Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/505

Rh =gefangen, =ofen, =hof, =brief. Initially, however, alternates with, as =vor, =ver-, =fasten; medially  is always written before t, as =füft, =gift, and at the end of a word after a consonant, =hülf, =fünf.

For the s-sound there are three different signs: (1) zayin, which mostly represents the soft sound and is, therefore always used at the beginning of a word, as =sie, =selb, =söbntn, =sechsten, =unser, =erloesn, =wesen, =gras, =boes, but and =biz, and  and =Los, and =müezen; (2) Seen , used medially before t and at the end, as =sechsten, =sünst, =fasten, =opez, obez, =grôz, =ich muoz, =Samuels, =Moses; (3) the Samech  occurs only once in the foreign word =samît or semît.

The dialect of our text is obviously Middle German, as amply proved by the following linguistic pecularities: e becomes ê when it stands near l or r, such as êlenden 593, and always in verdêrben. This fact is proved by the rhyme her(re): sêre 827. Before l, e becomes a. Thus can be explained the rhyme stalle: schelle 1115. The following rhymes also point to the same dialect:

e: i, gehengen: singen 1329, her(re): mir 1373, hêr: mir 1453, brengen: gelingen 351, henken: getrinken 1127;

œ: e, wœre: êre 63: herre 1309;

œ: i, wœr(e): mir 1009;

i: î, nit: zît 25, 71, 699, 795, 1001; mich: rîch 1237; bin: sîn 877;

iu: u, friunden: gunden 883;

anc: ant, bezwanc: lant 769;

h assimilates medially in niht, nit: zît (see i: î). Intervocalic h disappears in slagen: Haman 1259. The same happens before t, as gemaht: stat 1033, gedaht: rat 1355, and at the end of a word in hô: dô 923: gegan 1003.

(e)n disappears finally in ende: senden 145, 215, schiere: zieren 149, tage: sagen 1135, finde: schinden 641, knehte: gefehten 563, genuoge: truogen 1403, unwerde: erden 591, stunde: gefunden 687, hiute: liuten 927.