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Northumbrian Old English 𝓮̄o and 𝓮̄a

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

John W. Watson Jr.
John W. Watson Jr.*
Affiliation:
The Tulane University of Louisiana
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Abstract

[Germanic au > O E 𝓮̄a [æa]; 𝓮̄u > lo. In late Northumbrian texts the spellings ea and eo appear almost interchangeably for both diphthongs. In general these spellings are ambiguous and the most recent view has been that the confusion was merely graphic. Certain isolated textual forms, however, point to phonemic coalescence in an ǣ-diphthong, an interpretation supported by the evidence of modern North Country dialects.]

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 22 , Issue 1: January-March , March 1946, pp. 19 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © 1946 by the Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 This Rushworth gloss is usually designated Rushworth 2 (abbreviated Ru 2) to distinguish it from the Rushworth gloss to Matthew (Rushworth 1), which is by a Mercian scribe. It will be so designated hereinafter. Similarly, the other two late Northumbrian texts will, for convenience, be referred to simply as Lindisfarne (Li.) and Ritual (Ri.).

2 A similar state of affairs exists with regard to the corresponding short diphthongs eo and ea resulting from breaking of Early OE e and æ respectively.

3 Altenglisches Elementarbuch §§108, 114 (Heidelberg, 1902).

4 Historische Grammatik der Englischen Sprache 1.§§127-8 (Leipzig, 1921).

5 Cf. Luick ibid.

6 For discussion of the forms on the coins see Theodor Kohler's study Die Altenglischen Namen in Baedas Historia Ecclesiastica und auf den Altnordhumbrischen Münzen (Berlin, 1908).

7 Alan S. C. Ross, Linguistic Evidence for the Date of the Ruthwell Cross, MLR 28.145-55. Cf. A. S. Cook, Notes on the Ruthwell Cross, PMLA 17.367-90.

8 The ultimate Germanic origin of 𝓮̄o in the preterit of this type of strong verbs of class VII is somewhat unsettled, as the verbs underwent different changes in the various languages; the problem of class-VII strong verbs is one of the more controversial subjects in comparative Germanic grammar. In Old English the preterit seems to have been levelled under the class-II strong verbs. Cf. also g𝓮̄ong, preterit of gangan. At any rate the forms of the preterit (be)h𝓮̄oldon in the other Old English dialects make it clear that we have here to consider an original 𝓮̄o in the stem syllable.

9 Hist. Gram. §128, Anm.

10 Richard Jordan, Handbuch der Mittelenglischen Grammatik2 §§81-2 (Heidelberg, 1934).

11 Ibid. §84.

12 Thus the terms ‘close and open e' as hereinafter used will be loosely interchangeable with ‘Anglian e' and 'æ2' respectively.

13 A Grammar of the Dialect of Lorton (Cumberland) §§162, 165-6 (Oxford, 1913).

14 Where the diphthong is initial, either originally or as the result of local loss of h-, both ī and eī are heard: (e)īd ‘head’, (e)īst ‘east’, (e)īstar ‘Easter’ (§194).

15 Bülbring, Elementarbuch §111.

16 On Early English Pronunciation; Part 5: Existing Dialectal as Compared with West Saxon Pronunciation (London, 1889).

17 Ibid. 878 ff.

18 See EEP 1.3 ff. for the key to Ellis' ‘Palaeotype’. Ellis' [ii] corresponds to IPA [ii], his[ii] to IPA [i:].

19 EEP 5.630.

20 Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Grammar; Oxford, etc., 1905.

21 In following this discussion it will be convenient to refer to the accompanying map.

22 In parts of the south there remain slight traces of local variants, principally ei and eə.

23 It is not improbable that in these southernmost areas of Northumbrian territory the spreading ī forms < æ2 were reinforced by the influence of Midland dialects where close and open e had coalesced as ī.

24 The 𝓮̄o in OE pr𝓮̄ost is of obscure ultimate origin; compare Holthausen, Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 249 (Heidelberg, 1934) and reff. However, there is no question (from the appearance of the word in the various Old English dialects) that it belongs to the Early OE 𝓮̄o phoneme.