Why does pterodactyl start with a "P"?

Question

LOL

Answer 1

As has been noted, "ptero" is a Greek root, and that the p IS pronounced in Greek. So why do we bring the "p" over into English if we do NOT pronounce it (and I don't know that this p has EVER been pronounced when it appears at the beginning of an English words)? Probably because there has been a strong push through the centuries to keep or return to the Latin or Greek words from which an English is derived.

This may seem odd to us, until we recognize that the spelling of words is not JUST to indicate how the word is to be PRONOUNCED. Frequently, an older spelling is kept to show the ROOT (history/origins) of a word, and its RELATIONSHIP to other words. In fact, this is a KEY fact about spelling that could resolve a lot of our complaints about the 'odd spellings' of English. Yes, the often ARE odd, but not nearly so bad if you recognize that helping with proper pronunciation is not the ONLY use of spelling.

(You may even begin to find some of the odd spellings helpful! first for learning English vocabulary, not to mention how root or 'historical' spelling can help you see connections with French, Greek, etc. and so make it easier to learn to read these languages.)

Here's a simple example of how and why we use spellings that don't fit our pronunciations but DO show us how words are related. The word "soft" is written as it sounds, but when you add the suffix -en, the T becomes silent. Yet because we do not drop this T, you can still SEE the relationship of "soft" and "soften" from their spelling. (The same is true for a whole cluster of words in which 'st' or 'ft' is followe by l or n, such as chaste > chasten, haste > hasten, moist > moisten, wrest > wrestle.)

For what it's worth, here are 43 English words that start with "pt" . . .though when you leave out plurals and suffixed forms the total is more like 17.
http://www.morewords.com/starts-with/pt

(Note that these are all scientific terms, which makes sense, because it is especially in the sciences where we might expect a use of the Greek spellings.)

Incidentally, the P in the root pter" (meaning "wing") IS pronounced in English words when a vowel comes before the T, making it natural to pronounce in English. For instance, in the New Zealand bird known as "apteryx". So, when we put such words that BEGIN with "pt", we can see the root, the meaning and the relationship (which is rather useful with those tough scientific words that we do not pronounce much anyway!!). Compare "ptosis" (silent p) and its relative "aptosis" (p pronounced), ptosis/apoptosis.

One interesting example of this root which few recognize is in the word "helicopter", meaning "spiral wing" (helico- means 'spiral'; the independent form is the more familiar "helix") Compare also calypter, chiropteran, hemipter, ornithopter.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/helicopter
http://www.morewords.com/word/calypter/
http://www.morewords.com/word/hemipter/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ornithopter

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why does pterodactyl start with a "P"?
LOL

Answer 3

To expand on what Dablaze has posted...once upon a time, it was considered "proper" English to use the Greek pronunciations of the initial "p" in words like pterodactyl, psychology, philodendrum, psalm, and psilly (yes, that is the original spelling...legend has it that in 1885, a typsetter working for Webster's Dictionary was composing the last few pages of the "P" section, when he ran out of lead-type "p's"...so what he did was drop the initial "p" from "psilly" and about three-dozen other words and moved them into the appropriate sections with their new initial letters...but I digress.).

ANYWAYS--these words were originally pronounced with the "p" sound. Now words like psillium, psychosis, etc. weren't too bad, but that "pt" sound is rather difficult for the English speaking mouth, and resulted in quite a bit of, uh, saliva being sprayed in faces of listeners nationwide. (Incidentally, the initial "pk," as in the phrase "pkitchen pcabinet" was a real disaster, as it is formed farther down the throat and...well you get the idea.) This feature of spoken English, (known as the "wet p dipthong") was only an inconvenience until the Spanish Flu Epicemic of 1918, when it was identified as a small, but significant vehicle for the spread of the virus.

President Wilson called Congress into special session. The "Greek" pronounciation of these words was declared un-American, legislation was passed to make the initial "p's" silent (Actually, it was an amending of the No Sound Left Behind Act), in works like psoriasis and pseudonym, and to drop the letter altogether in words like pdentistry, pthyme, and ptumbleweed...and so it has remained to this day.

You think I could make something like this up???

Answer 4

Because it is derived from Greek. The "p" is not silent in Greek, but because "pt" is not a sound we are used to making, we have grown to pronounce it with a "t" sound.

Answer 5

Silent P

Answer 6

Because it can


like psychology and pneumonia...and I guess why possum sometimes starts with an O

Answer 7

For the same reason that "pneumonia" does ... just one of those quirky abnormalities of the English language.

Answer 8

Same reason psychology or physical do, I guess.