Crowner, Laylock, Showl
This was the general spelling of alabaster in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Apricock (n.Cy. Lan. Lin. Lei. Nhp. War. Shr. Hrf.) for apricot, cp. ‘Yond dangling apricocks,’ Rich. II, III. iv. 29. The word came originally from the Portuguese albricoque, and the change from the final ck to t was due to the French cognate abricot. Crowner (in gen. dial. use in Irel. and Eng.) for coroner, e.g. I do lot as they’l ’ave a crowner’s quest on he, cp. ‘Crowner’s quest law,’ Ham. V. i. 24. Laylock (in gen. dial. use in Eng.) for lilac, cp. ‘The Lelacke Tree,’ Bacon, Essays, ed. 1625. Our pronunciation lilac is borrowed from those dialects where byby is the normal pronunciation of baby. We have erred in the same direction in discarding the older obleege (now confined to the dialects) in favour of the modern oblige. The correct pronunciation of the French ī is that in machine. Newelty (Nhp. Oxf. Bdf. Hnt. e.An. Som.) for novelty, e.g. Well! there idn very much newelty in thick there contraption like, cp. ‘Novella, a tale, a parable, or a neweltee,’ Thomas, Italian Grammar, 1562. Shool or showl (in gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. Eng.) for shovel, cp. ‘Item, j. dressyng knyfe, j. fyre showle,’ Paston Letters, 1459. This must have been the proper pronunciation when the nursery rhyme Cock Robin was composed:
I, said the Owl,
With my spade and showl [mod. edits, shovel]
I’ll dig his grave.
‘Ballet’ and ‘Sallet’
Similarly, comparison with the dialects restores correct rhyme to the water: after in Jack and Jill, and correct metre to: ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary.’ Abear for bear, endure, is widely diffused through the dialects. It is O.E. āberan, to endure, suffer, a form which apparently dropped out of the literary language in the thirteenth century, but which has lived on ever since in the spoken dialects. Affodil or affrodile (Chs.) for daffodil is found in Cotgrave: ‘Affrodille, th’ Affodille or Asphodill flower.’ It is, in fact, etymologically the correct form, from a M.Lat. affodillus, Lat. asphodilus, and the prefixed d of the standard form has yet to be satisfactorily explained. Disgest (in gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and Eng.) for digest was the common form in literary English in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Haviour (Sc. Yks. Chs.) for behaviour occurs in Spenser; ‘Her heavenly haveour, her princely grace,’ Shepherd’s Cal., 1579. Overlive (Lan. Der. Rut. Lei. Nhp.) for outlive occurs in Shakespeare and in the Bible: ‘And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua,’ A.V. Josh. xxiv. 31. Ballet (Cum. Yks. Lan. Chs. Der. Nhp. War. Shr. Hrf. Brks. Ess. Ken. Sus. Wil. Som. Dev.) for ballad is a corruption common in the literary language in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, cp. ‘The Ballet of Ballets of Solomon,’ Bishops’ Bible, 1568; ‘I occasioned much mirth by a ballet I brought with me made from the seamen at sea to their ladies in town,’ Pepys’ Diary, Jan. 2, 1665. In like manner the form sallet for salad remains in the dialects. Brinded (Der. Not. Wil. Som.) for brindled recalls the well-known line: ‘Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d,’ Macb. IV. i. 1. Darkling (Sc. Yks. Lin.) for in the dark is used by Shakespeare and by Milton, cp. ‘The wakeful bird sings darkling,’ Par. Lost, iii. 39. Flannen (in gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and Eng.) is the correct form for flannel, from Welsh gwlanen, woollen material, cp. ‘She found Dorus, apparelled in flanen,’ Sydney, Arcadia, c. 1585. Lovier (e.An. Dor. Som.) for lover carries us back to Chaucer’s ‘yong Squyer’ who was: ‘A lovyere, and a lusty bacheler,’ Prol. l. 80. Margent (Sc. Yks. e.An.) for margin, with excrescent t, is a Shakespearian form. Jeremy Taylor has: ‘She was arrested with a sorrow so great as brought her to the margent of her grave,’ Holy Living, 1650. Neglection (Glo. Suf.) for neglect, and robustious (Sc. n.Cy. I.Ma. War.) for robust, are both to be found in Shakespeare’s Plays; cp. also Milton:
... these redundant locks
Robustious to no purpose, clustering down.
Sam. Agonistes, ll. 568, 569.