The Power of One

It occured to me coming home on the train today that "one" is indeed a strange word. If we think of the rule taught in primary school - that vowel,consanant,e produces a long vowel sound - then "one" could very well be the singular word that doesn't follow it. If it did then we would pronounce it "own" instead of "won.

While the above is enough to title "one" as irregular, the plot thickens deeper. The pronunciation of "one" if it is not "own" should be "on", the short vowel sound of "o". A preschooler will tell you that this is not the case, and we are left with an incredible puzzle to solve over the reason "one" is free from the confines of normal English.

Talking with the old man uncovers one possible reason. Most irregular vowels in English are from cases whereby the pronunciation has changed but the spelling has not. We postulated that the original pronunciation was most probably "une" (as in dune), a variation of Latin and French. With a spelling change from elongating the 'u' we get the pronunciation "own" (spelt one). The change in pronunciation from there most likely happened in the 14th Century with the Great Vowel Shift (the same period also saw the formation of the 26-letter English Alphabet and the publication of Holy Bible in English). After this time we have the modern pronunciation of "won" but the spelling has not changed.

Interesting. Is "one" the only word who rebels against this particular rule? Perhaps. I cannot think of any more off the top of my head, but that isn't to say that they don't exist. This is English! It's meant to be dynamic!

1 1 was a racehorse,

2 2 was 1 2.

1 1 1 a race 1 day,

2 2 1 1 2!