronunciations  remain  in  use 
although  we  no  longer  write  Uoud,  floud,  ougly. 

4)  Ow,  ou  sound   "like  woo,"  that  is  (ira)  in  arrow,  pillow, 
barrow,  borrow,  fallow,  follow,  hallow,  morrow,  shaddow,  sorrow, 
swallow,  widdow,  willow,  winnow,  couch,  course,  discourse,  court, 
courtier. 

5)  "  Ou  soundes  like  iw  in  youth,"  meaning  (jiuth)  ?      This 
certainly  ought  to  have  formed  part  of  the  preceding  list. 

1685.  COOPER  says  "  0  in  full,  fole  (u,  oo)  cum  u  (u)  conjunctus 
constituit  diphthongum  in  coulter  vomis,  four  quatnor,  mould  panifico, 
mucesco,  typus  in  quo  res  formatnr ;  moulter  plumas  exuere,  poulterer 
avicularius,  poultry  alites  villatici,  shoulder  humenis,  soul  anima; 
in  caeteris  hunc  sonnm  scribiimis  per  o  ante  U  finalem,  vel  I,  quando 
prsecedit  aliam  consonantem ;  ut  bold  audax ;  quidam  hoc  modo 
pronunciant  ow." 

"  U  gntturalem  (a),  ante  u  Germanicum  00  anglice  exprimentem 
(u)  semper  scribimus  per  ou ;  ut  out  ex ;  about  circa ;  ou  tamen 
aliquando,  prseter  sonum  priorem,  sonatur  ut  oo  (uu) ;  ut  I  could 
possem ;  ut  u  gutturalis  (a),  couple  copulo ;  ut  a  (AA)  bought  emptus." 


158  OTJ  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

The  first  diphthong  must  be  written  theoretically  (mi),  but 
it  was  probably  meant  to  be  the  same  as  (ou),  coinciding 
with  Wallis's  diphthong,  because  Cooper  does  not  distinguish 
(u,  o) .  The  second  diphthong  was  of  course  the  modern  (au) . 

The  words  in  ou  which  Cooper  pronounces  with  the  first 
diphthong  (wu)  or  (ou),  as  above  mentioned,  all  contain  oul, 
and  to  these  he  adds  the  following  with  a  simple  o  before  /, 
behold,  boldf  bolster,  bolt,  cold,  colt,  dolt,  droll,  enroll,  fold, 
gold,  hold,  in/wider  hospes,  Jolt,  knoll,  manifold,  motten, 
poll,  roller,  rolls,  scold,  sold,  told,  vpholster  plumarius.  He 
also  says :  "  Quidem  scribunt  troll  vel  trowl  laeviter  eo,  ita 
controll  controul,  redargue,  joll  jole  caput,"  jowl  is  common 
now,  with  the  sound  (dzhoul),  "  toll  tole  vectigal  &c,  mold 
vel  mowld  humus,  at  mould  typus,"  a  distinction  now  lost,  if 
it  were  ever  made  by  others  beside  Cooper,  "  bowl  bole 
patera." 

The  sound  of  the  second  diphthong  (ou)  is  given  by  Cooper 
to  all  other  words  in  ou,  as  "  boul  globulus,  gout  podagra, 
&c,"  some  of  which  he  allows  to  be  written  ow,  as:  ad- 
voivson,  allow,  avow,  bow  torqueo,  boivels,  boiver,  brow,  brown, 
broivze,  carowze,  cow,  coivard,  cower,  crown,  down,  dowry, 
drown,  frown,  gown,  hoiv,  lioivl,  lower  frontem  capero,  mow 
faenile,  now,  owl,  plow  aro,  rowel,  rowin  foenum  serotinum, 
shower,  sow  s.,  towel,  tower,  trowel,  vow,  vowel.  He  adds, 
"  bounce  crepo,  bouser  thesaurarius,  clotvn  colonus,  drousie 
somnolentus,  loud  sonorous,  louse  pedicular,  renoun  gloria, 
rouze  excito,  souse  omasum,  touze  plurimum  vello ;  etc.,  scri- 
buntur  item  cum  ow.  W  quiescens  adjungitur  post  o  finale, 
(prseter  in  do  facio,  go  eo,  no  non,  so  sic,  to  ad)  ut  boive 
arcus,  dowe  farina  subacta"  i.e.  dough,  "  owe  debeo,  sowe  sero, 
towe  lini  floccus,  &c,  &  in  own  assero,  disown  denego,  bellows 
follis,  gallows,  patibulum,  toivardness  indoles." 

Hence  Cooper  admits  (mi)  but  not  (oou)  making  the  latter 
purely  (oo).  He  gives  no  list  of  words  with  ou  pronounced 
as  (o)  or  (u,  uu). 

1686.  MIEGE'S  lists  are  as  follows  :  ou  generally  =  aou, 
meaning  (eu),  rot  (AU),  although  Miege  confuses  French  a 
with  English  (AA). 

1)  ou  =  o,  meaning  (a),  in  adjourn,  Moud,  floud,  country,  couple, 
courage,    courtesey,    double,    doublet,    nourish,    gournet,    journey, 
Journal,  nourish,  scourge,  scoundrel,  touch,  trouble,  young,  in  which 
(skon'drel)  is  new. 

2)  ou  =  "  o  un  pen  long,"  meaning  (o)  or  (oo),  or  sometimes  one 
and  sometimes  the  other,  or  else  (ou)  which  he  was  unable  to  ex- 
press in  French  letters :  in  coulter,  moulter,  poultice,  poultry,  four, 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  OU  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  159 

course,  concourse,  discourse,  soul,  souldier,  shoulder,  mould,  trough., 
dough,  though,  although. 

3)  ou,  value  not  named,  and  hence  probably  French  ou  (u),  see 
Jones,  just  below,  in  substantives  ending  in  our  as  Saviour,  factour, 
neighbour. 

4)  ou,  value  not  named,  probably  French  ou  (u),  in  adjectives  ending 
in  ous,  as  vicious,  malicious,  righteous,  monstrous,  treacherous. 

5)  ough  =  a  long,  that  is  (AA)  in  ought,  nought,  brought,  bought, 
sought,  thought,  wrought  =  at,  nat,  brat,  bat,  &c.,  (AAt,  nAAt)  &c. 
except  drought,  doughty  =  draout,  daouty  (draut,  dau't«) ;  borough, 
thorough  =  boro,  thoro  (bara,  thara) ;  cough  =  cdff(k&Af ) ;  rough, 
tough,  enough  =  ro/,  toff,  eno/ (raf,  taf,  enaf-). 

6)  ou  =  ou  French  (uu)  in  would,   could,   should,   you,   your, 
source,    youth,  —  Portsmouth,    Plimouth,    Yarmouth,    Weymouth, 
Monmouth. 

1701.  JONES  says  "that  ou  and  ow  have  two  very  different  sounds ; 
(1)  that  in  soul,  bowl,  old,  told,  &c.,  which  is  the  true  sound  of  o 
and  oo  join'd  together  in  one  syllable  (ou,  ecu) ;  (2)  that  in  lough, 
cow,  now,  &c.,  which  is  the  true  sound  of  u  short,  in  but,  cut,  &c., 
and  oo  join'd  together  in  one  syllable  (au)." 

But  he  characteristically  seldom  distinguishes  which  lie 
means  when  he  talks  of  the  sound  of  ou,  ow.  He  also  says 
that  ou  is  pronounced  o,  meaning  either  (oo)  or  (o),  or  even 
(AA)  in  "  Gloucester,  sounded  Gloster ;  although  besought, 
borough,  bough,1  bought,  brought,  cough,  dough,  doughty,2 
drought,  enough?  fought,  hiccough,  hough,  lough,  Lougher, 
mought,  nought,  ought,  plough?  rough,  slough?  sought,  though, 
thought,  through,  tough?  trough,  whough,  wrought ;  and  "in 
souldier,  sounded  sodier"  the  parent  of  the  "sojer"  of  our 
plays  and  jest  books. 

The  sound  of  o  is  also  written  ow,  Jones  says :  "  When  it 
may  be  sounded  ow  in  the  End  of  words,  or  before  a  vowel, 
as  ow,  owing ;  follow,  following,  &c.,  otherwise  it  is  always 
o,  when  it  cannot  be  sounded  ow  (au  ?),  unless  it  be  one  of 
those  above,  that  are  written  ough" 

Ou  =  (uu)  is  much  more  extended  by  Jones  than  by  the 
preceding  authorities,  first  to  the  terminations  -our,  -ous 
"when  it  may  be  sounded  ou,"  which  seems  very  questionable, 
and  then  in  the  following  words  :  couch,  could,  course,  court, 
courtship,  courteous,  crouch,  fourth,  gouge,  gourd,  mouch, 
mourn,  should,  slouch,  souse,  touch,  would ;  accoutre,  amour, 

1  Surely  a  mistake.  4,  8,  etc.,  which  from  this  insertion  by 

2  (Dairti)  not  (doo'ti)  according  to       Jones  would  seem  to  imply  a  pronun- 
Miege,  and  present  use.  ciation  (ploou).     But  Cooper,  supra  p. 

Meaning  (enoo-)  ?  158,   spells  plow,  and  yet  pronounces 

4  The  Authorized  Version  has  plow,       (plau). 
Deut.  22,  10.      1  Sam.  14,  14.      Job          6  Now  (raf,  slaf  slau,  taf). 


160  OU XVIII TH   CENTURY.          U  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

boutefeu,   Bourdeaux,  capouch,   capouchine,  coupee,  courier, 

Courtney,  courtrey,  courvee,  enamour' d,  gourmandise,  Louvain, 

Louvre, rendezvous, rencountre,  Toulon.  For  ou  =  (a),  see  p.  183. 

Hence  in  the  xvnth  century  ou,  or  ow  had  two  sounds, 

the  first   (0u)   or    (oou)    corresponding   to   our   present 

theoretical  (oo)   and  secondly  (8u)  where  it  is  still  so 

called.     The  sound  of  ou  as  (uu)  was  exceptional,  and 

seems  to  have  been  used  in  a  few  more  words  than  at 

present. 

OU  —  xvin  TH  CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  seems  to  pronounce  ou 
as  (eu)  in  touch,  Souch,  gouge,  rouge,  coulter,  boulter,  poultry, 
moulter,  shoulder,  poultice,  wound,  pour,  bowl,  coivcumber. 
But  to  distinguish  boiv  flecto  as  (bou)  from  bow  arcus  as 
(boou),  and  says  that  "All  polysyllables  ending  in  obscure  o 
have  w  added  for  ornament's  sake  as  arrow,  bellows,  &c." 

1766.  BUCHANAN  writes,  (nAAt)  nought,  (mous)  mouse, 
(foul)  foul,  (bou)  bow  jlectere,  (koun't?')  county,  (koutsh) 
couch,  (vou'il)  vowel,  (sou)  sow  sus,  (boul)  bowl  globus  et 
crater ;  (dhoo)  though,  (k00rs)  course,  (k#0rt)  court,  (noo) 
know,  (bloo)  blow,  (bist0<r)  bestow,  (sool)  soul,  (na3r*oo)  nar- 
row, (ae  loou)  a  low ;  (suup)  soup,  (wud)  would,  (kud)  could, 
(juu)  you ;  (jeq)  young,  (trob'l)  trouble,  (kap'l)  couple, 
(karsdzh)  courage,  (kan'tr/)  country,  (narz'sh)  nourish ; 
(thAAt)  thought,  (DAAt)  bought. 

1768.  FRANKLIN  writes  (fAul,  Aur,  dAun,  thAuz'and,  plAu*- 
msen  ;  k00rs)  for  foul,  our,  down,  thousand,  ploughman,  course, 
where  if  (AU)  is  not  a  mistake,  it  is  a  singular  form  of  the 
diphthong,  agreeing  however  with  the  analysis  of  Sheridan 
and  Knowles. 

Among  the  Irish  uses  noted  by  SHERIDAN,  1780,  we  find 
(kuurt)  court,  (suurs)  source,  and  (kAuld,  bAuld)  cold,  bold, 
all  of  which  clearly  belong  to  the  xvn  th  century.  Sheridan 
pronounces  (koort,  soors,  koold,  boold).  The  Irish  (druuth) 
drought,  English  (drAut)  according  to  Sheridan,  is  very 
singular. 

IT  —  ROUND  OR  LABIALISED  TOWELS. 

U  has  been  reserved  to  the  last,  as  in  order  to  understand 
the  relations  of  the  various  sounds  which  have  been  ex- 
pressed by  u  in  our  own  and  other  languages,  especial  attention 
must  be  directed  to  the  twofold  manner  in  which  the  aper- 
ture of  the  mouth  is  varied.  Speech  sounds  are  essentially 
produced  in  the  same  manner  as  those  in  organ  reed  pipes. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.      U ROUND    OR   LABIALISED    VOWELS.  161 

In  the  larynx  two  highly  elastic  vocal  ligaments,  stretched 
to  various  degrees  of  tension  at  will,  are  put  into  vibration 
by  the  rushing  of  wind  from  the  lungs  through  the  wind- 
pipe. The  sound  thus  produced  is  highly  complicated, 
consisting,  as  Helmholtz  has  shewn,1  of  a  great  number  of 
simple  tones,  producing  on  the  whole  a  buzzing,  droning, 
imperfect  effect,  which  would  not  be  well  heard.  To  make 
it  penetrate  as  a  clear  distinct  sound,  a  resonance  tube  must 
be  added.  This  tube,  according  to  its  shape  or  length,  will 
reinforce  a  greater  or  less  number  of  simple  tones,  which  it 
selects  out  of  the  confused  number  produced  by  the  unarmed 
elastic  ligaments,  thus  generating,  by  the  mere  change  of 
its  shape  and  size  a  marked  change  in  the  sound  heard,  even 
when  the  original  mode  of  vibration  remains  unaltered. 
JSfow  above  the  larynx  is  situated  a  highly  variable  fleshy 
bag,  the  pharynx,  communicating  with  two  external  aper- 
tures, the  nose  and  the  mouth,  either  or  both  of  which  can 
be  opened  or  closed  at  will.  The  back  nostrils  are  the 
entrance  and  the  external  nostrils  the  exit  from  the  upper 
passage,  where  the  sound  passes  through  various  galleries 
and  encounters  various  membranes,  which  produce  the  well- 
known  nasal  modifications.  The  lower  passage  or  mouth  is 
principally  modified  by  the  tongue,  which  acts  as  a  variable 
plug,  and  the  lips,  which  form  a  variable  diaphragm.  By 
this  means  the  volume  of  the  mouth  is  divided  into  two  bent 
tubes  of  which  the  first  may  be  termed  the  lingual  passage 
as  its  front  extremity  is  formed  by  the  tongue,  and  the 
second,  the  labial  passage.  When  the  labial  passage  is  large 
and  unconstrained  by  rounding  or  narrowing  of  the  labial 
orifice,  the  effects  may  be  called  simply  lingual,  and  when 
the  tongue  is  brought  so  low  as  to  remove  the  separation 
between  the  lingual  and  labial  passages,  the  effects  might 
be  termed  labial.  Mr.  Melville  Bell  has  acutely  preferred, 
however,  to  consider  as  lingual  all  positions  in  which  the 
labial  aperture  produces  no  sensible  effect,  and  then  to  con- 
sider the  labial  effect  to  be  superadded  to  the  lingual,  by 
more  or  less  rounding  the  lips  while  the  lingual  position  is 
held.  It  was  not  generally  noticed  before  the  publication 
of  his  Visible  Speech,  that  the  two  labial  vowels,  as  they  have 
been  called,  (uu,  oo)  really  required  a  distinct  position  "of  the 
tongue  in  order  to  produce  them.2  This  however  may  be 

1  The  only  satisfactory  account  of      edition  1863,  2nd  ed.  18G5.      It  has 
musical  and  vocal  tones  which  has  yet      been  translated  into  French,  but,  un- 
been  published  will  be  found  in  Helm-      fortunately,  not  yet  into  English, 
holtz's  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindun-          2  See  however  the  subsequent  re- 
gen,   Brunswick,    8vo,    pp.    600   first      ference  to  Holder,  1669,  p.  178. 

11 


162  U ROUND   OR   LABTALISED   VOWELS.       CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

practically  felt  by  producing  these  sounds,  and,  while  utter- 
ing them,  seizing  the  upper  and  lower  lips  with  the  two 
hands  and  rapidly  separating  them.  Two  new  sounds  will  be 
produced,  of  which  the  first  (aeai)  is  a  Gaelic  vowel,  which  is 
the  despair  of  most  Englishmen,  and  the  second  is  a  sound 
(a)  often  given  to  our  short  u  in  but,  and  considered  by  Mr. 
M.  Bell  as  its  normal  sound.  On  producing  the  effect,  which 
after  a  little  practice  can  be  obtained  without  the  use  of  the 
fingers,  it  will  be  found  that  the  back  of  the  tongue  is  much 
higher  for  («?)  than  it  is  for  (a).1  Although  both  effects 
are  different,  and  also  different  from  the  sound  with  which 
I  pronounce  u  in  but,  namely  (a),  few  English  ears  would 
readily  distinguish  (ce  a  e)  in  conversation.  Hence  we 
have  this  relation  between  (u)  and  (0),  that  (u)  is  almost  (e) 
labialized  or  rounded.2 

Again,  for  the  common  vowels  (ii,  ee)  the  lingual  passage 
is  greatly  reduced  by  means  of  the  front  of  the  tongue  which 
for  (ii)  is  brought  very  near  the  palate,  and  very  forward 
but  not  quite  so  forward  for  (ee),  the  lips  being  wide  open. 
Now  round  the  lips  upon  (ii,  ee)  and  the  effect  is  (i,  9),  one 
a  sound  often  heard  in  Germany  for  u  and  in  Sweden  for 
y,  and  the  other  heard  for  the  so-called  French  e  mute  when 
sounded  and  prolonged  in  singing,  as  heard  in  heur  and  the 
first  syllable  of  Tieureux? 

It  is  now  necessary  to  attend  to  a  third  modification, 
principally  in  the  pharynx.  This  consists  in  widening  the 
bag  of  the  pharynx  and  all  the  lingual  passage  behind  the 
narrowest  aperture,  and  also  increasing  the  volume  of  the 
labial  passage.  We  are  familiar  with  this  in  English  in 
the  passage  from  (i)  to  (i),  and  from  (e)  to  (e).  Applied  to 
the  rounded  or  labialised  forms  of  these  vowels,  (T,  9)  it  con- 

1  In  reading  this  discussion  the  dia-  labialisation  of  (e)  and  assigns  the  latter 
grams  of  the  vowel  positions  in  the  In-  value  to  the  French  eu,  which  I  have 
troduction,  p.  14,  should  be  frequently  been  in  the  habit  of  pronouncing  as  the 
consulted.  wide  of  (9).     Thus  heureux  according 

2  The  true  sound  of  (a)  has  the  back  to  Feline  has  the  first  syllable  as  in  je 
of  the  tongue  lower  and    the    front  and  the  second  as  in  jeu.     These  I 
higher  than    for  (a) ;    the  tongue  is  pronounce  (zb?,  zhce),  but  M.  Favarger 
altogether  raised,  but  is  nearly  parallel  considers   they   should  be  (zhsh,  zh0). 
to  the  palate  throughout.     The  labial  Undoubtedly  the  sounds  vary  from  indi- 
or 'round'  form  of  (a)  is  (oh),  scarcely  vidual  to   individual,    and    hence  the 
distinguishable  from  (o)  by  unpractised  necessity  of  a  diagrammatic  vowel  scale 
ears.  like  Mr.  Melville  Bell's,  which  is  inde- 

3  Mr.  M.  Bell  gives  it  as  the  French  pendent  of  key  words.     The  Swedish  u 
u  in  une,  but  this  is  not  my  own  pro-  or  (u)  which  is  very  peculiar  is  closely 
nunciation,  nor  does  it  agree  with  my  related  to  (i),  being  produced  in  the 
own  observations.     M.  Favarger  con-  same  way,  with  rather  a  greater  sepa- 
siders  the  French  e  muet  to  be  (^h)  the  ration   between  the  tongue    and    the 
labialisation  of  (E),  rather  than  (<?)  the  palate. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  XVI TH   CENTURY.  163 

verts  them  into  (y,  oe),  which  are  the  common  forms,  as  I 
hear  them,  of  the  French  u  in  une  and  en  in  jeu.  Hence  (y) 
is  the  *  wide'  form  of  (i),  and  the  '  round*  or  labialised  form 
of  (i).  If  we  apply  the  widening  to  (u,  6)  we  produce  (u,  o), 
and  the  Italian  o  chiuso  or  (ula)  appears  to  be  the  'wide* 
form  of  the  Swedish  (u)  already  described. 

We  can  then  understand  that  (u,  u)  may  be  readily  con- 
fused, for  no  modification  is  so  subtle  as  that  produced  by 
the  backward  widening.  Again,  by  merely  neglecting  to 
labialise,  (u,  u)  are  converted  into  (a,  -B),  both  of  which  are 
confused  with  (o)  by  Englishmen.  The  last,  (12),  is  indeed 
a  very  common  sound  in  English,  but  it  is  only  looked  upon 
as  unaccented  or  indistinct  (a),  in  motion,  ocean,  etc. 

Again,  if  when  we  are  pronouncing  (u)  or  (u)  we  suddenly 
throw  the  front  of  the  tongue  up  to  the  (i)  position  without 
altering  the  form  of  the  lips,  we  obtain  (i)  or  (y).  There 
are  some  persons  so  used  thus  to  throw  up  the  front  of  the 
tongue  that  they  have  great  difficulty  in  pronouncing  (u)  at 
all.  To  succeed  they  must  exercise  themselves  in  keeping 
down  the  front  of  the  tongue  by  a  muscular  effort. 

Roughly,  we  may  say  that  (a)  is  (u)  deprived  of  its  labial 
character,  and  that  (y)  is  (u)  with  a  palatal  character, 
or  that  (y)  is  an  attempt  to  pronounce  both  (i)  and  (u) 
at  the  same  instant.  The  further  step,  then,  to  pro- 
nouncing first  (i)  and  then  (u),  producing  (iu),  is  easy, 
and  since  the  (i)  character  predominates  and  gives  the 
key  to  the  sound,  it  would  be  natural  in  the  absence  of 
a  proper  sign  for  (y)  to  represent  that  sound  by  (iu). 

U  —  XVTTH  CENTURY. 

1530.  Palsgrave  says:  "  U,  in  the  frenche  tong,  wheresoeuer  he 
is  a  vowel  by  hymselfe,  shall  be  sownded  like  as  we  sownde  ew  in 
these  wordes  in  our  tong,  rewe  an  herbe,  a  mew  for  a  hauke,  a  clew 
of  threde,  and  such  lyke  restyng  apon l  the  pronounsyng  of  hym : 
as  for  these  wordes  plus,  nul,  fus,  user,  humble,  uertu,  they  sound 
plevus,  nevul,  fevus,  evuser,  hevumlle,  uertevu,  and  so  in  all  other 
wordes,  where  v  is  a  vowel  by  hymselfe  alone  ;  so  that  in  the 
soundynge  of  this  vowel,  they  differe  both  from  the  Latin  tong  and 
from  vs." 

On  referring  to  EU,  p.  137,  it  will  be  seen  that  Palsgrave 
divided  the  English  eu  into  two  categories,  trewe,  glewe,  rewe, 
mewe  and  clew  having  the  sound  of  the  French  u,  and  dewe, 
shrewe,  fewe  having  the  sound  of  the  Italian  eu.  The  latter 
we  have  identified  with  (eu).  There  can  be  but  little  doubt 
1  Misprint  for  vpon. 


U  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

that  tlie  former  was  (y),  because  we  know  from.  Meigret  that 
it  was  not  (o)  or  (u).. 

When  Palsgrave  here  says  that  the  sound  of  French  u 
was  different  from  that  of  Latin  or  English  u,  he  must  mean 
by  the  latter,  English  u  short,  because  English  u  long  was 
certainly  not  the  same  as  the  real  Latin  u  long,  even  at  a 
much  earlier  period  than  the  xvith  century.  Hence  cor- 
roboration,  and  contemporary  explanations,  are  necessary. 

1547.  Salesbury  says:  "TT  vowel,  answers  to  the  power  of  the 
two  Welsh,  letters  u,  w  and  its  usual  power  is  uw,  as  shewn  in  the 
following  words  TETJE  truw  verus,  VERTUE  vertuw  probitas.  And 
sometimes  they  give  it  its  own  proper  sound  and  pronounce  it  like 
the  Latins  or  like  our  own  w  (u),  as  in  the  words  BUCKE  IwcJc  (buk) 
dama  mas,  LTJST  Iwst  (lust)  libido.  But  it  is  seldom  this  vowel 
sound  corresponds  with  the  sound  we  give  the  same  letter,  but  it 
does  in  some  cases,  as  in  BUSY  busi,  occupatus  aut  se  immiscens." 
Again  in  his  pronunciation  of  Welsh  he  says:  "  u  written  after 
this  manner  w,"  that  is,  not  as  <o  which  was  at  that  time  inter- 
changeable with  u  in  English  and  French  but  not  in  Welsh,  "is  a 
vowel  and  soundeth  as  the  vulgar  English  trust,  bury,  busy,  Huber- 
den.  But  know  well  that  it  is  neuer  sounded  in  Welsh,  as  it  is 
done  in  any  of  these  two  Englyshe  wordes  (notwythstanding  the 
diuersitie  of  their  sound)  sure,  lucJce.  Also  the  sound  of  u  in 
Erench,  or  u  with  two  pricks  over  the  heade  in  Duch,  or  the 
Scottish  pronunciation  of  u  alludeth  somwhat  nere  vnto  the  sound 
of  it  in  Welshe,  thoughe  yet  none  of  them  all,  doeth  so  exactly  (as 
I  thynk)  expresse  it,  as  the  Hebraick  Kubuts  doeth.  Eor  the 
Welsh  u  is  none  other  thing,  but  a  meane  sounde  betwyxte  u  and  y 
beyng  Latin  vowels." 

The  precise  value  of  the  "Welsh  u  is  considered  in  a  note 
on  the  above  passage,  chapter  VIII,  §  1,  where  it  is  shewn 
that  it  must  be  considered  as  the  Welsh  representative  of  (y), 
and  that  (i)  or  (z/)  is  practically  the  sound  it  receives.  If 
then  Salesbury  had  to  represent  the  sound  (yy),  he  could  not 
have  selected  any  more  suggestive  Welsh  combination  than 
uw.  To  have  written  mi  would  have  been  to  give  too  much  of 
the  (i)  or  (*)  character,  for  when  u  was  short  he  did  not  dis- 
tinguish the  sound  from  (e),  as  shewn  by  BUSY  which  he  writes 
busi,  meaning  (bz'zi).1  If  he  had  written  ww  he  would  have 
conveyed  a  completely  false  notion,  and  iw  would  have  led  to 
the  diphthong  (iu)  which  he  wished  to  distinguish  from  utv. 

1  Germans  who  distinguish  their  u  and  often  so  pronounced  by  the  Welsh 

from  (ii)  very  clearly  when  it  is  long,  in  familiar  conversation.     In  the  same 

readily  pronounce  short  u  as    (t)    es-  way  Stiele  handles  and  Stuhle  chairs, 

pecially  when  r  follows,  as  (bhircb)  for  are  identified  in  the  common  Dresden 

(bhyrde?,  bhrrde)  wiirde.     The  Welsh  pronunciation  of  German. 
u  long  is  heard  by  Englishmen  as  (ii) 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  —  XVI TH   CENTURY.  165 

Now  my  own  "Welsh  master  at  Beaumaris  told  me  that 
Welsh  Duw  and  English  due,  dew  were  so  distinct  to  a 
"Welshman  that  he  could  tell  an  Englishman  immediately 
by  his  faulty  pronunciation.  The  difference  may  be  (diu) 
"Welsh  and  (diu)  English.  It  is  very  difficult  to  seize,  and 
some  Welshmen  themselves  deny  the  difference.1 

Adopting  then  the  hypothesis  that  Salesbury's  uw  meant 
(yy),  but  his  u  short  meant  (i),  so  far  as  the  English  sounds 
which  he  wished  to  imitate  are  concerned, — an  hypothesis 
which  agrees  with  Palsgrave's  remarks  and  will  be  confirmed 
shortly — we  may  represent  all  the  English  words  containing 
u,  (or  ew  pronounced  as  u,  according  to  Palsgrave's  intima- 
tion,) which  are  transcribed  by  Salesbury,  as  follows. 

CHUECHE  tsurts  tsiurts  (tsh^rtsh)  ecclesia ;  DUKE  duwk  (dyyk) 
dux,  SUFFEE  swffffer  (suffer)  sinere,  GUTTE  gwt  (gut)  viscera ;  JESU 
tsiesuw  (Dzhee'zyy) ;  BUCKE  ~bwck  (buk)  dama  mas ;  BULL  Iw  (bun) 
a  rustic  pronunciation,  QUE^TE  Ivwin  (kwiin)  regina ;  QUAETEE  Icwarter 
(kwarter)  quarta  pars ;  MUSE  muwws  (myyz)  meditari ;  TEESUEE 
tresuwr  (trez'yyr)  thesaurus  ;  TEUE  truw  (tryy)  verus,  this  is  one  of 
the  words  cited  by  Palsgrave,  under  the  form  trewe,  as  containing 
the  sound  of  the  French  u  (y) ;  VEETUE  vertuw  (vertyy)  probitas ; 
LUST  Iwst  (lust)  libido ;  BUSY  busi  (b/z'i),  MUCH  GOOD  DO  IT  YOU  mych 
goditio  (im'tsh  god'itro).  This  much  contracted  phrase  is  also  given 
by  Cotgrave,  1611,  who  writes  it  mmkiditti,  meaning  perhaps 
(mws*k«'d«t'«),  and  translates  much  good  may  doe  unto  you.2 

1555.  CHEKE  says :  "  Cum  duke  tuke  lute  rebuke  SVK  TVK 
\VT  pe/BvK  dicimus,  Grsecum  v  sonaremus."  Of  this  Greek  v 
he  says  "  simplex  est,  nihil  admixtum,  nihil  adjunctum 
habet,"  and  it  was  therefore  a  pure  vowel,  with  which  he 
identifies  the  English  long  u.  Mekerch  in  adopting  Cheke's 
words  changes  his  examples  thus,  "  quum  Gallice  mule,  id 
est  mula,  Belgice  duken,  id  est  abscondere,  //-vX  &VK  dicimus, 
Graecum  v  sonamus."  Mekerch,  therefore,  intending  to  give 
the  same  sound  to  Greek  v  as  Cheke  did,  makes  it  (yy). 
This  was  the  sound  which  Cheke  identified  with  English 
long  u  and  declared  to  be  a  simple  sound,  that  is,  not  a 
diphthong. 

1  Dr.  Benjamin  Davies  could  see  no          Nur.      I  speake  no  treason, 
difference  in  ordinary  conversation,  but      Father,  0  Godigoden, 

admitted  that  one  was  attempted  to  be  which  is  transliterated  in  the  Globe 

made  in  "  stilted  utterance,"  and  then  edition,  act  iii,  sc.  5,  v.  173, 

it  seemed  to  me  to  be  like  (diu).  Nur.  I  speak  no  treason. 

2  The  same  writer  gives  as  the  con-  Cap.                0,  God  ye  god-den, 
traction  for  God  give  you  good  evening,  an  evident  mistake,  as  Godi-  is  a  con- 
Godigodin,    meaning  perhaps   (Godi-  traction  for  God  gi'you.     The  sentence 
gudiin-).     In  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Folio  should  be  as  much  wrapped  up  into 
1623,  Tragedies  p.  70  col,  1.  we  find  one  word,  as  the  ordinary  good  bye. 


166  U  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

1568.  SIR  THOMAS  SMITH  is  still  more  precise  and  circum- 
stantial. He  says  : 

"Y  vel  v  Grsecum  aut  Gallicum,  quod  per  se  apud  nos  taxum 
arborem  significat.  taxus  v"  meaning  that  yew  =  sound  of  Greek  v ; 
i.e.  as  lie  immediately  proceeds  to  shew,  and  as  I  shall  assume  in 
transcribing  his  characters,  yew  =  (yy),  though  perhaps  this  par- 
ticular word  was  (jyy).  The  following  are  his  examples  :  "  (snyy) 
ningebat,  (slyy)  occidit,  (tryy)  verum,  (tyyn)  tonus,  (kyy)  q.  litera, 
(ryy)  ruta,  (myy)  cavea  in  qua  tenewtur  accipitres,  (nyy)  novum ; 
(tyylt'}1  valetudinarius,  (dyyk)  dux,  (myyl)  mula,  (flyyt)  tibia 
Germanorum,  (dyy)  debitum,  (lyyt)  testudo,  (bryy)  ceruisia  facere, 
(myylet)  mulus,  (blyy)  cseruleum,  (akkyyz)2  accusare." 

In  this  list  we  have  true,  rue,  mete,  which  are  the  same  as 
Palsgrave's  examples  of  ew  sounded  as  French  u ;  and  duke, 
true,  the  same  as  Salesbury's  examples  of  u  sounded  as 
Welsh  uw.  This  would  identify  both  sounds  with  (yy)  if 
we  could  be  satisfied  of  Smith's  pronunciation.  Now  he  says 
explicitly : — 

"Quod  genus  pronunciationis  nos  a  Gallis  accepisse  argmit,  quod 
rarius  quidem  nos  Angli  in  pronuntiando  hac  utimur  litera.  Scoti 
autem  qui  Gallica  lingua  suam  veterem  quasi  obliterarant,  et  qui 
trans  Trentam  fluvium  habitant,  yicinioresque  sunt  Scotis,  frequen- 
tissime,  adeo  vt  quod  nos  per  V  E-omanum  sonamus  (u),  illi  libenter 
proferunt  per  v  Gra3cum  aut  Gallicum  (yy) ;  nam  et  hie  sonus  tarn 
Gallis  est  peculiaris,  ut  omnia  fere  Eomane  scripta  per  u  et  v  pro- 
ferunt, vt  pro  Dominus  (Dominyys)  et  lesvs  (Jes'yys),3  intantum 
vt  quae  brevia  sint  natura,  vt  illud  macrum  v  exprimant  melius, 
sua  pronunciatione  longa  faciunt.  Hunc  sonum  Anglosaxones,  de 
quibus  postea  mentionem  faciemus,  per  y  exprimebant,  ut  verus 
Anglosaxonice  tjiy.  Angli  (miur)  meretrix,  (kuuk)  coquus,  (guud) 
bonum,  (bluud)  sanguis,  (nuud)  cucullus,  (fluud)  fluvius,  (buuk) 
liber,  (tuuk)  cepit;  Scoti  (syvr,  kyyk,  gyyd,  blyyd,  nyyd,  flyyd, 
byyk,  tyyk)."  And  again,  "  0  rotundo  ore  et  robustius  quam 
priores  effertur,  u  angustiore,  csetera  similis  TO)  o.  Sed  v  (yy)  com- 
pressia  propemodum  labris,  multo  exilius  tenuiusque  resonat  quam 

1  "  TULY,  Poorly.  *  T«^-stomaclied.'  been  in  consequence  often  misled  to 
'A  well  naaba,   how  de  yeow  fare  ?'  write  (tsh)  for  (k),  thus  he  here  prints 
'  Wa'  naaba,  but  tuly.' ...  Twaly,  vexed,  accvz,  which  should  mean  (atshtshyj-z-) 
ill-tempered,   Salop.  ...  twily,  restless,  an  almost  impossible  combination,  but 
wearisome,    Somerset  ;     tewly,   small  really  means  (akyyz-),  though  I  have 
and  weakly,  Dorset.    Tewly,  qualmish,  kept  the  incorrectly  doubled  (k)  in  the 
in    delicate    health,    Essex,    [Sir    T.  text. 

Smith's  county]  and  Camb.     Ttvall,  a  8  The  initial  consonant  must  have 

whim,  Suff."  John  Greaves  Nail,  Chap-  been  (dzh)  or  (zh).     Probably  it  was 

ters  on  the  East  Anglian  Coast,  2  vols.,  mere  carelessness  on  Smith's  part  to 

8vo,  1866,  vol.  2.     Etymological  and  use  (J),  as  when  he  wrote  c  for  k.   The 

Comparative  Glossary  of  the  Dialect  first  vowel,  too,  is  accidentally  short,  so 

and  Provincialisms  of  East  Anglia.  that  (Dzhee'syys)  or  (Dyhee'zyys),  re- 

2  Smith  uses  c  for  (tsh),  but  he  has  presents  the  real  sound  he  intended. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  167 

0  aut  w,  (boot)  scapha,  (buut)  ocrea,  (byyt)  Scotica  prominciatione, 
ocrea"     And  again  in  his  Greek  Pronunciation  :  "  v  Graecum  Scoti 
&  Borei  Angli  turn  exprimuwt  cum  taurum   sonant,   &  pro  but, 
dicuwt  exiliter  contractioribus  labiis  sono  suppresso  &  quasi  prsefo- 
cato  inter  t&u  bul  (byl)." 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  indicate  tlie  sound  of  (yy)  more 
clearly  and  precisely  in  common  language. 

Respecting  u  short,  Smith  says : 

"YLatinam,  apertissimam  habemus  Angli,  quamvis  illam  non 
agnoscimus,  jam.  longo  tempore  a  Gallis  magistris  decepti:  at  pro- 
nunciatio  sonusque  noster  non  potest  non  agnoscere.  Brevis  (but)  sed, 
(luk)  fortuna,  (buk)  dama  mas,  (mud)  limus,  (ful)  plenus,  (pul) 
deplumare,  (tu)  ad;  longa  (buut)  ocrea,  (luuk)  aspicere,  (buuk) 
liber,  (muud)  ira  aut  amctus,  (fuul)  stultus,  (puul)  piscina,  (tuu) 
duo,  etiam." 

(Buk)  being  in  Salesbury's  list  serves  to  identify  the  two 
methods  of  symbolisation.  Of  course  no  such  fine  distinc- 
tions as  (u,  u)  are  to  be  expected,  nor  indeed  are  they  gene- 
rally necessary  to  be  insisted  on.  An  attentive  examination 
of  the  sounds  of  fool  full  in  our  present  pronunciation  will 
however  shew  that  they  contain  different  vowels  (fuul,  fzdl), 
each  of  which  can  be  pronounced  long  or  short  (fuul  ful,  iuu\ 
ful)  and  that  these  differ  as  (i,  i)  by  the  pharyngal  action 
already  explained.  As  however  short  (u)  rarely  if  ever 
occurs  in  closed  syllables,  and  (uu)  long  never  occurs  in  ac- 
cented syllables,  except  before  r  (j),  it  would  be  generally 
intelligible  to  make  no  distinction  between  (u)  and  (u)  except 
in  rare  instances.  One  marked  difference  between  the 
sounds  (e,  u)  and  (i,  u)  is  that  (i)  may  be  easily  sung  to  a  deep 
note,  but  (i)  cannot ;  and  on  the  contrary  (u)  may  be  sung  to 
a  very  high  note,  but  (u)  cannot. 

1569.  HART  calls  u  long  a  diphthong,  but  in  his  explana- 
tion he  makes  it  arise  from  the  attempt  to  pronounce  (i)  and 
(u)  simultaneously,  and  he  clearly  points  out  that  both  the 
lingual  position  of  (i)  and  the  labial  position  of  (u)  are  held 
on  steadily  during  the  sound  of  long  u,  so  that  if  the  (i) 
position  be  relaxed,  the  sound  of  (u)  results,  and  if  the  (u) 
position  be  relaxed  the  sound  of  (i)  results.  This,  as  we 
have  seen,  amounts  to  a  very  accurate  description  of  the 
simple  sound  (yy),  which  is  therefore  the  sound  which  he 
means  by  the  inaccurate  title  and  notation  of  "  the  diphthong 
iu."  His  words  are  : 

"Now  to  come  to  the  u.    I  sayde  the  French,  Spanish,  &  Brutes,1 

1  maye  adde  the  Scottish,  doe  abuse  it  with  vs  in  sounde  and  for 

i  That  is,  Welsh. 


168  u  XVI TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

consonant,  except  the  Brutes  as  is  sayd :  the  French  doe  neuer 
sound  it  right,  but  vsurpe  ou,  for  it,  the  Spanyard  doth  often  vse  it 
right  as  we  doe,  but  often  also  abuse  it  with  vs ; *  the  French  and 
the  Scottish  in  the  sounde  of  a  Diphthong  :  which  keeping  the 
vowels  in  their  due  sounds,  commeth  of  i  &  u,  (or  verie  neare  it)  is 
made  and  put  togither  vnder  one  breath,  confounding  the  soundes  of 
i,  &  u,  togither:  which  you  may  perceyue  in  shaping  thereof,  if  you 
take  away  the  inner  part  of  the  tongue,  from  the  upper  teeth  or 
Gummes,  then  shall  you  sound  the  u  right,  or  in  sounding  the 
French  and  Scottish  u,  holding  still  your  tongue  to  the  vpper  teeth 
or  gums,  &  opening  your  lippes  somewhat,  you  shall  perceyue  the 
right  sounde  of  «'."  Thus  Hart  writes :  (ui  did  not  mutsh  abiuz 
dhem),  meaning  (wi  did  not  mutsh  abyyz  dhem)  as  I  shall  here- 
after transliterate  his  iu. 

1573.  BARET  says,  after  speaking  of  the  sound  of  v  con- 
sonant : 

"And  as  for  the  sound  of  Y  consonant2  whether  it  be  to  be 
sounded  more  sharply  as  in  spelling  Hue  or  more  grosly  like  00,  as 
we  sound  £ooke,  it  were  long  here  to  discusse.  Some  therefore  think 
that  this  sharpe  Scottish  Y  is  rather  a  diphthong  than  a  vowell, 
being  compounded  of  our  English  e  and  u,  as  indeed  we  may  partly 
perceyue  in  pronouncing  it,  our  tongue  at  the  beginning  lying  flat 
in  our  mouth,  and  at  the  ende  rising  up  with  the  lips  also  there- 
withall  somewhat  more  drawen  togither." 

This  would  certainly  make  a  diphthong  because  there 
would  be  a  change  of  position,  but  what  is  the  initial  sound  ? 
The  tongue  does  not  certainly  "  lie  flat  in  our  mouth  for  e." 
The  nearest  sounds  answering  to  this  description  are  (CE  a,  A 
o)  and  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  any  of  these  to  be  the 
initial  of  such  a  diphthong.  The  only  interpretation  I  can 
put  on  this  somewhat  confused  description  is,  that  Baret  was 
speaking  of  the  position  of  the  tongue  before  commencing  to 
utter  any  sound,  and  that  when  the  sound  was  uttering,  the 
tongue  rose  and  the  lips  rounded  simultaneously,  and  this 
agrees  with  the  other  descriptions,  making  the  sound  (yy). 

1580.  BULLOKAH  says  :  "U  also  hath  three  soundes:  The  one  of 
them  a  me  ere  consonant,  the  other  two  soundes,  are  both  vowels:  the 
one  of  these  vowels  hath  a  sharpe  sound,  agreeing  to  his  olde  and 
continued  name  :  the  other  is  of  flat  sound,  agreeing  to  the  olde 
and  continued  sound  of  the  diphthong  :ou:  but  alwaies  of  short 
sounde."  And  further,  translating  his  phonetic  into  ordinary  spel- 
ling :  "  and  for  our  three  sounds  used  in,  v,  the  French  do  at  this 
day  use  only  two  unto  it :  that  is,  the  sound  agreeing  to  his  old 
and  continued  name,  and  the  sound  of  the  consonant,  v.19 

1  That  is,  sometimes  say  (u),   and          8  Evidently  a  misprint  for  vowel, 
sometimes   (yy),   but  this  is  not  the      I  quote  from  the  edition  of  1580. 
case  certainly  in  modern  Castillian. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  XVI TH   CENTURY.  169 

From  these  two  passages  it  is  clear  that  the  "  old  and  con- 
tinued name"  of  long  u  in  English  was  the  sound  of  the 
French  u,  that  is  (yy).  The  flat  sound  we  shewed  in  treating 
of  ou  (p.  152),  was  probably  (u).  Bullokar  adds,  where  I 
translate  his  phonetic  examples  into  palaeotype  : 

"  U.  sharpe,  agreeing  to  the  sound  of  his  olde  and  continued 
name,  is  so  sounded  when  it  is  a  sillable  by  itself,  or  when  it  is  the 
last  letter  in  a  sillable,  or  when  it  commeth  before  one  consonant, 
&  :  e :  ending  next  after  the  consonant,  in  one  syllable  thus :  vnity, 
vniuersally  procureth  vse  to  be  occupied,  and  leisure  allureth  the 
vnruly  to  the  lute :  which  I  write,  thus :  (yym'tfc  yymversaulK 
prokyyreth  yys  tuu  bii  okkyypeYed  and  leizyyr  allyyreth  the 
un-ryyb'  tuu  dhe  lyyt). 

"  T7  flat  is  used  alwaies  after  :a:  e:  or  o :  in  diphthongs,  or 
next  before  a  single  consonant  in  one  sillable,  hauing  no  :  e  :  after 
that  consonant,  or  before  a  double  consonant,  or  two  consonants 
next  after  it :  though  :  e :  followe  that  double  consonant,  or  two 
consonants  all  in  one  or  diuerse  sillables,  thus :  the  vniust  are 
vnlucky,  not  worth  a  button  or  rush,  vntrusty,  vpholding  trumpery 
at  their  full  lust :  which  I  write,  thus  :  (dhe  un-dzhust  aar  un-luki, 
not  worth  a  but'n  or  rush  up-noouldiq  trumpet  at  dheir  ful  lust). 

The  word  full  is  the  same  as  one  of  Smith's  examples  of  u 
short,  and  hence  fixes  the  sound  of  Bullokar's  u  flat,  which 
he  does  not  otherwise  explain. 

1611.  COTGRAVE  says  :  "  V  is  sounded  as  if  you  whistle  it 
out,  as  in  the  word  a  lute."  Now  the  French  u  (yy)  has  a 
very  whistling  effect,  both  tongue  and  lip  being  disposed  in 
a  favourable  position  for  the  purpose. 

1621.  GILL  is  again  not  so  distinct  as  could  be  wished,  he 
merely  says,  preserving  his  notation,  and  his  italics : 

"  V,  est  tennis,  aut  crassa:  tennis  v,  est  in  Verio  tu  vz  VSE  utor ; 
crassa  Ireuis  est  u.  vt  in  pronomine  us  nos1 ;  aut  longa  ii :  vt  in  verbo 
tu  iiz  OOSE  scaturioj  aut  sensum  exeo  mori  aqua  vi  expresses" 
Gill  never  alludes  to  any  diphthong  (iu).  He  uniformly 
uses  a  single  sign,  the  Roman  v,  for  the  sound  of  long  u, 
employing  the  Italic  v  for  (v).  He  also  uses  a  single  cha- 
racter for  the  diphthong  long  i,  but  then  he  admits  that  it 
is  only  slightly  different  from  the  diphthong  (ei).  There 
are  very  few  indications  of  the  sound  he  really  meant  to 
express  by  his  v.  First  we  must  assume  that  it  was  a  simple 
sound  and  "  thinner"  than  (uu).  This  should  mean  that  the 
entrance  to  the  lingual  aperture  was  diminished  by  bringing 
the  tongue  more  into  the  (i)  position.  But  this  converts  (u) 
into  (y),  and  hence  leads  us  to  Gill's  v  =  (yy),  as  the  sound 

1  Misprinted  uos. 


170  U  —  XVI  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


is  always  long.  Next  in  his  alphabet  he  calls  it  v 
which  should  imply  that  it  had  the  theoretical  sound  assigned 
to  the  Greek  v.  This  we  have  seen  from  Cheke  and  Smith 
was  (yy).  But  then  the  example  in  the  alphabet  is  "sur  SURE 
certus,"  and  Salesbury  says  that  Welsh  u  is  unlike  the  sound 
of  English  sure.  This  may  mean  that  sure  must  have  been 
written  suwr  in  the  nearest  Welsh  characters,  because  sur 
would  have  sounded  too  like  (swr).  Hart  and  Bullokar  both 
give  (syyer).  Lastly,  in  mentioning  the  words  taken  from 
the  French  he  says  :  "  Hedvite  nupera  vox  est  d  reduco? 
munimentum  pro  tempore  aut  occasione  factum."  This  should 
be  the  French  rtduit,  with  a  wrong  e  added,  and  hence  ought 
to  establish  the  value  (yy)  for  Gill's  v.  This  therefore  is 
the  result  to  which  all  parts  of  the  investigation  tend,  so 
that  we  must  assume  it  to  be  correct.  On  the  other  hand 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  ii,  u  of  Gill  were  (uu,  u). 
1633.  BUTLER  is  unsatisfactory,  when  he  says  that  : 
"  a,  i,  u  differing  from  themselves  in  quantity  differ  also  in 
sound:  having  one  sound  when  they  are  long,  and  another  when 
they  are  short,  as  in  mane  and  man,  shine  and  shin,  tune  and  tun 
appeareth  .  .  .  Likewise  oo  and  u  long  differ  much  in  sound  :  as  in 
fool  and  fule,  rood  and  rude,  moot  and  mute,  but  when  they  are 
short,  they  are  all  one  ;  for  good  and  gud,  blood  and  blud,  woolf  and 
wulfhave  the  same  sound." 

From  this  we  learn  with  certainty  that  short  u  was  (u)  or 
(u),  and  that  long  u  was  not  (uu),  but  we  cannot  tell  whether 
it  was  (yy)  or  (iu).  As  long  i  was  (ai)  at  that  time,  and  no 
allusion  is  made  by  Butler  to  its  being  a  diphthong,  we  are 
unable  to  assume  that  long  u  was  a  simple  sound.  We 
might  indeed  be  led  by  the  following  passage  to  suspect  that 
Butler  had  begun  to  embrace  the  (iu)  sound  which  must 
certainly  have  widely  prevailed,  when  his  work  was  pub- 
lished, although  it  is  not  distinctly  acknowledged  : 

"  /  and  u  short  have  a  manifest  difference  from  the  same  long; 
as  in  ride  rid,  rude  rud,  dine  din,  dune  dun,  tine  tin,  tune  tun  ;  for 
as  i  short  hath  the  sound  of  ee  short  ;  so  has  u  short  the  sound  of  oo 
short.  ...  E  and  i  short  with  w  have  the  very  sound  of  u  long  : 
as  in  hiw,  Jcneew,  true  appeareth.  But  because  u  is  the  more  simple 
and  ready  way  ;  and  therefore  is  this  sound  rather  to  be  expressed 
by  it:"  but  he  prefers  eew  for  etymological  reasons  in  "  Ireew, 
kneew,  lleew,  greew,  treew,  sneew"  where  Ireew,  treew,  sneew  are  in 
Smith's  list  of  words  having  the  sound  (yy).  Butler  finally  asks 
"But  why  are  some  of  these  written  with  the  diphthong  ew? 
whose  sound  is  manifestly  different,  as  in  dew,  ewe,  few,  hew,  chew, 
rew,  seiv,  strew,  shew,  shrew,  pewter." 

1  Misprinted  reduce. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  TJ  XVII TH   CENTURY.  171 

Now  dew^feiv,  shreiv  are  in  Palsgrave's  list  of  (eu)  sounds; 
and  the  same,  together  with  strew,  are  in  Smith's  (eu)  list. 
Hence  it  is  clear  that  Butler  distinguished  (eu)  from  the 
other  sound  of  u  long,  and  it  is  possible  that  his  u  long  may 
have  heen   (iu),  but  as  Hart  called   (yy)  a  diphthong  and 
represented  it  by  (iu),  while  his  careful  description  deter- 
mined it  to  be  (yy),  so  Butler  may  have  said  (yy). 
At  any  rate  it  is  clear  that  quite  to  the  close  of  the  xvi  TH 
century,  (yy)  was  the  universal  pronunciation  of  long 
u  in  the  best  circles  of  English  life,  and  that  it  remained 
into  the  xvn  th  century  we  shall  shortly  have  further 
evidence.     Provincially   it  is  still   common.      In   East 
Anglia,   in  Devonshire,  in  Cumberland,   as  well  as  in 
Scotland,  (yy)  and  its  related  sounds  are  quite  at  home. 
The  southerns  are  apt  to  look  upon  these  dialectic  forms 
as  mispronunciations,  as  mistakes  on  the  part  of  rustics 
or  provincials.     They  are  now  seen  to  be  remnants  of 
an  older  pronunciation  which  was  once  general,  or  of  a 
peculiar  dialectic  form  of  our  language  of  at  least  equal 
antiquity.     The  sound  of  short  u  was  also  always  (u)  or 
(u).     There  is  no  hint  or  allusion  of  any  kind  to  such  a 
sound  as  (9).     The  (u),  still  common  in  the  provinces, 
was  then  universal. 

U  —  xvii  TH  CENTURY. 

1640.  BEN  JOJTSON  says:  "Y  is  sounded  with  a  narrower,  and 
meane  compasse,  and  some  depression  of  the  middle  of  the  tongue, 
and  is,  like  our  letter  i.  a  letter  of  double  power," 
By  this  he  probably  only  means  that  it  was  both  a  vowel  and 
a  consonant  (v).  In  his  notes  he  gives  quotations  concern- 
Greek  v,  ov,  the  latter  of  which  he  identifies  with  (uu), 
though  the  cry  of  the  owl,  which  is  rendered  tu  tu  in 
Plautus,  Menechmi,  act  iv,  sc.  2,  v.  90. 

Me.  Egon'  dedi  ?     Pe.  Tu,  tu  istic,  inquam.  vin'  afferri  noctuam, 
Quse,  Tu,  Tu,  usque  dicat  tibi?  nam  nos,  jam  nos  defessi  sumus. 

From  these  notes  Jonson  may  have  possibly  distinguished 
long  and  short  u  as  (yy,  u). 

1653.  WALLIS  clearly  recognizes  (yy)  as  long  u  and  dis- 
tinguishes it  carefully  from  the  diphthong  (iu).  He  says : 

"  Ibidem  etiam,"  that  is,  in  laliis,  "  sed  Minori  adhuc  apertura" 
than  (uu),  "  formatur  u  exile;  Anglis  simul  et  Gallis  notissimum. 
Hoc  sono  Angli  suuni  u  longum  ubique  proferunt  (nonmmquam 
etiam  eu  et  ew  quse  tamen  rectius  pronunciantur  retento  etiam  sono 
e  masculi1) :  Ut  muse,  musa ;  tune,  modulatio ;  lute,  barbitum ; 

1  That  is,  as  (eu). 


172  U  —  XVII TH   CEXTURT.  CHAP.  III.  ;  3. 

dure,  duro ;  mute,  mntns ;  new,  novus ;  Irew,  misceo  (cerevisiam 
coquo) ;  Itnew,  novi ;  nV*r,  aspicio ;  lieu,  vice,  etc.  Hnnc  sonum 
extranei  fere  asseqnentur,  si  diphthongum  I'M  conentor  pronunciare  ; 
nempe  1  exile  litterae  u  vel  w  prseponentes,  [ut  in  Hispanorum 
ciudad  chitas,1)  non  tamen  idem  est  omnino  sonns,  qnamvis  ad 
illnm  proximo  accedat ;  est  enim  iu  sonus  compositus,  at  Anglorom 
et  Gallorum  in  sonus  simplex.  Cambro-Britanni  hunc  fere  sonum 
utcunque  per  iw,  yw,  uw  describnnt,  ut  in  lliw  color ;  flyw  guber- 
naculum  navis ;  Duw  Deus,  aliisqne  innumeris." 

"Wallis  therefore  distinctly  recognized  the  identity  of  the 
English  and  French  sounds,  and  says  that  they  are  different 
from  the  diphthong  (iu)  because  they  are  simple  and  not 
compound  sounds,  but  approach  nearly  to  that  diphthong, 
evidently  because  (yy)  unites  the  lingual  position  of  (i)  with 
the  labial  position  of  (u).  He  also  notices  the  proximity  of 
the  "Welsh  I'M?,  yw,  uw  to  the  sound  of  (yy),  and  thus  explains 
how  Salesbury  came  to  hit  upon  uw  as  the  best  combination 
of  "Welsh  letters  to  convey  an  approximate  idea  of  the  sound 
to  his  countrymen.  Further  on  he  says : 

"  U  longum  effertur  ut  Gallorum  &  exile.     Ut  in  lute  barbitum, 
mute  mutus,  mine  musa,  cure  eura,  etc.     Sono  nempe  quasi  com- 
posito  ex  i  et  tc," 
where  he  saves  himself  from  the  diphthong  by  a  "  quasi" 

As  regards  short  u  he  says  : 

"  U  voealis  quando  corripitur  effertur  sono  obscure.  TTt  in  fat 
sed,  cut  seco,  bur  lappa,  burst  raptus,  curst  maledictus,  etc.  Sonum 
hunc  Galli  proferunt  in  ultima  syllaba  vocis  serriteur.  Differt  a 
Gallorum  e  feminino,  non  aliter  quam  quod  ore  minus  aperto 
efferatur.  Discrimen  hoc  animadvertent  Angli  dum  pronunciant 
voces  T^atinas  Her,  itur ;  ter  ter,  turtur;  cerdo  surdo;  ternus  Tur- 
nu*  ;  terri*  turn's  ;  refertum,  furtum,  &c." 

In  his  theoretical  part  he  gives  the  following  farther 
particulars  of  the  French  e  famininum  and  the  &  obscurum. 

11  Eodem  loco,"  that  is,  in  summo  gutture,  "  sed  apertura  faucium 
mediocri,"  Le.  less  than  for  (AJL),  "formatur  Gallorum  e  fcemininnm; 
sono  Lempe  obscnro.  Xon  aliter  ipsins  formatio  differt  a  formatione 
praeceoentis  d  aperti  (AA),  quam  quod  Tnagia  contrahantur  fauces, 
minus  avtem  quam  in  formatione  Yocalis  sequentis  (a).  Hunc 
sonum  Angli  vix  nspiam  agnoscnnt ;  nisi  cum  voealis  e  brevis  im- 
mediate praecedat  literam  r  (atque  hoc  quidem  non  tarn  quia  debeat 
sic  efferri,  sed  qnia  vix  commod^  possit  aliter;  licet  enim,  si  citra 
molestiam  fieri  possit,  etiam  illic  sono  vivido,  hoc  est,  masculo, 
efterre ;)  ut  vertue  virtus,  liberty  libertas  &c. 

"  Ibidem  etiam,  sed  Minori  adhnc  fancium  apertura  sonatur  6 
vel  H  obscurum.  Differt  a  Gallorum  e  fo2minino  non  ahter  quam 

1  The  Eng^idi  usnany  eaL  thia  word      eHtLzhaazf");  ^etttrepresente  the  pure 
it  »  proboWy  (en«ar=      C»)  diphthong. 


CHAP.  III.  §  3. 


U  XVII  TH    CENTURY. 


173 


quod  ore  minus  aperto,  labia  proprius  accedant.  Eundem  sonum 
fere  efierunt  Galli  in  postrema  syllaba  yocum  serviteur,  sacrificateur, 
etc.  Angli  plerumque  exprimunt  per  u  breue,  in  turn,  verto ;  burn, 
uro  ;  dull,  signis,  obtusus ;  cut,  seco,  etc.  Nonnunquam  o  et  ou 
negHgentius  pronuntiantes  eodem  sono  efferunt,  ut  in  cdme,  venio ; 
sdme,  aliquis ;  ddne,  actum ;  cdmpany,  consortium ;  country,  rus ; 
couple,  par ;  cdvet,  concupisco ;  Idve,  amo,  aliisque  aliquot ;  quse 
alio  tamen  sono  rectius  efferri  deberent.  Cambro-Britanni  ubique 
per  y  scribunt ;  nisi  quod  hanc  literam  in  ultimis  syllabis  plerumque 
ut  *  efferant." 

Wallis  therefore  heard  the  French  feminine  e  in  the  last 
syllable  of  serviteur,  sacrificateur.  In  this  he  agrees  with 
Feline,  who  draws  a  distinction  between  the  first  and  second 
syllable  of  heureux,  making  the  first  the  same  as  the  sound 
now  considered.1  But  Wallis  makes  the  aperture  of  the 
lingual  passage  grow  smaller  at  the  back  for  a,  e  feminine,  ti, 
the  first  being  (AA)  with  the  greatest  depression,  and  he  has 
an  action  of  the  lips  for  il.  This  ought  to  give  (AA,  a,  u) 
for  the  three  sounds.  But  this  cannot  be  right  for  ti,  because 
"Wallis  distinguished  it  from  (u).  Hence  we  must  disregard 
the  lip  action  of  the  last,  and  write  (AA,  a:,  ce).  This  how- 
ever, is  scarcely  probable.  There  is  another  difficulty.  The 
sound  of  e  in  ternus  is  not  at  present  formed  with  a  wider 
opening  of  the  mouth  than  the  sound  of  u  in  Ttirnus.  When 
any  distinction  at  all  is  made  it  is  rather  the  reverse.2  The 


1  See  supra,  p.  162,  note  3.  Tarver 
gives  the  same  vowel  sound  to  10,  feu, 
J?wope,  ncewd,  p0wt,  ceil,  aut0wr,  bonh0«r. 
Feline  makes  the  vowel  sound  in 
10,  J?wrope,  p0wt,  ceil,  autewr,  bonh<?«r 
the  same  ;  but  distinguishes  it  from 
that  in  feu,  ncetid.  In  M.  Feline's  Me'' 
moire  sur  la  Reforme  de  V  Alphabet  pre- 
fixed to  his  Dictionnaire  de  la  pronon- 
ciation  de  la  langue  Fran$aise,  giving 
an  account  of  the  deliberations  of  a 
committee  on  French  pronunciation, 
formed  at  his  request,  he  says :  "La 
conclusion  fut  que  Ye  muet  proprement 
dit  existe  dans  1'orthographe,  mais  non 
pas  dans  la  langue ;  que,  dans  tons  les 
mots  ou  il  est  necessaire  de  le  pro- 
noncer,  il  exprime  un  son  reel  comme 
tous  les  autres  signes,  et  que  ce  son 
devrait  etre  appele  sourd  et  non  pas 
muet,  cette  derniere  denomination  n' 
etant  qu'un  non-sens.  Apr&s  Ye  on 
passa  au  son  eu.  On  recounut  qu'il 
existe  bien  dans  la  langue  franchise,  et 
Ton  remarqua  qu'il  presente  avec  Ye 
que  je  viens  d'appeler  sourd  le  mcme.; 
rapport  qu'on  avait  trouve  entre  Us 


deux  sons  des  premieres  voyelles  a  et  d, 
d  et  e,  o  et  6.  Ce  rapport  est  en  effet  si 
bien  marque,  que,  dans  une  foule  de 
mots,  comme  jeune,  pdcheur,  on  fait 
entendre  le  son  de  Ye  sourd  et  non 
celui  de  Yett  tel  qu'il  est  donne  par  les 
motsjeune,  pecheuse"  Now  to  my  ears 
a  d,  te,  o  6  are  (a  a,  e  E,  o  o).  In  the 
first  two  pairs  the  circumflexed  vowel 
expresses  a  deeper  sound,  formed  by 
depressing  the  tongue ;  in  the  last  pair 
the  uncircumflexed  vowel  is  the  wide 
sound  of  the  circumflexed.  The  re- 
lations then  being  different  do  not  lead 
to  the  discovery  of  the  relations  be- 
tween 0,  ;0M.  These  may  be,  that  for 
eu  the  tjongue  is  more  depressed  than 
for  0,  v»liich  would  suit  for  0,  eu  =  (9, 
CE)  ;^  91  it  may  be  that  eu  is  the  wide  of 
0,  th^s  would  suit  0,  eu  =  (9,  ce),  which 
agrees  with  my  own  pronunciation. 

/*  Mr.  M.  Bell  who  says  (oo,  a)  in 
ternus,  Turnus  respectively,  makes  the 
opening  for  (a)  wider  than  for  (GO).  I 
would  rather  write  (trnas,  Tmos)  re- 
spectively, if  any  difference  at  all  has 
to  be  recognized. 


174  U  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

peculiarity  of  the  smaller  lingual  aperture  and  the  action  of 
the  lips  may  however  bring  us  to  (uh)  as  the  last  sound,  and 
induce  us  to  consider  the  three  sounds  as  (AA,  9,  wh).  So  far 
as  the  English  passage  of  short  u  from  (u)  or  (w)  to  (a),  the 
present  sound,  is  concerned  (wh)  forms  a  very  appropriate 
link,  because  Englishmen  find  it  difficult  to  distinguish  the 
Italian  somma  (s&hnrma)  from  (sunra)  on  the  one  hand  and 
(sanra)  on  the  other.  And  we  have  seen  (p.  94)  that  in  1611, 
the  Italian  Florio  actually  identified  English  (u)  with  Italian 
(wh),  just  as  1685,  Cooper  identified  (u,  0),  p.  101.  But  this 
sound  hardly  agrees  with  Wallis's  identification  of  u  with 
the  Welsh  y.  On  this  sound,  see  the  footnote  on  Y,  in 
Chapter  VIII,  §  1,  when  it  appears  that  the  Welsh  sound 
represents  the  vowel  (2)  but  that  in  common  discourse  it 
passes  into  (a)  on  the  one  hand,  and  (i)  on  the  other,  and 
may  be  always  sounded  (f).  Wallis  no  doubt  referred  to  the 
sound  (Q). 

Lastly,  if  we  reflect  that  («?)  is  the  de-labialized  (u),  and 
that  this  would  be  a  natural  transition  from  (u)  to  (a),  we 
might  revert  to  the  original  deduction  from  Wallis's  descrip- 
tion, and  make  his  ii  =:  (oe). 

On  the  whole  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  three  sounds 
he  meant  were  (AA,  a,  o).  Many  English  consider  the 
French  e  muet,  or  sourd,  to  be  deeper  than  (a),  but  of  the 
same  nature.  The  question  however  is  impossible  to  decide, 
and  I  think  it  safest  to  transliterate  a,  e  feminine,  u  by  (AA, 
so,  9),  which  indicates  the  modern  pronunciation  of  the 
English  vowels. 

The  great  peculiarity,  the  marked  singularity,  of  Wallis's 
account,  is  the  recognition  and  introduction  of  a  sound  re- 
sembling (e)  into  the  English  language  in  place  of  (u).  Of 
this  sound  no  trace  appears  in  any  former  writer  that  I  have 
consulted.1  But  from  this  time  forth  it  becomes  the  common 
sound.  Wallis  in  this  respect  marks  an  era  in  English  pro- 

1  In  the  passage    cited    from  Gill  to  indicate  the  sounds  (39,  jgr  skalarz, 

supra  p.   90,    in   which    he    inveighs  to),  for  which  he  had  no  symbols.  This 

against  the  thin  utterance  of  affected  is  the  closest  allusion  to  the  sound  that 

women, we  find  (b/tsherz)  for  (butsherz).  I  have  discovered.      For  though  the 

This  is  quite  comparable  to  the  Eastern  account  given  by  Florio,  1611,  p.  94, 

English   (ktver)    for    (kuver),   which  which  identifies  short  (u)   with   («h), 

Gill  had  just  mentioned,  and  appears  might  seem  to  indicate  (9)  as  well  as 

to  have  no  connection  with  the  sound  (M),   yet  as   the   Italians    confuse   (a) 

(batsh-er)  which  is  only  heard  from  a  rather  with    (a),   which  is   nearly  its 

small  number  of  people  at  the  present  wide  form,  than  with  (wh),  and  as  (u, 

day.      But  when  he   says  that  these  «h)  would  probably  be  indistinguishable 

affected  dames  said  (ja,  jar  skalerz,  ta)  to  an  Italian  ear,  the  inference  is  rather 

for  (jou,  JUUT  skolars,  tu),  it  is  just  that  the  sound  really  uttered  before 

possible  that  he  might  have  intended  Florio  was  (u)  and  not  (a). 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  IT  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  175 

nunciation,  the  transition  between  the  old  and  the  new. 
This  is  more  striking,  because  as  he  is  the  first  to  give  u 
short  as  (a),  so  is  he  practically  the  last  to  give  u  long  as 
(yy)  except  dialectically. 

At  the  present  day  (yy)  has  vanished  from  polite  society, 
and  is  only  heard  as  a  provincialism,  from  Norfolk,  Devon, 
or  Cumberland,  or  as  a  Scotticism.  ISTo  pronouncing  dic- 
tionary admits  the  sound  under  any  pretence.  Indeed  most 
English  people  find  it  very  difficult  to  pronounce,  either  long 
or  short,  and  consequently  play  sad  tricks  with  French.  But 
the  case  is  different  with  (u,  a).  The  two  sounds  coexist  in 
many  words.  Several  careful  speakers  say  (tu  pot,  batsh'er), 
though  the  majority  say  (tu  put,  bwtsh'er).  All  talk  of  a 
put  (pat).  Walker  gives  the  following  as  the  complete  list 
of  words  in  which  u  short  is  still  (it). 

lull,  pull,  full,  and  words  compounded  with  -ful ;  bullock,  bully, 
bullet,  bulwark,  fuller,  fullingmill,  pulley,  pullet,  push,  bush,  bushel, 
pulpit,  puss,  bullion,  butcher,  cushion,  cuckoo,  pudding,  sugar,  [he 
makes  sure  =  (shim)],  hussar,  huzza,  and  to  put,  with  Fulham,1  but 
says  that  "  some  speakers,  indeed,  have  attempted  to  give  bulk  and 
punish  this  obtuse  sound  of  u,  but  luckily  have  not  been  followed. 
The  words  which  have  already  adopted  it  are  sufficiently  numerous ; 
and  we  cannot  be  too  careful  to  check  the  growth  of  so  unmeaning 
an  irregularity." 

Here  the  orthoepist  unfortunately  reverses  the  order  of 
things,  and  esteems  "the  old  and  continued"  sound  of  (u)  an 
irregularity,  and  what  is  more,  an  "unmeaning  irregularity," 
and  is  not  aware  that  every  change  of  (u)  to  (a)  has  been 
a  modern  encroachment.  But  if  the  territories  of  (u)  and 
(a)  can  be  so  strictly  defined  in  the  south  of  England,  in  the 
middle2  and  north  the  war  is  still  raging,  and  though  educa- 
tion has  imported  large  quantities  of  (a)  from  the  south,  even 
magnates  in  the  north  often  delight  to  use  their  old  (u).3 

1  Smart  adds,  lullace,f ullage,  fullery,  nwlk)  they  are  not  common,  but  may 
cushat,  hurrah  !  to  the  above  list.  It  is  be  heard ;  (pwn-jfsh)  was  heard  lately 
curious  that  Walker  (art.  177)  speaks  from  an  educated  gentleman  in  Corn  wall, 
of  fulsome  as  a  "pure  English  word,"  2  In  the  Midland  counties  the  South  - 
and  Smart  (art.  117)  calls  it  a  word  "  of  ern  usage  is  almost  reversed,  (pat,  fat) 
classical  derivation."  Orthoepists  are  standing  beside  (kwt,  k^<m). 
not  always  good  in  etymology,  but  3  A  Yorkshire  country  gentleman 
"Walker  appears  to  have  the  best  of  it  who  wrote  his  name  Hutton,  and  whom 
here,  and  if,  as  seems  more  than  pro-  all  his  friends  called  (nat-n),  ah/ays 
bable,  fulsome  is  a  derivative  of  full,  spoke  of  himself  as  (nwt-n),  and  on 
(the  Promptorium  has  fulsunness  of  one  occasion  spelled  his  name  so  to  me 
mete,  sacietas,)  there  would  be  a  reason  with  phonetic  letters.  He  would  have 
for  retaining  the  sound  (M)  in  the  first  been  about  90  years  old  now,  were  he 
syllable.  At  any  rate  the  usage  of  still  alive.  All  the  Yorkshire  and  Mid- 
speakers  with  regard  to  (fwl'SBmV  and  land  peasantry  use  (u)  PA  a  matter  of 
varies  greatly.  As  to  (bwlk,  course. 


176  U  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

That  there  is  nothing  intrinsically  pleasing  in  the  sound 
of  (a),  may  be  seen  at  once  by  calling  good,  stood  (gad  stad), 
to  rhyme  with  blood,  flood,  (blad,  flad).  Those  speakers, 
to  whom  (wu)  presents  a  difficulty  are  apt  to  change  it  into 
(we)  as  (wad,  wanrBn)  for  (wwd,  wum'nn),  and  the  effect  is 
anything  but  pleasing.  In  general  the  long  Saxon  (oo), 
which  first  'became  (uu)  and  then  fell  into  (u)  or  (u),  has 
resisted  the  further  change  into  (a).  This  difference  of 
evolution  is  similar  to  that  which  has  befallen  i,  ei,  ai, 
which  Shakspere  pronounced  sufficiently  alike  to  introduce 
a  conceit  upon  them  in  one  of  his  most  tragic  speeches, 
already  cited  (p.  112),  but  which  have  become  three  quite 
distinct  sounds  (ai,  ii,  ee\),  (p.  120).  Both  changes  have 
occurred  rather  among  the  reading  than  the  merely  speaking 
section  of  our  population. 

1668.  WILKINS  and  Wallis  were  contemporaries ;  although 
the  latter  was  the  elder,  and  born  in  Kent,  and  the 
former  was  born  in  Oxford,  they  lived  as  fellow  collegians 
for  some  time  in  Oxford,  and  they  mixed  in  the  same  society. 
Yet  we  have  a  striking  difference  in  their  pronunciation  of 
long  u.  We  have  seen  how  Wallis  identified  the  French 
and  English  u,  how  he  considered  the  (yy)  sound  to  be 
familiar  to  all  Englishmen,  and  especially  distinguished  it 
from  the  diphthong  (iu),  and  this  he  continued  to  do  through 
all  the  editions  of  his  grammar.  Wilkins  at  the  same 
moment  can  scarcely  pronounce  (yy)  at  all,  denies  that 
Englishmen  use  it,  and  makes  every  long  u  into  (iu). 

11  As  for  the  u  Gallicum  or  ivhistling  u"  says  he,  p.  363,  "  though 
it  cannot  be  denied  to  be  a  distinct  simple  vowel ;  yet  it  is  of  so 
laborious  and  difficult  pronunciation  to  all  those  Nations  amongst 
whom  it  is  not  used,  (as  to  the  English)  especially  in  the  distinction 
of  long  and  short,  and  framing  of  Dipthongs,  that  though  I  have 
enumerated  it  with 'the  rest,  and  shall  make  provision  for  the  ex- 
pression of  it,  yet  shall  I  make  less  use  of  it,  than  of  the  others ; 
and  for  that  reason,  not  proceed  to  any  further  explication  of  it." 
And  again,  p.  382,  "u,"  which  is  his  character  for  (yy),  "is  I  think 
proper  to  the  French  and  used  by  none  else." 

This  is  a  strong  contradiction  to  Wallis,  whose  treatise 
Wilkins  had  read,  and  apparently  studied.1  The  only  word 
which  contains  long  u  that  Wilkins  transliterates,  is  commu- 
nion, and  this  he  writes  (kAmmiuuniAn),  using  (iuu)  and  not 
(yy)  in  the  accented  syllable. 

1  He  says,  p.  357,  "  Dr.  "Wallis  ....      and  subtlety  to  have   considered  the 
amongst  all  that  I  have  seen  published,       Philosophy  of  Articulate  sounds." 
seems  to  me,  with  greatest  Accurateness 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  XVII TH   CENTURY.  177 

Short  u  is  thus  exemplified  by  Wilkins  and  distinguished 
from  (uu,  u),  meaning  (uu,  u)  most  probably: 

(u)    short  full       fut  pul 

(uu)  long      boote     foole     foote     moote       poole    roode 
(a)     short     but        full1     futt1     mutt-ow   pull1     rudd-er 
(aa)   long  amongst 

The  sound,  which  he  represents  by  y  with  a  peculiar 
nourish  added  to  its  tail,  and  which  I  have  translated  into 
my  (a),  he  describes  as  "  a  simple  letter,  apert,  sonorous, 
guttural;  being  framed  by  a  free  emission  of  the  breath 
from  the  throat."2  Again,  p.  364,  he  says  "the  vowel  (a) 
is  wholly  Guttural,  being  an  emission  of  the  breath  from  the 
throat  without  any  particular  motion  of  the  tongue  or  lips. 
'Tis  expressed  by  this  character,"  a  variety  of  y,  "which  is 
already  appropriated  by  the  Welsh  for  the  picture  of  this 
sound."  As  he  here  rejects  both  tongue  and  lips  in  the 
formation  of  (a)  he  differs  considerably  from  Wallis  in  ex- 
plaining its  formation.  In  another  place  he  says  that  the 
Hebrew  "  Schevah"  is  rapidly  pronounced  "  probably  as  our 
short  (a)."  He  gives  (ai,  au)  as  the  analysis  of  "our 
English  i  in  bite,"  and  of  the  sound  in  "  otvr,  cwle."  And 
finally  he  says:  "y"  meaning  (a)  "is  scarce  acknowledged 
by  any  nation  except  the  Welsh."  The  words  in  which  he 
employs  this  sign,  omitting  the  combinations  (ai,  au)  are  : 
kingdom,  come,  done,  but,  Jesus,  son,  under,  Pontius,  buried, 
third,  judge,  church,  resurrection,  which  he  writes  (k/q'dam, 
kam,  dan,  bat,  Dzhesas,  san,  ander,  PAns^'^s,  barbed,  thard, 
dzhadzh,  tshartsh,  resarreksioon),  in  which  I  give  all  his 
errors.  I  assume  this  sound  to  be  (a)  both  in  Wallis  and 
Wilkins,  but  what  particular  shade  of  this  sound  they  pro- 
nounced, and  whether  they  both  used  the  same  shade,  it 
would  be  rash  to  assert. 

1668.  PRICE  does  not  help  us  to  the  sound  of  short  u 
when  he  says : 

"The  u  is  twofold,  1.  short,  as  in  but,  must,  burst,  2.  long  as  in 
lute,  muse,  refuse  as  if  it  were  the  compound  of  I'M;." 

This  iw  may  mean  (iu),  agreeing  with  Wilkins,  but  it 
may  also  mean  (yy)  agreeing  with  Wallis.  I  am  inclined  to 
treat  it  as  (iu).  The  short  u  I  have,  on  the  combined 

1  These  words  judging  from  futt,  are  viously  written  with  one  final  consonant 

all  fancy  words,  (fal,  fat,  pal),   intro-  to   indicate    the   sound    (u}.      If    this 

duced  to  contrast  with  the   (M,  fwt,  theory  be  correct,  the  word  full  in  the 

pwl),  in   a  preceding  line,   and  most  first  line,  was  a  misprint  forful. 

probably  the  doubling  of  the  final  con-  2  This  description  is  made  up  from 

sonant  was  intended  to  indicate    the  the  different    headings  of   the    table 

sound  (a),  whereas  fut,  pul  were  pre-  p.  360. 

12 


178  TJ  XVII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

authority  of  Wallis  and  "Wilkins,  been  in  the  habit  of  con- 
sidering to  be  (a).     The  following  notices  agree  with  this  : 

"0  after  w  soundes  like  short  u  as  world,  sword,  woman,  won.  .  .  . 
0  before  m  or  n  in  the  last  syllable  soundes  like  short  u  as  freedom, 
reckon,  bacon.  ...  Ou  soundes  like  short  u  in  cousin,  double, 
courage." 

But  there  is  one  notice  which,  thus  interpreted,  has  a 
singular  effect :  "  Oo  soundes  like  short  u  in  good,  wool,  hood, 
wood,  stood."  The  general  use  of  (gad,  wal,  Had,  wad,  stad) 
is  difficult  to  believe  in,  though  it  is  well  known  provincially, 
and  is  also  mentioned  by  Jones,  (p.  183). 

1669.  Though  HOLDER'S  work  was  not  published  till  this 
year,  Wilkins  had  seen  it  in  manuscript,  and  speaks  highly 
of  it.1  Yet  in  the  letter  u,  both  long  and  short,  Holder 
differs  from  Wilkins.  Holder  has  very  acutely  anticipated 
Mr.  M.  Bell's  separation  of  the  lingual  and  labial  passages, 
and  the  possibility  of  adding  a  labial  passage  to  every  lingual 
one.  He  says : 

In  o  the  larynx  is  depressed,  or  rather  drawn  back  by  contraction 
of  the  aspera  arteria.  And  the  tongue  likewise  is  drawn  back  and 
curved ;  and  the  throat  more  open  to  make  a  round  passage  :  and 
though  the  lips  be  not  of  necessity,  yet  the  drawing  them  a  little 
rounder,  helps  to  accomplish  the  pronunciation  of  it,  which  is  not 
enough  to  denominate  it  a  labial  vowel,  because  it  receives  not 
its  articulation  from  the  lips.  Oo  seems  to  be  made  by  a  like 
posture  of  the  tongue  and  throat  with  o  but  the  larynx  somewhat 
more  depressed.  And  if  at  the  same  time  the  lips  be  contracted, 
and  borne  stiffly  near  together,  then  is  made  8  ;  u  with  the  tongue 
in  the  posture  of  i  but  not  so  stiff,  and  the  lip  borne  near  the  upper 
lip  by  a  strong  tension  of  the  muscles,  and  bearing  upon  it  at  either 
corner  of  the  mouth." 

"  fc  is  made  by  the  throat  and  tongue  and  lip ;  in  8  the  tongue 
being  in  the  posture,  which  makes  oo ;  and  in  w  in  the  same  posture, 
which  makes  i,  and  in  this  «  and  u  are  peculiar,  that  they  are 
framed  by  a  double  motion  of  organs,  that  of  the  lip,  added  to  that  of 
the  tongue ;  and  yet  either  of  them  is  a  single  letter,  and  not  two, 
because  the  motions  i  re  at  the  same  time,  and  not  successive,  as  are 

1  He    says:    "But    besides  such,"  have  had  to  peruse  from  their  private 

namely,  "  in  later  times  ....  Erasmus,  papers  the  distinct  Theories  of  some 

both  the  Scaligers,  Lipsius,  Salmasius,  other  Learned  and  Ingenious  persons," 

Vossius,    Jacobus    Mathias,   Adolphus  Dr.  William  Holder  and  Mr.  Lodowick 

Metkerchus,  Bernardus  Malinchot,  etc.,  are  named  in  the  margin,  "  who  have 

besides  several  of  our  countrymen,  Sir  with    great   judgment    applyed   their 

Thomas    Smith,    Bullokar,   Alexander  thoughts  to  this  enquiry ;   in  each  of 

Gill,  and  Doctor  Wallis,"  "(whose  con-  whose  Papers,  there  are   several  sug- 

siderations  upon  this  subject  are  made  gestions  that  are  new,  out  of  the  eom- 

publick)  I  must  not  forget  to  acknow-  mon  rode,  and  very  considerable." 
ledge  the  favour  and  good  hap  I  have 


CHAP.  III.  §3.  TJ  XVII TH   CENTURY.  179 

eu,  pla  &c.  Yet  for  this  reason  they  seem  not  to  be  absolutely  so 
simple  vowels  as  the  rest,  because  the  voice  passeth  successively 
from  the  throat  to  the  lips  in  8  and  from  the  palate  to  the  lips  in  M, 
being  there  first  moulded  into  the  figures  of  oo  and  i,  before  it  be 
fully  articulated  by  the  lips.  And  yet  either  these  two,  8  and  «, 
are  to  be  admitted  for  single  vowels,  or  else  we  must  exclude  the 
lips  from  being  the  organs  of  any  single  vowel  since  that  the  mouth 
being  necessary  to  conduct  the  voice  to  the  lips,  will,  according  to 
the  shape  of  its  cavity,  necessarily  give  the  voice  some  particular 
affection  of  sound  in  its  passage,  before  it  come  to  the  lips ;  which 
will  seem  to  make  some  such  composition  in  any  vowel  which  is 
labial.  I  have  been  inclined  to  think,  that  there  is  no  labial  vowel, 
but  that  the  same  affection  from  the  lips  may,  somewhat  in  the  nature 
of  a  consonant,  be  added  to  every  of  the  vowels,  but  most  subtlely 
and  aptly  to  two  of  them,  whose  figures  are  in  the  extremes  of 
aperture  and  situation,  one  being  the  closest  and  forwardest,  which 
is  i,  and  the  other  most  open  and  backward ;  there  being  reason  to 
allow  a  vowel  of  like  sound  in  the  throat  with  8,  but  distinct  from 
it  as  not  being  labial,  which  will  be  more  familiar  to  our  eye  if  it 
be  written  oo ;  as  in  cut  coot,  full  fool,  tut  toot,  in  which  the  lip 
does  not  concur ;  and  this  is  that  other.  Thus  u  will  be  only  i 
labial,  and  8  will  be  oo  labial,  that  is,  by  adding  that  motion  of  the 
under-lip,  i  will  become  u,  and  oo  will  become  8."  He  proceeds  to 
use  his  «,  w,  8  in  the  formation  of  diphthongs  and  concludes  thus : 
"Concerning  8  and  u,  this  may  be  observed,  that  in  subjoining 
them  to  another  vowel,  8  is  apter  to  follow  a  and  o,  because  of 
their  resemblance  in  the  posture  of  the  tongue,  as  hath  been  said ; 
and  for  the  like  reason  u  is  apter  to  follow  a  and  e,  as  80t8/  wawl; 
euge  etc.  But  generally  if  the  vowels  follow,  then  it  is  8  precedes 
and  not  u" 

No  doubt  the  descriptions  give  very  accurately  oo  =  (cece), 
tf  =  (uu),  u  =  (i)  or  (y).  And  the  short  (ce)  would  then  be 
Holder's  sound  in  full.  Kow  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
fool  was  ever  pronounced  (foeoel),  the  sound  being  extremely 
difficult  to  any  one  but  a  Highlander  (in  whose  word  laogh  it 
occurs),  until  the  trick  of  removing  the  labial  action  from 
(uu)  has  been  acquired.  But  if  we  remember  that  now  full 
is  rather  (ful)  than  (ful) ;  and  that  the  widening  of  the  back 
of  the  throat,  by  which  (u)  differs  from  (u)  is  so  much,  the 
most  essential  part  of  the  sound,  that  a  very  good  imitation 
of  it  can  be  produced  with  the  mouth  wide  open,  it  is  very 
probable  that  Holder  called  fool  full  at  least  when  theorizing 
(fuul  ful).  The  pairs  of  examples  he  gives  are  cut  coot,  full 
fool,  tut  toot,  of  which  cut,  tut  would  have  been  (kat,  tat) 
according  to  Wallis  and  Wilkins,  who  would  have  perhaps 
preserved  the  old  pronunciation  (ful)  or  (ful).  Did  Holder 
say  or  intend  to  say  (kwt  kw/t,  ful  fuul,  tut  tuut)  ?  In  this 
case  he  must  have  altogether  ignored  the  vowel  (a).  Or  did 


180  U  —  XVII TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  3. 

he  mean  to  say  (kat  kaat,  fal  foal,  tet  teat)  ?  or  did  lie  mean 
— what  he  has  written — (kcet  koeoet,  ice\  fcecel,  tcet  icecei]  ? 
sounds  which  he  may  have  imagined  he  said,  but  which  other 
people  are  scarcely  likely  to  have  really  pronounced.  The 
distinction  which  Holder  makes  between  the  vowels  in  fool, 
two  is  peculiar  to  himself.  Wilkins  gives  fool  as  an  example 
of  the  long  (uu),  and  full  as  an  example  of  both  the  short 
(u)  or  (u}  and  of  (e),  supra  p.  177,  note  1.  This  throws  a 
doubt  over  the  pronunciation  of  this  particular  word,  full,  and 
renders  Holder's  explanations  still  more  mysterious.  Can 
it  be  that  Holder's  pronunciation  was  very  peculiar  so  that 
lie  actually  confused  (u,  e)  at  a  time  when  the  transition 
from  old  (u)  to  (a)  was  coming  into  vogue  ?  His  (ce)  would 
not  be  a  bad  middle  between  the  extremes  of  (u,  a).  His  long 
u  in  rule,  which  is  usually  now  (uu),  was  manifestly  (yy),  if 
his  explanation  of  superadding  the  labial  to  the  lingual  effect 
is  to  be  trusted.  His  only  notice  of  a  diphthongal  u  is  in  the 
word  euge,  just  cited,  which  must  have  been  (eydzhe),  if  his 
explanation  is  to  be  relied  on,  but  this  is  very  doubtful. 

1685.  COOPER  pairs  the  vowels  in  full,  fole,  or  as  he  some- 
times writes  foale,1  that  is,  in  full  he  takes  the  vowel  to  be 
short  (0).  He  may  however  have  used  (u)  or  (^h).  See 
the  discussion  on  p.  84,  and  the  passage  quoted  on  p.  101. 
The  observations  in  that  passage  serve  to  shew  that  u  in 
full  had  at  that  time  much  of  the  (0)  element  in  it;  that 
some  persons  may  have  pronounced  it  quite  as  (o)  ;  and 
others  as  (u)  the  usual  sound  into  which  (0)  degenerates, 
or  (u),  which  is  the  more  common  English  sound ;  the  true 
short  (u)  is  so  unusual  to  our  organs,  that  when  we  hear  it 
we  take  it  for  the  long  (uu),  and  we  can  hardly  pronounce 
it  except  when  long.  The  English  (uu,  u)  as  has  been 
already  mentioned,  are  related  precisely  like  the  English 
(ii,  «').  I  shall,  as  already  stated,  p.  84,  consider  that  Cooper 
pairs  (oo,  u).  But  Cooper  also  distinguished  (uu,  u)  in  food 
foot,  see  supra  p.  101.  He  illustrates  this  sound  by  German 
zufluch  (misprint  for  zuflucht  as  shewn  by  the  meaning  re- 
fugium)  and  French  coupe  poculum,  now  (tsrnrflukht,  kup). 

Cooper  is  very  copious  upon  short  u  which  he  clearly 
means  to  be  (a)  or  one  of  those  vowels,  as  (a,  CE),  which  he 
would  scarcely  distinguish  from  (a).  The  long  u  he  makes 
(iu)  and  seems  to  have  great  difficulty  in  understanding  the 
French  u  (yy).  His  words  are  : 

"  U  formatur  tantum  in  gutture,  a  larynge  spiritum  vibrante, 

1  As  fool  used  to  be  written  fole,       the  more  common  spelling  foale  could 
nothing  but  Cooper's  having  once  used      have  shewn  us  what  word  he  meant. 


CHAP.  III.  6  3. 


U  XVII  TH    CENTURY. 


181 


nudum  efficiente  murmur,  quod  idem  est  cum  gemitu  hominis  segritu- 
dine  vel  dolore  excruciati ;  quodque  infantes  (priusquam  loqui 
valeant)  primum  edunt :  Et  fundamentum  est,  a  quo  omnes  ccetera 
vocales,  varia  modificatione  constituuntur1  ....  Hunc  sonum  cor- 
reptum  vix  unquam  aliter  pronunciant  Angli  quam  in  nut  nux ; 
prout  etiam  in  lingua  latina,  ni  ubi  consonans  praBcedens  sit  labialis, 
ut  prius  dixi,  et  labiis  dat  formam  qua  sonus  plenior  effertur,  ut  in 
pull  vello,  inter  hos  minima2  datur,  datur  tamen  specifica,  diffe- 
rentia ;  ille  etenim  sonus  dilutior  est,  hie  plenior,  ille  formatur  a 
larynge  tantum  in  gutture,  hie  a  labiis  contractis ;  dum  itaque  o 
labiis  formatur  in  sono  continuato,  si  recedant  labia  in  oblongam 
formam  formatur  u  gutturalis;3  in  quibusdam  scribitur  per  o  ut, 
to  come4'  venire  ;  Galli  hoc  modo,  vel  saltern  persimili,5  olim  sonarunt 

however,  readily  confound  (a?,  a,  a& ; 
0,  ce,  0h)  with  one  another  and  with 
(e),  and  (i).  What  was  however  the 
old  pronunciation  of  the  present  French 
mute  e  ?  Meigret,  1550,  writes  the 
same  vowel  in  the  first  and  last  syllables 
of  "merite,  benite,  perir,  mere,  pere," 
which  Feline  writes  (merit,  benit,  perir, 
meer,  peer)  with  two  different  vowels. 
I  understand  Meigret  to  mean  (e)  in 
both  cases.  But  the  lightly  spoken 
unaccented  (e)  drifts  very  easily  into 
(e,  a,  0).  From  (e)  therefore  (&)  could 
have  easily  descended.  In  fact  (9)  is 
only  the  'round'  or  labialized  (e).  This 
recalls  an  apparently  inexplicable  re- 
mark by  Palsgrave,  1530,  who  says: 
"If  e  be  the  laste  vowell  in  a  frenche 
worde  beynge  of  many  syllables,  eyther 
alone  or  with  an  s  folowynge  him,  the 
worde  nat  havyng  his  accent  upon  the 
same  e,  then  shall  he  in  that  place  be 
sounded  almost  like  an,  o  and  very  moche 
in  the  noose,  as  these  words  homme, 
femme,  honeste,  pdrle.  hommes,  femmes, 
honestes,  avecques,  shall  have  theyr  laste 
e  sounded  in  maner  lyke  an  o,  as  hommo, 
femmo,  honesto,  parlo.  hommos,  femmos, 
hones  tos,  avecquos  ;  so  that,  if  the  reder 
lyft  up  his  voyce  upon  the  syllable  that 
commeth  nexte  before  the  same  e,  and 
sodaynly  depresse  his  voyce  whan  he 
cometh  to  the  soundynge  of  hym,  and 
also  sound  hym  very  moche  in  the  noose, 
he  shall  sound  e  e  beyng  written  in  this 
place  accordyng  as  the  Frenchmen  do. 
Which  upon  this  warnynge  if  the  lerner 
wyll  observe  by  the  frenche  mens 
spekynge,  he  shall  easily  perceyue." 
The  nasality  may  be  an  erroneous 
observation,  and  the  whole  history  may 
be  a  clumsy  expression  of  the  sound  of 
(9),  for  which  the  rounding  of  the  lips 
suggested  (o).  See  supra,  p.  119,  note, 
col.  2. 


1  The  natural  vowel,  should  he  the 
sound  of  the  voice,  that  is  of  the  vocal 
ligaments  or  glottal  reed,  without  any 
resonance  tube,  p.  161.     This  it  is  of 
course  impossible  to  hear.     But  it  must 
resemble  the  reed  sound  of  the  clarionet 
or  hautboy,  or  the  whistle  of  the  flute 
or  flageolet,  and  contain  in  itself  all 
the  tones  which  the  variously  formed 
resonance  tubes  prefixed  to  it  in  speak- 
ing, by  means  of  the  pharynx,  nose, 
tongue,  mouth  and    lips,    develop  or 
render  audible.     It  is  as  the  resonance 
tubes  clearly  separate  the  tones,  or  allow 
many  nearly  coincident  to  be  heard  to- 
gether, that  we  obtain  distinct  or  con- 
fused,   coloured    or    colourless,   vowel 
qualities  of  tone. 

2  This  remark  is  important  as  shew- 
ing the  ease  with  which  (u,  Q]  were 
confused  by  speakers  at  the  time  of  the 
transition  of  short  u  from  (u)  to  (a). 

3  If  the  lips  be  mechanically  opened 
by  the  hands  while  we  are  pronouncing 
(00)  we  shall  pronounce  (aa),  which  is 
the  form  that  Mr.  M.  Bell  adopts  for 
the  long  sound  of   u  in  up.     Hence 
Cooper  is  quite  consistent    when   he 
makes  u  in  full  the  short   (o),  and  u 
in  nut  the  delabialised  short  (o)  or  (a). 
This  is  the  most  accurate  description 
of  the  sound  that  I  have  met  with  in 
any  old  book,  and  may  be  advantage- 
ously compared  with  Holder's,  given 
above  p.  178. 

4  Probably  to  is  not  intended  as  an 
example,  but  only  come.      Both    are 
italicized  in  the  original. 

•  As  Mr.  M.  Bell  hears  (a)  in 
English  up  and  (a)  in  French  que,  and 
(a,  a)  only  differ  as  back  and  mixed 
vowels  of  the  same  class,  Cooper's  ear 
was  not  far  out.  To  me  however  now, 
the  French  e  in  que  sounds  (0),  which 
is  a  '  round'  vowel.  English  ears, 


182  U  —  XVII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §   3. 

fsemminum  e,  ut  in  providence.  German!  syllabus  ham1  &  berg*  in 
propriis  nominibus.  Nunquam  in  proprio  sono  apud  nos  productum 
audivi,  ni  in  musica  modulatione,3  vel  inter  populos,  prascipue 
pueros  cunctanter  pronunciantes ;  pro  longa  enim  vocali  assumit 
dipthongum  eu  (raj  ;  nnde  etiam  denominator ;  ut  mute  mutus ; 
prout  in  Neuter,  ^61)805,  idem  fere  cum  Gallorum  u  de  quo  inter 
dipthongos  dicetur." 

"  EITL  will,  weal  (i,  ee)  cum  w  (u)  coalescens  nobis  familiarissimus 
est,  quern  vocamus  u  Ion  gum-,  ut  funeral  funus,  huge  inus  ;4  juice 
succus,  scribimus  per  ew  ;  ut  chew  mastico  ;  knew  cognovi ;  aliisqwe 
temporibus  verborum  praeteritis ;  quando  syllabam  finalem  claudit, 
additur  e,  true  verus ;  raro  per  eu,  rheum  rheuma ;  sic  semper  pro- 
nunciamus  eu  latinum,  &  eu  Gracum :  et  Galli  plerumqw<9  illorum 
u,  quandoqw<9  autem  subtilius  quasi  sonus  esset  simplex,  sed  haec 
difficilis  &  Gallis  propria." 

The  last  words  shew  that  his  confusion  of  (yy)  with  (iu) 
in  French  pronunciation  was  really  fault  of  ear,  and  that  he 
was  quite  ignorant  of  (yy)  as  an  English  sound.  Cooper  is 
very  particular  in  shewing  how  all  vowels  fall  into  (0)  in  un- 
accented syllables  before  r.  These  will  be  considered  under  R. 

1688.  MIEGE  of  course  hears  the  English  long  u  as  the 
French,  but  as  the  diphthong  (iu)  does  not  occur  in  French, 
this  only  shews  the  same  defect  of  ear  which  makes  him 
identify  short  u  in  cut  with  French  o  (o),  and  short  u  in  us 
with  French  eu  (ce).  He  says  : 

"La  Prononciation  commune  de  I'U  Yoyelle  en  Anglois  est  la 
meme  qu'en  PranQois,  Mais,  entre  deux  Consonnes  dans  une  merne 
Syllabe,  elle  se  prononce  ordinairement  en  o;  Comme  but,  cut,  rub, 
up,  humble,  under,  run.  Quequefois  en  ou ;  Exemple  chuse,  puss, 
lull,  pull,  full.  En  eu,  comme  us,  faculty,  difficult,  difficulty.  Bury 
&  busy  se  prononcent  bery,  bisy,  Et  dans  les  Mots  qui  finissent  en 
ure,  Vu  semble  revetir  le  Son  d'un  e  feminin,  sur  tout  quand  on 
parle  vite.  Comme  nature,  picture,  fracture,  qui  se  prononcent 
familierement  naiterj  picter,  frecter."  And  again:  "U  vowel,  by 
it  self,  is  pronounced  in  French  according  to  the  Sound  it  has  in  the 
Word  Abuse  in  English. 

1701.  JONES  says :   "the  Sound  of  u  in  but,  cut,  &c.  is  the  Sound 

1  Dr.  Froembling.  in  his  Elements  of  Froembling  (who  speaks  English  ex- 

the  German  Language    2nd  edit.  1865,  cellently)   hit    upon  this   contrivance. 

p.  2,  says  that  the  Geirnan  a  "  is  pro-  Cooper  having  heard  ham  as  (nam)  in 

nounced  like  a  in  father,  if  long ;  and  proper  names   only,   must  have   been 

like  u  in  hut  if  short."     This  is  the  mistaken;    German  proper  names   do 

only  other  instance  I  know  in  which  not  end  in  ham  but  in  heim. 
German  short  a  has  been  identified  with          2  This    must    have    been    a    mere 

English  (a) ;  it  is  usually  confused  with  Anglicism. 

English  (A),  which  however  would  give          3  One  of  the  best  means  of  observ- 

a  very  broad  Austrian  pronunciation,  ing  the  prolonged  effect  of  short  vowel 

and  it  was  to  avoid  this  on  the  one  sounds, 
hand,  and  (ae)  on  the  other,  that  Dr.          4  Misprint  for  ingens  or  immensus  ? 


CHAP.  III.  §  3.  U  XVII TH   CENTURY.  183 

of  the  natural  humane  Voice,  and  therefore  the  easiest  of  all  the 
Sounds  that  are  made  by  the  humane  Yoice." 

And  yet  this  easy  sound  is  a  stumbling  block  to  all  Eu- 
ropean nations,  and  is  rarely  heard  except  among  Asiatics. 
It  may  be  doubtful  indeed  whether  the  Asiatics  pronounce 
the  same  variety  of  (9)  as  we  do.  Many  Welshmen  do  not 
admit  it  as  a  proper  Welsh  sound,  though  their  language  is 
supposed  to  have  an  appropriate  letter  y  to  represent  it.  As, 
however,  y  in  Welsh  also  represents  another  sound,  it  cannot 
be  more  properly  considered  the  special  representative  of  (9) 
than  the  English  u,  so  that  there  is  really  no  European  means 
of  representing  the  sound,  although,  owing  to  its  supposed 
relation  to  the  French  e  mute,  (0),  so  many  writers  hav.e  em- 
ployed an  inverted  e,  that  this  has  been  adopted  as  the  best 
understood  form  in  palaeotype.  The  sound  of  long  u,  Jones 
says,  is  compound,  but  he  does  not  analyze  it. 

Jones  gives  many  lists  for  the  representation  of  the  sound 
of  short  u  by  various  vowel  forms,  which  need  not  be  cited  at 
length  as  they  agree  generally  with  modern  use.  In  the  fol- 
lowing words  the  italic  letter  might  be,  or  occasionally  was 
sounded  as  (9)  according  to  Jones. 

Christmas,  William,  &c ;  centawry,  restoration,  &c ;  fasten, 
listen,  &c ;  aspen,  burden,  chicken,  cozen,  &c ;  yeoman ;  bezal,  civil, 
dev^'l,  &c ;  basm,  cabm,  coffm,  &c ;  "Westmmster  "sounded  West- 
muster;"  boil,  coil  &c  ==  (bail,  kail)  &c ;  another,  mother,  pother 
&c ;  boul,  bout,  fout,  lout,  out,  &c  =  (haul,  baut,  faut)  &c ;  dove, 
love,  move — this  is  peculiar,  shove  &c  ;  cowl,  howl,  &c  =  (kaul, 
Haul)  &c,  voyage,  &c ;  =  (varedzh) ;  vouch,  &c ;  word,  work, 
worth,  &c ;  yonder,  yonker,  &c ;  colonel,  colour,  &c ;  comfort,  &c ; 
coney,  conjure,  &c ;  money,  monkey,  &c ;  mongcorn,  monger,  &c ; 
cwlly,  &c;  blomaiy,  &c;  (see  under  0,  p.  102),  come,  some,  &c; 
bucksom,  fulsom,  &c ;  kingdom,  &c ;  chibol,  gambol,  symbol ; 
son,  does,  recognisance  "  sounded  recunnisance ;"  foot,  forsooth, 
good,  hood,  look,  soot,  stood,  took,  "  when  it  may  he  sounded  00 
rather  than  u;"  wood,  woof,  wool  " which  some  sound  as  with 
u  viz.  wud  wull  &c" — adjowrn,  attowrnment,  attowrney,  blow?, 
Bowrdeanx,1  cowntry,  cowrage,  cowrlass,  courteous,  cowrtesan,  cowrtesy, 
cowsin,  dowble,  dowblet,  nowd,  flourish,  housewife,  jowrney,  mowrn, 
nourish,  scowrge,  sojourn,  Soz4thwark,  towch,  trowble,  uncowth,  yowng, 
your,  youth  "and  all  the  Names  of  Seaport  Towns  as  Falmowth 
Portsmouth  Yarmouth"  &c ;  athwart,  thwart  "  sounded  athurt, 
thurt"  answer,  twopence  "  sounded  tuppence,"  myrrh,  pyramide 
&c;  c0merade  "  sounded  cumrade,"  hiccowgh  "sounded  hiccup" 
firamenty  "  sounded  furmety"  construe  "sounded  constur"  Cathe- 
rine "sounded  Catturn" 

1  There  is  a  place  near  Edinburgh  Bourdeaux  House.  Jones  also  writes 
called  (Bar-dt  nans)  from  the  old  (Buurdoo),  supra  p.  140. 


184  U  —  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  Y,  W,  WH      CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

In  almost  every  instance  (a)  is  seen  to  be  a  substitute  for 
an  older  (u),  or  (u)  as  (au)  was  of  an  older  (uu). 


U  —  xvin  TH    CENTURY. 

1704.  The  EXPERT  ORTHOGRAPHIST  gives  us  no  informa- 
tion on  the  nature  of  the  sounds  of  u  long  and  u  short. 

1710.  The  Anonymous  instructor  of  the  Palatines  says  that 
u  at  the  beginning  is  like  the  German  ju,  meaning  that  long 
M=(iu).  He  also  gives  the  pronunciation  of  the  English 
words  church,  much,  in  German  letters  as  tschurtsch,  mutsch 
=  (tshurtsh,  mutsh),  so  that  he  does  not  acknowledge  (a)  at 
all.  This  may  have  been  designedly,  because  (a)  would  have 
been  so  difficult  to  the  Palatines,  and  because  (u)  would  be 
intelligible  to  the  English. 

1766.  The  following  are  a  few  words  from  Buchanan  : 
(ful,  push,  shug'/r)  sugar  ;  (put ;  batshir,  pas)  butcher,  puss ; 
(tu  pat)  to  put ;  (ber%  \>iz'i}  bury,  busy ;  (triu,  fhrrzas,  liut, 
miuz)  true,  furious,  lute,  muse. 

1768.  Franklin  has  (satsh,  ranz,  matsh)  such,  runs,  much; 
(fiu-nas,  iu'sedzh,  truu,  ruulz,  iuz'ed)  furious,  usage,  true, 
rules,  used. 

1780.  Sheridan  gives  as  peculiar  Irish  faults,  (bal,  bash, 
pash,  pal,  pal'p/t,  pad'm,  kaslran,  fat,  pat)  for  (bul,  bwsh, 
push,  pzd,  pwl'p/t,  p^d*«q,  kwsh'an,  fut,  pert),  all  of  which,  as 
well  as  (drav,  strav)  for  (droov,  stroov)  are,  as  is  now  mani- 
fest, remnants  of  the  xvnth  century.  The  other  cases  of 
Irish  mispronunciations  which  he  cites,  and  which  have  been 
already  noticed,  (pp.  76,  92,  103,  129,  160),  shew  very 
clearly  that  the  so-called  Irish  mispronunciations  are  merely 
fossil  relics  of  the  xvnth  century,  preserved  in  a  com- 
munity separated  by  the  sea  from  the  mother  country,  see 
supra  p.  20. 


§  4.     The  Consonants. 
Y,  W,  WH. 

According  to  the  present  usages  of  English  speech,  Y  and 
W  are  the  consonants  (j,  w)  when  preceding  a  vowel,  as  in 
ye  woo  (ji  wu),  and  those  who  can  pronounce  these  words 
differently  from  (ii  uu)  can  generally  pronounce  these  conso- 
nants. But  there  has  been  a  great  dispute  among  orthoepists 
whether  y,  w  should  be  considered  as  vowels  or  consonants, 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.      Y,  W,  WH XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.        185 

and  various  terms  have  been  invented  to  suit  the  case.  As  they 
do  not  occur  in  French,  PALSGRAVE  of  course  does  not  notice 
them.  SALESBURY,  with  his  "Welsh  habits  always  regards 
y,  w  as  the  vowels  (i,  u),  and  consequently  writes  (und'er, 
uu)  for  (wun'der,  wuu).  SMITH  has -.the  same  opinion,  but 
writes  (i-is,  i-it,  u-ul,  u-ud)  for  (jis,  jit,  wul,  wud),  although 
these  sounds  cannot  be  distinguished  from  (iis,  iit,  uul,  uud) 
unless  either  a  distinction  in  the  vowels  be  made,  which  he 
does  not  allow,  as  (i«s,  let,  uul,  uwd),  or  else  the  vowel  be 
repeated  as  (i,is  i,it  u,ul  u,ud).  HART  carries  the  same 
principle  to  the  extent  of  writing  (iild  uuld)  for  (jiild,  wuuld) 
and  even  (ureit)  for  (wreit)  meaning  (rweit)  making  that 
word  therefore  dissyllabic.  GILL  has  distinct  alphabetical 
characters  for  (j,  w),  and  says : 

"Si  quis  sonorum  sequus  ^estimator  vsum  earuw  apud  nos  per- 
pendat,  inveniet  esse  consonas," 

but  seems  to  consider  that  the  principal  test  ("  lapis  Lydius") 
of  the  fact  is  that  the  indefinite  article  assumes  the  form  a 
and  not  an  before  y,  w.  He  adds  : 

"  Wt  aspiratum,  consona  est,  quam  scribunt  per  wh  et  tamen 
aspiratio  prascedit.  Illae1  namqw^  voces  quae  per  wh  scribuntur; 
possunt  aique  etiam  ad  exempla  maiorum  scribi  debent  per  (HW) 
aut  (HU)  ;  ita  enim,  nihil  aliud  inde  colligi  queat,  quam  quod  ex 
ipso  why  intelliginms ;  vt  (wiil)  sive  (uiil)  WEELE  nassa,2  (nwiil)  sive 
(miiil)  WHEELE  rota.  Tamen  quia  nostra  experientia  docet,  (w)  et 
(wh)  veras  esse  simplicesq«0  consonas,  in  quorum  elatione  (u)  sug- 
grunnit  tantum,  non  clara  vocalis  auditur ;  ideo  illud  (w)  ante 
vocales  aut  diphthongos  ius  assignatum  obtinebit;  at  (wh)  mala 
tantum  consuetudine3  valebit  in  (what)  quid,  (whedher)  uter  & 
similibus." 

We  have  here  the  first  distinct  recognition  of  a  consonant 
peculiar  to  the  English  language,  which  is  seldom  acknow- 
ledged even  by  recent  orthoepists,  most  of  whom  consider 
(wh)  as  =  (HW)  or  (HU).  The  preceding  writers  had  all 
used  (HU).  It  is  to  be  observed  that  Gill  had  no  (jh) ;  this 
must  have  been  because,  as  he  used  (yy)  in  place  of  (juu) 
initial,  he  said  (nyym'ur)  and  not  (jhuunrur),  for  which 
most  recent  orthoepists  have  (HJuu'maj),  a  combination  as 
objectionable  as  (nwiil)  for  (whiil). 

GATAKER  1646,  goes  to  the  extreme  of  making  y,  w  always 
consonants,  considering  ei,  ew  to  be  (ej,  ew).  This,  however, 

1  Misprinted^.  meant  one  (wh).     This  "bad  custom" 

2  Narrow  necked  basket  for  catch-  is  evaded  by  the   palaeotypic   use   of 
ing  fish.  (H)  for  the   aspirate  and  (h)  for  the 

3  The  fault  in  Gill  was  that  he  wrote  diacritic, 
two  consonants   (WH)  when    he   only 


186       Y,  W,  WH  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

depends  upon  a  diphthongal  theory,  to  which  writers  have 
been  led  by  observing  that  (ai)  is  not  merely  (a,  i),  see 
p.  51.  WALLIS  inclines  to  Gataker's  opinion,  and  says  : 

"  Diphthongi  ai,  ei,  oi,  au,  eu,  ou,  &c,  recte  pronunciatse  com- 
ponuntur  ex  vocalibus  praepositivis  et  consonantibus  y  et  w  quse 
tamen  pro  vocalibus  subjunctivis  vulgo  habentur." 

His  contemporary  WILKINS,  alluding  to  the  opinion  of 
Gataker  and  others  says  on  his  p.  370,  that  they 

"do  earnestly  contend  that  there  are  no  such  things  as  dipthongs. 
Their  principal  Arguments"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "depend  upon  this 
Supposition  that  (i)  and  (u),  which  are  necessary  Ingredients  to  the 
framing  of  all  usual  Dipthongs,  are  Consonants  the  same  with  (j) 
and  (w).  Others  would  have  them  to  be  of  a  middle  nature,  be- 
twixt Yowels  and  Consonants;  according  to  which  opinion  I  have 
already  described  them :  Prom  whence  the  Reason  is  clear,  why 
these  Vowels  concur  to  the  making  of  Dipthongs  because  being  the 
most  contract  of  Yowels,  as  is  also  the  vowel  (a)  of  which  more 
hereafter,  They  do  therefore  approach  very  near  to  the  nature  of 
Literce  clause,  or  Consonants ;  there  being  no  Transition  amongst 
these,  either  from  one  another,  or  to  the  intermediate  sounds,  with- 
out such  a  kind  of  motion  amongst  the  Instruments  of  speech,  by 
reason  of  these  different  Apertions,  as  doth  somewhat  resemble  that 
kind  of  Collision  required  to  the  framing  of  Consonants." 

COOPER  recognizes  (j,  w)  as  consonants  and  also  (jh,  wh) 
under  the  form,  (HJ,  HW),  at  the  same  time  that  he  defines  a 
diphthong  as  the  "  conglutinatio  duaruin  vocalium  in  eadem 
syllaba." 

This  theory  of  "  conglutination,"  effected  by  the  "  glide/' 
is  that  which  I  have  adopted  (p.  51),  and,  consequently,  be- 
lieving that  the  sounds  were  in  all  cases  the  same,  I  shall,  in 
transcribing  the  pronunciation  of  others,  when  they  use  (ia) 
or  (aj)  consistently  write  (ja,  ai),  having  precisely  the  same 
intention,  and  representing  the  same  sound,  on  different 
theoretical  principles.  I  consider  the  sounds  of  (j,  w)  to 
have  been  the  same  throughout  the  period  now  considered. 
"Whether  there  may  not  be  or  have  been  a  sound  (bh),  lead- 
ing to  the  confusion  between  (v)  and  (w),  well  marked  in  the 
South  East  of  England,  I  leave  unsettled.  In  Chapter  Y,  §  4, 
No.  1, 1  shall  adduce  reasons  for  believing  that  the  Anglosaxon 
w  was  not  (bh).  Although  (wrait)  can  be  pronounced,  yet 
(vrait)  or  (bhreit)  is  much  easier  for  the  lips,  and  in  Mr. 
Melville  Bell's  Scotch  specimen  Chapter  XI,  §  4,  the  initial 
(vr)  will  be  found  in  (vraq)  wrong,  which  may  however  pos- 
sibly have  been  (bhraq).  As  qu  is  now,  and  probably  always 
was,  (kw),  the  labial  modification  of  (k),  produced  by  roundin 
the  lips  at  the  same  time  that  the  (k)  contact  is  made,  an 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.       Y,  W,  WH  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.       187 

releasing  both  contacts  simultaneously,  so  (wr)  probably 
always  was  (n#),  the  labial  modification  of  (r),  produced  by 
keeping  the  lips  rounded  during  the  whole  time  that  (r)  is 
trilled.  It  is  similar  to  the  sound  in  French  roi,  which 
Feline  writes  (rua),  and  which  English  now  call  (FWAA),  the 
true  sound  being  (TWSL),  which  produces  a  species  of  evanes- 
cent (u),  but  whether  before  (r)  as  Hart  wrote  (ureit),  or 
after  (r)  as  Feline  writes,  appears  doubtful  to  the  ear,  simply 
because  it  is  during  (r),  p.  131.  Similarly  (yy)  is  (iiw)  or  (ii) 
with  a  labial  modification,  and  all  the  "  round  "  vowels  might 
be  written  as  ordinary  vowels  followed  by  the  labial  modi- 
fication (w),  p.  161.  At  the  same  time,  in  transcribing  the 
notation  of  others,  I  shall  generally  use  (wr),  although  this 
is  probably  as  incorrect  as  (rw)  would  be,  and  is  very  difficult 
to  pronounce.  The  notation  (wr)  is  similar  to  the  notations 
(HW,  HJ)  ;  in  all  three  cases  succession  (w  +  r,  H  -f  w,  H  -f  j) 
is  written  where  simultaneity  (w*r  =  TW,  H'*W  =  wh,  H'*J 
=  jh,)  is  intended.  See  civ,  wl,  wr  in  Anglosaxon,  Chapter 
V,  §  4,  -No.  1. 

The  interchange  of  the  vowel  (i)  with  the  consonant  (j), 
and  the  vowel  (u)  with  one  of  the  three  consonants  (w,  bh, 
v)  is  an  interesting  phenomenon  in  all  languages.  In  Europe 
(w)  is  thought  to  be  peculiar  to  England  ;  Wales  also  claims 
it,  but  the  claim  is  doubtful,  as  its  (w),  if  it  exists,  is  con- 
fused by  its  writers  with  (u).  In  Arabic  however  (w)  is 
quite  at  home,  and  also  serves  to  mark  the  vowels  (o,  u).  In 
Sanscrit,  if  the  native  grammarians  are  correct,  the  (i) 
between  two  other  vowels  fell  into  (j)  and  the  (u)  into  (v), 
and  not  (w)  or  (bh).  In  Germany  (u)  generates  (bh)  not 
(w).  Similarly  in  modern  Greek  (ev,  av)  generated  (ebh, 
abh)  becoming  (eph,  aph)  before  mutes  as  (aphtos*),  although 
modern  theory  makes  v  a  (v)  or  an  (f)  as  (evris'koo,  aftos*), 
evpio-Kco,  avros.  It  seems  probable  that  in  precisely  the  same 
way,  the  original  transition  of  the  Sanscrit  (u)  was  into  (bh), 
and  that  the  pronunciation  (v),  distinctly  pointed  out  by  the 
native  grammarians,  is  a  comparatively  modern  alteration, 
comparable  with  the  change  of  (k,.  kn,  g,  gn,  q)  into  (tsh, 
tslm,  dzh,  dzhn,  nj)  and  of  (£h)  into  (sh).  The  immediate 
change  of  (u)  into  (v)  is  difficult  to  conceive. 

The  letter  (w),  or  (u)  forming  a  diphthong  with  a  follow- 
ing (a),  formerly  kept  the  sound  of  (a)  pure.  Thus  Bullokar 
writes  (waar,  war'm,  waar'n,  war'en,  war,  waa'ter)  for  ware, 
warm,  warn,  warren,  war,  water.  As  late  as  Wilkins  we  have 
(wsez)  for  was.  Price  says  that  a  is  never  sounded  (AA) 
except  before  I,  and  hence  he  excludes  the  action  of  w. 


188        M,  N,  NG XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.       CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

Cooper  does  not  mention  the  effect  of  w,  and  Jones  1701 
only  instances  the  word  "  water,  sounded  wauter"  But  the 
Expert  Orthographist,  1704,  says  that  a  has  its  broad  sound 
(AA)  "between  iv  and  r  as  war,  ward-en,  warm,  warn-er, 
warren,  watch,  water,  wrath."  It  would  appear  then  that  this 
effect  of  w  on  a  following  a  became  prevalent  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  xvin  th  century.  It  is  by  no  means  general  in  the 
provinces,  where  (wat'er,  wa-im,  warm,  war'm,)  etc.  still  exist. 
I  have  heard  (waa'tJ,  kwsdl'iti,  kwaerrteta,)  from  even  educated 
speakers.  Of  course  the  effect  of  the  (w)  on  the  subsequent 
vowel  arises  from  beginning  to  pronounce  it  before  the  lips  are 
sufficiently  opened,  so  that  the  vowel  becomes  round,  as  (wedw 
=  wo),  for  which  however  either  (WA),  or  ^wo)  has  obtained 
in  practise.  Although  in  London  and  the  South  of  England 
(wh)  is  seldom  pronounced,  so  that  (wAt)  is  the  usual  sound 
for  both  Wat  and  what,  yet  to  write  wot  for  what  is  thought 
to  indicate  a  bad  vulgar  pronunciation.  In  the  North  of 
England  (wh)  is  very  well  marked,  and  in  Scotland  it  is 
often  labialized  to  (kwh),  owing  probably  to  the  intimate 
relation  between  (u)  and  (k). 

M,  N,  NGK 

These  nasal  sounds  frequently  disturb  the  pure  sound  of 
the  preceding  vowel,  giving  it  more  or  less  of  a  nasal  twang, 
occasioned  by  allowing  some  of  the  breath  to  pass  with  more 
or  less  force  through  the  nasal  passages.  We  know  that  in 
modern  French  m,  an,  on,  un,  represent  four  distinct  ori- 
nasal vowels,  palaeotypically  written  (eA,  aA,  OA,  GA)  although 
their  exact  relation  to  the  oral  vowels  is  not  pretended  to 
be  accurately  determined.1  It  is  very  difficult  to  determine 
how  soon  this  change  occurred.  Palsgrave,  who,  it  must  be 
remembered,  finds  the  French  e  feminine  to  be  "sounded 
almoste  like  an  o  and  very  moche  in  the  noose,"2  tells  us  that 
"  if  m  or  -n  folowe  nexte  after  a  in  a  frenche  worde,  all  in 
one  syllable,  than  a  shall  be  sounded  lyke  this  diphthong  au 
and  somethyng  in  the  noose,"  so  that  the  nasality  was  not 
"very  moche"  as  in  the  other  case  where  no  other  writer 
recognizes  any  nasality  at  all,  but  only  "  somethyng."  This 
would  lead  to  am,  an  =  (a,um  a,un).  Palsgrave  notes  the 
exception  when  "  the  syllable  next  folowynge  of  any  suche 
wordes  begynne  also  with  a  lyke  consonant,"  such  asflamme, 
where  the  sound  of  a  is  not  changed — and  we  are  left  to 

1  See  above,  p.  67,  for  a  discussion          3  See  p.  181,  note,  col.  2. 
of  these  sounds. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.        M,  N,  NG  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.        189 

suppose  that  the  m  and  n  have  their  normal  sounds.  As 
regards  French  e  before  m  and  n  Palsgrave  says  it  "  shall 
be  sounded  lyke  an  italian  a  and  some  thynge  in  the  noose," 
with  a  similar  exception.  See  the  passages  cited  for  a  on 

.  143,  near  the  top,  and  for  o,  on  p.  149,  near  the  bottom. 

n  the  latter  place,  no  distinction  is  made  (except  as  regards 
the  final  e}  between  bon,  bonne,  which  must  be  (bun,  burre) 
putting  (e)  for  Palsgrave  e  feminine,  at  a  venture.  He  makes 
no  mention  of  in,  un,  but  in  his  transcription  he  writes  "  im- 
bevo,  depainz,  poant,  insasiablo,  inconsidere,  uoazins,  mayn, 
evmblo,  evnshemyn  "  for  imbue,  depainctz,  poynt,  insatiable, 
inconsidere,  voisins,  maynt,  humble,  ung  chemin,  in  which  there 
is  no  apparent  trace  of  nasality. 

On  examining  Meigret  there  is  not  so  much  evidence  of 
nasality  as  in  Palsgrave.  From  Meigret's  notation,  as  may 
be  seen  in  the  numerous  citations  already  given,  there  is  no 
appearance  of  any  nasal  vowel.  Indeed  the  following  remark 
would  seem  to  exclude  the  idea  of  any  such  nasals  as  now 
exist.  He  says  : 

"Je  ne  veu'  pas  aosi  oublier  qe  la  prolagion  FrawgoE'ze  n'uze 
pas  fort  souuEnt  de  deus  mm,  ne  de  deus  nn,  ensEmble,  combiew  qe 
1'ecritture  ne  les  epar^e  pas :  come,  En  homme,  comme,  sommEt, 
comniEnt,  commandemEnt,  honneur,  dormer,  sonner,  angienne.  II 
Et  vrey  qe  IES  mm  se  rEncontret  aos  AuErbes  qi  se  tErminet  En 
mEnt  qant  a,  ou  E  ouuEit  pregedet :  come  prudEmmEn%  suffizaw- 
niEnt.  Notez  aosi  qe  n  finall'  ayant  En  suyte,  vn  vocable  coniEn- 
gant  par  voyElle  (si  ge  ne  sont  qelqes  aspirez)  double  sa  puissange  : 
come  En  allant,  En  etant,  qe  nou'  pronongons  come  En  nallant,  En 
netant :  tellement  q'aotant  sone  1'un  qe  Faotre ;  E  ny  trouuons 
aocune  diffErenge." 

That  is  Meigret  heard  no  difference  between  the  final  n  in 
"  En "  and  the  initial  n  in  "  nallant,"  he  must  therefore  be 
understood  to  have  said  (En  nalant)  in  lieu  of  the  modern  (aA 
nalaA).  See  also  John  Hart's  transcription  of  French, 
Chapter  VIII,  §  3,  and  supra  p.  150.  There  seems  to  be  no 
intimation  of  the  French  nasal  in  Cotgrave,  and  Miege  only 
says  that  English  final  m  and  n  are  sounded  "  d'une  maniere 
plus  forte  en  Anglais  qu'en  Frangais,"  which  may  mean 
almost  anything.  In  his  French  part,  he  says  nothing  about 
an,  on,  but  informs  us  that 

"em  in  the  same  Syllable  is  pronounced  am,  the  e  taking  the 
sound  of  a  French  a ;  as  embleme,  ensemble.  Except  where  the 
word  ends  in  em,  or  emme  ;  as  item,  dilemme.  And  yet  femme  is 
pronounced  famme.  ...  So  is  en  sounded  an.  Except  1.  after  i  or 
y,  in  which  case  the  e  retains  its  proper  Pronunciation,  but  that  it 
takes  somewhat  of  the  sound  of  an  i ;  as  in  these  Words  lien,  chien 


190       M,  N,  NG  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

&c."  with  other  exceptions,  thus  antenne  has  "e  open"  or  ai,  but 
tienne  has  "0  masculine."  "In,  making  the  first  syllable  of  a 
"Word  is  pronounced  in  French  as  in  English,  except  the  n,  which 
is  but  gently  sounded ;  as  incapable,  indivisible.  The  same  is  to  be 
understood  of  in  at  the  end  of  a  Word;  as  Jin,  vin,  venin,"  very 
unlike  the  modern  (CA,  EA,  a3A).  "  Before  m  and  n  in  the  same 
Syllable,  it  (u)  takes  the  sound  of  the  Dipthong  eu ;  as  humble, 
lundi."1 

The  investigation  of  the  time  of  commencement,  and  the 
origin  of  the  French  and  Portuguese  nasality,  would  be  ex- 
tremely curious  ;  at  present,  however,  we  are  only  concerned 
with  the  effect  of  the  French  sound  upon  English  ears. 

First  then  as  regards  aim,  ain  ;  im,  in  ;  urn,  un,  the  English 
seem  to  have  heard  in  the  xvi  th  century  and  previously  (aim, 
ain ;  im,  in ;  um,  un),  and  to  have  pronounced  accordingly. 
Thus  Hart  in  his  French  Lord's  prayer  writes  (indui,  point, 
peen)  for  indui,  point,  pain,  where  Hart's  (ee)  represents  the 
contemporary  English  (ai). 

Next  as  to  am,  an  the  English  generally  heard  an  inserted 
(u),  thus  (aum,  aun).  This  does  not  however  appear  in  Hart, 
who  writes  (an,  kotidian,  ofanses,  tantasion,  pyysanse,  aman) 
for  en,  quotidien,  offenses,  tentation,  puissance,  Amen.  The 
omission  of  the  (u)  may  perhaps  be  due  to  his  usual  mincing 
utterance.  Palsgrave  however  distinctly  notices  it,  and  to 
this  must  «be  due  the  orthographies  aum,  aun,  which  are  fre- 
quent at  this  and  an  earlier  date  in  English  words  taken 
from  the  French.  In  Salesbury  we  have  the  example 
GAL  AUNT,  galawnt  (gal'aunt),  and  he  particularly  says  that 
"  A  in  the  British  ....  is  never  sounded  like  the  diphthong 
au  as  the  Frenchmen  sounde  it  in  commyng  before  m  or  n  in 
their  tongue."  Levins,  1570,  spells  daunce,  glaunce,  launce, 
praunce,  vaunt,  but  he  is  not  fond  of  the  orthography,  which 
seldom  occurs.  The  pronunciation  of  such  words  is  still  marked 
by  many  speakers,  (p.  147,)  and  although  some,  especially 
ladies,  say  (dsens,  glaens,  laens,  praens,  vaent),  others  lengthen 
the  vowel  at  least  to  (daeaens)  etc.,  while  many  say  (dans, 
glans,  lans,  prans,  vant),  and  others  lengthening  this  vowel 
say  (daans)  etc.,  and  the  intermediate  sounds  (dahns,  daahns,) 
are  not  unfrequent ;  but  although  some  say  (vAAnt),  no  one 
perhaps  will  now  be  heard  to  say  (dAAns,  prAAns). 

In  the  combination  -nge,  although  we  have  the  u  inserted 
in  Chaucer's  time,  a  peculiar  thinness  seems  to  have  been  in- 
troduced by  the  -ge,  for  Salesbury  gives  ORANGES,  oreintsys 
(oraindzhi'z),  (p.  120,)  and  Butler  says  that  before  -ngey  a  is 

1  See  also  the  passage  quoted  supra  p.  126,  and  the  observations  upon  it. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.      M,  N,  NG  — XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH    CENTURY.         191 

pronounced  as  ai,  (ai)  or  occasionally  (ee),  as  in  change,  range, 
danger,  stranger,  words  which  retain  the  evidence  of  this  pro- 
nunciation in  the  modern  form  (tsheeindzh,  reeindzh,  deein- 
dzh'J,  streeindzh'j).  The  last  word  is  said  to  exist  in  America 
under  the  form  (strati(ndzh- j) . 

As  to  om,  on,  the  English  as  we  have  seen,  p.  150,  heard  (um, 
un).  In  the  older  English,  in  which,  as  we  see  from  Palsgrave 
and  Bullokar,  ou  was  pronounced  (uu),  we  consequently  find 
oum,  oun  =  (uum,  uun)  for  these  sounds,  and  these  became 
(oum,  oun)  in  accented  and  (um,  un)  in  unaccented  syllables 
in  the  xvi  th  century.  Hence  the  final  (un)  of  Salesbury  in 
CONBICYON,  condisywn  (kondismn) ;  EXHIBITION,  ecsibisiwn 
(eksibisi,un) ;  PROHIBITION,  proibisiwn  (proo,ibisi,un).  To  the 
way  in  which  Palsgrave  heard  o  pronounced  in  French  even 
before  ne,  we  may  attribute  Salesbury's  (truun)  for  throne. 
"We  have  also  in  the  xvi  th  century  a  distinct  recognition  of 
the  vocal  (Jm,  'n)  constituting  a  syllable.  Bullokar  has  even 
separate  signs  for  them,  an  accented  m,  n. 

The  guttural  nasal  (q)  seems  to  have  been  the  regular  pro- 
nunciation of  ng  in  English,  but  it  was  not  recognized  as  a 
simple  sound  by  the  older  writers.  There  is  a  difficulty  in 
pronouncing  the  true  dental  (n)  before  (k,  g)  so  that  nk  was 
commonly  written  for  (qk)  or  (qhk)  as  Mr.  Melville  Bell, 
among  others,  thinks  the  sound  should  be  more  correctly 
written,  and  ng  for  either  (q)  or  (qg),  as  in  singer,  linger 
^'q'J,  Kq'g-i).  This  was  observed  by  the  Latin  Grammarians. 
Nigidius,  quoted  by  Aulus  Gellius,  lib.  xix.  cap.  14,  says : 

"  Inter  literam  N  et  G  est  alia  vis  ;  ut  in  nomine  anguis  et  angaria 
et  ancorce  et  increpat  et  incurrit  et  ingenuus.  In  omnibus  enim  his 
non  verum  !N",  sed  adulterimim  ponitur.  Nam  N"  non  esse,  lingua 
indicio  est.  JSTam  si  ea  litera  esset;  lingua  palatum  tangeret." 

Nigidius  appears  to  have  considered  this  n  to  be  g,  or 
perhaps  only  related  to  g.  The  Greeks  wrote  77,  y/c,  7^  for 
(qg,  qk,  qkh)  and  we  find  gg  in  Gothic,  but  it  is  not  easy  to 
separate  (q)  from  (qg)  and  we  may  perhaps  assume  that 
(qg)  was  the  older  form  in  all  cases.  This  would  at  any 
rate  account  for  no  special  symbol  having  been  assigned  to 
(q),  in  most  languages.  It  exists  in  Sanscrit  v?,  but  few 
Sanscrit  transliterators  think  it  necessary  to  provide  a  sepa- 
rate symbol  for  it.  In  recent  English  (q)  occurs  frequently 
as  a  final,  did  it  so  occur  in  early  English  ?  This  is  a 
difficult  question  to  answer,  when  we  consider  the  practice 
of  modern  Germany,  because  the  present  pronunciation  of 
German  and  Dutch  being  less  altered  than  English,  repre- 
sents an  earlier  stage  of  English  pronunciation.  JNbw 


192         M,  N,  NG  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

according  to  Rapp  ng  is  (qg)  when  final,  and  (q)  when 
medial  over  the  greater  part,  especially  the  North,  of  Ger- 
many. Hence  Sdnger  Gesang  would  be  (szeq'er  gezaqg'). 
Practically,  however,  as  final  (g)  is  very  difficult  for  Germans 
to  pronounce,  they  use  (qk)  so  that  Gesang  Dank  rhyme  as 
(gezaqk-  daqk).1  This  is  not  the  case  in  central  Germany, 
where  (q)  final  is  common,  and  where  therefore  (gezaq* 
daqk)  do  not  rhyme.  Even  in  England  many  speakers  con- 
fuse thing,  think  under  (thz'qk),  but  this  seems  to  be  an 
exceptional  word. 

Gill  appears  to  be  the  first  writer  who  recognises  (q)  as  a 
separate  element.  He  says,  leaving  his  notation  unaltered  : 

"N  in  illis  fliteris]  est  quas  nihil  nmtare  diximus :  at  si  k,  aut  g, 
sequatur  paulum  minuenda  est  nostra  sententia :  neqw<?  enim  (si 
accurate  expendas)  plane  ita  profertur  in  thank  et  think  quemad- 
modum  pronunciatur  in  hand  manus,  et  non  NONE  nullus.  Sed 
ne  adeo  nasutuli  videamur  ut  nihil  vetustate  rancidum  ferre  possi- 
mus  :  quia  k,  ibi  clare  auditur,  nee  congruum  esse  reor  quicquam 
veritati  propinquum  immutare ;  monuisse  tantum  volui,  sed  te  in- 
vito  non  monuisse  tamen.  At  si  g  subsequatur  vt  in  thing  res  et 
song  canticum ;  quia  sonus  literaa  g  ibi  nullus  est,  at  semivocalis 
plane  alia  qua3  ab  n  non  minus  distat  quam  m ;  literaB  ng.  una  erit 
ex  illis  compositis,  quibus  fas  esse  volui  sonum  simpn'cem  indi- 
care,  ut  in  sing  canta,  et  among  inter,  hue  etiam  refer  ilia  in  quibus 
g,  ab  n,  ratione  sequentis  liquidae  quodammodo  distrahitur,  a  spangl 
nitella,  tu  intangl  implicare." 

Hence  he  said  (seq,  amoq%  a  spaq-g'l,  tu  mtaq-g'l)  according 
to  the  present  usage  of  ng.  It  would  appear  therefore  that 
we  are  justified  in  adopting  this  usage  from  at  least  the 
xvi  th  century,  and,  in  the  uncertainty  which  cannot  be 
dispelled,  it  will  be  safest  to  adopt  it  also  from  the  earliest 
times  that  English  became  distinct  from  Anglosaxon,  although 
the  North  German  custom  may  have  been  that  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  itself,  namely  to  call  ng  =  (qg)  when  final,  and  (q) 
when  medial. 

Gill  names  (q)  as  a  bad  pronunciation  of  the  Hebrew  $J, 
which  is  still  heard,  being  replaced  by  (gn)  when  initial,  as 
Europeans  generally  find  a  difficulty  in  initial  (q),  although 
itv\is  not  unfrequent  in  extra-European  languages.1  Sales- 

1  Thus  Voss  in  his  Minnelied  has  "  Sie  trankte  dich  mit  Rebentrank  ; 

"  Der  Holdseligen  Und  freudig  tonte  dein  Gesang." 

\    Sender  Wank  I   have   not  noticed    such  rhymes  in 

»ing'  ich  frohlichen  Schiller  and  Goethe. 

Minne*ff«j7  .• 

Denn\die  Eeine,  2  The  vulgar  Parisian,  however,  says 

Die  ich\meine,  (qja  p«)  for  il  riy  a  pas,  and  the  Vien- 

"Winkt  mir  liebkphen  Habe<f««^."  nese  porters  will  call  a  gentleman  (a\ 

And  again  in  his  address  to  Luther  qaad'n)  or  (ai  qaahd'n)  for  euer  Gnaden. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.        L  XVI  TH   TO    XVIII  TH    CENTURY.  193 

bury  speaks  of  the  "  Latine  vocables  agnus,  magnus,  ignis,  at 
what  time  they  were  thus  -barbarously  sounded  angmis, 
mangnus,  ingnis"  meaning  (aq-nus,  maq-nus,  /q*n/s).  This 
nasalisation  of  (g)  into  (q)  before  the  following  nasal  (n) 
seems  to  have  been  common  in  the  middle  ages,  and  has 
crept  into  the  Latin  orthography  of  the  period.  Gill  in 
English  gives  both  (bemg'n)  and  (bemq'n)  for  benign,1 
This  (qn)  is  the  regular  pronunciation  of  gn  in  Modern 
Swedish,  the  poet  Tegner  being  (Teqneer).2 

The  (qg,  qk)  are  heard  in  Italian  and  Spanish,  but  they 
are  unknown  in  French.  The  older  orthography  of  French 
had  ng  in  many  cases  where  the  nasal  (A)  is  now  heard. 
But  Meigret  does  not  recognise  this,  writing  n  simply  in 
such  cases.  The  French  confuse  our  (q)  with  their  gn  = 
(nj)  and  some  Englishmen  seem  to  have  fallen  into  the  con- 
verse error.  The  Spanish  ri,3  Portuguese  nh,  Italian  and 
French  gn,  are  all  (nj),  or  nearly  (nj). 


The  great  opening  for  the  passage  of  the  voice  while  L  is 
pronounced  and  the  very  slight  nature  of  the  vibration  of 
the  sides  of  the  tongue,  tend  to  give  it  a  strongly  vocal 
character,  and  not  unfrequently  the  L  has  been  entirely  lost 
in  a  vowel  sound,  produced  simply  by  not  bringing  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  close  enough  to  the  palate  to  form  a  division 
of  the  passage  and  throw  the  voice  out  on  both  sides.  Both 
French  and  English  seem  to  have  had  a  tendency  to  labialise 
(1)  into  (Itv)  after  (a,  o),  that  is  they  rounded  the  lips  either 
during  the  vowel  or  just  as  it  glided  into  the  consonant. 
The  Latin  alter  thus  became  (al^ter)  or  (arbiter)  felt  as 
(aolwtre),  till  the  (1)  became  absorbed,  that  is,  neglected  for 
convenience,  of  utterance,  thus  (aotre),  which  is  Meigret's 

1  Strange  as  the  final  combination  modern   Spanish  for   (Ij).     The  tilda 
(q'n)  may  seem,  there  is  a  well  known  over  the  fi  was  merely  the  usual  ab- 
London  vulgarism  in  which  it  is  very  breviation  for  the  second  n.     "  En  los 
familiar  (t'q-'nz)  for  (an-j^nz)  onions.  tiempos  mas  antiguos  de  nuestra  lengua 

2  InSi'oborg'sSwcdischeSpraehlehre,  se  explico  con  dos  nn  juntas  esta  pro- 
p.  10,  this  is  the  rule  laid  down,  but  nunciacion,  y  algunos  se  han  persuadido 
mogna,  tagne,  stagne  are  said  exception-  a  que  la  tilde  sobre  la  n,  conio  hoy  se 
ally  to  preserve  the  (g)  and  in  logn  the  usa,  se  introduxo  para  denotar  la  otra 
sound  is  (loein).     The  irregularity  of  n  que  se  omitia,  al  modo  que  la  tilde 
Swedish  orthography  as  compared  with  puesta  sobre  las  vocales  se  uso  fre- 
pronunciation  is  considerable,  shewing  qtientemente  en  lugar  de  n."      Orto- 
a  great  alteration  of  pronunciation  in  grafia   de  la  Lengua  Castettana,  com- 
the   comparatively  short  period    since  puesta  por  la  Heal  jLcademia  JEspaiiola. 
the  orthography  was  established.  7th  ed.  Madrid  16mo,  1792,  p.  64. 

3  In  old  Spanish  nn,  just  as  II  is  the 

13 


194  L  —  XVI  TH   TO   XVIII TH   CENTURY.        CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

form,  and  finally  (ootr'),  the  modern  form.  In  England 
(alw)  became  felt  as  (aul)  or  (awlw)  and  this  degenerated 
into  (AA!),  perhaps  through  (aul).  Finally  when  a  conso- 
nant followed,  it  was  more  convenient  to  leave  out  the  (1), 
and  the  lazy  or  the  nimble  tongue,  as  usual,  took  the  most 
convenient  or  shortest  road,  and  (1)  disappeared.  The  Scotch 
even  lost  it  without  a  following  consonant  as  (kAA  AA)  for 
(kAAl,  AA!).  The  passage  was  perhaps  (talk,  talwk,  taulwk, 
tauk,  tawk,  tAAk).  Whether  (tAAlk)  was  ever  said,  except  by 
Gill's  "  docti  interdum"  is  more  than  doubtful. 

Similarly  after  (oo)  we  had  (oolwd,  ooulwd,  00uld)  or 
(ooul).  In  this  case  the  (1)  was  not  generally  absorbed,  but 
we  have  provincially  (ood)  for  old. 

Salesbury  says  that  in  the  English  calme,  call,  the  a  "  is 
thought  to  decline  toward  the  sound  of  the  diphthong  au." 
Again :  "  o  in  Welsh  going  before  //,  soundeth  nothing 
more  boystous,  that  is  to  say,  that  it  inclineth  to  the  sound 
of  the  diphthong  ou  (as  it  doth  in  English)  no  more  than  if 
it  had  gone  before  any  other  letter."  "L  hath  no  nother 
difference  in  sound  in  Welsh  than  in  Englysh.  And  note 
that  it  neyther  causeth  a  nor  o  when  they  come  before  it,  to 
sound  anye  more  fuller  in  the  mouth,  than  they  do  else 
where  sounde,  commyng  before  anye  other  letter."  "  Some- 
times a  has  the  sounde  of  the  diphthong  aiu  especially  when 
it  precedes  I  or  //,  as  may  be  more  clearly  seen  in  these 
words  :  BALDE  bawld  (bauld)  calvus,  BALL,  bawl,  (baul)  pila ; 
WALL  wawl  (waul)  murus."  "  0  also  before  Id  or  II  is  pro- 
nounced as  though  w  were  inserted  between  them,  thus 
COLDE,  cowld  (kould)  frigidus,  BOLLE  bowl  (boul),  TOLLE  towl 
(toul)  vectigal."  "  In  some  districts  of  England  His  sounded 
like  ic,  thus  bowd  (booud)  for  BOLD,  bw  (buu)  for  BULL,  caw 
(kau)  for  CALL.  But  this  pronunciation  is  merely  a  provin- 
cialism, and  not  to  be  imitated  unless  you  wish  to  mince  like 
these  blunderers."  But  this  did  not  arise  from  mincing,  but 
from  broadening.  The  mincer,  so  far  from  dropping  the 
front  of  the  tongue  from  the  palate,  raises  the  middle  part 
a^id  produces  (Ij)  which  degenerates  into  (i),  as  in  Modern 
French.  The  effect  of  /  which  Salesbury  names  is  generally 
recognized  and  exists  to  this  day  in  the  modified  form  of 
(AA)  for  (au)  and  (oou)  for  (oou)  or  (ou).  The  sound  (ou) 
is  however,  heard  in  (ould)  Ireland,  either  in  its  genuine 
form  (ou)  or  its  modified  form  (au)  at  the  present  day. 
Buchanan  in  the  xvm  th  century  wrote  (sauld,  kauld,  beuld, 
skauld,  tauld,  H9uld,  sauld'J/r)  for  sold,  cold,  bold,  scold,  told, 
hold,  soldier.  Sheridan  did  not  imitate  him,  but  scrupulously 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.        L  —  XVI TH   TO   XVIII  TH   CENTURY. 

used  (001)  and  notes  (bAuld,  kAuld)  as  Irishisms  for  (boold, 
koold),  in  which  again  the  Irish  were  only  following  the 
fashion  of  the  English  in  the  xvn  th  century. 

Salesbury  recognized  ('!)  or  prolonged  (1)  as  forming  a  syl- 
lable by  itself  in  ABLE,  SABLE,  TWYNCLE,  WRYNCLE,  writing 
abl,  sabl,  twinkl,  wrinkl  =.  (aa'b'l,  saa'b'l,  twz'q'k'l,  wnq'k'l). 
In  this  he  is  fully  borne  out  by  all  subsequent  writers.  Hart 
and  Bullokar  have  special  signs  for  ('!).  Hart  considers  it 
to  be  the  same  as  the  Welsh  //,  (Ihh)  which  is  the  reason 
why  he  provides  it  with  an  especial  character.  He  says 

""Wee  haue  further  the  1,  aspired  lyke  to  the  Spanishe  and 
Walsh1  often  vse  of  the  11,  which  maketh.  the  .xij.  dumbe  or  dull 
sounde,  but  we  vse  it  not  that  I  know  of,  at  the  beginning  of 
any  words  as  they  do  :  but  often  at  thend  of  words,  as  in  this 
sentence,  the  becLLe  is  hable  to  fable.  "Where  we  wrest  the  e, 
which  is  but  closely  or  (as  it  were)  halfe  sounded :  wherfore  we 
may  with  as  smal  cost  and  labour,  as  of  the  rest,  vse  a  fit  figure 
for  it :  and  neuer  neede  to  vse  the  11,  or  Ih,  and  for  the  reasons 
abouesaid  not  to  abuse  the  h." 

Smith  says : 

"  Qui  nescit  quid  sit  esse  semivocalein  ex  nostra  lingua  facile 
poterit  discere,  ipsa  enim  litera  L-  quandam  quasi  vocalem  in  se 
videtur  continere,  ita  ut  juncta  mutae  sine  vocali  sonum  faciat,  ut  (aabl) 
habilis,  (staabl)  stabilis,  (faabl)  fable,  &c ;  alii  dbil  stdbil  fabil,  alii 
abul  stabul  fabid  scribunt,  sed  ne  quicquam  pronuntiant ;  nam  con- 
sideratius  auscultanti  nee  e  nee  i  nee  u  est,  sed  tinnitus  quidam 
vocalis  naturam  habens,  quae  naturaliter  his  liquidis  inest.  In 
omnibus  his  quidam  e  addunt  in  fine,  vt  able,  stable,  fable :  sed 
certo  illud  e  non  tarn  sonat  hie  quam  fuscum  illud  et  fosmininum 
Francorum  e?  nam  ne  quicquam  sonat." 

1  Like    Salesbury  he   confuses    the  to  draw  the  distinction.     In  the  same 
Spanish  (Ij)  with  the  Welsh  (Ihh).  way  I  have  represented  the  final  -e  in 

2  This  is  a  recognition  of  an  ob-  Chaucer  by  (e),  as  doubtful.   Rapp  con- 
scurely  sounded  final  French  e,  the  pre-  tinues :  "Yet  where  the  syllable  nen with 
sent  (9),  in  the  xvi  th  century,  agreeing  double  n  results,  (nEnm)  nennen  is  dis- 
with  Palsgrave  but  disagreeing  with  tinctly  pronounced."  Rapp  writes  (nEn- 
Meigret.     In  the  same  way  most  Ger-  nen)  owing  to  his  custom  of  doubling 
mans  call  their  e  final  in  eine  gute  Gabe  the  consonant  after  a  stopped  vowel, 
a  fine  (e),  and  very  many  Englishman  "  To  exhaust  what  I  have  to  say  about 


would  call  it  (9).     Rapp,  Physiologie      the  unaccented  0,  observe  that  the  first 

ol.  iv.  p. 
lating  the   passage  for   convenience) :       termination  enen,  (g<?falanm)  gefallenen, 


der  Sprache,  vol.  iv.  p.  16,  says  (trans-      e  is  taken  as  the  natural  vowel  in  the 


"  Short  (e)  only  occurs  unaccented,  as  or  else  elided.     The  natural  vowel  is 

(\)e,  ge,  Ende),  be,ge,ende,  doubtful,  half-  distinct  before  M,  R,  S  and  T,  (aatam, 

mute,  or,  when  heard,  with  a  faint  nasal  faatar,   guutas,    bEEtat)    athem,  vater, 

in  en  (gEEben)  geben.     On  account  of  gutes,  betet,  foreign  names  as  (mooses) 

the  uncertainty  we  generally  prefer  the  of  course  excepte J ;   custom  varies  in 

orthography  (gEEben)."     Rapp  uses  e  (juupitar,  juupij,£r).     The  enclitics  (ar, 

much  as  the  palaeotypic  (e),  and  repre-  far,  tsar;  ar,    iar)  er,  ver,  zer ;  er,  der 

sents  (E,  e)  by  e,  e,  but  (BE,  ee)  by  a,  e.  must  be  mentioned  among  the   (ar). 

Generally  I  have  used  (e,  ee)  for  his  e,  The  e  is  always  mute  before  L,  as  in 

a,  but  in  this  passage  it  was  necessary  all  allied  languages,   as   (mit'l, 


196  R  —  XVI TH   TO   XVIII  TH   CENTURY.        CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

In  Bohemian  the  ('!)  is  fully  recognized,  and  forms  the 
,  only  vocal  element  in  some  accented  syllables,  as  wlky 
(bh'l'ky)  wolves,  slza  (sTza)  a  tear.  It  seems  probable  that 
it  was  the  sound  intended  to  be  represented  by  Sanscrit 
^j  ^  =  ('1,  "1)  commonly  called  (Iri,  Irii),  unless  these  were 
originally  cerebral,  as  ('L,  "L).  The  modern  French  do  not 
possess  the  sound,  but  pronounce  (tabF)  or  (tablh),  some- 
times merely  (tab'),  although  their  orthoepists  write  (tabl), 
and  contend  that  (1)  here  forms  a  syllable  by  itself.  As  we 
have  seen  Hart  indicates  his  own  pronunciation  of  final  -le 
to  have  been  (-lh.) 

E 

In  English  at  the  present  day  r  has  at  least  two  sounds, 
the  first,  when  preceding  a  vowel,  is  a  scarcely  perceptible 
trill  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue  (r)  which  in  Scotland,  and 
with  some  English  speakers,  as  always  in  Italy,  becomes  a 
clear  and  strong  trill  (.r),  but  as  this  is  only  an  accident  of 
speech,  it  will  not  be  further  noticed,  (r)  being  used  indiffer- 
ently for  both.  The  second  English  r  is  always  final  or  pre- 
cedes a  consonant.  It  is  a  vocal  murmur,  differing  very 
slightly  from  (e).  I  seem  to  hear  it  occasionally  in  two 
forms,  differing  nearly  as  (ce,  E)  which  I  represent  by  (./,  j). 
As  however  this  distinction  is,  certainly,  by  no  means  always 
made,  I  do  not  usually  mark  it.  This  second  (j)  may  diph- 
thongise with  any  preceding  vowel.  After  (a,  A,  o)  the  effect 
is  rather  to  lengthen  the  preceding  vowel,  than  to  produce  a 
distinct  diphthong.  Thus  farther,  lord,  scarcely  differ  from 
father,  laud  ;  that  is,  the  diphthongs  (aj,  oj)  are  heard  almost 
as  the  long  vowels  (aa,  A  A).  That  a  distinction  is  made  by 
many,  by  more  perhaps  than  are  aware  of  it,  is  certain,  but 
it  is  also  certain  that  in  the  mouths  of  by  far  the  greater 
number  of  speakers  in  the  South  of  England  the  absorption 
of  the  (j)  is  as  complete  as  the  absorption  of  the  (1)  in  talk, 

mittel,  engel,  and  this  should  be  theo-  "  The  terminations  (Eq'ln,  shmai/^h'ln, 

retically  the  case  even  when  termina-  gaab'ln)    engeln,    schmeicheln,    gabeln, 

tions  are  added  on,  although  it  is  then  are  difficult  to  pronounce  with  purity 

certainly  difficult  to  continue  to  make  for  foreigners  and  even  for  Germans, 

the  vowellesfi  L  form  a  syllable  by  it-  Finally  the  natural  vowel  or  mute  e  is 

self,  as  (shmai^h'lrai,  Eq'l-bsndar,  mit'l-  generated  in  popular  speech  by  neg- 

lEndish)  schmeichelei)  engelldnder,  mit-  lecting    ancient    terminations    as    in 

tellandisch,"       This  theory  is  partly  (nskar,    iizar,     ruud'lshtat,    iq'lshtat, 

wrong,  for  the  voca?  ('!)  being  only  a  doktar,  profssar)  and  among  the  un- 


German    (shmaU'hlai),     birt    in    fact      which  the  final  e  is  in  a  transition  state, 
(shmai&helai)  is  said.   Rapp  continues :       See  supra  p.  119,  note,  col.  2. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.         R  —  XVI TH   TO   XVIII TH    CENTURY.  197 

walk,  psalm,  where  it  has  also  left  its  mark  on  the  preceding 
vowel.  When  Dickens  wrote  Count  Smorl  Tork  he  meant 
Small  Talk,  and  no  ordinary  reader  would  distinguish  be- 
tween them.  But  in  (aJ,  oj)  proper,  there  is  a  slight  change 
of  lingual  position  generating  a  glide,  and  consequently  Mr. 
M.  Bell  represents  the  effect  by  a  glide  character  especially 
invented  for  the  purpose,  which  he  terms  the  "point  glide  " 
and  describes  "  as  a  semivocalized  sound  of  (r)."  The  diph- 
thongs (eJ,  ej)  are  very  difficult  to  separate  from  each  other 
and  from  (ea).  But  the  slight  raising  of  the  point  of  the 
tongue  will  distinguish  the  diphthongs  from  the  vowel 
in  the  mouth  of  a  careful  speaker,  that  is,  one  who  trains 
his  organs  to  do  so.  No  doubt  the  great  majority  of 
speakers  do  not  make  any  difference,  and  I  think  that  the 
best  representation  of  these  sounds  is  the  simple  (i)  or  ('i), 
which  is  in  this  respect  wholly  comparable  to  the  (1)  already 
discussed.  It  seems  to  be  an  indistinct  murmur,  differing 
from  (Jl)  by  not  having  any  contact  between  the  tongue  and  the 
palate,  but  similar  to  it,  in  absorbing  a  variety  of  other  vowels. 
The  following  is  a  comparison  of  my  notation  of  this  mur- 
mur (j)  and  its  various  diphthongs,  with  Mr.  M.  BelPs. 
The  (j)  character  will  express  Mr.  Bell's  glide,  and  (iw)  its 
labialised  form,  as  in  Introduction,  p.  15.  The  examples 
have  been  taken  from  Visible  Speech,  pp.  113-116. 
BELL  ELLIS.  EXAMPLES. 

HI  x  word.,  jowrney,  fwrnish  =  (wid,  dzhur«')  &c. 

i?r  i  paper,  circuitous,  answer,  martyr  =  (peep'x)  &c. 

aii  oil  fire,  lyre,  cho«r  =  (fail,  laii, 

ai'r  aiir  wiry,  fiery  =  (waii're,  fairre) 

am  aui  hour,  power  =  (aui,  paui) 

&iw  am  owrselves  =  (auiselvz*) 

au'r,  aur     auir  dowery,  flowery,  showery  = 

ai  aai  hard,  cbrk,  heart,  guard  =  (naaid,  klaajk)  &j. 

aj  ai  barbarian  ==  (baibee.rrrBn)  ; 

ahi  i  alter,  grammar,  particular  =  (AAl'ti)  &c. 

#'r,  aai       aar  starry,  tarry  (adjective)  =  (staa'r*,  taa*n) 

aoi         .     j,  x  prefer,  earnest,  f«rm,myrrA,  gwerdon=(pri?r)&c 

ii  iii  near,  heer,  here,  we're,  pier  =  (niii,  bmv  &c. 

i'r  iiir  aerie,  era,  weary,  peeress  =  (iii'ii  ?,  iiTJrB)  &c. 

ea:  eei  car^,  aer,  pair,  Ayr,  prayer  (petition),  th0r0, 

hear,  ne'er,  iheir,  eyre,  mare  =  (keei)  &c. 
exw  eei  mayor  =  (meei) 

e'r  eeir  canary,  fairy,  th^r^in,  bearing  =(kimee;rr«' ) ,  &c. 

AJC  AAI  war,  ward,  swarm,  dwarf  =  (WAAI,  wAAid)  &cv 

ttx  uni  poor,  moor,  towr,  mere  =  (puui,  muuj,  tnui)  &c. 

e^'r  uuar-          poorer,  swrer,  assuring,  towrist  =  (PUUJTJ)  &c. 

jux  iux  cure,  pure,  endwr^,  immwr^  =  (kiui,  piu.i)  &c. 


198  R  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

'BELL.  ELLIS.  EXAMPLES. 

Jw'r  iuir  fury,  pwrer,  endwring  =  (fhirr*,  piurri)  &c. 

iuj  iui  lure,  allure  =  (liui,  -Bliuj') 

iu'r  iuir  lurid,  allwring  =  (liuiTid,  BliuiTtq) 

01  00.1,  ooi      "boor,  o'er,  door,  floor,  "borne,  torn,  sor0,  corps, 
powr,  tournament,  towards  =  (booj  booj)  &c. 

o'r  coir,  ooir   glory,  soaring,  p0wring  =  (glo0.rr&,  glooj*r«)&c. 

0.1  ooi,  AAI      extraordinary,  George,  order,  born  =  (boo xn)&c. 

ohi  j  spectator,  tailor,  razor,  orator  =  (spekt^'ti)  &c. 

TIJ  j,  iui          azure,  fissure,  -measure,  seizure  =  (eezh'i)  &c. 

JTT.I  mi,  ji        nature,  feature,  statwr^  =  (n^'trai  n^t'Ji)  &c. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Bell  has  not  marked  a  long 
vowel  in  many  places  where  I  have  marked  one.  His 
general  habit  is  not  to  distinguish  the  length  of  the  first 
element  in  diphthongs.  Simple  r  is  used  in  ordinary  spell- 
ing, after  long  vowels,  for  the  combination  (jr),  or  ('r)  as 
Mr.  Bell  prefers  writing.  This  combination  is  very  peculiar 
in  English ;  compare  dear,  deary,  mare,  Mary,  more,  glory, 
poor,  poorer,  with  the  French  dire,  dirai,  mere,  mairie,  Maure, 
aurai,  tour,  Touraine. 

The  Scotch  do  not  use  (a)  at  all,  but  only  (r)  or  rather 
(.r),  saying  (ward,  serf,  serf,  karv)  word,  serf,  surf,  carve. 

In  Italy  (.r)  is  constant,  in  France  and  a  great  part  of 
Germany  (r)  is  pronounced  in  lieu  of  (r).  Could  it  be  to  this 
sound  that  Palsgrave  alluded  when  he  said  : 

"  R  in  the  frenche  tonge  shalbe  sounded  as  he  is  in  latyn  without 
any  exception,  so  that,  where  as  they  of  Parys  do  sounde  somtyme 
r  lyke  2,  sayeng  pa%ys  for  parys,  pazisien  for  parisien,  chaize  for 
chayre,  mazy  for  mary,  and  suche  lyke,  in  that  thyng  I  wolde  not 
have  them  Mowed,  albeit  that  in  all  this  worke  I  moost  folowe  the 
Parisyens." 

Certainly  g  would  be  the  nearest  character  by  which,  with- 
out explanation,  he  could  have  given  a  conception  of  the  true 
r  grasseye  ou  proven^al,  the  French  (r),  which  is  not  unlike 
ti  e  Arabic  (grh),1  and  the  Northumberland  burr.  The  last 
is  often  confused  by  southerns  with  (g),  (Hagrh'iet)  Harriet 
sounding  to  them  like  (Hsegiet).  The  Spanish  r  suave  is  (r), 
witl  no  more  trill  than  in  English,  but  the  r  fuerte  is,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  M.  Bell,  the  usual  (.r),  but  according  to  M. 
Favarger,  (.r),  a  sharp  uvula  rattle  without  any  moisture.2 

1  The  French  razzia  (mzia)  is  a  cor-      remo,  rico,  romo,  rueda;  after  I,  n,  s 

ruption  of  the  Arabic  *]£  (grhazaat-)-  ajwa>;8'  as  ^rotar,  enriquecer  honra, 

J  Israel,  aesreglado  ;  in  compounds,  where 

2  See  Ortografia  de  la  lengua  Gas-  the  second  part  begins  with  r ;  and 
tellana  compuesta  por  la  real  Academia  where  rr  is  written  as  barra,  carro.     In 
Espanola,  7th  ed.  Madrid,  1792,  p.  70,  other  cases  the  soft  r  (r)  is  to  be  pro- 
where  the  strong  r  (.r)  is  said  to  occur,  nounced. 

at  the  beginning  of  words  as  razon, 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.  R  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.  199 

No  allusion  to  more  than  one  sound  of  r  is  found  in  any  of 
the  older  writers  except  Ben  Jonson,  yet  it  can  hardly  be  sup- 
posed that  even  if  the  northerners  have  retained  (r),  the  com- 
plicated (r,  j,  Jr)  system  could  have  grown  up  in  a  single 
century  in  the  South.  For  the  old  wr  =  (rw),  see  p.  187. 

1547.  SALESBURY  has  the  following  words  which  are  now 
pronounced  with  (i),  the  old  spelling  being  in  small  capitals 
and  the  phonetic  Welsh  in  italics. 

PAPYR  papyr,  QUARTER  kwarter,  SYR  syr,  TRESURE  tresuwr,  VERTTJE 
vertuw,  CHTJRCHE  tsurts,  LADDER  lad-dr,  BLADD'  blad-dr,  EMPEROTTRE 
emperwr,  EUERMORE  efermwor,  THOKDRE  thwndr,  WONDRE  wndr,  SDTFRE 
swffer,  GTYLBERT  Gilbert,  GYJ^GER  tsintsir,  HONOURS  onor. 

Here  we  find  the  unaccented  syllable  er  or  ir  represented 
by  the  Welsh  er,  yr,  ir,  and  finally  simple  r.  This  points  out 
to  an  indistinct  murmur,  where  the  writer  tries  first  one 
vowel  sound  and  then  another  and  finally  gives  them  all  up 
in  despair,  and  trusts  to  the  simple  consonant  (r)  as  best  re- 
presenting the  sound.  Now  in  Bohemian  (r)  is  recognized 
as  sufficient  to  form  even  an  accented  syllable,  as  srna  a  roe, 
zrno  kernel,  trn  thorn,  dm  turf,  chrt  greyhound.  I  do  not 
know  whether  the  sound  is  here  (j)  or  ('r),  but  as  Ziak  (Boh- 
mische  Sprachlehre)  compares  it  with  the  German  termination 
-er,  which  Rapp  (supra  p.  194,  note)  declares  to  be  (or),  it 
will  be  safest  to  consider  it  as  ('r)  or  ('.r),  though  even  the 
Germans  are  apt  to  fall  into  the  convenient  (j)  final.  The 
examples  from  Salesbury  would  therefore  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  ('r)  was  sufficiently  common  in  English  of  the  xvith 
century,  but  would  not  allow  us  to  assume  either  that  the 
syllables  he  writes  er,  yr,  ir,  r  were  (i),  or  that  every  final  r 
was  (j)  and  middle  r  (ar). 

1569.  HART  says  of  /  m  n  r  that  they  are  "  rightly  vsed 
in  sounde  when  they  be  single." 

1580.  BULLOKAR,  who  has  especial  signs  for  ('1,  'm,  'n), 
has  none  for  (Jr)  or  (j),  writing  (foormer,  dheer,  aar, 
severawl,  letterz,  figyyrz,)  for  former,  there,  are,  several, 
letters,  figures. 

1621.  GILL  says :  "  aeri  fere  trissyllabum  est ;  earl  mobilis ;  apud 
alios  enim  diphthongus  valet,  hie  erl  auditur,  illic  erl" 

Here  some  tinge  of  ('r)  or  (JL)  seems  to  come  into  play, 
(a'ri,  e'rl,  eerl).  Gill  also  writes  (farer)  fire,  and  complains 
that  they  say  (fir)  in  place  of  (fai'er)  in  the  East  of  England. 
But  the  Germans  also  write  feuer  (fayar,  foyr,  foir),  and  this 
does  not  imply  (a). 

1653,  WALLIS  and  1668,  WILKINS  have  no  allusion  to  (j). 


200  R  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

If  it  was  then  heard  it  was  possibly  considered  to  be  an 
erroneous  utterance  not  worth  naming. 

1685.  COOPEK  says  :  "  Yerba  Anglicana  &  latina  derivativa  quse  in 
origine  scribuntur  cum  er  scribimus  item  er,  pronunciamus  autem 
ur  (ar),  non  quia  sic  proferri  debet,  sed  quia  propter  literae  r  vibra- 
tionem  vix  aliter  efferri  potest;  ut  adder  coluber,  prefer  prsefero, 
slender  tenuis." 

Here  the  mention  of  the  vibration  excludes  (j)  and  insists 
on  (or)  or  ('r).  Cooper  proceeds  to  give  lists  of  such  words 
with  final  (or)  spelled  -ar,  -er,  -ir,  -or,  and  even  -tire,  shewing 
that  he  pronounced  -ture  as  (-tar)  in  adventure,  juncture, 
lecture,  nature,  pasture,  picture,  rapture,  scripture,  etc.,  which 
are  vulgarisms  at  present  under  the  form  (-ti),  although  in 
figure,  injure,  measure  the  (j)  is  common  (fYg'J,  m'dzha, 
mezlri).  Cooper  also  says :  "  r  sonatur  post  o  in  apron 
gremiale,  citron  citreum,  environ  circundo,  gridiron  craticula, 
iron  ferrum,  saffron  crocus ;  quasi  scriberentur  apurn,  &c," 
almost  as  at  present. 

1688.  MIEGE  also  says  of  r,  "en  certains  mots  la  voyelle  qui  la 
suit  se  prononce  devant,  comme  en  here,  sire,  spire,  hundred,  apron, 
citron,  saffron^  iron;" 

but  this  can  only  point  to  (or)  or  ('j)  after  what  Cooper  has 
said.  Jones  identifies  the  sounds  of  er,  ur,  referring  from 
the  latter  to  the  former,  and  making  both  co-extensive  with 
the  modern  (a),  but  he  does  not  help  us  to  determine  the 
double  power  of  r. 

1640.  BEN  JONSON  says:  "K  is  the  Dogs  letter,  and  hurreth  in 
the  sound;  the  tongue  striking  the  inner  palate,  with  a  trembling 
about  the  teeth.  It  is  sounded  firme  in  the  beginning  of  the  words, 
and  more  liquid  in  the  middle,  and  ends :  as  in  rarer,  viper,  and  so 
in  the  Latine." 

This  seems  to  imply  that  a  difference  was  made  so  early  as 
the  end  of  the  xvi  th  and  beginning  of  the  xvn  th  century. 
The  precise  meaning  of  the  vague  terms  firm  and  more  liquid 
cannot  of  course  be  assigned.  But  probably  firm  meant 
more  consonantal  and  liquid  more  vocal,  so  that  something 
like  the  difference  between  (r)  and  (j)  is  indicated.  The 
reference  to  the  Latin  is  of  no  value,  as  it  was  only  to  its 
English  pronunciation. 

WALKER,  150  years  later,  refers  to  this  passage  and  says  : 

"  The  rough  Kis  formed  by  jarring  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against 
the  roof  of  the  mouth  near  the  fore  teeth :  the  smooth  r  is  a  vibra- 
tion of  the  lower  part  of  the  tongue,  near  the  root,  against  the 
inward  region  of  the  palate  near  the  entrance  of  the  throat.  This 
latter  r  is  that  which  marks  the  pronunciation  of  England,  and  the 
former  that  of  Ireland." 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.  R XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.  201 

But  he  does  not  proceed  to  point  out  where  the  rough  and 
smooth  r  were  pronounced,  and  his  description  of  the  smooth 
r  better  agrees  with  a  gently  pronounced  (r)  or  (grh),  the 
uvula  trill,  than  with  (j).  The  theory  of  a  vibration  of  the 
back  or  lower  part  of  the  tongue  is  untenable  ;  that  part  of 
the  tongue  is  too  firm  to  vibrate  in  the  manner  conceived. 
And  in  England  we  do  not  perceptibly  vibrate  the  uvula. 

SMART,  who  has  entered  into  the  consideration  of  (j)  more 
than  any  preceding  writer,  calls  (j)  a  "  guttural  vowel 
sound."  He  says  of  (r)  that  "  it  is  formed  by  a  strong  trill 
of  the  tongue  against  the  upper  gum,"  to  which  it  may  be 
objected,  first,  that  the  trill  is  gentle  in  English,  and,  secondly, 
that  the  tongue  vibrates  freely,  near,  but  not  striking  the 
upper  gum.  For  (JL)  he  says,  "there  is  no  trill,  but  the 
tongue  being  curled  back  during  the  progress  of  the  vowel 
preceding  it,  the  sound  becomes  guttural,  while  a  slight 
vibration  of  the  back  part  of  the  tongue  is  perceptible  in  the 
sound."  Now  I  do  not  find  the  tongue  to  be  "curled  back/' 
although  it  passes  from  the  preceding  vowel  to  the  (a)  position, 
and  I  find  no  vibration  of  the  back  of  the  tongue,  though 
vibration  of  the  velum  may  occasionally  be  felt,  and  some 
persons  may  more  or  less  vibrate  the  uvula. 

On  account  of  the  resemblance  of  (a)  to  (o),  a  sound  to 
which  all  unaccented  vowels  approximate  in  the  mouths  of 
of  many  southern  speakers,  and  also  because  when  (j)  is 
followed  by  a  vowel,  it  is  usual  to  interpose  (r)  thus  (HeeJTt, 
Hii-iTiq),  hairy,  hearing,  illiterate  speakers— those  who  either 
do  not  know  how  to  spell,  or  ignore  the  rules  of  spelling  in 
their  speech — usually  interpose  an  (r)  between  any  back 
vowel,  as  (a,  A,  9)  and  a  subsequent  vowel,  thus  (drAA'rzq, 
lAAr  o-dha-laend,  wmdar  a  dhe  ,8eus)  for  (drAA'iq,  IAA  ov  dhe 
Isend,  wm'do  ov  dhe  Haus)  drawing,  law  of  the  land,  window  of 
the  house.  From  this  habit,  a  very  singular  conclusion  has 
been  commonly  drawn  by  a  great  many  people,  namely, 
that  such  persons  habitually  say  (drAAr,  lAAr,  wm'dar) 
when  not  before  a  vowel, — a  feat  which  they  are  mostly 
incapable  of  performing.  They  will  indeed  rhyme  window, 
cinder,  not  because  they  say  (wm'dar  sm'dar)  as  generally 
assumed,  with  the  trilled  (r),  but  because  they  say  (wmda 
smda)  or  (wm'dj  sm'dj),  omitting  to  trill  the  r  in  both  cases. 

Another  point  on  which  Smart  insists  is  the  distinction 
between  serf,  surf,  which  Mr.  M.  Bell  writes  (saojf,  ssaf  ),  and 
I  write  either  (s^f,  wf)  by  preference,  or  (self,  saaf),  or  else, 
sinking  the  distinction,  as  is  far  the  commonest  practice,  write 
(sjf )  for  both  words.  A  distinction  of  course  can  be  made, 


202  R  —  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

and  without  much  difficulty,  by  those  who  think  of  it,  and  is 
made  by  those  who  have  formed  a  habit  of  doing  so ;  but  the 
distinction  is  so  rarely  made  as  to  amount  almost  to  pedantry 
when  carefully  carried  out,  like  so  many  other  distinctions 
insisted  on  by  orthoepists,  but  ignored  by  speakers  whose 
heart  is  in  the  thought  they  wish  to  convey,  not  in  the 
vehicle  they  are  using.  Smart,  notwithstanding  the  pains 
he  has  bestowed  on  this  subject,  finds  that  the  words  payer, 
player,  slayer,  which  are  dissyllables  =  (pee',x  plee',x,  slee',x), 
rhyme  perfectly  with  care,  fair,  hair,  share,  which  are  mono- 
syllables zz:  (kee,i,  feeJ,  Hee-i,  sheej)  with  a  different  vowel. 

The  action  of  the  ('!)  in  altering  the  preceding  (a)  into  (au) 
and  thence  into  (AA)  has  already  been  noticed.  It  is  always 
the  tendency  of  two  sounds  combined  in  rapid  succession,  to 
generate  some  alterations  in  one  or  both,  or  to  fuse  themselves 
into  some  new  sound  (p.  52).  This  is  very  marked  with  (j). 
It  is  now  not  customary  to  pronounce  (ee)  or  (oo)  before  (j) . 
Such  words  as  (meeJL,  moot)  have  a  very  peculiar  effect,  either 
antiquated  or  illiterate,  and  are  replaced  by  (meei,  mooj) 
mare,  more.  Mr.  M.  Bell  considers  that  (uu)  is  in  like 
manner  altered  to  (uu).  This  is  certainly  often  the  case,  but 
(puuj)  for  (puuz)  has  no  singularity  in  it.  We  certainly  do 
not  change  (ii)  into  (ii)  and  say  ($u)  for  (iu)  ear.1  It  is  pro- 
bably this  action  of  the  (j)  which  has  preserved  the  sound 
of  (a)  so  that  art,  part  are  not  (ae.it,  pse.it)  but  (aat,  pa.it)  or 
(aa.it,  paa.it)  or  simply  (aat,  paat).  Indeed,  in  ordinary 
spelling,  many  writers  now  habitually  use  ar  to  indicate  the 
sound  (aa),  in  the  same  way  as  they  use  or  to  represent  (AA)  ; 
(p.  197).  At  the  same  time  (ger,  seaer)  were  certainly  prevalent 
in  the  xvn  th  century,  and  are  fossilized  in  America. 

How  far  all  these  effects  are  modern,  or  how  far  they  were 
heard  even  in  Ben  Jonson's  time,  I  have  been  quite 
unable  to  determine.  But  as  (r)  may  still  be  said,  and 
is  still  used  by  Irishmen  and  Scotchmen  (implying  an 
older  form  of  English)  and,  carefully  inserting  (')  or  (o), 
is  even  now  used  by  many  Englishmen  without  giving 
offence  to  the  ear  (ii'r,  iiar),  it  is  certainly  safer  to 
assume  that  there  was  formerly  only  one  sound  of  (r), 
but  that  a  murmur  (')  was  generally  inserted  before  it 
when  following  a  vowel.  In  my  transcriptions,  however, 
I  have  been  obliged  to  omit  this  theoretical  (')  for  which 
I  have  no  proper  authority. 

1  But  observe  the  Norwich  street  cry,  p.  138,  note,  col.  1. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.  P,  B.      T,  D.      C,  K,  Q.     G.     CH.     J.  203 


P,B.     T,D.    C,K,Q.    GK    CH.    J. 

The  pronunciation  of  P,B  does  not  seem  to  have  varied  in 
any  respect. 

T,D  have  now  a  tendency,  ignored  by  most  orthoepists, 
under  particular  circumstances  to  pass  into  (tsh,  dzh) ;  thus 
nature,  verdure  are,  perhaps  most  frequently,  pronounced 
(nee'tshi,  vi'dzhj),  the  last  word  being  in  that  case  identified 
with  verger.  This  alteration  takes  place  generally  through 
the  action  of  a  palatal  sound,  originally  (yy),  then  (iu,  ju)  so 
that  the  transition  was  (-tyyr,  -tiur,  -tJUJ,  -tjj,  -tshi).  I 
have  not  found  traces  of  the  change  however,  but  the  pro- 
nunciation (n0£'ti)  or  its  equivalent  given  by  Jones  seems  to 
shew  an  effort  to  avoid  it  by  omitting  the  palatal  element  (j) . 
In  the  xvin  th  century  Sheridan  carried  this  still  further  and 
allowed  for  such  pronunciations  as  (tshuut'ai)  for  tutor.  The 
palatals  (i,  j)  have  always  had  a  great  effect  upon  preceding 
consonants  of  the  dental  and  guttural  class,  as  they  tend  to 
materially  alter  the  position  of  the  tongue,  in  order  to  facili- 
tate the  transition  to  a  following  vowel.  The  languages  de- 
rived from  the  Latin  are  full  of  instances.  It  is  a  fashion  in 
modern  English  to  resist,  or  to  believe  that  we  resist,  this  ten- 
dency in  the  especial  case  of  -ture  and  -dure,  but  we  have 
given  into  it  completely  in  -tion,  where  the  t,  hesitating  in 
classical  times  between  c  and  t,  underwent  a  change  which 
gave  (-sioA)  in  French,  whence  in  English,  first  (-smn)  and 
then  (-shan), — never,  except  in  orthoepical  fancies,  (-shon), — 
and  in  Italian  produced  (-tsizmlrne).  A  similar  change  is  re- 
cognized in  -ciow,  -cial.  And  it  is  in  vain  to  protest  against 
-turey  -dure  becoming  (-tshj,  -dzlu),  at  a  time  when  even 
(-tjui,  -djza),  though  far  less  pedantic  than  (-tiui,  -diuj), 
have  a  singularly  orthoepistic  effect. 

C,  G  also  underwent  a  similar  change,  not  from  the  action 
of  an  (i)  sound,  but  paradoxically,  as  it  might  appear,  through 
the  action  of  a  following  (a)  sound.  The  letter  k  is  not  much 
used  as  an  initial  in  English  and  hence  the  observation  refers 
in  spelling  to  c  but  in  sound  to  (k).  It  would  be  interesting 
to  know  when  the  English  began  to  introduce  an  (i)  sound 
between  (k,  g)  and  an  (a)  sound.  There  is  no  trace  of  it  in 
orthoepists,  but  there  are  traces  of  it  in  a  very  early  stage  of 
our  language,  in  the  Anglosaxon  orthography,  and  there  are 
traces  of  final  (k,  g),  especially  after  (1,  n,  r)  having  been  also 
palatalized  to  (k,  g).  The  word  church,  now  (tsh-itsh),  but 
previously  (tsh«rtsh)  if  we  may  trust  Salesbury's  Welsh  tran- 


204  P,B.     T,D.     C,K,Q.     G.     CH.     J.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

scription  tsiurts,  is  an  excellent  example.  The  Anglosaxon 
forms  are  circ,  ciric,  cyric,  circe,  cyricea,  the  Greek  being 
KvpicucQv,  which  in  the  present  Greek  pronunciation,  pre- 
valent certainly  in  all  its  main  points  when  the  word  was 
transplanted  into  Anglosaxon,  is  called  (kiriakon-),  and  the 
word  (kirik)  or  (kirk)  probably  arose  1  from  omitting  one  or 
two  of  the  intermediate  vowels.  Ormin's  kirrke  =  (kirk'e) 
and  the  Scotch  kirk  (kerk,  ke.rk),  shew  the  unpalatalized 
form.  That  the  initial  consonant  should  have  yielded  to  the 
following  (i)  was  to  be  expected,  and  although  in  modern 
high  German  we  have  kirche  (kir&lre),  the  old  high  German 
often  shewed  an  initial  ch  =  (kh)  or  perhaps  (&h),  a  palatal, 
although  it  possibly  meant  the  upper  German  initial  (1m). 
The  final  k  in  this  word  is  palatalised  in  modern  German,  for 
it  is  (kin.)  and  not  (kh),  and  it  is  to.  be  remarked  that  the 
Germans  always  use  (kh)  and  not  (kh)  after  (1  n  r)  shewing 
the  tendency  of  Germanic  languages  to  this  palatalisation. 
The  transitional  form  between  (kirk)  and  (tshirtsh)  was  (kirk). 
From  (k)  to  (tsh)  seems  a  great  stride.  Yet  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  passage  was  accomplished  in  Italian,  where  every 
(tsh)  results  from  a  palatal  (k),  and  every  (sh)  from  a  palatal 
(sk)  precisely  as  in  English.  In  modern  Greek  /cal,  properly 
(ke),  becomes  (ke,  ki,  tshi)  in  various  dialectic  pronunciations. 
In  Sanscrit  also  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  palatal  series 
^  W  ^  W  *t  were  originally  (k  kn  g  </H  q)  although  they 
are  said  to  be  now  (tsh  tshn  dzh  dzhn  nj).2  This  is  not 
the  only  change  of  the  palatised  (k).  The  older  French  seem 
to  have  generally  palatalized  the  Latin  c  before  a,  as  (Aramp) 
from  campus,  whence  afterwards  (shamp,  shaA),  (p.  53).  But 
the  change  was  often  first  into  (s),  whence  (sh)  became  evolved 
by  a  further  action  of  an  (i)  sound,  so  oceanus,  ocean,  ocean 
(o&e'anus,  oseaA,  co'slren). 

In  pronouncing  (j)  the  middle  of  the  tongue  is  arched  up 
against  the  palate ;  while  for  (k)  the  back,  and  for  (t)  the 
tip  of  the  tongue  only  come  in  contact  with  the  palate. 
When  then  (kj)  or  (tj)  come  together  rapidly,  the  first 
change  is  to  produce  (kj)  and  (tj).  By  (kj)  is  meant  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  (k).  The  latter  is  generally  the  more 
convenient  notation,  but  the  former  seems  more  suitable  for 
the  present  discussion.  For  (kj)  there  is  an  attempt  to  pro- 

1  There  is  a  possibility  that  circ  is  remain ;  few  Englishmen  would  detect 
not  of  Greek  origin,  see  Graff,  iv,  481,  the  difference  between  (nj)  and  (q)  that 
Dieffenbach's    Goth.    Wort,    ii,    450.  is    (qj),   and  some   mispronounce   the 
This  however  will  not  affect  the  de-  French  gn  as  (q).     The  sound  (nj)  be- 
rivatives  of  the  Anglosaxon.  longs  to  a  series  (tj  tJH  dj  djn  nj),  not 

2  It  is  very  possible  that  (q}  may  developed  in  Sanscrit. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.  P,B.      T,D.      C,K,Q.      G.      CH.      J.  205 

nounce  (k)  and  (j)  simultaneously.  Hence  the  back  of  the 
tongue  still  remaining  in  contact  with  the  palate,  the  middle 
of  the  tongue  is  also  raised,  so  that  both  back  and  middle 
lie  against  the  palate.  This  is  rather  a  constrained  position, 
and  consequently  the  back  of  the  tongue  readily  drops. 
The  result  is  the  exact  position  for  (tj)  which,  originating  in 
an  attempt  to  sound  (t)  and  (j)  simultaneously,  brought  the 
tip  and  middle  of  the  tongue  to  the  palate,  and  this  being 
almost  an  impossible  position  dropped  the  tip.  The  two 
consonants  (kj,  tj)  are  therefore  ready  to  interchange.  The 
passage  from  (tj)  to  (tsh)  is  very  short  and  swift,  so  much  so 
that  many  writers,  as  Wallis,  have  considered  (tsh)  to  be 
really  (tj).1  But  the  organs  of  different  speakers  have  dif- 
ferent tendencies,  and  in  some  (s)  or  (sh)  are  more  readily 
evolved  than  (tsh)  from  (tj).  It  must  be  remembered  that 
when  the  sound  is  thus  spoken  of  as  changing,  it  is  not  meant 
that  it  changes  in  the  mouth  of  a  single  man  from  perfect  (k) 
to  perfect  (tsh).  Quite  the  contrary.  It  probably  required 
many  generations  to  complete  the  change,  and  the  transi- 
tional forms  were  possibly  in  use  by  intermediate  genera- 
tions. From  these  must  be  excluded  all  intentional,  that  is, 
artificial  inorganic  changes,  such  as  those  induced  by  modern 
orthoepists.  The  (s,  sh,  tsh)  were  all  imperfect  attempts  at 
imitating  (tj),  a  sound  which  is  said  to  have  remained  stable 
in  the  Hungarian  language  where  it  is  written  tyt  while  its 
congener  (dj)  is  written  gy,  Magyar  being  called  (Madj*«r). 

The  reason  why  (k)  should  have  been  palatalized  to  (kj) 
after  (l,n,r)  is  not  so  clear,  but  the  example  of  the  modern 
high  German  milch,  manch,  durch  (mil&h,  man&h,  dur&h) 
shews  that  the  tendency  is  a  reality  not  an  hypothesis,  and 
enables  us  to  understand  milch  as  well  as  milk  ags.  mile, 
meolc ;  bench  as  well  as  bank,  ags.  bane ;  drench  ags.  drencan 
as  well  as  drink  ags.  drincan,  stark  and  starch  ags.  stearc, 
mark  and  march  a  border,  ags.  mearc.  Chaucer  interchanges 
werk,  icerch,  etc.,  to  suit  his  rhyme.  It  would  seem  there- 
fore that  about  this  time  there  was  a  great  tendency  in  the 
two  sounds  to  fall  into  one  another.  The  close  connection 
also  of  the  sounds  of  (k,  tsh)  naturally  suggested  the  related 
signs  c,  ch,  a  notation  early  adopted.  And  as  (sk)  became 

1  "Wallis  says :    "  Ajiglorum  ch  vel  syan-zyer,  at  si  praeposuerit  t,  d  for- 

tch  sonat  ty  . . .  Si  voci  Anglicanae  yew  mabit  Anglorum  changer,  hoc  est,  tyan- 

taxus  sigillatim  prseponantur  d,  t,  s,  z  dyer."      There   is   no    doubt    of   the 

fiunt  dyew,  tyew,  syew,  zyew,  hoc  est,  readiness  with  which  the  first  sounds 

Anglorum  Jew  Judseus,  chew  mastico,  generate  the  second,  but  the.  two  are 

shew  ostendo,  et  Grallorum  jeu  lusus.  quite  distinct,  and  a  very  little  practice 

Qui  syllabis  yan,  yer  preeposuerit  s,  z  enables  any  one  to  distinguish  them, 
formabit  GaUorum  changer,   hoc  est, 


206  P,B.       T,D.       C,K,Q.       G.       CH.       J.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

(skj,  stj,  sh),  the  earliest  sign  for  the  new  sound  was  sch. 
This  has  been  adopted  in  German  where  ch  by  itself  has  a 
different  meaning.  See  also  Chap.  Y,  §  4,  No.  1. 

But  the  phenomenon  which  suggested  these  remarks, 
namely,  the  palatalisation  of  (k)  before  an  (a)  sound,  is  dif- 
ferent. Generally  the  consonant  follows  the  tendency  of  the 
vowel.  A  German  is  so  imbued  with  the  tendency  of  ch  to 
become  (kh,  kjh,  k?^h)  according  to  the  preceding  vowel, 
so  used  to  say  (akh,  ikjh,  aukwh),  that  his  organs  would  find 
(akjh,  ikh)  an  impossibility.  But  different  speakers  seem  to 
have  been  affected  with  the  very  opposite  tendency;  some 
striving  to  render  the  consonant  thinner,  or  more  palatal,  by 
inserting  an  (i)  effect,  between  it  and  a  following  (a)  sound  ; 
others  avoiding  the  palatalisation  of  a  consonant  before  an 
(i)  sound  by  the  introduction  of  an  (u)  sound.  The  first 
would  convert  (ka)  into  (kia),  whence  (kja,  kja),  the  common 
Italian  schiacciato  (skjattshaa'to)  effect ;  thfe  second  change 
(ki,  ke)  into  (kwd,  kwe)  or  (kwi,  kwe).  These  tendencies  are 
carried  far  bej^ond  these  limits  in  the  Sclavonic  palatalisation 
and  the  French  labialisation  of  consonants.  They  are  not 
widely  developed  in  our  own  language,  and,  being  inor- 
ganic, may  prevail  only  partially  both  in  time  and  place. 
In  modern  Italian  both  chi  and  cui  (ki,  cuui)  occur,  the 
French  qui  though  written  with  the  mark  of  thickening  or 
labialisation,  is  palatalised  into  (kji)  and  similarly  in  all 
words  where  qu  precedes  a  (i,  e)  sound  in  French. 

As'  respects  the  particular  usage,  (£aJt,  /i8ind,  s&ao:iet, 
skdi ;  ^a-id,  #oid)  for  cart^  kind,  scarlet,  sky ;  guard,  guide,  it 
is  now  antiquated  in  English.  But  in  Walker's  time  it  was 
so  much  the  custom  that  he  found  it  "impossible"  to  pro- 
nounce garrison  and  carriage  with  the  pure  (g,  k),  without 
any  inserted  (i)  sound.  I  have  however  not  been  able  to 
find  any  allusion  to  this  practice  in  the  older  writers.  The 
custom  is  now  dying  rapidly  out.  But  we  find  the  same 
tendency  in  other  languages.  Thus  in  Modern  Greek,  I 
have  been  told,  that  %  is  always  (&h)  even  before  &>,  a,  and 
it  seems  that  the  Sanscrit  ^[  had  the  same  sound. 

What  has  been  said  of  k  applies  directly  to  g,  substituting 
sonants  for  mutes,  and  as  (k)  produced  (tsh),  so  did  (g)  pro- 
duce (dzh).  The  Anglosaxon  g  has  however  usually  re- 
mained (g),  and  even  in  several  cases,  as  edge,  bridge  in  which 
the  change  to  (dzh)  has  been  made,  the  (g)  is  found  as  a 
dialectic  form.  The  alteration  of  the  Anglosaxon  g  has 
generally  taken  other  .directions,  which  will  be  considered 
under  gh. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.  P,B.       T,D.       C,K,Q.       G.       CH.       J.  207 

CH  and  J,  G  are  also  (tsh,  dzh)  when  corresponding  to 
the  present  French  sounds  (sh,  zh).  Palsgrave  admits  that 
French  cli  .is  English  (sh),  but  he  makes  the  French  and 
English  J  identical.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  whether  in 
very  old  French  ch,  j  were  read  (tsh,  dzh)  or  (sh,  zh).  Hart 
makes  eight  pairs  of  consonants  (b  p,  v  f,  g  k,  dzh  tsh,  d  t, 
dh  th,  z  s)  and  two  breaths  (sh  H').  The  letters  here  trans- 
cribed (dzh,  tsh),  he  identifies  with  Italian  (gi,  ci)  and  the  last 
with  the  "  High  Dutch"  tsch,  by  which  their  sounds  are  deter- 
mined. Then  he  says,  translating  his  phonetic  orthography, 

"The  French  do  use  the  j  consonant  in  a  sound  which  we  use 
not  in  our  speech,  whereof  this  (sh)  serveth  for  the  sister  thereof, 
with  us,  as  ch  doth  with  them,  having  no  inward  sound,  and  are 
both  framed  with  keeping  of  the  tongue  from  the  palate  and  bring- 
ing the  teeth  together,  or  the  one  or  other  lip  to  his  counter  teeth, 
and  thrusting  the  breath  through  them  with  the  inward  sound  for 
the  French  j  consonant ;  which  if  we  had  in  use,  should  make  us 
the  eighth  pair.  For  want  whereof  the  (sh)  doth  remain  to  us,  a 
breath  without  fellow,  which  the  other  seven  pairs  have.  But  for  want 
of  that  sound,  we  have  four  others  which  the  French  never  use,  to 
wit  of  (dzh,  tsh)  and  (dh,  th)  which  are  very  hard  for  any  natural 
French  to  pronounce  :  other  than  such  as  are  'brought  up  amongst 
us  somwhat  in  youth."  And  again  in  the  theoretical  part  of  his 
work,  after  an  elaborate  description  of  (sh)  he  adds :  "  For  the 
felowe  of  which  sh,  the  French  do  sounde  their  g,  before  e,  and  i, 
and  the  i.  consonant  before  a,  o,  and  u,  and  sometimes  before  e, 
and  doe  neuer  sound  perfitely  our  sounds  beforesaid  for  (dzh)  & 
(tsh),  in  all  their  speach." 

Hence  the  French  j  is  fixed  as  the  voiced  form  of  (sh), 
that  is  (zh),  as  Hart  heard  it  in  1569.  Yet  Palsgrave, 
whose  ear  was  unfortunately  by  no  means  delicate,  confused 
(zh)  with  (dzh).  The  Welsh  have  no  (sh,(zh,  tsh,  dzh),  and 
are  forced  to  transcribe  the  two  first  by  si  and  the  two  last 
by  tsit  while  they  sometimes  use  si  for  all  four.  Thus  Sales- 
bury  transcribes  JESU,  JOHN,  JOYNT  by  tsiesuto,  tsion,  tsioynt, 
and  makes  a  JACK  APE  into  a  (siak  ab)  in  his  dictionary. 
He  admits  that  the  Welsh  tsi  is  as  like  the  English  (tsh) 
"  as  brass  is  to  gold/'  and  says  of  the  English  "  CH,  G  and  i" 
(tsh,  dzh),  that  there  is  "  the  same  likeness  between  these 
three  English  letters  as  exists  between  pewter  and  silver, 
that  at  first  sight  they  appear  very  like  each  other,  but  on 
close  examination  they  differ." 

The  letters  ch  when  transcribing  the  Greek  %  are  called 
(k),  and  in  the  word  ache  which  the  Promptorium/also  writes 
ake,  ch  has  generally  the  sound  of  (k).  But  Hart  says: 
"We  abuse  the  name  of  h,  calling  it  achey  which  sounde 


208  P,B.      T,D.       C,K,Q.       G.       CH.      J.  CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

serueth  very  well  to  expresse  an  headache  or  some  bone  ache/' 
so  that  as  the  name  of  the  letter  could  only  have  been 
(aatsh),  the  words  imply  that  ache  was  also  so  pronounced. 
Bullokar  also  notes  it  as  (aatsh),  and  thus,  by  the  very  same 
collocation  bone  ache,  is  confirmed  a  fancy  of  John  Kemble's, 
in  pronouncing  the  line  (Tempest,  act  i.,  sc.  2,  v.  370) : 

Fill  all  thy  bones  with  Aches,  make  thee  rore. 
It  is  true  Kemble  said  (^tsh'ez),  and  therefore  erred  in 
the  vowel,  though  right  in  the  consonant ;  and  the  feeling  of 
the  O.  P.  rioters  in  placarding,  "  Silence  !  Mr.  Kemble's 
head  aitshes"  was  in  so  far  correct,  that  it  was  absurd  to 
retain  a  single  antique  pronunciation  in  the  midst  of  his 
modern  sounds. 

The   initial   k  according  to   all  the  authorities  was  still 
heard   in   the   xvith   century   before   n,    as   (knoou,   knot, 
knuk-'l)  and  hence  probably  initial  gn  was  (gn),  as  both  are 
used  in  present  Grerman  knochen,  gnade  (knokh'en,  guaa'de), 
but  I  have  not  met  with  an  instance  of  gn.     Jones  makes 
initial  gn  always    (n),   but  says  that   initial   kn  "  may   be 
sounded   kn,"   which  was  therefore    unusual  at   that  time. 
Wallis   however   fifty   years   before  allowed    (knou,    knyy) 
know,   knew,    and    Cooper,    strangely   enough    says :    "  Kn 
sonatur  ut  hn  ;  knave  nebulo  ....  quasi  hnave  &c.,"  meaning 
(nh),  but  perhaps  really  simple   (n),  the  aspiration  being  a 
theoretical  difference  to  distinguish  initial  kn  from  simple  n. 
Labialised  /  or  (Iw)  has  already  been  shewn  to  have  existed 
in  our  language,  (p.  193,)  but  it  has  died  out.    Labialised  k  or 
(k«0),  the  lips  being  opened  simultaneously  with  the  release 
of  the  k  contact  and  not  after  it,  is  an  ancient  element  of  our 
own  and  probably  of  many  other  languages.     In  Anglosaxon 
it  is  written  cw,  in  Latin  qu,  which  is  the  form  adopted  in 
English.     It  is .  needless  to  say  that  no  orthoepist  has  dis- 
tinguished (kw,  Isw).     Ou  properly  bears  the  same  relation 
to  g  as  qu  to  k,  but  as  the  form  of  the  g  remained  unchanged, 
little  attention  was  paid  to  it.   It  does  not  exist  as  part  of  the 
Saxon  element   of  our   language.     Initially  it  is  generally 
used  superfluously  for  g.     Occasionally  it  has  the  sound  (gw) 
as  in  language,  itself  a  modern  form,  anguish,  distinguish,  &c. 
Usage,  however,  varies,  some  saying  (laoq'g?q/dzh,  aeq'gw/sh) 
and  others  (laeq-w^/dzh,  seq'w/sh).     The  Italian  quale,  guanto 
are  apparently  (kwoaa'le,  gwuan'to).     The  final  -gue  for  -g 
as  in  tongue,  plague  is  quite  a  modernism.    Ague,  also  spelled 
agwe  in  the  Promptorium,  was  probably  (aa'gyy)  or  (aa'guu) 
from  aigue,  and  hence  does  not  belong  to  this  category. 
As  we  have  (kj  gj,  kw  gw),  so  also  to  our  unacknowledged 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.         GH  XVI  TH  TO  XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  209 

(tj  dj)  correspond  an  equally  unacknowledged  (tw  dw?,) 
which,  written  tw  dw  as  in  between,  twain,  twang,  twist,  twelve, 
tivirl ;  dwindle,  dwell,  divarf,  have  been  generally  considered 
as  (tw,  dw),  but  many  of  those  who  have  thought  on  pho- 
netics have  been  more  perplexed  to  decide  whether  to  was 
here  really  a  vowel  (u)  or  a  consonant  (w),  than  in  the  cor- 
responding words  wean,  wain,  wist,  well,  war.  The  difficulty 
is  resolved  by  observing  that  the  opening  of  the  lips  is  really 
simultaneous  with  the  release  of  the  (t,  d)  contact. 

The  termination  -age  is  represented  as  having  the  sound 
(-aidzh)  in  Salesbury,  in  domagey  heritage,  language,  all 
French  words,  and  this  agrees  with  Palsgrave,  supra,  p.  120, 
note.  Smith,  Bullokar,  Gill,  and  Butler,  however,  do  not  re- 
cognize this  tendency  in  English,  although  Butler  notes  the 
similar  change  of  (a)  to  (ai)  before  -nge  (-ndzh),  and  both 
are  confirmed  by  the  modern  sounds  (-ydzh,  -eendzh),  of 
which  the  first  is  a  degeneration  of  (-edzh,  -eedzh). 

GH 

The  Anglosaxon  alphabet  having  no  especial  letter  to  repre- 
sent the  guttural  (kh),  the  single  letter  h  was  used,  as  in  old 
High  German  the  double  letter  hh  was  employed.  As  g  often 
interchanges  with  h  in  Anglosaxon,  as  lagu,  lah,  law,  it  is  pos- 
sible that  there  was  a  tendency  in  those  times  to  pronounce 
g  final  or  medial  as  (gh),  just  as  the  Upper  Germans  now  do, 
and  as  the  Dutch  pronounce  their  g  in  all  positions.  At  a 
later  period  the  Anglosaxon  g  seems  to  have  become  (gin)  and 
then  (j),  sounds  even  now  confused  by  German  phoneticians. 
Hence  5,  which  was  also  written  3,  and  occasionally  printed 
z,  became  the  regular  sign  for  (j)  till  it  was  supplanted  by  y. 
When,  therefore,  it  was  desirable  to  shew  that  g  retained  the 
sound  of  h,  that  is,  (kh),  it  was  natural  to  write  gh  in  its 
place.  In  the  Orrmulum  we  have  all  varieties  ;  fulluhht 
pohhtesat,  mihhte  are  instances  of  h,  doubled  merely  to  shew 
that  the  preceding  vowel  is  short ;  maft,  e^whcer,  aft,  twi^ess 
illustrate  the  use  of  3,  doubtful  whether  (gb)  or  (j),  while 
reihell-boc,  foll}henn  shew  the  use  of  }h.  As  in  Dutch  the  g 
often  sounds  (kh)  as  well  as  (gh),1  and  as  the  Scotch  adopted 
the  orthography  chy  it  seems  probable  that  (gh)  early  ac- 

1  Eecent    opportunities    of  hearing  (srhep)   rather  than    (skrhep,   skh^p). 

Dutch  pronunciation  have    convinced  The   Dutch  themselves    consider    the 

me  that  the  Dutch  ch,  g  are  rather  sound  very  soft.     The  Dutch  final  and 

(krh,  grh)  than  simple  (kh,  gh).     But  medial  sch  is  pronounced  as  simple  *, 

the  sounds  are  so  lightly  and  gently  thus  vleesch  (vlees),  a  modern  example 

pronounced  that  they  rather  resemble  of  an  omitted  guttural, 
(rh,  r)  than  (krh,  grh),  thus  schip  = 

14 


210  GH  — •  XVI  TH   TO   XVTIITH    CENTURY.       CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

quired  the  sound  of  (kh)  only.  But  it  is  by  no  means 
certain.  The  two  sounds  (kh,  gh)  are  so  easily  confused  by 
those  not  familiar  with  them,  and  may  so  readily  inter- 
change owing  to  the  nature  of  the  adjoining  consonant,  and 
so  few  languages  have  provided  for  their  discrimination,  that 
we  cannot  be  certain  of  their  not  having  both  existed  even 
though  only  one  is  named.  It  is  the  same  with  (sh,  zh),  the 
latter  of  which  is  scarcely  ever  noticed,  so  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  say  when  it  first  came  into  use.  Even  (s,  z)  are  constantly 
confused.  They  both  exist  in  Italian,  and  have  only  one 
sign  s.  But  only  one  of  them  (s)  exists  in  Spanish  and 
Welsh,  having  the  same  sign  s.  Hence  it  is  impossible  to 
tell  from  the  orthography  gh  whether  it  represented  only 
(kh),  only  (gh),  or  occasionally  (kh)  and  (gh),  nor  would  it 
be  certain  if  a  Welsh  writer,  for  example,  who  only  knew 
(kh)  and  was  not  acquainted  with  (gh),  asserted  that  the 
English  gh  was  (kh).  Now  Salesbury  says :  "Gh  has  the 
same  sound  as  our  ch  (kh),  except  that  we  sound  ch  deeper 
in  the  throat  and  more  harsh ly."  The  two  expressions 
"  deeper  "  and  "  more  harshly  "  might  be  applied  in  Sales- 
bury's  popular  language  in  two  ways.  For  example,  (kh)  is 
deeper  than  (&h)  and  harsher.  And  (kh)  being  called  'hard' 
in  contrast  to  (gh)  '  soft/  (kh)  might  be  esteemed  harsher 
than  (gh) ;  or  the  reverse,  when  (kh)  is  a  familiar  and  (gh)  a 
strange  sound.  But  certainly  (kh)  would  be  felt  to  be  much 
deeper  and  harsher  than  (^h).  There  is  another  supposition, 
namely,  that  gh  was  merely  (H'),  the  simple  jerk  of  the 
aspirated  breath.  In  most  cases  (H,  H')  are  confused,  and 
the  aspirate  is  considered  to  be  (H').  In  my  own  opinion 
(H')  is  much  less  frequent  than  (H),  but  (H')  is  occasionally 
said  when  only  (H)  is  intended.  Sir  T.  Smith  writes  h  for 
either  sound,  and  this  is  the  general  custom  of  orthoepists. 
He  also  represents  gh  by  h  only,  saying  : 

"  Scio  tauht,  niht,  fiht  &  caetera  ejusmodi  scribi  etiam  g  adjuncta, 
vt  taught,  night,  fight,  sed  sonum  illius  g  quaerant,  quibus  ita  libet 
scribere,  aures  profecto  meae  nunquam  in  illis  vocibus  sonitum  TOV 
g  poterant  haurire." 

This  ought  to  imply  that  the  sound  was  (H')  and  that 
(tauii't,  nm't,  fin't)  was  at  that  time  the  pronunciation  of 
taught,  night,  fiyht.  Hart  at  the  same  time  writes  lauht,  oht 
=  (laun't,  on't)  for  laught,  ought.  Bullokar  has  also  (liht, 
boivht  =  (Im'tboouH't).  But  then  Gill  finds  it  necessary  to 
introduce  a  new  sign,  namely,  h  with  its  stem  crossed  like  a 
t,  to  represent  the  sound  of  gh  in  bought,  and  says  : 

"X.  ch.  Graecorum  in  initio  nunquam  vsurpamus,  in  medio,  et 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.         GH  —  XVI  TH   TO   XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  211 

fine  saepe ;  et  per  gh,  male  exprimimus  :  posthac  sic  (kh) l  scribemus  : 
vt  in  (waikht  enukh)  WEIGHT  ENOUGH  satis  ponderis." 

Now  those  who  do  not  possess  a  symbol  for  (kh)  often 
write  h  for  it,  as  we  have  seen  in  Anglosaxon  finals,  and  as 
Rapp  considers  to  have  been  the  case  in  the  Anglosaxon 
initial  hi,  hr,  hw,  which  I  rather  suppose  to  have  been  (Ih, 
rh,  wh).  The  sound  of  (khw)  is  very  harsh,  and  in  Scotland 
and  North  Wales  it  is  modified  into  (kw/h),  corresponding  to 
the  English  and  South  Welsh  (wh).  Those  who  wish  to 
acquire  the  sound  of  (akh)  may  be  led  to  it  by  endeavouring 
to  say  (an'),  and  at  the  same  time  slightly  raising  the  back 
of  the  tongue.  Hence  it  is  possible  that  Salesbury's  ch> 
(which  is  not  so  "  deep "  and  "  harsh "  as  the  Welsh  ch,) 
Smith's,  Hart's,  Bullokar's  h,  and  Gill's  %,  may  be  all  one 
and  the  same  sound,  either  (H')  or  (kh).  But  it  is  certain 
that  when  Gill  wrote,  the  sound  (kh)  was  disappearing  in 
the  south  of  England,  for  Butler,  who  uses  a  g  with  a 
crossed  stem,  to  represent  gh,  says  that  "the  Northern 
Dialect  doth  yet  rightly  sound  "  it,  implying  of  course  that 
it  had  gone  out  in  the  South  by '1633. 

The  safest  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  the  sound  in  the 
xvith  century  was  really  (kh),  but  was  generally  pronounced 
very  lightly;3  it  might,  however,  have  been  (&h)  after  (i,e). 
This  is  still  the  custom  in  Scotland. 

By  the  middle  of  the  xvn  th  century  the  rule  had  become 
to  omit  the  sound,  after  changing  the  preceding  vowel,  or  to 
change  it  into  some  other  sibilant,  generally  (f ),  in  one  or 
two  cases  provincially  (th).  WALLIS,  1653,  after  noticing 
that  initial  gh  is  simply  (g),  adds  : 

"alias  vero  nunc  dieruni  prorsus  omittitur;  syllaham  tamen  pro- 
ducendam  innuit.  A  qnibusdam  tamen  (prsesertim  Septentrion- 
alibus)  per  molliorem  saltern  aspirationem  h  effertur,  ut  might 
potestas,  light  lux,  night  nox,  right  rectus,  sight  visus,  sigh  singnl- 
tus,  weigh  pondero,  weight  pondus,  though  quamvis,  thought  cogi- 
tatio,  wrought  operatus  est,  brought  attulit,  taught  docuit,  sought 
qnsesivit,  fraught  refertus,  nought  nihil,  naught  mains,  &c.  In 
paucis  vocabulis  effertur  plerumqne  per  ff;  nempe  cough  tussis, 

1  Gill  misprints  ft,  which  lie  uses  for  bour  vocattfr  nebour ;  neigh  abreuiated 
(dh)  and  in  his  errata  endeavouring  to  ne."     This  seems  to  shew  that  both 
correct  this  mistake  and  also  (inukh)  (neekh)  and  (nee)  were  heard  in  the 
for   (enukh),  he  has  accidentally  re-  first  syllable  of  this  word,  and  would 
peated  the  error  instead  of  making  the  imply  that  (neekh)  was  racher  pedantic, 
correction,  as  has  been  done  here  in  Indeed  if  it  were  to  be  classed  with  the 
the  text.  other  pronunciations  which  the  pedant 

2  The  Pedant  in  Love's  Labour  Lost,  recommends,  as  (doubt,  debt,  kalf,  naif) 
Act  v.  Sc.   1.  1623  comedies  p.  136  it  might  be  considered  as  obsolete, 
complains  of  the  pronunciation  "neigh- 


212  GH XVI  TH   TO    XVIII  TH   CENTURY.          CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

trough  alveolus,  tough  tenax,  rough  asper,  laugh  rideo  proferuntur, 
coff,  troff,  tuff,  ruff,  laff.  Inough  (singulare)  sat  nmltum,  sonatur 
inuff;  at  inough  (plurale)  sat  nmlta,  sonatur  enow." 

WILKINS,  1668,  after  saying  that  gh  might  have  been 
(gh)  adds :  "this  kind  of  sound  is  now  by  disuse  lost  among 
us."  PRICE,  however,  in  the  same  year,  says  :  "  Gh  sounds 
now  like  h  in  Almighty,  although"  etc.,  adding  in  the  margin 
"  but  the  Ancients  did,  as  the  Welch  &  Scots  do  still  pro- 
nounce gh  thorow  the  throat."  He  notes  that  gh  sounds  as 
(f)  in  cough,  laughter,  enough,  rough.  COOPER,  1685,  says  : 
"  hodie  apud  nos  desuevit  pronunciatio  gh,  retinetur  tamen 
in  scriptura,"  but  he  makes  it  (f )  in  cough,  laugh,  rough, 
tough,  trough,  and  makes  Wallis's  distinction  between  enough 
and  enow.  MIEGE,  1688,  says  also  that  gh  is  generally  mute, 
but  is  (f )  in  laugh,  draught,  rough ,  tough,  enough  (not  distin- 
guishing enow,}  but  adds  "  sigh,  un  Soupir,  et  le  Verbe  to 
Sigh  soupirer,  ont  un  son  particulier  qui  approche  fort  de 
celui  du  th  en  Anglois."  JONES,  1701,  extends  both  the  (f ) 
and  the  (th)  list.  According  to  him  (f )  is  heard  regularly 
in  draught,  draughts,  laugh,  cough,  enough,  hough,  rough, 
lough,  trough;  and  he  adds  "some  also  sound  daughter, 
bought,  nought,  taught,  &c.,  as  with  an  f,  saying  daufter,  boft, 
&c."  And  he  states,  that  gh,  ght  are  th  "in  sigh,  sounded 
sith  ;  in  drought,  height  sounded  drouth,  heith"  but  in  other 
parts  of  his  book  he  also  admits  the  sounds  (sai,  drAAt^  Heet). 
In  the  xviii  th  century  we  may  notice  that  Fielding  in  his 
Tom  Jones,  book  vii,  chap.  13,  makes  his  landlady  say  oft, 
thoft,  for  ought,  thought,  and  Mrs.  Honour  write  soft  for 
sought,  book  xv,  chap.  10.  These  are  meant  to  be  West  of 
England  vulgarisms,  but  they  sufficiently  shew  the  tendency. 

It  would  be  vain  to  consider  the  changes  thus  indicated, 
without  proceeding  at  once  to  the  fountain  head.  In  Anglo- 
saxon  itself  g  became  h  before  t  very  frequently,  and  was 
often  omitted.  Let  us  therefore  consider  the  sound  as  some- 
times (kh,  gh)  and  sometimes  (/eh,  ^h).  Let  these  sounds  be 
kept  as  widely  apart  as  possible.  Then  (gh)  must  be  rounded, 
that  is,  there  must  be  a  rounding  of  the  lips  while  the  gut- 
tural is  uttered,  producing  (kwh,  gwh),  thus  German  auch, 
auge  are,  as  already  mentioned,  in  reality  (aukwh,  augwh'e), 
The  Scotch  sough  is  (suukwh),  and  generally  the  (uu)  sound 
before  (kh)  has  a  tendency  to  produce  (kwh).  This  would 
then  have  a  natural  tendency  towards  (wh,  w).  On  the 
other  hand  (kjh,  gjh)  are  in  themselves  the  closest  allies  of 
(jh,  j).  Hence  an  effort  to  keep  the  two  sounds  of  (gh,  gjh) 
well  apart  would  result  in  producing  (w,  j),  which,  after 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.          GH  —  XVI  TH   TO   XVIII  TH   CENTURY.  213 

vowels,  would  diphthongise  as  (u,  i),  and  after  consonants 
would  form  the  syllables  (u,  i).  Now  this  is  precisely  what 
has  happened  in  the  passage  from  Anglosaxon  into  English. 

First  the  (u)  change.  From  lagu,  lah  comes  law  (laau, 
IAA)  ;  from  dragan  comes  draiv  (draau,  drAA) ;  from  boga  comes 
first  bough  (booukwh)  and  then  bow  (boou)  or  (boukwh,  bou, 
bau).  From  halgian  comes  hallow  (nal'u,  Hal'oou,  Hsel'o) 
from  t&lg  comes  (tal'u,  tal'oou,  tsel'0).  In  Edinburgh,  Mussel- 
burgh,  etc-,  although  gh  is  written,  (o)  is  regularly  sounded. 

Next  the  (i)  change.  From  wcegn  comes  wain  (wain, 
weein)  ;  from  fceger  comes  fair  (fair,  feej),  from  regn  comes 
rain  (rain,  reein).  From  bcelg  come  bulge  (buldzh,  baldzh), 
belloivs  (bel'uz,  bel'oouz),  and  belly  (beT*),  shewing  three 
changes  of  g. 

If  instead  of  falling  to  (u),  the  (kw?h),  remained  at  (wh), 
this  would  after  a  vowel  rapidly  become  (f).  In  Aberdeen- 
shire  (f)  is  the  regular  substitute  for  (wh)  or  rather  the 
Scotch  quh,  which  looks  like  an  attempt  to  write  (kt0h)  under 
the  form  of  (kwh).  Dwarf  from  dweorh  is  an  instructive 
example.  The  old  English  forms  diver ghe,  durwe  and  the 
dialectic  durgan  are  found ;  a  dialectic  Swedish  dwerf,  and 
Dutch  dwarf,  dorf  are  said  to  exist  (E.  Mueller,  Etym.  Wort, 
d.  Eng.  Spr.,  i.  327).  The  Dutch  agter,  kragt  and  English 
after,  craft,  Anglosaxon  cefter,  crceft,  are  examples  of  the 
correspondence  of  (f )  and  (gh)  in  different  forms  of  the  same 
low  German  word.  The  chief  English  examples  have  been 
already  cited,  and  it  has  been  shewn  that  the  change  pre- 
vails dialectically  much  further  than  it  has  been  admitted 
into  the  received  forms  of  speech.  Some  words  have  even  in 
English  both  forms,  as  hough  (nef,  nok),  trough  (trof,  troou), 
slough  of  a  snake  (slaf),  slough  a  quagmire  (steu),  tough  (taf, 
toou),  enough  (enof*,  enau'),  the  grammatical  distinction  made 
by  Wallis  and  Cooper  that  the  first  is  singular,  sat  multum 
and  the  second  plural  sat  multa,  although  conformable  to 
Scotch  usage,  does  not  seem  to  be  historically  justified. 

The  change  of  gh  into  (p)  in  hiccough  (mk'ap)  is  mentioned 
by  Jones  1701,  and  must  be  considered  to  be  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  change  to  (f),  as  (wh,  w,  p)  are  even  more 
closely  related  than  (wh,  f).  The  curious  but  not  admitte4 
change  to  (th)  seems  to  rest  merely  on  the  confusion  of  the 
(f,  th)  hisses.1  When  these  are  pronounced  without  any 
vowel  it  is  very  difficult  to  distinguish  them  at  a  little  dis- 
tance, as  is  well  known  to  those  who  teach  to  spell  by  means 
of  the  powers  of  the  letters. 

1  Sigh,  which  Jones  and  Mi«ge  give  as  (saith)  is  called  (saif )  in  Devonshire. 


214     s,  c;z.    SH.   x  —  xvi  TO  xvm  CENTURY.      CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

When  gh  falls  into  (u)  it  naturally  alters  the  preceding 
vowel,  with  which  it  diphthongises,  hence  (a)  becomes  (au, 
aau,  AA).  Similarly  (o)  should  become  (ou)  and  thence  (au), 
but  in  this  case  the  tendency  has  been  rather  to  (ou,  oo,  AA), 
as  in  ought,  bought,  etc.  When  gh  falls  into  (i)  we  have 
alterations  in  the  other  direction,  as  (ai,  eei,  ee). 

After  the  vowel  (i),  the  (i)  change  of  gh,  which  is  the  only 
natural  one  that  could  be  expected,  would  simply  prolong  the 
(i),  and  hence,  from  hih,  niht  we  might  have  (mi,  niit), 
forms  which  really  exist  dialectically  for  high,  night;  and 
from  the  termination  -ig  we  might  expect  (-i),  the  com- 
monest form  in  present  use. 

"We  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  such  were  probably 
the  original  forms  of  transition.  In  Cumberland  and  West- 
moreland igh  is  regularly  replaced  by  (ii),  and  the  change  to 
(ei),  which  is  constantly  attributed  to  the  omission  of  the 
guttural,  seems  to  have  no  real  connection  with  it,  but  forms 
part  of  the  general  change  of  long  i  from  (ii)  through  (ei)  to 
(ai),  which  will  be  minutely  considered  in  Chap.  IY,  §  2, 
under  I.  If  we  are  to  trust  Gill,  the  sound  of  (ai)  and  the 
guttural  coexisted,  as  he  always  prints  (naikht)  and  neither 
(nikht),  the  pronunciation  of  Salesbury,  nor  (nait)  as  became 
prevalent  during  the  xvn  th  century. 

With  this  gh  proper  must  not  be  confounded  gh  written 
for  g,  in  comparatively  recent  times,  at  the  beginning  of 
words.  Jones  tells  us  that  the  sound  of  g  is  written  gh  in 
gherkin,  ghess,  gheus,  ghittern,  ghost,  where  ghess  is  found  in 
Spenser  for  guess. 

S,  C;Z.     SH.     X. 

The  use  of  c  for  (s)  follows  the  same  rules  as  at  present, 
throughout  the  period  under  consideration.  The  letter  s  seems 
also  to  have  been  (s)  or,  (z)  under  the  same  circumstances  as 
at  present,  but  as  the  sound  of  (z)  does  not  exist  in  Welsh, 
Salesbury  had  no  means  of  indicating  it  by  Welsh  letters, 
and  he  therefore  writes  s  in  all  cases,  although  he  names  the 
z  sound.  Smith,  Hart,  and  Gill  all  use  z,  but  none  of  them 
are  sufficiently  careful.  Still  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  s  was  pronounced  (z)  under  the  same  circum- 
stances as  it  is  at  present.  The  letter  s  is  now  used  for  (sh), 
where  the  change  has  been  generated  by  a  subsequent  (i) 
sound,  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  c,  t,  as  in  mission, 
pressure,  special,  motion;  and  s  passes  in  certain  cases  into 
(zh)  under  similar  circumstances,  as  vision,  excision,  measure. 
There  is  no  trace  of  this  in  the  xvi  th  century.  SALESBURY 


CHAP.  III.  §4.       S,  C  J  Z.      SH.     X  -  XVI  TO  XVIII  CENTURY.      215 

has  GRACYOUSE,  grasiws  (graa*si,us),  CCNDICYON,  condisywn 
(kondis^'wn),  EXHIBITION  ecsibisiwn  (eksibis'iun),  PROHIBITION 
proibisiwn  (proo,ibis'i,un),  TRESURE  tresuwr  (tree'zyyr). 
BULLOKAR  has  (abreviasion,  komposizion,  naa'sion,  syyor, 
syygar)  for  abbreviation,  composition,  nation,  suer,  sugar. 
And  G-ILL  writes  (ekspektas'ion,  Habitaa*sion,  naa*sion, 
okaa'zion,  pasion)  for  expectation,  habitation,  nation,  occasion, 
passion.  In  the  xvn  th  century  WALLIS  generates  (sh)  from 
(sj),  but  WILKINS  writes  (resarreksion)  for  resurrection. 
PRICE,  1668,  only  recognizes  "  hard  s  in  passion  ;  soft  s  in 
concision,  and  sh  in  cushion,  fashion."  COOPER,  1685,  does  not 
name  the  use  of  (sh)  in  such  cases,  but  admits  shure,  shugar, 
which  may  have  been,  (shuur  shag'er),  "facilitatis  causa," 
although  he  places  such  words  immediately  after  his  "  vitanda 
barbara  dialectus."  MIEGE,  1688,  writes  chure,  pennchoun  in 
French  letters  for  sure,  pension,  states  that  in  the  termination 
-ision,  s  sounds  as  French  g  or  /  (zh)  and  writes  ujual,  train- 
gient,  lejeur,  6jer,  hojer,  crqjer  for  usual,  transient,  leisure, 
osier,  hosier,  crosier.  JONES,  1701,  says  :  "  Tho'  you  have  the 
Sound  of  sh  very  often  in  the  Beginning  of  the  last  Syllable 
of  Words,  as  in  action,  nation,  &c.  sounded,  acshon,  nashon, 
&c.  yet  is  sh  never  written  there  in  Words  of  two  or  more 
Syllables  ;  except  in  cushion,  fashion,  hogshead,  lushious, 
Marshal."  He  admits  that  s  is  commonly  sounded  sh  (sh) 
in  assume,  assure,  assurance,  censure,  consume,  desume,  ensue, 
ensure,  fissure,  issue,  leisure,  measure,  pleasure,  pressure,  pursue, 
pursuer,  pursuit,  sue,  suet,  sugar,  suit,  sure,  sute,  tissue, 
treasure,  and  says  that  ocean  is  "  sounded  oshan."  He  does 
not  recognize  (zh),  but  says  that  sh  is  written  z  "in  azure, 
sounded  ashure."  The  change  was  therefore  fully  estab- 
lished at  the  end  of  the  xvn  th  century. 

Though  the  orthoepists  of  the  xvn  th  century  were  slow 
to  recognize  this  change,  and  those  of  the  xvm  th  and  xix  th 
even  admit  it  rather  grudgingly,  while  those  of  the  xvith 
do  not  seem  to  be  even  aware  of  such  a  "  slovenly  habit/' 
yet  we  have  at  least  two  early  traces  of  the  degeneration  of 
suit  into  shoot,  in  Shakspere  and  in  Eowley,  for  a  notice  of 
which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Aldis  "Wright.  In  Love's 
Labour  Lost,  Act  iv.  Sc.  1,  written  before  1598,  the 
Comedies,  p.  130,1  there  is  apparently  a  play 


1  "  Qu.  Who  gaue  thee  this  Letter  ?  do.  From  my  L^rd  Berowie,  a/00<i 

Clo.  I  told  you,  my  Lord.  J  master  of  mm, 

Qu.  To  whom  should'  stthougiue  it?  To  a  Lady  of    'Trance,  that  he  calle< 

Clo.  From  my  Lord  to  my  Lady.  V         Rosaline.  _ 

Qu.  From  which  Lord,    to  which  Qu.  Tboui/lwrt  mistaken  his  letter. 

Lady  ?  19X             Come  Lords  away. 


216 


SH.     X  —  XVI  TO  XVITI  CENTURY.      CHAP.  Ill,  §  4. 


shooter,  deer  and  dear.  The  two  latter  words  were  pronounced 
alike  by  Smith.  Were  the  two  former  really  pronounced  alike 
by  Shakspere,  as  they  were  by  Jones,  1701,  and  Buchanan, 
1766,  though  Cooper,  1685,  gives  (smt)  and  Sheridan,  1780, 
(suut)  for  suit  ?  Gill,  1621,  only  allows  (syyt),  Bullokar, 
1580,  has  (syy-gar).  Hart  has  (syyer).1  But  some  persons 
must  have  said  (shuut),  or  such  jokes  would  have  been  lost, 
and,  whatever  was  the  case  in  Shakspere,2  we  have  this  pun 
in  Rowley's  Match  in  the  Dark,  1633,  Act  ii.  Sc.  1 : 

Moll.  Out  upon  him,  what  a  suiter  have  I  got.  I  am  sorry  you 
are  so  bad  an  Archer,  sir. 

Hare.  Why  Bird,  why  Bird? 

Moll.   Why  to  shoote  at  Buts,  when  you  shou'd  use  prick-shafts. 

In  the  present  day  we  have  a  joke  of  an  Irish  shopman 
telling  his  customer  to  shoot  himself,  meaning  suit  himself. 


Here    sweete,   put  vp  this,  'twill   be 
thine  another  day. 

^Exeunt. 

Soy.  Who  is  the  shooter?  Who  is 
the  shooter  ? 

Rosa.  Shall  I  teach  you  to  know. 

Soy.  I  my  continent  of  heautie. 

Rosa.  Why  she  that  heares  the  Bow. 
Finely  put  off. 

Boy.  My  Lady  goes  to  kill  homes.  *** 

Rosa.  Well  then,  I  am  the  shooter. 

Eoy.  And  who  is  your  Deare?" 

In  Boyet's  first  speech,  Steevens,  at 
the  suggestion  of  Farmer,  altered  the 
shooter  of  all  the  quartos  and  folios,  to 
suitor,  which  is  the  reading  usually 
adopted.  The  preceding  dialogue, 
which  has  been  given  for  the  purpose 
of  comparison,  seems  at  first  sight  to 
point  to  suitor  as  Boyet's  meaning, 
which  Eosaline  perversely  takes  as 
shooter.  But  the  connection  is  not 
evident.  There  is  no  allusion  to  suitor, 
but^much  to  shooter  in  what  follows. 
.ZtoyeAknew  both  the  suitor  (whether  we 
take  him  as  Biron  or  Armado),  and  the 
shooter  l^the  Princess,  apparently,  who 
is  represented  as  going  to  shoot  a  deer 
at  the  opening  of  the"  scene),  but 
RosalineJaL.  reply,  and  her  remark  that 
it  ijirff^f  put*  off,"  look  as  if  she  was 
purposely  rnisipderstanding  him.  In 
tlie  absence  o?  a  tenable  hypothesis 
for  the  introduc+i£n  of  tne  new  word> 
skit  or,  we  may  su$Pose  that  B°yet> 
looking  off  after  tkk'  sbootmg  party 
which  has  just  left,  sees' •  an  arrow  8Ped» 
and  inquires  of  EosahP6  wll°  sb/ot 
it,  whereupon  she  puts  ^m  °^  ^^ 


the  truism  that  it  was  she  (one  of  the 
Princess's  company)  who  bore  the  bow. 

1  John  Hart,  in  his  first  treatise,  as 
cited  in  Chap.  VIII,  §  3,  note  1,  classes 
the  three  words  "  suer,  shut,  and  bruer," 
as  he  spells  them,  together,  and  pro- 
nounces (syyer,  shyyt,  bryyer).     The 
first  may  be  suer  or  sewer,  the  last  is, 
of  course  brewer;  is   the  second  suit, 
or  shoot  intended  to  be  written  shute 
(Scotch,  schute  =  shoot),  as  Hart  in 
that    treatise     constantly    omits     the 
final  e  ?     It  is  the  only  indication  of 
such  a  change  in  the  xvith   century, 
and  the  word    suer    renders  it    very 
doubtful.     We  can  hardly  suppose  the 
word  to   have  been   shut.      Stratman 
gives  the  old  English  forms  for  shut, 
schutten,  schitte,  schettin,  shette;  for 
shoot,  sceoten,  schetin,  sheten,  scheete, 
ssete,    schete,    scuten,    soten,    shoten, 
schoten.    The  original  difference  of  the 
words  is  difficult  to  determine ;   Ett- 
muller  does  not  give   any  ags.  word 
scyttan,    to    shut,    as    different    from 
sceotan,   to   shoot ;    E.   Miiller    refers 
shut  to  shoot  from   shooting  the  bolt 
of  the  door. 

2  Steevens  quotes   an  equivoque  of 
suters  and  shooters,  miscalled  archers 
by   a    servant,    from    "  The    Puritan, 
1607,"  and  Malone  a  similar  play  upon 
archers  and   suitors  in   "  Essays   and 
Characters  of  a  Prison  and  Prisoners, 
by  G.  M.,  1618,"  and  also  Antony  and 
Cleopatra  Act  v.  Sc.  2,  where  Pope  reads 
"  a  grief  that  shoots  My  very  heart  at 
root,"  and  Capell  reads  smites  for  the 
folio,  1623,  suites. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.        S,  C  ;  Z.      SH.      X XVI  TO  XVIII  CENTURY.       217 


The  Irish  pronunciation  however  only  shews  an  English 
pronunciation  of  the  xvnth  century.  In  England  at  the 
present  day,  shoot  for  suit  would  be  vulgar,  but  the  joke 
would  be  readily  understood,  though  few  persons  use,  or 
have  even  heard,  the  pronunciation.  Might  not  this  have 
been  the  case  in  Shakspere's  time  ?  At  any  rate  there  is  no 
authority  for  supposing  that  such  a  pronunciation  could  have 
been  used  seriously  by  Shakspere  himself.1  But  the  sound 


1  Mr.  Aldis  Wright  seems  to  sup- 
pose that  the  compositors  might  have 
had  that  pronunciation,  and  that  it 
therefore  might  have  crept  into  the 
text.  In  Lear,  Act  ii.  Sc.  2,  the  word 
three-suited  of  the  fo.  1623,  is  spelled 
three  shewted  in  all  the  quartos  but 
one,  where  it  is  three  snyted,  an  evident 
misprint  for  three  suyted.  Now  shewted 
would  probably  have  been  written  for 
(shyyted),  and  may  indicate  the  tran- 
sitional pronunciation  ;  on  the  other 
hand  it  may  be  itself  a  mere  misprint 
for  sewtedj  which  would  be  a  legiti- 
mate orthography  for  suited.  This 
hypothesis  is  questioned  by  Mr.  Aldis 
Wright,  who  says :  "in  books  printed 
in  the  time  of  Shakespeare  and  Bacon 
variations  occur  in  different  copies  of 
the  same  edition.  I  have  never  seen 
two  copies  of  the  1625  edition  of 
Bacon's  Essays  which  were  exactly 
alike.  A  list  of  the  variations  is  given 
at  the  end  of  my  edition.  Now  there 
are  six  copies  of  the  quarto  of  King 
Lear  printed  in  1608,  which  we  [Mr. 
"W.  G.  Clark  and  himself,  editors  of 
the  Cambridge  Shakespeare]  have  in 
our  notes  erroneously  (as  we  confess  in 
the  Preface)  called  Q2 ,  whereas  we  are 
now  convinced  that  this  edition  was 
earlier  than  the  one  in  the  same  year 
which  we  have  called  Qi.  These 
copies  of  Q2  (so  called)  differ  from 
each  other  in  having  some  of  them 
been  corrected  while  passing  through 
the  press.  The  earliest  of  these  which 
we  have  met  with  is  one  of  the  two 
copies  in  the  Bodleian,  and  we  call  it 
for  distinction  sake  Q2  (Bodl.  1).  This 
has  the  reading  three  snyted :  but  all 
the  other  copies  of  the  same  edition 
read  three  shewted.  I  suppose  therefore 
that  while  the  edition  was  in  course  of 
printing  the  error  was  discovered,  and 
the  correction  communicated  verbally 
to  the  compositor,  who  inserted  it  accord- 
ing to  his  own  notions  of  spelling.  It  is 
not  a  question  between  the  readings  of 


two  different  editions,  but  between  an 
uncorrected  copy  and  a  corrected  copy 
of  the  same  edition.  The  later  quartos 
follow  the  corrected  copy  but  their  tes- 
timony is  of  no  value,  because  their 
reading  is  merely  a  reprint."  Hurried 
corrections,  whether  of  print  or  manu- 
script, frequently  introduce  additional 
errors,  and  hence  there  is  no  guarantee 
in  this  curious  history  that  the  com- 
positor who  substituted  shewted  for 
myted,  did  not  himself  put  shewted 
when  he  meant  to  have  inserted  sewted. 
More  instances  are  certainly  required 
to  decide  the  point.  The  Scotch 
wrote  schute  for  shoot.  Palsgrave 
writes  sute  for  suit.  In  Henry  V., 
Act  iii.  sc.  6,  fol.  1623,  p.  81,  we  find 
"  what  a  beard  of  the  Generalls  Cut, 
and  a  horride  Sute  of  the  Campe,  will 
doe  among  foming  Bottles  and  Ale- 
washt  Wits,  is  wonderfull  to  be  thought 
on."  In  the  Chronicle  History  of 
Henry  the  Fifth,  printed  in  the  fourth 
vol.  of  the  Cambridge  edition  shout 
stands  for  sute.  If  we  take  Bullokar's 
old  pronunciation,  shout  would  be 
(shuut).  Mr.  Aldis  Wright  observes 
that  this  was  "  an  instance  of  a  play 
apparently  taken  down  at  the  time  of 
acting,  and  whether  shout  or  suit  be 
the  true  reading,  one  of  them  could  not 
have  been  substituted  for  the  other 
unless  the  pronunciation  was  some- 
thing similar,"  and  he  thinks  that 
these  instances  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  pronunciation  (shuut^  "was 
in  existence  at  the  beginning  of  the 
xvn  th  century.  The  jokes  upon 
shooter  and  suitor  certainly  establish 
that  a  sufficiently  similar  pronunciation 
of  the  words  was  in  existence  to  make 
the  joke  appreciable.  The  various 
spellings,  I  fear,  prove  nothing,  be- 
cause, considering  the  frequency  of  the 
word — suit  occurs  163  times,  suitable 
once,  suited  7,  suiting  1,  suitor  38  times 
in  Mrs.  Cowden  Clarke's  Concordance, 
— the  rare  variations  can  only  pass  for 


218      s,  c;  z.    SH.    x  —  xvi  TO  xvm  CENTURY.    CHAP.  III.  §  4. 

may  well  have  existed  unrecognized,  precisely  as  the  sound 
of  (sh)  is  supposed  to  be  unknown  in  Welsh,  although  ceisio 
is  now  generally  called  (kei'sho),  and  not  (kai'sio).  Simi- 
larly in  Dutch  (sh)  has  been  developed  from  (si-,  (sj-)  in 
several  words,  but  it  is  not  orthoepistically  acknowledged. 
In  the  xvin  th  century  there  was  a  decided  tendency  towards 
(sh).  Thus  sue,  suet,  sugar,  suicide,  suit,  suitable,  suitor, 
sure,  suture,  all  commence  with  (sh)  in  Buchanan,  sue,  suit, 
suitable,  suitor,  have  (s)  in  Sheridan,  but  the  rest  have  (sh), 
which  Sheridan  also  uses  in  sudorific,  sudorous,  super-, 
super  able,  superb,  superior,  supernal,  supine,  supinity,  supra-, 
supremacy,  supreme,  sural,  where  Buchanan  has  (s). 

The  sound  of  (sh)  was  well  known  in  the  xvi  th  century. 
SALESBURY  says  : 

"  Sh  when  coming  before  a  vowel  is  equivalent  to  this  combina- 
tion ssi,  thus  SHAPPE  ssiapp  (shapp),  SHEPE  ssiip  (shiip).  Sh  coming 
after  a  vowel  is  pronounced  iss,  thus  ASSHE  aiss  (ash,  aish  ?),  WASSHE 
waiss  (wash,  waish?).  And  wherever  it  is  met  with,  it  hisses  like 
a  roused  serpent,  not  unlike  the  Hebrew  letter  called  schin.  And 
if  you  wish  further  information  respecting  this  sound,  you  should 
listen  to  the  hissing  voice  of  shellfish  when  they  begin  to  boil." 

We  learn  from  Hart,  supra  p.  207,  that  (zh)  was  un- 
known in  the  xvith  century.  Wilkins,  1668,  says  that  (zh) 
is  "  facil  and  common  ....  amongst  the  French,  who  express 
it  by  J,  as  in  the  word  Jean,  &c.,  and  is  easily  imitable  by 
us,"  implying  that  it  was  not  in  use  in  England.  But 
Miege,  1688,  being  a  Frenchman,  heard  it,  as  we  have  seen, 
p.  215,  in  the  words  where  we  now  use  it.  He  is  the  only 
writer  in  the  xvii  th  century  .who  notices  it,  and,  as  he  is  a 
foreigner,  his  testimony  is  suspicious.  Franklin,  1768, 
seems  only  to  know  it  in  French,  as  he  has  no  special  sign 
for  it,  and  even  in  French  writes  (zshaeme)  for  jamcds. 
Just  as  Hart  writes  (ozdzhuurdwi)  for  aujourd'hui,  for  want 
of  an  appropriate  sign,  although  he  had  recognized  the  sound. 
Sheridan,  1780,  fully  acknowledges  it.  It  is  always  written 
(s)  or  (z),  and  arises  in  English  from  palatisation  as  (z*j). 
In  French  it  seems  to  be  a  degeneration  of  (dzh)  formed 
from  a  palatalised  (g*j);  or  else  to  have  arisen  from  (j)1,  pre- 

misprints.     The  absence  of  any  notice  !  The  Dutch  at  the  Cape  of  Good 

of  such  a  practice  in  orthoepists  of  the  Hope  say  (dzh#«,  Dzhan)  etc.,  for  (jaa, 

xvi  th  century  (if  we  except  the  very  Jan),  /a,  Jan.     This  is  an  alteration  of 

doubtful  passage  from  Hart  in  the  last  precisely  the   same   character,    and  is 

note),   together  with  the  depreciating  comparable  with  the   Italian  Giugno, 

manner  in  which   similar  usages  are  Giunone,    Giuglio  (Dzhmrnjo,    Dzhu- 

mentioned  in  Cooper,  shew  that  any  nwwh-ne,   Dzhuu  Ijo)   from   the   Latin 

such  pronunciation  was  considered  not  Junium,  Junonem,  Julium. 
worth  mentioning. 


CHAP.  III.  §  4.      F,  V.     TH XVI  TH   TO   XVIII  TH  CENTURY.       219 

cisely  in  the  same  way  as  (sh)  derives  in  some  parts  of 
Germany,  and  still  more  frequently  to  English,  ears,  from 
(kh)  as  (ish)  for  (i&h). 

X  was  usually  (ks).  Salesbury  gives  FLAXE  fflacs  (flaks), 
EXHIBITION  ecsibisiivn  (eksibis*i,un),  OXE  ocs  (oks),  but,  ap- 
parently by  a  misprint,  AXE  ags  (agz). 

F,  V 

.Fand  v  seem  to  have  retained  their  sounds  throughout, 
but  in  the  earlier  times  v  and  u  were  interchangeable,  and 
either  could  be  used  as  a  vowel  or  consonant.  This  was  not 
the  case  in  Welsh,  where  u  was  the  vowel,  and  v  the  conso- 
nant. The  consonant  has  been  generally  replaced  by  f  in 
Welsh,  ff  being  used  for  (f).  Salesbury  notices  as  a  dialectic 
variety  in  "  some  countries  of  England"  the  use  of  (v)  for 
(f),  but  he  does  not  particularize  the  districts.  Gill  attri- 
butes it  to  East  Anglia,  "  (v)  pro  (f),  ut  (vel'oou),  pro 
(fel-oou)." 

TH 

The  double  sound  of  th  as  (th,  dh)  is  fixed  by  Salesbury 
as  the  Welsh  th,  dd,  and  the  two  uses  were  distinguished 
almost  exactly  as  at  present;  with  seems  however  to  have 
been  always  (with),  though  (widh)  is  now  more  common. 
Salesbury  gives  (th)  to  through,  thystle,  thynne,  wyth,  thanke, 
thorowe,  thyck ;  and  (dh)  to  this,  thyne,  the,  that,  thou.  He 
also  notices  that  th  sounds  (t)  in  Thomas,  threasure  and  throne, 
which  he  writes  trwn  (truuri)  ;  and  (d)  in  Thames  Inn. 
Smith,  Hart,  Bullokar,  Gill,  Butler,  have  all  different  signs 
for  (th,  dh)  and  use  them  according  to  our  present  custom 
of  speech.  Jones  makes  th  =  (t)  in  antheme,  or  anthymn, 
Anthony,  apothecary,  asthma,  Author,  authority,  authorize, 
Catharine,  Cantharides,  Esther,  Isthmus,  Lithuania,  posthu- 
mus,  priesthood,  Thames,  Thannet,  thea,  Thomas,  Thomson, 
Thomasin,  TImscany,  thyme. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  when  these  uses  were  settled. 
The  two  Anglosaxon  letters  J>  $  are  usually  taken  to  be 
(th,  dh)  but  their  employment  is  almost  exactly  opposite  to 
modern  use.  In  later  Anglosaxon  and  Early  English  only 
one,  either  $  or,  more  usually,  J>  was  employed,  and  even 
Orrmin  makes  no  distinction.  This  might  have  been  a 
peculiarity  in  writing  names.  It  seems  safest  to  infer  the 
old  use  from  the  modern,  which  is  found  to  hold  for  the 
xvi  th  century. 


220  H XVI  TH    TO   XVIII TH   CENTURY.      CHAP.  III.  §  4. 


H 

The  question  concerning  h  is  simply  when  was  it  mute  ? 
for  its  sound,  or  rather  its  action  on  the  following  vowel  was 
always  the  same  as  (H)  or  (H').  Palsgrave  says  h  is  mute  in 
honesty  honour,  habundaunce,  habitation.  Gill  does  not  agree 
in  the  last  word,  and  the  h  has  now  disappeared,  even  in 
writing,  from  the  last  but  one.  Salesbury  says  h  is  mute 
in  hones^  habitation,  humble,  habite,  honeste,  honoure,  exhi- 
bition, prohibition.  Modern  orthoepists  will  not  admit  the 
two  last,  though  custom  sanctions  them,  but  habite  and 
habitation  have  recovered  their  h,  and  humble  is  still 
doubtful.  Gill  adds  the  words  hour,  hyssop,  which  he 
writes  (ei'zop).  Abhominable  was  a  common  orthography  in 
the  xvi  th  century,  and  the  h  seems  to  have  been  occasion- 
ally pronounced  or  not  pronounced,  for  the  Pedant  in  Love's 
Labour  Lost  (1623,  Comedies,  p.  136)  says  :  "  neighbour 
vocatur  nebour ;  neigh  abreuiated  ne ;  this  is  abhominable, 
which  he  would  call  abhominable."1  It  is  usual  to  print  the 
second  abhominable  without  the  h  and  the  first  with  it,  but 
it  seems  more  proper  to  reverse  this,  and  write  "this  is 
abominable,  which  he  would  call  abhominable,"  for  the 
Pedant  ought  certainly  to  have  known  that  there  was  no 
h  in  the  Latin,  although  in  the  Latin  of  that  time  h  was 
used,  as  we  see  from  the  Promptorium,  1450,  "Abhominable, 
abhominabilis,  abhominacyon  abhominacio,"  and  Levins  1570, 
"  abhominate,  abhominari,"  as  if  the  words  referred  to  ab- 
homine  instead  of  ab-omine. 

In  the  xvn  th  century,  Price  1668,  says  that  h  is  mute  in 
ghost,  rhetorick,  catarrh,  dunghill,  host,  hour,  John,  impos- 
thume,  myrrh,  Rhene,  rheum,  rhode,  Wadkatn.  Miege,  a  bad 
authority,  because  Frenchmen  cannot  rightly  appreciate  the 
English  aspirate,  having  no  such  element  of  their  own,  de- 
clares that  hour,  hourly  are  the  only  two  words  in  which 
h  is  mute,  and  especially  instances  honour  as  having  an 
aspirated  h. 

1701.  Jones  says  h  "may  be  sounded  in  halleluiah,  hdrber- 
geon,  habiliment,  haver-du-pois"  &c.,  but  seems  to  imply  that 
it  is  generally  mute  in  these  words,  and  says  that  -ham  in 
names  of  places  in  England  is  -am  as  in  Broxham,  Bucking- 
ham. He  also  makes  h  mute  in  cowherd,  Nehemiah,  shepherd, 
sivine-herd,  and  in  Heber,  Hebraism,  Hebrew,  hecatomb,  hectical, 
Hector,  hedge,  Hellen,  hemorrhoids,  herb,  heriot,  hermit,  &c., 
"  which  h  may  be  found  by  putting  a  Yowel  before  them." 

1  The  quarto  1631  also  prints  abhominable  in  both  places. 


CHAP.  III.  §4.       H  —  XVI  TH   TO   XVIII  TH    CENTURY.  221 

He  allows  unaccented  his  to  lose  the  h,  "as  in  told  his  man, 
sounded  told  is  man,  &c."  He  says  o  is  written  ho  "  when 
it  may  be  sounded  ho,  as  in  homage,  holster,  homo,  in  the 
beginning  of  all  words,  hosannah,  host,  hostage,  hostess, 
hostler,  hostile,  houlet,  hour,  so-ho,  inkhorn,  &c.,  often 
sounded  as  with  o  only."  Also  he  says  oo  is  written 
hoo,  "when  it  may  be  sounded  /too  after  a  vowel,  as 
hood,  hoof,  hook,  hoop,  hoard,  and  in  hood  in  the  End  of 
"Words  as  in  likelihood,  manhood,  Priesthood,  &c."  Finally 
he  says  u  is  written  hu  "  when  it  may  be  sounded  hu,  espe- 
cially after  a  Vowel,  as  in  humble,  humility,  humour,  Hum- 
phrey." This  frequent  reference  to  the  vowel  depends  on 
the  following  remark:  "That  h  is  hardly  sounded  before  or 
after  consonants  ;  but  more  easily  before  and  after  Vowels, 
therefore  the  best  Way  to  discover  on  h,  is  to  sound  the 
Word  that  begins  with  it  after  a  vowel;  as  a  hat,  &c."  Un- 
fortunately this  rule  wonld  make  a  vast  number  of  A's  to  be 
heard  in  London,  as  (a  ii'oi,  a  H'ass),  an  eye,  an  ass. 

At  the  present  day  great  strictness  in  pronouncing  h  is 
demanded  as  a  test  of  education  and  position  in  society,  and 
consequently  most  of  the  words  mentioned  in  Jones  are  now 
aspirated.  Smart,  1836,  reduces  the  list  of  words  with  mute 
h  to  heir,  honest,  honour,  hostler,  (in  which  the  h  is  now 
commonly  not  written)  hour,  humble,  and  humour.  It  is 
certainly  at  present  very  usual  to  say  (Honrb'l,  jhrnrnu),  so 
that  the  list  is  reduced  to  five  words,  which  it  would  be 
considered  social  suicide  to  aspirate.  But  in  practice,  even 
of  the  most  esteemed  speakers,  -ham  in  names  of  places  has 
no  aspirate,  exhaust,  exhibit,  exhibition,  lose  h,  and  his,  him, 
her,  etc.,  after  an  accented  consonant  when  perfectly  un- 
accented, drop  their  h.  Tt  is  extremely  common  in  London 
to  say  ("B  too'wm)  for  at  home.  A  vast  majority  of  the  less 
educated  and  refined  in  London,  and  a  still  greater  majority 
in  the  Midland  Counties,  never  use  the  h,  pronouncing  their 
words  as  if  they  never  had  had  an  h  at  all.  The  insertion  of 
the  h,  generally  in  the  form  of  a  very  strong  (H'),  is  also  a 
remarkable  phenomenon,  not  so  common,  and  still  more 
illiterate. 

(H)  is  properly  only  a  jerk  of  the  voice,  and  as  such  forms 
part  of  the  Sanscrit  post  aspirates  (kn  gn)  etc.,  and  is  fre- 
quent as  a  post  aspirate  in  the  Irish  brogue.  It  also  occurs 
before  every  o  in  Tuscan  pronunciation,  in  which  dialect  (k) 
is  also  changed  into  a  strong  (.H*)  thus  (.H'onfraoirtHo)  for 
confronto.  I  have  heard  Livorno  pronounced  in  the  place 
itself,  almost  like  (livH'ornH'o)  so  that  a  foreigner  might 


222  H  • —  XVI  TH   TO   XVIII  TH   CENTURY.         CHAP.  III.  $  4. 

easily  persuade  himself  that  he  heard  (lighorno),1  whence 
an  Englishman's  Leghorn  is  but  a  step.  As  an  initial  letter 
however  (H)  is  not  common.  Thus  Sanscrit  has  no  initial 
(H),  the  letter  T£  being  (gh).  Precisely  the  same  thing 
occurs  in  Eussian,  where  the  (gh)  has  also  to  be  used  for  a 
foreign  (H).  The  Gothic  h  may  have  been  occasionally  (H), 
but  seems  to  have  been  frequently  (kh),  in  place  of  which 
(H')  as  a  milder  form,  became  gradually  prevalent  in  the 
Germanic  languages.  No  German  at  present  leaves  out  or 
puts  in  an  initial  h  contrary  to  the  orthography ;  but  final  h 
after  a  vowel,  which  is  dialectically  pronounced  (kh)  or 
(k«?h)  as  (shuukwh)  Schuh  shoe,  has  disappeared  in  the  re- 
ceived pronunciation.  No  Scotsmen  omit  the  aspirate.  The 
old  Greeks  had  an  aspirate,  the  exact  nature  of  which  cannot 
be  accurately  known,  as  every  trace  of  it  has  disappeared 
from  the  language,  and  its  old  relations  were  rather  singular. 
It  is  a  matter  of  dispute  how  far  the  Latins  pronounced  their 
h,  but  the  Italians,  Spaniards,  and  French  have  nothing 
resembling  the  true  sound  of  (H),  although  the  French  have 
a  trace  of  its  former  existence,  asserted  by  Palsgrave  but  not 
recognized  by  Meigret,  in  that  hiatus  which  they  call  an 
h  aspire.  The  French  and  Italian  also  have  no  (kh),  which 
has  been  retained  in  the  form  (kin)  by  both  the  Sanscrit  and 
Greek.  The  so-called  (kh)  xt  j,  of  the  Spaniards  seems  to  be 
a  Moorish  importation,  and  is  possibly  an  alteration  of  (h). 
In  Spanish  America  it  is  said  to  be  replaced  by  (H).  The 
Spaniards  used  it  to  replace  a  foreign  (sh),  as  in  Mexico;  the 
French  transliterate  it  by  ch  =  (sh),  and  the  English  have 
made  Xerez  (xee'reec)  into  sherry.  The  (H')  is  abundant  in 
Arabic. 

In  England  the  use  of  the  (H)  among  the  illiterate  seems 
to  depend  upon  emphatic  utterance.  Many  persons  when 
speaking  quietly  will  never  introduce  the  (H),  but  when 
rendered  nervous  or  excited,  or  when  desiring  to  speak  par- 
ticularly well,  they  abound  in  strong  and  unusual  aspirations, 
It  is  also  singular  how  difficult  it  is  for  those  accustomed  to 
omit  the  h,  to  recover  it,  and  how  provokingly  they  sacrifice 
themselves  on  the  most  undesired  occasions  by  this  social 
shibboleth.  In  endeavouring  to  pronounce  the  fatal  letter 
they  generally  give  themselves  great  trouble,  and  conse- 

1  Rear-Adm.  "W.  H.  Smyth.     The  the  name  of  Livorno.     This  would  be 

Mediterranean,  London,  1854,  p.  331,  pronounced  (leghorno),  and  is  a  singu- 

mentions  that  a  map  belonging  to  a  lar  testimony  to  the  antiquity  of  this 

Greek  Pilot  in  1550,  now  in  Brit.  Mus.  custom  of  speech. 
Add.  MS.  10,134,  contains  \eyopvo  as 


CHAP.  III.  §  5.    PRONUNCIATION XVI  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.     223 

quently  produce  a  harshness,  quite  unknown  to  those  who 
pronounce  (H)  naturally.  An  English  author,  S.  Hirst, 
writing  an  English  Grammar  in  German,1  in  which  50 
quarto  pages  are  devoted  to  a  minute  account  of  the  pro- 
nunciation of  English,  actually  bestows  167  quarto  lines  of 
German,  measuring  about  90  feet,  upon  attempting  to  shew 
that  formerly  h  was  not  pronounced  in  English,  and  that  it 
was  altogether  an  orthoepistic  fancy  to  pronounce  it,  saying 
that  almost  all  non-linguists  would  admit  that  h  was  gene- 
rally mute,  or  at  most  scarcely  audible,  and  that  linguists 
who  denied  this  in  theory  gave  into  the  practice.2  The 
division  of  the  people  is  not  exactly  into  linguists  and 
non-linguists,  but  it  must  be  owned  that  very  large  masses 
of  the  people,  even  of  those  tolerably  educated  and  dressed 
in  silk  and  broad  cloth,  agree  with  the  French,  Italians, 
Spaniards,  and  Greeks,  in  not  pronouncing  the  letter  H. 

§   5.    Realisation   of   the   Pronunciation  of   English    in   the 
xvi  th,  xvn  th,  and  xvm  th  centuries. 

THE  results  of  the  two  preceding  sections  are  sufficiently 
minute  to  give  an  indication  of  the  pronunciation  of  English 
during  the  xvi  th  century,  but  it  is  not  easy  from  this  mass 
of  details  respecting  individual  words,  to  arrive  at  a  con- 
ception of  the  actual  sounds  of  sentences.  Hart,  Bullokar, 
Gill  and  Butler  have  however  given  specimens  of  connected 
speech,  and  in  Chapter  VIII,  §§  3-6,  sufficiently  extensive 
extracts  will  be  given  from  their  works,  and  translated  into 
palaeotype,  to  enable  a  reader  to  form  an  accurate  conception 
of  the  sound  of  our  language  in  the  xvi  th  century.  After 
these,  follows,  §  7,  a  vocabulary  of  the  principal  words  pro- 
nounced by  the  authorities  of  this  period,  which  will  be  very 
useful  in  endeavouring  to  read  any  other  work  of  that  time, 
because,  even  if  the  unknown  word  is  not  there  found,  some 
analogue  will  almost  certainly  present  itself,  which  will  suf- 
fice to  determine  the  sound  within  the  requisite  limits.3 
Finally,  applying  all  the  results  of  previous  investigations, 

1  Kritisches  Lehrgebandes  der  en-  him.     If,  however,  he  had  been  aware 
glischen  Sprache  von  S.  Hirst,  Mitglied  of  the  loose  manner  in  which  h  is  in- 
der  Universitat  zu  Cambridge,  2nd  ed.,  serted  and  omitted  in  Layamon,  Genesis 
Leipzig,  1847.  and    Exodus,    Prisoner's   Prayer,    and 

2  His  principal  argument  is  the  re-  other  writings  of  the  xm  th  century, 
tention  of  an,  mine,  thine,  etc.,  before  he  would  doubtless  have  considered  his 
words  beginning  with  7i,  in  the  author-  point  established.    In  practice  I  under- 
ized  version  1611.     The  lists  of  words  stood  from  a  gentleman  who  conversed 
with  mute  h  given  by  Palsgrave,  Sales-  with  him,  he  omitted  the  h  altogether, 
bury,  etc.,  were  of  course  unknown  to          3  See  also  the  Index  of  Words. 


224     PRONUNCIATION — XVI  TO  XVIII  TH  CENTURY.    CHAP.  III.  §  5. 

I  have  in  §  8,  endeavoured  to  realise  the  pronunciation  of 
Shakspere,  and  have  reduced  my  conception  to  palaeotypic 
spelling,  which  will  enable  a  reader  of  moderate  perseverance 
to  reproduce  it  orally.  The  result  is  peculiar,  and  has  been 
generally  well  received  by  those  to  whom  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  communicating  it  viva  voce*  There  can  be 
no  reasonable  doubt,  after  the  preceding  discussions,  of  its 
very  closely  representing  the  pronunciation  actually  in  use 
by  the  actors  who  performed  Shakspere's  plays  in  his  lifetime. 

In  Chapters  IX  and  X,  I  have  endeavoured  to  give  a 
similar  realisation  of  the  pronunciations  which  mark  the 
xvii  th  and  xvm  th  centuries.  The  only  connected  phonetic 
writing  of  the  xvii  th  century  which  I  have  found,  is  Bishop 
Wilkins's  transcription  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed,  but 
this  very  inadequate  specimen  is  eked  out  by  a  vocabulary 
collected  from  the  principal  authorities  of  the  time.  It  is 
with  considerable  hesitation,  that  in  the  midst  of  such  di- 
versities of  sound  attached  to  the  same  symbols,  and  such 
numerous  lists  of  rules  and  exceptions,  relating  to  different 
parts  of  words  and  not  furnishing  the  complete  representation 
of  entire  words,  that  I  have  endeavoured  to  restore  Dry  den's 
pronunciation,  or  rather  the  pronunciation  of  some  contem- 
porary reader.  It  is  impossible  to  feel  the  same  certainty 
respecting  his  sounds  as  respecting  Shakspere's,  and  the 
attempt  should  be  viewed  with  indulgence. 

For  the  xvm  th  century,  the  complete  vocabulary  of 
Buchanan  has  enabled  me  to  give  his  pronunciation  of  a 
passage  of  Shakspere,  and  Dr.  Franklin's  interesting  letter 
furnishes  a  contemporary  piece  of  phonetic  writing,  uncor- 
rected  certainly,  but  sufficiently  suggestive.  A  vocabulary 
of  the  principal  words  in  which  Buchanan,  Sheridan,  and 
other  authorities,  differ  from  the  received  pronunciations  of 
to-day,  or  anticipate  them,  will  complete  the  account  of  this 
century. 

It  has  not  formed  any  part  of  the  plan  of  this  work  to 
enter  into  detail  upon  the  pronunciation  now  prevalent, 
although  incidental  allusions  to  it  perpetually  occur.  This 
is  a  very  difficult  and  very  complex  subject,  which  has  been 
taken  up  by  many  other  writers,  but  requires  entirely  new 
treatment,  in  reference  not  only  to  the  results  of  the  present 
investigation,  but  to  those  abnormal,  cacoepistic,  rare,  vulgar, 
and  dialectic  forms,  which  the  history  of  the  past  shews  that 
we  ought  to  collect  for  the  benefit  of  the  future,  and  for  the 
thorough  appreciation  of  the  real  state  and  possible  develop- 
ment of  our  language,  which  is  principally  unwritten.  Mr. 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  225 

Melville  Bell's  Visible  Speech,  or  my  own  Palaeotype,  now 
give  a  means  of  writing  all  such  forms  with  great  accuracy, 
and  the  rougher  Glossotype  (p.  13  and  Chapter  VI,  §  3),  will 
enable  those  who  do  not  wish  to  enter  into?  minuter  distinc- 
tions of  sound,  to  write  our  dialects  much  more  intelligibly 
than  the  generality  of  systems  hitherto  pursued.  Those 
therefore  who  wish  to  assist  in  forming  a  written  picture  of 
our  language  for  the  first  time,  should  neglect  no  opportunity 
of  immediately  noting  diversities  of  pronunciation  whenever 
heard,  after  some  of  these  comprehensive  systems,  of  which 
Palaeotype  possesses  the  great  advantage  of  requiring  none 
but  ordinary  type.  To  shew  the  nature  of  the  process  re- 
quired, I  have  in  Chapter  XI  contrasted  Mr.  Melville  Bell's 
and  my  own  pronunciation  of  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son,  and  transliterated  many  specimens  of  Scotch  dialectic 
pronunciation  which  he  has  furnished,  both  into  palaeotype 
and  glossotype,  while  the  politeness  of  several  correspondents 
in  the  provinces,  has  enabled  me  to  give  a  first  instalment  of 
a  greatly  needed  comparative  phonology  of  the  English 
dialects. 

§  6.     The  Direction  of  Change. 

For  determining  older  pronunciation  than  that  of  the 
xvi  th  century,  it  is  important  to  consider  the  direction  in 
which  sounds  have  changed  since  that  period,  because  we 
can  then  by  continuing  the  line  backwards,  arrive  at  some 
conception  of  the  sounds  from  which  those  in  the  xvith 
century  were  derived.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  so  much 
space  has  been  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  pronuncia- 
of  the  xvii  th  and  xvm  th  centuries. 


TABLE  OF  CHANGES  IN  THE  VALUE  OF  THE  LETTERS. 
1.  Short  Vowels. 

A  short,  in  xyith  century  decidedly  (a),  became  (SB)  in  the  course 
of  the  XYH  th  and  has  so  remained  except  in  a  small  class  of 
words,  where  the  various  sounds  (aa,  a,  aah,  ah,  seae,  se)  are 
heard. 

E  short,  has  remained  (e)  throughout,  but  is  locally  (E)  and 
may  have  been  (E)  at  any  period. 

I  short,  has  remained  (»')  throughout. 

0  short,  seems  to  have  been  generally  (o)  and  often  (u)  in  the 
xvi  th  century.  The  (o)  sounds  became  (o)  or  (A),  it  is  impos- 
sible to  determine  which,  in  the  XYH  th  century,  and  have  so 
remained,  the  present  sounds  being  generally  (o)  in  closed  and 

15 


226 


DIRECTION    OF    CHANGE. 


CHAP.  III.  §  6. 


(0)  in  open  syllables.  In  a  few  words  (o)  remains,  as  cross, 
gone.  The  (u)  sounds,  as  in  the  case  of  short  u,  became  (a)  in 
the  xvn  th  century  and  have  so  remained. 

U  short,  was  either  (u)  or  (w),  probably  the  latter,  in  the  xvith 
century,  but  during  the  xvnth  become  decidedly  (o),  which 
has  remained  to  the  present  day,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
words  which  retain  the  old  (u)  sound,  but  some  of  these  are 
occasionally  pronounced  (a),  and  more  of  them  probably  were 
so  pronounced  in  the  xvni  th  century. 

2.  The  Long  Vowels. 

A  long,  was  (aa)  in  the  xvith  century,  but  inclined  already  to  a 
very  fine  and  thin  pronunciation,  nearly  (aah),  quite  different 
from  (aa).1  In  the  xviith  century  this  seems  to  have  become 
decidedly  (aea3),  advancing  at  the  close  of  that  century  or  the 
beginning  of  the  xvm  th  to  (ee),  which  in  the  xrx  th  century, 
if  not  earlier,  became  (ee]  and  even  (eei). 


1  In  an  unknown  treatise  on  the 
pronunciation  of  French,  of  which  two 
quarto  leaves  with  the  signatures  B  i, 
B  ii,  bearing  date  1528,  (two  years  prior 
to  Palsgrave's  book,)  are  preserved  and 
described  in  Eev.  S.  R.  Maitland's 
List  of  some  of  the  Early  Printed  Books 
in  the  Archiepiscopal  Library  at  Lam- 
beth, 1843,  p.  291  (but  which  did  not 
fall  under  my  notice  till  the  preceding 
pages  were  printed),  we  read  of  the 
French  A  and  E,  "  A.  ought  to  be  pro- 
nounced fro  the  botom  of  the  stomak 
and  all  openly.  E.  a  lytell  hyer  in 
the  throte  there  properly  where  the 
englysshe  man  soundeth  his  a."  This 
would  imply  that  the  French  sound 
was  (aa),  unless  it  was  rounded  into 
(AA),  as  we  know  that  it  sounded  to 
Englishmen  in  the  xvnth  century. 
The  English  a  was  quite  distinct  from 
this  and  sounded  more  like  (EE)  to 
French  ears,  than  (aa).  The  sound 
could  certainly  not  have  been  (EE),  or 
Palsgrave  would  not  have  found  it  like 
the  French  a,  and  Salesbury  like  the 
Welch  a.  If  we  suppose  the  English 
a,  e  were  (aa,  ee)  and  the  French  were 
(aa,  EE)  we  shall  be  probably  very  near 
the  truth  which  underlay  this  and  simi- 
lar statements.  Compare  Gilles  du 
Guez,  supra  p.  61.  Since  the  above 
was  written,  Mr.  Payne  has  obligingly 
brought  under  my  notice :  "The  French 
Garden  :  for  English  Ladyes  and  Gen- 
tlewomen to  walke  in.  Or,  A  Sommer 
dayes  labour.  Being  an  instruction  for 
the  attayning  vnto  the  knowledge  of 


the  French  tongue  ....  By  Peter  Eron- 
dell,  Professor  of  the  same  Language, 
London,  1605,  8vo.,  the  English  in 
black  letter,  the  French  in  Roman 
type,  unpaged,  signatures  extending  to 
P  3,  with  two  more  leaves.  The  au- 
thor has  taken  considerable  pains,  but 
not  always  successfully,  to  indicate  the 
French  sounds,  and  occasionally  refers 
to  the  English,  in  passages  which  will 
be  quoted  as  footnotes  to  this  table.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  as  in  the  two 
cases  just  cited,  the  author  was  French. 
"  Our  A  is  not  sounded  altogether,  as 
this  english  word  awe  as  some  haue 
written,  but  as  the  first  voice  of  this 
word  Augustine  or  After  opening  some- 
what the  mouth,  as  for  example,  Bap- 
tiste,  tacitement,  s$auoir  :  and  not  after 
the  rate  of  the  english  word  ale,  for  if 
a  Frenchman  should  write  it  according 
to  the  English  sound,  hee  would  write 
it  in  this  wise  esl  and  sound  it  as  if 
there  were  no  s."  This  passage  seems 
to  indicate  clearly  that  French  a,  was 
rather  (aa)  than  (AA).  It  also  infers 
that  this  (ad)  was  heard  in  the  English 
after,  where  we  retain  (aa,  aah),  but 
that  in  ale  and  other  words  of  that  class 
the  Frenchman  heard  (EE).  I  may 
mention  in  illustration  that  Padre 
Secchi,  the  astronomer,  when  speaking 
English  at  the  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  at  Norwich,  1868,  said 
(mEEd)  for  made,  which  to  English  ears 
sounded  very  nearly  as  (massed),  and 
very  unlike  (meed).  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  Erondell's  esl  was  quite 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  227 

E  long  was  (ee)  during  the  xvi  th  and  xvii  th  centuries,  except  in  a 
very  few  words,  as  he,  she,  me,  etc.,  because  in  the  xvi  th  century 
the  spelling  ee  was  introduced  for  those  words  in  which  the 
sound  has  actually  altered  to  (ii),  but  no  such  alteration  of 
spelling  was  afterwards  admitted,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
xvin  th  century  the  sound  of  (ii)  began  to  prevail,  and  became 
general  by  the  close  of  that  century,  as  it  now  remains. 

