Old English alphabet and pronunciation

 

OE scribes used two kinds of letters: the runes and the letters of the Latin alphabet. The runic alphabet was described in Lecture 1. The bulk of the OE manuscripts is written in the Latin script. The use of Latin letters in English differed in some points from their use in Latin, for the scribes made certain modifications and additions in order to indicate OE sounds.

Depending on the size and shape of the letters modern philologists distinguish between several scripts which superseded one another during the Middle Ages. Throughout the Roman period and in the Early Middle Ages capitals and uncial letters were used reaching almost an inch in height, so that only a few letters could find place on a large page; in the 5-7th century the uncial became smaller and the cursive script began to replace it in everyday life, while in book-making a still smaller script, minuscule, was employed. The variety used in Britain is known as the Irish, or insular, minuscule. Out of the altered shapes of letters used in this script – b, f, g and others only a peculiar shape of g – ʒ is preserved in modern publications. In the OE variety of the Latin alphabet i and j were not distinguished; nor were u and v; the letters k, q, x, w were not used until many years later. A new letter was devised by putting a stroke through d – đ or ð, also the capital letter – Ө to indicate the voiceless and the voiced interdental [ θ ] and [ð]. The letter a was used either alone or as part of a ligature made up of a and e – æ; likewise in the earlier texts we find the ligature œ (o plus e), later it was replaced by e.

The most interesting peculiarity of OE writing was the use of some runic characters, in the first place, the rune called “thorn” þ – Þ which was employed alongside the crossed d, ð to indicate [ θ ] and [ ð] – it is usually preserved in modern publications as a distinctive feature of the OE script. In the manuscripts one more rune was regularly used – Ƿ ƿ “wynn” for the sound [ w ]. In modern publications it is replaced by w.

Like any alphabetic writing, OE writing was based on a phonetic principle: every letter indicated a separate sound. This principle, however, was not always observed, even at the earliest stages of phonetic spelling. Some OE letters indicated two or more sounds, even distinct phonemes, e.g. ʒ stood for four different phonemes; some letters, indicating distinct sounds stood for positional variants of phonemes – a and æ. A careful study of the OE sound system has revealed that a set of letters, s, f, and Þ (also shown as ð stood for two sounds each: a voiced and voiceless consonant. And yet, on the whole, OE spelling was far more phonetic and consistent than ME spelling. The letters of the OE alphabet below are supplied with transcription symbols, if their sound values in OE differ from the sound values normally attached to them in Latin and other languages.

Old English Alphabet

a	n [n], [ŋ]
æ	o
b	p
c [k] or [k‘]	r
d	s [s] or [z]
e	t
f [f] or [v]	Þ, ð [θ] or [ð]
ʒ [g], [g‘], [γ] or [j]	u
h [x], [x‘] or [h]	w
i	x
l	y
m

 

The letters could indicate short and long sounds. The length of vowels is shown by a macron: bāt [ba:t], NE boat or by a line above the letter, as in the examples below; long consonants are indicated by double letters.

In reading OE texts one should observe the following rules for letters indicating more than one sound. The letters f, s and Þ, ð stand for voiced fricatives between vowels and also between a vowel and a voiced consonant; otherwise they indicate corresponding voiceless fricatives:

 

	OE	NE	OE	NE
f	ofer [over] selfa [selva]	over self	feohtan [feoxtan] oft [oft]	fight often
s	rīsan [ri:zan]	rise	rās [ra:s] ʒāst [ga:st]	rose ghost
Þ, ð	ōðer [oðer] wyrÞe [wyrðe]	other worthy	ðæt [θæt] lēoÞ [leo: θ]	that song

 

The letter ʒ stands for g initially before back vowels, for j before and after front vowels, for γ between back vowels and for g ‘mostly when preceded by c:

OE ʒ ān [g], ʒ ēar [j], dæ ʒ [j], da ʒ as [γ], sec ʒ an [g‘] (NE go, year, day, days, say).

The letter h stands for x between a back vowel and a consonant and also initially before consonants and for x' next to front vowels; the distribution of h is uncertain:

OE h læne [x], tā h te [x], ni h t [x‘], h ē [x] or h (NE lean, taught, night, he).

The letter n stands for n in all positions except when followed by k or g; in this case it indicates [g]: OE sin ʒ an (NE sing).

 

OLD ENGLISH WRITTEN RECORDS

We can learn a great deal about Old English culture by reading Old English recipes, charms, riddles, descriptions of saints’ lives, and epics such as Beowulf. Most remaining texts in Old English are religious, legal, medical, or literary in nature.

Old English texts are divided along geographic lines into Northumbrian, Mercian, West-Saxon, and Kentish; they can also be categorized in terms of whether they were written in early or late Old English and whether they are poetry or prose. Most evidence of older Old English comes from northern poetic texts such as C æ dmons Hymn. Most evidence of later Old English comes from southern prose texts such as Alfred’s Orosius or the works of Ǽlfric.

For some manuscripts – Beowulf, for example – a dialect and date of composition cannot be firmly established. These factors make it hard to compare dialect, genre, and age.

Here is a list of some works in Old English:

Beowulf. Mixed dialect Northumbrian/West Saxon; manuscript from c. 1000 but based on earlier version.

Lindisfarne Gospels. Northumbrian interlinear gloss; c. 950.

Rushworth Glosses. Interlinear gloss; c. 970. Matthew is Mercian; Mark, Luke and John are Northumbrian.

The Junius Manuscript. Written between the 7th and 10th centuries; compiled towards the late 10th; contains Genesis, Exodus, Christ and Satan.

The Exeter Book. Early poetry; contains Riddles, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wanderer, and the Seafarer.

Gregory’s Pastoral Care. Early West Saxon, late 9th century, ascribed to King Alfred.

Boethius and Orosius. Early West-Saxon, ascribed to King Alfred.

Homilies, by Ǽlfric. West Saxon, c. 1000.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Many versions, one composed in Peterborough that continues to 1154.

The scribes who copied and illustrated the manuscripts worked mainly in monasteries. The manuscripts are often exquisite works of art. The originals were written on vellum, very expensive thin leather. Books were therefore owned by a monastery, a church, or a wealthy person and were typically versions of the Bible, prayer books, school books, manuals of various kinds, and music.

Facsimile editions enable us to see what the text looked like. This is important since these works are often modernized by editors when they appear in anthologies and scholarly editions.