From: jcowan@reutershealth.com
Date: Thu May 06 2004 - 11:13:37 CDT
Patrick Andries scripsit:
> The same is true for huit (8) / vit (he lives or virile member) , huitre
> (oyster) / vitre (window pane), huis (door) / vis (you (sing.) live,
> live ! or screw), etc.
Similarly, English final -u/v was always interpreted as u, so phonetically
final v had to be written -ue/ve, as in "loue" for love, though the vowel
is short, not long as would usually be the case with silent final -e. The
equally unetymological o in the word has the same explanation: "luue" would
read as "lwe".
--
John Cowan www.ccil.org/~cowan www.reutershealth.com jcowan@reutershealth.com
"'My young friend, if you do not now, immediately and instantly, pull
as hard as ever you can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in the
large-pattern leather ulster' (and by this he meant the Crocodile) 'will
jerk you into yonder limpid stream before you can say Jack Robinson.'"
--the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake
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