hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2022-12-26

■ #4991. -ise か -ize か問題 --- 2つの論点 [spelling][suffix][z][greek][latin][french][verb][oed][academy][orthography]

　昨日の記事「#4990. 動詞を作る -ize/-ise 接尾辞の歴史」 ([2022-12-25-1])，および以前の「#305. -ise か -ize か」 ([2010-02-26-1])，「#314. -ise か -ize か (2)」 ([2010-03-07-1]) の記事と合わせて，改めて -ise か -ize かの問題について考えたい．今回は文献参照を通じて2つほど論点を追加する．
　昨日の記事で，OED が -ize の綴字を基本として採用している旨を紹介した．<z> を用いるほうがギリシア語の語源に忠実であり，かつ <z> ≡ /z/ の関係がストレートだから，というのが採用の理由である．しかし，この OED の主張について，Carney (433) が -ise/-ize 問題を解説している箇所で疑問を呈している．有用なので解説全体を引用しておこう．

17 /aɪz/ in verbs as <-ise>, <-ize>

The <-ize> spelling reflects a Greek verbal ending in English words, such as baptize, organize, which represent actual Greek verbs. There are also words that have been made up to imitate Greek, in later Latin or in French (humanise), or within English itself (bowdlerise). Some printers adopt a purist approach and spell the first group with <-ize> and the second group with <-ise>, others have <-ize> for both.
   Since this difference is opaque to the ordinary speller, there is pressure to standardize on the <s> spelling, as French has done. To standardize with a <z> spelling as American spelling has done has disadvantages, because there are §Latinate verbs ending in <-ise> which have historically nothing to do with this suffix: advertise, apprise, circumcise, comprise, supervise, surmise, surprise. If you opt for a scholarly <organize>, you are likely to get an unscholarly *<supervize>. The OED argues that the pronunciation is /z/ and that this justifies the <z> spelling. But this ignores the fact that <s>≡/z/ happens to be the commonest spelling of /z/. To introduce more <z> spellings would probably complicate matters for the speller.

　もう1つの論点は，イギリス英語の -ise はフランス語式の綴字を真似たものと理解してよいが，その歴史的な詳細については調査の必要があるという点だ．というのは，フランス語でも長らく -ize は使われていたようだからだ．ここで，フランス語でいつどのように -ise の綴字が一般化したのかが問題となる．また，（イギリス）英語がいつどのように，そのようなフランス語での -ise への一般化に合わせ，-ise を好むようになったのかも重要な問いとなる．Upward and Davidson (170--71) の解説の一部がヒントになる．

          The suffix -IZE/-ISE

There are some 200 verbs in general use ending in the suffix -ISE/-IZE, spelt with Z in American usage and s or z in British usage. The ending originated in Gr with z, which was transmitted through Lat and OFr to Eng beginning in the ME period.

・ Three factors interfered with the straightforward adoption of z for all the words ending in /aɪz/:
   - The increasing variation of z/s in OFr and ME.
   - The competing model of words like surprise, always spelt with s (-ISE in those words being not the Gr suffix but part of a Franco-Lat stem).
   - Developments in Fr which undermined the z-spelling of the Gr -IZE suffix; for example, the 1694 edition of the authoritative dictionary of the Académie Française standardized the spelling of the Gr suffix with s (e.g. baptiser, organiser, réaliser) for ModFr in accordance with the general Fr rule for the spelling of /z/ between vowels as s, and the consistent use of -ISE by ModFr from then on gave weight to a widespread preference for it in British usage. American usage, on the other hand, came down steadfastly on the side of -IZE, and BrE now allows either spelling.

　英語の -ise/-ize 問題の陰にアカデミー・フランセーズの働きがあったというのはおもしろい．さらに追求してみたい．

　・ Carney, Edward. A Survey of English Spelling. Abingdon: Routledge, 1994.
　・ Upward, Christopher and George Davidson. The History of English Spelling. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

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