Page:Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader.djvu/20

 7. The occurrence of the vowel a is very much restricted. In a closed syllable, and in an open syllable followed by e(i) in the next syllable, the vowel a is mostly modified to æ; but a remains unchanged in an open syllable that is followed by a, o, or u in the next syllable. (S. § 49 f.)

Thus, dæg, dæges, dæge, ðæt, wæs, fægen, wæter; dagas, daga, dagum, faran, hafoc, wacol.

8. Before a nasal consonant the vowel a is changed into o. But there is no uniformity in the employment of o for a. The predominant form in EWS is o; in LWS it is a. (S. § 65.)

Thus, ǫnd, and; hǫnd, hand; lǫnd, land; mǫnig, manig; gǫngan, gangan; gesǫmnian, gesamnian.

9. Before r+consonant, l+consonant,h+consonant, and h final, the vowels æ (from a. 7), e, i are “broken” into short diphthongs, æ becoming ea, and e, i becoming eo, io. (S. §§ 77-84.)