Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
General
Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500
The vowels of the inflections are generally levelled to _e_, but a few
remain from the scribe’s original; _inf._ wunian 159; _pr. s._ blissið
50, _pr. pl._ þenið 142; cwaciað 147; _pt. pl._ arerdon 85; _pl._ dunan
37, lagan 70, sandon 30; _s. d._ nixtan 73; _pl. d._ leahtrum 79; buton
38, 72, 95, bufon 149. Among vowels of minor stress are noteworthy _ie_
in laðienge 6 (#laðung#), ȝelaðieres 82 (*#laðere#); _a_ for #e#, þina
37; _æ_ for #e#, anæ 6, ȝæarced 156; _e_ for #æ#, rigtleceden 86, 103;
_e_ for #i#, iunglenges 107; _e_ for #o#, hefenen 36, 107, sicernesse
128; _i_ for #e#, adiligde 79, 84; _eo_ for #ie#, ȝearceon 6; _ei_ for
#i#, clepeien 49. ableow 42 possibly represents #onblēow#. _e_ is lost
in ærndraches 16 (4), witȝin 89, and added in seneȝeden 153: seneȝden
154 is for senȝeden. The prefix #ge#, once written ge, gelest 2, is
largely retained, but it is reduced to _i_ in _pp._ ibroht, icome 115,
idon, imaced, isent, istriened; _inf._ ibite, isi; ibruce 25, ibeoð 70,
isecgð 148, iseȝð 150, innoh 152, uniredlice 131, iwiss 37; noteworthy
is unitald 47.
#w# is lost in sa 54, se 86, alse 115; it represents _wu_ in the #wur#
group, wrð 77, wrhmint 65, derewrlice 10 &c., and similarly wlcne 145:
_u_ is written for it in uin 160, _wu_ in bleowu 168, hwu 99. #l# is
lost in swice 75, wic 142: final #ll# often becomes _l_, befel 3, bispel
31, ful 102. #mm# is simplified in wiman 59. The loss of final #n# in
inflections is characteristic: it occurs also in bine 90 (#binnan#),
bitweone 9, bute 17, morȝe 119, to fore 138, to for 22, upe 132: #n# is
assimilated to _m_ in næmmie 112, it is added in hesne 98, doubled in
bienn 135, sennenn 132, þann 120 &c. #on# is weakened to a 126 (an 153).
#bb# is simplified to _b_ in habe 161; it is _u_ in sweueð 53, perhaps
influenced by Scand. _svefja_. For #f# the scribe writes þ in sielþe 48,
selþ 61, 149, which perhaps represents an individual pronunciation. The
voiced sound between vowels is represented by _f_, not _u_. The added
#t# in mistlice is found in OE., that after _n_ in berient, melstanent
170 is local, as sarment, suddent, varmint in the SE. modern dialects:
#t# is doubled in fett 14; #ts# is _s_ in milsi 59, _c_ in milce 102. In
an 130 #d# is lost (and 145), as in hlafor 21: it is written for þ in
dierewurd 20, had 152, hafd 56, sede 170. For #þ#, _f_ is written in of
11, 15, 108, _ft_ in oft 134, 136; _t_ in to 36 (?), 147 after ⁊ = ant:
#æt þǣre# is eter 13, 117: it is lost after _h_ in forðteh 42, and
intrudes before _h_ in awiðhst 37. #sc# is [š] in biscopes 111, sceolde
7, scandlice 151; _ss_ is written for it in wasse 10, 123. #c# is
palatalized in cheðen 70 (ceðen 16), dierchin 45 (fiscynn 46),
ærndraches 16, machede 41 (macede 91). #c# is doubled in accenned 94.
#g# is lost in witien 140 and final in almihti 32, ȝegen 156, leornin
(ch[n]ihtes) 106: it is _ch_ in heretoche 80, _c_ in strencþe 97. The
scribe generally uses ȝ for #ġ#: exceptions are gelest 2, gife 86, gief
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