Why is there a B in douBt?

你有没有想过，doubt这个单词里的b不发音，那b为什么还留在doubt里呢？看完这个可爱的视频就真相大白了！

People often think the word "doubt" spelling is a little crazy because of the letter "b".

大家都觉得doubt这个单词的拼写有点怪，因为其中的字母b。

Since it doesn't spell a sound, most folks can't figure out what it's doing there.

既然b不发音，大家不能理解为什么还要有b。

But in spite of what most of us learn in school, sound is never the most important aspect of spelling an English word.

抛开我们大多数人在学校学过的那一套，发音从来都不是拼写英语单词最重要的方面。

A word's meaning and history need to come first.

单词的意思和历史才排在第一。

To doubt means to question, to waver, to hesitate.

doubt作动词有“质疑”、“动摇”、“犹豫”的意思。

As a noun, it means uncertainty or confusion.

作名词有“不确定”和“困惑”的意思。

The present-day English word "doubt" started as a Latin word, "dubitare".

我们现在用的英语单词doubt源自拉丁语dubitare。

It first moved from Latin into French where it lost both its "buh" sound and its letter "b".

这个词先是进入法语，没有了字母b及其发音。

And then it came into English in the 13th century.

后来到了13世纪，这个词进入了英语。

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.

大约100年后，有一些懂拉丁语的抄写员在抄写英语的时候，又把字母b加进了这个单词，虽然没有人会发b的音了。（插播：印刷术发明前是靠抄写员手动抄书的）

But why would they do this?

但是他们为什么要这么做呢？

Why would anyone in their right mind reinsert a silent letter into a spelling?

为什么头脑正常的人要把一个不发音的字母硬塞进一个单词里呢？

Well, because they knew Latin, the scribes understood that the root of "doubt" had a "b" in it.

恩，因为这些抄写员懂拉丁语，他们知道doubt的词根里有b。

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".

随着时间的推移，尽管很少读书人懂拉丁语，但字母b却保留了下来，因为b标示了doubt和其他相关单词的重要联系，比如dubious和indubitalbly这两个随后从拉丁语借来的英语单词，这3个词有共同的词根dubitare。

Understanding these historical connections not only helped us to spell "doubt," but also to understand the meaning of these more sophisticated words.

理解了这些词之间的历史联系不仅能帮我们拼对doubt，而且也帮我们理解了这些更高级的单词的意义。

But the story doesn't end there.

故事还没结束。

If we look even deeper, we can see beyond the shadow of a doubt,

just how revealing that "b" can be.

如果挖掘得更深一些，我们无疑能看到字母b的启示。

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.

在所有英语单词里，只有2个词干包括d-o-u-b，一个是doubt，还有一个是double。

We can build lots of other words on each of these bases, like doubtful and doubtless, or doublet, and redouble, and doubloon.

在这两个词干的基础上我们还造出了很多单词，比如doubtful、doubtless、doublet、redouble和doubloon.

It turns out that if we look into their history, we can see that they both derive from the same Latin forms.

结果是，如果去看这两个词干的历史，我们就会发现他们也有同一个拉丁语构成。

The meaning of double, two, is reflected in a deep understanding of doubt.

double的意思是“两个”，正反映在doubt的深层含义里。

See, when we doubt, when we hesitate, we second guess ourselves.

你看，当我们doubt的时候，我们会迟疑，我们会不相信自己。

When we have doubts about something, when we have questions or confusion, we are of two minds.

当我们对某个东西有doubts的时候，我们有很多问题或困惑，我们的脑中有两个声音。

Historically, before English began to borrow words from French, it already had a word for doubt.

历史上，在英语还没有从法语借词之前，也有一个表示“怀疑”的单词。

That Old English word was "tweogan," a word whose relationship to "two" is clear in its spelling as well.

这个古英语单词就是tweogan，ta和two的关系从拼写就能看出来。

So the next time you are in doubt about why English spelling works the way it does, take a second look.

下次你再对英语单词的拼写持怀疑态度时，不妨多探究一下。

What you find just might make you do a double-take.

你的发现可能会让你恍然大悟。