was sall. So among the tribes of Israel at the time of the Judges, it was a peculiarity of the tongue of the Ephraimites that they could not frame to pronounce sh, but said Sibboleth instead of Shibboleth. This is so definite a feature of the northern dialect that it is worth while to collect some of the examples in which it makes the contrast of the two texts : The wall of Severus, which was made against the Picts, is called in the elder text scid-wall, that is, wall of separation, quasi Scheide-Wall; and in the later or northern text it is sid-wal. (Vol. ii. p. 6, ed. Madden.) The following specimen is from the elder text of Layamon's Brut :— THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF GLOUCESTER. Fa pe time wes ifulled, Line 9616. When the time was fully come Nou ich pe habbe i-sed hou hit his agon, of Kairliun in Glommorgan. Go we get to Belyn, to pan blisfolle kyinge. po he hadde imaked pes borh, and hit cleopede Kair-Uske : po pe borh was strong and hende; po borh he swipe louede. Nou and euere more, and alle his leode lofde hine swipe. In his dazes was so mochel mete, þat hit was onimete. Now I have said to thee how it bappened, touching Caerleon in Glamorgan. Go we back again to Belyn, to that blissful king. When be bad made the burgh and called it Caer-Usk: When the burgh was strong and trim, then gan he wend thence right to London, the burgh be greatly loved. He began there a tower the strongest of all the town; and with much art a gate there-under made. Then men called it Billingsgate.' Now and ever-more, Lived Belyn the king in all bliss: and all his people loved him greatly. In his days was there so much meat, that it was without measure. The Ormulum may be proximately dated at A.D. 1215. As the date cannot be given with precision, the date of Magna E Carta is here selected, for the sake of its bearing on the subject, as will be seen presently. The Ormulum is a versified narrative of the Gospels, addressed by Ormin or (curtly) Orm to his brother Walter, and after his own name called by the author Ormulum'; by which designation it is commonly known. Icc patt tiss Ennglish hafe sett I that this English have set I was there-where I christened was Fiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum This book is named Ormulum This book has been admirably edited, and with the most perfect fidelity to the one extant manuscript, by Dr. White, formerly Professor of Anglo-Saxon. It was printed at the Clarendon Press, 1852. As the Brut represents the western type of English, so this does the eastern. In this poem we find for the first time the term 'English' in the mature form. Layamon has the forms englisc, englis, ænglis, anglisce, &c.; but Orm has enngliss, and still more frequently the fully developed form ennglissh. The excess of consonants with which this word is written is a constant feature of the Ormulum. The author was one of Nature's philologists, and he displayed his talent by attempting a phonetic system of spelling. Had his orthography been generally adopted, we should have had in English not only the mm and nn with which German abounds, but many other double consonants which we do not now possess. How great a study Orm had made of this subject, we are not left to gather from observation of his spelling, for he has emphatically pointed out the importance of it in the opening of his work. HOW TO SPELL. And whase wilenn shall piss boc swa summ piss boc himm tæchepp loke well patt he't write swa, And whoso shall determine to copy this book, I beg him to write it accurately as the book directeth; and that be write a letter twice wherever in this book it is so written. Let him look carefully that be write it so, for else he cannot write it correctly in English-of that he may be assured! There is another matter of orthography which is a philological peculiarity with this author. When words that begin with p follow words ending in d or t, he generally (and with a few definite exceptions) alters the initial þ to . Where (for example) he has the three words patt and patt and be succeeding one another continuously, he writes, not patt þatt þe, but þatt tatt te. One important exception to this rule is where the word ending with the d or t is severed from the word beginning with þ by a metrical pause; in that case the change does not take place, as— agg affterr þe Goddspell stannt þatt tatt te Goddspell menepp. and aye after the Gospel standeth that which the Gospel meaneth. Here the stannt does not change the initial of the next word, because of the metrical division that separates them. Other examples of these peculiarities may be seen in the following extract. CHARACTER OF A GOOD MONK. Forr himm birrp beon full clene mann, Buttan þatt mann himm findenn shall And tær iss all þatt eorplig þing þatt minnstremann birrp aghenn, Wipputenn cnif and shape and camb and nedle, giff he't geornepp. And all piss shall mann findenn himm and wel himm birrp itt gemenn; For birrp himm nowwperr don peroff, ne gifenn itt ne sellenn. And himm birrp æfre standenn inn to lofenn Godd and wurrpenn, And agg himm birrp beon fressh þærto bi daggess and bi nihhtess; And tat iss harrd and strang and tor and hefig lif to ledenn, And forbi birrp wel clawwstremann onnfangenn mikell mede, Att hiss Drihhtin Allwældennd Godd, forr whamm he mikell swinnkepp. And all hiss herrte and all hiss lusst birrp agg beon towarrd heoffne, And himm birrp geornenn agg þatt an hiss Drihhtin wel to cwemenn, Wipp daggsang and wipp uhhtennsang wipp messess and wipp beness, &c. TRANSLATION. For he ought to be a very pure man and altogether without property, Except that he shall be found in simple meat and clothes. And that is all the earthly thing that minster-man should own, Except a knife and sheath and comb and needle, if he want it. And all this shall they find for him And he must ever stand in (vigorously) And aye must be be fresh thereto by daytime and by nights; And that's a bard and stiff and rough and heavy life to lead, And therefore well may cloister'd man receive a mickle meed At the band of his Lord Allwielding God, for whom he mickle slaveth. |