“Etymological and Non-etymological Spellings of FALCON and SOLDAN (SULTAN) in Caxton’s Paris and Vienne and Some Related French Versions”

This article, together with Iyeiri and Uchida (2021), shows how important it is to discuss the etymologizing of English spelling within the context of language contact, i.e. contact with French. Both are studies on Caxton’s use of etymological spelling in his translation from French.

Although the etymologizing of English spelling is often considered to be a phenomenon typical of the Early Modern English period, researchers are increasingly aware that etymological spelling is attested to some noticeable extent in Middle English. This study focuses on Caxton’s Middle English translation from French.

Related publications

• Hotta, Ryuichi and Yoko Iyeiri. 2022. “The taking off and catching on of etymological spellings in Early Modern English: Evidence from the EEBO Corpus”, in English Historical Linguistics. Historical English in Contact. Papers from the XXth ICEHL, ed. Bettelou Los, Chris Cummins, Lisa Gotthard, Alpo Honkapohja and Benjamin Molineaux, pp. 143-163. John Benjamins.
• Iyeiri, Yoko & Mitsumi Uchida. 2021. “Etymological Spellings in William Caxton’s Translations”. English Studies 102(8): 991-1001.
• Iyeiri, Yoko. 2017. “The Spelling and Syntax of Doubt in Early Modern English: Variation and Latin Influence”, in Language Contact and Variation in the History of English, ed. Mitsumi Uchida, Yoko Iyeiri & Lawrence Schourup, pp. 43-60. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.