Hacker News Reader

Comment by matt_wulfeck | Hacker News Reader

Can someone help me understand why "treble" means triple? I know it's technically correct, but why in the world would we use the word "treble" when triple is so much better? Even triple has the right prefix.

View on HN

Treble comes from Old French, while triple comes from Latin. They mean exactly the same thing, and both words started as "triplus" in Latin. "Treble" is more commonly used in British English. In American English the word is used only in musical contexts.

And legal, but that's the common law coming through.

It's frequently used in law contexts as well in American English ("treble damages")

It may be more commonly used in British than in American, but even in British, i think it's less commonly used than 'triple'. For me, a native British speaker, the only things that are ever treble are twenties, whiskies, and clefs.

You must be upper-class. The only treble that working-class Brits know, is when you win the Premier League and two other cups in the same season.

"It may be more commonly used in British than in American"

What is this American you speak of? Perhaps it's the unique dialect of Spanish spoken in southern California? Or the Canadian French spoken in bits of northeastern North America? Or the dialect of English spoken in Belize?

And also fish hooks in American English (treble hooks). The demographics of people knowing the definition of treble would be an interesting slice!

By my mind, 'treble' is more associated with amount (3 x some value) while triple means three objects (3 of something). I don't know about dictionaries, but that's how I understand and use the words.

It's basically the same word. Just spelling/pronouncation getting corrupted down the years as it went latin-french-english.

The top thread on HN is always a digression.

How could it not be? The site culture here encourages pedantry.

In my defense it was a comment on a comment, and I was genuinely curious.

> Even triple has the right prefix.

Unlike, say, three?

double -> treble? Only reasoning I can think of. Why do we use double? Who knows.

trouble was already taken

At a guess, it was probably "duo-ble" originally, but the pronunciation eroded from "due-wobble" to "dubbel" over time.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com