1 00:00:15,555 --> 00:00:18,688 People often think the word "doubt" spelling is a little crazy 2 00:00:18,688 --> 00:00:20,607 because of the letter "b". 3 00:00:20,607 --> 00:00:22,234 Since it doesn't spell a sound, 4 00:00:22,234 --> 00:00:25,440 most folks can't figure out what it's doing there. 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,780 But in spite of what most of us learn in school, 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:30,268 sound is never the most important aspect 7 00:00:30,268 --> 00:00:32,414 of spelling an English word. 8 00:00:32,414 --> 00:00:35,695 A word's meaning and history need to come first. 9 00:00:35,695 --> 00:00:37,729 To doubt means to question, 10 00:00:37,729 --> 00:00:38,739 to waver, 11 00:00:38,739 --> 00:00:40,202 to hesitate. 12 00:00:40,202 --> 00:00:43,780 As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion. 13 00:00:43,780 --> 00:00:46,146 The present-day English word "doubt" 14 00:00:46,146 --> 00:00:49,786 started as a Latin word, "dubitare". 15 00:00:49,786 --> 00:00:52,211 It first moved from Latin into French 16 00:00:52,211 --> 00:00:56,471 where it lost both its "buh" sound and its letter "b". 17 00:00:56,471 --> 00:00:59,421 And then it came into English in the 13th century. 18 00:00:59,421 --> 00:01:01,347 About 100 years later, 19 00:01:01,347 --> 00:01:05,459 scribes who wrote English but also knew Latin, 20 00:01:05,459 --> 00:01:09,466 started to reinsert the "b" into the word's spelling, 21 00:01:09,466 --> 00:01:12,501 even though no one pronounced it that way. 22 00:01:12,501 --> 00:01:14,186 But why would they do this? 23 00:01:14,186 --> 00:01:16,080 Why would anyone in their right mind 24 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,151 reinsert a silent letter into a spelling? 25 00:01:19,151 --> 00:01:21,178 Well, because they knew Latin, 26 00:01:21,178 --> 00:01:26,532 the scribes understood that the root of "doubt" had a "b" in it. 27 00:01:26,532 --> 00:01:30,189 Over time, even as fewer literate people knew Latin, 28 00:01:30,189 --> 00:01:32,756 the "b" was kept because it marked important, 29 00:01:32,756 --> 00:01:35,339 meaningful connections to other related words, 30 00:01:35,339 --> 00:01:38,158 like "dubious" and "indubitalbly," 31 00:01:38,158 --> 00:01:40,372 which were subsequently borrowed into English 32 00:01:40,372 --> 00:01:43,802 from the same Latin root, "dubitare". 33 00:01:43,802 --> 00:01:46,098 Understanding these historical connections 34 00:01:46,098 --> 00:01:48,399 not only helped us to spell "doubt," 35 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:50,403 but also to understand the meaning 36 00:01:50,403 --> 00:01:53,068 of these more sophisticated words. 37 00:01:53,068 --> 00:01:55,197 But the story doesn't end there. 38 00:01:55,197 --> 00:01:56,431 If we look even deeper, 39 00:01:56,431 --> 00:01:59,462 we can see beyond the shadow of a doubt, 40 00:01:59,462 --> 00:02:02,782 just how revealing that "b" can be. 41 00:02:02,782 --> 00:02:05,508 There are only two base words in all of English 42 00:02:05,508 --> 00:02:08,796 that have the letters "d-o-u-b": 43 00:02:08,796 --> 00:02:10,574 one is doubt, 44 00:02:10,574 --> 00:02:12,528 and the other is double. 45 00:02:12,528 --> 00:02:14,372 We can build lots of other words 46 00:02:14,372 --> 00:02:16,020 on each of these bases, 47 00:02:16,020 --> 00:02:16,990 like doubtful 48 00:02:16,990 --> 00:02:18,344 and doubtless, 49 00:02:18,344 --> 00:02:19,513 or doublet, 50 00:02:19,513 --> 00:02:20,564 and redouble, 51 00:02:20,564 --> 00:02:22,066 and doubloon. 52 00:02:22,066 --> 00:02:24,508 It turns out that if we look into their history, 53 00:02:24,508 --> 00:02:26,807 we can see that they both derive 54 00:02:26,807 --> 00:02:29,287 from the same Latin forms. 55 00:02:29,287 --> 00:02:31,260 The meaning of double, 56 00:02:31,260 --> 00:02:32,133 two, 57 00:02:32,133 --> 00:02:35,778 is reflected in a deep understanding of doubt. 58 00:02:35,778 --> 00:02:37,319 See, when we doubt, 59 00:02:37,319 --> 00:02:38,831 when we hesitate, 60 00:02:38,831 --> 00:02:41,497 we second guess ourselves. 61 00:02:41,497 --> 00:02:43,675 When we have doubts about something, 62 00:02:43,675 --> 00:02:46,129 when we have questions or confusion, 63 00:02:46,129 --> 00:02:48,876 we are of two minds. 64 00:02:48,876 --> 00:02:51,544 Historically, before English began 65 00:02:51,544 --> 00:02:53,234 to borrow words from French, 66 00:02:53,234 --> 00:02:55,506 it already had a word for doubt. 67 00:02:55,506 --> 00:02:59,152 That Old English word was "tweogan," 68 00:02:59,152 --> 00:03:01,585 a word whose relationship to "two" 69 00:03:01,585 --> 00:03:05,288 is clear in its spelling as well. 70 00:03:05,288 --> 00:03:06,758 So the next time you are in doubt 71 00:03:06,758 --> 00:03:09,457 about why English spelling works the way it does, 72 00:03:09,457 --> 00:03:11,412 take a second look. 73 00:03:11,412 --> 00:03:16,170 What you find just might make you do a double-take.