noviciate

[Jonathan Lighter]

Actually, OED shows "noviciate" as one spelling since the 1500s ( as in its primary citation).
And the word does have a needless history in this sense going back 250 years.

But I still think the spelling here is hypercorrectional orthography, or orthographical hypercorrection, as the case may be.

JL

Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Grant Barrett
Subject: Re: noviciate
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That reminds me of the term "jargonese": the word "jargon" alone must
not sound bafflegabby enough to some people. No hits yet on
jargonesespeak, though. (FYI, "jargonese" shows up in OED online in a
1985 quote from the London Times at "daysack" but does not yet have an
entry of its own there.)

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org

On Mar 29, 2005, at 13:58, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Hypercorrectional orthography :
>
> 2002 Michael C. C. Adams _Echoes of War_ (Lexington: U. P. of Ky.) 2
> "Luke Skywalker is the virginal noviciate on his first and most pure
> knight's quest."
>
> "Most pure" disimpresses me as well.
>
> JL
>
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