Favourite And favourite are two variations of the same word with the same definition. Favourite no “u” is the spelling used in the United States, while favourite used in the rest of the English-speaking world. The “u” in favourite traces of French influence on English following the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Both variations function as nouns (“chocolate is my favorite”) and as an adjective (“chocolate is my favorite flavor”).
‘Favorite’: one of Noah Webster’s greatest hits
We all have favorites. Although some of us have favorites. Wait, are they the same? Why yes, they are. They are two spellings of the same word.
Is it ‘Favorite’ or ‘Favorite’?
The basic idea is this: favourite is the spelling used in the United States; favourite is the spelling used in the rest of the English-speaking world.
The more interesting question is: why?
History of the word ‘favorite’
English speakers have favorites before they have a favorite version of something; in other words, nouns—as in “chocolate ice cream is my favorite”—are older than adjectives—as in “chocolate is my favorite flavor.” It all started at the end of the 16th century, when English-speaking people seemed to be enamored with Italian nouns enough. favourite to make favourite (without the “u”) from it. The final source is Latin donate, which means, well, “in favor.” English already has that: donate mostly spelled donate since it came to Middle English by the Anglo-French route in the 14th century.
We must put aside the important issue here of English spelling: although it is notoriously difficult now, English spelling was quite a nightmare centuries ago—although only when you really are a copy editor. You see, the spelling is extremely inconsistent (that’s the copyist’s nightmare part) but nobody bothers (hence the NBD). Shakespeare famously spelled his own name in many ways, as did others of his writer’s contemporaries, and dozens of spellings of common words such as House And hand listed in Oxford English Dictionary as used over the centuries. Seems like misspelling is not a problem, and for a long time.
That being said, we can look at the spelling of favourite since the word first appeared in the language in the early 17th century and sees a number of patterns emerging. An online corpus of early English books, which collects works from the 1470s to the 1690s, shows the word gaining some currency in the 1630s, with favourite somewhat more common, but favourite are also in use. (favourite And favourite also used but never more than also-rans.) But starting in the 1650s favourite began to lose favor, and by the 1680s favourite is definitely, er, favorite. British usage continues on this trajectory: favourite forever popular. But in American English, the two spellings competed a bit, with favourite largely dominated during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
But as we go further into the 19th century, we see favouriteas donate, leading in American English publications. And readers: this is where we beam with pride. This decisive shift towards simpler (and more etymologically correct) spelling can be largely attributed to our own Noah Webster.
As we detail elsewhere, Noah Webster was a spell reformer. He wants the spelling of words to better reflect their pronunciation, and he also wants US English to be different from UK English. Webster throws out the “u” in favourite and in donate (as well as in color, respect, behavioretc.), with his extremely influential dictionaries emphasizing favourite And donate that we know and love today.
How did the letter ‘U’ make it to the ‘Favorites’ list?
However, we still haven’t covered how the “u” got there in the first place. As we noted above, the Latin ban is, donate, obviously missing the letter “u”. So where did the “u” come from? You can blame the French.
By Lynne Murphy Prodigal tonguethe Friend Spelling exists in English traces no further than the famed Normans of Norman Conquest. (As a reminder: the French-speaking Normans conquered England in 1066 and took the opportunity to place the French-speaking Normans in nearly all positions of power in the country, making a far-reaching impact and permanent for the English language.)
As Murphy writes, “The Friend that the early Normans carried was pronounced in French as it was written: a diphthong made up of an /o/ sound rounded by a /u/ sound.” (This is basically the sound in the word outside.) The -ours The spelling reflects the pronunciation at the time – that’s what the Normans heard. This is why donate prevailed in the 14th century, and why favourite hold on the 17th. Of course, our favorite form remains, favourite.
Presenter:
Mark Davies, Early English Books Online (EEBO). English-Corpora.org. Accessed on 23/3/2021
Lynne Murphy, _The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English _ (New York: Penguin Books, 2018), pgs. 143-145.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
