Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/86

Rh I now show how the Old English had changed in the Danelagh before the year 1131, at which date the first Peterborough compilers seem to have laid aside their pens. This reign of King Henry I. is the most interest&shy;ing of all reigns to a student of English.

As to letter changes, the old h sometimes becomes ch, as burch for burh; this prevailed over the Eastern side of England, from London to York; though gh came to be more used than ch. We see that the diphthong, which our fathers loved, was to drop; for efre (semper) sometimes replaces œfre. These two changes appeared long before in the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Old English Article, se, seo, þœt, becomes hopelessly confused in its cases and genders; we are not far from the adoption of the, to do duty for them all. Our old ð was often laid aside for th, the latter being better known to the Normans. There is a tendency to get rid of the letter g in every part of a word; thus we find