Date:  Wed, 5 Nov 1997 08:56:06 +0000
From:  Jim Rader <jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM>
Subject: Re: /gIt/ vs. /gEt/

The articulation of <get> with [I] is recorded in Peter Levins rhyme
dictionary (1570) and by Christopher Cooper (1685). Dobson includes
it in instances of early raising of Middle English <e*> to <i*>
between [g] or [j] and a dental; other examples occur in <together>,
<yes>, <yesterday>, and <yeast>. There are plenty of examples of
/gIt/ in English dialects (see Wright and the Survey of English
Dialects dictionary). Despite the antiquity of this pronunciation it
still seems to be some sort of register marker when people actually
spell it <git> as in <git-go>..

Jim Rader