Re: Pronunciation

["Adam Beneschan" <adam@irvine.com>]

Larry Elmore wrote:

> > (Why do languages bother throwing in silent letters?)
>
> Usually because pronunciation has changed while the spelling has
> remained static.


The German language has a number of words beginning with "kn", and in
German, both the K and the N are pronounced.  Some of those words made
their way into English, and at some point people decided it was too
bothersome to pronounce the "k", but the letter remained in the
spelling.  I think the situation is roughly the same with "gn",
although I remember more "kn" words from high-school German than "gn".
(More accurately, I remember remembering them at some point.)

                                 -- Adam