"jail fever", 1720

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/8/2013 03:01 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>On May 8, 2013, at 2:37 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>  If you read colonial newspapers of the early 18th century, you'll
> > find "goal" frequently, perhaps more so than "gaol".
> >
> > Joel
>
>I'm sure you're right.  I've always wondered how "gaol" ended up
>spelled that way (despite the velar softening), and now I have a
>second wonder about "goal".  Curious that, as you note below, the
>OED seems unaware of "goal" as an alternate spellling of "gaol" (as
>an alternate spelling of "jail").

I apologize if I led to a misunderstanding.  I did not mean to say
the OED wasn't aware of "goal" -- it has a sufficiency of that
spelling under "jail, n." for the 16th to 18th centuries.  I was
being unfairly snarky about the minions (envy, I suppose).  There
are, however, no quotations of the form "goal*fever*" (asterisks
indicating wild cards).

Joel

>I can just imagine the colonial-era newspaper headlines following
>the guilty verdict and sentencing:
>
>GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>LH
>
> >>
> >> On May 8, 2013, at 1:43 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >>
> >> > This will obviously be discovered by the OED minions when they reach
> >> > this entry -- provided they are aware enough to look for "goal" :-)
> >> > -- but anyhoo ...
> >> >
> >> > "Our common Prisons afford us an Instance of this, in which very few
> >> > escape, what they call the Goal Fever, which is always attended with
> >> > a Degree of Malignity in proportion to the Closeness and Stench
> >> of the Place."
> >> >
> >> > Richard Mead. "A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion,
> >> > and the Methods to be used to Prevent it."  The Fourth
> >> > Edition.  London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, 1720.
> >> >
> >> > [Despite this being the 4th ed., I don't think there are any editions
> >> > of an earlier year.  However, if "they" already call it the Goal
> >> > Fever, perhaps it will turn up earlier, such as in the Burney
> >> > newspaper collection.]
> >> >
> >> > Antedates OED2 "jail fever", [1750]--..
> >> >
> >> > Joel
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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