[lit-ideas] "Further Farther Farrer"

  • From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 12:30:43 EDT

 
 
Further to Julie's observations on the alleged correct use of 'further' vs.  
'farther'.
 
It boils down to the apparent _correct correct_ form being "farrer" (qua  
comparative of 'far').
 
 
In a message dated 9/5/2004 8:44:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx writes:
Count  the people you know who use "further" vs. "farther"  correctly. 

----
 
Interesting. I tried an OED search for the phrase, "further farther", but  
apparently nobody (as recognised by the OED) ever used that expression -- and  
why should they.
 
The retrieved item for 'further farther', though, is the etymological note  
under 'farther', which is interesting in noting that both 'further' and  
'farther' come from Old English "fyrther". But you knew that. So it's a Middle  
English distinction, not an Anglo-Saxon one.
 
'farther' 
 

"From Middle English 'ferther' (whence by normal phonetic  development 
'fArther') is in origin a mere variant of 'further', due prob. to the analogy 
of the 
verb, "to  ferthren", from Old English "fyrthrian", 'to further'."
 
"The primary sense of both "further" and "farther" is 
 
        â??more forward, more  onwardâ??"
 
"But this sense is practically coincident with that of the comparative  
degree of far, where the latter word refers to real or attributed motion  in 
some 
particular direction."
 
"Hence, both further and farther came  to be used as the comparative of far; 
first in the special application  just mentioned, and ultimately in all 
senses, displacing the regular comparative  "farrer.""
 
"In standard English, the form farther is usually preferred where  the word 
is intended to be the comparative of far, while further  is used where the 
notion of far is altogether absent."
 
"There is a large intermediate class of instances in which the choice  
between the two forms is arbitrary.""
 
-- That is to say, _conventional_.
 
Cheers,
 
JL

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