Hello Richard and Philip
I'm more than happy with all the wonderful variants/spellings of names
from centuries ago. The reason we know about them is they were written
down at the time. It's the making up of new variants to suit 20th
century tastes that is unacceptable in my book. Apart from signalling
very poor scholarship it is aslo bad manners. Philip, I'm aware of the
many misspellings of your name; genuine mistakes happen and these can
be forgiven. This is something different. How would you feel if people
started calling you Phil or Pip?
As aye
Anthony
--- On Fri, 13/3/09, richard.hea...@tiscali.co.uk
<richard.hea...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: richard.hea...@tiscali.co.uk <richard.hea...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: [NSP] Spelling of names
To: phi...@gruar.clara.net, nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Date: Friday, 13 March, 2009, 12:42 AM
Hi,
With reference to the variable spelling of names, there is a (possibly
relevant) example of this in Roxby's "Lay of the Redewater Minstrel"
published in 1809 at Newcastle.
In a footnote on p.26 in relation to Elishaw he writes:
"Here was the rendezvous of the "vagrant train" of faa's, tinklers,
&c. The celebrated Wull Allen frequently sojourned here, in the
progress of his fishing and otter-hunting expeditions; and here often
resounded the drones of his no less celebrated son, Jamie Allan, the
Northumberland piper."
It is believed that Roxby was a frequent visitor to Elishaw and
personally knew the people of whom he wrote. It is interesting to see,
in the same footnote, the different spelling of the surname of father
and son. It is also possible, perhaps, that the use of the name 'Wull'
reflects a phonetic spelling of the actual pronunciation used by man
himself.
Richard
>----Original Message----
>From: [1]phi...@gruar.clara.net
>Date: 12/03/2009 19:30
>To: <[2]...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
>Subj: [NSP] Re: J Allen (and Rants)
>
>Irrespective of the origin and age of the tune, surely - as anyone
who has
>done any research into family history knows - the spelling of names
in the
>18th and early 19th century was subject to almost infinite variation
(and
>how many spellings are there for Shakespeare??)
>
>so - when James, Jem, Jemy, Jemmy, Jamie, Jim, Jimmy, Jimmie, Allen,
Allan,
>Alan gave his name orally to someone who then wrote it down, the
clerk may
>have (aurally?) heard the name correctly and used any number of
spellings to
>write it down. I suppose the question hangs on what spelling Allen
himself
>used when (and if) he wrote it. A couple of generations before him,
his
>family certainly wouldn't have been literate, and would neither know
nor
>care about the spelling. The way it is spelt in the published "Life"
is
>probably just a snapshot of one time in the name's life. More
relevant may
>be how Allen's family said it - what accent, and did they use a more
or less
>"Scottish" pronunciation? Does it matter, or is it a question of
rival
>nationalisms either side the Border?
>
>Just a thought from Philip (often mispelled Phillip - preferably not
Phil,
>and certainly not Pip if you don't mind) Gruar - whose not very
distant
>ancestor, a tenant farmer on the Highland Line at the time J. Allen
was
>around, was spelt at different times Gruar, Gruer, Grewar and Growar.
>
>Now - Rants. I can theorise endlessly about the precise relative
length of
>paired quavers in baroque music, but I'm not a particularly good
piper, and
>don't live in the centre of "The Tradition". For the benefit of those
>reading this who live completely outside it, could experts please
confirm if
>I'm right that in "Rant" playing the quavers are very *slightly*
uneven, but
>not as "dotted" as in a hornpipe, and giving a "heavier" feel than in
a
>reel,
>because in a reel you feel two minim (half-note) beats in a bar -
each beat
>made of four equal quavers (quarter-notes). In Rants and Hornpipes
it's
>definitely four crotchet (quarter note) beats to the bar, each beat
normally
>consisting of two uneven quavers, but in a hornpipe the first quaver
is
>strongly accented and lengthened, and the second one is very light
and
>short. The rant gives much more equal weight to the two quavers. Is
this
>easier to understand than tomato soup and gobstoppers, or am I
talking
>through my hat?
>
>Oh, and welcome to the list Anthony, it's great to have your
contributions.
>
>Philip
>
>
>
>
>To get on or off this list see list information at
>[3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
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__________________________________________
--
References
1. http://uk.mc11.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=phi...@gruar.clara.net
2. http://uk.mc11.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=...@cs.dartmouth.edu
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
4. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/jobs/
