this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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And why is the W silent anyways?

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[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Curiously in words related to 'two' the W is often pronounced!

Twin, Twixt, Between, Twelve etc

[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh. My. God. I am so disappointed in myself that I never realized these words were all related before. Thank you for this gift.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 4 points 1 day ago

A few less-obvious associations, just for fun:

  • Just like "the house" /s/ is "to house" /z/, "the glass" /s/ is "to glaze" /z/
  • Tiw's Day, Wotan's Day, Thor's Day, Frigg's Day. Note: Tiw, Wotan and Frigg are the native names for Norse Tyr, Odin and Freyja.
  • "Flee", "fly", "flow" are all related.
  • The "mus" in "muscle" is a borrowed cognate to native "mouse".
[–] cybervseas@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (4 children)

By the argument, is the w in "two" actually silent? What would it sounds like when pronounced? I think it would sound like "two" already does.

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It would sound like “twu” as in “twu wuv”

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

Lol.

OK, Impressive Clergyman!

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago

It sounds exactly like "to" which means the w is silent.

It is not pronounced at all like any of the other example words given.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't necessarily think so. If the W was pronounced, I think it would sound something more like 'tawoo' or 'teewoo'

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wonder if perhaps an older dialect used to pronounce the W. Lots of words have changed spelling or pronunciation over the years, so I'm curious if that might be the case with "two", too.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I wonder if perhaps an older dialect used to pronounce the W.

That's correct, and it isn't even that old - based on the [o:]→[u:] change it should be from 1500 or so. And the modern Scots cognate ⟨twa⟩ /twɑ:/~/twɔ:/ still has it.

Twain.

"He split Robin's arrow in twain!"

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Side question?

Does twelve basically mean two eleven?

[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Twelve's root is in meaning "two left". And similarly eleven's origin is meaning "one left". In both cases left over from ten, the base unit of counting.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interesting. This sorta makes sense actually.

Curious though, do you have a reference link?

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

The last time I was with a woman it was actually twoo, it was quite magical, I tell ya.