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28 iv. In Mn. W. i̯ is written i; but often j in the 18th cent., see e.g. Llyfryddiaeth 1713, 4; 1748, 4, 8; 1749, 2.

v. Voiceless i̯ occurs where the word or syllable preceding i̯ causes aspiration, and is written hi (also hy in Ml. W.), as ẏ hiarllaeth R.M. 178 ‘her earldom’, kennhẏadu Ỻ.A. 79 ‘to consent’.

i. Consonantal w̯ is written gu in O. W. as in petguar. ≡ pedw̯ar ‘four’. See § 112 ii (1).

ii. In Early Ml. W. w̯ is represented by u, v, and w; in Late Ml. W. by w and ỽ. Its representation is the same as that of the vowel w; see § 14 ii (2). In Mn. W. it is written w.

The letter w sometimes appears in the form uu, as in keleuuet i 40 (≡ cɏlỿwed) ‘to hear’.

Initial w̯- had become gw̯- in the Early Welsh period; see § 112 ii (1); but it is w̯- under the soft mutation, thus gw̯allt ‘hair,’ dỿ wallt ‘thy hair’.

In Ml. and Early Mn. W. final w after a consonant was consonantal; see § 42. Now the w is made syllabic.

Medial w̯ is liable to interchange with f; thus cawod, cafod ‘shower’; cyfoeth, cywaeth § 34 iv; diawl ‘devil’ for *diafl. The old verbal noun from lliw ‘colour’ is llifo ‘to dye’, a newer formation is lliwio ‘to colour’. The reason for the interchange is that f was once a bilabial, ƀ, § 19 ii (4), and so, very similar to w̯, being in effect w̯ with friction of the breath at the lips instead of at the back.

(1) Voiceless w̯, by being pronounced tensely, has become