Comment by obiefernandez

Comment by obiefernandez 12 hours ago

6 replies

my biggest TIL takeaway from that article was an "oh wow" moment:

The other sound that ‘ȝ’ once spelled is the “harsh” or “guttural” sound made in the back of the mouth, which you hear in Scots loch or German Bach.4 This sound is actually the reason for the most famous bit of English spelling chaos: the sometimes-silent, sometimes-not sequence ‘gh’ that you see in laugh, cough, night, and daughter. Maybe one day I’ll tell you that story too.

maxhille 8 hours ago

Lachen, Nacht and Tochter (don't know a cognate for 'cough') still have this sound in Standard German.

  • atq2119 7 hours ago

    'cough' could share a root with 'keuchen' (IANAL)

jacquesm 7 hours ago

In Dutch there is an even harder 'g' sound.