LL-L "Etymology" 2003.04.04 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Allison Turner-hansen <athansen at arches.uga.edu>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.04.03 (02) [A/D/E]

Dear Ron, Lowlanders,
'Aught' and 'naught' are still heard in the speech of elderly
speakers of southeastern US English (those living in more remote areas).
'Naught' has more currency, especially in the meaning "zero".

Allison Turner-Hansen

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From: William Parker <William.Parker at three.co.uk>
Subject: Etymology

Ron / Reinhard
>From reviewing the on line version of the "The American Heritage® Dictionary
of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 I would agree about the
archaic (or in some cases the poetic) use of both of these words and the
usage mentioned by Sandy.  It is present in Shakespeare and Milton, but as
far as I know - and I am a speaker of Oxford / RP background since this is
where I grew up - It is not in use currently.  However it may be present in
some of the regional dialects - though the only regional version of English
I know at all well is that of "mid Wales" where I studied in the bilingual
environment of Aberystwyth. This is an area, like the Scot Highlands, where
(relatively) modern standard English was introduced pretty late - 18th /
19th Centuries - as a result of the major military or economic drivers at
the time - Jacobite rebellions and coal respectively.
As an aside, Interestingly the example of naught / aught show a good example
of metathesis in English that typically has occurred in the 16tth - 18th
Century.  Other examples are
an orange cf Spanish Naranja
a nickname vs. middle English an eekname
The ordinal number three vs. cardinal number third
You also have the examples of metathesis in similar words between languages
eg Horse (English) vs. Hross (Icelandic) Ros (Dutch) - though this could a
lowland borrowing from English [Icelandic borrowed surprising often from
Anglo Saxon as for its eth/edh letter as just one example] to Icelandic
given the standard Norse / Norwegian / Swedish for horse is Hest.

> William Parker
> http://www.three.co.uk

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Thanks, Allison and William!

Allison, I appreciate the interesting information and clarifications you
have been contributing to our discussions.

I knew that "naught" in the sense of "zero" is at least still understood all
over the United States and certainly in Canada, though I hear it used very
rarely.  However, it was news to me that "aught" is still used in remote
regions of the US Southeast.  It ought (sorry -- no pun intended) not come
as a surprise, considering preservation of archaic dialect features in
various pockets along the North American east coast, especially at the
southern end.  During my last visit to to southeast I noticed a lot of
preserved features, words and expressions.  (I was thoroughly charmed by the
way people spoke.)  It made me switch partly back to non-American English
mode, and my speech was considered almost normal there and was very well
understood by everyone.  (For those who don't already know, before coming to
the U.S. I studied English not only in Northern Germany but also in Britain,
and then I lived in Australia for many years, received my tertiary education
mostly in non-U.S. English-speaking universities.)  I am sure that I would
adopt local speech if I came to live in the southeast, which cannot be said
up here in the northwest.  I suppose it helps that I was not raised with
American value judgments and thus without prejudice regarding Southern
speech.

I certainly hope that all this dialect material is being recorded well
enough, given that erosion of American dialects is acellerating at a very
fast pace now.

William,

> an orange cf Spanish Naranja

I don't think this is a case of methatheis.  As far as I know, Spanish got
this word via Old French (which may have gotten it from Spanish _naranja_)
from Arabic _nâranj_ (ﺞﺑﺭﺎﻧ) which got it from Farsi (Persian) _nârang_
(ﮓﺑﺭﺎﻧ) which got it from Northwest Indo-Aryan, going back to Sanskrit
_nârangaĥ_ 'orange tree'

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron
(Pick one or the other)

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