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22 earlier period, for (1) w is distinguished from ü; (2) finally u and f are distinguished; thus nev means neu ‘or’, not nef ‘heaven’.

The distinction between the characters u and v is a modern one; double v (i.e. w) is still called “double u” in English.

☞ In the quotations in this grammar the letter u or v (for it was  letter with two forms) is transcribed u when it stands for the vowel, and v when it represents the consonant f, irrespective of the form in the, which depended chiefly on the scribe’s fancy at the moment.

The sound which is now the labiodental f (≡ Eng. v) was in O. W. and probably also in Ml. W. a bilabial ƀ, like the South German w. It was the soft mutation of b or m, and resulted from these bilabial sounds being pronounced loosely so that the breath was allowed to escape, instead of being stopped, at the lips. It was sometimes confused with w̯, § 26 v; and was so soft that it might, like w̯, be passed over in cynghanedd, e.g. pwynt v y chwaer p. 17 above; see Tr. Cym. 1908–9, p. 34.

The letter d in Ml. W. stands for both d and dd (ẟ).

(2) In some Early Ml., of which the most important is the , the sound ẟ when it is an initial mutation is generally represented by d, but medially and finally is represented rather illogically by t; thus , dy divet 19 ≡ dy ẟiweẟ ‘thy end’; imtuin 32 ≡ ymẟwyn ‘to behave’; guirt 33 ≡ gw̯yrẟ ‘green’; betev 63 ≡ beẟeu ‘graves’. Medially, however, we also have d, as adaw 41 ≡ Aẟaf ‘Adam’; and occasionally, by a slip, finally, as oed 1 ≡ oeẟ ‘was’ (conversely, by a rare slip, final t ≡ d, as imbit 70 ≡ ym myd ‘in the world’). In usage is still looser.

(3) In the Late Ml. period the sound ẟ is represented by d, rarely by dd, see Ỻ.. p. xxii. Initially and medially d and ẟ cannot be distinguished at this period, but finally they can, since final d is written t, § 18 ii, so that final d must mean the sound ẟ. But it often happens that &#8209;d for &#8209;d and &#8209;t for &#8209;ẟ are copied from an earlier.

While. is distinctly Late Ml. W. in the representation of w, i, y, it has &#8209;d for &#8209;d and medial and final t for ẟ; also occasionally dd, as ar dderchet 120a ≡ arẟercheẟ.

(4) dd came generally into use in the 15th cent. In the 16th Sir J. Price, 1546, used d̛; G.R., 1567, used ḍ; Salesbury, 1567,