The oldest stage of English before the Norman Conquest is called 'Old English,' which name will be used throughout in this Book, although the name 'Anglo-Saxon' is still often used.
There were several dialects of Old English. This book deals only with the West-Saxon dialect in its earliest form.
SOUNDS.
VOWELS.
The vowel-letters in Old English had nearly the same values as in Latin. Long vowels were occasionally marked by (´), short vowels being left unmarked. In this book long vowels are marked by (ˉ). The following are the elementary vowels and diphthongs, with examples, and key-words from English, French (F.), and German (G.):—
| a | as in | mann (G.) | nama (name). |
| ā | ,, | father | stān (stone). |
| æ | ,, | man | glæd (glad). |
| ǣ | ,, | dǣd (deed)[[1]]. | |
| e | ,, | été (F.) | ic ete[[2]] (I eat). |
| ē | ,, | see (G.) | hē (he). |
| ę | ,, | men | męnn (men). |
| i | ,, | fini (F.) | cwic (alive). |
| ī | ,, | sieh (G.) | wīn (wine). |
| ie | ,, | fin | ieldran (ancestors). |
| īe | ,, | hīeran (hear). | |
| o | ,, | beau (F.) | god (god). |
| ō | ,, | so (G.) | gōd (good). |
| u | ,, | sou (F.) | sunu (son). |
| ū | ,, | gut (G.) | nū (now). |
| y | ,, | vécu (F.) | synn (sin). |
| ȳ | ,, | grün (G.) | brȳd (bride). |
| ea | = | æ + a | eall (all). |
| ēa | = | ǣ + a | ēast (east). |
| eo | = | e + o | weorc (work). |
| ēo | = | ē + o | dēop (deep). |
| e and ę are both written e in the MSS. | |||
The diphthongs are pronounced with the stress on the first element.
Those who find a difficulty in learning strange vowel-sounds may adopt the following approximate pronunciation:—
The pronunciation given in parentheses is the nearest that can be expressed in English letters as pronounced in Southern English.
CONSONANTS.