I  long  was  a  diphthong  in  the  xvith  century,  probably  (ei)  but 
occasionally  (ai).  In  the  xvnth  century,  and  perhaps  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  xvi  th,  the  sound  of  (ai)  was  introduced, 
which  has  remained.  Even  at  the  present  day,  however,  (ei, 
ai,  ai)  and  other  varieties  may  still  be  heard. 

•  0  long  was  apparently  (oo)  in  the  xvi  th  century,  a  sound  which  is 
still  generally  heard  before  r,  in  more,  glory,  &c  ;  but  in  the 
xvnth  century,  (oo)  was  introduced,  and  still  remains,  though 
frequently  called  (oo'w)  or  (oou),  and  dialectically  (ou).  Some 
words  containing  o  long  were  pronounced  (uu)  but  in  the  xvi  th 
century  these  were  mostly  written  with  oo,  and  hence  o  long  is 
sounded  (uu)  in  only  a  very  few  words,  as  move,  prove. 

U  long  does  not  occur  in  any  Saxon  words,  and  in  the  xvi  th  and 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  xvnth  century  had  the  sound  of 
(yy)  or  some  closely  allied  sound  as  (n,  uir,  99}  which  may  be 
still  heard  dialectically  both  in  the  East  and  West  of  England.1 
After  the  middle  of  the  xvnth  century  the  long  w  became  (iu) 
after  a  consonant  in  the  same  syllable,  and  (juu)  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  syllable,  and  this  sound  has  remained  ;  in  the 
xvm  th  century,  as  at  present,  after  (r)  it  is  pronounced  (uu). 

distinct  from  ele  our  present  ail  (eel).  singular  of  the  first  perfect  tense  of  the 

As  in  1605  there  must  have  been  a  Indicatiue  moode,  is  sounded  as  it  is 

large  class  of  speakers  who  called  long  written,  as  j'aimay  I  loued,/0  trouvay 

a   (aah)    or   (sese),   which   could   have  I  sound,  je  parlay  I  spoke,  &c.  (ai  ?). 

sounded  nothing  but  (BE)  to  a  French-  As  for  the  rest,  wheresoeuer  you  shall 

man,  we  may  suppose  that  this  was  the  find  ai,  sound  it  as  gaye  \gay  in  p,  1  85] 

sound  with  which  Erondell,  with  his  gaping"     He  means   of  course    (EE), 

limited  experience  as  a  foreigner,  was  and  he  seems  to  agree  with  Hart  partly 

familiar.     In  :  The  French  Littelton.  in  gay,  and  with  the  xvii  th  century 

A  most  easie,  perfect  and  absolvte  way  pronunciation  generally  in  gaping.    The 

to  learne  the  French  tongue,  Set  foorth  only  English  writer  who  would  make 


by  Clavdivs   Holyband,    Gentil-homme  <?«y  =  (gEE)  is  Cooper,  supra  p.    125. 

Bourbonnois,    London,    1609,    32mo.,  Most  probably  the  Frenchman  heard 

pp.  223,  for  a  knowledge  of  which  I  an  English  (gsei)   as  his   (gEE),   and 

am   also   indebted  to  Mr.  Payne,  the  found  the  first   syllable   of   gaping  = 

author  says,  p.  184  :  "  Ai,  and  ay,  have  (gse®),  more  like  his  gai  than  his  ga* 
three  diners  sounds  :  for  the  first  per-  x  Erondell  says  of  French  «  :  "  v  Is 

son  singular  of  the  future  tense  of  the  sounded  without  any  help  of  the  tongue 

Indicatiue    moode,    and    these    three  but  ioyning  of  the  lips  as  if  you  would 

verbes  ay,  and  his  compounds  :  je  s$ay,  whistle,  say  u,  which  u,  maketh  a  silla- 

I  know,   nay,   I   am  borne,   be   fully  ble  by  it  selfe,  as  vnir,  vniquement  as  if 

pronounced  as,  e,  masculine  :  say  then  it  were  written  v-neer,  pronounce  then 

for  ay,  fay  I  have,/*:  diray  I  will  say,  musique,  punir,  subvenir  not  after  the 

je  liray  I  will  reade,  j'  aimer  ay  I  will  English  pronounciatkw,  not  as  if  it  were 

loue,  &c.,  as  if  it  were  written  e,  je,  je  written  muesique,  puenir,  suevenir,  but 

dire,  je  lire,  &e.     But  the  first  person  rather  as  the  u  in  this  word,  murtherer, 


228  DIRECTION   OF   CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 


3.  Combinations  with  A  final. 

AA  was  not  used  in  English  words  in  the  xvrth  or  subsequent 
centuries,  except  in  Hebrew  names,  as  Isaac, 

EA,  which  had  been  used  occasionally  without  any  strictness  for 
long  0,  was  established  towards  the  close  of  the  XYI  th  century 
as  (ee),  and  remained  so  throughout  the  xvnth  century,  with 
the  exception  of  about  30  words.  In  the  XYinth  century 
however  it  rapidly  altered  its  sound  to  (ii),  only  a  few  words 
finally  resisting  the  change,  after  having  yielded  to  it  for  a 
time.  Several  words  with  (e)  short,  were  from  the  middle  of 
the  xvi  th  century,  and  still  are  spelled  with  ea. 

I  A  had  no  particular  value  separate  from  («a),  and  has  followed  the 
fortunes  of  its  components,  one  or  the  other  letter  being 
frequently  omitted. 

0  A  was  introduced  at  the  close  of  the  xvi  th  century  for  the  long 
(oo)  in  closed  syllables,  after  oo  had  been  appropriated  to  (uu). 
In  the  xvn  th  century  it  became  (00),  except  in  broad,  groat, 
where  it  was  (AA).  It  has  retained  these  sounds. 

UA  is  not  an  English  combination. 

4.  Combination  with  E  final. 

AE  was  so  to  speak,  not  used,  in  the  xvi  th  century  ;  even  in  Latin 
words  e  was  often  employed.  When  a  was  introduced  into 
English  it  was  always  pronounced  as  the  long  e  of  the  period. 
This  <z  is  one  of  Bullokar's  signs  for  (ee). 

EE  was  introduced  in  the  middle  of  the  xvith  century  for  the 
sound  of  (ii),  which  it  has  since  retained.  In  the  earlier  part 
of  the  century  no  distinction  was  made  between  ee  and  long  e. 

IE  was  a  combination  having  the  same  meaning  as  long  e  until  the 
xvnth  century,  when  it  was  considered  the  same  as  ee. 

not  making  the  u  too  long."    It  is  very  when  Englishmen  do  profer,  v,  they  say, 

difficult  to  understand  the  meaning  of  you  :  and  for,  q,  we  suppose  they  say, 

this  passage.     It  is  possible  that  as  kiou  :  hut  we  sound,  v,   without  any 

Erondell  may  have  met  with  those  who  helpe  of  the  tongue,  ioyning  the  lips  as 

said  (sese),  he  might  have  heard  (iu),  if  you  would  whistle  ;    and  after  the 

which  of  course  must  have  been  fre-  manner  that  the  Scots  do  sound  Gud." 

quently  used  at  this  date,  though  it  was  Here  we  have  the  first  distinct  recog- 

not  received,  and  as  this  sound  did  not  nition  of  the  English  long  u  as  (iu) 


satisfy  him  he  took  refuge  in  (u)  or  (u)  distinct  from  the  Scotch  and  French 
as  confused  by  a  following  (r),  and  (yy).  Hart,  who  in  his  first  treatise 
perhaps  was  thinking  of  some  indi-  (infra,  Chap.  VIII,  §  3,  note,)  also 


vidual  pronunciation,  which  he  had  not  identifies    English    long    u    and   you, 

satisfactorily  appreciated,  but  conceived  makes  both  the  same  as  the  French  and 

to  be  general.     Holyband  also  (French  Scotch,  and  in  his  second  treatise,  supra 

Littelton,  1609,  p.  152)  seenls  to  have  p.  167,  distinctly  describes  (yy)  and  not 

recognized  (iu)  in  English  and  not  (yy),  (iu)  for  this  sound.     Wilkins,  1668,  is 

for  he  says  :  "  Where  you  must  take  the  next  author  who  distinctly  recog- 

paine  to  pronounce  our,  v,  otherwise  nizes  (iu),  Wallis,  1653,  being  the  last 

then  in  English  :  for  we  do  thinke  that  who  as  distinctly  insists  on  (yy). 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION    OF    CHANGE.  229 

OE  was  not  an  English  combination ;  when  it  was  introduced  as  ce, 
it  followed  the  sound  of  the  long  e  of  the  period. 

UE  was  only  used  at  the  end  of  words  in  the  xvrr  th  century  and 
later,  for  the  long  «,  which  had  in  this  situation  been  pre- 
viously written  ew. 

5,  Combinations  with  I  or  Y  final. 

AI  was  (ai,  aai)  in  the  XYI  th  century  and  possibly  (sei,  eea3i)  in  the 
xvn  th  ;  but  towards  the  close  of  that  century,  and  in  the  pro- 
nunciation of  a  minority  even  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the 
xvi  th  century,  ai  was  called  (ee).1  Becoming  thus  identical 
with  long  a,  it  shared  its  fortunes  and  fell  into  (ee,  eei}. 

El  was  (ai)  or  (ei,  eei)  in  the  xvith  century,  and  seems  to  have 
retained  the  sound  of  (eei)  or  (ee)  till  a  late  period  in  the 
xvm  th  [century,  when  many,  but  by  no  means  all  the  ei  fell 
into  (ii).  In  either,  neither,  the  old  (ei)  developed  (ai)  as  well 
as  (ii),  and  both  sounds  are  yet  heard  from  the  same  speaker  at 
different  times. 

II  was  never  used. 

01  was  (oi)  and  nearly  (ui)  in  the  xvith  century,  in  some  words 
(oi,  uui)  were  heard  indifferently.  In  the  xvnth  century 
though  (Ai)  or  (oi)  was  the  rule,  (ai)  was  frequently  heard. 
In  the  xvm  th  and  xix  th  centuries  only  (oi)  was  recognized, 
although  some  speakers  still  say  (ai),  now  considered  a  vul- 
garism. 

UI  was  not  a  genuine  English  combination,  and  was  only  a  sub- 
stitute for  long  u,  or  long  and  short  t,  and  followed  their  laws. 


6.   Combinations  with  O  final* 

AO  is  only  accidentally  an  English  combination  in  extraordinary, 
where  it  is  usually  pronounced  (AA). 

EO  when  used  at  an  earlier  period  seems  to  have  been  considered 
identical  with  long  e,  and  has  been  generally  so  treated.  In 
pigeon,  dungeon,  the  combination  eo  is  only  apparent,  for  the  e 
belongs  to  the  preceding  g. 

10  is  not  found, 

00  was  used  in  the  beginning  of  the  xvi  th  century  indifferently 
with  long  o,  but  was  introduced  towards  the  close  of  that 
century  to  indicate  those  long  o  which  had  come  to  be  pro- 
nounced (uu),  and  it  has  retained  this  value. 

UO  is  not  used. 

1  Erondell  says  in  the  French  nouwced  as  these  english  words  day,  say, 
Garden,  1605,  speaking  of  French  ai,  may,"  which  he  therefore  identifies 
which  was  then  certainly  (E)  :  "  Also  with  long  a.  No  English  writer  of  the 
if  5  doe  follow  ai,  it  maketh  the  word  period  makes  this  confusion.  But  corn- 
long,  and  the  s  vnsounded,  as  Maistre,  pare  Holyband's  gay,  gaping,  supra, 
paistre,  where  the  ai  or  ay  be  pro-  p.  227,  note,  col.  2. 


230  DIRECTION   OF   CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 


7.   Combinations  with  U 'or  W final. 

ATI  was  (an,  aau)  in  the  xvi  th  century,  and  seems  to  have  passed 
by  the  absorption  of  (u)  into  (w\  or  simple  labial  modification, 
into  (AA)  in  the  xviith  century,  which  sound  it  generally 
retains  although  there  is  still  a  contest  between  (aa,  AA)  in 
a  few  words. 

EU  had  in  the  xvith  century  two  sounds  (yy)  and  (eu)  which 
were  not  distinguished  by  any  orthographical  expedient.  In 
the  xvnth  century  the  (yy)  sounds  became  (iu,  juu),  and  the 
(eu)  sounds  either  remained  (eu),  or  became  (00).  In  the  xvm  th 
century  those  which  had  become  (00)  remained  so,  the  rest  fell 
into  (iu,  juu)  where  they  have  since  remained. 

IU    is  not  used. 

Oil  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  xvi  th  century,  and  in  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  some  writers  even  down  to  the  latter  part  of  that 
century,  had  the  sound  of  (uu,  u) ;  by  the  middle  of  the 
xvi  th  century  it  was  generally  pronounced  (ou),  but  occa- 
sionally (uu).  A  class  of  words  in  ou,  however,  derived  from 
the  Anglosaxon  aw,  ow,  was  by  both  set  of  speakers  pro- 
nounced (oou).  In  the  xvrith  century  the  (oou)  sounds  be- 
came (o0u)  as  they  have  since  remained,  though  theoretically 
considered  as  simple  (00).  The  (ou,  u)  sounds  at  the  same 
time  became  (au,  a)  and  have  since  retained  these  forms. 

UU  is  not  used. 

8.    Consonants. 

B      invariably  (b). 

C  invariably  (k)  before  a,  o,  u  and  (s)  before  (e,i),  except  that 
in  the  xvm  th  century,  and  perhaps  earlier,  o  before  a  became 
(k) ;  and  ci-  before  a  vowel  became  (sh). 

CH  sometimes  (k)  in  Greek  works,  generally  (tsh)  throughout  the 
period. 

D  invariably  (d)  except  that,  in  the  xvmth  century,  d  in  the 
termination  -dure,  -dier  became  (dj)  or  (dzh). 

F      invariably  (f). 

G  invariably  (g)  before  a,  0,  u,  and  almost  invariably  (g)  in 
Saxon  words  before  e,  i;  otherwise  invariably  (dzh)  before 
e,  i.  In  the  xvmth  century  and  perhaps  earlier,  g  before  a, 
and  ffu  before  i  long  became  (g). 

GH  in  the  beginning  of  the  xvi  th  century,  full  (kh)  or  (#h) ; 
towards  the  middle  and  close,  very  gently  pronounced,  almost 
(H<);  and  in  the  xvnth  century  and  subsequently  entirely 
lost.  In  a  few  words  of  the  xvi  th  century  and  more  after- 
wards, gh  was  sounded  as  (f).  In  one  word,  sigh,  in  the 
xvnth  and  xvmth  centuries  gh  was  called  (th),  and  in  one 
word,  hiccough,  (p).  When  gh  was  omitted  in  speech  after  i, 
the  sound  of  that  letter  was  changed  from  («)  to  (ai)  ;  the 
sound  of  augh  with  silent  gh  was  either  (aa)  or  (AA)  ;  of  ough 
with  silent  gh,  (o0u)  or  (AA),  sometimes  (au)  and  (uu). 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF   CHANGE.  231 

H  in  many  words  in  the  xvn  th  century,  where  it  is  now  never 
omitted,  was  not  sounded. 

J       or  "  I  consonant"  had  invariably  the  sound  of  (dzh). 

K  was  (k)  before  all  vowels,  perhaps  inclined  to  the  palatalised 
(k)  before  the  sound  of  (ii),  and  in  the  xvmth  century  fre- 
quently became  (k)  before  a  (ae,  aa),  and  long  i  (ai). 

L  invariably  (1)  or  ('!).  In  the  xvith  century  it  was  beginning 
to  disappear  after  a,  after  becoming  labialised  to  (lw}  and  thus 
changing  the  sound  of  a  from  (a)  into  (au,  AA),  the  latter  pre- 
vailing in  the  xvn  th  century ;  (aa)  is  now  commonly  heard  in 
the  termination  -aim. 

M     invariably  (m)  or  ('m). 

JS"     invariably  (n)  or  ('n). 

NG  invariably  (q)  or  (qg),  except  in  the  combination  -nge  when  it 
became  (-ndzh)  and  had  a  tendency  to  change  preceding  (a) 
into  (ai)  which  became  subsequently  (ee). 

P      invariably  (p). 

PH  invariably  (f ),  except  perhaps  in  such  combinations  as  Clapham, 
in  which  the  h  was  omitted  in  the  xvn  th  century. 

Q,IT  invariably  (kw>),  or  labialised  (k). 

II  preceding  a  vowel,  invariably  (r),  following  but  not  preceding 
a  vowel,  it  was  most  probably  (JL)  as  early  as  the  xvmth 
century,  and  possibly  in  the  xvn  th. 

RH  was  the  same  as  simple  r. 

S  initially,  invariably  (s),  medially  and  finally  either  (s)  or  (z) 
according  to  present  usage.  In  the  xvmth  century  «  before 
long  u,  and  si-  before  a  vowel  became  (sh),  and  -isi-  became 
(-izh-) ;  in  the  termination  -sure,  s  became  (sh)  or  (zh).  !N\me 
of  these  changes  seem  to  have  been  acknowledged  before  the 
middle  of  the  xvn  th  century. 

T  invariably  (t),  except  that  ti-  in  the  terminations  -tion,  -tious, 
was  (si)  in  the  xvith  and  xvnth  centuries,  and  became  (sh)  in 
the  xvn  th.  In  the  termination  -ture  in  the  xvm  th  century, 
t  feU  into  (tj)  or  (tsh). 

TH  either  (th)  or  (dh)  according  to  the  present  laws,  except  that 
in  the  xvi  th  century  it  was  (t)  in  Thomas  as  now,  and  also  in 
throne,  and  (d)  in  Thavies  Inn  ;  and  generally  (th)  in  with 
instead  of  (dh)  as  now. 

V      or  "U  consonant"  invariably  (v). 

"W  as  a  consonant,  whether  confused  with  an  initial  (u)  or  not, 
invariably  (w). 

"WH,  whether  confused  with  (HU)  or  (HW),  was  probably  always  (wh). 

X  invariably  (ks),  the  present  use  as  (gz)  seems  to  have  been 
unknown  previously. 

Y  as  a  consonant,  whether  confused  with  an  initial  (i)  or  not, 
invariably  (j). 

Z      invariably  (z). 


232 


DIRECTION    OF    CHANGE. 


CHAP.  III.  §  6. 


On  examining  this  table  of  changes,  it  would  appear  that 
the  consonants  have  been  subject  to  little  or  no  alteration, 
except  under  the  action  of  an  (i)  or  (u)  sound.  The  action 
of  an  (i)  sound  changes  (t,  d,  s,  z,)  to  (tj  tsh,  dj  dzh,  sh, 
zh),  but  this  action  did  not  materially  affect  the  English 
pronunciation  of  the  xvi  th  and  earlier  part  of  the  xvn  th 
centuries.  The  (u)  sound  was  generated  through  the  labiali- 
sation of  (1)  which  gradually  disappeared,  labialising  the  pre- 
ceding vowel. 

The  consonant  gh,  originally  (kh),  became  gradually  dis- 
agreeable and  harsh  to  the  Southern  English  and  passing 
through  (H')  soon  ceased  to  be  appreciable,  and  was  therefore 
neglected,  although  it  was  probably  theoretically  maintained 
long  after  it  had  practically  disappeared.  On  examining 
the  oldest  forms  of  words,  however,  this  sound  appears  to 
have  passed  through  (i,  u),  and  in  its  disappearance  to  have 
acted  by  palatisation  and  labialisation  on  the  preceding 
vowel.  The  change  of  igh  to  long  i  is  the  only  one  that 
presents  a  difficulty,  and  this  depends  upon  the  same  cause 
which  changed  long  i  generally  from  (ii)  to  (ei),  p.  234. 

For  the  vowels  the  following  changes  occur,  taking  the 
sounds  only,  independent  of  the  spellings. 


Short  Vowels. 

Long  Vowels* 

Diphthongs. 

a,  se 

aa,  8B8D,  ee,  eet  eei 

ai,  sei,  ei,  eei,  ee,  ee,  eei 

au,  aa\  AA 

ee,  ii 

ei,  ai 

ei,  eei,  ee,  ii 

eu,  iu 

eu,  oo,  00u 

0,    0 

00,    UU 

ou,  ou 

00,  00  OOU 

OOU,  00,  OOU 

U,    8 

UU,  OU,  8U 

ui,  oi,  AJ,  oi 

yy>  iu 

The  directions  of  change  are  here  seen  to  be  three, — towards 
(i),  towards  (u),  towards  (0).  But  the  two  last  are  not 
essentially  different,  as  (u)  may  be  considered  as  a  labial- 
ised  (a),  p.  162. 

The  long  vowels  have  altered  more  than  the  short  vowels. 
The  voice  being  sustained  there  was  more  time  for  the  vowel 
sound  to  be  considered,  and  hence  the  fancy  of  the  speaker 
may  have  come  more  into  play.  This  has  generally  given 
rise  to  a  refining  process,  consisting  in  diminishing  the  lin- 
gual or  the  labial  aperture.  The  lingual  aperture  is  materi- 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  233 

ally  diminished  in  the  passages  (aa,  seae,  ee,  ee)  and  (ee,  ii). 
It  seems  curious  that  the  first  was  not  continued  as  far  as 
the  second.  In  the  name  James,  however,  which  became 
(Dzheemz)  in  the  xvn  th  century,  and  has  passed  to  (Dzhiimz) 
in  flunkey  English,  and  to  (Dzh/m)  as  a  common  abbrevi- 
ation, the  series  of  changes  is  complete.  Fashion  and  refine- 
ment have  nearly  banished  (aa),  but  have  not  yet  confounded 
in  one  (ii)  all  the  words  formerly  distinguished  by  (aa,  ee). 

The  change  of  (oo)  to  (uu)  was  a  similar  refinement,  con- 
sisting first  in  the  elevation  of  the  tongue,  and  correponding 
narrowing  of  the  labial  passage,  producing  (uu),  and  secondly 
in  the  narrowing  of  the  pharynx.  The  change  from  (oo)  to 
(oo)  consisted  simply  in  narrowing  the  pharyngal  cavity. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  changes  is  that  from  (uu)  a 
simple  vowel,  into  (ou)  a  diphthong.  Both  sounds  held 
their  own  side  by  side  for  some  years,  Palsgrave  in  1530 
and  Bullokar  in  1580  both  upholding  (uu),  while  Salesbury, 
Smith,  and  Hart  declared  for  (ou),  which  finally  prevailed. 
Although  the  change  is  certain,  there  is  no  trace  of  any 
reason  being  given,  and  as  the  sound  (uu)  had  been  repre- 
sented by  the  letters  ou  in  those  cases  where  it  changed  into 
(ou),  whereas  when  (uu)  was  a  change  of  (oo),  it  did  not 
further  change  into  (ou),  and  the  orthography  also  did  not 
give  ou, — the  mere  accident  of  the  spelling  naturally  presents 
itself  as  a  cause.  This  hypothesis  is  strengthened  by  ob- 
serving that  in  the  north  of  England,  where  reading  was 
perhaps  less  common  than  in  the  South,  the  sound  of  (uu)  in 
these  words  still  remains  unaltered.  But  such  a  supposition 
can  hardly  be  correct,  because  the  change  of  (uu)  into  (ou) 
is  precisely  analogous  to  the  change  of  (ii)  into  (ei),  a  change 
which  must  certainly  have  occurred  in  passing  from  the 
Anglosaxon  period  to  the  xvi  th  century,  although  it  has  not 
yet  come  distinctly  before  us,  and  had  no  connection  with 
the  orthography.  In  each  case  the  change  simply  consists  in 
commencing  the  vowel  with  a  sound  which  is  too  open,  (that 
is,  with  the  tongue  not  sufficiently  raised),  and,  as  it  were, 
correcting  that  error  in  the  course  of  utterance.  This  variety 
of  speech  might  easily  be  generated  and  become  fashionable 
in  one  part  of  the  country  and  not  in  another,  and  as  it 
penetrated  far  beyond  the  classes  whom  orthography  could 
affect  at  a  time  when  books  were  rare,  and  readers  rarer  in 
proportion  to  the  speakers,  the  physiological  hypothesis 
seems  more  deserving  of  adoption  than  the  orthographical. 
On  further  examination  it  will  be  found  that  this  hypothesis 
has  an  analogue  in  a  well  known  custom,  of  the  South  of 


234  DIRECTION   OF   CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 

England.  In  the  North  of  England,  in  France,  and  Ger- 
many, no  difficulty  is  felt  in  prolonging  the  pure  sounds  of 
(ee)  and  (oo),  but  in  the  South  of  England  persons  have  in 
general  such  a  habit  of  raising  the  tongue  slightly  after  the 
sound  of  (ee),  and  both  raising  the  tongue  and  partly  closing 
the  lips  after  the  sound  of  (oo),  that  these  sounds  are  con- 
verted into  the  diphthongs  (eej,  00V),  or  (eei,  oou)  where 
the  (ee,  oo)  parts  are  long  and  strongly  marked,  and  the  (i,  u) 
terminals  are  very  brief  and  lightly  touched  but  still  per- 
ceptible, so  that  a  complete  diphthong  results,  which  how- 
ever is  disowned  by  many  orthoepists  and  is  not  intended  by 
the  speaker.  Now  we  have  only  to  suppose  a  habit  growing 
up  of  beginning  the  (ii,  uu)  sound  with  a  tongue  somewhat 
too  depressed,  and  in  the  latter  case  with  the  lips  also  too  open, 
but  passing  instantly  and  rapidly  from  these  initial  sourfds 
to  the  true  (ii,  uu),  and  (eii,  ouu)  would  result.  From  the 
habit  of  accenting  the  first  element  of  a  diphthong,  the 
initial  touch  of  (e,  d)  would  come  to  have  the  accent,  and 
being  very  short  and  indistinct  might  readily  vary  in  dif- 
ferent mouths  into  (a,  a,  e).  We  should  thus  obtain  the 
diphthongs  (ei,  ou ;  ei,  ou ;  ai,  au  ;  oi,  ou)  in  which  also  the 
second  element  may  be,  and  at  present  in  the  South  of  Eng- 
land seems  to  be  (i,  u)  rather  than  (i,  u).  Thus  on  length- 
ening out  the  terminal  sounds  of  nigh,  now,  I  seem  to  hear 
in  my  own  pronunciation  (nam,  TLQUUU). 

The  generation  of  (eei,  oou)  from  (ee,  oo)  consists  then  in 
subjoining  brief  (i,  u)  to  long  (ee,  oo) ;  while  the  generation 
of  (eii,  ouu)  from  (ii,  uu)  consists  in  prefixing  brief  (e,  o)  to 
long  (ii,  uu).  The  elements  in  both  cases  are  the  same  (eei, 
eii;  oou,  ouu)  and  the  accessary  sounds  are  in  both  cases 
brief,  but  when  terminal  they  are  unaccented,  when  initial 
accented,  just  like  an  appoggiatura  in  music. 

We  might  therefore  expect  to  hear  (ei,  ou)  developed 
either  from  (ii,  uu)  or  from  (ee,  oo).  Further  reasons  for 
supposing  the  first  to  have  actually  occurred  will  be  given  in 
Chap.  IY,  §  2,  under  I.  For  the  second,  it  is  not  uncom- 
mon at  present  to  hear  (ei)  for  (ee),  and  (ou)  for  (oo),  although 
these  changes  have  not  been  generally  recognized. 

This  change  of  (ii)  into  (ei,  ai,  oi),  and  (uu)  into  (ou,  au, 
ou)  is  etymologically  interesting  because  it  is  by  no  means 
confined  to  our  own  country.  The  Gfothic  (ii)  corresponded 
to  (ii)  in  Icelandic,  Anglosaxon,  Friesic,  Old  Saxon,  Low 
German,  and  Upper  German,  and  is  still  (ii)  in  Danish  and 
Swedish,  but  is  now  (ei)  in  English  and  Swabian,  and  (ai)  in 
Dutch,  High  German,  Frackish,  East  Frankish  and  Bavarian, 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  235 

according  to  Rapp  (Phys.  d.  Spr.  iv.,  144)  and  the  same 
writer  says  that  (uu)  in  Gothic  was  (uu)  in  Icelandic,  Anglo- 
saxon,  Friesic,  Old  Saxon,  Low  German,  Upper  German, 
and  is  still  (uu)  in  Danish,  but  it  has  become  (ou)  in  English 
and  Swabian,  (au)  in  High  German,  Frankish,  East  Frankish 
and  Bavarian,  (#y)  in  Dutch,  and  (uu)  in  Swedish.  Except 
the  two  last  changes,  the  phenomena  must  be  all  referable  to 
local  habits  of  the  kind  named.  The  Dutch  sound  (^y),  written 
ui,  would  appear  to  be  an  alteration  of  (#u),  but  whether  there 
is  any  historical  as  well  as  phonetical  ground  for  supposing 
such  a  form  to  have  existed,  I  cannot  say.1  It  is  impossible 
not  to  be  reminded  in  this  historical  change  of  (ii,  uu)  into 
(ei,  ou)  of  the  (guNa)  changes  in  Sanscrit,  because  they  are 
phonetically  the  same,  although  they  arise  in  a  different 
manner. 

"We  have  then  briefly  the  following  changes  of  the  prin- 
cipal vowel  sounds,  of  which  the  change  (ii)  to  (ei)  was 
anterior  to  the  xvith  century,  unless,  as  seems  to  be  the 
only  legitimate  inference,  Palsgrave's  and  Bullokar's  state- 
ments (pp.  109,  114)  are  held  to  imply  that  long  i  was  still 
pronounced  as  ii  in  some  words  by  them  : — 

Prom  (aa)  through  (aeae)  to  (ee,  ee,  ee\] 

Prom  (ee)  to  (ii) 

Prom  (ii)  through  (ei)  to  (ei,  ai,  ai) 

Prom  (oo)  to  (uu),  or  to  (00,  00u) 

Prom  (mi)  through  (ou)  to  (on,  au) 

Proceeding  backwards,  then,  we  must,  if  there  was  any  change, 
look  for  it  in  the  same  series.  Thus  (AA,  aa)  may  have 
preceded  (aa).  Perhaps  (EE)  may  have  preceded  (ee).  The 
sounds  (ee,  oo)  may  have  preceded  (ii,  uu),  and  it  is  possible 
that  (aa)  may  have  preceded  (oo),  as  the  latter  is  only 
the  rounded  form  of  the  former. 

The  vowel  (yy)  can  hardly  have  been  an  original  vowel 
sound.  Its  relations  to  (i,  u)  and  (iu)  are  so  close,  that  it 
might  have  arisen  from  any  one  of  the  three,  but  it  has 
principally  the  appearance  of  being  an  alteration  of  (u) 
caused  by  making  the  narrowest  part  of  the  lingual  channel 
with  the  middle  instead  of  the  back  of  the  tongue.  This 

1  In  the  actual  Dutch  pronunciation  make  on  hearing  the  sound,  not  (#j)  as 
of  huis,  muis,  it  is  very  difficult  to  Dr.  Eapp  remarks.  The  Dutch  con- 
distinguish  the  sound  from  (au),  and  sider  it  to  be  the  sound  of  the  German 
the  difference  seems  mainly  produced  eu,  which  Dr.  Eapp  also  says  is  sounded 
by  altering  the  form  of  the  lip  into  (0y)  in  the  North-East  of  Germany, 
that  for  (yy),  which  is  slightly  flatter  Berlin,  Brandenburg,  and  on  the  Baltic 
than  for  (uu),  rather  than  by  bringing  coast  from  Mecklenburg  to  Eussia ; 
the  tongue  into  the  (i)  position.  Still  the  general  sounds  being  (ay,  oy,  oi) 
(ey)  was  the  best  analysis  I  was  able  to  and  even  (oi)  in  Hamburg. 


236  DIRECTION   OF   CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 

d  priori  physiological  conception  is  confirmed  by  finding  that 
dialectically,  in  Scotland  and  in  Devonshire,  (yy)  or  some 
form  of  it  as  (n,  uu),  occurs  as  a  substitute  for  (uu),  as  the 
Devonshire  (myyr,  myyn),  or  more  properly  (muuv,  muun) 
for  (muuv,  muun).  In  German  we  find  that  (yy)  has  also 
been  generated  from  (uu)  by  the  retroactive  effect  of  an  (i) 
or  (e)  sound  in  an  added  syllable.  In  French,  the  substitu- 
tion of  (yy)  for  the  Latin  (uu)  can  only  be  traced  to  a 
national  habit,  The  same  seems  to  have  occurred  in  Greek, 
where  v  was  at  a  very  early  period  changed  from  (uu)  into 
(yy).  There  is  no  historical  evidence  that  (yy)  can  be  con- 
sidered in  any  case  as  an  alteration  of  (iu),  although  we  have 
in  English  the  proof  that  (iu)  may  be  an  alteration  of  (yy), 
and  we  know  by  the  Welsh  uw  and  Hart's  iu,  that  the  use 
of  iu  as  a  representative  of  (yy),  was  natural.  In  fact  the 
second  vowel  u  in  both  iu,  au  naturally  suggests  a  labialisation 
of  the  preceding,  which  would  give  iu,  au  =  (iw,  aw)  =  (i, 
o),  whence  (y,  A)  readily  derive.  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  case  with  Ulphilas,  who  certainly  uses  au  for  (A)  and 
probably  iu  for  (yy).1 

In  such  languages  as  the  English,  French,  and  Greek, 
where  the  natural  sound  of  u  had  been  replaced  by  (yy), 
the  only  device  left  for  marking  the  (uu)  sound  was  to  use 
the  o  from  which  it  was  derived,  as  in  the  Swedish,  or  to 
put  an  o  before,  after,  or  over  the  u  to  indicate  more  dis- 
tinctly that  the  combination  was  to  have  the  modified  o 
sound.  This  seems  to  be  the  origin  of  the  use  of  ou  in 
older  English,  French,  and  Greek  for  the  sound  of  (uu). 
Similarly  in  old  High  German  uo,  in  Italian  uo,  in  Bohe- 
mian u  are  employed  to  indicate  relations  between  u  and  o.2 

1  Weingartner  (Die  Aussprache  des  sequent  (w)  by  the  lip  action  of  (yy), 

Gothischen  zur  Zeit  des  Ulfilas,  Leipzig,  which  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  (u), 

1858,  8vo.  pp.  68)   sums  up   all  the  on  the  following  vowels,  precisely  as  in 

arguments  hearing  on  the  pronuncia-  the  case  noticed  on  p.  133  note.     The 

tion   of  Gothic   iu  in  favour  of  (u).  combination  iu  is  the  most    difficult 

The  actual  English  change  of  (yy)  into  to  appreciate  in  the   Gothic   and   old 

(iu),  and  the  common  German  change  high  German  orthographies, 
of  (yy)  into  (ii),  seem  sufficiently  to  2  The  Dutch  use  oe  for  (uu)  or  (u), 


account  for  the  various  forms,  which  their  long  and  short  u  being  (yy,  a), 
the  Gothic  iu  received,  or  rather  to  that  is,  nearly  precisely  the  same  as  Wai  - 
which  it  corresponded  in  various  Ger-  lis's  English  sounds.  The  older  Dutch 
manic  dialects.  The  alteration  of  iu  writers  seem  to  have  used  e  as  a  simple 
into  iv  before  vowels,  as  in  Tcniu^  Jcnivis,  sign  of  prolongation  in  ae,  oe,  ue,  so 
may  be  explained  as  perhaps  (knyy,  that  oe  can  only  be  regarded  as  o  used 
knywis)  the  full  written  form  kniuvis  for  (uu)  with  a  special  mark  of  pro- 
having  been  contracted  into  knivis,  as  longation.  In  modern  Dutch  the  sound 
the  single  letter  v  seemed  most  neatly  is  frequently  short,  as  there  is  no  other 
to  express  first  the  labialisation  of  the  means  of  representing  (u,  u).  Siegen- 
»,  and  secondly  the  generation  of  a  sub-  beek  (Nederduitsche  Spelling,  Amster- 


CHAP.  III.  §  6.  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  237 

In  English  the  change  of  (yy)  has  been  into  (iu),  but  in 
German  it  changes  into  (ii),  that  is,  in  English  the  lips  were 
not  rounded  at  the  beginning  of  the  sound  but  were  rounded 
at  the  end  of  the  sound,  producing  first  (iy)  and  afterwards 
(iyu,  iu),  while  in  German  the  lips  are  frequently  not 
rounded  at  all. 

For  the  long  vowels,  then,  anterior  to  the  xvi  th  century 
we  may  possibly  have  (aa)  for  (aa) ;  (EE)  for  (ee)  ;  (ee)  for 
(ii) ;  (oo)  for  (uu),  and  (uu)  for  (yy) ;  (oo)  is  not  likely  to 
have  been  changed. 

For  the  short  vowels  we  find  no  change  in  (i,  e),  which  we 
therefore  must  suppose  to  have  existed  anteriorly  in  this 
form.  The  change  (a  )  to  (ae)  could  only  give  (a)  for  an 
anterior  sound.  The  changes  (o,  o)  and  (u,  9)  could  lead  to 
no  conclusions  respecting  any  anterior  sound.  The  first 
change  (o,  o)  consists  merely  in  depressing  the  tongue,  the 
second  change  (u,  o),  as  has  been  shewn,  may  consist  only  in 
neglecting  to  close  the  lips  sufficiently.  These  changes  do 
not  give  sufficient  indication  of  direction.  It  would  be  safest 
to  conclude  that  (a)  or  (a)  and  (e,  i,  o,  u)  were  the  sounds  of 
the  five  vowels  before  the  xvi  th  century,1  but  the  words  busy, 
bury  (biz'i,  laeri)  and  the  pronunciation  (tre'st)  for  trust, 
leads  us  to  suppose  that  u  in  writing  may  often  indicate  a 
short  (y)  which  would  be  taken  as  (i). 

We  find  then  that  there  was  probably  an  older  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  English  vowels  than  that  of  the  xvi  th  century, 

dam,  1804,  p.  139),  denies  that  ie  should  ality,  in  Belgium.     This  left  oe  free  for 

be  considered  as  long  i,  although  it  is  (uu,  u)  without  any  danger  of  confu- 

now  pronounced   (ii),  because  long  t  sion,  and  even  the  Belgians  admit  the 

used  to  be  written  «',  y,  and  says  that  distinction  oo,  oe. 
in  the  province  of  Zeeland  ie  is  still          l  Hart  expressly  says :  "  And  to  ner- 

heard    as    a    distinctly    mixed    sound  swade  you  the  better,  that  then*  auncient 

"duidelijk  een  gemengd  geluid,"  pro-  sounds  are  as  I  haue  sayde,"  that  is 

bably  (iia).     The  same  author  (p.  82)  (a,  e,  i,  o,  u),   "  I  report  me  to  all 

accounts  for  the  use  of  e  as  a  mark  of  Musitians  of  what  nations  soeuer  they 

prolongation  in  ae,  oe,  ue,  on  the  ground  be,  for  a,  e,  i,  and  o ;  and  for  u,  also, 

that    when    words    anciently    written  except  the  French,  Scottish  and  Brutes 

mate  hope,  mure,  came  to  be  pronounced  as  is  sayd :    for  namely  all  English 

mat',  hop',  mur',  without  the  final  e,  Musitians  (as  I  can  vnderstande)  doe 

the  e  was  transposed  in  writing,  thus  sounde  them,  teaching  v  t,  re,  mi,  fa, 

maet,  hoep,  muer,  precisely  as  Lane  pro-  sol,  la ;   And  so  do  all  speakers  and 

posed  to  write  English,  supra,  p.  44,  readers  often  and  much  in  our  speach, 

1.    3.      The   orthographies   oe,   ue  for  as    in    this    sentence :     The    pratling 

(oo,  yy)  had  been  replaced  by  oo,  uu  Hosteler    hath    dressed,    curried,   and 

for  more  than  two  centuries  before  he  rubbed  our  horses  well.    "Where  none 

wrote,  and  he  proposed  and  prevailed  of  the  fiue  vowels  is  missounded,  but 

on  the   Dutch  to   use   aa  for  ae,  an  kept    in    their    proper    and    auncient 

orthography  jealously  retained  with  ue,  soundes  :    and  so  we  maye  vse  them, 

y  for  uu,  ij\  as  marks  of  distinct  nation-  to  our  great  ease  and  profite." 


238  DIRECTION    OF   CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 

and  that  we  may  not  unnaturally  expect  to  find  in  it  (aa,  ee, 
ii,  oo,  uu)  for  (aa,  ii,  ei,  uu,  ou)  of  the  xvi  th  century. 

As  to  the  diphthongs  they  have  followed  two  courses,  ac- 
cording as  the  first  or  second  element  became  the  most  con- 
spicuous. In  (ai)  the  (a)  has  been  gradually  made  closer, 
changing  in  the  diphthong  (aei,  ei),  as  in  the  simple  sound 
(se,  e),  and  then  the  first  element  being  lengthened  (eei),  the 
second  gradually  disappeared  (ee),  only  to  reappear  as  a  faint 
aftersound  in  the  present  century  (eei).  Hence,  before  the 
xvi  th  century  we  can  only  expect  the  (ai)  to  have  been  the 
same,  or  at  most  to  have  been  preceded  by  (ai).  On  the 
other  hand  (ei)  may  have  had  an  antecedent  (ai).  It  is  a 
remarkable  circumstance  that  (ai)  in  French  also  gave  place 
to  (ei)  and  then  to  (ee),  p.  118.  In  Modern  High  German 
we  also  find  a  dialectic  substitution  of  (ee)  for  (ai),  as  (een) 
for  (ain)  one,  but  it  remains  to  be  proved  which  is  the  older 
form,  the  old  high  German  ei  answering  to  the  Gothic  ai  = 
(ee),  and  the  modern  high  German  ei  often  answering  to  an  old 
high  German  i  =  (ii),  of  which  (ee)  may  be  a  first  degradation. 
In  Latin  (aaii)  as  in  pictai  appears  to  have  generated  (ai,  ee) 
as  in  pictce  (pik'tee).  In  Greek  at,  which  could  hardly  have 
been  originally  anything  but  (ai),  is  now  (ee)  and  was  so  ap- 
parently at  the  time  of  Ulphilas.  In  Sanscrit  the  (guNa) 
combination  (ai)  resulted  in  the  present  (ee)  or  (ee). 

In  (au)  the  (a)  has  been  gradually  made  opener  (#),  and 
the  (u)  has  acted  more  and  more  to  produce  a  labialisation 
of  this  open  (a)t  thus  (A'W)  till  it  disappeared  altogether ; 
leaving  (A A)  only.  We  cannot,  therefore,  well  suppose  (au) 
to  have  preceded  (au).  The  sound  may  have  had  an  ante- 
cedgnt  (eu),  but  was  most  probably  original.  It  is  remark- 
able that  (au)  in  Welsh  generated  (oo),  that  is  (a)  was  labial- 
ised  to.  (o  =  aw),  without  being  previously  broadened  to  (a), 
in  quite  recent  times,  pob,  pawb  =  (poob,  paub)  being  still 
co-existent.  In  French  (au)  produced  (oo).  In  German  (au) 
is  often  dialectically  (oo).  In  Latin  (au)  became  Italian 
(oo),  as  paucus  poco  (poo'ko).  In  Sanscrit  the  (guNa)  com- 
bination (au)  has  become  (oo)  or  (oo).  In  Greek  the  vowel 
(u)  feli\into  the  consonants  (bh,  ph)  and  hence  the  vowel 
was  preserved.  But  Ulphilas  used  the  combination  (au)  for 
the  Greek  6  jmifcpov. 

The  change  (ei,  ai)  hardly  indicates  a  direction.  But  as 
(ou)  had  an  antecedent  (uu),  so  (ei)  may  have  had  an  an- 
tecedent (ii). 

The  change  of  (eu)  to  (iu)  on  the  one  hand  and  (oo)  on  the 
other  is  recent.  One  or  the  other  seems  to  have  occurred 


CHAP.  III.  §  6. 


DIRECTION    OF    CHANGE. 


239 


according  as  the  first  element  (e)  or  second  (u)  prevailed. 
The  number  of  words  in  which  the  sound  of  (eu)  remained 
is  so  small  that  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  conclusions  on  the 
change.1 

The  change  (ou,  eu)  would  have  been  insufficient,  if  we 
had  not  known  that  (uu)  generally  preceded  (ou). 

As  far  as  the  xvi  th  century  is  concerned  (oou)  is  original, 
but  as  (aa)  may  have  preceded  (oo)  so  (aau)  may  have  pre- 
ceded (oou). 

There  seems  every  reason  to  suppose  that  (ui)  was  the 
original  form  of  the  diphthong  which  is  now  (oi),  and  that 
the  form  (uui)  which  we  find  in  the  xvith  century,  and 
which,  altered  to  (ai),  appeared  in  the  xvnth  century,  and 
crops  up  even  now,  is  not  an  alteration  of  (oi),  but  is  rather 
a  remnant  of  the  older  form.  It  does  not  appear  possible  to 
suggest  an  antecedent  for  (ui). 

Combining  the  above  observations  on  the  direction  of 
change,  with  the  orthographical  representation  of  sound,  we 
should  be  led  to  expect  that  previous  to  the  xvi  th  century 
the  sounds  attributable  to  the  various  letters  in  alphabetical 
order  might  possibly  be  as  follows  : — 


MODERN  SPELLING. 

POSSIBLE  SOUNDS 
BEFORE  XVI  TH 
CENTURY. 

MODERN  SPELLING. 

POSSIBLE  SOUNDS 
BEFORE  XVITH 
CENTURY. 

a  short 

a,  a 

i  short 

i 

a  long 

aa,  aa 

t  long 

ei,  ii 

ai 

ai,  ai 

ie 

ee 

au 

an 

o  short 

o,  a;  u 

e  short 

e,  E 

o  long 

oo,  aa;  uu 

e  long 

ee 

oa 

oo,  aa 

ea 

ee 

oi 

oi,  ui 

ee 

ee 

00 

oo  ;  nu 

ei 

ei,  ai 

ou 

oou,  aau  ;  uu,  u 

eu 

yy>  eu 

u  short 

u  ;  *,  7 

u  long 

yy>  ^ 

But  at  what  time  any  such  combinations  were  prevalent, 
and  how  early  the  xvi  th  century  pronunciation  had  prevailed, 

we  must  seek  other  evidence  to  shew.    In  the  meanwhile,  by 

I 

1  The  pronunciation  cited  on  p.  141,  habit  of  "separating  the  labio-lingual 

(siren)  for  shew,  must  be  some  dialectic  vowels  (u,  o)  into  their  lingual  &  labial 

remnant   of    (sheu),    and  suggests   an  components,  fa,  pronouncing  the  latter 

intermediate  between  (sheu)  and  (shoo).  successively  .instead  of  simultaneously," 

Hart  in  his  phonetic  writing  uses  both  one  result/  of  which  is  saying  (au)  for 

(shio)  and  (sheu)  for  shew.     Mr.  M.  (oo).    Visible  Speech,  p.  117. 
Bell  notices  that  there  is  a  '  Cockney" 


240  DIRECTION   OF    CHANGE.  CHAP.  III.  §  6. 

comparing  this  purely  theoretical  table,  founded  on  no  evidence 
of  any  kind,  put  purely  deduced  from  a  consideration  of  the 
direction  of  change,  and  not  limited  to  any  particular  period 
of  time  preceding  the  xvith  century,  with  the  table  given 
by  anticipation  on  p.  28,  as  an  expression  of  the  general 
general  results  of  the  following  investigation  respecting  the 
xiv  th  century,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  remarkable 
agreement  between  the  two,  so  that  all  the  results  there 
obtained  may  be  pronounced  theoretically  probable,  however 
strange  they  would  have  appeared  if  the  direction  of  change 
had  not  been  previously  ascertained.  At  the  same  time  the 
great  difference  between  the  sounds  here  considered  as  pos- 
sible, and  those  which,  based  upon  present  habits,  are  usually 
assumed,  will  serve  to  shew  the  value  and  importance  of  the 
preceding  investigation.  The  subject  has  hitherto  been 
considered  from  far  too  modern  a  point  of  sight,  and  with 
far  too  limited  a  range  of  vision.  The  changes  in  the  last 
three  centuries,  of  which  we  have  contemporary  evidence, 
not  having  been  generally  known,  and  the  changes  in  the 
cognate  Germanic  dialects,  although  recorded  by  Rapp  and 
Grimm,  not  having  been  duly  weighed,  and  the  habit  of 
reading  Spenser  and  Shakspere  in  our  modern  pronunciation 
having  become  ingrained,  we  were  prepared  to  regard  the 
sounds  of  our  language  as  something  fixed  and  settled  in 
point  of  time,  at  most  admitting  a  dialectic  difference  which 
we  perhaps  attributed  solely  to  geographical  causes.  This 
must  now  be  given  up,  and  we  must  proceed  to  investigate 
pronunciation  with  a  knowledge  that  it  has  changed,  and 
must  change  chronologically,  that  at  any  time  there  must 
be,  even  at  the  same  place,  diversities  of  coexistent  forms  ; 
and  at  different  places,  even  when  the  language  has  been 
derived,  at  no  very  great  interval,  from  the  same  sources, 
there  must  also  be  differences  arising  from  want  of  commu- 
nication, which  will  therefore  be  the  more  striking,  the 
earlier  the  period  and  therefore  the  more  imperfect  the 
means  of  transit,  and  especially  that  any  cause  which  will 
occasion  the  intercommunication  of  districts  usually  isolated, 
must  have  a  great  effect  on  pronunciation.  Our  endeavour 
therefore  wiL  be  to  discover,  not  what  earlier  English  pro- 
nunciation wi  generally,  but  as  definitely  as  possibly  what 
it  was  at  different  particular  times  and  places.  Of  course 
this  can  only  be  done  by  means  of  determining  the  value 
attributed  to  the  alphabetic  symbols  by  writers  of  known 
time  and  place.  This  is  the  object  of  the  investigations 
contained  in  the  two  next  chapters. 


241 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING  THE  FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY  AS  DEDUCED  FROM  AN  EXAMINATION  OF 
THE  RHYMES  IN  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 

§  1.  Principles  of  the  Investigation. 

THE  "War  of  the  Roses  raged  from  1455  to  1486.  The 
Long  Parliament  met  in  1640,  and  Charles  II.  returned  in 
1660.  Hence  the  xvth  and  xvnth  centuries  were  memor- 
able in  English  history  for  two  long  continued  civil  wars, 
causing  unprecedented  communication  between  all  parts  of 
the  country,  and  withdrawing  the  minds  of  men  from  litera- 
ture to  fix  them  upon  the  events  of  the  day.  This  "commyxs- 
tion  &  mellynge,"  as  Treuisa  hath  it,  of  men  from  the 
various  counties  of  England  necessarily  produced  an  effect 
both  on  the  structure  and  pronunciation  of  the  language. 
The  whole  style  of  English  at  the  close  of  the  xvn  th  cen- 
tury is  dissimilar  from  that  at  the  close  of  the  xvi  th.  A 
different  mind  reigned  in  the  people  and  required  a  different 
instrument  to  express  itself.  And  that  this  was  not  confined 
to  an  alteration  of  words,  idiom,  and  composition  of  sentences, 
but  extended  itself  also  to  pronunciation  in  a  most  distinctly 
characterised  manner,  we  have  already  seen.  The  xvnth 
century  produced  a  number  of  writers  who  paid  attention  to 
pronunciation,  who  sought  either  to  investigate  the  relations 
of  spoken  sounds,  or  to  supplement  the  deficiencies  of  ortho- 
graphy by  lists  of  words  and  rules,  by  which  the  pronuncia- 
tion could  be  tolerably  ascertained.  These  lists  and  rules 
became  so  full  towards  the  close  of  the  xvn  th  century,  that 
we  have  been  able  to  trace  the  successive  phases  of  alteration 
which  words  underwent,  and  to  see  how  the  sounds  of  the 
xvi  th  century  gave  place  to  those  with  which  we  are  more 
familiar. 

If  then  the  civil  commotions  of  the  xvn  th  century  pro- 
duced such  important  changes  in  our  language  and  pronun- 
ciation, what  must  we  expect  from  the  still  longer  and  ruder 

16 


242  EFFECTS   OF    CIVIL   WARS   ON   SPEECH.         CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

disturbances  of  the  xvth  century,  when  the  language  was 
in  a  more  inchoate  stage,  when  the  French  element  was 
fusing  with  the  Saxon  into  the  familiar  alloy  of  the  xvith 
century,  when  no  printing  had  as  yet  called  forth  an  abund- 
ance of  readers,1  so  that  the  language  altered  organically 
from  mouth  to  mouth  untrammeled  by  literary  fetters,  and 
men  of  the  north,  middle,  and  south,  jostling  with  each,  wore 
down  the  angles  of  their  dialectic  differences,  and  gradually 
produced  an  English  of  England  ?  Practically  we  know 
that  the  xv  th  century  was  a  period  of  great  change  in  the 
whole  character  of  our  language ;  the  last  remnants  of  our 
inflexional  system  were  abandoned,  the  sharp  distinction 
between  the  "gentilmans"  French  and  the  "  vplondische- 
mens"  English,  disappeared,  and  a  "common  dialect"  was 
acknowledged  by  all  writers.2  The  distinction  between  the 
English  of  Chaucer,  writing  down  to  the  close  of  the  xiv  th 
century,  and  that  of  Spenser,  the  next  great  poet  on  our  roll, 
who  wrote  after  the  country  had  well  settled  from  its 
troubles,  and  printing  had  formed  a  reading  public,  is  so 
sharp,  that  we  seem  to  have  fallen  upon  another  language 
rather  than  upon  a  form  of  speech  differing  only  by  five 
generations. 

As  then  the  language  altered  so  markedly,  must  we  not 
look  for  similar  changes  in  the  pronunciation  ?  The  exam- 
ple of  the  xvi  i  th  century  irresistibly  forces  this  conclusion 
upon  us,  and  we  also  feel  that  if  there  had  only  been  a 
succession  of  writers  to  chronicle  them,  we  should  have  had 
a  continual  list  of  changes,  comparable  to  those  furnished 
while  the  xvn  th  passed  its  meridian  and  drew  to  its  termi- 
nation, only  more  complex,  more  striking,  more  characteristic. 
Unfortunately  we  have  no  such  writers,  no  such  rules  and 
lists  to  refer  to ;  only  a  certainty  of  chaos  and  no  guide. 
In  shewing  the  development  of  the  spellings  ee,  ea  (p.  77) 
and  oo,  oa  (p.  96)  in  the  xvith  century,  to  mark  distinc- 
tions in  the  sounds  of  long  e  and  long  o,  familiar  to  the 
speaker,  but  ignored  by  the  writer,  and,  without  such  a 
guide,  impossible  to  discriminate  by  an  ignorant  reader,  as 
one  of  the  xixth  century  must  naturally  be  in  this  respect, 
we  foreshadowed  the  confusion  in  the  orthography  of  the 
latter  end  of  the  xvth  and  commencement  of  the  xvith 

1  Caxton  set  up  his  press  in  1471  ;  loquor,    ad  rusticos   tantum  pertinere 
the  effect  on  the  masses  did  not  make  velim  intelligas  ;    nam  mitioribus  in- 
itself  felt  till  the  next  century.  ingenijs  &  cultius  enutritis,   unus  est 

2  Gill,      after     distinguishing    the  uhique  sermo  &  sono,  &  significatu," 
Northern,  Eastern,  and  Western  dia-  and  this  he  terms  the  "  dialectus  com- 
lects,    says    "quod    hie    de    dialectis  munis." 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.          THE  XV  TH   AND   XIV  TH   CENTURIES.  243 

century,  a  confusion  which  it  is  as  yet  impossible  to  dissipate. 
We  can,  as  in  the  estimate  made  at  the  end  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  be  tolerably  sure  that  a  given  written  vowel  or 
combination  of  vowels,  was  pronounced  in  one  of  two  or  three 
ways,  but  there  does  not  appear  to  be,  at  present,  any  means 
of  deciding  which  of  those  ways  should  be  chosen  in  any 
particular  case.  After  we  have  arrived  at  a  more  definite 
notion  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  xiv  th  century,  the  range 
of  diversity  will  be  somewhat  narrowed,  and  by  comparing 
the  xiv  th  with  the  xvith  century  pronunciation  of  any 
word,  noticing  the  direction  of  change,  and,  theoretically 
estimating  the  time  necessary  to  effect  it — an  estimate  which 
must  be  always  hazardous — we  may  feel  somewhat  more 
confident.  As  however  it  is  advisable  in  a  preliminary 
investigation  like  the  present,  to  reduce  theory  to  the  nar- 
rowest possible  limits,  and  to  base  results  upon  evidence,  or 
a  wide  induction,  I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  exclude  the 
xv  th  century  altogether  from  my  researches,  and  to  proceed 
by  one  step  from  the  settled  period  of  the  xvith  to  the 
settled  period  of  the  xiv  th  century.  In  §  7  of  this  chapter, 
however,  I  shall  indicate  a  rough  practical  method  which 
may  be  adopted  for  reading  works  of  the  xvth  century, 
founded  upon  the  comparison  already  indicated^ 

The  manuscripts  of  the  xiv  th  century  poems>  which  the 
name  of  Chaucer  points  out  as  the  principal  subject  of  in- 
vestigation, though  all  belonging  to  the  xvth  century  were 
fortunately  written  in  its  early  part,  and  the  Harleian  MS. 
of  the  Canterbury  Tales,  No.  7334,  which  will  be  here 
generally  followed,  was  probably  written  before  the  Rose 
troubles  had  commenced,  so  that  although  it  labours  under 
the  disadvantage  of  being  a  generation  after  time,1  yet  it 
was  not  subject  to  those  more  violent  changes  which  render 
the  earlier  printed  editions  of  Caxton  and  others  useless  for 
our  present  purpose.  This  manuscript  has,  in  addition  to 
its  careful  execution,  early  date,  and  accessibility  in  the 
British  Museum,  the  advantage  of  having  been  twice  re- 
cently printed,  by  Mr.  Wright,8  and  by  Mr.  Morris.3  In 

1  Mr.  Morris  in  his   Chaucer  Ex-  3  Mr.  Morris's    edition    forms    the 
tracts,  (see  note  3,  below),  p.  xliv,  calls  second  and  third  volumes  of  his  com- 
this  a  "MS.,  not  later  perhaps  than  the  plete    edition    of    Chaucer's    poetical 
year  of  Chaucer's  death."  works  in  six   volumes^   published  by 

2  Mr.  Wright's  edition  has  been  re-  Bell  and  Daldy,  London,  1866,  at  five 
printed  in  double  columns  large  octavo,  shillings  a  volume,  the  only  edition  of 
and  is   published  by   Richard  Griffin  Chaucer's   works    taken  wholly    from 
and  Co.,  London  and  Glasgow,  for  half-  MS.  authority  where  MSS.  exist.    In 
a-crown.      It  is  the  most   convenient  the  Clarendon  Press  series  Mr.  Morris 
working  edition.  has  reprinted  the  Prologue  and  two 


244  CHAUCER   AND    GOWER.  CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

both  editions  the  punctuation  and  capitals  and  the  uses  of 
th,  y,  u,  v,  are  modern,  and  the  contractions  are  all  extended. 
In  Mr.  Morris's  edition,  the  Lansdowne  MS.  851  has  been 
collated  throughout,  but  every  word  not  in  the  Harleian  is 
printed  in  italics,  and  many  final  e's  have  been  also  added  in 
italics  when  considered  to  be  grammatically  necessary.1  The 
long  and  tediously  written  Confessio  Amantis  of  Gower,  has 
not  been  properly  edited.  Dr.  Eeinhold  Pauli's  text,  like 
Tyrwhitt's  Chaucer,  exhibits  the  text  and  orthography  of  no 
particular  manuscript  or  time.  But  three  good  MSS.  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  one  at  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
are  readily  accessible,  and  Pauli's  edition  serves  as  a  guide 
through  the  ponderous  mass.  The  great  regularity  of 
Gower's  verse  and  rhymes,  renders  his  works  a  convenient 
supplement  to  Chaucer's,  and  I  have  found  it  necessary  to 
make  a  complete  examination  of  his  rhymes.  The  mode  of 
referring  to  Chaucer's  and  Gower's  works  will  be  explained 
ftt  the  end  of  this  section. 

The  principles  of  the  investigation  on  which  I  am  about 
to  enter,  as  to  the  sounds  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  the 
orthography  used  by  the  scribe  of  the  Harleian  MS.  7334  in 
particular,  which  may  be  assumed  as  the  received  Court  pro- 
nunciation towards  the  close  of  the  xivth  century,  and 
will  be  briefly  termed  the  pronunciation  of  Chaucer,  are  the 
following. 

tales  in  a  cheap  form  from  this  MS,  ample,  in  the  Seeounde  Nonnes  Tale, 

This  will  be  referred  to  as  his  Chaucer  supposed  to  he  told  by  a  woman,  not 

Extracts.  written  by  a  man,  we  have — 

1  In  the  numerous  citations  which  I  And  though  that  I,  unworthy  sone 

shall  have  to  make  I  have  generally  of  Eve, 

followed  Wright's  edition,  but  in  all  Be  synful,  yet  accepte  my  bileve. 

important  or  doubtful  cases  I  have  re-  11990. 

ferred  to   Morris's,      One  reason   for  Yet  pray  I  you  that  reden  that  I 

using  Wright's  edition,   besides  con-  write.                                   12006. 

venience,  was  that  the  lines  are  num-  A    {      in  ^  Schi         nes  Tal     sup. 

bered  consecutively  throughout  except  6  d  t    b    t  M  b  *            ^  speaking 

the  Coke's  Tale  of  Gamelyn,  which  is  £f  wiyeg  we  ^^ 

numbered    separately     because    it    is  The  sely  housbond  algat  moste  pay, 

omitted  by  FpwMtt  as  certainly  not  He  mojj  m  ^^  gft        d  £» 

Chaucer  s.     Mr.  Morris  s  edition  has  AI  for  his  oughne  worschip  richely ; 

fresh  sets  of  numbers  for  every  pro-  Jn  wM  h  arf|         daunce  jolily  ; 

logue,  tale,  and  part  of  tale  thoughout.  And  if  ^  t  h/        not      ^/^e 

This  is  theoretically  the  best  for  it  is  Qr  ^  wfl  not  J^  ^'^  end      ' 

certain  that  the    poem  is  altogether  But  th     keth  it  is  wastej  and  i_lost ' 

fragmentary,  and,  as  the  manuscripts  Than  ^  another           for  QUre  cjgt 

and  editors  do  not  all  agree  in  the  Or  lene  ws  gold,  that  is  perilous.  14422 
order  of  the  pieces,  it  is  probable  that 

no  order  as  yet  adopted  is  that  into  These  expressions  are  in  both  cases  ir- 

which   Chaucer  would  have   cast  the  reconcilable  with  the  supposed  speaker, 

poems  had  he  lived  to  give  them  the  so  that  there  must  have  been  some 

extension  originally  designed.     For  ex-  jolting  or  oversight  in  the  editing. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.        FIRST   PRINCIPLE    OF   INVESTIGATION.  245 

1.)  When  feic  people  can  read,  rhymes  to  be  intelligible  must 
be  perfect. 

Owing  probably  to  a  change  of  sound  which  has  not  been  accom- 
panied by  a  change  of  spelling,  English  poets  of  the  xvm  th  and 
xix  th  centuries  take  the  liberty  of  considering  such  words  as  love 
move,  pull  cull,  eternity  I,  pass  was,  none  stone,  etc,,  to  be  rhymes, 
and  readers  are  accustomed  to  pass  them  over  as  "  licenses," 
although  they  always  produce  a  disagreable  effect  upon  children 
and  unlettered  adults.  On  the  other  hand  words  of  which  the 
final  parts  are  pronounced  almost  identically,  at  any  rate  with  a 
much  nearer  coincidence  of  sound  than  those  cited  above,  are  abso- 
lutely tabooed  as  rhymes.  A  xix  th  century  poet  would  be  much 
sooner  allowed  to  rhyme  whelk,  with  talk,  than  harm  with  psalm, 
or  fork  with  hawk,  although  an  unlettered  Southern  makes  no 
difference  in  the  sound,  and  a  lettered  Southern  rather  imagines 
that  he  makes  than  really  makes  any  distinction  (p.  196).  It  is 
different  with  Northerns,  Irish,  or  Scotch.  It  would  be,  perhaps, 
incorrect  to  push  the  theory  too  far,  and  say  that  in  the  very  earliest 
attempts  at  rhyme  an  untutored  audience  would  be  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  that  perfection  which  they  could  not  possibly 
appreciate.  But  even  then  the  general  tendency  becomes  a  suffi- 
cient guide.  In  finished  and  careful  writers  like  Chaucer  and 
Gower,  such  imperfections  are  not  a  priori  likely  to  occur,  and,  as 
we  shall  see,  are  in  fact  unknown. 

The  various  kinds  of  rhyme  which  are  actually  found  are  as 
follows.  Let  BAC,  DEE  represent  two  syllables,  A,  E  being 
any  vowels,  and  B,  C  ;  D,  E  any  consonants.  Then  if  B  =  D  but 
AC  is  not  =  EE,  as  in  Bac,  £ef,  we  have  initial  rhyme  or  allitera- 
tion, which  was  used  in  the  earliest  form  of  English  poetry,  the 
Vision  of  William  concerning  Piers  Plowman,  1362,  being  a  com- 
paratively modern  instance.  Next  let  A  =  E,  but  B-C  not  equal 
D-E,  as  bAc,  dAf,  the  result  is  middle  rhyme  or  assonance,  which 
prevails  in  Spanish  ballad  poetry,  where  the  same  vowel  occurs  in 
the  final  syllable  of  alternate  lines  throughout  the  whole  ballad, 
and  the  consonants  must  vary.1  Thirdly  let  C  =  E  but  BA  not  = 
DE,  as  laC  deC  we  have  final  rhyme,  the  English  "  rhymes  to  the 

1  This  is  the  theory ;  in  practice  how-  derecho,  fecho,  medt'o,  alojanuimto, 
ever  the  difficulty  of  keeping  the  con-  fecho,  mensageros,  storgamzmto,  man- 
sonants  always  distinct  has  occasioned  cebos,  acuerdo,  amo,  Pedro,  heredero, 
rhymes  to  be  occasionally  mixed  up  contento,  casarmVntos.  In  '  Despues 
with  assonances.  If  a  diphthong  is  que  reto  a  Zamora;'  among  others 
introduced  in  place  of  a  simple  vowel,  occur :  Lara,  haya,  contrarms,  causa,. 
the  assonance  refers  only  to  the  ac-  In  '  Consider ando  los  condes,'  among 
cented  vowel,  e.g.  in  Spanish  ai,  au  are  others  :  vale,  paces,  bazles.  In  '  Morir 
assonant  with  «,  ia,  ua,  and  ei,  eu  with  vos  queredes,  padre ;'  Tajada,  precz'ada, 
e,  ie,  ue.  Thus  in  the  Cid  romance  caz'ga.  See  also  the  C;.d  hallads  '  Con 
'  En  las  cortes  de  Toledo,'  the  asso-  el  cuerpo  que  agor/iza,'  '  Fablando 
nant  words  are  :  Sesto,  sentitm'mto,  estaba  en  el  claustro,'  '  Si  atendeis  que 
mwerto,  dewdo,  dello,  propwesto,  -puesto,  de  los  brazos,'  '  Be  palacio  sale  el  Cid,' 
swlo,  asi'ento,  denwestos,  remo,  teneos,  *  Desterrado  estaba  el  Cid,'  *  Aquese 
condeno,  consejo,  pl^'to,  reto,  escuderos,  famoso  Cid,'  '  Non  quisiera,  yernos 


246  SECOND  PRINCIPLE  OF  INVESTIGATION.          CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

eye,"  like  love,  move;  (the  words  was,  pass  form  no  rhyme  at  all). 
I  am  not  aware  that  BA  =  DE,  but  C  not  =  F,  as  BAc,  BAf 
that  is  double  initial  rhyme,  or  B-C  =  D-F  but  A  not  =  E,  as  Ha  C, 
BeC,  that  is  extreme  rhyme,  are  recognized  as  rhymes  under  any 
system.  But  AC  =  EF,  and  B  not  =  D,  as  I  AC,  dAC  or  double 
final  rhyme,  is  the  ideal  of  a  perfect  rhyme  in  modern  English  and 
most  European  languages,  and  is  the  normal  rhyme  of  Chaucer. 
Nevertheless  modern  French  writers,  as  well  as  Chaucer,  admit  the 
identical  rhyme  BAG  =  DEE,  that  is  BA  C,  BA  C,  which  under  the 
name  of  rhyme  riche  is  constantly  used  in  French  versification. 
Either  perfect  rhyme  bA  C,  dA  C,  or  identical  rhyme  BA  C,  BA  C, 
and  even  the  assonance  bAc,  dAf,  would  obviously  serve  to  deter- 
mine either  one  of  A  and  E  from  a  knowledge  of  the  other.  This 
leads  to  the  second  principle — 

2).  When  a  word  containing  a  known  vowel  sound  rhymes 
with  a  word  containing  an  unknown  vowel  sound,  the  sound  of 
the  latter  may  generally  be  assumed  to  be  the  same  as  the  former 
before  xv  th  century. 

The  difficulty  consists  in  finding  words  whose  vowel  sounds  are 
known.  These  are  supplied  in  Chaucer  from  three  sources,  Latin, 
French,  and  those  known  sounds  of  the  xvith  century  which  we 
have  a  right  to  suppose,  according  to  the  results  of  the  last  chapter, 
came  down  to  that  period  in  an  unaltered  form. 

As  regards  the  Latin  words  we  may  assume  a  Eoman  Catholic 
pronunciation,  which  will  give  a,  e,  i,  o  as  certainly  (a,  e,  i,  o) 
long  or  short,  and  short  u  as  (u).  There  may  be  a  doubt  whether 
long  u  had  its  general  sound  (uu),  or  its  occasional  Latin  and 
general  French  sound  (yy).  I  am  rather  disposed  to  think  that 
Chaucer,  to  whom  French  was  familiar,  used  the  French  sound 
(yy)  for  Latin  long  u.  Even  in  1580  we  learn  from  Bullokar  that 
Latin  as  pronounced  in  England  did  not  possess  the  sounds  of  (ch, 
ii,  uu,  sh,  dh,  w,  wh,  j),  so  that  long  u  was  pronounced  by  him 
in  Latin  as  in  English  and  French,  namely  as  (yy).1  We  are 

mios,'  'Despues  que  el  Cid  Campeador,'  cent  English  they  are  avoided,  or  occur 

'  En  Valencia  estaba  el  Cid,'  '  De  Cas-  only  from  ignorance  or  carelessness,  as 

tilla  van  marchando,'  &c.     In  'Cuando  in  the  Nursery  Rhyme  "  Sit  on  a  barn 

el  rejo  y  claro  Apolo,'  we  find  Idstima  And  keep  himself  warm,"  and  in  the 

quasi  last' ma,  assonancing  with:  estaba  old  catch  "  Cinnamon  and  ginger,  nut- 

pasan.     In  the  oldest  Romance  poems,  megs  and  cloves,  And  that  gave  me  this 

assonances  occur  mixed  with  rhymes ;  jolly  red  nose,"  or  as  Benedick  (Much 

the   following   are  instances   of  diph-  Ado,  v.  2)   "  can  finde  out  no  rime  to 

thongal  assonances:     Eulalia   (Diez :  Ladie  but  babie,  an  innocent  rime." 

Altrom.   Sprachdenkmale  1846,  p.  21)  In  Goethe's  song  in  Faust: 

tost  coist  v.  19,  Leodegar  (Diez:  Zwei  "Es  war  einmalein  Konig 
Altrom.  Oedichte,  1852,  pp.  39-46)  net  Der  hatt'  einen  groszen  Floh, 

rei  stanza  9,  mesfait  ralat  15,  advuat  Den  liebt'  er  gar  nicht  wenig, 

estrai  16,  mors  toit  20,  preier  deu  25  Als  wie  sein  eignen  Sohn," 

and  31,  talier  qucu  27,  deus  eel  40.   In  the  apparent  assonance:  Floh  Sohn, may 

English  poems  of  the  xm  th  century,  have  only  been  a  reminiscence  of  his  old 

assonances  are  well  marked,  see  Chap.  Frankfurt  pronunciation  Soh  for  Sohn. 
V,  §  1,  and  especially  jNfo.  5,  Havelok,  l  See  the  example  of  Bullokar' s  pho- 

and  No.  6,  King  Horn.     In  more  re-  netic  writing  Chap.  VIII,  §  4. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.          SECOND  PRINCIPLE  OF  INVESTIGATION.  247 

therefore  hardly  justified  in  assuming  a  different  pronunciation  for 
the  Latin  long  u  in  Chaucer's  time,  as  the  English  long  u  had  most 
probably  the  same  sound.  The  case  is  different  with  respect  to 
long  *  which  was  (ei)  or  (ai)  in  the  xvi  th  century  both  in  English 
and  the  English  pronunciation  of  Latin,  but  was  I  believe  (w)  in 
both  during  the  xrv  th  century. 

The  French  of  the  xivth  century  would,  on  this  hypothesis, 
have  the  same  set  of  vowels  as  the  Latin.  It  would  be  useless 
attempting  to  distinguish  in  the  French  pronunciation  of  that  time 
two  sounds  of  e  and  two  of  o  ;  we  cannot  even  be  sure  that  they 
existed  at  that  early  period,  as  we  know  from  Meigret  that  they  did 
in  the  xvith  century.  The  combination  ou  in  French  was  in 
Chaucer's  time  (uu,  u)  and  eu  was  probably  (eu)  or  (ey)  and  oc- 
casionally (yy)  as  in  the  xvith  century  ;  (03)  the  modern  sound  of 
French  eu  appears  not  to  have  been  developed  in  Chaucer's  time,  or 
Meigret  would  have  been  familiar  with  it.  The  French  diphthongs 
ai,  au  could  not  have  differed  from  (ai,  au)  or  (ai,  ao),  since  we  find 
them  in  the  latter  form  in  Meigret.  The  syllables  an,  in,  on,  un 
now  pronounced  as  the  nasal  vowels  (aA,  CA,  OA,  a  A),  seem  to  have 
been  received  in  England  as  (aan,  aun,  en,  oon  uun,  un),  without 
any  nasality,  and  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  discover  any 
trace  of  vowel  nasality  in  the  notices  which  exist  of  early  French 
pronunciation;  Beza,  1584,  the  earliest  I  have  found,  seems  to  con- 
fuse (A)  with  (q).  This  tolerable  certainty  with  regard  to  the  sounds 
of  French  letters  will  be  found  extremely  useful,  expecially  when  it 
is  remembered  that  Chaucer  not  only  used  French  phrases,  but  in- 
troduced a  large  number  of  French  words  into  his  poetry,  and  as 
these  were  familiar  to  the  gentry  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  time, 
he  could  not  have  ventured  to  give  them  a  different  form  in  poetry 
intended  especially  for  the  delight  of  that  gentry.  We  have  modern 
examples  of  the  same  kind.  Old  French  words  we  ruthlessly  angli- 
cize ;  we  talk  of  a  feat  (f iit)  of  arms,  as  if  it  were  feet,  but  we 
refuse  the  same  sound  to  fete.  We  speak  of  recoup  (rikuup')  and 
estate  (esteet')  but  of  coup  d'etat  (kudeta)  not  (kuup  dest^t').  We 
do  not  scruple  to  say  annoy  (aenor)  but  we  try  to  say  ennui  (aAnyi), 
and  even  if  the  trial  results  in  (onwii*),  it  has  not  the  true  English 
ring  with  it  like  (senor).  The  old  words  aid  (eed)  and  camp 
(kaemp)  will  not  allow  us  to  call  an  aide  de  camp  an  (eed.  di 
ka3mp),  although  our  (00-di-kaA)  is  not  the  French  (eed  d?  kaA). 
Environs,  envelope  are  words  in  a  transition  state  (envarrenz,  en'- 
veloop)  and  (on'viron,  on'vilop)  being  both  heard.  Chignon  and 
crinoline,  constantly  spoken  of,  remain  French  (shinjoA,  krinolin) 
or  as  nearly  so  as  the  speaker  can  contrive. l 

For  old  English  words  we  shall  have  to  lay  most  stress  on  the 
pronunciations  of  those  now  written  with  ai,  ea,  and  pronounced  in 
the  xvith  century  as  (ai,  ee).  We  might  safely  assume  that  these 
sounds  must  have  been  the  same  in  the  older  periods,  but  we  shall 
be  generally  able  to  establish  the  fact  by  the  other  two  sources. 

1  This  subject  will  have  to  be  specially  noticed  in  the  next  section,  under  I,  Y. 


248  THIRD  PRINCIPLE  OF  INVESTIGATION.          CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

In  case  of  any  marked  peculiarity,  the  imperfection  of  manu- 
scripts will  make  it  necessary  not  to  draw  conclusions  from  isolated 
examples,  but  to  collect  as  many  examples  as  possible,  and  to  search 
as  carefully  for  exceptions  as  for  corroborative  instances.  The 
exceptions  will  then  have  to  be  separately  examined,  and  carefully 
investigated  to  see  whether  they  are  mere  mistakes  of  the  scribe, 
which  other  known  orthographies  would  explain,  whether  they  are 
simply  solecisms  not  borne  out  by  other  instances  and  therefore 
incorrigible  errors,  or  whether  they  really  indicate  a  double  pro- 
nunciation. 

Having  thus  obtained  an  insight  into  the  system  of  orthography 
used  by  the  writer,  having  learned  to  estimate  his  various  contri- 
vances to  represent  sound,  at  their  true  worth,  we  may  venture  to 
assume  as  a  third  principle, — 

3.)  Orthographies  shewn  by  rhymes  to  have  certain  values, 
may  be  assumed  to  have  those  values  even  where  they  are  not 
confirmed  by  rhymes. 

This  assumes  that  the  intention  of  the  writer  was  to  represent 
the  sounds  of  the  words,  and  that  his  variants  arose,  not  from 
simple  ignorance,  but  from  the  fact  that  he  had  to  make  his  ortho- 
graphy, as  he  proceeded,  after  the  usages  which  he  had  been  taught 
in  youth,  and  he  naturally  hesitated  as  to  which  usage  was  most 
appropriate  at  any  time.  Other  variants  of  course  occur  from  care- 
lessness, for  which  the  scribe  who  writes  many  hours  a  day  is 
scarcely  to  be  blamed, — he  that  is  without  such  carelessness  among 
us,  let  him  throw  the  first  stone,  I  cannot.1  That  the  writers 
anterior  to  printing  had  any  intention  of  representing  the  histories 
of  words  by  means  of  the  orthography,  in  place  of  the  mere  sounds, 
it  is  impossible  to  believe.  Not  only  do  the  variants  we  meet  with 
exclude  this  notion,  but  there  was  the  all-sufficient  reason  that  they 
could  not  indicate  what  they  did  not  know.  New  French  words 
would  be  written,  of  course,  in  the  French  way,  but  then  this 
accorded  so  closely  with  the  English  way,  that  the  scribe  would 
hardly  note  the  difference.2 

1  In  reading  over  the  first  draft  of  But  natheles,  pas  over,  this  is  no  fors, 

this  chapter,  I  found  I  had  written  I  pray  to  God  to  save  thi  gentil  corps, 
consequence  for  confident,  to  such  utter  13718. 

destruction  of  the  meaning  of  the  sen-  "Where  the  p  is  written  although  not 

tence,  that  I  had  some  difficulty  in  re-  pronounced,  as  in  the  French  fashion, 

covering  the  original  word.      Similar  Yet  we  have  now  hoth  corse  and  corpse, 

examples  will  occur  to  every  author,  and  it  may  have  been  mere  accident 

and  his  own  difficulties  in   correcting  that  the  copyist  wrote  corps  for  cors, 

his  own  errors  will  lead  him  to  appre-  just  as  if,  because  corpse  is  the  more 

ciate   the   difficulty  and  danger    of  a  usual  word,   we  made  it  in   writing 

critical  restoration  of  any  corrupt  text.  rhyme  with  remorse.     In  the  middle 

8  So  far  as  I  can  recall,  there  are  of  a  line  we  find  temps  12803.  The 
very  few  decided  examples  of  a  French  use  of  gn  in  French  words  where  we 
spelling  heing  retained  which  did  not  have  reason  to  think  only  n  was  pro- 
represent  the  English  sound.  The  nounced  in  English  may  be  also  con- 
only  example  I  have  noted  where  the  sidered  as  a  case  in  point,  as  digne 
rhyme  pointed  it  oat,  is  519,  atteigne  8323. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.       NO  REAL  FAULTY  RHYMES  IN  CHAUCER.  249 

These  are  the  principles  on  which  I  shall  endeavour  to 
determine  Chaucer's  pronunciation.  The  question  naturally 
arises,  how  far  is  the  first  and  most  important  principle,  to 
which  the  two  others  are  only  subsidiary,  justified  by  the 
manuscripts  ?  A  careful  examination  of  all  the  rhymes,  in 
the  17368  lines  which  compose  the  Canterbury  Tales  as 
exhibited  in  Wright's  edition,  has  resulted  in  finding  less 
than  fifty  rhymes  in  which  the  spelling  indicates  a  difference 
of  pronunciation.  Of  these  a  large  number  consist  in  one  of 
the  two  words  cited  having  a  final  e  added  or  omitted,  while 
there  are  constant  examples  in  other  places  of  an  ortho- 
graphy which  would  render  the  rhyme  perfect. 

The  principal  instances  are  : — horn  biforne  1225,  trace  alias  1953, 
bere  messager  5142,  eeke  leek  6153,  potestate  estaat  7599,  wolde 
brynge,  for  her  lyvyng  8101,  of  hew,  at  newe  8253,  withoute  youre 
witynge,  in  this  thing,  in  your  wirching  8368,  mighte,  to  sight 
8556,  solace  alias  9149,  atte  laste,  it  cast  9827,  est  beste  10773, 
her  witte,  it  8303,  rest,  he  keste  10663,  hert  smerte  10793,  kepyng 
rynge  10965,  hoste  wost  11007,  ever  dissevere  12802,  Galiene 
Egipciene  Arrabiene  sleen  15822,  matere  gramer  14946,  tresor 
Nabugodonosore  15629,  gold  olde  15645,  may  aye  17105,  leye 
pray  way  8753. 

These  cases  are  often  mere  slips  of  the  pen  and  can  easily  be 
corrected.  The  considerations  in  §§4  &  5,  will  be  sufficient  to 
explain  them  all,  and  they  must  be  all  reckoned  as  errors  of  writing, 
not  of  rhyme.  Poor  Chaucer  is  very  pathetic  in  reference  to  the 
damage  done  to  his  verse  by  scribes.  In  Troylus  and  Cryseyde 
5'74  he  says,  addressing  his  "  litel  boke," 

And  for  ther  is  so  grete  dyversite 

In  Englissh,  and  in  writynge  of  our  tonge, 

So  preye  I  to  God,  that  non  my s write  the 

Ne  the  mys-metere,  for  defaute  of  tonge ! 

And  red  wher  so  thow  be,  or  elles  songe, 

That  thou  be  understonde,  God  I  beseche ! 

1  But  yet  to  purpos  of  my  rather  speche. 

And  what  he  suffered  from  the  carelessness  of  scribes  is  well  ex- 
hibited in  his  address  to  his  own  scrivener,  which  by  the  bye  has 
itself  been  much  injured  in  transcribing.i  He  is  made  to  say:  6*307 

Adam  Scrivener,  if  ever  it  the  befall 

Boece  or  Troilus  for  to  write  new, 

Under  thy  long  locks  maist  thou  have  the  scall, 

But. after  my  making  thou  write  more  trew! 

So  oft  a  day  I  mote  thy  werke  renew, 

It  to  correct  and  eke  to  rubbe  and  scrape  ; 

And  all  is  thorow  thy  necligence  and  rape. 

"Would  that  we  had  a  text  corrected  by  Chaucer's  hand ! 

1  Mr.  Morris  had  added  several  e's  proved"   to  suit  the    xvi  th    century 

required  by  the  language.     But  the  pronunciation.     It  is  a  wonder  we  do 

lines  are  quoted  from  Thynne's  edition  not  find  anew  in  the  second  line ;  for 

of  1532,    and    were  evidently    "im-  in  the  second,  long  in  the  third,  and 


250  NO  REAL  FAULTY  EHYMES  IN  CHAUCER.       CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

The  cases  in  which,  short  or  long  i  rhyme  with  short  or  long  e, 
may  either  belong  to  the  class  of  accommodation  rhymes,  to  be  im- 
mediately noticed,  or  are  explicable  on  the  principles  laid  down  in 
the  next  section  under  i.  The  following  are  the  chief  instances  noted : 

geven  lyven  917,  list  best  6819,  7567,  list  rest  9299,  16559, 
abrigge  alegge  9531,  swere  hire  =  her  11101,  12076,  pulpit  iset 
13806,  shitte  =  shut  lette  14660. 

There  remain  only  nine  instances  of  other  classes  to  be  considered, 
and  some  of  these  are  patent  clerical  errors.  Thus  since  hye  is  con- 
stantly found  for  high,  it  follows  that  in :  charged  hem  in  hyghe, 
some  remedye  4629,  the  gh  is  a  mere  error*  of  the  writer.  In : 
tyrant  Buserus,  serpent  veneneus  15589,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
-neus  is  a  clerical  error  for  -mous,  which  would  give  a  perfect  rhyme 
and  be  a  correct  form,  as  Mr.  Morris  reads  and  as  is  found  in 
16063.  The  common  yen  for  eyes,  shows  that  the  initial  e,  in : 
thin  outer  eyen,  may  well  aspien  12426,  is  a  mere  slip  of  the  pen. 
The  rhymes :  alle  thastates,  of  debates,  desolat  4548  are  manifestly 
clerical  errors,  and  we  have  probably  to  read :  thastat  (=  the 
estate)  debat,  desolat.  The  lines 

There  saw  he  hartes  with  her  homes  hee 

The  gretest  that  were  ever  seen  with  eye,     11503 

given  in  "Wright  and  Tyrwhitt  (who  has  hie  eie]  are  not  in  Moms, 
and  correspond  to  a  gap  in  the  Harleian  MS.  If  genuine,  the 
rhyming  words  should  clearly  be  the  common  pair  hye  ye  or  heighe 
eyghe.  In:  more  and  lasse,  marquisesse  8816,  lasse  is  evidently  a 
clerical  error  for  lesse,  which  is  the  reading  of  the  MS.  Dd.  4.  24, 
University  Library,  Cambridge. 

The  rhyme:  i-eased,  y-preised,  6511,  is  given  as:  y-eased 
y-presed  2 '234  by  Morris,  and :  esed  ypreised  by  Tyrwhitt,  but  the 
Harl.  7334  reads:  I  eased,  y  pleased,  and  the  Landsd.  851  esede 
yplesede.1  These  are  usual  rhymes.  Lastly :  jelousye  me  1809, 

more  in  the  fourth  line  are  evident  in-      cessarily  added  in  mote,  werke,  eke;  and 
sertions ;  e  final  was  omitted  in  befatte,       thorow  should  be  thurgh.     The  lines 
tiewe,  scalle,  trewe,  renewe,  and  unne-      may  then  have  possibly  sounded  thus  : 
(Aadaam  Skruneer,  if  eer  it  dhee  befal'e 
Bo,ees-  or  Troo-ilus  to  rw'rte  neu-e, 
Un-der  dhe  lok'es  maist  dhu  nan  dhe  skal'e 
But  aft-er  -urn  maak-z'q-  dhu  rwirte  treu-e ! 
So  oft  a  dai  tV  moot  dhi  werk  reneu-e, 
It  to  korekt'  and  eek  to  rub  and  skraa-pe, — 
And  al  is  thurkwh  -dim  neglz'dzhens'  and  raa-pe  !) 

i  "Wright  says  in  a  footnote :  "  The      y-pleased,   for    flattery    and    pleasing, 
Harl.  MS.  reads   y-pleased:    but  the      named  at  first,  are  repeated  as  flattery 
reading  I  have  adopted  seems  to  give      and  attendance,  business,  afterwards.  The 
the  best  sense."     The  context  as  well      whole  passage,  inserting  the  bracketed 
as  the  rhyme   declares    in  favour   of      words,  runs  thus  in  the  Harl.  7334 : — 
Some  fayden  [j>at]  oure  herte  is  moft  I  eafed 
"Whan  [bat]  we  ben  y  flaterid  and  y  pleafsed 
He  goj>  ful  neigh  J?e  foth  I  wil  not  lye 
A  man  fchal  wynne  vs  beft  wij>  flaterye 
And  with  attendaunce  and  [wib]  bufyneffe 
Ben  we  y  limed  bo]?e  more  and  lefle. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.      KO  REAL  FAULTY  RHYMES  IN  CHAUCER. 


251 


is  not  even  an  approach  to  rhyme  and  is  manifestly  corrupt.  I 
find  on  examination  that  all  the  other  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum 
leadjolite,  which  is  Tyrwhitt's  reading,  and  is  no  doubt  correct. 
The  rhyme:  mercy  sey  13308,  will  be  specially  examined  in  the 
next  section,  under  I,  when  it  will  be  shewn  from  other  MSS. 
that  the  proper  reading  is  :  mercy  sy. 

This  examination  is  calculated  to  make  us  feel  confident  in  the 
correctness  of  our  first  principle  as  applied  to  the  Canterbury  Tales. 
On  extending  the  examination  over  the  whole  of  Chaucer's  poems, 
the  following  faulty  rhymes  are  all  that  I  have  noted,  which  do  not 
admit  of  an  immediate  correction.  Except  in  certain  pieces,  of 
which  the  originals  are  thereby  proved  to  be  of  very  doubtful 
authority,  and  of  comparatively  recent  date,  the  faulty  rhymes  will 
be  found  exceedingly  rare.  The  citations  refer  to  the  volume  and 
page  of  Mr.  Morris's  edition,  and  the  references  to  the  original  MSS. 
or  editions,  are  all  given. 


VOLS.  II.  &  III. 

1.  The  Canterbury  Tales,  from  the 
Harl.  MS.  7334,  collated  with  Lans- 
downe  MS.  851.     After  the  previous 
examination  this  may  he  said  to  have 
no  faulty  rhymes. 

VOL.  IV. 

2.  The  Court  of  Love,  pp.  1-50  :  from 
Trin.  Coll.  Cam.  MS.  R.  iii.  20  :  write 
aright   1,    discrive    high   4,    wonderly 
signifie  4,  degree  ye  =  eye  5,  white  de- 
lite  hight  6,  hie  crye  whye  10,  I  espye 
ye  =  eye  10,  hie  besyly  ye  =  eye  11,  fan- 
tasye  merily  15,  ye  —eye  pretily  15,  white 
delite  sight  16,  eschewe  newe  due  17, 
hen  engyne  1 9,  ye  =  eye  wonderly  hie  24, 
se  ye  =  eye  27,  shewe  hewe  34,  by  nye  = 
near  34,  modifie  truly  35,  avowe  wo  we 
=woo  howe    42,   I    flye  sodenly  45, 

trewe  dewe  pursue  48. 

3.  The  Parlement  of  Briddes,  or  the 
Assembly  of  Foules,  pp.  51-74,   from 
Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16,  collated  with 
Harleian  MS.  7333,  and  Bodleian  MS. 
Seld.  B.  24.     None. 

4.  The  BoJce  of  Cupide,  God  of  Love, 
or    the   Cuckow    and    the   Nightingale, 
pp.  75-86,  from  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax 
16,  collated  with  Harl.  MS.  7333,  and 
Bodleian  MS.  Seld.  B.  24.     None. 

5.  The  Flower  and  the  Leaf,  pp.  87- 
107,  from  Speght's  edition  of  Chaucer 
1597   and   1602,   no  manuscript  copy 
being  known :  hie  =high  certainely  87, 
truly  company  93,  melody  soothly  93, 
company  lady  richely  98,  sautry  craftely 
98,  womanly  daisie  99,  company  friendly 
103,  properly  company  103,   chivalry 
worthy  104,  victory  mightily  104,  com- 
pany humbly  hie  =  haute  107. 


6.  Troylm   and   Cryseyde,   p.    108, 
from  Harl.    MS.    2280   collated  with 
Harl.  MSS.    1239,    2392,    3943,    and 
Additional  MS.   12044.      Troye,  joye, 
fro  the  108,  contrarie  debonaire  staire 
116. 

VOL.  V. 

Troy lus  and  Cryseyde  continued,  pp. 
1-77.     None. 

7.  Chauceres   A.  B.    G.    called    La 
Priere  de  Nostre  Dame,  pp.  78-85,  from 
the   Bodl.   MS.    Fairfax   16,   collated 
with  a  MS.  in  the  Hunterian  Museum, 
Glasgow,   medycine    resygne   81,   this 
rhyme  is  probably  correct. 

8.  Chaucer's  'Dream,    pp.    86-154, 
from  Speght's  edition  of  Chaucer  1597 
and   1602,  no  manuscript  copy  being 
known :  eene  =  eyen  kene  87,  was  glasse 
88,  paire  here  (this  word  seems  to  have 
been  supplied  by  the  editor)  88,  hie  = 
high  sie  =  see  88,.  be  companie  89-90, 
come  some  92,  undertaketh  scapeth  96, 
grene  yene=eyen   96,  place  was  100, 
named  attained  104,  een=eyen  queen 
106,  joyously  harmony  107,  gentilnesse 
peace  (?)   107,  be  companie    108,  de- 
stroid    conclude     108,    vertuous     use 
110,    signe    encline  (?)     113,   resigne 
nine  (?)    120,    found    hond    126,    re- 
member  tender  129,   fiftene,  an  even 
132,  ligne  compane  132,  safety  com- 
pany 133-4,  greene  eene  =eyen  138,  cry 
company    138,   softely   harmony    141, 
nine  greene  (?)  142,  vertuouse  use  143, 
company  by  147. 

9.  The  Boke  of  the  Duchesse,  or  the 
Dethe  of  Blanche,  pp.   155-195,  from 
the  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax.  16  :  Pythagoras 
ches  175. 


252 


NO  REAL  FAULTY  RHYMES  IN  CHAUCER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 


10.  Of  Quene   Anelyda   and    False 
Arcyte.  pp.  196-208,  from  the  Bodl. 
MS.  Fairfax,  16.     None. 

11.  The  House  of  Fame,  pp.  209-275, 
from  the  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax,  16.   None. 

12.  The  Legende  of  Goode   Women, 
pp.  276-361,  from  the  Bodl.  MS.  Fair- 
fax, 16,  collated  with  Bodl.  MS.  Seld. 
B.  24,  MSS.  Harl.  9832,  Addit.  12524 
(British  Museum)  and  Gg.  4.  27,  in  the 
University   Library,    Cambridge,    pri- 
vately printed  by  H.  Bradshaw,  Cam- 
bridge, 1864.     None. 

VOL.  VI. 

13.  The  Eomaunt  of  the  Rose,  pp. 
1-234,  from  the  unique  MS.   in  the 
Hunterian     Museum,     Glasgow  :     be 
nycetie  1,  samet   delit(?)   27,  loreyes 
oliveris  41,  I  maladie  57,  hastily  com- 
pany 57,  generaly  vilanye  67,  worthy 
curtesie  68,  more  are  68,  abrode  for- 
weriede  78,  annoy  away  (?)  82,  escape 
make  84,  joye  conveye  (?)  89,  curtesie 
gladly  91,  My  utterly  97,  laste  barste 
97,  My  hastily  99,  100,  werye  seye  99, 
redily  maistrie  101,  flaterie  uttirly  103, 
affere  debonaire  105,  bothom  salvacioun 
106,  angerly  villanye  107,  espie  sikirlye 
116,  folilye  jelousye  116-7,  jelousie  I 
1 19, 1 26, 1  lechery  1 19,  bothoms  sesouns 
122,    high    delyverly    123,    certeynly 
jelousie    123,   glotouns    bothoms    131, 
storme   corne    132,    sikirly  foly    136, 
bittirly  foly  138,  I  curtesie  139,  lorde 
rewarde    141,    seignorie    I    142,   ever 
fer  (?)    146,   engendrure  plesyng    147, 
companye  disrewlilye  149,  servise  preise 
=praise  151,  worthy  drurie  154,  vice 
wys  164,  to  bye  hastily  171,  sy=part 
of  the  second  syllable  of  fysic,  foly  175, 
covertly  ipocrisie  18  65  company  outerly 
192,  why  e  tregetrie  =  trickery  194,  com- 
panye   I    209,   mekely  trechery   223, 
sobrely,  je  vous  die  225. 

14.  Complaynte  of  a  Lover es  Lyfe,  or 
the   Complaint   of  the   Black   Knight, 
pp.  235-259,  from  the  Bodl.  MS.  Fair- 
fax,   16:     white    bryght    nyght   235, 
grevously  petously  malady  240,  felyngly 
malady  242. 

15.  The    Complaynt  of  Mars    and 
Venus,  pp.   260-274,  from  the   Bodl. 
MS.   Fairfax,  16,  collated  with  MS. 
Ff,  1,   6,   in  the  University   Library, 
Cambridge,  edition  of   H.  Bradshaw, 
1864.     None. 

16.  A  goodly  Ballade  of  Chaucer , 


pp.  275-277,  from  Thynne's  edition  of 
1532  :  supposeth  ryseth  277. 

17.  A  Praise  of  Women,  pp.  278- 
284,  from  Thynne's  edition  of  1532. 
None. 

18.  The  Oompleynte  of  the  Dethe  of 
Pite,   pp.    285-286,   from   Bodl.    MS. 
Fairfax,  16,  collated  with  Harl.  MS  78. 
None. 

19.  Ballade  de   Vilage  Sauns  Peyn- 
ture,   pp.    289-292,   from    Bodl.   MS. 
Fairfax,  16.     None. 

20.  Ballade  sent   to  King  Richard, 
pp.  292-293,  from  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax, 
16.     None. 

21.  The   Oompleynte  of  Chaucer  to 
his   Purse,   p.    294,   from    Bodl.   MS. 
Fairfax,  16,  collated  with  Harl.  MS. 
7333  and  Bodl.  Seld.  B.  24.     None. 

22.  Good  Counscil  of  Chaucer,  p.  295, 
from  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax,   16,  collated 
with  Cotton  MS.  Otho  A.  xviii.,  and 
MS.   Gg.  4,  27,  in  Univ.  Lib.  Cam. 
And  Add.  MS.  10340,  see  Athenceum, 
14  Sept.  1867,  p.  333.     None. 

23.  Prosperity,  p.   296,  from  Bodl. 
MS,  Seld.  B.  24.    None. 

24.  A    Ballade,    pp.    296-7,    from 
Harl.  MS.  7333.     None. 

25.  E  Envoy  de  Chaucer  a  Scoff  an, 
pp.  297-8,  from  Bodl.   MS.  Fairfax, 
16.    None. 

26.  Z' Envoy  de  Chaucer  a  BuTtton, 
pp.  299-300,  from  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax, 
16.     None. 

27.  -ffitas  Prima,  pp.  300-302,  from 
MS,  Hh.  4.  12.  2,  late  MS.  Moore  947, 
in  the  Univ.  Lib.  Cam.     None. 

28.  Leaulte  vault  Richesse,  pp.  302- 
303,  from  Bodl.  MS.  Seld,  B.  24.  None. 

29.  Proverbes  of   Chaucer,    p.    303, 
from  Bodl.  MS.  Fairfax,  16.     None. 

30.  Roundel,   pp.    304-5,   reprinted 
from    Percy's    Reliques    of     Ancient 
English  Poetry.     None. 

31.  Virelai,   pp.    305-6,   from  MS. 
R.  iii.  20,  Trin.  Coll.  Cam. :  infortunate 
fate  whate  305,  hate  desperate  estate 
306,  certayn  payn  306. 

32.  Chaucer's  Prophecy,  p.  307,  from 
Sir  Harris  Nicolas's  edition  of  a  MS. 
belonging  to  Mr.  Singer.     None. 

33.  Chaucer's    Words  unto   his  own 
Scrivener,    p.     307,     from     Thynne's 
edition,  1532.     See  supra  p.  250,  note. 
None. 

34.  Orisoune   to    the    Holy    Virgin, 
pp.  308-312,  from  Bodl.  MS.  Seld.  B. 
24  :  honour  cure  310. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.         NO  REAL  FAULTY  RHYMES  IN  GOWER.  253 

In  examining  Gower's  rhymes  through  the  medium  of  Pauli's 
edition,  I  have  put  aside  his  orthography  as  of  no  value,  and  have 
reckoned  as  faulty  rhymes  only  such  as  I  could  not  immediately 
correct  by  means  of  the  results  obtained  from  an  examination  of 
Chaucer,  and  exhibited  in  the  following  sections.  The  citations 
refer  to  the  volume  and  page  of  Pauli's  edition. 

Vol.  i.  sely  privete  225,  er  =  formerly  ware  231, 

Vol.  ii.  named  proclaimed  84,  joy  money  147,  Troy  monaie  188, 
nine  peine  261,  enemy  michery  355, 

Vol.  iii.  accompteth  amounteth  54,  straught  sought  374. 

Nine  faulty  rhymes  out  of  more  than  33000  verses  would  not  be 
much.  Eut  in  fact  the  editor  Dr.  Pauli,  and  not  the  author,  is  the 
person  really  answerable  for  them,  as  the  following  examination 
will  shew. 

The  reading :  sely  privete  i  225,  is  wrong  on  the  face  of  it,  for 
sely  makes  no  sense  ;  the  word  is  celee  or  cele  as  in  Harl.  3490,  3869, 
7184,   and  Soc.  Ant.  MS.   134,  meaning  secret,  a  purely  French 
word.     The  passage  runs  thus  in  Harl.  3869. 
As  who  faij?.     I  am  so  celee 
Ther  mai  no  mannes  priuete 
Ben  heled  half  fo  wel  as  myn. 

The  reading:  er  ware  i  231,  is:  er  war  in  Harl.  7184,  but :  ar 
war  in  Harl.  3490  and  3869,  the  passage  in  the  last  being 
Of  such  enfamples  as  wer  ar 
Him  oghte  be  ]>e  more  war. 

The  rhyme :  named  proclaimed  ii  84,  is  given :  named,  pro- 
clamed,  by  the  three  Harl.  MSS,  and : .  naimd  proclaimd,  by  the 
Soc.  Ant.  MS.  The  first  reading  is  evidently  correct  from  the 
French  proclame,  and  even  Pauli  in  another  place  writes :  named 
proclamed  i  6. 

For:  joy  money  ii  147,  Troy  monaie  ii  188,  the  Harl.  MS.  3869, 
reads :  ioye  monoie,  Troie  monoie.  These  rhymes  will  be  further 
considered  in  the  next  section  under  01. 

The  rhyme  :  nine  peine  ii  261,  is  written  :  nyne  peyne  in  Harl. 
3869,  but  this  is  an  evident  slip  for:  nyne  pyne,  the  reading  of 
Harl.  3490  and  7184. 

For:   enemy  michery  ii  355,  both  Harl.  3490  and  Harl.  3869 
read :  enemie  micherie.1     The  enemy  is  Venus,  and  the  word  re- 
ceives the  French  feminine  form,  thus,  according  to  Harl.  3869 
For  Venus  which  was  enemie 
Of  j?ilke  loues  micherie. 

The  words :  accompteth  amounteth  iii  54,  are  so  spelled  in  the 
three  Harl.  MS.,  but  as  it  is  certain  that  the  two  French  words 
from  which  they  have  been  taken,  had  the  same  sound,  the  rhyme 
was  really  perfect.  This  then  is  an  example  in  Gower  of  the 
retention  of  a  French  spelling,  which  did  not  represent  the  English 
sound,  supra,  p.  248,  note  2.  The  orthography  accompt  is  even  yet 

1  Harl.  7184  is  illegible;  the  word  they  mean  it  is  hard  to  say;  prohably 
is  like  enme,  that  is,  there  are  five  we  should  restore  missing  letters  thus : 
strokes  between  the  two  e's,  and  what  enenue. 


254  ACCOMMODATION   RHYMES.  CHAP.  IV.  §  1. 

retained  in  our  written  language,  though  generally  superseded  by 
account. 

The  words :  straught  sought  iii  374,  were  wrongly  transcribed 
by  Pauli  from  the  Harl.  3490,  which  he  professed  to  follow  in  this 
passage,  and  which  reads :  strauht  cauht. 

This  examination  must  be  held  to  establish  the  correctness 
of  the  first  principle  for  all  the  writings  of  Chaucer  and 
Grower.  The  exceptions  are  clearly  due  to  some  error  of  the 
editor  or  the  scribe,  or  to  certain  varieties  of  pronunciation 
which  will  meet  with  an  explanation  hereafter.  In  Chaucer's 
time  many  words  certainly  existed  in  two  or  more  forms 
either  entirely  different,  as  tho  for  those,  my  for  saw,  they 
for  though,  mo  for  more,  etc.,  or  only  differing  in  a  vowel  as 
kess  for  kiss,  lest  for  list  lust,  stree  for  straw,  etc.  We  find 
instances  of  this  double  use  even  in  prose,  and  in  places 
where  the  use  was  optional,1  but  it  was  evidently  a  most 
convenient  instrument  in  the  rhymester's  hand,  and  Chaucer, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  far  greater  facilities  for  rhyme  at 
his  time  than  at  the  present,  seems  to  have  been  frequently 
"hard  up/'2  to  judge  by  those  numerous  little  tags  which 
appear  in  bis  poetry  and  are  absent  from  bis  prose,  has  ex- 
tensively availed  himself  of  them.  The  following  are  a  few 
examples  of  these  Accommodation  Rhymes,  as  I  propose  to  term 
them : — 

rood  upon  a  mere  (=  a  mare},  and  a  mellere  543,  gan  the  child  to 
blesse,  gan  it  kesse  8428,  holde  champartye,  may  sche  gye  1951, 
Then  pray  I  the,  to  morwe  with  a  spere  That  Arcita  me  thurgh 
the  herte  bere  =  bore  2257,  unto  oon  of  tho,  moche  care  and  wo 
2353,  that  on  myn  auter  bren,  that  thou  go  hen  =  hence  2357, 
stree  =  straw  three  2935,  Paternoster  soster  =  sister  3485,  compame* 

1  A  cook  thei  hadde  with  hem  for  851,  Harl.  1758,  MS.  Eeg.  18.  C.  ii.; 

the  nones,  and  Sloane  MSS.  1 685,  1686,  all  agree 

To  boyle    chiknes    and    the    mart/  in   reading :    compame    blame.      Harl. 

bones  38 1 .  7335  has  come  bame,  Harl.  7334and MS. 

Hence   marry  bones  for  marrow   bones  Eeg.  17  D.  xv.  have  both  com  pame, 

(possibly  a  reference  to  St.  Mary  le  bon)  which  Wright  prints  compame  in  one 

is  not  a  recent  vulgarism,  but  can  boast  word,  and  Morris  misprints  compaine, 

a  high  antiquity.  and  it  should  be  observed  that  there  is 

•  Centre  Chaucer's  own  adnnssion,  ^-Ji-Wta-  mHarl. 

And'eketomehiHsagretepenaunce,      flrst 
ryme   in  English  £tt  such 


skarsete  »U»WUMVI*«  tu 

To    folowe  worde    by    worde    the  dot  over  an  «,  which  is  uiwuvsiepre- 

curiosite  sented,  when  written,  as  it  would  be  in 
Of  Graunson,   floure   of  hem    that 

maken  in  Fraunce.  ^^  ^  he  Jeft  Qut 

3  This  reading  is  doubtful.    Lansdown  compame,    altered    the    next    line    to 


CHAP.  IV.  §  1.   THE  ORTHOGRAPHY  SHEWS  THE  SOUND.       255 

=  compagne  blame  3709,  beete  sheete  =  shoote  3927,  day  lay  =  law 
4795,  wirche  =  work  'chirche  9257,  Eve  preve  =  prove  9203,  feste 
meste  =  moste  10613,  est  almest  =  almost  15168,  als  =  also  fals 
4315,  speche  seche  =  seke  4939,  beech,  theech  =  the  ich  =  prosper  I 
12856,  sein  =  seen  agayn  5177,  time  envenyme  6055,  nolleye, 
preye,  seye  8704,  therto,  is  do  =  idon  10313,  glayre  of  an  ey,  cley 
12734,  seye  dbeye  13514,  mystrist  wist  13784,  the  mery  orgon,  in 
the  chirche  goon  16337. 

These  instances,  which  are  only  a  few  out  of  many,  are 
abundantly  sufficient  to  shew  that  the  scribe  was  not  content 
with  continuing  to  write  one  form  of  a  word,  and  allowing  its 
different  sounds  to  be  elicited  from  the  rhyme  (as  we  should 
now  write  a  tear,  to  tear)  but  that  he  altered  the  spelling 
when  he  wished  to  shew  a  difference  of  sound.  Hence 
although  we  have  detected  him  tripping  at  times,  from  mere 
carelessness,  we  can  feel  confident  that  when  varieties  of 
spelling  as  eyen  yen,  hye  hike,  deyde  dyde,  etc.  constantly 
occur,  they  really  indicate  different  sounds,  such  as  for  ex- 
ample we  shall  learn  to  attribute  to  ey,  y,  ih,  in  other  com- 
binations, so  that  the  words  just  cited  should  be  read  (ai'en, 
ii'en,  Hire  nikh'e,  daid'e  diid'e),  and  we  are  thus  led  to  a 
corroboration  of  our  third  principle  as  well  as  of  our  first. 

Having  thus  established  the  trustworthiness  of  my  instru- 
ment of  investigation,  not  merely  for  the  particular  instance 
of  this  Harleian  manuscript  7334,  but  for  all  good  MSS.  of 
the  period,  I  shall  proceed  to  apply  it  to  discover  a  complete 
system  of  pronunciation,  so  as  to  allow  us  to  declaim  Chaucer's 
Canterbury  Tales  as  they  might  have  been  read  during  his 
lifetime,  although  doubtless  with  a  modern  accent  which 
would  have  failed  to  satisfy  the  poet's  ear.  Still  this  pro- 
nunciation would  have  probably  been  perfectly  intelligible, 
while  our  modern  English  method  of  reading  must  have 
sounded  as  mere  gibberish.1 

rhyme,   omitted  the  following  which  which  has  heen  scored  out,  as  it  was 

was  then  without  a  rhyme,  and  read :  thus  left  without  a  rhyme,  but  is  per- 

Go  from   J?e   wyndowe,   Jacke   fole  fectly  legible. 

fhee  fayde 

I  love  bette  olper  and  elks  I  were  to          T  This  opinion  I  entertain  so  strongly, 
blame  that  I  retain  its  expression  in  the  text, 
"Welle  more  £an  }>e  by  Jhefu  and  his  notwithstanding  that  I  have  been  in- 
dame  formed,  since  it  was  written,  that  many 
So  lette  me  slepe  a  twenty  devilweye.  Early  English  scholars  adopt  systems 
The  words :  and  his  dame,  in  the  last  of  pronunciation  agreeing  in  the  main 
line  but  one,  are  in  another  ink,  and  with  our  barbarous  method  of  reading 
are  apparently  written  over  an  oblitera-  Latin  and  Greek.      "While   this  sheet 
tion.     The  last  line  was  originally  pre-  was  passing  through  the  press  I  re- 
ceded by :  ceived  the  following :  "  As  to  O.E.  and 
Go  forth  thy  weye  or  elles  I  wolle  A.S.  Pronunciation,  my  scheme  is  i  =  i 
caste  a  stone,  of  shine,  e=ee  of  feet,  a=a  of  father, 


256 


REFERENCES  TO  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  6  1. 


Mode  of  Reference  to  Chaucer  and  Gower. 

The  lines  of  the  Canterbury  Tales  will  "be  cited  by  their  numbers 
in  Wright's  single  volume  edition  (p.  243  note),  the  number  refers 
to  the  first  line  or  word  cited.  The  lines  in  any  of  Chaucer's  other 
poetical  works  will  be  cited  by  the  volume  and  page  (not  number  of 
line)  in  which  they  occur  in  Morris's  edition,  a  turned  period  being 
placed  after  the  number  of  the  volume ;  thus,  4*87  means  vol.  4, 
p.  87.  As  final  words  are  usually  cited,  hardly  any  difficulty  will 
be  thus  experienced  in  finding  the  passage.  The  fist  of  Chaucer's 
poems  on  pp.  251-2,  will  show  at  once  from  the  reference  the  par- 
ticular poem  in  which  the  passage  occurs.  The  lines  in  Gower  will 
be  cited  by  the  volume  and  page  in  Pauli's  edition,1  the  number 
of  the  volume  being  in  small  roman  letters  and  the  number  of  the 
pages  following  without  an  intervening  comma,  thus  ii  84  is  vol.  2, 
p.  84.  By  this  means  the  form  of  the  reference  distinguishes 
the  book  cited,  which  will  therefore  not  be  named. 

As  Mr.  Morris's  edition  of  the  Canterbury  Tales  is  not  numbered 
throughout,  and  as  Tyrwhitt's  order  of  the  Tales  is  not  entirely  the 
same  as  Wright's,  the  following  comparison  will  be  found  useful. 
The  numbers  refer  to  the  volume  and  page  in  Morris  and  the  line  in 
"Wright  and  Tyrwhitt.  Occasionally  some  lines  are  inserted  in  one 
of  these  editions  and  omitted  in  the  others,  hence  it  will  not  always 
be  possible  to  refer  from  one  to  the  other  by  the  numbers  with 
certainty,  but  the  difference  is  always  very  small,  and  if  allowed  for, 
will  create  no  confusion.  In  order  to  correspond  as  far  as  possible 
with  Tyrwhitt's  system,  Mr.  Wright's  first  line  of  a  piece  is  not 
always  numbered  consecutively  to  the  last  line  of  the  preceding 
piece,  and  his  number  6440  is  a  misprint  for  6439.  The  roman 
titles  of  the  pieces  in  the  following  table  follow  Mr.  Morris's  edition ; 
the  italic  titles  of  the  tales  have  been  added  by  the  author  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  text  of  the  poems,  for  convenience  of  reference. 

HARMONY  OE  THE  REFERENCES  TO  MORRIS'S,  WRIGHT'S,  AND 
TYRWHITT'S  EDITIONS  or  THE  CANTERBURY  TALES. 


Name  of  Piece. 

Morris. 

Wright. 

Tyrwhitt. 

2.1 

i 

i 

2.  The  Knightes  Tale.   Palamon  and  Arcite 
3.  The  Prologue  of  the  Myller     -     -     -     - 
4.  The  Milleres  Tale.  Nicholas,  Absolon,  and 
the  Carpenter  es  Wyf       -     -     -     -     - 
5.  The  Prologue  of  the  Eeeve      -     ... 
6.  The  Reeves  Tale.   The  Miller  of  Tromp- 

2-27 
2-96 

2-98 
2-120 

2*122 

861 
3111 

3187 
3853 

3919 

861 
3111 

3187 
3853 

•jqi  q 

2-  13/5 

4-323 

4-39.3 

a=o  of  bone,  ae  =  a  of  fate,  ti=ou  of 
house,  &c,"  a  scheme  utterly  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  direct  evidence  of  the 
last  chapter.  See  also  Benjamin  Thorpe 
on  the  pronunciation  of  Orrnrin,  (Ana- 
lecta  Anglo- Saxonica,  1846,  8vo,  pre- 


face, p.  xi)  quoted  below  Chap.  V,  §  2, 
No.  1. 

1  Confessio  Amantis  of  John  Gower, 
edited  and  collated  with  the  best  manu- 
scripts by  Dr.  Eeinhold  Pauli,  London, 
Bell  and  Daldy,  1857,  8vo,  3  vols. 


CHAP.  IV. 


REFERENCES  TO  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


257 


Name  of  Piece. 

Morris. 

Wright. 

Tyrwhitt. 

8.  The  Cokes  Tale.     The  Prentys      -     -     - 
The  Cokes  Tale  of  Gamelyn    -     -     -     - 
9.  The  Man  of  Lawes  Prologue   -     -     -     - 
10.  The  Man  of  Lawes  Tale.  Constance    -     - 
11.  The  Prologue  of  the  Wyf  of  Bathe     -     - 
12.  The  Wyf  of  Bathes  Tale.     The  Knight 

/r*)/7  the    7</M/7    Wvif 

2-136 
2-138 
2-170 
2-173 
2-206 

2-232 
2-245 

2-246 
2-258 

2-259 
2-278 
2-280 
2-284 
2-292 
2-297 
2-302 
2-307 
2-315 
2-317 
2-318 
2-354 
2-355 
2-365 
3-1 

3-2 
3-29 
3-46 

3-60 
3  75 
3-75 
3-85 

3-90 
3-106 

3-107 
3-121 

3-122 
3-130 
3-131 
3-138 
3-139 
3-198 

3-201 
3-227 
3-229 
3-249 

3-252 
3-261 
3-263 

4363 

4421 
4519 
5583 

6439 

6847 

6881 
7247 

7291 
7877 
7933 
8073 
8325 
8486 
8661 
8815 
9053 
9089 
9121 
10293 
10323 
10661 
10985 

11041 
11929 

12482 

12940 
13410 
13416 
13702 

13878 
14384 

14412 
14846 

14864 
15102 
15123 
15327 

15375 

15477 
16253 
16307 
16933 

17037 
17295 

4363 

4421 
4519 
5583 

6439 
6847 

6883 
7247 

7291 
7877 
7933 
8073 
8325 
8486 
8661 
8815 
9053 
9089 
9121 
10293 
10323 
10661 
10985 

11041 
15469 
16022 

16188 
11929 
11935 
12221 

12263 
12903 

12931 
13365 

13383 
13621 
13642 
13847 

13895 

13997 
14773 
14827 
16950 

17054 
17312 

13.  The  Prologue  of  the  Frere       -     -     -     - 
14.  The  Freres  Tale.    The  Sompnour  and  the 

T)pmjl 

15.  The  Sompnoures  Prologue  -     -     -     -     - 
16.  The  Sompnoures  Tale.     The  Frere  and 

17.  The  Clerk  of  Oxenfordes  Prologue     -     - 
1  8.  The  Clerkes  Tale.     Grisildes.       -     -     - 

L'  Envoy  e  de  Chaucer     -     -     -     -     - 
19.  Prologue  of  the  Marchaundes  Tale     -     - 
20.  The  Marchaundes  Tale.  January  and  May 
21    The  Souyeres  Prologue 

22.  The  Squyeres  Tale.     Cambynskan.     -     - 
Incipit  secunda  pars       _____ 
23.  The  Frankeleynes  Prologe       -     -     -     - 
24.  The  Frankeleynes  Tale.     Arveragus  and 
Dorygen     --------- 
25.  The  Secounde  Nonnes  Tale.     Cecilie. 
26.  The  Prologe  of  the  Chanounes  Yeman    - 
27.  The   Chanounes  Yemannes   Tale.      The 
False  Chanoun  and  the  Prcst    -     -     - 
28.  The  Doctoures  Prologe       -     -     -     -     - 
29.  Tale  of  the  Doctor  of  Phisik.    Virginiw. 
30.  The  Prologue  of  the  Pardoner      _     -     - 
31.  The  Pardoneres  Tale.     The  Thre  Riot- 

32.  The  Schipmannes  Prologue     -     -     -     - 
33.  The  Schipmannes  Tale.   Dan  Johan  and 

34.  The  Prioresses  Prologe       _     _     _     _     _ 
35.  The  Prioresses  Tale.     The  litel  Clergeoun 

37.  The  Tale  of  Sir  Thopas      
38.  Prologe  to  Melibeus       
39.  The  Tale  of  Melibeus,  prose    -     -     -     - 
40.  The  Prologe  of  the  Monkes  Tale  -     -     - 
41.  The  Monkes  Tale.    The  harm  of  hem  that 

42.  The  Prologe  of  the  Nonne  Prestes  Tale. 
43.  The  Nonne  Prest  his  Tale.    Chaunteclere. 
44.  The  Prologue  of  the  Maunciples  Tale  - 
45.  The  Maunciples  Tale.     Phebus  and  the 

46.  The  Prologe  of  the  Persones  Tale      -     - 
47.  The  Persones  Tale,  prose    

17 


258  THE   VOWELS  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

§  2.— The   Vowels. 
LONG  AND  SHORT  VOWELS. 

The  orthographic  custom  of  the  Germanic  languages  is  to 
consider  a  final  vowel  in  an  accented  syllable  long,  and  a 
vowel  in  a  syllable  closed  by  a  consonant  short.  The  physio- 
logical cause  for  the  duplication  of  a  consonant  between  two 
vowels  to  indicate  the  shortening  of  the  first  vowel  has  been 
already  explained,  p.  55.  But  long  vowels  also  occur  in 
syllables  closed  by  a  consonant,  and  here  the  writers  have 
generally  been  put  to  great  straits.  Orrmin  by  simply  leav- 
ing the  consonant  single  after  a  long  vowel,  and  always 
doubling  it  after  a  short  one,  escaped  the  difficulty.  In  the 
oldest  Germanic  monument,  Uphilas's  Gospels,  the  Greek 
custom  of  using  different  signs  for  long  and  short  (e,  o)  was 
usually  followed,  thus  e  ai,  o  au  were  generally,  =  (ee  e,  oo  o) 
Long  i  was  represented  by  ei,  following  the  Greek  custom  of 
pronouncing  et  at  that  and  the  present  time.  Long  a,  u, 
were  not  distinguished  from  short,  even  if  the  real  long 
(aa,  uu)  existed  in  Gothic.1 

In  Anglosaxon  an  accent  is  occasionally  placed  over  the 
long  vowel,  but  it  is  frequently  omitted.  In  modern  high 
German  and  Dutch  aa,  ee}  oo  are  often  used  for  the  long 
vowels,  but  this  system  of  reduplication  does  not  extend  to 
long  i  and  long  u.  When  the  i  was  not  dotted,  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  distinguish  ii  from  u,  and  the  combination 
uu  might  be  read  nu,  un,  im,  mi,  ini,  which  seems  sufficiently 
to  explain  the  non-use  of  reduplication  to  express  these  pro- 
longations. Still  I  find  reduplication  sufficiently  distinct 
even  in  these  cases,  provided  that  the  i  is  properly  dotted, 
and  hence  I  have  employed  it  consistently  in  palaeotype. 

In  Chaucer,  as  represented  by  our  MS.,  reduplication  is 
not  unfrequently  resorted  to  in  the  case  of  aa,  ee,  oo,  but  as 
the  writer  often  neglects  to  mark  the  distinction  (compare : 
in  such  a  caas  657,  arwes  in  a  cas  2081),  and  sometimes 
employs  ee  where  we  expect  to  find  a  short  vowel  (as  weel  for 
wel  2125),  not  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  this  ortho- 
graphy. The  fact,  however,  that  both  short  and  long  a,  e,  i,  o 
rhyme  with  each  other,  but  that  long  u  and  short  u  never 
rhyme,  leads  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  the  sounds  of  the 
long  and  short  a,  e,  i,  o  differed  only  in  quantity,  but  the 
sounds  of  long  and  short  u  differed  also  in  quality.  This 
general  conclusion,  will  be  abundantly  confirmed. 

1  See  an  account  of  the  values  of  the  Gothic  letters,  Chapter  V,  §  4,  No.  3. 


CHAP.  IV.  §2.  A  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  259 


A  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

That  long  and  short  a  could  not  be  very  different  from  (aa,  a) 
we  have  already  seen.  It  is  not  possible  to  distinguish  after  such 
a  lapse  of  time  between  (a,  a)  and  it  is  safer  probably  to  consider 
(aa,  a)  as  the  real  sounds.  The  effect  of  a  preceding  w  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  felt ;  that  is,  a  in  was,  warm  would  not  have 
differed  from  a  in  has,  harm. 

LATIN  RHYMES.  ...  as  assoillyng  saveth,  a  significavit  663,  where 
the  old  habit  of  reading  the  Latin  termination  -it  as  (-ith)  may 
have  been  alluded  to ; l  the  Psalm  of  David,  cor  meum  eructavit  7515 ; 
Yet  spak  this  child,  when  spreynde  was  the  water, 
And  song,  0  alma  redemptoris  mater.  15051 

My  teeme  is  alway  oon,  and  ever  was, 
Radix  malorum  est  cupiditas.  13748 

On  which  was  first  i-writen  a  crowned  A, 
And  after  that,  Amor  vincit  omnia.  161 

These  examples  lead  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  a  was  called 
(aa),  and  that  saveth,  David,  water,  was  were  pronounced  (saaveth, 
Daa'vid,  waa'ter,  was).  Hence  also  the  words  rhyming  with  was 
will  have  (-as)  or  (-aas),  e.g.  hire  statue  clothed  was,  arwes  in  a 
cas  2081,  therto  chosen  was,  such  a  caas  2111,  he  walketh  forth  a 
pas,  ther  hir  temple  was  2219,  this  hors  of  bras,  siege  of  Troye  was 
10619,  of  Macedon  he  was,  alas,  such  a  caas,  thyn  sis  fortune  is 
torned  into  an  aas  16142,  where  sis,  aas  are  six,  ace.  These  words 
give  the  key  to  many  others,  thus :  in  this  caas,  of  solas  799,  and 
all  words  of  that  kind  now  usually  spelled  -ace,  as  :  paas  Thomas 
827.  We  should  also  conclude  that  in:  caught  in  his  lace,  this 
trespace  1819,  we  ought  to  read  laas,  trespas,  as  in:  a  dagger 
hangyng  on  a  laas  394  &c. 

FRENCH  RHYMES.  .  .  .  hadde  thei  ben  to  blame,  to  be  clept  madame 
377,  hadde  hosen  of  the  same,  no  wight  clepe  hir  but  madame  3953, 
fy  for  shame,  sayde  thus  Madame  16377,  it  happed  him  par  cas, 
ther  the  poysoun  was.  14300 

This  last  example  confirms  one  of  the  Latin  rhymes.  In  the 
other  examples  observe  that  Madame  is  a  word  which  has  preserved 
its  French  sound  (or  what  is  meant  to  be  such)  down  to  the  present 
day,  and  hence  the  rhymes  with  it  are  conclusive. 

SHORT  AND  LONG  A  RHYMES. 

A  long  surcote  of  pers  uppon  he  hadde 

And  by  his  side  he  bar  a  rusty  bladde.        619 

Here,  judging  by  the  modern  use,  blade  is  spelled  bladde  simply 
to  secure  the  rhyme,  that  is  the  long  vowel  is,  for  the  occasion, 
treated  as  a  short  one.  This  of  course  could  not  be  done  if  the 
quality  of  the  vowels  changed  with  the  length,  as  in  the  present 
had,  blade.  In  the  following  example — 

Each  after  other  clad  in  clothes  Uake 

But  such  a  cry  and  such  a  woo  they  make.     901 

1  See  Salesbury,  infra,  Chap.  VIII,  §  1,  under  T. 


260         E,  EE,  EA,  EO,  OE,  IE XIV  TH    CENTURY.      CHAP.  IY.  §  2. 

we  have  exactly  the  converse,  the  vowel  in  llacke  being  lengthened 
to  rhyme  with  make..  This  is  also  the  case  in :  I  may  no  lenger 
tarry,  lady  seinte  Mary  7185,  where  the  correct  reading  wonld 
probably  be  tone,  Marie.  In  ags.  both  bleed  and  Ucec  had  short 
vowels. 

The  pronunciation  of  a  in  Chancer,  which  scarcely  admitted  of 
doubt  before,  is  so  clearly  indicated  by  these  three  classes  of  ex- 
amples, that  it  is  unnecessary  to  accumulate  passages  of  the  last 
kind,  those  cited  in  the  first  two  cases  are  all  that  I  have  observed 
of  that  description  in  the  Canterbury  Tales.  We  must,  there- 
fore, conclude  that 

A  in  the  xivth  century  was  always  either  (aa,  a)  or{aa,  a). 

E,  EE,  EA,  EO,  OE,  IE —  XIVTH  CENTURY. 

Final  e  presents  peculiar  difficulties,  and  will  therefore  be  treated 
separately  in  the  fourth  section  of  this  chapter  after  the  other 
vowels  and  the  consonants  have  been  fully  considered.  At  present 
it  may  be  assumed  to  be  pronounced  as  the  inflexional  German  final 
e  (p.  195,  note)  in  all  cases  where  it  ends  a  line  or  seems  to  be  re- 
quired by  the  metre,  and  to  be  otherwise  omitted  in  pronunciation, 
leaving  the  precise  discrimination  of  these  cases  to  future  investigation. 
The  combination  ee  is  used  so  frequently  in  place  of  e  long,  that 
it  cannot  be  considered  as  a  different  letter.  The  combination  ea> 
is  rare,  but  occurs  most  frequently  in  ease,  please,  which  are  also 
found  without  a.  JEo,  oe  are  occasionally  used  instead  of  e,  when 
an  e  usurps  the  place  of  o,  but  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
any  variation  of  sound.  le  and  e  alternate  in  some  words,  especially 
matiere  matere,  hiere  here,  but  ie  does  not  appear  to  hav€  had  any 
special  signification  distinct  from  e.  The  modern  pronunciation  of 
the  e,  and  the  separation  of  its  long  sound  into  (ee,  ii)  which  was 
confirmed  in  the  xvi  th  century,  does  not  appear  to  have  commenced. 
LATIN  RHYMES. — The  only  Latin  word  ending  in  e  which  con- 
cludes lines  in  Chaucer  is  lenedicite,  and  this  was  almost  always 
pronounced  in  three  syllables,  but  whether  (ben'diste)  or  (ben'aite, 
ben'ete), — compare  Seint  Beneyt  173,  and  the  modern  Bennet — I 
am  not  able  to  say,  I  incline  however  to  (ben'ete).1  The  following 
are  all  the  passages  in  which  I  have  observed  the  occurrence  of  this 
word,  and  as  most  of  them  illustrate  the  sound  of  e,  ee,  it  may  be 
best  to  cite  them  all  at  length. 

The  god  of  love,  a !  benedicite  (5  syllables) 
How  mighty  and  how  gret  a  lord  is  he.         1787 
To  fighte  for  a  lady  ;  benedicite  \ 
It  were  a  lusty  sighte  for  to  see.  2117 

What  ?  Absolon,  what  ?  Cristes  swete  tree ! 
Why  ryse  ye  so  rathe  ?  benedicite.  3765 

1  Prof.  Child  (infra,  §  5,  art.  96)      has  five  syllables.    The  word  has  always 
suggests  bencit'e  as  the  contraction  and      five  syllables  in  Gower. 
suspects  a  lacuna  in  v.  1787,  where  it 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.       E,  EE,  EA,  EO,  OE,  IE  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.        261 

Ey,  benedicitel  than  had  I  foule  i-sped.  4218 

What  roune  ye  with  hir  maydenes  ?  benedicte, 
Sir  olde  lecchour,  let  thi  japes  be.  5823 

And  chyding  wyves  maken  men  to  fle 
Out  of  here  oughne  hous  ;   a,  benedicite.  5861 

And  sayd,  0  deere  housbond,  benedicite, 
Fareth  every  knight  with  his  wyf  as  ye.  6669 

I  trowe  thou  hast  som  frere  or  prest  with  the. 
Who  clappith  ther  ?  sayd  this  widow,  benedicite.     7165 
Til  atte  last  he  sayde,  God  vow  se  ! 
This  lord  gan  loke,  and  sayde,  Benedicite.-  7751 

A  wyf  ?  a !  seinte  Mary,  benedicite, 
How  might  a  man  have  eny  adversite 
That  hath  a  wyf?  9211 

Unto  oure  cost,  he  seyde,  Benedicite ! 
This  thing  is  wonder  merveylous  to  me.  12-556 

I  see  wel  that  ye  lerned  men  in  lore 
Can  mochel  good,  by  Goddes  dignitee. 
The  Person  him  answerde :  Benedicite  !  14389 

0,  seinte  Mary,  benedicite  (3  syllables) 
What  eylith  this  love  at  me 

To  bynde  me  so  sore  ?  16-195 

So  hidous  was  the  noyse,  a  benediciee  ! 
Certes  he  Jakke  Straw,  and  his  meyne, 
Ne  maden  schoutes  never  half  so  schrille.  16*879 

These  examples  establish  the  pronunciation  of,  in  modern  spelling, 
he,  see,  tree,  bee,  flee,  ye,  thee,  me,  as  (nee,  see,  tree,  be,  flee,  jee, 
dhee,  niee),  so  far  as  the  vowel  is  concerned.  The  other  rhyming 
words,  adversity,  dignity,  meny,  will  be  considered  under  I,  Y.  The 
words  thus  established  suffice  to  prove  the  pronunciation  of  many 
others  and  shew  that  the  personal  pronouns,  he,  she,  we,  ye,  which 
were  exceptionally  pronounced  with  (ii)  in  the  xvi  th  century,  (p. 
77),  and  the  combination  ee  which  was  confined  to  (ii)  at  the  latter 
end  of  the  same  century  (p.  79),  had  in  Chaucer's  time,  exclusively 
the  sound  of  (ee). 

It  might  seem  proper  to  reckon  among  these  Latin  rhymes 
Yet  schal  I  saven  hir,  and  the,  and  me, 
Hastow  nat  herd  how  saved  was  Nov.          3533 
But  certeynly  no  worde  writeth  he 
Of  thilke  wikked  ensample  of  Canace.          4497 

But  the  preceding  examples  will  also  shew  that  JVbe  Canace  must 

have  had  a  final  (ee). 

PRENCH  RHYMES  ...  a  sop  in  fyn  clarre,  than  sittith  he,  9717  away 

fro  me,  as  well  as  thin  parde  5891,  the  lasse  light  parde!  the  thai 

not  pleyne  the  5917. 

For  cosynage,  and  eek  for  bele  cheer 

That  he  hath  had  ful  ofte  time  heer.  14820 

LONG  AND  SHORT  EHYMES  .  .  .  trapped  in  steel,  dyapredw^  2159, 
here  the  long  pronunciation  of  wel  is  not  noted  as  it  is  in 
Som  wol  been  armed  on  here  legges  weel, 
And  have  an  ax,  and  eek,  a  mace  of  steel.    2125 
Thanked  be  fortune,  and  hire  false  wheel, 
That  noon  estat  assureth  to  ben  weel.  927 

His  eyen  steep,  and  rollying  in  his  heed 
That  stemed  as  a  forneys  of  a  leed.  201 


262         E,  EE,  EA,  EO,  OE,  IE XIV  TH   CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

Here  head,  lead  are  now  both  short  (ned,  led).  They  may  have 
been  both  long  occasionally,  as  bread,  dead  spelled  breed,  deed  147. 
In :  Jerusalem,  a  straunge  streem  465,  both  words  may  have  been 
pronounced  with  (eem).  But  in:  I  holde  my  pees,  al  the prees  5096, 
we  have  either  short  and  long  rhyming,  or  else  a  short  lengthened 
to  rhyme  with  the  long.  In  either  case  the  sound  of  long  e  is 
shewn  to  be  (ee). 

In  the  following  examples  we  have  words  written  in  the  xvi  th 
century  with  ee  and  then  pronounced  (ii),  rhyming  with  words  then 
written  ea  and  pronounced  (ee).  Those  afterwards  written  with  ee 
will  be  italicised  for  distinction  :  ful  lene,  no  calf  j-fsene  593,  this 
cost  (coast)  so  clene,  that  ther  nys  no  ston  j-sene  11307,  his  speche, 
gladly  teche  309,  it  needeth  nat  the  teche,  I  the  byseche  3599, 
wolde  han  caught  a  sleep,  Johan  the  clerk  up  leep  4225,  in  this 
drede,  at  thy  grete  neede  5077,  at  his  feet,  and  of  a  man  he  eet  2049, 
a  child  that  is  i-bete,  went  he  over  the  sir  etc  3757,  in  word  and 
dede,  repentaunce  and  drede  1777,  bodyes  dede,  of  herneys  and  of 
wede  1007,  glorious  for  to  see,  fletyng  in  the  large  see  1957,  with 
leyghen  stepe,  noon  in  chepe  755. 

In  the  next  examples  we  find  ee  rhyming  with  words  which  the 
Latin  rhymes  have  established  to  be  sounded  with  (ee) :  so  as  it 
seined  me,  of  what  degre  39,  so  ofte  of  his  degre,  hadde  he  be  55. 

The  following  are  examples  of  words  written  with  ee  or  simple  e, 
which  were  afterwards  'written  with  ea.  The  ea  words  are 
italicised:  humble  cheer,  ye  schal  heer  2221,  piled  berd,  sore  aferd 
629,  hem  to  wreke,  scholde  speke  963,  breeth,  heeth  5,  as  of  the  deth, 
upon  an  Jieth  608,  agreved  with  here,  to  a  bere  2059,  pite  to  heere, 
Dyane  gan  appeere  2347,  quod  sche,  in  the  salte  see  5527,  in  the 
Greete  see,  hadde  he  be  59,  or  forge  or  bete,  to  counterfete,  13432. 
Those  examples  might  be  greatly  multiplied.  Ea  occurs  in :  for 
ease,  nought  displease  5709,  sche  wolde  vertu  please,  noon  ydel  ease 
8092,  his  spirit  was  at  ease,  nothing  may  me  displease  9507. 

The  use  of  eo  and  oe  is  shewn  by  the  spellings:  theof  13498, 
theves  13499 ;  eorthe  8557,  boef  9295,  poepel  9241,  pepul  2536, 
reproef  10078,  10137,  preef  5829,  reproeve  17002,  repreve  6759, 
these  latter  words  having  generally  simple  e. 

The  following  shew  the  pronunciation  of  ie  as  (ee) :  with  evel 
preef,  a  great  meschief  5829,  al  your  greef,  an  odious  meschief777l, 
a  theef,  mescheef  1327,  me  repreve,  we  believe  6759,  ere  that  it  was 
eve,  made  him  bileve  4993,  and  eek  a  frere,  disshe  and  mat'iere64l8, 
in  this  mater  e,  quod  the  Frere  6421. 

The  following  are  some  instances  of  words  now  spelled  with  ie 
but  apparently  only  written  with  e  in  Chaucer.  See  the  table, 
p.  104.  I  sav^h  no  man  him  greve,  Osewald  the  Reeve  3857,  be 
agreved,  be  releeved  4179,  by  youre  leve,  ye  yow  not  greeve  7395, 
a  frend,  as  a  fend  5825,  loth  or  leef,  an  ivy  leef  1839,  longen  unto 
eelde,  mowen  be  unweelde  3883,  oon  bar  his  scheeld,  in  his  hondes 
heeld  2895.  We  also  find  chierte  5978  for  cherete,  and  whiel  15482 
for  wheel. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.        El  EY,  AI  AY,  AU  AW XIV  TH  CENTURY.  263 

These  rhymes  lead  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
one  general  sound  of  e,  eet  ea,  eo,  oe,  ie  in  Chaucer  was  (ee) 
long  or  (e)  short,  and  they  leave  no  room  to  conclude  that  e 
was  ever  pronounced  as  (i)  except  in  the  prefix  be  which 
we  find  written  indifferently  be  hi.  The  double  forms  lesse 
lasse,  left  lofty  seem  however  to  indicate  that  e  short  wa 
occasionally  pronounced  as  broadly  as  (a) .  In  the  xin  th 
century  this  was  certainly  dialectic,  and  the  various  forms 
may  have  remained  in  use  during  the  xiv  th.  Perhaps  the  e 
was  generally  broad,  as  (E)  rather  than  (e).  In  the  same  way 
we  shall  find  i  short  to  have  been  occasionally  pronounced  as 
(e),  and  this  might  be  rather  held  to  indicate  the  broader 
sound  of  (i),  for  «,  or  the  finer  sound  of  (e)  for  e.  Such 
delicate  distinctions,  difficult  to  appreciate  in  actual  living 
speech,  are  quite  beyond  our  grasp  at  such  a  remote  period, 
and  we  must  be  content  with  one  form  (e)  for  the,  possibly, 
three  forms  (e,  e,  E).  It  is  indeed  very  probable  that  all 
three  coexisted,  and  were  not  discriminated  by  the  speakers 
themselves.  Practically  this  is  the  case  at  present. 


El  EY,  AI  AY,  AU  AW  — XTVTH  CENTURY. 

It  is  needless  to  shew  that  at,  ay  were  generally  (ai)  and  au,  aw 
generally  (au).  They  could  not  have  had  any  other  sound,  as  we 
saw  at  the  conclusion  of  the  last  chapter,  p.  238.  But  whether  any 
distinction  was  made  between  ei  and  ai  may  be  doubtful.  In  the 
greater  part  of  modern  Germany,  ei,  ai  are  both  (ai),  and  they  seem 
to  have  both  had  the  same  sound  in  Chaucer.  Thus  we  have  them 
rhyming  together  in 

That  we  with  pitous  hert  unto  yow  playne 

And  let  youre  eeris  my  vois  not  disdeyne.        7973 

But  playne  is  written  pleyne  in 

He  was  out  cast  to  wo  and  into  peyne. 

0  glotony,  wel  ought  us  on  the  pleyne.         13926 

Again:  I  wot  it  well  certeyn,  I  dar  well  sayn  8185,  may  be 
compared  with :  myn  harmes  not  bewreye,  I  may  not  seye  2231. 
In  13335,  13511  thay  occurs  for  they.  And  generally  the  same 
words  constantly  vary  from  ey  to  ay,  and  conversely,  so  that  the 
phonetic  identity  of  ey,  ay  is  the  only  legitimate  inference.  Thus : 
for  sche  was  feir,  to  maken  hir  his  heir  3975,  what  so  men  jape  or 
pleye,  holden  the  righte  weye  9263,  companyes  tweye,  that  cowthe 
wye  =  say  2591, 

Kepeth  this  child,  al  he  it  foul  or  fair,  .... 
Crist  whan  him  lust  may  sende  me  an  hair 
More  agreable  than  this.  5184 

Well  wiste  he  by  the  drought,  and  by  the  reyn, 
The  yeeldyng  of  his  seed  and  of  his  greyn.        597 


264          EI  EY,  AI  AY,  AU  AW  — XIV  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


And  Venus  faylith  wher  Mercury  is 

Therfor  no  womman  of  clerkes  is  preised.         6287 

Ben  thay  us  seely  men  for  to  desceyve 

And  from  a  soth  euer  wel  thay  weyve  =  they  waive.     10297 

The  assumption  that  ai  was  pronounced  as  (ai)  is  confirmed  by 
the  French  rhyme  :  how  lasteth  hir  vitaille,  no  wight  but  Crist 
sauuzfaile,  it  was  a  gret  mervaile  4919,  and  the  Latin  rhyme,  as  all 
rhymes  with  Scripture  names  must  be  considered:  the  mount 
of  Synay,  fasting  many  a  day,  7469. 

It  would  appear  that  (ai)  was  sometimes  lengthened  and  divided 
into  (aa,i)  forming  a  dissyllable.  Thus  seynt  is  a  monosyllable 
(saint)  in 

For  by  that  lord  that  cleped  is  seynt  Jame.     4262 

But  when  prefixed  to  the  same  name  it  becomes  a  dissyllable 
(saa,int)  in 

Wel  be  we  met,  by  God  and  seint  Jame.          7025 

Where,  however,  by  may  have  been  omitted  after  and.  On  the  same 
principle  I  would  explain 

Hire  grettesfc  ooth  nas  hut  by  seynt  Loy.  120 

That  is  (saa,int  Luu'i),  St.  Louis,  as  Meigret  writes  his  first  name 
Loy s  in  his  Traite  touchant  le  common  vsage,  etc.,  but  Louis  in  his 
phonetic  Trench  Grammar.  Prof.  Child  would  read  othe,  but  this 
form  is  not  well  established. 

I  had  the  printe  of  seynt  Venus  sel.     6186 

That  seynt  Peter  hadde,  when  that  he  wente.    699 

So  also  fair  in 

To  lede  him  forth  into  a  fair  mede.  7621 

And  maistrye  in 

Bachus  had  of  hir  mouth  no  maistrye.  13472 

In  the  four  last  cases  there  is  no  simple  means  of  altering 
the  reading,1  and  on  repeating  the  lines  it  will  be  readily  perceived 
that  this  pronunciation  is  not  at  all  strained,  and  immediately  solves 
their  metrical  difficulties.  In  the  Prisoner's  Prayer,  Chap.  V,  §  1, 
No.  2,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  French  diphthongs  in:  ueine  17, 
mayn  36,  are  given  to  two  musical  notes  each,  though  they  are 
frequently  given  to  single  notes,  and  other  examples  from  Norman 
poems  will  be  found  near  the  end  of  Chap.  Y,  §  1,  No.  3. 

As  compared  with  Salesbury's  observation  that  a  in  ashe  is 
"  thought  to  decline  toward  the  sound  of  the  diphthong  «»',"  it  is 
interesting  to  note  aisshen  3880,  aissches  12735.  Four  words  now 
written  ai  were  either  always  or  occasionally  written  with  e,  ee  and 
hence  pronounced  (ee).  They  are  sustain,  hair,  slay,  strain,  and  I 
have  not  observed  more.  Thus  for  sustain  :  to  susteene,  bright  and 

1  And  sayede  twyes,  Seynt  Mary* !  In  :  a  goune  cloth,  by  God,  by  seint 

Thou  arte  noyouse  for  to  cary<?.    5-226  Johan.     7833 

we  should  probably  read :  Seynte  Marye. '  the  word  and  has  been  probably  omitted 

Compare  before  the  second  by. 
Twelf   pens  ?  quod    sche,   now    lady 
seinte.  Marye.     7186 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.      El  EY,  AI  AY,  AU  AW —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  265 

schene  1995,   sche  myhte  nouht  hir  sustene,  sit  adoun  upon  the 
grene  11173,  o  blisful  queene,  in  my  wyt  susteene  14892, 
Then  nys  ther  noon  comparisoun  bitwene 
Thy  wo,  and  any  woo  may  man  sustene.     5265 

For  hair  (ags.  haer) :  a  tufte  of  heres,  a  souwes  eeres  557,  heer 
677,  heres  1390,  kempt  his  heere,  a  trewe  love  he  beere  3691,  myn 
olde  yeeres,  so  moulyd  as  myn  heeres  3867,  Sampson  left  his  heris, 
kut  hem  with  hir  scheris  6303,  under  his  lange  heris,  tuo  asses 
eeris  6535.  On  the  other  hand  as  we  have  seen  that  heir  is  spelled 
heir  and  -hair.  But  we  have  heire  12061,  for  hair  shirt. 

For  slay  (ags.  slan,  slean,  sleahan) :  or  elles  sle  his  make  2558, 
the  freisshe  beaute  sleeth  me  sodeynly  1120,  for  curs  wol  slee  663, 
hir  self  to  sle,  as  it  thenketh  me  11709. 

The  deer  of  himself  yet  saugh  I  there, 

His  herte-blood  hath  bathed  al  his  here.      2007 

For  strain,  in  the  sense  of  race  (which  is  derived  from  ags.  streon, 
streonan,  strynan,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  other  word 
strain),  we  have 

For  God  it  woot,  that  childer  ofte  been 

TJnlik  her  worthy  eldris  hem  bifore  ; 

Bounte  cometh  al  of  God,  nought  of  the  streen 

Of  which  thay  been  engendrid  and  i-bore.       8031 

Strain,  hair,  slay,  are  clearly  not  proper  instances  of  ai  pronounced 
as  (ee),  but  rather  examples  of  a  subsequently  inserted  *.  But 
susteene  would  have  naturally  appeared  as  smteigne,  as  we  have 
atteigne  8323. 

Connected  with  this  is  the  converse  use  of  (ai)  for  (ee)  or  (e), 
thus:  fleissh  147  for  flessh,  have  ye  not  seye  5065  for  seen',  and 
wayke  ben  the  oxen  889,  this  weyke  woman  5352,  to  arreyse,  at  eyse 
7683  for  ease.  That  the  word  was  then  really  pronounced  (aiz'e) 
and  not  (eez'e),  appears  not  only  from  this  rhyme,  but  from  the 
following  lines  in  Gower,  where  Pauli  incorrectly  prints  ese ;  the 
orthography  is  that  of  the  Soc.  Ant.  MS.  134  : 

Whyche  hadde  be  feruant  to  Thaife 

So  ]>at  fche  was  J?e  worfe  at  ayfe.       iii  320 

AnfwereJ?  and  faye]?  my  name  is  Thayfe 

That  was  fuw  tyme  wel  at  ayfe.         iii  332 

The  use  of  fleissh,  wayk ]  is  not  so  easy  to  explain,  but  eyse,  freissh 
367,  1120,  lurgeys  371,  paleys  2201,  2697,  9585,  10374,  herneys 
2498,  harneys  3760  are  rather  direct  representatives  of  ai,  oi  in 
French,  the  latter  being  changed  into  ei  in  Norman  French,  so  we 
have  in  the  rhymes  to  the  two  last  instances  palfreys  2497,  Gerneys 
3759  and  de-ys  9585  =  dais.  This  is  an  argument  in  favour  of  the 
Norman  pronunciation  (ai)  for  ei. 

We  find  say  for  saw  8543,  9810,  13642,  16600  and  elsewhere, 
and  in  the  same  way  we  now  have  a  saw  for  a  saying. 

The  sound  of  au  is  of  course  generally  (au),  as  is  confirmed  by 

1  It  is  remarkable  that  both  words  Compare  fleyes  Eel.  Ant.  i,  22,  Jleiss, 
have  mn  Modern  German/mcA,  weich.  ib.  57,  and  verier  in  Icelandic. 


266  O,  OO,  OA  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

the  French  rhyme :  to  make  hir  alliaunce,  him  happede  par  cJiaunce 
14020,  but  the  name  of  St.  Paul,  especially  when  applied  to  the 
cathedral  church,  was  pronounced  with  (oou)  as  we  have  found  for 
this  particular  case  in  the  xvith  century  (p.  145).  The  orthography 
by  seint  Paules  belle  16266  is  very  unusual  and  probably  erroneous, 
we  have  :  seynte  Poules,  chaunterie  for  soules  511,  in  Petres  wordes 
and  in  Poules,  cristen  mennes  soules  7401,  with  Powles  wyndowes 
corven  on  his  schoos  3318,  after  the  text  of  Crist,  and  Powel  and 
Jon  7229, 

Of  this  matier,  0  Poul,  wel  canstow  trete. 
Mete  unto  wombe,  and  wombe  unto  mete, 
Schal  God  destroyen  bothe,  as  Powel  saith.  13938 

The  most  singular  interchange,  however,  is  that  of  (au)  with  (ee). 
Gill  complained  of  his  MopsaB  saying  (leen)  for  (laun)  (p.  91),  but 
200  years  before  that  time  we  find  :  for  leeful  is  with  force  force  to 
schowve  3910,  in  mullok  or  in  stree,  so  fare  we  3871,  of  the  stree, 
of  the  realite  5121  and  elsewhere.  The  two  forms  straw,  stre  are 
due  of  course  to  ags.  straw,  strea.  But  lee  must  be  a  form  of  lay, 
as  ese  of  ayse.  The  form  lay  for  law  occurs,  for  the  rhyme,  in : 
on  a  day,  that  sche  wold  reney  hir  lay  4795,  and  must  be  due  to 
the  French  loi,  lei,  while  law  must  come  from  the  ags.  lah.  The 
interchange  was  therefore  not  phonetic,  but  etymologic. 

Hence  we  conclude  that  El,  Al  were  always  (ai),  and  AU 
was  always  (au)  in  the  xiv  th  century. 


0,  00,  OA  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

0  long  and  oo  must  be  considered  as  the  same  letter  in  Chaucer. 
The  regular  sound  was  (oo),  as  shewn  by  the  Latin  rhyme, 
For  though  a  widewe  hadde  but  oo  schoo 
So  plesaunt  was  his  Inprincipio 
Yet  wolde  he  haue  a  ferthing  or  he  wente,     253 

whether  the  sound  was  (oo]  or  (oo)  is  of  course  open  to  the  same 
difficulty  as  in  the  xvi  th  century,  but  the  perfect  agreement  of  long 
and  short  vowels,  turns  the  balance  strongly  in  favour  of  (oo), 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  original  Latin  sound. 

The  sound  of  scho  gives  that  of  do  by :  may  nought  do,  is  not 
worth  a  scho  6289,  which  gives  to,  therto,  a  hoo,  by :  oon  hole  to 
sterte  to,  than  is  al  i-do  6155,  he  addid  yit  therto,  what  schulde 
yren  doo  501, 

An  herowd  on  a  skaffold  made  a  hoo 

Til  al  the  noyse  of  the  pepul  was  i-doo.     2535 

After  this  we  may  feel  tolerably  certain  of  the  sound  of  long  o 
and  its  identity  with  that  of  oo  =  (oo).  The  following  examples 
are  however  worth  attention :  of  symony  also,  did  he  grettest  woo 
6892,  never  the  mo,  tel  me  who  6273,  for  he  saith  us  soth,  that  so 
doth  6523,  ever  in  oon,  thought  anoon  1773,  as  stille  as  stoon, 
for  ther  ascapith  noon,  as  we  knowe  every chon  7997,  al  ther  sche 
goth,  I  have  no  thrifty  cloth  5819,  a  fan  right  large  and  brood, 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  O,  00,  OA  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  267 

lay  his  jolly  schood  3315,  his  eyghen  grey  as  goos,  corven  on 
his  schoos  3317,  God  amend  it  soone,  ye  wot  what  is  to  doone  7775, 
whan  he  awook,  he  the  lettre  took  5226, 

Tel,  quod  the  lord,  and  thou  schalt  have  anoon 
A  goune  cloth,  by  God,  by  seint  Johan.1         7833 
And  every  statute  couthe  he  pleyn  by  roote 
He  rood  but  hoomly  in  a  medled  coote.     329 
Wei  may  men  knowe,  but  it  be  a  fool, 
That  every  partye  dyryveth  from  his  hool.       3007 

As  then  oo  seems  to  be  always  (oo)  we  must  assume  wooH  =  mad, 
often  spelt  wod,  wode,  to  have  had  (oo)  and  hence  conclude  the 
same  of  Mood,  stood,  good  from  the  rhymes :  upon  a  carte  stood, 
grym  as  we  were  wood  2043,  jalous  and  eke  wood,  wel  neyh  al  the 
blood  1331,  that  is  so  good,  of  blood  2565.  The  change  of  long  o 
into  (tm),  developed  in  the  xvith  century,  had  therefore  not  yet 
occurred. 

But  did  short  o  always  represent  (o)  ?  Generally  it  did  so,  but 
there  must  have  been  exceptions.  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine 
an  interregnum  of  (o)  between  two  reigns  of  (u).  It  will  be  shewn 
soon  that  ou  represented  long  (uu)  and  but  rarely  short  (u)  for 
which  certainly  u  was  available,  but  nevertheless  o  seems  to  have 
been  often  employed.  Thus  we  have 

Out  her  for  ye  han  kept  your  honeste, 

Other  elles  for  ye  hau  falle  in  frelete.     13492 

So  that  in  two  consecutive  lines  ou,  o  are  used  in  the  same  word ; 
in  the  Knightes  Tale  Palamon  seems  to  have  had  either  (o)  or  (u) 
to  suit  the  rhyme,  as  :  oon,  Palamon  1015,  doun,  Palamon  1072, 
prisoun,  Palamon  1453,  1469,  Palamon,  opynyoun  1481,  while  we 
have  the  orthography:  doun,  Palamoun  1517.  Again:  he  might 
not  lenger  sojourne,  homward  most  he  tome  6569,  had  I  not  done 
a  frendes  torn  to  the  14230,  for  fere  of  beres  or  of  boles  blake  = 
butts  16421,  i-lyk  to  the  stremes  of  borned  liete  =  burned  13453, 
bokeler  112,  asonder,  thonder  493. 

The  fact  is  that  short  (u)  is  comparatively  rarely  represented  by 
u,  perhaps  among  other  reasons  because  short  u  was  as  we  shall  see, 
frequently  called  (i)  or  (e),  as  in  our  modern  words  busy,  bury,  so 
that  except  in  certain  very  well  known  words  there  might  be  more 
error  induced  by  writing  u  than  by  writing  o.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances I  have  been  compelled  to  adopt  a  theory,  indicated  at 
the  commencement  of  the  last  paragraph,  and  I  consider  short  o  to  be 
(u)  in  all  those  words  where  it  replaces  a  former  u,  and  was  in  the 
xvi  th  century  pronounced  (u) ;  that  is,  as  a  practical  rule  where  it 
is  now  called  (a).  There  will  be  exceptions  to  this  practical  rule, 
thus  word  is  now  (waid)  and  Bullokar  makes  it  (wurd)  but  in 
Chaucer  it  was  (woord)  as  we  see  from 

But  al  for  nought,  he  herde  nat  o  word, 

An  hole  he  fond  right  lowe  upon  the  boord.     3439 

There  might  seem  to  have'  been  another  sound  of  short  0  in  a  few 
1  Johan,  written  Jon,  7229,  is  regularly  a  monosyllable. 


268  01,  OY  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IY.  §  2. 

words,  compare  the  uses :  hadde  we  on  honde,  my  fourth  housbonde 
6033,  to  withstonde,  thral  and  bonde  7241,  in  londe,  to  telle  it  wol 
I  fonde  15295,  as  liked  Cristes  sonde,  approched  unto  londe.  5322.* 
In  comparing  this  o  in  place  of  a  in  land,  withstand,  hvsband,  with 
oa  in  loande  in  the  Proclamation  of  Henry  III.,  and  with  the  inter- 
change of  a  and  o  in  northern  and  southern  dialects,  the  use  of  nat 
for  not  frequently  by  Chaucer,  and  later  by  Palsgrave,  it  was  easy 
to  imagine  the  pronunciation  (a)  or  (ah)  as  an  intermediate  sound, 
which  the  scribe  did  not  know  whether  to  represent  by  o  or  a. 
Thus  Englishmen  now  confuse  Scotch  (m«n)  or  (m«hn),  and  Irish 
(sflhr)  with  their  (mon,  sor),  and  write  them  mon,  sorr  =  man,  sir. 
But  this  conjecture  will  not  explain  such  rhymes  as  the  above.  As 
bonde,  sonde  must  have  had  (o)  and  housbonde  ought  to  have  it,  we 
must  read  (o)  in  londe,  stonde,  and  in  stronde  and  elsewhere,  compare  : 
straunge  strondes,  sondry  londes  13. 

I  have  not  noted  any  instance  of  the  combination  oa,  but  some 
cases  may  have  escaped  me.  The  modern  oa  is  replaced  regularly 
by  oo  or  o  as:  goot  690,  loot  9298,  brode  2919,  loode  2920,  ook 
10473  for  goat,  boat,  broad,  load,  oak. 

The  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  long  o  or  oo  in  Chaucer 
was  (oo),  that  short  o  was  generally  (o),  but  occasionally  (u), 
the  latter  cases  being  those  in  which  there  was  a  previous 
Anglo-Saxon  (u),  and  a  xvith  century  (u),  now  become  (a). 


01,  OY  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

This  is  a  rare  diphthong  and  its  sound  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
established  by  the  rhyme.  If  the  identification  of  Loy  120  with 
Lays,  that  is,  Louis,  be  correct,  then:  ful  symple  and  coy,  by  seint 
Loy  119,  should  give  (kuui)  as  the  sound  of  coy.  In  my  article  on 
the  Diphthong  OY  (Trans,  of  Phil.  Soc.,  1867,  Supp.  part  I.),  I 
have  given  reasons  for  supposing  (ui)  or  (uui)  to  have  been  the 
original  sound  of  this  diphthong,  which  we  have  seen  was  fre- 
quently so  pronounced  in  the  xvi  th  century.  Thus  Hart  gives  the 
sound  (buee)  for  loy  (p.  133),  and  if  we  interpret  this  as  (bui)  or 
(buui),  the  above  pronunciation  of  Loy  is  confirmed  by  the  rhyme. 
That  was  wel  twight,  myn  oughne  lyard,  boy, 
I  pray  God  save  thy  body  and  seint  Loy.  7143 

The  word  boist  13722  is  merely  the  French  boiste  now  boite,  box, 
which  historically  would  have  the  sound  (buiste),  and  in  our  bushel, 
Fr.  boisseau,  which  Chaucer  writes  luisshel  4310,  we  have  preserved 
the  (u)  of  the  original.     The  two  spellings  boist,  buisshel  seem  to 
shew  two  ways  of  writing  the  same  sound,  the  writer,  accustomed  to 
use  either  o  or  u  for  short  (u)  hesitating  between  them.    This  is  still 
more  plainly  shewn  by  the  double  orthography  of  the  word  destroy. 
It  doth  no  good,  to  my  wit,  but  anoyeth 
See  yo  nouht,  lord,  how  mankind  it  destroyeth  *    11187 

1  Sonde  5245  rhymes  with  grounde,  indicating  the  pronunciation  (sund-e). 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  01,  OY  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  269 

Where  anoyeth  most  probably  had  the  old  sound  (ammi'eth),  and 
destroy  eth  is  used  to  make  the  spelling  agree  with  its  rhyming  word. 
But  where  this  motive  did  not  act  we  find  uy  written,  as 
That  hath  destruyed  wel  neyh  al  the  blood.     1332 
How  he  destruyed  the  ryuer  of  Gysen.  7662 

And  in  the  prose  tale  of  Melibeus  (Wright's  ed.,  p.  159,  col.  2, 
1.  32,  Morris's  ed.  3'172,  1.  13) :  by  vengeaunce  takynge  be  wikked 
men  destruyed. 

The  words:  fruit  destroy  i  137  are  written  in  Harl.  3869  and 
3490  fruit  destruie,  in  Harl.  7184  fruit  destroie,  and  in  Soc.  Ant. 
MS.  134,  frute  destriue,  the  last  being  clearly  a  mistake  for  destruie. 
It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  combination  ui  was  pronounced  in 
the  same  way  in  both  words.  The  last  is  the  more  common 
spelling  of  fruit,  viz.  frute  =  (fryyt).  The  same  MSS.  in  the  same 
order  read  in  i  140  despuiled,  despoiled,  despuiled,  despuiled. 
From  these  readings,  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  (ui)  was  the  sound 
meant,  but  that  the  writing  oy  was  preferred,  short  o  having  as  we 
have  seen  (p.  267),  very  commonly  the  sound  (u)  or  («),  because 
ui  rather  suggested  the  sound  (yy).  Probably  oui  was  not  employed, 
because  ou  rather  suggested  the  long  sound  (uu).1  Thus  acloyeth 
anoyeth  4 '68,  encloied  annoied  ii  47,  must  refer  to  a  Trench  acloue, 
encloue,  and  hence  ought  to  have  been  written  oui  and  to  have 
had  the  sound  (ui),  which  they  therefore  lead  us  to  infer  in  annoy. 
See  also  the  sound  of  (ui)  cropping  up  even  in  the  xvi  th  century 
(pp.  131  sqq.).  But  this  was  probably  not  the  only  sound  of  words 
generally  written  oy  in  the  xiv  th  century.  The  French  oi  was  as 
we  have  seen  (p.  130),  pronounced  (OE,  ue)  with  the  stress  on  the 
second  element,  which  was  generally  converted  into  English  as  (ue, 
u«)  with  the  stress  on  the  first  element,  but  Gower  probably  retained 
the  French  pronunciation  when  he  invented  the  rhymes  :  ioye 
monoie  ii  147,  Troie  monoie  ii  188>  (p.  253).  On  the  other  hand, 
the  ISTorman  ei,  pronounced  originally  perhaps  (ei),  but,  on  account 
of  its  interchange  with  ai  in  the  xrv  th  century,  pronounced  in  the 
same  way  (ai)  at  that  time,  see  Chap.  V,  §  1,  No.  3,  regularly 
replaced  the  French  oi,  so  that  many  French  oi  appear  as  ey  in 
Chaucer.  In:  Gregois  vois  iii  188,  the  oi  was  probably  the  usual 
(ui),  just  as  in:  chois  vois  ii  181,  206.  But  Harl.  3869  writes: 
gregeis  curteis  ii  238,  and  considering  that  the  latter  was  the  usual 
form  of  this  word,  the  reading  is  probably  correct.  If  any  depend- 
ence can  be  placed  on  the  readings  of  the  Hunterian  MS.  of  the 
Romaunt  of  the  Rose  (p.  252),  this  must  be  the  explanation  of  : 
joynt  queynt  6 -62-3,  annoy  away  6 -82,  joye  conveye  6*89,  but  the 
passages  are  probably  corrupt.3  In  the  Canterbury  Tales  there 

1  It  might  have  suggested  a  division  et  ne  sont  pas,  par  consequent,  une 

of  the  diphthong  into  two  syllables.  triphthongue." 

Beza    (Livet,    p.    523)   says  of   oui :          *  It  must  not  be  assumed  that  this 

"  Quand  ces  trois  lettres  sont  placees  is  the  origin  of  (ai)  in  a  well  known 

devant  II,  Yi  sert  settlement  a  prevenir  vulgarism,  as  (bail,  paint,  dzhaint)  for 

le  lecteur  qu'il  faut  mouillec  II;  par-  boil,  point,  joint,  because  this  was   a 

tout  ailleurs  oui  forment  deux  syUabes,  mere   regular  xvn  th    century  trans- 


I,  Y XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

seems  to  be  no  instance  where  (ui,  ue)  might  not  be  used,  with 
the  stress  on  the  first  element,  and  the  modern  English  (AI,  oi)  is  so 
limited  geographically,  and  appears  to  be  so  modern,  that  it  would 
be  merely  truckling  to  present  habits  to  introduce  it  into  Chaucer. 

We  must  therefore  conclude  that  the  most  general  pro- 
nunciation of  01  in  the  xiv  th  Century,  was  (ui) . 


I,  Y  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

It  will  probably  prove  the  most  difficult  conclusion  for  the 
reader  to  admit,  that  long  i  in  Chaucer's  time  had  not  that  diph- 
thongal sound  (ai)  with  which  we  are  so  familiar,  and  which  we 
have  since  the  xvr  th  century  at  least,  recklessly  introduced  into  our 
pronunciation  of  Latin  and  Greek,  and  into  our  method  of  reading 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Gothic.  The  belief  that  long  i  was  anciently  (ai) 
or  (ai)  is  not  simply  shared  by  those  only  acquainted  with  modern 
English,  it  is  adopted  by  men  eminent  for  their  knowledge  of  the 
older  languages.  To  assert,  then,  that  so  recently  as  the  xivth 
century  this  sound  (ai),  now  so  universal,  in  different  modifications, 
was  never  associated  with  the  letter  *,  is  a  thesis  which  will  require 
ample  justification.  As  regards  the  present  writer  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  before  he  began  his  researches  he  simply  wondered 
whether  it  was  possible  to  establish  any  conclusion  whatever,  that 
he  inclined  to  the  supposition  of  (ai)  or  (ai),1  and  that,  even  after 
having  established  the  general  pronunciation  (ii),  misled  as  he  now 
believes  by  an  isolated  instance,  he  for  a  long  time  imagined  that 
he  could  point  to  a  whole  class  of  words  in  which  long  i  had  the 
sound  of  (ai).  A  rhyme  in  Gower  first  induced  him  to  reconsider 
this  conclusion,  and  he  then  undertook  the  examination  of  the 
rhymes  in  the  whole  poetical  works  of  Chaucer,  in  addition  to  the 
Canterbury  Tales,  and  in  Gower' s  Confessio  Amantis,  with  the  sole 
view  of  discovering  something  which  might  help  to  decide  the  point, 
and  he  examined  or  caused  to  be  examined  all  the  available  manus- 
cripts containing  the  passage  in  question,2  seventeen  in  number,  to 
see  whether  there  were  not  suificient  orthographic  variants  to  render 
it  doubtful.  He  also  made  inquiries  into  various  existing  dialectic 

formation  of  the  xvi  th  century  (buil,  the  pronunciation  of  the  account  of  the 

puint,  dzhuint),  see  p.  134.     The  Dor-  Prioresse,    117-162   in  my   Essentials 

eetshire  (pwaint,  bwail)  etc.  is  prohahly  of  Phonetics,  1848, 1  find  (ai)  given  in : 

a  descendant  of  (pmYnt,  hunl)  etc.  the  smiling,  by,  wiped,  eyen,  I,  and  (ii)  in  : 

stress  falling  OH  the  second  element,  prioresse,  hire,  Eglentine,  service,  de- 

which  then  became  transformed  from  vine,     swetely     etc.,    Paris,    curtesie, 

(ii}  to  (ei,  ai,  ai)  as  almost  all  other  digne,  tretis. 
accented  long  (ii)  in  that  dialect,  cheem, 

sheen  for  chime,  shine  being  the   only  2  Quoth  the  chanoun,  and  far  wel, 

exceptions  noted  by  Mr.  Barnes  (Poems  graunt  mercy. 

of  Hural  Life,  1848,  p.  28.  He  went  his  way,  and  never  the  priest 

him  sey. 

1  In  a  theoretical  attempt  to  assign  After  this  day.     13308. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  271 

pronunciations,  of  long  i  and  the  pronoun  Jin  England  and  Scotland1 
to  see  what  corroboration  there  was  for  any  theory  on  the  subject. 
These  various  researches  have  led  to  one  conclusion,  already  antici- 
pated as  the  only  possible  explanation  of  Palsgrave's  and  Bullokar's 
otherwise  enigmatical  treatment  of  the  letter  i  (pp.  110,  114), 
namely  that 

The  vowel  i  in  the  xivth  century  was  probably  called  (ii) 
when  long,  and  (i)  when  short. 

The  sounds  of  (ii,  i)  as  distinguished  from  (ii,  i),  the  true  Italian 
vowels,  have  been  already  carefully  considered  (p.  106).  The  first 
point  which  strikes  an  Englishman  in  endeavouring  to  teach  the 
common  short  sound  (*)  to  a  foreigner,  is  that  the  latter  most 
generally  confuse  it  with  (e,  e),  p.  83.  The  words  in  French 
final  -te,  the  representatives  of  the  Latin  -tas,  and  similar  words, 
Chaucer  still  distinctly  pronounced  (-te,  -tee),  etc.,  rhyming  them 
with  he,  me,  we,  be,  see,  three,  degree,  as  :  be  chastite  2237,  charite 
me  1723,  we  felicite  1267,  he  faculte  243,  vanite  thre  3833,  degre 
destyne  1843,  destene  be  1467,  possibility  free  1293,  subtilitees 
bees  10295,  citee  iniquite  941,  adversite  parde  1313,  thentre  see 
1985.  In  all  these  cases  we  now  use  (-i),  and  it  is  curious  to  trace 
the  change  in  the  spelling.  Promptorium  1440,  chastyte,  charyte, 
faculte,  vanite,  desteyne  destenye,2  cyte,  entre.  Palsgrave  1530, 
chastyte,  charyte,  vanyte,  desteny,  cytie,  entre  =  entree,  entrye  = 
auant  portail,  entry  =  introite.  Levins,  1570,  chastitie,  facultie, 
vanitie,  destenie,  citie,  entrie,  and  he  classes  -ie,  -ye,  -y  as  identical 
endings.  We  have  here  then  an  example  of  the  change  of  (-e)  into 
(-i)  while  any  living  Frenchmen  will  prove  that  the  best  way  to 
teach  him  to  pronounce  pity  (pit*)  is  to  tell  him  to  consider  it  as 
written,  in  French  letters,  pete  (pete).  Again  in  Scotland  the  short 
i  in  closed  syllables  is  almost  invariably  pronounced  (e),  our  words 
ill,  pit,  lid,  bit  becoming  (el,  pet,  bed,  bet),  but  are  saved  from  any 
confusion  with  ell,  pet,  bed,  bet  because  a  Scotchman  calls  the  latter 
(E!,  pEt,  bEd,  bst).  In  Scotland  moreover  (ii)  is  considered  to  occur. 
But  when  Mr.  Murray  pronounced  some  words  to  me  in  which  he 
thought  he  said  (ii),  and  which  he  writes  weade,  beate,  keate,  I 
seemed  to  hear  rather  (ee)  than  (ii).  In  examining  Cooper's  vowel 
system,  1685  (p.  83),  we  were  led  to  consider  his  pair  will,  weal  to 
mean  (w«l,  weel)  rather  than  (w«l  ww'l),  that  is,  Cooper  classed  as 
(ii)  a  sound  which  in  the  general  opinion  of  other  writers  was  (ee) 
or  (ee). 

These  facts  serve  to  shew  that  (ii,  i)  are  now  often  confused  with 

1  He  is  particularly  indebted  to  the  ingly  answered  a  general  invitation  in 

elaborate   observations   of  Mr    James  the  Athenaum  to  give  the  author  in- 

A.  H.  Murray,  F.E.I.S.,  of  the  Philo-  formation    on    this    point,   by   which 

logical  Society,  on  the  Scotch  dialects  traces  of  the  older  pronunciation,  as 

which  were  kindly  placed  at  his  dis-  he    believes,  have  been   unexpectedly 

posal,  and  had  their  value  enhanced  by  brought  to  light, 

oral  explanation  and  pronunciation  of  3  This  is  the  reading  of  one  MS., 

the  difficulties.     One  lady  and  several  and  is   probably  erroneous,  as  indeed 

gentlemen  from  different  parts  of  Eng-  desteyne  for  destene  would  appear  to  be. 
land  (p.  277,  n.  1)  have  also  most  oblig- 


272  I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

(ee,  e,  e),  and  hence  we  should  be  led  to  expect,  if  there  be  any 
truth  in  the  theory  advanced  that  we  should  not  unfrequently  find 
i,  e  confused  by  the  scribe,  and  allowed  to  rhyme  by  the  poet,  both 
when  long  and  short.  Cases  of  the  short  vowel  are  not  uncommon, 
for  example:  list  best  6819,  list  rest  9299,  abrigge  alegge  9531, 
abregge  tallegge  3001,  pulpit  i-set  13806,  shitte  lette  14660,  blesse 
kesse  8428,  schert,  hert  9757,  yett  witt  4'117.  Cases  of  the  long 
vowel  also  occur,  as:  swere  hire  11101,  12076,  geven1  lyven  917, 
enquere  lere  5049,  there  requere  6633,  enquere  were  8646,  afered 
requered  4'244,2matere  desire  4'333,  desire  manere  6'85,  lere  desire 
6-143,  and  in  Gower,  her  sir  i  161,  here  spire  i  198,  yere  fire, 
i  302.  These  rhymes  are  not  only  reconcilable  with  the  theory 
that  (ii,  i)  were  the  usual  and  proper  sounds  of  i,  but  are  exactly 
what  we  should  expect  from  the  mistakes  which  occur  at  the 
present  day.  If  indeed  long  i  had  been  pronounced  (ei)  and  the 
first  element  had  been  slightly  lengthened,  as  (eei),  we  should  get 
a  sound  almost  identical  with  a  pronunciation  of  long  a  now  much 
in  use  in  London.3  In  this  case  the  rhyme  might  also  appear  to  be 
explained.  But  this  theory  would  not  account  for  writing  a  simple 
e  for  long  i ;  we  should  rather  expect  to  find  ey,  and  this  never 
occurs  except  in  a  few  words,  as  eye,  high,  die,  dry,  sly,  etc. 
to  be  especially  considered  presently,  in  which  there  is  every 
reason  to  conclude  that  there  was  a  double  pronunciation. 
Hence  the  specimens  of  long  i  rhyming  to  long  e,  and  being  fre- 
quently replaced  by  long  e,  throw  great  difficulty  in  assuming  any 
diphthongal  sound  for  long  i,  and  tend  greatly  to  confirm  the 
hypothesis  that  the  sound  was  not  pure  (ii),  but  such  a  modification 
of  it,  as  would  easily  fall  into  (ee),  namely  (ii).  Add  to  which 
there  is  the  negative  evidence  that  long  i  does  not  rhyme  to  ey,  ay 
and  that,  except  in  the  few  cases  of  a  double  pronunciation,  long  i  is 
never  written  ey  by  an  error  of  the  scribe  in  any  decent  manuscript. 
There  are  a  number  of  words  of  French  origin  which  have  now 
the  accent  on  the  penultim  or  antepenultim,  but  which  were  used 
as  if  with  an  accent  on  the  last  or  penultim  respectively,  in  Chaucer's 
verses.  In  the  French  language  when  these  syllables,  which  are 
now  unaccented,  had  the  vowel  i,  it  was  pronounced  (i)  or  (ii),  and 
it  would  be  difficult  to  suppose  that  Chaucer,  who  was  familiar 
with  French,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  the  times  as  shewn  by  the  con- 
temporary practice  of  Gower,  was  introducing  it  into  English,  could 
have  changed  the  French  sound  and  have  pronounced  the  words 
with  (ai)  Still  more  difficult  would  it  be  to  suppose,  that  at  a 
time  when  the  (ai)  or  (ei)  or  (oi)  pronunciation  of  long  i  was 

1  This  is  from  the  ags.  form  geofan,  when  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  visited  a 
and  is  therefore  not  an  instance  of  e  school  at  Tenby,  Pembrokeshire,  where 
written  for  «,  hut  of  e  long  rhyming  an    ancient  Flemish   colony  seems  to 
with  i  long.  have  materially  affected  the  language 

2  The  French  forms  sufficiently  ex-  and  pronunciation  of  the  people,  the 

plain  the  termination  -quen.  ch^en  ^ /?»*  ^™}i?  ™  .distin- 

guishmg  his /ate  (fait)  from  their  Jight 

3  A  correspondent  informs  me  that      (feit). 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  273 

common,  as  at  the  close  of  the  xv  th  and  beginning  of  the  xvi  th 
century,  it  should  have  been  deliberately  rejected  from  these  words, 
and  replaced  by  («')  when  the  accent  was  thrown  back  permanently. 
But  we  know  that  such  words  had  (i)  in  the  XYI  th  century,  arid 
that  this  sound  has  continued  to  the  present  day.  For  my  own 
part  I  cannot  force  myself  to  suppose  that  i  in  the  last  syllable  of 
the  following  words  ever  had  any  other  sound  but  (ii,  i,  ii,  i) : 
Venise,  lycorise,  coveytise,  servyse,  justise,  merite,  Evaungiles, 
malice,  sangwyn,  famyn,  Latyn,  Jankyn,  opposit,  superlatif,  motif, 
Phisik,  ypocrite,  practike,  riche,  cherice,  office,  Cupide,  visite, 
avarice,  cowardyse,  Ovide,  authentik,  sybil,  retorike,  magike,  cubit, 
Virgile,  famyne,  ruyne,  apprentys,  relyke,  doctrine,  profit,  positife, 
peril,  musike,  chronique,  inquisitife,  mechanique,  elixir,  olive,  etc., 
etc. ;  or  that  the  i  was  ever  diphthongal  in  the  penultim  of:  possible, 
digestible,  fusible,  etc.,  etc.  Now  if  we  admit  that  i  in  these 
words  was  (i)  or  (ii\  or  if  we  even  allow  it  to  have  had  the  purer 
French  sounds  (ii,  i), — and  there  is  absolutely  no  ground  whatever 
for  any  other  conjecture,  and  great  reason  for  this, — we  have  gone 
a  long  way  to  prove  that  long  *  in  Chaucer  was  (ii)  or  (ii),  and  was 
not  (ei,  ai,  ai).  For  in  the  first  place  these  words  rhyme  as 
having  long  vowels,  and  rhyme  with  words  which  are  by  no  means 
always  French,  and  which  in  modern  pronunciation  have  (ai),  and 
had  generally  received  (ei)  by  the  xvi  th  century.  That  is,  from 
undoubted  cases  of  long  (ii)  or  (ii),  we  are  led  to  infer  that  the 
rhyming  words  had  also  long  (ii)  and  not  (oi,  ei,  ai).  If  at  present 
we  saw  machine  rhyming  with  seen,  we  certainly  should  rather 
conclude  that  the  i  in  the  first  word  was  (ii),  than  that  the  ee  in 
the  second  word  was  (ai),  and  we  should  never  dream  of  rhyming 
mine,  seen,  even  in  these  lax  rhyming  times.  Perhaps  even 
Butler  has  not  such  a  rhyme  in  his  Hudibras.1  Hence  it  is  of  great 
importance  to  study  and  weigh  the  rhymes  to  the  words  just  cited. 
They  are  as  follows  :  and  to  Yenise,  were  to  devyse  7927,  at  point 
devys,  cheweth  greyn  and  lycoris  3689,  which  I  shall  devyse,  augur 
coveytise  3881,  ther  any  profyt  should  arise,  lowe  of  servyse  249, 
for  that  thay  ben  wyse,  sittyng  as  as  a  justise  6609,  so  wel  to  write, 
do  me  endite,  thurgh  hire  merite  11958,  i- write  with  evaungiles,  in 
the  mene  whiles  5085,  to  pitous  and  to  nyce,  of  his  crouned  malice 
10838,  he  was  sangwyn,  a  sop  of  wyn  335,  sterve  for  famyn,  licour 
of  wyn  13866,  wel  dronken  hadde  the  wyn,  he  speke  no  word  but 
Latyn  639,  oure  apprentys  Jankyn,  schynyng  as  gold  so/yw  5885, 
a  gate  of  marbul  whit,  another  in  opposit  1895,2in  gre  superlatif,  an 
humble  wyf  9249,  of  me  tak  this  motif,  a  court  man  al  my  lyf  9365, 
Doctour  of  Phisik,  he  was  ther  non  him  lyk  413,  to  byte,  ypocrite 
10826,  of  youre  practike,  syns  it  may  yow  like  5769,  solempne  and 
so  riche,  was  there  noon  it  liche  10375,  cherice  vice  4*148,  nyce 
vyce  cherice  4*182,  office  vice  4*283,  cupide  tdbide  gyde  4*298-9,  cryede 

1  On  p.  16  of  the  Grammar  of  1713,  sense  of  rhythm,  accent,  quantity  or 
supra  p.  47.  we  find  incline  rhyming  for  rhyme  seems  to  vanish,  p.  275,  note  3. 
the  nonce  with  magazine  and  join,  but  2  Compare  the  modern  names  Whitby 
when  memorial  lines  are  attempted,  all  and  Whitsunday,  hoth  from  white. 

18 


274  I,  y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IY.  §  2. 

glide  Cupide  4*349,  Cupide  syde  5*25,  beside  Cupide  abide  6*238, 
Cupide  side  i  160,  Cupide  guide  1328,  Ovide  Cupide  iii  351,  vysite 
wyte  4-227,  visite  delite  myte  4*328,  avarice  vice  4*298,  emprise 
cowardyse  4*324,  slyde  Ovide  5*172,  Ovide  wide  5*254,  lyke 
autentyke  5*188,  Sybile  yle  5*22,  retorike  lyke  5*235,  magike  syke 
5*248,  lyte  cubite  5*251,  Yirgile  while  5*254,  famyne  ruyne  5*269, 
apprentys  wys  6*22,  relyke  /yfo  6*82,  doctrine  discipline  6*146, 
profite  myte  6*176,  positife  strife  i  12,  vile  peril  i33,  musike  beswike 
i  58,  cronique  like  i  145,  inquisitife  life  i  226,  rnechanique  like  iii  142, 
,/Sr*  elixir  ii  86,  Hive  olive  ii  266. 

If  that  were  possible,  and  more  penyble  8589,  digestible,  on  the 
Bible  439,  in  the  Bible,  it  is  an  impossible  6269,  on  the  Bible,  so 
redy  and  so  penyble  7427,  metal  fusible,  wold  passen  eny  bible 
12784. 

The  last  cited  rhymes  to  Bible  were  the  first  which  gave  me  any 
hope  of  being  able  to  discover  the  pronunciation  of  Chaucer,  ap- 
proximately, by  a  study  of  his  rhymes.  The  above  list  does  not  con- 
tain by  any  means  all  the  rhymes  of  this  sort  which  I  have  noted 
as  important ;  but  it  is  obviously  sufficient  to  establish  that  in  the 
words :  devyse,  devys,  arise,  wyse,  write,  endite,  whiles,  nyce,  wyn, 
fyn,  whit,  wyf,  lyf,  lyk,  byte,  vice,  abide,  gyde,  cryede,  glide,  side, 
beside,  delyte,  myte,  wide,  yle,  while,  strife,  vile,  fire,  &c,  all  of 
which  have  now  (ai),  the  i  could  not  have  been  diphthongal  in 
Chaucer's  time.  And  these  words  admitted,  determine  so  many 
others,  that  the  proposition  might  almost  be  considered  proved ; 
but  it  is  one  which  many  will  find  so  difficult  to  believe  that  it 
is  worth  while  accumulating  proofs. 

Besides  the  French  words  already  dealt  with,  in  which  the  accent 
has  been  thrown  back  and  the  sound  (i)  preserved,  there  are  many 
others  which  have  either  not  become  part  of  our  modern  language, 
or  have  not  been  left  without  at  least  a  secondary  accent  on  the  i. 
We  may  divide  them  into  three  categories,  which  however  do 
not  include  all,  such  words  as  sacrifice,  &c.  being  omitted.  The 
first  class  comprehends  those  French  words  in  which  the  i  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  simple  consonant,  the  second  those  in  which  i  ends  the 
word,  and  the  last  those  in  which  *  is  immediately  followed  by  an 
e  final.  Now  we  have  at  present  in  our  language  a  series  of  French, 
Italian,  and  other  foreign  words  containing  i,  of  comparatively 
recent  introduction,  which  we  may  therefore  properly  compare  with 
the  words  then  recently  introduced  into  English  by  Chaucer,  Gower, 
and  others.  The  following  list  is  taken  from  Walker,  into  which  a 
few  words  in  []  have  been  introduced ;  the  f  marks  words  which 
have  become  obsolete  since  Walker's  time,  and  the  italics  words  in 
which  the  French  (ii)  has  become  (t)  ;  in  all  other  cases  the  sound 
(ii)  has  been  retained  in  modern  English,  notwithstanding  our  pre- 
dilection for  (oi)  and  our  association  of  (oi)  with  long  i. 

Ambergris,  verdegris,  antique,  becafico,  bombasin,  brasil,  capivit 
capuchin,  f  colbertine,  chioppine  or  chopin,  caprice,  chagrin,  chevaux- 
de-frise,  [chignon,  crinoline,]  critique,  ffestucine,  frize,  gabardine, 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


I,  Y  XIV  TH    CENTURY. 


275 


haberdine,  sordine,  frugine,  trephine,  quarantine,  routine,  fascine, 
fatigue,  intrigue,  glacis,  invalid',  machine,  magazine,  marine,  pa- 
lanquin, pique,  police,  profile,  recitative,  mandarine,  ftabourine, 
tambourine,  tontine,  transmarine,  ultramarine. 

Now  if  it  would  sound  hideous  in  our  ears  to  talk  of  (Luerzaz 
shoin-jan  a3nd  krornoloin,)  notwithstanding  our  -acknowledging 
(/lai'za  send  KaBroloin),  can  we  imagine  Chaucer  having  called  lys 
(lois),1  parvys  (parvois),  agrise  (agroiz'),  sophime  (sofainr),  desir 
(dezoir),  avys  devys  (avois'  devois'),  assise  (asaiz'),  devyne,  (de- 
vain*),  &c.  ?  Such  a  supposition  appears  to  be  monstrous,  unless  we 
also  adopt  the  theory  that  French  in  England  in  that  day  was  pro- 
nounced with  (oi,  ai,  ei)  for  (ii)  as  now  used.  Of  this  there  seems 
to  be  no  shadow  of  proof,  nor  even  a  germ,  of  probability.2  Since  the 
present  habit  of  Englishmen  is  to  make  long  i  into  (ei)  in  all  words 
not  of  recent  introduction,  it  would  be  necessary  to  establish  that 
the  Normans  so  pronounced  and  that  that  pronunciation  of  French 
was  general  in  England  during  the  xm  th  and  xiv  th  centuries,  in 
order  to  use  this  hypothesis  in  opposition  to  the  usually  accepted 
theory  that  the  French  sound  was  (ii).  We  shall  find  however 
that  any  doubt  of  this  kind  affects  the  present  argument  very 
slightly,  because  most  of  the  words  rhyming  with  those  just  cited, 
are  also  found  rhyming  to  words  of  the  preceding  class,  in  which 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  old  sound  having  been  pre- 
served by  the  throwing  back  of  the  accent.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  rhymes  which  belong  to  this  class  : — 

he  bar  utterly  the  prys,  the  flour-de-lys  237,  war  and  wys^  atte 
parvys  311,  might  agrise,  may  devyse  7231,  som  sophime,  hath  time 
7881,  to  wilde  fuyr,  it  hath  desir  5955,  to  aryse,  I  you  devyse  33, 
make  it  wys,  more  avys  787,  ne  non  novys,  wily  and  wys 
15425,  so  wise,  in  assise  315,  madame  Englentyne,  service  devyne 
121,  lord  and  sire,  knight  of  the  shire  357,3  Arcyte  quyte  1033, 


1  For  convenience  the  modern  (ai)  is 
written  for  whatever  diphthongal  form 
(ei,  ai,  ai)  etc.  the  reader  may  choose 
to  adopt. 

2  M.  Le  Hericher's  opinion  to  the 
contrary  will  be  considered  in  Chap. 
V,  §  1,  No.  3,  at  the  end,  together  with 
the  value  of  the  Old  Norman  French 
ai,  ei,  and  some  other  matters  relating 
to  modern  Norman    French  pronun- 
ciation. 

3  The  pronunciation  (shaii)  is  very 
recent    and    by    no     means    general. 
Walker   gives   (shiir),    and  says   that 
this  "irregularity,"  as  it  appeared  to 
him,  "  is  so  fixed  as  to  give  the  regular 
sound  a  pedantic  stiffness."     Even  his 
recent  editor  Smart,  1836,  gives  (shiii). 
"Webster  has  (shair).    This  is  an  excel- 
lent example  of  the  change  of  sound, 
and  the  difficulty  with  which  a  new 
fashion  of  pronunciation  forces  its  way 


into  notice.  "Walker  quotes  the  follow- 
ing lines  from  "the  Grammar  called 
Bickerstaff's,  recommended  by  Steel," 
which  this  quotation  identifies  with  the 
Anonymous  Grammar  of  1713,  supra 
p.  47,  in  which  they  occur,  p.  16. — • 
Bickerstaff's  recommendation  is  quoted 
opposite  the  title  page — 
"  To  sound  like  double  et  i  does  incline, 

As  in  Machine,  and  Shire,  and  Magazine." 
Walker  adds:  "It  may  likewise  be 
observed,  that  this  word,  when  unac- 
cented at  the  end  of  words,  as  Notting- 
hamshire, Wiltshire,  &c.,  is  always  pro- 
nounced with  i  like  ee."  Smart  says: 
"  Letter  i  or  y  under  the  accent,  and 
final  in  a  syllable,  or  followed  by  a  con- 
sonant and  e  mute,  is  irregular  in  no 
word  purely  English  except  the  verbs  to 
live  and  to  give,  and  the  noun  shire  ;  but 
there  are  several  semi- French  and  other 
foreign  words  in  which  the  French 


276  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

Arcite  endite  1381,  Arcyte,  a  lite  1335,  lite,  quyte  3861,  delyte 
lyte  4*52,  vyne  devyne  4'57,  devyse  gyse  4-64,  suffice  nyse  devyse 
vise  agrise  4*75,  desire  fire  4-76,  enclyne  pyne  myne  4' 180,  arise 
forbise*-  empryse  4-209,  affile  while  4-221,  ire  fire  4*225,  desire  fyre 
enspire  4-254,  myne  Proserpyne  pyne  4*319,  ile  wile  5-321,  rys 
(=rice)  tretys  6-32,  ile  while  i  95,  Cecile  while  i  104. 

The  word  lyte,  which,  seems  shewn  to  have  been  (Hit)  or  (Iwt)  by 
some  rhymes  above,  being  the  origin  of  our  little,  can  hardly  be 
conceived  as  (bit).2  The  following  among  other  rhymes  to  this 
word,  however,  not  only  establish  the  sound  as  (Hit,  bYt),  but  settle 
many  other  words  as  well. 

Lite  rhymes  with  delyte  4-52,  quyte  4*55,  kyte  4-63,  white  4'76, 
white  delite  4-94,  6-237,  wyte  =  know  4-141,  deHte  endyte  4-163, 
plite  4-202,  write  4*202,  5-269,  6-256,  wyte  =  m^  4*255,  myte  = 
mite  4-259,  white  4-289,  5'195,  5-282,  Arcite  wite=pumsh  5*200, 
smyte  5*232,  cubite  5*251. 

The  word  Inde  must  be  considered  French,  and  most  probably 
had  the  sound  (ind-0)  which  the  English  heard  (md-e).  The  pre- 
sent nasal  pronunciation  of  French  in  is  certainly  not  at  all  indi- 
cated in  any  of  the  numerous  words  beginning  with  in,  which  we 
have  taken  from  the  French,  and  without  any  intimation  of  this 
nasaHty  or  any  trace  of  it  in  English  derivation  we  have  no  right  to 
assume  it.  The  vowel  in  India  is  short  in  the  original  language, 
and  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  derivatives.  It  is  still  so  pronounced 
in  EngHsh,  and  although  I  have  heard  some  persons  read  (oind), 
for  the  sake  of  a  modern  rhyme,  I  doubt  whether  they  would 
venture  to  talk  of  (ain'dia).  It  seems  therefore  just  to  conclude 
that  the  Saxon  words  which  rhymed  with  it,  most  or  all  of  which 
had  acquired  the  sound  (eind)  in  the  xvith  century  had  also  the 
sound  (*nd).  Thus  we  have  kynde  Inde  6405,  and  fynde  kynde 
mynde  Inde  bynde  lynde  9057,  9063,  9069,  9075,  9081,  9087, 
rhyming  together  in  I? Envoy e  de  Chaucer,  at  the  end  of  the  Clerkes 
Tale.  The  last  worde  lynde  —  linden  or  lime  tree,  still  has  the 
sound  (end)  and  confirms  the  other  conclusions.  The  use  of  mende 

sound  of  *  is  retained ;  as  marine,  police,  ration   of    quality  by    shortening    of 

profile,    &c. :    ....  The  word  oblige,  quantity,  as   in  p.  273.      Shire,    ags. 

which  formerly   classed  with   marine,  scire  is  said  to  have  a  long  vowel  by 

&c.,  is  now    pronounced    regularly."  Bosworth,  and  a  short  vowel  by  Ett- 

Live,  gothic  liban,  ags.  libban,  Orrmin  miiller.     But  the  vowel  became   de- 

libbenn,   had    from  the    first   a  short  cidedly  long,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it 

vowel,   with  which,  however  a  long  has  preserved    the   (ii)   sound.      The 

vowel  alternated  in  Orrmin  in  life]i]>,  cognate  word  sheer,  ags.  scir  with  long 

lifenn,  and  a  long  vowel  seems  general  i,  which  has  preserved  its  sound  in  all 

in  Chaucer,  and  hence  we  have  simply  Germanic  dialects,   will  fee   especially 

the  usual  continuation  of  the    short  noted  in  Chap.  V,  §  1,  No.  5,  at  the 

vowel.     Give,  gothic  gib  an,  ags.  gifan,  end,  as  a  rhyme  to  fire, 
gerfan,  also  had  a  short  vowel,  but  in 

Orrmin,  all  parts  except  the  imperative  *•  "Set  an  example  to,"  from  ags. 

•%iff,  and  preterit  gaff,  have  long  vowels.  bisen,  example. 

From  geofan,   we  have  the  frequent  2  Lite,  however,  the  Danish  lille  for 

form  -^eve  in  Chaucer.     In  this  case  we  little,  is  called  (lail)  in  the  North  of 

have  then  perhaps  rathei  the  preser-  England. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


I,  Y  XIV  TH    CENTURY. 


277 


for  minde  to  rhyme  with  ende  in  the  carefully  spelled  Harl.  MS. 
3869  of  Grower,  ii  23,  ii  67,  and  Tcende  for  kinde  also  to  rhyme  with 
ende  iii  120,  is  scarcely  reconcilable  with  the  present  diphthongal 
sound  of  i  in  mind. 

Through  the  kindness  of  several  gentlemen1 1  am  enabled  to  say 
that  in  South  Shields,  Kendal,  Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland 
generally,  and  parts  of  Lancashire,  the  short  vowel  (i)  is  still  heard 
in  the  words  bind,  Hind  a.,  behind,  hinder  a.,  hindmost ,  find,  grind, 
wind2  v.  =  (bmd,  blmd,  bismt',  Hmd'i,  nm'mast,  fmd,  grmd, 
wmd).  See  also  the  Scotch  pronunciation  infra  p.  289.  With 
these  analogies  it  would  be  considerably  more  difficult  to  imagine 
the  diphthongal  sound  than  the  short  vowel  in  such  words. 

The  French  words  of  the  next  class  are  those  which  end  in  i  or  y, 
and  which  are  referred  to  in  that  paragraph  of  Palsgrave  which 
occasioned  so  much  difficulty  in  the  last  chapter  (p.  109),  and  they 
are  also  remarkable  for  the  English  words  which  rhyme  with  them 
in  Chaucer.  The  French  words  are  themselves  not  numerous.  In 
the  Canterbury  Tales,  there  seem  to  be  only  mercy,  fy,  enemy,  fool- 
hardy, cry,  quirloily,  to  which  perhaps  yvory,  vicory,  although  the 
final  y  is  difficult  to  account  for.3  These  words  rhyme,  first  with 
each  other,  next  and  very  frequently  with  the  termination  -ly,  and 
these  words  and  this  termination  rhyme  with  the  Dutch  (?)  courtepy, 
and  with  the  Anglosaxon  /,  why,  ly,  thereby,  sty.  The  only  words 
among  these  which  could  have  a  plural,  enemy,  sty,  do  not  occur  in 
the  plural  in  rhymes  in  the  Canterbury  Tales.  It  was  with  special 
reference  to  this  investigation  that  I  enlarged  the  field  of  enquiry, 
extending  it  over  the  rest  of  Chaucer's  poems  and  Gower.  Some  of 
these  poems,  as  we  have  seen,  are  not  in  a  trustworthy  form,  especially 
the  Court  of  Love  (p.  251),  Flower  and  Leaf  (p.  251),  Chaucer's 
Dream  (p.  251),  and  Romaunt  of  the  Rose  (p.  252),  because  they 
admit  of  rhymes  which  belong  to  a  later  period.  The  best  manus- 
cripts are  altogether  free  from  such  rhymes.  The  spelling  in  Pauli's 
Gower  must  always  be  corrected  by  the  manuscripts.  Allowance 
must  be  made  also  for  those  words  which  had  a  twofold  pronunci- 
ation, as  (ai)  and  (ii),  not  always  marked  with  sufficient  care  in  the 


1  Eev.  C.  Y.  Potts,  of  Ledbury,  for 
South  Shields  ;  Mr.  Brown,  of  St. 
Peter's  College,  Peterborough,  for  Ken- 
dal ;  Mr.  J.  N.  Hetherington,  Clifton 
Parsonage,  Workington,  for  Cumber- 
land ;  Messrs.  Jackson,  Fielding,  and 
Axon,  for  Lancashire, — have  supplied 
me  with  information  from  personal 
knowledge  on  this  and  other  points ; 
and  Mr.  Shelly,  of  Plymouth,  for 
Devonshire ;  Messrs.  Atkinson  and 
Moore,  for  Yorkshire ;  Mr.  Hallam, 
for  Derbyshire  ;  and  a  lady  near 
Norwich,  have  also  supplied  much  in- 
formation on  dialectic  pronunciation. 
I  beg  to  express  my  thanks  to  these 
and  other  correspondents  who  have  at 


great  trouble  to  themselves  enabled  me 
to  supply  these  illustrations.  Messrs. 
Potts,  Brown,  Hetherington,  and  Shelly 
have  been  particularly  liberal  with  the 
time  they  have  bestowed  on  me.  I 
shall  term  these  assistants  generally 
my  dialectic  correspondents. 

2  The  substantive  wind  is  generally 
(wmd),  but  in  Cumberland  it  seems  to 
be   always   (wahind,   waind),    so  that 
wind  s.   wind  v.  have   precisely  the 
opposite  pronunciation  to  what  they 
generally  receive  in  the  south. 

3  Diez   says    that    avori,   ivori    are 
Provencal  forms,  which  it  is  singular 
to  encounter  in  English.     For  vicory  I 
know  no  authority. 


278  T,  Y XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

spelling,  to  be  carefully  considered  presently.  "With  the  exception 
of  such  words  no  case  has  yet  come  before  my  notice  in  which  -i  or 
-y  final  rhymes  with  -ey  or  -ay.  In  the  following  list  of  rhymes 
all  cases  of  -ly  rhyming  to  -fy,  which  are  very  frequent  and  convey 
no  information,  are  omitted;  and  by  no  means  all  the  rhymes, 
except  in  the  Canterbury  Tales,  of  /with  -fy,  -by,forthi,  etc.,  are 
given. 

Soburly  courtepy  291,  pitously  mercy  951,  enemy  I  1645,  ryally 
by  1689,  fy  mercy  1775,  ryally  enemy  1795,  synfully  fy  4499, 
mercy  solempnely  5110,  pitously,  mercy  I  5479,  by  specially  5544, 
therby  I  6597,  prively  therby  6925,  yvory  fetisly  7323,  sty  I 
7411,  comunly  why  7839,  stedefastly  mercy  tenderly  8970,  why 
I  9315,  uncurteisly  cry  10237,  cry  pitously  10727,  therby  I 
12650,  mercy  sey  13308,  therby  ydelly  13860,  subtily  by  13980, 
redily  forthby  14082,  pitously,  ther  by  15011,  quirboily  yvory 
15283,  I  fool-hardy  15401,  trewely  by  15411,  sodeinly  enemy 
16889,  lustily  vicory  17315, 

I  mercy  4*65-6,  truly  unlusty  I  4'76,  by  prively  4*77,  by  I  cry1 
4-78,  cry  ocy  4*79,  ny  cry  I2  4'81,  wrongfully  I  4-125,  redy  I  4-148, 
trewely  I  by  4*175,  tyme,  hi  me,  pryme  4*193,  by  hertely  4*205, 
whi  by  bisily  4*272,  I  fynaly  4*336,  pitously  by  hastily  4*337,  I 
certeinLy  therby  4*341,  y  why  5*173,  why  comelely  5*180,  trewely 
lady  5*190,  hooly  mercy  5-193,  I  why  5*239,  I  mercy  5*266,  by, 
domus  Dedaly  =  Dadali  5*267,  y  by  5-269,  by  and  by,  curteysly 
5*285,  y  by  5*341. 

I  openly  i  44,  why  I  i  47,  forthy  pleinly  i  51,  forthy  therby  i  53, 
cry  unhappily  i  54,  redily  by  i  93,  sodenily  by  i  102,  I,  graunt 
mercy  i  103,  forthy  mercy  i  106,  I  forthy  i  107,  worthy  mercy 
i  107,  sky  sodeinly  i  109,  why  forthy  i  114,  openly  cry  i  115, 
mercy  why  i  116,  why  prively  i  148,  communly  why  i  172, 
why  forthy  i  173,  comely  awry  i  174,  redely  forthy  i  200, 
kindely  why  i  205,  sely  privete  i  225,  time,  by  me  i  227,  309, 
370,  ii  41,  49,  114,  iii  6,  369,  I  truely  i  227,  bodely  why 
i  259,  why  forthy  i  280,  lady  thereby  i  292,  cry  buxomly 
i  297,  by  lady  i  298,  cry  therby  i  314,  forthy  enemy  i  330,  I  forthy 
i  332,  enemy  why  i  347,  why  forthy  ii  20;  I  by  ii  24,  41,  sky 
by  ii  29,  bodely  therby  ii  34,  forthy  therby  ii  50,  openly  forthy 
ii  51,  truely  sky  ii  59,  why  I  ii  69,  besily  enemy  ii  75,  I  forthy  ii 
95,  why  cry  ii  122,  bodely  forthy  ii  133,  redely  by  ii  137,  why 
sky  ii  158  forthy  Eoly  =  M>li  ii  160,  forthy  by  ii  161,  forthy  why 
ii  163,  sky  why  ii  167,  Satiry=  Satyri  properly  ii  171,  forthy 
proprely  ii  187,  by  I  ii  219,  why  buxomly  ii  228,  by  mercy 
ii  278,  esely  mercy  ii  295,  why  therby  ii  301,  mercy  redy  ii  314, 
mercy  therby  ii  373,  I  worthy  ii  379,  sodeinly  askry  ii  386, 
mercy  rudely  .ii  396,  why  almighty  iii  61,  mercy  thereby  iii  82, 
forthy  mightily  iii  92,  high  sky  iii  93,  by  and  by  sky  iii  116, 
Gemini  redely  iii  119,  Gemini  forthy  iii  119,  Gemini  proprely  iii 
127,  I  by  iii  168,  I  forthy  iii  185,  mercy  redely  iii  198,  sodeinly 

1  Erroneously  spelled  oye,  one.  2  Erroneously  spelled  nye,  crie. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  279 

askry  iii  217,  why  pitously  iii  260,  why  Genesy  iii  276,  by  and  by, 
prively  iii  305,  pitously  I  iii  315,  enemy  envy  iii  320,  cry  by  iii 
321,  lady  prively  iii  325,  forthy  by  iii  348,  redely  why  iii  368, 
I  mercy  iii  372,  sodeinly  sky  iii  375. 

It  is  impossible  to  glance  over  the  above  list  without  feeling  that 
whatever  was  the  pronunciation  of  this  final  -y  in  any  one  word,  it 
must  have  been  the  same  in  all  the  words,  and  hence  if  there  is  a 
certain  clue  to  any  one  word,  we  have  a  clue  to  all  the  rest.  Two 
rhymes  are  very  noteworthy:  mercy  sey  13308,  and  sely  privete 
i  225,  but  their  very  peculiarity  and  the  absence  of  any  corrobora- 
tive instance  whatever,  render  them  suspicious.  Yet,  as  the  first 
of  these  was  the  only  clue  which  I  could  obtain  for  some  time,  I 
was  misled  by  it  to  suppose  that  this  termination  -y  had  like  sey  the 
sound  (sai).  This  shews  the  danger  of  trusting  to  single  instances. 
Even  in  the  Harl.  7334,  which  is  followed  by  Wright  and  Morris, 
we  find:  an  hihe,  sihe  11161,  which  should  be:  hih,  sih,  probably 
(H«kh,  sflkh).  But  an  examination  of  seventeen  MS.  which  con- 
tain v.  13308,  shews  the  following  variants. 

In  the  British  Museum.1  Rawl.MS.Poet  149     mercy    sey 

Harl7333 


Harl  7334  Arch     e 

Lansdowne  Sol  mercie  sine  nnn/oiA/rQiao 


Reg.  17  D  xv  mercy    sy  *       * 

Eeg.  18  C  ii  mercy    sey  At  Cambridge.  z 

At  -  ,    _,  Gg.  4.  27  (No.  1)  sey 

At  Oxford*  113.26  se 

Laud  600  mercy  sie  Mm.  2.  5.  seye 

Laud  739  mercy  sey  Trin.  Coll.  E.  3.  3.  mercy    sigh. 

It  is  clear  that  the  passage  has  much  exercised  the  scribes  who 
have  occasionally  ventured  to  add  an  e  to  mercy,  which  is  quite 
illegitimate,  and  the  majority  have  inclined  to  the  more  usual  form 
in  Chaucer,  sey.     The  usual  form,  however,  in  Gower  is  sih,  written 
sigh  by  Pauli.     The  above  17  instances  may  be  divided  into  an 
(ai)  class  and  an  (ii)  class,  thus  — 

(ai)    sey    sey  say  sey     sey   sey   say   sey   sey   seye   .     .10 
(ft)    sihe  sy     sie    syhe  sy     se      sigh       ......      7 

The  word  clearly  belongs  to  those  doubly  sounded  and  doubly 
spelled  words  to  be  presently  examined,  and  we  must  conclude  that 
those  scribes  who  used  the  (ai)  class  of  forms  were  misled  by  habit, 
and  should  have  used  an  (ii)  class,  and,  since  the  guttural  could  not 
have  been  pronounced  in  Trench,  the  scribes  ought  to  have  omitted 
it  in  the  English  word.  It  will  be  seen  that  when  eye,  high  are 
pronounced  with  (ii)  the  guttural  is  frequently  omitted.  This  leads 
us  to  prefer  sy,  given  by  two  MS,  of  which  sie,  se  are  mere  accidental 
varieties.  The  preterite  (sii)  as  :  I  see  him  do  it  yesterday,  is  not 
yet  obsolete  among  the  uneducated,  while  (sai)  is  unknown. 

1  Examined  by  myself.  3  Examined  by  Messrs.  H.  Bradshaw 

2  Examined  by  Mr.  G-.  Parker.  and  Aldis  -vVright. 


280  I,  Y  XIV  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

The  second  instance :  sely  privete  i  225,  although  unparalleled 
among  these  rhymes,  would  not  be  unprecedented,  for  we  saw  at 
the  beginning  of  this  investigation  that  long  i  and  long  e  occasion- 
ally interchange,  but  we  already  know  that  the  proper  reading  is  : 
cele  privete,  (p.  253). 

Rejecting  these  isolated  instances,  we  are  struck  by  the  rhyme  : 
tyme,  bi  me,  pryme  4' 193  in  Chaucer,  and  the  eight  times  repeated 
rhyme  :  time,  by  me,  in  Glower.  The  rhyme :  sophime,  time  7881, 
has  already  (p.  275)  led  us  to  consider  (t*Y*me)  a  probable  pro- 
nunciation, and  hence  these  repeated  rhymes  lead  to  calling  by  (bn). 
More  than  this,  by  is  often  spelled  be,  be  thy  trouthe  5 '227, 
alle  be  hemselve  5*246,  be  God  5*256,  and  indeed  be,  by  occur  in 
the  same  line :  be  strengthe  and  by  his  might.  5*348,  from  the 
Legende  of  Good  Women,  following  the  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16,  a 
good  manuscript.  These  variants  strongly  confirm  the  hypothesis 
that  by  =  (bii). 

It  is  certainly  fair  to  conclude  that  the  purely  French  words  in 
these  rhymes  had  the  sound  (ii)  or  (ii),  the  latter  probably  in 
England,  and  the  former  in  France.  We  were  driven  to  this  sup- 
position on  comparing  Palsgrave  with  Meigret  in  the  xvi  th  century 
(p.  110).  We  might  therefore  assume  that:  mercy,  enemy,  fy,  cry, 
quirboily,  fool-hardy,  envy,  had  the  sound  (ii)  or  (ii),  and  these 
would  be  fully  sufficient  to  determine  all  the  rest.  But  as  this 
assumption  in  fact  involves  the  whole  question,  it  will  be  better  not 
to  lay  great  stress  upon  it. 

The  cry  ocy  attributed  by  the  cuckow  to  the  nightingale  4*79 — 
For  thou  hast  mony  zfeyned  queint  cry, 
I  have  herd  the  seye,  '  ocy,  ocy ; ' 
But  who  myghte  wete  what  that  shulde  be  ? 

leaves  us  in  the  same  ignorance  as  the  cuckow,  and  can  be  of  no 
assistance  if  we  go  to  the  real  cry  of  the  bird;  but  if  we  take  it  as  a 
French  spelling  of  an  imitation  of  that  cry,1  then  we  have  simply 
two  French  sounds  cry,  ocy  rhyming. 

There  are  several  instances  of  Latin  final  -i,  one  in  Chaucer: 
Dedaly  5*267,  and  several  in  Gower :  Eoly  ii  160,  Satiry  ii  171, 
Gemini  iii  119,  twice,  and  iii  127,  and  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that 
Latin  was  at  that  time  so  mispronounced  as  to  have  i  called  (ai). 
The  Roman  Catholic  tradition  must  have  saved  this  heresy,  which 
seems  to  have  only  crept  in  with  the  xvi  th  century,  and  was  even 
then  reprobated  by  many,  as  by  Salesbury.  At  least  these  rhymes 
must  be  considered  to  add  to  the  probability  of  the  (ii)  or  (ii) 
pronunciation. 

With  regard  to  the  termination  -ly  which  plays  so  great  a  part  in 
all  these  rhymes,  it  is  to  this  day  generally  pronounced  (H)  in  con- 
versation, although  declaimers  will  sometimes  permit  themselves  to 

1  "  FIER,    FIER,    OOY,   OCY  :    Sons  ung  chesne  sur  lequel  avoit  ung  ros- 

onomatopes  representaut  le  chant  du  signol  qui  chantoit  tres    melodieuse- 

rossignol  (repetes  plus  has  dans  une  ment  et  cryoit  ainsy  que  tout  endesve 

chanson)."    Roquefort,  sub.  far,  where  et  fier,  fier,  ocy,  ocy,"  from  Roman  de 

he  cites  :  "il  y  avoit  au-dessus  de  luy  Perce- Forest. 


CHAP.  IV,  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  281 

say  (lai),  and  we  find  Gill  in  his  transcript  of  the  Psalms  con- 
stantly using  this  sound,  apparently  to  add  dignity.  He  also  says 
(madzlrestai),  and,  at  least  in  one  place  (mersai),  but  the  latter  is 
probably  a  misprint,  for  he  generally  writes  (mers&).  Modern  poets, 
working  upon  an  old  foundation,  permit  themselves  to  consider  -y, 
under  a  secondary  accent,  as  either  (-ai)  or  (-ii).  This  belongs  to 
the  licentiousness  of  modern  rhyming,  superinduced  by  an  un- 
phonetic  orthography.  I  cannot  consider  this  early  usage  of  Gill 
to  indicate  in  any  way  the  old  pronunciation.  It  was  undoubtedly 
wrong  in  words  which  had  formerly  -ie,  -e,  and  was  probably  fanci- 
ful in  other  cases.  Dr.  Gill  had  a  notion  that  the  (ai)  added  to  the 
beauty  and  strength  of  the  English  language,1  and  hence  his  employ- 
ment of  it  is  suspicious  unless  well  corroborated.  As  to  the  practice 
of  modern  times,  it  is  sufficient  to  cite  Walker  and  Smart,  who,  not 
recognizing  the  difference  between  (i,  *)  identify  this  termination 
with  (-li),  but  that  is  properly  an  Irishism.  As,  then,  there  seems 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  termination  -ly  ever  had,  in  natural 
speech,  the  sound  of  (-lai)  but  only  (-lii,  -Hi,  -li,  -K),  the  conclusion 
in  favour  of  the  (ii,  n)  pronunciation  of  the  other  words  seems 
inevitable.  But  those  who  have  made  up  their  minds  to  the  (ai) 
pronunciation  of  long  i,  and  especially  of  the  pronoun  /,  will  object 
that  we  have  in  Gill  an  actual  example  of  the  (ai)  sound,  and  that 
we  hear  occasionally,  under  peculiar  circumstances  perhaps,  and  by 
no  means  uniformly  in  the  same  speaker,  but  still  we  do  hear  (-lai) 
now  and  then,  and  that  it  is  possible  that  (-It)  may  be  a  "  cor- 
ruption" of  (-lai),  rather  than  (-lai)  a  mistaken  intensification  of 
(-!»).  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  try  some  other  words,  which 
are  free  from  Gill's  imputed  (ai).  Enemy  is  not  such  a  word,  for 
he  writes  (en'emaiz),  supra  p.  110,  note.  But  lady  5*190,  i  292, 
298,  iii  325 ;  almighty  iii  61,  worthy  i  107,  seem  unexceptional. 
The  words  do  not  occur  in  Gill,  but  lady  does  occur  in  Salesbury, 
who  transcribes  it  in  Welsh  letters  ladi=  (laa'di).  In  modern 
ballad  poetry  we  have  constantly  to  read  (l^dir),1  but  the  pro- 
nunciations (100'dai,  100dar)  are  utterly  unknown.  As  this  word 
determines  -ly  -by,  by  its  rhymes,  and  these  are  sufficient  to  de- 
termine all  the  rest,  the  difficulty  may  be  considered  as  solved. 

But  there  are  still  important  considerations  which  lead  the  same 
iray,  and  which  must  therefore  still  be  adduced.  It  is  difficult  to 
suppose  that  a  cry  and  the  verb  to  crye,  had  their  y  differently 
pronounced.  This  y  would  probably  retain  its  sound  in  the  in- 
flected form  cryede,  often  a  dissyllable  as  cry'de.  Now  we  find: 
cryede  glide  Cupide  4'349  in  Troilus  and  Cryseyde  from  a  good 
manuscript,  and  Cupide  is  one  of  those  words  in  which  we  have 
already  recognized  the  persistence  of  the  (ii}  sound.  Again :  criede 
Cupide  Cipride  5 '9  occur  in  the  same  poem.  Gower  has:  cride 
hide  i  149,  cride  wide  iii  213.  All  this  points  to  the  pronunciation 
(crw-de)  and  hence  (cm)  for  the  substantive.  But  there  is  one 

1  "  Retinebimus  antiquum  ilium  et      Hazeldean,  in  which  the  first  stanza  is 
masculum  somun."     Loffonomia,  p.  7.        said  to  be  ancient:  "Why  weep  ye  by 

2  As  in    Sir  W.   Scott's    Jock    of      the  tide,  ladle  P" 


282  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

word  which  seems  at  first  sight  to  run  counter  to  this  conclusion : 
reneye  4796,  12196,  12376,  16047  etc,  always  meaning  to  renounce, 
abjure,  in  modern  French  renter,  so  that  ey  seems  to  answer  to 
French  i.  But  Boquefort  (Gloss,  de  la  lang.  rom.  ii,  463)  gives 
the  old  forms  renoier,  rentier,  and  Kelham  (Diet,  of  the  Norman  or 
old  French  language  1779)  has  reneyee  renegado,  reneign  refuse. 
So  that  the  i  is  a  modern  French  development,  which  does  not 
affect  the  present  investigation. 

Perhaps  the  strongest  evidence  of  all  is  furnished  by  the  very 
word  enemies,  which  was  lately  rejected  on  account  of  Gill's  (en'e- 
maiz).  Of  course  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  of  the  sound  of  *  in 
the  words  is,  his.  These  words  never  could  have  been  (ois,  nais) 
at  any  time.  No  champion  of  (oi)  could  ever  entertain  such  a 
notion  as  this.  Now  in  Gower  we  have  :  pris  is  ii  341,  wis  is  iii 
226,  which  may  be  taken  to  settle  the  pronunciation  of  pris,  wis 
i.e.  price,  wise,  in  the  xrvth  century,  and  strongly  corroborate  the 
method  by  which  we  have  already  arrived  at  this  result.  Bearing 
this  in  mind,  the  rhymes  :  enemies  pris  ii  67,  iii  199,  enemies  is 
ii  342,  enemis  his  iii  214,  enemies  wis  iii  216,  leave  no  doubt  that 
Gower  said  (en'eimz)  or  (en'eims),  and  that  he  therefore  must  have 
said  (en*eim)  as  the  natural  pronunciation  of  his  time,  or  have 
occasionally  lengthened  the  final  vowel  into  (ii,  ii).  But  if  so,  all 
the  rest  follows  from  the  rhymes :  enemy  I  1645,  ryally  enemy 
1795,  sodeinly  enemy  16889,  forthy  enemy  i  330,  enemy  why  i  347, 
besily  enemy  ii  75,  enemy  envy  iii  320. 

It  seems  impossible  to  form  a  stronger  chain  of  evidence  in  favour 
of  an  unknown  pronunciation,  but  the  strength  is  rendered  more 
evident  by  the  circumstance  that  there  is  no  instance  of  -»"  rhyming 
with  -ey,  except  such  as  are  explicable  by  the  fact  that  the  word 
had  several  sounds  and  several  modes  of  writing,  often  used  in 
other  places,  and  that  the  scribe  accidentally  employed  a  wrong 
orthography,  as  in  the  instance  :  mercy  sey  13308,  already  con- 
sidered. Everything  is  therefore  so  far  reconcilable  with  the 
hypothesis  i  =  (ii,  i\  and  many  circumstances  are  irreconcilable 
with  the  hypothesis  i=  (oi,  t).  Hence  I  feel  compelled  to  admit 
that  even  the  personal  pronoun  /was  called  (ii)  by  Chaucer.  This 
personal  pronoun  had  three  forms,  I  most  commonly,  ic,  ich,  rarely. 
That  in  these  latter  forms  the  t  was  (»)  short,  seems  proved  by  such 
contractions  as  theek  3862,  theech  12857,  14362,  =thee  ik,  thee 
ich.  The  diphthong  could  hardly  have  been  so  lost.  Again  the 
change  ic,  ich,  would  be  unusual,  though  possible,  if  i  were  (ai). 
But  /  seems  formed  from  ic,  ich,  just  as  a  is  from  an.  The  original 
pronunciation  of  the  indefinite  article  was  of  course  (a),  and  it  is 
now  frequently  (a,  13),  but  the  emphatic  pronunciation  (ee)  is  of 
modern  growth,  and  seems  precisely  comparable  to  the  emphatic 
use  of  (ai)  for  (•')  in  /. 

Further  corrob  oration  of  the  above  conclusion  will  be  afforded  by 
considering  the  termination  -ie,  -ye.  In  two  instances  Chaucer  uses 
the  French  words  par  compaignye,  at  the  end  of  a  line,  not  as 
Anglicised,  but  as  a  real  French  phrase.  There  may  be  some  doubt 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  283 

as  to  the  sound  of  gn,  whether  (nj,  ru)  or  simply  (n),  as  will  be 
hereafter  considered,  but  as  it  is  also  written  as  a  simple  n,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  consider  it  here  as  (n).  The  two  last  letters  must 
have  had  the  French  sound,  which  cannot  well  be  conceived  as 
anything  but  (ii'0),  or  the  English  modification  (n'e),  a  change  so 
slight  that  the  Englishman  would  have  thought  he  was  exactly 
correct.  Hence :  par  compaignye,  fantasye  3837,  par  companye, 
molodye  4165,  must  be  considered  as  establishing  the  English  pro- 
nunciation (fantasn'e,  melodzre)  of  these  Anglo-Prench  words.  The 
following  rhymes  strongly  confirm  this  conclusion : 

hostelrie  companye  23,  multiplie  Marie  15100,  Emelye  melodye 
873,  Emelye,  gan  to  crie  2343,  signified,  sche  cryed1  2345,  philo- 
sophic, wolde  he  crye  647,  envye2  crie  909,  tyrrannye  espye  1113, 
chyvalrye  curtesie  45,  I  made  him  frie,  jalousie  6069,  ragerie,  as  a 
pye  6037,  maladye  manye  =  w«m#  1375. 

I  schal  not  lye,  companye  765,  curtesye  lye  7251,  vilonye,  nat  a 
4189,  Emelye,  gan  sche  hye  =  hie,  hasten  2275,  harlotries, 
tollen  thries  563,  boille  and  frie,  bake  a  pye  385,  melodie,  my  body 
gye  12062,  curtesie,  for  to  gye  7950,  maladye,  moist  or  drye  421. 

The  first  list  consist  entirely  of  Anglo-French  words,  the  second 
gives  rhymes  of  such  with  other  words.  Now  throughout  Harl. 
7334  this  termination  -ye  never  rhymes3  with  any  other  termination, 
such  as  -y,  -e,  which  has  now  received  the  same  sound  (-»').  But 
during  the  xv  th  century  the  final  e  was  thrown  off,  and  then  these 
words  fell  into  (mel'odt,  fan'tase)  etc,  and  became  rhymes  to  -ly. 
These  rhymes  therefore  not  only  shew  a  later  date,  but  indicate  an 
identity  in  the  pronunciation  of  t  in  the  two  sets  of  words.  As 
then  we  have  no  conception  of  there  having  been  an  (ai)  sound  in 
the  -ye  endings,  (except  in  such  words  as  signify,  where  of  course 
it  is  due  to  the  accent),  we  have  a  corroboration  of  our  former 
conclusion  that  long  i  was  (n,  ii).  Whenever  we  see  in  any 
manuscript  of  Chaucer  or  Gower  such  rhymes  as  -y,  -ye,  or  as  -e, 
-ye,  we  may  be  sure  either  that  there  has  been  some  accidental 
orthographical  error  of  the  scribe,  or  that  some  words  of  a  more 
recent  period  have  been  substituted.  The  error  is  often  very 
obvious  and  easy  to  remedy,  thus:  high  testifie  4'1,  majestic  dignyte 
kne  4-3,  see  ryaltie  4*5,  libertie  degree  4' 10,  crueltie  pyte  4-12, 
should  have :  hye,  majeste,  ryalte,  liberte,  cruelte.  But  degree 
ye  =  eye  4'5,  I  dye  high  4*8,  hie  crye  whye  4-10,  I  espye  ye  =  eye 
4'  1 0,  hie  besyly  ye  =  eye  4'11,  fantasye  merily  4'  1 5,  ye  =  eye  pretily 
4*15,  se  jQ  =  eye  4*27  etc.,  are  certainly  erroneous,  and  could  not 
have  been  written  by  a  xrv  th  century  writer.  They  serve  there- 
fore to  discredit  the  MS.  (B.  iii.  20,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,) 
of  the  Court  of  Love. 

1  Probably  signifiede,  cryede  are  the  3  The  mistakes  hyghe  remedye  4629, 
proper  forms.  eyen  aspien    12426,    hee   eye    11503, 

2  Both    French   forms    envi,    envie  jelomye  me   1809,  have  already  been 
occur,  old  and  recent,  and  both  envy,  noticed  (p.  250) ;  the  proper  readings 
envie  are  found  in  old  English.  are  hye,  yen,  hye  ye,  jolite. 


284  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

Three  other  corrohorative  circumstances  may  he  mentioned. 
First,  if  long  i  had  heen  (ai)  in  the  xrvth  century  and  earlier, 
English  would  have  presented  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  a 
language  without  a  long  (ii,  ii),  one  of  the  primitive  vowel  forms. 
Sir  Thomas  Smith  had  indeed  reduced  Latin  to  such  a  condition, 
but  this  was  a  purely  artificial  formation,  due  to  a  mistaken  theory, 
and  we  may  safely  say  could  never  occur  in  practice.  Secondly, 
if  long  i  had  been  (ai),  we  should  have  to  account  for  its  common 
unaccented  form  (i).  There  is  a  dispute  among  orthoepists  as  to 
whether  (ai)  or  (•)  should  be  pronounced  in  certain  unaccented 
syllables,  such  as  (sivilizee'sken)  or  (sm'laiz^-sh^n),  or  (d/dzhest*, 
daidzhest'),  (in'f«mt,  in-fainait).  These  disputes  at  least  serve  to  shew 
that  there  is  no  difficulty  whatever  in  using  (ai)  in  an  unaccented 
syllable,  and  hence  make  the  employment  of  (i}  inexplicable,  except 
on  the  theory  that  it  was  the  original  normal  sound.  The  change 
of  (ai)  into  (i}  is  of  course  possible,  but  it  is  generally  through 
(ei,  ee,  ii).  We  have  this  very  transition  in  deceive,  which  was 
(desaiv)  in  the  xrvth  and  even  xvith  centuries,  became  (deseiv) 
and  passed  into  (deseev)  in  the  xvnth,  and  fell  into  (disiiv)  in  the 
xvm  th  century.  But  the  transition  took  a  long  time.  This  was 
probably  the  course  by  which  the  old  Greek  et  reached  the  modem 
Greek  (ii).  "We  have  no  trace  of  such  a  change  in  the  words  con- 
sidered. The  third  circumstance  is,  that  the  scribes  of  the  xrv  th 
and  early  part  of  the  xv  th  centuries  seem  to  have  had  no  hesitation 
in  writing  i  and  ei  or  y  and  ey  according  as  they  wished  to  indicate 
a  difference  of  pronunciation.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the 
words  die,  dry,  eye,  high,  lie,  sih,  tie,  pine,  which  must  therefore  be 
considered  individually. 

Die  =  (dare,  dire).  This  common  old  English  word  is  not 
Anglosaxon.  The  old  Norse  is  deyja,  ek  dey,  do  (dei'ja,  ek  dei, 
doo),  and  degenn  in  Ormin,  deigen  in  Lagamon,  deyin'  in  the 
Promptorium,  point  out  (dare)  or  (dei'e)  as  the  older  pronunciation. 
The  same  sound  is  indicated  by :  seye  deye  4944,  7207,  waye  deye 
5010,  5238,  11649,  disobeye  deye  8239,  deyth  seith  7623,  seyde 
deyde  2847,  preyde  deyde  8424,  sayde  abrayde  deyde  8935,  and 
generally.  In :  brayde  prayde  dyde  16022,  we  have  therefore  a 
clerical  error  for  deyde.  But  we  have  a  different  spelling  and  a 
different  set  of  rhymes  in:  Marie  dye  5261,  Emelye  dye  1569, 
1589,  1595,  dye,  folye  1799,  je  =  eyel  dye  7913,  Lombardye  hye 
allie  dye  15886,  die  Galaxye  4-53.  Hence  in:  deyevilonye  11715, 
deye  bigan^ye  5667,  deye  sloggardye  11943,  deye  is  a  clerical  error  for 
dye.  Whether  this  double  pronunciation  was  of  a  much  older  date 
or  not,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  point  to  note  here  is,  that  there 
was  a  double  method  of  spelling,  and  that,  except  from  mere 
carelessness  of  the  scribe,  each  method  answered  to  its  own  rhymes, 
which  we  had  previously  recognised  as  (ai,  ii).  At  present  (dai)  is 
the  common  form,  but  (dii)  is  more  usual  in  South  Shields,  Kendal, 
"Westmoreland,  and  Lancashire. 

1  MS.  Univ.  Lib.  Cam.  Dd.  4.  24,  reads  eye  deye,  which  is  also  legitimate. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y XIV  TH   CENTURY.  285 

Buy  =  (bw'e,  bare).  The  first  seems  the  older  form  as  an 
alteration  of  biggen,  the  second  is  not  so  frequent :  to  byen  14467, 
bye  housbondrie  5869,  preye  beye  12564. 

Dry  =  (dm*e,  drare).  Here  (ii)  seems  to  have  been  the 
original  form  corresponding  to  ags.  (yy),  and  (ai)  the  derived.  Ags. 
dryge  drige  drege  dry,  Orrm.  dri^e.  Hence :  maladye  drye  422, 
drye  remedy e  4 '5 6,  drye  dye  drie  crie  guye  5*208,  where  the  first 
drye  means  to  suffer,  still  found  in  Scotch  as  dree  (drii).  On  the 
other  hand :  weye  dreye  8773,  drye  seye  preye  4 '64,  where  drye  is 
evidently  an  error  for  dreye,  aweie  drey(e)  i  220,  but :  drie  deie 
iii  93  might  be :  drye  dye,  or :  dreye  deye,  probably  the  former.  The 
form  dreye  seems  proved,  but  it  is  not  so  common,  and  what  is  most 
important  for  the  present  purpose,  it  was  a  derived,  not  an  original 
form,  which  the  scribe  was  not  content  to  leave  under  the  old 
spelling  drye.  The  legitimate  inference  is,  therefore,  that  if  in 
other  words  (ai)  had  been  pronounced,  ey  would  have  been  written. 
At  present  (drai,  drai)  are  the  common  sounds,  but  (drii)  is  known 
in  South  Shields. 

Eye  =  (are,  ii'e).  The  older  sound  seems  to  have  been  (ai&lre, 
ei&h'e).  The  more  usual  orthography  is  eyghe,  eyghen,  or  eyhen 
when  the  word  does  not  occur  final.  •  I  have  not  noted  it  in  a 
rhyme  in  Chaucer,  but  we  have :  eie  seie  i  72,  eye  awey(e)  i  127, 
and  Pauli  constantly  writes  eie  when  the  MSS.  have  yhe.  The 
guttural  (Jch)  seems  to  have  been  often  entirely  lost,  passing 
probably  through  (jh),  and  then  becoming  absorbed  in  the 
preceding  (i) ;  or  more  properly  the  diphthong  (ei)  grew  out 
of  (ejh).  The  value  (ii'e)  results  from :  melodie  yhe  9,  companye 
dayesye  =  daisy  =  day's  eye  333,  (for  dayse  hie  4*77,  read  daysye 
hye,)  crye  yhe  1097,  ye  =  eye  plye  9044,  yen  wryen  17193.  For : 
specific  eye  i  3,  highe  eye  i  106,  sigh  eye  i  116,  as  Pauli  writes, 
read :  specifye  ye,  hye  ye,  syhe  yhe.  Although  (oi)  is  very 
general,  yet  (ii)  is  almost  the  only  form  known  in  Newcastle, 
Cumberland,  and  Lancashire,  and  is  even  used  in  Devon. 

High  =  (nai,  mi}.  The  older  form  is  here  (nei,  nai)  the  (i) 
being  generated  from  (jh),  the  representative  of  (Kb).  The  usual 
forms  when  the  rhyme  does  not'  require  the  others,  are  heih,  heigh, 
frequently  with  an  added  e.  Possibly,  as  in  eye,  the  guttural  was 
early  lost  in  developing  the  diphthong,  compare  Orrmin's  heh, 
heghe.  In  rhymes  this  older  form  is  not  common,  and  is  often 
doubtful,  thus  :  heye  eyghe  3243,  heyghe  eyghe  10587,  might 
have  been :  hye  ye.  More  certain  seems :  heyghe  piggesneyghe 
3268,  on  heigh  seigh  =  saw  1067,  which  may  have  been : 
on  hih  sih,  compare  11162.  This  form  often  occurs  in  Gower, 
where  Pauli  writes:  high  sigh  i  2,  i  24,  i  137.  On  the  other 
hand  the  form  (mi)  is  very  common  :  hye  crye  10725,  hye 
prye  7319,  hihe  eye,  read  yhe  11347,  eyen  read  yen,  prien  9985; 
prye  hye  compaignie  4*222,  hye  gye  compaignye  4*296,  hye  navye 
5*215,  hye  jurye  5*253,  hye  skye  5*258,  high  read  hye,  poesie  ii  36. 
(Hii)  is  used  in  Cumberland  and  Scotland. 


286  I,  Y XIV  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

Sly  =  (slai,  sl«Y).  The  first  is  the  old  form,  in  Orrmin  sleh,  and 
(aUY)  is  more  recent.  The  rhyme  slye,  lye  mentiri,  ye  oculus  5 '37-8 
is  ambiguous;  but  if:  high  testifie  sly  4'1  should  be  hye,  testifie, 
slye,  this  is  a  rhyme  in  point.  Sleigh  occurs  3201,  4'339  v.  944. 
(Slii)  is  still  found  in  Cumberland  and  South  Shields. 

Tie=  (tare,  tiie).  The  first  is  the  old  form,  from  ags.  tegan,  the 
second  seems  to  have  come  from  a  second  form  ags.  tygan ;  seyd  teyd 
10305,  gives  the  first  distinctly,  the  form :  tyged,  Allit.  Poems  by 
Morris  A.  464,  suggests  the  second  sound,  for  which  I  have  noted 
no  rhymes.  (Tii)  is  found  in  Kendal,  Cumberland,  and  Lancashire. 

Pine,  pain  =  (pirne,  parne),  are  really  two  separate  words,  but 
they  are  used  so  much  in  the  same  sense  that  they  might  be  easily 
supposed  to  be  different  forms  of  the  same  word.  The  first  is 
Anglosaxon,  the  second  French,  but  both  apparently  come  from 
Latin  poena.  They  have  come  down  to  the  present  day  also  with 
different  pronunciations  (poin,  pmi),  and  different  meanings.  The 
following  passages  will  shew  how  the  words  are  confused  by  Chaucer 
as  the  exigencies  of  the  rhyme  require. 

And  whan  a  beste  is  deed,  lie  ne  hath  no  peyne, 

But  man  after  his  deth  moot  wepe  and  pleyne, 

Though  in  this  world  he  have  care  and  woo  : 

"Withouten  doute  it  may  stonde  so. 

The  answer  of  this  I  lete  to  divinis, 

But  wel  I  woot,  that  in  this  world  gret  pyne  is.      1321 

In  which  ther  be  som  merthe  or  doctrine. 

Gladly,  quod  I,  by  Goddes  swete  pyne.  15343 

That  telleth  us  the  peyne  of  Jhesu'  Crist.  15352 

And  sythen  that  I  knewe  of  loves  peyne 

And  wot  how  sore  it  can  a  man  destreyne.  1817 

Ful  gulteles,  by  Goddes  swete  pyne, 

For  as  an  hors,  I  couthe  bothe  bite  and  whyne.      5967 

who  wold«  suppose 

The  wo  that  in  my  herte  was  and  pyne  ? 
And  whan  I  saugh  he  nolde  never  fyne 
To  reden  on  this  cursed  hook.  6369 

In  Armorik,  that  clepid  is  Bretaigne 
Ther  was  a  knyght,  that  loved  and  dide  his  peyne 
To  serven  a  lady    '  11041 

"We  thus  see  that  in  the  xiv  th  century  there  was  a  tendency  to 
two  forms  in  certain  words,  and  that  in  general  the  original  form 
has  (ai)  and  the  secondary  form  («V).  In  one  case,  however,  at 
least,  dry,  the  (««)  form  appears  to  be  the  older.  In  every  case, 
however,  except  from  mere  carelessness  of  the  scribe,  the  two 
sounds  were  carefully  distinguished  as  ei,  i  or  ey,  y.  There  can 
therefore  be  very  little  doubt  that  when  only  one  form  i  or  y,  was 
employed,  there  was  only  one  pronunciation,  (n),  because  the 
scribe,  who  was  hampered  by  no  historical  associations,  must  have 
many  a  time  and  oft  written  ey  if  he  had  ever  heard  the  sound  (ai). 
In  all  of  these  cases  the  (*Y)  sound  has  been  dialectically  preserved. 

This  completes  the  argument  in  favour  of  the  proposition  with 
which  I  started,  viz.,  that  the  sound  of  »  in  Chaucer's  time  was 
(iV,  t)  and  not  (ai,  »').  But  the  result  admits  of  illustration  by 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  287 

dialectic  peculiarities  in  addition  to  those  just  adduced.  Isolated 
and  small  societies  necessarily  preserve  idiomatic  expressions,  pecu- 
liar words  and  peculiar  pronunciations.  Of  course  the  so-called 
Anglosaxon  which  established  itself  in  England  was  not  uniform. 
The  languages  with  which  our  dialects  began,  so  to  speak,  were 
remarkably  different  in  many  respects.  It  is  not  merely  the  pro- 
nunciation of  a  few  words  which  now  distinguishes  the  men  of  the 
North,  North-west,  North-east,  West,  East,  Midland,  South-west, 
and  South-east,  from  each  other  and  from  those  who  speak  literary 
English.  The  whole  intonation,  many  of  the  words,  the  idioms, 
the  grammatical  constructions,  are  different.  The  effects  of  isolation 
are  shewn  strongly  among  the  scanty  population  that  speaks  what 
we  call  Scotch,  and  consider  it  as  a  single  language.  Mr.  Murray 
has  been  able  to  distinguish  eight  Scotch  dialects  so  sharply  as  to 
translate  the  book  of  Ruth  into  each  of  them.  In  some  of  these 
dialects  the  differences  of  pronunciation  are  as  great  as  those  which 
separate  English  utterances  in  distant  centuries.1  Nevertheless 
we  feel  that  all  these  dialects  have  one  common  origin  with  the 
literary  English,  and  that  an  examination  of  their  peculiarities, 
as  respects  this  vowel  t,  will  be  of  some  assistance  in  conceiving 
the  former  existence  of  a  pronunciation  so  extremely  different 
from  our  own.  It  was  with  this  view  that  I  requested  the 
cooperation  of  those  personally  acquainted  with  these  modes  of 
speech — which  every  one  must  regret  to  see  at  present  so  imper- 
fectly written,  that  the  spelling  conveys  but  little  knowledge 
to  a  reader  who  is  ignorant  of  the  dialect,  and  whom  the  writing 
ought  principally  to  aim  at  instructing. 

Mr.  James  A.  H.  Murray's  native  dialect  was  that  of  Teviotdale, 
and  this  possesses  a  very  remarkable  peculiarity.  The  following  words 
which  are  pronounced  with  (ii)  in  all  other  Scotch  dialects,  are  in  this 
dialect,  which  extends  over  Roxburghshire,  Selkirkshire,  and  part 
of  Dumfries,  pronounced  with  (ei) :  eye,  be,  bee,  die,  dree  endure,  fee 
mad,  a  fly,  to  fly,  free,  gi'  ye  give  you,  glee  squint,  gree  agree,  he, 
key,  lie  falsehood,  me,  knee,  pea,  plea,  pree  try,  see,  stee  steep, 
spree,  tea,  ti'  ye  to  you,  tree,  thigh,  three,  wi'  ye  with  you,  agee 
aslant.  That  is  where  other  Scots  say :  (ii,  bii,  dii,  drii,  f  ii)  etc, 
the  Borderers  say  (ei,  bei,  dei,  drei,  fei)  etc.  This  one  pecu- 
liarity is  very  striking.  Some  of  these  words  as :  eye,  fly,  lie,  thigh, 
are  pronounced  with  (ai)  in  the  South,  but  what  Englishman  would 
say  (bai)  for  lee,  (frai)  for  free  and  so  on  ?  Conjoined  with  this 
curious  correspondence  of  (ei)  with  the  (ii)  of  other  dialects  is 
another  of  precisely  the  same  character.  The  sentence  :  You  and 
me  will  go  over  the  dyke  and  pull  a  pea,  is  a  perfect  shibboleth 
in  this  dialect.  Alone,  in  all  Scotland,  it  says  :  (Jan  an  mei  al  geq 
our  dh*  deik  an  para.  13  pei).2  On  the  other  hand,  the  Edinburgher 

1  See  Mr.   Murray's  paper  on  the          2  Mr.  M.  Bell  writes  (myi  pyi)  for 

Lowland  Scotch  Dialect,  read  before  (mei  pei).     The  latcer  were  the  sounds 

the   Philological   Society  on  the  4th  as  I  appreciated  them  when  Mr.  Murray 

and  18th  Dec.,  1868.  pronounced  them. 


I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

would  say:  (Jim  en  miral  gj^q  Eur  dh/ dEik  on  puu  TJ  pii).  Observe 
the  (jau  pan)  for  (juu  pnn)  corresponding  with  (mei  pei)  for  (mil 
pii).  We  have  here,  then,  two  sets  of  words  in  a  living  dialect 
corresponding  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  the  xvith  century 
(ei  ou)  with  the  xrvth  century  (ii  uu),1  and  similarly  in  the 
Netherlands,  we  shall  find  (oi,  ii)  coexisting  in  adjacent  provinces, 
as  pronunciations  of  the  written  if.  The  phenomenon,  then,  of  the 
change  of  (ii  uu)  to  (ei  ou)  ought  not  to  present  any  very  serious 
difficulties.  Nor  ought  we  to  feel  any  great  surprise  at  Palsgrave 
and  Bullokar  having  retained  (ii  uu),  while  their  fellow  countrymen 
generally  said  (ei  ou). 

The  sound  (ii)  for  long  i  is  by  no  means  extinct,  and  the  double 
use  of  (ii)  and  one  of  the  (ai)  sounds  is,  as  we  have  seen,  familiar 
in  the  very  words  which  have  been  noted  above.  Mr.  Murray, 
notwithstanding  his  residence  in  England,  and  his  critical  know- 
ledge of  our  language,  confesses  that  he  is  "  continually  discovering 
words  which  he  has  all  his  life  pronounced  with  (ii)  which  English- 
men pronounce  (ai)."  "In  fact,"  says  he,  "long  (ii)  is  the  sound 
we  instinctively  associate  with  the  letter  i  unless  we  have  been 
taught  to  pronounce  it  as  in  English."  The  following  is  taken 
from  some  remarks  which  Mr.  Murray  obligingly  communicated  in 
writing. 

Fly  s.  and  v.  general  Scotch  (flii),  but  Teviotdale  (flei).  Cleve- 
land (flii)  a  fly,  but  (fhg)  to  fly,  compare  lie. 

Lie  (mentiri),  general  Scotch,  "Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland 
(lii),  Teviotdale  and  Dumfriesshire  (lei). 

Lie  (procumbere),  Westm.  Cumb.  Lane,  and  Cleveland  (Kg,  leg) ; 
this  does  not  seem  to  cross  the  border  where  the  word  is  (lai,  la', 
lohi),  although  the  older  Scotch  always  wrote  lig,  lyg. 

By  preposition  of  the  agent,  (bi).  Teviotdale  (Hei  waz  sin  bi 
sfc'verelz)  =  he  was  seen  by  several. 

By  of  place  is  always  (bai,  bohi). 

Thigh  Scotch,  Westm.  Cumb.  and  Cleveland  (thii),  Tev.  and 
Durnf.  (thei). 

Friar  =  (friir),  thus  a  part  of  Jedburgh  is  called  the  Freirs* 

Briar  =  (briir),  Cleveland  (briir)  and  (brii),  inquire  (enkwiir), 
choir  (kwiir)  and  (Icweer)  (?),  squire  (skwiir). 

Site,  old  people  pronounce  (sit,  zit). 

Neighbour  =  (nib'er),  with  a  short  vowel,  not  (nirber)  as  Eng- 
lishmen hear. 

Like  =  (lek,  leik),  the  latter  more  common,  but  (lek'l/z)  is  used 
for  likely ,  in  Cleveland  also,  like  =  (lah'k),  but  likely  =  (lek'K, 
likitV 

1  The  difference  between  (au  ou)  is  to  attempt  to  discriminate  between  (ou 

very  slight,  the  latter  having  simply  ou)  in  an  ancient  form  of  speech,  when 

labialised  the  first  element  of  the  former,  it  would  be  difficult  to  do  so  in  living 

which  effect  readily  produced  by  the  pronunciation. 

action  of   the  subsequent   (u).      The  2  A  well  of  very  fine  water  at  Work- 
difference  between  (ou   ou)  is   merely  ingtou,   Cumberland,  is   always  called 
that  the  first  element  of  the  latter  is  the  (frii-i). 
widened,  and  it  would  be  presumptuous  3  An  old  Scotch  jeweller,  who  had 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y XIV  TH    CENTURY.  289 

Oblige,  obliged  =  (obliidzlr,  obltYst')1  and  similarly  in  numerous 
French  words,  as  invite,  polite,  and  words  of  classical  origin  as  idol 
(iidi)  type  (tip),  baptize,  chastize,  civilized  (sivaliizt),  advertise-ment. 

Eye,  general  Scotch  (ii),  Teviotdale  (ei),  plural  in  both  (in)  with 
short  (i).  Cumb.,  Westm.,  Lane.,  and  North  Yorkshire  (ii,  iin) 
with  long  (ii).  Barnsley,  South  Yorkshire  (ii,  iiz). 

Sigh  Tev.  (ne&h,  nei,  nai),  other  Scotch  (nekh,  mkh,  mi),  as 
(as  Hrlahnt  az  dhe  mi  rood)  =  as  highland  as  the  high  road.2  The 
guttural  form  is  common  but  is  passing  away,  and  (mi)  is  used 
instead  in  Centre,  West,  and  North  of  Scotland,  as  also  in  Cumb., 
and  Westm.,  (nai,  nohi)  are  the  common  recent  forms  in  Teviotdale. 

Die,  general  Scotch,  Cumb.,  Westm.,  Lane.,  (dii).  Teviotdale, 
Eskdale,  Annandale  (dei). 

Dree  (drii)  endure,  and  so  in  Cleveland ;  but  dry  (drai  dr«i  dra' 
drohi),  and  so  with  buy. 

Sly  follows  the  analogy  of  high,  but  the  guttural  form  seems  only 
to  occur  in  sleight  (sleA;ht)  like  height  (ne^ht).  The  usual  Scotch, 
Cumb.,  Westm.,  and  Lane,  is  (slii),  Tev.  (slei),  or  more  commonly 
(slai,  slohi). 

Hie  is  not  known  to  Mr.  Murray  in  living  speech,  in  reading 
ballads  it  is  called  (nai  nohi)  in  Tev.  In  Westm.  dialects  it  is 
sometimes  written  hii? 

-Ight,  words  of  this  class,  as  right,  might,  light,  sight,  which 
in  Scotland  are  (lekht,  le/cht)  are  in  Cumb.,  Westm.,  Lane.,  and 
Yorkshire,  (riit,  niit,  Hit,  siit)  etc.4  In  cases  where  -ight  does  not 
represent  ags.  -iht,  the  pronunciation  is  different,  so  fight  ags.  feoht, 
Tev.  (fceLfcht),  Lane,  (feit)  not  (fiit).5 

Sigh  (sekh). 

China,  the  ware  or  the  country  (tshin-a,  tshiirt),  as  in  (Whaht 
est  Bts  i3t  jens  uut  •B  tshiir*  im  en'B  tshirrt?  Tei)  =  What  is-it 
that -is  at  once  out  of  China  and  in -of  China?  Tea.  Walker 

lived  from  youth  in  London,  always  men  in  the  Dales  sounded  such  words 

said  (lek)  for  like,  in  all  senses.     He  as  sigh,  night,  light,  &c.,  with  a  gentle 

was  constantly  using  the  word,   and  guttural  breathing,"  which,  he  adds  in 

never  seemed  to  hear  that  other  persons  a  footnote,    "  seemed  partly  to  come 

pronounced  it  differently.  from  the  palate,"  and  was  therefore 

1  Observe  the  form  of  the  past  tense.  (&h).     See  :  A  Memorial  by  the  Trus- 
I  quite  lately  heard  (obliidzlr,  obliitsht1)  tees  of  Cowgill  (Koo'gel)  Chapel,  with  a 
from  a  noble  lord  at  a  public  meeting.  Preface  and  Appendix,  on  the  Climate, 

2  Perthshire  simile  in  describing  one  History,   and    Dialects    of   Dent,    by 
who   is   ultra  Celtic.      Observe   here  Adam  Sedgwick,  LL.D.,  senior  fellow 
the  different  use  of  (as,  az).  of  Trinity  College,   and  professor  of 

8  A  gentleman  in  Derby  informed  Geology  m  the    University  of  Cam- 

me    that    in    North    Derbyshire    the  bridge.     Cambridge,   1868,   8vo.  pri- 

peasantry  say  (mak  nii)  for  make  haste.  vately  printed,  p.  103 — a  book  of  affec- 

Compare :  I  se  where  come  a  messengere  tionate  and  interesting  reminiscences  of 

in  hie=in  haste  4- 10.  ags.  higian  v.  manners  and    speech,  extending  over 

higiS  s.     Orrmin  hih  *.     Promptorium  nearly  120  years,  through  Prof.  Sedg- 

hyyn'  p.  229.  wick's  father,  the  honoured  clergyman 

*  Prof.   Sedgwick,  a  native   of  the  of  Dent,  who  was  50  years  older  than 

dale  of  Dent,  Yorkshire,  writing  at  up-  his  son. 

wards  of  eighty  years  of  age,  says  :  "  I  5  Several  correspondents  have  con- 
remember  the  day  when    all  the   old  firmed  this  rule,  and  the  exception. 

19 


290  I,  Y  XIV  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

gives  (tshee'ni')  for  china  ware  or  orange,  but  (Tsharnae)  for  the 
country,  and  has  a  long  note  on  it. 

Bind,  find,  hind,  blind,  grind  =  (b^nd,  fmd,  H0nt,  bbnd,  grmd), 
wind  v.  and  s.  =  (wand),  but  kind,  mind,  wynd  =  (kaind,  maind, 
waind),  and  little  is  often  (lait'l)  especially  as  a  proper  name. 

Why  !  as  an  exclamation,  not  why  ?  the  interrogative,  is  (wi !)  in 
Scotch,  and  (wiia !)  in  Cumb.,  Westm.,  Lane.,  and  Cleveland. 
( Wiia !  sez  ai)  ==  Why !  says  I,  is  a  common  formula  in  the 
Northern  counties. 

Can  this  existence  of  the  (ii)  sound,  and  its  general  association 
with  i  in  Scotland,  be  considered  a  modern  development  ?  Has  it 
not  rather  the  appearance  of  an  ancient  form  ?  The  latter  view 
seems  confirmed  by  seeing  that  numerous  words  are  pronounced 
with  one  of  the  (ai)  forms  as  (ei,  ei,  sei,  ai,  ai,  ohi,  ai),  and  that 
these  various  forms  are  differently  distributed  in  different  localities, 
whereas  the  (ii)  form  when  it  occurs  is  almost  general.  Mr.  Murray 
gives  the  two  following  lists  of  words  which  have  (ei,  ei)  in  Teviot- 
dale,  but  (ai)  in  "Western  Scotch,  the  first  element  of  these  diph- 
thongs being  more  distinctly  heard  than  in  English  (ai,  au). 

Tev.  (ei),  west  Scotch  (ai) :  bike  wasp's  nest,  dyke,  fike  to  'irk, 
like,  pike  pick,  sike  wet  hollow,  spike,  strike,  tike ;  bite,  clyte  clot, 
dite  doit,  flite  scold,  gite  crazy,  kite  a  belly,  mite,  knite  (kneit)  rap 
the  knuckles,  quite,  white  (kwheit),  spite,  snite  blow  the  nose,  wite 
blame,  write  (w'reit),1  yite  (jeit)  yellow  hammer,  gype  (geip)  im- 
pudent fellow,  (nei'pelt)  awkward  clown,  pipe,  ripe,  sipe  ooze,  snipe, 
tripe,  wipe ; — bice,  Brice,  Christ,  dice,  grice,  lice,  mice,  nice,  price, 
rice,  spice,  sklice  slice,  trice,  wise  (weis),  twice,  thrice,  fife  Fife, 
five,  life,  knife  (kneif ),  rife,  strife  ; — pint  (peint),  ninth  (neint). 

Tev.  (ei),  West  Scotch  (ai) :  bide,  bride,  guide,  hide,  pride,  ride, 
side,  slide,  tidy,  wide ; — jibe,  kibe,  siba  (s^rba)  onion  Lat.  cepa ; 
— guize,  prize,  rise,  stays  (steiz) ; — kithe  shew,  lithe,  writh  ; — dive, 
drive,  hive,  alive,  lives,  knives,  deprive,  schive  slice,  strives,  thrives, 
wives  ; — tings  (ttfiqz)  tongs,  whings  (wheiqz)  shoe-strings  ; — brine, 
cryne  dry  in,  fine,  line,  mine,  nine,  pine,  sine  since,  swine,  shine, 
tine  lose,  twine,  wine,  vine  ; — crime,  dime,  glime  glimpse,  lime, 
prime,  rime,  stime  indistinct  form,  time ; — bile,  file  befoul,  guile, 
kile  hay-cock,  mile,  pile,  sile  strain  milk,  tile,  vile,  wile,  stile, 
smile ; — bire  cowshed,  chair  (tsheir),  fire,  hire,  mire,  sire  sewer,  swire 
tire,  wire ; — wild,  mild ; — mind,  hind,  kind,  rind,  sind  rinse. 

In  the  second  list  the  consonant  is  a  liquid,  nasal,  or  voiced 
letter,  which  distinguishes  it  from  the  first.  Generally  in  Scotland 
when  English  long  i  or  y  is  final  in  monosyllables,  as  cry,  dye,  or  a 
long  i  occurs  m  underived  words,  as  dial,  trial,  the  sound  is  (ai), 
and  in  Teviotdale  (ai,  ohi).  Derivatives  follow  their  root  sounds. 

The  two  sounds,  that  is  the  (ei,  ei,  ai,  ai)  series,  and  the  (sei,  ai, 
ai,  ohi)  series,  attributed  to  the  Scotch  long  i,  are  strongly  insisted 
on  by  Scotchmen,  and  in  1848  when  I  was  printing  much  English 
in  a  phonetic  form,  the  Scotch  always  exclaimed  against  the  use  of 

1  In  Aberdeen  (vriit)  or  (bnriit). 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  291 

one  sign  for  the  two  forms.  The  late  Professor  W.  Gregory,  of 
Edinburgh,  divided  the  sounds  into  (ai)  and  (ai),1  in  which  case 
they  answer  to  the  two  sounds  heard  in  Isaiah  in  England.  Mr. 
Melville  Bell  in  a  private  letter  says  that:  "in  different  districts 
you  hear  («',  a',  ahi),  but  the  representative  sound  is  (aei).  This  is 
heard  regularly  when  the  sound  is  final,  before  a  vowel,  or  before 
final  r,  and  generally  when  it  occurs  before  (z)  or  (v).  This  (aei) 
is  the  *  genteel'  form  of  I.  I  hear  it  from  all  my  educated  Scotch 
pupils  ;  though  they  come  from  widely  separated  districts  they  give 
(sei)  for  'I'  etc.,  with  absolute  uniformity.8  The  other  sound  (ei) 
is  the  regular  one  for  V'in  other  syllables,  and  in  a  few  words  for 
a,"  as  aye,  pay,  clay,  Tay,  May,  way,  plague,  etc.  In  Teviotdale, 
aye,  may,  are  called  (ei,  mei)  to  distinguish  them  from  (ei,  mei)  = 
ee,  me. 

My  dialectic  correspondents  (p.  277  note),  and  Mr.  Murray  have 
furnished  me  with  the  following  words  in  which  (ii)  or  (n)3  re- 
mains in  the  provinces.  Abbreviations — C.  Cumberland,  D.  Devon, 
Db.  Derbyshire,  K.  Kendal,  L.  Lancashire,  N.  Norfolk,  S.  Shields, 
generally  South  Shields,  sometimes  North  Shields,  and  occasionally 
Newcastle,  Sc.  general  Scotch,  "W.  Westmoreland,  Y.  Yorkshire, 
Yc.  Cleveland,  Yorkshire  The  list  is  of  course  very  incomplete, 
both  in  words  and  localities.  The  numerous  French  and  classical 
words  pronounced  in  Scotland  with  (ii),  p.  289,  are  omitted. 

WOEDS  SPELLED   WITH   I,    USUALLY  SOUNDED    (ai),    BUT   PEOVINCIAXLY 

PRONOUNCED  (ii), 

alike  D  fly  v.  CKSScWY    liar  S  sight  CWS 

briar  CYc  fly  «.  CKLSScYYc  lie  *.  CKLSScW  sly  CLSScW 

bright  CKLSW  friar  CSc  light  CDWSY  stile  C 

by  preposition  of  fright  S  lightning  S  thigh  CSScWYc 

agent  Sc  hie  Db  mice  DN  thy  LW 

child  D  high  C  might  s.  D  tie  v.  CKL 

die  CKLSScW  hind  s.  C  mind  D  why !  CLScWYc 

dry  S  Ide  D  my  passim  wright  SY 

dyke  N  I'll  C  night  CDKLSY  write  S 

eye  CDLSScWY  kindly  D  nighest  (niist)  D 

eyesight  Y  kite  Y  right  CSWY 

It  would  be  difficult  to  suppose  that  in  all  these  cases,  widely 
differing  from  ordinary  use,  and  extending  over  several  counties, 
the  (ii)  should  have  been  a  recent  transformation  of  (ei).  The 
probabilities  are  all  the  other  way. 

The  personal  pronoun  /  is  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties.  In  the 
Aryan  languages  its  changes  have  been  great.  The  original  word 
seems  to  have  been  (a)  to  which  a  strengthening  termination  (gham) 

1  See  my  Essentials  of  Phonetics,  p.  conception  or  the  proper  pronunciation 
172,  note,  where  (ai)  is  used  when  not  of  the  English  long  /'.      In  England 
followed  by  a  consonant  and  before  the  (aei)  is  rather  cockneyfied. 
inflectional  (d,  z),  and  also  before  (v,  z),  3  It  is  impossible  to  trust  the  unac- 
but  otherwise  (ai)  is  more  common.  customed    ear     to     distinguish    these 

2  Mr.  Murray  accounts  for  this  ab-  sounds,    though    they    have   separate 
normal  uniformity,  by  saying  that  (aei)  letters  i,  i,  in  Icelandic. 

is  not  a  Scotch  sound,  but  the  Scotch  / 


292  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

was  affixed,  producing  (agham)  as  in  Sanscrit.1  The  vowel  (a)  was 
retained,  and  the  following  guttural  altered  to  a  sibilant  in  Zend, 
Lithuanian,  and  old  Sclavonic.  In  Greek,  Latin,  and  Gothic,  the 
guttural  was  retained,  but  the  vowel  palatalized,  into  (e)  in  Greek 
€jo)v  (eghoon1),  and  Latin  ego  (eg*oo,  eg'o)  which  retained  por- 
tions of  the  following  syllable,  and  into  (i)  in  Gothic  (ik),  which 
dropped  the  following  letters.  This  low  German  form  (ik)  was  the 
normal  Saxon  form,  probably  (ak),  and  the  orthography  ice  in 
Orrmin,  guarantees  the  shortness  of  the  vowel.  In  Icelandic  we 
find  ee,  ek,  eg,  where  the  vowel  seems  to  have  become  long,  and  (j) 
was  prefixed  in  speaking.  The  Modern  Danish  i&jeg  (jei,  jai).  In 
Chaucer  as  we  have  seen  (p.  282),  the  form  ic  still  occurs,  and  is 
sometimes  palatalized  to  ich  («tsh),  but  the  usual  form  in  Chaucer 
and  Gower  is  L 2  By  Shakspere  the  words  /,  eye,  aye  were  identi- 
fied in  sound  (p.  112).  The  frequent  phrase  quoth-a,  may  some- 
times mean,  quoth  I,  but  is  often  interpreted  quoth  he,  and  the  well- 
known  passage  in  Henry  Y,  act  ii,  sc,  3,  describing  the  death  of 
Falstaff,  is  full  of  a  for  lie.  JsTow  as  Tie  was  certainly  generally 
pronounced  (mi),  as  it  was  frequently  written  hee,  at  that  time,  the 
provincial,  or  vulgar,  or  dialectic  correspondence  of  (a)  with  (mi), 
would  be  precisely  similar  to  a  dialectic  use  of  (a)  for  (ii),  sup- 
posing the  last  to  have  been  Chaucer's  personal  pronoun.  At  the 
same  time  the  acknowledged  form  (mi)  for  he,  would  lead  us  to 
expect  some  acknowledged  forms  (ii)  or  (ii)  for  /,  existing  in 
dialects. 

Now  both  of  the  forms  (a)  and  (ii)  exist  in  the  provinces  for  /, 
though  the  traces  of  (ii)  are  very  few  and  very  slight,  but  few  as 
they  are,  it  would  be  difficult  to  account  for  them  except  by  the 
action  of  an  old  tradition,  and  as  in  some  cases  the  pronunciation  is 
only  known  among  very  old  people  and  is  fast  going  out,  it  may 
have  been  much  more  common  as  lately  as  one  or  two  hundred 
years  ago. 

"J£ed  =  ~L  had:  If  eed  done  soa,  it  wad  sartainly  hev  been 
better."3  "I,  aye,  eigh.  Yes.  I  is  sometimes  pronounced  like  E, 
particularly  when  the  pronoun  follows  the  verb,  as  'do  E,'  for  I 
do." 4  "  I  is  often  sounded  like  E,  in  m,"  5  probably  (»)  as  a  con- 
tracted form  of  (m). 

1  F.   C.   August  FicJc,   Worterbuch          3  Rev.    W.   Carr,  Craven  Glossary, 
der  IndogermaniscI  en  Grundsprache  in      vol.  i.  p.  127,  2nd  ed. 

ihrem  Bestande  vor   der  Volkertren-  4  Ibid.,  p.  241.    The  author  cites  as 

nung,    1868,  p.   4.    C.  F.  Koch,  His-  an  illustration,  what  looks  like  a  coup- 

torische    Grammatik    ier    Englischen  let,  from  Cant.  Tales,  12530,  by  which 

Sprache,  vol.  3,  p.  3.  it  seems  as  if  me,  I  rhymed.    Of  course 

2  The  omission  of  the  guttural  is  this  was  not  the  case.     The  author  has 
quite  similar  to  the  (ai,  i,  mi,  di,  si,  taken  together  two  lines  belonging  to 
aa,  do,  no)  for  euch,  ich,  mich,  dich,  different  couplets,  and  the  whole  rhymes 
sich,   auch,  doch,  noch,  in  the  neigh-  arejolite  me,  I  thriftily. 

bourhood    of    the    Danube,    Bavaria.          5  Ibid.  The  author  has  unfortunately 

Schmeller,  Grammatik  art.  427.     So  in  not  followed  any  strict  orthography,  and 

old  high  German,  and  old  English  we  has  not  attempted  to  explain  that  which 

find  ine  for  ih  ne,  ic  ne.  Graff,  1,  118,  he  has  used. 
Bel.  Ant.  1,  235. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  I,  Y  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  293 

In  Lancashire  (t )  is  used  when  unemphatic,  as  (man  i  tel  dhe  ?) 
must  I  tell  you.1 

In  Blackburn  "  the  old  fashioned  way"  of  pronouncing  /,"  is 
(t)  very  short."3 

"I  have  frequently  heard  old  people  pronounce  /like  our  own 
ee  (ii),  especially  in  the  interrogative  form,  did  ee  do  it?  will  ee 
go  ?  must  ee  do  it  ?  etc.  This  is  very  common,  in  fact  about  twenty 
years  ago  it  was  the  invariable  pronunciation.  In  the  phrase :  (aiz 
gaa'an  Hjam,  at  iz  ii!)  =  I  am  going  home,  that  am  I,  ee  (ii)  is 
as  decidedly  emphatic  as  /  ordinarily  is.  The  contraction  I'll  for 
/  shall,  is  frequently  given  erf II.  Ee  is  also  used  occasionally 
but  very  seldom  in  every  tense  and  form.  This  pronunciation  is 
only  used  by  old  people  here,  but  in  central  Cumberland  it  is  more 
general.  The  same  people  use  the  form  (aa)  and  sometimes  (a), 
but  never  in  questions  or  in  the  direct  future."3 

Scarcely  less  convincing  as  respects  the  vowel  in  English  ich  are 
the  contractions  cham,  chas,  chil  (tsham,  tshas,  tslw'l)  for  ich  am, 
ich  was,  ich  will,  mentioned  by  Gill  (Logonomia  p.  17)  as  a  Southern 
pronunciation,  in  Rev.  "W.  Barnes's  edition  of  the  Glossary  of  the 
Dialect  of  Forth  and  Bargy,  and  in  the  Glossary  to  his  Poems  in 
the  Dorset  dialect,  1858,  p.  150.  See  also  J.  Jennings,  Dialects  of 
the  "West  of  England.4 

The  dialectic  pronunciations  Ise,  'ch  are  preserved  in  Shakspere, 
King  Lear,  act  iv,  sc.  6,  1.  240,  Globe  ed.,  Tragedies  p.  304,  col.  2, 
folio  1623,  which  reads  : 

Edg.  Chill5  not  let  go  Zir, 
Without  vurther  'casion. 

