• Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.caEnglish
    7·
    2 months ago

    And why is “kn” even a thing in English?

    Knowledge? Knight? Knee? Knapsack? Knitting?

    How does that make any sense at all?

    Edit" and then there’s Gnome! Why isn’t it Knome? Or Gnowledge?

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      because it was literally pronounced like that not too long ago, compare “knight” to “knekt” in swedish.

      • NostraDavid@programming.devEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        In Dutch we still have “knecht” (knave/servant), and I recall that Dutch and English have some overlap, so it makes sense.

        I also recall a video about English, having adopted the Latin alphabet, made less sense than English under the previous Futhark (runes).

    • Eiri@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      I’ll be honest I’ve always found it weird that they decided to stop pronouncing those consonants at some point. Those words just sound better with the K pronounced!