<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 20/08/2022 10:21, Apostolos
Syropoulos via XeTeX wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:319254375.314584.1660987305471@mail.yahoo.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div><br>
</div>
Someone claimed that English people (I say
<div>more generally English language speakers)</div>
<div> learn at school why you write history and</div>
<div>not istory. Since I do not know I'd this holds, I</div>
<div>am asking: Is this true? Does someone who</div>
<div>has graduated from high-school know the</div>
<div>reason why this happens?</div>
</blockquote>
<p>No, the matter was never raised during the period that I was at
school (1952–1963). We were told that the subject was called
"history" and that was that. The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/87324?rskey=cuajcV&result=1#eid">OED
</a>has this to say —</p>
<p><span id="etymologySpanBlock1"><strong>Etymology: </strong>In
Old English < classical Latin <em>historia</em> (in
post-classical Latin also <em>istoria</em></span><span
id="etymologySpanBlock2" style=""> (7th or 8th cent.)) (see
below);
<div> </div>
subsequently reborrowed < (i) Anglo-Norman and Old French <em>istorie</em>,
<em>estoire</em>, <em>historie</em>, Anglo-Norman and Old
French, Middle French <em>estorie</em>, Anglo-Norman and Middle
French, French <em>histoire</em>, Old French, Middle French <em>hystoire</em>,
Middle French <em>histore</em> account of the events of a
person's life (beginning of the 12th cent.), chronicle, account
of events as relevant to a group of people or people in general
(1155), dramatic or pictorial representation of historical
events (<i>c</i>1240), body of knowledge relative to human
evolution, science (<i>c</i>1265), narrative of real or
imaginary events, story (<i>c</i>1462),
<div> </div>
and its etymon (ii) classical Latin <em>historia</em> (in
post-classical Latin also <em>istoria</em> (7th or 8th cent.))
investigation, inquiry, research, account, description, written
account of past events, writing of history, historical
narrative, recorded knowledge of past events, story, narrative,
in post-classical Latin also narrative illustration (from 12th
cent. in British sources) < ancient Greek <em>ἱστορία</em>
inquiry, knowledge obtained by inquiry, account of such
inquiries, narrative, in Hellenistic Greek also story, account
< <em>ἵστορ-</em> , <em>ἵστωρ</em> or <em>ἴστορ-</em> , <em>ἴστωρ</em>
(ancient Greek (Boeotian) <em>ϝίστωρ</em> ) (noun) judge,
witness, (adjective) knowing, learned ( < an ablaut variant
(zero-grade) of the stem of <em>οἶδα</em> to know (see <a
href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/229569#eid14146062"
class="crossReferencePopup" rel="229569"
rev="/view/Entry/229569#eid14146062"><span class="xref"><span
class="smallCaps">wit</span> <span class="ps">v.<sup>1</sup></span></span></a>)
+ <em>-τωρ</em> , suffix forming agent nouns) + <em>-ία</em> <a
href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/231080#eid14065428"
class="crossReferencePopup" rel="231080"
rev="/view/Entry/231080#eid14065428"><span class="xref"><span
class="smallCaps">-y</span> <span class="ps">suffix<sup>3</sup></span></span></a>.
<div> </div>
Old French forms in <em>e-</em> arise as alterations of earlier
forms in <em>i-</em> , which was unusual in this position in
Old French; Middle French forms in <em>h-</em> show remodelling
after classical Latin <em>historia</em> .
<div> </div>
Compare Old Occitan <em>estoria</em> , Catalan <em>història</em>
(14th cent.), Spanish <em>historia</em> (1220–50; also as †<em>estoria</em>
), Portuguese <em>história</em> (14th cent.), Italian <em>storia</em>
(1690; <i>a</i>1374 as †<em>istoria</em> ). Compare <a
href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/190981#eid20448430"
class="crossReferencePopup" rel="190981"
rev="/view/Entry/190981#eid20448430"><span class="xref"><span
class="smallCaps">story</span> <span class="ps">n.</span></span></a>
<div class="etymNote">The Latin word was earlier borrowed into
Old English as <em>stær</em> (also <em>ster</em> , <em>steor</em>
) history, narrative, story (perhaps via Celtic; compare Early
Irish <em>stoir</em> , Middle Breton <em>ster</em> ); the
length of the stem vowel of the Old English word is uncertain,
and the phonology is difficult to explain (see further A.
Campbell <em>Old Eng. Gram.</em> (<span>1959</span>) §§507,
516, 545, 565, and (for a summary of views) A. H. Feulner <em>Die
griechischen Lehnwörter im Altenglischen</em> (<span>2000</span>)
248–51):</div>
<div class="etymNote"><br>
</div>
<div class="etymNote">Philip Taylor<br>
</div>
</span></p>
</body>
</html>