MARSHAL

[Dr. Goodword]

• marshal •

Pronunciation: mah(r)-sêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Transitive Verb

Meaning: 1. [Noun] A federal, state, or other law-enforcement officer. 2. [Noun] The highest military rank in the Armies of some countries, e.g. a field marshal. 3. [Noun] The person in charge of a ceremony, as a parade marshal. 4. [Archaic Noun] A person who takes care of horses. 5. [Verb] To arrange in proper or logical order.

Notes: Because the final [l] of this word is doubled when equipped with a suffix longer than -s: (marshalled, marshalling but marshals) and also because the family name sports a double L (Marshall, as General George Marshall), there is a tendency to add a superfluous [l] to today's Good Word. We thought you might appreciate a heads-up: only one [l] unless a suffix longer than –s follows.

In Play: Let's see if I can marshal all the meanings of this word in a single sentence: "Federal marshals today arrested Field Marshal von Ungluck before he could marshal his forces on the field to resist arrest."

Word History: The meaning of today's Good Word moved from that of a leader of horses to a leader of men. How so? English picked it out of Old French when it was mareschal "(horse) groom". But don't feel bad about English nicking this word from French; French picked it up from Old High German marahscalc "(horse) groom", a compound made up of marah "horse" + scalc "servant". The former word is mare today. The latter word is interesting because it appears to be related to Old High German scelo "stallion", Sanskrit salabha "grasshopper", Lithuanian šuoliai "to gallop", which suggests an original meaning of "jump". Is this because servants are supposed to jump when you speak to them?

[KatyBr]

"Wahl, Marshal Dillon. Ah spect ya jes gotta go affer dem cattle russler's n' string em up." Festus said as he inspected the toothpick that just recently probed between two brown molars.
"Now Festus, you know we can't just go hanging those men, we have to have a trial first. Now marshall up the usual Deputies and we'll ride out there and you can lead the possee to their hangout."

Katy

[Flaminius]

I have marshalled up usual Internet tools but couldn't understand what Wahl and dem are. Please help me to understand them and where the dialect is spoken.

[KatyBr]

Well and them respectively.

LOL
Katy

[Stargzer]

Flam-san, you may need some additional background. "Marshal Dillon" is the character Matt Dillon from the old TV series "Gunsmoke" that ran from 1955 to 1975. Dillon was played by James Arness, who was also the alien monster in the original version of "The Thing," also known as "The Thing From Another World" (based on the short story "Who Goes There?" by the great science fiction editor/writer John W. Campbell, Jr.).

Festus Haggen was the name of Dillon's deputy, played by Ken Curtis from 1964-1975, who replaced the original deputy Chester Goode, played by Dennis Weaver from 1955 to 1964.

So, the dialect is that of a rural or uneducated person in the late 1800's in the American West, in this case, Dodge City, Kansas.

In a lot of dialects a "th" is reduced to a "d" so you get "dese, dem, dose, dis, dat" instead of "these, them, those, this, that."

In some dialects the word "well" is pronounced with a sort of a stretched-out short "a" sound instead of a short "e" sound.

[Flaminius]

Thanks for the clarification, Stargzer.

Am I right in assuming that them in "goining after them cattle rustlers" is accusative of definite article?

[M. Henri Day]

...

Am I right in assuming that them in "goining after them cattle rustlers" is accusative of definite article?

My understanding is that what we see here is an example of the (not uncommon) use of the accusative plural form of the demonstrative pronoun for the ditto article (which, in this case, would be «those»)....

Henri

[Perry Lassiter]

Down south and in parts of TX well is often pronounced is if "wail" had two syllables: wai-yul. Ain't dialects fun?

[Philip Hudson]

Festus pretty much spoke Appalachian or red neck dialect. Some but not all of that transferred to the wild west. The west was populated by people from all of eastern America.
Ken Curtis was an extremely talented musician and actor. His accent in Gunsmoke was contrived but very believable. Many people try to talk country but can't quite get it. The shibboleth is the word can't. Standard American pronunciation is with a short “a”. Country folks say a long “a” as in the word “cane”.

I don’t think Festus would actually have said “dem” for them or those. He might have said them-thair. “Dem”, in my experience, is peculiar to Gullah and other African American speech (Ebonics). Rustlers do not have “hangouts”. They have “hideouts”. I am not sure anyone said “hangouts” in the nineteenth century. Festus would have said “strang” instead of string. “Wahl” is a good rendering of the standard word “well”.

I would have written, "Wahl, Marshal Dillon. Ah ‘spect yew jest gotta go after them thair cattle russler's n' strang 'em up."

Marshall Dillon spoke standard American English. He was not from the South. Miss Kitty and Doc were not from the South either although their speech was not as standard as Marshall Dillon’s. Dennis Weaver was not good at dialect at all. His character Chester Goode more whined than talked. Festus made a better replacement.

I am not trying to “correct” anyone. I am giving what I would expect to hear from my lifetime of association with people from Appalachia and other points south, including my total immersion in the TV series Gunsmoke. The Good Doctor has much more experience than I have. I think he may be a native of the Tidewater accent but has transcended it in his erudition.

Here is my favorite red neck quotation. “Ah dun druv uh fur peece, ‘n ah hain’t et nuthin’ yit.” Would anyone care to translate?

[Perry Lassiter]

Whut's to translate? You jist improved English spellin considerable.

[LukeJavan8]

Here is my favorite red neck quotation. “Ah dun druv uh fur peece, ‘n ah hain’t et nuthin’ yit.” Would anyone care to translate?




Sorry, but I don't speak "suthren"...I need a translation
please.

[Philip Hudson]

Luke:
“Ah dun druv uh fur peece, ‘n ah hain’t et nuthin’ yit.” Translation:
"I have alredy driven a long way, and I haven't eaten anything yet."

Too bad you don't live nearby. I teach ESL so I think I could teach RNSL (red neck as a second language).

[LukeJavan8]

Darn, too. I think I might enjoy that.
Plenty of rednecks here, but none have the lingo y'all haves.