Word of the day spelling query: niebla...

Question

I wonder why niebla is spelled as it is and not as ñebla. I note Spanish does sometimes use ñ as an initial letter. Would ñebla be pronounces differently from niebla ?

Do natives sometimes spell it as ñebla by mistake ?

I'm a bit foggy on this...

Answer 1

Niebla is spelled as it is. Never with an Ñ's sound.

Answer 2

Dear friend,

In my Larousse Concise Spanish-English / English-Spanish Dictionary there are only 6 words that begin with "ñ": 1. ñato (a), 2. ñoñería / ñoñez, 3, ñoño (a), 4. ñoqui (Italian gnochi), 5. ñu, and 6. ñudo American (al ñudo - in vain); to which add ñame - yam. There may be more in the Spanish lexicon.

In a phonetic language such as Spanish one expects the kind of logic that you express in your question. I've wondered about the word nieto (a) for grandchild when I first heard it. I think txelis answer says it all.

I think niebla is linguistically related to nube.

http://www.listapalabras.com/en/palabras-con.php?letra=Ñ&total=s - bosquederoble, Aug 7, 2015

Wow! - Jubilado, Aug 7, 2015