The list in ASPR.roots is primarily based on John F. Madden and Francis
P. Magoun "A Grouped Frequency Word-List of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Harvard
U.P., 1966), though with many additions and corrections, and one major
rearrangement. To allow the program "analyse.c" to access the list with
reasonable efficiency it has been divided into blocks according to the
first letter of the entry, though within the blocks it retains the
frequency order of its source. The reason for this is that when there are
alternative interpretations of a word-form, and the program has no other
way of deciding between them, it accepts the first it found in the list,
which the order should ensure is the commoner. This does not work per-
fectly, since the ordering is by the frequencey of occurrence of groups
of roots, not individual ones, but is nevertheless better for the pur-
poses of our analysis than a fully alphabetised list. Conversion to such
a form for other purposes should require only a fairly simple computer
sort.

For reasons of computing convenience, the character "aesc" is represented 
by the underline character "_", "thorn" (not distinguished from "eth") by 
the opening single quote character "`"; these come in that order at the 
head of the alphabet. A long vowel is marked by the circumflex character 
"^" following it; again for computing convenience this follows the second 
element of a diphthong, not the first. When the long vowel/diphthong is 
followed by another vowel opening a new syllable the circumflex is 
replaced by the tilde "~"; the asterisk "*" indicates that a syllabic 
vowel follows a short vowel. The only other mark that occurs within forms 
is the vertical bar "|", indicating that a subsidiary stress follows.

A grammatical coding follows each entry on the next line. This always 
opens with a single upper-case character defining the basic grammatical 
type. This may be followed after a space by a further definition, within
which characters listed in vertical line below define alternatives, and 
when they appear in sequence in the code multiple possibilities for the 
form. Characters displaced from the vertical line give additional informa-
tion. Thus:

F: the word "fela"

H: noun
  m: masculine
  M: masculine with nom/acc plur in -e
  f: feminine
  F: feminine with (possible) uninflected acc sing
  n: neuter
  N: neuter with inflected nom/acc plur
  w: weak (must be followed by m/f/n as above, then possibly s as below) 
   v: verbal root (accepts verbal prefixes)
   p: quasi-prefix (another root must follow)
   P: quasi-prefix (another root or suffix must follow)
   s: quasi-suffix (another root must precede)
   l: leading root only (cannot follow another to create a compound)
   I: proper name
   x: cannot compound or (further) inflect; grammatical function defined 
by the hexadecimal numeral following
   u: as x, but can compound with a preceding root or prefix
   h: as x, but can compound (only) with a preceding "hund-"
   +: besides normal inflection can also as it stands have the grammatical 
function defined as with x

W: interrogative pronoun:
  x: as under H

Q: adjective
  S: short stem (or behaves similarly)
  w: weak only
  n: never weak
  i: interrogative
  N: numeral, but excluding:
  1: the numeral "an"
  p/P/s/l/x/u: as under H, but u accepts preceding prefix only

R: possessive adjective
  x: as under H

S: the adjectives "swelc", "sum"

D: demonstrative adjective/pronoun

I: personal pronoun, nominative

B: personal pronoun, oblique case

V: verb
  I: class I weak
  s: class I weak, short stem (or behaves similarly)
  S: as above, but past as P
  w: class I weak, form lacking the final of a stem normally ending "-w"
  J: class II weak
  p: weak, past tense, with inflections -ed...
  P: weak, past tense, with inflections -d... (or assimilated equivalent)
  1: strong, present stem (or behaves similarly)
  2: strong, past singular stem
  3: strong, past plural stem
  4: strong, past participle stem
  x/u: as under Q
   r: occurs only with a prefix

A: auxiliary verb
  1/2/3/4/x: as under V

L: infinitive (form is fully stated)

E: past participle
  u: as under V

M: adverb
  i: interrogative
  p: as under H
  g: as p - a "generaliser"
  P/G: can but need not behave as p/g
  h: must be preceded by "ge-"
  r: must be preceded by a prefix
  u: accepts prefix "un-"
  n: cannot combine with any affix

P: preposition

C: coordinating conjunction

N: negative particle/conjunction

O: other low-stressed item

A parenthesis following a code, or extending its final item, is for the 
eye of the user only; "analyse.c" does not read it. Further details about 
how these codes are used can be found in comments within the function 
"readroots" of "analyse.c". For the significances of the hexadecimal codes 
see the account and table of "gramcodes" in panels at the top of 
"analyse.c". Affixes normally unstressed are listed within "analyse.c",
not here.
