Loss of Consanant

Loss of consonants.  

Old English shows the results of a common Germanic phonetic process, which may be expressed by the following formula:  
 
any velar consonant + t > ht  
any labial consonant + t > ft  
any dental consonant + t > ss

Examples:  
1.  sōhte ‘sought’ (past tense of sēcan) 
 
2. ʒesceapt > ʒesceaft 'creature' (cf. scippan 'create') 
 
3. witte > wisse 'knew' (past tense of witan).  
 

‘N’  was lost before the fricatives h, f, s, p. The preceding vowel became lengthened and nasalized, but the nasalization eventually vanished. 
‘N’  was lost before h in other Germanic languages as well. 
 
Examples:  
1. bronhte > brōhte 'brought' (past tense от brinʒan) 
2. þōhte 'thought' (past tense от þencan) 
3. sonfte > sōfte 'soft‘ 
4. uns > ūs 'us’ 
5. onþer > ōþer 'other‘ 
6. dunst > dūst 'dust‘ 
7. munþ > muþ 'mouth'  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The cluster fn often becomes mn by assimilation. 
 
Examples:  
1. efn > emn 'even' (adj.) 
2. stefn > stemn 'voice‘ 
 
 
 
 
fm > mm  
Example:  
wifman > wimman 'woman'.  
 
 
 
 
 
 

The consonant ‘d’ becomes voiceless ‘t’ when followed or preceded by a voiceless consonant. This happens in the 2nd person singular present indicative of some verbs:  
 
1. bindst > bintst 'bindest‘  
 
2. stendst > stentst 'standest'.

The cluster ‘dþ’ > is changed into ‘t’ in the 3rd person singular present indicative of some verbs:  
 
1. bindþ > bint  
 
2. stendþ > stent

‘H’ is lost between vowels: 
1. tīhan > tēon 'accuse‘ 
 
2. fonhan > fōhan > fōan > fōn 'catch' 
 
 
 
 
 

Palatal ‘ʒ’ is occasionally dropped before d and n, the preceding vowel is lengthened.  
 
Examples:  
1. mӕʒden > mӕden 'maiden‘ 
 
2. sӕʒde > sӕde 'said‘  
 
3. friʒnan > frīnan 'ask'.

Voicing and unvoicing of fricatives.

In Old English a voiceless fricative surrounded by voiced sounds becomes voiced, and a voiced fricative when final is unvoiced. Old English  spelling does not distinguish between voiced and voiceless fricatives, so that the two cases are indistinguishable. 
 
 
 

The word wīf ‘woman' has a voiced second consonant in the genitive and dative singular and plural, where the consonant is surrounded by vowels (wīfes, wīfe, wīfa, and wīfum, respectively), but it is voiceless in the nominative and accusative singular and plural (all sounding wīf, without ending). 
 
A similar position is found in the word hof 'courtyard', where the forms hofes, hofe, hofu, hofa, and hofum have a voiced second consonant, while the form hof has a voiceless one.

A similar alternation of voiced and voiceless fricatives concerns the consonants [Ө] and [ð] 
 
For example, the infinitive of class III strong verb weorþan 'become' has the voiced fricative, while in the past singular form wearþ it is voiceless.  

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