[Spellyans] fleece

[Michael Everson]

On 25 Nov 2009, at 16:52, nicholas williams wrote:

> The third item is the word for "flood", which is attested in the  
> singular as <lyf> seven times in OM, and as <lew> in the expression  
> lew Noye "Noah's flood" at TH 7.
> The plural form, however, is <lyvyow>, which occurs twice in CW.

Lhuyd has on page 54c:

Lyv, Latin Diluvium, A deluge, a great floud'

> I prefer, however, to write "flood" in the singular as <lyw> but the  
> plural as <livyow>, keeping the alternation w/v, with final <w> in  
> the monosyllabic form. I am not bothered that lyw "flood" and lyw  
> "colour" are written and pronounced the same.


It bothers me; I much prefer (since we have the choice) liv pl livyow  
for 'flood' and lyw pl lywow for 'colour'.


Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/