English Spelling in the Napoleonic Period
I found the following interesting and quite 'revealing.'
From Napoleon and the British by Stuart Semmel, xiii, A Note on Spelling and Punctuation:
'Unless otherwise indicated, italics in quotations are original to the sources. Spelling mistakes and typographical errors in quotations have generally been preserved and indicated. Certain spellings that depart from twenty-first century British practice, and which might appear to be the work of an American transcriber-for example, 'honor' and 'center'- were in fact the spellings employed by late Hanoverians, before a desire to Frenchify British spelling exerted itself later in the nineteenth century. In this sense…modern American usage remains closer than modern British usage to 'the king's English'-if the king in question is George III.'
Now isn't that both revealing and a surprise. So, modern British spelling is apparently French-inspired. 😀
@Kevin F. Kiley The use of French and French inspired words date back considerably earlier than that. Norman French was the language at court stretching back to 1066. The English and the British Royal Arms bore fleur-de-lis for centuries. As a Romance language it makes eminent sense for the English schoolboy to follow on from their Latin with French. And they are our nearest neighbours, just 20 miles away. The British had been fighting on the continent for generations, where the only common language they had with their allies (as it was again in 1815) was French. French, as the language to wage war with, pre-dates this. Indeed, for a professional officer, it was a prerequisite.