From: tgpedersen
Message: 24889
Date: 2003-07-30
> 29-07-03 11:58, tgpedersen wrote:logic.
>
> > It sounds like some German linguist thought: 'Haupt' because
> > of 'Haube'. By that logic English would have *'had' for 'head' to
> > match the vowel of 'hat'.
>
> Contamination happens from time to time. It's sporadic by its very
> nature. English has <female> (rather than *femel < OFr. femelle)
> obviously because of its folk-etymological relation to <male>, but
> <woman> [wUm&n] has not been remodelled as "woo-MAN" by the same
>Sometimes changes follow laws and sometimes they don't? And therefore