• Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    14 days 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
      6·
      13 days ago

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

      • NostraDavidEnglish
        3·
        13 days 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
      1·
      14 days 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!