0:00:15.555,0:00:18.688 People often think the word "doubt" spelling is a little crazy 0:00:18.688,0:00:20.607 because of the letter "b". 0:00:20.607,0:00:22.234 Since it doesn't spell a sound, 0:00:22.234,0:00:25.440 most folks can't figure out what it's doing there. 0:00:25.440,0:00:27.780 But in spite of what most of us learn in school, 0:00:27.780,0:00:30.268 sound is never the most important aspect 0:00:30.268,0:00:32.414 of spelling an English word. 0:00:32.414,0:00:35.695 A word's meaning and history need to come first. 0:00:35.695,0:00:37.729 To doubt means to question, 0:00:37.729,0:00:38.739 to waver, 0:00:38.739,0:00:40.202 to hesitate. 0:00:40.202,0:00:43.780 As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion. 0:00:43.780,0:00:46.146 The present-day English word "doubt" 0:00:46.146,0:00:49.786 started as a Latin word, "dubitare". 0:00:49.786,0:00:52.211 It first moved from Latin into French 0:00:52.211,0:00:56.471 where it lost both its "buh" sound and its letter "b". 0:00:56.471,0:00:59.421 And then it came into English in the 13th century. 0:00:59.421,0:01:01.347 About 100 years later, 0:01:01.347,0:01:05.459 scribes who wrote English but also knew Latin, 0:01:05.459,0:01:09.466 started to reinsert the "b" into the word's spelling, 0:01:09.466,0:01:12.501 even though no one pronounced it that way. 0:01:12.501,0:01:14.186 But why would they do this? 0:01:14.186,0:01:16.080 Why would anyone in their right mind 0:01:16.080,0:01:19.151 reinsert a silent letter into a spelling? 0:01:19.151,0:01:21.178 Well, because they knew Latin, 0:01:21.178,0:01:26.532 the scribes understood that the root of "doubt" had a "b" in it. 0:01:26.532,0:01:30.189 Over time, even as fewer literate people knew Latin, 0:01:30.189,0:01:32.756 the "b" was kept because it marked important, 0:01:32.756,0:01:35.339 meaningful connections to other related words, 0:01:35.339,0:01:38.158 like "dubious" and "indubitalbly," 0:01:38.158,0:01:40.372 which were subsequently borrowed into English 0:01:40.372,0:01:43.802 from the same Latin root, "dubitare". 0:01:43.802,0:01:46.098 Understanding these historical connections 0:01:46.098,0:01:48.399 not only helped us to spell "doubt," 0:01:48.399,0:01:50.403 but also to understand the meaning 0:01:50.403,0:01:53.068 of these more sophisticated words. 0:01:53.068,0:01:55.197 But the story doesn't end there. 0:01:55.197,0:01:56.431 If we look even deeper, 0:01:56.431,0:01:59.462 we can see beyond the shadow of a doubt, 0:01:59.462,0:02:02.782 just how revealing that "b" can be. 0:02:02.782,0:02:05.508 There are only two base words in all of English 0:02:05.508,0:02:08.796 that have the letters "d-o-u-b": 0:02:08.796,0:02:10.574 one is doubt, 0:02:10.574,0:02:12.528 and the other is double. 0:02:12.528,0:02:14.372 We can build lots of other words 0:02:14.372,0:02:16.020 on each of these bases, 0:02:16.020,0:02:16.990 like doubtful 0:02:16.990,0:02:18.344 and doubtless, 0:02:18.344,0:02:19.513 or doublet, 0:02:19.513,0:02:20.564 and redouble, 0:02:20.564,0:02:22.066 and doubloon. 0:02:22.066,0:02:24.508 It turns out that if we look into their history, 0:02:24.508,0:02:26.807 we can see that they both derive 0:02:26.807,0:02:29.287 from the same Latin forms. 0:02:29.287,0:02:31.260 The meaning of double, 0:02:31.260,0:02:32.133 two, 0:02:32.133,0:02:35.778 is reflected in a deep understanding of doubt. 0:02:35.778,0:02:37.319 See, when we doubt, 0:02:37.319,0:02:38.831 when we hesitate, 0:02:38.831,0:02:41.497 we second guess ourselves. 0:02:41.497,0:02:43.675 When we have doubts about something, 0:02:43.675,0:02:46.129 when we have questions or confusion, 0:02:46.129,0:02:48.876 we are of two minds. 0:02:48.876,0:02:51.544 Historically, before English began 0:02:51.544,0:02:53.234 to borrow words from French, 0:02:53.234,0:02:55.506 it already had a word for doubt. 0:02:55.506,0:02:59.152 That Old English word was "tweogan," 0:02:59.152,0:03:01.585 a word whose relationship to "two" 0:03:01.585,0:03:05.288 is clear in its spelling as well. 0:03:05.288,0:03:06.758 So the next time you are in doubt 0:03:06.758,0:03:09.457 about why English spelling works the way it does, 0:03:09.457,0:03:11.412 take a second look. 0:03:11.412,0:03:16.170 What you find just might make you do a double-take.