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The Old English Latin alphabet generally consisted of about 24 letters, and was used for writing Old English from the 8th to the 12th centuries. Of these letters, most were directly adopted from the Latin alphabet, two were modified Latin letters (Æ, Ð), and two developed from the runic alphabet (Ƿ, Þ).
In Old English manuscripts, this letter usually took its insular form ᵹ . The [j] and [dʒ] pronunciations are sometimes written ġ in modern editions. Word-initially before another consonant letter, the pronunciation is always the velar fricative [ɣ]. Word-finally after i , it is always palatal [j].
Old English alphabet may refer to: . Anglo-Saxon runes (futhorc), a runic alphabet used to write Old English from the 5th century; Old English Latin alphabet, a Latin-derived alphabet used to write Old English from the 8th to the 12th centuries
In very early Old English the o-e ligature ethel (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, œðel. [citation needed] Additionally, the v–v or u-u ligature double-u (W w) was in use. In the year 1011, a monk named Byrhtferð recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet. [2]
Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, Old Swedish and modern Icelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of the Gothic alphabet, Middle Scots, and some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia but was later replaced with the digraph th, except in Iceland, where it survives.
In a tale from Bede's Ecclesiastical History (written in Latin), a man named Imma cannot be bound by his captors and is asked if he is using "litteras solutorias" (loosening letters) to break his binds. In one Old English translation of the passage, Imma is asked if he is using "drycraft" (magic, druidcraft) or "runestaves" to break his binds. [15]
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The use of the letters I and V for both consonants and vowels proved inconvenient as the Latin alphabet was adapted to Germanic and Romance languages. W originated as a doubled V (VV) used to represent the sound [w] found in Old English as early as the 7th century.