Page:An elementary middle English grammar (IA elementarymiddle00wrig).pdf/26

6 was merely a letter change due to the influence of AN. orthography; the ǣ-sound itself remained in ME. until near the end of the fifteenth century when it became ẹ̄, see § 52, 2. Through ǣ and ēa falling together in sound in late OE. the ēa was sometimes written for old ǣ in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and also occasionally much later. At a still later period this writing of ēa for ǣ became the general way of expressing long open ę̄ of whatever origin, cp. NE. leap, deal, eat, ME. lę̄pen, dę̄len, ę̄ten, OE. hlēapan, dǣlan, etan. The old traditional spelling with eo, ēo was often preserved in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, although the eo, ēo had become e, ẹ̄ in sound in the northern and east Midland dialects, and ö, ō̈ in the west Midland and southern dialects (except Kentish) in the twelfth century. And then through the influence of AN. orthography the ö, ō̈ sounds came to be written o, ue, oe and sometimes u, see §§ 65, 198; and conversely eo occasionally came to be written for old e (§ 44) in those dialects where eo became e in early ME. The writing of e for ǣ (= OE. ǣ, ēa) and of e for ẹ̄ (= OE. ē, ēo) led to confusion in ME. orthography owing to long open ẹ̄ and long close ẹ̄ being written alike, cp. leden, ded = OE. lǣdan to lead, dēad dead beside fet, crepen = OE. fēt feet, crēopan to creep.

§ 8. Long and short ȳ̆ (= ̆ǖ) became unrounded to ī̆ over a large part of the country during the OE. period. The result was that monuments written in these extensive areas during the ME. period have both i and y to represent old long and short ī̆. In the late ME. period an attempt was made by some writers to restrict the use of y to express old long ī.

§ 9. Many of the changes which the OE. vowel-system underwent in ME. were not due to sound-changes, but were merely orthographical changes introduced by Anglo-Norman scribes. Examples of such changes are: — In those areas where the OE. short y (= ü) remained in the ME. period it came to be written u (like the u in Fr. lune), and the long