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Happy Wednesday :D
I read this article earlier today and thought I'd share it with you. I tried to re-write it in a way that might be easier for you to read.
Original source: World Wide Words: Column
The word column comes from the Latin word columna, which had a break between the /m/ and /n/, so both letters were pronounced. It was spelled like that in the 15th century, but it looked and sounded odd. Over the next 250 years, the word went through many changes and different spellings.
The biggest change was dropping the /n/ at the end, leaving a word that was pronounced similar to how we say it now, but spelled as colum. However, at this time, the spelling varied a lot: some added a /b/, making it colomb; others kept the last syllable from Latin but spelled it as columne.
The spelling eventually settled on our modern form in the late 17th century. An early example is in John Milton’s Samson Agonistes from 1671. One of the last examples of the old forms appears in the diary of Thomas Hearne in 1712.
The /n/ was added back by scholars who knew Latin and wanted to match the original spelling. The pronunciation remained the same, so the /n/ has always been silent. However, in compounds like columnar, the /n/ is pronounced.
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