From: Miguel Carrasquer
Message: 25049
Date: 2003-08-13
>>Dutch vaar, moer (archaic, prob. because homophonous with too many other
>> The develoment of English _father_ from OE fæder is irregular. The
>> combination -der appears to have been subject to an irregular
>change
>> to voiced -ther. English _gather_ from OE gaderian is another
>> example, is is the early Modern English alternation between
>_murder_
>> and _murther_. Norse influence may explain English _father_, but
>it
>> does not English _gather_.
>>
>
>For that matter, Danish (and Swedish) _far_ /fa:R/ is irregular
>(_fa'er_ /fä&R) is 1800 Copenhagen, now obsolete, _fader_ /faD&R/ is
>solemn). It has to do with frequency of use, cf. colloquial /la/
>(spelt _la'_) for written and solemn (or upwardly mobile semi-
>illiterate) _lade_ /lad&/, and similarly for frequent verbs in -
>ge /G&/, -ve, -be /w&/, but never for the less frequently used eg.
>_bade_, always /baD&/. In Swedish that extra syllable is dropped also
>in spelling (eg Danish _drage_, _tage_, Swedish _dra_, _ta_). The
>forms have been competing, in Danish the long forms are gaining
>ground from literal pronunciation.