Part 25

leche (: seche, ii. 3220, beseche, iii. 413).

meete, ‘dream,’ (: meete, from mētan, iii. 51).

mete (unmete), adj. (: mete, from mētan, ii. 458, iii. 1100).

slep, slepe, subst. and verb, (kepe : slepe, Prol. 309 f., 475 f., slep : kep, i. 155, &c.), but slep : hep (hēap), iv. 3007 f.

speche (spieche) (: seche, Prol. 174, beseche, i. 1986).

spieke (speke), from sprǣcon, pret. pl. (: beseke, ii. 959, sieke, ii. 1456).

thred (: sped, i. 1419).

ȝer, ȝere, (ȝere : stiere, ii. 2379, ȝer : hier, iii. 129, ȝeeres : pleiefieres, iv. 481), with no instances apparently of ę̄.

If we take now the words in which ē is from ǣ corresponding to Germanic ai, we obtain the following results.

With ę̄:

er (: ner, ii. 2285).

geth (: deth, ii. 1804, 2616, &c.).

lene, ‘lend,’ (: bene, v. 4407).

leve, ‘remain,’ (: bereve, Prol. 412).

se (see), ‘sea,’ (: stree, iii. 86, iv. 1715, sle, iv. 1664), but be : se, iv. 1625 f., me : see, viii. 1723 f.

ȝe (ȝee), ‘yea,’ (: slee, iii. 262, 2068, stree, iii. 668).

(stre, slee, have no ẹ̄ rhymes, so we have no reason to suppose, as in the case of Chaucer, that final ē has a close sound.)

With ẹ̄:

areche, from ārǣcan, (: beseche, ii. 666).

clene (: sene, ii. 3461).

del (diel), somdiel, &c. (: whiel, Prol. 137, stiel, Prol. 612, 828).

evere, nevere, (: levere, Prol. 38, ii. 5, ii. 2417, &c.).

-hede (-hiede) as a suffix: hiede : godhiede, Prol. 497 f., cp. i. 1211 f., 1719 f., v. 595 f., viii. 95 f., mede : wommanhiede, iii. 1607 f., wommanhiede : fiede, vi. 695 f., maidenhede : spede, vii. 5145 f., viii. 1419 f., and so on, but once ę̄, Maidenhede : rede (from rēad), v. 5987.

hete, subst. and verb, ‘heat,’ (: swete, ‘sweet,’ ii. 2740, vi. 249), but hete : tobete, iii. 121 f., hete : bete, viii. 1195 f.

lede (: hiede, v. 156, : fede, vii. 2336*), but dede (dead) : lede, ii. 2779 f.

lere (liere), from lǣran, (: hiere, verb, i. 454, iii. 2204, v. 2029, diere, viii. 1462, hiere (adv.), viii. 1497, unliered : stiered, Prol. 233 f.).

mene (meene), verb, (: sene, ii. 2830, iv. 1645, wene, i. 1937, &c., grene, i. 777, &c., tene, iii. 771, queene, iv. 786).

sprede (spriede) (: fede, i. 2824, spede, ii. 504, spredeth : nedeth, v. 7679 f., feedeth, vi. 895 f.), but sprede : hede (head), vii. 845 f.