Origin of the Change of "Mary" into "Polly"

This change, like many others in diminutives, is progressive. By a natural affinity between the liquids *r* and *l*, *Mary* becomes *Molly*, as *Sarah*, *Sally*, *Dorothea*, *Dora*, *Dolly*, &c. It is not so easy to trace the affinity between the *initials* M. and P., though the case is not singular; thus, *Margaret*, Madge, Meggy, Meg, *Peggy*, *Peg*—*Martha*, Matty, *Patty*—and *Mary*, Molly, *Polly* and *Poll*; in which last abbreviation not one single letter of the original word remains: the natural affinity between the two letters, as *medials*, is evident, as in the following examples, a…