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Backgound:
Put your feet(us) up (hence the punning image, sorry) and enjoy the ramblings
of the Ultra- sonographical Lexicographer as he takes you on a mystical
journey through the history of Ancient Greek English, Latin English,
Middle English English and Revised Modern American English English,
not to mention American Australian English English, to the gestation
of the debate concerning the correct spelling of the word FETUS! or
was that FOETUS? Witness the rebirth of a great word - parents
uncertain.
Printed,
though not exactly word for word with this version, in Sound Effects
(Newsletter of the Australian Sonographers Association), sometime
in 1997 or 1996, I can't remember...
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Introduction
Over the years, discerning
members of the ASA have been privileged to bear witness to landmark
studies on the etymology and pronunciation of English as she be used
in the practise of (ultra)sonography.
For example, I told the twenty or so members back in the early
days that “anomaly” and “abnormality” are essentially the same word,
although current usage gives them slightly different connotations. “Anomaly”
suggests something unexpected, while the mistaken Early French and Middle
English inclusions of the b
and the r, making it “abnormal”, more forcibly suggests malformation:
as in ab (away from) + normal
(normal), rather than a
(without, not) + nomaly (evenness).
The secrets of the pronunciation of “anisotropy” were also revealed
- an-ISO-tropy and definitely not, despite its currency amongst
people who should know better, anis-OT-ropy - as was its meaning
- not equal turn. Bet that sorted you out.
But this time it is
Le Grande Fromage  of all obstetric
sonography controversies, word-wise. I cannot wax lyrical enough on the subtle and yet magnificent
exegesis I am about to perform free of cost (why AM I doing this?*) for your edification and
enlightenment. Stand back in
awe, for I am about to (try and) demystify the fetus
v foetus
debate. Yay!
Dictionary Opinion:
Most if not all dictionaries
are confusing on the issue. I
checked about eight or nine hundred**
dictionaries. Some report foetus to be a variant spelling of fetus, while others consider vice versa to be nolo contendere. I could find no agreement even among American
dictionaries. For God’s sake,
my American Australian-English spell-checker prefers fetus one minute and foetus the next. (Caveat emptor of MS Word 97. Apparently, different fonts can select their own spell-checker!)
My 1948 Latin dictionary was not much help on the controversy,
but only shows fetus, as in fetus suis, meaning “sucking-pig!” [Related to char sui fan,
perhaps? BBQ pork with rice, here in HK].
Historical Digression:
Words with the “oe”
digraph (two letter) spelling of the “e” sound, such as oestrogen, oedema,
apnoea and diarrhoea, etc. and which used to be printed (until quite
recently) with a ligature – joined together like this: œ – were once Greek and stolen by the
Romans (like everything else). The
Greek letters were actually “oi”, as in osteopoikylosis
[What? Spotted bones.].
In my discussion with
the gurus at the Oxford Word
and Language Support – well, I read their book, Questions
of English, Oxford University Press, Oxford,1994 – we decided that
most words from the Greek “oi” and written in Medieval Latin as “oe”
have now reverted to the “e” spelling, except for Latin or Greek names
(Oedipus), or in vaguely technical terms (manoeuvre?).
There is a similar story with words using the “ae” digraph: phenomenon used to be phaenomenon. This conversion was spurred on by the simplified/phonetic spellings
recommended in Noah Webster’s American
Dictionary of the English Language (1828) but there has been a traditionalist
(primarily British) reluctance to accept many suggested changes, even
though some are etymological more correct than the current British spelling
(like using –ize endings.).
But if we really wanted to be etymologically correct we’d still
be speaking Sanskrit, or pointing and grunting, right?
Did you know the word
“economy” used to be “oeconomy” in Latin and “oikonomy” in Greek? Its original meaning was “to baffle the population
with fudged figures in order to make them vote for you”.
Eureka!: Hold your breath as you read this bit... it stinks.
An excellent example
of the confusion resulting from this borrowing of words from various
languages is the word foetus /
fetus. It never was Greek, according to the Oxford team. It always was Latin: fetus, a noun of the fourth (count them) declension. The English plural is fetuses. It is derived,
according to Chambers Guide to
Australian Usage. from ferare: to conceive (although my Latin Dictionary doesn’t have this
word) rather than foetere:
to give birth, (which it doesn’t have either).
But the venerable Oxford people assert that the “oe” diagraph
was inserted in the sixteenth century either a) as a very common printer’s
error or, b) in a misguided attempt by medieval academics to “correct”
the Latin language, which had they felt become corrupted over the centuries. This judgment would have been made under
the incorrect assumption that it was similar in origin to the words
mentioned above, or in confusion with foetid,
or fetid, which of course
means “stinking” and is derived from a totally different word: foetare: to stink. Notice the -are ending rather than
the -ere ending above in 'to give birth'. Obviously different... Something
to do with declensions...
So, it is essentially
snob value which has kept foetus
from Early Modern English as the preferred British spelling. The newly recommended spelling, fetus, does not represent a callous Americanism
[those callous Americans!], but is the correction of a centuries old
stuff-up (a.k.a. "tradition").
The spelling of similar words with digraphs has varied from century
to century according to academic fashion and perceived correctness,
but the fight for ye (pronounced the)
olde (silent e) British
spelling is difficult to support. Editors
of most medical journals and text-books, including the Australasian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
now recommend – in fact enforce – the fetus spelling.
I think we have to
bite the bullet on this word and accept that fetus is a spelling whose time has come
again. Think of it as a rebirth. According
to Chambers, “Writers at large are free to choose, and might prefer
fetus either in terms of its
own etymology, or because of the general principle of reducing oe digraphs to e – or for both reasons.”
Notice of motion.
I move that: f-e-t-u-s
be the ASA approved spelling.
Phillip L. Ramm
Fetal Welfare Lab,
Maternal Fetal
Medicine
Westmead Hospital. [formerly]
Seconded: ???????
* “No-one but a blockhead ever wrote, except
for money.” Dr S. Johnson.
** The word “hundred” was inserted by mistake.
[Ed.]
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