[Literature:] (1) of the Worcester Fragment. Haufe, E., Anglia, iv. 237 (emendations); Holthausen, F., Anglia, xiv. 321 (emendations); Kaluza, M., Litteraturblatt, ii. 92; *Zupitza, J., Archiv, lxxxv. 78 (review of Buchholz). (2) of the Desputisoun. Heesch, G., Language and Metre, Kiel, 1884; Holthausen, F., Anglia, Beiblatt, iii. 302; Kaluza, M., Litteraturblatt, xii. 12; *Kunze, O., Critical Text, Berlin, 1892; Linow, W., Erlangen, 1889, edition enlarged in Erlanger Beiträge, i. 1. 1889; Mätzner, E., AE. Sprachproben, i. 90-103; Varnhagen, H., Anglia, ii. 225-52; Zupitza, J., Archiv, lxxxv. 84. (3) of the Legend in general. *Batiouchkof, Th., Romania, xx. 236; Bruce, J. D., Modern Language Notes, v. col. 385-401; Dudley, Louise, The Egyptian Elements in the Legend of the Body and Soul, Bryn Mawr, 1911; id. An Early Homily on the ‘Body and Soul’ Theme, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, April, 1909; Gaidoz, H., Revue Celtique, x. 463-70; Kleinert, G., Halle, 1880; Paris, Gaston, Romania, ix. 311-14; Varnhagen, H., Anglia, ii. 225, iii. 569; *Zupitza, J., Archiv, xci. 369.

[Phonology:] For an account dealing with all the seven fragments see Buchholz: what follows is based on the two here printed, with references, where necessary, to his text of the other five.

Oral a is a, so ac, farene, habban: a before nasals usually o, as from, mon, but a in licame (wavering characteristic of the Middle South): a before lengthening groups is o, as honden, imong, longe, psalm-songe. æ is a after w, as was, watere D 12, but nes D 19; otherwise e, as crefte, þene (OE. þænne), þet, but the traditional spelling survives in æt, æfter D 42, goldfæten, igædered, gæderedest (OE. gæderian), þæs, wræcche (OE. wræcca), wrænches G 48 (OE. *wrænc). Messe is a French loan-word. e is regularly e, as bedde, heui, met, þenchen, wel, &c., but i in siggen F 7, siggeþ G 34 (characteristic of South-East and Kent). i is regularly i, as him, nimen, willæn; it is u after w in nulleþ, wulleþ C 35; but i in wihte D 3, nowiht D 19. o is regularly o, as bodeþ, iboren, sorhliche; before nasal, onȝean C 6; after w, woldest D 50, noldest, iwurþen F 46; but a in aȝan C 18. eo is written for o in feorþsiþ. œ (o + i) is eo in seoruhfule, seorhful, seoruhliche, &c., neose. u is regularly u, as biwunden, cumeþ, ful, tunge, &c., but o in iworþen F 45 after w. y is u, as ifulled, ikunde, lutiȝ, sunne, ufel, wunne, wurmes, but y is preserved in synne F 33: iflut 2/30 is Scandinavian, OWScand. flytja; drihtenes 4/33, kinges E 39 descend from OE. forms in i.

ā is normally o, as bon, loc, more, sor, woniende; but a is often preserved as þa 2/18, lac 4/25, mare E 39, wa F 4. eo is written for o in þeo 2/2, greoning, greoneþ; and oa in woaning 2/15, woaneþ 2/25, is an attempt to express graphically the [ao] sound. Þe [ȝet] E 3, 36 occurs twice beside þa, þo. OE. wāwa gives weowe 2/7. ǣ1 (WG. ai + i) is mostly æ, idæled, tæcheþ, ilærede, and before two consonants, ilæsteþ, æffre; but e in bideled C 32, ilered G 29, ilesteþ, efre D 41, þen (= OE. þǣm) 3/36. It is exceptionally a in þam C 25, facen (OE. fǣcne) G 10, atterne G 17. In bileafen D 6, ea is written for æ. ǣ2 (WG. ā) is still æ in þær, þærof, wæde, grædie, wære E 28, but commonly e, þerinne, seten, beden, were, misdeden, gredi. a is exceptional in hwar 3/4, 5, 7, 9, 10 (= OE. hwār). ē is usually e, swetnesse, þe, 2/2, me, ne, also before nasals, fenge, icwemdest. ī is normally i, bi, lif, iwiteþ, liþ, hwile, &c., but after w it is u in hwule, swuþe: hwui 4/17 beside hwi D 22 is an attempt to express more fully the sound of w. ō is normally o, to, moder, flore, &c. œ̄ is eo in weopinde 2/10. (OE. wœ̄pan). ū is regularly u, hus, wiþuten, ut, &c. ȳ is u, ifuled, luþerliche, &c.

