Re: [OT] British vs. American English
On 3 October 2011 11:07, Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 02, 2011 at 02:37:34PM +0100, Terence wrote:
>>
>> There never has been a single point of authority for spelling (or,
>> indeed, grammar) in English (unlike the French Academy which has
>> sought to standardise French) and it was only after the great Doctor
>> produced his "Dictionary of the English Language" that spelling began
>> to become standardised. That was, IIRC, 1755, and was followed by
>> others, including Ash who produced his in 1775.
>
> Really? My understanding was that it was William Caxton, through the
> development of the printing press in the 1470s, who began the
> standardisation of spelling. By being able to produce thousands of
> copies of a work, all identically spelled, he was able to exert much
> wider authority than previously.
>
To a degree but his compositors would only follow the manuscript given
them, and I doubt the proof readers were sufficiently learned to be
able to impose a consistent spelling even among themselves. After all
there was no central authority upon which to draw....
Terence
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