Fall is still occasionally used in countries where British English is spoken, but usually only in a handful of fixed phrases, like spring and fall. We aren't sure why fall flourished in the United States-Pickering's friend gives us no further particulars-but by the mid-1800s, fall was considered to be entirely American by American lexicographers. John Pickering, A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America, 1816 At 212 feet tall and 900 foot wide, Shoshone Falls is one of the largest natural waterfalls in the United States surpassing the height of the famous Niagara. One early American lexicographer, John Pickering, noted in his entry for fall:Ī friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." In fact, the "autumn" sense of fall wasn't even entered into a dictionary until 1755, when Samuel Johnson first entered it in his Dictionary of the English Language.īy the middle of the 1800s, American English and British English had diverged, and so had fall and autumn. But autumn was, by far, the more popular term for quite a long time. Both autumn and fall were born in Britain, and both emigrated to America. It's the time of year for a specific brand of racism, too. Throw into the mix the independence of the United States, and the fact that the type of English spoken in America became part of our early national identity, and the gulf between the two dialects of English widened.Ī handful of words got caught in the identity crisis, and fall was one of them. The fall equinox signals the start of a season of more than pumpkin spice and fantasy football. As time went on, the English spoken in America and the English spoken in Britain diverged: there wasn't as much contact between the two groups of English speakers. One place it went was to the New World, and it set up shop in North America in the 1600s.
This was shortened in the 1600s to fall.Īround this time, England's empire was fast expanding, which meant that the English language was going places. Poets continued to be wowed by the changes autumn brought, and in time, the phrase "the fall of the leaves" came to be associated with the season. Names for the season didn't just end with autumn, however. (Etymologists aren't sure where the Latin word came from.) It had extensive use right from its first appearance in English writing, and with good reason: the common name for this intermediary season prior to the arrival of autumn was harvest, which was potentially confusing, since harvest can refer to both the time when harvesting crops usually happens (autumn) as well as the actual harvesting of crops (harvest). The older of the two words is autumn, which first came into English in the 1300s from the Latin word autumnus. So why is 'fall' primarily used in America? "So, I was really lucky that I could pair with my doubles partner and we could win and put up a good fight.Both 'autumn' and 'fall' originated in Britain. "Playing against the Williams sisters is a special moment for everybody, everyone, any time," Nosková said after the match. Guarachi and Klepac are coming off an impressive straight-set victory over Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls. With the big win, Hradecká and Nosková will play Alexa Guarachi and Andreja Klepac in the second round of doubles. The match was a rare doubles night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the first since Mike and Bob Bryan beat Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray in the 2013 men's quarterfinals. Hradecká and Nosková claimed a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over the Williams sisters, spoiling their first doubles match at Flushing Meadows since 2014. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and her sister, Venus Williams, fell to Lucie Hradecká and Linda Nosková in the first round of doubles Thursday. and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Serena Williams' final run at US Open glory will have to come in singles play.