Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue Part 2

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 sound them in latin, for in Galba he symbolizes junius vindex, ??????? ????de?, q_uhi_lk, if then it had sounded as now we sound it, he sould rather have written it with _gamma_ and _beta_, ??????? ??de?.

9. We have in our use the sam soundes q_uhi_lk it seemes these consonantes had in Plutarch's dayes, as in yallou, winter. Quhilk, seeing now they are worn out of the latin use, my counsel is that we leave the sound of them q_uhi_lk now is in the latin use to the latines, and take as our's the sound q_uhi_lk they have left, and geve to the sound, q_uhi_lk now we use in latin, the latin symbol; as, jolie jhon; vertue is not vain; and to the soundes quhilk they have left the symboles q_uhi_lk we have usurped to that end; as, yallou, youk; water, wyne.

10. And heer, to put our men af their errour quho had wont to symboliz yallou with an ?, and to put noe difference betueen v and w, ? is a dental consonant, broaken betueen the top of the tongue and root of the teeth; yal, a guttural sound, made be a mynt of the tongue to the roofe of the mouth, and therfoer the organes being so far distant, and the tuich so diverse, this symbol can be no reason serve that sound, nor nane of that kynd.

11. As for v and w, seeing we have in our idiom, besyd the latin sound, an other never hard in latin, as now it is p.r.o.nu_n_ced, I can not but com_m_end the wisdom of the south, q_uhi_lk gave the latin sound their awn symbol, and took to our sound a symbol quhilk they use not. Lyke was their wisdom in j and y; for as the latines usurped the voual i for a consonant in their use, q_uhi_lk the greekes had not, so they usurped y, a voual not mikle different from i, for the correspondent sound, not used in the latin as now it is p.r.o.nu_n_ced.

12. Heerfoer, for distinctiones of both sound and symbol, I wald commend the symbol and name of i and u to the voual sound; as, indifferent, unthankful; the symbols of j and v to the latin consonantes, and their names to be jod and vau; as, vain jestes; and the symboles y and w to our English soundes, and their names to be ye and we, or yod and wau; as, yonder, wel, yallou, wool.

13. Now remaineth h, q_uhi_lk we have called a noat of aspiration, cap.

2, sect. 2, and is, in deed, noe voual, because with a consonant it makes noe sound; as, ch; nor consonant, because it is p.r.o.nu_n_ced without the tuich of the mouth; as, ha.

14. It may affect al vouales _and_ diphthonges; as, hand, hen, hind, hose, hurt, hail, hautie, health, heel, heifer, _etc._ But behind the voual in our tong (so far as yet I can fynd) it hath no use. Of consonantes, it affecteth g beyond the voual; as, laugh; p befoer the voual; as, phason; s and t also befoer the voual; as, think, shame.

With c we spil the aspiration, tur_n_ing it into an Italian chirt; as, charitie, cherrie, of quhilk hereafter.

OF OUR ABUSING SUM CONSONANTES.

Cap. 5.

1. Now I am c.u.m to a knot that I have noe wedg to cleave, and wald be glaed if I cold hoep for help. Ther sould be for everie sound that can occur one symbol, and of everie symbol but one onlie sound. This reason and nature craveth; and I can not but trow but that the worthie inventoures of this divyne facultie shot at this mark.

2. But, contrarie to this sure ground, I waet not be quhat corruption, we see, not onelie in our idiom, but in the latin alsoe, one symbol to have sundrie soundes, ye, and that in one word; as, lego, legis.

3. First, to begin with c, it appeeres be the greekes, quho ever had occasion to use anie latin word, quharein now we sound c as s, in their tymes it sounded k; for Cicero, thei wryt Kikero; for Caesar, Kaisar; and Plut., in Galba, symbolizes principia, p?????p?a.

4. This sound of it we, as the latines, also keepe befoer a, o, and u; as, canker, conduit, c.u.mber. But, befoer e and i, sum tymes we sound it, with the latin, lyke an s; as, cellar, certan, cease, citie, circle, _et_c.

5. Behind the voual, if a consonant kep it, we sound it alwayes as a k; as, occur, accuse, succ.u.mb, acquyre. If it end the syllab, we ad e, and sound it as an s; as, peace, vice, solace, temperance; but nether for the idle e, nor the sound of the s, have we anie reason; nether daer I, with al the oares of reason, row against so strang a tyde. I hald it better to erre with al, then to stryve with al and mend none.

6. This consonant, evin quher in the original it hes the awne sound, we turn into the chirt we spak of, cap. 4, sect. 14, quhilk, indeed, can be symbolized with none, neither greek nor latin letteres; as, from cano, chant; from canon, chanon; from castus, chast; from ????a??, a church, of q_uhi_lk I hard doctour Laurence, the greek professour in Oxfoord, a man bothe of great learni_n_g and judgement, utter his opinion to this sense, and (excep my memorie fael me) in these wordes: ????a?? ut as????? suppresso substantivo ????a domus domini est. Unde nostrum derivatur, quod Scoti et Angli boreales recte, p.r.o.nu_n_ciant a kyrk, nos corrupte a church.

