New Spellings

The Grounds

The following words have, at one time or another, lost their good spelling and become hard to spell without foreknowledge of the word. Some words through the writer's lack of English, others through the writer's misunderstanding of that word, and yet more through the word shifting in its saying and the spelling not keeping step.

The new spellings given are not working towards a whole new way of spelling English, but rather they work to bring words back into line with the others.

The Words

A

ache - This word's spelling comes from about 1700 when the word was thought to come from the Greek akhos. It doesn't, and so the old spelling ake needs to be put back.

aghast - As with ghastly and ghost take out the gh- to give agast.

anchor - A old borrowing from Latin ancora which was itself likely borrowed from Greek ancyra. Neither of them had the -ch-, so why does English? Spell it ancor.

axe - Spelt æx in Old English and ax until about two hundred years ago. Today's spelling has no grounds.

B

build - In Middle English the word was bilden, but somehow a -u- has crept in between then and now. Take it out to give bild.

C

cinder - Wrongly thought to be from the French cendre, hence the c- at the beginning. In truth it comes from Old English, and its old spelling sinder yet fits.

could - The -l- was not in the word at first, and was put in through likening with would and should. Take it out to give coud.

crumb - Some have already worked to shift this spelling, for the the -b has no grounds. It ought to be crum.

D

draught - Everywhere and in all meanings this needs to be spelt draft.

G

ghastly - Through being mistaken with ghost this word was given gh- at the beginning. The word ought be spelt gastly.

ghost - The gh- at the beginning of this word was brought in by Dutch and Flemish setters working for Caxton. The right spelling is gost.

guess - Thought to be another misspelling from Caxton, but in truth it is not known where the -u- came from. In Middle English it was gessen and now without the -u- it becomes gess.

guest - As with guess the -u- comes from somewhere unknown, and only needs to be taken out to give gest.

I

island - Thought at one time to be from French isle, hence the unsaid -s-. In truth it comes from Old English igland, and so, in line with many other English words where the -g- has worn away, the spelling is iland.

N

numb - The -b was fit on the end in the 1600s and was not in the Middle English nome. It has never been said, and is wholly groundless. The right spelling is num.

R

race - The 'soft c' in this word goes against English spelling and so the word needs to become rase.

S

scythe - This word was thought to be akin to Latin scindere meaning 'to cut', but is in truth from Old English siþe. It ought rightly be sithe.

T

thumb - The Old English spelling was þuma and so the new spelling, without the -b is thum.

tongue - In Old English the spelling was tunge, but the -u- was swapped for an -o- in Middle English so that the word would not be misread (but for that it made a misreading!), and the ending was later put on to 'show' how the word ought be said.

This whorechild spelling needs to be thrown away, and the word spelt as tung.

W

whore - The Middle English word did not have w- at the beginning, and the right spelling, then as now, is hore.

wonder - In Old English the word is wundor, and maybe this is another shift from -u- to -o- so the word would not be misread. Anyway, it is best spelt wunder.