# Why does Spanish use the letter H? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315 "2012-12-07T17:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/21 "2012-12-07T22:50:25Z")
Presumably, with the “u” indicating the corresponding semivowel /w/. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/22 "2012-12-07T23:49:45Z")
[Some information (in Spanish) from the Real Academia Española.](http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=h) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/23 "2012-12-07T23:57:47Z")
Great link. It says _Esta aspiración aún se conserva como rasgo dialectal en Andalucía, Extremadura, Canarias y otras zonas de España y América._, which I understand as “This aspiration is still preserved as a dialectal feature in Andalusia, Extremadura, the Canaries and other areas of Spain and America.” In other words, Spanish _h_ is still around, like -gh- in English (cf. Scots English _nicht, licht_). ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/24 "2012-12-08T00:12:20Z")
[Wikipedia link (in spanish)](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambio_fon%C3%A9tico_%C2%ABf_%E2%86%92_h%C2%BB_del_espa%C3%B1ol#El_cambio_.2Ff_.2F.3E_.2Fh.2F_y_el_biling.C3.BCismo_vasco-latino) that attempts to explain the change of f to h. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/25 "2012-12-08T00:20:13Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > [Wikipedia link (in spanish)](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambio_fon%C3%A9tico_%C2%ABf_%E2%86%92_h%C2%BB_del_espa%C3%B1ol#El_cambio_.2Ff_.2F.3E_.2Fh.2F_y_el_biling.C3.BCismo_vasco-latino) that attempts to explain the change of f to h. That change isn’t all that unusual. In Irish (=Irish Gaelic) and Scottish Gaelic, initial F regularly changed to H in certain grammatical environments, and like Spanish that change is now between F and silence (spelled “fh”) except in a few words. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/26 "2012-12-08T00:32:22Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Great link. It says _Esta aspiración aún se conserva como rasgo dialectal en Andalucía, Extremadura, Canarias y otras zonas de España y América._, which I understand as “This aspiration is still preserved as a dialectal feature in Andalusia, Extremadura, the Canaries and other areas of Spain and America.” In other words, Spanish _h_ is still around, like -gh- in English (cf. Scots English _nicht, licht_). Well, yes. It mentions that occasionally, in some dialects, the h, especially if combined with other vowels, can stand in for some slight sounds (exact phoneme varies with vowel combination). ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/27 "2012-12-08T00:56:19Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Great link. It says _Esta aspiración aún se conserva como rasgo dialectal en Andalucía, Extremadura, Canarias y otras zonas de España y América._, which I understand as “This aspiration is still preserved as a dialectal feature in Andalusia, Extremadura, the Canaries and other areas of Spain and America.” In other words, Spanish _h_ is still around, like -gh- in English (cf. Scots English _nicht, licht_). Exactly. But it goes beyond that. There are quite a few dialects alive inside of Spain – such as [**Bable** \*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturian_language), which I semi-speak & understand due to blood-lines – and many others variations of _Castellano Puro_ outside of Spain that keep some of these sounds as **[DiggitCamara](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15772983&postcount=11)** touched on in his post. In short, for quite a few number of rational reasons, the Spanish “H” be it strictly orthographical or for _sound_ reasons, is here to stay. \*Facer = hacer. And again, many many more. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/28 "2012-12-08T01:55:20Z")
One somewhat archaic spelling that has persisted is _Mexico_, usually pronounced as Me-hi-co, which in modern Spanish would normally be spelled _Mejico_. This is an artifact of Spanish orthography at the time of the Conquest (also seen in _Don Quixote_). In modern Spanish “x” is usually pronounced as “ks” like in English (although sometimes pronounced as “s” in some regions). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/29 "2012-12-08T10:01:29Z")
Don’t forget the historical impact of printing presses and widespread literacy (and, sometimes, nation-state consolidation) when trying to explain why spelling conventions, in just about any language, tend to be more or less “frozen” at a pretty specific time period. Indistinguishible, that explains your “hacienda,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/30 "2012-12-08T10:18:04Z")
Woops, wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/31 "2012-12-08T10:36:42Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Woops, wrong thread. You meant “w_ **h** _oops.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/32 "2012-12-08T14:37:00Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That change isn’t all that unusual. In Irish (=Irish Gaelic) and Scottish Gaelic, initial F regularly changed to H in certain grammatical environments, and like Spanish that change is now between F and silence (spelled “fh”) except in a few words. Very interesting example of parallel development, thanks Drake. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/33 "2012-12-08T15:14:27Z")
