Comment on Wendnesday

Tikiporch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• GandalftheBlack@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  We started pronouncing it Febuary instead of February to match January. From Wiktionary:
  The pronunciation of the first r as /j/ has come about by dissimilation and analogy with January. In the UK pronunciation /ˈfɛb.ɹi/ (*Febry) the sequence /ɹə.ɹi/ in /ˈfɛb.ɹə.ɹi/ (*Febrery) is simplified to /ɹi/ by haplology.

  Also, we should bring back the Old English solmōnaþ (“mud month”).

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  • hakase@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    This type of analogy is specifically called series contamination, where items that frequently are pronounced together in a series affect each other. Also happened in proto-Germanic with the ‘n’ in ten, from the ‘n’ in nine (and in the opposite direction of Latin novem and decem; cf. nonus “ninth” to see the original ‘n’).

    Also probably at least partially responsible for the common American pronunciation of Wednesday, based on Tuesday.

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    • GandalftheBlack@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Is the n in Germanic words for ten not just a reflex of m in PIE *dekm̥t?

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      • hakase@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Ah, yeah, quite possibly, good catch. I suppose it could be either assimilation to final -t before it dropped off, or final nasal merger to -n, a la Greek. I’ll check and report back.

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• TurtleTourParty@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I pronounce it feb-u-wary

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