Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

[anynameman]

I have not read the whole book yet but I wanted to know why did Swift spelled physics as physic?

[kev67]

Wasn't physic another word for medicine?

[OrphanPip]

I have not read the whole book yet but I wanted to know why did Swift spelled physics as physic?

English standardized spelling is something that developed gradually over the course of the 18th century as the result, largely, of printing standards. Having regular spelling made it easier for printers, and they took the manuscripts they received and printed them according to standard spelling. Before that people just spelled things phonetically following general guidelines or how they were taught in their particular grammar school. Johnson's Dictionary later played a big part in promoting the idea of "correct" spelling which was partly a class issue, as a way for the middle classes to separate themselves from the lower classes who had less access to more standard education, literacy rates in England were quite high by the eighteenth century and even higher in the American colony so being able to read alone wasn't enough to mark you out as educated. Also, being able to spell was easier than being able to speak Latin or Greek.

Similar cultural movements to standardize spelling also arose in the rest of Europe around this period.

[ennison]

I use the word physic. To me it means medicine but also wholesome grub.