Metathetic and non-metathetic form selection in Middle English.ABSTRACT Metathesis metathesis /me·tath·e·sis/ (me-tath´e-sis) 1. artificial transfer of a morbid process. 2. a chemical reaction in which an element or radical in one compound exchanges places with another element or radical in , a specific phonological pho·nol·o·gy n. pl. pho·nol·o·gies 1. The study of speech sounds in language or a language with reference to their distribution and patterning and to tacit rules governing pronunciation. 2. development consisting in an alteration within the sequence of sounds in a word was usually materialised in the development of English as a shift of a prevocalic pre·vo·cal·ic adj. 1. Preceding a vowel. 2. Of or relating to a form of a linguistic element, such as a suffix, prefix, or word, that occurs only before a vowel. consonant consonant Any speech sound characterized by an articulation in which a closure or narrowing of the vocal tract completely or partially blocks the flow of air; also, any letter or symbol representing such a sound. to a postvocalic post·vo·cal·ic adj. 1. Designating a consonant or consonantal sound directly following a vowel. 2. Of, relating to, or being a form of a linguistic element, such as a suffix or word, that occurs only after vowels. position or vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. . The change affected various classes of words: nouns (OE brid> bird), adjectives (OE beorht > brigt 'bright', or verbs (OE irnan > rinnan 'run', etc.) This type of change, especially frequent in Northumbrian Old English Old English: see type; English language; Anglo-Saxon literature. Old English or Anglo-Saxon Language spoken and written in England before AD 1100. It belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group of Germanic languages. , soon spread to other areas of England, showing a pattern typical of lexical diffusion In historical linguistics, lexical diffusion is both a phenomenon and a theory. The phenomenon is that by which a phoneme is modified in a subset of the lexicon, and spreads gradually to other lexical items. . The paper concentrates on the metathesis of the liquid [r] and the adjacent vowel vowel Speech sound in which air from the lungs passes through the mouth with minimal obstruction and without audible friction, like the i in fit. The word also refers to a letter representing such a sound (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y). in the early periods of English. While only a very limited number of words with Old English metathesis survive into Modem English, those with Middle English Middle English Vernacular spoken and written in England c. 1100–1500, the descendant of Old English and the ancestor of Modern English. It can be divided into three periods: Early, Central, and Late. metathesis have proved to be much more stable, retaining the metathetic me·tath·e·sis n. pl. me·tath·e·ses 1. Linguistics Transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables, as in the change from Old English brid to modern English bird or in the confusion of form until Present-day English. The evidence of the available corpora corpora plural form of corpus. corpora albicantia see corpus albicans. corpora arenacea sandy or gritty bodies, found in the pineal body; appear to be of glial or stromal origin; have the structure of , especially the OED OED abbr. Oxford English Dictionary Noun 1. OED - an unabridged dictionary constructed on historical principles O.E.D., Oxford English Dictionary , confirms the hypothesis of the change being rather abrupt than gra dual. 1. Metathesis On the level of phonology phonology, study of the sound systems of languages. It is distinguished from phonetics, which is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds; phonology attempts to account for how they are combined, organized, and convey meaning , metathesis consists in an alteration within the sequence of sounds which seems to be a reflection of "performance errors" (cf Crystal 1980). In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , it is a transposition transposition /trans·po·si·tion/ (trans?po-zish´un) 1. displacement of a viscus to the opposite side. 2. of sounds and/or letters in a word (OCEL). Sometimes classified as belonging to the category of the slips of the tongue, metathesis is found to be a type of sound change especially common in child language. Erroneous metathetic sequences of sounds also develop in adult language, but their rise is governed by principles different from those responsible for errors in the language of children (cf Drachman 1978). Hogg hogg castrated male sheep usually 10 to 14 months old. Also used to describe an uncastrated male pig. (1977) distinguishes three kinds of metathesis, of which two can be traced in English. The first is labelled as "sporadic" (e.g. [sp] > [ps]; wasp wapse) and as such is not rule-governed, the other, "regular", is best represented by the transposition of [r] and a vowel. In Germanic, metatheses, including r-metathesis, belong to the earliest processes and are present in each language belonging to that family. The transposition of a postvocalic r-sound to the prevocalic position is also attested in other Indo-European languages Indo-European languages Family of languages with the greatest number of speakers, spoken in most of Europe and areas of European settlement and in much of southwestern and southern Asia. , including Slavic (cf Proto-Slavic *orsti > Russ. rosti 'grow'; Keyser 1975). In English, the process is represented by the two basic modifications: (1) change of positions by a vowel and an adjacent consonant and (2) a mutual replacement of two items in a consonant cluster. In the former, prevocalic [r] moves to the position after the following vowel, especially when that vowel stands before [n] or [s], and, at a later date, before [d] in Late Northumbrian (cf PGmc * rinnan > WS irnan 'run', PGmc * brunna- > OE burna 'bourn', ONhb bird/WS brid 'bird', etc.). Alternatively, the liquid [r] after a vowel is moved before that vowel, the latter change being frequent in late Old Northumbrian when the vowel stands directly before the cluster [xt], as exemplified by ONhb wrybta from wyrhta (cf WGmc *wurhtjo- 'wright'). The other type of metathesis is a purely consonantal con·so·nan·tal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or having the nature of a consonant. 