OUR MOTHER TONGUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 21

OUR MOTHER TONGUE

RANDOM NOTES UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANTS By Professor Arnold Wall “ Hospitize ’—lt is reported to me that a lady in one of our smaller towns habitually uses “ hospitize ” for “ extend hospitality,” and the question is whether there is such a word. This raises the further question, “ When is a word a word? ”

for, though “ hospitize ” is not in any dictionary, neither is “ finalize,” which we hear every (fay. “ Hospitize ” looks, sounds and smells American, but it is dangerous to jump to conclusions on such evidence. This is clearly shown by the list of new “ izes,” “ izations ” and “ isms ” in an article by “A. P. H.,” of Punch. Among these are “ parasitize,” “ essentialize,” “ vacuumise,” “ personalize,” “ slenderize,” “ tenderize,” “ hospitalize,” “ obituarism ” and “ filmization,” and there are plenty more. All. these are collected from British prints. Who said that English is stagnant and that we must look to America for sparkling neologisms? “ Finalize,” by the way, is said to be an Australian invention. So “hospitize,” though we may object to it, may yet establish itself if it “ catches on.” just as “ victimize ” has done ir spite of the objections of the purists of the early nineteenth century. And who can say whether we shall or shall not some day have “ bestmanize ” and “ bridesmaidize ” in accounts of weddings, “sponsorize ” at baptisms, or “ morticianize ” at funerals?

As for sparks from American cylinders, I receive a strong protest against the formula “ pleased to meet you,” or “ pleased t’meetcher,” from a correspondent, who describes it as “ sickly sweet.” I dislike it myself intensely, but there are many people who use a “ new ” form of this kind simply because it is new, and many others who by nature seem to prefer an Americanism to an English expression though perhaps they themselves could hardly say why. The same critic hates the use of “ home ” for “ house ” as an “ unctuous ” Americanism. I do not like this either, but no clear line can be drawn between “ house ” and “ home ” in English If this idiom is to blame or the reverse, specific examples must be exhibited. A SHAKESPEARIAN IDIOM

“ They fool me to the top of my bent.”—-Asked to explain this phrase. I should say that it is a metaphor from the bending of a bow or spring. The exact meaning of “ bent ” here is defined as “ the extent to which a bow may be bent or a spring wound up, degree of tension; hence degree of endurance, capacity for taking in or receiving.” The figurative sense is found a little before its use in “Hamlet”—i.e.. in Drayton, “Beyond the bent of his unknowing sight” (1594). It has never been common and has long been confined to the Shakespearian quotation. This is a good example of the numerous figurative expressions which mnain in our language long after the literal sense has been forgotten because the art, or sport, etc., has passed away oi become unfamiliar. Numbers of such metaphors from weaving and spinning, from hawking, jousting, archery and so forth are to be found in Shakespeare and his contemporaries and demand the attention of i the modern annotator. | PAREGORIC AND ST. PAUL j

A correspondent asks what is the origin of “paregoric.” and, noting that it was used by St. Paul and translated as “comfort” in the Authorised Version, he wishes to know whether the Greek word was used as a medical term before the tim 1 of St. Paul or whether the sense of " soothing ” derives from the biblical use. The answer is that the Greek adjective “ paregorikos,” meaning first “ encouraging, consoling.” and later “ soothing,” was in use as a medical term 400 years before St Paul tvrofe his Epistles, occurring in the writings of Hippocrates about 430 8.C.. of a cough medicine The history of the word in Greek is curious for it derives from the verb “ paregoreo ” (“exhort,” etc.), from “ oara ” (“beside, on the side of”), and “ agora " (“ the assembly of the people”), so that it originally refers to public speaking, exhortation and the like. The sense of “ encouragement ” provides the bridge from the one set of senses

to the other, through the idea of “ consolation ” to “ soothing ” where the medical idiom takes it up. The word does not appear in English till near the end of the seventeenth century (1684). If it had been current and in familiar use in 1611 the translators might have used it instead of “comfort,” just as earlier translators used “ treacle ” for “ balm ” in the so-called “ treacle Bible.”

PRONUNCIATIONS IN QUESTION “ Basic.”—Though I have already written a note on this word I am so often asked about it that I had better repeat the information. The pronunciation with the long “ a ” as in “ base ” is the only one recognised as English by authorities; the short “ a,” as “bassic” in '-“basic slag,” though in common use here, is quite incorrect. “Alliance.” —I have commented upon the pronunciation of “ ally,” and now I am told by a correspondent that “ fashionable people ” pronounce “ alliance ” as “ alienee,” by which I suppose to be meant that it sounds like “ alien ” with the added “ ce.” If such a pronunciation is really current, which seems to me almost incredible, I can only say that it is quite incorrect and indefensible.

“ Controversy.”—This is another much-discussed word with which I have already dealt. The only correct pronunciation is with the stress on “con,” not on “trov”; this is,, both traditional and agreed upon by contemporary authority. Now I am informed that it was recently heard over the long-suffering air with the “ tro ” not only strongly stressed but sounded long as in “trove.” This is shocking indeed. Perhaps Professor Shelley may be able to do something about it.

“Bona Fide.”—This, too, has been collected from the air in the form of “ bonnerfied,” in three syllables. There is, of course, room for two opinions upon the correct pronunciation of the vowels in this phrase, for while in England it has always been pronounced with the English values the tendency here is to give them the sounds of the “ modern ” Latin, so that the English.is “fi” as in “ high ” plus “ dee,” while here it is “ feeday.” But “ bonnerfied ” is a dreadful vulgarism and should have no friends.

“ Ragwort."—We ought to be careful and very certain about the sound of this word since it is now unfortunately so much in evidence. It is reported to me (from the air once more) with the “ wort ” as in “ fort,” not, as it should be, with the vowel sound of “ word.” The old “ wort ” which now only exists in combinations like “ ragwort,” “ St. John’s wort,” etc., is traditionally pronounced with the same sound as “ worth,” “ word,” etc. As most of these names are unfamiliar to most speakers the usual influence of the spelling upon the sound has been active. While there is no shadow of doubt about the correctness of “ wort ” as “ wurt ” I fear that the other pronunciation is too strongly entrenched here to be ever changed. The case is exactly parallel to that of “ venison ” which I commented on in a recent note. “ If.”—There would not seem to be any possible difference of opinion about the sound of “ f ” in “ if,” but I am asked whether it is a clear “f” or something between “f” and “ v.” The answer must be that it is a clear “ voiceless f ” which corresponds to “v” as “t” does to “d.” Even if a particular speaker “ felt ” that the sound as he spoke it was tending towards “ v ” it could only be recognised as an individual peculiarity, and phoneticians do not recognise in English any intermediate sound like this.

“Applicable.” Though this is often heard with stress on “ plic ” I need only say that this is wrong, and that the stress should be on “ app.” This is similar to the case of “ despicable,” “ aristocrat,” and others of this group which have been discussed in my notes already.