news:3f31d674@news.netos.com...
> English includes a number of borrowed words whose spellings are
> unpronounceable, as a result of retention of foreign consonant clusters.
> For example, we have a group borrowed from Greek which begin with "ps'
> psychology, psoriasis; "pt" pterodactyl, etc.. I assume that someone
> decided to preserve the ancient Greek spelling (psi), etc..
>
> However, I'm stumped as to why the Greek "f" sound - presumably a single
> letter "phi" in Greek -- was introduced into English as "ph" (phonetic,
> phrenology, etc..)
>
> Any suggestions?
f is to p what th is to t and sh is to s and kh is to k and gh is to g and
zh is to z.
Do you have an issue with all these consonant+h bundles, or are you just
being prejudicial when it comes to 'ph'?
Girl called Sophie stood you up or what?
Uncle Davey
|
|