I

ís :-- Ís byþ oferceald ungemetum slidor; glisnaþ glæshluttur gimmum gelícust, Runic pm. Kmbl. p. 341.The short i generally corresponds to Gothic i. e. g. in, Goth, in. biddan, Goth. bidjan; the long i, which is sometimes written ii, e. g. riiknæ on the Ruthwell Cross, to Gothic ei, e.g. isern, Goth. eisarn, bidan, Gothic beidan. In early West Saxon MSS., however, i, í are found arising from other sources. Thus the mutation of the breaking ea is written i, e. g. ildu, irmþu from eald, earm; and the mutations of eó, eá are written í, e. g. onlíhtan, híran. In such cases, however, instead of i the diphthong ie is very often found; and not only in such, but also in those where the root-vowel is i or í, e. g. ongietan, wietan [ = wítan] ; even in the place of ý, e. g. ieðegende. In the later MSS. instead of i or ie, y is found very commonly; indeed even in the earlier MSS. y has in some instances already made its way into the place of i, thus ryht is the form regularly used in Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care. In the case of niht in the earliest times, in that of miht and its compounds in later, i takes the place of original a.Initial i before a, o, u is found where most generally ge is used; for examples see below. i