Re: Rs

Adam Walker wrote:

> Wait a minute maybe not my bad.
>
Please don't send HTML emails. Many people won't be able to read your
message.

The trailing -n in 'don on' and 'don off' is the Middle English
infinitive from before it was replaced by the to preposition. The actual
words that were contracted probably didn't have this 'n' in them.

Tristan.

> The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
> Edition.  2000.
>
> *doff*
>
>
> PRONUNCIATION <http://www.bartleby.com/61/12.html>:
> <http://www.bartleby.com/61/wavs/99/D0319900.wav> dôf, df
> TRANSITIVE 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 do^1 <http://www.bartleby.com/61/21/D0312100.html> +
> /off/, off; see off <http://www.bartleby.com/61/68/O0036800.html>.
>
>
>  */Adam Walker <carrajena@...>/* wrote:
>
>     Oops.  My bad.
>
>     ADam
>
>      */John Cowan <cowan@...>/* wrote:
>
>         Adam Walker scripsit:
>
>         > "Undons" should be "doffs". Doff and don are contractions of
>         older
>         > forms "don on" and "don off". Weirdness abounds.
>
>         "Do on" and "do off", rather.
>
>         --
>         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_
>

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