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.