four, fourteen and forty

Jillius | 22:20 Fri 21st Sep 2007 | Phrases & Sayings

5 Answers

Why do we put a "u" in four and fourteen but not in forty ??

Why do we write �10 and not 10�

Mountains Out Of Mole Hills

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ojread2

And why to we spell speak with an 'A' but speech with 2 'E's??

Jillius

Question Author

And why do we spell lamb and comb with a b on the end ?? The list goes on

THECORBYLOON

I can't answer the original question but I know that a lot of the words ending in "mb" have Anglo-Saxon origins as do words beginning wi �kn� and �wr�, so it may be they pronounced the now silent letter but over the years it became easier not to pronounce it.

Quizmonster

From the 14th to the 18th centuries, it was spelt 'fourty'. Then for some time 'fourty' and 'forty' existed side by side, before the latter became the only accepted form. Just a typical language process, in fact.

Quizmonster

'Comb' was 'comb' in Old English, probably from the old Teutonic language in which it was 'kambo'. The same sort of origin applies to lamb.

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