[Spellyans] More on bys/bes words and diacritical marks

[Craig Weatherhill]

This true, but <res>, "ford" is often "rys".  The SWF caters for both 
but "watercourse" (historically <reys>) is also being spelt <res>, 
inviting place-name element confusion.  It is early spellings that help 
to differentiate between a ford and a watercourse, but I can't do so in 
the SWF.  (You'll find <reys> in names like Race Farm and Roseangrouse, 
historically Reysangrous).  Sometimes, like Race Farm, the word is 
obviously "watercourse" because the location is at the head of a stream 
where a ford would not exist.  Other locations, by the side of stream, 
are far more difficult to interpret.  One has to look at the site itself 
and decide whether a ford ever did exist there.  Is there an old or 
disused lane running through?  Or traces/records of one that has been 
grubbed out so that a larger field can be created?  Toponymic research 
is a  never-ending task.

Craig




Michael Everson wrote:
> At 10:48 +0000 2008-07-10, Tom Trethewey wrote:
>   
>> What evidence have you that <res> 'necessary' is in a different 
>> category from <bys> 'finger', or indeed from <bys> 'world'?  The 
>> spelling of 'necessary' and 'world' in the texts is remarkably 
>> similar.
>>     
>
> <res> necessary is never *<rys>.
>