"Duchy" vs."dukedom"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sun Aug 24 21:11:17 UTC 2008


Oddly, the first time that I ever came across the word, "dukedom," it
was in the old R&B song, Duke of Earl. Since that time, I've assumed
that the word was made up up for the purpose of matching the
rhythm/rhyme of the song: duke-dom vs. duchy. Because I've since come
across the term from time to time in many other environments over the
years, I've finally been moved to look the word up. I now know that
the word has been in use since Middle English.

You never know.

-Wilson
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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



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