this stress, as 'bóvine', 'cánine', 'équine'. The last word is not
always understood. At any rate Halliwell-Phillips, referring to a
well-known story of Shakespeare's youth, says that the poet probably
attended the theatre 'in some equine capacity'. As it is agreed that
'bovine' and 'equine' lengthen the former vowel, we ought by analogy
to say 'c[=a]nine', as probably most people do. Words of more than two
syllables have the stress on the antepenultima and the vowel is short,
as in 'libertine', 'adulterine', but of course '[=u]terine'. When
heavy consonants bring the stress on to the penultima, the _i_ is
shortened, as in 'clandest[)i]n(e)', 'intest[)i]n(e)', and so in like
disyllables, as 'doctr[)i]n(e)'. The modern words 'morphin(e)' and
'strychnin(e)', coined, the one from Morpheus and the other from the
Greek name of the plant known to botanists as _Withania somnifera_,
correctly follow 'doctrine' in shortening the _i_, though another
pronunciation is sometimes heard.
STEMS IN -TUDIN. These shorten the antepenultima, as 'plenitude',
'solitude', with the usual exceptions, such as 'fortitude'.
STEMS IN -TION. These words retain the suffix, which in early days
was disyllabic, as it sometimes is in Shakespeare, for instance in
Portia's
Before a friend of this descriptión
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault.
Thus they came under the 'alias' rule, and what is now the penultimate
vowel is long unless it be _i_. Examples are 'nation', 'accretion',
'emotion', 'solution', while _i_ is shortened in 'petition',
'munition', and the like, and left short in 'admonition' and
others. In military use an exception is made by 'ration', but the
pronunciation is confined to one sense of the word, and is new at
that. I remember old soldiers of George III who spoke of 'r[=a]tions'.
Perhaps the ugly change is due to French influence.
Originally the adjectives from these words must have lengthened the
fourth vowel from the end long, as n[=a]t[)i][)o]nal, but when _ti_
became _sh_ they came to follow the rule of Latin trisyllables in our
pronunciation.
STEMS IN -IC. Of these words we have a good many, both Latin and
Greek. Those that came direct keep the stress on the vowel which was
antepenultimate and is in English penultimate, and this vowel is short
whatever its original quantity. Examples are 'aquatic', 'italic',
'Germanic'. Words that came through French threw the stress back, as
'lúnatic'. Skeat says that 'fanatic' came through French, but he can
hardly be right, for the pronunciation 'fánatic' is barely three score
years old. There is no inverted stress in Milton's
Fanátic Egypt and her priests.
As for 'unique' it is a modern borrowing from French, and of late
'ántique' or 'ántic', as Shakespeare has it, has followed in one of
its senses the French use. It is a pity in face of Milton's
With mask and ántique Pageantry,
and it obscures the etymological identity of 'antique' and 'antic',
but the old pronunciation is irredeemable. At least the new avoids the
homophonic inconvenience.
Greek words of this class used as adjectives mostly follow the
same rule, as 'sporadic', 'dynamic', 'pneumatic', 'esoteric',
'philanthropic', 'emetic', 'panegyric'. As nouns the earlier
introductions threw the stress back, as 'heretic', 'arithmetic',
but later words follow the adjectives, as 'emetic', 'enclitic',
'panegyric'. As for 'politic', which is stressed as we stress both by
Shakespeare and by Milton, it must be under French influence, though
Skeat seems to think that it came straight from Latin.
STEMS IN -OS. These words agree in being disyllabic, but otherwise
they are a tiresome and quarrelsome people. For their diversity in
spelling some can make a defence, since 'horror', 'pallor', 'stupor'
came straight from Latin, but 'tenor', coming through French, should
have joined hands with 'colour', 'honour', 'odour'. The short vowel is
inevitable in 'horror' and 'pallor', the long in 'ardour', 'stupor',
'tumour'. The rest are at war, 'clamour', 'colour', 'honour',
'dolour', 'rigour', 'squalor', 'tenor', 'vigour' in the short
legion, 'favour', 'labour', 'odour', 'vapour' in the long. Their
camp-followers ending in -ous are under their discipline, so that,
while 'cl[)a]morous', 'r[)i]gorous', 'v[)i]gorous' agree with
the general rule, '[=o]dorous' makes an exception to it. All
the derivatives of _favor_ are exceptions to the general rule,
for 'favourite' and 'favorable' keep its long _a_. Of course
'l[)a]b[=o]rious' is quite in order, and so is 'v[)a]pid'.
