History of the English Language

Dr Ana Laura Rodríguez Redondo

1. FUNCTIONS OF FINAL -E
State the reason if any, of the final –e in the spelling of these words:

PDE word Reason

Breathe
George
Come
Pie
House
face

2. RESPELLINGS
The spelling of some words have been changed by men with more sense of
historical continuity than of contemporary reality. Thus a learned b was inserted in Middle
English det to show that it is ultimately derived from Latin debitum. Sometimes these
learned respellings, such as the h added to earlier trone, have resulted in new
pronunciations. Occasionally, those who like to tinker with orthography have possessed
more enthusiasm than knowledge. As a result some words have been respelled to show a
wrong etymology; the pseudolearned comptroller for controller is a case in point.

A. The following Modern English words have remodeled spellings. Compare their current
spellings with earlier written forms of the words, which you will find in the etymological
entry of a desk dictionary or in the Oxford English Dictionary. In the blanks, write the
consonants that have been added to the spellings. Be prepared to discuss whether the
respelling has influenced the pronunciation of the word and whether the respelling is a
learned one such as debt and throne or a pseudolearned one such as comptroller.

1. Adventure 6. Limb
2. Aisle 7. Nephew
3. Anthem 8. Receipt
4. Asthma 9. Schedule
5. Bankrupt 10. Scythe

Consult the OED to find the centuries in which the following words were first respelled.
( adapted from C.M.Millward.1990 and J.Algeo 1982 with modifications)