Ignoring the vowel rule, which is right?

Phantom

Phantom

Phantom

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why do we ignore the vowel rule here and say something like "....at a European level" rather than "....at an Europan level" ?
 
The vowel rule is for the sound not the spelling. European sounds like it belongs with a "Y". Elephant belongs with an E so would be "an elephant".

So the answer to your question is that we don't ignore the vowel rule; we just ignore all rules to do with spelling and pronunciation!
 
The most obvious answer is the one that is easier to say, hence the way we say it :confused:

Try saying "an european" and "a apple" a few times and you'll see why we do this...
 
Because the H can be silent, depending on where you come from and how you speak.

When spoken, it's "an 'istorian", or "a historian".

When written, it's "an historian".
 
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historian, n. (a.)
SECOND EDITION 1989

(h{shti}{sm}st{revc}{schwa}r{shti}{schwa}n) Also 6 -ien. [a. F. historien (in OF. also adj.), f. L. historia HISTORY: see -AN.]

1. A writer or author of a history; esp. one who produces a work of history in the higher sense, as distinguished from the simple annalist or chronicler of events, or from the mere compiler of a historical narrative.
1531 ELYOT Gov. I. xxiv, Quintus Fabius for this qualitie is soueraignely extolled amonge historiens. 1581 SIDNEY Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 25 The Historian [sayth] what men haue done. 1589 J. SANDFORD tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 15 There are.. other amonge the Historians, giltie of greater lies. 1663 COWLEY Verses Sev. Occas., Royal Soc. ix, And ne'r did Fortune better yet Th' Historian to the Story fit. 1769 Junius Lett. xii. 55 It is the Historian's office to punish, though he cannot correct. 1873 FREEMAN Hist. Ess. Ser. II. ix. 308 Gibbon is before all things the historian of the transition from the Roman world to the world of modern Europe. 1874 GREEN Short Hist. i. §4. 38 Baeda was at once the founder of mediaeval history and the first English historian. 1879 GAIRDNER Early Chron. Eng. ii. 77 He [William of Malmes.] is a genuine historian, not a dry compiler of annals like the writers who preceded him. 1884 FREEMAN Methods Hist. Study (1886) 33 The man [Polybios] who looked at his own age with the eyes of an historian of all ages.

{dag}2. One who relates a narrative or tale; a story-teller; in quot. 1603 rendering Gr. {pi}{epsilon}{rho}{iota}{eta}{gamma}{eta}{tau}{ghacu}{fsigma} ‘local guide, cicerone’. Obs.
1586 YOUNG tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. IV. 202b, You are but a simple Historian for ministring of mirth. 1603 HOLLAND Plutarch's Mor. 1194 Our discoursing Historians and expositours shewed us the place, where sometimes stood the obelisks of iron. 1667 MILTON P.L. VIII. 7 What thanks sufficient..have I to render thee, Divine Hystorian.

3. One versed in history. rare.
c1645 HOWELL Lett. (1655) IV. xi. 29 Not to be an Historian, that is, not to know what Forren Nations and our Forefathers did, ‘Hoc est semper esse Puer’, as Cicero hath it. 1665 EVELYN Corr. 21 June, What your Lordship's curiosity will desire to dip into, to emerge a complete historian.

{dag}B. adj. Relating to or founded on history; historical. Obs. rare.
1632 LITHGOW Trav. Author to Bk. Bivb, Go lively charg'd with stout Historian Faith, And trample downe base Crittickes in the Dust.

Hence hi{sm}storianess, a female historian. rare.
1837 New Monthly Mag. XLIX. 597 Mrs. Macauley, the historianess, married his brother. a1839 L. E. LANDON in L. Blanchard Life (1855) I. 48 She is a great historianess, a most charming delightful woman.
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(Uni has subscribed, not sure how much was public)

-Leezer-
 
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