STEMS IN -TOR AND -SOR. These words, when they came through French,
threw the stress back and shortened the penultimate, _[=o]r[=a]torem_
becoming _orateur_, and then '[)o]r[)a]tor', with the stress on the
antepenultimate. Others of the same type are 'auditor', 'competitor',
'senator', and Shelley has
The sister-pest, congrégator of slaves,
while 'amateur' is borrowed whole from French and stresses its ultima.
Trisyllables of course shorten the first vowel, as 'cr[)e]ditor',
'j[)a]nitor'. Polysyllables follow the stress of the verbs; thus
'ágitate' gives 'ágitator' and 'compóse' gives 'compósitor'. To the
first class belongs 'circulator', 'educator', 'imitator', 'moderator',
'negotiator', 'prevaricator', with which 'gladiator' associates
itself; to the second belongs 'competitor'. Words which came straight
from Latin keep the stress of the Latin nominative, as 'creator',
'spectator', 'testator', 'coadjutor', 'assessor', to which in Walton's
honour must be added 'Piscator' and 'Venator'. On 'curator' he who
decides does so at his peril. On one occasion Eldon from the Bench
corrected Erskine for saying 'cúr[)a]tor'. 'Cur[=a]tor, Mr. Erskine,
cur[=a]tor.' 'I am glad', was the reply, 'to be set right by so
eminent a sen[=a]tor and so eloquent an or[=a]tor as your Lordship.'
Neither eminent lawyer knew much about it, but each was so far right
that he stuck to the custom of his country. On other grounds Erskine
might be thought to have committed himself to 'tést[)a]tor', if not
quite to the 'testy tricks' of Sally in Mrs. Gaskell's 'Ruth'.
STEMS IN -ERO AND -URO. Adjectives of this type keep the Latin stress,
which thus falls on the ultima, and shorten or obscure the penultimate
vowel, as 'mature', 'obscure', 'severe', 'sincere', but of course
'[=a]ustere'. Of like form though of other origin is 'secure'. Nouns
take an early stress, as 'áperture', 'sépulture', 'líterature',
'témperature', unless two mutes obstruct, as in 'conjécture'. Of the
disyllables 'nature' keeps a long penultima, while 'figure' has it
short, not because of the Latin quantity, but because of the French.
The lonely word 'mediocre' lengthens its first vowel by the 'alias'
rule and also stresses it. Whether the penultima has more than a
secondary stress is a matter of dispute.
STEMS IN -ARI. These words have the stress on the antepenultima,
which they shorten, as in 'secular' or keep short as in 'jocular',
'familiar', but of course 'pec[=u]liar'.
_ON CERTAIN GREEK WORDS._
It will have been seen that Greek words are usually treated as Latin.
Thus 'crisis' lengthens the penultima under the 'apex' rule, while
'critical' has it short under the general rule of polysyllables.
Other examples of lengthening are 'bathos', 'pathos', while the long
quantity is of course kept in 'colon' and 'crasis'. For the 'alias'
rule we may quote '[=a]theist', 'cryptog[=a]mia', 'h[=o]meopathy',
'heterog[=e]neous', 'pandem[=o]nium', while the normal shortenings
are found in 'an[)o]nymous', 'eph[)e]meral', 'pand[)e]monium',
'[)e]r[)e]mite'. Ignorance of English usage has made some editors
flounder on a line of Pope's:
Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite.
The birthplace of Aristotle was of course Stag[=i]ra or, as it is now
fashionable to transcribe it, Stageira, as Pope doubtless knew, but
the editors who accuse him of a false quantity in Greek are on the
contrary themselves guilty of one in English. The penultima in English
is short whether it was long or, as in 'dynamite' and 'malachite',
short in Greek.
