Inflammable is older, comes from Latin inflamarre, "to set on fire" Two centuries later we get flammable because some wiseguy decided inflammable was confusing (because it kinda is) and they chopped off the in-. Instead of the new word replacing the old word tho we got both for double confusion.
We have genius and ingenius. And maybe another one that barely escapes my mind.
"Stable Genius"
Guessing, but I bet the guy who truncated it was one of our American cousins!😄
Yeah, no idea. Both M-W and OED note the first recorded usage was 1813 for flammable, but neither note a source. Actually, nvm, the online OED says the original source is a translation (of what, I dunno) by Thomas Busby, an English composer.
Seriously though, since it specifies a translation, this is the most likely source: “About the same time (1813) Busby completed a translation of Lucretius into rhymed verse.” Lucretius wrote “The Nature of Things,” which is probably related.
The other original score of “Burn, Baby, Burn”?
There was this guy in the US named Noah (1758–1843) who went from print shop to print shop, haranguing the compositors in his attempts to reform spelling. He knew nothing of Latin….