write yr ystalwyn, p. 68. He himself also writes ag scrifennu, p. 69, etc. In the 1620 Bible we find sceler, sclyfaeth, scrifennedic, but yscubor, yspeilio, yscrifen, each word generally written in the same way whether it follows a vowel or a consonant. The r of the article is retained before forms without ỿ‑, as yr scrifenyddion Barn. v 14, Matt. vii 29. The ỿ- is introduced more freely in the 1690 edition; but its insertion everywhere is late, and of course artificial, since it never became general in natural speech.
§ 24. i. The letter h has always been employed to denote the aspirate; but it was not used to represent the aspirate glide after r͑ until the modern period, § 22 iv; and in some Early Ml. mss. mh, nh and ngh were written m, n and g, as emen (≡ymhen) a.l. i 84, eurenynes (≡ y vrenhines) do. 4; vy g̃erenhyt w. 3a (≡ vy ngherennhyẟ); yg̃ g̃adellig̃ do. 9a (≡ yng Nghadelling).
ii. In O. and Ml. W. h seems also to have been used to denote a voiced breathing ; see § 112.
§ 25. i. Consonantal i̯ is represented in O. W. by i, as iar juv. ≡ i̯âr ‘hen’, hestoriou ox., pl. of hestawr, cloriou ox., Mn. W. clori̯au ‘boards’, mellhionou m.c., Mn. W. meilli̯on ‘clover’. Before ‑oü it is also found as u (once iu), as enmeituou ox., Mn. W. amneidiau ‘beckonings’, damcirchinnuou juv. ‘circuits’; dificiuou juv. ‘defects’; here it was probably rounded into ü in anticipation of the final ü; cf. § 76 iii (3). Where it is the soft mutation of front g̑ it appears as g in O. W., as in Urbgen in Nennius ≡ Urfi̯en, Mn. W. Uri̯en; Morgen gen. xxv ≡ Mori̯en. Here the i̯ was doubtless heard with more friction of the breath being the spirant ᵹ̑ corresponding to front g̑; see § 110 ii.
ii. In Early Ml. W. i̯ is represented by i, except in mss. where y is used for i, § 16 ii (2); thus tirion b.b. 26, pl. of tir ‘land’, dinion do. 45 (≡ dỿni̯on) ‘men’.
iii. In late Ml. W. it is represented initially by i, rarely by y; as Iessu, b.b. 25, 50, Ỻ.a. 1, 19, etc., Ieuan Ỻ.a. 78, iarll, iarlles w.m. 136 ‘earl, countess’, iawn r.m. 16 ‘right’, ẏawnhaf do. 24 ‘most proper’, Yessu, Yiessu, Ỻ.a. 100. Medially it is written y, as dynnẏon w.m. 32 ‘men’, bedyẟẏaw do. 32 ‘to baptize’, meẟylẏaw do. 34 ‘to think’, etc., etc., rarely as i, as ymbilio r.m. 3 ‘he may entreat.’
☞ When y represents i̯ it will be dotted as above in the quotations in this book.
