Blaze (he/him) to Linguistics Humor@sh.itjust.worksEnglish · 4 days agoThe wonders of English spellingfiles.catbox.moeimagemessage-square106fedilinkarrow-up1476arrow-down127
arrow-up1449arrow-down1imageThe wonders of English spellingfiles.catbox.moeBlaze (he/him) to Linguistics Humor@sh.itjust.worksEnglish · 4 days agomessage-square106fedilink
minus-squarePyr_Pressure@lemmy.calinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up5·edit-23 days agoAnd why is “kn” even a thing in English? Knowledge? Knight? Knee? Knapsack? Knitting? How does that make any sense at all? Edit" and then there’s Gnome! Why isn’t it Knome? Or Gnowledge?
minus-squareSwedneck@discuss.tchncs.delinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up6·3 days agobecause it was literally pronounced like that not too long ago, compare “knight” to “knekt” in swedish.
minus-squareNostraDavid@programming.devlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up3·3 days agoIn Dutch we still have “knecht” (knave/servant), and I recall that Dutch and English have some overlap, so it makes sense. I also recall a video about English, having adopted the Latin alphabet, made less sense than English under the previous Futhark (runes).
minus-squareEiri@lemmy.calinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1·3 days agoI’ll be honest I’ve always found it weird that they decided to stop pronouncing those consonants at some point. Those words just sound better with the K pronounced!
minus-squarevaultdweller013@sh.itjust.workslinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up2·3 days agoGreat voul shift and the Normans.
And why is “kn” even a thing in English?
Knowledge? Knight? Knee? Knapsack? Knitting?
How does that make any sense at all?
Edit" and then there’s Gnome! Why isn’t it Knome? Or Gnowledge?
because it was literally pronounced like that not too long ago, compare “knight” to “knekt” in swedish.
In Dutch we still have “knecht” (knave/servant), and I recall that Dutch and English have some overlap, so it makes sense.
I also recall a video about English, having adopted the Latin alphabet, made less sense than English under the previous Futhark (runes).
It’s gnomic.
I’ll be honest I’ve always found it weird that they decided to stop pronouncing those consonants at some point. Those words just sound better with the K pronounced!
Great voul shift and the Normans.