I note with interest that the “end & and” in the spelling of Rollright had disappeared by 1600. I also note the “roll” was spelt in different ways which is surely a reflection of how the word was spoken in the local accent of the time – Rowl, Roul, Rol, Wroul, Rowle, Roule, Roll, Rolle. All these spellings are clearly expressions of virtually the same spoken sound. I am not familiar with the old fashioned spoken accent used in this part of the country but one thing is certain is that the animal, which we, who use Received Pronunciation, RP, call a sheep was spoken of here to sound like “ship”; hence the present names of a number of towns and villages – Shipton.
Next thought: it was the great Doctor Johnson who was almost the first to try to bring order to the English language with his dictionary from which the spelling of words inevitably followed.
You will have realised by now that what I am saying is that Widows, Widows, Widdowes, Withers are all the same sound.
I suggest that you look at “Grimm’s Law” in Wikipedia which clearly shows how consonants are related and how the sounds change and relate to one another.
Helen,
I note with interest that the “end & and” in the spelling of Rollright had disappeared by 1600. I also note the “roll” was spelt in different ways which is surely a reflection of how the word was spoken in the local accent of the time – Rowl, Roul, Rol, Wroul, Rowle, Roule, Roll, Rolle. All these spellings are clearly expressions of virtually the same spoken sound. I am not familiar with the old fashioned spoken accent used in this part of the country but one thing is certain is that the animal, which we, who use Received Pronunciation, RP, call a sheep was spoken of here to sound like “ship”; hence the present names of a number of towns and villages – Shipton.
Next thought: it was the great Doctor Johnson who was almost the first to try to bring order to the English language with his dictionary from which the spelling of words inevitably followed.
You will have realised by now that what I am saying is that Widows, Widows, Widdowes, Withers are all the same sound.
I suggest that you look at “Grimm’s Law” in Wikipedia which clearly shows how consonants are related and how the sounds change and relate to one another.
Thank you Simon for your observations and for highlighting the historical linguistic relationship between the ‘th’ and ‘d’ sounds. 👍🏻