The Book of Spells and Misspells

If you want to know how spellings became worse I once explored a sample of spellings, and found that 61 per cent were different and often worse than their earlier versions. Nine per cent of the original spellings were closer to how we speak today. Some examples. Sithe, scol and sinder were Old English for scythe, school and cinder.

Stomak, sisours and corde were Middle English for stomach, scissors and chord. Sentir and caractere were Old French for scent and character. Schooner was spelled scooner by the boat’s designer in 1713, and choir comes from the Middle English quere from the Old French cuer.

Scholars of Greek changed sicamore to sycamore, sillab to syllable, simphonie to symphony and sirop to syrup. They turned fantosme to phantom, fenix to phoenix, fesant to pheasant, fleume to phlegm and filosofre to philosopher.

Extra letters were added because the fashion admired elaboration, and changed spellings that had been closer to our present pronunciation. Old English blod, flod, tunge and tro became blood, flood, tongue and trough – which some people still pronounce as tro. Middle English broche, gess, plage, molde, beute, highte, lorel, sive and yung were elaborated into brooch, guess, plague, mould, beauty, height, laurel, sieve and young. They changed French garder and vue into guard and view.

Old spellings still close to present pronunciation, such as wurs, wurth, bisy, parlement, huni, sum, wunder, spunge and perswade became worse, worth, busy, parliament, honey, some, wonder, sponge and persuade.

Middle English erthe, perle, lernen, ernest, serch and herd became earth, pearl, learn, earnest, search and heard, confusing the pronunciation.

Silent letters that mislead pronunciation were added to coude, lim, eir, exorter, rubarb, hole, iland, tyme, forain, ahter or eht, hous, engin, favorit and feminin, to produce could, limb, heir, exhort, rhubarb, whole, island, thyme, foreign, eight, house, engine, favourite and feminine.

Letters were added to turn plain spellings into ache, aisle, almond, anchor, colonel, crumb, delight, dinghy, 20