A History of English Language

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A history of the english language 198 be made in deference to “prerogative,” that is, the right of language to continue a common custom, as in employing an analogous spelling for where, here, there. In such a case he becomes frankly the apologist, justifying the common practice. He is really more interested in having everyone adopt the same spelling for a given word than he is in phonetic consistency. It is not so much a question of whether one should write where as that one should adopt a single spelling and use it regularly instead of writing where, wher, whear, wheare, were, whair, etc. To this end he prints in the latter part of his book a General Table giving the recommended spelling for some 7,000 of the most common words. Mulcaster’s spelling is not always the one that ultimately came to be adopted. In spite of his effort for the most part to follow current usage, he seems sometimes to have gone counter to the tendency of his own and later times. He advocates spelling guise, guide, guest, and the like without the u and writes băble, dăble, indicating the length of the vowel by a short mark over it. But his book had the great merit—or demerit—of standardizing a large number of current spellings, justifying them, and advocating the consistent use of them. It is impossible to say how influential Mulcaster’s work was. The effect of his precepts seems to be evident in certain later writers. Ben Jonson quotes from him, often without acknowledgment. That English spelling developed along the lines laid down by him is certain, but this may have been due largely to the fact that it was already developing along these lines and would have done so even without the help of his book. During the first half of the next century the tendency toward uniformity increased steadily. The fixation of English spelling is associated in most people’s minds with the name of Dr. Johnson, and a statement in the preface of his dictionary, published in 1755, might lend color to this idea. In reality, however, our spelling in its modern form had been practically established by about 1650. In The New World of English Words published in 1658 by Milton’s nephew Edward Phillips, the compiler says: “As for orthography, it will not be requisite to say any more of it then may conduce to the readers direction in the finding out of words,” and he adds two or three remarks about Latin praebeing rendered in English by pre-, and the like. Otherwise he seemed to think that the subject did not call for any discussion. And in reality it did not. The only changes we should make in the sentence just quoted are in the spelling then (for than) and the addition of an apostrophe in readers. A closer scrutiny of the preface as a whole 7 would reveal a few other differences such as an occasional e where we have dropped it (kinde), ll and sse at the end of words (gratefull, harshnesse), -ick for -ic (logick), and a contracted form of the past participle (authoriz’d, chanc’t). Even these differences are not very noticeable. Spelling was one of the problems that the English language began consciously to face in the sixteenth century. During the period from 1500 to 1650 it was fairly settled. 8 157. The Problem of Enrichment. In 1531 Sir Thomas Elyot, statesman as well as scholar, published what has been described as the first book on education printed in English. He called it The Governour because it had to do with the training of those who in the future would be occupied at court. The dedication to Henry the Eighth is couched in the following terms:
The renaissance, 1500-1650 199 I late consideringe (moste excellent prince and myne onely redoughted soveraigne lorde) my duetie that I owe to my naturall contray with my faythe also of aliegeaunce and othe…I am (as God juge me) violently stered to devulgate or sette fourth some part of my studie, trustynge therby tacquite me of my dueties to God, your hyghnesse, and this my contray. Wherfore takinge comfort and boldenesse, partly of your graces moste benevolent inclination towarde the universall weale of your subjectes, partly inflamed with zele, I have now enterprised to describe in our vulgare tunge the fourme of a juste publike weale:… Whiche attemptate is nat of presumption to teache any persone, I my selfe havinge moste nede of teachinge: but onely to the intent that men which wil be studious about the weale publike may fynde the thinge therto expedient compendiously writen. And for as moch as this present 7 See the extract printed in Appendix B. 8 For a comprehensive account of the English orthoepists see E.J.Dobson, English Pronunciation 1500–1700 (2 vols., 2nd ed., Oxford, 1968), vol. 1.
