Date:  Sun, 3 Dec 1995 11:52:53 -0700

From:  Rudy Troike <RTROIKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU>

Subject: Re: /w/ and /hw/



    If English <whore> derives from Latin <karus>, it must be as a loan-

word, much too late for Grimm's Law. So then it should be <*core>, which it

ain't. So much for armchair etymologizing. In such questions, my sainted

OE professor, Rudolph Willard, used to repair to the OED, which informs us

that OE had <hore> (possibly derived from ON), and that the <wh> spelling is

a 16-th century refinement (I would guess on the model of <whole>). But any

connection with a Latin /k/ would have to be at a pre-Latin level, not a

direct borrowing.

    --Rudy Troike (back in the fray again!)