Re: Rs

Adam Walker scripsit:

> Wait a minute maybe not my bad.
> The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
> Edition.  2000. doff PRONUNCIATION:  d?f, dfTRANSITIVE VERB:Inflected
> forms: doffed, doff?ing, doffs
> 1. To take off; remove: doff one's clothes. 2. To tip or remove (one's
> hat) in salutation. 3. To put aside; discard. ETYMOLOGY:Middle English
> doffen, from don off, to do off : don, to do; see do1 + off, off; see off.
Middle English "don", "doon" was simply the infinitive of "do", as in
"What was for to doon?"" = "What was there to do?"  (Probably pronounced
[Watwasfo4todo:n], just as written).

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_