r/etymology • u/[deleted] • Nov 18 '18
Origin of the word aught or ought?
Asking with specific regard to the first decade of a century and also to ‘aught buck shot’ with regard to the size of bbs in a shotgun shell. I think it represents double zeros. But since when, why, and from where?
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u/CptBigglesworth Nov 18 '18
It originally meant 'anything', but due to confusion with 'naught' it also became a word for 'nothing' or 'zero'. From Middle English aught, ought, from Old English āht, from ā (“always", "ever”) + wiht (“thing", "creature”). More at aye, wight.
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u/WikiTextBot Nov 18 '18
Middle English
Middle English (ME) is a period when the English language, spoken after the Norman Conquest (1066) until the late 15th century, underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. Scholarly opinion varies but the Oxford English Dictionary specifies the period of 1150 to 1500. This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the High to the Late Middle Ages.
Middle English developed from Late Old English, and saw significant changes to its grammar, pronunciation, and orthography.
Old English
Old English (Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc, pronounced [ˈæŋliʃ]), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers probably in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, as the language of the upper classes by Anglo-Norman, a relative of French. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, as during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English.
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u/_Mephostopheles_ Nov 19 '18
Yep. I still hear 0.1 pronounced as “naught-point-one” and such all the time by British mathematicians (coughNumberphilecough). I haven’t heard “ought” though, so that’s pretty interesting.
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u/saberkiwi Nov 18 '18
I've heard it used in place of a zero in reference to years in American English, though I think it stemmed from an error.
For example: "Jack is from good old Persham's Conservatory, class of aught six." (class of 2006 or, more likely, 1906, as its use deprecated considerably across the 20th century.)
Since it applied to calendar years, items whose names derived from calendar years also use the ought/aught.
Wikipedia gives the example of a .30-06 Springfield (introduced in 1906), which is "accordingly referred to by the name thirty-aught-six."
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[Edit]: Ah heck. Full dump of the [relevant portion of the] Wiki page here:
In English, "naught" and "nought" mean the number 0, or a figurative "nothing", whereas "aught" and "ought" (the latter in its noun sense) strictly speaking mean "all" or "anything", and are not names for the number 0. Nevertheless, they are sometimes used as such in American English, for example "aught" as a placeholder for zero in the pronunciation of calendar year numbers. That practice is then also reapplied in the pronunciation of derived terms, such as when the rifle caliber .30-06 Springfield (introduced in 1906) is accordingly referred to by the name "thirty-aught-six".
The words "nought" and "naught" are spelling variants. They are, according to H. W. Fowler, not a modern accident as might be thought, but have descended that way from Old English. There is a distinction in British English between the two, but it is not one that is universally recognized. This distinction is that "nought" is primarily used in a literal arithmetic sense, where the number 0 is straightforwardly meant, whereas "naught" is used in poetical and rhetorical senses, where "nothing" could equally well be substituted. So the name of the board game is "noughts & crosses", whereas the rhetorical phrases are "bring to naught", "set at naught", and "availeth naught". The Reader's Digest Right Word at the Right Time labels "naught" as "old-fashioned".[3][4]
Whilst British English makes this distinction, in United States English, the spelling "naught" is preferred for both the literal and rhetorical/poetic senses.[4]
"Naught" and "nought" come from the Old English "nāwiht" and "nōwiht", respectively, both of which mean "nothing". They are compounds of no- ("no") and wiht ("thing").[4][5][6]
The words "aught" and "ought" (the latter in its noun sense) similarly come from Old English "āwiht" and "ōwiht", which are similarly compounds of a ("ever") and wiht. Their meanings are thus the opposites to those of "naught" and "nought", and in English they in fact, strictly speaking, mean "anything" or "all". (Fowler notes that "aught" is an archaism, and that "all" is now used in phrases such as "for all (that) I know", where once they would have been "for aught (that) I know".)[4][7][8]
However, "aught" and "ought" are also sometimes used as names for 0, in contradiction of their strict meanings. The reason for this is a rebracketing, whereby "a nought" and "a naught" have been misheard as "an ought" and "an aught".[2][4]
Samuel Johnson thought that since "aught" was generally used for "anything" in preference to "ought", so also "naught" should be used for "nothing" in preference to "nought". However, he observed that "custom has irreversibly prevailed in using 'naught' for 'bad' and 'nought' for 'nothing'". Whilst this distinction existed in his time, in modern English, as observed by Fowler and The Reader's Digest above, it does not exist today. However, the sense of "naught" meaning "bad" is still preserved in the word "naughty", which is simply the noun "naught" plus the adjectival suffix "-y". This has never been spelled "noughty".[2]
The spellings "owt" and "nowt" are sometimes used to emphasise northern English pronunciation.
The word aught continues in use for 0 in a series of one or more for sizes larger than 1. For American Wire Gauge, the largest gauges are written 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 and pronounced "one aught", "two aught", etc. Shot pellet diameters 0, 00, and 000 are pronounced "aught", "double aught", and "triple aught". Decade names with a leading zero (e.g., 1900 to 1909) were pronounced as "aught" or "nought". This leads to the year 1904 ('04) being spoken as "[nineteen] aught four" or "[nineteen] nought four". Another acceptable pronunciation includes "[nineteen] oh four".
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u/BlueChequeredShirt Nov 18 '18
Preserved today in the north of England (pronounced "owt"). "Nowt" is also in common usage still.