English spelling in the time of Milton

[roger3]

I was reading Milton online (elsewhere) and was immediately struck by his rather unusual spelling. For example, "wisdome," "progresse," "perswasion," and "publicke." There were enough of these oddities with enough regularity that I don't believe them to be errors in electronic scanning, but rather archaisms from the original. I checked another online edition, but in that one the words were spelled "properly."

Most of my Eng. lit. experience is with works from the 19th century on up. However, I don't remember the King James Bible or Shakespeare containing spelling of the sort I saw in Milton (or at least in that one edition). Am I correct in assuming that the modern editions of classics from Milton's time and before have, at some point, had their spelling "corrected" or modernised?

[Petrarch's Love]

Hi Roger--Yes, the spelling in Milton's time period was different than today's spelling. There was also not yet standardized spelling at that time (the first really useful and reliable English dictionary wasn't written until Dr. Johnson came along in the 18th century), so there could also be multiple spellings of the same word that were all considered acceptable in their day. You are right in assuming that most editors today do modernize the spelling of works from the 16th/17th century and before. They also change some of the early lettering that was in use during that time. For example, "u" was often used for "v" (one reason our modern "double u" looks like two v's: w), "j" was often written as an "i," and there was a special kind of "s" that looked like an f without the cross mark. Here, for example, is an early printed version of the "to be or not to be" soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet from the 1623 first folio:



Just to show some more of the editing choices that go into a modern text, here's an excerpt from a version of the same speech that appeared in the first quarto edition of Hamlet in 1603:

[Red-Headed]

Hi Roger--Yes, the spelling in Milton's time period was different than today's spelling. There was also not yet standardized spelling at that time

The English language register wasn't really finalised until the early 20th century. In fact we still have many variant spellings such as standardised/standardized for example!

(the first really useful and reliable English dictionary wasn't written until Dr. Johnson came along in the 18th century),

Ermmm...not strictly true as it was based heavily on Nathaniel Bailey's Etymological English Dictionary of 1721 (& Dictionarium Britannicum 1730). It was Johnson's use of the English canon with examples in context that made it so unique.

The first English dictionary was written by Robert Cawdrey in 1604 (The Table Alphabeticall Of Hard Words). This was followed by Dr Bullokan's The English Exposition in 1616. In 1623 Henry Cockeram produced The English Dictionarie. It took the OED 70 years to be compiled & wasn't published until 19/4/1928.

[kiki1982]

The English language register wasn't really finalised until the early 20th century. In fact we still have many variant spellings such as standardised/standardized for example!

Yes, but don't forget that there is something as Amerian Spelling and British Spelling. We stll write 'separate' like that regardless if American or British quirks. We do not consider f.e. to write the older version of 'goode' for the adjective.

[Red-Headed]

Yes, but don't forget that there is something as Amerian Spelling and British Spelling. We stll write 'separate' like that regardless if American or British quirks. We do not consider f.e. to write the older version of 'goode' for the adjective.

Yes, sorry I was referring to UK English. Noah Webster beat us to finalising the language register by a hundred years! We still have more variant spellings than the Americans.

[jocky]

Yes, but don't forget that there is something as Amerian Spelling and British Spelling. We stll write 'separate' like that regardless if American or British quirks. We do not consider f.e. to write the older version of 'goode' for the adjective.

Classic case of two nations being divided by a common language.

[Red-Headed]

Classic case of two nations being divided by a common language.

You could say the same thing about England & Scotland!

[kiki1982]

[jocky]

You could say the same thing about England & Scotland!

Whatever gave you that idea ? Relationships between my great nation and perfidious Albion are perfectly amicable.

[Red-Headed]

Whatever gave you that idea ? Relationships between my great nation and perfidious Albion are perfectly amicable.