Abide by or abide to?

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The other day I came across a phrase which used abide to something in the sense of ‘sticking to’ and it made me wonder how common that structure is.


The answer is, not very. To put that in perspective, in a 2018 corpus of many different varieties of English there are 369 examples of this kind:


Media play a huge role in enlightening the public as to how to respect the law and abide to it.


In contrast, there are … wait for it … 27,438 examples of the abide by structure:


In an interview with Italian TV, Syrian President Bashar Assad said he will abide by a U.N. resolution to dismantle his country’s chemical weapons.


A tiny proportion, just over one per cent, then, of abide to. So why write about it?


For two reasons. First because of that structure and second because abide is an intriguing verb (for a lexicographer, at any rate) in its own right, which I’ll come on to in another blog.


It’s wrong, but…

Any editor would no doubt replace abide to with abide by. It simply has to be considered ‘wrong’ or anomalous. The phrasal verb is abide by, and that is all there is to it. But abide to makes a lot of sense.


First, the preposition to is a basic way of expressing a relationship between two actors, entities or states: I gave it to Tom; he was moved to tears; they fixed it to the wall. Moreover, abide to makes a lot of sense if you group it with its synonyms: adhere to, conform to, keep to, stick to, consent to, pay attention to, pay heed to, agree to.


In contrast, the only (phrasal) verb of similar meaning that uses by is go by, meaning ‘use as a basis for judgement or action’, as in If they prove that I was wrong, then I’ll go by what they say.


If you were learning English, abide to could easily seem to fit into a pattern and abide by would be an eccentric prepositional idiom that has to be learnt by heart.


The Oxford corpus I use contains many varieties of English. Abide to occurs with greater than expected frequency in South African English, Middle Eastern English and East Asian English. This makes me wonder if the authors of the pieces in question are speakers of English as a second (third, etc.) language. The pattern occurs with much less than expected frequency in the UK, U.S, Australia, etc., in other words, where English is the main language.


One motor of language change is, arguably, the trend towards regularisation and the imposition of a more extensive pattern on a less extensive one. That explains, for example, the use of ?by foot on the model of by with other modes of transport. Or the change of holpen as the strong past participle of help to helped (see below, under the exquisite illumination). Who knows but that in a hundred years’ time we will all be saying abide to?


As a footnote, it’s worth pointing out how arbitrary the choice of preposition can be. Abide historically has taken at and upon:


And telleth him, in such degre Upon my word ye wole abide To lif or deth.

Gower Confessio Amantis, a1393


Thai sal stand and abide at the ordinance.

in J. B. Paul Registrum Magni Sigilli Scotorum (1882) II. 68/2, 1447



[image error] The Visitation. Mary and Elizabeth in the garden of a country house. Office of Lauds, from the Huth Hours, by the Master of the Houghton Hours, 1485–1490. Illumination on parchment. British Library.

Luke 1, 46–55, ‘The Song of Mary’ and the wonderful line ‘He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.’


See verse 54 for holpen.


46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.


 

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Published on August 27, 2020 06:30
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