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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 11:59 pm
Post subject: Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol. Do not collect £200. |
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I'm currently reading "Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason".
This is written by an Ameriacn academic by the name of Jessica Warner
(currently Professor of History at the University of Toronto). In it,
she quotes from /The Country Journal; or, the Craftsman/ for 13th May
1738 "committed to the New Gaol [jail] in Southwark...".
Now I have no way of knowing (not having the original, cited article in
front of me), but I'd be surprised if the original author had written
"Gaol [jail]" as such; I'm guessing that the interpolation "[jail]" was
intended for readers who might perhaps not be familiar with the word
"gaol".
1) Can anyone with access to OED verify when "jail" started to supplant
"gaol" in BrEnglish?
2) Anyone care to comment upon whether it's just in AmerEnglish that the
word "gaol" might be unknown?
(The waters are further muddied by the appearance of the word "Goal"
later in the quoted paragraph; whether that was a literal by the modern
typesetter of the book, or was in the original article. However, I know
which seems most likely to me:-)
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"I don't use Linux. I prefer to use an OS supported by a large multi-
national vendor, with a good office suite, excellent network/internet
software and decent hardware support."
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John Briggs
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| Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 4:33 am
Post subject: Re: Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol. Do not collect £200. |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
| Quote: |
1) Can anyone with access to OED verify when "jail" started to supplant
"gaol" in BrEnglish?
|
Both forms are mediaeval: "gaol" from Norman French, and "jail" from Old
French.
| Quote: | 2) Anyone care to comment upon whether it's just in AmerEnglish that the
word "gaol" might be unknown?
|
Probably. "Jail" is the only officially recognised AmE form - 'gaol' is
"chiefly brit var" according to Webster's Third New International. (Which I
always associate in my mind with Tatlin's "Monument to the Third
International", for some reason.)
--
John Briggs |
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Giles Todd
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:04 am
Post subject: Re: Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol. Do not collect £200. |
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 22:59:24 +0100 (BST), bhk@dsl.co.uk (Brian
{Hamilton Kelly}) wrote:
| Quote: | 1) Can anyone with access to OED verify when "jail" started to supplant
"gaol" in BrEnglish?
|
Two broad variants: one from Norman French ('gaol' or 'gail' or many
other variant spellings), and one from Central or Parisian French
('jail'). It's unclear when one superseded the other since the
citations overlap.
| Quote: | 2) Anyone care to comment upon whether it's just in AmerEnglish that the
word "gaol" might be unknown?
|
That would depend on the particular American reader involved.
Giles.
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Mike Stevens
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:16 am
Post subject: Re: Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol. Do not collect £200. |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
| Quote: | I'm currently reading "Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason".
This is written by an Ameriacn academic by the name of Jessica Warner
(currently Professor of History at the University of Toronto). In it,
she quotes from /The Country Journal; or, the Craftsman/ for 13th May
1738 "committed to the New Gaol [jail] in Southwark...".
Now I have no way of knowing (not having the original, cited article
in front of me), but I'd be surprised if the original author had
written "Gaol [jail]" as such; I'm guessing that the interpolation
"[jail]" was intended for readers who might perhaps not be familiar
with the word "gaol".
1) Can anyone with access to OED verify when "jail" started to
supplant "gaol" in BrEnglish?
|
From the quotations cited in OED, "goal" seems to have occurred first in
1689 as a noun and 1622 as a verb.
"Jail" occurs first as a noun in 1623, as a verb in 1633.
For both words, earlier spelling variants also exist, going back to Middle
English in both cases.
| Quote: | 2) Anyone care to comment upon whether it's just in AmerEnglish that
the word "gaol" might be unknown?
|
Pass.
| Quote: | (The waters are further muddied by the appearance of the word "Goal"
later in the quoted paragraph; whether that was a literal by the
modern typesetter of the book, or was in the original article.
However, I know which seems most likely to me:-)
|
Of this OED says "It is difficult to say whether for form /goal(e)/ common,
alike in official and general use, from the 16th to the 18th c., was merely
an erroneous spelling of /gaol/, after this had itself become an archaism,
or was phonetic: cf mod.F /geole/." (NB in the last word the letter 'o' has
a circumflex.)
--
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus II
web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
Me cogitare credo ergo me esse credo.
(Rainy-Day-Carts) |
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Joe Fogey
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:32 am
Post subject: Re: Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol. Do not collect £200. |
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not OED, but:
Source: The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins Publishers:
gaol [d?eil]
noun, verb (British)
a variant spelling of: jail
'gaoler noun
Source: The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins Publishers:
jail, gaol [d?eil]
noun
1 a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to
imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
verb
2 [transitive] to confine in prison
[ETYMOLOGY: 13th Century: from Old French jaiole cage, from Vulgar Latin
caveola (unattested), from Latin cavea enclosure; see cage: the two
spellings derive from the forms of the word that developed in two different
areas of France, and the spelling gaol represents a pronunciation in use
until the 17th century]
'jailless, 'gaolless adjective
'jail-like, 'gaol-like adjective
jail - c.1275, gayhol, from O.N.Fr. gaiole and O.Fr. jaole, both meaning "a
cage, prison," from M.L. gabiola, from L.L. caveola, dim. of L. cavea
"cage." Both forms carried into M.E.; now pronounced "jail" however it is
spelled. Norman-derived gaol (preferred in Britain) is "chiefly due to
statutory and official tradition" [O.E.D.]. The verb "to put in jail" is
from 1604. Jailbird is 1603, an allusion to a caged bird. Jail-break "prison
escape" is from 1910. Jail bait "girl under the legal age of consent" is
attested from 1934. ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY
"Brian {Hamilton Kelly}" <bhk@dsl.co.uk> wrote in message
news:20040825.2159.57512snz@dsl.co.uk...
| Quote: | I'm currently reading "Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason".
This is written by an Ameriacn academic by the name of Jessica Warner
(currently Professor of History at the University of Toronto). In it,
she quotes from /The Country Journal; or, the Craftsman/ for 13th May
1738 "committed to the New Gaol [jail] in Southwark...".
Now I have no way of knowing (not having the original, cited article in
front of me), but I'd be surprised if the original author had written
"Gaol [jail]" as such; I'm guessing that the interpolation "[jail]" was
intended for readers who might perhaps not be familiar with the word
"gaol".
1) Can anyone with access to OED verify when "jail" started to supplant
"gaol" in BrEnglish?
2) Anyone care to comment upon whether it's just in AmerEnglish that the
word "gaol" might be unknown?
(The waters are further muddied by the appearance of the word "Goal"
later in the quoted paragraph; whether that was a literal by the modern
typesetter of the book, or was in the original article. However, I know
which seems most likely to me:-)
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"I don't use Linux. I prefer to use an OS supported by a large multi-
national vendor, with a good office suite, excellent network/internet
software and decent hardware support." |
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