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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: where did the 'B' come from?  (Bill and William)
Message-ID: <1886@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 21:52:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.1886
Posted: Fri May 10 21:52:36 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Jun-85 04:21:43 EDT
References: <419@cvl.UUCP>
Reply-To: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss riddle)
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
Lines: 25
Summary: Labials!
Ah-Cant-Get-No: "Bob"

> I've been wondering for a while what the entymology of the name "Bill" is.
> I can see Will deriving from William, but where'd the 'B' come from?

Try making 'b' and 'w' sounds and notice what your mouth does.  'B' and 'w'
are both what's known in the trade as "labial" sounds, because you make them
by articulating with your lips.  In the course of history, labial sounds
often get substituted for one another.  Hence the variants "Bill" and
"Will".

That's not all there is to it, though.  The corresponding German name is
"Wilhelm," pronounced /'vil helm/.  That 'v' sound is what's known as a
"labiodental," because it involves the bottom lip and the upper teeth.
Labials and labiodentals, too, are often substituted for one another.

It gets a lot more complicated if you look at the Romance languages.  If
anybody out there can give the exact relationship with all intermediate
stages between the above and the Spanish "Guillermo," for instance, I'd be
interested.

This Phonetics and Phonology Minute has been brought to you by the
International Amateur Ph&Ph Society...					:-)

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
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