In the older tongues of our family, and even in some modern ones, both of our own and of other families, there are fourth and fifth products of the same articulating positions, made by letting slip a bit of breath or flatus, a brief ‘h’, after the simple mute; turning a ‘p’ or ‘b’ into a ‘ph’ or ‘bh’ (pronounced as written), and so on. These are called aspirate mutes, or, briefly, aspirates.
- Whitney (1875), a pag.64