Why do we say and spell the contraction for "will not" as won't? Where does the "o" come from?

Question

Based on most contractions it should be willn't. I understand the "it just sounds weird or cumbersome" argument, but if you say willn't a few times it is no more cumbersome or difficult to say than "shouldn't", "haven't", or hasn't.

Answer 1

Won't is a contraction of woll and not--over time as will entered the english language its form changed, especially when used in combination with not.

Answer 2

Ease of pronunciation likely comes into, but that's not how the form came to be. The "o" was there long before the contraction.

It happened something like this:

In Old and Middle English, the form of the verb changed according to whether it was used for the first, second and third person, singular and plural,etc. Many examples are found in the Oxford English Dictionary -- forms like wile, willo, uillo, will, wulle, wule, wolle, woll, and wool
"Wull" and "woll" were still in common use in the 19th century, before "will" finally competely won out as THE standard form.

For the negative English had the same basic forms --such as wynnot, wonnot, woonnot, wo'not, wonot, winnot, we'n't, willn't, willot, won't. Some of these, again, were still in use in the 19th century (Charlotte Bronte used "willn't" in an 1849 book.) But in THIS case, the form "won't" ended up winning the field.

Why? Well it is a bit easier to say (L + N is more difficult to pronounce - which is why "shall not" became "shan't"), and perhaps it was influenced by similar contracted forms, esp."don't"

Also note that an "o"-type vowel is still found in another form of this verb -- "would".

Answer 3

The only argument that really makes any sense is the one you've already hit on, the pronouncability issue. I agree there are certainly bigger mouthfuls in the english language than "willn't" but at this point in time, I think it's a bit of a lost cause.

Answer 4

It comes from too many o's in the language
signed
Moose

Answer 5

Any other way would just sound weird.

Answer 6

Well....it would have sounded a lor weirder if it was "win't", no? :p

Answer 7

i think, "won't" is better in terms of pronunciation than win't.