Stumped by "a common stumper", 1736

[Tom Zurinskas]

How do Americans say "stumped?"  ~stumpd or ~stumpt?

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.




> Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:02:57 -0400
> From: Berson at ATT.NET
> Subject: Stumped by "a common stumper", 1736
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
> Subject: Stumped by "a common stumper", 1736
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is "stumper" familiar? A newspaper writes of a woman felon being
> transported from Newgate to Maryland in 1736, she "had receiv'd
> sentence of death for theft, and was reputed a common stumper in
> Dublin and always of ill repute, and [im]personated Mr. Buckler's
> widow, in order to [steal his ship and possessions] and defraud [his]
> real widow of his estate."
>
> In another newspaper, she is described as "a common whore in Dublin,
> and always of a very ill repute in her country."
>
> I hope this is something more interesting than a misprint for
> "strumpet". OED2 has no plausible sense for this "stumper".
>
> Joel
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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