2. Containing a consonant or consonants. con development in which items in a cluster exchange their positions. This again can be exemplified by two kinds of shift. The first affects the group [s] + a stop (cf WS ascian [ski > axian [ks] 'ask' or aesp > aeps, but also woeps > woesp 'wasp'), while the other is responsible for a change of places of a fricative fricative (frik´  tiv),n a speech sound made by forcing the airstream through such a narrow opening that audible high-frequency air ([f, 0, s]) plus the liquid [1]. Much more rare is the exchange of the elements in the clusters [sm, gn, kn, ns]. The present brief study will be only concerned with the former type, i.e. the metathesis of [r] and an adjacent vowel. Its aim is to adduce To present, offer, bring forward, or introduce. For example, a bill of particulars that lists each of the plaintiff's demands may recite that it contains all the evidence to be adduced at trial. evidence when and how r-metathesis spread in Middle English. Another goal is to determine whether r-metathesis deserves to be assigned the status of a full-fledged phonological rule. Modem phonology postulates a systematic operation of a phonological change  should be added to this article, to conform with Wikipedia's Manual of Style.Please discuss this issue on the talk page. in a specified period of time. Sooner or later such a change affects all words containing an appropriate context. 2. Mechanisms of metathesis in English The transposition of [r] and the vowel is by far the most frequent type of metathetic change in English. The effects of r-metathesis are found in the earliest Anglo-Saxon literature Anglo-Saxon literature, the literary writings in Old English (see English language), composed between c.650 and c.1100. See also English literature. Poetry , throughout Medieval English, and also in the New English New English n. See Modern English. period. Like certain other consonantal changes, including assimilation, r-metathesis in Old English shows a number of distinct stages. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Stanley (1952/53), the principle of rule ordering relevant to various phonological changes requires that metathesis in the earliest period of the history of English should be assigned to as many as four chronological stages, the first and the last in Anglian, the second (highly controversial) apparently in all dialects, and the third confined to West Saxon West Saxon n. 1. The dialect of Old English used in southern England that was the chief literary dialect of England before the Norman Conquest. 2. . Whether the details of such division are correct or not, Stanley's complicated scheme shows that metathesis cannot be treated as a change uniform chronologically and geographically. Also, an explanation of the process as a mere changing of places by the liquid and the vowel, i.e.: 1) (a) VC > CV (b) CV > VC has been found less than satisfactory. Still, as a change which can only be explained in terms of abruptness hypothesis (cf. McMahon 1994: 49), the above simple pattern of the change became readily accepted by the confessors of generative gen·er·a·tive adj. 1. Having the ability to originate, produce, or procreate. 2. Of or relating to the production of offspring. generative pertaining to reproduction. phonology. As a reaction to (1) an alternative theory holds that what is regarded as an abrupt process of metathesis involves in fact a gradual change, i.e. an insertion of a vowel before [r] followed by a deletion of the vowel after [r] (cf. Hogg 1977, Blevins and Garrett 1998), which can be schematically presented as the following simple rule: 2) (a) CCVC CCVC Capacitive Coupling Voltage Contrast > CVCVG (b) CVCVC > CVCC CVCC Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion (engines) CVCC Chattahoochee Valley Community College (Alabama) CVCC Central Virginia Community College (Lynchburg) Evidence from English shows that such a complex process might have taken place. For instance, the change of the Old English past tense past tense n. A verb tense used to express an action or a condition that occurred in or during the past. For example, in While she was sewing, he read aloud, was sewing and read are in the past tense. Noun 1. form worht- (cf wyrcan 'work') to wrought involved vowel epenthesis e·pen·the·sis n. pl. e·pen·the·ses The insertion of a sound in the middle of a word, as in Middle English thunder from Old English thunor. , or insertion, followed by vowel deletion; cf.: 3) Input worht-e Vowel epenthesis woroht-e Vowel deletion wroht-e Output wroght-e All the stages above are attested by Old and Middle English evidence, although the dates of citation do not always coincide with the chronological order in (3); cf.: 4) 971 Haelend ... paet wundor worhte (Blickl. Hom.: 19) c950 ... seoe worohte from fruma woepen-monn & wifmonn ??eworhte hia (Lindisf Gosp. Matt. xix: 4) 1056-66 Haward me wrohte (Inscr. on Dial. Kirkdale, Ch. Yks.) 1455 Wrought bordcloth cum j. pan towalles de eadem (Lincoln Diocese Doc. 67 [A]) According to Lass (1978, cf. also Nakao 1986), derivation derivation, in grammar: see inflection. (3) requires the employment of yet another rule, a suprasegmental Adj. 1. suprasegmental - pertaining to a feature of speech that extends over more than a single speech sound linguistics - the scientific study of language united - characterized by unity; being or joined into a single entity; "presented a united front" one, which would assign stress to the epenthetic e·pen·the·sis n. pl. e·pen·the·ses The insertion of a sound in the middle of a word, as in Middle English thunder from Old English thunor. vowel. This is in turn followed by a deletion of an unstressed vowel An unstressed vowel is the vowel sound that forms the syllable peak of a syllable that has no lexical stress. In many languages, vowel reduction happens when a vowel changes from stressed to unstressed position, i.e., an unstressed vowel becomes a reduced vowel, such as schwa. before [r]. Such processes are mainly found in Late North-umbrian, being rare in other dialects. 