THE RIMES IN THE AUTHENTIC POEMS OF WILLIAM DUNBAR. 



637 



8 11. 2. A : Followed by other consonants rimes 



a) itself. 



clappit : happit, 276, 19. 



b) OE. se : 



agast : fast, 136, 34. 

 gather : father, 264, 37. 

 „ : hadder, 266, 85. 

 clappit : trappit, 276, 19. 



c) ME. a : wrack : frack, 282, 76. 



d) OF. or Lat. a. 



ass : pass : 331, 5. terge : lerge : berge : chairge, 

 108, 183. 



with 



ass : vanitas, 387, 8. 



last (OE. latost) : past, 43, 79. 



e) OE. ea & eo. 



at : 3et, 114, 17. 



rax (OE. raxan = to reach) : wax : 377, 66. 

 „ : sax, 377, 71. 



f) Latin e. 



last (latost) : est, 368, 46. 



§ 12. There seems little to be observed on the a in closed syllables in addition to 

 what Dr Curtis has already said. 



The word man, which in NSc. has usually the pronunciation mon, appears in 

 Dunbar's time to be still man, and I have noticed a curious distinction in the Lothian 

 dialect, in that any one using the word man for husband says " man " (Ger. mann), 

 but in using the word generally = NE. man, says mon. The spelling of the rimes 

 ronk : bonk : donk : tJionk suggest, although they cannot be said to prove, the presence 

 of an open o-sound in these words, and this is rather supported by the fact that a 

 similar spelling occurs in Douglas (see above, § 9). If it be maintained that terge : 

 lerge : etc. is an instance of the northern er + co?is = ar + cons, it can be replied that 

 this is not the case in Scottish, when the following consonant is palatal, and indeed is 

 only clearly provable in the case of er + k, as surviving in the modern dark for clerk. 

 The NSc. pronunciation of large and charge = lerge, cherge, also bears out my view 

 (see also § 30). 



A- 



Final a or a + h. 

 8 13. 1. (a) written with a, rimes with 



a) itself. 



Sua : twa, 205, 45. therfra, 263, 9. ga : sla, (ON.a) 



195, 106. 

 gais : tais, 269, 54. gais : strais, (ON.a) 176, 342. 



§ 14. (/3) written with o, rimes with 



a) itself. 



ago : wo, 264, 21. also : ro, 96, 78. fo : wo, 

 42, 34. 280, 4. fo : tuo, 118, 1. mo, 280. 2. 

 fro : wo : go, 197, 166. 



b) Lat. a. Maria : bla, 373, 30. fra, 373, 22. fa, 373, 



38. 



c) ap. 



clais : gais, 140, 21. 



b) Lat. 6. 



Apollo : sepulchro : go : so : wo : fo : mo, 382, 2 

 etc. 



The spelling with o is with Dunbar, as with Clariodus, commoner than with a, 

 though not to the same degree, judging from what Dr Curtis says in his article (§ 38;, 

 and is consistently carried out. 



§ 15. 1. a + n, rimes with 



(a) (spelt with a) 



a) itself, allane : gane, 38, 26. tane (NE. taken) 290, 

 93. ane, 38, 26. ane : nane, 37, 5. 



VOL. XXXIX. PART III. (NO. 25). 



b) OF. ain, Lat. an. stane : soverayne, 371, 64. 



trayne, 371, 66. suffragane, 371, 68. 



c) OF. ei. pane : flane, 265, 59. 



5 F 



