[neilep (OP)]

Hello lovely people..[]..this is not really a scientific question but perhaps a passing lexicographer can answer this (well...maybe this is the science of words)..but why do the words....'WHY', 'WHERE', 'WHO', 'WHAT', and 'WHEN' all begin with 'WH'...apart from 'HOW'...why do these fundamental questiony type words begin like that and then I just thought, if it's some language rule then does that mean that the same words translated into different languages also begin with the same letters ?

Your plain english answers will be greatly appreciated...TA

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[tweener]

I don't know about WHy all those words begin with WH, but as for the different languages having the same beginning letters, most languages (european languages) are related and have many of the same "roots" underlying their common words.  This relationship does not hold if you compare european language to asian, african etc.

Good to see you back on the site Neil!

----
John - The Eternal Pessimist.

[neilep (OP)]

Thanks John,....glad to be back !

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[Ylide]

Oddly enough, most of the Romance languages' (latin derived European languages) words for those all start with Q.  



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[Quantumcat]

Qui Quoi Que Quand Comment Ou

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[neilep (OP)]

Now that's interesting....the words in frenchy language follow the same rules except that  'where' is the different one this time...In German..ALL the words begin with W..Wer warum wo wenn was wie :-)...in Norweigen they all begin with 'H' except when which begins with 'N'....which is nice !

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'