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

Pronunciation

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

Numeral

eighte

1. eight^[2]

Related terms

• eiȝtthe, eyghte
• eiȝtetene

Descendants

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

References

1. Jordan, Richard (1974)  Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214)‎, The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 32, page 54.
2. “eighte, card. num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.