Enter for a chance to win book about English idioms

Courtesy of Simon and Schuster Canada, Wordlady has two copies of Mark Abley's new book about English idioms, Watch Your Tongue to give away.


This book is available worldwide. Makes a great gift for the word lover on your list.
Currently available in bookstores, list price $29.99 Canadian. 
amazon.ca
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CONTEST CLOSES MIDNIGHT NOVEMBER 30

Phrases, idioms, and clichés—why do we say the things we say? Watch Your Tongue explores weird and wonderful everyday sayings and what they reveal about us.

Do you ever wonder why you shouldn’t have a cow but you should seize a bull by its horns? Who has the better reputation in language—cats or dogs? Do you sometimes feel that our speech is all smoke and mirrors or that our expressions simply make no sense?

In Watch Your Tongue, award-winning author Mark Abley explores the phrases, idioms, and clichés of our everyday language. With wit and subtle wisdom, he unravels the mysteries of these expressions, illuminating the history, tradition and stories behind everything we say. Pulling examples from Shakespeare’s plays to sports team names, ancient Rome to Twitter, Abley shares samples and anecdotes of the eccentric ways that we play with, parse, and pattern language.

Why do so many companies use fruit for their brand names? What do politicians mean when they say they’re going to “drain the swamp”? Why does English use chickens to signify cowardice? Abley dives into the history and psychology behind these examples and countless others, unpacking their significance (and sheer absurdity) to show how our language developed, where it is headed, and what we can learn about ourselves from it.

Whimsically illustrated, easily browsable, and full of catchy sidebars, Watch Your Tongue celebrates how we amuse ourselves with words and what our sayings reveal about the way we see the world.

Hebrew and Yiddish Words Talk in Ottawa

"English Schminglish: Hebrew and Yiddish Words in English" with Katherine Barber

Hebrew and Yiddish words have enriched the English language for much longer than you may think, and continue to do so. From messiah to maven, sabbath to schnook, English wouldn’t be the same without its Jewish heritage. Whether you are familiar with Hebrew and Yiddish or not, this fun lecture will open your ears to an important source of English vocabulary.

Lecture, discussion, and visual presentation 

• Day: Thursday, May 24th, 2018
• Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Location: Room 124, Leeds House Building, Carleton University, Ottawa
• Fee: $30.00 (HST included)
• Enrollment capacity: 55 participants

PARKING FEES:

Carleton University parking passes are available for purchase at the time of registration. The parking pass fees (including HST) are $6.00 for each one time evening lecture held on campus.

REGISTRATION:

Registration begins on Tuesday, January 30^th, at 9:00 a.m.

Online registration form will be available on Tuesday, January 30^th at 9:00 a.m., and can be accessed using the following link: carleton.ca/linr/online-registration/. You can also send your registration via e-mail or leave a telephone message at or after 9:00 a.m. Please note that any registrations received prior to 9:00 a.m. on January 30^th will not be considered.

 

Additional registration details can be found on the website: carleton.ca/linr/registration/.

Happy 50th birthday to... these words

Some words turning (at least) 50 in 2018. A trip back in time to the late 1960s. Trudeaumania and uppers. Reggae, rip-offs, and rumpy-pumpy.  Some of these are older than you probably think, and some younger.

 As with all words, they may well have existed a little earlier than the OED could find earliest evidence for them.

aerobics, n.

Etymology: < aerobic adj.: see -ic suffix 2.

orig. U.S.

 

  With sing. or pl. concord. Physical exercise, typically of relatively low intensity and long duration, that increases the body's oxygen consumption in a sustainable manner and is aimed at improving cardiovascular fitness; any method of training involving such exercise, esp. vigorous callisthenics performed to music.

1968   K. H. Cooper Aerobics iii. 40   After five hours of that [sc. golf] you've walked well past the point where anaerobics leave off and aerobics begin.

alarmed, adj.²

Etymology: < alarm n. + -ed suffix². Compare later alarm v. 8.

