As a beginner I found this word quite strange. Why is there an apostrophe in the middle of the word « aujourd'hui » ? Is this word constructed by au + jour + d'hui ?
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See also this answer : http://french.stackexchange.com/questions/12904/quest-ce-que-hui-dans-aujourdhui – Uriel Dec 05 '15 at 10:24
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Oh well, I should have googled "etymology aujourd'hui" myself. From Wiktionary I got this answer,
au + jour + de + hui, literally “on the day of today”; since hui comes from Latin hodie, the phrase literally means "on the day of this day".
grokus
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3This etymology makes even uglier the expression sometimes used "Au jour d'aujourd'hui". – jlliagre Oct 22 '15 at 06:11
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1@Hipjea even a double one, "aujourd'hui" already being an etymological pleonasm. – jlliagre Oct 22 '15 at 09:06
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To add to @grokus answer, we need to write that apostrophe because that is the rule with that préposition when it stands before the h which is muet.
You may be interested to read Comment distingue-t-on un "h" aspiré et un "h" muet ?