The Phonetic Value of Old French Ue from Vulgar Latin Open O

In the present paper I propose to examine once more the documents that afford evidence as to the sound of the Old French diphthong commonly represented by ue, and to develop certain fresh conclusions to which this evidence seems to point.Current views of this matter may be briefly summarized: Vulgar Latin long open o, broken (by a process concerning which scholars are far from agreed) into ǫǫ, gave uo (dissimilation), on which we disagree again: was it uó or úo? Both pronunciations may be defended; but it is simpler to suppose that, like Italian and Spanish, Old French had a rising diphthong here (ŭó) from the very first. At any rate, the next stage must have been *uø, next ue, then *uø once more and finally ø.