IMMORTAL. etc. -=- WAS Railroad cart

[James C Stalker]

Your examples suggest that we need not look for an adverbial (or adverbially
marked?) "lately."  The "lait King Henry" is exactly current usage.  In the
1490 example, we have "swete and late" which suggests to me straight
adjectiv(al) use, which in turn suggests that we maybe shouldn't be looking
for syntactic shifts but semantic loss or narrowing?  But my ME
syntactic(al) and lexical knowledge is indeed late, as is King Henry, so I
cease speculation.

JCS

Laurence Horn writes:

> At 9:35 PM -0400 4/19/07, James C Stalker wrote:
>> Passed = passed over, as he in "He has passed over the River Jordan."
>> Perhaps, passed on (to another realm, life, depending on ones beliefs).
>> I
>> have most typically heard "passed over" rather than "passed on," I think.
>>
>> Late: perhaps a shortening of "lately of this world"?
>>
>> JCS
>
> The earliest OED cites of "late" in the relevant sense (glossed as
> 'that was alive not long ago, but is not now; recently deceased')
> suggest a different derivation but one related to what you suggest.
> At least the second and third cites, from the 16th c.--
>
> 1490 CAXTON Eneydos vi. 28 Her swete and late amyable husbonde.
> a1548 HALL Chron., Hen. IV, 10b, The homecide of Thomas his uncle
> late duke of Glocester.
> 1570 BUCHANAN Admonitioun Wks. (S.T.S.) 22 Ye murthour of ye lait King
> Henry.
>
> --suggest a reanalysis from 'one who was lately [= recently]
> duke/king/husband' from the meaning of 'recently/formerly X' with the
> *implication* of 'no longer X' to the *meaning* of 'no longer X' and
> thence to 'no longer X because of being dead'.  In any case, it's
> definitely from "lately", not a reason for failing to be on time.
>
> LH
>
>>
>> Doug Harris writes:
>>
>>> Similarly, why do we refer to someone who's "passed"
>>> (passed???? -- what? Go? Did they collect their $200??)
>>> as "late". The latter clearly sets up false hope, as
>>> the supposedly 'late' person most assuredly isn't coming.
>>> Unless, of course, it's a second coming... but that's
>>> another issue altogether.
>>> (the other) doug
>>>
>>>
>>> (Why do we call people "immortal" only after they're dead?)
>>>
>>> m a m
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> James C. Stalker
>> Department of English
>> Michigan State University
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org