  Fitted or protected with an alarm or alarms, esp. a burglar alarm. Chiefly in predicative use.

1968   N.Y. Mag. 14 Oct. 46   Door is Alarmed.

cellulite, n.

Etymology: < French cellulite (1949 or earlier in this sense), transferred use (now only in non-technical language) of cellulite inflammation of cellular connective tissue (1833 or earlier) < cellule cellule n. + -ite -itis suffix. The fat deposits were so called because they were at one time supposed to be caused by inflammation of cellular connective tissue. Compare earlier cellulitis n.

Compare earlier occurrence of the French word in an English context:

1955   C. I. Gavin Liberated France i. 51   Women were plagued by a complaint shown by a puffy softness under the skin and called la cellulite, for which those who could afford it would undergo spa treatment.

  Deposits of subcutaneous fat causing dimpling of the overlying skin.Cellulite is often seen in the thighs of women, and various cosmetic treatments have been devised for its removal or dispersal.

1968   Vogue (U.S. ed.) 15 Apr. 110/2   In Europe treatments for cellulite vary from acupuncture..to sea baths.

cutesy, adj.

Etymology: < cute adj. + -sy suffix².

colloq. (orig. and chiefly N. Amer.).

  Affectedly cute and clever, twee. Also with fanciful extension,   ˈcutesy-poo adj.

1968   N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 25 Feb. 10   Start with the cutesie title. Pursue the mysteriously jumbled chronology.

Nasdaq, n.

Etymology: Acronym < the initial letters of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations.

Stock Market.

  In the United States: a computerized system supplying price quotations for over-the-counter securities trading, introduced in 1971. Also: the price index or stock market created by this system. Frequently attrib. in Nasdaq index. Cf. NASD n. at N n. Initialisms 1.

1968   Commerc. Financial Chron. 23 May ii. 13/3   The NASDAQ system will eliminate the necessity of separate requests for market makers quotations.

noogie, n.

Etymology: Origin unknown. Popularized by the U.S. television show Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s.

Chiefly U.S. School slang and College slang.

  In sing. and pl. A hard poke or grind with the knuckles, esp. on a person's head (see also quot. 1986). Frequently in to give a person noogies.J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang cites a New York University student in 1972 as saying that a ‘noogie is a kind of a punch or a jab you give someone with your third and middle finger. You do it on the forehead or on the shoulder.’

1968   I. Horovitz Indian wants Bronx 11   Now I'll give you twenty noogies, so we'll be even. (He raps Joey on the R. arm.)

out-of-body, adj.

Etymology: < out of prep. + body n. Compare earlier out-of-the-body adj. at out of prep. Compounds 1.

  Characterized by the sensation that one's consciousness is located outside one's body. Chiefly in out-of-body experience.

1968   S. Smith (title)    Out-of-body experiences for the millions.

Parti Québécois, n.

Etymology: < French Parti Québécois (1968: see quot. 1968²) < parti party n. + québécois , québecois Québécois adj.

Canad.

  A French-Canadian political party which advocates independence or greater autonomy for the province of Quebec.

1968   Winnipeg Free Press 15 Oct. 42/3   The province's new political party, Le Parti Quebecois, is an embryonic coalition rallied around Rene Levesque and his idea of a ‘sovereign Quebec’.

perp, n.²

Etymology: Shortened < perpetrator n.

U.S. slang.

  The perpetrator of a crime.

1968   D. L. Pike Police Rep. 2 May in I. E. Robinson et al. Cases in Crisis (1972) xxxviii. 240   Perp was at back door of Apt 2 when he was shot in right thigh by victim.

power trip, n.

Etymology: < power n.¹ + trip n.¹ Compare guilt trip n., ego-trip n. at ego n. Compounds 2.

colloq.

  An activity which confers a sense of power and authority on the person or people involved; the feeling of excitement or empowerment resulting from this. Cf. trip n.¹ 5c.

