REPLY1850
Ergh, Er, or Argh
By JARTZBERG.
Might not these words (queried by T.W., Vol. ii. p 22.) be corruptions of "*burgh*," aspirated *wurgh*, and the aspirate then dropped; or might not *ark, argh*, &c., be corruptions of "*wark*:" thus Southwark, commonly pronounced *Southark*? I merely offer this as a conjecture.
Topics: Linguistic Corruptions, Historical Linguistics
Locations: Southwark