"Beril" on an 18th c. naval vessel

[Joel S. Berson]

Can't trust the experts!  I neglected to confirm
an inverted "p".  It becomes a "d", not a "b"!

Joel

At 4/25/2007 09:55 AM, you wrote:
>Another expert has a suggestion for this:
>
>>"... one of the braces gave way with such a
>>shock, as threw four men over-board, two of whom
>>were lost, while the knee of a fifth was crushed
>>in a terrible manner between the beril and the mast."
>
>"Parrel", with the "b" by typesetting error an
>inverted "p".  (Or perhaps mistranscribed orally
>at some point, "p" being heard as a "b"?)
>
> From OED2:  "A band of rope, chain, or iron
>collar by which the middle of a yard is fastened
>to a mast."  (A possible accident, to have one's
>leg caught between the yard and the mast?)
>
>Spellings:  "Forms: 5 perell, 6 parle, 7 parel,
>parrell, (8 pareil), 7­ parrel, 9 parral."
>
>(I don't find "parrel" in any of the on-line works of Smollett.)
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org