Throughout history, it was been in fashion to borrow aspects of language and culture from other admired countries. In Renaissance times, it because modish to borrow Latin spellings for otherwise perfectly normal words. A good example of this is the word DEBT. Debt used to be spelled dette, but the <b> was added to match the Latin word debitum.

Another example is the word DOUBT. Doubt was a loan-word (borrowed) from French (douter), but was given new spelling based on the Latin dubitare.

This convention is called Etymological Spelling. It’s a system of spelling that relies on a traditional spelling rules, and not on pronunciation or changes in pronunciation. Some other words that were etymologically spelled are indict (Latin indictare), receipt (Latin recepta), subtle (Latin subtilis), and victuals (Latin victualia; still pronounced vittles).

Sometimes when the spelling was changed, the pronunciation changed as well. For example, throne used to be pronounced and spelled trone… but when Latin spelling was reintroduced, an <h> was added after the <t> and the pronunciation changed. A word that was respelled this way (<th>) but retained its pronunciation was the word thyme. Another word that this happened to is cognizance. Cognizance used to be spelled and pronounced conysance… but again, the spelling changed to match the Latin word (cognoscere = to recognize) and subsequently the pronunciation changed.

Another example of this change in spelling and pronunciation is fault. It is borrowed from French (faute) but then respelled with an <l> based on the Latin words falsus and fallere. A similar thing happened with the English words assault and vault.

Even the word bankrupt fell victim to this practice. Originally the <p> was silent, as in Italian banca rotta (“broken bank”). The word was respelled based on the Latin rupta, and the <p> became pronounced. Baptism used to be bapteme (from French), but an <s> was added to match the Latin baptismus.

We don’t know why some words retained their old pronunciation and some didn’t. It’s just another mystery of language.

Are there any words that you think have nonsensical spelling? Maybe they’re spelled that way because of this phenomenon.

(As an aside – in Old English the “k” was actually written as a “c” – knight was cniht, etc… There was a change in spelling due to the influence of Norman French spelling… but that is a discussion for a later date.)

(Another aside – some Scots still pronounce the silent “g” and “k” in these words. It’s a nasal-ish sound in their pronunciation.)

This happened with other consonant clusters as well. Some examples are: gn, hl, hn, hr, and hw. The “gn” remains in our current spellings (gnome, gnarled, gnash), but the others (hl – hlud = loud, hn – hnutu = nut, hr – hring = ring, hw – hwenne = when) have disappeared.

At this point it would be difficult to get rid of the “k” – how would we differentiate between (k)now and now? Would we pronounce them the same? Would we pronounce them differently but spell them the same? And what about (k)night and night? Those have the same pronunciation, and would even have the same spelling if we dropped the “k”. This could cause quite a confusion in phrases like, “it’s my lucky night!” What do you mean – man in shining armor, or hours of darkness?

It’s still a mystery exactly why this change happened. The most likely cause is that a few people began mispronouncing the word and the blunder spread, eventually replacing the original manner of speaking. Another hypothesis is that it’s the result of foreign influences. England was expanding its sovereignty around this time (16th-17th centuries) and encountering many new languages which it began to assimilate.

Other Germanic languages like German, Swedish, and Dutch kept the “k” and they still pronounce it. It’s hard to say why English speakers decided that the “k-n” sound was too difficult. Just another mystery of language.

I’m always open to questions if you want an explanation of an English (or other language) idiosyncrasy. I will also resume the discussion of the language and thought connection in the near future. Until then, happy speaking/reading/writing.