Early appearances of "irregardless"

[Laurence Horn]

>Btw, "irregardless" is almost certainly a blend ("regardless" +
>"irrespective").
>
>Gerald Cohen

I wouldn't say almost certainly.   The redundancy of negative prefix
+ privative suffix represents what used to be a much more robust
pattern found especially among adjectives of the form "unXless" in
the 16th and 17th centuries, typically meaning 'unXful' or 'Xless'.
The OED, under un(1), 5a, lists such forms as

unboundless
undauntless
uneffectless
unguiltless
unhelpless
unfathomless
unmatchless
unmerciless
unnumberless
unquestionless
unremorseless
unrestless
unshameless
unshapeless
untimeless
unwitless

So "unmatchless", for example, meant 'unmatched' or 'matchless".  Nor
is English alone in allowing such redundancy; cf. German
"unzweifellos", lit. 'undoubtless', but actually 'doubtless'. (The
literal reading arrived at compositionally in these cases is ruled
out by the general constraint that prevents attaching un- to
evaluatively or formally negative bases (e.g. *unsad or *unhostile
alongside unhappy, unfriendly).  Perhaps a blend analysis makes sense
for some of those , but "unmatchless" would be more plausibly a blend
of "unmatched" and "matchless", and we don't have analogous sources
for "irregardless" (regardless + irregardful?). Some speakers may
have "irrespective" in mind--but it's no slam dunk, as Mr. Tenet
would say.  Similar redundant morphology pops up with un-verbs and
their kin:  unthaw (= thaw), unloose(n), debone, dissever,
unshell,...  Blend analyses don't seem (to me) particularly
compelling in such cases.

LH

>________________________________
>
>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake
>Sent: Thu 5/3/2007 7:33 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Early appearances of "irregardless"
>
>
>
>I'm always a little concerned that I'm simply repeating work that someone's
>already posted or published here or elsewhere.  Irregardless, since the word
>came up on the list today, I'll go ahead and share several early appearances
>of "irregardless" that I've found in American publications.  (OED2 provides
>as an early sighting an entry from Wentworth's _American Dialect
>Dictionary_, 1912.)
>
>-- Bonnie
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>
>(From the poem "The Old Woman and Her Tabby," *City Gazette and Daily
>Advertiser* [Charleston, South Carolina], 23 June 1795, Vol. XIII, Issue
>2458, Pg. 3.  [Archives of Americana])
>
>But death, irregardless of tenderest ties,
>    Resolv'd the good *Betty*, at length, to bereave:
>He strikes -- the poor fav'rite reluctantly dies!
>    Breaks her mistress's heart -- both descend to the grave.
>
>-------------------
>
>(From "Trip to Harrisburg, &c."  *The Grant County Witness* [Platteville,
>Wisconsin], 3 October 1861, Pg. 2.  [newspaperarchive.com])
>
>As five as per order, down came the tents irregardless of the occupants,
>should there be any.
>
>----------------
>
>(From *The New York Herald*, 29 January 1862.  [Accessible Archives])
>
>He was the bearer of messages from commercial men in the South to English
>merchants in reference to opening a trade with the South irregardless of the
>federal blockade.
>
>----------------
>
>(From "Notes on Current Events:  Foreign an Domestic.  The War Policy and
>the Constitution," *The Knickerbocker Monthly; A National Magazine*, March
>1863, 61, 3, Pg. 280.  [APS Online])
>
>Goaded on, solicited, threatened, implored, to appease the fanatical
>representatives of abolitionism, irregardless of what conservatism which
>recent elections demonstrate so incontestably preponderates at the North,
>[...].
>
>----------------
>
>(From "Texas Items," *Flake's Bulletin* [Galveston, Texas], 3 October 1867,
>Vol. III, Issue 90, Pg. 5. [Archive of Americana])
>
>Judge Noonan has applied to the Governor for permission to summon jurors
>irregardless of the test oath ordered to be administered by General Griffin,
>knowing that such a jury as required cannot be found in his upper counties.
>[Reprinted from the San Antonio Herald, 25 September.]
>
>----------------
>
>("Irregardless" appears with growing frequency in publications from the
>1870s and thereafter. -- BTB)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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