You are absolutely correct Roger. My doctoral specialization was in medieval Spanish. What happened was that what today would be a b in a word like “estaaba” would have often been written as “estava”—remember that during that time, spelling was not uniform. This is very complicated, because in Spanish the V and the B sounds are not as dissimilar as they are in English. Even today, Spanish speakers who are poorly educated use V instead of B. What happened in early modern times, was that texts were copied by scribes. So, in addition to spelling variants, the simple differences in one’s hand-writing would make it fairly easy for a V to seem more like a U, especially to a scanner, in a situation where a modern-day printing is trying to duplicate antique script. So, when I was citing these texts in my dissertation, my sighted faculty could always tell the difference. Hence what I said earlier about applying dissertation rules. Cheers, Donna From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 7:18 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OK, gang, got a weird one! I don't think it was universal. Germanic script, even though using a Roman alphabet, was significantly different. English, even though it was a Germanic language itself, used a Latinate script as a hangover from the Norman conquest. Also, that s instead of an f was not really an s. It looked very similar to an s and I imagine that might have something to do with it being changed, but if you could see it you would be able to tell it from an s. I did not make a habit of looking at antiquated English scripts before I lost my eyesight, so I don't remember about the u and v, but I would suspect that that u was not quite a u either. That could be settled, though, by someone with eyesight just taking a look at it and telling us. "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine." Che Guevara The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com/txtindex.shtml <http://wwww.themilitant.com> Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://granma.cu/ingles/index.html _ table with 2 columns and 6 rows Subj: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OK, gang, got a weird one! Date: 7/13/2009 3:50:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx Reply-to: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent from the Internet (Details) table end Hi, gang, Just a comment from Kim here. During the seventeenth century, the word "wave" would be spelled W-A-u-e. I also noticed that in the eighteenth century, the letter S would be written with a letter F. Apparently what happened with old Spanish affected Early modern English as well. H'mm! I wonder if this orthography was universal throughout western Europe? Regards, Kim aka Ellinder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Donna Goodin Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 11:09 AM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OK, gang, got a weird one! Hi all, I’m working on The Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra. At the end of the book is a document written in old Spanish. Some of the “abnormalities” are standard orthographic conventions of the period, things like using the letter u where in modern Spanish there would be a V. others are the result of the font. So, for instance, the letter S looks like an F. This also is typical of period texts. My question: Should I correct/modernize it, or should I leave it? One option would be to correct font issues, but leave the period orthography intact. There is an English translation following the Spanish text. I appreciate any input. Thanks, Donna __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4240 (20090713) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4240 (20090713) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ************** An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222585090x1201462820/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=JulyExcfooterNO62) Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.13.12/2235 - Release Date: 07/13/09 17:57:00