There is, however, one distinct class of Greek words in which the
Latin rule is not followed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
there were scholars who rightly or wrongly treated the Greek accent as
a mark of stress. It is clear that this habit led to an inability to
maintain a long quantity in an unstressed syllable. Shakespeare must
have learnt his little Greek from a scholar who had this habit, for he
writes 'Andrón[)i]cus' and also
I am misánthr[)o]pos and hate mankind.
Of course all scholars shortened the first vowel of the word, and
doubtless Shakespeare shortened also the third. Busby also thus
spoke Greek with the result that Dryden in later life sometimes
wrote epsilon instead of eta and also spoke of 'Cleoménes' and
'Iphig[=e]n[)i]a'. As a boy at Westminster he wrote
Learn'd, Vertuous, Pious, Great, and have by this
An universal Metempsuchosis.
Macaulay with an ignorance very unusual in him rebuked his nephew for
saying 'metamórph[)o]sis', and Dr. Johnson, had he been living, would
have rebuked Macaulay. For the sake of our poets we ought to save
'apothé[)o]sis', which is in some danger. Garth may perhaps be
forgotten,
Allots the prince of his celestial line
An Apotheosis and rights divine,
but 'Rejected Addresses' should still carry weight. In the burlesque
couplet, ascribed in the first edition to the younger Colman and
afterwards transferred to Theodore Hook, we have
That John and Mrs. Bull from ale and tea-houses
May shout huzza for Punch's apotheosis.
It need hardly be said that 'tea-houses' like 'grandfathers' has the
stress on the antepenultimate.
There are other words of Greek origin which now break the rules,
though I believe the infringement to be quite modern. First we have
the class beginning with _proto_. It can hardly be doubted that our
ancestors followed rule and said 'pr[)o]tocol', and 'pr[)o]totype',
and I suspect also 'pr[)o]tomartyr'. There seems, however, to be
a general agreement nowadays to keep the Greek omega. As for
'protagonist' the word is so technical and is often so ludicrously
misunderstood that writers on the Greek drama would do well to retain
the Greek termination and say 'protagonistes'; for 'protagonist' is
very commonly mistaken and used for the opposite of 'antagonist'.
Next come words beginning with _hypo_ or _hyph_. In a disyllable the
vowel is long by the 'apex' rule, as in 'hyphen'. In longer words
it should be short. So once it was, and we still say 'hypocaust',
'hypocrit', 'hypochondria' (whence 'hypped'), 'hypothesis', and
others, but a large group of technical and scientific words seems
determined to have a long _y_. It looks as though there were a belief
that _y_ is naturally long, though the French influence which gives us
't[=y]rant' does not extend to 'tyranny'. I do not know what Mr. Hardy
calls his poem, but I hope he follows the old use and calls it 'The
D[)y]nasts'. It might be thought that 'd[)y]nasty' was safe, but it
is not. Some modern words like 'dynamite' have been misused from their
birth.
Another class begins with _hydro-_ from the Greek word for water. None
of them seem to be very old, but probably 'hydraulic' began life with
a short _y_. Surely Mrs. Malaprop, when she meant 'hysterics' and said
'hydrostatics', must have used the short _y_. Of course 'hydra' which
comes from the same root follows the 'apex' rule.
Words beginning with _hyper-_ seem nowadays always to have a long _y_
except that one sometimes hears 'h[)y]perbole' and 'h[)y]perbolical'.
Of course both in _hypo-_ and in _hyper-_ the vowel is short in Greek,
so that here at least the strange lengthening cannot be ascribed to
the Grecians. The false theory of a long _y_ has not affected 'cynic'
or 'cynical', while 'Cyril' has been saved by being a Christian
name. We may yet hope to retain _y_ short in 'cylinder', 'cynosure',
'lycanthropy', 'mythology', 'pyramid', 'pyrotechnic', 'sycamore',
'synonym', 'typical'. As for 'h[=y]brid' it seems as much a caprice
as '[=a]crid', a pronunciation often heard. Though 'acrid' is a false
formation it ought to follow 'vivid' and 'florid'. The 'alias' rule
enforces a long _y_ in 'hygiene' and 'hygienic'.