1968   Newsweek 8 Jan. 27/1   ‘He's an egocentric guy,’ says one acquaintance. ‘He's on a constant power trip.’

pulsar, n.

Etymology: < puls- (in pulsating adj.) + -ar (in star n.¹), after quasar n.; compare -ar suffix⁴ (see quot. 1968 at sense 1). Compare pulsator n. 4.

 1. Astron. A celestial object which emits regular and rapid pulses of radiation, typically at radio frequencies but sometimes at X-ray or gamma frequencies, and is now recognized as a rapidly rotating neutron star.In quot. 1973 fig.

1968   A. Michaelis in Daily Tel. 5 Mar. 21/3   An entirely novel kind of star..came to light on Aug. 6 last year and..was referred to by astronomers as LGM (Little Green Men). Now..it is thought to be a novel type between a white dwarf and a neutron [sic]. The name Pulsar (Pulsating Star) is likely to be given to it... Dr. A. Hewish..told me yesterday: ‘..I am sure that today every radio telescope is looking at the Pulsars.’

reggae, n.

Etymology: Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Jamaican English rege-rege in the sense ‘rags, ragged clothing’ (see F. G. Cassidy & R. B. Le Page Dict. Jamaican Eng. (1967) 380/1, and compare note below); a connection with this word in its other sense ‘quarrel, row’ is perhaps also possible. Compare also ragga n., ragamuffin n. 4. Compare later reggaeton n.

For an explanation of the term given by the musician Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert (leader of the band Toots and the Maytals, who recorded the song cited in quot. 1968¹), see:

2004   Independent (Electronic ed.) 4 June 18   Hibbert says his naming of the genre on the 1968 single ‘Do The Reggay’ was pure accident. “There's a word we used to use in Jamaica called ‘streggae’,” he recalls. “If a girl is walking and the guys look at her and say ‘Man, she's streggae’ it means she don't dress well, she look raggedy. The girls would say that about the men too. This one morning me and my two friends were playing and I said, ‘OK man, let's do the reggay.’ It was just something that came out of my mouth. So we just start singing ‘Do the reggay, do the reggay’ and created a beat. People tell me later that we had given the sound its name. Before that people had called it blue-beat and all kind of other things.”

orig. Jamaican.

 1. A dance characterized by bent knees and swaying improvised movements of the upper body, originally performed to the shuffling, syncopated rhythm typical of the earliest reggae music (see sense 2). Cf. rocksteady n. 2.

1968   T. Hibbert Do Reggay (song, perf. The Maytals)   I want to do the reggay with you, Come on to me, do the dance, Is this the new dance going round the town? We can move you baby, Do the reggay, do the reggay.

ribbit, int. (and n.)

Etymology: Imitative.

O.E.D. Additions I. (1993) notes that David Carroll, the programme manager of the television programme cited in quot. c1968, stated in a letter of 1986: ‘I am some seventy-two years old, and I recollect hearing the expression as a child.’ Other sources associate early uses of the term with ‘Mel’ Blanc (1908–89, U.S. voice actor and comedian), but conclusive evidence has not been found.

orig. N. Amer.

  Representing the characteristic sound made by a frog, or an imitation of this. Also as n.

c1968   in Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (annotated T.V. script for rebroadcast programme) No. 8. 62   That's right. Ribit! I am. I am a frog.

 

rip-off, n.

Etymology: < to rip off 3 at rip v.¹ Phrasal verbs 1.

slang (orig. U.S.).

 

 1. An act of stealing, a theft; (hence) a fraud, a swindle; (more generally) any instance of esp. financial exploitation.Earliest in rip-off artist n. at Compounds 2.

1968   B. W. Gilbert Ten Blocks from White House ix. 146   There were the ‘rip-off artists’ and other systematic looters, who went to a specific store and looked for items to use or sell.

router, n.⁶

Etymology: < route v. + -er suffix¹.

