Re: USAGE: English eth

>From: John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 10:45:06 -0500
>
Nice list!  My milage varried in a few places.

>The list of eths in English seems to be tolerably short.
>
>Initially: than, that, the, their(s), them, then, thence(forth),
>there (and compounds), these, they, this, those, (al)though, thus,
>thy(self).
>
>Intervocalically:  bother, brethren (quondam bretheren), brother,
>either, farther, father, fathom, feather, further, gather, hither,
You forgot its compliment thither.

>leather, mother, neither, nether, other, rather, slither, smithereens,
>smithy,
I have /T/ in smithy.

smother, swarthy,

Same in /swArTi/

together, weather, (bell)wether, whether,
>withal,
And again here, probably because of wherewithall.

>wither, worthy and their inflected and derived forms.
There's also the noun withers and withershins.


>What surprised me was how many native words have /T/ anyway.
>
>Finally: bathe, bequeath, betroth, blithe, breathe, clothe, lathe,
>lithe,
Here's another where I have /T/.

>loathe, scythe,
And another.

>seethe, smooth, soothe, teethe,
Which forms another minimal pair with teeth.  That's five.

tithe, withe,
>wreathe,
When it's a verb.  As a noun it has /T/.  That's six mp's.

writhe and their inflected and derived forms.  The verb
>"mouth"
>(not the noun "mouth") also belongs to this category.
>
And that makes a seventh pair.

>Oddball (anticipatory voicing, I think): algorithm, logarithm, rhythm.
>These are probably the most recent /D/ words in English.
>
/T/ and /D/ are an odd pair aren't they.

Adam

>--
>Not to perambulate             || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>    the corridors               || http://www.reutershealth.com
>during the hours of repose     || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
>    in the boots of ascension.  \\ Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel

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