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A History of the English Language F
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A History of the English Language F
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Contents Preface viii 1 English Pre
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Preface Before the present author e
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PHONETIC SYMBOLS [a] in father [a]
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1 English Present and Future 1. The
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English present and future 3 4. The
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English present and future 5 increa
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English present and future 7 French
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English present and future 9 learne
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English present and future 11 words
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English present and future 13 our t
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English present and future 15 World
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The Indo-European family of languag
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Old english 39 extended beyond a pr
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Old english 41 hundred towns, with
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Old english 43 whom almost certainl
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Old english 45 36. The Names “Eng
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Old english 47 39. The Dialects of
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Old english 49 fæger (fair), or s
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Old english 51 present the inflecti
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Old english 53 While the ordinary m
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Old english 55 The origin of the de
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Old english 57
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Old english 59 ‘proudly’, and t
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Old english 61 a saddle, the shield
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Old english 63 people. The literatu
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Old english 65 history of the rest
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4 Foreign Influences on Old English
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Foreign influences on old english 6
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The norman conquest and the subject
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The reestablishment of english, 120
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Page 159 and 160: Middle english 147 and adjective ma
Page 161 and 162: Middle english 149 is clear that th
Page 163 and 164: Middle english 151 While an occasio
Page 165 and 166: Middle english 153 mations has been
Page 167 and 168: Middle english 155 the reality of M
Page 169 and 170: Middle english 157 the French words
Page 171 and 172: Middle english 159 brandish, vanqui
Page 173 and 174: Middle english 161 all the words in
Page 175 and 176: Middle english 163 whether found in
Page 177 and 178: Middle english 165 English vocabula
Page 179 and 180: Middle english 167 English word occ
Page 181 and 182: Middle english 169 French: forcover
Page 183 and 184: Middle english 171 142. Latin Borro
Page 185 and 186: Middle english 173 far this affecta
Page 187 and 188: Middle english 175 native populatio
Page 189 and 190: Middle english 177 the Middle Engli
Page 191 and 192: Middle english 179 148. The Rise of
Page 193 and 194: Middle english 181 the precise form
Page 195 and 196: Middle english 183 leef or tweyne,
Page 197 and 198: Middle english 185 phonology and mo
Page 199 and 200: 8 The Renaissance, 1500-1650 152. C
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Page 207 and 208: The renaissance, 1500-1650 195 That
Page 209: The renaissance, 1500-1650 197 cent
Page 213 and 214: The renaissance, 1500-1650 201 expr
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Page 217 and 218: The renaissance, 1500-1650 205 your
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Page 221 and 222: The renaissance, 1500-1650 209 anac
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Page 225 and 226: The renaissance, 1500-1650 213 seve
Page 227 and 228: The renaissance, 1500-1650 215 of t
Page 229 and 230: The renaissance, 1500-1650 217 rein
Page 231 and 232: The renaissance, 1500-1650 219 heap
Page 233 and 234: The renaissance, 1500-1650 221 occu
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Page 239 and 240: The renaissance, 1500-1650 227 sugg
Page 241 and 242: The renaissance, 1500-1650 229 It m
Page 243 and 244: The renaissance, 1500-1650 231 spea
Page 247 and 248: The renaissance, 1500-1650 235 good
Page 249 and 250: The renaissance, 1500-1650 237 Sixt
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The appeal to authority, 1650-1800
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10 The Nineteenth Century and After
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The nineteenth century and after 28
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11 The English Language in America
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The english language in america 333
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APPENDIX A Specimens of the Middle
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Appendix A 389 East Midland The Bes
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Appendix A 391 down to the ground a
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Appendix A 393 Ac ich alle blisse m
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Appendix A 395 Characteristic of th
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Appendix A 397 Of Engelond, to Caun
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APPENDIX B English Spelling The fol
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Appendix B 401 straunge wordes as l
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Appendix B 403 more he tooke God so
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Appendix B 405 words, whose Etymolo
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Index 407 Alabama, 354 Albanian bra
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Index 409 Bacon, Francis, 261 Bacon
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Brakelond, Jocelyn de, 122, 124 Bra
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Index 413 Chamberlain, John, 209, 4
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Index 415 words from, 303 Dalby, D.
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Index 417 East Africa, English lang
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Index 419 Flügel, Ewald, 286 Folio
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Index 421 Goodenough, Ward H., 40 G
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Hill, A.A., 402 Hill, David, 72-73
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Index 425 Jackson, Kenneth, 72 Jaes
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Index 427 Lance, Donald M., 407 Lan
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Index 429 Lycian, 26 Lydgate, John,
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Index 431 Milton, John, 183, 224, 2
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Index 433 Nunnally, Thomas, 407 Nyn
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Peterborough Chronicle, 166 Peterho
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Index 437 Quirk, Randolph, 56, 316
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St. Mary’s Abbey, York, 147 Sallu
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Index 441 Society of Antiquaries, 2
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Index 443 Scandinavian, influence o
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Index 445 Verb-adverb combinations,
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Index 447 Woodbine, George E., 157
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A History of English Language

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