Electronics and Computing.

 

  A device, circuit, algorithm, etc., which serves to determine the destinations of individual incoming signals; esp. a device which receives data packets and forwards them to the appropriate computer network or part of a network. Cf. gateway n.¹ Additions.

1968   Nucl. Physics A. 116 549   A router circuit sent the coincidences from the first unit to be stored in the first 200 channels of the pulse-height analyser and those from the second to the last 200 channels.

rumpy-pumpy, n.

Etymology: Reduplication with variation of the initial consonant and suffixation (compare -y suffix⁶) of rump n.¹ (with the sense compare ass n.² 2).

humorous or euphem. slang (orig. Brit.).

  Sexual intercourse. a bit of rumpy pumpy: a (prospective) sexual partner; a sexual encounter. Cf. bit n.² 4h.

1968   Sc. National Dict. at Rump   Rumpie-pumpie, a jocular term for copulation.

scuzzy, adj.

Etymology: Perhaps blend of scummy adj. + fuzzy adj.

N. Amer. colloq.

  Dirty, grimy; murky.

1969   Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. li. 16   Scuzzy, groady, skoady, and grungy should probably be listed also under ‘Blends’... Scuzzy, for example, seems to imply fuzzy and scummy: ‘Your teeth are scuzzy.’

Special Olympics, n.

Etymology: < special adj. + the plural of Olympic n. Compare Paralympic n.

  With the. An athletic competition, modelled on the Olympic Games, for athletes with mental disabilities. First held in 1968 (originally called the Chicago Special Olympics) and now recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the Special Olympics include international competitions held at two-yearly intervals as well as competitions on local and national levels.

1968   Chicago Tribune 30 Mar. ii. 11/5   The Chicago park district..will co-sponsor special athletic events for mentally retarded children in a Chicago Special Olympics July 20 in Soldier Field.

T-bone, v.

Etymology: < T-bone n. at T n. Additions.

colloq. (orig. and chiefly N. Amer.).

  trans. Of a motor vehicle or its driver: to crash head-on into the side of (another vehicle). Frequently in pass.Earliest in to T-bone it: to be involved in a collision in which the front of one vehicle hits the side of the other vehicle.

1968   Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Jrnl. 9 May c5/1   Two oncoming cars T-boned it for a total wipeout.

telemedicine, n.

Etymology: < tele- comb. form + medicine n.¹

Compare French télé-médecine (1969 or earlier).

Med.

  Medicine practised with the assistance of telecommunications technology, often to provide care in remote locations or to reduce the need for hospital visits.

1968   Boston (Mass.) Sunday Globe Globe Mag. 9/1   While he [sc. Dr. K. T. Bird] strongly feels the field of tele-medicine is just beginning, even in its present state telediagnosis offers an important extension of the eyes and ears of the doctor.

touchy-feely, adj.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: touch v., -y suffix¹, feel v.

Etymology: < touch v. + -y suffix¹ + feel v. + -y suffix¹.

Compare later touchy adj. 6.

colloq. (orig. U.S.).

 1. Given to the open expression of affection or other emotions, esp. through hugging or other physical contact; characterized by this kind of open expression.Often implying a degree of disapproval or distaste on the part of the speaker or writer.

1968   N.Y. Times 20 Aug. 25/7   They have been dubbed the ‘touchy-feely’ groups, since their training involves touching and holding hands.

Trudeaumania, n.

Etymology: < the name of Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919–2000), former Prime Minister of Canada + -mania comb. form.

  Enthusiastic or exaggerated admiration for Trudeau.

1968   Listener 4 July 5/1   With the phenomenal climb to power of Mr Trudeau a tremendous cult has developed among younger Canadians. It's known as Trudeaumania or Trudolatry.

upper, n.²

Etymology: < up v. + -er suffix¹; compare up adj. 5.

slang (orig. U.S.).

