4 ms·
What M-W attributes to "lexical meddlers" is almost certainly the result of the very common practice of borrowing latin words, and, when the word is in common u
by teilo 5y ago
What M-W attributes to "lexical meddlers" is almost certainly the result of the very common practice of borrowing latin words, and, when the word is in common use, abbreviating it. Originally the latin word would have always been pronounced "debitum" when read, even if abbreviated "debt." So the b certainly was pronounced. It just wasn't English to begin with.
I work in old manuscripts, and this practice is very common. It's not surprising that an abbreviation in common use ended up becoming a word of its own. Mix in the French pronunciation, and the modern spelling and pronunciation is explained without any "meddling" needed.
- senkora 5y agoDebt was borrowed into English from Old French, where it had already lost the b, rather than from Latin. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/debt https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/debt
- kxjkckicllfhhh 5y agoConsider reading the article discussed for correct info. Wiktionary does not even claim what you just did.
- ravi-delia 5y agoMaybe I'm just an idiot, but it seems that both the link in the comment you replied to and the article in the post itself specifically say that debt is derived from French, where it lacked a b.
- GavinMcG 5y ago> From Middle English dette, dett, borrowed from Old French dete It seems to.
- mellavora 5y agobut wouldn't that Old French go back to a Latin root?
- rhizome31 5y agoApparently from debitum: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=debt https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=debt English is sometimes closer to Latin than French, e.g. address ("ad" + "directiare") vs adresse in French
- b3orn 5y agoLooks like another case of the English version gaining a letter to be closer to Latin after borrowing it originally from French: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/address#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/address#English
- user-the-name 5y agoHere's an interesting article about that: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/why-is-debt-spelled-like-that https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/why-is-debt-sp...
- GavinMcG 5y agoGood lord
- GavinMcG 5y agoSure, but the comment said it was borrowed into English from Old French, which was accurate. The point of the comment was that the borrowing wasn't directly from Latin (with a b) but indirectly from Old French (without a b). No one was claiming Latin was uninvolved.
- ravi-delia 5y agoWe definitely know that there are lots of words that came to English via French that had already lost their b, and had the b added back in a foolish attempt to standardize English spelling.
- feintruled 5y agoAlways found it odd how in older books, names were so often abbreviated. William becomes Wm. or Edward to Edwd. for example. Seemed a strange practice as they were no stranger to verbosity in other respects.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoJas. being an abbreviated form of James used to be common but certainly isn't a relationship I would have guessed between the two.
- TheFreim 5y agoPossibly higher cost per page made it more important to condense as much material while still retaining meaning.
- alisonkisk 5y ago