“Providing/provided that”
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Rafal Molencki
Abstract
The Anglo-Norman phrase pourvue est que (rendering Latin provisum est quod) was grammaticalized in the mid-14th century as a specialized participle-conjunction phrase pourvue que, introducing clauses which expressed the sufficient and necessary condition. At the turn of the 15th century bilingual London Chancery writers copied the conjunction into their Middle English legalese as purveyed that, later replaced with provided/providing that. The process was parallel with the gradual elimination of the verb purvey(en) in favour of provide(n). Around 1600 that became optional and the use of the phrase was extended to other genres, thus completing the grammaticalization of the new conjunction in English.
Abstract
The Anglo-Norman phrase pourvue est que (rendering Latin provisum est quod) was grammaticalized in the mid-14th century as a specialized participle-conjunction phrase pourvue que, introducing clauses which expressed the sufficient and necessary condition. At the turn of the 15th century bilingual London Chancery writers copied the conjunction into their Middle English legalese as purveyed that, later replaced with provided/providing that. The process was parallel with the gradual elimination of the verb purvey(en) in favour of provide(n). Around 1600 that became optional and the use of the phrase was extended to other genres, thus completing the grammaticalization of the new conjunction in English.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Norse influence on English in the light of general contact linguistics 15
- The Germanic roots of the Old English sound system 43
- Monetary policy and Old English dialects 73
- The order and schedule of nominal plural formation transfer in three Southern dialects of Early Middle English 95
- The temporal and regional contexts of the numeral ‘two’ in Middle English 115
- Grammaticalisation, contact and corpora 131
- Discourse organization and the rise of final then in the history of English 153
- The origins of how come and what…for 177
- “Providing/provided that” 197
- Prefer 215
- The 400 million word Corpus of Historical American English (1810–2009) 231
- Gender change from Old to Middle English 263
- “Please tilt me-ward by return of post” 289
- Multilingualism in the vocabulary of dress and textiles in late medieval Britain 313
- “No man entreth in or out” 327
- Beyond questions and answers 349
- The demise of gog and cock and their phraseologies in dramatic discourse 369
- Index 383
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Norse influence on English in the light of general contact linguistics 15
- The Germanic roots of the Old English sound system 43
- Monetary policy and Old English dialects 73
- The order and schedule of nominal plural formation transfer in three Southern dialects of Early Middle English 95
- The temporal and regional contexts of the numeral ‘two’ in Middle English 115
- Grammaticalisation, contact and corpora 131
- Discourse organization and the rise of final then in the history of English 153
- The origins of how come and what…for 177
- “Providing/provided that” 197
- Prefer 215
- The 400 million word Corpus of Historical American English (1810–2009) 231
- Gender change from Old to Middle English 263
- “Please tilt me-ward by return of post” 289
- Multilingualism in the vocabulary of dress and textiles in late medieval Britain 313
- “No man entreth in or out” 327
- Beyond questions and answers 349
- The demise of gog and cock and their phraseologies in dramatic discourse 369
- Index 383
