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           Now we’re going to go over the phonology, also known as the inventory of sounds, of Old English. Let’s start with the vowels…

     The long [ɛ:] sound is pronounced like the English “air”, and is written in this series as <ǣ>. This sound is found in words like:

     dǣd (deed), hǣlan (to heal), sǣ (sea), wǣpen (weapon), and lǣdan (to lead). 

     The short [ɛ] sound is pronounced like the English “met”, and is written as <e>. This sound is found in words like:

     etan (to eat), helpan (to help), mete (meat), here (army), and ende (end).

     The long [e:] is like the English “made”. It is written in this series as <ē>. This sound is found in words like:

     hēr (here), cwēn (queen), fēdan (to feed), and tēþ (teeth).

     The [ɪ] sound is something like the English “bit”, and is written in this series as <i>. It is found in words like:

     fisc (fish), sittan (to sit), þing (thing), and niman (to take). 

     The [i:] sound is something like the English “read”, and is written in this series as <ī>. It’s found in words like:

     līf (life), mīn (mine), tīd (time), and fīf (five). 

     The [ɔ] sound is something like the English “daughter”, and is written as <o>.  It’s found in words like:

     col (coal), coren (chosen), nosu (nose), and oxa (ox). 

     The [o:] sound is something like the English “mode”, and is written in this series as <ō>. It’s found in words like:

     mōdor (mother), grōwan (to grow), mōna (moon), and gōs (goose). 

     The [ʊ] sound is something like the English “put”, and is written as <u>. It’s found in words like:

     duru (door), hungor (hunger), lufian (to love), and guma (man). 

     The [u:] sound is something like the English “rude”, and is written in this series as <ū>. It’s found in words like:

     cū (cow), hūs (house), sūr (sour), and ūt (out). 

     The [œ] sound is the rare, short, rounded form of the English “met” found in the Anglian dialect, and is written as <œ>. It’s found in words like:

     œle (oil), dœhter (to a daughter), œxen (oxen). 

     The [œ:] sound is the rare, long, rounded form of the English “red” found in the Anglian dialect, and is written in this series as <œ̄>. It’s found in words like:

     bœ̄c (books), cwœ̄n (queen), dœ̄man (to judge). 

     The [y] sound is the short, rounded form of the English “read”, and is written as <y>. It’s found in words like:

     brycg (bridge), cyning (king), and scyld (guilt). 

     The [y:] sound is the long, rounded form of the English “read”, and is written in this series as <ȳ>. It’s found in words like:

     mȳs (mice), wȳscan (to wish), and ȳþ (wave).

     The [æa] sound is a combination of short <æ> and <a>, and is written as <ea>. It’s found in words like:

     eahta (eight), eall (all), and healdan (to hold). 

     The [ɛ:a] sound is a combination of long <æ> and <a>, and is written in this series as <ēa>. It’s found in words like:

     dēaþ (death), hēafod (head), and scēap (sheep).

     The [ɛɔ] sound is a combination of short <e> and <o>, and is written as <eo>. It’s found in words like:

     meolcan (to milk), heorte (heart), and steorre (star). 

     The [e:o] sound is a combination of long <ē> and <ō>, and is written in this series as <ēo>. It’s found in words like:

     cēosan (chosen), dēop (deep), and cnēo (knee). 

     The [ɪɛ] sound is a combination of short <i> and <e>, and is written as <ie>. It’s found in words like:

     giest (guest), ieldra (older), and giefan (to give). 

     The [i:e] sound is a combination of long <ī> and <ē>, and is written in this series as <īe>. It’s found in words like:

     hīeran (to hear), nīewe (new), and līehtan (to give light). 

     The rare [ɪɔ] sound (which is sometimes used instead of <eo>) is a combination of short <i> and <o>, and is written as <io>. It’s found in words like:

     liornian (to learn) and miolc (milk). 

     The rare [i:o] sound (which is sometimes used instead of <eo>) is a combination of long <i> and <o>, and is written in this series as <īo>. It’s found in words like:

     līode (people) and þīostre (darkness).

     Now we’re off to the consonants! 

     The transcription system devised for Old English to the Latin alphabet includes the consonantal letters:

     b, c, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, þ, ð,w, and x. (In addition to the somewhat rarer letters ȝ and ƿ in modern transliterations)

     The letters <b>, <d> <m>, <n>, <p>, <k>, <x> and <t> are pronounced the same as in Modern English. 

     Velar [k], written as <c> and in older documents <k>, has the sound as in English “could”. It’s often found before <a>, <o>, and <u>. found in words like:

     sprecan (to speak), weorc (work), and drincan (to drink). 

     Palatal [kʲ], written as <c>, is most often found before or after the vowels <e>, <æ>, <œ>, and <i> (long or short). It has the sound as in English “cure”. Some scholars believe that it was pronounced as [tʃ] and that palatal <sc> was pronounced as [ʃ]. We can never really know how it was exactly pronounced. It’s found in words like:

    cinn (chin), sceal (shall), benc (bench), and wascan (to wash).

