9. The presence of the simple single signs þ and ð, for the th in thin, and the th in thine.
Of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet we may safely say that it was insufficient. The points wherein the Latin alphabet was
improved in its adaptation to the Gothic tongues, are, 1. the admission of þ and ð; 2. the evolution of w out of u. Upon this latter circumstance, and on k and z, I make the following extract from the Latin Dedication of Otfrid's Krist:—"Hujus enim linguæ barbaries, ut est inculta et indisciplinabilis, atque insueta capi regulari freno grammaticæ artis, sic etiam in multis dictis scriptu est difficilis propter literarum aut congeriem, aut incognitam sonoritatem. Nam interdum tria u u u ut puto quærit in sono; priores duo consonantes, ut mihi videtur, tertium vocali sono manente," And, further, in respect to other orthographical difficulties:—"Interdum vero nec a, nec e, nec i, nec u, vocalium sonos præcanere potui, ibi y Grecum mihi videbatur ascribi. Et etiam hoc elementum lingua hæc horrescit interdum; nulli se characteri aliquotiens in quodam sono nisi difficile jungens. K et z sæpius hæc lingua extra usum Latinitatis utitur; quæ grammatici inter litteras dicunt esse superfluas. Ob stridorem autem dentium interdum ut puto in hac lingua z utuntur, k autem propter faucium sonoritatem."
[§ 265]. The Anglo-Norman Period.—Between the Latin alphabet, as applied to the Anglo-Saxon, and the Latin alphabet, as applied to the Norman-French, there are certain points of difference. In the first place, the sound-system of the languages (like the French) derived from the Latin, bore a greater resemblance to that of the Romans, than was to be found amongst the Gothic tongues. Secondly, the alphabets of the languages in point were more exclusively Latin. In the present French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, there is an exclusion of the k. This is not the case with the Anglo-Norman. Like the Latins, the Anglo-Normans considered that the sound of the Greek θ was represented by th: not, however, having this sound in their language, there was no corresponding sign in their alphabet. The greatest mischief done by the Norman influence was the ejection from the English alphabet of þ and ð. In other respects the alphabet was improved. The letters z, k, j, were either imported or more currently recognised. The letter y took a semi-vowel power, having been previously represented by e;
itself having the power of i. The mode of spelling the compound sibilant with ch was evolved. My notions concerning this mode of spelling are as follows:—At a given period the sound of ce in ceaster, originally that of ke, had become, first, that of ksh, and, secondly, that of tsh; still it was spelt ce, the e, in the eyes of the Anglo-Saxons, having the power of y. In the eyes also of the Anglo-Saxons the compound sound of ksh, or tsh, would differ from that of k by the addition of y: this, it may be said, was the Anglo-Saxon view of the matter. The Anglo-Norman view was different. Modified by the part that, in the combination th, was played by the aspirate h, it was conceived by the Anglo-Normans, that ksh, or tsh, differed from k, not by the addition of y (expressed by e), but by that of h. Hence the combination ch as sounded in chest. The same was the case with sh. This latter statement is a point in the history, not so much of an alphabet, as of an orthography.
The preceding sketch, as has been said more than once before, has been given with one view only, viz., that of accounting for defective modes of spelling. The history of almost all alphabets is the same. Originally either insufficient, erroneous, or inconsistent, they are transplanted from one language to a different, due alterations and additions rarely being made.
[§ 266]. The reduplication of the consonant following, to express the shortness (dependence) of the preceding vowel, is as old as the classical languages: terra, θάλασσα. The following extract from the Ormulum (written in the thirteenth century) is the fullest recognition of the practice that I have met with. The extract is from Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica.
And whase wilenn shall þis boc,
Efft oþerr siþe writenn,
Himm bidde iec þatt hett write rihht,