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

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago (5 children)

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

Twin, Twixt, Between, Twelve etc

[–] boydster 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 23 hours 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".
[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] kambusha 6 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Lol.

OK, Impressive Clergyman!

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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'

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Spell out that thang!

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Twain.

"He split Robin's arrow in twain!"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Side question?

Does twelve basically mean two eleven?

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interesting. This sorta makes sense actually.

Curious though, do you have a reference link?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

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