Morpheus

From The History of English Podcast

Episode 190: Union, Division and Unusual U

Published
June 30, 2026
Length
1:19:36

Audio is streamed from the publisher.

Show notes

During the decade of the 1640s, England was divided by Civil War. At the same time, the sound of letter of U was also experiencing its own division, ultimately resulting in two distinct ‘long’ sounds and two distinct ‘short’ sounds. In this episode, we explore those developments and examine how the English Civil War shaped the English language. TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 190