Premium
Adapting the roman alphabet for writing O ld E nglish: evidence from coin epigraphy and single‐sheet charters
Author(s) -
Shaw Philip A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/emed.12012
Subject(s) - epigraphy , reign , alphabet , character (mathematics) , period (music) , history , art , literature , humanities , ancient history , linguistics , mathematics , philosophy , aesthetics , political science , law , geometry , politics
Single‐sheet charters and coin epigraphy provide valuable evidence for the development of representations of the O ld E nglish dental fricative in the seventh and eighth centuries. This evidence indicates differing K entish and M ercian practices up to the 780s, when scribes in both areas rapidly adopt <ð> to represent this sound. In K ent, occasional experimentation with this character from perhaps as early as the reign of E adbald (616–40 ad ) may suggest a lengthy period of gradual adoption prior to the rapid increase. M ercian practice instead shows an abrupt adoption, which is perhaps the result of reform according to external (perhaps K entish) models.