Timeline for Why does ou change to o when adding the suffix -ous in words such as ‘humorous’?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2021 at 15:50 | comment | added | Stuart F | I imagine it's because "our" and "ous" were formerly pronounced with a stronger vowel than the current /ə/ (or similar), and the vowel became weakened when a suffix was added. So at some point the pair humour & humorous would have been pronounced something like /ˈhjuːmaʊr/ & /ˈhjuːməraʊs/. But it's hard to trace historical pronunciations: if I had any actual evidence I'd post this as an answer ;) | |
| May 18, 2021 at 15:03 | history | edited | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Fixed typographical error.
|
| May 15, 2021 at 12:21 | comment | added | Canned Man | I believe it does, yes, though not the third subquestion, as you yourself note. An answer with a link referencing this other answer of yours, then a more in-depth look at the third subquestion, might prove useful. | |
| May 15, 2021 at 3:02 | comment | added | herisson | I wrote a pretty long post about which suffixes (tend to) go with -or- and -our- here: Is “vapourise” considered incorrect, even in British English? I think that might partly answer your question, but I don't discuss sub-question 3 ... I don't want to just repeat what I wrote there, though. Could you let me know what I might have left out there and I'll try to write an answer to your question here? | |
| May 14, 2021 at 22:46 | history | edited | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added numerous more words and revised the question to reflect this. Added comment on contemporary English.
|
| May 14, 2021 at 22:30 | comment | added | Canned Man | @BenjaminHarman That might be one answer to the question; maybe not the answer, but a answer (considering exactly what you mention: the dropping of the vowel. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 19:03 | comment | added | LPH | dolour,dolorous — flavour, flavorous — odour, odorous — rancour — rancorous —rigour, rigorous — savour, savorous —tumour, tumorous —valour, valorous — vapour, vaporous | |
| May 14, 2021 at 19:00 | comment | added | LPH | @CannedMan A note saying that it has been found in English English in the past is perhaps better (so as to keep to present day English) . | |
| May 14, 2021 at 18:53 | comment | added | Canned Man | @LPH, OK, that’s interesting; the online OD simply states ‘behavioural (US behavioral)’. Should I add it as well, or would it be more suitable for it to stay in the comments? | |
| May 14, 2021 at 18:47 | comment | added | LPH | @CannedMan For "behavioral" my dictionary (abridged OED) specifies "Now chiefly in the United States" . | |
| May 14, 2021 at 18:43 | history | edited | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added more examples from the comments. Reformatted to numbered list.
|
| May 14, 2021 at 18:39 | comment | added | Canned Man | The first one (behavioral) is US spelling. I will add the other two. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 18:36 | comment | added | LPH | behaviour, behavioural, also behavioral — clamour, clamorous — clangour,clangorous | |
| May 14, 2021 at 17:55 | history | edited | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Minor edit to question and title to reflect the examples suggested in the comments.
|
| May 14, 2021 at 17:46 | history | edited | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added more examples.
|
| May 14, 2021 at 17:42 | comment | added | Canned Man | I will allow myself to add these comments to the question above; a list might be useful. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 17:06 | comment | added | Rayan Khan | ... and vigour and vigorous... | |
| May 14, 2021 at 16:50 | comment | added | Rayan Khan | Another such pair is glamour and glamorous. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 16:50 | comment | added | John Lawler | Spelling in English was decided by publishers long ago, with schoolmasters rushing to get in front of the parade to make spelling consistently inconsistent and humerus. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 16:46 | comment | added | user 66974 | humorous (adj.): early 15c., in physiology and medicine, "relating to the body humors, characterized by an abundance of humors," a native formation from humor (n.), or else from Medieval Latin humorosus. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 16:44 | history | edited | Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ |
edited tags
|
|
| May 14, 2021 at 16:41 | comment | added | Rayan Khan | But the -ou- is preserved in humoursome. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 16:24 | history | asked | Canned Man | CC BY-SA 4.0 |