"jail fever", 1720

[Laurence Horn]

On May 8, 2013, at 7:18 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 5/8/2013 03:01 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>> On May 8, 2013, at 2:37 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> If you read colonial newspapers of the early 18th century, you'll
>> > find "goal" frequently, perhaps more so than "gaol".
>> >
>> > Joel
>>
>> I'm sure you're right.  I've always wondered how "gaol" ended up
>> spelled that way (despite the velar softening), and now I have a
>> second wonder about "goal".  Curious that, as you note below, the
>> OED seems unaware of "goal" as an alternate spellling of "gaol" (as
>> an alternate spelling of "jail").
>
> I apologize if I led to a misunderstanding.  I did not mean to say
> the OED wasn't aware of "goal" -- it has a sufficiency of that
> spelling under "jail, n." for the 16th to 18th centuries.  I was
> being unfairly snarky about the minions (envy, I suppose).  There
> are, however, no quotations of the form "goal*fever*" (asterisks
> indicating wild cards).
>
> Joel

I hadn't checked "jail|gaol" before writing the above, but now that I do I see that "gaol" was indeed earlier pronounced with a "hard" (velar stop) g, and the first spelling listed (from ME) is, wait for it, "gayhole".  But then there are all sorts of variant spellings, including "iaile", "iayll", etc., which suggests not just softening of the velar but its total disappearance (in some areas, at least).  The history is quite complicated, and sure enough the "goal" spelling keeps popping up as Joel (or is that Geol?) notes above.  So when Clarendon's History of Rebellion refers in 1702 to those who are "committed to the Common Goal of Colchester", the sense was less uplifting than it would now seem.

LH


>
>> I can just imagine the colonial-era newspaper headlines following
>> the guilty verdict and sentencing:
>>
>> GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>
>> LH
>>
>> >>
>> >> On May 8, 2013, at 1:43 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > This will obviously be discovered by the OED minions when they reach
>> >> > this entry -- provided they are aware enough to look for "goal" :-)
>> >> > -- but anyhoo ...
>> >> >
>> >> > "Our common Prisons afford us an Instance of this, in which very few
>> >> > escape, what they call the Goal Fever, which is always attended with
>> >> > a Degree of Malignity in proportion to the Closeness and Stench
>> >> of the Place."
>> >> >
>> >> > Richard Mead. "A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion,
>> >> > and the Methods to be used to Prevent it."  The Fourth
>> >> > Edition.  London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, 1720.
>> >> >
>> >> > [Despite this being the 4th ed., I don't think there are any editions
>> >> > of an earlier year.  However, if "they" already call it the Goal
>> >> > Fever, perhaps it will turn up earlier, such as in the Burney
>> >> > newspaper collection.]
>> >> >
>> >> > Antedates OED2 "jail fever", [1750]--..
>> >> >
>> >> > Joel
>> >> >
>> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >>
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>>
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>
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