WRITING
The Latin alphabet was introduced for the writing of OE by Christian monks soon after AD 600. It had twenty-three letters, lacking v (whose function was shared with u), j (which was not distinguished from i), and w. Of the twenty-three, q was used rarely; z occurred in biblical names and occasionally elsewhere for ‘ts’; x could be used to represent ‘ks’; and k was little used until towards the end of the Anglo-Saxon period (c being written instead).
The letters of Latin were augmented by four further characters – either invented, or borrowed from the runic alphabet, which had long been in use among the Germanic peoples, mainly for inscriptions. They are (with ‘capital’ forms in brackets):
þ (Þ) for ‘th’, a runic character with the name þorn (‘thorn’);
ð (Đ) also for ‘th’, formed by adding a cross-stroke to a d written in the Irish way, with a round back, and known by the Anglo-Saxons as ðæt, but today as ‘eth’. Thorn and eth were used without distinction, though individual scribes had their own preferences: a word such as siþþan might also be written siððan or even siþðan or siðþan.
æ (Æ) for a ‘fronted’ a-sound (see below); known by the Anglo-Saxons as æsc (‘ash’).
ƿ (Ƿ) for ‘w’, a runic character with the name wynn (‘joy’). In most modern printing of OE, as in this book, wynn is replaced by w.
These new characters were not in full use among the Anglo-Saxons until the end of the seventh century. Until then, th or d may be found instead of ð or þ (the latter taking longer to become established than ð), ae or e for æ, and uu or u for w. For examples, see Text 20a. In manuscripts written at the close of the Anglo-Saxon period, under Norman French influence, the digraph th is increasingly found again.
The letter-shapes in the manuscripts are mostly those that we recognise today, though the handwriting used by Anglo-Saxons was continuously evolving over the centuries. This often enables palaeographers to date manuscripts with a fair degree of precision.
Review the options below to login to check your access.
Log in with your Cambridge Aspire website account to check access.
If you believe you should have access to this content, please contact your institutional librarian or consult our FAQ page for further information about accessing our content.