4 ms·
The book The Unfolding of Language[1] describes the forces that shape how language evolves. One is extending the use of a pattern (e.g. "en" for plural), even i
by justinpombrio 8y ago
The book The Unfolding of Language[1] describes the forces that shape how language evolves. One is extending the use of a pattern (e.g. "en" for plural), even in cases like this one where it wasn't technically appropriate. Another is the use of metaphor. E.g. "discover" used to mean "to remove the cover of", but now its meaning is purely metaphorical and the literal meaning has been mostly lost. Another is laziness: slurring long compound phrases together until they're effectively one word. A lot of conjugations/declentions are a result of this. I recommend this book if you're interested in how languages change over time; it's very well written.
EDIT: Another fun fact is that words sometimes begin to mean their _exact opposite_. For example, "wicked" used to mean "evil", but in England (and elsewhere, but especially England) it's started to mean "sweet".
And there's always the great consonant shift:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Mankinds-Invention/dp/0805080120 https://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Manki...
- LeoPanthera 8y agoI was amazed to discover that oranges used to be called "noranges" but "a norange" was corrupted into "an orange".
- cven714 8y agoSame with "a napron" -> "an apron"
- Double_a_92 8y agoAnd "a notter" -> "an otter"
- groovy2shoes 8y agoAnd "an ekename" -> "a nickname"
- KayEss 8y agoAnd "an ewt" became "a newt", so it goes both ways.
- carlmr 8y agoWas ewt pronounce yoot like newt being pronounced nyoot? Then at leas in modern English it would have been "a ewt" to begin with and no n for confustion. I read up on this (rebracketing it's called), and now I understand why the snakes called Natter in German are adders in English, and that even made it back to German as ...otter (Kreuzotter for example).
- yosito 8y agoOh! That suddenly makes the Spanish "naranja" seem way more connected!
- febeling 8y agoand "brid" -> "bird"
- hrnnnnnn 8y agoSame with "nuncle" -> "uncle". https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nuncle https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nuncle
- philipps 8y agoCould it be because “a norange” and “an orange” sound very similar?