Dilemna vs Dilemma

[Beekissed]

Read a lot of English writers, I think!

They have some freaky spellings there.....

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I was wondering too and used Google books to find instances of its usage. It is not a recent aberration as I found it in many 18th and 19th century works. I was a big fan of Twain and felt I may have picked it up there, but could find no instances of it. I did find it in works by Dickens, as well as the early 18th century books Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Gulliver's Travels (1726).

I figured these could have been more recent editions with edited spellings, so I checked many of the documents and found them to be scans of original, or at least very early editions of the books from some of this country's more prestigious libraries.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Another interesting note; I found three different 19th century dictionaries that defined the word dilemma, but not dilemna. Yet all three dictionaries used the word dilemna to define other words, instead of using the word "dilemma". Go figure...

 

[Imp]

dilemna is used in one very new on-line city center dictionary. Sorry can't post link. Not at all family friendly. But here's the reference:

Cheat Chain Dilemna
When one student copies answers from the "smart" student on a particular test/homework/exam. And, to the smart student's dismay, the cheater got a better score, leaving the "smart" kid dumbfounded, confused, and in a world of self-loathing.
"The Cheat Chain is wonderful in theory, but if the cheater gets a better score than the cheatee, the Cheat Chain Dilemna is in effect."

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
What's the dilemna? Technically, a dilemna has two premises, of which neither seem to present an acceptable outcome: "I really need to cull a sick hen as I don't want it to suffer, but I don't want to kill it."

Of course the cheater got a better score. The smart kid should realize that the cheater had the benefit of two people providing the answers.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Any use of "dilemna" is the result of somebody getting it wrong - a copyeditor in the 19th century is just as capable of leaving a typo in as a copyeditor in the 21st!

Since the etymology of the word depends on the Greek word "lemma," and since "lemma" is a current English word that is still used all the time, it has never been (and could never be) properly spelled -lemna. The online discussion on it - since it seems that many were taught wrong - guesses that perhaps a typo in some widely distributed textbook caused the problem.

I know that I was taught to use apostrophes TOTALLY incorrectly; I think many were. I was taught that any time you have a unit of something that is indivisible, you use an apostrphe-s instead of a regular s when pluralizing. This is absolutely correct when you're talking about "mind your p's and q's." It is totally INCORRECT when you're talking about just about anything else! But all the time you see people using "I went out to feed the chicken's" or "We're going to visit the Smith's." I always wonder if they used the same incorrect textbooks, or had the same wrong instruction, I did.

Now you want to get into some serious argument, tell me whether you were taught to pronounce "Wales" and "Whales" the same or differently! I'm 38; I was taught they were the same. My parents (who have both taught for decades) pronounce them differently and think it's sloppy English to say them the same.

 

[FireTigeris]

I googled:

textbooks 30 years ago USA english

and my 4th hit was http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst326p4_Spelling-dilemna.aspx

Although it is about what I was looking for I was looking form a different angle, funny it came up so high.

Lemma:
1. A subsidiary proposition assumed to be valid and used to demonstrate a principal proposition.
2. A theme, argument, or subject indicated in a title.
3. A word or phrase treated in a glossary or similar listing.

Lemna:
A genus of free-floating aquatic plants from the duckweed family.

So a dilemna would be an abundance of duckweed. It would be hard for a duck to figure out which weed to eat first. He would be hesitant, indecisive. He might find himself in a dilemna. Problem solved.

http://www.google.com/search?q="dilemna"&tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1820&lr=lang_en​

 

[annaraven]

Quote:

So a dilemna would be an abundance of duckweed. It would be hard for a duck to figure out which weed to eat first. He would be hesitant, indecisive. He might find himself in a dilemna. Problem solved.

http://www.google.com/search?q="dilemna"&tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1820&lr=lang_en​

It's always about the poultry, isn't it...

 

[vfem]

Quote:
I see it as the european spelling.

Like I spell "Grey" while others spell "Gray". Same difference! What'eva

Besides, in a language that allows us, and puts it in the dictionary, that "ya'll" is a word.... I don't really care much for American Grammar anymore!

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Mac - I always thought the word was spelled just as you have -- with the silent "n". Hmmm.............