Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue | Page 7

the el, ulna, with the voual e, and eel, anguilla, with
the diphthong ee. I am not ignorant that sum symbolizes this sound
w_i_th a diphthong made of ie; eie, oculus; hiel, fiel, miel, _et_c. Here
I am indifferent, and onelie wishes that the ane be used; let the advysed
judge make choise of q_uhi_lk, for my awne paert I lyke the last best; 1.
becaus eie, oculus, can not wel be symbolized ee; 2. because the
greekes expresse eta be +ee+, q_uhi_lk, as appeares be the Ioneanes
and Doreanes, drawes neerar to alpha, than epsilon.
5. Of i, also, our idiom receaves tuae soundes, as in a man's wil, and the
wil of a fox. Heer, also, I wald have our men learne of the south, for

these soundes they wel distinguish, wryting wil, fil, mil, stil, with i; and
wyl, fyl, myl, styl, with y.
6. Heer I see be Barrat, in his Alvearie, that sum wald be at
symbolizing these soundes, the ane with the greek diphthong +ei+, and
the other with "i" inverted; as, r+ei+d, equitare; b+ei+d, manere; r"i"d,
legere; h"i"d, cavere. In this opinion I se an eye of judgement, and
therfoer wil not censure it, except I saw the auctour's whole drift.
Onelie for my awn parte I will avoid al novelties, and content my self
with the letteres q_uhi_lk we have in use. And seeing we have no other
use of y distinguished from i, condiscend to the opinion of the south
using i for ane, and y for the other.
7. O, we sound al alyk. But of it we have sundrie diphthonges: oa, as to
roar, a boar, a boat, a coat; oi, as coin, join, foil, soil; oo, as food, good,
blood; ou, as house, mouse, &c. Thus, we com_m_onlie wryt mountan,
fountan, q_uhi_lk it wer more etymological to wryt montan, fontan,
according to the original.
8. In this diphthong we co_m_mit a grosse errour, saving better
judgement, spelling how, now, and siklyk with w, for if w be (as it sal
appear, quhen we cum to the awn place of it) a consonant, it can noe
wayes coalesse into a diphthong sound, sik as this out of controversie
is.
9. U, the last of this rank, the south, as I have said in the latin sound of
it, pronu_n_ces eu, we ou, both, in my simple judgement, wrang, for
these be diphthong soundes, and the sound of a voual sould be simple.
If I sould judge, the frensh sound is neerest the voual sound as we
pronu_n_ce it in mule and muse.
10. Of it we have a diphthong not yet, to my knawlege, observed of
anie; and, for my awn parte, I am not wel resolved neither how to spel
it, nor name it. Onelie I see it in this, to bou, a bow. I wait not quhither
I sould spel the first buu, or the last boau. As, for exemple, if Roben
Hud wer nou leving, he wer not able to buu his aun bou, or to bou his
aun boau. And therfoer this with al the rest, hou be it in other I have
more for me, I leave to the censure of better judgement.

OF CONSONANTES.
Cap. 4.
1. This for the vouales, and diphthonges made of them without the
tuiches of the mouth. Now followe the consonantes.
2. A consonant is a letter symbolizing a sound articulat that is broaken
with the tuiches of the mouth.
3. The instrumentes of the mouth, quherbe the vocal soundes be
broaken, be in number seven. The nether lip, the upper lip, the outward
teeth, the inward teeth, the top of the tongue, the midle tong, and roof
of the mouth. Of these, thre be, as it were, ha_m_meres stryking, and
the rest stiddies, kepping the strakes of the ha_m_meres.
4. The ham_m_eres are the nether lip, the top of the tongue, and the
midle tongue. The stiddies the overlip, the outward teeth, the inward
teeth, and the roofe of the mouth.
5. The nether lip stryking on the overlip makes b, m, p, and on the teeth
it makes f and v.
6. The top of the tongue stryking on the inward teeth formes d, l, n, r, s,
t, and z.
7. The midle tongue stryking on the rouf of the mouth formes the rest, c,
g, k, j, q, and x, and so we have 18 consonantes borrowed of the latines.
8. These they borrow al from the greekes, saving j and v, quhilk our age
soundes other wayes then it seemes the romanes did; for Plutarch, more
then 100 yeeres after Christ, expressing the sound q_uhi_lk they had in
his tyme, symbolizes them neerar the sound of the vouales quherof they
are maed then now we