The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-07
EETHER, EYETHER OR AY-
TIER.
Interesting Variations Of One Words
Pronunciation.

To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN--sE: In
his practical comments on the pronun-
citation of Latin by the ancient Romans
George Gilbert reminds us Of the story
Of the Englishman and Irishman who
went to Scotsman to decide the
pronunciation of the word either
which Is still pronounced in three ways
throughout the English speaking world.
II one may judge from the history Of
the word Pat did not 20 far astray
when he contradicted Sandy Mac and
John Bull, notwithstanding the fact that
modern dictionaries give "eether'' as the
best usage.
According to "a Desk Book of
Twenty-Five thousand Words Frequent
ly Mispronounced." by DR.. Frank H.
proximates closely to tho original. He
, says opp. 37a and 37l):
I'm his genealogical Dictionary toxford.
1870 DR.. skeat pointed out that the word
was derived from Angio-saxon egther. q con-
traction Of a+se+hwnther, where connotes
| aye ever &c is q common prefix. and
hwether 10 Eng. whether The sound Of AS
&s 10 that of a in dare. Mares in his 'Ele-
| Either and aeiiher are spoken BY some with
| the sound Of long Il; have heard even that
| Of Ions q given to them; but a. the regular
way IL also IN use l think IL 10 preferable.
These differences seem TO have arisen from
ignorance Of the regular sound Of ep Cp. so.
But BY what rule he determined this regular
| sound IL not stated.
I'm Eng. the dlphthong Of has various sounds
that have affected the PRONUNCIATION Of this
| word, whose photography experienced the fol-
lowing notifications between the fourteenth
| and sixteenth centuries before the form either
| became established; ayther (Hampole, 1870
Cromwell, ls4o) athF (Barbour. 1873 cythir
(Chaucer. 1855; aytAer Gangland. 1880
| epfher tCaIton, 1880 and the three follow
ing, all from Coverdaie's Bible, ether Css5).
either Qa0 and sptAer Q5is. In eight,
freight neigh Sleigh weight &C.. the
| diphthong et has the sound Of Continental q.
a. heard In English prey they whey
the sound of As. q IN folkspeech, that varied
from, in there approximately to ey in
they
walker $500 claimed that the true ana
logical sound of the diphthons in these words
| teifher, aeither1 10 that Of slender o, a. II
written ay.ther and noy-ther.' This Is the
folk pronunciation in Ireland even to-day. and
1t approximates more closely to the original
than either Of the pronunciations indicated
by the dictionaries. Again. In Eng. the diph.
thong o. has the Sound Of diphthongal (o+D
as In aisle heard In such words a. elder
Qcelandish '1dhr). height 'sleight,' &c.
In ceiling deceive 'inveisle,' perceive.
receive &C., 1t has the sound Of Continental
l. as heard in Eng. machine police &c.-
the sound Of AS. I, so that II analogy were
to be our guide any one Of tho three pro
uuncistions indicated might be used. But the
genius OF the language having in England a,
least, cast the historic pronunciation aside
favors ~ cethsr for the mass OF the English
CD other for the Scots and ~ eythsr for the
Irish the latter serving TO show the extent
at least. that the English spoken in ireland
Is preserved in Its pristine purity. II ons
may take Bailey's u732) and Johnson's Q7b5)
accent for 4 guide to the pronunciation
of the word in their times they noted the
last. for they gave eioh'tv and either the
same stress. Had they wished to designate
&c .tAer the stress would have been put afteI
the e.
Tho writer has heard the pronunciation
eye ther in southern England and along III,
course Of the River Thames .from London Il
Stroud In Gloucestershire, a. we'll a. NORTH
Of It as far as Stratford- on Avon. That Il
was used in Scotland is evidenced by the fac
that Buchanan u75O and Johnston Q76D both
indicated IT, while kenrick uT70. Perry u7T7)
Sheridan U7so), Mares u7s), Walker u79D
Scott G7sO, Jones Q7ss), Fulton & knight
Qso?,, Enfield QsoT, Jameson (lseD. Knowles
Qs35). Smart. Qs+0) and Reid $50 CAV,
ce Their"
W. A. v. X.
NEW YORK, September 6.