Unnecessary Letters

 

Two allied questions came up recently regarding silent letters.

One listener asked why the word ghost contains the letter h. Originally, in the Old English version of the word, there was no h. It was spelled gaest. The gh- combination was associated with Dutch, so how did it work its way into the English word?

It turns out that the g-h-o-s-t spelling appeared prominently in books printed by William Caxton and his protege Wynkyn deWorde. Both of them had learned their craft in the Low Countries before emigrating to London, which established a connection with the Dutch language and spelling conventions.

Another listener wanted to know why there is an unpronounced k in words such as knight, knob, knife, and knowledge. Once upon a time the k was pronounced in such words, a tipoff that English evolved from Germanic languages, where that combination was unremarkable.

Somewhere around the 15th century, the k sound began to be de-emphasized and eventually skipped altogether. This was probably due to Latin and French influences, two languages without the initial kn- combination. Once again, thanks to the invention of the printing press, the spelling was frozen in place even as the pronunciation disappeared.

Word Parts Dictionary, 3rd edition

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Lug

 

Terry wrote to ask about the word lug, which is the name of the container used to haul cherries (the orchard produced 100 lugs of cherries). Additionally, she asked about lugging something up the stairs, an act of dragging. Finally, she wondered if the word luggage is at all connected to the first two.

The lug used to haul cherries, the luggage we pack for trips, and the act of dragging are connected. They come from an old Swedish word that meant to move something slowly and heavily, to drag it along.

Lug was also a long stick or pole that measured roughly six yards and was used to collect fruit by beating the branches to make the fruit fall. That same lug or stick was also used as a land measure. And the word lug was used as slang to designate a clumsy or not very bright person.

But the lug nuts used to secure a tire and the lug wrench used to tighten or loosen the lug nuts come from a different source. They came from a Scandinavian word that meant a projecting part. The original word meant the ear flaps of a hat.

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STOLED

 Fred from Elk Rapids called in to vent about a coworker who uses the form stoled as the past tense of the verb to steal, as in “someone stoled my jacket when I wasn’t looking.”

You are correct to complain, Fred. It is substandard English.

The principle parts of that verb are steal, stole, stolen. The first part is used to form the simple present tense and the simple future tense (with shall or will):

·      Who steals my purse steals trash.

·      My neighbor will steal any tool not locked up or hidden from view.

The second part is used for the simple past tense:

·      Someone stole my jacket when I wasn’t looking.

·      She stole my heart the first time I met her.

The third part is used to form a more complicated past tense (with has, have, or had) and the simple *future perfect tense* (with shall have or will have)

·      While on parole, my cousin has stolen computer parts again.

·      They have stolen before, and they will do it again.

·      After she had stolen the jewels, she fled to Canada.

·      By next summer, I will have purchased a new motorcycle.

·      As of next month, Lois will have stopped smoking for ten years.

All this said, stoled is actually a perfectly good word in a very limited sense, something probably only the British monarchy or the formal clergy would ever use. Stoled (an adjective) means wearing a stole – a liturgical vestment that drapes around the neck and over the shoulders, or a woman’s long fur garment worn in the same way.

·      The stoled priest was ready to hear confessions.

·      The queen, stoled in ermine, walked slowly in procession.

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    NOTE:

    [The future perfect tense shows an action that will be completed before some definite
     future time. Both the starting time and the future finishing time are brought together
     in this tense. The word perfect here is used as a synonym for completed.]

****************************************************************************************************

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ANADROMOUS

Ginger from Acme, Michigan, asked, “What does anadromous mean, and can you please review its etymology?”

An anadromous fish is born in fresh water, heads downriver to the sea, where it spends most of its life, and then goes back up to fresh water to spawn. Salmon, smelt, and sturgeon are common examples. As for its etymology, here’s what the Oxford English Dictionary has to offer: < Greek ἀνάδρομος running up (a river)  < ἀνά [ana] up + δρόμος [dromos] running + -ous suffix. A catadromous fish does the opposite. It lives in fresh water and goes back down to salt water to spawn. Most of the eels are catadromous. The OED has this: < Greek κατάδρομος  < κατά [kata] down + -δρομος [dromos] running + -ous suffix. It’s not a fish, but the dromedary shares the same root. It’s a lighter and quicker breed of camel that will get you to your destination faster. As a combining form, -drome often means a racecourse, and it shows up in hippodrome (horses), aerodrome (airplanes), palindrome (reading the same backwards and forwards), and syndrome (several symptoms running together in a disease). Several other running words are not very common: ·      dromomania: an excessive love of jogging ·      dromometer: an old medical instrument for measuring the speed of blood flow ·      dromoscope: an old instrument to measure the speed of a train or other vehicle ·      dromotropic: affecting the passage of nervous impulses through the muscles of the heart ·      dromophobia: fear of, or aversion to, running

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MULL

“Tis the season when mulled wine makes its annual appearance. Mulled wine is heated wine enhanced by sugar, spices, and fruit. The origin of the word is obscure. Some say it refers to the powdered spices used to flavor it, but there is no unanimous agreement.

A listener called in to ask what the word mull means in, “I’ll have to mull this over.” It means to consider or ponder upon, and it may be based on a Dutch word meaning to ruminate.

What struck me was the multitude of words found in the Oxford English Dictionary sharing that spelling but coming from different sources with varying meanings. I’m always intrigued by multiple meanings, so let’s go down that path.

NOUNS:

·      something reduced to small particles

·      a suspension of finely ground solid in a liquid

·      a promontory or headland in Scotland

·      the lips of an animal

·      the female labia

·      a heifer

·      a thin variety of muslin fabric

·      a snuffbox

·      a muddle or mess

·      humus mixed with underlying mineral soil

·      mulled wine

VERBS:

·      to pulverize

·      to warm a wine, sugar, spice, and fruit mix

·      to massage

·      to reflect and ponder

·      to give something a granular surface

·      to moisten leather to make it supple

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Doubling a Consonant

Doubling a Consonant

Harry from Suttons Bay, Michigan, asked about doubling the consonant on a stem word when adding a suffix. It gets a bit complicated (or tedious), but you should be OK if you take the following steps.

 (A) When you add a suffix to a word that ends in two or more consonants side by side, there is no spelling change.  [fill/filling, snarl/snarled, world/worldly]

 (B) When you add a suffix to a word that ends in a single consonant, there may be a spelling change. Three determining questions follow.

• If you get a YES answer to all three of these questions, double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.
• If you get a NO answer to any of these questions, do not double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.

            (1) YES or NO: does the suffix begin with a vowel?

                        YES  –er/-ing      [win/winner, forget/forgetting, begin/beginning]

                        NO   –ful/-ment   [wonderful, discernment]

  

            (2) YES or no:  are the last 3 letters of the word a consonant-vowel-consonant            (in that exact order)?

                        YES   win, forget     [win/winner, forget/forgetting]  

                        N O    greet, treat    [greeting, treated]

            (3) YES or NO:  Does the accent of the word fall on the last syllable?
(One-syllable words get an automatic YES answer)

                        YES   [stop/stopping, begin/beginner]

                        NO     secret, furtive   [secretive, furtively]

Once again, if you get a YES answer to all three of these questions, DOUBLE the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix. If you get a NO answer to any of these questions, do not double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.

Word Parts Dictionary, Nook edition

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Words to the Wise, Kindle Edition 

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll also find some podcasts there under TheRon Jolly Show.

Visit The Senior Corner, a web site containing information for senior citizens.