Radio Script #322
Little Talks On Common Things
December 9, 1956
A mi I d tempesT ina teapot was sti rred up last summer over the spe I ling of Vassa I boro. Some peop I e contended strong Iy for llO r 0″, wh i Ie othe rs were just as vehement in defense of llO r 0 ugh”. Because I have lon9 been i nrterested in the historical development of our lanquage~ and especial IV in place names, thought I would try to ascertain what facts — not opinions — are avai lab Ie.
Today the officially accepted spel ling of Maine towns is that qiven in the annual Maine RegisTer, which in turn gets its spel linq from the lists of the Secreta ry of State aT Augusta. The spe I ling in the I a-tes t iss ue of the Ma i ne Regi ster gi ves ~!V ass a I b 0 r 0″, but those who contend for “Vas s a I – b 0 r 0 u g htt are quite right in saying that the longer spelling prevai led for many years before the change was made.
An exami nati on of Mai ne Regi sters over the years revea Is that the change was not officially accepted unti I 1949. The Register for 1948-49 has Vassalborough, as do al I the preceding issues, but that for 1949-50 and al I subsequent issues have Vassalboro.
It is interesting to note how this seems to have happened. The town of Vassalboro has three post offices. Unti I the ~1aine Register issue of 1923-24, no special designation was given for the post office at Getchell’s Corner, but only for those at North and East Vassalboro. Year afTer year the Register’s wording was: “Postmasters: Marion Mi les; East, L. C. Barker; North .. James Simpson~ Then, in 1923-24 comes a change. The wording then was and continued to be “Postmasters: Vassalboro, Marion Miles; East, L. C. Barker,: North, James Simpson”. And here is the interesting point. While the name of the town is spel led in the Register Vassalborough, that of the post office is given as Vassalboro. Now let’s take a look even farther back in time. A little more than a hundred
years ago, in 1855, the Maine Register gave the name of eight towns ending in !!b 0 r 0 u g hli, none in !?b 0 r on. Now let’s see what happened by 1900, 45 years later. The Register for that year had 13 “borough:’ places, six of them endi ng in “b 0 r 0 ugh n, seven endi ng in Pb 0 r o!!. By that ti me both Waldoboro and Waterboro had changed from the longer to the shorter spelling.
And there were five places which had not been named in the 1855 Register at all, and everyone of those places was spelled with the shorter boro ending.
They were Frenchboro, Iceboro, Marlboro, Weeksboro and Vanceboro. The first four of these were sma II vi Ilages in towns of a di fferent narre, and the !’boro:; name referred to the vi Ilage post office. But the last one — Vanceboro — as a termi nus of the Mai ne Centra I Rai I road has become a we II known town. From its first appearance in the Maine Register it has always been spelled nv a n c e – b 0 r 0”.
What seems to have happened, therefore, is that as towns and post offices were named after the middle of the 19th century, and especially by 1874, when Vanceboro was incorporated, people were preferring the shorter spellinq.
‘t/hy It/a I doboro, ‘t/aterboro and Vassa I boro eventua I I Y changed, wh i Ie others like Scarborough and Gou I dsoorougll U i U lIuT, Cdfl De answered on Iy by the statement which must be given about all language changes — prevai ling custom. Probably it is the very age of Scarborough — one of the oldest towns in Maine -wh i ch has made peop Ie sti ck to the longer spe I ling.
Now it is natural for people interested in such subjects as this; to try to defend their views by logic. But the history of the English language shows clearly that English has developed whimsically and illogically. The 109ician is quite right in saying that you wi II find i’B 0 r 0 u 9 hi: as a word in the dictionary, but not ‘ib 0 r o!i; therefore, he reasons._ the :7b 0 r 0;; ending must be incorrect. But correctness in language is not determined by I09ic. What settles al I language is prevai ling custom.
Examination of old printed records reveals that before American place names were officially spelled i’b 0 r o!:, the names ending in borough were often spelled, for the sake of brevity, !lb 0 r oft’. It was only one more easy step to omi t the apostrop he.
Whi Ie we are talking about place names with boro, let’s not forget those ending in Hburgn. In England the endings borough and burgh (as in Scarborouqh and Edinburgh) both derive from the German and Anglo Saxon word burg, a fortified town. In Middle English at the time of Chaucer, burg had become “b u r g h’?
and then it took the same pronunciation as borough, so that to this day the pronunciation of Scotland’s capitol is lfEd-in-bur-oTt , although there is no ‘Yo’· in the name.
Now, don’t you see that, if I ogli c deci ded spe II i ng or pronunci ati on. the great steel city in Pennsylvania ought to be pronounced Pittsboro, because its ending is exactly like that of Edinburgh. On the other hand, no one would hesitate, by logic, to pronounce the name of the steel city near San Francisco Bay, I’Pits-burgl~, because that city’s name has no “h H in its ending, but simply has the German or Ang 10 Saxon fib: U r gfT.
We I I, wh i ch is correct, Vassa I boro or Vas sa I borough? Ne i the r. Both.
There is no such thing as enduring, never changing, officially recognized correctness in English. The grammars, the spelling books, and the dictionaries do not di ctate usage. They tried to do it in the 18th century, but Ii bertyloving Englishmen and Americans would not accept such dictation. No. The grammars and dictionaries do not establish usage; they only record it for a given time and place. How one spel Is Vassalboro today depends on the prevai ling usage of 1956, and the Maine Register records that prevai’ling usage as rib 0 r 0”. But if those who prefer the older spelling can rally enough people to their sup~ port, the longer borough may come back. Meanwhi Ie let each side take care how it contends that either spelling is right or wrong. There is no right or wrong about the matter, but only prevai ling custom.
