webster, baxter などの職業名や，spinster, youngster などの人名に現われる接尾辞 (agentive_suffix) について，以下の記事で取り上げてきた．

　・ 「#2188. spinster, youngster などにみられる接尾辞 -ster」 ([2015-04-24-1])
　・ 「#3791. 行為者接尾辞 -er, -ster はラテン語に由来する？」 ([2019-09-13-1])
　・ 「#5520. -ester 語尾をもつ中英語の職業名ベースの姓」 ([2024-06-07-1])

　中英語期の職業名に現われる -ster の分布を探ると，イングランド全土に分布こそするが，アングリア地方（東部や北部）で高頻度であるという．この地域分布とも合わせて，そもそも当該語尾の起源が何であるかという論争がかつて起こった．現在の有力な説については，上記の過去記事で取り上げてきた通りだが，改めて Fransson による経緯の要約を読んでみよう (42) ．

   It is true that the surnames in -ester occur in the whole of England, but with regard to their frequency there is a distinct difference. The case is that they chiefly belong to the Anglian counties; most instances have been found in Nf (over 100 inst.), Li, Y, La, and St, but many also in Wo and Ess. In the WS counties (Sx, Ha, So) these surnames occur very seldom; thus I have only found 3 inst. in So, 5 in Ha, and 11 in Sx.
   We now come to the difficult question whether the suffix -ester is a feminine ending or not. There has been no difference of opinion about this until recently, when Jespersen propounded an entirely new theory (Linguistica 420--429). According to the general view, -ester was originally a special feminine ending, which, however, was later applied to men as well as to women. This transition from fem. to masc. is usually explained through the supposition that the work that was at first done only by women, was later performed by men, too, and that the fem. denominations were transferred on men at the same time.

　従来問題なく受け入れられていた「通説」が，著名な英語史研究者の Jespersen によって批判され，新説が唱えられたのだという．これ自体が1930年代時点の話しなのだが，このような論争は私にとって大好物である．では，Jespersen の新説とは？

　・ Fransson, G. Middle English Surnames of Occupation 1100--1350, with an Excursus on Toponymical Surnames. Lund Studies in English 3. Lund: Gleerup, 1935.
　・ Jespersen, Otto. "A Supposed Feminine Ending." Linguistica. Copenhagen, 1933. 420--29.

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