Replies

It is my understanding that in many parts of the country “wh” was at one time actually pronounced inverted, as something like “hwut” for “what”. It is still pronounced that way in some regions, but not in most.

The modern English "what" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "hwaet" (meaning "Lo!" or "Listen!"... see my tagline). Even then it was pronounced "wat", with a slight aspiration before the w sound as the only reference to the h. So any dialects that pronounced "what" as "h-wut" created that sound sequence rather than reflected any original pronunciation...

70 posted on 01/05/2015 4:08:56 PM PST by Charles H. (The_r0nin) (Hwaet! Lar bith maest hord, sothlice!)

To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

Thanks for the clarification.

74 posted on 01/06/2015 3:21:47 AM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)

To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

Your tagline is Anglo-Saxon? Old English?

75 posted on 01/06/2015 3:35:15 AM PST by Bigg Red (Congress, do your duty and repo his pen and his phone.)

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