Salmon why is the l silent

Friday, March 20, The L in salmon. Nothing matters anymore" I had a bit of a chuckle, though as you know I am not judgemental about variant pronunciations. The word comes ultimately from the Latin salmon , but we got it by way of French, as we did with so many other food words. The French, as was their wont, had swallowed up the Latin L in their pronunciation, so by the time we English borrowed the word, it was saumon , no L in the spelling and so no L in the pronunciation. It is saumon in French to this day.

But as faithful Wordlady readers know, in English this was doomed to change, thanks to the Renaissance obsession with reflecting Latin origins in English spelling, a phenomenon responsible for many of our silent letters. By the 17th century, the spelling without an L had died out altogether. It is exactly the same phenomenon as happened with falcon , palm , almond, and calm. The influence of literacy, and seeing that L before our eyes, is very strong.

In this case, it is reinforced by the pronunciation of "salmonella", which is indeed pronounced -- or supposed to be pronounced -- SAL mon ella. It has nothing to do with fish unless you eat one that's gone off. The word "salmonella" was coined in French in to honour the American veterinarian Daniel Salmon. How do YOU pronounce "salmon"? Hence, for a long time I misheard Leonard Cohen singing, "O mask of Aaron, I was there for you," and tried like a fool to chase up the obscure reference to this Aaron fellow and his mask.

Joined: Oct Dallas, TX. Originally Posted By: zmjezhd. Moderated by Jackie. Old Weekly themes. Loanwords from German English as a global language.

Forum Statistics Forums Most Online 3, Dec 9th, Key: Admin , Global Mod , Mod. A C Bowden LukeJavan8 6. Faldage 13, Jackie 11, LukeJavan8 9, Buffalo Shrdlu 7, AnnaStrophic 6, Wordwind 6, Powered by UBB. Responsive Width: PHP: 7. Other Services A. Register Log In Wordsmith. Previous Thread. Next Thread. Print Thread. I'll bet he pronounces the L in silver or Fillmore , or loon.

Do you have a reference for this, and some idea of who "the same people" are? There are many words where l is inserted and is pronounced in ModE.

Add a comment. Some lost both l and u: safe, chafe. RainDoctor RainDoctor 1, 13 13 silver badges 10 10 bronze badges. The point is not about bright and dark l. Non-existent l was introduced and pronounced in certain words. So, the explanation of appealing to some history does not work.

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