colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (05/16/85)
> As a Bill, I feel somewhat qualified to venture a hypothesis (or even aN > hypothesis): `w' is pronounced /v/ in many languages, and `v' and `b' > are not distinguished in many languages. So: > > William -> Will -> /vil/ -> /bil/ -> Bill > > Does this sound plausible or is it mere folk etymology? > > William J. Rapaport Plausible. I even knew a Czech named "Vilem." It doesn't explain Robert->Bob, though. And what about Edward->Ned, Molly->Polly, Meggy->Peggy ... ? -- Col. G. L. Sicherman ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel