Esredux
VIP Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2010
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Russian Federation
Dear all,
I am sorry if my question is somewhat irrelevant on the site dedicated to modern English but probably you could provide me with an appropriate link.
While reading Jane Austen's manuscrips I came across some interesting spelling, namely 'fs' instead of 'ss' in such words as 'classical', 'Cassandra', 'Cassy', 'Dutchess', etc. In her papers you can read 'clafsical', 'Cafsandra', 'Cafsy', 'Dutchefs'. It might not look exactly like 'f' but very similar. The curator didn't seem to know anything about it.
I was interested to know if it was Jane Austen's perculiarity or simply the norm at that time, if the latter then the time frame and if it was possibly caused by German. Actually, I'd apprecate any information.
I am sorry if my question is somewhat irrelevant on the site dedicated to modern English but probably you could provide me with an appropriate link.
While reading Jane Austen's manuscrips I came across some interesting spelling, namely 'fs' instead of 'ss' in such words as 'classical', 'Cassandra', 'Cassy', 'Dutchess', etc. In her papers you can read 'clafsical', 'Cafsandra', 'Cafsy', 'Dutchefs'. It might not look exactly like 'f' but very similar. The curator didn't seem to know anything about it.
I was interested to know if it was Jane Austen's perculiarity or simply the norm at that time, if the latter then the time frame and if it was possibly caused by German. Actually, I'd apprecate any information.