Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 October 7

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October 7

Third

Does anyone know the reason third doesn't end in th?? Georgia guy (talk) 01:15, 7 October 2016 (UTC)

Do you mean like first and second do? Here is the etymology of the word "third". --Jayron32 01:34, 7 October 2016 (UTC)

See also §5.2.3, §5.2.11.1.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 09:00, 7 October 2016 (UTC)

third < Old English þridda; fourth < Old English fēorþa. —Stephen (talk) 10:13, 7 October 2016 (UTC)

It's a fair question because first and second are not derived from one and two (they literally mean more like 'leading' and 'following'), but third is derived from a cardinal number. —Tamfang (talk) 00:47, 8 October 2016 (UTC)

First and third from Old English, second from Latin. As in primary, secondary, tertiary. Go figure. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:00, 8 October 2016 (UTC)

I haven't a reference for this, but I believe I've encountered an explanation that it is by dissimilation from the initial /θ/. A parallel case (height vs width, depth) is not susceptible to that explanation though, unless the feature '+continuant' on the initial segment is enough to trigger it (and then you'd need to explain why 'width' is exempt) --ColinFine (talk) 19:34, 9 October 2016 (UTC)

In PIE there were no /θ/, and -dd- in the Old English word came from the intervocalic voicing of t in the suffix (compare Gothic þridja) and then the subsequent assimilation of d with j (this is why d became doubled, because j had to be compensated). In Middle English the word lost both the doubling and the final vowel (along with metathesis), hence the modern form.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 00:12, 10 October 2016 (UTC)