Impressions Say What?

AndyHall

Colonel
Joined
Dec 13, 2011
huzzay.jpg

Do you go to reenactments and hold forth with a lusty "Huzza!" when the occasion strikes? According to the Journal of the American Revolution, you're doing it wrong.

In the English speaking world from the late sixteenth century to the mid nineteenth century, the dominant cheer was Huzza! (spelled Huzza, not Huzzah or Huzzay).[1] During the period of the American War for Independence Huzza! appears so frequently, and to the exclusion of other cheers, in letters, diaries, newspaper articles, orders and literature as to make it the predominant, if not universal cheer on both sides of the Atlantic.

It is always tricky to attempt to replicate the pronunciation of words as they were pronounced centuries ago. A cheer is a vocalization. Accents, inflections and pronunciations constantly evolve. In the absence of direct evidence from audio recordings, ancient pronunciations can be questioned. And the eighteenth century spelling, “Huzza,” is ambiguous regarding pronunciation. There are at least forty different ways in which the word “Huzza” might be pronounced in the English language.[2] Which of these forty-plus possible pronunciations was in use in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

In the case of “Huzza!” there is compelling evidence from period dictionaries, poetry and song that the common, indeed virtually universal pronunciation among English speakers was “Huzzay!” to rhyme with words such as “hay,” “day,” “pray,” “say,” “may,” “away,” “delay” and “play.”
 
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huzzay.jpg

Do you go to reenactments and hold forth with a lusty "Huzza!" when the occasion strikes? According to the Journal of the American Revolution, you're doing to wrong.

In the English speaking world from the late sixteenth century to the mid nineteenth century, the dominant cheer was Huzza! (spelled Huzza, not Huzzah or Huzzay).[1] During the period of the American War for Independence Huzza! appears so frequently, and to the exclusion of other cheers, in letters, diaries, newspaper articles, orders and literature as to make it the predominant, if not universal cheer on both sides of the Atlantic.

It is always tricky to attempt to replicate the pronunciation of words as they were pronounced centuries ago. A cheer is a vocalization. Accents, inflections and pronunciations constantly evolve. In the absence of direct evidence from audio recordings, ancient pronunciations can be questioned. And the eighteenth century spelling, “Huzza,” is ambiguous regarding pronunciation. There are at least forty different ways in which the word “Huzza” might be pronounced in the English language.[2] Which of these forty-plus possible pronunciations was in use in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

In the case of “Huzza!” there is compelling evidence from period dictionaries, poetry and song that the common, indeed virtually universal pronunciation among English speakers was “Huzzay!” to rhyme with words such as “hay,” “day,” “pray,” “say,” “may,” “away,” “delay” and “play.”

I think pirates of the Caribbean use Huzza. Seems what I have heard most anyway.
 
That is definitely food thought!.....But, I wonder, in cases where soldiers who could not spell very well, are there any surviving letters that show they spelled it Phonetically (i.e "Huzzay").....My thought is that if soldiers gave a "Huzzah" that rhymed with "Hay", we should see the "misspelling" in letters home. I can't say I have ever seen a "Huzzay" in any letters, but, then again, at the time I read any correspondence, I have never made a point to look for "Huzzay" (although I think I would remember it, had I seen it). I can say I have seen "Huzzah" quite often, which is why I pronounce it that way.....Perhaps "Huzzah", by the 1860's in America, was the predominant pronunciation?
Thanks for posting your info! :smile:
 
Just searched my favorite newspaper archive for "Huzza" 1760-1800. Many hundreds of hits! I was hoping to find a poem or song that had "Huzza" in a rhyming position. Not much luck. Lots of "Huzza for this or that," or simply ending with a non-rhyming, repeated exclamation. The closest I could find was the first line in the chorus of this poem from July 11, 1776 (N.Y. Journal), which may or may not be rhymed:
huzza.png
'Twasn't a high point for American poetry.
 
Nobody knew how to carve an S in a type block either it seems. Well, maybe a few did.

The rules about the use of short and long (f) letter 's' were rather strict.
At the end of a word, whether plural or not, a short 's' was always used. (chorus, houfes)
A capital 'S' was always short.
An 's' beginning or within a word was usually long, unless it was double 's' when it was long+short (fubmit, pafsed)

I type the letter 'f'' for long 's', actually, it was either not crossed, or had the cross bar only to the left of the upright..

The Long 'S':
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