Show language changes made over ov er precise protests until about the middle ot of the nineteenth century it was usual in ill pronouncing noun cing the word humble to retrain refrain from sounding bounding the it generally the word was preceded by an instead of by a the changing to sounding the h came gradually all 3 a matter of usage BE ae many changes in language come in the end usage must be followed though precise speakers resist it for a time even la in fairly recent years yeara a few persons persisted in pronouncing humble without the it the variation you have observed on this point between an early and a later edition of websters dictionary Is accounted tor for by acceptance of the change by the later editors the gradual alteration in n usage concerning the word humble was a subject of protest as long ago as 1853 when a correspondent of the periodical notes and queries illustrated ills contention that the it should be silent by giving a list of what he stated to be the derivations of words in which the h should be silent the 7 words were heir honest honor hour humble and humor |