3. Sporadic and permanent metathesis of the sequence [rV]: The time dimension The data embracing forms with and without metathesis in the available Old and Middle English corpora (OED, HC) create a very incoherent picture as regards the temporal and geographical distribution the natural arrangements of animals and plants in particular regions or districts. See under Distribution. See also: Distribution Geographic of the relevant forms. The critics of the rule-oriented theory rightly emphasise that metathesis is a process whose incidence is far from consistent. The evidence collected by the present author confirms such inconsistency in the selection of now the [rV], now the [Vr] variant. As regards words with the original cluster [rV], their metathesised forms contain these two elements in a reverse order. In the account below first come those items in which the original sequence [r] + Vowel survives in Modern English Modern English n. English since about 1500. Also called New English. Modern English Noun the English language since about 1450 Noun 1. , although they temporarily develop forms with metathesis, i.e. Vowel + [r], in Old or Middle English. Because such metathetic forms are lost in later Middle English this metathesis will be called here sporadic metathesis (SM), but the sense of the term is different from that in Hogg (1977). List (5) includes words with the original sequence [rV] surviving in Modern English, but it also contains instances of sporadic metathesis which failed to survive into the Modem period. The list which disregards geographical conditioning only presents the distribution in time of the non-metathesised forms and the dates concerning sporadic metathesis; cf: 5) Non-metathesised frost(y) (OE frost < PGmc *frustaz) 700, 1300 > grass (OE groes < PGmc *grasam) 700-1000, 1200 > run (OE A rinnan < PGmc 700-750, 900, 1000, *rin-/ren-/run-) 1150, 1200 > ENE threst (OE proestan < PGmc 900, 1200 > braist-) cress (OE cressa < PGmc 950, 1150 > *kras-j-on) frog (OE frosc <PGmc *froskaz) 1000, 1250 > wren (OE wrenna < ? PGmc *wren-) 1000, 1200 > ENE frist (OE frist < PGmc *fri-) OE (?), 1250 > fresh (ME fresch <Rom. *friscu-s) 1200 > 5) SM frost(y) (OE frost < PGmc *frustaz) 900-1000, 1150-1300 grass (OE groes < PGmc *grasam) 850-1000, 1300-1500 run (OE A rinnan < PGmc 750-1000, 1100-1450 *rin-/ren-/run-) ENE threst (OE proestan < PGmc 1200, 1350 braist-) cress (OE cressa < PGmc 1000, 1350-1650 *kras-j-on) frog (OE frosc <PGmc *froskaz) 800 (? uncertain) wren (OE wrenna < ? PGmc *wren-) 700-750, 1000-1050 ENE frist (OE frist < PGmc *fri-) 900-1000, 1150-1400, 1550 fresh (ME fresch <Rom. *friscu-s) 900, 1250-1350 As said above, items in (5) are words in which the shift of a vowel from the position after [r] to the position in front of [r] proved ineffective in the long run. Interestingly, our evidence, limited as it is, shows that metathesis must have been a very early process in this category of words because the early occurrences of metathetic forms with [Vr] registered in the available corpora are chronologically very early, sometimes even earlier than the original forms without metathesis. Item (6) lists such first occurrences of forms with and without metathesis:
6) c893 [Eufrates] is maest eallra ferscra
waetera
c1200 A33 himm birr? beon fressh paerto
c1000 Naes hit lengra fyrst
c1300 pe penis ... he broght, wit-vten
frest
6) c893
(K. Aelfred Oros. ii. iv [ss] 6)
c1200 (Ormin: 6348)
c1000 (Beowulf: 134)
c1300 (Cursor M.: 19225)
Curiously, words showing sporadic metathesis appear very early. Although some of them show strong consolidation between 1250-1400, they fail to survive into Modem English. Perhaps their disappearance can be connected with a tendency to preserve only those words in which postvocalic [r] was followed by a dental consonant Noun 1. dental consonant - a consonant articulated with the tip of the tongue near the gum ridge alveolar, alveolar consonant, dental consonant - a speech sound that is not a vowel , i.e. [n, t, d, s] (cf. Alexander 1985, who claims that the survival of the postvocalic [r] is determined by the feature [+ coronal cor·o·nal adj. 1. Of or relating to a corona, especially of the head. 2. Of, relating to, or having the direction of the coronal suture or of the plane dividing the body into front and back portions. ] of the consonant with which this [r] forms a cluster). Other words with sporadic metathesis prevail in Early Middle English but their frequency decreases after 1400. A typical example is the case of ME frost whose metathesised form forst is found only sporadically after 1250, but is lost after 1400; cf.:
7) a700 Gelum, forst
a900 ... & se winter waere grim & cald
& fyrstig
a1000 Se hearda forst
a1000 Hwilum hara scoc forst of feaxe
a1123 Treow waestmas wurdon paere nihte
purh forste swioe for numene
a1175 Ic walde fein pinian and sitten on
forste and on snawe up et mine
chinne
a1250 ... And bringeth forstes starke an
stronge
a1300 Manna ... fel fra lift sa gret
plente, Als a grideld frost to se
7) a700 (Epinal Gloss.: 485)
a900 (tr. Baeda's Hist. iii.xiv.[xix.]
(1890): 217)
a1000 (Phoenix 58)
a1000 (Riddles lxxxviii.: 8 (Gr.))
a1123
(O.E. Chron. an. 1100)
a1175
(Lamb. Hom.: 35)
a1250
(Owl & Night.: 524)
a1300
(Cursor M.: 6520)
A very similar pattern is revealed in the phonological evolution of the noun grass and the verb run whose metathesised forms survive until the 15th century, i.e. somewhat later than those of frost. As regards the earliest occurrences of sporadic metathesis, item (8) adduces several forms from Old English; cf.:
8) a800 In de3e onbead dryhten (Vesp. Ps xli.: 9)
mildheortnisse his and on naeht
3ebirhte
c1000 Does wyrt ... be man nasturcium, & (Sax. Leechd.: 1.116)
oorum naman caerse nemneo
c1000 Naes hit lengra fyrst (Beowulf: 134)
c858 IIII oxnum gers (Charter of Aethelberht
in OE Texts: 438)
c825 HE 3efaeh swe swe 3i3ent to (Vesp. Ps. xviii.: 6)
earnenne on we3
Now, words in (5) will be confronted with another list where the metathesised forms with [V] + [r] replaced the original non-metathetic forms with [r] + [V]. Because words exhibiting the effects of such transposition are found in Modern English, the change under discussion is here termed "permanent metathesis" (PM); cf:
9) Non-metahesised
bird (QE brid < PGmc *brid-) 800, 1000, 1100, 1200-1500
cart (OE croet < PGmc *krat-) 800, 1000-1050
third (OE pridda < PGmc *pridjaz) 800, 950-1000, 1150-1500,
1550-1650, 1750
thirteen (OE preotiene < PGmc 900, 1000, 1200-1450, 1550-1700
*pri-)
thirty (QE pritig < PGmc *pri-) 950-1050, 1150-1300, 1400-1500
burn (OE birnan, -ae- <PGmc *bren-) 1150-1200, 1300-1500
burst (OE berstan < PGmc *brestan) 1250-1600, 1800-1900
dirt(y) (ME drit < ON drit) 1300-1450
curd (LME crud-) 1350-1450, 1550-1700, 1850
b(o)urn (OE burna < PGmc *brunna-z) 1400
9) PM
bird (QE brid < PGmc *brid-) 1000, 1200 >
Cart (OE croet < PGmc *krat-) 1200 >
third (OE pridda < PGmc *pridjaZ) 950, 1200, 1400 >
thirteen (OE Preotiene < PGmc 1400 >
*pri-)
thirty (QE pritig < PGmc *pri-) 1400 >
