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The Upright Runic “S” — Tsk, Tsk

Mar 12, 2015
by Caroline Miller
disappeart letters of the alphabet, Heart Land, Michael Rosen, Runic alphabet
10 Comments

My first novel, Heart Land is about to be republished with a new editor and in a new edition.  The story is about the hyjinx of a  boy, Oliver Larson,  growing up in rural American in 1940, prior to World War 11.  One of Oliver’s favorite hangouts is a bakery known as Ye Old Bake Shoppe.  The spelling is meant to indicate the establishment is cozy and quaint.  Beyond that I gave the words no further thought after I wrote them.  The other day, however, Ye Old Bake Shoppe came to mind as I read an article  by Michael Rosen, a writer of children’s books, who had published an article explaining how some letters of our alphabet had disappeared as scribes shifted from Runes to our modern ABCs. (Click)

 “Ye” for example, says Rosen, isn’t pronounced ye at all but stood for today’s “th”.  That makes sense as most of us know, ye means “The.”  The letter known as Wynn, which looked like ‘P’ in the Runic alphabet, has disappeared altogether, replaced by the “w.”  A few Runic spellings still exist like, “encyclopaedia” for “encyclopedia” and “foetus” for “fetus,” but they are rarely employed, except for effect as in my use of ye in Heart Land.  That these archaic spellings persisted at all,  Rosen credits to  English monks of old who, working as scribes, didn’t entirely embrace new spellings. 

 One rune that has completely disappeared is the upright ‘S’ which was easily confused with the more modern ‘f’ and so  had to be eliminated.  Case in point is the bawdy laughter bound to follow if the upright S persisted in a song like Shakespeare’s, “Where the bee sucks, there suck I.”

 Bawdy is a word that could well describe the development of the English language.  James D. Nichols, a famous  American Jockey once said, “… English is about as pure as a crib house whore.  We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” 

scribes

courtesy of wearewalkingebauty.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

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10 Comments
  1. S. L. Stoner March 12, 2015 at 10:56 am Reply
    Caroline: So glad to learn Heart Land is going to be published again. It is a truly wonderful book with each chapter having that make-you-smile Caroline Miller surprise at the end.
    • Caroline Miller March 12, 2015 at 12:36 pm Reply
      Thank you, Susan. High praise from a fellow writer. When the original publisher went bankrupt, I felt this was an opportunity to bring Heart Land to a wider audience. The new edition will be reedited and include illustrations, something new. But don't look for the upright "S". This is a family book. :)
  2. tuna cole March 12, 2015 at 1:47 pm Reply
    Caroline, Are you saying the Greeks took their alphabet (or significant portions thereof) from Rune practitioners? "Encyclopaedia," the word, is Greek in origin; their alphabet, I thought, was a hybrid of Phonecian and other middle-eastern writing styles going back 1000 years BCE...
    • Caroline Miller March 12, 2015 at 2:00 pm Reply
      Can't answer that Tuna. I'm only as good as my source of information and on your question the article is silent. If you know the answer, please share it.
  3. Annie Stratton March 13, 2015 at 11:52 am Reply
    Caroline, I'll keep my eye out for your new edition of Heart Land I enjoyed your humor in this entry re the "thorn", as the relict sign for "th" was/is called. I recently commented on a pair of identical tombstones, done by the same carver one year apart in the late 18th century: The wife's had the thorn in "ye", and only a year later, with wording otherwise identical, the husband's had "the".. An interesting example of the transition in forms. As for encyclopaedia and foetus, I was thinking the same thing as Tuna. I think perhaps the source you used hadn't been adequately fact-checked, . Both are words of Greek origin, Even in Latin, they kept the Greek vowels, Both words are still used, especially in England. In the USA, though,while the older spelling is considered an alternative to the more streamlined modern spellings, the older Greek versions are probably close to archaic at this point.
    • Caroline Miller March 13, 2015 at 12:05 pm Reply
      Thank you Annie for your comment and for providing your take on Tuna's question. I must bow to my astute readers. I went back and checked the original article. I can't blame the author for the mistake. He makes no mention of encyclopaedia. Doubtless, I threw it in as an "antique" word no longer in fashion. Wasn't counting on the Greek scholarship of my readers. I am chastened.
  4. Annie Stratton March 13, 2015 at 11:55 am Reply
    Sorry about the way my post above runs together. I had trouble with the anti-spam thing, and had to back up and do a copy/paste to try again. Not sure what happened to make it run together!
    • Caroline Miller March 13, 2015 at 12:07 pm Reply
      Yes, the captcha often proves to be a problem. Even a computer makes mistakes. :)
  5. tuna cole March 13, 2015 at 9:38 pm Reply
    "I'm only as good as my source of imformation" goes for all of us. So I consulted my Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, which verifies encyclopaedia as Greek ("encyclo" = encircled; "paedia," like pedagogy = knowledge). A search of "rune" yields ancient Scandanavian and ancient Germanic writing system, though no elaboration of how "ancient." Thank you, Caroline, in being gracious in accepting accountability...
    • Caroline Miller March 13, 2015 at 10:04 pm Reply
      Thank you for your comment, Tuna. I'd rather be accurate than right. I owe that to the folks who read this blog.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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