PRINCIPAL VARIATIONS OF FORM
OR SPELLING
1. a varies with o (before m, n); as land, lang, lamb—lond, long, lomb; man, name—(Western) mon, nome.
2. a (= ā) varies in Northern texts with (i) ai, ay; as (a) fare, fare—fayre (b) fayre—farest, fairest: (ii) with Southern o, oo; see 14.
3. ai, ay varies with (i) ei, ey; as mayntene—meyntene: (ii) a; see 2: (iii) o, oo; see 2.
4. au (before m, n) varies with a (chiefly in French words); as daunce—dance.
5. be-, prefix varies with bi-; as begynne—biginne.
6. c varies with k; as bac, court—bak, kort.
7. des-, prefix varies with dis-; as des-, disavauntage.
8. e (= ẹ̄) varies in Northern texts with ei, ey; as wel(e)—weill, weyl; stele—steill. See 13, 20.
9. ei, ey varies with (i) ai, ay (cf. 3); as weie, wey(e)—way(e): (ii) hence in Northern texts with a; as strat-ly—streyte: (iii) with e; see 8.