Stew.  Let  go  Slaue,  or  thou  dy'ft. 

Edg.  Good  Gentleman  goe  your  gate,  and  let  poore  volke  paffe :  and  'chud6 
ha'bin  zwaggerd  out  of  my  life,  'twould  not  ha'bin  zo  long  as  'tis,  by  a 
vortnight.  Nay,  come  not  neere  th'old  man:  keepe  out  che  vor'ye,7  or  ice8 
try  whither  your  Costard,  or  my  Ballow  be  the  harder ;  chill5  be  plaine  with  you. 

Stew.  Out  Dunghill. 

Edg.  Chill5  picke  your  teeth  Zir :  come,  no  matter  vor  yeur  foynes. 

About  thirty  years  ago  utehy  (atsh'a  ?)  was  in  use  for  /  in  the 
Eastern  border  of  Devonshire  and  in  Dorset,  and  examples  of  cham, 
chould  =  li  am,  I  would,  occur  in  the"  Exmoor  Scolding,"  which 
dates  from  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,9 

The  prevailing  dialectic  forms  of  the  pronoun  are  however  (a,  a,  A, 
oh)  occasionally  (a,  IB),  and  (ai,  a\,  ohi,  AI,  oi).  In  Derbyshire  I 
generally  heard  (a),  but  in  the  northern  parts  it  is  said  to  be  (AI). 
Mr.  Murray  writes :  "  I  in  the  Northern  dialects  of  England  is 

1  Letter  from  Mr.  John  J.  L.  Jack-          6  I  will. 

son,  teacher  of  languages,  Manchester.  6  I  would.  / 

2  Letter  from  Mr.  T.  Fielding,  Man-          7  Printed  cheuore  ye  in  the  4t<i,  1608. 
Chester.  "Amtrales — (Ts-hi    Voor  jiY/pro    (ai 

8  Letter  from  Mr.  J.  N.  Hethering-  war-ant  jou)  cerium  do"  Crill,   Logo- 

ton,   Clifton  Parsonage,  Workington,  nomia,  p.  17.                      / 

Cumberland.  8  Ice  =  Ise  =  I;   printeya  t70  =  I'll,  in 

4  For  these  references  to  Glossaries  the  4to.  1608.                 / 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  Aldis  Wright,  9    Letter  from    M»<    John    Shelly, 

Trin.  Coll.  Cambridge.  Plymouth. 


294  I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

usually  a  simple  vowel  of  the  (a,  0,  oh)  series.  In  some  dialects  it 
is,  when  accented,  a  diphthong  composed  of  the  same  first  element 
and  (i,').  In  Scotch  (oh,  aa),  even  when  emphatic  (*oh  wohd'ne 
gohq)  =  I  would  not  go.  In  Ayrshire  it  would  probably  be  (aai, 
aa'j)  in  such  a  case,  so  also  in  Cumb.  and  "Westm.  In  Lancashire 
it  is  (AA)  even  when  emphatic,  in  Barnsley,  Yorkshire,  (aa\  When 
unemphatic  it  is  in  all  the  dialects  an  obscure  (a,  a,  13),  it  is  hard 
to  say  what."  Unemphatic  syllables  have  always  a  tendency  to 
fall  into  this  colourless  (a,  13)  sound.  Even  in  Germany,  where 
there  is  no  tendency  to  pronounce  ich  (i&h)  with  an  (ai),  rapid 
speaking  will  generate  (a),  as  (nab'adi,  las*ami,  taa'tada,  deqk-ama) 
=  habe  ich  dich,  lasse  ich  mich,  thate  ich  dir,  denke  ich  mir,  in 
Bavaria.1 

The  confusion  of  (i)  with  (e)  penetrated,  as  we  have  seen,  into 
orthography,  p.  272.  But  during  the  xvth  century  there  also  arose 
a  tendency  to  thin  (ee)  into  (ii),  whereby  so  many  (ee)  of  the 
xrv  th  century  became  (ii)  by  the  xvi  th.  This  tendency  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  which  converted  so  many  of  the  remaining 
(ee)  into  (ii)  at  the  beginning  of  the  xvmth  century,  p.  88.  Now 
if  we  suppose  these  two  tendencies  to  act  together,  which  is  no 
extravagant  hypothesis,  since  they  certainly  co-existed,  the  result 
would  be  that  (ii)  would  be  begun  as  (ee)  and  ended  as  (ii),  that  is 
that  (ii)  would  become  first  (eei)  and  then  (ei).  During  the  same 
time  we  know  also  that  (oo)  was  in  many  instances  refined  to  (uu). 
"We  might  therefore  suppose  that  there  was  the  converse  tendency 
to  take  (uu)  as  (MM),  and  then  as  (oo),  which  is  by  no  means  un- 
common, and  then  that  the  joint  action  of  these  two  tendencies  pro- 
duced first  (0011),  then  (ou)  or  (ou)  as  it  would  have  been  certainly 
accepted.  This  supposition  as  to  the  mode  of  generating  (ei,  ou) 
from  (iiy  uu),  has  the  advantage  of  being  based  upon  known  facts. 
But  the  considerations  adduced  on  p.  233,  are  quite  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  change.  At  the  present  moment  the  (ee,  oo)  of  the 
South  of  England  are  actually  changing  into  (ei,  ou),  and  these 
sounds  have  been  developed  by  the  less  educated,  and  therefore 
more  advanced  speakers,  the  more  educated  and  therefore  less  ad- 
vanced having  only  reached  (eei,  oou)  *  although  many  of  them  are 
not  conscious  of  saying  anything  by  (ee,  oo). 

1  Schmeller,  Mund.  Bay.  art.  284.  thongs.     This  is  illustrated  ....  in  the 

2  "The  English  alphabetic  accented  a,  regular  pronunciation  of  the  vowels  in 
in  the  mouth  of  a  well-educated  Lon-  aid,  ail,  aim,  ache,  &c.  (ei},  ode,  oak, 
doner....  is  not  quite  simple,  hut  finishes  globe,   &c.   (ou).     The  same  tendency 
more  slenderly  than  it  hegins,  tapering  leads  to  the  '  Cockney'  peculiarity  of 
so  to  speak,  towards  the  sound  (i)  ....  separating  the    labio  -  lingual    vowels 
o  in  a  Londoner's  mouth  is  not  always  (u,  o)  into  their  lingual  and  labial  corn- 
quite  simple,   hut  is   apt  to   contract  ponents,   and  pronouncing  the   latter 
towards  the  end,  finishing  almost  as  oo  successively  instead  of  simultaneously. 
in   too."     B.  H.  Smart,  Walker  Re-  Thus  we  hear  (ceu,  mi,  yu)  for  (u),  and 
modelled,  1836,  Principles,  arts.  1  and  (o'w,   o'w,   ah'w)  for    (o)."      Visible 
7.     Mr.    M.    Bell,   among    "English  Speech,  p.  117.    As  Mr.  Bell  marks 
Characteristics"  reckons  :    "The  ten-  the  second  element  by  the  glide  sign 
dency  of  long  vowels  to  become  diph-  he  does  not  distinguish  the  length  of 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


I,  Y  XIV  TH    CENTURY. 


295 


As  has  been  already  remarked,  p.  234,  the  change  from  (ii,  uu) 
to  sounds  of  the  (ai,  au)  order  has  not  been  confined  to  England, 
but  took  place  in  the  literary  language  of  the  other  Germanic 
countries,  nearly  at  the  same  time,  that  is,  during  the  xv  th  and 
xvi  th  centuries ;  and  in  these  countries  as  well  as  in  England 
traces  of  the  original  pronunciation  remain  in  the  provinces. 

Siegenbeek,  whose  work  on  Dutch  Spelling  originated  the  ortho- 
graphy now  in  use,  tells  us  that  old  Dutch  manuscripts  employed 
i)  ii,  for  their  long  «',  which,  partly  for  distinctness  and  partly  for 
ornament,  became  ij,  and  hence  that  the  inhabitants  of  Friesland, 
Zeeland,  Guelders,  Overyssel,  and  Grb'ningen,  who  still  pronounce 
(ii),  evidently  preserve  the  ancient  sound  ;  but  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  province  of  Holland  had  at  an  early  period  changed  the 
sound  into  one  very  like  (ei) :  and  that  after  the  Spanish  disturb- 
ances, that  is,  about  the  end  of  the  xvrth  century,  this  province 
having  become  the  seat  of  learning  and  civilisation,  its  pronunciation 
necessarily  became  prevalent,  and  is  now  the  literary  pronunciation 
of  the  country.2  Hence  we  have  an  indubitably  ancient  (ii),  pre- 
served in  those  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  whose  dialect  most 
resembles  ancient  English,  and  passing  into  an  (ai)  in  other  pro- 
vinces which  by  a  political  accident  was  able  to  set  the  fashion  of 
pronunciation. 


the  first  element,  so  that  with  him  (ee, 
oo)  have  already  in  appearance  become 
(ei,  on),  but  this  does  not  represent  his 
actual  pronunciation,  which  is  rather 

(flj'j,  00  W). 

1  The  Dutch  ij,  ei  differ  slightly, 
if  at  all.     Sir  Hendrik  Gehle,  D.D., 
minister  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
in  Austin  Friars,  London,  who  kindly 
pointed  out  to  me  the  passage  in  Sie- 
genbeek (Sii-ghenbeek)  referred  to  in 
the  text,  and  confirmed  what  is  there 
said  of  the  provincial  (ii),  said  that  he 
felt  more  of  the  e  in  pronouncing  ei 
than  y,  reminding  me  much  of  Grill's 
remark  (supra  p.  114),  of  being  diffuse 
over  the  e.     At  first  he  seemed  to  call 
both  (ei),  but  afterwards  he  recognized 
my  (ai,  ei)  as  the  two  sounds,  and,  as- 
suming the  English  as  (ai),  he  said  he 
considered  the  Dutch  a  neater  sound. 
The  distinction  (ai,  ei)  is  precisely  that 
which  I  had  to  make  in  Gill,  and,  con- 
sidering the  close  connection  between 
Dutch  and  English,  the  coincidence  is 
remarkable. 

2  "  Doch  deze  enkele  i  kon  geene 
plaats  hebben  in  lettergrepen,  op  eenen 
medeklinker  stuitende,  als  mijn,  zijn, 
bliif  en  soortgelijke ;  maar  moest  hier 
noodzakelijk  verdubbeld  worden. — Men 
schreef  dus  oudtijds,  met  eene  dubbele 
*',  bliifj  wiin)  schriif)  von  welke  schrijf- 


wijze,  in  oude  handschriften,  nog  vele 
sporen  voorhanden  zijn.  Doch,  om  de 
gelijkheid  der  dubbele  »  met  de  «, 
waaruit  ligtelijk  ver warring  kon  ont- 
staan,  en  misschien  ook  sieraadshalve, 
begon  men  de  tweede  *  reeds  vroeg 
met  een'  langen  staart  te  schvijven,  't 
welk  man,  bij  hare  platsing  voor  eine 
vokaal  aan  het  begin  der  woorden,  ins- 
gelijks  in  zwang  bragt.  "Wij  kunnen 
niet  voorbij,  hier  te  doen  opmerken, 
dat  zij,  die,  in  de  woorden  blijven, 
schrijven,  mijn,  zijn,  bij  de  uitspraak 
den  klank  der  enkele  en  dubbele  i  doen 
hooren,  als  de  Vriezen,  Zeeuwen,  Gel- 
derschen,  Overijselschen  en  Groningers, 
blijkens  het  voorgestelde,  de  echte  en 
oorspronkelijke  uitspraak  dezer  woor- 
den behouden  hebben.  Doch  op  de 
tong  der  Hollanders  is  deze  echte 
klank  reeds  vroeg  verloren  geraakt,  en 
voor  eenen  anderen,  eenigzins  zwe- 
mende  naar  den  klank  ei,  verwisseld 
geworden.  Nadat  nu  Holland,  wer- 
waards,  na  de  Spaansche  beroeringen, 
de  voorname  zetel  der  beschaafdheid  en 
wetenschappen  werd  overgebragt,  door 
middel  van  dit  uitstekend  voorregt, 
zijne  uitspraak  meer  en  meer  als  de 
algemeene  en  heerschende  heeft  doen 
gelden,  is  ook  die  verbastering  in  de 
meest  beschaafde  uitspraak  en  daarop 
gebouwde  schrijfwijze  ingevoerd,  en 


296  I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2 

We  have  precisely  the  same  phenomena  in  the  less  closely  related 
High  German  dialects.  An  old  and  middle  high  German  i  (ii) 
became  a  modern  High  German  ei  (ai).  All  these  latter  ei  are  how- 
ever not  derived  from  i  (ii),  but  some  come  from  a  middle  and  old 
High  German  ei  (ei),  answering  to  the  Gothic  ai  (ee).1  Moreover 
we  have  the  same  phenomenon  of  a  persistence  of  the  sound  of  (ii) 
in  the  provinces,  notwithstanding  the  real  change  of  orthography 
from  i  to  ei,  whereas  in  Dutch  the  change  is  only  apparent,  from 
ii  to  if,  and  hence  resembles  the  English  retention  of  i  through  a 
change  of  sound.  Schmeller  says:  " ei  sounds,  conformably  with 
its  origin,  like  a  long  (ii)  by  the  lake  of  Constanz,  i.e.  on  the  Upper 
Rhine,  and  by  the  tributaries  to  the  "Weser  from  the  Rhb'n-chain  of 
hills  ; 2  (miin,  diin,  siin, — bii,  drii,  lis,  Eliis,  Liim,  Liib,  bhiis,  Tsiit 
— tiure(,  blii'be,,  grif'e,,  ii'le,,  lii'de,,  shnirde,,  shrirbe,,  trirbej, 
=  mein,  dein,  sein, — bei,  drei,  Eis,  Fleiss,  Leim,  Leib,  weiss,  Zeit, — 
beissen,  bleiben,  greifen,  eilen,  leiden,  schneiden,  schreiben,  treiben. 
Also  on  the  Lauter  (siin)  for  seyn,  on  the  Ilz  (iit)  for  ein,  as  in 

iijSpan'eJ  =  einspannen ;    on  the  east  of   the  Lech,   (drii)-fach, 

;drii)-fuesz,  (shliif) stain. "  3 

Dr.  Rapp  in  the  passage  previously  cited  (supra  p.  235)  has 
endeavoured  to  give  the  relations  of  all  the  long  vowels  throughout 
the  Germanic  languages,  and  it  seems  worth  while  to  reproduce  his 
table  here,  although  it  is  only  a  sketch,  and  requires  much  filling 
in  to  make  it  at  all  complete.  The  first  line  gives  what  Dr.  Rapp 
imagines  to  have  been  the  seven  primary  vowels  in  this  system  of 
languages.  The  lines  2  to  6,  refer  to  the  older,  the  lines  7  and  8 
to  the  intermediate,  and  the  following  lines  to  modern  forms.  The 
pronunciations  assigned  may  be  occasionally  disputed,  but  they  are 
near  enough  for  the  present  purposes,  and  without  attempting  to 
make  any  change,  I  have  translated  the  phonetic  symbols  as  well  as 
I  could  understand  them.  The  uniformity  with  which  the  Ger- 
manic, as  distinguished  from  the  Scandinavian,  branches  have  in 
recent  times  adopted  the  (ai,  au)  forms  in  place'  of  (ii,  uu)  is  very 
striking.  Many  persons  may  feel  that  it  is  an  argument  in  favour  of 
the  pronunciation  of  i  long  as  (ii)  in  Anglosaxon,  and  therefor^  in 
Early  English,  that  the  Scandinavians  certainly  called  their  long  i 
(ii),  as  their  descendants  in  Iceland,  Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark 
continue  to  do.  But  that  conterminous  districts  may  differ  precisely 
upon  this  point  we  have  already  seen  in  the  case  of  Scotland  (p.  287) 
and  Holland  (p.  294),  and  another  instance  may  be  cited  from  the 

daarin  reeds  zoo  vast  geworteld,  dat  het  Sprache,  iii,  267.     Grimm,   Deutsche 

thans  volstrekt  onmogelijk  is,  dezelve  Gram.,  3rd  ed.  i,  285,  317. 

nit  te  roeijen."     Verhandeling  over  de  l  Rapp,  Phys.  d.  Spr.  iv,  11.   Grimm, 

Nederduitsche  Spelling  ter  bevordering  ib.  95,    106,  175,   182,  225.  ^  Grimm 

van    eenparigheid    m    dezelve,     door  assumes  Gothic  ei,  di  =  (ei,  ai)  appa- 

Matthys  Siegenbeek,  hoogleerar  in  de  rently ;    in    Chap.  V,  §  4,  No.  3,  the 

Nederduitsche  Letterkunde  te  Leyden  :  sounds  (ii,  ee)  are  preferred, 

uitgegeven  in  naam  en  op  last  van  het  3  In  the  same  district,  au  sounds  as 

Staats-Bewind  der  Bataafsche  Kepub-  (uu)  conformably  with  its  origin, 

liek.       Amsterdam   (1804,    8vo.,    pp.  3  Mundarten  Bayern's  Art.  244. 
380),  p.  65.     See  also  JRappt 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


I,  Y  XIV  TH   CENTURY. 


297 


Norman  peninsula  containing  Cherbourg.  At  Montebourg,  only 
fifteen  miles  SSE  of  Cherbourg,  the  pronunciation  of  i  as  (ai)  is 
very  common,  whereas  at  Beaumont  Hague,  on  the  same  peninsula 
and  only  twenty-five  miles  1TW  of  Montebourg,  this  pronunciation 
is  unknown.-1  Such  examples  shew  the  necessity  of  examining 
existing  phases  of  pronunciation  before  attempting  to  decide  upon 
extinct  usages. 

RELATIONS  OF  THE  SEVEN  LONG  VOWELS  IN  THE  GERMANIC 
LANGUAGES  ACCORDING  TO  DR.  M.  RAPP. 


Long  Vowels. 

i 

n 

HI 

rv 

V 

VI 

VII 

1.  Primary     -     -     - 

aa 

ee 

ee 

ii 

AA 

00 

uu 

2.  Gothic       -     -     - 

ee 

ee 

iu 

ii 

AA 

00 

uu 

3.  Icelandic  -     -     - 

AA 

ei 

iu 

ii 

0U 

00 

uu 

4.  Anglosaxon    -     - 

ee 

AA 

* 

ii 

& 

00 

uu 

5.  Friesian     -     -     - 

ee 

ee 

ia 

ii 

AA 

00 

uu 

6.  Old  Saxon      -     - 

aa 

ee 

iu 

ii 

AA 

00 

uu 

7.  Middle  Saxon 

AA 

ee 

ee 

ii 

00 

00 

uu 

8.  Middle  German   - 

aa 

ei 

ie 

ii 

on 

U0 

uu 

9.  English      -     -     - 

ii 

00 

ii 

ai 

ii 

uu 

8U 

10.  Danish       -     -     - 

AA 

ee 

yy 

ii 

cece 

00 

uu 

11.  Swedish     -     -     - 

00 

ee 

JTJTT 

ii 

0303 

uu 

TJT7 

12.  Dutch  ---     - 

aa 

ee 

ii 

ai 

00 

uu 

*y 

13.  High  German 

aa 

ai 

ii 

ai 

au 

uu 

au 

14.  Suabian     -     -     - 

AA 

oi 

ia 

81 

au 

U8 

8U 

15.  Prankish   -     -     - 

00 

ee 

ii 

ai 

aa 

uu 

au 

16.  East  Prankish      - 

au 

aa 

ai 

ai 

aa 

8U 

au 

17.  Bavarian   - 

AA 

08 

ia 

ai 

aa 

U8 

au 

Examples.  -     -     - 

Jahr 

Ireit 

Dieb 

weit 

Laub 

gut 

Haus 

English     -     -     - 

year 

broad 

thief 

wide 

leaf 

good 

house 

Although  the  subject  is  far  from  exhausted,  as  we  are  thus 
led  into  an  examination  of  the  cognate  dialects,  sufficient  has 
been  adduced  to  shew  the  antecedent  probability  of  the 
theory  that  in  the  xiv  th  century  long1  i  was  pronounced  as 
(ii\  and  as  all  the  facts  which  we  have  been  able  to  discover, 
agree  with  and  are  explicable  by  wis  theory,  whereas  the 
usual  hypothesis  that  long  i  was  orye  of  the  (ei)  diphthongs 
during  all  periods  of  our  languag^,  is  not  reconcilable  with 
many  of  the  facts  adduced,  and/ is  opposed  to  the  general 
tendency  of  the  cognate  dialects/on  the  continent,  it  seems  to 
be  the  only  legitimate  inference'  that  in  Chaucer's  time  long  i 
was  (ii)  and  short  (i)  was  (*)..  / 

1  This  curious  fact  is  given  on  th/  Montebourg.  See  the  note  on  M.  Le 
authority  of  Dr.  Le  Taillis,  mayor  fif  Hericher  and  Norman  i,  at  the  close  of 
Beaumont  Hague,  but  a  native/  of  Chap.  V.  §  1,  No.  3. 


298  U  —  XIVTH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


U  —  XIVTH  CENTURY. 

After  the  lengthened  proof  which  has  been  given  that  long  u  in 
the  xvi  th  century  had  the  French  sound  (yy),  it  follows  almost  as 
a  matter  of  course,  that  those  words  in  Chaucer  which  have  long 
u,  and  which  are  as  a  general  rule  all  taken  from  the  French  or 
Latin,  had  also  the  sound  of  (yy),1  and  this  will  be  further  con- 
firmed when  we  find  that  (uu)  the  only  other  sound  it  was  likely 
to  represent  had  a  different  symbolisation,  ou.  We  may,  how- 
ever, notice  the  pure  French  rhyme — 

Another  day  he  wil  par  adventure 

Eeclayme  the,  and  bring  the  to  lure.  17003 

compare  ly  aventure  25,  the  English  phrase.  "With  this  French 
sound  there  was  also  a  tendency  to  dwell  on  the  syllable  ure  with 
more  accentual  stress,  so  (naa'tyyr)  11,  and 

Venus,  if  it  be  youre  wil 
Yow  in  this  gardyn  thus  to  transfigure 
Biforn  me  sorwful  wrecched  creature.          1106 

Short  u  was  properly  (u)  or  (u)  as  in  the  xvi  th  century,  and  as 
in  the  Anglosaxon  times.  This  we  see  from  the  Latin  rhymes — 

Sayde  Plato.     Ye,  sire,  and  is  it  thus  ? 

This  is  ignotum  per  ignotius.  13384 

In  which  I  pleyne  upon  Virginius. 

And  if  he  wile  seyn  it  is  nought  thus.        13582 

At  the  same  time  we  find  u  short  occasionally  used  as  a  substitute, 
apparently,  for  e  and  i  short,  where  we  cannot  imagine  that  a  dif- 
ference of  pronunciation  was  intended,  as  for  example  in  the  verbal 
termination  -ed,  lathud  3,  enspirud  6,  esud  29,  while  in  the  same 
passage  occur  perced  2,  engendred  4,  semed  39.  In  connection  with 
the  common  forms  list,  lest  should  lust  102  be  taken  as  different,  or 
as  another  way  of  writing  the  same  sound?  Suster  1835,  8465, 
seems  to  have  some  claim  to  be  called  (sus'ter)  on  account  of  the 
form  soster  3486  rhyming  with  Pater-noster,  and  the  Anglosaxon 
form  suster  as  well  as  sweoster,  swyster,  but  it  may  have  been  like- 
wise generally  called  (s«Vter). 

In  fithul  298  =  fiddle,  fadur  100  =  father,  gult  10142  =  guilt, 

1  Mr.  Murray  informs  me  that  u  still  when  ue  is  final,  and  where  ew  is  pro- 
retains  its  French  sound  in  Scotch  in  nounced  (iu)  in  English,  whether  de- 
words  taken  from  the  French,  as  :  tune,  rived  from  French  or  Anglosaxon 
lute,  cure,  sure,  Bruce,  reduce,  conduce,  sources,  it  is  sounded  (ni)  or  rather 
consume,  assume,  bruise,  judge,  endure,  (yu)  with  the  accent  on  the  first  element, 
rude,  mute,  secure,  use,  abuse,  suit,  as  in :  blue,  due,  duty,  sue,  ensue,  hue, 
mule,  rule,  just,  [is  the  Cockney  (dzht'st)  few,  dew,  rue,  crew,  blew,  flew,  grew, 
a  corruption  of  (dzhyst)  ?  it  looks  very  threw,  brew,  drew,  view,  new,  clew, 
like  it,]  justice,  humour  (ymar),  ulzie  Jew,  rule  (rial,  ryul),  sew,  skew, 
(yK,  y-Iif)  oil,  and  similarly  Iz,  nz  are  beauty,  feu,  feud,  feudal,  queue  (kyu), 
representatives  of  (Ij,  nj),  changed  in  lewd,  ruin  (ryu-m),  Euen  (Yu-an)  not 
some  districts  into  (li,  m)  in :  assuilzie  (Ju-en).  But  the  mew  of  the  cat,  and 
acquit,  tuilzie  a  quarrel,  fuilzie  contents  w-iv  of  the  kitten  are  in  Teviotdale 
of  the  parish  dust  cart,  the  toon's  fuilzie,  called  (maeu,  warn), 
gaberluinzie  wallet,  cuinzie  coin.  But  ' 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  TJ  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  299 

furst  1920  =  first,  compare  ferst  530,  huld  16699  =  held,  Tiulden 
15802  =  helden,  hulks  7921  =  hills,  put  14982  =  pit,  and  many 
other  cases  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  u  must  be  read  as  i  or  e. 
Compare  Canturlury  16,  with :  from  Canturlery,  the  more  mery  803, 
and  this  again  with  the  three  rhymes — 

And  thus  I  lete  him  sitte  in  the  pirie 

And  January  and  May  romynge  mirye.  10091 

thow  poete  Marcian, 
That  writest  us  that  ilke  weddyng  merye 
Of  hir  Philologie  and  he  Mercurie.  9606 

Him  thought  that  how  the  wenged  god  Mercurie 
Byforn  him  stood,  and  had  him  to  be  murye.      1387 

Here  we  have  all  three  spellings  mirye,  merye,  murye  of  the  same 
word,  the  first  rhyming  distinctly  with  i  short  or  long,  (i]  or  (n), 
and  the  two  last  rhyming  with  u  long  which  we  must  consider  as 
(yy).  Now  in  the  Schipmannes  Tale  there  is  occasion  to  mention 
the  town  of  Bruges,  and  we  find  it  spelled  Bruges  14466,  but 
Brigges  14472,  14669,  14712,  which  must  have  been  intended  for 
the  same  sound.  Recollecting  that  the  sound  of  (y)  short  is  in 
Sweden,  Denmark,  and  most  of  Germany  scarcely  distinguished 
from  (i)  short,  into  which  it  very  often  entirely  falls,  it  occurred 
to  me  that  the  explanation  of  this  use  of  u  short  as  i  might  be  a 
similar  vagueness  or  indistinctness  of  pronunciation,  and  that  the 
scribe,  writing  from  dictation,  either  actual  or  internal,  (for  it  will 
be  found  that  the  copyist  usually  pronounces  the  words  to  himself 
as  he  writes,  with  a  mental  effort  which  reproduces  the  sound  to 
his  consciousness  although  it  is  externally  inaudible,  and  although 
the  organs  of  speech  are  not  even  put  into  the  corresponding  posi- 
tions), feeling  doubtful,  ocaasionally  wrote  u,  but  generally  *  or  e. 
This  theory  supposes  that  the  (y)  was  a  known  English  sound,  and 
that  the  u  represented  the  Anglosaxon  y.  In  the  words  busy,  lury 
where  the  old  u  spelling  has  clung  to  the  words  notwithstanding  the 
(i,  e)  sounds,  we  have  y  in  Anglosaxon  lysig,  lyrigean.  Trust  is 
marked  by  Salesbury  as  having  the  sound  («'),  and  so  it  has  in 
Scotch,  where  (pit)  or  (pet)  is  also  said  occasionally  for  put.  This 
again  calls  to  mind  the  East  Anglian  (kiver)1  for  (kuver),  now 
(kavj)  =  cover,  mentioned  in  Gill,  and  also  his  denunciation  of  the 
Mopsey  transformation  of  (butsh'erz  meet)  into  (bitsh'erz  miit). 
There  would  seem  therefore  to  be  some  physiological  connection 
between  u  short,  and  i  short,  which  must  be  sought  for  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  tongue,  both  being  high  wide  vowels,  although  (u)  is  back 
and  (i)  front,  (u)  round  and  (*')  primary. 

This  theory  that,  when  short  u  stood  for  short  i  or  e,  it  was  in 
fact  meant  for  the  short  sound  of  the  French  u  (y),  of  which  the 
long  sound  was  at  that  time  represented  also  by  u,  will  receive  ad- 
ditional corroboration  in  the  next  chapter. 

\  The  East   Anglian    Promptorium  spelling^  fydytt   fiddle,  fadyr  father, 

writes   cuverynge,   and,  in    connection  gylte  §>uilt,  furst  first,  hyllys  hills,  pyt 

with  the  words  we  have  been  previously  pit,  p/utt  put,  lysty  lusty  lusty,  cystyr 

considering,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  sister,  Mercurye  Mercury,  myry  merry. 


300  U XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

In  Treuisa's  Higden,  taking  the  chapter  59,  De  Incolarum  Linguis 
and  comparing  the  text  in  Mr.  Morris's  Specimens  of  Early  English, 
p.  338,  taken  from  the  Brit.  Mus.  MS.  Tiberius,  D.  vii.,  with  the 
Harleian  MS.  1900,  and  Caxton's  edition  (Brit.  Mus.  C.  21.  d)  I 
find  the  following  spellings  : 

Tiberius  D.  vii.  Harleian,  1900.  Caxton. 

buf  bef  ben 

furste  first  first 

burj?etonge  birfetonge  langage 

sufthe  sijjj'e  syn,  syth 

lurnede  lerned  lerned 

wondur  wonder  wonder 

undurstonde]?  vnd^rstondef  vnderstawde 

This  comparison  at  any  rate  shews  that  different  scribes  had  a 
different  feeling  as  to  the  vowel  that  should  be  employed,  and 
proves  the  practical  identity  of  this  short  u  with  short  t  or  e.  If 
any  one  will  resolutely  say,1  (byth,  fyrst,  byrtlretuq,  syth'e, 
ryrnede,  winrdyr,  mrdyrstondeth),  and  then  compare  his  pronun- 
ciation with  provincial  utterances  of  the  same  words,  which  are  the 
best  living  representatives  of  the  ancient,  he  will  be  better  able  to 
appreciate  the  trouble  of  the  scribe  in  selecting  the  proper  letter,  on 
the  theory  here  advanced.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
scribe  was  quite  familiar  with  long  (yy)  and  had  a  letter  for  it,  u, 
and  that  he  had  no  other  letter  for  short  (y)  but  the  same  u> 
although  he  had  three  signs  for  short  («),  viz,  u,  o,  ou.  In  such  a 
case  he  most  probably  felt  it  to  be  a  greater  liberty  to  use  t,  or  e, 
than  u  in  many  words,  although,  to  avoid  the  ambiguity  of  sound 
(y,  u)  in  the  letter  u,  he  often  employed  t,  e. 

Although  it  is  of  course  possible  that  there  was  a  dialectic  West  of 
England  pronunciation  (u]  which  replaced  (y)  or  (*),2  it  is  at  least 
extremely  doubtful,  and  certainly  cannot  apply  to  the  indifferent 
use  by  the  same  writer  of  u  and  e  in  similar  situations  in  the  same 
sentence  as  already  pointed  out  (p.  298). 

1  Without  considerable  practice  an      pronunciation especially  in  the 

Englishman  may  find  the  distinct  enun-  distinction  of  long  and  short."     See 

ciation  of  these  words  very  troublesome,  supra  p.  1 76. 

especially  when  he  feels  bound  to  keep  2  Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  Poems  of  Rural 

himself  clear  of  (u,  i,  e).     The  true  Life  in  the  Dorset  Dialect,  1848,  p.  31, 

short   (y)   in   a  closed  syllable  is   an  says :  "  V  in  wull,  will,  is  rather  un- 

especial  stumhling  block  to  English-  settled,  being  mostly  sounded  in  the 

men.    Prof.  Max  Miiller,  gets  so  often  Vale  of  Blackmore  as  u  in  bull  (u) ; 

called  (Mal-i)  and  (Mwlu),  that  it  is  a  but  in  some  parts  will  is  wul,  u  in  lull 

pity  English  people  do  not  know  that  (a),  and  sometimes  wull  with  the  u  of 

these  sounds  would  be  unintelligible  in  German  miiller  (y).  .  .  .     In  the  Vale 

Germany,   where    their    own    (Mil'j)  of  Blackmoor  will  is  at  different  times 

would  be  readily  understood.     Even  wool,  wull  and  wull  (wwl,  wal,  wyl) 

Wilkins,  who  lived  at  a  time  when  we  even  in  the  same  mouth."     In  the  m- 

know  from  "Wallis  that    (yy)   was  a  troductory  letter  to    Nathan    Hogg's 

common  sound  in  England,  and  who  Letters  in  the  Devonshire  Dialect,  by 

must  have  constantly  heard  the  sound  Mr.   Henry  Baird,   of   Exeter,    1847, 

from   Wallis    himself,   says  that    this  12mo,  pp.  61,  I  find  the  following  or- 

vowel  is  of   "  laborious  and  difficult  thographies  kindly  interpreted  for  me 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  EU,  EW  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  301 

The  conclusion  is  that  U  in  the  xiv  th  century  was  gene- 
rally (yy,  u),  but  short  U  was  occasionally  employed  for  (i,  e), 
which  were  generally  sounds  into  which  a  more  ancient,  ori- 
ginally Anglosaxon  (y),  had  fallen,  although  through  errors 
of  the  scribe  U  was  employed  in  many  words  for  I,  E  simply. 


EU,  EW  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

In  the  xvi  th  century  there  were  two  pronunciations  of  this  com- 
bination, as  there  were  also  in  the  French  language,  (yy,  eu).  The 
following  lists  may  be  collected  from  Chap.  III.,  under  the  headings 
eu  (p.  137)  and  u  (p.  163),  where  the  italicised  words  in  ew  are 
now  spelled  with  ue. 
Eu  =  (yy) ;  Mew,  brew,  glewe,  knew,  mew  (of  hawks),  new,  rewe 

(a  plant),  slew,  snew,  trewe 
Eu  =  (eu) ;     dewe  (moisture),  ewe,  fewe,  to  hew,  mew  (of  cats), 

sewer  (a  waiter),  shew,  shrewe,  strew 

Bhymes  in  ew  are  necessarily  few  in  number.  I  have  noted 
rather  more  than  thirty  in  the  Canterbury  Tales.  For  the  purposes 
of  comparison  an  alphabetical  list  of  all  the  words  in  these  rhymes, 
including  one  Latin  word,  and  a  few  words  whose  spellings  seemed 
of  importance,  though  they  do  not  occur  in  rhyming  syllables,  has 
been  annexed.  Against  each  word  its  pronunciation  in  the  xvith 
century  has  been  written,  when  it  could  be  ascertained,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Bull.  (Bullokar),  But.  (Butler),  G.  (Gill),  P.  (Palsgrave), 
Sa.  (Salesbury),  Sm.  (Smith).  The  immediate  ags.  (Anglosaxon), 
or  fr.  (French,  often  old  French),  origin  follows,  together  with  the 
orthography,  when  it  could  be  found,  in  the  Pr.  (Promptorium),  the 
first  being  the  reading  in  Mr.  Albert  Way's  text,  and  the  sub- 
sequent ones  those  which  he  adds  from  other  MS.  ISText  follow  the 
rhymes  in  which  the  word  occurs,  with  its  orthography  in  the  place 
and  the  reference  number.  By  this  means  a  complete  comparative 
view  of  all  the  words  is  furnished,  which  will  enable  us  to  draw  a 
satisfactory  conclusion. 

by  Mr.   J.   Shelly,   of  Plymouth,   in  may  not  be  the  case,  for  (tal,  spal)  may 

which  u  is  apparently  used  for  (a,  0,  u,  be  representatives  of  (fel,  spsl).     The 

y,  yy,  0,  99] ;  vur  (vai)  for,  vury  (?MT$)  Devonshire  (y)  is  here  seen  to  be  un- 

very,  gude  (g^d)  good,  du  (dyy,  dy)  do,  certain  and  to  admit  (9}  as  well.     The 

purmoting  (paimooWn)  promoting,  dude  same  is  the  case  in  Norfolk.     Mr.  M. 

(d<?d)  did,  yu've  (jyyv)  you've,  uv  (av)  Bell  hears  French  u  as  (0).    In  Nathan 

of,  Jcuse  (k<??s)  course,  tull  (tal)  tell,  Hogg's  New  Series  of  poems,  including 

spull  (spal)  spell,  bewtivul  (bm'tz'vwl)  'Macksy  Lane'  a  ghost  story  in  the 

beautiful,   ulse   (als)    else,   abul    (cb'l,  Devonshire  Dialect,  dedicated  by  per- 

0b-al)  able,  uny  (on-i)  only,  thur  (dha)  mission  to  H.I.R.  Prince  Louis  Lucien 

thee,   wulling   (waKn)   willing,    bukes  Bonaparte,  London,  1864,1 2mo,  pp.  52, 

(b<wks)  books,  adu  (adyy)  adieu.    Here  Mr.  Baird  uses  an  italic  u  for  the  (yy, 

we  have  dude  (dad)  precisely  as  in  the  99}  sound,  reserving  roman  u  for  the 

xui  th  century,  in  Robert  of  Gloucester  others,  and  similarly  uses  a  for  (a),  and 

etc,  but  tull,  spull  (tal,  spal)  seem  to  the  whole  orthography  is  much  im- 

indicate  an  ancient  (twl,  spwl) ;  yet  this  proved. 


302  EU,  EW XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

A  careful  examination  of  this  list  would  shew  that  if  attention  is 
confined  only  to  the  words  for  which  we  have  xvith  century  autho- 
rity, the  old  classes  would  remain  undisturbed,  because  no  (y)  word 
rhymes  with  an  (eu)  word  or  conversely.  But  if  we  remark  that 
hue  rhymes  with  true,  knew,  and  also  rue,  and  that  rue,  which  rhymes 
with  hue,  also  rhymes  with  true  and  with  shrew,  we  are  led  to  con- 
clude that  true  and  shrew  would  have  rhymed  in  the  xivth,  as  they 
do  in  the  xixth  century.  But  this  breaks  up  the  old  classification 
altogether.  On  examining  the  etymological  relations,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  old  classification  is  at  variance  with  them,  but  taking  them 
as  a  basis  we  can  divide  the  words  into  two  classes,  French  and 
Anglosaxon, — including  in  the  latter,  words  certainly  Germanic, 
though  not  accurately  traced, — as  follows  : 
French — blue,  due,  eschew,  glue,  mew,  remew,  stew,  sue. 
Anglosaxon — drunkelew,  few,  hew  to  hack,  hew  servant,  hue,  knew, 
new,  rew  row,  rue,  shew,  shrew,  threw,  true. 

The  following  table  then  shews  that  words  of  the  first  class 
rhyme  together,  but  no  word  of  the  first  class  rhymes  with  any 
word  of  the  second  class.  The  first  class  corresponds  to  a  French  u, 
the  second  to  an  Anglosaxon  iw,  eow.  Taking  into  consideration  the 
Latin  rhyme :  de  coitu,  eschieu  9685,  as  well  as  the  derivation  of 
these  words,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  Chaucer's  time  the 
first  class  had  (y)  and  the  second  (eu).  This  distinction,  then  so 
carefully  kept,  was  not  understood  in  the  xvith  century  in  which 
several  of  the  (eu)  words,  as  knew,  new,  true,  had  fallen  into  the  (y) 
class.  At  present  all  the  (y)  class,  and  most  of  the  (eu)  class  have 
formed  an  (iu)  class,1  except  when,  through  the  influence  of  a  pre- 
ceding (r),  the  modern  English  organs  naturally  change  (iu)  into 
(uu),  but  some  of  the  (eu)  class  have  become  (00)  as  shew,  now 
more  frequently  written  show.  In  such  a  word  as  Theseus  862, 
there  is  no  diphthong,  and  we  have  to  read  (Thee'se,us). 

In  the  xiv  th  century  then  it  will  be  safest  to  call  EU, 
EW,  (yy),  in  words  of  French,  origin,  and  (eu)  in  all 
other  words. 

ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  EW  RHYMES,  ETC. 

beauty  (beirti)  G.,  fr.  beaute,  Pr.  bewte,  due  (dyy)    Sm.   G.,  fr.  du,  Pr.   duly 

beawtye  decor,  bewte  2387  debite,  due  eschiewe  9325,  eschewe 

blue   (blyy)    Sm.      ags.  bleoh,   bleow,  dewe  3045 

bleo,  blio,  Pr.  bloo  lividus  ;  blewe  eschew,  fr.  eschiver,  eschever,  eschuir, 

rnewe  (for  hawks)  10957  esquiver,  Pr.  achwyn  vito;  eschieu 

coitu,  Lfc.  de  coitu,  eschieu  9685.     As  coitu   9685,    eschiewe  due    9325, 

the  practical  identity  of  the  spelling  eschewe    dewe    3045,    eschiewed 

ie  with  e  has  already  been  estab-  sewed=followed  16823 

lished,  no  weight  can  be  laid  on  few  (feu)  P.  Sm.  G.,  ags.  feawa ;    Pr. 

the  variant  ieu  as  distinct  from  eu.  fewe  paucus  ;  fewe  schewe  7431, 

drunkelew,    Pr.    drunkelew    (see    Mr.  12546,  13758,  fewe  schrewe  14234 

Albert  Way's  note  there)  ebriosm,  glue  (glyy)  P.,  fr.  glu  birdlime,  gluyer 

dronkelewe   schrewe    7627,  9407,  stick    together,   Pr.    glwyw   visco, 

13910  i-glewed  remewed  10495 

1  For  the  Scotch  sounds,  see  p.  298,  note  1,  at  the  end. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 


OU,  OW  XIV  TH    CENTURY. 


303 


hew  (neu)  Bull.,  ags.  heawan,  heawian, 
Pr.  hewy«  seco,  hakke  and  hewe, 
lay  hem  on  a  rewe=r0M>,  2867 

hew  =  hind,  domestic  servant,  ags. 
hiwa;  hewe  untrewe  9659. 

hue,  ags.  hiw,  hiw,  heow ;  hie  we  trewe 
13836,  hewe  trewe  10901,  17207, 
hewe  newe  1039,  10953,  11327, 
hewe  rewe  =  7ia#e  compassion  12656 

knew  (knyy)  But.,  ags.  cneow  perf.  from 
cndwan ;  knewe  newe  14995, 
knewe  rewe=repent,  3081 

mew,  for  hawks,  (myy)  P.  Sm,  fr.  nine 
place  for  putting  poultry  to  fatten  ; 
P.  nine  for  haukes  meve  ;  Pr.  mv 
of  hawkys,  falconarium,  mwe  or 
cowle,  mv,  sag inari um ;  mewe 
(for  poultry)  stewe  351,  mewe 
(for  hawks)  blewe  10957 

new  (nyy)  Sm.  G.,  ags.  neowe,  niwe, 
nywe  ;  Pr.  nwe,  nev,  novus  ;  newe 
hewe,  1039,  10953,  11327,  newe 
trewe  14344,  16535,  newe  untrewe 
737,  12970,  15514,  newe  knewe 
14995,  newe  threw  (error  for 
threwe}  14983 

remew,  fr.  remuer;  Pr.  remown  or  re- 
mevyw,  amoveo  ;  remewed  i-glewed 
10495. 

row,  ags.  rawa,  Pr.  rowe  series ;  lay 
hem  on  a  rewe  =  row,  hakke  and 
hewe  2867 

rue,  pain,  repentance,  repent  ;  ags. 
hreowe,  hreowan ;  Pr.  ruwyw  poe- 
niteo  compatior ;  rewe  =  pain 
schrewe  6087,  rewe  =  have  com- 
passion trewe  1865,  rev?e=repent 
trewe  3529,  rewe  =  have  compas- 
sion hewe  =  hue  12656,  rewe=r«- 
pent  knewe  3081 

rule,  fr.  riule  monastic  rule,  Pr.  rewle 
of  techynge,  regula,  norma  ;  reule 
173,  reuled  1674 

ruth,  see  rue,  quasi  hreow>e  Pr.  ruthe 
compassio  ;  reuthe  =  compassion 


5074,  reuthe  =compamon  treuthe 
14608,  routhe  =  compassion, 
trowthe  slouthe  =  sloth  4949 
shew  (sheu)  Sm.  G.  Bull,  ags.  scawian 
sceawian ;  Pr.  schewe  or  schew- 
ynge  monstracio  ;  schewe  schrewe 
5865,  12844,  schewe  fewe  7431, 
12546,  13758 

shrew  (shreu)  P.,  etymology  unknown, 
see  Wedgewood  3,  176.  Pr. 
schrewe  pravus,  schrewyd  pra- 
vatus,  schrewyd  hertyd  pravicors, 
schrewdenesse  pravitas,  schrewe 
rewe  =pain  6087 ;  schrewe  shewe 
5865,  12844,  schrewe  dronkelewe 
7627,  9407,  13910,  schrewe  fewe 
14234 

stew,  fr.  estuve,  Pr.  stuwyw  mete,  stuyn, 
stupho ;  stuwyn  menw  or  hathyw, 
stuyn  in  a  stw,  balneo;  stwe  fysche 
pond,  stewe,  vivarium;  stwehathe, 
stupha  ;  stewe  =fisJi  pond  mewe 
(for  poultry)  351,  stj\es=  brothels 
lyves  6914 

sue,  fr.  suir,  sivire,  sivre,  sewir  ;  Pr. 
svyw  or  pursvyw  persequor,  suwynge 
sequela,  svinge  successus ;  sewed 
eschiewed  16823 

surety  (syyr)  Sa.  Bull.,  fr.  seur;  seurte 
1606,  sewerte  6485 

threw  ags.  )>reow  ;  threw  (error  for 
12970,  threwe}  newe  14983 

true  (tryy)  P.  Sa.  Bull.  G,  ags.  treowe, 
trywe  ;  Pr.  trwe  verus,  truwe 
mann  verax,  trewe  hewe  =  hue 
10901,  17207,  trewe  hiewe  =  A«* 
13836,  trewe  rewe  1865,  3529, 
trewe  newe  14344,  16535. 

truth,  ags.  treowft,  Pr.  trowthe  veritas, 
treuth  reuth  14608,  trowthe  routhe 
slouthe  =sloth  4949 

untrue,  see  true,  untrewe  hewe  =  ser- 
vant 9659,  untrewe  newe  737, 
15514 

value,  fr.  value ;  valieu  14582 


OU,  0"W  —  xiv  TH  CENTURY. 

As  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  (p.  236),  when  the 
letter  u,  which  is  the  natural  representative  of  the  (uu)  sound  in 
all  languages  that  have  adopted  the  Roman  alphabet,  has  come  to 
lose  its  proper  sound,  as  in  French,  Dutch,  Swedish,  English,  hut 
that  sound  remains  in  the  language,  it  becomes  necessary  to  adopt 
some  other  notation  for  (uu).  The  (uu)  sound  in  these  cases  has 
been  generally  a  transformed  (oo).  Hence  it  lay  ready  at  hand  to 
use  o  simply  for  this  sound,  as  we  have  seen  was  occasionally  done 
in  Chaucer  (p.  267),  and  is  still  done  in  move,  etc.,  and  as  the  Swedes 
have  been  content  to  do.  The  Dutch  employ  oe  for  (uu),  as  they 


304  OU,  OW  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

use  oo  and  o  for  (oo),  but,  as  appears  from  the  history  of  this  ortho- 
graphy (p.  236,  note  3),  oe  was  in  fact  long  o  used  as  (uu),  precisely 
as  in  the  last  case.  The  French  used  ou,  in  the  earliest  existing 
documents,1  though  the  Normans  used  u  for  both  (yy)  and  (uu)  ap- 
parently, as  may  be  seen  in  the  French  original  of  Henry  Ill.'rds 
English  proclamation,  Chap.  Y,  §  3,  No.  1.  On  an  examination  of 
the  documents  of  the  xm  th  century  it  will  be  found  that  the  use  of 
u  for  i,  e,  representing  the  y,  that  is  (y),  of  the  Anglosaxon,  greatly 
increased  towards  the  end  of  the  period,  so  that  confusions  between 
the  values  of  u  as  (uu,  yy)  became  annoying.  Writers  then  appear 
to  have  introduced  the  spelling  ou  towards  the  close  of  that  period, 
in  conjunction  with  u,  to  represent  (uu),  but,  the  convenience  being 
manifest,  ou  became  general  by  the  early  part  of  the  xrv  th  century. 
These  facts  will  be  established  in  the  next  chapter,  and  are  here  only 
stated  by  way  of  anticipation.  There  was  one  disadvantage  in  the 
use  of  ou,  namely  that  it  had  also  to  be  employed  for  (oou),  but  this 
occasions  very  slight  inconvenience.  In  the  present  place  we  have 
only  to  establish  that  ou  really  represented  (uu)  generally,  and  con- 
sequently (u)  occasionally,  in  Chaucer. 

As  the  use  of  u  for  short  (u,  u)  was  already  well  fixed,  and  its  use 
for  i,  e  was  rapidly  going  out,  ou  was  of  course  not  so  frequently 
employed  for  short  (u)  as  for  long  (uu).  Examples  however  occur, 
thus :  ous  5729  stands  for  us,  outerly  6245  for  utterly,  and  the 
orthographies  Arrious  6344  for  Arrius,  Caukasous  6722  for  Caucasus, 
leave  no  doubt  of  the  use  of  ou  as  short  (u).  Curiously  enough  the 
sound  of  (uu)  fell  into  (ou)  about  the  xvrth  century  (p.  150),  and  ou 
served  then  to  represent  that  sound  without  change  of  spelling.  But 
after  this  it  became  important  to  distinguish  the  (uu)  and  (oo)  sounds 
of  long  o,  and  the  orthography  oo,  adopted  for  the  former  (p.  96), 
has  remained  in  use  to  the  present  day.  In  the  unaccented  syllables 
-our,  representing  -(uur),  the  orthography  was  left  unchanged  as 
well  as  the  pronunciation.  In  the  xvn  th  century  these  syllables  fell 
into  (-or),  and  either  the  o  or  u  in  -our  was  felt  to  be  superfluous. 
In  quite  recent  times  factions  have  been  formed,  one  requiring  -or  to 
be  used  universally,  others  maintaining  that  -our  should  be  preserved 
to  distinguish  the  words  that  come  from  the  French,  which  now  ex- 
hibits -eur,  corresponding  to  a  later  development  of  that  language. 
In  Chaucer's  time  however  -our  was  used,  simply  because  the  pro- 
nunciation was  (-uur),  as  -oun  was  used  for  the  present  common 
termination  -on,  compare  corrupcioun  13950,  confessioun  1735, 
regioun  2083,  visioun  7259,  leoun  6377,  etc.,  which  were  pro- 
nounced (un)  or  (uun)  even  in  the  xvith  century  (p.  99).  We 
have  retained  -ous  unaltered,  and  this  was  also  (-MS)  in  the  xvith 
century  (p.  150). 

1  Diez,  Gram.  d.  Eom.  Spr.  1,  429,  vowel,  as  NAVEBOUS  =  navibus,  observ- 

2nd  ed.,  where  he  quotes  Benary  Rom.  ing  that  Mommsen  (Unterit.  Dialecte, 

Lautlehre,  82,  to  shew  that  the  Old  217)  and  Bitschl  (De  milliario  Popil- 

Romans  occasionally  used  ou  as  a  mere  lano,  p.  34)  are  of  a  different  opinion, 

orthographical  sign  for  u,  and  remarks  and  consider  that  in  really  old  inscrip- 

that  it  was  even  employed  for  a  short  tions  ou  =  ov,  and  not  u. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  OU,  OW  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  305 

As  Palsgrave  (p.  149),  and  Bullokar  (p.  152),  in  the  xvith  century 
recognized  this  (uu)  sound  of  ou,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  intro- 
duce a  few  examples. 

EHTMES  WITH  LATENT  NAMES: — Theseus,  desirous  1675,  curious, 
Darius  6079,  Yenus,  contrarious  6279,  Apius,  leccherous  13680, 
Claudius,  corrageous  15821,  vicious,  Swethoneus  =  Suetonius  15949, 
Antiochius,  venemous  16061. 

EHYMES  WITH  FEENCH  WOKDS  : — 

What  will  ye  dine  ?    I  will  go  there  aboute. 

Now,  dame,  quod  he,jeo  vous  dy  saunz  doute.      7419 

Full  many  mayde  bright  in  bour 

They  mourne  for  him,  par  amour.  15153 

Compare — 

And  but  thou  do  my  norice  honoure 

And  to  my  chamberer  withinne  my  boure.  5882 

NATURAL  SOUND. — The  cry  of  the  cuckoo  was  certainly  intended 
to  be  (kuk'kuu*),  and  this  determines  ow  in 

This  crowe  song,  Cuckow,  cuckow,  cuckow  ! 

What  brid,  quod  Phebus,  what  song  syngistow  now  ?      17175 

Perfectly  Saxon  words  as  lour,  now,  aboute,  having  thus  the 
sound  of  (uu)  established,  we  may  feel  sure  of  it  in  other  cases,  as : 
hous  Caukasous  6721,  thus  vicious  7629,  dowte  aboute  489,  tour 
honour  2029,  Arthour  honour  6440,  dortour  hour  7437,  powre 
laboure  185,  flour  odour  2939,  hour  schour  3519,  emperour 
honour  flour  5507,  in  an  hour  (error  for  houre),  to  honoure  14954, 
houres  schoures  3195,  10431,  and  hence  schowres  1  =  (shuures) ; 
yow  how  7982,  youthe  nouthe  463,  to  give  the  child  to  souke,  all 
in  the  crouke  4155,  colours  (error  for  coloures]  floures  10824,  licour 
flour  3,  adoun  broun  394,  licorous  mous  3345,  pitous  mous  143, 
houndes  stoundes  5867,  stounde  founde  5441,  vertuous  hous  251, 
for  to  touche,  in  his  couche  5669,  untrouthe  routhe  5107.  Whence 
also  we  conclude  that:  cowde  110,  flowtynge  91,  drowpud  107, 
embrowdid  88,  so  woweth  hire  3372,  thay  blew  and  powped,  thay 
schryked  and  thay  howped  16885,  facound  13465,  and  numerous 
other  words  in  ou,  have  also  (uu)  or  (u). 

As  examples  of  those  cases  in  which  ou,  ow,  had  the  sound  (oou) 
maintained  in  the  xix  th  century  as  (oou)  practically,  but  (00)  theo- 
retically, we  may  take  :  anoon  the  souks,  with  fleischhok  or  with 
oules  =  awUj  ags.  sawl,  awul  7311,  Bowe,  unknowe  125,  lowe 
knowe  2301,  I  trowe,  undurgrowe  155. 

In  the  provinces  two  sounds  of  ou,  ow  are  also  common.  One  of 
these  is  (uu)  in  almost  all  districts,  but  the  others  varies  as  (aa,  AA, 
au,  iau,  ou,  iou),  and  even  (au,  ou),  and  there  is  great  difficulty  in 
obtaining  a  satisfactory  account  of  what  the  sounds  really  are,  and 
consequently  in  classifying  them.  The  following  lists  referring  to 
the  dialect  of  South  Shields,1  will  serve  as  a  specimen.  For  the 

1  Obligingly  communicated  by  the  Rev.  C.  Y.  Potts,  of  Ledbury. 

20 


306  OU,  OW  —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  2. 

present  purpose  the  most  important  point  to  dwell  on  is  the  per- 
sistence of  the  (uu)  sound. 

ow  =  (uu)  in :  down,  town,  crown,  tower,  now,  trowsers,  how, 
flower,  power,  drowned,  cow,  sow,  bow  8.  &  v.  flectere,  bow 
arcus  =  (bau). 

ou  =  (uu)  in :  plough,  round,  sound,  mound,  hound,  doubt,  thou, 
about,  count,  out,  house,  sour,  flour; — found,  bound,  ground, 
these  three  words  are  also  pronounced  with  (0),  but  this  is  for 
the  dialect  even,  very  vulgar ; — our,  which  is  vulgarly  (wor). 

ou  =  (au)  in :  brought,  sought,  fought,  bought,  thought,  ought  s. 
&  v.,  nought,  soul,  four,  loup  s.  &  v.  =  leap,  coup  =  exchange. 

ow  =  (aa)  in :  blow,  snow,  low  adj.,  row  s.,  crow,  slow,  below, 
know,  callow,  arrow,  barrow ; — owe,  own,  another  and  less 
vulgar  pronunciation  of  these  words  would  be  (au,  aun),  and 
in  these  words  generally  (au)  not  (00}  would  be  the  alternative 
pronunciation. 

o  =  (au)  in :  old,  cold,  also  (aad,  kaad)  ; — sold,  told,  also  (seld, 
teld); — old,  bold,  fold ;— stroll,  toll,  roll; — over  (au'er). 

(au)  is  heard  in  :  daughter,  neither,  either,  loose,  sew,  chew,  mew, 
row  v.  &  s.,  low  =^  flame,  bow  arcus. 

Mr.  Murray  has  been  kind  enough  to  furnish  the  following  in- 
teresting account  of  the  Scotch  usages : 

"  In  all  the  Scottish  dialects  the  Anglosaxon  long  u,  and  French 
ou,  retain  their  old  sound  (uu,  u)  before  a  consonant  as :  bour 
(buur)  bower,  clour  a  swelling  caused  by  a  blow,  dour,  stubborn, 
flower  (fluur),  hour  (uur),  power  (puur),  tour  (ets  JUUT  tuur  ta 
pl<?0)  its  your  turn  to  play,  tower,  sour,  stour l  loose  dust,  shower, 
scour,  devour  (di-vuur),  our  (uur),  your,  pour  (puur),  cower 
(kuur),  spout  (spuut),  shout,  lout  (luut)  A.S.  lutian,  to  stoop,  rouse, 
bouse  (ruuz,  buuz). 

"  In  the  following  the  vowel  is  shortened  in  quantity  but  un- 
changed in  quality:  brown  (brun),  crown,  doun  (dun),  drown 
(drun),  gown,  loun,  town  (tun),  bowl  Fr.  boule  (bul),  foul,  fowl 
(ful),  swim  (sum),  sum  (sum),  howl,  yowl,  scowl,  owl,  howlet  Fr. 
houlette  (nul'at),  mouldy,  course,  court  (kurs,  kurt),  source,  douce, 
croose  (krus)  sprighthy,  house,  mouse,  louse,  mouth  (muth),  drouth 
drought,  south,  Soutra,2  souter,  snout,  out,  about,  (ut,  abut*),  doubt, 
clout,  bout  (13  dreqk'in  but)  a  drinking  bout,  stout,  scout,  pouch, 
vouch,  crouch,  often  (kruutsh),  couch,  bulk  (buk),  duck  verb — 

1  The  first  stanza  of  Burns's  address  well  illustrates  these  (uu)  sounds.   The 

"  to  a  Mountain  Daisy,  on  turning  one  pronunciation   is  that  heard  hy  Mr. 

down  with  the  plough,  in  April,  1786,"  Murray  from  a  townsman  of  the  poet. 

"Wee,  modest,  crimson-tipped  flower,  (Wii,  mod-ast,  kremz-n-tep-tt  fluur, 

Thou's  met  me  in  an  evil  hour  ;  Dhuu  -z  mEt  ma  en  ran  iivl  uur/ 

For  I  maun  crush  amang  the  stoure  For  aai  man  krash  amaq-  dha  stuur 

Thy  slender  stem  ;  Dim  slEnd-ar  stEm ; 

To  spare  thee  now  is  past  my  pow'r,  Ta  spe^r  dhi  nuu  ez  past  ma  puur, 

Thou  bonnie  gem,  Dhuu  bon-z  dzhEm.) 

'  The  hilly  ridge  which  separates  the  Lothians  from  the  south  country. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  2.  OU,  OW  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  307 

the  noun  is  (dyk,  doek), — drouk  to  drench,  jouk  to  elude,  louk,  pouk 
to  pick,  pilfer,  ploock  to  pluck,  suck,  toue  o'drum,  stouk  a  shock  of 
corn. 

"  The  combination  -ound  is,  like  -ind,  in  a  transition  state ;  the 
past  participles :  Tbound,  found,  ground,  wound,  are  usually  (ban, 
fend,  gran,  wan),  and  ground  s.  (grand),  but  I  consider  this  to  be 
recent,  for  I  have  heard  (u)  in  some  of  these  from  old  people,  and 
we  always  hear  it  in :  Where  are  ye  (bun)  or  (bund)  for,  to  beat 
the  (bunds),  boondit,  boondarie,  boun'tree :  and  the  sound  is 
always  used  in  round  (rund),  sound,  to  found,  founded,  foundation, 
stound  a  fit  or  '  spell '  as  (e  stund  9  dha  toetlr&k)  =  a  fit  of  the 
toothache.  Hound  is  occasionally  (sand),  usually  (mind). 

"  Anglosaxon  u  final  is  also  (uu)  in  most  of  the  Scottish  dialects, 
but  in  that  of  the  Southern  counties,  the  same  law  which  has  de- 
veloped long  *  into  (ei),  here  develops  (uu)  into  (au).  The  follow- 
ing words  therefore  pronounced  in  the  other  dialects  with  (uu)  are 
pronounced  in  Teviotdale  and  Dumfriesshire  with  (au) :  cow,  sow, 
how,  you,  now,  bow  to  lend,  through,  doo  dove,1  loe  to  love,  brow, 
fu'  full,  tipsy,  gout,  an  after  taste  (gnu),  Tev.  (gau),  as  (it  hses  v 
kwiir  gau  abut*  it)  =  it  has  a  queer  flavour  about  it,  pu'  pull,  (supra 
p.  287,)  mou'  mouth. 

11  The  Borderers  thus  pronouncing  (EU)  where  the  other  Scots  say 

(uu), — where  the  others  say  (au)  they  advance  a  step  and  say  (ou), 

so  that  the  following  words  are  in  the  Lothians  pronounced  (an),  in 

Teviotdale  (ou),  in  English  (oo)  or  (oou) :  bow  arcus,  grow,  dow 

to  avail,  howe  a  hollow,  knowe  a  knoll,  bowe  a  loll,*  lowe 3  a  flame, 

powe  a  poll,  rowe  roll,  row,  stow,  tow,  trow,  thowe  to  thaw,  drow 

a  Scotch  mist,  a  drizzle,  bowl,  soul,  four,  glower  to  stare,  ower  over. 

' '  The  two  pronunciations  may  be  shewn  thus : 

Central  Scotch :  (faur  baulz  fuu  e  njuu  malk  f<?       dho  kuu) 

Teviotdale  :        (four  boulz  fau  9   mu    melk  thrae4  dhe  kau) 

English:  four  bowls  full  of  new  milk  from  the  cow." 

The  conclusion  seems  therefore  to  be  that  OU,  OW  in 
the  xiv  th  century  should  be  read  as  (uu,  u)  except  in 
those  cases  where  aiv,  or  simple  o  was  used  in  Anglo- 
Saxon. 


1  A  school  inspector  wishing  to  get  3  Compai 

the  sound  of  (uu)  out  of  a  Hawick  girl,  (Dharz  let'l  wat  en  dha  pou 

and  unaware  of  this  peculiarity  of  pro-  Dhat  le&hts  dha  kan'l  at  dha  lou) 

nunciation,  asked  her  what  she  called  a  =  There's  little  wit  in  the  poll  or  head, 

pigeon,  (A  dau)  replied  she,  and  posed  That  lights  the  candle  at  the  low  or 

him  as  much  as  the  child  posed  the  flame; 

teacher,  who,  wanting  to  obtain  from  and  the  pun  on  the  names  of  Messrs. 

him  the  word  take,  asked  him :  "  What  Lowe   and  Bright   at   the  Edinburgh 

would  you  do,  if  I  gave  you  a  piece  of  Eeform  Demonstration :    "  The  Lowe 

cake?"  and  received  the  very  natural  that'll  never  burn  Bright"    (Dhe  lou 

reply :  "  Eat  it."  dhat'l  nevar  barn  bre&ht). 

2  Compare  Sir  T.  Smith's  jSwD,  /3wOA,  4  So  likewise  in  the  Barmley  dialect 
supra  p.  151.  throo  is  used  for  from. 


308       B,  C,  CH,  D,  F.       G,  GN XIV  TH   CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  §  3. 

|  3.     The  Consonants. 

Very  little  is  to  be  learned  from  the  rhymes  respecting  the 
consonants.  With  our  knowledge  of  the  xvi  th  century  con- 
sonants, however,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  as  to  the 
values  of  any  one  of  them. 

B,  C,  CH,  D,  F. 

B  when  silent  as  in  doubt,  debt,  was  not  written  thus  :  dowte  489, 

dette  282.     It  was  otherwise  (b)  of  course.. 

C  was  (s)  or  (k),  according  to  the  same  rules  as  at  present,  but 

ci-  remained  (si-)  and  had  not  become  (sh).     In  the  termination 

-tion,  we  find  c,  s,  t  interchanging,  shewing  the  identity  of  sound, 

but  it  always  formed  two  syllables.     Compare 
Lo,  heer  hath  kynd  his  dominaeioww, 
And  appetit  flemeth  Aiscretioun.  17114 

0  wantrust,  fid  of  fals  suspeccwam 
"Where  was  thy  wit  and  thy  discrecwww.  17214 

And  eke  he  was  of  such  discresseoww,  16795 

CH  was  generally  (tsh),  see  J",  K. 

D  was  (d)  of  course. 

F  seems  to  nave  been  always  (f),  so  that  of  must  be  called  (of) 
not  (ov).  Judging  from  other  writing,  as  Eobert  of  Gloucester  and 
Trevisa,  u  or  v  would  have  been  used  had  (v)  been  pronounced. 
Mr.  Murray  says  that  of  is  still  pronounced  (of)  in  the  North,  when 
the  consonant  is  retained  before  a  vowel,  as  (dha  Hid  of  V  bist)  the 
head  of  a  beast. 

Gr,    GN. 

G  followed  the  same  rule  as  at  present,  and  was  (g)  in  all  Saxon 
words,  but  in  French  words  (g)  before  «,  o,  u,  and  (dzh)  before 
(e,  i).  See  J. 

GN  occasionally  represented  simple  n,  as  in  the  couplet 

Sche  may  unto  a  knave  child  atteigne 

By  liklihed,  sith  sche  nys  not  bareigne.  8323 

where  gn  represents  an  old  French  gn,  in  laraigne,  which  was  pro- 
bably (nj)  as  now,  so  that  (atain*  barain*)  would  be  the  natural 
English  representatives.  Accordingly  the  MS.  Univ.  Cam.  Dd.  4. 
24,  here  writes  atteyne,  lareyne ;  a  spelling  found  also  in  Harl. 
7334,  in 

Thou  maist  to  thy  desir  somtyme  atteyne 

But  I  that  am  exiled,  and  bareyne 

Of  alle  grace.  1245 

while  gn  and  n  rhyme  in 

And  of  his  oughne  vertu  unconstrained 

Sche  hath  ful  ofte  tyme  hire  seek  y-feyned.       13476 

where  we  should  have  expected  gn  in  the  second  line  as  much  as 
in  the  first.  Companye  24,  was  also  commonly  written  for :  com- 
paignye  3837. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  3.  G,  GN  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  309 

How  were  digne,  lenigne  519,  pronounced?  As  An'glo-French 
(dnn*e,  benwire)  ?l  Or  after  the  custom  of  Latin  pronunciation 
(maq*nus,  iq*nis)  in  the  middle  ages — testified  by  the  medieval 
Latin  orthography,  and  still  existing  in  Salesbury's  time,  —  as 
(diq-ne,  beniq*ne)  ?  The  question  affects  also  such  words  as  dignite, 
signifie,  sign.  Here  the  modern  use  condign  dignity,  'benign  benig- 
nity, sign  signify  (kendain  df'g'mfa',  binain*  binig'nVt*',  sain  sz'g'm- 
fai)  would  seem  to  lead  to  an  anterior  (dnn  d^'g•mte,  benmr  be- 
mg'm'te,  swn  segmiYre).  But  the  old  example  of  i-*seined  for  signed 
in  Henry  Ill.'rds  English  proclamation,  thrown  a  doubt  over  this. 
As  however  the  special  word  sign,  had  assumed  a  thoroughly  Saxon 
form,  segnian  to  sign  or  bless,  segnung  a  signing  with  the  cross  or 
blessing,  the  (ai)  sound  would  be  developed  naturally  by  the 
passage  of  the  guttural  g  into  (j). 

Can  we  consider  the  forms:  deynous  3939,  6*114,  deyne  3961, 
5 '204,  deyneth  5*288  as  conclusive.  The  French  digne,  daigner, 
shew  a  double  form  in  these  words,  and  hence  leave  us  still 
in  doubt.  The  word:  dyne  4*200,  4*201,  —dine,  was  in  French 
disgner,  dispner,  and  is  considered  by  Roquefort  to  be  derived  from 
the  commencement  of  the  grace  dignare,  domine,  but  the  etymology 
is  so  doubtful2  that  no  weight  can  be  attached  to  this.  The  termina- 
tion -igne  is  not  found  rhyming  either  with  -eyne  or  -yne,  and  this 
would  a  priori  lead  us  to  conclude  that  the  sound  was  different 
from  either,  that  is,  neither  (-ain*e)  nor  (-«Vn*e).  But  we  find :  digne 
benigne  resigne  4*125,  4*225,  sygne  benygne  5*183,  digne  signe 
5*330,  so  that  the  old  and  proved  (,sain)  and  the  occasional  (dain) 
would  seem  to  imply  also  (benain*,  resain*).  On  the  other  hand 
Gill  writes  (bemg*n)  or  (benVq*n)  for  lenign,  and  this  ought  to  im- 
ply that  he  did  not  know  the  pronunciation  (benain*),  which  may 
nevertheless  have  existed,  and  been  ignored.  Jones,  however,  1701, 
gives  only  (bin«g*an),  though  he  admits  (sain,  rezain*),.  and  Sales- 
bury  and  Smith  give  (sein),  Gill  (sain),  Buchanan  and  Sheridan  in 
the  xvmth  century  give  (binain*  biinAin*).  Similar  difficulties 
have  existed  in  the  pronunciations  of  impugn,  impregn. 

If  the  sound  (ain)  had  prevailed  in  Chaucer's  time,  we  should 
have  expected  (ain),  not  (ein)  in  the  xvith  century.  Bullokar 
seems  to  write  (swn),  and  the  (sein)  of  the  xvi  th  and  (sain)  of  the 
xix  th  century  are  in  harmony  with  this,  which  would  imply  (swn) 
in  Chaucer  also.  In  this  doubt  the  safest  plan  seems  to  be  to  adopt 
(«Vn)  for  Chaucer's  pronunciation,  admitting  the  secondary  form 
(ain)  when  eyn  is  written.  This  will  be  consistent  with  the  present 
and  intermediate  pronunciation,  with  the  general  use  of  i  in  Chaueer, 

1  Diez  (Gr.  de  E.S.  i,  439  note,  2nd  cunque  n  sequitur  i  in  media  diccione, 

ed)  aays  that  digne  occurs  in  old  French  in  diversis  siflabis  g  debet  interponi, 

with  silent  z,  as  Tjrigans  dignes  rhymed  ut  certaignement,   benignemewt ;   sed  g 

with brigandines  citing  Ducange  sub  voce  non  debet  sonari.' ' 

briga.  And  the  MS.  188  of  Mag.  Coll.  2  Among    the    etymons?    given    are 

Oxford,  cited  by  M.  Genin  (Introduc-  8eiir»/e«>,     decpenare,    dpcima    (bora), 

tion  to  the  French  reprint  of  Palsgrave,  sdigiunare,  dejeuner  =(Ji.sjejunare.    See 

p.  29}  says,  rule  92 :  item,  quando-  Donkin's  Diez,  sub  desinare. 


310 


GH,  Y,  Z  —  XIV  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  IV.  6  3. 


and  with  his  use  of  -gne  in  other  words,  and  as  regards  the  word 
sign  would  imply  that  he  took  it  from  the  Trench  with  the  other 
words,  or  designedly  adopted  a  French  in  preference  to  the  an- 
tiquated pronunciation  (sain).  The  question  is  one  of  extreme  dif- 
ficulty and  the  conclusion  is  doubtful. 

GH,  Y,  Z 

The  modern  editors  usually  represent  5  or  rather  3 l  by  gJi  when 
medial  and  final,  and  by  g  or  y  when  initial.  In  Mr.  Morris's 
Chaucer  Extracts  he  purposed  to  shew  where  the  manuscript  ex- 
hibited }  for  his  printed  gh,  y,  by  italicising  these  letters.  He  has 
not  carried  out  his  plan  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  make  an  examin- 
ation of  the  MS.  unnecessary.2  Assuming,  however,  that  where  he 
has  used  the  italics,  }  was  employed  in  the  MS.,  we  obtain  the  fol- 
lowing results  for  the  Prologue,  Knightes  Tale,  and  Nonne  Prestes 
Tale,  in  which  I  have  here  used  a  common  z  in  place  of  5  or  3. 
The  numbers  annexed  to  the  words  indicate  the  observed  number 
of  occurrences  of  this  orthography. 


azens 

brouzt 

deyzen 


douzter  3 


drauzt 

eyzen 

fiztyng 

forzete 

forzeve 

heyz 

heizer 

knizt 

nozt 

nouzt 

perfizt 

rizt 


sauz 

thouzte 

unzolden 

upzaf 

weyzede 

wizt 

ynowz 

yze 

zaf 

zalwe 

zate 

zeddynges  1 

zeeldyng    1 

zeer          14 

zeldehalle  1 

zelleden      1 


zelwe 

zemen 

zerd 

zerde 

zeres 

zet 

zette 

zeve 

zeven 

zevest 

zeveth 

zif 

ziftes 

zit 

zive 

ziven 


1 
3 
6 
1 
1 
8 
1 
5 
3 
1 
1 
3 
2 
18 
3 
1 


zolden 

zollyng 

zolo 

zolow 

zolw 

zolwe 


zomanly  1 


zonder 

zong 

zonge 

zore 

zou 

zoung 

zouthe 

zou 


But  the  orthography  is  not  consistent,  for  gh  is  often  employed  in 
the  MS.  Thus,  accepting  Mr.  Morris's  edition  as  correct,  except  in 
the  words  you,  etc.,  we  find  in  the  Prologue  only 


brought  1  caughte  1 
bythought  1  draught  1 
caught  1  drought  2 

1  This  character  in  the  MSS.  is 
generally  indistinguishable  from  z,  so 
that  \vhen  an  editor  prints  some  words 
with  j  and  others  with  z  he  is  making 
an  arbitrary  distinction  like  that  of 
separating  M,  v.  In  Mr.  Morris's  edition 
of  Sir  Gawaine  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society,  j  is  printed  for  both  3 
and  z.  It  would  have  been  more  con- 
sistent with  the  employment  of  Eoman 


foughte 

foughten 

heih 


1         herbergh    2 
1         heye  1 

1         heygh         1 

types  to  use  z  instead  of  j  in  both  cases. 
This  is  the  plan  I  have  pursued  in  the 
following  lists,  and  it  is  one  followed 
by  older  printers  and  embalmed  in  the 
Scotch  Menzies,  Dalzel,  Mackenzie, 
which  are  often  called  (Meq€»z,  Da  E!, 
De-EL,  Maken-ji)  in  Scotland,  see  p. 
298,  n. 

2  Thus  in  v.   34  and  38  he  prints 
'yow'  in  place  of  'yow'  that  is  'jow.' 


CHAP.  IV.  §  3. 


GH,  Y,  Z  XIV  TH   CENTURY. 


311 


1 
1 
1 

2 

4 
1 

1 

neigh.            2 
neighe          1 
night            1 
nightertale  1 
nightyngale  1 
nought          1 

oughte 
raught 
right 
seigh 
sleight 
streight 

1 
1 
4 
1 
1 
1 

taughte         1 
though         2 
thought        2 
wight            1 
Wright          1 
wroughte     1 

high 

highte 

inough 

knight 

might 

mighte 

mighten 

It  may  he  doubtful  whether  y  is  ever  used  initially,  in  the  modern 
sense.  I  have  not  observed  any  instance  in  the  MS.,  but  I  have  not 
examined  it  thoroughly  with  this  view.  The  use  of  y  was  quite 
established  however  before  the  time  of  printing. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  refer  to  the  remarks  on  gli  in  Chap.  III. 
(pp.  209-214).  As  gh  still  retained  its  guttural  sounds  in  the  xvith 
century,1  we  cannot  but  believe  that  it  had  these  sounds  in  the 
xrvth,  whatever  may  have  been  the  Anglosaxon  original  sounds. 
The  divarications  of  (kh)  into  (kjh,  kwh)  pointed  out  in  the  remarks 
referred  to,  so  that  it  sank  to  (j,  i)  on  the  one  hand,  and  (wh,  u) 
on  the  other,  are  well  shewn.  Thus,  to  the  first  class  belong  theigh 
=  (dhai/di)  for  though, 

For  theigh  thou  night  and  day  take  of  hem  heede.  10926 

which  becomes  simply  they  (dhai)  in 

That  Chaucer,  they  he  can  but  lewedly 

On  metres  and  on  rhyming  craftely.  4467 

and  similarly  seigh  9605,  sey  13307  for  saw. 


1  The  sound  is  hardly  lost  yet  in  the 
provinces,  thus  Prof.  Sedgwick  in  the 
work  cited  above,  p.  289,  note  4,  says  : 
"  The  suppression  of  the  guttural  sounds 
is,  I  think,  the  greatest  of  all  the  mo- 
dern changes  in  the  spoken  language  of 
the  northern  counties.  Every  syllable 
which  has  a  vowel  or  diphthong  fol- 
lowed by  gh  was  once  the  symbol  of  a 
guttural  sound:  and  I  remember  the 
day  when  all  the  old  men  in  the  Dales 
sounded  such  words  as  sigh,  night, 
sight,  (si&h,  ni&ht,  si&ht),  &c.,  with  a 
gentle  guttural  breathing,  and  many 
other  words,  such  as  trough,  rough, 
tough  (trookh,  ruukwh,  tuukwh),  had 
their  utterance,  each  in  a  grand  sono- 
rous guttural.  The  former  of  these 
guttural  sounds  seemed  partly  to  come 
from  the  palate ;  the  latter  from  the 
chest.  Both  were  aspirated  and  articu- 
late ;  and  differed  entirely  from  the 
natural  and  simple  vocal  sounds  of  the 
guttural  vowels  a,  6  (aa,  AA).  All  the 
old  people  who  remember  the  con- 
tested elections  of  Westmoreland,  must 
have  [p.  104]  heard  in  the  Dales  of 
that  county  the  deep  guttural  thunder 
in  which  the  name — Harry  Brougham 
(Brwkwh-em) — was  reverberated  among 


the  mountains.  But  we  no  longer 
hear  the  first  syllable  of  Brougham 
sounded  from  the  caverns  of  the  chest, 
— thereby  at  once  reminding  us  of 
our  grand  northern  ancestry,  and  of 
an  ancient  fortress  of  which  Brough 
(Brwkwh)  was  the  written  symbol. 
The  sound  first  fell  down  to  Bruffham 
(Brwf"Bm,  Braf'Bm),  but  was  too  vigor- 
ous for  the  nerves  of  modern  ears  ;  and 
then  fell  lower  still  into  the  mono- 
syllabic broom  (Bruum,  p.  153) — an 
implement  of  servile  use.  We  may 
polish  and  soften  our  language  by  this 
smoothing  process ;  yet  in  so  doing  we 
we  are  forgetting  the  tongue  of  our 
fathers  ;  and,  like  degenerate  children, 
we  are  cutting  ourselves  off  from  true 
sympathy  with  our  great  northern  pro- 
genitors, and  depriving  our  spoken 
language  of  a  goodly  part  of  its  variety 
of  form  and  grandeur  of  expression." — 
p.  103-4.  palaeotype  introduced.  Mr. 
Murray  notes  that  the  Southern  (a)  is 
always  («)  in  Cumberland  and  West- 
moreland, and  that  (rwf,  twf,  Brwf,)  are 
the  present  pronunciations  of  rough, 
tough,  Brough,  in  those  counties,  and 
(Brwwm)  for  Brougham  in  Cumberland. 


312  GH,  Y,  Z  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  3. 

To  the  second  class  belong  lawghe  476,  lowh  3117  =  laugh,  saugh 
5268,  9726,  sawh  5265  =  saw.1  Compare  also  herbergh  767,  her- 
berwh  4117,  herberw  4143.  Sometimes  the  transition  is  complete 
as  in 

For,  as  I  trowe,  I  have  yow  told  ynowe 

To  reyse  a  feend,  al  loke  lie  never  so  rowe.  12788 

where  y-nowe,  rowe  (inuu',  ruu)  stand  for  enough,  rough,  in  which 
the  modern  sound  of  (f),  as  already  suggested  in  p.  213,  has  arisen 
from  (wh).  So  frequent  was  this  change  in  the  word  enough,  that 
it  is  sometimes  neglected  in  writing  as 

For  had  we  him,  than  were  we  syker  y-nough, 

But  unto  God  of  heven  I  make  avow.  12792 

only  a  couplet  beyond  the  last  example  quoted,  where  we  must  read 
(inuu*,  avuu*).  Similarly  ynough,  now  12946,  where  ynow  should 
be  read  as  in  you,  y-now  11019.  Plough  which  rhymes  with  inough 
889,  3159,  had  generally  the  pronunciation  (pluukh),  and  this  re- 
duced to  (pluu),  (shewn  in  the  spelling  plow,  which  I  have  noticed 
elsewhere,  but  not  in  Harl.  7334,  an  orthography  found  also  in  the 
authorized  version  of  the  Bible  in  the  xvn  th  century,)2  generated 
the  modern  (pbu).3  The  following  rhymes  may  also  be  noted  : 

When  that  he  saugh  that  al  the  peple  lough. 
No  more  of  this,  for  it  is  right  y-nough.  14376 

He  also  hath  to  do  more  than  y-nough 
To  kepe  him  &  his  capil  out  of  the  slough.  16995 

Compare 

Now  is  my  cart  out  of  the  sloo  parde.  7147 

In  which  ther  ran  a  swymhul  in  a  swough 

As  it  were  a  storme  schuld  berst  every  bough.  1981 

He  siketh  with  ful  many  a  sory  swough 

And  goth,  and  geteth  him  a  kneedyng  trough.  3619 

The  regular  pronunciation  of  all  these  ough  words  seems  to  have 
been  (uukwh),  whence  (uuwh,  uu),  which  afterwards  changed  to 
(uf,  ou),  and  finally  to  (af,  au).  That  gh  was  occasionally  written 
without  being  pronounced,  we  see  by  the  rhymes :  at  his  retenue, 
Sir  Hughe  6937,  melodie  yhe  9,  etc.  We  shall  see  that  this  is  the 
case  also  in  Shakspere,  whenever  it  was  convenient  for  the  rhyme. 

The  form  augh  may  have  had  similar  varieties  of  sound,  as  the 
spellings  already  cited  indicate.  In  both  cases  we  cannot  do  better 
than  follow  the  spelling  of  the  moment,  except  the  rhyme  requires 

1  There  is  a  similar  resolution  of  Prov.  21,  4,   Luke    17,  7;   plowman 
medial  g  in  Icelandic.     Thus  liuga  to  Isa.  28,  24,  Amos  9,  1 3  ;  plowmen  Isa. 
tell  a  falsehood,  is  theoretically  (Lrau1-  61,  5,  Jer.  14,  4  ;  plowshares  Isa.  2,  4, 
gwha),  and  practically  (Lrairwa).     See  Joel  3,  10.    Supra  p.  159,  note  4. 
Chap.  V.  §  4,  No.  2.  3  Mr.   Murray  observes  :    "  ynough 

2  The  passages  are :  plough  Ps.  37,  and  ynow  (anikwh-)  and  (antir)  or  rather 
12;  plow  Deut.  22,  10,    i  Sam.  14, 14,  (anykwlr,  anyir)  are  both  used  in  Scotch 
Job  4,  8,   Prov.  20,  4,  Isa.  28,   24,  with  a  difference  of  application.  Plough 
Hos.  10,  11,  Amos  6,  12,  i  Cor.  9,  10  ;  and  plow  are  synonymous  for  the  noun 
plowed  Judg.  .14,  18,  Ps.  129,  3,  Jer.  (plykwh,  plyu),  the  former  the  more 
26,    18,   Hos.  10,   13,   Micah  3,    12;  common:  for  the  verb  the  latter  alone 
plowers  Ps.  129,  3;  ploweth  iCor.  9,  is   used  as   (u  plyud  fild, 

10  ;  plowing  iKiiigs  19, 19,  Job  1, 14,      motsh.)" 


CHAP.  IV.  §  3.  GH,  Y,  Z  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  313 

one  of  two  forms  to  be  altered,  and  then  the  first  should  generally 
be  accomodated  to  the  second,  as  there  is  a  probability  of  its  having 
been  written  down  without  consideration  of  what  was  to  follow, 
and  of  its  having  been  then  left  uncorrected,  as  being  of  slight  im- 
portance. Thus  augh,  auwh,  auh,  aw  =  (aukwh,  auwh,  auH{,  au), 
where  (aukh)  may  be  used  for  (aukwh). 

When  the  letter  t  follows  fresh  difficulty  arises.  How  should 
drought,  foughten,  daughter,  nouht,  be  pronounced?  There  seems 
nothing  but  theory  to  guide  us.  At  present  we  say  (draut,  drAAt, 
fAA't'n,  dAA'ti,  nAAt),  but  these  are  all  quite  recent  developments. 
We  find  fought  =  (faus't)  in  Smith,  daughter  =  (daukh'ter)  in  Gill, 
nought  =  (noun't,  naun't)  in  Smith,  and  (nooukht)  in  Gill.  There 
is  no  xvr  th  century  authority  for  drought.  Taking  into  considera- 
tion the  double  use  of  ou  (uu,  oou),  it  seems  probable  that  when  the 
original  vowel  was  u  in  ags.  as  drug 0*6,  the  sound  should  be  (uu)  as 
(druukht,  druukwht)  of  which  the  modern  (drout)  would  be  a  legi- 
timate descendant ;  and  that  when  the  original  vowel  was  o  as  ags. 
dohtor,  the  sound  was  (oou)  or  perhaps  simply  (ou),  the  (u)  having 
been  developed  by  a  (kw?h)  sound  of  gh.  This  would  give  (druukht, 
fooukh't'n,  dooukh'ter,  nooukht)  or  (druktdit,  foukwlrt'n,  doukwlrter, 
noukwht).  It  will  probably  be  as  near  the  truth  as  we  are  able  to 
get  to  write  (drukht,  foukh'ten,  doukh'ter,  noukht).  The  spelling 
nouht,  however,  indicates  a  very  light  sound  of  the  guttural,  as 
(nouH't),  which  rapidly  disappeared  in  (not,  nat).1 

What  the  initial  sound  of  5  or  3  might  have  been,  it  is  more 
difficult  to  say.  Probably  the  sound  of  the  ags.  letter  became 
(£h)  or  (#h)  at  an  early  period.  Now  in  modern  Germany  (Mi)  is 
often  considered  to  be  the  hiss  of  (j),  that  is  (jh),  and  the  difference 
is  certainly  very  slight.  The  ease  with  which  initial  (£h)  will  pass 
into  (j)  may  be  well  studied  in  modern  German  pronunciation. 
During  the  xvth  century  when  initial  }  was  replaced  by  y,  the 
transition  was  certainly  complete.  In  the  next  chapter  (§2)  reasons 
will  be  given  for  thinking  that  this  transition  may  have  been  pre- 
valent in  the  time  of  La^amon  and  Orrmin,  the  proceeding  (#h,  ^h) 
stage  being  relegated  to  the  Old  Anglosaxon  period.  It  will  there- 
fore be  safest  to  pronounce  the  initial  5  as  (j)  where  it  corresponds 
to  the  modern  y. 

We  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  g  in  every  stage  of  tran- 
sition, from  (g)  through  (g,  gh,  j)  to  (i)  on  the  one  hand,  and 
through  (gtt>h)  to  (w)  on  the  other,  and  even  absolutely  disappear- 
ing through  a  scarcely  pronounced  (gh,  gwh),  in  the  living  Ice- 
landic tongue,  the  very  interesting  phonetic  phenomena  of  which 
will  be  considered  in  Chap.  V.  §  4,  So.  2. 

1  Mr.  Murray  says  that  in  Teviotdale  In  the  other  dialect  they  are  (fokht, 

drought  is  (druth)   daughter,  foughten,  bokht,      sokht,      w'rokht),     Aberdeen 

sought,  bought,  brought,  thought,  nought,  (vrokht)  with  simple  (o)  and  (kh).     So 

wrought  are   (doukwhtar,    foukwht'n,  also   with  loch,  hough,  cough,  trough, 

boukwht,  w'roukwht),  &c.,  or  perhaps  &c.     Tev.  (lo,ukwh,  looukwh),  Central 

(dooukwhtgr,  fooukwht),  he  prefers  the  Scotch  (lokh,  lookh). 
former,  though  the  o  is  absolutely  long. 


314  H.      J  —  XIV  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  3. 

H 

H,  by  its  substitution  for  gh,  is  shewn  to  have  been  pronounced 
when  final  distinctly  as  (H').  In  what  cases,  when  initial,  it  became 
(H)  or  vanished,  it  is  now  impossible  to  say.  It  appears  by  many 
oldMSS.  that  there  was  often  great  confusion  as  to  the  use  of  initial 
h  in  many  words,  indicating  local  and  partial  peculiarities  of  pro- 
nunciation, similar  to  those  now  found.  But  the  MS.  under  con- 
sideration seems  to  be  quite  consistent  in  the  use  of  initial  h,1  and 
there  is  therefore  nothing  to  shew  that  it  was  not  pronounced  in 
honour,  honest,  hour,  as  well  as  other  words.  However,  in  this 
doubt,  I  have  thought  it  safest  in  my  transcriptions,  to  follow  the 
modern  use.  In  the  words  he,  his,  him,  hire,  hem,  before  which, 
especially  when  enclitic,  the  final  e  is,  as  we  shall  see,  generally 
elided  as  freely  as  before  a  vowel,  it  is  extremely  probable  that  the 
h  was  silent  under  the  same  circumstances.  It  is  known  to  be  con- 
stantly so  in  modern  English,  and  some  orthoepists  even  admit  that 
it  should  be  silent.2  The  apostrophe  in  catch  'em  indicates  the  ab- 
sent h,  not  an  omitted  th.  When  hath,  have,  hadde,  were  similarly 
placed  they  also  probably  lost  the  h,  as  they  also  admitted  the  elision 
of  the  vowel.  The  modern  contractions  I've,  we  \e,  they  'd,  and  the 
old  nadde  =  ne  hadde  3751,  point  to  the  same  conclusion.  Hence 
when  those  words  beginning  with  h  stand  in  such  a  position  that  a 
final  e  might  be  elided  before  them,  I  omit  the  h  in  my  transcriptions, 
but  indicate  the  omission  by  a  hyphen  in  the  usual  way,  thus :  (wel 
kuud  -e  set  on  Hors)  94. 


J  when  representing  the  French  consonant  /,  is  now  called  (dzh) 
and  was  so  in  the  xvi  th  century.  "Was  the  old  French  sound  (dzh) 
or  (zh)  ?  Diez  (Gr.  d.  E.  S.  i.  400,  402)  shews  good  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  the  Provencal  pronunciation  of  ch,  j,  was  (tsh,  dzh),  as  for 
example  Petrarch's  ciant  for  ProvenQal  chant,  and  Dante's  giausen 
for  Pr.  jauzen.  Again  (ib.  p.  448,  451)  Diez  shews  reason  for  sup- 
posing (tsh)  to  be  an  old  French  sound  of  ch,  although  in  Palsgrave's 
time  it  had  sunk  to  (sh),  and  observes  that  in  middle  Greek,  the 
French  Jean,  Geoffroi,  are  rendered  T^av,  T£e<£pe,  which  are  the  pre- 
sent combinations  for  (tshan,  tshefree*).  Considering  that  the  Greek 
had  no  means  of  representing  (dzh),3  this  would  stand  for  an  original 
(dzh)  rather  than  for  (zh),  which  would  have  been  best  rendered  by 

1  Host  and  ost,  hostelrie  and  ostelrie,  World,  the  italics  are  mine) :  °^us  «z 
both  occur.  feis  undurwen't  un  invAl'untury  ablw'- 

2  Thus  in:  Phonotypy  by  Modifica-  j°un  und  t2  fuwnd  imself  ridyw'st  tw 
tion,  a  means  by  which  unusual  types  tz  prim'itiv    cumplek'j°un  and    in'di- 
can  be  dispensed  with  on  a  plan  pro-  djens  ;  that  is  :  Thus  his  face  under- 
posed  by  T.  W,  Hill  (the  father  of  Sir  went  an  involuntary  ablution  and  he 
Rowland  Hill,  and  a  well  known  or-  found  himself  reduced  to  his  primitive 
thoepist  and  educationalist)  printed  in  complexion  and  indigence. 

1848  for  private  circulation  only,  the          3  In  the  most  recent  Greek  vr£  is 
last  sentence  runs  thus  (it  is  a  quota-      used    initially    for    (dzh),    as 
tion  from  Goldsmith's  Citizen  of  the      (dzhami-)  a  mosque. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  3.  K.  L,  M,  N,  NG  XIV  TH   CENTURY.         315 

f  or  ft.  The  middle  Greeks  according  to  Diez  also  wrote  rf  for  cA, 
asePtT£a/o8o9=  (ritshard'os)  for  Richard.  These  transcriptions  are 
precisely  similar  to  Salesbury's  tsiurts,  tsiff,  tsiesuw,  tsion,  for  churche, 
chefe,  Jesu,  John,  and  should  evidently  be  interpreted  in  the  same 
way.  Even  in  Palsgrave's  time  he  makes  French  j  =  English  /, 
which  we  know  (p.  207)  was  then  (dzh),  but  this  certainly  only 
implies  a  rooted  mispronunciation,  because  we  know  that  although 
(zh)  had  not  then  been  developed  in  English,  it  existed  in  French 
(p.  207).  But  it  implies  the  traditional  pronunciation  in  English, 
because  Palsgrave  was  decidedly  archaic  in  his  tendencies,  as  we 
have  seen  in  his  retention  of  (ii)  for  long  i  (p.  110),  and  (uu)  for  ou, 
ow  (p.  149),  out  of  the  xv  th  into  the  xvi  th  century.  This  mispro- 
nunciation therefore  is  in  itself  a  strong  proof  of  the  old  pronun- 
ciation of  j  as  (dzh).  If  to  this  we  add  that  in  the  present  pronun- 
ciation of  the  Gorman  peasantry  (tsh,  dzh)  are  occasionally  used  for 
(sh,  zh),1  it  will  be  difficult  to  suppose  that  ch,  j,  in  Chaucer  had 
any  other  meaning  than  (tsh,  dzh). 

K 

K  in  Anglosaxon  constantly  generated  tsh  in  English,  as  already 
explained  (p.  205).  The  orthography  of  our  MS.  and  the  alterations 
of  words  to  suit  the  rhyme,  shew  that  although  in  many  cases  the 
custom  was  firmly  established,  in  others  there  was  a  fluctuation  of 
use  similar  to  that  in  the  present  day  between  breeks,  breeches,  Scotch 
brigg,  kirk,  English  bridge,  church.  The  termination  -li%  or  -lie  has 
become  generally  -ly  =  (-In)  in  Chaucer,  but  traces  of  the  original 
form  remain  as  -tik,  lich ;  thus  we  have  :  sikurly  137,  154,  against : 
sikirlik  3889,  and:  smoterlich,  dich  3961  =  (smoo'terlitsh,  ditsh), 
=  dirty,  ditch.  Against:  the  holy  blisful  martir  for  to  seeke  17, 
we  have:  withoute  more  speche,'  not  longe  for  to  seche  785,  I 
schuld  yow  seeche,  in  softe  speche  6993,  and  we  may  compare  our 
modern  words  seek,  beseech.  Against  the  common  form  werk,  as  in : 
that  was  a  clerk,  al  this  werk,  11417,  we  have  the  altered  forms : 
wirche,  2761,  7559,  9535,  werche  4986,  and  so  on.  Such  changes, 
which  have  been  shewn  to  be  common  to  other  languages,  confirm 
the  value  of  ch  as  (tsh)  even  in  Saxon  words.  The  pronunciation  of 
ich  as  (itsh),  in  the  phrase :  so  theech  12857,  for  example,  =  so  the 
ich  (soo  thee-tsh)  is  singularly  corroborated  by  Gill's  observation 
that  in  the  East  of  England  "  pro  (s)  substituunt  (z),  ut  (z«q)  pro 
(s«q)  cano  ;  et  (itsh.)  pro  (ai)  ego  :  (tsham)  pro  (ai  am)  sum  :  (tshVl) 
pro  (ai  wil)  volo :  (tsha  voor  ji)  pro  (ai  warant  Jou)  certum  do,"  see 
supra,  p.  293. 

L,  M,  1ST,  NG- 

L,  M,  !N"  must  have  been  (1,  m,  n)  as  in  all  languages.  The  ter- 
mination -le  from  the  French  is  occasionally  written  -ul,  -il,  -yl.  It 

1>"Comme    en  anglais,   D   se   fait  TCH  ;      T</hien,    chien,     Tchidbourg, 

sentir  devant  G  et  J,  comme  dans  Gerce,  Cherbourg/'      Le  Hericher,  Glossaire 

brebis  [Dgerce],    ....    CH  se  pro-  Normand/vol.  i.  pp.  30  and  32. 
nounce    souvent    comme    en     anglais  / 


316  P,  PH,  QU.         R —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  §  3. 

will  be  best  to  call  it  ('!)  as  in  modern  English.  Before  a  following 
vowel  it  probably  became  (1)  as  :  simple  and  coy  119  =  (snnpl-and 
cui)  just  as  in  modern  English  we  have  double,  doubling  not  double- 
ing,  i.e.  (dob''l  dab'U'q)  not  (dab''hq).  As  there  is  a  difficulty  in 
establishing  a  nasal  value  of  n  in  Old  French,1  there  can  be  no 
thought  of  its  occurrence  in  Chaucer. 

JN"G  was  either  (q)  or  (qg)  or  occasionally  one  and  occasionally 
the  other  as  in  modern  English.  Modern  use  can  be  our  only  guide. 

P,  PH,  QU 

There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  p,  ph,  qu  to  have  been  anything 
but  (p,  f,  'kw},  but  of  course  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether 
qu  was  not  (kw,  ku)  instead  of  (kw).  In  Chap.  V,  §  4,  No.  1  &  3, 
the  fact  of  the  Runic  and  Gothic  alphabets  having  a  single  sign  for 
this  sound,  has  led  me  to  suppose  that  it  was  really  simple  (kw), 
and  not  double  (kw,  ku),  even  at  that  early  epoch.  The  use  of  two 
letters  cw  in  Anglosaxon  would  not  decide  anything,  as  (kw,  ku) 
would  be  a  sufficient  approximation  for  all  purposes  of  writing. 

E 

R  presents  the  same  difficulties  as  in  the  xvi  th  century,  yet  we 
cannot  allow  it  to  have  "any  value  but  (r).  It  must  however  have 
affected  the  preceding  vowel,2  as  we  could  otherwise  scarcely  account 
for  the  use  of  or,  er,  ir  in  the  same  words,  as  worche  9231,  werk 
481,  wirching  8371.  In  one  case  at  least  we  find  ar  where  the 
modern  form  is  er,  as :  thurgh  the  cite  large,  with  cloth  of  gold  and 
not  with  sarge  2569,  but  both  serge,  sarge  are  old  French  forms.  It 
is  also  observable  that  many  words  in  which  the  sound  was  (ar)  in 
the  xvi  th  century  appear  as  (er),  thus,  yerde,  smerte,  herte  149, 
werre,ferre  47  ;  serve,  sterve  1145,  prive  and  pert  6696,  pryvy  and 
apert  10845,  deere,  steere  4867,  5252,  stere,  bere  2151.  Against 
wors  9183,  we  have:  wers,  ers  3731 ;  I  moot  reherse,  al  be  they 
better  or  werse  3173,  it  needeth  nat  to  reherse,  who  can  do  werse 

1  The  chief  reasons  assigned  by  that  *,  u,  were  pronounced  as  nasals 
Diez  (Gram,  der  rom.  Sprach.,  2  ed.  even  in  the  xvi  th  century.  Rapp  reads 
vol.  1,  p.  437),  for  considering  the  use  nasal  w=(q).  See  Chap.  V,  §  4,  note  1. 
of  the  French  nasals  to  be  old  are  the  2  Mr.  Murray  says :  "  R  affects  pre- 
identity  of  the  assonances  on  and  en  ;  ceding  vowel  in  Scotch  even  while  re- 
and  the  constant  confusion  of  the  forms  maining  (r).  A  simple  vowel,  short 
androit  endroit.  But  the  modern  hefore  other  consonants  is  long  before 
femme  rhymes  with  dame,  and  yet  there  final  r :  heat  hear,  bat  bar,  not  nor, 
is  no  trace  of  nasality  here.  Diez  also  stout  stoor,  (nit  mir,  bat  b#«r,  not 
names  the  ancient  rhymes  of  Salomon  noor,  stut  stuur).  And  a  before  a  con- 
ferculum,  zabulon  conmvium;  but  these  sonant  followed  by  e  mute  is  in  the 
may  have  been  due  rather  to  a  peculiar  South  of  Scotland  ea  (ie)  but  before  r 
(-om)  pronunciation  of  the  Latin,  the  it  remains  (ee)  so  main  and  mane  are 
m  and  n  being  allowed  to  rhyme,  as  in  distinguished  (men,  mz'm)  but  fair,  fare 
many  English  popular  scngs.  At  any  are  both  (feer,  feer)  not  (feer,  fiei]  the  r 
rate  these  forms  are  not  incompatible  preventing  the  closing  of  the  sound." 
with  non -nasality,  which  was  the  rule  Compare  Cooper's  observations,  supra 
in  Provencal,  and  "Walloon,  and  there  p.  70,  where  his  (aaa)  is  the  counter- 
are  absolutely  no  grounds  for  supposing  part  o 


CHAP.  IV.  §  3.       S,  SCH      T,  TH,  J?      V,  W,  WH,  X       Y,  Z,  J  317 

10913.  Since  the  xvnth  century  there  has  been  a  great  tendency 
to  pronounce  er  as  (ar)  or  (ai),  as  in  clerk,  Derby,  sergeant,  and 
formerly  servant,  but  the  contrary' tendency  to  use  (er)  for  (ar)  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  at  all  developed  except  at  this  earlier  time.1 
The  confusion  of  (ur,  er)  as  in  wors,  wers,  is  very  like  the  modern 
confusion  of  (ai,  ei)  with  ('i).  By  a  change  of  re  into  er  the 
rhyme :  ers,  kers  3753  is  obtained.  The  terminations  -re,  -er 
alternate,  as:  mordre  16538,  morder  16539,  at  the  commencement 
of  two  consecutive,  lines.  It  would  seem  then  that  we  should 
always  sound  (-er},  as  (murder).  The  metathesis  of  r  is  frequent. 
S  5,  art.  98.  d. 

S,  SCH 

S  —  (s)  also  represented  (z)  in  plural  terminations,  but  never 
had  the  sound  of  (sh),  which  was  always  represented  by 

SCH  a  combination  derived  from  the  Saxon  sc,  in  the  same  way 
as  ch  from  Saxon  c,  to  shew  the  effect  of  palatisation.  In  later 
times  the  c  was  omitted. 

T,  TH,  J) 

T  seems  to  have  been  generally  (t),  but  it  became  (s)  in  the  ter- 
mination -tion,  see  examples  under  C. 

TH,  which  is  used  promiscuously  with  )  in  the  MS.,  had  pro- 
bably the  same  sounds  as  at  present,  and  distributed  in  the  same 
manner.  Occasionally  we  meet  with  d  in  places  where  we  should 
have  expected  tli  =  (dh),  as  in  fadur  100  =  father,  hider  674, 
thider,  slider  1265,  where  the  rhyme  shews  that  the  sound  was 
really  (d)  and  not  (dh),  but  the  (d)  seems  to  guarantee  the  pronun- 
ciation of  th  as  (dh)  when  written  in  these  words. 

Y,  W,  WH,  X 

These  letters  as  consonants  seem  to  have  had  precisely  the  same 
sounds  as  at  present,  but  w  was  also  used  occasionally  as  a  vowel,  as 
herberw  4143.  In  arwes  104,  halwes  14,  which  had  arwe,  Jialwe  in 
the  singular,  there  seems  no  reason  for  not  giving  w  its  usual  sound. 

WR  was  probably  pronounced  (rw?)  as  in  ags.  and  down  to  the 
xvi  th  century  (p.  186). 

Y,  Z,  j 

The  Y  consonant  is  always  represented  by  3  which  is  the  same 
form  as  the  letter  used  for  %.  The  meanings  of  this  letter  must  be 
disentangled  by  a  consideration  of  modern  usage,  see  supra  under 
GH  (p.  310). 

The  consonants  seem  to  call  for  no  further  remark,  and  the  rules 
laid  down  in  this  and  the  preceeding  section  are  sufficiently  general 
to  permit  the  reader  to  read  any  line  in  this  edition  of  Chaucer  with 
tolerable  certainty,  except  as  regards  the  use  of  the  E  fi&al,  which 
has  now  to  be  considered. 

1  For  the  xvnth  century  see  p.  86.  (ar)  or  (aa')  in  :  clergy,  person,  mercy, 
The  Eev.  C.  Y.  Potts  remarks  that  in  eternal,  universal,  learning,  the  last  word 
South  Shields  er  is  usually  pronounced  being  also  called  (1'dermq). 


318  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 


§  4.  On  the  Pronunciation  of  E  Final  in  the  xiv  th  Century.1 

That  e  final  was  at  least  occasionally  pronounced,  and  that  its 
sound  did  not  differ,  except  in  accent,  from  that  of  me,  the  =  (mee, 
dhee)  is  conclusively  proved  by  the  following  rhymes.  It  must  he 
remembered  that  to  me,  to  the,  when  the  accent  is  thrown  on  to  the 
preposition,  become  (too*me,  too'dhe),  with  brief  and  indistinct  (e), 
that  is  nearly  (too*m^,  too'dh^),  or  as  in  modern  High  German 
(p.  321,  n.  1).  Hence  the  following  rhymes  shew  that  Rome,  cyna- 
mome,  sothe  must  have  been  (Roo'me,  sinamoo'me,  soo'dhe),  although 
there  may  have  been,  as  frequently  at  present,  a  little  liberty  taken 
with  double  rhymes,  and  (soo'dhe)  may  have  been  used  for  (soo'the), 
and  similarly  (juu'dhe)  for  (juu'the),  (swirdhe)  for  (swith'e)2  in 
the  following  couplets : 

That  streyt  was  comen  from  the  court  of  Rome. 

Ful  lowde  he  sang,  Come  hider,  love,  to  me.  673 

My  fayre  bryd,  my  swete  cynamome, 

Awake,  lemman  myn,  and  speketh  to  me.  3699 

So  faren  we,  if  I  schal  say  the  sothe. 

Now,  quod  oure  ost,  yit  let  me  talke  to  the.  12590 

Quod  the  Frankeleyn.  considering  thin  youthe 

So  felingly  thou  spekest,  sire,  I  aloue  the.  10987 

Elles  go  hye  som,  and  that  as  swithe. 

Now  good  sire,  go  forth  thy  way  and  hy  the.  13222 

Al  esily  now,  for  the  love  of  Marte, 

Quod  Pandarus,  for  every  thynge  hath  tyme  ; 

So  long  abid  til  that  the  nyght  departe, 

For  also  siker  as  thow  list  here  bi  me, 

And  God  toforne  I  wol  he  thare  skpryme?  4-193 

Bot  fader,  if  it  fo  betide 

That  I  aproche  at  eny  fide 

The  place  wher  my  ladi  is 

And  J»anne  )>at  hire  like  ywyff 

To  fpeke  a  goodly  word  vntome, 

For  al  }>e  gold  tat  is  in  Rome 

Ne  cowj?e.  I.  after  that  bewrojj, 

Bot  all  myn  Anger  ouergo)?.4  i   282 

Here  hy  the  stands  for  hye  the,  but  the  final  e  of  hye  is  not  pro- 
nounced, as  also  it  is  not  pronounced  in  aloue  the,  so  that  we  read 
(aluu'  dhe,  mi  dhe).  This  omission  will  be  considered  afterwards. 

The  middle  e  in  Dertemouthe  holds  the  position  of  a  final  e  in  : 
For  ought  I  woot  he  was  of  Dertemouthe  391,  where  it  is  necessary 
for  the  metre,  and  it  is  observable  that  the  e  is  here  pronounced  to 
this  day  by  the  peasantry  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dartemouth  and 
Dartemoor.5 

1  This  fection  was  written  before  I  2  Just  as  /,  v  rhyme  in  thevys,  gref 

had  had  ai;  opportunity  of  seeing  Prof.  is  7755. 

F.  J.  Child's  admirable  Observations  3  The  rhyme  time,  by  me,  occurs 

on  the  Language  of  Chaucer  and  Gower.  eight  times  in  Gower,  i  227,  309,  370, 

I  have  thought  it  best  to  leave  my  in-  ii  41,  49,  114,  iii  6,  369. 

vestigation  almost  in  its  original  state,  4  Printed  from  the  Harl.  MS.  3869. 

and  to  give  a  complete  account  of  these  6  Private   letter    from  Mr.  Shelly, 

observations  in  the  following  section.  of  Plymouth. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  319 

In  the  Man  of  Lawes  Tale,  there  is  a  king  called  Alia,  whose 
name  on  one  occasion  is  reduced  to  Alle,  which  must  have  "been 
pronounced  (Al'e),  so  that  calle  and  lifalle  which  rhyme  with  it 
must  have  also  been  (kal'e,  bifal'e)  in — 

Mauricius  atte  funtstone  men  him  calle. 

This  constabil  doth  come  forth  a  messager, 

And  wrot  to  his  kyng  that  cleped  was  Alle, 

How  that  this  hlisful  tydyng  is  bifalle.  5143 

Scarcely  less  convincing  than  the  above  instances  is  the  case  of 
the  plurals  in  -es,  where  they  do  not  at  present  form  a  distinct 
syllable.1  Not  only  are  these  frequently  spelled  -is,9  as  is  the  case 
still  in  Scotch,3  but  they  also  often  rhyme  with  the  verb  is.  Thus, 
taking  first  those  spelled  with  es : — 

For  sondry  scolis  maken  subtil  clerkes  ; 

"Weinman  of  many  a  scole  half  a  clerk  is.  9301 

How  schuld  I  thanne,  that  live  in  such  pleasaunce 

As  alle  weddid  men  doon  with  their  wyves, 

Come  to  blisse  ther  Crist  eterne  on  lyve  is  ?  9525 

Him  wolde  he  snybhe  scharply  for  the  nones, 

A  hettre  preest  I  trowe  ther  nowher  non  is.  525 

Crist,  which  that  is  to  every  harm  triacle, 

By  certeyn  menes  offce,  as  knowen  clerkes, 

Doth  thing  for  certeyn  ende,  that  feel  derJc  is.  4900 

Thy  wyf  eek  and  thy  wenche  sinfully 

Dronke  of  the  same  vessel  sondry  wynes ; 

And  heriest  false  goddes  cursedly  ; 

Therefore  to  the  schapen  rul  gret  pyne  es.  15713 

Withinne  the  cloyster  of  thi  blisful  sydes 

Took  mannes  schap  the  eternal  love  and  pees, 

That  of  the  trine  compas  lord  and  guyde  is.  11971 

And  nyl  himselve  doo  no  gentil  dedes 

Ne  folw  his  gentil  aunceter,  that  deed  is.  6737 

In  the  following  the  plural  is  written  -is,  but  it  rhymes  with  is 
in  precisely  the  same  way. 

Of  catapus,  or  of  gaytre  beriis 

Of  erbe  yve  that  groweth  in  our  yerd,  ther  mercy  ts.4  16451 

Ther  schuln  ye  se  expresse,  that  no  dred  is, 

That  he  is  gentil  that  doth  gentil  dedis.  6751 

Ye  loke  as  though  the  woode  were  ful  of  thevys, 

Sit  doun  anoon,  and  tel  me  what  your  gref  is.  7755 

After  the  opynyoun  of  certeyn  clerkis. 

Witnesse  on  him,  that  eny  parfit  clerk  is.  16721 

And  for  that  faith  is  deth  withouten  werkis, 

So  for  to  werken  give  me  witt  and  space, 

That  I  be  quit  fro  thennes  that  most  derk  is.  11992 

Which  gift  of  God  had  he  for  all  his  wyvis  ? 

No  man  hath  such,  that  in  the  worid  on  lyve  is.  5621 

1  In  the  difficult  combinations  wrists,  -*  in  familiar  versification,  and  in  prose, 

priests,  we  hear  generally  in  the  pro-  even  in  the  xiv  th  and  xv  th  century, 

vinces,  (r/st'z'z,  priist-z'z).  as  shewn  in  Mr.  Murray's  paper,  supra 

2  Sometimes  us  is  used,  with  the  same  p.  287,  note  1. 

pronunciation  as  -is  or  -es,  (p.  298).  4  These  lines  aye  evidently  corrupt 

3  This   Scotch    final   -is,   generally  as  they  stand.    Morris  reads  3-233,  Of 

formed  a  distinct  syllable  in  serious  erbe  yve  growarae  in  our  yerd,  ther 

poetry,  but  was  practically  reduced  to  mery  is. 


320  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IY.  §  4. 

So  made  he  eek  a  temple  of  fals  godis, 

How  might  he  do  a  thing  that  moreforbod  is  ?  10169 

But  me  was  taught,  nought  longe  tyme  goon  is, 

That  synnes  Crist  went  never  but  onys 

To  weddyng.  5591 

Alias !  and  can  ye  ben  agast  of  swevenys  ? 

Nought,  God  wot,  but  vanite  in  sweven  is.  16407 

Since  in  placis,  place  is  7349,  the  final  -is  must  of  necessity  be 
pronounced,  it  is  not  reckoned  among  these  examples,  which  are  all 
that  I  have  noted  in  the  Canterbury  Tales.  To  these,  however, 
should  be  added,  as  equally  convincing, — 

Take  youre  disport :  I  nyl  lieve  no  talis; 

I  know  yow  for  a  trewe  wif,  dame  Alls.  5901 

From  hous  to  hous,  to  here  sondry  talis, 

That  Jankyn  clerk,  and  my  gossib  dame  Alis.  6129 

It  would  be  impossible  to  read  many  lines  in  Chaucer  without 
finding  that  the  number  of  syllables  in  a  line  would  be  constantly 
in  default,  if  the  final  0's  were  not  reckoned.  At  the  same  time 
the  number  of  syllables  in  a  line  would  often  be  in  excess,  if  every 
e  final  were  reckoned.  Again,  the  slightest  examination  shews  us 
words  which  are  at  present  identical,  differing  in  different  places 
by  having  and  not  having  a  final  e.  That  this  insertion  or  omission 
of  the  e  final  is  not  due  simply  to  carelessness  or  option  of  the 
scribe,1  is  apparent  from  the  presence  or  absence  of  the  e  being 
generally  essential  to  the  metre,  or  the  rhyme,  and  a  notion  seems 
to  have  possessed  some  persons,  that  lines  could  be  made  to  scan  by 
omitting  or  inserting  these  e's  at  pleasure.  The  examination  of  the 
prose  tales,  where  these  final  0's  are  also  found,  ought  to  disabuse 
us  of  this  absurd  notion.  We  must  admit  that  these  final  e's  formed 
a  part  of  the  language  of  the  time,  and  that  there  must  have  been 
some  reasons  for  their  insertion  and  omission.  These  we  have,  if 
possible,  to  discover,  and  the  first  step  is  to  examine  two  modern 
languages,  German  and  French,  in  which  final  0's  also  occur,  and 
which  are  the  living  representatives  of  the  Saxon  and  Norman 
elements  of  which  Chaucer's  poems  were  composed. 

Final  e  in  German,  which  is  always  pronounced  where  written, 
arises  in  several  ways : 

1)  it  is  a  natural  final  of  many  words  as  RuJie,  Weise,  Reise, 
Miitze,  Rale,  Kdse,  Knabe,  Heerde,  Herberge,  weise,  leise,  sachte, 

1  This  refers  to  the  Harleian,  No.  sundre  (for  sondry),    19  sesone  daie, 

7334  ;    other  manuscripts    are    much  20  laie,  22  devoute,  23  nighte,  24  twente 

less   strict,   and  the   confusion  in  the  (for  twenty),   25  sondrie  folke  be  (for 

use  of  the  final  e  seems  to  indicate  a  by),  26  pilgrimes,  27  towarde,  29  esede, 

date  of  writing  about  the  middle  of  31   euerychone,    32   anone,     34  J>are 

xv  th  centuiT  or  later,  or  else  a  scribe  jowe,   37  resnone,   38  condicionne,  40 

of  Northern  origin.     In  the  first  42  whiche  whate  41  eke  whatte  araie,  42 

lines  of  the  prologue  in  the  Lansdowne  knighte,  where  the  Harleian  shews  no 

MS.    No.    851,    with    which   Wright  «,  and  :  8  half,  9  smal,  11  her,  30  sonn, 

and  Morris  collated  the  Harleian  7334  31  had,  32  felawschep,  where  the  Har- 

to  form  their  texts,  we  find :  1  wy)?e,  leian  has  the  final  e.     It  is  obvious 

2  haj?e,    3   suche    lycoure,    4  whiche  that  no  conclusions  respecting  e  final 

floure,   5  eke  bre)>e,    6  ha)?e  hethe,   7  could  be  deduced  from  such  an  ortho- 

haj?e  ramme,  12  one,  13  straungere,  14  graphy. 


CHAP.  IV.  H.  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH    CENTURY.  321 


^ruu*#,    bnai'z#,    rai*z^5 

?,  Heerd0,  Herber^h^,  bharze,  lai'ze,  szakht'0,  laq'e),  and  so 
forth,  mostly  representing  some  other  vowel  in  old  high  German. 
2)  it  is  inflexional,  frequently  expressing — 
a)  plurals  as  der  Wind  die  Winde,  der  Zug  die  Zuge,  der  Herzog 
die  Herzoge,  &c.  =  (der  bhind  dii  bhind'0,  der  tsuugwh  die  tsyy^lre, 
der  Herts 'og  dii  Herts 'ogh^). 

1)  dative  cases  singular,  as  dem  Winde,  dem  Zuge,  dem  Herzoge  — 
(deem  bhind^,  deem  tsuugwh'0,  deem  Herts'oghe). 

c]  the  plural  of  the  indefinite  adjective,  as  gute  Goiter,  alle  Men- 
schen,    lange  Reisen  =  (guut'0  goet'er,  al'0  mensh'm,  l#q*0  raiz*0n). 

d]  the  feminine  singular  of  the  indefinite  adjective,  as  gute  Mutter, 
arme  Frau,   keine  Frucht  =  (guut'0  mut'er,    #rnr0   frau,    kainv 
frukwht). 

e]  the  nominative  singular  of  the  definite  adjective  in  all  genders, 
and  accusative  feminine  and  neuter,  as  der  gute  Mann  die  gute  Frau, 
das  gute  Weib,  ich  ehre  die  gute  Frau  und  das  gute  Weib  =  (der 
guut'0  rn<ra,  dii  guut'<?  frau,  das  guut'<?  bhaib,  ikh  ee'ra),  &c. 

/)  the  imperative  singular  of  verbs,  as  liebe  Gott,  ehre  den  Konig 
=  (liib*0  got,  ee'r0  deen  koeoe'ni^h). 

g)  the  first  person  singular  of  the  indicative  mood  present  tense 
of  verbs,  as  ich  liebe  ihn,  ich  fange  an  =  (ikh  liib'0  iin,  ikh  faq'e  an}. 

h)  the  first  and  third  person  singular  of  the  present  and  past 
tenses  of  the  subjunctive  mood  of  verbs,  as  er  sagt,  sie  komme;  sie 
sagten  er  klime  =  (er  zaaght,  szii  konr<9,  szii  zaaght^n,  er  kEEnr<?). 

i)  the  first  and  third  person  singular  of  the  past  tense  of  weak 
verbs,  as  ich  liebte  und  er  liebte  dieselbe  Freundin  =  (i&h  liibt'd  und 
eer  liibt'<s  dirzelb'0  froynd'in).3 

j)  it  is  frequently  added  on  to  numbers  in  familiar  counting,  as 
eine,  zweie,  dreie,  mere,  funfe,  &c.  =  (ain*0,  tsbhai'e,  drai*^,  fii'r^, 
fynf-0). 

With  all  these  reasons  for  adding  on  e,  and  the  very  similar  syl- 
lable en,  (which  on  the  Rhine  is  constantly  called  e},  the  language 
is  necessarily  full  to  overflowing  with  this  termination,  which 
is  consequently  very  often  dropped  or  slurred  over  with  great 
rapidity  in  conversation.  But  that  poets  with  perfect  sensations 
of  rhythm,  and  immense  power  of  expression,  accept  this  final  e  and 
even  multiply  it  in  a  single  line,  may  be  collected  from  this  one 
example  in  Goethe's  most  finished  drama,  Tasso,  Act  I.,  Sc.  1. 

Ich  bring'  ihm  seinen  Sohn  ....         (I&h  briq  iim  zain-m  zoon  .... 

Und  theile  seim  vaterliche  Freudtf          unt  tail'0  zain'0  fee'terli&h'e  froyd-e.)3 

1  The  final  German  e,  en,  in  these  2  In  these  transcriptions  the  German 
transcriptions  have  been  generally  re-  eu  has  been  represented  by  (ov),  the 
presented  by  (e,  en)  as  they  are  theo-  sound  preferred  by  Dr.  Eapp,/tut  (oi, 
retically  held  to  represent  these  sounds,  pi)  are  frequent  in  the  Northland  (#i) 
but  the  reader  should  consult  p.  119,  in  the  South  of  Germany.  Spine  theo- 
note  1,  col.  2,  and  p.  195,  note  2,  where  reticians  prefer  (0y),  and  others  (ay), 
these  cases  are  fully  discussed.  7 

3  There  are  as  many  final  e's  in  Chaucer's —  / 

Him  thoughte  that  his  herte  wolde  breke  /956 

(Hem  thoukwh'te  dhat  He's  Heerte  wol'de  bree'ke), 
where  the  repeated  e  gives  a  melancholy  softness  to  the  line.         I 

J         21 


322  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

At  the  same  time  the  first  line  gives  an  example  of  the  elision  of 
an  e — ich  brings  ihm — before  a  following  vowel.  This  is  not  a  rule, 
or  a  necessity,  it  is  merely  a  matter  of  feeling.  In  such  a  verse  as 

Wie  brennt  meine  alte  "Wunde. — (Heine's  Die  Grenadier  e) 

(Bhii  brent  main'0  alt-e  bhund'0) 

the  elision  mem'  would  have  been  impossible,  on  account  of  the 
concord,  although  it  would  have  avoided  a  trisyllabic  measure  and 
improved  the  metre.  But  throughout  the  first  act  of  Tasso  I  have 
only  noticed  one  instance  in  which  Goethe  has  not  avoided  the 
necessity*  of  an  open  vowel  which  he  could  not  elide,  namely 

Fur  holde  Friichte  etner  wahren  Liebe 

(Fyr  Hold'0  fry&ht'0  ainer  bhaarm  liib'0). 

where  the  natural  pause  at  the  caesura  assist  the  reader.  Thus  when 
ich,  er,  ihn,  es  follows  a  verbal  -e,  the  e  is  always  elided,  as :  gar  oft 
beneid'  ich,  irr'  ich  mich  nicht,  besser  war's  =  ware  es,  ich  geb' 
ihm  oft  =  (gar  oft  benaid*  iArh,  i.r  Lfch  mi£h  ni&ht,  bes'er  bhEErz, 
i/fch  geeb  iim  oft),  and  so  on.  The  feeling  is  strongly  shewn  in 

Erwach' !    Erwache !    Lass  uns  nicht  empfinden, 

Dass  du  das  Gegenwart'ge  ganz  verkennst. 

(Erbhaklr,  erbhakh-0 !     Los  uns  ni&ht  empfind'm 

Das  dun  das  gee^lrenbhert^he  gants  ferkenst-), 

Where  there  are  two  other  elisions  one  marked  in :  Gegenwart«ge,  the 
other  unmarked  in :  verkenn^st,  both  similar  to  what  might  occur  in 
Old  English  as  semde  for  semede  =  seemed,  singst  for  sing^st. 

But  Goethe  does  not  hesitate  to  add  on  his  e  to  an  open  vowel, 
as  :  ich  thue  was  ich  kann  =  (i£h  tuu'<?  bh#s  ijfch  k#n). 

The  e  of  the  dative  case  is  frequently  omitted,  as  after  the  itali- 
cized words  in — 

Und  lass  mich  der  Gelegenheit,  dem  Gliick — 

Jdlr  ist  an  diesem  Augenblick  genug — 

Ach !  sie  versagt  mir  eben  jetzt !  Im  Gliick — 

Doch  war  an  Wissenschaft,  an  rechtem  Sinn — 

(Und  las  mi&h  der  geleeyh^nnait,  deem  glyk — 
Miir  ist  an  dii-zem  au'gwhenhlik  genuugwh- — 
Akh  !  szii  ferzaaght4  miir  eeb'm  jetst !  Im  glyk — 
Dokh  bhaar  an  bhis'enshoffc,  an  reA;ht-em  zin — ) 

The  imperative  e  is  frequently  omitted  even  when  no  vowel 
follows,  as 

Und  liebt  er  nicht — ver&eiK  dass  ich  es  sage ! 

(Und  liibt  er  niAht — fertsai-  das  i&h  es  szaagh-0.) 

The  final  e  is  omitted  in  many  other  cases  where  the  feeling  of 
the  poet  requires  it,  even  before  a  consonant,  or  at  the  end  of  a  line 
where  the  elision  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  the  metre,  as 

Fest  bleibt  dein  Sinn,  und  richtig  dein  Geschmack, 

Dein  Urtheil  g'rad,  stets  ist  dein  Antheil  gross 

Am  Grossen. — 

Uns  fiir  den  Schatz  erkennte,  den  er  lang1 

Vergebens  in  der  weiten  Welt  gesucht — 
heiligt  er 

Den  Pfad,  den  lets'  ihr  gfchoner  Fuss  betrat — 

Ich  sah  ihn  heut'  von  fern ;  er  hielt  ein  Buch — 

Und  bist  du  zu  gelind',  so  will  ich  treiben — 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  323 

Die  Menge  macht  den  Kiinstler  irr'  und  scheu — 
Von  fremden  Heerden  Wies'  und  Busch  erfiillt — 

(Fest  blaipt  dain  zin,  und  ri&ht'i^h  dain  geshmak, 
Dain  urtail  graad,  shteets  1st  dain  an'tail  groos 
Am  groos  'en — 

Tins  fyr  deen  shats  erkentv,  deen  er  kq 
Fergeeb'enz  in  der  bhait'en  bhelt  gezuukwht — 

narli&ht  eer 

Deen  pfaad,  deen  laiz  iir  shceoen'er  fuus  betraat* — 
I/th  zaa  iin  Hoyt  fon  fern  :  er  milt  ain  buukwh 
Und  bist  duu  tsu  gelind',  zoo  bhil  i&h  traib'en — ' 
Dii  meq'0  makht  den  kynst'ler  i.r  unt  shoy — 
Fon  fremd-en  Heerd-en  bhiiz  und  bush  erfylt" — ) 

All  these  examples  are  taken  from  the  first  act  of  Tasso.  In 
lyrical  poems  we  find  similar  omissions,  not  merely  for  the  sake  of 
rhythm  or  force,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  rhyme.  Thus  in  the 


Zwischen  Waizen  und  Korn,  (Tsbhish-m  bhaits'0w  unt  korn, 

Zwischen  Hecken  und  Lorn  Tsbhish-m  nek'^n  und  dorn, 

Zwischen  Baumen  und  Qras  Tsbhish-m  boynvm  und  graas, 

"Wo  geht  's  Liebchen  ?  Bhoo  geet  -s  liib*&hm  ? 

Sag  mir  das  !  Szaagh  mir  das  ! 

An  dem  Felsen  beim  Fluss,  An  deem  fels'm  bairn  flu&, 

Wo  sie  reichte  den-  Kuss,  Bhoo  zii  raiArht'0  deen  kus, 

Jenen  ersten  im  Gras,  Jeen  en  erst  -en  im  graas, 

SeK  ich  etwas  !  Szee  iArh  efc-bhas-  ! 

1st  sie  das  ?  1st  szii  das  ?) 

Here  Gras  (graas)  for  Grase  (graaz'e),  and  Fluss  (flus)  for  Flusse 
(flus'<?)  are  necessary  for  the  rhyme.  The  most  common  omission 
is  that  of  the  dative  e,  but  even  the  essential  final  e  is  occasionally 
left  out,  thus  in  the  lines  An  Luna,  we  have  Euhe  (ruu'0)  abbre- 
viated to  Rul?  (ruu)  for  the  rhyme. 

Und  in  wollustvoller  Ruh'  (Unt  in  bhoHustfol'er  ruu 

Sdh'  der  Wellverschlag'ne  Eitter  SZEE  der  bhelt-fershl«agh*n«  rit'er 

Durch  das  glaserne  Gegitter  DurA;h  das  glEEz-erne  gegit-er 

Seines  Madchens  Nachten  zu.  Szaines  niEEd-Ahens  nE^ht^  tsuu.) 

Less  common  and,  no  doubt  intentionally,  very  harsh,  is  Schiller's 
Donnersprach'  (don'er,shprfl«klr)  to  rhyme  with  naeh  (naakh),  in 
his  Kindes-morderin,  st.  9. 

On  the  other  hand  in  Goethe's  Gluck  der  Entfernung  (Glyk  der 
Entfern'uq)  we  have  an  e  apparently  added  in  Glucke  for  Gltick,  — 
really  an  archaism  from  the  middle  high  German  Geluche,  —  also  for 
the  rhyme  and  metre. 

TririK  ',  o  Jiingling  !  heil'ges  Gliicke  (Triqk,  oo  jyq'liq  !  nail^hes  glykv, 

Taglang  aus  der  Liebsten  Blicke.  Taagh'laq  aus  der  liib'stm  blik-^.) 

All  poets  do  not  avoid  the  open  final  e  with  the  same  scrupulous- 
ness as  Goethe,  thus  "Wilhelm  Miiller  in  his  Alexander  Ypsilanti  has 
An  des  Mittags  Horizonte  hing  sein  Aug«  wnverwandt. 
(An  des  mit'taakhs  Hoo-ritson-te  niq  szain  aug^h'e  un'ferbhont1) 


Such  examples  are  however  rare.  On  the  other  hand  the  omis- 
sion of  final  e  for  rhyme  or  metre  is  very  frequent  Thus  for  rhyme 
in  Eiickert's  Der  Betrogene  Teufel  (der  \)etioo^h'ene  toyfel),  MV 


/ 


324  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

(ail)  is  used  for  MU  (ail'*)  to  rhyme  with  Theil  (tail).  In  Heine's 
Lie  Grenadiere,  already  quoted  for  non-elision,  we  have  Grenadier' 
twice  to  rhyme  with  Quartier,  mir  (kbhartiir,  miir),  and  bitt' 
(bit)  to  rhyme  with  mit  (mit),  and  for  metre 

Und  giirt'  mir  um  den  Degen.  (Und  gyrt  mir  uum  den  da?gh-m.) 

These  examples,  which  could  easily  be  greatly  multiplied,  will 
serve  to  shew  how  a  living  language  deals  with  its  final  0's,  and 
Germans  know  that  this  treatment  of  e  final  is  not  a  mere  license 
taken  by  the  poet  to  help  him  out  of  difficulties,  but  is  on  the  con- 
trary a  source  of  great  power  of  expression,  giving  force  and  cha- 
racter to  many  passages  by  omission,  and  softness  and  delicacy  to 
the  others  by  the  frequent  use  of  the  final  er  Hence  we  are  led  to 
look  upon  the  use  and  disuse  of  this  letter,  (the  feeling  for  which 
has  been  entirely  lost  by  Englishmen,)  as  a  great  resource  for  the 
poet,  and  a  great  beauty  in  the  language.  To  those  whom  long 
custom  has  made  familiar  with  the  German  language  and  the  music 
of  its  poetry,  the  idea  of  constantly  clipping  off  these  final  0's  in  the 
English  fashion  would  be  distasteful  and  barbarous  to  the  last  de- 
gree, and  their  frequency  conveys  no  feeling  of  trailiness  or  weak- 
ness, as  it  does  to  the  mere  English  reader, 

Proceeding  to  French  we  meet  with  a  new  phenomenon,  an 
existing  system  of  versification  founded  upon  an  obsolete  system  of 
pronunciation  (p,  119,  note).  In  looking  at  French  songs  when 
set  to  music,  we  see  that  all  final  e'a  are  pronounced,  except  before 
a  following  vowel  or  a  mute  A,  and  that  the  ~ent  of  the  plural  of 
verbs  is  also  pronounced  as  e,  (except  in  the  combination  -aient 
where  it  is  absolutely  mute),  although  it  is  not  elided  before  a  fol- 
lowing vowel.  But  in  common  French  discourse  this  final  e  and 
many  medial  e's  may  be  said  to  be  entirely  elided.1  The  consequence 
is  that  there  is  a  great  schism  between  the  language  of  poetry  and 
that  of  common  life.  When  singing,  the  French  not  merely  pro- 
nounce these  e's,  but  dwell  upon  them,  and  give  them  long  and  ac- 
cented notes  in  the  music.  This  recognition  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  measure  of  the  verse,  which,  depending  solely  upon  the  num- 
ber of  the  syllables  in  a  line,  and  having  no  relation  to  the  position 
of  accent,  is  entirely  broken  up  and  destroyed  when  these  syllables 
are  omitted.  And  yet  when  they  declaim,  the  French  omit  these 
final  e's  without  mercy,  producing,  to  English  ears,  a  hideous  rough 
shapeless  unmusical  result,  which  nothing  but  a  consciousness  of  the 
existence  of  the  omitted  syllables  can  mass  into  rhythm.2 

1  In  M.  Jobert's  Colloquial  French  poetry   (in   tragedies    especially,    and 
(London,   "Whittaker,   1854),   M.   and  principally  in   those   which  are  con- 
Mile.  Theriat's  Phonographe  and  Tour-  sidered  as  standards  of  classic  purity,) 
rier's  Model  Book  (4th  ed,  1851,  Lon-  is  seldom  pleasant  to  English   ears; 
don,   Nutt),  will  be  found    excellent  but  in  the  complaint  which  is  gene- 
rules  for  shewing  when  this  e  is  or  is  rally  made  of  the  want  of  harmony  of 
not  to  be  pronounced.  the  French  verse,  there  is  not  sufficient 

2  The  late  M.  Tarver,  of  Eton,  in  his  allowance  made.     One  is  too  apt  to 
Choix  en  Prose  et  en   Vers   (London,  forget  that  the  Ear,  accustomed  to  the 
1833),  says :  "  The  reading  of  French  rhyme  and  peculiar  intonations  of  one's 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 


E  FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY. 


325 


M.  Feline,  who  endeavoured  to  introduce  a  phonetic  system  of 
printing  French  as  an  assistance  in  teaching  ignorant  adults  to  read, 
has,  at  the  end  of  his  Exercise  de  lecture  Phonetique,  Aventures  de 
Robinson  Crusoe  (Paris,  Didot,  1854),  given  an  Exemple  de  Decla- 
mation, consisting  of  a  fragment  of  Lafontaine's  Fable  (xi,  7),  Le 
paysan  du  Danube,  which  he  has  printed  phonetically.  We  are  thus 
presented  with  a  Frenchman's  views  of  how  French  poetry  should 
be  read,  and  as  this  is  important  in  relation  to  the  use  of  the  final  e, 
I  think  it  worth  while  to  give  the  greater  portion  of  it  in  ordinary 
spelling  and  in  a  palaeotypic  transcription  of  M.  Feline's  characters. 
The  lines  are  supposed  to  be  spoken  by  a  German  peasant  to  the 
Roman  Senate*  They  are  introduced  by  the  following  remarks : 

"  Get  exemple  nous  montre  que,  meme  dans  la  declamation,  il  est 
des  e  muets  qui  ne  se  prononcent  pas,  quoique  leur  presence  soit 
necessaire  a  la  mesure  syllabique  des  vers.  Cette  suppression  a  lieu, 
soit  parce  que  les  deux  consonnes  separees  par  1'  e  muet  s'unissent 
facilement  en  raison  de  leur  douceur,  soit  parce  que  le  sens  est  inter- 
rompu.  II  importe  aussi  de  faire  observer  que,  presque  toutes  les 
fois  que  Ye  muet  est  supprime,  la  syllabe  qui  le  precede  en  acquiert 
plus  d'intensite  ou  de  longueur.1  A  la  fin  des  rimes  feminines, 
quand  il  est  precede  d'une  voyelle,  cette  voyelle  devient  plus  longue.2 
On  remarquera,  en  outre,  que,  lorsqus  le  sens  unit  la  fin  d'un  vers 
au  commencement  du  suivant,  la  liaison  doit  avoir  lieu." 

language,  is  not  easily  pleased  by 
foreign  sounds ; — that  want  of  habit  of 
hearing  French  read  renders  it  a  bad 
judge  in  point  of  harmony ;  that  the 
full  and  rapid  comprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  the  author  greatly  influ- 
ences our  finding  the  words  harmonious 
or  harsh ;  and  how  few  there  are  who 
can  boast  of  so  iamiliar  an  acquaint- 
ance with  a  foreign  language!"  The 
following  brief  resume  of  the  laws  of 
French  versification  given  by  M.  Tarver 
(ib.)  may  be  useful.  "Measure  and 
Ehyme  constitute  French  verse.  Mea- 
sure is  determined  by  the  number  of 
syllables  contained  in  the  verse.  The 
longest  French  verses  have  twelve  syl- 
lables, commonly  called  feet.  When,  in 
the  body  of  a  verse,  a  word  ends  with 
an  e  muet,  that  is,  an  e  not  accented, 
and  is  followed  by  a  word  beginning 
with  a  vowel,  the  e  muet  is  blended 
with  that  vowel,  so  as  to  form  one 
sound,  and  consequently  one  foot  only, 
instead  of  two.  When  the  e  muet  is 
followed  by  an  s,  there  is  no  elision. 
The  termination  ent,  of  the  third  per- 
son of  verbs,  which,  in  prose,  is  gene- 
rally blended  with  the  following  syl- 
lable, if  it  begin  with  a  vowel,  must  in 
verse,  be  sounded  as  a  distinct  syllable 
or  foot,  but,  in  the  third  person  plural 
of  the  imperfect  and  conditional  of 


verbs,  such  as  parlaient,  parleraient, 
the  ent  of  aient  does  not  form  one  dis- 
tinct syllable,  because  there  is  but  one 
sound  uttered,  par-laient,  par-le-r aient. 
Some  diphthongs  form  two  syllables, 
and  some  one,  at  the  option  of  the 
author.  The  cesure  is  a  rest  which 
comes  after  the  sixth  foot  or  syllable  in 
heroic  verse,  and  after  the  fourth  syl- 
lable in  verses  of  ten  syllables. — There 
are  no  blank  verses  in  French ;  they 
always  rhyme.  There  are  two  sorts  of 
rhymes,  the  masculine  which  ends  with 
a  consonant  or  combination  of  letters 
forming  one  full  sound,  such  as,  lan- 
guissan^,  vanite,  &c.,  the  feminine  with 
an  e  muet.  In  heroic  verses,  the  rhymes 
must  be  regularly  and  alternately,  two 
masculine  and  two  feminine.  If  a 
stanza  end  with  a  masculine  rhyme, 
the  following  must  begin  with  a  femi- 
nine, and  vice  versa."  "Enjambement,, 
the  running  on  of  the  sense  from  the 
end  of  one  verse  to  the  beginning  /of 
the  following.  It  is  a  fault  and  t}7  be 
avoided,"  but  is  often  designedly/com- 
mitted by  Victor  Hugo  and  recentf  poets. 

1  This  Mr.  Feline  has  not/marked 
particularly,  I  shall  thereforeyplace  two 
dots  (..)  in  place  of  the  suppressed  "e 
muet,"  in  order  to  guide  tne  reader. 

2  This  he  has  marked,  and  hence  I 


326  E   FINAL  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

LE  PAYSAN  DU  DANUBE. — FBAGMENT. 

Craignez,  Romains,  craignez  que  le  ciel  quelque  jour 
Ne  transporte  chez  vous  les  pleurs  et  la  misere ; 
Et  mettant  en  nos  mains,  par  un  juste  retour, 
Les  armes  dont  se  sert  sa  vengeance  severe, 

II  ne  vous  fasse  en  sa  colere 

Nos  esclaves  a  votre  tour. 

Et  pourquoi  sommes  nous  les  votres  ?    Qu'on  me  die 
En  quoi  vous  valez  mieux  que  cent  peuples  divers. 
Quel  droit  vous  a  rendus  maitres  de  1'univers  ? 
Pourquoi  venir  troubler  une  innocente  vie  ? 
Nous  cultivions  en  paix  d'heureux  champs  ;  et  nos  mains 
Etaient  propres  aux  arts,  ainsi  qu'au  labourage. 

Q-u'avez  vous  appris  aux  Germains  ? 

Us  ont  1'adresse  et  le  courage ; 

S'ils  avaient  eu  1'avidite 

Comme  vous,  et  la  violence, 
Peut-etre  en  votre  place  ils  auraient  la  puissance, 
Et  sauraient  en  user  sans  inhumanite. 
Celle  que  vos  preteurs  ont  sur  nous  exercee 

N'entre  qu'a  peine  en  la  pensee. 

La  majeste  de  vos  autels 

Elle  meme  en  est  offense  e ; 

Car  sachez  que  les  immortels 
Ont  les  regards  sur  nous.     Graces  a  vos  exemples 
Ils  n'ont  devant  les  yeux  que  des  objets  d'horreur, 

De  mepris  d'eux  et  de  leurs  temples, 
D'avarice  qui  va  jusques  a  la  fureur. 
E-ien  ne  suffit  aux  gens  qui  nous  viennent  de  Eome, 

La  terre  et  le  travail  de  1'homme 
Font  pour  les  assouvir  des  efforts  superflus. 

E.etirez-les  :    on  ne  veut  plus 

Cultiver  pour  eux  les  compagnes. 
Nous  quittons  les  cites,  nous  fuyons  aux  montagnes, 

Nous  laissons  nos  cheres  compagnes ; 
Nous  ne  conversons  plus  qu'avec  des  ours  aflreux, 
Decourages  de  mettre  au  jour  des  malheureux, 
Et  de  peupler  pour  Eome  un  pays  qu'elle  opprime. 

mark  tlie  prolongation  by  reduplication  long  vowels  in  French,  and  that  I  have 
as  usual.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  M.  strictly  followed  his  system  of  notation, 
Feline  seldom  admits  the  existence  of  except  in  his  employment  of  the  hyphen, 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E    FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  327 

Li?    p0,izaA    dy    Danyb. — Pragma  A. 

Crenje,  RomeA,  crenje  k?  10  siel  kelk?  zhur 
N<?  traAsport?  she  vu  le  pbrz  e  la  mizer.. ; 
E  metaAt  aA  no  meA,  par  aA  zhyst?  r?tur 
Lez  arm?  doA  sa  ser  sa  vaAzhaAs?  s^ver.. , 

II  n?  vu  fas  aA  sa  koler.. 

Noz  eskl«v..z  a  votr?  tur. 
.Z^purkua  som..  nu  le  votr..  ?    K-OA  ma  dii.. 
AA  kua  vu  val<?  mice  k?  saA  p^pl?  diver. 
Kel  drua  vuz  a  raAdy  metr?  d?  1-yniver  ? 
Purkua  v?nir  trubler  yn  inosaAt?  vii..  ? 
Nu  kyltivioAz  aA  pe  d-?roe  shaA ;  e  no  meAz 
Ete  propr^z  oz  ar,  CAS!  k-o  laburazh.. 

K-  ave  vuz  apriz  o  ZhermeA  ? 

Ilz  OA  1-  adres  e  Id  kurazh..  ; 

S-  ilz  avet  y  1-  avidity 

Kom...  vu,  e  la  violaAs.., 
P^t  etr-  aA  votr?  plas  ilz  ore  la  pyisaAs.. , 
E  soret  aAn-  yze  saAz  inymanit^. 
SeL.  k?  vo  pr<?t?r  OA  syr  nuz  egzeisee.. 

"N-  aAtr?  k-  a  pen-  aA  la  paAs^.. 

La  mazhest<?  d?  voz  otel 

EL.  mem-  aAn-  et  ofaAs^.. ; 

Kar  sasli^  k?  lez  immortelz 
OA  le  r?gar  syr  nu.    Grras^z  a  voz  ^gzaApl.. , 
In  n-  OA  d?vaA  lez  JOB  k?  dez  obzhe  d-omr, 

~D&  m^pri  d-  osz  e  d?  br  taApl.. , 
D-  avaris..  ki  va  zhysk^z  a  la  tyr?r. 
EieA  n?  syfit  o  zhaA  ki  nu  vien..  da  Eom.. : 

La  ter  e  10  travalj  d?  1-  om.. 
POA  pur  lez  assuvir  dez  efor  syperfly. 

E?tir^  le  :  OA  n?  vce  ply 

. 
Kyltiv^  pur  oe  le  kaApanj.. . 

Nu  kitoA  le  sit^,  nu  fyiroAz  o  moAtanj..  ^ 

Nu  lesoA  no  sher..  koApanj.. ;  ,he  v 

Nu  n?  koAversoA  ply  k-  avek  dez  urz  A  tut 
D^kurazlie  d?  metr-  o  zhur  de  mabrry  have  b 
E  d?  p?pb  pur  Eom  OA  p*,i  k-  fjJjJ'S-.  - 

which  he  places  before  a  pronounced      and  whicP  sacrifice ,  in  the  usual  pa- 
final  "e  muet,"  or  a  consonant  that      laeotypic fcum  hls vers 
which  runs  on  to  the  following  vowel,  -1  unnecessary 


328  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

Notwithstanding  that  this  passage  does  not  offer  numerous 
examples  of  the  disarrangement  produced  by  modern  speech  in 
French  verse,  yet  it  is  evident  that  had  French  verse  arisen  in  the 
present  day,  or  had  it  followed  the  usages  of  pronunciation,  it  could 
not  have  taken  such  a  form.  Thus  the  distinction  between  the 
masculine  and  feminine  rhymes,  which  is  so  important  in  the  con- 
struction of  French  verse,  has  entirely  disappeared,  severe,  colere, 
becoming  (sever,  koler),  do  not  differ  from  divers,  univers  (diver, 
yniver),  though  a  French  poet  who  attempted  to  make  the  first 
rhyme  with  the  second  would  be  laughed  from  Parnassus.  The 
rhyme  mains,  Germains,  has  disappeared  in  (meAz,  zhermeA),  owing 
to  a  " liaison"  preserving  the  «  in  one  case,  while  it  was  lost  in 
another.  The  open  vowels,  which  are  so  strictly  forbidden,  crop 
up,  as  in 

Comme  vous,  et  la  violence, 
(kom      vu     e   la  violaAs.) 

This  line  also  wants  two  syllables,  which  the  singer  would  have 
added  as — 

(kom*    vuz    e   la  violaAs?). 

Observe  also  how  the  lines 

Elle  meme  en  est  offense* — 

D' avarice  qui  va  jusques  a  la  fureur — 

suffer  from  the  want  of  the  italicized  syllables. 

The  composition  of  French  verse  is  as  purely  regulated  by  rule  in 
France  as  that  of  ancient  Latin  and  Greek  verse  is  at  modern  English 
schools ;  it  is  thoroughly  artificial.  The  French  have  got  to  feel  a 
sort  of  rhythm  in  it  as  Etonians  feel  a  rhythm  in  their  own  hexa- 
meters ;  but  that  the  former  at  all  resembled  the  rhythm  known 
to  the  old  French  poets,  can  as  little  be  imagined,  as  that  the  latter 
resembled  the  rhythm  that  guided  Virgil.  Even  the  popular  rhymes 
of  Beranger  connot  always  imitate  the  speech  of  the  people,  witness 
the  italicized  e's  in  the  following  first  stanza  of  Paillasse l — 

J'suis  ne  Paillasse,  et  mon  papa, 

Pour  m' lancer  sur  la  place, 
D'un  coup  d'  pied  queuqu'  part  m'  attrapa, 
Et  m'  dit :  Saute,  Paillasse ! 
T'as  1'  jarret  dispos, 
Quoiqu'  t'  ay'  1'  ventre  gros 
Et.  la  fac'  rubiconde. 

N'  saut'  point-z  a  demi 
;-,         Paillass'  mon  ami  : 

Saute  pour  tout  \e  monde ! 

From  the  Fre^onL  we  learn  then  this  lesson,  that  it  is  possible  to 
have  a  versifica.  which  requires  the  pronunciation  of  e  final, 
although  it  hasllssonopeared  from  the  language.  Hence  Chaucer 
may  have  used  art,nverLal  in  poetry,  which  was  unknown  in  common 
speech.  But  the  de  mp,h  e  final,  which  has  now  disappeared,  was 
pronounced  in  gen^r  pcopnversation  as  late  as  the  xvi  th  century,  as 


1    (Euvres    completes  ^^  J.  de      Paris,  1835,  2  vols.   32mo.,  vol.  i.  p. 
Beranger,  edition  revue 'iteur.      232,  written  in  1816. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E    FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  329 

we  know  both  from  Palsgrave,  and  from  Meigret,  and  hence  it  must 
have  been  so  pronounced  in  Chaucer's  time,  and  must  have  formed 
part  of  the  rhythm  of  the  French  verses  with  which  he  was  well 
acquainted. 

This  examination  of  German  and  French  versification  has  led  us 
to  two  very  different  results.  In  German  the  final  e  is  a  living  part 
of  the  language  and  metre,  affecting  the  music  of  speech,  a  real 
element  in  prose  and  verse,  in  the  loftiest  and  the  homeliest  discourse. 
In  French  the  final  e,  although  the  representative  of  other  original 
vowels,  the  note  of  feminine  and  of  many  parts  of  verbs,  and  of  con- 
stant occurrence  in  writing,  has  died  out  as  utterly  in  French  as  it 
has  in  English  speech,  but  forms  an  element  of  the  commonest  as 
well  as  loftiest  versification  of  the  present  day,  any  attempt  to  build 
verses  upon  the  theory  of  its  disappearance,  as  in  English,  being 
scouted  as  low  and  vulgar.  What  was  the  case  with  Chaucer  ? 

The  foundation  of  our  language  is  Saxon.  The  construction  of 
our  sentences,  the  expressions  of  the  relations  of  ideas  by  the  order 
of  words,  has  undergone  little  or  no  change  from  a  period  when 
French  words  were  still  unused.  The  only  effect  of  the  introduction 
of  French  words  was  to  enlarge  our  vocabulary,  not  to  alter  our 
grammar.  Hence  it  would  seem  more  likely  that  while  the  Ger- 
manic e  final  was  still  in  use  in  our  language,  it  was  employed  by 
English  poets  much  in  the  same  way  that  it  is  now  used  by  German 
poets.  That  is,  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  gene- 
rally, as  we  have  proved  that  it  was  occasionally  pronounced, 
whether  it  was  a  substitute  for  some  other  original  vowel  or  was 
merely  inflexional,  but  that  in  both  cases  it  was  omitted,1  when  not 
destructive  to  the  sense,  before  another  vowel,  or  whenever  its 
omission  gave  dignity,  force  or  precision.2 

In  French  versification  the  rule  for  the  elision  of  final  e  before  a 
subsequent  vowel  or  h  mute  was  absolute.  We  should  therefore 
expect  to  find  this  rule  absolute  in  Chaucer  at  least  for  French 
words.  But  it  may  have  been  only  partially  adopted.  In  this  case 
however  we  have  no  occasion  to  go  to  a  French  model.  In  Chap.  Y, 
§§1  and  2,  we  shall  see  that  this  was  the  rule  of  English  versifica- 
tion, even  in  the  xm  th  century. 

It  is  quite  possible  that,  as  the  inflexional  condition  of  our  lan- 

1  In  German  and  French  poetry  the  altogether  even  in  reading  Latin  verse, 

omission  of  the  vowel  is  complete  and  Except  in  a  few  instances,  as  I',  t',  &c., 

absolute.     It  is  not  in  any  way  slurred  the  French  do  not  mark  the  elision  of 

over  or  rapidly  pronounced  in  connec-  a  final  e  before  a  following  vowel,  and 

tion  with  the  following  vowel,    as  is  in  old  English  the  vowel  was  written 

the  case  in  Italian  and  Spanish  poetry,  even  when  elided, 
and  even  in    Italian   singing.      The          a  Occasionally,  but  less  frequently, 

Germans,  like  the  Greeks,  do  not  even  the  final  e  may  have  been  also  omitted 

write  the  elided  vowel.     The  Latins  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme  or  the  metre, 

wrote  the  elided  vowel  as  the  Italians  but  in  such  cases  the  poet  must  have 

do,  and  may  therefore  have  touched  it  felt  that  the  sacrifice  would  have  been 

briefly,   as  in  the  English  custom  of  greater  to  turn  his  verse  so  as  to  render 

reading  Latin  verse,  whereas  it  is  the  the  elision  unnecessary. 
German  custom  to  omit  such  vowels 


330  E    FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

guage  underwent  a  rapid  degradation  in  the  xv  th  century,  and  was 
certainly  much  inferior  in  the  xrv  th  to  what  it  was  in  the  -ETTT  th, 
(several  of  the  inflexional  is  having  perhaps  disappeared  even  in 
Chaucer's  time),  and  as  most  of  the  manuscripts  belong  to  a  period 
of  at  least  a  generation  after  Chaucer's  death,  this  disuse  of  the  final 
e  may  have  considerably  advanced  before  the  best  copies  of  his  writ- 
ings, which  we  possess,  had  come  into  existence.  It  may  therefore 
well  be  that  the  scribe  has  frequently  introduced  or  omitted  final  is 
with  rather  an  indistinct  and  uncertain  feeling  as  to  where  they 
ought  or  ought  not  to  be  pronounced.1 

We  know  indeed  that  even  in  the  xvi  th  century,  when  the  final 
is  had  altogether  disappeared  from  speech,  they  were  considered  an 
indispensable  ornament  in  writing,  and  were  added  on  without  any 
knowledge  on  the  writer's  part  whether  their  addition  was  or  was 
not  historically  justifiable.2 

Before  judging  from  the  inner  part  of  a  line  in  Chaucer,  whether 
the  final  is  that  are  written  should  be  pronounced  or  mute,  it  is 
necessary  to  obtain  some  feeling  as  to  the  style  and  character  of  his 
verse.  We  have  no  occasion  to  consider  the  shorter  lines  of  Sir 
Thopaz,  nor  the  grouping  of  the  lines  into  stanzas.  The  question  is 
only,  of  how  many  syllables  did  one  of  Chaucer's  longer  lines  consist, 
and  where  did  the  stress  fall  ? 

The  last  question  requires  the  position  of  the  accent 3  in  Chaucer's 
words  to  be  considered.  Or  rather  the  two  questions  must  be  con- 
sidered together,  for  there  is  no  means  of  determining  the  position 
of  the  accent  but  by  the  metre.  We  may  assume  that  the  rhyming 
syllables  had  sufficient  stress  to  make  the  rhyme  fully  audible,  but 
we  must  be  aware  of  concluding  that  therefore  they  had  the  chief 
stress.  This  rule  would  be  generally  true  in  German  verse, — where 
however  it  is  sometimes  transgressed,4 — but  it  is  not  at  all  true  of 
French  verse.  Many  writers  assert  that  French  words  have  a  fixed 
accent.  In  the  xvi  th  century  Palsgrave  marks  the  position  of  the 
French  accent  and  lays  down  rules  for  it.  So  does  the  very  high 
phonetic  authority,  Eapp,  in  the  xix  th  century.  Nevertheless  one 
of  the  great  peculiarities  of  French,  as  distinguished  from  Italian  on 
the  one  hand,  (representing  its  Latin  element,)  and  German  on  the 
other,  (representing  its  Frankish  element,)  is  the  absence  of  deter- 
minate stress  upon  any  syllable  in  a  word.  French  speakers  do  fre- 
quently put  a  stress,  but  that  stress  varies  with  the  feeling  of  the 
moment,  and  without  affecting  the  intelligibility  of  a  word.  I  have 

1  See  supra,  p.  320,  note.  ever,  the  present  investigations  make 

2  See  the  latter  part  of  Saleshury's  it  requisite  to  reconsider.      In  these 
observations  on  e  in  his  Welsh  pronun-  pages  I  have  strictly  confined  myself  to 
ciation,  infra,  Chap.  VIII.  §  1.  the  smallest  amount  of  discussion  which 

3  The  following  remarks  on  the  very  my  object  allowed. 

difficult  subject  of  accent  and  metre,  4  Compare  etwas    in   the  Maylied, 

make  no  pretension  to  completeness.  supra  p.  323,  a  word  which  generally 

The  two  volumes  of  Mr.  Guest's  His-  has  the  stress  on  the  et,  as  in  other  com- 

tory  of  English  Rhythms,  1838,  shew  pounds  of  et,  but  there  has  nearly  an 

the  extent  of  the  subject,  which,  how-  even  stress  on  both  syllables. 


CHAP.  IV.  $4.  E    FINAL  —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  331 

heard  the  last  word  in  les  champs  Ely  sees  pronounced  with  a  distinct 
stress  on  the  first  syllable  on  one  occasion,  on  the  second  on  another, 
and  on  the  third  on  another.  A  German  speaker  is  apt  to  accent 
the  final  syllable  in  French  words,  an  English  speaker  the  first.  It 
is  the  evenness  with  which  a  Frenchmen  pronounces  the  syllables 
that  gives  so  much  peculiarity  to  his  pronunciation  of  English,  and 
reflects  his  national  habit  of  speech,  a  habit  also  shared,  as  I  am 
informed,  by  the  Turks.  A  simple  example  of  the  effect  of  this 
evenness  is  that  most  Englishmen  feel  the  French  Alexandrine  to 
consist  of  four  measures,  of  three  syllables  each,  accented  more  or 
less  distinctly  on  the  last  syllable,  whereas  the  English  and  German 
Alexandrine  founded  upon  it  consists  of  six  measures  of  two  syllables 
each,  more  or  less  distinctly  accented  on  the  last.  That  the  French 
allowed  very  evanescent  syllables,  as  for  example  the  final  0,  to  fall 
on  the  even  places,  may  be  seen  from  the  italicised  syllables  in 
Corneille's  lines  (IS imitation  de  lesvs-  Christ) : 

Les  tenebm  iamais  n'approchent  qui  me  suit ; 

Et  partout  sur  mes  pas  il  trouue  vn  iour  sans  nuit, 

Qui  porte  iusque  au  cceur  la  lumier*  de  vie. —  1,  1,  1 

Ne  lui  spauroit  offrir  d'agreab&s  victimes —  1,  1,  3 

Et  la  vertu  sans  eux  est  de  tell*  valeur, 

Qu'il  vaut  mieux  bien  sentir  la  douleur  de  tes  fautes, 

Que  S9auoir  definir  ce  qu'est  cette  douleur.1  1,  1,  3 

"We  also  find  the  same  word  differently  placed  in  a  verse  with 
respect  to  the  odd  and  even  places,  which  should  therefore  be  dif- 
ferently accented  according  to  any  accentual  theory.  For  example 
(Corneille,  Imitation) : 


Et  tu  Terras  qu'enfin  tout  n'est  que  vanite.  1  1,  3 

Vanite  d'entasser  richesses  sur  richesses.  1  1,4 

Le  desir  de  spauoir  est  naturel  aux  homines.  1  2,  1 

Borne  tous  tes  desir s  a  ce  qu'il  te  faut  faire.  1  2,  2 

Les  Sqauans  d' ordinaire  ayment  qu'on  les  regarde.  1  2,  2 

Qui  puissent  d'vn  Sgauant  faire  vn  homm0  de  bien.  1  2,  2 


And  so  on,  shewing  that  in  the  year  1651,  when  this  was  published, 
there  was  no  proper  determinate  stress  on  any  French  words.  From 
this  to  the  xivth  century  is  a  great  leap,  but  the  very  fact  that 
Chaucer  employs  his  French  words  in  the  same  way,  leads  us  to 
infer  that  he  was  accustomed  to  the  same  practice  in  his  French 
originals,  thus : 

Trouthe  and  honour,  freedom  and  curtesie.  46 

And  evere  honoured  for  his  worthinesse.  50 

Sche  was  so  charitable  and  so  pitous.  143 

They  fillen  gruf  and  criden  pitously.  951 

Tathenes,  for  to  dwellen  in  prisoun.  1025 

Cure  prisoun  for  it  may  non  othir  be.  1087 

Fairest  of  faire,  o  lady  min  Venus.  2223 

And  ye  be  Venus,  the  goddess  of  love.  2251 

1  If  the  text  be  correct  we  find  precisely  similar  cases  in  Chaucer — 
Ful  wel  sche  sang  the  service  devyne.  122 

That  often  hadde  been  att<?  parvys.  312 

As  seyde  himself  more  than  a  curat.  219 


332  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

It  is  needless  to  heap  up  examples  as  the  fact  is  well  known.  It 
is  dwelled  upon  by  Mr.  Skeat,1  but  although  he  names  the  equable 
French  pronunciation,  he  seems  to  think  the  final  stress  in  English 
words  to  be  due  to  the  French  and  the  change  of  accent  to  be  en- 
tirely English.  It  is  more  probable  that  the  words  were  always 
pronounced  with  an  equable  stress,  which  allowed  of  their  appearing 
in  either  position,  and  this  was  altogether  French. 

There  is  at  least  one  English  termination  which  could  be  placed 
either  in  an  odd  or  even  place,  namely  -ynge,  thus  in 
Syngynge  he  was  wcflowtynge  al  the  day.  91 

-ynge  occurs  both  in  an  even  and  odd  place.  This  termination,  as  a 
true  participial  form,  is  difficult  to  derive  from  Anglosaxon,  where 
the  termination  was  ~ende,  -inde.  In  the  Romaunt  of  the  Rose  we 
have  -ande  in  an  even  place — 

Poyntis  and  sleeves  be  welle  sittande 

Right  and  streght  on  the  hande.  6*69 

They  shal  hir  telle  hou  they  thee  fande 

Curteis  and  wys,  and  welle  doande  6*8 3 

And  in  the  Canterbury  Tales, 

Touchand  the  cherl,  they  sayd  that  subtilte     7872 
But  it  occurs  in  an  odd  place  apparently  in — 

The  God  of  Lone  delyverly 

Come  lepande  to  me  hastily.  6-59 

and  in  the  Canterbury  Tales, 

Ther  is  ful  many  an  eyghe  and  many  an  eere 
Awaytand  on  a  lord,  and  he  not  where.          7635 
His  meyne,  which  that  herd  of  this  affray, 
Com  lepand  in,  and  chased  out  the  frere.         7738 

and  by  the  analogy  of  all  Germanic  inflexional  syllables  it  ought  to 
be  unaccented.2 

As  a  verbal  noun  the  -ynge  came  directly  from  Anglosaxon,  and 
it  occurs  in  an  even  place  so  early  as  Genesis  and  Exodus, 
pride  and  giscinge  of  louerd-hed.        v.  832 

Chaucer  therefore  apparently  took  the  liberty  of  placing  French 
words,  foreign  names,  and  English  words  with  heavy  terminations, 
as  -ynge,  -nesse,  and  some  others,3  in  any  part  of  his  line  which 

1  In  the  additions  to  Tyrwhitt's  pre-  The  change  of  form  of  the  present  par- 
liminary  Essay,  Mr.  Morris's  edition  of  ticiple  is  carefully  noted  in  Koch,  His- 
Chaucer,  vol.  1,   172-196.     Bell  and  torische    Grammatik    der    Englischen 
Daldy,  London,  1866.     See  the  list  of  Sprache,  vol.  1,  p.  342,  to  which  I  am 
words  given    by  Prof.    Child  in    his  indebted    for    the    references    to    the 
Essay,  reproduced  in  the  next  section,  Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  the  text  of  which 
art.   99.     Prof.  Child  cites   as  "Ex-  however,  is  unfortunately  very  doubt- 
amples  of  the  French  accent,"  which  ful  (p.  252).    The  form  -ende  is  very 
he  evidently  regards  as  lying  on  the  common  in  Gower,   and  is  generally 
last  syllable—  accented.     See  Prof.  Child's  observa- 
ther  was  discord',  rancour',  ne  hevy-  tions  in  the  next  section,  art.  64. 

nes'se.         8308  3  Prof.  Child  loc.  cit.  art.  99,  also 

glori  and  honour',  regn'e,  tresor'  and  notices  felaw'e  2550,  &c.,  fel'aw  650, 

rent(e)       15697  melle're   mylle're    544,   3167;   mel'er 

2  Mr.  Skeat  accents  it  (ih.  p.  185).  3923,  &c.,  yeman'  6962,  ye'man  101. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E    FINAL  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  333 

suited  his  convenience,  most  "probably  pronouncing  them  with  an 
even  stress  on  each  syllable,  which  in  process  of  time  became  trans- 
formed into  a  double  method  of  accentuating.  For  English  words 
generally  the  usual  Germanic  rule  of  the  stress  on  the  radical  syl- 
lable apparently  prevailed. 

Chaucer's  verse  seems  to  consist  generally  of  Jive  measures,  with 
or  without  a  final  unaccented  syllable,  forming  a  " feminine  rhyme," 
added  at  the  pleasure  of  the  poet.  There  is  no  trace  of  the  strict 
alternation  of  couplets  with  masculine  and  feminine  rhymes  which 
distinguishes  French  verse  of  the  classical  period.  Each  measure 
properly  consisted  of  two  syllables,  with  more  or  less  stress  on  the 
last,  but  each  syllable  might  also  have  nearly  the  same  stress.  In 
the  first  measure  the  chief  stress  was  often  on  the  first  syllable,  as 

Bright  was  the  day  and  bliew  the  firmament     10093 

Mr.  Skeat  has  pointed  out  (ib.  174)  that  the  first  measure  might 
consist  of  a  single  syllable,  which  then  ought  to  have  a  certain 
stress,  or  at  least  be  followed  by  a  decidedly  unaccented  syllable,  as 
May  with  all  thyn  flour es  and  thy  greene.     1512 
Ther  by  aventure  this  Palamoun.  1518 

Now  it  schyneth,  now  it  reyneth  faste.  1537 

His  example 

I  make  pleynly  my  confessioun, 

That  I  am  the  woful  Palamoun.  1737 

can  scarcely  be  correct,  as  such  a  reading  would  be  quite  destruc- 
tive of  the  sense,  for  that,  am,  must  be  without  stress,  and  /must 
have  the  stress.  The  line  is  therefore  corrupt.  Tyrwhitt  reads 
thilke  for  the,  another  mode  of  correction  would  be 

That  I  am  he,  the  woful  Palamoun, 

That  hath  thy  prisoun  broke  wikkedly. 

Probably  Mr.  Skeat  is  right  in  admitting  a  monosyllabic  first 
measure,  but  it  should  not  be  accepted  in  any  particular  case, 
unless  the  single  syllable  it  contains  has  a  decided  stress.1 

In  the  modern  verse  of  five  measures,  there  must  be  a  principal 
stress  on  the  last  syllable 

of  the  second  and  fourth  measures 
or  of  the  first  and  fourth  measures 
or  of  the  third  and  some  other  measure. 

1  The  first  line  of  the  Canterbury  The  Harleian  7333  has  [swoote 

Tales  seems  to  belong  to  this  category.  "Whanne  J?*  Aperyll  w*  his  shoures 

The  Harleian  7334  reads  [swoote  where  whanne  is  an  Anglosaxon  form. 

Whan  that  aprille  with  his  schowres  Caxton's  first  edition  reads            [sote. 

where  the  italicised  e  has  no  authority,  man  that  APPri11  ^   Ms  shouris 

compare  Averil  6128,  but  is  also  found  And  Pynson's  edition  1493,  has     [sote 

in  the   Corpus    MS.    Oxford.       The  "Whan  that  Aprille  with  his  shoures 

Hengwit  MS.  reads—                  [soote  Marking  the  monosyllabic  first  measure 

Whan  that  Aueryll  nth  his  shoures  *    j  wouldiead               [swote 

The  Harlexan  1758  reads—  faan  that  A    u  with  his  schoures 

Whan  that  Aprill.  w*  his  schoures  swote 

The  Lansdowne  851  has               [soote  Similarl7 

Whan   j>at  April  wyj?e  his  schoures  Al  bysmoterud  with  his  haburgeon.  77 


334  E   FINAL  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

There  is  also  generally  a  stress  upon  the  last  syllable  of  the  fifth 
measure,  but  if  any  one  of  the  three  conditions  above  stated  are 
satisfied,  the  verse,  so  far  as  stress  is  concerned,  is  complete,  no 
matter  what  other  syllables  have  a  greater  or  less  stress  or  length.1 
It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  there  are  commonly  or  regularly, 
five  stresses,  one  to  each  measure.2 

This  rule  of  stress  is  necessarily  not  so  strictly  carried  out  in 
Chaucer,  who  was  provided  with  a  number  of  words  having  even 
syllabic  stress.  Eut  on  examination  it  will  be  found  to  hold  toler- 
ably well.  There  are  however  many  lines  in  which  so  many  syl- 
lables come  together,  with  little  or  no  stress,  that  unless  they  are 
read  somewhat  sylldbically  rather  than  by  measures,  or  stress,  we 
fail  to  feel  their  rhythm.  Thus 

That  every  of  you  schal  go  wher  him  lest.  1850 

may  be  accented  on  the  italicised  syllables,  (first  and  fourth  mea- 
sures), in  which  case  of  you  schal  go  would  be  passed  over  lightly,  or 
else  the  whole  line  may  be  read  with  an  even  stress  like  a  Trench 
verse,  and  this  seems  the  more  probably  correct  method. 

Any  measure  may  occasionally  consist  of  three  syllables,  but  in 
this  case  the  two  first  are  always  very  light.  In 

"Wyd  was  his  iparisch,  and  houses  fer  asondur.       493 
Biforn  me  sorwful  wrecched  creature.  1108 

the  third  italicised  measure  has  three  syllables.  In  such  cases  it 
will  be  generally  found  that  the  first  syllable  is  merely  an  in- 
flexional or  derivative  e,  en,  er. 

It  is  not  usual  in  modern  verse  to  have  two  trissyllabic  measures 
in  the  same  line,  or  if  they  do  so  occur  they  must  be  widely  sepa- 
rated.    It  is  also  not  customary  in  modern  verse,  but  it  is  not  un- 
frequent  in  Chaucer,  to  give  three  syllables  to  the  fifth  measure,  as 
Than  with  an  angry  woman  doun  in  a  hous.       6361 
As  wel  over  hir  housbond  as  over  his  love.          6621 

I 

1  The  length  of  syllables  has  much  lines  of  Lord  Byron's  Corsair,  marking 
to  do  with  the  force  and  character  of  the  even  measures  hy  italics  and  the 
a  verse,  hut  does  not  form  part  of  its  relative  amount  of  stress  by  0,  1,  2, 
rhythmical  laws.  we  have — 

3  Take  for  example  the    first    six 

10120002        la 
O'er  the  glad  waters  of  the  dark  blue  sea 

i  i        02000202 

Our  thoughts  as  boundless,  and  our  souls  as  free, 

200  1020102 

Far  as  the  breeze  can  hear,  the  billows  foam, 

010200020        2 
Survey  our  empire,  and  behold  our  home ! 

200        i        21000        2 
These  are   our  realms,  no  limits  to  their  sway — 

1202011202 

Our  flag  the  sceptre  all  who  meet  obey. 

The  distribution  of  stress  is  seen  to  and  others  might  think  that  it  would 
he  very  varied,  hut  the  action  of  the  he  sufficient  to  mark  stress  and  no 
rules  given  in  the  text  is  well  marked.  stress.  The  last  line  most  nearly  ap- 
Different  readers  would  probably  differ  proaches  to  having  five  principal 
as  to  the  ra  ios  1  and  2,  in  some  lines,  stresses. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E    FINAL  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  335 

If  gentiles  were  plaunted  naturelly.  6716 

For  vileyn  synful  deedes  maketh  a  cherl.  6740 

That  will  nought  be  governed  after  her  wyves.1      6844 

Besides  the  stress,  the  caesura  plays  an  important  part  in  modern 
verse.  This  consists  in  terminating  a  word,  at  the  end  of  the 
second  measure  or  in  the  middle  of  the  third,  or  else  more  rarely  at 
the  end  of  the  third  or  middle  of  the  fourth  measure.  Words 
forming  a  logical  whole  must  in  this  case  be  considered  as  parts 
of  the  same  word.  Thus  Chaucer's 

That  slepen  al  the  night — with  open  yhe.  1 0 

(where  the  even  measures  are  italicised)  has  the  caesura  (marked  by 
a  dash)  after  night,  the  end  of  the  third  measure,  not  at  al,  or  the, 
because  al  the  night  has  the  effect  of  a  single  word. 

If  we  now  read  Chaucer's  lines  with  the  pronunciation  obtained 
in  our  previous  investigations,  we  shall  find  it  very  difficult  to  say 
in  general  where  the  final  e,  when  written,  may  not  be  sounded.2 
But  the  principle  of  economy  would  lead  us  to  avoid  the  use  of 
trissyllabic  measures  where  they  are  not  agreeable,  or  where  they 
would  be  too  frequent. 

Final  e  arises  in  Chaucer 3  from  nearly  the  same  sources  as  in 
German : 

1)  as  a  substitute  from  some  original  final  vowel — essential  E 

2)  as  a  mark  of  plural,  oblique  case,  or  definite  adjective — inflec- 
tional, oblique,  definite  E 

3)  as  a  mark  of  adverbs — adverbial  E 

4)  as  a  mark  of  the  infinitive  mood  and  gerund,  past  tense  of 
weak  verbs,  and  imperative  mood — verbal  E 

5)  as  a  representative  of  the  French  final  e — French  E. 

1  The  trissyllahic  measures  in  6621      precisely  the  same  rhythm  in  a  line  in 
are  avoided  by  reading  o'er  for  over,      Goethe's  Tasso,  act  1 : 

as  in  modern  times,  and  in  6740  by  ein  neu  Hesperien 

reading  matfth.  Uns  dustend  bildew,  erkennst    du    sie 

nicht  alle 

2  "It  is  difficult  to  point  out  in-  FUr holde Friichte  einer  wahrenLiebe? 
stances  where  the  -e  final  is  not  sounded  (ain  noy  Hespee-rim 
but  it  appears  to  be  silent  in  dore  2424,  Una  dustend  bild-m,   erkenst-  du  zii 
feste  885,  regne  879,  and  beste  1328."  ni&ht  al'<? 

Skeat,  ibid.  p.  183.  The  reference  Fyr  nold-e  fry&ht-e  ain-er  bhaa-rm 
numbers  have  been  adapted.  Now  on  lirbe  ?) 

examining  these  lines —  In  fa°t  when  the  caesura  occurs  in  this 

„ ».  ..„,  d. ,»,,  [£i:;srL;.i*M — £«• 

where  it  is  formed  without  a  final  e.  four  instanceg  Jected  by  Mr    ^ 

And  of  the  feste  that  was  at  hire  wed-  from  the  whole  of  the  Knightes  Tale, 

dynge.     885  come  to  nothing. 
Ther  as  a  beste  may  al  his  lust  fulfille. 

1320  3  Prof.  Child's  minute  examination 

have  trisyllabic  third  measures,  which  of  the  final  E's  in  Chaucer,  is  given  in 

have  never  a  bad  effect,  indeed  we  have  the  next  section. 


336  E    FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

The  use  of  the  final  e  seems  to  have  been  more  regular  in  poetry 
than  prose,  to  judge  by  the  prose  tales  in  this  manuscript,  but  this 
may  be  erroneous ;  the  reason  may  only  be  that  the  scribe,  to  whom 
many  of  the  uses  of  e  final  had  become  obsolete,  had  no  guide,  when 
writing  prose,  to  correct  his  more  modern  spelling,  or,  as  is  more 
likely  still,  at  once  used  the  orthography  corresponding  to  his  more 
recent  pronunciation. 

The  question  now  arises,  was  final  e  ever  added  on  by  the  poet  for 
the  sake  of  metre  or  rhyme,  as  Goethe  apparently  added  on  e  in 
Glucke  as  shewn  above  (p.  323)  ?  It  is  possible,  but  not  probable, 
as  it  would  have  been  instantly  detected  as  a  weakness,  unless  it 
could  be  justified  as  an  archaism,  like  Goethe's,  or  a  colloquialism, 
as  when  zweie,  dreie,  is  said  in  German.1  But  the  scribe  certainly 
not  unfrequently  added  on  an  e  when  it  was  not  required,  shewing 
that  the  value  and  meaning  of  the  final  e  was  disappearing  in  his 
time.  Mr.  Skeat  calls  this  "orthoepic"  and  considers  that  it  has 
"  solely  to  do  with  the  length  of  the  preceding  vowel"  (Ibid.  p. 
189).  I  am  more  inclined  to  consider  it  "  ignorant,"  and  as  point- 
ing out  a  later  date  for  the  writing  of  the  MS.  See  the  observations 
on  the  Lansdowne  MS.  851,  supra  p.  320,  note.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  suppose  that  the  writer  of  that  MS.  added  on  an  e  in : 
wy)>e,  ha]?e,  suche,  whiche, — examples  which  occur  in  the  first  four 
lines, — to  shew  the  lengthening  of  a  vowel  which  was  not  lengthened. 

The  following  examination  of  words  with  final  E  in  the  first  100 
lines  of  the  Canterbury  Tales  will  give  a  clearer  notion  of  their 
origin  and  use.  To  each  word  is  added  the  number  of  the  line,  with 
an  accent  after  it  when  the  word  is  final.  From  the  metre  alone  it 
is  of  course  generally  impossible  to  determine  whether  the  final  E 
at  the  end  of  a  line  is  to  be  pronounced.  Therefore  we  may,  for 
the  moment,  reject  all  such  from  consideration.  When  an  apos- 
trophe is  substituted  for  a  final  E,  it  shews  that  the  e  is  written, 
but  not  pronounced,  and  is  followed  by  a  vowel  or  enclitic  beginning 
with  h.  A  double  apostrophe  shews  that  the  e  was  written,  but 
should  apparently  be  omitted  for  the  sake  of  the  metre.  When  the 
word  is  in  italics,  it  is  essential  to  the  metre  in  the  middle  of  a 
verse.  Prof.  Child's  remarks  in  the  next  section  should  be  con- 
sulted by  means  of  the  list  of  Forms  of  Words  in  Chaucer  and  Gower 
referred  to  in  Prof.  Child's  memoirs  there  appended. 

1.  Superfluous  final  E,  that  is,  a  final  E  not  required  by  grammar 
or  by  Anglosaxon  usage.  Aprille  1,  vertu'  4,  n;/n'  24,  wey'  34, 
all'  38,  fiftene  61',  hethen'  66,  mek'  69.  Here  Aprille  1,  is  really 
not  essential  to  the  metre,  if  we  allow  of  a  monosyllabic  first  mea- 
sure. Nyne  24,  andjiftene  61',  may  have  assumed  the  e  as  numerals, 
\5,  art.  39.  Weye  34,  is  written  wegge  in  Orrmin,  so  that  the  e 
was  no  more  an  addition  of  Chaucer's  than  the  e  of  Glilch  was  an 
addition  of  Goethe's.  The  word  occurs  frequently  without  the  e, 

See  Prof.  Child  on  the  cases  where      infra  §  5,  art.  13,  14,  16,  17,  30 ;    and 
final  e  is  found  in  Chaucer  in  words      my  footnote  on  art.  13. 
where  it  does  not  exist  in  Anglosaxon, 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E   FINAL  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  337 

and  should  be  so  written  here.  Meke  69,  frequently  requires  to 
have  a  final  e  pronounced,  but  Orrmin  writes  meoc,  mec  without 
a  final  e. 

2.  French  final  E,    veyn'  3,   melodie  9',  natur'  11,   straunge  13, 
pilgrimage  21',  78',  corage  22',  hostelrie  23',  companye  24',  aventur' 
25,  space  35',   87',  chyvalrye  45',  curtesie  46',  siege  56,  viage  77', 
statur'  83,  chivachie  85',  grace  88',  servysable  99',  table  100'. 

3.  Essential  final  E,  that  is,  already  existing  in  Anglosaxon  or 
used  as  a  substitute  for  some  other  vowel  or  syllable  in  Anglosaxon ; 
the  Anglosaxon  form  is  given  immediately  after  the  word :  swoote 
swete  1',  swete  swete  5,  sonne  sonna  7',  ende  ende  15',  her"  hira  32, 
tym'  tima  35,  tale  talu  36,  inne  innan  41',  trouth'  treow^e  46,  werre 
werre  47',  ferre  feorra  48',  mayde  mseden  69',  son'  sunu  79,  hop" 
hopa  88,  mede,  medu  89',  goun"  (old  friesic  gone)  93,  nightingale 
nihtegale  98'.     In  here  =  their  32,  the  e  seems  to  have  been  scarcely 
ever  pronounced.     Though  hope  88  may  have  been  merely  (soop), 
the  e  may  have  been  sounded  (noop'e)  producing  a  trissyllabic  second 
measure 

In  hope  to  stonden  in  his  lady  grace.  88 

In  goune  there  is  no  Anglosaxon  authority,  the  e  was  not  required 
and  perhaps  not  pronounced. 

4.  Verbal  final  E,  that  is  a  final  E  which  arises  from  the  inflec- 
tions of  the  verb:    they  wende  16',  to  seeke   17',  wer"  thei  26, 
wolden  ryde  27',  hadd'  I  31',   made  38,  to  aryse  33',  I  yow  devyse 
34',  I  pace  36',  to  telle  38,  wol  I  begynne  42',  he  lovede  45,  it  was 
wonne  51',  he  hadd"  the  bord  bygonne  52',  hadd'  he  be  56,  he 
sayde  70',  he  wente  78,  I  gesse  82',  syngyng',  flowtyng'  91,  wel 
cowd'   he  sitt',    ride  94',  cowde  mak',    endite  95',  justn',  daunc', 
write  96',  he  lovede  97.      Were  26,  hadde  56,  were  frequently,  or 
generally  monosyllabic ;  portray  96  should  be  portraye,  but  the  e 
would  be  elided ;  lovede  45,  97  had  the  first  e  elided  lov'de  (luvde), 
and  similarly  frequently. 

5.  Oblique  final  E,  that  is,  e  added  to  form  a  case  or  plural  of 
substantives :  to  the  roote  2',  in  every  holt'  6,  in  felaschip'  26,  32, 
atte  beste  29',  to  reste  30',   of  ech'  39,  in  hethenesse  49',  for  his 
worthinesse  50',  in  presse  81',  of  lengthe  83',  of  strengthe  84',  by 
nightertale  97'. 

6.  Adjectival  final  E,  that  is,  an  e  added  to  form  the  plural  or 
feminine  of  adjectives,  or  to  make  adjectives  definite :  the  yonge 
sonne  7',  his  halfe  cours  8,   smale  fowles  9,  feme  halwes  kouthe'  14, 
whan  that  they  wer"  seeke  18,  thei  alle  26',  weren  weyde  28',  our" 
34,  ful  ofte  tyme  52,  alle  naciouns  53,  the  grete  see  59  ;  this  tike  64, 
lokkescrull'  81,  evene  lengthe  83,  fresshe  floures  white  and  reede  90', 
sleeves  wyde  93'.    Ofte  52  seems  here  used  as  an  adjective,  for  manye. 
In  oure  34  the  e  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ever  pronounced. 

7.  Adverbial  final  E,  used  to  form  the  adverb  :    off  55,  evere* 
mor'  67,  late  77. 

8.  Contracted  article,  atte  beste  =  at  the  beste,  29',  56. 

22 


338  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  if  we  omit  the  consideration  of  final  e  at  the 
end  of  a  line,  and  allow  final  e  to  be  elided  before  a  subsequent 
vowel,  we  have  only  23  cases  in  the  first  100  lines  in  which  the 
final  e  was  essential  to  the  metre.  These  are  distributed  as  follows : 

1.  Superfluous  final  E  (doubtful) 1 

2.  French  final  E 2 

3.  Essential  final  E 3 

4.  Verlal  final  E 6 

5.  OUique  final  E 0 

6.  Adjectival  final  E 10 

7.  Adverbial  final  E  -     -     -------     l 

—23 

Shewing  that  the  verbal  and  adjectival  final  E's  were  the  most 
important.  When  the  final  E  was  so  seldom  required  to  satisfy 
the  ear  of  a  scribe  who  had  ceased  to  use  it  in  speech,  we  must  not 
be  surprised  if  he  often  treated  it  as  an  ornament  to  be  added  or 
omitted  at  pleasure.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  all  the 
later  manuscripts. 

Now  turning  from  verse,  let  us  examine  the  use  of  the  final  e  in 
prose,  as  in  the  Tale  of  Melibeus.     Here  we  do  not  find  by  any 
means  so  many  e's,  or  such  regularity  in  their  use.     I  refer  to  the 
words  by  the  number  of  the  paragraph  containing  them,  and  give 
two  or  three  words  together  to  facilitate  reference,  italicising  the 
word  under  consideration, 
mighty  and  riche  1  has  the  French  e. 
upon  a  day  1  for  daye. 
him  iv  play  1,  for  to  play  e. 
dores  were  fast  i-shitte  1,  pi.  part. 
olde  foos  1,  plural  adj. 
here  feet,  here,  &c.  1,  as  usual. 
nose  1,  ags.  nasu. 
rendyng  2  for  rendynge,  the  final  e  is  here  constantly  omitted,  and  it 

is  not  always  inserted  in  verse, 
gan  wepe  and  crie  2,  infinitive  e,  this  is  generally  correctly  inserted, 

but  the  gerund  e  is  often  omitted, 
as  she  dorste  2,  verbal  e. 

of  his  wepyng  to  stynte  2,  the  gerund  e  is  correct,  the  oblique  e  is 
omitted,  so  again,  of  here  wepyng  to  stinte  3  :  but,  what  man 
schulde  of  his  wepynge  stynte  4.  The  oblique  e  of  the  dative 
we  found  most  frequently  omitted  in  German,  and  it  is  clear 
that  after  a  preposition  which  shewed  the  connection  sufficiently, 
the  inflection  could  be  readily  dispensed  with. 
Remedy  of  Love  3  for  remedye.  "We  have  already  noticed  in  the 
poetry  many  cases  in  which  y  final  had  been  written  for  ye  in 
French  words.  It  is  very  possible  that  in  these  words  the  use 
of  the  final  e  rapidly  dropped  from  speech,  and  that  then  the 
words  had  final  long  («).  See  p.  283.  Love,  ags.  lufu,  has 
always  retained  its  e,  although  the  o  may  have  been  short  (u) 
in  the  xiv  th  century ;  it  is  long  in  Orrmin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E   FINAL  XIV  TH   CENTURY,  339 

of  hir  childe  3,  oblique  0,  but  childe  is  constantly  found  with  e  even 

when  not  oblique. 

hir  file  3,  this  seems  a  superfluous  0,  ags.  fyll  plenitu&o. 
diligence  amyable  3,  have  the  French  termination, 
hir  houslonde  3,  ags.  husbonda,  is  regular, 
in  this  wise  3,  ags.  wise. 

youre  self  3,  usual  form,  but  e  not  pronounced, 
forsothe  3,  adv.  e,  or  else  for  sothe,  oblique  e. 
to  a  wys  man  3,   ags,  wis,  distinct  from  the  former  wise.     The 

oblique  e  is  here  omitted. 

such  sorwe  3.    Orrmin  has  serrghe,  but  there  is  no  e  in  ags.  sorg, 
sorh,  which  should  only  form  sorw,  from  sorwh  =  (sork«?h), 
compare  sorwful  4. 
ye  ne  ougJite  nought  3,  past  tense, 
youre  silf  destroy  e  3,  infinitive  e. 
The  wise  man  3,  definite  adjective,  compare  the  indefinite  a  wys 

man  above. 

his  owne  persone  3,  owne  feminine  e,  and  persone  French  e. 
answerde  anoon  and  sayde  4,  past  tenses. 

And  whan  thou  hast  for-gon  thy  frend,  do  diligence  to  gete  another 
frende,  and  this  is  more  wisedom  than  to  wepe  for  thy  frend, 
which  thou  hast  lorn,  for  therein  is  no  loote  4.  The  spelling  of 
frend  is  very  careless,  the  first  time  it  is  right,  the  two  following 
times  it  is  reversed,  frende  frend  for  frend  frende.  To  gete,  to 
wepe  are  gerunds.  Wisedom  is  an  error  for  wisdom.  Boote,  old 
norse  lyti. 

out  of  youre  hert  .  .  .  glad  in  herte  4,  ags.  heorte,  hence  the  first 
spelling  is  incorrect.  Orrmin  has  heorrte,  herrte ;  hert  would  be 
a  stag.  It  is  singular  that  heart,  hart  are  now  distinguished  by 
an  e,  but  the  e  is  put  in  the  wrong  part  of  the  word.  In  German 
herz  is  a  contracted  form,  and  herze  is  occasionally  used  in  poetry, 
o.h.g.  herza,  goth.  hairto  (ner'too). 

It  is  not  necessary  to  continue  this  examination.  Sufficient  has 
been  adduced  to  shew  that  the  system  of  final  e  is  the  same  in  prose 
as  in  verse,  so  that  it  has  not  been  invented  by  the  poet  or  hie  scribe 
to  patch  up  a  line  where  necessary.  If  an  editor  of  Chaucer  would 
carefully  examine  all  the  final  *'s,  restoring  all  those  grammatically 
necessary,  and  ruthlessly  omitting,  or  at  least  typographically  in- 
dicating, all  those  which  neither  grammar  nor  derivation  allow, 
when  they  were  not  necessary  for  the  metre  or  rhyme,  and  then 
submit  the  others  to  a  careful  consideration,  he  would  do  the  study 
of  English  great  service.  The  elaborate  researches  of  Prof.  Child, 
described  in  the  next  section,  have  smoothed  the  way  for  such  an 
edition,  and  in  Chapter  YII  I  have  endeavoured  to  carry  out  this 
suggestion  for  the  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales,  in  a  method 
there  explained,  and  in  an  orthography  which  the  present  examina- 
tion has  suggested.  The  careful  examination  of  every  verse  thus 
rendered  necessary  has  resulted  in  convincing  me  that  Chaucer  and 
Goethe  used  the  final  e  in  precisely  the  same  way,  with  the  solitary 
exception  of  the  consistent  elision  of  e  before  a  vowel  and  silent  h. 


340  E   FINAL  —  XIV  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  IV.  §  4. 

This  conclusion  is  in  harmony  with  the  historical  position  of 
Chaucer.  He  was  not  the  first  or  the  only  writer  of  smooth  verses 
in  English.  Orrmin's  are  as  regular  as  any  written  at  the  present 
day,  and  he  treated  his  final  e  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as 
Chaucer,  making  the  same  elisions.  We  shall  find  the  same  prin- 
ciple marked  in  the  other  versifiers  of  the  XTTT  th  century.  Gower, 
Chaucer's  contemporary,  carries  out  the  use  of  the  final  e  even  to  a 
greater  extent  than  Chaucer.  As  Gower  wrote  also  in  French,  this 
greater  regularity  may  be  attributed  to  French  influence,  but  we 
must  remember  that  the  French  final  e  at  that  time  must  have  been 
regularly  and  distinctly  pronounced  in  common  conversation  as  well 
as  in  verse,  or  it  would  not  have  formed  a  part  of  Meigret's  phonetic 
prose  in  the  middle  of  the  xvi  th  century. 

Although  Chaucer,  by  the  mere  force  of  his  genius,  became  the 
apparent  founder  of  our  English  poetry, — few  ever  thinking  of  the 
equally  smooth  but  insufferably  tedious  Gower, — he  was  in  fact  the 
last,  not  the  first  of  a  period.  The  wave  of  civil  war  passed  over 
the  country  after  his  death,  and  when  poetry  again  rose  under 
Spenser,  the  language  was  altered  in  idiom  and  in  sound,  and 
Chaucer  could  only  be  'translated,'1  not  imitated.  A  new  versi- 
fication suited  to  the  new  form  of  language  rose  to  majesty  in 
Spenser,  Shakspere,  Milton.  Hence  we  must  not  look  upon 
Chaucer  as  an  innovator,  and  the  justification  of  his  final  e  must 
not  be  sought  for  in  an  imitation  of  the  French,  but  in  the  custom 
of  all  the  versifiers  which  preceded  and  accompanied  him. 

Acting  upon  this  feeling  I  have  examined  what  would  be  the 
result  of  this  theory  upon  the  pronunciation  of  Chaucer's  lines,  and 
the  mode  in  which  I  have  printed  the  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury 
Tales  in  Chap.  VII,  having  given  great  facilities  for  performing 
the  calculation,  I  have  drawn  up  the  following  table.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  text  in  Chap.  VII  does  not  precisely  accord 
with  any  manuscript,  a  few  simple  alterations  having  been  made  where 
the  metre  seemed  to  require  it,  but  the  general  results  will  not  be 
at  all  affected  by  these  changes.  The  enumeration  is  by  no  means 
easy  to  make,  as  different  opinions  may  be  entertained  of  the  cate- 
gories under  which  elisions  or  retentions  should  be  classed,  and  it 
is  not  possible  to  check  it  without  taking  far  more  trouble  than  the 
results  deserve.  In  the  present  case  the  enumeration  has  been  made 
twice,  at  considerable  intervals,  and  the  text  was  corrected  between 
the  two  enumerations.  The  results  differed,  but  not  in  any  way  to 
affect  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  them.  The  seeond  series  of 
numbers  are  here  given  because  they  refer  to  the  text  as  it  stands,  but 
I  would  by  no  means  guarantee  their  absolute  correctness,  although 
they  were  obtained  with  care. 

1  Dryden's  and  Pope's  f  translations'  Bottome,  blesse  thee;  thou  are  trans- 
of  Chaucer,  remind  one  irresistibly  of  lated." — Mid.  N.  Dream,  act  3,  sc.  1, 
Quince's  exclamation:  'Blesse  thee  speech  41. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  4.  E   FINAL XIV  TH   CENTURY.  341 

Final  E  was  pronounced —  Times. 

Before  a  vowel,  doubtful :  th'oldtf  Esculapius  429  -  1 

Before  a  consonant       -  -     238 

At  the  end  of  a  line,  that  is,  it  is  consonant  with  strictly 
preserving  the  grammatical  inflection,  and  the  essen- 
tial final  E,  with  the  rhyme,  and  with  the  cases  last 
numbered,  to  suppose  that  it  was  pronounced  in  this 
position  -  -  420 

Final  ES  was  pronounced— 

In  the  middle  of  a  line  -       87 

At  the  end  of  a  line    -  -  -       37 

Final  E  was  elided — 

Before  a  following  vowel,  always,  with  only  one  doubt- 
ful exception,  v.  429       -  -     315 
Before  he  92,  his  22,  him  13,  hir'  6,  her'  4,  hem  1,  hadde 
7,  have  1,  how  1,  with  one  doubtful  exception  before 
he  :  that  on  his  schyne  a  mormal  hadde  he  388,  and 
none  for  the  other  words,  except  hadde,  how,  have, 
which  have  not  been  noted,  total     -                            -     147 
Final  ES  was  treated  as  simple  S — 

In  the  middle  of  a  line         -  18 

Final  E  was  regularly  elided — 

In  hadd*  (with  12  exceptions:  v.  253,  286,  310,  373, 
379,  386,  447,  464,  554,  677,  700,  760,  as  num- 
bered in  Chap.  VII,  where  the  numbers  sometimes 
differ  by  2  from  Wright's)  -  -18 

In  hir*   =  her,  without  exception        -  25 

her1  =  their,  without  exception      -  12 

wer'  =  were,  one  exception  noted:  woo  was  his  cook, 

but  if  his  sauce  were  351    -  14 

our*  =  our,  without  exception        -  19 

your>=  your,  without  exception      -  5 

Final  E  was  arbitrarily  elided — 

as  in  modern  German  poetry,  for  the  sake  adding  force  to 
the  expression,  for  the  metre  or  for  the  rhyme,  either 
at  the  end  of  a  line  or  before  a  consonant—- 
when the  mark  of  the  oblique  case  &7 
when  the  mark  of  verbal  inflexion        -  17 
when  essential,  or  representing  a  final  vowel  in  an 

anterior  stage  of  the  language  -         -       13 

Final  E  was  arbitrarily  added — 

for  the  sake  of  rhyme  or  metre,  in  no  case  noted. 
These  enumerations  enable  us  to  lay  down  the  following  rules  for 
the  pronunciation  of  final  E,  which  would  have  to  be  verified  by  a 
wider  field  of  research,  and  as  they  agree  essentially  with  the 
results  of  Prof.  Child's  more  elaborate  examination, — see  the  next 
section,  arts.  74  to  92, — they  probably  represent  the  practice  of 
the  court  dialect  in  the  xrv  th  century  as  nearly  as  we  can  hope  to 
attain.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  e  final  had  been  long 
much  neglected  in  the  Northern  dialect. 


342 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  $  5. 


Final  unaccented  e,  when  essential  or  inflectional  was  re- 
gularly pronounced,  except  in  the  following  cases  : 

1.  It  was  regularly  elided  before  a  following  vowel. 

2.  It  was  regularly  elided  before  a  following  he,  his,  him, 

hir9,  her',  hem,  and  occasionally  before  hadde,  have, 
how,  to  which  Prof.  Child  adds  hath  and  her  =  here. 

3.  In  the  following  words,  e  though  generally  written  was 

never  sounded,  hir9  =  her,  hir9  =  their,  our9  =  our, 
your9  =  your. 

4.  Final  e  was  frequently  not  sounded  in  hadd,  wer9,  tim, 

mor9 

5.  Occasionally,  but  rarely  in  comparison  to  the  other 

cases  of  elision,  essential  or  inflectional  final  e  was 
elided  to  render  the  expression  terser,  or  to  assist  the 
metre  or  rhyme,  precisely  as  in  modern  German 
poetry,  but  not  so  frequently  as  in  German.  The 
oblique  e  and  essential  e  were  most  frequently  dropped, 
as  is  also  the  case  in  German ;  the  e  of  verbal  inflec- 
tion was  seldom  omitted. 

By  the  elision  of  final  e  is  meant  its  absolute  suppression 
as  in  German,  Greek,  and  French,  not  its  rapid  or  slurred 
utterance  as  in  Italian  and  Spanish.  But  there  may  be 
many  cases  of  the  fifth  exception  in  which  the  elision  may  be 
saved  by  introducing  a  trissyllabic  measure,  without  material 
harshness,  and  it  must  remain  an  undecided  question  whether 
Chaucer  would  or  would  not  have  elided  the  vowel  in  such 
cases.  Judging  from  the  practice  in  German,  the  elision 
seems  most  probable.  For  the  effect  of  the  action  of  these 
rules  in  declaiming  Chaucer  and  Gower,  reference  must  be 
made  to  the  examples  in  Chap.  VII; 


§  5.     Professor  F.  J.  Child9 s  Observations  on  the  Language 
of  Chaucer  and  Gower. 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy,  New  Series, 
Yol.  viii,  pp.  445-502,  3  June  1862,  and  Yol.  ix.  pp.  265- 
314,  9  January  1866  (subsequently  revised  so  that  it  may 
be  considered  as  dating  from  Nov.  1867),  Professor  Francis 
James  Child,  of  Harvard  College,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
U.S.,  has  given  the  results  of  an  elaborate  and  searching 
examination  into  the  language  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury 
Tales  as  exhibited  in  "Wright's  edition  of  the  Harl.  MS. 
7334,  and  Gower's  Confessio  Amantis  as  edited,  from  no  one 
manuscript  in  particular,  and  with  an  arbitrary  system  of 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  343 

spelling  justified  by  no  single  manuscript,  by  Dr.  Reinhold 
Pauli.1  As  a  large  portion  of  these  investigations  tend  to- 
wards the  discovery  of  the  number  of  syllables  in  words,  by 
determining  when  the  final  e  was  or  was  not  pronounced,  or 
should  or  should  not  be  written,  the  present  work  would  be 
incomplete  without  a  full  account  of  them,  more  especially 
as  the  memoirs  themselves  are  not  readily  accessible.2 

NOUNS. 

Art.  1.  Nouns  which  in  Anglosaxon  end  in  a  vowel  terminate  in 
Chaucer  and  Gower  uniformly  in  e.3 

2.*4  First  declension  of  Anglosaxon  nouns.  Neuters.  (I.  1.  Rask.)5 
Ex.  Chaucer — eere,  yhe,  ye.     Gower — ere,  eye,  eie. 

1  Supra  p.  256,  note  1.  quently  omitted  altogether.   The  words 

2  In  the  Memoir    on   Gower,    for  of  the  author  have  generally  been  re- 
§§  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  tained.     This  re-arrangement  is  made 
as  printed,  read  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  with  the  kind  permission  of  Prof.  Child. 
28,  29,  30  respectively,  as  pointed  out  s  In  Prof.  Child's  papers  e  means 
in  the  corrections  to  that  paper.     The  an  e  pronounced,  e  an  e  elided,  e  and  e 
corrected  numbers  only  are  used  here.  written  and  not  elided  but  not  forming 
The    memoirs    have    been     slightly  a  syllable  in  the  editions  used,  [e]  an  e 
abridged,   chiefly    by    omission,     and  added  by  himself,  (e)  an  e  which  occurs 
amalgamated.     The  long  lists  of  words  in  Wright's  edition,  but  which  he  con- 
appended  without  references  to  certain  siders  should  be  omitted.     The  grave 
articles,  are  given  at  length  in  a  com-  accent  (')  marks  the  accented  syllable, 
mon  index  at  the  end,  for  convenience  4  The  asterisk  appended  to  the  num- 
of  casual  consultation.    "When  they  do  ber  of  an  article  shews  that  the  full 
not  appear  in  this  index  references  are  references  and  explanations  of  the  ex- 
generally  appended,  but  the  whole  of  emplificative  words  are  in  given  the 
the  references  are  not  always  given,  final  table  of  Forms  of  Words  in  Chaucer 
and  those  to  Pauli's  Gower  are  fre-  and  Gower. 

5  The  following  extract  from  B.  Thorpe's  Translation  of  E.  Rask's  Grammar  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Tongue,  Copenhagen,  1830,  p.  28,  will  explain  these  references. 
"  49.  The  following  tables  will  serve  as  a  synopsis  of  all  the  regular  declensions  : 
THB  SIMPLE  ORDER,  on  IST  DECLENSION. 

1.  Neut.       2.  Masc.        3.  Fern. 
Sing.  Nom.  -e  -a  -e 

Ace.  .        ,  -e  -an  -an 

Abl.  &  Dat.       .  -an  -an  -an 

Gen.          .        .  -an  -an  -an 


Plural  Norn,  and  Ace.      .  .  -an 

Abl.  and  D.  .  .  -um 

G.  ...  -ena 

THE  COMPLEX  ORDER. 
2nd.  Declension.  3d.  Declension. 


1.  Neut.  2.  Masc.   3.  Fern.  1.  Neut.    2.  Masc.  3.  Fern. 

Sing.  Norn.               „  „  (e)  „  „  (e)  -u  -u 

Ace.  „  „  (e)  (e)  „  (e)  -u  -e 

Abl.  &  Dat.  -e  -e  -e                    -e  -a  -e 

Gen.  -es  -es  -e                   -es  -a  -e 

Plural  N.  &  A.          „  -as  -a                   -u  -a  -a 

Abl.  &  D.  -um  -um  -um                 -um  -um  -um 

Gen.                -a  -a  -a                   -a  (ena)     -a  (ena)   -ena." 


344  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

3.*  Masculines.     (I.  2.) 

Ex.  Chaucer — ape,  asse,  balke,  bane,  wone,  wright'.  Gower — ape,  asse,  here, 

bere,  bi-leeve,  bowe,  clifte,  crede,  crouke,  be-leve,  bonde-man,  bowe,  crede,  cuppe, 

cuppe,  drope,  dwale,  Hine,  feere,  foode,  drope,  dwale,  fere,  flete,  fode,  Me, 

galle,  grame,  bare,  barre,  hawe,  biwe,  galle,  gere,  grame,  bare,  berre,  bewe, 

housbonde  housebonde,  bope,  bunte,  hope  wan-bope,  huse-  (house-)bonde, 

hyne,  knave,  knotte,  kyte,  lappe,  leere,  knape  knave,  lappe,  like,  lippe,  make, 

lippe,  make,  mawe,  moone,  moutbe,  mone,  name,  necke,  onde,  oxe,  pese, 

name,  nekke,  oxe,  poke,  pope,  pride,  pope,  pricke,  pride,  see,  sbrewe,  snake, 

prikke,  reeve,  scbrewe,  spearwe,  stake,  sparke,  spore,  stake,  steede,  stere,  sterre, 

steede,  steere,  sterre,  stikke,  tene,  tyme,  stikke,  swere,  tene,  tbombe,  time,  wane, 

wele,  welle,  wete,  wille,  wrecche. —  wele,  welle,  wille,  wone,  wreccbe. — • 

blosme,  gere,  scboppe,  stele,  webbe,  cope,  bunte,  like,  wan[e],  wrenne. 

4.*  Feminines.      (I.  3.) 

Ex.  Chaucer — almesse,  arwe,  belle,  wise — bircb',tapstere.  Gower — almesse, 

berye,  cappe,  cheeke,  chirche,   cloote,  arwe,  belle,  blase,  cbeke,  cbirche,  crowe, 

cote,  crowe,  deepe,  dowfe,  erthe,  flye,  cmmme,   deepe,   ertbe,    harpe,    berte, 

glose,  harpe,  heepe,  heire,  berte,  bose,  hitte,  kerse,  lilie,  lunge,  masse,  mite, 

howve,  larke,  lilie,  mare,  masse,  myte,  molde,  nettle,  nigbtingale,  nonne,  oule, 

nightyngale,  oule,  panne,  pipe,  pirie,  panne,  pipe,  ressbe   rissbe  reissbe,  se 

pisse-myre,  pose,   rake,  rose,   scheete,  see,  sbete,   side,   sive,   sonne,  swalwe, 

schere,  scbire,  schyne,  side,  snare,  sonne,  throte,  tonne,    tunge,    wacche,   weke, 

swalwe,   targe,   tbrote,    tonge,    tonne,  wicche  -  craft,  wencbe,  wise.  —  lappe- 

trappe,    wake,    wencbe,    wicche-craffc,  winke,  more,  sale. 

5.*  In  the  following  the  final  e  has  been  absorbed  by  y  or  w.  In  the 
following  the  final  e  seems  to  have  been  transposed  from  after  I  (as  is 
often  the  case  after  r).  Gower1 — The  following  may  or  may  not  be 
correctly  written.  The  combination  of  a  liquid  with  e  is  unstable, 
the  vowel  easily  slipping  from  one  side  to  the  other  of  the  consonant. 

Ex.  Chaucer — play,  lady,  sty :  her-  fitbul,  ladel,  wesil,  whistel. — nevew. — 
berw  berberwb  herbergb,  widow  widw:  Gower — throstel,  nedder,  adder. 

6.*  Exceptions  to  art.  3,  4. 

Ex.  Chaucer — pith,  beech,  kers,  stot.     Gower — laverock,  to(e),  roo. 

7.*  Second  declension  of  Anglosaxon  nouns.  Masculines.  (II.  2.) 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  awe,    bale,    cheese,  mayd,  mete,  see.    Gower — bale,  breche, 

ende,  hate,  hegge,   herde,    hyve,  ire,  brimme,  chele,  chese,  ende,  hate,  berde, 

leche,   lye,   mede,  myre,  pilwe  -  beer,  ire,  leche,   love-drunke,  mede,  mele, 

reye,  skatbe,  tete,  whete — come,  mere-  mete,  snipe,  slitte,  stede,  tete,  tie,  whete. 

8.*  Exceptions  to  art.  7.  Termination  -schipe.  The  length  of  the 
words  compounded  with  this  termination  may  perhaps  account  for 
the  final  e  being  soon  dropped.  Termination  -ere  in  Saxon  nouns 
signifying  for  the  most  part  an  agent.  It  is  quite  as  likely  as  not 
that  in  544,  3167,2  the  final  e  of  mellere  was  pronounced.  Gower — 
Such  representatives  as  occur  of  the  Saxon  noun  in  -ere,  denoting 
an  agent,  seem  to  want  the  final  vowel.  ISTouns  of  this  kind  were 
by  no  means  as  common  in  the  old  language  as  in  the  modern.  I 
have  noticed  but  three  fair  cases  in  Gower.  There  are  other  in- 

1  Paragraphs  introduced  by  the  word          2  The  simple  numbers  refer  to  the 
Gower  followed  by  ( — ),  are  taken  from      lines  in  "Wright's  edition,  as  through- 
tbe  memoir  on  Gower,  the  other  being      out  this  chapter,  supra  p.  256. 
from    the   memoir    on    Chaucer,   but 
occasionally    paragraphs    are    headed 
Chaucer — for  greater  distinctness. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  345 

stances  without  the  final  e,  but  in  these  cases  the  succeeding  word 
begins  with  a  vowel,  and  it  is  supposable  that  the  e  may  have  been 
elided.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these  words  should  be  called  excep- 
tions to  art.  7 ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  the  metre  does  not  settle  the 
question  of  their  form,  inasmuch  as  clappere,  for  instance,  would 
suit  the  verse  (which  hath  no  clapper  for  to  chime,  ii  13  *),  as  well 
as  clapper ;  and  secondly,  for  few,  if  for  any  of  them,  can  we  show 
a  form  in  -ere  in  the  Saxon  dictionary. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  felawschipe',   friend-      founder,  soth(e)-saier,  speker  in,  fisher 
schipe,  lordschipe,  worschip :     carter,      in,   furtherer  of,   maker  of,   techer  of, 
hopper,  loverg,  mellere  miller,  outry-      keper  unarraied. 
dere,  sleper,  wonger.    Gower — clapper, 

9.*  Third  declension  of  Anglosaxon  nouns.     Neuters.    (III.  1.) 
Ex.  Chaucer — ale,  ancle,  mele,  spere,      riche  worlde-riche,   skille  skill,  spere, 

werre,    wyte  —  stree.      Grower  —  ale,      werre,  wile,  wite — kne,  stre,  tre — be- 

chinne,  inne,  -riche  heven-riche  kinges-      yete,  winge. 

10.*  Masculines.     (III.  2.) 

Ex.  Chaucer — lake.     Gower — sone  sone,  wode. 

11.*  Peminines.     (III.  3.) 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  breede,  care,  elde,  dore,  highte,  mayne.  Gower — answere, 

fare,  gappe,  hele,  hete,  lawe,  nave,  brede,  care,  dore,  elde,  fare,  heighte, 

nose,  sake,  sawe,  schame,  scbonde,  hele,  hete,  lawe,  leese,  lode,  love,  nase, 

schadwe  schawe,  scole,  sowe,  spade,  mitte-tre,  sake,  sawe,  schame,  shawe, 

tale,  talg  yit,  trouthe  trouthe,  ware —  scole,  spade,  tale,  trouthe. 

12.*  Exceptions.     It  will  be  noted  that  the  nouns  sone  and  love 
have  the  final  e  regularly  in  Gower,  contrary  to  the  apparent  rule 
in  Chaucer.     The  same  is  true  of  the  important  word  time,  art.  3. 
Ex.  Chaucer — sone  sone,  woode  woode  ;  answar,  love  love, 

13.  Many  nouns  which  in  Anglosaxon  end  in  a  consonant  have  in 
Chaucer  and  Gower  the  termination  e,  derived  from  an  oblique  case 
the  old  inflection.  A  few  familiar  parallel  formations  in  other 
modern  languages  may  be  mentioned.  Lot.  radix,  Ital.  radice; 
animal,  animale  ;  cupido,  cupidine ;  imago,  immagine ;  nix,  neve ; 
latro,  ladrone  ;  honor,  onore  ;  libertas,  libertate ;  voluptas,  volut- 
tate.  So  in  colloquial  Romaic,  as  compared  with  Greek : — Greek, 
Xa/^TTa?,  Romaic,  \afjb7rd8a;  'fflv,  X^va>  ^£>  VVKTO,. 

Two  forms  not  ^infrequently  occur ;  one  with,  and  the  other  with- 
out the  vowel.  By  the  dropping  of  this  vowel  in  later  English,  the 
primitive  form  is  restord.  Though  this  secondary,  transitional  form 
in  e  is  found  in  Layamon  and  the  Ormulum  (quite  frequently  with 
Feminines  of  the  second  Saxon  declension),  yet  it  is  by  no  means  so 
common  as  in  Chaucer. 

As  it  is  possible  that  some  may  think  the  forms  in  e  of  the  Mas- 
culine and  Neuter  nouns  to  be  oblique  cases  of  a  nominative,  which 
(if  it  occured)  would  be  found  to  end  in  a  consonant,  the  gramma- 
tical relations  of  these  words  are  always  indicated,  but  this  (pro- 
bably superfluous)  trouble  has  not  been  taken  with  the  Feminines.2 

1  This  mode  of  citation  refers  to  2  On  examining  Prof.  Child's  lists  in 
Pauli's  edition  of  Gower,  vol.  ii,  p.  13.  §§  14,  16,  17,  30,  I  have  obtained  the 


346 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


14.*  Masculines  and  neuters  of  the  second  and  third  declensions 
(II.  1,  2,  III.  1,  2).  Gower— Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  following,  and 
many  other  nouns  of  the  same  declensions,  are  found  in  the  primi- 
tive form  without  the  vowel.  In  many  instances  the  terminal  e 
might  he  explained  as  the  Saxon  dative  inflection,  hut  it  will  he 
found  on  inspection  that  ahout  half  of  the  nouns  in  the  list  occur  in 
the  nominative  or  accusative  case. 

ehilde,  clerke,  cole,  cope,  dale,  dawe, 
dele,  dethe,  dome,  drinke,  fee,  fere,  fire, 
flesshe,  flete,  folde,  folke,  fote,  gate, 
golde,  grave,  grounde,  -hede  -bode 
falshede  godhede  hastihede  kinghede 
knighthode  knightlihede  ladyhede  lik- 
lyhede  maidenhede  manhede  susterhede 
wif(e)hode  womanhede,  hewe,  home — 
the  adverb  should  be  spelt  horn,  ags. 
bam,  and  not  home ;  at  horn  is  also  the 
correct  form,  ags.  at  ham — horse,  house, 
kinge,  kinne,  leefe,  liche,  limme,  life 
live,  lode,  londe,  lope,  middle,  minde, 
monthe,  mordre,  morwe,  mote,  mouthe, 
mule,  rede,  rore,  scorne,  sete,  shape, 
shippe,  shotte,  shrifte,  sithe,  slepe, 
smoke,  sore,  sothe,  stronde,  temple, 
thewe,  thinge,  towne,  wawe,  wedde, 
weie,  weighte,  wbippe,  wisdome,  wive, 
worde,  worthe,  wronge,  yere — sho,  fo 
— hie,  kepe,  lette,  leve,  swoune,  were. 


Ex.  Chaucer  —  bedde,  berne,  bisse- 
mare,  bladde,  borwe,  botme,  brede, 
brembre,  bronde,  carte,  ehilde,  corne, 
croppe,  cultre,  dale,  donge,  drynke, 
feere,  ferae,  folde,  foote,  fyre  fyr,  gate, 
golde,  grave,  grounde,  grove,  -hede 
bretherbede  chapmanhede  childhede 
falshede  manhede  maydenhede  wom- 
manhede,  heede,  herne,  hevene,  hewe, 
hole,  -holme,  house,  kynne,  leeke, 
liche,  londe,  loode,  loone,  lyste,  lyve, 
morne  morwe,  mynde,  othe,  schippe, 
sithe,  sleepe,  smoke,  sore,  sothe,  spelle, 
stalle,  style,  swyne,  temple,  tothe, 
towne,  wawe,  wedde,  werke,  weye, 
whelpe,  whippe,  wife,  wronge,  yere — 
arme,  bore,  cole,  derke,  domg,  fisshe, 
keepe,  mele,  schepe,  sigbhe,  swoune, 
teere,  walle,  wyne  wyn.  Gower  — 
bedde,  bede,  berde,  berne,  bore,  bore, 
borwe,  bote,  botme,  browe,  carte, 


15.*  The  following  merely  drop  a  final  n  (compare  Lat.  and  Ital. 
acumen,  acume  ;  certamen,  certame  ;  vimen,  vime). 
Ex.  Chaucer  &  Gower — eve,  game,  mayde. 

16.*  Feminines  of  the  second  declension.  (II.  3.)  These  nouns 
have  in  Anglosaxon  all  the  ohlique  cases  of  the  singular  in  e. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  beere,  bene,  boone,  halle  hallS,  heede,  belle  belle',  helpe 
boote,  brigge,  bryde,  burthe,  bynne,  helpS,  heste  best,  byre  huyre,  keye, 
dede,  doune,  drede,  fille,  gifte,  gleede,  kynde  man-kynde,  lengthe,  leve,  lisse, 


following  results  for  Chaucer — 1  have 
not  examined  the  instances  in  Gower 
because  of  the  great  uncertainty  of 
Pauli's  text.  If  we  reject  those  nouns 
which  are  only  found  in  oblique  cases, 
those  whose  final  e  is  elided  before  a 
vowel,  those  which  occur  at  the  end  of 
a  line  where  the  final  e  of  the  rhyming 
word  may  have  been  omitted  for  the 
rhyme,  those  in  which  -n  may  have 
been  written  for  -er,  those  in  which  e 
may  have  been  a  connecting  vowel  in 
compounds  as  in  lichewake  2960,  and 
those  in  which  the  authority  of  Orrmin 
shews  that  a  final  e  had  long  been  as- 
sumed, the  long  list  of  masculines 
reduces  to  the  following  :  ehilde  5339, 
14980,  foote  11489,  hewe  1366,  lyste 
1864  (which  should  apparently  be 


lystes  as  in  1861),  morwe  14710,  sothe 
12590  (probably  an  adverb)  swyne 
16972,  wawe  4888,  wife  6648.  In  the 
feminines  we  should  also  omit  the  ac- 
cusative which  had  an  e  in  Anglosaxon. 
They  reduce  to :  bryde  9764,  gifte 
9167,  lengthe,  17302,  merthe  768 
(plural  ?),  scbipne  2002  (probably  an 
error  for  schipen),  spanne  155  (the  ac- 
cusative of  dimension?),  tyle  7687 
(probably  accusative),  youthe  2381  and 
frequently.  The  adjectives  reduce  in 
the  same  way  to :  bare  8755  (feminine  ?), 
blewe  566,  eche  1184  (ech  would  only 
give  a  monosyllabic  first  measure), 
longe  1575,  lowde  10582  (feminine?), 
merye  208  (Bosworth  gives  an  ags. 
form  mirige),  shorte  6206  (not  in  Harl. 
7334),  tame  2188,  wete  2340. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


347 


loode-sterre,  lore,  lydne,  lyvere,  meede, 
melle  mylle,  merke,  merthe,  myle, 
neede,  -nesse  besynesse  boldenesse 
brightnesse  clennesse  cursednesse  drun- 
kennesse  fairnesse  falsnesse  goodnesse 
hardynesse  bethenesse  hevynesse  holi- 
nesse  homlynesse  lewednesse  newefan- 


bonde,  bone,  bote,  brigge,  cheste,  dede, 
drede,  egge,  fille  felle  Mle,  filthe,  for- 
gifte,  glede,  glove,  halle,  halfe  halve, 
hede,  hele,  belle,  belpe  help,  heste, 
binde,  hire,  keie,  kinde,  kiste,  kithe, 
lengthe,  leve,  linde,  lore,  marche,mede, 
merthe  mirthe,  mile,  nede,  -nesse  be- 
sinesse  buxomnesse  halinesse  idelnesse 
rightwisnesse  sik(e)  nesse  sikernesse  we- 
rinesse  wildernesse  witnesse,  ore,  quene 
queue,  reste,  rewe  rowe,  rinde,  rode, 
roode,  salve,  score,  shelle,  sighte  sinne, 
sieve,  slouthe,  sonde,  sorwe,  soule, 
spanne,  speche,  stempne,  stounde, 
strete,  strengthe,  thefte,  throwe,  tilthe, 
tide,  warde,  wede,  wene,  while,  wombe, 
wounde,  wrathe,  wreche,  wulle  wolle, 
yerde,  yifte  yefte,  youthe, — arist,  fiste, 
flight,  ight,  ladder,  lefte,  liver,  nedel, 
routhe,  sherte,  slaught,  sleighte,  stelth*, 
welthe,  wierd,  wente. 


nesse  stedfastnesse  warmnesse  wikked- 
nesse  witnesse  wortbinesse  wrecched- 
nesse  ydelnesse,  besynes  clennesse 
goodnes  lewednes  lustynes  worthines 
woodnes,  ore,  plyte,  pyne,  querne,  rewe, 
roode,  schipne,  sleeve,  sloutbe,  sonde, 
sorwe,  soule  soule,  spanne,  specbe, 
specbe,  stounde,  streete,  strengbte, 
synne,  tbrowe,  tyde,  tyle,  upriste, 
wede,  werte,  wbile,  wolle,  wombe, 
wounde,  yerde,  youtbe  —  asp,  booke, 
drougbthe,  lynde,  rewtbe,  scberte, 
sleighte,  stevene,  wilw,  wrecbe.  Gower 
— banke,  bene,  berthe  birthe,  blisse, 

17.*  Exceptions  to  art.  16.  Gower — Hand,  might,  night,  wight, 
are  exceptional  in  Anglosaxon,  having  the  accusative  singular  like 
the  nominative :  so  world,  more  commonly :  lok  (constantly  mis- 
spelt boke)  i  2,  5 :  ii  58 :  iii  65,  133,  etc. ;  lurgh,  ii  232 ;  iii 
292  ;  furgh,  ii  245,  all  feminines,  are  also  irregular  in  Saxon,  and 
have  the  accusative  singular  like  the  nominative.  Chaucer — !N"ouns 
derived  from  Saxon  feminine  nouns  in  -ung,  -ing,  or  formed  in  imi- 
tation of  such,  terminate  in  Layamon  mostly  in  -inge,  rarely  in  -ing. 
In  the  Ormulum  the  termination  is  almost  invariably  -inng,  but  one 
or  two  have  the  nominative,  and  three  or  four  an  accusative  in  -innge. 
The  more  usual  ending  in  Chaucer  is  certainly  -yng.  The  termina- 
tion -ynge  occurs  frequently  at  the  end  of  a  verse,  and  in  most  cases 
rhymed  with  an  infinitive.  Gower — Nouns  derived  from  Saxon 
feminines  in  -ung,  -ing,  or  formed  in  imitation  of  such,  generally 
have  in  Gower  the  termination  -Inge,  less  frequently  -ing :  in  the 
latter  case  the  accent  is  sometimes  thrown  back. 

Ex.  Chaucer— aldir,  ax,  bencb,  bliss      werkynge  all  rhymed  with  infinitives 


blisse,  box,  chest,  curs,  fann,  fist  fest, 
fitt,  flight,  floor,  hand  bond,  heeth, 
hen,  mark,  might,  milk,  night,  ok  ook, 
queen,  sight,  rest,  soken,  tow,  wight, 
world,  nouns  in  -yng  axyng  begynnyng 
clothing  comyng  connyng  dwellyng 
fightyng  hangyng  harpyng  huntyng 
loking  longyng  makyng  offryng  ren- 
nyng  smylyng  teching  wandryng  wep- 
yng  wonyng  writyng  wynnyng,  lernynge 
turneynge,  vanysschynge  walkynge,  ca- 
rolynge  connynge  dawenynge  enven- 
ymynge  felynge  lyvynge  moi-wenynge 
ofl^rynge  rejoisynge  semynge  taryinge 


synge  brynge  stynge  sprynge  [and  with 
the  exception  of  felynge  16779  all  ob- 
lique]. Gower — axel  bench  bride  flight 
flor(e)  hen  bond  les  might  milk  night 
plite  sped(£)  tow  wight  world,  nouns 
in  -inge  axinge  bakbitinge  carolinge 
childinge  cominge  compleigninge 
grucchinge  knoulechinge  lesinge  lik- 
inge  lokinge  mishandlinge  spekinge 
tidinge  welwillinge  wepinge  writinge, 
beginning  knouleching  teching,  hunt- 
ing liking  waning  wr)i'ting(e) ;  excus- 
ing of,  hunting  as,  sbMing  of  are  ap- 
parently cases  of  elis^m — steven. 


18.*  The  following  nouns,  of  etymons  more  or  Ie4s  uncertain,  but 
mostly  of  undoubted  Gothic  origin,  are  found  in  Chaucer  and  Gower 
terminating  in  e. 


348 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


Ex.  Chaucer — brinke,  cake,  chaffare, 
cloke,  clowde,  cope,  daggere,  deynte, 
dogge,  drake,  felawe  felaw  felawe^ 
felawe,  gable,  jade,  knarre,  know-leche, 
kyn-rede,  marie,  roteroote,  sculle,  slynge, 
snowte,  stalke,  tare,  wyndowe  wyn- 


dow[e  ?].  Gower — babe,  botbe,  brinke, 
bulle  bolle,  cake,  chaffare,  clowde, 
creple,  deinte,  felawe  felaw  felaw 
felow<9,  funke,  gesse  guesse,  mone, 
packe,  rote,  sculle,  snowte,  tacle,  were, 
wicke,  window. 


19.*  The  unaccented  final  e  of  nouns  of  French  origin  is  sounded 
in  Chaucer  as  it  is  in  French  verse.  Exceptions,  however,  are  fre- 
quent. Gower — Exceptions  are  by  no  means  so  common  as  in 
(Wright's  text  of)  the  Canterbury  Tales ;  a  few  exceptions,  after 
the  sounds  r  aud  s,  are  cited  under  arts.  84,  9 1/.  So  in  adjectives. 
Chaucer — It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  that  an  internal  e  in 
French  words  is  also  pronounced,  as,  comaundement  2871,  jug- 
gement  780,  etc. 


Ex.  Chaucer— Arcite  ArcitS,  aunte, 
best,  bille,  cause,  centre,  chambre 
chambrg,  couche,  cynamome,  dame 
madame  ma-dame,  doute,  Dyane 
Dyane,  eese,  egle,  entente  entent, 
experience  experiens,  face  faas,  feste 
fest,  force  force  fors,  fortune,  grace 
gracg  gras  15242!,  haunche,  herbe, 
heritage,  homicide,  hoste  oste  host  ost, 
joye,  juge  jugge,  male,  manere  maner, 
medecine,  nece,  persone  person,  peyre, 
phisik,  place  place,  plante,  pompe, 
regne  regne,  remembraunce,  requeste 
request,  Eome  Eom^,  sauce,  sege,  ser- 
vise,  signe,  spouse,  tente,  trumpe.  Adj. 


chaste,  excellente,  nice,  pore,  riche, 
solempne.  Gower — abbesse,  adventure, 
avarice,  baptisme,  beste,  horde,  bounde 
bonde,  bowele,  chere,  Constance,  de- 
faulte,  deserte,  egle,  entente,3  en  vie, 
feste,  fortune,  grace,  haste,  homicide, 
houre,  joie,  justice,  madame,  magique, 
manere,  mappemounde,  marriage,  ma- 
tere,  medicine,  merveille,  message, 
mewe,  mule,  multitude,  nature,  navie, 
offrende,  oile,  pacience,  passage,  per- 
sone, pestilence,  phisique,  place,  pompe, 
Eome,  spume,  vice,  virgine,  ymage. 
Adj.  chaste,  double,  hughe,  invisible, 
nice  =  foolish,  riche,  solempne. 


20.  The  accented  final  e  of  Freneh  nouns  (in  modern  English,  y) 
is  of  course  preserved  in  Chaucer. 

Ex.    Chaucer  —  adversite,    bounte,      on  e  is  due  to  the  editors,  and  is  not  in 
cherte,   clarre',   contre,  liberte,  perre\      the  MS.] 
plente,  pryvyte,  renome.   [This  accent 

21.  The  Genitive  case,  Singular,  ends  in  -es. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  scbires    15,    cberles  iii  86,  g.oddes  iii  88,  worldes  iii  90, 

7788,   lordes   47,    Cristes  480,   pigges  nightes  iii  96,  daies  iii  111,  bulles  iii 

702,  reeves  601,  modres  metes  kynges  119,  kinge's  iii  146,  wives  iii  73. 
5433-5.     Gower — loves  iii  85,  manne's 

The  following  have,  at  least  sometimes,  no  termination  : 


Ex.  Dec.  I.  Chaucer — boly  chircbe 
good  3981,  boly  cbircbe  blood  3982, 
holy  cbircbes  feitb  11445;  his  lady 
grace  88,  oure  lady  veyl  697,  his  ladys 
grace  9892;  the  sonne  upriste  1053, 
the  sonne  stremes  16240,  myn  herte 
blood  10221,  a  widow  sone  14913. 
Gower — the  chirche  kei  i  10,  mone 
light  iii  109  {psrhaps  compounds),  the 
mones  cercle  iii  109;  my  lady  side  i 
160,  this  lady  name  ii  157,  my  lady 
chere  ii  213,  my  lady  kith[e]  iii  5, 
my  lady  good  iii  30,  ladies  lovers  i  228, 
</  best  i  84,  »  selve  i  2.28,  ->  doughter  ii 


227,  //mercy iii  18.  So,  Chaucer — fader 
9239,  9012,  15670,  8772,  4036,  9389, 
12757,  15423,  but  fadres  5883,  8738, 
8685,  8747,  13626,  783?,  10175?, 
14883  ?  brothir  3086,  13360?,  brothers 
11478,  modres  15004,  philosophre 
12790,  heven  6763,  10281,  12470, 
16282,  13017.  Gower— horse  i  40, 
119,  heven  ii  187,  belle  ii  97,  soule 
i  39;  fader  i  209,  faders  i  157, 
brother  i  199,  brothers  i  214,  mother 
i  289,  moders  ii  354,  doughter  i  208, 
doughters  i  150. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.         PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAJJCER  AND  GOWER.  349 

So,  many  proper  nouns  in  s,  as  in  Anglosaxon  and  Modern  English 
Chaucer — Epicurus  338,  Peneus  2066,      phemus  i  166,  Bachus  ii  358,  Phebus 
Venus  10586,  Melibeus  15382,  Phebus      iii  250,  etc. 
17170,  Marquys  8870.    Gower— Poly- 

22.  Plural  of  nouns.     Nominative.     The  Nominative  Plural  is 
formed  for  the  most  part  in  -es ;  occasionally  in  -us  or  -is,  a  dialectic 

variety.     Gower s  only  is  frequently  added,  especially  to  nouns 

terminating  in  a  liquid  or  in  -t ;    sometimes  when  -es  is  added 
(rightly  or  wrongly),  only  -s  is  pronounced. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  ladies  900,   bodyes  pens    7158,    lazars  245,    sellers  248, 

1007,  knees  1105, 1877,  degrees  17298;  achatours   510,    pilours   1009,    lovers 

fowles  9,    domes  325,    cbiknes    382,  1533— schoos  359,  dys  1240;  bisschops 

bones  702,   fyngres   129;    croppe's   7,  4673,    keverchefs    455,    eaytifs   926; 

robes  319,   knobbes  635,  wyfes   234,  reliks  13764,  lordyngs  lordynges  7250, 

knyfes  368,  kaytyves  1719,  lewes  1498 ;  15725,  yeddynges  237,  prechings  6139; 

lokke's  76,  songes  95,  braunches  1069  ;  servantes  101,  contracted  6890,  vesti- 

bootes   203,   argumentes  4632,    orna-  mentz  2950,  marchauntz  4568,  4591, 

mentes   8134,    boundes    146,    swerdes  arguments  4648,  maundementz   6866, 

2028 ;    stremes    greves  drope's  leeves  instrumentz  9587 ;   greyhoundes   190, 

1497-8,    brawnes     schuldres     armes  stiwardes  581,  husbonds  2825.     Gower 

2137-8,      Gower — weies,    tirannies,  — aungels,  cardinals,   nations;   courts, 

thewes,  soules,  billes,   formes,   philo-  points  i  149,  pointes  i  151,  elements, 

sophres,  fires,  lores,   sterres,  droppes,  jugements,  arguments,  tiraunts,  Sara- 

herbes,    leves,     lives,    wives,    turves,  zins,     complexions,    masons ;     saints, 

bokes,  clerkes,  beinges,  tbinges,  notes,  estat(e)s,  craftes,  climats,  herts  hertes 

frostes,  bestes,  nodes,  cloudes,  hevedes  i  325,  lovers,  flatrours,  fethers ;  words 

=  heads,  monthes,  mouthes.     Chaucer  i  176,  worde's  i  151,   Grekes  ii   171, 

— pilgryms  2850,    naciouns  53,    bar-  Grekes  ii  165,  knes  knees,  tres  trees, 
gayns  284,  sesouns  349,  sessions  357, 

23.  The  following  have  -en,  -n,  derived  from  the  Saxon  plural  in 
-an  of  the  1st  Declension  :  asschen  1304,  assen  5867,  aissches  12735, 
been  10518,  bees  7275,  eyen  yen   152,  fleen  16949,  hosen  458, 
oxen  5867,  schoon  15143,  schoos  459,  ton  16348,  toos  16817. 

24.  The  following  have  -n,  -en,  by  imitation,  being  of  various 
declensions  in  Saxon.      Gower — The   following,  which  have  the 
termination  -u  in  Saxon,  have  superadded  the  -en  of  the  1st  Declen- 
sion to  a  weakened  form  of  the  Saxon  plural. 

Ex.     Chaucer  —  bretheren     13831,  16317.     Gower— brethren,    bretheren, 

14192;    doughteren   11741,   doughtres  brethern,  bretherne,  children,  [dough  t- 

16315,    sistren     1021,   sustres   16353,  eren  sistren,  do  not  occur]  doughteret1. 

children   1195,   14908,    childer  8031,  doughter  ii  172  ?  susters. 
14912,   foon   16192,  foos  15815,  kyn 

25.  The  following  have  no  termination  in  the  plural,  according  to 
the  rule  of  the  Saxon  neuters  of  the  2nd  Declension :  deer,  folk, 
hors,  neet,   scheep,  swin,  thing,  yer.     (The  word  good  added  in 
Chaucer  is  corrected  in  Gower}.     So  night  7467,  wynter  10357,  and 
probably  freend  3052,  3053. 

26.  The  plurals  formed  by  change  of  vowel  are  the  same   in 
Chaucer  and  Gower  as  in  English :  feet,  gees,  men, :  teeth. 

27.  The  following  plurals  of  French  words  are  rei  larkable  :  caas 
325,  paas  1892,   degre  1892,   secre  6923  (?),   orgon  16337,  vessel 
15634,  but  vessealx  vesseals  15680,  15687,  richesses  and  riches. 


350  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IY.  §  5. 

28.  The  Genitive  Plural  in  Chaucer  and  Gower  is  much  the  same 
as  in  English,  saving,  of  course,  the  use  of  es  instead  of  s. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  lordes  hestes  8405,  10134.  Gower — the  Grekes  lawe,  alle 
lordes  doughtres  13488,  foxes  tailes  mennes  speche,  mennes  goodes  ii  332, 
15519,  bestes  demies  15749,  seintes  out  of  all  other  briddes  sight  i  100, 
lyves  6272,  mennes  wittes  4622,  wym-  princes  hevedes,  of  the  goddes  pur- 
mens  counseiles  16742,  hie  eyghen  sight  veiaunce. 

ADJECTIVES. 

29.*  Adjectives  which  end  in  e  in  Saxon  end  in  e  in  Chaucer  and 
Gower.  Several  other  adjectives  might  probably  be  inserted  in  this 
list,  but  as  they  are  found  in  the  Canterbury  Tales  only  in  the 
"  definite  form  "  (see  art.  32),  they  have  not  been  noticed. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  blithe  blithe,  clene  blithe,  a-cale,  clene,  dere,  derne,  drie, 
clene,  dere,  derne,  drye,  elenge,  fremde,  fre,  grene,  kinde  unkinde,  mete  unmete, 
grene,  heende,  kene,  kynde,  lene,  newe,  milde  unmilde,  neisshe,  newe,  softe, 
proude  prowd,  ripe,  scheene,  softe,  sterne,  stille,  swete,  thicke,  thinne, 
stille,  sterne,  swete  swote,  thenne,  trewe  untrewe,  un-wylde,  yare  —  all- 
thikke,  trewe,  un-weelde,  white — (all-)  (al-)one,  one. 
oone,  narwe,  worthi  worthy.  Gower — 

30.*  The  following  adjectives  and  adjective  pronouns,  though  end- 
ing in  a  consonant  in  Saxon,  have  sometimes,  or  always,  the  ter- 
mination e  in  Chaucer  and  Gower,  resembling  the  nouns  in  art.  13 
(compare  Lat.  atrox,  Ital.  atroce ;  fallax,  fallace,  etc.).  Gower  — 
But  most  or  all  of  the  following  are  found  also  in  the  older  form, 
without  the  -e.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  adjectives  in  list  (a), 
are  all  from  monosyllabic  Saxon  stems,  or  from  contracted  dissylla- 
bles. A  few  polysyllabic  adjectives  are  also  found  in  Gower  with 
the  termination  e.  Chaucer — So,  as  if  by  dropping  the  final  con- 
sonant (compare  Lat.  mortalis,  Ital.  mortale,  etc.):  haire  14151, 
lyte  lite  2629,  moche  1810. 

Ex.  Chaucer — alle,  bare,  blewe,  eche,  bleche,  blinde,  brode,faire,  false,  gladde, 
evene,  faire,  fa  we,  foule,  fresshe,  grete,  grete,  leve,  lewde,  likeliche,  longe,lowe, 
highe,  longe,  lowde,  lowe,  merye,  olde,  olde,  one  [the  common  forms  are  on,  o; 
rowe,  shorte,  suche,  swifte,  tame,  wete,  the  misspelling  one  continually  occurs 
whiche,  wise,  wylde  wilde  wild,  ylle,  in  Pauli's  text],  righte,  sharpe,  stronge, 
y-nowe — forme  fader,  apparently  from  suche,  tame  un-tame,  thilke,  whiche, 
ags.  frumfader — ware  16094  should  be  wilde,  wise;  so,  moste  i  92.  —  (b}  wom- 
«><v,  and  chare  (chariot)  16996  char,  manishe,  bodeliche,  diverse,  comune, 
r.ot  to  be  confounded  with  chare  =  devoute,  secounde ;  so,  as  if  by  dropping 
jhair  16099.  Gower — (a)  alle,  bare,  the  final  consonant,  golde,  lite,  moche. 

31.*  The  following  adjectives  of  uncertain  derivation  are  found 
terminating  in  e  :  badde,  deynte,  dronkelewe,  meke,  racle,  wikke. 

32.  The  Definite  Form  of  monosyllabic  Adjectives,  including  Par- 
ticiples and  Adjective  Pronouns  (i.e.  the  Adjective  when  preceded 
by  the  Definite  Article,  by  any  other  Demonstrative,  or  by  a  Pos- 
sessive Pronoun)  ends  in  Chaucer  and  Gower  in  e. 

Ex.  Chaucer  —  th"  yonge  sonne  7,  wise  man  i  5,  this  foule  greate  coise  i 
his  halfe  cours  8,  +1  is  ilke  monk  175,  100,  my  faire  maide  i  154,  her  dreinte 
atte  (at  the)  fulle  <  53,  thou  felle  Mars  lord(e)  ii  105,  thy  fulle  mind  ii  126, 
1561,  here  hoote  love  2321,  that  selve  min  hole  herte  ii  277,  that  stronge 
moment  2586.  thy  borne  man  9664,  place  ii  376,  his  owne  lif(e)  i  9 ;  so,  in 
thin  false  quurel  15932.  Gower— the  the  derke  i  190,  in  the  depe  i  194. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  351 

33.  So,  for  the   most  part,  the  Definite  Form  of  monosyllabic 
superlatives. 

34.  Among  Definite  Forms  of  the  Adjective  are  to  be  reckoned 
adjectives  occurring  in  forms  of  address  (as  in  Anglosaxon,  leofa 
fader,  etc.). 

Ex.  Chaucer — ye  false  harlot  4266,  however,  that  some  of  these  forms  be- 

indef.  fals  1132,  goode  lemman  4245,  long  under  art.   30.      Gower  —  false 

indef.  good  514,  but,  0  good  Constance  cherl!,  ha,   gode  suster  !    thou  foule 

5237,  leeve  brother  1186,   0  stronge  beste,  leve  sir,  0  wise  Diogene,  thou 

god  2375,  indef.  strong  752,  0  yonge  proude  clerk  (e),  0  hihe  fader,  Oblinde. 
Hughe  15095,  indef.  79.  It  is  possible, 

35.  The  Definite  Form  of  Adjectives  of  more  than  one  syllable 
has  not  (generally)  the  final  e.     There  are  however  more  exceptions 
to  this  rule  in  Gower  than  in  Chaucer.       (a)  Comparatives  and 
Superlatives.     (J)  Post  Participles  in  -ed,  -t,  -en.     (c)  Adjectives 
in  -ed,  -en,  -ful,  -isch,  -ly,  -y,  etc.     (d)  Yarious  adjectives  of  Latin 
derivation  and  terminations. 

36.  The  following  exceptions  to  arts.  32,  33,  35,  occur,  but  many 
of  the  readings  are  suspicious. 

Ex.  (a)   To  art.    32.    Chaucer— the  14239,  at  the,  atte,  last  11059,  10759, 

gret  2387,  2525, 14402,  his  high  2539?,  14259,  for  the  best  1849,  9392,  11198, 

9534  ?,  14328  ?,  the  dreynt  4489  ?,  the  the  worst  1616.     Gower— the  best.— 

right  8149,  his  fals  13001,  this  good  (c)  To  art.  35.      Chaucer— (c}  the  wo- 

14503  ?,  this  proud  3167  ?  (the  proude  fullere  cheer  1342,  the  sorwfulleste  man 

4311,  16245),  this  fiers  4720.     Gower  9972,  the  semlieste  man,  17051.  Gower 

his  fals,  her  wrong,  her  glad,  the  bright,  — (c)  this  tirannishe  knight  iii  256,  her 

the  ninth,  the  seventh,  his  high  lignage,  wommanische  drede  ii  66,  thy  bodeliche 

the  high  prowesse,  his  high  suffrance,  kinde  i  271,  the  hevenliche  might  i 

his  sligh  compas;  but  the  highe  god,  138.      (d)  the  covetouse  flatery,  this 

his  highe  worthinesse,  his  slie  caste. —  lecherous[e]  pride  iii  259,  the  parfite 

(b)   To  art.   33.    Chaucer  —  the  first  medicine,  the  secounde. 

37.  The  distinction  of  the  French  masculine  and  feminine  adjec- 
tive is  preserved  in  one  case, — seint,  in  Chaucer,  seint  Jon  5439, 
seinte  Mary  7186,  and  may  perhaps  be  noticed  in  Gower  in  one  or 
two  cases, — sovereine  i  277,  iii  360,  gentile  iii  352. 

38.  (0)  The  Comparative  Degree  of  the  Adjective  is  generally 
formed  in  Chaucer  and  Gower,  as  in  modern  English,  in  -er  (S.  -re). 
— (5)  A  few  Comparatives  of  ''irregular"  Adjectives  retain  the 
Saxon  e  :    worse  werse,  lasse  lesse,  more  bettre.     These  forms  in 
-re  are  all  suspicious.     Those  of  three  syllables  (if  correctly  spelt) 
are  contracted  in  reading,  so  that  the  metre  does  not  determine 
their  validity,  and  er  and  re  are  easily  interchanged. — (c]  The  vowel 
change  of  the  " ancient"  comparison  is  found  in  the  following: 
lenger  332,  elder  15746,   eldest  15898,  strenger  14240,  strengest 
15561. — (d)  Some  analytic  forms  of  comparison  are  found:    mo 
slakke  14824,  the  moste  stedefast  9425,  the  moste  deintevous  9588, 
the  moste  free  11926,  the  moste  lusty  17039,  the  moste  grettest. 

39.  The  Plural  of  Monosyllabic  Adjectives  ends  in  e.     The  same 
is  the  case  with  some  of  the  Pronouns.     So,  also,  bothe,  fele,  fewe, 
and  many  of  the  Cardinal  numbers.     Those  from  4  to  12,  inclusive, 
took  an  -e  in  Saxon  when  used  absolutely  except  perhaps  eahta, 
nigon,  endlufon. 


352 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


Ex.  (a)  Chaucer — blake  559,  blynde 
4973,colde  1304,  dede  7090,  deve  12214, 
dulle  4622,  goode  3156,  hore  7764,  hote 
9682,  reede  90,  sadde  17190,  sharpe  475, 
sclendre  9476,  seeke  sike  18,  slakke 
14824,  smale  9,  stronge  2137,  wayke 
889,  wrothe  1181,  wyde  28,  yonge  213  ; 
so,  sworne  brethren  6987,  gilte  cheynes 
15850.  Most  of  the  singulars  occur 
without  -e,  as,  blak  913,  blynd  10214, 
cold  1577,  deed  1201,  deef  448,  good 
183,  boor  3876,  hoot  7018,  reed  1912, 
sad  17207,  sharp  2005,  sclender  16319, 
sik  16323,  smal  158,  strong  637,  weyk 
14892,  wroth  7743,  wyd  493,  yong  79. 
Gower—  sharpe  notes  softe  highe  lowe 
iii  90,  blinde,  colde,  gladde,  grete,  harde, 
i-nowe,  loude,  olde,  save,  shorte,  smale, 

40.  The  Plural  of  Adjectives 
syllable  has  no  -e. 

Ex.  (a)  Chaucer — corsed  stories  4500, 
countrefeted  letters  5229,  weddid  men 
8498,  cered  poketts  12736,  sieves  pur- 
filed  193,  broken  sleepes  1922,  colours 
longyng  10353,  they  thankyn  galpyng 
10668.  Gower  —  furred  bodes  i  63, 
lered  men  iii  283,  no  other  cases  ob- 
served, (b)  Chaucer — skalled  browes 
629,  lewed  wordes  10023,  wikked 
werkes  5414,  wrecched  wommen  952, 
wrecchede  923?,  sacred  teeres  1923, 
golden  clothis  5927,  cristen  men  4800, 
open  werres  2004,  thinges  spedful  5147, 
woful  wrecches  1719,  synful  deedes 
6740,  careful  sikes  11176,  blisful  sydes 
11971,  seely  clerkes  4098,  mighty 
werkes  4898.  litel  children  4493,  bitter 

41.  Even  monosyllabic  participles  standing  in  the  predicate  are 
unvaried  in  the  plural.    The  same  is  sometimes  the  case  with  mono- 
syllabic adjectives.     Gower — Adjectives  and  Participles  standing  in 
the  predicate  sometimes  take  e  in  the  plural,  sometimes  are  unvaried. 

Ex.  Chaucer — (a]  were  hurt   2710,       saufe  bothe  two  i  198,  hem  that  were 
been  born  4706,  ben  went  9575,  were 
kept  10003,  been  maad  2091,  ben  knyt 
11542,  ben  stert  11689,  be  brent  13335, 
sworn  were  13392,  were  slayn  15525. — 


softe,  sothe,  swifte.  (b)  Chaucer — 
bothe  1841,  fele  8793,  fewe  641,  othere 
othre  3232,  but  other  7369,suche  8215, 
whiche  1015,  the  two  last  being  occa- 
sionally used  for  the  singular  also. 
Gower — bothe,  fele,  fewe,  some,  som 
men  i  21,  suche,  whiche.  (c)  Chaucer 
— twayne  8526,  foure  2141,  fyfe  462, 
sixe  14585,  sevene  7587,  but  seven 
16352,  twelve,  4139,  but  twelf  7839, 
threttene  7841,  fiftene  61,  eyghteteene 
3223.  Gower — tweine  tweie,  two  iii 
195,  thre,  foure,  five,  eighte,  nine, 
twelve,  twelve  (twelf?)  ii  68,  thrittene, 
fourtene,  fiftene,  sixtene,  eightetene ; 
seven,  ten,  elleven,  are  undeclined; 
twenty,  thritty. 

and  Participles  of  more  than  one 

teeres  2227,  wiser  men  9443,  other 
men  12672,  other  8312  absolutely. 
Gower — no  dedly  werres  iii  222,  thes(e) 
dredfull  i  56,  thes(e)  wofull  ii  323,  wo- 
full  teres  iii  260,  dolefull  clothes  iii 
291,  other  i  106,  etc.,  these  other  i  20, 
al  other  i  64,  we  find  another  care  = 
another's  care  i  167;  other  is  some- 
times undefined  in  ags.  (c)  Chaucer — 
certeyn  yeres  2969,  mortal  batailles  61, 
cruel  briddes  15586,  gentil  men  6693, 
subtil  clerkes  9301,  parfyt  blisses  9512, 
jelous  strokes  2636,  eldres  vertuous 
6736,  pitous  teeres  12329,  sightes  mer- 
velous  11518.  Gower — hastif  rodes  ii 
56,  certein  sterres  iii  128,  gentil  hondes 


(V)  quyk  (they  were)  1017,  were  glad 
5804  were  fayn  2709,  which  they  weren 
40,  were  wroth  8313,  (were)  lik  16354, 
but:  blake  were  559,  were  seeke  18, 
wayke  ben  889,  weren  wyde'^28,  ben 
deve  12214,  dede  were  11493.  Gower 
—  (a)  that  be  greate  i  5,  ben  to  smale 
i  6,  ben  un-ware  i  17,  wittes  be  so 
blinde  i  49,  to  him  were  alle  thinges 


him  leve  i  273,  briddes  been  made  ii 
80,  that  him  thoughts  alle  women  lothe 
i  118,  have  be  full  ofte  sithes  wrothe  i 
52,  they  shull  of  reson  ben  answerde  i 
51 ;  we  have  even :  whan  that  thesg 
herbes  ben  holsome  iii  161,  in  thinges 
that  been  naturele  iii  133,  of  hem  that 
weren  so  discrete  iii  167. — (£)  hem  that 
ben  so  derk  i  78,  we  ben  set  i  317, 
they  be  shet  ii  10,  so  ben  my  wittes 
overlad  ii  21,  all  men  be  left  i  119,  hem 
that  thanne  weren  good  i  11,  which 
only  weren  sauf  by  ship  i  38,  the  thre 


couthe  i  138,  whiche  are  derke  i  63,       were  eth  to  reule  160,  they  were  cleped 

76,       ii  165,  they  ben  laid  ii  245,  they  ben 


they  were  glade  i  79,  weren  dede  i 
the  gates  were  shette  i  348,  we  be 


corrupt  ii  153. 


CHAP.  IV.      5.         PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


353 


42.  Exceptions  to  arts.  39,  40,  41. 

Ex.  Chaucer—  art.  39#  brent  bones  felde  2926,  tbey  be  i-mette  5535,  been 

sette  5538,  were  made  5702?  been 
maad  2091.  Gower  —  40c  of  golde  and 
preciouse  stones  ii  47,  Ms  bedes  most 
devoute  i  64,  diverse  occurs  i  56,  252, 


256,  ii  154,  325,  iii  26,  but  is  found 
also  in  tbe  singular,  see  art.  30  Ex.  b. 


12687,—  39c  enleven  17300,—  40a  ler- 
nede  men  577  ?  lerned  men  14389, 
eyen  fast  yschette  4980  ?  Qu.  feste 
schette  ?  —  40c  dyverse  freres  7537,  dy- 
verse  folk  dyversely  they  seyde  3855, 
divers  freres  7532,  tbay  ben  so  dyvers 
7588.—  art.  41  been  mette  1638?  were 

43.  The   following   adjectives  ,(of   French    origin)   exhibit  the 
French  plural  in  s:    places  delitables    11211,  necessaries   as  ben 
plesynges  5131,  wayes  espirituels,  goodes  espiritueles,  but  thinges 
espirituel,  travailes  covenables.      Even  Palsgrave  says  (1530)  pro- 
nownes  primytyves,  verbes  actyves  parsonalles.     Gower  —  til  they 
become  so  vilains  i  28. 

44.  Of  the  Genitive  Plural  of  Adjectives  there  remains  a  trace  in 
the  word  all  :  here  aller  cappe  588,   your  alther  cost  801,   cure 
althur  cok  825,  alther  best  712,   alther  first  10863;  alther  werst 
i  53  :  ii  224  :  iii  9  :  allthermest  i  147,  224,  altherbest  i  106  :  ii  20  : 
althertrewest  i  176. 


(See  also  arts.  30,  320,  35<?,  393,  44.) 

45.  Personal  Pronouns   and  their   Possessives.       Chaucer  —  Yk, 
3865,  ich  10037,   3862,  12857,    14362;  my,  myn;  sing,  and  pi.: 
abs.   form  myn,  myne.     Thy,  thyn  sing,  and  pi.,  abs.  form  thyn, 
thyne.     Hir,   hire  =  her,  abs.  form  heres.     Our,  oure,  abs.  oures. 
Your,    youre,   abs.   youre,  youres.      Her,   hir,   here  =  their,    abs. 
heris  7508  ;    hem  =  them.      The  Saxon  genitives  min,   J?in,   ure, 
eower,  are  declined  (like  adjectives)  for  possessive  pronouns,  but 
not  the  genitives  of  the  third  person.     Of  the  above  forms,  some 
of  those  in  e  must  be  regarded  as  adjectives  declined.     Gower  —  I  ; 
min,  my,  abs.  min,  mine  ;  me  dat.  &  ace.     Thou  ;  thin,  thy,  the  dat. 
&  ace.     He,  his  gen.  masc.  &  neut.,  her  gen.  fern.,  abs.  hers,  ii  287, 
her[e]s  ii  358  ;    him  dat.  mas.,  here  her  dat.  fern.,  him  ace.  masc. 
i  6  etc.,  hire,  here,  her  ace.  fern,  commonly  her.     We,  oure,  our,  us 
dat.  ace.     Ye,  youre,  your,  abs.  youres,  you  dat.  ace.    Her  =  their, 
abs.  her[e]s,  hem  dat.  ace.  =  them.     They,  their  but  seldom  occurs 
and  wherever  it  is  found  we  should  doubtless  read  her  ;  i  111,  i  245, 
ii  48,  iii  219,  i  55,  59,  76,  115  ;  them  is  not  found. 

46.  In  Saxon  sylf,  self,  same,  was  declined  like  an  adjective  both 
definitely  and  indefinitely,  and  agreed  with  the  pronoun  to  which  it 
was  attached  ;  as,  ic  sylf,  or  ic  sylf  a,  1  myself;  be  me  sylfum,  by 
myself.     The  forms  ic  me-sylf,  ]m  fe-self,  I  myself,  etc.,  also  occur. 
The  following  are  the  combinations  of  the  personal  pronouns  with 
self  in    Chaucer  —  myself,    myselve,  myselven  ;    thyselven,  himself, 
himselve,  himselven  ;  hirself,  hirselve,  hirselven  ;  youreself,  youre- 
selve,  youreselven  ;  hemself  =  themselves,  hemselven.     Gower  —  my- 
self, myselfe  ;     myselfe,   myselve,   myselven  ;    thyself,    thyselven  ; 
himself,  himselfe,  himselfe,  himselve,  himselven  ;    herself,  herselve, 

23 


354  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

herselven ;  usself  =  ourselves  ;  hemself,  themselves ;  my  ladies  selve 
i  228,  should  doubtless  be  my  ladie,  the  s  being  caught  from  selve : 
selfe,  preceded  by  the  article,  means  the  same,  as  in  Saxon;  the 
selfe  prest  i  48. 

47.  Demonstratives  and  others. —  Chaucer — that  =  the,  as  in :  that 
oon,  that  other  1351,  1353,  7603,  9350,  9351,  12151,  12152, 
14222,  &c.,  tho  =  those;  oon  of  tho  that  2353;  they  (their  and 
them  do  not  occur),  thi  1755  should  probably  be  they,  thes  =  these, 
this  =  these,  these  (?)  9150,  etc,  thise(?)  9110  ;  whos  genitive.  5062, 
5438,  7350,  everich,  on  oon,  non  noon,  pi.  noon,  abs.  noon.  Gower — 
that  =  the,  the,  that  dem.  sing.,  tho  =  those,  this,  these  should 
be  thes,  these  =  these,  thilke  =  that,  so  =  such.  Relative  that, 
which,  whiche,  whos,  whom ;  that  =  that  which,  what  =  that 
which,  the  which,  which  that,  etc.  =  simple  which,  etc ;  who  that, 
what  that,  etc.  =  quisquis,  quicumque  ;  what  =  whatsoever.  Inter- 
rogative, who,  which,  what,  as  in  English ;  whether  =  which  of  two. 
Indefinite,  somwho  =  aliquis  (once  only)  i  15. 


YEBBS. 

48.  Present  Indicative.    The  First  Person  Singular  of  the  Present 
Indicative  terminates  in  -e. 

Exceptions.     Chaucer — I   bequethe  14208.    Gower — hast  ben  er  this  I  rede 

2770  [?],    trow    3665,    10527,    trowg  the  leve  iii  47,  also  i  117,  though  I  tell 

17312,  answer  4892,  schrew  7024,  fel  that  I  were  ded(e) ;   (probably  incor- 

2234?  fele  9332,  9338,  hope"  9548  rede,  rect)  i  299. 

49.  The  Second  Person  of  the  Present  Indicative  ends  in  -st  as  in 
modern  English.     But  sometimes  in  -s,  in  Chaucer  not  in  Gower. 
The  Second  and  Third  Persons  occasionally,  but  very  rarely,  end  in 
Anglosaxon  in  is. 

50.  The  Third  Person  ends  generally  in  -eth,  -th,  occasionally  (in 
Chaucer  not  in  Gower)  in  -es  (is). 

51.  But  Saxon  verbs  which  have  t  or  d  for  the  last  consonant  of 
the  root,  and  one  or  two  which  have  s,  form  the  Third  Person 
Singular  in  t  as  in  Saxon.     Exceptions  sometimes  occur,  a  dissyl- 
labic form  being  used,  as  also  in  Anglosaxon,  as  sitteth,  but  this 
hardly  occurs  in  Gower. 

Ex.  Chaucer— sitt  sit  syt  3641,  3817,  heetith,  putteth.      Gower— writ,  emit 

etc.,  set  7564,  writ  6291,  smyt  7998,  let,  betit,  shet=shoots,  spret=  spreads, 

light  5526,  put  13788,  hight  1974,  byt  beholt,  put,  set,  holt,  get,  byt,  fret,  sit, 

(bids)  187,   9251,  10605,  byt  (abides)  hit,  abit,  fint,  bint,  blent;    in  a  few 

13103,  ritryt  10483,  12536, 17011,slyt  cases  we  find  d  instead  of  t,  stond  ii 

126 10,  chyt  12849,  let  8465,  stant  stont  84,  send  iii  221,  held  iii  328;    arist, 

3677,  7615,  etc.,  fynt  fint  4069,  4128,  lost  lest  =  loses,  wext ;  le  let  it  never 

etc.,  grynt  597 1,  sent  9027,  blent  13319,  out  of  his  honde,  but  get  him  more  and 

schent,  hut  10825,  holt  halt  9224,  ris  halt   it   fast[e]   ii  128,  he  taJceth,  he 

ryst  arist  3688,  4685,  5284, kyt(P)  4805.  Jcepeth,  he  halt,  he  bint  ii  284.    Excep- 

Exceptions:  sittith  1601,  byddeth  3641,  tions;   lasteth  overcasteth  i  317,  but 

rideth  14734,  stondith  14060,  kissith  we  should  probably  read  arist  in:  the 

9822,  ryseth    1495,    13662,    bihetith,  mede  ariseth  of  the  service  iii  342. 

52.  The  Plural  of  the  Present  Indicative  ends  in  Chaucer  in  eth 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  355 

(ith,   th) ;    more  commonly  in  -en,   n  (yn) ;    sometimes  in  e ;    in 
Gower,  rarely  in  -eth,  generally  in  -en,  sometimes  in  -e. 

53.  Imperfect  Indicative.     Simple  (or  "  Regular")  Yerbs.     a. 
The  Imperfect  of  Simple  Yerbs  is  often  formed  by  adding  -ede,  -de, 
or  -te  to  the  root,  with  occasional  change  of  vowel, — as  in  Saxon. 
b.  The  Imperfect  Indicative,  in  Chaucer  often  (pernaps  more  gene- 
rally), in  G-ower  sometimes,  drops  the  e  of  the  above-mentioned  ter- 
minations,    c.  The  Second  Person  Singular  of  the  Imperfect  Indi- 
cative of  simple  verbs  is  formed  in  -est,  like  the  Saxon  and  English. 
But  thou  axid  occurs  7064. 

Ex.  to  (c) .  The  rhyme  in  several  cases  asterted  converted  (part.)  4857,  ameevyd 
will  shew  conclusively  that  the  final  e  agreeved  (part.)  11748,  redressed  op- 
was  actually  dropped,  and  not  simply  pressed  (part.)  11748,  aspyed  allyed 
left  off  by  the  copyists :  brought  nought  (part.)  16014,  ayled  i-sayled  (part.) 
11585,  went  yhent  (participle)  12462,  16586. 

54.  Imperfect  of  Strong,  Complex  or  "Irregular"  Yerbs.  (a) 
Chaucer. — A  few  verbs  have,  besides  the  Strong  Imperfect,  a  later 
form  of  the  other  conjugations,  e.g.  :  sleep  98,  5165,  9731,  slepte 
4192,   slept  11033;    weep  2823,   2880,   8421,  wepte   148;  creep 
4224,  4258,  crepte  4191.     The  following  cases  are  suspicious,  and 
some,  if  not  all  of  them,  bad  readings:  bifelle  befille  fille  9771, 
10390,   10007,   10883,  dronke  7643,  eete  15703,  come  (to)  1729 
should  be:  com  unto,  badde  (foure)  4911  (should  be:  bad  the  foure). 
See  has  various  forms,  saw  11503,  saugh  193,  seigh  852,  seyh  957, 
say  8543  ;  sihe  11162  (if  correct)  is  an  instance  of  an  e  arising  from 
the  softening  away  of  a  guttural.    Byngede  (the  tromp  and  clarioun) 
occurs  2602  ;    rong  14077.      The  conjugation  of  the  Anglosaxon 
hringan  is  uncertain,  but  it  would  be  strange  if  a  verb  weak  in 
Saxon  had  become  strong  in  English.     Gower — Several  Strong  or 
Complex  Yerbs  have  in  Gower  the  Imperfect  Tense  in  e,  contrary 
both  to  ancient  and  present  rule ;  but  how  as  ever  it  felle  so  ii  67, 
but:  befell  i  214,  etc.,  he  toke  manifold(e)  ii  231,  he  bonde  both 
her  armes  ii  318,  I  came  fro  ii  98,  this  ilke  tale  come  iii  350. 
(J)   Chaucer — The  2nd  Person  Singular  of  the  Imperfect  Indica- 
tive of  Strong  Yerbs  (which  in  Anglosaxon  terminates  in  e)  has 
commonly  in  Chaucer  no  termination  or  is  the  same  as  the  1st  and 
3rd,  thus  :  thou  bihight  2474,  saugh  5268,  swor  8372,  bar  8944, 
11976,  spak  12422,  14168,  dronk  15712,  flough  16717,  thou  were 
16146,  16718,  were  nere  4786,  13635,  15866,  15888,  15892,  17177, 
gav0  15937,  songe  17226,  the  e  is  doubtful  in  were,  gave,  songe,  and 
especially  in  the  two  last ;    but,  knewest  4787,  hightest  8372  ?, 
bygonnest  12370.       Gower — The    Second  Person  Singular  of  the 
Imperfect  Indicative  of  Strong  Yerbs  (which  in  Saxon  ends  in  e)  in 
the  few  cases  which  occur,  either  has  e,  or  is  the  same  as  the  1st 
Person,  as :  thou  sighe,  were,  were,  knewe,  come. 

55.  The  Plural  of  the  Imperfect  Indicative  (both  of  Simple  and 
Complex  Yerbs)  ends  (a)  in  -en,  or  (5)  in  -e,  or  (c}  has  no  termination. 

Ex.  to  (c}.  Chaucer  —  schuld  2543,  sayd  7872,  remued  11517,  herd  14251, 
4898,  14233,  cried  2564,  besought,  used  14910,  sawgh  saugh  seigh  4638, 
rhymes  with  nought,  4116,  had  5786,  7121,  9565,  9678, 13034,  began, rhymes 


356  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

with  man,  5767,  bygon  7142,   schon  stood  i  80,  stood  i  232,  shuld  iii  144, 

9000,    wan    11713,    sat   14079,    com  ran  iii   300,   wold  iii  355,  had  i  101, 

16473,  fond  16476,  ran,  rhymes  with  wist  ii  163,  fall  ii  380. 
man,  16867.     Gower — let  i  80,  under- 

56.  Subjunctive.     The  Singular  of  the  Subjunctive,  both  Present 
and  Imperfect,  uniformly  ends  in  e  through  all  the  Persons  as  in 
Saxon.     The  Plural  of  the  Subjunctive  is  in  -en,  -e. 

