LL-L: "Orthography" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 06.OCT.1999 (04)

[Alfred Brothers]

Jason Childers wrote:

> >The "yogh" (the letter similar to a 3) was used in Middle English texts to
> >represent the sounds now usually written "y", "w" or "gh". Examples are ME
> >"3ong, dra3en, dou3ter, 3e, 3if, fi3ten" (young, draw, daughter, ye, if,
> >fight). It was also occasionally used by scribes for voiced /s/ [z] at the
> end
> >of words out of confusion with the letter z. It probably dropped out of use
> as
> >these sounds changed in pronunciation and fell in line with sounds
> represented
> >by symbols already in use (y, w, etc.). (I believe the IPA symbol used for
> the
> >"s" in "pleasure" was borrowed from this source.)
>
> I'm still not sure of it's use though.  When you say it is "usually written
> 'y', 'w' or 'gh'", did it have three pronounciations?  Could you substitute
> it in current spellings for examples?  Can you do the same for wynn?

Yes, there were three pronunciations, all originating as some form of "g". At
the beginning of a word it was pronounced like the "y" in English "yard"; at the
end of a word and before "t" it was pronounced like "ch" in German "noch" or
"ich", depending on the letter preceding it; and between vowels it was
pronounced as North German/Low Saxon intervocalic "g" is often pronounced --
later it became "w" or "y" ("bo3e" became "bowe" (bow) and "fle3en" became
"fleien" or "fleyen" (fly)).

At one point in history, the sound must have been pronounced the same, or
similarly, in all positions. Substituting it in current English spelling would
cause confusion, as it undoubtedly did in Middle English -- the most likely
reason for its disappearance. For example, once "dra3e" took on the
pronunciation of "drawe", why not spell it with the letter they were using for
the "w" sound? (As hard as it seems to believe, English used to be a fairly
phonetic language, and spelling changes took place to match the pronunciation.)

As for wynn, it was not very frequent in ME, having been replaced by "w", often
written "uu" or "vv" instead.

> Also, is there a name for the letter ‘?

I'm not sure what you're referring to here. The symbol appears on my screen only
as a single open quotation mark. Is it the ligature "oe" to which you're
referring? If so, the symbol was not common in Middle English; and if there was
a name for it, I don't know what it is. Maybe someone else can offer an answer.
My first thought is that it may have been used in Norman French borrowings,
since it continues to be used in Modern French. As far as I know, though, it is
called "o" "e" in French and doesn't have a special name. (Does anyone here know
that for sure?)

Alfred Brothers
alfredb at erols.com