I was just looking at the word, and thought, why was the 'w' put there. Thanks to all.
2007-01-01 01:50:12 · 9 answers · asked by Kesta♥ 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Since noone wrote the entire answer in one answer, I'll summarize it here:
The word answer comes from "andswaru" an Old English verb. (Old English is what was once spoken in England. Before the French invasion, English resembled Dutch or German much more. This creolization of languages is part of the reason our spelling system is so inconsistent).
Andswaru comes from the words we know now as "ante" and "swear", literally "to swear in response to/against". It was used in the sense of "answer" a legal charge, and also just "respond" to any kind of question or prompting.
The "d" fell out, since it is somewhat laborious to prounounce the combination -nds- and with the speed of speech became answar. When the w began to fall out of pronounciation, again because it is somewhat awkward to say quickly, people retained the spelling with w because they were familiar with it and because it shows the origin of the word.
That is why English is spelled oddly in general: unlike most languages, we kept old spellings when the pronounciation changed.
Short answer: the w is there because it was pronounced at one time.
2007-01-01 02:45:41 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
Lots of words have a silent 'w' in them, especially place names like Warwick and Keswick. It was probably once pronounced - and still is by people from across the Atlantic - cf. Brunswick.
The word derives from the Old Frisian 'ondser' or Old Norwegian 'andsvar'.
2007-01-01 02:07:29 · answer #2 · answered by cymry3jones 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The spelling system of English was invented a long time ago, back when the pronunciation was different. The pronunciation has changed, but the spelling stayed the same. I'm pretty sure that "answer" has been affected by this.
2007-01-02 19:03:28 · answer #3 · answered by drshorty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question cause its said like ansir. I guess the person who made it up was bored and decided to put a useless letter in there.
2007-01-01 01:57:43 · answer #4 · answered by Mrs.Beckford 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because the word anser makes no sense and the word answer does.
2007-01-01 01:58:55 · answer #5 · answered by xcarzayx 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
because som guy thought that he'd add it there just so it looked better than "anser" or somthin like that, just to make our lives that much more easier! :p
2007-01-01 01:59:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It comes from a combination of two Anglo-Saxon words, "and" and "swaru."
2007-01-01 01:56:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
it is just how the word goes
2007-01-01 01:58:49 · answer #8 · answered by Cindy 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
hey u
2007-01-01 02:00:27 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