Eggs are oval. The word egg is even etymologically related to oval. Oval comes from Latin ōvālis…

yvanspijk:

Eggs are oval. The word egg is even etymologically related to oval. Oval comes from Latin ōvālis (egg-shaped), a derivative of ōvum (egg), the ancestor of Spanish huevo , French œuf and others. Latin ōvum , in turn, was a distant cousin of Germanic *ajjan , the ancestor of Old Norse egg. This word was borrowed into Middle English and gradually displaced the native word ey. Click my new infographic graphic to learn more.

In 1490, William Caxton wrote an anecdote on eggs and eyren. Commenting on the linguistic diversity of English, which made creating a standardised English hard, he told the story of a group of northern merchants asking a southern lady for eggs:

“And one of them, named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam in to an hows and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys. And the goode wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry for he also coude speak no frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde have eyren; then the good wyf sayd that she understood hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte: egges or eyren? Certaynly it is harde to playse every man bycause of dyversite & chaunge of langage.” (And one of them, named Sheffeld, a mercer, entered a house and asked for food, and specifically he asked for eggs. And the good lady answered that she couldn’t speak French. And the merchant was angry because he shouldn’t speak French either, but he wanted to have eggs and she didn’t understand him. And then, at last, another person said that he wanted to have eyren; then the good lady said that she understood him wel. Oh, what should one write nowadays: egges or eyren? It’s certainly hard to please everyone because of diversity and change of language.)