7. Yet, notwithstanding that it is barbarouse, seing it is more usual in our tongue then can be mended befoer the voual, as chance, and behind the voual, as such, let it be symbolized, as it is symbolized with ch, hou beit nether the c nor the h hath anie affinitie with that sound; 1, because it hath bene lang soe used; and 2, because we have no other mean to symbolize it, except it wer with a new symbol, q_uhi_lk it will be hard to bring in use.

8. Now, quheras ch in nature is c asperat, as it soundes in charus and chorus; and seing we have that sound also in use, as licht, micht; if I had bene at the first counsel, my vote wald have bene to have geven ch the awn sound. But as now the case standes, ne quid novandum sit, quod non sit necesse, I not onlie consent, but also com_m_end the wisdom of the south, quho, for distinction, wrytes light, might, with gh and referres ch to the other sound, how be it improperlie, and this distinction I com_m_end to our men, quho yet hes not satis attente observed it.

9. Next c.u.mes g, howbe it not so deformed as c; for, althogh we see it evin in latin, and that, in one word (as is said cap. 5, sect. 2), distorted to tuo sonndes, yet both may stand with the nature of the symbol and differ not in the instrumentes of the mouth, but in the form of the tuich, as the judiciouse ear may mark in ago, agis; agam, ages.

10. This consonant, in latin, never followes the voual; befoer a, o, u, it keepes alwayes the awn sound, and befoer e and i breakes it.

11. But with us it may both begin and end the syllab; as, gang; it may, both behind and befoer, have either sound; as, get, gist, gin, giant.

12. These the south hath providentlie minted to distinguish tuo wayes, but hes in deed distinguished noe way, for the first sum hath used tuo gg; as, egg, legg, bigg, bagg; for the other dg; as, hedge, edge, bridge; but these ar not ?at? p??t??. Gyles, nomen viri, can not be written dgiles; nor giles doli, ggiles; nether behind the voual ar they general; age, rage, suage, are never wrytten with dg. Quherfoer I conclud that, seeing nether the sound nor the symbol hath anie reason to be sundrie, without greater auctoritie, nor the reach of a privat wit, this falt is incorrigible.

13. Here I am not ignorant quhat a doe the learned make about the symboles of c, g, k and q, that they be al symboles, but of one sound; but I wil not medle in that question, being besyde my purpose, q_uhi_lk is not to correct the latin symboles, but to fynd the best use of them in our idiom.

14. T, the last of these misused souldioures, keepes alwayes it's aun nature, excep it be befoer tio; as, oration, declamation, narration; for we p.r.o.nunce not tia and tiu as it is in latin. Onelie let it be heer observed that if an s preceed tio, the t keepes the awn nature, as in question, suggestion, _et_c.

15. Thus have I breeflie handled the letteres and their soundes, quhilk, to end this parte, I wald wish the printeres, in their a, b, c, to expresse thus:--a, ae, ai, au, ea, b, c, d, e, ee, ei, eu, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, oa, oo, ou, p, q, r, s, t, u, ui, v, w, x, y, z, and the masteres teaching their puples to sound the diphthonges, not be the vouales quharof they be made, but be the sound quhilk they mak in speaking; lykwayes I wald have them name w, not duble u nor v, singl u, as now they doe; but the last, vau or ve, and the first, wau or we; and j, for difference of the voual i, written with a long tail, I wald wish to to be called jod or je.

OF THE SYLLAB.

Cap. 6.

1. Now followes the syllab, quhilk is a ful sound symbolized with convenient letteres, and consistes of ane or moe.

2. A syllab of ane letter is symbolized with a voual onelie; as, a in able, e in ever, i in idle, o in over, u in unitie, for a consonant can make no syllab alane.

3. A syllab of moe letteres is made of vouales onelie, or els of vouales and consonantes. Of onlie vouales the syllab is called a diphthong, of quhilk we have spoaken in the vouales quherof they ar composed.

4. A syllab of vouales and consonantes either begin_n_es at the voual, as al, il, el; or at one consona_n_t, as tal man; or at tuo consona_n_tes, as stand, sleep; or els at thre at the maest, as strand, stryp. It endes either at a voual, as fa, fo; or at one consonant, as ar, er; or at tuo, as best, dart; or at thre at the maest, as durst, worst.

5. Heer is to be noated, that in divyding syllabes, the consonantes, one or moe, that may begin a syllab anie way in the middes of a word belong to the voual following, as in que-stion, qua-rel, fi-shar, sa-fron, ba-stard, de-scrib, re-scue.

6. It is alsoe heer to be observed in printing and wryting, that quhen a word fales to be divyded at the end of a lyne, that the part.i.tion must be made at the end of a syllab, soe that the one lyne end at the end of the whol syllab, and the other begin the next lyne. As, for exemple, if this word magistrat fel to be divided at the first syllab, it behoved to be ma-gistrat; if at the second, it behoved to be magi-strat; but no wayes to parte the m from the a, nor the g from the i, nor the s from t, nor the t from r.