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From: iannucci@sjuvax.UUCP (iannucci)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: the word "won't"
Message-ID: <1235@sjuvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 13:35:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: sjuvax.1235
Posted: Sun Aug  4 13:35:20 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Aug-85 08:51:41 EDT
Reply-To: iannucci@sjuvax.UUCP (iannucci)
Organization: St. Joseph's University, Phila. PA.
Lines: 29

>>> Does anyone know how the contraction for "will not" came to be "won't"?
>>> "Willn't" seems more logical. --  Jeff Lichtman 
  
>>   The word 'will' comes from the German verb 'wollen', meaning to want.
>>   My best guess is that the 'o' in 'wollen' carried over into the English 
>>   contraction. -- Dave Iannucci
 
> I do not see how this is a reasonable explanation, in light of how 
> insignificant the impact of German on English has been.  -- Mike Ellis

        I think I have learned a lesson here, which is not to lock horns
with "old language buffs"!  As I have admitted, I did start out a bit too
dogmatically, when I wasn't in fact sure.  I didn't mean to suggest that the
'o' in 'wollen' leaped clear across the Channel and landed in "won't" :-)
But I have since been convinced by evidences found in the Oxford English 
Dictionary that that German verb has in fact played a role in the formation
of our future tense modal auxiliary. These things I have said previously, and
the main reason that I am replying is that, as one who has studied German (at
the college level), I find your above statement patently ridiculous and 
uncharacteristic of someone who displays such an acquaintance with linguistics
as you do in your article. I can't think of another language which has had
more influence on English than German. Latin comes close, but not as close as
German. English is, after all, a member of that family of Germanic or Teutonic
languages. 
-- 
If I could walk THAT way... 

Dave Iannucci @ St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia [40 00' N 75 15' W]
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