Who, where, what, why when

[GuavaHalf]

Is there any reason why they all begin with 'wh'?

[Quizmonster]

Please see my answer to your other question about 'who' and 'why'. As for what, when and where, they started in Old English as 'hw�t, hwanne and hw�r'. As you can see, therefore, they were all initially 'hw' rather than 'wh' words. Over time, the sound became much more a 'w' than a 'wh'. In Scottish pronunciation, all of these are still much closer to the original, as there is still a trace of the 'h' in there, whereas it has totally disappeared in English people's speech.

Re your point about the reason for all of them opening with the same sound, I am unaware that it is any more than chance. Certainly it goes rather further back in time than is easy to check.

[Quizmonster]

It occurs to me a day later that it is almost certainly connected with the Latin words...quis = who...quid = what...quo = where...quando = when. All of these have a 'kw' opening sound and that is what probably modified into the 'hw' of Old English and the 'wh' of modern English.

When I said earlier that it was "hard to go back far enough", I clearly just had to make one further step back to Latin. However...why did all the Latin ones begin 'qu'??!!

[Chillum]

Quizmonster, with regards to the Scottish pronounciation...just as a matter of interest, the Doric (North East of Scotland) equivalents of the "Wh" words are Fa (Who), Far (Where), Fit (What), Foo or Fit-Wye (Why), and Fan (When).

[Quizmonster]

Dear Chillum...I know! Born and bred there. And the 'f' for 'wh' has somewhat puzzled me for most of my life. The only connection I can see is that both are vaguely representative of gently-expelled breath. The whole sequence then becomes 'kw'...'hw'...'wh'...'f'. Cheers.

PS I can guess how you came to choose your user-name! There's nothing higher than about 50 feet between Doric-land and the North Pole in one direction and the Siberian plains in another.

[Chillum]

weel, fit div ye ken, it's a sma' world indeed.

[Quizmonster]

Aye is't! A gey sma' warld, Ah wite! An' nae sign o't gettin' muckle bigger, Ah doot. Fit like?

We'd better leave it at that, as the AB Editor is cracking down on 'chat' here. Cheers