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Table V - Comparison of spellings in selected 12th century texts

a table of spellings from Peterborough Chronicle (1 & 2), Ormulum, Old English Herbarium, Early English Homilies, Twelfth Century Homilies, History of the Holy Rood-tree and Poema Morale (together with occasional reference to 13th century texts)

PC2
Peterborough Chronicle 2nd cont. (EM 1154)
Orm
Ormulum (EM 1161)
PC1
Peterborough Chronicle 1st cont. (EM 1121-1154)
HA
The Old English Herbarium and Medicina de Quadrupedibus (SW 1150)
VH
Early English Homilies from the Twelfth Century MS Vespasian D. xiv (SW 1150)
BH
Twelfth Century Homilies in MS Bodley 343 (SW 1175)
HR
History of the Holy Rood-tree (SW 1175)
PM
Poema Morale (SW 1175)
PRS
The Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, vol. 9 1888 (? 1166)
CRR
Curia Regis Rolls of the Reigns of Richard I and John, vol. 1, ed. C. T. Flower 1922 (? 1200)
IPM
Inquisitions Post Mortem in 'Archaeologia Cantiana' 2 1859. 281-326 (? 1246)
BA
Aelfric's Treatise on the Old Testament in MS Bodley 343: The Old English Version of the Heptateuch (SW 1175)
Owl
Owl & Nightingale (SE 1200?)
Lmn
Lay`amon (WM 1220?)
AW
Ancrene Wisse (WM 1220?)
SO
Sir Orfeo (EM 1300?)
Ch
Chaucer (EM 1368)
eME
Early Middle English
OE
Old English
Sounds & spellings (see examples below)
  OE PC2 Orm PC1 HA VH BH HR PM other eME
/A`:/ a_ a a a a a a a a a Lmn, AW, Owl a__
/a/ a a a ae, a ae, a ae, a ae, a   a a Lmn, AW, Owl, SO, Ch a
/e:/ e_ e e e e e e   e e Lmn, AW, Owl, SO, Ch e__
/E`:/ ae_, e_a ae ae ae, ea ae, ea ae, ea ae, ea   e ae Lmn ae
/i:/ i_ i i i i i i   i i Lmn, AW, Owl i__
/o:/ o_ o o   o o o   o   o__
/u:/ u_ u u   u u u   u   u__
/j/ g` i, g y% g (i) y% g y%   y% y` Lmn, AW, Owl, SO y%
/aI`/ aeg` aei, aeg ay%y% aei, aeg a(e)y% aeg aey% aey% ai ay Ch ay%
/eI`/ ae_g`, eg` ei, eg ey%y% ei   eg     ei ay, ey Ch ey%
/j@`/~ /i:/~ g`e ge, o /@`/ y%e, i ge y%e y%e, ge i, y%e i, y%e i- i Lmn, AW, Owl, SO i
~/ij/ ig` i iy%             - iy%
/S`/ sc` sc sh sc sc sc sc   sc (sch) sc Lmn sc
/tS`/ c` c ch c   c c   ch - c
/dZ`/ c`g` - gg gg (cg) cy%, y%y% cy% y%y% gg Lmn, AW, Owl, SO, Ch cy%
/gg/ cg (gg) - - gg AW, Owl, Ch gg
/x/,/ç/ h h h             h Lmn h
/xw/ hw w wh hw (wh) hw hw hw hw hw hw AW, Owl hw
/G``/ g ch, g(h) y%h` g y% g, y% y% y% y% g PRS, CRR, IPM, BA g
/kw/ cw cu, qu cw cw cw cw cw cw qu cw AW cw
/v/ f u(v) f f (u) f, u(v) f f f u(v) - f

Commentary

Key:

Issues arising from this spelling comparison:

MED entries consulted for table above: either, dai, seien, bien, brigge, egge, quarterne, quelen, quelmen, quen

See also the alternate table V - a comparison of spellings in Orm, PC2 and selected 13th century texts. On this page you'll also find a table of examples of various spellings, taken from the secondary eME sources.