"gh" - as in "eight"

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Diana	28 Dec 2003
My son started learning English at school this year. He speaks and reads English, but can’t write it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, EIGHT???????? He couldn’t understand that eight. Why “gh?”. I thought, well, I could tell him that that’s the way it is and the easiest thing would be just to accept that English is spelled funny. This would save quite a bit of time. Or else, I could take twenty minutes of his time and my time in order to discuss the origins of the English language. So we discussed things, and we figured out why English is called a Germanic language. And then I said to him, “now that you know why it’s called a Germanic language, tell me, how do you say “eight” in German?” “Acht” he said. And how do you say “light” in German? “Licht” he said. (He’s been studying German for more than two years, so he knows these words.) And how do you say “sight” in German? “Sicht”, he said. So, keeping in mind that “eight” and “acht” and “light” and “licht” are cousins, and keeping in mind that they pronounced words differently a few hundred years ago, how do you think they pronounced the word “eight” hundreds of years ago? “They probably pronounced it “eicht”. “And light?” “Licht......... Oh Mum!!! I get it!!! That’s where the “gh” comes from!!!!” And suddenly English became not only easier, but logical. There was a REASON behind this seemingly odd way of spelling words. What has this got to do with Tarot? Oh nothing really. Just that it can sometimes be helpful to know the reasons behind the iconography and symbology of the modern Tarots. And the modern Tarots all have their origin in the Historical tarots. Somehow, things become a lot clearer and one can understand better what one is working with. Of course, one can always say, “it’s just the way it is and I’m not going to waste my precious time going back in history.” But sometimes going back in the past can be quite Illuminating. It can be so rewarding to UNDERSTAND the whys and wherefores of things, instead of just accepting things "because that's the way I found them". (The History forum is just a click away and everyone is more than welcome! :) ).

Minderwiz	28 Dec 2003
At the risk of taking this thread further off topic, you might have a look at a book recently published - 'The Alphabet' by David Sacks. Apparantly alphabets are independent of language - the increasing use of the Roman alphabet led the Normans to discard the non-Roman letters of Anglo Saxon and one of their innovations was the use of 'GH' to represent the breathy English 'g' or 'y' sound. Indeed the English CH, PH, TH, WH and RH are all due to the adoption of the Roman alphabet to replace either the Greek or other alphabets. Trying to pull the thread back in a Tarot-wise direction :) there may well be some numerological significance in these changes and Tarot is certainly linked to numerology.

firemaiden	28 Dec 2003
Lovely examples, Diana, and how very germane!

lunalafey	28 Dec 2003
wonderful thread to prove that german & english are connected- for there was disscussion of it at home, I believe firemaiden was there....

Diana	28 Dec 2003
Quote: Originally posted by lunalafey wonderful thread to prove that german & english are connected- That was not exactly the aim of my post. :D

Agathe	28 Dec 2003
Great thread. It makes me want to visit the History forum. I stayed distant from it and didn't really want to go there as I do not know much about History of tarot...not to say NOTHING :(, but I will definitely visit it more often now :D. Thanks Diana! Agathe :)

Diana	28 Dec 2003
Agathe: before I joined Aeclectic, I knew nothing about the History of Tarot either. :) And I still know next to nothing. That's why we have that forum, so that we can learn together and ask all our questions and try and find answers to them.

Alex	29 Dec 2003
I can't disagree with you, even though I haven't studied much history of the Tarot. I've found my knowledge in history to be fragmented, disconnected and partly lost, and that's a put off, having to start all over again. One day, I will. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by Diana What has this got to do with Tarot? Oh nothing really. Just that it can sometimes be helpful to know the reasons behind the iconography and symbology of the modern Tarots. And the modern Tarots all have their origin in the Historical tarots. Somehow, things become a lot clearer and one can understand better what one is working with.

jmd	29 Dec 2003
... reminds me I need to get to the ghoti mongers before they close... Back soon to add to the post!

catboxer	29 Dec 2003
My kat has ghoti for dinner every nicht. I get it for just a few gnickels. English is the only language I know of in which the spelling of words doesn't change, even when the pronunciation of them does. In every other language, pronunciation changes over time, and as it does, the way words are spelled changes also. Even in tarot, as interpretations change, the cards change too. Seen the Osho Zen lately? It ain't your grandpa's Marseille deck. That's a truism everywhere except on the history forum.

jmd	29 Dec 2003
Thanks for that wonderful post, Diana... and glad your cat enjoys ghoti, catboxer - better that than the drawn blood from ... never mind! I should also acknowlegde Bertrand Russell in with that wonderful spelling of DG (<- pardon my Hebrew). As to the consistency of English spelling, I could not agree with you more, and the archaeology of sceptical thought is coloured by its neighbour: contemporary judgements... or are many of these words spelled differently in places distant from these shores? Still I take the point. One of the beauties of the English language, for me, is that one may often be able to see its meaning from its spelling (except if one drops the second 'a' from words like 'archaeology')... With regards to Tarot, I must admit agree that its history provides many wonderful avenues for deepening one's understanding of its iconography - as long as its iconography - its images - are also deeply studied and reflected on...

firemaiden	30 Dec 2003
ghoti for dinner... Not all spelling reforms are progressive...I love how french writers during the renaissance adjusted their spelling backwards, to make the silent connections to latin more, instead of less visible. (I also love these possibly arbitrary connections to the tarot... so we can keep this thread here...) (Also very happy to see the return of catboxer-for-president.)

Diana	30 Dec 2003
You people are nuts. This is not a thread about spelling. It's about the History forum. *Diana goes off grumbling very loudly about people who did not acknowledge her great wisdom and sagacity and cleverness.*

jmd	30 Dec 2003
...Ahhh, poor us dim-witted readers! Such posting with such great sagacity and wisdom... and no redundancy! Of course it's about the Hystery Forum... ...and rite glade am i too no its knot about speeling!

The "gh" - as in "eight" thread was originally posted on 28 Dec 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.