vi. The sounds l and r have always been represented by the letters l and r.
§ 23. i. The sound s has always been written s. In O. W. it is sometimes doubled as in drissi juv. ≡ drỿssi ‘thorns’, iss m.c., Ml. W. ys ‘is’. In Ml. W. it is usually doubled medially between vowels, as in Iessu b.b. 25, 50, Ỻ.a. 1, 19, etc., Saesson b.b. 48, messur b.b. 3 ‘measure’, etc., but sometimes written single as in Saeson b.b. 60. Initial ss also occurs, as ssillit b.b. 99 ≡ syllyẟ, Mn. W. sylli ‘thou gazest’. z for s is rare: tryzor Ỻ.a. 17 ‘treasure’.
ii. Initial s followed by a consonant has developed a prosthetic ỿ- (written y, e, i, etc. § 16), as in ỿsgol ‘school’.
It is not derived from the late Lat. prosthetic i- as in iscola, since Corn., Bret., Ir. scol do not show it, and it appears in native words in W., as ystrad. It arose in W. for the same reason as in late Lat., a syllabic pronunciation of s- after a consonant. The earliest recorded examples are Istrat, Estrat, beside Strat in l.l. see its index s.v. Istrat. In the spoken language it is not heard except in words in which it is accented, as ỿ́sgol, ỿ́strad, ỿ́sbrɥd, etc., and sometimes in derivatives of these, as ỿsgóli̯on; but sgúbor, stródur, sgrífen, strɥ̄́d. In O. W. it is not written: scipaur juv., strotur m.c., scribenn m.c. In Early Ml. W. we have gwastavel a.l. i 4 ≡ gwas-stavell for the later gwas ystavell w.m. 183, r.m. 85. In the oldest verse it does not count as a syllable:
Stavell Gynẟylan ys tywyll heno (10 syll.) r.p. 1045.
‘The hall of Cynddylan is dark to-night.’ In later verse it usually counts after a consonant and not after a vowel:
Mi Iscolan yscolheic (≡ Mi ’Scolan ỿscolhe|ïc, 7 syll.) b.b. 81.
‘I am Yscolan the clerk.’ But in b.b. 91 we seem to have scolheic after wyd, see § 41 iii (2).
Mae sgrifen uwchben y bedd.—L.G.C. 20.
‘There is a legend above the tomb.’
Damasg a roed am i sgrîn.—T.A., a 31101/115.
‘Damask was spread over his coffin.’
Ac ysgrîn i geisio gras.—D.G. 60.
‘And a coffin to seek grace.’
The ỿ- was general in late Ml. mss., but it is possible that when unaccented the actual spoken sound consisted of a gradual beginning of the s, which like a vowel preserved the r of the article, etc. G.R., 1567, says that yr is used before st, sc, sp, as yr stalwyn, though some
