Old English Sounds and
Spellings
EN307
History of the English Language
Extra letters
• þ ‘thorn’, upper case Þ
taken from runic alphabet
used for \θ\ and \ð\
often interchangeable with ð in manuscripts
þis ‘this’
þing ‘thing’
þurfan ‘to need’
• ð ‘eth’, upper case Ð
adapted from a Latin script, cross added
used for \θ\ and \ð\
often interchangeable with þ in
manuscripts (sometimes, þ at beginning, ð
in middle or at end of word)
drinceð ‘drinks’
lāð ‘hateful’
wið ‘with’
• æ ‘ash’, upper case Æ
‘digraph’ (two letters)
used for \æ\
wæs ‘was’
ǣniġ ‘any’
ǣmettig ‘empty’
• ƿ ‘wynn’, upper case Ƿ
borrowed from runic alphabet
used for \w\
w was an alternative (used in modern
editions for convenience)
ƿynn ‘joy’
ƿæs ‘was’
ƿeorc ‘work’
• Latin letters q, x, z known but used
infrequently
axian, ascian ‘to ask’
• k used, but \k\ could always be represented
by c
cyning, kyning ‘king’
• Early OE: y represented \y\, but came to be
interchangeable with i, ie
hyran, hieran ‘to obey’
fylþ, filþ ‘filth’
• \ǰ\ spelled cg
ecg ‘edge’
wecg ‘wedge’
licgan ‘to lie’ (on the ground)
• \š\ spelled sc
fisc ‘fish’
scūfan ‘shove’
scieran ‘rend, tear’
• c could represent \k\ (before back vowels
and consonants, or finally)
cald ‘cold’
cweðan ‘to say’
ac ‘but’
āc ‘oak’
• c could also represent \č\ before front vowels
ċild ‘child’
liċe ‘like, similar to’
• g stood for \g\
god ‘God’
gōd ‘good
gamol ‘old, ancient’
• g also stood for \γ\ (voiced velar fricative)
būgan ‘bend, bow’
magan ‘be able to, can’
• g also stood for \j\
ġiefan ‘give’
ġiedd ‘word, speech, riddle’
ġeorn ‘eager’
Consonants
• No phonemic voiced fricatives (\v\,\z\,\ð\) -
allophones of voiceless fricatives (\f\,\s\,\θ\)
• Fricatives voiced between voiced sounds (i.e.,
voiced consonants and all vowels)
rīsan ‘to rise’ \rizan\
græs ‘grass’ \græs\
āð ‘oath’ \aθ\
wrīðan ‘writhe’ \wriðan\
cnīf ‘knife’ \cnif\
cnīfas ‘knives’ \cnivas\
• hence MnE path/paths, life/lives
• \ŋ\ was just an allphone of \n\ appearing
before \k\ or \g\
drincan ‘to drink’ \driŋkan\
singan ‘to sing’ \siŋgan\
• in MnE, a phoneme (sinner/singer distinct)
• \r\ an alveolar trill???
\h\
• Wider distribution in OE than in MnE
• Had several allophones not present in MnE
• Initially before vowels or r,l,n,w: [h]
hand ‘hand’
hlædel ‘ladle’
hræfn ‘raven’
hnappian ‘to take a nap’
• after front vowels, a palative fricative \ç\
sihþ ‘sight’
fæhð ‘feud’
• elsewhere, velar fricative \x\
þurh ‘through’
hēah ‘high’
eahta ‘eight’
Phonemically long (‘doubled’)
consonants
• Indicated by double letters
bed ‘prayer’
bedd ‘bed’
fȳlan ‘to befoul’
fyllan ‘to fill’
(cf. MnE bidden, red dog; homey, home-
made)
Consonant Clusters
• hl, hr, hn, hw
• hw became wh
hwæt ‘what’ (pronounced or not?)
• kn
cniht ‘knight’
cnēo ‘knee’
• gn
gnǣt ‘gnat’
gnornian ‘mourn, feel sorrow’
Vowels
• Long vs. short vowels: not like ‘rid/ride’)
\rId\ \raid\
• genuinely held for longer!
OE vowels
a as the first vowel in ‘aha’
ā as the second vowel in ‘aha’
æ as in ‘mat’
ǣ as in ‘has’ (though called ‘short’)
e as in ‘bet’
ē approx. as in ‘hate’, but a pure
vowel [cf. German See]
i as in ‘tin’
ī as in ‘seen’
OE Vowels (cont’d)
• o as in ‘cough’
• Ō approx. as in ‘so’, but a pure vowel [cf
German so]
• u as in ‘pull’ [NOT ‘hut’]
• ū as in ‘cool’
• y as I, with lips in a whistling position
[French tu]
• Ȳ as \ī\, with lips in a whistling position
[French ruse]
OE diphthongs
• ea e+a
• ēa ē+a
• eo e+o
• ēo ē+o
• ie i+e
• īe ī+e