Talk:-eth

Killedeth

In the humorous definition, the example "he killedeth" is given. However, this does not fit the pattern as "killed" is the past form of "kill", while "kills" is the modern third person singular form. Therefore, this should be "he killeth". Rhdunn (talk) 20:40, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Covering this sort of incorrect, pseudoarchaic usage is the point of definition 2. — Ungoliant ^(falai) 21:21, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

I missed the "or is appended to other verb forms" part of definition 2. Rhdunn (talk) 11:43, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

All other examples given, except “emaileth”, are nonstandard as well. — Ungoliant ^(falai) 21:23, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

And by nonstandard you mean either not used in the third person singular present tense where -s/-es are used (e.g. "I Emaileth"), or are not generated from the present tense form (e.g. "saideth" vs "sayeth"). So should "or is used in contexts other than third person singular present tense" be added to the definition to cover the examples like "I Emaileth"? Rhdunn (talk) 11:43, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Should the examples be split into (a) correct usage, but with modern words or words that are not used with -eth/-est in old texts (e.g. "he emaileth"), (b) incorrect tense (e.g. "I Emaileth") and (b) applied to the incorrect form (e.g. "killedeth" and "saideth")? Rhdunn (talk) 11:43, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

No opinion. Feel free to make that change if you think it will improve the entry. — Ungoliant ^(falai) 12:10, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Delete the humorous definition

Nothing humorous about it, just ignorant dumb grammar error 96.22.5.23 05:26, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

It can be used humorously to make something sound Biblical or archaic (as in the movie Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah: "What Jorge giveth, Jorge taketh away". "Oh yeah, Well, I taketh it back then, I don't need this...") And use of -eth is not always "incorrect". It is correctly archaic. Leasnam (talk) 02:09, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Alternative forms -th

Can somebody add a usage note explaining when the alternative form -th is used? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:05, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

Request for clarification regarding pronunciation

Does "goeth" have one (like "goes") or two syllables ("go-eth")? And if it's the former, then does the -th get voiced into /-ð/? Kpalion (talk) 12:17, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

When it was actually a living word, it'd've probably been just one syllable in normal, running speech (in carefully enunciated speech, you might've got two, though). There'd've probably been variation between versions ending in /θ/ and /ð/ (compare the variable voicing of <-s> in Early Modern English; eventually the voiced version won out). However, now that it's only used as a archaism, only fully-pronounced /ˈɡəʊɪθ/ survives. Hazarasp (parlement · werkis) 13:29, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Pronunciation

According to the LPD, ɪθ (secondary əθ) --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:26, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

I added ɪθ; here's some more evidence

Audio (Southern England)

(file)

--General Vicinity (talk) 02:40, 27 December 2021 (UTC)