The consonantal spellings of Old English (OE) were significantly influenced by the
consonantal spellings of Old Irish (OI). 1)
vs. (post-vocalic) : though OE
did not have a distinction between /θ/ and /ð/, OI did, spelling this as
vs. (postvocalic)
. 2) vs. : though OE did not have a distinction between /h/ and
/x/, OI did, spelling the latter as . 3) and
: both spellings appear to be
from Irish. 4) : spellings of the “mixed voice” type, including “cg”, occur in OI,
where they can spell either single or geminate voiced plosives. 5) (and ):
almost certainly in final position in OE represent singles, not geminates, as
they can in OI. 6) Spelling rules referring to post-vocalic position: all cases show
OE spelling having had, like OI spelling, rules referring to post-vocalic position,
which appear to be additionally evidenced by “illogical doubling” in Northumbrian.
7) The meaning of before front Vs: in OE spelling as in OI spelling, but not as in
Roman Latin spelling, before front Vs spells a palatal approximant rather than a palatal
affricate. The overall conclusion is that the OE spelling system was developed by Irish
missionary linguists.
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