DISCOVERY 



269 



frequent in writings of various kinds, from the 15th 

 century onwards. Orphant is frequent in the i6th 

 centur>'. The pronunciations which these spellings 

 represent appear to have been common among edu- 

 cated speakers late into the iSth century. We may 

 note that vilde ' vile ' is a frequent spelling in Shake- 

 speare (First Fol.), and that Donne rhymes vilde and 

 child. The ^'^erneys and their friends write schollards 

 (Sir Ralph himself), micklemust ' Michaelmas,' the hold 

 yeare ' whole,' gownd ' gown ' ; Swift rhymes ferment 

 — vermin. Peter Wentworth writes, ' made the house 

 laiigbt.' 'not saft (safe) for me,' sarwen/ ' sermon' (as 

 does Lady Wentworth), liked 'like.' Lady Wentworth 

 writes gownds, and her daughter-in-law Lady Straf- 

 ford ' lost of time.' Elphinstonc, however, considers 

 sermont, drownd (Inf.), gownd, scollard, wonst ' once ' 

 as vulgarisms, and Pegge (1814) records as vulgarisms 

 typical of London, verment ' vermin,' serment ' sermon,' 

 nyst ' nice,' and margent. It is clear that such pro- 

 nunciations were in use among persons who were by 

 no means vulgar fifty or sixty years earlier. Margent, 

 strange to say, instead of margin survives as a poetical 

 form and is used by Tennyson. 



(j) d jor t and b for p between vowels 

 Such pronunciations as prodestant, Juhiter may still 

 be heard at the present time, and they would hardly 

 be considered vulgarisms. There are plenty of ex- 

 amples of spellings indicating similar pronunciations 

 during the 15th and i6th centuries. They evidently 

 existed also in the period we are considering. Sir R. 

 Vcrney writes debutye, and other writers in the Verncj' 

 Memoirs have prodistants, medigate (mitigate), Debity. 

 Jones says that as 6 is ' easier and sweeter ' than p, 

 the latter often ' takes the sound of b.' He indicates 

 that b is pronounced in capable, culpable, deputy. Gospel, 

 Jupiter, etc. Lady Wentworth writes prodislant and 

 Lady Strafford prodistation. Elphinstone considers 

 proddcstant and pardner as London vulgarisms. 



2. Vowels in Unaccented Syllables 

 I pass now to consider the pronunciation of vowels 

 in unaccented syllables. This question has been 

 much canvassed of late, and it has been maintained 

 that English has been degraded and impoverished by 

 the universal habit among us of obscuring vowels in 

 an unaccented position, and altering them from what 

 is said to be the true sound, namely, that which they 

 would have if they were fully accented. This view 

 may be the right one — who shall decide the question ? 

 — but in any case the process of obscuring unaccented 

 vowels is not a new one, and our generation is not 

 responsible. 



Already in the 14th century, and still more in the 



15th, the frequent spellings prove that vowels when 

 unaccented were not pronounced as if they were ac- 

 cented, but were altered, pretty much, apparently, as at 

 the present time, only probably rather more consistently. 

 For, while in most cases Englishmen at the present 

 time who speak naturally and not according to theory, 

 do alter their unaccented vowels, there are some words 

 in which the full sound has been restored in deference 

 to the spelling. Thus we often pronounce fellow with 

 an ' o-sound ' in the second syllable instead of making 

 the word rhyme with prunella as Pope did. Again, we 

 pronounce an ' o-sound ' in obey, obedience, whereas 

 in the 15th and i6th centuries these words are occa- 

 sionally written abay, etc. These things have now 

 become traditional, but they are modern for all that. 

 We sometimes hear the second syllable of fortune 

 pronounced like tune. This may or may not be a 

 good thing to do, but, as we shall see, it is a modern 

 innovation. 



Out of the large mass of evidence regarding the 

 treatment of unaccented vowels in the past, I can, 

 for lack of space, only select a few examples. I begin 

 with one of the. most striking cases, where we have 

 now often ' restored ' the full vowel, though in some 

 cases we still adhere to the old pronunciation. I refer 

 to tt in words borrowed from Norman-French. 



We have the natural, traditional pronunciation of 

 unaccented ti, that is short i in minute (60 seconds), 

 biscuit, and conduit, though as regards the last, 

 although I have always heard it called ' kundit,' I am 

 told that it is now pronounced ' kondewit ' by some. 

 I can only hope that this is not true. 



The evidence for the earlier pronunciation of -ur, 

 -une, -u(i)t, and final -it shall be stated rather more 

 fully than for the points hitherto dealt with. It will 

 be seen that this vowel in unaccented syllables is 

 written i or e. 



15//; Century 



-ur(e) : to paster, moisler ' moisture,' venter ' ven- 

 ture.' 



-ul : savecondyte, condytte, byskitt, mynite (a note). 



-u- : repetation ' reputation' 

 16th Century 



-ur : unscripterlye (Bishop Latimer), jointer 

 ' jointure ' (Earl of Bath, and Roper's Life 

 of More), ' mannering the ground ' (Wilson's 

 Arte of Rhetorique), where it is evident that 

 the word was accented on the first syllable, 

 as it still is in provincial dialects. 



-un : comyne ' to commune,' mysseforten. 



-u-{-ous : verteous, sumptions, tortious 'tortuous 

 (Spenser). 



-M .• nevys ' nephews,' moniment ' monument ' 

 (Spenser). 