On the matter of Greek names the lettern and the pulpit are grievous
offenders. Once it was not so. The clergymen of the old type and
the scholars of the Oxford Retrogression said T[)i]m[=o]th[)e][)u]s,
because they had a sense of English and followed, consciously or
unconsciously, the 'alias' rule. If there was ever an error, it was
on the lips of some illiterate literate who made three syllables of
the word. Now it seems fashionable to say T[=i]m[)o]th[)e][)u]s. The
literate was better than this, for he at least had no theory, and
frank ignorance is to be forgiven. It is no shame to a man not to know
that the second _i_ in 'Villiers' is as mute as that in 'Parliament'
or that Bolingbroke's name began with Bull and ended with brook, but
when ignorance constructs a theory it is quite another matter. The
etymological theory of pronunciation is intolerable. Etymology was
a charming nymph even when men had but a distant acquaintance with
her, and a nearer view adds to her graces; but when she is dragged
reluctant from her element she flops like a stranded mermaid. The
curate says 'Deuteronómy', and on his theory ought to say 'económy'
and 'etymológy'. When Robert Gomery--why not give the reverend
poetaster his real if less elegant name--published his once popular
work, every one called it 'The Omnípresence of the Deïty', and Shelley
had already written
And, as I look'd, the bright omnípresence
Of morning through the orient cavern flowed.
It is true that Ken a century earlier had committed himself to
Thou while below wert yet on high
By Omniprésent Deity,
and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned with
There is one Mind, one omniprésent Mind,
but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said 'omniscíence', or
'omnipótence'.
Another word to show signs of etymological corruption is
'[)e]volution'. It seems to have been introduced as a technical term
of the art of war, and of course, like 'd[)e]volution', shortened
the _e_. The biologists first borrowed it and later seem desirous of
corrupting it. Perhaps they think of such words as '[=e]gress', but
the long vowel is right in the stressed penultimate.
One natural tendency in English runs strongly against etymology.
This is the tendency to throw the stress back, which about a century
ago turned 'contémplate' into 'cóntemplate' and somewhat later
'illústrate' into 'íllustrate'. Shakespeare and Milton pronounced
'instinct' as we pronounce 'distinct' and 'aspect' as we pronounce
'respect'. Thus Belarius is made to say
'Tis wonder
That an invisible instínct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd,
and Milton has
By this new felt attraction and instinct,
and also
In battailous aspéct and neerer view.
The retrogression of the stress is in these instances well
established, and we cannot quarrel with it; but against some very
recent instances a protest may be made. One seems to be a corruption
of the War. In 1884 the _N.E.D._ recognized no pronunciation of it
save 'allý', as in Romeo's
This gentleman, the prince's neer Alie.
The late Mr. B.B. Rogers in his translations of Aristophanes has of
course no other pronunciation. His verses are too good to be spoiled
by what began as a vulgarism. Another equally recent vulgarism, not
recognized by the _N.E.D._ and bad enough to make George Russell turn
in his grave, is 'mágazine' for 'magazíne'. It is not yet common, but
such vulgarisms are apt to climb.
In times not quite so recent the word 'prophecy' has changed, not
indeed its stress, but the quantity of its final vowel. When Alford
wrote 'The Queen's English', every one lengthened the last vowel, as
in the verb, nor do I remember any other pronunciation in my boyhood.
Now the _N.E.D._ gives the short vowel only. Alford to his own
satisfaction accounted for the long vowel by the diphthong _ei_ of
the Greek. It is to be feared that his explanation would involve
'dynast[=y]' and 'polic[=y]', even if it did not oblige us to turn
'Pompey' into 'Pomp[=y]'. In this case it may be suspected that
the noun was assimilated to the verb, which follows the analogy of
'magnify' and 'multiply'. The voice of the people which now gives
us 'prophec[)y]' seems here to have felt the power of analogy and
assuredly will prevail.
_ON PROPER NAMES._
It is to be hoped that except in reading Latin and Greek texts we
shall keep to the traditional pronunciation of proper names as it
is enshrined in our poetry and other literature. We must continue to
lengthen the stressed penultimate vowel in Athos, Cato, Draco, Eros,
Hebrus, Lichas, Nero, Otho, Plato, Pylos, Remus, Samos, Titus, Venus,
and the many other disyllables wherein it was short in the ancient
tongues. On the other hand we shall shorten the originally long
stressed antepenultimate vowel in Brasidas, Euripides, Icarus,
Lavinia, Lucilius, Lydia, Nicias, Onesimus, Pegasus, Pyramus, Regulus,
Romulus, Scipio, Sisyphus, Socrates, Thucydides, and many more.