57.  Imperative.     In  Anglosaxon  the  2nd  person  singular  of  the 
Imperative  consists  of  the  root  of  the  verb,  and  terminates  therefore, 
in  what  is  called  the  characteristic  consonant :  except  that  verbs 
whose  infinitive  is  in  -ian  (1st  Conj.,  1st  class)  have  the  Imperative 
sing,  in  a  (as  lufian,  lufa],  while  those  which  have  a  double  charac- 
teristic drop  one  of  the  consonants  and  replace  it  with  e  (as  sittan, 
site).     The  plural  of  the  Imperative  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  In- 
dicative, and  ends  in  ath  (lath),  when  the  pronoun  or  subject  goes 
before  or  is  omitted,  or  in  e,  when  the  pronoun  which  is  the  subject 
follows.     In  Chaucer  the  Imperative  exhibits  considerable  irregu- 
larity.   The  a  of  the  Saxon  Imperative  singular  of  the  1st  conj.  be- 
comes e,  which  e  is  sometimes  shortened  or  suppressed.      The  full 
plural  form  (in  -eth)  is  of  very  frequent  occurrence ;  but  sometimes 
the  4h  appears  to  be  dropped,  and  very  frequently  the  whole  ter- 
mination.    In  this  case  the  plural  is  not  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  singular  form,  and  both  are  found  together.     Gower — In  those 
forms  of  the  singular  of  the  Imperative  which  end  in  a  vowel,  the 
vowel  is  not  well  preserved  in  Gower.      In  Pauli's  text  an  e  is 
generally  appended  to  the  forms  which  in  Saxon  end  in  a  consonant; 
erroneously,  as  the  slightest  inspection  will  shew. 

58.  Second  Person  Singular  of  Imperative. 

Ex.   Chaucer —  (a)  Simple  conjuga-  the  words   marked  (?)    is    altogether 

tion:    aske  axe  3557,    herkne  harke  suspicious,    and    probably    should    be 

9186    herk  7500,  grope  7723,  knokke  dropped.          (c]  In  the  following  cases 

3432,  thanke  16172,  have  2421  ?  have  the  final  e  is  difficult  to  be  accounted 

2227,    loke   7169  lok£   3549,  schewg  for,  unless  an  abridged  plural  form  is 

7675,  mak  3720,  telle  7026  telle  3433  confounded  with  the  singular  :    holde 

tel  7345,  bygynne  13049,  fette  3492,  thy  pees  9606,    (Tyrwhitt    has    hold 

lef  1616  leve  7671  ?,  fynd  thou  2246,  thou},  werke    by   counseil    and    thou 

speed  3562,  stynt  3146,    keep  6488,  shalt  nat  rewe  3530,  ...  I  praye  the  ... 

red  reed  17276,  send  2327,  plight  6591,  as  sende  love  2319,  ne  with  no  wood 

thenk  10039,  thou  bek  17278,  recche  man  walke  by  the  way  7669.       Gower 

12626?,    yelde  13604,   wreke  15391?  —(«)  Forms  which  in  Saxon  end  in  a 

(b)  Complex  conjugation :  spek  3803,  vowel :    medle,   loke,   telle,  but  loke 

ber  7569,  brek  15413,   com  6015,  et  i  83,  tel  i  49,  etc.,  telle  i  47,  herken 

15936,   gif  2262,    hold  2670,    bihold  i  53,  etc.,  should  very  likely  be  herkne, 

16501,  awak  4260,  awake  4286  ?,  tak  herke,  shewe.         (b}  Forms  which  in 

2228  takS  9172?  thou  tak*  15937,  far  Saxon  end  in  a  consonant:    list,  let, 

well  14675,   let  lat   923  letS    3713?,  yif  yef,  shrif  shrive,  drynk,  kepe,  redS, 

do  2407,  go  3431,  wepe  2480?  fynd  leve,  speke,   take,   fare,  come,   abide, 

2246,   drynk  7635,    help  2088,    smyt  beholdS.  (c}  behold(e)    and    deme 

17217,   rys   13133,    wyt    10051,   abyd  (demeth  ?)  my  querele  iii  196,  for  wife 

5751,  ches  1616  chesS  1597  ?,  be  6488,  (witeth  ?)  well  that  never  man  ii  242. 
ryd£  15413  ?    The  superfluous  e  in  all 

59.     Plural  (a)  generally  in  -eth,  (i)  occasionally  loses  its  final 
consonant;     awake  3700,  hithe    7191,  tritte    10642,   holde  7779 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  357 

(rhymes  with:  he  tolde),  loke  11304,  make  14837  (c)  often 
the  termination  is  entirely  dropped,  (d)  sometimes  the  abridged 
plural  (if  we  should  not  rather  say  the  singular)  seems  to  be  used 
indifferently  for  the  full  and  regular  plural :  in  other  words,  the 
singular  and  plural  forms  are  entirely  confounded:  tel  sparith  5768, 
telleth  let  6871,  goth  ley  2560,  awake  speketh  3700,  stoupeth 
helpeth  put  loke  13255-7,  youre  gentilnesse  ...  lat  thou  falle  922-3, 
ryde  brek  15413,  cast  armith  12312-3,  voydith  let  schet  13064-5. 

60.  Infinitive.     The  Infinitive  in  Chaucer  and  Gower  ends  in  -en 
(Anglosaxon  -an)  often  shortened  to  -e.     In  a  few  cases  in  Chaucer 
the  termination  -e  is  dropped.      A  few  contracted  infinitives   in 
Chaucer  are  sometimes  protracted(?):  to  seene  1037,  to  sayne  10628, 
to  doone  10648.     The  prefix  y-  (S.  ge-)  is  found  in  at  least  one 
case  before  the  infinitive  :  y-knowe  11199.     "We  find  in  Gower  the 
infinitive  without  to  after  several  verbs  which  now  require  that 
sign,  thus :  thenke  assaie,   wende  have  said,  assay  desireth,  they 
crie  begunne,  gonnen  say,  is  free  defende,  oughte  put,  were  lever 
have  had.     We  also  find  the  Infinitive  with  to  or  for  to  in  the  same 
connections,  and  to  and  for  to  indifferently  used. 

61.  Participles.     The  Perfect  Participle  of  Complex  ( "  Irregu- 
lar") Verbs  terminates  in  -en.     The  -n  is  often  dropped,  especially 
in  Gower  as  printed  by  Pauli.     The  contracted  Participle  seems  in 
a  few  instances  to  be  protracted  (?),  as  :  sene  seene  (S.  segen)  134, 
594,  926 ;  slayne  (S.  slegen)  14115  ;  sene  i  42,  82  :  be-seine  i  54. 

62.  Participles.      The  Perfect  Participle  of  the  simple  Conju- 
gation requires  no  notice.    Send,  which  has  Imperfect  sende  4134, 
has  Participle  send  10458.     Some  Verbs  which  are  of  the  Complex 
Conjugation  in  Saxon  have  become  simple  in  Chaucer,  according  to 
the  well  known  law.     Hence  we  have  wist  for  witen  10574,  12210. 
Dawet  5935,  amendit  7757,  &c.,  are  trivial  dialectic  varieties.    The 
abbreviated  forms  annonciate,   consecrate  (like  the  above,  common 
in  Scotch)  occur  15501,  3,  kidde  9817,  should  probably  be  kid. 

63.  Participles.     The  prefix  y-,  i-,  (S.  ge-)  frequently  occurs  in 
Chaucer,  but  not  frequently  in  Gower,  before  the  past  participle. 

64.*  Participles.  The  Present  Participle  terminates  for  the  most 
part  in  -yng  (Anglosaxon  -ende).  In  some  cases,  however,  it  is 
rhymed  with  the  Infinitive  Mood,  and  we  must  either  suppose  the 
participle  to  end  in  ynge,  or  else  the  Infinitive  to  have  lost  its 
termination.  The  older  forms  awaytand  7634,  lepand  7739,  touch- 
and  7872  occur,  all  in  the  Sompnoures  Tales.  Gower — The  Present 
Participle  terminates,  with  few  exceptions,  in  -ende  (S.  -ende). 
Many  words  of  French  origin  adopt  this  termination.  In  innu- 
merable cases  the  elided  e  is  not  printed  in  Pauli' s  Gower.  !Vl!uch 
less  frequently  the  accent  is  thrown  back:  comend  after  i  1, 
touchende  of  i  52,  etc.  Only  two  suspicious  cases  have  been  ob- 
served where  the  participle  ends  in  -end,  where  no  elision  could 
take  place.  A  very  few  cases  occur  of  the  later  form  of  the  par- 
ticiple in  -inge,  -ing,  sailinge  i  59,  wisshing^  and  wepingtf  i  45, 
meving  i  213,  brenninge  ii  29,  sitting  iii  253. 


858  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

65.  Anomalous  verbs.1 

CAN  =  know,  be  able ;  ps.  can  canst ;  ppl.  connen  conne  konne 
conne  can ;  imps,  couthe  cowthe  cowde  couthe ;  impl.  couthen ; 
inf.  conne ;  pp.  couth  coud. 

DAR  =  dare ;  ps.  dar  dar(e)  darst ;  ppl.  dare  dar  dor ;  imps. 
dorste  dursest  (?) ;  impl.  dorste  durste 

MAY  =  may ;  ps.  may,  2  might  may  mow  mayst  maist ;  ppl. 
mowe  mow  may  mowen  ;  prs.  (?)  mowe  mow  ;  imps,  mighte 
might  mihte ;  impl.  mighten  might ;  inf.  mow. 

MOT  =  must  (debeo),  may ;  ps.  mot  moot,  2  must  most ;  ppl. 
moten  mote  mot ;  prs.  mote ;  imps,  muste  moste  most  (= 
English  must  as  at  present) ;  impl.  musten  mosten  moste.  In 
the  sense  of  may:  prs.  mote  mot;  ims.  most  (=  might}-,  inf. 
mote. 

OWE  =  debeo  ;  ps.  oweth  =  debet ;  imps,  oughte  =  debet,  ought, 
aughte  aught ;  impl.  oughten  oughte. 

SCHAL  =  shall ;  ps.  schal  shalt ;  ppl.  schullen  schuln  schul  schal 
sul  (dialetic) ;  imps,  scholde  schulde. 

THAR  =  need ;  ps.  he  thar,  2  tharst ;  ppl.  thar  ye. 

WOT  =  wot,  scio  ;  ps.  wot  woot,  2  wost ;  ppl.  witen  weten  wite 
wote  wot  woot  woten ;  imps,  wiste  ;  prs.  wite  ;  imperative  wite 
(witeth  ?)  ;  inf.  witen  wite ;  pp.  wist ;  pres.  part,  witynge. 

66.  The  Verbs  wil,  stert : 

WLL  ;  ps.  1  wil  wol  wo!0  ?  wille,  2  wilt  wolt  wil  wol,  3  wole 

wol  wille  woll  wolle ;  ppl.  woln  wol  wil  wolle  woll  wol  will ; 

imps,  wolde  wolde,  1,  2,  3,  wold;  prs.  wile  wolle ;  pp.  wolde ! 
STERT  ;  ps.  stert  start,  (these  might  be  Imperfect  Tense  but  less 

probably) ;  imps,  sterte ;  impl.   starte ;  pp.  stert ;  pres.  part. 

stertyng ;  inf.  asterte;— #p.  ystert  (astert  ?)  1594 ;  imps,  asterte 

astertedL 

67.  Some  impersonal  verbs :  him  deyned  15620,  him  falles  (= 
opus  est)  4025,  him  gained  536,  him  lakked  10330,  hem  liketh, 
me  lyst  list  lest  lust,  me  liste ;  me  mette  (=  me  dreamed}  16380, 
but  he  mette  16569,  us  moste  (nobis  opus  est)  12874,  us  needeth ; 
him  oughte  (oportet),  me  rewith  (panitef),  him  semeth,  him  smerte, 
the  thar  (opus  est  tibi]  5911,   5918,  it  thinkith  me  16264,  him 
thenketh  3615,  thursted  him  15525.     Gower — him  hungreth,  me 
longeth,   him  nedeth,   me    quemeth   (placet],   him  reccheth,   me 
thiiketh. 

6rt.  Negative  Yerbs :  AM,  nam  nys  nas  nere  ;  HAVE,  nath  nadde 
nad ;  "WILL,  nylle  nyl  nolde ;  WOT,  nat  not  noot  nyste  nysten. 

1  Contractions :  ps.  present  indica-  feet  subjunctive;   pp.  past  participle, 

tive  singular,   ppl.   the  same  plural;  These  are  not    Prof.   Child's    abbre- 

imps.   and   impl.   imperfect   indicative  viations.     Chaucer  and  Gower  are  not 

singular  and  plural ;    inf.  infinitive  ;  distinguished,  and  references  are  omit- 

prs.  present  subjunctive ;  ims.  imper-  ted. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


359 


ADVEBBS. 

69.*  Anglosaxon  Adverbs  have  commonly  in  the  positive  degree 
the  termination  -e,  and  this  termination  is  preserved  in  Chaucer 
and  Gower. 

Ex.  Chaucer— brighte,  clene,  deepe,  lannge,  late,  nede,  ra]?e,  sare,  swi>e, 
evele,  evene,  faire,  faste,  foule,  harde,  uppe  (upp),  jeorne.  Gower — clene, 
hye,  inne,  late,  lighte,  longe,  loude,  depe,  dimnie,  un-ethe,  faire,  faste,  harde, 
nede,  oute,  rathe,  softe,  sore,  stille,  highe,  note,  inne,  ther-inne,  with-inne, 
swithe,  uun-ethe,  uppe,  wide,  yerne,  late,  -liche  a-liche  besi-liche  comun- 
ylike,  yoore.  So :  blyve,  lowe,  pore.  liche  due-liche  even-liche  open-liche 
So  in  Layamon :  cla3ne,  ufele,  efne,  parfit-liche  prive-liche  un-proper-liche 
feire,  faste,  fule,  harde,  hehje  (haeh),  sodein-liche  solempne-liche  verri-liche, 
inne  (in),  late,  longe,  lude,  nede,  ra]?e,  longe,  loude,  oute,  same  pariter,  smale, 
softe,  sare,  stille,  swi]?e,  unej^e,  uppe  softe,  sone,  sore,  stille,  swithe,  uppe, 
(up),  wide,  seorne,  iliche,  ^eare.  And  wide,  highe.  So,  alofte,  blive,  lowe, 
in  the  Orrmulum,  8ej?e,  depe,  fasste,  smarte,  straite,  wele.  Halfing  halving 
fajgre,  fule,  harrde,  he^he,  ille,  inne,  occurs  ii  65,  iii  206,  353,  356. 

70.  Comparatives  and  Superlatives  of  the  Ancient  ("Irregular") 
Form.     Compar.  Bet  better ;  superl.  best,  the  bet,  the  better.    Per 
ferre.    Lenger,  the  lenger.    More.  JSTer,  neer,  neere.    Nest,  iii  121. 
Lasse,  the  lasse;    super,  lest.     Conipar.  Wers,  worse,  the  werse, 
the  werre.    Note — bettre,  ferre,  lenger,  more,  neere,  were  originally 
adj.  forms.     The  following  superlative  forms  are  also  noticeable  on 
account  of  the  e  in  moste,  etc. :  0  firste  meving  4715,  the  moste 
stedefast  9425,  deintevous  9588,  free  11926,  grettest,  lusty  17039, 
the  gentileste  born  7948,  but :  the  fairest  hiewed  16355. 

71.  The  following  Adverbs  have  an  internal  e  (i)  which  is  not 
found  in  Anglosaxon  :  boldely,  fortheward,  needely,  oonely,  softely, 
trewely,  worthily ;  redely  ii  198.     So  semely,  rudely,  quytely. 

72.*  The  following  Particles,  of  various  terminations  in  Saxon, 
have  -e  more  or  less  frequently  in  Chaucer  and  Gower.  Those  in 
Italics  have  also  a  form  in  -s,  see  art.  73. 

Ex.    From    Saxon    forms    in    -an.      ble),  her  heer  heere,  ther  there,  wher 

where,  nouthe,  ofte.  ofte-tyme  oft-sithe 
ofte  sithes,  selde,  soone  eft-soone,  thanne 
thenue  than  thanne,  whanne  whan, 
thenne,  therefore  therfor  wherefore,  tille, 
ynowe ;  welle  1663  should  probably  be 
dwelle  as  in  Tyrwhitt,  but  welle,  wele, 
occur  in  Layamon,  and  wel  is  rhymed 
with  I  fel  (which  possibly  should  be  I 
fele)  2233.  Gower — al-gate,  a-longe, 
a-midde,  a-monge  among  among(e'), 


Chaucer— aboven  above  above,  abow- 
ten  aboute  aboute,  asondre  asonder 
asondur,  atwynne,  beside,  biforn  beforne 
byfore,  behynde  byhynde,  bynethe, 
bytwene,  by  weste,  henne,  siththen 
siththe  sith  seth,  withouten  withoute, 
by-yonde.  Layamon,  abuten,  abute, 
biforen,  bifore,  bihinden,  bihinde,  &c. 
Orrmulum,  abutenn,  biforenn,  bihinn- 
denn,  &c.  Gower  —  a-boven  a-bove 
above',  a-boule,  a-twinne,  be-hinde,  be- 
twene  betwen^  betwen,  -forn  -fore 
a-forn  a-fore  to-fore  tofore  before, — 
-nethe  be-nethe  under-nethe,  -side 
a-side  le-siden  he-side,  sithen  sithe, 
withouten  withoute,  without  i  8  ? — (b). 
Chaucer — betwix  betwixe,  bothe,  eek 
ek  eeke  eke,  evere  nevere,  ever  never 


bothe,  efte,  eke  eke,  ferre  fore,  her 
here,  ther  there  there,  wher  where' 
where,  nede,  ofte  ofte-time  often-time, 
selde  selden,  sone,  thanne  thenne  than 
then?,  whanne  whan,  thenne  =  inde 
Vfhenne—unde  whenne,  therefore,  to- 
warde  toward  toward,  wele,  while 
while  whil. 


(generally  contracted  to  a  monosylla- 

73.*  The  following  Particles,  of  various  terminations  in  Anglo- 
saxon, have  in  Chaucer  and  Gower  the  termination/ -es,  -s. 


360  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

Ex.  Chaucer — ageyn  agens  ageins  are,  his  thonkes,  here  thonkes,  1628, 

agenst  ageinst,   algates  algate    algate  2109,  2116,  his  willes  5854.     Gower — 

algat  ?,  amonges  among,  amyddes,  in  aboutes,  algates,  amiddes,  amonges,  be- 

the  middes  of    16534,   bysides,   elles,  sides,  elles,  nedes,  ones,  thries,  twies, 

hennes  hens  thennes  whennes,  needes,  un-ethes,  up-rightes,  -wardes  to-wardes 

ones,  synnes  syns  sins  syn  sin,  thries,  after-wards  afterward,  whiles   whiles, 

togideres,   towardes,   twyes,  unnethes,  for-the-nones,  now-on-daies,  now-a- 

whiles     while    whil,    now  -  on  -  dayes,  daies,  his  thankes. 
13324,  other  genitives  used  as  adverbs 

ELISION  OF  FINAL  YOWELS. 

74.  Even  if  Chaucer  followed  invariable  rules  with  regard  to 
the  pronouncing  or  suppressing  of  the  final  e,  it  cannot  be  ex- 
pected that  they  should  be  entirely  made  out  by  examining  one 
single  text  of  the  Canterbury  Tales,  which,  though  relatively  a 
good  one,  is  manifestly  full  of  errors.  A  comparison  of  several  of 
the  better  manuscripts  would  enable  us  to  speak  with  much  more 
accuracy  and  confidence.  Tyrwhitt's  arbitrary  text  may  very 
frequently  be  used  to  clear  up,  both  in  this  and  in  other  par- 
ticulars, the  much  superior  manuscript  published  by  Wright.  Still 
the  question  whether  an  e  was  pronounced  would  often  be  one 
of  much  delicacy  (as  the  previous  question  whether  it  actually 
existed  is  sometimes  one  of  great  difficulty),  and  not  to  be  deter- 
mined by  counting  syllables  on  the  fingers.  No  supposition  is 
indeed  more  absurd  than  that  Chaucer,  a  master  poet  for  any  time, 
could  write  awkward,  halting,  or  even  unharmonious  verses.  It  is 
to  be  held,  therefore,  that  when  a  verse  is  bad,  and  cannot  be  made 
good  anyway  as  it  stands,  then  we  have  not  the  verse  that  Chaucer 
wrote.  But  with  regard  to  the  particular  point  upon  which  we  are 
now  engaged,  it  would  often  be  indifferent,  or  nearly  so,  whether  a 
final  e  is  absolutely  dropped,  or  lightly  glided  over.  Then  again, 
as  not  a  few  gramatical  forms  were  most  certainly  written  both 
with  and  without  this  termination,  the  fuller  form  would  often  slip 
in  where  the  other  would  be  preferable  or  necessary,  much  depend- 
ing on  the  care,  the  intelligence,  or  the  good  ear  of  the  scribe. 
Very  often  the  concurrence  of  an  initial  vowel,  justifying  elision, 
with  a  doubtful  final  0,  renders  it  possible  to  read  a  verse  in  two 
ways  or  more ;  and  lastly,  hundreds  of  verses  are  so  mutilated  or 
corrupted  that  no  safe  opinion  can  be  based  upon  them.  Such 
verses  as  these  ought  plainly  not  to  be  used  either  to  support  or 
impugn  a  conclusion ;  neither  ought  the  general  rules  which  seem 
to  be  authorized  by  the  majority  of  instances  be  too  rigorously 
applied  to  the  emendation  of  verses  that  cannot  be  made,  as  they 
stand,  to  come  under  these  rules. 

Gower — Unaccented  e  final  may  be  elided  (slurred)  [but  see  above 
p.  342]. 

I.  before  a  vowel  following : 

II.  before  a  few  words  beginning  with  h  : 

1 .  before  the  pronoun  he  (his,  him,  her,  hem) : 

2.  before  hath  (has)  and  hast  •  before  have,  except  perhaps  the 
Infinitive  3£ood;  sometimes  before  hadde  (had). 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  361 

3.  before  the  adverbs  now  and  here  (her). 

4.  before  two  or  three  words  of  French  origin,  in  which  h  is 
silent. 

When  one  of  these  words  beginning  with  h  ends  the  verse,  no 
elisioa  takes  place  before  it. 

The  e  final  of  a  monosyllable  generally  does  not  suffer  elision. 
Elision  seems  frequently  to  be  prevented  by  the  caesural  pause. ' 

75.  Unaccented  e  final  is  commonly  elided  before  a  vowel  69,  81, 
421,  498,   900,  7294,  7321,  9162,  9700,    12036,    13432,    13701, 
14875,  15000  [and  innumerable  other  instances]. 

76.  Unaccented  e  final  is  elided  before  a  few  words  beginning 
with  h : 

a.  Before  the  pronoun  he  (his,  him,  hire,  hir,  hem).     Gower — But 
not  when  these  pronouns  stand  at  the  end  of  a  verse  :  wenende  that 
it  were  he  i  243,  and  in  this  wise  spedde  he  ii  74,  hadde  he  ii  150, 
saide  his  ii  383,  tolde  he  iii  139. 

b.  Before  hath  (has),  and  sometimes  apparently  before  have,  hadde 
(had),  though  with  regard  to  these  last  two  words  the  number  of 
cases  is  not  enough  for  certainty.     Gower — Before  hath  (has  ?)  and 
hast :  before  have,  except  perhaps  the  Infinitive  Mood ;  sometimes 
before  hadde  (had).     Not  often  before  have  in  the  Infinitive.     More 
frequently  not  before  hadde.     Hadde  often  stands  at  the  end  of  the 
verse  and  then  there  is  no  elision. 

c.  Before  how  and  her  (heer).     [Exceptions,  both  in  Chaucer  and 
Gower  are  queried,  and  the  readings  are  doubtful.] 

Ex.  to  (a).   Chaucer— 106, 184,  696,  have  i  73,  if  I  for  love  havg  i  224, 

949,   1364,   1370,    1483,   3954,   7462,  etc.    Thou  might  the  more  havS  i  178, 

10418  and  innumerable  other  cases.  he  thoughts  have  iii  162,  his  lore  have 

Ex.  to  (5).  For  hath,  has  the  Ex.  are  iii  302.    No  elision  at  the  end  of  the 

innumerable,  as:    fortune  hath  1088,  verse:  wolde  have  ii  358,  herte  have 

1492,  15833,  ful  sone  hath  2448,  eelde  ii  50,  shulde  have  iii  139,  i  127,  mede 

hath  2449,  neede  has  4024,  nature  hath  have  iii  88,  yifte  have  i  170,  i  323, 

2760,  3009,  13424,  peple  hath  8869,  mighte  have  iii  24,  wolde  have  ii  211, 

youthe  has  9612,  etc.,  but :  and  now  ymage  have  ii  124. 
so  longe  hath  the  tappe  i-ronne  3891  ?          For  had,  hadde.    Chaucer — pope  had 

Gower — exceptions:  som(e)  cause  hath  6002,  chirch[e]  had  7318,  sonne  had 

whereof  it  groweth  i  264,  a  sone  hath  11328,  routhe  had  11573,  w[h]itnesse 

which  as  his  lif(e)  ii  324,  men  sain  that  hadde  12017,  sorwe  had  1361  ?,  frere 

nede  hath  no  lawe  iii  277,  of  love  hath  had  7315  ?  hert[e]  had  11819  ?,  science 

within  her  warde  ii  354,  (but  in  the  had  12660  bad  reading,  worlde  had 

next  verse:    Phebus  to  love  hath  so  16151  bad  reading.     But:  at  many  a 

constreigned),  which  kinde  hath  and  noble  arive  hadde  he  be  60,  as  Noe 

reson  can  i  366.  hadde  3560,  namly  on  bedde  hadden 

For  have.   Chaucer — so  longe  have  5989,  though  he  no  more  hadde  9859. 

11144,  herte  have  11352,  sorw<?  have  In  Littowe  hadde  54  ?  atte  siege  hadde 

12637  gaude  have  I  13804,  peyne  havg  56  ?  Hadde  he  is  sometimes  contracted, 

15527,  couthe  have  9308.   Exceptions :  and  spelled  as  pronounced,    had  he, 

gcholde'  have  691,  Arcite  have  2260,  hadde,  as :  a  garland  had  he  set  668, 

drinke  have  4918,    frere  have  7716,  319,  351,  in  termes  hadde  caas  325,  54, 

poeple  have  8118,  mighte  have  8560,  578  ;  he  hadde  is  generally  pronounced 

I  schulde  ban  15062,  your  tale  have  he  hadde  (= he  had?)  as  :  fuloftetyme 

be  16285,  schredde  ban  8254  doubtful.  he  hadde  the  bord  bygonne  52,  for  he 

Gower — though  I   siknesse  have,  and  hadde  power  218,  85,  642.     Gower — 

longe  havS  had  i  5,  but  I  bis  grace  for  he  his  love  had  i  77,  thus  he  which 


362 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


love  had  i  121,  and  of  the  scull*  had  i 
128,  wherof  the  sone  had  i  285,  the  god 
an  eye  had  ii  149,  this  Adriagn*  had  ii 
308.  Exceptions :  was  hote,  hadde  i 
55,  the  sceptre  hadde  i  179,  wher(e) 
they  the  queue  hadden  do  i  201,  that 
Rome  hadde  ii  196,  a  werre  had  ii 
200,  so  as  the  quene  had  ii  271,  a  sone 
had  ii  302,  victoire  had  iii  165,  which 
love  hadde  iii  364.  Had  final :  a  werre 
had  i  125,  joie  had  i  167,  time  hadde 
i  219,  a  sone  hadde  i  313,  to  sone 
hadde  ii  4,  no  love  hadde  ii  48,  her 
herte  hadde  ii65,  his  wille  hadde  ii  196. 

Ex.  to  (*).  For  how.  Chaucer — by 
his  clenness*  how  508,  than  wol  I  clep* 
how  3577,  hut  of  my  tale  how  4510, 
jugg*  how  may  this  he  5234,  thou  wilt 
algate  wit*  how  7096,  nought  wold  I 
tell*  how  11628,  unto  this  philosophy 
how  11865,  me  mett*  how  16384,  mett* 
a  thing  16598;  wiste  how  1491  inde- 
cisive. Exceptions  :  I  spak  to  him  and 
sayde  how  that  he  6149,  Tyrwhitt,  said 
hiim  how;  in  myn  office  how  that  I 
may  wynne  7003,  Tyrwhitt,  how  I  may 
moste  winne.  In  the  following  the 
infinitive  should  have  an  «:  to  telle 
how  2823,  dar  I  not  telle  how  14531, 
and  ye  schal  under stonde  how  15760. 
Gower — the  elision  is  very  frequent,  in 
the  exceptions :  if  no  man  write  how 
it  stood  i  4,  and  thoughts  how(e)  it 
was  not  good  i  269,  and  all  the  cause 
how  it  went  ii  122,  we  should  probably 
read  how  that,  a  phrase  of  frequent  oc- 
currence in  similar  positions. 

For  7t*r=here.  C'haucer — that  sterv* 
here  1296,  plight  me  thy  trouth(^)  her 
6591,  both*  beer  8043,  anoon  for  myn 
ally*  beer  tak*  I  the  12225.  Excep- 
tions:  in  erthe  heere  9521,  lordings 


ensample  herby  15725,  here  ensaniple 
may  be  pronounced  ensampul  as  in 
5594.  Gower — her  not  final :  we  shall 
befall*  here  i  3,  and  for  to  bear*  herof 
i  70,  lo,  son*  her(e)  might  thou  ii  50, 
I  not  what  fall*  herafter  shall  ii  278, 
of  dedely  pein*  here  iii  37,  my  son*, 
herafter  iii  145 ;  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  falle[n],  beare[n],  may  be  read  as 
monosyllables ;  the  other  three  cases 
cannot  be  explained  away,  if  the  read- 
ings are  correct.  Her  =  here  final : 
penaunce  here  ii  43,  saide  here  ii  45, 
alive  here  ii  171,  telle  here  ii  175, 
erthe  ii  269,  i  37,  iii  94,  38,  iii  106, 
etc. 

For  a  few  French  words.  Gower — 
(a)  the  vein[*]  honour  i  11,  for  thilk* 
honour  i  261,  cans*  honest  ii  9,  of 
armes  thilk*  honour  ii  64,  that  lov* 
honest  ii  78,  of  trebl*  honour  iii  165, 
of  pees  richess*  honour  iii  273,  may 
never  be  to  loves  law*  honeste  iii  352, 
but:  which  techeth  thilke  honeste  iii 
141,  but  upon  alle  honeste  iii  272, 
where  the  elision  is  prevented  by  the 
ictus.  (b)  to  feign*  humilite  i  66, 
and  with  low(e)  hert*  humblesse  sue 
i  118.  (*)  thilk<»  horrible  sinne  i 
77,  76,  that  thilke  horrible  sinful!  dede 
i  365.  (rf)  dam*  Heleine  ii  230, 
quen*  Heleine  ii  384,  had  wonn*  He- 
leine ii  387,  compare ;  after  his  moder 
quen*  Eleine  i  276. 

We  find  also  in  Gower :  an  said*  Ha 
ii  320,  and  whan  he  wok(e)  he  said*, 
Ha,  wif(e)  iii  310.  But  saide  should 
perhaps  be  printed  said,  as :  and  said 
Ha,  now  thou  art  atake  ii  338,  or  Ha 
should  perhaps  be  Ah.  We  find: 
receive  til  he  saide  ho  ii  201,  I  woll 
the  telk  and  thann*  ho  iii  274. 


77.  Except  in  the  cases  mentioned  above,  there  appears  to  be  no 
rule  that  final  e  should  be  elided  before  h,  as  :   14,  146,  150,  535, 
884,    1015,    1051,    1677,   1820,  2088,    2465,   2711,  3953,   4266, 
4407,  5934,  6035,  6548,  etc. 

78.  It  is  very  probable   that   some   liberty  was   allowed  with 
regard  to  elision  of  e  before  h.     A  few  cases  are  added  where  the 
practice  (so  far  as  it  can  be  determined  by  a  very  few  examples) 
seems  to  have  varied,  and  a  few  other  instances,  which,  if  the 
reading  is  correct,  are  exceptions  to  art.  77  :  6034,  6062,  6035, 
6085,   6169,   5599,   2273,    14512,   2369,  2791,   999,  4523,  8139, 
11151,  12039,  17200. 

79.  An  accented  final  e  (including  e  coming  from  French  ^,  even 
when  the  accent  has  been  cast  back)  is  of  course  not  elided. 

80.  The  e  of  monosyllables  is  commonly  not  elided,  except  in  the 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


363 


case  of  the  article  tfte  and,  in  Chaucer,  not  in  Gower,  the  negative 
particle  ne. 

81.  The  e  of  the  is  much  more  frequently  elided  than  not,  and 
before  e  almost  invariably.  The  th  is  frequently  united  to  the  fol- 
lowing word,  as  also  with  the  verb  the  =  thrive  in  the  forms  :  theek, 
theech,  3862,  12857,  14362.  The  e  of  ne  is  perhaps  less  frequently 
united. 


Ex.  for  the  Chaucer— but  to  the  effect 
1191,  this  is  ZAeffect  1489,  ^enchaunte- 
ments  1946,  1958,  2279,  4570,  etc., 
that  is  bitwixe  thest  6829,  tfAestat, 
tfAarray  718,  the  absence  1241,  than 
was  tfAassembe  4823,  3078,  etc.,  in 
which  thonlce  2865,  %mage  14916,  the 
herueys  2898,  of  children  to  Honour 
9323.  Exceptions :  the  olde  clerkes 
1165,  when  al  the  orient  1496,  up  to 
the  ancle  1663,  on  the  auter  bright 
2427,  only  the  intellect  2805,  of  which 
the  eldest  10344  ?  the  elf-queen  6442, 


the  end<?  is  this,  that  he  6652.  Gower — 
no  exceptions  to  the  elision  of  the  noted. 
For  ne  Chaucer — he  ne  hath  no 
peyne  1321,  alias  I  ne  have  2229,  ne 
abyde  3125,  ne  at  Rome  4710,  prive 
ne  apert  6718,  I  ne  held  me  8694, 
I  ne  have  as  now  11289.  Excep- 
tions: ne  oynement  633,  ne  of  the 
knobbes  635,  no  herd  ne  hadde  he 
691,  fyr  ne  eyr  1248,  young  ne  old 
3112,  ne  in  noon  other  9963,  in  al  the 
world  ne  hadde  be  15540,  if  that  the 
wynd  ne  hadde  be  16555. 


82.  The  ca5sural  pause  frequently  prevents  the  elision  of  final  e. 

Ex.  Chaucer — 

a.    that  on  his  schyne — a  mormal  hadde  he.  388 

this  was  thyn  othe — and  myn  eek  certayn.  1141 

withouten  doute — it  may  stonde  so.  1324 

and  lete  him  stille — in  his  prisoun  dwelle.  1337 

but  how  sche  dide — I  ne  dar  not  telle.  2286 

for  thilke  peyne— and  that  hoote  fuyr(e).  2385 

Some  hadde  salve — and  some  hadde  charmes.  2714 

and  tyl  he  hadde — al  that  night  i-seyn.  4377 

than  that  it  rote — al  the  remenaunt.  4405 

ire  is  a  sinne — oon  the  grete  of  sevene.  7587 

to  stonde  in  grace — of  his  lady  deere.  13276 

if  that  a  prince — use  hasardrie.  14014 


no  longer  thanne — after  Deth  thay  sought[e].  14187 

the  trespas  of  hem  bothe — and  here  cause. 

I  prey  to  God  hir  save — and  susteene. 

for  though  that  I  be  foule — old  and  pore. 

com  forth  my  swete  spouse — out  of  doute. 

in  thende  of  which  an  unce — and  no  more. 

this  Persoun  him  answerde — al  at  oones. 


Gower— 


1766 
4580 
6645 
10018 
13194 
17324 

i  143 
i  236 
i  241 
ii  82 
ii  96 
ii  110 
ii  146 
ii  171 

and  with  spellinge — and  her  charmes  ii  263 

Jason  bar(e)  croune — on  his  hed(e)  ii  267 

her  love  is  sonc — after  (aft'r)  ago  ii  306 

with  shame — and  the  nimphes  fledde  ii  337 

which  kinde — in  her  lawe  hath  set(te)  i  268  etc. 

83.  Other  vowels  are  occasionally  elided   as  in/modem  verse. 
[The  examples  cited  225,  294,  423,  929,  1111,  1830,  7285,  9212, 


he  wepte — and  with  woful  teres. 
with  strengths — of  his  owne  might 
supplant  of  love — in  our  waies 
in  the  cronique — as  I  finde. 
kisse  her  eftsone — if  I  sholde. 
with  all  min  herte — I  woll  serve, 
though  he  ne  wolde — it  allowe 
and  in  worshippe — of  her  name. 


364  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  ATsTD  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

9284,   9394,    11669,    13734,   14874,   15112  are  almost  all   simple 
cases  of  trisyllabic  measures,  and  similarly  in  Gower,  see  art.  92.] 

SILENT   FINAL   E. 

84.  E  final  seems  especially  liable  to  become  silent  when  it  fol- 
lows r.     The  sound  r  is  peculiarly  unstable,  and  most  languages, 
in  their  successive  stages  or  in  their  dialects,  afford  instances  of  its 
being  transposed,  now  standing  before,  now  following  a  vowel,  as 
Saxon  gaers,   gra3s ;    Ital.   capre,   Roman  dial,   crape ;    Engl.  iron, 
apron,  spectre,  etc.     In  Wright's  text  of  the  Canterbury  Tales  we 
often  find  the  terminations  re  and  er  indifferently  used,  as  asondre 
5577,  asonder  (ur)  7256,  493.      Of  course   we  have  no  means  of 
determining  to  what  degree,  if  at  all,  the  pronunciation  er  had 
begun  to  prevail  even  while  the  spelling  re  was  retained.     The 
Comparative  Degree  of  Adjectives  is  commonly  spelled  with  er  in 
Chaucer  (see  art.  38),  instead  of  the  Saxon  re,  though  both  forms 
occur;  as  bettre  526,  650,  better  10416,  lenger  332,  lengere  823. 
Nouns  which  anciently  ended  in  -ere,  generally  or  always  end  in 
-er,  as  hopper  4034,  miller  3923,  sleper  16377,  etc.  (see  art.  8). 
"We  find  many  French  words  spelled  both  with  re  and  er,  as  lettre 
5228,  5229,  5241,  letter  10415,  cloystre  oystre  181,  182,  cloyster 
oyster  7681,  7682;    chambre  1073,  chambur  13145,   tendre   150, 
9631,  tender  9617,  etc.     We  also  find  the  final  e  of  some  French 
words  absolutely  dropped ;  thus  maner  occurs  most  commonly  with- 
out the  final  e,  except  at  the  end  of  averse,  71,  2546  ;  10501,  11737 ; 
ryver  (F.  riviere)  is  rhymed  6466  with  bacheler  (F.  lacheler),  and 
15148  with  deer;  cheer  (F.  chere)  once  1342  with  prisoner  (F.  pri- 
sonnier),  though  commonly  pronounced  cheere.     In  these  cases  ryver 
must  have   been  pronounced  like  our  revere  (ryve-er)  and  cheer 
che-er,  instead  of  ryver-e,  cheer-e,  the  r  being  in  fact  transposed. 
Gower — The  only  cases  which  are  supported  by  instances  enough  to 
make  silent  final  e  of  consequence  are  the  words  have,  here  (their), 
were,  more,  and  the  termination  -fore  (to-fore,  be-fore).   We  have  also 
the  double  forms  comun,  comune ;  divers,  diverse  ;    here  the  longer 
form  seems  to  be  a  license  for  the  sake  of  rhyme.    The  Comparative 
of  Adjectives  is  always  written  in  Pauli's  text  with  -er  instead  of 
the  Saxon  -re.     French  words  are  written  indifferently  with  both 
terminations.     Slight  reliance,  however,  is  to  be  placed  upon  the 
editor's  spelling. 

85.  The  only  rule  with  regard  to  e  being  silent  after  r  which 
can  safely  be  made  general,  is  perhaps  that 

e  final  is  silent  in  the  pronouns  hire,  her#  (=  her),  very  often 
spelled  hir,  here  (=  their),  oure,  youre.  Gower — The  e  final  of 
here  (=  their)  is  silent,  that  is,  not  forming  a  full  syllable ;  whether 
the  letter  was  absolutely  mute,  or  slurred,  or,  in  the  words  ending 
in  -re,  pronounced  before  the  r,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say.  The  dative 
and  accusative  of  the  feminine  personal  pronoun  often  preserve  the 
Saxon  e,  see  the  forms  hire,  here,  art.  45. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


365 


86.  E  final  is  in  Chaucer  frequently,  in  Gower  sometimes,  silent 
in  were. 


Ex.  Chaucer — were,  indie.  2nd  pers. 
sing.  15866,  15888,  17177;  plural  of 
indie.,  18,  26,  59,  81,  2169,  2185,  etc., 
etc.  ;  subjunctive,  584,  877,  1213, 
1216,  14229,  14570,  etc.,  written  wer 
10782,  16280  (ner=ne  wer).  Excep- 
tions :  were,  indie.  2nd.  pers.  sing. 
4877,  16718,  pi.  of  indie.  326,  1705, 


1966,  6893,  1238,  etc.,  subjunctive 
9483,  10529,  may  be  read:  it  were 
good  that  such  thing  were  y-knowe, 
or  :  and  't  were  good  that  such  thing 
were  knowe.  Gower — [17  instances  of 
were,  and  60  of  were  are  cited,  and  the 
last  are  only  a  few  out  of  many.] 


87.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  e  final  was  generally 
pronounced  after  r.  It  is  commonly  in  the  body  of  a  verse,  and  for 
metre's  sake,  that  the  occasion  is  presented  for  dispensing  with  this 
sound ;  rarely  is  it  dropped  for  the  sake  of  rhyme,  though  very  often 
e  is  added  on  that  account  to  words  which  ordinarily  terminate  in  a 
consonant, — or  more  properly  speaking,  of  two  existing  forms,  a 
rarer  one  in  -e  is  often  employed  when  the  rhyme  demands  the 
final  vowel,  as  yer  by  yere  4552,  rhyming  with  heere.  The  final  e 
of  deere  (ags.  deore)  and  of  cheere  (Fr.  chere)  was  most  distinctly 
pronounced.  We  should  therefore  be  justified  in  inferring  that  the 
final  e  was  pronounced  in  the  following  words  rhymed  with  deere 
and  cheere,  even  if  this  fact  could  not  be  independently  proved,  as 
can  be  done  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  instances  cited. 


Ex.  Chaucer  —  deere  1236,  2455, 
3361,  etc.,  the  only  exception  noticed 
being  7334 ;  with  this  rhyme :  heere 
(adv.)  1821,  3502,  3774,  prayere  2261, 
12184,  yere  8278,  in  feere  4815,  12308, 
steere  4868,  5253,  frere  6881,  13283, 
manere  7207,  8455,  to  leere  7098, 
13277,  chere  8017,  12232,  12310,  ma- 
tiere  8198,  8467,  were  (subj.)  8758,  to 
heere  8963,  cleere  12182,  15066,  beere 
15091,  (to)  appeere  13060.  cheere 
749,  5422,  8411,  8554  (cheer  9889  in 
a  suspicious  line)  ;  with  this  rhyme  : 
heere  7884,  8245,  in  feere  4815,  8989, 
frere  6847,  7739,  manere  140,  10821, 
leere  (verb)  10418,  deere  14739,  14836, 
matere  729,  15409,  to  heere  915,2900, 
cleere  8655,  9719,  here  6169,  to  re- 
peire  14737,  all  of  which  also  occur  in 
the  former  list.  Similarly,  feere 
2346,  2688,  2932,  7286,  16877,  with 


which  rhyme :  eere  6603,  tere  11206, 
15664,  gere  5220,  there  5222.  Again, 
beere  15036,  and  above,  with  which 
rhyme:  were  pi.  2901,  15662,  tere 
15664,  there  15037.  Again,  eere 

6218  and  above  tags,  eare),  with  which 
rhyme:  were  pi.  8604,  12823,  were 
subj.  17131,  there  7656,  where  7634, 
10629.  Gower — the  examples  cited  in 
arts.  84,  85,  86,  are  the  only  cases  of  e 
silent  after  er,  except  a  few  isolated 
ones,  as :  ther  halp(e)  him  nouther 
sperg  ne  shelde  i  125,  for  if  thou  berg 
my  tale  wel(e)  ii  340,  he  yav(e)  hem 
answere  (answre  ?)  by  and  by  iii  305. 
It  has  been  observed  already  that  such 
representatives  as  occur  of  the  Saxon 
noun  in  -ere,  denoting  an  agent,  want 
the  final  vowel,  but  none  of  the  few 
cases  that  occur  are  worth  much,  see 
art.  8. 


88.  Less  to  be  relied  on  are  the  following : 

spere  15289,  ags.  spere,  and  there- 
fore:  here  ursus  1642,  were  pi.  2950, 
to  here  4877,  to  dere  ladere  10554. 

teere  (art.  87)  and  therefore :  were 
pi.  4954,  11493,  15662,  there  4956, 
were  2nd  pers.  16146,  schere  15542, 
yere  15545,  enquere  9417.  schere 
ags.  sceare;  and  therefore  (?) :  were 
pi.  15544,  yere  15545,  teere  15547. 

gere  ?  ags.  geara,  367  ;  and  there- 


fore :  were  subj.  353,  were  pi.  1017, 
there  5222,  8250.  enquere,  old  fr. 

enquerre,  9406  ?  and  therefore :  en- 
quere 3166,  there  3165.  requere, 
old  fr.  requerre,  6634  ?  and  therefore : 
there  6633.  Fyncstere,  Fr.  Finisterre, 
410  ?  and  therefore  r  were  pi.  409. 

mere  (equa)  543,  mellere  ?  544. 

forbere  3168  myllere  P  3167. 


366  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

89.*  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  many  cases  in  which  e  final 
must  have  been  silent,  or  where  it  is  actually  dropped  after  er. 
Chauntecler  is  most  misspelt  with  -e,  in  the  Nonne  Prestes  Tale. 
That  it  ought  to  have  no  final  e  appears  from  the  French  derivation 
(Chantecler],  and  from  the  rhymes  her  (tuli)  and  power  (new  fr. 
16822,  16830,  also  misspelt  here,  powere. 


Ex.  here  ferre  1424,  bere  ursus  2060,  baner,  beere,  berg,  chambre,  deere,  fere, 

bere/ero  8760,  were  vestiri  87 62,  swerg  frere  (often  frere),  maner,  swore,  swer. 

jurare  11101,  12076,  all  rhymed  with  See  art.  72  for  the  double  forms  :   here 

the  pronoun  here  hire'.     So  :  answerS,  her,  there  ther,  where  wher,  evere  ever. 

90.*  "With  regard  to  final  e  after  ir,  ar,  or,  ur,  it  does  not  appear 
to  be  more  frequently  silent  in  such  cases  than  after  other  letters, 
except  in  sire  and  more.  Gower — E  final  is  sometimes  silent  in 
-fore  and  more.  We  find  two  forms  sire  and  sire  =  sir,  correspond- 
ing to  French  sire,  sieur,  Italian  ser,  sere. 

Ex.  Chaucer — sire  sire,  ire  ire,  bare,  dore,  therefore  therefor  therfore,  foure, 

faire,  spare,  chare  Fr.  chaire,  declare  Pf  pure,  vesturg.  Gower fore  to-fore^ 

declare,  haire,  peyre,  mcrg  mor  more,  and  -fore  to-fore  be-fore  a-fore,  more" 
pore  pore,  bifore'  byfore,  sore*  sore,  dorg  oftener  more. 

91.*  A  considerable  number  of  cases  will  now  be  given  of  e  silent 
after  other  letters  than  r  without  any  attempt  to  explain  the  fact. 
Many  words  of  French  origin  are  spelt  in  Chaucer  sometimes  with 
a  final  ce,  sometimes  with  s.  Gower — The  only  important  instances 
of  silent  e  final  are  the  word  have  and  some  forms  in  ~ce  (se).  Note- 
worthy instances  of  e  final  silent  after  other  consonants  than  those 
already  mentioned  are  very  few.  By  noteworthy  instances  is  meant 
cases  in  which  a  final  e,  that  by  general  laws  should  be  sounded,  is 
required  by  the  metre  to  be  silent.  Some  of  the  apparent  exceptions 
can  be  explained  away.  A  few  cannot. 

Ex.  Chaucer — e  silent  after  £,  m,  n :  fonde,  woodg,  lowdg,  bruyd'  —  by- 
allg,  halle,  tale,  telle,  helle,  fellg,  welle,  queth^,  mirthS,  rewthe,  trouthg, 
fele,  mele,  welg,  soulS,  myllg,  mylS,  youthe.  e  silent  after  s  (c)  :  nose, 
pyle — damS,  madame,  name,  clayme,  prose  [the  reference  466  is  erroneous] 
deme,  come,  welcome,  some,  tyme —  clennesse  besynes  goodnes  lewednes 
pan',  regng,  dene,  begynne,  none,  song,  worthines,  goddesse,  blis'  blys',  wis^, 
goune.  e  silent  after  w,  y :  dawe,  cheese,  suppose,  these"  thise,  prays^, 
schrew',  trewe,  bowS,  crow',  ynowS,  pres'  Fr.  presse,  nobles'— grace,  forcS 
trowe,  widow',  morwe,  joye,  weye.  but  force  in  the  same  line  3910,  prince, 

e  siltnt  after  p,  b,  v :  helpe,  felaw-  malice,  place,  Constauncg  Constaunce. 
schipe,  Torschip,  hope",  popg,  have,  experience  experiens,  plesaunce 

save,  av£,  receyve,  leve,  give,  gev£,  lyve,  pleisauns,  norice  noris,  pacience  paciens, 
stryve,  lo\  £,  grovS.  e  silent  after  k,  sentence  sentens,  force  fors,  solas  solaas 
ff,  ch :  sake,  seeke,  biseke,  speke —  solace  solace,  allaas  laas  lace  trespace, 
mariag^,  viage,  visage,  ag^,  tonge,  trace  trays  harnays,  face  faas,  preface, 
bringe,  sege — specif,  wrechg,  chirch^.  [In  a  large  number  of  cases  the  e  here 
e  silent  after  t,  d,  th,  besides  the  cited  may  have  been  an  e  introducing 
final  e  of  the  imperfect  indie,  of  simple  a  trissillabic  measure  of  no  injury  to 
verbs,  which  is  as  often  silent  as  pro-  the  metre,  see  art.  92.]  Gower — e  is 
nounced  [unless,  the  -ed,  for  -ede  be  generally  silent  in  have  except  at  the 
read  -'de,  and  th\e  point  is  doubtful]  :  end  of  a  line,  but :  ne  have  whan  I 
hate,  bete1,  getg,  mete',  swetg,  herte1,  spak(e)  i  296,  ye  have  thilke  vic<?  ii  55, 
schertg,  might',  sight5  —  forbede,  dede,  have  non(e)  i  295,  be  so  they  have  i 
heed',  ledS,  redS,  ste^de1,  endS,  fynde,  316,  have  routhe  i  47,  and  (infinitive) 
kyndg,  lynde,  holdeV  ixous^-bonde,  i  94,  170,  iii  222,  702.  The  infini- 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  367 

tives  and  the  plural  forms  of  the  indica-  to  us  through  the  Fr.  bourse  ;  it  has 

tive  and  subjunctive  may  have  origin-  dropped  the   e,  like   Swed.  and  Dan. 

ally  heen  written  haven ;    so  written,  bars,  and  Germ,  bors,  which  is  found  as 

the  word  might  perhaps  have  been  con-  well  as  borse.        helpe  help  8  cases  to 

tracted  at  pleasure  into  a  monosyllable.  helpe  9  cases  ;  2  quene  and  27  quene, 

e  is  in  a  few  words  of  Latin  origin  2  sight  and  6  sighte,  3  food  and  5  or  6 

silent,  or  absent  where  it  might  be  ex-  fode,  1  time  ii  167  but  elsewhere  al- 

pected  after  c,  s :  grace,  rhymes  with  ways  time,  1  nede  i  155  but  elsewhere 

encres,  old  Fr.  a-crois  ii  392,  grace  i  9,  always  nede  :    3   spedg   and  about  3 

etc.,  Boniface,  Morice,  Moris  =  Maurice,  spede,  2  I  rede  and  elsewhere  rede,  etc. 

force,  rhymes  with  hors  ii  392,  fallas  [These  cases  all  require  examination 

Fr.  fallace  rhymes  with  was,  iii  158  :  by  manuscripts,    and    the    remaining 

avarice  ii   290   avarice  ii   127,   pursg  doubtful  cases  are  therefore  not  cited 

purs,  this  word  derived  from  Middle  here.] 
Latin  bursa,  probably  does  not  come 

92.  For  convenience  sake  the  final  e  in  the  above  citations  has 
been  treated  as  silent.     It  is,  however,  a  question  which  may  be 
called  at  least  a  difficult  one  to  solve,  whether  the  e  in  many  cases 
was  absolutely  dropped,    or  only  slightly  pronounced.      In  very 
many  lines  the  verse  would  be  equally  agreeable,  whichever,  of  the 
two  should  be  done  ;  in  some,   the  verse  might  be  fuller  to  a  good 
ear,  if  the  e  were  slightly  sounded ;  in  some  this  sound  would  dis- 
turb the  metre. 

A  considerable  number  of  these  exceptions  might  disappear  on  a 
comparison  of  manuscripts,  but  very  many  would  doubtless  remain. 
The  vowel  appears  to  be  most  frequently  silent  after  the  liquids, 
after  w  and  v,  t,  d,  and  s.  Some  of  the  most  noticeable  words  are 
the  pronouns  hire,  here,  oure,  youre;  the  verb  were;  thew  sire,  more, 
alle,  tymo,  sone  (films),  trowe,  have,  give,  love,  sight"1,  woode,  Uiss\ 

Possibly,  all  that  is  to  be  said  of  this  matter  is,  that  the  final  e 
might  be  dropped  freely,  as  in  modern  German  verse,  as : 
das  Erst'  war'  so,  das  Zweite  so. 
der  begehrt  jede  liebe  Blum'  fur  sich, 
und  dUnkelt  ihm  es  war'  kein'  Ehr', 
und  Gunst  die  nicht  zu  pfliicken  war'. — 
hat  er  so  aller  Treu',  so  aller  Lieb'  vergessen. 

&c.,  &c.  —(Goethe's  Faust.} 

Of  course  we  are  not  authorized,  in  the  present  state  of  our  know- 
ledge, to  drop  the  superfluous  e  and  indicate  the  omission  by  an 
apostrophe. 

CoKTRACTIOlfS. 

93.  The  e  in  final  er  is  very  frequently  elided,  especially  under 
the  circumstances  in  which  e  final  would  suffer  elision.      [Most 
of  the  instances  cited  seem  more  properly  to  belong  to  the  class  of 
trissyllabic  measures.     The  words  and  a  reference  to  the  line  in 
Chaucer  are   here  added,  when  the  words  begin  with   a   capital 
they  occur  in  the  lists  given  in  both  papers,  when  they  are  in 
small   capitals  they  occur  in  the  Gower  papers  only,  and  no  re- 
ferences are  given.]     ADDER,  After  162,   343,   527,   anger  12847, 
answer  1325,   begger  252,   BETTER,   CHAMBRE,  coper  13236,  delyver 
84,  Ever  Never  50,   345,   1824,   9963,   1262,  8020,  8027,  9605, 


368  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

9618,  10077,  10078,  Fader  5613,  fetter  2146,  fynger  7472,  HINDER 
v.,  LEDGER,  LETTER,  LEVER,  maner  9755,  MONSTER,  nedder  9660, 
neyther  9413,  9962,  ofter  16914,  OTHER,  over  11967,  persever  5730, 
silver  82,  631?,  sober  7484,  somer  396,  sowter  3902,  STJSTER,  TENDER, 
THUNDER,  togider  826,  water  402,  3815,  13244,  Whether  1103, 
15415,  9407,  15341,  wonder  12531. 

94.  The  vowel  is  elided  tinder  similar  circumstances  in  the  syl- 
lable -en.     Chaucer :  mooten  232,  weren   1282,  comen  803,  riclen 
827,  prisoun1  1231,  faren  1263,   wepen  1593,  bringen  5384,  risen 
10697,  y-comen  14908.     Gower :  shulden  i  76,  wolden  i  79,  treten 
i  250,   geten  i  339,  vengen  i  345,  stonden  i  364,  woman  ii  46, 
wepon  ii  306,  rehercen  iii  19. 

95.  The  third  person  singular  of  the  Present  Indicative   ends 
commonly  in  -eth,  not  seldom  in  -th.     "When  the  form  -eth  is  used, 
the  e  is  often  elided.      Chaucer:  answereth  1622,  thenketh  cometh 
1645,  cometh  8033,  14196,  makth  5318,  7415,  spekth  5646,  clap- 
pith  7166,  lyveth  7944,   takith  8178,   loveth  8246,  8247,  spedith 
9801,  bereth  10949,   to-breketh  12835,  abideth  14396.      Gower: 
speketh  i  64,  maketh  i  68,  156,  wepeth  crieth  i  120,  kepeth  i  126, 
leseth  i  305,  eteth  drinketh  iii  39,  taketh  cometh  iii  280,  ariseth 
iii  342. 

96.  Miscellaneous  contractions.     [Most  of  these  are  cases  of  tris- 
syllabic  measures.]     Chaucer:  purchasyng  322,  schirreve  361  (?), 
parisshe  451,  496,  parisch[e]  493,  benedicite  (bencite)  2117,  5823, 
5862,  7038,  7166,  7752,  9211,  12556,  we  may  therefore  infer  a 
lacuna  in  1787,  certeynly  2761,  candel  5916,  so  candlestick  (canstick) 
in  Shakespeare,  1  Henry  IY.  3,  1,  speech  36  (Guest  I,  54:  canstick  in 
the  quartos),  litel  7256,  vanyssh  10642,  widow  14920,  (similar  forms 
though  not  contracted  are  sorwe   1456,  wilw  2924,  morw  9622,) 
woldist  15431,  wicked  16909,  this  is  an  unusual  contraction,  but 
by  no  means  unparalleled,  compare  naked,  Crashaw,  ed.  Tumbull, 
p.  123.      Gower — bible  i  136,2  quarrel  ii  223,   devil  iii  203,  dis- 
tempred  i  281,  heved  iii  117,  376,  augst  iii.  121,  370,  Sortes  (So- 
crates) iii  366.     Benedicite  is  not  contracted  i  48. 

97.  Cases  like  the  following,  in  which   contiguous  words   are 
blended,  are  not  common  in  Chaucer,  but  there  is  no  reason  to 
suspect  the  correctness  of  the  lines  :  at  his  (at's)  295,  and  a  ('n  a) 
56,  I  ne  (I  n')  766,  endure  it  (endur't)  1093,  whethir  it  (wher't) 
9841.     Contractions  of  the  various  kinds  noticed  in  arts.  93-97  are 
on  the  whole  not  so  frequent  in  Chaucer  as  in  Shakespeare  and 
Milton :  see  very  numerous  examples  in  Guest's  English  Rhythms 
B.  I.  C.  III. — Gower.  Contiguous  words  are  not  often  blended,  but 
some  cases  occur :  fall  it  (fall't)  ii  380,  it  is  (it's)  iii  348,  I  have 
(I've)  ii  61,  that  is  (that's)  iii  247. 

1  The  real  division  of  the  measures,  name  is  bore,   but  Harl.  MS.  3490, 
indicated  by  italicising  the  even  mea-  3869,  7184,  and  Soc.  Antiq.  MS.  134, 
sures,  in  this  line,  seems  to  be  :  i-fet-  all  read  his  for  this,  giving  a  regular 
er'd  in  his  prisoun  for  ever'  more.  elision. 

2  Pauli  reads  :  yet  in  the  bible  this 


CHAP.  IV.  6  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


369 


970.1  Accent.  Many  words  of  French  origin  have  two  accents; 
sometimes  on  the  final  syllable,  or  the  penult ;  sometimes  thrown 
further  back  as  in  English.  So  also  with  nouns  of  Saxon  origin  in 
-ynge,  -yng  (see  art.  17)  and  felawe  felaw  (see  art.  18).  Gower — 
Many  words  of  French  origin  have  a  variable  accent :  the  same  is 
occasionally  true  of  native  words.  The  eliding  of  final  e  often 
causes  the  accent  to  be  thrown  back,  [or  rather  conversely?]. 
Proper  names  of  Latin  origin  have  generally  the  French,  or  foreign, 
accent :  Cesar  iii  366,  Medea  ii  212,  Gower  iii  373,  Eneas  Anchises 
ii  4,  Aprille  ii  327.  [The  list  of  words  is  here  given  in  alphabetical 
order  with  single  references,  a  capital  initial  (when  the  word  is  not 
a  proper  name,  and  in  that  case  an  italic  capital  initial)  points  out 
that  the  word  is  in  both  lists,  small  letters  in  Chaucer  and  small 
capitals  in  Gower  only.] 


ACHILLES  ii  62 

ACHILLES  ii  58 

MANERE   i   96 

M\NER  1   4 

ANSWERE   i  96 

ANSWERE  iii  305 

MATERE   1    343 

M\TER  1    146 

APOLLO  ii  366 

APOLLO  ii  367 

mellere  544 

meller  3923 

Aprille,  Averil   1, 

'April  4426 

nature  11 

nature  1080 

Arcita  (?)      [6128 

xArcita  2258 

2Voe  3534 

N6&  3539 

Arcite  1114 

x  Arcite  1154 

PASSAGE  i  223 

PASSAGE  i  237 

AYEiN  i  81 

AYEIN  iii  61 

Plato  19376 

Plato   13381 

bataille  990 

batail  2099 

povert  4519 

povert  6749 

benigne  520 

benigne  8287 

POVERTE  i  357 

povERie  i  355 

COLOUR  i  225 

COLOUR  i  133 

POWER  i  345 

POWER  i  341 

COMUNE  i  20 

COMUN  i  7 

prayer  2269 

preyer  2423 

Cresus  16245 

OESUS  1948 

prisoun  1177 

prisoun  1087 

DAUNGER  1  331 

DAUNGER  1    331 

PURPOS  i  134 

PURPOS  i  238 

discord  8308 

rancour  8308 

discret  8286 

discret  520 

regne  15697 

ECHATES  ii  260 

ECHATES  ii  262 

Eesoun  37 

Resoun  1768 

ENVIOUS  i  171 

ENVIOUS  i  172 

REVERS  i  239 

HEVERS  i  167 

FELAW  i  170 

FELAW  i  171 

servise  2489 

servise  122 

FOREST  ii  68 

FOREST   1    119 

squyer  79 

squyer  1500 

Fortune  917 

Fortune  927 

SUPPLANT  i  239 

SUPPLANT  i  239 

Grisildes  8108 

Grisildes  8086 

tresor  15697 

honest  14972 

honest  246 

Fenus  1906 

Fenus  1920 

honour  15697 

Vertiie  4 

Vertu  1438 

JASON  ii  251 

JASON  ii  250 

victorie  2241 

victorie  874 

Labour  14874 

Labour  8093 

VISAGEJ   237 

visAGe  i  227 

LADY  I  332 

LADY  i  332 

WORTHY   i    107 

WORTHY   i   226 

LEO  iii  121 

LEO  iii  120 

yeman  6962 

yeman  101 

LOVERS   1   64 

LOVERS   1    175 

Gower — At  this  point  it  is  proper  to  say  that  in  all  likelihood 
some  troublesome  forms  in  Gower  are  to  be  explained  as  simple 
licences.  Such,  very  probably,  are  the  causes  of  the  singular  of  the 
Imperfect  of  Complex  Yerbs  which  have  an  e  (art.  54).  So  when  the 
vertu  ii  38,  187,  is  stretched  to  vertue  i  7,  18  :  when  the  preposi- 
tion for  is  made  to  rhyme  with  lore  ii  59,  the  pronoun  min  with 
mine  ii  130,  the  noun  men(e]  (Fr.  moyeri]  with  lene  ii  351,  (if  thou 
well)  bethought  with  nought  iii  357,  (I)  sigh  with  eye  iii  370,  oxes 
(elsewhere  oxen)  with/o;m  ii  63,  perhaps  all  that  it  is  necessary  to 

1  This  is  numbered  99  in  Chaucer,  been  put  wrongly  among  the  miscella- 
and  97«  in  Gower,  where  the  art.  neous  notes,  and  it  is  therefore  re- 
numbered 99  in  Chaucer  is  said  to  have  stored  here  to  its  proper  place. 

24 


370 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


say  is  that  a  clumsy  poet  lias  taken  an  extraordinary  liberty.1 
Such,  shortening  of  words  as  pusillamite  for  pusillanimite  ii  12,  25, 
iii  210,  Climestre  for  Clytemnestre,  Methamor  for  Metamorphoses, 
is  rather  to  be  attributed  to  ignorance  ;2  so  Agamemon,  Nanplus 
for  Nauplius,  &c.  The  vowels  are  not  infrequently3  freely  treated 
in  the  rhymes :  e.g.,  minde  ende  ii  23,  67  ;  ende  kende  (i.e.  kinde) 
iii  120,  nine  peine  ii  261,  seen  eyen  iii  18  ;  say  see  iii  31,  wit  yet; 
fell  hill,  men  kin  ii  158,  iii  211,  280,  kenne  senne  (i.e.  sinne)  ii  309, 
spedde  hadde  ii  191,  deth  geth  (i.e.  goth  i  345,  Sax.  gse^),  ii  303  ; 
i  220,  247 ;  piche  suche  iii  312,  &c. 

MISCELLANEOUS  jNToTEs.4 

98.  LETTERS,  (a)  Ck  for  the  Saxon  c  (k)  before  or  after  e,  i,  occurs 
in  several  cases  where  the  modern  English  has  retained  the  primi- 
tive sound,  (b)  Saxon  g  is  changed  to  w  both  in  Chaucer  and 
Gower  instead  of  y,  i,  as  in  modern  English,  and  to  y  where  we 
have  retained  g.  (c)  Th  is  dropped  after  t  or  changed  to  t  in  con- 

Ne  to  non  o]>er  jnng  j?ei  fyhen 
Bot  hire  which  to  fore  here  yhen 
"Was  wedded  jnlke  fame  day.  iii  18 
Sche  fih  no  schip  fche  fib  no  barge 
As  ferfor  j?  as  fche  mihte  kenne 
Ha  lord  fche  feide  which  a  senne 
As  al  j?e  world  fchal  after  hiere 
Vpon  Jus  woful  wowman  hiere   [ii  309 
This  worjn  knyht  ha}>  don  andwroght. 
Bot  as  we  rede  J>at  he  fpede 
The  which  Mr  lordes  befant  hedde 
And  j^ervpon  gate  non  encreff.  ii  191 
That  it  be  ferm  wi  j?  led  and  pich 
Anon  was  made  a  cofre  such,  iii  312 
Nine  peine,  should  be  nyne  pyne,  see  p. 
253.     For  say  sey  there  is  a  deletion 
in  Harl.  3869,  but  Harl.  7184  reads— 
Lo  j>us  mi  fader  as  J  seie 
Of  lust  j?e  which  miny  he  hath  feie.  iii  31 
The  rhyme  de}>  ge}>  occurs  in  all  the 
passages  in  Harl.  3869.1 

*  Of  these  Prof.  Child  says:  Chaucer 
— The  purpose  of  this  paper  being  to 
do  something  towards  ascertaining  the 
forms  of  words  used  by  Chaucer  (in- 
cluding inflections),  the  notes  upon  that 
subject  are  intended  to  be  complete,  to 
the  extent  of  the  information  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  one  text  employed.  Not 
so  with  the  Miscellaneous  Notes,  sub- 
joined to  the  others.  Gower — It  may 
be  observed  that  the  subject  of  the 
article  [memoir]  is  really  concluded  at 
art.  97fl.  The  miscellaneous  notes 
which  follow  contain  a  few  things 
noticed  in  passing  which  may  on  some 
occasion  be  useful ;  but  they  are  purely 
incidental,  and  do  not  profess  to  be 
complete.  [In  this  re-arrangement  of 


1  [Sometimes,  not  always,  we  may 
say  that  an  editor  has  been  careless. 
The  following  is  the  reading  of  these 
passages  after  Harl.  MS.  3869. 

Tho  was  J7e  vertu  sett  a  boue.  i  7 
In  whom  j>at  alle  vertu.  duellej).  i  18 
That  jnng  which  I  trauaille  fore 

0  in  good  time  were  he  bore,  ii  59 
For  certes  if  fche  were  myn 

1  hadde  hit  leuere  }>an  a  myn 
Of  gold,  ii  130 

For  fo  wel  can  ]>er  noman  slyke 

Be  hym  no  be  non  oj>er  mene 

To  whom  Daunger  wol  zive  or  lene 

Of  >at  Trefor  he  ha>  to  kepe.  ii  351 

Mi  fone  if  you  be  wel  be]?oght 

This  tonchej?  J?ee  forjet  it  noght.  iii  357 

And  taken  hiede  of  ]?at  I  fyhe 

Wherinne  anon  myn  hertes  yhe 

I  caste,  iii  370 

Wherinne  anon  in  ftede  of  Oxes 

He  let  go  zoken  grete  foxes,  ii  63] 

2  [Yet  Gower  had    certainly    read 
Ovid  in  the  original,  and  shews  by  his 
headings  and  his  Vox  Clamantis,  that 
he  could  write  Latin.     Some  of  the 
errors  are  certainly  due  to  the  scribe  ; 
others  may  have  been  Anglicisms  com- 
parable to  our  Ovid,  Horace,  Virgil, 
Tully,  Pliny.] 

3  [The  interchange  of  e,  e,  short  is 
common  in  Chaucer,  and  must  be  ac- 
cepted as   (t,  e),  supra  pp.  250,  272. 
The  following  are  these  passages  ac- 
cording to  Harl.  MS.  3869. 

Ne  mihfce  I  lete  out  of  my  mende 
Bot  if  I  j?oghte  vpon  J»at  hende.  ii  23 
The  whos  knyhthode  is  jit  in  mende 
And  fchal  be  to  ]?e  worldes  ende,  ii  67 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


371 


tracted  forms,  and  in  Gower  ags.  d  is  retained,  where  we  have 
changed  to  the  aspirate  dh^  spelt  tfi.  (d)  The  letters  r  and  *  were 
unstable  in  the  older  English,  and  subject  to  frequent  metathesis. 
In  the  transition  to  modern  English  these  letters  have  changed  their 
position  more  than  once  in  some  words.  Gower — (<?)  M  is  reinforced 
by  I  or  p,  n  changed  to  m  before  p,  n  not  yet  reinforced  by  d  as  in 
English  and  s  reinforced  by  t. 


Ex.  (a]  Chaucer  and  Gower — seche 
=  seek  786,  7537,  7539,  i  290,  ii  190, 
193;  recche=reck  1400,  5911,  reccheth 
i  168,  ii  284,  wirche= work  2761,  wor- 
chen  i  166,  ii  142,  thenche  = think  3253, 
schenche  =  skink  i  263,  yliche,  liche  = 
like  7797,  10376,  lich,  liche  i  118,  136, 
258,  265,  besi-liche  ii  3,  even-liche  ii 
179,  etc.,  now  -ly-  ich=ik,  I,  10037, 
and  in:  theech  12857,  14362.  So 
rubriche  «=  rubric,  Fr.  rubrique  5928. 
Chaucer—  On  the  other  hand,  k  is  often 
preserved  where  we  have  ch,  as,  biseke 
=beseech  7251,  etc.  Gower — Saxon  c 
(k)  not  changed  to  t  as  in  modern  Eng- 
lish :  make=mate  i  45,  112,  367.  cc 
changed  to  tt  when  changed  to  ch  in 
modern  English,  fette,  ags.  feccan  = 
fetch  ii  233,  237.  We  find :  chever  = 
shiver  iii  9.  (b)  Chaucer  and  Gower — 
dawes=day,  11492,  i  136,  fawe,  ags. 
feah=faegan,  fain,  5802,  i-slawe=  slain 
14271,  16500,  morwe,  ags.  morgen,  E. 
morn  i  186,  205,  wowe,  ags.  wag,  E. 
wall,  wawes,  ags.  wsegas,-  E.  waves, 
4888,  i  141,  223,  312;  gerarchie= 
hierarchy  iii  145  is  old  Fr.  gieraucie, 
Ital.  gerarchia.  wiltow=  wilt  thou, 
woltow  1546,  6422,  hastow  =  hast  thou 
3534,  3538,  11893,  wostow  3544,  slepis- 
tow  4167,  herdistow  4168,  artow  4728, 
hydestow  5890,  schaltow  .  6998,  atte 
beste  =  at  the  beste  29,  atte  siege  56, 
atte  fulle  653,  atte  laste  2828,  ate  laste 
i  16,  ii.  345,  377,  atte  boord  10393,  ate 
bord  iii  299,  atte  halle  10394,  etc.,  etc. 
Gower— fader  i  49,  60,  61,  iii  260,  332, 
father  ii  174  is  undoubtedly  wrong ; 
moder  i  104  etc.,  weder  i  112  etc., 
wether  iii  295  is  wrong,  hider  i  70, 
thider  i  186,  whider  ii  21,  gader  ii  293, 
togider  i  324.  On  the  other  hand  we 
have:  rother,  ags.  ro$er  =  rudder. 
(d}  Chaucer — berstles,  ags.  bristl,  E. 
bristle,  558  ;  brid,  ags.  bridd,  E.  bird, 

Prof.  Child's  memoirs,  some  of  the 
completeness  of  the  first  part  has  been 
necessarily  sacrificed.  Although  the 
Miscellaneous  Notes  do  not  in  general 
bear  upon  the  subject  of  the  present 


17104;  brast  breste,  ags.  berstan,  E. 
burst,  2612,  2613;  brent  brenne,  ags. 
byrnan  brinnan,  E.  burn,  948,  17161 ; 
carte,  ags.  crset,  E.  cart,  2043  ;  crispy 
(crips,  House  of  Fame,  iii  296,  Morris 
5-251),  ags.  cirps  crisps,  E.  crisp,  2167 ; 
crulle,  E.  curl,  81 ;  kers,  ags.  cerse 
cresse,  E.  cress,  3754;  thirled,  ags. 
thyrlod  thyrel,  E.  thrilled,  2712,  (nose-) 
thurles,  E.  (nos-)trils,  559  ;  thridde, 
ags.  thridda,  E.  third,  14251,  threttene 
7841,  thritty  14437 ;  throp,  ags.  thorp, 
E.  -thorp,  -throp,  8075,  8084  ;  thurgh, 
ags.  thurh,  E.  through,  1098 ;  axe,  ags. 
ascian  acsian,  1349,  12354,  axyng  1828, 
aske  3557;  crispe,  ags.  cirps  (see  above); 
lipsede,  E.  lisped,  266;  clapsud,  E. 
clasped,  275.  Gower — brid  birdi  112, 
113  etc.,  bird  i  206  ;  hunderd  hundred 
ii  92,  249,  381 ;  third  third  i  55,  thritty 
thirty  iii  214,  brenne  burn  i  334,  brent 
i  109 ;  kerse  cress  i  229,  334 ;  Adriane 
Ariadne  ii  307,  etc. ;  axe  ask,  i  334,  ii 
222,  etc.  (e)  thombe,  ags.  Jmma,  i 
175,  stempne,  ags.  stemn  i  312— wim- 
pel,  ags.  winpel,  i  326,  327.— kinled  = 
kindled  iii  96,  compare  kin-d-red  and 
kind,  genus,  which  is  apparently  from, 
Saxon  cynn,  not  cynd.  [The  following 
is  from  E.  Matzner,  Englische  Gram- 
matik,  Berlin,  1860-1865,  i  178 :  an 
unmeaning  d  is  added  on  to  a  final  n ; 
Tiind  —  servant,  ags.  hina,  old  E.  hyne ; 
fond,  old  norse  fana,  fatue  se  gerere, 
old  E.  fon,  still  in  Spenser,  and  fond ; 
lend,  ags.  Ia3nan,  old  E.  and  Scotch 
lenen;  round  with  obsolete  roun  in 
Skelton,  Spenser,  and  Shakspere,  ags. 
runian,  G.  zuraunen  ;  sound,  ags.  «.  son, 
old  Fr.  son,  sun,  v.  soner,  suner,  old 
E.  s.  soun,  v.  sounen;  astound  and 
astonish,  old  Fr.  astoner  mixed  with 
ags.  stunian,  E.  stun,  etc.]  lost,  for  loss, 
ags.  los,  i  147,  238,  ii  186,  277,  but : 
loss  i  270. 


treatise,  they  present  so  much  that  is 
interesting  to  the  Societies  for  which 
it  has  been  written,  that  it  has  been 
thought  advisable  to  give  them  nearly 
in  full.] 


372  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAT.  IT.  §  5. 

99.  See  970. 

100.  SYNTAX  FOE  MEASUEES,  KINDS,  ETC.     (a)  Nouns  denoting  a 
substance  measured,  weighed,  or  numbered,  are  not  followed  by  a 
noun  with  of,  as  in  modern  English ;  but  are  in  apposition  with  the 
noun  denoting  the  measure,  as  in  ags.  sometimes,  and  in  German 
regularly,     (b)  Nouns  denoting  sort  or  kind  are  in  like  manner  not 
followed  by  a  noun  with  of,  but  by  a  noun  in  apposition,  as  also  in 
German.      (c)   Things  numbered  ,are   put  in  the   singular  after 
numerals  as  in  German  and  ags.     (d]  Sometimes  numerals  preceded 
by  the  article  a  are  treated  like  nouns,  the  thing  numbered  being 
put  in  the  plural  number,  but  still  without  a  preceding  of,  compare, 
a  few  pears,  a  great  many  men,  a  dozen  books. 

Ex.   (a)  a.peyre  dys  (G.  em.  paar  thousand  score  i  176,  a  thousand  del  (e) 

Wiirfel)  4384,   14038,  a  peyre  plates  i  295.     The  ags.  use  of  winter  for  year 

2123  ;  a  barrel  ale,  G.  eine  Tonne  Bier,  is  to  be  noticed,  and  also  the  o/,  sup- 

15379,  a  botel  hay,  G.  ein  Bund  Heu,  plying  the  place  of  the  ags.  gen.  in  old 

16946  ;  a  busshelwhet  7328,  4310,  half  of  nine  hundred  winter.     Night  and 

a  quarter  otes  7545 ;  the  beste  galoun  winter  (ags.  niht,  winter)  have  com- 

E  16956,  a  morsel  bred  15920.  monly  the  plural  like  the  singular  in 
a  maner  deye,  G.  eine  Art  Milch-  ags.  (instead  of  nihta,  wintra),  but  this 
,  16332,  a  maner  sergeant  8395,  so  is  not  a  peculiarity  of  inflection  ;  it  is  a 
3681,  11742,  11745,  no  maner  wight  consequence  of  a  principle  of  syntax. 
71,  2546,  a  maner  kindei  88, 123,  what  Year  (ags.  gear)  might  have  the  plural 
maner  name  i  206,  such  a  manner  wise  like  the  singular,  at  any  rate  ;  still  the 
i  342,  what  manner  thing  ii  142,  what  cases  cited  are  fair  instances  of  the  rule, 
mestir  men  1712,  no  kyn  monay  14749.  Fortnight  (fourtenight  931)  has  become 
(c)  syn  thilke  day  that  she  was  a  compound  noun,  and  so  has  twelve- 
seven  night  old  16359,  this  fourtenight  month  (a  twelve  moneth  653),  but  these 
931,  thritty  winter  he  was  old  14437,  forms  properly  come  under  (c)  and 
15545,  7233,  a  child  of  twelf  month  (d}.  (d)  a  seven  bushels  14186,  a 
old  14895,  foure  yer  8487,  8612,  13445,  twenty  bookes  296  (Tyr.  the  rightread- 
twenty  winter  age  ii  226,  of  eigh(te)tene  ing),  a  twenty  thousand  freres  7277, 
winter  age  i  1 02,  withinne  seven  winter  Tyr.,  hir  maistres  clepeth  wommen  a  gret 
age  i  267,  ii  266,  of  nine  hundred  winter  route,  and  up  they  risen,  a  ten  other  a 
old(e)  ii  265,  of  thre  yer(e)  age  ii  22,  twelve  10697,  a  thousand  times  i  330,  a 
of  twelv(e)  yer(e)  age  ii  68.  So  after  a  fewe  yeres  iii  246,  seven  yeres  ii  9 ; 
numerals  preceded  by  a :  of  an  hundred  according  to  the  same  principle :  a 
winter  age  ii  343,  of  a  ten  yer(e)  age  ii  certein  frankes  14745,  a  certein  yeres 
17,  a  thousand  winter  (tofore,  after)  i  15663,  a  eerteyn  of  conclusions  3193,  a 
267,  ii  266,  a  thousand  yer(e)  ii  9,  a  eerteyn  gold  14815. 
ten  mile  i  209,  a  thousand  sithe  i  160,  a 

101.  GENITIVE  CASE,  (a)  Some  genitives  are  employed  as  adverbs. 
(b)  The  genitive  sign  is  not  annexed  to  a  compound  phrase  as  in 
English,     (c)  The  genitiye  of  names  of  persons  and  titles  of  books 
is  sometimes  used  as  a  nominative  in  Chaucer,  and  in  Gower  the 
genitive  case  of  classical  proper  names  is  frequently  so  used ;  Gower 
also  declines  classical  proper  names,  a  custom  still  in  use  with  some 
oldfashioned  Germans,. 

Ex.  (a]  his  thonkes  1628,  2109,  here  daughter  of  Cecile  i  104,  235.         (e) 

thonkes  2116,  his  willes  5854,  needes  Cerces  1949,  Judicum  15532,  Encydos 

1171,  7887,  etc.         (b)  the  wyves  love  16845,   Sibeles  ii  265,    Sibele  ii  166, 

of  Bathe  =  wife  of  Bath's  love  9046,  Cereres  and  Ceres  ii  168,  Circes  iii  49 

my  modres  Ceres  soule  =  my  mother  etc.,  Echates  ii  260,  Spercheidos  ii  261, 

Ceres's  soul   10139,   Goddes  sone    of  the  temple  Apollinis  ii  366,  that  he 

hevene  =  God  of  heaven's  son;  in  Vestes  wolde  upon  knighthode  Achillem  sue 

temple  the  goddesse  ii  157,  the  kinges  iii  212  Achilles  nom.  same  page,  Del- 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.    PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.      373 

boram  hath  Abel  take  iii  277,  Debor-  Judeam  ii  191,  Ephesim  iii  335,  Thel- 
anom,  same  page ;  till  they  Pentapolim  machum  ii  54,  Thelmachus  iii  60 ; 
have  take,  and:  for  Pentapolim  iii.  341,  Methamor  for  Metamorphoses  i55. 

102.  DATIVE  CASE,    (a)  After  to  be,  with:  wel  2111;  wo  1015, 
14421,  10892,  353,  bygoon  11628,  5338,  schapen  1394,  loth  1839, 
lef  14175,  loth  488,   11903,  lever  295,   16955.      M.  him  hadde 
lever  3541,  8320,  have  I  lever  11672,  15379.     (b)  After  verbs  of 
motion  as  in  Saxon  :  goth  him  3434,  4060,  13622,  14748;  went  hir 
4213,  9653,    13038;  rydeth  him   1693,  stalked  him  8401,  hy  the 
13223  ?,  styrt  hir  3822  ?    (c)  After  other  verbs  ;  dreden  hem  12252, 
fallethliim  5524,  stele  hem  =  from  them  4008,  us  thoughte  786. 

103.  PERSONAL  PRONOUNS.    Me  for  I,  once,  1810  ;  his,  gen.  of  it, 
6726,  7838,  it  am  I,   as  in  ags.  and  German,  1462,  1738,  3764, 
5529,  14625  ;  he  in  the  sense  of  one,  indefinite,  in  the  Persones 
Tale;  he,   she,  redundant  with  proper  names  6225,  9594,  16880, 
5360,  9608,  9912,  10564,  6080,  9242,  9247,  16627,  etc.     Both  (as 
in  German)  follows  and  does  not  precede,  the  genitive  of  the  per- 
sonal pronoun,  as:  here  bothe  lawes  4641,  etc. 

104.  RELATIVE  AND  INTERROGATIVE  PRONOUNS,      (a)  That  is  fre- 
quently used  in  conjunction  with  the  pronoun  he  so  that  both  ex- 
press only  the  relative  pronoun  :  that-he  44,  that-his  2712,  14915, 
that-him  3430,  without  the  personal  pronoun  12164,  oon-his  4691. 
Compare  Mrs.  Gamp's  "a  lady  which  her  name  is  Harris,"  "she 
being  in  liquor,   which  I  thought  I  smelt  her. "     (b)  Which  fre- 
quently has  the  signification  of  what,  what  sort  of,  like  welch  in 
German  :  which  a  miracle  2677,  which  they  weren  40,  2950,  3611, 
5621,  6875,  10896,  11754,  16065.     (c)  Which  that,  the  whiche  that 
is  used  for  which  in  the  prose  tales,     (d]   What  is  used  for  why, 
like  Latin  quid,  German  was  :  184,  1382.     (e)  What  is  used  in  an 
indefinite  sense  (like  German  etwas,  was]  wite  ye  what  ?  =  wissen 
Sie  was?  10305,  17014;  so  apparently,   at  first,  in  the  colloquial 
"  I'll  tell  you  what  (Ich  will  Ihnen  was  sagen)";  but  the  emphasis 
put  on  the  what  shews  that  it  is  not  now  regarded  as  indefinite, 
[compare  German,  Das  sag'  ich  Ihnen].     (/)  Whoso  is  frequently 
used  in  the  sense  of  if  any  one,  743,  4615,   9890,    13903.     (g) 
Gower — As  who  saith  =  one  might  say,  so  to  speak,  i  268,  ii  131. 

105.  INDEFINITE  PRONOUNS,    (a]  Peculiar  uses  of  one  7587,  11046, 
8088,  11499;  iii  189,  i  201,  ii  70,  ii  159,   259,  iii  327 ;  we  also 
find :  in  all  this  world  ne  mighte  be  a  gladder  woman  then  was 
sche  iii  51.     one  =  only  iii  231,  all  min  one  i  45,   all  him  one 

i  148,   iii  285,  178.     (b)  Peculiar  use  of  ought,  like  the  German. 
etwa  =  perhaps  :  can  he  ought  telle  a  mery  tale  or  tweye  ?  12525.^e 

106.  PREFIXES.     The  prefixes  for-  (German  ver-,  ~L&t.  per-,  eyffi 
and  to-  (Germ,  zer-,  Lat.  dis~)  have  not  lost  their  force  in  Ch&no;er 
and  Gower.  of 

Ex.  Chaucer — forpyned  1455,  fordo  trode,  forslowith,  forsluggittb      rlesith, 

1562,  14538,  fordrunken   3122,  4148,  forletin,    all    in    the   Per.  to,s    Tale, 

forthinketh  9780,  fordruye  10723,  for-  Gower— forstormed  i  IP/ inorblowe  i 

fered    10840,    forbrosed    16100,    for-  160,   fordoth  i  266,   fo  "We  i  326, 

kutteth  17272,  forkerveth  17272,  for-  forwept  ii  15,  forwakfn  Vl5,  forshape 


374 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


ii  100,  forcast  ii  167,  fortrode  ii  330,  topulled  i  61,  todrave  ii  330,  toswolle 

forthenketh  ii  276,  forslouthen  ii  190,  ii  50,  tothroweth  iii  268,  toclef  iii  296, 

forsmite  iii  308,  fordrive  iii  330,  for-  tobreke  iii  334,  tobreken  ii  74,  torof(e) 

juged  iii  192,  forlain  ii  234,  forworth  iii  296,  etc.— bedecked  i  81,  bebled  i 

iii  10,  forswey  iii  224.     Chaucer— to-  183,  beflain  iii  183,  beshineth  iii  242, 

hewen  2611,  toschrede  2611,  tobroken  bereined  iii  126,  besnewed  iii  51,  be- 

2693,  toskatrid  7551,  totore  12563,  to-  knowe  iii  10. 
breketh  1 2835,  totere  13889.    Gower— 

107.  NEGATIVE    SENTENCES.       Chaucer  and    Gower  follow  the 
Anglosaxon  practice  with  regard  to  negatives,  which  was  (like  the 
Greek)  not,  as  in  modern  English,  to  negative  the  copula  only,  but 
to  give  a  negative  character  to  as  many  words  as  were  susceptible 
of  being  thus  affected.     Two  negatives  are  perhaps  more  common 
than  one,   and  verses  can  often  be  restored  to  good  metre  by  re- 
storing a  ne  which  had  been  dropped:   ne — nought   74,   nys  no 
1124,  nas  no — nolde  552,  never — no — ne — no  71,  nas  no — ne  no 
7874,  no — ne  nil  no  8522,  neyther — ne  noon — ne  noon — never — 
nolde  9964,  etc.     But  =  only,  takes  a  negative  as  in  Saxon  and 
vulgar  modern  English :  I  nam  but  deed  1 124,  nys  but  Persones  Tales. 

108.  YAEIOITS  PAETICLES. 
all  although  ii  160. 

alonge  on  along  of  because  of  ii  22 
96,  121,  310. 

as  with  the  fundamental  meaning  of 
considering,  with  respect  to,  so  far  as 
concerns,  is  employed  by  Chaucer  and 
Gower  in  various  shades  of  distinctness 
and  strength,  decreasing  to  insigni- 
ficance. A  similar  loose  use  of  as  is 
now  reviving : 

as  in  so  litel  space  87,  as  now  (Ger. 
als  dann?)  887,  7899,  12872;  so, 
5623,  7557,  8370,  8282,  244,  7947, 
9671,  6055,  3297,  3385,  6947,  7107, 
6979. 

as  in  supplicating  phrases  is  often 
absolutely  redundant,  2304,  2319,  3172, 
3775,  5773,  6642,  7253,  7883,  8761, 
11201, 11371,  13581 ;  and  also  in  7196. 
In  like  manner  so  is  redundant  in  ,one 
instance  10772. 

as  is  used  as  a  relative  in  this  one 
case;  there  may  be  more,  but  others 
have  not  been  noted :  his  hundred  as  I 
spak  of  now  1860. 

as  intensive  =  Latin  quam  ;  as  blive 
=5  immediately,  not  very  different  from 
our  as  quick,  ii  266,  313;  als  swithe 
iii  306,  als  faste  i  55,  also  faste  ii  132, 
156;  also  blive  iii  49.  c£s=as:  for 
als  moche  i  51,  als  fer  as  i  89,  132,  als 
well  as  ii  203,  379,  iii  19. 

as-thai  inasmuch  as,  seeing  that, 
quippe  ;  as  he  that  i  245,  ii  325,  as  ye 
that  ii  322,  as  she  whiche  ii  336. 

at-after  after  :  mete  iii  41,  63.  Still 
used  in  the  north  of  England.  I  do 
not  find  the  combination  in  Saxon,  but 


as  set-foran  occurs,  set-after  pro! 
existed. 

by  about;  tel  I  by  this  men,  by 
wommen  17120. 

by  of  time  as  Germ,  bet;  by  olde 
daies  i  67,  by  olde  tide  ii  132,  by  the 
brode  sunne  iii  255,  by  the  morwe  242, 
by  thritty  mile  ii  195,  by  times  seven 
i  138,  by  that  =  because  that  i  226. 
[Compare  (modern)  betimes,  by  day- 
light, by  the  morrow.] 

erst  than  before,  1568,  14077,  erst 
without  than  8212  ;  er  than  12827. 

ever  among  still,  continually,  i  149, 
195,  ii  15,  iii  303,  328 ;  ever  in  on(e) 
iii  28,  29. 

first  then  before  1157. 

forth  with  with,  i  194,  209,  216,  ii 
67, 154. 

how  that  however  that,  although ; 
how  that  ignoraunce  be  moder  of  alle 
harm,  eertis  negligence  is  the  norice 
Persones  Tale. 

in  aunter  if  if  haply  i  19  ;  =  lest,  i 
344,  ii  147. 

into  until,  my  deth  i  117,  nowii  278, 
iii  188. 

in  with  within  9818,  10216,  9268. 

long  on,  ags.  gelang,  along  of,  because 
of,  12850,  12858.  See  alonge  on. 

noon  no  =  not:  ornon  11090,  14492, 
12544,  i  230,  342,  iii  322,  etc. 

nought  forthy  nevertheless,  iii  365. 

of  representing  the  ags.  gen.,  foryete 
of  i  157,  nedeth  of  i  272,  he  thonketh 
God  (dat.)  of  his  miracle  i  210,  iii  273, 
lefte  of  ii  207,  they  drad  him  (dat.)  of 
vengeaunce  iii  321,  pray  of  iii  350,  of 


CHAP.  IV.  6  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


375 


whom  I  mene  iii  301,  302,  touchend[e] 
of  i  19.  In  the  following  the  reason  of 
the  of  is  not  quite  so  clear :  call[e]  of = 
by  the  name  of  ?  ii  331,  of  love  to  spede 
ii  33,  i  331,  love  spede  i  334,  336,  of 
that  shall  spede  iii  241,  of  which  to 
done  ii  175,  iii  353.  I  that  lawe  obeie 
of  which  that  kinges  ben  put  under 
1117. 

of  by,  Fr.  par;  of  that  i  1,  of  knight- 
hode  ii  157,  of  drinke  iii  4,  etc.,  etc. 

of  that  because,  why  (parce  que\  i  56, 
157,  161,  etc. 

other  or,  9157,  10697,13730,  13731. 

other  while — other  while  ^AAore — &\- 
Aore  ii  104. 

outher — either  either— or  1595, 1596; 
outher— outlier— or,  13077,  13078. 

that  with  imperative  =  Fr.  que,  en- 
treaty; that  ye  not  discover  9816,  ne 
that  thy  tale  mak^  us  for  to  slepe 
7890(?)  ;  that  foul*  him  falle  ii  318, 
that  it  were  do  iii  182. 

ther,  tho  relatively,  where,  when: 
172,  224,  249,  7042,  8696,  10812, 
ther(e)  my  lady  is  ii  372,  tho  this  man 
iii  324,  336,  etc. ;  theras  ii  107,  there- 


upon ii  136.    [Compare  Icelandic  )>ar.] 

till  to,  unto  12234,  1480,  7348,  iii 
98,  209,  370. 

to  unto,  representing  ags.  and  Lat. 
dat. ;  to  nature  obey  i  291,  i  288, 
thilke  man  obeie  i  247,  serve  to  love 
ii  50,  thonke  unto  i  210,  I  thonke  God 
ii  94,  renounced  to  heaven  iii  46,  to  the 
houndes-like  i  261. 

unto  until  1146,  5211. 

un  to  ward  toward  :  iii  127. 

up  upon,  6727,  up  a  couche  ii  132, 
up  amendement  ii  373. 

upponon;  uppon  he  hadde  619;  = 
after  the  manner  of;  and  she  upon 
childehod  him  tolde  i  2 J  9. 

yea — nay,  yes — no.  The  distinction 
between  the  two  forms  of  the  affirma- 
tive and  negative  particles  insisted  on 
by  Sir  T.  More,  is  not  observed  by 
Gower :  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  his 
custom  to  use  yea  and  nay  exclusively 
in  answer  to  affirmative  questions,  and 
yes  and  no  in  answer  to  negative  ques- 
tions :  hast  thou  ben  ?  ye  ii  20,  hast 
thou  nought  ?  ye  i  60,  i  201,  206,  308, 
ii  275,  349,  iii  24,  274,  281. 


109.  CERTAIN  PECULIAR  PHRASES. 


at  min  (thin,  her]  above.  This  singular 
phrase  seems  to  signify,  greater  than  I 
am  (she  is}  at  present,  in :  as  though  I 
were  at  mm  above  iii  9,  as  though  she 
were  at  her  above  ii  212 ;  in :  and  how 
they  were  at  her  above  ii  378,  perhaps, 
they  bore  themselves  as  if  superior  to 
what  they  really  were ;  in :  thou  might 
not  come  at  thin  above  of  that  thou 
woldest  not  acheve  ii  32,  the  meaning 
is,  thou  canst  not  make  thyself  master 
of  what  thou  wouldst  achieve. 

can  thank  scire  gratias,  savoir  gre : 
1810,  3066,  i  393,  i  17. 

do  cause  make,  2398,  2623,  16427, 
ii  29,  iii  94,  =  cause  to  be,  Germ,  lassen, 
15638,  10075.  Let  do,  10360,  13588, 
ii  63,  208,  i  191. 

gan  as  an  auxiliary  to  form  an  im- 
perfect tense  :  she  gan  falle  ii  381,  385, 
etc. 

gesse  think,  as  in  New  England  ;  in 
Persones  Tale,  ii  11,  59,  368,  iii  180. 

go  walk,  Germ,  gehen ;  ride  or  go 
2254,  9964,  7 175,  go  walkid(Py-walkid) 
7360  ;  go  ne  speke  iii  3,  5,  etc. 

hadde  lever  had  rather,  f  aimer  ais 
mieux,  ich  hdtte  lieber,  i  295,  ii  211. 
levest  wolde  be  i  96,  ii  46,  i  96;  I 
wolde  rather  ii  94.  /  had  rather  seems 
to  be  an  imitation  of  J  had  lever;  when 


the  phrase  came  into  use  is  not  known 
to  me. 

life  being,  person,  iii  264,  253 ; 
lives  creature  =  living  creature,  2397, 
8779,  ii  14. 

many  on(e]  many  a  one  i  56,  ii  313. 

moon  masculine  as  in  ags. :  the  mone 
of  silver  has  his  part  ii  84,  iii  109 ; 
but:  ne  yet  the  mone  that  she  carie 
ii  112  ;  go  tak(e)  the  mone  ther  it  sit 
i  86. 

much  great,  moche  496,  more  2826, 
moste  897 ;  more  feith  iii  326,  morg 
delit  iii  335,  moste  joy  iii  8,  care  iii 
254. 

nale  alehouse  6931. 

past  participles  used  adverbially, 
Germ,  er  Jcommt  geritten ;  ride  amaied 
i  110,  goth  astraied  ii  132,  iii  175, 
goth  astray,  same  page ;  stonden  mis- 
beleved  ii  152.  He  cam  ride  i  53,  ii 
45,  170,  where  ride  looks  more  like  the 
infinitive  than  like  the  participle  ;  cam 
ridend,  pres.  part,  ii  180,  47  ;  and  lefte 
hem  both[e]  ligge  so  ii  150,  is  another 
extraordinary  case  of  the  use  of  an  in- 
finitive. 

schal  owes,  is  bound  to,  12590, 
11062?  More  distinctly  in  the  sense 
of  owes,  if  the  reading  is  /correct,  and 
there  is  no  ellipsis,  in  Court  of  Love, 


376 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  $  5. 


131  (Morris  4-5) :  for  by  the  feith  I 
shall  to  God. 

sight  in  a  peculiar  American  (?)  use  : 
a  wonder  sight  of  flowers  i  121. 

slyde  go  by :  let  slyde  7958,  iii  61. 

sworn  sworn  the  contrary  :  although 
we  hadde  it  sworn  1089-1090,  6222, 
8279-81, 12609  (?)  though  al  the  world 
had  the  contrary  swore  10639,  1668. 

the  def.  art.  with  abstract  noun: 
thexperiens  5706,  10112  (?),  experi- 
ens,  without  the  article,  5583.  A  fre- 
quent Gallicism  in  Gower :  the  man 
Vhomine  ii  186,  the  men  les  ~homm.es 
i  9,  the  mankinde  le  genre  humain 
iii  1,  thexperiens,  the  speche,  the 
blisse,  the  trouthe,  the  word,  the  derth, 


Melibeus;  digne  fruyt  of  patiences, 
but :  workes  worthy  of  confessioun, 
both  in  Persones  Tale,  lerned  men  in 
lore  14389,  wrap  in  me  14151,  that  I 
of  woot  5441,  that  I  of  have  sayd  7827, 
upon  he  hadde  619,  with  kempe[d] 
heres  on  his  browes  stowte  2136,  on  to 
see  3247,  ground(e)  litarge  on  12703, 
al  that  a  man  bilongeth  unto  9333,  to 
quyte  with  the  knightes  tale  3121,  hele 
with  your  eyen  10246,  10955,  13079, 
and  many  cases  in  Gower.  Of  his  visage 
and  seeth  the  make  =  and  seeth  the 
make  of  his  visage  i  367,  so  iii  52,  ii 


the  famine,  the  gold  ii  1 35,  the  heven, 
the  helle,  the  God  iii  177,  187,  etc.  ^ 

these  curiously  used  somewhat  like 
the  Latin  iste,  but  in  a  fainter  sense  : 
6142-3,  12587,  10961,  10962,  12995; 
art.  104,  used  somewhat  like  Latin 
tile,  these  olde  wise  i  300,  62,  63 ;  iii 
161,  iii  246. 

time,  these  expressions  are  somewhat 
remarkable ;  within  a  monthe  day  ii 
27,  within  two  monthes  day  ii  100, 
sometime  a  (ags.  on}  yere  iii  349. 

wear  on,  upon,  wear  6141,  660. 

who  was  who,  4299. 

world,  worldly  lot,  worldly  happiness, 
6055,  i  116, 126,  323,  ii249,  304,  313, 
iii  152, 170. 

110.  PECULIAE  OEDEB,  OP  "WORDS. 

repenting  folk  of  here  folies,  Tale  of      298,  etc.,  as  thou  might  of  to-fore  rede 

=rede  of  tofore  iii  342,  of  gold  that 
I  the  mantel  tok(e)  =1  toke  the  mantel 
of  gold  ii  368,  but  al  this  wo  is  cause 
of  man  =  man  is  cause  of  al  this  wo 
i  34,  to  reule  with  thy  conscience  =  to 
reule  thy  conscience  with  i  50,  to  rocke 
with  her  child  a  slepe=to  rock  her 
child  asleep  with  i  196,  o  dampned 
man  to  helle  =  0  man !  damned  to  hell 
i  189,  on  daies  now  =  now-a-days  ii  59, 
in  perles  white  than  forsake  =  than,  in 
white  pearls,  forsake  ii  335,  the  kinge's 
doughter  Lamedon=the  daughter  of 
the  king  Lamedon  ii  375. 

111.  ELLIPSIS  (a)  of  the  relative  pronoun,  (#)  of  the  personal 
pronoun  when  subject,   (c)  of  be,  and  other  verbs,  after  shall,  (d) 
of  have,  (e)  of  it,   (/)  of  to  before  the  infinitive,  (^)  of  with,  but 
note  that  the  instrument,  etc.,  are  expressed  in  ags.  with  the  abl. 
either  with  or  without  the  preposition  mid  =  with,  and  that  Gower 
may  have  used  the  old  construction,  (h)  of  other  prepositions. 

Ex.  (a)  there  was  non  auditor  [that]  [be]  i  15,  222,  ii  391iii  88,  190,  351  ; 
cowde  on  him  wynne  596,  and  in  a 
purs  of  silk  [that]  heng  on  his  schert 
9757,  a  pyn  [that]  stant  in  his  ere 
10630,  he  sent  after  a  clerk  [that]  was 
in  the  toun  1 3555  ;  unto  the  park 
[that]  was  faste  by  ii  45,  etc.,  so :  men 
beseche  [what]  his  will  is  ii  25.  (b) 
us  thoughte  .  . .  and  [we]  graunted  786, 
this  thing  was  graunted,  and  [we]  cure 
others  swore  .  .  .  and  prayden  813,  ye, 
false  harlot,  hast  [thou]  ?  4266,  ye, 
schal  [he]?  10138;  it  thought  her 

/»•  iriT  •  1  •  •    i  ••      *  *-         i      •         -r 


faire  and  [she]  saide  here  ii  45,  slain  I 
have  this  maide  Thais<?  and  [she]  is 
begrave  iii  325,  he  was  rebuked  of  hem 
and  [they]  saiden  ii  150,  etc.  (c) 
that  is,  or  shal  [be]  whil  that  the  world 
wol  dure  1362  ;  it  is  said  and  ever  shal 


I  wot  never  winder  I  shall  [go]  ii  21, 
that  they  with  him*  to  Tharse  sholde 
[go]  iii  327,  which  wepte  as  she  to 
water  sholde  [turn]  iii  260,  and  what 
she  sholde  [become,  come  to]  she  was 
alrad  iii  321,  [compare  German,  du 
sollst  dahin  ;  wohin  muss  ich  ?~\  (d) 
he  wold  hir  [have]  hent  anoon  3347. 

(e)  ner  [were  it  not  for]  gingling  of 
the  bellis  16280,  nere  myn  extorcions, 
I  might  not  lyven  7021.  (/)  now 
is  tyme  [to]  wake  al  night  3672,  he  was 
worthy  [to]  have  his  lif  6627.  (?) 
thing  which  he  said  [with]  his  owne 
mouth  ii  310,  iii  155,  fightend,  [with] 
his  owne  hondes  slain  i  90,  made  cloth 
[with]  her  owne  hand  ii  83,  190,  204, 
i  346,  351,  iii  305,  where  he  [with]  his 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.  377 

owne  body  lay  ii  198,  iii  208.  (h)  owne  had  ii  236,  for  in  the  plit(e)  [in] 
I  not  what  thing  it  may  amounte  [to  ?]  which  I  the  finde  iii  354,  perhaps  mere 
ii  191,  194,  etc.,  he  no  childe  [of?]  his  carelessness. 

In  an  appendix  Prof.  Child  refers  to  the  following  among  other 
lines  as  illustrating  his  observations,  the  numbers  under  112  refer 
to  the  articles,  the  others  to  the  lines: — 129,  85  19  69.  230,  60  69 
560.  456,  89.  610,  530  60.  673-4,  19  12.  822,  55  17.  956,  530 
4  60.  1221-3,  16  19  4  60  50.  1299,  910  91c  95.  1612,  89  91c 
60.  1616,  58b  3Qb.  1805,  85  19.  2306,  19.  2521,  535.  2807,  60 
4  530.  2960,  14  4  61.  3699-3700,  30  29  32  19  5Sd.  4049-50, 
38b  52e.  4052,  350.  4300,  2.  4649,  59.  5590,  910  86  85.  5859, 
56  3  61,  5947,  910  90  3  91*.  7017,  48  60.  7026,  34  58  3. 
7593-4,  7  30  16  11  56b  60  14.  9475,  30  32  20  19.  11843, 
350  33.  12221,  530  350  15  29.  12621  5Sb  22.  12991,  85  90 

71.  14861,    10  86  56J.    15037,   69    19  72J.    16421-2.   22  40   73 
22   60.     Nearly  every  line  will  be  found  to  furnish  examples. 

The  wonderful  industry,  the  acuteness  and  accuracy,  of 
Prof.  Child  could  not  have  had  justice  done  to  them,  without 
inserting  the  above  full  account  of  his  memoirs.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  he  will  eventually  himself  put  these  papers,  en- 
riched with  the  results  of  an  examination  of  those  MS.  which 
the  Chaucer  Society  is  now  publishing,  into  a  more  accessible 
form,  as  they  ought  to  be  studied  by  all  students  of  Chaucer 
and  of  the  English  language  of  the  xiv  th  century. 

It  now  remains  to  add  the  references  to  the  words  in  arts.  2,  3,  4, 
5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  29,  30,  31,  64,  69, 

72,  73,  89,  90,  91.     These  are  arranged  below  alphabetically,  ac- 
cording to  the  modern  orthography  of  the  word  cited,  if  it  is  still  in 
use  in  the  xix  th  century.     This  is  placed  first,  with  a  capital  if 
found  in  both  the  Chaucer  and  Gower  Memoirs,   in  small  letters  if 
in  Chaucer  only,  in  small  capitals  if  in  Gower  only.    The  word  is 
preceded  by  *  if  it  occurs  in  the  list  of  exceptions,  by  **  if  it  is  also 
only  found  in  an  oblique  case  in  the  Chaucer,  and  then  few  or  no  re- 
ferences are  given ;  by  f  if  it  is  an  adjective  or  participle,  by  J  if  an 
indeclinable,  by  §  if  of  uncertain  origin.     If  the  word  is  not  now  in 
use  the  roman  word  is  omitted,   and  the  article  begins  with  the 
number  usually  following  the  first  word.     This  number  refers  to 
the  art.  in  both  the  Chaucer  and  Gower  Memoirs  in  which  (or  in 
the  notes  to  which)  the  word  is  to  be  found,  and  on  referring  to 
that  number  in  the  above  account,  the  category  under  which  Prof. 
Child  places  the  word  is  readily  seen.     Next  comes  the  spelling  as 
found  in  Wright's  Chaucer,  or,   if  the  word  is  not  there  found,  in 
Pauli's  Gower,  printed  in  Italics,  with  this  exception,  that  when  a 
final  e  is  there  written  but  for  any  reason  not  pronounced,  it  is 
replaced  by  an  apostrophe.    This  deviation  from  Prof.  Child's  system 
of  notation,  which  has  been  followed  in  the   preceding   account 
of  his  system,  has  been  adopted  here,  because  by  this  means  all 
written  0's  will  have  to  be  pronounced,  and  the  index  will  be  made 
conformable  to  the  illustration  in  Chap.  VII.     After  the  spelling 


378  PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 

of  the  MSS.,  the  word  in  roman  letters  give  the  Saxon  original,  and 
an  acute  accent  ( ' )  after  any  shews  that  it  is  a  form  in  Lagamon, 
but  a  (  ° )  that  it  occurs  in  Orrmin.  Then  follow  the  references  to 
the  lines  in  Wright's  Chaucer,  or  to  the  volume  and  page  of  Pauli's 
Gower,  a  final  accent  ( ' )  showing  that  the  word  cited  is  final  in  the 
line  quoted.  Several  of  the  references  in  the  memoirs  are  omitted, 
especially  to  the  imperfect  Gower  text,  and  for  oblique  cases.  Many 
of  the  Chaucer  references  have  been  verified,  and  all  been  compared 
with  the  original  memoirs.  Additions  in  brackets  are  generally 
by  the  present  writer,  and  the  other  observations  are  either  in 
the  precise  words  used  by  Prof.  Child,  or  their  equivalents.  Many 
words  in  other  articles,  besides  those  enumerated  above,  have  been 
inserted,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  reader  to  turn  to  the 
proper  article,  and  for  these  the  above  information  is  not  given,  and 
no  references  are  added. 

Thus  the  articles  "  ABBESS,  About,  against,  algates"  are  to  be 
read  as  follows  : — 

"  ABBESS,"  modern  form,  found  in  the  Gower  memoir  only  (in- 
dicated by  the  small  capitals),  "19"  mentioned  in  art.  19,  "  albesse" 
form  in  Pauli's  Gower  at  "iii  337,"  vol.  iii,  p.  337,  "French" 
derived  from  the  French. 

{  Indeclinable ;  "  About,"  modern  spelling,  the  word  being  found 
in  both  memoirs  (indicated  by  the  capital),  "72"  in  the  72nd  art., 
"alowten"  the  spelling  in  Wright's  Chaucer,  "  abutan"  Anglo- 
saxon  form,  "  3645"  line  in  Wright's  Chaucer  in  which  the  spelling 
abowten  occurs;  " aboute"  another  spelling  with  e  pronounced  oc- 
curring in  Wright's  Chaucer,  "  892'  "  line  892  last  word  indicated 
by  the  accent  ('),  "2191  3554  4146,"  and  also  in  these  lines 
but  not  as  the  last  word,  "  about1  "  the  same  spelling  as  before 
but  with  the  e  not  pronounced  "2187"  occurring  in  line  2187, 
"art.  73"  the  word  is  also  referredto  in  art.  73,  under  the  form 
"  aboutes"  in  which  it  occurs  in  Pauli's  Gower,  "  iii  162' "  vol.  iii, 
page  162  last  word  (')  in  a  line. 

J  Indeclinable,  "against,"  modern  form,  the  word  occurs  in  the 
Chaucer  memoir  only  (indicated  by  the  absence  of  capital),  "  73  " 
at  art  73,  "  ageyn"  the  form  in  Wright's  Chaucer ;  "  ongean,  agean 
togeanes"  Anglosaxon  forms,  "  agsein'  ageines'  agenest'"  forms  in 
Lagamon  (indicated  by  the  acute  accent),  "  onngsen0  onnjaBness0  " 
forms  in  Orrmin  (indicated  by  the  °),  &c. 

J  Indeclinable.  "  72,  73"  referred  to  in  art.  72  and  art.  73,  not 
existing  in  the  xixth  century,  indicated  by  having  no  word  in 
Roman  letters  preceding  these  figures;  " Algates"  occuring  in 
both  memoirs,  indicated  by  the  initial  capital,  the  spelling  in 
Wright's  Chaucer,  "7096,  7393,  13024"  at  these  lines,  "  alga?  " 
assumes  the  form  algat  with  e  elided,  "  573,  7619"  in  these  lines, 
"algat  (?)"  the  form  algat  which  is  doubtful,  "14422"  in  this 
line,  and  "  algate"  occurs,  "i25"  in  Pauli's  Gower  vol  i,  p.  25, 
"  [always]"  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  word,  which  is  always  added 
when  the  word  is  obsolete. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


379 


FOEMS  OF  WOEDS  ZN"   CHATJCEE  AKD   GoWEE  B.EFEEEED  TO 
PEOFESSOE  CHILD'S  MEMOIES. 

See  the  Explanation  of  the  Arrangement,  pp.  377-8. 


ABBESS  19  abbesse  iii  337     French 

[{[About  72  abowten  abutan  3645,  aboute 
892'  2191  3554  4146  about'  2187, 
art.  73  aboutes  iii  162' 

JAbove  72  aboven  on-,  a-,bufan  53  2771 
7297,  above  1802'  1905'  5789'  abov' 
2029  3213 

f29  a-cale  a-cele  iii  296'  [a  cold] 

[Accent]  art.  97« 

*  ADDER  5  nedder  adder  nsedre  iii  118 
ii  72  260 

[Adjectives]  art.   29  to  44. 

ADVENTURE  19  adventure  ii  236,  art. 
108  in  aunter  if  [if  haply]  French 

[Adverbs]  art.  69  to  73. 

Jagainst  73  ageyn  ongean  agean  to- 
geanes  agffiin'  ajeines'  a^enest'  onn- 
38en°  oun^seness0  66  4812,  agens 
affeinsloll  80468787  10371, agaynes 
10199,  agenst  ageinst  8196  13597 

*age  91  ay1  13445 

Jalas  91  allaas  new  French  las  2391 

alder  17  aldir  alor  air  2923 

Ale  9  ale  ealu  ealo  343  669  13736  3130' 
13730'  i  294' 

+73  Algates  7096  7393  13024  i  102, 
algat'  573  7619,  algat  (?}  14422,  art. 
72  algate  i  25  [always] 

Jalike  69  yliJce  yliche  gelice  7797  7812 
8630 

•fAll  30  alle  call  all  al'  all0  alle°  1247 
1686  2704  4586  9623  13589  14015 
14472  &c  al  7057  12613  12599  14091 
14246  14376,  art.  91  all'  210,  348  779 
937  946  979  4541  &c  alther  oiler 
[of  all]  art.  44 

[{[ALL  108  [although] 

Alms  4  almesse  selmsesse  allmess0  4588' 

[{[ALOFT  69  72  alofte  ii  103'  i  234' 

f  Alone  29  alloone  9200  9435  14256' 
14707'  is  from  the  ags.  definite  form 
ana  =  solus,  ii  293 

[{[ALONG  72  alonge  ii  22',  art.  108 

am  103  it  am  I 

J  Amidst  73  amyddes  -middan  -middes 
amidde'  amidden'  2011  10723  16215 
in  the  middes  (of)  16534,  art.  72 
amidde  ii  58'  119' 

[{[Among  73  amonges  gemang  imong' 
amang'  amang0  9902  14639,  among 
6534,  art  72  amenge  ii  22'  310' 

f64  -and  old  form  of  the  present  par- 
participle  awaytand  7634,  lepand 
7739,  touchand  7872 


ankle  9  ancle  ancle  1662 

[Anomalous  Verbs]  art.  65 

Answer  12  answar  andswaru  answare' 

anndsware0   6492,    art.    89   answer' 

9744,  art.  11  answere  i  96'  97  146' 
Ape  3  ape  apa  3933  7046'  13241'  15396' 
appear  87  appeere 
19  Arclte  1579  1582  &c.  Arclt'  1147 

1357  2317 

ARIADNE  98  Adrians 
*16  ariste  arist  i  320' where  the  e  final 

is  omitted  in  Pauli  [arising] 
arm  14  arme  earm  158  probably  an 

error,  2918  should  be  armes 
Arrow  4  arwe  arewe  arewe'  arwe'  11424 
ashes  23  assan  asschen  assen  aissches 
ask  98  axe 
as  188  [considering] 
**asp  16  asp  aasp  2923  ? 
Ass  3  asse  assa  asse°  16798' 
Jasunder  72   asondre  on-,  a-,  sundran 

5577,  asonder  7256'  asondur  493' 
AT — ABOVE  109 
at— after  108  [after] 
Jatween  72  atwynne  ontweonan  3589' 

13098' 

aught  105  ought 
AUGUST  96  augst 
aunt  19  aunte  5401  French 
AVARICE  19  avarice  ii  127  French 
*ave  91  av'  14919  [extremely  doubtful] 
fawaiting  64  awaytand  7634 
awe  7  awe  ege  e^e'  ajhe°  656'  16045' 
axe  17  ax  sex  eax  sex'  axe°  2546 
*AXLE  17  axel  eaxl  i  320  (?) 
§BABE  18  babe  old  Swedish  babe,  Ger- 
man bube  ?  i  344 
f§Bad    31    badde   9467    3157'    9482' 

15908'  ii  47 

Bale  7  bale  bealu  balu'  bale'  13409' 
balk  3  bailee  balca  bolca  3918' 
*BAND  16  bonde  bend  also  m.  i  102' 
bane  3  lane  bana  bona  bone'  bane'  1099 

1683'  16446' 

*BANK  16  banJce  bane  i  164 
*  banner  89  baner  French  baniere  980 
BAPTISM  19  baptisme  i  276  French 
*fBare  30  90  bare  baer  bare'  bar'  8755 

8771'  11884'  12660'  ii  286 
**Barn  14  berne  bern  bserne'  berrne0 

13812'  i  162' 
Be  v.  Ill  [elided] 
Be—,  106 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective.    *  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin, 


380 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  6  5. 


*Bean  16  bene  bean  9296  3770'  4514' 

9139'  ii  275' 
Bear  3  bere  bera  2144, 1642'  ii  339,  art. 

89  ber'?  2060'   [rh.  here=l\er,  pro- 
bably the  e  was  pronounced  in  here] 

art.  88 
*bear  89  ber'  (verb)  1424  9918  12264 

all  inf ;  2762  imperative,  8760  pres., 

to  bere  art.  88 

*  BEARD  14  berde  beard  iii  319 
Beast  19  best  7424  9413  10578  6616' 

beste  i  280  French 

*beat  91  bet'  383  [wrong  reference  ?] 
**Bed  14  bed  bedd  bed'  bed0  bedde  i  24 

101'  [all  ex.  in  Chaucer  oblique] 
*BEDE  14  bede  bed  i  208'  [prayer] 
*beech6teftboce  beoce  12856'  2925? 
bees  23  beon  been  bees 
^Before  72  90  biforn  beforan  1108  1150' 

1164'  1388  by/ore  379'  3238',  beforne 

14405  bifor'  3602  14995  i  59  117 
*begin  91  begynn'  17347 
JBehind  72   behynde   behindan   3239 

7723'  byhynde  1052 
Belief  3  bileeve  geleafa  ilasfe'  Isefe0  3456 

11445'  11991'  12355'  beleve  i  356 
Bell  4  belle  belle  belle0   171'   14077' 

14407'  16266'  ii  13' 
Bench  17  bench  benc  benche'  bennche0 

5829  ii  274,  see  BANK. 
Jbeneath  72  bynethe  beni>an  4039 
benedicite  96,  see  p.  260 
*bequeathe  91  byqueth'  2770 
berry  4  berye  berige  berie  207' 
*beseech  91  biseV  7251,  art.  98 
Jbeside  72  beside  be  sidan  10688' 
^Besides  73  bysides  be   sidan   13344, 

besides  ii  359 
better  38  bettre  betere  bettre0  526  650, 

bet  adv.  form    in   ags.   4534    4731 

10914 
^between  72  bytwene  betwynan  2861' 

3107'  betwen'  i  6,  9,  20  betwen  i  12 
Jbetwixt    72    betwix    betweox    1707 

3096,  beiwixe  1212  2172  9348  14247 
Jbeyond  72  byyond'  ?  geondan  geonda 

geond  15130 
BIBLE  96 
**bier  16  87  beere  bfer  baere'0  15091 

beer'    6179   [the  cases    in   16    are 

oblique],  art.  87 

bill  19  bille  13585  13591'  French 
*binn  16  bynne  binn  595' 
birch   4    Urch\e\   birche    birc    2923? 

birch'  asp. 
bird  98  brid 
*Birth  16  burthe  beor$  4612,  berthe 

birthe  ii  76  155 


**14  bissemare  bismer  bisemare  bise- 

masre  [abuse,  filthiness]  3963' 
*blade  14  blad'de  bked  620' 
BLAZE  4  blase  blsese  ii  244' 
f30  bleche  blac  ii  21  som  on  for  she 

is  pale  and  bleche 
fBLiND  30  blinde  blind  i  8 
bliss  1791  blis  blys  1686'  rh.  this,  bliss' 

4453  rh.  is  4842  &c  blisse  1451  &c 

oblique  only 
fBlithe  29  blithe  bli>e  blrSe'0  1880' 

14210'  blitK  848  blith  10652 
blossom     3    blosme    blostma    blosma 

blosstme0  3324  (blosm'  upon) 
*tblue  30  blewe  bleoh  566 
J69  Blyve  bilife'  blive'  bilife0  2699' 

5973'  7102',  i  314'  ii.  238'  [quickly] 
*Boar  14  bore  bar  2072  iii  268' 
*BOAT  14  bote  bat  i  2 
fsoDiLY  30  bodeliche  iii  14 
BONDMAN  3  bondeman  bonda  iii  320 
BONEFACE  91  JSonefac'  i  258  261,  but 

rh.  grace  i  258 

**book  16  booke   hoc  boc'°  6373  ob- 
lique, book  6251 
*Boon  16  boone  ben  bene°  2271'  2671' 

9492'  12162'  &c    [in   all  the   cases 

cited  rh.   soone]   i    185'   iii  223 
*Boot  16  boote  hot   bote'0  426'  6054' 

[both  rh.  roote~]  i  228'  235' 
§BOOTH    18    bothe    Ger.    bude,    Dut. 

boede,  iii  281' 

borde  19  ofr  bourde,  i  304'  French 
**14  Borwe  borg  borh'  [loan]  10910' 
JBoth    72    bothe   batwa    bafte'    boSe' 

baj?e°  5895  6823  ii  229,  art.  39  and 

103 

**Bottom  14  botme  botm  13249 
BOUNDE   19    bounde   bonde    mid.   Lat. 

bunda,  old  fir.  bonde,  iii  102'  French 
Bow   3    bowe   boga  17044  108'  988S' 

17061',     art.    91    botv'    2897    [the 

elision  is  not  certain] 
BOWEL  19  bowele   ofr.  boele   iii   265' 

French 

box  17  box  box  5165 
*  bramble  14  brembre  brember  15157 
** brand  14  bronde  brond  brond'  15313' 
**bread  14  brede  bread  bred'  7422 
BREECH  7  breche  brice  i  351' 
Breed*  11  brsedo    2918    1972'    13156' 

15646'  iii  66'  [breadth] 
*Bride   16    bryde    bryd    brude'   brid0 

9764,   art.    17   &rid'  i  102  art.  91 

bruyd9694;  brid'  i  102 
*Bridge  16  brigge  brycg  brugge'  3920' 

ii  201 
^brightly  69  brighte  beorhte  3352 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,     -f  Adjective.    $  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  6  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


381 


BRIM  7  brimine  brymme  ii  293 

*bring  91  bring*   10049 

§Brink  18  brinke  Icelandic  bringr  = 
colliculus)  11472  9275'  11170' 

bristle  98  berstle 

fBROAD  30  brode  brad  ii  107 

Brother  21  brother,  br  ether  en  ags. 
brotb.ru  brothere'  brethren'  bro- 
theres'  brethre0,  art.  23 

**brotberbood  14  bretherhede  613 

*BROW  14  browe  breaw  i  95' 

§BULL  18  bulle  bolle  Icel.  boli  bauli,  Ger. 
bulle,  ags.  bulluca  iii  118  ii  72'  (?) 

burned  98  brent  brenne 

burst  98  brast  breste 

*busyness  91  besynes  13140 

By  108  [about,  of  time] 

J72  byweste  bewestan  390'  [westwards] 

§Cake  18  cake,  Danisb  kage,  Swedish 
kaka  4309'  13737 

Can,  and  its  parts,  art.  65,  art.  109, 
can  thank  [scire  gratias] 

Candle  96  candel 

cap  4  cappe  cappe  588'  687'  3145' 

Care  11  care  cearu  care'0  1491'  4934' 
14611'  15170'  i  339 

*Cart  14  carte  crast  carte'  karrte0 
7123,  cart  16522  7121  7136  16533, 
art.  98 

*carter  8  carter  7122  7124  7141 

cases  27  caas 

cause  19  cause  4142  5705  7056  French 

centre  19  centre  10336  French 

certainly  96  certeynly 

§  18  Chaffare  14696'  14751' 

chamber  19  chambre  1073,  art.  89, 
cham.br'  9696  French 

chanticleer  89  chauntedere  French  chan- 
tecler  16336,  mostly  misspelt  as  above 
in  the  Nonnes  Prests  Tale ;  that  it 
ought  to  have  no  final  e  appears  from 
the  French  derivation,  and  from  the 
rhymes  her  (tuli]  and  power  (Nor- 
man French  poueir)  16822  16830, 
also  misspelt  bere  powere. 

**chapmanhood  14  chapmanhede 

30  chare  16096'  should  be  char  = 
chariot,  not  to  be  confounded  with 
art.  90  chare  16099  =  chair 

fChaste  19  chaste  2306  French 

Cheek  4  cheeke  cece  ceace  6374'  15524' 
cheek'  15529  bad  verse 

Cheer  19  chere  i  55  French,  art.  87 

Cheese  7  cheese  cyse  cese  7329,  art. 
91,  clues'  3628  suspicious  verse 

*  Chest  16  kiste  cist  iii  316',  art.  17, 
chest  cest  cist  6084  14149  rh.  rest, 
6982  rh.  lest 


*16  cheste  ceast  ?  i  294  [strife,  con- 
tumely] 

*  Child    14   child*   cild   child'   childe' 

child0  5339  14950  15217'  8459, 
child  15221  15228  15241  8488 
15768  i  190  ii  16,  children  childre 
childer  ags.  cildru  cilde  cild  childere' 
children'  childres'  chilldre0,  art.  23 

** childhood  14  childehede  14912' 

CHILL  7  chele  cele  cyle  ii  369' 

CHIN  9  chinne  cinne  i  275' 

Church  4  chirche  cyrice  chirche'  kirrke0 
7391  7775  13744  13793  &c,  art.  91 
chircK  3984,  art.  21 

cinnamon  19  cynamome  3699  French 

*  claim  91  claym'  9176 

*  CLAPPER  8  clapper  ii  13 
clasped  98  clapsud 

f  Clean  29    dene   clsene   cla3ne'  dene0 

506    12087     14288,    art.    91    den' 

12228 

J Cleanly  69  clene  cl&ne  cleenlic  12553 
*cleanness  91  clenness'  508 
clearly  87  cleere 
cleft  3  clifte  clyfa  7727' 
*CLERK  14  clerke  cleric  clerc  iii  288 
§  cloak  18  cloke,    Middle  Latin  cloca, 

Flemish  klocke,  2001' . 
4  cloote  elate  12505  [burdock] 
§Cloud  18  clowde  16268' 
*Coal  14  coleeol  col'  13088'?  13124' 
come    7    cyme    cume'    come'0    (noun) 

12271  ?  [coming,  advent] 
*come  91  com  (verb)  689  14184 
commandment  19  comaundement  2871 

2981  12991  French 
fcoMMON  30  comune  iii  152  159  comun 

i  216  284  French 
[Comparison  of  Adjectives]  art.  38 
*Constance  91  Constaunce'  4698  4858 

4866    4986    Constaunce  4684   4851 

6320  5527,  art.  19  Constance  i  185 

186 

[Contractions]  art.  93  to  97 
*Cope   14   cope   cop   iii    102',   art.   4 

cappa  ii  101  ?  §  art.  18  15435' 
**corn  14  corne  corn  corn'0  14404' 
cot  cote  4  cote  cota  cote  2459' 
couch  19  couche  7351  French 
*coutler  colter  14  cultre   culter  3761 

3783  3810 

Creed  3  crede  creda  12975' 
*cress  6  kers  cerse  3754',  art.  4  kerse 

i  299  344',  art.  98 
§  CRIPPLE  18  creple  Icel.  kryjypill,  But. 

krepel,  Ger.  kriippel,  iii /1 47 
crisp  98  crispe  / 

crock  3  crouke  crocca  4156' 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,    i  Adjective.    $  Indeclinable. ,  \  Uncertain  Origin. 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


**crop  14  croppe  cropp  1534 

Crow    4    crowe   crawe    17175    17062' 

17294'  2694',  art.  91  crow  17172 
CRUMB  4  crumme  crume  iii  35 
Cup  3  cuppe  cuppa  cuppe'  134  10930' 
curl  98  crulle 

curse  17  curs  curs  663  658  4347 
§  dagger  1 8  daggere  (a  thing  to  dag  or 

pierce  with  ags.  ending  -ere  ?)  14070 

[bad  line]  113',  dagger  14245 
f§Dainty  18  31  deynte,  (Welsh   dant 

=  tooth ;     dantaidd  =  toothsome, 

Wedgewood)  4559  5790  9917  15122, 

deynteth  16321  ii  255 
**Dale  14  dale  dsel  dal'  dale'0  16248' 
dame  madam  19  dame  madame  15382 

16444  16686  madam'  11635  11830 

16456,  art.  91  dam'  4571  4604  5152 

madam'  7 786  7792  French 
Dare,  and  its  parts,  art.  65 
**dark  14  derke  dearc  adj  4336' 
[Dative  Case]  art.  102 
DAUGHTER  21  daughter,  pi.  ags.  dohtrn 

dohtere'  dohtren'  dohtres'  doughteren 

doughtres,  art.  23 
*daw  91  daw'  10069 
*DAY  14  dawe  daeg  i  113',  art.  98 
*DEAL  14  dele  dael  iii  110 
fDear  29  dere  deore  deore'  dure'  deore0 

dere°  13593'  14921',  art.  87,  art.  89 

deer'  7334  15538  ?  [see  peer] 
*DEATH  14  dethe  dea'S  i  202 
*declare     90     declare    7061'     14939' 

declar'  14893  extremely  doubtful 
*Deed  16  dede  d»d  dede'  d»3d0  4853' 

6311  etc.,  etc.,  i  272 
*deem  91  dem'  3194 
Deep  4  deepe  dype  deope  4875' 
f  Deeply  69  deepe  deope  129'    i  98 
deer  25  deer  deor  pi. 
DEFAULT  19  defaulte  ii  206  French 
[Definite  Adjectives]  art.  32  to  36 
degrees  26  degre 
88  dere  derian  [injure] 
f29  Derne  derne  derne'  djerne0  3200 

3278  i  107'  [secret] 
DESERT  19  deserte  ii  391  French 
DEVIL  96 

fDEvouT  30  devoute  i  64  French 
Diana  19  Dyane  2074  2348  eiz.Dyan' 

2293  French 
*  did  91  ded"  14926 
JDIMLY  69  dimme  dimme  ii  293' 
fDiVERS  30  diverse  ii  85  77  125  iii  12 

295,  divers  i  356'  iii  3'  384'  French 
do  109  [cause] 
§dog  18  dogoe,  Icelandic  doggr,  Dutch 

dogghe  6951  9888 


**Doom  14  dom'  dom   dom'°  11240, 

dome  iii  211' 

Door  11  90  dore  duru  dyr  dure'0  1989 
3435  3499  13065  13145  14624  etc. 
dor'  552  2424  3471  3482  3634  [all 
these  are  doubtful,  they  might  be 
dore  introducing  trisyllabic  measures] 
JDOUBLE  19  double  i  181  iii  187  French 
doubt  19  doute  9959  French 
dove  4  dowfe  dufe  10013  13812 
**down  16  doune  dun  dun0  15207' 
§drake  18  drake  3576' 
*Dread    16    drede  drad  dred'  drede' 
16648  9031'  etc.  i  139 

*  Drink  14  dry  nice  drinc  drinca  drinc' 

drinke'  drinnc0  drinnke0  1617  3411 
4918  7481  etc.,  art.  7  love  drunke 
iii  12  16 

t§  31  DronJcelewe  7625'  9407'  [drun- 
ken] so  costlewe  [costly],  Persones 
Tale,  J)e  Superbia,  3rd  par.  near  the 
end.  iii  5' 

Drop  3  drope  dropa  drope'  12450  (131 
bad  line)  ii  266,  286' 

fDry  29  drye  dryge  dry  dri^e0  16334 
422'  15703'  i'234 

*drought  16  droughthe  drugaft  10432 

**dung  14  donge  dung  16504,  dong 
532 

Lwale  3  dwala  4159'  [nightshade] 

[E  Final  Silent]  art.  84  to  92 

*  teach  30   eche  aelc   ffilc'   seche'  illc° 

1184  [doubtful,  there  may  be  only 
a  defective  first  measure,  p.  333.] 
Eagle  19  egle  2180  10437  French 
Ear  2  ere  eare  asre0  6218  6603'  8603', 

art.  87 

Earth  4  erthe   eorthe   eorthe'0  erthe'0 
1248  8079   8557    10707   erth   i  25 
ii  197  [doubtful] 
ease  19  eese  971  French 
*EDGE  16  egge  ecg  ii  251 
J72  efte  eft  i  171   [after,  again] 
{Eke  72  eek  ek  eac  ec'  eke'  5031  5612 
5688  8818  eeke  eke  4480  5136  6231 
7075  7765  11692  15786  (all  rh.  with 
seeke);  6373  7445  15522  (all  rh.  with 
cheeke],  16873  (rh.  with  breke) 
Eld  11  elde  yldo  yld  ffilde'  £eld'  elde° 

6789  6797  3883'  iii  365 
f29  elenge   ellende  =  peregrinus,   and 
therefore   miser,    as  in    other  lan- 

fages,  see  Dieff.  Goth.  W.  1,  37, 
being  changed  into  g,  as  in  the 
modern  English  form  of  the  pre- 
sent participle?  14633  6781'  [rh. 
challenge  and  hence  pronounced 
(elen-dzhe),  and  consequently  not 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,    f  Adjective,    i  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


383 


analogous  to  the  change  of  the  par- 
ticiple from  -inde  to  -ynge,  as  sug- 
gested by  Prof.  Child] 

[Elision  of  Final  Vowels]  art.  74  to  83 

[Ellipsis]  art.  Ill 

JElse  73  elks  elles  selles'  elles0  1230 
9410  112091  1  ii  203 

End  7  ende  ende  ende'°  1867  4901  7037 
15'  etc.  ii  61  186,  art.  91  end'  197 

64  -ende,  usual  termination  of  the  pre- 
sent participle,  even  of  French  verbs, 
in  Gower,  accordende  i  213',  comende 
i  88  133'  220',  touchende  i  243, 
wepende  i  74,  criende  i  137,  Jcne- 
lende  i  155,  praiende  i  345,  suende 
i  278  213',  spelcende  ii  6',  thenkende 
ii  369,  thonkende  ii  297,  ridende  i 
191  ii  46,  amblende  ii  45,  winkende 
ii  189,  boilende  ii  201,  swounende  i 
188,  sailende  i  200,  bledende  iii  60, 
unsittende  iii  143,  continuende  ii  18' 
etc.,  all  with  the  accent  on  -end. 
The  accent  is  occasionally  thrown 
back,  comend  i  1,  touchend'  i  52,  be- 
longendi  12,  wailend  i  144,  walkend 
i  185,  wepend  i  236,  knehnd'  ii  96, 
slombrend  ii  103  etc. 

Jfenough  30  72  ywow^  genoh  inch'0 
inowe'  12788',  art.  91  ynow'  4675 

ENVY  19  envie  i  223  French 

*-er  8  -er  -ere  -ere,  [see  carter  hopper e 
lover'  mellere  outrydere  sleper  wonger ; 
generally  -er] 

erst  than  108  [before] 

Eve  15  eve  sefen,  aefen'  heve'  efenn0 
832  4993'  i  70'  ii  332' ;  at  5914' 

*feven  30  evene  efen  efne'  efenn0  83 
8316 

Jevenly  69  evene  efne  1062 

Jever  never  72  evere  never  e  sefre  aefer 
sefre'  sefer'  atfre0  50  676  1231  1347 
1408,  ever  never  70  1135  1354  2397 
2414,  generally  contracted  to  a 
monosyllable,  art.  108  ever  among 
[still] 

Jevilly  69  evele  yfele  1129,  ylV  3715 

f  excellent  19  excellente  10459  French 

*experience  19  91  experience  7099',  ex- 
periens  5583  10112  (6050  rh.  defens 
which  in  Old  French  is  spelt  both 
with  and  without  a  final  e}  French 

Eye  2  yhe  ye  cage  eghe0  10'  3018' 
4700'  8109'  etc.  eyen  yen,  ags.  eagan, 
art.  23 

*face  19  91  face  Norman  French  face, 
9710  rh.  trespace  1580  16252,  faas 
rh.  A«as=has  13117'? 

fain  98  f awe 


*fFair  30  90  faire  faeger  fseir'  faaire' 
fa^er0  2388  2665  4021  12043  [all 
these  are  fern.]  234  2596  [these  two 
are  plural],  884  1687  [these  two  are 
definite],  12060  [probably  an  adv.], 
ii  253  [a  faire  knight,  probably  in- 
flectional], fair  165  575  3233  7835' 
9147'  9431'  14432' 

JFairly  69  faire  faegere  94  12060' 

91  f alias  Fr.  fallace,  iii  158  rh.  was, 
/alias  inne  ii  85  [deceit,  cunning] 

fFALSE  30  false  fals  ii  329 

**Falsehood  14  falsehede  13101  i  216 

fan  17  fann  fann  3315  16974  (?) 

JFAR  72  ferre  feor  ii  19 

Fare  11  fare  faru  fare'  fore'  1811' 
4989'  ii  173'  271' 

JFast  69  faste  fajste  4192  6552  11159 
13033  13351  i  55 

Father  21  fader,  art.  98 

*f30  fawe,  feah  ( =fsegen  as  in  feahlic) 
5802'  [fain] 

*Fear  14  89  fer'  far  11172  [oblique], 
feere  2346  2688  2932  7286  [oblique, 
&\\  for  feere]  i  57'  90',  art.  87 

Feast  19  feste  908  6660  8067  8072 
8145  8886  i  182,  fest  6658  French 

*FEE  14  fee  feoh  iii  293  [cattle]  mo- 
nosyllable contracted 

*feel  91  fel'    9332  pres.,  9338  pres. 

feere  see  fere 

39  feleMa  8793  [many] 

*fell  91  fell'  2112  subj. 

§  Fellow  18  Icelandic  felagi  feldwe 
2550  16512  397'  655'  1527'  4248' 
4366'  6967'  IMWf&w  650  1194 
2626  2657  4257  7605  7624  7668 
16489  16514  16516  16527  16531, 
feldw'  652,  felaw'  892 

*fellowship  8  91  felaivschip'  476  430 

3  Fere  feere  fera  gefera  ivere'  4748' 
4815'  6506'  8989'  [in  all  these 
cases  the  word  means  companionship 
rather  than  companion;  it  is  the 
German  gefahrte,  properly  der  mit- 
fahrende,  compare  English  wayfarer] 

[Feminine  of  Adjectives]  art.  37 

**fern  14  feme  fearn  10569' 

FETCH  98  fette 

few  39  fewe  feawe  feawa  641  7432' 

*fiddle  5  fithul  fithele  298 

*Fill  16  jau  fyll  1530'  7282'  i  254 

FILTH  16  filthe  fylft  i  174 

*find  91  fynd'  15408 

Finisterre  88  Fynestere 

*Fire  14  fyr  fyr  fur'  fir0  2921  2935 
2948  \_fyre  fuyre  seem  to  be/oblique 
forms  only] 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective.    *  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


384 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


**fish  UJsshe?  fisc  fisc'  fisce'  180 
[oblique,  with  omitted  e :  is  likened 
to  a  fissh'  that's  watirles] 

Fist  17  fist  fest  fyst  6374  4273  rh. 
brest,  6216  rh.  list,  14217  rh.  best, 
17329  rh.  lest,  art.  Ibflste  i  175  obi. 

fit  17  fitt  fitt  4182  5624  rh.  wit 

fleas  23  flean/^w 

FLEET  3  flete  flota  i  314,  art.  14  fete 
fleot  i  197 

*FLESH  14  flesshe  flsesc  ii  342 

Flight  17  flight  flyht  fluht'  fliht'  flihht0 
990  rh.  knight,  ii  327  rh.  night,  art. 
16  flighte  ii  378'  printed  flight 

Floor  17  floor  flor  flor'0  3471,  flor (e)  ii 
326  rh.  swor(e}  iii  337,  art.  91  flor' 
iii  337,  probably  belongs  to  art.  17 
and  should  have  no  final  e. 

fly  Iflye  fleoge  flyge  4350  14582'  10178' 

FOAL  3  fole  fola  iii  314 

*Foe  14  fo  ffah  fa  ii  116,  pi.  foon 
foos  ags.  fa,  Bosw.,  art.  23 

*Fold  14  folde  falud  fald  514'  i  16' 

*Folk  14  folke  folc  ii  165,  art.  25 

*fond  91  fond'  9284 

Food  3  91  foode  foda  fode°  7463',  rh. 
good  ii  362'  iii  26'  30'  fade  five  or 
six  times  in  Gower 

*Foot  14  foote  fot  fot'°  11489  iii  149', 
pi.  feet  ags.  fet,  art.  26 

JFOR  72  fore  for  ii  59  to  rhyme  with 
bore,  ii  239  to  rhyme  with  forlore, 
iii  308  rh.  more 

forbear  88forbere 

*forbid  91  f orbed'  9635 

Force  19  force  3910,  art.  91  fore' 
3910  [for  leeful  is  with  force  fore' 
to  schowve],  art.  91  fors  7771  9171 
9709  10214  10304  13548  13718' 
17000  (rh.  cors)  French,  ii  392  rh. 
hors 

For-,  106 

J-FORE  72  -forn  -fore,  aforn  onforan 
iii  32',  afore  i  364,  tofore  toforan  i 
204  tofor'  i  59,  befor'  i  138,  art.  90 
-for'  i  59  117  138  etc.  -fore  i  32  204 

FORTH  WITH  108  [with] 

Fortune  19  fortune  15487  15727  15943 

16209  i  22  (4  cases)  French 
Jfoully  69  foule  Me?  fullic  16964 
*ffoul  30  foule  ful  ful'    fule'°    6645 

6664' 

*FOUNDER  s.  8  founder  ii  161 
ffour  90  foure  2141  3883  13388 
fFREE  29  fre  freo  fri  i  107' 
•ffremde  29  fremede  10743 
*ffresh  30  fresshe  fsersc  freche'  frech' 
fressh0  2388  9656  2733  10698 


*friar  89  fret'  208  7315,  frere  7252 

7254  7258  7264  etc.,  art.  87 
friend  25  freend  pi. 
*friendship    8  friendship'  freondscipe 

430 

§funke  18  Ger.  funke  iii  18'   [spark] 
§  gable  18  gable  Gothic  gibla,  German 

giebel,  Danish  gavl  3571' 
Gall  3  galle  gealla  galle0  6522'  11986' 

12725'  15833'  i  303'  ii  177 
Game  15   game  gamen  gamen'  gome' 

game'   3405    14701',    ace.    855',    in 

14244'  i  94',  gam'  2288  3741 
gan  109  [auxiliary] 
gap  \\gappe  geapu  (Bosw)  1641  1647' 
*Gate  14  gate  geat  jaet'  ^ate°  14144' 
GATHER  98  gader 
Gear  3  gere  gearwa  geara  367  ?  354  ? 

ger  2182'  ?  art.  88 
[Genitive  Case]  art.  101,  [Genitive  of 

Nouns]  art.  21  and  28 
get  91  get'  9819 
*Gift  16  gifte  gift  jeff   9187   5685' 

12203',  yifte  i  276',  for-yifte  iii  372' 
*give  91  giv'  gev'  223  7455  7456  7457 

9401  9403  14319 
fGLAD  30  gladde  glsed  i  211 
*16  Gleede  gled  1999'   15870'  i  280 

[red  hot  coal] 

gloss  4  glose  glose  7374'  7502' 
*  GLOVE  16  glove  glof  i  351' 
go  109  [walk],  art.  Ill  [elided] 
*goddess  91  goddess'  930 
*GODHEAD  14  godhede  i  364 
**Gold  14  golde  gold    gold'    12138, 

nom.  ii  356' 

fcoLDEN  30  golde  golden  ii  356' 
*goodness  91  goodnes  7395 
goose  pi.  geese  26  gees  ges 
*gown  91  gourf  93 
Grace  19  91  grace  16219  3071'  14132' 

i  9,  art.  91  grac'   1175,   6842,  gras 

15242' !  rh.  Thopas  French 
Grame  3  grama  grame'  13331'  [grief] 
**Grave  14  grave  graef  2780'  ii  114' 
*fGreat  30    grete  great   gra3t°   4754 

9100  9848  10783  15885  i  125  ii  345, 

gret  341   439  749   1189  1247  1401 

2485  4814  5100  etc.  great  i  70 
tGreen  29  grene  grene  grene'  2937  3876 
**  Ground   14  grounds  grund  grund'0 

grunde'  5573'  i  111 
*grove  14  91  grov'  grast  1690,  grove 

[oblique  only] 
guess  109  gesse  [think] 
§  GUESS  18  gesse  guesse  Dutch  gissen, 

Swed.  gissa,  iii  211'  i  105' 
had  liefer  109  hadde  lever 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique;    t  Adjective.     $  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IY.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


385 


fhairy  30  90  haire  hseren   14151 

*HALF  16  halfe  halve  healf  i  8'  17' 
on  other  half  i  77 

£69  halfing  healfunga  iii  206  [halfwise] 

*Hall  16  halle  heall  halle'  10394  ii 
205'  art.  91  hall'  9962  10400 

*Hand  17  honde  hande  hand  bond 
hand'0  bond'  13788  [this  is  ace.  and 
all  the  other  instances  cited  are 
oblique,  so  that  this  is  not  properly 
an  exceptional  word,  hand  hond  are 
the  common  forms]  hand  fand  4 1 1 3 
hond  fond  5026  hond  bond  10065 

JHard  69  harde  hearde  i  220 

Hare  3  hare  hara  191'  686'  1812' 
15167'  ii  93' 

Harp  4  harpe  bearpe  barpe'  6039 

3  Harre  heorra  552'  [hinge]  hem  i  36' 

HASTE  19  haste  i  252  French 

*14  hastihede  ii  245 

Hate  7  hate  hete  hsete'  bete0  6331' 
13826'  16074',  art.  91  hat'  13640 

haunch  19  haunche  3279  French 

*have  91  hav'  888  909  921  1257  2774 
9210  9277  9308  10371  10594  10853 
11359  11456  11530  14140  14142 
and  almost  always ;  generally  hav' 
in  Gower,  except,  of  course,  at  the 
end  of  a  line 

haw  3  hawe  haga  6240'  14270' 

he  103  [one  indefinite  and  mark  of 
gender],  art.  Ill  elided 

*head  14  heed  beafud  hsefd'  hatfde' 
hsefedd0  10404  heved  12294  [heede 
seems  to  he  only  oblique] 

hear  87  heere 

Heart  4  herte  beorte  heorte'  beorrte' 
berrte0  955  956  1146  2651  6354 
etc.  (40  cases),  art.  91  hert  10526 
8062  16301  9113  (7  cases),  art.  21 

Heat  11  hete  haeto  hate' baste0  12448' 
12506'  13336'  13453' 

heath  17  hceth  harS  6' 

**heaven  14  lievene  heofon  beovene' 
beoffne0  heffue0,  of  7588',  in  9513', 
art.  21 

hedge  7  heqge  hege  16704 

*Heed  16  heede  byd  305'  8511'  10926' 
12363'  13178',  art.  91  heed  7483 
12987,  i  82' 

*HEEL  16  hele  hel  hela  i  17'  ii  210' 

f29  heende  geheude  ?  bende'  3199 
3401  3487  [courteous] 

Height  11  highte  heahtfo  2921',  rh. 
bright  (brighte  ?)  4432,  rh.  right 
17298  [this  is  an  error,  it  rhymes 
with  to  my  sight,  which  may  have 
been  an  error  for  sighte] 


4  heire  hsere  here'  12061'  [hair-cloth] 
11  Hele  hoelo  hele'  bale'  1273'  3104' 

13531'  [health] 
*Hell  16  91  hell'  hell  belle'0  660  P  ii 

119',  art.  21 
*Help  16  91  helpe  help  hellpe0  9202 

i  236,  art.  91  help'  10773  help  11983 

i  30 

Hen  17  hen  henn  178 
Jhence  73  hennes  hens  heonan  heonane 

beonene'  henne'  hinries'  10972  14102, 

art.  72  henne  heouan  3887' 
herb  19  herbe  11344  French 
*herberg  5  herberw  herberwh  herbergh 

hereberge    berberwe'     herrberrghe0 

405   767  4117  4143  11347 
Herd  7  herde  hirde  birde0  605   12120, 

art.  16  hierd  i  340  should  be  hierde 
JHere    72   her  heer  her  her'0  here'0 

6583  6591  6595  6624  14346'  heere 

1821'  3774'  7730',  art.  87 
heritage     19    heritage    10046    11867 

French 

**14  herne  ern  11433'  [eagle] 
*Heste  16  haes  heste'  ha3se°  3588  by- 

heste  U5T  i  85  hest  11376  8004'? 

[behest  command] 

9  hevenriche  heofourice  i  265'  [king- 
dom of  heaven] 
3  Hewe  biwa  9659'  [servant] 
*14  /mhigPii  9'  [haste] 
HIERARCHY  98  gerarchie 
*f  high  30   highe  heab  hseh'  heebie' 

heh°  he^he0  7474  8011  8082  12436* 

14055    high'     11047     11085     high 

14202  14867 
Jhigh  69  hye  heabe  2077  3243'  highe 

ii  35' 

HILT  4  hilte  i  328' 

hind  3  hyne  hina  605'  13247'  [servant] 
*HIND  16  hinde  hind  ii  45'  [deer] 
hip  4  heepe  heope  hiope  15158'  [berry] 
*Hire  16  hi/re  huyre  byre  bure'  659Cf 

7555'  16938'  iii  352 
his  ]  03  [of  it] 
HITHER  98  hider 

hive  7  %whyfe  (inc.  gen.)  16878  7275' 
hiwe  see  hewe 
*hold91  hold'  9364 
**hole  14  hole  hoi  hoi',  in  13209 
**  -holm,  14  -holme  -holm,  of  4284 
*HOME  14  home  ham  ii  7 
Homicide  19  homicide  14978  French 
**  -hood  14  -hede  -hod  -bode'  -ede' 

-had0 
Hope   3,  91   hope  hopa  hope0   12798 

2437   10802   12606'  i   227,  art.   91 

hop'  88  9548 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,    t  Adjective.      %  Indeclinable.     \  Uncertain  Origin. 

25 


386 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


•hopper  8  hopper  hoppere  4034  4037 

•HORSE  14  horse  hors  iii  259,  art.  21, 
pi.  ags.  hors  hors'  horses',  art.  25 

JHOTLY  69  hole  ii  28'  301' 

hose  4  hose  hose  hose'  3931',  hosep  ags. 
hosan,  art.  23 

host  19  hoste  oste  753  6868  16936. 
host  ost  829  3116  12591  12625, 
11007  12580  rh.  wost,  16988  rh; 
post,  French 

HOUR  19  home  ii  9'  French 

**House  14  house  hus  hus'°  5934  i  294 

how  that  108  [however  that] 

4  howve  hufe  3909'  [hat  cap] 

•Hue  14  hewe  hiw  heowe'  hew3  1366 

fHUGE  19   hughe  French  ahuge  i  236 

hunter  3  hunte  hunta  hunte'  hunnte0 
2020  [a  line  not  in  the  Harleian 
7334]  hunt  2014  bad  line,  2630 
hunt'  as 

Husband  3  housbonde  housebonde  hus- 
bonda  husbonde'  hosebonde'  6034' 
6062'  14578'  5612'  5959'  hombond 
6085  8597  (6107  ?)  housebond  16850, 
art.  91  hous'bond'  8574 

I  45  yk  ich  etc.,  art.  98 

•16  ighte  aeht  ii  378'  printed  ight, 
[possession] 

•fill  30  yllc  yfel  ufele'  uvel'  ille°  4182 

IMAGE  19  ymage  i  34  ii  178  French 

[Imperative]  arts.  57-59 

[Imperfect  Indicative]  arts.  53-55 

[Impersonal  Verbs]  art.  67 

Jin  69  inne  inne  41'  10891  12809 
ther-inne  i  224,  with-inne  i  30 

[Infinitive]  art.  60 

-ing  17  -yng  -ynge  -ung  -ing,  ing' 
rarely  -inge'  generally,  -inng°  almost 
invariably.  The  more  usual  ending 
in  Chaucer  is  certainly  -yng.  The 
termination  -ynge  occurs  frequently 
at  the  end  of  a  verse  and  in  most 
cases  rhymed  with  an  infinitive 
vanysshynge  [ace.]  2362  rh.  plur. 
pres.  ind.,  envem/mynge  [ace.  after 
thurgli]  9934,  felynge  16779,  re- 
joisynge  17178,  [the  other  cases  cited 
are  oblique].  In  Gower  the  termi- 
nation is  generally  -inge,  less  fre- 
quently -ing ;  in  the  latter  case  the 
accent  is  sometimes  thrown  back, 
axinge  i  171,  bakbitinge  i  213',  caro- 
linge  ii  53',  childinge  iii  211,  comings 
ii  29'  53',  compleigninge  i  327',  gruc- 
chinge  i  234,  knoulechinge  i  123'  ii 
25'  iii  34',  lesinge  i  65'  213',  likinge  i 
68'  173',  lokinge  i  65',  mishandling  e 
ii  189,  spekinye  iii  252,  tidinge  i  327, 


ii  243'  385,  welwillinge  i  355',  wep- 
inge  ii  122,  writinge  i  4  iii  104 ;  be- 
ginning rh.  spring  iii  104,  knoulech- 
ing  i  3/,  teching  i  95,  all  accented 
on  the  last  syllable  ;  hunting  i  53, 
liking  iii  319,  wening  i  107  108, 
writing  i  5  accented  on  the  first ; 
excusing  of  i  107,  hunting  as  i  53, 
sheding  of  i  316  364  accented  on  the 
last,  are  apparently  cases  of  elision. 

t  -ing,  64  -yng  -ynge,  -ende,  for  the 
most  part  -yng  ;  in  some  cases  how- 
ever it  is  rhymed  with  the  infinitive 
mood,  and  we  must  either  suppose 
the  participle  to  end  in  -ynge,  or  else 
the  infinitive  to  have  lost  its  termi- 
nation. [Probably  -ynge  is  the  old 
and  -yng  the  abridged  form]  wonyng 
390,  lyggyng  1013,  romyng  1073, 
dwellyng  1421,  rayhyng  [several 
MS.  read  naylyng~\  2505,  wynsyng 
3263,  sensing  3341,  abydyng  3595, 
walkyng  3955,  knowyng  4223,  yma- 
ginyng  (rh.  thing)  8474;  romynge 
10092,  fastynge  13778,  sittyng'  802?, 
lyvyng'  903'  ?,  lotynge  12114'?,  thun- 
derynge  (rh.  to  sprynge)  2 1 76',  gliter- 
yng(e?)  rh.  bryng(e)  inf.  2892,  styr- 
yng(e)  rh.  to  spryng(e?)  3673,  wep- 
ynge  rh.  brynge  inf.  8790,  swellynge 
(rh.  brynge  inf.)  12207,  lernynge 
rh.  synge  inf.)  14927.  See  -and. 

INN  9  inne  inne  inn  iii  314' 

inquire  88  enquere 

Intent  19  entente  1489  7138  14986 
7212' 8610'  8737  11934' etc.  entent 
3173  4567  13234  5350'  15123'  i  101 
French 

into  108  [until] 

t  INVISIBLE  19  invisible  ii  247  French 

in  with  108  [within] 

Ire  7  90  ire  yrre  (inc.  gen.)  irre3  1661 
1764  7593  14072  17210  17220  »>' 
7575?  rh.  squire?  7671 

$jade  IS  jade  16298' 

Joy  19  joye  1873  1875  12507,  art.  91 
joy'  9929  French 

judge  19  juge  jugge  12317  12391 
13540  13573  French 

judgment  19  juggement  780  820  etc. 
French 

JUSTICE  19  justice  iii  201  French 

fkeen  29  kene  cene  kene'°  2878'  9633' 
15745' 

*keep  14  keepe  8934  keep  400'  10272' 
kep1  6207 ;  at  505'  should  certainly 
be  keep 

•Key  16  keye  ceeg  9918'  13147'  ii  188 


•  Exceptional:    *»  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective,     t  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


387 


**kin  14  kynne  cynn  cun'  kinn°  4036' 

ii  267' 
*Kind  mankind   16  kynde  mankynde 

cynde  cunde'  kinde0  1309  3521  6298 

etc.   (16  cases),  art.  91  Tcynd1  5263 

11080,  i  265 
fKind  29    kynde    cynde    649'  8728' 

15008'  unkinde  ii  145' 
KINDLED  98  kin  led 
§kindred  18  kynrede  1288'  11047' 
kine  23.  kyn  cy 
*KING  14  kings  cyning  i  117 
9  kingesriche  cyningrice  ii  268'  [king- 
dom of  the  king] 
*14  kinghede  iii  144' 
kite  3  kyte&te.  cyta  1 181  10938  10939 
*KITH   16  kit  he  cyft  iii  71  [country, 

pa  trio] 

§18  knarre  551' 
Knave   3   knave    cnafa    cnapa    cnave' 

cnape0  3434  3469   5135  5142  8320 

8323  etc.  iii  321'  ii  16 
KNEE  9  kne  eneo  cneow  i  24  may  be 

regarded  as  contracted 
*KNIGHTHOOD  14  kwghthode  i  246 
*14  knightlihede  iii  212 
knot  3  knotte  cnotta  10715  10721 
§  knowledge  18  knowlecJie  14441.    Can 

the  termination  -leche  be  the  same 

as  -lejje  in  the  Ormulum=  there,  to 

-ness  ? 
*Lace  91  laas  old  French  las  2391,  rh. 

allaas,  rightly  written  ;  lace  1819  rh. 

treapace    both    wrongly  (?)   written 

[see  solace] 

*LADDER  16  ladder  hlaeder  iii  330 
*ladle  5  farfeJ  hlaedle  2022  16983 
*lady  5  lady  hlaefdige  lafdi'  laffdi^0 

1145  1351  14885,  art.  21 
*LADYHOOD  J  4  ladyhede  ii  40' 
lake  10  lake  lacu  lagu  lake'  Isec'  5851' 

16698' 
**Land  14  londe  land  lond  lond'  land0 

4942'  i  220 

Lap  3  lappe  688'  8461'  10949'  11940' 
LAPWING    4     lappewinke   hleapwince, 

-winge,  ii  329 
Lark  4  larke  lawerce    laferce    laferc 

1493  2212,  *art.  6  laverock  ii   264' 
t Lately  69  late  late  77  i  211' 
Law  1 1  lawe  lagu  lag  laje'  lawe'  lajhe0 

311  41774178  7471 
*lead  91  led'  9308 
**LEAF  14/ee/eleaf  i  17 
tlean  29  lene  Isene  9727'  16299' 
*LEAP  14  lope  hleap  i  310' 
fleaping  64  lepand  7739 


LEAS  11  leese  Isesu;   17  [pasture] 
*Leave  16  leve  leaf  lef'e'0  4005  6490 

13653  etc.,  art.  91  lev'  5694  9715 

9330  14263 
Leech  7  leche  laece  lece  laeche'  3902' 

7474'  7538'  11984'  14331' 
*leek  14  leeke  leac  12723,'  leek  3877 
3  leere  lira  15 268'  [skin] 
87  leere  [teach] 
*16  lefte  lyft  i  276'  [air] 
*Length  16  lengthe  lengS  17302 
less  38  lasse  lesse  laesse  lasse'0  14280 

17268  14895'  15357' 
*14  lette  ags.?  ii  88'  249'  [hindrance] 
[Letters]  art.  98 
tLEWD  30  lewde  laewed  iii  2 
*lewdness  91  lewednes  10537  12415 
*Liche  14  lie  lie'0  lich0'   2960   [dead 

body]  iii  31 T 
lie  7  lye  lyge  3017'  3391'  5609'  12527' 

13055' 
fLiEF  14  30  leve  leof  i  343  ii  324,  art. 

109  hadde  lever 
*Life  14  lyve  lif  lif'°  9111'  i  199  309' 

&/ 1174',  art.  109  [being,  creature] 
Jlightly  69  lighte  lihte  6724 
3  like  lica  [corporis  forma,  cf.  swin- 

lica,  Ettmiiller,  not    in  Bosworth] 

lice0  i  143'  iii  70'  [shape] 
fLike  30  like  liche  -lie  i  25'  261'  268' 

ii  124'  379,  art.  98 
*LIKELIHOOD  14  liklyhede  ii  147' 
Lily  4   lilie  lilie  2180   12019  12015' 

11 955' iii  249 
*LIMB  14  limme  lim  ii  10 
**Linden  16  lynde  lind,  on  9087',  art. 

91  lynd'  2924,  linde  ii  46" 
Lip  3  lippe  lippa  133 
lisped  98  lipsede 
*16  Lisse  liss  11550'  [forgiveness],  art. 

17  les  iii  379' (?)  [comfort] 
*list  14  lystelist  1864 
fLittle   30  lyte  lite  lytel  2629'  3861' 

7182'  litel  1527  3860  14635,  art.  96 
*live91  lyv'  9157  14258 
*Liver  1 6  lyvere  lifer  livere'  7421' 
*Loadl4  loode  hleed  2920' 
*load- (stone)   16  loode-sterre  lad  ladu 

lade0  2061 

**loan  14  loone  Isen  Isen' 
11  lode,  liv(e)lode=life'B  journey,  ladu 

ii  ,293' 
*fLong  30  longe  lang  long  long'  lang° 

1575  5399  5591  6206  11393   14141 

long  619  1189  2561 


Ex  ceptional.    ••  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective.    *  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


388 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


JLong  69  long*  lange  1545  14847 
15596',  art.  108  long  on  [along  of, 
because  of] 

*lordschip  8  lordschip'  hlafordscipe 
1627,  rh.  felawschipe 

**Lore  16  forclarlare'0  4762'  ii  81 

loss  98  lost 

*floud  30  lowde  hlud  10582  [inflec- 
tional] 

%  Loudly  69  loude  hlude  716',  louthe 
(from  another  Saxon  form,  hleoft) 
17026',  art.  91  lowd'  15024 

Love  12  love  lufu  lufe  lufe'  love'  lufe° 
260  674  6096  6336  14569  (5  cases), 
art.  91  lov'  1137  1756  1807  2226 
2262  2308  2316,  etc.,  etc,  (17  cases). 
In  Gower  e  is  regularly  pronounced 

*lover  8  lover'  1381  ? 

*fLow  30  lowe  lah  loh'  laih'  la^e' 
3696'  6783'  i  84'  ii  294' 

JLowly  69  lowe  lage?  loh'  1407' 
17297 

LUNG  4  lunge  lunge  iii  100 

J-LY  69  -liche,  aliche  i  268,  besiliclie 
ii  3,  comunliche  ii  226,  dueliche  iii 
245,  evenliche  ii  179',  openliche  ii 
328,  parfitliche  ii  185,  priveliche  ii 
336,  privelich  iii  252,  unproperliche 
ii  129,  sodeinliehe  ii  336,  solempne- 
liche  iii  329,  verriliche  i  72 

**16  tytfoe  laeden  lyden  [speech]  10749 

*Madame  91  madam'  7786  7792  [see 
dame],  art.  19  Madame  iii  300 

MAGIC  19  magique  iii  128  French 

Maid  15  mayde  msegden  maeden 
maiden'  maide'  maj^denn,0  nom. 
8253  12055  14878,  ace.  6468  i  154, 
mayden  3202  2307  6469  i  154 

*Maidenhood  14  maydenhede  ma^j- 
denhad0  4450'  5651'  8713'  8742' 
12054'  ii  55'  230' 

3  Make  maca  macche0  make0  5667, 
2558'  5120'  12152'  15203'  [mate, 
spouse]  ii  204'  [form] 

male  19  male  12494  French 

*malice  91  malic'  8950  9098 

*  Manhood  manhede  1287'  i  82'  144' 

Manner  19  manere  10501'  11737'  maner 
10452  11742  11745,  art.  89  manor' 
71  2546  3681  8395  16332,  etc. 
French 

many  11  mayne  meigne  menigeo  men- 
geo  msene0  1260  7627'  10310'  14459' 

many  one  109 

MAPPA  MTJNDI  19  mappemounde  iii  102' 
French 

Mare  4  mare  mere  myre  17010'  4053' 
693'  mere  543' 


**Mark    16     merke     mearc    marke' 

merrke0  1192'  marche  i  245,  art.  17 

mark  marc  [money]  12954 
§marl  18  marie,  German  inergel,  Latin 

marga,  French  manie,  3460 
•Marriage  91  mariag'  9550  9560  9663, 

art.  19,  i  101'  French 
MARVEL  19    merveille    i    327    ii   236 

French 
Mass   4  masse  maesse    masse'    messe0 

7331   9768    14662  15047 
mate  98  make  which  see 
MATTER  19  matere  i  43'  146'  343  365 

ii  207  383  iii  157  French 
MAURICE  91   Moric'   Moris  i  206  211 

213  191 

Maw  3  mawe  niaga  4906'  15234'  14411' 
may  65  [all  its  parts] 
me  103  me  for  I 
Mead  7  nude  meadu  89'  6443'  10105' 

11459'  [the  last  three  instances  .are 

oblique] 
meal  9  mele  melu  mele  [flour]  4040 

3937'   4243',    art.    90    meV    4051? 

4068? 
*meal  14  mele  msel  msel'  mele'  [repast] 

4886,  melmeel735&  16319' 
§MEAN  18  mone  Old  Fris.  mene,  ohg. 

meina  i  97'  iii  285'  333' 
[Measures,    Kinds,    etc.,    Syntax  for] 

art.  100 
Meat   7  mete   mete  mett  mete'0  127 

15910  10932*,  art.  91  met'   136  345 

9795  10384 

Medicine  19  medecine  10254  French 
*Meed  16  meed*  med  rnede'0  772'  3380' 
f§  Meek  31   meke  3202  6016'  14653' 

Gothic  muks,  North  Friesic  meek 
fMEET  29  mete  majte  ii  166',  unmete 

i!63 

7  mele  mele  iii  21'  [cup] 
men  26  men  pi. 
mermaid     7    meremayd    mere     mere' 

16756? 
*fmerry  30  merye  mirig  murie'  muri' 

208'  8491' 

MESSAGE  19  message  i  288  French 
MEW  19  mewe  Fr.  mue,  i  326'  French 
*  MIDDLE  14  middle  middel  iii  120 
*Might   17    91    might,    miht    meaht 

mihte'    mihht0  mihhte0   1789  2237 

and  almost  always,  might'  10447  ? 
fMiLD  29  milde  milde  mild,  i  195,  un- 

milde  i  84' 
*Mile  16  myle  mil  mile'0  12816  14687 

14127',  art.  91  mil'  14102 
Milk  17  milk  mile  meolc  mile'  millc0 

360  rh.  silk 


Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,     t  Adjective.    J  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


389 


*mill  16  melh  mylen  3921',  millen 
4309,  art.  91  mylV  4019 

*miller  8  mellere  547  ?  4044  ?  544  rh. 
mere,  3167  rh.  forbere ;  miller  3923 
3993  3998  4008  4094 

*Mind  14  mynde  mynd  minde0  13-347 
4947  i  6'  ii  55' 

mire  7  myre  myre  510'  6554'  16937 ' 

Mirth  16  merthe  mehrtf  murthe'  768 
[pi.?],  5981'  [rh.  of  birthe  which 
should  probably  be  of  birth],  art.  91 
mirth'  9613 

[Miscellaneous  Notes]  arts.  98  to  111 

Mite  4  myte  mite  1560'  7543'  12439' 
12561' 

*MONTH  14  monthe  mona'S  mont)  ii  27 
iii  117  119  124  125 

Moon  3  moone  mona  rnone'0  3515  4296, 
art.  109'  mas.  9759  11599,  mom 
i  65',  art.  21 

*fjmore  90  mor'  mare  mare0  98  827 
976  1124  2742-  7453  7679  9372 
9489  13219  14791  14842,  frequently 
in  Gower,  mor  7485  10648,  16255, 
more  306  785  1577  2826  4049  4050 
9107  14563;  804  3222  3519  6023 
6313  9110  13352  14560  15774 
16790  16813  16915  17072,  more  fre- 
quent than  mor'  in  Gower,  mor'  more 
occur  in  successive  lines  ii  44,  art.  38 

MORE  4  more  more  i  98'  [mulberry  ?] 

*Morning  14  morne  morgen  morn 
moreen'  mor^e'  morwe'  360  3236, 
movwen  10099  morwe  832  14710 
1494,  i  186  205 

*morrow  91  morw'  824  [see  morning] 
art.  98 

fMosT  30  moste  i  92  112 

60  mot  =  must  [all  its  parts] 

*MOTE  14  mote  mot  i  179 

MOTHER  98  moder;  art.  21  modres  — 
mother's 

MOULD  4  molde  molde  i  217' 

MOUTH  14  mouthe  mUS  i  149'  295' 
[mouth  of  an  animal] 

mouthe  3  mouthe  mutha  Dertemouthe 
391'  [mouth  of  a  river] 

fMuch  30  moche  micel  mucel  1810 
9114  9117  9298  16256  mochil(-el] 
17269  17270,  art.  109  [great] 

*MULE  14,  mule  niul,  19  mule  Fr. 
mule  i  210 

MULTITUDE  19  multitude  ii  201  French 

*MURDER  14  mordre  niorfter  i  270 

myself  46  myself  11735,  myselve  9334 
11674,  myselven  805  14590 

109  nale  [alehouse] 

*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique. 


Name  3  name  nama  name'  nome'  name0 
1439  1588  12030   12384  etc.   nam' 
was  15128  perhaps  we  should  read 
nam'  is,  art.  91  nam'  14864  15128* 
fnarrow  29  narwe  nearu  627  7385 
NATURE  19  nature  ii  17  French 
nave  11  nave  nafu  7848'  [of  awheel] 
NAVY  19  name  i  197  French 
neat  25  neet  pi. 
JNEATH  72  -nethe,   benethe  beni]?an  i 

35,  undernethe  undernij?an  i  258 
Neck  3  nekke  hnecca  238  1220  3916 
5859   etc.,  nekbon  6488?   nekkebon 
16548 

Need  16  neede  nead  neod'  neode'  ned° 
306'  [rh.  heede  which  should  be  heed, 
all  the  other  instances  are  oblique] 
*NEEDLB  16  nedel  nsedl  iii  20  perhaps 

should  be  nedle 

JNeeds  72,  73  needes  neade  neades 
neode' nede°  1171  7887  10179  13127 
16720,  i  108,  art.  69  nede  9208 
9825'  13208,  ned'  14520,  art.  72 
nede  i  147 

f29  neisshe  hnesc  nesc  ii  284' 
[Negative  Sentences]  art.  107.  [Nega- 
tive Verbs]  art.  68 

*nephew  5  nevew  15890,  'is  from  the 
French  neveu  not  from  ags.  nefa, 
whence  comes  the  old  English  and 
modern  colloquial  form  neve,  nevie.' 
*  -ness  (termination)  16  -nesse,  -ness 
-nes  -nis  -nesse'0  (uniformly)  besy- 
nesse  14636  ii  11,  besynes  13140, 
boldenesse  obi.,  brightnesse  12089', 
buxomnesse  i  87,  clenness'  508  ?  cur- 
sednesseobL,  drunkenness*  ui96,fair- 
nesse  obi.,  falsnesse  12904',  goodnes 
7395,  goodnesse  obi.,  halinesse  ii  374', 
hardynesse  1927,  hethenesseo\>\.,hevy- 
nesse  5565'  8308,  holinesse  obi.,  hom- 
ly nesse  obi.,  idelnesse  ii  41,  lewednes 
12415,  lustynes  1941'  ?  newefangil- 
nesse  10923',  rightwisnesse  i  7, 
sehamfastnesse  842',  seeknesse  obi., 
sikenesse  i  105',  sikernesse  obi.  i 
105',  stedfastnesse  obi.,  warmenesse 
obi.,  werinesse  iii  195,  wikkednesse 
5043',  wildernesse  iii  193,  witnesse 
obi.,  witnesse  ii  223,  worthints  2594, 
worthinesse  obi.,  wrecchednesse  obL, 
woodnes  2013  13911  shoujdbe  wood- 
nesse,  ydelnes  ydelnesse  1942  11930' 
NETTLE  4  nettle  netle  i  173 
fNew  29  newe  niwe  n;lwe'  430  888' 
fNice  19  nice  1242L  12770  12575'  ii 
22  [foolish]  French 

t  Adjective.    $  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 

T 


390 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.    CHAP.  IV.  5  5. 


niece  19  nece  14511  14536  14744 
French 

*Night  17  nighte  niht  niht'  nihht0 
16704  [12746'  is  oblique,  and  pro- 
bably the  rhymes  should  be  night1 
hight  might-,  night  is  the  common 
form],  art.  25  night  pi. 

Nightingale  4  nightyngale  nihtegale 
98'  3377'  15245'  17068'  i  54' 

*91  nobles  French  noblesse  15504 

Jnone  1Q8  [not] 

JNONES  73  for  the  nones  ii  72' 

Nose  11  «0s*nasunosu  152  559  7846, 
art.  91  ncs'  123  [omit  ful]  705  2169 

nought  forthy  108  [nevertheless] 

[Nouns]  arts.  1  to  28 

JNow  a  days  73  now  on  dayes  13324 

Jnow  then  72  nouthe  nu)?a  nuj>e'  464' 

NUN  4  nonne  iii  281' 

*nurse  91  norice  5881,  noris  8494 

NUT  11  nutte-tre  hnutu  hnut  ii  30, 
nutteshale  ii  20' 

oak  17  ok  ook  ac  2292 

*OAR  16  ore  ar  iii  322' 

*oath  14  othe  aft  aS'  1141,  oth  3291  ? 
ooth  120  should  probably  be  othe  [?, 
supra  p.  264] 

Jof  108  sign  of  gen.,  of  =  by ;  of  that 


19  offrende  i  73'  French 

JOfte  72  ofte  oft  (Gothic  ufta,  Danish 

ofte)   ofte'  offte0  1269   9541 ;  ofte- 

tyme  52  358,  ofte-tymes  1314 ;  oft- 

sithe   1879;    ofte    sithes    487    ags. 

oftsi'S  offte-si>e°  often-time  ii  287  ? 
OIL  19  oile  iii  168  French 
*f01d  30  olde  eald  aid  aid'  aide'  olde' 

aid0   4470    9830    11465,   old  12129 

14128   14155   14160,  art.   38    elder 

eldest 
JOnce  73  ones  ane  ene'  aenes'  seness0 

7259  15767  i  106 
3  onde  onda  i  75',  ii  260'  [hatred] 
foNE  29  one  iii  231  from  ags.  definite 

form  ana = solus;  iii  213?  art.  30  ii 

265  every ch-one  ii  45,  art  105 
[Order  of  Words,  Peculiar]  art.  110 
*16  ore  ar  are'  ore'  are0  3724'  [honour, 

fav  ">ur] 

organs  27  orgon  pi. 
Jother   108  [or],  otherwhile   [at  one 

time  and  at  another] 
JOut  69  out*  ute  ut  11407' 
*outrider  8  outrydere  utridere  ridere' 

166? 

owe  60  [all  its  parts] 
Owl  4  oule  ule  6663' 


Ox  3  oxe  oxa  oxe°  8083  13769  16490 
16513,  art.  23  oxen 

§PACK  18  packe  Dan.  pakke,  Swed. 
packa,  Ger.  pack,  ii  312'  393' 

pair  19  90  peyre  4384  2123  French 

Pan4^«w«<?panne  13243  13138'  7196', 
art.  91  pan  rh.  man  1167  15438 
[in  the  two  last  cases  =  brain-pan, 
head] 

[Participles]  arts.  61  to  64,  [Parti- 
ciples, past,  used  adverbially]  art.  109 

[Particles,  Various]  art.  108 

PASSAGE  19  passage  i  223  French 

Patience  19  91  pacience  1085',  i  302 
paciens  16312 

PEASE  3  pese  pisa  ii  275' 

peer  89  peers  4023  10989  rh.  here 
which  should  probably  be  her,  16336 
rh.  chaunteclere  which  should  have 
no  -e,  15540  rh.  deere,  but  probably 
in  all  cases  it  should  be  written  peer 
as  in  12907 

Person  19  persone  15428,  person  10339 
French 

PESTILENCE  19  pestilence  ii  346  French 

philosopher's  21  philosophre 

[Phrases,  Peculiar]  art.  109 

Physic  19  phisik  413  2762  phisique  i 
265  French 

pillowbeer  7  pilwebeer  pyle  696 

Pipe  4  pipe  pipe  567 

4p»rfcpirige  10091'  10099'  [peartree] 

pismire  4  pissemyre  -mire  7407' 

*pith  6  pith  pitha  6057' 

Place  19  place  7262  9963,  art.  91  plac" 
15024  French 

plant  \9plante  11344  French 

*play  5  play  plega  plseje'  1127'  8906' 
9404'  14528' 

*pleasaunce  91  plesaunce  French  plais- 
ance  8840',  pleisauns  8794 

**plight  16  plyte  pliht  plihf  plihte' 
plihht0  12880',  art.  17  plif  This 
word  is  always  a  monosyllable  in 
Gower,  but  is  continually  spelt  with 
a  final  e,  as  are  also  (wrongly)  the 
words  rhymed  with  it,  e.g.  appetite, 
spirite,  parfite  ;  i  129'  259' 

[Plural  of  Adjectives]  arts.  39  to  44, 
[Plural  of  Nouns]  arts.  22  to  28 

poke  3  poke  poca  3778  4276' 

Pomp  19  pompe  8804  French 

*fpoor  19  90  por  4536  4540  16308 
pore  232  480  490  539  704  13594 
14128  16307  French 

[tpoorly  69jt?or*8919?] 

Pope  3  pope  papa  pape'  8678  263'  645', 
art.  91  pop'  6002 


Exceptional.     »*  Exceptional  oblique,    t  Adjective,     t  Indeclinable.    §  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


391 


4  pose  gepose  (Bosw.  after  Somner) 
4150'  16994'  [cold  in  the  head] 

*praise  91  prays   9420 

*preface  91  prefas  French"  preface 
12199 

[Prefixes]  art.  106 

[Present  Indicative]  arts.  48  to  52 

*press  91  prea  French  presse  10503 

Prick  3  prikke  pricca  4539' 

Pride  3  pride  pryta  pryt  prude'  prute' 
897'  9867'  14314'  15674'  etc. 

*prince  91  princ'  4642 

[Pronouns]  arts.  45  to  47,  [Indefinite] 
art.  105,  [Personal]  art.  103,  [Rela- 
tive and  Interrogative]  art.  104 

prose  91  pros'  466  [wrong  reference 
prose  15342  15345'] 

fproud  29  proude  pryte  prut  7809, 
prowd  3863  3167  ? 

PURCHASE  91  purchas  ii  331  351  (old 
French  pourchas),  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  verb 

tpure  90  pure  1281   12016 

PURSE  91  purs'  iii  155,  purs  ii  298, 
this  word  derived  from  the  Middle 
Latin  bursa  probably  does  not  come 
to  us  through  the  French  bourse  ;  it 
has  dropped  the  e,  like  Swed  and 
Dan.  bb'rs,  and  Germ,  bors,  (which  is 
found  as  well  as  borse] 

*91  pyV  6944  [pillage] 

*16  pyne  pin  pine'0  6369'  [wo,  grief, 
pain] 

*  Queen  17,  91  queen  generally,  queene 
cwen  quen'  quene'  cwen°  15834  973' 
4581'  6630'  11358'  14892'  15834  etc. 
[all  the  other  instances  cited  are 
oblique  and  queen  is  the  common 
form],  art.  16  quene  i  46  [27  cases 
in  Gower]  quen'  ii  212,  iii  388 

**quern  16  querne  cweorn  15560 

t§  31  racle  17210  17271  17221  [rash] 

rake  4  rake  race  289' 

£69  rathe  hra>e  3766  14510  [quickly] 

^receive  91  receyv1  9576 

*14  Rede  reed  i  45',  art.  91  rteF  14205 
[advice] 

reck  98  reeche 

reeve  3  reeve  refa  reve'  589  617  3901 
4323 

reign  19  regne  4813,  art.  91  regvi  1626 
French 

remembrance  19  remembraunce  9855 
French 

request  19  request*  8061',  request  7980'  * 
French 

*rest  17  [generally  rest]  reste  rest 
resste0  9729  [ace.]  11548  [ace.]  rh. 


leste  imperf ,  8722'?,  art.  16  reste  i 

75'  and  generally  in  Gower 
fEich  19  riehe  866  1913  4814  French 
riches  27  richesses  riches  pi 
tRiGHT  30  riff  Me  riht  iii  129 
*RIND  16  rinde  rind  i  152 
fripe  29  ripe  ripe  17015 
•ROAD  16  rode  rad  i  110  (?) 
*ROAR  14  rore  rar  iii  74' 
*ROE  6  roo  raha  ra  ii  95 
Rome  19  Rome  673'  4576  5388  10545 

etc.,  i  282'  ii  195  196,  £om'  5386 

French 

*rood  16  roode  rod  rode'0  6078  i  198 
§Root  18  rote  roote  Icelandic  rot,  Gothic 

vaurts,  ags.  wrot  13389,  2',  329'  425' 
rose  4  rose  rose  1040  13448 

*  trough   30   rowe  hreow  hreoh  raeh' 

raeje'  ruhh°  12789' 
**Row  16  rewe  raw  2868'  i  50 
rubric  9  8  rubriche 
RUDDER  98  rother 
RUSH  4  resshe  risshe  reisshe  resce  risce 

i  160'  ii  97'  284' 
*Ruth  16  rewthe  rout  he  (as  if  from) 

hreow'S  roufte'  Icelandic  hrygft  916 

8438  etc.,  art.  91  reivth'  10752 
rye  7  reye  ryge  (Bosw.)  7328' 
tsaint  37  seinte  fern,  [supra  p.  264,note] 
Sake  11  sake  sacu  sake'0  10039  6945' 

7299'  7314'  8131',  art.  91  sak'  539  ? 

1319?  1802 
SALE  4  sale  selle  ?  old  German  sala,  ii 

29 

*  SALVE  16  salve  sealf  i  8' 

JSAME  69  same  same  =pariter,  ii  240'(?) 

sauce  19  sauce  129  353  French 

*save  91  sav'  7289  7449  7857  13717 

14133 
Saw  11  sawe  sagu  sage'   1165'  1528' 

6241'  12619' 
scathe  7  ska  the  scseftj?  (inc.  gen.  Bosw.) 

448'  9048' 
t29  scheene  scene  scene'  shene0  115' 

1511'  [bright] 

*16  schipne  scypen  2002  [shed,  stable] 
11     schonde    scandu    scondu   shande0 

15316'  [harm] 
School  11  scole  scolu  7768  9443  14909 

14915 

*  SCORE  16  score  scor  i  176 

*  SCORN    14    scorne    scearn    Icelandic 

skarn,  old  German  scern,  iii  226 
Sea  4,  7  see  see  (inc.  gen.)  see'0  always 

monosyllable    278   700   4914  4963' 

etc.,  art.  3  i  35 
tsECOND   30   secounde  i   159  but  the 

form  seconde  is  found  in  old  French 


Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,    t  Adjective.    $  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 

i 


392 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  6  5. 


secrets  27  secre  pi. 

*seek  91  seek1  14109,  art.  98  seche 

^Seldom   72   «eftfe    seld    selde'   10125 

8303',  seldewhanne  ii  93,  widen  ii  96 
self  46  self  telve  selven 
*sentence    91    sentence    308'    14974', 

»entens  17352 

serrice  19  servise  122  French 
*SET  14  sete  slot  set  ii  155' 
Shadow  11  schadwe  shawe  sceadu  4430 

4365'  6968'  schadw'  he  4430  ii  45 
shall  60  [all  its  parts],  =owe  art.  108 
Shame  11  schame  scamu  shame0  12433 

13335  1557'  3052' 
•SHAPE  14  shape  sceap  iii  28 
fSHARp  30  sharpe  scearp  ii  82 
she  111  omitted 
shear[s]  4  schere  sceare  15542' 
*sheep    14    schepe  scsep    shep°    506' 

should  certainly  be  scheep,  cf.  6014 

13766  where  the  same  rhyme  occurs 

508  16137,  art.  25  scheep  pi. 
Sheet  4  scheete  ecyte  scete  12807' 

*  SHELL  16  shelle  shale  seel  ii  20' 
shin  4  schyne  seine  388  ? 

*-ship  8  -schip  -schipe  -scipe  [generally 
-whip'"],  the  length  of  the  words 
compounded  with  this  termination 
may  perhaps  account  for  the  final  e 
being  soon  dropped,  felawship1  476, 
friendship'  freondscipe  430,  lord- 
schipe  hlafordscipe  1627,  wor schip 
weorthscipe  12560.  7  -SHIPE  dron- 
keshippe  iii  17  worships  ii  65  kinde- 
shipfelaship  occur  in  a  couplet  i  170 
but  doubtless  should  have  a  final  e 

••Ship  14  schippe  scip  scip'  schip'  5032 
iii  295 

shire  4  schire  scire  358'  586' 

*  Shirt  16  scherte  schurte  (as  if  from) 

sceort  scyrt  15608;    1568  and  9859 

(rh.  herte)  ;  schert  6768  (rh.  poverl) 

16606   (rh.   hert  doubtful),   art.  91 

schert'  748  2548  6768 
SHIVER  98  chever 
*SHOE  14  sho  scoh  sceo  i  15  iii  236  is 

a  contraction,  art.  23  schoon  sc/ioos 
•hop  3  schoppe  sceoppa  ?  4376  4374'  [it 

is  very  uncertain  whether  this  is  the 

same  as  the  ags.  sceoppa,  treasury] 
•fshort  30  schorte  scort  sceort'  shorrt0 

6206,  schort'  748  2548,  schort  93 
•SHOT  14  shotte  scot  i  234 
Shrew  3  schrewe  screawa  17083,  art.  91 

shrew  7024 

•SHRIFT  14  shrifte  scrift  i  66 
•16  sibrede  sibraoden  [relationship]  iii 

284'  merely  drops  final  n,  like  art. 

15,  so  apparently  met-rede  iii  68 


Side  4  side  side  side0  1277  2736  9808 
9821,  etc. 

J-SIDE  72  -side,  aside  onsidan  ?  ii  85', 
besiden  besidan  ii  379,  beside  iii  82 

siege  19  sege  939,  art.  91  seg'  15865 
French 

SIEVE  4  sive  sife  i  294  (?) 

••sigh  14  sighhe  sic  ?  10811' 

•Sight  17,  91  sighte  sihft  siht'  sihh>ea 
2118  2335  3949  10280,  art.  91 
sight  [a  common  form]  3395  7653 
etc.,  art.  16  ii  243',  art.  108  [mul- 
titude] 

sign  19  signe  10024  10087  French 

[Silent  Final  E]  arts.  84  to  92 

•Sin  16  synne  synn  sunne'  (ace)  sinne0 
5010  6773  etc. 

J Since  73  synnes  syns  sins  siftj>an  sift}>a 
6551  8047  9341  9396  14284  14822, 
tyn  sin  10181  12226,  art.  72  siththen 
6826  15597,  siththe  4478,  sith  8225 
8721,  seth  5234 

•Sir  90  sir'  French  sire,  9542  12527 
13030  13035  16274  16428  16516 
etc.,  sir  7056,  sire  16253,  357  (rh. 
schire}  both  forms  occur  in  Gower 

•SISTERHOOD  14  susterhede  iii  278' 

sisters  24  sistren  sustres 

*14  Sithe  sift  sift'  si>e°  9183  5153' 
5575'  i  160  [time  turn] 

SKILL  9  skille  scile  i  16  skill  found  only 
when  rh.  will  probably  should  have 
the  e,  art.  91  skill  i  42  49,  8  cases 
rhyming  to  will,  elsewhere  skille  (11 
cases)  wille,  i  277  etc.,  so  that  we 
should  probably  read  skille  wille  in 
the  other  instances 

skink  89  schenche 

§  Skull  18  skulk  Old  German  sciulla 
ags.  scell?  3933' 4305' 

Jslain  98  islaaw 

•-SLAUGHT  16  -slaught  man-sleaht  i 
364'  should  be  -slaughte 

«*  Sleep  14  sleepe  sleep  slaep0  1046 
16498  i  81' 

•sleeper  8  sleper  slaepere  16377' 

••Sleeve  16  slef  13152'  ii  213' 

•Sleight  16  sleight  slift  Icelandic  slsegft 
1950  [the  cases  cited  for  sleighle  are 
all  oblique]  i  238  ace.  ii  198  nom. 

§  sling  18  slynge,  as  if  from  ags.  sling, 
15240' 

SLIT  7  &litteslite  1  15' 

**Sloth  16  slouthe  slewft  4950'  i  372 

J69  smale  smale  ii  279' 

JSMARTLY  69  smarte  iii  113' 

•Smoke  14  smoke  smec  smec°  5860'  i 
211' 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique,    i  Adjective,    t  Indeclinable.    J  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP,  IV.  6  5.        PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


393 


SNAKE  3  snake  snaca  iii  118' 

snare  4  snare  sneare  (Bosw.)  [the  word 
is  not  in  Bosworth's  large  dictionary, 
but  is  given  in  his  small  one  on  the 
authority  of  Leo's  Sprachproben 
1838]  1492'  4991'  17009' 

§  Snout  18  snowte  Danish  snude,  Swed. 
snyte,  14816',  snowt  16391 

fSofb  29  softe  softe  soft  softe'  soffte0 
6994 

JSoftly  69  softe  softe  2783 

17  soken  socn  socen  3985  [right  of 
search,  privilege] 

*solace  91  solas  solaas  solac'  Norman 
French  solas,  is  rh.  with  caas  800, 
16689  alias  9149  (French  cas,  alas,  las 
from  lassus  was  in  the  older  French 
variable  according  to  the  sex  of  the 
person  uttering  the  exclamation,  as 
lasse  !  fait  ele  :  halas  !  fait-il.  Pals- 
grave has  both  forms  also.  The  distinc- 
tion is  not  preserved  in  Chaucer,  but 
the  diversity  in  the  spelling  of  the 
word  may  possibly  be  owing  to  the 
the  existence  of  these  two  forms). 
11114  rh.  was,  3654  rh.  Nicholas; 
solace  rh. place,  Norman  French  place, 
4144  15193 

fSolemn  19  solempne  209  French 

*Some  91  som'  9345 

Son  10,  12,  91  sone  sunu  sune'  sone' 
sune°  1965  11000  15669  son'  6733 
7655  8524  8552  12345  15016  15889 
16597  17250  ete,  etc  [none  of  these 
are  convincing,  the  most  so  are  8524 
&  16597.]  In  Gower  e  is  regularly 
pronounced,  son'  i  317  ? 

*16  Sonde  sande  sonde'  4809'  4943' 
5246'  5469' etc.  etc.i212;  etc.  [mes- 


JSoon  72  soone  sona  sone0  15769,  eft- 
soone  16082'  eftsones  6390,  art.  91 
son'  6733  7655  and  almost  always, 
art.  69  ii  250 

*  Sooth   14  sothe  soft  so  5'  sofie'  so>° 

12590  rh.  to  the,  but  perhaps  adverb, 

6183'  sothe  i  31 

*SOOTHSAYER  8  soth(e}saier  iii  164 
*sore  14   90  sore  sar  sar'  sor'  2745', 

i  310' 
*fjsore  14  69  sor'  f2697  |3462,  +Sore 

230  1396  6810  12657  12799 

*  Sorrow  16  sorwe  sorh  sorhje'  serrghe0 

953  1221  etc. 

*Soul  16  soule  sawel  saule'  sawle'  2788 
8435,  etc  (13  cases)  [of  the  5  speci- 
fied, 3  are  oblique]  i  203  256,  art.  91 
soul'  658  14355 


sovereign  37  sovereine  fern. 
BOW  11  sowe  sugu  2021  bad  line 
Spade  11  spade  spadu  spad  555' 
*Span    16   spanne  spann  155   [ace.  of 

dimension  ?]  i  79' 
spare  90  spare  739 
SPARK  3  sparke  spearca  i  258 
sparrow  3  spearwe  spearwa  628'  7386' 
*speak  91  spek'  9742  9747 
Spear  9  spere  spere  spere'  sper'  15289 

1641'  4879'  sper'  2712  ? 
*Speech  16  speche  spsec  spaeche'0  1373 

2800  etc.  [two  instances  cited  are 

oblique],  art.  91  spech'  16978 
*SPEED  17  sped'  sped  i  88,  spede  i  90', 

art.   91   sped'   spede  about   equally 

often  ags.  sped 
**spell    14    spelle    spell    spel'    spell0 

15301' 

spouse  19  spouse  12072  12125  French 
SPUME  1 9  spume  ii  265  French 
SPUR  3   spore  spura  i  321   [Chaucer 

spores  475] 

Stake  3  stake  staca  8580'  669' 
§stalk  18  stalke  Icelandic  stilkr,  Swed- 
ish stjelk,  3917' 

**stall  14  stalle  steall  stall0  8483' 
Star  3  sterre   steorra    steorre'  sterre' 

sterrne0  2061' 
start  61  [all  its  parts] 
STEAD  7  stede  stede  styde  i  60  f. 
*  STEALTH   16   stelthe  [as  if  from  an 

ags.]  stelft  ii  349 
Steed  3  steede  steda  stede'  2159  2729 

10484    15162,   etc.,   art.   91    steed' 

10438? 
3  Steere  steora  ster°  4868'  5253'  [helm 

rudder] 
3  stele  stela   stele    stel    3783'    6531' 

[handle,  stale  is  given  in  the  dic- 
tionaries] 
*16  itempne  stemn  stefn  i  312  [voice] 

see  stevene,  art.  98 
f  Stern  29  sterne  sterne  sterne'  stirne0 

8341 
*16  Stevene  stefn  stefne'  steffne0  4381 

[?pl.]  1526'  [oblique?]  steven  10464 

16777  (all  doubtful  rh.  heven)  [voice] 

see  stempne 

Stick  3  stikka  sticca  13193  13199 
fStill  29  stille  stille  stille'0  still0  10810' 

11782'  16929' 
J Still  69  stille  stille  7782 
,  *stot  6  slot  stotte  7125  7212  617' 
'  *16  Stounde  stund  stunde' stunnd0  1214' 

[short  space  of  timel/i  90' 
JSTRAITLY  69  straite  Eat.  stricte  ii  354' 

iii  47'  / 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.     +  Adjective.    \  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin 


394 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.         CHAP.  IV.  $  5. 


*  STRAND  14  stronde  strand  i  185 
Straw  9  stree  strea  2920  2935',  ee  pro- 
nounced as  e,  straw  straw  11007 

*  Street  16  streete  straet  street'  strgete'0 

14904  15025  [both  after  thurgh, 
which  may  be  ace.,  the  other  cases 
cited  are  after  in] 

*  Strength  16  strength  e  strengft  strengftu 

streng>e'strennc>e°  1950  2403  15550 
*strive  91  stryv"  7568 
fStrong  30  stronge  strang  iii   4  [in- 
flexional], art.  38  strenger  strengest 
*sty  5  sty  stige  7411' 
**style  14  style  stigel  10420' 
[Subjunctive]  art.  56 
*f  Such  30  suche  swylc  swilc'  sulche' 

swillc0  8613    13800    15628,  i  319, 

notch  3  2824 
Sun  4  sonne  sunne  sunne'  sonne'  sunne0 

30  1511  2524  10484  etc.,  art.  21  gen. 
*suppose  91  suppos"  8223 
Swallow  4  sivahoe  swalewe  3258 
*swear  89  swer'  swer  456  8045  8238 

swer'  11101  12076  inf. 
fSweet  29  swete  swote  swete  swet°  2429 

5967  6041  15344,  art.  91  swef  2782 
3  swere  sweora  ii  30'  [neck] 
•fswift  30  swifte  swift  swifft0  2870 

*  swine   14  swyne  swin  swin'°   16972, 

swyn  13971',  art.  25,  swin  pi. 
£69  Swithe  swi>e  13222  [quickly] 
**Swoon  14  swoune  swun?    13668  i 

204 

fsworn  109 
§TACKLE  18  tacle  Ger.  takel,  Dan.  tak- 

kel,  Swed.  tackel,  i  312 
Tale  11  tale  talu  tale'0  36  3128  4466 

5545  7253  (29  cases),  art.  91  taV  yit 

13875  e  elided  before  y  ? 
*fTame  30  tame  tarn  2188  untame  i 

287' 
tapster  4  tapstere  teeppestre  241',  tapster 

3336 

§tare  18  tare  1572' 
targe  4  targe  targe  targa  473'  977' 
*tear  14  teere  tear  15547'  16148'  ? 
Teat  7  tele  tite  tit  3704' 
Teen  3  tene  teona  teone'  tene°  3108' 
*teU  91  tell'  38  inf.  10043  inf.  [both 

before  yow] 

** Temple  14  temple  tempel  ii  157 
tent  19  tente  16055  French 
JThanks  7"  his  thonlces,  here  thonkes 

his  >ances,  hira  Dances   1628  2109 

2116  ii  211 

60  thar  —  nQQA.  [all  its  parts] 
fthat  47  that=ih.Q  :   art.  104,  art.  Ill 

omitted,  \that  art.  108  with  impera- 
tive =  French  que 


fthe  98  -fe,  atte  =  &i  the  ;  art.  109  with 

abstract  noun 
98  tliee  —  lQ  prosper 
*THBFT  16  thefte  )>eof5  ii  159' 
JThen  72  thnnne  )?onne  )?enne  )?anne 

jjon  }>an  )anne'°  J>an(n)'°  1655  13987 

15404   16762  16988  i  11  49  62  69 

etc.,  thenne  13121'  iii  36  rh.  brenne, 

than  640  3052  i  6  7  224,  thann'  12 

638    2936   2937    2938    7722   then? 

i  17 
Jthence  73  thennes  )?anon  }?anone  J>on- 

nen'  )>anene'  4930  5463  10640, 10641 

art.  72  thenne  6723'  ii  185 
JThere  72   ther  )ser  )ere  >ara  J-aer'0 

>a3re'°  313  323  328  4215  9863  9872 

10341  there  4956'  5222'  7650'  15037' 

(less  common)  i  56'   60'   112'  etc.  ; 

art.  108  [where] 
^Therefore   72   therfore  J^erforen'  >er- 

fore'    >8erfore°    3506'    8035'    8188' 

9023;  therfor   7374    10571    10647; 

art.  90  therfor'    therfor    777    7374 
'    10571  10647 
*these  91  thes'  this'  9110   9127  9150 

9297  10041  etc.,  art.  47,  art.    109 

singular  use 

*THEW  14  thewe  J?eaw  iii  5' 
fthey  111  omitted 
fThick  29  thikke  >icce  >icke'  551 
f30  thtlke  >ylc  i  2  [the  like] 
fThin   29    thenne  fynne  4064'    9556' 

thinne  i  102' 
*Thing  14  thtnge  >ing  ii  207  251,  no- 

thinge  ii  337,  art.  25  thing  pi. 
think  98  thenehe 
fthird  98  thridde 
JTHITHER  98  thider 
108  tho  [when] 
-thorp  98  throp 
fthose  47  tho 
thou  111  omitted 
-thou  98    -tow    -ow,   wiltow,   hastow 

wostow  etc. 
JThrice   73   thries  >riga   }>riwa  >rie' 

J^rien'  Dries'  J^ri^^ess0  63  564  14953 
fthrilled  98  thirled 
Throat  4  throte  >rote  2460'  3218' 

*  THROSTLE  5  throstel  Jrostle  i  54 
Jthrough  98  thurgh 

*  Throw  16  thro  we  >rag  J?ragu  ]?rowe' 

>r£e3he°  5373'  7397'  etc. 
THUMB  3  thombe  >uma  i  175,  art.  98 
*Tide  16  tyde  tid  tid°  5554'  [the  other 

instances  cited  are  oblique]  i  326' 
TIE  7  tie  tige  ii  246' 
*tile  16  tyle  tigel  7687 
Jtill  72  tille  tille  til  till0  10811',  til 

10838,  art.  108 


Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.     +  Adjective.    *  Indeclinable.    }  Uncertain  Origin. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  5.         PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER. 


395 


*TILTH  16  tilthe  tilft  ii  168 

Time  3,  91  tyme  tima  time'0  44   722 

864  4056  4448  etc.  (24  cases),   art. 

91  tim    9678   10327    10790    12976 

etc.  (14  cases)  rh.  bijme  i  227   309 

370  etc.      In'Gower  e  is  regularly 

pronounced  except  only  in  ii  167 
[Time,  expressions  for]  art.  1 09 
Jto  108  [unto],  sign  of  dat. 
106  To-  tohewen,  toschrede  etc. 
*Toe  6  to'  ta  ii  143',  art.  23  ton  toos 
^together  73  togideres  togsedere  toga- 

dere'  togaderes'  togeddre0  14117 
Tongue  4    tonge    tunge  tunge'0  3894 

5319    7232    13813,    art.    91    ton? 

10349  tunge  i  295 
*tooth  14  tothe  toff  to»°  6184',  art. 

26  teeth  pi. 

ftouching  64  touchand  7872 
*Tow  17  tow  tow  5671,  ii  315 
^Towards  73    towardes  toWeardes  to- 

wardes'    toward'     towarrd0     11883 

14121,  toward  13534  14220  art.  72 

towards  13,  toward  i  122 
*Town  14  toun  tun  tun'0  7936  11713' 

[toivne  appears  to  be  only  oblique] 

i  205  ii  293 
*  Trace  91  trace  Norman  French  trace 

trasse,    1953   rh.  alias;    trays  2141 

rh.  liar  nays  Norman  French  harnas, 

harnois 
trap   4   trappe    treppe    trapp0   11653' 

11939' 

TREE  9  tre  treow  treo  tre  i  137 
*trow  91  trow'  526  1803  3665  9092 

9111  10850  etc. 
fTrue  29  trewe  treowe  treowe'  trowwe3 

533  961,  art.  91  trew'    10043,  un- 

trewe  ii  224 

trump  19  trumpe  2176  French 
Truth   11     trouthe    treowSo    treoufte' 

troww>e  3502  6595  6633  6986  etc. 

(16   cases),    art.    91    troufh'    10959 

11071  11905,   trouth    10262,  in  all 

4  cases 
Tun  4  tonne  tunne  tunne'  1996  5759 

3892'  8091'  i  321 
JTwice  73  twyes  tsviwa  twigges '  twie' 

twien'  twi' twines0  4346  5478  14958 
JUneasily  69  unease  unafte  unna3be° 

unnethe  11659  13318  15037,  art.  73 

unnethes  5976  11048 
Junto  108  [until] 
fUnwieldy  29  unweelde  unwylde  =  im- 

potens  16187  3884  is  pi.  unwylde.  i 

312'  iii  147' 
JTJp  69  uppe  uppe  up  10929'  i  15',  art. 

108,  [upon] 


^UPRIGHTLY  73  uprihtes  i  35' 

**16  upriste  uparist  ffirist0  1053  [aris- 
ing] 

USE  91  us'  ii  132  should  be  us  rh. 
vertus(e)  i  15  56,  ius(e)  ii  266,  re- 
fus(e)  iii  298 

vane  3  fane  fana  8872' 

[Verbs]  arts.  48  to  68 

vessels  27  vessel  vessealx  vesseals  pi. 

*vesture  90  vestur'  10373 

VICE  19  vice  i  157  French 

VIRGIN  19  virgine  ii  186  French 

*visage  91  visage'  630 

*voyage  91  viagt?  794 

wake  4  wake  waBcce  wecche0  2960  2962 
[liche-wake  waking  of  the  body,  mo- 
dern watch] 

**Wall  14  watte  weall  wal'  1970', 
1911'  rh.  coralle  which  should  be 
coral,  old  French  coral  [both  may 
have  an  oblique  «],  wall'  1990,  wal 
1921  1977  1936',  art.' 98  wowe 

WANE  3  wane  wana  iii  304  wan  a  de- 
fect ?  rh.  Adriane  ii  307 

3  wanhope  ii  115  117  [despair] 

"War  9  werre  werre  weorre'  werre'  5972 
47'  1449'  werr'  1289  ? 

*WARD  16  wards  weard  iii  55' 

-WARDS  73  -wardes,  to-wardes  i  5  122 
159  etc.,after-wards  ii  356,  afterward 
iii  37  39 

ware  11  ware  waru  (Bosw.)  4560' 
14467' 

fware  30  ware  16094'  should  be  war 

**wart  16  wert'  weart  557 

WATCH  4  wacche  wascce  ii  96  [see 
wake~\ 

*Wave  14  wawe  wseg  4888  ii  105', 
art.  98 

*"Way  14  weye  weg  weie'  wai'  we^e0 
793'  4805'  ;  contracted,  art.  91  wey' 
34,  way  7118  14176' i  29 

we  111  omitted 

Weal  3  wele  wela  wele'  1274'  3103' 
13530',  art.  91  weF  4542  8350  8847 

*  WEALTH  16  welthe  [as  if  from  an  ags.] 
weltS  i  39' 

*wear  89  wer'  8762  inf.,  art.  109 
wear  on 

*weasel  5  wesil  waesle  3234 

3  webbe  webba  364  a  weW  a  dyer 
[weaver] 

*14  Wedde  wedd  1220'  i  249  [pledge] 

**  Weed  [dress]  16  wede  wa3d /wede' 
wsede0  1008'  8739'  i  221'  / 

WEEK  4  welce  wice  wuce  iii  116' 

*WEIGHT  14  weighte  wiht  ii  276' 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.     +  Adjective,    i  Indeclinable.    J  Uncertain  Origin, 


396 


PROF.  CHILD  ON  CHAUCER  AND  GOWER.        CHAP.  IV.  §  5. 


*  WEIRD  16  wierd  wyrd  i  340  should 

be  wierde 

*welcome  91  welcom'  764  856  7382 
7393 

Well  3  welle  wella  wylle  well  welle' 
5597  7924  1535'  11689',  art.  91  well' 
8091 

JWELL  69,  72  wele  wela  wel  iii  149' 
[art.  72  welle  1663'  is  dwette  in  the 
Landsdowne,  Cambridge,  Petworth 
Corpus  and  Ellesmere  MSS.] 

"Wench  4  wenche  wencle  wennchell0 
3971  4165  4192  6944  etc. 

*16  wene  wen  wena  ii  88'  [doubt  con- 
jecture expectation  weaning] 

*16  wente  ags.  ?  161'  [way  manner] 

*14  were  as  if  from  ags.  wer  iii  253' 
[defence] 

§were  18,  i  107'  318'  [worry] 

wet  3  wete  waota  waate  wsete0  13115' 

*fwet  30  wete  waet  wet'  2340 

fwhat  104=w%/ 

Wheat  7  whete  hwffite  5725  4312' 
13863'  14278' 

*  whelp  14  whelpe  hwelp  whellp0  259' 
JWhen   72   whanne  hwonne    hwenne 

hwanne  whannen'  whone'  etc.whanne0 
whann0  11718  14695  i  212  [seldom 
in  Gower],  whan  1  5  762  782  803 
824  915  3054  3055  [frequent  in 
Gower 

J whence  73  whennes  hwanan  hwana 
whannen' whone'  12175  13750,  whens 
8464,  art.  72  whenne  i  198  when 
ii  46  iii  308 

JWhere  72  wher  hwar  hwser  whaBr' 
whaere'  323  344  9873  10341  etc. 
where  4556  7634'  9462  (less  common 
both  in  Chaucer  and  Gower) 

Jwherefore  72  wherfore  13631' 

JWHETHER  98  weder 

*fWhich  30  whiche  hwylc  while' 
woche'  whillc0  15896,  which  4  2677 
etc.  i  135  ii  177  395,  art.  104 

*  While   16   while  hwil  while'  whil° 

4226  8899  10904  etc.  [all  the  cases 
cited  are  oblique,  but  as  etc.  is  put 
after  them  there  may  be  .others 
direct]  i  282  ii  54  79 

JWhile  Whilst  72,  73  whiles  >a  hwile 
whil°  6352  13067  13854  15047 
i  26  whils  13065,  whiVs  ii  345,  whil 
1362  6350  i 12 

*Whip  14  whippe  hweop  5757'  9545' 
i  283' 

*whistle  5  whistel  hwistle  4153 

fwhite  29  white  hwite  hwit  white' 
whit'  4775,  the  common  form  is 
whit  17065  238  3238  2180' 


JWHITHEB,  98  whider 

fwho  109 

fwhoso  104 

f§Wicked  31  wikke  1582'  5448',  ap- 
parently allied  with  ags.  wicce  = 
witch,  i  295  306 

§wicke  18  pride  is  the  worste  of  alle 
wicke  i  154,  176 

I  Widely  69  wide  wide  4556  8589  iii 
208 

*  widow  591  widow  widw  widuwe  wi- 

dewe'  widewe0  widdwe0  6609  6626 
7166  7201  14913  14920  16307,  wi- 
dowe  widewe  14997  255,  art.  21  gen. 

*Wife  14  wife  wif  wif'°  wive'  6648 
wive  ii  217' 

*WIFEHOOD  14  wifhede  iii  51 

Wight  17  wight  wiht  wuht,  wiht'  whit' 
wihht0  1427  2108  2487  ete.  ii  149 

*+Wild  30  wylde  wilde  wild  wilde'0 
4170  5858  5955  7742  15166  15402, 
wild  10126  (?)  i  236  290 

WILE  9  wile  wile  ii  227 

Will  3  wille  willa  wille  wille'0  2671 
7986  8202  10315  etc.  another  form, 
will  will  iwill'  will0  3875  3878  3885 
8052'  will'  11016  ? 

will  61  [all  its  parts] 

*willow  16  wilow  wilig  2924  doubtful 

Jwills  73  his  willes  5854 

§  Window  18  wyndowe,  Icelandic  vin- 
dauga,  Danish  vindue,  Swedish  vin- 
diaga,  3358'  3676'  3695',  wyndow(e  ?) 
3708  3725  3730  3738,  window  ii  347 

*wine  14  wyne  win  win'0  10016'  [as 
it  here  means  vine  or  bunch  of  grapes, 
perhaps  it  is  an  error  for  vine  French 
vigne]  wyn  637  14212  639'  [and 
generally 

winter  25  wynter  pi. 

*  WISDOM  14  wisdome  wisdom  iii  217 
Wise  4  wise  wise  wise'0  9927  17309 

5312  5692  etc.,  art.  91  wis'  2189 
*fWise  30  wise  wis  wis'°  wise'0  11183, 

i  156  [fern.  ?],  wys  67  787  853 
Witchcraft  4  wicche  craft  wicce  wicche0 

6885  iii  44 
;£  Without  72  without  en  wiftutan  463 

640   810    823  1851    1856,  withoute 

785  788  950  8208',  without  i  8  ? 
*Womanhood   14   wommanhede    8951' 

i  333' 
fwoMANisii   30  womanisshe  i  58    72 

iii  304  338    [all  inflectional  ?] 
**Wocib    [stomach,  belly]   16  wombe 

wamb  womb  wombe'  wambe0  7470 

15923  15970 


Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective,     i  Indeclinable.    5  Uncertain  Origin^ 


CHAP.  IV.  §  6. 


CHAUCER  S    PRONUNCIATION. 


397 


*wonger  8  wangere  15320'  rh.  destrer, 
French  destrier  [pillow,  head  rest] 

"Wont  3  wane  wuna  wune'  337'  ? 
14915'?  art.  91  won'  [misprinted 
none]  1066  ? 

"Wood  12,  10  woode  wudu  wude'  wode' 
wude°  110  15181,  ii  264  art.  91 
wood'  2932  7755  10727?  15742 
wood  1620 

•Wool  16  wolle  wull  wulle0  13863 
14325'  [both  ace.  aiid  therefore  hav- 
ing e  in  ags.]  wulle  wolle  i  17  ii  83 
98'  129 

*WORD  14  worde  word  iii  256 

**work  14  werke  weorc  weerc  weorrc 
werrc0  5797  13439  11191',  art.  38 
wirche 

*  World  17  worlde  weorold  weorld 
weorlde'  weorelldj  16151  [aec.  and  e 
only  preserved  by  caesura  :  that  all 
the  worlde  had  in  his  demeigne ;  the 
other  case  cited  10376  ?  is  oblique  ; 
world  is  the  usual  form ;  so  in 
Gower,  but  worlde  in  i  245  iii  286  ?], 
art.  109 

9  worlde  riche  weoruldrice  i  118'  [king- 
dom of  the  world] 

fworse  38  worse  werse  wyrse  wurse 
wurs'  werrse0  8551  9667  17252 
10914'  werse  1226  ?  wors  wers  8503 
3731' 

*worship  8  worschip  weorthscipe  12560 

*WOBTH  14  worthe  weorft  i  25 

*worthiness  16  91  worthines  2594 


fworthy  29  worthi  worthy  as  if  from 
weor  jng,  really  weor]?e  wyr)>e  285  461 
wot  60  [all  its  parts] 
**  Wound   16   wounde   wund    wunde' 
1012'  i  90'  289' 

*  WRATH  16  wrathe  wraft  i  280 

*  Wreak    16       wreche     wrsec    wraecu 

wreche'  wraeche0  5099  i  179  351' 
art.  91  wreck'  16089  [vengeance] 

WKENX  3  wrenne  wrenna  iii  349 

Wretch  3  wrecche  wrecca  wrsecche' 
wrecche0  933  7645'  12396'  13014' 

wright  3  wrigkt(e]  wyrhta  wurhte' 
616? 

**  Wrong  14  wrongs  wrang  wrong 
11096  ii  324' 

9  wyte  wite  wite°  12881'  [blame,  suf- 
fering, punishment] 

*Yard  16  yerde  gerd  geard  jerd' 
gerrde0  1052  [the  other  cases  cited 
are  oblique,  and  this  may  be  the 
accusative  of  dimension] 

JYARE  29  yare  gearu  ii  237 

jyea-uay  108 

*Year  14  yere  year  jer'°  4552',  yer' 
to  yere  i  53',  yer  by  yere  8278' 
14909',  yer  yeer  1035  1445  1731' 
8487'  etc.,  art.  25  yer  pi. 

J69  yerne  georue  13813'  [willingly] 

jyes-no  108 

Jyore  69  yoore  geare  geara  3895'  13484 

*Youth  16  youthe  geogoft  gugej^e' 
2381  4583  7996  14139,  art.  91 
youth'  9612. 


§  6.   Chaucer's  Pronunciation  and  Orthography. 

Although,  much  doubt  must  necessarily  attach  to  the 
system  of  investigation  here  followed,  and  although  in  some 
few  cases  it  has  been  necessary  to  help  out  research  by 
theory,  it  has  enabled  us  to  arrive  at  a  very  definite  and 
detailed  result,  which  may  be  put  to  the  test  of  practice.  I 
have  made  the  experiment  of  reading  several  hundred  lines 
of  Chaucer's  prologue  to  large  audiences,  according  to  the 
system  of  pronunciation  to  which  I  have  been  here  led,  and 
it  has  been  to  me  a  considerable  confirmation  of  my  results, 
that  these  audiences  generally,  and  those  among  them  in 
particular  whose  previous  studies  had  made  them  best  quali- 
fied to  judge,  have  expressed  themselves  satisfied  with  the 
oral  effect,  as  giving  a  new  power  of  appreciating  the  lan- 
guage and  versification  of  the  old  master.  It  will  be  difficult 
to  convey  the  proper  impression  by  mere  symbols,  which  the 


*  Exceptional.    **  Exceptional  oblique.    +  Adjective.    J  Indeclinable.    \  Uncertain  Origin. 


398  CHAUCER'S  PRONUNCIATION.          CHAP.  IV.  §  6. 

reader  will  have  to  study,  and  which  he  will  perhaps  mis- 
render,  or  at  least  occasionally  stumble  over,  so  that  he  will 
not  so  readily  appreciate  the  system  of  pronunciation  here 
advocated,  as  would  be  desirable  for  proper  judgment.  But 
to  enable  the  reader  who  dares  to  face  such  an  essay  as  the 
present,  and  breast  the  difficulty  of  a  new  notation,  to  un- 
derstand in  connection  the  isolated  results  here  obtained,  I 
shall  in  Chap.  YII.  give  the  whole  of  the  familiar  prologue 
to  the  Canterbury  Tales  in  palaeotype  as  an  example,  inter- 
leaving it  with  a  text  in  which  I  shall  follow  the  Harleian 
MS.  7334  as  closely  as  possible,  in  a  systematised  ortho- 
graphy. Before  explaining  this  method,  which  might  pos- 
sibly be  adopted  with  advantage  in  popular  editions  of 
Chaucer,  and  other  authors  of  the  xivth  century,  I  shall 
give  a  short  account  of  the  results  obtained  in  the  preceding 
sections. 


PROBABLE  SOUNDS  OF  THE  LETTERS  IN  HARLEIAN  MS.  7334, 

AND  HENCE  GENERALLY  IN  THE  XIV  th  CENTURY. 

A  long,  (aa)  or  Italian  a  in  padre,  English  a  in  father,  psalm,  for ; 

possibly  (ad)  as  in  French  age,  and  German  mahnen,  aal,  when 

broadly  pronounced. 
A  short,  (a)  Italian  a  in  anno,  or  as  some  pronounce  a  in  cask,  past, 

quite  distinct  from  a  in  cat,  man. 
A  A  the  same  as  A  long,  (aa). 
AI,  (ai)  as  in  Isaiah,  aye,  Etonian  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  ical, 

the  German  ai,  Italian  ahi  !  French  pa'z'en. 
ATI,  (au),  the  sound  of  (aa)  followed  by  the  sound  of  (uu),  German 

au  in  haws,  distinct  from  English  ou  in  howse. 
AW,  (au)  the  same  as  AIT. 
AY,  (ai)  the  same  as  AI. 

B,  (b),  as  now,  never  mute. 

C,  (k)  before  a,  o,  u;  (s)  before  e,  %\  ci  is  (si),  never  (sh)  as  in  mo- 
dern English. 

CH,  (tsh),  as  in  such,  -match,  Italian  ci,  Spanish  ch,  German  d.eutsch. 

D,  (d)  as  now,  never  (dzh). 

E  long,  (ee)  English  chair,  dare,  th^re ;  very  nearly  the  same  as 
French  e  in  meme,  and  Italian  e  aperto  (EE),  not  the  same  as 
English  in  ale,  fate  (ee,  eei]  ;  "but  this  last  sound  may  be  used 
by  those  who  have  a  difficulty  with  the  others.  Never  (ii),  as 
in  modern  English  supreme. 

E  short,  (e)  as  now  in  m0t,  pen. 

E  final,  when  pronounced,  (e),  same  as  E  short,  but  generally 
elided  before  vowels  and  he,  his,  him,  hire,  here,  etc.,  and  not 
sounded  in  oure,  youre,  hire,  here,  seldom  sounded  in  hadde  and 
sometimes  mute  in  other  words. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  6.  CHAUCER'S  PRONUNCIATION.  399 

EA,  (ee)  same  as  E  long,  very  rarely  used. 

EE,  (ee)  same  as  E  long. 

El,  (ai)  same  as  AI. 

EO,  (ee)  same  as  E  long,  rarely  used. 

EU,  has  two  sounds,  (yy)  or  French  u  long,  in  words  derived  from 
tli  French  where  the  modern  French  orthography  is  u ;  and  (eu) 
or  Italian  .£kropa,  the  sound  of  (ee)  followed  by  the  sound  of 
(uu),  in  all  other  words.  Eu  is  never  to  be  sounded  as  (iu)  as 
in  modern  new. 

EW,  (eu)  the  same  as  EU. 

EY,  (ai)  the  same  as  AI. 

F,  (f )  as  at  present ;  never  (v)  as  now  in  of. 

G,  (g)  before  a,  o,  u  and  in  Anglosaxon  words  before  e,  i\  in  French 
words  before  <?,  %  it  is  (dzh)  as  the  present  #em,  gentle. 

GH,  (kh),  as  the  Scotch  loch,  Irish  lough,  German  loch ;  after  an 
(u)  sound  (kwh) ;  when  the  sound  was  (H'),  (wh),  or  omitted, 
it  was  otherwise  written.  It  was  never  sounded  as  (f ). 

H,  (H),  as  in  home ;  it  may  have  been  mute  in  some  accented 
words,  as  host,  honour,  and  in  the  unaccented  he,  his,  him,  hire, 
here,  hem,  have,  etc.  When  a  vowel  is  elided  before  these  words, 
the  h  should  be  disregarded,  otherwise  it  is  most  convenient  to 
follow  the  present  usage.  When  following  a  vowel  in  the  same 
syllable,  as  in  nouht,  it  was  a  gentle  (kh),  or  (H'). 

I  long,  (ii)  the  drawled  sound  of  i  in  still,  heard  in  singing,  and 
quite  distinct  from  (ii)  or  ea  in  steal,  but  the  latter  sound  (ii) 
may  be  substituted  for  it,  by  those  who  find  the  former  (ii)  too 
difficult.  It  may  have  been  occasionally  almost  (ee)  and  then 
rhymed  to  (ee).  It  was  never  pronounced  (ai),  or  as  the  modern 
pronoun  I,  or  as  ei  ey,  ai  ay  (ai),  with  which  it  is  never  found 
to  rhyme. 

I  short,  (i),  that  is,  as  i  in  the  English  fmny  (fj'n't),  and  not  as  (i), 
that  is,  i  in  the  French  fini  (fini). 

I  consonant,  (dzh)  usually  printed  J. 

IE,  (ee)  same  as  E  long.     Rare. 

J,  (dzh),  frequently  printed  for  I;  MSS.  seldom  distinguish  *",/. 

K,  (k)  as  now. 

L,  (1)  as  now. 

LE,  ('!)  as  now  in  temp&.  It  is  frequently  run  on  as  (1)  to  the 
following  vowel. 

M,  (m)  as  now. 

]$",  (n)  as  now. 

NGr,  (q)  or  (qg)  according  to  the  same  rules  as  now,  or  (ndzh)  as 
in  str&nge. 

0  long,  (oo)  that  is  English  ore,  cross  when  lengthened,  not  (oo)  as 
in  English  home  as  usually  pronounced,  but  as  it  may  be  heard 
in  the  provinces  ;  Welsh  and  Spanish  o  long ;  Italian  o  aperto ; 
French  chose  when  lengthened,  no  trace  of  tapering  into  a  final 
u.  Those  who  cannot  readily  say  (oo)  may/iise  (oo),  the  usual 
o  in  home. 


400 


CHAP.  IV.  §  6. 


0  short,  had  two  sounds  (o,  u) ;  generally  (o)  the  short  sound  of 
the  last  letter,  not  heard  in  usual  English,  the  French  homme, 
German  holtz,  Italian  o  aperto.  Different  from  (o)  in  English 
hot,  which  however  may  be  used  for  it  when  the  speaker  cannot 
reach  the  other  sound,  just  as  (oo)  in  home  may  he  used  for  (oo), 
but  (poop  pop)  do  not  form  a  pair,  as  is  the  case  with  (poop  pop). 
Occasionally  o  short  was  sounded  as  short  u,  apparently  in  those 
cases  in  which  it  was  thus  sounded  in  the  xvi  th  century  pro- 
vided it  corresponded  to  Anglosaxon  u  •  generally  it  was  (u) 
in  words  which  now  have  (a)  as  wonder. 

OA,  (oo)  if  used,  but  no  instance  is  known. 

OE,  (ee)  same  as  long  E,  very  rare. 

01,  (ui)  as  some  persons  call  buoy,  almost  like  oo*  in  wooing  ;  not 
(oi)  as  in  English  joy,  but  at  most  (oi)  as  in  a  provincial  pro- 
nunciation of  boy. 

00,  (oo)  the  same  as  long  0. 

Oil,  has  three  sounds,  (uu,  it,  oou) ;  generally  (uu)  as  in  boot,  but 
occasionally  («)  as  in  pwll ;  in  words  derived  from  Anglosaxon 
aw,  ow  it  is  (oou)  nearly  as  in  the  modern  know,  which  may  be 
used  for  it.  See  OTTGH. 

OTJGH,  (uukh,  uukwh)  when  derived  from  Anglosaxon  words 
having  u  before  a  guttural,  as  in  ynough,  plough,  drought,  other- 
wise (ooukwh,  oukwh)  or  (okwh)  as  in  though,  foughten,  oughte. 

OW,  (uu,  u,  oou)  same  as  OU,  but  used  more  frequently  than  OU 
for  (oou),  especially  when  final. 

OY,  (oi)  the  same  as  01. 

P,  (p)  as  now. 

PH,  (f )  as  now. 

Q,U,  (k«0)  as  now. 

B,  (r)  only  trilled,  as  in  present  fed  herring ;  never  as  in  modern 
ear,  hearing,  serf,  surf. 

BE,  (er)  same  as  EB,  sometimes  run  on  as  (r)  to  the  following 
vowel. 

BH,  (r)  as  now. 

S,  (s,z).  Probably  the  (s)  and  (z)  sounds  were  used  much  as  at 
present,  but  was  appears  to  have  had  (s).  SI  was  (si)  and 
never  (sh)  as  at  present. 

SCH,  (sh),  present  sh. 

T,  (t)  as  at  present,  -tioun  was  (si,uun). 

TH,  in  two  syllables  (th,  dh)  distributed  as  at  present. 

U  long,  (yy)  the  true  French  long  u,  which  it  represented. 

U  short,  had  three  sounds  (u,  i,  e) ;  the  general  sound  was  (u)  as  in 
pwll,  but  (i}  or  (e)  was  heard  occasionally,  and  possibly  had 
been  original  (y)  or  short  French  u. 

U  consonant,  (v),  usually  printed  v. 

UIj  UY,  a  very  rare  combination,  sometimes  written  for  oi,  oy,  and 
then  pronounced  (ui)  most  probably;  sometimes,  perhaps, 
written  for  French  ui,  when  it  may  either  have  been  (ui)  or 
(yy),  most  probable  the  latter. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  6.  CHAUCER'S  ORTHOGRAPHY.  401 

V,  (v)  as  now,  seldom  distinguished  from  U  in  MSS,  both  forms 
u,  v  being  used,  but  v  being  generally  chosen  for  the  initial, 
whether  vowel  or  consonant. 

W,  (w),  as  now,  and  also  occasionally  the  simple  vowel  (u),  as 
in  sorwful. 

~WH,  (wh)  as  now. 

"WE,  (TW)  as  in  French  roi,  or  else  (wr,  w'r). 

X,  (ks)  as  now. 

Y,  long,  replaced  I  long,  and  had  the  same  sound. 

Y,  short,  (i)  the  same  as  I  short. 

Y,  consonant  (j)  as  now. 

Z,  (z)  as  now. 

This  gives  a  complete  system  of  pronunciation,  with  only 
a  few  doubtful  points,  chiefly  as  to  the  pronunciation  of  0 
short  as  (u). 

On  this  view  of  the  signification  of  the  orthography  of  the 
Harleian  MS.  7334,  we  may  proceed  to  systematize  the  same 
thus, — 

SYSTEMATIZATIOtf    OF   THE    ORTHOGRAPHY   OF   HAUL.  MS.,  7334. 

A  when  followed  by  a  single  consonant,  which  is  in  turn  followed 

by  a  vowel  or  an  apostrophe,  will  be  long,  otherwise  short. 
AA  will  represent  long  A  in  other  cases. 
AI  will  be  disused. 

A~W  will  be  used  as  the  diphthong  (au)  to  the  exclusion  of  AU. 
AY  will  be  used  to  the  exclusion  of  ai,  ei,  ey,  for  those  diphthongs 

(ai)  which  had  an  a  in  the  Anglosaxon  or  French  original. 
E  when  followed  by  a  single  consonant,  which  is  in  turn  followed 

by  a  vowel  or  an  apostrophe,  will  be  long,  otherwise  short. 
EA  will  be  disused. 

EE  will  represent  long  E  in  other  cases. 
EI  will  be  disused. 
EO  will  be  disused. 

EU  will  represent  the  diphthong  eu  when  of  French  origin  =  (yy). 
EW  will  represent  the  diphthong  ew  when  not  of  French  origin, 

and  =  (eu). 
EY  will  be  used  to  the  exclusion  of  at,  ay,  ei  for  those  diphthongs 

(ai)  which  had  not  an  a  in  the  Anglosaxon  or  French  original. 
I  will  represent  short  (i)  when  not  final,  and  will  be  used  for  the 

pronoun  I.     See  Y  vowel. 
IE  will  be  disused. 

0  when  followed  by  a  single  consonant,  which  is  in  turn  followed 

by  a  vowel  or  an  apostrophe,  will  be  long,  otherwise  short,  and 
the  two  sounds  of  short  o  will  not  be  distinguished^ 

OA  will  be  disused. 

OE  will  be  disused. 

01  will  be  disused. 

00  will  represent  long  0  in  other  cases. 

26 


402  CHAUCER'S  ORTHOGRAPHY.  CHAP.  iv.  §  6 

OU  will  represent  the  long  sound  (uu),  never  the  short  sound  (u) 

or  the  diphthong  (oou). 

OW  will  represent  the  diphthong  (oou)  exclusively. 
OY  will  represent  the  diphthong  now  written  oi,  oy. 
U  long  and  U  short,  though  having  different  sounds  will  not  be 

distinguished,  the  first  occurring  only  in  French,  and  the  latter 

only  in  Anglosaxon  words,  but  the  use  of  TJ  as  I  and  E  will  be 

discontinued. 
"W  vowel  will  only  be  used  in  diphthongs,  in  other  cases  it  will  be 

replaced  by  OIF  long  as  herlerou  for  herlerw,  or  TJ  short. 
Y  vowel  will    be   used   in    diphthongs,  and  for   long   i  or  (M), 

— except  the  pronoun  /,  which  will  continue  to  be  written  /, — 

for  either  long  or  short  final  i  or  y,  and  for  the  prefix  y-  or  i- 

of  the  past  participle. 

The  consonants,  including  W,  WH,  Y,  will  be  used  as  at  present, 
the  two  values  of  C  and  G  not  being  distinguished,  and  J,  V  being 
exclusively  used  for  I  and  U  consonant.  •  When  C,  G  have  to  be  (s, 
dzh)  before  a,  o,  u  in  French  words,  an  e  is  inserted  which  is  not 
pronounced,  as  Jiabergeoun  76.  GH  medial  or  final,  Y  initial  will 
replace  5  uniformly  instead  of  partially,  and  TH  will  replace  f. 
The  two  sounds  of  TH  will  not  be  distinguished.  H  will  be 
written  uniformly  in  those  words  where  it  generally  appears  initially. 
The  doubling  of  consonants  to  indicate  short  vowels  will  follow 
the  usual  orthography. 

E  final  or  medial  will  be  treated  in  such  a  way  as  to  shew  its 
nature.  When  it  should  be  sounded  according  to  the  laws  of 
grammar  or  from  historical  derivation,  but  is  elided  for  the  sake  of 
the  metre,  whether  before  a  vowel  or  consonant,  it  will  be  replaced 
by  an  apostrophe,  precisely  as  in  modern  German,  and  all  elisions 
will  be  treated  in  the  same  way.  Hence  c\  #'  final  must  be  read  as 
(s,  dzh).  "When  it  is  superfluous,  having  no  claim  to  be  written, 
but  required  for  the  metre,  it  will  be  replaced  by  e.  In  other  cases 
it  will  be  simply  written  as  e,  so  that  every  written  e  will  have  to 
be  pronounced,  except  when  it  is  used  after  c,  g  and  before  another 
vowel,  merely  to  indicate  that  these  letters  are  to  be  pronounced  as 
(s,  dzh).  When  the  authority  of  Orrmin  can  be  given  for  a  final  e, 
it  will  not  be  considered  superfluous. 

When  the  first  measure  of  a  verse  is  deficient  in  a  syllable,  it 
will  be  preceded  by  three  dots,  thus  (...)  to  mark  the  deficiency. 

With  the  exception  of  the  (...),  e  and  ('),  which  are  intro- 
duced for  the  convenience  of  the  modern  reader,  the  ortho- 
graphy would  be  perfectly  well  understood  by  the  person 
who  wrote  this  Harleian  MS.  and  appears  to  be  the  ideal 
which  lie  aimed  at.  This  orthographical  system  will  be  used 
in  the  subsequent  transcript  of  the  prologue.  It  requires 
occasionally  some  etymological  knowledge  in  which  I  may 
be  deficient,  but  such  trips  I  hope  will  be  readily  forgiven 
and  corrected. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  6.  CHAUCER'S  ORTHOGRAPHY.  403 

When  a  language  has  to  be  studied  from  its  sources  by 
scholars,  its  monuments  should  be  presented  in  the  form  in 
which  they  exist.  Hence  the  value  of  the  exact  reprints  of 
several  MSS.  of  Chaucer  which  have  now  been  undertaken 
by  the  Chaucer  Society,  and  which  will  inaugurate  an  en- 
tirely new  system  of  studying  ancient  forms  of  language. 
"We  shall  no  longer  echo  opinions,  perhaps  hastily  formed, 
by  scholars  in  past  days,  who,  deserving  of  all  praise  for 
what  they  did  in  their  time,  had  not  the  advantages  which 
their  own  labours  have  given  to  the  present  generation. 
Each  scholar  will  be  enabled  to  study  the  sources  themselves, 
to  compare  the  different  forms  they  assume,  and  to  conjecture 
the  probable  reality  which  they  partly  conceal.  But  how 
shall  that  result  be  expressed  ?  Speaking  for  the  English 
language  only,  it  is  evidently  impossible  to  print  the  writings 
prior  to  Caxton,  in  modern  orthography,  without  presenting 
a  translation — to  which,  except  linguistically,  there  is  of 
course  no  objection — instead  of  the  apparently  best  form  of 
the  original.  Not  to  mention  the  organic  difference  of  an 
inflectional  system  which  would  be  thus  concealed,  and  the 
destruction  of  poetical  rhythm  by  the  excision  of  final  E,  we 
have  the  simple  fact  that  many  words  found  in  those  authors 
have  no  similar  modern  form,1  and  hence  that  if  we  adopted 
a  modern  orthography,  we  must  either  replace  them,  or  leave 
them  as  an  old  patch  on  a  new  garment. 

For  general  purposes  of  teaching,  the  great  diversity  of 
orthography  which  medieval  scribes  indulged  in,  is  undesir- 
able, as  tending  to  confuse  the  mind,  and  in  no  respect  re- 
paying the  young  student  for  the  trouble  it  costs.  Hence 
some  uniform  systematic  orthography  is  desirable,  and  that 
which  has  just  been  explained,  seems  to  combine  every 
necessary  requisite  for  the  xiv  th  and  xv  th  century.  For 
writings  which  date  from  after  the  disappearance  of  our 
inflectional  system,  and  the  silencing  of  final  E,  or  say,  from 
after  the  close  of  the  xv  th  century,  the  modern  orthography, 
which  is  now  systematically  employed  in  reprints  of  Shak- 
spere  and  the  Authorized  Version,  is  the  only  one  which 

1  The  vocabulary  on  pp.   379-397  liche  s.,  like  *.,  lode,  lydne,  make  «., 

furnishes    the  following  examples : —  mele,  mot,  nale,  neisshe,  nobles  *.  *., 

a-cale,   algates,   -and  (in    participles)  offrende,  onde,  pirie,  pose,  pyle,  pyne, 

ariste,  borde,  borwe,  s.,  breede,  byweste,  racle,  rathe,  rede,  scheene  ft'.,  schipne, 

chare,   cheste,   come  s.,    dere,    derne,  schonde,  sibrede,  sithe,  smale,  steere, 

dwale,  elenge,   -ende  (in  participles),  stele,  stempne,  stevene,  ^stounde,  swere 

fallas,  fawe,  fele,  fere,  fremde,  funke,  s.,  swithe,  thar  v.,  thee  v.,  thilke,  tho, 

grame,   halfing,    harre,    heire,   herne,  upriste,  wanhope,  wgfobe,  wedde,  wene 

heste,  hevenriche,  hewe,  hie  s.,  hiwe,  s.,  wente  *.,  were^.,   wicke,  wyte  *., 

howve,    yk     ich,    ighte,    kingesriche,  wonger,  worlderi^ne,  yerne. 
knarre,  leere  s.  and  v.,  lefte  $.,  lette, 


101 


(  II  \i  (  1,1;  s   oin  IKM.I;  M-II\. 


Cn\r.   IV.  S  (i. 


i  claim  In  he  ns.'d  except  in  designedly  diplomatic 
editions.  In-lore  (he  ii.r  of  mi  was  introduced  lorfinuaf 
Ihe  end  of  I  he  xui  lh  or  I  )e;-i  ii  ii  in;-;  of  Ihe  xi\  th  cell  I  ury,  the 
complete  A  ii"  In:  a  x<  Hi  s'v.sl.'in  alone  hns nnv  rijdif  lo  he  em 
ployed.  Hence  lor  .school  and  "dieral  editions  of  Klifjdish 
Works,  the  follow  in:-;  :.\  I.  in  of  or!  hooTaphy  ar-  •  d  : 

I)  Alljdosaxon    period    lo   ihe  close  of  I, he   XIII  til    century,-— 

I  he   receiN  ed    A  U"  lo:  a  xon   spell  i  n  •• . 
I'Yom     Ihe     I..--II.IIIII"     of    Ihe     \|\    lh    lo     Ihe  close  of    I  lie 

\ylli    ceiilury,      the-    HystoiTl    explained     on    p.     l()l, 
which  may   hi-  briefly  lerm«'d  <  'haiicer's  orl  hoi-Taphy . 

II)  I'Yom    the    commenci  iiK'iit    of  i  lh    century       ihe 

orl  ho:- ra  \\\\\    now    in   HMO. 

Hut  in  the  la. I  pi  in.,!,  and  even  in  (lie  most  recent  limes, 
ci  i .  iimsl  a  lie.  :  ma\  an  <  \\hcre  a  diploinalic  representation 
of  MSS.  may  he  desirable.1  Such  cases  are  however  no!  coii- 
lemjilaled  in  any  of  llie  aho\.-  sii"  "esl  i.  ms,  a  If  lionjdi  in  Ihe 
cilalions  made  in  (his  work,  diploinalic  correctness  has 
always  been  nil  em  pled. 

'.».  W.nrkili"|i.li. 

il     i    hail     IIM\\  u  I,. i   I     IIH    ..lav     i    <  'mild 

II.IM.  Srlll,  M  mil    Wailn    I   Mir 

.1      I ..  M  .M  i,    M,,iil  Ii     .,1     Mih, 

•  •I'  Oookemth  imi  Mr  s.  .-i  »'   iiaii  UM 

IHIII  h,  n  AI.Miil  In  i  ami  i  llinik  lir 
\\  ill  II.IM  r,ii".nl",  ,1  IHI  il  Ilias  (  'mild 
Affrrr  IMI  \\  a"i  •..  I  lia\  .  u..\\  n  lin  IMI 
I "  \  i  ais  ami  Slir  a.  lin-n  Kcrkniiii'lid 
l.\  Mi  IMI  lh. ill  l.riilli  ,,l  lime  I  Sliall 

Si  ,  IHI  III  I',  l  nil  ill  (  'i.rk,  i  in. .ill  h  In 
MMI  irr  Mi.niliiy  mnl  it  nul  rai-.i",  il  I 
Sliall  <i,l  IHI  I..  M.rl  Mi:.  S.  : 

.1     in  ,  ,11,-    \\'»lliail     Slir    i,nl\    <ia\r 
[  look:.    III,.     I,..',,  .   Ilii       \\  i  ilri     il».        n»|, 
al\\a\  .    diltingUJ    \\    0    0,   ami    \\  i  il 
/'.    „,     ,  ,     .in,|       MIH.  Inn.        |     Ml     III'-       .inir 

In  i     pl.nv    up    I  ,11   I     111,    ,l\    I    II.IM- 

MM        '    ,1   I   ' I.        .111.1     "    Ml  \     Illll     I  .III,. 

I,.,  II,.,,,'  M.,1,1  .  Will  !>.'•«  ^\^  I"  I 
I,.  (I,. l.  ..I,,-  Iml  i  Mu  I  II.IM'  A  'lalllr 

Illiu     ll     M        \      <  '      I       I'll"' I    *//r-    </.v     »<> 

1',11-nifa   /i i- 1 1'   tin  ii  An     ' 

\\i  Mini     II|IMH    am. Hi,  i     \\.ml     \\  liu  Ii     i  | 

ll|,."|li|r  |    Slir     I.IM'il    "    M-.M    •   W  llll     M  I     . 

MI  MIH  M\\  ii  !M\\  ii  In  r  A^i>  is  27 
Slu-  is  hill  ami  a  Imr  I  ,i>urk"  <  .n  I  as  a 
I,,.,., I  II.  H|  ami  liu.  I  \\  hall,  i  Call 

.,  I,M|,,.I  Loooking  \\  "man  MI,  i   rtrj 

l\    ami  (  'MU    luivr   !i    (ininl  (  !lll 
|  |,.,,k',   hkr  l,'IICt'ti-ll    ill     Ini,   i  apilal   <  ' 
i       alu  ax        hkr     /,  |    ('111111     Mis    l>    Oil     ll 

r, .,  MU     i   ii.,p,    i   Shall  ("-i   i"  i   •', 

M.Him     [I.M.k.'     hkr    iHi»itiiir\    •»     ] 
(,   MM,,||,,  al    Mis  (I. 


llljtlc,  \\lini  III.'  [MMMllilir 
nrthnj'i  :i|>li\  "I  I  IK  \\  i  1 1  <  i  i  <>i  umir 
|lli|>n||:llii  <  Iliilll  III  in  ill.  i  'Mill  III. 

ll>ll>>\\  III"     I  i  |H  mini'1  H'li       i'l     I.    I  I.    i       .1.   Ill 
.ill  \     \vi  lllcll   <<n    I n      .   u  il  Inn    I  In     I  i    I 

Illlri      >.   .U      ,    MM     l>\     .1     |M  l\:ll.          ..Ml.    I      III 
'    \      .    I.    .11       .111.1       I.    •'   ll.l.         ll.lllll.     .111.1       I  III' 

iilllrl  l>\  Ilic  Ki  i'|iri  ill  II  :..!  \.illl'  .  Ptflll" 
||\  ..III.  |  in  ;i  i  ij.i.l  .  fill  1.  ITI  \;iln.il.lr 
.1  lii  \\  iii"  lni\\  ililli.  nil  mil  pi."  i  nl 

<>i!li.>!'.i;i|ili\     mill     IIIIIH  ln.il ;iii-    In 

.ici|inir        f>.  v  ii  .il   ii.inn       li.i\  r    liccli   rr- 

lllll  III  |l>  Mill  III  ,  Illll  nl  III  I  \\  I  I  I  III  "II 
;.||I.||;,  II.IM  In  ,11  r. Mi  lllll\  Illlll. ill  (I 

1.    T,-  Otoi  B  i-:  M' 

i>,  u  Sn  i  \\  i  ii  iii  i  hi.. i  nir  \..H  i>r  ii 

|il.n  .•    NII    17    I!"  nUfl  \    I  MM     \' 

III  lllll.lll  \\IIIIUIII  Illllllr  I- 1  Illllllrl  LlVl 
III  I  Illl  li.lll.l  .1  l>  In  I  ,1  IM  III  I  I.' I  lll.ll 

Srl.'M'lll.       AlKlll    mi       Wll         lillil 

I;,  -id.  i    i.. i    IHI    ii.    In  i    Ilii  i. .in. I    iii 

i.  mi  ii     luck     :i":im     :inil     olln  i     StUOIll 

|'';|\,,|||'.  ||  |.|..|lll  ill  |.>  i  ml  In  I  I.  M 
1  iillllll.l  Illi  II  III  \\  ill  :  I  ml  IM  I  ,...!".• 

\\  ill)    liii    Him    i;.   Ini    >.\\  ii   I. iiiili  \   .mil 

|H     I  l>;lll"lll<  -II:        I. Illlll     \         .ill      (    'iMllll,    ll         III 

'2  HtlK'lll  IIM.III:.  \\llll  ;l  \  ill  ll\  «'l  (  (III,  I 
C,Ull|.!lllr\  .ll.'.l  lillil  :\  Sn\:i\  I:. 

MM  \     Illlll   il     IH-r.'l,  ll 

N  MMII.    i;.-.|i<  i  lluli  \ 
Illlll   \  in      in-  ii      l''i '  iml 
Al    r 


r11Ai.  |\.  ss  7.      ri:<>M  \<*i  \i  m\  OK  i  11  1:  \  \  m  CKNTI  i;  \  .  Id-') 


$  7.    CinuHji'  qf  Pronunciation  </t<r/i/</  tin-  /•/'///>•>//// 

('omparin^    (lie    ivsuKs    jusl.    oldained   lor   1  lie  close   oi'   t.lic 

\|\  III  cell  I  ur\  ,  \\  il  1  1  I  hose  11)1111(1  ill  <  'Imp.  Ml,.;  ('.,  p.  '..''.'  r'l,  i  or 
(lie  XVI  III  ce||lur\,  ue  are  aide  (o  estimate  (In-  aclioli  of  the 
\\  lit  century  iipnii  Mii"Jisli  proiinncmlion,  ;ind  In  ",-ive,some 
i-Mii-h  :ni<l  practical  indications  for  reading  Works  of  I  li.it 
transition  pci  iod. 

The  proiiiincial  ion  (>!'  the  coinl)iiial  ions  employed  may  l»e 
cMiiMdeivd  as  having  Ix-eii  prad  icall  \  I  lie  same,  at  I  lie  close 
of  (lie  \i\  111  and  diiriii'';  llie  lirsl,  third  or  lirsf  hall'  of  I  he 
\\  III  century,  except  ill  (he  poillls  here  en  il  niera  (  ed  . 

l''in:il    K   in    the    \\ilh    century   \\as   ivl  ;iiiicd    in    \\riliny,   bnf     had 
illisnliili  l\    OeUOd   I"  luM1  aii\    lOQnd,   :iinl   h:nl    clime    d>    |i< 
lli:iilll\    UN     Mil     nrllnic|iir:il        \III|M,|     I'm'     |||«||,  ;il  in;;     Ihc     Icn.'-lli     (.!'    Ilic 

next    preceding    \<>\\c|,  iinloss  it   \v:i-<    il   <-M'   |»rccc«lcd    h\    a  double 

c.iir  i.iiMiil.       llou    soon  Ilii     lin.il  i-  was   losl     il    i      nn|i<>     il>!i  !  , 

!nil      "Kill      II  n  •'•iiliilil  i«  :       :ilrc;id\      occur     ill      Ilic     'riiornlnli  M 

Lincoln,  ahiiiil    Ilic    middle  "I"  UK-  x\  Hi  cciilnr\.'      ll<  nc,c   il  uill  he 

safi  i  to  omit  it  altogether  in  reading  \\oils  oi'  ihat  and  l.-iicr  pcriodH. 

(  Ji'oss  and  IVc(|iicnl  irrc.",n  laril  ics  in  1  he  use  of  ^  lin.il  in  :m\  nianii- 
ICript  Seem  1<»  |i<»int  tO  th6  OOpylit'i  liaving  Iiv»id  ahont,  or  atlcrlhc 
middle  of  Ihc  \v  III  century. 

Short    I!,  IVom    hciny    l're(|in-nt  l\    ir-cil    lor  (y)  and    |irononm< 
or  («^),  hccanie  e  l;ihli:.|nd   lor  Ilic  |;il  I  cr    .  ,11  ml     in  ;i   \ci\    |c\\    \\ 

y,  Itnrif.       In  ollni   QMM  therefore  it    had  hi    t    he  rend  a.H  (il). 

Lou;;   M  split   into  hv<»  sounds,  retaining  its  HOIH  in  nuiiiy 

\\i.rd  ,  hut  Becoming  (ii)  in  others,  in  \\hich  the  -iir-icr  \\.-c  • 

rall\    replaced  by  /r  in  the  latter  part  of  the  \\  i  Hi  century.    Tic 
no  means  at    pi  «    i  nl    of   di   i  o\.  i  in-    \\  I  lie  1  1   of  (he  \\onl     now  sp<  lied 
\\ilh    n',   were    al    any    j-ixcn    epoch    during   Hie    \\lh    cent.ury    pro- 
nounced with  (cc)  and  \\liicli  with  (ii).     The  prohabilit\    is  thai  Ilic 
two  sound:     coi    M   led  in  the    mm  ill  is  of  dilferen!    Hpcukci'H   lot-   many 
\iai    ,    |ii    I    as   \\e   ha\e  seen   Ihal     bolh    ;  <  m  lids   were    for  se\  era  I    \  i  a  I  s 
••ivcii  to  Hi*1  I'om  hi  nation  en.  at  .the  hi  •.••iniiin;1  .of  I  he  \  VIM  1  h  ccnlnry 
Hence'  if   in    reading    \\orks    jiiinlcd    by    Caxloii    \\  e    uniformly   pro 
lioilliccd     Ion;-     >•    and    <•<•    a      (eej     \\  c    ;lioidd     ha\e     probably    a     \ery 
a  nt  i(  piatcd  pronunciation,  •  imilar  in  e  licet,  to  the  n:  «•  of  (^riil,,  hriik  ) 
lor  </rt'iit,  hri'iik  at    the  present  da\,  and  if   \\  e  uniformly  proiiounci  d 

(ii)     U  here     Hie       pcllill"     ir     \\  a        cniplo\ed      ill      the     XVI   Hi     ccnjliry, 

(axoidin;1,  the  iolacism  of  Ilic  present  day  ),  \\  e  should  have  been 
Iholl^lll  to  ha\e  a  ;  I  i  aiivi  alfi  did  (Ifcmiiiale  \\  a  \  of  Hpcilkillp;.  It, 
\\  ill  be  mo'  I  con  \eniciil  ho\\i  M  r  to  n  ,c  the  xi\  ;h  century  ^ty  Ic  up 

1  Srr  I,'.  \  <;,,,!•.,  C  |'ITI'\''-  nliliun  ;i|i|il\  lln-  :;nin-  i  li\  I  lnnir;il  |.riu<  i|)li  s 
ol'  lln-  M.irlc  Arlliiin-  (K;nl\  Kn-.li  h  ;i  in  ('Ii;  .....  >Y.  |',II!:TC  tin  ou-iihi- 

Text  Society*  •  publioal  .....  if  1865)t  prc       ritii     "i  iin-  i,:ni;ii'.v\ni'  MS.  K.'>I  in 

|':HT  |».  \iii.  As  liu\\r\ii  (In  i,  an  n  •  |M  i  I  I.,  iin.M  ,  ;i  :,  (niiiitcd  out  ill 
:illll.ci;ili\c  piirin,  it,  I;,  IIIIJMI:  ililc  I.M  ^  •)  ,  ji.  .'l^ll,  n.,|.c. 


/ 


406  EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY.        CHAP.  IV.  §  8. 

to  the  issue  of  Caxton's  first  work,  and  the  xvith  century  style 
afterwards.  This  is  of  course  an  arbitrary,  but  still  a  convenient 
distinction,  and  some  such  rule  is  necessary  or  we  should  not  be 
able  to  read  xv  th  century  books  at  all. 

Long  I,  which  interchanged  with  ey  in  a  few  words  in  the  xrv  th 
century,  as  dry,  die,  high,  eye,  became  uniformly  (ei)  or  (ai)  in  the 
xvi  th.  It  will  be  convenient  after  the  death  of  Chaucer's  contem- 
porary Gower  and  his  follower  Lydgate,  that  is  after  the  middle  of 
the  xv  th  century,  to  adopt  the  (ai)  uniformly.  This  is  no  doubt  an 
anticipation,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  means  of  controlling  it.  We 
have  indeed  seen  the  probability  of  long  *  having  been  occasionally 
(ii)  or(«V)  to  the  middle  of  the  xvith  century.  (Supra  pp.  110,  114.) 

Long  0  like  long  e  split  into  two  sounds,  (oo,  uu),  the  latter  of 
which  had  the  spelling  oo  assigned  to  it.  It  will  be  best  to  follow 
the  same  law  with  respect  to  it  as  with  respect  to  0,  and  use  (oo) 
only  up  till  Caxton's  time,  and  then  (oo,  uu)  as  in  the  xvi  th  century. 

EE,  00  must  follow  the  same  laws  as  long  e  and  long  o,  for 
which  they  were  only  substitutes. 

01  probably  gradually  changed  from  (ui)  to  (oi),  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  old  (ui)  asserted  itself  in  many  words  even  in  the  xvi  th 
century.  It  will  be  most  convenient  to  use  (oi)  after  Lydgate  or 
the  middle  of  the  xv  th  century. 

EO  followed  the  fate  of  long  e. 

EU,  EW  still  formed  two  series  in  the  xvith  century,  but,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  different  divisions  from  those  used  in  the  xrvth 
century.  The  safest  way  is  to  adopt  the  xrvth  century  pronun- 
ciation till  the  close  of  the  xv  th  century.  Most  probably  we  should 
only  run  the  risk  of  being  slightly  archaic  in  a  few  words. 

OU,  OW,  where  sounded  (oou,  ou)  retained  its  sound;  but  as 
even  Palsgrave  1530,  and  Bullokar  1580,  acknowledge  the  (uu) 
sound  in  other  words,  it  will  be  quite  legitimate  to  do  so  till  the 
beginning  of  the  xvi  th  century. 

GH  may  have  changed  slightly ;  the  (kwh)  and  (wh)  sounds  of 
GH  were  probably  entirely  lost  in  (f),  but  (kh)  was  retained. 

We  are  thus  enabled  to  read  xv  th  century  writings,  not 
with  great  confidence  certainly  as  to  catching  the  pre- 
vailing pronunciation  of  any  period,  but  with  a  tolerable 
certainty  <^f  pronouncing  intelligibly,  although  occasionally 
in  an  antiquated  and  occasionally  in  an  affectedly  modern 
manner.  \ 

§  8.  Pronunciation  during  the  Earlier  Part  of  the  xiv  th 
Century. 

The  difficulty  that  besets  us  in  attempting  to  determine 
pronunciation  from  orthography  is  the  difficulty  of  deter- 
mining the  age  of  the  MS.  The  tendency  of  writers  at  all 
times,  and  even  in  the  present  day,  with  some  important 
exceptions,  to  disregard  the  orthography  of  the  original 


\ 


CHAP.  IV.  6  8.        EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY. 


407 


which  they  are  copying,  and  adopt  that  to  which  they  are 
themselves  accustomed,  is  so  strong  and  so  difficult  to  check, 
that  even  if  we  supposed  the  older  copyists  to  have  set  to 
work  with  an  intention  of  giving  a  faithful  transcript  of 
their  originals,  we  could  not  hope  to  obtain  one.1  The  older 
copyists  indeed  never  seem  to  have  entertained  the  least 
notion  that  they  had  to  give  a  faithful  transcript,  or  at  least 
confined  their  notion  of  fidelity  to  a  rendering  of  words  and 
not  of  orthographies.  "We  may,  however,  lay  down  this 
principle,  for  MSS.  before  the  invention  of  printing : — 

The  Scribe  ahuays  intended  to  make  his  Orthography  indicate 

HIS  OWN  pronunciation. 

There  was  no  notion  of  any  historical  or  etymological  spell- 
ing, but  certain  definite  senses  were  attributed  to  certain 
combinations  of  letters  and  by  means  of  them  the  scribe 
endeavoured,  with  more  or  less  success,  to  express  himself. 

IsTow  throughout  the  xiv  th  century  it  appears  to  me,  on 
examining  the  best  reprints,  and  especially  those  furnished 
by  Mr.  Morris  in  his  specimens2  that  the  alphabetical  system 
of  all  the  scribes  was  essentially  that  which  has  been  de- 
scribed and  systematised  in  §  6  of  this  Chapter.  It  will  be 
seen  at  once  that  this  was  not  a  definite  and  complete  system, 
but  admitted  of  many  ambiguities,  and  many  varieties  of 
spelling  several  important  sounds.  Thus,  confining  ourselves 
to  the  vowels,  we  may  expect  to  find — 


the  sound    written  as 

the  sound     written  as 

the  sound    written  as 

(a)              a 

(aa)     a  aa  oa 

(ai)       ai  ei  ay  ey 

(e)              e 

(ee)     e  ee  ea  eo  oe  ie 

(ui)       oi  ui 

(i)              i  y  u 

(ii)      i  y 

(au)      au  aw 

(o)              o 

(ou)     o  oo  oa 

(ou)      ou  ow 

(u)              u  o 

(uu)    ou  ow  o 

(oou)    ou  ow 

(y)         « 

(yy)    u  eu  ew 

(eu)      eu  ew 

The  special  mark  of  this  system  o"f  spelling,  that  which 
distinguishes  it  from  the  orthography  of  the  xvi  th  century 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  orthography  of  the  xm  th  on  the 


1  Having  lately  had  occasion  to  hare 
a  portion  of  the  Canterbury  Tales 
printed  by  a  printer  who  was  unac- 
customed to  facsimile  work,  I  have 
had  painful  experience  of  the  obstinacy 
of  compositors  and  the  blindness  of 
printers'  readers  in  serving  up  and 
passing  over  modern  rechauffes  of 
ancient  spellings.  We  cannot  suppose 
that  the  old  copyists  behaved  better. 
We  know  that  the  older  printed  books 
are  full  of  the  grossest  disfigurements 


of  their  originals,  and  yet  there  is 
a  better  chance  of  correctness  in  a 
printed  book,  which  must  be  diligently 
revised  and  can  be  easily  altered,  than 
in  a  MS.  which  is  read  and  corrected 
with  difficulty. 

2  Specimens  of  Early  English  se- 
lected from  the  chief  English  authors, 
A.D.  1250 — A.D.  14013,  with  Gram- 
matical Introduction,  Notes,  and  Glos- 
sary, by  E.  Morri^,  Esq.,  Oxford,  Cla- 
rendon Press  Series,  1867. 


408  EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  §  8. 

other,  is  the  expression  of  the  sound  of  (uu)  by  ou,  ow  with 
scarcely  any  exception.  We  have  not  lost  that  method  of 
spelling  in  a  few  instances  even  at  the  present  day.1  And 
occasional  instances  of  ou  for  (uu)  probably  occurred,  before 
the  general  use  was  established.  Throughout  this  period 
also,  and  down  to  the  present  time  simple  o  is  occasionally 
used  for  (uu)  as  well  as  for  (u).2  But  it  is  the  general  and 
regular  use  of  ou  or  ow  for  (uu)  that  characterises  this  system 
of  spelling.  The  words  fiou,  now,  how,  oure  may  be  taken  as 
convenient  marks  of  this  orthography  as  distinguished  from 
the  more  ancient  spelling  to  be  presently  considered,  so  that 
where  we  find  these  words  thus  written  we  may  expect  to 
find  the  rest  of  the  system  of  orthography  just  explained,  a 
system  which  may  be,  and  probably  often  is,  much  more 
recent  than  the  date  of  the  work  to  which  it  is  adapted.  In 
Mr.  Morris's  specimens,  this  test  will  include  under  this 
system,  the  whole  of  his  book,  from  the  Romance  of  King 
Alexander  downwards,  although  this  Romance  itself,  Robert 
of  Gloucester,  and  the  Metrical  Psalter  belong  to  the  xm  th 
century,  in  which  a  different  system  prevailed,  and  the 
Proverbs  of  Hendyng,  Robert  of  Brunne,  William  de  Shore- 
ham,  the  Cursor  Mundi,  Sunday  Sermons  in  Yerse,  Dan 
Michel  and  Richard  Rolle  de  Hampole,  belong  quite  to  the 
beginning  of  the  xiv  th  century.  The  MS.  of  Havelock  the 
Dane,  as  we  shall  find  hereafter  (Chap.  Y.  §  1,  No.  5.)  be- 
longs to  the  transition  period,  containing  both  pu  and  fou. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  these  ancient  authors  pronounced  in 
the  same  way  as  Chaucer,  or  that  writers  like  Richard  Rolle  de 
Hampole  near  Doncaster,  and  Dan  Michel  of  Northgate  in  Kent, 
had  the  same  method  of  speech  or  pronunciation.  Far  from  it.  All 
that  is  meant  is  that  they  used  a  similar  system  of  orthography,  and 
that  by  interpreting  their  letters  according  to  this  system  we  can 
recover,  very  closely  if  not  exactly,  the  pronunciation  their  tran- 
scribers meant  to  be  adopted. 

Dan  Michel's  orthography3  is  very  peculiar,  marking  a  strong 
provincial  pronunciation.  The  consonant  combination  ss  evidently 

1  The  following  list    of  words    in  italics  are  Anglosaxon.     The  use  of  ou 

which  ou  =  (uu)  is  taken  from  "Walker  :  for  (u)  is  a  recent  formation  in :  would, 

Bouge,  croup,  group,  aggroup,  amour,  could,  should ;  cowde  had  a  long  vowel, 

paramour,  bouse,  bousy,  boutefeu,  ca-  2  "Walker  gives  the    following  list 

pouch,  cartouch,  fourbe,  gout  (taste),  for  ^  (uu) :    prove,  move,   behove,   and 

ragout,  rendezvous,  rouge,  soup,  sous,  their  compounds,  lose,  do,  ado,  Rome, 

surtout,  through,  throughly,  toupee  or  poltron,  ponton,  sponton,  who,  whom, 

toupet,  you,  your,  youth,  tour,  contour,  womb,  tomb.     And  the  following  for 

tournay,  tournament,  pour,  and  route  (u) :    woman,   bosom,   worsted,    wolf, 

(a  road),  accoutre,  billet-doux,  agouti,  "Wolsey,  Worcester,  "Wolverhampton. 

uncouth,   wound  (a  hurt),  and  routine  3  At  the    beginning  of   this    MS. 

(a  beaten   road).       Those   words    in  (Arundel  57)  we  read :  ]?is  boc  is  dan 


CHAP.  IY.  §  8.      EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  409 

represents  sTi,  and  has  been  constructed  on  the  same  principles  as 
the  "Welsh  dd,  /,  II  for  (dh,  f,  Ihh)  as  distinct  from  d,  f,  I  =(d,  v,  1). 
In  precisely  the  same  way  the  Spaniards  wrote  U,  nn  (the  latter 
being  contracted  in  the  usual  way  to  n,  but  the  uncontracted  form 
occurring  also1)  for  (Ij,  nj),  and  so  many  writers  have  proposed  hh, 
U,  dd,  ss,  SB,  for  the  Arabic  (h,  t,  d,  s,  z).  Probably  Dan  Michael 
finding  no  sound  of  ch  in  sch,  objected  to  use  it.  But  ss  is  really 
ambiguous  ;  thus  in  yllissed  =  blessed,  ss  can  only  mean  double  s. 
"We  find,  the  same  orthography  ss  at  an  earlier  period  (see  Chap.  Y, 

LI,  No.  3)  so  that  Dan  Michel  did  not  invent  it.  Other  writers 
ve  employed  the  same  notation.2  His  use  of  a,  e,  i,  ai  are  clear. 
The  rhyme  :  bread  dyad,  seems  to  point  to  (eaa)  or  (ea)  with  the 
stress  on  the  last  syllable  as  the  value  of  ea.  Since  u  is  clearly  used 
as  (u)  in  pus,  and  as  the  substitute  for  w  after  h,  in  huo,  and  on  is 
employed  in  ous  =  us,  ou,  u  must  have  had  their  usual  sounds  (uu, 
w),  so  that  short  o  probably  always  represented  (o)  and  not  (u), 
although  it  is  constantly  employed  for  an  ags.  u.  When  u  was 
long,  which  only  happens  in  a  few  French  words,  it  of  course  had 
the  sound  (yy),  but  this  was  apparently  unknown  to  the  dialect, 
an  important  remark  when  we  recollect  that  Wallis  was  a  native 
of  Kent,  and  at  the  same  time  the  last  writer  who  insisted  on  the 
pronunciation  of  long  u  as  (yy)  in  received  English,  (pp.  171-6). 
The  constant  use  of  w  as  a  consonant  (v)  often  renders  words  difficult 
to  recognize.  The  use  of  by  for  be,  and  final  y  in  the  infinitive  of 
verbs  would  be  quite  inconsistent  with  an  (ai)  pronunciation  of  «', 
and  hence  is  corroborative  of  the  conclusion  before  arrived  at  (p.  297.) 
The  examples  on  p.  412,  render  this  clear.  They  are  taken  from 
the  preface  and  the  end  of  the  book,  just  before  the  final  sermon, 
Ayenbite  of  Inwyt,  p.  262.3  The  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed  may 
be  compared  with  other  earlier  versions  in  Chap.  Y.  §  1,  No.  3, 
and  Wilkins's  version  in  Chap.  IX,  §  1. 

