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{{short description|Latin-script digraph}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
[[File:Latin digraph T H.svg|thumb|Latin Th digraph.]]

'''Th''' is a [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] in the [[Latin script]]. It was originally introduced into Latin to transliterate Greek loan words. In modern languages that use the Latin alphabet, it represents a number of different sounds. It is the most common digraph in order of frequency in the English language.<ref>{{cite web|title=Statistical information|url=http://scottbryce.com/cryptograms/stats.htm|work=scottbryce.com|access-date=2011-04-05|archive-date=2011-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519213629/http://scottbryce.com/cryptograms/stats.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{Orthography notation}} 

==Aspirated stop /tʰ/==

The digraph {{angbr|th}} was first introduced in [[Latin]] to transliterate the letter [[theta]] {{angbr|Θ, θ}} in loans from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]. Theta was pronounced as an [[Aspirated consonant|aspirated stop]] {{IPA|/tʰ/}} in [[Classical Greek|Classical]] and early [[Koine Greek]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xuPwCgAAQBAJ|title=Writing Europe, 500-1450: Texts and Contexts|last1=Conti|first1=Aidan|last2=Shaw|first2=Philip|last3=Rold|first3=Orietta Da|date=2015-01-01|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781843844150|page=106|language=en}}</ref>

{{angbr|th}} is used in academic transcription systems to represent letters in south and east Asian alphabets that have the value {{IPA|/tʰ/}}. According to the [[Royal Thai General System of Transcription]], for example, {{angbr|th}} represents a series of [[Thai language|Thai]] letters with the value {{IPA|/tʰ/}}.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1f9aFDVE2cIC|title=Tort, Custom, and Karma: Globalization and Legal Consciousness in Thailand|last1=Engel|first1=David|last2=Engel|first2=Jaruwan|date=2010-02-12|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804763820|language=en}}</ref>

{{angbr|th}} is also used to transcribe the phoneme {{IPA|/tʰ/}} in [[Southern Bantu languages]], such as [[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Tswana language|Tswana]].

==Voiceless fricative /θ/==
[[File:A.B.Frost 1879-12 Harper's 355 p160 English th.png|thumb|right|220px|[[A. B. Frost]]'s first comic: a German attempts to pronounce English-language "th" sounds (1879)]]

During [[late antiquity]], the Greek phoneme represented by the letter {{angbr|θ}} mutated from an aspirated stop {{IPA|/tʰ/}} to a [[Voiceless dental fricative|dental fricative]] {{IPA|/θ/}}. This mutation affected the pronunciation of {{angbr|th}}, which began to be used to represent the phoneme {{IPA|/θ/}} in some of the languages that had it.

One of the earliest languages to use the digraph this way was [[Old High German]], before the final phase of the [[High German consonant shift]], in which {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}} came to be pronounced {{IPA|/d/}}.

In early Old English of the 7th and 8th centuries, the digraph {{angbr|th}} was used until the [[Old English Latin alphabet]] adapted the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|runic]] letter {{angbr|þ}} ([[thorn (letter)|thorn]]), as well as {{angbr|ð}} ([[eth]]; {{lang|ang|ðæt}} in Old English), a modified version of the Latin letter {{angbr|d}}, to represent this sound. Later, the digraph reappeared, gradually superseding these letters in [[Middle English]].

In modern English, an example of the {{angbr|th}} digraph pronounced as {{IPA|/θ/}} is the one in ''too'''th'''''.

In [[Old Irish|Old]] and [[Middle Irish]], {{angbr|th}} was used for {{IPA|/θ/}} as well, but the sound eventually changed into {{IPA|[h]}} (see below).

Other languages that use {{angbr|th}} for {{IPA|/θ/}} include [[Albanian language|Albanian]] and [[Welsh language|Welsh]], both of which treat it as a distinct letter and alphabetize it between [[T|{{angbr|t}}]] and [[U|{{angbr|u}}]].

==Voiced fricative /ð/==

English also uses {{angbr|th}} to represent the [[voiced dental fricative]] {{IPA|/ð/}}, as in ''fa'''th'''er''. This unusual extension of the digraph to represent a voiced sound is caused by the fact that, in Old English, the sounds {{IPA|[θ]}} and {{IPA|[ð]}} stood in [[allophone|allophonic]] relationship to each other and so did not need to be rigorously distinguished in spelling. The letters {{angbr|þ}} and {{angbr|ð}} were used indiscriminately for both sounds, and when these were replaced by {{angbr|th}} in the 15th century, it was likewise used for both sounds. (For the same reason, {{angbr|s}} is used in English for both {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}}.)

In the [[Norman language|Norman]] dialect [[Jèrriais]], the French phoneme {{IPA|/ʁ/}} is realized as {{IPA|/ð/}}, and is spelled {{angbr|th}} under the influence of English.

