@þ ... I hav to gainsay that the yahoo mailing list is "better" than this thread. The mailing list has worth, but I wouldn't say it is better.

1. This thread is open to all. Thus, anyone who comes to Pain in the English can see it. And it shows up on search engines. Yu can do a search on "byspel" and one of the hits will be one of my comments on this thread.

2. For me it's much faster to do a search on this page or the fore-page to find a word or comment.

3. Also for me, my binding to the net on some days is such that I can't post to an email group but I can post here … Then there are days that I can't post to either. There is a fix on the way but it'll be a while. (BTW, fix is a Latinate that I'm keeping. It's in the "Suthren" tung. It's not going anywhere.)

There is lude: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lude

As þ said, the Latinate "sound" goes back to OE : sōn m. - sound, music [L. sonus] and sōncræft m. - music.

Hé wæs oflyst ðæs seldcúþan sónes … He was pleased with the selcouth sounds/music.

Which is from PIE *swonos, from root *swen- "to sound" (OE geswin "melody, song", swinsian "to sound melodiously, to sing", swinswēg "melody"; ON svanr and OE swan "swan" or "the sounding bird"). The was likely an OE *swin but there is no record of it. See swēg below. (Not to be befuddled with swīn "swine".)

All I can tell yu is that sōn is in both OE wordbooks that I note. I guess it is mightlic (possible - OE mihtlic) that Latinates came in during the years shortly after the Norman-French Takeover. I'd hav to backtrack some the writs and check the dates given for them ... furthermore ... many are marked as "cYYYY" meaning "circa" or "about" so there are often many years leeway. It may not be right, but the way I do it is that if the word is in the OE wordbook, then it is good to go. Otherwise I'd spend a lot of time chasing down writs where they are found and the dates of the writs.

From OE:
(ge)brec n. - noise, sound [(ge)break]

clipol - sounding, vocal: vocalic (from clipian: to speak, cry out, call; summon, invoke; cry to, implore.) [clepe]

cnyll m.- sound or signal of a bell [knell]

dyne m. - noise, [din]

hlem m. - sound

hlēoþor n. - noise, sound, voice, melody, song: hearing
>gehlēoþor harmonious

hlȳd f. - noise, sound [see lude, loud]

hlynn I. m. sound, noise, din, tumult ... II. f. torrent [linn] (liken Scot linn - waterfall)

hwoþrung f. - murmur, a low sound (from hwoþerian to foam, surge ... from hwiþa - air, breeze)

stefn - I. f. voice, sound [steven] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steven

swēg m. - sound; noise, clamor, tumult: melody, harmony, tone; voice: musical instrument: 'persona'
> swēgcræft m. art of playing on an instrument, music
> swēgdynn m. noise, crash
> swēge sonorous, harmonious
> swēgendlic adj. vocal, vowel
> swēghlēoþor m. sound, melody.
> swēging f. sound, clang, roar
>> sweger f. mother-in-law [Ger. schwieger; Sp. suegra]
as an afterfast
> ānswēge harmonious, accordant
> bencswēg m. bench-rejoicing, sound of revelry
> hāsswēge sounding hoarsely
> hearpswēg m. sound of the harp
> hereswēg m. martial sound
> hildeswēg m. sound of battle
> morgenswēg m. morning cry
> samswēge adj. sounding together, in unison
> swētswēge agreeable (of sound) [sweet-sound]
> swinswēg melody
> samodswēgende consonantal
> selfswēgend m. vowel

Liken: swīge f. silence
> swīgdagas mp. days of silence
> swīgnes f. time of silence
> swīgian to be or become silent, keep silence, be quiet, still

wōþ f. sound, noise: voice, song, poetry: eloquence.
> wōþbora m. orator, speaker, seer, prophet, poet, singer.
> wōþcræft m. art of speech or song.

...

For matter ... I like "intinga" ... (in-thing) ... In two short-tales I'v written, I'v used "birth-intinga" as "genetic material". I'm being a little loose with the meaning of "intinga" but what the heck, it works.

To manufacture is truly nothing more than to make or build. "What do they make at that factory?" ... "They build cars."

But if yu're looking for a more "industrial" word, then add the be- forefast (as an intensifier) ... bemake.

