Wednesday, December 24, 2008

loathe; loath; loth

From Garner's Usage Tip of the Day

loathe; loath; loth.
"Loathe" (rhymes with "clothe") is the verb meaning "to abhor, detest."
"Loath" (rhymes with "oath"), with its needless variant "loth," is an adjective meaning "reluctant." The verb spelling is often wrongly used for the adjective -- e.g.:
o "If you are at a dinner, sitting at the head table, you may be loathe [read 'loath'] to stand up and walk away because you are on display up there." Charles Osgood, Osgood on Speaking 80-81 (1988).
o "Even young fans, usually loathe [read 'loath'] to adopt the musical tastes of their parents, are bewildered." Edna Gundersen, "Pink Floyd's Retrogressive Progression," USA Today, 25 Apr. 1994.
o "And, although the would-be cheerleader from San Antonio is loathe [read 'loath'] to brag about it, she has created her own case for being selected." Amy Hettenhausen, "3 Cheers for Sance," Austin Am.-Statesman, 16 Nov. 1995.

7 comments:

Hilgil said...

Loth seems to be far from a "needless variant". Surely the different spelling lessens the likelihood of of dropping an illiterate clanger...

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brucella said...

As Hilgil says above, Loth seems to be far from a "needless variant". Surely the different spelling lessens the likelihood of of dropping an illiterate clanger...

Agreed; but not only that. Anyone claiming that it is "loth" which is the "needless variant" betrays a stupendous ignorance of the etymology of this adjective, since the spelling loth is shown in the literature to be far far older. If anything were to be cast as a "needless" interloper as adjective, it would rationally be loath.

(Indeed, it would not be beyond the bounds of reason to propose that the spelling loath may well have arisen out of pure confusion of the adjective loth with the verb loathe, since both of these latter two words were in circulation before loath appeared on the scene.)

Incidentally, both the "loth" and the "loath" spellings of the adjective are widely found among the 81-84% of English speakers who do not follow USA English. In Britain, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Australia and Ireland, for instance, "loth" is still common enough, though in places losing some ground to "loath".