burn (OE birnan, -ae- <PGme *bren-) 750, 950-1000, 1150>
burst (OE berstan < PGmc *brestan) 1000-1100, 1250 >
dirt(y) (ME drit < ON drit) 1400 >
curd (LME crud-) 1400, 1500-1650 >
b(o)urn (OE burna < PGmc *bmnna-z) 800, 1000, 1250,
1450 >
Judging by the dates, the consolidation of the metathesised forms belongs to the period between 1200 and 1400, when they distinctly grew in number. From the 15th century onwards they spread at the expense of the original non-metathetic forms. It should not pass unnoticed that the metathesised and non-metathesised forms of bird, burn, burst coexisted in Early Middle English, while those of the numerals third, thirteen, thirty, and the noun curd curd the proteinaceous part of milk precipitated by rennin. Usually contains some fat when whole milk is used. , in Late Middle English. As regards the remaining three words, cart, dirty and bourn, their non-metathesised forms were abruptly replaced by forms with metathesis. 4. Sporadic and permanent metathesis of the sequence [Vr]: The time dimension The other group of words comprises those in which the original sequence [Vr] survives into Modem English, although some forms witness the transposition of these two segments. It should be noted that forms where [r] is preceded and followed by a vowel, i.e. with the sequence [VrV], are considered here as representing the sequence [Vr], not the reverse one. This list contains fewer instances than the parallel list (5) above; cf:
10) Non-metathesised
first (OE fyr(e)st < PGmc *furist-
az) 950, 1200, 1300 >
thirst (OE purst < PGmc * burstu-) 1000-1050, 1150-1250, 1350 >
thorp (OE prop < PGmc * purpam) 1100, 1300 >
10) SM
first (OE fyr(e)st < PGme *furist-
az) 1300-1500
thirst (OE purst < PGme * burstu-) 1200-1600
thorp (OE prop < PGme * purpam) 600-700, 1000,
1200, 1350-1500
Of these three words, only thorp thorp n. Archaic A hamlet. [Middle English, from Old English; see treb- in Indo-European roots.] developed numerous metathetic forms very early in Old English, while the remaining two forms with the original sequence [Vr] show higher frequency only in Middle English. The behaviour of the other two words, first and thirst, is such as can be expected, that is their metathetic forms are recorded later than the original non-metathetic forms. As regards the archaic and dialectal verb wurch, from OE wyrcan (< PGmc *werk) 'work' which survived into Early Modem English, it shows rare metathesised forms cooccurring with forms devoid of palatalisation in the Cursor Mundi Cursor Mundi (kûr`sôr mŭn`dī), a long religious epic in Middle English relating the history of the world as recorded in the Old and New Testaments. This anonymous poem (written c. ; cf.:
11)
a 1300 To wrik pare wik wil (1229)
To wyrk wondres (2200)
pi will to wire (25251)
The last group of words is that where the metathesised forms with [rV] displaced the original forms with [Vr] and have survived into Modern English. Here belong:
12) Non-methathesized
through (OE purh < PGmc *purx) 700-1050, 1150-1500
wright (OE wryhta < PGmc *
wurhtjo-) 700, 850-1000, 1200-1250
wrought (pt; OE worht- < PGmc
*wurxt-) 700, 800-1550
bright (OE beorht < PGmc
*berxtaz) 800-1000, 1100-1150
fright (OE fryhto < PGmc
*furht-) 800-1000
thresh, -a- (OE perscan <
PGmc *bersk-) 800-950, 1100-1200, 1300-1350
through n. (OE pruh < PGmc *burh-) 900, 1200, 1300
thrill (OE pyrlian < PGmc * byrhil) 1000, 1200, 1300-1500,
1600-1750
12) PM
through (OE purh < PGmc *purx) 1300 >
wright (OE wryhta < PGmc *
wurhtjo-) 950-1050, 1200-
1300, 1400 >
wrought (pt; OE worht- < PGmc
*wurxt-) 950-1000, 1200
>
bright (OE beorht < PGmc
*berxtaz) 950, 1150 >
fright (OE fryhto < PGmc
*furht-) 1250-1350, 1450
>
thresh, -a- (OE perscan <
PGmc *bersk-) 1000, 1100,
1200 >
through n. (OE pruh < PGmc *burh-) 700, 900-1000,
1300 >
thrill (OE pyrlian < PGmc * burhil) 1250 >
This list lacks the noun horse, whose Proto-Germanic form is uncertain, although the reconstructed Germanic root *hurs- is highly plausible. The noun is absent here simply because the corpus under investigation contains no instance of metathesised hros-. List (12) includes several high frequency items from medieval English which show a successful transposition of segments surviving until our times. Here belong, first of all, the adverb adverb: see part of speech; adjective. through, the noun wright with the related preterite pret·er·it or pret·er·ite adj. Of, relating to, or being the verb tense that describes a past action or state. n. 1. The verb form expressing or describing a past action or condition. 2. wrought, and the adjective bright. It is to be noted that while metathetic and non-metathetic forms of through, thresh thresh v. threshed, thresh·ing, thresh·es v.tr. 1. a. To beat the stems and husks of (grain or cereal plants) with a machine or flail to separate the grains or seeds from the straw. , thrill, wright, wrought cooccurred, especially in the 12-14th centuries, the remaining three words, i.e. bright, fright and the noun through show complementary distribution in time, with metathetic forms abruptly succeeding forms without metathesis. The above data confirm that metathesis cannot be dated with any precision. Traces of its operation are seen in the earliest Anglo-Saxon texts in one group of words, while words in another group are affected by that process in Late Middle English or even in Early Modem English. Nevertheless such a peculiar development can be regarded as an instantiation (programming) instantiation - Producing a more defined version of some object by replacing variables with values (or other variables). 1. In object-oriented programming, producing a particular object from its class template. of lexical diffusion, with changes in various words scattered in time. 5. r-Metathesis: Space dimension The present section discusses the distribution of the change in space. It is generally believed that metathesis was originally a phenomenon confined to Anglian, especially Northumbrian. Our evidence confirms this but several interesting observations can be made with reference to the question which type of metathesis, permanent or sporadic, belongs to Anglian. The data in the OED corpus from the earliest Mercian texts, the Early Glossaries, i.e. Epinal (1. 7th c.), Erfurt (9th c.) and Corpus (e. 8th c.), and the Vespasian Psalter contain 28 items with the sequences [Vr] and [rV], of which 12 (c. 35%) show metathesis. But the 11 cases out of the total number of 12 are instances of sporadic metathesis (throp, yrn, werna), the only form representing permanent metathesis being the noun burne; cf: 13) a800 Latex, burne (Corpus Gloss. (O.E. Texts): 1185) An analogous sample from a Northumbrian text, the Lindisfarne Gospels Lindisfarne Gospels Illuminated manuscript version of the four Gospels, produced in the late 7th century for the Northumbrian island monastery of Lindisfarne. The book was designed and executed by Eadfrith, who became bishop of Lindisfarne in 698. (1. 10th c.), contains 24 items with the relevant [rV/Vr] sequences, of which 8 items (33%) show metathesis. The verb iorn 'run' (4 instances) represents sporadic metathesis, while the remaining three words represent cases of permanent metathesis (third 2, breht 1, wriht 1); cf the following examples:
14) c950 3if on oa oirdda wacan 3e-cymeo (Luke xii.: 38)
3elic oa aeftera ... & oe oirda (Matt. xxii.: 26)
[Rush. prdde]
Brehtnise from monnum ne onfoe ic. (John v.: 40)
Wundrandepaet lar & maehto oaes
wrhtes sunu vel smioes sunu (Mark, Introd.: 3)
The evidence of metathesis in West Saxon comes, first of all, from the works of King Alfred. The OED corpus data contain 30 instances of forms with the [rV/Vr] sequence, of which 17, i.e. more than 50%, show forms with metathesis, prevailingly those of the verb irnan 'run' and its variants. However, this dialect fails to reveal items showing permanent metathesis. Such evidence is also missing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, collective name given several English monastic chronicles in Anglo-Saxon, all stemming from a compilation made from old annals and other sources c.891. , where a sample of 9 items contains only 1 instance of metathesis (sporadic), nor is it found in the West Saxon Blickling Homilies The Blickling Homilies are a collection of eighteen Old English prose homilies and sermons by anonymous writer(s). They date from the late Tenth Century, and are one of the earliest extant collections of English vernacular homiletic writings. (6 items, no metathetic forms). Only Late West Saxon Late West Saxon was a form of West Saxon, primarily spoken in Wessex, which was one of four distinct dialects of Old English. The three others were Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian (the latter two known as the Anglian dialects). (Aelfric) supplies a modest number of forms with metathesis (4 instances of permanent metathesis among 19 words containing the [rV/Vr] sequence); cf.:
15) c1000 se sehirdon his word & sesawon pone munt birnan
(Deut. v.: 23)
His [Herod's] lichama barn wioutan mid langsumere haetan
(Hom. in Sweet Ags. Read.: 92)
Latex, burna (Voc. Suppl. in Wr. Wulcker: 177)
And write pa on pinum prescolde (Deut. vi.: 9)
The evidence of Kentish Old English is not discussed here for lack of more substantial text samples. Suffice to say that the small sample from the Kentish Glosses containing 4 instances of the [rV/Vr] sequences contains only one form with sporadic metathesis (the verb irnan). In sum, as regards Old English, metathesis is considered a substantial part of the process of phonological change in Northumbrian, where cases of permanent metathesis are more prominent 4 instances) than in Mercian (1 instance) in comparable samples. The Middle English data abound in cases of metathesis. Because the North of England is considered the area where metathesis was most prominent, it comes as some surprise that the Cursor Mundi (c. 1300), a text representative of that region, contains proportionally the same percentage of cases of metathesis as Chaucer's works (see below). But characteristically, the sample under discussion from the Cursor Mundi (52 [rV/Vr] items) contains only cases of permanent metathesis (13 in all): [Delilah] pat birde [v.r. bride, bryde, bruyd] was biddande bald (7131) Qua-sum on suilk a bird [Jesus] wald thinc [Gott. brid] (9811) He ... cuppel did his cartes all (6220) A gold ringe pat brihtly schane (3320) pis angel pat sa bright[e] scan (8295) pat castel brightnes ... Ouer al. pat curt on lenght and brede (9933) Ioseph pat was ful o pite Did thresche on in pat contre (Cott.: 4744) pe fester thrild his bodi thurgh (1824) Of his ded als pe sorful ord Sal thril pin hert thoru als a suord (17738) pis drithin ... in his witte ... all purueid His werc, als dos pe sotill wright (325) pis wright pat I spek of here ... wroght bath erth and heuen (331) A schippe be-houes pe to dight, pi self sal be maister wright (1666) First pan wroght he angel kind (362) The sample below (17) of one of the most important East Midland Noun 1. East Midland - the dialect of Middle English that replaced West Saxon as the literary language and which developed into Modern English Middle English - English from about 1100 to 1450 texts, the Ormulum, written in North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. The 846 km² council area lies on the south side of the Humber estuary and consists mainly of agricultural land, including land on either side of the River Trent. (NEM) contains 14 spellings with metathesis (in the total of 27 [rV/Vr] forms), 9 of which are cases of permanent metathesis:
17) patt illke chaff patt helle fir shall baernenn (1529)
Hali3 Gast is hali3 fir, patt baernepp i patt herrte (10452)
Alls iff pe33 karrte waerenn of wheless fowwre (48)
Hit swipe brihhte shinepp (2138)
pa presshesst tu pin corn wipp fle33 (1500)
pa winndwesst tu pin prosshenn corn (1530)
patt all patt shaffte pat wass wrohht Wass
lif inn himm pe wrihhte (18780)
Godd ... patt alle shaffte wrohhte (2256)
Ic hafe hemm wrohht tiss boc (Ded.: 153)
That metathesis was not merely confined to northern East Midland is confirmed by the high percentage of its occurrence in the Trinity College Trinity College, Ireland: see Dublin, Univ. of. Trinity College Private liberal arts college in Hartford, Conn., founded in 1823. It is historically affiliated with the Episcopal church, though its curriculum is nonsectarian. Homilies (12th c., Huntingdonshire; South-East Midland), where among 12 instances of forms with [rV/Vr] one can identify as many as 8 forms with metathesis, 5 of them being cases of permanent metathesis (burn 2x, bright 2x, wright lx). Finally, the language of Chaucer, who lived in 14th century London, the capital city situated in the very south of East Midland, contains relatively numerous metathesised forms. In the total of 45 forms with the sequences [rV/Vr] one can identify 3 forms with sporadic and as many as 11 forms with permanent metathesis; cf.:
18) They passeden sorwfully the thresshfold (Boeth. i. pr. i.3
Camb.
Pheton wolde lede Algate hys Fader Carte (H. Fame: 943)
... ffor sekyrly his face schon so bryhte (L.G.W.: 163)
Phebus deyed hadde hire tresses ... I-lyk (Doctor's T.: 38)
to pe stremes of his borned hete
A carte ful of donge ther shalt thou see (Nonnes Pr. T.: 200)
He wolde thresshe [v. rr. throshe, pressche] (Prol.: 536)
and... And as sche wolde ouer pe (Clerk's T.: 232
presshewolde gon (Landsd.))
But right anon a thousand peple in (Doctor's T.: 260)
thraste To saue the knyght
He thurgh the thikkeste of the throng (Knt.'s T.: 1754)
gan threste
Ful many an hethen wroghtestow ful wo (Monk's T.: 403)
The altitude of the Mone, or of (Astrol. ii. [ss] 2)
brihte sterres
The West and the Southwest are here represented by two text samples, (a) Langland's Piers the Plowman Piers the Plowman English plowman who becomes allegorical figure of Christ incarnate. [Br. Lit.: The Vision of William, Concerning Piers the Plowman, Magill III, 1105–1107] See : Christ (14th c., but surviving in l5thc. MSS MSS - maximum segment size ; West Midland Noun 1. West Midland - a dialect of Middle English Middle English - English from about 1100 to 1450 ) and (b) the writings of Robert of Gloucester Robert of Gloucester (glŏs`tər), fl. 1260–1300, English chronicler. Possibly a monk of Gloucester, he is known only from the vernacular metrical chronicle of English history that bears his name. (1297). Metathesised forms in both texts amount to around 30% in Langland (7 cases of permanent and 5 cases of sporadic metathesis in the total of 34 items), while in Robert of Gloucester the proportion is higher (11 metathetic forms, including 5 instances of permanent metathesis) in 24 forms potentially subject to metathesis; cf:
19) (a) He beot so pe Boyes he
barst neih heore Ribbes (A. vii.: 165)
He prompelde atte prexwolde (A. V.: 201)
[v.rr. presshewold, preschfold,
throschfold] and preuh to pe
grounde
He thrumbled at pe preshefold (C. vii.: 408)
A belle of brasse Or of bri3te (B. Prol.: 168)
Some time I sowe and some tyme (B. v.: 553)
i thresche
In presshynge, in pecchynge, in (C. ix.: 199)
thwytynge of pynnes
Sholde no wry3t worche (C. xx.: 137)
(b) pe suerde hii nome ... & (437)
barste mony a sselde
Atte laste poru stronge duntes (460)
hys suerd berst atuo
Hii barnde hous & other god, & (511)
defoulede louerd & hine
... Of mules, of cartes, and of (189)
hors mydde alle gode
As regards Kentish, here represented by Dan Michael's Ayenbite of Inwit Ayenbite of Inwit (Remorse of Conscience) Middle English version of medieval moral treatise, c. 1340. [Br. Lit.: Barnhart, 74] See : Remorse (1340), the rather modest sample of 9 items contains 2 forms with permanent and 1 with sporadic metathesis:
20) Hi zyep bri3tliche ... and (150)
al. aboute ham
Grat nyed pet pe man yzy bryte (156)
ane his left half
The above data show clearly that in Middle English metathesis was not confined to one geographical area, but is evidenced over all territory of England. The rather high proportion of metathesized forms in the non-Northern areas makes it clear that metathesis ceased to be a local phenomenon. 6. Final statements As regards metathesis in medieval English, the following general remarks can be made with reference to its occurrence: (1) The distribution pattern of metathesis in time and space makes it possible to postulate postulate: see axiom. that the spread of that change agrees with the principle of lexical diffusion. Evidently, not all words were subject to its operation because numerous items like thrift (ON thrift) failed to develop metathetic forms. On the other hand, metathesis in certain common words (e.g. horse) is extremely poorly documented. (2) The hypothesis of the gradual character of the change is not confirmed by the present data. The alleged intermediate forms with [r] flanked by vowels, like OE fyrihtu 'fright', are extremely rare and testify to a very sporadic character of vowel insertion in words belonging to our corpus. (3) Cases of sporadic metathesis distinctly prevail over cases of permanent metathesis in Old English. With time the situation changes and forms with metathesis become permanently established in Middle English and later. (4) As regards dialectal distribution, metathesis, which originally may have been a northern phonological rule, became a common process all over the country in Middle English. APPENDIX Selected pairs of forms with or without metathesis coexisting in the same text or author (1) Sporadic metathesis rV (> Vr) > rV (fresh, grass, run) Robert of Gloucester 1297 Engelond ys ful ynou ... Of salt fysch and eche fresch, and fayre ryueres ??per to (1724; 1) An hondred knyztes, pur fersse & sound (1724; Rolls, 397) ??e terus ronne doun (Rolls, 800) He arnde Vpe a lute lute, musical instrument that has a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, which are plucked with the fingers. The long lute, with its neck much longer than its body, seems to have been older than the short lute, existing very early hul (Rolls, 6202); Wepinde hii armed horn, ??e teres teres /te·res/ (te´rez) [L.] long and round. te·res adj. Being round and long. Used of certain muscles and ligaments. teres [L.] long and round. orne adoun (Rolls, 8371) Battle Abbey Battle Abbey, actually named St. Martin's Abbey, is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. In 1070 the Pope ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their conquest of England. Custumals (1887) c1300 Et vocatur ista arrura *grasacra. (60) Praeter Garsacram operandam. (66) Ags. Ps. (Thorpe Thorpe , James Francis Known as "Jim." 1888-1953. American athlete. An outstanding collegiate football player, he later played professional football and baseball. ) c1000 Ic on wisne we?? worda ??inra reone rinne (cxviii. 32); Swa meoluc ... ??erunnen (cxviii. 70) Swa swa ??i??ant yrno on his we?? (xviii. 6); His word yrne wundrum sniome (cxlvii. 4) O.E. Chron. (Laud. MS.) a1122 Swa swa ??aet waeter renneo to ... Noroburh (an. 656) Sume urnon in to cyrcean. (an. 1083) Orm c1200 An bucc rann paer awe?? (1364) He ... let itt eornenn for??wi?? (1336); Ure wukeda???? Bi twellfe timess erne?? (13183) Layamon c1205 His scipen runden swioe (1349) Hamun arnde upwaro (9296); Summe heo gunnen urnen (24696) Moni ??usenden ??rasten ut of telden (23372); ??er after comen ??rasten ??ritto ??usen(d) anan (26633) He com him baften and imong al. pan prunge paersten him in pan ruge (30853) In E.E.P. (1862) a1300 Is fete sul ren of blode (4) As bestis bat wer wode a-??e opir to erne her and bare (9) Be-hold ... how be stremis ernip of is swet blode (20) King Horn King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. c1300 Faste after horn he rende (O, 1319) Efter horn he ernde (L, 1239) King Alisaunder 13.. They rannen thorughout the contray (W, 565); Quyk away he is ronne (W, 896) Ac a kni??th per cometh arnyng (Laud MS, 2098) In Wright Lyric P. a1310 Whose ryht redeth ronne to Johon (v. 26) Out of thin huerte orn the flod (xviii 58) Prose Psalter a 1325 ??yf pou sest a bef, pou ran wyb hym (xlix. 19) Ichaue vrnen be wai of by comaundementz (cxviii. 32) Langland Piers Plowman Piers Plowman: see Langland, William. 1377 Wilde bestes ... rennenge with-out croperes (B xv. 453) Water ... ernynge out of mennes eyen (B xix. 376) Sir Ferumbras c1380 ban runne pai away & saide alas (2438) Quiklich in-to a tour he orn (3893) Trevisa Higden (Rolls) a1400 ... and took hem wip swifte rennynge (iv. 167) be brook ... eorneth in to be valey of Iosephat (I. 115) Promptorium Parvulorum c1440 Rennyn, or lepyn, curro (429/2), Ronnon, as mylke, coagulatus (436/2) Ernyn, as horse, cursito (142/2) (2) Permanent metathesis rV > Vr Ags. Gosp. C1000 Twa turtlan oooe twe??en culfran briddas (Luke ii. 24) [Hatton briddes] birdas [Lindisf. & Rushw.] Cursor Mundi a1300 [Anticrist] bat ilk warlau bridd (22381) Qua-sum on suilk a bird wald thinc (9811) Vs telles of adam pis story Of sones he had ful pretty (Fairf. 1216) ... thritti (Cott.) Gesta Romanorum Gesta Romanorum (jĕs`tə rō'mənôr`əm), medieval collection of Latin stories. Although the title means "Deeds of the Romans," the tales have very little to do with actual Roman history. Each tale is characterized by a moral. c1440 A serpent-made his nest... and bro3ct for the his briddis there (i. vii .16) [Mary] pat blisful bird of grace (i. vii.10077) Orm c1200 and brenn it all till asskess paer (1468) patt illke chaff chaff 1. chaffed hay; called also chop. 2. the winnowings from a threshing, consisting of awns, husks, glumes and other relatively indigestible materials. patt helle fir shall baernenn (1529) St. Brandan c1300 This tapres brende longe n. 1. 1. A thrust. See Lunge. 2. The training ground for a horse. 1. (Zool.) Same as 4th Lunge. y~nou3 (335) Hou this tapres berneth thus (337) Barbour Bruce 1375 [He] brynt houss and tuk the pray (xiii. 737) Of his menche sum send he For till burne townys twa or thre (xv. 438) Chaucer c1385 Desyr That in his herte brende as any fer (L.G.W: 1747) c1386 I-lyk to be stremes of his horned horned adj. Having a horn, horns, or a hornlike growth. Adj. 1. horned - having a horn or horns or hornlike parts or horns of a particular kind; "horned viper"; "great horned owl"; "the unicorn--a mythical horned beast"; hete (CT, Doctor's T: 38) Lydgate 1430 This bufo ryght anone Through myght ther of brusteth euen a twain (Chron. Troy i. vi) 1413 ... tyll the cordys horsten of the balaunce (Pylgr. Sowle v. xi (1483)) c1430 For him I brenne as doth doth v. Archaic A third person singular present tense of do1. the glede glede n. Any of several birds of prey, especially a European kite (Milvus milvus). [Middle English, from Old English glida; see ghel-2 in Indo-European roots.] (Chron. Troy i. v) They have espyed ... i-graven, in lettris of bourned gold, Maria (Min. Poems (1840) 65) Trevisa Barth. de P R. 1398 Quycke syluer cruddeth not by itself kyndly wythout brymstone (xvi. vii. (1495) 555) Mylke rennyth and curdyth ... and the wheye is departed therfro (xix. lxxvi.(1495) 906) (3) Sporadic metathesisVr > (rV) > Vr Cursor Mundi a1300 Sampson, pi first wijf lerd be witte (Cott. 7219) Wid pe grete maistris pus pus, thick white or yellowish fluid that forms in areas of infection such as wounds and abscesses. It is constituted of decomposed body tissue, bacteria (or other micro-organisms that cause the infection), and certain white blood cells. he badd Till mari had hir iornai made, pan at pe frist on him toght scho (Gott. 12605) Langland 1362 For lewede, for lerede, for laborers of propes [v.rr. ... porpes] (P.Pl. A ii. 47) 1377 pat she furste & formest ferme shulde bilieue (Piers Pl. B 116) 1399 pey ffolwith pe vois at be ffrist note (Rich. Redeles iii. 56) Orm c1200 ??att ma?? pe slekken wel ??in ??irrst (14602) All his hunngerr & his prisst Shall ben purrh Drihhtin slecked (5688) Promptorium Parvulorum c1440 Thyrste, or thryste, sitis (491/2) Tho(r)pe, thrope, lytylle towne (492/1) Chaucer c1381 The kok that orloge is of thorpis lyte (Parl. Foules 350, MS. Gg. 4. 