Part 3 — 2. (a) The Old Northern Vowels in the Loanwords.
Reading edition
The values given in the following tables are for Middle Scotch. The symbols used do not need explanation:
Short Vowels.
a.
O. N. a in originally close syllable > æ, written a: anger, hansell, apert, ban, blabber, slak, cast, chaff, dash, dram, bang, fang, stang, lack, etc.
O. N. a in originally close syllable before r remains a: bark, carl, carp, farrand, garth, harth, scarth, swarf, and harsk (O. Dan.).
O. N., O. Dan. a in close syllable > é in blether, forjeskit, welter.
a in close syllable > ē (ay, ai) in aynd, baittenin.
a in close syllable remains a, written o in cog.
O. N. a in originally open syllable regularly becomes ē, written a, ai, ay: dasen, flake, maik, scait, etc.
O. N. a + g > ē written ai in braid, gane (to profit).
a + g > aw in bawch. In mawch ð fell out and a developed as a before g.
e.
O. N. e remains in airt, bekk, bleck, cleck, cleg, egg (to incite), elding, esping, fleckerit, freckled, gedde, gengeld, kendell, melder, mensk, nevin, werr, spenn, stert, sker.
O. Dan. e remains in sprent.
O. N. e becomes i in lirk, kitling, and before ng in ding, flingin, hing, and also in skrip, styddy.
O. N. e > æ, written a, in dapill, clag. Cp. sprattle in Burns.
> æ before r in ware.
> a before r in karling.
O. N. e > i in neefe (nieve).
O. N. e appears as u in studdy. See word list.
O. N. e (from older æi) > ē in hailse.
e + g > e written a, ai: e.g., haine, gane (to suit).
i.
O. N. i generally remains i: bing, grith, kist, link, lite, titling, wilrone, frequently written y: byng, chyngill, gyll, etc.
O. N. i before st > e: gestning, restit.
i > ī in ithand (ythand), and ei in eident.
o.
O. N. o remains o: boldin, bolle, brod, costlyk, loft, rock, etc.
O. N. o + g > ow in low.
u.
O. N. u generally remains u: bught, buller, clunk, cunnand, lucken, ugg, clubbit, drucken, skugg. The sound of u in O. N., however, was approximately that of oo in "foot."
O. N. u > ū in drook.
y.
O. N. y always becomes i, written i, y: big, birr, filly, flit, trig, wyndland, gylmyr. The O. N. y had approximately the value of Germ. ü.
æ.
O. N. æ > e in ettle.
ö
O. N. ö > e in gleg, glegy, appears as u in slut.
O. N. ö, u-v-umlaut of a, becomes æ, written a: daggit, ragweed, tangle.
O. N. ö, u-umlaut of a in originally open syllable, like open a, > ē in spale.
Hence u-umlaut does not appear in loanwords.
ja (ia).
O. N. ja > a in assle-tooth, harn, starn.
> e in sker and stern.
jö (iö).
O. N. jö > a in tarn.
O. N. jö > i before r in firth, gyrth (gjörth), gyrthin.
Long Vowels.
ā.
O. N. ā regularly > ē, written a, ai, ay, ae, ei (?): baith, blae, bray, braith, fra, frae, lait, craik, ra, saikless, spay, etc.
O. N. ā + g > aw, awch, aigh, aich, awsome, law, sb. law, adj. lawch, beside laigh and laich in N. Sco.
O. N. ā + l > ow in chowk (O. N. kjálki).
ē.
O. N. ē remains in ser, seir.
ē > ǣ, written a, in fallow.
O. N. ē before tt > i, written y, in tytt. Cp. titt in W. Norse dial.
ī.
O. N. ī most frequently remains ī, written i, y: flyre, gryce, grise, myth, skrik, rive, ryfe, tithand, etc.
O. N. ī appears as e in skrech, probably pronounced skrich.
O. N. ī > ē, written ei, in quey, gleit, keik.
O. N. ī > ĭ in scrip, wick, and before original xl in wissle (wyssyl).
The corresponding word in Norse also has a short vowel, but changed to e, veksl, vessla (and versla).
ō.
O. N. ō > ū, written o, oo, u, eu: crove, rove, unrufe, hoolie, hulie, lufe, ruse, roose, sleuth, tume.
O. N. ō > ou in clour.
ō > oy in toym (Bruce), exact sound uncertain.
ō + l > ow in bow.
ū.
O. N. ū remains in buth, grouf.
O. N. ū generally > ou, ow: boun, bowne, bowk, cow, cour, etc.
ū > ō in solande, stot.
ū > ŭ in busk.
ȳ.
O. N. ȳ regularly > ī, written i, y: lythe, tyne, sit, skyrin, snite. Cp. y.
O. N. ȳ appears as ē (ei) in neiris, exact sound not certain. Cp. ȳ before st > ĭ in thrist (O. N. þrýsta).
ǣ.
O. N. ǣ remains in hething.
ǣ > e in sait.
ǣ > e, e, in rad, red, radness, etc.
Diphthongs.
ai.
O. N. ai > ē, written a, ai, ay, ei: bait, bein, bayt, blaik, dey, grane, graip, graith, heid, laif, lairet, lairing, lak, laiching, thwaite, waith, slaik, swage, raise, tha.
O. N. ai > i in nyte (?).
O. N. ai is represented by i before r in thir. Cp. Cu. thur.
O. N. ain > en initially in enkrely.
öy.
O. N. öy > ē, written e, ai: careing, dey, smaik.
öy > e in yemsel (yhemsell), may be a case of Dan. monophthongation.
ou, au.
O. N. ou, au is regularly ou, ow in Sco.: blowt, douff, dowff, gowk, gowl, loup, louse, nowt, rout, rowste, soum. Very frequently appears as oi, oy: e.g., soym, doif, goilk, loip, etc.
O. N. ou > u in gukk, vb. formed from gowk (?).
jo.
O. N. jo before r > a in starn (O. N. stjorn).
jo > ei in leister. Appears as i in the N. Sco. word shiel.
ju.
O. N. ju > ū in stroop.
ju > i in skyle.