Wynn
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is on the letter. For other uses, see Wynn (disambiguation).
Wynn (Ƿ ƿ) (also spelled Wen) is a letter of the old English alphabet. It was used to represent the sound Template:IPA.
While the earliest Old English texts represent this phoneme with the digraph <uu>, scribes soon borrowed the rune wynn (ᚹ) for this purpose. It remained a standard letter throughout the Anglo-Saxon era, eventually falling out of use (perhaps under the influence of French orthography) during the Middle English period, circa 1300 (Freeborn 1992:25). It was replaced with <uu> once again, from which the modern <w> developed.
The name of the rune, meaning "joy, bliss", is known from the Anglo-Saxon rune poem:
- ᚹ Ƿenne bruceþ, ðe can ƿeana lyt
- sares and sorge and him sylfa hæfþ
- blæd and blysse and eac byrga geniht.
- Bliss he enjoys who knows not suffering,
- sorrow nor anxiety, and has
- prosperity and happiness and a good enough house.
It is not continued in the Young Futhark, but in the Gothic alphabet, the letter 𐍅 w is called winja, allowing a Proto-Germanic reconstruction of the rune's name as wunjô "joy".
It is the only rune other than þ to have been borrowed into the English alphabet (or any extension of the Latin alphabet).
The letter was revived in modern times for the printing of Old English texts, but since the early 20th century the usual practice has been to substitute the modern <w> instead.
Wynn in Unicode
| Latin Capital Letter Wynn | Ƿ | U+01F7 |
| Latin Small Letter Wynn | ƿ | U+01BF |
| Runic Letter Wynn | ᚹ | U+16B9 |
References
- Freeborn, Dennis (1992). From Old English to Standard English. London: MacMillan.
| Latin alphabet | Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Qq | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz |
|---|---|
| Modified characters | Àà | Áá | Ââ | Ää | Ãã | Āā | Ąą | Ăă | Ǎǎ | Çç | Ĉĉ | Čč | Ćć | Đđ | Ďď | Èè | Éé | Êê | Ëë | Ęę | Ēē | Ĕĕ | Ėė | Ěě | Ĝĝ | Ğğ | Ġġ | Ģģ | Ǧǧ | Ĥĥ | Ħħ | Ìì | Íí | Îî | Ïï | Įį | İı | Ĩĩ | Īī | Ĭĭ | Ĵĵ | Ķķ | Ǩǩ | Ĺĺ | Ļļ | Ľľ | Ŀŀ | Łł | Ńń | Ņņ | Ňň | Òò | Óó | Ôô | Öö | Õõ | Őő | Ǫǫ | Ōō | Ŏŏ | Ơơ | Ŕŕ | Ŗŗ | Řř | Śś | Ŝŝ | Şş | Șș | Šš | Ťť | Ŧŧ | Ţţ | Țț | Ùù | Úú | Ûû | Üü | Ũũ | Ūū | Ŭŭ | Ųų | Ůů | Űű | Ưư | Ŵŵ | Ýý | Ŷŷ | Ÿÿ | Źź | Žž | Żż |
| Alphabet extensions | Ȁȁ | Ȃȃ | Ææ | Ǽǽ | Ǣǣ | Åå | Ċċ | Ðð | DZdz | Dždž | Ɛɛ | Ȅȅ | Ȇȇ | Əə | Ƒƒ | Ǥǥ | Ǧǧ | Ƣƣ | Ƕƕ | IJij | Ǐǐ | Ȉȉ | Ȋȋ | Ǩǩ | ĸ | Ljlj | LLll | ĿLŀl | Ññ | Njnj | Ŋŋ | Œœ | Øø | Ǿǿ | Ǒǒ | Ȍȍ | Ȏȏ | Ɔɔ | Ȣȣ | [[R rotunda|Template:Mufi]] | Ȑȑ | Ȓȓ | ſ | ß | Ʃʃ | Ǔǔ | Ȕȕ | Ȗȗ | Ƿƿ | Ȝȝ | Ȥȥ | Ƶƶ | Ʒʒ | Ǯǯ | Þþ |
| Stylistic variants | Carolingian g | Insular g |
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