1 | Short Vowels.
Old English ă is (1) preserved before n and m: 744 and 788 Iame—name. 927 Adryan—jentylmane. 13 londe—wonande. 352 stond—lygand. 1128 stond—shynand. No part. pres. on-ond rhyming with an unvariable -ond has been traced out until now, but 1824 wepand—wonde (ags. wunden) seems to be the first. 2. Changed into o. 516 rome—frome ags. rûm—fram. 2446 mon)—done. 1190 none—shone—anon—done. 1257 ouercom—Aragon). 1989 son—can (= con). 2040 anon)—bone. A curious exception is 1929 grame (= greme)—teme—Ierusalem; cf. Gaw. l. 312.
O.E. e, the i-umlaut of a, is preserved: 373 end—wend. 476 went—jent. 924 tell̴—hell. 1702 hell—Desonell̴e. 1798 fell̴—hell̴. The past partic. of seón, segen, has been contracted into sen. 1562 sene—wene.
O.E. æ has become a: 45 spake—take. 363 ffare—bare. 726 and 876 sale—Portynggall̴e. 1074 passe—was. 1131 sale—tale. 1233 thare—fare. 1236 was—Sathanas. 1399 care—thare. 2287 was—alas.
æ has become e: 2026 wildernes—was. 764 derre—clere—ware (ags. wær). 1951 there—bere. 328 glad (= gled)—redd.
æ has become ay by the vocalization of the following g: 25 fayne—Torrayne. 1025 may—day, wey—laye. 1071 say—day. 2029 day—way.
O.E. ea becomes o before ld: 303 hold—bold, fold (ags. folde)—cold. 422 gold—mold, hold—told.
ea has become a: 399 Portyngall̴—bale (ags. bealu). 531 care—far) (ags. cearu). 1891 ffare—care.
ea has become e: 1166 beheld—feld—sheld—weld (ags. wealdan). 2359 preste—breste (ags. bearst).
O.E. eo has turned into e: 1166 beheld—ffeld—sheld—weld.
O.E. ĭ is preserved as i and y: 51 knyght—nyght. 307 dym—hym. 1783 myld—child. Only once this vowel has changed into e: 714 wret—get. i rhymes with e: 3 wynde—ende—lende—ffynde.
O.E. ŏ is unaltered: 422 gold—mold. 1122 gold—mold.
O.E. ŭ has become o: 367 dore (ags. duru)—befor). 765 Aragon)—son). 1257 ouer com—Aragon). 1762 com)—kyngdome. 1801 done—sonne (ags. sunu). 2320 sonne—dungeon.
O.E. y̆, the i-umlaut of ŭ, has the value of i, written i or y: 390 kysse—iwysse. 1564 till̴—fullefyll̴, yll̴—wyll̴. 1740 evyll̴—fulle fylle. Only once it rhymes with e: 1484 hyll̴ (= hell̴)—yell̴—befell̴—well̴, never with u.