I think the separate syllable could be trac·ed back even further. English scholars, what say ye?
Certainly. I thought the question was how *late* it persisted, not how early...
There was a two part question from Dennis:
Which reminds me of a question I've always wanted to ask about: in a Purcell piece (as published by Carus Verlag), the -ed of displeased has its own note. Does this mean it was actually pronounced at the time? When did the vocalic sound disappear?
I was merely giving credence to your remark that it was used by Shakespeare and Marvell ("actually pronounced at the time?") by showing that the pronunciation stemmed from a much earlier practice. I wasn't confusing Dennis' question with my own.
Horace Brock pointed out that Shakespeare used either according to the meter. So it was with Chaucer. However, having read a bit further, I'm now coming to believe that the pronunciation may have been a linguistic practice which peaked (roughly) in the century before Shakespeare and may well have migrated from this or that part of England to another at different times. It was certainly sanctioned as poetic license during the time of Chaucer.
Philip Aker http://www.aker.ca
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