and may, in a sense, be said to be the back-bone of the whole, from
its supplying a very large number of the most curious and important
early forms.

The material used has been carefully revised by both authors, so that
they must be held to be jointly responsible for the final form in
which the whole is now offered to the public.

NOTE ON THE PHONOLOGY OF MIDDLE-ENGLISH.

One great difficulty in finding a Middle-English word in this, or any
other, Dictionary is due to the frequent variation of the symbols
denoting the vowel-sounds. Throughout the whole of the period to which
the work relates the symbols _i_ and _y_, in particular, are
constantly interchanged, whether they stand alone, or form parts of
diphthongs. Consequently, words which are spelt with one of these
symbols in a given text must frequently be looked for as if spelt with
the other; i.e. the pairs of symbols _i_ and _y_, _ai_
and _ay_, _eì_ and _ey_, _oì_ and _oy_,
_uì_ and _uy_, must be looked upon as likely to be used
indifferently, one for the other. For further information, the student
should consult the remarks upon Phonology in the Specimens of English
(1150 to 1300), 2nd ed., p. xxv. For those who have not time or
opportunity to do this, a. few brief notes may perhaps suffice.

The following symbols are frequently confused, or are employed as
equivalent to each other because they result from the same sound in
the Oldest English or in Anglo-French:--

/* _i,y_;--_ai, ay_;--_ei, ey_;--_oi, oy_;--_ui,