{"id":760,"date":"2016-07-30T14:08:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/?post_type=chapter&p=760"},"modified":"2016-11-30T14:33:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T19:33:42","slug":"%c2%a784-english-spelling-irregularities","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/chapter\/%c2%a784-english-spelling-irregularities\/","title":{"raw":"\u00a784. English Spelling Irregularities","rendered":"\u00a784. English Spelling Irregularities"},"content":{"raw":"

At the end of \u00a781<\/a>, you were told that Latin 1st conjugation present participle derivatives should appear in English as words in -ant<\/i> , -ance,<\/i> and -ancy<\/i>, and all the others as words in -ent<\/i>, -ence,<\/i> and -ency<\/i>. That is true in theory, and it is usually true in practice (as we\u2019ve just seen in \u00a783<\/a>). Unfortunately, the rule is slightly muddled by the influence of French, where all present participles are spelled in -ant<\/i>. This means that there are some words in English that were transmitted through French with an -ant<\/i> spelling, where one might expect an -ent<\/i>. Only about a dozen Latin verbs were affected, but their derivatives can be tricky to spell correctly, especially for someone who knows Latin and is determined to follow the rule. In several bewildering cases, the same Latin verb has some English derivatives in -ant <\/i>and others in -ent<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n

The verb pendere<\/b> (\u201chang\u201d) will illustrate this situation. Given the -ere<\/b> of the present infinitive, we would expect derivatives in -ent<\/i>; sure enough, the English ADJECTIVES pendent<\/i>, dependent<\/i>, and i<\/i>ndependent<\/i> (\u201cnot hanging down from someone\u201d) are spelled with an e<\/i>, as are dependence<\/i>, dependency<\/i>, (both < L dependentia<\/b>) and independence<\/i>. However, the NOUN that means \u201ca hanging ornament\u201d is spelled pendant<\/i>, and has a doublet pennant<\/i>. Here is the French influence; if you find it confusing, you\u2019re in good company. To their credit, the tax collectors at Revenue Canada know that the noun dependant<\/i> is spelled with an a<\/i>, even though the adjective dependent<\/i> has an e<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n

In \u00a782<\/a>, we saw a number of tenere<\/b> derivatives in -ent<\/i> and -ence<\/i>, as one would expect. However, tenant<\/i> and tenancy<\/i> show the French influence, as do maintenance<\/i> (\u201cholding in the hand\u201d), lieutenant<\/i>, and lieutenancy<\/i>. The Anglo-Latin phrase locum<\/i> tenens<\/i> (used by doctors for a substitute \u201cholding the place\u201d) is precisely equivalent to lieutenant<\/i>; it has a noun form locum-tenency <\/i>that parallels lieutenancy<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n

English has two homonyms spelled mordant<\/i> and mordent<\/i>. Both come from the present participle of mordere <\/b>(\u201cbite\u201d), and have the same etymological meaning \u201cbiting.\u201d If wit is \u201cbiting,\u201d it is mordant<\/i>, but the musical embellishment is a mordent<\/i> (via Italian). You can take your pick of ambiance<\/i> or ambience<\/i> (< L ambire<\/b>), but the first should be spoken with a French accent. In the case of Renaissance<\/i> and renascence<\/i> (both \u201crebirth\u201d), the first denotes a particular period in European history, and the second can be any resurgence<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n

Other spelling quirks include derivatives of tendere<\/b> (attendant<\/i> and attendance<\/i>, as opposed to superintendent<\/i> and tendency<\/i>); defe<\/b>ndere<\/b> (defendant<\/i>); dormire<\/b>, \u201csleep\u201d (dormant<\/i>, dormancy<\/i>); servire<\/b> (servant<\/i>, but subservient<\/i>); scandere<\/b>, \u201cclimb\u201d (ascendant,<\/i> descendant,<\/i> but transcendent)<\/i>; sistere<\/b>, \u201cstand\u201d (assistant,<\/i> assistance<\/i>, resistant<\/i>, resistance<\/i> alongside consistent<\/i>, existence<\/i>, insistent<\/i>, persistent, subsistence<\/i>). There\u2019s inconsistency <\/i>for you!<\/p>","rendered":"

