Yoïn van Spijk on Nostr: The French word ‘huit’ (eight) stems from Latin ‘octō’, so why does it have ...

The French word ‘huit’ (eight) stems from Latin ‘octō’, so why does it have an h?

The same goes for Spanish ‘huevo’ (egg): this word stems from the h-less Latin word ‘ovum’.

Their h was added in the Middle Ages to prevent these words from being read wrong, as u and v weren’t different letters yet, which meant that ‘uit’ (eight) could be read as ‘vit’ (lives).

Zoom in on my infographic to learn all about this auxiliary h in French and Spanish.

Modern French normally has an h only in ... 1/