Beswink means to produce (sth.) by one's effort or labor; to fashion ...

Anent "wright" ... Nowdays, we can make a verb from it straight away OR we can go the olden way of noting the be- forefast ... bewright ... OR ... by adding the aftfast "-en" (tight > tighten, strenght > strengthen) to get wrighten. If yu want it to be a long word ... bewrighten.

BTW, wrighten did stand in ME: to construct
upwrighten: to erect

To manufacture is truly nothing more than to make or build. "What do they make at that factory?" ... "They build cars."

But if yu're looking for a more "industrial" word, then add the be- forefast (as an intensifier) ... bemake.

Beswink means to produce (sth.) by one's effort or labor; to fashion ...

Anent "wright" ... Nowdays, we can make a verb from it straight away OR we can go the olden way of noting the be- forefast ... bewright ... OR ... by adding the aftfast "-en" (tight > tighten, strenght > strengthen) to get wrighten. If yu want it to be a long word ... bewrighten.

BTW, wrighten did stand in ME: to construct
upwrighten: to erect

To manufacture is truly nothing more than to make or build. "What do they make at that factory?" ... "They build cars."

But if yu're looking for a more "industrial" word, then add the be- forefast (as an intensifier) ... bemake.

Beswink means to produce (sth.) by one's effort or labor; to fashion ...

Anent "wright" ... Nowdays, we can make a verb from it straight away OR we can go the old route of noting the be- forefast ... bewright ... OR ... by adding the aftfast "-en" (tight > tighten, strenght > strengthen) to get wrighten. If yu want to be long word ... bewrighten.

LOL ... No one laught the mistake in my last post. It should read: long story short is that I went umbe (around) a few times.

Let's not forget heoloðhelm m. (heleth-helm) — helmet which makes the wearer invisible.

@Gallitrot ... no pissing contest with Ængelfolc ... I sometimes ask him for etym info and he often puts forth good words.

As for "manufacture": make, build, put together, turn out; shape or ashape(n) ... maybe bemake or amake ... beswink (make with toil) ... to wright or wrighten.

Oddly enuff, manufacture means "to make by hand".

I had one of those head-slapping moments the other day. I came across the word "sar" in a ME text that I was reading and anon acknew (recognized) it as the cognate for the German "sehr" (very).

Well, long story short is that I went umbe (a few times) not taking the eathseen (obvious) path. After about an hour of digging, I did the eath thing and found the answer. ME "sar" came from OE "sār" (sore) which is today's "sore".

adverb
archaic
extremely; severely: they were sore afraid http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sore

It may be archaic to them but it's another Southernism that pedantic teachers hav been trying to stomp out since I was kid. So there ya go ... another word for "very".

@Big Picture ... I don't think that American English is any more ambiguous than British English. AE has kept many older forms that have fallen out of BE while at the same time, creating new words and challenging old and often baseless pedantic rules.

You speak of regionalisms and colloquial style. While many "Suthernisms" have spread beyond the South, it still has many olden shapes that pedantic English teachers say is "wrong" when it turns out that they are ok.

In the South, saying something like: She was sore tempted, will likely get a rise out of the high school English teacher. But "sore" as both an adj. and a flat adv. meaning "extremely, utterly" has been here since Middle English. There is nothing wrong with it.

AE is not better than BE nor is BE better than AE, they're only different and being different is not a bad thing.

There are many words or meanings of words that were lost. Tight was befuddled with thight and we lost the noun tight and some of the meanings of tighten:

(a) To entice or incite (sb. to sin, ruin, etc.); incite (sb. that he should do sth.); urge (sb. to do sth.), persuade; also, attract (sb. to oneself); (b) to instruct (sb.), train; discipline (sb.), guide, direct; also, instruct (that sth. should be the case)

(a) To go, come, move; move (toward sb. or sth.); advance (into a country); come (near the ground), descend; also, depart (from a place); ~ tosamen, clash on a battlefield; (b) refl. to make one's way, move, go; (c) fig. to draw close spiritually (to a god), give allegiance; (d) ben tight, to go; come (near to sb.); fig. approach (a set time); (e) impers. hit tight (to) the time, the time approached.

Hæleþ made to ME as both heleth and hathel ( http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hathel ) tho the meaning of "hero" doesn't seem to be there with either.