Err: analysis
The verb err 'to make a mistake' is rather uncommon today, which is quite striking, given that it has a long history in English (back to the 14th century) and has no obvious synonym; 'mistake' as a verb always means 'to misunderstand or misapprehend'. Probably most commonly encountered today in the phrase from Alexander Pope, 'To err is human, to forgive divine', it nonetheless is a word that is probably familiar to the vast majority of native English speakers.
The poll results show that over 70% of you pronounce err as /er/, to rhyme with hair, rather than /ɜr/ to rhyme with fur; however, 17% of you pronounce it the latter way and another 8% use both. This was unsurprising to me, as I have always considered /ɜr/ to be characteristic of British dialects only. However, the results are somewhat more complex, as a fair number of Canadians and Americans chose the less popular option also.
Of course, by this point in this series of polls, you will be unsurprised to learn that the less popular /ɜr/ is actually the older pronunciation - or so says the American Heritage Dictionary, whose linguistically conservative Usage Panel voted 56% in favour of it, with 34% choosing /er/ and 10% both. Many dictionaries list both options, although several British dictionaries list /ɜr/ only. Chambers lists /ɜr/ only for err but curiously erring is listed with both pronunciations, even though it's just the present participle form. Several rhyming dictionaries list both sets of rhymes, to no end of potential confusion.
The AHD points out, and I agree in general, that the pronunciation /er/ might be due to influence from words like error and errant, which are both related words that entered English in the 14th century, like err, and yet are always pronounced with initial /e/. But I also think it's worth noting that err not only begins with -err, it ends with -err, and there you have both the surname Kerr /kɜr/ and the German Herr (in English, /her/), not to mention the interjection errrrr ... /ɜr/.
But I think it's also worth considering an alternate hypothesis: that there has been variation in the pronunciaton of err going back several centuries. It's worth a brief digression to talk about how we know how words were formerly pronounced, and the best way is through poetic rhyme. Let's set aside the 14th and 15th centuries and focus on the early modern period. In Ben Jonson's Poetaster (1601), we have:
"O, in no labyrinth can I safelier err / Than when I lose myself in praising her."
And similarly, in Shakespeare's All's well that Ends Well of (II, 3):
Expecting absent friends. As thou lovest her,
Thy love's to me religious; else, does err.
But just to confuse matters, in Edmund Waller's Poetic Works (1645):
"The Muses' friend, unto himself severe,
With silent pity looks on all that err;"
And severe was pronounced with final /er/ or /ir/ in the seventeenth century, as in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure of 1603 (III,2):
"He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe"
So what I think is that there is actually more flexibility in the pronunciation than the AHD's pronouncement that err is traditionally /ɜr/. Why couldn't Waller and Shakespeare have differed? The 'traditional' pronunciation may have been more typical at that point, but then, according to the Usage Panel, it still is more common and more acceptable! My own usage panel - that is to say, you, my readers and respondents - clearly disagree by a four to one margin.
One remaining question is why a few North Americans use this pronunciation. Is it because some North American dialects have always done so? Or is it because there has been interference from British pronunciations that leads some (anglophiles, intellectuals, fans of British comedy, etc.) to adopt it? Or some other explanation altogether? I've been unable to discern any pattern in the North American respondents' data, and would be glad to entertain suggestions.
And so I think we have the final word:
The savants of the AHD have erred.
But think not that this small mistake is glaring;
A lexicographer is always erring.
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The poll results show that over 70% of you pronounce err as /er/, to rhyme with hair, rather than /ɜr/ to rhyme with fur; however, 17% of you pronounce it the latter way and another 8% use both. This was unsurprising to me, as I have always considered /ɜr/ to be characteristic of British dialects only. However, the results are somewhat more complex, as a fair number of Canadians and Americans chose the less popular option also.
Of course, by this point in this series of polls, you will be unsurprised to learn that the less popular /ɜr/ is actually the older pronunciation - or so says the American Heritage Dictionary, whose linguistically conservative Usage Panel voted 56% in favour of it, with 34% choosing /er/ and 10% both. Many dictionaries list both options, although several British dictionaries list /ɜr/ only. Chambers lists /ɜr/ only for err but curiously erring is listed with both pronunciations, even though it's just the present participle form. Several rhyming dictionaries list both sets of rhymes, to no end of potential confusion.
The AHD points out, and I agree in general, that the pronunciation /er/ might be due to influence from words like error and errant, which are both related words that entered English in the 14th century, like err, and yet are always pronounced with initial /e/. But I also think it's worth noting that err not only begins with -err, it ends with -err, and there you have both the surname Kerr /kɜr/ and the German Herr (in English, /her/), not to mention the interjection errrrr ... /ɜr/.
But I think it's also worth considering an alternate hypothesis: that there has been variation in the pronunciaton of err going back several centuries. It's worth a brief digression to talk about how we know how words were formerly pronounced, and the best way is through poetic rhyme. Let's set aside the 14th and 15th centuries and focus on the early modern period. In Ben Jonson's Poetaster (1601), we have:
"O, in no labyrinth can I safelier err / Than when I lose myself in praising her."
And similarly, in Shakespeare's All's well that Ends Well of (II, 3):
Expecting absent friends. As thou lovest her,
Thy love's to me religious; else, does err.
But just to confuse matters, in Edmund Waller's Poetic Works (1645):
"The Muses' friend, unto himself severe,
With silent pity looks on all that err;"
And severe was pronounced with final /er/ or /ir/ in the seventeenth century, as in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure of 1603 (III,2):
"He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe"
So what I think is that there is actually more flexibility in the pronunciation than the AHD's pronouncement that err is traditionally /ɜr/. Why couldn't Waller and Shakespeare have differed? The 'traditional' pronunciation may have been more typical at that point, but then, according to the Usage Panel, it still is more common and more acceptable! My own usage panel - that is to say, you, my readers and respondents - clearly disagree by a four to one margin.
One remaining question is why a few North Americans use this pronunciation. Is it because some North American dialects have always done so? Or is it because there has been interference from British pronunciations that leads some (anglophiles, intellectuals, fans of British comedy, etc.) to adopt it? Or some other explanation altogether? I've been unable to discern any pattern in the North American respondents' data, and would be glad to entertain suggestions.
And so I think we have the final word:
The savants of the AHD have erred.
But think not that this small mistake is glaring;
A lexicographer is always erring.
Last 10 pronunciation polls | All previous polls | Pronunciation polls with analytical essays | Dialect survey