Pronouncing the starting 'h' in some words

Question

Hi there,(1) I was wondering why English speakers "ignore" the starting 'h' pronouncing the words "homage" and "honour"? After all,  the words "home", "honk", "homicide" (and many more words starting with "ho...", "ha..." etc.) are pronounced "as expected" (=spelling pronunciation?)My only guess is that both "homage" and "honour" are borrowed from (Old) French ...and so the starting 'h' remains silent in English too?Is my guess correct?(2) On a slightly different note.I am aware that the word "herb" is pronounced as "erb" by some (or most?) AE speakers...My question is this:Is it true that the overwhelming majority of AE speakers pronounce "herb" this way (="erb")? I have checked some dictionaries .... some of them mention that AE "allows" both pronunciation patterns ("herb" and "erb") ... but the sources say nothing about which pattern is dominating...Looking forward to hearing your comments...

Nel0506 · Accepted Answer

Here is a link with explanation, but I can't say what is preferred. Like most differences, it appears to be mixed nowadays, because of "globalisation."

https://jakubmarian.com/list-of-words-with-a-silent-h-in-english/

AlpheccaStars · Answer

vlivefMy only guess is that both "homage" and "honour" are borrowed from (Old) French ...and so the starting 'h' remains silent in English too?

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/words-with-silent-h/

Good guess.

vlivefIs it true that the overwhelming majority of AE speakers pronounce "herb" this way (="erb")?

I pronounce it both ways.

GPY · Answer

vlivef(1) I was wondering why English speakers "ignore" the starting 'h' pronouncing the words "homage" and "honour"?

I pronounce the "h" in "homage". Actually, there are two ways to say this word: the anglicised way, HOM-idge, and the Frenchified way, (h)o-MAHZH. Possibly the "h" is more likely to be dropped in the latter

Pronouncing the starting 'h' in some words

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