Wynn

Wynn is a letter of the Old English alphabet and the Old Norse alphabet. It was used to represent the sound /w/ and is derived from the rune ᚹ (wynn), which is part of the runic alphabet used by the early Germanic peoples.

History

The letter wynn was introduced into the Latin alphabet to represent the /w/ sound, which was not present in the Classical Latin phonology. The Latin alphabet, as adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, did not have a letter for this sound, so they borrowed the rune wynn from the runic alphabet. Wynn was used in Old English and Old Norse texts until it was replaced by the digraph double-u (uu) in the Middle English period.

Usage

Wynn was primarily used in the writing of Old English and Old Norse. In Old English, it was used alongside other letters such as thorn (þ) and eth (ð) to represent sounds not found in Latin. In Old Norse, wynn was used in a similar manner, although it was eventually replaced by the letter v in later texts.

Replacement and Legacy

The use of wynn declined after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, as the Anglo-Norman scribes preferred the digraph uu to represent the /w/ sound. By the 13th century, the digraph had evolved into the letter double-u (W) that we use today. Wynn is no longer used in modern English, but it remains a point of interest for scholars studying Old English and Old Norse texts.

See also

• Runes
• Old English alphabet
• Old Norse alphabet
• Latin alphabet
• Thorn (letter)
• Eth (letter)
• W