Today's Diphthong Question

[beamjockey]

Why is "threshold" spelled with one "H" but "withhold" spelled with two?

Comments

[daisy-knotwise.livejournal.com]

I think that it comes from the words that those words came from.

Withhold comes from with and hold. Each word had the "h" before the words were put together.

Thresh hold comes from a place where threshing happened. Hence the h came with the "s" already attached.


GHR

[ericcoleman]

You're looking for logic in the English language?

WHY?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I look for logic everywhere. One day, this tendency will drive me mad.

[ericcoleman]

One day? I've met you ...

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

+1

I was going to reply "Because it's English!", same basic idea.

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

There's actually quite a bit of logic in English. The reason the "English is chaos and can never be understood" theme is so common is that it's taught really badly in elementary and high schools.

The one time a decent English book made it into my elementary school, I suddenly found that there were rules one could deduce, instead of just doing rote memorization. Of course, by the next grade we were back using the crappy workbooks from a Boston publisher (with Boston-oriented pronunciation guides, I kid you not).

[chasophonic.livejournal.com]

Once the threshold has been reached, you no longer need to withhold "h"s.

[kevin kenny (from livejournal.com)]

withhold < ME "with" + "hold" -- hold back, hold with (yourself)

threshold < OE "thresc" + "wald" -- cognate to modern "thresh" (but in an older sense of "tread") and "way", but not cognate to "hold"

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

The "thresh hold" of a barn is to keep the grain from getting out easily. This is very much a hands-on term.

To "with hold" is to keep something to yourself and away from someone else.

Withhold is therefore a term used by salaried people, who can afford an extra 'h'.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

It's like the "H" in "Jesus H Christ".

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

Great comments. You have such amazing friends, Bill. And even though we all know you're mad, we still love you. <3

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

There are some things that Man was not meant to know.