Anyone who speaks Spanish and at least one other Romance language will probably have noticed that many f sounds have disappeared entirely in Spanish, usually at the beginning of words. This atavistic 'f' has been replaced by a silent 'h', which at one point during the Middle Ages might have been pronounced. I think that this shift occurred because sounds in Spanish are voiced more toward the back of the mouth, or even in the throat with the guttural 'j' and 'g' (as in gente or girar), and the f sound is a labiodental fricative voiced at the tip of the mouth. That may also be why the 'v' sound mutated into a non-fricative 'b' sound in Spanish.
I have made a table with all the words I could think of where the Latin 'f' became a silent 'h' in Spanish. Feel free to suggest more. I only listed words with the same etymology. Translations that do not share the same root are marked by a dash.
I have made a table with all the words I could think of where the Latin 'f' became a silent 'h' in Spanish. Feel free to suggest more. I only listed words with the same etymology. Translations that do not share the same root are marked by a dash.
Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French |
hacer | fazer | fare | faire |
hambre | fome | fame | faim |
hambruna | fome | fame | famine |
harina | farinha | farina | farine |
haz | feixe | fascio | faisceau |
heces | fezes | feci | - |
hecho | feito | fatto | fait |
hechura | feito | fattura | facture/fabrication |
hendir/hender | fenda | fendere | fendre |
henificar | feno | - | faner |
heno | feno | fieno | fouin |
herida | ferida | ferita | - |
herir | ferir | ferire | - |
herrero | ferreiro | ferrero | forgeron |
hierro | ferro | ferro | fer |
hígado | fígado | fegato | foie |
higo | figo | fico | figue |
hijo | filho | figlio | fils |
hilatura | fiadura | filatura | filature |
hilo | fio | filo | fil |
hinojo | funcho | finocchio | fenouil |
hogar | - | focolare | foyer |
hoja | folha | foglia | feuille |
hollar | - | - | fouler |
honda | funda | fionda | fronde |
hondo | profundo | profondo | profond |
hongo | fungo | fungo | - |
horca/horcilla | forcado | forca | fourche |
horno | forno | forno | four |
huir | fugir | fuggire | fuir |
humo | fumaça | fumo | fumée |
hundir | afundar | affondare | - |
hurgón | - | furgone | fourgon |
hurto | furto | furto | - |
huso | fuso | fuso | fuseau |
rehusar | recusar | rifiutare | refuser |