[Ads-l] "pretty much" in 1711 used the way we still use it

[Laurence Horn]

Curiously, it seems as though in general adverbial use, "pretty" has
strengthened over time--

 *1* *a.* Qualifying an adjective or adverb: to a considerable extent;
fairly, moderately; rather, quite. In later use also: very.

N.E.D. (1908) has the following note: ‘Sometimes expressing close
approximation to quite, or by meiosis equivalent to very; at other times
denoting a much slighter degree’. In more recent use, generally indicating
a moderately high degree.

--while "pretty much" is a bit more iffy (cites suppressed here):

pretty much: almost, very nearly; more or less; (also, in early use) very
much, considerably.

On Fri, Jun 23, 2023 at 6:19 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The feeling I get is that the 1711 "pretty much" is rather more emphatic
> than its modern use.
>
> Nowadays it means something like "more or less" or "rather nearly," while
> the early example sounds to me like "quite or very much."
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jun 23, 2023 at 5:36 PM Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I've been reading a lot of Victorian and earlier works while I overhaul
> the
> > "Tartan" article at Wikipedia, and I keep running into early use of turns
> > of phrase that one might think to be very modern. A good example is this:
> >
> > *The Present State of Scotland*, 2nd ed. 1711: "[Plaids] have of late
> been
> > pretty much fancy'd in England ...; so that Attempts have been made in
> > England to resemble them, at Norwich and elsewhere, but they fall much
> > short [of the Scottish Highland originals] both [sic] in Colour,
> Fineness,
> > and Workmanship, as is evident at first sight."
> >
> > It would be even earlier than 1711 if it appeared in the 1st ed.
> >
> > Quoted in D. W. Stewart Old and Rare Scottish Tartans (1893), p. 29
> > https://digital.clarkart.edu/digital/collection/p16245coll1/id/49864
> >
> > I have not seen a facsimile of the 1711 original.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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