Re: Asian migration to Scandinavia

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 4:14 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Asian migration to Scandinavia


>
> -
>>
>> There was a late ME change of /Er/ to /ar/ finally and
>> before consonants, but it didn't take place in all dialects,
>> and as a result we have such pairs as <clerk> ~ <clark>,
>> <person> ~ <parson>, <university> ~ <varsity>, <certain> ~
>> <sartain> (dial.), etc.
>>
>> In the names in question, however, the variation is much
>> older: I believe that there was already variation between
>> /er/ and /ar/ in OFr.
>>
>
> Oh yes I'm well aware of the change of ME /Er/ to /ar/ (> /Ar/) before
> syllable-boundaries, but the variation I'm talking about is chiefly
> between /aer/ (I think most often from OF or MF, but also from ME /ar/
> before vocalized consonants) and /Er/ before vowels (the latter
> apparently of various origin, e.g. < */Ir/ in <merry>, <bury>, < */Er/
> before vowel or vocalized consonant in <ferry>, < shortening in
> <herring>, otherwise mainly in names it seems). Were e.g. <marry>,
> <carry>, <tarry>, <carriage>, <barrow>, <harrow>, <arrow> often
> spelled as <merry>, <kerry>, <terry>, <kerriage>, <berrow>, <herrow>,
> <errow>? And therefore does the alteration between /Er/ and /aer/ go
> back to older ME, and not then a recent development in American
> English? (discounting the OE variation between <earh>, <erh>, <arwe>,
> etc. in <arrow> and other similar words). You say that there was
> variation between /er/ and /ar/ in OF: any typical examples? and
> perhaps their descendants in English? The example of the putative
> etymon of my name, <Gerard> (and also <Gerald>), produces the pet-form
> <Gerry, Jerry> in English, but I've never heard of <Jarry> (even if in
> most American English they would be pronounced identically -- but not
> in Britain or Trinidad); <Lawrence> produces the pet-form <Larry>, but
> I've never heard of <Lerry> (even if this would be the typical
> American pronunciation of <Larry> -- they would be kept distinct in
> Britain and the Caribbean): the point is, the two pronunciations /Er/
> and /aer/ spelled <err> and <arr> seem to have been kept distinct in
> NE till recently in American English and till the present in British
> and Caribbean English, so it doesn't look to me like <Gerard> or
> <Gerald> would be the probable ancestor of <Jarrett(e)>. But you say
> the evidence of OF indicates otherwise. Examples?
>
=============
There have been some examples in Middle French (around 1500) for confusion
of er and ar.
The result being ar,
This has been criticized by purists.
As a result, some words which originally had ar become er because of
hypercorrection.
I don't remember which words exactly.

In any case, it's not general and it's not old.

Arnaud