I was learning English, which is my second language, when I came across the methinks word. I went to google to look up its meaning and usage, when to my surprise I saw this description: Old English mē thyncth, from mē ‘to me’ + thyncth ‘it seems’ (from thyncan ‘seem,’ related to, but distinct from, … Read more
The distinction between the words blessèd (/ˈblɛsəd/) and blessed (/blɛst/) (see Grammarbook) appears to be wearing thin in modern language, possibly due to reduced accent usage and its resultant lack of different pronunciation between the two terms. Wiktionary refers to the word as poetic, dated And most damningly of all as an Alternative form of … Read more
In his poem Spring and Fall, Gerard Manley Hopkins uses diacritics where one would normally not see them. Does anyone know why? Here is the poem: Márgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leáves like the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for you, can you? Ah! ás the heart grows older … Read more
I’ve always wondered what the correct apostrophe is when using contractions. Should I use She´s happy or She’s happy? English´s a universal language. English‘s a universal language. Why do a lot of people use ´ for this, as though it were café au lait? Am I missing something here? Answer "She’s happy" uses unicode character … Read more
In my personal experience, many native speakers of U.S. English are familiar with the term "umlaut" as referring to the double dots above a letter, though they are not generally aware of its actual effect on pronunciation. They are typically unfamiliar with the term "dieresis". Therefore, they would describe the dots over the "e" in … Read more
Consider the page Wrexham Glyndŵr University. Why is there a circonflex on the w? Does this exist in Welsh spelling? Answer Yes, the circumflex exists in the Welsh spelling: Circumflex In Welsh : The circumflex is known as hirnod “long sign” or acen grom “crooked accent”, but more usually and colloquially as to bach “little … Read more
Is there a name for this mark? It sits below a letter as a means of showing an abbreviation. (In this case, Established abbreviated to Estd.) I’ve seen it used in the form below in place of an apostrophe for a contraction. Frequently, it’s used to abbreviate William to Wm. I know there’s a diacritic … Read more
I know that diaeresis is used to show that two adjacent vowels are not a diphthong but should be pronounced separately, as in naïve or Zoë. Is there an equivalent mark or format in current or historical use that shows that a pair of consonants that usually form a digraph (e.g. “sh” or “th”) should … Read more
Unlike in English speaking countries, here in Brazil it is very common to have names with accents. My own name is an example of it: Túlio. In my case, in letter u we have an accentuation signal that in my country we call acento agudo (ú). In spelling activities, it’s very common for people to … Read more
If I am speaking about a letter that has a diacritical mark (e.g. ‘á’), what word or phrase should I use to reference the base letter (e.g. ‘a’)? I’m looking for something a little more concise than “the letter that it modifies” or “the letter that it is added to”. I couldn’t find anything helpful … Read more