Th i s ta I k about one town name leads us to comment on how another Ma i ne town got its name. In fact the origin of the names of ~~aine towns provides many inte rest i ng side lights on Ma i ne history. One such instance i s the town of Norway.
In 1795 forty citizens of that Oxford community petitioned the ~·1assachusetts ,,’, legislature for a town charter with the name of Norage. How did that get changed to Norway? The town is not named for the country in Europe, as many people suppose, for there were no Norwegians in the place in 1795. What seems to have happened was that the handwri ti ng on the peti ti on was not pi ai n -‘ and the: ge’ending the name Norage looked like n y ‘-. How the “w!; crept in we don.ot know, but anyhow a legislative clerk mistakenly wrote out the bi II spel ling the place flNorway?!. So Norway the town became.
Where did the petitioners get that name Norage? Possibly from Norwich in England, where the local pronunciation was nNor-age f7 • But it may be only 0 variant spelling of !!N 0 r rid geT!, a common Abnaki Indian word meaning lit-‘ tie falls or rapids, as Norridgewock means :’Iittle falls with smooth water above and be low!· . Simi I ar fa lis are at the lower end of NonJay vi II age.
Out of Norway comes a mi ghty good story of the 0 I d days. Josh ua Poo I, a post ri der in the ear Iy 1800 ‘s, covered on horse back the route from Norway vi 1- lage to Greenwood City (now Bryant Pond) carrying the mai I in saddle bags. One morning in haying time Pool noticed a farmer in his door yard, anxiously gazing at the clouded day. nMy good man”, sa i d Poo I, ;!are you in doubt about the weather? ”
:: I sure am.”
!’The good book says that he who observes the wind will not sow, and he who watches the clouds wi II not reap. I t wi II break up before noon and the sun wi II be out. Giddap!”
And with that .ch i rrup to his horse Poo I was off. Soon:, miss i no a strap that had hung on the saddle, he turned back to look for it. Then seeing the farmer busi Iy preparing for the havfield, he said, -:Ah, rrry friend; I see you have taken my adv i ce and are qo i ng to cut your hav. ,”
“Nor:, sa i d the farmer, 1’1 a in’ t go i ng to cut no hay. I im on Iv. hustl i ng to get in what’s already cut before it gets wet. I notice whenever vou predict fa i r weather it genera II y ra i ns. i’
Poo I never gave \veather advi ce to that farmer aga in, not because the I atter scorned the mai I carrier’s prediction, but because that very afternoon there was a torrential shower which deluged the hay fields.
I am always alert to unpublished items dealing with Colby Col lege in bVgone days. One such item, in the form of an old letter recently came to my attenti on. It was written in \’/atervi lie on November 29, 1830 by J. C. Morri II to his father in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Morri II was not a graduate of the college, nor did he ever attend it. He seems to have been an ardent Baptist whom the trustees for a time employed to raise money for the younq institution. This is what that agent wrote 126 years ago:
“The Treasurer of VJaterville College, TirrK)thy Boutelle, ESQ.:- remarked the other day that what I had done for the col lege in six months was worth more than $2,000. This remark was not made in my presence, but to a qentleman with whom he was conversing on the subject of the agency. Things at -the col lege are goi ng on we I I. I t never stood so high as it does now, so they say. VIe have reduced the pri ce of board in commons to one doll ara week, both at the academy and the col lege. The government of the col lege have added German and French languages to the formal course. The instructors here are as competent as any in i~ew England, except at Cambridge. Are there any prospective students for us in Amesbury? The expense of the whole course here, including board: is only $75 a year, and by a di ligent, active and inoenious young man al I can be earned within the year and his studies not interrupted. There is not another col lege in New England which offers such faci lities. wi I I send you a catalogue next week perhaps. Some of our Baptist friends look on us with a jealous eye and regret our prosperity. The Jackson party affect to be offended and say they wi I I not allow the college a cent out of the state treasury this year, just to punish it for the litTle exhibition of talent by one of the graduates last commencement. His address to the governor was too highly spiced for their political stomachs. However we sha I I see how it will come out by March next. f!
That letter certainly gives an interesting gl impse of some of the trials which beset Colby a century and a auarter ago.
Can you sTand havi ng a coup Ie of more stories out of the ~1aine woods?
In a logging camp an old fel low was once left in charge of remaining supplies when the winter’s operations were finished. One day he returned from fishing to find that someone had· entered the camp, broken open a box of dried apples, and made off with half a bushel of them. The old man went down to the spring to get a pai I of water for supper, and there beside the spring was a bear, all swollen up like a big, furry bal I. The way the old man later told it was th is: T~That ba r cou I dn ‘t move a whee I or tetch his feet to the 9round. He jest pawed the air with al I four feet. The spring water hefd drank after eati ng them dr i ed app les had ba looned him up so he cou I d aJmost, float. H
About 50 years aqo up in the north woods a stranqer asked a French Canadian guide where he hai led from. ‘lQuebec!:, said the Frencnmdfl. The stranger, thinki ng the Frenchman meant the city rather than the provi nce., sai d !lQuebec _.thatts where General Wolfe was ki lied in the French and Indian \AJar .. wasn’t it?!: The Fre nchman sh rugged his shou I de rs and rep lied J !71 don’t remembe r ! bout dat. I ‘m jest sma I I boy dat time.!Y
Since the batt Ie in wh i ch \~o I fe died occurred in 1758: the Frenchman is answer in 1905 labeled him as 146 years old, which was pretty good stretching for a man not quite 60.
Year: 1956