posted
Does the use of the word "spell" to mean "to relieve (someone) from work temporarily by taking a turn", as in "Bob has been busy answering the phones for the past hour; I should probably spell him" strike you as either archaic or bumpkinish?
I used it in that sense when talking to C a little while ago, and she questioned it. It seems pretty normal to me, but it wouldn't be the first time I used a turn of phrase that seemed pretty normal to me, but that is more common in writing than it is in spoken English.
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posted
Really Jon Boy? That's surprising. If it is a regional thing, I wonder what region it is that uses it. C thought that it sounded Southern.
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So, to your ear, it's sort of on the same plane as the noun form use of the word "spell" to mean "a short, indefinite period of time", as in "come and sit for a spell"?
To me they sound very different, and it seems natural to use the former, but very odd to use the latter.
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And here i thought you were going to cast a bebazzlement spell on Bob to keep him working. I have use Spell as a noun signifying a period of time. Using it as a verb seems a bit lazy in this case.
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as an aside, i've also never heard spell used that way before. and if it helps, I'm from New England. And have also lived in Jersey and PA.
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Looking at the etymology of the word "spell", it would seem that our different uses of of the word come from different historical roots. "To spell", as in "to form words by means of letters", comes from the Middle English spellen, "to read letter by letter", from Old French espeller, which dictionary.com notes is of Germanic origin, but does not provide further information about.
Both the meanings "a short, indefinite period of time" and "to relieve (someone) from work temporarily by taking a turn" come from the Middle English spelen, "to spare", from Old English spelian, "to represent, substitute for"/
Dictionary.com doesn't provide a satisfactory etymology for "spell" meaning "a magical incantation". All is says is "Middle English, discourse, from Old English".
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1. It's a real word, not a colloquialism. 2. It's not confined to any region. 3. It is a little archaic, but not ancient. 4. It is more common in writing than in speech, so people that do a lot of reading will be more likely to know it.
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I was familiar with it referring to a short period of time, but not as a verb to substitute. New to me.
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What I mean by lazy is giving a word a new meaning to shorten the number of words you need to speak. "I am going to relieve Bob for a spell." becomes "I'm going to spell Bob."
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posted
I'll argue with its status as an archaic word: I have never heard it used in a Jane Austen novel.
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The OED is showing two different Old English roots. There's spellian, which gives the verb spell (like spelling a word), the noun spell (like a wizard's spell), and a few other similar meanings like "discourse." Then there's spelian, which gives the word you're asking about. There are some other related senses of the word that are chiefly nautical and Australian, and one of the example quotes says, "As we say in New England." Don't know if that helps, but there you go.
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And, of course, "spell" can mean an indeterminate length of time. "Bob was relieved for a spell."
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Actually, Dan,looking at the etymological information in my earlier post, it looks to me as though the meaning "to relieve blah blah blah" is probably the older usage of the term, with the "indefinite period of time" usage growing from that. That's just my take on it though; I could easily be wrong.
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posted
You know Tom, that's actually really interesting. The word "spot" can also mean a small, undefined quantity", as in "I'd love a spot of tea". This is a primarily British usage, of course, but what's interesting is that it parallels the "a short, indefinite period of time" meaning of "spell". In other words, these two words run parallel to each other on multiple levels. I wonder if there's a common etymological root to them?
I'm going to go and look on dictionary.com, but Jon Boy, if you'd also check it out in the OED that'd be great.
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They're not related. Spot appears in several Germanic languages, but it seems that it might have come from somewhere else, since it arrives sort of late in the languages. The original meaning of spot was something like "speck" or "small bit."
[ March 30, 2004, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: Jon Boy ]
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I cast a spell on thee: Go spell Bob for a spell, he was supposed to spell his name, but he had one of his spells.
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When you're lifting weights, if you need someone to help you, you ask them to "spot" you. The guy helping is a "spotter". Any idea where that comes from?
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He also has the best vantage point from which to spot your remains underneath all those weights and pullies and things.
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Spell works for me in that phrase, but what do I know, I'm just happily a hillbilly by birth and choice.
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Zan, it looks like it simply comes from the sense of spot meaning "to watch out for something."
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Noemon, I have both heard and used spell in this way, although not for 20 years or so. I recall coaches using it in rec league sports. "Zamphyr, go spell Johnson at right forward..." Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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