OLD ENGLISH (OE) ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION
Old English (OE) scribes used two kinds of letters: the runes and the
letters of the Latin alphabet. The bulk of the OE material — OE
manuscripts — is written in the Latin script. The use of Latin letters in
English differed in some points from their use in Latin, for the scribes made
certain modifications and additions in order to indicate OE sounds which
did not exist in Latin.
Depending of the size and shape of the letters modern philologists
distinguish between several scripts which superseded one another during
the Middle Ages. Throughout the Roman period and in the Early Middle
Ages capitals (scriptura catipalis) and uncial (scriptura uncialis) letters
were used; in the 5th—7th c. the uncial became smaller and the cursive
script began to replace it in everyday life, while in book-making a still
smaller script, minuscule (scriptura minusculis), was employed. The
variety used in Britain is known as the Irish, or insular minuscule. Insular
minuscule script differed from the continental minuscule in the shape of
some letters, namely d, f, g. From these letters only one is used in modern
publications of OE texts as a distinctive feature of the OE alphabet – the
letter Z (corresponding to the continental g). In the OE variety of the Latin
alphabet i and j were not distinguished; nor were u and v; the letters k, q,
x and w were not used until many years later. A new letter was devised by
putting a stroke through d or ð, to indicate the voiceless and the voiced
interdental [θ] and [ð]. The letter a was used either alone or as part of a
ligature made up of a and e — æ; likewise in the earlier OE texts we find
the ligature œ (o plus e), which was later replaced by e.
The most interesting peculiarity of OE writing was the use of some
runic characters, in the first place, the rune called “thorn” Þ which was
employed alongside ð to indicate [θ] and [ð] — it is usually preserved in
modern publications as a distinctive feature of the OE script. In the
manuscripts one more rune was regularly used, the rune “wynn” for the
sound [wl. In modern publications it is replaced by w.
Like any alphabetic writing, OE writing was based on a phonetic
principle: every letter indicated a separate sound. This principle, however,
was not always observed, even at the earliest stages of phonetic spelling.
Some OE letters indicated two or more sounds, even distinct phonemes,
e.g. Z stood for four different phonemes (see below); some letters,
indicating distinct sounds stood for positional variants of phonemes — a
and æ. A careful study of the OE sound system has revealed that a set of
letters, s, f and Þ (also shown as ð) stood for two sounds each: a voiced and
voiceless consonant. And yet, on the whole, OE spelling was far more
phonetic and consistent than Mod E spelling.
The letters of the OE alphabet below are supplied with transcription
symbols, if their sound values in OE differ from the sound values normally
attached to them in Latin and other languages.
Old English Alphabet
a n [n], [ŋ]
æ
b 0
c [k] or [k’] p
d r
e s [s] or [z]
f [f] or [v] t
Z [g], [g’], [Y] or [j] Þ, [θ] or [ð]
h u
i w [][][9]
l x [y]
m y
V
J
The letters in OE could indicate short and long sounds. The length of
vowels is shown by a macron or by a line above the letter, e.g. OE brōþor;
long consonants are indicated by double letters (The differences between
long and short sounds are important for the correct understanding of the
OE sound system and sound changes, but need not be observed in
reading).
Rules of Reading in Old English
In general, the sound meaning of the majority of OE letters,
correspond to the sound meanings of corresponding Latin letters.
E.g. OE etan [etan], OE faran [faran], OE oxa [oksa] etc.
However, there are some exceptions and following rules should be
observed for letters indicating more than one sound.
1. The letter æ renders the sound [æ]. In OE manuscripts we often come
across the vowel combination ae, instead of æ. ǣ renders the
corresponding long vowel.
2. The ligature œ stands for the sound [œ], like the French sound eu, and
German ö.
3. The sound meaning of the letter y, corresponds to the French u, or
German ü. E.g. OE fyllan (to fill), ӯ renders a long vowel, e.g OE fӯr
(fire).
4. The letter c stands for two sounds:
1) hard, velar [k];
2) soft, palatal [k’], which gradually became the affricate [t ʃ];
e.g. OE macian [makian] (to make);
OE ceosan [k’eozan] (to choose).
In a consonant combination sc, c always renders the sound [k];
e.g. OE fisc [fisk] (fish).
5. The letter n stands for [n] in all positions except when followed by [k]
or [g]; in this case it indicates the sound [ŋ];
e.g. OE sinZan [siŋgan] (to sing).
6. The letter Z represented four different sounds:
1) an initial Z before consonants and back vowels and medial Z after n,
represented the voiced stop [g];
e.g. OE Zōd [gōd] (good),
OE Zōs [gōs] (goose),
OE sinZan [siŋgan] (to sing)
2) an initial Z before front vowels represented the voiced palatal spirant
[j];
e.g. OE Zeard [jæard] (yard), OE ZeonZ [jeoŋg] (young).
3) After back vowels and after the consonant r, the letter Z represented
the voiced guttural spirant [Y] (this sound corresponds to the
Georgian sound ღ);
e.g. OE beorZ [beorY] (mountain, ბეორღ);
OE daZas [daYas] (days დაღას).
4) The letter Z also represented soft, palatal [g‘], which gradually
developed into a soft affricate [dZ].
Double g was represented by the letters cZ, e.g. OE secZan [seggan] (to
say).
7. The letters f, s and Þ, ð stood for voiced fricatives between vowels and
also between a vowel and a voiced consonant; otherwise they indicate
corresponding voiceless fricatives;
e.g. OE fyllan [fylan] (to fill),
but OE ofer [over] (over);
OE rīsan [rīzan] (to rise),
but OE rās [rās] (rose);
OE Þæt [θæt] (that),
but OE oÞer [oðer] (other).
8. The vowel combination ea renders a diphthong [æa] in OE;
e.g. OE bearn [bæarn] (a child).
9. The vowel combination eo represents the diphthong [eo] in OE.
10. The vowel combinations io and ie rendered the diphthogs [io, ie].
However, from the X century this diphthongs developed into
monophthongs [i, y].
