Spelling Timeline

600s-1000s

The English alphabet consists of the following letters: Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Xx Yy Þþ Ðð Ƿƿ Ææ.

Digraphs include: ‹cg› and less commonly ‹gc› and ‹gg› for /dʒ/ (or at least its forerunner); ‹sc› for /ʃ/; ‹ea› for /æɑ/; ‹uu› for /w/ (especially early); ‹th› for /ð/ and /θ/ (especially early).


 * Sometimes ‹u›, ‹uu›, or ‹w› is written instead of ‹ƿ›.
 * ‹k› sometimes shows up behind ‹e›, ‹i›, and ‹y› to fight ambiguity between /tʃ/ and /k/.
 * ‹z› and ‹q› are exceedingly rare.

1100s

Noticeable French influence on English orthography begins.


 * In the Peterborough Chronicle a switch in handwriting from Insular to Carolingian happens on 88v. The ‹g-ȝ› split is not present in the manuscript; ‹g› remains a single letter, but takes on the Carolingian appearance. ‹ƿ› is now written ‹w› and ‹uu›. ‹cg› is now written ‹gg›


 * The Ormulum uses ‹ch› for /tʃ/ (apparently borrowed from French), ‹sk› for /sk/ (in the word asskenn), ‹sh› for /ʃ/, ‹ƿh› for /ʍ/, Carolingian ‹g› for /g/, and ‹ȝh› for /x/.

1200s


 * /ʃ/ is spelled ‹sc›, ‹sch›, ‹sh›, ‹ss›, ‹s›.


 * ‹ou› is borrowed from French and becomes a popular spelling for /u/, replacing ‹u›, ‹ue›, and ‹u_e›.


 * ‹ue› and ‹u_e› are repurposed to stand for French /y/ which is realised as /ju/. English words with a native /ju/ sound often take on ‹ue› and ‹u_e› spellings.


 * ‹ð› falls out of wide use by the end of the century.


 * ‹ȝ› and ‹ȝh› are popular ways of writing /x/, but ‹h› is still seen.

1300s


 * ‹gh› appears, apparently modelled on ‹ȝh›.


 * ‹h› can still be found standing for /x/, though rarely.


 * Loanwords from French with initial /dʒ/ can be found written with ‹i›, ‹ih›, and ‹g›. Eventually ‹j› would take the stead of ‹i› and ‹ih›.

1400s


 * The introduction of printing presses to England strikes a blow to the popularity and practicality of using ‹þ› and ‹ȝ› (note that ‹ȝ› had already lost ground to ‹y› and ‹gh› by this point). Some printers use blocks for ‹y› and ‹z› to represent them.