105
4.3 Development of Only‘the twenty- second day is unlucky to begin work upon, except to buy and
to sell’
d. for I yow nought requere/ To bynde yow to hym thorugh no byheste,/ But
only that ye make hym bettre chiere (1380– 86 Chaucer, TC II 358– 60)
‘for I do not require you to bind yourself to him through a promise, except
that you make him of better cheer’
e. and there they made a fylde, dyked and stakeyde welle a- bowt, as hyt ben
in the londe of warre, save only they kepte ordyr among them ... (c1475
Gregory’s chronicle 190 [HC])
‘and there they made a fi eld, diked and staked well about, as if it were a land
of war, except they kept order among them ...’
The only- collocations in (11a– c) are functioning as prepositions, while those
in (11d– e) are conjunctions. Table 4.1 lists the earliest instances of these only-
collocations found in searches of the MED and OED databases.
While in my data there are no instances of only as an adversative conjunc-
tion in Middle English, in a number of cases, only in initial position might be
seen as indeterminate between a focusing or adversative conjunctive function:
(12) a. And eek he nolde – and that was worst of alle – / Wedde no wyf, for noght
that may bifalle./ Oonly that point his peple bar so soore ... (1387– 1400
Chaucer, CT E.Cl. 83– 85)
‘And also he would not – and that was worst of all – wed a wife, whatever
might happen. Only that point his people took so badly ...’
b. Oonly the intellect, withouten moore,/ That dwelled in his herte syk and
soore,/ Gan faillen whan the herte felte deeth (1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT
A.Kn. 2803– 05)
Table 4.1 Earliest conjunctive and prepositional uses of {except, save, but} only (that) in the
MED and OED
Earliest conjunctive uses
1425 except only (that) + clause OED: s.v. except , def. C 2;
MED: s.v. except (ppl. and conj.), def. c
1385 save only (that) + clause OED: s.v. save , def. B;
MED: s.v. sauf (prep.), def. 4d
1398 but only (that) + clause OED: s.v. but , def. C (see esp. CI 4 b(d))
MED: s.v. but (conj.), def. 1a (e), 1b, 6a
Earliest prepositional uses
1425 except only + NP OED: s.v. except , def. B 1;
MED: s.v. except , def. b
1385 save only + NP OED: s.v. save , def. A;
MED: s.v. sauf , def. 1a
1387 but only + NP OED: s.v. but , def. A
MED: s.v. but , def. 1a (a– b)