jig/gig

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Sep 18, 2007, at 7:41 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> "Jig" was often spelled "gig" in the 17th C.
>
>   So...well...just an observation.

not likely to be relevant, it seems to me, since we're dealing with
reports of speech, not writing.  and  speech from people who are
unlikely to have seen the "gig" spelling.

are you suggesting that the 17th-century spelling "gig" led to a
spelling pronunciation with /g/ (rather than /J/), which then
persisted for a great many years after the spelling was fixed as "jig"?

arnold

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