minimal pairs

[Larry Trask]

Max Wheeler writes:

[on non-verbs in final edh]

> Scythe? Lathe? Booth? Swathe? Tithe? Hythe (placename)? Blyth (placename)?
> These old words perhaps undermine the hypothesis.

Not all of these work for me, but most of them do, and I can add
the noun 'edh' (or 'eth'), another name for barred-d.

> I believe all /-Vth/ words are non-verbs (unless you include "hath", "doth"),
> and nearly all are nouns (but for "with" in some dialects).

Agreed, except that certain nouns in final theta can also be used
as verbs.

A common example is the verb 'pith', as in 'pith a frog' (in a biology
lab).  This is derived from the noun 'pith'.

A second occurs, a little marginally, in the verb 'mouth off', which,
in my experience, always has theta.

A third is the peculiarly British use of 'bath' as a verb, as in
'bath the baby'.  This, I believe, is unknown in American English,
and perhaps in all other varieties of English.

A fourth is the verb 'sheath', which is now rather common as an
alternative to the traditional 'sheathe'.

An extremely marginal fifth, which strictly only qualifies here
in non-rhotic accents, is the British use of 'earth' as a verb,
as in 'earth the TV set' (= US 'ground the TV set').

As an aside, I have just noticed that OED2 cites the very obscure noun
'mouthing', meaning 'entrance to a mine', with theta only -- perhaps
somewhat unexpectedly.

Another aside.  While a blacksmith's shop is a 'smithy', with edh,
a person called Smith gets the diminutive 'Smithy', with theta, in
my experience -- just as in 'Kathy'.  (By the way, does anyone want
to claim that 'Kathy' is less than fully English?)

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: 01273-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
Fax: 01273-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad)