Revisions to Were double consonants pronounced at some period of history?

Removed the now offensive nigger link

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One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

Another example to support my argument.

bagage (Middle English) -> baggage

One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

Another example to support my argument.

bagage (Middle English) -> baggage

One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

Another example to support my argument.

bagage (Middle English) -> baggage

If you want to avoid the example, then just don't mention it at all.

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edited Nov 27 at 0:14

herisson

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One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

More examplesAnother example to support my argument.

bagage (Middle English) -> baggage

niger (Latin) -> ~~ni**..**er~~ no, I don't want to be cancelled.

One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

More examples to support my argument.

bagage (Middle English) -> baggage

niger (Latin) -> ~~ni**..**er~~ no, I don't want to be cancelled.

One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) or even ‘ck’ (click, clock).

Since I don't want to make the question too broad, I'll explain the origin of my curiosity. Actually, I was searching for the etymology of the word ‘toboggan’ and it turned out that in Canadian French was ‘tobogan’. That makes me think that English is the only language in which the consonants are doubled when it comes to make adaptations from other languages.

So, generally speaking, were double consonants ever pronounced as such? Or it is just some kind of ‘ancient fashion habit’ without any correlation to the pronunciation?

EDIT

Another example to support my argument.