As far as I can remember /au/ in French loanwords like chaumbre, straunge,
etc. is said to have been a development which occurred in England. It is
not an Anglo-Norman development, but rather concerns teh English reception
of later loans. My source is Rolf Berndt's Middle English Grammar. I don't
have this here, but will consult it next week when I have access to a copy.
John I,
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Freeman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 7:50 PM
Subject: Re: [EPNL] Cambridge
> Many thanks to Richard Coates for this, particularly the reference to the
> Anglia website.
>
> Several people have mentioned examples of short /a/ in names such as
> Cambridge in Gloucs, and of course that is the norm in names
> with ME /a/ + nasal + stop. But there are other names which suggest
> that /au/ developed in ME in such a position, and thence regularly to the
> sound in "law" (sorry again for lack of IPA) in ModE -- several Stauntons
> (from both sta:n + tu:n and sta:n + du:n), Saunton, Braunston, Brauncewell
> etc. ME spellings such as Braumpton, Braunford etc seem to show that it
> also occurred in other names, but did not oust the /am/ and /an/ norm.
> It seems to me that this /au/ was a real feature of ME place-names, and I
> wouldn't just ascribe the modern forms such as Staunton to
> spelling-pronunciation. Whether it was originally a purely native
> development or due to the influence of French loan-words can be debated.
(In
> favour of a native development might be the rather similar OE dialectal
> change of /a/ + nasal to a more rounded vowel, preserved in some West
> Midland place-names such as Holme Lacy Herefs, formerly Homme Lacy etc,
from
> OE hamm.)
>
> Incidentally, Caumbrugg' occurs as a form of Cambridge Gloucs in 1385
(PNGl
> IV 248), but only once, apparently.
>
> John Freeman
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Coates" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 5:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [EPNL] Cambridge
>
>
> > Yes, I've seen the article in Anglia by Luick. He repeats the
> > etymology traditional since Skeat, and says explicitly that the name
> > must have been treated like a French word, giving the same reasons as
> > John does.
> >
> > Incidentally, Anglia's old numbers are available online at
> > http://docserver.digizeitschriften.de/digi_docs/1BIBLIOGRAPHIC_DESCRI
> > PTION.html
> >
> > Richard
>
|