"Least child"

[Tom Zurinskas]

A least child?  We don't "own" 'em, we just lease 'em.


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com





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> Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 17:34:12 -0400
> From: cdoyle at UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Least child"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Charles Doyle
> Subject: Re: "Least child"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Now that Mark mentions it: My mother from Arkansas, (the same one I referred to earlier in this thread) would commonly say of a extraordinarily small person (either a very young one or an undergrowed one), "He's the least little thing!"
>
> --Charlie
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 17:08:28 -0400
>>From: Mark Mandel
>
>>
>>I think of it in such phrases as about equivalent to "littlest"... OED says I'm not the only one:
>>
>> Used as the superlative of LITTLE.
>> A. adj.
>> I. In concord with n. expressed or understood.
>> 1. a. Little beyond all others in size or degree; smallest; slightest; [obs.] fewest. Not infrequently coupled with last: see LAST a. 1c.
>>
>>So "least child" = 'smallest child', from which the step to 'youngest child' is easy.
>>
>>m a m
>>
>>
>>
>>On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 7:20 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>>> The phrase had an 18th-century flavor to me, so I googled books
>>> before 1799. Merely 5 hits (plus one with no preview available), of
>>> which just one is suggestive:
>>>
>>> The Child's companion, 1799, page 50 (full view available).
>>>
>>> "The words were so simple, that the least child knew what was meant."
>>>
>>> Apparently my taste is a little off, however. Between 1800 and 1849
>>> inclusive, there are 395 hits. The first 10 (of which only one
>>> appears to be a duplicate) all have the desired sense -- although
>>> sometimes not merely youngest in a family but in a town or in God's
>>> universe.
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>> At 8/3/2009 04:00 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>>>In conversation today, speaker from western NC, referred to
>>>>his daughter as his "least child", meaning nothing more than the
>>>>one who was younger.
>>>>
>>>>Has anyone ever heard "least" to mean "younger" or "youngest"?
>>>>
>>>>I did not get any relevant Google hits on "least child".
>>>>
>>>>Bill Palmer
>>>
>>
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>
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