noviciate

[Wilson Gray]

On Mar 29, 2005, at 9:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: noviciate
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>
> Believe it or else, "novitiate" appears in dictionaries incl. OED as a
> synonym of "novice."
>
> JL
>

Hmh. Must be some kind of weird, Protestant usage. ;-)

-Wilson


> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: noviciate
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>
> Are you sure about the intended meaning, Jon? Shouldn't the reading be
> "virginal novice"? What could "virginal noviciate" or even "virginal
> novitiate" mean?
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Mar 29, 2005, at 3:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: noviciate
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>> -
>> --------
>>
>> 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 wrote:
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Grant Barrett
>> Subject: Re: noviciate
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>> -
>> --------
>>
>> 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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