why is SURE spelled SURE why isn't it spelled SHURE...or something in that nature?

Answer 1

What happens with "sure" is not nearly as unusual as you may think, as I hope you will see from the examples below.

A big key to this is that the word comes from Latin THROUGH Old French.

You can even see a hint at how we got our pronunciation in the fact that the Old French word might be spelled "sur" OR "seur".
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sure

The key is in how the French u is pronounced --by forming the lips to say "oo" and placing the tongue up as if to say "ee" (very like the German u-umlaut). In other words there is an "ee" included in the vowel sound

We do not have this vowel sound in Modern English, but you can still here MANY evidences of it, esp. in words borrowed from Latin through French.

Look at the following -ure words, ALL of them include a "y" sound at the beginning, which is a form of the 'ee' sound. Thus the final syllables of these wors are pronounced /YOOR/ if the syllable is accented, /yer/ if it is not.

cure
coiffure
figure
failure
demure
enure, tenure
pure

(The same sound may be found in words ending in -ue --pronounce /YOO/, such as cue, hue, value, venue.)


But there is a cluster of sounds which, when followed by that 'yoo' sound, may be modified in some or all English dialects.
These are /s/ /z/ (spelled with an s, but using the voice), /t/ and /d/

Try to pronounce these combinations with "YOOR"/"yer", but QUICKLY and you will hear the sound change.

mature / culture = CHOOR (TYOOR in some dialects)/cher
endure/ verdure, = DYOOR [simply DOOR in many dialects] / jer
(as)sure = SHOOR
pleasure = ZHOOR
(Note that is some dialects the Y sound may be found after some of these consonants before a u (oo sound) -- as in pursue [/perSOO/ OR /perSYOO/] Tuesday [/TOOZday/ OR /TYOOZday/


Look at how that happens:
tyoo > choo
dyoo > joo
syoo > shoo
(or 'zhoo' if the sound uses the voice)

Summary: blame it on the French!

Answer 2

Shure Spelling

Answer 3

It has to do with the history - etymology - of the word, and the fact that English spelling is famously inconsistent. Here's Mirriam Webster's etymology:

"Middle English seur, sure, from Anglo-French seur, from Latin securus secure."

Words like "shine" or "shed," where the "sh" sound is spelled as we're used to seeing it, are of Germanic origin, and would have been spelled as "scinan" and "scipen." Eventually the "sc" spelling was more or less standardized as "sh."

"Seur," being of French lineage, evolved differently, becoming "sure."

By Shakespeare's day all three words were spelled as we know them today.

Interestingly, the only other English word where "sh" is spelled "su," the word "sugar," has also been spelled that way since Shakesperare's time or before.

Answer 4

In Hebrew, the letter S is always followed by an H. Think, the Hebrews are called Semitic people because they are descended from Shem. Technically speaking they are Shemitic peoples.

It's like with the the way C and S make the same sound until you add an H as in the word Character. Maybe that's where Shrek came from because of all the caricature types.

Also H in Hebrew is preceded by a K as in Hannuka also spelled Channukah.

I hope this helps.

Peace.

Answer 5

Because although English stems from Germanic languages there has been so much influence from Latin and French as well as multitudes of other languages that there's a lot of inconsistency in spelling. For the word "sure" the etymology according to Oxford is:

ORIGIN Old French sur, from Latin securus ‘free from care’.

Answer 6

i could actual stick to Hailey -- it seems the suited on a similar time as all the others seem somewhat popular. it must be somewhat complicated for people to spell her call when you consider that there are already this variety of super style of spellings of Hailey which you do no longer ought to make up a spelling and make issues much extra tricky! it somewhat is somewhat useful to think of approximately using Haley or Hayley, when you consider that those are somewhat elementary spellings in recent times too. yet Hailey is advantageous in case you like that. Noelle is a thank you to spell the girl's call stated "no-ELLE" -- in case you spell it Noel, it somewhat is extremely a boy's call stated "NOLE." actual bypass with Noelle! Hailey Noelle is rather, like it! :) desire this helped and good success!

Answer 7

Same reason Sugar isnt spelled Shugar and Sumac isnt spelled Shumac

Answer 8

Allot of the words we have in the English language came from other languages. So... allot of them don't make common sense to us, because they don't spell, like they sound.

Answer 9

cause Shure is a microphone/speaker company lol