English's Debt to Latin Make Spelling Doubtful

Latin strongly influences English. Latin grammar is the grammar of English. This is ridiculous. Latin is a Romance language. French, Spanish, and Italian are Romance languages. English is a Germanic language. However, we have to live with this forced fit.

Latin not only makes English grammar confusing, but also adds to the already weird English spellings. The words debt and doubt are perfect examples.

“When in the seventeenth century the English developed a passion for the classical languages, certain well-meaning meddlers began fiddling with the spellings of many other words in an effort to make them conform to a Latin ideal. Thus b’s were inserted into debt and doubt, which had previously been spelled dette and doute, out of deference to the Latin originals, debitum and dubitare.

These are some of the reasons that make English a very crazy language. Don’t feel bad if something makes no sense. It’s just English!