This is true for a lot of words and I don’t understand what the point of including letters if they’re not supposed to be pronounced.
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To summarize what others have said from a slightly different angle: written words have meaning that is based on the components of the words. So a plumber is someone who works with lead (plumbum) and not someone who works with plums. Regional pronunciation can differ, but the written word reflects the specific meaning.
Then you get words like goodbye which comes from “may god be with ye” which was a traditional “passing of the peace” phrase in the English church. And there’s hello, which is a fabricated word based on haloo (a hunting call) that carried well over the original telephone system.
So at least with English, you get a fascinating combination of words that haven’t changed since they were first recorded in a dictionary, and words that have taken on new meanings or spellings over time in popular culture (just look up the many historical meanings of the word “nice” sometime).
After 2 years of Latin I can tell you this answer. Some words have silent letters due to their origins and the evolution of language over time. In the case of “plumber,” the word comes from the Latin word “plumbum,” which means lead. Plumbing used to use lead piping. The “b” in “plumber” is a remnant of its Latin origin. Over time, the pronunciation of the word changed, but the spelling remained the same, resulting in a silent “b.” Spelling it as “Plummer” would not accurately reflect its historical roots.
They were pronounced in the language the words come from. If you see silent letters in a word, look at the etymology of the word and it will probably make sense.
In the case of plumber is comes from the old French word plummier, which doesn’t have the b in it, but the French word plummier actually comes from the Latin word plumbarius. So, during the renaissance when they realized the Latin origin word had a b in it, they added it to the written language but it wasn’t ever pronounced with the b in French, and both the written form and spoken form were carried over to English giving us a silent b.
To summarize what others have said from a slightly different angle: written words have meaning that is based on the components of the words. So a plumber is someone who works with lead (plumbum) and not someone who works with plums. Regional pronunciation can differ, but the written word reflects the specific meaning.
Then you get words like goodbye which comes from “may god be with ye” which was a traditional “passing of the peace” phrase in the English church. And there’s hello, which is a fabricated word based on haloo (a hunting call) that carried well over the original telephone system.
So at least with English, you get a fascinating combination of words that haven’t changed since they were first recorded in a dictionary, and words that have taken on new meanings or spellings over time in popular culture (just look up the many historical meanings of the word “nice” sometime).
On the periodic table, the abbreviation for “lead” is “Pb”, which comes from the latin word “Plumbum”, where the “b” was pronounced. Lead was widely used for water supply and drainage pipes and conduits, as well as waterproofing roofs and many other purposes. People who worked with “Plumbum” were known as “Plumbers”.
The overwhelming majority of the time that a letter is silent in one word, that letter is part of a root word, and certain other words with that same root will pronounce that letter.
Consider “Pterodactyl”. The “P” is silent. “Pter” is the latin word for “Wing”. When you attach two wings together in opposite direction and spin them, you get a helical wing, or helico-pter. You definitely pronounce the “p” in “helicopter”, even though you don’t pronounce it in pterodactyl.
How about the “g” in “Resign”? Spelling it “resine” or “rezine” loses the connection to the closely related “resignation”.
On the periodic table, the abbreviation for “lead” is “Pb”, which comes from the latin word “Plumbum”, where the “b” was pronounced. Lead was widely used for water supply and drainage pipes and conduits, as well as waterproofing roofs and many other purposes. People who worked with “Plumbum” were known as “Plumbers”.
The overwhelming majority of the time that a letter is silent in one word, that letter is part of a root word, and certain other words with that same root will pronounce that letter.
Consider “Pterodactyl”. The “P” is silent. “Pter” is the latin word for “Wing”. When you attach two wings together in opposite direction and spin them, you get a helical wing, or helico-pter. You definitely pronounce the “p” in “helicopter”, even though you don’t pronounce it in pterodactyl.
How about the “g” in “Resign”? Spelling it “resine” or “rezine” loses the connection to the closely related “resignation”.
There are tons of great answers on this thread but they all boil down to the fact that English pretends to be a phonetic language but it isn’t one.
There are tons of great answers on this thread but they all boil down to the fact that English pretends to be a phonetic language but it isn’t one.
Everyone is right about the pronunciation being different in the past, but no one has mentioned why the spelling was standardized in that form. The reason that happened was the introduction of the printing press to Europe. It made many, many more books to be made, and they were also being printed in many more local languages. So instead of the Bible only being produced in Latin, it was also translated into English and printed for the masses. The people that owned the printing presses at that time essentially crystallized how the language was spelled. Specifically this is usually attributed to William Caxton, who introduced the printing press to England and translated many historical works into English.
Everyone is right about the pronunciation being different in the past, but no one has mentioned why the spelling was standardized in that form. The reason that happened was the introduction of the printing press to Europe. It made many, many more books to be made, and they were also being printed in many more local languages. So instead of the Bible only being produced in Latin, it was also translated into English and printed for the masses. The people that owned the printing presses at that time essentially crystallized how the language was spelled. Specifically this is usually attributed to William Caxton, who introduced the printing press to England and translated many historical works into English.
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