Consulting Dictionary com I could find publically accepted by only one authority WordNet whereas r le is accepted by Dictionary com Unabridged v 1 1 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition the Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary wherein it is listed as the primary spelling The American Heritage Stedman s Medical Dictionary and Merriam Webster s Medical Dictionary therefore I don t think that they re comparable R le is the original spelling and remains perfectly standard to this day Diacritical and other supra ASCII spellings are often omitted in typed text but that can in a great many perhaps the majority of situations be explained by the effort that must be invested in order to insert the necessary character s using a basic keyboard Whether you believe as I and do that the r le spelling ought to be retained or you believe as and do that the role spelling ought to be used instead I m sure we can all agree that consistency is necessary the word role occurs once later in the article I m going to change it to r le Whether role or r le is chosen both ought to match