Through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES" I would be permitted to invite
attention to a peculiar pronunciation that has extensively prevailed,
though unnoticed I believe in print, of many words wherein the letter
_v_ occurs between two vowels.
While resident in the country, when a boy, I was struck with the
singular manner in which the names of certain places, having a _v_ so
circumstanced, were pronounced, for the _v_ was wholly silent, and
occasionally the latter vowel also; but as this was chiefly among
uneducated people, I was led to regard it as a provincialism. However,
as I became further acquainted with the names of places, I did not fail
to observe, that it was by no means limited to any particular part of
England. Thus, for example, the provincial pronunciation of Cavendish
(Suffolk) is Ca'endish; of Daventry, Da'entry; of Staverton and Coverley
(Warwickshire), Sta'erton and Co'erly; of Evesham, E'esham; of Davenham
(Cheshire), Da'enham; of Lavington (Lincolnshire), La'enton or Lenton;
of Avebury (Wilts), Abury; of Lavenham and Cavenham (Suffolk), Lanham
and Canham; of Overton (Leicestershire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland),
Orton; and the Principality gives us Aberga'enny for Abergavenny.
Ivilchester has become Ilchester, and Tovecester (now written Towcester)
is pronounced To'ecester; while Hoveden (Yorkshire) is called Ho'eden,
or Howden, as it is now commonly spelt. Similar examples might be
multiplied. Sometimes a succeeding consonant has undergone a change, as
Pe'emsey for Pevensey, and Rochester for Rovecester or Rofecester.
Numerous as the instances are, there has been some apparent caprice in
the matter, not easily explained. For though, as we have seen, Staverton
and Coverley in Warwickshire, and Daventry on the borders of that
county, undergo this change, yet, as far as I can learn, Coventry was
ever free from it; and in the like manner Twiverton in Devonshire is
called Twerton, yet I believe Tiverton was never Terton. There may have
been something in the original forms or meanings of Coventry, Tiverton,
and the like, that occasioned the _v_ to be retained.
Many examples of the omission of this letter might be adduced from
surnames, did space permit; indeed, several of those given above are
surnames, as well as names of places; and some readers may recollect the
change noticed in Selden's _Titles of Honour_, of Roger Wendover into
Roger of Windsor, the first step having been to write Roger of Windore.
Nor is the practice confined to names. All are familiar with such
contractions as _e'er_, _ne'er_, _o'er_, _e'en_, and _se'nnight_. We
have also _ill_ for _evil_, and the Scotch have _de'il_ for _devil_, and
_e'ening_ for _evening_. In like manner have we derived _lord_ from the
old English _loverd_ or _louerd_; _lark_ from _laverock_ (Anglo-Saxon
_lauerc_); _hawk_ from the Anglo-Saxon _hafoc_ or _hauoc_; and _head_
from the Anglo-Saxon _heafod_ or _heauod_; for the _f_ or _u_ in
Anglo-Saxon, when representing our _v_, became subject to this elision.
Time was, too, when _shovel_ was pronounced _sho'el_, and rhymed with
_owl_; as is exemplified in the nursery lay of the death and burial of
poor Cock Robin.
Without now attempting to account for this usage of speech, which seems
to imply the prevalence of a former pronunciation of _v_ very different
from the present, I will briefly notice that the like elision is of
frequent occurrence in Latin, chiefly in the perfect tenses and their
derivatives, as _amârunt_ for _amaverunt_, and _audîsset_ for
_audivisset_; occasionally, too, in nouns, as _labrum_ for _lavabrum_;
and also in the compounds of _versus_, as _retro'rsum_. It is found, I
may add, in a few French words derived from the Latin, as _oncle_ from
_avunculus_, and _cité_ from _civitas_. In the several languages above
mentioned the _v_ between two vowels is also found passing into _w_ or
_u_, especially after _a_ or _o_, the second vowel being in such cases
dropped, thus indicating the connexion that existed between _v_ and _u_,
which letters we know were in times past written indifferently for each
other. The discussion, however, of this connexion is beside my present
purpose.
The Latin contractions that I have adverted to are well known, and often
noticed; and it is remarkable that the manner in which this treatment of
the _v_ has affected the pronunciation and orthography of our own
language, should have almost escaped observation. An acquaintance with
it has been found of service when consulting ancient writings and the
published records; for those who would use such sources of information
with advantage, should be prepared not only to recognise, but also to
anticipate, the various changes which names of persons and places have
undergone.