Almost every person faces this concept every day. It is about asphalt, which at least partially covers all modern roads. Despite the prevalence, when writing this term in Russian, mistakes are often made. What are they and why do they arise? Let's find out, and also consider how to spell “asphalt” correctly and why exactly.
What is asphalt?
First of all, it is worth learning about the meaning of the word in question.
This masculine noun refers to a specialized resinous substance (a mixture of bitumen), used as a coating for most roads and sidewalks. Sometimes it is called directly and the road itself.
Origin of the word
In considering how to write “asphalt” or “asphalt”, information about the origin of a given noun can help.
The progenitor of this term is Greek. It was in him that the word ἄσφαλτος appeared, meaning "mountain resin." Already in those immemorial times, this substance was actively used to cover roads, tar the joints of ships, and even for individual methods of mummification.
Later, along with the conquest of Greece by Rome, the name itself came to the valiant victors, evolving in their language to the term asphaltum. It is worth noting that already at this stage, in place of the controversial letter that determines the spelling (asphalt or asphalt), stood the Latin letter combination ph. In Russian transcription it reads as [f].
From Latin, the name of the substance fell into most modern languages. For example, in English it is asphalt, in German asphalt, in French asphalte, Spanish and Italian asfalto.
From which of the above languages it got into Russian, linguists do not know for sure. Although many of them insist on the German or French origin of the term, this theory does not have sufficient evidence. Indeed, the considered word could penetrate into the Russian language through the mediation of another Slavic language. For example, Polish, Czech, Slovak, or Slovenian. In all of them it is written and pronounced identically (asfalt).
Having considered the origin and spelling of this word in different languages, you can see that in all of them it is written through the consonant "f" (its Latin counterpart is f or ph). Even in the Cyrillic Bulgarian and Serbian languages, the same letter is used (“asphalt”).
How to spell the word "asphalt" correctly?
Although the Russian language is characterized by the tradition of sometimes using its own variants of names for international terms (for example, “helicopter”), in the case of the word in question, linguists did not stand out.
For this reason, choosing between spelling options asphalt or asphalt, preference should be given to the second. Moreover, this is the only correct spelling in the Russian language, which has no analogues or exceptions.
Since the term in question refers to borrowing, it is a vocabulary word that you just need to remember, since there is no way to check it in another way.
Why the question arises: “How is it written: asphalt or asphalt?”
Having learned the correct spelling, it is worth paying attention to the immediate cause of this rooted error.
The thing is that the letter "f" is alien to the Russian and many other Slavic alphabets. In addition to onomatopoeic names, it is not used anywhere else, except for borrowings.
For example: a farm (from the French word ferme), paramedic (from the German Feldscher - field doctor), jacket (through the mediation of Swedish and German, formed from the Turkish term "caftan").
Being foreign, the letter "f" naturally caused difficulties in pronunciation for most Slavs. For this reason, in speech they tried to replace it with sounds or their combinations that were close to her. In Russian, it is [xv] and [c].
For example: the name of Thomas is often pronounced as [hvoma], simply because it is easier.
In the case of the question: “How is it correct: asphalt or asphalt?”, The wrong option arose due to the inconvenient pronunciation of the borrowed word. Indeed, it was attended not only by an alien “f”, but also by the coincidence of two consonants (sf). And if you consider that before the XII century. in most Slavic languages, the law of the open syllable acted (all syllables began with a consonant and ended with a vowel), then two consonants in a row (one of which is also borrowed) was unusual to pronounce.
In this regard, people “adapted” the complex pronunciation to the more familiar language [aswalt] and this error was subsequently fixed on the letter.
It is worth noting that many today, despite the fact that they spell “asphalt” correctly, pronounce this noun with the sound “in”.
Other common mistakes in this word.
Writing and pronouncing the letter “b” instead of “f" is not the only common anomaly in writing this term.
Quite often you can find this word with the initial letter "o" instead of "a": "oswalt" / "asphalt".
Also, the last “t” is sometimes replaced by “d”: “asvald” / “asphalt”.