How and why did avere get the 'h' in some present tense forms?

Question

Why do the *ho, hai, ha, hanno* forms of the present tense conjugation of *avere* begin with 'h'?In researching the issue, I have seen that many think that the 'h' is employed to differentiate from the other words one could confuse: *o* (conjunction, "or"), *ai* (*a + i* articulated preposition, "to the"), *a* (preposition, "to"), and *anno* (noun "year"). I had assumed that the 'h' was not purposefully designed into the language for the sake of alleviating confusion, but rather because it was a part of how *habere* morphed into *avere* from Latin to Italian: *habeo* became *ho*, *habes* became *hai*, etc.Can anyone expand upon these theories?

Answer 1

Yes, the H originates from Latin and it was alive until "400 when with the introduction of the printing they had to solve the phonetic problem created by the H. The first attempt was from Aldo Manunzio important editor from Venice, he eliminated the H and added an accent to avoid confusion, i.e.

EGLI HA= egli a' so there was no confusion with "a" as preposition

Some writers disagreed with the initiative and about a century later the Accademia dell Crusca tried to find a compromise:

no H when the word cannot be confused with another= noi ABBIAMO, voi AVETE

yes H when there might be confusion= loro HANNO as ANNO means year.

So both solution were allowed but with the time little by little the no H solution has been spontaneously adopted. So today we have IO HO TU HAI L/L HA NOI ABBIAMO VOI AVETE LORO HANNO