     The letter <f> has two sounds:

     [f] when doubled (<ff>), initially, finally, and medially when before voiceless consonants as in pyffan (to puff).

     [v] when between two voiced consonants as in seofon (seven), giefan (to give), and hræfn (raven). This sound law accounts for the plural wife-wives, thief-thieves, and loaf-loaves. It’s only that in Old English, the letter now seen as <v> would be written as <f>. 

     The letter <g> has three sounds. Hard and fast rules determining which is present is not possible, but generally:

     [g] when doubled, and initially when before <a>, <o>, or <u>.
     [j] when before or after <i>, <æ> <e>, or <y>.
     [ɣ] when in the middle of a word and not before or after <i>, <æ> <e>, or <y>. 

     The combination [cg] is pronounced as a palatal [gʲ] somewhat like the English “gear”. It’s found in words like:

     ecg (edge), brycg (bridge), and wecg (wedge).

     The combination <ng> is pronounced either as a palatal [ŋgʲ] or as a velar [ŋg] depending on its contact with the forward <i>, <e>, <y> or <æ>, or the back <a>, <o>, or <u>. The former is somewhat like the English “finger”, the latter like the English “longer”. Examples of the palatal include:

     lengra (longer), streng (string), and þing (thing).

     The velar:

     sungon (they sang), hungor (hunger), and lang (long). 

     The letter <h> is pronounced as in English when initially before a vowel.

     Initial <hw> is pronounced as in the Welsh “chwech”. In all other positions, <h> is often pronounced as in the Scottish “loch” ([x]) when near <a>, <u>, <æ>, or <o>, or the German “ich” ([ç]) when near to <e>, <i>, or <y>. However, there may be some exceptions. In old records final <h> was written as <ch>. Examples of words with this sound include:

     troh (trough), eahta (eight), sulh (plight)

     and

     nēah (near), hliehhan (to laugh), and flyht (flight). 

     The letter <l> is pronounced as in Modern English in the Northumbrian and greater part of the Mercian dialect. However, in West Saxon, Kentish, and southern Mercian, it was more of a velar [ł]. 

     The letter <r> is trilled as in the Spanish “rojo”. According to Joseph Wright, it was velarized like <l> in West Saxon, Kentish, and southern Mercian. But, since it’s subtle and a little hard to do, you can get away with just trilling or tapping the sound. It’s found in words like:

     duru (door), word (word), and earm (arm). 

     The letter <s> is pronounced as the English “chess” in most positions. However, medially between voiced sounds, it turns to a [z] sound as in the English “cheese”. It’s found in words like:

     sealt (salt), sunu (son), cēosan (chosen) and nosu (nose). 

     The letter <þ> is pronounced as the English “thistle” initially, medially between voiceless consonants, finally, and when doubled. However, medially between voiced sounds, it turns to a [ð] sound as in the English “that”. It’s found in words like:

     þencan (think), moþþe (moth), baþian (to bathe) and eorþe (earth). 

     The letter <ð> has the same rules as <þ>. The two letters are in free variation with each other. The same word may be spelled ðū or þū, but they’re both pronounced as [θu:]. Before 900, <þ> was written as <th> and <w> as <uu>.

     As in Gothic, doubled consonants signify a lengthened sound. Thus:

     habban (to have), and swimman (to swim). 

     The letter <ƿ> is pronounced as the English “wait”, while the letter <ȝ> has the same pronunciation rules as <g>. 

     Phonology Practice:

     Using your notes, see if you can pronounce the following Old English words given the previous rules:

1. eorl (earl)
2. habban (to have)
3. wyrm (dragon)
4. gefȳsan (to impel)
5. lǣrdan (to teach)
6. tungol (star)
7. earh (arrow)
8. þegnung (service)
9. þēod (people)
10. sprǣc (speech)
11. lȳtling (child)
12. rihtlīce (properly)
13. torn (anger)
14. boga (bow)
15. hwelp (cub)

     Today’s Vocabulary – Greetings:

• Wes þū hāl: Greetings/Goodbye to one person. (Taken from the poem Andreas. Seen in Beowulf as Wæs þū hāl)
• Wesaþ git hāle: (M): Used for two men.
• Wesaþ gē hāle: (M): Used for more than two men.
• Wesaþ git hāl: (Mixed): Used for two people of mixed gender.
• Wesaþ gē hāl: (Mixed): Used for more than two people of mixed gender.
• Wesaþ git hāla: (F): Used for two women.
• Wesaþ gē hāla: (F): Used for more than two women.

     Resources for Study:

• The student’s dictionary of Anglo-Saxon by Henry Sweer. 
• Old English grammar by Joseph Wright and Mary Elizabeth Wright. 
• An Old English grammar by Eduard Sievers and Albert S. Cook. 
• Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples by Dickins, Bruce 
• The old-northern runic monuments of Scandinavia and England by Stephens, George