The origins of this word lie in
the Anglo-Norman word meschevous, meaning ‘troublesome’, itself derived
from mischief, which is made up of the prefix mis added to the
word chief (from Latin caput ‘head’). Early spellings
tended to preserve the Anglo-Norman original with mes: mescheffus,
mescheuous and meschievous. The correct spelling today is mischievous,
although many people erroneously spell it mischievious. This
misspelling is prompted by a variant pronunciation with stress on the second
syllable, which was a valid alternative until around 1700, but is now
considered non-standard. It was recorded in a pronouncing dictionary of
1802; despite seeing the attractions of this pronunciation, the editor
dismissed it as a vulgarism, concluding that: ‘In language, as in many other
cases, it is safer to be wrong with the polite than right with the
vulgar’.
The
pronunciation of the word with 4 syllables goes back to the 15th
century, when it was commonly spelled mischievious, mischeevious
or mischievieous. This pronunciation is probably due to a tendency
for speakers to replace the less common –ous ending with the –ious found in
words like envious, furious and curious. The Oxford
English Dictionary considers this spelling ‘regional, colloquial or
humorous’, while Merriam-Webster suggests it derives from an attempt to
invoke a ‘folksy’ association, or an echo of the word devious. Urban
Dictionary is more damning in its judgement, labelling it ‘a common and
disgusting mispronunciacion and/or spelling of the word mischievous’. The
entry goes on to criticise attempts to legitimise such mistakes as linguistic
evolution: ‘Changes like this are driven by the illiterate and the ignorant,
and it is careless to embrace them. And embarrassing.’ I can’t help
feeling this person’s rant would have greater force if it didn’t contain a
misspelling of mispronunciation.
Searching The
Guardian online brings up numerous profiles on the Soul Mates dating site
in which lonely hearts proudly advertise their ‘mischievious’ sense of
humour. Assuming they are not covertly hinting at their devious
character, they must be hoping to appear folksy. Either way, they are
presumably not looking for someone who values good spelling. The
misspelling is especially common on Twitter. Perhaps its most famous appearance
was in a tweet by Sally Bercow, in which she defended her ill-judged comments
about Lord McAlpine as ‘mischievious not libellous’. As it turned out,
her legal knowledge was just as flawed as her spelling.
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| A younger Spelling Trouble up to no good |
