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
| 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:
- PC2 & Orm
- points of conflict in PC2 & Orm
- predominant spelling in selected 12th century sources (where PC2 & Orm conflict)
Issues arising from this spelling comparison:
- reflexes of OE prefix g`e- occur only twice in PC2: onoh (< g`eno_h) and gehaten;
- y`e- occurs rarely (once?) as a verbal prefix in Orm; i- is found with hwilc hwae_r;
- twin prefixes - y`e- and i- for OE g`e-, would be inconsistent with OE and 13th century eME texts, but are found in other 12th century texts; perhaps they should just be seen as variant eME forms, akin to selfer and silfer; the current site prefers a single prefix i-;
- PC2 has no reflex of OE c`g`, although PC1 has gg; given the deadlock, the default eME spelling for /dZ`/ reverts to the OE spelling, but with insular 'g' - cy%; that allows gg to cover /gg/ in the six words where it is needed;
- where PC2 and Orm don't see eye to eye, we look to OE; so the solution to the conflict over the spelling of /G``/ is OE g; it's also used by PC2 in at least one instance to represent /G``/, but more importantly, OE g mirrors neatly the behaviour of h, which has two quite distinct sounds - one initial and one medial/final; hence g becomes the eME spelling;
- see normalisation of spelling for a fuller discussion;
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.