Boughten

[Victor Steinbok]

You've forgotten the ill-gotten.

"Boughten" sounds vaguely mock-Dutch, as does be-shitten (to go with
ge-fucked). I've had a few friends from MI, WI, PA with Dutch or North
German ancestry toss these around on regular basis, but I just asked one
about "boughten" and got a blank. But -(schwa)n is a Yiddish suffix as
well, is it not? Not that it would have contributed to "boughten"...

     VS-)

On 4/11/2010 10:34 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> ... A number of -(e)n
> participles are partially or fully retained in adjectival
> use--boughten loaves, spitten images, [new-]mown lawns, graven
> images, [clean-]shaven faces, [mis]shapen bodies, [un]proven
> allegations--after they've completely or, as with "proven" largely,
> fallen out of use as verbal past/passive participles.
>
> LH
>
>

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