Comments on: height, pronounced “heighth” http://www.grammarerrors.com/pronunciation/height-pronounced-heighth/ Common usage errors in English Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:18:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mike http://www.grammarerrors.com/pronunciation/height-pronounced-heighth/comment-page-1/#comment-1155 Mike Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:56:49 +0000 http://www.grammarerrors.com/wordpress/?p=146#comment-1155 I would like to thank you for the post, and Will C for the citation to the OED. It's somewhat nice to know that I simply didn't misunderstand the pronunciation as a child, but that there is a very real history to the idiosyncratic way that I've pronounced it all these years. Thank to you both. I would like to thank you for the post, and Will C for the citation to the OED. It’s somewhat nice to know that I simply didn’t misunderstand the pronunciation as a child, but that there is a very real history to the idiosyncratic way that I’ve pronounced it all these years.

Thank to you both.

]]> By: Will C http://www.grammarerrors.com/pronunciation/height-pronounced-heighth/comment-page-1/#comment-273 Will C Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:40:18 +0000 http://www.grammarerrors.com/wordpress/?p=146#comment-273 Please don't be so ignorant as to post this. It's not a mispronunciation. Not that I pronounce it heighth, I would be in full support of it being pronounced this way, or even spelt as such. Here's what OED has to say: [OE. híeh_o (also later héah_u) = OLG. *hôhitha (MDu. hogede, hochte, hoochte, Du. hoogte, MLG. hogede, LG. högte), OHG. hôhida (MHG. hoehede), Goth. hauhi_a, f. hauh- HIGH + abstr. ending -i_a: see -TH1. From the 13th c. the final -th after -`, -gh varied with t (cf. drought, drouth). In ME. the forms in -t were predominant in the north, and since 1500 have increasingly prevailed in the literary language; though heighth, highth were abundant in southern writers till the 18th c., and are still affected by some. The stem-vowel has generally been ee, ey, ei, though forms in i occur from 13thc., esp. in northern writers, hicht being the typical Sc. form from 14th c.; in Eng. hight is found from 15th c., and was very common in 16th and 17th c.; highth was also very common in 17th c. and was the form used by Milton. The hei- forms come lineally down from OE. (Anglian héh_o); the hi- forms are due in the main to later assimilation to HIGH. Current usage is a compromise, retaining the spelling height (which has been by far the most frequent written form since 1500), with the pronunciation of hight.] (The underscore is that funny 'b'/'D'-looking character which represents 'th' - it wouldn't copy properly). Please don’t be so ignorant as to post this. It’s not a mispronunciation. Not that I pronounce it heighth, I would be in full support of it being pronounced this way, or even spelt as such. Here’s what OED has to say:

[OE. híeh_o (also later héah_u) = OLG. *hôhitha (MDu. hogede, hochte, hoochte, Du. hoogte, MLG. hogede, LG. högte), OHG. hôhida (MHG. hoehede), Goth. hauhi_a, f. hauh- HIGH + abstr. ending -i_a: see -TH1. From the 13th c. the final -th after -`, -gh varied with t (cf. drought, drouth). In ME. the forms in -t were predominant in the north, and since 1500 have increasingly prevailed in the literary language; though heighth, highth were abundant in southern writers till the 18th c., and are still affected by some. The stem-vowel has generally been ee, ey, ei, though forms in i occur from 13thc., esp. in northern writers, hicht being the typical Sc. form from 14th c.; in Eng. hight is found from 15th c., and was very common in 16th and 17th c.; highth was also very common in 17th c. and was the form used by Milton. The hei- forms come lineally down from OE. (Anglian héh_o); the hi- forms are due in the main to later assimilation to HIGH. Current usage is a compromise, retaining the spelling height (which has been by far the most frequent written form since 1500), with the pronunciation of hight.]

(The underscore is that funny ‘b’/'D’-looking character which represents ‘th’ – it wouldn’t copy properly).

]]> By: word pronunciation http://www.grammarerrors.com/pronunciation/height-pronounced-heighth/comment-page-1/#comment-80 word pronunciation Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:55:05 +0000 http://www.grammarerrors.com/wordpress/?p=146#comment-80 [...] pronunciation Height, pronounced heighth | GrammarErrors.comHowever, height is like the word weight in that it ends with only a t and not a th. ... Posted [...] [...] pronunciation Height, pronounced heighth | GrammarErrors.comHowever, height is like the word weight in that it ends with only a t and not a th. … Posted [...]

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