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Page 13
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 'Deuteron�my', and on his theory ought to say 'econ�my'
and 'etymol�gy'. 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 Omn�presence of the De�ty', and Shelley
had already written
And, as I look'd, the bright omn�presence
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 Omnipr�sent Deity,
and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned with
There is one Mind, one omnipr�sent Mind,
but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said 'omnisc�ence', or
'omnip�tence'.
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 'cont�mplate' into 'c�ntemplate' and somewhat later
'ill�strate' into '�llustrate'. 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 inst�nct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd,
and Milton has
By this new felt attraction and instinct,
and also
In battailous asp�ct 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 'all�', 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 'm�gazine' for 'magaz�ne'. 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.
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