Hallowe'en

[plop1389]

Why does hallowe'en have a ' in it?

[Wraith]

Because it's short for All Hallows Eve.

[Peter Pedant]

The "'" in an English word means that there is a consonant missing which is not pronounced.

In this word it is a vee

[IndieSinger]

' doesn't always indicate a missing consonant, Peter Pedant... look at doesn't, for example. As well as can't, isn't and any other word where "not" is contracted. Also think about she's, I'm, my brother's room (my brother, his room [Dative Genitive]) etc. etc.

[New Forester]

All correct, Indie, except the possessive.  I think the contraction "brother's" is from what would be "brotheres", a genitive form in Anglo Saxon.

 

(It's always a challenge, isn't it, PP's name...).

 

E'en is surely a poetic or dialect form of e(v)e(ni)n(g), so it ought perhaps to be e'e'n'.  But then contractions are often simplified, as in shan't: sha(ll) n(o)t.  A contraction of eve would be e'e (see also Edward Woodward joke in "Cardboard" thread in Body and Soul).

 

OK, so why hasn't the possessive of "it" got an apostrophe?

[Kishimo]

new forester, is it because it gets too confused with the 'it is' form it's?

[Earthlady]

Because as a possessive adjective "its" is a word in itself and there are no omited letters and therefore no need for an apostrophe - the other possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, our, their

[New Forester]

Earthlady -- Yes, but why do other possessive nouns have the apostrophe?  Why the special rule for pronouns?

 

Kishimo  -- I think it's probably your explanation which is right -- also works for it( ha)s.

[Earthlady]

I should probably refer you to Lynne Truss's (is that apostrophe correct?;-)) great little book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". There is not a special rule for pronouns - all singular nouns require an apostrophe before the s to show the possessive, e.g. the boy's hat. But you can replace the noun with a possessive adjective (or possessive determiner as some grammarians prefer) e.g. his hat. Possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his hers, its, ours, theirs. So It's the boy's hat. It's his hat. It's his. Or perhaps more clearly (or not)- They're the girls' books. They're their books. They're theirs. Basically (as L T reminds us)it's = it is or it has. Otherwise, it's its.

[Peter Pedant]

my turn! my turn!

his and hers don't have an apostrophe in it.

And "its" follows that example. Actually its for 'of it' makes its (!) appearance in the eighteenth century as a made up word. It does not occur (therefore) in the King James bible.

and just for good measure, if a language goes from identifying gender as Anglo saxon does to one which identifies the gender of the possessor, whcih English does, then it must have gone through a phase where the words do not have any gender at all (apparently). This stage has not been identified in English.

[Peter Pedant]

oh and just for completeness,

the misapprehension of brother his book contracting to Brother's first made its (!) appearance in the eighteenth century

so why didnt they immediately object in the C18, "hold it, that can't be true, because sister's book does not come from sister his book.

actually any girl with a brother will know the thine and mine also family rule -(joke)