Re: Surname 'Knyvett' etc. and OFr 'c(a)nivet'

On 2008-10-11 00:40, Brian M. Scott wrote:

> Loss of /x/ in this position didn't begin until the 14th
> century and wasn't complete in the standard language until
> the Early Modern period.

Scots still has the "bricht muinlicht nicht" fricative, and in the
traditional dialects of the middle north of England <sight> is /si:t/
while <site> is /saIt/, showing that the fricative was not lost till
after the Great Vowel Shift.

Piotr