Is the H silent in the word HUMBLE?

Answer 1

Well, MOST English dialects pronounce it

But it is silent --or rather STILL silent (see below) in SOME dialects, such as parts of the American South. And no, it is NOT a mistake, nor is it an affectation.

If you look back at the history of this and a number of other English words starting with h that were borrowed from French, you find that this H was not pronounced in ANY of them in either French OR English.

(These words go back to Latin words spelled with an h that WAS pronounced, but in the offshoots of Latin -- Spanish, Italian, French, etc-- the h became silent. Most of the languages simply dropped it from the spelling. Not French and so not English.)

The h in these words is still silent French, and SEVERAL are silent in many or most dialects of English.

English examples: honor, herb (American English)

This began to change in the 18th century, when the custom of pronouncing most of these h's took hold, especially in England,. (This includes the originally silent H of "herb". But in America, the 17th century pronunciation of the original English settlers continued.)

Note that the confusion was caused partly by the fact that in words with NON-French origins the h had always been pronounced. As the French origins was forgotten or seemed less important the pressure to pronounce it increased.

Of these words, a handful kept the silent h ONLY in a FEW English dialects. Words starting with the "hu-" sound --like "humble", "human", "humid", "huge" and "Houston" [Texas] -- and the word "hotel" are premiere examples

By the way, this also helps explain the use by many of "an historical" instead of "a historical". This h used to be silent, and is still only very lightly pronounced (mainly because the first syllable has very little accent).

Answer 2

Humble Pronunciation

Answer 3

A Frenchman named PS Humble, (with a silent H), founded Humble Texas in 1845. In 1911 five oil firms exploiting the Spindletop Dome merged to form Humble Oil, (with a silent H) ,a giant in Texas until it was gobbled up by Exxon in the 60's. Texans and their neighbors grew up listening to radio and TV ads for 'umble oil.

Answer 4

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RE:
Is the H silent in the word HUMBLE?

Answer 5

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I have never been to Houston. If that is really true, then chalk it up to living in the "Great Nation of Texas." After all, George W says , "uh," "ah," um," and a few other choice words from the Genuiiiiiiiiiiiiiine Texas dictionary. The word with the most definitions is "fire arm." LOL! I'm really only kidding, Texans. His question was just so leading........... You can make all the Cheesehead jokes you want about my Wisconsin. LOL!

Answer 6

Yes it is supposed to be silent unless you are in Texas where the H in the word vehicle is heard.

Answer 7

It's an attempt to add some artificial class to American English.
You guys are not fooling anyone, so start using the correct pronunciation!

Answer 8

I believe I recall hearing that there was a tendency to do this in the past, with the intention of conveying a heightened sense of literary refinement, generally on the part of someone who was notably lacking in this attribute!

In other words, it was an affected verbal mannerism, nearly a century ago. That's my understanding.

Answer 9

Why do Yankees call Houston St in NYC Howston St?

Answer 10

It is not supposed to be. Some english dialects and accents do not pronounce the "h" in many words.