Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.fonts
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!chi-news.cic.net!nntp.coast.net!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!sq!lee
From: lee@sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Subject: Re: Thorn and edh was Re: Thou vs you
Message-ID: <1996Feb25.032433.5504@sq.com>
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
References: <4fg5hl$5ba@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> <aldersonDn1qqE.HwH@netcom.com> <rte-2102961322320001@mac-118.lz.att.com> <aldersonDn7HJ2.E1M@netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 03:24:33 GMT
Lines: 39
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.lang:50691 comp.fonts:40128

[note the newsgroups!  -- Liam]

Richard M. Alderson III <alderson@netcom.com> wrotei in sci.lang:
>(Ralph T. Edwards) wrote in sci.lang:
>> alderson@netcom.com wrote (in sci.lang):
>
>>>The mistake here is in assuming that this was something done by *early*
>>>printers.  The habit of "archaizing" signs is more 19th or 20th Century than
>>>early.  The spelling of "the" with a thorn was long gone by Shakespeare's
>>>time, and even a 17th Century printer of English would have been hard put to
>>>find a thorn among his sorts.

This is generally true, although note that
(1) Wm. Caslon included Thorn on his type sampler, approx. 1725 (from memory)
(2) A y was often used instead of a thorn -- this is where we get
    Ye Olde Inne.  I don't believe it is solely a modern invention, although
    it certainly became more popular in this century as a gimmick.

>>Were thorn and edh ever printed?  When?  Is there any truth to the claim that
>>the English printers were just too lazy to add to the castings from the
>>continent?

None at all.  Thorn and edh are used in Old English, and also in
Middle English, but had largely fallen out of use by the Early Modern period.  

Thomas Hearne's editions of Old and Middle English texts in the 18th C. used 
thorn, yogh, edh, [oe] and so forth.

Finally, note that edh survives in ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1), and is available
on Unix/X11, Mac and PC, alond with aesh, I believe primarily for Icelandic.
Wynn and Yogh are not included in this character set, however.

Lee

-- 
Liam Quin, SoftQuad Inc +1 416 239 4801 lee@sq.com
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