: >actually the British version changed so the spelling would be more like
: >the French.
:
: Actually I think the words had their origin in the French language (at least
: it is quite obvious that they have Romance rather than Germanic/Anglo Saxon
: roots) and were adopted in English, which is why they had/have the u. Later,
: the u was dropped in American English, thus simplifying the words -
: simplifications like that are not limited to American English; most or all
: languages tend to develop towards more simplicity, with the simplifications
: usually first being regarded as wrong until more and more common usage
: finally leads to their acceptance. This is a totally normal development.
The funny thing is that the Americans, without realizing it, re-established the
way the word, which originates from Latin, was written. I think the way the
English write it reflects the way the French pronounce it.
Latin: color
French: couleur
English: colour
American: color
Dutch: kleur (this is pronounced exactly as in French, but skips the first
vowel)
German: Farbe :-0
H@nz
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