"long" and "bigness" in 1694

[Jonathan Lighter]

Sounds like its just a way of saying "two inches high and not backed
or elaborated with snazzy embroidery that might distract the eye from the
fatal letter."

Most pictures of Hester Prynne show a giant letter A. Tsk.

JL


On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 10:30 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "long" and "bigness" in 1694
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9:57 AM -0400 9/2/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >The Massachusetts laws circa 1694 that specified the wearing of a
> >letter for adultery or incest said the letter had to be "of two
> >inches long and proportionable bigness".
> >
> >Which dimension is two inches "long" -- vertical or horizontal?
> >
> >My guess is the vertical.  The OED for "long" has senses that would
> >allow either.  But there is "1.a. Great in measurement from end to
> >end. Said ... of a portion of space or a material object with
> >reference to its greatest dimension."  The greatest dimension of a
> >letter would be its vertical.  Also, fonts are (perhaps, even at that
> >time) characterized by their vertical dimension.
> >
> >Does "bigness"  suggest one or the other, vertical or
> >horizontal?  (The OED is not terribly enlightening on this.  One
> >sense is "1.b. Circumference; girth".  But circumference seems an
> >implausible measurement to specify for a letter.)
> >
>
> Of course both dimensions are technically horizontal when one is supine.
>
> LH
>
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