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§ 111 bytho § 189 ii (4). So fr‑h > ffr in dyffryn § 106 iii (2); f‑rr > f‑rh > ffr in cyffredin § 156 i (9). But as a rule the groups remain, as dyddháu, dyfrháu; and ‑f h‑, ‑ẟ h- do not correspond to ff, th in cynghanedd.

When two similar consonants, whether explosives or spirants, one voiced and the other voiceless, came together, they became a double voiceless sound medially, simplified where double consonants are usually simplified, as before a consonant; thus pópeth (p ≡ pp) < *pób-peth ‘everything’; gwrthrych ‘object’ < *gwrth-ẟrych. In ordinary pronunciation the result is the same when the sounds occur in different words; and in Ml. W. ‑th ẟ- frequently appear as th only; thus athiweẟ Ỻ.A. 157 for a’th ẟiweẟ ‘and thy end’; Athelw athwylaw ar llet  1220 ‘And Thy image with Thy hands extended’; cf. 1205 l. 34, 1321 l. 32; similarly weinllian tec 1424 for (G)wenllïant deg; cereint ᵗḍuw 1220 (d deleted by dot, t substituted).

(1) When two unlike mediae came together, the group was unvoiced at the implosion, but not necessarily at the explosion. In Ml. W. both are usually written as tenues; thus dicter 1209, atkessynt 1309, hepcor 1230, dywetpwyt  96, ducpwyt do. 183, attpawr 35. The second is, however, often written as a media, as o wacder 1280, atborẏon do. 1208, kytbar do. 1300, llygatgall do. 1308. In the 1620 Bible we have atcas, datcuddiad, etc.; but the more usual spelling later was atgas, datguddiad, etc., which perhaps represents the sound more accurately. When however the second consonant was a dental it tends more to be voiceless. In the Bible we find such forms as digter for dicter, the g being due to dig. In cynghanedd either consonant may correspond to a tenuis or a media. Pughe’s etymological spellings adgas, udgorn, hebgor, etc., misrepresent the sound, which is as nearly as possible atgas, utgorn, hepgor.

A media was frequently, though not necessarily, unvoiced before l, r, m, n, ẟ, f and even w̯, i̯. Thus in Ml. W. we find llwtlaw 1222 ‘Ludlow’, atrawẟ 1251, tatmaetheu  24, atnewyẟwys 93, wreicẟa 23, dynghetven 73, atwen 245, lletẏeith  1222. But while has grwytraw 86, the older  has in the same passage grwydraw 183. In 1269, 1303 we have sygneu ‘signs’ but in 1214, 1215 it is written sycneu. Indeed the scribe, who had no ear for cynghanedd, writes tenuis and media where they should correspond; as heidẏaw/&#8203;ehetẏat  1283, chenedloeẟ/&#8203;chynatleu 1204, dilitẏa/&#8203;dy aelodeu 1216. In the last example the sound is certainly d, as aelodeu cannot have t. It might therefore be supposed that the sound was always a media, and that to write it a tenuis was a mere orthographical convention. But though the sound is now generally a media, there is evidence that it might be, and often was, a tenuis: (α) D.G. has such correspondences as Dadliti̯a ’r/&#8203;diwyd latai p. 19, neiti̯wr/&#8203;natur 133; and (β) the tenuis has survived in a number of examples, as Coetmor (for coed-mor < coed mawr); tycio ‘to prevail’ < twg ‘prosperity’ < *tuq‑, √teu̯āˣ‑, cf. § 108 iv; eto for etw̯o < edwaeth