2 | Long Vowels.
O.E. â is preserved in the following rhymes:2 a. 39 take—stroke (= strake, ags. strâc), spake—take. 97 sore—fare. 103 goos—takythe (= gas—tas). 280 wakyn)—tokyn) (ags. tâcen). 334 care—sore. 590 fare—wher, hore—care. 705 fare—gere (ags. gâr). 788 Iame—name, bone—schame. 834 ga—ma. 977 fare—bare, sare—chaffare. 1143 glade—rade. 1238 Cate—gate, bad—wott (ags. wât). 1251 brod—made; cf. 1303, 1306, 1501, 1526, 1604, 1612, 1663, 1669, 1825, 1911, 2178, 2356, 2617.
b. O.E. â has changed into o: 16 sone (ags. sunu)—gon. 141 rode—rode (ags. rôd—râd). 195 bon (ags. bân)—Rome. 238 wote (ags. wât)—fote. 654 browȝ—goo. 1062 tho—do. Cf. 1196, 1226, 1295, 1381, 1809, 1812, 1815, 2013, 2025, 2028, 2037, 2046, 2295, 2298, 2301, 2542. The result is, that in 26 cases old â is preserved, in 22 cases changed into ô.
O.E. æ̂ is turned into (1) a: 154 were—fare. 603 fare—were. 1020 were—fare. 2074 care—ware.
Into (2) e. 379 dede (ags. dæ̂d)—hed. 1047 were—chere. 1053 sped—lede (ags. læ̂dan). 1263 stede—wede (ags. wæ̂d).
Into (3) o. 1113 mone (ags. mæ̂nan)—Aragon. 1384 beffore—there—were.
O.E. ô is preserved throughout: 73 wode—good. 112 rode—blod. 118 Rome—kyrstendome. 313 done—sone.
Before g the vowel u resp. w is inserted: 145 browght—nowght. 279 browght—thowght. 2053 sought—brought.
O.E. ê is preserved: 123 kene—sene. 743 dede—sped, wede. 1849 wepe—slepe. 2055 grene—kene. 2458 be dene—wene.
O.E. î is preserved as y: 196 tyd—syd. 325 fyve—lyve. 777 wyse—deuyce. 900 ryde—syde.
O.E. û is written ou resp. ow in the French way: 921 renowne—towyn). 978 downe—renowne. 1425 nowe—rowe. 2634 mouth—couth. It has become o: 516 rome—frome (ags. rûm—from). Cf. 2641 renown—son.
O.E. eá has become e: 1929 grame—streme, Jerusalem. 2554 Jerusalem)—streme (ags. streám).
O.E. eó has changed into e: 153 be—hee: 782 fre—he. 888 tre—crystyanté. 1643 be—charité. 1861 ffree—cité.
O.E. ŷ remains y: 1361 pride—bedsyde. 1433 pryde—ryde. 1473 wyde—pride. ŷ or ê, the i-umlaut of eá or e, is found as e: 63 were—here (ags. hŷran). 235 here—were. 327 sted—yed, nede—sped. 408 yede—ned. 1552 stede—nede, indede.