English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day by Walter William Skeat
page 68 of 138 (49%)
page 68 of 138 (49%)
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light, _sb._ l{-i}ht, 5. 16 l{-e}oht
light, _adj._ liht, 11. 30 leoht narrow naru, 7. 14 nearu 20 old áld, 9. 16 eald sheep sc{-e}p, 25. 32 sc{-e}ap shoes sc{-o}as, 10. 10 sc{-e}os, sc{-y} silver sylfur, 10. 9 seolfor slept, _pt.t.pl._ sleptun, 13. 25 sl{-e}pon 25 sold, _pp._ sald, 10. 19 seald spit, _vb._ spittan, 27. 30 sp{-æ}tan wall wall, 21. 33 weall yard (_rod_) ierd, 10. 10 gyrd yare (_ready_) iara, 22. 4 gearo 30 yoke ioc, 11. 29 geoc youth iuguth, 19. 20 geoguth In l.5, the scribe Farman miswrote _caldas_ as _galdas_, in Matt. x 42; but it is a mere mistake. In l. 20, the accent over the _a_ in _áld_ is marked in the MS., though the vowel was not originally long. Even a glance at this comparative table reveals a peculiarity of the Wessex dialect which properly belongs neither to Mercian nor to Modern English, viz. the use of the diphthong _ea_ (in which each vowel was pronounced separately) instead of simple _a_, before the sounds denoted by _l_, _r_, _h_, especially when another consonant follows. We find accordingly such Wessex forms as _eall_, _ceald_, _fealleth_, _-feald_, _gealla_, _healf_, _healt_, _nearu_, _eald_, _seald_, _weall_, _gearo_, where the Old Mercian has simply _all_, _cald_, _falleth_, _-fald_, _galla_, _half_, _halt_, _naru_, _ald_, _sald_, _wall_, _iara_. Similarly, Wessex has the diphthongs _{-e}a_, _{-e}o_, |
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