Silent Letters

[:Ace:]

What is the point behind these? They seem to serve no purpose.

For example, Knife or Cupboard with the silent K's and P's.

What's the point?

[Ethel]

I don't know about the k in knife, but the P in cupboard is not actually silent.
It is 'lazy speech'.

Cupboard has evolved from cup board, a board used to store cups.

[:Ace:]

Ethel, there is no end to your knowledge!

[Ethel]

No end to my googling powers, Ace. :)

[:Ace:]

I like your style lady :-P

[Holidaylover]

Silly me. I thought it was so you could call a bloke rick , with a silent P

[DaSwede]

About knife: I think you learned from us - the Vikings - and then just forgot. Knife in Swedish is (still) kniv, with an audible k. Probably something similar in Danish, I don't remember right now. Your old Danish king Canute would be called Knut over here. I suppose you people sometimes inserted an a as a strategy to make these words feel more natural to you, and that perhaps you also tried another strategy: To drop the k's completely! So it's a sort of degeneration, really... (he he) Perhaps there was a time when you said canife...

I'm just guessing.

[:Ace:]

sounds sensible DaSwede

[Hellion]

On silent letters I've always loved this story.

Jean Harlow was at a dinner party and kept on addressing Margot Asquith (wife of prime minister Herbert Asquith) as MargoT (pronouncing the 'T'). Margot finally had enough and said to her "No Jean, the T is silent, as in Harlow".

[:Ace:]

Hmm...i think i get it...as in Harlot? lol! I'm ever so dumb.

[n00dles]

Whore !!

[kempie]

DaSwede is mostly correct (except for the additional 'a' theory).

In Old English (circa AD 450 onwards) all letters were pronounced. Prior to the Viking invasions of the 9th & 10th Centuries, knife (spelled cnif) was pronounced with a hard-C (K sound) and it rhymed with sniff.
Likewise knight (spelled cniht) had a hard-C followed by the German sounding nicht.


Middle English (circa AD 1100�1500) saw the introduction of the letter K for the hard-C sound. All letters in word still pronounced.

Early Modern English (circa AD 1500�1800) saw a shift in pronunciation which led to so-called 'silent letters'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English

btw Canute is also known as Cnut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canute_the_Great

[SteveD]

George Bernard Shaw had a suggestion:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/shavian.htm