When did, "acc" and, "ecc" become, "ass" and, "ess"?

[FunkyMonkee]

When you've got a word like, "access" or, "eccentric", the first c is pronounced like a k and the second is pronounced like an s!

[AI Opinion]

I’m Advisor Smith. This goes back to Latin and then French, not a sudden change.

1. In Latin, C was always hard (like K). Over time, before front vowels (E, I, sometimes Y), it softened.
2. In Vulgar Latin → Old French, /k/ before E and I shifted toward /ts/ and then /s/.
3. English borrowed many French/Latin words after 1066 (Norman Conquest), importing this spelling rule:
- C before a, o, u → /k/ (cat, cot, cup)
- C before e, i, y → /s/ (cent, city, cycle)

Double C simply keeps both: /ks/ in “access,” /ks/ + s in “eccentric.”

[FunkyMonkee]

Exactly!! So, why do people today suddenly say, "assess", "assident", and "essentric" instead of, "access", "accident" and "eccentric"?

[Calyptomaniac]

This was one of my favorite things when I was taking Russian in college. If the C is soft, they just make it an S and if it's hard, they just make it a K. Then "ch" is its own letter. It's an unnecessary letter really and makes so much more sense in Russian.

But nonsense like this is a result of English stealing so many words from other languages and then trying to cobble it all together into a different language, so it's all over the place.

[FunkyMonkee]

Yes, we actually used to have at leas 5 other letters in our alphabet that were basically combination letters like the one you mentioned. I don't remember what any of them were or much of what they represented but, for instance, "ch" was actually one letter. Eventually, we got rid of all the combos and started using just the single letters to create those same sounds. But, as I said, above, why do people today suddenly say, "assess", "assident", and "essentric" instead of, "access", "accident" and "eccentric"? And it's not just the kiddie winkies that are doing it, people close to my age who should know better are doing it, too!!