The other day when I was writing about pronunciations, I thought of the word indict, which has always bothered me. Why do we pronounce it in-DYTE? Well, serendipity dropped an article from Merriam-Webster right into my lap about this very topic. Here is a small part of the article, with a table that I put together for the interested.
From: Why Do We Skip the ‘C’ in ‘Indict’? Yet we don’t skip it in ‘edict’ or ‘verdict’?
Other legal terms in English that share the Latin root dicere ("to say") are pronounced as they are spelled: edict, interdict, verdict. Indict means to formally decide that someone should be put on trial for a crime. It comes from the Latin word that means “to proclaim.”
We pronounce it indict because its original spelling in English was E-N-D-I-T-E, a spelling that was used for 300 years before scholars decided to make it look more like its Latin root word, indictare.
Our pronunciation, however, still reflects the original English spelling.
| Word | Meaning From M-W |
Etymology From the Online Etymology Dictionary, edited for space. |
| indict | to formally charge (someone) with a crime | formerly also endict, from Vulgar Latin *indictare "to declare, accuse, proclaim in writing," from in- "in" + Latin dictare "to declare, dictate," frequentative of dicere "to say, speak" |
| edict | a proclamation having the force of law; order; command | from Latin edictum "proclamation, ordinance, edict," neuter past participle of edicere "publish, proclaim." |
| interdict (noun) | 1: a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical censure withdrawing most sacraments and Christian burial from a person or district
2: a prohibitory decree |
c. 1300, enterditen, "to place under ban of the Church, excommunicate," …from Latin interdicere "interpose by speech, prohibit, forbid," from inter "between" + dicere "to speak, to say." |
| interdict (verb) | 1: to lay under or prohibit by an interdict
2: to forbid in a usually formal or authoritative manner |
|
| verdict | the finding or decision of a jury on the matter submitted to it in trial; opinion; judgement | The spelling and pronunciation influenced by Medieval Latin verdictum "a verdict." The non-legal general sense of "judgment (of the public, etc.), pronounced opinion.” |
| dictate | to utter words to be transcribed | from Latin dictatus, past participle of dictare "say often, prescribe," frequentative of dicere "to say, speak." |
| contradict | 1: to assert the contrary of : take issue with
contradict a rumor She contradicted her brother’s account of what happened. 2: to imply the opposite or a denial of |
classical Latin contra dicere "to speak against," from contra "against" + dicere "to say, speak." |
Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement
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