By a simple shift in pronunciation, from the AH to the AY, you get a wild shift in meaning. “Bass” the sound (or the instrument) sounds like what it is; and “bass” the fish is such a simple-sounding word, how could it be anything but a fish? And because the meanings are so different, it’s almost impossible to construct a sentence where the intended meaning is unclear.
I could still hear the bass through the wall. And I could not sleep. Curse my neighbor’s noisy bass! I would wait until morning, when my neighbor left for work. I would take a hammer and destroy the bass. Upon returning that afternoon, he would see his beloved bass in pieces on the floor.
In English, that kind of precision is rare.
The two words are actually a congruence of two different language traditions. “Bass” the sound is from the Late Latin “bassus” while “bass” the fish is from Proto-Indo-European, by way of Old English.
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