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-ght
The quick answer is that words in English ending in -ght fall into three groups: (1) verbal forms where the -t is a suffix in Old English denoting tense/aspect, (2) words that go back to PIE roots ending in -k(w)-t, and (3) miscellaneous.
In group 1, you have words like bought (< buy), brought (from bring), sight (from see), wrought (from work), etc. In group 2, words like night (cf. Latin nox, noctis, Greek nuks, nuktos), wight (and aught, nought, too, < PIE *wekti- 'being', cf. Russian veshch 'thing'). In group three, some words with unknown etymologies, e.g., blight. (There is some overlap between groups 1 and 2 because, it may be the same process but simply a matter of when it happened in the Old English, Proto-Germanic, or PIE period.) The main reason for supposing a suffix PIE -t- is that PIE roots are usually of the form CVC (simplified, with V covering a lot of other kinds of sounds than vowels). You can see this in the examples light and night above. Cf. Latin lux, lucis, 'light' which does not have the -t-, but German Licht, English light, which do.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted -ght LukeJavan8 11/02/09 10:51 PM Re: -ght Faldage 11/02/09 11:57 PM Re: -ght Jackie 11/03/09 03:08 AM Re: -ght olly 11/03/09 03:18 AM Re: -ght latishya 11/03/09 03:22 AM Re: -ght zmjezhd 11/03/09 03:51 AM Re: -ght olly 11/03/09 04:17 AM Re: -ght BranShea 11/03/09 10:39 AM Re: -ght Faldage 11/03/09 10:49 AM Re: -ght zmjezhd 11/03/09 12:27 PM Re: -ght LukeJavan8 11/03/09 06:33 PM
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