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offered

English translation: Stress not etymology

12:32 Jun 22, 2012
Latin to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics / english spelling
Latin term or phrase: offered
Why, in English spelling, do some past tense verbs derived from Latin "ferro" have a "rr" & some a "r ?" eg. offered" vs "preferred."
nspointer
English translation:Stress not etymology
Explanation:
Generally speaking, it's more a question of stress than etymology. If the stress is on the final syllable of the verb, the final consonant (r in this case) is doubled when ed is suffixed; if the stress is on a non-final syllable, the final consonant is not doubled.

(Incidentally, ferre with double r is the infinitive, and fero with one r is the 1st person singular present. Ferro would be the dative or ablative singular of ferrum, meaning iron and by extension anything made of iron, including swords)

However, moving away from verbs derived from ferre and looking in general at spelling changes when ed is added, there are exceptions to this rule: these are normally hesitations (you can see both focused and focussed for example) and spelling differences between British and American English (most notable travelled/traveled).
Selected response from:

Alvin Parmar
United Kingdom
Grading comment
Thank you for this enlightening answer. My question is now well & truly resolved for me & my mind can rest at last!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2Stress not etymology
Alvin Parmar


  

Answers


6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Stress not etymology


Explanation:
Generally speaking, it's more a question of stress than etymology. If the stress is on the final syllable of the verb, the final consonant (r in this case) is doubled when ed is suffixed; if the stress is on a non-final syllable, the final consonant is not doubled.

(Incidentally, ferre with double r is the infinitive, and fero with one r is the 1st person singular present. Ferro would be the dative or ablative singular of ferrum, meaning iron and by extension anything made of iron, including swords)

However, moving away from verbs derived from ferre and looking in general at spelling changes when ed is added, there are exceptions to this rule: these are normally hesitations (you can see both focused and focussed for example) and spelling differences between British and American English (most notable travelled/traveled).

Alvin Parmar
United Kingdom
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you for this enlightening answer. My question is now well & truly resolved for me & my mind can rest at last!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Veronika McLaren
1 day 17 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Luis Antonio de Larrauri: Yes, I had thought just the same.
2 days 15 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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