The Ancient Romans Spoke Latin
Deciding whether or not to double a consonant in an English word of Latin origin is easier if you know a little about Latin
THE LINK BETWEEN LATIN AND ENGLISH
Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, was spoken across Europe 2000 years ago. It is not spoken today, but most of the languages of Southern Europe, such as French and Italian, are descended from it. Although English is not a descendant of Latin, it has borrowed a very large number of Latin words. Some arrived around 1000 years ago when England was ruled by French-speaking kings (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary); while others were adopted by English-speaking academics and scientists as names for new concepts and discoveries (ancient Greek was also an important source of such words – see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary).
English words of Latin origin are especially common in academic and professional writing (see 108. Formal and Informal Words, 130. Formal Abbreviations and 172. Multi-Use Suffixes). Spelling them can be tricky. A common uncertainty is whether to write a single or a double consonant in words like aCCoMModation and proFeSSor (see 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes, #5). One reason why these words give trouble is that their pronunciation is no guide to their spelling – the spelling reflects the Latin origin of the words rather than how to say them.
This post presents some basic facts about Latin that might help English words of Latin origin to be spelled correctly. Other posts on spelling can be accessed by clicking on SPELLING in the “Categories” menu to the right of this page.
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LATIN PREPOSITIONS IN ENGLISH WORDS
Very often, English words derived from Latin start with a former Latin preposition, and it is this that frequently helps to create the above-mentioned spelling problem. There is consequently value in knowing the spellings and meanings of common Latin prepositions. Such knowledge can also help the meanings of unfamiliar words to be worked out in reading (see 177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text), and can indicate in writing where in a word to split it between different lines (see 223. Uses of Hyphens, #1).
Common Latin Prepositions in English Words
Some of these Latin prepositions can combine with existing English words, even ones with no Latin links, to make new English words, such as inter-city (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types). However, uses of this kind are not particularly important in the following discussion of spelling: removing the Latin preposition from most of the words considered below will usually not create a new word.
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A RULE FOR NOT DOUBLING CONSONANTS NEAR THE START OF A LATIN-DERIVED WORD
An important feature of Latin prepositions is that some (underlined above) end with a vowel (e.g. re-), while some end with a consonant (e.g. con-). This feature is important because it gives some help in knowing whether or not to double a consonant in a Latin-derived word.
One useful rule is that Latin prepositions ending with a vowel are not followed by a doubled consonant. This does not mean that other Latin prepositions (ending in a consonant) always give rise to a doubled consonant (some do and some do not), but at least we can be sure that Latin prepositions ending with a vowel are almost never associated with a double consonant. Here are some examples of words whose Latin preposition ends with a vowel and hence is not followed by a double consonant:
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Sample of Latin-Derived Words whose Preposition Ends in a Vowel
a-void pre-tend
de-tain pro-fess
di-rect re-ject
e-volve se-duce
Note how the presence of the Latin preposition pro- in profess reduces the difficulty of remembering that there is only one “f” (unfortunately, it is harder to get the later double consonant “ss” right, as no preposition is involved and we just have to remember that the Latin word fess was spelt that way). In the same way, another commonly-misspelt word, referring, can be “proved” not to have a double “f” by the presence of the Latin preposition re-.
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A GUIDELINE FOR CONSONANT DOUBLING NEAR THE START OF A LATIN-DERIVED WORD
As mentioned above, a consonant at the end of a Latin preposition is sometimes doubled in an English word and sometimes not. There are two different types of double consonant. In one, the consonant at the end of the preposition is simply the same as the one after it (just as is the case when prefixes and suffixes are added to ordinary English words like normally: see 248. When to Double a Consonant, #3). In the other, which is more frequent, the consonant at the end is changed so as to be the same as the consonant immediately after it.
