A Concise Dictionary of Middle English | Page 4

which
the whole is now offered to the public.
NOTE ON THE PHONOLOGY OF MIDDLE-ENGLISH.
One great difficulty in finding a Middle-English word in this, or any
other, Dictionary is due to the frequent variation of the symbols
denoting the vowel-sounds. Throughout the whole of the period to
which the work relates the symbols i and _y_, in particular, are
constantly interchanged, whether they stand alone, or form parts of
diphthongs. Consequently, words which are spelt with one of these
symbols in a given text must frequently be looked for as if spelt with
the other; i.e. the pairs of symbols i and _y_, ai and _ay_, _eì_ and
_ey_, _oì_ and _oy_, _uì_ and _uy_, must be looked upon as
likely to be used indifferently, one for the other. For further
information, the student should consult the remarks upon Phonology in
the Specimens of English (1150 to 1300), 2nd ed., p. xxv. For those
who have not time or opportunity to do this, a. few brief notes may
perhaps suffice.
The following symbols are frequently confused, or are employed as
equivalent to each other because they result from the same sound in the
Oldest English or in Anglo-French:--
/* _i,y_;--_ai, ay_;--_ei, ey_;--_oi, oy_;--_ui, uy_.
_a, o_;--_a, æ, e, ea_;--_e, eo, ie_;--_o, u, ou_; --(all originally short).
_a, æ, ea, e, ee_;--_e, ee, eo, ie_;--_o, oo, oa_;-- _u, ou, ui_;--(all long).
*/
These are the most usual interchanges of symbols, and will commonly
suffice for practical purposes, in cases where the cross-references fail.

If the word be not found after such substitutions have been allowed for,
it may be taken for granted that the Dictionary does not contain it. As a
fact, the Dictionary only contains a considerable number of such words
as are most common, or (for some special reason) deserve notice; and it
is at once conceded that it is but a small hand-book, which does not
pretend to exhibit in all its fulness the extraordinarily copious
vocabulary of our language at an important period of its history. The
student wishing for complete information will find (in course of time)
that the New English Dictionary which is being brought out by the
Clarendon Press will contain all words found in our literature since the
year 1100.
Of course variations in the vowel-sounds are also introduced, in the
case of strong verbs, by the usual 'gradation' due to their method of
conjugation. To meet this difficulty in some measure, numerous (but
not exhaustive) cross-references have been introduced, as when, e.g.
'~Bar~, bare' is given, with a cross-reference to Beren. Further help in
this respect is to be had from the table of 183 strong verbs given at pp.
lxix-lxxxi of the Preface to

Part I of the Specimens of English (2nd
edition); see, in particular, the
alphabetical index to the same, at pp. lxxxi, lxxxii. The same Preface
further contains some account of the three principal Middle-English
dialects (p. xl), and Outlines of the Grammar (p. xlv). It also explains
the meaning of the symbols þ, ð (both used for _th_), 3* (used for y
initially, gh medially, and gh or z finally), with other necessary
information.
THE CLARENDON PRESS GLOSSARIES.
This work gives all the words and every form contained in the
glossaries to eleven publications in the Clarendon Press Series, as
below:--
S.--SPECIMENS OF EARLY ENGLISH, ed. Morris,

Part I: from A.D. 1150 to

A. D. 1300.
This book contains extracts from:--~1~. Old English Homilies, ed.
Morris, E. E. T. S. 1867-8, pp. 230-241; ~2~. The Saxon Chronicle,
A.D. 1137, 1138,1140, 1154; ~3~. Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, First
Series, pp. 40-53; ~4~. The same, Second Series, pp. 89-109; ~5~. The
Ormulum, ed. White, ll. 962-1719, pp. 31-57; ~6~. Layamon's Brut, ed.
Madden, ll. 13785-14387 [add 13784 _to the number of the line in the
reference_]; ~7~. Sawles Warde, from Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris,
First Series, pp. 245-249, 259-267; ~8~. St. Juliana, ed. Cockayne and
Brock; ~9~. The Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton, pp. 208-216, 416-430;
~10~. The Wooing of our Lord, from Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris,
First Series, pp. 277-283; ~11~. A Good Orison of our Lady, from the
same, pp. 191-199; ~12~. A Bestiary, the Lion, Eagle, and Ant, from
An Old Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris; ~13~. Old Kentish Sermons, from
the same, pp. 26-36; ~14~. Proverbs of Alfred, from the same, pp.
102-130; ~15~. Version of Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris,
ll.1907-2536; ~16~. Owl and Nightingale, from An Old Eng.
Miscellany, ed. Morris, ll. 1-94,139-232, 253-282, 3O3-352, 391-446,
549-555, 598-623, 659-750, 837-855, 905-920, 1635-1682, 1699-1794;
~17~. A Moral Ode (two copies), from An Old Eng. Miscellany and
Old Eng. Homilies, 2nd Series, ed. Morris; ~18~. Havelok the Dane, ed.
Skeat, ll. 339-748; ~19~. King Horn (in full).
S2.--SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH,

Part II,