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From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: *Mine* eyes (have seen the glory)
Message-ID: <E0sLDM.BqC@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 04:48:57 GMT
Lines: 51


"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord"
               --first line of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", ca. 1862

At some time in the past, in English, it appears that it was usual to use 
"mine" and "thine" in possessing items beginning with vowels, and perhaps 
with semivowels and aitches, i.e. apparently in the same environments 
where the indefinite article was "an".

I'm wondering...

...*when* this usage became archaic.  (I think it survived as an archaism 
in writing and poetry/hymnody long after it had passed from normal spoken 
use.  For instance, I doubt very much whether Julia Ward Howe would have 
*said* to a casual acquaintance, "Mine eyes are strained from reading the 
Bible by campfire-light.")

...whether the change occurred prior to, contemporarily with, or after 
the archaization of "thou/thee/thy/thine/-(e)st".  (I *can* think of 
possible reasons why the loss of "thy/thine" in *all* environments might 
have facilitated the loss of "mine" in contexts like "mine ears ache".)

...why the analogous change did *not* happen to the indefinite article, 
i.e. why "an" is not now archaic or obsolete.

...whether my perception that "an", while not dying out (y.e.t.), has 
become increasingly restricted over the last century or two, being 
increasingly replaced by "a", especially
       (a) before semivowels:  we now say "a union" where one or two
           hundred years ago, to judge by their writings, a lot of people
           said "an union"; 
and    (b) before h:  everyone, I think, now says "a history", while I think
           *some* people once said (or at least wrote) "an history"; I per-
           sonally continue to say and write "an historic(al)", but increas- 
           ingly I see and hear "a historic(al)"; but "an hour" appears to
           remain universal.

...whether there are/were any *other* English words that exhibit(ed) 
analogous or at least similar variation in both pronunciation and 
spelling based on their phonological environments.

And while we're close to the subject of "an", does anybody know offhand *why*
"a naperon" was redesigned in Middle English to read "an ap(e)ron", but 
the semicognate "a nap(e)kin" was *not* redone into "an apkin"?

Ghis,
--
Liland Brajant ROS'    			Ae, ka manu iluna oka hale,
P O Box 30091      			"O" ku'u leo "E moe maika'i," 
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono			Kani ku'u leo, ku'u hoapu,
Tel. (206) 633-2434  			Ae, ka manu iluna oka hale.
