"bend of mind" -- possible eggcorn?

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Swift reportedly used the line "To thee I owe that fatal bend
of mind" in a poem based on the evidence of an 1814 edition of his
works. However, there is an 1801 edition that records the line as: "To
thee I owe that fatal bent of mind". In addition, there are other
editions between 1801 and 1814 that used "bent".

Jonathan Swift died in 1745 so these editions were published decades
after his death. Examination of the original document (or a digital
replica) might be necessary to see whether Swift used "bend" or
"bent".

Cite: 1801, The Works of of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Arranged by
Thomas Sheridan, A New Edition in Ninteen Volumes, Corrected and
Revised by John Nichols, Volume 18, Page 419, Printed for J. Johnson,
J. Nichols, S. Baldwin, etcetera, London. (Google Books fuill view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=aGE4AAAAIAAJ&q=%22bent+of%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
To thee I owe that fatal bent of mind,
Still to unhappy restless thoughts inclin'd;
To thee, what oft I vainly strive to hide,
That scorn of fools, by fools mistook for pride;
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1814, The Works of Jonathan Swift: Containing Additional
Letters, Tracts, and Poems Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a
Life of the Author by Walter Scott, Volume 1, Page 36, Printed for
Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh. (Google Books full view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=cTYUAAAAYAAJ&q=%22bend+of%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
To thee I owe that fatal bend of mind,
Still to unhappy restless thoughts inclin'd;
To thee, what oft I vainly strive to hide,
That scorn of fools, by fools mistook for pride;
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 1:48 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "bend of mind" -- possible eggcorn?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson,
>
> Yes, to me "Of a naturally-humorous bent" and "Of a naturally
> humorous bent _of mind_" have the same meaning.
>
> But "Of a naturally humorous _bend_ of mind" I deprecate -- although
> the OED does admit it:
> "bend n.4", "4. Turn of mind, inclination, bent. Obs. except with
> defining words, as an instance of sense 1."  (Sense 1 is "The action
> of the verb bend v.; bending, incurvation; bent condition, flexure,
> curvature.")
>
> So perhaps "_bend_ of mind" is still in use, and there is not an
> eggcorn after all.
>
> I notice that about 29 ghits say "mind-_benting_"!  That must belong
> in some database.
>
> Joel
>
> At 6/13/2012 08:54 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>>On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> > bend of mind
>> > bent of mind
>>
>>I'm *completely* unfamiliar with either of these expressions. My loss,
>>no doubt. So, I'm lost WRT whether - or even how - there may be an
>>eggcorn. Does
>>
>>"Of a naturally-humorous bent"
>>
>>have the same meaning as
>>
>>"Of a naturally humorous bend/bent _of mind_"
>>
>>?
>>
>>Or am I so totally off-base that I'm not even in the ballpark?
>>--
>>-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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>
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