Alexander Gill the elder

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Alexander Gill (Gil) the elder (1565-1635) was an English scholar, spelling reformer, and high-master of
St Paul's School, where his pupils included John Milton. He was the author of an English grammar,
written though in Latin.

Life

He was born in Lincolnshire 7 February 1565, was admitted scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in
September 1583, and proceeded B.A. 1586 and M. A. 1589. Wood believed that he was a schoolmaster at
Norwich, where he was living in 1597. On 10 March 1607-8 he was appointed high-master of St. Paul's
School in succession to Richard Mulcaster. Milton was among his pupils from 1620 to 1625.[1]

Grammar

Logonomia Anglica, qua gentis sermo facilius addiscitur, London, by John Beale, 1619, 2nd edit. 1621,
was his English grammar dedicated to James I. Gill's book, written in Latin, opens with suggestions for a
phonetic system of English spelling (see below). In his section on grammatical and rhetorical figures Gill
quotes freely from Edmund Spenser, George Wither, Samuel Daniel, and other English poets.[1] It was
more comprehensive than earlier works, and devoted attention to syntax and prosody.[2] An edition was
produced in 1903 by Otto Luitpold Jiriczek;[3] a facsimile of the 1619 edition was published in 1972.

Phonetic change suggestions

Among the suggested changes to make English more phonetic were the following :

 Revive the Anglo-Saxon signs ð (eth) and þ (thorn) for the two sounds of th
 Use of the letter ŋ (eŋ)[4]