 1. A drug (esp. an amphetamine), often in the form of a pill, which has a stimulant or euphoric effect.

1968   Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 ii. 50   Upper, type of drug that makes you feel active. Amphetamine is a commonly used stimulant of this kind.

word processor, n.

Etymology: < word n. + processor n. Compare slightly earlier word processing n.

 

  Originally: a computer system used to produce, edit, and store text entered by means of a keyboard, equipped with a printer and frequently with a screen to display text. In later use chiefly: a computer program used to perform these functions.

1968   Office Oct. 70/1   Dura, Div. Intercontinental systems, Inc., 2600 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, Calif. 94306, introduces the Model 941 Word Processor designed for computerless text editing.

YOLO, int. and adj.

Etymology: Acronym < the initial letters of you only live once at live v.¹ Phrases 19.

In recent use perhaps popularized by its use in the lyrics of the song The Motto, released in 2011 by the Canadian rapper Drake.

 A. int.

  ‘You only live once’; used to express the view that one should make the most of the present moment without worrying about the future (often as a rationale for impulsive or reckless behaviour).

1968   Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida) 30 June 42   Naming the vessels..is a chore that delights some owners. One fad is acronyms... Yolo is short for ‘You Only Live Once’.

za, n.

Etymology: Abbreviation of pizza n.

U.S. slang.

  = pizza n.

1968–70   Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 140   Za.., pizza.

911, n.

Etymology: < nine n. + one n. + one n. Usually written with numerical symbol.

N. Amer.

 1. In the United States and Canada: a telephone number used to contact the emergency services; the service provided when this number is dialled. Frequently attrib. Cf. 999 n.

1968   N.Y. Times 13 Jan. 62/2   A plan to establish a national emergency telephone number—911—with which police, fire and ambulance services could be summoned from any telephone in the United States was announced yesterday by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.


Want to learn more fun facts about the language like this? I'm offering my Rollicking Story of the English Language course again in the New Year! You can sign up for the whole 8-week course or just drop in for the lecture(s) of your choice (so long as you book in advance). More info here:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2017/12/rollicking-story-of-english-course.html

To have fun facts about English delivered weekly right to your inbox, click here to subscribe by email. 

Photo credit: David Clode on Unsplash

How do you pronounce CLAMBER?

Hey Ma! I clamb the tree!!

Kittens love to clamber up trees (...and curtains). 

But... do they "CLAMburr" or do they "CLAMMER"?

First of all, let us look at the word from which "clamber" derives: "climb". Although the b was pronounced back in Anglo-Saxon times, it started being dropped by the time of the Norman Conquest, and by the 1500s it had become silent. As a result, we even sensibly spelled the word "clime" for about two centuries. But, as usual with English spelling, less sensible heads prevailed, we reinstated the silent b, and we ended up with our modern spelling.

When the past tense of "climb" was "clamb"

"Climb" has not always been the regular verb it is today: 

present: climb

simple past: climbed

past participle: has climbed

Instead, from the earliest times, the past tense was 

clamb, clumb, or clomb

and the past participle

  clumb or clomb

For some people, these forms survived into the 1800s, and according to the OED, in Scottish English this verb is to this day conjugated

 clim, clam, clum

I love it!

Starting in about 1300, though, a new regular past tense and past participle, "clim(b)ed", crept into the language, and was pretty well established by the Renaissance.

How "clamb" gave us "clamber"

But that old irregular past tense "clam(b)" is at the origin of "clamber", a word which cropped up in the 1400s.  By that time, the b was not being pronounced in "climb" (or the past tense "clamb"), so neither was it pronounced in "clamber",  which was in fact more likely to be spelled "clammer" well into the 17th century. 

But just as "climb" got its b back, so too "clamber" acquired a b in its spelling. But unlike "climb", "clamber" also acquired a b in the pronunciation, probably because almost all other English words ending in -mber have a pronounced b. 