Quin, and the actors of his day, used to give to the first vowel in
'Cato' the sound of the _a_ in 'father'. They probably thought that
they were Italianizing such names. In fact their use was neither Latin
nor English. They were like the men of to-day who speak of the town
opposite Dover as 'Cally', a name neither French nor English. A town
which once sent members to the English Parliament has a right to an
English name. Prior rhymed it with 'Alice' and Browning has
When Fortune's malice
Lost her Calais.
Shakespeare, of course, spelt it 'Callis', and this form, which was
first evicted by Pope, whom other editors servilely followed, ought
to be restored to Shakespeare's text. In the pronunciation of Cato the
stage regained the English diphthong in the mouth of Garrick, whose
good sense was often in evidence. It is recorded that his example
was not at once followed in Scotland or Ireland. If there was any
Highlander on the stage it may be hoped that he gave to the vowel the
true Latin sound as it appears in 'Mactavish'.
A once well-known schoolmaster, a correspondent of Conington's, had
a daughter born to him whom in his unregenerate days he christened
Rosa. At a later time he became a purist in quantities, and then he
shortened the _o_ and took the voice out of the _s_ and spoke of her
and to her as Rossa. The mother and the sisters refused to acknowledge
what they regarded as a touch of shamrock and clung persistently
to the English flower. The good gentleman did not call his son
Sol[=o]mon,[2] though this is the form which ought to be used by
those who turn the traditional English 'Elk[)a]nah' into 'Elk[=a]nah',
'Ab[)a]na' into 'Ab[=a]na', and 'Zeb[)u]lun' into 'Zeb[=u]lun'. If
they do not know
Poor Elk[)a]nah, all other troubles past,
For bread in Smithfield dragons hiss'd at last,
yet at least they ought to know
Of Abb[)a]na and Pharphar, lucid streams.
The malison of Milton on their heads! If the translators of the Bible
had foreseen 'Zeb[=u]lun', they would have chosen some other word than
'princes' to avoid the cacophony of 'the princes of Zeb[=u]lun'.
[Footnote 2: But pedantry would not suggest this. The New Testament
has [Greek: Solomôn], and the Latin Christian poets have the _o_ short.
True, the Vatican Septuagint has [Greek: Salômôn], but there the vowel
of the first syllable is _a_.--H.B.]
That these usages were familiar is evident from the pronunciation of
proper, especially Biblical, names. Thus 'B[=a]bel' and 'B[)a]bylon',
'N[=i]nus' and 'N[)i]neveh', were spoken as unconsciously as
M[=i]chael' and 'M[)i]chaelmas'. Nobody thought of asking the quantity
of the Hebrew vowels before he spoke of 'C[=a]leb' and 'B[=a]rak', of
'G[)i]deon' and 'G[)i]lead', of 'D[)e]borah' and 'Ab[)i]melech', of
'[=E]phraim' and 'B[=e]lial'. The seeming exceptions can be explained.
Thus the priest said 'H[)e]rod' because in the Vulgate he read
'H[)e]rodes', but there was no Greek or Latin form to make him say
anything else than 'M[=e]roz', 'P[=e]rez', 'S[=e]rah', 'T[=e]resh'.
He said '[)A]dam' because, although the Septuagint and other books
retained the bare form of the name, there were other writings in
which the name was extended by a Latin termination. There was no like
extension to tempt him to say anything but 'C[=a]desh', '[=E]dom',
'J[=a]don', 'N[=a]dab'. I must admit my inability to explain
'Th[)o]mas', but doubtless there is a reason. The abbreviated form was
of course first 'Th[)o]m' and then 'T[)o]m'. Possibly the pet name has
claimed dominion over the classical form. As in the _herba impia_
of the early botanists, these young shoots sometimes refuse to be
'trash'd for overtopping'.
