Talk:secan

Back and forth?

Why is it that English went k > t_S and then back to k again? Influence upon the modern standard language by different dialects than the ones used to compose the old works? I have seen this "correspondence" between many modern and old English words. Skomakar'n (talk) 08:33, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

• I'm not confident enough to comment on this specific word, but what you're describing often happens because of different dialects. Usually "standard" Old English is taken to be West Saxon (because it's the best-attested), and West Saxon showed consistent palatalization. The same cannot be said for northern dialects, especially those influenced by various Scandinavian languages, and these often had a heavy impact on modern English. Ƿidsiþ 09:30, 2 November 2012 (UTC)
• Further: on (deprecated template usage) seek, the OED includes the following note which summarises the situation better than I can: ‘The normal modern form of Old English sécan would be seech, which survives dial. in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire (compare (deprecated template usage) beseech); the form with k is probably due to the Middle English sēcþ, 3rd person singular present indicative, which shows the regular phonetic development of Old English palatal c before a spirant; but it is not clear why the k form should have been generalized in (deprecated template usage) seek and not in (deprecated template usage) teach, unless indeed the tendency was supported in the former instance by the influence of the Old Norse form.’