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Local English prepositions | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 5 08 November 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
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The word "outwith" is frequently heard in Scotland and it also appears in official written documentation. But it doesn't seem to exist outwith my country and few dictionaries list it.
Are there more examples of prepositions restricted to a certain dialect or geographical area? Another one I wonder about is "onto". Is this widely used? Does it officially exist? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 2 of 5 08 November 2013 at 2:13pm | IP Logged |
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Your question made me curious so I had a quick look at the Cambridge Online Dictionary. It defines "outwith" as Scottish English, synonym to outside, so possibly only used in Scotland?
On the other hand "onto" must be official since it is in the dictionary. Cambridge gives the alternative spelling "on to". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4703 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 3 of 5 08 November 2013 at 4:28pm | IP Logged |
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I have never heard "outwith", but I can certainly confirm the cross-continental existence of "onto".
Not only is it in the dictionary, I hear it used (and use it myself) all the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alphathon Groupie Scotland Joined 4180 days ago 60 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Scottish Gaelic | Message 4 of 5 09 November 2013 at 2:44am | IP Logged |
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I have little to add to this really beyond confirming outwith's use in Scotland. While it is technically synonymous with "outside" the usage of the two words is slightly different, in a similar way to the difference between "inside" and "within". "Outwith" seems to be used more often for abstract concepts/constructions than "outside" is, e.g. "The subject was outwith his field of study." or "X was outwith the scope of the discussion." As such I'd probably define it as "not within" or the somewhat old fashioned meaning of "without" rather than "outside".
To get back on topic, I'd also be interested to hear of any interesting/obscure dialectal or archaic prepositions. When studying German I've encountered numerous prepositions that make perfect sense when translated directly into English but are rarely or never used, which I feel is a great shame, especially since they often allow for more "streamlined" constructions. To have more in my repertoire, dialectal or not, would be greatly appreciated (if only for intellectual consideration rather than actual real-world use). Edited by Alphathon on 09 November 2013 at 2:45am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4665 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 5 09 November 2013 at 5:29pm | IP Logged |
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"betwixt" and "athwart" I seem to recall from reading Hornblower (or similar) but I've
not really heard them in use much. Anyone live near a port? I think I saw "withal" in a legal document (probably when the conveyancing was done for our house). The OED gives outwith as "now chiefly Sc." so presumably it used to be more widespread? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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