Why some North Americans say CLAMMER

This introduction of a b into the pronunciation, however, happened after English colonists took the CLAMMER pronunciation with them to America. In North America, this older, b-less pronunciation of "clamber" survived. This survival of older vocabulary and pronunciation on this side of the pond frequently explains differences between North American and British English.

All the same, according to a survey I did, CLAMMER, though still healthy, especially in the US, is much less common than the b-full pronunciation. Here are the results:

US: CLAMburr: 113  CLAMMER: 46

Canada:  CLAMburr: 83  CLAMMER: 12

No one outside North America said CLAMMER. 

As you can see, although CLAMMER is the minority pronunciation in both countries, CLAMMER is more common in the US than in Canada.  For all that, a Montrealer told me she had never heard anyone saying CLAMburr. (Meanwhile a Vancouverite told me she had never heard CLAMMER!) 

All this has nothing to do with "clamour/clamor", which is a completely different word, borrowed from French in the 1400s and ultimately from Latin clāmōr (a call, shout, cry). As should be evident from the explanation above, people who pronounce "clamber" as a homophone of "clamour" are not simply confusing these very semantically different words. And those who suggest that it's wrong to pronounce it CLAMMER because then it and "clamour" would be homophones are simply ignoring the literally hundreds of homophones we have in English which rarely present an obstacle to understanding (great for punning, though).

When I worked on the entry for "clamber" in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, a colleague and I were each convinced that the other's pronunciation was WRONG. Or at the very least RIDICULOUS. I said CLAMburr, he said CLAMMER. Both pronunciations ended up in the dictionary, and he and I still talk to one another. (But CLAMburr is listed first, ha!) 

All the same, one of the things you learn (or should learn) when working on a dictionary is that you have to be humble about variants other than your own (and that in fact you might not have even known about previously).  Because CLAMMER is the minority variant, some of my poll respondents who used it apologized for doing so, accusing themselves of "lazy" speech. Others who didn't use it dismissed it out of hand as "a mistake". But as you can see from the above, there are usually legitimate historical reasons for variants such as these. Just look at the fascinating facts about the English language you can unearth if your reaction is "I wonder WHY?" rather than "Well, that's just WRONG because I don't say it that way".

How do YOU pronounce "clamber" (and what variety of English do you speak)?

For the silent b in lamb, click here:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2013/05/to-b-or-not-to-b.html

For the silent b in crumb, click here
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2013/06/crumbs.html


Want to learn more fun facts about the language like this? I'm offering my Rollicking Story of the English Language course again in the New Year! You can sign up for the whole 8-week course or just drop in for the lecture(s) of your choice (so long as you book in advance). More info here:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2017/12/rollicking-story-of-english-course.html

Photo credit: Koen Eijkelenboom on Unsplash

How do you say "primer"?

A correspondent has inquired about the pronunciation of the word "primer" in the "introductory textbook" sense. 

He noticed that it is often pronounced (or, in his view, mispronounced) "primmer" on the CBC, and feels that this "new" pronunciation is an error introduced by American influence and mindlessly perpetuated by Canadians.

He will no doubt be surprised to learn that nothing could be further from the truth.

"Primmer" is the original pronunciation, and much older than "pry-mer", which seems to date only from the 19th century, likely under the influence of both the spelling, once mass literacy became established, and of the "paint" homonym. There are reasons having to do with the Great Vowel Shift which account for the difference in vowel between "prime" and "primer", but you're probably sick of the GVS by now so I will spare you the details.

As we have seen before with many British/North American differences, older pronunciations and usages brought over here when the first English settlers arrived have often survived on this side of the pond, whereas they have subsequently been corrupted by the British (see this post about herb/erb  and this one about height/heighth, for instance). I use the word "corrupt" in the dispassionate linguistic sense of "change" (but also because I like to provoke people!).

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that both pronunciations are in use on both sides of the Atlantic, though "pry-mer" is more common in Britain and "primmer" in the US. The Canadian Oxford also includes both pronunciations, with "pry-mer" first. But my father, for one, pronounced it "primmer".

