Irish Influence in the Consonantal Spellings of Old English

The consonantal spellings of Old English (OE) were significantly influenced by the consonantal spellings of Old Irish (OI). 1) <th/þ> vs. (post-vocalic) <d/ð>: though OE did not have a distinction between /θ/ and /ð/, OI did, spelling this asvs. (post- vocalic). 2) vs.: though OE did not have a distinction between /h/ and /x/, OI did, spelling the latter as. 3) and: both spellings appear to be from Irish. 4) : spellings of the “mixed voice” type, including “cg”, occur in OI, where they can spell either single or geminate voiced plosives. 5) (and ): almost certainly in final position <bb, cg> in OE represent singles, not geminates, as they can in OI. 6) Spelling rules referring to post-vocalic position: all cases show OE spelling having had, like OI spelling, rules referring to post-vocalic position, which appear to be additionally evidenced by “illogical doubling” in Northumbrian. 7) The meaning of before front Vs: in OE spelling as in OI spelling, but not as in Roman Latin spelling, before front Vs spells a palatal approximant rather than a palatal affricate. The overall conclusion is that the OE spelling system was developed by Irish missionary linguists.