27) c1386 Citees, burghes, castels, hye toures, Thropes ... (CT, Wife's T. 15) (4) Permanent metathesis Vr > rV Lindisfarne Gospels c950 Brehtnise from monnum ne onfoe ic (John v. 40) God ??eberhtnade hine on hine seolfne (John xiii. 32) Ahne ois is smio uel wyrihte, sunu Manes manes (mā`nēz), in Roman religion, spirits of the dead. Originally, they were called di manes, a collective divinity of the dead. Manes could also refer to the realm of the dead and, later, to the individual souls of the dead. ? (Mark vi. 3) Wundrande paet lar & maehto oaes wrihtes sunu ... (Mark, Introd. 3) AElfric C1000 And dippao ysopan sceaft on bam blode, pe ys on pam perxholde (Exod. xii. 22) And write pa on pbinum prescolde (Deut. vi. 9) Cursor Mundi a1300 Thomas ... soght pat estrin thede, And thirlid intil haipen-hede (Cott. 21098) pe fester fester /fes·ter/ (fes´ter) to suppurate superficially. fes·ter v. 1. To ulcerate. 2. To form pus; putrefy. n. An ulcer. thrild his bodi thurgh (11824) ... pe sorful ord Sal thril bin hert thoru als a suord (17738) All be cunthre thurght (Gott 11070) pe sune beme gas thru pe glas (Gott. 11229) Hampole Psalter a1340 pi wordis ere sharpe pat thirlis mennys thoghtis (xliv. 7) pe fors of fire of luf ... pat makis his prayere to thrill heuen (iii. 4) Trevisa 1398 Not thyrllyd nother Nother - A parallel symbolic mathematics system. E-mail: <karhu@cs.umu.se>. hoolyd (Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxcvi. (1495) Xiv b/l) 1397 A grym strook of li3tnynge ... prulled pe wal (Higden (Rolls) VII. 349) O.E. Martyrol. a900 pa pesomnodon pa sticceo hi in pa pruth, purh pa pe paet waeter fleow (2 Sept.) Robert of Gloucester 1297 & regnede pritti 3er wel por [v. rr. poru, purgh, thorugh, prough] alle pinge (Rolls 681) William of Palerne c1350 Mi wicked eyi3en ... lad myn hert prou3 loking pis langour to drye (459) pourh 3our help (4219) Destruction of Troy c1400 Mony shalke purgh shot with pere sharpe gere (6780) Thrugh lemys of light (1129) Caxton Sonnes of Aymon c1489 He shoued hym thorughe and thorughe his body (i. 56) He shoved his swerde thrughe & thrughe his body (xiv. 346) REFERENCES Alexander, James James Alexander, born in 1691 in Scotland, was an eminent lawyer who became famous for his support of Freedom of the Press. In 1715, Alexander immigrated to America, and began a career of public service to New York and New Jersey. D. 1985 "R-metathesis in English: A diachronic di·a·chron·ic adj. Of or concerned with phenomena as they change through time. account", Journal of English Linguistics 18: 33-40. Blevins, Juliette -- Andrew Garrett 1998 "The origin of consonant-vowel metathesis", Language 74: 508-556. Crystal, David 1980 A first dictionary of linguistics and phonetics phonetics (fōnĕt`ĭks, fə–), study of the sounds of languages from three basic points of view. Phonetics studies speech sounds according to their production in the vocal organs (articulatory phonetics), their physical properties . London: Deutsch. Dobson, Eric J. 1968 (2) English pronunciation. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Drachman, Gaberell 1978 "Child language and language change: A conjecture CONJECTURE. Conjectures are ideas or notions founded on probabilities without any demonstration of their truth. Mascardus has defined conjecture: "rationable vestigium latentis veritatis, unde nascitur opinio sapientis;" or a slight degree of credence arising from evidence too weak or too and some refutations", in: Jacek Fisiak (ed.), 123-144. Fisiak, Jacek (ed.) 1978 Recent developments in historical phonology. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 4). The Hague -- Paris: Mouton mouton lamb pelt made to resemble seal or beaver. . Hock hock: see wine. , Hans Henrich 1985 "Regular metathesis", Linguistics 23: 529-546. Hogg, Richard 1977 "Old English r-metathesis and generative phonology", Journal of English Linguistics 13: 165-175. Kastovsky, Dieter -- Aleksander Szwedek (eds.) 1986 Linguistics across historical and geographical boundaries. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 32). Berlin -- New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Mouton de Gruyter. Keyser, Samuel Jay 1975 "Metathesis and Old English phonology The phonology of Old English is necessarily somewhat speculative, since it is preserved purely as a written language. Nevertheless, there is a very large corpus of Old English, and the written language apparently indicates phonological alternations quite faithfully, so it is not ", Linguistic Inquiry Linguistic Inquiry is a leading international peer-reviewed journal in generative linguistics published by the MIT Press since 1970. Ever since its foundation, it has been edited by Samuel Jay Keyser. Many seminal linguistic articles first appeared on its pages. 6: 377-411. Lass, Roger 1978 "Mapping constraints in phonological reconstruction: On climbing down trees without falling out of them", in: Jacek Fisiak (ed.), 245-286. McMahon, April A. A. 1994 Understanding language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . Nakao, Toshio 1986 "Metathesis", in: Dieter Kastovsky -- Aleksander Szwedek (eds.), 547-556. Stanley, E. G. 1952/53 "The chronology of r-metathesis in Old English", English and Germanic Studies 5: 105-113. Wyld, Henry Cecil
Henry Richard Amherst Cecil 1936 A history of modern colloquial col·lo·qui·al adj. 1. Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of speech; informal. 2. Relating to conversation; conversational. English. Oxford: Blackwell. |
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