misch[i]evious

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/8/2010 11:54 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote:
I think (though I haven't checked) that this was an acceptable Elizabethan
>spelling (indicating a four-syllable pronunciation),

OED lists "mischevious" for the 1500s and :mischievious" for the
1600s ... and many, many other "Forms" over the centuries.

Joel

>often associated with
>the surname "Machiavel".
>
>Thus Sir Walter Ralegh (pronounced "raw-ly", as in raw meat) was on
>occasion, and perhaps justly, described as a "Mischievious Machiavel",
>rhyming with "fiend from hell."
>
>So it goes ...
>
>Robin
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org