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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: JanSeifert on Wednesday 29 May 24 11:46 BST (UK)

Title: spelling of »several«
Post by: JanSeifert on Wednesday 29 May 24 11:46 BST (UK)
Hi, in my current text the word »several« is constantly written with a capital »S« (see picture). Was several written with a »long s« previously? I am just puzzled as it is so consistent.

Jan

Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: goldie61 on Wednesday 29 May 24 21:47 BST (UK)
You don't say what date this is, or what sort of document.

You could post a slightly larger clip of the handwriting so more of the way this scribe writes can be seen. It's impossible really to make any sort of comment with only seeing one word out of context.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: martin hooper on Thursday 30 May 24 11:07 BST (UK)
The letter s was elongated way back so that it looked more like an f. But as goldie61 says - without a date it's hard to help.

Martin
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: JanSeifert on Wednesday 12 June 24 17:08 BST (UK)
Sorry it took me a while to reply. The text is a 1831 scribe copy of a 1830 personal diary. The scribe was a local working in an office for the East India Company.

here is a slightly larger snippet:
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: arthurk on Wednesday 12 June 24 17:28 BST (UK)
Obviously I wasn't connected with the East India Company in 1831, so I don't know if they had any strange conventions, but it looks to me a bit like a quirk of the scribe - if it's the same one, I think you said before that he wasn't a native English speaker.

One possible explanation might be that he was once told that a particular instance of 'several' should be written like that, and assumed that this applied always and everywhere. Other similar quirks in this larger extract appear to be upper-case 'M' in 'Minutes', and possibly upper-case 'K' in 'Killed'. He also seems to have omitted the 's' at the start of 'streams'.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: Wexflyer on Wednesday 12 June 24 22:53 BST (UK)
It is not a capital S, it is simply a long s.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: shanreagh on Thursday 13 June 24 00:21 BST (UK)
I wonder if the long  s was used before a vowel and the short s was used before a consonant.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: KGarrad on Thursday 13 June 24 08:00 BST (UK)
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: JanSeifert on Thursday 25 July 24 12:44 BST (UK)
Quote from: Wexflyer on Wednesday 12 June 24 22:53 BST (UK)
It is not a capital S, it is simply a long s.

Quite possible. But the question remains: Why a long s/capital s only with »several«?

I have filed it under quirks now.

J.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: JanSeifert on Thursday 25 July 24 12:46 BST (UK)
Quote from: shanreagh on Thursday 13 June 24 00:21 BST (UK)
I wonder if the long  s was used before a vowel and the short s was used before a consonant.

see Several vs. sepoys

j.
Title: Re: spelling of »several«
Post by: KGarrad on Thursday 25 July 24 13:20 BST (UK)
Did you read the Wikipedia article I posted?