==Voiceless retroflex stop /ʈ/==

In the Latin alphabet for the [[Javanese language]], {{angbr|th}} is used to transcribe the phoneme [[voiceless retroflex stop]] {{IPA|ʈ}}, which is written as {{Lang|jv|ꦛ}} in the native [[Javanese script]].

==Alveolar stop /t/==

Because neither {{IPA|/tʰ/}} nor {{IPA|/θ/}} were native phonemes in Latin, the Greek sound represented by {{angbr|th}} came to be pronounced {{IPA|/t/}}. The spelling retained the digraph for etymological reasons. This practice was then borrowed into [[German language|German]], [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and other languages, where {{angbr|th}} still appears in originally Greek words, but is pronounced {{IPA|/t/}}. See [[German orthography]]. [[Interlingua]] also employs this pronunciation.

In early modern times, French, German and English all expanded this by analogy to words for which there is no etymological reason, but for the most part the modern spelling systems have eliminated this. Examples of unetymological {{angbr|th}} in English are the name of the [[River Thames#Etymology|River Thames]] from Middle English {{Lang|enm|Temese}} and the name ''[[Anthony (name)|Anthony]]'' (though the {{angbr|th}} is often pronounced {{IPA|/θ/}} under the influence of the spelling<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Daniel|title=Cambridge English pronouncing dictionary|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0521680867|pages=[https://archive.org/details/englishpronounci00dani/page/25 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/englishpronounci00dani|url-access=registration|edition=17.}}</ref>) from Latin {{Lang|la|Antonius}}.

In English, {{angbr|th}} for {{IPA|/t/}} can also occur in loan-words from French or German, such as ''Neanderthal''. The English name ''[[Thomas (name)|Thomas]]'' has initial {{IPA|/t/}} because it was loaned from [[Norman language|Norman]].

==Dental stop /t̪/==

In the [[transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages]] {{angbr|th}} represents a dental stop, {{IPA|/t̪/}}.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qdiAAAAMAAJ&q=%2522th%2522+%2522australian+aboriginal%2522+phonetic|title=Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning|last=Dixon|first=Robert M. W.|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195540734|page=229|language=en}}</ref>

==/h/==
{{Main|Lenition#Orthography}}
In [[Irish language|Irish]] and [[Scottish Gaelic]], {{angbr|th}} represents the [[lenition]] of {{angbr|'''t'''}}. In most cases word-initially, it is pronounced {{IPA|/h/}}. For example: Irish and Scottish Gaelic {{Lang|ga|toil}} {{IPA|[tɛlʲ]}} 'will' → {{Lang|ga|do thoil}} {{IPA|[də hɛlʲ]}} 'your will'.

This use of digraphs with {{angbr|h}} to indicate lenition is distinct from the other uses which derive from Latin. While it is true that the presence of digraphs with {{angbr|h}} in Latin inspired the Goidelic usage, their allocation to phonemes is based entirely on the internal logic of the Goidelic languages. Lenition in [[Gaelic type|Gaelic lettering]] was traditionally denoted in handwriting using an [[overdot]] but typesetters lacked these pre-composed types and substituted a trailing {{angbr|h}}. It is also a consequence of their history: the digraph initially, in Old and Middle Irish, designated the phoneme {{IPA|/θ/}}, but later sound changes complicated and obscured the grapheme–sound correspondence, so that {{angbr|th}} is even found in some words like Scottish Gaelic {{Lang|gd|piuthar}} 'sister' that never had a {{IPA|/θ/}} to begin with. This is an example of "inverted (historical) spelling": the model of words where the original interdental fricative had disappeared between vowels caused {{angbr|th}} to be reinterpreted as a marker of [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]].

==Ø==

The Irish and Scottish Gaelic lenited {{IPA|/t/}} is silent in final position, as in [[Scottish Gaelic]] {{lang|gd|sgith}} {{IPA|/skiː/}} 'tired'. And, rarely, it is silent in initial position, as in Scottish Gaelic {{lang|gd|thu}} {{IPA|/uː/}} 'you'.

In English, the {{angbr|th}} in ''asthma'' and ''clothes''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clothes|title=Definition of Clothes|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=2016-05-27}}</ref> is often silent.

==ᵺ==

{{unichar|1D7A|Latin Small Letter th With Strikethrough}} is used for phonetic notation in some dictionaries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03334-n2645-th-strike-form.pdf|title=L2/03-334: Latin Small Letter th with Strikethrough|date=2003-10-08|first=Mark|last=Davis}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Pronunciation of English ⟨th⟩]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
{{Latin script}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Th (Digraph)}}
[[Category:English th]]
[[Category:Latin-script digraphs]]
[[Category:Graphemes]]