English prepositions

I hope I may be allowed a post that has nothing to do with Japanese, since this doesn't really fit the topic of the other blog I contribute to, either.

Geoffrey Pullum at Language Log has an interesting reflection on the English preposition furth. Like Dr. Pullum, I was unaware of this preposition, though of course I know the related form forth. His post is informative and interesting, and I leave it to you to see what he has to say about the preposition system.

One line in particular caught my attention, though.

The only sign of furth [in the Oxford English Dictionary] is as an early alternate spelling [of forth], and never with of. (Note, though, that as Jim Smith points out to me, all modern English dialects have preserved the comparative and superlative forms further and furthest.)

That is, while most dialects do not have the preposition furth of, (as Scottish English apparently does), all dialects have further and furthest.

What struck me is the suggestion that further and furthest are comparative and superlative forms of the preposition furth.

English prepositions don't usually have comparative or superlative forms, do they? The Oxford English Dictionary (not a work of grammar, I know, but still) says:

comparative, a. (n.) 2. Gram. Applied to that derived form of an adjective or adverb used, in comparing two objects of thought, to express a higher degree of the quality or attribute denoted by the simple word, as tru-er, often-er (or to the periphrasis used in the same sense, as more true, more often); the adjective or adverb being then said to be in the comparative degree.

This would seem to be a piece of counter-evidence to Pullum's argument that forth is not an adverb. (Though I do think that adverb is itself sort of a wastebasket category, sweeping up any words that don't fit other parts of the grammatical taxonomy.)

Try making comparative forms of your favorite prepositions: *more around? *more between? These sound wrong to me.

Of course there might be more about, but only in the Japanese sense.

There, I did get the topic back to Japanese and English.

アメリカのDoonesburyという漫画で下のような文を見つけた。

We're engineering honchas, and the thing just sits there mocking us.

Honchas（ホンチャズ）というのはどんな意味だろうか。

英語はスペイン語から様々な単語を借用している。そして、スペイン語の名詞や形容詞には2つのジェンダーがある。例えば、「Latino」（ラティノ）というのは｢中南米の(男の)人｣で、「Latina」（ラティナ）は「中南米の女の人｣の意味だ。普通はスペイン語から借用した女性を示す英語の単語は <-a> のスペルで終わる。

英語の「honcho」という言葉は「ボス」または｢偉い人｣という意味だ。とすれば、「honcho」の最後のスペルが<-a>に変わった「honcha」は｢偉い女性｣の意味ではないだろうか。

しかし「honcho」はスペイン語の単語ではない。American Speech (1955)という雑誌によると「honcho」は次のように説明されている。"It is a Japanese word translated roughly as 'Chief officer', brought back from Japan by fliers stationed there during the occupation and during the Korean fighting." （日本語の課長の意味の単語だ。占有していたパイロットが記憶した。）

ということは、英語の｢honcho｣(ハンチョウ)は日本語の｢班長｣(はんちょう)であり、「honcha」は半分日本語で半分スペイン語の英語の単語だと言える。