Re: RV: Old English

On sunnandæge, 26 Mar 2000 18:52:51 +0100, yl-ruil <yl-ruil@...>
gewrat:

>The OE word for shadow was sceadu, neither skaedu or scaedu, from the
>Proto-Germanic *skaðwaz. In the early OE period, c. 700 CE, sceadu (which
is
>the "classical" or West Saxon form) was pronounced /'scæadu/. C was a
>palatal stop before front unround vowels at this point. Before this the
>combination had been /sk-/. By the time of the Norman Conquest, sc had
>become /S/, and c before front unround vowels had become /tS/, mnE "ch" as
>in cirice > church. /sk/, or /sc/ > /S/ was not a pre-OE change, but very
>definately a late OE change.
I depends on what you call 'late'.

Note the vocalism: _sceadu_, not _scadu_ (AFAIK, occurring in all OE
dialects; Ms. Higley could correct me) - clearly with a palatalizing
effect of _sc_.

BTW, _sceadu_ directly yields _shade_, and _shadow_ goes back to its
oblique cases having the stem _sceadw-_.


Basilius