| Author | Comment | ||
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 Senning |
Price vs. prize |
Lead | |
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Posts: 1114 (10/18/06 01:54:07) |
The distinction between these two spellings and corresponding pronunciations appears to be an English idiosyncrasy. French,German, and the Scandinavian language only use one word for both.
M-W does not explain how, when, and by whom the word prize was coined. Is there better information available? |
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DaveWilton |
Re: Price vs. prize | ||
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Posts: 7490 (10/18/06 06:04:11) Administrator |
The split appears to have occured in the 16th century and is a result of dialectal variation, with one dialect winning out.
The oldest form of prize is pris, which appears before the 14th century. The form price was also in use starting in the early 16th century. The last citation in the OED2 for this form is from 1675. Prize makes its appearance with Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in 1596. Use of prize by poets like Shakespeare and Dryden may have helped solidify its usage (or they may have been following the trend). |
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Eyehawk |
Re: Price vs. prize | ||
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Posts: 2309 (10/19/06 01:15:43) |
Idiosyncratic or not, they do have different meanings. Am I missing your point, Senning?
Do the French, Germans, and Scndinavians not have separate words for those separate meanings? |
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jgorman64 |
Re: Price vs. prize | ||
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Posts: 3698 (10/19/06 10:50:51) |
Preis in German can mean both prize and price. There are, of course, other words. Same with:
French pris Dutch: prijs But not Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian |
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Steve G |
Re: Price vs. prize | ||
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Posts: 755 (10/19/06 11:04:58) |
Small correction, JG (typo?). French word is "prix".
Although there is "prise", which is from the verb "prendre" to take, and is used for prize in the military sense, i.e. something captured. Wonder if this last word contributed to the differentiation in english? |
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jgorman64 |
Re: Price vs. prize | ||
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Posts: 3698 (10/19/06 15:21:17) |
typo?
I wish. Grand Prix, of course!!! Sheesh. |
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