Mawger Herowd and his grett fray:
And as your spouse, Mary, I shall go with you."
It would seem therefore, that this word has had its present pronunciation about three centuries.
Its derivation is directly from the Saxon genoh, but the root is found in many other languages, as the German, Dutch, Danish, &c.
B. H. C.
Mr. Wright supposes there has been a change in the pronunciation of this word, and inquires when it took place. Now, if my conjecture be correct, there may have been no change, and these are two words,—not one pronounced differently. Both the instances quoted by him are in conformity with my opinion, viz. that where the sense is "a sufficient quantity," either in substance, quality, or action, we should make use of enough; yet where a sufficient number is intended, we should pronounce and write enow. I recollect (being a native of Suffolk) that I was laughed at by the boys of a school in a western county, nearly seventy years ago: but I was not then laughed out of my word, nor am I likely now to be argued out of it.
P.S.—I see that Johnson's Dictionary gives the same statement about enough and enow. This answer is therefore superfluous. Johnson gives numerous instances of the use of enow from our best authors.
H. C. R.