Comment on Wendnesday
hakase@lemmy.zip 1 day agoThis 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.
GandalftheBlack@feddit.org 1 day ago
Is the n in Germanic words for ten not just a reflex of m in PIE *dekm̥t?
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.