Michelis  of  Northgate,  ywrite  an  englis  1)    CH    for  K,   the   Southern   forms 

of  his  ogene  hand.    "We  have  therefore  being  named  first,  as  chele  for  kele  = 

the  author's  actual  orthography,  a  most  cold.      2)  Y  for  F,  now  disused  in  the 

important  fact.  South  East.      3)  Z  for  S,  found  alone 

1  See  supra  p.  193,  note  3.  in  the  Ayenbite  of  all  writings  of  the 

2  Thus  in  Thomas  de  Erseldoune's  xiv  th  century.     4)  Vowel  before  R  in 
prophecy  of  king  Edward  II,  in  the  place  of  vowel  after  E,  as  berne  for 
same  MS.  fo.  Sb,  we  find  ssal  ssel  for  brenne  burn.      5)  PS  for  SP  as  haps 
shall.  for  hasp.      6)  G  for  Y,  as  begge  for 

3  Dan  Michel's  Ayenbite  of  Inwyt,  bye,  segge  for  saye.     (7)  B  for  Y  as 
or  Remorse  of  Conscience,  in  the  Kent-  libbe,  habbe,  hebbe  for  live,  have,  heve  = 
ish  Dialect,  1340  A.D.     Printed  from  heave.     B.  Towels.  1)  0  for  A,  as  bon 
the  Autograph    MS.    in    the  British  for  ban.      2)  E  for  A,  as  a-%en  for  agan 
Museum,  with  an  introduction  on  the  =  against.      3)  AW  for  AI=ags.  ag, 
peculiarities  of  the   Southern  Dialect  as  f  awe  for  fain.      4)  U  for  I,  as  fust, 
and  a  Glossarial  Index,  by    Richard  hul,  sun  for  fist,  hill,  sin.      5)  EO  for 
Morris,  Esq.,  London,   1866,  8vo.,  pp.  E,  as  breostefor  breste.     6)  An  inserted 
c,  359.     Early  English   Text  Society.  y  before  e  and  a,  as  byeam  by  am  for 
The  following  orthographical  points  of  beam,  and  dyad/  for  dead.     7)  An  in- 
difference between  the   Southern  and  serted  u  before,  o,  the  only  words  of  this 
Northern  dialects,  are  noticed  by  Mr.  kind  in  the  Ayenbite  being  buon,guode, 
Morris  in  the  "  grammatical  introduc-  guo,  guos,  luol^  for  bone,  good,  go,  goose, 
tion  "  to  this  work.     A.  Consonants.  and  Dorset  zull,  a  plough. 


410 


EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  IV.  6  8. 


Richard  Bolle  de  Hampole,  an  Augustine  monk  near  Doncaster, 
who  died  1349,  left  many  writings  in  the  Northern  dialect,  pre- 
senting a  strong  contrast  to  the  Kentish,  just  considered.  The  ma- 
nuscript is  however  not  so  carefully  spelled,  and  there  are  many 
final  E's  written,  which  were  clearly  not  pronounced,  so  that  we 
must  either  assume  a  much  later  date  for  the  actual  writing,  or 
suppose  that  on  account  of  the  general  omission  of  the  inflectional  -e 
in  Northern  speech,  the  habit  of  writing  had  become  lax  there  at  an 
earlier  period,  precisely  as  it  became  lax  in  the  South  during  the 
xv  th  century  as  the  final  -e  became  discontinued.  In  the  pre- 
sent case,  probably,  both  causes  were  in  action.  The  Priclce  of 
Conscience1  is  in  verse,  with  very  perfect  rhymes,2  and  there  can  be 
no  difficulty  in  reading  it.  The  verse,  however,  is  so  "hummocky  " 
that  no  conclusions  could  be  drawn  from  it  respecting  the  number 
of  syllables  in  a  word. 

A  short  extract  will  suifice  to  shew  the  action  of  our  rules  for 
pronunciation.  Many  liberties  have  been  taken  with  the  pronun- 
ciation of  the  final  E's,  to  reduce  them  to  order,  but  the  orthography 
of  the  text  is  Mr.  Morris's.  The  e  before  s  in  the  plural  of  nouns 
and  the  third  person  singular  of  nouns,  has  been  considered  mute 
whenever  the  rhythm  would  allow,  in  deference  to  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Murray,  who  has  made  the  Northern  dialects  his  peculiar  study.3 


1  The  Pricke  of  Conscience  Stimulus 
Conscientise),  a  Northumbrian  Poem, 
by  Richard  Rolle  de  Hampole,  copied 
and  edited  from  MSS.  in  the  library  of 
the  British  Museum  with  an  introduc- 
tion, notes,   and  glossarial  index,  by 
Richard  Morris,  published  for  the  Phi- 
lological Society,   1863.     This  edition 
chiefly  follows  Cotton.  MS.  Galba,  E. 
ix.     Six  out  of  the  other  MSS.  are 
adaptations  of  the  poem  to  a  more 
southern  dialect.      This  MS.   is  sup- 
posed not  to  be  later  than  the  begin- 
ning of  the  xv  th  centui-y,  and  is  there- 
fore much  more  recent  than  Rolle  de 
Hampole  himself,  and  hence  no  reliance 
whatever  can  be  placed  on  the  final  e. 

2  In  v.  1273  we  find  for  tone  for  for- 
tune (which  occurs   in  v.    1286),   so 
that  probably  buke  v.  2300,  which  may 
have  represented  the  northern  pronun- 
ciation (byyk)  should  be  altered  to  boke 
to   rhyme   with  loke  in  the  following 
line.     I  have  not  noted  other  faulty 
rhymes. 

3  The  ~es  has  been  preserved  in  v. 
480.     The   final  -e  in  forme  fat  her  v. 
483   has  also    been  retained  for  the 
rhythm,  although  Mr.  Murray  prefers 
form,  referring  to  formkind,  formbirth, 
formdays.    Mr.  Murray  thinks  that  ai, 
ay  had  in  Scotland  the  sound  of  (ee)  at 


the  beginning  of  the  xvi  th  century,  at 
least  a  century  before  it  was  recognized 
in  the  South,  although  we  learn  from 
Hart  that  it  was  well  known  in  1569 
(supra  p.  122)  or  rather  in  1551,  the 
date  of  his  first  draft  (infra  Chap.  VIII, 
§  3,  first  note).  Mr.  Murray's  opinion 
is  based  upon  the  sudden  appearance  of 
the  orthography  ay  about  1500  in  Ga- 
wain  Douglas,  who  uses  it  where  an 
intermediate  (ai)  between  the  old  (aa) 
and  modern  (ee)  is  hardly  conceivable, 
and  his  often  interchanging  a  and  ay 
in  the  same  word,  as  bray,  bra.  Again 
thare,  thair,  thayr  are  regularly  con- 
founded, and  bath,  bathe,  bayth,  baith 
all  occur.  We  have  the  rhymes  :  Ida 
lay,  say  Ortigia,  Cassendray  away,  gaif 
haif=gave  have,  rais  face,  say  ischay 
=  esche.  Possibly  this  was  a  period  of 
transitional  sound  from  (aa)  or  (aa)  to 
(aah)  or  (seae),  and  Douglas,  if  the  spel- 
ling is  really  his,  which  of  course  is 
doubtful,  strove  to  mark  it  by  the  same 
device  which  was  known  to  him  pos- 
sibly by  the  pronunciation  of  Greek 
(the  Erasmian  system  not  having  been 
yet  introduced),  namely  the  addition  of 
i,  or  else  from  the  growing  habit  of 
calling  French  ai  (ee).  There  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  instances 
named,  and  in  :  twa  tway,  ma  may  mo 
=plures,  wraith  =  wroth,  maid  =  made, 


CHAP.  IV.  §  8.      EARLIER  PART  OF  THE  XIV  TH  CENTURY.  411 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  this  mode  of  reading  the  writing  of 
Dan  Michel,  and  Richard  Eolle,  precisely  renders  the  pronunciation 
of  the  dialect  which  they  followed.  We  know  how  slightly  dialects 
are  at  present  represented,  and  how  very  insufficient  our  pronun- 
ciation would  be  if  derived  from  the  usual  orthographical  and  ortho- 
epical  rules.  It  is  not  likely  that  writers  five  hundred  years  ago 
should  have  been  more  accurate.  They  had  however  the  advantage 
of  an  alphabet  in  which  the  value  of  each  combination  was  settled 
with  remarkable  exactness,  and  hence  they  were  able  by  their  ortho- 
graphy to  make  a  near  approach  to  the  sound  of  speech  around  them. 
But  their  alphabet  only  having  an  accurate  representation  of  the 
simple  and  compound  sounds:  (a,  aa,  ai,  au,  b,  d,  [dh],  dzh,  e,  ee,  ei, 
eu,  f,  g,  H,  i,  n,  j,  k,  kh,  1,  '1,  m,  n,  o,  oi,  oo,  oou,  p,  q,  r,  TW,  s,  sh, 
t,  th,  tsh,  u,  uu,  v,  w,  wh,  yy),  although  far  superior  to  that  now  in 
use,  which  only  professes  to  represent  in  a  very  lame,  confused,  and 
uncertain  manner,  the  simple  and  compound  sounds  :  (aa,  AA,  ee,  b, 
d,  [dh],  dzh,  e,  o,  ee,  ai,  ou,  f,  g,  H,  t,  ii,  u,  iu,  J,  k,  1,  m,  n,  o,  oi, 
oo,  p,  q,  r,  j,  s,  sh,  t,  th,  tsh,  u,  uu,  v,  w,  wh,  z,  [zh]), — the  same 
in  number  but  differing  in  value, — must  have  been  as  inadequate  to 
represent  our  provincial  sounds  of  that  time,  as  our  present  ortho- 
graphy is  to  write  our  present  provincial  dialects,  as  may  be  con- 
cluded from  an  inspection  of  the  key  to  Glossotype,  p.  16.  The 
writer  probably  refined  the  dialect  and  selected  his  sounds,  giving 
an  approximation  which  would  have  been  understood  by  a  native. 
It  is  also  possible  that  he  may  have  pressed  some  combinations  and 
letters  to  do  a  double  duty.  Writers  were  already  familiar  with 
double  uses.  Thus  i,  u  were  vowels  or  consonants ;  o  =  (o,  u), 
u  =  (yy,  u),  ou  =  ow  (uu,  oou),  eu  =  (yy,  eu),  and  long  and 
short  vowels  were  written  with  the  same  sign.  But  if  in  their 
dialectic  writing  they  took  such  liberties,  we  have  no  satisfactory 
means,  if  indeed  we  have  any  means  of  detecting  them.  Such  an 
approximation  however  as  results  from  the  preceding  examination 
of  Chaucer  and  Grower  must  certainly  be  far  nearer  the  truth  than 
any  hap-hazard  reading,  founded  upon  modern  analogies  without 
historical  investigation,  and  as  such  is  worth  the  study  and  ac- 
ceptance of  the  scholar.  We  may  indeed  feel  some  confidence  that 
Hampole  and  Dan  Michel  would  have  at  least  understood  the  above 
conjectured  pronunciation.  But  the  usual  modern  English  sounds 
would  have  probably  sounded  as  strange  to  their  ears,  as  an  or- 
dinary Frenchman's  declamation  of  Shakspere  to  ours,  or  our  own 
Southern  pronunciation  of  Burns  to  an  Ayrshire  peasant. 

aith=oath,  ai  could  not  have  been(ai).  dialects,  both  Scotch  a£'d  English,  and 

"We  cannot  but  feel  rejoiced  to  know  an  antiquarian  research  into  their  form 

that  the  long  neglected  Scotch  dialects,  and   history,  joins /an    extensive    ac- 

which  are  in  fact  those  of  Northern  quaintance  with  tj^ose  languages,  both 

England,  are  undergoing  a  thorough  European  and  priental,   which    have 

examination  by  one  so  well  qualified  in  chiefly  engaged/fche  attention  of  philolo- 

every  respect  as  Mr.  Murray,  who  to  gists,  and  a  lojig  theoretical  and  practi- 

his  local   knowledge    of  the    Border  cal  familiarity  with  phonetics. 


412 


ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  THE  EARLIER          CHAP.  IV.  §  8. 


EXTEACTS   FEOM 

Ayenbite  of  Inwyt. 

PEEFACE,  p 


MICHEL. 
Ajen'bn'te  of 
1. 


Holy  arclianle  Michael. 
Saynt  gabriel.  and  Baphael. 

Ye  brenge  me  to  J>o  castel. 
fer  alle  zaulen  varef  wel. 
Lhord  ihesn  almigti  kyng. 
]?et    madest,    and    lokest 


alle 


Me  ]?et  am  )?i  makyng  : 

to  fine  blisse  me  ]>ou  bryng. 

Blind,  and  dyaf.  and  alsuo  domb. 

Of  zenenty  yer  al  uol  rond. 

Ne     ssolle     by     drage     to    ]>e 

grond  : 
Yor   peny,   nor   mark,    ne   nor 

pond. 


Non  ich  wille  ]?et  ye  ywyte  hou 

hit  is  y-went  : 
]?et  fis  boc  is  y-  write  mid  engliss 

of  kent. 
]?is    boc   is   y-mad  nor  lewede 

men, 
Yor  nader,  and  nor  moder,  and 

nor  o]?er  ken, 
ham  nor  to  berge  uram  alle  man- 

yere  zen, 
fet  ine  hare  inwyttte  ne  blene 

no  nonl  wen. 
Huo  ase  god  is  his  name  yzed, 

}>et  }is  boc  made  god  him  yene 

fet  bread, 
of  angles  of  henene  and  ]?erto 

his  red, 
and  ondernonge  his  zanle  hnanne 

fet  he  is  dyad. 
Amen. 

Ymende.  ]?et  fis  boc  is  nol- 
neld  ine  ]?e  cue  of  J?e  holy 
apostles  Symon  an  Indas,  of 
ane  broker  of  pe  cloystre  of 
sanynt  austin  of  Canterberi,  Ine 
]?e  yeare  of  oure  Ihordes  beringe. 
1340. 


Hoo'K  ark'aq'gle  Mw'kaa'eel', 
Saint  Gaa'bm'eel',  and  Eaa'faa*- 

eel', 

Jee  breq'e  mee  to  dhoo  kastel* 
Dheer  al*e  zanl'en  faa'reth  wel. 
Lord  Dzhee'syy-  almi^ht'*  ke'q, 
Dhet  maadst,   and  loo'kest  al'e 


Mee  dliet  am  dhw  maa'k«q*, 
To  dhw'ne  bl/s'e  mee  dhun  br/q' 
Blmd,  and  djaf,  and  al'swo  domb, 
Of  zeventn*  jeer  al  vol  rond, 
Ne  shol*e  b«V  draagh-e  to  dhe 

grond, 
Yor  pen'z,  vor    mark,  nee  yor 

pond. 

p.  262. 

Nun  itsh  wil'e  dhet  Je  twtt'e, 

nun  mt  is  i-went, 
dhet  dh«'s  book  is  i-iwiit'Q  imd 

Eqi«sh  of  Kent. 
Dh/s  book  is  fl'-maad  vor  len'ede 

men, 
Yor  vaa'der,  and  vor  mod'er,  and 

vor  odh'er  ken, 
Ham  vor  to  bergh'e  vram  al*e 

manjee're  zen, 
Dhet    in*e    naar     inmwit'e    ne 

blee've  noo  fnnl  wen. 
'  Whoo  aa'se  God?'  is  ms  naam 

i-zed*, 
dhet   dihis  book  maad'e.      God 

mm  jee've  dhet  breaad 
of  aq'gelz  of  neeven,  and  dher- 

too*  ms  reed, 
and  on'dervoq'  His  zaul'e  whan 

dhet  nee  is  djaad. 
Aa'men. 

/mend'e.  dhet  dhis  book  is 
volveld'  in'e  dhe  eev  of  dhe 
Hoo'b'  apos't'lz  Sn'moon*  and 
Dzhyydas,  of  aa'ne  broo'dher  of 
dhe  klnis'ter  of  saint  An'stin  of 
Kan*terber*«,  in'e  dhe  jeaa're  of 
unr  Lhord'es  beer'eq-e.  1340. 


CHAP.  IV.  §  8.  PART   OF   THE   XIV  TH   CENTURY.  413 

EXTEACTS   FROM   DAN   MlCHEL.1 


Pater  noster 

Vader  oure  ]>et  art  ine  he- 
uenes,  y-halged  by  fi  name, 
cominde  fi  riche.  y-wor)?e  J?i 
wil,  ase  ine  heuene  :  and  ine 
er]?e.  bread  oure  echedayes :  yef 
ous  to  day.  and  uorlet  ous  oure 
yeldinges :  ase  and  we  uorletef 
oure  yelderes.  and  ne  ous  led 
nagt :  in-to  uondinge.  ac  vri 
ous  uram  queade.  zuo  by  hit. 


Pat'er  nos'ter 

Yaa-der  uure,  dhet  art  in-e 
Heevenes,  £-Hal'gw?hed  ~bii  dim 
naanre.  Koo'mmd'e  dim  mHshe. 
/-wordlre  dh*  wil,  as  m*e  neev- 
ene,  and  in'e  erth/e.  Breaad  uure 
ee'tshedaies  jef  us  to  dai.  And 
vorleet*  us  uure  jeldVq'es,  as'e 
and  wee  vorleet'eth  uure  jeld'- 
eres.  And  nee  us  leed  nakht  in- 
too*  vom.Wq*e.  Ak  vm  us  vram 
kweaad'e.  Zwoo  bw  ~B.it. 


Ave  Maria 

Hayl  Marie,  of  fonke  uol. 
Ihord  by  mid  ]?e.  y-blissed 
f  ou  ine  wymmen.  and  y-blis- 
sed ]?e  ouet  of  fine  wombe. 
zuo  by  hit. 


Aa*vee   Mar  era 

Hail  Mam'-e,  of  thoqk'e  vol. 
Lhord  "bii  mid  dhee.  /bl/s'ed 
dhuu  nre  wem'en,  and  «bhs*ed 
dhe  oo-vet  of  dhwn-e  wom'be. 
Zwoo  })ii  ~H.it. 


Credo 

Ich  leue  ine  god,  uader  al- 
migti.  makere  of  heuene,  and 
of  er]?e.  And  ine  iesu  cn'st, 
his  zone  on-lepi  oure  Ihord. 
fet  y-kend  is,  of  fe  holy  gost. 
y-bore  of  Marie  Mayde.  y- 
pyned  onder  pouns  pilate.  y- 
nayled  a  rode.  dyad,  and  be- 
bered.  yede  doun  to  helle. 
fane  fridde  day  a-ros  uram 
]?e  dyade.  Steag  to  heuenes. 
zit  a]?e  rigt  half  of  god  ]?e 
uader  al-migti.  Cannes  to  com- 
ene  he  is,  to  deme  j?e  quike, 
and  ]?e  dyade.  Ich  y-leue  ine 
j?e  holy  gost.  holy  cherche 
generalliche.  Mewnesse  of  hal- 
gen.  Lesnesse  of  zewnes.  of 
ulesse  arizinge.  and  lyf  eure- 
lestinde.  zuo  by  hyt. 


Kr  ee'doo 

/tsh  lee've  m  God,  vaa'der  al- 
mikht'n,  maa-ker'e  of  neevene 
and  of  erth'e.  And  m-e  Dzhee-- 
syy  Kri'st,  H«S  zoo'ne  oon'leep** 
uur'e  Lhord,  dhet  *kend'  is  of  dhe 
Hoolw  Goost,  e'boo're  of  Marn*a 
Maid'e,  f'pwired  ond-er  Puuns 
Piilaa'te  mail'ed  aa  roo'de,  djaad, 
and  beber*ed,  jee'de  duun  to 
nel'e,  dhan'e  tlm'd'e  dai  aroos* 
vram  dhe  djaad-e,  steaagh  to 
Heevenes,  zit  adh-e  r«kht  Half 
of  God  dhe  vaa-der  almtkht'fi. 
Dhan-es  to  koonrene  He  «s,  to 
deem'e  dhe  kwa'k'e,  and  dhe 
/tsh  elee-ve  m*e  dhe 
'M  Goost,  Hool*w  tsliertsh'e 
dzhen'eralln'tshe,  meen*nes'e  of 
nal'ghen,  lees'nes'e  of  zen'es,  of 
vlesh'e  anV'zeq'e,  arAd  Inf  ever- 
lest'm'de.  Zwoo  bw  ~n.it. 


1  For  the  translation  of  pages  412  and  414,  see  p.  416. 


414  ILLUSTRATIONS   FROM   THE   EARLIER          CHAP.  IV.  §  8. 

EXTEACTS   FEOM   ElCHARD    RoLLE  DE    HAHPOLE. 

The  Pride  of  Conscience,  v.  464-509. 

And  [when  man]  was  born  til  f  is  werldys  light, 

He  ne  had  nouther  strenthe  ne  myght, 

Nouther  to  ga  ne  yhit  to  stand,  466 

Ne  to  crepe  with  fote  ne  with  hand. 

pan  has  a  man  les  myght  fan  a  beste 

"When  he  es  born,  and  es  sene  leste  ; 

For  a  best,  when  it  is  born,  may  ga  470 

Alstite  aftir,  and  ryn  to  and  fra ; 

Bot  a  man  has  na  myght  f  ar-to, 

When  he  es  born,  swa  to  do ; 

For  fan  may  he  noght  stande  ne  crepe,  474 

But  ligge  and  sprawel,  and  cry  and  wepe. 

For  unnethes  es  a  child  born  fully, 

pat  it  ne  bygynnes  to  goule  and  cry  ; 

And  by  fat  cry  men  knaw  fan  478 

Whether  it  be  man  or  weman. 

For  when  it  es  born  it  cryes  swa  : 

If  it  be  man  it  says  "  a.  a," 

pat  f  e  first  letter  es  of  f  e  nam,  482 

Of  our  forme-fader  Adam. 

And  if  f  e  child  a  woman  be, 

When  it  es  born  it  says  "  e.  e," 

E  es  f  e  first  letter  and  fe  hede  486 

Of  f  e  name  of  Eve  fat  bygan  our  dede. 

parfor  a  clerk  made  on  fis  manere 

pis  vers  of  metre  fat  is  wreten  here  :  489 

Dicentes  E.  vel  A.  quot-quot  nascuntur  ab  Eva. 

11  Alle  fas,"  he  says,  "  fat  comes  of  Eve, 

pat  es  al  men  fat  here  byhoves  leve, 

Whan  f  ai  er  born,  what-swa  f  ai  be, 

pai  say  outher  a.  a.  or  e.  e."  494 

pus  es  here  f  e  bygynnyng 

Of  our  lyfe  sorow  and  gretyng, 

Til  whilk  our  wrechednes  stirres  us, 

And  f  arfor  Innocent  says  f  us :  498 

Omnes  nascimur  eiulantes, 

ut  nature  nostre  miseriam 

exprimamus. 

He  says,  "  al  er  we  born  gretand,  502 

And  makand  a  sorrowful  sembland, 
For  to  shew  f  e  grete  wrechednes 
Of  our  kynd  fat  in  us  es."  -  505 

pus  when  f  e  tyme  come  of  oure  birthe, 
Al  made  sorow  and  na  mirthe  ; 
Naked  we  come  hider,  and  bare, 
And  pure,  swa  sal  we  hethen  fare.  509 


CHAP.  IV.  §  8.  PART   OF   THE   XIV  TH   CENTURY.  415 

CONJECTURED  PRONUNCIATION  OF  RICHARD  ROLLE  DE  HAMPOLE. 

Dhe    Prsk    of  Kon'siens'     v.  464-509 

And  [when  man]  was  born  ttl  dhis  werld'/s  HEht, 
Hee  nee  Had  nudlrer  strenth  ne 


Nudlrer  to  gaa,  ne  jh«t  to  stand,  466 

Nee  to  kreep  with  foot  ne  with  Hand. 

Dhan  Has  a  man  les  nu'£ht  dhan  a  beest 

"When  nee  es  born,  and  es  seen  leest  ; 

For  a  beest,  when  it  es  born,  mai  gaa  470 

Als'toYt  afWr,  and  rm  too  and  fraa  ; 

Bot  a  man  Has  naa  jmKht  dhartoo  ; 

When  nee  es  born,  swaa  to  doo  ; 

For  dhan  mai  He  nokht  stand  ne  kreep,  474 

Bot  Kg  and  spraul,  and  km  and  weep. 

For  uneedhz-  es  a  tsluld  born  fulin- 

Dhat  it  nee  ba'gmz*  to  guul  and  km  ; 

And  baY  dhat  km  men  knaau  dhan  478 

"Whedh/er  it  be  man  or  woo'man', 

For  when  it  es  born  it  km'es  swaa  ; 

/f  it  bee  man  it  saiz  "  aa  !  aa  !  " 

Dhat  dhe  first  let'er  is  of  dhe  naam  482 

Of  uur  fornre-faa'der  Aa'daanr. 

And  if  dhe  tsh«ld  a  woo'man'  bee, 

"When  it  es  born  it  saiz  "  ee  !  ee  !  " 

Ee  es  dhe  first  let'er  and  dhe  need  486 

Of  dhe  naam  of  Eev  dhat  bigan  nur  deed. 

Dharfoor  a  klerk  maad  on  dhis  maneer 

Dhis  vers  of  mee'ter  dhat  is  rwee'ten  neer  :  489 

Diisen'tees  E.  vel  Aa.  kwot-kwot  naskun'tur  ab 

"  Al  dhaas,"  nee  saiz,  "  dhat  koomz  of  Eev,        [Ee  •  vaa- 

Dhat  ^s  al  men,  dhat  Her  bmoovz*  leev, 

"When  dhai  er  born,  what-swaa*  dhai  bee, 

Dhai  sai  udh'er  aa  !  aa  !  or  ee  !  ee  !  "  494 

Dhus  ^s  Her  dhe  btrgm'tq* 

Of  uur  liif  sor'u  and  gree*t*q*, 

Til  wh«'lk  uur  r^etsh'ednes  st«rz  us, 

And  dharfoor  /n*osent  saiz  dhus  :  498 

Onvnees  nas'imur  eedzhyylan'tees 
ut  naa'tyyree  nos'tree  m«ser'iam 
ekspr«"maa'mus. 

Hee  saiz  :  "  al  er  wee  born  greet'and*  502 

And  maak'and*  a  sor'uful  sem-bland', 

For  to  sheu  dhe  greet  rwetslrednes 

Of  urn-  kmd  dhat  m  us  es."  505 

Dhus  when  dhe  tnm  koom  of  uur  birth, 

Al  maad  soru  and  naa  imrth  ; 

Naak'ed  wee  koom  H«d*er  and  baar, 

And  pyyr,  swaa  sal  wee  nedh'en  faar.  509 


416 


TRANSLATIONS   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS.         CHAP.  IV.  6  8. 


TRANSLATION  OF  DAN  MICHEL. 
Preface. 

Holy  Archangel  Michael, 
Saint  Gabriel  and  Kaphael, 
May  ye  bring  me  to  the  castle 
where  all  souls  fare  well. 
Lord  Jesus,  almighty  king, 
That  madest,  and  keepest  all  things, 
Me,  that  am  thy  making, 
To  thy  bliss  bring  thou  me. 
Blind  and  deaf  and  also  dumb, 
Of  seventy  year  all  full  round, 
Not  shall  be  dragged  to  the  ground, 
For  penny,  for  mark,  nor  for  pound. 


I?  Envoy. 

Now  I  will  that  ye  wit  how  it  has 

gone  (happened), 
that  this  book  has-been  written  with 

English  of  Kent. 

This  book    has-been    made    for  un- 
learned men, 
for  fathers,  and  for  mothers,  and  for 

other  kin, 
them  for  to  save  from  all  maner  (of) 

sin, 
that  in  their  conscience  may  remain  no 

evil  thought. 
«  (Mii)  Who,  (khAA)  like  (Eel)  God  ?" 

i.e.  Michael,  is  his  name  called, 
that  this  book  made.     God  give  him 

the  bread 
of  angels  of  heaven,  and  thereto  his 

advice  (help), 
and  receive  his  soul  when  that  it  is 

dead. 

Amen. 

Note,  that  this  book  is  fulfilled  in 
the  eve  of  the  holy  apostles  Simon  and 
Judas,  (27  Oct.),  by  a  brother  of  the 
Cloister  of  St.  Austin  of  Canterbury, 
in  the  year  of  our  lord's  bearing  (birth), 
1340. 


TRANSLATION  OF  RICHARD  ROLLE 
DE  HAMPOLE. 

And  [when  man]  was  born   to  this 

world's  light, 

He  had  not  neither  strength  nor  power, 
Neither  to  go  nor  yet  to  stand,        466 
Nor  to  creep  with  foot  nor  hand. 
Then  has  a  man  less   power  than  a 

beast, 

"When  he  is  born  and  is  seen  least ; 
For  a  beast,  when  it  is  born,  may  walk 
Immediately  after,  and  run  to  and  fro  ; 
But  a  man  has  no  power  thereto,     472 
When  he  is  born,  so  to  do  ; 
For  then  he  may  not  stand  nor  creep 
but  [must]  lie  and  sprawl  and  cry  and 

weep.  475 

For  hardly  is  a  child  born  fully, 
That  it  begins  not  to  howl  and  cry  ; 
And  by  that  cry  men  know  then     478 
Whether  it  be  man  or  woman. 
For  when  it  is  born  it  cries  so  ; 
If  it  be  man  it  says  Ah  !  Ah  ! 
That  is  the  first  letter  of  the  name    482 
Of  our  first-father  Adam. 
And  if  the  child  a  woman  be, 
When  it  is  born  it  says,  Eh!  Eh! 
E  is  the  first  letter  and  the  head      486 
Of  the  name  of  Eve  that  began  our 

death. 

Therefore  a  clerk  made  on  this  manner 
This  verse  of  metre  that  is  written 

here :  489 

Saying  E.  or  A.  as  many  as  are  born 

of  Eve. 
"  All  those,"  he  says,  "  that  come  of 

Eve, 
That  is,  all  men  that  it  behoves  to 

live  here, 
When  they  are  born,  whatsoever  they 

be, 

They  say  either  Ah !  Ah !  or  Eh !  Eh !" 
Thus  is  here  the  beginning  495 

Of  our  life's  sorrow  and  weeping, 
To  which  our  wretchedness  stirs  us, 
And  therefore  Innocent  says  thus :    498 
We  are  all  born  howling, 
that  the  misery  of  our  nature 

we  may  express.  501 

He  says  :  "  All  we  are  born  weeping, 
And  making  a  sorrowful  semblance, 
For  to  shew  the  great  wretchedness 
Of  our  nature  that  is  in  us."  505 

Thus  when  the  time  came  of  our  birth, 
All  made  sorrow  and  no  mirth- ; 
Naked  we  came  hither  and  bare,      508 
And  poor,  so  shall  we  fare  (go)  hence. 


STEPHEN   AUSTIN,    PRINTER,    HERTFORD. 


EARLY  ENGLISH  PRONUNCIATION, 


WITH  ESPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 


SHAKSPERE  AND  CHAUCER, 


CONTAINING  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 
WRITING  WITH  SPEECH  IN  ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  ANGLOS AXON 
PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY,  PRECEDED  BY  A  SYSTEMATIC 
NOTATION  OF  ALL  SPOKEN  SOUNDS  BY  MEANS  OF  THE  ORDINARY 
PRINTING  TYPES. 


INCLUDING 

A  EE-AEEANGEMENT  OF  PEOF.  F.  J.  CHILD'S  MEMOIES  ON"  THE  LANGUAGE  OF 

CHATTCEE  AND  GOWEE,  AND   EEPEINTS   OF  THE  EAEE   TEACTS  BY  SALESBTTEY 

ON  ENGLISH,  1547,  AND  WELSH,  1567,  AND  BY  BAECLEY  ON  FEENCH,  1521. 


ALEXANDER  J.  ELLIS,  F.R.S., 

IBLLOW  OF  THE  CAMBBIDGE  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY,  MEMBEB  OF  THE  LONDON  MATHEMATICAL 

SOCIETY,   MEMBEB  OF  THE   COUNCIL  OF   THE   PHILOLOGICAL  SOCIETY,  FOBMEBLY 

SCHOLAB  OF  TRINITY   COLLEGE,  CAMBBIDGE,  B.A.  1887. 


PART  II. 

ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  XIII  TH  AND  PREVIOUS  CENTURIES, 
OF  ANGLOSAXON,  ICELANDIC,  OLD  NORSE  AND,  GOTHIC,  WITH 
CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLES  OF  THE  VALUE  OF  LETTERS  AND 
EXPRESSIONS  OF  SOUND  IN  ENGLISH  WRITING. 


LONDON: 

PUBLISHED     FOR     THE     PHILOLOGICAL     SOCIETY,     BY 

ASHER  &  CO.,  LONDON  &  BERLIN, 

AND  FOR  THE  EARLY  ENGLISH  TEXT  SOCIETY,  AND  THE  CHAUCER  SOCIETY,  BY 

TRUBNER  &  CO.,  60,  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 
1869. 


ADDITIONAL   CORRIGENDA  IN  PART  I. 

p.  13,  1.  7  from  bottom,  omit  But  for  convenience,  a  very  brief  key  is  given  on 

p.  16. 

Cancel  p.  16,  which  is  replaced  by  pp.  614-5. 
p.  105,  n.  2,  1.  6,  for  b?lt  readmit}. 
p.  107,  1.  4  from  bottom  of  text,  for  (A)  read  (AI). 
p.  Ill,  1.  6,  for  (ai,  ou)  read  (ai,  au). 
p.  118, 1.  6  from  bottom,  for  tEMS  read  tEms. 
p.  119, 1.  15,  for  aryl  read  ray  I. 
p.  141,  1.  8  from  bottom,  omit  as  we  sounded  lyke. 

p.  153,  1.  9  and  3  from  bottom  of  text,  omit  and  which,  and  that  the  change, 
p.  254,  n.  1,  1.  6,  omit  (possibly  a  reference  to  St.  Mary  le  bon)  ;  n.  3,  add  at  the 

end  of  this  note  :  See  note  on  v.  672,  Chap.  VII.  §  1. 
p.  265, 1.  24—26,  omit  But  susteene    .     .    .     8323. 
p.  309,  n.  1,  1.  3,  for  z  read  g. 
p.  333,  1.  26—29,  read  "Tyrwhitt,  and  the  MSS.  of  the  Six-Text  Edition  of 

Chaucer,  read  thilke  for  the"     Omit  another  mode     .     .     .    wikkedly. 
p.  333,  n.  1,  1.  8,  for  flengwit  read  Hengwrt. 
p.  336,  n.,  supply  1. 

p.  347,  art.  17,  1.  10,  for  -innge  read  -innge. 
p.  355,  art.  53,  for  Ex.  to  (c),  read  Ex.  to  (a). 
p.  371,  Ex.  col.  1, 1.  28,  before  wiltow  insert  (c}. 
p.  388,  after  Manhood  insert  14. 
p.  407,  table  col.  2,  1.  4,  for  "(ou)  o  oo  oa"  read  "(oo)  o  oo  oa."     Note  that 

"  (ou)  ou  ow"  in  col.  3,  L  4  is  correct. 


,  CORRIGENDA  IN  PART   II. 

p.  473,  n.  col.  2,  1.  1,  for  p.  446  read  p.  447. 

p.  477,  n.  2,  1.  3,  omit  more. 

p.  506,  n.  2,  last  word,  for  (riu-le)  read  (rwrle),  Seep.  573,  under  IU. 

p.  562,  translation,  verse  13,  1.  4,  for  yon,  read  yonder. 


STEPHEN   AUSTIN.   PRINTER,   HERTFORD. 


NOTICE. 


ON  account  of  the  unexpected  length  of  the  present  inves- 
tigations, the  Societies  for  which  they  are  published  have 
found  it  most  convenient  to  divide  them  into  four  parts, 
instead  of  two  as  previously  contemplated.  The  present 
second  part  concludes  most  of  the  researches  themselves. 
The  third  part,  containing  Chapters  VII.  and  VIII.,  is  in 
the  press,  and  will  be  ready  by  January,  1870.  Chapter 
VII.  will  contain  an  introduction  to  the  specimen  of  Chaucer; 
a  critical  text  of  the  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales,  with 
especial  reference  to  final  e,  metrical  peculiarities,  and  intro- 
duction of  French  words,  together  with  the  conjectured 
pronunciation;  a  passage  from  Grower,  printed  for  the  first 
time,  according  to  three  MSS.  with  the  conjectured  pronun- 
ciation ;  and  a  specimen  of  "Wycliffe.  Chapter  VIII.  will 
contain  Salesbury's  and  Barcley's  works  ;  specimens  of 
phonetic  writing  in  the  xvi  th  century,  by  Hart,  Bullokar, 
Gill,  and  Butler ;  a  Pronouncing  Vocabulary  of  the  period ; 
an  account  of  French  and  Latin  pronunciation  in  the  xvi  th 
century ;  an  examination  of  Spenser's  and  Shakspere's 
rhymes,  and  Shakspere's  puns ;  and  an  attempt  to  restore 
Shakspere's  pronunciation.  The  fourth  part,  will  treat  of 
English  pronunciation  during  the  xvn  th  and  xvui  th  cen- 
turies, and  of  dialectic  usages,  and  will  contain  full  indices 
to  every  part  of  the  work,  but  the  time  of  its  appearance 
cannot  yet  be  announced. 

A.  J.  E. 

KENSINGTON, 

1  AUG.,  1869. 


CONTENTS    OF    PART    II. 

CHAPTER  V.  ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING  THE  THIR- 
TEENTH AND  PREVIOUS  CENTURIES,  AND  OP  THE  TEUTONIC  AND  SCANDI- 
NAVIAN SOURCES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

§  1.     Ehymed  Poems  of  the  xm  th  Century  and  earlier,  pp.  417-485. 

No.  1.    The  Cuckoo  Song  (with  the  Music),  circa  A.D.  1240, 

pp.  419-428. 
No.  2.     The  Prisoner's  Prayer   (with  the  Music),  circa  A.D. 

1270,  pp.  428-439. 

No.  3.    Miscellanies  of  the  xm  th  Century,  from  the  Reliquia* 

Antiquse,  Early  English  Poems  and  Political  Songs, 

with  an  Examination  of  the  Norman  French  El,  AI, 

pp.  439-466. 

No.  4.     The  Story  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  circa  A.D.  1290,  pp. 

466-470. 

No.  5.     Havelok  the  Dane,  circa  A.D.  1290,  pp.  470-479. 
No.  6.     King  Horn,  circa  A.D.  1290,  pp.  480-483. 
No.  7.     Moral  Ode,  Pater  Noster  and  Orison,  xn  th  Century, 

pp.  484-485. 

§  2.    TJnrhymed  Poems  of  the  xm  th  Century  and  Earlier,  pp.  486-497. 
No.  1.     Orrmin's  Orrmulum,   end  of  the  xnth  Century,  pp. 

486-495. 
No.  3.    Layamon's    Brut,   heginning  of   xmth  Century,   pp. 

496-497. 
§  3.     Prose  Writings  of  the  xm  th  Century  and  Earlier,  pp.  498-508. 

No.  1.     Only  English  Proclamation  of  Henry   III.,  18  Oct. 

1258,  pp.  498-505. 

No.  2.     The  Ancren  Riwle,  xm  th  Century,  pp.  506-507. 
No.  3.     Old  English  Homilies,  XH  th  Century,  pp.  507-508. 
§  4.     Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  Sources  of  the  English  Language,  pp. 

508-564. 

No.  1.    Anglosaxon,  pp.  510-537. 

No.  2.     Icelandic,  pp.  537-553,  and  Old  Norse,  pp.  554-560. 
No.  3.     Gothic,  pp.  560-564. 

CHAPTER  VI.     ON  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF  ORTHOGRAPHY  WITH  PRONUN- 
CIATION FROM  THE  ANGLOSAXON  TIMES  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 
§  1.    The  Value  of  the  Letters,  pp.  565-588. 
§  2.     The  Expression  of  the  Sounds,  pp.  589-606. 
§  3.    Historical  Phonetic  Spelling,  pp.  606-618. 
§  4.    Etymological  Spelling,  pp.  618-621. 
§  5.     Standard  or  Typographical  Spelling,  pp.  621-623. 
§  6.     Standard  Pronunciation,  pp.  624-632. 

For  the  intended  contents  of  the  whole  work,  see  Part  I. 


417 


CHAPTER  Y. 

ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  ENGLISH  DURING  THE  THIRTEENTH 
AND  PREVIOUS  CENTURIES,  AND  or  THE  TEUTONIC  AND 
SCANDINAVIAN  SOURCES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

§  1.  Rhymed  Poems  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  and  Earlier. 

It  remains  for  us  to  apply  the  method  employed  for  as- 
certaining the  pronunciation  of  English  during  the  xiv  th 
century,  to  the  discovery,  if  possible,  of  that  of  the  xin  th 
century,  and  for  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  examine  the 
rhymed  poems  of  this  date  in  manuscripts  which  seem  to 
belong  with  certainty  to  that  period.  Poems  composed  in 
the  xin  th  century,  but  transcribed  in  the  xiv  th,  and  there- 
fore presenting  the  peculiar  orthography  of  the  latter  period, 
are  of  little  use  for  our  purpose.  This  will  account  for  the 
rejection  of  many  rhymed  poems  which  belong  to  this  period. 
The  following  cases  have  been  selected  with  some  care. 

The  CUCKOO  SONG  and  PRISONER'S  PRAYER,  which  stand 
first,  have  their  antiquity  well  established,  and  possess  the 
great  advantage  of  a  contemporary  musical  setting,  which  is 
of  considerable  assistance  in  determining  the  pronunciation 
or  elision  of  the  final  e.  As  the  old  notation  of  music  re- 
quires especial  study  to  read,  faithful  translations  into  the 
modern*  notation,  preserving  exactly  the  number  and  pitch 
of  the  notes,  have  been  printed.  This  is  precisely  similar  to 
reducing  the  manuscript  letters  to  the  form  of  Roman  types, 
extending  the  contractions  and  pointing.  In  the  first  piece 
the  time  of  each  note  is  accurately  determined  in  the  original, 
and  is  strictly  observed  in  the  transcript.  In  the  second, 
which  is  in  plain  chant,  this  is  not  the  case,  and  hence  such 
time  has  been  assigned  as  was  suggested  by  a  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  notes  in  connection  with  the  words. 

In  approaching  these  earlier  poems  we  stand  already  upon 
very  secure  ground.  The  values  of  a,  ai,  au,  e,  ei,  eu,  i,  ie, 
o3  oi,  ou,  as  (aa  a,  ai,  au,  ee  e,  ei  ai,  eu,  ii  i,  ee,  oo  o, 
ui,  oou  ou)  have  every  appearance  of  being  the  most  ancient 
possible,  and  the  only  doubtful  points  turn  on  such  fine 

27 


418  KHYMED   POEMS XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

distinctions  as  (a  a,  e  E,  i  i),  which,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
determine  from  the  rhymes  alone  with  certainty,  since  the 
necessarily  strongly  provincial  character  of  all  early  poems, 
will  certainly  admit  of  rhymes  apparently  lax,  which  only 
represent  peculiar  pronunciations.  In  fact  there  was  no 
longer  a  common  or  a  recognized  superior  dialect,  for  the 
English  language  had  long  ceased  to  be  that  of  the  nobility. 
From  the  Anglo-Saxon  Charters  of  the  Conqueror  down 
to  the  memorable  proclamation  issued  by  Henry  III.  (see 
below,  p.  498),  and  for  a  century  afterwards,  the  English 
language  was  ignored  by  the  authorities,  and  was  only  used 
by  or  for  "  lewd  men."1  But  there  was  a  certain  amount  of 
education  among  the  priests,  who  were  the  chief  writers,  and 
who  saved  the  language  from  falling  into  the  helplessness  of 
peasant  dialogue. 

The  chief  points  of  difficulty  are  the  use  of  ou  for  (uu,  u), 
the  use  of  u  for  (yy,  y)  and  even  (i,  e),  and  of  eu  for  (yy). 
The  meaning  of  ea,  eo,  oa,  practically  unused  in  the  xiv  th 
century,  has  also  to  be  determined.  The  result  of  the  pre- 
sent investigation  may  be  conveniently  anticipated.  It  will 
be  found  that  ou  was  not  used  at  all  for  (uu,  u)  till  near  the 
close  of  the  xm  th  century,  when  the  growing  use  of  u  for 
(yy)  or  (i,  e),  rendered  the  meaning  of  u  uncertain.  But  in 
the  pure  xm  th  century  writings  u  only  is  employed  for  (uu), 
and  becomes  a  test  orthography  (p.  408).  The  combination  eu 
or  ew^  does  not  seem  to  have  been  used  except  as  (eu).  The 
combinations  ea,  eo,  so  frequently  rhyme  with  e,  and  inter- 
change with  it  orthographically,  that  their  meaning  was 
probably  intentionally  (ea,  eo),  with  the  stress  on  the  first 
element,  and  the  second  element  obscure,2  so  that  the  result, 
scarcely  differed  from  (ee')  or  even  (ee).  The  combination 
oa  was  either  (aa)  or  (aa).  The  consonants  seem. to  have 
been  the  same  as  in  the  xiv  th  century,  although  g  may  pos- 
sibly have  retained  more  of  the  (gh)  than  the  (j)  character. 

1  Man  og  to  luuen  "Sat  rimes  ren,  •which  case,  according  to  some  writers, 

$e  "Wiffed  wel  fle  logede  men,  the  first  element  falls  into  (j,  w),  which 

hu  man  may  him  wel  loken  however,  others  deny.    In  (iu,  ui)  the 

"Sog  he  ne  he  lered  on  no  hoken,  stress  is  properly  on  the  first  element, 

Luuen  god  and  feruen  him  ay.  as  also  in  most  provincial  diphthongs 

Genesis  and  Exodus,  1-5.  heginning  with  (i),  as  (stiaan,  nuVn) 

]?is  hoc  is  y-mad  uor  lewede  men.  =  stone,  mane.     But  in  Italian  chiaro, 

Ayenbite  of  Inwyt,  supra  p.  412.  ghiaccio  (&iaa'ro,  ^iat'tshio)  the  (i)  is 

2  The  general  rule  for  the  stress  upon  touched  quite  lightly,   and  is  almost 

the  elements  of  diphthongs  is  that  it  evanescent,    so    that    (kjaa-ro,    gjat*- 

falls  upon  the  first,  hut  this  rule  is  tsho)    would    generally    he    thought 

occasionally  violated.     Thus  in  many  enough.     A  method  is  therefore  re- 

comhinations  with  initial  (i,   u)   the  quired  for  indicating  the  stress,  when 

stress  falls  on  the  second  element,  in  difficulty  might  arise,  or  when  it  is 


§  1,  No.  1.  CUCKOO   SONG XIII TH   CENTURY.  419 


1.  THE  CUCKOO  SONG  (WITH  THE  Music),  cmcX  A.D.  1240. 

The  Harleian  MS.  978,  in  the  British  Museum,  was  a  monk's 
album  or  commonplace  book.  It  is  a  small  vellum  MS.  entirely  of 
the  xm  th  century,  but  evidently  written  by  many  hands  at  dif- 
ferent times.  The  contents  are  very  miscellaneous.  It  begins  with 
several  musical  pieces,  some  with  and  some  without  words,  Latin, 
French,  and  English;  it  proceeds  to  give  an  account  of  musical 
notation  and  tones,  then  suddenly  commences  a  calendar,  of  which 
only  the  first  two  months  are  complete,  though  the  others  are 
blocked  in.  Then  comes  a  letter  to  Alexander  the  Great  on  the 
preservation  of  health,  Avicenna  on  the  same,  account  of  the 
seasons,  melancholy,  etc.,  all  in  Latin.  On  fo.  24,  the  language 
changes  to  French,  and  we  have  recipes  for  oxymel,  hypocrase,  etc. 
On  fo.  32,  the  hand  changes,  but  the  recipes  are  continued.  The 
language  reverts  to  Latin  on  fo.  32J,  and  the  hand  changes  again 
on  fo.  335,  col.  2,  line  2.  Without  pursuing  the  catalogue  further, 
we  may  notice  a  change  of  hand  again  on  fo.  37  and  fo.  38,  where 
a  beautifully  written  French  Esop  commences.  We  have  again  a 
different  hand  on  fo.  66£,  and  so  on.  In  the  later  part  of  the 
volume  is  a  Latin  poem  of  (twice)  968  lines  on  the  Battle  of  Lewes, 
14th  May,  1264,  (printed  by  Mr.  T.  Wright  in  his  Political  Songs, 
pp.  72-121),  in  which  the  cause  of  the  Barons  against  Henry  III., 
is  so  warmly  taken,1  that  it  must  have  been  composed,  and  pro- 
bably also  transcribed,  before  they  were  utterly  routed  and  ruined 

abnormal,   and  for    this  purpose  the  l  Compare  the  opening  lines — 

acute  accent  may  be  used,  as  (Maa'ro,  Calamus  velociter 

^iat'tshio),  and  similarly   (ea,   eo)  in  scribe  sic  scribentis, 

some    theoretical     pronunciations     of  Lingua  laudabiliter 

anglo-saxon,  and  this  accent  may  be  te  benedicentis, 

used  in  all  cases  if  desired.     In  Ice-  Dei  patris  dextera, 

landic   I    have  heard  the  triphthong  domine  virtutum, 

(ioou)  with  the  unusual  stress  on  the  Qui  das  tuis  prospera 

first,  and  (ie)  when  apparently  (ie)  was  quando  vis  ad  nutum  ; 

written,  and  in  such  cases  the  mark  is  In  te  jam  confidere 

indispensable.      In  Icelandic,  I  have  discant  universi, 

also  found  it  necessary  to  symbolize  a  Quos  volebant  perdere 

very  faint  pronunciation  of  a  letter,  qui  nunc  sunt  dispersi. 

rather     indicated    than    pronounced,  Quorum  caput  capitur, 

rather  felt  by  the  speaker  than  heard  membra  captivantur ; 

by  the  listener,  by  prefixing  [_  a  cut  [ ,  Gens  elata  labitur, 

to  such  a  letter,  as  the  symbol  of  evanes-  fideles  leetantur. 

cence,  so  that  we  might  write  (ej_a)  for  Jam  respirat  Anglia, 

.(ea)  that  is  (ea),  or  (^iaa-ro,  ^iat'-  sperans  libertatem ; 

tsh[io)  if  preferred.     If  it  is  wished  to  Cui  Dei  gratia 

shew  that  a  whole  word  or  phrase  is  so  det  prosperitatem  ! 

spoken,  then  it  should  be  enclosed  be-  Comparati  cambus 

tween   [_"!;   thus,  clergymen  will   fre-  Angli  viluerunt, 

quently  faintly  indicate  words  preced-  Sed  nunc  victis  hostibus 

ing  an   accented  syllable,  as   (|_'n  it~\  caput  extulerunt. 

•\ee\im  Lt'T  pahs)  =  and  it  came  to  pass.  Wright  prints  each  pair  of  lines  in  one, 

These  symbols  must  be  considered  as  as  in  the  original  MS.,  but  the  rhymes 

appended  to  the  list  of  palaeotypic  signs,  point  out  this  present  division,  which 

supra  p.  12.  doubles  the  number  of  lines  in  the 


420 


CUCKOO   SONG  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


at  Evesham,  4th  Aug.  1265.  This  is  therefore  important  in  fixing 
the  date  of  the  MS.,  but  Sir  Frederick  Madden  assigns  to  the  first 
portion  of  the  MS.  a  date  twenty  or  thirty  years  earlier,  and  believes 
that  the  writer,  that  is,  transcriber, — by  no  means,  necessarily, 
author — was  a  monk  of  the  Monastery  at  Beading,  founded  by 
Henry  I,  1125.1 


poem.  It  was  be  seen  from  these  lines 
what  smoothness  of  versification  the 
monks  in  the  XTII  th  century  were  ac- 
customed to,  with  only  some  slight 
accentual  liberties,  and  what  perfect 
rhymes  they  formed  in  Latin.  We 
shall  find  the  same  smoothness  in  a 
very  similar  metre  in  Orrmin,  and 
hence  must  expect  that  the  English 
versification  of  the  present  period  will 
also  run  without  stumbling,  unless  the 
writer  is  very  uncultivated. 

1  The  following  notes  are  written  in 
pencil  at  the  beginning  of  the  volume. 
"  The  whole  is  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, except  some  writing  on  ff.  I5b- 
17.  F.M."— "In  all  probability  the 
earlier  portion  of  this  volume  was 
written  in  the  Abbey  of  Reading,  about 
the  year  1240.  Compare  the  Obits  in 
the  Calendar  with  those  in  the  Calen- 
dar of  the  Cartulary  of  Eeading,  in 
MS.  Cott.  Vesp.  E.V.  F.M.  April 
1862."  Mr.  William  Chappell  has 
kindly  favoured  me  with  the  inspection 
of  a  letter  from  Sir  F.  Madden,  in 
which  he  gives  the  grounds  for  this 
opinion,  and  as  the  date  of  the  MS.  is 
of  considerable  importance  to  our  in- 
vestigation I  add  an  abstract  of  the 
same,  which  Sir  F.  M.  has  politely  re- 
vised. 1.  It  is  certain  that  the  first 
part  of  the  MS.  (say  the  first  30  folios) 
is  considerably  older  than  the  second, 
which  contains  the  poem  on  the  battle 
of  Lewes  composed  1264.  2.  In  this 
first  part  is  a  portion  of  a  calendar, 
containing  the  obits  of  Abbots  Roger 
19  Jan.  [1164];  Auscherius  27  Jan. 
[1135]  ;  Reginald  3  Feb.  [1158] ; 
Joseph  8  Feb.  [circa  1180] ;  and  Sy- 
mon  13  Feb.  [1226].  In  Browne 
Willis's  History  of  the  Mitred  Parlia- 
mentary Abbies,  etc.,  1718,  vol  1,  p. 
159,  all  these  Abbots  are  named,  as 
Abbots  of  Reading.  3.  The  complete 
calendar,  left  unfinished  in  Harl.  978, 
is  found  [with  the  exception  of  Dec.] 
in  the  Cartulary  of  Reading,  Cotton 
MS.  Vesp.  E.V.  fo.  11*  to  fo.  I6b.  The 
latest  obit  recorded  in  the  old  writing 
of  the  months  after  Feb.,  is  that  of  Abbot 


Adam  de  Latebury,  6  April  1238,  all 
later  obits  are  in  a  clearly  marked  later 
hand.  The  part  of  the  Cartulary  coeval 
with  the  Calendar  was  written  about 
1240,  for  fo.  22b  contains  a  charter 
dated  24  Henry  III.,  1239-40,  and  at 
fo.  333  is  a  marginal  note  written  sub- 
sequently to  the  text,  and  dated  29  Hen. 
III.,  1244-5.  In  Jan.  and  Feb.  the 
obits  are  the  same  as  in  Harl.  978, 
[with  this  difference  that  in  the  Harl. 
MS.  Abbot  Roger's  obit  is  given  under 

19  Jan.,  and  in  the  Cotton  MS.  under 

20  Jan.]      From   these  facts  Sir  F. 
M.    "considers  it  proved  by  internal 
evidence,  First,  that  the  Calendar  in 
both  MS."  and  consequently  the  pre- 
ceding parts,  "was  written  m  1240  or 
very  little  later.     Secondly,  that  the 
Calendars . . .  were  undoubtedly  written 
at  Reading,  by  a  monk  of  that  house. 
Lastly,"  he  adds,  "there  is  a  remarkable 
entry  in  the  Calendar  of  Harl.  978  (but 
omitted  in  that  of  Vesp.  E.V.)  on  St.  Wul- 
stan's  day,  19th  Jan.,  as  follows  : — Ora, 
Wulstane,  pro  nostro  fratre  Johanne  de 
de  Fornsete.      I  am  strongly  tempted- 
to  regard  this  John  de  Fornsett,  (who, 
from  his  name  must  have  been  a  native 
of  Norfolk),  as  the  Scribe  of  the  MS., 
for  I  cannot  otherwise  account  for  the 
odd  introduction  of  his  name  in  the 
Calendar."     The  entry  referred  to  is 
literally  as    follows,  the  italics  indi- 
cating extended  contractions : — "  xim 
kalendas  Wlstani  eipiscopi  obiit  Rogerus 
abbas.    Ora  Wlstane  pro  nostro  fratre 
Johanne  de  fornfete."     The  omission 
of  the  u  after  W,  as  in  Wulstan  is  not 
uncommon,  but  it   is   noteworthy  in 
this     place,    because    in    the     Eng- 
lish  Song,    which    will    be  presently 
given  at  length,  wde  for  wude  occurs, 
and  this   a  priori  connects  the    two 
writers  together,  but  of  course  the  per- 
son who  wrote  that  entry,  which  is  in 
exactly  the  same  handwriting  as  the 
rest,   could    not  have  been  John    of 
Fornsett.      Hence  I  should  consider 
this  entry  as  making  it  highly  probable 
that  this   monk  was  not   the  scribe, 
and  the  singular  insertion  may  be  due 
to  his  having  been  an  intimate  friend 


§  1,  No.  1. 


CUCKOO    SONG  XIII TH    CENTURY. 


421 


This  MS.  contains  on  fo.  10J.  the  music  and  words  of  the  CUCKOO 
SONG,  which,  Mr.  "W.  Chappell  says,  "is  not  only  one  of  the  first 
English  songs  with  or  without  music,  but  the  first  example  of 
counterpart  in  six  parts,  as  well  as  of  fugue,  catch,  and  canon ;  and 
at  least  a  century,  if  not  two  hundred  years,  earlier  than  any  com- 
position of  the  kind  produced  out  of  England."  l  This  song  which 


of  the  scribe.  The  MS.  was  evidently 
one  for  private  use,  and  this  note  of  a 
friend's  death  is  any  thing  but  surprising. 
"  You  are  probably  right  as  to  John  de 
Fornsete  not  being  the  scribe,"  re- 
marks Sir  F.  M.,  "  still  the  introduc- 
tion of  his  name  is  very  singular,  and 
I  do  not  recollect  any  other  instance 
of  a  friend being  thus  commemorated." 
The  above  historical  external  evidence 
of  the  real  date  of  this  MS.,  is  rendered 
the  more  important  because  Hawkins 
2,  93,  and  Burney  2,  405  in  their  His- 
tories of  Music,  attribute  it  to  the 
xvth  century,  "misled,"  says  Sir  F. 
M.,  "  by  an  ignorant  note  of  Dr.  Gif- 
ford  on  the  fly-leaf  of  the  volume,"  and 
by  the  nature  of  the  musical  composi- 
tion, which  they  supposed  could  not 
have  been  written  before  the  time  of 
John  of  Dunstable  in  the  xv  th  century, 
an  opinion  refuted  by  Mr.  "W.  Chap- 
pell,  who  quotes  "Walter  Odlington, 
1228-1240  (Scriptorum  de  Musica 
Medii  JEvi  novam  seriem  a  Gerbertina 
alteram  collegit  nuncque  primum  edidit 
E.  de  Coussemaker,  Paris,  1863,  4to., 

6245)  to  this  effect :  "  Habet  quidem 
iscantus  species  plures.  Et  si  quod 
unus  cantat  omnes  per  ordinem  reci- 
tent,  vocatur  Rondellus,  id  est,  rotabilis 
vel  circumductus."  We  also  know 
that  the  English  spelling  of  Cuckoo  in 
the  xvth  century  was  Cuckow,  not 
Cuccu,  which  could  only  have  been 
used  in  the  xm  th. 

1  W.  Chappell,  F.S.A.  Popular 
Music  of  the  olden  time,  a  collection 
of  Ancient  Songs,  Ballads,  and  Dance 
Tunes,  illustrative  of  the  National 
Music  of  England,  etc.  The  whole  of 
the  airs  harmonized  by  G.  A.  Macfar- 
ren.  (Printed  1855-9)  p.  23.  Mr. 
Chappell  has  given  a  facsimile  of  this 
song  as  the  title  page  to  his  work,  and 
says,  in  the  explanation  of  that  plate  : 
"  The  composition  is  in  what  was  called 
'  perfect  time,'  and  therefore  every  long 
note  must  be  treated  as  dotted,  unless 
it  is  immediately  followed  by  a  short 
note  (here  of  diamond  shape)  to  fill 
the  time  of  the  dot.  The  music  is 


on  six  lines,  and  if  the  lowest  line 
were  taken  away,  the  remaining  would 
be  the  five  now  employed  in  part 
music,  where  the  C  clef  is  used  on 
the  third  line  for  a  counter-tenor 
voice.  . . .  The  Round  has  been  re- 
cently sung  in  public,  and  gave  so  much 
satisfaction,  even  to  modern  hearers, 
that  a  repetition  was  demanded." 
He  adds  in  another  place,  p.  23 : — 
"  The  chief  merit  of  this  song  is  the 
airy  and  pastoral  correspondence  be- 
tween the  words  and  music,  and  I 
believe  its  superiority  to  be  owing  to 
its  having  been  a  national  song  and 
tune,  selected  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  time  as  a  basis  for  harmony, 
and  that  it  is  not  entirely  a  scholastic 
composition.  The  fact  of  its  having  a 
natural  drone  bass  would  tend  rather 
to  confirm  this  view  than  otherwise. 
The  bagpipe,  the  true  parent  of  the 
organ,  was  then  in  use  as  a  rustic  in- 
strument throughout  Europe.  The 
rote,  too,  which  was  in  somewhat  better 
estimation,  had  a  drone,  like  the  modern 
hurdy-gurdy,  from  the  turning  of  its 
wheel.  When  the  canon  is  sung  the 
key-note  may  be  sustained  throughout, 
and  it  will  be  in  accordance  with  the 
rules  of  modern  harmony.  But  the 
foot  or  burden,  as  it  stands  in  the 
ancient  copy,  will  produce  a  very  in- 
different effect  on  a  modern  ear, — 
we  ought  perhaps  to  except  the  lover 
of  Scotch  reels — from  its  constantly 
making  fifths  and  octaves  with  the 
voices,  although  such  progressions  were 
not  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  music  in 
that  age.  No  subject  would  be  more 
natural  for  a  pastoral  song  than  the 
approach  of  summer,  and,  curiously 
enough,  the  late  Mr.  Bunting  noted 
down  an  Irish  song  from  tradition, 
the  title  of  which  he  translated  '  Sum- 
mer is  coming,'  and  the;i;une  begins 
in  the  same  way.  That  is  the  air  to 


which  Moore  adapt 
and  rare  were  the 
This  resemblance  is 
and  does  not 
three  notes,  the  fo 


ted 


words,  <  Rich 
she  wore.'  " 
fectly  fortuitous, 
beyond  the  first 
note  of  the  Irish 


422 


CUCKOO   SONG  —  XIII TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


is  so  great  a  musical  curiosity,  is  also  a  valuable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  early  English  pronunciation.  In  order  to  make  the 
song  more  readily  legible,  it  will  be  here  interpreted  into  the 
ordinary  musical  notation,1  the  English  words  in  Roman  type,  and 
below  them  the  Latin  hymn,  by  which  .it  perhaps  obtained  its  in- 
troduction into  the  monk's  commonplace  book,2  in  Italics,  (which 
when  used  for  entire  passages  will  indicate  red  ink, )  and  a  literal 
translation  of  the  notes  into  modern  music.  On  the  opposite  page 
will  be  given  the  metrical  arrangement,  conjectured  pronunciation, 
and  literal  translations.3  See  pp.  426,  427. 


air  runs  into  a  totally  different  chord. 
The  fact  that  the  song  was  in  six  parts, 
has  occasioned  some  persons  to  sup- 
pose that  it  was  alluded  to  in  the  last 
stanza  of  the  '  Turnament  of  totenham,' 
Harl.  MS.  5396,  fp.  310,  the  hand- 
writing of  which  is  referred  to  A.D, 
1456.  As  the  stanza  is  not  printed 
quite  correctly  in  Percy's  Eeliques,  2nd 
ed.,  ii,  15,  it  may  be  added  here  as 
transcribed  from  the  original  MS.  It 
is  scarcely  right  to  suppose,  however, 
that  the  Cuckoo  Song  was  the  only 
six  part  song  known. 
At  }>at  feft  J?ay  were  teruyd  Vfiih  a 

ryche  a  ray 

JZuery  .v.  and  v  had  a  cokenay 
And  fo  )>ay  fat  in  jolyte  al  J?e  lang  day 
And  at  ]>e  laft  )?ay  went  to  bed  vrith 

ful  gret  deray 
mekyl  myrth  was  £em  amang 

In  euery  corner  of  ]>e  hous 

Was  melody  delycyous 

For  to  here  prajyus 
of  vj  menys  fang. 

Dr.  Eimbault  has  published  a  modern 
version  of  this  song  in  his  Ancient 
Vocal  Music  of  England,  Novello,  No. 
13,  in  which  he  says:  "the  editor 
has  followed  an  ancient  transcript  in 
the  Pepysian  Library,  which  omits  the 
two  bass  parts  forming  the  burden, 
in  the  Museum  copy,  and  has  added  an 
Accompaniment  upon  a  drone  bass. 
The  effect  produced  is  considerably  im- 
proved." Dr.  Eimbault  has  politely 
informed  me  in  a  private  letter  to  Mr. 
G.  A.  Macfarren,  that  he  obtained  his 
copy  of  this  transcript  from  the  late 
Prof.  Walmisley  of  Cambridge,  in  1838. 
Mr.  Aldis  "Wright  kindly  made  a  search 
for  the  original  in  the  Pepysian  Library, 
but  was  unable  to  find  a  trace  of  it. 

1  Hawkins  and  Burney  (supra,  p.  420, 
note  1,  near  the  end,)  have  given 
translations  with  all  the  parts  written 
at  length,  but  have  not  arranged  the 


words  properly.  In  the  present  inter- 
pretation the  arrangement  of  the  ori- 
ginal is  followed,  and  for  one  deviation 
from  the  former  translations  I  am  in- 
debted to  Mr.  William  Chappell. 

2  Mr.  G.  A.  Macfarren,  the  com- 
poser, in  reply  to  my  question  whether 
he  considered  the    English   or  Latin 
words  to  have  been  the  original,  says : 
"I  am  strongly  of  opinion  that  the 
music  was  composed  to  the  English 
words,  and  the  Latin  Hymn  afterwards 
adapted  to  it,  because  it  was  a  common 
practice  to  adapt  sacred  words  to  secu- 
lar tunes   (as    for  instance,   Thomas, 
archbishop  of  York  in  the  xith  cen- 
tury and  Eichard  Vichys  of  Ossory  in 
the  xiv  th  wrote  many  such),  but  it 
would  have  been  regarded  as  a  dese- 
cration to  appropriate  a  church  theme 
to  a  secular  subject.    Witness  also  the 
many  masses  set  to  music,  throughout 
which  the  French  song  of  L'homme 
Arme.  is  employed  as  a  canto  fermo, 
and  Josquin  de  Pr6's  Mass  on  this  Song 
in  praise  of  Chess,  in  proof  of  this  same 
church  practice."     To  this  we  may  add 
that  there  are  no  Latin  words  to  the 
Pes  or  Burden,  which  is  an  essential 
part  of  the  harmony. 

3  This  arrangement  is  reprinted  from 
the  work  cited  below,  p.  498.    As  re- 
spects the  language,  all  the  words  are 
ags.   except   cuccu,    stert,  uert. 
The  first   cuccu   as  we  shall  see  is 
onomatopoetic  (imsonic,  or  mimetic), 
the  second  stert,  and  its  diminutive 
startle,  is  fully  at  home  in  the  German, 
old  sturzan,  new  stiirzen,  and  Scandi- 
navian, Danish  styrte,  Swedish  storta, 
and  may  be  a  development  of  stir,  or 
may  be  related  to  the  same  root  as  ags. 
steortaii  to  erect,  steort  a  tail,  steart  a 
spine,  see  Dief.  Goth.  W.  2,  304,  315, 
333,  Wedgewood,  Etym.  Diet.  3,  314. 
As  to  the  third  uert,  Dr.  Stratmann 
suggests  fort,    which    would    be  the 


§  1,  No.  1.  CUCKOO   SONG  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  423 

The  musical  notes,  with  their  precise  value  in  time,  and  the  Latin 
hymn,  determine  the  number  of  syllables.  As  we  find  however  the 
Latin  accent  occasionally  violated  (non  parcens,  vite  dondt  et  secum 
corondt),  we  cannot  be  surprised  at  a  similar  violation  of  the  Eng- 
lish, in  Wei  singes  \u.  Taking  the  notes  as  interpreted  on  p.  426, 
it  would  seem  easy  to  rearrange  the  words  so  as  to  avoid  this  false 
accentuation,  but  the  ligatures  of  the  original,  corresponding  to  the 
slurs  in  the  translation,  forbid  this  rearrangement,  which,  with 
other  liberties,  Hawkins  and  Burney  have  not  hesitated  to  adopt. 
Hence  we  find  that  this  termination  -es,  might  be,  and  probably 
was,  fully  pronounced.  On  the  other  hand,  the  termination  -e]>, 
although  fully  pronounced  in  growe)>,  Howe),  was  elided,  either 
after  a  vowel  or  consonant,  when  convenient  for  the  metre  as  in 
spring)  •  or  for  the  music,  as  in  Ihou).  In  the  latter  case  the  metre 
would  require  the  syllable  -e)  to  be  fully  pronounced,  compare 

Awe  bletej>  after  lomb 

Loue]>  after  calue  cu, 

but  the  musician  ventured  not  only  to  dock  a  syllable,  but  to  put  the 
whole  heavy  truncated  word  lhou]>  to  a  short  note.  This  may  teach 
us  that  our  older  and  ruder  poets  did  not  hesitate  to  lay  words  on  a 
Procrustean  bed.  In  med,  bulluc,  ags.  medu,  bulluca,  the  poet  took 
the  same  liberty,  and  elided  the  final  -e,  for  the  rhyme  in  the  first 
case,  for  the  metre  in  the  second.  This  precisely  agrees  with  what 
we  determined  to  be  the  occasional  practice  of  the  xrvth  century 
(p.  342,  No.  5),  and  shews  that  the  omission  was  absolute,  not  a  mere 
slurring  over  or  lightly  touching  of  the  sound.  We  must  consider 
that  the  words  were  felt  to  be  as  really  truncated  as  Huh1  for  Ruhe 
appears  to  be  in  modern  German  speech,  for  we  have  the  essential 
-e  preserved  in  wde,  awe,  fiucke,  the  dative  -e  in  calue,  the  adverbial 
-e  in  Ihude,  murie,  all  of  which  have  a  distinct  musical  note  assigned. 
In  the  last  word,  however,  both  vowels  in  -ie  are  given  to  one  note, 
as  many  a  time  would  be  given  to  three  notes  only  in  modern  ballads. 
The  principal  fact,  however,  that  we  learn  from  this  song,  as  to 
the  pronunciation  of  the  letters  in  the  xm  th  century,  is  that  long 
(uu)  which  was  represented  generally  by  ou  and  occasionally  by  0, 
but  never  by  u,  in  the  xrv  th  century,  was  now  invariably  repre- 
sented by  u.  This  is  deduced  from  the  word  cuccu,  which  is  mani- 
festly an  imitation  of  the  cry  of  the  bird,1  as  in  French  coucou,  old 
French  coucoul,  Italian  cuculo,  German  kukuk,  kuckuk,  Dutch  koekoek 
(kuu'kuuk),  Latin  cuculus,  coccyx,  Greek  KOKKVJ-,  Sanscrit  kokila* 

ags.   feortan,  pedere,  but  this  change  such  an  interval  in  connection  with  the 

of  /  into  v,  although  frequent  in  old  cry,  being  in  v.  6,  where  in  ijlng  cuccu 

MSS,  is  not  confirmed  by  any  other  he  first  descends  and  then  /ascends  a 

usage  in  the  present  poem,  and  the  use  of  minor  third,  the  notes  beinsf  /  df. 

a  Norman  word  vert  in  a  hunting  phrase  2  "  Cuckoo  in  English  is  oflearly  a  mere 

seems  natural.     The  use  of  the  word  as  imitation'  of  the  cry  of  t/at  bird,  even 

a  verb,  however,  requires  confirmation.  more  so  then  the  corresponding  terms 

1  The  musical  interval  of  the  cry  is  in  Greek,    Sanskrit,   amd  Latin.      In 

a  descending  minor  third,  which  the  these  languages  the /mitative  element 

composer  has  not  imitated,  the  only  has  received  the  sup/ort  of  a  derivative 

instance  in  which  he  has  introduced  suffix ;  we  have  Jtojfi^  in  Sanskrit,  and 


424  CUCKOO   SONG  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

The  sound  must  have  been  (kuk'kutr)  or  (kwk-kinr)  or  simply 
(kwk'u),  as  at  present.  The  orthography  may  be  compared  with  the 
cuckow  of  Chaucer  17174  (supra  p.  305),  where  the  short  (u)  remains 
the  same,  but  the  long  (uu)  is  represented  by  ow.  Agreeing  with 
this  we  have  Ihude,  nu,  cu,  ]>u  which  were  lowde  loude,  now,  cow, 
thou  in  Chaucer.  And  thus  the  characteristic  difference  between 
the  orthographies  of  the  xmth  and  xivth  centuries  (p.  408,)  is 
established  by  reference  to  a  bird's  cry,  which  cannot  have  changed. 

But  u  in  the  xin  th  century  did  not  always  represent  the  sounds 
(uu,  u),  as  we  see  by  the  word  murie,  which  however  is  not  enough 
in  itself,  or  even  when  compared  with  the  ags.  mirige,  to  establish 
the  second  sound  of  u  as  (i)  or  (e),  or  originally  (y)  as  previously 
suggested  (p.  299).  In  Halt  Meidenhad1  we  constantly  find  u  for  i 
or  y.  Thus  in  the  first  page,  Ui¥>eluker  ags.  blrSetice,  blithely, 
lustni  ags.  lystnan,  listen,  brudlac,  ags.  brydlac,  marriage  gift,  clup- 
pinge  ags.  clyppan,  clip  embrace,  hwucft  ags.  hwilc,  which,  lpunck&£ 
ags.  tyncan,  seem  ;  euch  each,  in  which  last  word  the  sound  (eutsh) 
is  almost  unthinkable.  The  town  of  Hertford  is  so  spelled  in  the 
French  version  of  the  English  proclamation  of  Henry  III,  but 
appears  as  Hurtford,  in  the  contemporary  English  version,  1258. 
The  conclusion  seems  to  be  rather  that  the  u,  which  was  properly 
and  generally  employed  as  (uu,  u),  was  coming  into  use  to  replace 
the  ags.  y  (y),  which  it  succeeded  in  doing  by  the  end  of  the  xm  th 
century,  thereby  necessitating  the  recurrence  to  ou  for  (uu).  "Was 
this  double  use  of  u,  then,  due  to  the  Norman  influence  ?  In  the 
French  version  of  the  Proclamation  already  cited,2  we  have  Cunte, 
tuz,  nus,  pur,  swum,  iurz,  sunt,  etc.,  in  which  u  was  most  probably 
(uu,  u),  while  in  JDuc,  saluz,  greignure,  esluz,  iurgent,  desuz,  etc., 
the  sound  could  hardly  have  been  other  than  (yy,  y).  The 
Norman  u  derived  from  Latin  u  may  have  been  frequently  (yy),  and 
that  derived  from  Latin  o,  may  have  been  generally  (uu).  The 
point  is  not  yet  satisfactorily  established,3  and  the  English  and 


kokJcyx  in  Greek,   cuculus  in    Latin,  as  other  names  for  the  cuckoo,  old  Sla- 

(Pott,  Etymologische  Forschungen,  i.  vonic  gz'egz'olka,  Lithuanian  ge'guz'e, 

84  ;  Zeitschrift,  iii.  43).     Cuckoo  is,  in  Lettish  dfeggufe  and  Lithuanian  ku- 

fact,  a  modern  word,  which  has  taken  koti,  to  scream  like  a  cuckoo,  old  Norse 

the  place  of  the  Anglosaxon  geac  \_g<zk~\,  gaukr  (gceoezkr)  etc.,  and  gives  other 

the   German    Gauch    (gaukwh),    and,  examples  of  names  of  birds  from  their 

being  purely  onomatopoetic,   it  is  of  cry.  Cumberland  (gauk),  Scotch  (gauk). 

course  not  liable  to   the  changes  of  l  Hali  Meidenhad,  from  MS.  Cott. 

Grimm's  Law.     As  the  word  cuckoo  Titus  D.  xviii.  fol.  11  2c;  an  alliterative 

predicates  nothing  but  the  sound  of  a  homily  of  the  thirteenth  century,  edited 

particulax-  bird,  it  could  never  be  applied  by  Oswald  Cockayne,  M.  A.,  once  of  St.' 

for  expressing  any  general  quality  in  John's  College,  Cambridge;  published 

which  other  animals  might  share  ;  and  for  the  Early  English  Text  Society, 

the  only  derivatives  to  which  it  might  1866.  8vo.  pp.  50. 

give  rise  are  words  expressive  of  a  me-  2  Both   versions    are  given  below, 

taphorical  likness  with  the  bird.    The  pp.  500-505,  accurately  printed  from 

same  applies  to  cock,  the  Sanskrit  kuk-  the    originals   in    the  Public    Record 

kuTa."     Max  Miiller,  Lectures  on  the  Office. 

Science  of  Language,   1861,  p.   347.  3  Mr.  Payne  is  of  opinion  that  the 

Pott,  in  the  passage  referred  to,  gives  Norman  u}  ui,  were  always  (uu).  Com- 


§  1,  No.  1.  CUCKOO    S01SG  —  XIII TH   CENTURY.  425 

man  orthographies  derive  so  differently,  that  in  the  xm  th  century 
they  can  scarcely  be  held  to  influence  each  other.  Hence  the  in- 
troduction of  ou  for  (uu)  into  English  may  be  a  native  development, 
as  already  stated,  and  not  due  to  French  customs.  The  frequent 
appearance  of  u,  where  i  would  be  expected,  in  Western  English, 
as  in  dude,  lute  for  dide,  lite,  may  at  most  indicate  a  wider  geo- 
graphical extension  of  that  sound  (y)  which  is  now  nearly  con- 
fined in  the  west  to  Devonshire.  In  our  inability  however  to 
determine  the  last,  especially  in  Eastern  and  Southern  English, 
where  we  find  the  orthographies  u,  i,  e  interchanging,  we  have 
no  choice  but  to  pronounce  as  i,  e  (i,  e).  See  the  remarks  on  the 
same  use  of  u  in  the  xrvth  century,  supra  pp.  298-300.  Numer- 
ous examples  will  occur  in  the  following  pages  of  this  section. 

We  gather  then  from  the  Cuckoo  Song :  1 )  that  ou,  ow  were 
used  for  (oou)  only,  as  in  lhou]>,  growe),  ags.  hlowan,  growan,  and 
never  for  (uu,  u)  which  were  uniformly  represented  by  u,  but  u 
itself  was  probably  ambiguous,  and  also  represented  an  actual  or 
older  (yy,  y),  which  was  interchangeable  with  i,  e  ;  2)  that  e  final 
was  regularly  pronounced,  but  might  be  suppressed  even  not  before 
a  vowel,  when  required  for  the  metre  or  rhyme ;  3)  that  -ef>  might 
be  pronounced  or  suppressed ;  4)  that  -es  might  be  so  distinctly 
pronounced  as  to  be  sung  to  an  accented  note. 

As  regards  the  remaining  letters  and  combinations  no  information 
is  given,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  them 
different  from  the  sounds  already  obtained  for  the  xiv  th  century. 
The  words  are  practically  the  same.  The  consonants  no  doubt  had 
not  altered.  The  vowels  a,  e,  o  had  already  received  their  most 
ancient  powers  (a,  e,  o).  The  only  doubt  affects  t,  which  in  the 
xiv  th  century  we  concluded  to  be  (ii,  *').  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  Latin  value  of  these  letters  was  (ii,  i),  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  when  the  Saxons  changed  their  runic  for  the  Roman 
alphabet,  they  actually  said  (ii,  i).  If  they  had  said  (ii,  i)  it  would 
have  been  near  enough.  In  subsequent  examples  we  shall  frequently 
find  i,  e  short  confused,  which  would  still  lead  us  to  suppose  that  i 
short  was  (*')  rather  than  (i).  But  from  this  time  forth  the  evidence 
is  not  strong  enough  for  long  i  being  (ii).  It  certainly  could  not 
have  been  (ai),  if  we  were  right  in  concluding  that  it  was  (ii)  in 
the  xrvth  century  (p.  297).  In  this  doubtful  state  of  the  case,  I 
shall  adopt  (ii,  i)  as  the  long  and  short  sound  of  t,  in  all  my  indi- 
cations of  the  pronunciation  of  the  XTTT  th  century  and  earlier,  and 
content  myself  with  recording  here  once  for  all  that  I  consider  the 
short  t  to  have  been  certainly  (»'),  and  that  the  time  when  long  i 
passed  from  (ii)  into  (ii),  if  there  ever  was  such  a  time  in  England, 
is  unknown.  Upon  these  grounds  I  have  drawn  up  the  pronun- 
ciation exhibited  on  (p.  427). 

pare :  bure  mesaventure,  bure  couver-  u  had  almost  certainly  the  sound  of  (yy), 

ture  from  King  Horn,  infra  p.  480,  and  and  it  is  possible  that  this  later  ortho- 

the  spelling  huis  muis,  p.  449.     When  graphy  may  be  a  guide  to  the  oldest 

the  spelling  ou  was  established  for  (uu),  pronunciation. 


426 


CUCKOO   SONG XHITH   CENTUKY. 


CHAP.  V. 


THE     CUCKOO     SONG. 


From  the  Harleian  MS.  978,  fo.  10  6. 


[Pastorate.] 

•&- 


[TENOE.] 


v-mer  if      i  -  cu-men     in.     Lhud-e   fing  cuc-cu.     Grow-ej?  fed  andblow-e*b 
Per-fpi  -  ce  christ  -^  -  co  -la.        que  dig-na  -  ci  -  o.          ce  -  h  -  cus   a  -  gn  -  co- 


med andfpringb be  w  -  de    nu.          Sing  cuc-cu  Aw-e      ble-teb      af- ter 

la  pro      ui-tif     «;»  -  c\  -  o.  fi  -  It  -  o  non  par  -  cenf  ex  -  po  -  fu- 


lomb.  llioujj    af-ter    cal-ue     cu.  Bull-uc    ftert  -  e)?.  buck  -  e      uert-ej> 

it.    mor  -  iw  ex   -   i  -  ct,   -    o Qui  cap  -  ti  -  uos     fe  -  ini  -   tti  -  vos 


3EE3 


u  -  rie  f^.ng  cue  -  cu          Cuc-cu    cue  -  cu       Wei  fin-gef  }>u    cuc-cu  ne  fwik 
a   fup  -  ph-ci  -  o Vi  -  te     do  -  nat       et  fe-cumcor-o  -  nat  in    ce- 


Hanc     rotam     cantare     pofftmt     quatuor    focij.       A    paucio- 

j     :  JT~T~zr  i'ibuf  autem   quam    a    tnbus    uel    faltem    duobus    now.    debet 
bu    nauer  nu  ^1C1>    preter  eof  ^U1  drcuw-t  peclem.    Canit«r  autew   iic.    Tacen- 

h     fo-li-o  tib«wcetenfunM5inchoatcuMthijf  qwitenewtpedew.  Etcuwuenerit 

ad  pnmam  notam  post  crucewt  •  inchoat  almf.  &  fie  cle  cetens 

fingwli  uen)  repaxifent  ad  paufacionef  fcnptas  & 


S-         -            .    —        &         &'       i 
~fro~                                                         T  non  alibi '  fpacto  u-oiuf  longe  note— 
v  &         1         I-~t           Ti    I  ,    I — I 1 s 


pef  ing    cuc-cu    nu.  S'rg  cuc-eu. 


hoc  repetit  unus  quocienf  opvs  est  • 
facienf  pavj'actonem  in  fine. 


"hoc  dtcit  alius.  paqfans  (n  medio  &  won  fn 
ing     cuc-cu.         S'Ug  cuc-cu     nu      fine.    /Sed  {mmed^iate  repetens pnnctpium. 


§  1,  No.  1. 


CUCKOO   SONG  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


427 


THE    CTJCKOO    SONG. 

From  the  Harleian  MS.  978,  fo.  105. 


Early  English  Original. 

Svmer  if  icumen  in. 

Lhude  fmg  cuccu. 
GroweJ?  fed 
and  blowef  med 

and  fpringj?  ]?e  wde  nu. 

Sing  cuccu 
Awe  blete]?  after  lomb. 

Ihou]?  after  calue  cu. 
Bulluc  fterte]?. 
bucke  uertef 

Murie  ling  cuccu. 

Cuccu  cuccu 
"Wei  fmgef  f  u  cuccu 
ne  fwik  fu  nauer  nu. 

Pes. 

Sing  cuccu  nu.     Sing  cuccu. 

Sing  cuccu.    Sing  cuccu  nu. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Smrmer  is  ikmrmen  in. 

Lhuu*de  siq,  kuk'kuu*  ! 
Groou'eth  seed, 
And  bloou-eth  meed, 
5        And  spriqth  dhe  uud*e  nuu. 

Siq,  kuk'kuu* ! 
Au*e  bleet'eth  af-ter  lomb, 

Lhoouth  af'ter  kal've  kuu. 
Bul'uuk  stert'eth, 
10    Buk-e  vert-eth, 

Merie  siq,  kuk'kuu ! 

Kuk'kuu' !  kuk'kuu* ! 
Wei  siq-es  dhuu,  kuk'kuu* ! 
Nee  swiik  dhuu  naver  nuu. 

Pees. 

Siq,  kuk'kuu*,  nuu !  Siq,  kuk'- 
15  kuu* ! 

Siq,  kuk'kuu* !    Siq,  kuk'kuu*, 
nuu! 


Verbal  Translation  of  the  Early  English. — Summer  has  come  in,  Loudly  sing, 
cuckoo !  Grows  seed,  And  blossoms  mead,  And  springs  the  wood  now.  Sing, 
cuckoo !  Ewe  bleats  after  lamb,  Lows  after  (its)  calf  (the)  cow.  Bullock  leaps, 
Buck  verts  (seeks  the  green),  Merrily  sing,  cuckoo  !  Cuckoo,  cuckoo !  Well 
singest  thou,  cuckoo,  Cease  thou  not  never  now.  Burden.  Sing,  cuckoo,  now  ! 
sing,  ciickoo !  Sing,  cuckoo !  sing,  cuckoo,  now ! 

Latin  Hymn  to  the  same  notes.— Perfpice  Xp'icola.— que  chgnacio.— celicus— 
agncola — pro  mtif  vicio. — fiho — non  parcenf  exposuit — mortis  exicio — Qui 
captiuos— femiuiuos— a  supphcio — vite  donat — et  secum  coronat — in  cell  folio. 

Verbal  Translation  of  the  Latin  Hymn. — Behold,  Christ-Worshipper  (Christi- 
cola)  What  condescension !  From  heaven  The  husbandman  For  the  fault  of  the 
vine,  His  son  Not  sparing  has  exposed  To  the  destruction  of  death,  Who  the 
captives  Half-alive  From  punishment  Gives  to  life,  And  crowns  with  him  In 
heaven's  throne. 


/ 


428  PRISONER'S  PRAYER  —  xui  TH  CENTURY.        CHAP.  v. 

Three  peculiarities  will  here  be  noticed  (aire,  lomb,  naver), 
corresponding  to  awe,  loml,  naver,  in  the  MSS.  Since,  then,  the 
scribe  is  supposed  by  Sir  F.  Madden  to  have  been  a  Norfolk  man, 
I  endeavoured  to  write  the  song  in  the  present  Norfolk  pronun- 
ciation, and  having  submitted  the  following  to  competent  revision 
I  believe  that  it  is  sufficiently  correct  to  shew  that  if  the  old  pro- 
nunciation, already  given  (p.  427),  has  any  claim  to  consideration, 
there  is  no  ground  to  suppose  that  the  song  was  written  in  an 
East  Anglian  dialect.  The  East  Midland  form  singes,  which  may 
have  been  a  scribal  error  for  singest,  is  the  only  East  Anglian 
point  of  grammar,  and  nauer  of  sound. 

Norfolk  Pronunciation  of  the  Cuckoo  Song. 

(Sam-i  iz  kam  in.  Bwl'ak  staot'eth, 

LEud'K  s«q,  kwkuu*  !  Bak  wajt^eth, 

Graau'eth  seed,  Merili  s^q,  kwkuu*  ! 

And  blaau*eth  meed,  Kwkmr,  kwkuir  ! 

And  spr«qth  dhe  wd  HEU.  WE!  s-/q-est  dhEu,  kwkuu*  !    . 

Seq,  kwkuu*  !  Not  sees  dhEu  naBVM  ILEU). 

Joou  bleet'eth  aft'i  lam, 

Laauth  aft'i  kalf 


2.    THE  PRISONER'S  PRAYER  (WITH  THE  Music),  ciRcX  A.D.  1270. 

In  the  Eecord  Room  of  the  Town  Clerk's  Office  in  the  Guildhall 
of  the  City  of  London,  is  preserved  an  old  quarto  vellum  manuscript 
known  as  the  Liber  de  Awtiquis  Legibus,  of  which  a  re-arranged 
transcription  was  made  by  Mr.  Stapleton  for  the  Camden  Society,1 
and  a  translation  has  been  more  recently  published  by  Mr.  Eiley.2 
Neither  of  these  works  mention  a  poem  in  Norman  French  and 
English,  with  musical  notes,  which  is  inserted  at  the  end  of  the 
volume,  although  Mr.  Stapleton  gives  passages  which  occur  imme- 
diately before  and  after  it,  and  upon  one  of  the  pages  of  the  song. 
Both  transcriber  and  translator  seem  to  have  considered  the  song  as 
worthless,  or  as  irrelevant  to  the  other  matters  in  the  book.  No 
doubt  it  did  not  form  part  of  the  work.  It  seems  to  have  been  in- 
serted as  a  useful  piece  of  parchment,  and  the  old  numbering  of  the 
folios  does  not  go  so  far.  But  it  is  entirely  in  a  xm  th  century 
hand,  exactly  similar  to  that  of  the  Cuckoo  Song,  and  the  musical 
notes,  although  not  written  in  strict  time,  are  of  precisely  similar 
forms.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  piece  of  parchment  and  writing  older 
than  many  parts  of  the  book  itself,  and  probably  coeval  with  the 
Cuckoo  Song.3  The  music  is  adapted  to  the  French  words,  which 

1    De     Antiquis     Legibus     Liber.  2  Henry   TJtomas  Eiley,  Chronicles 

Cronica     Maiorum    et     Vicecomitum  of  the  Mayors  and  Sheriffs  of  London 

Londoniarum  et  quedam,  que  contin-  A.D.  11  78  to  A.D.  1274.  London.  Triib- 

gebant     temporibus     illis     ab     anno  ner.  4to.  1863. 

MCLXXVIII  ad  annum  MCCLXXIYM;  cum  3  The  following  notes  will  enable 

appendice.     Nunc  primum  typis  man-  the  reader  to  insert  this  song  correctly 

data  curante  Thoma  Stapleton.    1846.  in  Stapleton'  s  transcript.   The  numbers 


1,  No.  2.        PRISONERS   PRAYER XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


429 


are  carefully  placed  under  their  notes,  but  the  English  translation, 
written  under  the  Trench,  is  not  kept  strictly  under  the  correspond- 
ing notes  and  often  runs  to  a  considerable  length  beyond  the  French. 
Both  begin  together  at  the  beginnings  of  stanzas.  There  are  several 
mistakes  in  the  English,  and  one  word  deleted  in  the  Erench  and 
not  restored.  This  and  the  absence  of  musical  notes  to  the  few  last 
words,  shews  that  the  manuscript  was  not  properly  revised.  It  is 
therefore  necessary  to  add  a  corrected  text  (pp.  435,  437),  which  is 
that  followed  in  the  subsequent  remarks.1 

The  notes,  which  are  now  first  published  (pp.  432-3),  presented 
considerable  difficulty,  from  their  being  written  in  plain  chant,  and 
therefore  without  any  division  of  time,  the  length  of  the  notes  being 
left  to  the  feeling  of  the  singer,  as  in  modern  recitative.  In  the 
following  edition  I  have  duly  translated  the  pitch  of  each  note,  and 
expanded  the  ligatures  into  slurred  notes,  placing  the  Erench  words 


in  brackets  are  those   of   the    folios 
numbered  in    an    ancient   hand,    the 
other  numbering    is    modern  and  in 
pencil.     I  have  to  thank  the  courtesy 
of  Mr.  Town  Clerk  for  allowing  me  to 
inspect  the  book  and  make  such  ex- 
tracts as  were  necessary. 
Fo.  [157],  a.   Fuit  vir  quidam,   Stap. 
238.     This  ends  on  fp.  [158],  «,  last 
paragraph.     This  folio  contains,  Iste 
vero.  A.  natus  fuit  anno  domini  m°. 
ducentesimo  primo,  Stap.  239.     The 
Mem.,  1586,  Stap.  253,  ke  la  Eeyne 
Isabel  etc.  L'an  E.  xx.  is  in  a  totally 
different  hand. 
Fo.  [159],  a,  the  six  Latin  lines,  Stap. 

253,  In  hoc  folio  continentur  etc. 
Fo.  159,  b,  is  blank,  but  both  159,  a 
and  b  are  ruled  for  double  columns 
and  for  writing. 

Fo.  160,  a,  is  blank  and  not  ruled,  ap- 
parently an  old  piece  of  parchment, 
used  and  put  in. 
Fo.  160,  b,  and  161,  a,  the  words  and 

music  of  the  Prisoner's  Prayer. 
Fo.  161,  b,  the  last  words  of  the  same 
Prayer,    viz.  "  et  jor  el  doint  ioye 
certeyne,"  and  "we  moten  Ey  and 
o   habben  the  eche  blifle,"  without 
either  musical  notes  or  staff.     This 
page  also  contains  the  notice  :    Cum 
de  edifices,  Stap.  253. 
Fo.  162,  a,  the  five  lines,  Una  Nero 

die,  Stap.  253. 

Fo.  162,  b.  A  hymn  consisting  of  ten 
lines  and  a  half  of  musical  staff, 
with  Latin  words :  In  translatione 
beati  thome,  the  whole  crossed  out 
with  one  cross. 

Fo.  163,  a  and  b.  The  notice  of  Thed- 
mar,  Stap.  239,  Fo.  163  b,  is  the  last 


written  page,  there  are  however 
three  other  blank  folios,  and  one 
with  scribbling  upon  it,  which  ends 
the  book. 

The  handwriting  of  the  Prisoner's 
Prayer  corresponds  with  that  in  the 
best  and  oldest  writing  in  the  book, 
and  cannot  be  later  than  1250. 

1  The  English  text  of  the  Prisoner's 
Prayer  appears  to  have  been  first  pub- 
lished in  the  Keliqua3  Antiquse  i,  274, 
from  a  transcription  by  J.  0.  Halliwell, 
which  reads,  incorrectly,  v.  1,  nun 
for  m  i  w,  v.  16  1  i  c  t  h  for  1  i  c  1 1  i,  v. 
26  p r  s u n  for  p r i s u n,  v.  38  us  for 
hus  and  v.  39,  misse  for  milse, 
and  arranges  v.  13,  14  thus 

For  othre  habbet  misnome 

Ben  in  this  prisun  i-broct. 
The  present  copy  is  re-printed,  from 
the  work  cited  below,  p.  498,  n.  1,  with 
an  improved  stanza  III,  and  the  cor- 
rection v.  41  wu  fit  go  for  wn  fit. 
go,  the  result  of  renewed  inspection. 
The  corrected  text  has  also  been  re-cor- 
rected, especially  in  the  verse  last  cited, 
where  Dr.  Stratmann's  conjecture  that 
go  wu  fit  go  stands  for  go  hu  so 
it  go  has  been  adopted,  wu=whu, 
being  a  not  unfrequent  form  of  h  u  in 
the  xin  th  century,  (infra  p.  440,) 
and  the  contraction  sit  for  so  it 
being  partially  justified  by  Orrmin's 
3  h  6'  t  for  3  h  o  i  1 1  =  she  it,  and 
h  e' t  for  he  i  1 1.  Most  of  the  other 
corrections  are  evident  enough.  The 
only  difficult  word  i  p  e  1 1  is  illus- 
trated below,  p.  448.  See  also  :  J>at 
wer  for  sin  in  helle  ipilt;  of  paradis 
hi  wer  ute  pilt;  fort  godes  sone  in  rode 


430 


PRISONERS    PRAYER XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


under  the  notes  as  indicated  in  the  original.1  But  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  of  reducing  the  time  to  a  modern  system,  and  have  added 
bars  accordingly.2  As  frequently  happens  in  translations,  the  Eng- 
lish words  do  not  in  all  cases  exactly  correspond  to  the  notes  written 
for  the  French.  This  has  occasioned  much  difficulty  in  adjusting 
the  corrected  text  of  the  English  words  to  the  notes,  and  such 
changes  in  the  music  as  have  appeared  necessary  are  indicated  by 
smaller  notes.  When  two  sets  of  notes  appear  in  one  bar,  the 
direction  of  their  tails  shews  in  the  usual  way  to  what  version  they 
refer.  It  is  evident  that  no  stress  can  be  laid  on  any  passages  in 
which  such  alterations  have  appeared  necessary,  as  regards  the 
pronunciation  of  the  syllables.3  Enough  passages  remain  in  which 
final  -e  was  undoubtedly  pronounced,  to  establish  here  as  well  as  in 
the  Cuckoo  Song,  the  general  rule  for  pronouncing  it.  At  the  same 

was    pilt,   FurnivaU's  Early  English      prisun  in  v.  4,  and  the  word  Christ  in 

v.  7,  have  each  in  the  MS.  two  identi- 


Poems,  p.  13,  v.  8  and  35  ;  p.  14,  v. 
56,  from  Harl.  MS.  913.  The  French 
text  has  heen  printed  by  M.  Jules  Del- 
pit,  in  his  Collection  Generate  des  Docu- 
ments Franc,ais  qui  se  trouvent  en 
Angleterre,  Paris,  1847,  4to.  vol.  1, 
p.  28,  No.  LXVII.  This  transcript  is 
faulty  having  d'anguste  for  dangusse 
v.  2,  dur  for  duz  v.  6,  en  suit  for 
enset  v.  12,  E  sires  Deus  ke  for 
Sire  deus  ky  v.  15,  I  eel  for 
icel'  v.  23,  morteufor  morten  28, 
fort  for  f  o  r  s  v.  30,  gu£e  for  g  u  i  e 
v.  34.  The  u  and  v  are  also  modern- 
ized, the  stanzas  not  divided  as  in  the 
original,  some  contractions  expanded 
without  notice  and  others  not,  the 
omission  of  et  v.  39  not  perceived  and 
v.  5  made  to  end  with  tres  puis  instead 
of  Ifiesu,  in  defiance  of  the  metrical 
point,  the  metre  and  music.  In  citing 
the  Rel.  Ant.  for  the  English  version, 
M.  Delpit  prints  Hallewell,  Shraps, 
PiJcering  for  Hattiwett,  Scraps,  Pic- 
Jeering.  He  says  of  this  poem  (it),  p. 
cxcn) :  "  Le  No  LXVII  est  le  plus 
ancien  document  en  vers  public  dans 
ce  volume.  Je  1'ai  trouve  sur  les 
feuillets  de  garde  d'un  manuscrit  du 
xiiie  siecle,  connu  dans  les  archives  de 
la  mairie  de  Londres  sous  le  nom  de 
Liber  de  antiquis  legibus ;  mais  sa  com- 
position peut  remonter  a  une  epoque 
beaucoup  plus  ancienne  que  celle  de  sa 
transcription  ....  il  m'a  paru  important 
par  son  anciennete,  et  de  nature  a  four- 
nir  quelques  remarques  utiles  sur  les 
regies  qui  presiderent  a  la  formation 
de  la  langue  que  nous  parlons." 

1  In  three  instances  only  have  I 
deviated  from  the  original.  The  se- 
cond syllable  of  pleynte  in  v.  1,  and  of 


cal  repeated  notes  written  close  together. 
In  each  case  I  have  reduced  these  to 
a  single  note,  as  I  have  heen  unahle  to 
obtain  any  explanation  of  this  doubling. 

2  The  key  is  the  ecclesiastical  mode 
of  which  the  scale  ran  from  G-,  thus  G 
A  B  c  d  e  f  g,  without  any  sharps  or 
flats.    Each  stanza  is  treated  as  a  sepa- 
rate composition,  and  the  second  half 
of  each  stanza  repeats  the  music  of  the 
first  half,  almost  precisely.    This  has 
enabled  me  to  supply  the  missing  notes 
of  the  fifth  stanza,   answering  to  the 
French  words :  "  et  jor  et  doint  ioye 
certeyne,"   with    almost   perfect    cer- 
tainty.    I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  "Win, 
Chappell  for  much  information  respect- 
ing the  meaning  of  the  old  musical  no- 
tation, and  for  an  acquaintance  with 
the  important  works  of  E.  de  Cousse- 
maker  :   (Scriptorum  de  Musica  Medii 
.ZEvi  novam  seriem,   1864,   4to.,   and 
L'Art  Harmonique  aux  xn  et  xiii88 
siecles,    1865,   4to.)  without  which  I 
could  not  have  translated  the  music  at 
all.     But  for  the  barring  of  the  Pri- 
soner's  Prayer,   I  alone  am   respon- 
sible, and  I  have  been  guided  entirely 
by  the  symmetry  of  the  musical  pas- 
sages and  the   rhythm  of  the  words, 
not  at  all  by  any  possible  indications  of 
length  in  the  notes  themselves,  as  was 
the  case  in  the  Cuckoo  Song,  in  which 
the  time  is  accurately  indicated. 

3  Thus  we  cannot  be  quite  sure  that 
the  singer  pronounced  shame  v.  4  in 
two  syllables,  although  there  seems  to 
be  no  doubt  that  he  said  name  v.  5  in 
two  syllables.  Similarly  some,  mtsnome, 
v.  11,  13,  may  have  omitted  the  final 
-e  for  the  music. 


§  i,  No.  2.      PRISONER'S  PRAYER  —  xm  TH  CENTURY.  431 

time  other  passages  occur  in  which  it  seems  to  have  been  un- 
doubtedly omitted,  not  only  before  a  vowel,  but  elsewhere,  and 
these  are  all  indicated  by  an  apostrophe  in  the  corrected  text.1 

The  rhymes  are  generally  quite  regular,  but  there  are  a  few 
anomalies  which  prepare  us  to  look  out  for  assonances  intermixed 
with  perfect  rhymes  in  poems  of  the  xmth  century  and  earlier. 
Thus:  man  am  7,  9 ;  hem  men  21,  22 ;  live  bilive  stige  27,  28, 
29  ;  mildse  blisse  39,  44 ;  are  all  assonances  (p.  245,  note).  But 
they  are  assonances  which  many  ears  mistake  for  rhymes,  because 
the  differences  of  the  consonants  are  not  obstrusive.  The  French 
version  has  also  the  assonance  :  deus  mortels,  15,  16  ;  and  perhaps : 
euayn  heim,  37,  38. 

As  regards  the  orthography  in  the  uncorrected  text,  the  use  of  d 
for  ft  is  common  enough  in  other  MSS.  not  to  need  explanation ; 
the  he  for  ch  is  an  occasional  carelessness,  compare  ihe  4,  with  ich 
1,  2,  3,  found  also  in  the  Proclamation  of  Henry  III. ;  and  the 
occasional  insertion  of  h  is  frequent  in  Layamon,  and  may  indicate 
a  doubtful  pronunciation,  compare  vs  20,  with  hus  40,  41.  More 
noticeable  is  the  invariable  use  of  th  for  J  at  so  early  a  period,  and 
gh  or  occasionally  yh  (forghef  21,  yhef  23)  for  5 ;  the  use  of  ct  for 
g£  (noct  12,  ibroct  14)  is  not  otherwise  uncommon.  The  orthography 
yh  seems  to  point  to  a  (#h)  or  (jh)  as  preceding  the  use  of  (j),  where 
5  occured  in  ags.,  as  already  suggested  (p.  313).  Wos  24  for  whos, 
and,  if  Dr.  Stratmann  is  correct,  wu  42  for  whu  and  that  for  hu,  may 
be  assimilated  to  the  cases  of  inserted  h,  as  shewing  a  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  the  aspirate.  The  use  of  c  for  s  in  such  words  as  blisce 
31,  44,  is  not  uncommon,  compare  Gen.  and  Ex.  3518.  Mai  28, 
for  the  older  form  ma%,  and  maiden  35,  indicate  that  the  diphthong 
had  been  completely  formed  from  a%  (ag,  agh,  ayh,  ajh,  ai) ;  and 
ey  43,  compared  with  Orrmin's  055,  shews  that  a  writer  did  not 
feel  any  difference  between  the  diphthongs  (ei,  ai),  which  Sir 
Thomas  Smith  found  it  so  hard  to  distinguish  three  centuries  later 
(p.  121)  and  which  were  constantly  confused  in  the  xrvth  century 
(p.  263).  These  are  the  only  words  in  the  English  text  bearing  on 
these  diphthongs.  But  in  the  French  we  have,  souerein,  mayn, 
euayn,  heim  35,  36,  37,  38,  rhyming  together,  and  we  have  plest, 
forfet  24,  25,  indicating  an  unpronounced  s  before  t,  and  a  degene- 
ration of  ai  in  certain  words  into  (E)  even  at  this  early  period. 
The  Prisoner's  Prayer  never  uses  ou  for  (uu),  but  employs  u  as 
in  kuthe  1,  nu  2,  thu  8,  prisun  9,  ut  10,  buten  34.  The  sume  11, 
and  misnome  13,  are  either  errors  for  sume,  misnume,  or  some,  mis- 
nome,  probably  the  latter,  as  same,  some  are  the  ags.  forms.  There 
is  no  instance  of  u  being  employed  for  i,  e  or  ags.  y.  The  French 
text,  to  which  the  notes  were  primarily  adapted,  raises  the  question 
of  the  pronunciation  of  Norman.  See  p.  438. 

1  Final  -<?,   elided  before  a  vowel,  a  consonant,  j>in'  5;  hop'  27,  bar'  35, 

ku>'  1,  sor'  3,  bal'  hal'  17,  wel'  31,  son'    36,  liv'  42  •/  internal  e  omitted, 

but'  34  (this  is  a  conjectural  emenda-  mucn'le  4,  hev>ie  18,  35 ;    and  if  Dr. 

tion),  habb'  37,  bring'  40 ;   before  an  Stratmann' s  Correction  is  adopted  we 

H,  o>r'  habbe>  13,  ra>'  he  32 ;  before  have  s'ii  fop4>  it,  v.  42. 


432 


PRISONERS   PRAYER XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


THE    PRISONER'S    PRAYER. 


From  the  Liber  de  A.ntiquis  Legibus^fo.  160  b. 

Note.  The  French  as  in  the  Original  MS.,  the  English  according  to  the  Corrected  Text.  The 
slurred  and  joined  notes  represent  the  original  ligatures.  The  time  and  bars  are  modern,  the 
original  being  in  plain  chant.  The  last  five  bars  are  not  in  the  MS.,  but  have  been  supplied 
from  the  parallel  passage  commencing  with  the  bar  marked*. 


[Adagio,  qffettuoso.'] 


[TENOR.] 


2 


1 


>I? 

y   ( Eyns    ne    soy    ke      pleyn  -  te      fu  o  -  re     pleyn  dan  -  gus  -  se  tres 

\  Ar      ne    kuf>'  ich      sor  -  2e    non.          Nu  ich    mot    ma    -    nen      min 


iztfc 


su      trop     ai  mal  et  con-trey-re  Sanz  de  -  cer  -  te  en  pri-sun  sui.    car  may-dez  tres- 
mon.    Kar-ful  welsor' ich  si-che.  Giltles  ich  tho-liemuch-lescha-me  Help  God  for  thin 


:7s^^iqr_4.      i       .  I          |"i — T~H 


1 — h 


pu-is    Ihe  -  su.  duz  deus  et  de-bon-ney-re.jj-  ( Ihe-sucristveirsdeuueirs  horn,  preng-e 
swe-te  na  -  me,  King  of  hev-en  -  e  ri-che.     '  \  Je-suCrist,*so)?God,*so)jman,  Lhoverd, 


vus  de  mei  pi  -  te.      Je-tez  mei  de  la  pri-sun       v    ie  sui  a-tort  ge-te.       lo    e 
rew  J?u  up  -on  me  !     Of  pri-sun  Jmr-in  ich  am  Bring  me  ut  andmak-ie  fre!    Ich  and 


mi  au-tre  com-paign-un   deus  en-set  la  ue-ri  -  te.    tutpurau-tremes-pri-sunsu-mes 
mi    -  ne   fe-ren  so-me  (Godwotjichneli^-eno^t,)  Foro)jr'habbej3benmis-no-me[And]in 


[Maestoso.'] 


a     hun-t^    li-ue-re.  TTT   (    Sire     deus  ky  as  mor-tels         es    de  par  -  dun 
this  pri  -  sun    i  -  bro^t.         {  Al-mi}  -  ti     J?at  wel  ^t  -  li         Of   bal'  is      hal' 

ttte=t 


3 


ue    -    i  -  ne.       su  -  cu  -  rez       de  -  K-ue-rez  nus  de    ces     -      te        pei 

and     bo  -  te.     Hev'-neking!    Of  |?is  won-ing         Ut  us    brin    -    gen      mo 


§  i,  No.  2.      PRISONER'S  PRAYER  —  XIIITH  CENTURY. 


433 


ne  Par-don  -  ez.       et    as  -  soy  -  lez.  i  -  eel'  gen  -  til     si      -      re. 

te,  For  -  }ef    hem     J?e  wik  -  ke    men        God  }if    it  is  }n     wil      -    le. 


Si      te        plest  par      ki    for  -  fet 
For  whos      gilt    We    beoj?     i   -  pilt 
[Allegretto.] 


nous  suf-frun  tel  mar  -  ti    -    re. 
In        Jns      pri-sun      il    -     le. 


iH 


(  Fous  est  ke    se    a  -  fi  -  e    en  cest-e  mort-en        u  -  ie.      ke       tant  nus  con-tra- 


(Ne  hop'  non  to  his       live!    Hernema^he  bi    -    li-ve       He    - 


J>e}  he 


*+-F 


*=» 


li  -  e        Et     v  nad  fors  hoy  -  di  -  e.  Ore  est  hoem  en   le  -  es  -  se     et     ore  est 
sti  -   e      de}?  fel-lejj   him  to  grunde.  Nu  haj?  man  wel'  and  hlis  -  se,    RaJ>'   he  schal 


en    tris  -  tes-ce         ore         le  ga  -  rist  ore  hles-ce     for  -  tu-ne     ke    le    gui-e. 
J>ar  -  of    mis-se    World-es  we-le,  mid  i  -  wis-se     Ne     las-tej>  hut' on  stunde. 

.[Con  Forza.] 


r   ( Vir  -  gine.  et  mere  au  so  -  ue  -  rein,  ke  nus  ie  -  ta  de     la    ma  -  yn  Al  mau-fe 
'  I Madden  J?at  bar'  J?e  hev'-ne  king,  Bi-sech  Jnn  son',  J>at  swe-te  J?ing,  J>at  he  habb' 


ki    par      e    -    uayn      nus  ont  tres-tuz  en      sun    heim  a  grant  do-lur  (et)  pein-e. 
of     us     rew  -  sing  Andhring'us  ut  of  Jns    wo  -  ning  For  his  mu-chel-emild-se 


Re  -  que-rez    i  -  eel       sei  -  gnur  ke     il     par  sa  grant  dul-cur  nus  get  de  ces-te 
He  bring'  us  ut    of       Jns      wo,  And  us    ta  -  che  werchen  swo  In  J> is  liv'  go  hu 


do    -   lur.     v     nus  su-mus  nuyt    et          Jor    et  doint  ioy  -  e     ce*  -  tey  -  ne. 
s'it       go,   J?at     we  mo-ten  a^       and          o,    Hab-ben  J>e      ech*e     blis  -  se. 

28 


434 


PRISONER  S    PRAYER XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


From  the  Liler  de  Antiquis  Legilm,  Guildhall,  London,  fol.  1605. 


Norman  French  Original. 

I. 

Eynf  ne  foy  ke  pleynte  fu 
ore  pleyn  danguffe  treflii 

trop  ai  mal  et  contreyre 
Sanz  decerte  en  pnfun  fui. 
car  maydez  trefpuif  ih^/u. 

duz  deuf  et  deboneyre. 

II. 

Ih<?/u  cnft  veirf  deu  ueirf  horn. 

prenge  vuf  de  mei  pite. 
Jetez  mei  de  la  pnsun 

v  le  fui  atort  gete. 
lo  e  mi  autre  cowpaignun 

deus  enfet  la  uente. 
tut  pur  autre  mefprifun 

fumes  a  hunte  liuere. 


10 


14 


III. 

Sire  deuf 
ky  af  mortels 

ef  de  pardun  ueme. 
fucurez 
dehuerez 

nuf  de  cefte  peine. 


Early  English  Translation. 

I. 

Ar  ne  kuthe  ich  forghe  non. 
nu  ich  mot  manew  miw  mow. 

karful  welfore  ich  fyche. 
Geltles  ihcsholyemuchele  fchame 
help  god  for  thiw  fwete  name 

kywg  of  heuene  riche. 

II. 
Jefu  erift  fod  god  fod  man 

louerd  thu  rew  vponme 
of  pnfun  thar  ich  in  am 

briwg  me  vt  and  makye  fre. 
Jch  and  mine  feren  fume 

god  wot  ich  ne  lyghe  noct 
for  othre  habbet  mif  nome  ben 

in  thyf  pnfuw  ibroct. 

III. 


Al  micti 
that  wel  lictli 

17          of  bale  if  hale  and  bote. 
heuene  king 
of  this  woniwg 
20  vt  vs  bnwge  mote. 


Verbal  Translation  of  the  Gorman  French. — I.  Once  (I)  knew  not  what 
affliction  was,  Now,  full  of  anguish,  tormented  (tres  sue),  Too  much  (I)  have  (of) 
ill  and  misfortune.  Without  guilt  in  prison  am  (I),  Wherefore  help  me  right 
soon  (tres  puts)  Jesus,  Sweet  God  and  gracious.  II.  Jesus  Christ,  true  God,  true 
man,  Take  you  pity  on  me,  Cast  me  from  the  prison,  Where  I  am  wrongfully 
thrown.  I  and  my  other  companion,  God  knows  of  it  (en  sait)  the  truth,  All  for 
other  mistake  (in  mistake  for  others).  Are  delivered  to  shame. — III.  Sire  God, 
Who  to  (aux)  mortals  Art  of  pardon  source  (veine},  Help,  Deliver  Us  from  this 
pain. 


§  i,  No.  2.       PRISONER'S  PRAYER  —  XIIITH  CENTURY.          435 

Corrected,  Text.  Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

I.  I. 

Ar  ne  ku]?'  ich  serge  non,  Aar  ne  kuuth  itsh  sorghe  noon, 

!N"u  ich  mot  manen  min  mon.  Nuu  itsh    moot  maa-nen  miin 

moon. 

Karful  wel  sor'  ich  siche.        3         Kaarful-  wel  soor  itsh  siitsh-e. 
Giltles,  ich  folie  much'le  schame.      Gilt-les,   itsh  thoo-lie  mutsh-le 

shaa-me. 
Help,  God,  for  fin'  swete  name,       Help,   God,   for    dhiin   swee-te 

naa*me, 
King  of  hevene  riche.  6        Kiq  of  nee*vene  riitslre. 


II.  II. 

Jesu  Crist,  so]?  God,  sof  man,  Dzhee*su  Xrist,  sooth  God,  sooth 

man, 

Lhoverd,  rew  ]?u  upon  me !  Lhoverd,  reu  dhu  upon-  mee ! 

Of  prisun  farin  ich  am,  Of  priisuun*  dhaarin*  itsh  am, 

Bring  me  ut  and  makie  fre !    10         Briq  me  uut  and  maa-kie  free ! 
Ich  and  mine  feren  some,  Itsh  and  mirne  fee'ren  soo  'me, 

(God  wot,  ich  ne  lige  nojjt,)  (God    wot,    itsh    ne    liryhe 

nokht,) 
For  ofr'  habhe]?  ben  misnome          For  oo'dhr-   -ab'eth  been   mis- 

noo  *me 
[And]  in  }is  prisun  ibrogt.  14      [And]  in  dhis  priisuun-  ibrokht\ 

III.  III. 

Almigti,  AlmUh'tii*, 

J)at  wel  listli  Dhat  wel  li/^ht'lii- 

Of  bal'  is  haP  and  bote,  17  Of  baal  is  naal  and  boo-te, 

Hev'ne  king !  Heevne  king ! 

Of  fis  woning  Of  dhis  woo*niq- 

Tit  us  bringen  mote.          20  Uut  us  briq*en  moo'te. 

_     .  _  ,, 

Verbal  Translation  of  the  Early  English  (corrected  text). — I.  Erst  not  knew  I; 
sorrow  none,  Now  I  must  moan  (ags.  manan)  my  moan.  Ful  of  care  right 
sorely  I  sigh.  Guiltless,  I  suffer  much  shame.  Help,  God,  for  thy  sweet  name, 
King  of  heaven's  kingdom. — II.  Jesus  Christ,  true  God,  true  man,  Lor^I,  rue 
ttiou  (have  mercy)  upon  me!  Of  (the)  prison  wherein  I  am,  Bring  me  riut  and 
make  (me)  free !  I  and  my  companions  (plural  here,  singular  in  th#  French) 
together  (God  knows,  I  not  lie  nought).  Have  been  for  others  mistaken,  i.e. 
wrongfully  taken,  [And]  in  (to)  this  prison  brought. — III.  AlmigMy,  That  well 
easily  Of  harm  is  healing  and  remedy,  Heaven's  king,  Of  this  auction  May  (he) 
bring  us  out. 


436 


PRISONER'S  PRAYER  —  XIIITH  CENTURY.       CHAP.  V. 


Norman  French. 
Pardonez. 
et  aflbylez. 

icel'  gentil  fire.  23 

si  te  pleft 
par  ki  forfet 

nuf  fuffnw  tel  martire.      26 

IV. 

Fouf  eft  ke  fe  afie 
en  cefte  morten  uie. 
ke  tant  nuf  contralie. 

Et  v  nad  fors  boydie.         30 
Ore  eft  hoem  en  leeffe 
et  ore  eft  en  triftefce 
ore  le  garift  ore  blefce 

fortune  ke  le  guie.  34 

V. 

Virgme.  et  mere  au  fouerein. 
ke  nnf  leta  de  la  mayn 
al  maufe  ki  par  euayn 
nuf  ont  treftuz  en  fun  hefm 

a  grant  dolur  [et]  peine.       39 
Requerez  icel  feignwr 
ke  il  par  fa  grant  dulcur 
nuf  get  de  cefte  dolur. 
v  nuf  fumus  nuyt  et  Jor 

et  doint  xoye  certeyne.  44 


Early  English. 
Foryhef  hem 
the  wykke  men 

god  yhef  it  if  thi  wille 
for  wof  gelt 
we  bed  ipelt 

in  thof  pnfun  hille. 

IV. 

Ne  hope  non  to  hif  Hue 
her  ne  mai  he  biliue 
heghe  thegh  he  stighe 

ded  him  felled  to  grunde. 
NU  had  man  wele  and  blifce 
rathe  he  ihal  thar  of  mifle. 
worldes  wele  midywifle 

ne  lasted  buten  on  ftunde. 

V. 

Maiden  that  bare  the  heuen  king 
bifech  thin  fone  that  fwete  thing 
that  he  habbe  of  hus  rewfing 
and  bring  hus  of  this  womwg 

for  his  Muchele  milfe. 
He  bring  hus  vt  of  this  wo 
and  huf  tache  werchen  fwo 
in  thof  Hue  go  wu  fit  go. 
that  we  moten  ey  and  o 

habben  the  eche  blifce. 


Verbal  Translation  of  the  Norman  French,  continued. — Pardon  And  absolve 
Him,  gentle  sire,  If  (it)  thee  please,  By  whose  crime  We  suffer  such  martyrdom. 
— IV.  Mad  is  (he)  that  has  confidence  In  this  death  in  life  (mort  en  vie,}  Which 
afflicts  (contralie=contrarie,  Roquefort)  us  so  much,  And  where  (there)  is  nothing 
but  deceit  (et  ou  w'«=il  n'y  a,  Aor*=que,  boydie  =  boisdie-voisdie,  from 
versutia).  Now  is  man  in  joy,  And  now  (he)  is  in  sorrow,  Now  him  heals 
(guerit},  now  wounds,  Fortune  who  guides  (guide]  him. — V.  Virgin  and  mother 
to  the  sovereign  Who  cast  us  with  his  (la,  lit.  the  as  in  modern  French)  hand  To 
the  devils  (aux  malfaits),  who  through  Eve  (Evairi)  Have  us  right  all  (tres  tous) 
on  their  hook  (heim,  haim,  hain  =  Latin  hamus,  modern  hameqori)  In  great  grief 
and  (supply  ft,  wanted  for  the  construction,  metre,  and  music,  the  word  originally 
written  has  been  erased,)  pain.  Beseech  that  Lord,  That  he  by  his  great  sweet- 
ness (douceur]  May  cast  us  from  this  grief,  Where  we  are  night  and  day,  And 
give  (donne)  sure  joy. 


1,  No.  2.       PRISONER  S   PRAYER  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


437 


Corrected  Text. 
For  <t;ef  hem 
pe  wikke  men, 

God,  gifitisfiwille,       23 
For  whos  gilt 
We  beoj?  ipilt 

In  ffs  prisun  ille.  26 

IV. 

Ne  hop'  non  to  his  live  ! 
Her  ne  mag  he  bilive. 
He$efe5  he  stise,% 

DeJ?  fellej*  him  to  grunde.      30 
Nu  haf  man  wel'  and  blisse, 
Raf '  he  schal  farof  misse. 
"Worldes  wele,  mid  iwisse, 

Ne  lastef  but'  on  stunde.      34 

V. 

Magden,  fat  bar'  fe  hev'ne  king, 

Eisech  J?in  son',  fat  swete  fing, 

pat  he  habb'  of  us  rewsing, 
And  bring'  us  of  this  woning, 

For  his  muchele  mildse.        39 
He  bring'  us  ufe  of  this  wo, 
And  us  tache  werchen  swo, 
In  jus  liv'  go  hu  s'  it  go, 
pat  we  moten,  ag  and  o, 

Habben  fe  eche  blisse.          44 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 
Forjeef'  Hem 
Dhe  wik'e  men, 

God,  jif  it  is  dim  wil-e, 
For  whoos  gilt 
We  beeuth  ipilt* 

In  dhis  prii-suun  il'e. 

IV. 

Ne  Hoop  noon  too  HIS  lirve ! 
Heer  nee  mai  nee  bilirve. 
Heklre  dheekh  ne  stir^he, 

Deeth  fel'eth  nim  to  grund'e. 
Nuu  nath  man  weel  and  blis-e 
Kaath  ee  shal  dhaarof  mis-e. 
World*es  weel*e,  mid  iwis'e, 

Ne  last'eth  buut  oon  stand -e 

V. 

Maid-en  dhat  baar  dhe  neevne 

kiq 
Biseetsh-  dhiin  soon  dhat  sweet-e 

thiq, 

Dhat  ne  nab  of  us  reusiq-, 
And  briq  us  of  dhis  woo-niq- 

For  nis  mutsh-el'e  mil-se. 
Hee  briq  us  uut  of  dhis  woo 
And  us  taatsh'e  wertslren  swoo, 
In  dhis  liiv  goo  HUU  s-  it  goo, 
Dhat  we  moo-ten,  ai  and  oo, 

Hab-en  dhe  eetsh-e  blis-e. 


Verbal  Translation  of  the  Early  English  (corrected  text),  continued. — Forgive 
them  The  wicked  men,  God,  if  it  is  thy  will,  For  whose  guilt  "We  (have)  been 
thrust  In  (to)  this  vile  prison. — IV.  Let  none  have  trust  in  his  life !  Here 
may  he  not  remain.  High  though  he  rise,  Death  fells  him  to  (the)  ground. 
Now  hath  one  weal  and  bliss,  Suddenly  he  shall  miss  thereof.  (The)  world's  weal, 
with  certainty,  Lasteth  not  but  one  hour. — V.  Maiden,  that  hare  the  heaven's 
king,  Beseech  thy  son,  that  sweet  thing,  That  he  have  of  us  pity,.  And  hring  us 
out  of  this  affliction,  For  his  great  mercy.  May  he  bring  us  out  of  this  woe, 
And  so  to  act  teach  us,  In  this  life  go  how  so  it  go,  That  we  may,  aye  and  ever 
Have  the  eternal  bliss. 


438  NORMAN   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

An  examination  of  the  pronunciation  of  old  French,  especially  of 
the  Norman  dialect,  is  also  almost  forced  upon  our  attention  by 
the  close  connection  of  the  two  languages  during  the  formation  of 
English  proper.  The  researches  now  being  instituted  by  Mr.  J. 
Payne  into  the  persistence  of  Norman  forms1  have  given  the 
pronunciation  of  Norman  a  still  greater  interest.  The  investigation 
is  fraught  with  difficulty,  as  will  appear  at  once  from  the  present 
attempt  to  resuscitate  early  English  sounds.  It  must  be  conducted 
separately,  first  by  an  examination  of  all  the  documents  tending  to 
throw  a  light  upon  early  Erench  pronunciation ;  secondly,  by  a  careful 
study  of  the  living  dialectic  pronunciation  in  the  North  of  Erance  ; 
thirdly,  by  a  review  of  Norman  Erench  poetry,  either  in  original  ma- 
nuscripts of  known  dates  or  in  trustworthy  editions  of  the  same, 
such  as  M.  Michel's  edition  of  Benoit.2  To  assume  that  old  Norman 
was  pronounced  as  modern  Norman,3  or  modern  French,  or  modern 
English,  would  be  against  all  historical  precedent,  and  the  most 
probable  hypothesis  is  that  it  differed  from  all  of  these  in  many 
respects,  but  that  we  may  find  indications  of  the  existence  of  all  of 
the  latter  forms  in  particular  cases.  Such  an  investigation  is 
entirely  beside  the  present,  although  both  have  been  occasionally 
brought  in  contact,  through  Palsgrave  in  the  xvi  th  century,  and 
such  translations  from  the  Norman  as  the  Prisoner's  Prayer,  and 
the  rhymes  of  English  and  Erench  in  Chaucer  and  the  Political 
Songs.  It  would  be  difficult  for  any  but  a  Frenchman  to  conduct, 

1  "  The    Norman    element    in    the  speech,  says :    "  On   ne  peut,   a  mon 
English,  spoken  and  written,   of  the  avis,  generaliser  aucune  assertion  sur 
xin  th  and  xivth  centuries,  and  in  the  les  points  de  detail,  attendu  que  1' ex- 
provincial  dialects,"  is  the   more  ex-  pression  et  meme  1' accent  se  localisent 
tended  title    which    Mr.    Payne    has  extremement  ....  Ce  qui  est  vrai  ici, 
adopted  for  his  papers  read  before  the  peut  ne  pas  1'etre  la.  ...  Chez  nous 
Philological  Society  in  1868  and  1869.  (dans  le  diocese  de  Rouen)  on  trouve 

2  Chronique  des  Dues  de  Normandie  deux  dialectes  completement  differents 
par  Benoit,  trouvere  anglo-nonnand  du  d' accent :    le   brayon,    parle   dans    la 
xn e   si&cle,  publiee  pour  la  premiere  portion  orientale  du  departement  (ou 
fois  d'apr£s  un  manuscrit  du  Musee  diocese)  surtout  dans  1'arrondissement 
Britannique    par    Francisque   Michel,  de  Neufchatel,  et  une  portion  de  celui 
1836-1844.  3  vols.  4to.   Published  by  de  Dieppe.     L'accent  est  picard,  par 
order  of  the  French  government.    The  consequent  bref,  et  avec  le  systeme  de 
MS.  followed  is  Harl.  1717,  and  the  syncopes   propres  au  picard :  *'  veul'- 
printed  text  was   compared  with  the  tent  bien,    mais  i'  n'    peutftent    pas, 
original  by  Sir  F.  Madden.     There  is  ils  veulent  bien,  mais  ils  ne  peuvent 
a  copy  in  the  Reading  Room  of  the  pas.    Du  reste  pas  de  mots  originaux. 
British  Museum.  Le  cauchois,  parl£  dans  tout  le  plateau 

3  It  would  be  as  wrong  to  suppose  occidental  allonge  extremement  la  der- 
that  there  is  a  Norman  dialect,  as  that  mere  ou  1'avant  derniere  syllabe  du  mot, 
there  is  a  Scottish  dialect.     Both  of  prononcel'atresouvert:  le  dialecte  cau- 
them  admit  of  separation  into  several  chois  est  riche  en  mots  originaux,  mais 
distinct  forms,  requiring  different  forms  ces  mots  sont  fort  localises."  The  "bas 
of  writing  to  be  intelligible.   M.  1'abbS  Normand"  speaks,  again,  a  different 
Delalonde,  professor  of  history  at  the  set  of  dialects.     Hence,  although  we 
faculty  of  theology  at  Rouen,  who  has  may  find  remnants  of  old  pronunciation 
most    kindly   replied    in    writing   to  in  all  these  dialects,  it  would  be  hazard- 
several    questions    which  I  took  the  ous  to  infer  the  old  pronunciation  from 
liberty  of  putting  to  him  on  Norman  any  one  of  them. 


§  1,  No.  3.  MISCELLANIES  -  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  439 

and  we  may  probably  have  to  wait  for  a  considerable  time,  before  a 
properly  qualified  investigator  devotes  himself  to  the  task.  May 
this  last  anticipation  prove  incorrect  !  1 

3.  MISCELLANIES  OF  THE  xm  TH  CENTURY  FKOM  RELIQUIAE  ANTIQUE,  EAKLY 
ENGLISH  POEMS,  AND  POLITICAL  SONGS,  WITH  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE 
NORMAN  FRENCH  El,  AI. 

Under  this  heading  some  brief  notices  will  be  given  of  short 
rhymed  pieces  belonging  to  the  XTTT  th  or  the  earliest  part  of  the 
xiv  th  century,  contained  in  the  Reliquiae  Antiques,  2  Early  Eng- 
lish Poems*  and  Political  Songs.* 

The  most  considerable  poem  in  the  Reliquice  Antique  is  the 
BESTIARY,  i,  208  ;  5  it  is  only  partly  in  rhyme,6  and  the  rhymes  are 
not  unfrequently  broken  by  non-rhyming  couplets,  or  fall  into  mere 
assonances,  so  that  no  reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon  them  for  deter- 
mining the  pronunciation.  Thus  we  cannot  be  sure  that  s,  which 
is  used  throughout  the  poem  for  sA,  was  pronounced  (s),  from  the 
rhyme  :  fis  is,  p.  220,  v.  499,  529,  for  between  them  we  have  : 
biswiken  bigripen,  v.  515.  Other  parts  are  alliterative  and  there- 
fore of  no  assistance,  but  they  burst  out  occasionally  in  rhyme  for  a 
few  lines.  This  poem  uses  u  consistently  for  (uu),  and  ou,  ow  for 
(oou,  ou)  as  in:  out  p.  223,  v.  645  =  aught,  nout  p.  209,  v.  18  = 
nought,  occasionally  written  nogt,  p.  212,  v.  187,  sowles  p.  211, 
v.  118,  soule  p.  213,  v.  206,  knowe^  p.  211,  v.  121,  knov  p.  212, 
v.  165.  There  seems  to  be  no  use  of  u  for  i  or  e  throughout  the 
poem,  thus  we  have  :  mirie  p.  221,  v.  570,  pit  p.  226,  v.  761  ;  this 
consorts  properly  with  the  consistent  use  of  u  for  (uu).  Similarly 

1  Diez,  Grammatik  der  romanischen  British  Museum  by  F.  J.  Furnivall, 

Sprachen,  2nd  ed.  1856,   vol.   1,   pp.  1862,  for  the  Philological  Society. 

404-454,  investigates  the  meaning  of  4  The  Political  Songs  of  England 

the  old  French  letters,  but  leaves  much  from  the  reign  of   John   to  that  of 

to  be  desired.     The  commencement  of  Edward  II,  edited  and  translated  by 

an  investigation  into  the    values    of  Thomas  "Wright,  Esq.     London,  1839. 

Norman  ei,  ai,   together  with  a  few  4to.  pp.  xviii,  408.    Camden  Society. 

other  casual  remarks  on  old  and  modern  '  The  text  of  this  was  especially  read 

Norman  pronunciation,  will  be  found  by  the  MS.  Arundel  292,  fo.  4.  for  the 

below,  p.  453.     See  also  the  extracts  Eel.  Ant.   It  has  been  reprinted  with 

from  Dr.  Rapp,  below,  p.  509,  n.  1.  extensive  notes,  and  a  few  conjectural 

emendations,  in  :  Altenglische  Sprach- 
2 


, 

BekmuiB  Antiquae.     Scraps  from  ben  nebst  einem  ^S, 

Ancient  Manuscripts  illustrating  chiefly  Mitwirkung  yon  Karl  Goldbeck  heraus- 

Early    English    Literature     and     the  gegeben  von  Eduard  Matzner.    Berlin, 

English  Languge.     Edited  by  Thomas  f  g|7>   L         8yo>   yol  {       5?> 

Wright  and  James  Orchard  HalliweU,  6  The  foftowi           ts  a£e  in  rh^e 

?o?,1S'  ml0'  ?P:3?7  and  28?A  1?41~  the  pages  refer  to  the  Rel.  Ant.,  the 

1843      The  text  has   generally  been  numger8  of  the  lines  are  taken  from 

carefully  transcribed  and  printed^  but  Goldbeck  and  Matzner  :  p.  209,  v.  40- 

some  mistakes  occur,   as  pointed  out  45        21Q  y  54_g?  in  ^^  v.  89- 

p.  429,   note  1,  p.  441,  note  1,   and  U9  ^lternate  rnvme,  p.  215,  v.  307  to 

p.  445,  note  2.  p>  217>  y<  384>  with  a  f^  short  inter. 


3  Early  English  Poems  and  Lives  of  ruptions,  p.  2L8,  v.  42^  to  p.  219,  v. 

Saints  (with  those  of  the  Wicked  Birds  455,  p.  220,  v.  499  to  p.  221,  v.  554, 

Pilate  and  Judas).     Copied  and  edited  p.  222,  v.  588,  to  p,  224,  v.  694,  p.  225, 

from  manuscripts  in  the  Library  of  the  v.  733  to  p.  227  v;  802  and  last. 


440  MISCELLANIES  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V 

we  rarely  find  o  for  either  (uu)  or  (u),  thus  :  sunne  =  sun,  p.  209, 
v.  19,  cunne  p.  210,  v.  69,  come  p.  209,  v.  35,  but:  cume/S  p.  210 
v.  67,  sumer  p.  214,  v.  236,  hule  p.  214,  v.  253,  but :  hole  p.  217 
v.  394,  p.  226  v.  769,  and  the  rhyme  :  cul  ful  p.  225  v.  741  = 
cowl  full,1  may  be  considered  as  establishing  the  value  of  long  u  as 
(uu)  in  opposition  to  the  modern  opinion  that  it  is  (au)  or  (ou). 

The  spelling  is  generally  good  and  consistent,2  but  it  presents 
certain  peculiarities.  Thus  s  is  always  employed  both  for  s  and  sh, 
and  the  rhyme,  as  already  pointed  out,  ought  to  determine  that  (s) 
was  the  only  sound.  Also  g  is  used  throughout,  generally  as  pure 
5  with  the  guttural  effect  after  vowels,  as  in  :  sigte  p.  211,  v.  107, 
rigten  p.  211,  v.  117,  drigtin  p.  211,  v.  119,  ^urg  p.  211,  v.  119, 
inog  p.  211,  v.  142.  Sometimes  the  resolution  into  (j)  or  (i)  seems 
indicated  by  a  prefixed  i,  as  :  leige'S  p.  216,  v.  359,  maig  p.  210, 
v.  80,  p.  220,  v.  516,  p.  221,  v.  548,  but  the  g  is  then  most  generally 
omitted  as  in:  mai  p.  211,  v.  129,  mainles  =  without  power,  main 
force?  p.  211,  v.  128,  dai  p.  210,  v.  63,  but  dei  p.  215,  v.  305, 
meiden  p.  209,  v.  37,  shewing  that  at,  ei  were  confused.  Initially 
the  g  was  simply  (j)  to  judge  by  :  ging  =  young,  p.  213,  v.  214, 
gu  =  you  p.  244,  v.  700,  ge  =  she  p.  214,  v.  243,  but  it  may  have 
been  (#h).  After  i  it  disappears  altogether  as:  sti  p.  213,  v.  198. 
The  aspirate  h  is  treated  very  irregularly,  being  sometimes  start- 
lingly  inserted,  as  hac  for  ac  p.  226,  v.  792,  and  frequently  omitted. 
After  w  it  generally  disappears,  as  :  wit,  wel  =  white,  wheel, 
p.  225,  v.  737.  The  form  wu  for  whu  =  hu  =  how  (supra  p.  429, 
note  1,)  is  frequent,  as  p.  209,  v.  36  and  v.  55,  but:  hu  p.  210, 
v.  56,  in  the  next  line.  The  pronunciation  of  cTi  seems  intended 
for  (tsh),  and  such  apparent  rhymes  as :  riche  ilike  =  rich  alike 
p.  222,  v.  604,  must  be  considered  as  assonances,  unless  we  suppose 
-like  to  be  an  orthographical  error  for  -liche.  The  use  of  ^  is 
general,  but  we  have  bicumeth  p.  210,  v.  91,  unless  it  be  a  mis- 
print. After  s,  t,  d  this  ^  becomes  t,  as  in  Ormin,  the  instances 
are  collected  by  Matzner  at  v.  22. 

The  diphthongs  ai,  ei  appear  to  be  (ai)  by  the  cases  already  cited. 
Porbroiden  p.  211,  v.  124,  seems  to  stand  for  forlrogden  and  should 
imply  therefore  oi  =  (oi),  but  it  is  uncertain,  and  similar  oi  diph- 
thongs are  unknown,  so  that  we  cannot  infer  generally  oi  =  (oi). 
In  :  newe  p.  225,  v.  724,  spewed  p.  211,  v.  139,  ^ewes  p.  212,  v. 
183,  reufulike  p.  223,  v.  652,  we  can  hardly  take  eu  for  anything 
but  (eu).  In  :  taunede  p.  226,  v.  767,  middle  high  German  zounen 
to  shew,  (au)  seems  to  be  implied. 

1  Wor  so  he  wuneft  ftis  panter,  diversis  pastus  venatibus.      The  ags. 
he  fedefl  him  al  mid  ofter  der,  cufle  (JElf.  gl.  20),  cugle  (#.),  cuhle, 
of  "So  *5e  he  wile  he  nime^  'Se  cul  cowl  is  remarkable  for  the  early  in- 
and  fet  him  wel  til  he  is  ful.  terchange  of   (f,   gh)   which  has  not 
="Whereso  he  dwelleth,  this  panther,  descended.    If  cul  is  to  be  thus  inter- 
he  feedeth  him  all  with  other  deer  preted,  it  has  lost  a  final  e.    But  is  not 
(beasts),  of  those  that  he  wil,  hetaketh  rather  cul  the  French  word  meaning 
the  cowl  (skin  ?)  and  feedeth  him  wel  rump,  the  prime  piece  ? 
til  he  is  full.     This  is  Matzner's  inter-  2  The  handwriting   of   the  MS.  is 
pretation  of  cul.    The  Latin  has  only :  particularly  beautiful,  large,  and  careful. 


§  1,  No.  3.  MISCELLANIES XIII  TH   CENTURY.  441 

On  the  whole  this  poem,  though  presenting  some  peculiarities,  fully 
confirms  the  conclusions  derived  from  the  two  preceding  old  poems. 
In  none  of  the  others  does  the  orthography  seem  so  trustworthy. 

The  FAMILY  PRAYER,  PATERNOSTER,  etc.,  vol.  i,  p.  22,  mixes  as- 
sonances with  its  rhymes  freely,  as  :  lif  siche,  bunden  wndes  ;  king- 
dom don ;  wndis  hunde.  Of  these  :  lif  siche  =  sickness,  is  useful  in 
establishing  the  value  of  the  long  i  as  (ii)  or  (ii).  The  u  is  consis- 
tently used  as  (uu),  and  ou  in  troue  as  (oou),  once  erroneous  spelled 
true,  but  au  is  also  used  in  sauk,  which,  if  correct,  is  an  early  and  quite 
unusual  transformation  of  suk.  The  rhyme  to  this  word  :  bysuak 
seems  to  imply  some  error  in  the  MS.,  which  is  here  correctly  tran- 
scribed. Another  unusual  form  is :  leyse  for  lese,  and  fleyes  for 
flesh,  compare  supra  p.  265,  and  infra  p.  473,  n.  4.  Although  Marie 
occurs  fully  in :  Heil,  Marie,  ful  of  grace !  =  (Hail  Marire  ful  of 
graa'se  !)  it  is  abbreviated  to  Man,  in 

Moder  of  milce,1  and  maidin  Mari,  (Mocrder  of  mils,  and  maidin  Marir, 

Help  us  at  ure  bending,  for  )?i  merci.          Help  us  at  uur  end-iq  for  dliii  mersir.) 

!N~o  doubt  this  was  a  very  ancient  occasional  abbreviation  of  a 
name  so  common  on  the  lips  of  all  worshippers :  thus  in  Germany 
(Maarir)  is  fully  as  common  as  (Marire)  in  addressing  persons  of 
that  name.  See  p.  446,  Ex.  3.  The  aspirate  comes  in  curiously  in : 
hart  =  art,  hus  =  us,  as  well  as  house,  hending  =  ending,  herdefe 
=  earthe,  hure  =  our.  The  guttural  is  evidently  expressed  by  ch 
in :  J?ich,2  halmichtende,  licht,  richt,  which  is  very  unusual. 

The  CREED  and  PATERNOSTER,  vol.  i,  p.  57,  are  not  in  the  pure 
xm  th  century  orthography.  We  have  indeed  :  ure,  wifuten,  but : 
Pounce  (written  Punce  =  Pontius,  in  the  last  example),  ous,  foule. 
This  shews  a  period  of  transition,  which  will  be  especially  noticed 
inHavelok,  infra  p.  471,  occasioned  by  the  growing  use  of  u  as  (yy) 
or  (ii,  i,  e),  compare  in  the  Creed :  y-buriid,  and  in  the  Paternoster  : 
als  we  forgivet  uch  o]?ir  man.  Other  peculiarities  here  are :  sshipper 
=  schipper,  ags.  scyppan,  create  ;  and  :  fleiss  =  fleisch,nesh ;  steich 
=  steg,  ascended.  The  rhymes  in  the  Paternoster  are  correct, 
except :  don  man. 

Another  CREED,  PATERNOSTER,  Ave,  etc.,  are  given  in  vol.  i,  p. 
234,  in  which  the  u  long  is  perfectly  preserved  for  '(uu)>  and : 
biriedd,  iche,  are  used.  Pontius  appears  as  Ponce,  which  compared 
with  the  first  Punce,  shews  the  use  of  o  for  short  (u).  The  Pater- 
noster is  chiefly  in  assonances,  and  we  cannot  feel  sure  that :  deadd 
so^fastheedd,  in  the  next  prayer,  is  a  rhyme  or  an  assonance,  that 
is,  whether  the  first  word  is  (deed)  or  (deeth),  or  (deead).  The  last 
little  moral  has  some  assonances  : 

If  man  him  biftocte  (If  man  -im  bithokh-te, 

Inderlike  and  ofte  In-erliik  and  oft-e, 

Wu  arde  is  te  fore  Huu  Hard  is  te  foo're 

Fro  bedde  te  flore,  Fro  bed-e  te  floo-re, 

1  Tbis    is    tbe    MS.    reading,  the  compare    )>eagh  in  a  sermon  of   the 
printed  text  has  milte,  ags.  mildse,  see  xm  tb  century,  from  MS.  Trin.  Coll. 
supra  p.  429,  note  1.  Cam.  B.  14,  52,  in  Rel.  Ant.  i,  129, 

2  Imperative  of   ]>eon    to    prosper,  1.  2  and  14. 


442  MISCELLANIES  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  Y. 

Wu  reuful  is  te  flitte  Huu  reu-ful  is  te  flit-e 

Fro  flore  te  pitte,  Fro  floo-re  te  pit-e, 

Fro  pitte  to  pine  Fro  pit-e  te  pirne, 

•Sat  neure  sal  fine  Dhat  never  shal  fii-ne, 

I  wene  non  sinne  li  wee-ne  noon  snre 

Sulde  his  herte  winnen.  Shuuld  -is  nert  win-en.) 

But  we  might  suppose  that  (bithof-te)  was  already  occasionally 
pronounced,  as  in  the  West  of  England  (supra  p.  212).  The  French 
fine,  finir,  end,  establishes  the  pronunciation  of  pine.  Fore  for  fare 
is  a  North-countryism,  and  te  for  the  usual  to,  seems  to  indicate  an 
indistinct  utterance,  perhaps  (te).  I  have  ventured  to  pronounce  : 
sal,  sulde,  with  (sh),  but  I  do  not  feel  quite  certain,  for  reasons 
named  above,  p.  440. 

Immediately  preceding  this  moral  is  the  following  in  which :  I 
ne,  occurs  in  Mr.  Wright's  text,  but :   me,  in  one  word,  occurs  in 
the  MS,  just  as  in  the  old  high  German  quoted  by  Gran0,  (supra 
p.  292,  n.  2),  and  clearly  shewing  the  (in*e)  or  (irne)  pronunciation. 
Wanne  I  iSenke  -Singes  $re,  (Whan  i  theqk-e  thiq-es  three, 

Ne  mai  hi  neure  hlrSe  ben  ;  Ne  mai  i  never  bliidh-e  bee  ; 

•$e  ton  is  dat  I  sal  awei,  Dhet-oon  is  dhat  i  shal  awar, 

fte  tofter  is  ine  wot  wilk  dei  Dhet-oodlrr  is  hre  wot  whilk  dai, 

*Se  ftridde  is  mi  moste  kare,  Dhe  thrid-e,  is  mi  most'e  kaa-re, 

Ine  wot  wider  I  sal  faren.  In-e  wot  whidh-er  i  shal  faa-re.) 

In  this  pronunciation  I  have  taken  some  necessary  liberties  with 
the  text,  as  the  omission  of  an  Infinitive  n  for  the  rhyme,  rectifi- 
cation of  the  aspirate,  w  for  wh,  d  for  ^,  etc. 

The  three  first  Paternosters,  Aves,  and  Credos,  are  here  given  for 
comparison  with  those  of  Dan  Michel,  supra  p.  413.  They  have 
been  read  with  the  original  MSS.,1  and  are  printed  accordingly, 
with  the  exception  of  capitals,  punctuation,  undotted  i,  and  long  f. 
Titles,  where  wanting,  are  added  for  convenience.  The  pronun- 
ciation is  adapted  to  a  slightly  amended  text,  as  the  manuscripts 
are  often  very  faulty,  but  the  different  provincial  characters  are 
not  disturbed.  The  whole  writing  and  versification  is  very  rude 
and  uncouth. 

MS.  Cotton  Chop.  S.  vi.fo.  201  v°.  Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Rel.  Ant.  1,  22. 

PATER  NOSTER.  Paa-ter    nos-ter. 

ZTre  fadir  )>at  hart  in  heuene,  Uu-re  faa-der  dhat  art  in  Hevene, 

halged  be  j?i  name  with  giftis  seuene  nal-ghed  bee  dhi  naa-me  with  gift-is 

sevene, 

samin  cume  }>i  kingdom,  Saa-min  kuu-me  dhi  kiq-doonv. 

Jn  wille  in  her )>ei  als  in  heuene  be  don,  Dhi  wil  in  erth,  als  in  hevne  he  don. 

vre  bred  )?at  lastes  ai  Uu-re  breed,  dhat  last-es  ai, 

gyue  it  hus  ]?is  hilke  dai,  Giiv  it  us,  dhis  ilk-e  dai, 

and  vre  misdedis  ]m  forgyue  hus,  And  uu-re  misdeed-is  dhuu  forgiive  us 

als  we  forgyue  J?aim  }?at  misdon  hus,  Als  wee  forgiive  dhaim  dhat  miis-doon- 

and  leod  us  in  tol  na  fandinge,  And  leed  us  in  til  naa  fan-diq-e,       [us. 

bot  frels  us  fra  alle  iuele  j^ing.  But  freels  us  fra  al  iivle  thiq-e. 

Amen.  Aa*men. 

1  The  printed  text  of  the  Reliquiae      were  again  compared  with  the  originals 
Antiques,  was  first  read  by  me  with  the      by  Mr.  Brock. 
MSS.,  and  the  proofs  of  these  pages 


§  1,  No.  3. 


MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


443 


AVE 

IZeil  Marie,  ful  of  grace, 
be  lauird  bich  be  in  heuirilk  place, 
olisced  be  bu  mang  alle  wimmem, 
and  blisced  be  be  blosme  of  bi  wambe. 
Amen. 

CREDO 

Hi  true  in  God,  fader  hal-micht- 
tende,bat  makedeheuen  and  herdebe, 
and  in  Ihesuc  Krist,  is  ane  lepi  sone, 
hure  lauerd,  bat  was  bigotin  of  be 
hali  gast,  and  born  of  be  mainden 
Marie,  pinid  under  Punce  Pilate, 
festened  to  be  rode,  ded  and  duluun, 
licht  in  til  helle,  be  bride  dai  up 
ras  fra  dede  to  Hue,  stegh  in  til 
heuenne,  sitis  on  is  fadir  richt 
hand,  fadir  al-waldand,  he  ben 
sal  cume  to  deme  be  quike  an 
be  dede.  Hy  troue  hy  beli 
gast,  and  hely  kirke,  be  samninge 
of  halghes,  forgifnes  of  sinnes,  vp- 
risigen  of  fleyes,  and  life  wib-hutin 
hend.  Amem. 


A  a-  v  e 

Hail,  Marii-e,  ful  of  graa-se,      [plaa-se 
Dhe   laa-vird  thi/ch  dhe  in   evrilk 
Blis-ed  be  dhuu  maq  al-e  wim-en- 
And  blis-ed  be  dhe  blosm-  of  dhi 
wamb.      Aa'men-. 

K  r  e  e*  d  o 

li  troou-e  in  God,  faa-der  al'mi&ht*- 
end-e,  dhat  maa-kede  Hevenanderth-e,and 
in  Dzhee-sus  Krist,  His  aa-neleepi  soo-ne, 
uu-re  laverd,  dhat  was  bigot-en  of  dhe 
Haa-li  Gaast,  and  born  of  dhe  Mai -den 
Marii-e,  pii-ned  un-der  Puns-e  Pilaat-e, 
fest'ened  to  dhe  roo-de,  ded  and  dulven, 
li/cht  in  til  nel-e,  dhe  thrid-e  dai  up- 
raas-  fra  deed-e  to  lii-ve,  stee.^h  in  til 
Hevene,  sit-es  on  His  faa-der  ri#ht 
Hand,  faa-der  al-wald-and-,  nee  dhen 
shal  kuu-me  to  dee-me  dhe  kwik-e  and 
dhe  deed-e.  li  trou-e  [in]  dhe  Haa-li 
Gaast,  and  haa-li  Kirk-e,  dhe  sam-niq-e 
of  nal-ghes,  forgif-nes  of  sin-es,  up-- 
rii-siyhen  of  flaish,  and  lii-ve  withuu-ten 
end-e  Aa-men. 


Harl.  MS.  3724,  fo.  44.  Eel.  Ant.  1,  57.    Camderis  Remaines,  p.  24.    Lyttelton's 

History,  4,  130. 
PATER  NOSTER  IN  ANGLICO  Paa'ter  nos'ter 


Vre  fader  in  heuene  riche, 
bi  name  be  haliid  euer  iliche 
bu  bringe  vs  to  bi  michil  blisce, 
bi  wille  to  wirche  bu  vs  wisse, 
Als  hit  is  in  heuene  i-do 
Euer  in  eorbe  ben  hit  al  so, 
bat  holi  bred  bat  lesteb  ay 
bu  send  hit  ous  bis  ilke  day, 
Forgiue  ous  alle  bat  we  hauib  don, 
Als  we  forgiuet  uch  obir  man 
Ne  lete  vs  falle  in  no  fondinge, 
Ak  scilde  vs  fro  be  foule  binge. 
Amen. 

CREDO 

I  bileue  in  God  fadir  almichty, 
sshipper  of  heuene  and  of  eorbe,  and 
in  Ihesus  Crist,  his  onlepi  sone, 
vre  louerd,  bat  is  iuange  |urch  be 
holy  gost,  bore  of  Marie  Mayden, 
bolede  pine  vnder  Pounce  Pilat, 
picht  on  rode  tre,  ded  and  yburiid, 
licht  in  to  helle,  be  bridde  day  fram 
deth  arcs,  steich  in  to  heuene,  sit  on 
his  fadir  richt  honde,  God  almichti, 
benne  is  cominde  to  deme  be  quikke 
and  be  dede.  I  bileue  in  be  holy 
gost,  al  holy  chirche,  mone  of 
alle  halwen,  forgiuenis  of  sinne, 
fleiss  vprising,  lyf  wibuten  ende. 
Amen. 


Uu're  faa'der  in  hevne  riitsh-e, 
Dhi  naam'e  be  nal-jed  ever  iliitsh-e 
Dhuu  briq  us  too  dhe  mitsh-el  blis-e, 
Dhi  wil-e  to  wirtsh-e  dhuu  us  wis-e, 
Als  nit  is  in  hevn-  idoo- 
Ever  in  erth-e  ben  it  al-soo', 
Dhat  Hoo-li  bred  dhat  lest-eth  ai 
Dhuu  send  nit  us  dhis  ilk-e  dai, 
Forgiiv  us  al  dhat  wee  navth  doon, 
Als  wee  forgiveth  eech  ooth'er  man, 
Nee  leet  us  fal  in  noo  fon-diq-e, 
Ak  shild  us  froo  dhe  fuu-le  thiq-e. 

Aa-men'. 

Kree-do 

li  bileev  in  God,  faa'der  al'mifcht-i, 
ship-er  of  Hevene  and  of  erth-e,  and 
in  Dzhee-sus  Krist,  His  oon-leepgi  soo-ne, 
uu-re  loverd,  dhat  is  ifaq-e  thurkh  the 
Hoo'li  Goost,  boo-ren  of  Marii-e  mai-den. 
thoo-lede  pii-ne  un-der  Pun-se  Pilaat', 
piA;ht  on  the  roo-de  tree,  deed  and  iberied, 
HA;ht  into  nel-e,  dhe  thrid-e  dai  from 
deeth  aroos-,  staiArh  into  nevene,  sit  on 
His  faa-dir  ri^ht  nond-e,  God  al-mi&ht-i, 
dhen'e  is  kuum-end'e  to  deenve  dhe  ktf;ik-e 
and  dhe  deed-e.  li  bileeve  j/n  dhe  Hooit' 
Goost,  al  Hoo-li  tshirtsh-y,  moon-e  of 
al-e  Hal-wen,  forgivnes  of  sin-e,  flaish 
uprii-siq-,  liif  withuu-teii.  end-e. 

Aa-men4. 


444 


MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


Arund.  MS.  292,  fol.  3.  Eel. Ant.  1, 234. 

PATER  NOSTEB. 

Fader  lire  ftatt  art  in  heuene  blisse 
"Sin  hege  name  itt  wui-fte  bliscedd, 
Cumen  itt  mote  fti  king  dom, 
'Sin  hali  wil  it  be  al  don 
In  heuene  and  in  erfte  all  so, 
So  itt  sail  ben  ful  wel  ic  tro  ; 
}if  us  alle  one  'Sis  dai 
Vre  bred  of  iche  dai 
And  forgiue  us  ure  sinne 
Als  we  don  ure  wrSerwinnes ; 
Leet  us  noct  in  fondinge  falle, 
Ooc  fro  iuel  ftu  sild  us  alle. 

Amen. 

AUE  MARIA 

Marie  ful  off  grace,  weel  de  be, 
Godd  of  heuene  be  wift  fte, 
Oure  alle  wimmen  bliscedd  tu  be, 
So  be  fte  bern  datt  is  boren  of  fte. 

CREDO  IN  DEUM 
I  leue  in  Godd  al-micten  fader, 
"Satt  heuene  and  erSe  made  to  gar ; 
And  in  Ihesu  Crist  his  leue  sun, 
Vre  onelic  louerd,  ik  him  mune, 
"Satt  of  de  holigost  bikennedd  was, 
Of  Marie  fte  maiden  boren  he  was, 
Pinedd  under  Ponce  Pilate, 
On  rode  nailedd  for  mannes  sake  ; 
iSar  ftolede  he  deadd  widuten  wold, 
And  biriedd  was  in  de  roche  cold, 
Dun  til  helle  licten  he  gan, 
"Se  "Sridde  dai  off  deadd  atkam, 
To  heuene  he  steg  in  ure  manliche, 
"Sar  sitteft  he  in  hijs  faderes  riche, 

0  domes  dai  sal  he  cumen  agen, 
To  demen  dede  and  Hues  men : 

1  leue  on  'Se  hali  gast, 
al  holi  chirche  stedefast 
Men  off  alle  holi  kinne, 

And  forgiuenesse  of  mannes  sinne, 
Vprisinge  of  alle  men, 
And  eche  lif  I  leue.    Amen. 


Camden's  Remaines  p.  24. 

Paa-ter    nos-ter. 
Faa-der  uu-re  dhat  art  in  nevne  blis'e 
Dhiin  nekh-e  naam  it  wurdh-e  blis-ed, 
Kuu-men  it  moo-te  dhii  kiq-doonr 
Dhiin  naa-li  wil  it  bee  al  doon 
In  neven  and  in  erth  al  soo, 
So  it  shal  been  ful  wel  ik  troo, 
Gif  us  al-e  on  l  dhis  dai 
Uu-re  bred  of  iitsh-e  day 
And  forgiv  us  uu-re  sin-e 
Als  wee  doon  uu-re  wiidh-erwnres  ; 
Leet  us  nokht  in  fon-diq-e  fal-e, 
Ook  fro  ii-vl  dhuu  shild  us  al-e. 

Aa-menf. 

A  a'  ve 

Marii-e  ful  of  graa-se,  wel  de2  be, 
God  of  nevne  bee  with  dhee, 
Ovr-  al-e  winren  blist  tu?  bee, 
So  bee  dhe  bern  dat-s2  born  of  dhe. 

Kree-do 

li  leev  in  God  al-mi#ht-en  Faa-der, 
Dhat  nevn-and  erth-e  maad  togaa-der; 
And  in  Dzhee-sus  Krist,  nis  lee-ve  suu-ne, 
Uur  oo-neliik  loverd,  ik  Him  muu-ne, 
Dhat  of  dhe  Hooii  Goost  biken-ed  was, 
Of  Marii-e  dhe  mai-den  boom  He  was, 
Pii-ned  un-der  Puns-e  Pilaa-te, 
On  roo-de  nail-ed  for  man-es  saa-ke. 
Dhar  dhoold  -e  death  withmrten  woold, 
And  ber-ied  was  in  dhe  rotsh-e  koold, 
Duun  til  Hel-e  li^ht-en  ne  gaan, 
Dhe  thrid-e  dai  of  death  atkaanr, 
To  nevn  -e  stee^h  in  uur  man  lii'tshe, 
Dhar  sit-eth  -e  in  -is  faa-dres  rii'tshe, 
0  doo-mes  dai  shal  -e  kmrmen  agen' 
To  dee-men  deed  and  lii-ves  men. 
li  leeve  on  dhe  Haa-li  Gaast, 
Al-Hooii  tshirtsh-e  stee-defast, 
Men  of  al-e  hoo-li  kin-e, 
And  forgiv -nes-  of  man'es  sin-e, 
Up-riis-iq-  of  al-e  men, 
And  ee-tshe  liif  ii  leev.    Aawmen'. 


The  short  PROVERBIAL  YEESES,  vol.  ii,  p.  14,  are  taken  from  the 
margin  of  the  Cott.  MS.  Cleop.  C.  vi,  fo.  21,  where  they  are  in  a 
different  hand  from  the  text  and  are  probably  much  later,  though, 
as  Mr.  "Wright  observes,  "in  a  hand  of  the  thirteenth  century." 
They  contain  some  peculiarities  as :  ]?eise  midoutin  lesing,  for :  fese 


1  This  line  is  probably  corrupt.  The 
hiatus  (are  on),  is  unlikely,  but  to 
read :  (Gif  us  aloo-ne  .  .  .  dhis  dai), 
would  be  deficient  unless  we  inserted 
(nuu)  or  some  such  word,  after  (aloo-ne), 
meaning:  give  us  alone  [now]  this 
day.  The  rhyme  is,  however,  so  rough, 
that  criticism  is  out  of  the  question. 


2  (De)  for  (dhe)  after  (wel);  (tu) 
for  (dhu)  after  (blist)  which  must  be 
taken  as  a  monosyllable,  this  change 
of  (dhu)  into  (tu)  shewing  that  the 
preceding  letter  was  voiceless,  that  is 
(t)  not  (d),  as  J?u  would  have  otherwise 
been  (du),  compare  the  first  case,  and 
also  (dat)  for  (dhat)  after  (bern). 


§  1,  No.  3.  MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY.  445 

wifuten  lesing  =  these  without  lying.  This  form  f  eise  is  not  named 
by  Stratmann,  and  is  perhaps  an  individuality.  The  ou  in :  midoutin 
stroutende,  belong  to  the  transition  period,  shewn  distinctly  by: 
"  that  tu,  and  ton"  both  of  which  =  }w,  in  two  following  lines. 
The  form  ielu,  printed  jelu,  for  ^elu  =  yellow,  is  peculiar,  as 
shewing  the  complete  passage  of  5  into  i. 

In  vol.  i,  p.  89,  there  is  a  HYM^  TO  THE  YIEGIN-,  and  another  on 
p.  102,1  preceded  by  a  curious  parabolal  poem,  beginning:  "  Somer 
is  comen  and  winter2  gon,"  not  entirely  legible,  all  taken  from 
MS.  Egerton  613,  fo.  1  and  2.  The  first  and  last  are  in  the  same 
hand,  the  second  in  a  different  hand,  but  they  all  belong  to  the 
transition  period ;  thus  on  p.  89  we  have  :  thou,  our,  flour,  ous 
(twice),  foule  ;  but  also  :  hut  =  out,  thu  (3  times) ;  also  :  put  = 
pit,  shewing  the  (y)  or  (i,  e)  sound  of  u.  The  last  has :  foules  = 
fowls,  witoute  =  without,  ous  =  us,  but  generally  keeps  the  u 
pure.  And  the  second  prayer  p.  102,  while  it  has :  thu  (16  times), 
flur,  withuten,  oreisun,  tunge,  has  also :  out,  foul ;  and :  sunne 
(3  times)  =  sin.  It  is  curious  to  note  also :  ic  chabbe,  and  ich 
chabbe,  for  ich  habbe,  implying  probably  the  running  on  of  the 
words  thus :  (i,tshab'e).  The  orthography :  flehs,  for :  flesh,  is 
perhaps  to  be  compared  with :  ihc,  for :  ich,  in  the  preceding  line. 

The  other  poems  in  the  Reliquiae  Antiqua,  belonging  either  to 
the  transition  or  later  periods,  do  not  call  for  any  further  remark. 

The  first  seven  pieces  in  the  Early  English  Poems  taken  from 
Harl.  MS.  913,  are  all  assigned  to  a  date  prior  to  1300,  but  like 
the  fifteen  pieces  which  follow  from  Harl.  MS.  2277  and  ascribed 
to  1305-10,  they  belong  to  the  transition  period  with  respect  to 
ou  and  u. 

In  the  SAKMTTN"  pp.  1-7,  the  transition  period  is  marked  by  :  ous  1 
(the  figures  refer  to  the  stanzas),  nou  2a,  mou]?  4,  aboute  4,  ]?ou  5, 
wifoute  7,  etc. ;  against :  ure  1,  us  3,  schuldres  5,  luse  =  louse  5, 
wifoute  prute  =  proud  6  (the  adjective  always  end  in  t ;  prude  10, 
pride  12,  is  the  substantive  in  which  «  =  »',)  acuntis  24,  lude  = 
loudly  31,  ^ur  41,  etc.  The  u  for  i  is  common,  as  munde  kunde  = 
mind  kind  26,  ihuddid  11.  The  palatalised  guttural  usually  sinks 
into  i,  as :  seij?  3,  mei  8,  dai  18,  ei  hei  =  eye  high  22,  etc.  ;  but  } 
sometimes  remains,  as :  heij  53,  56,  ne^bor  9 ;  feij  =  though  27. 
We  find  also :  fleisse  meisse  =  flesh  mass  6  (see  infra  p.  473,  n.  4), 
hir  hirist  =  herr,  hearest  33,  file  =  vile  3,  drit  =  dirt  7,  dritte  = 
dirt  10,  ihc  13,  mov  =  mow  14,  nov  =  now  31,  verging  —farthing 
24,  wl  =  will  31,  angles  =  angels  33,  woni  =  to  dwell  51,  and 
these  infinitives  in  i,  usually  accented,  occur  as  will  be  presently 
seen,  in  other  parts  of  the  same  MS.  There  is  an  assonance :  sprede 
wrekke  30,  and :  virst  best  57  may  probably  be  :  frist  =  thirst 
best,  a  rhyme  of  i,  e,  but  the  rhymes  in  general  are  not  remarkable. 
The  final  e  seems  simply  disregarded  in  rhyme  and  metre,  but  the 
metre  is  so  hummocky  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  anything  of  it. 

1  Both  are  printed  in  Goldbeck  and  2  The  is  here  inserted  in  the  printed 
Matzner's  Altenglische  Sprachprohen,  text  of  the  Eel.  Ant.  is  not  in  the  MS. 
p.  53. 


446  MISCELLANIES — XIII.  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

Take  for  example  the  last  stanza,  p.  7,  which  may  perhaps  be  read 
as  marked : 

Alle  j?at  be]?  icommin  here  (Al  dhat  beeth  ikunren  neer 

fort  to  hire  Jns  sarmun  For  to  mrre  dbis  sarmuun-, 

loke  j^at  je  nab  no  were  Look'e  dhat  je  n-ab  no  weer'e. 

for  seue  jer  je  habbij?  to  pardoun.  For  sev  jeer  je  nabth  parduun :) 

The  whole  MS.  seems  marked  by  provincialisms,  which  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  understand.  The  first  stanza  of  the  xv.  SIGNA 
ANTE  JTJDICIUM,  p.  7,  is  in  the  same  style,  and  was  probably  due  to 
the  same  author : 

pe  grace  of  ihesu  fulle  of  mijte  (Dhe  graas  of  Dzhee-su  ful  of  mikht 

J?ro}  prier  of  ure  swete  leuedi  Thrukh  prirer  of  uur  sweet  levdir 

mote  amang  vs  nu})e  alijte  Moot  amaq  us  nuudh  alikht 

And  euer  vs  jem  and  saui.  And  ever  us  jeem  and  saavir) 

Such  attempts,  however,  to  give  pronunciation,  must  be  viewed 
with  indulgence,  they  are  necessarily  very  hazardous.  In  this 
piece  :  ysaie  profecie  9,  must  have  the  vowels  in  ai  divided,  y-sa-i-e. 
The  final  e  in  mercie  25  is  idle,  added  on  to  rhyme  with  crie  in  the 
same  stanza,  where  it  was  probably  not  pronounced,  as  we  have  : 
of  ihtfsu  crist  merci  to  cri  80,  and 

J?e.  xii.  dai  £e  fure.  elemens  sul  cri 

al  in  one  heij  steuene 

merci  ihesu  fij  mari 

as  >ou  ert  god  and  king  of  heuene,     177 

which  gives  us  another  example  of  Mari,  see  supra,  p.  441,  and 
similarly  :  to  cri,  merci  137.  Eemarkable  forms  :  dotus  angus  = 
doubtful  anguish  ]  13,  probably  =  (duutus*  aqgus*)  with  a  Norman 
u  =  (u),  fisses  =  fishes  121,  euch  uerisse  watir  =  each  fresh  water 
125,  skeis  =  skies  133,  where  I  suspect  an  accidental  transposition 
of  ei  for  ie}  as  the  form  is  otherwise  incomprehensible,  fentis  = 
fiends  161,  fure  =  four  169,  177,  wolny  nulni  =  wullen-hi  ne- 
wullen-hi.  =  will  they  n'ill  they  173,  maugrei  =  mauare  173,  pro- 
bably a  Norman  form. 

THE  PALL  AND  PASSION,  p.  12,  has  the  rhyme :  frute  dute  = 
fruit  doubt  23  (line)  which  is  decidedly  favourable  to  the  English 
pronunciation  of  Norman  u  .at  that  time  as  (uu)  see  p.  424,  note  3. 
Eemarkable  forms  :  maistre  =  mastery  21,  maistri  =  mystery  50, 
sso  =  she  52,  50  =  she  79,  flees,  =fiesh  49,  as  he  is  manhed  siwed 
97,  hou  hi  lord  ssold  siu  ]>e  105.  The  following  infinitives  in  -i 
occur :  suffri  =  to  suffer  66,  honuri  =  to  honour  72,  biri  =  to  bury 
74,  76 ;  and :  sauid  isinid  43,  being  accented  on  the  last  syllable 
imply  the  same  form.  The  same  accent  occurs  in  the  rhyme : 
ipinsed  suffred  89,  siwed  suflrid  97.  The  rhyme  :  alowe  two  79, 
seems  to  be  an  error. 

THE  TEN  COMMANDMENTS,  p.  1 5,  has  also :  honuri  worfi  =  to 
honour,  to  worship  17,  and  the  assonance:  iwisse  limmes  5.  THE 
FRAGMENT  ON  THE  SEVEN  SINS,  p.  17,  has  also  :  clansi  =  cleanse  im- 
perative st.  5,  herrid  =  horrid,  st.  10,  nemeni  =  to  name  st.  10, 
woni  =  to  dwell  v.  9,  prute  shrute  =  proud  shroud  v.  10,  fleis  = 
flesh  v.  12,  Jer  is  mani  man  bi  peijte  (=  bepeached,  deceived?),  so  fe 


§  1,  No.  3.  MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY.  447 

fend  him  hauij?  itei^te  (=  taught?)  22,  susteni  =  to  sustain  58. 
CHRIST  ON  THE  CEOSS  p.  20,  has :  bewonde  wnde  =  wounded  wound 
v.  3,  fote  "blode  11,  anguis  14,  gredind  deiend  25,  strang  hond  26. 
The  RHYME  BEGINNING  FRAGMENT  p.  21,  is  only  remarkable  for 
making  in  me  answer  to  inne,  but  as  the  trick  of  beginning  a  line 
with  the  last  word  of  the  preceding  line  is  not  carried  out  con- 
sistently, this  assonance  may  have  no  special  meaning.  The  whole 
examination  does  not  lead  to  much.  The  orthography  is  so  singular 
and  so  irregular,  we  might  almost  say  so  ignorant,  and  the  dialect 
so  peculiar,  that  it  is  of  very  little  assistance.  No  general  result 
could  be  deduced.  The  rhymes  are  not  certain  enough  to  be  of 
much  value,  and  are  generally  the  veriest  doggrel  conceivable, 
while  the  metre  is  nowhere.  In  the  parts  from  Harl.  MS.  2277, 
we  may  notice  the  false  rhymes :  poynte  queynte  p.  66,  v.  5, 
(unless  indeed  poynte  is  to  be  Normanized  into  peynte),  britaigne  fawe 
p.  68,  v.  85,  against :  britaigne  fayne  p.  69,  v.  133,  and  the  asso- 
nance :  makede  glade  p.  108,  v.  35.  The  form  sede  for  seide  is 
found  in :  rede  sede  p.  66,  v.  28 ;  p.  68,  v.  99,  sede  mede  p.  72, 
v.  56,  dede  sede  p.  74,  v.  48.  See  infra,  p.  484.  But  seide  also 
occurs,  p.  72,  v.  58,  v.  60,  etc.,  being  the  regular  form. 

In  an  extract  from  Cott.  MS.  Yesp.  D.  IX.,  (which  being  of  the 
xv  th  century,  does  not  properly  belong  to  this  place),  WHY  I 
CAN'T  BE  A  NUN,  p.  138,  we  find :  wept  few  accept  ihesu  trew  ob- 
servaunce  new  variaunce  p.  139,  v.  40,  but  ihesu  may  not  have  been 
intended  to  rhyme  with  few  trew  new,  because  we  find  a  line  ending 
with  this  name  thrown  in  without  a  rhyme  on  the  next  page  140, 
v.  88,  kyn  necessite  wyn  me  omnipotent  Ihesu  present  ys  thys,  etc. 
In  p.  140,  v.  100,  we  find: 

To  the  for  comfort  I  make  my  sute 

To  have  that  ioy  that  lastyth<?  ay, 

For  her  loue  that  bare  that  frute 

Swete  ihesu  miserere  mei. 

giving  the  rhyme  :  ay  mei,  the  last  word  being  Latin  :  This  may 
be  compared  with  :  Sinay  day,  in  Chaucer,  supra  p.  264,  and  Dr. 
GiUs(eei)p.  114. 

In  the  Political  Songs  Mr.  Wright  has  collected  a  number  of  short 
poems  in  Latin,  Norman  French,  and  English,  referring  to  the  xm  th 
or  beginning  of  the  xivth  century.  Unfortunately  most  of  the 
English  songs,  as :  the  Song  against  the  King  of  Almaigne  p.  69, 
Song  of  the  Husbandman  p.  149,  Song  against  the  Pride  of  the 
Ladies  p.  153,  Satyre  on  the  Consistory  Courts  p.  155,  Song  of  the 
Flemish  Insurrection  p.  187,  Execution  of  Sir  Simon  Fraser  p.  212, 
Song  against  the  Retinues  of  Great  People  p.  237,  Elegy  on  the 
Death  of  Edward  I.  p.  246,  are  from  Harl.  MS.  2253,  which  has 
adopted  the  full  xivth  century  orthography,  so  that  they  are  of 
little  use  here.  The  principal  points  are  the  assonances :  lonke 
songe  wlonke  thonke  p.  156,  and  longe  londe  p.  193.  There  are 
numerous  instances  of  u  =  (i,  e),  as  :  hude  prude  p.  150,  sturne 
hurne  p.  150,  wunne  sunne  p.  153,  prude  shrude  hude  p.  153, 
prude  drede  p.  190.  The  apparent  rhyme :  ded  sayde  p.  246, 


448  MISCELLANIES XIII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

is  probably  no  rhyme  at  all,  but  the  nature  of  the  stanza  is  broken 
and  the  first  and  third  lines  do  not  rhyme,  which  is  precisely  what 
we  find  in  the  next  stanza  but  one,  p.  247,  where  otherwise : 
sunne  Edward,  would  form  a  rhyme  !  Still,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
the  form  sede  also  occurs,  and  may  here  be  meant  (p.  447).  Ded 
gret  redde  p.  248  must  be  regarded  throughout  as  an  assonance. 
In :  chivalrie  deye  heyge  crie  p.  249,  the  second  and  third  words 
should  have  been  written :  dye  hye,  as  often  in  Chaucer. 

Of  all  the  Political  Songs  the  only  two  which  exhibit  almost  pre- 
cisely the  orthography  of  the  xni  th  century,  are  those  from  the 
Harl.  MS.  913,  viz.  The  SONG  OF  THE  TIMES,  p.  195,  and  the  SONG  OF 
NEGO,  p.  210.  The  last  raises  no  new  points,  and  may  be  passed 
over.  The  first  exhibits  ss  for  sch  in :  ssold  p.  197,  also  written 
scholdin  the  same  page,  ssal  pp.  201,  203,  204,  ssul  pp.  202,  205, 
precisely  as  in  the  Ayenlite,  supra  p.  409.  There  are  some  little 
slips  as:  feloni  =  felonie  p.  197,  line  13,,amy  lie,  ami  mei  both 
on  p.  200,  where  mei  is  an  error  for  me.  The  first  will  not  rhyme 
unless  we  read  :  li9,  which  is  unusual,  but  the  final  e's  are  lax  in 
this  song.  The  use  of  loi  =  boy,  in :  tel  me,  boi,  what  hast 
ido  ?  p.  199,  1.  5  is  noteworthy.  The  curious  word  i-pilt,  in  the 
Prisoner's  Prayer,  v.  25,  (supra  p.  429,  note  1),  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  passages 

And  so  men  didde  that  sell  asse,  When  hit  is  so,  ich  vouchsave, 
That  trepasid  nojt,  no  did  notgilte,  Ic  forgive  the  this  gilte.    p.  199. 

With  ham  bothe  iwreiid  was,  Ic  am  iwreiid,  Sire,  to  the, 
And  in  the  ditement  was  ipilt.  p.  198.  For  that  ilk  gilt ; 

Godis  grame  most  hi  have  Sire,  ichul  sker  me, 

That  in  the  curte  the  so  pilt !  I  ne  jef  ham  dint  no  pilt.    p.  200. 

The  Auchinleck l  MS.  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh,  has 
not  thoroughly  adopted  the  xrv  th  century  orthography,2  and  as  it 
belongs  to  the  very  beginning  of  the  xrv  th  century3  has  a  claim  to 

1  "In  the  year  1504,  the  barony  or      such  forms  in  Sir  Tristrem,  the  37th 
manour    of    Auchinleck    (pronounced      piece. 

Affleck)  in  Ayrshire,  which  belonged  to  8  An  "Account  of  the  Auchinleck 

a  family  of  the  same  name  with  the  MS.  Advocates'  Library  (W.  4,  1,)  and 

lands,  having  fallen  to  the  crown  by  a  catalogue  of  its  contents,"  forms  the 

forfeiture,  James  the  Fourth,  King  of  fourth  appendix  to  the  introduction  to 

Scotland,  granted  it  to  Thomas  Bos-  Sir  Walter  Scott's  edition  of  Sir  Tris- 

well."  —  Boswell's   Life   of  Johnson,  trem,  to  which  a  facsimile  of  the  first 

anno    1776.      "The  pronunciation  of  two  stanzas  of  that  poem  are  prefixed 

Affleck  for  Auchinleck,   was  formerly  It  is  a  quarto  of  334  leaves,  containing 

common,  but  is  fast  disappearing,  and  44  pieces  of  poetry,  on  parchment,  "  in 

is  now  confined,  I  should  say,  to  the  a  distinct  and  beautiful  hand,  which 

lower  classes  of  the  parish  and  neigh-  the  most  able  antiquaries  are  inclined 

bourhood."      Private  letter  from  Mr.  to  refer  to  the  earlier  part  of  thexivth 

Halkett,  Librarian  of  the  Advocates'  century.     The  pages  are  divided  into 

Library,  Edinburgh,  18  Jan.  1869.  two  columns,  unless  where  the  verses, 

2  Nu,   hu,   occur    occasionally,   but  being  Alexandrine,  occupy  the  whole 
rarely.     Nu  occurs  once  in  the  piece  breadth  of  the  quarto.    In  two  or  three 
immediately  cited,  nu  and  hu  several  instances  there  occurs  a  variation  in 
times  in  the  second  piece,  which,  though  the  handwriting ;  but  as  the  poems  re- 
last  in  the  MS.,  is  said  to  be  in  an  gularly  follow  each  other,  there  is  no 
older  hand.     I  have  not  noticed  any  reason  to  believe  that  such  alterations 


1,  No.  3. 


MISCELLANIES XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


449 


be  considered  here.  There  are  two  extracts  from  it,  On  the  King's 
Breaking  his  Confirmation  of  Magna  Charta,  p.  253  (MS.  No.  21), 
and  the  Evil  Times  of  Edward  II.  p.  323  (MS.  No.  44).  The 
second  only  offers  the  curious  orthography:  muis  huis,  p.  326, 
for :  mous  hous,  and  the  assonance :  hundred  wonder  p.  344. 
But  the  first  is  very  singular.  The  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth, 
and  sixth  stanzas,  containing  the  sayings  of  the  "iiij.  wise  men" 
have  a  peculiar  arrangement  of  rhymes,  differing  from  the  rest  of 
the  poem,  which  may  be  symbolised  thus,  like  letters  shewing 
rhymes :  a  a  b  c  c  b  ddd  eee.  The  last  five  stanzas  stand  thus : 
a  a  b  c  c  b.  None  of  these  lines  present  any  difficulty  or  novelty. 
The  following  is  the  first  stanza,  which  Wright  prints  in  divided 
lines,  but  which  in  the  MS.  itself  runs  across  the  page,  although  the 
pages  of  the  MS.  are  usually  divided  into  two  columns,  indicating, 
apparently,  that  the  transcriber  considered  the  final  rhymes  only  as 
pointing  out  the  divisions. 

Len  puet  fere  et  defere  ceo  fait  il  trop  souewt 

It  nis  nou]?er  wel  ne  faire  Iperfore  engelond  is  shewt 

Noftre  prmce  de  engletere  par  le  confail  de  sa  gent 

At  weftmiwfter  after  )?e  feire  madew  a  gret  p^rlemewt 

La  chartre  fet  de  eyre  ieo  lewteink  et  blew  le  crey 

It  was  holde  to  neih  ]>Q  fire  and  is  moltew  al  awey 

Ore  ne  say  mes  que  dire  tout  i  va  atnpolay, 

hundred,  chapitle.  court  aw  shire  al  hit  goj?  a  deuel  wey  z 

des  plusages  de  latere  ore  efcotez  yn  sarmouw 

Of  iiij.  wise  mew  \at  }?er  were  whi  engelowde  is  brouht  adoun  3 


indicate  an  earlier  or  later  date  than 
may  be  reasonably  ascribed  to  the  rest 
of  the  work ;  although  the  satire 
against  Simonie,  No.  44,  seems  rather 
in  an  older  hand  than  the  others,  and 
may  be  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  The  MS.  was  presented  to  the 
Faculty  of  Advocates,  in  1744,  by 
Alexander  Boswell,  of  Auchinleck,  a 
Lord  of  Session,  by  the  title  of  Lord 
Auchinleck,  and  father  of  the  late 
James  Boswell,  Esq.,  the  biographer  of 
Dr.  Johnson.  Of  its  former  history 
nothing  is  known.  Many  circum- 
stances lead  us  to  conclude  that  the 
MS,  has  been  written  in  an  Anglo- 
Norman  Convent.  That  it  has  been 
compiled  in  England  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt.  Every  poem  which  has  a 
particular  local  reference,  concerns 
South  Britain  alone  ....  On  the  other 
hand,  not  a  word  is  to  be  found  in  the 
collection  relating  particularly  to  Scot- 
tish affairs." 

1  Compare  "And  lete  me  slepe,   a 
twenty  devel  way !" — Cant.  Tales  3713. 

2  The  passage  as  we  learn  by  Mr. 
"Wright's  note  on  p.  385,  was  trans- 
ferred   to  his  pages  from :    "an  in- 
teresting little  volume  of  early  poetry, 


edited  and  printed  privately  by  David 
Laing,  Esq.,  and  W.  B.  D.  Turnbull, 
Esq..  under  the  title  of  '  Owain  Miles, 
and  other  Inedited  Fragments  of  An- 
cient English  Poetry.  8vo.  Edinburgh, 
1837.' "  The  present  copy  follows  a 
careful  transcript  obligingly  made  for 
me  by  Mr.  Halkett,  the  Librarian  of  the 
Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh,  who 
says :  "  In  Owain  Miles  the  editors 
have  divided  each  line  into  two  ;  in  my 
transcript  you  have  them  as  they  were 
originally  written.  There  are  no  points 
except  a  dot  after  the  word  hundred, 
and  another  after  the  word  chapitle  ;  I 
am  not  sure  whether  they  have  been 
put  there  by  design  or  by  accident." 
On  examining  the  orthography  of  the 
two  pieces  in  this  MS.  given  by 
Wright,  and  of  Sir  Tristrem  as  edited 
by  Scott,  we  find  it  very  irregular  with 
respect  to  final  e,  in  which  it  agrees 
with  the  MS.  of  Hampole  (p.  410). 
Similarly,  in  the  poems  of  the  "  deeff, 
sick,  blynd,"  monk  John  Audelay  of 
Haughmond,  four  miles  from  Shrews- 
bury, written  1426,  necessarily  from 
dictation  and  of  course  unrevised  by 
the  author  (edited  from  MS.  Bodl.  546, 
for  the  Percy  Society,  by  J.  0.  Halli- 
29 


450 


MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


Now  if  we  adopted  Mr.  "Wright's  arrangement  in  half  lines 
we  should  he  led  to  suppose  that  the  rhymes  were  intended 
to  he  arranged  thus :  ab  ab  ab  ab  cd  cd  cd  cd  ef  eft 
and  thus  make :  defere  faire  Engletere  feire,  rhyme  together.  But 
the  first  and  third  words  prohahly  ended  in  (-ee're)  and  our  pre- 
vious investigations  lead  us  to  consider  that  the  second  and  fourth 
ended  in  (arre).1  "We  have  not  hitherto  found  a  single  instance  in 
any  good  xiv  th  century  MS.  of  e  rhyming  with  ay  or  ey?  The  few 


appa- 
rently no  phonetic  meaning  at  all.  The 
whole  character  of  the  spelling  of  Sir 
Tristrem  (MS.  No.  37)  is  northern. 
In  the  present  short  extract  we  have 
both  Engelond  and  Engelonde  in  the 
nominative ;  in  the  second  line  faire 
should  he  fair  (p.  383),  and  then  of 
course  feire  must  be  feir1  if  it  is  in- 
tended to  rhyme,  maden  a  gret  parle- 
ment,  seems  an  error  for,  made  a  grete 
parlement ;  Wright  reads  made  a  gret. 

1  A  Somersetshire  fanning  man  once 
asked  me  if  I  had  seen  the  (ship)  on 
the  (fair),  which  sounded  remarkably 
like  a  ship  on  fire,  but  merely  meant 
the  sheep  in  the  fair  from  which  I  was 
walking.  This  is  therefore  an  existent 
(fair)  pronunciation  of  the  Norman 
(feire.) 

3  This  rhyming  of  ey  with  <?,  must 
be  distinguished  from  the  double  forms 
ey,  e,  in  certain  words  which  occurs  in 
a  few  instances,  see  supra  p.  265,  and 
compare  the  double  forms  ey,  i,  pp. 
284-286.  The  apparent  rhyme  :  ded, 
sayde,  p.  448,  we  have  seen  may  not 
have  been  meant  for  a  rhyme  at  all. 
Since  the  text  was  in  type  my  atten- 
tion has  been  directed  to  some  apparent 
rhymes  of  ay,  e  in  the  poems  of  Aude- 
lay  referred  to  in  the  last  note  but  one. 
It  will  be  advisable  to  consider  these 
rhymes  in  this  place.  We  must  re- 
member that  the  poet  was  both  blind 
and  deaf,  and  had  an  illiterate  scribe. 
These  three  points  are  well  proved  by 
the  notice  (p.  vi.,  Halliwell's  edition, 
to  the  pages  of  which  all  references 
will  be  made) :  "  iste  liber  fuit  compo- 
situs  per  Johannem  Awdelay,  capella- 
num,  qui  fuit  secits  et  surdus,  in  sua 
visitacione,  ad  honorem  Domini  nostri 
Jhesu  Christi,  et  ad  exemplum  aliorum, 
in  monasterio  de  Hagmon,  anno  Domini 
millesimo  cccc.mo  vicessimo  vi.*°  cujus 
anime  propicietur  Deus."  The  secus  for 
cecus,  or  as  we  now  write  coccus,  shews 
the  trustworthiness  of  the  scribe.  The 
English  part  is  full  of  the  grossest  or- 


thographical eccentricities  and  incon- 
sistencies, and  was  probably  written  by 
an  ignorant  brother,  whose  labours  the 
author  was  unable  to  revise  either  by 
eye  or  ear.  Under  these  circumstances 
we  should  rather  be  surprised  at  the 
regularity  of  the  rhymes  than  at  the 
occasional  utter  forgetfulness  of  rhyme, 
as :  law  withdrawe  dais  p.  22,  (but 
perhaps  dawes  should  be  read,  see  supra 
p.  371,  Ex.  b.},  leudmen  corexeon 
relegyon  p.  24,  Christ  charyte  p.  26, 
to  therfro  more  p.  40,  worlde  Lorde  re- 
warde  p.  40,  reprevyd  dispilid  p.  60  (both 
accented  on  the  penultim),  Lorde  worlde 
p.  60,  Judas  cos  =  kiss  p.  60,  Lord 
soffyrd  p.  61,  thorst  last  p.  64,  opus 
masse  p.  73,  on-morwe  undorne  p.  75, 
dimes  masse  p.  76,  dynt  stont  p.  78, 
masse  worse  p.  79,  prayere  honoure 
p.  79.  It  is  evident  from  these  ex- 
amples that  we  must  not  press  Audelay's 
doggrel  rhymes  too  closely,  and  cer- 
tainly not  draw  any  inference  from  a 
few  isolated  examples.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,  however,  that  he  did  not  dis- 
tinguish short  *  and  short  e,  and  there 
seems  little  doubt  that  he  confused  long 
t  and  long  e  also.  Every  page  offers 
examples  of  the  first,  and  the  rhyme  in 
-e,  -i,  -y,  -ye  is  the  commonest  he  has. 
The  words,  die,  high,  eye,  were  to 
him  dye,  hye,  ye  the  last  was  even 
written  -e,  (p.  x),  and  the  two  former 
constantly  rhyme  -e.  Mr.  Halliwell 
says  (p.  xi)  that  in  Shropshire  "  i  is 
still  turned  into  e,  which  may  be  re- 
garded one  of  Audelay's  dialectical 
peculiarities,  especially  in  the  prefixes 
to  the  verbs."  Another  peculiarity,  of 
the  scribe  at  any  rate,  is  to  consider  oi 
and  i  as  identical,  at  least  in  some 
words.  We  have  already  cited  dispilid 
= despoiled,  p.  60,  and  we  have  dystry 
p.  20  but  dystroy  p.  33,  foyre  =fire,  p. 
48,  rhyming  to  were.  Another  singular 
rhyme,  if  any  weight  is  to  be  attached 
to  it  is :  hyng  drynke  p.  61,  see  supra 
p.  192.  The  word  cros  has  various 
rhymes :  was,  losse  p.  61,  choys  p.  8, 


§  1,  No  3. 


MISCELLANIES XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


451 


earlier  cases  which  appear  to  exist  in  Havelok,  etc.,  will  hereafter  be 
shewn  to  have  probably  arisen  from  errors  (p.  473).     Could  we  then 


were  it  evidently  stands  for  croyse 
which  is  used  p.  64  to  rhyme  with 
voyse.  This  preliminary  examination 
will  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  exam- 
ples of  ay  which  apparently  rhyme 
with  e.  In  the  first  place,  although 
-e,  is  the  commonest  rhyme  sound 
throughout  the  poems,  and  -ay  is  also 
frequent,  the  instances  in  which  -ay 
rhymes  with  -e  are  very  rare.  The 
following  are  all  that  I  have  noted 
throughout  the  extracts  edited  by  Mr. 
Halliwell.  In  the  poem  on  Henry  VI, 
p.  viii,  there  are  16  lines  which  should 
rhyme  in  ay,  but  in  one  case  the  word 
is  cuntre,  the  rhymes  being :  veray  day 
play  away  fray  day  way  day  aray  day 
cuntre  Fryday  may  betray  pray  Awd- 
lay.  The  rhymester  was  evidently 
hard  up,  or  he  would  not  have  used 
day  five  times,  and  if  his  ay  had  really 
rhymed  to  his  common  e,  he  would 
certainly  have  introduced  it  many  times. 
The  single  instance  might  be  a  case  of 
carelessness,  which  the  blind  and  deaf 
man  failed  to  discover  and  correct. 
But  country  is  one  of  those  words  which 
had  a  double  orthography :  cuntre 
cuntrey,  corresponding  to  two  forms 
in  the  Norman,  which  generated  two 
pronunciations  in  (-*'  -e)  in  xvii  th 
century  (supra  p.  125),  and  hence  pro- 
bably had  two  sounds  (-ee,  -ai)  in  the 
xiv  th  century  at  least.  To  this  list 
belong:  country,  valley,  journey,  livery, 
most  probably.  Hence  the  error  may 
be  merely  scribal,  cuntre  for  cuntrey. 
Cumpane,  which  at  first  sight  seems  to 
rhyme  with  say,  p.  16,  is  apparently  a 
simple  mistake,  and  the  line  containing 
it,  which  is  unnecessary  to  the  sense, 
should  be  expunged.  It  occurs  among 
a  set  of  78  stanzas  of  13  lines  each, 
having  the  complicated  rhyme  system 
ababbcbcdeeed.  In  this  par- 
ticular piece  the  rhyming  words  are  : 
spiryt  say  epocryte  pay  day  compane 
clene  say  lene  mynde  by  truly  cumpany 
unkynde.  That  is,  this  one  stanza  has 
14  lines;  and  the  line  which  is  subver- 
sive of  the  whole  rhyme  system,  is  this 
very  one  which  ends  in  compane. 
Degre  be  may  p.  44  is  also  a  mere 
error,  it  occurs  in  a  stanza  of  the 
last  kind,  corresponding  to  the  e  e  e 
portion,  and  on  the  same  page,  in  the 
next  preceding  stanza,  in  the  same  por- 
tion, we  find:  jeve  know  laue,  which  no. 


one  would  hesitate  to  consider  a  false 
rhyme.  To  the  same  category  I  relegate 
the  example  in  the  same  place  of  the 
next  stanza:  sayne  eyne  sene  p.  45, 
where  sene  =  seen  is  the  infinitive  mood 
of  see,  y-seyne  bene  p.  68  =  i-seen  been, 
are  past  partici  pies,  and  the  spelling 
of  the  first  word  is  erroneous,  but  we 
have  a  similar  form  in  Chaucer,  supra 
p.  265.  Bred  betrayed  p.  70,  I  class 
with :  wayt  algat  p.  47,  as  mere  helpless 
rhymes  ;  if  the  one  could  prove  that 
ay  =  (ee),  the  other  would  prove 
ay  =  (aa),  for  the  rhyme  :  face  alas  p. 
60,  would  establish  longa  =  (aa).  In 
cownsele  asayle  batayle  p.  viii,  the  first 
word  should  have  its  usual  form  coun- 
seyl.  In  erne  =  modern  aim  p,  1 2,  37 
and  often,  the  e  is  correct,  the  modern 
spelling  is  wrong,  the  origin  being  Fr. 
esmer  =  sestimare.  The  above  are  ab- 
solutely all  the  cases  observed,  and  the 
impression  produced  on  myself  by  the 
examination  of  these  rhymes,  is,  that 
Audelay  pronounced  ay,  e,  differently, 
and  that  the  conclusions  deduced  from 
other  sources,  apply  to  these  cases  also, 
viz  :  ay  =  (ai),  e  =  (e).  Nevertheless 
there  are  at  least  two  MSS.  and  there 
may  be  more,  which  certainly  confuse 
ey,  ay  with  e,  both  in  spelling  and 
sound.  The  most  striking  of  these  in 
the  Lincoln's  Inn  MS.  150,  from  which 
Weber  has  printed  the  greater  part  of 
King  Alisaunder  (in  vol.  1  of  Metrical 
Eomances  of  the  xmth,  xivth  and 
xv  th  centuries,  published  from  Ancient 
Manuscripts,  with  an  introduction, 
notes,  and  a  glossary,  by  Henry  Weber, 
Esq.,  Edinburgh,  1810, 3vols.,8vo.), and 
which  must  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  the  Bodl.  MS.  Laud,  I.  74,  from 
which  he  has  taken  v.  4772—5989  of 
the  same  romance.  This  poem  is 
supposed  to  have  been  written  before 
1300,  and  both  the  MSS.  are  attri- 
buted by  Weber  to  the  xivth  century, 
but  Mr.  Furnivall  and  Mr.  Skeat 
date  the  Lincoln's  Inn  MS.  about 
1450.  The  Bodleian  MS.  has  nothing 
strange,  except  :  noye  daye  5412, 
ryth  nyth  4812  (but :  nighth  righth 
5076)  which  reminds  one  of  Havelock's 
peculiar  th,  infra  p.  477.  and  there  are 
a  few  «',  e  rhymes,  as :  clere  fire  5342, 
and  some  e,  a,  as :  art  cert  5802,  but 
not  frequent,  and  some  assonances,  as : 
blith  wyf  5138.  But  on  the  whole  it 


452 


MISCELLANIES  — •  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


from  this  popular  song  conclude  that  all  this  is  a  mistake,  and  suppose 
that  Chaucer,  and  Gower,  and  other  writers,  although  frequently 
hard  up  for  rhymes,  never  employed  such  an  extremely  convenient 
jingle  which  lay  ready  to  hand  ?  The  conclusion  would  "be  hazard- 
ous in  the  extreme,  and  is  certainly  unnecessary,  for  the  apparent 


is  tolerably  regular,  and  admitting  the 
correctness  of:  cuntrey  4898,  5008, 
charrey  5096,  curreye  5118,  tornay 
play  journay  noblay  5212,  presents  no 
other  remarkable  orthography.  But 
the  Lincoln's  Inn  MS.  is  very  peculiar, 
and  if  we  had  to  deduce  pronunciation 
from  its  rhymes,  we  should  be  badly 
off  indeed.  Omitting  the  false  rhymes, 
63,  305,  1515,  1708,  3173,  etc.,  the 
assonances,  the  cases  in  which  the  first 
syllable  of  a  dissyllable  rhymes  with  a 
monosyllable  as :  bridel  ride  953,  walles 
al  1876,  foughte  doughte  2761,  certis 
heort  6544,  etc.,  the  rhymes  of  a,  with 
e,  o  and  even  i,  as:  wist  cast  716, 
fynde  thousand  2403,  often  spelled 
thousynde,  sixe  waxe  6038 ;  of  e  with 
t,  a,  o  ;  and  confining  ourselves  to  the 
combinations  ei,  ai,  oi,  ui  or  ey,  ay,  oy, 
uy,  we  find  ei  written  for  e  in :  leynthe 
etreynth  788,  7351,  nobleys  1373, 
eynde  1573,  1912,  cleir  2885,  steil 
3211,  speide  neide  3441,  yeilded  3791, 
heynde  4206,  yeir  6963,  which  are 
conclusive  as  to  confusion  in  the  scribe's 
mind  between  these  sounds.  But  we 
also  find  ai  rhyming  with  a,  e,  i,  oi; 
ei  with  ai,  e,  i,  uy ;  oi  with  ai,  t ;  ui 
with  e,  i,  oi.  These  rhymes  are  so 
curious  that  many  of  them  may  be 
cited.  AI,  A ;  saide  made  525,  7339, 
barbicans  mayne  1591,  amiraylis  talis 
1780,  Taran,  mayn  3247.  AI,  E: 
camelis  vitailes  854,  \)onere=debonnair 
faire  6732,  saide  lede  6942,  saide 
maied  =  mede?  7327.  AI,  I:  Akaye 
Arabye  3399,  play  dye  =  deye  3442, 
bywryghen  sayn  4116,  raineth  schyn- 
eth  6450,  high  contray  7143.  AI,  01 : 
y-said  anoyed  273,  876,  1287,  1599, 
and  often,  play  boy  1730,  (boy  is  ab- 
solutely written  bay  4376),  taile  spoile 
2133,  faile  Tysoile  2148,  palfray  boy 
3207,  pays  =  peace  noise  3373.  EI, 
AI  :  chevynteyn  mayn  3199,  reyne 
mayne  7378.  EI,  E :  thede  feide  95, 
dejs  =  dais  nobles  1039,  ese  deys=fifaw 
1153,  kene  eyghnen  1317,  yeilde  sheldis 
2067,  seje  =  seen  pudre  2179,  corteys 
yes=peace  2951,  yeld  field  2959,  steil 
•wel  3419,  keip=fo«p  deop  3429  (but: 
kepe  deop  3477),  seide  felawrede  6838, 
mesteir  conseiler  7480.  EI,  I :  nygh 


fleygh  119,  kynde  heynde  425,  yilde 
feilde  2956,  is  deys  =  is  dais  3966, 
eighte  knyght  3884,  6042,  contrey 
sygh  6440,  wite  disseyte  7704.  Ei, 
UY  :  reyn  abuyn»«*ufc  2991.  01,  AI 
see  AI,  01.  01,  I :  annoyed  distryed 
129,  syghe  joye  6060,  nigh  anoye  6116, 
anoye  dye  6568.  UI,  E:  kujn=kine 
slen  760,  quarter  wildfuyr  1902,  pruyde 
wede  2093,  there  afuyre  7549.  UI,  I : 
Tyre  wildefuyre  3031.  The  conclusion 
seems  to  be  that  the  writer  occasionally 
pronounced  a,  ai,  e,  ei,  i,  oi,  ui  in  the 
same  way =(ee).  This  must  certainly 
indicate  some  great  peculiarity  of  pro- 
nunciation, and  it  is  sufficient  to  note 
its  inconsistency  with  the  results  al- 
ready obtained.  No  more  can  be  said 
than  that  some  xv  century  scribes  in 
some  part  of  the  country,  did  perhaps 
so  pronounce.  But  I  cannot  think 
that  these  rhymes  justify  our  supposing 
an  invariable  pronunciation  of  ai,  ei,  oi, 
ui  in  this  manner  by  any  speaker. 
There  is  another  MS.  Advocates'  Li- 
brary Jac.  V.  7,  27,  supposed  to  have 
been  written  in  the  xv  th  century,  from 
which  Weber  has  printed  his  Sir 
Amadas  (Ibid.  vol.  3),  which  exhibits 
great  peculiarities,  of  which  we  need 
only  notice :  reyr  =rear  7,  \eyt  =  let  10, 
geyt=^  24,  &eytte=debt  37,  feyr  = 
fere  118,  grey  t  =  great  156,  seyi  =  set 
218,  deydreyd  =  ^ed  rede  236,  speyke 
meyte  =  speak  meet  284,  etc.,  shewing  a 
complete  fusion  of  ei,  e.  The  other  pieces 
printed  by  Weber,  and  all  the  other 
old  spelling  which  I  have  examined 
are  free  from  such  fusion.  The  above 
peculiarities  are  also  absent  in  the 
second  copy  of  Sir  Amadas  printed  in : 
Ghost-thanks  or  the  Grateful  Unburied, 
a  mythic  tale  in  its  oldest  European 
form,  Sir  Amadace,  a  middle  North 
English  metrical  Romance  of  the 
xiii  th  century,  reprinted  from  two 
texts  with  an  introduction  by  George 
Stephens,  Cheapinghaven  (i.e.  Copen- 
hagen), 1860,  which  Mr.  Payne  has 
brought  under  my  notice.  With  this 
explanation,  therefore,  I  allow  the  text 
to  stand  unaltered,  convinced  that  al- 
though a  few  words  may  have  had  both 
(ai,  ee),  and  a  few  provincials  may 


§  1,  No.  3.  NORMAN   FRENCH   El,    AI.  453 

anomaly  is  easily  explained.  The  writer  began  in  Norman  French, 
meaning  to  mix  up  English  with  it,  just  as  Norman  French, 
English  and  Latin  are  intermixed  in  a  haphazard  manner  in  the 
Song  of  the  Times,  p.  251.  In  this  way  he  wrote  the  two  first 
lines,  taking  the  arrangement  in  the  MS.,  (which  did  not  rhyme  in 
the  middle) ;  but  reverting  to  Norman  French  in  his  third  line  he 
threw  off  a  middle  rhyme  to  his  first,  and  then  for  the  sake  of 
symmetry  he  made  his  fourth  line  have  a  middle  rhyme  to  his 
second,  thus  producing,  if  we  count  the  middle  rhymes,  the  some- 
what singular  arrangement :  ab  cb  ab  cb.  Naturally  enough 
in  adding  the  next  four  lines  he  adopted  the  more  obvious  ar- 
rangement :  ab  ab  ab  a b,  for  the  words :  eyre  fire  dire  shire, 
all  rhyme ;  *  and  the  words :  crey  awey  Tripolay  wey,2  also 
rhymed  to  English  ears  at  least,  as  (-ai).  A  question,  however, 
arises  whether  the  Norman  French :  crey,  Tripolay,  ended  in  (ai) 
as  well  as  the  English:  awey,  wey.  Of  the  latter  we  can  at 
present  feel  little  doubt,  of  the  former  there  may  be  considerable 
cause  for  hesitation.  In  modern  French  ei,  ai,  are  in  most  words 
called  (BE),  and  the  stanza  we  have  been  considering  has  been  relied 
upon  to  establish  that  ai,  ei  in  English  had  the  sound  of  (ee),  on  the 
presumption  that :  defere,  faire,  Engleterre,  feire,  were  all  intended 
to  rhyme  in  (ee're).3  If  we  take  the  arrangement  of  the  lines  in 
the  MS.  itself,  there  is  no  room  at  all  for  this  assumption,  because 
in  fact  we  have  only  ten  rude  Alexandrines,  rhyming  thus  :  a  a  a  a 
b  b  b  b  c  c,  at  their  ends,  and  occasionally,  but  not  essentially, 
rhyming  their  middles.  As,  however,  the  other  view  is  strongly 
insisted  on,  it  is  advisable,  without  further  reference  to  an  isolated 
song  which  can  really  establish  nothing,  to  enter  upon  an  examina- 
tion of  the  probable  value  of  ei,  ai,  in  old  Norman,  a  question  so 
extensive  and  so  beset  with  difficulties  that  it  is  impossible  to 
discuss  it  fully.4 

The  conclusions  to  which  I  have  been  led  by  an  examination  of 
all  the  rhymes  in  Wace's  Roman  de  Eou,5  and  several  other  Norman 

have  used  (ee)  for  ei  (ei,  ai)  in  some  (st'nre,  dfrre).  The  rhyme  was  there- 
words  at  a  very  early  period  precisely  fore  (-irre)  or  (-a'rre)  in  all,  or  the  first 
as  Hart  did  in  the  xvi  th  century  (p.  in  the  French  and  the  second  in  the 
122),  the  great  majority  of  educated  English. 

men,   and  all  speakers  of  the   Court          2  ]yjr.  Wright  prints  way,  Mr.  Hal- 
dialect  said   (ei)  or  (ai)  where  ei,  ai  kett  transcribes  wey. 
were  written,  down  to  the  middle  or          ,  R        hag  ad    ted  the  pronuncia. 
end  of  the  xvith  century  and  believ-  tion   /^f  for  ai  £  old  j^^    gee 
ing  that  the  hypothesis  of  an  original  infr^p/509,  note  1. 
(ee)  sound,  followed  by  an  (ai)  pronun-  .  .  .__ 
ciation  in  the  xvith   century  as  dis-          *  See  the  Previous  remarks'  P"  438' 
tinctly  laid  down  by  Sir  T.  Smith  (p.          6  Le  Eoman  de  Eon  et  des  Dues  de 
121),  which  again  became  (ee)  in  the  Normandie,  par  Eobert  Wace,   poete 
xvii  th,  is  untenable.  normand  du  xiie  si£cle,  public  pour  la 
1  Fire  has  a  dative  e ;  shire  ags.  scire  premiere  fois,  d'apres  les  manuscrits 
an  essential  e.     The  word  shire  is  still  de  France  et  An.gleterre,  avec  des  notes 
pronounced  (shiir)  by  many,  supra  p.  pour  servir  a  1' intelligence  dutexte,  par 
275,  note  3.     Gyre,  dire,  were  French  Frederic    Phiquet,   Rouen  1827,  8vo, 
(siir0,    diirtf)    anglicized,    perhaps    to  2  vols.,  16<W  verses. 


454  NORMAN   FRENCH   El,    AI.  CHAP.  V. 

poems,  are  that  ei,  ai,  when  written  were  always  meant  to  indicate 
the  diphthongs  (ei,  ai)  or  the  dissyllables  (e,i)  and  (a,i),  hut  that 
they  were  occasionally  employed,  perhaps  by  a  scribal  error,  for 
simple  e  (e).  It  also  appears  tolerably  certain  that  in  a  small  series 
of  words  both  (ai)  and  (e)  were  pronounced  at  a  very  early  period, 
and  that  in  other  cases,  by  the  same  sort  of  habit  which  at  the 
present  day  leads  an  Englishman  to  terminate  his  (ee,  oo)  in  (i,u), 
thus  (eei,  oou),  and  which  led  him  in  the  last  century  to  palatalise 
k,  g  into  (kj,  gj)  before  (ae,  ei), — habits  which,  it  is  important  to 
observe,  exist  in  full  force  at  the  present  day  in  Icelandic,  the  living 
representative  of  the  language  spoken  by  the  Norsemen  before  they 
acquired  Normandy,  and  therefore  probably  indicating  the  tendency 
of  the  pronunciation  these  would  adopt — the  Normans  introduced 
an  unhistorical,  but  really  pronounced  (i)  after  e,  a,  in  many  words  ; 
so  that  this  introduced  t  was  not  an  idle  orthographical  ornament,  but 
implied  an  actual  alteration  of  sound.  Whether  the  sounds  (ei,  ai) 
were  kept  as  distinct  as  they  now  are  in  modern  French  conseil, 
travail,  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine,  but  they  were  certainly 
confused  in  writing,  and  it  is  probable  that  to  English  ears,  which 
seem  to  have  long  confused  the  sounds,  they  sounded  the  same  as 
the  ordinary  English  (ai).1  The  existence  of  the  sounds  (ei,  ai)  in 
•vieil,  ail  and  such  words,  seems  indeed  to  imply  a  prior  (ei,  ai)  pro- 
nunciation, because,  as  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
palatisation  of  the  I  in  (lj )  and  even  (jh)  or  its  entire  absorption  in 
(i),  as  (vjei,  ai),  is  comparatively  modern,  and  we  know  that  I  had 
the  contrary  tendency  to  labialisation  after  the  same  vowels  e,  a  in 
French,  compare  eux,  aux,  it  seems  probable  that  this  palatisation 
was  generated  by  a  preceding  (i)  and  did  not  conversely  generate 
the  (i).  Supposing  these  conclusions  were  correct,  an  Englishman, 
at  least,  would  rhyme:  crey  awey  Tripolay  wey,  as  we  have 
supposed,  in  (-ai).  The  following  is  a  brief  statement  of  some  of 
the  grounds  on  which  these  conclusions  rest. 

Both  ai  and  ei  occasionally  represent  divided  vowels  and  not  diph- 
thongs, in  which  case  the  Erench  editors  generally  write  ai,  ei,  but 
it  is  more  convenient  to  use  the  ordinary  signs  a'i,  el  with  Dr. 

1  Modern  Englishmen  readily  hear  ei,  ai  are  written  ei,  a  and  pro- 
all  comhinations  which  approach  in  nounced  (eei,  aa&)  with  a  distinct 
sound  to  their  (ai),  as  (ai).  Compare  and  lengthened  primary,  and  an 
p.  123,  note  4.  Observe  the  common  extremely  abbreviated  secondary  ele- 
error  (kuirdail)  for  (ku  doei)  coup  d'ceil.  ment.  Compare  the  effect  of  the  similar 
See  also  the  various  Scotch  sounds,  p.  sound  (eei}  of  southern  English  long  a 
290,  which  Englishmen  usually  find  at  Tenby,  p.  272,  note  3.  Also  observe 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  distinguishing.  the  actual  change  of  long  a  into  (ei)  or 
When  I  was  recently  endeavouring  to  (aei),  as  (raeurt  daei)  for  rainy  day, 
make  a  literary  English  friend  appre-  among  the  children  of  the  uneducated 
ciate  the  difference  (ei,  ai),  I  entirely  classes  in  London,  pointed  out  to  me 
failed,  and  he  heard  both  sounds  as  by  school-teachers  to  whom  it  occa- 
(ai).  The  Dutchl  ei>  ij  =(ei,  ai)  as  I  sioned  difficulty,  see  p.  294  and  note  2. 
heard  them  (p.  295,  note  1),  are  both  The  change  of  (ee)  into  (ei)  and  thence 
heard  as  (ai)  by  Englishmen,  and  as  (ai)  is  therefore  not  merely  a  priori 
(ai)  by  Germans.  The  modern  Ice-  likely  from  Norse  habits,  but  actually 
landic  diphthongs  corresponding  to  corroborated  by  existing  English  uses. 


1,  No.  3. 


NORMAN    FRENCH    El,    AI. 


455 


Delius.1  These  divisions  occur  even  in  words  which  in  modern 
times  have  received  the  sound  of  (ee)  or  (EE),  as  well  as  in  such 
words  as:  poiz  fu  ocis  en  tra'ison  5 1,2  et  en  France  mainte  enva'ie 
135,  guerpi  ont  toz  li  plein  pai's  529,  where  the  separation  still 
remains  in :  trahison,  envahir,  pays,  and  the  pronunciation  has 
altered  in  the  last  word  only. 

Aider  in  the  Norman  war-cry  is  always  aie  ; 

Franceiz  orient :  Monjoe.  e  Normanz  :  Dex3  die.     4665 
The  complete:  aider,  occasionally  occurs,   and  this  divided  form 
seems  etymologically  more  ancient  than  the  diphthongal :  aider, 
which  is  however  more  common.4     It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
diphthongal  pronunciation  (arder)  remained  well  into  the  xvith 
century,  as  it  is  classed  with :  aymant,  hair,  as  having  both  vowels 
pronounced  by  Meigret  (supra  p.  118),  and  B-amus,  1562,  classes: 
paiant  gaiant  aidant  (Livet,  p.  205).     The  older  pronunciation  of 
this  one  word,  therefore  does  not  admit  of  doubt. 
Par  false  e  par  feinte  hdine 
Fu  faite  ceste  desaisine.  15670 

This  word :  haine,  is  now  pronounced  (een),  Feline  writes  (en), 
but:  hair  is  (a,iir)  not  (eer,  air),  haissable  (a,isabl').  The  verb  is 
now  very  variable:  je  hais,  tu  hais,  il  hait;  nous  ha'issons,  vous 
haissez,  ils  ha'issent.  The  old  French :  hadir,  cited  by  Diez,  seems 
to  imply  the  greater  antiquity  of  the  divided  vowels. 


1  Maistre  Wace's  St.  Nicholas.    Em 
altfranzosisches  Gedicht  des  zwolften 
Jahrhunderts    aus     Oxforder    Hand- 
schriften,  herausgegeben  von  Dr.  Nico- 
laus  Delius,  Bonn,   1850,  8vo.  pp.  95. 
"  Eben    so    unentbehrlich    erscheinen 
die  Trennungspunkte  liber  zwei  Voka- 
len,  die  sonst,  zur  Beeintrachtigung  des 
Verses,  fur  einen  Diphthong  gelesen 
warden,   z.   B.   eu,   o'i,  u.  s.  w.     Die 
Methode    franzosischer    Editoren    im 
ersteren  Falle  eu,  blesceure  u.  s.  w.  zu 
schreiben,  ist  schwerlich  zu  rechtfer- 
tigen,  da  ein  so  betontes  e  wohl  kaum 
von  dem  folgenden  Vokal  verschluckt 
worden  ware,   wie  das  in  der  neuern 
Sprache  doch  geschehen  ist ;  eu,  blessure 
u.  s.  w."     Preface,  p.  xi.    Dr.  Delius's 
reason  may  admit  of    dispute.      The 
proper  method  is,  of  course,   to  follow 
the  manuscript,  and  leave  the  rest  to 
the  reader,  but  in  the  present  case  I 
shall  use  a'i,  e'i,  as  the  object  is  to  point 
out  such  cases  to  the  eye. 

2  The  simple  figure  refers  to    the 
verse  in  the  Eoman  de  Rou.     The  let- 
ters B,  E,  refer  to  Benoit  (supra  p.  438, 
note  2,)  and  Eustache  (Roman  d'Eus- 
tache  le  Moine,  edited  by  F.  Michel, 
Lond.  1834,  8vo). 

3  On  this   extraordinary  form  Dex 
for  Deus,  Dr.  Rapp  remarks  (Phys.  d. 


Spr.  ii,  86)  that  the  black  letter  v,  x  of 
the  middle  ages  only  differed  by  a  small 
tail  affixed  to  the  latter,  and  this  he 
supposes  induced  the  scribes  to  abbre- 
viate the  frequent  termination  us,  ux, 
that  is,  vs,  vx,  as  they  should  have  been 
written,  into  x,  which  meant  v  with  a 
subscribed  x,  and  also  led  them  to  write 
x  for  v.  Modern  editors,  he  complains, 
have  overlooked  this,  and  hence  written 
this  pseudo  x  for  v,  in  characters  where 
the  resemblance  of  form  has  altogether 
disappeared.  So  that  now  we  find 
generally  at  one  time  als,  els,  fih,  at 
another  ax,  ex,  fix,  and  even  where 
there  was  no  *,  at  one  time  diu,  at 
another  diex,  or  dieu,  which  are,  Dr. 
Rapp  thinks,  entirely  due  to  errors  of 
writing  or  reading.  Hence  we  must 
always  determine  in  the  printed  copies 
whether  x  stands  for  s,  u,  or  us.  To 
this  abbreviation  Dr.  Rapp  also  attri- 
butes the  German  proverb;,  to  make 
one  an  x  for  a  u,  "  einein  ein  X  fur 
ein  U  machen,"  that  is.;'  substitute  the 
false  for  the  true,  which  he  thinks  is  a 
proof  that  the  custqio.  was  objected  to 
even  in  the  middle /ages. 

4  It.  aita,  Pr.,'ahia,  0.  Fr.  aide  ai'e, 
Fr.  aide,  Eng.  ,aid,  It.  aitare,  Pr.  aidar, 
Fr.  aider.  /Donkin's  Diez's  Rom. 
Die.  sub  aj'uto. 


456  NORMAN  FRENCH  El,  AI.  CHAP.  V. 

Multvei'ssiez  .... 

Homes  a  terre  jambeter, 

E  chevals  resnes  trainer.  6737-44 

The  modern  French  is  (treeng).     The  divided  vowels  again  appear 

to  be  more  ancient.1 

Ausi  cum  glaive  ist  de  gayne 

U  cum  lion  prent  sa  rabine.        B.  vol.  i.  p.  16. 

Here  again  the  modern  French  is  (geen),  but  the  divided  vowels  are 
more  ancient.2  For  e'i. 

Emme  sa  fille  fu  re'ine 

A  lie  fu  Engleterre  encline.  6548 

The  modern  French  is  (reen),  but  the  g  extruded  from  regina  shews 
the  divided  vowels  to  be  the  more  ancient,  and  they  were  more 
common  in  this  word  in  old  Norman.  Even  the  form :  ro'ine  is 
found  in  Wace's  Brut. 

Grant  partie  sor  la  marine 
Malgre  sa  feme  la  ro'ine  v.  43. 

Compare  also 

Tu  meisme,  dist  Rou,  as  fet  ton  jugement.          2029 

The  following  examples  are  curious : 

Sire,  dist  un  Yisconte,  jo  vos  dirai  ja  veir, 

Cele  vile  n'estpas  legiere  a  asse'ir 

Par  1'ewe  e  par  li  pont  povez  so  vent  veir 

Chevaliers  e  serjanz  cha  dedenz  recheveir.  4196 

Turna  sei  pur  h  cors  veir : 

Gis  tei,  dist  il,  ne  te  moveir.  5462 

En  la  boisiere  volt  veir, 

Ne  sai  s'  il  out  de  rien  espeir.  5688 

Here  we  see  a  divided:  veir,  rhyming  with  an  undivided:  -eir. 
Now  the  hypothesis  that  ir  was  in  such  a  case  pronounced  as  eir, 
seems  contrary  to  all  possibility  or  probability.  But  this  might 
be  simulated  by  the  prefixing  of  an  e,  thus  making  the  ordinary : 
veir  into :  veeir,  so  that  in  this  case  we  should  not  so  much  have 
a  divided  e'i,  as  an  omitted  e.  This  notion  is  partly  sustained  by 
comparing 

A  plusors  des  Baronz  a  monstre  son  cunseil ; 

Si  Ten  tindrent  trestuit  a  bon  et  a/<?'z7.  3314 

Ki  li  donouent  tel  cunseil 

Ne  li  unt  pas  este/eaY.  8483 

where  the  same  word  feil,  L.  fidelis,  rhyming  with  the  same  word 
cunseil  is  at  one  time  spelt  feil  and  at  another  feeil,  which  I  have 
interpreted  by  a  diaeresis.  This  may  however  have  been  only  a 
scribal  accident.  Still  this  insertion  of  e  is  similar  to  the  familiar 
use  of  u  or  eu  as  the  metre  seems  to  require.  This  explanation 
hardly  applies  to 

Normendie  prendront  e  tendront  soubs  lor  peiz 

E  se  voudrent  la  France  partiront  entr'  eiz,        3633 

1  It.  traino,  Sp.  tragin,  Pr.  trabi,  Fr.          2  It.  guaina,  Fr.  gaine,  0.  Fr.  game, 
E.  train  (0.  Fr.  tiain),  from  trahere ;       Rou.  waine,  W.  gwain  a  sheath;  from 
vb.  It.  trainare,  Pr.  trt'hinar,  Fr.  trainer.      vagina.   Milanese  has  guadinna,  Vene- 
The  suffix  ino  is  not  added  to  verbs,  so      tian  guazina.    Donkin's  Diez. 
the  Ital.  and  Sp.  forms  may  have  been 
borrowed  from  the  Pr.  Fr.  trahim  traim. 
Donkin's  Diez. 


§  1,  No.  3.  NORMAN    FRENCH   El,    AT.  457 

and  it  seems  more  natural  to  suppose  that  (e,i)  and  (ei)  were  found 
sufficient  rhymes,  when  a  trouvere  was  hard  pressed.  But  what- 
ever explanation  is  adopted,  we  must  remember  that  whereas  veir 
is  generally  a  monosyllable,  it  is  made  a  dissyllable  in  these  places 
for  the  exigencies  of  the  metre,  which  could  hardly  have  been  done 
unless  it  contained  within  itself  the  elements  of  resolvability,  by 
containing  two  vowel  sounds  usually  diphthongizing.  This  reminds 
us  of  the  division  of  ueine,  mayn  into  ue'ine,  mayn  for  the  exigencies 
of  the  music  only,  and  even  against  the  metre,  in  the  Prisoner's 
Prayer,  p.  432,  line  7,  and  p.  433,  line  6,  of  the  music,  which  cer- 
tainly could  not  have  been  attempted  if  both  vowels  had  not  been 
sounded.  See  also  the  apparent  division  of  the  diphthong  in 
Chaucer,  supra  p.  264,  and  Havelok,  infra  p.  476.  The  double 
orthography :  esmaier,  esmaai,  the  last  of  which  rhymes  with  ai,  in : 

Guert,  dist  Heraut,  ne  t'  esmaier, 

Dex  nos  pot  Men,  s'il  volt,  aidier.  13015 

Guert,  dist  il,  nos  anemiz  creissent ; 

Chevaliers  vienent  et  espeissent, 

Mult  part  en  vient,  grant  poor  ai  ; 

TJnkes  maiz  tant  ne  m'  esmaai.  13027 

is  scarcely  comprehensible  on  the  supposition  that  a  was  not  clearly 
pronounced. 

These  quotations  seem  to  establish  the  existence  of  ei,  ai  as  diph- 
thongs, and  as  divided  vowels  with  the  pronunciations  (ei,  ai)  and 
(e,i,  a,i)  and  the  confusion  of  ei,  ai  when  ai  was  an  undoubted  diph- 
thong as  in  aider,  compare  sentreeident  =  s'entr'aident,  in  the  Nor- 
man version  of  the  Proclamation  of  Henry  III,  p.  502,  1.  2. 
The  question  then  becomes  whether  this  pronunciation  was  uni- 
versal, or  whether  ei,  ai  were  not  occasionally  pronounced  (ee)  as 
at  present. 

Now  in  the  first  place  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
several  words  were  spelled  indifferently  with  e  or  ai. 

Odes  n'en  volt  pur  li  rien/ere, 

Orguil  respundi  e  cuntrere.  6612 

Gil  n'en  osa  plus  nientfere 

Dez  ke  li  Bus  le  rova  tere.  7057 

Ki  a  sun  cuer  vunt  a  cuntraire 

Maiz  n'en  pot  il  a  eel  terns  faire.  8433 

E  de  la  grant  destrucion 

Ke  paen  a  Dol  orentfet: 

S'il  en  France  venir  les  lait.  6946 

Se  il  nel  fet,  a  nul  jur  mais 

N'ara  trieves  de  li  ne  pais.  8453 

Mez  par  li  bons  clers  ki  1'escristrent.  37 

Ne  mez  tant  com  Ten  vait  disant.  59 

Sul  Deus  est  sachanz  e  mestre 

D'Occean  fist  eissir  e  naistre  B.  vol.  i.  p.  5 

Compare:  estre  maistre  ib.  p.  10.  If  we  examine  old  French, 
as  distinct  from  Norman,  we  shall  find  the  interchange  of  ai,  e  con- 
stant. It  is  almost  impossible  to  open  Roquefort's  Dictionnaire  at 
hazard  without  finding  examples.  But  at  this  early  period,  xn  th 
or  xni  th  century,  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  confusion  in  many  words. 
In  the  Roman  de  Rou,  the  only  final  words  in*  -ere  for  -aire  which 


458  NORMAN    FRENCH   El,    AI.  CHAP.  V. 

I  have  noticed  are  :  fere,  tere,  contrere,  and  these,  so  far  as  I  have 
observed,  do  not  rhyme  with  words  that  are  not  also  spelled  with 
at.  Such  words  would,  therefore,  he  probably  words  of  double 
sounds,  and  if  we  met  a  rhyme  like :  faire  cuntrere,  we  should 
naturally  suppose  that  the  scribe  had  mistaken  in  spelling  one  of 
the  words.  Thus,  in  the  lines  just  cited,  for :  fet  lait,  read  fait 
lait.  This  is  precisely  similar  to  the  double  forms  in  Chaucer : 
dye  deye,  ye  eye,  etc.  (supra  p.  284-6.)  That  the  change  had  taken 
place  in  a  large  number  of  words  in  the  xrv  th  century  we  see  by 
such  English  words  as :  ese,  pees,  cler  =  aise,  paix,  clair,  in 
Chaucer,  but  the  double  form :  ese  eyse,  shew  that  the  tradition 
at  least,  of  the  old  diphthongal  form  was  not  lost  in  England  (p.  265). 
In  this  examination  it  would  be  necessary  for  certainty  to  revert  to 
original  manuscripts  of  a  known  date,  for  at  a  late  period  scribes 
must  necessarily  have  confused  spellings  which  had  come  to  be 
identical  in  signification. 

The  Normans,  if  they  carried  with  them  Norse  traditions,  as  in- 
terpreted by  modern  Icelandic,1  into  the  French  pronunciation, 
must  have  had  a  tendency  to  palatisation ;  they  must  have  been 
fond,  that  is,  of  prefixing  or  subjoining  i  to  any  other  vowel,  either 
always  or  occasionally.  This  is  fully  borne  out  in  the  Roman  de 
Bou.  Thus,  for  preceding*:  triege  1362,  trieves  1320,  legiere 
1323,  aidier  13016,  chierte  1571,  cunquiere  4677,  similarly  matiere, 
baniere,  chief;  mangie,  eslaissie,  E.  p.  4,  the  practice  being  common. 
For  a  succeeding  i  we  have  the  frequent  termination  -aige  co-exist- 
ing with  -age,  as  langage  usaige  5217,  messaige  passaige  10790, 
rivaiges  damaiges2  127,  and:  tuit  =  tout,  tous  1074,  trestuit  = 
tres  tous  1076,  where  the  change  is  made  to  rhyme  with  :  s'enfuit, 
muit,  deduit,  but  all  the  forms  :  tuit,  tut,  tot,  are  found.  Now  to 
this  Norman  tendency  I  attribute  the  addition  of  an  i  to  a  pure  e, 
as  in  dei  =  ^e  3770,  creimon  14966,  compare  cremuz  15049,  and  such 
common  forms  as :  sei  mei  tei  dei  mescrei  lei  porkei  2021-8,  meiz 
3636,  which  are  all  alterations  of  a  Latin  e  in  the  direction  of  pala- 
talisation, whereas  the  French  forms :  soi  moi  toi  etc.  =  (sue  mue 
tue)  etc.  are  in  the  opposite  direction  of  labialisation.3  Compare 
also:  vezins  186,  with:  veizin  2292,  which  seem  to  show  how 
Latin  *  passed  through  Norman  e  before  it  became  Norman  ei,  as  a 
palatalisation  of  the  e.  From  insufficient  research  I  have  not  met 
with  -tei  for  -te,  answering  to  the  Latin  -tas,  but  Mr.  Payne  says  he 
has  found  in  Lymage  del  Monde,  Harl.  MS.  4333,  dated  1246,  all 
the  forms :  pouretei  humilitei  ueritei,  vanitei,  vanite,  and  similar 

1  See  an  account  of  Icelandic,  infra  il  faut  noter  que  1' accent  Valeriguais 
§  4,  No.  2.     See  also  supra  p.  454.  differe  sensiblement  de  1'accent  cau- 

2  In  addition  to  the  observations  at  chais ;    a   St.    Valery    on   ferme    les 
the  close  of  the  note  on  p.    120,  M.  lettres :    a  devient  e,  et  e  devient  i. 
1'  abbe  Delalonde,  (p.  438,  n.  3),  sap:  Je  n'ai  jamais  entendu  dire  rivdige." 

"  La  pronunciation  rivaige,  etc.,  n'existe          3  See  supra  p.  131,  note,  col.  1;  p. 

pas  dans  la   Seine- Inferieure,   sauf  a  138,  note,  col.  1 ;  and  p.  187.    A  lady 

St.  Valery-en-Caux,  ou  Ton  pourrait  informs  me  that  (sue,  mue,  tue,)  etc., 

trouver  quelque  chose  d' analogue :  on  were  the  received  pronunciations,  when 

dirait  plutot  a  St.  Valery  rivege :  mais  she  was  in  French  Canada. 


§  1,  No.  3.  NORMAN    FRENCH    El,    AI.  459 

varieties  in  the  past  participle.  I  am  inclined  to  class  these  forms 
with  the  others  as  Norman  palatalisations,  but  of  less  frequent 
occurrence  than  those  with  which  we  are  so  familiar,  and  confined 
to  particular  writers  and  localities. 

This  discussion  is  necessarily  left  in  a  very  incomplete  form,  and 
it  is  evident  that  lengthy  researches  would  be  necessary  to  arrive  at 
a  satisfactory  conclusion.  Nevertheless,  it  seems  to  me,  that  a  high 
degree  of  probability  has  been  attained  for  the  theory  that  when  the 
scribe  wrote  ei,  ai  he  meant  (ei,  ai),  or  (eei,  aai).1  The  true  English 
diphthongs  were  derived  from  the  Saxon,  eg,  ag,  &g,  and  passed 
through  (ejh,  ajh,  a3«rh)  most  probably,  to  become  finally  fused  into 
(ai).  They  do  not  in  any  respect  depend  upon  the  Norman,  and 
hence,  from  the  rhyming  of :  awey  wey,  both  from  ags.  weg,  and 
hence  both  necessarily  (wai),  with  the  Norman:  crei  Tripolay,  in 
the  passage  which  has  led  to  this  discussion,  (supra  p.  449),  we 
should  conclude  that  the  Anglo-Normans  said  (-ai)  rather  than  allow 
the  unproved  theory  that  the  Anglo-Normans  of  the  xin  th  century 
called :  crei  Tripolay  (kree  Tripolee),  to  establish  by  a  single  ex- 
ample the  English  pronunciation  of :  awey  wey,  as  (awee^  wee),  in 
contradiction  to  the  evidence  that  the  diphthongal  (awar  wai)  were 
recognised  by  Dr.  Gill  as  late  as  1621,  and  still  exist  dialectically. 
Such  a  conclusion  would  be  similar  to  the  theory  which,  starting 
from  modern  use,  makes  old  English  long  i  =  (ai),  finds  the  same 
sound  in  Anglosaxon,  and  even  imagines  that  the  old  Norman  was 
pronounced  so  in  England,  so  that  the  rhymes :  eyre  fire  dire  shire 
of  our  song  (p.  449)  should  be  :  (sair  fair  dair  shair),  an  hypothesis 
which  our  examination  of  long  i  in  the  xrv  th  century  (pp.  270-297) 
must  render  extremely  improbable.2 

1  Mr.  Joseph.  Payne,    as  a  conse-  ing  the  northern  habit  of  (ee)  to  have 

quence  of  his  researches  on  Norman  co-existed  from,  at  least,  the  beginning 

orthography,  etc.   (supra  p.  438,  note  of  the  xvi  th  century  in  Scotland,  supra 

1),  dissents  from  the  conclusions  in  the  p.  410,  note  3,  and  perhaps  at  a  still 

text  respecting  the  Norman  value  of  earlier  period  in  some  districts  of  Eng- 

ei,  ai,  which  he  believes  to  have  always  land,  probably  north-midland,  supra  p. 

had  the  sound  (ee),  and  he  considers  452,  note,  col.  2,  although  even  there  it 

that  the  French  rhymes  cited  supra  p.  is  unlikely  that  the  forms  (ei,  ai)  had 

264  would  tend  to  prove  that  Chaucer  invariably  the  sound  of  (ee).     See  also 

also  pronounced  his  ei,  ai  as  (ee).     So  infra  p.  473,  note  1.      I  much  regret 

far  as  I  understood,  he  considers  that  that  owing  to  Mr.  Payne's  researches 

ei,  ai  had  the  same  sound  (ee)  from  ntit  being  yet   (April,  1869)  in  type, 

the   earliest  times   in    England,    but  I   am  unable  to  examine   the   proofs 

that  ai,  ei  had  the  sound  (ai)  in  the  which  he  has  adduced,  but  no  one  can 

English    of   the    xvi  th    century,    as  hereafter  properly  appreciate  the  evi- 

well  as  that  of  (ee)  which  Kart  accepts  dence  on  which  a  decision  has  to  be 

as  the  only  sound,  supra  p.  122.     The  taken,  without  thoroughly  examining 

reader    is    referred  to    pp.    118-124,  what  he  has   so,    carefully  and   con- 

p.  238,  pp.  263-266,  to  the  rhyme  ay,  scientiously  adduced. 
mei= English  aye,  Latin  mei,  p.  447,          2  Nevertheless  as  M.  Le  Hericher 

and  to  the  use  of  agg,  egg  in  Orrmin,  has  advanced  an  opinion  that  the  pro- 

infra  p.  489,  as  well  as  to  the  preceding  nunciation  ai  (ai)  for  long  i  was  by  no 

investigation,  for  the  reasons  which  lead  means  unknown  to   the   old  Norman 

me  to  the  conclusion  that  ei,  ai  were  (ei,  language,  and  has  stated  that  it  is  even 

ai),  or  simply  (ai)  from  the  earliest  times  known  in  the  modern  Norman  dialect, 

to  the  end  of  the  xvi  th  century,  allow-  it  is  necessary  to  consider  what  he  has 


460 


NORMAN    FRENCH   El,    AI. 


CHAP.  V. 


Our  knowledge  of  English  pronunciation  in  the  xm  th  and  xiv  th 
centuries,  is  now  so  much  more  certain  than  any  knowledge  which 


advanced.  The  following  are  the  words 
of  his  assertion,  Histoire  et  Glossaire 
du  Normand  de  1'  Anglais,  etc.,  i.  27, 
"On  retrouve  en  Normandie  1'  I 
ouvert  des  Anglais,  c'est-a-dire  Ai. 
Dans  la  Hague  on  dit :  "II  est  en 
praison;"  c'est-a-dire  prison,  "ilest 
jolai,"  c'est-a-dire  joli.  Ce  son  d'ail- 
leurs  n'etait  pas  etranger  au  vieux 
normand,  comme  le  prouve  ce  vers  de 
Wace: 

Eve  est  isle,  Zornee  (thorn)  est  es- 
paine  (epine) 

Soit  rain,  soit  arbre,  soit  raine. 
Les  paysans  de  Moliere,  c'est-a-dire  de 
rile-de-France,  prononcent  quelquefois 
ainsi ;  voyez  dans  1'acte  II  de  Dom 
Juan:  'Chagraine,  Chopaine.'  Mais 
les  exemples  sont  assez  nombreux  en 
vieux  normand  ;  outre  celui  de  "Wace 
nous  pouvous  en  citer  un  de  Beneois : 

Noise,  meslee  n'atai'ne, 

Gardez  que  chascun  en  devine. 
Nous  pouvons  encore  en  citer  un  mo- 
derne,  tire  d'une  chanson  patoise,  sur 
le  nom  propre  Edeline : 

Vous  y  v'la  done,  monsieur  Edlaine. 

(Condoleance  haguaise,  par  Edeline.) 
Le  paysan  b  as -normand  rentre  dans 
la  prononciation  anglaise  de  1'Y  final, 
par  exemple  To  sanctify,  lorsqu'il 
dit  "Tu  betifaies,"  tu  dis  ou  fais 
des  betises;  et  il  prononce  Envaie, 
en  vie,  comme  1' Anglais  prononce  Vie, 
apocope  du  mot  normand.  Du  reste, 
c'est  aussi  la  prononciation  de  Picardie, 
ou  le  mot  "  Arnould  daine"  est  devenu 
celebre.  Le  normand  a  traduit  en  ei 
l'I  du  latin,  que  le  franc,  ais  a  traduit 
enot:  Deit  (digitus),  Freid  (frigidus), 
Peil  (pilus),  Neir  (niger),  Pels  (pisus), 
Sei  (sitis).  C'est  ainsi  que  la  forme 
primitive  Franceis,  Angleis,  Daneis  re- 
presente  Fraud,  Angli,  Dani"  We 
have  seen  the  uncritical  manner  in 
which  this  author  cites  Palsgrave, 
supra  p.  120,  note,  making  him  assert 
that  in  the  French  of  his  time  A  was 
pronounced  as  the  modern  French  a,  at, 
whereas  Palsgrave  gives  a  as  the  gene- 
ral sound,  aod  a'i  not  at,  that  is  (ai) 
not  (EE),  as  a  sound  of  a  in  a  very 
limited  class  of  words.  I  therefore 
considered  it  necessary  to  check  the 
assertions  in  the  above  quotation  as 
well  as  I  could.  My  friend  Mr.  W. 
Babington,  being  resident  at  Havre 


when  this  passage  came  under  my  con- 
sideration, obligingly  made  inquiries 
for  me  of  the  vicars  of  Notre  Dame  at 
Havre,  Messrs.  Herval  and  Le  Due, 
and  of  Norman  gentlemen  from  the 
different  departments  of  Seine  In- 
ferieure,  Calvados,  Orne  and  Eure,  but 
could  find  no  trace  of  this  pronuncia- 
tion of  long  i  as  ai  (ai).  M.  1'  abbe 
Delalonde  (supra,  p.  438  n.  3)  whom  I 
also  consulted  on  this  point,  writes  to 
me :  "  I  change  en  a'i  est  tout  a  fait 
Stranger  a  notre  contree."  But  re- 
specting "Arnould  daine,"  he  says: 
"  Le  celebre  proverbe  est  totalement 
inconnu  chez  nous ;  il  signifie  bien : 
Arnould  dine,  ....  quant  a  la  ma- 
niere  de  prononcer  le  mot  diner,  je  le 
representerais  plutot  ainsi :  deinner,  et 
cette  prononciation  est  fort  repandue 
parmi  les  paysans."  This  probably 
means  (dEEne).  As,  however,  none  of 
these  inquiries  had  extended  to  the 
precise  district  pointed  out  by  M.  Le 
Hericher  as  that  in  which  a'i  was  said 
for  long  i,  viz.  la  Hague,  the  penin- 
sula containing  Cherbourg,  I  wrote  to 
M.  Totain,  the  cure  of  Beaumont,  the 
nearest  town  to  Cape  de  la  Hague,  and 
he  has  favoured  me  with  the  following 
reply :  "  Etranger  au  pays  de  la  Hague 
que  je  n'habite  que  depuis  quelques 
annees,  je  ne  suis  pas  autant  au  courant 
que  beaucoup  d'autres  de  la  prononcia- 
tion des  habitans.  J'ai  cependant  in- 
terroge  quelques  personnes  de  la  localite 
que  j'habite,  et  elles  m'ont  affirme  que, 
dans  le  canton  de  Beaumont,  nulle 
part  on  ne  dit :  praison  pour  prison,  ni 
jola'i  pour  joli ;  ni :  tu  betifaies  pour 
betifies.  On  dit :  il  est  parti  en  pri- 
son ;  il  est  j61i — tu  dis  ou  tu  fais  des 
betises.  On  ne  dit  pas  non  plus  enva'ie 
pour  envie."  In  a  subsequent  com- 
munication, M.  Totain  says  :  "  Mon 
Maire,  M.  Le  Taillis,  Docteur  medecin, 
originaire  de  Montebourg,"  a  small 
town  fifteen  miles  S.S.E.  of  Cherbourg 
on  the  same  peninsula,  "m'a  affirme 
que  la  prononciation :  il  est  jolai,  il 
est  en  praison,  tu  betifais,  qui  n'est 
pas  usite  dans  la  Hague,  Test  tres 
gdneralement  parmi  les  habitants  de 
Montebourg  et  des  environs."  (supra 
p.  297,  note.)  After  this  examination 
we  may  feel  certain  that  the  pronun- 
ciation of  long  i  as  (ai)  adduced  by  M, 


1.  No. 


NORMAN    FRENCH    El,    AI. 


461 


we  possess  of  the  old  Norman  pronunciation,  that,  as  it  is  in  general 
derived  from  independent  sources,  we  are  rather  justified  in  revers- 
ing the  process  of  investigation  and  using  rhymes  of  English  and 


Le  Hericher  is  a  remarkably  circum- 
scribed local  pronunciation  of  no  his- 
torical value,  although  it  has  the  pho- 
netic importance  of  shewing  that  the 
change  of  (ii)  to  (ai)  is  not  confined 
to  England,  Germany,  and  Holland, 
but  has  an  analogue,  confined  indeed 
to  a  very  small  district,  but  still  ex- 
istent in  Normandy.  We  proceed  then 
at  once  to  what  bears  more  directly  on 
our  present  investigation,  an  examina- 
tion of  the  evidence  on  which  he  attri- 
butes this  pronunciation  to  the  old 
Norman  of  the  xu  th  century.  M.  Le 
Hericher  does  not  give  the  reference 
to  "Wace  and  it  was  not  without  con- 
siderable difficulty  that  I  discovered 
the  passage  he  apparently  meant  to 
cite  in  Roman  de  Ron,  vol.  ii,  p.  105, 
v.  10659.  Wace  is  explaining  the 
meaning  of  the  English  word  Zonee  as 
he  writes  it,  that  is,  Thorney,  Thorn 
island,  on  which  Westminster  Abbey 
was  built,  and  says — not  what  M.  Le 
Hericher  has  written,  but — • 
Ee  est  isle,  zon  est  espine, 
Seit  rainz,  seit  arbre,  seit  racine. 
All  trace  of  an  ai  =  (ai)  sound  here  dis- 
appears. The  next  passage  cited  from 
Beneois  (Benoit  ?)  again  without  any 
reference,  I  have  been  unable  to  verify, 
but  supposing  that  it  is  correctly  cited 
— a  very  hazardous  supposition,  after 
the  above  misquotation — the  metre  re- 
quires the  separation  of  the  syllables 
a-ta-i-ne,  and  the  rhyme  becomes  re- 
gular. Roquefort  gives  the  verb  under 
the  forms :  atainer,  ataigner,  atayner, 
athir,  aimer  =nuire,  referring  to  the 
low  Breton  atay»a,  and  the  substantive 
in  the  forms :  atahin,  ataine,  atainement, 
atayne,  atenes,  athaine,  athine,  atie, 
atine,  attaine,  attine  =  haine.  The  word 
was  evidently  pronounced  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  and  it  is  not  an  example  which 
establishes  anything.  From  M.  Le 
Hericher' s  assertion  with  which  he  in- 
troduces this  instance,  that  there  are 
"  numerous"  examples  of  the  rhyming 
of  a'i  with  i  in  old  Norman,  it  would 
seem  that  he  had  confused  the  diph- 
thong (ai)  with  the  divided  vowels  (a, 
i),  and  that  when,  as  is  quite  right, 
proper,  and  consistent,  (a,i)  rhymes 
with  (i),  he  concluded  that  (ai)  rhymes 


with  (i),  which  is  perfectly  different. 
Certainly  no  one  who  can  confuse  the 
two  cases,  is  competent  to  make  use  of 
rhymes  to  determine  pronunciation. 
We  may  therefore  dismiss  M.  Le  Heri- 
cher's  assertion  that  the  pronunciation 
ai  (ai)  for  long  i  was  not  unknown  to 
the  old  Normand,  as  perfectly  destitute 
of  foundation,  neither  of  his  examples 
bearing  in  the  least  upon  it,  and  both 
discrediting  his  method  of  research. 
My  own  examination  of  all  the  rhymes 
in  Wace's  Roman  de  Rou  has  not  pro- 
duced a  single  instance  of  this  mon- 
strosity. In  the  modern  example  from 
La  Hague,  as  the  author  writes  Edlaine 
and  not  Edlaine,  this  does  not  seem  to 
be  a  case  in  point,  but  appears  to  refer 
to  some  other  dialectic  tendency  similar 
to  that  cited  by  M.  Delalonde  of  deinner 
for  diner.  I  have  not  been  able  to  see 
or  hear  of  a  copy  of  the  poem  Condo- 
leance  Haguaise  cited  by  M.  Le  Heri- 
cher .  Respecting  the  two  words  cited 
from  Don  Juan,  we  must  remember  that 
Moliere  lived  in  the  xvnth  century, 
hence  his  ai,  not  a'i,  should  mean 
(ee).  There  are  many  curious  spellings 
in  Le  Festin  de  Pierre,  Act  2,  sc.  1,  as  ai 
for  oi  and  conversely,  ar  for  er,  i  for 
M,  but  perhaps  no  cases  of  ai  for  t  except 
those  cited :  "  Iglia  que  tu  me  cha- 
graines  V esprit,  franchement."  "  Je 
m'en  vais  boire  chopaine  pour  me  re- 
bouter  taut  soit  peu  de  la  fatigue  que 
j'aie  eue."  The  esprit \  fatigue  shew 
that  there  was  no  general  change.  M. 
Totain  says  in  reference  to  words  in 
-ine,  as  "  poitrine,  chagrine,  vermine, 
chopine,  etc.,  nos  pay  sans  les  pronon- 
cent  generalement  comme  s'il  y  avait : 
e'ne  ou  aine.  Ainsi  ils  disent ;  Viens 
bere  une  chopene  ou  une  chopaine, 
c'est-a-dire ;  Viens  boire  une  chopine." 
This  confirms  the  above  view  cf  Edlaine. 
After  this  examination  it  wo"uld  be  un- 
safe to  build  upon  M.  Le  Hericher' s  ac- 
count of  Norman  pronunciation,  which 
begins  with  an  assertion  very  far  from 
being  borne  out  by  his  subsequent  re- 
marks, even  supposing  them  correct : 
"  Quand  la  projvbnciation  normande 
n'existera  plusy'on  pourra  la  retrouver 
presque  tout  e/tiere,  dans  la  prononcia- 
tion  anglaise/'— Credat  Judceus  ! 


462  NORMAN   AND   ENGLISH   RHYMES.  CHAP.  V. 

Norman  to  elicit  the  English  pronunciation  of  Norman.  Of  course 
it  is  necessary  to  be  sure  that  apparent  rhymes  are  meant  to  be 
such,  and  to  exclude  assonances  when  consonants  are  to  be  deter- 
mined, and  not  to  deduce  anything  from  single  instances,  which 
may  be  only  scribal  errors.  For  example  the  passage  last  cited 
(p.  449)  could  not  be  used  to  deduce  the  pronunciation  of  any  of  the 
Norman  words,  except :  tere,  sarmoun,  which  certainly  rhyme  with : 
were,  adoun,  in  the  last  stanza,  and  which  must  therefore  have  been 
called  (tee're,  sarmuun*),  an  important  conclusion  as  respects  the 
last  word,  as  it  excludes  the  idea  of  the  English  having  heard  any 
approach  to  the  modern  French  nasality  in  the  last  word.  It  is 
evident  that  in  the  former  part  of  the  stanza  the  Norman  words 
may  rhyme  with  Norman  and  the  English  with  English  throughout, 
as  shewn  by  the  italics  for  the  Norman  in  :  defere  sovent,  faire 
shent,  Engletere  gent,  faire  parlement ;  eyre  crey,  fire  awey,  dire 
Tripolay,  shire  wey,  and  hence  no  information  would  result.  The 
construction  of  ballads  is  so  loose  that  we  have  really  no  right  to 
assume  anything  else,  if  we  take  the  middle  rhymes  into  account. 

The  following  lines  are  curious  (Pol.  Songs,  p.  49,  from  Harl. 
MS.  978,  undoubtedly  of  the  xmth  century,  supra  p.  420,  n.  1). 

Competenter  per  Robert,  robbur1  designator : 

Et  per  Richard  riche  hard  congrue  notatur ; 

Gilebert  non  sine  re  gilur  appellatur ; 

Gefrei,  si  rem  tangimus,  injofrai  commutator. 

The  consonants  must  here  not  be  pressed  too  hard,  and  we  cannot 
be  certain  that  Robert  was  pronounced  Rober  as  at  present.  The 
Gilebert,  gilur  =  Gilbert  guiler,  shew  the  identity  of  Norman  and 
English  t  long,  guaranteed  as  (u,  ii)  by  the  present  and  perhaps 
ancient  short  vowel  in  the  first  syllable  of  Gilbert ;  and  Gefrei,  jo 
frai  =  je  ferai,  is  useful  in  assigning  the  pronunciation  of  Geoffrey 
as  (Dzhef'rar).  But  (Dzhef'ree*)  must  have  also  been  in  use,  see 
p.  498.  There  is  scarcely  anything  else  which  is  useful  in  the 
Pol.  Songs,  but  the  following  may  be  noted,  the  French  words 
being  italicised  as  before  :  pas  was  p.  189,  De  be  p.  191,  Boloyne 
moyne  assoygne  loyne  Coloyne  Sesoyne  p.  191,  Dee  contree  p.  216, 
eglise  wise  p.  251,  and  the  Latin:  custodi  mody  p.  251. 

There  are  three  poems  from  TJniv.  Camb.  MS.  Gg.  4,  27,  in  which 
many  French  rhymes  occur.2  This  MS.,  from  which  also  the  Chaucer 
Society  are  printing  the  Canterbury  Tales,  is  supposed  to  belong  to 
the  fint  half  of  the  xvth  century,  but  evidently  cannot  belong  to  a 
Southe-  n  locality  on  account  of  its  treatment  of  the  final  e?  Although 

1  In  tha  spelling  robbur,  gilur  the  u  3  See  an  interesting  account  of  this 
stands  for  e    as  usual ;    the    English  MS.   and  its  numerous    peculiarities, 
reader  should  not  think  of  such  a  sound  prefixed  to  the  Chaucer  Society's  re- 
as  (a)  or  (a).  print.      It    may    be    compared  with 

Audelay  (supra  p.  450,  note  2),   in  the 

2  These  were  printed  11  July  1864  interchange  of  o  with  a,  e,  u,  the  use  of 
for  private    circulation    hy   Rev.    H.  ony  for  any,  the  frequent  use  of  e  for  i, 
Bradshaw,   of   King's    College,  Cam-  the  neglect  of  final   e,  and  in  many 
bridge,   to  whose   kindness  I  am  in-  other  points,  so  that  its  authority  on 
debted  for  the  copies   from  which  I  questions  of  Southern  pronunciation  is 
quote.  very  slight. 


§  1,  No.  3.       NORMAN  AND  ENGLISH  RHYMES.  463 


these  rhymes  do  not  properly  belong  to  the  period  of  this  chapter, 
this  seems  the  most  appropriate  place  for  their  consideration.  The 
first  stanzas  of  the  poems  are  as  follows  : 

I.     DE  AMICO  AD  AMICAM. 

1.  A  celuy  qui  pluys  eyme  en  Mounde 
Of  alle  tho  that  I  haue  founde 

Carissima 

Saluj  od  treye  amour 
"With  grace  ioye  and  alle  honour 

Dulcissima 

2.  Sachej  bien  pleysant  et  beele 
That  I  am  ryjt  in  good  heele 

Laus  cristo 

Et  moun  amour  done  vous  ay 
And  also  thynowene  nyjt  and  day 

In  cisto 

II.     RESPONCIO 

1.  A  soun  treschere  et  special 
Fer  and  ner  and  oueral 

In  mundo 

Que  soy  ou  salt}  et  gre 
With  mouth  word  and  herte  fre 

locundo 

2.  leo  vous  sanj  debat 
That  je  wolde  of  myn  stat 

Audire 

Sertefyes  a  vous  ieo  say 
I  wil  In  tyme  whan  I  may 

Venyre 

III.     [THE  SONGS  OF  THE  BIRDS] 

1.  In  may  whan  euery  herte  is  lyjt 

And  flourys  frosschely  sprede  and  sprynge 
And  Phebus  with  hise  bemys  bryjte 
Was  in  the  bole  so  cler  schynynge 
That  sesyn  in  a  morwenynge 

Myn  sor  for  syghte  to  don  socour 
With  inne  a  wode  was  myn  walkynge 

Pur  moy  ouhter  hors  de  dolour 

2.  And  in  an  erber  sote  and  grene 

That  benchede  was  with  clourys  newe 
A  doun  I  sat  me  to  bemene 

For  verray  seyk  ful  pale  of  hewe 
And  say  be  syde  aturtil  trewe 

For  leue  gan  syngyn  of  hire  fere 
In  frensch  ho  so  the  roundele  knewe 

Amour  me  fait  souent  pensere. 

The  following  arrangement   of  these   rhymes   will   shew  their 
hearing.     The  French  words  are  in  Italics,  the  references  'to  the 
number   of  the   poem,    as   above,    and  the   line,    explanations  in 
brackets : 
A.  debat  senbat  [s'en  bat]  iii  22,  debat      E.  le  [le,  broad]  me  i£2,  le  the  ii  28— 

stat  ii  7 — special  oueral  ii  1 — alias          pete  [pite]  me  ii  40,  verite  the  i.  23, 

was  ii  31 — toward  yard  [garde]  i  70  charite\)e  i  67,  votiunteihe  [thee]  i  37, 

AI.  ay  [ai]   day  i  10,  serray  [serai]  ii  46—gre  [gre^f  fre  [free]  ii  4,  tre- 

day  ii  13,  say  [sais]  may  ii  10  same  [tres  ayme]  be  i  55,  tresame  the 


464 


NORMAN   AND   ENGLISH   RHYMES. 


CHAP.  V. 


[thee]  i  13,  done  [donne]  the  i  61, 
en  presone  [emprisonne]  sle  [slay,  as 
often  in  Chaucer]  i  34  —  fere  [com- 
panion] pensere  [penser]  iii  I4,manere 
were  ii  34,  chere  pere  [peer]  i  43, 
et  pur  ceo  leo  vous  creser  [?]  daunger 
28,—  leal  [loyal]  fel  [feel]  i  16,  beele 
heele  [health]  i  7. 


stedefastly  [another  faulty  northern 
or  xv  th  century  rhyme]  ii  52 — 
fere  [=fyr  =  fire  for  this  rhyme, 
see  p.  272]  aymyer  iii  38,  quoer 
[cceur]  fyr  [evidently  taken  as  (keer, 
feer),  see  last  case]  i  40,  entyre  de- 
parter  [compare  the  last  case  but 
one]  iii  118 — dy)  [dis]  pris  i  31 — 
tryst  [triste]  nyjt  [night,  see  re- 
marks oelow]  i  19. 

0.  a  cestys  ay  maunde  de  vous  ore  [or?] 
more  ii  43,  note  rote  i  46,  sort  mort 
iii  62. 

OU.  verteuous  ioyous  [joyeux]  iii  86, 
amour  flour  ii  22,  amour  honour  i  4, 
socour  dolour  [douleur]  iii  6. 

NASALS.  —  penaunce  languissaunce  iii 
70 — dolent  schent  ii  19,  entendement 
entent  i  58,  greuousement  schent  ii 
37  —  seyn  [sain]  serteyn  i  49  — 
— mounde  [monde]  founde  i  1. 


[belle] 

El.  weye  soye    [sois]    iii    46,   espeye 

[epee,  should  be  espie,  the  e  was  a 

subsequent  insertion]   deye   [should 

be  dye  as  often  in  Chaucer,  p.  284] 

122 

EU.  rewe  adewe  iii  94,  crew  deceu  iii  54 
I.  vye  [vie]  curteysye  ii  49,  pry  [prie] 

curteysy  [should  be  curteysye  as  in 

the  last  case]  i  64,  ermony  [should 

be  harmonye~]  oublye  iii  30,  maladye 

sikyrlye    [should    be    sikyrly,    but 

then   the    rhyme    is    faulty   in    a 

northern  or  late  xv  th  century  man- 

ner] ii  16,  ieo  vous  pry  [for  prye] 

So  far  as  these  rhymes  establish  anything  they  go  to  confirm  our 
former  conclusions  in  every  respect,  and  to  shew  an  absence  of 
nasality  in  the  English  pronunciation  of  French  in  the  xv  th  century, 
as  we  shall  find  again  in  the  xvr  th,  Chap.  VIII,  §  3.  The  rhyme  : 
tryst  nyjt,  is  very  remarkable.  It  cannot  be  supposed  either  that 
5  was  in  such  a  position  as  ny$  ever  pronounced  as  s,  although  we 
find  dy$  =  dis  i  31  in  the  French;  nor  on  the  other  hand  can  we 
suppose  that  s  was  omitted  in  tryst  and  3  in  nytf,  producing  the 
rhyme:  (triit,  niit,)  because  s  is  still  pronounced  in  this  French 
word.  Hence  we  are  compelled  to  assume  an  assonance  (trist, 
niMit),  which  a  clumsy  poet  found  quite  near  enough  to  satisfy  his 
ear.  Mr.  Lumby  however  entertains  a  different  opinion.  In  his 
edition  of  King  Horn,  infra  p.  480,  n.  1,  from  this  same  Cambridge 
MS.  Gg.  4,  27,  2,  he  observes  on  the  forms,  mifte  =  mi^te  10, 
dofter  =  dorter  249,  rhyming  with  fo^te,  and  rift  =  ri^t  in 
line  663  of  Flori}  in  the  same  MS.,  which  line  also  contains  no^t, 
with  }  and  not  f  :  "  This  interchange,"  he  says,  "  occurs  so  often  in 
early  MSS.  that  it  is  a  conclusive  proof  of  a  similarity  in  sound  be- 
tween the  letters,"  and  adds  that  "in  several  copies  of  Piers  Plow- 
man soure  occurs  for  ^oure"  1  and  refers  to  Rel.  Ant.  i,  48,  for  a  poem 
where  this  substitution  occurs  throughout.  This  poem,  The  Five  Joys 
of  the  Yirgin,  is  from  Trin.  Coll.  MS.  B  14,  39,2  which  Mr.  T.  Wright 


1  Mr.  Skeat  knows  only  of  one  copy, 
MS.  Cotton  Vesp.  B.  xvi,  where  there 
are  several,  but  not  many,  examples, 
and  the  spelling  is  altogether  singular. 

2  Some  account  of  this  MS.  is  given 
in  Mr.  Albert  Way's   Preface  to  the 
Promptorium    Parvulorum,    p.    Ixxii, 
under  the  heading-  "Femina."     This 
MS.,   I    am  informed  by  Mr.   Aldis 
Wright,  the  librarian  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege,  disappeared    from    that    library 


between  1853  and  1859,  and  as  no  one 
had  taken  it  out  on  bond  in  that  inter- 
val, it  must  have  been  appropriated. 
There  are  notices  of  it  in  Hickes,  The- 
saurus i,  144,  154,  and  its  disappearance 
is  a  serious  loss  to  Early  English  phi- 
lology. The  poem  of  the  Five  Joys 
is  reprinted  in  Golbeck  and  Matz- 
ner's  Sprachproben  p.  51,  but  these 
editors  have  taken  the  liberty  of  replac- 
ing -ft  by  -ht  throughout. 


§  1,  No.  3.  NORMAN   AND   ENGLISH   RHYMES.  465 

assigns  to  the  first  half  of  the  xni  th  century,  a  conclusion  at 
variance  with  the  orthography  thou  which  is  invariable  and  occurs 
frequently,  and  wid-oute.  The  only  other  test  word  is  ure,  which 
has  the  xni  th  century  form,  so  that  the  close  of  the  xni  th  century- 
is  the  time  indicated,  as  for  Havelok.  The  words  containing  f  for  3 
in  this  poem  are :  brift  mift,  lifte  rifte,  mifte,  drift  rift,  mifte 
brifte,  brift.  This  same  poem  contains  some  other  curious  ortho- 
graphies as  :  sue  [such],  seal,  sculde,  scene.  It  omits  the  guttural 
altogether  in :  broutest  [broughtest],  slo  [slew].  It  apparently 
confuses  v  with  ]>  in 

The  thridde  dai  he  ros  to  live ; 

Levedi,  ofte  were  thou  blive  [bli]?e  ?]  l 
Ac  never  so  thou  were  tho. 

Levedi,  for  then  ilke  sive  [sij?e  ?] 

That  tou  were  of  thi  sone  blive  [blijje  ?] 
Al  mi  sunnes  thou  do  me  fro ! 

In  the  last  stanza  we  have  :  beue  newe,  printed,  meaning  ap- 
parently :  bene  newe,  which  would  be  an  assonance,  and  is  the 
reading  adopted  by  Matzner. 

Levedi,  tuet  thou  me  mi  bene 
For  the  joie  that  ever  is  newe, 
Thou  let  me  never  be  furlorn. 

These  peculiarities  render  this  text  not  particularly  useful  for  our 
purpose,  and  inasmuch  as  }  was  used  for  both  2  and  5,  some  inac- 
curate scribes  may  have  considered  that  f ,  which  was  also  certainly 
(z)  at  times,  might  be  used  for  5.    The  only  passage  I  have  yet  met 
in  which  3  standing  for  5  has  apparently  the  sound  (s),  is  this  very 
suspicious  couplet  of  a  poem  full  of  bad  spelling  (i  19,  supra  p. 463)  : 
Jeo  suy  pour  toy  dolant  et  tryst 
Ther  me  peynyst  bothe  day  and  nyjt 
Amore, 

and  it  would  be  unwise  to  found  a  theory  upon  a  single  instance  of 
such  small  authority.  In  the  first  passage  of  King  Horn,  the 
parallel  MSS.  in  Mr.  Lumby's  preface,  p.  vi,  give  myhte, 
m  i  c  t  e ;  and  m  i  3 1  e  occurs  two  line  above  in  his  own  text. 

These  rhymes  of  Norman  and  English  are  rather  to  be  treated  as 
jokes  than  as  serious  attempts  to  determine  the  Norman  pronun- 
ciation. They  may  be  classed  with  Hood's  description  of  an  Eng- 
lishman's difficulties  in  Prance  : 

Chaises  stand  for  chairs,  For  wine  I  reel'd  about 

They  christen  letters  Billies,  To  show  my  meaning  fully, 

They  call  their  mothers  mares,  And  made  a  pair  of  horns 

And  all  their  daughters  Allies  ;  To  ask  for  "  beef  and  bully." 

Strange  it  was  to  hear,  Then  their  cash  was  strange, 

I'll  tell  you  what's  a  good  'un,  It  bored  me  every  minute. 

They  call  their  leather  queer,  How  here's  a  hog  to  change, 

And  half  their  shoes  are  wooden.  How  many  sows  are  in  it ! 

Comic  Annual,  i831,  p.  82- 

1  Blive   means   quickly,   which  will  Hue    biliue  stighe   (Prisoner's   Prayer 

not  make  sense  here.     The  rhyme  here  27),  because  (f,  th)  and  therefore  (v, 

then   sinks  into   an  assonance,  which  dh)  are  more  readily-  confounded  than 

even  more  resembles  a  rhyme  than :  (v,  0h) ;  we  may  suppose  Ufye  to  have 

30 


466  GENESIS  AND  EXOUUS  —  XIII  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.    Y 

Moore's  Fudge  Family  in  Paris,  shews  :  joy  Roi,  St.  Denis  penny, 
swear  is  Very's,  throat  papillate,  fond  Fronde,  cracker  fiacre,  ^Tatties 
pdtts,  affiches  wish,  Musses  use,  mon  Prince  sense,  jolie  Dolly, 
ecrevisses  bliss,  coach  poche.  In  Byron  we  find :  true  is  petits  puits 
(Juan,  15,  68)  eprouveuse  muse  (ib.  9,  84),  Vauban  hang  slang  (ib. 
5,  11),  a  V Allemande  understand  hand  (ib.  15,  66),  French  Per- 
vencTie  14,  75.  These  modern  instances  should  teach  us  not  to  ride 
our  old  examples  too  hard,  and  certainly  not  to  draw  conclusions 
from  a  few  cases. 

4.   THE  STORY  OF  GENESIS  AND  EXODUS,  ciRcX  A.D.  1290. 

Mr.  Richard  Morris  attributes  the  composition  of  the  rhymed 
account  of  GENESIS  AND  EXODXJS  contained  in  a  MS.  in  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge,  to  about  A.D.  1250,  but  the  actual  writing  of 
the  MS.  to  nearly  as  late  as  1300,1  so  that  it  was  "the  work  of  a 
scribe  to  whom  the  language  was  more  or  less  archaic."  The 
dialect  he  considers,  together  with  that  of  the  Bestiary  (supra, 
p.  439),  and  the  Orrmulum  (infra,  p.  486)  to  be  East  Midland. 
This  poem  being  well  known  to  all  the  members  of  the  Early 
English  Text  Society,  I  have  examined  the  rhymes  to  obtain  indi- 
cations of  the  pronunciation,  and  shall  refer  to  them  by  the  number 
of  the  lines  in  which  they  occur. 

