GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

From: Urania< >
Subject: Re: Modernized Spellings
Date: 2 Feb 1999 00:28:58 GMT

In article <018901be4ca3$03b92c80$>,
says...
>>>As for Reynold versus Reginald, since about 1900, historians have been
>>modernizing and standardizing some of the older archaic spellings of
given
>>names. As such, men who appear in records as Piers have since had
their
>names
>>modernized and standardized as Peter. Piers de Gavaston, for example,
is
>now
>>called Peter de Gavaston in the history books. I can accept that.
>
>
>Doesn't this tick anybody else off. I hate the way everybody changes
the
>spellings of everything from their original spelling to modern spelling.
I
>understand that some people's names and some places may have been
spelled
>several different ways in the past because of the non-existence of a
>standardized system of spelling, but blatantly changing every Piers who
ever
>lived to Peter is something completely different.

Steady on -

If, as I do, you make the Christian name the main entry name in your
index you MUST have some kind of standardisation in order not to have
duplicate entries. The recurring pattern of Christian names from one
generation to the next often gives clues about kinship. If for instance I
find the lad called HAIMERICUS in one charter and AIMERIC in the next, I
am apt to index him under AIMERY with cross refernces from the original
versions - and that's an easy one. Again, territorials can also be full
of variations from one charter / chronicle to the next depending on the
whim of the scrivener, so I index under the MODERN SPELLING of the
placename and cross ref ...

It's a good idea to acquaint oneself with all the variations of a name
before you begin - Maud, Matilda, Mechtildis, Mahaude, Mahaut - all the
same lady ...

It is not so bad when the name begins with a consonant, but with a vowel
or H Oh lor ! I think I once found 9 different spellings of Hersint in
one Necrology.
>

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• Re: Modernized Spellings by Urania< >