People often think the word "doubt" spelling is a little crazy because of the letter "b". Since it doesn't spell a sound, most folks can't figure out what it's doing there. But in spite of what most of us learn in school, sound is <i>never</i> the most important aspect of spelling an English word. A word's meaning and history need to come first. To doubt means to question, to waver, to hesitate. As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion. The present-day English word "doubt" started as a Latin word, "dubitare". It first moved from Latin into French where it lost both its "buh" sound and its letter "b". And then it came into English in the 13th century. About 100 years later, scribes who wrote English but also knew Latin, started to reinsert the "b" into the word's spelling, even though no one pronounced it that way. But why would they do this? Why would anyone in their right mind reinsert a silent letter into a spelling? Well, because they knew Latin, the scribes understood that the root of "doubt" had a "b" in it. Over time, even as fewer literate people knew Latin, the "b" was kept because it marked important, meaningful connections to other related words, like "dubious" and "indubitalbly," which were subsequently borrowed into English from the same Latin root, "dubitare". Understanding these historical connections not only helped us to spell "doubt," but also to understand the meaning of these more sophisticated words. But the story doesn't end there. If we look even deeper, we can see beyond the shadow of a doubt, just how revealing that "b" can be. There are only two base words in all of English that have the letters "d-o-u-b": one is doubt, and the other is double. We can build lots of other words on each of these bases, like doubtful and doubtless, or doublet, and redouble, and doubloon. It turns out that if we look into their history, we can see that they both derive from the same Latin forms. The meaning of double, two, is reflected in a deep understanding of doubt. See, when we doubt, when we hesitate, we second guess ourselves. When we have doubts about something, when we have questions or confusion, we are of two minds. Historically, before English began to borrow words from French, it already had a word for doubt. That Old English word was "tweogan," a word whose relationship to "two" is clear in its spelling as well. So the next time you are in doubt about why English spelling works the way it does, take a second look. What you find just might make you do a double-take.
Insonlar ko'pincha "doubt" so'zi imlosini ahmoqona deb o'ylashadi. Undagi "b" harfi sababli. U talaffuz qilinmas ekan, ko'pchilik uni nega kerak ekanligini tushuna olishmaydi. Maktabda o'rganganlarimizga qaramay, ingliz tili imlosida tovush unchalik ham ahamiyatga ega emas. So'zning ma'nosi va uning tarixi birinchi navbatda ahamiyatlidir. "To doubt" so'zi "shubhalanmoq", "ikkilanmoq", "tortinmoq" deganidir. Ot so'z turkumi sifatida u noaniqlik, adashish degan ma'nolarga ega. Zamonaviy ingliz tilidagi "doubt" so'zi lotincha "dubitare" so'zidan kelib chiqqan. U boshida lotinchadan fransuz tiliga o'tgan. Shunda u "b" tovushini va harfini yo'qotgan. Keyinchalik XIII asrda bu so'z ingliz tiliga kirib kelgan. Yuz yillarcha vaqt o'tib, lotin tilini ham biladigan ingliz tilidagi yozuvchilar so'zga "b" harfini qo'shishni boshlashdi. Hatto uni hech kim shunday talaffuz qilmasa ham. Nega bunday qilishgan? Nima uchun bu so'zga "gapirmaydigan" harf qo'shishgan? Chunki ular lotin tilini bilishgan. Ular "doubt" so'zining ildizida "b" harfi borligini bilishgan. Vaqt o'tib lotin tilini biladigan insonlar kamayganida ham "b" saqlab qolingan, chunki u muhim rol o'ynagan. Qarindosh so'zlar bilan bog'liqlikni saqlab turgan. Bular "dubious" va "indubitalbly" kabi so'zlar bo'lib, ular ham lotin tilidagi "dubitare" so'zidan kelib chiqqan va ingliz tiliga kiritilgan. Bu tarixiy bog'liqliklarni tushunish bizga nafaqat "doubt"ni talaffuz qilishni, balki bu murakkab so'zlarning ma'nosini anglashga yordam berdi. Tarix bu bilan tugamaydi. Yanada chuqurroq qarasak, "b"ning qanchalar o'rinli ekanligini ko'rishimiz mumkin. Ingliz tilida «d-o-u-b» harflari bilan boshlanadigan atigi ikkita tayanch so'z bor: bittasi — "doubt", ikkinchisi — "double". Bu so'zlar orqali biz ko'plab so'zlar yaratishimiz mumkin: "doubtful", "doubtless", yoki "doublet", "redouble", "doubloon" kabi. Aslida agar biz ularning tarixiga qarasak, bu ikkala so'z ham lotinchada bir xil o'zakdan kelib chiqqan. "Double" so'zining ma'nosi, ikki, "doubt" so'zining tubida yotadi. Biz shubhalanganimizda, ikkilanganimizda, biz o'zimizga bashorat qilamiz. Bizda nimadandir shubha bo'lsa, bizda savollar ko'p bo'lganida yoki adashganimizda biz qat'iyatsiz bo'lamiz. Tarixan, ingliz tili fransuz tilidan so'zlar kirita boshlaganida, shubha degan so'z allaqachon mavjud bo'lgan. U eski inglizcha so'z "tweogan" edi. Yozilishidan ko'rinib turganidek, bu so'z "two" bilan bog'liq. Keyingi safar nega ingliz tili imlosi bunday ishlashi haqida o'ylanib qolganingizda, ikki marta qarang. Ikkinchi marta ko'rganingiz sizga to'g'ri xulosa qilishingiz uchun yordam beradi.