Author Topic: spelling of »several«  (Read 986 times)

Offline JanSeifert

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spelling of »several«
« 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


Online goldie61

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #1 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.
Lane, Burgess: Cheshire. Finney, Rogers, Gilman:Derbys
Cochran, Nicol, Paton, Bruce:Scotland. Bertolle:London
Bainbridge, Christman, Jeffs: Staffs

Offline martin hooper

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #2 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

Offline JanSeifert

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #3 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:


Offline arthurk

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #4 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'.

Offline Wexflyer

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday 12 June 24 22:53 BST (UK) »
It is not a capital S, it is simply a long s.
BRENNANx2 Davidstown&Taghmon,Ballybrennan; COOPER St.Helens;CREAN Raheennaskeagh&Ballywalter;COSGRAVE Castlebridge?;CULLEN Lady's Island;CULLETON Forth Commons;CURRAN Hillbrook, Wic;DOYLE Clonee&Tombrack;FOX Knockbrandon; FURLONG Moortown;HAYESx2 Walsheslough&Wex;McGILL Litter;MORRIS Forth Commons;PIERCE Ladys Island;POTTS Bennettstown;REDMOND Gerry; ROCHEx2 Wex; ROCHFORD Ballysampson&Ballyhit;SHERIDAN Moneydurtlow; SINNOTT Wex;SMYTH Gerry&Oulart;WALSH Kilrane&Wex; WHITE Tagoat area

Offline shanreagh

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #6 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.

Online KGarrad

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 13 June 24 08:00 BST (UK) »
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline JanSeifert

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Re: spelling of »several«
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 25 July 24 12:44 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.