Thread: Danke

And then, please, agree that it's easier to say 'Bone-oos'

It isn't. I just need to find a german word with -nfs ... If you say the n is the tricky part, then Hanf is tricky for you, right?
The genitiv can be des Hanfes or des Hanfs ...

It is widely accepted (though not universally) that a latin v was always pronounce u

e.g. via = "wiya"
e.g. bonvs = "bonnus"

That much is clear. But the reason that nvs were inpronouncable is nethertheless invalid.

Originally Posted by bad manners

In Latin, "eu", which originally was "ev" ('u' was a late addition to the alphabet), was pronounced as a short "e" and then a short "u"; this is so because "v" is either English "w" or "oo" (they added 'u' for the latter case). That is still coherent with the way "ευ" should be pronounced. German and Dutch are closer to the proper sound because it is still a diphthong, English apparently adopted the French pronunciation, and the French, well, will always be French when it comes to pronunciation. What other language can transform "aqua" into "eau"?

Out of curiosity, is this where some surnames such as "de la O" came about? I was always curious what "La O" meant. What language would that be, anyway?

Why is the argument 'nevertheless invalid'? It's a simple rule that if a word is hard to pronounce for a certain people, the pronunciation changes over time. But I won't convince you, because you don't think nfs is hard to pronounce. You won't convince me either, so let's just leave it at that.
(btw, I didn't say 'inpronounceable', I just said it was harder that 'bonnus' or 'bone-oos')