Old English keyboard layout for Mac OS X

This keyboard layout is based on the standard British English keyboard layout for Mac OS X, with the following changes:

• The `/~ key (immediately to the right of the left-side shift key) produces the letter thorn (þ/Þ). You can access ` with ⌥Þ and ~ with ⇧⌥Þ, and the ` dead key with ⇧⌥'.
• The Z key (immediately to the right of this new thorn key) produces the letter ash (æ/Æ). You can access the letter Z with ⌥Æ and ⇧⌥Æ.
• The Q key (immediately to the right of the tab key) produces the letter eth (ð/Ð). You can access the letter Q with ⌥Ð and ⇧⌥Ð.
• The \ or | key (immediately to the left of return and above the right-side shift key) becomes a dead key (¯) that, combined with the keys a, æ, e, i, o, u, and y, produces versions of those characters with macrons (ā, ǣ, ē, ī, ō, ū, ȳ).
• The ] or } key (immediately to the left of return and below the backspace) becomes a dead key (˙) that, combined with the keys c and g, produces versions of those characters with dots above them (ċ, ġ).
• The [ or { key becomes a [ or ] key (i.e. press ⇧[ to get ].)
• ⇧7 produces the Tironian ‘and’ (⁊) rather than ampersand. You can access ampersand with ⇧⌥7.
• ⌥W produces the letter wynn (ƿ); ⇧⌥W produces its capital form (Ƿ).
• ⌥G produces the insular G (ᵹ). ⇧⌥G produces its capital form (Ᵹ).
• ⌥E produces the letter E caudata (ę/Ę). You can access the ´ dead key with ⌥'.

To install it, copy the file into the Library/Keyboard Layouts in your home folder. (If you can’t see a Library folder, press ⇧⌘G in the Finder and type ‘~/Library’ into the dialog box, then look for the ‘Keyboard Layouts’ folder.) Then go into System Preferences and turn it on in the Keyboard → Input Sources panel. You should then be able to select the Old English input method from the menu bar.

Download (version of 2015-02-09)

Created by Daphne Preston-Kendal and placed into the public domain using the CC0 declaration. This footer is dedicated to our friends at the Anglo-Saxon Foundation!