BTW, the current sounds ascribed to h + vowel combinations are not in any way the same as the _f_ phoneme. While at some point yes, _hacer_ perhaps sounded like _facer_ (as\* fazer\* is currently the same word in Portuguese), none of the current slight sounds resemble that, and in fact, all are softer variants of the phonemes for _g_, _j_, and\* y\*. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/34 "2012-12-08T16:43:01Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That change isn’t all that unusual. In Irish (=Irish Gaelic) and Scottish Gaelic, initial F regularly changed to H in certain grammatical environments, and like Spanish that change is now between F and silence (spelled “fh”) except in a few words. In Japanese, the phoneme /h/ is a development from an earlier /f/ (and still is /f/ when followed by /u/). Both the /f/ and /h/ in their turn are developments of an archaic /p/, which is why all 3 consonant sounds are written with the same _kana_. In Khalkha Mongolian as in Irish, an archaic /p/ has disappeared altogether, by a series of mutations: p \> f \> h \> zero In other words, the phoneme /p/ long ago disappeared from Irish and Mongolian altogether, much as the sound /x/ (written with “gh” as in _night_) originally present in English has disappeared. There’s another Mongolic language which, having taken the process only partway, has preserved the phoneme /f/ or /h/ in words where it corresponds to zero in Khalkha. Modern Irish and Mongolian words with /p/ are not native to those languages but borrowed from elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/35 "2012-12-10T17:46:00Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > One somewhat archaic spelling that has persisted is _Mexico_, usually pronounced as Me-hi-co, which in modern Spanish would normally be spelled _Mejico_. This is an artifact of Spanish orthography at the time of the Conquest (also seen in _Don Quixote_). In modern Spanish “x” is usually pronounced as “ks” like in English (although sometimes pronounced as “s” in some regions). I could have sworn the reason for this spelling was rooted in native languages and the difficulties they raise when one tries to map one word from one language to the next. However, the _Real Academia de la lengua_ completely agrees with [your post](http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=m%C3%A9jico). Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/36 "2012-12-10T19:54:12Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > However, the _Real Academia de la lengua_ completely agrees with [your post](http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=m%C3%A9jico). Ignorance fought! The same source, in the article on the letter _x_ linked from that page, goes: > [@](#): > > En la Edad Media, la grafía _x_ representaba un sonido palatal fricativo sordo, cuya pronunciación era muy similar a la de la _sh_ inglesa o la _ch_ francesa actuales. Así, palabras como \*dixo \*(hoy _dijo_) o \*traxo \*(hoy _trajo_) se pronunciaban [dísho] o [trásho] (donde [sh] representa un sonido parecido al que emitimos cuando queremos imponer silencio). Este sonido arcaico se conserva en el español de México y de otras zonas de América en palabras de origen náhuatl, como \*Xola \*[shóla] o \*mixiote \*[mishióte] (no en _Xochimilco_, en donde la _x_ suena como /s/), y en la pronunciación arcaizante de ciertos apellidos que conservan su forma gráfica antigua, como \*Ximénez \*o _Mexía_. ‘In the Middle Ages, the spelling _x_ represented an unvoiced palatal fricative sound, whose pronunciation was very similar to that of the present-day English _sh_ or French _ch_. Thus, words like _dixo_ (today _dijo_) or \*traxo \*(today _trajo_) were pronounced [disho] or trasho] (where [sh] represents a sound like the one we make when we want to impose silence). This archaic sound is kept in Mexican Spanish and some other areas in America in words of Náhuatl origin, like \*Xola \*[shóla] or \*mixiote \*[mishióte] (not in _Xochimilco_, in which the \*x \*sounds like /s/), and in the archaizing pronunciation of certain surnames that retain their old spelling, like _Ximénez_ or _Mejía_.’ Mexico was named after the Nahuatl-speaking Aztec tribe of Mexica, pronounced Meshika. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/37 "2012-12-10T21:30:57Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The same source, in the article on the letter _x_ linked from that page, goes: > > ‘In the Middle Ages, the spelling _x_ represented an unvoiced palatal fricative sound, whose pronunciation was very similar to that of the present-day English _sh_ or French _ch_. Thus, words like _dixo_ (today _dijo_) or \*traxo \*(today _trajo_) were pronounced [disho] or trasho] (where [sh] represents a sound like the one we make when we want to impose silence). This archaic sound is kept in Mexican Spanish and some other areas in America in words of Náhuatl origin, like \*Xola \*[shóla] or \*mixiote \*[mishióte] (not in _Xochimilco_, in which the \*x \*sounds like /s/), and in the archaizing pronunciation of certain surnames that retain their old spelling, like _Ximénez_ or _Mejía_.’ > > Mexico was named after the Nahuatl-speaking Aztec tribe of Mexica, pronounced Meshika. Yup. Also “Xalapa,” capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz, which is sometimes spelled “Jalapa.” Interesting what you pointed out about Nahuatl “sh” sound being transliterated as “x” in Spanish. In modern Mexico, people usually think of the MAYAN languages as using “x” for the “sh” sound, while NAHUATL and its variants are though of as using “x” for the “ks” sound. For example, _Tlaxcala_, a Nahuatl-derived place name, is pronounced “tlahks-KAH-lah,” while _Uxmal_, a Mayan-derived place name, is pronounced “oosh-MAHL.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/38 "2012-12-10T21:40:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sure it does, in written Spanish, as per many examples already given. Another one is _hoya_ (pit, hole) and _olla_ (jar) (although the y = ll equivalence doesn’t hold in all dialects of Spanish). But that’s not necessarily the reason the “h” is kept, is it? How would we know? Perhaps-- If there are no examples of a non-homophomic “h” being dropped, then I think we can assume the homophone isn’t a reason it was kept. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315/39 "2012-12-10T21:43:51Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > You meant “w_ **h** _oops.” 🙂 No, “wxoops”. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-spanish-use-the-letter-h/643315.md?page=1)