Th (digraph)
Encyclopedia
Th is a digraph
in the Roman alphabet. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.
, which used it to transliterate the letter theta
⟨Θ, θ⟩ in loans from Greek
. Theta was pronounced as an aspirated stop /tʰ/ in Classical and Koine Greek
.
⟨th⟩ is used in academic transcription systems to represent letters in oriental alphabets which have the value /tʰ/. According to Royal Thai General System of Transcription
, for example, ⟨th⟩ represents a series of Thai
letters with the value /tʰ/.
, French
and other languages, where ⟨th⟩ still appears in originally Greek words but is pronounced /t/. See German orthography
. Interlingua
also employs this pronunciation.
In early modern times, French, German and English all expanded this by analogy to words in which there is no etymological reason for it, but for the most part the modern spelling systems have eliminated this. Examples of unetymological ⟨th⟩ in English is the name of the River Thames from Middle English Temese and the name Anthony
(the ⟨th⟩ is now pronounced /θ/ under the influence of the spelling) from Latin Antonius.
In English, ⟨th⟩ for /t/ can also occur in loan-words from French or German, such as Neanderthal. The English name Thomas
has initial /t/ because it was loaned from Norman
.
In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages
th represents a dental stop, /t̪/.
, the Greek phoneme represented by the letter ⟨θ⟩ mutated from an aspirated stop /tʰ/ to a fricative /θ/. This mutation affected the pronunciation of ⟨th⟩, which began to be used to represent the phoneme /θ/ in languages that had it. The Old English Latin alphabet adapted the runic letters ⟨þ⟩ (thorn) and ⟨ð
⟩ (eth) to represent this sound. The digraph ⟨th⟩ gradually superseded these letters in Middle English
.
Languages besides English which use ⟨th⟩ for /θ/ include Albanian
and Welsh
. Albanian and Welsh treat it as a distinct letter and alphabetize it between ⟨t⟩
and ⟨u⟩
. Old High German
used it before the final phase of the High German consonant shift
, in which /θ/ and /ð/ came to be pronounced /d/.
/ð/. The letters ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨ð⟩ were used indiscriminately for /θ/ and /ð/ since Old English and fell out of wide use in English by the 15th century, being superseded by the digraph ⟨th⟩. The sounds /θ/ and /ð/ stood in allophonic
relationship to each other and so did not need to be rigorously distinguished in spelling. Similarly, ⟨s⟩ is used for both /s/ and /z/.
This use was borrowed from English into the Norman
dialect Jèrriais
, wherein /ð/ corresponds to French /r/.
and Scottish Gaelic, ⟨th⟩ represents the lenition
of /t/. In most cases word-initially, it is pronounced /h/. For example: Irish and Scottish Gaelic toil [tɛlʲ] 'will' → do thoil [də hɛlʲ] 'your will'.
This use of digraphs with ⟨h⟩ to indicate lenition is distinct from the other uses which derive from Latin. While it is possible that the presence of digraphs with ⟨h⟩ in Latin may have inspired the Celtic usage, their allocation to phonemes is based entirely on the internal logic of the Celtic languages.
The Irish and Scottish Gaelic lenited /t/ is silent in final position, as in Scottish Gaelic sgith /skiː/ "tired". And, rarely, it is silent in initial position, as in Scottish Gaelic thu /uː/ "you".
Digraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
in the Roman alphabet. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.
Cluster /t.h/
The most literal use of ⟨th⟩ is to represent a consonant cluster of /t/ and /h/ as in English knighthood. A phoneme cluster does not technically constitute a digraph, which strictly symbolizes a single phoneme.Aspirated /tʰ/
The digraph ⟨th⟩ was introduced in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, which used it to transliterate the letter theta
Theta
Theta is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth...
⟨Θ, θ⟩ in loans from Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
. Theta was pronounced as an aspirated stop /tʰ/ in Classical and Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
.
⟨th⟩ is used in academic transcription systems to represent letters in oriental alphabets which have the value /tʰ/. According to Royal Thai General System of Transcription
Royal Thai General System of Transcription
The Royal Thai General System of Transcription is the official system for rendering Thai language words in the Latin alphabet, published by the Royal Institute of Thailand...
, for example, ⟨th⟩ represents a series of Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
letters with the value /tʰ/.
/t/
Because neither /tʰ/ nor /θ/ were native phonemes in Latin, the digraph ⟨th⟩ came to be pronounced /t/. The spelling retained the digraph for etymological reasons. This practice was then borrowed into GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and other languages, where ⟨th⟩ still appears in originally Greek words but is pronounced /t/. See German orthography
German orthography
German orthography, although largely phonemic, shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogous to other spellings rather than phonemic. The pronunciation of almost every word can be derived from its spelling, once the spelling rules are known, but the opposite is not generally the...
. Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
also employs this pronunciation.
In early modern times, French, German and English all expanded this by analogy to words in which there is no etymological reason for it, but for the most part the modern spelling systems have eliminated this. Examples of unetymological ⟨th⟩ in English is the name of the River Thames from Middle English Temese and the name Anthony
Anthony
Anthony, commonly shortened to Tony, may refer to:-Ancient and medieval Christianity:* St. Anthony the Great, of Egypt, 4th century founder of Christian monasticism* St. Anthony the Hermit , 5th century hermit of Italy and Gaul...
(the ⟨th⟩ is now pronounced /θ/ under the influence of the spelling) from Latin Antonius.
In English, ⟨th⟩ for /t/ can also occur in loan-words from French or German, such as Neanderthal. The English name Thomas
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:In people:* Thomas , a masculine given name* Thomas * Thomas the ApostleIn business:* THOMAS, the US Library of Congress's online database* Thomas Built BusesIn food:...
has initial /t/ because it was loaned from Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
.
In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages
Transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Australian Aboriginal languages had been purely spoken languages, and had no writing system. The Latin alphabet of the colonizers was inevitably used for the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages, but the details of how the sounds were represented has...
th represents a dental stop, /t̪/.
Voiceless /θ/
During late antiquityLate Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, the Greek phoneme represented by the letter ⟨θ⟩ mutated from an aspirated stop /tʰ/ to a fricative /θ/. This mutation affected the pronunciation of ⟨th⟩, which began to be used to represent the phoneme /θ/ in languages that had it. The Old English Latin alphabet adapted the runic letters ⟨þ⟩ (thorn) and ⟨ð
Ð
A Latin capital letter D with a stroke through its vertical bar is the uppercase form of several different letters:*D with stroke , used in Vietnamese, some South Slavic , Moro and Sami languages...
⟩ (eth) to represent this sound. The digraph ⟨th⟩ gradually superseded these letters in Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
.
Languages besides English which use ⟨th⟩ for /θ/ include Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
and Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
. Albanian and Welsh treat it as a distinct letter and alphabetize it between ⟨t⟩
T
T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets...
and ⟨u⟩
U
U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details....
. Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
used it before the final phase of the High German consonant shift
High German consonant shift
In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and was almost...
, in which /θ/ and /ð/ came to be pronounced /d/.
Voiced /ð/
English uses ⟨th⟩ to represent the voiced dental fricativeVoiced dental fricative
The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is . The symbol was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced...
/ð/. The letters ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨ð⟩ were used indiscriminately for /θ/ and /ð/ since Old English and fell out of wide use in English by the 15th century, being superseded by the digraph ⟨th⟩. The sounds /θ/ and /ð/ stood in allophonic
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
relationship to each other and so did not need to be rigorously distinguished in spelling. Similarly, ⟨s⟩ is used for both /s/ and /z/.
This use was borrowed from English into the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
dialect Jèrriais
Jèrriais
Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. It has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration...
, wherein /ð/ corresponds to French /r/.
Irish and Scottish Gaelic
In IrishIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
and Scottish Gaelic, ⟨th⟩ represents the lenition
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
of /t/. In most cases word-initially, it is pronounced /h/. For example: Irish and Scottish Gaelic toil [tɛlʲ] 'will' → do thoil [də hɛlʲ] 'your will'.
This use of digraphs with ⟨h⟩ to indicate lenition is distinct from the other uses which derive from Latin. While it is possible that the presence of digraphs with ⟨h⟩ in Latin may have inspired the Celtic usage, their allocation to phonemes is based entirely on the internal logic of the Celtic languages.
The Irish and Scottish Gaelic lenited /t/ is silent in final position, as in Scottish Gaelic sgith /skiː/ "tired". And, rarely, it is silent in initial position, as in Scottish Gaelic thu /uː/ "you".
See also
- EthEthEth is a letter used in Old English, Icelandic, Faroese , and Elfdalian. It was also used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, but was subsequently replaced with dh and later d. The capital eth resembles a D with a line through the vertical stroke...
- Pronunciation of English thPronunciation of English thIn English, the digraph ⟨th⟩ represents in most cases one of two different phonemes: the voiced dental fricative and the voiceless dental fricative...
- Thorn (letter)Thorn (letter)Thorn or þorn , is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, and Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph th. The letter originated from the rune in the Elder Fuþark, called thorn in the...
- Two letter combinations