huswife,  hussy  ME  hus(e)wif,  in  which  the  regular
shortening  of  both  vowels  —  one  by  position,  and  the
other  through  weak  stress  —  resulted  in  total  obscura-
tion of  the  cp  when  the  diphthongical  pronunciation  was
gaining  ground,  prevailed  in  this  obscured  form  (huswife,


22


hussie)  up  to  the  1 6th  c.,  when  the  analytical  form
housewife,  which  had  never  died  out,  also  became  fre-
quent. The  reason  for  this  was  of  semological  nature,
the  analytical  and  obscured  forms  conveying  in  MnE
different  senses.  —  An  analogical  case  is  good-wife  with
its  by- forms  goodive^  goody,  whereas  midwife,  has  wholly
superseded  the  earlier  midif.
nettas,  nettus,  nittus  dial,  forms  for  neat-house
(Wright).
orchard  « already  in  pth  c.,  OE  ortgeard  passed
into  orcgeard,  orceard,  whence  ME  orchard^  also,  with
recognition  of  the  second  element,  orch-yard,  ort-yard,
or,  with  later  conformation  to  L.  hortus,  hort-yard.*  The
form-history  of  this  word  is  particularly  interesting.  The
OE  Latin  loan-word  ort-geard  —  the  first  instance  of
which  is  stated  by  NED  to  be  found  in  the  Pastoral
Care  —  was  evidently  introduced  by  Aelfred,  who,  in
order  to  render  it  more  intelligible,  furnished  it  with
the  explanatory  addition  geard.  The  early  total  ob-
scuration of  the  cp  may  be  connected  with  the  decay
in  Latin  lore  among  Anglo-Saxon  priests  and  monks
complained  of  by  Aelfred.  (Regarding  the  spelling  or-
ceard  cf  the  variation  feccean~fetian).  The  obscured
form  afterwards  practically  remained  the  only  living  one,
for  ME  ort-yard  can  mean  nothing  else  than  that  clerks
and  monks  conversant  with  Latin  endeavoured  to  re-
introduce  etymological  spelling;  the  1 6th  — 1 7th  c.  form
hort-yard  is  even  explained  as  an  « affected  alteration*
of  orchard.
witchuck  besides  witch-chick  (CD).
