Re: BBC does it again

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:44:59 GMT, "John Atkinson"
<johnacko@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

What's the story with <bear> (OE bera, beran), <pear> (OE pera), <tear>
(verb) (OE teran), <wear> (OE werian), <swear> (OE swerian) -- all with
short e in OE?

The five words that you mention (or six, if you acknowledge the fact
that <bear> is originally two different words) seem to be the only
common ones in which the modern English vowel /E@r/ of "care" is
spelled <ear>. I had no idea that they were all descendants of OE
words with "short e".

Again, what's the story with <rare> 'lightly cooked' (< OE "hre:r")?
During the Early Modern English period it was often spelled <rear>,
and probably pronounced as "rear" too. This seems to be a different
case from <bear>, etc., since in this case the "e" of the OE word was
long. How did the pronunciation -- and in particular, the spelling --
get changed? I've considered the possibility that there might have
been interference from <rare> 'uncommon', with which it arguably has a
slight semantic connection.

daniel mcgrath
--
Daniel Gerard McGrath, a/k/a "Govende":
for e-mail replace "invalid" with "com"

Developmentally disabled;
has Autism (Pervasive Developmental Disorder),
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
& periodic bouts of depression.
[This signature is under construction.]

.

Quantcast