original _ā̆_). It is, then, simply the development of the
_e_-_i_-fracture into a consonant + _a_, and may be represented
thus: O.E. _āc_ ("oak") > _ę̄c_ > _ēc_ > _ēǝc_ >
_iǝc_ > _yak_. (See also Murray D.S.C.S., 105). Cp. _yance_
and _yence_, "once"; _yell_, "ale"; _yak_, "ache." This also appears
in connection with fracture other than that from O.E. _ā_: cp.
_yirth_, _yird_, for "earth."


19. _D_ FOR THE SPIRANT _TH_.

This appears in a number of words: e.g., _ledder_, "leather";
_fader_ (in Gau), _fadder_, "father"; _moder_, _mudder_, "mother";
_broder_, _brudder_, "brother"; _lidder_ (A.S. _liðre_); _de_ (Gau),
"the" (article); _widdie_ (O.E. _wiðig_), "withy"; _dead_, "death";
_ferde_, "fourth"; etc. In some works this tendency is quite
general. Norse loanwords as a rule keep the spirant, but in the
following loanwords _ð_ has become _d_: _cleed_, _cleeding_,
"clothe, clothing," from O.N. _klæða_; _red_, "to clear up," O.N.
_ryðja_; _bodin_, O.N. _boðinn_ (? See E.D.D.); _bud_, "bribe," O.N.
_boð_; _heid_, "brightness," O.N. _hæið_; _eident_, "busy," O.N.
_iðinn_ (_ythand_ is, however, the more common Sco. form);
_bledder_, "to prate," O.N. _blaðra_ (more commonly _blether_ in
Sco.); _byrd_, "ought," O.N. _burði_; _stiddy_, O.N. _steði_. I do
not think _ryde_, "severe," can be derived from O.N. _reiðr_; and
_frody_, "wise," is rather O.E. _frod_ than O.N. _fróðr_. _Waith_,
O.N. _væiðr_, has kept the spirant, but _faid_, a "company of
hunters," has changed it to _d_. _Faid_ probably comes in from
Gaelic. I have called attention to this change of _ð_ to _d_ in
Sco., since many words affected by it have become almost identical