'albeit'

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Reports of the death of this word once again appear to be exaggerated.

The Merriam-Webster usage dictionary discusses the repeated
at-least-partially-imaginary resurrection of the word, and remarks:

"_albeit_ seems never to have gone out of use, though it may have faded
somewhat in the later 19th century." (<note time)

Also: "it has ... considerably increased in use since the 1930s ...."
(<note time)

Copperud and Gowers/Fowler are cited as remarking on the word's supposed
resurrection, 1965-1980. (<note time)

Citations are given including Churchill (1937), Nabokov (1941), Frost
(1942), Santayana (1944), etc., etc., up to 1985 (in my 1989 edition).

My own perception is that "albeit" was ordinary in 1960's writing and is
ordinary now. I admit that it has a sort of "old-fashioned" flavor, though
... perhaps this is a misperception of a register distinction?

-- Doug Wilson