Assonances  are  not  uncommon,  but  the  principal  are  those  in 
which  an,  corresponds  to  am,  as:  'San  nam  481,  nam  canahan  725, 
abram  leman  781,  abram  iurdan  805,  abram  man  909,  bigan  abram 
921,  abraham  'San  1189,  nam  laban  1653.  Occasionally  in  im, 
caym  kin  543,  elim  sin  3307 ;  on  om,  on-on  horn  2199 ;  un  urn, 
cumen  munen  1621.  Probably :  gate  quake  1054  is  an  error  of  the 
scribe  for:  gate  quate.  Joseph  swep  2085,  hond  wrong  2063, 
sokoth  pharaofh  3209,  are  single  cases,  but  oe  occurs  more  fre- 
quently :  fot  oc  2497,  oc  mod  3923,  nurS  boc  3603.  Altogether 
false  rhymes  are  rare,  and  are  probably  scribal  errors  :  agen  under- 
gon  1159,  drog  nuge  1327,  get  bigat  2277,  'Sor  ger  2417,  specande 
lockende  2821,  moysen  man  3109,  eliazar  or  4091.  In:  numen 
comen  343,  broken  luken  361,  3779,  this  is  almost  certainly  the 
case,  and  in :  swem  greim  391,  which  would  otherwise  be  an 
example  of  e,  ei  rhyming,  the  second  word  should  be  grem  or  grim. 
The  rhyme  i,  e,  is  normal,  as  in  Chaucer,  (supra  p.  272) :  li'Ser 
ne^er  369,  effraym  hem  2151,  wliten  eten  2289,  abiden  deden 
2483,  mide  dede  2963,  and  probably  implies  that  i  =  (ii,  i).  Oc- 

been  called,  (bliidh-e),  at  present  both          *  The  story  of  Genesis  and  Exodus, 

(blaidh,  blaith)   are  heard.      Matzner  an   Early  English  Song,  about  1250, 

reads    blithe,    sithe,     saying  :    "  Wir  now  first  edited  [for  the  Early  English 

schreiben  aier    blithe  fiir  blive,    und  Text   Society]   from  a  unique  MS.  in 

sithe  fiir  swe  ;  da  sonst  die  Stelle  un-  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 

erklarbar  bleibt.    Dadurch  tritt  in  live  Cambridge,   by  Richard  Morris,  Lon- 

die  Assonanz  an  die  Stelle  des  Reims.  don,  8vo.  pp.  xl.  224  ;  A.D.  1865. 
Dass  bUve  =  bilife,  belme,  quickly,  nicht 
geduldet  werden  kann,  ist   selbstver- 
Btandlich." 


§  1,  No.  4.         GENESIS  AND  EXODTJS XIII  TH  CENTURY.  467 

casionally  an  e  final  seems  omitted,  or  added  by  mistake,  as :  song 
amonge  699,  child  milde  985,  compare:  childe  mild  1305.  In 
many  instances  -e,  and  -en  rhyme,  where  the  editor  has  apparently 
changed  -e  into  en,  though  in  some  cases  it  would  seem  more 
correct  to  change  -en  into  -e. 

As  regards  u,  it  had  certainly  generally  the  pronunciation  (uu), 
and  those  rare  cases  in  which  it  is  replaced  by  ou,  may  be  attributed 
to  the  more  modern  habits  of  the  scribe,  as  the  use  of  ou  for  (uu) 
seems  to  have  commenced  about  the  close  of  the  xinth  century. 
Thus  we  find :  run  =  speech,  circumcicioun  991,  town  dun  = 
down  2739,  but:  tun  dun  713,  teremuth  =  Pharaoh's  daughter's 
name,  out  2615.  But  the  Hebrew:  man  hu?  nu  3329,  alluding 
to  Ex.  xvi,  15  (man  HUU?),  what  is  this?,  the  question  asked 
when  the  manna  was  first  seen,  as  clearly  points  to  the  use  of  u  for 
(uu)  as  the  cuccu  of  the  Cuckoo  Song.  The  use  of  u  for  (yy,  y), 
probably  called  (it,  i,  e)  is  rare,  but  we  find  untuderi  =  barren,  964. 

That  the  unaccented  syllables  were  occasionally  pronounced  in  a 
slovenly  manner,  we  collect  from  the  rhyme  :  euenehe  uone  331. 

Diphthongal  combinations  are  altogether  rare. 

Ea  occurs,  but  rhymes  with  e,  and  may  be  always  a  scribal  error : 
forbead  dead  311,  opened  dead  387,  red  dead  401,  bead  dead  1059, 
ear  'Sear  =  dear?  1089,  forked  dead  1329,  dead  red  2513.  Pro- 
bably pronounced  (ee')  or  (ee,  e)  in  all  cases. 

Oa  rhymes  always  with  a,  and  may  have  been  (aa} :  moal  = 
speech  natural  81,  woa  =  woe  eua  ==  Eve  237,  gomorra  ^oa  =  ^a 
839,  oba  woa  =  woe  879,  salmona  ^Soa  3893,  fasga  doa  =  ^Sa  4129. 

Ai,  ei  rhyme  together,  and  must  have  both  been  (ai) :  ay  day  87, 
wei  dai  1429,  grei  awei  1723,  dai  awei  2305,  day  wey  2721,  dai 
mai  2747.  In :  awei  deai  861,  the  last  word  is  a  mere  scribal  error 
for  dai. 

The  guttural  g  is  occasionally  omitted,  as  :  ru  esau  1539,  where 
ru  =  rough.  Sometimes  it  is  merely  changed  into  w,  probably  in- 
dicating (wh)  or  (gwh) :  noght  sowt  2869.  We  also  find  initial 
gh,  in  ghe  =  she,  237,  337,  339,  but  ge  =  she  1024  possibly  a 
remnant  of  (#h),  though  (j)  seems  to  have  been  the  sound  intended. 

This  examination  confirms  our  previous  conclusions  as  to  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  XHI  th  century. 

The  following  is  an  attempt  to  convey  a  notion  of  how  the  poem 
may  have  been  read.  The  text  is  according  to  the  MS.,  the  pro- 
nunciation introduces  some  conjectural  emendations,  without  which 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  read  the  text.1 

1  In  one  or  two  points  I  differ  from  there  about  as  in :  ftor  buften  noe  long 

Mr.  Morris,  particularly  in  the  last  line  fwing  he  dreg  566,  .y£\.  raone'S  $or- 

but  four,  where  he  takes  buten  hunte  =•  buten  he  ben  3625,  ttunte  becomes  the 

"without  search,  or  hunting,  without  infinite  mood,  and Xhe  construction  is 

delay,"  hut  by  restoring  ie  in  the  pre-  ic  sal  hunte  ^or/L  buten,  I  shall  hunt 

ceding  line,  wanted  for  the  metre  and  there  about,  I  "shall  endeavour  to  ac- 

the  sense,  and  taking  ftor  buten  to  mean  complish  it. 


468 


GENESIS  AND  EXODUS XIII  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 


Genesis  and  Exodus,  269-318. 

Wifdom  ^e  made    ilc    'Sing  of 

nogt, 
Qwuat-fo-eu0re  on  heuone  or  her 

if  wrogt. 
Ligber  he  fridde  a  dere  frud, 

And  he   wurSe    in    him-feluen 

prud, 
An  wi^  'Sat  pn'dehim  wex  a  ny^>, 

'Sat  iwel  welded  al  his  fr8  ; 

'So   ne    migte    he    non    lou^rd 

'Shauen, 
ftat  him  fulde  'Shinge  grauen  : 

Min  fligt,  he  seide,  ic  wile  up- 
taken 
Min  fete  norS  on  heuene  maken, 

And  'Sor  ic  wile  fitten  and  fen 
Al  'Se  'Shinges  'Se  in  werde  ben, 

Twen  heuone  hil  and  helle  dik, 
And  ben  min  lou^rd  geuelic. 
fto  wurS  he  drake  'Sat  ear  was 

knigt, 
'So  wurft  he  mire  %at  ear  was  ligt, 

And  eumlc  on  'Sat  helden  wid 

him, 
'So  warden  mire,  and  fwart,  and 

dim, 

And  fellen  ut  of  heuones  ligt, 
In  to  'Sis  middil  walknes  nigt ; 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

"Wiis'doom  dhe  maad  ilk  thiq  of 

nokht, 
IMiat-s-eer'  on  nevn-  or  neer 

is  re#okht. 
Likhtbeer   He   srid    an    deer*e 

sruud, 
And    He   wurth  in    nimsel'ven 

pruud, 
And  with  dhat  priid  -im  weks 

a  niidh 

Dhat  ii'vel  weldeth  al  -is  siidh, 
Dhoo  nee  mikht  -ee  noon  loverd 

thaa'ven 
Dhat    nim    suld    [al'e]    thiq'e 

thraa'ven  : 
Miin  flikht,  ne  said,  ic  wil  up 

taa'ken, 
Miin    see'te    north   on    nevne 

maa-ken, 
And  dhoor  ic  wiil'e  sit'n-  and 

seen. 
Al  dhe  thiq-es  dhee  -n  werld'e 

been, 

Tween  nevne  nil  and  nel'e  diik, 
And  been  miin  loverd  gee'veliik, 
Dhoo  wurdh  -e  draak'e  dhat  eer 

was  knikht, 
Dhoo   wurdh  -e  mirk   dhat  eer 

was  likht, 
And  everilk  oon   dhat  held'en 

with  mm 
Dhoo  wurdh*  en  mirk  and  swart 

and  dim, 

And  fel'en  uut  of  nevnes  likht, 
Intoo*  dhis  mid'il  walk-nes  nikht; 


Translation. 


"Wisdom    then    made    each    thing   of 

nought, 
Whatsoever    in     heaven    or    here    is 

wrought. 
Light-hear  [Lucifer]  he  [God]  clothed 

in  precious  clothing, 
And  he  became  in  himself  proud, 
And  with  that  pride  in-him  waxed  an 

envy 

That  ill  ruleth  all  his  path. 
Then  not  might  he  no  lord  endure, 
That  for-him  should  [all]  things  control. 
My  flight,  he  said,  I  will  up-take, 


My  seat  north  in  heaven  make, 

And  there  I  will  sit  and  see, 

All  the  things  that  in  the  world  he, 

Between  heaven's  hil  and  hell's  ditch, 

And  be  to-my  lord  even-like. 

Then  became  he  dragon  that  ere  was 

knight, 
Then  became  he  mirky  that  ere  was 

light, 

And  every  one  that  held  with  him 
Then  became  mirky.  and  black,  and  dim, 
And  fell  out  of  heaven's  light, 
In  to  this  middle  welkin's  night, 


§  1,  No.  4.         GENESIS  AND  EXODUS XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


469 


Genesis  and  Exodus.  Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

And  get  ne  ku^Se  lie  nogt  blinne      And  jet  ne  kuudlre  nee  nokht 

blnre 

for  to  don  an  o^er  iinne.  for  to  doon  an  oodlrer  snre. 

Eften  he  sag  in  paradif  Eest-en  He  saagh  in  paa'radiis 

Adam  and  eue  in  mike  prfcf,  Aa'dam  and  Eev  in  mik'e  priis, 

Newelike  he  was  of  erSe  wrogt,  Neu-liik'  -e  was  of  ertlre  rwokht, 
And  to  ^at  mine  bliffe  brogt ;  And  too  dhat  mirie  blis-e  brokht, 
^owgte  ^is  qwead,  hu  ma  it  ben,  Thoukht'e  dhis  kweed,  mm  mai 

it  been, 
Adam  ben  king  and  eue  qwuen        Aa'dam    been    kiq  and    Ee've 

kween, 
Of  alle  ^e  'Singe  in  werlde  ben.       Of  al'e  thiq'e  dhee  -n  werld'e 

been, 
Hu  mai  it  hauen,  hu  mai  it  fen,      Huu  mai  ic  naan,  mm  mai  ic 

seen. 
Of  fif,  of  fugel,  of  wrim,  of  der,       Of  fis,  of  fuugh-el,  of  wirm,  of 

deer, 

Of  alle  ^hinge  ^e  wunen  her,  Of  al'e  thiq'e  dhee  wuun'en  neer, 
Eumlc  ^hing  haued  he  geue  Eer'ilk*  thiq  navd  -e  geeve 

name,  naa-me, 

Me  to  forge,  fca^e,  and  fame ;         Mee    to     sorglre,    scaadh    and 

saa'me. 
for  adaw  ful  ^Sus,  and  his  wif,          For  Aa'dam  sal  dhus,   and  His 

wiif 

In  bliffe  ^us  leden  lefteful  lif ;         In  blis'e  leed'en  les'teful  liif ; 
for  alle  'So,  ^e  of  hem  fule  cumen,      For  alle  dhee  -f  Hem  sul'e  kuu'- 

men 


fulen  ermor  in  bliffe  wunen, 


Sul'en  eermoor*  in  blis'e  wuu*- 


nen, 


And  we    ^e    ben   fro    heuene  And  wee  dhe  been  froo  nevne 

driuen,  drii'ven, 

fulen  'Suffe  one  in  forwe  liuen ;  Sul'en  dhus  oon  in  sorgh'e  lii'ven, 

Get  ic  wene  I  can  a  red,  Jet  ik  ween  i  kan  a  reed 

^at  hem  fal  bringen  iwel  fped ;  Dhat  Hem  sal  briq'en  irvel  speed. 


Translation. 


And  yet  not  could  he  not  cease 
For  to  do  another  sin. 
Eastwards  he  saw  in  paradise, 
Adam  and  Eve  in  much  honour, 
Newly  he  was  of  earth  wrought, 
And  to  that  merry  bliss  brought. 
Thought  this  evil-one,  how  may  it  be,, 
Adam  be  king  and  Eve  queen 
Of  all  things  that  in  world  be. 
How  may  I  have,  how  may  I  see  I 
Of  fish,  of  fowl,  of  worm,  of  beast, 


Of  all  things  that  dwell  here, 
To-every  thing  has  he  ^iven  name, 
For  my  sorrow,  scatfte  pud  shame. 
For  Adam  shall  thus  rind  his  wife 
In  bliss  lead  lasting/rull  life. 
For  all  who  of  thezh  shall  come 
Shall  evermore  iti  bliss  dwell, 
And  we  that  b/from  heaven  driven, 
Shall  thus  only  in  sorrow  live. 
Yet  I  weenj  know  a  plan 
That  them  shall  bring  evil  speed. 


470 


HAVELOK  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


Genesis  and  Exodus. 
for  gef  he  don  'Sad  god  for-bead, 

^at  fal  hem  bringen  to  ^o  dead, 

And  fal  get  ^is  ilke  dai, 

^or  but  en  hunte  if  ic  mai ; 

Ic  wene  'Sat  ic,  and  eue  hife  wif, 

fulen  adam  bilirten  of  hife  l«f. 
Ic  wene  'Sat  ic  and  eue 
fulen  alle  is  blifle  dreue. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 
For  jef  ne  doon  dhat  God  for- 

beed 
Dhat   sal  Hem  briq'en  too  dho 

deedh, 

And  [ic]  sal  jet  dhis  ilk'e  dai 
Dhoor  buut'en  mint'e  jif  ik  mai' 
Ik  ween'e  dhat  ik  and  Eev  -is 

wiif 
Sul-en  Aa-dam  biliirten  of  His 

liif, 
Ic  ween*e  [to  sooth]  dhat  ik  and 

Ee-ve 

Sul-en   [Aa-dam]   al    -is  blis-e 
dree've. 


Translation. 

For  if  they  do  that- which  God  forbade,      I  ween  that  I,  and  Eve  his  wife, 
That  shall  bring  them  to  the  death.  Shall  Adam  betrick  of  his  life, 

And  [I]  shall  yet  this  same  day  I  ween  [in  sooth]  that  I  and  Eve 

There  about  hunt,  if  I  may.    '  Shall  [for- Adam]  all  his  bliss  trouble. 


5.    HAVELOK  THE  DANE,  CIRCA  A.D.  1290. 

Sir  Frederick  Madden  in  his  edition  of  this  poem  *  considers  its 
author  to  have  been  a  Lincolnshire  man,  and  the  time  of  composition 
between  A.D.  1270  and  1290.  As  the  romance  was  popular,  there 
may  have  been  many  copies,  and  the  manuscript  followed  by  Sir  F. 
Madden  may  not  have  been  original.  In  its  orthography,  apart 
from  its  dialectic  peculiarities,  (which  are  numerous  but  do  not  here 
come  into  consideration,  as  the  object  is  merely  to  determine  the 
value  of  the  letters,)  it  shews  a  transition  from  the  customs  of  the 
xm  th  to  those  of  the  xrv  th  century,  much  more  marked  than  in 
Genesis  and  Exodus.  Thus  ou  is  frequently  used  for  (uu),  ]>ou 
being  the  common  form,  though  )u  is  by  no  means  unfrequent, 
indeed  both  forms  occur  in  the  same  line :  Grim,  }>ou  wost  f  u  art 
mi  thral  527,  and  we  have  ]>w  1316,  and  ]?o  388,  where,  probably, 
a  final  u  has  been  accidentally  omitted  by  the  scribe.  The  following 


1  The  Ancient  English  Eomance  of 
Havelok  the  Dane,  accompanied  by  the 
French  Text,  with  an  Introduction  and 
Glossary  by  Frederick  Madden,  Esq., 
F.A.S.,  F.RS.L.,  subkeeper  of  the 
manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum, 
printed  for  the  Roxburgh  Club,  1828, 
4to.  This  edition  being  very  scarce,  a 
new  one  compared  afresh  with  the  MS. 
has  been  prepared  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society  under  the  title  :  The  Lay 
of  Havelock  the  Dane  :  composed  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  1.-  about  A.D. 
1280,  formerly  edited  by  Sir  F.  Mad- 
den for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  and  now 


re-edited  from  the  unique  MS.  Laud 
Misc.  108,  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
Cxford,  by  Eev.  Walter  W.  Skeat, 
M.A.,  London,  1869.  It  will  there- 
fore be  assumed  to  be  accessible  to  all 
members  of  that  Society,  and  will  be 
cited  by  the  number  of  the  verses,  as 
usual.  The  citations  originally  made 
from  Sir  F.  Madden' s  edition  have 
been  verified  by  Mr.  Skeat's.  I  am  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  Skeat  for  many  hints,  and 
for  kindly  allowing  me  to  make  use  of 
his  proof  sheets  before  publication,  so 
as  to  enable  me  to  insert  this  notice  in 
its  proper  place. 


§  1,  No.  5. 


HAVELOK  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


471 


rhymes  serve  to  shew  the  identity  of  the  two  spellings :  yow  now 
160,  pr«soun  la^arun  330,  mouth  suth  433,  yw  =  you  nou  453, 
nov  =  now  you  484,  bouwdew  wnden  =  wounden  546,  unbouwden 
ftmden  602,  hw  =  how  he  was  mike,  hw  he  was  strong  960, 
doun  tun  =  town  1630,  wounde  grunde  1978,  bowr  tour  2072, 
dune  croune  2656.  Of  course  ou,  ow  also  occur  as  (oou)  corres- 
ponding to  ags.  aw,  oh,  and  the  guttural  is  generally  lost  in  (w) 
after  0,  thus :  ynowe  slowe  2682.  In :  croud  god  2338,  we  should 
probably  read  crod,  as  the  proper  form  of  the  past  participle.1  The 
frequent  occurrence  of  ou,  however,  would  lead  one  to  suppose 
that  the  actual  MS.  must  belong  to  the  very  end  of  the  xni  th, 
if  not  to  the  beginning  of  the  xrv  th  century.2 

Assonances  are  frequent,  and  the  more  marked  that  there  is 
often  no  relation  between  the  consonants  which  follow  the  iden- 
tical vowels.  Thus:  rym  fin  21,  yeme  quene  182,  harde  crakede 
567,  be>e  rede  694,  knaue  plawe  949,  staredew3  ladder  1037, 


1  Ags.  cre6dan  (cread,  crudon,  cro- 
den)  Ettmiiller,  Lex.  Anglos,  p.  400. 
Nail   (supra  p.    166,  note    1)   under 
Crowd-Barrow,  quotes :  "  She  sent  my 
mother  word  hy  Kate,  that  she  should 
come    hither    when    God    sent    time, 
though  she  should  he  crod  in  a  barrow. 
Letter  of  Margery  Paston,  A.D.  1477." 

2  Mr.  Skeat  informs  me  that :  "  No 
other  MS.  of  Havelok  has  ever  been 
heard  of,  or  known  to  exist :  though  of 
course  there  may  have  been  several.    If 
this  is  not  the  original,  it  is  at  any  rate 
a  very  early  copy.  I  do  not  think  Sir  F. 
Madden,  or  any  other  judge  of  writing, 
would  admit  it  to  be  later  than  about 
1280,  the  probable  date  of  the  compo- 
sition.    The  evident  age  of  the  MS.  is 
one  evidence  of  its  early  composition." 
The  MS.  containing  Havelok  begins 
with  lives  of  Saints,  and  Havelok  was 
overlooked  for  years,  because  it  does  not 
begin  till  fo.  204.     It  ends  on  fo.  2195, 
and  is  immediately  followed  by  Kyng 
Horn  in  the  same  column.     This  has 
all  the  appearance  of  a  copy,  not  an 
original  MS.,  and  as  we  have  two  other 
copies  of  King  Horn  (p.  480,  n.  1),  we 
may  some  day  find  another  of  Havelok. 
Even  a  much  later  one  (as  in  the  case  of 
Lajamon)  would  be  of  great  service. 
It  is  of  course  impossible  to  date  a  MS. 
by  the  writing  only,  within  30  years, 
the  working  life-time  of  a  single  scribe. 
The  orthography  would  lead  me    to 
place  the  actual  manuscript  after  the 
copying  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  and 
within  the  variable  period,  say  1280  to 
1310.      Probably  after  the  last  date 
ou  was  universally  employed  for  (uu). 


If  the  reader  will  turn  to :  Seinte 
Marherete,  the  Meiden  ant  Martyr,  in 
old  English,  first  edited  from  the  skin 
books  in  1862  by  Oswald  Cockayne, 
M.A.,  and  now  reissued  for  the  Early 
English  Text  Society,  1866,  and  compare 
the  three  versions  there  given,  the  first 
from  the  MS.  Reg.  17,  A.  xxvii.,  ap- 
parently written  in  1230,  in  which  no 
case  of  ou  =  (uu)  occurs ;  the  second 
from  MS.  Harl.  2277,  attributed  to 
1330,  in  which  ou  is  always  used  for 
(uu)  ;  and  the  third  from  the  lost  Cam. 
MS.  (supra  p.  464,  n.  1 )  as  printed  by 
Hickes,  in  which,  if  the  text  is  to  be 
trusted,  there  is  just  a  trace  of  «  =  (uu) 
— J>u  22,  prisun  26,  etc.,  dragun  44, 
ut  28,  56,  jjoru  47 — amidst  a  great 
preponderance  of  OM,  the  value  of  this 
sign  of  age  in  a  MS.  will  become  more 
apparent ;  compare  also  supra,  pp.  408, 
423J439,  445,  467,  and  p.  481,  1.  11. 

3  "  Probably  miswritten  for  stradden 
contended."  Skeat,  Glossary,  Sir  F. 
Madden,  and  Garnett  are  of  the  same 
opinion.  It  is  with  great  diffidence 
that  I  presume  to  doubt  this  correction. 
Stradden  would  introduce  a  Norse  word, 
whereas  the  noun  strout  is  used  imme- 
diately 1039,  and  verb  stroute  in  1779, 
from  ags.  strudan,  strutianyix&dL  it  does 
not  seem  likely  that  both  -words  should 
coexist  in  the  same  dialect,  or,  if  they 
did,  should  be  used  in  immediate  proxi- 
mity. Nor,  I  must  efonfess,  does  con- 
tended seem  to  make  very  good  sense. 
The  passage  relatfes  to  the  game  of 
"  putting  the  stove,"  the  point  being  to 
see  who  shouVy^  throw  an  enormous 
stone  furthesr'for  he  whose  stone  was 


472 


HAVELOK XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


shop  (?)  hok  1101,  odrat  bad  1153,  drawe  haue  1297,  fet  ek  1303, 
ioye  trone  1315,  maked  yschaped  1646,  riche  chinche  1763,  2940, 
feld  swerd  1824,  2634,1  seruede  werewed  1914,  wend  gent  2138, 
shauwe  knawe  2206,  grauen  namen  2528,  thank  rang  2560,2  bofe3 
rede  2585,  bo]?en  drowen  2659,  shawe  knawe  2784. 

Apart  from  these  assonances  there  are  no  bad  rhymes  which  do 
not  admit  of  explanation.  Thus  :  hey  fri  1071,  might  possibly 
be  :  hy  fri,  see  p.  285,  but  as  the  form  Tiy  does  not  occur  in  Have- 
lock,  we  should  probably  read:  hey  sley,  compare  1083.4  The 


even  an  inch  before  the  others  was  to 
he  held  a  champion : 
Hwo  so  mithe  putten  j?ore 
Biforn  anoj?er,  an  inch  or  more, 
Wore  ye  [=he?]  yung,  [or]  wore  he 

hold, 

He  was  for  a  kewpe  told.  1033 

What  would  then  he  more  natural  than 
for  the  champions  and  the  lads  to  stand 
and  look  intently,  stare,  prior  to  the 
throw,  and  then  make  a  great  conten- 
tion, strout,  about  the  best  cast.     This 
is  what  the  text  says  as  it  stands : 
Al-so  be[i]  stoden;  an[d]  ofte  staredew 
]>e  chaunpiouns,  and  ek  the  laddew, 
And  he  maden  mikel  strout 
Abouten  be  alberbeste  but.  1037 

It  would,  however,  be  rather  curious  to 
say  that  the  champions  and  lads  stood 
and  contended  and  made  a  great  con- 
tention about  the  best  throw.  If  we 
must  alter  the  passage,  straden,  strode 
about  (Ettm.  746),  would  make  decent 
sense,  but  not  so  good  as  stareden.  It 
was  doubtless  the  apparent  harshness  of 
the  assonance :  stareden  ladden,  which 
led  to  this  conjecture.  In  the  same 
way  Mr.  Morris,  anxious  to  avoid  the 
assonance  :  harde  crakede  567,  proposed 
to  change 

And  caste  be  knaue  adoun  so  harde, 
bat  hise  croune  he  ber  crakede 
into 

And  caste  be  knaue  so  harde  adoun, 
bat  he  crakede  ber  hise  croune. 
(Skeai  p.  91).    Where  the  rhyme  re- 
quires adoune  as  in  King  Horn   1487 
(Lumby's  edn.) 

Fike;?hildes  crime 
]>er  ifulde  adune  .  .  . 
which  is  quoted  in  Mr.  Skeat's  glos- 
sary (from  MS  Harl.  2253,)  as  :  crowne 
adoune,  shewing  the  more  ancient  form 
of   the  other  version   of  King  Horn. 
But  the  only  alteration  really  required 
is :  ber  he  crakede,  for :  he  ber  crakede, 
in  order  to  preserve  the  e  in  croune.  As 


to  the  assonance  itself,  it  is  harsh  to  our 
ears  only.  We  must  remember  the 
constant  habit  of  the  metathesis  of  r, 
so  that :  harde  crakede,  may  have  been 
called  :  harde  carkede,  which  would 
have  been  almost  a  rhyme,  as  :  star' den 
ladden,  also  is.  On  the  principle  of  not 
making  unnecessary  changes,  I  prefer 
accepting  the  reading  of  the  MS.  in 
each  case  as  it  stands,  and  therefore  re- 
tain both :  harde  crakede,  and  stareden 
ladden,  as  assonances. 

1  And  be  bredde  so  sore  he  slow, 
hat  he  made  up-on  the  feld 

His  left  arm  fleye,  with  the  swerd. 
On  which  Mr.  Skeat  remarks :  "  Cf. 
1.  1825.  We  should  otherwise  be 
tempted  to  read  sheld;  especially  as 
the  shield  is  more  appropriate  to  the 
left  arm."  This  was  Sir  F.  Madden' s 
original  suggestion.  But  with  may 
denote  the  instrument:  he  slow  be 
bredde  so  sore  with  the  swerd,  bat  he 
made,  etc.  Compare  the  constructions, 
supra  p.  376,  art.  110.  Compare  also 
the  parallel  passage : 
For  his  sword  he  hof  up  heye, 
And  }>e  hand  he  dide  of  fleye, 
That  he  smot  him  with  so  sore.  2750 
I  feel  doubtful  whether  the  other  inter- 
pretation :  that  he  made  his  left  arm 
together  with  the  sword,  fall  on  the 
field,  could  be  justified  by  parallel 
passages. 

2  This  may  be  a  rhyme,  see  supr^, 
p.  192. 

3  As  we  find :  rede  bebe  694,  bebe 
rede  1680,  we  should  of  course  read: 
bebe  rede  in  this  place.      This  is  only 
one  of  the  numerous  instances  of  the 
interchange  of  e,  a,  o,   to  be  noticed 
presently.  Thus  we  have:  babe  1336, 
2543,  and  boben  173,  697,  958. 

4  According  to  the  text  Godrich  hears 
the  knights  talk  of  Havel  ok  ; 

Hw  he  was  strowg  man  and  hey, 
Hw  he  was  strong  and  ek  fri,    1071, 
and  then  he  thought  that  King  Athel- 


§  1,  No.  5. 


HAVELOK XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


473 


rhyme  :  yhe  se  1984,  is  a  mere  misprint  in  Sir  P.  Madden' s  edition, 
corrected  by  Mr.  Skeat  to  :  ]?he  se,  where  the  Ti  is  an  idle  insertion, 
compare  fe  =  thigh  1950,  and  :  ^hinge  =  'Singe,  Gen.  and  Ex.  300. 
The  passages  which  present  the  greatest  difficulty  are  the  follow- 
ing :  eir  tother  410,  misdede  leyde  994,  deled  wosseyled  1736. 
The  last  is  explained  by :  wesseylew  todeyle  2098,  which  ought 
to  shew  that  the  writer  had  two  ways  of  pronouncing:  delen, 
deylen,  (deel'en,  dail'en).  Compare  : 

So  }>at  ]>e  blod  ran  of  his  fleys, 

pat  tendre  was,  and  swij>e  neys,  216 

And  woundede  him  rith  \n  ]>e  flesh. 

)?at  tendre  was,  and  swi)>e  nesh.  2742 

As  the  dialact  of  Havelok  shews  a  Scandinavian  character  in 
many  words,  the  form  deylen  may  have  arisen  from  that  source, 
Icelandic  at  deilct,  (d^i'la)  to  divide,  and  it  would  be  in  fact  more 
difficult  to  acccount  for  the  forms  fleys  neys.1  If  we  do  not  accept 


wald  had  made  him  swear  to  give  his 
daughter  to  the   "  hexte  "  =  highest, 
tallest,  man  alive,  and  then  asks 
Hwere  mithe  i  finden  ani  so  hey 
So  hauelok  is,  or  so  sley  ?  1083 

It  is  evident  that  the  two  couplets 
ought  to  correspond.  Sley,  of  course, 
means  skilful,  Havelocks  skill:  hw  he 
warp  ]?e  ston  Ouer  )?e  laddes  euerilkon 
1061,  having  made  him  the  common 
talk.  Fri  yields  no  good  sense. 

1  For  fleys  see  supra  pp.  265,  441, 
445.  The  form  is,  in  fact,  not  unusual. 
For  neys  there  seems  to  be  no  authority, 
and  cognate  languages  do  not  exhibit 
the  diphthong  (ei),  as  they  do  in  the 
case  of  high  German  fleisch,  theil,  weich 
(flaish,  tail,  bhaiArh),  compare  Dutch, 
vleesch,  deel,  week  (vices,  deel,  bheek). 
These  undoubted  correspondences  of  (e, 
ai)  in  high  and  low  German,  and  the 
occasional  use  of  ei  in  Icelandic  as  deila, 
veikr  (dml'a,  vmkr),  but  its  rejection  in 
other  cases,  as  fles k  (flesk),  may  at  least 
serve  to  render  intelligible  some  doubt- 
ful usages  in  such  a  provincial  region 
and  early  time  as  that  which  gives  us 
the  rhyme  of  Havelok.  Not  only 
does  provincial,  but  even  metropolitan 
usage  at  the  present  day,  furnish 
examples  which  may  give  as  much 
trouble  to  a  future  investigator.  Com- 
pare the  example  Chap.  XI.  §  3,  where 
it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Melville  Bell 
writes  :  (dm,  weisted,  fein,  geiv,  keim, 
sei),  where  I  have  (deez,  wasted,  fern, 
geev,  keem,  see)  =  days,  wasted,  fain, 
gave,  came,  say,  though  we  are  both 
supposed  to  speak  the  same  dialect. 
See  also  p.  450  n.  2,  and  p.  459,  n.  1, 


and  the  forms  sede  saide,  p.  446.  .  .  . 
After  the  preceding  observations  had 
gone  to  press,  I  received  a  remarkable 
confirmation  of  the  views  there  ex- 
pressed concerning  the  possibility  of 
different  pronunciations  coexisting  in 
limited  districts,  from  an  account  of  the 
present  pronunciation  of  English  in 
the  Peak  of  Derbyshire,  orally  com- 
municated to  me  by  a  native  of  the  dis- 
trict, Mr.  Thomas  Hallam,  of  Man- 
chester. A  somewhat  detailed  account 
of  these  remarkable  pronunciations  will 
be  given  below,  Chap.  XI.  §  4,  but  it  is 
as  well  to  notice  here,  that  on  the  west 
of  the  mountain  ridge  of  the  peak  we 
find  (mee,  dee,  •ewee-,  pee)  and  on  the 
east  (mii,  dii,  •ewii,  pii)  for  may,  day, 
away,  pay,  and  again  on  the  west  we 
have  (shiip,  slzip,  nu'i)  and  on  the  east 
(sheip,  sleip,  mei)  for  sheep,  sleep,  me. 
This  characteristic  diphthong  (ei), 
found  also  in  the  west  of  the  ridge  in 
(dzheist,  dzheint,  beil,  peint,  eint'- 
myht)  for  joist,  joint,  boil,  point,  oint- 
ment, is,  as  pronounced  to  me  by  Mr. 
Hallam,  a  sound  which  one  Southerner 
will  hear  as  (ee)  and  another  as  (ai). 
Compare  poynte=peynte,  p.  447.  1.  14. 
"We  can  guess  how  a  peasant  of  the 
Peak,  with  his  partial  inoculation  into 
the  mysteries  of  modern  orthography 
is  likely  to  write,  but  to  put  ourselves 
into  the  position  of  the  rnost  careful  of 
ancient  scribes,  we  have  only  to  en- 
deavour to  appreciate  such  sounds  and 
attempt  to  commit  th  em  to  paper,  after 
a  careful  study  of  phonetics.  The  ex- 
treme difficulty  fa  appreciation,  the 
readiness  with/which  we  mentally  as- 


474  HAVELOK  —  XIII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

the  form  deyle,  then  one  of  three  things  must  he  the  case  :  1 )  The 
rhyme  may  he  faulty,  hut  it  would  he  perhaps  the  only  faulty 
rhyme.  Or,  2)  the  ey,  e  may  he  a  true  rhyme,  but  then,  indepen- 
dently of  previous  investigations,  the  persistent  avoidance  of  such 
rhymes  is  remarkable,  and  there  would  have  been  no  reason  to  lug 
in,  for  example,  withuten  faile  179,  2909,  as  a  rhyme  to  cornwayle, 
with  scarcely  a  shadow  of  excuse  from  the  sense.  Or  3)  the  pas- 
sages containing  deled,  to  deyle,  may  be  corrupt.  Tor  this  there  is 
some  ground.  The  passages  are  : 

But  hwan  he  haueden  J?e  kiwing  deled, 

And  fele  sij?es  haueden  wosseyled.  1736 

Hwe)?er  he  sittew  nou,  and  wesseylew, 

Or  of  ani  shotshipe  to-deyle.  2098 

The  first  line  contains  at  least  one  corrupt  unintelligible  word 
kiwing ',  and  not  only  is  the  metre  of  the  last  line  unusually  defective, 
but  the  construction  to-deyle  of  for  participate  in,  seems  forced  and 
unsatisfactory.  It  would,  however,  be  too  hazardous,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  parallel  passages,  to  propose  any  emendation. 
The  second  passage 

Neuere  more  he  him  misdede, 

Ne  hond  on  him  with  yuele  leyde.  994 

cannot  he  so  explained,  as  dede  never  appears  as  deide,  and  it  would 
not  be  right  to  conclude  that  there  was  an  assonance  formed  by 
calling  leyde  (leid'e)  rather  than  (laid'e),  in  face  of  the  older  Laga- 
mon  forms :  laside,  laeiden,  leide,  laiden,  leaide.  There  was  no 
period  of  English  pronunciation  in  which  misdede  leyde  would  have 
rhymed,  so  far  as  our  researches  extend.  The  passage  must  there- 
fore be  corrupt.  In  the  first  place  the  sense  is  bad  :  * '  never  more 
he  hurt  him  by  deed,  and  never  laid  hand  on  him  with  evil  intent," 
merely  repeats  in  the  second  line  what  is  said  in  the  first.  We 

sociate  the  unusual  with  the  usual  old  case  that  e,  ey,  had  the  same  mean- 
sound,  the  hesitation  which  we  feel  in  ing  ?  At  most,  they  would  be  different 
selecting  one  orthography  in  place  of  appreciations  of  the  same  sound,  and 
another,  and  the  variety  of  pronuncia-  might  possibly  indicate  the  co-existence 
tions  prevalent  within  a  limited  dis-  of  different  sounds  within  the  same 
trict,  none  of  which  can  claim  the  pre-  district.  And  such  coexistence  is  not 
eminence  —  true  picture  of  English  confined  to  English  dialects.  The 
habits  of  speech  in  the  xmth  century  vulgar  (een,  keen,)  coexists  with  the 
— will  make  us  more  readily  understand  polite  (ain,  kain)  —ein,  kein,  in  Berlin, 
the  varieties  of  orthography  adopted  Saxony,  and  many  parts  of  Germany, 
by  ancient  scribes,  and  rather  admire  In  the  Dyak  (Dai'ak)  languages  of 
than  depreciate  the  partial  uniformity  Sarawak  (Saraa-wak),  (ee,  ai)  constantly 
to  which  they  attained.  For  myself  I  interchange  even  in  adjacent  house- 
should  feel  no  surprise  to  find  one  writer  clusters,  sometimes  even  in  the  same 
representing  the  "  Derbyshire  "  sound  house-cluster,  so  that  (basee1)  or  (hasai%) 
of  sheep,  in  "  ordinary  spelling"  as  would  be  equally  intelligible  for  great, 
sheep,  another  as  shape,  and  a  third  as  Generally  in  these  languages  (ii,  ee,  ai) 
shipe.  Should  we  then  be  surprised  if  interchange  on  the  one  hand,  and  (00, 
we  found  an  old  monk  proceeding  from  uu,  au)  on  the  other,  as  I  have  just 
a  similar  district  af-  one  time  writing  been  informed  (April,  1869)  by  an 
shep,  and  at  another  sheyp  ?  and  should  English  resident  of  long  standing  in 
we  conclude  in  the  modern  case  that  Sarawak.  See  also  neither,  supra  p. 
ee,  a,  i,  had  the  same  sound,  or  in  the  129,  n.  1. 


§  1,  No.  5.  HAVELOK  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  475 

want  the  sense,  "he  never  more  wronged  him  hy  word,  or  deed." 
This  is  supplied  by  reading  misseyde  for  misdede,  and  of  the  correct- 
ness of  this  reading  we  can  have  no  doubt  after  considering  the 
parallel  passages, 

Ne  found  he  non  that  him  misseyde, 

N[e]  with  iuele  on[ne]  hand  leyde.  49 

Roberd  hire  ledde,  ]?at  was  red, 

pat  hau[ed]e  Darned  for  hire  J?e  ded 

Or  ani  hauede  hire  misseyd, 

Or  hand  with  iuele  onne  leyd.  1686 

Me  wore  leuere  i  wore  lame, 

)>amie  men  dide  him  ani  shame, 

Or  tok,  or  onne  handes  leyde, 

Vn-ornelfke  [vn-ornelike  ?],  or  same  seyde.     1938 

The  first  instance 

Hauelok,  ]?at  was  )>e  eir 

Swanborow,  his  sister,  Helfled,  the  tother.        410 

is  also  corrupt  on  the  face  of  it,1  for  the  second  line  of  the  couplet 
is  outrageously  prolonged.  The  word  eyr  occurs  not  unfrequently 
at  the  end  of  a  line,  as  110,  288,  605,  1095  and  always  rhymes 
with  fair.  This  suggests  the  reading 

Hauelok,  that  was  the  eir, 

Swanborow,  Helfled  her  sister  fair, 2 

which  at  least  preserves  metre  and  rhyme,  and  is  immediately  sug- 
gested by  the  parallel  passage  : 

Of  his  bodi  ne  haude  he  eyr 

Bute  a  mayden  swi]>e  fayr.  110 

The  rhyme  t,  e,  as :  bidde  stede  2548  is  frequent.  Shewed 
knawed  2057,  must  be  considered  in  connection  with :  shewe 
lowe  1698,  and  lowe  awe  1291,  where  lowe,  ags.  hlaw,  means 
a  hill,  preserved  in  the  Scotch  law;  as  well  as  with  the  not 
unfrequent  interchange  of  e,  o,  as :  sore  wore  =  were  236,  wore 
=  were  more  1700,  were  sore  414,  (where  Mr.  Skeat  reads  wore], 
more  thore  =  there  921,  cle[r]k  yerk  =  York  1177,  and  also  of 
o,  a :  Icmge  gange  795,  2586,  sawe  wowe  =  wall  1962,  2142, 

1  "  Corrupt?  Lines  410,  411  do  not  at  first  proposed  :  Swanborow,  Helfled 
rime  well  together."  Skeat.  his  sisters  fair,  in  order  to  preserve  as 

2  We  may  even  imagine  how  the  much  of  the  original  as  possible,  but 
extraordinary  error  in  the  MS.  arose.  the  examples :  hise  children  yunge  368, 
Suppose,  as  usual,  that  the  scribe  was  we  aren  bojje  J>ine  619,  kniues  longe 
writing  from  dictation.      The  reader  1769,  hundesteyte  1841,  wundes  swij?e 
gives  out :    "  Swanborow,  Helfled  her  grete  1898,  monekes  blake  2520,  shew 
sister  fair,"  the  scribe  writes  "Swan-  that:  his  sisters  faire,  would  have  been 
borow,  his  sister ;  "    altering  her  to  Ms  required  and  this  would  have  militated 
as  a  matter  of  course,  because  only  a  against  the  rhyme.    Unless,  indeed,  the 
masculine  noun  had  preceded;  the  reader  author  could  have  dispensed,  with  this 
sees  the  error  and  exclaims,  "  Thou  hast  final  e  if  the  necessity  of  rhyme  lay  on 
forgotten  Helfled    thet    other ;  "   the  him,  as  he  does  dispense  apparently 
scribe  immediately  claps  down  the  words  with  an  e,  which  is  at  once  plural  and 
"  Helfled    the    tother,"   and  is  quite  dative,  in : 

satisfied  he  has  correctly  followed  the          Hwan  he  hauede  mawrede  and  oth 
reader  in   the  monstrosity:    "Swan-          Taken  of  lef  and  of  loth.  2312 

borow  his  sister,  Helfled  the  tother  !"  where   however   perhaps:    othe,    lefe, 

Se  non  e  vero,  e  ben  trovato.     I  had  lothe,  should  be  read. 


476  HAVELOK  —  XIII  TH    CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

thare  =  thore  =  there  more  2486,  open  drepen  =  kill  1782. 
We  have  then  to  admit  that  the  pronunciation  of  the  writer 
varied  in  the  same  word  at  different  times,  and  that  he  allowed 
himself  to  interchange  e,  a,  o.  The  same  interchange  of  (ee,  od)  is 
observable  in  the  modern  Scotch  and  English :  aik  oak,  aits  oats, 
aith  oath,  caip  cope,  claitli  cloth,  craik  croak,  daigh  dough,  dail  dole, 
gaist  ghost,  gait  goat,  grain  groan,  graip  grope,  hail  whole,  haim 
home,  kaim  comb,  laid  load,  laird  lord,  laith  loath,  main  moan,  mair 
more,  maist  most,  raid  road,  raip  rope,  saip  soap,  sair  sore,  spaik 
spoke  of  a  wheel,  taid  toad.  In  Aberdeen  we  even  find  (stiin, 
biin)  for  stone,  bone.  But  it  will  be  seen  on  examining  other 
Scotch  ai  =  (ee)  forms,  that  they  often  derive  from  an  ags.  a,  e. 
Herein  then  we  seem  to  have  an  indication  of  the  key  to  this 
dialectic  peculiarity.  The  original  (aa)  was  at  one  time  broadened 
into  (oo),  and  at  another  squeezed  into  (ee),  and  the  habits  of  the 
speaker  became  so  uncertain  that  all  three  forms  in  (ee,  aa,  oo) 
were  in  sufficiently  common  use  to  allow  a  rhymester  to  employ 
whichever  was  most  convenient,  till  at  last  (oo,  ee)  interchanged 
without  the  intervention  of  an  original  (aa). 

"We  find  the  regular  interchange  of  ai,  ei,  as  :  at  hayse  =  at  ease 
preyse  59,  deye  preye  168,  seyl  nayl  711,  ay  domesday  747. 
There  seems  to  be  even  a  probability  of  seint  having  been  occasion- 
ally dissyllabic,  as  supra  p.  264.  Thus,  comparing  ion  177  : 

In  al  denemark  is  wimma«  [non]  =  (In  al  Denmark*  is  wunran  noon, 

So  fayr  so  sche,  bi  seint  iohan.       1719  Soo  fair  so  shee,  bi  saa-int  Dzhon. 

But  gaf  hem  leue  sone  anon  But  gaa-  -em  lee-ve  soon  anoon*. 

And  bitauhte  hem  seint  Iohan.      2956  And  bitaut-  -em  saa'int  Dzhon). 

"We  have  also  occasionally  the  («')  value  of  u.     In  two  instances 
this  value   is  apparently   given  to  u  in   words  which  were  un- 
doubtedly generally  pronounced  with  (u),  as  : 
So  )?at  £ei  nouth  ne  blinne 
Til  >at  to  sette  bigan  J?e  sunne.  2670 

per  was  swilk  dreping  of  J?e  folk 
pat  on  }>e  feld  was  neu^re  a  polk 
pat  it  ne  stod  of  blod  so  ful, 
pat  >e  strem  ran  iwtil  j>e  hul.  2684 

In  the  first  case  read  so  Ipat  ^ei  \_stunte~^  nouth  ne  blunne,  the 
ags.  forms,  stunte,  blunne,  making  metre,  rhyme,  and  construction, 
perfect.  In  the  second,  hul,  which  was  supposed  by  Sir  P. 
Madden  to  mean  hill,  is  perhaps  a  provincial  pronunciation  of 
the  ags.  and  old  norse  hoi,  Swedish  hoi,  Danish  hul,  a  hollow  for 
the  valley,  as  the  battle  was  fought  at  Tetford,  near  Horncastle. 
But  the  line  is  possibly  corrupt,  and  there  is  no  obvious  means  of 
correction  from  the  want  of  parallel  passages.1 

1  As  it  stands  the  passage  must  be  inclines  to  hul  hollow,  on  account  of 

translated :  "  There  was  such  slaying  the  Scotch  use  of  howe  (HOOU,  HEU),  a 

of  the  people,  That  on  the  field  there  direct  descendant  of  a  previous  (nwl), 

was  never  a  puddle,     That  it  stood  not  as  opposed  to  knoll,  for  a  small  valley 

so  full  of  blood,  That  the  stream  ran  or  depression.      Part  of  a   village  in 

into  the  hollo w(?)."    Mr.  Murray,  who  Teviotdale  is  called  Huole-o-the-Burn 

suggested  the  insertion  of  stunte  above,  (nw'l,  nu\o\,  nwal,  Hwal), 


§  1,  No.  5.  HAVELOK XIII  TH   CENTURY.  477 

The  other  rhymes  do  not  require  particular  notice.  The  value 
of  the  letters  is  clearly  that  established  for  the  xm  th  century,  by 
previous  research,  with,  in  the  case  of  ou,  an  anticipation  of  the 
usages  of  the  xiv  th.  The  metre  is  rugged  and  the  spelling  irregular, 
so  that  the  use  of  the  final  -e  cannot  accurately  be  determined. 
But  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  it  different  from  what  had  been 
found  for  others. 

The  orthography  of  the  guttural  in  connection  with  t  is  very 
remarkable,  as:  knict  239,  knicth  77,  knith  1068,  kniht  2706, 
brouth  336,  brihte  rithe  2610,  bitawte  authe  1409,  etc.,  implying 
a  peculiarity  of  pronunciation,  which,  in  the  absence  of  parallel 
usage,  and  determining  rhymes,  cannot  be  appreciated  with  certainty. 
We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  sigh,  drought,  height,  were 
sometimes  called  (saith,  drAAth,  Haith)  in  the  XVH  th  century  (p. 
212),  and  that  Keighley  in  the  "West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and 
therefore  likely  to  be  somewhat  inclined  to  the  same  pronunciation 
as  the  writer  of  Havelok,  is  now  called  (Kiith'h*),  and  the  pro- 
nunciation (nekth)  for  height,  has  been  noted  near  Ledbury  in 
Herefordshire,  which  greatly  resembles  -cth  in  knicth.  At  first 
sight  -th  looks  like  a  metathesis  of  ht,  just  as  we  find  ihc  1377 
for  ich,  and  this  in  connection  with  the  actual  occasional  oc- 
currence of  -ht  or  even  -ct,  -cth,  would  lead  directly  to  the 
usual  (-kht)  pronunciation.  But  an  examination  of  the  ortho- 
graphy in  the  poem  shews  a  systematic  avoidance  of  the  guttural 
except  in  relation  to  t.  In  all  other  cases  it  is  expressed  only 
by  y  i,  w  u,  as :  eie,  fleye,  heie,  leye  =  mentire,  seyen,  sleie ; 
awe  =  possess,  dawes  =  days,  drawen  drou,  fawen  =fain,  flow, 
galwe,  mowe,  slou,  J?ou  =  though.  Even  with  t  the  sign  of  the 
guttural  is  frequently  omitted,  as  :  aute  laute  743,  but :  awcte  207, 
lauthe  1673.  It  seems  then  very  possible  that  these  -ct,  -cth,  -th,  -t, 
only  mean  t,  with  a  merely  orthographical  indication  of  the  gut- 
tural. This  pronunciation  of  final  -cht  is  not  unknown  in  German.1 
The  otiose  h  after  initial  t,  and  even  elsewhere  (supra  p.  473,  1.  8), 
found  occasionally  in  various  manuscripts,  but  never  systematically 
carried  out,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  this  use  of  h  in  connection 
with  final  t,  where  in  most  other  MSS.  the  guttural  is  inserted  as 
^>  ff>  ?-2  We  must  also  recollect  that  in  MSS.,  as  we  have  had 
occasion  to  see  also  in  the  Prisoner's  Prayer  and  elsewhere,  the 
letter  h  is  used  very  loosely,  even  when  initial.  In  Havelok  it  is 
unnecessarily  prefixed  in :  holde  30,  hete  146,  het  653,  but : 
et  656,  heuere  17,  her  229,  hof  1976,  helde  128,  etc.,  etc.,  and 
we  find  it  omitted  in:  aueden  163,  osed  971,  etc.,  but  with  no 

1  "  Ch  lautet  gar  nicht  vor  t  Ober-          2  The  French  the',  German  Thee  has 

Rhein  und  Donau  Gebiet,  Land  und  (t)  or  if  it  is  more  dental  (.t)  on  the 

Stadt,  (-it,  -9t)  Endsylbe  -icht,  (-let,  continent  more  than  with  us,  this  ap- 

-lat)  Endsylbe  -Held,  (nit  net)  nicht,  plies  to  every  t  and  not  merely  to  those 

ostlech.   Rab,  Land,  (fait-n)  Feuchten,  written  th.     In  one  dialect  of  the  Peak 

Fichte,  (Furt)  Furcht,  (knet)  Knecht,  of  Derbyshire  (  .t)  is  heard  only,  but 

(liat)  Liecht,  (Nat)  Nacht,  (raat)  recht,  always,  before  r  and  -er. 
(shlEat  fed  eln)  schlecht  fechteln,  (brat) 
gebracht."        Schmeller,     Mundarten 
Bayerns,  art.  432. 


478 


HAVELOK XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


sort  of  uniformity.      Hence  the  temptation  to  use  it   as   an  idle 
letter,  or  an  orthographical  expedient. 

That  long  *  was  (ii)  or  (it)  appears  among  other  passages  from 

Als  she  shulde  hise  clothes  handel 

On  forto  don,  and  blawe  j?er 1  fir  ( =  fire) 

She  saw  therinne  a  lith  (=  light}  fill  shir  (=  sheer).   586 

Al  so  hrith,  al  so  shir, 

So  it  were  a  blase  of  fir.  1253 

The  word  sheer,  Gothic  skeirs  (skiirs)  bright,  clear,  old  Saxon 
tkiri,  middle  high  German  and  new  low  German  schir,  new  high 
German  schier  (shiir),  old  high  German  scieri  (skii'ri  ?),  ags.  scir 
old  norse  sk'ir  (skiir),  Orrmin  shir,  is  a  word  which  from  the  earliest 
times  and  in  almost  all  dialects,  and  specially  in  English,  has  re- 
tained the  sound  of  (-iir),  and  hence  is  an  excellent  rhyme  to  deter- 
mine the  old  sound  of  fir. 

The  reader  will  find  many  points  of  orthography  and  pronuncia- 
tion touched  on  with  great  care  in  Mr.  Skeat' s  edition  §§  27  and  28, 
and  a  full  consideration  of  the  treatment  of  final  e  in  §  29.2 

It  is  with  great  diffidence  that  I  annex  an  example  of  this  difficult 
provincial  poem.  The  text  is  given  exactly,  in  the  pronunciation  I 
have  ventured  on  a  few  alterations,  intended  to  be  corrections. 


Havelok  2312-2345. 
Hwan  he  hauede  mawrede  and 

oth 
Taken  of  lef  and  of  loth, 

Ybbe  dubbede  him  to  knith, 
With  a  swerd  ful  swije  brith, 
And  fe  folk  of  al  j?e  lond 
Bitauhte  him  al  in  his  hond, 
J?e  cunnriche  eueril  del, 
And  made  him  king  heylike  and 

wel. 
Hwan  he  was  king,  fer  mouthe 

mew  se 
pe  moste  ioie  fat  mouhte  be  : 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 
"Whan  He  navde  manreed*  and 

oodh'e, 
Taak-en   of    leev   and  [ook]  of 

loodh-e 

TJb'e  dub'ed  Him  to  kniit, 
With  a  swerd  ful  swidh'e  briit, 
And  dhe  folk  of  al  dhe  lond 
Bitaut'  -im  al  in  [too1]  His  hond 
Dhe  kirreriitslre  evril  deel, 
And  maad  -im  kiq  nai'liik  and 

weel. 
Whan  nee  was  kiq,  dher  mout'e 

men  see 
Dhe  most'e  dzhore  dhat  mout'e 

bee : 


When  he  had  homage  and  oaths 
Taken  of  dear  and  [eke]  of  loath  | 
Ubbe  dubbed  him  (to)  knight, 
With  a  sword  ful  very  bright, 
And  the  folk  of  all  the  land 


Translation. 

Committed  to-him  al  in[to]  his  hand 
les),       The  kingdom  every  part, 

And  made  him  king,  highlike  and  wel. 

When  he  was  king,  there  might  one  see 

The  most  joy  that  might  be ; 


1  Mr.  Skeat  reads  J>e. 

3  Mr.  Skeat  having  requested  me  to 
read  and  comment  on  some  of  these 
points,  I  endeavoured  to  do  so,  in  great 
haste,  at  a  time  when  accidental  circum- 
stances disabled  me  from  given  them 
proper  attention.  In  those  cases  where 
the  present  statements  differ  from  those 
hasty  expressions  of  mine  which  Mr. 
Skeat,  anxious  not  to  smother  opinions 


opposed  to  his  own,  has  politely  printed, 
they  must  be  considered  as  corrections, 
resulting  from  careful  re-examination. 
I  regret  not  having  been  able  to  examine 
all  the  cases  of  final  e,  to  determine 
the  circumstances  of  its  elision  and 
suppression,  but  I  believe  that  it  was 
not  otherwise  treated  than  in  the  Cuckoo 
Song  and  Prisoner's  Prayer. 


1,  No.  5. 


HAVELOK XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


479 


Buttinge  with  sharpe  spares, 

Skirming    with    taleuaces,    fat 

mew  beres, 
"Wrastling  with  laddes,  puttiwg 

of  ston, 
Harping  and  piping,  ful  god  won, 

Leyk  of  mine,  of  hasard  ok, 

Romanz  reding  on  f  e  bok ; 

per  mouthe  men  here  f  e  gestes 

singe, 
pe  gleymen  on  f  e  tabour  dinge ; 

per   monhte   men   se    fe    boles 

beyte, 
And  f  e  bores,  with  hundes  teyte ; 


o  mouthe  men  se  eueril  gleu, 
er  mouthe   men   se   hw   grim 

greu; 

Was  neuere  yete  ioie  more 
In  al  f  is  werd,  fan  f  o  was  fore. 


per  was  so  mike  yeffc  of  clof  es, 
pat  f  ou  i  swore  you  grete  othes, 

I  ne  wore  nouth  f er-offe  croud : 
pat  may  i  ful  wel  swere,  bi  god! 
pere  was  swif  e  gode  metes, 
And  of  wyn,  fat  men  fer  fetes, 
Eith  al  so  mik  and  grete  plente, 
So  it  were  water  of  f  e  se. 
pe  feste  fourti  dawes  sat, 
So  riche  was  neuere  non  so  fat. 


But'iq*  [dher  was]  with  sharp'e 

speeres, 
Skirnriq-   with  tal'vases,    dhat 

men  beeres, 
R^-ast-liq-  with  ladz,  put'iq-  of 

stoon, 
Harp-iq-  and  piip-iq-,  ful  good 

woon, 

Laik  of  Miin,  of  Has'ard  ook, 
Roonrans'  reed'iq*  on  dhe  book ; 
Dher  mout'e   men    see 're    dhe 

dzhest'es  siq'e, 
Dhe   glarmen    on  dhe    taa'bur 

diq-e; 
Dher  mout'e  men  see  fe  bol'es 

bai'te 
And  the  boo'res,  with  nund'es 

tait'e ; 

Dhoo  mout'e  men  see  evril  gleu, 
Dher  mout'e  men  see  HUU  Grim 

greu; 

"Was  never  jet'e  dzhore  moor'e 
In  al  dhis  werld,  dhan  dhoo  was 

dhoore. 
Dher    was     so     mik'e    jeft    of 

kloodh'es 
Dhat  dhou  i  swoore  ju   greet 

oodh'es, 

In'e  woor'e  nout  dherof'e  krod : 
Dhatmai  i  fulwelsweer'e,  biGod! 
Dher  was  swidh'e  good'e  meet'es, 
And  of  wiin,  that  men  fer  fet'es, 
Biit  al  soo  mik  and  gret  plen'tee* 
Soo  it  wer  waa'ter  of  dhe  see. 
Dhe  fest'e  foour'ti  dau'es  sat, 
So  ritsh'e  was  never   noon   so 

dhat. 


Translation. 


Butting  [there  was]  with  sharp  spears, 
Fencing  with  shields  that  one  bears, 
Wrestling  with  lads,  putting  of  (the) 

stone. 

Harping  and  piping,  full  good  quantity, 
Game  of  Mine,  of  Hasard  eek, 
Romance  reading  on  the  hook. 
There  might  one  hear  the  jests  sung, 
The  gleemen  on  the  tabour  drum, 
There  might  one  see  the  bulls  baited, 
And  the  boars,  with  merry  [staunch  ?] 

hounds, 
Then  might  one  see  every  glee, 


There  might  one  see  how  Grim  grew; 
"Was  never  yet  joy  more 
In  all  this  world  than  then  was  there. 
There  was  so  great  gift  of  clothes 
That  though  I  swore  you  great  oaths 
I- (not)  were  not  thereof  oppressed  : 
That  may  I  full  well  swear,  by  God. 
There  were  very  good  meats', 
And  of  wine,  that  one  far  ietches, 
Eight  also  much  and  great  plenty, 
As -if  it  were  water  of/ the  sea. 
The  feast  fourty  daj.s  lasted, 
So  rich  was  never  none  as  that. 


480  KING   HORN  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

6.    KING   HORN,  CIRCA  A.D.  1290. 

The  story  of  King  Horn  exists  in  three  several  manuscripts  which 
present  such  great  varieties  both  of  orthography  and  language,  that 
the  text  must  be  considered  uncertain.  The  oldest 1  was  apparently 
written  about  the  latter  half  of  the  xinth  century,  and  is  that 
which  will  be  followed  here.  In  some  cases  f  occurs  for  3  or  z 
which  represents  5.  On  this  orthography  see  supra  (p.  464).  The 
dialect  is  Midland,  and  the  whole  poem  bears  a  great  affinity  to 
Havelok. 

There  is  the  usual  rhyming  of  i,  e  or  u,  e  when  u  stands  for  i : 
adrenche  ofjinche  105,  Westernesse  blisse  157,  ire  =  ear  were 
309,  wille  telle  365,  pelle  fulle  =  pall  fill  401,  brunie  =  armour 
denie  =  din  591,  dunte  wente  609,  ferde  hurede  751,  custe  =  kissed 
reste  1189,  etc. 

There  are  a  few  cases  of  e,  a,  in  which  the  a  should  be  replaced 
by  e,  as  :  biweste  laste  5,  wame  berne  689. 

As  in  Havelok,  there  are  cases  of  e,  o,  in  which  one  or  the  other 
letter  must  be  dialectically  altered,  if  the  readings  are  correct: 
more  }ere  95,  swerde  orde  623,  sende  yrlonde  1001,  posse  "Wester- 
nesse  1011.  We  have  a,  o  in  :  felawe  knowe  1089. 

A  few  cases  of  u,  o,  may  shew  a  dialectic  pronunciation  of  u  as 
(o),  or  o  as  (u) :  stunde  londe  167,  Jojte  jra^te  277,  buje  iswo^e 
427,  ?onge  isprunge  547,  hunde  fonde  831. 

In  some  cases  u  =  (uu)  seems  to  rhyme  with  u  =  (yy).  In 
bur  mesauentur  325,  649,  bure  couerture  695,  one  might  fancy 
that  the  Trench  word  was  mispronounced  with  (uu).  The  word 
lure  270,  might  therefore  be  to  lure,  which  makes  good  sense,  and 
have  been  used  as  a  term  of  falconry,  but  would  then,  probably  in 
a  Saxon's  mouth,  have  been  called  (luure),  but  it  must  apparently 
have  been  to  lower  or  watch  for,2  which  would  be  properly  (luure), 
since  the  Harl.  MS.  2253,  fo.  85,  reads  loure.  Stuard  275,  393, 
is  probably  a  clerical  error  for  stiuard  compare  ags.  stiward,  which 

1  Cambridge  Univ.  Lib.  Gg.  4,  27,  2.  ihc  ich  y    I 

This  is  contrasted  with  the  Bodleian          3011  you  ou    you 
MS.  Laud  108  fo.  2195,  and  Harl.  MS.  laste  sg.,  lesten  pi.,  yleste  sg.,  last 

2253,  in  the  preface  to :  King  Horn,          fairer  feyrer  feyrorer  fairer 
with  Fragments  of  Floriz  andBlaunche-  rein  reyn  reyne    rains. 

fleur,  and  of  the  Assumption  of  our  Lady,          miste  micte  mihte  m  igh  t 
from  a  MS.  (Gg.  4,  27,  2)  in  the  Cam-          birine  upon-reyne  by-ryne  rain  upon 
bridge  University  Library;   also  from          brijt  brict  bryht    bright 
MSS.   in  the  British  Museum.      The          flur  flour  flour  Jkwer 
Assumption  of  our  Lady  (Add.  MSS.  colur  colur  colour    colour. 

10036)  and  Fragments  of  the  Floyres 

and  Blancheflur  (Cotton  Vitellius   D.  2  "lure(n),  0.  Dutch  leuren,  loren, 

iii),  edited  with  notes  and  glossary  by  Fr.  leurrer,  lure,   Chauc.  C.   t.  5997 ; 

J.   Eawson    Lumby,   M.A.      London,  lured  (part.}  vis.  P.  P.  3351.— (luren) 

1866.    8vo.    pp.  xx,  142.    E.  E.  T.  S.  lourin,  L.  Germ,  luren  (specular*  ?)  lour 

The  extracts  from  the  three  MSS.  taken  (lower]  scowl,  prompt,  part).  316  ;  loure 

in  the  above  order  present  the  follow-  Gow.  conf.  am.  1,  47  ;  Rich.  3470 ;  vis 

ing  among  other  ^varieties,  p.    p.   2735;    Triam.   1032;    louring 

he  he  heo    they\  (part.)    Chauc.    C.   t.   6848."      Strat- 

beon  ben  ben    be  ^  mann,  373. 
\ 


§  1,  No.  6.  KING   HORN  —  XIII  TH    CENTURY.  481 

occurs  227,  and  is  the  reading  of  the  Harl.  MS.  2253  elsewhere. 
In :  ture  pure  =  tower  peer  1091,  we  must  suppose  pure—  (puure), 
to  pore  or  look  intently  The  origin  of  the  word  is  very  obscure. 
The  reading  of  the  Harl.  MS.  2253  is  totally  different,  and  intro- 
duces lake  for  pure. 

The  form  ou  occasionally,  hut  very  rarely  occurs,  by  no  means  so 
frequently  as  in  Havelok,  is:  galun  glotoun  1123,  harpurs  gigours 
1471.  This  applies  only  to  this  particular  MS.  of  King  Horn.  Pro- 
bably the  ou  is  fully  as  frequent  in  the  Laud.  MS.  108,  as  it  is  in 
that  MS.  copy  of  Havelok,  both  these  poems  being  in  the  same  hand- 
writing. The  greater  rarity  of  ou  in  this  Cam.  MS.  of  King  Horn 
is  evidence  of  its  greater  antiquity,  and  forms  a  presumption  in 
favour  of  earlier  copies  of  Havelok  having  also  existed.  It  is  cer- 
tainly desirable  for  the  investigation  of  the  orthography  and  develop- 
ment of  the  English  language  in  the  xm  th  century,  and  especially 
with  a  view  to  illustrate  Havelok,  to  have  the  Laud  MS.  copy  of 
King  Horn  accurately  printed  and  compared  with  the  Cam.  MS. 
The  scribes  of  the  two  MS.  possibly  belonged  not  only  to  dif- 
ferent times  but  to  different  districts,  and  yet  were  so  nearly  con- 
temporary, that  the  comparison  would  probably  clear  up  many 
points  of  difficulty.  In  the  Harl.  MS.  2253,  "which  has  been 
printed,  but  very  badly,  by  Bitson  in  the  second  volume  of  his 
Metrical  Romances,"  (Lumby,  p.  vi.)  the  ou  is  paramount. 

Sometimes  a  word  is  changed  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme,  as ; 
birine  =  le-rain  bischine  11,  yfe  =  ethe  =  easily  dij?e  =  dethe  = 
death  57,  ires  =  ears  tires  =  tears  959.  The  two  latter  are  how- 
ever perhaps  rather  to  be  considered  as  dialectic  peculiarities. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  resources  the  shortness  of  the  lines 
seems  to  have  driven  the  rhymester  to  great  shifts,  unless  the  scribe 
has  much  belied  him,  for  we  have  such  decidedly  false  rhymes  as :  he 
deie  331,  fofte  brijte  389,  bifojte  mijte  411,  ^onge  bringe  279,  ringe 
^onge  565,  1187,  (query,  read  }inge,  the  form  found  in  the  Harleian 
MS.  2253,)  sede  read  seide  leide  691,  heirs  read  heiris  pris  897, 
his  (?)  palais  1255,  yrlonde  fondede  read  fonde  1513,  quene  beon 
1519.  To  these  we  must  add:  bure  foure  1161,  unless  we  admit 
for  (fuu-re)  (foou're)  as  supra  p.  446,  1.  21.  It  is  however  pro- 
bable that  all  these  cases  are  mistakes.  The  great  diversity  of  the 
MSS.,  forbids  us  to  lay  great  store  by  any  particular  readings. 

The  marked  peculiarity  of  the  poem,  and  one  which  makes  it 
worth  while  to  notice  it  especially,  is  the  prevalence  of  assonances, 
single,  or  double,  that  is,  assonances  in  which  the  consonants  after 
the  identical  accented  vowel  are  different,  but  those,  if  there  are 
any,  following  the  identical  unaccented  vowel  are  the  same  or 
different,  as  in  Spanish ;  and  assonances  which  being  half  rhyme 
and  half  assonance,  may  be  called  conassonances,  the  accented  sylla- 
bles rhyming,  and  the  unaccented  being  assonant,  which  also  occur 
in  Spanish  though  they  are  not  legitimate.  Compare  the  as- 
sonances of  dissyllables  and  monosyllables  in  King  Alisaunder, 
supra  p.  452,  note,  col.  1,  1.  13.  These  assonances,  which  are  so 

31 


482 


KING   HORN  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


clearly  developed  in  King  Horn,  remove  any  difficulty  about  ad- 
mitting them  in  Havelok,  where  they  are  not  so  frequent.  The 
following  is  a  list  of  both  kinds. 

Assonances:  sones  gomes  21,  beste  werste  27,  gripe  smite  51, 
admirad  bald  89,  makede  =  mak'de  uerade  165,  swi)e  bliue  471, 
whit  ilik  501,  proue  wo^e  545,  take  rape  553,  trewe  leue  561, 
man  cam  787,  woje  gloue  793,  nadde  harde  863,  rynge  Bymen- 
hilde  873,  1287,  compaynye  hije  879,  shorte  dorste  927,  blife 
bliue  967,  iknowe  oje  983,  haue  felaje  995,  blowe  fro^e  1009,  loje 
rowe  1079,  wunder  tunge  1247,  grauel  castel  1465,  yswoje  louje 
read  loje  1479. 

Conassonances :  moder  gode  145,  gumes  icume  161,  doster  read 
dorter  fojte  249,  scholde  woldest  395,  lijte  knifes  519,  feste 
gestes  521,  igolde  woldest  643,  dorter  ofte  697,  ride  bridel  771, 
ariuedfiue  807,  fi^te  knifes  811,  borde  wordes  827,  hundes  funde 
881,  knifes  wi^te  885,  dojter  lofte  903,  while  bigiled  957,  knifes 
fijte  1213,  houe  proued  1267,  draje  felajes  1289,  hundred  wunder 
1329. 

The  rhyme :  time  bi  me  533,  is  interesting  from  its  association 
with  the  same  rhymes  in  Chaucer  and  Gower  (p.  280). 

The  wQi&pleing  32,  seems  to  be  a  contraction  ofpleying,  and  this 
renders  the  rhyme  :  king  pleying  32,  perfect. 

The  following  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  language  of  this 
poem,  according  to  this  more  ancient  version.  The  pronunciation 
indicates  occasionally  conjectural  emendations,  principally  for  the 
sake  of  the  metre. 


King  Horn  223-234,  241-276. 

pe  kyng  com  in  to  halle 

Among  his  knijtes  alle : 

Forf  he  clupede  afelbrus, 

pat  was  ftiward  of  his  hus. 

Stiwarde,  tak  nu  here 

Mi  fundlyng  for  to  lere 

Of  fine  mefter0, 

Of  wude  and  of  riuere, 

And  t^ch  him  to  harpe 

Wif  hi&  nayles  fcharpe, 

Biuore  m\  to  kerue 

And  of  J?e  )&upe  feme. 

Ailbrus  gaii  lere 

Horn  and  his  yfere : 

Horn  in  herte  la?te 

Al  J?at  He  him  taj\^e. 

In  ) e  curt  and  ute  \ 

And  elles  al  abute, 

Luuede  men  horn  child, 

And  meft  him  louede  Eym  enhild, 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Dhe  Kiq  kaam  in  to  Hal'e, 
Amoqf  sis  knikht'es  al'e  : 
Forth  ne  klep-ed  Aa'thelbruus, 
Dhat  was  Stirward  of  nis  HUUS. 
Stii'ward'  taak  nuu  neer*e 
Mi  fundiiq,  for  to  leer'e 
Of  dhiin'e  mesteer'e, 
Of  wuud  and  of  riveere, 
And  teetsh  nim  to  narp'e 
With  nis  nail'es  sharp'e, 
Bifoor'e  mee  to  kerve, 
And  of  dhe  kup*e  serve. 
Aa'thelbruus  gan  lee're 
Horn  and  His  ifee're : 
Horn  in  nert'e  lakht'e 
Al  dhat  nee  Him  takht'e. 
In  dhe  kuurt  and  uut'e 
And  el'es  al  abuut'e 
Luvde  men  Horn  Tshild. 
Meest  luvd-  im  Biinr  enhild 


1,  No.  6. 


KING    HORN  XIII  TH    CENTURY. 


483 


J2e  kynges  ojene  dofter, 
He  was  mefl  in  fo^te, 
Heo  louede  so  horn  child 
pat  nej  heo  gan  wexe  wild  : 
For  heo  ne  mijte  at  borde 
Wi]>  him  fpeke  ne  worde, 
Ne  no^t  in  J>e  halle 
Among  Je  knijtes  alle, 
Ne  nowhar  in  non  o]>ere  ftede  : 
Of  folk  heo  hadde  drede : 
Ei  dale  ne  bi  ni^te 
"Wi)>  him  fpeke  ne  mijte. 
Hire  foreje  ne  hire  pine 
Ne  mi^te  neure  fine. 
In  heorte  heo  hadde  wo. 
And  fus  hire  bifo^te  fo* 
Heo  rende  hire  fonde 
Afelbrus  to  honde 
fat  he  come  hire  to, 
And  alfo  fcholde  horn  do 
Al  in  to  bure, 
For  heo  gaw  to  lure. 
And  j?e  fonde  feide 
Ip  at  fik  lai  }>at  maide 
And  bad  him  come  fwife, 
For  heo  nas  noting  blife. 
pe  ftuard  was  in  herte  wo, 
For  he  nufte  what  to  do. 


Dhe  kiq*es  oogh'ne  dokht'er. 
Hir  was  -e  meest  in  thokht'e. 
Heo  luvde  soo  Horn  Tshild 
Dhat  Heo  gan  w^ks'e  wild. 
For  Heo  ne  mikht  at  boord'e 
With  Him  speek'e  noo  word'e 
Nee  nokht  in  dhe  nal'e 
Amoq;  dhe  knikht'es  al'e, 
Nee  in  noon  oodh're  steed'e. 
Of  folk  neo  nad*e  dreed'e. 
Ei  dare  nee  bi  nikht'e 
With  nim  speek  Heo  ne  mikhte. 
Hir  sorghe  nee  nir  piin'e 
Ne  mikht'e  nevre  fiin-e. 
In  nert  neo  had'e  woo. 
Dhus  nir  bithokht-e  dhoo. 
Heo  fende  Hire  sond'e 
Aa'thelbruus  to  nond*e, 
Dhat  he  kuum  nir  too, 
And  al*so  shold  Horn  doa 
Al  in  too  nir  buirre, 
For  neo  gan  to  luirre. 
And  dhe  sond'e  said'e 
Dhat  sik  lai  dhat  maid'e 
And  bad  him  kuunre  swiidh'e, 
For  neo  n-as  noo'thiq  bliidh'e. 
Dhe  Stii'ward  was  dher  woor 
For  He  nust*e  what  to  doo. 


Translation. 


The  king  came  in  to  hall 
Among  his  knights  all. 
Forth  he  called  Athelbrus 
That  was  steward  of  his  house. 
"  Steward  take  now  here 
My  foundling,  for  to  teach 
Of  thy  craft, 
Of  wood  and  of  river, 
And  teach  him  to  harp 
With  his  sharp  nails, 
Before  me  to  carve, 
And  serve  of  the  cup." 
Athelbrus  began  to  teach 
Horn  and  his  companions. 
Horn  received  in  his  heart 
All  that  he  taught  him. 
In  the  court  and  out 
And  else  all  about 
Loved  one  Horn  Child. 
Most  loved  him  "Rimenhild, 
The  king's  own  daughter. 
To-her  was  he  most  in  thought. 
She  loved  so  Horn  Child 
That  she  began  to  grow  wild. 


For  she  might  not  at  table 
With  him  speak  no  word, 
Nor  nought  in  the  hall 
Among  all  the  knights, 
Nor  in  no  other  place. 
Of  people  she  had  dread. 
By  day  nor  by  night 
With  him  she  might  not  speak.. 
Her  sorrow  nor  her  pain 
Might  not  ever  cease. 
In  heart  she  had  woe. 
Thus  bethought  her  then. 
She  would-send  hir  messenger 
To  the  hand  of  Athelbrus, 
That  he  should  come-to  her, 
And  thus  should  bring  Horn 
All  into  her  bower. 
For  she  began  to  lower  (lure  ?) 
And  the  messenger  said, 
That  sick  lay  the  maid 
And  bad  him  come  quickly  (?) 
For  she  was  in  no  wise  blithe. 
To-the  steward  was  woe, 
For  he  knew-not  what  to  do. 


484  MORAL   ODE,   ETC.  —  XII  TH  CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

7.    MORAL  ODB,  PATER  NOSTER,  ORISON,  END  OF  XIITH  CENTURY. 

The  compositions  of  the  xmth  century  have  all  a  decidedly  local 
character,  but  the  phonetic  meaning  of  the  letters,  which  is  all  we 
have  to  deal  with,  seems  as  firmly  established  as  in  the  xrvth. 
The  poems  mentioned  above  belong  perhaps  to  the  xn  th  century. 
The  copies  to  which  we  shall  refer  have  been  published  for  the 
Early  English  Text  Society.1  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  examine 
them  in  much  detail.  They  present  much  the  same  character  as 
Havelok,  with  the  e,  i  and  e,  o  and  o,  a  rhymes.  The  orthography 
is  very  unsteady,  and  it  is  difficult  to  feel  certain  in  any  place  that 
we  are  not  dealing  with  a  scribal  error  rather  than  a  peculiarity  of 
pronunciation.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  deal  with  a  few  peculiarities. 

THE  MOKAL  ODE,  or  POEMA  MORALE  :  Rowen  sowen  =  rue  sow 
19,  written  :  ruwen  seowen,  in  the  Egerton  MS.,  are  ags.  hreowan, 
sawan,  and  can  only  rhyme  by  the  dialectic  interchange  of  e,  o,  as  : 
shewe  lowe,  in  Havelok  (supra  p.  476).  Seide  misdede  129,  seiden 
reden  223,  require  a  peculiar  dialectic  pronunciation  of  seide  as  sede, 
and  that  this  existed  we  learn  not  only  from  the  orthography  :  of 
sede,  rede  155,  in  this  MS.  but  from  the  parallel  rhymes  :  sede 
misdede  131,  sede  rede  225  in  the  Egerton  MS.  See  supra,  p.  447. 
Hulde  felde  343,  hulle  fulle  347  and  durlinges  385,  are  examples 
of  the  use  of  u  for  «,  or  e,  common  in  this  MS. 

THE  PATEE  NOSTER  offers  many  examples  of  u  for  i:  wule  14, 
of-Jmnche'S  16,  ufele  17,  fenne  wunne  =  win  19,  inne  sunne  = 
sin  23,  139,  224,  wulle  ifulle  55,  sunne  unwune  282.  The  rhyme  : 
bone  clene  167,  shews  how  o  was  written  for  e  even  when  e  was 
pronounced.  WrerS  segge^  179,  shews  the  derivation  of  the  (ai) 
sound  from  (e^h),  and  :  mei  dei  169,  shews  the  identity  of  ei,  ai. 

The  ORISON,  or  ON  GOD  UREISON  OF  URE  LEFDI,  contains  a  few 
peculiarities  which  suggest  scribal  errors  :  Marie  lefde  1,  lefdi  liuie 
11,  lefdi  beien  17,  could  not  have  rhymed.  The  first  would  be 
satisfied  by  the  more  ancient  form  lefdie,  ags.  hlsefdie,  which  is 
justified  by  lafdie  in  Layamon,  15647,  or  else  by  the  contracted 
form  Mari,  which  we  have  already  had  reason  to  suspect,  p.  441. 
The  difficulty  of:  lefdie  beie  17,  as  it  would  then  be  written,  is 
the  same  as  that  of:  beie  offrie  2,  and:  lefdie  liuie  11  offers  a 
singular  form  for  Hue,  and  a  transmuted  accent.  See  several  other 
instances  of  like  forms,  supra  p.  446.  See  also  the  infinitives  in 
the  Assumpcioun  in  Lumby's  King  Horn,  p.  44,  and  in  Dan  Michel's 
Aymbite.  Kwene  reine  =  queen  rain,  57,  should  evidently  be  : 
kwene  rene,  the  old  ags.  form  ren,  which  existed  as  well  as  regen 
here  coming  into  use. 


i  and  Homi-  with  introduction,  translation  and  notes 

letic  Treatises  (Sawles  Warde,  and  >e  by  Richard  Morris,  1867-8.     The  Mo- 

Wohunge  of  Ure  Lauerd  :  Ureisuns  of  ral  Ode  is  No.  17,  p.  158,  and  a  dupli- 

Ure  Louerd  and  of  Ure  Lefdi,  etc.)  of  cate  of  the  first  270  lines  from  the 

the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries,  Egerton  MS.  is  given  in  an  Appendix, 

edited  from  MSB.  in  the  British  Mu-  p.  288.     The  Pater  Noster  is  on  p.  55 

seum,  Lambeth  and  Bodleian  Libraries,  and  the  Orison  on  p.  191. 


§  1,  No.  7. 


MORAL   ODE,    ETC. XII  TH    CENTURY. 


485 


The  following  brief  extract  from  the  Paternoster  will  convey 
some  notion  of  the  language. 


Paternoster,  75-98. 

Adwniat  regnum  tuwn. 

Cume  fi  riche  we  seggeft  hit. 

HercnrS  alle  to  fis  writ, 
his  riche  is  al  fis  middeleard. 
EorSe  and  heofene  and  uwilcherd 
ofer  alle  is  his  muchele  mihte. 
lauerd  he  is  icleped  mid  rihte. 
Lauerd  he  is  of  alle  scafte. 
In  eorSe.  in  heuene  is  his  mahte 
alle  }?e  scafte  fe  he  bi-gon. 
fet  is  ]?et  sod^e  hit  wes  for  mon 

alle  fiwge  he  makede  set  agan. 

Er  he  efre  makede  mon. 

he  makede  mon  i  rihtwisnesse. 

Onlete  on  his  onlichnesse. 

AUe  dor  and  fujel  ifliht  ^ 

lete  he  makede  adunriht. 

f  ene  Mow  he  lufede  and  welbi- 

fohte. 
and  for-fi  his   neb  upward  he 

wrohte. 

\et  wes  al  mid  muchele  skile  ^ 
^if  he  hit  understondon  wile. 
Neb  upwardes  he  him  wrohte. 
he  walde  ]>et  he  of  him  ]?oht[e]. 

Al  swa  fe  lauerd  ]>ei  him  wrohte. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 
Adveen'iat   reg'num    tuirum. 

Kuunve  dhi  riitsh'e !  "We  sai'eth 

nit. 

Herk-nith  al'e  too  dhis  rwdt. 
His  riitsh  is  al  dhis  mid'el  erd, 
Erth  and  nevn-  and  ii'wilk  Herd. 
Over  al  is  His  mutshie  mikht'e 
Laverd  He  is  iklep'ed  mid  rikht'e 
Laverd  He  is  of  al'e  skaft'e. 
In  erth,  in  heven  is  His  makht'e : 
Al*e  dhe  skaft'e  dhee  ne  bigon', 
Dhet  is  dhet  soodh,  nit  wes  for 

mon. 

Al-e  thiq  He  maaked  [?  ?] 
Eer  He  evre  maak'de  mon. 
He  maak'de  mon  i  rikht'wisnes'e, 
Onieet  on  His  on*litshnes*e. 
Al'e  door  and  fuugh'el  iflikht* 
Leet  -e  maak'ed  aduun'rikht : 
Dheen-e  Mon  He  luvd-  and  wel 

bithokht'e, 
And  fordhii*  nis  neb  up'ward'  he 

r^okht'e. 

Dhet  was  al  mid  mutsh'le  skiile, 
Jif  je  nit  un'derstond'on  wiil'e. 
Nebup^ward'es  nee  nim  r^okht'e. 
He  wald'e   dhet    nee    of   Him 

thokht-e, 
Alswaa  dhe  Laverd  dhet  Him 

rwokht'e. 


Mr.  Morris's  Translation. 


Adveniat  regnum  tuum. 

Thy  kingdom  come,  we  dp  say  it, 

Hearken  all  unto  this  writ ! 

His  kingdom  is  this  middle  earth, 

Earth  and  heaven,  and  each  abode ; 

Over  all  is  his  great  might. 

Lord  he  is  called  with  right ; 

Lord  he  is  of  all  creatures, 

In  earth  and  heaven  is  his  might. 

All  the  creatures  that  he  formed, 

That  is  truth,  it  was  for  man, 

All  things  he  made  to  appear 

Before  he  ever  made  man. 

He  made  man  in  righteousness, 


In  the  form  of  his  own  likeness. 
All  deer  (animals)  and  fowl  of  flight 
He  made  to  stoop  adownright  (down- 
wards). 

Man  he  loved  and  cared  for  well, 
And   therefore    his  face   upward   he 

wrought, 

That  was  all  for  a  good  skill  (reason), 
If  that  understand  ye  will. 
Face  upwards  he  him  wrought, 
He  would  that  man  of  him  thought, 
That  he  should  love  him  with  thought 

(in  his  mind) 
As  the  Lord  that  him  wrought. 


486  ORRMIN  XII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

§  2.    Unrhymed  Poems  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  and  Earlier. 

The  rhymed  poems  having  resulted  in  a  satisfactory  deter- 
mination of  the  values  of  the  letters,  it  is  necessary  to  apply 
the  result  to  the  examination  of  documents  in  which  no 
rhyme  is  employed.  The  first  of  these  that  has  been  selected 
is  so  careful  in  its  orthography  that  it  is  in  many  respects 
more  fitted  for  our  purpose  than  the  laxly  written  poems 
already  considered.  The  second  has  chiefly  antiquity  to 
recommend  it,  and  its  principal  phonetic  value  lies  in  the 
great  diversity  of  representations  which  it  supplies  for  the 
same  word. 

1.    ORRMIN' s    ORRMULUM,  END  OF  XIITH   CENTURY. 

Orrmin's  Orrmuluin1  is  written  in  a  strict  orthography,  with 
some  inevitable  slips  here  and  there  perhaps,  which  escaped  the 
author's  evidently  careful  and  repeated  revision,2  and  as  the  object 
of  this  orthography  was  phonetic,  the  poem  may  be  fairly  considered 
as  being  the  first  example  of  the  application  of  the  purely  phonetic 
principle  in  the  orthography  of  English. 

Orrmin's  scheme  was  to  double  the  following  consonant  when  a 
vowel  was  short.  The  origin  of  the  feeling  which  led  to  this  no- 
tation has  been  already  explained  (p.  55).  This  plan  has  the  ob- 
vious disadvantage  of  not  indicating  the  length  of  a  vowel  when  no 

1  The  Onnulum,  Now.  first  edited  italic,  we  have  in  these  sixteen  lines, 

from  the  original  manuscript  in  the  bro]?err  (twice),  troww)?e,  takenw, 

Bodleian  (Jun.  MS.  1.)  with  Notes  and  resell,  foll^enn,  swasumw  (twice), 

a  Glossary  by  Eobert  Meadows  White,  biwwille,  wenwd,  little,  hafej^.  As  we 

D.D.  Oxford,  1852,  2  vols.  8vo.  "If  have  also  at  length  broj?err  (twice), 

we  consider  alone  the  character  of  the  Wallt',  affV,  flseshess,  crisstenndom, 

handwriting,  the  ink,  and  the  material  ]?urrh.  (three  times),  fulluhht,  godess, 

nsed  by  the  scribe,  we  find  reasons  for  J?att,  witt,  hafenn,  etc.,  and  as  in  the 

placing  the  date  of  the  MS.  early  in  cases  of  superposition  the  writing  was 

the  thirteenth  century,"  pref.  Ixxii.  crowded,  I  conceive  these  to  have 

Mr.  Garnett  considers  it  to  have  been  been  corrections,  similar  to  the  little  ac- 

written  in  Peterborough.  Dr.  White  cent  marks  by  which  words  were  sepa- 

writes  "  The  Ormulum"  with  a  pre-  rated  that  had  been  too  closely  written, 

fixed  the  ^  and  single  r  in  the  above  If  then  in  some  cases  we  find  a  single 

title,  but  in  the  introduction  we  read —  consonant  where  we  should  have  ex- 

>iss  hoc  iss  nemmnedd  Orrmuluin  pected  a  double  consonant,  we    may 

forr>i  ]?att  Orrm  itt  wrohhte  fairly  attribute  it  to  a  slip  which  has 

where  Orrm  is  a  contraction  for  Orr-  escaped  correction.  Occasionally,  where 

min  as  we  see  by  the  example  given  two  consonants  follow  the  vowel,  the 

below.p.  491  dedication  324.  first  consonant  seems  not  to  have  been 

5  In  the  facsimile  of  the  sixteen  doubled,  either  through  the  author's 

opening  lines  prefixed  to  White's  edi-  inadvertence  or  from  his  not  having 

tion,  we  see  that  the  second  consonant  thoroughly  settled  the  system  of  writ- 

in  a  reduplication  was  sometimes  ing,  so  that  we  find  kinde  and  finndenn, 

written  over  the  other,  and  sometimes  which  must  have  both  had  a  short  », 

not.  The  same  was  the  case  occasion-  and  may  be  compared  to  the  double 

ally  with  h  in  jh,  etc.  Thus,  repre-  forms  amang,  amanng,  which  must 

seuting  the  superior  consonant  by  an  have  signified  the  same  sound. 


§  2,  No.  1.  ORRMIN XII  TH   CENTURY.  487 

consonant  followed.  Thus  in  the  opening  lines  \e,  i,  o,  to,  swa  were 
all  probably  short,  and  ba  =  both,  was  long.  The  writing,  how- 
ever, shews  no  difference.  There  was  also  this  inconvenience  that 
as  the  short  vowels  are  more  frequent  than  the  long,  the  writing 
was  overladen  with  doubled  letters.  The  expedient  of  doubling  the 
vowel  to  indicate  length,  also  very  common  and  natural,  overcomes 
both  difficulties,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  example  of  pronunciation  in 
palseotype  below  p.  490.  Thorpe  in  the  Preface  to  his  Analecta 
Anglo- Saxonica,  1846,  p.  xi,  attributes  to  Orrmin  the  precise  cor- 
respondence of  long  and  short  vowels  which  exist  at  the  present 
day,1  so  that  according  to  him  Orrmin' s  a,  e,  i,  o,  u  represented  (e« 
ae,  ii  e,  ai  i,  oo  o,  uu  o),  an  hypothesis  which  our  preceding  inves- 
tigations render  untenable.  If  any  weight  is  to  be  attributed  to 
our  determination  of  the  values  of  a,  e,  i,  o  in  Chaucer,  and  u  in  the 
Cuckoo  Song,  we  can  hardly  conceive  the  pairing  of  the  vowels  to 
have  been  otherwise  then  (aa  a,  ee  e,  ii  i,  oo  o,  uu  u),  except  that 
very  possibly  (aa  a,  EE  E,  ii  i )  may  have  replaced  the  first  three 
pairs,  and  as  to  the  last  pair,  there  might,  from  previous  examples, 
be  a  suspicion  that  the  long  and  short  u  may  have  been  at  least 
occasionally  (yy,  y) ;  but  no  examples  of  the  use  of  u  for  i,  e  seem  to 
occur,  so  that  u  should  probably  be  always  read  as  (uu,  u).  The 
form  ou  for  (uu)  never  occurs. 

There  are  very  few  divided  vowels,  but  we  meet  with  a  and  eo. 
The  (K  in  numerous  instances  replaces  an  ags.  ea  as  in :  dsed  dead 
dead,  draem  dream  sound,  rsem  hream  cry,  tsem  team  offspring,  flaerd 
fleard  mockery,  staep  steap  steep.  It  often  alternates  with  e  and 
sometimes  even  with  eo,  thus  we  have :  drsedenn  dredenn,  2  pr. 
draedesst,  3  pr.  drede]?]?,  2  pi.  draedenn,  3  p.  dredde,  imp.  dred ; 
drsefedd,  dreofedd,  drefedd.  These  confusions  seem  to  indicate  that 
(e,  eo,  e  had  the  same  sound.  Even  if  ce  retained  its  true  ags.  sound, 
which  was  probably  (seae,  93),  this  would  readily  be  confounded  with 
(EE,  E),  and  this  again  with  (ee,  e).  It  seems  preferable  then  to  give  ee 
'  the  same  sound  as  e,  viz.  (ee,  e),  or  else  to  regard  <z  as  (E),  and  e  as  (e). 

As  respects  eo,  Mr.  White  observes  that :  "  a  remarkable  instance 
of  the  preference  of  e  for  eo  will  be  found  by  the  omission,  nearly 

1  He  says :  "  The  author  seems  to  nounced  God,  not  Gode),  etc.     Thus 

have  been  a  critic  in  his  mother-tongue ;  hus  is  to  be  pronounced  hoos,  whereas 

and  to  [through  ?]  his  idea  of  doubling  )mss,  with  a  double  s,   is  our  thus." 

the  consonant  after  a  short  vowel  (as  Tyrwhitt,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Language 

in  German),  we  are  enabled  to  form  and  Versification  of  Chaucer,  Part  III. 

some  tolerably  accurate  notions  as  to  §  iv.  note  52,  declares  himself  unahle 

the  pronunciation  of  our  forefathers.  to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  those 

Thus   he  writes  min  with  a  single  n  doubled  consonants,  and  in  quoting  the 

only  hecause  the  t  is  long  or  diphthonal,  commencement  of  the  Dedication,  "ven- 

as  in  our  mine.     So  also  in  kinde  (pro-  tures  (first  begging  Ormin's  pardon  for 

nounced  as  our  kind,}  dom,  hoc,  had,  disregarding  his  injunction)   to  leave 

lif  (pronounced  as  our  life),  etc.     On  out  the  superfluous  letters."     To  have 

the  other  hand,  wherever  the  consonant  heen  consistent,  then,  he  should  have 

is  doubled,  the    vowel    preceding    is  written :  beging,  lev,  leters,  instead  of 

short  and  sharp,  as  in  ^ett  (pronounced  the  "  superfluously  lettered"  begging, 

as  our  yet,  not  yate,  as  it  would  be  if  leave,  letters  ! 
written  with  a  single  t}  Godd  (pro- 


488  ORRMIN  —  XII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

uniform,  of  o  in  the  latter  part  of  the  MS.,  in  the  inserted  leaves, 
and  in  the  dedication  and  preface,  as  in  the  forms  lede,  fede, 
werelld,  etc.,  the  o  having  been  written  in  the  above  words  and 
in  others  in  the  first  part  of  the  MS.,  afterwards  erased,  and 
then  re-written.  In  these  last  named  instances  the  o  has  been 
retained  in  printing  in  order  to  preserve  the  orthography.  Perhaps 
the  o  was  rejected  as  not  essential  for  pronunciation;  Of.  our  word 
people"  Of  course  such  deletions  and  restitutions  of  o  could  not 
have  taken  place  unless  eo  formed  one  syllable,  as  White  observes, 
quoting  v.  8571  : 

ba  shulenn  beon  off  heore  kinn. 

Possibly  the  writing  may  have  been  Orrmin's,  the  deletion  his 
brother's,  who  was  requested  to  examine  the  manuscript,  ded.  v.  65  : 

Annd  te  bitaeche  ice  off  biss  boc 
heh  wikenn1  alls  itt  seme]?)) 

all  to  burrbsekenn  illc  an  ferrs 
annd  to  burrhlokenn  offte, 

certainly  rather  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  trips  in  doctrine, 
batt  upponn  all  bis  boc  ne  be 
nan  word  ^sen  Cristess  lare, 
nan  word  tatt  swibe  wel  ne  be 
to  trowwenn  annd  to  follghenn ; 

but  we  can  easily  imagine  "broferr  "Wallterr  "  having  extended  his 
observations  to  the  spelling,  and  Orrmin  having  on  further  reflection, 
restored  his  own  orthography.  In  this  case  Orrmin  attached  a 
value  to  eo  different  from  (ee).  However  it  be,  we  find  as  a  matter 
of  fact  that  in  White's  glossary  almost  every  word  spelled  with  eo 
has  a  secondary  form  spelled  with  simple  e.  This  would  rather 
indicate  (eei_o),  with  a  strongly  marked  (ee)  and  an  evanescent  (o), 
comparable  to  the  (oo[_u,  oo'w)  in  our  modern  pronunciation  of  know 
=  (noou). 

The  forms  at,  ei,  au,  ou  do  not  occur,  but  the  syllables  igg,  655, 
ags,  aww,  eww,  most  probably  indicated  the  presence  of  diphthongs. 
The  letter  5  had  of  course  a  different  sound  from  g.  The  regular 
(gh)  sound  seems  to  have  been  written  5 A,  while  (kh)  was  h  or  hh. 
Thus  from  a^henn  to  own,  we  have  ah  owns,  and  ahhte  goods,  cattle. 
We  have  also  lerr^henn  to  save,  lerrhless  salvation.  Observe  that 
in  these  cases  5^  comes  before  a  vowel,  as  in  hall%he,  reghell, 
fofahenn,  etc.,  and  h,  hh,  before  a  consonant  or  at  the  end  of  a  word, 
and  this  rule  appears  to  have  been  consistently  carried  out.  The 
simple  5  then  probably  functioned  as  (j),  as  in :  garrken,  gate,  ge, 
gelden,  jellpenn,  jeorne  jeorrne  genie  jerrne,  ger,  gife,  giff,  gilt, 
jocc,  50!,  smig,  jure.  The  initial  gh  is  peculiar  to  the  word  %ho  = 
she  and  the  contraction  %hot=  %ho  itt.  In  the  later  text  of  Laga- 
mon  we  have  %eo  for  she ;  see  also  ghe,  ge,  supra  p.  467.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  pronounce  %ho  otherwise  than  (#ho,  jho),  and  it 
would  seem  to  be  a  peculiar  derivative  from  heo,  the  (jh)  being 
generated  in  the  same  way  that  it  is  in  a  not  unusual  modern  pro- 

1  White    translates,     office,     duty,      attendants,   and  Stratmann  sub  Toce 
charge.    See  Lajamon's  wikenares=      wiken. 


§  2,  No.  1. 


ORRMIN 


XII  TH  CENTURY. 


489 


nunciation  of  the  words,  hue,  Hume,  Hughes  =  (jlmu,  Jhuum, 
Jhuuz).  Prom  these  (jho,  jhe)  forms  the  subsequent  (shoo, 
shee,  shii)  easily  follow.  What  then  was  the  effect  of  g  when 
final?  "We  know  that  many  orthoepists,  as  Wallis,  consider 
that  the  final  element  in  the  diphthongs  (ai,  au)  is  (j,  w)  and  not 
(i,  u),  p.  186.  We  see  also  from  the  example  ofAwwstin,  Ded.  v.  10, 
which  we  know  from  Latin  sources  must  have  been  (Austiur),  that 
Orrmin  belonged  to  this  class.  It  follows  therefore  that  eww  must 
must  have  been  (eu)  in  cnewwe  and  that  #gg,  0gg  must  have  been 
(ai,  ei),  or  (aai,  eei),  as  it  is  unlikely  that  Orrmin  would  have  made 
the  difference,  the  duplication  of  g  serving  only  to  shew  the  strict 
diphthongation  of  the  elements. 

The  legitimacy  of  this  interpretation  will  be  more  readily 
admitted  after  an  inspection  of  the  following  lists  of  all  simple 
words  which  I  have  observed  in  Orrmin  containing  agg  and  eg  g. 


dass  _<%> 


and  pi. 


bessen  gen.  of  ba  both 
besssanns  bezants 
bessgc  bitter,  icel.  beiskr 
bess^enn    to    beat,    ags. 

beatan 
claenless0  chastity 


sayest  sa 
seggeun 
twessen  twain 


_ 
said  from 


rfr,  ags.  faegr 

fassre  fairly,  ags.  faegere 
frassnen  to  ask,  ags.  freg- 

nan,  Lancashire  frayne. 
mass  (1)  may,  ags.  mseg  ; 

(2)  maid  icel.  mey. 
massdenn    maiden,    ags. 

maegden 

massstre  magister 
mass>e  tribe,  ags.  msegft 
nass  w«y 
nasslenn    to    nail,    ags. 

naeglian 
woe 

wain,  ags.  waegn 
wassne)>J>   carrieth,   ags. 

wegan 

In  almost  all  these  cases  we  see  agg  answering  to  ags.  ag  ag  eg, 
and  egg  to  ags.  eg  and  once  ea,  or  Icel.  ei,  and  twice  e  =  (je).     The 


to  ail,  ags.  eglan 
ess>err  either,  ags.  aeg>er 
esswnaer  everywhere,  ags. 

seghwaer 
flessl/«#,  old  Fr.  flaial, 

Lat.  flagellum 
gessnen  to  gain,  icel.  at 

gegna 
gejsnlike      conveniently, 

icel.  gegnilega 
eness 


layest  layeth  laid 


to  play,  icel.  at 

to  inquire,  icel. 
atleita 

metless6  humility 
ressn  rain,  ags.  ren,  regn 
ressnenn  t°  ra^n 
resssenn  t°  raise,  icel.  at 
reisa  to  travel 
sess> 
ith 


them 
eir 
way,  age.  weg 


most  remarkable  exception  is  )e^m  from  ags.  ]>am,  as  it  accounts 
for  the  form  }>eim,  Jww,  (p.  442,  Pater,  v.  8),  and  perhaps  for  }>eis, 
forms  sometimes  found  in  old  English.  It  does  not  seem  possible  to 
establish  the  transition  of  ag  into  ai  (agh,  a#h,  aj,  ai)  more  clearly. 
The  combinations  *'g  or  egg  occur  in  4«'g,  as  innwarrdli^ 
witerrUg,  and  in  twi^ess  and  similar  words,  where  the  difference  of 
the  single  g  and  double  gg  has  to  be  noted.  Properly  the  sound 
should  be  that  of  the  very  common  German  termination  -ig,  as 
inwendig,  wahrhaftig,  which  is  theoretically  (-i#h)  and  practically 
(-i£h),  as  (in-bhend:i#h,  bhaars:aft:i^),  or  (in'bhend:iM,  bhaar- 
Haffoi^h).  It  would  therefore  be  hazardous  to  read  «g,  egg,  other- 
wise than  as  (ii£h,  i^h)  final  or  (%h,  iyh)  before  vowels.  The 
objection  that  these  sounds  when  final  should  have  been  written  -ih, 
-ihh,  must  be  met  by  the  habit  of  the  ags.  final  -ig.  The  same 
reason  may  have  led  Orrmin  to  use  gg  in  the  middle  of  a  word  in 


490  ORRMIN —  XII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

place  of  j  jA,  which  would  have  been  the  regular  reduplication  of  gA, 
compare  ssh  in  Englissh,  dedication  109.  The  value  of  uw  in  -^uw 
is  doubtful,  but  it  does  not  seem  likely  to  have  differed  from  (uu). 
The  /  between  two  vowels,  and  frequently  elsewhere,  was  most 
probably  (»),  a  letter  which  Orrmin  avoids,  but  /"was  of  course  (f). 
This  would  accord  with  the  modern  "Welsh  usage.^ 

As  to  the  final  0,  the  rule  of  pronunciation  given,  by  the  strict 
observation  of  the  number  of  syllables  in  each  line,  is  precisely  that 
at  which  we  arrived  for  Chaucer,  down  to  the  occasional  elision  of 
an  inflectional  final  e,  even  when  not  preceding  a  vowel,  in  which 
case  Orrmin  simply  left  it  out.1  The  elisions,  however,  are  not  so 
frequent  as  in  Chaucer.  Thus,  in  the  first  1000  lines  of  the  Homilies 
in  White's  text,  final  e  is  elided  five  times  before  himm,  three  times 
before  he,  twice  before  himm  and  hiss,  once  before  hu  and  once  before 
Herodess  v.  277,  which  is  very  peculiar.  The  elisions  before  a 
vowel  are  more  common.  Open  e  perhaps  does  not  occur,  so  that 
the  practice  of  the  end  of  the  xivth  century  is  justified  by  an 
English  practice  at  the  beginning  of  the  xm  th,  which  cannot  have 
been  influenced  by  Norman  habits.  Coalescent  words  also  occur  as 
^alde,  namm  =  f  e  aide,  ne  amm,  het  =  he  itt,  noff  =  ne  off,  nafe, 
naffde  =  ne  hafe,  ne  haffde,  etc.  A  final  d  or  t  changes  the  follow- 
ing f  to  t,  a  practice  which  we  have  met  with  before  (p.  444,  n.  2), 
and  which  was  still  preserved  in  Chaucer's :  wiltow  =  wilt  thou, 
etc.  (p.  371),  but  here  carried  much  further.  We  may  therefore 
feel  considerable  confidence  in  pronouncing  Orrmulum  as  follows  : 

Orrmulum,  Dedication.  Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Annd  whase  wilenn  shall  fiss  And  whaa'see  wirlen  shal  this 

boc  book 

efft  oj>err  sije  writenn,         96  eft  oo'dher  sirdhe  rwirten, 

himm  bidde  ice  J?att  het  write  Him  bid  ik  dhat   nee-t  rwdrte 

rihht  ri&ht 

swa  summ  ) iss  boc  himm  taech-  swaa  sum  dhis  book  him  tEEtsh* 

ef>,  eth, 

all  ) werrt  u't  affterr  } att  itt  iss  al  thwert  uut  aft'er  dhat  it  is 

uppo  J?iss  firrste  bisne,        100  upoo*  dhis  first'e  biis'ne, 

wiff  all  swillc  rime  alls  her  iss  with  al  swilk  riim  als  heer  is 

sett,  set 

Verbal  Translation. 

And  whoso  shall  desire  this  book  All  throughout  after  (the  way)  that  it  is 

Again  another  time  to  write,          96  On  this  first  example,                   100 

Him  beg  I  that  he  it  write  rightly  With  all  such  number  as  is  here  set 

Just  as  this  book  him  teacheth,  (forth,) 

1  White    cites    the   examples:    fra  att    inne    12739;     whaeroff'     13694, 

mann'  to  manne  11219  ;  to  king'  8449,  whseroffe  13704;  orrwitejhunngl4416, 

to  kinge  8370;  to  grand'    11773,   to  off  witejhunnge  14617,  where  I  have 

grunde   12547 ;  o  faderr  hallf  2269,  introduced  an  apostrophe  to  mark  the 

o   faderr  hallfe   2028  ;  i  Godess  hus'  elision.     This  omission  of  e  in  writing 

625,   inn  huse   2112;  off  slap'    1903,  sometimes  takes  place  before  a  vowel, 

off  slaape  3143;  patt  laeredd' follc  15876,  where  it  was  not  necessary  according 

)>att  lasrede  follc  7440 ;  att  inn'  12926,  to  Orminn's  system  of  writing. 


§  2,  No.  1. 


ORRMIN XII  TH    CENTURY. 


491 


wty}>  all  se  fele  wordess  ; 
annd  tatt  lie  loke  wel  )?att  lie 

an  bocstaff  write  twiggess  104 
eggwhaBr  ]?8er  itt  uppo  J>iss  boc 

iss  writenn  o  ]?att  wise  ; 
loke  lie  well  tatt  he't  write  swa,t 

107 

forr  lie  ne  mag  g  nohht  elless 
onn  Ennglissh  writenn  rihht  te 
word, 

fatt  wite  he  wel  to  sofe. 
Annd  giff  mann  wile  witenn  whi 

ice  hafe  don  fiss  dede,        112 
whi  ice  till  Ennglissh  hafe  wennd 

goddspelless  hallghe  lare  ; 
ice  hafe  itt  don  forrfi  fatt  all 

crisstene  follkess  beiThless  116 
iss  lang  uppo  fatt  an,  ]?att  teg  5 

goddspelless  hall  g  he  lare 
wiff  fulle  mahhte  follghe  rihht, 

jmrrh  fohht,  furrh  word,  furrh 
dede. 

#         *         *         * 

Ice  )  att  tiss  Ennglissh  hafe  sett 

Ennglisshe  menn  to  lare,   322 
ic  wass,   ]?a3r  ]?8er  I  crisstnedd 
wass, 

Orrmin  bi  name  nemmnedd. 
annd  ice  Orrmin  full  innwarrdlig, 

wiff    mu]?    annd     ec    wif| 
herrte,  326 

her  bidde  fa  Crisstene  menn 

]?att  herenn  oferr  redenn 
J?iss  boc,  hemm  bidde  ice  her  f  att 


forr  me  f  iss  bede  biddenn  :  330 


with  al  see  fee'le  word'es ; 
and  tat  He  look'e  wel  dhat  nee 

aan  book'staf  rwirte  twi^h'es 
ei'whEEr  dhEEr  it  upoo*  dhis  book 

is  rtrit'en  oo  dhat  wii'se ; 
look  see  wel  dhat  nee-t  rt^ii'te 
swaa, 

forr  nee  ne  mai  nokht  el*es 
on    Eq-lish    r^ii'ten    ri^ht    te 
word, 

dhat  wiit  He  wel  to  sooth 'e 
And  jif  man  wiil'e  wit'en  whii 

ik  naave  doon  dhis  deed'e, 
whii  ik  til  Eqiish  naave  wennd 

god'spel'es  nal^h'e  laa*re ; 
ik  naav  it  doon  fordhii*  dhat  al 

cristee'ne  folk'es  berkhies 
is  laq  upoo*  dhat  aan,  dhat  tei 

god'spel'es  nal^h'e  laa're 
with  ful*e  makht'e  fol^h'e  ri^ht, 

thur^h  thokht,  thur^h  woord, 

thur^h  dee'de. 
*         *        *         * 

Ik  dhat  tis  Eq'lish  naave  set 

Eq'lish'e  men  to  laa're, 
ik  was,  dhEEr  dhEEr  i  krist'ned 

was, 

Ormiirr  bi  naam'e  nemnvned. 
And  ik  Ormiin*  ful  in'wardli^rh 
with  muuth    and    eek  with 

hert'e, 

neer  bid'e  dhaa  kristee-ne  men 
dhat  nee*ren  oo'dher  ree'den 
dhis  book,  nem  bid  ik  neer  dhat 

tei 
for  mee  dhis  bee'de  bid'en  : 


Verbal  Translation. 


"With  all  so  many  words, 
And  that  he  look  well,  that  he 

One  letter  write  twice,  104 

Everywhere  where  it  upon  this  book 

Is  written  on  that  wise  ; 
Look  he  well  that  he  it  write  so, 

For  he  may  not  else  108 

In  English  write  rightly  the  word, 

That  know  he  well  to  sooth. 
And  if  one  will  know  why 

I  have  done  this  deed,  112 

Why  I  into  English  have  turned 

Gospel's  holy  lore ; 
I  have  done  it  because  that  all 

Christian  people' s  salvation          116 


Is  along  of  that  one  (thing),  that  they 

Gospel's  holy  lore 
With  full  power  follow  rightly, 

By  thought,  by  word,  by  deed.  *  *  * 
I  that  this  English  have  set  (forth)  321 

Englishmen  to  teach, 
I  was  there  where  I  christened  was, 

Orrmin  by  name  named ; 
And  I  Orrmin  full  inwardly, 

With  mouth  and  eke  with  heart  326 
Here  pray  the  Christian  men 

That  hear  or  read 
This  book,  them  pray  I  here  that  they 

For  me  this  prayer  pray  :  330 


492 


ORRMIN —  XII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


fatt  broferr  f att  tiss  Ennglissh  dhat  broo'dher  dhat  tis  Eq-lish 

writt  rwit 

allraeresst  wra't  annd  wrohhte,  alrEE'restrwaat  annd  rwokht'e, 

) att  brojjerr,  forr  hiss  swinnc  to  dhat  broo'dher,  for  His  swiqk  to 

laen,  lEEn 

sof  blisse  mote  findenn.     334  .      sooth  blis'e  moo'te  find'en. 

Verbal  Translation. 

That  brother  that  this  English  writing      That  brother  for  his  labour  to  reward, 
First  of  all  (men)  wrote  and  wrought,          True  bliss  may  (he)  find. 

As  considerable  doubt  attaches  to  the  length  of  the  vowel  in  old 
English,  and  as  Orrmin's  orthography  is  meant  to  resolve  that 
doubt,  it  seems  worth  while  to  collect  together  all  the  instances 
where  he  seems  to  mark  vowels  as  long.  In  the  following  lists, 
which  have  been  collected  from  "White's  glossary,  all  the  simple 
(uncompounded)  words  in  which  a  long  vowel  before  a  consonant 
appeared  to  be  indicated  with  tolerable  certainty  have  been  col- 
lected. To  all  cases  in  which  a  vowel  is  followed  by  more  than 
one  consonant,  and  the  first  of  those  consonants  is  not  doubled, 
doubt  attaches,  because  Orrmin's  usage  fluctuates  in  some  of  them, 
and  he  seems  to  have  thought  that  two  consonants  would  act  oc- 
casionally as  well  as  a  doubled  consonant.  Such  words  are  there- 
fore excluded,  as  are  also  all  monosyllables  ending  in  a  vowel,  and 
therefore  of  undetermined  quantity.  The  use  of  the  short  sign  (w) 
sometimes  seems  to  indicate  a  short  vowel,  where  only  one  con- 
sonant follows,  and  hence  a  few  of  the  following  words  may  be 
doubtful,  but  on  the  whole  it  would  seem  that  a  long  vowel  was 
intended  in  each  of  the  following  cases. 

LIST  OF  OERMIN'S  WOEDS  CONTAHTTNG  Loira  YowELs.1 


Long  A  (aa) 
adle 

dale 
drake 

ladebb 
laf 

rabe 
rabenn 

wrab 
>afe 

afeU 

drajhenn 

laferrd 

sake 

j^rajhe 

lah 

an 
anij 

fakenn 
farenn 

Ictli 

lakenn 
lare 

DoJuo 

samenn 
sare 

Long  JE  (BE) 

ar 

frame 

late 

shame 

jfifre 

are 

gal 

la^he 

shapebb 

ser 

arenn 

gan 

makenn 

skabesst 

serd 

atell 

gate 

male 

slan 

89re 

abell 

sate 

man 

snab 

eat 

abess 
abumm 

Satenn 
gehatenn 

manab 

stan 
strac 

seb 
baare 

awihht 
babe 

E? 

mare 
nakedd 

sware 
swat 

baarenn 
baetenn 

brad 

hafenn 

name 

takenn 

brged 

brab 

hal 

nan 

tale 

daad 

kafe 

haliir 

naness 

wac 

daaf 

kare 

ham 

nabe 

wakenn 

d33h 

charij 

hat 

ran  touched 

war 

dael-enn 

clake 

hatenn 

rap 

wat  knew 

daew 

cla> 

,    lac 

ras 

waterr 

cnape 

Made 

rab 

wrat 

draefedd 

1  This  listVand  the  foUowing  have  been  checked  by  Mr.  Brock. 

§  2,  No.  I. 


ORRMIN XII  TH    CENTURY. 


493 


draem 

kechell 

metedd 

whil 

blome 

faerenn 

kelenn 

mejhe 

idell 

boc 

faewe 

kene 

ned 

ifell 

bode 

flgesh 

chepinng 

nedl 

irenn 

bodig 

283p 

chesenn 

neh 

lie 

bone 

gaetenn 

kepenn 

new 

lich 

bojhess 

haafedd 

clene 

peninng 

lif 

bote 

haele 

clepenn 

prest 

like 

bobe 

haep 

cnedesst 

redenn 

likenn 

broberr 

cnelenn 

reghell 

lim 

clofenn 

haese 

cwemenn 

sec 

limess 

come 

haete 

ewen 

sed 

lin 

croc 

haebenn 

dede 

sefenn 

litell 

dom 

haewenn 

deme-nn 

sekenn 

libe 

don 

whaer 

depe 

sel 

mikell 

flod 

laac 

dezenn 

ser 

min 

flor 

laeche 

drefedd 

shene 

minebb 

flowedd 

Isefe 

dreghenn 

shep 

nimenn 

fode 

laepenn 

ec 

shetenn 

nib 

fon 

laerenn 

eche 

slep 

nijhen 

fot 

laetenn 

efenn 

smec 

pine-nn 

frofre 

maelenn 

ekenn 

smere 

ridinngess 

god 

maeless 

ele 

smebe 

rime 

Sol 

maene 
maere 

etenn 
e^he 

sped 
spedenn 

risenn 
shine  bb 

gom 
hof 

maeb 

fedenn 

spekenn 

shir 

holebb 

naefre 

fele 

stekenn 

shridenn 

hope 

raed 

fere 

ster 

shrifenn 

ho^hefull 

rgedig 

fletebb 

stren 

side 

inoh 

raefenn 

flejhenn 

swere 

sikenn 

lofenn 

raem 

frend 

swet 

sikerr 

lokenn 

raew 

Semenn 

tekenn 

sibe 

lome 

saem 

3er 

tene 

si^e 

lojhe 

shaedenn 

setenn 

tredenn 

skiledd 

mod 

shaewenn 

gredij 

wedenn 

skir 

moderr 

shraedenn 

grene 

wel 

smikerr 

mone 

slaen 

gresess 

wen-enn 

smitenn 

moneb 

slaep 

gretenn 

wepenn 

stidig 

mot-e 

spaeche 

hefenn 

were 

stih 

notesst 

steep 

heh 

werenn 

stirenn 

oferr 

straem 

her 

wrekenn 

sti^henn 

ofne 

straete 

here 

wrejenn 

swin 

oberr 

taechenn 
tselenn 

herenn 
hete 

bede 
bes 

swibe 
tid 

ploh 
rhof 

teem-enn 
wocd.6 

hew 

bebenn 

time 

rode 

waedle 
waelinng 

he^he 
ledenn 

Long  I  (ee) 
abidenn 

wide 
wif 

ros 
rosenn 
rote 

waepenn 

lefe 

bisne 

win 

rotenn 

waete 

lefenn 

blibe 

wis 

scone 

baer-e 

lem 

kibenn 

wise 

shop 

baew 

lenenn 

cnif 

wite 

slob 

braepenn 

letenn 

drifenu 

witenn 

snoterr 

le;$he 

fif 

witerr 

sone 

Long  E  (ee) 

le^henn 

filenn 

wiberr 

sob 

segede 

mede 

fir 

writenn 

sto'ke-ss 

bede 

mekenn 

^ifenn 

biderr 

toe 

bene 
berenn 

mele 
menenn 

giferr 
hiderr 

bise 

tor 

betenn 

menebb 

hire 

Long  0  (oo) 

woh 

breme 

mete 

hij 

blod 

wokenn 

494 


ORRMIN  —  XII  TH    CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


wop 
wo^he 
Jjolenn 

bu^henn 
cludess 
clutess 
crune 
cumenn 
cuj? 
dun 
dure 
Me 
fus 

£ure 
bunis 
bus 
husell 
hutenn 
Ihude 
lufe-nn 
lukenn 
lutenn 
mu)> 

Long  Z7(uu) 
brukenn 
bufenn 
bule 
bun 
bure 
butenn 

mujbenn 

Jmtenn 

numen 

tun 

rum 

uferr 

rune 

ure 

shrud 

usell 

sumerr 

ut-e-nn 

sune 

uj>e 

sur 

wude 

sutell 

wuke 

su> 

wunenn 

As  considerable  interest  attaches  to  the  determination  of  such 
adjectives  and  substantives  as  had  a  final  e  in  early  English,  and  as 
Orrmin's  versification  establishes  with  certainty  the  pronunciation 
of  such  letters,  except  when  they  are  elidably  situate,  I  have 
collected  from  White's  glossary  all  such  words,  adding  the  meaning. 
A  few  substantives  are  only  found  in  oblique  cases,  and  these  are 
marked  f  because  the  e  may  be  only  inflexional.  In  the  case  of 
the  adjectives  it  is  not  always  certain,  from  a  simple  inspection 
of  the  glossary,  whether  the  e  is  a  mere  mark  of  the  plural  or 
of  the  definite  inflection.  When  I  have  detected  either  of  these 
to  be  the  case  I  have  omitted  the  adjective  from  the  list,  but  I  have 
not  thought  it  necessary  to  verify  every  case.  Such  a  table  of 
German  nouns  and  adjectives  would  seem  ridiculous  to  a  German, 
because  he  cannot  dissociate  the  e  from  the  words.  We  have  be- 
come so  used  to  its  absence  that  every  kind  of  artificial  means  is 
necessary  to  restore  the  association. 

LIST  OF  OBRMTN'S  ADJECTIVES  AND  SUBSTANTIVES  ENDING  IN  E. 


adle  disease 

blisse  bliss 

daedbote  repentance 

fallse  /afe« 

sebaere  dear 

bli>e  dff*A0 

dale  part 

fasste  /as<  s. 

aegedef  luxury 

blome  blome 

daerne  secret 

fele,  fele,  fele  many 

sere  ear 

blostme  blossom 

daffte  humble 

feor]?e  fourth 

aete  food 

bode  command 

dale  tfrt#£y 

fere  fere  power 

abhte  goods 
ane  alone  (?  adv.) 

bone  foow 
bote  remedy 

dede  dm£ 
deme  f  judge 

fifte  ^/<A 
fiftende  t  fifteenth 

ange  sorrow 
anndsaete  odious 
anndsware  answer 
are  grace 

bo)?e  £00<A 
braJ?J?e  anger 
breme  furious 
bridale  bridal 

deope,  depe  deep 
deore,  dere  dear 
drijse  dry 
drubbj?ef  drought 

fode  /oo^ 
forrme  j'Jrsi 
frame  jt?ro^# 
fremmde  strange 

arrke  ark 

bridgume     bride- 

dure ^oor 

frofre  f  comfort 

asse  ass 
axe  a#0 

groom 
bulaxe  axe 

dwillde  0rror 
ecbe  eternal 

frumm])e  beginning 
fulre  foul-er 

a^he  awe 
baere  #wr 

bule  ta0 
buref  bower 

eggef  ofy0 
ebbte  ei^A^ 

galle  ^aW 
gate  M?«y 

bede  prayer 

care  car0 

elde  f  age 

genge  ^a«^ 

belle  dt« 

cbele  cold 

ele  ot7 

gilltef  frtfttfe 

bene  prayer 

cbepinngbo)>e  mar- 

ende mrf  country 

grene  ^r^w 

bennchef  bench 
berrmef  barm 

ket-booth 
cbesstre  city 

eor)>e,  er]?e  ear^A 
errfe  animal 

gre^jfe  A^r«W 
grimme  grim 

berrnef  ba*n 

clakef  accusation 

errnde  ^rr«M<? 

baele  health 

bettre  better 

clene  clean 

e^be  gye 

haesef1  command 

bilenge  belong  ing  to 

cribbe  crib 

e^hesallfe  eye-salve 

baetef  Af«< 

birde  lineage 
bisne  example 

cude  cud 
cullfre  dove 

ejbesihhjje  eyesight 
e33e  "f"  /^^ 

belle  /<^ 
hellfe  handle 

bite  morsel 

cweme  agreeable 

faewe  /<w 

hellpe  help 

2,  No.  1. 


ORRMIN  XII  TH    CENTURY. 


495 


heoffne  heaven 

meghe  female  eousin 

si^ef  victory 

unnwrosste  weak 

heore  their  (pron.) 

milde  mild 

smere  ointment 

uppbrixle  object  of 

heorrte  heart 

milef  mile 

smebe  smooth 

repraach 

here  host 

millce  mercy 

soffte  soffte 

ure  our 

hete,  hete  hate 

mindef  mind 

spa3che  speech 

waade  clothing 

hirrde  guardian 

minnstre  f  minster 

stede  stead  place 

wa3dle  poor 

hire  her 

missdede  "f"  misdeed 

steffne  voice 

waste  f  drink  s. 

hirne  corner 

mone  moon 

steorrne  star 

waldef  power 

hope  hope 

name  name 

stirne  stern  a. 

wambe  belly 

irre  ire 

nabe  f  grace 

stoke  f  stock 

wasstme  fruit 

karrte  cart 

neddre  adder 

straete  f  street 

wajhe  wall 

kemmpe  champion 

nedlef  needle 

strandef  strand 

wecche  watching  s. 

kene  keen 

-nesse  -ness 

strenncbe  strength 

wehhte  f  weight 

kide  kid 

nesshe  soft 

sune  son 

w^re  were  man 

kinde  kind  s. 

orrmete  measureless 

sunne  sun 

werre  worse 

kineriche  kingdom 

orrtrowwe  distrust- 

sware f   answer  s. 

wersse  worse 

kirrke  church 

ful 

grievous  a. 

wesste  waste  desert 

kirrkedure  church- 

orrtrowwbe  distrust 

swepe  wAij? 

8.  and  a. 

door 

oxe  ox 

swibe  yr^a^ 

wejje  way 

lade  guiding  s. 

pappe  f  breast 

tale  #a/«  number 

whaete  wheat 

Isechef  /ra;A 

pine  pain 

temmple  temple 

wicke    mean   weak 

Isefe  belief 

profete  prophet 

tende  tew£A 

wicked 

lare  fore 

resste  repose 

tene  ten,  injury  s. 

widdwe  widow 

late,  late  f  appear- 

riche kingdoms  rich 

time  fo'wtf 

wilde  wild 

ance 

rimef  metre 

tunge  tongue 

wille  will 

lattre  fotf&r 

rodef  rood 

turrtle  turtle 

wis,  wise  wise  a. 

lawe  mound 

rote  root 

twinne  twin 

wise  wise  s. 

laghe  f  &zw> 

rume  wide 

beode  people 

wite  prophet 

lefe  leave 

rune  counsel 

be^^re  their 

wite  f  punishment 

leode  people 

saste  f  seat 

brajhef  throw  Jime 

witejhunnge  pro- 

leome, leme  gleam 

sahhte  concurring 

bridde  third 

phecy 

leghe  wages 

sake  dispute 

brinne  three 

wibberrstrenncbe  f 

lifisshe  living 

sallfe  s«£w 

brittene  thirteen 

opposing  power 

like  form 

sallmef  psalm 

j^rittennde      thir- 

wlite f  faee 

liref  toss 

same  f  same 

teenth 

wrseche  vengeance 

libe  foYA0  #w£& 

sawle  sow£ 

browwinngef  throe 

wrabbe  t  wrath  s. 

lo^he  f  fire 

scone  beauteous 

burrfe  needful 

wrecche  wretched 

lufe  /ow 

seollbe  sellbe  hap- 

busennde thousand 

wrihhte  (1)  maker; 

macche,    make, 

piness 

unnclene  unclean 

(2)  blame 

mate,  wife 

serrjhe  sorrow 

unncweme    unac- 

wude woods. 

ma3nef  company 

sexe  six 

ceptable 

wnke  week 

male  f  tribute 

sexte  sixth 

unnfsele  deceitful 

wullef  wool 

mare  wore 

sextene  sixteen 

unnfaewe  not  a  few 

wunde  f  wound 

maggstre  master 

shaabet  sheath 

unnhaelef  unsound- 

wurrbef  worship 

mag^be  tfn'fo  Am 

shaffte  creature 

ness 

wurr]?shipe  worship 

mede  f  »im? 

shame  shame 

unnorne  plain 

jate  gate  door 

mele  wm£ 

shande  disgrace 

unnride  vast 

gerrde  f  yard  rod 

merrke  f  mark 

shene  sheen  a. 

unnsmebe  uneven 

Ztfe  gift 

messe  mass 

shriffte  shrift 

unnwine  enemy 

^ure  your 

mete  meat 

sihhbe  sight 

It  will  be  found  on  examination  that  though  many  of  the  above 
-e  are  justified  by  the  existence  of  some  final  vowel  or  syllable  in 
Anglosaxon  or  Icelandic,  not  a  few  have  been  clearly  subsequently 
developed.  See  supra,  p.  345,  note  2,  and  the  Table,  pp.  379-397. 


496 


LAYAMON —  XIII  TH   CENTURY. 


CHAP.  V. 


2.  LA^AMON'S  BRUT,  BEGINNING  OF  XIIITH  CENTURY. 

Although  Lajamons  Brut1  is  written  in  verse,  yet  the  rhythm 
and  orthography  are  so  irregular  that  it  is  scarcely  easier  to  con- 
jecture the  pronunciation  than  if  it  were  mere  prose.  In  fact  with 
Orrmin  we  take  leave  of  all  certainty  arising  from  metre  or  strict 
orthography.  But  the  extraordinary  diversity  of  spelling  is  of 
itself  some  assistance. 

"Weighing  the  results  already  obtained  we  cannot  be  very  far 
wrong  in  supposing  a,  e,  «',  0,  u  to  be  (aa  a,  ee  e,  ii  i,  oo  o,  uu  u), 
with  the  doubtful  (*')  or  (y)  for  u  occasionally  as  in  tut,  Intel,  Inhere 
(lit,  l*t-el,  b'dh-ere)  few,  little,  wicked.^  Again  a  may  be  called 
(EE,  E),  and  as  eo  interchanges  with  e  it  may  be  (ee)  or  (ee^o). 
Ea  is  rare  and  interchanges  with  «,  so  that  it  may  be  (ea)  or  even 
(ea)  with  a  more  distinct  (a).  Among  the  consonants  g,  h,  follow 
the  same  rule  as  in  Orrmin,  ch  is  of  course  (tsh),  but  (sh)  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  developed,  as  so  is  constantly  used. 

On  account  of  the  extreme  western  locality  of  the  author's  resi- 
dence (3J  miles  south-east  of  Bewdley,  in  Worcestershire)  there 
may  have  been  many  dialectic  peculiarities  which  would  tend  to 
give  the  letters  slightly  different  values  from  those  thus  assigned, 
but  it  seems  probable  that  such  a  pronunciation  as  the  following 
would  have  been  intelligible.3 


La^amon's  Brut. 
Madden's  edition,  vol.  i.  p.  124,  v.  2922. 

Sixti  winter  hefde  Leir  J 
]?is  lond  al  to  welden. 
J?e  king  hefde  J?reo  dohtren  J 
bi  his  drihliche  quen. 
nefde  he  nenne  sune  J 
]?er  fore  he  warS  sari, 
his  manscipe  to  halden  ^ 
buten  fa  freo  dohtren. 

1  Lajamons  Brut,  or  Chronicle  of 
Britain;  a  poetical  semi-saxon  para- 
phrase of  the  Brut  of  "Wace,  now  first 
published  from  the  Cottonian  manu- 
scripts in  the  British  Museum,  accom- 
panied by  a  literal  translation,  notes, 
and  a  grammatical  glossary.  By  Sir 
Frederic  Madden,  K.H.,  keeper  of  the 
MSS.  in  the  British  Museum.  Pub- 
lished by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
London,  1847,  3  vols,  royal  8vo.  The 
Cottonian  MSS.  are  Calig.  A.  ix,  the 
older  version,  which  is  attributed  to  the 
beginning  of  the  xmth  century  at 
latest,  and  Otho.  C.  xiii,  which  is  of  a 
much  later  date. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Siks'ti  win'ter  neevde  Lair 
dhis  lond  al  to-weld'en. 
Dhe  kiq  neevde  threo  dokht'ren 
bii  ms  dri^h'litshe  kween. 
Neevd  se  nen*e  suun'e, 
dheerfoor  He  wardh  sari, 
His  man'skiipe  to  hald'en, 
buut'en  dha  threo  dokht'ren. 


2  The  forms  litul,  liftere  also  occur. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  in  such  words 
both  modes  of  speech  (lut-el,  lit-el)  oc- 
curred in  these  Western  dialects,  see 
p.  298,  p.  300  note  2,  and  p.  424. 

3  The  many  interesting  points  which 
would  arise  from  a  careful  study  of  the 
dialectic  peculiarities  indicated  by  the 
orthography  are  of  course  passed  over 
here,  as  the  object  is  only  to  ascertain 
the  phonetic  meaning  of  the  letters, 
which  is  an  entirely  preliminary  inves- 
tigation without  which  the  other  could 
not  properly  succeed,  but  which  is  quite 
independent  of  any  other  research. 


\ 


2,  No.  2. 


LAYAMON XII  TH  CENTURY. 


497 


fa  seldeste   dohter  haihte  Gor- 

noille. 

fa  o^Ser  Began, 
fa  fridde  Cordoille. 
Heo  wes  fa  gungeste  suster  Jt 
a  wliten  alre  uairest ; 
heo  wes  hire  fader  al  swa  leof  ^ 

swa  his  agene  lif. 
fa  aeldede  f  e  king  ^ 
&  wakede  an  a^elan. 
&  he  hine  bi-f  ohte  ^ 
wet  he  don  mahte. 
of  his  kineriche  ^ 
sefter  his  deie. 
He  seide  to  hiwsuluen  ^ 
-t  fat  vuel  wes : 
c  wile  mine  riche  to-don  ^ 
&  allew  minen  dohtren. 
&  geuen  hem  mine  kine-f  code  ^ 

&  twemen  mine  beamen. 
Ac  serst  ic  wille  fondien  1 
whulchere  beo  mi  beste  freond. 
and  heo  seal  habbe  fat  beste  del  ^ 

of  mine  drihlichen  Ion. 
f  us  f  e  king  f  ohte  1 
and  f  er  sefter  he  worhte. 


Dha  Eld-este    dokh'ter  Hai£hte 

Gornuil'e, 

dha  oo'dher  Reeg'au 
dha  thrid'e  Korduil'e 
Heo  wes  dha  juq-este  sus'ter, 
a  l^ii'ten  al're  vairest. 
Heo  wes  Hiir*e  faa'der  al  swa 

leof 

swaa  HIS  aagh'ene  liif. 
Dhaa  Eld'ede  dhe  kiq 
and  waa'kede  an  aa'dhelan 
and  nee  min'e  bithokht'e 
whet  He  doon  makht'e 
of  his  knreriitshe 
Eft'er  HIS  dai'e. 
He  said*e  to  him  sel'ven, 
dhat'  dhat  iivel  wes : 
Ik  wiTe  miin'e  riitsh'e  to-doon 
and  alien  miin'en  dokht'ren, 
and  jeeven  Hem  miin'e  kure- 

theo-de 

and  tweenren  miin'e  beam*en, 
ak  EErst  ik  wil'e  fond'jen 
whilk'ere  beo  mi  best'e  freond, 
and  Heo  skal  nab'e  dhat  best'e 

deel 

Of  miin'e  dri&hiitshen  loon,  [deel 
Dhus  dhe  kiq  thokht'e 
and  dheeraft'er  He  workht'e. 


Sir  F.  Madden' s  translation  of  the  above,  omitting  the  parts  relating  to  the 
more  modern  text. 


Sixty  winters  had  Leir 

this  land  '  all '  to  govern. 

The  king  had  three  daughters 

by  his  noble  queen  ; 

he  had  no  son, — 

therefore  he  was  sorry, — 

his  honor  to  hold, 

except  the  three  daughters. 

The  eldest  daughter  hight  Gornoille, 

the  second  Regau, 

the  third  Cordoille. 

She  was  the  youngest  '  sister,' 

of  beauty  fairest  of  all ; 

she  was  to  her  father  as  dear 

as  his  own  life  ! 

Then  the  king  grew  old, 

and  weakened  in  strength, 


and  he  bethought  him 

what  he  might  do 

with  his  kingdom, 

after  his  day. 

He  said  to  himself 

that  that  was  evil : 

"  I  will  divide  my  realm 

to  '  all '  my  daughters, 

'  and  give  them  my  kingdom, 

and  share  among  my  children  ; ' 

but  first  I  will  prove 

which  is  my  best  friend, 

and  she  shall  have  the  best  part 

of  my  lordly  land." 

Thus  the  king  thought, 

and  thereafter  he  wrought. 


32 


498  HENRY   III.  —  XIII TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

§  3.     Prose  Writings  of  the  xin  th  Century  and  Earlier. 

Here  we  have  only  the  spelling  to  trust  to,  and  to  see 
whether  the  determination  of  the  values  of  the  letters  by 
means  of  the  poets  is  borne  out  by  the  systematic  ortho- 
graphy of  the  prose  writers.  Yery  brief  notices  are  all  that 
need  to  be  given. 

1.  ONLY  ENGLISH  PROCLAMATION  OF  HENRY  III,  18  OCT.  1258. 

This  proclamation,  issued  by  the  barons  in  the  king's  name,  has 
been  fully  considered  in  a  separate  work,1  in  which  the  pronuncia- 
tion was  assigned  in  accordance  with  the  results  at  which  I  had 
then  arrived,2  but  subsequent  research  has  induced  me  slightly  to 
alter  my  opinion  on  certain  points.  Considering  that  the  document 
is  formal,  it  seems  probably  that  ea,  eo  had  their  full  (ea,  eo)  sounds. 
It  is  even  possible  that  eow  may  have  been  (eou)  rather  than  (eu), 
but  the  constant  practice  of  writing  ew  in  trewe  leads  me  to  believe 
that  the  initial  eo  of  this  combination  has  to  be  read  (e)  simply. 
The  occurrence  of  simple  ew,  however,  casts  some  doubt  upon  this 
conclusion  as  respects  the  actual  pronunciation  of  the  scribe.  There 
is  probably  little  doubt  that  the  more  general  pronunciation  of  ea, 
eo,  at  that  time  was  (ee),  and  of  eow  (eu).  The  combination  oa  is 
rare.  We  have  seen  it  rhyme  with  (aa)  in  Genesis  and  Exodus 
(p.  467),  and  the  writer  may  have  said  (aa,  aa,  aala.},  the  last  as  an 
intermediate  sound.  As  a  compromise  I  use  (aa,  a).  The  inter- 
change of  (e,  e  in  rcedesmen  redesmen,  seems  to  imply  that  ce  had 
become  simple  (ee,  e).  In  accordance  with  former  usage  (ai)  is 
employed  for  ei;  but  we  must  not  fail  to  observe  the  correspondence 
of  the  French  Ftz  Geffrey,  p.  504,  with  the  English  Gefrees  sune 
p.  505,  shewing  that  the  pronunciation  (Dzhef'ree')  was  then 
current  (supra  p.  462).  The  name  AlditheV  in  the  English,  p.  504, 
and  AuditJieV  in  the  French,  p.  505,  seems  to  be  a  contraction  for 
the  TLsmsAldidelege  in  Staffordshire  (Domesday  Book,  printed  edition, 
fo.  2505,  col.  2,  photozincographed  edition,  Staffordshire,  p.  x.  col.  2,) 
=ald-ide-lege,  or  ags.  eald  y^a  lega,  that  is,  old-water-land,  com- 
pare Caedmon's  ea-stream-y¥>a.  Ide,  still  called  (lid)  supra  p.  291, 
is  in  Devonshire  (Domesday  Book,  fo.  1015,  col.  2,)  as  also  Ideford ; 
Idehill  is  in  Kent,  Iden  in  Sussex.  Hence  the  probable  alteration 
of  the  name  was  (ald-irdha-lee^ha,  ald-irdhe-lai,  auld-i-lai, 
aud-e-lai,  AAdiee,  AAd'K),  compare  Audelay,  p.  449,  n.  2,  and  the 
modern  Audley.  The  other  vowels  and  the  consonants  present  no 
difficulty.  The  length  of  the  vowels,  where  it  differs  in  my  scheme 

1  The  only  English  Proclamation  of          2  The  error  of  supposing  long  t  to 

Henry  III,  18  October  1258,  and  its  have  been  occasionally  (ai),  see  supra 

treatment  by  former  editors  and  trans-  p.  279,  was  not  detected  till  after  the 

lators,   considered  and  illustrated;    to  book  had  been  printed  off,  and  is  re- 

which  are  added  editions  of  the  Cuckoo  ferred  to  in  the  errata.      The  use  of 

Song  and  The  Prisoner's  Prayer,  Lyrics  Henr'  ....  send  igretinge  for 

of  the  xin th  century,  London,  1868,  sende)>,  is  well  illustrated  by  Prof. 

8vo.  pp.  135,  by  the  author  of  this  F,  J.  Child,  supra  p.  354,  art.  51. 
treatise. 


§  3,  No.  1.  HENRY   III.  —  XIII  TH    CENTURY.  499 

from  that  assigned  to  Anglosaxon,  will  generally  be  found  justified 
by  the  spelling  of  Orrmin,  or  by  more  recent  usage.  The  quantity 
of  the  Anglosaxon  short  vowels  seems  to  have  frequently  suffered 
in  passing  through  the  Norman  period  of  repression,  when  the 
language  ceased  to  be  cultivated  by  men  of  letters. 

The  complete  proclamation,  with  the  French  original,  is  here 
reproduced  from  the  stereotype  plates  of  the  work  cited  in  note  1, 
in  order  that  the  first  correct  presentation  of  this  venerable  and 
interesting  document  may  be  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  Early 
English  Text  Society.  To  insure  accuracy,  the  proofs  had  been 
compared  three  times  with  the  originals  in  the  Public  Record  Office. 
A  few  very  slight  inaccuracies  in  the  stereotype  plates  have  been 
removed  in  this  edition,  after  a  fourth  comparison.  The  bracketed 
numbers  refer  to  the  numbers  of  the  lines  in  the  original  MSS. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  history  of  this  important  pro- 
clamation, the  only  public  English  document  known  to  have  been 
issued  under  our  Norman  kings.  On  account  of  the  quarrels  be- 
tween Henry  III.  and  his  barons,  the  latter  were  summoned  to 
"Westminster  7  April,  1258,  when  Henry  submitted  himself  to  a 
Council  of  Twenty-four,  twelve  chosen  by  himself,  and  twelve  by 
the  Barons,  or,  as  they  called  themselves,  the  Commons.  This 
Council  appointed  a  Committee  of  Four  to  choose  a  Cabinet  of 
Fifteen.  To  this  Council  and  Cabinet  were  due  the  provisions  of 
Oxford,  11  June  1258,  which  ordered  a  Parliament  consisting  of  the 
Fifteen,  and  Twelve  Magnates  to  meet  three  times  a  year,  and  for 
the  first  time  on  6  October  1258..  At  this  Parliament  the  follow- 
ing Proclamation  was  agreed  to,  and  issued  in  Latin,  French,  and 
English.  The  Latin  version  has  not  yet  been  found.  There  are 
two  copies  of  the  French,  and  one  of  the  English  in  existence. 
The  French  version  which  follows  contains  the  names  of  thirteen 
out  of  the  Cabinet  of  Fifteen,  and  three  from  among  the  first  ap- 
pointed Twelve  Parliamentary  Magnates.  The  object  of  the  Pro- 
clamation, was  to  make  each  man  in  the  country  take  the  oath 
already  taken  by  the  King  and  the  Commons  at  Oxford,  pledging 
him  to  obey  the  Council  of  Twenty-four,  to  assist  it  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power,  and  to  oppose  its  enemies. 

The  English  proclamation  seems  to  have  been  published  from  the 
original  by  Somner  1659,  Hearne  1720,  Henshall  1798,  the  Record 
Commission  (in  its  edition  of  Rymer's  Fcedera  1816,)  the  Master  of 
the  Rolls  (in  Sir  H.  James'  photozincographed  National  Manuscripts 
1865),  and,  in  part,  by  Astle  1803  (in  facsimile),  but  in  all  cases 
incorrectly,  and  the  errors  made  by  these  editors  have  increased 
in  the  hands  of  Tyrrel  1700,  Lyttelton  1767,  Henry  1781-93, 
Latham  1841,  and  Koch  1863,  who  followed  Somner;  and  Craik 
1851,  who  followed  Rymer.  Pauli  1853,  and  Regel  1856  (who  is 
followed  by  Marsh  1862,)  conjecturally,  and  on  the  whole  satis- 
factorily, amended  Rymer  by  means  of  the  French  version,  which 
has  been  published  by  Rymer  and  Pauli  only,  but  the  latter  merely 
transcribed  the  former,  leaving  a  grievous  blunder  uncorrected. 
Some  of  the  errors  of  these  various  editions  are  given  on  page  504. 


500  HENRY  III.  —  XIIT  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP  V. 

OLD  FRENCH  VERSION. 
Patent  Roll,  42  Henry  III.  m.  1,  n.  1. 

[1]  Henri  par  la  grace  deu  Rey  de  Englet're  Sire  de 
Irlande.  Due  de  Normandie  de  Aqui'en  et  Cunte  de  Angou.  a 
tuz  fes  feaus  Clers  et  Lays  saluz.  Sachez  ke  nuf  uolons  et 
otrions  ke  ce  ke  noftre  conseil  [2]  v  la  greignure  partie  de 
eus  ki  est  esluz  par  nuf  et  par  le  co'mun  de  noftre  Reaume  a 
fet  v  fera  al  honur  de  deu  et  noftre  fei  et  pur  le  p'fit  de  noftre 
Reaume  ficum  il  ordenera  ^  feit  ferm  et  eftable  [3]  en  tuttef 
chosef  a  tuz  iurz.  Et  comandons  et  enioinons  a  tuz  noz 
feaus  et  leaus  en  la  fei  kil  nus  deiuent  kil  fermement  teignent 
et  iurgent  a  tenir  et  a  maintenir  les  eftablifTemenz  [4]  ke  funt 
fet  v  funt  a  fere  par  lauant  dit  Cunseil  v  la 


Modern  English  Translation  of  Old  English  Version. 

[1]  Henry,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  England, 
Lord  of  Ireland,  Duke  of  Normandy,  of  Aquitaine,  and 
Earl  of  Anjou,  sends  greetings  to  all  his  lieges,  clerical  and 
lay,  in  Huntingdonshire.  [2]  That  know  ye  well  all,  that 
we  will  and  grant  that  that  which  our  councillors,  all  or 
the  greater  part  of  them,  that  have  been  chosen  by  us, 
and  by  the  people  of  the  country  of  our  kingdom,  have 
done,  and  shall  [3]  do,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  fur- 
therance of  our  allegiance,  for  the  benefit  of  the  country, 
by  the  provision  of  the  aforesaid  councillors,  be  stedfast  and 
lasting  in  all  things  ever  without  end.  And  we  call  upon 
[4]  all  our  lieges  in  the  allegiance  that  they  owe  us,  that 
they  stedfastly  hold  and  swear  to  hold  and  to  defend  the 
acts  that  have  been  passed,  or  shall  be  passed  by  the 
aforesaid  councillors,  [5]  or  by  the 


3,  No.  1.  HENRY   III.  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  501 

OLD  ENGLISH  VERSION. 
Patent  Roll,  43  Henry  III.  m.  15.,  n.  40 

[1]  H  Henr'  J?urj  godef  fultume  king  on  Engleneloande. 
Lhoauerd  on  Yrloand'.  Duk  on  Norm'  on  Aquitain*  and 
eorl  on  Arriow  Send  igretinge  to  alle  hife  holde  ilaerde 
and  ileawede  on  Huntendon'fchir'  [2]  )>86t  witen  je 
wel  alle  J>aet  we  willen  and  vnnew  faet.  j?aet  vre  rsedef- 
men  alle  o]?er  J»e  moare  dael  of  heom  J>aet  beo]?  icho- 
fen  )>urg  uf  and  furj  J?8et  loandef  folk  on  vre 
kuneriche.  habbe}?  idon  and  fehullew  [3]  don  in  J>e 
worjmefle  of  gode  and  on  vre  treowfe.  for  J>e  freme 
of  }>e  loande.  Jmr^  }>e  befijte  of  J?an  to  forenifeide 
redefmen  ^  beo  ftedefaeft  and  ileftinde  in  alle  J?inge 
abuten  sende.  And  we  hoaten  [4]  alle  vre  treowe  in 
)>e  treowfe  faet  heo  vf  ojen.  J?aet  heo  ftedefaeftkche 
healden  and  fwerien  to  healden  and  to  werien  }?o 
ifetnefTef  ]?8et  beon  imakede  and  beon  to  makien  J>urz 
J>an  to  foren  ifeide  raedefmen  [5]  o]?er 


Conjectured  Pronunciation  of  Old  English  Version. 
[1]  Hen*rii  thurkh  God'es  ful'tume  kiq  on  EqieneLnrde, 
Ih^verd  on  lir'knde,  Dyyk  on  Normandii,  on  Akitain'e  and 
eorl  on  Andzhuir,  send  igreet'iqe  to  al'e  nis'e  nold'e  Heerde 
and  ilee'wede  on  Hun'tendooneshii're.  [2]  Dhet  wii'ten  Je 
wel  al'e,  dhet  we  wil'en  and  mren  dhet,  dhet  uu*re  ree'des- 
men  al'e  odh'er  dhe  ma^'re  deel  of  Heom,  dhet  beoth  itshoo*- 
sen  thurkh  us,  and  thurkh  dhet  Lmd'es  folk  on  uu're 
kin'eriitshe,  Hab'eth  idoon*  and  shul'en  [3]  doon,  in  dhe 
worth'nese  of  God'e  and  on  uu're  treuth'e,  for  dhe  free'me 
of  dhe  l<md'e,  thurkh  dhe  besi&h'te  of  than  to  foo'renisaide 
ree'desmen,  beo  stee'defest  and  jles'tinde  in  al'e  thiq'e 
abuut'en  en*de.  And  we  H<m*ten  [4]  al'e  uu're  treu'e  in 
dhe  treuth'e  dhet  Heo  us  oogh'en,  dhet  Heo  stee'defestliitshe 
Heald'en  and  swee'rien  to  neald'en  and  to  weerien  dho 
iset'neses  dhet  beon  imaa'kede  and  beon  to  maak'ien  thurkh 
dhan  to  foo'ren  isaid'e  ree'desmen,  [5]  odh'er  thurkh  dhe 


502  HENRY   III.  —  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

Old  French  Version.— (Continued.) 

greignure  partie  de  eus.  en  la  maniere  kil  est.dit  defuz. 
et  kil  fentreeident  a  ce  fere  par  meifmes  tel  s'ment 
cunt*  tutte  genz  [5]  dreit  fefant  et  p'nant.  et  ke  nul 
ne  preigne  de  t're  ne  de  moeble  par  quei  cefte  purueance 
puifle  eftre  defturbee  v  empiree  en  nule  manere.  et  fe 
nul  v  nus  viegnent  encunt'  cefte  chose  [6]  nuf  uolons 
et  comandons  ke  tuz  nof  feaus  et  leaus  le  teignent  a  enemi 
mortel.  et  pur  ce  ke  nus  volons  ke  ceste  chose  feit  ferme  et 
eftable  r'  nof  enueons  nof  lettres  ou'tes  feelees  de  n're  [7]  seel 
en  chefcun  Cunte  a  demorer  la  entrefor.  Tesmoin  Meimeifmes 
a  Londres  le  Difutime  lur  de  Octobre  Ian  de  noftre  regne 
Q'raunte  fecund.  Et  cefte  chose  fu  fete  deuant  Boneface 
Arce[8]eueske  de  Cantrebur'.  Grant*  de  Cantelou.  Eueske  de 
Wyreceftr'.  Simon  de  Montfort.  Cunte  de  Leyceftr'.  Richard 
de  Clare  Cunte  de  Glouceftr  et  de  Hertford.  Rog' 


Modern  English  Translation  of  Old  English  Version. — (Con.) 

greater  part  of  them,  as  it  has  been  before  said.  And  that 
each  help  the  other  so  to  do  by  that  same  oath,  against  all 
men,  doing  and  receiving  justice.  And  let  no  man  take 
any  land  or  [6]  chattel,  whereby  this  provision  may  be 
let  or  impaired  in  any  wise.  And  if  any  person  or  persons 
oppose  this  provision,  we  will  and  enjoin  that  all  our  lieges 
hold  them  as  mortal  enemies.  And  because  [7]  we  will 
that  this  should  be  stedfast  and  lasting,  we  send  you  this 
letter  patent  signed  with  our  seal,  to  hold  among  you  in 
the  treasury.  Witnesses  ourselves  at  London,  the  eigh- 
teenth day  of  the  month  [8]  of  October,  in  the  two  and 
fortieth  year  of  our  reign.  And  this  was  done  in  the 
presence  of  our  sworn  councillors,  Boneface,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  ;  Walter  of  Cantelow,  bishop  of  Worcester  ; 
[9]  Simon  de  Montfort,  earl  of  Leicester ;  Richard  of  Clare, 
earl  of  Gloucester  and  Hertford;  Roger 


§  3,  No.  1.  HENRY   III.  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  503 

Old  English  Version. — (Continued.) 

moare  dsel  of  heom  alfwo  alfe  hit  if  biforen  ifeid.  And 
}>£et  sehc  o]?er  helpe  foot  for  to  done  bi  fan  ilche 
o]?e  ajenef  alle  men.  Rijt  for  to  done  and  to  foangen. 
And  noan  ne  nime  of  loande  ne  of  [6]  ejte.  wherfurg 
Jnf  befijte  nmje  beon  ilet  ojer  iwerfed  on  onie 
wife.  And  jif  oni  ofer  onie  cumen  her  onjenef^ 
we  willen  and  hoaten  fast  alle  vre  treowe  heom  healden 
deadliche  ifoan.  And  for  j?aet  [7]  we  willen  fast  ]?if  beo 
ftedefeft  and  leftmde  i'  we  fenden  jew  fif  writ  open 
ifeined  wi]?  vre  feel,  to  halden  a  mangef  jew  inehord. 
Witneffe  vf  feluen  aet  Lunden'.  J?ane  Ejtetenfe  day. 
on  fe  Monfe  [8]  of  Octobr'  In  ]>Q  Twoandfowertijfe 
jeare  of  vre  cruninge.  And  )>if  wef  idon  aetforen 
vre  ifworene  redefmen.  Bonefac'  Archebifchop  on  Kant'- 
bur\  Walt'  of  Cantelow.  Bifchop  on  Wirecheftr'.  [9] 
Sim'  of  Muntfort.  Eorl  on  Leircheflr'.  Eic'  of 
Clar'  eorl  on  Glowchestr'  and  on  Hurtford/ 


Conjectured  Pronunciation  of  Old  English  Version. — (Con.) 
maa're  deel  of  Heom  al'swo  als'e  nit  iz  bifoo'ren  isaid'.  And 
dhet  eetsh  oodh'er  Help'e  dhet  for  to  doon*e  bii  dhaan  il'tshe 
ooth'e  ajee'nes  al'e  men,  ri&ht  for  to  doon*e  and  to  foq'en. 
And  naan  ne  nirme  of  l^nd'e  ne  of  [6]  e£ht*e,  wheerthurkh* 
dhis  besi^ht'e  muugh'e  beon  ilet*  odh'er  iwers'ed  on  on'ie 
wiise.  And  jif  oni  odlrer  on'ie  kuum'en  neer  onjee'nes, 
we  wil'en  and  naa'ten  dhet  al'e  uirre  treu'e  Heom  neald'en 
dead'litshe  if^^n*  And  for  dhet  [7]  we  wil'en  dhet  dhis  beo 
stee'defest  and  lest'inde,  we  send'en  Jeu  dhis  r^it  oop'en 
isain'ed  with  uu're  seel,  to  Hald'en  amaq'es  Jeu  in'e  Hoord. 
Wit'nese  us  selven  et  Lmrdeene,  dhaan'e  e^ht'etenthe  dai, 
on  dhe  moonth'e  [8]  of  Oktoo'ber  in  dhe  twoo  and  foourti&hthe 
jear'e  of  uu're  kruun'iqe.  And  dhis  wes  idoon*  etfoo'ren 
uu're  iswoo'reneree'desmen;Bon*efaase,Ar'tphebish*oponKan'- 
terber'i;  Walt'er  of  Kan'teloou,  bish'op  on  Wii'retshester ;  [9] 
Sii'moon  of  Munt'fort,  eorl  on  Lairtshester ;  Eii'tshard  of 
Klaa-re,  eorl  on  Gloou'tshester  and  on  Hereford ;  Kodzh'er 


504  HENRY   III.  XIII  TH   CENTURY.  CHAP.  V. 

Old  French  Version. — (Continued.) 

le  Bigod  Cunte  de  [9]  ISTorf  et  Marefchal  de  Englet're 
Humfrey  de  Bohun  Cunte  de  Hereford.  Piere  de  Saueye. 
Guilame  de  forz.  Cunte  de  Aubemarle.  lohan  de  Plesseiz 
Cunte  de  Warrewyk',  Bog*  de  Quency  [10]  Cunte  de 
WynceftY.  lohan  le  Fiz  Geffrey.  Piere  de  Muntfort. 
Eichard  de  Grey  Bog'  de  Mortemer  lames  de  Audithel. 
et  Hug*  le  Despens'. 


Modern  English  Translation  of  Old  English  Version. — (Con.) 

Bigod,  earl  of  Norfolk  and  Marshal  of  England :  Peter  of 
Savoy;  William  de  Fort,  earl  of  Albemarle;  [10]  John  de 
Plessis,  earl  of  Warwick ;  John  Fitz  Geoffrey ;  Peter  de 
Montfort ;  Richard  de  Grey ;  Roger  de  Mortimer ;  James 
Audley,  and  in  the  presence  of  other  kinsmen. 

[11]  And  in  exactly  the  same  words  it  has  been  sent 
into  every  other  shire  throughout  the  kingdom  of  England 
and  also  in  till  Ireland, 

P  rincipal  errors  of  former  editions.  Only  such  blunders  are  here 
given  as  make  nonsense  of  the  original.  The  numbers  refer  to  the 
lines  of  the  MS.,  the  spaced  letters  to  the  original,  and  the  italics 
to  the  errors. 

Send  igretinge    1,  Tyrrel,  Henry,  Latham  :  send  I greting. 

holde   ilserdel,  Henshall :  hoi  theilaerde. 

freme  3,  Somner:  freine;  Henshall  freime. 

ilche   o>e  5,  Tyrrel,  Henry,  Lyttelton :  ilche  other. 

E 1 1 1  5,  Somner  :  (in  alle  }inge  }>at)  ogt ;  Tyrrel :  (in  all  thinge 

that}  ogt;  Henry,   Lyttelton:    in  alle  thet  heo  ogt;  Craik: 

[in  alk  thaet  heo']  oght. 
noan    ne    nime    of   5,    Somner,  Tyrrel,  Henry,  Henshall, 

Rymer,  Craik :  noan  ne  mine  of;  Latham  :  noan  ne  of  mine. 
e  £  t  e .   wher>urs6,  Somner :  egtewhcer  }urg ;  Tyrrel,  Henry : 

egeteioher    thurg ;    Latham:    egetewhere,  thurg ;    Henshall: 

egte-whar,  thurg  ;  Eymer  :  egteohcero  lurg ;  Craik  :    eghteo- 

hcero,  thurg. 
deadliche   ifoanG,  Somner,  Tyrrel,  Henry,  Latham,  Rymer, 

Craik:  deadlicheistan; ;  Henshall:  deadliche.     If  than. 
In  consequence  of  these  errors  the  translations  given  by  Somner, 


§  3,  No.  1.  HENRY   III.  —  XIII TH   CENTURY.  505 

Old  English  Version. — (Continued.) 

Bigod  eorl  on  Northfolk'  and  Marefcal  on  Engleneloand.' 
Perref  of  Sauueye.  "Will*  of  Fort  eorl  on  Aubem'. 
[10]  Ioh'  of  PlefTeiz.  eorl  on  Warewik  loh' 
Geffreef  fune.  Perref  of  Muntfort.  Kic'  of  Grey.  Kog' 
of  Mortemer.  lamef  of  Aldithel'  and  aetforen  o}>re 
moje. 

[11]  ^[  And  al  on  ]>o  ilche  worden  if  ifend  in  to  aeurihce 
o}>re  shcire  ouer  al  )>8Bre  kuneriche  on  Engleneloande. 
and  ek  in  tel  Irelonde. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation  of  Old  English  Version. — (Con.) 
Bii'god,  eorl  on  JNorth'folke  and  Maa'reskal  on  Eq'leneknd'e. 
Peres  of  Savai'e;  Wil'Helm  of  Fort,  eorl  on  Airbemarle; 
[10]  Dzhoon  of  Ples'aiz,  eorl  on  Waa'rewiike;  Dzhoon 
Dzhefrees  sumre  ;  Per'es  of  Munt'fort ;  Rirtshard  of  Grai ; 
Eodzh-er  of  Mortemer;  Dzhaanrez  of  Al'dithel,  and  etfoo'ren 
oodlrre  mooglre 

[11]  And  al  on  dho  iHshe  word'en  is  isend*  in  to  evritshe 
oodh're  shii're  oo'ver  al  dhee're  kin'eriitshe  on  Eq'leneknde, 
and  eek  in  til  lirknde. 

Henry,  Latham,  and  Craik  of  the  passage  :  And  faet  sehc  ofer 
helpe  ....  deadliche  ifoan,  5,  6,  are  ludicrously  wrong. 

Somner's  Latin  version  is :  "  Et  quod  unusquisque,  vigore  ejus- 
dem  juramenti,  contra  omnes  homines,  in  omnibus  turn  faciendis, 
turn  recipiendis,  ut  id  ita  fiat  et  observetur,  alter  alteri  sint  auxilio. 
Et  (quod)  nullus  sive  de  terra  (vel,  gente)  mea,  sive  quacunque  alia, 
per  consilium  hujusmodi  (hujus  scil.  consilii  obeundl  causa)  impe- 
diatur,  sive  damnum  patiatur,  ullo  modo.  Et  si  quis,  sive  vir  sive 
fsemina,  huic  (edicto)  contravenerit,  volumus  et  mandamus  ut  omnes 
fideles  nostri  eos  habeant  infensissimos." 

Craik' s  English  version  is  :  "  And  that  each  other  help  that  for 
to  do,  by  them  (to)  each  other  against  all  men  (in  all  that  they) 
ought  for  to  do  and  to  promote.  And  none,  nor  of  my  land  nor 
elsewhere,  through  this  business  may  be  let  (hindered)  or  damaged 
in  anywise.  And  if  any  man  or  any  woman  come  them  against, 
we  will  and  enjoin  that  all  our  lieges  them  hold  deadly  foes." 

The  most  remarkable  error  in  the  copy  of  the  French  version 
printed  in  Rymer  is  :  nos  Giueons,  for  nos  en u eons  6,  which 
has  the  false  appearance  of  an  appropriation  of  a  Saxon  word  by 
the  Normans,  with  a  French  inflexion, — a  philological  curiosity ! 


506 


ANCREN   RIWLE XIII  TH    CENTURY 


CHAP.  V. 


2.    ANCREN  KIWLE,  XIIITH  CENTURY. 

The  ANCILEN  RIWLE  and  the  HALI  MEIDENHAD  may  be  considered 
together.1 

In  the  ANCREN  E-IWLE  it  will  be  seen  that  the  simple  vowels 
fl,  0,  «',  o,  u  must  be  taken  as  usual  to  mean  (aa  a,  ee  e,  ii  i,  oo  o, 
uu  u),  with  a  much  larger  allowance  of  u  =  (y)  or  (i,  e)  than  is 
found,  except  in  the  west  of  England.  Thus  we  have  gult,  cluppen, 
fustes,  fur,  lupes,  lut,  nule,  for  guilt,  clip  (embrace),  fists,  fire,  lips, 
little,  n'ill.  Besides  this  there  is  a  very  extensive  assortment  of 
diphthongs  and  even  triphthongs,  which  should  be  apparently  pro- 
nounced thus :  ai,  au,  ea,  ei,  eo,  eu,  oa,  oi,  ou,  ui  =  (ai,  au,  eea  ea, 
ai,  eeo  eo,  eu,  ooa,  uui,  oou  ou,  ui).  The  oa,  oi,  ui  as  in  bloawen 
lloamen  buine  are  too  rare  to  form  a  good  judgment  on. 

The  combination  iw  which  only  occurs  in  the  foreign  word  riwl 
is  most  probably  intended  to  give  the  sound  (yy),  for  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  imagine  that  (yy)  could  not  have  been  pronounced,  and 
that  therefore  iw  =  (iu).2  On  account  of  the  action  of  the  (r)  the 
sound  (riul)  is  difficult  to  enunciate  purely,  and  (ruul,  ryyl,  ml) 
are  all  easier,  and  they  are  consequently  still  in  use  provincially. 

^The  following  brief  example  from  p.  70  of  the  Ancren  Eiwle,3 
will  shew  the  effect  of  these  assumptions,  and  will  render  an  ex- 
ample from  Hali  Meidenhad  needless : 


Original  Text. 

Muche  fol  he  were,  ]?e 
muhte,  to  his  owene  bihoue, 
hwefter  se  he  wolde,  grinden 
greot  o)er  hwete,  gif  he 
grunde  ]?et  greot  and  lefde 
]?ene  hwete.  Hwete  is  holi 
speche,  ase  Seint  Anselme 
serS.  Heo  grint  greot  ^e 
chefleft.  _pe  two  cheoken 
beoft  ]?e  two  grinstones. 
pe  tunge  is  }>e  cleppe.  Loke'S, 
leoue  sustren,  ]>et  ouwer 
cheoken  ne  grinden  neuer 

1  The  Ancren  Eiwle ;   a  treatise  on 
the  Rules  and  Duties  of  Monastic  Life, 
edited  and    translated  from  a  Semi- 
Saxon  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century 
by  James  Morton,  B.D.,  vicar  of  Hoi- 
beach,  prebendary  of  Lincoln ;  printed 
for  the  Camden  Society,  1853,  London, 
4tp.     Hali  Meidenhad,  from  MS.  Cott. 
Titus  D.  xviii,  fol.  112  c.,  an  allitera- 
tive homily  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
edited    by    Oswald    Cockayne,  M.A., 
London,    1866,    8vo.     pp.    viii,    50; 

2  As  the  combination  iw  does  not 
occur   in   other  words,  and  as  riule. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 
Mutsh-e  fool  nee  weere,  dhe 
mukht'e,  to  ms  oou*ene  bisoo've, 
whedh'er  see  He  wold'e,  grind'en 
greeot  oo'dher  wheet'e,  jif  He 
grund-e  dhet  greeot  and  leevde 
dheen'e  wheet'e.  Wheet'e  is  nooH 
speetsh'e,  as'e  Saint  Anselnre 
saith.  Heeo  grint  greeot  dhe 
tsheefieth.  Dhe  twoo  tsheek'en 
beoth  dhe  twoo  griirstoon'es. 4 
Dhe  tuq-e  is  the  klep-e.  Look'- 
eth,  leo've  sustren,  dhet  oou'er 
tsheok'en  ne  grind'en  never 

reule  are  found  in  very  old  Nor- 
man, the  point  must  be  considered 
doubtful.  In  the  xivth  century  the 
sound  was  almost  certainly  (ryyle). 
Mr.  Payne  is  inclined  to  think  that  the 
old  Norman  sound  was  (rifrle). 

3  The  proof  was  read  by  Mr.  Brock 
by  the  original  MS.,  Cott.  Nero  A.  xiv. 

4  The    "colloquial"    pronunciation 
(grm'stan),  mentioned   by    Smart,  is 
thus  shewn  to  be  very  ancient,  and 
becomes  a  proof  that  grind  was  for- 
merly (grmd)  not  (graind),  supra  p. 
276,  and  p.  290, 1.  3. 


§  3,  No.  2  &  3.  HOMILIES XII TH   CENTURY.  507 

bute    soule     node  **    ne    our  buut'e   sooul'e   vood'e ;    ne   oour 

earen  ne  hercnen  neuer  bute  ea'ren  ne  nerk'nen  never  buut'e 

soule   heale  :    and    nout    one  sooul'e  neal'e ;    and   nout    oon'e 

our     earen,     auh     ower     eie  oour    eea'ren,    aukh    oou'er   are 

furies      tune's      agein      idel  thirl'es     tuun'eth     ajain-     ii'del 

speche  ^    )et  to   ou   ne   cume  speetslre ;  dhet  to  oou  ne  kuunre 

no  tale,  ne  ti^inge  of  fe  worlde.  ne  taal'e  netiidh'iqe  of  dhe  worlde. 

Verbal  Translation, 

Much  fool  he  were,  that  might,  to  clapper.    Look,  dear  sisters,  that  your 

his  own  behoof,  whether  so  he  would,  cheeks  do  not  grind  never  but  soul's 

grind    chaff  (grits)   or    wheat,   if   he  food;    nor  your  ears  do  not  harken 

ground  the  chaff  and  left  the  wheat.  never  but  to  soul's  health ;  and  not  only 

Wheat  is  holy  speech,  as  Saint  Anselm  your  ears,    but    your    eye's    windows 

saith.       She  grinds  chaff  that  chaffs  fence  against  idle  speech ;  (so)  that  to 

(chatters).     The  two  cheeks   are  the  you  (may)  not  come  neither  tale  nor 

two  grindstones.     The  tongue  is  the  tiding  of  the  world. 

3.  OLD  ENGLISH  HOMILIES,  XIITH  CENTURY. 

The  venerable  homilies  lately  disinterred  by  Mr.  Morris  *  cannot 
be  read  in  any  other  way  than  the  Ancren  Riwle.  The  values  of 
all  the  letters  and  combinations  seem  to  be  completely  known,  and 
no  further  change  can  be  expected.  A  very  brief  example  will 
therefore  suffice.  In  the  following,  the  original  text  is  exactly 
reproduced  except  in  (l)mid  for  mfi&,  ^wolde  for  walde,  ®ga%  for 
gad,  wdo%  for  de%,  ^lulke  for  buke.  The  leinten  for  lent  en  at  the 
beginning,  may,  as  so  many  other  evidently  are,  be  a  dialectic 
pronunciation,  and  is  comparable  with  fleisli  for  flesh  (supra  p. 
473,  n.  1),  but  Stratmann  quotes  the  same  form  from  Wright, 
Yocab.  90,  Rob.  Glouc.  187,  8.  The  experiment  of  writing  (y) 
for  u,  when  it  may  be  (i,  e),  and  (ei)  for  ei,  as  being  older  forms, 
has  here  been  made. 

Original  Text,  p.  25.  Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

Dominica  Prima  in  Quadrigesima.  First  Sunday  in  Lent. 

[I]n  leinten  time  uwilc  mon  In  lein'ten  tirme   ywilk    mon. 

ga^    to   scrifte  ;    ]?er    beo^  gaath  to    skrift'e.        Dher    beoth 

summe  fe  mare  herm  is  fe  sunre,   dhe    maa're   nerm  is    dhe 

ga^  al  swa  ic  nufe  eow  tellen  gaath,  alswaa'  ik  nuu'dhe  jou  tel'en 

wulle.  He  ser$  mid'^JaimrSe  wyl'e.    He  saith  mid  dha  muu'dhe, 

fet  nis  naut  in  his  heorte.  ic  dhet  nis  naut  in  His  neorte  :   "  Ik 

wulle  gan  to  scrifte  for  scome  wyl'e  gaan  to  skrif'te  for  skoo'me 

alswa  do^  o^er  men.  ^if  ic  alswaa*  dooth  oo'dher  men;  jif  ik 

forlete  J?e  preost  me  wolde(2)  forlee'te,    dhe    preost    me   wol'de 

eskien  on  ester  dei  hwa  me  es'kien    on    eest'er   dai  whaa  me 

scriue  er  he  me   ^efe  husul  skrirve,  eer  Hee  me  jee*ve  nus'ul, 

and  ec    for  monne   weordes  and     eek     for     mon'e     weordes 

ftinge.    he  ne  ga3$(8)naut  to  thiq-e."      Hee   no   gaath  naut  to 

scrifte  al  swa  do^S  o^er  men.  skdfte  alswaa-  dooth  oo'dher  men. 

1  In  the  same  work  with  the  Moral  Ode,  supra  p.  484,  note  1. 


508 


SOURCES   OF   ENGLISH. 


CHAP.  V.  §  4. 


All  al  swa  he  do^^  swa  ]?e 
swica  fe  biswike%  hine 
eeolfe  on  ende  and  bi^  al  swa 
is  an  eppel  iheowe'S.  he  bi^ 
wi'Suten  feire  and  frakel 
wrSinne.  Awah  fet  he  efre 
wulle  fristelechen  o^er  bi- 
fenchen  mid  his  fule  heorte 
fe  heo  wulle  tmderfon  swa 
he$  fing  and  swa  hali  swa  is 
cn'stes  licome  in  his  sunfulle 
bulke.(5)  and  wene^S  )et  hit 
wulle  him  helpen  ^  Neiso^S- 
liche  nawiht  ah  fenne  J?e 
preost  hit  de^  in  his  mufe. 
fenne  cume^S  drihtenes  engel 
and  binime'S  }>a  halinesse  mid 
him  toward  heouene  riche. 
f  et  J>er  bilef  ^  in  his  imrSe, 
ah  jif  eni  mon  hit  nmste  isean. 
he  mahte  iseon  ane  berninde 
glede  )et  hine  al  for-berna'S 
Jmmt  to  cole. 


Akh  alswaa*  He  dooth,  swaa  dhe 
swiik-a  dhee  biswirketh  niin-e 
seol'fe  on  end'e,  and  biith  alswaa* 
is  an  ep'el  iheo'weth;  nee  biith 
withuu'ten  farre,  and  frak'el 
within'e.  Awakh',  dhet  He  evre 
wyl'e  thris-teletsh-en  odlrer  bi- 
then'tshen  mid  nis  fmrle  neor'te, 
dhee  neo  wyl'e  mrderfoon  swaa 
nei  thiq  and  swaa  naaii,  swaa  is 
Krist'es  liic'oome  in  ms  syn'fule 
bulk'e,  and  ween'eth  dhet  nit 
wyl'e  mm  Helpen  !  Nei,  sooth •- 
liithshe  naawikht !  akh  dhen'e  dhe 
preost  nit  deeth  in  His  muu'the, 
dhen'e  kuu'meth  drikhtenes  eq'el, 
and  binii'meth  dha  naa'lines'e  mid 
nim  toward'  neo'vene  rii'tshe. 
Dhet  dher  bileftlr  in  nis  muu'the, 
akh  jif  en*i  mon  nit  mus'te  isee-an, 
He  makh'te  isee'on  aa'ne  bern'ind'e 
gleed'e,  dhet  nirne  al  forbern'eth 
thuruut*  to  koole. 


Mr.  Morris's  Translation,  p.  24. 


In  Lenten  time  each  man  goes  to 
confession;  there  are  some  to  whom 
there  is  greater  harm  in  going  (than 
in  abstaining),  as  I  will  now  tell  you. 
He  saith  with  the  mouth  what  is  not 
in  his  heart.  "  I  will  go  to  shrift  for 
shame,  as  other  men  do ;  if  I  neglect 
the  priest  will  ask  me  on  Easter  day 
who  shrove  me,  before  he  administer  to 
me  the  sacrament,  and  also  for  the  sake 
of  man's  esteem."  He  does  not  go  to 
shrift  as  other  [good]  men  do,  but  acts 
like  the  cheat  who  at  last  deceiveth 
himself,  and  is  as  a  rosy  apple— fair 


without  and  rotten  within.  Alas  that 
he  will  ever  dare  or  think  with  his  foul 
heart  to  receive  so  high  and  so  holy  a 
thing  as  is  Christ's  flesh  into  his  sinful 
body,  and  thinketh  that  it  will  help 
him.  Nay  truly  not!  but  when  the 
priest  putteth  it  in  his  mouth,  then 
cometh  the  Lord's  angel  and  taketh 
the  holiness  with  him  toward  heaven- 
kingdom.  As  for  what  remaineth  there 
in  his  mouth,  if  any  man  were  able  to 
perceive  it,  he  might  see  a  burning 
gleed  that  consumes  him  all  to  coals. 


§  4.  Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  Sources  of  the  English  Language. 

The  pronunciation  of  English  has  now  been  traced  up  to 
the  earliest  period  in  which  it  is  known  in  a  literary  form  as 
distinct  from  Anglosaxon.  To  complete  the  edifice,  some 
account  must  be  attempted  of  the  pronunciation  of  Anglo- 
Saxon,  the  direct  mother,  and  Old  Norse,  an  important 
modifier  of  our  tongue.  These  again  point  to  Gothic  as  the 
oldest  low  German  dialect  that  is  known.  It  would  be 
highly  desirable  to  add  an  account  of  Old  Norman,  but  no 


CHAP.  V.  «  4. 


SOURCES   OF   ENGLISH. 


509 


sufficient  researches  have  been  made  into  that  language  to 
warrant  any  detailed  statement  of  the  pronunciation  of  that 
language.  It  must  be  therefore  entirely  passed  over.1 

fzh,  H  H,  I  ii,  i,  J  zh,  K  k,  L 
M  m,  N  n,  [AN  aq,  EN  eq,  IN 
iq,  ON  oq,  UN  yq,  AIN  EIN  eq, 
OIN  oiq,  UIN  uiq,J  0  oo  o  o,  (E  ce, 
01  oi,  OU  u  en,  P  p,  Q  k,  E  r, 
S  s,  T  t,  [-NT  -n,  -q],  II  y  oe,  UI 
in,  V  v,  X  u  s  us  ks,  Y  i,  Z  s  ts. 
The  following  is  a  small  portion 
of  his  example  taken  from  Etienne 
Barbazan,  Fabliaux  et  Contes  des 
Poetes  franqois  des  xi,  xn,  xin,  xiv 
et  xv  siecles,  1808,  8vo.  4  vols.,  vol.  1, 
p.  82,  the  original  text,  which  Eapp 
omits,  is  here  added  by  way  of  com- 
parison. As  I  have  not  been  quite 
able  to  appreciate  his  system  of  accen- 
tuation, I  omit  it  altogether.  I  have 
also  forborne  to  correct  any  apparent 
errors,  such  as  making  meisme  v.  35,  of 
two,  instead  of  three  syllables. 

Dy  shtfvali00r,  ki  o,oit  la  mese  e 
notra  dama  estoit  puur  lui  au 
turnoiameq. 

Duus  Zhtfsys,  kom  shil  bel  geroia 

E  koma  noblameq  turnoia 

Ki  voleqtiers  au  monstier  turna, 

Uu  1-  eq  \D  seq  servis-  aturna 

E  shelebra  \9  seq  mistera 

Dy  duus  Fils  de  la  Vierzhe  Mera, 

Puur  she  voelj  yq  koqta  retreera, 

Si  kom  \9  truis  en  eseqpleera. — 

Yq  shevalier  kurtois  e  sazhas, 

Hardiis  e  de  graq  vaselazhas, 

Nyys  mieudres  eq  shevalariia, 

Mult  amoit  la  Vierzha  Mariia 

Puur  soq  barnazha  demeneer 

E  soq  fraqk  koors  d-  armas  ipeneer 

Aloit  a  soq  turnoiameq 

Garnis  de  soq  koqtenameq 

Au  Dice  pl«?siir  eqsi  aviq. 

K0  kaq  10  zhuur  dy  turnoi  viq, 

II  se  nastoit  de  sh^vaushieer ; 

Bieq  vusit  estr-  eq  shaq  praniier. 

D-  yn-  tfglisa  ki  prest  ^stoit, 

0,ii  los  seqs  kg  1-  oq  sonoit, 

Puur  la  seqta  mesa  shaqter. 

ii9  shevalieei:  saqs  areste^r 

S-  en  est  alee  droit  a  1-  ^glisa 

Puur  e&kuteer  la  Dice  servisa ; 

L-  eq  shaqtoit  taqtost  nautameq 

Yna  mesa  devotameq 

De  la  seqta  Yierzha  Mariia  : 

Puis  a  on  autra  komeqshiia, 


1  See  the  observations  on  p.  438,  and 
the  remarks  on  Norman  ai,  ei,  p.  453. 
Dr.  Eapp,  while  owning  that  the  de- 
cyphering  of  the  phonetic  meaning  of 
Northern  and  Old  French  documents 
was  one  of  the  most  difficult  parts  of 
his  task,  has  yet  ventured  to  assign 
such  definite  values  to  the  symbols  as 
to  give  detailed  specimens,  which  he 
has  not  attempted  for  Anglosaxon  and 
Old  Norse.  Although  I  am  far  from 
agreeing  with  his  results,  which  appear 
to  be  founded  upon  insufficient  exami- 
nation of  the  sources  of  information, 
the  reader  will  probably  be  pleased  to 
have  a  brief  account  of  his  opinions, 
Phys.  d.  Spr.  ii,  82-117.  The  follow- 
ing seems  to  be  )his  alphabet :  A  aa  a, 
AI  ee,  AU  au,  B  b,  G  k  s  sh,  CH  sh, 
D  d,  E  ee  e  a  3,  El  a,  EU  oe  ej,  G- 

Du  Chevalier,  qui  ooit  la  Messe  et 
Notre  -  Dame  estoit  pour  lui  au 
tournoiement. 

Extraitd'unMS.deSorbonneNo.  331  (2). 

Dous  Jhesus,  com  cil  bel  guerroie, 

Et  come  noblement  tournoie, 

Qui  volentiers  au  monstier  tourne, 

Ou  Ten  le  saint  servise  atourne  4 

Et  celebre  le  saint  mistere 

Du  doux  Fils  de  la  Yierge  Mere. 

Pour  ce  vueil  un  conte  retraire, 

Si  com  le  truis  en  exemplaire.  8 

Un  Chevalier  courtois  et  sages, 

Hardis  et  de  grant  vasselages, 

Nus  mieudres  en  Chevalerie, 

Moult  amoit  la  Yierge  Marie.  12 

Pour  son  barnage  demener 

Et  son  franc  cors  d'armes  pener, 

Aloit  a  son  tournoiement, 

Garnis  de  son  contenement.  16 

Au  Dieu  plesir  ainsi  avint, 

Que  quant  le  jour  du  tournoi  vint, 

II  se  hastoit  de  chevauchier : 

Bien  vousist  etre  en  champ  premier  20 

D'une  eglise  qui  pres  estoit 

O'i  les  sains  que  Ton  sonoit 

Pour  la  sainte  Messe  chanter. 

Le  Chevalier  sans  arrester  24 

S'en  est  ale  droit  a  1' eglise 

Pour  escouter  le  Dieu  servise, 

L'en  chantoit  tantost  hautement 

Une  Messe  devotement  28 

De  la  sainte  Yierge  Marie, 

Puis  a  on  autre  comencie, 


510 


ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


1.    ANGLOSAXON. 

The  value  of  the  letters  in  Anglosaxon  proper  could  not  have 
materially  differed  from  that  which  the  whole  of  the  preceding  in- 
vestigations has  led  us  to  assume  for  the  letters  used  in  the  earlier 
part  of  thexmth  and  close  of  the  xnth  century.  The  most  re- 
markable difference  was  the  vowel  y,  manifestly  (yy,  y),  which 
however  had  "become  interchangeable  with  *,  and  therefore  equiva- 
lent to  (ii,  i)  or  («,  i)  before  the  inflectional  system  of  the  Anglo- 
saxon literature  had  disappeared.  The  vowel  a  we  may  also 
assume  to  have  had  its  deeper  sound,  now  again  familiar  in  England 
(sea3,  3d).  It  is  very  probable  that  a  was  sounded  fully  as  broad  as 
(aa,  a\  but  e  was  probably  not  so  broad  as  (EE  E)  because  it  would 
have  been  otherwise  confused  with  (3303,  se).  That  short  i  was  (t), 
from  the  Saxon  times  to  the  present  day,  there  can  be  very  little 
doubt,  although,  from  having  no  direct  authority  for  this  conclusion, 
I  have  generally  written  it  (i)  before  the  xiv  th  century.  But  we 


Le  Chevalier  bien  1'escouta, 

De  bon  euer  la  Dame  pria.  32 

Et  quant  la  Messe  fut  finee, 

La  tierce  fu  recomenciee 

Tantost  en  ce  meisme  lieu. 

Sire,  pour  la  sainte  char  de  Dieu,      36 

Ce  li  a  dit  son  Escuier, 

L'heure  passe  de  tournoier, 

Et  vous  que  demourez  ici  ? 

Venez  vous  en,  je  vous  en  pri,  40 

Volez  vou&  devenir  hennite, 

Ou  papelart,  ou  ypocrite  ? 

Alons-en  a  nostre  mestier. 

Amis,  ce  dist  li  Chevalier,  44 

Gil  tournoie  moult  noblement, 

Qui  le  servise  Dieu  entent, 

Quant  les  Messes  seront  trestoutes 

Dittes,  s'en  irons  a  nos  routes :          48 

Se  Dieu  plest,  ains  n'en  partirai, 

Et  puis  au  Dieu  plesir  irai 

Tournoier  viguereusement ; 

De  ce  ne  tint  parlement.  52 

Devers  1'autel  sa  chiere  tourne, 

En  saintes  oroisons  sejourne 

Tant  que  toutes  chantees  furent, 

Puis  monterent,  com  fere  durent,       56 

Et  chevauchierent  vers  le  leu 

Ou  fere  devoient  leur  gen. 


L<?  shevali<?0r  bieq  1-  eskuta, 
D«  boq  koer  la  dama  pria. 
E  kaq  la  mesa  fyt  nneed 
La  tiersha  fy  rekomeqshwa 
Tantost  eq  sh0  meesma  lioa. 
Siir,  pur  la  seqta  shar  de  Dioeoe, 
Sh0  li  a  dit  son  escuieer, 
L-  cera  pasa  d^  turnoi^r, 
E  vus  \.ee  demwcees  ishii  ? 
Venees  vus  eq,  zh0  vus  eq  prii, 
Volees  vus  deveuiir  nermita, 
U  papalart  u  ipokrita  ? 
Aloqs  eq  a  nostra  mestier. 
Amiis,  shs  dist  li  shevalier, 
Shil  turnoia  mult  noblameq 
Ki  \9  servisa  Dice  eqteq ; 
Kaq  las  mesas  seroq  trestutas 
Ditas,  s-  en  iroqs  a  nos  rutas  ; 
Se  Diosce  pkst,  eqs  n-  eq  partiree, 
E  puis  a  Dice  plesir  iree 
Turnoiecr  vigcercesameq ; 
De  sh?  ne  tiq  parlameq. 
LVvers  1-  autel  sa  shiera  turne, 
Eq  seqtas  oroisoqs  sezhurna 
Taq  ke  tutas  &haqt^as  fyra, 
Puis  moqtera,  kom  fera  dyra, 
E  shevaushiera  vers  L?  loaoe 
Uu  fera  dsvoia  loar  zhceoe. 


3.  monstier,  monastere 
8.  truis,  trouve 
11.  mieudi-es,  meilleur 

13.  barnage,    courage,   force, 

noblesse 

14.  pener,  tourmenter 
16.  contenement,  etat 
22.  sains,  cloches. 


GLOSSAIRB. 

26.  le  Dieu  servise,  le  service  de  Dieu 
30.  puis,  on  en  a  une  autre  comtnencee 
39.  que,  pourquoi  demeurez-vous  ici  ? 
valeur,       42.  papelart,  faux  de'vot 

43.  alons-en,  allons  nous-en 

48.  s'en  irons,  si  nous,  et  nous  nou*  en 

irons 
55.  tant  que,  jusqu'd  ce  que. 


§  4,  No.  1.  ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION.  511 

find  («')  or  even  (<?),  so  rooted  in  the  North  of  Europe  at  the  present 
day,  among  not  merely  the  English,  but  the  Scotch,  Dutch,  Danes, 
and  Swedes,  and  above  all,  the  Icelanders,  who  acknowledge  it 
orthographically,  that  it  presents  the  appearance  of  an  original  sound, 
rather  than  of  a  modern  development.  The  o  was  almost  certainly 
(oo  o) ;  the  distinction  (oo  o)  is  quite  of  modern  growth,  nor  have  we 
been  led  to  suppose  that  there  was  any  equivalent  distinction  from 
the  xvi  th  century  upwards.  The  u  was  perhaps  (uu  u]  rather  than 
(uu  u)  or  (uu  u\  the  modern  use. 

The  digraphs  ea,  eo  could  scarcely  have  been  (ja,  Jo)  as  Rask 
supposes,  being  misled  apparently  by  modern  Scandinavian  usage. 
The  confusions  of  ea  with  ce  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  on  the  other, 
even  in  Anglosaxon,  and  its  further  confusion  with  e  in  more  recent 
times,  as  the  xin  th  century,  exclude  the  sound  of  (j)  with  certainty.1 
And  similarly  for  (eo).  But  it  is  possible  that  they  were  occa- 
sionally pronounced  with  the  second  element  more  conspicuous  than 
the  first,  so  that  though  we  may  generally  write  (ea,  eo),  as  true 
diphthongs,  in  the  ordinary  manner,  it  may  be  occasionally  neces- 
sary to  indicate  the  preponderance  of  the  second  element  by 
writing  (ea,  eo)  or  perhaps  more  truly  (eaa,  eoo)  which  might  fall 
into  (aa,  oo,  uu).  On  examining  the  long  list  of  Anglosaxon  words 
commencing  with  ea  eo,  the  following  are  all  that  I  have  noticed 
which  could  give  rise  to  the  notion  of  the  pronunciation  (ja  jo), 
which  Rask  seems  to  have  adopted  through  his  own  Scandinavian 
habits :  ealo  ale,  vulgar  (jel,  J01) :  Eoforwic,  in  Domesday  Eurvic, 
York,  with  the  secondary  form  Eferwic  ;  eond  yond,  the  proper  form 
being  geond,  eow  you;  eowu  ewe,  dialectic  (wo).  Remembering 
how  recently  the  sounds  (w,  j)  have  been  prefixed  to  the  English 
one,  Scotch  ane  (wan,  jen),  we  can  find  no  difficulty  with  these 
words.  The  Icelandic  Jarl,  which  many  persons  rely  upon  for 
proving  that  ags.  eorl  must  have  been  (jorl),  was  perhaps  a  deriva- 
tive of  ar  the  hearth,  and  was  anciently  applied  to  an  upper  .domes- 
tic, whereas  the  ags.  word  was  probably  connected  with  the  old 
Saxon  erl,  constantly  used  for  male,  man,  and  in  the  plural  erlos, 
and  compound  erlscepi  for  men,  people,  collectively  (Schmeller's 
Seliand,  Gloss,  p.  29).  Hence  the  effect  of  palatisation  can  alone 
be  relied  on  in  support  of  this  (j)  theory. 

Now  the  palatisation  of  a  preceding  c  (k)  into  (&)  would  be  produced 
by  the  simple  action  of  the  palatal  (e)  and  would  not  require  that 
that  (e)  should  be  squeezed  into  (i,  j).  Indeed,  we  have  observed 
a  tendency  to  palatisation  in  French  and  English  before  (a)  sounds, 
which  in  French  produced  (kj,  tsh,  sh)  (p.  53),  but  in  English  after 
flourishing  for  a  little  time  as  (ki,  kr,  kir)  and  still  dragging  out  an 
obscure  existence  in  a  fast  disappearing  generation,  or  on  the  boards 
of  second-rate  theatres,  (p.  206),  is  rapidly  going  out  of  use  and 
favour.2  In  modern  French,  too,  both  (kj)  and  (gj)  are  used  with- 

1  The  isolated  identification    of  ea          2  It  is  strongly  marked  in  the  dia- 
with  (je)  in  certain  words,  by  Sales-      lects  of  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire, 
bury,  we  have  seen  reason  to  suppose 
was  a  misprint,  p.  80. 


512  ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

out  any  tendency  to  becoming  (sh,  zh)  as  in  queue,  gueux  (kjoe, 
gjoe).  Icelandic  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  the  same,  as  k,  g 
are  there  always  palatised  into  (kj,  gj)  before  (aat,  ee,  eei,  i, 
i,  j)  without  having  the  least  tendency  to  become  (tsh,  dzh).  The 
(k)  itself  is  naturally  an  unstable  letter ;  either  the  tongue  has  a 
tendency  to  rise,  producing  (kj),  or  the  lips  a  tendency  to  round, 
producing  (k«#),  and  from  these  physiological  actions  can  be  traced 
a  vast  variety  of  changes  in  time  and  place.  The  same  remarks 
apply  also  to  (g)  and  to  (kh,  gh).  A  proper  understanding  of  the 
relations,  palatal  (k,  kj,  tj,  tsh,  sh),  and  (kh,  kjh,  jh,  J,  i),  labial 
(k,  K,  kw,  w,  b,  p)  and  (kh,  xh,  kwh,  wh,  f )  will  serve  to  solve 
numerous  riddles  in  comparative  philology.  Not  only  does,  how- 
ever, a  palatal  vowel  by  direct  action,  or  occasionally  a  guttural 
vowel  by  contrary  action,  tend  to  palatalize  a  consonant,  but  also 
the  presence  of  the  liquids  (1,  m,  n,  r)  produces  the  same  effect  in 
the  Germanic  languages,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe 
(p.  205).  It  is  curious  to  note  how  certain  words,  however,  resist 
palatalization,  while  their  fellows  readily  succumb  to  the  influence, 
as  in  drink  drench.  The  resistance  to  palatization  is  not  purely 
Scotch.  We  find  werchen  in  the  PRISONER'S  PRAYER,  v.  41,  and 
werch  often  in  Chaucer,  but  we  constantly  find  werk.  In  the 
ANCREN  EIWLE,  while  k  had  yielded  to  (tsh)  by  itself,  sc  had  not 
become  (sh),  as  in  Italy  and  Germany,  and  as  generally  in  England 
at  that  time,  and  the  modern  shot  scot,  ags.  sceat,  shews  both  the 
palatized  and  unpalatalized  form  of  the  same  word  still  current. 
Again  although  cealc  is  now  chalk  (&ealk,  tshAAk),  and  ceap  is  cheap 
(£eap,  tsheep,  tshiip),  ceald,  cealf  are  cold,  calf1  (kedld,  k##ld,  koold, 
koould,  koold ;  A'ealf,  k«#lf,  kaaulf,  kauf,  kaaf ),  and  if  cicen  has  be- 
come chicken  (tshik'en),  altering  the  first  and  retaining  the  second 
(k),  cicenehas  become  to$m(k«tsh*en)by  a  precisely  contrary  action. 
Again,  the  single  word  wicca  seems  to  have  given  rise  to  both  witch 
and  wieked,  (wicke  in  Orrminn)  and  similarly  ags.  wic  gives  wick  as 
an  independent  word,  also  heard  in  Wickham  and  in  terminations  as 
lailiwick,  sherifwick,  as  well  as  Berwick,  Alnwick,  while  in  other 
cases  it  gives  (w«'tsh)  as  in  Ipswich*  or  («dzh)  as  in  Norwich.  Hence 
the  pure  (k)  is  no  more  the  sign  of  a  north  country  pronunciation  than 
the  (tsh)  of  the  south ;  nor  is  it  at  all  necessary  to  suppose  that  ea,  eo 
were  (ja,  jo)  to  account  for  the  change  of  a  preceding  (k)  into  (tsh). 
As  to  the  consonants  generally  there  is  very  little  to  observe, 
except  that  probably  (kj,  gj)  were  well  in  use  in  the  early  Anglo- 
saxon  times,  that  g  also  probably  became  (#h)  that  is,  (gjh)  in  many 
cases,  in  the  same  way  as  it  now  does  in  Iceland,  and  in  Modern 
Saxony,3  so  that  the  preparation  for  the  (j)  or  simple  (i)  sound  was 
early  made.  On  the  other  hand,  after  (o,  u)  sounds  and  in  other 

1  In  Cumberland  (koof).  3  Modern   Saxon  is   high   German, 

2  So    called   generally    by  persons  old  Saxon  and  Anglosaxon  low  German, 
living  away  from  East  Anglia.      In  There  was  no  connection  between  the 
Norwich  I  heard  it  called   (7ps-«dzh)  two,  and  no  connection  is  intended  to 
which  follows  the  analogy  of  Norwich  be  implied  by  this  illustration.     They 
and  Greenwich.  are  two  independent  phenomena. 


§  4,  No.  1.  ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION.  513 

places  g  may  have  had  an  early  tendency  to  (gwh)  as  we  also  find 
in  Icelandic,  and  thus  prepared  the  subsequent  changes  (p.  212 
and  p.  311.) 

The  letter  h  seems  to  have  naturally  played  a  triple  part,  the 
three  functions  being  frequently  confused,  and  by  no  means  gene- 
rally understood  at  the  present  day.  At  the  beginning  of  words  h 
was  either  (H)  or  (H'),  probably  sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the 
other  as  in  modern  English,  and  in  almost  all  languages  where  h  is 
pronounced  at  all.  At  the  end  of  words,  the  (H')  was  replaced  by 
the  (kh)  which  is  an  easier  terminal  sound,  and  more  adapted  to 
check  a  vowel  sound.  The  initial  combinations  hi,  hr,  hn,  hw,  are 
ordinarily  assumed  to  be  (khl,  khr,  khn,  khw)  and  at  a  remote 
period,  before  Anglosaxon  was  properly  constituted,  they  may  have 
been  (kjhl,  kjhr,  kjhn,  kwh).  But  it  seems  more  probable  that  in 
the  more  cultivated  period  they  were  reduced  to  (Ih,  rh,  nh,  wh),  the 
last  (wh)  remaining  to  the  present  day,  although  sadly  neglected  in 
the  South  of  England,  and  the  first  (Ih)  existing  in  the  xiu  th  century, 
though  the  second  and  third  (rh,  nh)  rapidly  disappeared.  This 
view  is  strongly  confirmed  by  the  existent  Icelandic  pronunciation 
of  hf,  hi,  hn,  hr,  hv  as  (jh,  Ih,  nh,  rh,  wh).  The  device  of  pre- 
fixing h  to  form  the  symbols  for  these  sounds,  is  so  natural,  that 
many  persons  still  insist  that  the  proper  way  of  writing  when  is  hwen, 
and  when  I  was  printing  phonetically  I  found  this  position  of  the 
letters  practically  sufficient.  An  accurate  analysis,  however,  would 
shew  that  (n'wen)  was  materially  different  from  (when),  and  that 
therefore  in  all  accurate  phonetic  writing  the  sounds  should  be 
distinguished. 

The  letter  p  *  I  presume  was  (w),  certainly  not  (v),  and  probably 
not  (bh).  It  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  merely  a  variety  of  the 
medieval  form  of  v,  but  I  consider  it  to  be  rather  the  old  rune  called 
wen  =  hope,  in  Cotton  MS.  Otho  B.  10,  as  quoted  in  Hickes's 
Anglosaxon  Grammar  (Thesaurus  i.  135).  The  sound  of  v  con- 
sonant in  ancient  Latin,  is  a  matter  of  dispute ;  it  was  probably 
(w)  or  (bh),  and  more  probably  the  latter  than  the  former,  because 
we  can  hardly  imagine  (w)  generating  (v)  except  through  (bh),  but 
the  passage  from  (bh)  to  (v)  is  so  easy  and  slight,  that  the  two 
parts  of  Germany  which  are  distinguished  by  the  two  different 
sounds  at  this  day,  profess  to  pronounce  their  w  in  the  same  way. 
(Bh)  is  a  kind  of  bat  sound,  readily  falling  into  (w)  or  (v),  but  the 
real  (w)  has  a  very  moderate  domain  in  Europe.2  The  (bh.^  is 
thoroughly  established  in  high  Germany  and  in  Spain,  wher^  the 
old  joke  of  J 

"  felices  populi  quibus  vivere  est  bibere  "  r 

1  Mr.  Skeat  notices  only  seven  or  at  about   1300." — HaT/eioct    Preface 

eight  instances    of  the  use  of   p  in  §  26. 

Havelock,  adding:  "This  evidence  is          2  An    accurate    cr^ncepti0n    of   the 

interesting  as  shewing  that  this  letter  three  sounds  (w,  bh.^  v)  is  necessary  for 

was  then  fast  going  out  of  use,  and  I  the    proper    understanding    of   many 

think  we  may  safely  date  the  final  dis-  linguistic  relations.     jror  (w)  the  lips 

disappearance  of  this  letter  from  MSS.  are  rounded  n&fcrlT  as  for  (u)  and  the 

33 


514 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


points  at  once  to  the  antiquity  of  the  sound  in  that  country  in  which 
it  is  still  used  for  both  I  and  v,  and  to  the  probable  pronunciation  of  v 
in  Latin  as  (bh)  at  that  time.  The  example  of  Kavvkas  being  heard 
as  cav'  rf  eas  =  cave  ne  eas,  would  be  solved  by  the  identity  (kabhne* 
aas)  in  both  languages  at  that  time.  At  the  time  when  the  Anglo- 
saxons,  being  Christianized,  adopted  the  Christian  Roman  alphabet, 
the  Roman  v  consonant  was  certainly  (v),  a  sound  which  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  did  not  then  distinguish  from  (f ),  as  we  have  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  letter  /,  like  the  letter  «,  served  the  purposes  of 
both  hiss  and  buzz.  The  consequence  was  that  the  Anglosaxons 
had  no  sign  for  their  w  consonant,  which  was  distinct  from  «?,  and 
they  therefore  retained  their  runic  p.  For  these  reasons  I  think 
that  p  was  (w)  not  (v),  and  that  the  German  habit  of  transliterat- 
ing p  by  v  is  improper. 

The  combinations  cw,  wl,  wr,  were  probably  the  labial  modifica- 
tions (kw,  Iw,  TW).  The  first  has  been  already  explained.  The 
other  two  still  occur  in  French  loi,  roi  =  (Iwa,  rwa),  confused  with 
(lua,  rua)  on  the  one  hand  and  (Iwa,  rwa)  on  the  other,  supra 
p.  187.  The  action  is  however  truly  simultaneous.  The  ags. 
wlaco  (Iwaa'ko)  seems  to  have  generated  (luuk)  in  lukewarm,  and 


back  of  the  tongue  is  raised,  but  the 
outer  edges  of  the  lips  are  brought 
more  together  than  for  (u),  and  the 
sound  of  (w)  when  continued  is  there- 
fore a  buzz,  a  mixture  of  voice  and 
whisper,  and  not  a  pure  vowel  sound. 
When  the  buzz  is  strong  the  tremor  of 
the  lips  is  very  perceptible,  and  a  little 
more  force  produces  the  labial  trill 
(brh).  If  the  voice  is  removed  we 
have  (wh),  and  the  back  of  the  tongue 
being  raised  as  before  mentioned,  the 
slightest  effort  suffices  to  raise  it  higher 
and  produce  (kwh).  This  gives  the 
relation  between  the  gutturals  and 
labials  which  plays  such  an  important 
part  in  comparative  philology.  On 
the  other  hand,  for  (bh)  the  tongue  is 
not  raised,  the  sound  is  a  pure  labial, 
less  like  (u),  but  easily  deduced  from 
(w)  by  lowering  the  tongue  and  slightly 
flattening  the  lips.  It  is,  to  those  used 
to  f&  an  extremely  easy  and  pleasant 
consonant,  produced  with  the  least  pos- 
sible effort.  By  dropping  the  voice  it 
produces  ^D^)>  which  is  not  now  used 
in  Europe,  Vut  was  probably  a  value  of 
<t>.  For  (w,  bh^  tllere  must  be  no  contact 
with  the  teeth.x  Directly  the  lower 
lip  touches  the  \pPPer  teeth,  an  impe- 
diment is  raised  "'•$> tne  passage  of  the 
air  through  the  mo\itn>  and  the  breath, 
escaping  out  on  botL  \  sides>  produces  a 
rushing,  rubbing,  rus>/(ling  sound>  dis- 
tinctive of  the  "divide*  d"  consonants, 


and  known  as  (v),  which,  on  dropping 
the  voice,  becomes  (f).  But  all  degrees 
of  contact  between  the  lower  lip  and 
the  teeth  are  possible,  producing  varie- 
ties of  (f,  v),  from  sounds  which  can 
scarcely  be  distinguished  from  (ph,  bh), 
up  to  extremely  harsh  hisses  and 
buzzes.  Generally,  then,  ^w)  is  a  con- 
sonant framed  from  (u)  by  closing  the 
lips  too  closely  to  allow  of  a  pure  re- 
sonance for  the  vowel  sound ;  (bh)  is  a 
(b)  with  the  lips  just  slightly  opened,  or 
a  (v)  without  touching  the  teeth,  that 
is,  a  pure  labial ;  (v)  is  a  denti-labial. 
The  (w)  is  further  distinguished  from 
(bh,  v)  by  having  the  tongue  raised. 
It  is  possible,  of  course  to  raise  the 
tongue  when  soundmg  (v) ;  the  result  is 
(vh),  a  very  peculiar  and  disagreeable 
sound.  But  if  the  tongue  is  raised 
when  sounding  (bh)  no  ear  would  dis- 
tinguish the  result  from  (w).  The 
following  words  should  be  carefully 
pronounced  to  shew  these  differences : 
Fr.  out,  oui;  Eng.  we,  German  wie, 
Fr.  w'0  =  (u,i  ui  wii  bhii  vii),  Dutch 
letters  u,  v,  w  =  (yy,  vee,  bhee) ;  usual 
Scotch  guhen,  English  when,  Aber- 
deenshire  fen  =  (kwhEn,  when,  fen) ; 
usual  German  schreiben,  faulty  German 
schreiwen  =  (shrarben,  shrarbhen)  ; 
German  pferd  now  (pfert),  once  pro- 
bably (pphert)  and  in  some  Bavarian 
dialects  (pHert). 


\ 


§  4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOS AXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


515 


wlite  (Iz0irte)  has  become  (loo'te),  lote,  countenance  in  G.  and  E. 
1162,  2328.  On  the  other  hand,  as  wrong  exists  as  (vraq)  in 
Aberdeenshire,  so  wlcenco  (Iwaeqk'o)  generated  the  Scotch  wlonk 
(vloqk)  the  origin  of  our  flunkey.  In  ags.  wlips  (Itwps)  the  labial 
modification  has  been  simply  dropped  in  Chaucer's  lipsen  266,  Sir 
T.  Smith's  (It'ps)  and  our  lisp.  Ags.  wlcetian  to  nauseate,  loath, 
seems  to  be  lost,  but  (Iwat)  and  (laadih)  =  ags.  la/S,  loath,  are 
closely  related  in  sound.  Wl,  wr,  could  scarcely  be  pronounced 
initially  as  (wl-,  wr-),  but  would  require  the  insertion  of  ('),  thus 
(w'l-,  w'r-),  as  seems  to  be  the  case  in  some  Scotch  dialects  at  the 
present  day  (p.  290.)  The  mode  of  writing  would  then  be  similar 
to  that  adopted  for  hi,  hr  ==  (Ih,  rh).  The  reason  why  cw  was 
used  in  preference  to  we,  is  probably  to  be  sought  in  the  Latin  qu, 
and  the  probability  that  (kw-)  being  sounded  with  tolerable  ease 
may  have  been  confused  with  the  correct  sound  (kw),  for  which 
there  was  a  single  character  both  in  the  Runic  and  Gothic  alphabets. 

The  letter  (g)  of  the  Roman  alphabet  was  also  not  quite  the  same 
as  the  ags.  g  in  all  cases.  In  later  stages  of  the  language,  as  in  the 
xmth  century,  two  forms  (g,  g)  are  found  in  use,  the  latter  of 
which,  under  the  form  3  became  confused  with  z  in  writing,  and 
subsequently  in  printing  (p.  310).  But  the  Eoman  g  represented 
some  of  the  sounds  of  ags.  g  and  hence  the  Anglosaxons  found  no 
more  difficulty  in  using  it  than  is  now  felt  by  the  modern  high 
Germans.  The  two  sounds  (th,  dh)  however,  had  no  Latin  equiva- 
lent. Though  the  old  Latins  had  introduced  th,  ch,  for  the  Greek 
sounds  6,  %,  the  probability  is  that  these  letters  were  never  properly 
pronounced,  and  that  at  the  period  in  question  they  were  merely  (t,  k) 
as  at  present  in  Italy,  and  therefore  quite  unsuited  for  Anglosaxon. 
Hence  the  necessity  for  )  ¥>,  the  former  a  rune,  the  latter  a  modified 
d,  whereas  the  use  of  y  for  (y)  would  imply  that  the  Latins  still 
made  some  distinction  between  i  and  y. 

What  were  the  precise  meanings  of  ]?  ft,  or  rather  how  the  mean- 
ings (th,  dh)  were  distributed  over  them,  it  does  not  seem  possible 
to  elicit  from  the  confused  state  of  existing  manuscripts.  It  is 
generally  accepted  that  )  is  (th)  and  ^  is  (dh),1  yet  J?  is  generally 
employed  in  initials,  and  ¥>  elsewhere,  quite  disregardful  of  modern 
usage,  which  we  know  has  remained  unaltered  for  300  years,  and 
therefore  might  be  supposed  to  represent  the  old  practice.  "We  find, 
however,  in  modern  Icelandic,  a  systematic  adherence  to  the  rule 


1  Mr.  Oswald  Cockayne  seems  to 
consider  $  =  (th.),  and  b  =  (dh),  for  in 
the  preface  to  his  edition  of  Hali 
Meidenhad  (supra  p.  506,  n.  1),  which 
is  otherwise  in  ordinary  orthography, 
he  generally,  hut  not  quite  consistently, 
employs  b  %  in  these  senses.  Thus  I 
find:  be,  bis,  bose,  bat,  bey,  bem, 
beir,  but :  birteenb,  faib,  and  in  one 
place :  aubor,  though  in  three  other 
cases :  auftor,  is  writen  ;  with  this  last 
spelling  agrees :  leng^,  dea'S,  and,  per- 


haps :  wifl,  which  some  still  call  (wt'th), 
but  then  we  also  find :  "Sough.  These 
inconsistencies  in  a  modern  writer  who 
was  evidently  desirous  of  indicating  the 
two  sounds  (th,  dh)  by  appropriate 
letters  may  serve  to  explain  the  nu- 
merous inconsistencies  of  ancient  and 
perhaps  less  careful  scribes,  who  were 
certainly  not  less  intending  to  cany 
out  theoretical  conceptions  of  ortho- 
graphy. See  infra,  No.  2,  under  %  J» 
in  the  laelandic  Alphabet. 


516 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


of  initial  J?  and  medial  and  final  ^  in  writing,  and  a  uniform  cor- 
responding pronunciation  of  (th)  for  )  and  (dh)  for  ft.  Hence  we 
should  not  be  justified  in  pronouncing  pure  Anglosaxon  in  any 
other  way,  and  we  must  suppose  the  change  to  have  occurred1  in 
the  transition  period  from  pure  Anglosaxon  to  Early  English. 

In  the  above  remarks  we  have  endeavoured  to  assign  the  probable 
values  of  the  Anglosaxon  letters  from  the  conclusions  to  which  we 
were  gradually  led  for  the  ^TTT  th  century,  but  these  values  differ 
materially  from  those  assigned  by  our  native  Anglosaxon  scholars. 
We  have  seen  (p.  255,  note  1)  that  one  of  them,  an  excellent 
scholar,  who  has  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject,  decidedly  calls 
long  i  (ai),  long  e  (ii),  long  a  (oo),  long  u  (au).  The  well  known 
scholar,  Benjamin  Thorpe,  evidently  made  long  i  (oi),  and  short  u 
(a),  although  he  makes  long  e  and  u  in  Orrmin  (ee,  uu),  see  p.  487, 
note.  Now  it  is  certainly  desirable  to  have  some  direct  evidence  as 
to  the  sounds  of  these  long  vowels,  and  this  seems  to  be  furnished 
by  a  valuable  and  interesting  MS.  at  Oxford,  to  which  attention 
was  drawn  by  Hickes,2  who  gave  some  extracts  from  it,  which  will 
be  here  reproduced.  In  order  to  correct  the  errors  in  Hickes' s 
transcription,  Mr.  G.  Waring,  of  Oxford,  obligingly  collated  the 
text  with  the  MS.,  and  has  subsequently  compared  the  proofs  of 
the  extracts  with  the  original.  I  am  also  indebted  to  him  for  the 
account  of  the  MS.  given  below.3 


1  Usage  is  not  yet  quite  fixed  in  some 
few  cases.  Meath  and  Lowth  are  com- 
monly called  (Miith,  Lauth)  by  the 
uninitiated,  and  (Miidh,  Laudh)  comes 
on  them  as  a  surprise.  With  the  pre- 
position was  always  (wz'th)  in  the 
xvi  th  century,  and  with  the  sub- 
stantive is  still  so  called.  Sometimes 
an  arbitrary  distinction  is  made.  Dr. 
E.  G.  Latham  calls  himself  (Leeth"em), 
but  informs  me  that  his  family  says 
(Lmlh"em).  This  is  an  instance  of  a 
variation  of  the  medial  th,  which,  so 
far  as  I  can  recall,  is  always  (dh)  in 
ordinary  words.  The  change  of  final 
(dh)  to  (th)  is  natural  enough,  through 
the  frequent  use  of  (-dhth)  as  in  breathe 
=  (hriidhth)  at  the  end  of  a  sentence, 
or  when  prolonged  without  a  following 
vowel.  The  initial  change  has  only 
affected  the  common  words  :  that,  the, 
thee,  their,  them,  then,  thence,  there 
and  its  compounds,  these,  they,  thine, 
this,  those,  .thou,  though,  thus,  thy. 
These  have  all  (th)  so  far  as  they  exist 
in  Icelandic.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
.bered  that  we  have  a  western  dialect 
which  uses  (dh)  initially  in  all  cases. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if 
•there  are  any  dialects  which  use  (th) 
initially  in  all.  Enclitically  and  after 
words  ending  with  d,  t  we  know  that 


so  late  as  Orrmin,  and  even  later,  j?  be- 
came t,  and  not  d,  even  in  ]?at,  )m,  etc., 
and  even  after  d,  which  is  rather  in 
favour  of  a  (th)  than  a  (dh)  sound.  But 
see  a  different  use,  p.  444,  note  2. 

2  Linguarum    Vett.     Septentriona- 
lium  Thesaurus  grammatico-criticus  et 
archa3ologicus.  Auctore  Georgia  Hicke- 
sw,  S.T.P.  Oxford,  1705,  folio,  3  vols; 
preface  p.  xi. 

3  The  MS.  is   thus  described    by 
Hickes:    "Dum  in  Bibliotheca  Bod- 
leyana  Codd.    Saxonicos  perscrutarer, 
inveni  pervetustum  librum  MS.  cujus 
nota,  NE.  D.  2.  19.  in  quo  quidem 
libro  nonnullse  lectiones  e  veteris  tes- 
tamenti  LXXII.  interpretum  versione 
Grseca,  cum  Latina  translatione  ex  ad- 
verso  in  alters,  columna  scripttl,  Saxo- 
nicis  literis  describuntur."     Mr.  War- 
ing says  that  the  present  signature  of 
the  MS.  is  Auct.  F.  4.  32.     It  is  a 
small  quarto  volume  containing  several 
unconnected  pieces  of  great  age  and 
value.     On  the  first  page  is  a  figure  of 
Christ  with  an  entry  stating  it  to  have 
been  drawn  by  the  hand  of  St.  Dunstan. 
Fo.  1-8,  "  In  honomatis  sumi  tonantis 
ars   Euticis   Gramatici,"  with  several 
interlinear  glosses,   partly   Latin   and 
partly  Old  British.— Fo.  10-18.  Anglo- 
saxon homily  on  the  Invention  of  the 


§  4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


517 


The  peculiarity  of  this  manuscript  is  that  it  gives  certain  Greek 
texts  in  Anglosaxon  characters,  which  are  seen  immediately  not  to 
reproduce  the  original  letters,  but  to  he  intended  to  represent  the 
sounds  in  reading.  There  is  no  indication  of  the  age  of  the  MS.  in 
any  part  of  the  hook,  but  Mr.  Waring  thinks  that  these  transcrip- 
tions were  probably  written  in  the  latter  half  of  the  xth  century.1 
Now  we  shall  see  that  Greek  was  at  that  time  probably  pronounced 
almost,  if  not  quite,  as  at  present.  Hence,  by  comparing  the  letters 
by  which  the  Anglosaxon  scribe  translated  the  Greek  sounds,  we 
have  direct  evidence  of  the  values  he  assigned  to  the  Anglosaxon 
letters  themselves.  To  make  this  comparison  the  more  complete,  I 
append  the  extracts  given  in  Hickes,  which  are  quite  sufficient  for 
the  purpose,  as  collated  by  Mr.  Waring,  and  contrast  them  with 
the  modern  Greek  pronunciation,  as  obligingly  furnished  to  me  by 
Prof.  Yaletta,2  adding  the  ancient  text  for  comparison.3  As  the 


Cross,  superscribed  Ixiii,  as  if  forming 
part  of  a  collection.  The  handwriting 
is  ancient,  the  language  pure  and 
strictly  grammatical.  Judging  from 
these  characteristics  and  certain  pecu- 
liarities of  dialect,  Mr.  "Waring  assigns 
it  to  the  latter  half  of  the  x  th  century. 
The  legend  is  that  of  the  poem  of 
Elene.— Fo.  19.  See  below  at  fo.  24.— 
Fo.  20-22.  A  Lunar  and  Paschal  Ca- 
lendar.— Fo.  23.  Pauca  de  Mensuris, 
containing  several  Old  British  glosses. 
— Fo.  19  and  fo.  24-36.  Extracts  from 
the  Septuagint  with  corresponding 
texts  from  the  Itala,  in  two  parts  :  fo. 
24-28,  the  Septuagint  text  in  Greek 
characters,  full  of  flagrant  blunders, 
and  critically  worthless;  fo.  19,  and 
half  of  fo.  28  to  36,  the  Septuagint 
text  in  Anglosaxon  characters,  of  a 
decidedly  better  quality  than  the  other. 
— Fo.  37  to  end,  Ovidii  Nasonis  Artis 
Amatorise,  Lib.  prim.,  accompanied 
with  many  interlinear  glosses  in  Latin 
and  Old  British. — The  pieces  com- 
mencing on  folios  1,  20,  23,  37,  are 
noticed  in  Lhuyd,  Archseol.  p.  226,  and 
Zeuss,  Celtica  I,  p.  xxxviii,  and  II,  p. 
1076  ff.  The  whole  codex  is  described 
in  p.  63  of :  Antique  Literature  Sep- 
tentrionalis  Liber  Alter  seu  Humphredi 
Wanleii  Librorum  Vett.  Septentrion- 
alium,  qui  in  Anglise  Bibliothecis  ex- 
tant, nee  non  multorum  Vett.  Codd. 
Septentrionalium  alibi  extantium  Cata- 
logus  Historico-Criticus,  cum  totius 
Thesauri  Linguarum  Septentrionalium 
sex  Indicibus,  Oxford,  1703,  folio, 
forming  the  second  volume  of  Hickes. 
The  Scribe  apparently  did  not  know 
Greek.  The  letters  are  run  much  into 


each  other,  with  very  imperfect  at- 
tempts at  arrangement  into  words. 

1  The   following   are  his  reasons : 
There  could  be  little  doubt  of  the  date, 
if  a  period  could  be  assigned  when 
priests  of  the  Anglosaxon  church  might 
have  been  brought  into  connection  with 
those  of  Constantinople,   and  this  is 
easily  done.     Otho  I,  emperor  of  Ger- 
many,   936-973,    married    Eadgith, 
daughter    of    King    Athelstan    I    of 
England.  930,  and  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor Otho  II,  married  Theophania, 
daughter  of  the  Greek  Emperor  Nice- 
phorus,  in  972,  after  the  latter  em- 
peror's assassination.     At  the  court  of 
Othor  then,  where  constant  connection 
was  kept  up  with  the  Anglosaxons  and 
the  Greeks,  there  was  a  means  opened 
out  for  the  priests  of  the  former  to 
receive    some    tincture     of    Hellenic 
letters.     We  shall  therefore  hardly  be 
wrong  in  referring  such  transcriptions 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  x  th  century. 
"Want  of   opportunity    is    against  an 
earlier  date,  and  the  confusion  and  ruin 
occasioned  by  the  Danish  invasion  in 
the  early  part  of  the  xi  th  century,  the 
close  connection  of  Canute  with  Rome, 
and  the  subsequent  Norman  influence 
through  Edward  the  Confessor,  render 
a  later  date  almost  impossible.    To  this 
we  may  add  the  agreement  of  the  Saxon 
homily  in  the  same    book  with  the 
language  of  the  x  th  century. 

2  Author  of  a  learned  work  in  mo- 
dern Greek  on  the  Life  and  Poems  of 
Homer.     'Op.'fipov   jSios    /cal   Trot^j/uaTa, 
irpay/uLareia  iaTOpiK.})    /col   /cpm/c^,   inrb 
'IwdVi/ou   N.  BaAeTTa,    London,    1867. 

3  There  will  be    found  many  dif- 


518 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


modern  Greek  does  not  distinguish  long  and  short  vowels,  and  does 
not  seem  to  appreciate  any  such  difference,  but  pronounces  the  same 
vowel  in  the  same  word  sometimes  long  and  sometimes  short,  ac- 
cording to  the  feeling  of  the  moment,  I  felt  that  it  would  he  mis- 
leading to  indicate  long  and  short  vowels  in  the  following,  and  I 
have  therefore,  for  convenience  marked  them  all  as  short.  The 
indistinctness  exists  in  the  Italian,  Spanish,1  and  French 
and  probably  exists  naturally  wherever  the  vowels  are 
in  perfect  pairs.  On  a  very  accurate  examination  of  the  vowel 
pairs  in  English  it  will  be  seen  that  in  many  words  they  differ 
rather  in  quality  than  in  quantity,  and  that  there  is,  as  Professor 
Haldeman  urges,  a  medial  length  of  vowel,2  which  is  sometimes 
heard  as  short  and  sometimes  as  long.  The  Scotch  consider  most  of 
their  vowels  as  short,  though  they  strike  an  English  ear  at  first  as 
long,  being  probably  medial,  and  Feline  marks  almost  all  French 
vowels  as  short,  though  other  writers  mark  them  frequently  as  long. 
When  I  have  placed  the  accent  mark  after  the  vowel  instead  of 
after  the  consonant,  there  seemed  to  be  certainly  an  option  in  pro- 
nouncing long  or  short,  and  the  shortest  vowels,  are,  as  in  Italian, 
always  perfectly  clear  and  never  degenerate  into  obscurities  like  the 
English.  The  letters  /3,  <f>,  seem  to  be  naturally  pronounced  by 
Prof.  Valetta  as  (bh,  ph),  but  when  he  became  particularly  em- 
phatic he  made  them  (v,  f ).  I  have,  therefore,  used  (v,  f )  in  my 
transcription  as  more  convenient,3  and  for  the  same  reason  have 
transcribed  au,  ev  as  (av,  ev)  or  (af,  ef ), 


ferences  between  the  two  editions,  but 
it  was  thought  best  to  follow  the  usual 
text  of  the  Septuagint. 

1  My  attention  was  first  drawn  to 
the  doubtful  medial  quantity  of  the 
Italian  vowels  by  H.I.H.  Prince  Louis 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  and  Senor  Cubi  y 
Soler  made  me  notice  the  absence  of 
truly  '  stopped,'  or  shut,  short  Towels 
in  Castilian,  which  he  said  was  a  par- 
ticular mark  of  that  leading  Spanish 
dialect,  so  that  he  suggested  the  use  of 
long  vowel  signs  in  all  Spanish  words. 

2  Analytic  Orthography,  p.  80.  Prof. 
Haldeman  makes    short    vowels    last 
about  a  quarter  of  a  second,  medial 
about   three-eighths  or  one-half,  and 
long  vowels  about  five-eighths  or  three- 
quarters,    so    that    the    comparative 
lengths  are  about  as  2,  3  and  5,  or 
1,  2,  3. 

8  The  sounds  (bh,  ph)  are  most  pro- 
bably very  ancient.  Prof.  Goldstiicker 
in  his  learned  paper  on  the  Greek  Di- 
gamma,  read  before  the  Philological 
Society,  20th  Nov.  1868,  attempted  to 

Cit  out  the  Greek  words  in  which  it 
existed  by  means  of  a  comparison 


with  the  Sanskrit  form,  inferring  a 
digamma  in  many  cases  where  the 
latter  began  with  (v),  or  (sv),  and  the 
Greek  had  either  no  initial  consonant 
or  only  an  aspirate.  Remembering 
that  the  Sanskrit  grammarians  affirm 
the  Sanskrit  sound  to  be  a  true  (v), 
made  with  action  of  the  teeth,  and 
that  in  Spanish  we  know  historically 
that  Latin  F,  certainly  (f),  passed 
through  (H)  and  became  lost,  as  in 
jilius,  old  Spanish  fijo,  modern  hijo  in 
which  the  h  is  not  pronounced  (i'xo), 
and  knowing  first  how  easily  (v,  f )  are 
confused,  next  how  unlikely  the  Greeks 
who  had  o-ty  =  (sph)  would  be  to  allow 
(sv)  or  (sf),  the  ease  with  which  there- 
fore an  initial  (s)  in  this  combination 
would  be  rejected,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  very  probable  transit  of  (s) 
into  (f),  we  are  led  to  the  sound  of  (f) 
as  that  most  likely  to  fulfil  the  phone- 
tic conditions  imposed  on  the  digamma 
by  comparative  philology.  The  sound 
(w)  would  not  be  easily  lost  except 
before  (o,  u),  and  the  sound  (bh)  was 
already  probably  existent,  and  became 
fixed  as  one  (if  not  the  only)  sound  of 


\ 


$  4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


519 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  BODL.  MS.  AUCT.  P.  4,  32. 


Anglosaxon  Transcription. 
MS.  fo.  30,  b. 

26.  Phyisomen  anthropon  cat 
icona  ce  cath  omyosin  imeteran 
ce  archeto  ton  icthyon  tis  talasas 
ce  ton  petinon  tu  uranu  ce  ton 
ctinon  ce  passes  tis  gis  ce  panton 
ton  herpeton  ton  herponton  epi 
tis  gis  ce  egeneto  utos 

27.  ce  ephyisen  o  theos  ton 
anthropon  cat  icona  theu  epyisen 
auton   aren  ce   thily  epyoeisen 
autos. 

28.  ce  eulogisen  autns  legon 
auxanesthe   ce    plithynesthe   ce 
plirosate  tin  gin  ce  catacyrieu- 
sate  autis  ce  archete  ton  icthyon 
tis  thalassis  ce  ton  petinon  tu 
uranu  ce  ton  panton  ctinon  tis 
gis  ce  panton    ton  erpeton  ton 
erponton  epi  tis  gis 

29.  ce  ipen  o  theos  idu  edoca 
ymin    panta    chorton    spomonri 
spiron  sperma  6  estin  epano  pas- 
sis  tis  gis  ce  pan  xylon  o  echi 
en   eauto  carpon  spermatos  spori- 
mu  ymin  estae  is  brosin. 

30.  ce  passin  tys  thiriys  tis 
gis  ce  pasin  tys  petinys  tu  uranu 
ce  panti  erpeto  erponti  epi  tis 
gis  6  echi  en  eauto  pnoin  zois  ce 
panta  chorton  chloron  is  brosin 
ce  egeneto  utos. 

Greek  Text. 

26.  7Toj^<r&ytej/  avOpooirov  /car'  fltt&va. 
rjp.€T€pav    Kal  Kaff  dfioiuffiv  Kal  apx*- 
raxrav  T&V  l-^Qvwv  rr/s   Oa\dffa"rjst  Kal 
T&V   ir€T€iva>u    rov    ovpavov,    Kal    ruv 
KTyvwv,  Kal  irdo"r)s  TTJS  yfjs,  Kal  irdvrtav 
rS>v  epireruv  rcav  *pir6vr(av  fal  TTJS  yys. 

27.  Kal  eiroiijo-fv  6  0ebs  rbv  avOpca- 
irov   /COT*    et/coW  ©eoD  liroiiffffv  avr6v 
apffev  Kal  Ori\v  eiroiria'ev  avrotis. 

28.  Kal   fv\6yr)<rev  avrovs    6   0ebs, 
\eycaVy  av£dv€<rOe,  Kal   7r\7j0ui/e<r0e,  jcal 
Tr\-rip(iicraTe  T^V  yyv,  Kal  KaTaKvpievffare 
avrrjs-     Kal    apx^re    r£>v    IxQvwv   TTJS 
9a\dfffft]s}  Kal  ruv  irereivuv  rov  ovpa- 


Modern  Greek  Pronunciation. 
Genesis  ch.  i. 

26.  Pi,i*somen  an'thropon  kat 
iko'na  imeteran  ke   kath  omr- 
osin,  ke  arkhet'osan  ton  ikhthr- 
on  tis  thala'sis,  ke  ton  petinon' 
tu  uranu',    ke  ton  ktinon',    ke 
pa 'sis   tis   jis,   ke   pan 'don  ton 
erpeton'  ton  erpon'don  epy  tis  jis. 

27.  ke   epi'isen  o  theos •   ton 
an'thropon.     kat    iko'na  the,u' 
epi'isen    afton*,  arsen  ke  thi'li 
epi'isen  aftus* 

28.  ke     evlo'jisen     aftus  *     o 
theos',  legh'on,  afksa'nesthe,  ke 
plithi'nesthe,    ke    pliro'sate   tin 
jin,  ke  katakirief'sate  aftis*,  ke 
ar'khete  ton  ikhthi'on  tis  thala'- 
sis,  ke  ton  petinon'  tu  uranu', 
ke  pan 'don  ton  ktinon',  ke  pa 'sis 
tis  jis,   ke  pan'don  ton  erpeton' 
ton  erpon'don  epi'  tis  jis. 

29.  ke   i'pen  o  theos',  idhu- 
dhe'dhoka  inrnr  pan'da  khor'ton 
spo'rimon  spi'ron  sperma,  o  es*- 
tin  epa-no  pa* sis  tis  jis,  ke  pan 
ksi'lon,  o  e'khi  en  eafto  *  karpon' 
sper'matos  spori'mu,  imin'  es'te 
is  vro'sin' 

30.  ke  pa' si  tis  thirris  tis  jis, 
ke  pa'si  tis  petinis*  tu  uranu', 
ke  pandr  erpeto'  ei-pondi  epi* 
tis  jis,  o  ekh'i  en  eafto'  psikhur 
zo,is',  ke  pan'da  khor'ton  khlo- 
ron'  is  vro'sin,  ke  ejen'eto  u'tos. 

Genesis,  Ch.  i. 

vov,  Kal  Trdvruv  ruv  Krvjvuv,  Kal  irdo"ns 
•vis  yr}s,  Kal  irdvrwv  ruv  epireruv  ruv 
err}  rr)s  yys. 

29.  Kal    €?7rej/  o  0ebs,    I8ov  SeSw/co 
1v  Trdvra   x^PTOV    o~ir6pi/j.ov   ffTreipov 

effriv  tirdvoi  irdo"t)S  rr)s  yr}s' 
Kal  irav  £v\ov,  &  *Xfl  *v  *avT(p  Kaptr6v 
ffirfpfJLaros  ffiroptfjiov,  vfuv  effrai  els 
fipcaffu'. 

30.  Kal   iraffi   rots   Qyplois   rr)s   yys 
Kal   Trao~i   ro?s   irereivo'is  rov   ovpavov, 
Kal   iravrl   epirercj)  epirovrt  eirl  rr/s  yrjs, 
&  e%ei  ei/  eaur^J  tyvxfa  ^co^s,  Kal  irdvra 
Xoprov  x^topbv  e'y  jSpao'iy,   Kal  eyeVero 
ovrcas. 


520 


ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


Anglosaxon  Transcription. 

31.  ce  yden  o  theos  ta  panta 
osa  ephyisen  ce  idu  cala  lian  ce 
egeneto  hespera  ce  egeneto  prohi 
himera  ecti  . 

MS.  fo.  34,  b. 

1.  0  theus  epirasen  tonhabra- 
cham  ce  ipen  pros  auton  habra- 
chain  habracbam  ce  ipen  idu  ego. 

2.  ce  ipen  labeto  yion  su  ton 
agapeton  on  egapesas  ton  isac  ce 
poreutbeti  is  ten  gen  ten  ypselen 
ce  prosenencon  auton  eci  is  olo- 
carposin  is  ena  oros  on  sy  ipo 

3.  anastas    de  babracbam  to 
prohi 

MS.  fo.  34  a. 

1.  on  tropon  epipotbie  elafos 
epi  tas  pegas  ton   ydaton   utos 
epipotbi  e  psuYcbe  mu  pros  se  o 
tbeus 

2.  edipsisen  e  psycbe  mu  pros 
ton  tbeon  ton  zonta  pote  ixo  cae 
optbesome  tu  prosopu  tu  tbeu 

3.  egenetbe  my  ta  dacrya  mu 
artos  emeras  cae  nyctos. 

MS.  fo.  32,  b. 

1.  Ce  epilempsonte  epta  gyne- 
ces  enos  anthropu  leguse  ton 
arton  emon  fagometba  ce  ta 


Modern  Greek  Pronunciation. 

31.  ke  i'dhen  o  theos*  ta  pan*- 
da,  os*a  eprise,  ke  idhu*  kala* 
Iran*  ke  ejen'eto  espera,  ke 
ejen'eto  pro,i*,  imera  ek'ti. 

Genesis  ch.  xxii. 

1.  o  theos*  eprrasen  ton  Avra,- 
anr,  ke  i'pen   afto*,   Avra,am*, 
Avra,anr,  ke  i'pen  idhu*  egho* 

2.  Ke  i'pe,  lave  ton  i,on*  su 
ton  aghapiton',  on  igha*pisas  ton 
Isa,ak*,  ke  poref'thiti  is  tin  jin 
tin  ipsilin',  ke  anen*eqke  afton' 
eki*  is   olokar*posin   ef    en   ton 
ore'oon  on  an  si  i*po. 

3.  anastas*   dbe  Avra,anr   to 
pro,i-  .... 

Psalm  xlii. 

1.  on  trop'on  epipothi'  i  el'- 
afos  epi*  tas  pigbas*  ton  idba'ton 
u*tos  epipotbi*  i  psikbi*  mu  pros 
se,  o  tbeos* 


2.  edbip*siseni  psikbi*  mu  pros 
ton  tbeon*    ton    zon-da;    po*te 
iks'o  ke  oftbrsome  to   proso*po 
tu  tbe,u*  ? 

3.  ejeni*tbi    ta    dbak*ria*mu 
emi*  ar'tos  imer*as  ke  niktos* 

Isaiah  ch.  iv. 

1.  ke  epilip*sonde  epta*  jine*- 
kes  antbro'pu  enos*,  legb*use  : 
ton  arton  imon*  fagbom*etba,  ke 


31.  Kal   cTS^y  6  ©cbs  ri  irdvra,  Sffa 
&iroir)<re'  Kal  ISov  Ka\a  \iaV  Kal  eyevcro 
Kal  tywero  irput  wepa  e/CT7j. 


Greek  Text. 

3.  avaaras  8e  'A/Jpoo/*  rb  irput .... 
Psalm  xlii. 


Genesis  Ch.  xxii. 

1.  6    0eby    tirelpaffcv   rbv   'A&paa/j., 
Kal    ejirev    ai>T$'       'AjSpo^,    'Aj8paa/r 
Kal  elirfj/y  I8ov  eydo. 

2.  Kal  elire,  Xafie  rl>v    vl6v  ffov  rbv 
ayaTrrjT^v,  %v  T)ydir-r}<ras,  •r'bv  'IffaaK,  Kal 
vopever)Ti  els  rty  y^v  r^v 

avr^v    6K6?   ets 
ev  TU>V  bp4<av  <av  av  ffoi 


1.  '6v  rp6irov   tiriiro&ti  TJ   eAo^os 
TOES  Trriyas  TUV  vSdruv,  O^TOJS, 

V  tyvxh  /iou  ""P^s  (re,  6  ®e6s' 

2.  eSt\l/f]ff€v   T]   fyvxt   juou   irpbs    rbv 
&ebv  rbv  $vra'  iroVe 

T(£  TTpOCTtioTTCp  TOV  060V  ; 

3'   eyevhQr}  TO  SaKpvd  fj.ov  e/j.ol  apros 
T}fj.epas  Kal  VVKTOS. 

Isaiah  Chap.  IT. 

1.     Kal     eiriX-tyovrai    tirra  yvvaiKes 
avQp&irov    fi/bs,    \eyovffar     rbv    apTov 
<j>ay6fj.e6a)    Kal    TO    //XOTJO   rjfjiuv 


4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


521 


Anglosaxon  Transcription. 
imatia  emon  peribalometha  plen 
to   onoma   su   ce   elite  ef  emas 
afele  ton  onidismon  emon 

2.  te  de  emera   ecinie   empi- 
lampsi   o   theus  en   boile   meta 
doxes  epi  tes  ges  tu  ypsose  ce 
doxase  to  catalipthen  tu  israhel. 

3.  ce   este  to  ypolipthen  en 
sion  ce  to  catalipthen  en  hiru- 
salem  agiy  clethesonte  pantes  y 
engraphentes  is  zoen  en  hirusa- 
lem. 

4.  oti  ecplyni  kirios  ton  rupon 
ton  yion  ce  thygateren  sion  ce 
to  aema  eccathari  ec  messo  auton 
en  pneumati  criseos  ce  en  pneu- 
mati  causeos. 

5.  ce  exi  ce  este  apas  topos 
tu   orus   sion   ce   panta  ta  peri 
cyclo  autes  sciasi  nefele  emeras 
cae   os    capnu    ce    fotos    pyros 
ceomenu   nyctos    pase   te    doxe 
scepasthesete. 

6.  ce   este  is  scian  apo   cau- 
matos  en  scepe  ce  en  apocryfo 
apo  scelerotetos  ce  yetu. 

Isaiah  ch.  v. 

1.  Aso  de  to  agapameno  asma 
to  agapeto  to  ampeloni  mu  Am- 
pelos  egeneto  to  ecapemeno  en 
cerati  en  topo  pioni 


Greek 


7repij8aAoi$|Ue0a* 


rb  oi/Ojita  rb 


2.  rfj    8e   ^uepa   tKeivr)    €TTi\d/j.\^ei   6 
®ebs   ev  jSouAj?  /itera  5o|?js  eirl  rrjs  777$, 
rov  vtyiaaou  Kal  So^dffai  rb  Kara\ei(j)dev 
rov  'Itrpa^A. 

3.  /col  €0"TOi,  rb  viroXtifyQev  ev 
Kal    rb    Kara\fL(p0€v    ev   'l 
aytot  KA.7j0rj(rovTot  Troi'Tes  ol 

ety  fafyv  ev  'lepoutraAifj/i. 

4.  '6n  eKirXvvfl  Kvpios  rbis  pimov  rwv 
vloav   Kal  r5>v  Qvyarepcav  2t<i)i',   Kal   rb 
alfj.a    €/c/ca0apte?     e'/c   fieVou    avruv,    tv 
TrvevfjiaTi  Kpiaews  Kal 


Modern  Greek  Pronunciation. 
ta  ima'tia  imon'  perivalu'metha: 
plin  to  o'noma  to  son  keklis'tho 
ef  imas',  af'ele  ton  onidhismon* 
imon\ 

2.  ti   dhe   imer*a   ekrni  epi- 
lam'psi  o  theos'  en  vuli*  meta' 
dhok'sis  epi*  tis  jis,  tu  ipso'se  ke 
dhoksaa'se     to     katalifthen*    tu 
Isra,il\ 

3.  ke  es'te  to  ipolifthen'    en 
Sion'  ke  to  katalifthen'  en  leru- 
salinr,  a*ji,i  klithi'sonde  pan-des 
i  ghrafen-d.es  is  zoin*  en  Jeru- 
salem. 

4.  o'ti    ekplinr    ki'rios    ton 
ri-pon  ton  ion-  ke   ton  thigha- 
ter'on  Sion',  ke  to  e'ma  ekkath- 
ari,i'  ek  mes'u  afton*,  en  pnev- 
mati  kri'seos  ke  pnevmati  kaf'- 
seos. 

5.  ke  ik'si',  ke  es'te  pas  to'pos 
tu  or  'us  Sion',  ke  pan  'da  ta  peri- 
kikio  aftes*  skia'si  nefel'i  imer*- 
as,  ke  os  kapmr  ke  fotos*  piros* 
keomen'u    niktos',    ke    pa'si  ti 
dhok'si  skepasthi'sete. 

6.  ke  es'te  is  skian'  apo'  kav- 
matos,    ke    en    skep'i,    ke    en 
apokri'fo  apo*  sklirot'itos  ke  ietu*. 

Isaiah  ch.  v. 

1.  a*so  dhi  to  ighapimen'o 
as'ma  tu  aghapitu'  mu  to  ambe- 
lo'ni  mu.  Ambelon*  ejeni'thi  to 
igapimen'o  eq  ge'rati  en  do'po 
pi'oni. 
Text. 

5.  Kal  ^|et,  Kal  ecrrat  iras  rdiros  rov 
&povs    ~2,i(av,    Kal    Travra   ra   trepiKVK\(p 
avrris    ffKida-fi  re^eArj   7}fj.fpas,   Kal  &s 
Kairvov  Kal  (pcorbs  irvpbs  Kaio/j.€vov  VVK- 
rbs,  Kal  Trdar)  rfj  86£r)  crKeiraffd'fja'frai. 

6.  Kal  effrai  els  ffKiav  airb  Kav/j.aros, 
Kal    ev   «r/ce7r7?,    Kal    eV    airoKpiKp^   airb 

Kal  U6TOU. 


Isaiah  Chap.  v. 


TreAcoi/     lywf)6i]     rcj) 
/ceport,  tv  r6ircf  ir'iovi. 


acr/j.a  rov 
(JLCV.     'A/i- 
eV 


522 


ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


Anglosaxon  Transcription. 

2.  ce  fragmon  perietheca  cae 
echaracosa  ce  ephyteusa  ompelon 
sorec  ce  ocodomesa  pyrgon  en 
meso  autu  ce  prolenion  oryxa 
en  auto  ce  emina  tu  pyese  stafy- 
len  epyesen  de  acantas 

MS.  fo.  33,  b. 

1.  T  dipsontes  poreuesthe  ef 
ydor    ce    osy    men    u    cecethe 
argyra°n  badisantes  agorasete  ce 
piete  aneu  argyiiu  COB  timis  ynon 
ce  stear 

2.  inati  timasthe   argyrio   ke 
ton  misthon  ymon  .u.  clii  plis- 
mom'n  acusate  mu  cae  fagesthe 
ta  agatha  ce  tryfisi  en  agathys 
i  psychi  ymon 

3.  prosechete  tys  osin  ymon 
ce  epacoluthisate   tes  odys  mu 
acussate  mu  cae  ziste  en  agathys 
i  psychi  ymon  cae    chathisome 
ymin  diathicin    eonion  ta   osia 
dauid  ta  pista. 

4.  idu  martyrion  auton  dedoca 
ethnesin    archonta    ce    prostas- 
sonta  ethnesin. 

5.  ethni  a  uc  idisan  se  epicale- 
sonte  se  cae  y  las  .y.  uc  epistanto 
se  epi  se  catafeuxonte  enecen  tu 
theu  tu  agiu  israhel  oti  edoxasen 


Greek 

2.  Kal  Qpayfjibv  irepte'07jKo,  Kal 
Kuffa,    leal    tyvTGvtra   &fjure\ov 
Kal   cfKo56/j.f]aa  Trvoyov  eV  jteVy  avrov, 
Kal  irpoXfyiov  &pv£a  eV  ca>T<£,  Kal  e/ueti/a 
rov  TroiT)<rai     <rra(>vAV,    Kal 


Modern  Greek  Pronunciation. 

2.  ke  fraghmon*  perieth'ika 
ke  ekhara'kosa  ke  efrtefsa  am*- 
belon  Sorik*  ke  okodho'misa  pir'- 
ghon  en  mes'o  aftu1  ke  proli'nion 
o'riksa  en  afto',  ke  em'ina  tu 
pi,i*se  stanlin*,  ke  epi'isen  akan*- 


Isaiah  Chap.  1v. 

1.  ol  Sityuvres,   iropfveffOe  e</>'  uScop, 
/col  offoi  p.$i  e^ere  apyvpiov,  fiaSicravres 
ayopdffare,    Kal   (^a-yere  ^fev  apyvpiov 
Kal  np.ris  olvov  Kal  o"reap. 

2.  ivari   n/j.aa6e    apyvptov,   Ka]  rbv 
fiSx^ov    v/j.uv    OVK     fls     irX'^a'p.ov^f ; 
aKoixrare  fj.ov,   Kal  Qdyecrde  ayaOa,  Kal 

l  fv  ay  ad  o? s  TJ  tyvxfy  vfi.S>v. 


Isaiah  ch.  Iv. 

1.  i  dhipson'des,   porevesthe 
ef  i'dhor,  ke  o'si  mi  ekh'ete  ar- 
ji'rion,  vadhi'sandes  aghora-sate, 
ke  fa'jete  an*ev  auiri'u  ke  timis  • 
i'non  ke  ste*ar. 

2.  inati*  timas'the  arjiri'u,  ke 
ton  mokh'thon  imon'  uk  is  plis- 
monin-?   aku*sate*  mu,   ke   fa*- 
jesthe  aghatha*,  ke  endrifrsi  en 
aghathis-  i  psikhi'  imon*. 

3.  prose  "khete  tis  osin'  imon', 
ke  epakoluthi'sate  tes  odhis'mu  : 
isaku*sate*    mu    ke    zi'sete    en 
aghathis'   i  psikhi*    imon*,    ke 
dhiathi'some    imin*    dhiathi'kin 
e,o*nion,    ta   o*sia  Dhavidh*   ta 
pista* 

4.  idhtr  marti'rion  en  eth*ne- 
sin  e*dhoka  afton*  ar*khonda  ke 
prostas'onda  eth'nesin. 

5.  eth*ni   a  uuk  rdhasi*   se 
epikale*sonde*  se,  ke  la,i*   i  uk 
epis*tande*   se  epi*    se  katafef*- 
ksonde  en*eken  Kiri*u  tu  the,u* 
su  tu  aji*u  Isra,il*,  ot'i  edhok*- 
sase*  se. 

Text. 

3.  7rpo(rex6T€   TO?S    wfflv   vpcav,    Kal 
^7roKoAou07j(raTe   ra?s    6So?s    fj.ow     ets- 
aKovffare  (tov,  Kal  fflfffrai   fv   ayaBdis 
*l   fyvxb     vfJL&v,     Kal    SiaB'fja'o/j.ai     vfuv 
Sia8r)Kifjv   al&vioV)    ra    offia   Aavl5    ra 
iriarra. 

4.  t8oi»    fj-aprvpiov    fr  fOveffiv  edwKa 
avrbv,     apxovra      Kal      irpoffrdffffovra 


5.  fBtnt)  a  OVK  offiafft  <re, 
rat  ere,  Kal  \aol  ot  OVK  fTriffTavral  <re 
4irl  <re  Kara^^ovrai,  eVe/cej/  Kvplov 
rov  Qeou  aov  TOV  aylov  'lo-po^A,  on 


§  4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOS AXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


523 


From  these  extracts  we  may  deduce  the  following  table  of  the 
correspondence  of  the  Greek  and  Anglosaxon  letters.  A  third 
column  shews  the  values  now  attributed  to  the  Greek  letters  in 
Athens,  including  some  combinations  which  do  not  occur  in  the 
extracts. 


00 

&  o 

• 

rt 

^s  a 

1 

s* 

11 

1 

It 

|l 

il 

is 

X  a, 

6| 

2 

•3 

H 

rt  g< 

^'o 

*0 

0   0 

II 

j| 

•a 

£ 
o 

11 

s3  a 

o 

0  S 

S 

1! 

a 

a 

a 

TJU 

iv 

^ 

r 

r 

9 

a 

a 

0 

th 

th 

a- 

s  ss 

8 

at 

e  ae 

e 

t 

i 

i 

T 

t 

t 

au 

au  av 

av  af 

H 

c 

k 

rC 

tsh 

0 

b 

v 

A 

1 

1 

U 

y. 

i 

7 
77 
7* 

g  c 

gh  j 

qg  g 

j 

flTT 
V 

m 
mp 
n 

m 
mb  b 
n 

VL 

<pe 

ph  f 
pth 

i 
f 
fth 

nc 

qg 

YT 

nt 

nd  d 

X 

ch 

kh 

7X 

Gkh 

dzh 

cth 

khth 

8 

d 

3h 

r 

X 

ks 

$ 

ps 

ps 

6 

e 

e 

0 

o 

0 

CO 

0 

o 

€( 

i 

i 

01 

y 

i 

V 

0 

0 

€U 

euev 

ev  ef 

ov 

u 

u 

<av 

ovof 

c 

z 

z 

7T 

P  ph 

P 

(') 

h 

- 

i  e 

i 

P 

r 

r 

b 

h 

- 

P 

e 

i 

A 

r 

r 

As  Prof.  Yaletta  pronounced,  a  was  (aa,  a)  or  (aa,  a\  but  there 
was  never  any  rounding  or  labialisation  producing  (ah,  A).  Erom 
this,  however,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  ags.  a  which  transcribes 
a  may  not  have  had  a  labialised  form,  for,  just  as  the  French  a 
was  called  (A)  in  England,  when  it  was  only  (a),  p.  226,  note,  col. 
2,  so  the  Anglosaxons  would  have  transcribed  a  by  a,  even  if  the 
first  said  (a)  and  the  last  (A).  But  we  may  safely  conclude  that 
ags.  long  a  was  not  (00)  or  even  (oo). 

The  uniform  transcription  of  e,  and  almost  uniform  transcription 
of  at,  by  e,  precludes  the  idea  that  ags.  e  was  ever  anything  but 
(ee,  e).  When  ai  was  not  represented  by  e,  which  is  very  rarely, 
it  is  represented  by  ae,  which  must  be  regarded  rather  as  a  Latin 
than  an  ags.  form,  having  then  the  invariable  sound  of  (ee), 
although  the  ags.  ae  itself  is  found  in  c<z  Is.  55,  1.  5.  Thus  /cal 
is  generally  written  ce  but  occasionally  cae  Ps.  42,  2;  and  este 
earai  Is.  4,  3.  5  is  evidently  more  correct  than  estae,  Gen.  1,  29 ; 
so  that  aema  alpa  Is.  4,  4,  should  be  ema. 

The  transcription  of  to  o  by  0,  shews  that  ags.  must  have  been 
(oo,  o)  or  (00,  0).  Prof.  Valetta  pronounced  Greek,  and  indeed 
English,  with  a  clear  (oo,  o),  and  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  of  (00). 
But  just  as  Englishmen  nowadays  report  the  Greek  co  to  be  (00). 
so  the  Anglosaxons  would  of  course  have  used  their  0,  whether  it 
meant  (oo)  or  (00). 

The  uniform  transcription  of  t  by  i  shews  that  ags.  i  was  certainly 


524  ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

(ii,  i)  or  (it  t).  There  are  six  letters  and  combinations  in  modern 
Greek  which,  in  Prof.  Yaletta's  pronunciation,  have  the  sound  of 
(ii,  i),  viz. :  rj  i  v  <=i  01  vi.  Of  these  the  ags.  transcription  gives  t 
for  i  and  ei  uniformly,  with  the  single  error  ie  in  Ps.  42,1  epipothie 
eTTiTToOei.  For  rj  we  find  most  generally  t,  but  in  about  50  in- 
stances e,  not,  however,  uniformly,  thus  against  passes  7rd(77)$  Gen. 
1,  26,  we  find^flsm,  ib.  v.  29 ;  against  ten  gen  rrjv  yfjv  Gen.  22,  2, 
we  may  put  tis  gis,  Gen.  1,  30  ;  against  emeras  rj/uepas  Ps.  42,  3, 
we  have  himera  Gen.  1,  31 ;  against  psyche  TJnrxr}  Ps.  42,  2,  we 
have  psychi,  Is.  55,  2  ;  against  epyesen  eTroirjcrev  Is.  5,  2,  we  have 
epyisen  Gen.  1,  27,  against  m  rffet  Is.  4,  5,  we  have  ixo  rjj;(t> 
Ps.  42,  2,  and  so  on.  Hence  we  cannot  conclude  that  77  was 
sounded  as  (e),  or  e  as  (i),  but  must  consider  that  there  was  some 
confusion  in  the  mind  of  the  scribe,  perhaps  arising  from  the  Latin 
transcriptions  of  17,  with  which  he  was  necessarily  more  familiar. 
The  forms  ecinie  efcelvy  Is.  4,  2,  and  agapameno  fyycvjnjfi&Hp  Is.  5,  1 
are  mere  mistakes.  The  Greek  v  01  are  uniformly  rendered  by  y 
and  vi  by  yi,  mere  clerical  errors  excepted,  as  epyoeisen  eVo^crez/ 
Gen.  1,  27  when  five  words  before  it  was  epyisen ;  and  ecpluni  rupon 
€Kir\vvel  pvTTOv  Is.  4,  4,  between  which  words  stands  kirios 
tcvpios  (having  i  and  not  y  for  v,)  as  if  to  shew  the  error,  while 
psuVche  ^f%>?  Ps.  42,  1,  indicates  an  intention  to  correct  such 
errors.  Now  we  have  reason  to  suppose  that  the  earlier  sounds  of 
v  vi  01  were  (y,  yi,  ui),  and  that  the  degradation  of  y,  yi  into  (i), 
was  similar  to  the  common  upper  German  use  of  (i)  for  (y),  while 
(i)  for  (ui)  is  comparable  to  the  French  frangais  (fraASE)  foifrangois 
(fraAsuE).  At  present  Prof.  Valetta  will  not  admit  any  other  sound 
but  (i)  for  any  one  of  the  three  combinations,  v  w  01,  but  Franz 
asserts  in  his  Modern  Greek  Grammar,1  that  v  vt  01  resemble  French 
U?  which  at  least  shews  a  probability  that  the  Anglosaxon  scribe 
also  recognized  (y)  rather  than  (i)  in  the  combinations  v  vi  ot,  and 
hence  that  the  ags.  y  was,  as  is  generally  suspected,  (y). 

The  Greek  ov  is  the  least  disputed  of  the  Greek  sounds ;  it  re- 
mained for  writers  of  the  xvi  th  century  to  start  the  theory  that 
both  Greek  ov  and  Latin  u  were  (ou),  supra  pp.  150-1.  "We  find 
it  uniformly  represented  by  u,  with  the  exception  of  the  manifest 
error  loile  /3ov\y  Is.  4,  2. 

As-  to  the  transcriptions  au,  eu  for  av,  ev,  it  is  not  easy  to  say 
whether  they  are  to  be  taken  as  Latin  (au,  eu),  or  whether  u  is 

1  Grammatica  Linguae  Graecae  Ee-  minanti  imprimis  hae  tres  77  t  u  sese 
centioris,  Romae  in  Collegio  Urbano,  offerunt,  de  quibus  si  quis  ex  usu  vul- 
1837,  8vo.  pp.  v,  137,  and  tables.   The  gari  judicaverit,  facile  adduci  potest,  ut 
preface  is  signed  Joannes  Franzius,  and  nulhim  in  sono  earum  discrimen  de- 
dated    Romae,    Idibus   Martiis,    1837.  prehendi  arbitretur.     Quanquam  illud 
Franz  was,  I  believe,  a  Bavarian  priest  quidem    negari    non    potest,   quum  77 
who  was  sometimes  at  the  court  of  magis  ex  imo  pronuntietur,  v  ad  sonum 
Otho.  Gallici  u  propius  accedere  ....  ot  ut 

2  "Vocalium  pronuntiationem  exa-  u  (gall.)  Trotos,  vlbs  (pyos,  yos)."  Ib.p.  2. 


§  4,  No.  1.  ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION.  525 

"u  consonant,"  that  is  v,  in  which  case  (av,  ev)  would  agree  with 
the  modern  sounds  except  before  TT,  T,  K. 

These  transcriptions  establish,  therefore,  by  direct  evidence,  that : 
ags.  a  was  one  of  the  sounds  (a,  «,  #h,  A),  and  not  (o,  0). 
ags.  e  was  (e). 

ags.  *  was  one  of  the  sounds  (i,  t),  and  not  a  diphthong  like  (ai) 
ags.  o  was  one  of  the  sounds  (o,  o) 
ags.  u  was  one  of  the  sounds  (u,  «),  and  not  (ou) 
ags.  y  was  probably  (y)  but  may  have  been  (i)  or  (t) 
The  transcription  has  several  foreign  letters  and  combinations  as, 
ae,  z,  th,  x,  ph,  ch,  the  meaning  of  which  is  generally  evident.    The 
only  difficulty  is  ph  when  used  for  TT  \n  phyisomen  irotrf0WfJ£V,  Gen. 
1,  26,  ephyisen  eTrolrjcrev,  v.  27,  where  it  is  explained  by  the  con- 
current form  epyisen  in  the  same  verse.     In  all  other  words  p  only 
is  used.     The  concurrent  form  /  when  ph  represents  <f>  as  in  nefele 
fotos  vecj)e\r)  ^wro?,  Is.  4,  5,  shews  its  value  in  this  case.     Before 
thy  there  seems  to  have  been  the  same  difficulty  of  pronouncing  ph, 
as  at  the  present  day,  where  so  many  say,  as  most  used  to  write 
dipthong  (dzp'thoq),  for  we  find  opthesome  o^Orjaofjiai,  Ps.   42,   2, 
ypolipthen  V7ro\,6t,<j)@ev  Is.    4,   3,   where  the  modern   Greek  says 
(ipolifthen*).     Similarly  ctli  is  used  for  %0  in  icthyon  fyOvow  Gen. 
1,  28.     It  is  rather  remarkable  that  )  was  not  used  for  Q. 

The  consistent  use  of  c  to  transcribe  Greek  K,  to  the  exclusion  of 
k,  shews  that  the  ags.  always  pronounced  c  as  either  (k)  or  (/<;),  the 
distinction,  of  course,  being  unrecognized.  As  b,  g,  d  are  used  for 
@,  7,  8,  no  countenance  is  given  to  the  modern  uses  (bh,  gh,  dh), 
where  (bh)  becomes  (v),  and  (gh)  is  rather  (grh)  or  the  lighter  (r), 
but  before  (i,  e)  falls  into  (</h,  $rh)  or  (j),  the  last  being  the  re- 
cognized sound.  The  character  ¥>  stood  in  readiness  for  8,  but  as 
th  had  been  used  for  0,  dh  would  have  been  the  only  appropriate 
sign  for  8,  and  this  was  not  a  known  symbol.  Perhaps  the  use  of 
]?,  ¥>,  had  begun  to  be  unsettled,  and  this  may  have  prevented  their 
employment  for  6,  S.  The  ags.  g  was  itself  most  probably  often 
(gh)  and  hence  no  better  sign  could  be  devised,  even  if  the  (gh) 
sound  of  7  was  recognized.  The  modern  change  of  TT,  T,  K,  into 
(b,  d,  g),  after  ft,  v,  7,  is  not  acknowledged.  Eut  the  change  of 
7  into  (q)  before  K  in  the  middle  of  a  word  is  acknowledged  as 
prosenencon  aveveyice  Gen.  22,  2. 

The  Greek  aspirate  is  generally  omitted,  but  an  h  is  occasionally 
inserted  where  there  is  none  in  the  original,  especial  to  avoid  an 
hiatus  as  proJii  Trpcot,  Gen.  1,  31,  israJiel  'I<Tparj\,  Is.  55,  5,  and 
this  is  occasionally  strengthened  in  ch  as  halracham  'A^adp. 

The  principal  gain,  then,  of  this  transliteration  is  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Anglosaxon  simple  vowel  system  within  certain  limits  ; 
nothing  is  gained  for  the  double  vowels  ea,  eo.  On  the  whole,  the 
results  are  confirmatory  of  those  arrived  at  by  the  totally  different 
process  of  gradual  ascension  from  the  English  of  the  xrv  th,  xin  th, 
and  xn  th  centuries. 


526 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


"We  have  assumed  as  well  known  that  the  pronunciation  of  Greek 
in  the  x  th  century  at  Byzantium  was  practically  the  same  as  that 
now  in  use  at  Athens.1  The  proofs  of  this  are  to  be  sought  in  the 
hieroglyphical  transcription  of  the  names  and  titles  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Pharaohs,  as  collected  in  Lepsius's  Konigsbuch,  in 
the  Septuagint  and  the  New  Testament  transcription  of  Hebrew 
words,  and  in  the  New  Testament  transcription  of  Latin  names,  in  the 
Syriac  vowel  points,  in  the  transcription  of  Latin  names  by  Polybius 
and  other  Greek  writers,  in  the  numerous  errors  of  the  old  Christian 
and  other  inscriptions,  and,  among  other  sources,  in  the  writing  of 
Latin  words  in  Greek  letters  in  the  vi  th  and  vn  th  centuries,  by 
certain  Greeks  at  Ravenna,  who  had  to  attest  certain  Latin  documents 
which  still  exist,  and  have  been  published  by  Marini.2  As  a  com- 
panion to  the  above  transcription  of  Greek  into  Anglosaxon  characters, 
a  few  of  these  attempts  by  Greeks  to  write  Latin  in  Greek  characters 
will  be  interesting,  and,  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  they  were  writing  an 
unknown  language  from  dictation  and  would  be  therefore  likely  to 
commit  as  many  errors  of  audition  and  pronunciation  as  a  decidedly 
provincial  Frenchman,  ignorant  of  English,  who  attempted  to  write 
English  from  dictation  in  his  own  characters,  we  shall  see  that  the 
key  to  his  meaning  is  to  be  found  in  the  modern  pronunciation  of 
Greek.  The  Latin  interpretation  here  annexed  has  been  deduced 
from  corresponding  Latin  attestations  in  the  same  documents.  The 
Latin  letters  u,  n,  d,  indicate  some  peculiar  forms  of  v,  v,  8,  and  h 
is  sojnetimes  Latin  H,  and  sometimes  a  peculiar  form  of  rj.  The 
transcript  of  Marini  is  not  always  trustworthy,  and  in  a  few 

vincial  speakers  among  the  highest  of 
the  realm,  the  general  importance  of 
secondary  cities,  and  other  causes, 
readily  suggest  themselves  to  account 
for  the  numerous  changes  which  have 
prevailed.  If  we  examined  the  Greek 
dialects  at  present  for  variety  of  pro- 
nunciation, we  should  prohably  obtain 
a  large  amount  of  information,  impor- 
tant in  its  bearings  even  upon  ancient 
Greek  usages.  The  modern  system  of 
education  however,  which  aims  at  uni- 
formity of  pronunciation  and  a  recur- 
rence to  ancient  idiom,  only  the  ancient 
Greek  Grammar  being  taught  in  schools, 
may  soon  efface  these  records  of  the 
past.  In  the  disturbed  state  of  Greece, 
from  the  death  of  Alexander  B.C.  323 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Greek 
empire,  A.D.  395,  took  place  most  pro- 
bably those  changes  which  separate  the 
modern  from  the  ancient  system. 


i  "Why  Greek  alters  not  in  fourteen 
centuries,  and  English  must  needs  alter 
in  four,  is  queer,"  wrote  a  friend  in 
reply  to  an  observation  of  mine  on  the 
pronunciation  of  Greek  at  the  time  of 
Ulfilas.  Of  course  there  must  have 
been  reasons  for  the  preservation  of 
any  pronunciation  for  so  long  a  time. 
Greece  was  a  very  small  country,  but 
it  had  numerous  dialects,  and  by  ne- 
glecting these  we  reduce  the  country 
almost  to  one  city,  Byzantium,  the  seat 
of  the  Greek  empire,  and  of  Greek 
learning  and  literature,  till  quite  recent 
times.  The  pronunciation  we  have  to 
deal  with  is  therefore  that  of  an  undis- 
turbed court  and  literary  dialect,  in 
which  we  should  naturally  expect  the 
utmost  uniformity  to  prevail,  while  as 
it  gave  the  character  to  all  Greek  lite- 
rature, it  became  the  norm  for  all 
"correct"  speakers.  England  offers 
the  utmost  contrast  to  this  state  of 
things,  and  the  violent  succussions  of 
two  civil  wars,  the  forcing  of  a  peasant 
into  a  court  dialect,  the  adoption  of  a 
whole  vocabulary  from  a  foreign  tongue, 
the  parliamentary  introduction  of  pro- 


2  I  papiri  diplomatic!  raccolti  ed 
illustrati  dall'  abate  Gaetano  Marini, 
primo  custode  della  Bibl.  Vatic,  e  pre- 
fetto  degli  archivi  secreti  della  Santa 
Sede.  In  Roma  1805,  fol. 


§  4,  No.  1, 


ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


527 


instances  it  has  been  corrected  by  his  facsimiles,  but  the  passages 
ought  to  be  carefully  re-edited  from  the  original  documents.  The 
numbers  and  pages  refer  to  Marini's  book,  and  the  numbers  in 
(  )  to  the  lines  of  the  document.  The  Latin  contractions  have  not 
been  extended,  and  Marini  is  not  always  clear  as  to  their  meaning. 

"No.  75,  p.  116.     Rome,  in  the  Yatican. 

Attestation  to  a  will  A.D.  575,  by  which  certain  property  was 
left  to  the  Church  at  Ravenna.  The  numbers  are  those  of  the  lines. 
Corrected  by  facsimile,  plate  V. 

(24)  Petrhs  vh  Collectarius  huic  testa- 
mentum  rogatus  a  Mannane  (25)  vd 
testarore  filio  qd.  Nanderit  ipso  prae- 
sente  et  subscribente  .(26)  adque  ei  tes- 
tamento  relictum  per  quod  constituit 


(24).  ITerpos  vh.    KoXeKrapuas   ovei 
ri\(rrafJLt]VTUiv    poyaros  a  Mavvavij  .  .  . 

NopSeprj  rj^ov  Trp^ffevrr]  er  ffovffKpivevTi) 

(26)  ....    et    r^ffra/JLevTW    prjAe/cro*' 
irep  KOV  Kovserover  epr/Se  cravra  T}K\iffia 

(27)  .  .  .  .  KOL  Pavevvarrj  TTJSTJS 


heredem  santam  ecclesiam  (27)  catho- 
licam  Ravennatem  testis  subscripsi. 


