Anglo-Saxon England and Old English.pdf

Old English Orthography

Here is a list of the letters of the OE alphabet with a brief indication of the pronunciation. Some letters in

OE represented more than one sound, but pronunciation and spelling were much closer in OE than in

MnE. OE spelling did not distinguish long and short vowels; however, modern editors sometimes place a

macron (e.g. Õ ) over long vowels to help students.

OE Spelling OE Word and

OE Sound

MnE Word with

MnE Translation

(IPA Symbol)

Similar Sound to OE

Vowels

<i>

bringan bring

/i/

br i ng

biddan bid

/ Ȏ /

b i d

r Í dan ride

/i:/

mach i ne

<y>

hyll hill

/y/

French t U

h Ǵ f hive

/y:/

French l U ne

<e>

Dene Danes

/e/

d a te

elm elm

/ Ȁ /

e lm

f Õ dan feed

/e:/

w a de

brocen broken

/ Ǿ /

brok e n

<æ>

æsc ash

/æ/

c a t

cl Ƥ ne clean

/æ:/

b a d

<a>

sacc sack

/a/

American English s o ck

g Ã t goat

/a:/

American English c o d

<o>

ofer over

/o/

g oa t

fox fox

/ Ǹ /

f o r

g Ď s goose

/o:/

g oa d

<u>

duguþ retainers

/u/

h oo p

ful full

/ Ȯ /

f u ll

f Ĭ l foul

/u:/

fool

<ea>

earnian earn

/ ȀǾ /

no equivalent

e ast east

/ ȀǾ :/

no equivalent

<eo>

eorþ earth

/e Ǿ /

no equivalent

pr Õ ost priest

/e Ǿ :/

no equivalent

Notes:

1. The short vowels i , u , e , and o probably varied between tense and lax pronunciations depending upon the

surrounding consonants, just as they do in MnE. Since we don’t know precisely what the rules were, it is

safe to follow MnE principles most of the time, as indicated in the examples.

2. In unaccented syllables <e> was pronounced / Ǿ /.

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