Most consonant doubling of the second type involves ad-, con-, ob- and sub-. Dis- changes to dif– before “f”. The preposition ad- is especially likely to change its last letter. It can become acc-, aff-, agg-, all-, amm-, ann-, app-, arr- ass- or att-. Here are some examples:
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Words with Alternative Spellings of the Latin Preposition ‘ad-‘
abbreviate announce
accept approach
affect arrange
aggregate assist
alliance attend
The other Latin prepositions with a variable final consonant do not change their spelling as often as ad-, but they do do so in some very common English words. Here are some examples:
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Words with Alternative Spellings of Other Latin Prepositions
collapse differ
commit diffuse
correct succeed
occupy suffer
offer suggest
oppose supply
For more about diffuse, see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #4.
In order to know when to write the last consonant of a Latin preposition just once, when to write it twice, and when to change it and write it twice, it is necessary to know a little more about Latin. Latin prepositions nearly always combine with other former Latin words, particularly Latin verbs. If you know a few Latin verbs, it will become much easier to make the right spelling choices with any of the changeable prepositions. Here are some very common verbs:
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Common Latin Verbs after Latin Prepositions in English Words
-act (do) -port (carry)
-ceed/-cede (go) -pose (place)
-claim (shout) -press (press)
-cur (run) -pute (think)
-dict (say) -rect (control)
-duce/-duct (lead) -sist (stand)
-fer (bring) -spect (look)
-ject (throw) -tain (hold)
-leg/-lect (read) -tend (stretch)
-mit (send) -vise (see)
-pel (push) -vok/-voc (call)
-opt (choose) -it (go)
Consonant doubling depends on the first letter of the Latin word after the preposition.
– If this letter is a vowel (e.g. -opt), no doubling occurs (e.g. adopt).
– If it is the same consonant as the one at the end of the preposition, there is a simple double consonant (e.g. ad-dict).
– If it is a consonant that is hard to say after the preposition, the end of the preposition is changed to match it, creating a new double consonant. Defining “hard to say” is not so easy though; here are the main combinations of this kind: -DF- (changes to -FF-), -DG- (-GG-), -DP- (-PP-), -DT- (-TT-), -BC- (-CC-), -BF- (-FF-), and –BP- (-PP).
– If it is a consonant that is not hard to say, there is no changing or doubling. For example, ad- keeps its single “d” before “m” in ad-mit and “v” in ad-vise, and con- stays the same in consist.
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PRACTICE IN SPELLING ENGLISH WORDS OF LATIN ORIGIN
The following exercise is offered as a means of strengthening understanding and memorisation of the various spelling points made above.
EXERCISE: Identify the correct spelling in each pair (answers below)
1. command/comand
2. suppervise/supervise
3. occurring/ocurring
4. attraction/atraction
5. propposed/proposed
6. deffinition/definition
7. acclaim/aclaim
8. suppresses/supresses
9. connecting/conecting
10. innocent/inocent
11. addult/adult
12. addict/adict
13. suggesting/sugesting
14. occupation/ocupation
15. dissect/disect
16. opperate/operate
17. accommodate/acommodate
18. ommitted/omitted
19. ressurrect/resurrect
20. oppening/opening
21. proffer/profer
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Answers
1. DOUBLE: com-mand
2. SINGLE: super-vise
3. DOUBLE: oc-curring
4. DOUBLE: at-traction
5. SINGLE: pro-posed
6. SINGLE: de-finition
7. DOUBLE: ac-claim
8. DOUBLE: sup-presses
9. DOUBLE: con-necting
10. DOUBLE: in-nocent
11. SINGLE: ad-ult
12. DOUBLE: ad-dict
13. DOUBLE: sug-gesting
14. DOUBLE: oc-cupy
15. DOUBLE: dis-sect
16. SINGLE : operate (There is no Latin preposition)
17. DOUBLE: ac-com-modate
18. SINGLE: o-mitted (A rare change of ob- to o-)
19. SINGLE + DOUBLE: re-sur-rect
20. SINGLE: opening (There is no Latin preposition)
21. DOUBLE: pro-f-fer (This word has two prepositions, pro- and ob-, which share the same “o”. The doubled “ff” is caused by ob-, not pro-)
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