Drownding: Why the extra d?

I was going to put this in Pet Peeve Phrases, but it's not really a pet peeve - I just don't understand why it happens.

Drownding.

Yes, I do mean drown in the present continuous.

I was wondering if it's narrowed to a specific location (I thought of it while listening to a musician from Texas who said it - but I've heard it in New England as well...), or if it's one of those laziness things where the mouth finds it easier to say - but that doesn't seem logical...

So. WHY?!?!?!

I drowned, so she must be drownding too.

Just a guess.

The epenthetic stop is not particularly surprising. Consider that sound is from sonus. And, as the OED points out, as late as 1582, Stanyhurst was complaining that people said sounding for the proper sowning.

Or consider thunder, which was þunor, like is Donner in High German, and the whole question of Dunder and Blixem vs. Donner and Blitzen.

What's interesting is while it's been around for a long time and in many places, it's always been dialectical or non-standard. And that it seems to always make the list of things to avoid if you need to talk posh.

Oh, wow, I've always wondered this too. I think I always figured it was some sort of failure to correctly identify the root of the verb - sort of how people will sometimes say "spaded" for "spayed" - but I never thought about it in a linguistic/etymological context. That's much more interesting, and it makes much more sense.

#3 - Thanks so much for that - excellent examples, plus now I know where to start if I want to know more!

Past tense drownded, in my part of Yorkshire.

I've read the Lord of the Rings at least 30 times over my lifetime, so I remember the Hobbits used "drownded." Wonder if Tolkien lived in a region where it was used.

#3: Fascinating historical linguistic info! I'm inspired to go back and study more about the history of English/Germanic/IE.

In 1917 Tolkien was stationed at Hull, East Yorkshire, where 'drownded' is heard.

But his hobbit dialect is mainly West Midlands.

In the US I associate the "drownded" usage (not having encountered "drownding" myself) with a Southern dialect, probably because of the "Pharoah's army got drownded" song. Wictionary (I don't have access to the OED, but someone here must!) cites a usage in Tom Sawyer which is consistent with this.

"Drownded" always struck me as a childish creation, like "runned" or "I has" or "lellow". There's something about the drown -> drowned that feels like it ought to become drownded when following the rules that young kids create when learning the language.

I don't think I've ever heard it outside of that context, or in dialects that use similar rules (as in Tom Sawyer). But I've never read more than a few pages of Tolkien.