Heir, from oigeir, i. e. the young man who succeeds to a property: the word is pronounced air.
Honest, from oinnicteac, i. e. just, liberal, generous, kind.
Honour, from onoir, i. e. praise, respect, worship.
Hour, from uair, pronounced voir, i. e. time present, a period of time, any time.
Humble, from umal, i. e. lowly, obedient, submissive.
Humour. The derivation of this word is obscure, but in the sense of mirth it may be derived from uaim-mir, i. e. loud mirth, gaiety.
The compounds formed from these words have the h silent; and every other word beginning with
that letter should have it fully sounded. Such being my practice, I cannot be accused of cultivating the Heapian dialect, which I hold to be equally abominable with the improper use of the letter h.
Fras. Crossley.
May not the following be the true solution of the question? All existing humility is either pride or hypocrisy; pride aspirates the h, hypocrisy suppresses it. I always aspirate.