ea, breaking of a before r + consonant is ea, earfeþsiþ, eart, scearp, æ in ært 4/16, e in ert D 15, scerpe F 29, imerked G 39; no examples of a. It is ea before lengthening cons. groups, earde, bearn. The i-umlaut of ea (WS. ie) is e in all cases, scerpeþ, erming D 18, yerde bidernan F 6. ea, breaking of a before l + cons. is a, alle, also, scalt, wale G 2 (wealh): before lengthening groups normally o, colde, coldeþ, itolde, holden G 32, 45, iwold C 8, isold D 38, monifolde, but e, heldan C 35. The i-umlaut is seen in wældeþ, 4/41. eo, breaking of e before r + consonant, is eo, heorte D 49 and o herborwen C 23: after w also eo, andweorke F 42, OE. handgeweorc, and e, werke D 30: the group weor, in LWS wur, has u, iwurþe F 45, wurþe G 25, unwerþ 4/37, o, beworpen D 12; before lengthening groups eo, yeorne, eorþe C 5. The i-umlaut of eo, which after w had already become y in OE. is here u, wurþest, deorwurþe, wurst D 30, wurþliche G 36. eo before l + consonant gives u in sulfen C 27, suluen F 28 (already sylf in LWS). eo, u-umlaut of e, is eo in heouene; å-umlaut of e is eo in freome, feole, weolen (Bülbring, § 234); u- and å-umlaut of i is eo, seouene, seoþþen. libbe 2/13 is OE. libban. ea, palatal diphthong, is ea, eæ in isceaft F 35, isceæftan; a in schal, scal. ie after g is e, ȝerde, biȝete C 13 (Bülbring, § 151 n.), i in ȝiuen 4/21. eo < WG. o after sc is o in scorteþ, scoldest C 28, but eo in sceoldest G 42. eo < u is u, onscunedest, sculen C 38. OE. heom is heom and ham C 18; eom, eam, am F 14.

ēa is normally ea, deaþ, heafod, bereaued, seaþe E 8, &c., but æ in dædan 3/42, beræfed C 7, sæþe, and e, birefedest G 12. The i-umlaut of ēa is e, alesed, iheren E 26, semdest 4/18, &c. (Bülbring, § 183 n.); and u, huned D 47 (WS. ȳ). ēo is normally eo, beoþ, teoreþ, leoflic, freonden, &c. Its i-umlaut does not occur; deore C 47, neowe C 29, neode F 5, retain eo (Bülbring, § 189, anm. 1). īe is e in isene, E 40; yet C 2.

a + g is usually aw, as in dawes 2/14, gnawen C 42, mawe C 49, but the older deaȝes survives 3/40. æ + g is normally ei, iseid, but isæid G 19, and once dai E 13. e + g is ei, ileide: weile 4/19 may represent OE. weg lā (see Björkman, Scandinavian Loan-Words, 51). OE. ongegn is onȝean C 6, aȝan C 18. o + g is ow, bowe C 4, forhoweþ: o + h, douhter G 31, wrouhte E 16, but wrohten D 25: u + ȝ, fuweles 4/42: y + h, tuhte E 22. ā + g is ow in owen C 45, sidwowes C 30: ā + h is seen in ohtest C 8, ahte E 2, 29 (a survival). ǣ + g is eiȝ, iseiȝe D 8, leiȝe D 11, keiȝe F 16; ei in clei: ǣ + h, aeihte 3/13, bitæiht G 52. ē + g, sweiȝe E 24. ō + g, h, inouh, unifouh D 39, souhte, ibrouht. ū + h is seen in þuþte 3/12 (= þuhte). ea + ht, becomes ei, istreiht, unseihte D 45. eo + h (LWS i) has i in riht; the i-umlaut is represented by besihþ 3/45. ēa + g, eiȝen, heiȝe E 39, but eȝen 3/42 and heie G 40: ēa + h is eih in neih, heih G 42, but þauh G 27. ēo + g, dreiȝen G 6, but driæn 4/36, written for drien, is due to the scribe and may be Mercian; ifreoed 4/28 is noteworthy. ā + w is usually ow, sowle C 2, blowen E 32, nowiht D 19, but soule, nouht. ō + w, touward F 29, but reoweþ C 45. ēa + w, strau D 14. ēo + w, usually eow, cneow C 27, icneowe C 27, þeow, þeowdome, but reouliche F 19, heou G 22.

In the vowels of final syllables, levelling has generally taken place, but a few older forms, isceæftan, heafod, dædan, cumaþ, biddan, offrian, weolan, remain from the original MS. In lufedæst, willæn, driæn, &c., æ is written for e. The prefix ge is represented by i.

The consonants present little of note. OE. nā māra becomes one word with doubled m and shortened a in nammore 3/34 (comp. wumme 2/13 note). farene 4/28, with n for nn, is exceptional. OE. ǣfre is æffre 2/14, so næffre C 6, but æfre 3/3. For f between two vowels u is generally written, bereaued 2/22, but beræfedest E 20. In mænet 2/7 t is French writing for þ: schal 2/9 is isolated, sc [š] is the rule, as in onscunedest 3/3: k is written mostly before e and ie, while ȝ is used initially for the palatal (y in yield) and between vowels, once finally in lutiȝ 3/2 where the original probably had lutiȝe; g in other cases and mostly in combination with consonants. For cw, French qu is used once in quale 4/42.

[Accidence:] The ā and jā stems add e in the nom., blisse 3/8, bote 3/11, seoruwe 3/8, sowle 2/28, soule 3/45, modinesse 3/4, accusatives are hwule 3/1, lore 4/29, soule 2/9, sunne 4/22, Godnesse 3/3. The g. of strong nouns ends in -es, the d. in -e, the pl. n. a. of Masculines in -es; of Feminines in -e; Neuters as ban 2/21 are uninflected, pl. g. has -e, d., -en, as honden 3/38. Markes 3/6, pundes 3/5 have adopted masc. endings; honden 3/39, isceæftan 2/2, goldfæten 3/7 have joined the weak declension. Of the latter dædan 3/42, weolan 4/32 are g., heouene 4/28 (nom. s. heouene F 38 (OE. heofone), molde 3/34, d., and exceptionally willæn 4/33, an archaic form preserved by its phrasal character; a. is deade 3/40; æren, eiȝen 2/17, lippen 2/18, are pl. n., weolen 4/16, d., eȝen 3/42 a.