guttural was originally gh, both with English and Scottish writers, but with the latter gradually changed into ch; the Ags. hw became first qw, qu, afterwards quh, qwh, and, in England, at length wh; sh, originally sc, became, in both, sch, upon which the Midland English sh intrudes; i and y are interchanged; the past participle in -yd in the oldest Scotch, as in English, but later changed into -yt.
1.—Cursor Mundi, or Cursor o Worlde (Cott. MS. Vesp. A. iii.)
God's creative might.
Quat man mai wiit, quat man mai lere
Quat man may se, quat ere may here
Quat man in erth mai thine in thoght
Hu al þis werld ur laverd wroght,
Heven and erth al in fair haldes,
Þat mighti godd þat alle waldes?
Qua can sai me hu of a sede(i.e. ae seid)
He dos an hundret for to brede?
Thoru his mighti wille dos þat king
Ute of the erd tre to spring
ffrst the lef and sithen þe flur
And þan þe frut with his savur
Ilkin frut in his sesun . . .
The Resurrection.
Sua haali sal þai þan rise fare,
Þam sal noght want a hefd hare, (i. e. one hair of the head)
Ne noght a nail o fote ne hand;
Þof-quether, we sal understand
Þat nail and hare þat haf ben scorn,(i. e. schorn)
Bes noght al quar þai war beforn;
Bot als potter with pottes dos,
Quen he his neu wessel fordos,
He castes al þan in a balle,
A better for to mak with-alle;
O noght he lokes quilk was quilk
Bot maks a nother of þat ilk
Wel fairer þan þe first was wroght;
Eight sua sal crist, ne dut þe noght.
Here the Anglo-Saxon u (and even the French ou) is still represented by u, which in later times was written ou, u alone being reserved for the French u. The vowels remain simple, ai and ei, being used only to represent an original diphthong, mai, nail. Qu and sc prepare the way for the Scotch quh, sch, for which the English afterwards substituted wh and sh.
2.—The Old Scottish Laws (Acta Parlm. Scott., vol. i.).
Þe blude of þe hede of ane erl or of a kinges son is ix ky.Item þe blud of þe sone of ane erl is vi ky or of a thayn.Item
