eighte

Middle English

**Middle English numbers ^(edit)**
← 7	8	9 →
Cardinal: eighte Ordinal: eiȝtthe

Alternative forms

eight, eiȝt, eiȝte, eyȝt
ahte, eahte, ehhte, ehte (Early Middle English)
aghte, aucht, aughte (Northern)

Etymology

From Old English eahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtō, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw.

The form /ˈæi̯xt(ə)/, showing the West Midland and Kentish dialectal development of /æ/ (< Old English /æ͜ɑ/) to /ɛ/ (instead of usual /a/),^[1] unexpectedly predominates in Middle English.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈæi̯xt(ə)/, (generally Northern) /ˈau̯xt(ə)/

Numeral

eighte

eight^[2]

Related terms

Descendants

English: eight
- Sranan Tongo: aiti
Scots: echt, aucht
Yola: ayght, aught

References

^ Jordan, Richard (1974) Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎^[1], The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 32, page 54.
^ “eighte, card. num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[1] Jordan, Richard (1974) Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎^[1], The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 32, page 54.

[2] “eighte, card. num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

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