‘wind’ used to be pronounced ‘waind’, as in ‘find’ it had a longer vowel, which was pronounced in a lower place in the mouth to its modern pronunciation. Long vowels shifted upwards that is, a vowel that used to be pronounced in a lower place in the mouth would be pronounced in a different place, higher up in the mouth. You see, back in 16th-century England, some pronunciations were pretty different, owing to a Great Vowel Shift – a series of changes in pronunciation that affected the long vowels used in English – roughly during the 15th to 18th centuries. It’s the carol’s sheer age that contributes to this. Last year, we noticed carol singers and vexed tweeters were taking to their keyboards to vent over the fact second and forth lines of the third verse of ‘God Rest Ye’ don’t rhyme exactly as they should. New Zealand Police warm hearts as they sing Christmas carols Why don’t all the lyrics in ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’ rhyme? What are the full lyrics to ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’? You can purchase Jean's book in paperback and Kindle editions from (paid link).The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge rehearses ahead of Festival of Christmas Day’s Nine Lessons and Carols. I hope you’ll have a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy this beautiful season, and let nothing you dismay. (Almost all of my “Instant Quizzes” deal with usage issues.) Even if you’ve been speaking English all your life, your usage information might need an update or a refresher. Usage, on the other hand, is both important and difficult to master. Grammar theory isn’t going to help you write better. If you grew up speaking English, you learned most of the grammar you need to know by the time you started kindergarten. They spend hours – days – months – years – memorizing grammar terminology and learning how to diagram sentences.īut English grammar is largely based on word order. Here’s why it matters: I’ve met many people who think that grammar is an essential subject for writers. You might be wondering why anyone would bother making a distinction between usage and grammar. ![]() No matter how sophisticated a writer you are, you’ll probably never write a sentence like “Make sure the dress you fits.” That kind of construction has disappeared from English – probably forever. (Here’s an example: whom is disappearing.) The meanings of some of the words have changed over the centuries, but Shakespeare constructed his sentences pretty much the way we still do today: subject + verb + object.Īnd that’s why “Let Nothing You Dismay” in our Christmas carol is so interesting. Before Edith Bunker came along, the dictionary meaning of dingbat was “a printer’s ornament.” Now it means “a silly person.”ĭeeper structures of language – what we call grammar – change very slowly. If you’re old enough to have watched All in the Family when it was a brand-new situation comedy, you witnessed one of those changes. The meanings of words change all the time. It has nothing to do with the deep structure of the English language. The evolution from “God rest you” to “God keep you” is a usage change. “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” is particularly interesting because it includes two kinds of changes. Nobody can stop that process – not even those of us who adored our high-school English teachers and think their rules and principles should live on forever. In Act IV, Scene 5 of Hamlet, Ophelia says, “Say you? Nay, pray you mark.” (If that seems nonsensical to you, it’s deliberate – Ophelia has gone mad from grief when she says this.)Įveryone who’s sat through a Shakespearean play – or sung “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” – knows that language changes over time. But I can point out that this kind of transposition – “Let nothing you dismay” – was common in Elizabethan times. Of course I don’t know which explanation is correct. Or perhaps this type of word order was a common usage in the 16th century, when this carol was first composed. ![]() T he anonymous person who wrote this Christmas carol might have been having a poetic moment. It should be “Let Nothing Dismay You.” There are two possible explanations for the wording. In the second line, we seem to be seeing a mistake in word order. ![]() Back then, rest could mean “keep.” So the first line is saying, “God keep you merry, gentlemen.” ![]() That comma looks wrong, doesn’t it? It seems like it should be “God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen.” In fact that’s how it’s punctuated in A Christmas Carol, the classic novel by Charles Dickens.īut the research indicates that this is the correct punctuation. This is one of our oldest carols, dating back to at least the 16th century. Christmas is less than a week away! Today we’re going to look at some language issues hidden within a traditional Christmas carol:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |