Etymograph

English

aitch

Aitch comes from Middle English ache ‘a plant of the genus Apium, especially celery’, from Vulgar Latin *acca ‘the name of the Latin script letter H/h’, and ultimately from Classical Latin ha.

  1. Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEha
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*acca‘the name of the Latin script letter H/h’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ache
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a plant of the genus Apium, especially celery’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1773aitch

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEha
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*acca‘the name of the Latin script letter H/h’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ache
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a plant of the genus Apium, especially celery’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1773aitch

Earliest quotation: 1773, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal E: “The word length, which contains only four sounds l…”

The story

The source is unclear, but may descend from the vowelless alphabetic sequence ha ka 'H, K' (becoming [aka] when the [h] ceased to be pronounced), as K had low frequency in Late Latin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Middle English ache ‘a plant of the genus Apium, especially celery’

ache, ach

Today it means

noun The name of the Latin script letter H/h.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Classical Latin ha / aitch

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