SPELLING DEAREST: A history of English spelling + US Spelling history

SPELLING DEAREST

Sample Caricature...

There are 12 caricatures in Spelling Dearest,

one for the main individual in each chapter.

This caricature is of Edmund Coote, the compiler

of the first comprehensive English spelling book.

For information about purchasing or winning this or other

original or Limited Edition artwork from Spelling Dearest,

refer to the Purchase/Contact web page. Or click:

The quality of the image above has been affected by the limitations

of the website and other web-publishing considerations.

The images in the book, the original images, and the Limited Edition

images are of a much clearer and more detailed quality.

Sample Chart...

There are 15 charts spread throughout the book. Each

gives specific examples of the spelling in the period in

question. The corresponding spelling in modern or

older times is also given.

SOME OF THE MANY ENGLISH WORDS INFLUENCED BY LATIN SPELLING DURING THE RENAISSANCE
MODERN-DAY ENGLISH SPELLING	INFLUENTIAL LATIN SPELLING	COMMON ENGLISH VARIANT BEFORE LATIN INFLUENCE	16TH-CENTURY ENGLISH VARIANTS AFTER LATIN INFLUENCE (SOME ARE UNINFLUENCED)
schedule	schedula	sedule	schedule, schedull, schedul
phlegm	phlegma	fleme	phlegm, phlegme, phleugme
rhyme	rhythmus	ryme	rhyme, rhime, rime
subtle	subtilis	Sutil	subtle, sotell, suttle
anchor	anchora	ancre	anchor, anchore, ancour

Sample Transcript...

There are 10 transcripts in Spelling Dearest. All are copies

of passages or pages from famous or important documents.

They are typical examples of the writing and spelling

at the time the original documents were published.

A Page From William Shakespeare's Lucrece (1594)

Printed By One Of The Best "Quality Printers"

Of The Late 16th Century

(Inconsistent spellings on this page have been underlined.

Words with different spellings on other pages

in the same publication are in bold type.)

                           THE RAPE OF LVCRECE

The deepe vexation of his inward soule,

Hath seru'd a dumbe arrest vpon his tongue,

Who mad that sorrow should his use controll,

Or keepe him from heart-easing words so long,

Begins to talke, but through his lips do thron

   Weake words, so thick come in his poor harts aid,

   That no man could distinguish what he said.

Yet sometime Tarqvin was pronounced plaine,

But through his teeth, as if the name he tore,

This windie tempest, till it blow vp raine,

Held backe his sorrowes tide, to make it more.

At last it raines, and busie windes giue ore,

   Then sonne and father weep with equall strife,

    Who shuld weep most for daughter or for wife.

The one doth call her his, the other his,

Yet neither may possesse the claime they lay.

The father saies, shee's mine, o mine shee is

Replies her husband, do not take away

My sorrowes interest, let no mourner say

   He weepes for her, for shee was onely mine,

   And onelie must be wayl'd by Colatine.

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