earlier period, for (1) w is distinguished from ü; (2) finally u and f are distinguished; thus nev means neu ‘or’, not nef ‘heaven’.
The distinction between the characters u and v is a modern one; double v (i.e. w) is still called “double u” in English.
☞ In the quotations in this grammar the letter u or v (for it was one letter with two forms) is transcribed u when it stands for the vowel, and v when it represents the consonant f, irrespective of the form in the MS., which depended chiefly on the scribe’s fancy at the moment.
(4) The sound which is now the labiodental f (≡ Eng. v) was in O. W. and probably also in Ml. W. a bilabial ƀ, like the South German w. It was the soft mutation of b or m, and resulted from these bilabial sounds being pronounced loosely so that the breath was allowed to escape, instead of being stopped, at the lips. It was sometimes confused with w̯, § 26 v; and was so soft that it might, like w̯, be passed over in cynghanedd, e.g. pwynt vy chwaer p. 17 above; see Tr. Cym. 1908–9, p. 34.
iii. (i) The letter d in Ml. W. stands for both d and dd (ẟ).
(2) In some Early Ml. mss., of which the most important is the b.b., the sound ẟ when it is an initial mutation is generally represented by d, but medially and finally is represented rather illogically by t; thus b.b., dy divet 19 ≡ dy ẟiweẟ ‘thy end’; imtuin 32 ≡ ymẟwyn ‘to behave’; guirt 33 ≡ gw̯yrẟ ‘green’; betev 63 ≡ beẟeu ‘graves’. Medially, however, we also have d, as adaw 41 ≡ Aẟaf ‘Adam’; and occasionally, by a slip, finally, as oed 1 ≡ oeẟ ‘was’ (conversely, by a rare slip, final t ≡ d, as imbit 70 ≡ ym myd ‘in the world’). In b.ch. usage is still looser.
(3) In the Late Ml. period the sound ẟ is represented by d, rarely by dd, see Ỻ.a. p. xxii. Initially and medially d and ẟ cannot be distinguished at this period, but finally they can, since final d is written t, § 18 ii, so that final d must mean the sound ẟ. But it often happens that ‑d for ‑d and ‑t for ‑ẟ are copied from an earlier ms.
While w. is distinctly Late Ml. W. in the representation of w, i, y, it has ‑d for ‑d and medial and final t for ẟ; also occasionally dd, as ar dderchet 120a ≡ arẟercheẟ.
(4) dd came generally into use in the 15th cent. In the 16th Sir J. Price, 1546, used d̛; G.R., 1567, used ḍ; Salesbury, 1567,
