History of Dutch Orthography - Dutch Spelling in The Middle Ages

Dutch Spelling in The Middle Ages

The Dutch spoken between 1150 and 1500 is referred to as Middle Dutch. During this period there was no standardization of grammar. Authors generally wrote in their own dialects. Very often it is possible to tell from the language whether a text comes from Limburg, Brabant, or Holland. There was a lot of variation in the spelling. Words were often written as they were pronounced: lant (land), hi vint (he finds). The sound determined the spelling, irrespective of the basic word. This is no longer the case with modern Dutch where land, has a voiceless ā€˜d’, but is written thus because the infinitive is landen, and hij vindt (he finds) has dt as it is 3rd person singular, thus stem (vind) +t .

Karel ende Elegast (lines 1-6)

From the very start of its written history, Dutch used the Latin alphabet. At first there were 23 letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, y, z. It was not until later that the j, u, and w were added.

A problem with the Latin alphabet was that it was not easy to make a distinction between long and short vowels (a - aa). Various solutions were found. At the beginning of the 13th century the word jaar (year) was spelt jar but other variants soon appeared: jaer and jair and later jaar or even yaer and iaer.

Another feature of Middle Dutch is that articles or prepositions were often joined on to the word they belonged to: tjaer (the year) and dlant (the land), as in the accompanying fragment from Karel ende Elegast. The text translates: ā€œI will tell you a marvelous story, and a true one. Listen! One evening Charles was sleeping in Ingelheim on the Rhine. All the land you could see was his.ā€

There were also regional differences. Thus a clerk in Amsterdam in the 14th century would usually write lant, but in Utrecht he would write land. The modern system of double consonants for shortening the vowels was also known: compare tellen (short e) with slapen (long a) in the extract.

The invention of printing led to a more standardized approach.

Read more about this topic:  History Of Dutch Orthography

Famous quotes containing the words dutch, spelling, middle and/or ages:

    ‘Tis probable Religion after this
    Came next in order; which they could not miss.
    How could the Dutch but be converted, when
    The Apostles were so many fishermen?
    Besides the waters of themselves did rise,
    And, as their land, so them did re-baptize.
    Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)

    We drove the Indians out of the land,
    But a dire revenge those Redmen planned,
    For they fastened a name to every nook,
    And every boy with a spelling book
    Will have to toil till his hair turns gray
    Before he can spell them the proper way.
    Eva March Tappan (1854–1930)

    “When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up, I’ll write one—but I’m grown up now,” she added in a sorrowful tone: “At least there’s no room to grow up any more here.”
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    Next time, to tarry,
    While the Ages steal—
    Slow tramp the Centuries,
    And the Cycles wheel!
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)