No.  90,  p.  139.     In  Bologna,  Museo  dell'  Institute. 
Deed  of  Gift  to  the  Church  at  Ravenna,  vi  th  or  vn  th  century. 
Corrected  by  facsimile,  plate  XII. 

(38)  Marinus  Chrysokatalactis  huic 
chartulae  usufructuaries  (39)  donationis 
sstarum  sex  unciarum  principalium  in 
integro.  super  (40)  nominates  totius 
substantiae  mubilae  et  immubilae  seseque 
(41)  moventibus  sicut  superius  legitur 
facta  in  sstam  (42)  sanctam  Ravennatae 
Ecclesiee  a  Johanne  vc.  Expatario  qd, 
(43)  Georgio  Magistro  Militum  et  nunc 
Primicirius  Numeri  felicum  (44)  qd. 
Theodosiakus  ssto  donatore  qui  mi 
presente  (45)  signum  sanctee  Crucis 
fecit  et  coram  nobis  ei  relicta  est  (46) 
rogatus  ab  eodem  testis  subscripsi  et  de 
conservandis  (47)  omnibus  (?)  omnibus 
quae  superius  superscripta  (?)  le- 
guntur  ad  (48)  sancta  evangelia  cor- 
poraliter  mei  presentia  [praebuit  sacra- 
menta  et  hanc  donationem]  (49)  ab  hoc 
prenominatae  sanctas  Ravennatss  Ec- 
clesiae  traditam  [vidi]. 

No.  92,  p.  142.     Rome,  in  the  Yatican. 

Deed  of  Gift,  vith  or  vnth  century.     Corrected  by  facsimile, 
plate  XIII ;  line  19  is  scarcely  legible,  and  the  whole  is  very  obscure. 


(38)  Mapinos  xpixrw/caTaAafCTts  oveiK 
Xaprov\e  ovcrovQoprv  .  .  .  (39)  naTiwni? 
ssrapovfji.  <rf|  ovnKeapov/j.  irpiKiirapio) 
mnnp  .  .  .  (40)  no^tnare  TCDTIOVS  crovs- 
rarie  /j.oviie\€  er  in/j.(i)U\e  s  .  .  .  (41) 
fjuafjLetnriuovs  ffiyKov/A  aovirepiovs  \eyi- 
rop  (paKra  ....  (42)  so/era  Pauevvare 
EKAterte  a  Iwanne  UK  EtsTrorap  .  .  .  (43) 
Teopyi  MafiffTpo  MtAtT  . .  p.  er  nonov 
HpifjiiKipiovs  J\ov/j. .  .  .  (44)  Kovfj.  0  ... 
....  K  .  .  .  .  Scavarovpe  KOI  /it  irpeffc 
.  .  .  (45)  nov  saKn  Kpo/cts  <piKer  . .  T 
ncapa  nous  ei  pi\iKra  .  .  .  (46)  ros  au 
eoSefi  resris  sovsKpityi  er  Se  Ko(j.ffip  .  .  . 
(47)  niuovs  o)fji.im(ovs  Ke  sovirepiovs 
svKKpira  \eyovn  .  .  .  (48)  so/era  evua- 
•yeAAta  Kopiroppa\iTep  fieei  irpesevri .  .  . 
(49)  .  .  .  u  OVK  irepnonenare  sa/cre 
Pauennare  ewAtste  rpa  .  . 


17)  (pn  seQanos  i\\ovspios 

18)  ev  Kifiirare  NeaTroAtrcw'ae  OIK 


rouAe    a  die  irpfo~evTt    dona  .... 
de  ffotrpa  tcr/cptTrra  o/twta  e»/iOj8tAto 


20 

21 

(22    irpedia  KVI  ffovnr  reppiropio  A.yov 
(23)[Bm]o  ou)8t  ou)8t  ffeov  enrpo  Kifiirare 

(24)  [o"e]oi/  (popi  Kifiirare  tovpis  /J.ei  a  fj.e 

(25)  (paKre  en  ffariKra  eKKXeffia  Pafien 

(26)  nare  ad  ofinia  ffoirpaiffxpiTrra  pe 

(27)  Ae^t  Kono~eno~i  er  ffouffKpi^i  er  reses 

(28)  KVI  ffovffKpifieptj/T  poyafii. 


(17)  Fn  Stephanos  illustrius  conma- 
nens  (18)  in  civitate  Neapolitanae  huic 

(20)  cartulae  a  die  praesentis  donationis 

(21)  de  supra  inscripta  omnia  inmobilia 
22)  praedia  quae  sunt  territorio  Agu- 
23)bmo  ubi  ubi    seu  intro    civitate 

24)  seu  foris  civitate,  juris  mei  a  me 

25)  facte    en   sancta  ecclesia  Raven 

26)  nate  ad  omnia  suprainscripta  re- 
27)legi  consensi  et  subscripsi  et  testes 
28)  qui  subscriberent  rogavi. 


528 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


No.  110,  p.  169.     Bergamo,    in  the   possession   of  the   Marchesa 

Antonia  Solzi  Suardi. 

Deed  of  Gift.    Supposed  to  be  of  the  vi  th  century.    No  facsimile. 
(9)  .  .  ,  .    (TIT.   out   ovffotypUKTvapiai          (9)  .  .  .  sp.  huic    usufructuarise   do- 

Kaprov\cu nationis  cartulae  ssti  hortus  in  integro 

(11)  e0  irtirei  qui  est  in  pergulis  exornatus  cum  usu 
cortis  (11)  et  putei  adque  ingresso  et 
egresso  nee  non  et  (12)  pariete  vel  om- 
nibus ad  eundem  pertinentibus.  (13) 
sicut  sp.  legitur  facta  a  sp.  Gaudioso 
reverentis(14)simo  defensore  sanctae 
ecclesise  RavennataB  dona(15)tori  in  sp. 
Eavennatem  eccles.  qui  me  (16)  pre- 
bis  ei  re- 


ivypeffo  eQ  eypeao  vey  vov  .  .  .  . 
(12) .  .  .  piere  a,  irXarea  ueA.  ojj.vip.ovs  ad 
eode/j.  Trepreve  ...  (13)  ...  ffiKoQ  air. 
\eyirop  (pctKTa  a  a"n.  yavditiffo  pev  .  .  . 
(14)  ...  ^0  de<pev<rope  aavre  e/c/cAe<ncu 
pa.vsvva.Te  ...  (15)  ...  iv  o~ir.  pavevva- 

refj.  €KK\eO~  K  fJ.  .   .   .  (16)  .   .   .  e  ffttffpltylQ 

eQ  Kopav  v  ...  is  ai  peXiKra.  eerr  .  .  . 
(17)  ...  ovff  a  GIT.  yavQitf<ro  reffres 
ffWffKpi'fyi  ed  avK  ...  (18)  ...  Ao/w 
iroffiTO,  (TovTrep  GavTa.  fvayyeXiu  O,KT£IO 
...  (19)  ...  pftyare  €KK\€ffiai  a  fMefj-oparo 
yav&ocro  ffovK  .  .  .  (20)  .  .  .  vpavdop. 
Tpadera/Ji.  vidi. 


sente  subscripsit  et  coram  no! 
licta  est  (17)  rogatus  a  sp.  Gaudioso 
testis  subscripsi  et  hanc  (18)  cartu- 
lam  positam  super  sancta  evangelia 
actionariis  (19)  prefate  Ecclesiae  a 
memorato  Gaudioso  sub  (20)  jusjuran- 
dum  traditam  vidi. 


No.  114,  p.  172.     Rome,  in  the  Yatican. 
Deed  of  Sale,     vi  th  century.     No  facsimile. 

(92)  Itf\ianos  uh.  Apyenrapios  eis 
eKTrpwp-enris  uiyevrai  Myepou  (93) 
tyondei  KonitiapdiaKOS  puyaros  a  6op- 
fti\ionai  o<p.  fj-arpe  (94)  eT  aft  eioffKoi 
<pi\ieis  dopneita  ofy.  er  devrepio  uh.  o~ff 
...  (95)  ...  indiTcapeuos  enrffis  Trpeo~enTe- 
fiovs  reo-Tis  ffoffKp  ...  (96)  fyi  er  ffff. 
irperio  avpi  (ro\edos  Kenrov  deitet  eteis 
ev  irp  ...  (97)  enria  rpaderos  Uidi. 

No.  122,  p.  187.     Eome,  in  the  Yatican. 
Deed  of  Sale.     A.D.  591.    No  facsimile. 

(78)  UaKfKpiKos  Bh  .  eis  esoppenns 
ffei-  en  inrpiypo  ovnueiapov/j.  <povnSi 
TeneKeiani  (79)  autor  o~ovire  picas 
\eyirop  poyaros  a  o'er.  "PovsiKeiana  h<p. 
uenderpiKai  6touo-(80)/cae  iovya\h 
Keirane  ~Bd  avrovpe  ed 
(peduovcro'ovpe  Koe  (81)  jue 
ffiytia  (pfiKaepov/ji.  ed  eeis  peXiuro  eff 
resris  crovaKpi^i  (82)  er  ffovirpaeo~Kpnrro 
irpeKeua  avpi  o~o\idos  ueienri  KUvrovp 
eeis  en  Trpe(83)o-mria  laoanne  BET. 
Komraparupe  arno/j.iparos  er  rpadiros 
tteidi. 


(92)  Julianus  vh.  Argentarius  his 
instruments  viginti  jugerum  (93)  fundi 
Concordiacus  rogatus  a  Thulgilone  hf. 
matre  (94)  et  ab  ejusque  filiis  Domnica 
hf.  et  Deuterio  vh.  sstis  (95)  vendi- 
toribus  ipsis  prsesentibus  testis  subscri- 
(96)psi  et  ss.  pretium  auri  solidos  cen- 
tum decem  eis  in  pra3s(97)entia  traditos 
vidi. 


(78)  Pacificus  vh.  his  instrumentis 
sex  in  integro  unciarum  fundi  Gene- 
ciani  (79)  sicut  superius  legitur  rogatus 
a  ssta.  Rusticiana  hf.  venditrice  ejus- 
(80)que  jugale  Tzitane  vd.  autore  et 
spontaneo  fidejussure  qui  (81)  me 
prsesente  signa  fecerunt  et  eis  relictum 
est  testis  subscripsi  (82)  et  suprascrip- 
tum  precium  auri  solidos  viginti  qua- 
tuor  eis  in  pra3(83)sentia  lohanne  vc. 
comparatore  adnumeratos  et  traditos 
vidi. 


The  Latin  A  is  here  uniformly  represented  by  a.  But  E,  though 
generally  e,  is  often  77,  and  very  rarely  i,  indicating  not  so  much 
a  wavering  pronunciation  of  e,  77,  t,  as  an  uncertain  appreciation 
of  the  sound  of  the  Latin  e,  confirmed  by  modern  Italian  usage.  I 
is  regularly  i,  but  not  unfrequently  et ;  in  uvyevrai,  viginti  (No. 
114,  line  92),  if  the  transcription  is  to  be  trusted,  £,  e,  at,  all  occur 
for «",  and  e  is  also  found  occasionally,  compare  ueiemi  (No.  122, 


§  4,  No.  1.  ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION.  529 

line  82) ;  this  again  must  be  attributed  to  mishearing  of  the  Latin. 

0  is  o,  o>,  and  rarely  ov,  for  similar  reasons.     U  is  regularly  ov, 
occasionally  o,  v  in  the  words,  KOI,  tcvi,  for  qui,  and  rarely  a.     I 
have  already  recorded  my  opinion  that  the  original  sound  of  Greek 

01  was  (ui),  and  Latin  oe  (ue),  see  Trans.  Phil.  Soc.  1867,  supp.  p.  65. 
Probably  a6KOiai  =  atque  (No.  110,  line  11)  is  Marini's  misprint  for 
aO/covai,.     AE  is  generally  e,  occasionally  at.     ATI  is  represented 
by  av  in  avpi  =  auri,  No.  122,  line  82,  but  it  is  still  possible  that 
the  Greek  said  (ablrri),  as  I  heard  a  guide  at  Pompeii  call  centauro 
(tshentabh-ro),  and  compare  Pavevvarif]=Ravennatem.  The  Greek  a, 
OL  are  written  occasionally  for  et,  ol-  compare  et?,  eet?  =  eis,  oveiic  OIK 
=huic.    Among  the  consonants  ft  is  used  for  Latin  v  =(bh)  ?,  and  b, 
but  Latin  b  is  also  represented  by  u  a  special  form  of  v ;  7  is  used 
for  g  which,  however,  occasionally  falls  into  i ;  S  is  rather  avoided, 
or  receives  a  special  form  d  for  Latin  d ;  f  only  occurs  in  one  of  the 
attempts  <yavfyoao  to  spell  Gaudioso,   and  in  a/er£to,  dovarfyoves 
for  actio  donationes,  which  seem  to  indicate  its  present  use  in  rf,  z/rf 
=  (tsh,  dzh),  but  observe  the  pure  t  in  Trpeaivria  =  prcesentia\  0  is 
only  used  as  a  mispronunciation  of  t ;  K  universally  represents  c, 
indicating  that  the  Latin  letter  had  preserved  its  sound  down  to 
this  period  in  Italy,  as  indeed  the  ags.  use  of  c  is  sufficient  to  prove ; 
X  =  I-  yu,  =  m,  but  the  m  is  often  quite  dropped  when  final,  indi- 
cating the  transition  to  the  modern  Italian  -o,  -a,  from  -urn,  -am,  the 
accusative  forms  ;  v  =  n,  but  n  and  m  are  much  confused ;  £  =  x, 
TT  =  p^  p  =  r,  cr  =  s,  r  =  t,  (j>  =  f,  %  does  not  occur,  ty  =  ps  as  in 
rj^rov  =  ipso,  crovaKpi^ri,  =  subscripsi,   but  et7r<7t9  =  ipsis,  is  also 
found.     The  use  of  aavra  =  sancta,  seems  to  indicate  a  transition 
to  the  modern  Italian  santa,  although  era/era,  (ran/era  also  occur, 
and  the  combinations  77,  7/e  are  not  found. 

The  extremely  recent  date  of  the  present  pronunciation  of  Greek 
in  England  is  not  generally  appreciated.  In  1554  the  present 
modern  Greek  pronunciation  was  regularly  taught.1  Sir  Thomas 

1  See:  Institutiones  Lingvse Grsecse ;  grec,  je  1'ay  entendu.     Et  comment? 

N.   Clenardo    Authore    cum    Scholijs  as  tu  demeure  en  Grece  ?"     The  Greek 

P.  Antesignani  Rapistagnesis,  Lugduni,  is  thus  restored  in  the  edition  of  the 

1554,  in  which  the  only  pronunciation  (Euvres  de  Rahelais  par  Esmangart  et 

taught  is  that  now  usual  at  Athens.  'Eloi  Johanneau   (Paris,  1823,  9  vols. 

Compare  also  the  passage  in  Rabelais  8vo.)  vol.  3,  p.  296.      Ae'<nroTa  roivvv 

— La  vie  de  Garagantua  et  de  Panta-  iravayaQt,  8ia  rl  <rv  p.oi  OVK  dpro5oTe?y  ; 

gruel.     Book  ii,  chap.  ix.   (first   edn.  opots     yap     \I/JL$     a.vaXi(rK6p.evov    e/ie 

1535),       "  Dont  dist  le   compaignon :  &0\iov,  «a-  4v  T$  yuera|u  p.e  OVK  eAee?s 

"  Despota  tinyn  panagathe  diati  sy  mi  ou5o/tcDs-  forels  8e  Trap'  €/j.ov  a  ov  xpt- 

ouk  artodotis  ?  horas  gar  limo  analis-  Kal  '6/j.us  $1X0X6701  irdvrfs  6fj.oXoyovo-i 

comenon  erne  athlion,  ke  en  to  metaxy  r6re    \6yovs   re   Kal   p^ora   Treptrro 

me   ouk   eleis    oudamos,    zetis  de   par  virdpx*iv    OTT^TC     irpa.y/j.a     avrb    Tratrt 

emou  ha  ou  chre.     Ke  homos  philologi  S-n\6v    fcrnv.       "F,v6a    yap   avayKatot 

pantes  homologousi  tote  logons  te  ke  {J.OVQV  Xoyoi   eto-}j>,    'li/a   TTpdy/j.ara,    S>v 

remata  peritta  hyparchin,  opote  pragma  irepi  djU^to-jSTjTOjO/uei/,  ^  irpo(r4>6pa>s  eVt- 

afto  pasi  delon  esti.     Entha  gar  anan-  (paivrjTai.     Observe  the  retention  of  e 

kei    monon   logi  isin,   hina  pragmata  for  i\ ;  dialectically  aCSepov  Bepiov,  etc., 

(hon  peri  amphishetoumen),  me  pros-  are  still  found  for  o-iSypov  Qi}piov,  etc., 

phoros  epiphente."      Quoy?  dist  Car-  in  Modern  Greek, 

palim  lacquays    de  Pantagruel,    c'est  34 


530 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


Smith's  theories  were  quite  heretical  in  1568,  see  supra,  p.  35, 
note  1,  and  he  called  a,  e,  97,  i,,  o,  co,  v,  at,  ei,  av,  ev,  ov,  vi  (aa  a, 
e,  ee,  ei  *,  o,  oo,  yy,  ai,  ei,  au,  eu,  ou,  wei),  entirely  ignoring  the 
long  sound  of  (ii)  both  in  Latin  and  Greek.  In  the  xvn  th  century 
a,  i,  v,  ei,  av,  ev,  ov,  became  (sea3  a3,  ai  «',  iu,  ai,  AA,  iu,  au),  in 
the  xvinth  a,  77,  became  (ee,  ii),  and  thus  in  one  letter,  77,  the 
former  pronunciation  was  restored.  The  extraordinary  mispronun- 
ciation of  Latin  and  Greek  now  prevalent  in  England,  results  from 
the  application  of  our  own  changeable  pronunciation  to  the  fixed 
pronunciation  of  dead  languages,  and  from  the  historical  ignorance 
which  assumes  that  a  language  may  have  only  one  pronunciation 
through  the  generations  for  which  it  lasts.  "We  may  never  be  able 
to  recover  the  pronunciation,  or  appreciate  the  quantitative  rhythm 
of  the  Athenian  tragedians  or  of  the  Homeric  rhapsodists,  but  we 
can  read  as  Plutarch  and  as  Lucian,  and  we  should  be  satisfied  with 
that  privilege,  remembering  that  if  we  pronounced  these  later 
authors  otherwise  than  as  the  modern  Greeks,  we  should  certainly 
pronounce  wrongly.  It  would  indeed  be  just  as  absurd  to  read 
Lucian  with  the  pronunciation  of  Aristophanes,  as  to  read  Tenny- 
son with  the  pronunciation  of  Chaucer.1 


1  The  following  is  Koparj  's  eloquent 
apology  for  the  modern  Greek  pronun- 
ciation in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of 
Isocrates,  Paris,  1807.  No  one  who 
is  acquainted  with  ancient  Greek  will 
have  any  difficulty  in  reading  it,  and 
the  English  pronunciation  of  Greek  is 
so  mixed  up  with  the  history  of  our 
own  pronunciation,  that  it  is  not  out 
of  place  to  give  it  here  at  length  :  — 
~2<»>£ovTai  iroXXoTaTai  eiriypatpal  ira- 
Aaial,  TWV  diroicav  f]  /ca/c^j  ypa^  airo- 


exvei,  n  TUV  fft]v.epivcav 
TTJS  'EAA.7JI/IK7JS  •y\(affo"t)s  rj  irpotyopa  elvai 
i)  avT^i  Kai  T]  TrpoQopa,  fjns  $TOV  els 
Xp^o~iv  Kara  robs  Kaurapucovs,  Kal  taus 
avoir  e  pa  /car'  avrovs  TOVS  TlTO\€fj.aiKovs 
Xpdvovs,  tfyovv  KOT'  eKeivyv  o\riv  T))V 
irepioSov  TOV  \povov,  eis  T^V  oiroiav 
f(jt}<ra.v  KaQetfjs  6  IIoAwjStos,  o  'AAt/capj/  • 
affffevs  Aiovixrios,  6  2»/ceAtwTTjs  Ai6- 
Scapos,  6  *2,Tpd.$<av,  Kal  &v  €\dca/ji.fv 
jue'xpt  TTJS  Sevrepas  airb 
l/cctTOj/TaeTTjp^Soy,  ALOW  6 
Xpvff6<TTOiJ.os,  6  U\oiiTapxos,  6  'Appia- 
vbs,  6  Tlavffavias,  6  Aou/ctaj/bs,  6  FaATj- 
rbs,  2e|Tos  o  'EfjnrttpiKbs,  /cat  #AAoi 
TroAAoi  a£i6\o'yoi  <rvy'ypa<{>e'is.  "  'Eav 
fyai  fidpfiapos  y  (TTj/zeptv^  -rjfj.S>v  irpo- 
i  o%'  ^fteTs  ol  atnoi 
>s,  "  €/j.iropov/j.ev  va 
a.TTOKpiv<ajJ.tv  Trpos  TOVS  Karyyopovs,  Kal 
va  TOVS  7rapa/caAeVa>/u,ei/  va  vTro<pfp(ao~tv 
/ie  fj.aKpodvp.iav  va  irpo^epu^v  Kal 


^/ie?s,  us  eirpoQfpav  fKelvoi. 
fjid\iffTa  f)  KaT-rjyopia  els  TOV  " 
fj.bv,  tfyovv  T)JV  e£avdyKT)s  ffv^aivov- 
ffav  TOV  avTov  tfxov  TOV  'I&JTa  ffvyyfy 
tiravaXytyiv,  bir&Tav  Kal  al  8i<pdoyyoi 
EI  Kal  Ol  irpocpepoovTai  &s  avT6.  'ApQi- 
)8oAto  Sei/  elvai  OTI  f)  ffvx^  TUV  avrcav 
(TTOixeiuv  eTravd\v)\i/is  elvai  (pvaiKa 
OTjS^s-  aAA'  o^t  Sta  TOVTO  irpeirei  TIS 
iravTOTe  va  T^V  aTroQevyy  /j.e  irepiepyiav 
$eio-i8ai/j.ova,  OTO.V  yuciAto-ra  Sev  -f\va.i 
a  TO  eiravaAaiJ.ftav6fj.eva  <TTOI- 
Uapa5eiyfj.aTOs  X^PIV  et>?  ^v 
TOVTOV  TOV  'Ou.-f]pov  ('lAtoS.  E. 
222). 

Ofoi      Tpda'ioi      'linroi,       eiriffTdfievoi 

treSioio, 

evpiffKeTai.  e|ct/cts  f)  $i(f>6oyyos  Ol.  M' 
'6\ov  TOVTO  Sev  PXeirco  Sia  iroiais  aiTiav 
irpo(pep6/j.evos  Kara  T^J/  irpotyopav  TUV 
TpaiKuv, 

It  Tp&ii  c/7T7Ti,  eiriffTa/Aevi  ire^lio 
tfQeXev  et<j6ai  els  T^V  aKoriv  ar)§effTepos 
irapa  Trpo<f:ep6fJ.evos,    CDS  TOV  irpo(pepovo~i 
TroAAol  airb  TOVS  aX\oyeve"is  Evpwiraiovs. 

o'io'i  Tpcoi'ot  '/TTTToi'  eTno~Ta/j.evoi  ireSio'io 
Se'lros  o  'Efj.ireipiKbs  6vofj.d£ei  Kadapa 
TO.S  Si([)66yyovs  Tavras  (TToixe'ia,  tfyovv 
Tas  (TTOxdCeTai  ws  a?rAa  ypap.u.aTa  els 
rV  Trpo<popdv.  [In  a  footnote  the 
author  says  that  Sextus  lived  A.D.  190, 
and  cites  a  long  passage  from  his  Upbs 
Tpafj.fj.aT IK.  Ketp.  e,  §  117,  (re A.  241, 
beginning :  'Eirel  ovv  6  TOV  AI  Kal  EI 


4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOSAXON   PRONUNCIATION. 


531 


After  thus  establishing  the  value  of  these  transcriptions  of  the 
Septuagint  into  Anglosaxon  characters  for  indicating  the  precise) 
signification  of  the  Anglosaxon  vowels  in  the  x  th  century,  it  may 
seem  superfluous  to  cite  Norman  traditions  in  the  xn  th  and  xm  th, 
were  there  not  always  a  certain  amount  of  satisfaction  in  cumula- 
tive evidence.  In  Wace's  Eoman  de  E'ou,  which  unfortunately 
exists  only  in  later  transcripts,  and  whose  author  probably  always 
pronounced  the  despised  Saxon  most  vilely,  and  certainly  spelled  it 
abominably,  we  find  the  following  indications.  Describing  the 
conduct  of  the  Saxons  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Hastings,  he 


Mult  les  veissiez  demener  E  laticome  e  drincheheil. 

Treper  e  saillir  e  chanter  Drinc  Hlndrewart  e  Drintome 

Bufler  e  crier  welseil  Drinc  Helfe  drinc  Tome.     v.  12471-6 

which  may  perhaps  be  rendered:  "You  might  see  them  much 

sporting,   gamboling,   leaping,    singing,   joking,1  and  crying    Wees 

"had,  and  Lat  hit  cuman,  and  Drinc  heel,   Drinc  Hindweard,  and 

Drinc  to  me,  Drinc  healf  and  Drink  to  me"     In  this  Wees  heel  and 

Drinc  heel  are  well  known,  and  we  must  not  be  surprised  at  finding 

Norman  ei  for  ags.  a,  a  strange  sound,  when  Orrmin  shews  leggtenn 

for  ags.  leatan  (supra  p.  489).  Drink  to  me,  remains  in  our  language. 

QQo'yyos  atrXovs  eVrt  /cat  fj.ovoeiS^s, 
earai  Kal  ravra  (TTor^eTa,  and  proceed- 
ing very  distinctly  to  shew  that  by  this 
expression  he  excluded  the  conception 
of  diphthongs.]  Kal  Uv  rovro  5ei/ 
aTTo^etxvr)  '6n  els  robs  XPQVOVS  rov 
2e|Tou  f]  irpocpopa  8e»/  %ro  <p6ap/j.evr], 
iKavbv  elvai  va  deity,  on  els  rovs  XPOVOVS 
rov  Sev  vTrwirrevero  /capeU,  ori  of 
oXlyas  eKarovraervipio'as  Trpoyeveo~repoi 
elxav  irpo(popav  Sid(popov.  MTJT*  e£evp<a, 
fM7]re  va  /J.d6(a  /j.e  /j.eXet,  irces  eirp6(pepev 
o  IffOKparys,  6  HXarcav,  o  Afjfj.oo'devTjs, 
Kal  offoi  aXXoi  tfK[Mao~av  els  avrty  rys 
yXuxro'ifjs  rqv  aKfjL'fjv  Kal,  orav  virepa- 
(Tirifa  rfyv  ffyfAepivfyv  Trpo<popav,  8ev 
on 


va  eavveft?)  Kal  els  r}]v  '] 
avfj-ftaivei  els  oXa  ra>v  avdpcairwv  ra 
Kal  iroii]fj.ara.  TOUTO  fj.6vov  aSiff- 
iriffrevca  on  Uv  f)  Trpoipopa  TT/S 
y/^wacrr]S  f)AAotc^0i7,  va  r^\v  airoKara- 
ffr^ari  els  r^v  apxaiav  avrr\s  fyvo~iv  5ev 
elvai  KaXbs  irapa  p.6voi  ol  OTTO'IOI 
eXaXovv  Kal  rfyv  eypa<pov 
avrwv  yXwo-o~av.  "E&s  va 
e/cetz/ot,  Kal  els  ^ua?  cr^/A^r,,/w^v^ 
elvai  va  irpo^epcafj-ev,  CDS  r^v  eTrp6(pepev 
6  jSapjSapos  Se'lros,  6  aypd/jL/jLaros  UXov- 
rapxos,  6  a/j.ade<rraros  FaArji/bs,  Kal  oi 
aXXoyevels  'EAATji'io'Tal  <piXoo"0(pd!irepov 
tfQeXav  7rpa|et,  av  eTrefj,Trov  Kal  rty  irpo- 
(popav  rov  'Epacr^uou  OTTOV  eire/j-Trov  iroX- 


fls  TV  avayevvfiffiv  rrjs  'EAAciSos, 
OTr6rav  /me  rfyv  6/j.o(pcaviav  TTJS  irpo^opas, 
Kal  rty  aSidKoirov  vapddeo~iv  rrjs 
TraXaias  fj.e  r^v  veav  yXaxrffav  r&v 
'EXX'fivaiv,  Kal  avrol  airb  ras  ^6^ 
SeiXas  T]n.5>v  Trapanqp-fiffeis,  Kal  fasts 
airb  ras  ffotyas  avruv  o"n/j.ei(t>o-eis  i)6eXa~ 
p.ev  /j.eyd\us  a«peArj0rj  els  r^\v  Kara- 
v6i}ffiv  rS>v  apxatwv  iroirjruv  Kal  ffvy- 
ypatyewv. 

1 1  adopt  the  reading  of  the  Duchesne 
MS.  cited  by  Pluquet,  since  the  read- 
ing in  his  text  "Bublie  orient  e  weissel" 
is  unintelligible.  Bufler  is  from  "buffe, 
buffet,  baffle :  coup  de  poing,  soufflet, 
tape;  buffo,,  en  Ital.  buffettone-,  en 
Basq.  bufeta  j  en  Languedocien  bttfa" 
(Roquefort) ;  whence  English  buffet, 
compare  Italian  buffo,  whence  our  buf- 
foon. Compare  also  the  Norfolk  buffle, 
to  handle  clumsily,  to  speak  thickly 
and  inarticulately  (Nail),  to  abuse,  to 
rate  soundly  (as  I  am  informed  by  Mr. 
Waring) ;  also  German  Biiffel,  buffalo, 
buff,  lout  (compare  Ochs  for  a  fool)  and 
buffeln  to  drudge  (Hilpert).  Whether 
bufler  is  a  Norman  word  adopted  into 
English,  or  an  English  word  Norman- 
ized  —  compare  the  modern  French 
boxer,  iQ  box — it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine in  the  absence  of  parallel  passages, 
It  seems  here  to  imply  rough  joking. 


532  ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

Perhaps  Lett  Wit  cuman,  is  a  good  wish,  may  you  have  what  you 
want,  and  the  drinking  hindweard  and  healf,  may  refer  to  some 
customs  such  as  still  prevail  among  those  who,  making  an  art  of 
toping,  such  as  standing  back  to  "back  and  giving  each  to  drink  from 
the  other's  cup,  or  both  drinking  from  the  same  bowl,  etc.  The 
passage  is,  however,  not  of  much  service  phonetically,  and  the 
Anglosaxon  words  are  doubtful.  The  following  are  better : 
Olicrosse  sovent  crioent,  E  Godemite  altretant 

E  Godemite  reclamoent :  Com  en  frenceiz  Dex  tot  poissant. 

Olicrosse  est  en  engleiz  v.  13119-24. 

Ke  sainte  Croix  est  en  franceiz, 

Hence  Olicrosse  =  Hdlig  Cross,  which  looks  like  an  error  for  Rod, 
and  Godemite  is  God  Almihtig.  The  former  would  incline  to  a 
very  broad  pronunciation  of  a  as  (AA),  and  perhaps  arose  from  the 
subsequent  southern  holy.  The  latter  might  imply  that  long  i  was 
(ii),  and  certainly  that  they  did  not  pronounce  almighty  as  at  pre- 
sent ;  but  as  the  vowel  was  certainly  short  in  miht,  we  do  not  gain 
much,  except  to  learn  that  this  form  coexisted  with  Orrmin's 
Allmahhti^.  The  form  Godelamit  occurs  in  the  singular  poem 
called  La  Pais  aux  Englois,  attributed  to  A.D.  1263,  which  ridicules 
English  French  in  an  orthography  difficult  to  comprehend.1 
Normanz  escrient :  Dex  aie  ;  Con  est  1'ensegne  que  jou  di 

La  gent  englesche  :   Ut  s'escrie.     v.  13193         Quant  Engles  saient  hors  a  cri. 

The  two  last  lines  are  an  addition  to  the  text  of  Pluquet,  taken 
from  MS.  6987,  Bib.  Eoy.  de  Paris  (E.  Taylor's  translation,  p.  191), 
and  imply  that  ut  =  ags.  ut,  and  therefore  fixes  the  traditional  pro- 
nunciation as  (uut),  which  is  of  some  value.  The  Man  of  v.  109, 
and  Zoonee  of  v.  10659  (supra,  p.  461,  note  col.  1)  are  useless. 

Marie  de  Erance  belonged  to  quite  the  beginning  of  the  xin  th 
century,  and  we  have  the  advantage  of  an  indubitably  early  manu- 
script of  much  of  her  poetry.2  In  her  lai  de  Laustic  (Eoquefort  1, 
315,  Harl.  MS.  978,  fo.  142),  which  Eoquefort  explains  as  in- 
tended for  a  Breton  word,  meaning  a  nightingale,  she  says  : 
Lauftic  ad  nun  ceo  meft  auif  Ceo  eft  reifun  en  fr^nceif 

Sil  apelent  en  lur  paif  E  nihtegale  en  dreit  engleif.    v.  3. 

1  See  Journal  de  1'   Institute  His-  consistent  way  in  which   dialectic  or 

torique,  Premiere  Anne,  1834,  p.  363,  foreign  pronunciation    is   still    repre- 

for  which  reference  I  am  indebted  to  sented  orthographically,    e.g.   Burns's 

the  kindness  of  M.  Francisque  Michel.  Scotch.     No  doubt  can  be  felt  as  to 

In  this  poem  roi  is  uniformly  spelled  the  presumed  rhyming  word  faire  (p. 

rai,   and   foire  rhymes  to   Ingletiere,  449),    after    seeing    Orrmin's    ortho- 

guere,  conquerre^  which  seems  to  mili-  graphy  fa^err,  p.  489. 
tate  against  the  view  I  have  taken  on          2  The  Harl.  978  described  supra,  p. 

p.  453,  and  at  least  shews  that  (feere)  419.     The  Fables  of  Esop  there  named 

was  a  presumed  Anglo-Norman  pro-  are  by  Marie  de  France,  and  many  of 

nunciation  at  the  time,  but  whether  it  her  lays  occur  in  the  latter  part  of  the 

was  the   only    Or    general  value,    or  same  MS.  See :  Poesies  de  Marie  de 

whether  this  may  not  be  due  to  the  France,  poete  Anglo-normand  du  xme 

author's  pronunciation,  or  to  the  Poite-  siecle,  pur  B.  de  lioquefort,  Paris,  1819, 

vin  dialect  to  which  the  editor  attri-  2  vols.  8vo.     I   am  indebted  to   Mr. 

butes  the  piece,  it  is  difficult  for  any  Payne  for  having  drawn  my  attention 

one  to  determine,  who  knows  the  in-  to  the  transcription  of  English  in  her 


§  4,  No.  1.  ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION.  533 

In  the  lai  de  Chevrefoil  (Eoq.,  1,  388,  Harl.  MS.  978,  fo.  I486), 
we  find : 

En  fulitwales  .v.  il  fu  nez    v,  16.  Gotelef  lapelent  en  engleif 

En  cornwaille  uait  tut  dreit.  v.  27.         Cheurefoil  le  numewt  en  franceis.  v.  115 

In  the  lai  de  Milun  (Eoq.  1,  328)  we  find  Suhtwales  v.  9, 
Irlande  15,  Norweie  16,  Guhtlande  16,  Suhthamptune  318,  Nor- 
thumbre  453.  In  the  lai  ff  Twenec  (Eoq.  1,  274),  we  have  Incolne 
=  Lincoln  v.  26,  and  Yllande  —  Ireland,  v.  27.  In  the  Fables 
(Eoq.  2,  141,  Harl.  MS.  978,  fo.  53J),  we  have: 

Si  ad  ure  ke  li  uileinf  Lung  cum  li  witecocs  aueit. 

Euft  tel  bek  mut  li  plereit  v.  18-20 

where  Eoquefort  cites  the  variants:  huitecox,  widecos,  witecoc, 
which  all  seem  to  mean  whitecock,  an  unknown  bird,  but  as  Norman 
ui  was  probably  not  so  truly  (ui)  as  (ui),  or  according  to  Mr.  Payne 
(uu),  p.  424,  n.  3,  and  certainly  often  replaced  (uu),  p.  458,  1.  27, 
these  may  mean  (uit'ekok,  uut'ekok),  that  is  (wuud'ekok),  ags. 
wuducocc  (Ettm.  86),  English  woodcock,  with  an  omitted  (w) 
before  (uu),  p.  420,  note,  col.  2.  These  words  give  (aa  a,  ee  e, 
ii  i,  oo  o,  uu)  as  Marie  de  France's  appreciation  of  the  sounds  of 
the  Anglosaxon,  or  xiith  century  English  #,  e,  i,  &,  u. 

In  order  to  see  at  a  glance  the  different  opinions  that  prevail 
respecting  the  values  of  the  Anglo-saxon  letters,  a  table  has  been 
annexed  on  p.  534,  giving  also  the  views  of  Eask,  Grimm,  and 
Eapp.1  Neither  Eask  nor  Eapp  give  any  illustrations,  though  Eapp 
writes  a  few  isolated  words.2  But  as  we  have  ventured  to  give  a 
theoretical  representation  of  the  values  of  the  letters,  symbolizing 
of  course  different  pronunciations  according  as  they  are  used  in 
different  combinations  to  express  the  very  distinct  dialects  which 
prevailed  at  the  time,  it  is  necessary  to  shew  the  effect  of  this 
theory,  by  attempting  the  phonetic  representation  of  a  short  passage. 
The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,3  has  been  selected  for  this  purpose, 
and  will  be  hereafter  presented  in  Icelandic  (No.  2),  Gothic  (No.  3), 

and  "Wace's  poems.     It  is  true  that  her  ii,    140  -  149,   iv,    245,  Vergleichende 

transliterations  of  English  rather  repre-  Grammatik,  vol.  3  (1859),  pp.  125-129. 

sent  the  pronunciation  of  the  xmth  2  This  being  contrary  to  his   usual 

century,  than  of  Anglosaxon,  and  should,  custom  he  explains  by  saying:    "Da 

properly  speaking,  have  been  adduced  dieser  Dialekt  noch  zu   gar    keinem 

on  p.  462,  but  as  I  was  not  aware  of  festen  Eesultate  iiber  die  Kritik  der 

them  till  after  that  sheet  was  printed  Buchstaben  gelangt  ist,  sind  wir  weit 

off,   I   am  glad  to   have  this  oppor-  entfernt,    mit     dahin    einschlagenden 

tunity  of  inserting  them.  Sprachproben  uns  zu  befassen." 

1  E.  Jtask,  Grammar  of  the  Anglo-  3  £)a  halgan  Godspel  on  Englisc. 
Saxon  Tongue,  translated  from  the  The  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  holy 
Danish  by  B.  Thorpe,  Copenhagen,  Gospels,  edited  from  the  original  manu- 
1830,  pp.  6-15.  /.  Grimm,  D.  G.  I3,  scripts  by  Benjamin  Thorpe,  F.S.A., 
325-378,  for  vowels,  and  I2,  243-269  London,  1842,  8vo.  pp.  240.  "The 
or  consonants,  but  the  indications  are  basis  of  the  present  text  is  the  Cod. 
often  so  indistinct,  that  much  doubt  is  Bibl.  Pub.  Cant.  Ii.  2,  11,  collated 
to  be  attached  to  the  following  inter-  with  Cod.  C.  C.  C.  C.  S.  4.  140.  In 
pretations.  Grimm  proceeds  from  an  doubtful  cases  Cod.  Bodl.  441.  and  Cod. 
etymological,  rather  than  a  phonetic  Cott.  Otho,  C.  1,  have  also  been  con- 
conception.  K.  M.  Rapp,  Phys.  d.  Spr.  suited." — Preface. 


534 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


the  Wycliffite  version  (Chap.  VII.,  §  3),  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 
The  translation  at  the  foot  of  the  page  is  intended  to  point  out  the 
grammatical  construction,  and  the  etymological  relations  of  each 
word  to  the  English,  and  would  he  therefore  scarcely  intelligible  if 
the  passage  were  not  so  well  known. 


Letters 

Rask 

Grimm  '   Rapp 

Ellis 

Letters 

Basic 

Grimm     Rapp 

Ellis 

a 

aa 

aa 

aa 

aa 

l 

ii 

ii 

ii 

ii 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a  a 

i 

t 

i 

i 

t 

* 

sea 

aese      aese 

8688 

ie 

jee 

ie  ie 

ie? 

ae 

86 

83        j    88 

83 

iu 

jua 

iu? 

aw 

au 

au 

1 

1 

1 

1 

b 

b 

b 

m 

m 

m 

m 

c 

k 

k      !  k 

k  Jc 

n 

n 

n 

n 

°g 
cw 

gg 

kbh 

L 

6S 

00 

00 

00 

q  qg 

00 

d 

d 

d 

d 

d 

0 

o 

0  0 

o 

o 

* 

dh 

ds 

th 

dh 

p 

P 

P 

p 

e 

ee 

ee 

ee 

ee 

r 

r 

r 

e 

e 

e  e 

e  e 

e 

s 

s 

sj 

s 

ea 

saa  to, 

ea  ea 

e&  ea 

ea  ea 

sc 

8k    Sk 

sk 

sks& 

eo 

300  JO 

eo  GO'  eo  eo 

eo  eo 

t 

t 

t 

t 

f 

f  V 

f 

f 

f    V 

\ 

th 

ths 

th 

th 

g 

g  9  J 

g 

g  J 

g  9 

u 

uu 

uu 

uu 

uu 

gh^h 

u 

u 

u 

u 

uw? 

h 

H'   kh 

H 

kh 

HH'kh 

w 

bh 

bh 

w 

hi 

khl 

Ih 

wl 

\w 

hn 

khn 

nh 

wr 

YW 

hr 
hw 

khr 
khw 

rh 
wh 

y 

y 

yy 
y 

yy 
y 

yy 
y 

yy  ii 

y  « 

Anglosaxon,  Lucas  15,  11-32. 

11  So^lice  sum   man  haefde 
twegen  suna. 

12  Da  cwa3^  se  gingra[7%or^, 
yldra]  to  his  faeder,  Feeder,  syle 
•me  minne  dael  minre   aehte  J?e 
me  to  gebyre^.      Da  daelde  he 
hym  hys  aehte. 

13  Da,  eefter  feawa   dagum, 
ealle    his    fing    gegaderode   se 
gingra  sunu,  and  ferde  wrseclice 
on  feorlen    rice,    and  forspilde 
]?ar  his  sehta,   lybbende  on  his 
gielsan. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 


swm 


man 


11  Soodh'lii&e 
Hsevde  tweeylren  swn'a. 

12  Thaa  kwaedh   se 

to  H«'S  fsed'er,  Faed'er,  syl'e  me 
miin-e  daasel  minrre  aekht'e  thee 
me  too-gebyr-edh.  Th««  da3a5ld'e 
He  H^m  H«S  8383^ht*e. 

13  Thaw,  8Bft-er  fea-wa  dagh'- 
um,   eal'e  H«S  th«q  gegad'erode 
se   ^rh«q*ra    swn*u,    and    ferde 
rwaeMii^e    on     feor'len    rii>?;-e, 
and  forspd'de  fhaar  ms  aeaakht'a, 
lyVende  on  ms 


Verbatim  Translation,  Luke  15,  11-32. 


1 1  Soothly  some  man  had  twain  sons. 

12  Then  quoth  the  younger  to  his 
father,   Father,   sell    (give)   me  mine 
deal  (part)  of-mine  owning  that  me  to 
belongeth.      Then  dealed  he  him  his 
owning. 


13  Then,  after  few  days,  all  his 
things  gathered  the  younger  son,  and 
fared  banished-like  (abroad)  on  far 
kingdom,  and  for-spilled  (lost)  there 
his  ownings,  living  on  his  luxury. 


4,  No.  1. 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


535 


14  Da  he    hig  haefde    ealle 
amyrrede,  fa  wearS  mycel  hun- 
ger on  f  am  rice  ;  and  he  wearS 
waedla. 

15  Da  ferde  he  and  folgode 
anum  burh-sittendum  men  f  a?s 
rices:  fa  sende  he  hine  to  his 
tune,  f  aet  he  heolde  hys  swyn. 

16  Da     gewilnode    he     his 
wambe   gefyllan   of  fam   bean- 
coddum  fe  ^a  swyn  geton:  and 
him  man  ne  sealde. 

17  Da  befohte  he  hine,  and 
cwae7?),    Eala   hu  fela  yr^linga 
on  mines   faeder  huse  hlaf  ge- 
nohne  habba'S,    and  ic  her   on 
hungre  forweorSe ! 

18  Ic   arise,   and  ic  fare  to 
minum  faeder,  and  ic  secge  him, 

19  Eala  faeder,  ic  syngode  on 
heofenas,   and  beforan  f  e,  nu  ic 
neom    wyrSe    faet  ic   beo   fin 
sunu  nemned :  do  me  swa  senne 
of  f  inum  yr^lingum. 

20  And  he  aras  fa,  and  com 
to  his  faader.     And  fa  gyt,   fa 
he  waes  feor  his  faeder,  he  hyne 
geseah,    and  wearS    mid  mild- 
heortnesse    astyred,    and    agen 
hine  arn,  and  hine  beclypte,  and 
cyste  hine. 


14  Thaa     He     H^h   naevde 
eal'e     amyrede    fhaa     weardh 
mtk'el  Hwq-er  on  tham  riUre;  and 
He  weardh  waed'la. 

15  Thaa  ferde  He   and  fol'- 
ghode  aan'um  bwrk^h-s«t'endwm 
men  thaes   rii^'es:    fhaa  send'e 
He  nm'e  to  H«S  tuu*ne,  thaBt  ne 
neold'e  ms  swiin. 

16  Thaa  gewtl'node    He  H*S 
w^m'be  gefyl'an  of  th«m  bean*- 
kod'um  thee  tha  swiin  aeaet'on : 
and  H/m  m«n  ne  seal'de. 

17  Thaa  bethokht'e  He  nm'e, 
and  kw?89th,   Eala,    HUU    fel'a 
yrdh'hqa     on     mii'nes    faed'er 
Huu*se  }haaf  genookh-ne  H«b'- 
ath,   and    ek    neer    on  nwq/re 
forweor-dhe ! 

18  7k    arii'se,  and  ik   for'e 
to  mii'nwm  faed'er,  and  &'k  se^r'e 
H/m, 

19  Ea-la  faed'er,  «k  syn-gode 
on     neo'venas,      and     befor'an 
thee,  nuu  a'k  neom  wyrdh'e  thaet 
Vk   beo  thiin    swn*u    nem'ned : 
doo  me  swaa  aan'e  of  thirnum 
yrth'bqum. 

20  And.  ne  araas*  thaa,  and 
koom  to  ms  faed'er.     And  ihaa 
ghii    thaa    He    waes    feor    he's 
faed'er,  He  hm*e   geseakh*    and 
weardh  imd  meld-heort'nese  as- 
tered,    and     agen*    nm*e    am, 
and  H«re  beklyp'te,  and  kys'te 
H«'n*e. 


Verbatim  Translation. 


14  Then  (when)  he  them  had  all 
dissipated,  then  worth  (became)  muckle 
hunger  on  that  kingdom ;  and  he  worth 
(became)  destitute. 

15  Then  fared  he  and  followed  one 
borough-sitting  man  of-that  kingdom : 
then  sent  he  him  to  his  town  (inclo- 
sure),  that  he  might  hold  his  swine. 

16  Then  desired  he  his  womb  (belly) 
to-fill  of  (with)  the  bean-cods  that  the 
swine  ate;  and  to-him  man  not  sold 
(gave). 

17  Then    bethought  he  him,    and 
quoth,  Oh !  how  many  earthlings  (farm- 
ers) on  mine  father's  house,  loaf  (bread) 


enough  have,  and  I  here  on  hunger 
forth -worth  (perish). 

181  arise  and  I  fare  to  mine  father, 
and  I  say  to  him, 

19  Oh  !  father,  I  sinned  on  heavens, 
and  before  thee,  now  I  not-am  worthy 
that  I  be  thine  son  named :  do  to-me 
as  to -one  of  thine  earthlings  (farmers). 

20  And  he  arose  then,  and  came  to 
his  father.    And  then  yet,  then  (while) 
he  was  far-from  his  father,  he  him  saw, 
and  worth  (became)  with  mildhearti- 
ness  a-stirred,  and  again  him  ran,  and 
him  be-clipped  (embraced),  and  kissed 
him. 


536 


ANGLOSAXON    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


21  Da  cwae^S  his  sunu,  Feeder, 
ic  syngode  on  heofen,  and  be- 
foran  ]?e,  nu  ic  ne  eom  wyr^e 
J?aet  ic  fin  sunu  beo  genemned. 

22  Da  cwse^  se  faeder  to  his 
feowum,    Bringa^     ra^e    fone 
selestan  gegyrelan,  and  scryda^ 
hine ;  and  sylla^  him  hring  on 
his  hand,  and  gescy  to  his  fotum ; 

23  And     bringa^     an     faett 
styric,   and  ofslea^  ;    and  uton 
etan,  and  gewistfullian : 

24  forfam  ]?es  min  sunu  wa3s 
dead,    and  he    geedcucode;    he 
forwearS,     and    he    ys    gemet. 
Da  ongunnon  hig  gewistlaecan. 

25  So^lice    his    yldra    sunu 
wses  on  a3cere  ;    and  he   com : 
and  J?a  he  J?am  huse  genealaehte, 
he  gehyrde  fone  sweg  and  faet 
wered. 

26  Da  clypode  he  aenne  feow, 
and  acsode  hine  hwa3t  fset  waere. 

27  Da  cwae'S  he,  pin  broker 
com,    and  fin  feeder  ofsloh  an 
faett    cealf  ;     forfam    he    hine 
halne  onfeng. 

28  Da  gebealh  he  hine,  and 
nolde  ingan :  fa  eode  his  feeder 
lit,  and  ongan  hine  biddan. 


21  Thaa  kw?aeth    H«S    swn'u, 
Faed'er  «k  syn'gode  on  neo'ven, 
and  beforan    thee,    nuu  «k  ne 
eom  wyrdlre  dhaet  «k  thiin  swn'u 
beo  genenrned. 

22  Th0«  keoffith  se  faed'er  to 
ms  theo'wwm,  Brtq'adh  raadlre 
thon-e     see'lestan      gegyrelan, 
and  skryyd-adh  Hm'e,  and  syl'- 
adh  Him  rhi'q  on  H«S  Hand,  and 
ges^yy  to  His  foo'twm  : 

23  and     br«'q*adh     aan    feet 
styyri/c,    and    of'sleadh-  ;    and 
uu'ton  et'an,  and  gewest'fwl'ian: 

24  fortham.'    thes  miin  swn*u 
waes   dead,    and  he    ge,edkuu-- 
kode;  He  forweardlr,  and  He  «'s 
gemeet*.     Thaa  on'gwn'on  ni^h 


Verbatim 

21  Then  quoth  his  son,  Father,   I 
sinned  on  heaven,  and  before  thee,  now 
I  not  am  worthy  that  I  thine  son  be 
named. 

22  Then  quoth  the    father  to   his 
thanes  (servants) .  Bring  rathe  (quickly) 
the  best  garment,  and  shroud  (clothe) 
him,  and  sell  (give)  him  a-ring  on  his 
hand,  and  shoes  to  his  feet, 

23  and  bring   one    fat    steer,    and 
slaughter  ;  and  let  us  eat  and  feast, 

24  for-that  (because)  this  mine  son 
was  dead,  and  he  again-quickened ;  he 
forth- worth  (perished),  and  he  is  met. 
Then  began  they  to-feast. 


25  Soodh'lii^e     m$      yld'ra 
s^m•u    waes     on     aek'ere  ;     and 
He  koom  ;    and  thaa   He   tham 
nmrse    geneaiaeaekhte,    He   ge- 
nyrd'e  thon-e  swee^h  and  thaet 
wer'ed. 

26  Thaa    klyp'ode   ne   aen'e 
theou,   and  aks'ode  Hm'e  whaet 
thaet  waeae're. 

27  Thaa  kwaedh    He,    Thiin 
broo'dher      koom,      and     thiin 
faed'er  of'slookh*  aan  faet  kedlf  : 
fortham*  He  nm-e  naal'ne  on-feq*. 

28  Thaa    gebeaUh'  He  nm-e 
and  nold'e  m'gaan'  :  thaa  eo'de 
H«S    faed'er    uut,     and    on'gan* 
nm'e  b«d'an. 

Translation. 

25  Soothly  his   elder    son  was   on 
acre  ;  and  he  came,  and  then  (while) 
he  to-the  house  neared,  he  heard  the 
music  and  the  company, 

26  Then    cleped    (called)    he     one 
thane  (servant)  and   asked   him  what 
that  were. 

27  Then   quoth  he,   Thine  brother 
came,  and  thine  father  slaughtered  one 
fat  calf  ;  for-that  he  him  whole  fanged 
(received). 

28  Then  was-wrathful-at  he    him 
and  not-  would  go-in  :   then  went  his 
father  out,  and  began  him  to-bid. 


§  4,  No.  2. 


ICELANDIC    AND    OLD    NORSE. 


537 


29  Da  cwseft  he,  his  feeder 
andswariende,  Efne,  swa  fela 
geara  ic  fe  feowode,  and  ic 
naefre  fin  bebod  ne  forgymde, 
and  ne  sealdest  f  u  me  naBfre  an 
ticcen,  f  aet  ic  mid  minum  freon- 
dum  gewistfullode  : 


30  ac  sy^an   fes   fin   sunu 
com,  f  e  hys  spede  mid  myltry- 
strum  amyrde,   fu    ofsloge  him 
faett  cealf. 

31  Da  cwae'S  he,    Sunu,   fu 
eart  symle   mid  me,    and   ealle 
mine  fing  synd  fine  :  f  e  geby- 
rede    gewistfullian   and   geblis- 
sian  :  forf  am  fes  fin  brof  er  waes 
dead,   and  he   geedcucode  ;    he 
forwearS,  and  he  ys  gemet. 


29  Thaa     kwaeth     He,     H«'S 
faed'er     andsw^r'iende,     Eevne 
swa  fel'a  ^hea-ra  ils.  the  theo'- 
wode  ;    and.    Vk    naevre     thiin 
bebod'  ne  for^hyynrde,  and  ne 
seal'dest  thnu  mee  naevre  aan 
to'k'en,   thaet    «k   im'd    minrwm 
freon'dwm  gew/st'fwl'ode  : 

30  ok    siidh'an    thes     thiin 
swn'u    koom,    thee    His   spee'de 
imd  mil'tristrwm  amyrd'e  thnu 
of-sloo^h*e  mm  faet  ^ealf. 

31  Thaa  kt^aedh    He,    Swn'u, 
thuu  eart  simie  nu'd  mee,  and. 
eal'e  miine    th«'q    smd  thii'ne : 
thee     gebyr'ede     gew/st*fwl'ian 
«nd  gebb'sian  forth«m*  thes  thiin 
broo'dher  waes  dead  and.  ge,ed- 
kuu'kode  ;   He  forweardh',    and 
He  es  gemeet'. 


29  Then  quoth,  he,   his  father  an- 
swering, Lo !    so  many  years   I  thee 
thaned   (served),    and    I    never  thine 
bidding  not  neglected,  and  not  soldest 
(gavest)  thou  me  never  one  kid,  that 
I  with  my  friends  feasted  : 

30  Eke    (but)    sithens   (since)   this 
thine  son  came,  that  his  speed  (pro- 


Verbatim  Translation. 

perty)     with 


thou 


mistresses      lost, 
slaughterest  for-him  fat  calf. 

31  Then  quoth  he,  Son,  thou  art 
ever  with  me,  and  all  mine  things  are 
thine ;  to-thee  belonged  to-feast  and 
to-bliss ;  for-that  this  thine  brother  was 
dead,  and  he  again-quickened ;  he 
forth-worth  (perished),  and  he  is  met. 


2.  ICELANDIC  AND  OLD  NORSE. 

In  the  ix  th  century,  Iceland  was  discovered  and  colonised  by 
the  Scandinavians.  The  writing  at  first  used  was  runic,  but 
Roman  Christianity  and  Roman  letters,  which  seem  to  have  always 
gone  hand  in  hand,  were  introduced  in  the  xith  century,  and  MSS. 
of  the  xnth  and  xinth  centuries  still  exist.  The  sea  usually 
unites;  but  large  tracts  of  dangerous  wintry  sea,  and  a  climate 
which  for  months  in  the  year  closes  the  harbours,  separate.  The 
Icelandic  colonizers  were  so  separated  from  their  native  country 
that  their  tongue  was  practically  unaffected  by  the  causes  which 
divided  it  on  the  continent  into  two,  mutually  unintelligible,  literary 
languages,  the  Danish  and  Swedish,  and  the  numerous  unwritten 
Norwegian  dialects.1  In  Iceland,  therefore,  we  have  the  strange 


1  "  On  the  older  Eunic  stones  alto- 
gether the  same  tongue  is  found  in  all 
three  kingdoms,  and  in  the  oldest  laws 
of  each  people  very  nearly  the  same. 
This  tongue  occurs  first  under  the 
denomination  Donsk  tunga  (Doensk 
tuuq-ga)  because  Denmark  was  in  the 
oldest  times  the  mightiest  kingdom. . . . 


But  the  Old  Norse  began  also  first  to 
decay  in  Denmark,  and  therefore  took 
the  name  Novrsena  (Norraarna),  be- 
cause it  was  probably  spoken  best  and 
most  purely  in  Norway  ....  Before 
the  Union  of  Calmar  [between  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  and  Norway,  1397],  it 
was  materially  changed  both  in  Sweden 


538 


ICELANDIC    AND    OLD    NORSE. 


CHAP.  V. 


spectacle  of  a  living  medieval  tongue,  with,  all  its  terminations,  in- 
flections, and  vowel  changes,  whether  of  mutation  (Umlaut)  or 
progression  (Lautverschiebung),  practically  unchanged,  and  in  daily 
use.  The  language  of  the  oldest  MSS.  scarcely  differs  from  that 
of  the  most  modern  printed  books  as  much  as  that  of  Chaucer 
from  that  of  Shakspere.  Practically  the  study  of  Icelandic  is 
the  study  of  the  language  spoken  by  those  fierce  invaders  of  our 
Eastern  coasts,  whose  tongue  has  so  powerfully  and  permanently 
affected  all  our  Eastern  and  Northern  dialects.  It  is,  therefore,  of 
extreme  interest  to  all  students  of  dialectic  or  early  English.1  But 
its  orthographic  laws  are  so  different  from  those  with  which  we  are 
familiar,  and  many  of  its  sounds  are  so  singular, — living  remnants 
of  habits  which  seem  to  have  been  widely  diffused  in  the  xth 
century,  but  which  have  become  lost,  and  generally  misunderstood 
in  modern  times — that  a  careful  examination  and  explanation  of 
their  nature  is  necessary.  As  no  treatise  has  as  yet  appeared  which 
conveys  satisfactory  information,  I  have  availed  myself  of  the  kind- 
ness of  Mr.  Eirikr  Magnusson,2  who,  to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  his 
native  tongue  joins  a  long  and  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
language  and  pronunciation  of  England,  and  who  has  taken  the 
greatest  pains  to  enable  me  to  render  the  following  account  as 
complete  and  trustworthy  as  possible.3  "Whether  the  actual  pro- 
nunciation of  Icelandic  is  or  is  not  the  same  as  that  in  use  in  the 
x  th  century,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  The  antecedent  probability 


and  Norway;  then  arose  the  name 
igfais&a  (iis-lenska)  which  the  tongue 
has  kept  to  the  present  day." — fiask, 
Gram.'  art.  518.  "From  the  North 
the  saifae  tongue  was  spread  over  the 
Ferro,  (Orkney,  Shetland,  and  Western 
Isles,  £.  tod  from  Iceland  to  the  coast  of 
Greenl.ind :  but  the  old  Greenland  has 
been  n  pw  for  a  long  time  lost,  and  since 
the  S  feottish  Isles  were  joined  to  Scot- 
land, the  Old  Norse  language  has  given 
way  ^to  the  New  English.  On  the 
Ferrox  Isles  a  dialect  is  still  spoken, 
which  cos.mes  very  near  to  the  Icelandic, 
but  is  of  \little  interest  since  it  has  no 
literature  e\xcept  some  popular  songs." 
— Ibid.  Art/1 520.  These  songs  were 
published  with^  a  Danish  translation  by 
Lyngbye,  Eamjers,  1822  (Dasent's 
note).  See  also  ^iTvar  Aasen's  Diction- 
ary of  the  Dialects  f  of  Norway. 

1  Prof.  Th.  MobiWs  Analecta  Nor- 
roana,  and  AltnordiscYhes  Glossar,  re- 
cently published,  will  IJ»e  found  useful 
for  students  who  are  acquainted  with 
German.  The  glossary fc  extends  to 
several  other  selections  naV^ed  in  the 
preface.  A  uniform  modern  ^  orthogra- 
phy is  adopted  in  all  the  extraV-^8*  but 
carefully  printed  specimens  of  the  l  ortho- 


adopted in  ancient  manuscripts 
are  given  in  an  appendix.  A  gram- 
mar is  to  follow,  and  in  the  meantime, 
Dasent's  Rask's  Grammar  may  he  used. 
The  following  are  Icelandic  Diction- 
aries of  repute,  which  have  superseded 
Bibrn  Haldorson's  Lexicon  Islandico- 
Danicum,  edited  by  Rask,  Copenhagen, 
1814,  2  vols.,  4to.  Sveinbjbrn  Egils- 
son,  Lexicon  Poeticum  antiquae  Linguae 
Septentrionalis,  Copenhagen,  1840,  8vo. 
pp.  932.  Erik  Jonsson,  Oldnordisk 
Ordbog,  Copenhagen,  1863,  8vo.  Fritz- 
ner,  Ordbog  over  det  gamle  norske 
Sprog,  Christiania,  1867. 

2  Editor  of  the  revised  edition  of  the 
Icelandic  Version  of  the  Bible  for  the 
British    and   Foreign    Bible    Society, 
author  of  Legends   of    Iceland,    and 
translator  of  various  sagas. 

3  Mr.  Henry  Sweet,  of  the  Philolo- 
gical Society,  having  acquired  the  pro- 
nunciation of  Icelandic  from  another 
teacher,  Mr.  Hjaltalin,  I  requested  him 
to  inform  me  where  his  impressions  dif- 
fered from  mine.      The   observations 
which  he  has   been  kind  enough  to 
furnish,  are  added  in  the  shape  of  foot- 
notes, signed  H.  S. 


§  4,  No.  2.  ICELANDIC    PRONUNCIATION.  539 

is  that  there  are  differences,  and  with  respect  to  y  this  probability 
amounts  almost  to  a  certainty.  But  Rask,  Rapp,  and  Grimm1 
differ  most  materially  in  their  views,  and  as  they  cannot  all  be 
right,  it  is  very  likely  they  are  all  wrong.  None  of  them  seem  to 
have  pursued  a  satisfactory  course  for  arriving  at  the  truth,  which 
would  require  a  long  study  of  the  phonetic  relations  of  existing 
dialects  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Iceland,  the  careful 
examination  of  ancient  manuscripts,  of  rhymes  and  assonances,  and 
of  the  internal  phonetic  relations  of  the  language  itself.  Mr.  Henry 
Sweet  having  carried  out  this  programme  to  a  great  extent,  has 
obligingly  furnished  me  with  his  own  views  on  the  subject,  which 
I  have  appended  to  a  tabular  account  of  the  opinions  of  Bask, 
Eapp,  and  Grimm,  at  the  close  of  this  section.  It  is  first  necessary 
to  ascertain  existing  usage. 

Icelandic  now  possesses  eight  simple  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  i,  o,  6,  u,  u 
=  (a,  e,  i,  i,  o,  03,  0,  u)  either  short  or  long,  the  shortening  being 
generally  indicated  by  two  following  consonants,  or  a  doubled  con- 
sonant. The  letters  y  y  are  at  present  identical  with  i,  i.  It  has 
also  six  diphthongs ;  namely,  three  i  diphthongs,  a  au,  ei  or  ey, 
the  two  last  being  at  present  identical  =  (aa&,  oeoa?,  eei] ;  two  u 
diphthongs,  a,  6  =  (aau,  oou),  the  great  peculiarity  of  all  these 
diphthongs  being  the  importance  of  the  first  element,  and  the 
brevity  of  the  second,  which  in  the  case  of  ei,  6  amounts  to  that 
faint  indication  of  an  (i,  u)  heard  in  the  English  day,  know  (dee'j, 
noo'w),  in  Icelandic  letters  dei,  no;  and  one  acknowledged  diph- 
thong with  (i)  prefixed,  e  or  e  as  it  is  now  written,  and  which 
might  with  equal  propriety  be  written  je,  for  in  fact  there  are 
numerous  other  diphthongs  of  the  same  class,  now  written  with  a 
prefixed/,  but  formerly  written  with  a  prefixed  i. 

The  consonants  b,  d,  h,  j,  I,  m,  n,  p,  r,  s,  t,  v  =  (b,  d,  H,  J,  1,  m, 
n,  p,  r,  s,  t,  v)  almost  invariably ;  /  varies  between  (f,  v)  and  some- 
times (b,  m) ;  h,  g  are  properly  (k,  g)  but  are  often  palatalised  to 
(k,  g\  and  g  takes  all  guttural  phases  of  (gh,  /h,  jh ;  gwh,  wh), 
down  to  (j,  w),  and  complete  disappearance  ;  c  used  to  be  employed 
in  the  combination  ck  only,  and  q  in  the  combination  qv,  but  as 
neither  c  or  q  belong  to  the  language,  they  have  been  both  super- 
seded by  k ;  x  is  occasionally  used  for  h,  or  gs ;  and  z  is  employed 
for  the  sound  of  s  before  which  a  dental  has  been  omitted,  but  not 
very  consistently.  The  old  letters  ]?,  ^  are  retained  as  (th,  dh), 
although  d  is  often  employed  for  ^  in  older  printed  books.  The 
combinations  hj,  hi,  Jin,  hr,  hv  are  called  (jh,  Ih,  nh,  rh,  wh).  The 
double  letters  II,  nn  are  mostly  (dl,  dn)  when  medial,  and  (tlh,  tnh) 
or  (dtlh,  dtnh)  when  final.  In  the  doubled  tt,  the  first  t  indicates 
an  assimilated  guttural,  which  however  is  generally  more  or  less 
heard.  The  following  is  a  particular  alphabetical  account  of  the 
behaviour  of  each  letter  and  principal  combination. 

1  A  Grammar  of  the  Icelandic  or  fort,  Jaeger,  1843.     The  Swedish  title 

Old  Norse    Tongue,   translated    from  is :    Anvisning    till    Islandskan    eller 

the  Swedish  of  Erasmus  Rask  by  G.  Nordiska     Fornspraket,    af   Erasmus 

W.Dasent,  London,  Pickering;  Frank-  Christian  Rask.    Fran  Danskan  brYer- 


540  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

Icelandic  Alphabet. 

A,  distinctly  (aa,  a),  not  so  low  as  (aa,  a),  and  never  rounded  to 
(#h),  but  occasionally  as  high  as  (aah,  ah),  though  this  may  be  an 
individual  peculiarity,  and  was  certainly  unintentional.1  Most  of 
the  words  cited  by  Grimm  as  having  short  (a)  are  now  pronounced 
with  long  (aa).  Ex.  hann  (nan)  he,  alt  (alht)  all,  haf^di 
(navdht),  landrS  (land/dh)  the  land]  drafi  (draavi)  husks,  matar 
(maa'tar)  meat  =  food,  taka  (taa'ka)  take,  ma%ur  (maa'dh^r)  manf 
sag'Si  (saah[_gh-dlw)3  said.  In  unaccented  syllables,  where  open  or 
closed,  the  short  a  is  general. 

K,  a  clear  diphthong  (aau),  with  the  first  element  predominant, 
and  the  final  short,  and  thus  distinguished  from  the  German  au 
(au).  Not  (ao,  ao)  as  suggested  by  Rapp.  Never  (AA),  but  con- 
founded occasionally  with  o  in  MSS,  with  which  compare  the 
Welch  confusion  of  aw,  o  (au,  oo).  "When  a  is  final  and  emphatic 
there  seems  to  be  an  inclination  to  sound  after  it  a  whispered  u 
('u),  or  the  labio- gutturals  (wh,  gwh),  just  slightly  touched,  as  d 
(aau]_wh)  river,  fa  (faauLwh).  Before  a  doubled  letter  the  first 
element  is  somewhat  shortened,  and  before  doubled  t,  the  guttural 
is  decidedly  touched,  as  dtti  (au[k^ht't*)  had,  but  the  whole  com- 
bination is  spoken  with  extreme  brevity. 

-32,  the  diphthong  (aaa),  taken  by  Rapp  as  (a0),  from  his  inability 
to  appreciate  (*') ;  distinct  therefore  from  German  ei,  ai  (ai).  There 
is  an  unacknowledged  tendency  to  develop  a  palato-guttural  sound, 
as  (j,  jh,  ^h,  #h),  after  ce,  when  final,  or  before  a  vowel,  as  :  a3 
(aa^jh)  aye  ever,  sea  (aarja)  to  cry  for  pain.  And  before  two  con- 
sonants or  a  doubled  consonant,  the  first  element  is  shortened,  as : 
setla  (a^'tia)  to  think  settir  (att'tir)  oughtest. 

ATI  sounds  to  me  as  the  diphthong  (03032'),  scarcely  differing  from 
the  French  ceil  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Dutch  ui  on  the  other. 
Rask  refers  the  Icelandic  sound  to  the  German  eu,  as  Dr.  Gehle  did 
the  Dutch  (supra  p.  235,  n.  1,  and  p.  295,  n.  1),  and  Rapp,  as  I 
understand  him,  says  that  Rask  pronounced  the  diphthong  au  as 
(033),  which  pronunciation  seems  to  furnish  the  key  to  the  ortho- 
graphy, for  a  changes  its  sound  by  Umlaut  to  e  through  a  following 
i,  and  to  6  (oe)  through  a  following  u  (0),  as :  fa^Sir,  fo^ur  (faa'dher, 
foeoe'dh^r).  This  organic  law  of  change  was  probably  the  cause 
why  au  was  written  for  o  in  old  MSS.  quasi,  a  as  altered  by  the 
influence  of  u,  and  the  same  spelling  was  also  used  for  ou  (osce,?) 
most  naturally.  Now  since  (0)  is  often  confounded  with  (y),  and 
(y),  when  brief,  is  easily  confounded  with  (i),  we  see  how  au  might 

satt    och    omarbetad  af   Forfattaren,  bles,  and  in  accented  intermediate  to  (ah) 

1818.      Physiologic  der   Sprache   von  and  (a).— H.S.     Is  this  sound  (a f-)  ? 
Dr.   K.  M.  Rapp,  vol.   2  (1839),  pp.  2  Compare  the  Norfolk  mawther,  a 

128-139,  vol.   4  (1841)  p.  246.  Ver-  girl,   and  the   observation    in    Nail's 

gleichende  Grammatik,  vol.  3,  (1859),  Glossary.      This  Icelandic  word    was 

pp.  39-41.     Deutsche  Grammatik  von  formerly  mannr,  modern  Danish  mand. 
Jacob  Grimm,  vol.    1,    3rd  ed.,  1840,  3  For  the  use  of  \_  to  signify  a  scarcely 

pp.  421-495,  2nd  ed.  1822,  pp.  280-330.  audible  utterance  of  the  following  ele- 

1  Decidedly  (ah)  in  unaccented  sylla-  ment,  see  supra,  p.  419,  note,  col.  1. 


§  4,  No.  2. 


ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


541 


come  to  be  (03030,  oeoey,  ceo3«),  and,  in  the  present  absence  of  (y) 
from  the  language,  would  naturally  rest  in  (cece*).  The  German 
eu  is  very  variously  pronounced  (supra  p.  321,  note  2).  Rask  must 
have  alluded  to  the  somewhat  rare  (&y)  sound,  which  he  heard  as 
(oey).  If  the  view  here  taken  be  correct,  the  sound  (ce0)  was  pro- 
bably the  oldest  form  of  this  diphthong,  and  the  antiquity  of  the 
(9)  sound  of  u,  is  also  rendered  probable.1  Ex.  hlaup  (Ihoeoeip) 
course,  lauf  (loeoe/v)  leaf,  skaut  (skoeoett)  lap,  kaupa  (kcecerpa)  buy. 

B  is  always  (b). 

C  is  "  used  by  old  writers  indiscriminately  with  k,  especially  at 
the  end  of  monosyllables.  It  is  now  used  only  in  ck  for  kk,  but 
many  write  kk  and  thus  shut  c  entirely  out  of  the  language,  a 
custom  which  is  already  (1818)  old,  though  not  general." — Rask. 

D  is  always  intended  to  be  (d)  according  to  the  present  orthogra- 
phy, but  in  older  printed  matter  it  also  stood  for  ¥>.  It  is  found  only 
at  the  beginning  of  words  and  syllables,  and  after  /,  n,  m,  and  d.  It  is 
occasionally  written  when  not  pronounced,  as:  syndga  (snrga)  to  sin. 

D  is  precisely  the  English  (dh),  but  never  occurs  initially  in 
Icelandic,  where  it  is  found  in  place  of  (d),  after  vowels  and  r,  f,  g, 
and  "in  old  writers  it  is  sometimes  found  after  I,  m." — Rask. 
There  are  some  districts  in  Western  Iceland  where  it  cannot  be 
pronounced,  and  is  replaced  by  (d).  It  has  disappeared  in  Swedish, 
but  is  heard  though  not  written,  in  Danish.  The  present  use  of 
]?,  ^  in  Icelandic  accords  generally  with  their  written  use  in  Anglo- 
saxon,  and  consequently  there  is  a  presumption  that  the  English 
use  of  an  initial  (dh)  is  modern,  see  supra  p.  515.2 


1  This  conjecture  will  be  incorrect  if, 
as  seems  probable,  Mr.  Sweet's  views 
are  to  be  adopted,  infra,  p.  559. 

2  Since  p.  515  was  sent  to  press,  Mr. 
Henry  Sweet  bas  read  bis  investigation 
of  the  meaning  of  ]>  ft  before  the  Phi- 
lological Society  (4  June,  1869).     He 
considers  that  the  sound  was  originally 
uniformly  vocal  =  (dh),  in  the  earliest 
stages  of  the  Teutonic  languages,  and 
that  the  non-vocal  (th)  is  a  later  and 
progressive  development.     He  believes 
that  the  earliest  Icelandic  of  the  xm  th 
century  had  the  same  pronunciation  of 
}>  ft  as  the  modern,  except  in  the  words 
which    have    exceptionally   an  initial 
vocal   form  in  English,  thus,  ancient 
fiat,  ftessi  ft u—  modern  ]>aft,  J?mz,  ]>ii.. 
But  the  testimony  of  Icelandic  MSS. 
he  finds  to  be  very  uncertain.     In  mo- 
dern Icelandic,  ft  is  often  evanescent 
(l_dh),  according  to  Mr.  Sweet, and  in  the 
Norwegian  dialects  it  disappears  entirely 
leaving  an  hiatus.   See  Rapp's  opinion, 
infra  p.  555,n.,col.  2.  It  shouldbemen- 
tioned  that  one  of  our  words  having  an 

nitial  (dh),  though,  is  pronounced  with 
initial  (th)  in  Scotland,  (thoo),  which 


however,  may  be  a  remnant  of  the  form 
thocht,  possibly  a  form  of  thought,  for 
which  initial  (th)  would  be  regular. 
As  regards  Anglosaxon,  the  real  usages 
of  MSS.,  disregarding  the  manipula- 
tion of  editors,  are  very  uncertain,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Sweet.  The  Northum- 
brian writings  use  ft  everywhere,  except 
in  the  contraction  )>*.  Rapp  ( Verglei- 
chende  Grammatik,  iii,  128)  complains 
that  a  great  mistake  has  been  made 
respecting  Anglosaxon  ]>  ft,  especially 
in  England.  The  Anglosaxons,  he 
says,  probably  wrote  first  with  runic, 
then  with  Latin  letters,  and  there  being 
no  Latin  letter  for  (th),  the  sound  was 
represented  in  three  ways ;  occasion- 
ally, even  in  the  oldest  monuments,  by 
th,  [compare  supra  p.  525,  1.  22]  ; 
afterwards  by  the  runic  )?,  and  thirdly 
by  the  Icelandic  ft.  Englishmen  could 
not  but  feel  that  }?,  ft  were  convenient 
representatives  for  their  own  two  sounds 
(th,  dh),  although  a  cursory  inspection 
of  the  MSS.  would  shew  the  discord- 
ance ;  so  that  some  inverted  the  order 
and  made  ]?,  ft  =  (dh,  th),  [supra  p.  515, 
note  1].  Neither  the  Anglosaxon  nor 


542  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  Y. 

E  is  properly  (ee,  e)  long  and  short.1  The  sound  did  not  appear 
to  me  to  be  so  low  as  (EE,  E),  and  certainly  was  not  so  high  as  (ee,  e). 
Grimm  (ib.  pp.  427-432)  endeavours  to  divide  the  sound  into 
two,  (e)  corresponding  to  Gothic  a,  and  («),  which  he  writes  e,  cor- 
responding to  Gothic  *.  There  is  no  trace  of  this  in  the  spoken 
language.  Ex.  ennfremur  (en*free*m^r)  and  further ;  sem  (seem) 
who ;  herrar  (nerrar)  lords,  verk  (verk)  work,  etc.  Initially  it  is 
occasionally  pronounced  like  e,  as  :  eg  (jee^h)  /. 

E',  E",  the  form  e  was  proposed  by  Rask,  and  has  been  generally 
adopted,  the  older  writers  employ  e  or  omit  the  accent  altogether, 
leaving  it  to  be  supplied  by  the  reader — either  form  is  considered 
equivalent  to  je,  and  should  therefore  be  (jee,  je),  but  in  fact,  as 
in  many  cases  where  j  is  written,  the  result  is  often  a  diphthong 
with  the  stress  on  the  first  element,  as :  tre  (triee)  tree,  mer  (im'eer) 
to  me ;  but :  fenu  (£ree*no,  fie'eTia)  fees,  property,  rettur  (rjet'tor)2 
right,  fell  (fjedtlh)M  etc. 

El,  EY.  These  two  signs  are  now  identical  in  signification. 
Rask  says  that  the  two  sounds  are  still  distinct  in  Norway,  where 
ey  =  (cei),  and  in  the  Ferro  dialect,  where  it  is  commonly  (oi).  At 
present,  however,  both  are  (eei)  or  (<?<?'j),  not  sensibly  differing  from 
southern  English  day,  and  having  its  first  element  distinctly  (ee} 
and  hence  materially  differing  from  e.  It  is  occasionally  shortened 
by  shortening  the  first  element,  and  then  may  be  written  (e\_i)  to 
shew  the  brevity  of  the  second  element,  so  that  the  effect  is  almost 
(e).  Ex.  seil  (seeil]  towing  line,  heill  (H^'dtlh)  whole,  feirra  (ihe\_ix'- 
ra)  of  them,  eytt  (e[ii)  wasted. 

F,  properly  (f ),  with  a  very  mild  hiss,  scarcely  more  than  a 
single  tooth  being  touched  by  the  lower  lip,  so  that  it  approaches 
(ph).  It  has  this  sound  only  at  the  beginning  of  syllables,  or  before 
s.  or  when  doubled.  At  the  end  of  a  word  or  between  vowels  it 
falls  into  an  equally  mild  (v).  Before  I,  n,  at  the  end  of  syllables 
it  falls  into  (b),  but  if  d  or  t  follow  the  n,  then  fnd,  fnt  become 
(mnd,  mnt),  most  generally,  though  some  say  (mnd,  fnt).  Ex. 
fotur  (foou*fe?r)  foot,  ofsi  (ovs»)  arrogance ;  haf  (aaav)  sea,  arfr 
(arvvr)  inheritance ;  tafia  (tabia)  table,  nafn  (nab'nh)  name  ;  nefna 
(neb'na)  to  name,  nefnt  (neinnt)  supine  of  nefna ;  jafnt  (jaft),  from 
the  pulpit  (jamnt)  equally.3 

G  is  the  most  changeable  of  all  the  letters,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
lay  down  rules  which  should  apply  to  every  case.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  syllables  it  is  (g)  before  a,  d,  o,  6,  u,  {i,  6,  au,  and  (g)  before 
ce,  e,  ei,  i,  i,  y,  y,  ey  and  also  before  j.  The  first  group  corresponds 

Early  English  use  J?  or  ft  in  place  of  and  $  eliminated.  He  even  assumes  ini- 

an  organic  (d).     The  Englishman  now  tial  £A  =  (th)  in  Chaucer,  see  the  intro- 

pronounces  the  demonstrative  pronomi-  duction  to  Chap.  VII.  §  1,  near  the  end. 

nal    family  with    initial   (dh),   which  l  I  took  the  e  for  (E)  instead  of  (e). 

no  one  has  yet  asserted  for  Anglosaxon  — H.S. 

(was  noch  niemand  im  Angelsachsischen  2  The    sound  before   tt  is   a    pure 

behauptet  hat}.  He  considers  that  Eng-  aspirate    without    consonant    quality, 

lish  (dh)  has  arisen  partly  from  (th)  rett  (riEH 't).— H.S. 

and  partly  from  (d),  and  that  in  Anglo-  3  Jafnt  or  jamt  with  voiceless  m 

saxon  ]?,  d, must  be  everywhere  restored,  (jamht) . — H.S. 


§  4,  No.  2.  ICELANDIC    PRONUNCIATION.  543 

to  non-palatal  vowels,  and  the  second  to  palatal  vowels,  "but  this 
division  is  not  exact,  for  e,  u  6  (e,  9,  ce)  have  precisely  the  same 
elevation  of  the  tongue  as  ei  (eei),  and  ce  (aa*)  is  a  back  vowel, 
before  which  the  use  of  the  palatal  (g]  is  exactly  similar  to  that  in 
older  English  regard,  sky  (ri^aard',  s/cai),  supra  p.  206.  The  palatal 
It,  g  are  expressed  by  kj,  gj  before  the  first  group,  and  should  always 
be  so  expressed.  G  after  a,  o,  becomes  (gh),  and  after  6,  u,  it  falls 
into  (wh,  wh,  w)  or  almost  entirely  disappears.  But  after  an  (i) 
sound,  it  becomes  (#h,  Kh)  or  even  completely  (jh,  j),  and  occasion- 
ally disappears  as  (i).  These  changes  are  extremely  interesting  be- 
cause they  shew  the  stages  through  which  the  ags.  5  passed  in  older 
English  before  it  entirely  subsided  into  the  present  (j  i,  w  u)  or 
totally  disappeared.  We  have,  therefore,  an  actual  living  example 
of  the  intermediate  sounds,  already  suggested  by  theory,  establish- 
ing the  correctness  of  the  previous  hypothesis,  supra,  p.  512.  Ex. : 
(g),  gafa  (gaau*va)  gift,  gas  (gaaus)  goose,  gaukur  (gcecer^r)  cuckow, 
glo'S  (glooudh)  live  coal,  go^ur  (goou  dh^r),  go'ra  (^oace'ra)  to 


(g),  ga3s  (^aa^s)  geese,  gasta  (^raarta)  to  keep,  geit  (geeii]  goat,  gjo'f 
(^iceoev)  gift,   gjarn  (^iadtnh)  prone,  pyngja  (piiq^ia)  purse, 
gefa  (^ee'va)  give. 
(gh)  og  (oogh)  and,  do'gum  (doeoegh^m)  to  days,  sag^i  (saah|_glr- 

dlw)  daglaunamenn  (daaLghioeoarnamen*)  day  labourers, 
(gwh,  wh,  w),  ljuga  (Lniu*|_gwha,  Lnnr[_wha,  Lniirwa,  Lrau'a)  to  tell 
a  falsehood,  all  varieties  of  barely  pronounced  (gwh)  being  per- 
missible, and  the  last  two  forms  being  most  common.  This 
disappearance  of  (gwh)  strongly  calls  to  mind  the  absence  of 
(gh)  in  the  Welch  system  of  mutation  of  initial  consonants, 
thus  (b,  f,  m ;  d,  dh,  n)  should  have  in  Welch  a  correspond- 
ing (g,  gh,  q),  but  instead  of  (gh)  an  hiatus  is  substituted  as  : 
eu  gafr,  dy  afr,  fy  ngafr  (ey  gaav'r,  da  aav'r,  va-qaav'r),  their, 
thy,  my  goat,  where  we  ought  clearly  to  have  (da  ghaav'r). 
(#h,  jh)  mig  (imY^h)  me,  eigum  (eeig^'dm)  possessions,  sig  (sw^h) 

himself,  eg  (jee^rh)  /,  gnaBg^S  (gnaa/[^hd),  enough. 
(Kh)  f jarla3gt  (fiariaa«(_^ht)  far  lying. 

(j)  feginn  (fee'j/n)  fain,  segja  (seei'ja)  to  say,^  dragrS  (draa'j«'dh), 
draw,  put,  bogi  (boo'Ji)  low  for  shooting,  agi  (aa'j*)  chastisement, 
bagindi  (baau'j«hd«)  troubles. 

In  addition  to  these  we  must  reckon  the  cases  where  a  scarcely 
perceptible  (#h,  jh,  gwh,  wh)  is  developed  from  (i,  uu)  as :  03,  bii 
(a^jh,  buu|_wh)  ever,  farm.  The  Swedish  reading  of  gn  as  (qn)  is 
unknown  except  when  d,  t  follow  as  lygndi  (bVqn'dt)  became  calm, 
rigndi,  rignt  (riVqn-d*,  rwqnt)  was  rained  on.  When  s  follows  the 
n  is  lost,  as  gagns  (gagks). 

H  before  vowels  is  (H',  H)  and  is  never  dropped.  Before  conso- 
nants it  is  used  simply  to  make  them  voiceless.  Thus  we  have  the 
remarkable  set  of  digraphs,  HJ,  HL,  HN,  HE,,  HY,  existing  as 
distinct  (jh,  Hi,  nh,  rh,  wh),  as  was  conjectured  for  Anglosaxon, 


544  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

p.  513.  HJ  =  (jh)  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  initial  element  in 
my  pronunciation  of  hue  (jhiu),  and  is  not  (Ich,  #h),  "but  of  course 
only  slightly  different.  HL  =  (Ih)  is  the  true  whispered  (1),  with 
the  breath  passing  out  at  each  side  of  the  tongue,  and  hence  dif- 
ferent from  the  unilateral  Welch  II  (Ihh),  so  that  Welch  :  lladd 
(Ihhaadh)  to  kill,  and  Icelandic  :  hla^  (lhaadh)  a  street,  a  mound, 
are  perfectly  distinct  in  sound.  This  (Ih)  sound  is  also  frequently 
developed  from  II  final,  intended  for  dl,  but  called  (dtlh)  as  all 
(audtlh)  eel,  and  even  before  t,  as  :  alt  (alht)  all.  It  would 
therefore  naturally  replace  our  English  final  ('!)  in  fiddle,  if  I 
occurred  final  after  a  consonant,  just  as  the  modern  French  stable 
(stablh),  p.  52.  x  This  is  really  the  case  with  HN  =  (nh),  which  not 
only  occurs  initially,  as  hmfur  (nhirwr)  knife,2  but  in  nn  as  :  einn 
one,  and  :  vatn  (vatnh)  water.  In  HE,  =  (rh)  the  Icelandic 


possesses  perfect  whispered  r,  which  on  the  analogy  of  (Ih,  nh) 
is  the  sound  of  the  favourite  nominative  termination  -r  in  old 
Norse,  as  :  bleikr,  deigr  (blmlxh,  deeigrh)  pale,  wet,  but  the  modern 
custom  is  to  use  -ur  (-0r)  in  its  place,  and  this  pronunciation  has 
probably  arisen  from  the  sound  (rh)  having  been  dropped,  and  (r) 
simply  retained,  as  (blm'kr)  with  a  distinct  trilled  (r)  not  forming 
a  syllable,  and  different  from  (blm'k'r),  into  which  it  probably  sank, 
before  the  transition  into  (bberkar)  took  place,  as  the  Icelander 
naturally  conceives  all  indistinct  sounds  to  be  (9")  which  is  his 
"  natural  vowel."  The  close  resemblance  of  (rh)  to  (s)  however, 
and  the  correspondence  of  the  Icelandic  -r  with  the  Gothic  -s, 
renders  the  old  sound  (rh)  extremely  probable,  and  possibly  the 
old  Latin  confusion  of  terminal  s,  r  as  arbos  arbor,  honos  honor, 
may  rest  upon  a  similar  antecedent  whispered  pronunciation  of  r. 
The  use  of  HV  =  (wh)  is  the  most  singular,  because  (w)  is  not  a 
recognized  element  in  the  language,  and  it  will  be  best  considered 
under  V. 

I  is  distinctly  (n,  *)  both  long  and  short,  the  very  sounds  which 
we  were  led  to  attribute  to  i  in  the  xrv  th  century  (p.  297).  It  is 
interesting  also  to  see  that  foreigners,  unable  to  appreciate  the  true 
(«Y  t),  confuse  it  with  (ee,  e},3  which  is  a  corroboration  of  the  re- 

1  The  sound  of  hi  is  more  correctly          3  Eask  says  that  the  "  sound  espe- 
(Ijh).  —  H.  S.      See  infra,  p.  546,  n.  1.       cially  when  it  is  long  seems  to  approach 

to  that  of  the  deep  e  (e)."     Eapp  says 

2  Compare  Cooper,  p.  32,  "N  For-  "folglich  i  =  e'gilt,"  i.e.  consequently 
matur  ah  extremitate  linguae  superio-  \  =  (e).     Grimm  says:   "AVahrend  der 
rum  dentium  radici  apposita  (si  spiri-  unterschied  zwischen  i  und  i  in  solchen 
tus  utrinque  per  lahia  etflatur  formatur  zweisilhigen  formen  beinahe  unmerk- 
1}  huic  correspondet  hn,  quam  scrihunt  lich  sein,  z.  h.  qvrSa  poema  fast  lauten 
.Angli  per  kn,  know  hnow,  cognosce."  musz  wie  qvifta  metus,  obschon  kurzes 

—  p.   37,    "7m   quam  scribimus   kn."       i  im  munde  des   Islanders  sich  dem 

—  p.  38,  "zh,  wh,  sh,  th,  hn  in  Alpha-  elaut  nahert,"  i.e.  he  considers  that  the 
beto  non  numerantur."—  p.  39,  "  kn  dissyllables    qvifta    poem,  qvi'Sa  fear 
ponitur  pro  hn."  —  p.  67.     "  Kn  sona-  ought  to   be  nearly  indistinguishable, 
tur  ut  hn;  knave  nebulo,  knead  mala  "  although  in  tbe  mouth  of  an  Icelander 
cisso,  knee  genu,  kneel  ingeniculor,  knife  short  i  approaches  to  the  sound  of  e." 
culter,  kniyht  eques,  knit  necto;  ,  knock  (Gr.  I3,  486).      Mr.   Sweet  says  than 
tundo,  know  nosco,  kmickle  articulus  ;  in  unaccented  syllables  i  is  rather  (e) 
quasi  knave,  etc."  than  (*'). 


§  4,  No.  2.  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  545 

mark,  p.  271,  and  even  in  some  terminations,  e  often  stands  in 
MSS.  for  «',  as  in :  haskalegr,  misseri,  lande,  for  haskaligr,  missiri, 
landi  (naaus-kahYg^r,  mis'stVrt,  land'n)  dangerous,  quarter  year,  to  a 
land.  At  the  present  day,  however,  the  (ii)  is  very  distinct,  as  is 
never  confused  with  (ii),  thus  :  vinum  mmum  (vM'n^m  mirn^m)  do 
not  rhyme,  and  children  in  repeating  the  alphabet  never  confuse  *  with 
z,  that  is  (ii)  with  (ii).  Icelandic  is  the  only  language  I  have  met 
with  which  distinctly  recognizes  this  long  (ft),  though  we  have  seen 
that  it  is  occasionally  generated  in  English  (p.  106).  The  short  i 
is  the  true  usual  English  (i),  and  is  perfectly  distinct  from  (i).  In 
older  books  i  before  a  vowel  was  used,  where  j  is  now  employed. 

T  on  the  other  hand  is  (ii,  i),  generally  long,  but  short  in  un- 
accented syllables.  It  is  not,  however,  found  short  in  closed  ac- 
cented syllables  as  in  Scotch  and  French.1  Rask  considers  i,  u  as 
diphthongs,  as  it  were  ij  uv  =  (ii,  0u),  but  there  is  no  foundation  for 
this  in  actual  speech,  and  the  conception  seems  due  to  the  mode  of 
writing. 

J  was  used  as  the  ancient  capital  of  *,  at  the  beginning  of  words, 
but  as  it  was  there  pronounced  as  (j)  before  vowels,  it  has  in  recent 
times  been  used  in  the  middle  of  words  before  vowels,  even  though 
the  sound  was  not  always  the  pure  consonant  (j),  but  much  more 
frequently  an  (i)  diphthongising  with  the  following  vowel.  It 
changes  a  preceding  k,  g  from  (k,  g)  into  (k,  g\  but  the  sound  of  (i) 
is  still  heard  as  much  as  in  the  Italian :  chiaro,  ghiaja  (&iaa*ro, 
^iaria)  clear,  gravel.  It  does  not  seem  to  change  a  preceding  I,  n 
from  (1,  n)  into  (Ij,  nj),  as  Ija  (liaau)  new  cut  grass,  Ijo^S  (lidoudh) 
poem,  liufur  (limrv^r)  gentle,  Ijae  (liaa&)  to  lend',  nialgur  (niaaul*- 
g?r)  hedgehog  .  In  some  cases  the  sound  of  (j)  would  be  difficult 
as  :  fjarins  (fiaau'rinzs)  of  the  fee,  fjarlaegt  (fiaarlaae'j_£ht)  far-lying, 
bjost  (biooust)  busked,  brjosti  (briooust'*)  breast,  hljop  (Ihiooup) 
leaped.  Hence/  must  be  merely  looked  upon  as  a  dipthongizing  (i), 
not  (*').  In  all  these  cases,  however,  a  simple  (j)  would  be  con- 
sidered correct,  thus  (Lraau,  Ijooudh,  LTUUVOT,  Lraaa,  maaul'gdr, 
fraau'rins,  fjaar*laa«[_7cht,  bjooust,  brjoous'ta,  Ihjooup). 

K  is  (k)  before  a,  a,  o,  6,  u,  ii,  6,  au  and  (k)  before  a,  e,  ei,  i,  I, 
y,  if,  ey,  j,  thus  kirkja  (kirkisC)  church,  contains  the  true  inter- 
mediate sound  between  the  Scotch  kirk  (kerk)  and  Chaucer's  chirche 
(tshirtsh-e),  supra  pp.  203-6.2  K  does  not  assume  the  forms  (kh, 
£h,  kwh),  and  hence  differs  materially  from  Gr. 

L  is  usually  and  always  intentionally  (1),  but  the  sound  of  (Ih) 
is  sometimes  produced  by  a  following  t,  as  alt  (alht)  all.  In  the 
case  of  U,  the  first  /  is  pronounced  as  (d),  and  if  the  second  is  final, 
it  becomes  (lh\  and  thus  generates  a  (t)  in  passing  from  (d),  so 
that  the  combination  becomes  (-dtlh),  and  the  first  (d)  is  frequently 
scarcely  audible,  as  (-[_dtlh),  the  whole  combination  being  rapidly 

1  Short  (i)  in  Jnng  (thiqg).     I  think  2  I  thought  Jc  hefore  e,  i,  etc.,  was 

Mr.  Hjaltalin  said  that  the  pronuncia-  really  (kj)   not  (kj  =  *),  but  this  was 

tion  (thiqg)  with  open  (i)  sometimes  probably  incorrect. — H.  S. 
occurs. — H.  S. 

35 


546  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

pronounced,1  and  rl  is  treated  in  the  same  way,  thus :  kail  karl 
(kai  dtlh)  calling,  churl.  Between  two  vowels,  II  is  distinctly  (dl) 
as  kalla  (kadia)  to  call.  See  K  For  hi  see  H. 

M  is  always  intentionally  (m),  but  may  be  voiceless  (mh)  before  t. 

JS"  is  always  intentionally  (n),  but  after  t,  k  final,  (nh)  is  generated 
as :  vatn  (vatnh)  water,  regn  (reg[_knh)  rain,  vagn  (vagj_knh)  wain, 
and  nn  rn  are  both  (-Ldtnh)  final,  see  L.  Thus  klenn  (klie|_dtnh) 
small,  finn  (fii|_dtnh)  fine,  jam  (jaau|_dtnh)  iron.  "  But  should 
nn  belong  to  the  following  syllable,  or  if  it  be  a  simple  vowel  that 
goes  before,  the  sound  is  (n),  as  a-nni  (aun*m)  to  the  river,  dat.  sing, 
with  art.,  ey-nni  (em'ni)  to  the  island  ;2  so  also  :  kanna  (kan'na)  to 
survey,  hann  (nan)  he,  brenna  (bren'na)  to  burn,  etc.  Old  writers 
often  used  II,  nn,  in  all  cases  before  d,  t  without  regard  to  the 
radical  form,  though  the  custom  was  never  general.  This  nnd  has 
been  long  since  entirely  laid  aside,  as  also  II,  d  where  the  root  has 
a  simple  I,  Ij." — Rask*  In  NG  'the  n  becomes  (q),  and  the  g  has 
its  full  sound  of  (g),  thus  Jnng  (thiiqg)4  council,  assembly,  and  the 
preceding  vowel  is  always  one  of  the  accented  series  d,  i,  6,  u,  y. 
Konra^  Gislason,  however,  maintains  that  the  vowel  should  always 
be  unaccented  in  old  Norse ;  but  his  opinion  does  not  find  much 
favour.  NK  is  also  pronounced  (qk)  as :  fanki  (thaauqk**)  mind, 
thought,  hanki  (naauqk'fl)  handle  of  a  basket,  ear  of  a  jar. 

0  is  the  pure  (oo,)  long  and  short,  supra  pp.  94-96,  quite  dis- 
tinct from  the  English  (AA,  o),5  and  is  identified  by  Rask  with  the 
Swedish  a,  Russian  and  Finnish  o,  but  as  he  also  makes  it  the  same 
as  English  o  (o),  some  doubt  attaches  to  the  other  indications. 

0'  is  the  pure  English  diphthong  (oou)  as  heard  in  know.  The 
final  u  here  generates  a  -(w)  when  another  vowel  follows,  as  soa^i 
(soo'wadhi)  wasted.  "When  a  doubled  U  follows,  where  there  is  an 
assimilated  guttural,  the  first  element  is  shortened,  and  the  guttural 
is  faintly  heard,  as  dottir  (d0u[_gM>ht*t«r)  daughter.  "When  6  is  final, 
the  (u)  is  heard  quite  as  distinctly  as  in  English,  thus  sko  (skoou) 
shoes,  is  a  perfect  rhyme  to  know. 

0,  (E,6  is  (c9C9,  03)  long  and  short,  and  is  kept  quite  distinct  from 
(99,  9),  as  in  dogum  (do303gh'0m)  to  days.  The  form  ce  is  only  used 
by  theoretical  writers. 

P  is  always  (p),  except  in  the  combination  pt  which  is  called  (ft) 
as  lopt  (loft)  air,  but  modern  writers,  and  among  them  the  learned 
Jon  porkelsson,  are  beginning  to  employ /£  by  preference. 

1  ZZ,    nn  =  ('dlh,    *dnh)    between  bles  being  etymological,  not  phonetic , 
Towels  generally,  as  well  as  final,  falla,  in  Icelandic,  -nn  is  said  to  belong  en- 
allra,  einna  =  (a'dlhrah),    etc.      Z  is  tirely  to  the  second  syllable,  but  a  dis- 
generally  rather  (Ij).  _    One  Icelander  tinct  (n,n)  is  really  pronounced. 

(Mr.  G.  Vigftisson)  said  he  could  not  3  Before   t,   n  is  voiceless  as  beint 

sound  the  English  L  Thus/a^«  is  more  (bm'nht). — H.S. 

correctly  (fa'dljhah). — H.S.  *  See  p.  545,  note  1. 

2  In  both  these  cases  -nni  stands  for  5  I  took  the  o  for  (o)  not  (o). — H.S. 
-inni  and  is  the  dat.  fern,  of  the  suffixed  6  In  old  Icelandic  there  was  a  long 
definite  article,  so  that  it  has  no  ety-  03  distinct  from  SB,  but  it  seems  to  have 
mological  connection  with  the  preced-  been  absorbed  by  SB  at  an  early  period, 
ing  d,  ey,  and  the  division  of  the  sylla-  — H.S. 


§  4,  No.  2.  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  547 

Q,Y  is  found  in  old  MSS.  but  even  there  interchanges  with  Jcv. 
At  present  q  has  no  value  different  from  (k),  and  consequently  (k) 
is  now  generally  written. 

R  is  a  strongly  trilled  (.r)  as  in  Scotland,  and  when  doubled,  as 
in  fjarri  (fia.r.re)  remote,  the  number  of  vibrations  of  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  is  very  great.  Final  -ur  (-0r)  is  however  more  lightly  pro- 
nounced. In  the  following  transcription  I  shall  simply  use  (r). 
but  the  reader  must  be  careful  never  to  say  (i).  The  combinations 
rl,  rn  are  considered  under  L,  N.  The  final  -r  after  consonants, 
was  probably  (rh)  see  Jir  under  H,  but  it  is  now  generally  replaced 
by  -ur  Or).1 

S  is  always  intentionally  (s),  and  never  (z),  but  (z)  is  sometimes 
generated,  although  it  is  not  recognized.  Thus  (*)  final  after  I,  n, 
and  perhaps  in  other  cases,  generates  an  intermediate  (z).  For  ex- 
ample, if  we  compare :  ems,  sins  (eemzs,  siinzs),  with  English 
stains,  scenes  (stmnzs,  siinzs),  we  shall  see  that  the  difference 
of  the  terminations,  here  written  alike,  arises  from  the  (s)  in  Ice- 
landic being  intentional  and  predominant,  but  the  (z)  generated 
and  therefore  lightly  touched,  while  in  English  the  (z)  is  inten- 
tional and  predominant,  and  though  the  (s)  is  often  prolonged, 
and  in  the  church  singing  of  charity  children,  not  unfrequently 
painfully  hissed,  it  is  yet  merely  generated  by  a  careless  relaxation 
of  the  voice,  and  its  very  existence  is  unknown  to  many  speakers. 
We  might  therefore  write  the  Icelandic  (-n[_zs)  and  the  English 
(-nz[_s),  but  (-ns,  -nz)  is  sufficient  for  most  purposes.  I  found  also 
that  there  was  an  unacknowledged  tendency  to  pronounce  s  final 
after  long  vowels,  in  the  same  way  ;  thus  :  las,  has,  meis,  vis,  hris, 
ros,  hus,  mus  sounded  to  me  (laauzs,  baauzs,  mm'zs,  viizs,  rhiizs, 
roouzs,  HUUZS,  muuzs)  halter,  stable,  manger,  wise,  vegetable,  rose, 
house,  mouse,  the  two  last  words  sounding  quite  different  from  the 
Scotch  (HUS,  mus).  Even  in  the  name  of  Iceland  itself,  Island,  I  found 
the  s  varying  from  (z)  to  (s)  at  different  times,  as  (iisiand,  iiz'land). 
Between  two  vowels  s  may  similarly  have  a  tendency  to  become  (z), 
but  I  have  not  had  time  to  examine  the  numerous  words  of  this 
class  orally,  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  examine  natives  who  had 
not  learned  the  sound  of  (z)  from  other  languages.  We  may 
always  pronounce  (s)  without  offence,  but  (z)  would  be  frequently 
very  offensive.  Initially  before  /,  s  seems  to  assume  the  form  (sj) 
or  (shj),  the  latter  was  the  sound  I  heard  in  sjukur  (shjmrk^r) 
sick.  Icelanders  have  a  difficulty  in  acquiring  the  sound  of  English 
(sh),  except  in  such  a  word  as  sugar,  which  they  probably  call 
(shjuug-^r).2 

T  is  the  usual  (t),  but  in  tt,  where  the  first  t  stands  for  an  assimi- 
lated guttural,  while  both  letters  are  pronounced  (t,t),  the  guttural 
still  generally  asserts  itself,  see  JE,  A,  0'. 

lp  is  (th),  and  that  invariably,  although  it  stands  in  places  where 

1  In  rt,  the  r  is  voiceless,  as  hart      pronounce  (sh,  tsh).     They  sound  our 
(narht). — H.S.  church  as  (siErhs).     They  also  find  our 

2  Most   Icelanders  seem  unable  to       (z)  very  difficult.— H.S. 


548  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

(dh)  is  now  pronounced  in  English.  Eask,  however,  excepts  "  pro- 
nouns and  particles  which  in  daily  speech  are  attracted  like  en- 
clitics to  the  foregoing  word,  as  a  sefi-Jriimi1  in  thy  days,  hafir  ]m 
hast  thou  ?  where  it  has  the  sound  of  *S.  The  word  J?ii  is  often  thus 
contracted  with  verbs,  in  which  case  u  loses  its  accent,  and  )  is 
changed  into  *6,  d,  or  t,  as  the  foregoing  letter  may  require ;  as 
haf-^u  (Havdh<?)  Imper.  of  hafa  to  have,  kom-du  (konrd*)  Imper. 
of  koma,  ris-tu  (riis'te)  of  risa  to  rise"  These  are  equivalent  to 
Chaucer's  saystow  wiltow  (sais'tu,  w^lt'u),  sayest  thou,  wilt  thou, 
(supra  p.  371,  art.  98,  c,  Ex.)  the  vulgar  German  haschte  (Haslrt?) 
=  hast  du,  hast  thou,  etc.  They  are  generated,  unintentional  sounds.2 

U  seems  to  be  pure  (99,  9)  long  and  short,  and  the  existence  of 
the  forms  d,  6  (aau,  oou)  would  seem  to  indicate  the  absence  of  any 
letter  for  (u)  even  in  ancient  times,  and  au  for  (cece)  and  (03032)  ap- 
pears to  imply  that  this  value  of  u  was  ancient,  see  ATI.3  This 
sound  of  (9)  is  often  confused  with  (y),  on  the  one  hand,  and  (ce)  on 
the  other.  Thus  to  Mr.  M.  Bell  the  French  u  sounds  (0),  and  to 
me  (y).  In  our  own  provinces  (y,  9}  seem  to  be  heard  indifferently, 
thus  I  heard  both  (tyy)  and  (te?)  for  two  in  Norwich.  See  also  the 
Devonshire  sounds  in  (p.  301  note).  In  Scotland  (y)  and  (d)  are 
both  used,  though  only  (y)  is  generally  recognized.  I  hear  (9)  for 
the  French  e  muet,  but  others  hear  (a,  *h).  In  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many (ce)  and  in  others  (0)  are  used  for  6.  Hence  we  must  not  be 
surprised  at  Eask's  finding  Icelandic  u  "  almost  like  deep4  Swedish  6 
in  Hog  role, " probably  (0),  or  "German  w,"  which  he  may  have  heard  as 
(0),  wishing  to  keep  it  distinct  from  (i)  into  which  his  own  Danish 
y  had  fallen.  He  adds  that  "the  word  gu^S  God  is  pronounced 
nearly  as  gvo^  or  gvirS,"  but  to  me  it  sounds  (gvwdh)  or  (gM^dh) 
where  the  inserted  v,  or  a  labialized  g  arising  perhaps  from  an 
intense  effort  to  avoid  any  palatisation  of  the  g  into  (gj).  The 
distinction  between  the  sounds  of  u,  6  (9,  ce)  is,  if  I  rightly  ap- 
preciate it,  precisely  the  same  as  that  between  z,  i  (i,  *'),  or  (e,  e) 
that  is,  the  position  of  the  tongue  and  lips  is  the  same  for  both 
elements  in  each  pair,  but  the  whole  of  the  back  part  of  the  mouth 
etc.,  is  wider  for  the  second  element  in  each  pair  than  for  the  first. 

If  is  (uu,  u),  long  in  accented,  short  in  open  unaccented  syllables.5 
Eask  says  that  it  has  two  sounds,  apparently  (uu,  u],  but  his  expla- 
nation is  quite  unintelligible,  owing  to  his  confusing  vowels  so  un- 
like, as  (a,  9,  o,  u).  No  such  distinction  was  admitted  by  Mr. 
Magnusson.  It  seems  impossible  to  an  Icelander  to  pronounce 
final  u  without  some  labio-guttural  intonation  after  it,  such  as  (wh, 
gwh),  thus :  bu  (buu)  or  rather  (buu|_wh)  farm. 

1  The  change  of  J>  to  "S  is  rare  in  ology,  thus  art.  15,  he  speaks  of  "a  or 
this  case.  high   e  in  the    Swedish   word    engel, 

2  See  note  on  $,  supra,  p.  541,  n.  2.  French  e  in  apres,  English  e  in  fellow 

3  See,  however,  a  different  opinion  or  ai  in  hair"  and  " the  lower  sound 
advanced  by  Mr.  Sweet,  infra,  p.  559.  of  e  in  the  Swedish  lefva,  veta,  French 

e." 

1  Eask  calls  (e)  deep,  and  (e)  high,          6  Short  (u)  in  >ungr,  not  (&}  as  if 
which  is  contrary  to  the  usual  termin-      spelled  u. — H.S. 


§  4,  No.  2.  ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION.  549 

Y  is  (v)  with  so  slight  a  contact  of  the  lower  lips  with  the  upper 
teeth  as  to  vary  in  effect  at  different  times  as  (bh,  v),  but  I  did  not 
feel  justified  in  noting  it  as  (bh)  without  having  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  the  sound  from  numerous  speakers.1  That  it  was  not 
originally  (v)  is  clear  to  me  from  the  combination  HY,  which 
is  called  (wh)  in  the  southern,  and  (kwh)  in  the  northern  districts 
of  Iceland,  corresponding  to  the  English  and  Scotch  sounds  of 
wh,  and  the  South  and  North  Wales  pronunciation  of  chw.  These 
point  to  an  original  (w)  and  to  the  transitional  sound  (bh)  before 
falling  into  (v).  For  the  unvoiced  (v)  could  only  be  (f),  the 
Aberdeen  expression  of  wh;  and  the  unvoiced  (bh)  would  be 
(ph),  neither  of  which  sounds  seem  to  be  used,  although  /  now 
falls  into  v.  It  is  very  possible  that  in  earlier  times  f  had  the 
true  sounds  of  (f,  v),  and  that  v,  then  not  distinguished  in  writing 
from  u,  was  (w),  whence  hv  would  be  (wh).  At  the  present  day,  v, 
hv  =  (v,  wh)  is  an  anomaly,  which  could  hardly  have  been  original. 

X  is  traditionally  used  for  ks,  gs,  without  any  known  reason, 
except  custom,  and  shortens  the  preceding  vowel  like  a  doubled 
consonant. 

Y  has  precisely  the  same  value  as  i  (i)  and  is  only  employed  to 
point  out  certain  grammatical  or  etymological  relations.  But  in 
some  valleys  it  is  yet  called  (y),  and  this  was  possibly  its  original 
sound.  The  present  sound  is  supposed  to  have  taken  its  rise  in  the 
xii  th  century,  and  to  have  become  prevalent  in  the  xrv  th. 

Y'  is  now  the  same  as  i  (ii).  "  The  name  of  the  letter,  however, 
is  pronounced  altogether  as  it  is  in  Swedish  and  Danish,"  says 
Rask,  that  is,  as  (yy)  or  more  commonly  ypsilon. 

Z  has  always  the  sound  of  (s),  its  use  is  merely  etymological 
or  literary,  shewing  that  some  letter  has  been  lost  before  s,  and  as 
it  is  not  consistently  employed,  it  would  be  better  disused  altogether. 

The  alphabet  is  read  thus,  in  Icelandic  orthography ;  a  a  be  ce 
de  e^  e  e  eff  ge  ha  i  i  jo^  ka  ell  emm  enn  o  6  pe  qu  err  ess  te  u  u 
vaff  ex  ypsilon  ypsilon  zeta  forn  93  =  (aa  aau  bjee  sjee  djee 
eedh  ee  jee  ef  ^jee  saau  ii  ii  joodh  kaau  edtlh  em  en  oo  oou  pjee 
kuu  er  es  tree  &9  uu  vaf  eks  ipstlon  iip'stlon  see'ta  thodtnh  aa*'). 
Both  se  and  03  are  written  occasionally,  but  they  are  not  distin- 
guished in  sound,  and  are  both  named  (aat) . 

The  stress  is  on  the  first  syllable  of  all  words  long  or  short, 
simple  or  compound,  but  in  the  case  of  compounds  each  component 
has  an  accent  as  if  it  were  simple,  and  the  chief  stress  lies  on  the 
first.  A  single  final  consonant,  or  a  single  consonant  between  two 
vowels,  leaves  the  preceding  vowel  long,  as  :  vel  (veel)  well,  man- 
saugur  (maan'scecei'jflr)  lovesong,  ve^S  (veedh)  pledge,  J?at  (thaat) 
that,  til  (t«Vl)  to.  A  doubled  consonant,  or  two  consonants  (of 
which  final  r  is  not  one)  shortens  and  "  stops"  the  preceding  vowel, 
and  diminishes  the  length  of  the  first  element  of  diphthongs. 
Doubled  consonants  are  fully  pronounced,  as  in  Italian,  supra  p.  55. 

1  I  thought  at  first  that  v  was  (bh),       Mr.    Hjaltalin   that  it  was  a  dental 
and  I  was  only  induced  to  consider  it      sound. — H.  S. 
as  a  (v)  by  the  distinct  statement  of 


550  ICELANDIC   PKONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

Rask  asserts  that  all  vowels  and  diphthongs  are  nasalized  when 
standing  immediately  before  m  and  n,  but  if  such  nasalisation 
exists,  it  must  be  very  slight,  and  I  did  not  detect  it.  But  see 
infra  p.  558,  1.  25. 

When  three  consonants  come  together  one  is  usually  omitted,  as 
halft  (naaulht)  half,  volgt  (volht)  lukewarm,  margt  (maart)  much. 
Similarly  islenzskt  (iisienst)  Icelandic,  danskt  (danst)  Danish ; 
gagns  (gagks)  of  use,  hrafhs  (rhafs)  a  crow's,  vatns  (vas)  water's. 
Similarly  r  is  little  heard  before  st  and  nd,  as  verstur  (vest^r)  worst, 
fyrstur  (f/s'ter)  first.  For  r/,  rn,  see  L,N;  foifnd,  fnt,  see  F,  for 
gnd,  gnt,  see  G. 

These  observations  will  give  the  reader  a  tolerably  complete 
notion  of  Icelandic  pronunciation,  and  enable  him,  with  a  little 
attention,  to  read  intelligibly.  There  is  no  sound  really  difficult  in 
the  language,  but  the  combinations  are  unusual,  and  will  require 
care.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  have  an  example,  for  which,  as 
already  mentioned  (p.  534,)  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  has 
been  selected.  The  text  is  taken  from  that  revised  by  Mr.  Magnus- 
son,1  and  the  pronunciation  was  written  down  from  his  dictation, 
and  afterwards  carefully  compared  with  his  reading.  The  transla- 
tion is  constructed  on  the  same  principles  as  before  (p.  534).  The 
reader  is  recommended  to  read  the  words  of  one  verse  over  with 
care  and  repeat  them  till  he  can  form  the  sounds  with  ease  and 
rapidity  from  memory  before  proceeding  to  a  second  verse.  If  he 
proceeds  through  the  whole  parable  in  this  way,  and  commits  the 
text  to  memory,  he  will -be  able  to  read  any  Icelandic  book  in- 
telligibly to  an  Icelander. 

Lukasar  Gu^spjall  15,  11-32.  Luuk'asar  Gv^dlrspiatlh,  15, 

11-32. 

11.  Ennfremur   sag^i   harm:          11.    En-free-nwr 
ma^ur  nokkur  atti  tvo  sonu,  nan :  maa'dh^r  nok' 

ii  tvoo  soo*n0, 

12.  Sa  yngri  Jjeirra  sag^i  vi^        12.  Saauiiq/gr*  th^jer'ra  saa[ghl 
fo^ur  sinn:    fa^Sir!    lat  mig  fa     dlw  v*dh  fceoedhvr  sm:  faa'dlm- ! 
fann    hluta    fjarins,    sem'  mer     laaut  nm#h    faau  than    Ih^'ta 
ber;   og  harm  skipti  milli  feirra     fmau-rinzs,    seem    mieer  beer; 
*£nu.  oogh  nan  sM't«'  mid-li  th^'rra 

ft'ee'n?. 

Verbatim  Translation. 
Luke's  Gospel,  15,  11-32.  father  Ms  :    father!   let  me  fang  that 

11.  Still-further  said  he  :  man  cer-      lot  of-the-fee  which  to-me  ar e -borne  ; 
tain  had  two  sons,  and  he  divided  between  them  fee-the. 

12.  The  younger  of -them  said  to          13.    Some     days     since,    took    the 

1  Hi$  Nya  Testamenti  Drottins  vors  The  New  Testament  of-Lord  ours  Jesus 

Jesti  Krists,   ftsamt  metf  Davids  Sal-  Christ,  together  with  Davids  Psalms, 

mum.    EndurskoSuS  utgafa.    Oxford  :  Revised  Edition.     Oxford  ;  printed  in 

prentaS    i   Prentsmiftju    Haskolans   i  Print-smithy    of  -  High  -  school  -  the   in 

Oxford,   a  Kostnaft   hins   Brezka    og  Oxford,   at    cost    of -the    British  and 

Erlenda  Bifliufelags.  1863.    Literally:  Foreign  Bible-fellowship. 


§  4,  No.  2. 


ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


551 


13.  Nokkrum  do  gum  srSar  tok 
sa  yngri  alt  fe  sitt  og  ferSa'Sist 
i  fjarlaegt  land;  far  soa^Si  hann 
fe  sinu  i  ohofsomum  lifna^i. 


14.  Nii    er  hann    hafSi  eytt 
6'llum    eigum    sinum,    kom   far 
miki^    hallasri   i    landi'S,    tok 
hann  fa  a^S  li^a  nau^, 

15.  For  hann  fa  og  re^Sst  til 
eins  borgara   i    fvf   landi,    sem 
sendi  hann  ut  a  bii  sitt,  a7^  gaeta 
far  svina  sinna ; 

16.  YarS  hann  fa  feginn,  a7^ 
se^ja  sig  af  draft  fvi,  er  svinin 
atu  ;    og   einginn   varS   til   a^ 
gefa  honum  nokku^. 

17.  "Nu.  er  hann  ranka^i  vift 
ser,  sag^i  hann:  hversu  marga 
daglaunamenn      heldur      fa^ir 
minn,  sem  hafa  gnaeg^S  matar  en 
eg  ferst  i  hungri  ; 

18.  Eg  vil  taka  mig  upp  og 
fara  til  fo'^Sur  mins,  og  segja  vrS 
hann :  Fa^Sir !  eg  hefi  syndga^ 
moti  himninum  og  fyrir  f  er, 

19.  Og  er  ekki  leingur  ver^ur 
a^  heita  sonur  finn.      Far  f  u 
med  mig  eins  og  einn  af  dag- 
launamonnum  f  mum. 


13. 

dhar  toouk  saau  iiq'gr*  alht  free 
sit  oogh  ferdhadhe'st  ii  fiaar*- 
laa^A'ht  land;  thaar 
nan  free  sii'na  ii 
soeoem^m  b'b'nadhe. 

14.  Nuu  er  nan  navdh«  e\_it 
oet'l^m  eei\_ghdTCL  siinvm,  koom 
thaar  nm'Mh  nad'laam  ii  land-- 
Vdh,  toouk  nan  thaau  aadh  lii'dha 


15.  Foour    nan    thaau    oogh 
rieedhst  t«Vl  eeinzs    bor-gara  ii 
thvii  land'^',  seem  send*/  nan  uut 
aau  buuLgwh   sit,    aadh  ^aaet'a 
thar  sviin'a  sm'na. 

16.  Yardh  nan  thaau  fee'jm, 
aadh  seedh'ja  sngh  aav  draavt 
thvii,    er   svinrm   aau't^,    oogh 

vardh  tiil  aadh  yee'va 
nok'k^dh. 

17.  !N"uu  er    nan   rauq'kadhi 
vndh   sieer,    saah^gh'dh/  nan  : 
whers?  marg'a  daaLghioeoerna- 
men*  neldvr  faa'dh«r  mm,  seem 
naava   gnaa^hdh   maa'tar   en 
jee^h  ferst  ii  nuuq'gr* 

18.  Jee^h  vil  taa'ka  mw^rh  ^p, 
oogh  faa'ra  tnl  foeoadhvr  miinzs, 
oogh  seei'ja  v«dh  nan  :  Faadh'«r! 
jee^h   HeevV    seh'gadh   moou'tfc' 
Hnn'nm^m  oogh  fw'rii*  thieer, 

19.  Oogh   er  ek*>b'  l^|_«'q'g^r 
verdh'^r  aadh  -aeei'ta,  soo-n^r  thm. 
Faar  thuu  meedh  nm'Lgh  eeinzs 
oogh  mtnh  av  daai_gh'lo3oerna- 

thiinvm. 


Verbatim  Translation. 


younger  all  fee  his  and  fared  in  far- 
lying  land  ;  there  wasted  he  fee  his  in 
un-measure-some  living. 

14.  Now  as  he  had  wasted  all  own- 
ings  his,  came  there  much  hard-ear- 
ing (famine)  in  land- the,  took  he  then 
to  suffer  need. 

15.  Fared  he  then  and  betook-him 
to  one  citizen  in  that  land,  who  sent 
him  out  to  bigging  (farm)  his,  to  keep 
there  swine  his : 

16.  Was  he  then  fain  to  fill  himself 
of  husks  those,  which  swine-the  ate ; 


and  no-one  worth  to  (became  to,  was 
at  hand)  to  give  him  anything. 

17.  Now,  as  he  came  to  himself,  said 
he :    how  many  day-loans-men  holds 
father  mine,  who  have  enough  meat 
and  I  perish  in  hunger  ; 

18.  I  will  take  me  up  an$  fare  til 
father  mine,  and  say  to  him :  Father ! 
I  have  sinned  against  heaven-the  and 
before  thee, 

19.  And  am  not  longer  worthy  to 
bight  son  thine.     Fare  thou  with  me 
like  as  one  of  day-loans-men  thine. 


552 


ICELANDIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


20.  Bjost  hann  fa  til  ferSar 
til  fo^ur  sins ;  en  er  hann  var 
enn  nu  langt  i  burtu,  sa  fa^ir 
hans  hann  og  kendi  i  brjosti  um 
harm,    hljop    og    fell  um    hals 
honum  og  kysti  hann. 

21.  En   sonurinn   sagfti   vi^ 
hann :  Pa^ir  minn,  eg  hen  synd- 
ga'S    moti    himninum    og   fyrir 
f  er,  og  er  nu  ekki  framar  verSur 
&%  heita  sonur  f  inn. 

22.  pa    sag^i    fa^irinn  vrS 
fjona  sina:  faeri'S  hmga^S  hina 
beztu  skikkju  og  faerrS  hann  i ; 
dragrS   hring   a  hond  hans   og 
sko  a  faetur  honum  ; 

23.  KomrS    me^S    alikalf  og 
slatri^,  svo  ver   getum   matazt 
og  veri^S  gla^ir ; 

24.  pvi  f  essi  sonur  minn,  sem 
var  dau^Sur,  er  lifna^ur  aptur, 
og    hann,    sem   tyndur   var    er 
fundinn  ;    toku    menn    nu    a^3 
gle^jast. 

25.  En  svo  bar  vrS,  a^  eldri 
bro^Sir  hans  var  a  akri,   og  er 
hann  kom  og  nalga^ist  husi^, 
heyr^i  hann  samsaung  og  dans ; 

26.  Kalla^i  hann  fa  a  einn 
af  fjonustumonnunum,  og  fretti 
hann,  hva^  um  va3ii  j 

Verbatim 

20.  Busked  (arose)  he  then  to  faring 
to  father  his  ;  but  as  he  was  even  now 
long  on  way  (away),  saw  father  his  him 
and  moved  in  breast  for  him,  leaped 
and  fell  over  neck  to-him  and  kissed 
him. 

21.  But  son-the  said  to  him  :  Father 
mine,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven- 
the  and  before  thee,  and  am  now  not 
further  worthy  to  hight  son  thine. 

<  22.  Then  said  father-the  to  thanes 
his :  Fare  hither  the  best  robe  and 
fare  him  in ;  drag  ring  on  hand  his 
and  shoes  on  feet  to-him. 


20.  Biooust    nan   thaau  t*Yl 
ferdh'ar  tn'l  foeosdhvr  siinzs  ;  en 
er   nan  vaar  en   nuu   laauqt   ii 
b#rtv,    saau  faadh^r   Hans   nan 
oogh  £end*«'  ii  briooust'*  0m  nan, 
Ihiooup  oogh  fietlh  dm  naaulzs 
Hoo'n^m  oogh  kis'ti  nan. 

21.  En  soo'nmn  saah|_gh  dh* 
nan  :  Paadh'sr  mm, 

neevt  sm'gadh  moou't 
n^m  oogh  fw'rtr  thi'eer,  oogh  er 
nuu  ek7d  fraa*mar  verdhvr  aadh 
Heei'ta,  soo-n^r  thm. 

22.  Thaau  saah[  gh'dhi  faadlr- 
iiiiL  vwdh  thfoo'na  sii'na  j  faai'- 
itdh     niiq'gadh     H«'rna    best*0 
Bkik'to   oogh   faa«r'«'dh  nan   ii  ; 
draau'jidh  rhiiqgaau  noandnanzs 
oogh  skoou  aau  faa/t'^r  Hoo'ng»m. 

23.  Koonrt'dh    meedh    aa'li- 
kaaulv,   oogh    slaau'to'dh,    svoo 
vieer       eet'^m     maa'tast     oogh 


24.  Thvii  thes'si  soo'n^r  mm 
seem  vaar  doaoeidh^r,    er  lib*- 
nadh<?r   aftvr,    oogh    nan   seem 
tinrdsr  vaar,  er  fend'm  ;   toouk'0 
men  nuu  adh  gleedh'jast. 

25.  En  svoo  baar  vwdh,  aadh 
el'drt  brooudh'«'r  nanzs  vaar  aau 
aa*kr*,  oogh  er  nan  koom  oogh 
naauTgadhwt    Huus'«'dh,   nmr'- 
dh»  nan  saam'soeoe/q  oogh  dans  ; 

26.  Kadiadh*  nan  thaau  aau 
eeit\_nh     ay     thfoou'n^st^moen*- 
n^n^m,  oogh  friet'tfl'  nan,  whaadh 
^m  vaarr*  ; 

Translation. 

23.  Come     with    fatted  -calf   and 
slaughter,  so  we  get  to-eat  and  be  glad  ; 

24.  For  this  son  mine  who  was  dead, 
is  enlivened  again,  and  he,  who  tined 
(lost)  was,  is   found.     Took  men  now 
to  gladden-themselves. 

25.  But  so  bore  to,  that  elder  brother 
his  was  on  acre,  and  as  he  came  and 
neared  house-the,  heard  he  music  and 
dance; 

26.  Called  he  then  on  one  of  thanes- 
men-the,  and  asked  him,  what  about 
were  ; 


§  4,  No.  2. 


ICELANDIC    PRONUNCIATION. 


553 


27.  Hann  sag^i :  bro^ir  firm 
er  kominn,   og  fa'Sir  finn  hefir 
slatra/S     alikalfi,    af    fvi    hann 
heimti  son  sinn  heilan  heim. 

28.  Eeiddist  hann  fa  og  vildi 
ekki  fara  inn.     Ea^Sir  hans  for 
fvi  ut  og  bau^  honum  inn  a^ 
koma. 

29.  En  hann  svara^i  og  sag^i 
vi%  fo'^Sur  sinn :  i  svo  mb'rg  ar 
hefi  eg  nu.  fjona'S  f  er  og  aldrei 
breytt  ut  af  bo^um  f  mum,  f  6 
hefir  f  ii  aldrei  gefi^S  mer  killing, 
svo  a^S   eg  gaeti  glatt  mig 
vinum  mmum ; 


30.  En  f  essi  sonur  finn,  sem 
soa^S   hefir    eigum   fmum   me^ 
skaekjum,     er   nu    kominn,    og 
hans  vegna  slatrar  f  u  alikalfii. 

3 1 .  En  hann  sagfti  vi^S  hann : 
sonur  minn,  fu  ert  alt  af  me^ 
mer,  og  allar  minar  eigur  heyra 
fer  til ; 

32.  Nu   aettir    fu    a^S    vera 
giaour   og   i   go^Su   skapi,    far 
bro^ir  finn,   sem   dau^Snr   var, 
er  lifha^Sur  aptur,  og  hann,  sem 
tyndur  var,  er  fundinn. 


27.  Han          saah[_gh*dh«   : 
brooudh'er  thm  er  koom'm,  oogh 
faadh'^'r  thzn  neevw*  slaaut'radh 
aai«kaaul'v«,      av     thvii     nan 
jLeeim'ii  soon  sm  nm'lan  ~s.eeim. 

28.  J$,eid'dist  nan  thaau,  oogh 
vel'clt'  okki  faa*ra  m.     Eaadh'/r 
Hanzs    foour     thvii    nut,    oogh 
boeoe^dh  Hoo'n^m  m  aadh  koonra. 

29.  En  nan  svaa'radh*   oogh 
saah^gh'dh*  vndh  foeoedh^r  sm : 
ii  svoo  moerg  aanr  neevt  Jee^h 
nun     thioou'nadh    thieer    oogh 
al'dr^j  bmt  uut   av  boodhvm 
thiin^m,    thoou    neevir    thuu 
aL'dxeei  ^ee'v^'dh  mieer'  ki'dh'Kq 
svoo  adh  jeeyh^aart*  glat  mw^h 
meedh  v«Vnvm  miin^m ; 

30.  En  thes'sz.'    soo'n^r   thm, 
seem  soo'wadh  Heev«r  eeigh'9m 
thii'n^m    meedh   B/feaai'&Tm,    er 
nuu  koom'm,  oogh  nanzs  veg'na 
slaau'trar  thuu  aaiikaaul've. 

31.  En  Han  saahLgh'dh*  vwdh 
nan  :  soo'n^r  mm,  thuu  ert  alht 
av  meedh   mieer,    oogh   adt'lar 
minr ar  eeigh'm  H^rra  thieer  tiil ; 

32.  Nuu  ai|_£ht't«r  thuu  aadh 
veer'a  glaadh^r  oogh  ii  gooudh*? 
skaa-p«,    thaar  brooudh'i'r   thm, 
seem    do3oe^dh^r  vaar,    er  Kb'- 
nadh^r   aft'^r,   oogh   nan,    seem 
tiindvr  vaar,  er 


Verbatim  Translation. 


27.  He  said  :  Brother  thine  is  come, 
and  father  thine  has  slaughtered  fatted- 
calf,  for  that  he  fetched  son  his  whole 
home. 

28.  Grew-wroth  he  then  and  would 
not  fare  in.     Father  his  fared  then  out 
and  hade  him  in  to  come. 

29.  But  he    answered  and  said  to 
father  his :  In  so  many  years  have  I 
now  thaned  (served)   thee  and  never 
deviated  out  of  biddings  thine,  though 
hast  thou  never  given  me  kid,  so  that 
I  might  gladden  myself  with  friends 


30.  But  this  son  thine,  who  wasted 
has    ownings  thine    with   harlots,    is 
now  come,  and  his  ways  (for  his  sake) 
slaughtered  thou  fatted-calf. 

31.  But  he  said  to  him:  Son  mine, 
thou  art  all  of  (always)  with  me,  and 
all  my  ownings  belong  thee  to  : 

32.  Now  oughtest  thou  to  be  glad 
and  in  good  shape,    there    (because) 
brother  thine  who   dead  was,   is  en- 
livened again,  and  he,  who  tined  was, 
is  found. 


554 


OLD    NORSE   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


PRONUNCIATION  OF  OLD  NOHSE. 

Rask  considers  that  the  modern  pronunciation  is  practically  the 
same  as  the  ancient,  except  in  a  few  instances,  hence  in  the  follow- 
ing table  the  modern  forms  as  already  explained,  are  given  in  Rask's 
column,  and  his  supposed  ancient  values  are  bracketed.  Rapp  gives 
an  opinion  upon  nearly  every  letter  in  the  alphabet,  and  although  he 
did  not  consider  that  he  had  arrived  at  a  result  sufficiently  definite 
to  give  an  example,  he  has  transcribed  a  large  number  of  words  into 
his  alphabet,  a  selection  of  which  is  subjoined.  Grimm's  pronun- 
ciation is  not  easy  to  be  determined,  and  the  sounds  which  I  have 
given  must  be  therefore  considered  to  be  in  great  part  conjectural. 
The  vowels  are  taken  from  the  third,  and  the  consonants  from  the 
second  edition  of  his  Grammar. 

On  these  conjectures  generally  I  make  no  observation,  except 
to  remark  that  I  feel  doubtful  as  to  the  value  which  Rask  meant  to 
ascribe  to  the  old  u.  He  says:  "u,  without  accent,  may  perhaps 
have  had  the  sound  of  the  short  English  u  in  nut,  but,  the  Danish 
o  in  hos,  the  Swedish  o  in  sporde,  menniskor  larorik,  etc."  These 
sounds  are  certainly  not  identical,  and  I  have  been  accustomed  to 
consider  them  as  (a,  o,  u}  respectively.  Grimm  assumes  the  Eng- 
lish u  to  be  a  sound  between  German  o  and  6,  whatever  that  may 
mean.1  Neither  he  nor  Rask,  therefore,  had  mastered  the  English 
(a,  u)  sounds.  I  have  represented  Rask's  ancient  u  by  (o,  u)  doubt- 
fully, but  believe  that  the  latter  is  more  probable. 


Letters. 

Modern  & 

[Rask]. 

Grimm. 

Rapp. 

Letters. 

Modern  & 

[Rask.] 

Grimm. 

Rapp. 

a 

aa,  a 

a 

a 

k 

k,* 

k,kj 

k,  kj 

&. 

aau 

aa 

AA 

1 

1,  Ih 

1 

I 

89 

aae 

ee 

ee 

m 

m 

m 

m 

au 

03O3/  [O31l] 

au 

8U 

n 

n 

n 

n 

h 

h 

b 

b 

ng 

qg 

q,  qg 

d 

d,  dh 

d,  dh 

d,  th 

0 

00,  0 

0,  0 

0 

•5 

dh 

dh 

dh 

6 

oou 

00 

00 

e 

ee,  e 

e  e 

e 

o 

0303,  03 

03,  0 

9 

e,  e 

jee,  je 

ee,  see 

ee,  e 

03 

(not  used) 

O303 

O3O3 

ei 

eei 

ei 

ai 

P 

p   f 

p    f 

p 

ey 

eei  [oei] 

ey 

ay 

qv 

k 

f 

f,v,b 

f 

r 

r,rh 

r 

r 

g        { 

g>  9->  gh 

}  g,gj 

g>  gj 

8 
t 

8 
t 

8 
t 

sj,s 

h 

H 

h 

kh 

jj 

th 

th 

th 

hj 

jh 

khj 

U 

99,  9  [0,  U] 

U 

O3,  IT 

hi 

Ih 

khl 

6 

UU 

UU 

UU 

hn 

nh     ' 

khn 

V 

V 

bh 

bh 

hr 

rh 

khr 

X 

ks 

ks 

hv 
i 

wh 
ii,  i 

i 

khbh 
i 

\ 

ii    i  \9\ 
11  [II] 

y 
yy 

y 
yy 

i 

ii 

ii 

ii 

z 

8 

8 

j 

j 

i 

j 

1  Gr.  I3,  391,  "vor  einfachen  con- 
sonanten  hat   u  einen  laut  zwischen 


nhd.   o  und  b  ;   das  mil.  u  neigt  sich 
mehr  zu  ii." 


$  4,  No.  2. 


OLD    NORSE    PRONUNCIATION. 


555 


Old  Norse  words  as  pronounced  by  Eapp:  a  (AA)  in,  water,  se  (ee) 
always,  atta  (AAt'ta)  eight,  auk  (auk)  «foo,  auga  (oug'a)  eye,  bleikr 
(bleik'r)  pale,  bleydi  (blaydh'i)  fear,  bles  (blees)  Ueiv,  blod  (blood) 
blood,  bokr(bceoek'r)  books,  bok  (book)  book,  bruda  (bruudlra)  of  brides, 
byd  (byydh)  invite,  byggia  (byg'ja)  build,  dagr  degi  dogum  (dag'r, 
d0gi,  d^g-um)  day,  to  a  day,  to  days,  dottir  (doot'tir)  daughter,  dypi 
(dyyp-i)  depth,  ey  (ay)  island,  eyk  (oik)  oak,  fel  (frel)  fell,  niuga 
(niu-ga)/y,  fotr  (fcecet'r)  feet,  fri  (£r&)  free,  fullr  (f&l'i)  full,  fylli 
(fyH)  fullness,  gaes  (#ees)  ^0s0,  gas  (gAAs)  #oos0,  gb'ra  gjort  (#0ra 
gjoort)  to  do,  did,  halmr  (khAAlnrr)  halm,  hlaup  (khbup)  leap,  hniosa 
(khnioo'sa)  sneeze,  hreinn  (khroirrn)  pure,  hvitr  (khbhiit'r)  white, 
kaupa  (kaup*a)  to  buy,  kne  (kn<?0)  knee,  krankr  (krAAqk'r)  sick, 
liuga  (liuga)  to  tell  a  falsehood,  opt  (opt)  often,  skapt  (skapt)  handle 
ungr  (uuqfg'r)  youth,  verd  (bherd)  price,  vis  (bhiis)  wise.1 

The  following  observations  on  the  Old  Norse  pronunciation,  based 
upon  a  phonetic  examination  of  the  structure  of  the  language,  its 
connection  with  the  Teutonic  branches  and  the  usages  of  Old  MSS., 
are  drawn  up  from  notes  kindly  furnished  me  by  Mr.  Henry  Sweet, 
of  the  Philological  Society  (supra  p.  539,  1.  9). 

observed.  As  regards  the  consonants 
we  assume  h  and  s,  here  as  elsewhere, 
to  have  been  (kh,  sj),  though  we  write 
(s).  The  2  was  an  abbreviation,  gene- 
rally for  (ts),  occasionally  for  (st),  and 
by  mistake  for  other  combinations ;  the 
first  alone  must  be  retained.  The  J?  is 
initial  as  in  Gothic,  but  medially  and 
finally  it  is  softened  to  %  ;  as  this  also 
happens  in  most  cases  to  the  modern 
Danish  d,  both  classes  must  be  dis- 
tinguished from  out  of  the  corruption 
of  writing.  This  is  the  weakest  point 
in  northern  philology.  The  old  runic 
alphabet  has  only  the  aspirate  ]>  (th) 
and  this  is  used  medially  even  in  the 
oldest  manuscripts.  The  modern  Ice- 
landic and  Danish  ft  (dh)  is  on  the 
contrary  not  an  aspirate  but  a  spirant, 
which  is  more  naturally  developed  from 
(d)  than  from  (th).  But  since  Scandi- 
navian orthography  is  here  irremedia- 
bly confused,  nothing  remains  but  to 
restore  the  old  essential  organic  ]>  in 
all  places  where  it  is  required  by  Gothic, 
Anglosaxon,  and  Friesic,  and  in  other, 
partially  doubtful  cases,  to  leave  d,  so 
that  the  modern  ft  is  altogether  elimi- 
nated. The  tt,  which  arose  from  an 
older  (kht),  must  certainly  be  sharpen- 
ed, [that  is,  make  the  preceding  vowel 
short],  since  reduplication  can  mean 
nothing  but  confluence  ;  the  prolonga- 
tion of  the  vowel  in  this  case  is  a  mo- 
dern corruption,  which  even  Grimm 
has  overlooked,  and  similarly  before  ng, 
nk,  and  I  followed  by  a  consonant,  etc." 


1  The  following  is  a  translation  of 
Dr.  Eapp's  latest  views  on  the  subject 
(Vergl.  Gramm.  iii.  40).  "Of  the 
seven  long  vowels,  the  two  strongest 
(ii)  and  (uu)  have  remained  intact. 
The  (aa)  subsequently,  as  everywhere 
else,  degenerated  in  the  direction  of  (0) . 
The  mutates  of  (aa,  uu)  must  here  be 
(EE,  yy).  There  must  be  an  (ou)  cor- 
responding to  the  old  German  diph- 
thong ei,  but  it  is  here  written  au,  since 
the  mutate,  if  written  ey,  could  only 
mean  (oy) ;  the  Norwegian  dialects  re- 
tain (ou).  Long  (00)  afterwards  be- 
came diphthongal,  and  its  mutate  coin- 
cides with  <&  (EE).  The  third  long 
vowel  wavers  between  gothic  (iu),  be- 
coming, when  softened  (geschwacht] 
(io),  and  confluent  (yy).  Isolated  re- 
mains of  (ee)  subsequently  passed  into 
(see]  as  in  Sclavonic ;  but  the  e  which 
arises  from  reduplication  need  not  ne- 
cessarily be  long.  As  regards  the  mu- 
tation of  the  short  vowels,  the  change 
of  (a)  into  (e),  and  of  (0,  u],  into  (y)  is 
clear,  but  the  mutation  of  (a)  into  (0) 
through  the  action  of  a  following  (u) 
or  (0)  is  more  obscure.  We  can  theo- 
retically assume  an  earliest  period  in 
which  (a)  remained  pure,  but  it  does 
not  agree  with  the  period  of  existing 
monuments.  Hence  we  allow  (a)  to 
pass  into  (0)  but  entirely  reject  the 
usual  assumption  of  the  generation  of 
of  an — impossible — (ce)  from  (0).  The 
division  (Brechung]  of  short  (e)  into 
(ia)  and  by  mutation  (10),  must  also  be 


556 


OLD    NORSE    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


When  Icelanders  first  employed  the  Latin  alphabet  they  had  no 
written  literature  at  all,  and  consequently  no  traditional  ortho- 
graphy to  transliterate,  that  is,  no  theoretical  guide  to  mislead 
them.  They  had  therefore,  no  means  of  writing  except  by  ear, 
using  the  Latin  letters  in  their  accepted  values,  and  modifying 
them  for  new  sounds.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  they  should  have  — 

1)  expressed  one  sound  in  two  ways,  as  in  the  modern  identities 

i  y,  i  y,  ei  ey. 

2)  made  a  represent  (au)  to  the  exclusion  of  au, 

3)  have  used  au  to  express  a  sound  (ce«)  for  which  they  had  a 

form  to  hand,  namely  oi,  unless  indeed  they  had  read  in 
Grimm's  Deutsche  Grammatik  (I3,  474),  that  old  Norse  au 
corresponds  to  Gothic  au,  and  had  foreseen  that  the  sound 
(au)  would  have  been  preserved  in  the  German  of  the  xix  th 
century. 

A  comparison  of  the  old  cognates  shews  that  the  difference  be- 
tween a  a,  e  e,  etc.,  was  originally  purely  quantitative.  In  modern 
Icelandic,  as  in  Modern  German,  all  short  vowels  before  single 
consonants  have  become  long,  but  in  old  German  the  length  or 
shortness  of  a  vowel  was  quite  independent  of  the  following  con- 
sonant, as  is  proved  by  the  metrical  laws.  In  the  same  way  the 
non-accentuation  of  fd*6ir,  father,  in  Icelandic  originally  meant 
that  the  vowel  was  short,  and  the  accentuation  of  moftir,  mother, 
that  the  vowel  was  long,  as  in  Latin  pater,  mater.1  If  this  view 
be  well  founded,  the  vowels  in  each  pair,  as  a,  d,  e,  e,  etc.,  must  have 
had  the  same  quality,  but  different  quantities,  a,  e,  etc.,  being 
always  short,  and  d,  e,  etc.,  always  long;  and  diphthongs  must 
have  had  the  sounds  of  their  elements  connected  by  the  glide.  The 
following  sounds  appear  then  to  be  the  only  possible. 


a,  a) 

e,  e,  E) 

,  •) 

o,  o,  A,  o) 
(u,  u) 
(y,  i,  9) 
some  modification  of  (o) 


,  au) 
e,  <?i,  Ei) 
ey,  ei,  e?) 
ai,  ai) 
ee,  ee,  EE) 
oi,  ot,  oe,  oe,  OE) 
or  lengthened  6 


The  two  principal  criteria  for  selecting  the  correct  vowel  are  — 
1)  The  palatisation  of  k,  g,  and  2)  the  action  of  vowel-mutation 
or  Umlaut,  (umiaut). 


1  As  Icelandic  still  possesses  really 
doubled  consonants,  the  device  of 
doubling  the  consonant  to  indicate  the 
brevity  of  a  preceding  vowel  was  not 
likely  to  occur  to  the  writer.  That  the 
length  of  a  vowel  depends  in  any  way 
upon  the  number  of  following  conso- 
nants is  a  delusion,  to  be  classed  with  the 
notion  that  all  vowels  under  the  stress 
must  be  long,  and  deducible  probably 
from  the  false  statement  in  Latin  pro- 
sodies, that  a  short  vowel  might  become 


long  "by  position"  before  two  conso- 
nants, the  length  of  the  vowel  being 
confounded  with  the  length  of  the 
syllable  ;  but  the  Latins  no  doubt  dis- 
tinguish est,  is,  from  est,  eats,  as  (est, 
eest),  and  the  old  school  joke :  Mea 
mater  est  mala  sus,  could  not  have  been 
ambiguous  to  a  Latin,  who  would  have 
probably  distinguished  the  two  mean- 
ings as  (me-a  maa-ter  est  mal-a  suus ; 
me-aa  maa-ter,  eest  maala  suus.) — 
A.J.E. 


§  4,  No.  2. 


OLD    NORSE    PRONUNCIATION. 


557 


1)  The  palatisation  of  k,  g,  from  (k,  g)  into  (kj,  gj)  naturally 
takes  place  before  front  vowels  (p.    13),   while  these    consonants 
remain  unchanged  before  back  vowels  (p.  13).     Existing  habits  as 
to  palatisation  would  hence  determine 

e,  i  i,  y  y,  <&*,  ei,  ey  to  be  front  vowels,  and 

a  d,  o  6,  u*  it,  '6*  au*  to  be  back  vowels, 

whereas  those  marked  *  transgress  this  rule,  <g=(aa«)  commencing 
with  a  lack  vowel,  and  u,  o,  au  =  (&,  ce,  cece&)  with  a  front  vowel.1 

2)  Yowel  mutation  is  the  result  of  the  partial  assimilation  of  two 
vowels,  not  in  juxtaposition,  but  in  consecutive  syllables,  whereby 
the  first  or  accented  vowel  becomes  modified  in  the  direction  of  the 
second.     This  may  be  expressed  by  such  a  formula  as  (a . .  i  =  e), 
meaning  that  (a)  in  the  first  syllable  acted  on  by  (i)  in  the  second 
is  converted  into  (<?).     The  original  sounds  of  these  mutated  vowels 
or  mutates,  have  been  so  changed  in  Icelandic,  that  it  is  necessary 
to  examine  the  other  Teutonic  languages  where  they  are  better 
preserved. 

.  i  =  E,  0),  giving  (E)  ;  old  Ger.  hari  (nari),  modern  G.  Jieer  (HEEr)  army. 
»  . .  a  =  e,  E),  giving  (e) ;  Gothic  niman  (ninran)  modern  G.  nehmen  (nee-men)  to 
take  ;  the  (i,  e)  forms  are  confused  in  modern  German. 

(o  ..  i=*h,  9,  i),  giving  (*h) ;  old  Ger.  sconi  (skoo-ni),  mod.  G.  schon  (shcecen) 

beautiful. 

(u  ..  a-o,  A),  giving  (o) ;  Gothic  stulan  (stul-an),  mod.  G.  ge-stohlen  (ge-shtoo-- 

len),  stolen, 
(u  ..  i=i),  giving  (i)) ;  old  G.  sundia  (sund'ja),  mod.  G.  siinde  (zynd-e)  sin. 

In  Icelandic  we  find,  her,   nema,  slolinn,  synd  (neer,  nee*ma, 
stooHn,   smd)  all  with  mutates.     The  equation  of  the  last  word 
with  modern  pronunciation  is  (u  . .  i  =  i)  which  is  not  a  mutation 
at  all.     The  old  sound  must  have  been  (i)  or  (y),   as  these  are 
the  only  possible  intermediates.     The  vowel  mutation  also  proves 
that  the  modern  sound  of  &  is  inorganic. 
(aa  ..  I  =  EE),  old  Ger.  wuri  (bhaa-ri),  Icel.  vceri. 
(oo  ..  i  =  ?h),  Gothic  ?  for/an  (foorjan),  Icel./^ra,  old/am. 

The  genuineness  of  the  sound  (ce)  is  made  doubtful  by  the  non- 
palatalisation  of  7c,  and  this  doubt  is  confirmed  by  the  equation 
(a..u=o),  as  in  dogum  for  dagum.  As  both  vowels  are  back,  the 
result  cannot  be  front.  And  the  back  sound  of  u  is  shewn  1)  by 
the  preservation  of  that  sound  in  long  w,  2)  the  nonpalatisation  of 
k  before  it,  3)  the  vowel  mutation.  The  a..  u=o,  is  merely  a 
reversal  of  (u  . .  a=o)  in  stolinn,  ge-stohlen,  and  both  are  quite  paral- 
lel with  (a..  i=e,  i..a=e). 

The  above  conclusions  result  from  the  structure  of  the  language, 


1  The  remarks  on  p.  206  shew  that 
this  criterion  cannot  be  relied  on  so 
far  as  se  is  concerned,  and,  indeed,  the 
palatal  action  of  SB  on  k,  g,  while  a,  a, 
produced  no  such  action,  may  have 
arisen  from  the  anticipatory  action  of  the 
second  element  (i}.  Nor  is  there  any 
organic  necessity  for  the  palatalisation 
of  k,  g,  before  such  obscure  vowels,  as 


(9,  03),  as  we  see  from  the  fact  that 
although  both  sounds  are  used  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Germany  for  o,  which 
is  also  frequently  called  (ee)  or  (ee), 
yet  the  7c,  g,  of  konig,  Goethe,  are  never 
palatalised.  This  criterion  can  there- 
fore only  furnish  an  a  priori  proba- 
bility.—A.  J.  E. 


558 


OLD   NORSE    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


the  following  is  almost  positive  evidence  of  the  usages  of  the  xn  th 
century,  poroddr,  the  grammarian,  circa  1160,  remarks  on  the 
necessity  of  an  A,  B,  C,  and  after  stating  that  the  English  have 
made  an  alphabet  for  themselves  by  adopting  or  modifying  the 
Latin  letters,  he  proposes  to  perform  the  same  service  for  his 
countrymen — oss  Tslendingum,  saying : 

"  To  the  five  original  Latin  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  I  have  added 
four :  0  [now  o],  e  [now  0,  #],  </>  [now  oe,  SB],  y  [now  y].  Of  these 
o  has  the  curve  of  a  and  the  ring  of  o,  because  it  is  blended  of  their 
two  sounds,  being  pronounced  with  a  less  open  mouth  than  a,  but 
a  more  open  mouth  than  o ;  ^  has  the  curve  of  a  and  the  whole 
figure  of  0,  for  it  is  composed  of  these  two,  being  pronounced  with 
a  less  open  mouth  than  a,  and  with  a  more  open  mouth  than  e  ;  (f> 
is  composed  of  e  and  o,  being  pronounced  with  less  open  mouth  than 
e,  and  with  more  open  mouth  than  o  ;  and  ^  is  composed  of  i  and  u, 
being  pronounced  with  less  open  mouth  than  i  and  with  more  open 
mouth  than  «." 

He  proceeds  to  give  examples,  shewing  that  e  and  e  short  cor- 
respond to  modern  e,  e  long  to  modern  e,  e  long  to  modern  <#,  o  to 
modern  0,  o  to  modern  6,  and  <f)  to  oe  now  a.  And  then  he  remarks 
that  each  of  these  vowels  begets  another  by  being  sounded  in  the 
nose,  which  he  marks  by  a  point  above  the  letter.  This  probably 
corresponds  to  the  palaeotypic  (,),  not  to  (A).  It  is  now  quite  lost. 
Hence  Rask's  imaginary  nasality,  supra  p.  550,  1.  3. 

poroddr  further  states  that  each  of  these  18  vowels  can  be  long 
or  short,  and  proposes  to  mark  the  long  vowels  with  an  accent.  His 
examples  shew  that  he  places  this  accent  in  those  places  where  an 
accent  (indicating  a  diphthong  in  the  case  of  a,  6\  now  exists  in 
Icelandic.  Then  he  concludes  by  enumerating  the  diphthongs, 
describing  accurately  the  nature  of  diphthongs  in  general.  Among 
these  diphthongs  appear  au,  ei,  ey,  but  not  a,  o. 

The  older  MSS.  follow  poroddr  with  some  variations.  Thus  the 
diacritic  is  often  written  as  a  full  letter,  as  ao  for  0,  ae  for  e  whence 
modern  <e,  and  the  diacritic  is  not  unfrequently  entirely  omitted,  so 
that  e,  o,  are  confounded  with  |,  o. 

The  following  examples  shew  poroddr' s  spelling  compared  with 
that  now  used,  and  the  probable  corresponding  pronunciation. 
Abbreviations — p.  poroddr' s  spelling,  M.  modem  spelling,  OP.  old 
pronunciation,  MP.  modern  pronunciation. 


p. 

M. 

O.P. 

M.P. 

P. 

M. 

P- 

M. 

O.P. 

M.P. 

P- 

M. 

a 

a 

«,  a 

a  aa 

far 

far 

o 

o 

0 

03  0303 

ol 

ol 

a 

a 

«#,  aa 

au  aau 

sar 

sar 

£ 

o 

00 

0   00 

v§n 

von 

e 

e 

e 

e,  ee 

)>el 

)?el 

u 

u 

u(() 

9  99 

runar 

runar 

Q 

e 

E(  ) 

e,  ee 

v£nia 

venja 

fi 

u 

uu(,) 

U  UU 

runar 

runar 

e 

e 

ee 

JE 

mer 

mer 

y 

y 

I 

i  ii 

flytr 

flytr 

f 

83 

i 

EE 

i 

ai  aai 
i  ii 

£ 

vaer 
vil 

1 

au 

y 

au 

II 
au 

i  ii 

O3i  0303i 

flytr 

flytr 

i 

i 

ii 

i  ii 

vil 

vil 

ei 

ei 

ei 

ei  eei 

0 

0 

0 

0    00 

g°> 

go^ 

ey 

ey 

^y 

ei  eei 

6 

6 

00 

ou  cou 

go^ 

§  4,  No.  2.  OLD   NORSE    PRONUNCIATION.  559 

The  sound  of  the  various  0's  is  evident  from  the  remark  that  e  is 
pronounced  more  openly  than  0,  and  more  like  a.  The  higher 
sound  was  given  to  the  i  as  mer,  German  mir.  The  other  e  was  an 
a,  v'enia,  old  German  wanian.  In  oly  the  anglosaxon  ealu  explains 
the  vowel  mutation.  In  von  the  o  is  a  mutate  of  a,  produced  by 
the  preceding  v,  and  the  pronunciation  has  been  preserved  un- 
changed. The  ey  is  a  mutate  of  au,  heyra=  Gothic  hausjan,  thus 
(au  .  .  i=Ei)  the  (i)  soon  drawing  up  the  (E)  to  (e). 

Modern  Changes.  —  The  change  of  (EE)  to  (ai)  is  merely  the  con- 
verse of  the  Latin  <0  to  e.1 

The  d  (aa]  was  first  rounded  (oo)  and  then  broken  up  into  (aau), 
as  is  shewn  by  the  occasional  MS.  spelling  o  for  a. 

The  change  from  back  (o)  to  front  (ce)  is  paralleled  by  the  English 
and  most  modern  Danish  pronunciation  of  (ae)  for  (a). 

The  au  changes  are  very  complicated.  First,  the  a  was  rounded 
by  the  u  into  (o),  as  appears  by  the  MSS.  shewing  qu,  aou,  ou  for 
au.  Next  the  resulting  first  element,  being  now  identical  with  o 
(o)  was,  with  it,  changed  from  back  to  front,  into  o  (ce).  Lastly 
the  second  element  u  (u)  was  changed  by  the  action  of  the  new 
front  element  (oe)  into  some  front  element  as  (i)  which  finally 
became  (i).  Thus  we  have  the  stages  (au  .  .  ou  .  .  ceu  .  .  03tn  .  .  oai), 
where  (csu,  oaui),  represents  Rask's  conjectural  forms. 

poroddr  counts  U,  nn,  among  the  doubled  consonants.  He  allows 
a  double  final  consonant,  which  of  course  must  have  been  a  length- 
ened or  'held'  consonant  (supra  p.  52),  as  in  hann=(Kaiui))  not 
(nan).  He  writes  f  everywhere,  to  the  exclusion  of  "ft,  but  whether 
this  establishes  a  uniformity  of  pronunciation  is  very  questionable. 

The  following  few  lines  will  give  a  notion  of  this  conjectured 
ancient  pronunciation,  which  is  placed  under  the  present  ortho- 
graphy, a  verbatim  translation  being  also  interlined. 

Haustlong.     (Haustlo(qg.)     Autumn-long  (night}. 

E^r      of-ser,     er  iotna    otti      let    ofsottan 
(Edh'r  0v-s00r,    ex  iot'na   ooi'ie  \eei  ovsoot'ta^n) 
Again    thou-seest  how    of-the-giants    the-terror  let-sought 

Hellisbror     a     hyrjar    haug    Grjotuna         bauge; 
(Heliesbror  aa<  syriar  Haug    Grioo'tuu^na  bau'ge  ;) 
Of-the-cave-the-dweller  in  of-fire  the-hill  of-Griotun  with-ring 

'Ok    at  isarnleiki     JarSar  sunr,     en    dundi 
(Ook  at  irsarnbike  lardlrar  sucnr  etn  dutn'd^) 
Drove  to    the-iron-play  Earth's  sun,        and    resounded 


svall  Meila     bro^ur     manavegr       und  hanum. 
(Moo'dhr  swall  M0ilia{  broo'dhur  maa^n'a^w^gr  u(nd  Ha^n'u^m.) 
Rage        swelled  Meili's  of-the-brother  moon-way          under  him. 

1  This  converse  action  is  rare,  but      supra  p.  294,  bottom,  and  note  2,  and 
we  have  a  living    English,  example,      p.  454,  note  1. 


560  GOTHIC   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  V. 

Knattu       611  en  TJllar  endilag       fyrir    magi 
(Knaat'tu,  oil  etn  uHar  e4n'd<?laag  fyr^r  maa-g*) 
Could         all      and    Ullr's  under-lying    before    the  -kinsman 

Grand    vas    grapi    hrundin      ginnungave          brinna; 
(Gru^nd  was  grap'0  rhu(nd'0(n  g^n'nuu^qga-w^  bri<n'na(;) 
The-ground  was  with-storm  shaken      the-wide-  dwellings    burn  ; 

pa-es      hofreginn     hafrir     hogrerSar     fram    drogu 
(Dhaa-0s  HovTeg<?tnn  navr^r  Hoog'mdhar  fratm  droo-gu,) 
When  the-temple-god  the-goats  of-  the-eleg  ant-chariot  forwards  drew 


gekk  Svolnis      ekkja  sundr  at  Hrungnis      fundi. 
(Sedh'r  g£<?kk  Swoel'n^s  ekkia  su,ndr  at  Rhuu£qg-n0s  fu(n'd0.) 
Nearly  went     Svolnir's       wife    asunder  to  Hrungnir*  s  meeting  (find]  J 

3.  GOTHIC. 

In  order  properly  to  crown  the  edifice  of  the  low  German  and 
Scandinavian  dialects,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  pronunciation 
of  Ulfilas  as  collected  from  his  Gothic  translation  of  the  Testament, 
etc.  Grimm,  Rapp,  Gabelentz  and  Loebe,  and  "VVeingaertner,2 
are  the  principal  authorities.  From  a  study  of  these  works  and 
the  grounds  on  which  they  rely,  I  have  arrived  at  certain  conclu- 
sions of  my  own,  which  must  be  understood  as  referring  to  the  pro- 
nunciation of  Gothic  at  the  time  of  Ulfilas,  considered  as  a  com- 
paratively modern  stage  of  the  language.  There  are  good  etymolo- 
gical grounds  for  believing  that  many  Gothic  words  containing  ai, 
au,  iu  had  at  some  previous  time,  a  different  sound  from  that  which 
I  have  assigned,  as  for  instance  (ai,  au,  m),  supra,  p.  236,  note  1. 
But  details  are  here  purposely  omitted.  The  following  table  con- 
tains the  opinions  of  the  writers  cited,  as  nearly  as  I  could  appre- 

1  The    title    means    Autumn-long,  [that  is,   porr]  drove  to  the  iron-play 

long  "being  the  fern,  of  the  adj.  longr  ;  [fight],  anger  inspired  Meili's  brother 

nott=  night,  seems  to  be  understood;  [another  name  for  porr],  and  the  moon- 

compare  the  similar  old  German  phrase  way  [  =  earth]  resounded  under  him. 

"  den  sumerlangen  tac,"  the  summer-  All  the  wide  dwellings  [  =the  air]  could 

long  day.     None  of  the  editors  trans-  burn  [burned],  and  the  ground  lying 

late  the  word,  and  they  seem  not  to  beneath   was   shaken   with   the  storm 

understand  it.      The    subject   of   the  before  the  kinsman  of  Ullr  [p6rr  again]: 

poem  is  a  fight  between  the  god  porr  Svolnis  wife  [ekkja  literally  widow  = 

and  the    giant    Hrungir.      The  poet  earth]  nearly  went  to  pieces,  when  the 

describes  the  fight  as  depicted  on   a  goats  drew  forward  the  temple-god  of 

shield.     The  meaning  of  the  passage,  the  elegant  chariot  to  meet  Hrungnir. 

which  is  very   obscure  in   the   above  2  «7.  Grimm,  Deutsche   Grammatik, 

verbatim  translation  following  the  in-  I2,  33-74  ;  I3,  39-71  ;  M.  Rapp,  Phys. 

verted  order  of  the  poet,  seems  to  be  d.  Spr.,  i  371-401  ;  Dr.H.C.  von  Gabe- 

as  follows  :  Again  thou  seest  [on  the  lentz  und  Dr.  J.  Loebe,  Grammatik  der 

shield]  how  the  terror  of  the  giants  Gothischen  Sprache,    1846,  pp-22-52. 

[meaning  porr],  let  sought  [let  peri-  Wilhelm  Weingaertner,  Die  Aussprache 

•p\u:astic=  visited]  the  cave-dweller  in  des  Gothischen  zur  Zeit  Ulfilas,  Leip- 

the  Griotun-hill  with  a  ring  of  fire,  zig,  1858,  pp.  68.    This  last  work  con- 

[porr's  chariot  was  accompanied  with  tains   complete   references  to   all    the 

thunder  and  lightning]  ;  Earth's   sun  former  essays  and  books  on  this  subject. 


$  4,  No.  3. 


GOTHIC    PRONUNCIATION. 


561 


ciate  their  meaning,  a  (?)  indicate  the  chief  points  of  doubt.  The 
transcription  used  is  that  employed  in  Gabelentz  and  Loebe's  well- 
known  edition  but  the  letters  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  the 
Roman  Alphabet,  reckoning  ]?  as  th.  Leo  Meyer's  work  (Die 
Gothische  Sprache,  ihre  Lautgestaltung  u.s.w.)  came  to  hand  too 
late  to  be  consulted  in  the  construction  of  this  table. 

THE  GOTHIC  ALPHABET  OF  ULFILAS. 

Abbreviations. — G  Grimm,  G  L  Von  Gabelentz  and  Loebe,  E  Ellis,  L  letters, 
B,  Eapp,  "W  Weingaertner. 


L 

G 

B 

GL 

W 

E 

L  , 

G 

E 

G  L 

W 

jlf 

a 
ai 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 

\ 

j 

j 

ffk 

j 

j 

(ai) 

e? 

e,  ee 

e,  ee 

e,  ee 

e,  ee 

K 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

(ai) 

ai 

m 

m 

m 

m 

m 

m 

ail 

0,00 

o,  oo 

0,  00 

A,  AA 

n 

n 

n 

n 

n 

n 

(au) 

0? 

o 

00 

00 

00 

00 

W 

b 

au 
b 

b 

b,bh? 

b 

b 

P 

q 

kbh 

kbh 

P 

kbh 

L 

d 

d 

d 

d 

dh 

d,dh? 

r 

r 

r 

'r 

r,  r 

r 

e 

ee 

ee 

ee 

ee 

ee 

s 

s 

SJ 

s 

s 

s 

ei 

ei 

ii 

ei 

ii 

ii 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

f 

f 

bh 

f 

f 

> 

th 

th 

dh 

th 

th 

g 

g 

g 

g,  gh 

g 

g 

u 

u 

0,  UU 

U,  UU 

u 

U,  UU 

gg 
f 

q? 

kh 

qg 

qk 
kh 

q>qg> 

qk 

H,kh 

q»  qg 

qk 

H< 

q>  qg 

qk 

H',kh 

V 
W 
X 

bh 
khbh 

bh 

khbh 
k 

bh, 
k 

bh,  v 

Ph,HV? 

k 

W 

kwh 
k 

i,  i' 

i 

e 

i 

i 

i 

y 

i,  ii 

i,  ii 

iu 

iu 

iu 

iu 

ii 

yy 

z 

ds 

SJ 

z 

z 

z 

In  order  to  compare  this  dialect  with  the  related  Anglosaxon  and 
Icelandic,  I  annex  the  conjectured  pronunciation  of  the  same  para- 
ble that  was  selected  for  examples  in  those  languages.  This  is  also 
the  same  example  or  Gothic  as  Dr.  Eapp  has  given.  The  verbatim 
translation  is,  as  before,  intended  merely  to  shew  the  grammatical 
signification  of  each  word. 


Gothic,  Lucas  15,  11-32. 

11.  manne  sums  aihta  tvans 
sununs. 

12.  jah  qa]?  sa  juhiza  ize  du 
attin.  atta.  gif  mis.  sei  undrin- 
nai  mik.    dail  aiginis.   jah   dis- 
dailida  i'm  sves  sein. 


Conjectured  Pronunciation. 

11.  Man-n<?0      sums     ekht'a 
twans  smruns. 

12.  Jakh  kwath   sa  jukh'iza 
iz'ee  du  at 'tin  :  At'ta,   gif  mis, 
sii  und'rin'nee  mik  deel  eeg'inis. 
Jakh  disdeel'ida  im  swees  siin. 


Verbatim  Translation. 


11.  Of-men  certain  owned  two  sons. 

12.  Eke  quoth  the  younger  of-them 


to  dad :  Dad,  give  to-me,  which  unto- 
runs  me,  deal  (part)  of-ownings.  Eke 
asunder-dealed  to-them  property  his. 

36 


562 


GOTHIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V. 


13.  jah    afar     ni    managans 
dagans  brahta  samana  allata  sa 
juhiza  sunus  jah  aflaij?  'in  land 
fairra  visando  jah  jainar  distah- 
ida  fata    sves    seinata    libands 
usstiuriba. 

14.  bife  fan  fravas  allamma. 
varf  huhrus  abrs  and  gavi  jaina- 
ta.  jah  'is  dngann  alafarba  vair- 
fan 

15.  jah    gaggands    gahaftida 
sik   snmamma   baurgjane  jainis 
gaujis.  jah  'insandida  i'na  haifjos 
seinaizos  haldan  sveina. 

16.  jah    gairnida     sad    i'tan 
haurne.  foei  matidedun  sveina. 
jah  manna  'imma  ni  gaf. 

17.  qimands  fan  'in  sis  qaf. 
wan    filu    asnje    attins    meinis 
ufarassau  haband  hlaibe.  'if  'ik 
huhrau  fraqistna. 

18.  usstandands    gagga    du 
attin    meinamma   jah  qifa    du 
'imma.   atta.  fravaurhta   mis  'in 
himin  jah  'in  andvairfja  f  einam- 
ma. 

19.  ju  fanaseifs  ni  'im  vairfs 
ei  haitaidau  snnus  f  eins.  gatavei 
mik  sve  ainana  asnje  feinaize. 


13.  Jakh  af-ar  ni  man-agans 
dag'ans  brakht'a  sanrana  aliata 
sa  jukh'iza  siurus,  jakh  afleeth* 
in  land  fer'ra   wis'andoo,   jakh 
jeen'ar  distakh'ida  that*a  swees 
siin'ata  lib'ands  usstyyriba. 

14.  Bithee-  than  frawas-  al'- 
lam*ma,  warth  H'uukh'rus  ab''rs 
and    ga'wi  jeen'ata.       Jakh  is 
dugan*  al'atharb'a  wertlran. 

15.  Jakh  gaq'gands  gan'aft'- 
ida   sik    sunvanvina   bArg'janee 
jeen'is  gAA'jris.     Jakh  insand'ida 
in*a  s'eeth'joos  siiireezoos  n'ald'- 
an  swiin*a 

16.  Jakh  genrida  sad  it'an 
HAr'n^,      thoo'ii     matid^d'un 
swiin'a.    Jakh  man'na  inrma  ni 
gaf. 

17.  k^im'ands  than    in   sis, 
kwath :  Kwhan  fil'u  as'nj^^  at*- 
tins  miuris  uf'aras'SAA  sab 'and 
khleeb'^,    ith     ik    n'uukh-rAA 
frak^ist'na. 

18.  Us'stand'ands   gaq'ga  du 
at'tin  miin'am*ma,  jakh  kwdtlra 
du  im*ma  :    At'ta,   frawArkh/ta 
mis  in    H^im'in,  jakh  in  and*- 
werth'ja  thiin^arn'ma, 

19.  ju    than'asiiths     ni    im 
werths    ii    H'eet'eedAA    sun'us 
thiins ;  gata'wii  mik  sw^  een'- 
ana 


Verbatim  Translation. 


13.  Eke    after    not    many      days 
brought  together  all  the  younger  son, 
and  off-led  (departed)  in  land  far  being, 
eke  yon    asunder -tugged    (dissipated) 
the  possession  his,  living  out-steeringly. 

14.  By-that    then  from- was  of-all, 
worth  (became)  hunger  strong  against 
region  yon,  eke  he  began  quite-needy 
to-worth  (to-become). 

15.  Eke  ganging  joined  himself  to- 
certain  of-burghers  of-yon  region ;  eke 
in-sent  him  of-heath  his  to-hold  swine. 

16.  Eke  yearned  full  to-eat,  of-horns 


(husks),  which  meated  (ate  as  meat  or 
food)  swine  ;  eke  man  to-him  not  gave. 

17.  Coming  then  in  himself,  quoth: 
How  many  hirelings  of-dad  mine  in- 
overmuch  (abundantly)  have  of-loaves, 
but  I  by-hunger  perish. 

18.  Out-standing  I -go  to  dad  mine, 
eke  say  to  him,  Dad,  I-from-wrought 
(I -sinned)  for-me  in  (against)  heaven 
eke  in  face  thine. 

19.  Now  the-since  (longer)  not  am 
worthy  that  I-may-hight  son  thine ; 
y-do  (make)  me    as  one  of-hirelings 
thine. 


§  4,  No.  3. 


GOTHIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


563 


20.  jah  usstandands   qam   at 
attin  seinamma.  nauhfanuh  ]?an 
fairra  visandan  gasaw  ma  atta  'is 
jah  infeinoda  jah  fragjands  draus 
ana  hals  'is  jah  kukida  'imma. 

21.  jah  qa]?  'imma  sa  sunus. 
atta.  fravaurhta  in  himin  jah  in 
andvairjrja  feinamma.  ju  fana- 
seifs    ni  i'm  vairfs  ei  haitaidau 
sunus  feins. 

22.  qa]?  fan  sa  atta  du  skalkam 
seinaim.   sprauto  briggi]?  vastja 
fo    frumiston  jah   gavasji]?   'ina 
jah  gibif  figgragul]?  in  handu  'is 
jah  gaskoh  ana  fotuns  'is. 

23.  jah     briggandans     stiur 
fana  alldan  ufsneifij?.  jah  mat- 
jandans  visam  vaila. 

24.  unte  sa  sunus  meins  daufs 
vas  jah  gaqiunoda  jah  fralusans 
vas  jah bigitans  varf.  jah  dugun- 
nun  visan. 

25.  vasuffan    sunus     i's    sa 
alfiza  ana  akra  jah  qimands  at- 
'iddja  new  razn  jah  gahausida 
saggvins  jah  laikans. 

26.  jah     athaitands    sumana 
magive  frahuh.  wa  vesi  ]?ata. 


20.  Jakh  us-stand'ands 
at    at'tin    siin*am'ma. 
than'ukh  than  fer'ra  wis'andan 
gasakwh*    in*a    at'ta    is,    jakh 
infiirrooda  Jakh  thrag^ands  drAAs 
an*a  n'als  is  jakh  kuk'ida  im'ma. 

21.  Jakh    kwath    im*ma    sa 
sun'us :    At'ta,   frawArkht'a    in 
Binrin    jakh     in    and'werth'ja 
thiin-am'ma,  ju  than'asiiths   ni 
im  werths  ii  n'eet'eedAA  sun'us 
thiins. 

22.  Kw?ath  than  sa  at'ta  du 
skalk'am     siin'eem  :     SprAAt'oo 
briq'gith    wast*ja    thoo    frum*- 
istoon  jakh  gawas'jith  in -a  jakh 
gib'ith  fiq*gragulth  in  n'and'u  is, 
jakh  gaskookh'  aara  foot'ims  is. 

23.  Jakh  briq/gandans   styyr 
than-a  al'idan  uf-sniith  ith,  jakh 
mat'jandans  wis'am  weel'a. 

24.  Un'tee,    sa   sun'us   miins 
dAAths  was  jakh  gakwyyn'ooda, 
jakh  fralus'ans  was  jakh  bigit*- 
ans   warth.       Jakh   dugun'nun 
wis'an. 

25.  Was'uth'than  sun-us  is  sa 
al'thiza  an*a  ak'ra,  jakh  kw?im'- 
ands  at'id'dja  nekwh  raz-n,  jakh 
gan'AAS'ida      saq-gwins       jakh 
leek'ans. 

26.  Jakh  at'H'eet'ands  sum-- 
ana mag-iw00  frakh-ukh, 

that-a. 


Verbatim  Translation. 


20.  Eke  out-standing  came  to  dad 
his ;  still  then  far  being  saw  him  dad 
of-him,  eke  pitied,  eke  running  fell  on 
neck  of-him,  eke  kissed  him. 

21.  Eke  quoth  to-him  the  son,  Dad, 
I-from-wrought  (I-sinned)  in  (against) 
heaven  eke  in  face  thine.      Now  the- 
since    (longer)    not   am  worthy   that 
I-may-hight  son  thine. 

22.  Quoth  then  the  dad  to  servants 
his,   Quickly  bring  vest  the   from-est 
(first,  best),  eke  in- vest  him,  eke  give 
finger-gold  in  hand  of-him,  eke  shoes 
on  feet  of-him, 


23.  And  bringing  steer   the  fatted 
up-cut,  eke  meating  (eating  food)  let- 
us-be  well. 

24.  Unto-that     (because)    the    son 
mine  dead  was,  eke  y- quickened,  eke 
lost  was,  eke  he-gotten  worth  (became). 
Eke  they-began  to-be  (to  feast). 

25.  Was-then  son  of-him  the  elder 
on    acre,    eke    coming    to-went   (ap- 
proached) near  house,  eke  heard  song 
eke  games. 

26.  Eke  to-calling  certain  of-boys, 
asked,  what  were  that. 


564 


GOTHIC   PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  V.  §  4,  No.  3. 


27.  faruh  'is   qaf   du  i'mma. 
fatei    brofar    feins     qam.    jah 
ufsnaif   atta    feins    stiur   f  ana 
alidan.    unte    hailana  'ina  and- 
nam. 

28.  fanuh  modags  varf  jahni 
vilda  i'nngaggan.  'if  atta  'is  us- 
gaggands  ut  bad  'ina. 

29.  faruh  'is  andhafjands  qaf 
du  attin.  sai.  sva  filu  jere  skalk- 
inoda   fus  jah  ni   wanhun   an- 
abusn  feina  ufar'iddja.  jah  mis 
ni  aiv  atgaft  gaitein  ei  mif  fri- 
jondam  meinaim  bivesjau. 

30.  'if   fan   sa   sunus    feins. 
saei  fret  f  ein  sves  mif  kalkjom. 
qam.  ufsnaist  'imma  stiur  fana 
alidan. 

31.  faruh  qaf  du  'imma.  barn- 
ilo.  fu  sinteino  mif  mis  vast  jah 
'is.  jah  all  fata  mein  f ein  i'st. 

32.  vaila  visan  jah  faginon 
skuld   vas.    unte    brofar    feins 
daufs   vas   jah   gaqiunoda.   jah 
fralusans  jah  bigitans  varf . 


27.  Tharukh  is  k^ath  du 
inrma:  That-ii  brooth'ar  thiins 
kwam,  jakh  uf-sneeth-  at'ta 
thiins  styyr  than'a  alidan, 
in-a  andnam*. 


28.  Than-ukh  mood'ags  warth, 
jakh  ni  wil'da  in-gaq-gan.     Ith 
at'ta  is  us'gaq'gands  ut  bad  in*a. 

29.  Tharukh  is  andn'af-jands 
k^ath  du  at'tin:  See,  swa  fil-u 
seei'ee   skalk'inood-a  thus,    jakh 
ni  kwhan'H'un  an-abus-n  thiin-a 
uf-ar,id'dja.     Jakh  mis  ni  eew 
at'gaft.    geet'iin    ii    mith    frr- 
joond'am  miin'eem  biw^s'JAA. 

30.  Ith  than  sa  sun-us  thiins, 
sa,ii'    freet    thiin     swees    mith 
kalk'joom,  k^am,  uf'sneest*  inv- 
ma  styyr  than'a  al-idan. 

31.  Tharukh  kwath  du  im'- 
ma  :     Banriloo  !     thu   sint'iinoo 
mith  mis  wast  jakh  is  ;  jakh  al 
that  'a  miin  thiin  ist. 

32.  "Weel-a  wis'an  jakh  fag'- 
inoon  skuld  was  un-t^  brooth'ar 
thiins     dAAths     was    jakh    ga- 
k^yyn-ooda,      jakh      fralus*anz 
jakh  bigit'ans  warth. 


Verbatim  Translation. 


27.  Then   lie  quoth    to  him,  that 
brother   thine  came,  eke  up-cut    dad 
thine  steer  the  fatted,  unto-that  (he- 
cause)  whole  him  received. 

28.  Then    moody  worth    (became), 
eke  not  would  in-go.     But  dad  of-him 
out-going  out  bad  him. 

29.  Then  he  to-heaving  (answering) 
quoth  to  dad,  Lo,  so  many  years  served 
to-thee,   eke  not  whenever  command 
thine  over- went  (transgressed),  eke  to- 
me not  ever  at-gave  goat,  that  with 
friends  mine  might-feast. 


30.  But  then  (when)  the  son  thine, 
who  devoured   thine  possession  with 
harlots,  came,  thou-up-cuttest  for  him 
steer  the  fatted. 

31.  Then  quoth  to  him,  Little-son, 
thou  always  with  me  wast,  eke  art,  eke 
all  the  mine  thine  is. 

32.  Well  to-be  eke  to  rejoice  due 
was,  unto-that  (because)  brother  thine 
dead  was,  eke  y- quickened;  eke  lost, 
eke  he-gotten  worth  (became). 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1.  VALUE   OF   LETTERS.  565 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF  ORTHOGRAPHY  WITH  PRO- 
NUNCIATION FROM  THE  ANGLOSAXON  TIMES  TO  THE 
PRESENT  DAY. 

§  1.     The  Value  of  the  Letters. 

The  several  conclusions  arrived  at  respecting  the  sounds 
of  the  letters  in  English  orthography  are  necessarily  very 
irregularly  scattered  through  the  preceding  pages.  The 
nature  of  the  investigation  which  obliged  us  to  commence 
with  the  xvi  th  century,  then  descend  through  the  xvn  th 
to  the  xviii  th,  and  immediately  jump  to  the  xivth,  and  then 
after  a  glance  at  the  xv  th,  commence  the  consideration  of 
the  xiii  th  century,  has  not  produced  an  order  which  is  con- 
venient or  satisfactory  to  the  reader.  In  the  present  section 
then  the  results  will  be  arranged  in  a  tabular  form,  in  alpha- 
betical order.  A  reference  to  the  pages  in  which  the  several 
statements  are  established,  is  occasionally  given,  but  as  it 
was  found  impracticable  to  introduce  it  concisely  into  the 
text  in  all  cases,  the  indices  at  the  end  of  the  book  must  be 
consulted.  The  outline  index  annexed  will  enable  the  reader 
to  refer  immediately  to  the  principal  combinations. 

The  construction  of  the  Table  is  as  follows.  All  the  single  letters 
or  combinations  of  letters  which  have  been  used  as  parts  of  words 
in  English  orthography,  from  the  Anglosaxon  period  to  the  present 
day,  such  as  a,  aa,  a,  ae,  a-e  (meaning  a  followed  by  some  consonant 
and  then  by  e  final),  of,  -age  (meaning  age  final)  ah,  ai,  al,  all,  an, 
-ange,  ao,  aou,  ar,  as,  -aste,  ath,  au,  augh,  aun,  aw,  aww,  ay,  ayo,  I, 
etc.,  are  placed  in  alphabetical  order  at  the  head  of  separate  para- 
graphs, as  in  a  dictionary,  and  then  the  history  of  the  different 
sounds  that  each  has  represented  is  sketched  in  accordance  with 
previous  results,  using 

ags.,  for  the  Anglosaxon  period, 

13.,  for  the  xiiith  century  and  earlier. 

14.,  15.,  16.,  17.,  18.,  19.,  for  the  xivth,  xvth,  xvith,  xvnth, 
xvmth,  and  xixth  centuries  respectively. 

The  passages  inserted  in  brackets  at  the  end  of  some  articles, 
signed  P.,  are  due  to  Mr.  Payne,  see  infra,  pp.  579-80. 


566 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.      INDEX.  CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


OUTLINE  INDEX  TO  THE  PBINCIPAL  COMBINATIONS. 
Anglosaxon  period :  p.  510. 

Thirteenth  Century  and  Earlier:  pp.  423,  431,  439,  467,  471,  476,  480,  484, 
487,  496,  498,  506. 


A 

El,  EY 

M 

E 

14.  259, 

14.  263, 

14.   315, 

14.  316, 

16.     59, 

16.   118, 

16.  17,  18.  188. 

16.  17.  18.  196. 

17.     65, 

17.   124, 

N 

S 

18.     74. 

18.   129. 

14.  315, 

14.  317, 

AI,  AY 

EO 

16.  17.  18.  188. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

14.  263, 

14.  260. 

NG 

SH 

16.   118, 

EU,  EW 

14.  315, 

14.  317, 

17.   124, 

14.  301, 

16.  17.  18.  188. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

18.   129. 

16,   136,  137, 

0 

T 

ATT,  AW 
14.  263, 

17.  139, 
18.  141, 
F 

14.  266, 
16.     93, 

14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

16.  136,  141, 
17.  147, 
18.  149. 

14.  308, 

16.  17.  18.  219. 

G, 

17.     99, 
18.   103. 
OA 

TH 
14.  317, 
16.  17.  18.  219. 

14.  266, 

B 

14.  308, 

16.     93, 

U 

14.  308, 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

17.     99, 

14.  298, 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

GS 

18.  103! 

16.  160,  163. 

C 

14,  310, 

OT? 

17.  171, 

14.  308, 

16.  17.  18.  209. 

\JSit 

14.  260. 

18.  184. 

16.  17.  18.  203, 
214. 
CH 
14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

GN 

14.  308. 
H 
14.  314, 
16.  17.  18.  220. 
I?  Y 

01,  OY 

14.  268, 
16.  130, 
17.   133, 
18.   135. 

UI,  UY 

14.  269, 
16.  17.  18.  135. 

V 

14.  317, 

D 
14.  308, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

14.  270, 
16.   104, 
17.   116, 

00 
14.  266, 
16.     93, 

16.  17.  18.  219. 
W. 
14.  317, 

E 

18.  117. 

17.     99, 

16.  17.  18.  184. 

14.  260,  318, 

IE 

18.  103. 

WH 

16.     77, 

14.  260, 

OU,  OW 

14.  317, 

17.     81, 

16.   104, 

14.  303, 

16.  17.  18.  184. 

18.     88. 

17.  116, 

16.   136,  149, 

x 

EA 

18.  117. 

17.  156, 

14.  317, 

14.  260, 

J 

18.  160. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

16.     77, 
17.     81, 

14.  314, 
16.  17.  18.  203. 

P 

14.  316, 

Y  vowel,  see  I 

18.     88. 

K 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

Y  consonant. 

EE 

14.  315, 

PH 

14.  310,  317, 

14.  260, 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

14.  316. 

16.  17.  18.  184. 

16.     77, 

L 

Q 

Z 

17.     81, 

14.  315, 

14.  316, 

14.  310,  317, 

18.     88.               16.  17.  18.  193. 

16.  17.  18.  203. 

16.  17.  18.  214. 

CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


VALUE    OF   LETTERS.       A — AGE. 


567 


CHRONOLOGICAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  VALUES  OF  LETTERS. 


A  ags.  was  both  a  short  and  a  long 
sound  («,  aa),  but  the  long  sound  was 
sometimes  written  d.  Short  a  in  an 
open  unaccented  syllable  was  probably 
(a).  After  ags.,  a  in  an  open  accented 
syllable  was  considered  as  long,  and  in  a 
closed  syllable  generally  short.  In  13. 
14.  15.  16.  a  seems  to  have  been  (a,  aa), 
although  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  time 
it  may  have  been  (a,  aa).  Probably 
towards  the  end  of  16.  it  passed  into 
(ah,  aah),  a  sound  frequent  in  19.  In 
17.  it  became  (33,  sese),  and  at  the  latter 
end  of  1 7.  and  beginning  of  1 8.,  it  seems 
to  have  fallen  into  (se,  ee).  These 
changes  seem  to  have  occurred  towards 
the  close  of  15.  or  even  earlier  in  Scot- 
land, p.  410,  n.  3,  and  perhaps  in  the 
Northern  and  West  Midland  Counties, 
p.  450,  n.  2.  See  references  under 
ey.  Perhaps  during  the  latter  part 
of  18.  there  came  into  use  a  distinc- 
tion, thoroughly  established  in  19., 
that  long  a  should  be  (ee)  unless  fol- 
lowed by  r,  and  that  then  it 
should  be  (ee) ;  compare  naming,  Mary 
(nmn-t'q,  Meerr*).  In  19.  long  a  is 
frequently  pronounced  (eei)  in  place  of 
(«£  as  (nmm)  for  (neem),  pp.  234,  272, 
n.  3  ;  294,  n.  2.  Short  a  has  re- 
mained (SB)'  from  17.  to  19.  These 
general  usages  have  been  crossed  by 
the  action  of  a  following  /,  n,  r,  s,  tht 
see  af,  an,  ar,  as,  atk,  and  the  other 
combinations  which  follow.  An  initial 
(w)  acted  in  the  latter  part  of  17.  and 
subsequently,  in  many,  but  by  no  means 
all  words,  to  convert  (aa)  into  (A)  or 
(o),  as  in  was,  what,  etc.  In  19.  a  has 
been  variously  degraded  as  in  :  hating, 
father,  water,  many,  hat,  want,  riband 
=  (H<?eWq,  faadh-i,  WAAt-i,  men-t,  H83t, 
WAnt,  nb'^n). 

A  A  was  in  14.  occasionally  used  for 
(aa)  in  closed  syllables.  Otherwise  it 
was  only  employed  in  biblical  names, 
as  Aaron,  Isaac,  and  then  it  followed 
the  sound  of  long  or  short  a.  It  was 
occasionally  for  German  aa,  and  then 
from  17.  it  was  (AA). 

M  ags.  (se,  8983),  p.  510,  in  13.  sank 
to  (E,  EE)  or  (e,  ee),  pp.  487,  496, 
498.  It  was  rarely  used  in  13.,  and 
not  at  all  afterwards,  except  in  words 
borrowed  from  the  Latin  or  Greek,  and 
then  it  was  (ee)  till  18.,  towards  the 
close  of  which  it  became  (ii)  in  such 
cases.  But  scholars  still  occasionally 
say  (e)  as  in :  Pa3stum  =  (Pest"em) 


rather  than  (Piis-tem),  which  is  also 
heard.  [In  13.  ce  =  (ee)  in  Norman 
and  English.— P.] 

AE  was  never  an  English  combina- 
tion, but,  resulting  from  biblical  names 
or  Latin  adaptations,  it  seems  to  have 
been  treated  as  a+e,  or  83.  In  19.  we 
have  aerie,  Michael,  aerial,  Israel  ^= 
(eern  iirn,  Markd,  e,erM  eerm! 
iirrrel,  Jz'reel  Jz-rel  Jz'rel).  [In  13. 
«e=a3  =  (ee)  in  Norman  and  English. 

-P-] 

A— E,  that  is  a  followed  by  some 
consonant  and  a  final  e,  which,  when 
pronounced,  had  the  effect  of  putting  a 
into  an  open  syllable,  and  therefore 
making  it  long,  so  that  when  the  final  e 
ceased  to  be  pronounced,  it  was  presumed 
to  have  the  same  effect  of  lengthen- 
ing the  preceding  vowel.  Hence  a — e 
was  assumed  to  be  long  a,  with  the 
sound  of  the  time,  from  16.  to  19.  Per- 
haps this  feeling  came  in  towards  the 
close  of  15.  The  rule  is  not  con- 
sistently carried  out  in  19, ;  compare : 
hate,  are,  landscape,  furnace,  have  = 
(met,  aai,  lasnd-skt'p,  frnys,  H^V). 
Even  in  16.  the  vowel  was  not  long  in 
unaccented  syllables. 

AF,  this  combination  presents  no- 
thing peculiar  till  18.  or  19.  and  then 
only  in  certain  words :  graff,  staff,  dis- 
taff, quaff,  aft,  after,  abaft,  haft,  shaft, 
raft,  craft,  draft,  graft,  waft,  and  laugh, 
calf,  half,  which  must  be  considered  to 
have  the  same  combination.  Here 
usage  differs.  The  common  southern 
pronunciation  is  (aaf),  and  even  (aaf) 
may  be  heard ;  the  fine  educated  nor- 
thern pronunciation  is  (ffif).  Ladies  in 
the  South  and  many  educated  gentle- 
men say  (ahf)  or  at  most  (aahf).  But 
(af)  is  also  heard.  Those  who  use  the 
finer  sounds,  ridicule  the  others  as 
vulgar,  and  write  them  larf,  etc.,  de- 
claring that  an  r  is  introduced,  but 
this  arises  from  their  own  omission  of 
(r)  and  preservation  of  (aa),  in  :  barm, 
starve,  etc.  See  ar,  or,  and  the  cita- 
tion under  o,  p.  575,  col.  1. 

AG  in  late  ags.  and  12.  or  13.  was 
probably  equivalent  to  (ai). 

ASS,  OrnDTT.Vibrm  of  (ai),  p.  488. 

-AGE.  I-i  16.  the  ge  =  (dzh)  seems  to 
have  inflvanced  the  preceding  a  by  in- 
troducing an  (i)  sound,  as  (aidzh),  p. 
120  ;  and  in  17.  to  19.  this  a  has  fol- 
lowed the  fortunes  of  ai,  which  see. 


568 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.       AH — AR.  CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


AH,  as  an  exclamation,  has  probably 
always  represented  (aa),  although  the 
corresponding  exclamation  was  not 
always  represented  by  ah.  In  dahlia 
it  is  now  pronounced  (ee). 

AI  in  14.  =  (ai,  aai),  which  sounds 
apparently  remained  to  the  end  of  16., 
though  the  pronunciation  (ee)  was  in 
use  by  a  large  number  of  speakers.  In 
17.  after  a  passage  through  (ahi,  a3i), 
the  sound  rapidly  sank  to  (ee),  but 
whether  the  sound  (eei)  was  not  occa- 
sionally heard  cannot  be  ascertained 
with  certainty.  In  19.,  (ee,  eei)  are 
both  usual  forms.  Various  degrada- 
tions are  heard  in  19.,  as  :  demam,  sail, 
Saint  John,  saz'd,!pla/d,  Britam  (dimiin-, 
seel,  Sm-dzhen,  sed,  plsed,  Bn't-'n),  and 
dais,  which  was  a  monosyllable  in 
Chaucer,  372  =  (dais),  but  has  be- 
come dissyllabic  =  (d«*ris).  For  13.  see 
pp.  431,  440,  467,  473,  506 ;  14.  459, 
462 ;  15.  447.  See  especially  p.  459, 
n.  1,  and  the  passages  there  referred  to, 
and  also  Chap.  VII.  §  1.  The  use  of 
(ai)  for  (ee)  seems  fixed  in  Scotland  at 
the  beginning  of  16.,  p.  410,  n.  3.  [In 
13.  and  14.  ai=ay  =  (ee)  in  No$man 
and  English;  in  16.  often,  if  not  gene- 
rally =(ai)  in  English,  infra  p.  582. 

AL,  ALL  in  16.  and  hence  probably 
for  some  time  previously  the  /  had  be- 
gun seriously  to  influence  the  preceding 
vowel,  by  being  pronounced  ('!)  with  a 
very  appreciable  length  of  murmur  or 
being  labialised  into  (Iw) ;  the  result 
in  either  case,  accepted  as  (ill),  pro- 
duced the  diphthong  (aul),  which  was 
firmly  established  in  16.  See  I,  p.  193. 
This  was  occasionally  followed  by  the 
total  disappearance  of  the  I,  as  in :  ,talk, 
calm  =  (tauk,  kaum).  Then  this  al 
was  considered  as  tantamount  to  au, 
and  followed  its  changes,  becoming 
(AA)  in  17.  and  in  most  words  so  re- 
maining to  19. ;  but  in  some  words,  as 
(pafrn,  calm),  although  occasionally 
called  (pAAm,  kAAM)  in  17.,  and  in 
Irish-English,  p.  76,  the  combination 
seems  to  have  generally  resisted  the 
change  to  -V'\A),  and  rather  to  have 
passed  from  (aau,  aa')  to  simple  (aa),  as 
we  still  hear  (paani,  Vaam),  refined  by 
some  to  (paahm  kaahi,.,  ^sem  ksesem, 
pa3m  kaem)  ;  while  others,  inorgani- 
cally and  purely  orthographi  ^ally,  at- 
tempt to  say  (pselm,  kselm).  See  au, 
aun. 
AN.  In  16.  French  words  now 


having  the  nasal  vowel  (aA)  were 
heard  as  having  (aun),  p.  143,  and 
hence  the  writing  aun  much  prevailed 
then  ;  and  as  we  also  find  this  ortho- 
graphy in  14.,  probably  the  same  effect 
was  produced  on  English  ears  by  that 
French  sound.  In  16.  aun  was  occa- 
sionally replaced  by  an,  as  commaund, 
command,  but  probably  the  sound  (aun) 
remained.  In  17.  the  sound  became 
(AAU),  and  during  18.  and  even  into  19. 
this  sound  remains,  although  there  is, 
and  perhaps  always  was,  a  tendency  to 
fall,  on  the  one  hand  into  (aan),  on  the 
other  into  (an),  with  their  various  re- 
finements ;  see  of.  Thus  romance 
romantic  have  now  generally  (sen),  but 
(AAU)  is  occasionally  heard,  and  forty 
years  ago  I  was  familiar  with  (romAAns-, 
romaans-).  In  command,  demand,  etc., 
the  contest  is  among  (an  aan,  an  aan, 
sen  sesen,  ahn  aahn).  In  daunt,  gaunt, 
haunt,  gauntlet,  jaunt,  taunt,  vaunt,  all 
the  last  named  sounds  may  be  heard, 
and  also  (AAU),  but  never  (An).  It 
would  be  convenient  to  use  (aan)  for 
(an)  in  all  words  where  it  corresponds 
to  the  modern  French  (aA).  See  au. 

-ANGE.  In  16.  the  sound  (i)  was  in- 
serted as  (aindzh),p.  120,  and  the  com- 
bination was  treated  in  17.  as  if  written 
-ainffe,  the  a  becoming  (ee)  and  then 
(ee)  or  (eei)  in  19.  In  unaccented 
syllables  it  drops  into  (-^ndzh,  or 
-mdzh)  properly  (-yndzh),  as  oranges 
dz%z. 


AO.  This  is  never  recognized  as  a 
true  English  combination,  though  it 
occurs  in  gaol  now  (Azheel),  and  by 
accidental  attraction  in  extraordinary, 
now  (ekstrAAi-dmerz),  and  foreign 
words,  as  :  Pharaoh,  aorta,  Chaos,  now 
(Feerro,  e,oi'fo,  K^-os).  The  old  pro- 
nunciation of  gaol  is  doubtful.  Extra- 
ordinary was  probably  always  treated  as 
a  compound,  compare  "  afford  no  extra- 
ordinary gaze,"  Henry  IV.  part  1,  act 
3,  sc.  2,  v.  78. 

AOU.  This  French  mode  of  writing 
(au)  is  only  met  with  in  caowtchouc, 
generally  called  (kautsh'wk),  but  occa- 
sionally (kuut-tshwk)  in  19. 

AR.  The  vocal  character  of  r  as 
('r)  seems  to  have  acted  upon  the  pre- 
ceding vowels  in  all  cases  after  16. 
Probably  ar,  when  not  followed  by  a 
vowel,  remained  (ar)  or  (ai),  though 
unacknowledged,  during  17.  18.  19., 
with  the  variation  (aai),  which  is  in  19. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1.  VALUE   OF   LETTERS.       AS — CCH. 


569 


frequently  reduced  to  simple  (aa).  But 
ar  was  frequently  called  (ser)  or  (sei)  in 
17.  and  18.,  and  the  sound  is  still  heard 
in  American  English.  In  the  present 
usage  of  the  South  of  England  the 
(JL)  is  practically  dropped,  pp.  196,  245. 
See  o,  or,  r. 

AS.  In  a  few  words  of  19.  the  * 
seems  to  react  on  the  a,  as :  pass,  class, 
mast,  fast,  in  which  a  receives  all  the 
variety  of  sound  noticed  in  af,  an,  as 
(paes  paeaes,  pas  pass,  pas  paas,  pahs 
paahs).  In  other  words,  as :  passage 
classify,  (classics  sometimes  follows 
the  rule  of  class),  gas,  (mastiff  is  doubt- 
ful),  no  such  action  takes  place.  It  is  not 
noticed  hy  older  writers,  and  is  there- 
fore probably  modern,  but  it  may  be 
merely  a  remnant  of  the  16.  and  earlier 
(as). 

-ASTE,  in  16.  and  earlier  (ast),  but 
in  19.  we  have :  haste,  paste,  taste, 
waste  (now  distinguished  from  waist, 
which  was  not  the  case  in  16.,  see  p. 
73,  note  l)=(aeest,  p^st,  teest,  w<?<<?st). 
Here  the  action  of  s  is  precisely  con- 
trary to  that  in  as.  No  clue  to  this 
change  has  been  discovered,  but  we  may 
conjecture  an  intermediate  (naeaest, 
paeaest)  during  17.  Could  there  have 
been  an  inserted  i,  as  indicated  by  the 
spelling  waist  in  one  sense  of  16.  waste, 
analogous  to  that  in  -anae,  ash,  lash, 
pp.  120,  264  ? 

ATH.  In :  path,  bath,  lath,  wrath, 
th  seems  to  have  acted  as  /,  s  (see  of, 
as)  in  preserving  the  (a)  sound,  or  its 
modern  variants  (a  se  ah),  short  and 
long,  in  19. 

AU.  See  aww.  At  a  very  early 
period  in  13.  and  14.  au,  aw  were 
(au),  which  sound  remained  to  16. 
Either  at  the  close  of  16.  or  beginning 
of  17.  it  seems  to  have  passed  through 
(mi,  aau,  aa')  into  (AA),  in  which  form 
it  was  firmly  established  in  17.  and  has 
remained  with  little  or  no  change,  but 
is  occasionally  (aa).  See  aun,  an.  In 
19.  we  have  isolated  degradations, 
compare :  g««ging,  aunt,  haul,  hauteur, 
Jervawlx,  laurel,  meerschaum,  Mene- 
laus  =  (gmlzh't'q,  aant,  HAA!,  Hootxr, 
Dzhaarvz's,  lArel,  miii'shem,  Meni- 
),  where  the  foreign  words  have 


received  an  English  pronunciation.  [In 
13.  and  14.  au  generally  (au),  but  be- 
fore n,  especially  in  14.  =  (aaa)  in  Nor- 
man and  English,  infra  p.  583. — P.] 

AUGH.     This  must  be  considered 


as.  a  double  combination  au+ah,  the 
first  part  follows  au,  the  second  gh, 
hence  in  14.  laugh  =  (laukh,  laukwh, 
lauwh),  in  16.  =  (laukh,  lauH<),  in  17. 
(laeaef)  or  (laef),  perhaps  also  (laaf)  as 
in  19.  See  af.  The  gh  becoming 
occasionally  mute,  augh  was  treated 
altogether  like  au,  as  in:  taught, 
caught  =  (tAAt,  kAAt). 

AUN.     See  an. 

A~W.  This  was  precisely  equivalent 
to  au.  In  14.  it  was  used  in  the 
middle  as  well  as  at  the  end  of  a  word. 
In  16.  and  afterwards  it  was  seldom 
used  except  when  final,  though  we  still 
write :  awl,  awning,  brawl,  crawl, 
prawn,  sprawl,  etc. 

AWW.  Orrmin's  form  of  (au),  p' 
488. 

AY.  Precisely  equivalent  to  ai.  In 
14.  used  in  the  middle  as  well  as  end  of 
words ;  in  16.  and  afterwards  generally 
final.  See  references  under  ai,  ei. 

AYO.  In  the  word  mayor  =  (meea) 
in  19.,  at/o  may  be  considered  as  a  single 
combination,  but  it  is  properly  ay+o ; 
Mayo  is  generally  called  (Mee'o). 

B.  Ags.  to  19.  =(6),  but  in  19.  not 
unfrequently  written  when  not    pro- 
nounced as  in  debt,  doubt,  lamb,  bdel. 
Hum,  suitile  ;  in  debt,  doubt  it  was  not 
pronounced  and  generally  not  written 
in  16.,  p.  211,  n.  2.  It  was  mute  in  17. 
in  all  the  cases  in  which  it  remains  so 
in  19. 

BB.  Like  other  doubled  letters,  had 
the  sound  of  the  single  letter  (b),  being 
only  used  to  indicate  a  preceding  ac- 
cented short  vowel. 

C.  In  ags.  always  (k)  or  (&),  but  at 
a  later  period  of  ags.  the  (k)  seems  to 
have  become  (tsh),  p.  511.     See  ch. 
In  13.  it  is  apparently  not  used  before 
(e,  i),  except  in  the  combination  -sce= 
-sse,  and  then  it  was  (s) ;    but  in  14. 
when  French  words  were  freely  intro- 
duced it  was   (s)  before  e,  i  and  (k) 
otherwise,  and  so  it  has  remained  ;  but 
see  ce-,  ci. 

CC.  In  ags.  the  same  as  c,  but  indi- 
cating that  the  preceding  vowel  was 
short  and  generally  accented ;  in  later 
times  either  (k)  or  (ks)  as  in :  account, 
accident  =  (aekaunt',  aek-szdent)  in  19. 

CCH  in  14.  used  for  fc?A  =  (t+tsh), 
and  pronounced  (tsh),  shortening  the 
preceding  vowel. 


570 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.      CE — EA.  CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


CE.  Till  18.  this  seems  to  have  been 
simply  c  +  e.  At  the  end  of  17.  it 
changed  to  (sh)  in  in  ocean.  See  ci, 
si,  ti. 

CH.  Not  used  in  ags.,  but  in  13. 
found  in  the  signification  of  (tsh),  the 
sound  into  which  (&)  had  fallen,  and  as 
such  it  has  remained.  In  words  from 
the  Greek  as  arcAitect  it  is  (k)  in  19., 
and  probably  was  so  in  14. ;  in  words 
from  the  modern  French  as  chaise  it  is 
(sh)  in  19.,  but  for  French  words  intro- 
duced before  18.  as  cAain,  the  sound 
(tsh)  seems  to  have  prevailed.  In  a 
few  final  syllables  as :  Greenwich, 
"Woolwich,  Norwich,  it  has  become 
(dzh)  in  19.,  but  in  others  it  remains 
(tsh),  as  Ipswich,  locally  (Jps-z'dzh),  p. 
512,  n.  2.  In  fucMa  =  (fiu-shia)  it  is 
mute.  See  si-.  In  13.  it  was  rarely 
used  as^A  =  (kh),  p.  441.  In  modern 
Scotch  it  has  the  three  sounds  (£h,  kh, 
kw;h)  determined  generally  by  the  pre- 
ceding vowel. 

CI-.  Till  18.  this  appears  to  have 
been  simply  s+i,  but  then  it  fell  into 
(sh),  as  special,  specious,  offiml  = 
(spesh"el,  spirshBs,  oft'sh-sl).  See  si-,  ti-. 

CK.  This  means  kk  or  (K)  from  14. 
to  19.,  but  in  14.  kk  is  frequently  used. 

CW  in  ags.,  p.  514,  probably  =  (kw) 
that  is  nearly  (kw) ;  replaced  by  qu 


CZ.  This  is  a  modern  combination 
used  chiefly  in  Sclavonic  words,  as 
Czech,  Bohemian  (tshekh),  but  English 
(tshek) :  Czar  is  called  (zaaa)  in  19., 
but  its  Russian  initial  is  (ts). 

D  ags.  to  19.  =  (d).  When,  how- 
ever, the  past  participle  ed  dropped  its 
e,  the  d  changed  to  (t)  after  mutes  or 
hisses,  as :  capped,  sacked,  quaffed, 
kissed,  at  least  in  17.  and  probably 
even  in  13.  as  bliscedd=  (blist),  p.  444, 
note  2.  In  19,  d  is  palatised  into  (dj, 
dj),  and  ultimately  (dzh),  in  many  cases, 
acknowledged  or  repudiated,  as :  soldier 
=  (s001*dzha),verdure  =  (vrdiuj,  vrdjur, 
vrdjur,  vadzh-j),  the  last  having  the 
same  sound  as  verger.  It  is  generally 
mute  in  :  riband,  Weo"nesoL  y. 

DD.  Whenever  used  =  (&)\  except 
in  compounds. 

DG  =  (dzh)  from  14.  to  19.,  before 
a  palatal  vowel,  as  e,  i  as :  jud^e,  bri<^- 
ing  and  sometimes  this  sound  is  de- 
tained, even  when  an  e  has  been  ortho- 
graphically  omitted,  as  judgment. 


D  In  ags.  ft  was  either  (th)  or  (dh) 
perhaps  used  indifferently  in  the  MSS. 
which  we  have,  p.  515.  In  some  more 
recent  ags.  and  in  13.  ft  was  used  as 
the  only  sign  for  both  (th,  dh),  in 
others  J?  was  the  only  sign,  After  13. 
ft  seems  to  have  been  discontinued,  and 
only  }>  used  in  14.  and  part  of  15. 
Even  in  13.  th  was  occasionally  used 
for  either  ft  or  )>.  Judging  by  modern 
Icelandic  habits  ft  was  (dh)  when 
medial  or  final  in  ags.  See  also  p.  541, 
n.  2,  p.  555,  n.  1. 

E  =  ags.  (e,  ee),  and  this  sound  it 
seems  to  have  retained  to  the  middle  of 

15.  Then  some  of  the  words  with  e 
long  had  the  sound  of  (ii),  but  e  short 
has  remained  (e)  to  19.     The  use  of 
long  e  as  (ee,  ii)  fluctuated  much  during 

16.  and  17.,  but  in  18.  the  sound  (ii) 
established    itself  and  has  remained. 
See  ea,  ee,    In  19.  it  has  a  few  anoma- 
lies, compare :  be,  clerk,  pretty,  let,  resin, 
hideous,  open  =  (bii,  klaaik,  prz'tt,  let, 
roz-in,  Ht'd-jas,  oop-'n).     Final  e  seems 
to  have  been  pronounced,  at  least  in 
the  Southern  parts  of  England,  till  the 
beginning  of  the  15.  with  certain  ex- 
ceptions, pp.    318,   364.     During   15. 
most  final  e's  lost  their  sounds,  and  in 
16.  e  final  was  considered  to  indicate 
that  the  preceding  vowel  had  its  long 
sound.     The  final  e  seems  to  have  be- 
come silent  even  in  14.  or  13.  in  the 
northern  parts  of  the  country,  p.  410. 
Usages  differ  in  existing  MSS. 

EA.  In  ags.  this  seems  to  have 
been  a  true  diphthong  (ea)  with  the 
stress  generally  on  the  first  but  occa- 
sionally on  the  second  syllable,  indi- 
cated by  (ea,  ea),  p.  511.  Although 
found  in  13.  pp.  467,  498,  we  may  con- 
sider that  with  ags,  it  passed  out  of  use. 
It  is  occasionally  found  in  14.  as  (ee). 
It  was  not  till  the  middle  of  1 6.  that  it 
was  extensively  used  to  mark  those 
long  e's  which  retained  the  sound  of 
(ee)  in  contradistinction  to  those  which 
had  fallen  into  (ii),  the  latter  being 
written  ee.  This  distinction  was  how- 
ever not  consistently  carried  out  even 
at  first,  some  words  having  the  (ii) 
sound  being  spelled  with  ea,  and  all 
sounds  having  the  (ee)  sound  not  being 
spelled  with  ea.  In  17.  still  more  of 
the  words  with  ea  became  sounded  as 
(ii)  without  any  change  of  spelling, 
and  by  the  middle  of  18.  the  use  of  ea 
generally  as  (ii),  and  rarely  as  (ee,  ee} 
as  in  :  bear,  great,  was  established  and 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1.  VALUE   OF    LETTERS.      EAU EU. 


571 


has  remained  to  19.  Many  words  in 
ea  which  had  long  (ee)  in  14.  were 
pronounced  with  short  (e)  at  an  early 
period,  as :  head,  lead  s.  In  the  earlier 
part  of  18.  the  sound  of  (ii)  was  applied 
to  words  such  as  great,  break,  which  are 
now  generally  pronounced  with  (ee). 
The  19.  varieties  are  seen  in:  heal, 
great,  heart,  guinea,  head,  react,  area, 
=  (mil,  greet,  naaat,  g«h'«,  ned,  riaekt*, 
eerri,^).  [In  13.  and  14.  ea  =  ae  =  ai  = 
(ee)  in  Norman  and  English,  infra  p. 
582.— P.] 

EAU.  This  form  was  not  employed 
in  14.,  hut  ew  was  used  in  place  of  it ; 
even  Levins,  1570,  has  bewtye.  In  the 
earlier  part  of  17.  eau  was  (eu),  in  the 
later  'part  and  since,  (iu).  As  usual, 
19.  furnishes  varieties,  as  in :  Beaw- 
champ,  \>eau,  beawfin,  beawty  =  (Biitslr- 
•em,  boo,  btf'in,  biirtt).  [In  14.  eau 
=eal,  iau  in  Norman  of  13.  =eu,  ew, 
=  (uu)  in  Norman  and  English,  infra 
p.  586.— P.] 

EE.  Invariably  represented  (ee)  in 
14.  and  was  generally  used  in  closed 
syllables.  At  beginning  of  16.  it  was 
sometimes  (ii)  and  sometimes  (ee). 
During  the  latter  half  of  16.  it  was 
fixed  as  (ii),  the  (ee)  sound  being  gene- 
rally written  ea  (which  see).  So  it 
has  remained.  In  19.  breeches  is 
(bntslryz). 

E'E.  A  17-  and  later  contraction 
for  eve  in  e'er  ne'er  and  pronounced 
(ee)  up  to  19. 

E-E.  The  affixed  mute  e  rendered 
the  preceding  e  long,  and  hence  in  16. 
the  sound  was  generally  (ee),  but  in 
some  cases  (ii).  The  spelling  was  then 
discontinued,  ea,  ee  taking  its  place, 
thus  Salesbury's  chepe,  chese  became 
cheap,  cheese.  At  the  beginning  of  18. 
the  sound  of  (ii)  prevailed  and  has  con- 
tinued ;  but  19.  shews :  these,  there, 
allege  =  (dhiiz,  dheei,  aledzh-). 

EG  in  later  ags.  and  in  12.  (ei,  ai). 

Egg.  Orrmin's  form  for  (ei),  p.  489. 

EH,  the  exclamation  (ee,  ee). 

EI.  In  13.  seems  to  have  been  (ei, 
ai).  In  14.  when  used,  which  was  rarely, 
ey  being  the  common  form,  it  was  (ai) 
sometimes  (aa,i)  pp.  264,  476.  See  the 
references  given  under  ai.  In  16.  it 
varied  as  (ei,  ai),  and  in  17.  became 
(ai)  or  more  usually  (eei,  ee).  During 
the  latter  part  of  18.  it  changed  to  (ii), 
where  it  generally  remains,  with  va- 


rieties of  (ai,  ee)  as  in:  conceit,  veil, 
forfeit,  heifer,  dei'pnosophist  =  (konsiit*, 
veel,  foiftt,  nefu,  daipnos-ofrst).  In  the 
words  either,  neither,  ei  was  generally 
(ee)  in  18. ;  in  19.  usage  fluctuates  be- 
tween (ii,  ai),  some  still  use  (ee), 
p.  129,  n.  1.  [Precisely  the  same  as 
ai,  ay,  infra  p.  582. — P.] 

EO.  In  ags.  this  seems  to  have  been 
generally  (eo)  but  occasionally  (e6). 
In  13.  eo  interchanged  with  e  and  the 
sound  was  (ee),  p.  487.  The  combina- 
tion then  went  out  of  use,  although 
both  eo  and  oe  are  found  in  14.  in  the 
sense  of  (ee).  In  17.  therefore  it  be- 
came (ii)  in  people,  and  even  in  yeoman, 
though  this  has  now  (oo).  As  eo  is 
rare  and  has  come  from  many  sources 
it  is  very  variously  pronounced  in  19., 
as :  people,  Georgies,  yeoman,  galleon, 


•eld,  lep'id,  dan'dzh^n,  mseklaud',  fiud, 
thiloloo-dzhren,  thiol-odzhi).  [In  13. 
and  14.  eo,  oe=  (ee)  generally,  but  often 
=  (uu)  in  Norman,  and  sometimes  in 
English,  infra  p.  586.— P.] 

EOU,  EOW,  perhaps  (eou)  or  (eu), 
p.  498.  [In  13.  and  14.  eow  in  Eng- 
lish =(uu),  infra  p.  586.— P.] 

ER  in  ags.  was  probably  always  (er, 
eer)  or  (e.r,  ee.r)  with  a  strongly  trilled 
(r).  It  is  still  so  in  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. There  is  no  notice  of  its  having 
varied  in  sound  till  18.,  when  (i)  was 
recognized  as  a  second  sound  of  r  and 
then  er  was  taken  to  be  (ei).  In 
19.  Mr.  M.  Bell  takes  it  to  be  (eor).  I 
conceive  it  to  be  properly  (U),  but  to 
be  generally  ('i),  see  p.  196.  Although 
there  is  no  notice  of  this  sound  in 
older  writers,  yet  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  something  approaching  to  it 
was  known  in  16.  and  that  it  was  well 
marked  in  the  latter  part  of  17.  In 
17.  the  practice  of  reading  er  as  ar  in  : 
clerk,  Derby,  servant,  service,  Hertford, 
still  more  or  less  heard  in  19.  came  into 
use.  Confusions  of  er,  ar,  are  common 
in  13. 

EU.  The  oldest  sound  of  eu  seems  to 
have  been  (eu).  In  14.  it  was  generally 
(eu),  but  in  words  of  French  origin 
(yy),  p.  302.  The  division  became 
confused  in  15.,  and  in  16.,  though  both 
sounds  were  heard,  the  line  of  distinc- 
tion seems  arbitrary,  see  lists,  p.  301. 
In  the  course  of  17.  most  eu  became 


572 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.      EW GN.         CHAP.  VI.  $  1. 


(m)  though  some  remained  (eu).  In 
18.  this  distinction  was  swept  away 
and  all  became  and  have  remained  (iu), 
except  after  r  when  they  are  generally 
(uu)  as  Rwben,  Tew,  rheum..  In  mo- 
dern French  words  in  eur  as :  amateur, 
grandeur,  hauteur,  usage  varies,  (iur, 
eei,  uui,  'j)  heing  all  heard  occasion- 
ally, the  last  heing  meant  for  the 
French  (dr).  [In  13.  and  14.  eu,  ue, 
ew,  w,  each=  (uu)  in  Norman  and 
English,  infra  p.  586.— P.] 

EW  was  identical  with  (eu),  but  was 
more  often  used,  especially  in  13.,  and 
afterwards  became  the  common  final 
form,  see  eu.  Some  of  the  words  in 
ew  passed  into  (oo,  oou),  at  least  as 
early  as  17.,  but  skew,  sew  are  in  19. 
usually  spelled  show,  sow,  and  chew, 
eschew,  shrew,  shrewd  have  (iu)  or  (uu). 
In  Shrewsbury,  present  usage  varies 
between  (uu)  and  (oo).  Shrow  was 
used  in  Shakspere's  time.  [See  eu. — P.] 

EWE  only  occurs  in  the  word  (ewe), 
in  19.  (jiuu)  and  (JOG),  which  is  found 
written  awe  in  13,  p.  428  In  the 
middle  of  a  word  ewe  occurs  as  ew  +  e, 
and  the  e  may  be  or  may  not  be  silent, 
as  in  :  sewed,  brewed,  jewel  =  (sood, 
bruud,  dzhhrel).  The  word  sewer,  a 
drain,  was  (shooj)  in  18.,  but  in  the 
middle  of  19.  the  pronunciation  (sku) 
prevails.  Sewer  a  waiter  is  (siir5 i),  one 
who  sews  is  (soo-'i). 

EWW.  Orrmin's  form  of  (eu),  p.  488. 

EY.  The  same  as  ei,  see  p.  459,  n.  1, 
and  the  passages  there  cited.  See  also 
Chap.  VII.  §  1,  near  the  beginning.  It 
was  common  in  14.  as  (ai),  in  16.  as  (ei, 
ai),  in  17.  as  (eei,  ee),  in  18.  and  19. 
generally  (ee)  sometimes  («*),  as  in  key, 
they,  turkey,  ^ing  =  (kii,  dhee,  trkt, 
ariq).  [See  ei. — P.] 

EYE  seems  to  occur  only  in  eye  = 
(ai),  which  was  (ai^h-e,  ai&lre,  n-e)  in 
14.,  (ei,  ai)  in  16.,  and  generally  (ai) 
in  17.  to  19.  [In  14.  «y*  =  (ee-e),  in 
Norman  and  English,  infra  p.  582. — P.] 

F.  In  ags.  (f)  and  between  vowels 
often  (v).  In  13.  to  19.  generally  (f), 
in  the  middle  of  17.  of  became  (ov)  but 
it  was  not  generally  recognized  till  18. 
The  use  of  (v)  for  (f )  was  common  in 
the  dialects  of  14.,  p.  409. 

FF.  Formerly  in  MS.  of  13.  and 
later  ff  was  written  for  F.  Through- 
out, in  the  middle  of  a  word  ff  was  =  (f ) . 


G.  In  ags.  (g,  gh;  g,  gh,  jh,  j). 
In  13.  a  distinction  was  made  between 
g  3,  g  being  pure  (g,  g),  and  3  guttural 
or  palatal.  When  French  words  were 
introduced  more  freely  in  14.  g  became 
(dzh),  and  was  then  (dzh)  or  perhaps  (zh) 
in  French.  The  sound  (zh)  is  compara- 
tively modern  in  France,  though  it  was 
certainly  known  in  16.,  p.  207,  and  it 
is  used  in  Modern  English  words  taken 
from  the  French  as :  routing  (ruuzh-aq). 

GG.  Identical  with  g,  but  always 
(g), never  (dzh),  as  in  rugged  =  (rag-ed). 

GH.  Even  in  13.  occasionally  used 
for  3  when  sounded  (gh,  kh),  the 
sounds  (gh,  j)  being  occasionally  written 
(yh,  y)  p.  431.  In  14.  the  sound  was 
(gh,  gh,  kh,  kh),  and  after  labial  vowels 
(gw>h,  wh).  In  16.  it  was  generally 
called  (kh)  but  said  to  be  lightly  pro- 
nounced, and  some  call  it  (H'),  others 
(wh),  and  in  a  few  words  this  (wh)  had 
passed  into  (f).  In  other  words  it 
gradually  became  mute,  in  which  case 
the  preceding  vowel  had  generally 
been  previously  altered.  In  17.  sigh 
drought,  height,  were  sometimes  called 
(saith,  drAAth,  naith,  and  the  town  of 
Keighley  is  (Kiith-h')  in  19.  An  un- 
historical  h  has  been  inserted  in :  ghost, 
ghastly,  in  which  gh  =  (g).  The  (kh) 
sound  is  retained  in :  lough,  (lokh), 
though  it  has  generally  become  (k)  as 
(lok),  and  as  :  shough,  hough  =  (shok, 
Hok)  but  sometimes  (naf)  in  groom's 
language.  The  change  of  gh  into  (f ) 
prevailed  more  extensively  in  17.  than 
in  19.,  and  is  still  heard  more  in  the 
provinces.  Varieties  in  19. :  Callaghan, 
hiccou^A,  Bellin^am,  hou^A,  ghost, 
laugh,  Kei^Aley  =  (Ksel-anffin,  nik-kap, 
BeHndzhmn,  nok,  goost,  laaf),  besides 
being  mute.  Augh,  ough,  must  be 
taken  as  au+gh,  ou  +  gh. 

GL.  Generally  ^47,  but  in  the  Italian 
word  seraglio,  either  (lj)  or  (1)  from 
17,  at  least. 

GN.  Initial,  up  to  16.  (gn),  but  in 
17.  and  afterwards,  the  g  was  dropped- 
Medial,  in  14.  it  seems  to  have  been 
simple  (n),  p.  309,  and  this  sound  has 
generally  remained  to  19.,  although  gn 
is  incorrectly  considered  to  lengthen 
the  preceding  vowel,  merely  because  an 
e  has  been  omitted,  as  in  :  sign,  benign, 
impregn,  impugn,  in  14.  (sun-e,  be- 
nu'-ne,  ^mpree-ne,  e'mpyyne),  and  hence 
in  16.  (sain,  benain-,  impreen-,  z'mpyyn-), 
and  in  19.  (sain,  binain-,  impriur,  tin- 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


VALUE    OF    LETTERS. 


573 


piuir).  In  such,  combination  as  :  dig- 
nity, signify,  impregnate,  repugnant,  it 
was  probably  always  (gn).  Gill,  1621, 
acknowledges  (qn)  as  (beniq-n),  and 
some  MSS.  of  15.  spell  beningne.  [In 
13.  and  14.  gn  medial  =  (n)  in  Nor- 
man and  English. — P.] 

g  3  Used  extensively  in  13.  and  14. 
for  the  sounds  of  (gh,  g\,  kh,  &h,  j). 
The  figure  of  y  in  the  sense  (j)  seems 
derived  from  3.  The  form  ?  being 
identical  with  the  written  form  of  z, 
then  in  use,  z  was  also  used  for  3  even 
in  print,  see  nz,  z.  After  printing  came 
into  use  ?  was  soon  discontinued,  and 
gh,  y  became  the  usual  forms.  Some- 
times confused  in  writing  with  s,  p.  464. 

gh  used  for  (gh)  in  Orrmin,  p.  488. 

H.  In  ags.  initially,  before  a  vowel 
(H)  or  (H').  Before  /,  r,  »,  w  it  may 
have  been  originally  (kh),  but  hi,  hr, 
hn,  hw  seem  to  have  become  (Ih,  rh, 
nh,  wh)  in  ags.  times,  p.  512,  as  they 
are  in  Icelandic,  p.  544,  and  in  13. 
only  (Ih,  wh)  remained,  which  were 
frequently  interchanged  with  (1,  w). 
(Wh)  remains  in  19.,  but  is  uncertain 
in  the  South.  In  ags,  h  final  =  (kh, 
jfch).  In  13.  the  sound  of  h  seems  to 
have  been  very  uncertain,  and  in  14.  it 
was  lost  in  those  words  before  which  a 
vowel  was  elided.  In  16.  it  was  pro- 
nounced or  not,  differently  from  the 
present  custom.  In  19.  it  is  much 
more  pronounced  than  formerly,  but  in 
the  provinces  and  among  the  unedu- 
cated, it  is  almost  always  lost. 

I  vowel,  for  i  consonant  see  ./.  In 
ags.  (i,  ii)  or  (•',  n).  This  sound  seems 
to  have  been  prevalent  in  14.,  and  the 
short  value  (i}  lasts  in  19.  During  15. 
many  of  the  words  having  long  (ii)  re- 
ceived short  (t)  owing  to  throwing  back 
the  accent,  but  those  long  (if)  which 
retained  the  accent  became  (ei),  and 
retained  that  sound  in  16.,  changing  to 
'(ei)  in  17.,  where  they  remain.  Only 
a  few  modern  French  words  have  (ii), 
as  invalid  (inveliid-)  also  called  (mvael'- 
t'd),  in  another  sense. 

IA.  [In  13.  and  14.  ia,  ya,  (in  one 
syllable)  =ai,  ay  =  (ee]  in  Norman  and 
English,  p.  582.— P.] 

IE,  medial.  Occurs  occasionally  in 
14.  as  simple  (ee).  In  16.  it  was  not 
much  used,  though  it  seems  then  to 
have  been  (ii)  even  in  friend,  and  in  17. 
it  was  firmly  established  in  a  few  words, 


without  any  historical  or  etymological 
reason,  as  (ii),  and  has  so  generally  re- 
mained. In  final  syllables  it  was  much 
used  in  14.  as  (-n'-e)  and  in  16.  as  re- 
presenting the  14.  final  -ie,  -e,  and 
sometimes  -y.  This  termination  was 
generally  called  (-i)  but  sometimes  (ei, 
ai).  In  17.  it  was  gradually  replaced 
by  y.  In  a  few  words  as  die,  lie,  etc., 
it  remains  with  the  sound  (ai).  [In 
13.  and  14.  ie  (in  one  syllable)  —ei= 
(ee)  in  Norman  and  English,  infra  p. 
582.— P.] 

I-E  is  properly  identical  with  long 
«,  which  see ;  but  owing  to  a  prejudice 
against  ending  words  in  v,  and  to  the 
necessity  of  putting  an  e  after  g  final 
to  indicate  the  sound  of  (dzh),  it  some- 
times represented  short  i  (i},  as  in  19. 
gz've,  b've,  bridge.  In  modern  words 
from  the  French  it  is  (ii),  as:  antique, 
oblique,  routine,  machine,  pique. 

IEU  is  a  purely  French  combination, 
and  in  16.  interchanged  with  eu  being 
probably  pronounced  (eu) ;  in  17.  it 
was  (iu),  and  so  it  has  generally  re- 
mained, thus  lieu  is  (liu)  or  (luu),  but 
lieutenant  is  usually  called  (leften"ent, 
or  (luuten"Bnt),  andBeauUVwis  (BiirK). 
[leu,  iew  in  English,  hypothetically  = 
eue,  ewe  Norman  of  13.,  would,  if 
found  =  (uu),  infra  p.  586.— P.] 

IEW.  In  the  word  view  written  both 
vewe  and  view  in  16.,  it  is  a  final  form 
of  ieu.  [See  ieu. — P.] 

10.  [In  13  and  14.  io  (in  one  sylla- 
ble) =  oi  =  (uu)  generally,  in  Norman 
and  English,  infra  p.  587.— P.] 

IR  not  before  a  vowel,  was  pro- 
bably not  distinctly  separated  from 
er  even  in  14.  as  we  have  both  first 
and  ferst.  In  16.  and  later  it  seems 
to  have  been  the  same  as  er,  and  in 
19.  it  is  either  ('i)  or  ('^),  as  in:  sir, 
Airt,  fir. 

IU.  [In  13.  iu  (in  one  syllable)  = 
iw  =  (nn)  in  Norman  and  English, 
infra  p.  586.  On  p.  506,  n.  2,  for 
(riu-le)  read  (ruuie).— P.] 

J  or  i  consonant  of  the  16.  and  17. 
centuries  in  which  the  distinction  i,  j 
was  not  observed  in  writing.  In  14. 
introduced  for  French  words,  and  with 
the  French  sound  (dzh)  which  it  re- 
tains, though  in  France  /  has  become 
(zh).  In  the  Hebrew  hallelujah  it  was 
and  is  read  (j),  but  not  so  in  other 
Hebrew  words.  (Maajtsh-bsqks)  for 


574 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.         K — NG.  CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


Marjoribanks,  is  an  obviously  recent 
corruption. 

K  from  its  earliest  introduction  in 
the  latest  ags.  to  the  present  day  has 
retained  the  same  sound  (k),  with  per- 
haps occasional  unacknowledged  pala- 
tisation  into  (k). 

KK,  often  used  in  14.  where  ck 
was  afterwards  employed,  as  (k)  after 
a  preceding  short  accented  vowel  in  a 
closed  syllable. 

KN  initial,  in  14.  to  16.  and  per- 
haps for  some  time  in  17.  was  =  (kn), 
but  in  18.  and  19.  the  (k)  was  dropped. 
It  is,  however,  still  pronounced  in  Low- 
land Scotch.  In  17.  Cooper  con- 
sidered £«=(nh),  p.  544,  n.  2. 

L  from  ags.  to  19.  =  (1).  The  19. 
colonel  =  (kj-n^l)  is  remarkable.  L  is 
occasionally  not  pronounced,  but  in 
disappearing  leaves  an  effect  on  the 
preceding  vowel  as  in  :  talk,  half,  alms, 
now  (tAAk,  naaf,  aamz),  where  I  seems 
to  have  been  lost  generally  in  16.  See  al, 

LD.  The  I  was  omitted  in  17.  in 
could,  would,  should,  having  been  erro- 
neously introduced  into  the  first,  though 
heard  in  16.  In  GuiMbrd,  the  d  is 
usually  silent. 

LE  final,  after  a  consonant,  from 
16.  to  19.  =  ('!),  as:  fiddle,  beadle  = 
(fzd-'l,  bii-d'l). 

LF.  In  alf,  the  I  was  omitted  in 
16.  and  a  became  (au),  which  was  (A A) 
in  17.  and  has  in  19.  returned  to  (aa). 
See  al. 

LH.  Occasionally  used  in  13.,  pro- 
bably for  (Ih),  a  remnant  of  ags.  hi,  see 
h,  but  as  it  interchanges  with  I,  this 
pronunciation  is  doubtful. 

LL,  Much  used  as  a  final,  and  after 
a  short  accented  vowel  in  a  closed  syl- 
lable, as  (1).  In  compounds  sometimes 
I  + 1,  as  in  soulless.  In  Welsh  words 
initially,  the  Englishman  says  (1)  in 
Zfoyd  (Loid),  Welsh  (Ihhuid),  but  in 
i/angoWen  he  generally  uses  (thl)  as 
(Thlsen-goth-len),  Welsh  (Lhhan-- 
golhh-en). 

LM,  aim  final,  omitted  the  Hn  16, 
changing  {a)  into  (au)  which  became 
(AA)  in  17.  and  in  19.  has  become  (aa) 
with  its  variants,  as  in  balm,  see  al. 

LN  final  presenting  some  difficulty 
in  speech,  one  or  the  other  letter  was 
often  dropped :  I  was  omitted  in  Lin- 
coln, and  probably  in  Colne  in  17.,  n 


was  omitted  in  kiln  in  17.,  changes 
which  remain. 

LZ.  Old  form  of  lj  =  (Lr).  Dafoiel 
in  Scotland  (Dt-Bl)  in  England  (Dsel-- 
zel).  See  p.  310,  note  1. 

M,  from  ags.  to  19.  =  (m).  In  16. 
probably,  and  later,  when  following 
any  consonant  but  I,  r,  m  was  ('m)  as  in 
chasm  =  (ka3Z''m)  although  the  ('m) 
was  not  allowed  to  constitute  a  syllable 
in  verse.  Some  in  19  call  -Im,  -rm 
(-I'm,  -r'm)  and  this  was  recognized 
by  Bullokar  in  16. 

MB  final,  probably  omitted  b  in  16. 
and  certainly  in  17.  to  19.  as  limb. 

MM  medial  only,  after  an  accented 
short  vowel  =  (m),  from  14.  at  least. 

MN  final  =  (m)  probably  always  in 
column;  and  initial  =  (n)  probably 
always  in  mnemonics. 

MP.  Omp,  which  was  a  French 
combination,  now  called  (OA),  was  in 
accented  syllables  in  14.  =  (uun),  in  16. 
(oun)  and  17. 19.  =  (aun)  as  in  Compter; 
unaccented  it  was  (kon)  as  Comptroller. 
In  19.  Campbell  is  often  (ksem-el). 
Otherwise  (mp)  is  fully  sounded  as: 
camp,  limp,  thump. 

N.  From  ags.  to  19.  =  (n).  Proba- 
bly before  /  it  fell  into  m,  as  in  Banff. 
See  also  nc,  nk,  ng. 

NC.  Chiefly  in  compounds  as  in-come, 
or  in  the  termination  -nee,  and  then  = 
(nk,  ns) ;  but  some  in  19.  and  probably 
early,  changed  n  into  (q)  before  c=  (k). 

ND.  Generally  (nd),  but  the  d  is 
sometimes  mute,  as  in  riband,  hand- 
kerchief, and  in  the  latter  case  the  n 
becomes  (q)  notwithstanding  the  com- 
posite nature  of  the  word  =  (naeq'ker- 
tsher)  in  17.  and  (naBq-katshif)  in  19. 

NG.  The  difficulty  of  pronouncing 
pure  (n)  before  the  gutturals  (g,  k), 
caused  n  in  such  cases  to  pass  into  (q) 
in  the  earliest  times.  It  is  difficult  to 
determine  before  19.  whether  ng  was 
simply  (q),  or  (qg)  when  final  or  medial. 
In  16.  and  later  the  19.  customs  ob- 
tained, namely  ng  is  (q)  when  final, 
and  preserves  that  sound  generally 
when  the  word  is  lengthened  by  in- 
flection, and  in  a  few  cases  «^  =  (qg). 
Thus :  I  long,  thou  lowest,  longer  s. 
a  long  way,  have  all  (q),  but  longer  a., 
lowest  a.,  stronger,  strongest  have  (qg), 
Compare  liw^er,  fi^er,  singer.  When 
ng  occurs  before  th,  it  is  usually  called 
(qk)  as  length,  strength  (leqkth, 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


VALUE    OF    LETTERS.       NH O-E. 


575 


streqkth)  or  (qqh),  but  many  persons 
say  (lenth,  strenth)  which  Walker 
notices  as  an  Irishism.  In  French 
words  w^=(ndzh)  from  16.,  some  in 
19.  say  (nzh)  but  it  is  against  analogy, 
as  change,  singe,  (tshemzh,  smzh)  for 
(tshe0ndzh,  smdzh).  Though  chafing 
is  used,  siting  is  employed  to  keep 
the  word  distinct  from  sw^ing.  Ng 
initial  =  (q),  is  only  found  in  foreign 
words. 

NH.  A  Portuguese  combination  for 
(nj),  used  in  19.  in  ipecacuawAa  as  (n). 

NK.  In  one  syllable  =  (qk),  or  as 
some  believe  (qhk)  from  ags.  to  present 
day,  see  Kg. 

NN.  After  short  accented  vowels 
=  (n)  from  ags. 

NZ.  In  a  few  names,  the  old  form 
of  Saxon  n%,  with  the  sound  (q)  as 
Me«sies  =  (M«q-ez),  or  with  the  sound 
(nj)  as  in  I)  end!  =  (Den  Mil),  see  Iz,  and 
p.  310,  note  1. 

0.  From  ags.  to  16.  apparently  (o, 
oo),  but  during  15.  many  long  o  fell 
into  (uu)  and  for  some  the  orthography 
was  changed  in  16.  to  oo,  while  for 
others  the  o  was  retained,  as  in  do,  who, 
move  (duu,  whuu,  muuv),  and  in  17.  go 
was  occasionally  pronounced  (guu). 
The  short  o  also  frequently  represented 
(«*)  both  in  14.  and  16.  In  17.  the 
long  sound  of  o  in  those  words  in  which 
it  had  not  fallen  into  (uu)  became  (oo) 
and  the  short  either  generally  (A,  o)  or 
even  (a)  in  case  of  those  words  where 

0  was  (u)  in  16.    In  19.  the  long  sound 
is  (oo)  or  as  some  pronounce  (oou)  and 
even  (ou),  while  the  short  sound  is  (o). 
Before  r  =  (i),  the  long  sound  remains 
(oo),  as  ore=(ooi)  although  some  say 
(ooj,  oo'j)  and  even  (oo','j)  dissyllabic- 
ally,  the  same  as  ower.     The  short  o 
before  r  =  (i)  is  supposed  to  remain  (o), 
as  fork  (foak),  but  it  frequently  becomes 
(AA)  and  the  (JL)  is  then  often  dropped, 
so  that  Lord  laud  theoretically  (load, 
lAAd)  are  confused  as  (LvAd).     See  pp. 
196,  245.     In  comic  verse  or,  aw,  are 
allowed  to  rhyme  as  in  Hood's  Epi- 
curean Reminiscences  of  a  Sentimen- 
talist. 

We  went  to ,  it  certainly  was  the 

sea-side, 

For  the  next,  the  most  blessed  of 
morns, 

1  remember  how  fondly  I  gazed  at  my 

bride, 
Sitting  down  to  a  plateful  of  prawns. 


0  never  may  mem'ry  lose  sight  of  that 
year, 

But  still  hallow  the  time  as  it  ought, 
That  season  the  "grass"  was  remark- 
ably dear, 

And  the  peas  at  a  guinea  a  quart. 

—Comic  Annual,  1831,  p.  171. 
See  the  remarks  under  (i),  infra  §  2. 
The  properly  short  o  is  in  19.  some- 
times prolonged  before  s,  f  as  cross  off 
=  (kros  of,  kroos  oof)  or  (kroos  oof), 
and  occasionally  quite  (krAAS  AAf). 
Possibly  in  17.,  whole,  stone  were  (nol, 
ston)  as  these  pronunciations  exist  in 
America,  which  is  tinged  with  17.,  and 
are  still  heard  occasionally  here,  being 
common  in  Norfolk;  from  (ston)  ap- 
parently, or  else  from  (stun),  comes  the 
familiar  (stan)  as  a  weight.  The  19. 
varieties :  are  go,  do,  women,  bettor,  on, 
son,  woman,  compter,  choir,  reason  = 
(goo,  duu,  wraren,  bet'i,  on,  sen, 
wunvim,  kaun-ti,  kwaii,  riiz-n). 

OA.  This  is  found  in  13.  when  it 
seems  to  have  been  (aa)  or  (aah),  or 
simply  (aa),  pp.  467,  498,  506.  It  was 
hardly  used  afterwards,  till  in  the  latter 
part  of  16.,  when  it  was  introduced  as 
a  new  sign  for  (oo),  the  form  (oo)  being 
appropriated  to  (uu).  In  17.  the  sound 
changed  to  (oo)  at  which  it  has  re- 
mained, with  a  tendency  in  19.  towards 
(oou,  ou).  In  the  three  words  :  brood, 
abroad,  groat,  it  was  =  (AA)  in  17.,  and 
still  so  remains,  though  groat  is  often 
called  (grot),  and  in  groats,  a  farina- 
ceous food  for  children,  it  is  (gn'ts). 
It  was  occasionally  o-\-a  as  in  oasis, 
coart,  coagulate.  [Infra  p.  586. — P.] 

(E.  Used  in  19.  in  some  Latin 
words  as  foetus,  foetid  =  (firtas,  fet'/d). 

OE  was  uncertainly  used  as  a  final 
in  16.,  with  the  sounds  of  (oo)  gene- 
rally, and  (uu)  occasionally,  Levins 
1570  has :  doe,  foe,  roe,  toe,  sloe,  goe, 
forgoe,  moe,  hoe,  loe  (our  lo !)  with 
(oo),  and:  shooe,  fordoe,  vndoe  (but 
doo),  with  (uu),  but  considers  these 
and :  bio,  twoo,  no,  so,  tho,  to,  vnto, 
as  words  "  in  o  desinentia."  In  17.  oe 
was  generally  (oo),  but  was  (uu)  in 
shoe.  In  19.  we  find  d.oe,  shoe,  felloe, 
d.oes  —  (doo,  shuu,  feH,  daz),  and  oe= 
o+e  in:  coeval,  poet  (ko,ii'v^l,  poo-et). 
[See  oe,  p.  586.— P.] 

O-E.  From  16.,  marks  o  long,  but 
in  some  words,  when  v  is  the  interposed 
consonant,  as :  move,  prove,  the  o  was 
sounded  (uu)  from  16.  to  19.;  love, 


576 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.       OEU — OU.  CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


formerly  (luuv),  passing  through 
(luv),  became  lav).  In  a  few  words 
as:  hove,  rove  (00}  remains.  Other- 
wise the  sound  was  that  of  the  long 
o  of  the  time.  The  anomaly  one 
(wan)  is  recent ;  the  time  of  its  intro- 
duction is  unknown,  hut  it  was  not 
before  18.  Jones  1701  gives  (waen, 
wa?ns,  wsenst)  as  curiosities,  but  does 
not  name  (wan) ;  Buchanan  1766  has 
(wsen,  wsens)  also,  as  the  correct  sounds, 
but  Franklin,  1768,  has  (wan,  wans). 
The  Scotch  (jm,  Jen)  for  ane,  seem  to 
have  been  introduced  about  the  same 
time.  The  old  sounds  were,  English 
(oon),  Scotch  (aan).  The  19.  varieties 
are:  horse,  cove,  move,  Tollemache, 
forehead,  love,  Bolingbroke,  one  = 
(Hors,  koov,  muuv,  Tael-maesh,  fared, 
lav,  BwKqbrwk,  wan). 

OEU.  A  French  combination,  na- 
turalized as  (uu)  in  manoeuvre,  in  19  ? 
[A  combination  not  known  in  France 
until  15.,  represented  in  13.  and  14.  by 
ue,  eu,  eo,  oe=(uu). — P.] 

OH  has  perhaps  always  represented 
the  exclamation  (oo),  although  the  ex- 
clamation was  not  always  represented 
by  it. 

01  is  not  found  often  enough  in  13. 
to  determine  its  sound,  it  was  appa- 
rently (ui)  in  14.  in  French  words, 
but  occasionally  (ue  ?),  and  sometimes 
(oi?);  in  16.  (uui,  ui)  and  also  (oi), 
in  17.  the  (ui)  class  became  (ai)  and 
this  remains  as  an  unrecognized  vul- 
garism in  boz'l,  pomt,  etc. ;  in  other 
words  it  was  (Ai)  or  (oi)  or  (oi),  and 
occasionally  (oi)  is  heard,  often  (AAI). 
Dialectically  oi  was  occasionally  pro- 
nounced (ii,  ee)  in  14.,  p.  450,  note  2. 
The  19.  varieties  are  :  chamois,  connoz's- 
seur,  avozrdupoise  =  (shaenrz,  shaerirwA, 
konesxr,  sevadiupoiz-).  Choir  was  also 
writen  quire  in  17.,  and  since  then  pro- 
nounced (kwair),  but  chorister  was 
(ktt^'rister).  Memozr  is  called  (menv- 
woj)  in  imitation  of  the  French.  And 
sometimes  oi  =  o+i.  [In  13.  and  14. 
oi,  oy  =  io  =  (uu)  generally,  in  Norman 
and  English,  but  very  often  also  =  (ee), 
infra  p.  587.— P.] 

OL,  OLL.  In  16.  the  I  being 
sounded  strongly  as  ('!)  or  (!«;)  de- 
veloped a  (u),  so  that  ol  became  (ooul) 
in  roll,  toll,  etc.,  p.  193.  In  17.  this 
remained  or  became  (oul),  and  as  such 
passed  to  Ireland.  Even  in  18.,  (oul) 
as  well  as  (ooul)  was  heard.  In  19. 
(ooul)  is  considered  inelegant,  but  is 


common,    and   (oul)   unbearable,    and 
(ool)  is  the  only  recognized  sound. 

00.  In  13.  and  14.  =  (oo),  rare  in 
13.,  frequent  in  14.  During  15.  this 
sound  split  into  (oo)  and  (uu)  and  in 
the  latter  part  of  16.,  oo  was  appro- 
priated to  (uu),  where  it  has  since  re- 
mained, with  a  few  exceptions.  In 
some  words  the  (uu)  became  (u)  and 
some  of  these  naturally  fell  into  (a)  in 
17.,  as:  flood,  blood;  others,  however, 
resisted  this  tendency,  but  became  (u) 
as :  good,  wood,  stood.  These  changes 
remain  in  19.  Before  k  it  is  the  cus- 
tom in  Scotland  to  use  (u)  and  in  the 
North  of  England  to  preserve  (uu),  as : 
book  (buk,  buuk),  while  in  the  South 
the  sound  is  fully  (u)  as  (bwk).  In 
some  words  00  =  0+0,  as  zoology,  zoo- 
phyte, Laocoon=  (zool-odzhz,  zoo'ofait, 
Leak-oon). 

OE.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  this  was  different  from  (oor,  or)  in 
accented  syllables;  finals  were  gene- 
rally written  our  up  to  17.  and  even 
later,  some  still  remaining,  originally 
to  indicate  the  sound  (uur,  ur)  p.  304. 
In  17.  these  final  unaccented  or,  our 
became  (ar)  or  probably  (ai,  j),  and 
are  (i)  in  19.  In  accented  syllables,  in 
17.  it  was  sometimes  (oor)  and  some- 
times (Ar)  or  (A AT),  (foorm)  a  bench, 
(fAArm)  a  shape,  and  this  distinction 
remained  through  18.  It  has  nearly 
disappeared  in  19.  The  present  theo- 
retical sound  of  or  not  followed  by  a 
vowel  is  (oi),  which  passes  into  (AAI) 
and  (AA)  simply,  see  the  citation  in  o, 
p.  575.  Before  a  vowel  or  =  (or). 

OF  was  introduced  at  the  close 
of  13.  and  beginning  of  14.  for  (uu) 
and  so  remained  to  16.,  being  occa- 
sionally used  for  (u),  and  occasionally 
for  (oou),  which  was  generally 
written  ow.  Some  writers  pronounced 
it  (uu)  till  past  the  middle  of  16., 
but  about  that  time  the  general  pro- 
nunciation had  become  (ou),  some 
words  only  remaining  (uu)  or  (u). 
Most  of  the  latter  became  (a)  in  17., 
but  some  (uu,  u)  remain  to  19.  The 
ags.  words  in  aw,  ow,  which  came  to  be 
written  ou,  ow,  were  till  17.  called 
(oou).  In  17.,  (oo)  without  an  after- 
sound  of  (u),  was  and  still  is  the  recog- 
nized pronunciation,  but  as  the  after- 
sound  exists  still  as  (oo[u,  oo'w),  it  pro- 
bably existed  in  17.,  and  its  repudiation 
by  orthoepists  then  arose  very  possibly 
from  the  same  cause  that  it  still  arises, 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


VALUE    OF    LETTERS.       OUGH — RR. 


577 


namely,  the  tendency  to  give  this  after- 
sound  (i  u)  even  in  words  where  there 
is  no  historical  authority  for  its  use, 
see  ow.  Before  gh  the  sound  was  ap- 
parently (ou)  or  (oou)  in  14.  In  17. 
this  changed  to  (A A),  gh  being  dropped, 
and  has  so  remained.  The  19.  varieties 
are :  owght,  sowl,  soup,  howgh,  double, 
wowld,  nown  =  (AAt,  sool,  suup,  nok, 
dab-'l,  we^d,  naun),  and  it  is  sometimes 
o+n.  [In  13.  and  14.  ow=(uu)  in 
Norman  and  English. — P.] 

OUGH,  properly  =  ou  +  gh,  and  its 
noted  varieties  arise  from  the  combina- 
tion of  the  varieties  of  these  two  sym- 
bols, which  they  do  not  exhaust.  In 
19.  they  are :  though,  tough,  hiccough, 

?  lough,  through,  lough,  hough,  ought  = 
ihoo,  taf,  liik-kap,  plou,  thruu,  lokh, 
Hok,  AAt).  These  are  only  eight ; 
as  there  are  at  least  seven  varieties  of 
ou  and  of  gh,  ough  might  have  had  49 
sounds.  It  is  not  the  combination  of 
the  most  varied  pronunciation,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  for  simple  o  has  at 
least  10,  and  eo  11  uses,  see  o,  eo. 

OW  in  14.  was  generally  used  for 
(oou),  but  sometimes  was  written  for 
ou  and  pronounced  (uu,  u).  In  16. 
those  words  which  had  (oou)  retained 
the  sound.  In  17.  they  changed  (oou) 
into  (00}  which  remains.  There  is  a 
strong  tendency  to  say  (oou)  in  19.,  and 
as  this  tendency  is  as  strong  for  no  as  for 
know,  orthoepists  disapprove  of  it  in 
both  cases,  p.  234.  Those  words  in  which 
ow  was  called  (uu)  in  14.,  were  pro- 
nounced with  (ou)  in  16.,  and  (au)  in 
17.,  which  remains  as  how,  now.  The 
19  varieties  are  :  know,  Copper,  know- 
ledge, bellows,  now  =  (noo,  Kuu-pi, 
nol-ydzh,  bel  as,  nau).  Cowper  is  some- 
times called  (Kaupu).  [In  13.  and  14. 
ow  generally  =  (uu)  in  Norman  and 
English,  and  sometimes  (oou)  in  Eng- 
lish.—P.] 

OY  can  only  be  regarded  as  another 
form  of  01  from  14.  to  19.  It  is  now 
generally  final.  [In  13.  and  14  oy=- 
(uu)  generally,  but  often  =  (ee)  in  Nor- 
man and  English,  infra  p.  587. — P.] 

P.  From  ags.  to  19.  =  (p).  In  cup- 
board it  is  in  19.  assimilated  to  the 
following  b,  or  rather  lost  =  (kab'jd). 

PH  was  introduced  at  the  earliest 
periods  lor  Greek  <£,  and  probably 
always  =  (f).  In  nephevr  the  p/t  was 
a  mistake,  and  it  is  called  (neviu)  in 
19  In  Cla/?//am,  etc.,  ph=p+h  and 
the  h  is  dropped  (Klsep"em).  Seephth. 


PHTH,  properly  ph+th,  is  only  used 
in  Greek  combinations.  From  the  dif- 
ficulty of  saying  (fth),  the-  following 
changes  arise  :  phthisis,  phthisical,  apo- 
phthegm.,  dijt?/^Aong  =  (tai-szs,  tz'z-ekpl, 
ffip'othem,  dzp-thoq).  The  last  at  any 
rate  was  in  use  in  17.  We  find  even 
in  ags.  (pth,  kth)  used  for  <£0,  ^0  in 
transliterating  Greek,  p.  523.  Some 
say  (difthoq)  in  19. 

PN  initial  loses  p,  as  in  j»weumaticB 
=  (nium8eHks). 

PP  after  short  accented  vowels  =  (p). 

PPH  after  short  accented  vowels 
=  (f). 

QU  from  14.  to  19.  had  the  sound 
(kw)  or  (kw).  In  a  few  words  from 
the  French  it  is  (k).  These  were  for- 
merly spelled  without  qu,  compare  14. 
licour,  19.  liquor  =(likuur,  h'k-j). 

QUH.  An  old  Scotch  orthography, 
probably  representing  (kw.-h),the  Scotch 
substitute  for  English  (wh). 

R.  From  ags.  to  19.  before  a  vowel 
=  (r),  and  perhaps  once  (.r).  In  Scot- 
land always  (r)  or  (.r)  wherever  occur- 
ring. There  is  no  mention  of  any  such 
sound  as  (i,  j)  till  19.,  but  there  IB 
reason  to  think  (j)  may  have  existed  in 
16.  and  still  more  that  it  existed  in  17. 
For  its  use  in  19.  see  table  on  p.  197. 
There  are  many  varieties  of  defective 
utterance.  The  Northumberland  burr 
is  (r)  or  (grh)  and  sometimes  (gh,  g) 
simply,  the  French  r  grasseye  ou  pro- 
venc.al  is  (r),  and  the  Dutch  g  ch  have 
often  the  same  sound,  thus  schip  =  (sr^p) . 
RE  final,  seems  to  have  been  occa- 
sionally (er)  in  14.,  but  when  the  e  was 
inflectional  (re)  remained.  In  16.  and 
later  it  was  always  (er,  ur)  or  (j)  in 
French  words. 

RH  initial  in  Greek  words  and  in 
Rhine,  Rhone  =  (r). 

RR.  Generally  after  a  short  vowe 
=  (r),  and  possibly  always  so  before  17* 
In  19.  it  is  generally  (r)  after  a  short 
rowel,  except  there  is  acknowledged 
inflection,  and  then  it  is  (ar),  but  after 
a  long  vowel  it  is  always  (ir).  Thus : 
marry,  merry,  spirit,  horrid,  hurry  = 
(insert,  mer«',  spmt,  nor/d,  Har?). 
But  occur,  occurrence,  occurring,  infer- 
ring =  (okj-,  okar-ens,  okj-rz'q,  mfr, 
tnfjrz'q).  After  a  long  vowel  rr  is 
seldom  written,  the  single  r  being  then 
pronounced  as  (ar),  compare :  earring, 
hea>ing  =  (iirn'q,  mur/q).  But  we 
have:  tar,  tarry  =  covered  with  tar, 

37 


578 


VALUE   OF   LETTERS.      RRH — J>.          CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


star,  starry  =full  of  stars,  =  (taai,taarri 
staai,  staaa-ri),  and  in  Ireland  arr 
always  =  (aaar)  or  (aeser)  as  in  barrel  in 
England  (baerel),  in  Ireland  (baarrel) 
or  (bseae'rel),  which  seems  to  imply  a 
similar  English  pronunciation  in  17. 

RRH,  in  words  from  the  Greek 
only,  in  19.  used  precisely  as  r,  rr,  as  in 
catarrA,  diarr//oea=(kBtaai-,  daiurii-e). 

S.  One  sense  of  this  letter  from  ags. 
to  19.  has  always  been  (s).  Whether 
in  ags.  it  was  ever  (z)  is  difficult  to 
determine.  Judging  from  the  Ice- 
landic, as  the  representative  of  medieval 
languages,  s  was  always  intentionally 
(s)  in  ags  ;  but  the  sound  of  (z)  was  oc- 
casionally generated.  Kapp  takes  it  to 
have  been  always  (sj).  This  is  not 
necessary.  There  is  no  (z)  in  Spanish, 
nor  in  the  Dyak  languages,  and  pro- 
bably many  others.  In  14.  there 
seems  no  doubt  that  *  was  occasionally 
(z).  There  are  some  traces  of  its  being 
changed  into  (sh)  by  a  following  pa- 
latal vowel  at  the  end  of  16.  and  be- 
ginning of  17.  (p.  215),  and  later  on 
in  17.  Miege,  a  Frenchman,  notes  : 
sure,  leisure,  usual,  as  being  (shyyr, 
lee'zhar,  yyzb/ysel).  See  sci-  si.  These 
sounds  remain.  In  19.  we  have :  see, 
as,  sugar,  leisure  =  (sii,  sez,  shugu, 
lezh-j).  In  some  MS.  of  13.,  st  is 
used  for  ;z;t  =  (/cht),  probably  a  mistake 
arising  from  the  confusion  of  3,  j,  z, 
see  p.  464.  [In  13.  and  14.  s  =  (s)  in 
Norman  and  English.— P.] 

SO.  The  initial  sc  before  palatals 
was  (s)  in  16.,  and  probably  always. 
Sceptic  was  often  spelled  skeptic.  In  19. 
we  have :  viscount,  scene,  discern,  sceptic 
=  (vai-kaunt,  siin,  dizm',  skep'tik). 

SCH.  in  Greek  words,  seems  to  have 
been  considered  as  sk  (sk).  The  words: 
schism,  schedule,  have  always  presented 
difficulties.  They  are  now  generally 
(siz''m,  shed-iul).  In  13.  and  14.,  and 
even  later,  scA  was  used  for  the  mo- 
dern sA,  which  see.  In  13.  it  is  some- 
-  times  she.  The  celebrated  German 
name  of  Rothschild,  properly  (Root-- 
shild)  =red-shield,  is  generally  mispro- 
nounced in  English  as  (roths-tshaild), 
quasi  Wroth'*  child!  where  the  familiar 
word  child  has  evidently  misled  the 
reader  to  separate  the  combination  sch. 

SCI-.  Treated  as  at- =  (BJ)  till  17., 
and  then  often  (sh),  as  in  19.,  conscious 
=  (kon-sh'Bs). 

SH.  Orrmin  uses  this  compendious 
form  of  sch,  but  it  did  not  come  into 


general  use  till  end  of  15.,  or  beginning 
of  16.  It  represented  the  effect  of  pala- 
tizing  (sk),  and  hence  converting  it 
into  (sh).  The  sound  (sh)  has  re- 
mained. Sh  is  occasionally  s  -\-  A,  and 
the  h  is  occasionally  dropped,  as  19., 
compare  mis/iap,  disAonest,  dishonour, 
MasAam  =  (misHsep-,  dison-est,  dizon-i, 
Maes-em) ;  but  many  persons  ignore 
the  composition,  ana  call :  HorsAam, 
WindlesAam  (Hoash'^m,  Wzn-d'lshem). 
The  pronunciation  (thresh -noold)  for 
threshold,  ags.  )>resc-wald,  Chaucer 
threisshfold,  3482,  Promptorium 
threschwolde,  is  a  modern  etymological 
error  for  (thresh  oold) . 

SI-.  Treated  as  (si)  till  17,  and 
then  often  (sh),  and  sometimes  (zh),  as 
19.,  mansion,  decision  =  (mam-shen, 
disizlren).  After  a  short  accented 
vowel  it  is  more  usually  (zh),  and  (sh) 
is  then  kept  rather  for  ci-,  or  ssi. 

SS  was  occasionally  used  for  (sh)  in 
13.  and  14.  (pp.  409,  448). 

SSI-.     See  si. 

T  from  ags.  to  19.  =(t);  but  see  ti-. 

TCH  intended  as  double  ch,  and 
used  after  a  short  accented  vowel ;  the 
spelling  is  modern,  the  14.  form  is  cch. 
In  both  cases  the  sound  was  probably 
(tsh)  simply. 

TH,  even  in  ags.  used  as  a  trans- 
literation of  0,  p.  523,  and  sometimes 
used  for  >,  ft,  in  13.,  having  both  the 
sounds  (th,  dh),  which  were  probably 
distinguished  as  at  present  in  16.,  with 
some  doubtful  cases,  as  vrith  (with, 
widh).  Sometimes  =  t  -f  A,  sometimes 
t  +  th,  or  th  +  A,  being  obviously  con- 
tractions. In  a  few  words  th  =  (t,  d)  in 
16.  In  19.  we  find :  thyme,  burtAen 
(generally  written  burden),  £//igh,  ^Ay, 
po^Aouse,  eigh^A,  Southampton  =  (taim, 
bid'n,  thai,  dhai,  pot-Haus,  eetth, 
SauthHsenrfren).  In  Havelock  th  is 
found  for  gt,  as  Icnith,  but  the  sound  is 
unknown ;  it  may  have  even  been  really 
(th),  compare  s?//A,  Keighley,  under  Gh, 
or  else  simply  (t),  p.  477. 

TI.  In  the  termination  -tion,  pro- 
bably (si)  from  14.  to  17.,  and  then 
generally  (sh),  following  si-,  ci-,  sci-. 
It  may,  however,  have  been  exception- 
ally (sh)  even  at  the  beginning  of  17. 

TTH,  the  Greek  r6,  probably  al- 
ways (th)  in  Ma/Mew. 

p  ags.  (th)  or  (dh).  It  is  impossible 
to  distinguish  between  ]>  ft  in  ags.  and 
Early  English.  In  13.  and  14.  used 
for  both  (th,  dh).  In  ags.  it  is  safest 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


VALUE    OF    LETTERS.         U UY. 


579 


to  use  (th)  initial,  and  (dh)  medial  and 
final,  p.  515  and  p.  541,  n.  2. 

U  vowel,  for  u  consonant,  see  v.  In 
ags.  (uu,  u).  In  13.  the  long  u  was 
(uu),  but  may  have  been  occasionally 
pronounced  (yy)  likewise,  while  short 
«,  though  generally  (u),  was  occasion- 
ally either  (y),  or  (i,  e).  This  usage  of 
short  u  is  too  general  to  be  considered 
as  dialectic.  In  14.  long  u  was  always 
(yy),  the  (uu)  sound  being  represented 
by  OM,  ow,  which  see.  Short  u  was 
more  uniformly  (u),  though  this  sound 
was  occasionally  written  ou,  as  the  use 
of  short  u  for  (i,  e)  had  not  died  out. 
In  19.  this  use  01  short  u  is  only  re- 
tained in:  burial,  bwry  ;  bwsy,  business. 
In  16.  long  u  was  (yy),  and  short  u  (u) 
almost  uniformly.  In  the  beginning  of 
17.,  and  perhaps  earlier  (p.  227,  n.  1), 
long  u  was  called  (yy)  by  some,  and 
(iu)  by  others,  the  latter  sound  pre- 
vailed, and  has  remained  to  19.,  except 
after  r,  as  in  truth,  rule,  and  after  an 
s  palatalized  into  (sh,  zh),  as :  sure, 
leisure,  when  it  becomes  (uu),  or  is 
lost  in  19.  as :  (truuth,  ruul,  shuui, 
lezh-a).  There  is,  however,  great  di- 
versity of  practice,  and  an  (i)  is  more 
or  less  distinctly  introduced  before  the 
(u),  as  (iu,  iu),  or  fused  with  it  in  (yy, 
uu).  Again,  in  the  middle  of  17.  short 
u  became  generally  (a),  which  was  a 
new  sound  in  our  language,  not  men- 
tioned by  any  writer  before  Wallis, 
1653,  and  the  extent  to  which  it  was 
used  is  very  undefined  ;  but  it  prevailed 
generally,  and  only  a  few  (u)  remain  in 
19.  which  are  now  properly  (u),  as : 
put,  fwll  =  (put,  fid).  This  uncertainty 
is  well  illustrated  by  the  dialects  of  the 
peak  of  Derbyshire,  chap.  XI.,  §  4.  In 
16.  short  u  was  occasionally  called  (»'), 
but  this  was  reckoned  an  affected  pro- 
nunciation. The  use  of  u  for  w  in 
perswade,  etc.,  is  modern,  imitated  from 
its  use  in  qu.  In  16.  or  17.  arose  the 
practice  of  using  gu  to  represent  a  hard 
g  (g)  before  an  e,  as  in  guess,  a  French 
practice,  borrowed  also  from  gu ;  and  to 
this,  and  the  wish  to  indicate  a  long 
vowel  by  final  e,  must  be  attributed 
plague,  vague,  fatigue,  rogue,  etc. 
"With  usual  inconsistency  a  long  vowel 
is  not  always  indicated  by  a  final  -ffue, 
as  epilogue,  synngogue^  or  tongue. 
These  spellings  are  not  found  before 
16.,  and  they  greatly  vary  in  16.  [In 
13.  and  14.  u  accented  and  long  =  (uu) 
in  Norman  and  English ;  u  unaccented 
and  short  =  («,  e,  •'),  and  u  with  the 


secondary  accent  =  (a,  e,  t),  infra  p. 
583.— P.] 

UE  used  in  later  spelling  as  a  final 
u,  owing  to  a  rule  made  by  no  one 
knows  whom,  no  one  knows  why,  and 
no  one  knows  when,  that  no  English 
word  can  end  in  u.  [In  13.  and  14. 
ue  =  eu  =  w  =  (uu)  in  Norman  and 
English,  p.  586.— P.] 

U — E  from  16.  indicated  long  «,  and. 
was  so  pronounced,  see  u. 

UI.  This  is  not  properly  an  Eng- 
lish form,  but  it  is  found  rarely  in  14. 
in  place  of  o«,  with,  probably,  the 
sound  (ui).  In  some  words  it  may 
have  been  (yy),  as  in  them  it  often  in- 
terchanges with  simple  u,  p.  135  and 
170.  See  also  p.  424,  note  3.  Some- 
times it  replaced  t,  see  p.  452,  note, 
col.  2,  1.  8.  To  this  custom  is  perhaps 
due  its  present  existence  in  bzn'ld,  which 
Gill  1621  calls  (byyld,  baild,  biild,  bild), 
and  which  is  spelled  beeld,  bild  in 
Promptorium.  After  g  the  u  was  only 
the  French  method  of  hardening  g  to 
(g)  and  the  combination  gui  must  be 
considered  as  g  hard  +  *',  as :  guilt, 

fuide,  guile.  In  more  recent  17. 
Vench  words,  ui  was  treated  as  long. 
u,  and  this  treatment  remains  with  the 
sound  (uu)  after  r  as  usual,  and  some- 
times after  s,  as  suit,  17.  (suut),  18. 
(shuut),  19,  (siut).  Occasionally  ui  = 
w  +  i,  or  =  u  +  t.  Hence  we  get  the 
19.  varieties :  mosqwito,  fri«'t,  be«'ld, 
guiding,  suit,  langwz'd,  quirk,  frw'tion, 
anguish  =  (moskirto,  fruut,  bzld,  gaidv 
tq,  siut,  laeq-gwz'd,  kw;erk,  fnush-tm, 
^•giu,z'sh.)  It  is  continually  used  in 
Scotch  for  (yy)  or  (a)  as:  puir,  guid. 
[In  13.  and  14.  ui  =  uy  =  IM  =  (UU)  in 
Norman  and  English,  infra  p.  5S6.-P.] 

