Q: "travelling lady"? (and "goal"0

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:26 PM -0400 10/15/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 10/15/2010 05:52 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>Well, there's the evidence from the eponymous Leonard Cohen song--
>>
>>And why are you so quiet now
>>Standing there in the doorway?
>>You chose your journey long before
>>You came upon this highway.
>>
>>Traveling lady, stay awhile
>>Until the night is over.
>>I'm just a station on your way
>>I know I'm not your lover.
>
>A little bit later than my quotation.

Indeed.  I wasn't citing Cohen as an antedate.  ;-)

>
>>I'm still puzzled by the "Goal" for "Gaol", though, especially since
>>the OED doesn't provide the former as a variant spelling of the
>>latter.  The Ballad of Reading Goal?
>
>Yes it does -- s.v. jail, gaol, n.:

Good catch, Joel.  I incorrectly assumed that the
variant, if it existed, would have been listed
under "gaol" rather than, or as well as, under
"jail".  Go know.

LH

>
>Forms: {alpha}. 3-4 gayhol(e, 5 gayll(e, gaille,
>5-7 gayole, gayl(e, gaile, 6 gaiell, gaill, 6-7
>gaole, goale, *7-8 goal*, 7- gaol. {beta}. 4
>iaiole, 4-7 iaile, iayle, 5 iayll, 6-7 iaole, 7-8
>jayl, (7 jale), 7- jail. {gamma}. 6 geyle, geayle, (gial), 7 geale.
>
>1647 CLARENDON [Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon;
>historian and statesman; grandfather of Queen
>Mary II and Queen Anne] Hist. Reb. v. §51 To be
>committed to the Common Goal of Colchester.
>...

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