"Primer" in this sense has quite an interesting history. It comes from a medieval Latin word primarium (a prayer book for lay people).  These were often used to teach children how to read, and these "primers" soon became so associated with children's learning that the "first reader" connotations took over from the "prayerbook" connotations of the word. Even after prayers were removed altogether, the word "primer" was still applied to elementary reading books.

I don't think we use "primer" anymore for first readers. It sounds very one-room-schoolhouse to me. But I was surprised to see the types of books that are called primers in this day and age:

A Programmer's Guide to Java SE 8 Certification: A Comprehensive Primer

 

Multivariate Statistical Methods: A Primer

Feminist Legal Theory (Second Edition): A Primer

Neuropsychological Evaluation of Medically Unexplained Symptoms: Assessment Primer

In fact, primers nowadays seem still to be introductory textbooks, but usually of very advanced, highly technical subject matter. We've come a long way from

 

Would you use the word "primer"? And if so, how would you pronounce it?

 

P.S. If you find the English language fascinating, you might enjoy regular updates about English usage and word origins from Wordlady. Receive every new post delivered right to your inbox! If you are not already subscribed, you can either:

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12 Days of Wordlady: The Fifth Day

Five golden rings

Well, I have to tell you, "golden" and "ring" are pretty boring words, having meant the same things since, well, forever.

But "fifth", now THERE'S an interesting story.

The fift day of Christmas

If I said, "On the fift day of Christmas", you'd probably think, "Don't you know how to speak proper, Katherine? You sound like a gangster!" Even worse, can you imagine if I referred to that famous history play of Shakespeare's as "Henry the Fift"?

And yet....  

The first edition of Shakespeare's Henry V

 


















So, what gives?

"Fift" was indeed the original ordinal form of the number "five". The -th ending started to appear only in the 13th century, by analogy with "fourth" (which had always had a -th ending). But "fift" survived well into the 17th century, and in some dialects much longer.

The fith day of Christmas

A more recent development in the pronunciation of this word is the dropping of the second "f", so that it sounds like "fith". This naturally causes much gnashing of teeth in some quarters. But it is here to stay, the result of the phonetic difficulty of saying "f" followed by "th".

The fiveth day of Christmas
 
Another obvious question is: if the number is "five", why aren't its derivatives "fiveth", "fiveteen" and "fivety"?

First, let's look at the difference in the vowels. This is the result of the dastardly Great Vowel Shift, which messed with many English words between about 1400 and 1700. 

Back in Old English, all these words were much more closely related: fif, fift, fiftene, fiftig.  In all cases the first syllable would have originally sounded like "feef".  In the derivatives fift, fiftene, and fiftig, however, because the vowel was followed by two consonants, fif gradually shortened to sound like "fif".  Short vowels were not affected by the Great Vowel Shift, so these are still pronounced today as they were in the Middle Ages. Long stressed vowels, such as the long "ee" sound that still survived in "fif", however, moved to a different place in our English mouths, in this case to the diphthong we call a "long i".

The fifeth day of Christmas

And why is it "five" rather than "fife"? In Old English, fif  had various endings depending on the role it was playing in a sentence: fífe, fífa, fífum. Because there is a very old tendency in English to voice (i.e. to make the vocal cords vibrate when saying) consonants between two vowels, the second "f" became a "v", and voila, fif became "five".

Now you are no doubt wondering about "fife", the small flute. This came into the English language much later, in the 1500s, possibly from German pfeife, which already had what we would call a "long i", and which turned up too late for its final "f" to become voiced into a "v". 

For why it was OK to call the Virgin Mary a "bird", click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-calling-birds.html

For what French hens have to do with syphilis, click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-french-hens.html

For turtle-doves, click here: http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-turtle-doves.html

For what partridges have to do with farting, click here:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2013/12/12-days-of-wordlady-partridge.html

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