[lit-ideas] Re: "Further Farther Farrer"
- From: "Steven G. Cameron" <stevecam@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 12:50:18 -0400
**There's an excellent text, _When Words Collide_, which covers much of
the discussions on this topic we've been having over the past few days.
TC,
/Steve Cameron, NJ
Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>
> 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
>
> ‘more forward, more onward’"
>
> "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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