fortis and lenis
Fred Shapiro
fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Mon Sep 11 21:15:29 UTC 2000
On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, Herb Stahlke wrote:
> Does anyone know of earlier uses of the terms than Webster's, in
> English or elsewhere?
The earliest English-language usage I can find in a few seconds of
research is the following:
1887 _Modern Language Notes_ II. 92 If we were only rid of the terms
_lenis_, _fortis_, _media, _tenuis_, _hard_ and _soft_! They cover the
deep-seated error. The sound represented by the symbol _b_ in the eyes of
all civilized nations except certain Germans is a sonant lip-stop; whether
this be strong (_fortis_) or weak (_lenis_), whether long or short, it
always remains sonant.
Fred Shapiro
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press,
Yale Law School forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
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