Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-09-27
CHANGES IN SPELLING.
They Are Numerous i'm English and Seem
Come by Accident.

They Are Numerous i'm English and Seem 70
Come by Accident
Much is said and written about the
iesira bility of reform in the spelling
of words; but few persons are aware of
the great though gradual changes,
which have been made already. Tito
pia," by Sir Thomas More, was origi1
nally printed in Latin in 1915, and was
translated into Englyshe by Raphe
Robynson, Citizen and Goldsmythe, of
London and was Imprinted at Lon
don by Abraham Wele, dwelling in
Pauls churcheyarde at the sygne of
the Lambe, Ammo, 1851 A second
English edition was published in 1856,
and the writer has before him fac
simile copy of this second edition; and
In this we can see how the English Ian
guage was spelled 33s years ago.
Opening the book at haphazard, we
find on page Al, 337 words, of which Ill
are of different spelling to that of the
present time. On page 63 there are $50
words, of which 123 are different, and
on page 75 there are 355 words, and of
these 1872 are different. Looking to see
what these differences are, we find
there is no j, but is used instead of it.
as periurie (perjury), Judgment Gudg-
ment), iorney tourney. Then we see
that Y is very often used instead of i,
as bynge (being), standynge, hys, wyse.
Yet Is also largely used, the same as
it is now; as side, him, this Some
times it takes the place of Y, as tiyan-
nye: and we also find Y used instead OF
tn, as We for the, and vat for that And
then lie often takes the place of Y at
the end of works, as perfectlie, dewtie,
cite
Next we find instead of v, as diurs
for divers, soeuer for soever, service
for service; and then, at the commence
ment of words, we have v instead of u,
as vse for use, vnto for unto, and vnder
for under. 1t may be borne in mind
that in the familiar letter w, we see
that v was the original form of the let
ter u. But in this book we do not find
taking the place of u in the middle of
words, and we often find v in its pres
ent form at the beginning of words, as
in vertues, vices and victory.
Many words which now end in II have
in this book only single l, as al, full and
small. On the other hand, there are
many words with II where we now have
only single /, as several for several,
apparel, NATURAL. Many words which
we spell with three letters have five in
this book, as budde, fare and hydde
for hid. We see also that is often
placed at the end of words in which we
now consider it unnecessary, as in
fishe, herbe, meate. On the contrary,
it is often let off from words in which
we now use it, as els, Their, privat.
In, dc ~, oh
double the consonat. thus book has only
4 single one, as maner, medic, sor.
row. Single is used in such words as
blodshed, roted or vol, while 90 is
found in doc, gooten and woorke. We
notice also that p follows in such words
as condempned and solempne. We also
find many compound words which are
absolete; for instance, as-muche, as
vel and shal-be, while many words
which we compound are in this book
found separate, as in dede, an other,
where as. We also note that au is fire.
quently placed where we are now salts.
fed with a; for instance, dangerous.
perchaunce and pleasant.
It'may be further noted that in this
book there is no uniformity in the
spelling, as the same words are spelled
in two or three different ways, as bi.
cause, bvcause and because, beutie,
bewtie and bewtye; dewtie and dewty:
foles and fooles; helth, healthe and
health; hollye and holly; vt and if:
lytle and little; myles and miles; pryde
and pride; syknes, sycknes and sick.
ness; whyche and whiche; wyffe and
wife; wyll and will. The name of the
printer is in two places Wele, and in
third place Weale.-Boston Transcript.