Eight
Eight
We all know what "eight" means: a cardinal number that is one more than seven or two less than ten. The mystery to me is how it got from the simple Old English ehta, eahta to the convoluted spelling we have today. Latin and Greek preserved the Indo-European root of the word; why didn't English? –– Mike Nichols
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: Eight
Blame it on the scribes, or so I gather. They decided to go for this combination of letters to imitate what at the time was a hard H. Then it just solidified as standard spelling, even when the hardness went soft and nearly disappeared.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 8091
- Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
- Location: Finger Lakes, NY
Re: Eight
That's because they used a vigesimal numbering system way back when.
I found a breezy little article to explain it a bit.
This post from the Agora might pique some interests, too.
I found a breezy little article to explain it a bit.
This post from the Agora might pique some interests, too.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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