A story is told of an eccentric Essex rector. He was reading in
church the fourth chapter of Judges, and after 'Now D[)e]borah, a
prophetess', suddenly stopped, not much to the astonishment of
the rustics, for they knew his ways. Then he went on 'Deb[)o]rah?
Deb[)o]rah? Deb[=o]rah! Now Deb[=o]rah, a prophetess', and so on.
Probably a freak of memory had reminded him that the letter was
omega in the Septuagint. It will be remembered that Miss Jenkyns in
_Cranford_ liked her sister to call her Deb[=o]rah, 'her father having
once said that the Hebrew name ought to be so pronounced', and it will
not be forgotten that the good rector was too sound a scholar to read
'Deb[=o]rah' at the lettern.
An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in St. Mary's
what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and afterwards he walked
home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous Provost. He looked for comment
and hoped for praise, but the Provost's only remark was, 'Why do
you say Emm[=a]us?' 'I don't know; isn't it Emm[=a]us?' 'No, no;
Emm[)a]us, Emm[)a]us.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George
III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, 'I will
have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the phrase, as
referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used it with sense.
PS.--I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he walked in the
Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no hat stept out of a
tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it irréparable or irrepáirable that
one should say?'--'The last, I think, Sir, for the adjective ought to
follow the verb; but you had better consult my dictionary than me,
for that was the result of more thought than you will now give me time
for.' The dictionary rightly gives _irréparable_, and both the rule
and example of the Doctor's _obiter dicta_ (literally _obiter_) are
wrong.
J.S.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
* * * * *
ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II
Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the list
of Homophones in Tract II. The object of that list was to convince
readers of the magnitude of the mischief, and the consequent
necessity for preserving niceties of pronunciation: evidence of its
incompleteness must strengthen its plea. The following words may be
added; they are set here in the order of the literary alphabet.
Add to Table I (p. 7)
band, [^1] _a tie_, [^2] _a company_.
bend, [^1] _verb_, [^2] _heraldic sub._
bay, [^1] _tree_, [^2] _arm of sea_, [^3] _window_,
[^4] _barking of dog_, and '_at bay_',
[^5] _a dam_, [^6] _of antler_, [^7] _a colour_.
blaze, [^1] _of flame_, [^2] _to sound forth_.
bluff, [^1] _adj. & sub. = broad = fronted_,
[^2] _blinker_, [^3] _sub. and v. confusing_ [^1] _and_ [^2].
boom, [^1] _to hum_, [^2] _= beam_.
cant, [^1] _whine_, [^2] _to tilt_.
chaff, [^1] _of wheat_, [^2] _= chafe (slang)_.
cove, [^1] _a recess_, [^2] _= chap (slang)_.
file, [^1] _string_, [^2] _rasp_, [^3] _= to defile_.
grave, [^1] _sub._, [^2] _adj._
hind, [^1] _fem. of stag_, [^2] _a peasant_, [^3] _adj. of behind_.
limb, [^1] _member_, [^2] _edge_, [^3] limn.
limber, [^1] _shaft of cart (verb in artillery)_,
[^2] _naut. subs._, [^3] _adj. pliant_.
loom, [^1] _subs._, [^2] _v._
nice, gneiss.
ounce, [^1] _animal_, [^2] _a weight_.
plash, [^1] _= pleach_, [^2] _a puddle_.
port, [^1] _demeanour, & military v._,
[^2] _haven_, [^3] _gate & naut.= port-hole_,
[^4] _= larboard_, [^5] _a wine_.
shingle, [^1] _a wooden tile_, [^2] _gravel_,
[^3] (_in pl._) _a disease_.
shrub, [^1] _a bush_, [^2] _a drink_.
smack, [^1] _a sounding blow_, [^2] _a fishing boat_, [^3] _taste_.
throw, throe.
Also note that _so_ should be added to _sew, sow_, and that the words
_leech_, _leach_, are not sufficiently credited with etymological
variety: [see below p. 33].
To Table II add
when, _wen_.
To Table VIII
The following words, the absence of which has been noted, are not true
homophones:--
crack
fool
fume
gentle
interest
palm
stem
trip
To Table IX add
must [^1] _obs? new wine_, [^2] _verb._