UO.  [In  13.  and  14.  uo=ou  =  (\m), 
when  u  is  not  a  consonant,  in  Norman 
and  English. — P.] 

UOY  is  confined  to  the  word  buoy,, 
called  by  Hart  1569,  (buee)  =  (bwee), 
in  17.  (boi),  frequently  (bwoi)  and  by 
sailors  (buui)  in  19. 

UE,,  from  the  time  that  u  short  re- 
presented (a),wr  =  (ar,  aa,  'r,  a),  see  p. 
200,  er  and  r. 

UW,  an  unusual  and  hence  doubtful 
combination,  probably  (yy).  [In  13. 
and  14.  uw  =  (uu)  in  Norman  and 
English,  infra  p.  586.— P.] 

UY,  a  modern  spelling,  found  in: 
b?«/,  plaguy  =  (boi,  pl^-g«).  The  sound 
of  buy,  spelled:  bye,  beye,  14.  was 
(bu-e,  bare),  p.  285.  [In  13.  and  14. 


580 


VALUE    OF    LETTERS.         V — Z, 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


uy  =  tti  =  iu  =  (uu)  in  Norman  and 
English,  infra,  p.  586.— P.] 

V  consonant,  for  v  vowel  see  u.  This 
seems  to  have  been  invariably  (v). 

"W  vowel,  is  only  used  as  part  of  a 
diphthong,  see  aw,  ew,  ow.  Several 
writers,  however,  consider  w  to  be 
always  a  vowel.  In  13.  occasionally 
used  as  long  M  =  (UU),  especially  where 
(uu)  dialectically  replaces  (wuu,  wu)  ; 
in  14.  occasionally  used  as  ou  also  = 
(uu) ;  probably  double  v  was  dialectic- 
ally  used  as  the  simple  v  vowel,  that  is 
«,  with  its  local  sound  (uu)  or  (yy). 
[In  13.  and  14.  w  =  ew  =  u  =  (im)  in 
Norman  and  English,  infra  p.  586. 

"W  consonant,  corresponds  to  ags.  p, 
which  was  (w)  p.  513.  This  sound 
has  remain  to  19. ;  and  is  often  con- 
sidered to  be  a  vowel,  but  it  is  not  so, 
compare  woo,  wood,  woman  =  (wuu, 
wud,  wunven),in  which  those  who  con- 
sider w  as  a  vowel  have  to  write  (uu, 
ud,  urn  "en),  as  is  and  probably  was 
frequently  said  in  various  parts.  Mute 
in  19.  in :  gunwale,  boatst^ain,  answer, 
Chiswick,  sword,  two,  twopence ;  the 
last  word  was  (tap -ins)  in  17.  In  ags. 
p.  514,  and  down  to  16.  at  least  wr- 
initial  was  probably  a  labial  r  or  (rtr) 
as  write,  (ureit)  in  Hart,  (wrait)  in 
Gill,  but  simple  (rait)  in  19.  Ags.  wl-, 
p.  514,  was  probably  a  labial  I  or  (Iw), 
which  changed  to  (1)  or  (fl),  compare 
ags.  wlsenco,  Scotch  wlonk,  modern 
flunkey ;  Is  Iwkewarm  a  transposition 
of  ags.  wlacc  ?  Orrmin  has  wlite. 

WH,  in  ags.  hw,  was  perhaps  very 
early  =  (kwh),  but  is  not  likely  to  have 
been  (khw).  In  Scotland  it  is  assumed 
as  (ku?h,)  see  quh.  Probably  in  later 
ags.  times  it  was  (wh)  and  it  has  since 
so  remained,  though  there  was  a  ten- 
dency even  in  13.  to  call  it  (w)  when 
initial,  and  that  tendency  is  strong  in 
the  South  in  19.  In  16.  who  was  called 
(whuu),  which  in  17.  had  become  (HUU) 
where  it  remains,  (whoo,  whuu)  being 
heard  from  elderly  provincials.  The 
final  wh  in  14.  formed  the  transition 
from  (kwh)  to  (f),  and  in  Aberdeen 
(fat)  is  still  said  for  (kichat)  quhat, 
what,  the  same  transformation  occur- 
ring initially. 

WL.     See  w. 

WE.  Seew. 

X  was  in  early  writings  used  for 
Greek  %  in  Xpt<rr<fe,  whence  the  con- 
tractions Xp'  =  Xp.  Xmas,  etc.,  for 
Chriat,  Christmas,  etc. ;  and  was  then 


=  (k).  Its  gen eraF  early  use  was  for 
Latin  x,  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
always  (ks)  and  never  (gz).  In  19.  it 
is  sometimes  (gz),  and  being  treated  as 
k+s,  or  ff+z,  the  latter  letter  may  be 
palatalized  to  sh,  zli.  In  French  words 
it  follows  the  French  pronunciation 
(s,  z),  and  as  an  initial  in  Greek  words 
as  pronounced  in  English  it  was  (s)  in 
17.  and  is  (z)  in  19.,  as  Xantippe, 
Xenophon,  Xerxes,  now  =  (ZaBnttp'i, 
Zen-ufen,  Zerk-ziiz).  Hence  the  19. 
varieties :  except,  beam:,  ve#,  aadom, 
example  =  (eksept-,booz,  veks,  ak-shi^m, 
egzaam  p'l).  [In  13.  and  14.  #  =  (s) 
in  Norman,  and  often  perhaps  in  Eng- 
lish.—P.]. 

Y  vowel,  was  in  earlier  ags.  (y,  yy), 
but  in  later  ags.  times  it  was  confus'ed 
with  (i,  ii).  In  13.  to  16.  it  was  used 
indiscriminately  with  i,  as  of  precisely 
the  same  meaning.  In  17.  and  subse- 
quently the  use  of  y  was  more  limited 
to  the  end  of  words,  where  it  arose 
from  the  termination  -ig,  the  y  being 
in  14.  the  substitute  for  g,  in  this  sense, 
and  the  i  omitted.  Throughout,  the 
Latin  practice  of  transliterating  Greek 
v  by  y  was  followed.  The  pronuncia- 
tion of  y  vowel  was  the  same  as  i  vowel 
throughout,  see  i.  In  19.  compare 
marry,  myrrh,  flying  =  (maer*«,  mi, 
for*}.) 

Y  consonant.  This  was  a  substitute 
for  ags.  3,  and  its  use  probably  arose 
from  the  sound  of  3  as  (j).  It  has 
been  used  for  (j)  from  14.  at  least.  It 
was  also  used  in  contractions  for  p,  as 

ye  yt  — J,e  pget. 

YA.  [In  13.  and  14.  ya  (in  one 
syllable)  =  ay  =  ae=(ee),  in  English 
and  Norman,  infra  p.  582. — P.] 

YE.  [In  13.  and  14.  ye  (in  one 
syllable)  =ey  in  medial,  and  sometimes 
probably  in  final  syllables  =  (ee),  in 
Norman  and  Englishjnfra  p.  582. — P.] 

YH.  This  is  found  in  13.  in  place  of 
3  when  it  had  the  sound  of  (j),  p.  431. 

Z  is  not  an  ags.  letter.  In  14.  it 
was  freely  used  for  (g)  even  in  plurals, 
see  Alliterative  Poems,  edited  by  R. 
Morris,  and  also  for  3,  and  had  there- 
fore both  sounds.  The  use  of  z  for  £ 
remained  into  Roman  type,  see  g  and  s. 
In  16.  its  use  was  confined  to  (*),  and 
it  was  abandoned  in  plurals.  In  19  it 
is  palatalized  and  a  few  Italian  z's  are 
found,  hence  :  mezzotint,  zeal,  azure  = 
(met-sot/nt,  ml,  <?rzha).  [In  13.  and 
14.  z,  zs  =  (s),  in  Nor.  and  Eug.,  and 
sometimes  perhaps  (ts)  in  Norman.-P.] 


CHAP.  VI.  §  i.  MR.  PAYNE'S  RESEARCHES.  581 

Having  learned  that  Mr.  Payne  in  the  course  of  his  Norman  in- 
vestigations (supra  p.  438,  n.  1)  had  arrived  at  several  results 
which  were  inconsistent  with  the  preceding  investigations,  I  re- 
quested him  to  give  me  that  brief  statement  of  his  opinions  which 
has  been  added  in  brackets  to  several  of  the  above  articles,  and  also 
to  furnish  an  abstract  of  the  grounds  on  which  he  relied.  This  he 
has  been  so  kind  as  to  do,  and  it  seemed  to  me  so  important  that 
the  reader  should  be  in  possession  of  his  arguments,  that  I  have 
here  appended  them  in  extenso.  In  his  Memoir,  above  referred  to, 
the  several  points  here  shortly  touched  upon  will  be  fully  illustrated 
by  citations  and  references.  It  would  be  impossible  fully  and 
satisfactorily  to  criticise  his  investigations  without  studying  those 
additions.  At  present  I  can  only  add  brief  notes,  pointing  out  the 
radical  difference  between  our  views,  which,  as  respects  ay,  ey  and 
long  u,  will  be  further  illustrated  at  the  beginning  of  Chap.  VII. 
§  1,  and  state  my  opinion  that,  as  far  as  English  is  concerned,  suf- 
ficient weight  has  not  been  given  by  Mr.  Payne  to  the  dialectic 
peculiarities  of  the  scribes  of  MSS.  Thus  it  appears  to  me  that 
the  Alliterative  Poems  in  the  West  Midland  dialect  of  the  xrvth 
century,  afford  no  proper  evidence  for  Chaucer's  pronunciation  in 
the  South,  and  the  late  xvth  century  MSS.  of  Alisaunder  used  by 
Weber  (supra  p.  451,  note,  col.  2)  is  no  authority  at  all  for  the 
pronunciation  of  the  xinth  century  to  which  the  original  poem 
belonged.  The  assumption  that  so  many  forms  were  used  to  express 
the  same  sound,  so  that  the  vowels  (uu,  ee)  must  on  this  theory 
have  been  predominant  in  the  English  and  Norman  of  the  xm  th 
and  xiv  th  centuries,  seems  also  incompatible  with  the  known  ten- 
dency of  all  illiterate  speech  to  diversity  of  pronunciation.  Thus 
stone  was  ags.  (stfl^n),  and  is  in  ordinary  Scotch  (st^n),  but  in 
Aberdeen  (stiin),  in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  is  dubiously 
(stjaan,  stiraan,  stii'im),  in  the  XVITH  century  probably  (stoon)  as 
it  now  is  frequently  in  the  provinces,  in  the  xvnth  century  and 
still  theoretically  (stoon),  but  probably  often  in  xvnth  century,  as 
it  still  is  in  Norfolk  and  the  United  States  (ston),  whence  the  com- 
mon form  (stan)  for  the  weight,  and  perhaps  the  most  usual  em- 
phatic southern  pronunciation  is  (stooun).  Such  diversities  in  olden 
times  must  have  produced  diversities  of  spelling.  See  also  supra 
p.  473,  note,  col.  2,  for  (ee,  oi).  I  take  this  opportunity  of  pointing 
out  the  necessary  deficiencies  of  my  own  investigations  upon 
English  pronunciation  during  the  xm  th  century,  which  ought  to 
have  been  based  upon  an  extensive  examination  of  existent  English 
dialects,  and  a  thorough  comparison  of  the  various  MSS.  of  the 
same  works  written  by  scribes  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
as  checked  by  the  knowledge  thus  gained  of  their  local  peculiarities. 
Had  I  waited  until  this  was  possible  my  book  would  probably  never 
have  been  written,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  this  part  of 
it  was  unavoidably  composed  did  not  even  leave  time  to  undertake 
so  thorough  an  examination  as  I  could  have  wished  of  all  existing 
documents  and  sources  of  information.  The  reader  is  therefore 
requested  to  consider  Chap.  Y.  rather  as  the  commencement  than 


582 


MR.    PAYNE    ON   AE,  EA,    AI,  IA,    El,  IE.       CHAP.  VI.  §  1, 


the  completion  of  a  research,  which  the  labours  of  such  competent 
investigators  as  Mr.  Murray  for  the  Scotch  dialects,  Mr.  Sweet  for 
the  Northern  languages,  and  Mr.  Payne  for  the  Norman  element, 
will  contribute  to  advance,  but  which  may  require  many  years  of 
patient  study  both  of  existent  and  extinct  dialectic  usages,  not  only 
in  England,  but  low  Germany  and  Normandy,  to  bring  to  a 
thoroughly  satisfactory  conclusion. 

The  remainder  of  the  text  of  this  §  is  written  by  Mr.  Payne ;  the 
footnotes  are  by  myself,  but  have  been  signed  for  greater  distinctness. 


BRIEF  ABSTRACT  OF  SOME  OF  MR.  PAYNE'S  RESEARCHES  ON  THE  VALUE  OF 
THE  LETTERS  IN  NORMAN  AND  ENGLISH,  DURING  THE  THIRTEENTH  AND 
FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES. 

AE,  EA,  AI,  IA  (IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),  El,  IE  (IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),  WITH  THE 
VARIANTS  AY,  YA,  EY,  YE  =  (ee). 


Assuming  the  Norman  long  or  tonic 
e  to  have  been  =  (ee),  and  finding  it  in 
Norman  poems  of  13.  frequently  rhym- 
ing with  ei,  ai,  as :  feel  conseil,  defens 
mains,  estre  maistre,  nestre  maistre, 
fere  plaire,  retraire  manere,  hrait  set, 
plein  foren,  reis  Engles,  reis  pes  =  paix, 
consail  vessel,  reis  lees  =  fo«'s,  jammes 
curteis,  feiz  turnez  past  participle,  re- 
fait  D6,  etc.,  etc.,  and  finding  also : 
faire  fere,  maistre  mestre,  aveir  aver, 
conrai  conrei  conre,  trait  treit  tret, 
etc.,  etc.,  continually  interchangeable 
with  each  other,  we  can  scarcely  help 
concluding  that  Norman  ai,  ^^(ee).1 
"We  infer  then  that  pats  of  the  Saxon 
Chronicle  and  Layamon,  pays  of  Robert 
of  Gloucester,  payse  of  Dan  Michel, 
were  (pees),  and  this  inference  is  con- 
firmed by  finding  the  ai,  ay,  translated 
into  e,  ee  in  pes  of  Owl  and  Nightingale, 
pees  of  Piers  Plowman  and  Chaucer,2 
whether  these  be  considered  as  literal 
adaptations  of  the  Norman  form,  (see 
above),  or  phonetic  representations  of 
the  English  ai.  On  the  one  hypothesis 
the  Norman  ai  seems  to  be  established 
as  (ee),  and  the  Norman  faile,  fai,  crei, 
which  are  found  rhyming  respectively 
with  English  taile,  dai,  awey,  must 
have  been  (feel-e,  fee,  cree)  ;  and  if  so 

1  See  cause  for  doubting  the  generality 
of  this  conclusion,  supra  pp.  454-459. — A.  J.E. 

*  This  point  is  considered  in  Chap.  VII. 
\  1,  near  the  beginning.— A. J.E. 

8  For  evidence  that  day,  way  were  not  so 
pronounced,  see  the  table  p.  489.— A.J.E. 

*  This  is  also  Rapp's  bj^othesis,  but  to 
me  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  orthogra- 
phy appears  to  have  been  entirely  different. 
Supra  p.  425,  and  infra  p.  588,  n.  4.— A.J.E. 

6  West  Midland,  and  hence  of  no  autho- 
rity here.    See  supra  p.  451,  n.  c.  1.— A.J.E. 


it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  English 
words  could  have  been  other  than 
(teel-e,  dee,  awee-)-3  On  the  other 
hypothesis  ee  represents,  at  the  will  of 
the  writer,  English  ai,  and,  therefore, 
the  Norman  and  English  phonetic 
systems  being  by  hypothesis  the  same,4 
English  ay,  ey,  would,  correspondingly, 
represent  Norman  e,  ee.  And  this  we 
find  to  have  been  the  case.  The  Nor- 
man word  jornee  or  jurnee,  became  in 
Genesis  and  Exodus  iurne,  which  in 
the  Alliterative  Poems  is  journay,* 
and  in  Mandevile  jotirnei,*  probably 
pronounced  (dzh^rnee-).  The  English 
ay  is  here  obviously  employed  to  re- 
present the  Norman  ee.  The  word 
contrey  in  Alisaunder,7  contraye  in  Dan 
Michel,8  similarly  represents  Norman 
cuntre  or  con  tree,  and  in  regard  to  both 
words  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  fact 
that  the  English  ay,  ey  =  (ee),  could 
have  been  more  clearly  expressed.9 
The  ay,  ey,  being  no  part  of  the  Nor- 
man word,  would  appear  to  have  been 
chosen  as  suitable  phonetic  equivalents 
to  the  Norman  ee.  These  words  con- 
trey,  conlray,  jornay,  rhyme  in  their 
turn  with  Norman  fey,  fay,  and  thus 
shew  that  the  Norman  ai,  ei,  were  also 
=  (ee).  The  general  argument  is  con- 

6  There  is  no  contemporary  MS.  authority 
for  Mandevile.— A.J.E. 

i  A  discredited  MS.  for  this  purpose, 
supra  p.  451,  note,  col.  2.— A.J.E. 

8  Dan  Michel's  use  of  ay  is  considered  in 
Chap.  VII.  \  1,  near  the  beginning.     There 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  such  an  inde- 
pendent orthographer  was  guilty  of  such  a 
solecism  as  to  use  ay  and  e  indifferently.— 
A.J.E. 

9  There  is  a  great  accumulation  of  evidence 
on  the  other  side,  already    given,  in  this 
work.-A.J.E. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


MR.  PAYNE  ON  AU  AND  U. 


583 


firmed  by  the  rhymes :  maide  misrede, 
maide  grede,  in  Owl  and  Nightingale, 
and :  maide  muchelhede  in  Floris  and 
Blancheflur  (E.E.T.S.  ed.  p.  52),1 
which  form  a  parallel  to  :  retraire  fere, 
maistre  nestre,  etc.  in  Norman.  We 
conclude  then  that  ai,  ay,  ei,  ey, 
whether  Norman  or  English  was  in 
13.  and  14.  =(ee).2  This  sound  may 
have  persisted  generally,  therefore, 
to  15.  also,  but  in  16.  Mr.  Ellis's 
authorities  and  arguments  (supra  pp. 
118-124)  seem  to  prove  that  it  was  for 
the  most  part  superseded  by  (ai),  though 

AIT  =  (au)  AND 

As  au  in  Latin  was  most  probably 
pronounced  (au),  there  seems  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  initial  and 
medial  au  was  the  same  in  Norman. 
This  is  confirmed  by  a  remark  of  Beza's 
(supra  p.  143,  note),  who  especially 
distinguishes  the  Norman  pronunciation 
of  au  from  the  ordinary  French,  telling 
us  that  in  Normandy  in  16.,  autant  was 
pronounced  nearly — perinde  pene  acsi 
scriptum  esset  —  a-o-tant.*  This  pro- 
nunciation is  also,  I  believe,  still  heard 
in  some  parts  of  Normandy.  The  old 
spellings  Awwstin  for  Austin  (supra 
p.  489)  fawte  faute,  maugre  maugre, 
hawte  haute,  hawnteyne,  corruption  of 
haultain  ?,  pawtenere  pautoniere,  etc. 
seem  to  confirm  this  notion.  In  the 
case,  however,  of  the  termination — 
-ounce,  found  not  earlier  than  14.,  and 


the  old  pronunciation  was  probably  still 
extensively  used.3  But  the  sound  (ee) 
had  other  graphic  representations.  On 
the  hypothesis,  which  there  seems  much 
reason  for  adopting,  that  both  in  Nor- 
man and  Early  English  the  transposi- 
tion of  the  vowels  of  the  digraph, 
made  no  difference  in  the  sound,  ae,  ea, 
ai,  ia  (in  one  syllable),  ei,  ie  (in  one 
syllable),  with  their  variants  ay,  ya, 
etc.  would  all  =  (ee).  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  adequate  space  here  to  illus- 
trate this  position. 


(aaa)  OR  (aau). 

then  taking  the  place  of  a  previous 
-ance,  there  is  much  reason  to  doubt 
whether  the  rule  applies.5  The  u  is 
evidently  not  organic.  It  seems  to  be 
merely  intended  to  lengthen  out  the 
sound  of  the  a,  and  thus  emphasise 
more  strongly  the  accented  syllable.  It 
is  most  unlikely  that  a  sound  which 
had  been  established  for  ages  as  (aa), 
should  suddenly  change  to  one  so 
different  as  (au).6  This  view  is  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  in  Anglo-Nor- 
man texts — it  is  found  in  no  other — 
ance  very  frequently  rhymes  with  aunce. 
The  same  remarks  apply,  mutatis  mu- 
tandis, to  such  words  as  graunt  granter, 
haunt  banter,  commaund  commander, 
etc.,  which  were  most  probably  pro- 
nounced (graaant,  naaant,  komaaand-),7 
if  indeed  the  u  was  really  sounded  at  all. 


U  LONG,  TONIC  =  (uu).     U  SHORT,  ATONIC  =  (u,  a,  e,  t). 

as  :  la  sus  equinoctius,  juggium  con- 
jugium,  etc.,  could  have  been  anything 
else.  If,  however,  it  is  objected  that 
these  Latin  terminations  are  not  long, 


If  the  medieval  Latin  long  u  was 
(uu),  which  is  generally  acknowledged,8 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  Norman 
long  u,  which  often  rhymed  with  it, 


1  These  are  considered  in  Chap.  VII,  \  1, 
near  the  beginning. — A.J.E. 

2  The  evidence  here,  necessarily  imper- 
fectly, adduced,    does    not   incline   me    to 
change  the  opinions  heretofore  expressed, 
of  which  corroboration  is  afforded   by  an 
examination  of  the  usages  in  seven  MSS.  of 
Chaucer's  Prologue  and  Knightes  Tale,  in 
Chap.  VII.  \  1.   See  also  p.  459,  n.  1.— A.J.E. 

8  This  hypothesis  seems  to  me  incon- 
sistent with  the  general  custom  of  the  change 
of  pronunciation.  The  change  of  (ai)  into 
(ee)  is  common,  p.  238,  and  could  not  but 
have  proceeded  with  different  velocities  in 
different  countries  and  parts  of  the  same 
country.— A.J.E. 

*  Beza,  as  quoted  by  Diez,  also  says  p.  41, 
"majores  nostri— sic  efferebant  ut  a  et  «, 
raptim  tamen  et  uno  vocis  tractu  prolatam, 
quomodo  efferimus  interjectionem  mcitantis 
hai,  hni,  non  dissyllabam,  ut  in  pavticipio 
hai  (exosus),  sed  ut  monosyllabam,  sicut 


Picardi  interiores  hodie  quoque  hanc  vocem 
aimer  pronuntiant."  The  histories  of  ay, 
aw  are  parallel. — A.J.E. 

6  See  the  quotations  from  Palsgrave  and 
Salesbury,  supra  pp.  143  and  190,  for  the 
reality  of  (au).— A.J.E. 

6  There  is  no  change  of  the  vowel,  merely 
the  insertion  of  a  new  vowel,  which  did  not 
produce  a  labialisation  of  the  first  element 
for  more  than  200  years. — A.J.E. 

7  This    almost    agrees    with    Bullokar's 
views.-A.J.E. 

8  It   is    no    more   likely   that    different 
countries  should  have  pronounced  the  Latin 
u  alike  in  the  middle  ages,  than  at  present. 
The  French  may  then,  as  now,  have  called 
it  (yy),  supra  p.  246,  1.  27.     It  was  (yy)  in 
England  in  16.     See  infra  p.   586,  n.  5,  for 
remarks  on  the  provincial  character  of  the 
Alliterative    Poems    and   Sir   Gawayne. — 
A.J.E, 


584 


MR.  PAYNE  ON  U. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


the  answer  is,  that  they  are  long  as 
being  under  the  accent,  so  that  -us, 
-wn,  would  be  (-uus,  -uum).1  Applying 
this  test  to  English  we  should  treat  the 
us  in  English  thus  (C.  T.  v.  13384)  and 
the  -us  in  ignotius,  which  rhymes  with 
it,  as  both  long,  and  =  (uus).  If  then 
the  Norman  u  was  =  (uu) ,  as  most  of 
the  authorities  allow,  though  some  of 
them  speak  of  exceptions  which  they 
•  do  not  cite,3  adventure,  quoted  on  p. 
298,  would  have  been  (adventuure) 
and  lure,  with  which  it  rhymes,  (luure), 
and  nature  (natuure).  (See  nature 
written  natwre  in  Alliterative  Poems, 
p.  59,  and  salue  rhyming  to  remwe  in 
Sir  Gawayne,  p.  47).  There  appears 
indeed  no  proof  whatever  that  the 
French  (yy)  was  known  in  13.  and 
14.,  but  there  are  many  proofs  that  u 
was  consistently  (uu).3  But  as  it  is 
generally  allowed  that  the  English 
or  Anglosaxon  long  u  of  those  times, 
with  which  the  Norman  is  continually 
found  rhyming,  was  (uu),  proofs  are 
scarcely  necessary.4  The  greater  diffi- 
culty lies  in  proving  that  the  short  u, 
or  unaccented  u,  was  not  (u,  u),  but  a 
different  sound,  approaching,  if  not 
identical  with  the  obscure  sound  heard 
in  the  atonic  a  in  a  man,  e  in  the  man, 
o  in  to-ddy,  and  represented  generally 
in  palaeotype  by  (e)  or  (a,  e,  e,  i). 
It  is  highly  probable  that  this  sound 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  differed  from  the 
atonic  e  of  the  French  le  in  le  livre,  and 
that,  in  time,  it  generated  the  proper 
French  eu.  The  development  of  this 
doctrine  is  essentially  connected  with  a 
true  conception  of  French,  or,  as  far  as 
we  are  concerned,  the  Norman  system 
of  accentuation.  The  Norman  dialect, 
— and  the  remark  applies  equally  to 

1  That  the  accent  lengthens  the  vowel  on 
•which  it  falls,  is  a  phonetic  theory  which 
has  been  long  since  abandoned.     See  supra 
p.  556,  n.  1.— A.J.E. 

2  But  see  supra  p.  424,  and  especially  the 
latter  part  of  note  3.— A.J.E. 

8  That  English  u  in  14.  was  (uu)  and  not 
(yy)  seems  inconsistent  with  the  double  or- 
thography u,  ou.  See  supra  pp.  298,  303,  and 
infra  Chap.  VII.  5  1,  near  the  beginning. 
See  also  p.  583.  n.  8.— A.J.E. 

*  It  seems  to  result  from  my  investigations 
in  Chap.  V.  that  u  ceased  to  represent  (uu) 
in  English  during  the  period  1280  to  1310, 
when  ou  was  gradually  introduced  as  the 
representative  of  that  sound.    See  especially 
p.  471,  n.  2.— I  don't  know  to  what  other 
writers  Mr.  Payne  alludes.— A.J.E. 

*  Direct  proof  would  be  necessary  to  es- 
tablish this  remarkable  difference  between 


the  actual  Norman  patois, — seems  to 
have  been  characterised  by  an  extremely 
strong  and  emphatic  delivery  of  the 
accented  syllable.  The  general  prin- 
ciple of  the  accentuation  consisted  in 
singling  out  for  the  tonic  accent  the 
syllable  which  was  accented  in  the 
Latin  original,  so  that,  for  instance, 
Norman  raisun  from  ration-em  was  ac- 
cented raisun,  honor  or  honur  from 
honor-em  honur,  etc.,  with  a  very 
forcible  impact  of  the  voice  upon  the 
last  syllable.5  The  effect  of  this  pre- 
dominant influence  of  the  accented  syl- 
lable would  necessarily  be,  the  trans- 
formation of  the  atonic  syllables.6  "We 
see  evidence  of  this  result  in  the  not 
unfrequent  appearance  of  henor,  enor, 
and  annor  in  the  place  of  honor  honur. 
An  instance,  however,  perhaps  bearing 
more  directly  on  our  present  purpose, 
is  afforded  by  the  derivatives  of  the  old 
French  or  Norman  coer  or  cuer  (cceur). 
There  is  little  doubt  that  this  was 
originally  pronounced  (kuur).7  When, 
however,  by  the  addition  of  -age,  there 
resulted  cordge,  curdge,  and  courage,  all 
13.  forms,  both  the  quantity  and  qua- 
lity of  the  original  (uu)  was  affected, 
and  almost  of  necessity  the  atonic 
cor,  cur,  cour,  would  become  (ker),  and 
the  entire  word  (keraadzh-u).  In  the 
process  of  development  cordge  next 
receives  the  syllable  -os  or  -us,  and 
becomes  coragos,  coragus  curagos,  or 
curagiis,  all  of  which  are  admissible 
Norman  forms.  The  lately  long  vowel 
a  is  now  changed  both  in  quantity  and 
quality,  and  has  become  (e,  i,  o)  or 
(a,  •%),  it  is  not  easy  to  say  which,  and 
the  result  may  be  probably  considered 
as  (kareguus-).8  Similarly  it  might  be 
shewn  that  curt  cour  =  (kuurt),  becomes 

the  old  Norman  system  of  accentuation,  and 
that  evidently  adopted  by  Chaucer,  which 
agrees  with  classical  French,  supra  p.  331. 
A.J.E. 

6  Admitting  that  this  obscuration  of  un- 
accented vowels  often  occurs,  and  has  been 
especially  active  in  many  languages,  I  must 
deny  it  to  be  a  necessity  of  pronunciation, 
any  more  than  the  prolongation  of  a  vowel 
by  the  accent,  witness  the  clear  unaccented 
but  extremely  short  a,  and  the  decidedly 
short  but  accented  o  in  the  Italian  amd 
(amo-).  See  infra  p.  585,  n.  4.— A.J.E. 

i  Not  having  sufficiently  studied  Norman 
orthography  and  pronunciation  I  am  un- 
able to  speak  on  this  point. — A.J.E. 

*  It  seems  to  me  extremely  doubtful  that 
such  a  sound  as  (a)  was  known  to  the  Nor- 
mans, when  regard  is  had  to  its  very  late 
introduction  into  England,  supra  p.  172. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


MR.    PAYNE    ON    U. 


585 


curteis  (k^rtees1),  and  this  again  cur- 
teisie  (kartesirn),  or  perhaps,  at  least 
occasionally,  (kartesee-).1  The  last 
word  became,  as  is  well  known,  in 
English  curtesie,  cortaysie,  courtaysie, 
all  of  them,  by  the  above  theory,  being 
pronounced  (kartesii-B)  or  (kertesee-B), 
or  very  nearly,  accentu  mutato,  as  the 
modern  courtesy,  that  is  (kartes*).2 
The  spelling  could  not  on  this  theory 
have  affected  the  pronunciation,3  which 
was  determined  by  the  power  of  the 
tonic  accent  obscuring  and  transform- 
ing the  independent  value  of  the  atonic 
syllables.  It  may  further  be  observed, 
that  the  u  in  the  former  cur,  being  so 
close  to  the  predominant  accent,  be- 
came positively  eclipsed  by  it,  and 
would  therefore  be  exceedingly  short 
and  obscure,  as  (e)  in  English,  while 
the  u  in  the  second  cur,  receiving  a 
secondary  accent,  would  probably  have 
a  clear  and  definite  sound,  equal  to 
(kar).  It  is  this  sound  which  the 
English  derivatives  would  receive  when 
no  longer  under  the  influence  of  the 
Norman  accentuation,  but  subjected  to 
the  entirely  different  system  of  the 
English.  Hence  the  Norman :  jurnee, 
trubler,  colur,  cumfort,  suverain,  doz- 
aine,  covert,  custume,  dobler,  curtine, 
hurter,  cumpainee,  turnoiement,  sujur- 
ner,  sucur,  etc.,  when  they  became  re- 
spectively :  j6urney,  trouble,  colour,  c6m- 
fort,  sovereign,  dozen,  covert,  custom, 
double,  curtain,  hurt,  company,  tourna- 
ment, sojourn,  siiccour,  etc.  would 
naturally  be  pronounced  very  nearly  as 
they  now  are,  or  very  recently  were.4 
In  the  present  sound  then  of  these 


words,  we  see  the  Norman  influence 
still  persisting.5  Exceptions  may  no 
doubt  be  taken  to  this  general  assertion, 
but  the  main  principle  can  hardly  be 
affected  by  them.  It  may  be  further 
remarked,  that  the  continual  inter- 
change in  early  English,  of  u,  e,  i,  in 
such  instances  as :  werk  wirk,  chirche 
cherche  churche,  kirtel  kertel  kurtle, 
erth  urthe,  sunne  sinne,  sturn  stern, 
cherl  churl,  segge  sigge  sugge=saz/,  in 
bdtlmd,  etc.,  compared  with  bathed, 
etc.,  in  tellus  for  idles,  le'dus  and  ledys 
for  le'des,  and  in  such  plurals  as  femdlus, 
sydus,  coupus,  (see  Anturs  of  Arther 
passim,}  tends  to  shew  that  the  short  u 
had  the  same  sound  both  in  Norman 
and  English.6  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
ceive that  the  unaccented  us,  which 
merely  stands  in  these  instances  for  -es, 
was  pronounced  (us).  It  must  have 
had  the  same  obscure  sound  as  the  u  in 
curteis.  When,  however,  this  obscure 
unemphatic  sound  is  required  to  take 
the  accent,  then  it  assumes  the  clear 
utterance  of  the  u  in  curtesie.  Hence 
the  u  in  churche,  urthe,  sunne,  sugge, 
was  not  unfrequently  found  inter- 
changing with  e  and  i  short.  The 
sound  then  of  short  u  seems,  in 
words  of  more  than  one  syllable,  to 
depend  on  the  principal  accent,  and 
when  atonic  to  be  (a),  and  this  was 
also  the  sound  in  monosyllables  na- 
turally short,  as  church,  churl,  etc.  The 
merits  of  the  general  theory,  which  I 
have  here  attempted  to  expound,  can, 
however,  hardly  be  fairly  judged  of  by 
this  brief  and  imperfect  representation 
of  it. 


I  do  not  feel  satisfied  that  the  above  ac- 
count of  the  successive  formations  of  cceur, 
courage,  courageux,  is  historically  correct. 
— A.J.E. 

i  If  this  termination  were  ever  (-ee),  it 
was  only  through  the  West  Midland  con- 
fusion of  i,  e,  and  rejection  of  final  e,  cer- 
tainly not  from  reading  ie  as  ei,  and  calling 
that  (ee).  It  was  dialectic,  not  literary.— 
A.J.E. 

*  The  absolute  ignorance  of  the  sound  (a) 
shown  by  all  the  authorities  of  16.,  makes 
me  inclined  to  reject  at  once  the  hypothesis 
that  courtesy  could  have  been  called  (kar1- 
tesi)  in  14.  With  regard  to  the  second  syl- 
lable of  the  word,  more  is  said  in  Chap. 
VII.  5  1,  near  the  beginning.— A.J.E. 

8  Although  after  the  invention  of  print- 
ing, spelling  may  have  affected  pronuncia- 
tion, in  12.  13.  and  14.  we  have  no  reason 
to  assume  anything  but  the  converse, 


namely,    that  pronunciation  affected  spell- 
ing.—A.J.E. 

*  But  they  were  not  so  pronounced  in  16., 
as  we  know  by  direct  evidence,  and  they 
are  not  now  so  pronounced  by  the  illiterate 
in  our  provinces.  It  was  only  the  other 
day  that  I  heard  a  porter  at  Clapham 
Junction  shouting  out  many  times  in  suc- 
cession (Klap-am  Dzhwq;sli«n).  with  pure 
(u)  and  not  (a),  and  without  any  obscura- 
tion of  the  unaccented  vowels. — A.J.E. 

6  The  history  of  the  introduction  of  (a) 
being  now  on  recfrd,  and  the  battle  be- 
tween (a,  u)  being/  till  undecided,  I  do  not 
see  how  this  con  iusion  can  be  admitted. 
—A.J.E. 

6  See  supra  p.  299,  and  300,  n.  2,  also  p. 
425,  p.  507  and  numerous  instances  in  Chap. 
V.  $  1,  No.  3.  But  there  seems  no  reason 
for  supposing  this  u  to  have  been  anything 
but  (y,  e,  »).— A.J.E. 


586 


MR.    PAYNE    ON    OE,    OI,    UE,    UI. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  1. 


OE,  EO  (IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),  01,  10  (IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),  UE,  EU,  UI,  IU 
(IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),    AND    THE  VARIANTS  EOU,  EOW,  EOUW,   EW, 
IEU,  IW,  IEW,  W,  UW,  EACH  =  (UU). 
The  illustrations  and  arguments  by      triwe,  or  trwe,  it  could  only  have  been 

which  the  above    proposition    is  sup- 


ported, are  given  at  some  length  in  my 
paper.  A  brief  summary,  which  under- 
states the  proof,  is  all  that  can  be  given 
here.  Assuming  that  Norman  long  or 
tonic  «  =  (uu),  it  was  ascertained  l  that 
Norman  ui,  and  inferred 2  that  the  in- 
verted iu,  had  the  same  sound  as  u 
alone,  that  is,  that  ww#  =  (nuut),  fruit 
=  (fruut)  ,3  riule  =  (ruul-e) .  These  con- 
clusions depend  on  the  light  shed  by 
Norman  and  English  on  each  other.4 
Thus  in  English  texts  frute  rhymes 
with  dedute,  i.e.  Norman  deduit,  and 
again  frut  with  dedwt,  whence  ui 
=  u  =  w  =  (uu).  Again  Norman 
suir,  siur  to  follow,  becomes  siw  in 
Layamon,  suive  in  Ancren  Eiwle, 
swe  in  the  Alliterative  Poems,  and 
sewe  in  Chaucer,  shewing  ew,  ui,  iu, 
iw,  uw  =  (\m),  and  therefore  sewe  of 
Chaucer  =  (smre).6  The  argument  thus 
gained,  applied  to  triw-e  (Robert  of 
Gloucester),  trewe  (Chaucer),  truwe 
(Occleve),  and  treue  (Audley),  gives 
theoretic  (trmrej,  which  is  shewn  to 
be  correct  by  trwe  in  Alliterative  Poems, 
p.  27,  where  due  also  rhymes  with  it, 
supported  by  Promptorium  Parvulorum 
trwe.6  Thus,  in  addition  to  the  digraph 


for  a  short  time,  and  it  may  probably 
be  assumed  to  have  been  the  same.7 
The  supposition,  then,  that  ew  had  one 
sound  in  words  of  Norman  origin,  and 
another  in  those  of  native  growth  (p. 
302)  is  unnecessary,  and  indeed  incon- 
sistent with  the  fact  that,  though  it 
may  be  true  that  Chaucer  does  not 
rhyme  together  words  in  ew  of  different 
origin,  other  writers  do.  As  a  case  in 
point  we  find  in  Alliterative  Poems,  p. 
13,  trwe  English,  blwe  probably  Nor- 
man, grewe  preterit,  remwe  Norman, 
and  again  knewe  English,  (which  is 
also  found  written  Jcnwe)  swe  Norman 
due  Norman,  hwe  English,  untrwe  Eng- 
lish and  remwe  Norman,  all  rhyming 
together.8  We  note  also  in  this  text 
Chaucer's  newe  always  spelled  nw  or 
nwe.  We  should,  therefore,  perhaps 
read  such  rhymes  as  those  found 
in  Lyrical  Poetry,  p.  37,  viz :  reowe, 
newe,  heowe,  kneowe ;  as  (ruu-e,  mnre, 
Hrnre,  knmre).  Many  confirmatory 
instances  might  be  cited  from  various 
texts,  but  the  above  may  suffice  to>hew 
the  great  probability  that  Norman  and 
English  ue  eu,  ui  iu,  eou,  etc.  were  in 
13.  and  14.  =  (uu),  and  hence  that  the 
modern  pronunciations  of :  rue,  true, 


JJJ.UU.CJ.1J,      UXVUUU.vUHfl.WUa     VA    *        ftUwy      U.U0y 

above  given,  ue  and  eu  also  appear  "to       sue,  suit,  rule,  pursuit,  bruit,  fruit,  and 
=  (uu).    If  then  the  ags.  treowe,  which       the  vulgar  sound  of:  nuisance  (nuu), 
appears  as  treowe  and  treouwe  in  Laya- 
mon's  earliest  text,  and  as  trewe  in  the 
later,  had  a  sound  different  from  trewe, 


duty  (dim),  new  (nuu),  beautiful  (buu), 
are  but  echoes  of  that  of  13.  and  14.9 


1  The  proof  must  be  sought  in  the  paper 
referred  to,  and  having  not  seen  it,  I  can 
only  express  my  own  doubts  of  its  cqrrect- 
ness  founded  upon  my  own  small   amount 
of  observation,  see  p.  458. — A.J.E 

2  Apparently  from  the   theory  that  an 
inversion  of  the  order  of  the  letters  in  a 
digraph  does  not  affect  its  value,  which  is 
to  me  extremely  doubtful. — A.J.E. 

•  In  nuit,  fruit,  the  i,  still  pronounced, 
is  as  much  a  representative  of  the  lost  gut- 
tural, as  the  y  in  day,  may. — A.J.E. 

*  Which  I  doubt.— A.J.E. 

5  An  examination  of  the  age  and  locality 
of  MSS.  is  necessary  before  judging  of  the 
value  of  their  orthography  in  determining 
Bounds.  The  Alliterative  Poems,  Sir 
Gawayne,  and  Anturs  of  Arther  are  West 
Midland,  in  which  part  of  the  country  a 
very  peculiar  pronunciation  still  prevails, 
BO  different  from  the  South  Eastern,  that 
the  ancient  orthography  of  that  district  re- 
quires especial  study.  It  is  very  probable 
that  (uu)  was  unknown  in  those  districts  as 
a  sound  of  u,  w,  but  that  it  was  always 
replaced  by  (yy,  y)  or  some  cognate  sound. 


On  Layamon  see  p.  496,  and  on  the  Ancren 
Riwle,  see  p.  506.  The  orthography  of  these 
works  offers  so  many  points  of  difficulty 
that  it  cannot  be  safely  appealed  to  for  any 
proofs.  The  whole  of  our  Western  provin- 
cial pronunciation  has  first  to  be  studied. — 
A.J.E. 

6  In  the  last  note  it  was  conjectured  that 
the  w  of  the  Alliterative  Poems  may  have 
been  (yy).     As  regards  the  Promptorium 
the  author  only  knew  the  East  Anglian  pro- 
nunciation (supra  p.  23,  note  2),  and  to  this 
day  the  East  Anglians    use  (yy)  for  (uu). 
The  above   inference   is  therefore   in    the 
highest  degree  hazardous. — A.J.E. 

7  On  treowe  see  p.  498,  1.  14.    No  Anglo- 
saxon  scholar  would   be  likely  to  admit  eo 
to  have  had  the  same  value  as  u.    See  p. 
511.— A.J.E. 

8  Probably  all  these  rhymed  as  (yy),  as 
they  still  would  in  Devonshire.    See  supra 
n.  5.— A.J.E. 

9  This  conclusion  is  directly  opposed  to 
all  I  have  been  able  to  learn  on  the  subject. 
—A.J.E. 


CHAP.  VI.  6  1. 


MR.    PAYNE   ON   OI,    TO,    OE,    EO. 


587 


01,  10  (IN  ONE  SYLLABLE),  OE,  EO  =  (uu)  OK  (ee). 


It  is  remarkable  that  two  sounds  so 
remotely  allied  as  (uu)  and  (ee)  should 
frequently,  both  in  Norman  and  Eng- 
lish, be  used  one  for  the  other.  No- 
thing, however,  is  more  probable  than 
that  oi  in  early  French  generally, 
must  have  represented  the  sound  (uu). 
Nothing  at  the  same  time  is  clearer 
than  that  in  the  Norman  texts  the 
oi  of  Central  France  is  very  gene- 
rally to  be  read  (ee).  Thus  the  forms 
tnoi,  toi,  etc.,  which  in  proper  Nor- 
man would  be  mei,  lei,  etc.,  are  by 
no  means  excluded  from  Norman  texts, 
but  are  constantly  found  rhyming  with 
the  Norman  ei  or  ee.  Thus  tei  rhymes 
with  mot,  moi  with^/bt,  voir  with  veer, 
roi  with  lei,  etc.,  and  are  therefore  to 
be  pronounced  (mee,  veer,  lee),  etc. 
The  concurrence,  however,  of  such 
forms  as  :  genoil  genou,  genoul,  genue  ; 
acoiller,  acuiller,  where  ui  =  (uu);  agoille 
aguille ;  angoisse,  anguisse,  angusse ; 
noit,  nuit ;  poi,pou  peu  ;  fusoyn  (rhym- 
ing with  corbiloun  in  De  Biblesworth, 
Wright  p.  158),  seems  to  shew  that  oi, 
m'  =  (uu).  This  conjecture  may  be 
further  confirmed  by  assuming  oi-oe, 
and  observing  that  oile  oil  of  12.  be- 
comes oele  and  tittle  in  13.,  and  huile 
in  15.,  while  buef,  boef  are  bouf= 
(buuf)  in  De  Biblesworth.  This  word 
he  rhymes  with  ouf  osuf,  of  which  the 
variants  were  oef,  uef.  Again  boe, 
moe,  roe  of  13.,  become  later  boue,  moue, 
roue.  But  eo  also  =  (uu),  as  is  seen  in 
the  numerous  words  of  the  form  em- 
pereor,  etc.,  which  became  emperour, 
etc.  The  most  difficult  case  is  that  of 
i'0  =  ot=(uu).  It  is  proved,  however, 
by  the  formation  of  such  words  as 
mansion,  which  became  by  the  loss  of 
the  n  and  fusion  of  to  into  u,  maisun. 
Eaisun  may  be  explained  in  the  same 
way,  as  may  also  tna?un  mason,  from 
low  Latin  macio.  The  word  in  its 
Normanised  form  machun  occurs  in 
Layamon,  and  is  erroneously  translated 
machine  by  Sir  F.  Madden.  These 
views  respecting  Norman  oi  io,  oe  eo  = 
(uu),  are  singularly  confirmed  by  Eng- 
lish examples  of  adopted  Norman  words. 
Mr.  Ellis' s  inferences  (p.  269)  I  should 
generally  endorse,  except  that,  as  before 

1  In  this  further  investigation  respect 
would  have  to  be  paid  to  the  principle  of 
palatalization  produced  by  an  inserted  i, 
familiar  to  those  who  have  studied  phonetic 
laws,  and  well  illustrated  by  Prof.  Halde- 


stated,  I  should  pronounce  boiste,  for 
which  buiste  is  also  found  (buust'e)  not 
(buist'e),  and  perhaps  Loi,  coy,  and  boy 
(Luu,  kuu,  buu).  Merour  mirror  of 
Chaucer,  is  directly  taken  from  Norman 
mireor.  It  occurs  as  myroure  in  Po- 
litical Songs,  Wright,  p.  213.  Norman 
poeste  also  appears  constantly  in  English 
as  pouste.  The  case  of  io  =  (uu)  is  not 
considered  by  Mr.  Ellis.  It  is,  how- 
ever, rendered  more  than  probable  by 
our  word  warrior  written  werroure  by 
Capgrave,  and  referable  to  Norman 
guerreur,  which  by  analogy  =guerrour. 
Analysing  the  on  =  (uu)  into  oi=  io,  we 
obtain  the  modern  English  warrior. 
Similarly  we  may  trace  carrion  to  Nor- 
man caroine.  So  the  word  riot,  con- 
jecturally  referred  by  the  editor  of 
Ancren  Eiwle  to  route,  may  be  really  a 
variant  of  that  word.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  the  English 
riot  came  directly  from  Norman  riote, 
and  the  variation,  if  variation  it  be, 
must  have  belonged  to  the  original 
source.  Diez,  Menage,  Scheler  and 
Burguy  virtually  give  up  the  ety- 
mology altogether.  It  is  only  probable 
then,  but  not  proved,  that  Norman 
caroine  and  English  carrion,  might 
have  been  (karuune),  and  that  riot 
might  have  been  sometimes  (ruut). 
The  subject  requires  further  investi- 
gation.1 The  fluctuations  of  Norman 
orthography  suggested  the  enquiry  that 
has  been  sketched,  but  the  results  lead 
us  on  still  further,  and  render  it  pro- 
bable that  eo,  oe,  etc.,  when  found  in 
pure  English  words,  had  also  the 
sound  (uu).  Heo  she,  therefore,  with 
the  variants  hu  and  hw,  was  probably 
(HUU),  as  it  still  is  in  Lancashire. 
Meore  their,  too,  and  huere,  interpret 
each  other,  and  so  do,  duere  and  deor, 
beoth  and  bueth,  beon  and  buen,  preost 
and  pruest,  glew  and  gleo.  We  infer, 
then,  that  in  Layamon' s  beorn  warrior, 
cheose,  leode,  leof,  lease  the  eo  =  (uu). 
The  subsequent  forms  burn  (Piers Plow- 
man), choose,  luve,  loose,  etc.,  and  the 
contemporary  form  lued  for  leod,  (Pol. 
Songs,  p.  155),  render  this  hypothesis 
very  strong,  while  such  forms  as  goed 
good,  compared  with  goud  (Layamon,) 

man,  in  his  article  on  Glottosis  Analytic 
Orthography,  pp.  67-71.  So  far  as  I  can 
understand  them,  I  entirely  dissent  from 
the  views  expressed  in  the  text.— A.J.E. 


588 


EXPRESSION   OF    SOUNDS. 


CHAP.  VI. 


toen  town,  proeve  Norman  preove  Eng- 
lish, doel  and  deal  sorrow,  shew  that  oe  as 
well  as  eo  =  (uu) .  The  great  difficulty  in 
assigning  the  phonetic  values  of  oi,  eo, 
oe  arises  from  the  undoubted  fact  that 
they  were  represented  hoth  by  (uu)  and 
by  (ee).1  Thus  we  find  that  nearly 
all  the  Norman  and  English  words 
cited  above  appear  to  have  both  sounds. 
Thus  heo  appears  as  he,  heore  huere  as 
here,  deor  duere  as  dere,  beoth  bueth  as 
beth,  beon  btien  as  ben,  preost  pruest  as 
prest,  cheose  as  chese,  leose  as  Use,  etc.,2 
also  proeve  preove  as  preve?  caroine  as 
careyne  carayne,  puple,  pueple,  people 
as  peple,  etc.  This  divarication  in 
the  case  of  Norman  words,  was  more 
apparent  than  real,  since  the  usual 
Norman  sound  of  oi  was  (ee).  Yet 


the  numerous  examples  of  oi  also  = 
(uu),  as  for  instance  in  the  normal 
termination  of  the  third  person  sin- 
gular of  the  imperfect  tense  of  the 
first  conjugation,  which  was  -out  =  (uut), 
while  in  the  other  conjugations  it  was 
-eit  =  (-eet),  render  the  determination  of 
the  law  of  divergence  very  difficult. 
This  law,  however,  must  apparently 
have  equally  dictated  the  interchange 
of  the  sounds  as  well  in  English  as  in 
Norman,  and  this  fact  is  only  one  proof 
more  of  the  remarkable  correspondence 
(in  spite  of  all  orthographic  variations) 
between  the  phonetic  systems  of  the 
two  languages,  and  illustrates  the  ge- 
neral position  that  the  Norman  and 
English  pronunciations  respectively 
help  to  determine  each  other.4 


|  2.     The  Expression  of  the  Sounds. 

The  list  in  the  last  section  suggests  its  counterpart,  how 
have  the  sounds  of  the  English  language  been  expressed  by 
letters  at  different  times  ?  Up  till  the  invention  of  printing 
at  least,  the  object  of  writers  seems  to  have  been  to  represent 
their  pronunciation,  and  the  possibility  of  using  the  same 
symbols  with  altered  values  does  not  appear  to  have  occurred 
to  them,  although  each  sound  was  not  uniformly  represented 
by  the  same  sign,  and  some  signs  had  more  than  one  value.5 
It  is  also  not  at  all  improbable  that  very  provincial  writers 
may  have  been  accustomed  to  attach  values  to  the  letters 
corresponding  to  their  local  pronunciations,  and  have  then 
used  them  consistently  according  to  their  lights.  From 
these  causes  arose  the  occasional  picturesqueness  of  scribal 
orthography,  which  was  unchecked  by  any  acknowledged 


1  My  own  indicated   explanation  of  the 
phenomena  to  which  Mr.  Payne  refers  are 
to  be  found  on  p.  269,  and  131,  note,  col.  1, 
p.  138,  note  col.  1.    The  question  seems  to 
he  one  affecting  the  treatment  of  Latin  et  o, 
in  the  Romance  languages. — A.J-E. 

2  These  anomalies,  occurring  in  MSS.  not 
expressly   named,   seem  readily  explicable 
by  the  known  interchanges  of  eo,  e,  p.  488, 
and  of  u,  e,  supra  p.  585,  n.  6.-A.J.E. 

8  Oe,  eo  are  so  rare  in  Chaucer,  see  p.  262, 
1.  33,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  judge  of 
their  origin  or  intentional  use  as  distinct 
from  (ee) .  But  we  must  not  forget  the  two 
modern  forms  reprove,  reprieve. — A.J.E. 

*  The  Norman  was  an  old  Norse  phonetic 
system  modifying  the  langue  d'oil,  so  that 
the  latter  had  the  main  share  in  the  result. 
The  English  was  a  pure  Anglosaxon  system, 
slightly  modified  by  an  old  Norse  element. 


There  seems  to  be  no  connection  between 
the  two  systems  of  sound.  The  orthogra- 
phies were  both  derived  from  the  Latin, 
but  the  Norman  spelling  came  direct  from 
Roman  sources,  and  the  Anglosaxon  was 
only  a  priestly  transcription  of  the  pre- 
existent  runic.  The  whole  application  of 
the  orthographies  was  therefore  diverse. 
The  Norman  accidentally  came  into  collision 
with  the  English,  but  the  developments 
seem  to  have  proceeded  independently,  and 
the  share  of  Norman  in  13.  English  was 
scarcely  more  than  that  of  English  in  13. 
Norman.  Ultimately  the  whole  character 
of  our  language,  both  in  idiom  and  sound,  be- 
came English,  and  Norman  words  were  ruth- 
lessly anglicised.  Hence,  I  am  not  inclined 
to  admit  Mr.  Payne's  conclusion.— A.J.E. 

6  See  the  table  on  p.  407,  where  in  col. 
2,  "  (ou)  o  oo  oa"  is  a  misprint  for  "  (oo) 
o  oo  oa." 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2.  EXPRESSION   OF   SOUNDS.  589 

authority.  At  the  present  day  we  have  nothing  to  guide 
us  hut  the  usage  of  printing  offices,  on  which  (and  not 
on  the  manuscripts  of  authors)  our  orthographical  laws  and 
the  pages  of  our  dictionaries  are  founded.  The  most  in- 
geniously contradictory  reasons  are  given  for  preferring  one 
spelling  to  another.  Sometimes  a  man  with  a  name,  as 
Johnson  in  England  and  Webster  in  America,  proclaims  his 
own  views  and  is  considerably  followed,  but  Johnson's  favourite 
-ick  as  in  musick  has  disappeared,  and  no  Englishman  likes 
to  see  the  American  orthography.1  During  the  last  fifty 
years  a  habit  of  eye  has  been  generated,  and  spelling  has 
been  dissociated  in  our  minds  from  the  expression  of  sound. 
But  even  in  the  xvth  century  this  was  not  the  case  in 
England,  although  the  disappearance  of  final  e  from  pro- 
nunciation introduced  more  and  more  confusion  as  the 
century  advanced,  and  the  original  value  of  the  e  was  less  un- 
derstood. When  printing  commenced,  there  was  a  necessity 
for  printers  to  introduce  some  degree  of  uniformity,  and,  as  I 
have  had  personal  experience  of  the  difficulties  thus  created,2 
I  can  well  understand  the  slowness  with  which  even  toler- 
able uniformity  was  attained.  It  took  fully  two,  if  not 
three,  centuries  to  reach  the  present  system.  During  this 
time  several  experiments  were  made,  among  which  I  do  not 
reckon  schemes  for  an  entire  renovation  of  our  orthography, 
as  proposed  by  Smith,  Hart,  Bullokar,  Gill,  and  Butler,  in 
the  first  century  and  a  half  after  Caxton  set  up  his  press. 
The  last  great  change  was  made  in  the  xvi  th  century,  when 
the  orthographies  ee  ea,  oo  oa,  were  settled  (pp.  77,  96), 
how,  and  by  whom,  I  have  not  yet  discovered.  The  intro- 
duction of  ie,  in  place  of  ee,  was  not  of  the  same  nature,  and 
did  not  take  root  till  the  xvnth  century  (p.  104).  In  the 
course  of  that  century  many  little  changes  were  tried,  but 
the  gradual  loss  of  the  feeling  for  the  meaning  of  ea,  and  its 
perversion  in  the  early  part  of  the  xviuth  century  (p.  88), 
undid  most  of  the  good  effected  in  the  xvi  th  century.  No 

1  Since  the  publication  of  the  Die-  suivies  d'une  histoire  de  la  refonne  or- 

tionary  of  the  French  Academy,  it  has  thographique    depuis    le  XVe    siecle 

become  the  sole  rule   in   France,    or  jusqu' a  nos  jours,  2nd  ed.  Paris,  1868, 

rather  each  of  its  six  editions  of  1694,  8vo.  pp.  485. 

1718,  1740,  1762,  1795,  1835,  has  be-  / 

come  the  rule  till  certain  points  were  2  In  1848-9  1  conducted  a  phonetic 

reconsidered  and  changed  in  subsequent  printing  office  with  a  view  of  trying 

editions.     k<  Le  Dictionnaire  de  1'Aca-  the   experiment   of  a  phonetic  ortho- 

demie  est  done  la  seule  loi,"  says  the  graphy,  and  I  had  to  drill  compositors 

most  competent  authority  in  France,  of  all  kinds  of  pronunciation  to  a  uni- 

M.  Ambroise  Firmin  Didot,  in  his  ex-  form  system  of  spelling,  in  order  that 

tremely    interesting    Observations  sur  all  my  books,   and  all  parts  of  my 

I'Orthographe  ou  Ortografie  franchise,  books,  should  be  consistent. 


590 


EXPRESSION    OF    SOUNDS. 


CHAP.  YI.  §  2. 


great  change  was  effected  by  Johnson  over  Dyche  and 
Buchanan,  but  he  became  a  name,  and  a  refuge  for  the 
printer's  reader.  We  have  not  yet  settled  how  to  write 
between  two  and  three  thousand  of  the  words  in  our  lan- 
guage,1 although  it  must  be  confessed  that  we  do  not  find 


1  E.  Jones,  The  common  sense  of 
English  Orthography,  a  guide  to  the 
Spelling  of  doubtful  and  difficult  words, 
for  the  use  of  printers,  authors,  ex- 
aminers, teachers,  and  students  gene- 
rally, 1867.  It  may  he  observed  that 
he  puts  printers  first.  He  lays  down 
as  "the  principles  of  English  ortho- 
graphy," first,  "the  law  of  abbrevia- 
tion or  contraction,"  illustrated  by 
music,  blest,  things,  inferior,  baking, 
entrance,  wilful,  fetter,  for  musick, 
blessed,  thynges,  inferiour,  bakeing,  en- 
ter ance  (?),  wilifull,  feetter  (?),  second 
"  preference  for,  or  aversion  to,  certain 
letters  illustrated  by  the  disuse  of  y  in 
middle,  and  use  of  it  at  the  end  of 
words."  The  statement  that  "the 
desire  to  produce  an  agreeable  succes- 
sion of  sounds,  or  euphony,  is  also  an 
important  principle  in  the  spelling  of 
words,"  is  unintelligible  in  an  ortho- 
graphy which  does  not  regulate  the 
sound.  He  classifies  the  doubtful 
words  thus :  1 .  honor,  honour  (30 
words) ;  2.  movable,  moveable  (Johnson 
inconsistent)  ;  3.  civilise,  civilize  ;  4. 
traveler,  traveling,  traveled,  traveller, 
travelling,  travelled  ;  5.  enrol,  enroll ; 
6.  pressed,  dressed,  prest,  drest;  7. 
mediaeval,  medieval ;  8.  monies,  mo- 
neys; 9.  hinderance,  hindrance;  10. 
alcali,  alkali;  11.  Frederic,  Frederick; 
12.  connection,  connexion;  a  license, 
to  license,  advice,  advise ;  14.  centre, 
center ;  15.  bark,  barque ;  16.  tong  in 
xvi th  century,  tongue;  17.  controul, 
control.  And  he  then  proceeds  to  give 
rules  for  spelling  in  these  doubtful 
cases.  His  arguments  do  not  merely 
aifect  the  words  he  cites,  but  large 
numbers  of  others  which  he  does  not 
presume  to  alter,  because  they  are  not 
considered  doubtful.  This  is  the  most 
recent  attempt  at  giving  "  principles  " 
to  regulate  our  orthography.  The 
reader  will  find  a  Iteport  on  this  work 
by  Mr.  Russell  Martineau,  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Philological  Society 
for  1867,  Part  II.,  pp.  315-325.  M. 
Didot,  in  the  work  cited  on  p.  589,  n. 
2,  in  anticipation  of  a  revision  of 
French  orthography  in  a  contemplated 


new  edition  of  the  dictionary  of  the 
Academy,  says :  "  L'usage  si  frequent 
quej'aidu  faire,  et  que  j'ai  vu  faire 
sous  mes  yeux,  dans  ma  longue  carriere 
typographique,  du  Dictionnaire  de  1' 
Academie,  m'a  permis  d'  apprecier 
quels  sont  les  points  qui  peuvent  offrir 
le  plus  de  difficultes.  J'ai  cru  de  mon 
devoir  de  les  signaler.  L' Academie 
rendrait  done  un  grand  service,  aussi 
bien  au  public  lettre  qu'  a  la  multitude 
et  aux  etrangers,  en  continuant  en  1868 
1'ceuvre  si  hardiment  commencee  par 
elle  en  1740,  et  qu'elle  a  poursuivie 
en  1762  et  en  1835.  II  suffirait, 
d'apres  le  meme  systeme  et  dans  les 
proportions  que  1' Academie  jugera  con- 
venables :  1°  De  regulariser  Fortho- 
graphe  etymologique  de  la  lettre  x,  c^  > 
et  de  substituer  aux  0,  th,  et  <(>,  ph,  nos 
lettres  fra^aises  dans  les  mots  les  plus 
usuels;  d'oter  1'  h  a  quelques  mots  ou 
il  est  restepour  figurer  F  esprit  rude  (c); 
2°  De  supprimer,  conformement  a  ses 
precedents,  quelques  lettres  doubles  qui 
ne  se  prononcent  pas  ;  3°  De  simpli- 
fier  1'orthographe  des  noms  composes, 
en  les  reunissant  le  plus  possible  en  un 
seul  mot;  4°  De  regulariser  la  desi- 
nence orthographique  des  mots  ter- 
mines  en  ant  et  ent ;  5°  De  distinguer, 
par  une  legere  modification  (la  cedille 
placee  sous  le  t],  des  mots  termines  en 
tie  et  tion,  qui  se  prononcent  tantot 
avec  le  son  du  t  et  tantot  avec  le  son 
de  Ys ;  6°  De  remplacer,  dans  certains 
mots,  Vy  par  1'  i ;  7°  De  donner  une 
application  speciale  aux  deux  formes 
g  et  g  au  cas  ou  le  j,  dont  le  son  est 
celui  du  g  doux,  ne  serait  pas  preferable ; 
8°  De  substituer  Ys  a  \'x,  comme 
marque  du  pluriel  a  certains  mots, 
comme  elle  1'a  fait  pour  lois,  au  lieu  de 
loix  (lex,  la  loi,  leges,  les  lois).  Parmi 
ces  principales  modifications  generale- 
ment  reclamees,  1' Academie  adoptera 
celles  qu'elle  jugera  le  plus  importantes 
et  le  plus  oppovtunes.  Quant  a  celles 
qu'elle  croira  devoir  ajourner,  il  suffi- 
rait,  ainsi  qu'elle  1'a  fait  quelquefois 
dans  la  sixieme  edition,  et  conforme- 
ment  a  1'avis  de  ses  Cahiers  de  1694, 
d'ouvrir  la  voie  a  leur  adoption  future 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


EXPRESSION    OF    SOUNDS. 


591 


much  inconvenience  from  the  uncertainty,  and  most  writers 
select  the  spelling  which  their  hand  takes  from  habifc  with- 
out consideration,  and  do  not  call  the  compositor  to  order 
if  he  alters  it  in  print.  And  compositors,  with  their 
authorized  superiors,  the  printers'  readers,  have  habits  of 
their  own  as  to  spelling  and  punctuation,  regarding  their 
author's  MS.  as  an  orthographical  exercise  which  it  is  their 
business  to  correct ;  so  that,  except  in  extremely  rare  cases 
where  the  author  is  opinionated  and  insists  on  the  com- 
positor "  following  copy,"  l  no  printed  book  represents  the 
orthography  and  punctuation  of  the  man  of  education 
who  writes,  but  only  of  the  man  of  routine  who  prints.2 

as  I  know,  I  am  fully  convinced  that 
it  is  largely  of  printing  office  origin." 
As  this  sheet  was  passing  through 
the  press  my  attention  was  directed  to 
the  following  letter  from  the  Mr.  Jones, 
mentioned  p.  590,  n.  1,  in  the  Athe- 
nceum,  10  July  1869,  in  which  he 
seems  to  be  endeavouring  to  give  effect 
to  his  views  by  means  of  an  association. 
The  "  Fonetic  Nuz  "  Spelling  alluded 
to,  is  that  employed  by  the  present 
writer  in  the  Phonetic  News  in  1849: 
"  Spelling  Reform. — Perhaps  you  will 
allow  me  a  short  space  to  lay  before 
your  readers  a  brief  statement  of  the 
objects  of  the  Spelling  Reform  Asso- 
ciation. The  very  mention  of '  Spelling 
Reform '  suggests  to  most  people  some- 
thing like  the  '  Fonetic  Nuz '  system, 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  so  much 
ridicule.  Permit  me  then  to  say,  with- 
out expressing  any  opinion  upon  the 
phonetic  method,  that  the  Spelling 
Reform  Association  does  not  propose  to 
introduce  that  mode  of  Spelling  the 
English  language,  but  that  our  recom- 
mendations are  based  upon  the  follow- 
ing assumptions,  which  most  persons 
will  readily  admit : — 1.  No  one  would 
desire  to  stereotype  and  hand  down  to 
posterity  our  orthography  in  its  pre- 
sent state  ;  but  there  is  a  vague 
notion  that  at  some  time  and  by  some 
means  the  thing  will  be  rectified.  2. 
England  is  about  the  only  country  in 
Europe  in  which  the  orthography  has 
not  been,  in  some  way  or  other,  ad- 
justed ;  and  orthography  is  one  of  the 
very  few  subjects  in  England  which 
have  not  been  adapted  to  modern  re- 
quirements. 3.  The  anomalies  of  the 
orthography  cause  serious  obstruction 
to  the  education  of  the  people,  most 
of  the  time  in  Government  schools 


au  moyen  de  la  formule  :  Quelques-uns 
ecrivent  .  .  .  :  ou  en  se  servant  de 
cette  autre  locution :  On  pourrait 
ecrire  ....  Par  cette  simple  in- 
dication, chacun  ne  se  croirait  pas  irre- 
vocablement  enchaine,  et  pourrait  ten- 
ter quelques  modifications  dans  1'ecri- 
ture  et  dans  1' impression  des  livres,"  p. 
23.  This  is  the  latest  French  view  of 
the  question. 

1  And    then    the    compositor    can 
easily  take  his  revenge,  and  disgust  his 
author,   by  copying  all    the    careless 
blunders  which  haste  and  the  habit  of 
leaving  such   matters  to   the    printer 
have  engendered  in  our  writers.     The 
literal  exhibition  of  the  greater  part  of 
"  the  copy  for  press,"  and  still  more  of 
the  correspondence,  of  even  esteemed 
men  of  letters,  would  show  that  our 
present  orthography,  including  the  use 
of  capitals  and  punctuation,  is  by  no 
means  so  settled  as  printed  books,  and 
the  stress  laid  upon  <k  correct"  spelling 
in  Civil  Service  Examinations,  would 
lead  us  to  suppose. 

2  Some  months  after  this  paragraph 
was  written,  I  received  a  letter  from 
Prof.    F.    J.   Child,   of   Harvard,  in 
which  he  says :  "  I  wish  you  may  make 
the   Philological    Society    take    some 
tenable  ground  as  to  orthography  in 
their     dictionary.      Nothing    can    be 
more  absurd  than  the  veneration  felt 
and  paid  to  the  actual  spelling  of  Eng- 
lish, as  if  it  had  been  shaped  by  the 
national  mind,  and  were  not  really  im- 
posed upon  us  by  the  foremen  of  some 
printing  offices.     In  America  all  books 
printed  in  New  York  exhibit  Webster's 
spelling,    and  most  books   printed  at 
Cambridge  (a  great  place  for  printers), 
Worcester's.       Although    we    cannot 
trace  the  English  spelling-book,  so  far 


592 


EXPRESSION   OF    SOUNDS. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


Still  there  is  a  latent  spark  of  that  fire  which  warmed  the 
original  writers  of  our  own  manuscripts,  and  there  is  a 
notion  that  certain  combinations  have  an  inherent  tendency  to 
represent  certain  sounds,  and  conversely  that  certain  sounds 
are  naturally  represented  by  certain  combinations.  The  last 
section  will  have  shown  with  what  allowances  the  first  state- 
ment must  be  received  in  the  xix  th  century ;  the  following 
table  will  show  how  varied  are  the  combinations  which  have 
been  and  are  employed  to  represent  the  sounds. 

In  drawing  up  the  list  of  sounds  represented,  it  was 
necessary  to  include  all  the  sounds  which,  so  far  as  the 
preceding  investigation  shews,  previously  existed  in  our 
language,  and  those  which  recent  and  minute  examination 
establishes  to  exist  at  present,  including  those  newly  in- 
troduced French  words  which  are  spoken  in  a  semi-French 
pronunciation.  The  following  list  is  an  extract  from  the 
completer  list  of  spoken  sounds  in  the  introduction,  and  for 
convenience  is  arranged  in  the  same  order.  The  same 
abbreviations  are  used  as  in  the  last  section. 


being  occupied  in  teaching  reading  and 
spelling — with  arithmetic — with  miser- 
able results,  as  to  the  proportion  of 
children  turned  out  of  these  schools 
having  the  ability  to  read  with  intelli- 
gence and  to  spell  correctly.  4.  The 
various  examinations  conducted  by  the 
Government,  the  Universities,  and  other 
examining  bodies,  give  a  fictitious  value, 
and  virtually  give  the  sanction  of  their 
approval,  to  a  system  which  has  no 
claim  whatever  to  be  regarded  as  '  the 
best  method  of  spelling  words,'  a  sys- 
tem which  has  been  described  by  high 
authority  as  '  an  accidental  custom,  a 
mass  of  anomalies,  the  growth  of  ig- 
norance and  chance,  equally  repugnant 
to  good  taste  and  to  common  sense.' 
5.  A  simplification  of  the  orthography 
would  do  more  to  give  the  people  the 
ability  to  read  with  intelligence  and  to 
spell  correctly  than  any  amount  of 
Government  grants  or  any  legislation 
whatever.  6.  No  individual  or  society 
under  present  circumstances  would 
have  sufficient  influence  to  introduce  an 
improved  system  of  orthography ;  if 
done  at  all,  it  .nust  be  by  the  co-opera- 
tion of  literary  men.  teachers,  examin- 
ers, printers,  and  the  public  generally. 
7.  It  is  possible,  oy  observing  analogy 
and  following  precedent,  without  in- 
troducing any  new  letters  or  applying 
any  new  principle,  to  simplify  the  or- 


thography so  as  to  reduce  the  difficul- 
ties to  a  minimun,  and  to  replace  con- 
fusion and  caprice  by  order  and  symme- 
try. The  Spelling  Reform  Association 
invite  the  co-operation  of  all  literary 
men  and  friends  of  education  in  this 
desirable  object.  E.  JONES,  Hon.  Sec." 
The  opinions  entertained  by  the  pre- 
sent writer  on  the  subject  thus  broached 
by  Prof.  Child,  and  Mr.  Jones,  will 
be  developed  in  the  subsequent  sections 
of  this  chapter,  and  the  same  remarks 
apply  mutatis  mutandis  to  M.  Didot's 
French  proposals.  It  will  there  ap- 
pear that  I  do  not  see  how  any  ''tenable 
ground"  can  be  taken  by  the  Philo- 
logical Society  "  as  to  the  orthography 
of  their  dictionary,"  beyond  the  accident 
of  present  custom  in  London.  Much 
might  be  said  on  Mr.  Jones's  seven 
points,  which  he  believes  "most  per- 
sons will  readily  admit."  Why  our 
present  orthography  should  be  con- 
sidered so  much  less  worthy  to  be 
handed  down  to  posterity  than  one 
modified  on  Mr.  Jones's  "principles," 
and  how  any  such  modifications  would 
render  its  use  beneficial  in  schools  to 
the  extent  anticipated,  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  conceive.  To  Mr.  Jones's  seventh 
proposition,  if  I  understand  it  aright, 
my  own  orthographic  studies  lead  me 
to  give  an  unqualified  denial. 


CHA:-.  VI.  §  2.  EXPRESSION    OF    SOUNDS.       (A— 2E). 


593 


CHRONOLOGICAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS  IN  ENGLISH 
WRITING. 


(A  a),  was  always  represented  by  a 
from  13.  to  19.,  the  sound  went  out 
in  17.,  and  now  only  exists  in  rather 
a  rare  pronunciation  of:  ask,  staff, 
command,  pass,  and  similar  words, 
and  is  considered  to  exist  in :  star, 
card,  by  those  who  believe  the  vowel 
short ;  it  is  common  in  the  provinces 
in  place  (se). 

(A  a],  was  probably  the  ags.  sound 
written  a,  possibly  the  sound  meant 
by  oa  in  13. ;  it  is  now  lost  in  Eng- 
lish, but  is  heard  in  Scotch. 

(:A  A),  according  to  Wallis,  etc.,  the 
sound  into  which  short  o  fell  in  17. 
when  "  fall  folly,  call  collar,  lawes 
losse,  cause  cost,  aw'd  odd,  saw'd 
sod,"  were  considered  as  perfect 
pairs.  In  19.  this  short  o  is  (o). 
The  distinction  is  delicate,  but  may 
be  rendered  appreciable  by  drawling 
odd  into  (ood)  which  will  be  found  to 
be  different  from  awed  (A Ad),  or  by 
shortening  the  vowel  in  the  latter 
word,  producing  (Ad)  which  is  dif- 
ferent from  odd  (od).  In  19.  a  after 
a  (w)  sound,  as  what,  watch,  squash, 
(whAt,  wAtch,  skwAsh),  is  the  sole 
representative  of  this  sound,  and 
even  here  most  speakers  use  (o). 

(Aa  aa)  was  represented  by  a  always 
in  13.,  and  by  a  in  open,  and  fre- 
quently by  aa  in  closed  syllables  in 
14.  In  16.  it  was  still  written  a 
without  any  indication  that  the  syl- 
lable was  long,  except  by  an  occa- 
sional mute  final  e.  The  sound  was 
lost  in  17.,  except  perhaps  before  r, 
so  that  ar,  er  in  tar,  clerk,  may  have 
represented  (aar),  though  they  were 
acknowledged,  and  perhaps  most  fre- 

Juently  pronounced,  as  (ser)  only, 
n  19.  the  indication  of  length  and 
quality  is  variously  made  according 
to  the  origin  of  the  word  in  :  father, 
are  (but  not  in  bar<?,  fare,  etc.), 
seraglio,  ah,  a/ms,  Mafrn^sbury,  eclat, 
aunt,  b'?rq«6,  clerk,  heart,  guard.,  but 
its  principal  indication  is  a  before 
r—  (a)  professedly,  but  intended  to  be 
omitted  by  those  persons  who  write 
larf  to  indicate  (laaf).  In  London 
ar,  when  not  followed  by  a  vowel, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  regular  sign 
for  (aa),  and  is  so  used  by  many 
writers.  The  ah  !  of  the  exclama- 
tion is,  however,  nearly  as  certain, 
and  does  not  involve  the  r  difficulty. 


(Aa  aa),  this  appears  to  have  been  the 
long  a  of  ags.  It  has  since  disap- 
peared from  acknowledged  sounds. 
It  is,  no  doubt,  heard  in  the  pro- 
vinces, and  it  is  by  some  recognized 
as  the  common  London  sound  meant 
for  (aa),  which  see. 

(:AA  AA),  unknown  previously  to  17., 
and  then  represented  by  au,  aw, 
auah,  ouah  ;  these  sounds  and  nota- 
tions still  prevail.  It  replaced  the 
sound  of  (au),  and  hence  was  repre- 
sented by  a  before  I,  as  now ;  or  by 
al,  with  a  mute  I.  It  was  identified 
with  the  German  a,  and  is  often 
called  "  German  a  "  in  pronouncing 
dictionaries;  it  was  also  identified 
with  French  d,  and  Miege  could 
not  hear  the  difference.  See  Eron- 
dell's  remarks  supra  p.  226,  n.,  col.  2. 
In  17.  oa  represented  it  in  broad.  The 
following  may  be  considered  as  its 
representatives  in  19. :  fall,  aam. 
Magdalen  College  (MAAd-len),  ma/il- 
stick,  walk,  barman,  hawl,  M.aude, 
naughty,  Naughan,  auln,  awful, 
awe,  broad,  solder  (spelled  sawder 
in  Sam  Slick},  ought.  The  com- 
bination or  is  theoretically  (01), 
practically  (AAJ),  or  (A A)  ;  so  that 
Dickens,  in  Pickwick,  writes  Smorl 
Tork  as  a  name  to  indicate  small 
talk.  See  supra,  p.  575,  under  o. 
Hence,  extraordinary,  G^orgic, 
George,  fork,  horse,  may  be  reckoned 
as  other  examples,  even  by  those 
who  do  not  include  the  r  in  the 
combination. 

(Aah  aah).  This  delicate  sound  pro- 
bably formed  the  transition  from 
(aa)  to  (9933)  in  17.,  and  it  is  occa- 
sionally heard  from  "refined" 
speakers,  as  a  variety  of  (aa),  which 
they  consider  too  "  broad,"  while 
(aeae)  used  by  others  is  too  "  minc- 
ing." It  is  a  mere  variety  of  (aa), 
and  is  represented  in  the  same  way. 

(M  SB)  was  probably  the  short  ags.  SB, 
but  in  ags.  it  rapidly  became  con- 
fused with  (E,  e),  and  was  then 
lost.  It  reappears  in  17.  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  (a),  and  was  represented 
by  a  and  the  same  varieties  as  that 
sound.  So  it  has  remained,  but  by 
omitting  letters,  and  reducing  many 
(aa),  and  even  other  sounds,  to  this 
favourite  short  vowel,  it  is  seen  va- 
riously represented  in  19.,  as:  sat, 

33 


594 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (-5J8B— D).  CHAP.  VI.   §  2. 


Isaac,  Mackay,  drachm,  hav0,  always 
(naav)  down  to  16.,  bagnio  (bsen-jo), 
Taghmon  (Tsonrtm),  plaid,  salmon, 
harange^,  Clap/mm,  considered  as 
(Klsep-sem),  but  really  (KIsep'Bm), 
Tollemache  (Tael-maBsh),  piqwant. 
In  17.  one,  once  were  (wsen,  wsens). 
It  is  in  19.  also  used  by  very  delicate 
speakers,  especially  educated  ladies 
in  Yorkshire,  in  such  words  as : 
basket,  staff,  path,  pass,  awnt,  in 
which  (ah,  a)  and  (3303,  aah,  aa)  are 
also  heard.  This  vowel  is  now  cha- 
racteristic of  English,  and  is  the 
despair  of  foreigners. 

(.3383  83ae).  The  long  (sea3)  replaced 
(aa)  in  17.,  and  was  represented  in 
all  the  ways  in  which  (aa)  had  been 
previously  pronounced.  No  change 
was  acknowledged.  The  sound  ra- 
pidly died  out  into  the  (ee)  of  18., 
but  it  is  now  preserved  in  the  West 
of  England,  where  (Baoseth,  kaeaeid) 
are  pronounced  for  Bath,  card.  It 
is  the  name  of  the  letter  A  in  Ire- 
land. Twenty  years  ago  it  was,  and 
probably  still  is,  a  fashionable  long 
sound  of  A  in  Copenhagen.  It  is 
sometimes  heard  in  19.,  especially 
from  ladies,  as  a  thinner  utterance 
of  (aa)  than  (aah)  would  be. 
(JEu  seu).  See  (eu). 
(Ah  ah).  This  thin  sound  is  seldom 
heard  in  19.,  except  in  the  pronun- 
ciation of  delicate  speakers,  in  such 
words  as :  basket,  staff,  path,  pass, 
awnt,  and,  as  Mr.  M.  Bell  believes, 
for  the  unaccented  a  in  amount, 
canary,  idea,  and  rapidly  pronounced 
and.  It  is  also  the  first  element  in 
the  diphthongs :  nigh,  how,  as  pro- 
nounced by  some  (nahi,  nahu)  in 
place  of  (nai,  Hau).  It  may  have 
been  the  transition  sound  between  (a) 
of  16.,  and  (SB)  of  17.  It  has  the 
same  representatives  as  (aa,  a),  gene- 
rally a,  sometimes  au, 

Ahi  ahi).     See  (ai,  ai). 

Ahu  ahu).     See  (au,  au). 

Ai  ai),  if  this  diphthong  occurred  at 
all  in  ags.  it  was  represented  by  ag, 
and  seems  to  be  the  agg  of  Orrmin. 
In  13.  it  was  written  ei,  ey,  ai,  ay,  and 
this  representation  continued,  per- 
haps, through  16.  After  16.  the 
sound  seems  to  have  disappeared, 
but  probably  remained  in  a  few 
words,  and  in  19.  it  is  generally 
heard  in  the  affirmative  a?/,  or  aye, 
and  from  many  clergymen  in  Isaiah. 
In  the  provinces  it  is  a  common 


pronunciation  of  long  i.  Mr.  M. 
Bell  considers  that  sound.,  however, 
and  the  German  pronunciation  of 
ei,  ai,  to  be  (ai),  and  (ai)  to  be  the 
general  sound  of  English  long  * ;  in 
that  case  (ai)  would  then  have  the 
expressions  given  below  for  (ai). 

(AA  aA),  this  French  sound  has  only 
recently  been  introduced  into  Eng- 
lish, but  is  firmly  established  in  aide- 
de-camp  (ee  di  kaA),  the  last  word 
being  called  (kAAq,  koq,  kaamp)  by 
different  orthoepists,  but  (kAq,  koq) 
would  not  be  endured,  and  (kon)  is 
more  often  said.  In  environs  (aA'- 
viroA,  envairronz),  an  envelope 
(aA'vilep,  en-velap),  custom  varies. 
For  mnui  the  pronunciation  (aAwii'), 
or  (onwii),  is  common,  (oqwii-)  is 
passe,  the  old  form  was  annoy,  = 
(amir).  Perhaps  it  would  be  more 
correctly  written  (AA)  as  pronounced 
by  Englishmen,  the  labialisation 
being  disclaimed  by  Frenchmen. 

(Au  au),  in  Orrmin  aww,  in  14.  to  16. 
au,  aw.  This  sound  was  lost  in  17. 
and  has  not  been  recovered,  though 
somedeclaimers  still  say  (aul)  for  (AA!) 
all.  Heard  in  the  provinces.  It  is 
the  German  sound  of  au.  Mr.  M. 
Bell,  however,  considering  this  last 
to  be  (au),  and  believes  (au)  to  be  the 
usual  sound  here  assumed  to  be  (au), 
in  which  case  it  would  really  exist 
in  the  language,  and  be  expressed  as 
(au)  is  stated  to  be  below. 

(B  b),  always  expressed  by  b,  or  bb. 
The  mute  final  e,  and  assimilated 
letters,  have  produced  the  19.  va- 
rieties :  be,  ebb,  ebbed,  ba&0,  Cock- 
burn  (Koo'bin),  ILolborn,  cupboard 
(this  was  also  in  17.),  hau^oy  (HOO-- 
boi).  In  17.  Jones  finds  deputy, 
cujtnd,  etc.,  pronounced  with  (b). 

(Bh  bh).  It  is  doubtful  whether  this 
sound  was  ever  known  in  England, 
but  Dr.  Rapp  considers  it  was  ags. 
w.  It  is  possible  that  the  southern 
(London  and  Kent)  tendency  to  con- 
vert (v)  into  (w)  may  arise  from 
some  original  mispronunciation  of  v 
as  (bh) .  The  sound  is  not  only  not 
acknowledged,  but  is  rarely  under- 
stood by  Englishmen.  Even  in  parts 
of  North  Germany  (bh)  has  been  re- 
placed by  (v).  See  the  description 
of  the  sound,  p.  513,  note  2. 

(D  d),  always  expressed  by  d,  dd.  The 
mute  final  e,  and  assimilated  letters, 
together  with  foreign  words,  have 
produced  the  19.  varieties :  io'ellium, 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2.  EXPRESSION   OF   SOUNDS.      (Dh— • E). 


595 


add,  'Buddhist,  trade,  Wjnd- 
ham,  loved,  would,  burden,  usually 
burden.  In  17.  they  bad:  souWier, 
would,  etc.,  burden,  murther,  etc. 
(Dh  dh),  tbis  sound  must  bave  existed 
in  ags.,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  say 
wbetber  ]>,  or  ft,  was  meant  for  it. 
In  Icelandic  J>  is  (th),  and  «  (dh), 
but  tbey  must  have  been  confused  in 
ags.  at  an  early  period.  See  supra 
p.  515,  p.  541,  n.  2,  p.  555,  n.  1, 
col.  2.  Even  Orrmin  does  not  dis- 
tinguish them.  When  th  was  intro- 
duced it  was  used  indiscriminately 
for  (th,  dh).  The  19.  sign  is  still 
th,  though  there  seems  to  be  a  feeling 
that  e  final  will  ensure  the  sound 
(dh),  as  breath,  breathe  (breth, 
briidh).  Some  literary  men  write 
dth  to  indicate  the  sound. 
(Dj  dj),  an  unacknowledged  English 
sound,  common  in  speech  in  19.,  and 
represented  by  d  before  «,  as :  ver- 
dure =  (vi-djsAi),  when  the  speaker 
wishes  to  avoid  (vrdzhi).  It  is  pa- 
latalised (d),  a  transition  sound  be- 
tween (d)  and  (dzh),  and  is  distinct 
from  (dj).  Vulgar  speakers  do  not 
change  would  you  ?  into  (wwdzb/j), 
but  into  (wMdj-e).  Some  even  say 
(•WMd',dzhjj?). 
(Dw  dw).  See  (dw>). 
(Dw  div)  is  perhaps  the  true  sound 
heard  in :  dwell,  dwarf,  generally  ac- 
cepted as  (dw),  with  doubts  as  to 
whether  it  is  not  (du).  It  seems  to 
be  an  unacknowledged  lip  modifica- 
tion of  (d),  so  that  (d)  and  (w)  are 
heard  simultaneously,  .rather  than 
consecutively,  the  lips  being  rounded 
as  for  (w),  while  the  tongue  is  raised 
for  (d),  and  the  separation  of  the  lips 
and  of  the  tongue  from  the  palate 
taking  place  at  the  same  time  to 
admit  the  passage  of  the  vowel. 
How  long  this  sound  has  existed  as 
distinct  from  (dw,  du)  cannot  be 
said. 

(Dzh  dzh),  does  not  seem  to  have  oc- 
curred before  13.,  and  arose  first 
from  palatisation  of  final  (g)  in  ags., 
which,  after  short  accented  vowels 
in  closed  syllables,  passed  through 
the  form  (#),  rather  than  (#h),  and 
hence  generated  (dzh)  in  place  of  (j), 
as :  edge,  hedge,  ledge,  fledge,  com- 
pare ags.  ecg,  hege  hseg,  lecgan, 
flycge;  and,  secondly,  from  the 
French  i  consonant,  and  g  before  e,  *', 
which  there  is  good  reason  to  sup- 
pose was  pronounced  at  one  time  as 


(dzh),  and  which  is  said  to  be  (dz) 
in  present  Provencal,  by  a  writer 
who  confuses  the  Spanish  ch,  which 
is  (tsh),  with  (ts),  (Mireio,  Mireille, 
poeme  provenc,  al  de  Frederic  Mistral, 
avec  la  traduction  litterale  en  re- 
gard, 8vo.,  1868,  p.  vii).  Hence  it 
is  expressed  by  i  consonant,  g,  gg, 
dg.  Subsequently  only  /,  g,  dg 
(the  latter  before  e  generally)  were 
used,  but  not  consistently.  In  19. 
we  have  :  Greenwich,  soldier,  which 
was  also  heard  in  17.,  with  omitted 
I,  as  (soo'dzher,  SAdzh-er),  judg- 
ment, ridffe,  Wednesbury  (Wedzir- 
beri),  ^em,  college,  Belling  Aam 
(BeHndzhem),  just. 
(E  e),  this,  or  (E)  was  the  ags.  short 
e,  and  has  prevailed  in  one  form  or 
the  other  to  this  day.  I  am  myself 
in  the  habit  of  saying  (e),  but  this  ap- 
pears too  delicate  to  Mr.  Melville 
Bell,  who  prefers  (E),  which  is 
the  Scotch  sound,  and  is  in  Scot- 
land by  many  English  people  con- 
fused with  (SB),  see  p.  271.  It  was 
occasionally  expressed  by  u  from  13. 
to  16.  Being  an  exceedingly  com- 
mon sound,  it  easily  absorbed  related 
sounds,  and  hence  even  in  17.  had 
numerous  forms  of  expression,  the 
only  normal  form  both  then  and 
now  being  e,  but  ect  was  very  common 
in  17.  as  in  18.  and  19.,  and  ai  in 
17.  in  unaccented  syllables  as  cap- 
tain, now  (ksep'tjm),  nearly  (ksep-ten) 
or  (kaep-tm).  Before  r  it  seems  to 
have  been  the  refuge  of  other  sounds, 
which  however  may  be  more  pro- 
perly (o).  The  following  are  19, 
varieties:  many,  Pontefract  (Ponr- 
fret),  P^estum,  Michael,  Thames, 
said,  Abergavenny  [(JEbMgem)  writ- 
ten Aburgany  in  the  Shakspere  folio 
1623,  Hen.  vm.  i,  1,  speech  49,  where 
it  must  be  in  four  syllables  for  the 
metre ;  this  is  not  the  "Welsh  pro- 
nunciation, but  is  common  in  Eng- 
land,] says,  let,  head,  debt,  "Wednes- 
day, allege,  foreAeod,  hee'fer,  Leicester, 
leopard,  cheque,  rendezvous,  rhetoric, 
friend,  conscience,  foetid,  connoisseur, 
bwry,  guess,  panegyric,  [this  pro- 
nunciation is  going  out,  as  also  that 
in  spirit,  syrrup,  stirrup],  gunwale, 
Thomas's  ( Tom-Bsez).  If  the  sound 
is  admitted  in  the  syllable  (ei)  for 
(JL)  then  we  might  add:  sabre,  virtue, 
Brzdlington,  sapphn-e,  bettor,  Ur- 
quhart,  answer.  Most  of  these  ex- 
pressions are  highly  exceptional,  and 


596 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (-E— 39).         CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


arise  partly  from  assimilations  and 
omissions,  and  partly  from  inser- 
tions. Still  the  spelling  has  re- 
mained and  has  to  be  separately 
memorized  by  those  who  would  use 
it,  as  no  rule  can  be  assigned. 

(E  e).  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether 
this  sound  occurred  in  ags.  or  old 
English  as  distinct  from  (e).  "Whe- 
ther the  final  unaccented  e  of  13.  and 
14.  had  the  sound  of  (e)  or  (e),  or 
whether  it  was  not  rather  («),  is  also 
impossible  to  determine.  In  19.  the 
sound  only  occurs  as  short  and  un- 
accented, in  some  words,  as  aerial, 
aorta  (eeriel,  eorta),  for  which  some 
would  read  (ahortah).  It  is  the 
French  4. 

(:E  E).  This  is  a  variety  of  (e)  and  in 
the  pronunciation  of  some  persons 
uniformly  replaces  it,  and  has  been 
therefore  always  expressed  as  (e)  was, 
wherever  it  occurred.  See  (e). 

(g;  a).  This  sound  does  not  appear  in 
English  till  the  middle  of  17.  It 
is  not  named  by  Butler,  1631.  It 
is  distinctly  recognised  by  Wallis, 
1653,  and  Wilkins,  1668,  and  all 
subsequent  writers.  It  replaced  (u) 
and  was  expressed  as  (u)  had  been  by 
u,  o  and  occasionally  ou,  and  these 
have  remained  its  principal  forms 
to  19.,  but  numerous  degradations 
have  occurred  especially  in  unac- 
cented syllables,  where,  however, 
stricter  analysis  seems  to  shew  that 
the  sound  is  now  rather  (e).  Thus 
we  have  the  19.  varieties  :  riband, 
meerschawm,  escutcheon,  humble, 
motion,  consczows,  son,  does,  love,  tor- 
toise, Lincoln,  flood,  dowble,  tongue, 
bellows,  twoppence  (in  17  ), — and  if 
we  consider  that  (.1)  is  properly  (9.1) 
we  have  this  vowel  in  :  amateur, 
cupboard,  avotrdupoise,  colonel, 
liqueur,  liquor.  Mr.  M.  Bell  uses 
(a)  for  (e). 

(#"  *)•  This  French  sound  should  of 
course  be  used  in  those  French  words 
containing  it,  which  are  used  in 
English,  but  it  is  always  replaced 
by  the  familiar  (9,  a). 

(ft  u).  This  faintly-characterised  vowel 
is  recognized  by  Mr.  Melville  Bell 
as  the  real  sound  in  unaccented  syl- 
lables, where  19.  orthoepists  usually 
assume  (9,  a)  to  exist,  before  »,  I,  r, 
and  s,  as:  motion  ocean,  principal, 
Tartar,  facetwws.  It  is  therefore 
expressed  by  any  combination  de- 
noting unaccented  (a,  83). 


(Ee  ee.)     In  earlier  English  down  to 

18.  we   cannot  distinguish   (ee,  ee). 
In  ags.  it  seems  to  have  been  re- 
presented only  by  e  or  e.     In  13.  it 
was  also  represented  by  ce,  and  oc- 
casionally by  ea,  eo,  at  least,  these 
forms  all  interchange  with  e.    In  14. 
eo  was  almost  quite  dropped  (though 
both  eo,  oe  are  occasionally  found), 
and  ea  was  very  sparingly  used,  but 
ee  was  common,  especially  in  closed 
syllables.     In  16.  the  practice  was 
introduced  of  representing   (ee)   by 
e,   ea  only,  to  the  exclusion  of  ee. 
During  17.  ai,  ay,  ei,  ey  were  used 
as  well  as  e,  ea,  but  the  two  latter 
forms  were  less  and  less  used  as  (ee), 
till  they  became  exceptional  expres- 
sions in  18.  and  19.     In  the  middle 
of  18.  the  usual  forms  were  a  (with 
any  addition  which  shewed  prolon- 
gation, as  a  final  mute  e},  ai,  ay, 
occasionally  ea,  and  ei,  ey,  but  the 
two  last  forms  were  rapidly  going 
out,  and  at  the  end  of  18.  and  be- 
ginning of    19.  few  remained.     In 
19.,  if  not  earlier,  (ee)  was  separated 
from  (ee),  and  the  sound  of  (ee)  was 
only  used  before  r  (i),  but  it  was  ex- 
pressed by  all  the  same  forms  as  (ee). 
This  limitation  of  the  sound  of  (ee) 
reduces  the  number  of  its  forms  in 

19.  where  we  find:   Aaron,   mare, 
aerie,  air,  4yr,  mayor,  pear,  ere,  e'er, 
their,  eyre,  heir.     See  (ee). 

(Ee  ee).  This  sound  was  not  consciously 
separated  from  (ee)  till  the  end  of 
18.  or  till  19.  Even  now  many 
persons  do  not  perceive  the  difference 
(ee,  ee),  or  if  they  do  hear  the  sounds 
they  analyse  them  as  (eei,  ee).  In 
some  parts  of  England  (ee)  alone  is 
said,  in  the  South  many  people  can- 
not pronounce  (ee)  before  any  letter 
but  (a),  and  cannot  prolong  (ee) 
without  dropping  into  (i),  thus  (eei). 
Some  assert  that  (ee)  is  never  pro- 
nounced, but  only  (eei),  with  which 
they  would  write  the  words :  mate, 
champagne,  dahlia,,  pain,  campaign, 
straight,  trait,  halfpenny,  often 
(Haa-pem)  in  the  North,  gaol,  Oars- 
halton  (k^s'HAAt'n),  gawge,  plague, 
play,  great,  eh  !  veil,  reign,  weigh, 
th<?y,  eyot. 

(39  99).  Never  a  recognized  sound, 
but  one  from  which  (11)  is  with 
difficulty  distinguished.  It  is  there- 
fore heard  in  place  of  (9.1,  ej),  or 
rather  (jj,  j.i),  by  the  representatives 
of  which  it  is  always  expressed. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2.  EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (Eei— F). 


597 


(Eei  eei.)  In  16.  Gill  acknowledges 
(eei)  and  frequently  writes  it  in  the 
word  they  (dheei).  It  probably  ex- 
isted in  17.,  as  it  is  partially  ac- 
knowledged by  Cooper.  If  so  it  was 
written  ei,  ey,  ai,  ay.  Most  probably 
its  use  increased  in  18.,  but  there  is 
no  proper  note  of  it. 

(Eei  eei.}  This  sound  is  not  acknow- 
ledged before  19.,  and  then  the  ex- 
tent of  it  is  disputed.  Some  make  it 
coextensive  with  the  spelling  at,  ay, 
others  make  it  replace  the  sound  of 
(f.e)  under  whatever  form  it  is  ex- 
pressed. Some  persons  in  the  South 
of  England  seem  incapable  of  sus- 
taining (ee)  or  (ee}  without  rapidly 
falling  into  (»,  i).  See  (ee}. 

(g;h  ah.)  This  replaces  (a)  under  what- 
ever form  it  may  be  expressed,  in  the 
pronunciation  of  many  persons.  It 
is  the  form  acknowledged  by  Mr.  M. 
Bell. 

(Ei  ei.)  In  16.  this  is  acknowledged 
by  Salesbury,  and  Hart  as  the  sound 
of  i  long  and  of  ei,  ey.  Smith  ac- 
knowledges it  in  a  few  words,  con- 
taining ei,  ey,  where  he  doubtfully 
distinguishes  it  from  (ai),  but  he 
marks  i  long  as  a  separate  vowel, 
which  he  identifies  with  the  English 
words  for  "ego,  oculus,  etiam,"  I, 
eye,  aye.  Gill  sometimes  writes  (ei), 
sometimes  (eei),  in  the  same  words, 
and  considers  long  i  to  be  very  nearly 
the  same.  "Wallis  does  not  acknow- 
ledge the  sound,  and  it  seems  to  have 
expired  in  17.  It  is,  however,  re- 
viving, although  unacknowledged,  as 
a  substitute  for  (eei)  and  that  for 
(ee},  as  (rein)  rain. 

(Ei  ei.}  A  variant  of  (ei),  which 
cannot  be  properly  distinguished 
from  it  in  accounts  of  pronunciation, 
but  seems  to  be  the  true  sound  of 
the  modern  Scotch  long  i  in  many 
words,  see  p.  290. 

(gi  ai),  or  perhaps  (ai)  is  acknowledged 
by  Wallis  and  Wilkins  in  17.,  and 
was  perhaps  intended  by  Gill  as  the 
sound  of  long  i,  and  has  since  re- 
mained that  sound,  though  individu- 
ally and  provincially  replaced  by  (ai, 
ahi,  ei,  ei),  etc.,  see  p.  108.  It  is 
expressed  by  any  combination  of 
sounds  which  indicate  that  i  or  y  is 
to  be  long.  Hence  in  19.  we  have  : 
naive,  aisle,  da'pnosophist  (and  as 
many  pronounce  either,  nether) 
height,  the  older  sounds  (neet,  neeit) 
are  occasionally  heard,  (nekht)  is 


still  heard  in  Scotland,  (nekth)  has 
been  noted  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ledbury,  Herefordshire,  (naitth, 
haith)  are  mistaken  pronunciations — 
eying,  eye,  rAmoceros,  'Rhine,  rhym- 
ing, rhyme,  hind — this  mode  of  ex- 
pressing long  i  is  found  as  early  as 
16.,  —  indict,  die,  live,  sign,  sigh, 
sighed,  vwcount,  isle,  begmling,  be- 
guile,  huy,  ny,  dye,  scythe. 

(EA  CA)  is  not  an  English  sound,  and 
no  attempt  to  pronounce  it  occurs 
before  18.  In  19.  coup  de  main, 
which  Feline  writes  (ku-d  meA),  is 
written  (kmrdimseq)  by  Worcester, 
(kuu  dimseq-)  by  Webster,  (kuirdi- 
maaq)  by  Knowles,  (kmrdamseq:)  by 
Smart,  (kmrdimem)  by  Mavor.  It 
is  generally  called  (kuu'di  meA), 
though  some  affect  the  complete 
French  pronunciation. 

(g[A  a  A),  this  is  also  not  an  English 
sound  and  is  so  rare  in  French  that 
it  is  seldom  borrowed  in  English, 
except  in  the  name  of  the  game 
vingt  et  un,  usually  called  (veAtaA') 
in  England,  often  corrupted  to  (vsen- 
tiuir,  vaendzhon'),  just  as  rouge  et 
noir  becomes  Russian  war,  from  the 
older  pronunciation,  still  occasionally 
heard,  of  (Ruirshen  WAAT). 

(Eu  eu)  Common  in  13.  and  14.  as  the 
sound  of  eu  ew,  from  ags.  eaw,  etc. 
Less  frequent  in  16.,  expiring  in  17., 
and  lost  in  18.  In  19.  it  is  frequent 
as  a  London  pronunciation  of  (au), 
thus  (deun  teun)  for  down  town,  and 
either  in  this  form  or  (EU,  ueu)  com- 
mon in  Yankee  speech,  and  in  the 
East  Anglican  dialect.  It  is  acknow- 
ledged in  Italian  and  Spanish  ^«ropa, 
and  in  modern  Provencal,  both  eu, 
and  ie'u  (EU,  ie'u)  are  distinguished, 
the  last  word  being  the  French^. 

(:Eu,  EU).     See  (eu). 

(gn  au).  Not  known  before  17.  In 
17.  and  since,  acknowledged  as  the 
sound  heard  in  now  how,  though  some 
pronounce  (au,  on,  on,  au,  ahu)  and 
even  (aeu,  eu).  Expressed  generally 
by  ou,  ow,  with  or  without  mute 
letters.  In  19  we  find :  mowtchoue, 
Macliod,  hour,  compter,  noun,  doubt, 
renounce,  bough,  cow,  allowed. 

(F  f).  From  ags.  to  present  day  re- 
presented by  /,  ph,  with  their  dupli- 
cations ff,  pph.  From  16.,  at  least, 
occasionally  expressed  by  gh.  In  19. 
we  find  :  /oe,  nfe,  stif,  stu/kl,/ugle- 
man  —  a  mere  corruption  —  often, 
laugh,  ha//",  sapphire,  lieutenant. 


598 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.      (G— I).  CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


(G  g).  From  ags.  to  present  day  ex- 
pressed by  g.  In  14.  also  by  gg  and 
in  15.  also  by  gge  final.  6Viost  is 
found  in  16.  In  19.  we  have  blac&- 
\  ff°>  %gg->  bey^ed,  ^Aost,  guess, 


(Gg)  or  (gj),  palatalized  (g).  Probably 
in  ags.  g  before  a  palatal  vowel,  subse- 
quently (dzh).  After  that  change  (g} 
cannot  be  clearly  traced  before  18., 
but  it  is  still  found  in  19.,  represented 
by.  9i  gu,  before  a  (aa,  ai)  or  long  i 
(ai),  as  :  garden,  ^ward,  regard,  guide. 
In  18.,  it  seems  to  have  been  also 
used  before  short  a  (ee). 

(Gh  gh).  In  ags.  perhaps  more  cer- 
tainly in  13.,  expressed  by  3,  after 
a,  0,  u  long  and  followed  by  a  vowel 
as  o%en.  Possibly  the  sound  after 
o,  u  was  labialized  to  (gwh).  Whether 
these  sounds  were  entirely  lost  in  14., 
being  replaced  by  (kh,  kwh),  it  is 
difficult  to  say ;  probably  not.  As 
long  as  they  lasted  they  were  ex- 
pressed by  3,  gh.  It  must  have  been 
lost  in  16. 

(Ghgh).  In  ags.  perhaps,  more  cer- 
tainly in  13.,  expressed  by  3  after 
e,  i  long  or  short,  and  occasionally 
after  r,  I,  in  which  case  it  fell  into 
(i).  In  ags.  perhaps  the  initial 
sound  of  3  before  palatals,  which  in 
13.  was  replaced  by  (j).  In  13. 
written  3,  •&,  yh.  After  13.  gene- 
rally replaced  by  (£h,  j),  and  written 

3>  ffk,  y- 

(Grh  grh).  Only  known  as  a  local 
peculiarity,  the  Northumbrian  burr, 
and  then  expressed  by  r,  rr  as  in 
Harriet  (Hagrh-iot).  See  (r). 

(Gw  gw).  The  labial  modification  of 
g,  confused  with  (gw),  from  which 
it  differs  almost  as  simultaneity  from 
succession,  (gw)  resulting  from  at- 
tempting to  pronounce  (g)  and  (w) 
at  the  same  time.  How  long  it  has 
been  known  in  English  cannot  be 
determined,  but  it  is  probably  a  very 
early  combination  in  the  Eomance 
languages.  In  19.  it  is  expressed  by 
gu  in :  ^waiacum,  ^wano,  guava, 
(gwai-akam,  gwaa-no,  gwaa-va). 

(Gwh  gwh).  Probably  an  ags.  sound 
of  3  after  labials,  and  occasionally 
r,  I,  in  which  case  it  became  (u,  o). 
In  14.  probably  expressed  by  gh 
after  o,  u.  Perhaps  lahh,  laugh, 
lauwh,  indicated  (lagh,  laugwh, 
lauwh)  passing  to  (lauf).  But  the 
sounds  may  have  been  (lakh,  laukw/'h, 
lawh). 


(H  H).  The  true  aspirate  consisting 
of  a  jerked  emission  of  the  following 
vowel  without  the  previous  inter- 
vention of  the  whisper,  was,  proba- 
bly, the  genuine  old  form  of  aspira- 
tion, as  shewn  in  the  Sanscrit  post- 
aspirates.  It  was  frequently  inter- 
changed with  (H',  kh,  gh),  the  last 
(gh)  being  the  value  of  the  Sanscrit 
^  usually  considered  as  h.  Eepre- 
sented  whenever  it  occurred  from 
ags.  to  19.,  by  h.  See  (H'). 

(H<  H').  The  jerked  utterance  accom- 
panied by  a  whispered  breath  pro- 
ceeding the  vowel.  The  jerk  is  of 
importance;  (<a-aa),  is  different  from 
(H-'a-aa=H'aa).  Constantly  occur- 
ring, and  represented  by  h,  but  in 
16.  occasionally  by  gh.  In  19., 
either  (H)  or  (H<)  according  to  a 
speaker's  habits  of  utterance,  and  fre- 
quently according  to  the  momentary 
impulse  of  the  speaker,  is  expressed 
by  the  following  varieties :  CallayAan 
— and  by  gh  in  many  other  Irish 
names  —  Aole,  Cotquhonn,  whole. 
Uneducated  speakers,  especially  when 
nervous,  and  anxious  not  to  leave 
out  an  A,  or  when  emphatic,  intro- 
duce a  marked  (H')  in  places  where 
it  is  not  acknowledged  in  writing  or 
in  educated  speech.  On  the  other 
hand  both  (H,  H',)  are  frequently 
omitted,  by  a  much  more  educated 
class  than  those  who  insert  (H'),  and 
in  the  provinces  and  among  persons 
below  the  middle-class  in  London, 
the  use  and  non-use  of  (H,  H')  varies 
from  individual  to  individual,  and 
has  no  apparent  connection  with  the 
writing.  Hence  its  pronunciation 
has  become  in  recent  times  a  sort  of 
social  shibboleth.  The  very  uncer- 
tain and  confused  use  of  h  in  old 
MSS.,  especially  of  13.,  serve  to 
make  it  probable  that  there  was 
always  much  uncertainty  in  the  pro- 
nunciation of  h  in  our  provinces. 
The  Scotch  never  omit  or  insert 
it,  except  in  htiz  (naz),  the  emphatic 
form  of  us.  The  Germans  are  equally 
strict.  But  the  sound  (H)  or  (H')  is 
unknown  in  French,  Italian,  Spanish, 
modern  Greek,  and  the  Sclavonic 


(I  i).  Whether  this  sound  existed  in 
closed  accented  syllables  before  16., 
is  doubtful,  probably  not.  After  16. 
there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  if  it 
did  exist,  its  use  must  have  been 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2.  EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (/—In). 


599 


very  limited.  In  Scotland  it  both 
did  and  does  exist.  In  all  cases  it 
was  represented  by  I,  y.  As  a  short 
sound  in  open  syllables  it  was  pro- 
bably quite  common,  and  was  in  ags. 
to  14.  represented  by  i.  In  16.  this 
short  open  (i)  was  e  as  in :  beleeve 
(biliiv).  At  present  the  distinction 
between  (i,  i}  in  such  cases  is  rather 
doubtful,  and  both  are  apt  to  be 
merged  into  (u).  But  where  the 
distinction  is  made,  short  (i)  is 
always  expressed  by  e  ;  see  (I). 

(I  i}.  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
common  sound  represented  by  short 
i  in  close  accented  syllables  in 
ags.,  and  by  short  I,  y,  and  occasion- 
ally u  in  this  situation  from  13. 
to  19.,  and  with  tolerable  certainty 
from  14.  to  19.  In  16.,  as  a  final, 
it  was  frequently  written  ie.  Or- 
thoepists,  however,  constantly  con- 
fuse (i,  I)  both  in  closed  and  open 
syllables,  so  that  any  real  separation 
of  (i,  I),  is  hazardous.  In  19.,  (i) 
in  closed  syllables  is  expressed  in  a 
great  variety  of  ways,  owing  to 
various  degradations,  but  generally 
as  i,  y  with  some  letters  which  have 
become  mute,  and  when  in  final 
open  syllables,  generally  by  y  or 
some  variety  of  the  same.  The  fol- 
lowing forms  may  be  noticed.  In 
closed  syllables  :  landscape,  Saint 
John  (Sln-dzlren)  as  a  family  name, 
Jervawlx  (Jaarvls),  pretty,  guineas, 
beaufin,  breeches,  forfeit,  Theobald 
(Tib-eld)  the  recognized  name  of  an 
editor  of  Shakspere  and  a  street 
in  London,  housewife  (iiaz-lf)  a 
threadholder,  exAlb-lt  (egzitrit) 
some  say  (ecsH'lb'lt)  with  a  very 
marked  (H'),  rAythm,  pit,  mar- 
riages, marriage,  pitied,  to  live, 
sieve,  flvepence,  women,  groats 
(grits),  Jervols,  Mispress  (Mls-ls), 
bwsy,  lettwce,  btnld,  business,  Tyr- 
whiti  (Tlrlt),  Chiswlck  (Tshlz-lkJ, 
physic,  Wymowdham  (Wind  "em). 
In  open  syllables,  many  of  the  above 
forms  and :  Rothsay,  money,  Annie, 
Beaullew  (Biuil),  felloe  (feK), 
chamois  leather  (snsenvl),  plagwy. 

(li  ii).  In  ags.  either  (ii)  or  (II), 
which  see,  was  always  expressed  by 
I  long,  and  so  on  to  14.  and  part  of 
15.  After  15.  (ii)  was  only  rarely 
expressed  by  I  long,  but  more  and 
more  frequently  by  e,  ee,  and  in  16. 
frequently  by  e  ee  and  rarely  by  ea, 
ie.  The  expression  by  eat  ie  increased 


slightly  in  17.  In  18.  e,  ee,  ea,  ie, 
were  the  rule,  and  el,  ey  the  excep- 
tions. In  19.  the  two  latter  also 
became  the  rule.  The  Latin  se,  oe 
were  also  added  to  the  list,  and  vari- 
ous degradations  swelled  the  expres- 
sions of  (ii)  in  19.  to  the  following 
extraordinary  variety  :  minutio?,  de- 
main,  Gaius  College,  be,  each,  fleaed, 
leave,  Beawchamp  (Beeislrem), 
league,  feet,  e'en,  complete,  sleeve, 
itnpreyn,  LeyA,  conceit,  conceive, 
seigniory,  LelaA,  receipt,  Befroir, 
people,  demesne,  key,  Wemyss 
(Wiimz),  keyed,  diarrAcea,  invalid, 
grief,  magazine,  grieve,  sl^niour, 
rasl/,  debris,  intrlgwe,  fetus,  quay, 
quayed,  mosqwlto,  turqwolse  (txkiiz') 
according  to  Walker,  Smart,  ana 
Worcester,  more  commonly  (tyr- 


(Ii  ii}.  In  14.,  and  most  probably 
earlier,  the  sound  of  long  I  and  y. 
During  15.  this  sound  nearly  ex- 
pired and  was  only  retained  by  a 
few  individuals  in  16.,  being  re- 
placed by  (ei,  I)  according  as  the 
syllable  in  which  it  occurred  retained 
or  lost  the  accent.  It  is  heard  in 
Scotch  in  19.,  where  a  short  (I)  is 
accidentally  lengthened  as  :  gi'e,  wi'. 
In  English  it  is  an  unacknowledged 
sound  often  heard  from  singers  who 
lengthen  a  short  (I),  as  (still)  for 
(stll)  still,  as  distinct  from  (stiil) 
steal,  see  pp.  106,  271. 

(lu  iu  iuu).  These  sounds  cannot  well 
be  separated.  They  probably  never 
occurred  initially.  When  Smith 
wrote  iunker  in  16.  he  meant  (juq-- 
ker).  The  sound  was  not  recog- 
nized till  17.,  when  it  was  generally 
expressed  by  long  u,  or  eu,  ew.  The 
same  combinations  used  initially,  as 
in  use,  wnite,  ewe,  probably  expressed 
(jiuu,  jiu,  jiuu).  In  my  phonetic 
spelling  I  have  seldom  thought  it 
necessary  to  distinguish  (iu,  iuu) 
and  have  frequently  omitted  to  pre- 
fix the  (j).  From  these  sounds 
should  be  distinguished  (juu,  ju) 
which  are  also  confounded  with 
them,  but  are  usually  written  you. 
With  these  the  sounds  (jhiu,  jhiuu) 
often  confounded  with  them,  had 
best  be  considered.  The  following 
are  the  19.  varieties  of  expressing; 
these  sounds  : 
(iu)  monument,  document,  incwbate, 

mante^amaker. 
(iuu)    beawty,    feod,    fewdal,    oewce, 


600 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (J— Lh).         CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


new,  adieu,  view,  viewed, 
fugleman,  amwsing,  fuchsia,  (fiuir- 
shia),  cue,  amuse,  queue,  impugn, 
huhl,  suit,  puisne,  (pmirm),  lute- 
string  (liuu-stn'q,)  fugue. 
(jiu)  unite,  Eugene  (Jiudzhiur) 
(jiuu)  euffh,  ewe,  yew,  yule. 
(ju)  in  16.  young  =  (juq)  like  present 

German  jung. 
juu)  you,  youth. 
jhiu)  Awmane. 
jhiuu)  Awman,  hue,  Hugh,  Hughes. 

(3  j).  The  palatal  consonant  into 
which  ags.  initial  (#-h)  degenerated, 
generally  confounded  with  an  initial 
unaccented  (i),  whence  it  is  occa- 
sionally derived,  and  often  confused 
with  the  palatal  modification  (j) 
from  which  it  differs  as  (w)  from 
(w}.  Apparently  in  use  from  13.  to 
19.,  expressed  in  13.  and  often  in 
14.  hy  3, 5,  whence  the  modern  forms 
y,  z,  p.  310,  and  p.  298,  note.  The 
varieties  in  19.,  are  :  hideous,  om'on, 
hallelu/ah,  yard,  Denzil. 

(Jh  jh).  Orrmin's  gh  in  -^heo  she. 
The  whispered  (jh)  differs  from  (j), 
as  (kh)  from  (gh),  hut  is  hy  Germans 
confounded  with  (kh),  although  often 
pronounced  by  them  quite  distinctly 
in  ja  (shaa)  for  (saa).  It  has  pro- 
bably often  heen  pronounced  in 
English,  hut  it  is  not  recognized, 
and  even  in  the  words  cited  under 
(iu)  it  is  not  now  generally  acknow- 
ledged, (jhiuu)  being  taken  as  (H'JUU, 
n'iuu)  sounds  which  are  not  easy  to 
utter.  It  has  no  special  representa- 
tive, but  is  implied  by  any  combina- 
tion apparently  expressing  (n'+iu). 

(K  k).  The  sound  has  been  in  use 
from  ags.  to  19.  In  ags.  expressed 
by  c  invariably.  In  13.  generally 
by  c,  occasionally  by  k.  In  14.  by  k 
and  occasionally  by  kk,  ck,  but  fre- 
quently in  words  from  the  Latin  and 
French  by  c,  cc.  In  16.  by  c,  cc,  k. 
ck,  and  occasionally  ch.  In  17.  gh, 
gu  were  added  to  the  list.  All  these 
remain,  except  kk,  which  was  dis- 
used before  16.  In  19.  we  have  : 
can,  account,  Bacchanal,  scAool,  ache, 
"back,  hacked,  acquaint,  hou^A,  kale, 
hake,  -walk,  _  <?uack,  quay,  antique, 
Urquhart,  viscount,  hafcAel  (naek-'l) 
also  written  hackle,  heckle,  except. 

(K  k}.  This  is  the  palatalized  form 
of  (k),  see  g,  and  its  existence  was 
acknowledged,  and  expressed  in  18. 
by  c,  k  before  a  (aa,  aa,  se)  and  t  (ai) 
as  in :  cart,  candle,  s#y.  This  is 


regarded  as  antiquated  in  19.  but  is 
still  heard. 

(Kh  kh).  In  ags.  expressed  by  h,  M; 
in  13.  by  3,  gh,  and  very  rarely  by  ch, 
p.  441,  from  14.  to  16.  by  gh.  After 
16.  lost  in  English,  though  common 
in  Scotch,  where  it  is  usually  written 
ch.  At  no  time  were  the  palatal 
and  labial  modifications  (kjh,  kwh) 
distinguished  in  writing  from  (kh), 
but  there  seems  reason  to  suppose 
that  a  preceding  vowel  when  palatal 
determined  (kh  =  kjh),  when  gut- 
tural (kh)  and  when  labial  (kwh). 
See  also  (gwh). 

(Kh  kh}.     See  (kh). 

(Kw  kw).  This  sound  has  always 
been  confused  with  (kw),  but  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  (kw)  has 
been  the  real  sound  from  the  earliest 
times,  pp.  512,  514,  561.  In  ags. 
(kw)  was  expressed  by  cw,  in  13.  qu 
seems  to  have  been  introduced  and 
to  have  remained  to  19. 

(Kwh  kwh).     See  (kh). 

(L  1).  From  ags.  to  19.  I  and  from 
14.  to  19.  II  is  frequent.  In  19. 
mute  letters  have  occasioned  the  fol- 
lowing varieties :  seraglio,  mahlstick, 
/ace,  GuiMbrd,  ale,  ill,  traveled, 
ki/w,  isle,  hristlj,  victwa^er  (v^'t'la). 

('L  '!).  In  16.  certainly,  this  sound 
was  expressed  by  final  -U  forming  a 
syllable,  and  it  was  recognized  by 
Bullokar  after  a  and  before  another 
consonant,  as  halm  (Ha' 1m)  where 
others  read  (ul).  In  19.  several 
phonetic  writers  incline  to  (ul),  but 
the  majority  consider  (1)  only,  to 
be  the  sound.  Mr.  M.  Bell  considers 
it  to  be  (11)  that  is  lengthened  (1). 
It  is  always  represented  by  -le  or  -I. 
It  generally  falls  into  (1}  when  a 
vowel  follows  as  double  doubling 
(dgb'l  dab'lzq),  but  some  persons  re- 
tain the  (')  and  say  double-in  g  (dab'- 
'l*g). 

(Lh  Ih).  Not  now  a  recognized  Eng- 
lish sound,  but  it  occasionally  arises 
when  instead  of  prolonging  an  (t) 
with  the  full  murmur,  the  action  of 
the  vocal  ligaments  ceases,  while  the 
tongue  remains  in  position,  and  the 
unvocalized  breath  escapes  on  both 
sides  as  (fAAllh).  It  is  also  recog- 
nized by  Mr.  M.  Bell  in  felt  (fElht) 
or  perhaps  (fsllht),  as  he  would 
write.  In  Modern  French  it  is  very 
common  for  (!')  as  (tablh)  table,  and 
hence  it  has  been  recently  imported 
into  the  English  pronunciation  of 


CHAP.  VI.  §  2.        EXPRESSION   OF   SOUNDS.      (Lhh— (E). 


601 


French  words.  It  was  probably  the 
sound  written  hi  in  ags.  and  Ih  in 
13.,  as  it  is  now  represented  by  hi  in 
Icelandic. 

(Lhh  Ihh).  Few  Englishmen  can  pro- 
nounce this  Welsh  sound  properly, 
but  as  Welsh  names  of  places  are 
current  in  English,  as  Llangollen 
(Lhhangolhh-en)  it  should  be  recog- 
nized, and  not  treated  as  (thl)  or 
(tl),  as  in  (Thlangothien).  For  a 
description  of  the  sound  see  Chap. 
VIII,  §  1,  under  II. 

(Lj,  Ij).  An  unrecognized  English 
element,  often  generated  in  the  pas- 
sage from  (1)  to  (j)  or  (i)  before 
another  vowel.  Thus  million,  bul- 
lion are  rather  (mil-lira,  b^Hjim) 
than  pure  (im'1-.ren,  bul'JBn)  because 
there  is  no  break,  thus  (l,j),  but  the 
(1)  is  continued  on  to  the  (j)  pro- 
ducing (Ij  =  1* j) .  Some  Englishmen 
pronounce  seraglio,  lieu,  lute,  as 
(seraa-ljio,  Ijiuu,  Ijiuut)  others  say 
(seraa-lio,  luu,  luut). 

(M  m).  From  ags.  to  19.  m,  and 
from  14.  often  mm.  In  19.  we  have 
the  varieties,  chiefly  assimilations 
and  degradations :  drachm,  phlegm, 

dm,  Cholmondeley  (Tshanrlt),  am, 
b,  tame,  hammer,  shammed, 
hymn,  Campbell  (Ksenvel),  Bawff 
(Bsemf),  Powfcfract  (Pom-fret). 

('M  'm).  Certainly  from  16.  when  it 
was  recognized  by  Bullokar.  Not 
distinguished  from  (m)  in  writing, 
and  not  recognized  as  a  syllable  in 
poetry,  as :  schism,  rhythm  (stz-'m, 
n'th-'m). 

(Mh  mh).  Recognized  by  Mr.  Mel- 
ville Bell  in  19.  before  p,  t,  as  lamp, 
emrjt  (Isemhp,  Emht)  or  (Isemmhp, 
Emmht). 

(N  n).  From  ags.  to  19.  n  and  from 
14.  nn.  Silent  letters  and  assimila- 
tions, etc.,  have  produced  the  19. 
varieties  :  studdingsail  (stan-sl), 
opening,  gnaw,  John,  know,  Coin- 
brook  (Koon-bn^k),  Calne  (Kaan), 
mnemonics,  compter,  can,  riband, 
cane,  ipecacuawAa,  mawwer,  planned, 
guwwale  (gan-el),  reasoning,  ^?weu- 
matics,  puisne  (piuu-m). 

('N  'n).  Certainly  since  16.,  repre- 
sented by  -en,  -on,  as  in:  open, 
reason.  When  a  vowel  follows  the 
(')  is  lost,  though  some  say  (bit-'m'q) 
and  others  (lait-m'q)  lightening,  light- 
ning. 

(Nh  nh).     Recognized  in  19.  by  Mr. 


M.   Bell  in   tent,  which  he  writes 
(tEnht)  or  (tEnnht). 

(Nj  nj).  An  unrecognized  English 
sound  produced  by  continuing  the 
sound  of  (n)  on  to  a  following  (j,  i^ 
as  onion,  more  properly  (an-nj^n) 
than  (an-,JBn).  Some  call  new 
(njiuu),  others  (nuu).  Common 
French  and  Italian  gn. 

(0  o).  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
original  ags.  and  English  short  o  up 
to  16.,  and  to  have  been  lost,  except 
in  the  provinces,  after  the  middle  of 
17.  when  it  was  replaced  by  (A,  o). 
It  is  the  French  hommage  (omazh) 
as  distinguished  from  19.  homage 
(Hom-ydzh).  It  is  Italian  short  _  o 
aperto.  It  is  also  heard  in  Spain, 
Wales,  and  a  great  part  of  Germany, 
though  it  is  liable  to  fall  into  (o) 
on  one  side  and  (o)  on  the  other. 
In  old  English  invariably  o, 

( 0  o) .  This  short  sound  in  closed  sylla- 
bles is  not  recognised  in  19.,  but  it 
is  heard  the  provinces  and  in  America 
for  short  and  sometimes  long  o ;  thus, 
whole  stone  (&o\,  ston),  and  then  is 
scarcely  distinguishable  from  (u)  or 
(a),  and  is  confounded  by  some  with 
(a).  In  open  syllables  it  is  not  un- 
common, as  in :  oblige,  memory,  win- 
dow (oblgidzh*,  memors,  wnrdo), 
where  it  is  often  confused  with  (a,  i?), 
and  even,  when  final,  with  (i).  It, 
probably,  came  into  use  with  (oo)  in 
17.,  but  was  not  distinguished  from 
it.  Generally  expressed  by  o,  ow,  as 
above,  and  in  19.  we  call  Pharaoh 
(Feerro). 

(0  o).  In  17.  short  o  passed  from(o) 
to  (A)  or  (o).  The  distinction  be- 
tween these  sounds  being  of  the 
same  degree  of  delicacy  as  that  be- 
tween (i,  «')  and  (E,  se)  renders  it 
difficult  to  determine  which  sound 
was  said.  In  19.  (o)  prevails,  though 
(A)  is  occasionally  heard,  and  may 
be  heard  when  the  expression  is  a, 
au,  or  (a)  influenced  by  (u)  in  any 
way.  See  (A).  The  general  ex- 
pression of  (o)  is  o ;  but  in  19.  we 
have  the  varieties :  resin,  Aonour,  on, 
groat,  forehead,  cognisant,  John, 
howgh,  pedagogue,  knowledge.  In 
or  not  followed  by  a  vowel,  the  theo- 
retical sound  is  (01),  the  actual  sound 
scarcely  distinguishable  from,  if  not 
identical  with  (AA',  AA).  See  supra 
p.  575,  under  o. 

((E  ce)  is  not  a  recognized  English 
sound,  but  is  heard  in  the  provinces 


602 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (3)— Q). 


CHAP  VI.  §  2. 


and  in  Scotland,  and  written  o,  oo. 
Confused  in  English  with  (a). 

(3)  GO).  Recognized  in  19.  by  Mr.  M. 
Bell  as  the  vowel  in  :  prefer,  mmest, 
firm,  myrrh,  gwmlon,  where  he 
writes  (901)  for  the  italicized  letters. 
I  do  not  distinguish  these  sounds 
from  (^),  and  in  general  find  them 
confused  with  (i).  See  these  sounds. 

(CEoe  oece).  Occurs  in  the  provinces, 
and  probably  in  Scotch.  It  is  the 
German  long  oe,  as  in  Goethe 


(Oi  oi).  With  this  must  be  taken  (Ai, 
oi,  oi  ;  A*',  pz,  oi).  It  is  very  difficult 
to  determine  the  limits  of  these 
sounds  in  time  or  place.  Probably 
in  16.  when  oi,  oy  were  not  (ui), 
they  were  (oi).  In  19.  (A.i,  <H)  pre- 
vail, (oi,  ui)  are  provincial.  The 
expression  is  always  oi,  oy,  with 
or  without  some  additional  mute 
letters.  In  19.  we  have:  bourgm's 
(bjdzhoas1)  noisy,  noise,  poignant, 
coigne,  boy,  enjo^d,  Hoyle,  quoit  ; 
some  say  (kww't),  buoy  ;  some  say 
(bww),  bum'),  buoyed. 

(Oo  oo  ).  From  ags.  to  16.  this  was 
the  recognized  long  sound  of  o,  and 
expressed  by  o,  oo.  It  is  still  heard 
in  the  provinces.  It  was  apparently 
lost  in  the  received  dialect  in  17., 
but  revived  in  19.  before  (j),  as  in  : 
oar,  ore,  o'er,  moor,  mourn,  vour,  fowr, 
sword.  Sometimes  heard  before/,  s, 
th,  as  :  off,  cross,  broth  (oof,  croos, 
brooth),  where  it  is  apt  to  degenerate 
into  (AA,  oo),  or  sink  into  (o). 

(Oo  oo),  From  17.  the  recognized 
sound  of  o  long,  and  generally  re- 
presented by  o,  o-e,  oa,  and  occasion- 
ally by  oe,  ou,  ow.  In  19.  we  have 
the  varieties  :  hawteur,  hawtboy 
(aoo-boi),  beau,  yeoman,  shew,  now 
frequently  written  show,  sewed,  fre- 
quently written  sowed,  post,  oats, 
provincially  (wats),  Soame,  boats- 
wain (boo'senj,  Gockburn  (Koo'bm), 
doe,  bone,  oglio,  oh,  scuto^  (skru~ 
tooi-),  according  to  Sheridan,  Walker, 
etc.,  now  generally  (skrutwor),  yo^k, 
brooch,  apropos,  Grosvmor,  depoV, 
soul,  rogue,  Y-wyhall  (JOO-HAA!), 
though,  know,  towards,  owe,  Knowles, 
quoth,  (kooth)  ;  some  say  (kwooth). 
See  (oou). 

(QO  oo).  The  drawl  of  short  (o)  is 
only  heard  in  drawling  utterance,  as 
(ood)  for  (od)  odd,  as  distinct  from 
awed.  Preachers  often  say  (Good), 
but  seldom  or  ever  (GAAd)  for  God. 


In  America  some  say  either  (doog, 
looq),  or  (doog,  looq)  for  dog,  long, 
etc.,  which  the  phonetic  writers  there 
recognize  as  (dAAg,  lAAq),  and  the 
two  sounds  are  difficult.to  separate. 

(OA  OA).  This  present  French  nasal  is 
in  older  English  represented  by 
(uun),  as  retained  in  our  modern 
balloon.  In  recently  imported  French 
words  the  (OA)  is  intended  to  be  re- 
tained, together  with  its  French 
expression,  as  bonbons,  bon  mot,  on  dit 
(boAboAz,  boA  mo,  OA  dii).  But 
the  usual  substitutes  are  (on,  oq),  and 
occasionally  (oon,  an). 

(Oou  oou).  From  13.  to  16.  the  pro- 
nunciation of  those  ou,  ow,  which 
represented  an  ags.  dw,  6w.  Lost 
in  17. 

(Oon  oou).  From  17.  to  19.  the  usual 
pronunciation  of  those  ou,  ow  which 
represent  an  ags.  dw,  6w.  This  pro- 
nunciation has  been,  however,  gene- 
rally ignored,  or,  if  recognized, 
reprobated  by  orthoepists.  Some 
speakers  distinguish  no,  know,  as 
(noo,  noou),  orthoepists  generally 
confuse  them  as  (noo),  compare  the 
list  of  words  under  (oo)  ;  others 
again  confuse  them  as  (noou).  Mr. 
M.  Bell  states  that  every  long  o  is 
(ou),  meaning  the  same  as  I  mean 
by  (oou).  Some  Englishmen  say 
that  it  is  not  possible  to  lengthen  (o) 
without  adding  (u),  and  pronounce 
nearly  (ou,  ouu). 

(Ou  ou).  In  16.  the  general  sound  of 
ou,  replacing  the  previous  (uu)  which 
however  was  heard  contempora- 
neously through  the  greater  part  of 
16.  In  17.  the  sound  was  recognized 
as  (au),  and  the  sound  (ou]  was  lost. 

(On  ou).  The  modern  provincial  sub- 
stitute for  (ou),  not  recognized. 

(QU  ou).  In  18.  orthoepists  recog- 
nized ow  as  having  the  sound  (ou) 
or  (AU).  It  was  probably  an  erro- 
neous analysis,  which  even  yet  oc- 
casionally prevails,  owing  to  the 
usual  orthography  ou,  ow.  Provin- 
cially however  (ou,  AU)  may  occur. 

(P  p)  was  from  ags.  to  19.  represented 
by  p,  and  from  14.  to  19.  by  pp 
also.  In  19.  we  have  the  varieties, 
hiccou^A  (nik-kap),  ^?ay,  ape,  Claph- 
am,  flayer,  napped. 

(Q  q)  was  from  ags.  to  19.  written  n 
or  ng,  sometimes  nz  for  nj.  In  19. 
we  have  the  varieties :  finger,  hand- 
kerchief, siw^er,  winged,  Birmiw^Aam, 
tongue,  Mewsies  (M.eqiz),  p.  310. 


CHAP.  VI.  6  2.          EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (Qh— t 


603 


(Q,h  qh),  is  recognized  by  Mr.  M.  Bell 
in  19.  as  the  sound  of  n  before  k,  in 
think  (thtqhk)  or  tluqqhk) 

(E  r)  was  from  ags.  to  19.  represented 
by  r  before  a  vowel ;  and  probably 
from  ags  to  16.  represented  also  by 
r  even  wben  not  before  a  vowel. 
Perhaps  lost  in  the  latter  position  in 
17.  Preserved  pure  in  Scotland. 
In  19.  we  have  the  varieties  :  right, 
rhetoric,  write,  hurry,  catarrAal. 

('E  'r)  How  soon  this  sound  came 
into  English,  cannot  be  precisely 
determined.  There  is  reason  to  think 
it  may  have  been  used  in  16.  and  17., 
and  that  it  generated  (i).  At  pre- 
sent in  :  fearing,  pairing,  debarring, 
ignoring,  poorer,  fiery,  bowery,  there 
is  a  doubt  whether  the  sound  heard 
is  best  expressed  by  ('r)  or  (ir).  Mr. 
M.  Bell  gives  the  first,  I  have  gene- 
rally preferred  the  second,  see  p. 
197. 

(It  r).  This  peculiar  guttural  r  so 
common  in  France  and  even  in  Ger- 
many, but  unknown  in  Italy,  seems 
to  be  only  a  softer  form  of  the  Nor- 
thumbrian burr.  It  is  not  recog- 
nized in  writing  as  distinct  from  r. 

(g;  j).  Probably  recognized  in  17.  as 
well  as  in  18.  and  19.  as  the  peculiar 
English  untrilled  r,  not  heard  before 
a  vowel,  and  represented  by  final  r 
together  with  mute  letters  in  19.,  as : 
spare,  corps,  burr,  mortgage.  It 
has  always  a  tendency  to  change 
preceding  (ee,  oo,  uu)  into  (ee,  oo, 
uu),  while  short  a,  o  become  (aa,  oo), 
or  theoretically  (a,  o) ;  and  short  (i, 
e)  according  to  Mr.  M.  Bell  fall 
into  (ao),  which  see.  Short  (a)  is 
supposed  to  remain,  as  cur  (kai),  for 
which  I  prefer  (ki,  k'i,  ku)  and 
generally  write  (ki)  as  quite  suffi- 
cient. In  place  of  (i)  provincially 
(ahi,  01,  «hi)  are  heard.  The  phy- 
siological distinction  between  (a)  and 
(i)  is  very  difficult  to  formulate. 
There  is  uo  doubt  that  in  many  cases 
where  writers  put  er,  ur,  to  imitate 
provincial  utterances,  there  neither 
exists  nor  ever  existed  any  sound 
of  (r)  or  of  (i),  but  the  sounds 
are  purely  (9,  a).  Thus  bellows  in 
Norfolk  is  not  (bel'erz)  but  rather 
(bEl-az).  There  also  exists  a  great 
tendency  among  all  uneducated 
speakers  to  introduce  an  (r)  after 
any  (a,  a,  a,  A)  sound  when  a  vowel 
follows,  as  (drAA'n'q,  SAA'n'q)  draw- 
ing, sawing,  in  Norfolk,  and  this 


probably  assisted  in  the  delusion 
that  they  said  (drAAi  mi,  SAAI  wwd) 
and  not  (drAA  mii,  SAA  wwd).  In 
London:  father  farther,  laud  lord, 
stalk  stork,  draws  drawers,  are  re- 
duced to  (faadh-B,  lAAd,  stAAk, 
drAAz),  even  in  the  mouths  of  edu- 
cated speakers.  I  have  usually 
written  (i)  final  in  deference  to 
opinion,  but  I  feel  sure  that  if  I  had 
been  noting  down  an  unwritten  dia- 
lectic form,  I  should  frequently  write 
(e,  8,  a).  Careful  speakers  say 
(faa'dtrra,  lAA'd,  stAA'k,  drAA'z)  for 
farther,  lord,  stork,  drawers,  when 
they  are  thinking  particularly  of 
what  they  are  saying,  but  (fardher, 
lord,  stork,  drAA'erz)  is  decidedly 
un-English,  and  has  a  Scotch  or 
Irish  twang  with  it.  See  p.  196. 

(y  u).  I  use  this  (^)  to  represent  the 
sound  expressed  by  Mr.  M.  Bell  as 
(ooi),  see  (ao).  Thus,  myrrh,  differ 
=  (nu,  difr).  But  I  do  not  find 
(jc,  J)  generally  distinguished,  and 
consequently  write  (ma,  difr)  more 
frequently  than  (m^,  difr).  The 
physiological  distinction  between 
(GO)  and  (^)  is  very  difficult  to  for- 
mulate. See  (a),  and  p.  196. 

(.E  .r).  This  strongly  trilled  (r)  is 
only  known  as  an  individual  or  local 
peculiarity.  In  Scotland  the  trilled 
(r)  not  before  vowels,  as  firm  (ferm) 
often  gives  rise  to  a  sensation  of  (.r), 
as  (fe.rm) ,  and  many  Scots  and  Irish 
use  (.r)  as  work,  arm  =  (wa.rk, 
se.rm).  It  is  not  recognized  ortho- 


(Eh  rh)  is  not  now  a  recognized 
English  sound,  but  is  occasionally 
imported  from  the  modern  French 
final  -re,  as  sabre  (sabrh)  for  (sabra), 
into  the  modern  English  pronuncia- 
tion of  anglicised  French.  Probably 
ags.  hr,  as  it  is  Icelandic  hr.  The 
"Welsh  rh  is  rather  ('ra)  than  (rh), 
as  generally  supposed. 

(S  s).  From  ags.  to  19.  commonly  re- 
presented by  s.  Eapp  imagines  the 
ags.  sound  to  have  been  (sj).  In  14. 
(s)  was  represented  s,  ss,  and  by  c 
before  e,  i  in  words  taken  from  the 
French,  and  occasionally  by  sc  before 
e,  i.  In  19.  we  have  the  varieties :  cell, 
ace,  Gloucester,  jpsalm,  Cirewcester 
(StVtsti),  Worcester  (Wwst'i),  see, 
scene,  coalesce,  scAism,  MasAam,  hiss, 
hissed,  listen,  episde,  etc.,  since  17., 
mistress  /  (mis-iz),  sword,  1 
(bnVka),  bellows,  mezzotint. 

/ 


604 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.      (Sh— Ui).         CHAP.  VI.  §  2. 


(Sh  sh) .  This  was  not  an  ags.  sound, 
but  it  was  already  developed  in  13., 
and  it  was  generally  written  sch,  but 
sometimes  sh,  ss,  in  13.  and  14. 
Orrmin  writes  sh,  ssh,  and  this  was 
used  at  the  end  of  15.,  and  generally 
afterwards.  At  the  latter  end  of  17. 
(sh)  was  expressed  by  *  before  (iu), 
so  that  siu  became  (shuu).  Traces 
of  this  found  in  the  early  part  of  1 7. 
Towards  end  of  17-  also  expressed  by 
ci-,  si-,  set-,  ssi-,  ti-.  In  19.  we 
have  the  varieties :  chaise,  and  fre- 
quently in  French  words,  fucAsia, 
special,  pshaw  I  sugar,  schedule,  con- 
scious, shall,  "wished,  Assheton 
(JEsh-ten),  compression,  motion. 

(T  t).  From  ags.  to  19.  the  regular 
expression  is  t.  In  19.,  however, 
we  have  the  varieties :  debt,  yacht, 
indict,  sucked,  sought,  phthisical,  re- 
ceipt, toe,  thyme,  ha^er,  two,  mezzo- 
tint. 

(Th  th)  was  in  use  from  ags.  to  19. 
In  ags.  it  was  written  either  ]>  or  ft, 
or  both  indifferently.  In  13.  and 
14.  it  was  sometimes  ft,  but  gene- 
rally j>,  and  occasionally  th,  which 
last  expression  has  remained  to  19. 
In  17.  in  $\gh  it  was  written  gh,  and 
probably  in  other  words.  In  19.  we 
have  the  varieties :  Kei^Aley  (Kiitlr- 
li),  eigh^A  (eetth},  apophthegm  (aep-o- 
them),  Southampton  (SauthHaenr- 
ten),  thin,  bli^Ac  (blaith),  or  (blaidh) 
Ma^Aew. 

(Tj  tj).  An  unrecognized  English 
sound,  generated  by  the  action  of  a 
following  (iu),  when  the  speaker 
avoids  the  stiffness  of  (t,j),  and 
wishes  also  to  avoid  (tsh),  as :  vir- 
tue, lecture  (v^-tju,  lek-tjwj),  com- 
monly (vrtshu,  lek-tsha).  See  (dj). 

(Tsh  tsh)  was  generated,  at  least,  as 
early  as  13.  from  ags.  (k),  and 
written  eh,  and  in  14.  also  cch.  The 
form  ch  has  remained,  but  since  16. 
at  least  cch  has  become  tch,  very 
common  as  a  final  in  19.,  in  which 
some  importations  and  assimilations 
have  produced  the  varieties  :  vermi- 
celli, chain,  arched,  cAioppine,  Mar- 
/ortbanks  (Maitslrbseqks),  ma^A, 
matched. 

(Tw  tw}.  An  unrecognized  English 
sound,  usually  confounded  with  (tw), 
but  it  is  (t*w)  the  action  of  (t)  and 
(w)  taking  place  simultaneously,  and 
not  successively,  in  twine,  twain,  etc. 
Written  tw. 

(TJ  u).    It  is  probable  that   (u]   was 


used  in  16.  at  least,  and  perhaps 
earlier,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish (u,  u}  as  short  sounds  be- 
fore 19.,  and  even  then  few  persons 
acknowledge  that  pool,  pull,  have 
vowels  of  different  quality,  as  well  as 
length  (puul,  pul),  and  that  the  true 
short  sound  (u)  is  heard  in  French 
poule  (pul).  Mr.  M.  Bell  considers 
that  the  Scotch  and  English  pronun- 
ciation of  book  differ  as  (buk,  bwk). 
To  my  ears  the  Scotch  have  preserved 
also  the  original  length  of  the  vowel, 
and  say  (buuk),  or  at  least  give  it  a 
medial  length.  Hence,  taking  (u, 
u}  together,  we  may  say  that  the 
sound  has  existed  and  been  expressed 
by  u  from  ags.  to  19.  In  14.  it  was 
also  expressed  by  ou,  ow,  and  the  ex- 
pression ou  was  continued  in  a  few 
words  in  16.,  and  is  not  yet  quite 
lost  as  could  (kwd).  In  16.  (u,  u) 
was  occasionally  expressed  by  oo, 
still  common  in  wood,  book  (wwd, 
bwk).  In  14.  and  thence  to  16.,  o 
was  often  used  for  (u,  u},  and  is  still 
found  in  a  few  words.  During  17. 
most  of  the  words  having  (u,  u)  lost 
the  sound,  and  were  pronounced 
generally  with  (a).  There  is  still  a 
fight  between  (u,  a),  and  in  some  of 
the  Midland  Counties  the  usage  is 
just  reversed  from  that  now  accepted, 
thus  (but,  kwt,  rwb)  =  but,  cut,  rub, 
and  (fat,  pat,  fal,  bal)  =  foot,  put, 
full,  bull.  And  generally  (wad, 
wam-^n)  are  not  uncommon  for  (wwd 
wwnven)  =  woodf  woman.  The  key 
to  this  mystery  seems  to  be  a  pro- 
vincial (a)  which  becomes  labialised 
after  labial  consonants.  In  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire, 
I  have  found  it  very  difficult  to 
choose  between  (a,  o,  uh,  u)  for  such 
words.  See  below  Chap.  XI.,  §  4. 
In  19.  we  have  the  varieties :  wo- 
man, Bolingbroke,  wood,  worsted, 
Worcester,  caoutchouc,  could,  bwll. 

V~u).     See  (u). 

:U  u).  This  unrecognized  English 
sound  seems  to  occur  as  a  variant  of 
(y)  in  Cumberland,  Lancashire,  and 
East  Anglia,  and  is  written  as  long  u. 
(Ui  ui),  Apparently  one  of  the  oldest 
forms  of  the  diphthong  oi,  oy,  pro- 
bably the  usual  sound  in  14.,  when 
it  was  also  written  ui,  uy.  Still 
used  in  many  words  in  16.  and  even 
17.  In  the  provinces  it  may  be  still 
heard  in  boy  (bui),  and  it  is  the 
sailor's  pronunciation  of  buoy. 


CHAP.  VI.  $  2. 


EXPRESSION  OF  SOUNDS.       (Uii— Z). 


605 


(Uu  uu).  In  ags.  written  u,  in  13.  u, 
of  which  this  is  a  characteristic 
orthography.  Between  1280  and 
1310  both  u  and  ou  were  used.  In 
14.  ou,  ow  were  generally  written, 
but  o  alone  was  also  employed,  and 
has  remained  in  many  words.  In 
16.  ow  was  quite  discontinued,  and 
ou  sparingly  used,  but  oo  was  intro- 
duced as  the  usual  form,  and  has 
remained  to  the  present  day.  How 
soon  the  (iu)  of  17.  became  (uu) 
after  r  is  not  ascertained,  but  it  is 
now  the  rule  (except  in  the  pro- 
vinces), that  long  u  after  r  =  (uu). 
Hence  in  19.  we  have  the  varieties  : 
galloon,  Reuhen,  Buccleugh  (Bakhnr), 
hrew,  hrewed,  rheum.,  rAwbarb,  do, 
shoe,  move,  mancBwvre,  too,  wooed, 
soup,  house  (buuz),  through,  Browy- 
hara,  rendezvous  (rondevwr),  surtow£ 
(sitmr),  billetdoM^  (btltduir),  Cow- 
per,trwe,  ruling,  rule,hruising,hrmse, 
Hwlm<?  (Huum),  two,  who  (HUU). 

(:Uu  uu).  A  provincial  variety  of 
(yy),  expressed  only  as  long  u. 

(V  v).  In  ags.  possibly  and  Orrmin 
(v)  was  expressed  by  /  between  two 
vowels,  otherwise  it  would  seem  not 
to  be  an  ags.  sound.  In  13.  (v)  was 
expressed  by  u  consonant  and  v  con- 
sonant, and  so  through  to  17.  when 
v  consonant  was  exclusively  applied, 
and  u  consonant  and  v  vowel  discon- 
tinued; but  it  was  seldom  repre- 
sented by  any  but  a  v  form  after- 
wards. In  19.  we  have  :  o/,  Befeoir 
(Bii-vj),  halve,  nephew,  Grosyenor 
(Groovna),  veal,  have,  rendezvous. 

(W  w).  Apparently  a  peculiar  ags. 
sound,  and  hence  expressed  by  a  pe- 
culiar letter  p  when  the  Roman 
alphabet  of  the  time  was  adopted,  p. 
513.  For  this  in  13.  w  was  adopted, 
and  has  remained  to  19.  The  sound 
was  sometimes  expressed  by  u,  but 
persuade  was  often  written  perswade. 
In  19.  we  have :  choir  (kwaii),  the 
labial  modification  assumed  as  (w), 
see  (kw),  perswade,  war.  In  the 
word  one  the  initial  (w),  which  is 
not  written  at  all,  dates  probably 
from  the  latter  part  of  17. 

(j\[  ra).  Defective  trill  of  the  lips 
substituted  for  a  trill  of  the  tongue, 
not  recognized  except  as  a  defect, 
and  then  written  w,  but  "  Lord 
Dundreary"  distinguishes  (fuiend) 
from  (fwend),  which  last  he  indig- 
nantly declared  he  did  not  say  for 
friend. 


(Wh  wh)  was  probably  expressed  in 
ags.  by  hw,  and  was  the  wh  of  13. 
to  19.  It  is  still  distinctly  pro- 
nounced by  most  northern  and  careful 
southern  speakers,  but  is  rapidly 
disappearing  in  London. 

(Y  y).  This  was  probably  the  sound 
of  ags.  y,  and  possibly  of  short  u  in 
13.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether 
this  short  sound  has  been  used  at 
all  since  13.  It  seems  to  have  been 
replaced  by  (i,  e).  It  probably 
occurs,  either  in  this  or  the  cognate 
forms  (u,  i)  in  the  provinces,  and  is 
recognized  in  Scotland. 

(Yy).  According  to  Mr.  M.  Bell  this 
is  the  indistinct  sound  only  used  in 
unaccented  syllables  in  English,  and 
written  e  in :  houses,  goodness 
(nauz'yz,  gwd'nys),  etc.,  where  or- 
thoepists  are  doubtful  whether  it  is 
(i)  or  (e).  He  also  identifies  it  with 
the  "Welsh  u,  y  having  a  similar 
sound.  Not  generally  recognized, 
and  not  provided  with  any  distinct 
form. 

(Yi  yi).  The  French  ui  was  confused 
with  (wu)  in  16.  It  is  kept  in 
some  recent  words  as  suite,  though 
persons  ignorant  of  French  say 
(swiit). 

(Yy  yy)  was  probably  written  long  y 
in  ags.  This  sound  seems  to  have 
disappeared  in  13.,  or  at  any  rate  its 
traces  are  uncertain.  In  14.  it  re- 
vived with  the  introduced  French 
words,  and  was  written  u,  eu.  It 
remained  into  17.  written  u,  eu,  ew, 
when  it  was  still  recognized  by  Wal- 
lis,  although  his  contemporary  Wil- 
kins  seems  to  have  been  unable  to 
pronounce  it,  and  it  was  subsequently 
replaced  by  (iu).  It  is,  however, 
still  common  in  East  Anglia,  in 
Devonshire,  in  Lancashire,  and  pro- 
bably other  parts  of  England,  and 
in  Scotland,  where  it  appears  as  a 
substitute  for  (uu),  as  was  already 
the  case  in  16.  The  provincial 
sounds  vary  as  (n,  uu,  99,  yy). 

(Z  z).  Not  recognized  as  distinct 
from  (s)  in  ags.  but  probably  existing 
always,  as  in  14.  it  was  not  unfre- 
quently  written  z.  It  has,  however, 
been  generally  confused  with  s,  ex- 
cept in  a  few  words  from  the  Greek. 
The  sound  seems  to  have  remained 
with  few  exceptions  in  the  same 
positions  from  14.  to  19.  In  19. 
we  have :  sacrificing,  sacrifice,  which 


606 


HISTORICAL   PHONETIC    SPELLING. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 


(s)  and  as  a  verb  with  (z),  czar, 
Windsor  (Wtn-za),  Saftsbury(SAAlz-- 
bere),  as,  discern,  ease,  dishonour, 
business,  scissors,  Keswick  (kezik), 
he  bellows,  beaux,  zeal,  size,  whiz- 
zing, whizzed. 

(Zh  zh).  Hart  1569  recognized  this 
sound  in  French  but  not  in  English. 
Its  earliest  recognition  in  English  is 
by  Miege  1688,  who  being  a  French- 
man distinguished  it  from  (sh)  with 
which  it  was  long  confused.  It  is 
derived  generally  from  (zi)  and  hence 
is  generally  spelled  s,  z  except  in 
some  recent  words,  where  the  Modern 
French  sound  is  employed.  In  19. 
we  have  :  routing,  rouge,  /eu  de 
mots,  which  Worcester  writes  (zhuu-- 
dmoo-)  in  place  of  Feline's  (zhce  d- 
mo),  pleasure,  division,  abscission, 
azure. 

(')  "When  a  mute  (p,  t,  k)  ends  a 
word,  and  a  pause  follows,  as  the 
contact  is  loosened,  a  slight  breath 
escapes,  not  marked  in  writing,  but 


very  apparent  in  (kaep',  ba?t', 
This  was  probably  always  used  in 
English,  and  its  absence,  which  ren- 
ders the  consonant  difficult  to  be  heard, 
was  probably  the  occasion  of  the 
suppression  of  such  final  consonants 
in  French. 

(')     If  a  sonant  (b,  d,  g)  end  a  word, 
many  speakers  force  out  a  faint  mur- 
muring sound    after    removing  the 
contact,  as  (eb',  a3d',  bseg')  ebb,  add, 
bagg,  similar  to  the  French  indica- 
tion of  their  e  muet  in  such  a  place. 
In  some  speakers  this  amounts  to 
adding  (-e),  and  then  it  is  recognized 
in  satirical  orthography  by  writing  a, 
as  ebba,  adda,  bagg  a. 
g).     The  cluck  indicated  by  tut. 
,).     The  cluck  indicated  by  eVck. 
)     The    primary  accent  which    has 
never    been    indicated    in    English 
orthography. 

(:)  The  secondary  accent,  which  has 
never  been  indicated  in  English  or- 
thography. 


§  3.     Historical  Phonetic  Spelling. 

The  great  multiplicity  of  forms  for  the  same  sound,  joined 
to  the  existing  variety  of  sounds  for  the  same  form,1  shewn 
in  the  preceding  sections,  has  urged  many  persons  to  attempt 
correcting  both  by  one  stroke,  as  a  matter  of  literature  and 
science,  and  still  more  with  a  view  to  education  and  uni- 
formity of  pronunciation,  and  with  a  hope  of  making  our 
language  more  easy  to  acquire  by  foreigners.  The  device 
has  generally  consisted  either  in  the  introduction  of  new 
letters,  or  in  giving  constant  values  to  known  combinations, 
so  that  the  same  sound  should  be  always  represented  by  the 
same  letters  and  conversely.  In  the  xn  th  or  xm  th  century 
we  had  Orrmin,  in  the  xvi  th  Smith,  Hart,  Bullokar  ;  in  the 
xvn  th  Gill,  Butler,  "Wilkins ;  in  the  xvm  th,  Franklin  and 
many  others  after  him  in  the  same  and  in  the  xix  th  century 
both  in  England  and  America.  The  most  persistent  attempt 
is  the  phonotypy  which  grew  out  of  Mr.  Isaac  Pitman's  pho- 
nography or  phonetic  shorthand,  and  which  in  various  forms 

1  The  strange  fanatical  variety  of  purpose  (like  an  honest  man  &  a  souldier) 

our  orthography,  when   yiewed  solely  and  now  is  he  turn'd  orthography,  his 

from  the  phonetic  point  of  view,  could  words  are  a  very  fantasticall  banquet, 

not  fail  to  attract  Shakspere's  atten-  iust  so  many  strange  dishes."     Much 

tion.     Hence  he  makes  Benedick  speak  Ado,  ii.  3,  speech  5,  fo.  1623,  p.  107, 

thus  of  the  love-sick  Claudio :    "  He  col.  2, 
was  wont  to  speake  plaine,  &  to  the 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3.         HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  607 

has  been  regularly  used  in  printed  periodicals  from  1843  to 
the  present  day.1  Such  schemes  are  different  from  those 
which  aim  at  a  universal  alphabet  for  the  purposes  of  science 
or  missionary  enterprize,  such  as  the  alphabets  of  Max  Miiller, 
Lepsius,  Merkel,  Melville  Bell,  and  the  palaeotype  used  in 
this  volume.  And  neither  have  the  slightest  connection  with 
the  scheme  of  a  universal  language,  or  with  any  view  of 
altering  our  language  in  any  way,  although  they  have  been 
often  confounded  with  such  impossibilities. 

After  reviewing  the  two  preceding  sections  the  question 
naturally  arises  :  is  it  possible  from  the  general,  firmly  estab- 
lished English  tises,  to  construct  a  system  of  orthography  which 
should  represent  our  pronunciation  at  the  present  day  ?  If  such 
a  spelling  were  possible  it  would  clearly  be  so  suggestive 
that  it  would  be  legible  to  the  mere  English  reader  almost 
without  instruction.  It  seems  possible,  and  at  least  worth 
the  trial,  for  numerous  instances  occur  in  which  it  is  ad- 
visable to  attempt  indicating  sounds  to  purely  English 
readers  by  combinations  of  the  letters  with  which  they  are 
familiar.  It  is  also  only  by  exhibiting  such  a  tentative  or- 
thography that  the  possibility  of  altering  our  spelling  so  as 
to  more  or  less  indicate  our  pronunciation,  but  without  alter- 
ing our  alphabet,  could  be  properly  considered.  The  follow- 
ing scheme  is  based  upon  the  two  preceding  tables,  and  will 
be  termed  GLOSSOTYPE,  as  suggested  on  p.  13,  from  its  main 
use  in  compiling  provincial  glossaries. 

In  the  phonetic  alphabet  used  by  Mr.  I.  Pitman  and  myself, 
only  34  simple  sounds,  4  Towel  diphthongs,  and  2  consonant  diph- 
thongs, were  represented,  giving  a  total  of  40  letters  in  the  follow- 
ing order :  (ii,  ee,  aa,  AA,  oo,  uu ;  i,  e,  se,  o,  o,  u ;  ai,  oi, 
au,  iu ;  j  w  H  ;  p  b  t  d  tsh  dzh  kg,  f  v  th  dh  s  z  sh  zh,  r 
1  m  n  q).  The  numerous  texts  which  have  been  printed  in  this 
alphabet  have  shown  that  it  suffices  for  printing  our  pronunciation 
with  sufficient  accuracy  to  satisfy  such  ears  as  have  not  been 
sharpened  by  a  phonetic  education.  "We  may,  therefore,  commence 
our  investigations  by  determining  the  best  representatives  of  these 
sounds. 

Prom  the  xvi  th  century  ee,  oo  represent  (ii,  uu)  with  certainty, 
from  the  xviith  ai,  au  represent  (ee,  A  A)  with  almost,  but  not 

1  The  writer  of  this  treatise  was  If  an  alphabet  differing  entirely  from 
much  connected  with  this  last  scheme  the  Roman  is  to  he  used,  and  none 
from  1843  to  1849,  and  in  1848-9  pub-  other  can  be  expected  to  find  favour 
lished  two  editions  of  the  Testament,  for  all  languages,  the  principles  upon 
many  books,  and  a  weekly  newspaper,  which  Mr.  Melville  Bell's  various 
the  Phonetic  Newt,  in  the  alphabet  alphabets  of  Visible  Speech,  for  print- 
settled  by  Mr.  I.  Pitman  and  himself  ing,  long  and  short  hand  writing,  are 
in  1846,  which  differs  in  many  respects  formed,  seem  to  be  the  best  hitherto 
from  that  now  used  by  Mr.  I.  Pitman.  proposed. 


608  HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 

quite,  the  same  certainty.  But  there  is  no  usual  way  of  repre- 
senting (00} .  The  combinations  oe,  oa  are  so  unfrequent  that  they 
would  occasion  hesitation  in  unusual  positions,  as :  hoep,  hoap, 
for  hope.  Symbols  for  (aa)  have  disappeared  since  the  xvnth 
century.  The  two  exclamations  oh  !  ah !  present  the  only  com- 
binations to  which  no  other  value  seems  to  have  been  assigned ;  but 
the  combinations  oh,  ah,  are  scarcely  used  in  other  words.  We 
have  then  ee,  ai,  ah,  au,  oh,  oo,  as  the  only  certain  represen- 
tatives of  the  six  long  vowels  (ii,  ee,  aa,  AA,  oo,  uu). 

The  short  vowels  (i,  e)  have  been  uniformly  represented  by  i,  e 
from  the  earliest  times,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  obviate  the 
ambiguity  of  their  also  representing  (ai,  ii)  in  accented  syllables, 
without  pursuing  Orrmin's  plan  and  doubling  the  following  con- 
sonant, when  it  is  one  of  possible  initial  combination ;  thus,  vilrait 
would  suggest  (vai'br00t),  rather  than  (vib'ieet),  which  would 
require  vibbrait  for  certainty,  and  this  notation  may  be  adopted 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  writer.  Prom  the  xvu  th  century  a,  o,  u 
have  been  in  like  manner  the  constant  representatives  of  (ae,  o,  a), 
although  they  would  also  require  duplication  of  the  following 
consonant  to  preserve  them  from  the  ambiguity  of  (ee,  oo,  iu),  as : 
fammin,  Dotting,  fussi  =  famine,  knotting,  fussy,  compared  with : 
famous,  noting,  fusee  =faimus,  nohting,  fiwzee,  or  fyoozee.  The  last 
short  vowel  sound  (u)  occasions  great  difficulty.  In  fact  it  is  not 
recognised  generally  as  distinct  from  (uu),  except  in  such  rare 
pairs,  as  fool  full,  pool  pull.  As  oo,  u  have  already  been  appro- 
priated, and  as  ou,  employed  for  this  sound  in  would,  could,  should, 
would  inevitably  suggest  the  sound  (au)  in  other  situations,  we  are 
driven  to  some  modification  of  oo,  u.  The  form  uh  is  not  English, 
and  has  been  frequently  used  conventionally  for  (aa),  so  that  it  is 
excluded.  The  exclamation  pooh !  although  dictionary  makers 
seem  only  to  recognize  the  orthography  pugh,  is  yet  sufficiently 
familiar  in  the  other  spelling  to  all  readers,1  and  suggests  the  form 
ooh  for  the  sound  of  (u).  It  is  certainly  long,  but  it  is  known, 
and  could  only  mislead  so  far  as  to  cause  the  reader  to  substitute 
(uu)  for  (u).  The  six  short  vowels  are,  therefore,  i,  e,  a,  o,  u,  ooh. 

Of  the  only  recognised  forms  for  diphthongs :  oy,  ow,  ew  =  (oi, 
au,  iu),  as  in  loy,  now,  new,  the  first  is  unobjectionable,  but  the 
other  two  do  not  begin  with  the  elements  represented  by  o,  e,  (o,  e). 
The  common  diphthong  (ai)  has  no  representative  distinct  from 
t,  y,  which  are  already  appropriated.  For  writing  provincial 
dialects  a  careful  separation  of  the  various  diphthongal  forms  is 
important.  Hence  a  systematic  mode  of  representing  diphthongs  is 
indispensable,  and  it  must  be  founded  upon  the  historical  use  of 
y,  w,  as  the  second  element,  which  involves  the  rejection  of  such 
final  forms  as  ay,  aw,  for  the  sounds  already  symbolised  by  ai,  au. 
By  simply  prefixing  any  of  the  vowels  ee,  ai,  ah,  au,  oh,  oo, 
i,  e,  a,  o,  u,  ooh,  to  y,  w,  we  obtain  most  suggestive  forms 

1  As  in  Prof.  Max  Miiller's  pooh-  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Language, 
pooh  theory  of  the  origin  of  words,  i,  344. 


CHAP.  VI.  $  3.          HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  609 

of  diphthongs,  containing  those  vowels  run  on  to  a  final  ee,  oo, 
typified  by  the  y,  w.  Thus  :  aiy  (ee\)  is  the  usual  English  may, — 
ahy  (aai),  aye,  or  German  ai, — any  (AAi),  a  broad  sound  of  joy, — 
oht/  (ooi),  a  provincial  sound  of  boy, — ooy  (uui),  the  Italian  lui,  and 
common  sailors'  bwoy, — ey  (ei),  the  Scotch  be'te, — ay  (sei),  a  Cockney 
long  «, — oy  (oi)  the  usual  boy, — wy  (oi)  the  usual  bwy,  Gwy  ; — eew 
(iiu)  an  exaggerated  Italian  iu, — aiw  (eeu),  an  exaggerated  Italian 
eu, — ahw  (au),  the  German  au, — auw,  a  broad  provincial  how, — 
ohw  (oou)  the  common  English  know; ; — iw  (m)  the  American  and, 
perhaps,  the  common  English  new,  for  which  both  Wallis  and 
Price  (p.  139)  used  the  sign  iw, — ew  (eu)  the  true  Italian  eu, — aw 
(aeu)  the  Norfolk  pound, — ow  (ou)  a  provincial  ow, — uw  (au)  the 
common  English  now.  The  use  of  y,  w  being  only  a  systematisation 
of  an  old  extinct  method  of  writing  diphthongs  may  be  fairly  re- 
garded as  historical,  and  gives  great  power  to  this  system  of  writing. 

The  sounds  of  (j,  w,  H)  must  be  represented  by  y,  w,  h,  having 
no  other  historic  equivalents.  But  as  y,  w  have  been  already  used 
for  diphthongs,  and  A  is  a  modifying  symbol  in  ah,  oh,  ooh,  in  which 
sense  it  must  also  be  employed  amongst  the  consonant  combinations, 
whenever  y,  w,  h  occur  in  such  situations  as  would  occasion 
ambiguity,  the  recognized  expedient  of  inserting  a  hyphen,  as  ai-y, 
oh-w,  o-h,  must  be  resorted  to.  The  sound  of  (wh)  must  be  re- 
presented by  the  historical  symbol  wh,  instead  of  the  anglosaxon 
hw,  which  is  now  uncouth. 

The  consonants  and  consonantal  diphthongs  must  be  p  ft,  t  d, 
ch  j,1  k  g,  f  v,  th  dh,  s  2,  sh  zh,  r  I  m  n  tig,  for  although  dh, 
zh  are  unhistorical,  they  have  long  been  generally  recognised  as 
orthoepical  symbols;  To  these  it  seems  best  to  add  the  historical 
nk  for  the  unhistorical  ngk  (qk) ;  but  ngg  must  be  used  for  (qg) 
to  prevent  ambiguity,  as  in  singer^  fingger.  Hyphens  must  be 
employed  in  l-h,  d-h,  s-h,  z-h,  n-g,  n-k,  when  each  letter  represents 
a  separate  element.  All  truly  doubled  consonants  must  also  be 
hyphened,  as  boohk-kais,  bookcase,  distinct  from  boohkking,  booking, 
and  un-ohnd,  unowned,  from  un-nohn,  unknown. 

The  practical  writing  alphabet  of  the  English  language  will 
therefore  consist  of  42  symbols,  which  may  be  fairly  called  "  his- 
torical," namely :  ee,  ai,  ah,  au,  oh,  oo ;  i,  e,  a,  o,  u,  ooh;  uy, 
oy,  uw,  iw ;  y,  w  wh,  h;  p  I,  t  d,  ch  j,  k  g;  f  v,  th  dh, 
s  z,  sh  zh,  r  I,  m  n  ng  nk.  But  the  use  of  this  alphabet  would 
soon  point  out  deficiencies,  for  example  air,  ohr,  are  no  adequate 
representatives  of  the  words  :  air,  oar.  The  indistinct  murmur 
which  forms  the  conclusion  of  these  words  as  generally  pronounced 
may  be  written  ('),  as  the  historical  representative  of  an  omitted 
found,  and  the  full  theoretical  sound  may  be  indicated  by  V.  This 

1  As  these  letters  are  really  con-  for  thth,  dhdh,  shsh,  zhzh  (although  in 

tractions  for  tsh  dzh,  when  they  are  older   English    ssh  is   often   used  for 

doubled  to   shew  that   the  preceding  shsh},  because  tth  represents  a  really 

vowel  is  short,  it  is  natural  to  double  different  sound,  thus    MaUliho  would 

only  the  first  element,  and  write  tch,  dj,  be    (Mset'thiu)    not    (Msetlriu,)    and 

meaning  ttsh,    ddzh.      But  it   is   not  aitth  =  (eetth},  eighth, 
allowable  to  write  tth,  ddh,  ssh,  zzh 


610  HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  CHAP.  YI.  §  3. 

full  sound  is  always  heard  if  another  vowel  follows,  as  hee'ring, 
poh'ring,  pooler,  fuy'ri,  luw>ring= hearing,  pouring,  poorer,  fiery, 
lowering.  Such  sounds  as  her,  cur,  as  distinct  from  Erring,  occur- 
rence, require  a  means  of  representing  the  fully  trilled  r  after  a 
vowel,  as  common  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  the  examples  chosen 
suggests  the  expedient  commonly  employed  of  writing  rr,  so  that 
herd  or  he'rd  is  English,  and  herrd  is  Scotch  '  heard.'  The  vowels 
in  "  air,  oar,  her"  however,  as  distinct  from  those  in  "hale,  hole, 
herring,"  have  not  yet  been  represented,  and  several  other  signs 
will  be  found  indispensable  in  writing  those  dialectic  sounds  which 
are  here  of  prime  importance. 

Now,  on  examining  the  long  and  short  vowels,  ee  i,  ai  e,  ah  a, 
au  o,  oh  u,  oo  ooh  =  (ii  i,  ee  e,  aa  se,  AA  o,  oo  a,  uu  u),  it  is  readily 
seen  that  they  are  more  distinct  in  quality,  than  in  quantity.  In 
fact  Englishmen  find  the  true  short  sounds  of  the  long  vowels,  and 
the  true  long  sounds  of  the  short  vowels  difficult  to  distinguish  from 
the  long  and  short  sounds  respectively.  This  suggests  the  employ- 
ment of  the  quantitative  signs  (~)  and  (w),  when  prominence  is  to  be 
given  to  the  quantity,  the  unmarked  sign  being  regarded  as  doubt- 
ful, just  as  in  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish,  Welsh,  and  generally.  Thus 
Ken  is  Scotch,  ~een  Yorkshire  for  the  plural  of  *  eye '  ;  wait  or  waiyt 
is  English,  wait  Scotch,  stohn  is  Norfolk  and  American  "stone," 
btio/c  is  Scotch,  bdohk  southern  English,  book  northern  English, 
"book,"  Bath  is  the  local,  Bahth  the  usual  pronunciation  of 
"  Bath,"  and  the  true  sound  of  "  air"  is  perhaps  e'r,  for  which  ai*r 
is  practically  sufficient,  and  the  true  sound  of  oar  is  very  nearly, 
but  not  quite  6V.  Another  way  of  representing  the  quantity  is  the 
thoroughly  English  method  introduced  by  Orrmin,  to  which  we 
have  already  found  it  convenient  to  have  occasional  recourse, 
namely,  to  allow  a  single  following  consonant  to  indicate  the  length, 
and  two  following  consonants  the  brevity,  of  the  preceding  vowel, 
open  vowels  remaining  ambiguous.  Thus  the  preceding  examples 
may  be  written  in  order :  eenn  een,  wait  waitt,  stohnn,  bookie, 
boohkJc,  book,  Bath,  Bahth,  the  short  sounds  of  the  two  last  becoming 
Bathth,  Bahthth.  Other  methods  of  representing  quantity  in  con- 
nection with  accent  will  be  given  presently. 

Any  one  who  tried  to  write  down  provincial  or  foreign  sounds 
would  still  find  considerable  deficiencies.  The  following  sixteen 
additional  vowel  signs  are,  however,  all  that  it  seems  expedient 
to  admit,  the  principle  of  ambiguous  quantity  applying  as  before. 

For  ordinary  purposes,  use : — 
eh=(E),  for  the  broader  sound  of  e  verging  into  a,  heard  in  Scotland, 

and  generally  in  the  north  of  England  in  place  of  (e),  French 

bete,  Italian  open  e.     This  may  also  be  taken  as  the  sound  of 

ai  in  air,  which  may  be  written  ehr. 
00=(o),  for  true  sound  of  oa   in  oa'r  =  oar,  known   provincially 

even  when  not  followed  by  r,  a  broad  sound  of  oh  verging  to 

au,  Italian  open  o. 
ui=  (y),  for  Scotch  ui,  French  u,  German  u,  being  ee  or  rather  i 

pronounced  with  rounded  lips. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3.         HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  611 

eu=(&),  for  close  French  eu,  which  has  two  sounds,  close  as  in 
jeune,  and  open  as  in.  jeune =(&,  oe),  not  ordinarily  distinguished 
by  Englishmen ;  the  first  is  at,  the  second  e  or  eh,  pronounced 
with  rounded  lips. 

N=(A),  to  represent  French  nasality  when  it  occurs,  as  in  enfant, 
vin,  bon,  un,  which  might  be  written  asfies,  ON,  bois,  tar. 

Jch,  gh=(kh,  gh),  for  the  Scotch  and  German  guttural  ch,  but  (£h) 
may,  when  desired,  be  distinguished  as  yh,  and  (kwh,  gwh) 
may  be  written  Jcwh,  qwli. 

&=(lhh)  for  the  common  Welch  II. 

yr=(.r)  for  the  strongly  trilled  Scotch  r  not  preceding  a  vowel,  as 
herrd. 

rA=(grh)  or  (r)  for  the  French,  German;  and  Northumbrian  so 

called  r  grassei/e,  guttural  r  or  burr. 
For  still  more  accurate  dialectic  writing,  use : 

ae=  (ah)  for  the  fine  southern  ah  verging  to  a. 

aa=(aa)  for  a  deeper  sound  of  ah.. 

00=(«h)  for  the  broad  Scotch  ah  verging  to  au. 

uh= (a),  for  that  deeper  sound  of  u  which  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish 
in  the  provincial  diphthongs  uhy,  uhiv  (si,  am),  if  not  elsewhere. 

w«=(a>),  for  a  still  deeper  sound  of  u,  occasionally  heard. 

M0=(wh)  for  the  ooh  verging  to  oh,  or  the  oh  verging  to  00,  heard  is 
many  provincial  dialects,  the  true  Italian  close  0. 

ih,  ue=(i,  IT)  for  the  sound  of  ui  verging  to  ee  or  00  respectively,  as 
heard  dialectically  in  English,  German,  and  French,  ih  being 
a  frequent  form  of  the  German  ii,  and  ue  being  the  Swedish  u. 

00= (03),  for  the  true  German  6,  and  open  sound  of  French  eu^  de- 
scribed under  eu  above. 

e  or  *=(a>),  for  the  sound  of  u  in  "  cur,"  or  e  in  herd,  which  may  be 
written  Jeer,  herd,  (or  kdr  hard,  if  the  type  e  is  deficient,)  when 
it  is  considered  necessary  to  distinguish  them  from  htr,  herd. 

a  or  v  =  ('B),  for  that  frequent  obscure  unaccented  a  found  in  canary, 
real,  tenant,  which  may  be  written  kanehri,  reedl,  tenntint,  (or 
if  the  type  a  is  deficient,  Jcvnehri,  reevl,  tenuanf),  when  it  is 
thought  necessary  to  distinguish  it  from  a  or  u. 

'i  or  f  =  (y)  for  the  obscure  sound  of  e  goodness,  which  would  be 
written  goohdriiss,  (or,  if  the  type  'i  is  deficient ;  goohdmss,} 
when  it  was  thought  necessary  to  distinguish  it  from  e. 

By  thus  adding  from  4  to  12  vowels  to  the  original  12,  only  8  un- 
usual, or  obscure  vowels,  out  of  the  36  recognized  in  Palaeotype, 
viz.,  back  (a),  mid  (Y,  oh,  0h,  oh,  oh)  &&&  front  (&h,  a3h),  are  left  with- 
out signs,  and  these  probably  do  not  occur  in  any  provincial  English 
dialectic  pronunciation,  but  might,  in  case  of  necessity,  be  repre- 
sented by  o ;  w,  eh,  uoh,  oah.  aoh ;  euh,  oeh,  respectively,  the  first 
two  on  account  of  their  partial  resemblance  to  the  German  o,  u, 
and  the  others  on  account  of  their  being  liable  to  be  confused  with 
the  sounds  already  represented  by  e,  uo,  oa,  ao,  eu,  oe,  respectively. 

The  sixteen  additional  vowel  signs  are  therefore  a,  aa,  ae,  ao,  e,  eh, 
eu,  'i,  ih,  oa,  oe,  ua,  ue,  uh,  ui,  no,  and  although  they  are  chiefly 


612  HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 

unhistorical,  they  are  so  suggestive  that  they  could  be  readily 
fixed  on  the  memory.  Compare  aesJc  am£=ask  aunt,  in  southern 
English,  ask  ant  in  fine  Yorkshire ;  il  el  English,  el  ehl  Scotch = 
ill  ell;  mdon  Scotch  =  man,  unku  geud  sheun  Scotch  =  unco  guid 
shoon;  nda  doa'nt  goa  Norfolk=no  don't  go;  Goete  boekke  German 
=  Goethe  bocke,  muen  Devonshire  =moon,  len  Cockney  =  learn, 
puir  bdhdi  Scotch  =  puir  body. 

The  system  of  diphthongs  may  now  be  completed  by  using  the 
16  additional  vowels  as  prefixed  to  y,  w ;  and  also  by  using  all 
the  28  vowels  as  prefixes  to  (')  and  to  ui.  The  (')  diphthongs 
are  not  uncommon  provincially,  the  ui  diphthongs  are  rare,  but  are 
found  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands.  The  easy  method  thus 
furnished  for  representing  complicated  diphthongal  sounds,  which 
are  so  frequently  met  with  in  provincial  utterances,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  recommendations  for  glossotype  as  a  means  of  writing 
English  dialects. 

Any  mode  of  marking  the  position  of  the  accent  is  unhistorical, 
but  it  is  so  important  in  unknown  words,  as  all  written  in  Glosso- 
type must  be  considered,  that  the  Spanish  custom  of  marking  its 
position,  when  not  furnished  by  some  simple  rule,  is  well  worthy 
of  imitation.1  This  rule  for  English  has  been  laid  down  thus  by 
Mr.  Melville  Bell :  The  accent  is  to  be  read  on  the  first  syllable, 
unless  otherwise  expressed.2 

The  accent  mark  on  an  ambiguous  vowel  or  diphthong  will  be 
the  acute  on  the  first  portion  of  the  symbol,  as  reedeem,  obtain.  The 
accent  mark  on  a  short  vowel  will  be  the  grave,  and  on  a  long 
vowel  the  circumflex,  thus  combining  the  notes  of  quantity  and 
accent,  as :  deemdhnd,  deemdhnd.  When  the  accent  falls  on  more 
than  one  syllable,  it  should  always  be  written,  as  :  huy wai=  high- 
way, dondhbzdibdhre  =  unabsehbare,  German.  The  evenness  of 
French  accent  had  also  best  be  noted  in  this  way  for  English 
readers,  as  ON/ON  =  enfant,  or  otherwise  an  exception  to  the  rule 
must  be  made  for  French  words  only,  which  would  then  have  to  be 
specially  named.  The  small  number  of  accented  letters  supplied  to 
English  founts  renders  it  advisable  to  have  a  substitute  for  these 
accent  marks,  and  the  turned  period  used  in  palaeotype  will  be 
found  most  convenient.  A  device  familiar  to  writers  of  pronounc- 
ing dictionaries  will  enable  us  to  indicate  the  long  vowel  by  placing 

1  This  language  seems  to  he  the  only  so  hy  writers  I  cannot  say.  When  I 
one,  except  Greek,  in  which  the  neces  •  printed  phonetically  I  cnrricd  out  a 
sity  of  marking  the  position  of  the  ac-  similar  system,  hut  the  value  of  it  was 
cent  has  been  acknowledged.  In  For-  not  sufficiently  appreciated  for  few  or 
tuguese,  Italian,  English,  and  Russian,  no  persons  used  accents  in  writing,  and 
the  position  of  Ihe  accent  is  a  constant  Mr.  Isaac  Pitman,  and  almost  all  other 
source  of  difficulty  to  foreigners.  The  phonetic  printers,  have  utter  y  ignored 
Spanish  Academy  in  its  anxieiy  to  accents,  at  least  for  all  na'.ive  words. 
avoid  many  accent  marks,  and  its  desire  Mr.  Melville  Bell  has  however  con- 
to  prevent  ambiguity,  lays  down  five  sis'ently  carried  out  his  one  simple 
rather  lengthy  rules  for  placing  Ihe  ac-  rule,  which  is  here  recommended  to 
cent  mark,  which  are  generally  adopted  Glosfotypists. 
hy  Spanish  printers,  whether  they  are  2  Visible  Speech  for  the  Million,  p.  6. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3.  HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING.  613 

the  turned  period  immediately  after  it,  as  reesee'd,  and  the  short 
vowel  by  placing  it  after  the  following  consonant,  as  empir'ik. 
This  principle  may  be  applied  to  monosyllables,  thus  readily  dis- 
tinguishing: Yorkshire  boo'k,  Scotch  book',  English  boohk',  with- 
out having  to  double  the  following  consonant.  The  principle  may 
also  be  applied  to  shew  the  length  of  the  first  element  of  diphthongs, 
so  that  the  true  English  "  may  "know,"  may  be  written  mdiy  n6hw, 
or  mai'y  noh'w,  while  btLiyd,  n6aw  or  baiyd  noaw  would  indicate 
(btfid  nou),  which  are  the  Teviotdale  pronunciation  of  "bide,  knoll." 

Great  care  has  been  bestowed  upon  this  system  of  writing  from 
a  belief  that  it  is  not  a  philosophical  toy  or  a  plaything,  but  may 
prove  extensively  useful  to  writers  of  pronouncing  vocabularies,  to 
provincial  glossarists,  to  travellers  forming  word  lists,  to  writers  of 
Scotch  novels,  and  authors  of  provincial  poems  and  tales,  all  of 
whom  at  present  introduce  more  or  less  unsystematic,  ambiguous, 
or  unintelligible  orthographies.1  It  will  be  employed,  therefore, 
for  the  representation  of  dialectic  English  and  Scotch  in  Chap.  XI. 
§  4.  Except  for  the  closest  scientific  purposes,  for  which  palaeo- 
type,  or  some  system  as  extensive,  is  requisite,  Glossotype  as  here 
presented,  will  be  found  sufficient.2 

The  practical  use  of  this  system  of  writing3  has  suggested  some 
improvements  in  the  tabular  arrangement,  and  the  preliminary  table 
on  p.  16,  must  therefore  be  considered  as  cancelled  and  replaced  by 
those  on  pp.  614-5.  In  the  first  of  these,  the  simplest  form  of 
Glossotype,  which  may  be  fairly  termed  historical  phonetic  spelling, 
is  presented,  containing  only  two  of  the  additional  vowels,  eu^  ui, 
without  which  no  dialects  could  be  even  approximatively  written, 
In  the  second,  these  two  and  the  other  fourteen  are  briefly  ex- 
plained, some  vowel  progressions  are  introduced  which  may  assist 
the  reader  in  forming  a  conception  of  the  sounds,  and  the  exact 
value  of  the  28  glossotype  vowels,  the  diphthongs  and  consonants 
is  fixed  by  a  comparison  with  palaeotype. 

1  In  Mr.  Peacock's  Glossaries  (Tran-  to  prefix  a  key  conspicuously,  but  has  left 

sactions  of  the    Philological   Society,  it  hidden  in  a  footnote  to  an  appended 

1867,  Supplement  Part  II.)  a  partially  essay,  as  if  it  were  of  no  consequence, 

systematic  method  of  writing  is  adopted,  instead  of  being  of  prime  importance, 

explained  in  the  annexed   Essay    on  One  consequence  of  this  to  myself  was, 

Some   Leading  Characteristics  of  the  that  I  did  not  discover  the  key  till  I 

Dialects,  etc.,  p.   II  note ;  but  on  en-  had  with  great  difficulty,  and  much 

deavouring  to  transliterate  the  speci-  uncertainty,  made  one  for  myself  hy 

mens  of  the  North  and  South  Lonsdale  examining  the  whole    glossary.      To 

dialects  there  given  (pp.  31,  32)  into  form  a  system  of  writing  requires  pe- 

glossotype,  I  found  several  comhina-  culiar  studies.    The  present  glossotype 

tions  and  signs  employed  which  had  is  the  result  of  much  thought  and  ex- 

not    heen    previously    explained,    and  perience  extending  over  a  great  length 

which  I  had  simply  to  guess  at.     Yet  of  time,  comhined  with  long  practice 

Mr.  Peacock's  writing  is  a  gem  com-  in  phonetic  writing, 

pared  to  most  which  I  have  met  with,  2  Oriental  signs  can  easily  be  bor- 

for  they  generally  leave  me  in  a  state  rowed  from  palaeotype,  or  supplied  by 

of  utter  bewilderment.     Few  writers  other  conventions, 

even  condescend  to  give  a  key  at  all,  3  The  information  from  my  dialectic 

and  in  Mr.   Peacock's   Glossaries,  the  correspondents    (p.  277  note   1)   was 

editor  has  not  considered  it  necessary  chiefly  collected  by  means  of  Glossotype. 


614 


HISTORICAL    PHONETIC   SPELLING. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 


KEY    TO     GLOSSOTYPE. 

Especially  intended  for  writing  dialectic  English  according  to  literary  English 
analogies.  Isolated  letters  and  words  in  Glossotype  should  be  in  Italics.  No  letter 
or  combination  is  ever  mute  ;  thus,  final  e  is  always  pronounced  as  in  German.  Never 
use  ay,  aw,  etc.,  for  ai,  au,  etc.,  even  when  final.  C.  Cockney,  D.  Dutch,  E.  English, 
F.  French,  G.  German,  /.  Italian,  P.  Provincial,  £.  Scotch,  W.  Welsh. 


VOWELS. 

DlPHTHONGS. 

CONSONANTS. 

a  gnat 

i  knit 

ajS.P.C. 

aw  P.  C. 

b    lee 

T^%  finger 

ah  father 

o  not 

ahy  G.  ai 

ahw  G.  au 

ch  chest 

nk  think 

ai  wait 

oh  rose 

aiy  may 

aiw  C. 

d   doe 

ny  /.  gn 

au  all 

oo  wooed 

ey  S.  lite 

ew  /.  eu 

dhthe 

p  pea 

e    net 

ooh  wood 

euy  F.  ceil 

euw  D. 

f  fee 

r    ray 

ee  meet 

u   nut 



iw  mew 

S    00 

'r   air 

eu  .P.  eu 

ui  F.  u 

oy  loy 

owP. 

sjh  D.  G»  o 

rr  I.S.  r 

(')  aw  indistinct  murmur. 

ohy  P. 

ohw  know 

hhe 

rh  P.F.  r 

(<)  nasalized  utterance. 

oojI.KP. 



J  jay 

s   see 

N  F.  nasal  n  is  written  n 

uy  high 

uw  how 

k  coo 

sh  she 

Obscure  vowels 
dotted  in  her 

are    double 
reedl  aoohd- 

uiy  F.  ui 



kw  queen 

t   tin 

riis,  for  which  turned  letters 
may  be  used  if  types  run 

In    all    these   diphthongs 
the  first  element  has  the 

kwh  S.  quh 

th  thin 

short,  as  :  har  reeel  goohdnis 

sound    assigned    in    the 

kh  G.  ach 

v   vale 

All  vowel  signs  are  ambigu- 
ous, short  or  long,  and  may 
have  their  quantity  distin- 
guished when  desired,  by  a 

preceding  column,  which 
is  run  on  quickly,  with  a 
glide,  to   a  following  ee 
or  oo   written    y  or    w. 

1   lo 
Ih  W.  11 

w  wail 
wh  why 

single  or  double  following 
consonant,  by  the  signs  of 
quantity  (~  "),  or  (*  *),  or 

Numerous     other    diph- 
thongs can  be  formed  on 
the  same  model. 

m  me 

y  yet 

yh  S.  nicht 

a  turned  period  (•)  placed 

Diphthongs   may  also  be 

n  no 

z   zeal 

immediately  after  a  long 
vowel  and  after  the  conso- 

formed by  affixing  (')  as 
roh'd  almost  rohdd  rohud 

ng  thing 

zh  vision 

nants    following    a    short 
vowel,  as,  Yorkshire  book 

=  road,  and  by  affixing 
ui,  as  J).  heuuis  =  huis, 

Foreign  and  Oriental  sounds 

book  book  or  boo'k,  S.  bookk 
b&ok    book    or    book',     E. 

but  it  is  generally  suffi- 
cient to  treat  this  ui  as 

must     be    represented    by 
small  capitals,  &c.,  by  special 

boohkk    boohk    boohk    or 

y,  thus  :  heuys. 

convention. 

boohk',   E.  noh'w  =  know, 
Teviotdale  noaw=  knoll. 

In  the  rare  cases  when  any 
of  the  above  combinations 

leally     doubled    consonants 
should  be  separated  by  a  hy- 

When accents  are  not  marked 

do  not  form  single  vowels 

phen,  as  w«-woAw=unknown. 

by  (')  for  ambiguous  vowels, 
or  (A  v  •)  for  long  and  short 
vowels  as  above,  the  accent 

or  diphthongs,  introduce 
a  hyphen,  as   ah-yont— 
ayont  8.     Observe  that 

When  any  of  the  above  com- 
binations do  not  form  single 
letters  introduce  a  hyphen, 

must  be  placed  in  reading 

the  w  and  y  of  the  conso- 

as mad-huws,  Bog-hed,  Mak- 

on  the  first  syllable  of  a 

nants  wh,  yh,  never  be- 

heeth,    in-grdin,     in-kumt 

word. 

long  the  preceding  vowel. 

mis-hdp,  pot-huws,  etc. 

CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 


HISTORICAL    PHONETIC   SPELLING. 


615 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  ADDITIONAL  AND  FOREIGN  YOWELS. 


d     obscure  a,  in  real,  cristal, 

aa  deeper  sound  of  ah,  in  G.  and  F. 

ae  between  a  and  ah,  fine  southern  E.  a 

in  staff,  ask,  path,  pass,  command, 
ao  between  ah  and  au,  broad  S.  a  in  man. 
e    the  obscure  sound  of  e  in  herd,  when  it 

can  be  distinguished  from  e  or  u. 
eh  between  e  and  a,  broad  northern  E.  and 

S.  e,  I.  open  e,  F.  e. 
eu  produced    by    pronouncing     ai    with 

rounded  lips,  F.  close  eu  injeune. 
'i    obscure  i  or  e  in  goodness, 
ih  resembling  ui  verging  towards  ee,  P.  G.  u 


oa  as  heard  in  oar,  between  o   and  oh, 

P.  E.  broad  o,  I.  open  o. 
oe  produced  by  pronouncing  e  or  eh  with 

rounded  lips,  F.  open  eu  injeune,  G.  o. 
ua  very  deep  sound  of  western  E.  u. 
ue   resembling    ui,    verging    towards   oo, 

Swedish  u. 
uh  deeper  and  broader  sound  of  u,  general 

in  P.  E.  and  8. 
ui  produced  by  pronouncing  ee  or  /  with 

rounded  lips,  S.  ui,  D.  F.  u,  G.  it. 
uo  between    oh   and  oo,    a  broader  ooh, 

I.  close  o  in  somma,  Edinburgh  coal. 


VOWEL  PROGRESSIONS,  arranged  to  shew  approximative^  how  the  (italic)  sixteen 
additional  and  foreign  vowels  lie  between  the  (roman)  twelve  usual  English  sounds. 

1.  palatal  to  guttural',     ee    i     ai     e     eh    a     ae    ah 

2.  guttural  to  labial-,     ah     aa    ao     au     o     oa    oh     uo    ooh     oo. 

3.  labial  to  palatal :  1)  oo     ue    ui    ih     ee ;     2)  oh     oe    eu    ai 

4.  deep  to  high,  obscure :     ua    uh    u     a     e     t. 


GLOSSOTTPE  COMPARED  WITH  PALAEOTYPE. 

When  more  than  one  palaeotypic  symbol  is  placed  after  a  single  vowel,  the  first 
represents  the  sound  that  would  be  naturally  given  to  it  by  an  English  reader,  and  the 
two  may  be  distinguished,  when  required,  as  previously  explained.  Glossotype  in  Italics, 
In  ().  The  arrangement  is  partially  systematic. 


VOWELS. 


DIPHTHONGS. 


Historical. 

Additional. 

Y  series. 

W  series. 

Pairs.               Single. 

ee  (ii  i) 

*(y) 

aiy  (eei  ei) 

aiw  (een  en) 

P  *  (P  b) 

A  (H  H') 

ai  (ee  e} 

eh  (E  EE) 

ehy  (Ei) 

ehw  (EU) 

^  (t  d) 

rA(grhr) 

ae  (ah  aah)  aey  (ahi) 

aew  (ahw) 

*  ^  (k  g) 

r  (r) 

ah  (aa  a) 

aa  (aa  a}     j  ahy  (ai  aai) 

a  hw  (au  aau) 

%yy(^j  gj) 

V(ir) 

au  (AA  A) 

ao  (ah  aah)  aay  (ai  aai} 

fl«w>  (au) 

j&w  ^  (kw 

rr  (.r) 

oh  (oo  0) 

oa  (oo  o) 

oJiy  (ooi  oi) 

ohw  (00u  ou) 

gw)    tt(lhh) 

oo  (mi  u) 

ue  (TJTJ  u) 

ooy  (uui  ui) 

wh  w  (wh  w)   /  (1) 

«*  (yy  y) 

uiy  (yi) 

ww  (yu) 

/f(fT) 

V  (»1) 

t-fttO 

in  (LI  i) 

iw  (iu  ju) 

^  ^A  (th  dh) 

^y  (ij) 

e  (e  ee) 

eu  (99  9] 

ey  (ei) 

m  (eu) 

«   2    (s  z) 

w  (m) 

Oe  (0303  03) 

euy  (jri.  oei) 

euw  (0u  oeu) 

sA  zA  (sh.  zh) 

'm  ('m) 

a  (as  aese  ) 

«« 

ay  (sei) 

«^  (seu) 

cAy  (tsh  dzh)   w  (n) 

o  (o  oo) 

e  (QOQO  ao) 

oy  (oi) 

o^  (ou) 

yh  y  (jh  Ah  j)    'w  ('n) 

u  (B  aa) 

uh  (a  aa) 

wy  (ai) 

wz^  (au) 

M^  (kh  gh)  ny  (nj) 

ua  (a>) 

wAy  (ai) 

uhw  (au) 

kwhgwh  (kwh  ng  (q) 

ooh  (u  uu] 

uo  (uh  uub) 

g^h)  w/c  (qk) 

CONSONANTS. 


Murmur 


FRENCH  NASALS — ON  ^N  ON  WN  (aA  CA  OA  8A). 


The  eight  omitted  palaeotypic  vowels  may,  when  required,  be  indicated  by  writing — 
o  ;         ii,         eh,         uoh,         oah,         aoh  ;         euh         oeh 


for   ce  ; 


ah,         oh 


oh, 


616 


HISTORICAL   PHONETIC    SPELLING. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3. 


The  historical  spelling  from  which  Glossotype  has  been  evolved, 
is,  of  course,  not  proposed  for  immediate  adoption  in  literature, 
although  there  is  no  historical  or  etymological  reason  against  its 
use.  In  order  to  shew  the  effect  of  adopting  such  an  orthography 
in  place  of  that  now  current,  I  have  annexed  the  glossotypic 
spelling  of  some  lists  of  words  already  given  in  the  previous 
section  on  the  pages  referred  to  in  each  case,  in  which  the  reader 
will  find  the  solution  of  their  orthographical  riddles.  As  these  lists 
contain  the  principal  anomalies  of  spelling  in  our  language,  the 
absurdity  of  propagating  them  will  appear  strongly  in  reading  over 
their  sounds,  without  having  the  orthography  immediately  present 
to  the  eye.  The  historical  letters  only  are  used,  hence  the  un- 
accented vowels,  and  some  shades  of  sound  are  not  discriminated 
with  perfect  accuracy,  and  the  intention  has  been  rather  to  en- 
deavour to  give  the  letters  which  an  average  speller,  acquainted 
with  the  ordinary  orthography,  would  select  when  intending  to 
write  his  own  pronunciation  glossotypically,  than  to  aim  at  or- 
thoepical  accuracy,  as  the  appearance  which  would  be  presented 
if  such  a  style  of  spelling  were  adopted,  could  not  otherwise  be 
imitated.  For  this  reason  duplicated  consonants,  are  freely  ad- 
mitted, when  they  would  be  likely  to  suggest  themselves  to  the 
writer,  but  are  not  used  systematically,  and  only  the  ambiguous 
accent  (  )  is  employed.  The  order  of  the  sounds  is  that  given  in 
the  last  paragraph  of  p.  609. 


ee,  p.  599.  miniwshiee,  deemeen, 
Keez  Kolledj,  bee,  eech,  fleed,  leev, 
Beechum,  leeg,  feet,  een,  kompleet, 
sleev,  impreen,  Lee,  konseet,  konseev, 
seenyuri,  Lee,  reeseet,  Beevur,  pee  " 
deemeen,  kee,  Weemz,  keed,  duyar 
invaleed,  greef,  maggazeen,  greev, 
seenyur,  fiwzee,  debree,  intreeg,  feetus, 
kee,  keed,  muskeetoh,  turkeez. 

ai,  p.  596.  mait,  shampain,  dailia, 
pain,  kampain,  strait,  trai,  haipeni  hah- 
peni,  jail,  Kaishaut'n,  gaij,  plaig,  plai, 
grait,  ai !  vail,  rain,  wai,  dhai,  ait. 

ah,  p.  593.  fahdhur,  ahr,  serahlyoh, 
ah,  ahmz,  Mahm/beri,  aiklah,  ahnt, 
bahrk,  klabrk,  habrt,  gahrd. 

au,  p.  593.  faul,  aum,  Maudlen 
Kolledj,  maulstik,  wauk,  baumun,  haul, 
Maud,  nauti,  Vaun,  aun,  auful,  au, 
braud,  sauder,  aut,  ekstraudmeri, 
Jaurjik,  Jaurj,  faurk,  haurs. 

oh,  p.  602.  hohtfir,  hohboy,  boh, 
yohman,  shoh,  sohd,  pohst,  ohts  wuts, 
Sohm,  bobs' n,  kohburn,  doh,  bohn, 
ohlyoh,  oh,  skrootohr  skrootwaur,  yohk 
brohch,  aprohpoh,  Grohvnur,  deepoh 
deppoh,  sohl,  rohg,  Yob-haul,  dhoh, 
noh,  tohrdz,  oh,  Nohlz,  kohth,  kwohth. 

oo,  p.  605.  galoon,  Rooben,  Bukloo, 
broo,  brood,  room,  roobahrb,  doo,  shoo, 


moov,  manoover,  too,  wood,  soop,  booz, 
throo,  Broom,  rondevoo,  surtoo,  billi- 
doo,  Kooper,  rooling,  troo,  rool,  brooz- 
ing,  brooz,  Hoom,  too,  hoo. 

«',  p.  599.  lanskip,  Sinjun,  Jahrvis, 
pritti,  ginniz,  biffin,  britchiz,  forfit, 
Tibbuld,  huzzif,  egzibit,  rith'm,  pit, 
marrijiz,  marrij,  pittid,  too  liv,  siv, 
fippens,  wimmin,  grits,  Jahrvis,  Missis, 
bizzi,  lettis,  bild,  biznis,  Tirrit,  Chizzik, 
fizzik,  Windum,  Rothsi,  munni,  Anni, 
Biwli,  felli,  shammi,  plaigi. 

e,  p.  595.  menni,  Pomfret,  Pestum, 
Muykel,  Temz,  sed,  Abbergeni,  sez,  let, 
bed,  det,  Wenzdi,  aledj,  forred,  heifer, 
Lester,  lepperd,  chek,  rondevoo,  ret- 
turik,  frend,  konshens,  fettid,  konesur, 
berri,  ges,  pannijerrik,  gunnel,  Tom- 
masez,  saiber,  verchoo,  Berlingtun, 
saffer,  better,  Urkert,  ahnser — orsaibur, 
vurchoo,  Burlingtun,  saffur,  bettur, 
Urkurt,  ahnsur. 

a,  p.  593.  sat,  Uyzak,  Makki,  dram, 
hav,  banyoh,  Tammun,  plad,  sammun, 
harang,  Klappam,  Talmash,  pikant. 

o,  p.  601.  rozzin,  onnur,  on,  grot, 
forred,  konnisant  konnis'nt,  Jon,  hok, 
peddagog,  nolledj. 

u,  p.  596.  ribbun,  meershum,  es- 
kutchun,umb'l,  mohshun,  konshus,  sun, 
duz,  luv,  tortus,  Linkun,  flud,  dub'l, 


CHAP.  VI.  §  3.  HISTORICAL   PHONETIC   SPELLING. 


617 


tung,  bellus,  tuppens,  amatur,  kubburd, 
avvurdiwpoyz,  kurnel,  likur,  likkur. 

oo h,  p.  604.  woohmraan,  Boohlling- 
broohk,  woohd,  woohstid,  "Woohstur, 
kuwchoohk,  koohd,  boohl. 

uy,  p.  597.  nuyv,  uyl,  duypnossoh- 
fist,  huyt,  uying,  uy,  ruynoseros,  Ruyn, 
ruyming,  ruym,  buynd,  induyt,  duy, 
luyv,  suyn,  suy,  suyd,  vuykuwnt,, 
uyl,  beeguyling,  beeguyl,  buy,  fluy, 
duy,  suydh. 

oy,  p.  602.  burjoys,  noyzi,  noyz, 
poynant,  koyn,  boy,  enjoyd,  Boyl,  koyt 
kwoyt,  boy  bwoy  booy,  boyd  booyd. 

uwj  p.  597.  kuwchouk,  Makluwd, 
uwr,  kuwnter,  nuwn,  duwt,  reenuwns, 
buw,  kuw,  aluwd. 

iw,  p.  599.  monniwment,  inkiwbait, 
manchiwraaikar,  biwti,  fiwd,  fiwdal, 
diws,  Liwsun,  niw,  ahdiw,  viw,  viwd, 
fiwg'lmun,  amiwzing,  fiwshia,  kiw, 
amiwz,  kiw,  impiwn,  biwl,  siwt,  piwni, 
liwstring,  fiwg,  iwnuyt,  Iwjeen,  iw,  iw, 
iw,  iwl,  iw  iwth,  or  yoo  yootb,  hiw- 
main,  hiwman,  hiw,  Hiw,  Hiwz. 

y,  p.  600.  hidyus,  unyun,  halilooyah, 
yahrd,  Denyil. 

w,  p.  605.  kwuyr,  purswaid,  waur, 
wun. 

wh,  p.  605.  when. 

h,  p.  598.  Kala-han,  hohl,  Koh- 
hoon,  hohl. 

p,  p.  602.  hikkup,  paiy  aip,  Klap- 
pam,  flapper,  flapt. 

b,  p.  594.  bee,  eb,  ebd,  baib,  Koh- 
burn,  Hohburn,  kubburd,  hohboy. 

t,  p.  604.  det,  yot,  induyt,  sukt, 
saut,  tizzikal,  reeseet,  ton,  tuym,  hatter, 
too,  metsohtint. 

d,  p.  594.  dellium,  deep,  ad,  Boohd- 
dist,  traid,  "Windum,  luvd,  woohd, 
burd'n. 

ch,  p.  604.  vairmichelli,  chain, 
ahrcht,  chopeen,  Mahrchbanks,  match, 
matcht. 

j,  p.  595.  Grinnidj,  sohljur,  judjment, 
ridj,  Wedjberi,  jem,  kolledj,  Bellinjam, 
just. 

k,  p.  600.  kan,   akuwnt,   Bakkanal, 


skool,  aik,  •  bak,  hakt,  akwaint,  hok, 
kail,  baik,  wauk,  kwak,  kee,  anteek, 
Urkurt,  vuykuwnt,  hak'l,  eksept. 

ff,  p.  598.  blaggahrd,  goh,  eg,  begd, 
gohst,  ges,  plaig. 

/,  p.  597.  fob,  fuyf,  stif,  stuft,  fiwg'l- 
man,  of  n,  lahf,  halif,  safFer,  leftenant. 

v,  p.  605.  ov,  Beevur,  hahv,  nevviw, 
Grohvnur,  veel,  hav,  rondevoo. 

th,  p.  604.  Keethli,  aitth,  apohthem, 
Suwth-hamtun,  thin,  bluyth,  bluydh, 
Mathiw. 

dh,  p.  595.  dhee,  breedh. 

«,  p.  603,  sel,  ais,  Gloster  Glauster, 
sahm,  Sissister,  Woohstur,  see,  seen, 
kohales,  siz'm,  Massam,  hiss,  hist, 
lis'n  epis'l,  missis,  sohrd,  briska,  bellus, 
metsohtint. 

2,  p.  605.  sakrifuyzing,  sakrifuyz, 
zahr,  "Winzur,  Saulzberi,  az,  dizern, 
eez,  dizonnur,  biznis,  sizzerz,  Kezzik, 
hee  bellohz,  bohz,  zeel,  suyz,  whizzing, 
whizd. 

sh,  p.  604.  shaiz,  fiwshia,  speshal, 
shau,  shoohgger,  sheddiwl,  konshus,  shal, 
wisht,  Ashtun,  kompreshun,  mohshun. 

zA,  p.  606.  roozhing,  roozh,  zhoo- 
dimoh,  plezhur,  divizhun,  absizhun, 
aizhur. 

r,  p.  603.  (r),  ruyt,  retturik,  ruyt, 
hurri,  katarral,  (*r,jr)  fee' ring,  pai'ring 
debahring,  ignoh'ring,  poo'rer,  fuy'ri, 
buw'ri,  (JL)  spai'r,kaur  koh'r,bur,  maur- 
gaij,  (^)  mur,  deefur,  or  mer  deefer. 

I,  p.  600.  serahlyoh,  maulstik,  lais, 
Gilford,  ail,  il,  travveld,  kil,  uyl,  brisli, 
vitler. 

m,  p.  601.  dram,  flem,  sahm,  Chumli, 
am,  lam,  taim,  hammer,  shamd,  him, 
kammel,  Bamf,  Pomfret,  siz'm,  rith'm. 

»,  p.  601.  stuns'l,  ohpning,  nau,  Jon, 
noh,  Kohnbroohk,  Kahn,  neemonniks, 
kuwntur,  kan,  ribbun,kain,ippikakkiw- 
anna,  mannur,  Ipand,  gunnel,  reezning 
niwmattiks,  piwni,  ohp'n,  reez'n. 

ngt,  p.  602.  fingger,  singer,  wingd, 
Bermingam,  tung,  Mingiz — hank,  han- 
kerchif,  link,  drunk,  ankshus. 


Some  readers  will  naturally  object  to  such  orthography  that  it  is 
entirely  fictitious  and  not  in  any  respect  historical.  It  is  not  meant 
to  imply  that  the  above  spelling  was  ever  used  at  any  time,  but 
only  that  almost  every  combination  of  which  each  word  is  composed 
has  been  in  use  for  such  a  long  time,  generally  more  than  two  centuries, 
that  its  employment  in  the  sense  proposed  is  really  historically  justi- 
fied. But  how  should  we  spell  ?  "What  other  grounds  of  spelling 
are  there  but  the  phonetic  ?  There  are  the  purely  historical,  the 
etymological,  the  typographical.  The  purely  historical,  however, 


618  ETYMOLOGICAL   SPELLING.  CHAP.  VI.  §  4. 

such  as  was  adopted  by  the  Anglosaxons,  and  by  the  best  writers  in 
the  xni  th  and  xiv  th  centuries,  was  also  purely  phonetic,  reflect- 
ing the  pronunciation  of  the  writer  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 
"We  might  adopt  that  systematised  scheme  of  the  xivth  century 
explained  above  (p.  401),  and  illustrated  in  the  next  chapter, 
but  we  should  find  it  extremely  difficult  to  make  any  one  but  an 
Early  English  student  see  the  value  of  it,  and  perhaps  even  he 
might  demur  to  fixing  the  time  at  so  recent  a  period,  the  latest 
during  which  the  principle  of  phonetic  spelling  actually  influenced 
the  writer.  But  I  know  no  other  period  which  would  in  any 
respect  answer  the  purpose.  With  regard  to  the  words  introduced 
since  then,  we  should  have  to  consider  how  they  would  have  been 
probably  pronounced  at  that  time,  and  write  them  accordingly. 
The  rehabilitation  of  our  orthography  on  that  ground  would  there- 
fore be  a  work  of  extreme  difficulty,  and  would  find  a  correspond- 
ingly small  number  of  adherents.  Even  those  who  employed  it 
would  have  to  re-memorize  every  word  in  the  language,  a  discipline 
to  which  none  would  submit  who  could  escape  it.  The  attempt 
to  introduce  such  a  system  could  therefore  only  result  in  confusion 
worse  confounded.  We  may  adopt  it  for  our  xiv  th  century  school- 
books,  but  we  must  not  ask  writers  to  use  it  in  their  everyday 
scribbling. 

Dismissing,  therefore,  any  purely  historical  system,  we  have 
only  to  consider  the  etymological,  and  the  typographical,  which 
will  occupy  the  two  next  sections,  while  the  phonetic  ground  will 
be  considered  in  the  last  section. 


§  4.     Etymological  Spelling. 

The  two  tables  in  §§  1,2  may  serve  to  dissipate  the  phantom 
which  haunts  many  brains  under  the  name  of  etymological  ortho- 
graphy. It  seems  that  the  gross  departure  from  the  original 
phonetic  conception  which  pervades  our  alphabetic  system,  and 
which  degrades  alphabetical  to  hieroglyphical  writing,  has  led 
persons  to  suppose  that  the  phonetically  useless  and  inconsistently 
applied  letters,  which  they  have  constantly  to  employ,  are  intended 
to  convey  to  the  reader  the  history  and  origin  of  a  word,  whence  it 
came,  how  it  changed,  what  was  its  original  meaning,  and  how 
that  has  been  modified.  It  is  true  that  the  recent  etymological 
labours  of  Wedgewood  and  E.  Miiller,  might  be  sufficient  to  prove 
that  such  information  could  not  be  conveyed  by  any  means,  because 
it  is  in  many  cases  unknown  now,  and  was  less  known  to  those 
who  have  modelled  our  orthography,  and  also  that  when  it  is 
known,  or  tolerably  certain,  there  is  no  generally  understood 
abbreviated  system  for  conveying  the  information,  which  often 
requires  a  considerable  amount  of  words  to  explain,  nor  does  i 
appear  possible  to  conceive  that  any  such  system  could  be  invented, 
much  less  brought  into  use.  These  matters  do  not  strike  those 
who  are  possessed  with  the  etymological  conception,  for  they  are 


CHAP.  VI.  §  4.  ETYMOLOGICAL   SPELLING.  619 

generally  very  ill  -informed  respecting  the  real  history  of  our 
language,  and  think  rather  of  the  recent  terms  borrowed  from  the 
Latin  and  Greek,  which  present  no  difficulty  whatever,  and  could 
scarcely  be  made  to  present  much  difficulty  by  any  freak  of  ortho- 
graphy,1 than  of  the  old  terms  of  Germanic,  or  Norman  French 
origin,  or  those,  not  rare  words,  in  constant  use,  of  which  the  origin 
is  unknown.  Many  of  the  troublesome  additional  letters,  which 
were  perhaps  inserted  from  a  supposed  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  a 
word,  are  mistakes,  few  of  them  are  of  any  assistance,  and  none  of 
them  are  consistently  employed. 

To  take  a  simple  example  :  those  who  know  that  oak  'Corre- 
sponds to  ags.  dc,  may  be  inclined  to  think  that  the  k  was  put  in  to 
show  it  was  Germanic,  and  not  Latinic  or  Hellenic,  whereas  we 
know  that  the  introduction  of  k  was  a  mere  habit  of  the  xm  th  and 
xrvth  centuries  ;  or  that  the  inserted  a  was  meant  to  allude  to  the 
old  a,  while  the  prefixed  o  shewed  the  modern  change ;  whereas, 
we  know  that  the  xiv  th  century  wrote  simply  ok,  ook,  that  in  the 
xv  th,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  xvi  th  century,  oke  was  em- 
ployed (this  is  the  orthography  of  Palsgrave  and  Levins),  and  that 
the  a  was  introduced  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  xvith  century 
as  a  mere  phonetic  contrivance  to  distinguish  (00)  from  (uu),  and 
without  any  etymological  reason  whatever.  It  so  happens  that  we 
still  write  stroke,  notwithstanding  the  ags.  stracan.  There  was  a 
long  fight  between  sope,  soap,  and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
a  was  carried  by  Latin  sapo.  It  is  but  very  lately  that  cloak 
triumphed  over  cloke ;  but  there  can  be  no  etymological  reason, 
because  no  one  is  certain  of  the  etymology,  and  the  middle  Latin 
clocca,  generally  adduced,  would  not  favour  the  a. 

Take  another  simple  instance,  which,  like  the  former,  applies 
to  numerous  cases :  In  the  word  name,  the  final  e  is  supposed  to 
allude  to  a  former  final  vowel,  and  to  indicate  the  lengthening  of 
the  preceding  vowel.  The  ags.  had  a  final  a,  but  the  preceding 
vowel  was  short.  The  a  had  become  long  in  Orrmin's  time,  and  he 
wrote  name  because  he  said  (naa'me),  and  not  (nanra),  which  he 
would  have  written  namma,  and  similarly  he  changed  all  the  other 
vowels  to  accord  with  his  own  pronunciation.  The  meaning  of  the 
added  e  was  lost  in  xv  th  century,  and  in  the  xvi  th  it  was  fre- 
quently, but  of  course  inconsistently,  used  to  indicate  vowel  length, 
and  in  this  case  the  length  of  (aa)  as  (naam).  It  was  not  from 
a  wish  to  preserve  the  a  etymologically  that  it  was  not  changed  to 
naim  in  the  xvnth  century,  but  it  was  because  ai  became'  settled  as 
(ee)  before  name  ceased  to  be  (nasaem),  so  that  there  was  a  difference 
in  sound  felt  nearly  up  to  the  time  when  our  orthography  crystal- 
lized in  the  xvinth  century.  Should  not  we  suppose  same  to  give 
us  similar  information.  It  would  be  wrong  if  it  did,  for  though 
Orrmin  has  an  adjective  same,  there  is  no  ags.  adjective  sama,  but 
only  an  ags.  adverb  same. 

1  Italian  :    ipoteca,   ipotesi,   ipofisi,      more  difficulty  than  our  bishop,  and  not 
ipofora,  filosofo,  fisonomia,  geroglifico,      so  much  a^our  church. 
epitaffio,  epitalamio,  etc.,  present  no 


620  ETYMOLOGICAL   SPELLING.  CHAP.  VI.  §  4. 

The  reason  usually  given  for  wishing  to  retain  the  u  in  spelling 
honour,  favour,  errour  is  the  French  orthography  -eur,  on  the  plea 
that  this  orthography  discriminates  those  words  which  were  taken 
from  the  French  from  those  where  taken  direct  from  the  Latin.  It  is 
certainly  not  obvious  that  this  discrimination  is  worth  any  trouble, 
or  that  any  one  could  determine  to  which  class  every  word  ending 
in  -or  or  -our  really  belongs.  Nevertheless  this  etymological  reason 
has  been  frequently  advanced,  and  was  especially  insisted  on  by  the 
late  Archdeacon  C.  J.  Hare.1  Our  investigations,  however,  shew 
that  the  reason  given  is  altogether  fanciful  and  destitute  of  any 
foundation  of  historical  truth.  These  words  were  spelled  -our,  in 
the  xrvth  century,  because  they  were  pronounced  (-uur),  for  the 
same  reason  that  j? u  nu  became  thou  now.  Moreover  honour  could 
not  have  been  derived  from  honneur,  because  that  French  form  did 
not  exist  when  the  English  honour  was  adopted.  The  French  used 
honor,  honur,  honour.  The  mutation  of  Latin  o  into  French  eu  did 
not  take  place  till  a  later  period.2  If  indeed  the  French  had  used 
eu,  which  they  would  have  pronounced  (eu)  or  (ey),  there  is  no 
doubt  that  Chaucer  who  used  the  sound  (eu)  and  wrote  it  eu  or  ew, 
would  have  also  written  honeur.  "We  see  then  that  honur  has  more 
claim  than  either  honor  or  honour  if  we  go  to  the  old  French; 
th'ough  honour  asserts  its  right  as  old  English,  and  just  as  honos  was 
old  Latin.  But  such  squabbles  are  trifling.  The  historical  spelling 
of  §  3,  would  decide  in  favour  of  onur  or  onnur,  which  no  ortho- 
grapher  has  proposed,  although  every  orthoepist  would  be  scan- 
dalized at  the  pronunciation  of  the  "  etymological"  h. 

"  Trouth  and  honour,  fredom  and  curtesie," 

writes  the  Harl.  MS.  7334,  v.  46.  What  do  we  gain,  either 
phonetically  or  etymologically  by  writing, 

Truth  and  honor,  freedom  and  courtesy. 

Etymologically,  trouth  agrees  better  with  ags.  treow^e,  fredom  with 
ags.  freodom,  curtesie  with  old  French  curtesie  (Roquefort).3  The 
spellings  true,  truth,  are  certainly  etymologically  inferior  to  the 
discarded  trewe,  trouth,  which  represented  the  proper  sounds  of  the 
time,  and  we  ought,  on  the  same  principle  now,  to  write  troo, 
trooth.  The  termination  -y,  used  for  the  threefold  termination,  -e, 
-ie,  -y,  the  last  being  a  contraction  for  -iy  =  15,  is  a  gross  violation 
of  all  supposed  principles  of  etymological  spelling.  It  is  evident 
that  these  who  shaped  our  spelling  had  little  or  no  knowledge 
of  etymology,  had  no  acquaintance  with  the  customs  of  our  ancient 
orthography,  which  many  even  yet  regard  as  a  chaos  without  law, 
or  custom,  and,  except  in  very  rare  and  very  obvious  instances, 
paid  no  attention  whatever  to  historical  affiliation,  or  ancient 
etymology. 

1  On  English   Orthography,    Cam-      einfache  o"  Gram,  der  Eom.  Spr.  2nd 
bridge  Philological  Museum,  vol.  1.  ed.  1856.  vol.  i.  p.  426. 

2  Diez,  after  citing  feu  jew,  heure,          3  The  xiv  th   century   orthography 
pleure,   etc.,    adds    "  in    alien    diesen      of  this  word  is  especially  considered  in 
Fallen  kennt  die  alte  Sprache  auch  das      Chap.  VII.  §  1,  near  the  beginning. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  5.  STANDARD   SPELLING.  621 

The  first  thing  which  we  have  to  do  in  studying  a  new  language 
for  comparative  philology,  is  to  determine  its  sounds,  and  only 
in  so  far  as  the  orthography  enables  us  to  determine  the  sounds, 
is  it  of  any  etymological  value.  Any  deviation  from  phonetic 
representation  is  an  impediment  in  the  way  of  etymology.  And 
the  only  true  etymological  spelling  which  can  be  conceived  is  one 
that  is  strictly  phonetic.  The  investigation  which  we  have  just 
concluded,  by  enabling  us  to  restore  from  the  changing  orthography 
the  changing  sounds,  that  is,  the  changing  words  of  our  language, 
puts  us  in  a  far  better  position  than  ever  to  determine  the  ety- 
mological relations.  "We  still  want  a  similar  investigation  for 
French,  at  least,  and  for  all  our  dialects,  as  well  as  that  principal 
southern  form  which  alone  offered  sufficient  facilities  for  examina- 
tion. All  the  labour  and  trouble  of  such  an  examination  would 
have  been  saved  if  the  writers  had  had  a  sufficient  alphabet  from 
the  first,  and  had  known  how  to  use  it.  But,  unfortunately,  the 
true  conditions  of  alphabetic  writing  have  only  just  been  deter- 
mined, and  the  number  of  those  who  can  use  correctly  even  such  an 
approximation  as  is  furnished  by  the  forty-two  historical  phonetic 
symbols  of  the  last  section  is  very  small.  JSTo  one  has  ever  dreamed 
of  writing  provincial  dialects  etymologically.  It  was  felt  that 
by  so  doing  the  whole  means  of  representing  them  was  lost ;  for, 
until  they  were  written  their  etymology  could  not  be  determined. 
It  was  forgotten  that  our  own  particular  cultivated  English  lan- 
guage, is  but  the  most  fortunate  among  many  dialects,  that, 
therefore,  its  etymology,  also,  could  not  be  determined  till  it  was 
fixed  by  phonetic  writing,  and  that,  consequently,  for  etymo- 
logical purposes  we  should  endeavour  to  represent  it  on  paper 
as  accurately  as  the  generality  can  appreciate  it.  Other  reasons 
there  are  in  abundance.  But  on  the  ground  of  philology  alone,  we 
can  truly  say,  there  is  no  etymology  without  phonetics. 


§  5.     On  Standard,  or  Typographical  Spelling. 

It  is  possible  to  write  a  language  without  any  relation  to 
phonetics.  The  greater  part  of  the  Chinese  vocabulary  is  said  to 
be  of  this  nature.  One  system  of  writing  is  prevalent  throughout 
a  vast  empire,  is  understood  by  each  province,  and  is  provided  by 
each  with  a  different  set  of  corresponding  vocables.  At  Pekin  they 
cannot  understand  the  speech  of  Canton,  but  the  writing  is 
mutually  intelligible.  It  is  like  the  cyphers  of  arithmetic,  or  the 
signs  of  algebra,  and  the  diagrams  of  geometry,  which  are  read  in 
different  tongues,  but  with  the  same  apprehension  of  their  meaning 
throughout  Europe.  This  ideal  has  great  fascination  for  many. 
Conceive  a  grand  symboleum,  known  everywhere,  and  yet  read  by 
each  in  his  own  tongue.  Such  a  conception  has  been  nearly  carried 
out  in  England,  Germany,  France,  and  Italy,  and  probably  in  other 
countries.  A  fixed  system  of  spelling  has  been,  either  by  aca- 


622  STANDARD   SPELLING.  CHAP.  VI.  §  5. 

demical  authority,  or  through  the  action  of  printers,  accepted  in 
each  country.  JSTo  two  men  in  England  and  Germany,  at  any  rate, 
pronounce  in  the  same  manner  every  word  which  they  would  write 
alike.  In  Germany  completely  diverse  systems  of  utterance  are 
pursued  among  the  educated  in  different  districts.  The  high 
German,  as  distinguished  from  all  and  every  of  these  systems,  is 
known  as  "die  Schriftsprache,  d.  h.  als  diejenige  Sprache  in  der 
man  Deutch  sclireibt"  *  It  is  a  literary,  not  a  spoken  language,  and 
in  Saxony,  in  Prussia,  on  the  Rhine,  on  the  Danube,  by  the 
Vistula,  and  the  Eider,  or  in  Switzerland,  the  language  changes  to 
the  ear.2  The  peasantry  of  Saxony  are  taught  to  write  High 
German ;  their  spoken  Upper  German  dialect  tries  a  foreigner  sorely. 
In  the  same  way  we  have  a  literary  language  in  England,  a 
written  language,  having  only  a  remote  connection  with  the  spoken 
tongue,  and  shaped  by  printers  as  an  instrument  intended  to  satisfy 
the  eye.  Indeed  the  great  objection  to  any  innovation  is  its  "odd 
appearance."  And  persons  naturally  conceive  that  to  change  the 
spelling  is  to  alter  the  language.  "We  have  succeeded  in  getting 
this  orthography  to  be  recognised,  and  there  are  probably  many 
who  look  upon  it  as  an  institution  as  unalterable  and  natural  as  the 
musical  scale  (which,  by-the-bye,  ,  differs  materially  in  different 
countries,  and  is  thoroughly  artificial  in  its  origin),  and  regard  any 
unwitting  deviation  from  it  as  unfitting  a  person  for  the  commonest 
occupation,3  and  excluding  him  altogether  from  the  ranks  of  the 
educated,  and  yet  the  only  "good  (!)  spellers"  in  the  country  are 
compositors  and  printers'  readers.  A  reference  to  the  tables  in  the 
two  first  sections  of  this  chapter  should  dissipate  all  idea  of  fixed- 
ness, every  notion  of  a  sacred  character  in  our  orthography.  It  is 
barely  a  hundred  years  old,  to  give  it  the  longest  life.  Two 
hundred,  three  hundred,  five  hundred  years  ago  our  spelling  was 
entirely  different.  The  same  letters  were  used,  but  differently 
collocated,  for  what  only  standard  orthographers  could  look  upon 
as  the  same  word.  Notwithstanding  this,  a  standard  orthography 
is  not  only  a  possibility,  but  an  actuality,4  and  as  long  as  it  is 
accompanied  by  its  indispensable  adjunct — a  pronouncing  dic- 
tionary— it  will  cease  to  be  detrimental  to  the  philologer,  who  can 
resort  to  the  phonetic  representation  for  what  he  requires.  But  it 
should  remain  fixed  to  be  of  value.  However  much  the  language 
may  hereafter  vary,  this  crystallized  form  should  remain.  JSo 
change  of  any  kind,  or  from  any  cause  should  be  permitted. 


i  << 


The  language   of  writing,    i.e.,  dialectic  pronunciations  are    mutually 

that  language  in  which  we  write  Ger-  unintelligible. 

man,"  as  distinguished  from  speaking          3  "  Correctness  in  Spelling,"  that  is, 

German.     K.    K  Becker,   Schulgram-  habitual  use  of  typographical  custom, 

matik  der  deutschen  Sprache,  3rd  ed.  is  essential  to  those  who  intend  to  pass 

1835,  §  23.  any  Civil  Service  examination. 

2  This  is  still  more  striking,  I  am          4  The  slight  variations  and  uncer- 

informed    by  natives,    in  the   Arabic  tainties  pointed  out  on  p.  590,  note, 

language.     The   written   symbols  and  may  be  entirely  disregarded  for  pre- 

the  literary  language   are    the    same  sent  purposes, 
from  Morocco    to    Persia,  the  native 


CHAP.  VI.  «  5. 


STANDARD    SPELLING. 


623 


Otherwise  to  the  enormous  practical  evils  of  an  orthography  which 
has  no  connection  with  sound,  which  helps  no  one  to  read  and  no 
one  to  spell,  will  be  added  the  last  straw  of  uncertainty. 

For  my  own  part  I  do  not  see  the  value  of  a  standard  ortho- 
graphy, but  I  do  see  the  value  of  an  orthography  which  reflects 
the  pronunciation  of  the  writer.  Our  present  standard  orthography 
is  simply  typographical ;  but  in  that  word  lies  a  world  of  meaning. 
It  is  a  tyrant  in  possession.  It  has  an  army  of  compositors  who 
live  by  it,  an  army  of  pedagogues  who  teach  by  it,  an  army  of 
officials  who  swear  by  it  and  denounce  any  deviation  as  treason,  an 
army,  yea  a  vast  host,  who  having  painfully  learned  it  as  children, 
cling  to  it  as  adults,  in  dread  of  having  to  go  through  the  awful 
process  once  more,  and  care  not  for  sacrificing  their  children  to  that 
Moloch,  through  whose  fires  themselves  had  to  pass,  and  which 
ignorance  makes  the  countersign  of  respectability.  Accepting  this 
fact,  I  have  arranged  all  my  vocabularies  according  to  this  typo- 
graphical spelling,  simply  because  it  will  be  familiar  to  all  who 
read  this  book,  and  they  will,  therefore,  by  its  means  most  readily 
discover  what  they  require.1  But  I  cannot  do  so  without  record- 
ing my  own  conviction,  the  result  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century's  study,  that  our  present  standard  typographical  spelling  is  a 
monstrous  misshapen  changeling,  a  standing  disgrace  to  our  literature. 


1  For  the  same  reason  in  any  dic- 
tionary, whether  of  ancient  or  modern 
English,  which  is  published  before  a 
general  revision  of  our  orthography  is 
effected  (the  Greek  Kalends?),  I  re- 
commend an  arrangement  of  the  words 
according  to  the  orthography  in  most 
general  use  at  the  time  of  publication, 
because  the  intention  of  such  an  ar- 
rangement is  to  find  out  a  word  with 
facility,  and  the  most  generally  used 
orthography  is  necessarily  the  one  best 
known.  No  individual  systems  such 
as  Webster's,  or  that  proposed  by  Mr. 
E.  Jones  (p.  590,  note),  or  peculiari- 
ties, such  as  Mitford's  Hand,  Milton's 
rime,  Johnson's  musick,  which  are  not 
found  in  one  book  or  newspaper  in  ten 
thousand,  should  be  adopted.  "Where 
there  is  a  concurrent  use,  do  as  Min- 
shew  did  (supra,  p.  104),  give  all  spell- 
ings, the  explanations  under  the  one 
thought  to  be  most  usual  (to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  caprice,  individual  pre- 
ference, and  pet  theories  of  correctness) 
and  cross  references  under  the  others. 
To  search  a  dictionary  of  any  extent  is 
penance  enough.  The  searcher  can't 
afford  to  have  his  labour  increased. 
"Would  not  a  beginner  in  Anglosaxon 
be  driven  mad  by  the  arrangement  in 
Ettmiiller's  Dictionary,  to  which  no 


index  even  is  appended  ?  I  have  often 
regretted  the  precious  time  it  has  cost 
me.  In  Dr.  Stratman's  excellent  Dic- 
tionary of  the  Old  English  Language 
"  the  words  are  entered  in  alphabetical 
order,  under  their  oldest  form,  for  ex- 
ample uwen  owen  under  d%en,  efen,  even 
under  cefen  ;  wel,  evel  under  uvel,  etc." 
The  consequence  is  the  waste  of  hours. 
Such  a  dictionary  should  have  the  chief 
article,  as  in  Coleridge's  Glossary,  un- 
der the  most  usual  existent  form,  as 
best  known,  and  cross  references  under 
all  the  old  forms,  as  being  unknown. 
Individual  Glossaries  must  of  course 
follow  the  exact  orthography  of  the 
books  which  they  index,  but  even  here 
cross  references  may  refer  to  the  chief 
article  under  the  usual  orthography. 
Great  advantage  would  accrue  in  com- 
paring all  forms  of  words  in  all  books 
by  some  such  arrangement  as  this. 
Where  the  field  is  so  vast  and  the 
multiplicity  of  detail  so  immeasurable, 
those  patriotic  individuals  who  give  us 
the  result  of  their  labours  should  do 
their  best  to  render  them  quickly  ac- 
cessible. The  increased  bulk  of  any 
glossary  or  dictionary  is  utterly  unim- 
portant, as  compared  with  the  saving 
of  time  to  its  consulter. 


624  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  VI.  §  6. 


§  6.     On  Standard  Pronunciation. 

For  at  least  a  century,  since  Buchanan  published  his  "  Essay 
towards  establishing  a  standard  for  an  elegant  and  uniform  pro- 
nunciation of  the  English  language  throughout  the  British  dominions, 
as  practised  by  the  most  learned  and  polite  speakers,"  in  1766,  and 
probably  for  many  years  previously,  there  prevailed,  and  ap- 
parently 'there  still  prevails,  a  belief  that  it  is  possible  to  erect  a 
standard  of  pronunciation  which  should  be  acknowledged  and 
followed  throughout  the  countries  where  English  is  spoken  as  a 
native  tongue,  and  that  in  fact  that  standard  already  exists,  and  is 
the  norm  unconsciously  followed  by  persons  who,  by  rank  or  educa- 
tion, have  most  right  to  establish  the  custom  of  speech. 

One  after  another,  for  the  last  century,  we  have  had  labourers  in 
the  field.  Buchanan,  1766,  was  a  Scotchman,  and  his  dialect  clung 
to  him;  Sheridan,  1780,  was  an  Irishman,  and  Johnson,  from 
the  first,  ridiculed  the  idea  of  an  Irishman  teaching  Englishmen 
to  speak.1  Sheridan  was  an  actor,  so  was  Walker,  1791,  but  the 
latter  had  the  advantage  of  being  an  Englishman,  and  his  dic- 
tionary is  still  in  some  repute,  though  those  who  study  it  will  see  his 
vain  struggles  to  reconcile  analogy  with  custom,  his  constant 
references  to  the  habits  of  a  class  of  society  to  which  he  evidently 
did  not  belong,  his  treatment  of  pronunciation  as  if  determined  by 
orthography  (precisely  in  the  same  way  as  grammarians  consider 
grammar  to  mould  language,  whereas  both  orthography  and  gram- 

1  "  BOSWELL  :  It  may  be  of  use,  Sir,  Lord  Chesterfield  told  me  that  the 
to  have  a  Dictionary  to  ascertain  the  word  great  should  he  pronounced  to 
pronunciation.  JOHNSON:  Why,  Sir,  rhyme  to  state ;  and  Sir  William  Yonge 
my  Dictionary  shews  you  the  accent  sent  me  word  that  it  should  be  pro- 
of words,  if  you  can  but  remember  nounced  so  as  to  rhyme  to  seat,  and 
them.  BOSWELL  :  But,  Sir,  we  want  that  none  but  Irishmen  would  pro- 
marks  to  ascertain  the  pronunciation  nounce  it  grait.  Now  here  were  two 
of  the  vowels.  Sheridan,  I  believe,  men  of  the  highest  rank,  the  one  the 
has  finished  such  a  work.  JOHNSON  :  best  speaker  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
Why,  Sir,  consider  how  much  easier  it  the  other  the  best  speaker  in  the  House 
is  to  learn  a  language  by  the  ear,  than  of  Commons,  differing  entirely."  Bos- 
by  any  marks.  Sheridan's  Dictionary  well's  Life  of  Johnson,  anno.  1772, 
may  do  very  well  ;  but  you  cannot  set.  63.  Dr.  Johnson,  however,  had 
always  carry  it  about  with  you  :  and,  his  own  fancies :  "  I  perceived  that  he 
when  you  want  the  word,  you  have  not  pronounced  the  word,  heard,  as  if  spelled 
the  Dictionary.  It  is  like  the  man  who  with  a  double  e,  heerd,  instead  of 
has  a  sword  that  will  not  draw.  It  is  sounding  it  herd,  as  is  most  usually 
an  admirable  sword  to  be  sure :  but  done.  He  said,  his  reason  was,  that  if 
while  your  enemy  is  cutting  your  throat  it  were  pronounced  herd,  there  would 
you  are  unable  to  use  it  Besides,  Sir,  be  a  single  exception  from  the  English 
what  entitles  Sheridan  to  fix  the  pro-  pronunciation  of  the  syllable  ear,  and 
nunciation  of  English  ?  He  has,  in  he  thought  it  better  not  to  have  that 
the  first  place,  the  disadvantage  of  exception."  Ibid,  anno  1777,  aet.  68. 
being  an  Irishman  :  and  if  he  says  he  Dr.  Johnson  had  forgotten  heart, 
will  fix  it  after  Ihe  example  of  the  best  hearken,  wear,  bear,  to  tear,  swear, 
company,  why  they  differ  among  them-  earl,  pearl,  which  all  orthoepists  of  his 
selves.  I  remember  an  instance  :  when  time  pronounce  differently  from  ear. 
I  published  the  plan  for  my  Dictionary,  On  great,  seat,  see  supra,  p.  87. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  6.  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  625 

mar  are  casts,  one  of  speech  sounds,  and  the  other  of  speech 
combinations);  in  short,  in  almost  every  part  of  his  "principles," 
and  his  "remarks"  upon  particular  words  throughout  his  dic- 
tionary, they  will  see  the  most  evident  marks  of  insufficient 
knowledge,  and  of  that  kind  of  pedantic  self-sufficiency  which  is 
the  true  growth  of  half-enlightened  ignorance,  and  may  be  termed 
"  usherism."  Walker  has  done  good  and  hard  work;  he  has  laid 
down  rules,  and  hence  given  definite  assertions  to  be  considered, 
and  he  has  undoubtedly  materially  influenced  thousands  of  people, 
who,  more  ignorant  than  himself,  looked  upon  him  as  an  authority. 
But  his  book  has  passed  away,  and  his  pronunciations  are  no  longer 
accepted.  Jones,  1798;  Perry,  1805;  Enfield,  1807;  Fulton,  1821 ; 
Jameson,  1827  ;  Knowles,  1835,  need  not  be  more  than  named. 
The  last  was  a  corrector  and  follower  of  Sheridan.  Smart's  Walker 
Remodelled,  1836,  and  Worcester's  Critical  and  Pronouncing  Dic- 
tionary, 1847,  are  those  now  most  in  vogue.  Smart  was  a  teacher 
of  elocution  in  London,  who  enjoyed  a  considerable  reputation; 
Worcester  is  an  American.  In  both  of  these  we  have  a  distinct 
recognition  of  the  vowels  in  unaccented  syllables,  but  by  no  means 
a  distinct  representation  of  the  same ;  and  in  Smart  we  have  great 
consideration  bestowed  upon  the  final  vocal  r  (i),  and  its  dipth- 
thongal  action  on  the  preceding  vowel. 

The  vocabulary  of  our  language  is  so  much  more  copious  than 
the  vocabulary  of  any  individual,  and  the  vocabulary  of  any  writer 
is  so  much  more  copious  than  the  vocabulary  of  the  same  man  as  a 
speaker — unless  he  be  a  public  orator,  a  clergyman,  a  lecturer,  a 
barrister,  an  actor, — and  the  orthography  of  our  language  conveys 
so  little  information  upon  the  intended  pronunciation  of  any  word, 
that  there  will  be  many  thousand  words  that  even  the  most  accom- 
plished and  varied  speakers  and  hearers  have  never  uttered  or  heard ; 
and  other  thousands  which  they  have  only  on  the  rarest  occasions 
uttered  and  heard,  of  the  sound  of  which  they  must  therefore  be 
more  or  less  in  doubt,  unless  they  feel  that  confidence  in  themselves 
which  will  allow  them  to  assert  that  their  own  pronunciation  is 
correct,  because  it  is  their  own.1  By  far  the  greater  number  of 

1  I  do  not  remember  ever  meeting  words  which  I  never  heard  pronounced, 

with  a  person  of  general  education,  or  From   this   result    some   peculiarities 

even  literary  habits,  who  could  read  off  not  unworthy  of  notice.    Many  of  the 

without  hesitation,  the  whole  of  such  a  words  of  my  old  vocabulary  continue  to 

list  of  words  as :  bourgeois,  demy,  ac-  he  pronounced  in  the  provincial  dialect 

tinism,  velleity,  hatman,  heaufin,  bre-  in  which  they  were  learned,  such  as  tay 

vier,  rowlock,   fusil,   flugleman,  vase,  for  tea,  even  though  I  know  the  right 

tassel,  huoy,  ohoe,  archimandrite,  etc.,  pronunciation,  and  generally  recollect 

and  give  them  in  each  case  the  same  the  error  after  it  has  heen  committed, 

pronunciation  as  is    assigned  in  any  I  know  not  that  I  should  regret  this, 

given  pronouncing  dictionary  now  in  as  it  seems  to  give  to  my  language  a 

use.     Dr.  Kitto,  who  lost  his  hearing  living  character,  which  it  would  neces- 

at  twelve  years  of  age,  hut  retained  his  sarily  want,  if  all  framed  upon  unheard 

power    of   speech,   says :    (The    Lost  models.      Many  such  words    do  not, 

Senses,  1845,  Series  1,  Deafness,  p.  23)  however,  occur,  as  I  have  exchanged 

"I  have  often  calculated  that  above  many  provincialisms  for  hook  words, 

two-thirds  of  my  vocabulary  consist  of  which  I  am  not  in  the  same  way  liable 

40 


626  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  VI.  §  6. 

speakers,  however,  do  not  feel  this  confidence,  and,  afraid  that  the 
sounds  they  are  accustomed  to  use  in  their  own  limited  circles 
would  he  ridiculed  in  the  higher  walks  to  which  they  aspire,  are 
glad  to  take  the  " authority"  of  a  pronouncing  dictionary  as  a  guide. 
Quis  autem  custodiet  ipsos  custodies?  What  guide  do  the  guides  follow? 

Now  our  previous  investigation  shews  that  at  any  given  time 
there  has  always  existed  a  great  diversity  of  pronunciation,  and 
that  pronunciation  has  altered  with  different  velocities  and  in  dif- 
ferent directions  in  different  places,  that  what  was  considered 
"polite"  at  one  time,  was  scouted  at  another,  that  there  never  has 
been  so  near  an  approach  to  a  uniform  pronunciation  as  that  which 
now  prevails,  and  that  that  uniformity  itself  is  not  likely  to  he  so 
great  as  might  have  been  anticipated. 

Uniformity  of  pronunciation,  necessarily  depends  upon  the 
proximity  of  speakers.  We  have  seen  that  the  great  changes  in 
English  were  produced  by  the  two  civil  wars,  which  mixed  up 
the  elements  of  our  population.  In  more  recent  times  a  certain 
degree  of  uniformity  is  sustained,  by  1)  that  communication  be- 
tween town  and  country  which  disseminates  the  habits  of  the 
metropolis  throughout  the  provinces;  2)  that  system  of  university 
education  which  rubs  together  the  different  dialects  of  England 
in  a  classical  mortar,  and  sends  out  the  product  as  the  utterance  of 
young  men  of  rank  and  fortune,  and  still  more  effectively,  as  that 
of  young  clergymen  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land, 
and  3)  that  plan  of  teaching  teachers  which  instils  into  them  the 
pronunciation  of  the  most  usual  words  and  enables  them  to  impress 
it  upon  their  pupils  in  the  primary  schools  throughout  the  country. 
But  that  nothing  approaching  to  real  uniformity  prevails  is  easily 
seen,  and  some  striking  illustrations  will  be  furnished  in  Chap.  XI. 

"When  we  listen  to  a  discourse  we  are  by  natural  habit  carried 
away  with  the  succession  of  ideas,  and  we  have  great  difficulty  in 
withdrawing  our  attention  from  this,  and  fixing  it  merely  upon  the 
sounds  which  are  uttered.  Any  one,  however,  who  wishes  to  study 

to  mispronounce.     But  even  my  book  rections,  than  from  the  curious  instinct 

words,  though  said  to  he  generally  pro-  which  has,  in  the  course  of  time,  been 

nounced  with  much  precision,  are  liable  developed,  of  avoiding  the  use  of  those 

to  erroneous  utterance  through  my  dis-  words  about  the  pronunciation  of  which 

position  to  give  all  such  words  as  they  I  feel  myself  uncertain,  or  which  I  know 

are  written,  and  it  is  well  known  that  myself  liable  to  mispronounce.      This 

the  letters  of  which  many  of  our  words  is  particularly   the    case  with  proper 

are  composed,  do  not  adequately  re-  names  and  foreign  words ;    although, 

present  the  sounds  with  which  they  even  in  such,  I  am  more  in  dread  of 

are   pronounced.     This  error  of  pro-  erroneous  quantity  than  of  wrong  vo- 

nouncing  words  as  they  are  written  is  calization."      The  above  test    words, 

the    converse     of    that    so    common  which  are  not  all  to  be  found  even  in 

among  uneducated  people,  of  writing  "Worcester's  dictionary,  written  in  glos- 

words  down  according  to  their  sounds.  sotype  according  to  my  pronunciation, 

Many  of  such  faults  have,   however,  would  be  :  burjoys,  deemiiy,  aktiniz'm, 

been  corrected  in  the  course  of  years,  veleeiti,  bauman,  biffin,  breeveer,  rul- 

and  it  may  not  now  be  easy  to  detect  luk,  fiwzee,  fiwg'lman,  vauz,  tos'l,  boy, 

me  in  many  errors  of  this  kind :  but  ohboy,  ahrkimandruyt. 
this  arises  not  more  from  such  cor- 


CHAP.  VI.  §  6.  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  627 

pronunciation  must  be  able  to  do  this.  It  is  entirely  insufficient 
and  misguiding  to  ask  a  person  to  pronounce  you  a  given  word. 
The  most  you  can  do  is  to  propound  him  a  sentence,  and  listen  to 
him  with  closed  eyes  as  he  repeats  it  over  and  over  again.  Then 
you  will  probably  detect  differences  of  utterance  at  each  delivery, 
differences  which  it  requires  years  of  care  and  attention  to  discrimi- 
nate and  symbolize  satisfactorily.  Even  then,  too,  each  delivery 
may  be  false,  that  is,  not  such  as  the  speaker  would  utter  naturally, 
when  he  was  thinking  of  the  meaning  and  not  of  the  sound  of  the 
words.  Listen  to  a  preacher,  shutting  out  your  sense  to  his  mean- 
ing, and  observe  the  alternations  of  loud,  distinct,  slow,  and  scarcely 
audible,  obscure,  rapid  utterances.  Listen  to  the  same  man  en- 
gaged in  ordinary  conversation,  and  observe  the  increase  of  the 
rapid,  obscure  utterances,  and  the  difference  occasioned  in  the 
tolerably  distinct  syllables  by  the  difference  of  emphasis  and  de- 
livery. Then  think  how  difficult  it  is  to  determine  the  real  pro- 
nunciation of  that  one  man.  How  much  more  difficult  must  it  be 
to  determine  and  then  bear  in  mind  the  pronunciation  of  thousands 
of  other  people,  whom  you  only  hear  occasionally  and  observe  less 
frequently,  because  you  wish  to  know  what,  not  how,  they  speak. 
And  yet  this  has  to  be  done  by  any  one  who  wishes  to  discover 
what  is  the  real  actual  existing  usage  of  English  speech.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  it  is  not  done.  Certain  associations  of  child- 
hood determine  the  direction  of  pronunciation,  certain  other  habits 
and  associations  of  youth  and  early  maturity,  serve  to  modify  the 
original,  and,  if  the  speaker  inclines  to  consider  speech,  he  may 
artificially  "  correct,"  and  at  any  rate,  materially  change  his  habits 
of  pronunciation  in  after  life,  but  this  is  an  exception.  He  soon 
ceases  to  hear  words,  he  drinks  in  ideas,  and  only  glaring  differences 
which  impede  this  imbibition,  strike  him  and  are,  more  or  less 
falsely,  noted.  He  is  in  the  habit  of  using  an  orthography  which 
not  only  does  not  remind  him  of  the  sounds  of  words,  but  gives  him 
the  power  of  deducing  great  varieties  of  pronunciation  for  unknown 
words.  What  chance  then  have  we  of  a  uniform  pronunciation  ? 

What  is  the  course  actually  pursued  by  those  who  seek  to  deter- 
mine a  standard  of  pronunciation  ?  Dr.  Johnson  laid  down  as  "  the 
best  general  rule,  to  consider  those  as  the  most  elegant  speakers 
who  deviate  least  from  the  written  words."  l  This  was  entirely 
theoretical,  and  was  penned  in  ignorance  of  the  historical  variations 
of  the  orthoepical  significance  of  the  "  written  words."  Walker 
asks  whether  the  custom  of  speech  to  be  followed  is  the  "  usage  of 
the  multitude  of  speakers,  whether  good  or  bad,"  epithets  which 
beg  the  question,  "the  usage  of  the  studious  in  schools  and  colleges, 
with  those  of  the  learned  professions,  or  that  of  those  who,  from 
their  elevated  birth  or  station,  give  laws  to  the  refinements  and 
elegancies  of  a  court  ?"  and  replies  that  it  is  "  neither  of  these  .  .  ., 
taken  singly,  but  a  sort  of  compound  ratio  of  all  three,"  which 
expression,  knowing  what  compound  ratio  means,  I  do  not  profess 
to  understand.  He  goes  on  to  say,  "  Neither  a  finical  pronun- 
1  Preface  to  Dictionary. 


628  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  VI.  §  6. 

elation  of  the  Court," — (is   then  Court   pronunciation  necessarily 
finical?) — "nor  a  pedantic  Grsecism  of  the  schools," — (does  this 
eixst?) — "will  be   denominated  respectable  usage   till  a    certain 
number," -  (what  proportion?)  "of  the  general  mass   of  common 
speakers,"  i.e.  those  who  are  neither  courtly  nor  educated?  "have 
acknowledged  them ;   nor  will   a    multitude  of  common  speakers 
authorize,"  (to  whom?)  "any  pronunciation  which  is  reprobated 
by  the  learned  and  polite.    As  those  sounds,  therefore,"  he  concludes, 
"which  are  the  most  generally  received  among  the  learned  and 
polite  ;  as  well  as  the  bulk  of  speakers  are  the  most  legitimate," — 
i.e.  according  to  law,  but  what  or  whose  law ? — "we  may  conclude 
that  a  majority  of  two  of  these  states  ought   always  to  concur, 
in    order   to   constitute   what   is   callefl. "   by   Mr.   John  Walker, 
"  good  usage."      But   how   does   Mr.    John  "Walker,    of    Colney 
Hatch,    determine   the   usages   of   each  of  the   three   classes   he 
has  named,   but   certainly  not   denned  ?      Smart   seems   to   take 
refuge  in  "the  mouth  of  a  well-educated  Londoner,"  presumably 
his  own,  and  he  talks  of  "vulgar  speakers,"  "an  appearance  of 
pedantry,"  "  quite  rustic,"  "speakers  of  the  old  school,"  "metro- 
politan usage  among  educated  people,"  "a  vulgar  mouth,"  "an 
affected  speaker,"  "the  best  speakers,"  "  distinct  utterance,"  "ob- 
scure  or   colloquial    utterance,"     "irrregularity,"     "vulgarism," 
"current  pronunciation,"    "actual  pronunciation,"  "broad  utter- 
ance,"  "affectation,"   "the  most  solemn  speaking,"  "vague  and 
fluctuating,"  "elegant  speaker,"  etc.,  etc.,  words  and  epithets  im- 
plying theories  or  foregone  conclusions,  but  not  greatly  advancing 
our  knowledge.     We  may  then  repeat  the  question,  what  is  the 
course  actually  pursued  by  these  orthoepical  oracles  ?     It  appears 
that  they  have  observed  somewhat,  thought   out,   practised  and 
taught  more,  till  they  have  confirmed  a  usage  in  themselves,  and 
have  then  announced  that  usage  to  be  the  custom  of  the  "  best 
speakers,"  allowing  occasional  latitude.     Worcester  endeavours  to 
judge  between  past  orthoepists,  and  among  them  allots  the  palm  to 
Smart,  but  frequently  gives  several   different  pronunciations  and 
says  that  "the  reader  will  feel  perfectly  authorized"  by  Mr.  Wor- 
cester? "to  adopt  such  a  form  as  he  may  choose."     "The  com- 
piler" he  adds,  "has  not  intended  in  any  case,  to  give  his  own 
sanction"  to  which,  however,  he  seems  to   attribute   considerable 
weight,   "  to  a  form  which  is  not  supported  by  usage,"  (which  he 
has  not  heard  generally  used?)  "  authority,"  (which  some  previous 
orthoepist  has  not  recommended ?)  "or  analogy,"  (as  derived  from 
orthography?)     He  most  sensibly  concludes  that  "it  would  be  un- 
reasonable for  him.  to  make  a  conformity  to  his  own  taste,  or  to  the 
result  of  his  own  limited  observation,  a  law  to  those  who  may  differ 
from  him,  and  yet  agree  with  perhaps  the  more  common  usage." 

It  has  not  unfrequently  happened  that  the  present  writer  has 
been  appealed  to  respecting  the  pronunciation  of  a  word.  He 
generally  replies  that  he  is  accustomed  to  pronounce  it  in  such 
or  such  a  way,  and  has  often  to  add  that  he  has  heard  others 
pronounce  it  differently,  but  that  he  has  no  means  of  deciding 


CHAP.  VI.  §  6.  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  629 

which,  pronunciation  ought  to  be  adopted,  or  even  of  saying  which 
is  the  more  customary.      This,  indeed,  seems  to  "be  the  present  state 
of    the   case.     A   large   number   of    words   are   pronounced   with 
differences  very  perceptible  to  those  who   care   to   observe,  even 
among  educated  London  speakers,  meaning  those  who  have  gone 
through  the  usual  course  of  instruction  in  our  superior  schools  for 
boys   and  girls.     These   differences   largely   increase,    if  educated 
provincial  speakers,  especially  Scottish,  Irish,  and  Welsh,  be  taken 
into  consideration.     If  our  American  brethren  are  included,  the 
diversities    still    further    increase,    though   our  younger   colonies 
generally,  being  of  more  recent  formation,  so  that  few  of  them  can 
count  even  a  small  number  of  persons  whose  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers were  born  and  lived  in  them,  do  not  materially  swell  the 
number.      But  if  we  extend  our  circle  to  those  who  have  only 
received  primary  education,  and  still  more  to  those  who  have  re- 
ceived no  education  at  all,  who,  not  being  able  to  read  and  write, 
or  having  no  knowledge  of  theories  of  language,  have  developed 
language  organically,  we  find  the  diversities  extremely  great.     The 
respect  which  the  inferior  pays  to  his  superior  in  rank  and  wealth 
makes  him  generally  anxious  and  willing  to  adopt  the  pronunciation 
of  the   superiorly   educated,   if  he  can   but   manage  to  learn  it. 
How  can  he  ?    Eeal  communication  between  class  and  class  is  all  but 
impossible.     In  London,  where  there  is  local  proximity,  the  "upper 
ten,"  the  court  and  nobles,  "the  middle  class,"  the  professional, 
the  studious,   "the  commercial  class,"  the  retail  tradesman,  the 
"young  men  and  young  ladies"  employed  behind  the  counter,  the 
servants,   porters,   draymen,   artizans,  mechanics,   skilled  and  un- 
skilled labourers,  market  men  and  women,   costermongers,   "  the 
dangerous  classes," — all  these  are  as  widely  separated  as  if  they 
lived  in  different  countries.     But  almost  all  read,  almost  all  have 
their  favourite  periodical,   and  all  such  periodicals  adopt,  within 
narrow  limits,  the  same  orthography.     If  that  orthography  only 
shewed  some  kind  of  pronunciation — it  is  really  of  very  little  im- 
portance which  variety  of  those  current  among  the  educated  be 
selected,  or  even  if  different  systems  were  chosen  in  different  news- 
papers— there  would  then  be  some  means  of  comparing  pronuncia- 
tions, something  less  fleeting  and  more  "questionable"  than  the 
utterance  itself,  something  to  which  the  reader  would  in  the  act  of 
reading  teach  himself  to  conform.     The  educated  author  who  has 
fancies  of  his  own  respecting   pronunciation,  could  insist  on  his 
printer  "following  copy"  and  giving  his  opinion  in  his  own  spelling. 
But  the  printers  generally,  printers  of  journals  in  particular,  would 
each  soon  adopt  some  special  form,  some  vocabulary  constructed  for 
their  office  (supra,  p.  591,  n.  2),  and  in  a  few  years  the  jolting  of 
these  forms  together  would  yield  to  some  compromise  which  would 
produce  the  nearest  approach  to  an  orthoepical  standard  we  could 
hope  to  attain.     "Would,  however,  our  pronunciation  remain  fixed  ? 
All  experience  is  against  its  doing  so,  and  consequently  spelling 
considered  as  the  mirror  of  speech,  would  probably  have  to  be  ad- 
justed from  generation  to  generation. 


630  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  CHAP.  VI.  §  6. 

Is  such  a  standard  pronunciation  desirable  ?  The  linguist  and 
philologist  may  perhaps  sigh  over  this  unnatural  and  inorganic 
orthopaedic  treatment  of  language.  For  one,  the  present  writer 
could  not  suppress  a  feeling  of  regret.  But  the  well-being  of  our 
race  points  in  another  direction.  Recognizing  the  extreme  import- 
ance of  facilitating  intercourse  between  man  and  man,  we  should 
feel  no  doubt,  and  allow  no  sentimental  regrets  to  interfere  with 
the  establishment  of  something  approaching  to  a  general  system  of 
pronouncing,  by  means  of  a  general  system  of  indicating  our  pro- 
nunciation in  writing,  as  far  as  our  own  widespread  language 
extends.  Without  in  the  least  presuming  to  say  that  other  and 
much  better  systems  cannot  be  devised,  the  writer  may  point  to  the 
historical  phonetic  spelling,  developed  in  §*  3,  as  a  means  at  hand 
for  writing  the  English  language  without  any  new  types,  with  as 
close  an  adherence  to  the  old  orthography,  as  much  ease  to  old 
readers,  and  as  much  correctness  in  imitating  the  sounds  used  by 
the  writer  at  any  time,  as  we  could  hope  to  be  generally  possible. 
And  as  to  primary  confusion,  what  would  it  matter,  if  not  greater 
than  the  scarcely  observed  confusion  of  speech  ?  Thus  if  one  writes, 
in  this  spelling : 

Aliy  deemdhnd  leev  too  plahnt  mahy  staJif  maur  furmli  on  dhu  pahth. 

Wotsiz  naiym,   surf    Ahy  reeuli  dohwnt  nohw,   mum,   mahy 

memmuriz  mizzurubul : — 
and  another  writes — 
Ey  dimdnd  leev  took  plant  mi  staf  motir  fermli  on  dhe  path.     What 

is  hiz  naim,  ser  ?    Ey  reeali  dohnt  noh,  mam,  mi  memmori  i% 

mizzeraVl. 

both  would  be  intelligible,  and  a  difference  of  sound  not  previously 
noticed  would  be  forced  on  the  attention,  and  probably  changed ; 
provided  only  that  those  who  say  ahy  plahnt,  &c.,  will  not  write  ey 
plant,  etc.,  because  it  is  "finer,"  or  "  neater,"  or  "  shorter,"  or 
"nearer  to  the  old  orthography,"  or  for  any  other  irrelevant  reason, 
which  is  the  great  danger  to  be  apprehended — as  I  know  by 
experience. 

At  present  there  is  no  standard  of  pronunciation.  There 
are  many  ways  of  pronouncing  English  correctly,  that  is 
according  to  the  usage  of  large  numbers  of  persons  of  either 
sex  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  who  have  received  a 
superior  education.  All  attempts  to  found  a  standard  of 
pronunciation  on  our  approximate  standard  of  orthography 
are  futile.  The  only  chance  of  attaining  to  a  standard  of 
pronunciation  is  by  the  introduction  of  phonetic  spelling, 
which  will  therefore  fulfil  the  conditions  required  by  etymo- 
logical spelling,  standard  spelling,  and  standard  pronuncia- 
tion. Our  present  orthography  approximately  fulfils  only 
the  second  of  these  conditions,  and  grossly  violates  the  other 
two. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  6.  STANDARD   PRONUNCIATION.  631 

And  thus  the  present  writer  has  been  brought  round,  by  a 
totally  different  route,  to  the  advocacy  of  a  principle  to  which 
he  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  and  a  considerable  portion 
of  his  means.  It  is  his  own  conviction,  founded  not  only 
upon  philological  grounds,  but  upon  philanthropical,  educa- 
tional, social,  and  political  considerations,  that  a  phonetic 
system  of  spelling  should  be  adopted  for  our  noble  language. 
To  its  introduction  he  finds  but  one  real  objection — the  exist- 
ence of  another  orthography.  Hitherto  all  phonetic  attempts 
have  made  shipwreck  on  this  rock.  But  the  enterprising 
spirit  of  the  phonetic  navigators  is  worthy  of  their  arctic 
predecessors,  and  their  aim  being  not  merely  to  solve  a 
problem  in  natural  science,  but  to  increase  the  power  and 
happiness  of  the  vast  race  which  speaks  the  English  language, 
is  one  which  is  not  likely  to  die  out.  Even  now  a  phonetic 
periodical  appears  regularly  in  London,  conducted  by  Mr. 
Isaac  Pitman,  whose  widely  extended  system  of  phonetic  short- 
hand, has  done  so  much  to  popularize  the  phonetic  idea. 
Even  now  Mr.  Melville  Bell  has  brought  out  the  most  philo- 
sophical phonetic  alphabet  yet  invented,  and  has  reduced  it 
to  a  system  of  writing  far  simpler  and  easier  than  that  in 
common  use.  Even  now  the  present  writer  is  engaged  in 
producing  a  new  edition  of  his  Plea  for  Phonetic  Spelling,  for 
the  second  and  larger  home  of  our  language,  the  United 
States  of  America.1  It  is  true  that  the  difficulties  in  the 

1  It  was  in  preparing  this  new  edi-  missionaries,    travellers,    ethnologists, 

tion  for  Mr.  Benn  Pitman,  brother  of  and  philologists ;  (7),  obscures  the  real 

Mr.  Isaac  Pitman,  and  now  of  Cincin-  history  of  our  language ;  (8),  conceals 

nati,  Ohio,  U.S.,  that  I  was  fortunate  the   present    state    of   our  language; 

enough  to  discover   Salesbury's  book  (9),  hinders  the  extension   and    uni- 

(14  Feb.,  1859),  and  thus  commenced  versal  employment  of  English.    Pho- 

the    special    series    of    investigations  netic  Spelling :    (1),   renders    reading 

which  have  developed  into  the  present  very  easy ;  (2),  forms  the  best  intro- 

work.      The    printing    of    this    third  duction  to   romanic  reading ;    (3),   is 

edition,  after  the  text  was  complete,  as  easy  as  correct  speaking;  (4),  in 

was  interrupted  by  the  American  Civil  conjunction     with     phonetic    reading 

War,    and    the  preparation  of   these  facilitates  romanic  spelling;  (5),  ren- 

pages  has  hitherto  prevented  me  from  ders  learning  to  read  even  romanically 

finishing  the  Appendices.      It  may  not  a  pleasant  task  ;  (6),  by  economising 

be  out  of  place  to  annex  here  the  head-  time,  increases  the  efficiency  of  primary 

ings  from  this  forthcoming  work,  pre-  schools ;  (7),  affords  an  excellent  logical 

mising  that  ordinary  spelling  is  therein  training  to  the  child's  mind;  (8),  im- 

for  convenience  termed  Romanic.     Ro-  proves  pronunciation  and  enunciation ; 

manic  Spelling :    (1),  renders  reading  (9),  will  greatly  assist  the  missionary 

difficult,  and  writing  still  more  diffi-  traveller  and  ethnologist;  (10),  would 

cult;  (2),  necessitates  the  memorizing  exhibit  the  real  history  of  our  lan- 

of  every  form  in  the  language;    (3),  guage ;    (11),  would  exhibit  the  real 

makes  learning  to  read  and  write  a  state   of   our  language;    (12),  would 

hateful  task;    (4),  is  one  great  cause  of  induce  uniformity    of   pronunciation; 

our  prevailing  ignorance;  (5),  mis-trains  (13),  would  favour  the  extension  and 

a  child's  mind ;  (6),  is  a  hindrance  to  universal  employment  of  our  language  ; 


632 


STANDARD    PRONUNCIATION. 


CHAP.  VI.  §  6. 


way  are  enormous,  the  dead  weight  of  passive  resistance  to 
be  moved  is  overwhelming,  the  ignorance  of  the  active  re- 
sisters  stupendous,  and  the  hands  of  the  promoters  weak ;  but 
the  cause  is  good,  the  direction  is  historical,  the  means 
obvious,  the  end  attainable  by  degrees,  the  material  results 
of  even  small  attempts  useful,  and  one  of  the  most  practical 
men  that  ever  spoke  or  printed  our  language,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  has  left  on  record  his  own  conviction  that  "  some- 
time or  other  it  must  be  done,  or  our  writing  will  become 
the  same  with  the  Chinese  as  to  the  difficulty  of  learning 
and  using  it."1 


(14),  would  effect  a  considerable  saving 
of  printing  [this  does  not  apply  to 
glossotype,  or  any  system  in  which 
diagraphs  are  employed]  ;  (15),  would 
bring  phonetic  shorthand  into  general 
use  ;  (16),  would  be  of  material  use  in 
facilitating,  etymological  -investigations. 
The  objections  considered  are  arranged 
in  five  classes;  (1).  Impossibilities  and 
Errors:  It  is  impossible  to  introduce 
new  letters  and  a  new  alphabet,  or  to 
frame  a  true  phonetic  alphabet,  the 
analysis  of  all  so-called  phonetic  alpha- 
bets being  faulty  and  insufficient,  and 
the  new  letters  hitherto  proposed  con- 
structed upon  an  erroneous  basis.  (2). 
Linguistic  Losses :  The  change  from 
romanic  to  phonetic  spelling  would 
tend  to  obscure  etymology,  would  con- 
fuse words  having  the  same  sound  but 
different  romanic  orthography  in  differ- 
ent senses,  would  occasion  orthography 
to  differ  from  person  to  person,  place 
to  place,  and  time  to  time,  would  ob- 
scure history  and  geography,  and 


unsettle  title  deeds  by  altering  the 
appearance  of  names,  and  would  in- 
troduce vulgaiisms  of  pronunciation. 
(3).  Material  Losses:  The  change 
would  occasion  a  great  loss  of  literary 
property,  and  great  expense  in  pro- 
viding new  types.  (4) .  Inconveniences  : 
The  change  would  be  bad  as  change, 
would  be  too  great,  and  would  amount 
to  an  alteration  of  the  language.  (5). 
Difficulties :  Phonetic  books  have  a 
strange  appearance,  we  should  have  to 
learn  two  systems  of  spelling  instead  of 
one,  the  fewness  of  the  phonetic  books 
renders  the  acquisition  of  phonetic 
spelling  worthless,  the  change  is  not 
needed,  and  is  useless,  because  only 
partially  adopted,  and  another  system 
of  spelling  exists.  The  author  endea- 
vours to  shew  the  incorrectness  of  all 
these  objections,  except  the  last. 

1  The  whole  of  Franklin's  remarks 
will  be  found  in  a  transliteration  of 
his  own  phonetic  orthography,  infra 
Chap.  X.,  §  2. 


)  L 


ser.  2 
no.  1 


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