The characters between brackets were written by the Anglo-Saxons, but being for the most part mere corruptions of the Roman forms are now seldom printed. 2 ANGLO-SAXON GUIDE. In later times k was used for c; v and z occur in foreign names only. The abbreviations for and, for þæt, the, that, and others were in use; in general - shows that mor n is left out. II.-Accent. The accent () over a vowel shows it to be long. The A. S. accented vowels are mostly long by nature; as, lár lore (G. lehre), bær bier (G. bahre), grén green (G. grün), wíd wide (G. weit), g ó d good (G. gut), rúm room, space (G. raum), fýr fire (G. feuer). Some have become long by contraction, g, h, ng, or n, being left out; as, smeagan, smeán to consider, sleahan, sleán to slay, gangan, gán to go, fangan, fún tu ĉake : in fíf five, tóc tooth, múd mouth, and the like, the kin dred tongues show the omitted n; as, TEVTE, L. quinque, G. fünf; ¿-dove, d-dovτ-os, L. dens,(') G. zahn; G. mund: a few from the omission of a vowel; as, tae, tá toc. From the examples above and below, it will be seen that in English a long or double vowel, and in German a long or double vowel, or diphthong, commonly answers to an A. S. long or accented vowel, while short vowels in general correspond in like manner. The accent serves at the same time, though never used for that purpose merely, to distinguish many words of like spelling but different meaning and sound; as, ac but, ác oak; mæst mast, mæst most; wende turned, went, wénde weened; is is, ís ice; for for, fór journey; ful full, () In A. S. as in Greek, ns does not occur in the same syllable.、 fúl foul; hyrde herd, keeper, hýrde heard.(?) Without due attention therefore to the accent, A. S. cannot be rightly written, pronounced, nor understood.(3) III.-Pronunciation. The pronunciation is as follows: a has the sound of our a in ah; F. &c. short a. á is longer and broader, like G. &c. long a, approaching our au and aw. au and aw sound nearly like ow in now, but more open, like G. and Italian au. æ is pronounced like a in glad. é nearly as a in dare; G. eh; F. close é. e sounds like e in send, rather, when thus placed; before a consonant followed by a vowel it resembles the ea in bear, but is shorter, like F. open è. Before a or o it sounds as y; at the end of a syllable it is very lightly sounded, like the F. unaccented e, or the G. e final. é is pronounced like a. (2) Comp. G. mast, meist; wandte, wähnte; ist, eis; für, fuhr; voll, faul; hirt, hörte. (*) The more advanced student will find comparison with the Gothic and other ancient dialects the only sure guide to the A. S. quantity. u as u in full. ú as oo in fool. The consonants are pronounced as in English, with the following exceptions : c is always hard like k; cw stands for qu, which was however used in later times. f between two vowels, or at the end of a syllable, sounds like v. g is never soft; when placed however between two of the vowels æ, e, i, or y, or at the beginning of a syllable before e or i, followed by another vowel, it has the sound of y.(') cg is usually written for gg. h is always strongly aspirated; at the end of a syllable or before a hard consonant it is guttural, like the G. ch, the S. ch in loch, and the Irish gh in lough. hw anwers to our wh; h occurs also before 1, n and r. w sometimes, as in E., stands before r; likewise before 1. p (tha) is our hard th, as in thing. ₫ (eth) our soft th, as in other. p usually begins, & ends a syllable, but they were and are often confounded. IV.-Spelling. The A. S. spelling was very variable; the following arethe commonest changes: It is likely that g before e or i, and (like b) at the end of a syllable, was guttural, as it often is in German, and always in Dutch. á — œ and œ — á; þám, þám; pære, páre. aea; waldan, wealdan to wield, rule. a o and o a; man, mon (2) man; on, an on. ea- e and e- a; ceaster, cester (3) town; fela, feala many; eá-é; teáh, téh drew. i-y, eo; hit, hyt it: him, heom them. í — ý, íe, eó; hí, hý, híe, heó they. eo-u, y, e; sweord, swurd sword; seolf, sylf, self self. eó ú, ý; sweótol, swútol, swýtol manifest. g-h; sorg, sorh care, sorrow. ng, nc, ngc; sang, sanc, sange song: n and g are often transposed, &c.; pegen, þegn, peng, þen servant, thane: g is sometimes added or cast off at the end of a word; as, hwý, hwýg why? hefig, hefi heavy: it is often left out before d or d; magden, mæden maiden, mægð, mæð tribe. cs, sc, hs, x; ácsian, áscian, áhsian, áxian to ask (ax).(*) V.-Change of Letters. Other changes of letters take place in inflection and derivation; the German synonyms often undergo the like, the English sometimes. a is changed into me, and vice versa; grafan to grave, (G. graben); þú græfst thou gravest, (G. du gräbst); (1) P. mon for man, lang for long, and the like. (3) L. castra; bence Chester, -cester, &c. in local names. (*) See also nouns II. 2., and irregular comparison. |