At the end of \u00a781<\/a>, you were told that Latin 1st conjugation present participle derivatives should appear in English as words in -ant<\/i> , -ance,<\/i> and -ancy<\/i>, and all the others as words in -ent<\/i>, -ence,<\/i> and -ency<\/i>. That is true in theory, and it is usually true in practice (as we\u2019ve just seen in \u00a783<\/a>). Unfortunately, the rule is slightly muddled by the influence of French, where all present participles are spelled in -ant<\/i>. This means that there are some words in English that were transmitted through French with an -ant<\/i> spelling, where one might expect an -ent<\/i>. Only about a dozen Latin verbs were affected, but their derivatives can be tricky to spell correctly, especially for someone who knows Latin and is determined to follow the rule. In several bewildering cases, the same Latin verb has some English derivatives in -ant <\/i>and others in -ent<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The verb pendere<\/b> (\u201chang\u201d) will illustrate this situation. Given the -ere<\/b> of the present infinitive, we would expect derivatives in -ent<\/i>; sure enough, the English ADJECTIVES pendent<\/i>, dependent<\/i>, and i<\/i>ndependent<\/i> (\u201cnot hanging down from someone\u201d) are spelled with an e<\/i>, as are dependence<\/i>, dependency<\/i>, (both < L dependentia<\/b>) and independence<\/i>. However, the NOUN that means \u201ca hanging ornament\u201d is spelled pendant<\/i>, and has a doublet pennant<\/i>. Here is the French influence; if you find it confusing, you\u2019re in good company. To their credit, the tax collectors at Revenue Canada know that the noun dependant<\/i> is spelled with an a<\/i>, even though the adjective dependent<\/i> has an e<\/i>.<\/p>\n

In \u00a782<\/a>, we saw a number of tenere<\/b> derivatives in -ent<\/i> and -ence<\/i>, as one would expect. However, tenant<\/i> and tenancy<\/i> show the French influence, as do maintenance<\/i> (\u201cholding in the hand\u201d), lieutenant<\/i>, and lieutenancy<\/i>. The Anglo-Latin phrase locum<\/i> tenens<\/i> (used by doctors for a substitute \u201cholding the place\u201d) is precisely equivalent to lieutenant<\/i>; it has a noun form locum-tenency <\/i>that parallels lieutenancy<\/i>.<\/p>\n

English has two homonyms spelled mordant<\/i> and mordent<\/i>. Both come from the present participle of mordere <\/b>(\u201cbite\u201d), and have the same etymological meaning \u201cbiting.\u201d If wit is \u201cbiting,\u201d it is mordant<\/i>, but the musical embellishment is a mordent<\/i> (via Italian). You can take your pick of ambiance<\/i> or ambience<\/i> (< L ambire<\/b>), but the first should be spoken with a French accent. In the case of Renaissance<\/i> and renascence<\/i> (both \u201crebirth\u201d), the first denotes a particular period in European history, and the second can be any resurgence<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Other spelling quirks include derivatives of tendere<\/b> (attendant<\/i> and attendance<\/i>, as opposed to superintendent<\/i> and tendency<\/i>); defe<\/b>ndere<\/b> (defendant<\/i>); dormire<\/b>, \u201csleep\u201d (dormant<\/i>, dormancy<\/i>); servire<\/b> (servant<\/i>, but subservient<\/i>); scandere<\/b>, \u201cclimb\u201d (ascendant,<\/i> descendant,<\/i> but transcendent)<\/i>; sistere<\/b>, \u201cstand\u201d (assistant,<\/i> assistance<\/i>, resistant<\/i>, resistance<\/i> alongside consistent<\/i>, existence<\/i>, insistent<\/i>, persistent, subsistence<\/i>). There\u2019s inconsistency <\/i>for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Chapter 12: Latin Present Participles and Gerundives","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[52],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-760","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":751,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1917,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/760\/revisions\/1917"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/751"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/760\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}