Unit 35: A brief history of English spellings
Page 5 of 7
Fascinating stuff, eh?
Like all 'living' languages, English is still changing. The spread of the British Empire, the growth of trade with other countries and greater international movement and communication all resulted in an increase of words in our language. With them, often, come their origin language's spelling rules:
| Original language | Spelling differences | |
| shampoo | Hindi | English uses ew or ue to spell /oo/ on the end |
| pyjamas (US pajamas) |
Urdu | In English, the /ar/ sound is usually ar |
| pizza | Italian | The sound /eet/ is spelled iz in pizza |
| macaroni | Italian | No English word ends in i |
| ski | Norwegian | No English word ends in i |
| cappuccino | Italian | English uses ch to spell /ch/ |
| koala | Aborigine | English uses c before o |
| karate | Japanese | English uses c before a |
| yacht | Dutch | English would be yot. |
| bouquet | French | English would be bookay. |
| gateau | French | English would be gattow. |
| antique | French | English would be anteak. |
New words also appear in our language because we are inventing or discovering new things. Often, Greek and Latin spelling rules are used, to create a link with other words in that field.
| Thermos (flask) | Gk. thermo=heat |
| chemotherapy | L. chimicus=chemical, therapia=healing |
| stereoscopic | Gk. stereos=solid, skopeo=look at |
| phillumenist | Gk. phil=liking, L. lumen=light (collector of matchbox labels!) |
| megabyte | Gk. megas= great, L. bi=2 + digitus=finger |
Some words come directly from names of people or places which can lead to some interesting spellings including these examples which break the ic/ick rules (using ic at the end of longer, non-compound words):
| limerick | 5 line humorous rhyme - from the place 'Limerick', named in one of the first poems of this type |
| derrick | Framework over a platform such as an oil-well - from the name of a 1600 London hangman |
| maverick | A person who follows his own rules - from the name of a Texas rancher who did not brand his cattle |
And these which are just interesting examples of how words (and therefore spellings) can derive from proper nouns:
| sandwich | Named after an Earl of Sandwich, who wanted his meat between two slices of bread, so he could continue to gamble while eating. |
| diesel | Named after its inventor, a German
engineer. Also note: derv - a diesel oil, from diesel engined road vehicle. This breaks the rule that no English word ends in v . |
| balaclava | Woollen hat first worn by soldiers
at Balaclava in the Crimean War. |
| biro | Ball point pen, named after its Hungarian inventor. |
The Spellzone interactive course is intended to be used online and may not be printed.
"Spellzone really is an incredibly simple, engaging and cost effective resource - it makes a big difference to literacy levels."
Millthorpe School, York
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