PRINCIPAL VARIATIONS OF FORM OR SPELLING

1. a varies with o ( before m, n); as land, lang, lamb—lond, long, lomb; man, name—( Western ) mon, nome. 2. a (= ā) varies in Northern texts with (i) ai, ay; as ( a ) fare, fare —fayre ( b ) fayre—farest, fairest : (ii) with Southern o, oo; see 14. 3. ai, ay varies with (i) ei, ey; as mayntene—meyntene: (ii) a; see 2: (iii) o, oo; see 2. 4. au ( before m, n) varies with a ( chiefly in French words ); as daunce—dance. 5. be-, prefix varies with bi-; as begynne—biginne. 6. c varies with k; as bac, court—bak, kort. 7. des-, prefix varies with dis-; as des-, disa vauntage. 8. e (= ẹ̄) varies in Northern texts with ei, ey; as wel(e)—weill, weyl; stele—steill. See 13, 20. 9. ei, ey varies with (i) ai, ay ( cf. 3); as weie, wey(e)—way(e): (ii) hence in Northern texts with a; as str at-ly—streyte: (iii) with e; see 8. 10. er varies with later ar; as fer, hertely—far, hartely. 11. f varies with u (= v): (i) initially ( Southern ); as fader—uader: (ii) finally ( Northern ); as haf(e)—haue. 12. ght varies with ȝt, cht ( Scottish ), ht, st; as nyght—niȝt, nycht, nyht, seuenist. 13. i ( vowel ) varies with y, pa im : i, y varies with (i) e in Northern texts ; as hider, liuen, myddel—heder, leue, medill: (ii) with e, ( South ) Western u; as hil, fyrst—hell, uerst—hul, furst. 14. o, oo (= ǭ) varies in Northern texts with (i) a; as hot, hoot—hate: (ii) hence also with ai ( see 2): (iii) with oi, oy; see next . 15. o, oo (= ọ̄) varies in Northern texts with (i) ou, u; as god, good—goud, gud(e): (ii) oi, oy; as none, noon—noyne. 16. (s)sch varies with (s)sh, ; as schewe—she we, ewe; fle(s)sch—fle h. 17. þ varies with th, pa im . 18. u ( in au, eu, ou) varies with w, pa im ; see 21. 19. u, v (= u) varies with o ( esp. before m, n); as sun(ne)—sonne; but—bot(e); see also 15. 20. u, v (= ü) varies in Western texts with (i) e, eo; as erthe—( Western ) eorþe, vrþe: (ii) with i, y, e; see 13. 21. w varies medially with gh, ȝ (u); as owen, own —oghne, oȝene, oune: initially ( Scottish ) with v; as wound it—voundit. 22. y ( consonant ) varies initially with ȝ; as ye—ȝe; medially with i, (i)gh, (i)ȝ; as say, se(i)gh, se(i)ȝe , saw . 23. single consonant varies with double ; as sad—sadde. 24. single vowel varies with double ; as breed—brede, breadth ; wod—wood, mad . gLOSSARY A , pron. he, XIII a 27, 47, 48; they, XIII a 13, b 22, 36, 39, 61, 64, 66. [Unaccented form of ME. ha . See Hare, Ham.] A , v. inf. have, I 127. [Reduced unaccented form of haue ; see Habbe(n).]